novelraw Chapter 17 : Chapter 17
Chapter 17 : Chapter 17
Chapter 17 - The Gate of Life and Death
“Grandfather.”
Hyeokri Hong’s charming lips moved.
“What is it?”
“Is it… okay to feed him the elixir like this?”
“Hehe.”
Hyeokri Chong laughed meaningfully.
It was no wonder his granddaughter asked that.
Hyeokri Chong had been feeding his granddaughter spirit pills he had made himself since she was very young.
He wondered what good it would do for a young girl to have strong internal energy, but that was all he, an elixirist, could do for her.
Hyeokri Hong was cooped up in the mountains with him just because she lived with him, who had cut himself off from the world.
Whenever that thought weighed on his mind, he would feed her purer and better spirit pills as a reaction.
Before eating a spirit pill, Hyeokri Hong would sit cross-legged and perform the energy circulation meditation her grandfather had taught her.
This was because to properly receive the energy of the elixir, one had to regulate the energy within one’s body.
So, she asked.
If it was okay to feed him like this.
Biyoung, before her eyes, was lying down in a state where it was unclear whether he was sleeping or unconscious.
If her grandfather’s words were true, his internal energy was also quite twisted.
Was it really right to eat an elixir in such a state?
But her grandfather’s face was more resolute than ever.
“It’s fine. In fact, it should be considered a good thing.”
“A good thing… you say?”
“In a normal case, you would be right. But if the energy of the Heaven-Shaking Divine Pill is really inside that kid’s body, the Earth-Drawing Spirit Pill will find its way to it on its own. There’s no need to circulate energy. And there’s another reason.”
“Another one?”
“Have you heard of the state of selflessness?”
“No. It sounds difficult.”
“Hehe. It’s not difficult. When absorbing an elixir, there should be no distracting thoughts, and no unnecessary force should be applied. You literally forget yourself. Only then can you fully receive the energy of the elixir into your body. The reason I made you circulate your energy before eating the elixir was to get you even one step closer to the state of selflessness.”
“Aha! I understand perfectly!”
“……It seems it’s still difficult.”
Hyeokri Hong would sometimes make that expression when explaining a difficult concept.
While shaking her head violently to stop the headache-inducing explanation.
But to Hyeokri Chong, even that appearance was just cute and lovable.
“Now, when he’s not even aware of the fact that he’s eating an elixir, can be said to be similar to the state of selflessness. What’s left is…”
Was it really true that the kid ate the Heaven-Shaking Divine Pill?
If that was true, what kind of monster would emerge in the future?
It was just as Hyeokri Chong was about to say that.
Swoosh.
Biyoung, who had been sleeping as if he had fainted, sat up like a jiangshi.
At that sight, Hyeokri Hong was so startled she almost fainted.
“Kyaak!”
“Calm down.”
Biyoung’s eyes were still closed.
But his body slowly began to assume a certain posture.
It was.
The cross-legged position.
“It seems he has begun in earnest. Let’s go out for a while.”
“……Yes.”
Hyeokri Hong licked her lips as if she was disappointed about something and followed Hyeokri Chong out of the room.
While leaving, she kept turning her head to check on Biyoung’s condition.
***
A sea so clear that you could see all the way to the bottom.
Biyoung was in it.
‘…………?’
The water was extremely clean, but the raging momentum was unusual.
Swishhhh!
It felt like watching a bomb on the verge of exploding.
Or like seeing a spirit beast from the Southern Man Beast Palace tied up in iron chains.
In the middle of the turbulent sea, Biyoung was drifting rapidly.
Although his eyes were closed, for some reason, he could see his surroundings clearly.
No, even his own body felt alien right now.
‘It’s suffocating.’
The movement of the water was so rough and fierce that it pressed down on his chest.
Biyoung’s Dantian was clearer than the transparent sea, but it was not enough to control all of this.
Chwachwachwachwa!
At that moment, from the other side of the sea where Biyoung was drifting, another fierce energy began to surge in.
If the current sea was clear and transparent, the new sea surging in was a blue so bright it made his eyes sting.
The blue sea moved like a lightning bolt towards Biyoung as if it were a magnet.
Its momentum was so strong that Biyoung had to swallow his saliva without realizing it.
