ch 18

 

Chapter 18

He saw something moving in the distance, beyond the inky depths.

His vision was blurry, but he could tell it wasn't a fish. It was far too large, and its movements were unlike any fish he had ever seen. Cheonma watched as it vanished as if sucked into a spot where the water was even darker than its surroundings. He was certain that these were the Geonyeja who had taken Munpyeong.

Like a dolphin, Cheonma swam toward them with fluid grace. He had never formally trained in underwater arts, so he couldn't move as fast as he wished, but with just a few strokes, he grasped the knack of moving through the water.

Slowly at first, then faster and more skillfully, Cheonma closed in on them. The problem was that the Geonyeja, who neither breathed nor tired, were even faster.

Following them, Cheonma also entered the waterway. But he couldn't seem to close the distance. As time passed, he grew anxious. He had no idea what state Munpyeong was in.

`Is he still conscious? Or has he already passed out?`

He prayed it was the former. If Munpyeong had lost consciousness, he wouldn't last even half a quarter-hour, let alone a full one. An ordinary person who knew no martial arts wouldn't even be breathing by now.

The current inside the waterway was fast and treacherous. To make matters worse, there were dangerous reefs, an inevitable feature of a natural cave. Moving quickly in the dim light, he’d had more than a few close calls, nearly crashing into the rocks.

Cheonma ground his teeth and pursued them. He should have caught up to them sooner; he had gone too deep. He figured he had already traveled thirty or forty jang, which meant the return trip would take just as long.

Catching the Geonyeja was one problem, but the time it would take to get back out of the water was another. Munpyeong was a first-rate master, but even he would find it difficult to survive when short of breath. Right now, time was their enemy.

Infusing his body with True Qi, he rode the current, shooting forward like an arrow. Cheonma coated his hands in a blue sword qi and chased the Geonyeja. The back of the one lagging at the very end came into view. He blew its head off in a single strike and cut through the water, dodging the gushing stream of blood.

Sensing that their companion had been destroyed without a chance to even fight back, three of the Geonyeja in the lead turned back and charged at him. One was a skinny young girl, the other two were boys. They were pitiful things, likely no older than ten.

Cheonma sent the corpses back to nature without a shred of pity. When he had been pretending to be a transcendent master, he had at least feigned a struggle. But now, with no need to hide his true nature, he had no hesitation in revealing his martial prowess.

His sugang, fearsome even in the water, tore their limbs off, and they sank to the bottom. Their eyes, still glowing with a savage red light, glared fiercely, but without limbs, they were helpless. If he’d had the time, he would have severed each of their necks, but worried for Munpyeong’s safety, Cheonma ignored the still-staring creatures and swam onward.

It seemed they had turned a great many children into living corpses, as more and more of them blocked his path. Their small bodies, cloaked only in murderous intent, lunged at him like ghouls. They were all vicious and grotesque. Without hesitation, Cheonma killed them. He burst some of their heads and tore off the limbs of the others to keep them from following.

He ignored the ones he luckily grazed past who didn't turn back, focusing only on moving forward. Before long, a body larger than a child's came into view. He had been worried it would be limp and lifeless, but he was incredibly relieved to see Munpyeong still struggling.

Two Geonyeja were dragging Munpyeong. One had him by the scruff of his neck, the other held his waist. Munpyeong, not yet skilled enough to coat his hands in sword qi, was futilely scratching at their skin, which could repel even steel.

`What if some poison seeps out of them?`

Seeing Munpyeong’s reckless actions, Cheonma clicked his tongue sharply. Now that he thought about it, he also worried about the blood he had so carelessly let flow. The current was fast, and a few drops might have reached Munpyeong. There was no telling what kind of wounds that potent poison might have inflicted.

Cheonma hurried forward and tore away the Geonyeja holding Munpyeong's waist. He grabbed the struggling creature by the neck, twisted it around, and broke its spine to immobilize it before flinging it against the current.

**Ggggrrrk.**

The Geonyeja let out a shriek that spread through the water like a vibration as it disappeared. The one holding Munpyeong's neck turned to face him.

Cheonma grabbed its body and used the Thousand-Pound Drop technique, sinking to the bottom. The creature struggled to keep from sinking but couldn't resist the pressure, which felt like a ten-thousand-pound boulder, and was dragged down with him. Reaching the waterway floor, Cheonma broke its neck and wedged its body into a narrow gap between the rocks. This was to prevent the corpse from floating up and spreading its poisonous blood.

While he dealt with them, Munpyeong had been carried away by the current. Though no one was holding him anymore, he seemed half-conscious from holding his breath for so long.

Cheonma caught up to Munpyeong and pressed his own lips to his. Munpyeong's hazy eyes wandered, unable to focus. As he breathed into him with all his might, Munpyeong seemed to regain his senses, his trembling eyelids opening to look at Cheonma. Cheonma pushed more air into Munpyeong's lungs, his mind racing.

He had managed to get Munpyeong back after all the trouble, but now getting out was the problem. He had come much deeper into the waterway than he'd initially expected, and the journey back would be formidable. Could Munpyeong last that long? Cheonma couldn't be sure.

*"Get a hold of yourself and circulate the The Great Turtle Breathing Method. If you run out of breath before we get out of the water, you won't survive,"* Cheonma told Munpyeong using telepathy. Munpyeong's mind was still hazy, but he seemed to understand the urgency in his voice and nodded. Cheonma wrapped an arm around Munpyeong's waist and turned around, intending to go back the way he came.

His plan was thwarted before he could even attempt it. Just as he was about to swim against the current, the waterway walls vibrated, and rocks began to tumble from above. The already rough current churned violently.

**Rumble, crash. CRASH.**

From a distance, he heard the successive sounds of the cavern collapsing. This was no natural occurrence. Someone had done this intentionally. As soon as he realized the waterway was collapsing, the image of the Geonyeja who had brushed past him flashed in his mind.

`Clever, Gwak Hyo. A fine trump card.`

Knowing that the commands a living corpse could follow were limited, he hadn't suspected anything when he saw them lagging behind. He hadn't expected mere corpses to be capable of acting with such intent.

But if they were just tough corpses, Gwak Hyo wouldn't have gone to such lengths to create them. Using some strange art, he could control them psychically, even giving commands from a distance. The fact that they could remember more than one command was, in comparison, hardly surprising.

`Dammit.`

Realizing he couldn't go back the way he came, Cheonma turned and swam forward. If he couldn't go back, he had to go forward. There was no time to delay. Even he, having reached the state of the Profound Realm, couldn't last more than two hours in the water.

He held Munpyeong tightly and cut through the current. With time, he became more and more adept at underwater movement. But no matter how skilled he became, it was useless when there was no end in sight. He swam for a long time, but the end of the waterway never appeared. The weight in his arms grew heavier, and it weighed on his mind. Cheonma swam and swam, occasionally breathing air into Munpyeong.

But even after a long time, there was no light.

***

Cheonma came to, the sound of endlessly flowing water in his ears.

He had woken up on a damp rock. His clothes, soaked with moisture, clung uncomfortably to his limbs. But it wasn't just his clothes that were damp and limp. He raised a hand, swept back the hair stuck to his face like seaweed, and looked around.

Even with his eyes open, his surroundings were dark. It wasn't pitch-black, but it was as dark as midnight on a cloudy day. An underground river flowed less than five jang away. The current wasn't fast, but the sound of the water echoed in the empty cavern, grating on his ears.

`He's not awake yet.`

Munpyeong lay beside him. Unlike Cheonma, who had just slept on the damp rock, Munpyeong was lying on soft, dry sand. It was impossible for such a place to have formed naturally in an underground cave. The bed was, without a doubt, Cheonma’s handiwork.

Originally, the spot where Munpyeong lay was nothing but rough, rocky ground. Cheonma had pulverized the rock into sand and then used his internal energy to dry it. He had done the same for their clothes, which had been soaked from head to toe.

But all that effort had become futile over time. After a nap, his once bone-dry clothes were damp again. Munpyeong’s face was pale because his body heat was being sapped by his slowly dampening clothes. At this rate, drying his clothes was pointless. Realizing this, Cheonma decided to change his method of care.

He undressed Munpyeong, then stripped himself bare. After performing a Small Heavenly Circulation to dry his entire body, he pulled the cold, limp form into his firm embrace. Covering them both with his dried outer robe, it became reasonably comfortable.

As he performed a Meridian Acupoint Massage, rubbing his body, warmth returned to Munpyeong's form. Cheonma gazed down at the slowly returning color in Munpyeong’s face and caressed his dry lips.

The unconscious Munpyeong's lips were soft but dry. His breathing was calm, so there didn't seem to be anything physically wrong, but he just wouldn't wake up. Cheonma checked his pulse out of habit and was relieved to find it beating normally.

Examining him with his internal energy, he found that his qi and blood were slightly damaged, but it was a minor internal injury, nothing to be concerned about. He must have rushed the energy circulation when he was struggling to switch to the The Great Turtle Breathing Method while short of breath.

Cheonma couldn't guess when they had entered this cave. Had it been two days, or maybe a day and a half?

He had barely managed to find this cave while dragging Munpyeong, who was on the verge of suffocation, through the waterway. It was a rare place where an underground stream met a cavern formed beneath the earth's surface. If he hadn't found this place, Munpyeong might not have survived.

In the end, it was Cheonma, not Gwak Hyo, who had been fatally careless. To be distracted with that cunning rat right in front of him—of course, he would be struck from behind.

He should have killed him in one blow as he'd first thought. He’d let his guard down, thinking he had him cornered, and had been foolishly tricked. He hadn’t even been absent; Gwak Hyo had been right there in plain sight. He couldn't even make an excuse this time.

`He really goes after everyone, doesn't he? Yeo-yeong, Woo-gyeong, and now Munpyeong. He's just like someone I know. That same despicable habit of digging into people's weaknesses.`

Cheonma felt a surge of irritation at Gwak Hyo's behavior, always targeting the people around him instead of the man himself. Attacking an enemy's weakness was a basic tenet of warfare, but what Gwak Hyo did was of a baser sort.

He only targeted those weaker than himself, using them as shields to ensure his own safety. Besides Cheonma's acquaintances, all his victims were weaker than him. The Geonyeja were an example, as were the Azure Blood Corps. The pawns of the Wusheng Cult he used as a smokescreen were no different. They were merely being used like pieces on a game board, unaware of their true affiliation.

`And they'll be discarded at the decisive moment.`

Their true value lay in the very moment they were abandoned.

Cheonma suspected that Gwak Hyo wouldn't give up so easily. Like the Qilin Plaque and the Jade Qilin, Munpyeong was just bait to lure him in. Gwak Hyo wouldn't have held high hopes for the order he gave the Geonyeja to collapse the waterway. An act of that level might be enough to trap Munpyeong, but it couldn't kill Cheonma. At most, it would only delay him or cause some inconvenience.

But Gwak Hyo needed to buy that time. If he could just escape that place, it meant he still had useful cards left to play.

