Chapter 294
Translator: Ace
Chapter: 294
Chapter Title: How's Your Condition?
'This is...'
He had located the true nature of what he'd sensed through his qi perception.
Yet its identity remained shrouded in mystery.
A familiar yet somehow alien energy.
How could such a thing have infiltrated Gongya Wheeyeon's body?
Ha Mu-baek placed his fingers on Gongya Wheeyeon's pulse.
"Did that monk Hyeonhwang ever subdue you, or did you take a hit from him or something like that?"
Gongya Wheeyeon nodded.
Her entire body had been bound by an unknown force, leaving her utterly immobile.
As Gongya Wheeyeon explained the situation from back then,
"Like this?"
Ha Mu-baek asked again.
In that instant,
Gongya Wheeyeon relived the experience from before.
Her body perfectly restrained, unable to twitch even slightly.
Only her eyes and mouth could move.
"Y-yes, that's it. Even Instructor Ha can do it."
Of course, this was Ha Mu-baek, who had chased off Hyeonhwang.
If Hyeonhwang could do it, then the world's greatest, Ha Mu-baek, certainly could as well.
"Is something wrong?"
Umun Garyul asked in a tone laced with worry.
"When he subdued Wheeyeon, it seems that monk Hyeongwang infiltrated her body with his own energy."
The energy was small, but it still lingered in her meridians.
"Then..."
"I tried to eradicate it."
Ha Mu-baek furrowed his brow.
It wouldn't listen.
It hid like a ghost or slipped through the gaps in his energy.
Perhaps because it shared similarities with Ha Mu-baek's own inner power.
It dodged every which way with uncanny skill.
As if it knew the nature of Ha Mu-baek's inner power and exactly how it moved.
"It's not easy."
Umun Garyul's face darkened at Ha Mu-baek's response.
"Not easy means it's difficult, but there's still a way, right?"
Gongya Wheeyeon read the implication in Ha Mu-baek's words and asked.
Ha Mu-baek nodded.
"Once more."
Ha Mu-baek gripped Gongya Wheeyeon's pulse again.
And he channeled his inner power into her.
Gongya Wheeyeon slightly frowned.
The sensation was different from before.
Unlike moments ago, when his energy had flowed in soft and warm.
Now,
her meridians tingled, a faint pain prickling through them.
"It'll feel uncomfortable."
Ha Mu-baek had first enveloped Hyeonhwang's energy with his own inner power.
Preventing it from hiding or fleeing.
He had surrounded it completely.
Even the minimal inner power required for this made Gongya Wheeyeon frown.
"It's going to hurt more and more now."
To annihilate the encircled energy, he gradually increased the amount of inner power he infused.
Gongya Wheeyeon's face flushed red, beads of cold sweat forming on her skin.
Her frown deepened into a grimace.
Umun Garyul watched quietly.
Though anxious inside, she hid it as best she could.
Ha Mu-baek's expression grew increasingly grave.
Hyeonhwang's energy was resisting far more fiercely than expected.
To crush and dissipate it with overwhelming force...
"Aaaah."
A scream—not a mere groan—escaped Gongya Wheeyeon, who had been holding back.
Ha Mu-baek released his hand.
"It's a strange, inscrutable energy."
Ha Mu-baek said to Umun Garyul.
"Is it gone now?"
Gongya Wheeyeon asked hopefully, though
she seemed to know it wasn't.
If it had been that easy to remove, Ha Mu-baek wouldn't have said it was difficult.
Ha Mu-baek shook his head.
"I just gauged how much inner power it'd take to force it out."
"And the result?"
"Your meridians would burst before that energy does."
In other words,
Gongya Wheeyeon would die before the energy was eradicated.
"Then..."
"We just need to beat the crap out of that bastard Hyeonhwang."
Ha Mu-baek replied, his eyes gleaming.
He'd planned to visit Shaolin soon anyway, but not this quickly.
Gongya Wheeyeon nodded with resolute eyes.
"You're going back to your mother and Sahaeryeon."
