Chapter 307
Translator: Ace
Chapter: 307
Chapter Title: Thank You
A faint ivory glow emanated from his entire body.
It was an ivory hue tinged with yellow.
It was a slightly different sight from anything Ha Mu-baek had shown before.
A somehow sacred and reverent appearance.
It was unimaginable for the Ha Mu-baek that Gongya Jangcheon knew.
Munin Baeksong was equally stunned by it.
Umun Gayul gazed at Ha Mu-baek with a face full of emotion.
That day.
As she gave thanks for her own good deed leading to this result.
Gongya Hwiyeon flinched.
It was just Ha Mu-baek circulating his energy.
But her dantian had reacted.
Like a frightened puppy barking wildly in fear?
It was amusing to get that sense of a mere pup from an energy whose nature she didn't even fully know.
From the energy Ha Mu-baek had raised.
'The supreme under heaven...'
That was the only thought in Gongya Hwiyeon's mind right now.
Finally, Ha Mu-baek's energy surged through her meridians once more.
It charged straight toward her dantian.
"Urk."
Gongya Hwiyeon let out a groan.
Then she clenched her teeth in surprise.
In most great techniques like this, it was crucial for the recipient to keep their mouth firmly shut.
To prevent the energy from leaking out through an open mouth.
"It's fine. If you feel like screaming, let it out as much as you want."
Ha Mu-baek said with a composed expression.
Unlike other great techniques.
That demeanor made her trust him even more.
Gongya Hwiyeon's dantian went berserk.
To be precise, it was the unpleasant gray energy clinging to her dantian.
It thrashed about like it had encountered its natural predator, desperate to flee.
But there was nowhere to run.
To do that, it would have to detach from the dantian.
And Gongya Hwiyeon's dantian was far too tempting a meal for it.
Ha Mu-baek didn't push his energy straight into her dantian.
He could have, but.
He intended to minimize her pain as much as possible.
He first infused his energy into her major meridians and the three vital channels throughout her body.
The gray energy detached from the dantian, and Ha Mu-baek's energy filled every path it could take.
As a result, Gongya Hwiyeon's body began to emit a faint yellow ivory glow.
Ha Mu-baek's energy had manifested.
The three watched the sight in silence.
'How could there be such energy...'
Gongya Jangcheon looked shocked, as if he couldn't believe it.
'It must be an energy Ha Mu-baek never wielded before... Where did he get it...'
Munin Baeksong felt curiosity toward Ha Mu-baek's new form.
'Truly remarkable. Thank you.'
Umun Gayul simply admired it purely.
If there was one common thread in the eyes of those three, it was their trust in Ha Mu-baek.
A sight that inspired faith just by watching.
Having blocked all escape routes first.
Ha Mu-baek slowly pressed his energy toward the dantian from all sides.
Kieeeek!!!
It was as if such a scream echoed.
The death cry of a beast facing its end.
Ha Mu-baek's energy, fully encircling the dantian, swallowed Hyeonhwang's energy in one gulp.
Crackle.
And that energy shattered and vanished.
"Ugh."
In that instant.
As Hyeonhwang's energy detached from the dantian.
Gongya Hwiyeon groaned once more.
There was no helping that pain.
If that energy had rampaged through her major meridians while evading Ha Mu-baek's, the agony would have been incomparable to this.
"It's done."
Before long, Ha Mu-baek withdrew all his energy.
The faint glow vanished as if washed away.
There was only a stoic martial artist sitting there.
Changes appeared immediately in Gongya Hwiyeon's body.
The dark energy between her brows vanished cleanly, and her pale skin shone even brighter.
"Th-thank you... Benefactor."
At that moment.
Umun Gayul grabbed Ha Mu-baek's hand and bowed deeply.
This was separate from him having saved her life.
Now, Ha Mu-baek had saved her daughter's life.
"Please don't, Madam. I only did what needed to be done. The grace you've shown me can't be repaid with something like this."
Ha Mu-baek stood flustered from his seat and said.
A truly awkward sight.
No one from the Dragon Training Pavilion would have believed it.
"Thank you."
"Truly, thank you."
Gongya Jangcheon and Munin Baeksong's thanks followed.