`Well, it was a conspiracy twenty years in the making. It's unlikely everything would collapse at once. If Jin-mu lost him, it'll be Yeong-ui who suffers.`

He still had the power to move the armed group known as the Azure Blood Corps, and he had a considerable stake in the Righteous Path Alliance. He had already laid the groundwork, so it wouldn't be difficult for him to alter the course of his conspiracy. As he calmly drew a picture in his mind, he could roughly guess how Gwak Hyo would move.

"Ugh, mmm."

Munpyeong, who had been sleeping without a stir, finally made a sound. A faint groan escaped his lips, and Cheonma lowered his gaze to check his complexion. Like a newly hatched cicada drying its wings, Munpyeong's eyelids fluttered faintly.

Blink, blink. After a couple of blinks, he opened his eyes. He looked around with an unfocused gaze before his eyes met Cheonma's. Munpyeong stared at him blankly for a moment, then looked up at the ceiling. In a hoarse voice, he asked a question.

"Is it night?"

His voice was thick and dull, as if proving he had been unconscious for a long time. The question was so slurred it was hard to understand, and Cheonma gave a wry smile.

"I don't know what time it is either. If I had been awake the whole time, I might have been able to guess, but I fell asleep for a bit in the middle."

"...Where is this place?"

"Hmm. What should I call it? An underground cave? A cavern? Or a prison?"

Instead of an answer, a riddle came back. Munpyeong, his mind not yet fully clear, couldn't understand his words and just furrowed his brow.

As time passed, clear signs of consciousness appeared on Munpyeong's face. Finally remembering the situation before he fainted, he looked up at Cheonma with a renewed sense of surprise.

"You saved me."

He said it with a somewhat bewildered tone. It was less an expression of gratitude and more a confirmation, as if asking if what he remembered was correct.

Indeed, Munpyeong found Cheonma's actions this time quite unexpected. Cheonma had endured not only the deep water but also that horrible underground waterway to chase after him. He had gone to such excessive trouble just to save Munpyeong.

"This isn't the first time I've saved your life. Why the surprise?"

"This time, it wasn't just a matter of saving me as you passed by. You came specifically to save me, didn't you? Through that long, long waterway, all the way into this cave."

"Passing by? What nonsense is that? Do I look like some hero from the Orthodox Faction to you? I'm not some fool who goes around saving every person he sees. What do you mean, passing by?"

So, if he's not a fool who saves everyone he sees, does that mean he's been consistently saving just me? Munpyeong thought, bewildered. But as he mulled it over, Cheonma’s claim wasn't wrong.

Given Cheonma's personality, it was impossible for him to "accidentally" save someone's life. This was a man who wouldn't say a single word without a plan. If he saved someone's life, there was a reason for it.

Munpyeong had been aware that Cheonma had saved his life more than once, but he had always considered it a matter of coincidence, like a "bull taking a step back and catching a rat." He was lightly shocked. As Cheonma said, it was something to be surprised about, but Munpyeong had never thought about it in detail before.

It wasn't that he hadn't been conscious of it, but that he had deliberately tried not to think about it. He didn't have the courage to consider what it meant for Cheonma to be paying special attention to him. He had even thought of Cheonma as the eaves over his head, yet he hadn't deeply contemplated its meaning for that very reason.

`Why did I bring up such a sensitive topic?`

With a pounding heart, Munpyeong furtively glanced at Cheonma. He knew he could be forced into some strange task under the pretext of repaying the favor, and his heart fluttered like a timid bird's.

But contrary to his expectations, Cheonma surprisingly didn't press the matter further. He didn't boast that Munpyeong should never forget this debt for the rest of his life, nor did he make any of the absurd demands he had anticipated.

He just looked down at Munpyeong with a quiet gaze and smiled silently. It was a look that said, I see right through your petty worries, but there was no hint of reproach.

It was a mysterious smile, so unlike Cheonma. Watching him act, one often felt he was closer to his physical age than his actual age, but not in this moment. In his clear eyes, the benevolence of someone who had lived for a long, long time was evident. It might have been a trick of the mind, but when he smiled like that, he truly looked like a different person.

He raised an elegant finger and pushed Munpyeong’s forehead. Munpyeong lowered his raised head back down and blinked again.

"If you're awake, try circulating your energy. I need to see if you're injured anywhere."

Cheonma gave Munpyeong, whose head was about to explode, a moment to think about other things. Contrary to Munpyeong's paranoid expectations, Cheonma, who considered this incident his own mistake, had no intention of demanding payment from him.

It was his own fault, after all. How could he hold Munpyeong responsible for something that happened because he couldn't protect what was his? For Cheonma, if there was someone from whom he would extract payment, it was Gwak Hyo, not Munpyeong.

In fact, this mindset of Cheonma's was far more serious than persistently demanding repayment for a life saved. Unfortunately, Munpyeong's thoughts didn't extend that far.

Grateful that he wasn't being interrogated further, he began to circulate his energy. He had learned from experience that there was nothing better than the internal art Cheonma had taught him for stabilizing qi and blood, so the internal art he circulated was that very same The Art of Plucking Yang to Supplement Yang.

A warm energy rose from his dantian and ascended to his upper body. The true qi, which had become purer after receiving Cheonma's True Qi, flowed through his well-honed qi and blood channels and spread to his limbs. Munpyeong closed his eyes and focused on the energy that was warming his body.

The Art of Plucking Yang to Supplement Yang Cheonma had created was based on Taoist life-nurturing arts, particularly the Six-Syllable Qi Formula. Although it had been modified from simple breathing exercises into an advanced internal energy training method with various added functions, the emphasis on the six characters—"xū, hē, hū, shè, chuī, xī"—remained unchanged. Therefore, when circulating this internal art, the focus had to be on exhalation.

`This qi technique is quite effective for healing internal injuries, too... Can't he come up with a more decent name? I can't just call it The Art of Plucking Yang to Supplement Yang all the time. It's true this qi technique enables it, but it's not always used for that. Even when I'm circulating it alone, it's embarrassing to think I'm studying The Art of Plucking Yang to Supplement Yang. Why did that man create such a good internal art and not even give it a proper name?`

Swallowing the complaints he couldn't voice to Cheonma, Munpyeong continued to circulate his energy. The internal art, personally crafted by a grandmaster and worthy of being called one of the best in the Jianghu if it had a proper name, completed a Small Heavenly Circulation through his body. As the internal energy flowed through his meridians, Munpyeong's mind gradually calmed.

He forgot himself, forgot the cave, forgot Cheonma. Deeply engrossed in his energy circulation, Munpyeong went beyond a Small Heavenly Circulation to a Grand Heavenly Circulation, healing his minor internal injuries.

Concerned that he might disturb Munpyeong's concentration, Cheonma withdrew the hand that had been stroking Munpyeong's face and waited quietly for his circulation to end.

An unconscious face and a conscious one, even with eyes closed, were different kinds of fun to watch. The soul was something that couldn't be measured by any method, but at times like this, it made one think that the spirit might actually exist.

Cheonma admired Munpyeong's face with a gaze he never tired of. That gaze continued until Munpyeong finally finished his circulation and opened his eyes.

He couldn't guess how much time had passed.

In one way, it felt like at least half a day had passed; in another, it felt like only a quarter of an hour.

Munpyeong sat blankly by the bank of the underground river, staring at the flowing current. A black stream of water, its depths invisible, flowed by with a gurgling sound. The only sound that filled the space was that of the water. Cheonma, who had dived into the water to find a way out, had not yet returned.

This cave they were forced to stay in was quite a strange place. It was about fifty jang wide and nearly ten jang high. It was an enormous size, hard to believe for an underground cavern.

Unlike other caves, this cavern had no stone pillars supporting the ceiling. The middle was all empty space, and one had to climb the walls at the edges to reach the ceiling. Oddly, there were no creatures like insects or bats to be seen. There weren't even things like stone fungi or mushrooms from old tales, so the only thing to eat was, truly, fish.

Frustratingly, there weren't many ways to get out of this place. The fact that the underground river still flowed even after one side of the waterway had collapsed meant there was another place where water was flowing in. But finding that place was not an easy task. It would require a thorough search of the dark waterway.

For now, even escaping through the other side of the waterway seemed a distant prospect. On the first day they arrived here, right after Munpyeong finished his meditation, Cheonma had explored the opposite waterway to check the simplest escape route they could think of. But when he returned to the cave half a quarter-hour later, he had shaken his head and said that going out the other way was impossible. The waterway continued for over three hundred jang, so he hadn't even been able to reach the end.

If it were just Cheonma getting out, it wouldn't be a problem, but what he had to consider was not his own limit, but Munpyeong's. Even if he used the The Great Turtle Breathing Method, it would be impossible for Munpyeong to last half a quarter-hour in the water. Half a quarter-hour? He had almost been in a near-death state just by enduring a few minutes.

Hoping to find a way out from inside the cave, they had searched the cave walls thoroughly, but found nothing. As one could tell from the Night-Luminescent Pearls embedded in the cave ceiling, it was clear that a human hand had touched this cave.

But even with Cheonma himself leading the search, not Munpyeong, they couldn't find the mechanism that should have been there. Thinking it might be cleverly hidden, they had swept the entire wall and even tapped it with True Qi, but they couldn't find any empty space.

Cheonma's senses had already surpassed the human realm; it was impossible for a mechanism so exquisite as to deceive his senses to exist. If he couldn't find it after a determined search, then there truly was no mechanism.

He couldn't understand why on earth someone would embed such expensive gems in the cave ceiling. The rumor that they were traded for a price that could buy a castle was just a rumor, but still, a gem that emitted its own light was a rare treasure. Thanks to them, they could make out their surroundings even in this deep underground, which was fortunate, but the intention of the predecessor who had placed the Night-Luminescent Pearls here remained an unsolved mystery.

**Flop, flop, flop.**

Munpyeong, lost in thought, flinched when fish suddenly leaped out of the underground river.

Several lenok, fish that only live in clear water, flopped on the cave floor as if they had flowed down from a mountain stream. It was impossible for fish to jump out of the water on their own, so there had to be another reason for this strange phenomenon.

Before long, the cause revealed itself on the dark surface of the water. A person shot up from the surface without any approaching presence and glided across the water toward Munpyeong.

Cheonma, who had entered the waterway naked, finding it a hassle to dry his clothes each time, walked out of the water in the nude. The faint light from the Night-Luminescent Pearls illuminated his sculpted body. Clear water droplets rolled down his finely chiseled muscles like pearls.

Cheonma swept back his fallen hair as if annoyed and tilted his head to the side, shaking it a few times to get water out of his ear. It was a natural gesture, oblivious to how he looked, but Munpyeong's heart sank.

`D-damn it. How can he be so alluring?`

He wasn't as provocative as when he deliberately came on to him, but somehow, this look seemed more dangerous. His indifference drew one's attention even more, and the fact that he was unaware of his own charm was particularly fatal.

