novelraw Chapter 124 : Body Reformation
Chapter 124 : Body Reformation
Chapter 124: Body Reformation
In the present jianghu, the prestige of the Southern Barbarian Beast Palace had diminished greatly, but no martial artist dared to disregard it.
That was because, along with the Heavenly Demon, the one who had inflicted the deepest wound upon the pride of the martial artists of the Central Plains existed in the history of the Beast Palace.
The Beast God of Battle, Pa Yeo-un.
A being who bore the grandiose alias of “God,” one of the few ever to exist in the entire history of the martial world.
That was none other than Chuk Yeoun, the founding Palace Master of the Beast Palace.
What was even more astonishing was that such a divine alias had been bestowed upon a Southern Barbarian, not someone of the Central Plains.
But perhaps it could not have been otherwise.
He had left behind such a colossal legacy that none could deny it.
When the Heavenly Demon and the Demonic Cult had disappeared, leaving a vacuum of power, a time had come where endless chaos and war raged within the martial world, with neither orthodox nor unorthodox factions spared.
It was precisely then that Chuk Yeoun appeared.
Chuk Yeoun was a giant, a colossal man whom even great martial artists had to crane their necks to look up at, and from the very first day he stepped into the martial world, he began a path of continuous duels.
However, his duels allowed no refusal.
Even if his opponent rejected him, he would forcefully push his way in, making them kneel regardless.
If his foes grew furious and banded together against him, Chuk Yeoun would only laugh and welcome the battle.
He was truly a madman of battle, a beast who lived solely for fighting.
Without distinguishing between orthodox or unorthodox, he sought out every strong martial artist—and in the end, he defeated them all.
And just as suddenly as he had appeared, he returned to his homeland.
That place became the birthplace of the Beast Palace.
In some ways, one could say it was precisely because of the Battle God Chuk Yeoun that the orthodox and unorthodox factions hastily agreed upon a truce and created the balance that exists to this day.
The martial arts that Chuk Yeoun forged in that era were unlike anything of the Central Plains.
Like the current martial artists of the Beast Palace, who relied solely on external arts, he ascended to the seat of the world’s strongest without using a shred of inner arts.
If so, then what exactly was the power contained in this Ink Imprint (入墨)?
As the Ink Imprint carved itself into his skin and searing pain scorched his entire body, a natural question rose within Sewoon’s mind.
Before his regression, he had already known of the existence of the Divine Relic through the information of the Blood Cult.
But the precise nature of its power had been unknown.
It was only natural that he hadn’t known.
‘Because before my regression, it had vaporized in the flames set by Meng Yung before anyone could obtain it.’
Wooong!
Woong!
That was why even to Sewoon, this new power was an uncharted realm, now engraved upon his body.
The divine droplet of water that touched his skin soon dug deeper.
Sssaaa!
And it began to merge with his blood.
Since these two had never been one, the process was anything but smooth.
‘……!!’
An unbearable agony like his entire flesh being torn apart from every direction at once surged through Sewoon like a tidal wave.
Anyone else would have fainted outright or even perished from such an overwhelming torment.
But Sewoon slowly closed his eyes and endured all of it.
From the Heavenly Punishment, to the Divine Poison Qi, and ultimately the Reverse Heaven Qi—
‘For me, pain is like an old companion now.’
Such pain he could accept with a smile.
Sewoon firmly withstood the trial left behind by the Battle God Chuk Yeoun.
Sssaaa!
At last, the divine droplet fully merged with his blood, beginning to circulate through his body.
And along that flow, Sewoon’s body began to transcend its limits and be reborn anew.
Tuutuk!
Tududuk!
Strange sounds of breaking and shattering echoed.
It was the sound of Sewoon’s bones and muscles.
Astonishingly, he was undergoing Body Reformation (換骨脫胎).
Even Sewoon could not help but be taken aback.
‘To undergo Body Reformation without even reaching Manifestation Realm yet…!’