Gongya Hwiyeon rose from her seat and bowed to Ha Mu-baek.
"I offer my sincerest gratitude for saving my life."
It was a greeting filled with genuine heart.
She had truly trembled in fear that she might die.
When even her grandfather said there was no way.
Though she hadn't shown it, it felt like falling into an abyss.
There had been a faint hope that perhaps her grandfather, the Sahaeryeon Leader, could do it if the supreme under heaven, Ha Mu-baek, couldn't.
"No need. I only did what had to be done. If anything, I should thank you. Thanks to this, I could meet the benefactor who saved my life."
Ha Mu-baek bowed deeply to Umun Gayul.
"If you ever need my help, just say the word anytime. I'll assist as best I can. Contact me through the Beggar Clan."
Ha Mu-baek said calmly.
At his demeanor, Umun Gayul grabbed his hand.
"You're not leaving just like this, are you?"
She gripped it tightly, as if refusing to let go.
"I have unfinished business. I hurried here first because I was worried about you, Benefactor."
Unfinished business.
He couldn't say what, but it was likely related to Shaolin.
Having received such great grace, she couldn't just let him go.
She wanted to offer some hospitality somehow.
But she couldn't cling to someone who had business to attend to.
Slipping away.
Strength left Umun Gayul's hand.
"You must... You must visit Sahaeryeon. Promise me."
Umun Gayul urged.
Ha Mu-baek nodded with a smile.
"I will. If I can bring Raan then, I shall."
"You must come. I'll be waiting."
Gongya Jangcheon spoke.
Ha Mu-baek gave him only a slight nod.
After exchanging farewells with Gongya Hwiyeon, he opened the door and left, vanishing completely.
The direction he headed was toward Mount Song.
"He's gone."
Umun Gayul said, gazing in the direction where Ha Mu-baek's receding figure, now too small even to be a dot, had disappeared.
"Yes... He's gone. That monster."
Gongya Jangcheon's response was profoundly complex.
"He seems even stronger now."
Munin Baeksong assessed coolly.
At least two levels stronger than the Ha Mu-baek he knew.
Beyond that, Munin Baeksong's insight couldn't measure.
"He really is the supreme under heaven."
Gongya Hwiyeon murmured dazedly.
"Indeed. The true supreme under heaven."
Gongya Jangcheon acknowledged what needed acknowledging.
Gongya Hwiyeon's gaze turned to him.
"Grandfather, how long do you think you could last against him? A hundred breaths?"
Gongya Jangcheon furrowed his brow slightly at his granddaughter's bold question.
"You brat. Even if it's you, saying this old man only a hundred breaths? At least a thousand to decide victory."
A confident reply.
Could one speak of defeat so boldly?
Without a hint of displeasure.
Gongya Hwiyeon's gaze shifted to Munin Baeksong.
She was curious about his genius insight.
"Master. Is it true?"
Not as the little princess of Sahaeryeon, but as his former disciple Gongya Hwiyeon.
Munin Baeksong answered accordingly.
"Hard to say. With my current insight, I can't gauge it... In that case, you wouldn't last a thousand breaths."
Munin Baeksong averted his eyes slightly.
A sharp glare from Gongya Jangcheon flew toward his profile.
"That's not the point. We should head back to the ryun now."
Umun Gayul interjected.
She was right.
Rest here for the day.
Tomorrow, they would depart for Mount Heng.
Gongya Hwiyeon's condition was perfect now.
As they moved from the reception room to their rooms for rest.
Gongya Hwiyeon stared at the firmly shut door Ha Mu-baek had exited.
'Next time, for sure. I'll grow strong and leave the ryun with pride. With my restored Four Thunderbolts Palace.'
Ha Mu-baek raced ahead swiftly.
Running and running, he arrived back at Mount Song.
He climbed to the peak of Mount Soseo.
There, Ha Mu-baek drew up his energy.
The more he did, the fiercer the gale around him grew.
Soon, Mount Soseo trembled lowly, emitting a resonant cry.
"This should be enough."
Ha Mu-baek sat on a nearby rock.
It had been a hectic few days.
Moving about so busily like this.
It felt like the first time since the last Murim Grand Tournament.
Going, coming, going again.