`With looks like that, it's no wonder he became the strongest in the world. If he didn't have the power to protect himself, his life would have been a misery.`

Munpyeong stared at Cheonma's body, thinking thoughts that would have gotten him killed if the man had heard them. Then his eyes met Cheonma's as he raised his head.

Startled by his gaze, which seemed to ask a question with a raised eyebrow, Munpyeong picked up the folded robe beside him and approached Cheonma.

"You were gone a long time today. Did you have any success?"

It was his own existence that was holding back Cheonma, who might have escaped long ago on his own. Knowing this, Munpyeong's attitude had become very gentle lately.

Cheonma saw right through Munpyeong's newfound tenderness but thought it wasn't a bad change. It was surprisingly entertaining to see the stiff, wooden man try to act cute, something he was not used to.

It was also a novel change to see him following him around like a lost puppy, watching his every move. He pretended not to notice, but in truth, it was quite fun to watch. Perhaps this was the kind of fun old men had when they kept young concubines.

"No. No particular success. I found a few holes where the underground river flows in, but they're literally just holes. Not a place a person can pass through."

"Is that so?"

"I'm worried about touching the collapsed waterway again because the ground is weak... I think I'll have to go back to the other side of the waterway."

"Didn't you say it was impossible to get out that way?"

"I need to at least check if there's a path. I turned back midway last time, so this time I plan to go all the way to the end. It would be a relief if at least that way leads to the surface. If there's even one path out, we won't be trapped in here forever."

"...Yes."

"Let's eat. I'm hungry after being in the water for so long."

Cheonma casually wrapped a robe around his naked body and strode off. Munpyeong picked up the fish still flopping on the ground and followed him.

Cheonma sat on a rock he had carved as smooth as a table using his internal energy. This was the place they used for their meals, and not far from it was the sand bed they used for sleeping.

"Give them to me."

Cheonma took the still-living fish from Munpyeong. Holding a fish in each hand, he created a grill using the Power of Searing Yang. This didn't make them taste the same as being grilled over a real fire, but in this place, where there wasn't even moss, let alone wood, there was no other way.

Eating raw trout sashimi once or twice was fine, but they couldn't have every meal raw. Whether it tasted good or not, cooked and uncooked food had a completely different texture going down the throat.

Martial arts were truly useful in a wide variety of situations. Originally designed to kill people, they could also be used to save them just by changing the method. Munpyeong was even having the idle thought that using them this way was the proper way to use martial arts. What else would a Life-Saving Sword be? No matter how it's used, if it saves a person, that's a Life-Saving Sword.

"Are you circulating your energy well?" Cheonma asked, picking up one of the fish he had grilled in an instant and tearing into it. Munpyeong, who had sat down next to him on the table-like rock, also began to eat a grilled fish. It was bland without any seasoning, but they had to eat to live. Fortunately, lenok meat had a natural sweetness, making it a bit easier to eat than other fish.

"As you instructed, I finished two Grand Heavenly Circulations and also did the dynamic exercises. I was taking a short break after doing the horse stance to build up my stamina."

Munpyeong was well aware that the biggest problem in getting out of this place was his own level of martial arts. Having unintentionally become a burden to Cheonma, he was dedicating himself to internal energy training with a fervor he had never shown before. Since what was immediately needed was internal, not external, energy, his martial arts training was also focused on internal arts.

However, internal arts were not something you could see effects from after just a day or two of hard work. It was a slow study that only showed results after years of consistent practice. As a result, Munpyeong's efforts hadn't produced any visible results. A few days of fervor couldn't solve the problem, so there was nothing he could do.

"Internal training isn't something that progresses just because you rush it. If you get impatient and suffer from Qi Deviation, it will only become more troublesome. So, when you circulate your energy, calm your mind and empty your head."

"Yes."

To a martial artist like Munpyeong, even a single word of advice from Cheonma was like gold. Munpyeong nodded eagerly, listening intently to his words.

As they talked, the number of fish rapidly dwindled. Lenok were not very large, so even after eating several each, they were only just full.

After the meal, Munpyeong gathered the remaining bones and threw them by the water's edge. It would be a big problem if they were left to rot, so all trash was disposed of immediately like this. It was fortunate that the water was flowing; if it had been stagnant, it would have been a disaster.

When he returned to his seat, he saw that Cheonma had spread his outer robe on the ground. Lying on the single layer of cloth on the rough sand, which was at least better than the hard rock, Cheonma looked as comfortable as if he were lying on his bed in the Thunder Palace.

His damp robe was now dry and soft, as if he had dried it in the meantime. Though there were holes and tears here and there from rubbing against the sand, the difference between having a layer of cloth and not was enormous.

Munpyeong hesitantly approached Cheonma, who was lying stretched out and waiting for him. A gaze like that of a well-fed predator, eyes narrowed, was watching him. It was the other person who was completely naked, but it was Munpyeong whose face was turning red. He didn't know where to look and ended up ducking his head low.

"Come closer," Cheonma called, beckoning with a finger while propping himself up on his elbow. Munpyeong, who had no justification to resist even if he wanted to, was dragged by that gesture like a dog on a leash.

Cheonma just watched Munpyeong until he stood before him on his own. His face was quiet, neither smiling nor angry, only his dark eyes glinting.

Reaching Cheonma, Munpyeong's neck flushed red as he took off his clothes. **Swish, swish, swish.** The sound of his clothes rustling, though sure to be drowned out by the sound of the water, thundered in Munpyeong's ears.

Munpyeong stood before Cheonma, naked without a single thread. Only then did Cheonma reach out and pull him in. Pulled into Cheonma's firm body, he felt a knee unhesitatingly enter between his thighs, and a shiver ran down his spine.

Cheonma's cool chest touched his tense skin. Cheonma kissed his way down Munpyeong's shoulder line, his large hand caressing his chest.

"The color has deepened quite a bit."

Cheonma murmured admiringly, his fingertip tracing Munpyeong's nipple.

It hadn't been a rosy pink to begin with, but now, tinged with a distinct reddish-purple, his nipple had certainly darkened. It was no wonder, as Munpyeong's poor nipple had been licked, sucked, bitten, and even pinched countless times. The person who had done all this was mostly Cheonma, so for him to bring it up now was putting the cart before the horse.

"The color down below has deepened a lot too. You haven't checked, have you?"

Cheonma teased, toying with Munpyeong's nipple. Munpyeong's face flushed hotly as he rolled his eyes and looked away.

`Is he serious right now? Who in the world looks at their own anus to check?`

"I have no desire to see it."

"A pity. You'd have to see for yourself just how lovely that spot of yours is."

Cheonma's other hand, the one not teasing his nipple, slid between Munpyeong's buttocks. As his long fingers rubbed against him, Munpyeong's closed muscles tensed in surprise, clenching around the hand. The sphincter, toned from his horse stance training, gripped his hand tightly.

Munpyeong's muscles, which hadn't lost their elasticity even after accommodating something as large as Cheonma's, were truly a masterpiece. His lower body was naturally strong from training, and his muscle strength had increased thanks to The Art of Plucking Yang to Supplement Yang, making his grip firm. It was as tight as if it were the first time, seeming to struggle to even take in a finger.

Who would know that this ordinary-looking man hid paradise between his buttocks? Cheonma toyed with the bewitching hole at his whim, a subtle smile on his lips.

As Cheonma's finger delved into his inner walls, Munpyeong's legs spread on their own. Lying askew, being teased from both front and back, Munpyeong fumbled for a place to put his hands and ended up bracing himself on Cheonma's chest. He could feel the vivid muscles of his chest beneath his palm. The texture of his skin was as smooth as silk, but the layer of muscle beneath was as solid as rock.

Unlike Munpyeong's, which had darkened, his nipples were a lovely apricot hue, as delicate and beautiful as if they were painstakingly crafted jewels. They looked like peach blossom petals that had fallen onto his chest to rest for a moment.

`What is this? Are handsome men even handsome down to their nipples?`

Munpyeong, dumbfounded by the exquisite color he had never seen even when with women, muttered to himself. He had turned another's nipples an unsightly brown, yet his own chest bore such lovely blossoms.

And to top it off, he was teasing him about it, pretending innocence, when he was the one who had made them that way by touching and licking them. A subtle anger began to rise.

Munpyeong lowered his head and took Cheonma's nipple into his mouth. You get a taste of it too. His reason paralyzed by a childish rebellious spirit, he tormented the small bud just as Cheonma had done to him.

Like the rest of his skin, the texture of the nipple was incredibly smooth. As he rubbed it with his tongue and sucked with his lips, tiny bumps rose on it, but even they were as tender as new sprouts. The feel of the soft skin was reminiscent of a freshly bloomed, delicate flower petal. It wasn't an inaccurate comparison, as his body had been all but reborn through Rejuvenation.

"Mmm."

At Munpyeong's aggressive caress, a deep groan escaped Cheonma's throat. The groan, heard not with his ears but with his skin, was transmitted to the very tip of the flesh Munpyeong was holding in his mouth.

Cheonma's hand exploring his rear became even more persistent. With one hand, he caressed Munpyeong's back, while with the other, he attacked his lower regions. Reading Munpyeong as if he were looking at his own body, Cheonma stirred his inner walls at will, fanning the flames of pleasure.

As if intoxicated by the stimulating sensations, his lower half twitched on its own. Just by touching his rear, his already stiff member was already leaking a milky fluid.

Each time Cheonma thrust deep, Munpyeong put strength into his teeth and teased his nipple. His hands were now exploring Cheonma's chest and caressing his waist, actively exploring his partner.

A sensation completely different from when he was passively stimulated made Munpyeong giddy. The awareness that he wasn't just Cheonma's one-sided plaything, but was also enjoying his partner's body, produced a perverse sense of elation.

Come to think of it, Cheonma's body was younger than his, and everything he saw was dazzlingly beautiful. He hadn't been conscious of it due to the hierarchical nature of their relationship and the one-sided coercion, but in fact, his partner was an unparalleled beauty. It didn't matter that he was a man and not a woman.

If this was unavoidable, it would be a waste not to enjoy it. His partner did whatever he wanted with his body, so why shouldn't Munpyeong play with his?

As Munpyeong took an unprecedentedly active role, the atmosphere between the two became even more charged. Cheonma, amused by Munpyeong's obsession with his chest like a hungry child, kissed the crown of his head.

Munpyeong rubbed his member against Cheonma's thigh and let out a sweet moan. The skin on other parts of his body was also smooth, but the skin on the inside of his thighs, which was naturally tender, was a truly heavenly sensation. If it weren't for Cheonma's incredibly hot member, he felt he could ejaculate just by rubbing against it. To be honest, no woman he had ever been with had been this soft.

`Ha, look at this one.`

Cheonma looked down at Munpyeong, who was being not just active but downright blatant, with a wry laugh. The quick-witted Heavenly Demon couldn't possibly not know what he wanted.

He had spent nights with countless men before, but he had never been asked for something in this way. Cheonma found his behavior ridiculous. But surprisingly, he wasn't angry. To him, everything Munpyeong did seemed like a child's antics.