Body Reformation, which transformed a martial artist’s body into the most optimal vessel for martial cultivation, was essentially proof of having stepped into the Manifestation Realm.
At present, his cultivation had been at the peak of the Transformation Realm…
Crackkk!
Booom!
Suddenly, Sewoon’s ears rang with the sound of snapping and bursting.
It was the newly changed bones and muscles finding their rightful place, and with it, Sewoon’s internal force surged explosively beyond its limits.
‘No, this is the very peak of Transformation Realm now.’
At last, Sewoon had reached right below the Manifestation Realm.
The speed was incomparable to before his regression.
“Hoo…”
Sewoon calmed his breath and slowly opened his eyes.
Then he gazed down upon his transformed body.
Despite undergoing Body Reformation, the size and shape of his muscles had not changed. They looked ordinary.
Outwardly, the only difference was the Ink Imprint across his muscles, a mane-like pattern running down his body from the neck.
The pitch-black Ink Imprint evoked the image of the Fubyung Jaja (赴兵刺字), when wives or mothers pricked their husbands’ or sons’ backs with needles to carve letters before sending them to war.
Sssaaa!
Chwaaa!
‘This body is absurd…’
But Sewoon was reveling in the true worth of the power left behind by the first Palace Master, Chuk Yeoun.
His body, transcending ordinary limits, now possessed the ultimate defense, like armor forged upon his very flesh.
He had reached the stage known as Diamond Indestructibility (金剛不壞), said to be the pinnacle of external arts.
Even among martial artists who had reached Manifestation Realm, countless had failed to grasp this enlightenment. It was a realm where one’s body became like a diamond rock, unscathed even if one fell from a cliff thousands of feet high.
‘And that’s not all.’
As his body ascended to a higher dimension, Sewoon also received an unexpected gift.
Wooong!
Woong!
From his entire body, the vitality of nature itself pulsed and overflowed.
It was none other than Innate True Qi (先天真氣).
‘The quantity of Innate True Qi has suddenly increased.’
He had never imagined that advancement in external arts could cause such a transformation.
The amount of Innate True Qi within him had increased as though he had cultivated for ten full years.
It was an unbelievable accomplishment, one even the Shaolin’s Great Cycle Pill had not granted him.
A glimmer flashed in Sewoon’s eyes.
‘If I continue training and probing this power, I may find a way to overcome the fatal weakness of the Golden Pellet Qi, its slow accumulation rate!’
At that moment, he had discovered a new path to becoming even stronger.
During the process of transformation, there were, of course, some regrets.
‘Hmm, even after undergoing proper Body Reformation, the Heavenly Punishment remains unchanged.’
Before his regression, Sewoon had reached the Manifestation Realm but had not undergone Body Reformation.
That was because if he had, his wounds would have healed, revealing his cultivation realm to the outside world—so he had deliberately rejected the transformation.
At the time, it had been a regretful choice, but now that he had actually experienced Body Reformation, he realized belatedly that it had been an impossibility all along.
His Heavenly Punishment was such a dreadful curse that not even Body Reformation could overcome it.
What in the world was its true nature…?
But of all the information Sewoon had about the Heavenly Punishment, there was only one clue.
–When you realize that your Heavenly Punishment is not a curse but a blessing, you will come one step closer to what you seek.
When the Blood Demon came to mind, his thoughts grew tangled again, but Sewoon quickly calmed himself.
‘Yes… there will come a day when I find out.’
For now, it was time to focus on matters of the Beast Palace.
Sewoon slowly rose to his feet.
His body felt as light as a feather.
Ssshhk.
He looked around.
As before, all sides of the training chamber were blocked by thick cave walls.
But to Sewoon’s eyes, they now appeared—and felt—entirely different.
“I’ll win! No one can stop me!”
“In the Heavenly Martial Festival, I’ll defeat the Palace Master and take the throne!!”
“……Ugh, he hasn’t come out of the training chamber all day. Should I sneak a look and check his condition?”