Thanks to Shaolin's Hyeonhwang's schemes.
A moment later.
The presence of the person Ha Mu-baek awaited climbed steadily to the peak.
"Amitabha. As expected, it was you, Layman Ha."
The one who appeared was Hyeon-gil.
The energy Ha Mu-baek had raised was the ivory energy he'd seen from Hyeon-gil.
Hyeon-gil had recognized it as well.
To make Mount Soseo tremble and cry out—unimaginable for a monster.
"I said we had more to talk about."
True enough.
But to appear again after just three or four days since leaving?
"What do you wish to know?"
Hyeon-gil asked, clutching his prayer beads.
"The Abyss. You've met it, right?"
A direct question.
"Indeed, Layman Ha."
Hyeon-gil didn't deny it.
It was a clear fact.
And Ha Mu-baek was already certain.
"What do you want to know?"
"That thing. What the hell is it?"
Ha Mu-baek asked.
Hyeon-gil pondered deeply.
The answer came soon.
"I do not know."
"You don't?"
Ha Mu-baek frowned.
"That is so. Following my master's last will, I cultivated the Reverse Muscle Rejuvenation Scripture to gain that power, and eventually met it. Just a short while ago."
Ha Mu-baek listened silently to Hyeon-gil.
"It said it would grant me power. The power to exterminate all demons in the world. It claimed to be the will within a fragment of primordial power, that slaying the world's demons was its mission."
Ha Mu-baek furrowed his brows.
The Abyss shared a name with Hyeonhwang's, but its nature was utterly different.
Hyeonhwang's Abyss was like a collection of all the world's evils.
"And?"
"It told me to accept its will. Then I could obtain the fragment's power."
"Is that the power you showed? Seemed pretty half-baked for that."
Compared to Hyeonhwang's, it was truly amateurish.
The mutual restraint Hyeonhwang mentioned.
Yes.
Because it was a mutually restraining power, it had an effect.
Moreover, Hyeonhwang's had been properly crippled by him first.
If Hyeonhwang and Hyeon-gil had clashed in perfect condition.
Ten out of ten.
Hyeonhwang's victory.
No matter the mutual restraint, Hyeonhwang's energy was vastly greater and more refined.
"Of course. That day... I accepted the Abyss."
Ha Mu-baek's eyes widened slightly.
He hadn't expected that.
It was unforeseen.
"The first time I met the Abyss was about two months ago. In that meeting, I couldn't help but doubt. It spoke of demon-slaying, but a will within martial arts? I thought it might be demonic rather than divine. So I turned away. Thinking the power Elder Brother Gwanghae mentioned couldn't be something like this."
A faint admiration appeared in Ha Mu-baek's eyes.
The temptation of power.
As seen with Hyeonhwang, it was all too easy to succumb.
A martial artist before a monk.
Yet he had doubted and rejected the being offering such power.
"That day, seeing Elder Brother Hyeonhwang and confirming the Penance Cave, I realized. To send him to nirvana, I needed the Abyss's power."
"So you joined hands?"
Hyeon-gil nodded.
"'I am one of the many fragments from the primordial origin. I am its consciousness. My will is the primordial will. Will you accept that power, fated one?' That was what the Abyss said to me in that moment."
"After that?"
"I haven't met it since. No reason to."
Hyeon-gil answered calmly.
There had been only one reason he met and allied with the Abyss.
Hyeonhwang's nirvana.
Now that it was achieved.
There was no need to meet again.
"Then that power. Mind if I destroy it?"
Ha Mu-baek asked.
"Do as you wish. I no longer need it."
An immediate reply.
Not a moment's hesitation.
At that, Ha Mu-baek made his decision.
"Well, I'll watch a bit longer."
"Then is our business concluded?"
Ha Mu-baek shook his head at Hyeon-gil's question.
"My business with you is done, but I still have business with Shaolin Temple."
"What do you...?"
"Scripture Pavilion."
A short phrase.
Only then did Hyeon-gil recall what Ha Mu-baek had said upon invading Shaolin.
Indeed.
'Something about traces of demonic arts in the Scripture Pavilion?'
Ha Mu-baek looked straight at Hyeon-gil and grinned.
"Time to check. What was in there that birthed such a monster."