`...If he wants it that badly, should I let him have a go?`

A novel idea suddenly popped into Cheonma's head. It wasn't as if he was asking for his rear, just his thighs. Letting him use them once wouldn't be a difficult thing. He seemed half out of his mind right now; he was curious to see how he would react when he came to his senses.

With a slight smirk, Cheonma spread his legs and let Munpyeong's member slide in. He covered it with his other thigh and pressed them together. Pinned between Cheonma's thighs, Munpyeong couldn't withstand the strong pressure and his waist trembled.

He tilted his head and licked Munpyeong's flushed ear. Then, in a sultry voice, he cast his bait.

"If you want to do it that badly, I'll let you. You'll have to pay a hefty price, but it will be well worth it."

Cheonma made his offer with confidence. He was expensive. With one exception, he had always been the one playing with others, never the one being played with. If Munpyeong were to ejaculate on his thighs, he would be the first human to leave a mark on Cheonma's body.

`He wouldn't dare run away after doing something like that, would he?`

Cheonma cackled inwardly, calculating. That was his true intention. Munpyeong had been taken countless times, but all those times combined couldn't compare to this one time Cheonma was offering. It was an unfair deal, but what could be done? That was the difference between Cheonma and Munpyeong. Even Munpyeong himself wouldn't be able to object to that calculation.

"A p-price?"

"Yes. A price."

"What kind of price?"

"We'll talk about that later. Why don't you make your decision first? Will you be brave? Or will you retreat in vain? You're the first one to challenge me like this. To commemorate that, I'll grant you what you want, so do as you please."

Feigning generosity, Cheonma moved his thighs, stimulating Munpyeong's member. The firm muscles covered in smooth skin sensuously enveloped him.

Letting out an involuntary moan, Munpyeong looked up at Cheonma. Cheonma watched him with a seductive crinkle in his eyes. Despite his extremely masculine appearance, the sight somehow reminded him of a nine-tailed fox. The very same kind that promises an otherworldly bliss in exchange for a man's liver.

As his eyes met those bewitching ones, his mind went blank, as if under a spell. Munpyeong, who had almost nodded without thinking, tried to push his body between Cheonma's thighs and then convulsed violently. In his unconscious movement, he had forgotten that Cheonma's fingers were inside him. As a result, his inner wall was scraped by Cheonma's nail.

It didn't hurt, but it was electrifying. A shiver ran from the top of his head to the tips of his toes, and his mind cleared as if he had been shaken.

`W-what am I doing!`

Fortunately, his survival instinct, which had surfaced just in time, grabbed him by the scruff of the neck. Suddenly sobered as if doused with cold water, Munpyeong quickly lowered his gaze and changed his expression.

"I-I don't know what you're talking about."

Having come to his senses just before falling into the trap, Munpyeong hastily backed away.

`Tsk. Of all times. It looked like he was about to fall for it.`

Cheonma, having unexpectedly failed, felt his excitement deflate. As devious as his hands were, his mind was just as quick, and he had already been compiling a list of demands. Among them were acts that Munpyeong would never agree to in his right mind, so his disappointment was even greater.

"...Don't you think you can put it in now?" Munpyeong asked, subtly withdrawing his own member from between Cheonma's thighs and desperately suppressing the twitching, spasming tip as he changed the subject.

Cheonma gave him a bored look and pulled his fingers out of his buttocks. The rough, inconsiderate withdrawal scraped his inner wall again. It didn't injure him, but it was startling. The muscles below also contracted violently in surprise.

"It's still a little insufficient. If you widen it yourself, you won't get hurt."

"What?"

"I'm tired from being in the water for so long. If you want to get this over with, you'll have to widen it yourself and get on top."

Cheonma's attitude was truly infuriating. Just moments ago, he had been kissing and sucking and making all sorts of fuss, and now he was suddenly yawning as if he were tired. Every night since they'd entered this cave, Munpyeong had been practicing The Art of Plucking Yang to Supplement Yang as part of his training, and he glared at Cheonma with resentment.

He was already anxious to death because his training wasn't showing results, and now this man was using it as an excuse to torment him. Was it right for a person to be so petty, holding another's life in the balance? He was already suffering from the guilt of holding him back, and now he was being spiteful about something like this. The resentment grew even stronger because he knew this wasn't done out of ignorance, but with full knowledge.

But what could he do? Cheonma was the one bestowing the favor, and he was the one receiving it. It was Munpyeong who was in need, not Cheonma. So, once again, he had no choice but to bend.

After staring at Cheonma for a moment with a face that was red and then pale, Munpyeong reluctantly moved back a little and grasped his own member. He didn't have Cheonma's skilled technique, so he was afraid to insert his dry fingers. It seemed he would be more at ease if he could get it wet with something.

As he held and stroked his member, which was twitching from being stimulated to its limit, fluid soon gushed into his palm. This was the first time he had masturbated in front of someone else. He couldn't bear the shame and continued the act without even opening his eyes.

Munpyeong coated his fingers with semen and inserted them into his rear. As he did, he felt a strong pressure. Even though he was inserting his own fingers, it felt more unpleasant than when Cheonma did it. His fingers were thicker and had rougher joints than Cheonma's. Not only that, but he had calluses on his fingertips, which were too rough to caress the delicate membrane.

As if he had let a stranger into his body, Munpyeong struggled as he caressed his inner wall with his fingers. Thanks to Cheonma having loosened him up, two fingers went in easily. But to receive Cheonma's member, two fingers were not nearly enough.

He summoned his courage and inserted another finger. It was difficult to touch his own rear, so he changed his position and used his other hand to widen the opening. Only then did the third finger go in. The angle of insertion must have been wrong, because just that made his lower half feel full.

"Hah!"

Wanting to get this embarrassing act over with, he had rushed and accidentally touched the prostate deep inside. Munpyeong's hips bucked, and a moan escaped him. Since he had done it to himself, not had it done to him, it felt unfamiliar, even though it was a regular occurrence.

The unfamiliar sensation sent a shiver down his spine. Having only ever experienced routine masturbation that stimulated his penis, this kind of stimulation was too intense. The sensation in his head was stronger than the sensation of being touched from behind, making him feel as if it were his mind, not his body, that his fingers were violating.

Just the awareness of violating himself sent his mind into a jumble. The membrane, heated by his rising body temperature, was pleasantly wet.

Munpyeong, who hadn't touched another's inner flesh for a long time, recalled old memories from the sensation of his inner wall wrapping around his fingers. The familiar membrane of a woman and his own were not much different. Both were moist and smooth, contracting and enveloping his fingers with every movement.

Being touched was one thing, but touching was another, and it was a novel experience. He, who had never imagined such a place existed within his own body, made a desperate effort to adapt to this bewildering situation. Cheonma had mentioned it teasingly from time to time, but he had never taken it seriously, so he had never thought it would really be like this.

So, there really was a place like this inside my body. As that realization dawned on him, his already dizzy mind became even more jumbled, and only a confused sensation remained prominent. All his thoughts became tangled, and he couldn't tell what was what.

"Ah, ugh. Ak, ak,"

His clumsy hands rubbed and ground against his rear. As he began to press on his own pleasure points, his once-limp member rose again. His legs spread on their own.

The moans he had initially tried to suppress gradually grew louder, escaping unrestrained from his parted lips. A clear sense of ecstasy appeared on his face, his eyes squeezed shut.

`For someone who acted so embarrassed, he's feeling it way too much.`

Cheonma, who had been quietly watching Munpyeong's actions, felt his desire stir. A body writhing as it violated itself with its own hands was right in front of him; if he didn't get aroused, he wasn't a man.

"You bewitching thing."

He had originally intended to torment him for a little longer, but it was Cheonma, not Munpyeong, who had become impatient. Before the expected time, Cheonma lunged forward, roughly pulling Munpyeong's hand away and filling the space with his own.

As the huge wedge drove into him, splitting his body, Munpyeong, who had been feverish with excitement, was startled and his eyes flew open. Cheonma, who had climbed on top of him at some point, had wrapped Munpyeong's legs around his waist and was driving into his hole.

"M-Master."

"You've grown up, Munpyeong, being able to pleasure yourself. But can you be truly satisfied with just that?"

Cheonma found fault with him, even though he had been the one to tell him to pleasure himself. It seemed he was displeased that he had been enjoying himself alone.

"You've been tamed by mine from the start, and you're telling me you were satisfied with just three fingers? Are you modest, or just not greedy?"

"Ah, aak, Master, please. I-I'm not fully prepared..."

"If you're still not ready, I'll prepare you. I'll brand you so thoroughly that you'll feel empty without my member inside you."

It was the first time Munpyeong had done it himself, so he had been very clumsy. He had loosened himself up a little, but as he said, he wasn't fully ready. Yet, Cheonma brutally pushed his enormous member into the tight space.

Feeling pain, Munpyeong pleaded for mercy. The stubborn Heavenly Demon did not listen. He pounded into Munpyeong's body as if driving a nail, and pulled out fiercely as if taking out his anger.

His lower half throbbed from the brutal thrusts from the very beginning. His muscles, stretched to their limit, painfully gripped Cheonma's member. Munpyeong's hole writhed in agony as the object, as thick as a child's forearm, moved in and out of his body without restraint.

This was a sand bed, not a real bed. There was only a single layer of cloth underneath, but Cheonma ruthlessly pounded him. His back, scraping against the ground with every thrust, stung. He was terrified that his wounds would reopen. But even that thought was swept away by the rapidly advancing sensations.

Cheonma mercilessly grabbed Munpyeong's legs as they slid helplessly. When he fumbled, unable to maintain his position, he bent his knees and spread them apart, holding them in place. Cheonma's strong hands gripped his thighs. Pinned underneath, Munpyeong groaned, crushed not only by his member but also by his weight.

There was no mercy in Cheonma's movements. As if he couldn't stand the fact that something other than himself had given Munpyeong pleasure, his movements were ostentatiously brilliant. He relentlessly thrust at Munpyeong's pleasure points, fucking him until it hurt. And by fucking, it wasn't just simple in-and-out movements. He rotated his hips and ground against him, moving with exquisite skill.

Black dots flashed before his eyes. He could feel his prostate, under intense stimulation, swelling inside him. Accordingly, Munpyeong's member swelled with it. The stiffly raised member rubbed against Cheonma's stomach before it could no longer hold out and spewed semen. Because his member was upside down, his semen splattered all over his own chest and face.

Seeing this, Cheonma leaned down and began to suck roughly on Munpyeong's lips. Frightened by the one-sided onslaught of sensations, Munpyeong grabbed Cheonma's back. Unable to bear the rising pleasure, he dug his nails in and scratched, but Cheonma's skin, contrary to its appearance, was like steel.

**Thrust, thrust, thrust.** With the strong force coming from below, Munpyeong threw his chin back and moaned. Like a few days ago, when he was swept away by the current, helpless, all he could do now was be carried along.

Cheonma's movements continued as if they would never end. Munpyeong, with wet eyes, shook his head and matched his rhythm. He had a sense of crisis that his life would be in danger if he didn't move in time with Cheonma. Death by being fucked from below, not on top. Munpyeong had no intention of meeting such an unsightly end.

