novelraw Chapter 218 : The Turbulent Martial World (1)
Chapter 218 : The Turbulent Martial World (1)
Chapter 218: The Turbulent Martial World (1)
Under normal circumstances, she would have poured out a stream of crude banter and twin curses wholly unsuited to the atmosphere. But Boyeon Divine Nun could not bring herself to utter a single word.
A transcendent realm encompassing both the Life Realm and the Death-Transcendence Realm.
An uncharted realm of which no one in the martial world knew anything concrete beyond its name.
Even across the thousands of years of murim history, was it not only the legendary Heavenly Demon of myth who might have reached it? At best, one could only hazard such cautious speculation.
‘To think that this Yoo Clan fellow truly reached it…….’
The reason her chest trembled was not merely because he had entered the Life-and-Death Realm, but because—setting aside her status as the founder of the Mount Emei Sect—she was moved as one martial artist to another.
Ssss—
At that moment, the overwhelming presence that had been pouring out from Yoo Jinhak’s entire body slowly subsided.
Yoo Jinhak repeatedly clenched and unclenched his hand, as if a newborn child were moving his body for the first time.
“Hmm, only now does the reception and release of qi feel familiar.”
“……Is it truly the Life-and-Death Realm?”
Her voice spread out like a resonance.
In response, Yoo Jinhak looked at her with warm eyes and slowly nodded.
Boyeon Divine Nun let out an unconscious exclamation.
“Heh heh. It seemed impossibly high, yet once crossed, even this was no more than a cloud—not the end of the heavens.”
“……I should have brought my long bamboo pipe. Watching you feign humility is truly unpleasant to the eye.”
“Haha. I am not deceiving or teasing you—this is genuinely the truth, Boyeon.”
Only now that the tension had eased, the two longtime friends exchanged light banter.
He spoke with a gentle laugh.
Yet that laughter was not mere composure. It was a true serenity blooming from the heart of a martial artist who had been pressed down by something for countless years.
“But still, how exactly did you attain the Life-and-Death Realm?”
At Boyeon Divine Nun’s question, Yoo Jinhak slowly turned his gaze to the side.
The sky spreading over the mountain ridgeline was no different from usual, yet to his eyes it appeared as an entirely different landscape.
“Boyeon, as you know, I had been blocked for far too long. Standing before a wall I dared not think I could cross.”
His words, rising from deep within, were grave beyond measure.
“I devoted decades to a single sword to shatter that wall, yet could not advance even one step.”
“…….”
Boyeon Divine Nun watched him in silence.
How could she not know?
Though the world revered him as the greatest under heaven, he himself had lived through years of self-reproach steeped in resignation and helplessness.
“Then I met that child.”
Yoo Jinhak’s gaze drifted far away—
Toward the land of Sichuan, from which Boyeon Divine Nun had come.
‘Ah.’
Instinctively, she realized who that child was.
Tang Sewoon.
Once more, that name surfaced.
“I have seen countless martial artists pursue strength. I was no different. But that child’s martial path was not simply about becoming stronger.”
“……!”
“That child was not trying to cross the wall—he was pushing it away with all his might, as if determined that no one would ever be hurt by it.”
With eyes as deep as a lake, Yoo Jinhak continued.
“That 모습—his true intent…… lingered in my heart for a very long time. That was when I resolved it. To walk the same path myself.”
“!!”
“Hah. I can only apologize to you. I knew the situation would grow urgent, yet I could not postpone this realization.”
His voice was low, but within it lay a meaning deeper than any martial art.
Only then did Boyeon Divine Nun understand why he had chosen seclusion training. It had not been escape, but resolve.
A brief silence followed.
Even the mountain birds seemed to have ceased their cries; only stillness settled over the surroundings.
It was Yoo Jinhak who broke the quiet.
“Come, there is something I wish to show you.”
“Hmm?”
With a meaningful smile, Yoo Jinhak drew a single letter from within his robes.
“This is……?”
“Take a look.”
Though flustered by the suddenness, Boyeon Divine Nun accepted it and unfolded the letter.
It seemed old—the edges yellowed with age, small creases scattered throughout.
Yet the contents written within were firm and clear.
‘W-what?!’
As she read, her eyes blinked again and again in rapid succession.
Her reaction plainly showed just how shocked she was by what the letter contained.
“……When did you receive this?”
“About a month ago. Well before I even entered seclusion training.”
“!!”
Boyeon Divine Nun’s eyes shook even more violently.
And it could not be otherwise.
The letter laid out the movements of the Gale Sands, the Ice Palace, and the Southern Sea Sun Palace; the weakening of the White Path Union; the betrayal of the Kongtong Sect; and even the collapse of the Lee Trading Company……
It had organized the very framework of every major event unfolding now.
“……This is no prophecy tome. How could such things be known a month in advance……?”
“Tang Sewoon. That child secretly delivered it to me.”
“……!!”
Boyeon Divine Nun looked down at the paper once more.
Then, with a grave expression, she spoke.
“Do you mean to say that child possesses the Venerable Monk’s Heavenly Eye Divine Power……?”
“No, not that. I believe it is merely the manifestation of an incisive insight that pierces the flow of the martial world.”
Yoo Jinhak shook his head in denial.
Yet for some reason, his expression grew heavy.
“But the child said this: if everything unfolds according to his letter……”
As if fearful to voice it aloud, Yoo Jinhak spoke quietly.
“That a Great Chaos more horrific than all the bloodshed thus far combined would descend upon the martial world.”
“……!!”
A chill ran down Boyeon Divine Nun’s spine.
Just what kind of dreadful future had Tang Sewoon seen?