Ha Mu-baek corrected Gongya Wheeyeon's misunderstanding.
"Pardon? But it's my body that's afflicted..."
"We just need to properly identify the energy's origin. You don't need to come."
Gongya Wheeyeon wore an ambiguous expression, seeming both convinced and not.
"You'd only get in the way."
Ha Mu-baek's tone was firm.
Umun Garyul nodded in agreement.
"Hah. Hah. Hah."
Hyeonhwang panted heavily.
He glanced at his left arm, roughly bandaged after staunching the bleeding.
It was quite inconvenient to move.
The spot where the arrow of qi had pierced him.
"That damn bastard. I'll tear him to shreds."
Pausing briefly to rest, Hyeonhwang muttered venomously.
That guy had clearly obtained one of the Primordial Six Bodies Arts.
And one that countered his own power, no less.
"But he hasn't encountered the Primordial Abyss... How could he be stronger than me?"
Hyeonhwang muttered in confusion.
Incomplete fragments though they were, he himself had acquired two: Chaos and Emptiness.
"Well, if he hasn't met the Abyss, he can't erase that energy. Heh heh. He'll come crawling soon enough."
Hyeonhwang grinned cruelly.
To claim the other fragments before the guy arrived, he needed to move quickly.
After catching his breath, Hyeonhwang dashed toward Mount Song.
"Amitabha."
Hyeongwang, who had been meditating in the abbot's quarters, opened his eyes and softly chanted.
"I wonder how it went..."
Hyeongwang murmured quietly.
His gaze turned toward where Hyeonhwang had gone.
He hoped the task he'd assigned had been handled well.
"Ha Mu-baek. In this Shaolin of mine, aside from me, that man's the only one who could deal with him."
The previous generation's hidden masters might manage it if they emerged.
But even as abbot, he couldn't command them.
They moved solely by their own will.
They might act reluctantly if he brought out the Green Jade Buddha Palm, but
that would be disrespectful to them.
"Is anyone there?"
Hyeongwang called out toward the door.
"Yes, Grandmaster."
A young monk replied.
"No word from Yeonjin?"
"Here it is."
As if on cue, the monk who had just arrived with the message presented the carrier pigeon letter respectfully and withdrew.
Hyeongwang scanned the contents thoroughly.
He couldn't help furrowing his brow.
It detailed the encounter with Hyeonhwang.
And Ha Mu-baek was involved too.
Ha Mu-baek's actions made Hyeongwang scowl even more.
He was fully siding with the unorthodox now.
"Amitabha. They say to see the truth in all things, yet why does this layman act like this..."
He muttered discontentedly.
All he could do was hope Hyeonhwang succeeded.
The guy had mastered such an enigmatic and terrifying martial art.
Was it even a martial art?
Where had he learned it?
Though his master had subdued him,
he hadn't destroyed his dantian in the end.
That's why he'd used three sealing orbs.
First came the Golden Binding Hoop to seal the dantian.
The Golden Binding Hoop didn't just seal—it could constrict and burst the dantian, annihilating it.
The sealing had succeeded, but Hyeonhwang's dantian remained intact.
As if protected by some force.
Even against the power of the indestructible sealing orb infused with immense might, it resisted annihilation.
That's why he'd also used the Silver Binding Hoop and another Golden Binding Hoop.
Since the first Golden Binding Hoop failed to destroy the dantian,
stronger sealing was necessary.
A carrier pigeon arrived at Sahaeryeon.
The message was promptly delivered to Moon In-baeksong as per protocol.
He hurried to Gongya Jangcheon with urgent footsteps.
"What is it?"
Gongya Jangcheon asked anxiously upon seeing Moon In-baeksong's sudden arrival.
Something had happened, but he couldn't tell if it was good or bad.
"Instructor Ha Mu-baek and Madam have checked into an inn in Ankyung."
It was an urgent report from the Hao Clan’s Ankyung branch.
"Their appearance?"
"Madam seems to have gone through some ordeal, but no major issues reported."
"Then... what about Yeon?"
