novelraw Chapter 12 : Chapter 12
Chapter 12 : Chapter 12
Chapter 12 - Moyong Family (5)
“Little Brother. Do you realize what you just said?”
bearded man, with a serious face, got up from the bed and slowly approached Jaun’s bedside.
“It might have been different if you just let it slide, but now that you've brought it up first, I can't help it either.”
Stopping about two steps away from Jaun’s bed, bearded man lowered his posture and fidgeted with his waist.
“Why are you telling me this now?”
bearded man’s sharp gaze filled the Guest Hall.
“You have something you want to ask me, right? I knew you’ve been watching me ever since we came back from the investigation recently.”
bearded man looked at Jaun with a dumbfounded face and scratched his head.
“Good grief. I thought you were a young tiger, but you were already a fully grown hidden dragon. I thought I was watching you secretly…… It seems I underestimated you, Little Brother.”
bearded man, who was lost in thought while stroking his beard for a moment, opened his mouth.
“Fine. Since it has come to this, I will ask you openly.”
bearded man slowly exhaled the breath he had inhaled deeply and continued speaking.
“The day there was a clash between the Moyong Merchant Group and the bandits. Smelling an unfamiliar herb scent from the bottom of the mountain, I controlled my breathing as much as possible and was wary of the surroundings. Of course, I didn't think the bandits would shoot arrows laced with poison like that, so I ended up getting poisoned eventually.”
bearded man paused for a moment and then continued again.
“The first thing I saw as soon as I opened my eyes was your back as you blew away the Fortress Master’s head with a spinning kick. I was greatly surprised, but…… well, there are more than one or two hidden masters in Murim. Your intentions didn't seem impure, and your usual conduct was upright, so I just thought you must have some circumstances to hide your skills and let it go. Since I also have things I want to hide.”
Dry heat began to slowly emanate from around bearded man’s body as he looked straight into Jaun’s eyes and spoke.
“However. When I visited Mount Gillim again for the investigation recently, I found traces that I absolutely could not overlook. Among the remaining footprints, I felt something I shouldn't have felt.”
bearded man, staring at Jaun with tense eyes, spoke through gritted teeth.
“That was the footprint of the Demon Shadow Step. Traces of the cursed Heavenly Demon Divine Cult. Since it was such a faint trace that even I, who have been digging into the Demonic Cult’s martial arts for nearly ten years, was unsure, I could have been mistaken, but I couldn't shake off the suspicion. That’s why I was watching you.”
bearded man turned his head to face Jaun directly.
“Well? Can you give me an answer to my question?”
Jaun, looking at bearded man’s wavering eyes, nodded.
“I won't lie. It is true that I am practicing the Demon Shadow Step.”
In an instant, bearded man’s body moved like lightning and approached Jaun’s side.
Before anyone knew it, a hand axe was drawn and held in bearded man’s hand, trembling right in front of Jaun’s neck.
“You…… You bastard. Were you, by any chance, a spy of the Demonic Cult?”
Unable to calm his boiling excitement, bearded man’s hand trembled, and the hand axe lightly grazed Jaun’s neck, creating a wound.
Due to the dry heat flowing from bearded man’s body, the wooden floor began to shrink and crack with a cracking sound.
Nevertheless, Jaun, looking up at bearded man with calm eyes, slowly opened his mouth.
“The Western Taklamakan Desert. The force that rules that place, Frenzied Wind Sand . If you meet a person wielding two axes in that hot sandstorm, never act rashly and do your best. Because he might be a Godly Man leading the crazy sandstorm.”
At Jaun’s words, bearded man’s eyes trembled slightly.
“It is something my father told me when I was very young. Since then, to me who often asked about the current status of the forces outside the pass, one day my father said that the wind of the Frenzied Wind Sand had unfortunately scattered, so I could forget about it now.”
Listening to Jaun, bearded man’s expression distorted like a demon as if he recalled something. bearded man’s arm trembled as if it was difficult to control his boiling anger.
