novelraw Chapter 6 : Chapter 6
Chapter 6 : Chapter 6
Chapter 06 - Isn't That a Completely Ruined Sect?
Fifteen years.
Sedong said that the fight between the Murim Alliance and the Demonic Cult was a story from fifteen years ago.
“I heard that a great many people of Jianghu died that day. But thanks to them, the Demonic Cult also suffered considerable damage, and they were able to prevent the entire martial world from being invaded. The Heavenly Demon left behind a Twenty-Year Pact, saying he would return after recovering from his injuries and the Demonic Cult’s losses.”
For the great Heavenly Demon to promise a return in twenty years, he must have been seriously injured.
But to put it another way, it meant that the martial world had missed a golden opportunity to finish off the Heavenly Demon.
An opportunity created by sacrificing their lives.
Sedong knew far more stories than Biyoung had thought.
Sedong's words that he admired the life of a person of Jianghu did not seem to be a lie.
So, Biyoung asked the question he was most curious about.
“Then, do you know what happened to the Diancang Sect?”
Leading up to the fight with the Heavenly Demon.
There had been great sacrifices from the first-rate masters, including the elders.
Although it was the same for any sect, in the case of the Diancang Sect, the damage was immense.
This was because they were the smallest in scale among the Nine Sects One Union, a sect that operated with a small elite.
Among them, the Sun-Shooting Sword Art and the Vacuum Sword, which were said to be passed down only to a limited number of masters in the Diancang Sect, were very rare swordsmanships.
It was for that reason that the Diancang Sect was considered peculiar even within the Nine Sects One Union.
“The Diancang Sect?”
A strange light appeared on Sedong's face.
Biyoung could instinctively feel that it was not a good sign.
“How do you know about the Diancang Sect? Isn’t that a completely ruined sect?”
“!!!”
Sparks flew from Biyoung's eyes.
He grabbed Sedong's shoulder without realizing it.
“What does that mean!? The Diancang Sect disappeared!!”
“Cough……!!”
He had shaken his shoulder so forcefully that Sedong choked and coughed once more.
Biyoung loosened his grip and asked again.
“Sorry. Can you tell me everything you know about the Diancang Sect?”
Perhaps feeling that Biyoung's attitude was strange, Sedong's pupils trembled slightly.
But soon, Sedong calmly continued his explanation.
“I didn't know you knew about the Diancang Sect. The Diancang Sect was one of the Nine Sects One Union active here in Yunnan Province. I heard that the power of the Diancang Sect weakened greatly after the war with the Demonic Cult fifteen years ago. After the war ended, there were no masters left in the Diancang Sect who could use their ultimate techniques.”
Grind.
The sound of Biyoung grinding his teeth leaked from his mouth.
“I don't know for sure, but it must have been an incredibly difficult martial art to learn. The Diancang Sect already had few members, and after all the first-rate masters died, there was no one left to pass down the martial arts to the disciples. And then five years later……”
Sedong hunched his neck and continued.
“The Diancang Sect was attacked by dark path factions of unknown identity. The Diancang Sect, which had lost not only its masters but also all its first-generation disciples, was said to have been defeated without even being able to put up a proper fight.”
“Defeated? So you're saying they ran away, leaving Diancang Mountain behind?”
That was a story he really didn't want to believe.
More so than the story that the Heavenly Demon was alive!
Looking at Sedong's thoroughly frightened face, Biyoung exercised extreme patience.
“Then…… who is on Diancang Mountain now?”
“The dark path factions disappeared after occupying Diancang Mountain, and the place the Diancang Sect used turned into ruins. Then I heard that a group of bandits who were active nearby recently formed a mountain stronghold. The merchant misters said it was called Tiger-Bear Stronghold……”
“……………!”
Biyoung hung his head.
Then he let out a huge sigh as if the ground would collapse.
For the Diancang Sect to be exterminated, and for the main mountain they used to be taken over by a mere group of bandits.
It was a series of heart-wrenching stories.
‘I have no face to see my ancestors after I die.’
Biyoung was silent for a long time.
The event of piercing the Heavenly Demon’s chest had already become a story from fifteen years ago, and the Diancang Sect, which was like his roots, had been completely dismantled.
Seeing the state of the bandits occupying the main mountain, he felt it would be better to just die again.