Gongya Jangcheon leaned forward intently.
"Likely still in Ankyung. Ha Mu-baek and Madam entered the inn and haven't moved since."
Many inferences could be drawn from that.
"If she's safe, Madam will contact us soon."
Gongya Jangcheon nodded at the follow-up.
"What's your take?"
"There's over a seventy percent chance the young miss is safely at that inn."
A positive assessment.
Only then did Gongya Jangcheon lean back deeply into his chair,
sighing with relief.
"Phew. Just what have they been through..."
Umun Garyul's message would reveal the full story.
A day passed.
Having gone through such a major ordeal, they stayed the night at the inn.
Ha Mu-baek didn't leave immediately either; to monitor Gongya Wheeyeon's condition, he spent the night in another room at the same inn.
Ha Mu-baek rose from the bed and grimaced.
That energy had grown, if only slightly.
'And it's attached to the dantian.'
The attachment was more problematic than the growth.
It might even take root there.
Breakfast was to be brought up to Gongya Wheeyeon's room to eat there.
If Gongya Wheeyeon and Umun Garyul appeared together on the inn's first floor,
their beauty would likely spark quite the spectacle.
That's why they'd decided to eat in the room.
"Come on in."
Umun Garyul opened the door.
"Please, come in, Instructor."
Her voice was still hoarse.
Since her vocal cords had been injured, it would take time for her original voice to return fully.
Ha Mu-baek examined Gongya Wheeyeon closely.
And spotted a change from the day before.
A faint dark aura lingered between her brows.
A trace from its attachment to her dantian.
'This is bad...'
The energy seemed poised to root itself in her dantian and eventually devour it.
"How's your condition?"
"I feel better after a good rest, but my head's still a bit fuzzy somehow."
As expected, it wasn't mere infused energy.
It was something that would erode her over time.
This decided their departure for Mount Song.
Now was the time.
But first,
one last test.
"Try using the Seven Colors Binding Rings."
At Ha Mu-baek's words, Gongya Wheeyeon unquestioningly slipped the Seven Colors Binding Rings onto her wrists.
Soon, the two bracelets emitted the glow of the seven colors.
He checked her energy.
It was different from before.
He could sense the energy.
That damned energy.
The Seven Colors Binding Rings hadn't fully sealed it.
He could even feel the inner power connecting it to her dantian.
"Take them off."
Gongya Wheeyeon released the seal of the Seven Colors Binding Rings.
He'd hoped the rings might seal that energy too, slowing the erosion.
No such luck.
Sealing only her inner power could even accelerate the process.
It might slow it in reverse,
but spending another day testing here was less wise than heading straight to Mount Song.
Ha Mu-baek explained his thinking to the two women.
"Alright, Mu-baek. If you say so, then it is. Take care."
"Please take care, Instructor."
Ha Mu-baek nodded.
"Oh, and we should probably send word to the alliance... Can I tell them everything you mentioned?"
Ha Mu-baek nodded again at Umun Garyul's question.
"No issue at all. Then I'll be off."
Ha Mu-baek rose from the table, bid the two farewell, left the inn, and raced toward Mount Song.
'Primordial... and Abyss.'
Ha Mu-baek recalled what Hyeonhwang had blabbered.
That energy seemed connected to them somehow.
'He had some inkling about my martial arts too.'
—You trained in that art but never heard the call of the Abyss, the Primordial Will?
That had been Hyeonhwang's question at the time.
He knew something.
'I'll have to ask Master.'
His master would know far more about the Infinite Sword Sect's arts than he did.
After mastering them and achieving enlightenment, Ha Mu-baek had promptly left the mountains.
He'd been busy slicing up the Blood Cult and Demonic Cult scum.
Ha Mu-baek's Ability to Traverse a Thousand Miles picked up speed.
Hyeonhwang's lightness skill outpaced Ha Mu-baek's.
Fueled by seething hatred and desperation, he'd pushed even harder.
Before long, he entered Songshan Mountain's Lesser Room Peak.
He sped toward the nearest scripture pavilion.