Voices rang vividly in his ears, as if spoken right beside him.
They were the voices of nameless Beast Palace martial artists training in the adjacent chambers—
And the mutterings of Moomyeong, hiding in the ceiling of Muramdang outside.
The walls between training rooms had always been too thick with rock for Sewoon, even at Transformation Realm, to hear anything before gaining the Divine Relic.
But now the sounds reached him clearly, amplified.
At the same time, he could see faint images of the Beast Palace martial artists moving on the other side of the walls.
Not only his ears, but his eyes too had been transformed.
His five senses had been sharpened to their utmost limits.
The Divine Relic left behind in the Beast Palace by Chuk Yeoun.
No, now—
‘Let’s call it Ink Blood (墨血).’
Sewoon instinctively felt that the “unique ability” of Ink Blood was not limited to this alone.
“Well then, next.”
It was time to test it in actual combat.
Ssshhk!
Sewoon slid one foot back and lowered his stance.
Suppressing all of his internal qi, he activated only the power of Ink Blood.
Fwoosh!
Heat surged through his entire body as though his blood were boiling like fire.
But this was not qi.
It was purely the strength of his physical body.
Sssaaa!
At the same time, the Ink Imprint etched into Sewoon’s flesh began to glow more vividly.
Ssshhk!
He grasped his wrist with one hand.
Crack!
And clenched his other hand into a fist, tight enough to burst.
With no qi, relying solely on external arts, he would unleash a single punch.
Wooong!
His will strengthened his very soul, radiating an overwhelming aura.
Boom!
Fwahhh–!
Sewoon stamped the ground with all his might, thrusting his fist in a straight line across the shortest distance.
It was no martial technique, no formal strike.
Simply a fist hurled toward the cave wall in front of him.
‘Break!’
Nothing more than a light punch filled only with his intent.
But the aftermath it produced was colossal.
Ruuumble!
Kwooooom!
The deafening sound, like a mountain collapsing, shook all of Muramdang.
“Wh-why, why isn’t he coming out?”
The Hall Leader of Wild Medicine Hall, who had guided Sewoon to Muramdang, was stomping his feet anxiously.
In the basket he carried, rice balls wrapped in leaves were piled high.
A whole day had passed, and he had returned to deliver food.
But even after waiting more than an hour past the agreed time, Sewoon had yet to appear.
‘C-could it be that he got hurt while training?’
Should he return to his quarters and fetch medicine?
He was caught in such thoughts when—
Ruuumble!
Kwooooom!
“Uwaaah!”
A thunderous roar suddenly burst from within Muramdang.
Startled out of his wits, the Hall Leader dropped heavily to the ground.
It was as if a volcano had erupted.
W-what on earth…?
Just as he tilted his head in bewilderment—
The doors of Muramdang flung open, and Beast Palace martial artists came sprinting out in a panic.
“Uwooooh!”
“L-landslide!”
“Run! Lava’s erupting!!”
The low-level Beast Palace disciples, utterly terrified, scrambled in chaos.
As the Hall Leader stared in disbelief at the fleeing crowd—
“Oh, you’re already here.”
“……!”
A familiar voice reached him.
The one he had been waiting for, Pa Taeyun, had appeared.
Unlike the fleeing Beast Palace disciples, he was overflowing with composure.
“P-Pa Taeyun-nim, are you all r-right… Khh!”
The Hall Leader tried to speak but quickly pinched his nose.
Such discourtesy was unheard of in the Beast Palace, but he had no choice.
Th-that stench!
The stench pouring off Sewoon was unbearable.
Blinking in shock, the Hall Leader watched as the other man sheepishly scratched the back of his head.
“I just trained too hard, that’s all.”
Covering the truth—that the impurities of Body Reformation had been expelled—Sewoon spoke calmly.
“My apologies, Umun Tak.”
He addressed the Hall Leader of Wild Medicine Hall, Umun Tak, younger brother of the Beast Palace Master, Umun Geol.