Where and how should he even begin to unravel this mess.
‘Sect Leader…… that's why I said we had to leave a few people at the main mountain.’
The face of the sect leader, as upright as a bamboo stalk, came to Biyoung’s mind.
Ahead of the war with the Heavenly Demon, the Nine Sects One Union and the prestigious families had formed the Murim Alliance, and the Diancang Sect had mobilized all its masters to stand on the front lines.
Since their martial arts were already difficult to pass down, Biyoung had insisted that they should leave behind the elders, including the head of the martial arts hall.
However, the sect leader had shaken his head and dismissed Biyoung's words.
“If the Murim Alliance falls, transmission is also impossible."
With the words, ‘If the Murim Alliance falls, transmission is also impossible.’
“Ha…… I'm going crazy.”
Biyoung roughly scratched the back of his head while it was still hung low.
His heart pounded as if it would leap out of his chest at any moment.
Unable to control his anger, Biyoung's face was so red it was on the verge of turning blue.
“Biyoung-ah…… are you okay?”
“Keueung……”
How could I be okay.
I will never forget this feeling until the day I die.
What in the world was the Murim Alliance doing while the Diancang Sect was in such a state?
“………No. That's not right.”
In the first place, wasn't the Murim Alliance also a group bound by interests?
After the Heavenly Demon retreated, the atmosphere would have flowed back to one of checking each other as before.
The Diancang Sect must have been attacked by someone in that process.
Now that the sect had been exterminated and the main mountain taken over, everyone in the world would think that the Diancang Sect was finished.
However.
In front of Sedong was a figure who could be called the living incarnation of the Diancang Sect.
‘It’s not over yet.’
A firm resolve was etched on Biyoung's face, which had found its composure.
Only Biyoung knew how tragic that resolve was, and how arduous the path he had to walk would be.
His head felt like it was about to burst from the complexity, but in times like these, a path tends to appear if you handle the tasks before you one by one.
For example, laying the foundation in Biyoung's body.
“I have to go first.”
As Biyoung stood up, Sedong hurriedly called him.
“Biyoung-ah. I have a favor to ask.”
“?”
He had called out urgently, but when their eyes met, Sedong scratched the back of his head and couldn't seem to open his mouth.
“What is it?”
“Sometimes…… could you teach me martial arts?”
At those words, Biyoung forgot his seriousness and let out a chuckle.
“Do I look like a master to you?”
“I secretly watched from outside just now. The way you held the wooden sword.”
Hmm?
Ah.
Is he talking about when I was beating up the flat-nosed boy's gang?
Sedong, who usually only knew how to smile vacantly, had a determined expression this time.
“It seemed fundamentally different from the random attacks you see in the marketplace.”
Does one's eye for detail also improve when they admire the stories of Jianghu?
Although he hesitated for a moment, Biyoung soon nodded his head.
There were plenty of martial arts he could casually teach besides those of the Diancang Sect.
He could just teach some basic breathing techniques or some basic swordsmanship learned by many sects.
Sedong was the only person who had helped Biyoung at the hall.
And he also seemed to be well-informed about what was happening in the martial world.
Crucially, wasn't he the one who bought him food?
“Alright. See you then.”
Biyoung set a time to meet with Sedong and then climbed the mountain path alone.
***
“This should be good.”
The mountains located in Yunnan Province are generally steep and rugged.
The mountains around this Yiliang County were no different.
Biyoung deliberately chose a deserted mountain path, then sat cross-legged on a small flat area.
This was a very important moment for Biyoung.
The work of tilling and leveling the soil for his internal energy.
Biyoung closed his eyes and concentrated his mind.
The faint internal forces flowing within his body.
And the blazing energy of the elixir in his lower abdomen.
He had to combine these well to create an exceptionally pure dantian.
Ssssss.
The sound of the wind hitting the leaves was clearly heard in his ears.
That was the only sound here.
Inhale.
Taking a deep breath, Biyoung slowly began to circulate his energy.
The ultimate cultivation method that only chosen geniuses within the Diancang Sect, known for its small elite, could learn.
He began to operate the Profound Heaven's True Energy Unification Art.
The energy of Profound Heaven's True Energy Unification Art took root in all the twelve main meridians and eight extra meridians, places it had not normally frequented.