"Aaargh. Ak. Ak!"

The moans eventually turned into screams. His member, which had ejaculated twice in a row, shamelessly swelled again. His testicles were empty and there was nothing left to come out, but his member, responding to the ceaseless stimulation, struggled to rise, holding its last portion. As if in sync, Cheonma's member was also stirring. The object, which had been rampaging through his tightly clenched inner walls, finally showed signs of ejaculation.

**Thrust. Thruust. Thruust.**

Sensing the end, Cheonma thrust even harder. The sound of his testicles slapping against Munpyeong's buttocks echoed graphically. The object, buried deep inside Munpyeong's body, released a hot stream. Not once, but five times. The gushing semen, as if to completely fill Munpyeong's insides, was so copious that it leaked out from their point of connection.

Feeling as if his stomach was filled with lava, Munpyeong also had his final ejaculation. Unlike Cheonma's grand release, the tormented Munpyeong could only manage to trickle a clear, water-like fluid a couple of times.

Munpyeong stared blankly at the ceiling, his mind reeling as if he had been beaten senseless. Cheonma closed his eyes, savoring the afterglow of his climax, his hips trembling pleasantly.

Even after ejaculating, the formidable object showed no sign of leaving Munpyeong's body. Feeling his inner walls throb, Munpyeong blinked.

It felt less like lovemaking and more like a storm had passed. His lower abdomen and back ached, and his back burned as if the skin had been peeled off. His stomach was upset from the semen filling it. It was the aftereffect of overindulgence.

"...This isn't The Art of Plucking Yang to Supplement Yang, is it?"

Cheonma had pounced on him so suddenly that he had been helplessly taken, unable to even circulate his energy. They hadn't started their relations for the purpose of having sex, but it ended up being only Cheonma who had fun.

Munpyeong protested Cheonma's breach of promise in a weak voice. Hearing him, Cheonma grinned and leaned down to look into his eyes.

"Ah, right. I forgot. I got carried away after getting aroused for the first time in a while. I can't break my promise, so shall we go again? I won't forget the purpose this time."

"No, there's no need for that. I don't have the stamina for any more today."

"Didn't I tell you? The most important thing in internal training is consistency. If you give up today over something like this, what excuse will you make to give up tomorrow? Will you say the sandy ground is too hard and your back hurts? Or that you're still tired from yesterday?"

The sandy ground was indeed hard and his back hurt, and he felt like he would be aching until tomorrow from the aftereffects of this session, but he couldn't admit it in front of the sneering Heavenly Demon.

Seeing Munpyeong sigh without daring to retort, Cheonma smiled elegantly. Despite having half-killed a man with one session of sex, he felt no guilt. He kissed the bridge of Munpyeong's nose and whispered sweetly.

"As an apology for doing as I pleased, I'll allow you to perform The Art of Plucking Yang to Supplement Yang twice today. Take as much as you can. I'll let you take as much as you want."

"No, there's no need for that, ugh!"

"But you'll have to be sharp. I've warned you in advance, so if you can't take it properly, it's not my fault, it's yours."

`This bastard! He's getting hard again after ejaculating that much? It's not normal for a person to get erect again so quickly!`

Feeling the object inside him gradually grow in size, Munpyeong's face went white with horror. He couldn't understand how such an impossible thing was happening. He was a man too, so he knew well how a man's body worked, but what Cheonma was doing now was something an ordinary man wouldn't even dream of.

`D-demonic arts!`

Munpyeong silently screamed the words often used by the Orthodox Faction's masters to unjustly accuse those of the Demonic Path, and tensed his waist to resist. He did it to stop him from entering further, but as if further stimulated by it, the object inside him swelled up.

`This man really intends to do it again. Is he trying to kill me?`

Sweating coldly, Munpyeong hastily began to circulate his energy when he saw Cheonma show signs of moving again. It was as Cheonma had said. If he was going to be taken anyway, he might as well get something out of it.

In the empty cave, the wet sounds of flesh echoed once more. The cavern, which had never echoed with anything other than the sound of water since ancient times, was now stained with the moans and cries of two men. Thanks to the unusually vigorous Heavenly Demon, the sound continued for a long time. They, who didn't know how time was passing outside, didn't realize it, but while they were having sex, the moon rose, set again, and the sun rose to its zenith.

During that time, Munpyeong learned keenly what happens when you provoke Cheonma carelessly. Even if he drew in True Qi through The Art of Plucking Yang to Supplement Yang, he couldn't cope with the depleting stamina. In the end, truly exhausted, Munpyeong wanted to give up on everything, including The Art of Plucking Yang to Supplement Yang, and just lose consciousness.

But once the internal energy started circulating, it couldn't be stopped at will. This was even more so when the two people's qi were intertwined as they were during The Art of Plucking Yang to Supplement Yang.

Thanks to this, Munpyeong had to endure the torment with a clear mind until Cheonma had satisfied his desires. It was truly a painful experience he never wanted to go through again.

***

It was night before he lost consciousness, and it was still night when he woke up.

In a daze, Munpyeong made an odd mistake and slowly opened his eyes. A faint light flickered before him. It was a light as faint as starlight pouring from afar.

Rubbing his hazy eyes and focusing, Munpyeong looked up. The light of the Night-Luminescent Pearls was shattering from the ceiling. Even from a distance of over ten jang, the light was visible, so he thought the original size must be quite considerable.

"You're awake."

Cheonma, who had been giving him his arm as a pillow until he woke up, spoke. Before he lost consciousness, he had thought he was really going to die, but now that he was awake, his whole body felt surprisingly light. There was no sticky trace of semen, and the muscle pain in his back was gone. It seemed he had not only been cleaned but also given a Meridian Acupoint Massage.

`I don't like other things, but I like this one thing. He's neat with the aftercare.`

It was a seemingly trivial consideration, but the difference between being shown such consideration and not was quite large. His physical condition changed depending on the other person's actions, so it was a matter he couldn't help but be sensitive to.

Lying down, Munpyeong lightly circulated his energy. The internal power that rose naturally with his guidance was much greater than yesterday. He didn't know for sure, but it felt like he had gained at least half a year's worth of internal energy at once. He had suffered a great deal, but seeing the results, he felt it was worth it.

To gain half a year's worth of internal energy in one night. Munpyeong was encouraged by the clear, concrete results.

"My internal energy has increased a lot."

Munpyeong said, looking up at Cheonma who was fiddling with his hair. Though they were in a damp cave, his condition wasn't bad. He was lying next to Cheonma on his outer robe spread over the dry sand, covered with his own outer robe. The only flaw was that his feet stuck out because the robe was short, but other than that, he had little to complain about.

With his body pressed against the warm Heavenly Demon, he was dry and warm. It was no longer strange to be lying like a lover with his head on Cheonma's arm.

"It should be. Otherwise, there would have been no point in humoring you."

Cheonma's reply was as arrogant as ever. He spoke as if he had sacrificed himself for another, even though he had enjoyed himself to his heart's content. If Munpyeong hadn't known him, he might have thought, what kind of person is this, but having grown accustomed to him, he just let it go.

Arrogance was this man's nature, and whim was his specialty. If he were to act hypocritically when not wearing the mask of Yun Seung-hyo, it might be awkward for the one watching.

"Aren't you going to explore the waterway today?"

"It's a bother. And I feel lazy."

"So you're just going to lie here all day?"

"What's wrong with that? Is there anyone watching?"

Cheonma embraced Munpyeong's shoulder, acting uncharacteristically lazy. Stretched out languidly like a predator after a hunt, he fiddled with Munpyeong's earlobe and looked up at the ceiling. Munpyeong followed his gaze and looked up. The light of the Night-Luminescent Pearls entered his eyes again.

"...It must be noisy outside by now, right?" Munpyeong muttered with a surprisingly carefree attitude for someone trapped in a cave with no known exit.

If he had been trapped in a place like this alone, he would have lost his mind. He would have been constantly anxious, unable to figure out how to solve the problem, but with a man who was spiteful but reliable by his side, he had become relaxed without realizing it.

Indeed, Munpyeong was not very worried about his situation at the moment. It was true that he felt sheepish and sorry for being the cause of it, but he had no anxiety about being left alone. A man who could easily leave on his own if he wanted to was trying his best to take him along. Seeing that, he felt a great deal.

Munpyeong now believed, at least, that he genuinely cared for him. He could no longer deny what he had been desperately denying until now.

"It must be noisy. A war between the Demonic and Orthodox Factions might have broken out."

"What? A war between the Demonic and Orthodox Factions?"

Munpyeong was startled by Cheonma's casual remark and turned to look at him.

`A war between the Demonic and Orthodox Factions? What is he talking about? Gwak Hyo's identity has already been exposed, and I thought Gwak Jin-mu had gotten rid of the Geonyeja.`

"How could that happen? Wasn't Gwak Hyo's conspiracy completely crushed?"

Even for Munpyeong, a former warrior of the Demonic Cult, a war between the factions was not something to be taken lightly. It had been over forty years, but the wounds from that time were still fresh in the memories of the people of the Jianghu.

The Nine Great Sects had lost the Kongtong Sect, which was replaced by the Hainan Sect, and the Five Great Families of the Jianghu had also had their hierarchy and positions reshuffled according to the extent of the damage they suffered. The Unorthodox Factions north of Shaanxi had been almost wiped out and were only now beginning to raise their heads. In the area where the Hunan Bloodbath had occurred, there were several places whose names had been changed to include the words "blood" or "corpse."

The Demonic Cult had not been unscathed by the events of that time either. Choe Wi-myeong's parents had both lost their lives then, and Ak Hyeong-dae had lost all three of his older brothers. There was hardly a lower-ranking warrior in the Demonic Cult who had not lost a family member in that incident. Unless one was an outsider like Munpyeong, most had been affected.

"If I had killed him on the spot, that would have been the case. But he must have escaped. The ones left there wouldn't have been able to catch him, so it couldn't be helped."

"Isn't the Sword of Calamity a transcendent master, and isn't the Broken-Faced Wanderer, no, Young Master Baek, at the same level? Is it possible for him to escape their grasp on his own?"

"You saw his face too, didn't you? Twenty years ago, I properly scorched the face of that fleeing bastard, but on that day, there was no trace of the scar. To erase such a wound, one has to undergo a complete the transformation of bone and flesh. And to do that, one must reach the Transformation Realm."

Munpyeong easily understood what Cheonma was saying. If Gwak Hyo was truly a Enlightened Master, he would be a difficult opponent for two transcendent masters to handle.

`Then why didn't you catch him then? What were you doing?`

The question rose to his throat, but he managed to swallow it. He knew better than anyone what Cheonma had been doing at that time.

`Could it be that the war between the factions is happening because of me? Because Cheonma saved me first instead of killing Gwak Hyo?`

Munpyeong stared at Cheonma with a dazed expression. He couldn't understand why Cheonma had made such a choice. For him, who had been saved, it was a very grateful thing, but the trade-off was too great. It would be one thing if he didn't know anything, but how could he make such a judgment while clearly calculating everything?