“That the genius born from the sandstorm, who was manlier than any man my father had ever met, perished at the hands of the Blood Demon , the Supreme Elder of the Demonic Cult. I remember the day he drank alcohol while mourning like that.”
Jaun caught his breath for a moment and continued speaking again.
“After a long time passed, when I came down from the mountain and met you, Brother, seeing the two hand axes in your hands reminded me of my father’s words. I wondered if you were the successor to that person my father spoke of. My father said there would be no one in the Central Plains who uses two hand axes.”
“Shut up! I have no intention of listening to your trivial stories. Stop the nonsense and get to the point. Does the fact that you learned the Demon Shadow Step mean you are a member of that cursed Heavenly Demon Divine Cult?”
“I am not a member of the Divine Cult. However…….”
Looking up at the excited bearded man, Jaun began to calmly unravel his situation.
The meeting with his father.
The life spent with his father in the mountains.
And even his father's final moments, which he eventually faced after evading the endless pursuit of the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult.
bearded man’s hand axe, which had been quietly listening to Jaun, slowly lowered. bearded man, sighing with a despondent expression, took a step back.
“……In the end, Wi Jeong-cheon, even he passed away like that. To think you succeeded him.”
As the tension released, bearded man slumped onto the floor and bowed his head. Letting out a small sigh, bearded man opened his mouth.
“My father often spoke of him. That he was a true martial artist who revered martial arts and the only person he could call a friend in the dry Kangho. Although he wore the clothes of the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult, one of the major pillars of the Central Plains, he was the only one who treated us solely as people, not barbarians, unlike other people of the Central Plains.”
bearded man, who had been organizing his thoughts for a long time, scratched his head vigorously.
“What you thought is correct. I am the shameful descendant of the one who led the Frenzied Wind Sand. After the Frenzied Wind Sand disappeared, I remained alone in the desert and have been sharpening my axe towards the Demonic Cult for nearly ten years.”
bearded man bit his lip tightly.
“I trained alone in the desert until I was nearly thirty, but I could not reach my father’s distant realm. I received his blood, but I was not born with the same talent as him. One day, while repeating my training amidst such thirst for martial arts, I realized that my body was gradually weakening and had no choice but to despair.”
bearded man sighed, recalling the unreasonable training he had done recklessly without a proper master until he was thirty.
“Since the axe technique of the Frenzied Wind Sand that embodies the desert wind was a martial art that required not only internal energy but also physical robustness, I could not delay any longer. Before it was too late, before this body became duller. I came out to the Kangho to try to exact even a small revenge on the Demonic Cult, even if I had to throw away my life.”
“……Revenge.”
“Kukuk. Yes. Revenge. However, when I entered the Central Plains, the power of the Demonic Cult was more massive and solid than I thought. In the despair that the Demonic Cult wouldn't even care if a guy like me ran wild alone, I only worried while hiding in the Black Dragon River region before starting to move belatedly like this.”
Jaun, holding the hand of bearded man who was sitting on the floor and pulling him up, said to bearded man.
“Revenge…… You have the same thoughts as me. I admit the power of the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult is massive. That’s why if one person can't do it, two should, and if two can't do it, many should. We must find those who share our thoughts, join forces, and make the Demonic Cult pay the price before it’s too late.”
bearded man, looking into Jaun’s eyes filled with strong will, chewed his lip and then grinned broadly.
The same will began to permeate bearded man’s eyes as well.
“……Maybe I was trying to give up that deep-seated grudge too easily. Right. If I am with you who knows the Demonic Cult’s martial arts well. And if we gather more strength, it might really be worth a try.”
bearded man reached out his hand and tightly grasped Jaun’s hand.
***
Jaun, who took out the Silver Soul Pill from his bosom and tossed it into his mouth, sat cross-legged on the floor.
bearded man, glancing at Jaun, leaned against the door of the Guest Hall and grinned while looking at Jaun.
“Little Brother. You must absorb it well so the medicinal effect is not wasted. Since we have to do big things together in the future.”
bearded man, who naturally liked people by nature, seemed quite happy to have met a comrade to walk together with the same purpose.