The blue sea, which came with a powerful tidal wave, finally collided, and for a moment, a huge waterspout was created.
Kwa-aaaaaaaah!!
“Ah!”
With a short gasp, Biyoung’s body was quickly sucked into the waterspout.
His body spun around and around, and his hair flew about in disarray.
In a normal case, it would be natural to pass out due to the water pressure.
But for some reason, Biyoung’s mind was clearer than ever.
Woooooong!
Biyoung, who had reached the waterspout, ascended to the sky riding the stream of water.
A single body positioned alone between the collision of the fierce seas.
And a noble energy contained within it.
“………….”
Biyoung, floating at the end of the waterspout, was no longer swayed by the sea.
The flow created by the two seas came into his view clearly.
Biyoung extended both hands with eyes that contained profound insight.
Then, the vast seawater, like the boundless ocean, began to surge in through the waterspout.
Kwakwakwakwang!!!
“Keuk!!”
A thunderclap sounded in Biyoung’s head.
His whole body trembled, and the energy inside his body ran rampant like a wounded imugi.
Returning to reality, Biyoung was already in a cross-legged position.
Biyoung instinctively knew that he had absorbed the Earth-Drawing Spirit Pill.
‘I need to focus…!’
He had eaten plenty of elixirs in his past life.
Since he was a prodigy who had reached the Sun-Shooting Sword Art in his twenties.
As long as it wasn't something reserved for the sect leader, Biyoung was in a position to take anything.
But he could say with certainty.
This was the first time he had felt such monstrous elixir energy.
If the elixirs he had eaten in the past were a single branching river, the Earth-Drawing Spirit Pill was the vast ocean itself.
The sea he had seen in the state of selflessness.
Gooooooooo!
Biyoung poured all his mental energy into controlling the energy of the two spirit pills.
What he had to do from now on.
He felt like he knew without anyone telling him.
‘It seems like it’s just running wild ignorantly, but…’
No.
This was just two energies that had lost their way and were circling each other.
Like the two seas he had seen a little while ago.
With his eyes closed, Biyoung slowly began to regulate the two swirling internal energies.
He couldn’t control this terrifying internal energy all at once.
Slowly, starting from the outermost part.
Biyoung regulated the energy of the spirit pills in that way.
It was like slowly carving a piece of Ten-Thousand-Year Cold Iron as large as a great mountain into a needle.
It was a task that required an unimaginable level of internal energy control and patience that an ordinary person wouldn't even dare to attempt.
How much time had passed?
Biyoung finally accomplished the task.
He had condensed the two internal energies, which were like the vast ocean, to the size of a fist.
It was a process that made him want to scream countless times, but Biyoung endured and endured.
His anger towards the annihilated Diancang Sect.
His joy at the change that would come after absorbing the elixir.
The two emotions, like the two elixirs, became a huge catalyst for Biyoung.
Woooooong!
Biyoung slowly pushed the regulated energy of the spirit pills into his Dantian.
Although it was much larger than his Dantian in terms of size, his Dantian sucked up the internal energy well, like a hungry child.
And finally…….
Kwang!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Another thunderclap exploded inside Biyoung’s body.
‘Keuk…!!’
Kwakwakwakwakwakwakwa!!
An enormous energy burst out from his Dantian.
Biyoung instinctively sent the energy of the internal energy down below his Dantian, to his perineum, and guided it to the path of the Governor Vessel.
From bottom to top.
An absurdly strong energy rode up to the Baihui acupoint in a straight line.
Twitch.
The obstacles that had been blocking the meridians in the middle were swept away like autumn leaves by the energy of the spirit pill.
The momentum was so great that he couldn't even feel the pain.
But even the ruthless energy of the spirit pill had to stop its momentum before the final gate.
The Baihui acupoint located near the top of the head.
The internal energy of the spirit pill was blocked several times in front of the Baihui acupoint.
Kwang! Kwang! Kwang!
Every time the internal energy struck the Baihui acupoint, Biyoung was seized by a shock that made him feel like he was going to faint.
But if he lost consciousness here, all his efforts would be in vain.
Biyoung clenched his teeth and held onto his consciousness, recalling a single image.
A powerful form that pierced through ten thousand shields in an instant.
A swift attack that was invisible to the eye.