Cheonma smiled leisurely and played with Munpyeong's hair. He was so nonchalant for someone who had just said he chose one person over thousands of lives.

"Don't be so surprised. Come to think of it, it's not a bad thing that he escaped. Thanks to him fleeing the scene, we now have a reason to squeeze out the festering pus. Gwak Hyo was the one who plotted the conspiracy, but it was the Righteous Path Alliance that carried it out. If we only catch Gwak Hyo and leave the Righteous Path Alliance as it is, it would be too unfair for Gwak Hyo, wouldn't it?"

Unlike Munpyeong, who was gloomy at the unexpected turn of events, Cheonma thought it was better this way. Because the man had escaped, there was no need to painstakingly find a justification. They would be the ones to provoke first, so all he had to do was respond.

Cheonma even intended to kill two birds with one stone with this incident. He could wipe out Gwak Hyo and the Righteous Path Alliance at once, and at the same time, he could test the abilities of Ho Wan-pyeong and Po Yeong-ui.

`Now that I've disappeared without a trace, they have no one left to rely on. Thanks to that, I'll be able to see how much management ability they have in a desperate crisis. I'll be able to confirm whether I raised my disciples properly or mistook chaff for grain with just this incident. Once I confirm that, I'll have no reason to be tied to the cult anymore. I've done enough by now.`

He had used the cult for revenge and had dedicated the rest of his life to paying the price. Though he had practically created the faction, he had little affection for it and now wanted to break free from them and return to being a private citizen. The fact that he had been thinking a lot about the old days lately might be a proof of that feeling.

In a way, thanks to Gwak Hyo causing trouble in a timely manner, he was now able to clear up the last remaining dregs. After dealing with them, Cheonma would have no lingering attachment to the Jianghu.

"But if a war between the factions breaks out, countless people will lose their lives. Among those who die in vain, there will be more innocent people than those involved in the conspiracy."

Munpyeong, consumed by guilt, worried about the lives that would be lost in a dark voice.

If you look closely, that one has a heart like a goody-two-shoes from the Orthodox Faction. Cheonma clicked his tongue, looking at Munpyeong, who was being meddlesome for no reason.

"You should think of it the other way around. If a war between the factions breaks out, there won't be any harm to the innocent common people like in the Hebei Bloodbath this time. They'll have to be mindful of the authorities, so they'll try to stay within the lines as much as possible."

"Martial artists are people too. A person's life isn't more precious or less precious than another's, is it?"

"You sound like a saint. Your words aren't entirely wrong, but it's a different case when the subject is a martial artist. Why do you think martial artists wield swords? To purify their minds and train their bodies? To cultivate the Tao and ascend to immortality? Ha! I've spent more than a cycle of sixty years in the Jianghu, but I've never seen a single person who picked up a sword with such lofty intentions. The martial artists I've seen were all people who wanted to kill others to make a name for themselves. They want to show off that they're stronger than others, and they're more interested in extorting others with force than following procedures. The higher up you go from a novice to a master, the more pronounced that tendency becomes."

Cheonma was cold. He fundamentally did not trust humans, and he trusted martial artists even less. He was a martial artist himself, yet he despised martial artists. To be precise, he loathed the habits and desires of those called martial artists.

"Why do you think the Hebei Bloodbath happened? Because Gwak Hyo hatched a formidable conspiracy? Because of the Righteous Path Alliance's incitement? Don't be silly. It's all because of the desires of the people of the Jianghu. The desire to become stronger. The desire to leave a bigger name. Once a frenzy is stirred up, it won't subside without seeing blood. In this situation, a war between the factions is inevitable. Even if Gwak Hyo hadn't escaped, the same thing would have eventually happened sooner or later."

Munpyeong had no words to rebut his sharp, decisive argument. Knowing Cheonma's past, he could guess why he loathed martial artists so much.

As Munpyeong remained silent, unable to speak, Cheonma also fell silent. Perhaps because of their brief argument, the peaceful atmosphere had vanished, and only an awkward feeling lingered between the two.

Beneath the young and beautiful face of Cheonma existed the heart of a ruthless absolute ruler. Munpyeong was once again reminded of this fact through their conversation. But unlike before, this realization did not feel heavy. As they say, you see as much as you know. Through his recent experiences, Munpyeong had come to know the various facets of Cheonma, and far from being scared, he even felt like he could understand his heart.

Cheonma was a cold person even to his own disciples, but he never shirked his responsibilities. His handling of matters was fair, and though his actions were whimsical, he observed propriety.

The Lord of the Demonic Path and the Strongest Under Heaven. On top of that, the master of the world's greatest power. The fact that such a powerful person had quietly crouched in the Heavenly Mountains for over forty years could not be perfectly explained by the Qilin Plaque alone.

Whether it was his brother's last will or his only remaining nephew, it would all have been for naught if Cheonma had had the mind to do otherwise. In fact, if Cheonma had truly had other intentions, how could the Righteous Path Alliance have held on?

If he had wanted to conquer the Jianghu, he wouldn't have needed to hatch a scheme like Gwak Hyo. With the power he possessed alone, everything would have been possible.

To have the mighty power to achieve anything and yet be able to exercise restraint. In Munpyeong's view, the most terrifying thing about Cheonma was that thorough self-control.

"You have a point, but I don't think we can only consider reason when lives are at stake. I can't say I'm completely unrelated to this, so I'm quite worried. It would be nice if everything in life went according to reason... It's a shame that it can't be so."

After a long time, Munpyeong finally opened his mouth, looking dejected. He, who knew the horrors of the battlefield better than anyone, could not shake off the weight of the words "war between the factions," despite Cheonma's assertion. The fact that he had contributed to it, however small, also weighed heavily on his mind.

"The only thing that follows reason in the world is the law of nature. How can one expect such reason in human affairs? Sometimes even nature deviates from it."

"Yes."

"..."

Cheonma fell silent after saying that. Then he suddenly tapped Munpyeong's shoulder, drawing his gaze upward.

"Look, Munpyeong. Look up there. Doesn't that Night-Luminescent Pearl on the ceiling resemble something?"

"The Night-Luminescent Pearl?"

Munpyeong's eyes widened at his sudden question as he looked up. Cheonma stared intently at the ceiling and added an explanation.

"Yes. Look closely at the position of the Night-Luminescent Pearls in relation to each other. It definitely resembles something we know."

Listening to his words and looking closely, he certainly saw something familiar. Looking not at the individual pearls but at their arrangement, the shape was quite familiar. It was in the shape of a constellation. Some he could recognize, others he couldn't, but the overall arrangement was definitely a familiar sight.

"...Huh? If my eyes aren't deceiving me, those Night-Luminescent Pearls resemble the constellations of the night sky. And not the constellations of the Central Plains, but the constellations of the Heavenly Mountains. There are some that are different in position or shape, but they are undoubtedly the constellations of the Heavenly Mountains."

"They're not wrong, they've changed. If you study calendrical science, you'll know that the constellations of the night sky are not always in the same position. As time passes, the stars change, and the constellations change too. The constellations of the Heavenly Mountains looked like that about 300 years ago."

Cheonma, who had been mentally calculating based on today's positions, narrowed his eyes at the number 300, which fit together so meaningfully.

`300 years. Exactly 300 years, huh?`

As he repeated the number, he remembered the absurd rumor the Wusheng Cult had spread in the Jianghu. At first, he thought it was just a self-serving fabrication, but maybe it wasn't. Could it be that it had some basis in fact?

Jumping to his feet, Cheonma stared at the ceiling with a strange light in his eyes. Munpyeong, who had sat up in a half-crouch, watched Cheonma, who was glaring at the Night-Luminescent Pearls with a naked body.

"It's unmistakable. Those Night-Luminescent Pearls depict the constellations of the Heavenly Mountains from 300 years ago. The position of the Ziwei Enclosure is correct, the Taiwei Enclosure matches, and the Tianshi Enclosure is also accurate. ...But what's that? Why is the Heart Mansion of the Eastern Palace twisted? The Seven Mansions of the Azure Dragon of the East are supposed to be the standard for the twenty-eight constellations, aren't they?"

Cheonma muttered to himself in words Munpyeong couldn't understand. What was the Ziwei Enclosure and the Taiwei Enclosure? And where was this master of the Jianghu, the Seven Mansions of the Azure Dragon of the East? Munpyeong couldn't understand anything, but he waited quietly. He had an instinctual feeling that Cheonma had realized something extraordinary.

"Munpyeong, get dressed."

Cheonma, who had been calculating for a long time, even using his fingers, his eyes shining, finally spoke. When he confidently told him to get dressed, Munpyeong's heart pounded. He could feel that Cheonma had finally figured out the secret of the Night-Luminescent Pearls.

Quickly picking up his own clothes, Munpyeong shook out the outer robe he had been lying on and handed it to Cheonma. Cheonma also got dressed and tied up his hair. His hair, which he had left loose and untidy throughout their time in the cave, was finally back to its neat self.

"Did you figure something out?"

Munpyeong asked curiously as Cheonma was tying his hair. Cheonma nodded and gestured to the ceiling with his eyes.

"It seems the mechanism was hidden in the ceiling, not the walls. I was staring right at it and missed it, so I must be the dull one."

"What on earth happened?"

"Do you see the three stars up there that are only half-lit? In the constellation of the Azure Dragon in the Tianshi Enclosure."

Munpyeong, who didn't know where the Tianshi Enclosure was, nodded as if he understood. But he couldn't fool Cheonma with such a half-hearted attitude. Cheonma frowned and turned Munpyeong's head to point in the right direction.

"Not there, over there. Yes. That direction. If you look straight up, you'll see the Seven Mansions of the Azure Dragon of the East. The place where the light is only half-visible is the Heart Mansion, which represents the heart of the Azure Dragon and signifies the rightful place of the Son of Heaven."

Munpyeong could finally find the Night-Luminescent Pearls that were only half as bright as the other stars. As he looked in the right direction, Cheonma continued his explanation, looking up at the ceiling.

"But do you know? The Son of Heaven that this constellation refers to is the Lord of the Trāyastriṃśa Heaven, in other words, the Jade Emperor. In Taoist terms, it's the Jade Emperor; in Buddhist terms, it's Śakra, the King of the Devas. In India, they call him Indra, but they are all different names for the same god. Even in the Demonic Cult, there is another name for him. The Demonic Cult was originally a religious group, after all."

Munpyeong tilted his head, listening to his words. He had been in the Demonic Cult for ten years, but this was the first time he had heard such a story. Of course, the name of the group had "Cult" in it, and its leader was called the "Cult Leader," so it could be a religion, but... what god did the Demonic Cult worship? Did they worship Rakshasas, as the "Demonic" in their name suggested?

"I had no idea such a thing existed. So what do they call him in the Demonic Cult?"

"Cheonma."

"...What?"