Jaun, nodding once to bearded man, began to concentrate on the energy of the spiritual medicine seeping into his body.
Soon, the clear energy emanating from the Silver Soul Pill began to wrap around his entire body.
‘The level of the spiritual medicine is higher than I thought?’
As the well-refined energy flowed in, Jaun’s entire body began to squirm little by little.
[Balanced growth of Mind, Energy, and Body .]
Wi Jeong-cheon always emphasized balance to Jaun.
Compared to Jaun’s still young body and the realm of his martial arts , the internal energy Wi Jeong-cheon possessed was excessively large.
Therefore, Wi Jeong-cheon did not pass on his internal energy to Jaun as it was, but divided and planted it throughout Jaun’s meridians.
It was an arrangement made so that as Jaun’s body grew and his martial arts realm rose, he could gradually accept the internal energy transmitted through the naturally opening meridians.
─ Swaaaa
The energy spreading from the Silver Soul Pill swirled around Jaun’s body and stimulated Wi Jeong-cheon’s internal energy that was locked in his meridians.
Then, the internal energy planted by Wi Jeong-cheon flowed out little by little and began to empower the energy of the Silver Soul Pill.
The energy that was flowing like a large river increased its speed in an instant and slammed into Jaun’s Middle Dantian with a thud.
“……!”
Jaun’s body trembled at the shock that surged up.
If one wants to open the Realm of Six Stars of the Heavenly Demon Divine Art, opening the Middle Dantian is essential.
Realizing that now, with sufficient energy gathered, was the perfect opportunity, Jaun pushed the energy towards the Middle Dantian once again.
─ Thud
─ Thud
The energy that knocked on the Middle Dantian several times began to rise little by little, and the internal energy settled in the Lower Dantian gradually expanded its vessel along the path towards the Middle Dantian.
When he first heard the explanation of the training stages of the Heavenly Demon Divine Art from Wi Jeong-cheon, Jaun could not understand those words at all.
[Once the Middle Dantian opens, you reach the Realm of Earth Connection where the dantian expands up to the solar plexus, and at that time, the entire abdomen acts as the dantian. In that realm, you become able to momentarily use the energy spread around you like your own internal energy.]
[Uhm…. Then, what if the Upper Dantian opens?]
[In the Realm of Heaven Connection where even the Upper Dantian opens, the entire upper body acts as the dantian, and then you will come to know things you cannot see with your eyes or feel with your body.]
‘At that time, I only thought it was too fanciful a story…….’
As the dantian grew towards the Middle Dantian little by little, he really began to feel the unfamiliar energy of the surroundings naturally.
Jaun trembled at the texture of the unfamiliar energy and slowly began to mix the energy seeping into his body with his internal energy.
‘If I can utilize the surrounding energy in this way, I can solve a significant portion of the problems caused by the lack of internal energy.’
A desire for the opening of the Middle Dantian began to bloom in Jaun’s heart, having tasted the new realm slightly.
Gathering the surrounding energy he drew in and the energy of the spiritual medicine, Jaun pushed it up towards the Middle Dantian once again.
─ Thud
─ Thud
He pushed the energy up to the Middle Dantian several times, but each time, the energy lost its power as if blocked by something and came back down to the dantian.
Controlling his impatient mind, Jaun began to knock on the Middle Dantian endlessly.
How much time had passed?
He tried for a long time, but the Middle Dantian showed no signs of opening.
Feeling the area around his overheated dantian becoming numb, Jaun decided to make one last attempt.
‘Unification of Mind, Energy, and Body. Unification of the sword, myself, and the surrounding environment. Unification of Heaven, Earth, and Man.’
Jaun, who contemplated inside his body and gradually expanded his consciousness to the surroundings, fell into a state of selflessness in an instant, and the energy that had stopped for a moment pushed up towards the Middle Dantian with explosive momentum.
─ Kwaaang!
With a popping shock in an instant, Jaun’s body filled up with energy abundantly.
Amidst the dizzying and ecstatic feeling, Jaun lost consciousness and collapsed on the spot.