A single form that was the strongest in Jianghu, that had even pierced through the great Heavenly Demon’s Body Protecting Aura.
The ultimate secret art of the Diancang Sect, which made one not even realize they had died when the sword was drawn.
Soul-Stealing without Awareness!
Did it read Biyoung’s mind?
The energy of the elixir, which had only been striking ignorantly, suddenly turned sharp like the edge of a sword.
Just like Biyoung’s sword when he used Soul-Stealing without Awareness.
The sharply regulated internal energy collided with the Baihui acupoint with all its might……!!
Kwang!!!!!!!!!!
With a dizzying shock, fireworks exploded in Biyoung’s head.
“!”
Now, there were no longer any obstacles blocking his internal energy.
The internal energy that had started from the bottom and gone up to the Baihui acupoint went down again along the Conception Vessel towards the Dantian.
Biyoung’s closed eyelids trembled due to the upheaval.
Biyoung realized that he had crossed another big mountain.
‘I’ve broken through the Gate of Life and Death…!’
Now, nothing blocked Biyoung’s energy circulation.
Although it was possible to operate the Profound Heaven's True Energy Unification Art even before absorbing the Earth-Drawing Spirit Pill, he couldn't do a complete celestial circulation like this.
To make one proper round, the Baihui acupoint, called the Gate of Life and Death, had to be opened.
But now, Biyoung was freed from all restrictions.
It wasn't just a matter of borrowing the power of the elixir; his Dantian itself was as good as an elixir, and even with the same Profound Heaven's True Energy Unification Art, its efficacy would be at a level of heaven and earth compared to before.
For a while, Biyoung stared into the air with a face full of emotion.
The joy of having achieved an experience that martial artists might have only once in their lifetime, twice, welled up.
For swordsmen, the pleasure of opening the Governor and Conception Vessels was sweeter than any drug.
“……You can come in now.”
Clatter clatter!
As if Biyoung’s words were a signal, Hyeokri Chong and his granddaughter stumbled and fell to the floor.
It seemed they had been leaning against the door, holding their breath and waiting for the results.
“Aish! Grandfather!”
“Why are you blaming me, you punk! How can I endure it when you press down on your grandfather’s body like that! You’re just ignorantly strong!”
They even resembled each other in the way they blamed each other with flushed faces.
Biyoung couldn't hold back his laughter.
“Funny?”
“Funny?”
“Hup.”
Biyoung covered his own mouth with his palm, and only then did Hyeokri Hong’s beet-red cheeks return to normal.
“So. Did you get what you wanted?”
At Hyeokri Chong’s question, Biyoung gave a slight smile.
“I’ve crossed the Gate of Life and Death.”
“You finally…!”
Hyeokri Chong let out a gasp as if he were vomiting.
A fifteen-year-old boy who had mastered the Sun-Shooting Sword Art and opened the Governor and Conception Vessels.
He couldn't even guess how far his potential would extend.
Biyoung stood up from his spot and politely clasped his fist.
“I will never forget Lord Hyeokri’s grace.”
“……Usually they forget as soon as they turn around.”
Hyeokri Chong said so, but his cheekbones were slightly raised as if he was pleased inside.
The most rewarding moment for an elixir maker.
That was when the internal energy of the one who absorbed the elixir grew by leaps and bounds.
Moreover, this kid claimed to be a descendant of the Diancang Sect, so his good fortune was his own comfort.
Comfort for the past years of heartache over the annihilated Diancang Sect.
Hyeokri Chong twisted his lips once and asked a mischievous question.
“Then now, are you the sect leader of the Diancang Sect?”
“What?”
Biyoung was startled and waved his hands.
“What are you talking about? Sect leader. Don’t be ridiculous!”
“You ate all the elixirs that are said to be passed down only to the sect leader, so isn’t it natural? Surely you’re not planning to eat and run?”
“Not at all. I’d rather die than betray the Diancang Sect.”
“Then that’s settled! The previous sect leader is already dead and gone. You’re probably the only one left from the Diancang Sect. Take this opportunity to get a position!”
“……Should I send you to the sect leader’s side right now?”
As if asking where the warm greeting from a moment ago had gone, the two began to bicker again.
At that sight, Hyeokri Hong, who was caught between them, let out a low sigh.
‘Like a couple of childish fools.’