"They call him Cheonma. Didn't you really know? Originally, the Demonic Cult worshipped Cheonma, the incarnation of the god Indra. Among the past cult leaders, only those who were clearly recognized as incarnations of the god were given the name Cheonma. As far as I know, in a thousand years, the number of beings called Cheonma can be counted on one hand."

Munpyeong's jaw dropped.

`S-so, originally, the name Cheonma was only given to the incarnation of the Jade Emperor, or Śakra? He wasn't just worshipped like a god within the Demonic Cult, he was originally a god?`

Even if it was a name used without knowing its meaning, it was too heavy a title for a single human to bear. The world remembered the name as a byword for the Strongest Under Heaven, but its original meaning was even more immense.

"Do you understand what this means, Munpyeong?"

Munpyeong just blinked, unable to say anything.

`He's not going to confess that he's the real incarnation, is he? He's done many things that didn't seem human, but I didn't know he wasn't really human.`

He watched Cheonma's lips, worrying about absurd things. Cheonma, unaware of how much of a mess his words had made in Munpyeong's head, twisted his lips into a cold sneer and looked up at the Night-Luminescent Pearls with a chilly gaze.

"It seems we've found the Heavenly Demons' Secret Vault of Jeok Baek-mun. Not the fake one Gwak Hyo created, but the real one."

The lightning that had struck once struck Munpyeong's head again without rest. **CRACK.** Hearing the roar that only he could hear, Munpyeong froze. The Heavenly Demons' Secret Vault? The Heavenly Demons' Secret Vault of Jeok Baek-mun, which had only existed in rumors, really existed?

Leaving the stunned Munpyeong behind, Cheonma performed the Art of Walking on Air and ascended. As if climbing stairs made of air, he stepped on the empty space and soon reached the ceiling.

Cheonma's hand turned the three Night-Luminescent Pearls to their correct positions. They must have been stuck in the wrong position for a long time and hardened, but Cheonma easily found their proper places.

As his hand fell away, the Night-Luminescent Pearls shone with a perfect brilliance, revealing their true forms. At the same time, the constellation plate of the Seven Mansions of the Azure Dragon spun around.

**Grrr-rr-r.**

The sound of grinding metal was heard as the mechanism opened. Red rust fell from above. It was quite old, but the fact that it still worked properly after 300 years showed that the person who installed the mechanism had put a great deal of effort into it.

Cheonma went up first to check for danger, then pulled Munpyeong up with the Art of Grasping Objects from the Void. Moving a person's weight from a distance of over ten jang would not be an easy task, but Cheonma lifted Munpyeong as lightly as if he were moving a wine cup.

Munpyeong, terrified by the inhuman martial art, turned pale. Being pulled up into the air by an invisible force was a truly terrifying experience. He would have felt more at ease if he had even a straw to hold onto, but he was ascending, relying only on an internal energy that could be cut off at any moment, so he was extremely anxious.

But contrary to his anxiety, Cheonma brought him to the ceiling with unwavering stability.

Only after his feet touched solid ground did Munpyeong feel at ease. He let his shoulders slump, feeling the cold sweat soaking his back. Cheonma, paying no attention to him, turned and operated the mechanism again to close the door he had opened.

They had escaped the cave they had been trapped in with unbelievable ease. If Cheonma hadn't figured out the secret of the Night-Luminescent Pearls, they would still be trapped down there. If that had been the case, they would have had to risk their lives swimming through the opposite waterway to get out, or Munpyeong would have had to train in The Art of Plucking Yang to Supplement Yang like his life depended on it until his martial prowess matched Cheonma's.

It was good to be with a strong, capable, and smart companion like this. He had been able to escape a crisis without doing anything himself.

Munpyeong let out a sigh of relief and looked at Cheonma. His surroundings were so dark that he couldn't see well, but his presence was clearly felt even in the darkness.

"Um, have I told you?"

Munpyeong asked Cheonma cautiously. The useful Night-Luminescent Pearls had all been installed in the cave below, so there was no light in the stone chamber above, and he had to use his inner vision to see ahead.

Cheonma casually turned to where Munpyeong was standing. Even with his inner vision, it was not easy to secure a clear view. Unless he significantly enhanced his internal energy, he couldn't even tell if Munpyeong was a shadow or a shadow was Munpyeong.

`If this is how it is for me, Munpyeong must be completely blind.`

Clicking his tongue softly, Cheonma walked toward Munpyeong. As if he couldn't even sense the person approaching, Munpyeong stood there blankly. Cheonma walked toward him and returned the question.

"Told me what?"

"That I'm grateful. I've received a great debt that I can't possibly repay, but I don't think I've ever properly thanked you. Thank you for saving me, My Lord. Thank you for staying with me in that cave instead of leaving on your own, and thank you for bringing me here."

"I know."

"What?"

"I know. If you didn't know the depth of this debt, you'd be a beast, not a human. I'm well aware of how grateful you are, so there's no need to say it separately."

Cheonma, tired of his long-winded speech, though he didn't know what was so moving about it, cut him off and stood in front of him. He couldn't see well, but he knew exactly what kind of expression he was making right now. He was sure he was making a wronged and bewildered face. Like a child who had suddenly had his candy taken away.

"Stop with the nonsense and take my hand."

Cheonma said bluntly, holding out his hand. Munpyeong, who had reflexively held out his hand at his words, fumbled a few times before he could finally grasp Cheonma's hand.

Cheonma, holding Munpyeong's hand as if lacing their fingers, began to walk forward. Munpyeong, relying on that hand like a blind man on a cane, hesitantly followed him.

He had gathered his courage to convey his sincere feelings, but to his dismay, he had been curtly dismissed. He knew how much Cheonma liked to receive payment, so he had been truly prepared, but he had been treated as if he had said something foolish, and he felt disappointed and bitter.

"Where are we going now?"

Cheonma, leading the way, replied to Munpyeong's question as if it were nothing.

"We're going to find the Prostation Art of the Heavenly."

"The Prostration Art of the Heavenly Demon?"

"Yes. The Prostration Art of the Heavenly Demon. Or the Supreme Art of the Heavenly Demon, or whatever it's called. I'm going to find it. I am the true owner of the Qilin Plaque, after all. It wouldn't be right for me, Cheonma himself, not to know the identity of the treasure he hid."

The one who had scoffed at the existence of the Heavenly Demons' Secret Vault more than anyone else now chattered on with an amused tone. Hearing the clear interest in his voice, Munpyeong, realizing he was serious, sighed and followed him.

It was strange that the words of the Demonic Cult Leader searching for the lost art of his ancestor sounded so light. Come to think of it, it was a natural duty and right, so why did it feel so awkward? It seemed he had come to know Cheonma too well. He understood him so thoroughly that he had worries he didn't need to have and knew things he didn't need to know.

Munpyeong walked on gloomily, thinking that he didn't want to know this much.

Cheonma was a man of many strengths, but he also had even more flaws. They were traits too vast and unique to coexist in a single human body, so for Munpyeong, who was just an ordinary person, it was overwhelming.

***

They walked in the darkness for a long time.

For Munpyeong, who could see nothing, he didn't even know where he was going. After leaving the stone chamber, a long, long cave began, and there was no light to be found anywhere.

On the uneven path that was difficult to walk on, the only thing he could rely on was his own senses. Cheonma was leading the way, but it was entirely up to him to be careful not to fall.

He had to mobilize all his senses except sight, like someone practicing the Art of the Sensing Blade. He had only lost one sense, sight, but his whole body felt tied up. Every step he took was cautious and fearful. He wondered how Cheonma was finding his way so well in this darkness.

...No, to be honest, he wondered if they were even going the right way.

"How are you finding the way?"

Munpyeong, who had been harboring suspicious doubts for a long time, finally spoke up when he felt the path, which had been clearly uphill until just a moment ago, turn downhill again. He trusted Cheonma, of course, but that trust was not so absolute that he would follow blindly without any questions.

Cheonma, leading the way, answered his question from the darkness. The cave was so deep that every word he spoke echoed with a booming sound.

"There are markings made with black flowers by Jeok Baek-mun between the stone pillars. I'm following those."

And not the black flowers used today, but the old black flowers used 300 years ago. Looking at the markings left by Jeok Baek-mun in the secret treasury, Cheonma realized that he had left the traces exclusively for the Demonic Cult. It was as if he was hoping someone from the Demonic Cult would come and retrieve what he had left behind.

`I don't understand.`

Cheonma questioned the contradictory methods of Jeok Baek-mun. According to the traces left in the secret treasury, Jeok Baek-mun here was not in such a dire state that they couldn't return to the Demonic Cult. The mechanism installed in the cave connected to the underground waterway and the black flower markings left in the maze-like cave all pointed to this.

If he was in a situation where he could leave such clear traces that would last for 300 long years, then his condition at the time of his disappearance must not have been serious at all; he must have had so much time on his hands that he was bored.

If he wanted to pass on his martial arts to the Demonic Cult, it would have been more certain for him to return in person than to create such a riddle. So why did Jeok Baek-mun remain in this dark cave instead of returning to the Demonic Cult? Even though he knew full well that if he disappeared, the Art of the Heavenly Demon itself would disappear.

"Can you see something like that in this darkness?"

"I can see it, so I'm following it. You too, when you reach the Profound Realm state, will be able to see in all directions in this kind of darkness."

"...Is that possible for me in my lifetime?"

"It might be. If you keep up The Art of Plucking Yang to Supplement Yang every day and live for another 150 years."

Was it because he was annoyed by the repeated questions? A mercilessly harsh answer came back to Munpyeong's skeptical question. It was a more venomous answer than just saying it would never happen.

Munpyeong, who had spoken up because he was frustrated walking in silence on the desolate path, as well as being curious, fell silent with an embarrassed feeling.

When people disliked him, he would pester them annoyingly, but when they actually spoke to him, he never gave a proper answer. He wasn't a contrarian frog, so why did he always do the opposite? He would be about to feel some goodwill, but when he saw this side of him, his feelings would cool. He became afraid of getting hurt if he rashly opened his heart to such a whimsical person.

"Be careful. There's a rock two steps ahead."

Cheonma gave a blunt piece of advice and walked on. Thanks to his advice, Munpyeong was able to avoid what could have been a broken ankle. It wasn't protruding from below, but cleverly from the side, so if he hadn't been warned in advance, he might not have been able to dodge it.

They continued their arduous march.

To be honest, it wasn't "they." More accurately, it was only Munpyeong who had suffered a great deal before they reached an iron door. Unlike the passage so far, which had been a natural cave with some minor modifications, the iron door that stood squarely in front of them was covered in moss from the long years, and they almost turned back without realizing it was a door.

Cheonma lightly reached out and scraped off the moss. He trimmed it with a sharp sword qi as if peeling an apple, and soon the iron door revealed its form.

In the middle of the smooth iron door, which had no seams, a line of text was engraved. Like metal type, each character was engraved on a different iron plate.

Cheonma, enhancing his vision to see what was written, realized that the characters were not Chinese but Sanskrit. The characters, arranged randomly, did not form a proper sentence. Vowels and consonants were mixed up haphazardly, so they couldn't be read as a single unit.