Jjirit.
A sharp pain, as if all his blood vessels were being electrocuted, occurred throughout his body.
Biyoung almost let out a cry and lost his concentration.
If the head of the martial arts hall of the Diancang Sect in the past had seen this, he might have clutched the back of his neck, saying ‘Th, th, that!’.
The Profound Heaven's True Energy Unification Art was a cultivation method notorious even outside the Diancang Sect for its profound and difficult operation.
For a beginner who hadn't even created a dantian yet to use such a cultivation method?
It was like jumping into a pit of fire while holding a can of oil.
Normally, one would create a dantian with the basic cultivation method of the Diancang Sect, Supreme Unity True Energy.
But Biyoung decided to break from the norm and walk his own path.
It was because the ‘conditions’ were too good to create a dantian in the ordinary way.
‘Endure it. All the necessary energies are already in place.’
The greatest genius swordsman in the history of the Diancang Sect.
Although he was reborn in another's body, that genius was still there.
Three things were needed to operate Profound Heaven's True Energy Unification Art.
The external energy bestowed by great nature.
And the user's understanding of the cultivation method.
Lastly, profound internal energy.
The first two were prepared, but no matter how much of a genius Biyoung was, he could not operate Profound Heaven's True Energy Unification Art without internal energy.
However, in his body, there was the energy of an elixir instead of internal energy.
‘This will probably be the one and only time.’
Since he had substituted the internal energy needed for Profound Heaven's True Energy Unification Art with the energy of the elixir, the elixir's energy would most likely be extinguished.
However, if he could create a pure and strong dantian, it wasn't much of a waste.
He stored the external energy inside through deep breathing and combined it with the blazing energy of the elixir.
One cycle.
Another cycle.
The internal and external energies flowed through Biyoung's body according to the incantations of Profound Heaven's True Energy Unification Art.
Creating a dantian with Profound Heaven's True Energy Unification Art instead of Supreme Unity True Energy was an experience Biyoung had never had before.
Jjirit.
At the repeated pain along his meridians, Biyoung felt like he would rather just faint.
Biyoung bit his lip until it bled.
‘Endure it!’
As they say, pleasure comes at the end of hardship, and at some point, the pain gradually began to subside.
In the meantime, Biyoung's clothes became soaked with sweat, and impurities began to seep out of his body, emitting a foul odor.
‘Not yet. Not yet.’
He repeated the energy circulation so many times he couldn't count.
While performing Profound Heaven's True Energy Unification Art, the fight with the Heavenly Demon and the collapsed Diancang Sect had all disappeared from his mind.
Eventually, something like a smile began to appear on Biyoung's lips.
He could feel with his skin that something enormous was being created inside his body.
‘It’s on a level incomparable to my previous life……!’
He was so immersed that he couldn't feel the passage of time, but he could clearly tell that today's process was taking much longer than ‘in his past life’.
If it took this much effort just to create a basic dantian, he couldn't even imagine what kind of monster would emerge in the future.
Ssssss.
How much time had passed?
Biyoung, with his eyes closed, couldn't tell if it was day or night.
The only thing he could feel was the clean and strong energy in his lower abdomen.
It was the moment a dantian was finally being created in Biyoung's body.
‘This is…… a dantian?’
The dantian was small.
But small was only a relative term.
Compared to the millet-sized dantian Biyoung had created in his previous life, what had taken its place was several times larger and purer.
More so than his past self, who had been praised as the greatest master in the history of the Diancang Sect.
Biyoung gently opened his eyes and looked down.
The terrible wounds and bruises were gone without a trace, and dazzlingly white skin came into view.
His swollen hand had also returned to its former state.
Seeing his cleanly changed body, it felt as if his muddled mind was also being sorted out.
Was it because he had laid the cornerstone of his martial arts?
The things he had to do in the future seemed as clear as day.
“I will return everything…… to how it was.”
If the Diancang Sect suffered the disaster of extermination, he would rebuild it.
If he couldn't kill the Heavenly Demon, he would plunge a sword into his heart one more time.
And.
If the Diancang Sect was used by the Murim Alliance of the past…….
“I'll make them pay the price. All of them.”
As if the starlight of the heavens had been embedded in them, Biyoung's eyes were shining brilliantly.