“That is why I intend to go to the Tang Clan. The terrifying ‘Abyss’ that child has long been watching—I believe I can now see it, if only a little.”
“!!”
She was shocked once more.
Yoo Jinhak had reached the uncharted Life-and-Death Realm.
And yet, if even he had to describe it as an abyss, then just what sort of colossal evil—what kind of Gigantic Demon harboring such vast malice—could it be? The thought alone made her shudder.
Just as her thoughts were growing tangled—
“Then let us go together, Boyeon.”
Yoo Jinhak spoke slowly.
Moonlight, gentle and pale, settled over the inner courtyard of the Sichuan Tang Clan.
Inside a hall guarded with uncompromising vigilance, a man sat silently in a cross-legged meditation posture.
“Hu—.”
As the man, Tang Sewoon, released a deep breath, it felt as though the entire space trembled in response.
The energy that had been overflowing within his flesh had calmed, like an ocean after a violent storm had completely passed.
Sewoon slowly opened his eyes.
Within his pupils, Profound Qi that seemed to contain the vast heavens and Evil Qi imbued with subterranean chaos flickered simultaneously.
‘Only now have I completed the Extreme of the Manifestation Realm.’
At this moment, Sewoon had reached a stage beyond the very concept of controlling energy—a state where energy itself was fully incorporated into his being.
Energy was no longer something to be controlled.
With a mere thought, it flowed; with a breath drawn in, it circulated of its own accord along his blood vessels.
Within that perfectly interwoven harmony, only Reverse Heaven Qi writhed faintly, seeking another chance to seize dominance.
Shaaah!
An indescribably immense power stirred within his flesh.
This was the same complete Extreme of the Manifestation Realm that Sword Emperor Yoo Jinhak had attained—a realm that Sewoon, before regression, had not even been able to set foot upon.
It was a situation worthy of raising a celebratory cup—
‘……Insufficient.’
Yet Sewoon felt no satisfaction.
No—he could not feel satisfied.
Upon reaching the Extreme of the Manifestation Realm, the next realm, once vague, now appeared all the clearer.
‘The Life-and-Death Realm.’
Sewoon slowly took a deep breath.
Simply repeating that name caused his mind to settle calmly.
A realm he had not even been able to gauge before regression.
But now, it was the next goal he absolutely had to reach.
The reason he pushed himself this far was singular.
‘Now that I’ve reached this point, I understand. The Blood Demon was not merely at the threshold of the Life-and-Death Realm—he had reached its very end…….’
In truth, Sewoon did not even know whether the Life-and-Death Realm was divided into three stages like the realms before it.
Yet upon arriving at the Extreme of the Manifestation Realm, the image of the Blood Demon he had seen before regression replayed itself vividly.
A demon that washed the world in blood, creating horrific blood calamities.
Amid mountains of corpses piled high, the monster that had looked down at him with an inexplicable smile—
‘There’s no way I can believe that his power back then was merely one step beyond my current realm.’
Unconsciously, Sewoon clenched his teeth and tightened his fist.
Drops of blood fell from where his nails bit into his palm.
Though a long time had passed since his regression, recalling the Blood Demon of the past still inflicted unbearable pain upon Sewoon.
But it lasted only a moment.
Soon, when Sewoon steadied his heart and opened his eyes, only hardened resolve remained within them.
‘That’s why I must hurry even more. I must surpass him.’
The confrontation with the Blood Demon was drawing ever closer.
Then what was the fastest way to go beyond the Extreme of the Manifestation Realm and obtain the key to the Life-and-Death Realm?
‘The methods I used before won’t work.’
Of course, memories and knowledge from before regression still remained unused.
Yet he realized instinctively.
To break through from the Extreme of the Manifestation Realm into the Life-and-Death Realm, what he had gained from demonic practitioners as payment would be utterly insufficient.
‘To advance further from here, I need something beyond even the Blood Cult’s demonic practitioners.’
And—
Surprisingly, Sewoon had already narrowed down what he needed to pursue.
Even beneath the dim glow of a lamp, Sewoon’s gaze was deep and clear, like stars in the night sky.
At last, he murmured a name that had long been treated as a forbidden taboo within the martial world.
“Heavenly Demon.”
Faint Silver Heavenly Demon.
A being no one dared to speak of.
A name that both orthodox and unorthodox paths had sought to erase all traces of.
Sewoon believed that this Heavenly Demon was now the existence he needed to pursue.
He slowly raised one hand.
Chwararar—
A Heavenly Thread wrapped in pure Yin-Cold Qi fluttered through the air.
As he watched that radiant sight, a peculiar light surfaced in Sewoon’s eyes.
It was this Ice Wheel Thread that had become the catalyst for his resolve to chase the traces of the Heavenly Demon.
‘Among the powers of the Heavenly Thread, only the Ice Wheel Thread continues to evolve without knowing any limit.’
The Heavenly Demon’s final legacy, the Silver Moon Great Axe, had become the material for the Winter Locking Wheel, and that Winter Locking Wheel had in turn become the material for the Ice Wheel Thread.
And perhaps because of that, only the Ice Wheel Thread continued to grow endlessly stronger, far beyond Sewoon’s predictions.
At first, he suspected it was due to Reverse Heaven Qi—but it was not.
Wooooong!
‘This power.’
It was because the residual energy of the Heavenly Demon, left within the Silver Moon Great Axe, was being manifested in a strange manner.
Though it was no more than residue as minute as a speck of dust—
Sewoon felt absolute certainty.
‘This energy will become the map that leads me to the Heavenly Demon’s legacy.’