Looking closely at each character combination, Cheonma quickly figured out what the iron door was asking for. If one could read Sanskrit, it was simple to deduce the answer. These characters were a kind of word puzzle using Sanskrit. One had to combine the characters engraved on the door to form a proper word. From his examination, there was only one word that could be formed from the combination of these characters.

Shakra.

Translated into Chinese, it means Śakra.

Śakra. Śakra, the King of the Devas, Indra. In the end, all questions led to one. As one could tell just from this problem, what Jeok Baek-mun wanted was for the religious leader of the Demonic Cult to find this place.

`This is quite interesting.`

Cheonma let out a cool sneer and solved the problem posed by the dead man. Even though he himself, the legitimate successor, had disappeared, Jeok Baek-mun seemed to have been waiting for a legitimate successor to follow him.

He must have done so because he didn't know that the religious color of the Demonic Cult had faded rapidly after he disappeared and they went through internal strife. But Cheonma, whose life had been greatly affected by Jeok Baek-mun, found him pathetic.

"Let's go in."

The sound of a mechanism turning was heard from inside the iron door. Knowing that the problem he had solved was correct, Cheonma unhesitatingly opened the door and entered the room.

Munpyeong, who had followed Cheonma without thinking, had been in pitch-black darkness and was suddenly exposed to light without any preparation. For a moment, his eyes were so dazzled that he couldn't see. With his eyes welling up with tears, he blinked several times, trying to regain his vision.

After calming down for a while, his eyes tearing up, he could finally see his surroundings. He looked around to see where such a bright light was coming from and found a huge Night-Luminescent Pearl, the size of a child's fist, embedded in the ceiling. The Night-Luminescent Pearls in the underground cavern were no match for this one. If those were fireflies, this was almost like moonlight.

`A Night-Luminescent Pearl of that size could really be traded for a castle.`

Munpyeong mentally calculated as he looked up at the huge Night-Luminescent Pearl. If he could just pull that one out and sell it, he could live a life of luxury comparable to Shi Chong. He didn't dare reach out, as he thought it might trigger some mechanism, but to be honest, he coveted it desperately.

"Where are you looking? The real treasure is over here."

As Munpyeong couldn't take his eyes off the ceiling, Cheonma clicked his tongue and gave him his own version of advice to widen his perspective. Startled by his words, Munpyeong turned to where Cheonma was pointing.

As he turned his gaze, he saw two pedestals on one side of the not-so-large stone grotto. On each of them sat a human figure in a cross-legged position. Though they had been dead for a long time, they were so lifelike that they naturally drew one's attention.

"A very handsome... corpse."

Though it was a remarkably fresh corpse, a corpse was just a corpse. Munpyeong muttered doubtfully, tilting his head. Hearing him, Cheonma laughed in disbelief. Then he pointed a finger at the dead person on the right and identified him.

"That's Jeok Baek-mun."

Even though he was his direct ancestor, Cheonma spoke his name irreverently. Jeok Baek-mun. So that person was the previous Heavenly Demon?

"How can you be so sure?"

"He's the stronger one. You can tell by checking his hands, as you're so good at. There are no calluses. It means he's gone through at least one complete the transformation of bone and flesh."

At his point, Munpyeong looked at the corpse on the right. He looked to be in his late thirties at most, mid-thirties at least. He wasn't a stunningly handsome man like Hyeokryeon Sang, but he had quite a handsome appearance and a decent physique. However, his impression was surprisingly gentle; he looked more like a scholar than a martial artist.

The fact that he wore a scholar's cap instead of a hero's cap, and a wide scholar's robe, made his attire that of a perfect scholar. If it weren't for his well-balanced physique, characteristic of a martial artist, one might have mistaken him for a scholar.

The person on the left looked older. Forty, or maybe a few years older. He was dressed in a white robe like a commoner, but he had a noble air about him, as if he had been quite handsome in his youth.

If the one on the right was Jeok Baek-mun, who was the one on the left? Munpyeong's eyes darted around as he pondered.

Cheonma was looking back and forth between the two corpses when he noticed something and opened the clenched fist of the man in the white robe. He hadn't noticed when the fist was lightly clenched, but when it was opened, the shape of a tattoo was clearly visible.

`Huh? He has a tattoo?`

Munpyeong was puzzled to see a tattoo that only criminals would have on the hand of the kind-looking man and looked closer.

`Evil is repaid with evil.`

Tattoos were usually used to engrave the name of the crime one had committed, but this man's tattoo was somewhat unusual. The tattoo was so deep it almost reached the bone, and the area around the engraved letters was full of scar tissue, as if it had been dug out over and over again.

"A peculiar tattoo. Judging by the content, it doesn't seem to have been done by the authorities. Do you think the ancestor Jeok Baek-mun engraved it?"

Munpyeong, curious about the identity of the man who had died with Jeok Baek-mun, asked with shining eyes. Hearing his question, Cheonma shook his head. Munpyeong's deduction was wrong.

"I think he did it himself. If someone else had done it, there wouldn't be scars around the letters like that. Those scars are the marks of slipping because he couldn't engrave it properly due to the pain."

"To do this to his own hand. I don't know what he did wrong, but he must have regretted it deeply."

"Hmph. What's the point of regretting it after you've done it? If it was a mistake to be regretted like that, he shouldn't have done it in the first place."

Cheonma, who never sympathized with others, snorted with a cynical attitude. Munpyeong crouched in front of him and looked at the deeply engraved letters on his palm. He felt sorry for the man in the white robe, but his thoughts were not much different from Cheonma's.

Though Munpyeong thought deeply about the circumstances of others, he was not foolish. He had lived long enough to know that one should not rashly sympathize with the stories of others. To regret something so desperately meant that he had committed a great sin. And the greater the sin, the more irreversible it is.

There are certainly unforgivable sins in the world. He didn't know what sin this man had committed, but since he didn't know his identity, he couldn't blindly defend him.

`If Gwak Hyo were to sincerely repent now, would I be able to let him go? No, not a chance. That's impossible. Unless you're a Buddha, how can you forgive such people?`

He felt sorry for putting an unknown person in the same category as the Three Ghost Demons or Gwak Hyo, but it couldn't be helped.

Munpyeong looked down at the palm of the man in the white robe, lost in deep thought. He was curious about what story this man had 300 years ago, but he couldn't get any more explanation from Cheonma.

"Do you want the treasure?"

Munpyeong looked up at Cheonma's sudden question. Cheonma, who was sitting so close that their shoulders were almost touching, was looking at him with an uncharacteristically serious gaze.

`Alright. This is definitely not a joke.`

Realizing that he was being serious, Munpyeong swallowed hard. Knowing what "treasure" Cheonma was talking about, Munpyeong's shoulders tensed up on their own.

"What I want is that huge Night-Luminescent Pearl. Can I really have that?"

"I've been telling you since a while ago that the real treasure is somewhere else, haven't I?"

Munpyeong tried to play dumb, but it didn't work. Cheonma looked down at him coldly as he tried to deflect with a nonsensical remark, and asked the same question again.

"Answer me. Do you want the treasure? If you wish, I will give you the most valuable thing you can get here."

"...Isn't the owner of the treasure here originally you, My Lord? Why aren't you taking it yourself?"

"Because I have no need for the treasure he left behind. I have walked my own path my entire life and have achieved a great deal accordingly. What is left for me is to complete that path, not to follow in the footsteps of others."

Cheonma offered it casually, but what he was offering was not something one could just accept because someone else offered it. Munpyeong, who knew his own station better than anyone, waved his hands in refusal, not out of modesty but out of sincerity.

"Then you should at least give your disciples a chance. It may not be of any help to you at your level, but it might be of great help to them, don't you think?"

"Not a chance. The treasure of Jeok Baek-mun is useless to them too. If it falls into their hands, it won't be a treasure but a nuisance."

"Why is that?"

"Didn't you realize on your way here? The Demonic Cult of Jeok Baek-mun is completely different from the Demonic Cult of today. To him, the Demonic Cult was a religion, but to us, it's just our roots. There's nothing to be gained by returning to tradition now and trying to uphold the old laws, except for internal strife. The order of the cult has been newly established over a long period of time, and my disciples have learned my way. Everything is running according to a new principle, so what's the use of the old ways now?"

Just like the White Lotus Sect and Shaolin, martial arts derived from religious ideology follow their doctrines. No matter the form or style, the ultimate goal is to internalize the religious doctrines and cultivate their principles. Just as Shaolin's martial arts seek enlightenment and Wudang's martial arts aim for immortality, the martial arts of the old Demonic Cult would also contain the ultimate principles that the old Demonic Cult pursued.

Cheonma, who had already guessed this, had no intention of reclaiming the old Heavenly Demon's Art now. No matter how great the martial art left by an ancestor, it was useless if it didn't fit the reality. If that martial art were to be introduced into the cult without any safeguards, it would only lead to a schism in the cult's doctrine and stir up unnecessary disputes over legitimacy.

"...If I don't accept that treasure, what will you do?"

"I'll have to destroy it. It's something that will surely become a source of trouble if I don't destroy it when I have the chance."

"Why are you trying to pass such a thing on to me? Do you think it won't be a source of trouble if I have it?"

"To be frank, I'm not giving you a gift, I'm getting rid of a problem. To me, it's a useless thing, but if you have it, it will be a quite useful weapon."

Cheonma replied calmly. His attitude was as casual as ever, but Munpyeong was not one to not know what an enormous offer he was making. He was trying to give him a huge gift right now.

If what he was offering was something trivial, he could have taken it without a second thought. He had received many things in that way before, so it was nothing new. But what he was offering now was on a different scale from what he had received so far. So he hesitated to accept it rashly.

`Can I really take the Art of the Heavenly Demon, which has been passed down only to the leaders of the Demonic Cult for generations? I don't even have the talent to learn it properly.`

It was like putting a saddle on a dog. Munpyeong, who knew his own limitations all too well, was suddenly scared that he was being too greedy. But as much as he was scared, he was also greedy.

He was sick and tired of being weak. He was fed up with being ignored at every turn and being kicked around like a street dog.

If he could, he wanted to live like Cheonma. It wasn't that he was envious of a lazy and arrogant life. What he coveted was the unrestrained freedom. How comfortable it would be to live proudly, without caring about anyone's opinion, only according to his own standards.

"If you don't need it either, don't feel pressured and answer me. I'm not forcing you, so it's fine to refuse."

Cheonma, knowing that Munpyeong always guarded against excessive favors, gave him the freedom to choose, thinking that whatever decision he made was his to make.

Whether he accepted his proposal and took the Art of the Heavenly Demon, or knew his place and quietly stepped back to continue living a life at the bottom. Whichever he chose, it was not a matter for Cheonma to force. As he said, he was just giving it to Munpyeong because he thought it was better to give it away than to destroy it.

`If I don't take it, it will be destroyed? The ancestral art of the Demonic Cult. One of the legendary martial arts that has reigned supreme for over a thousand years.`

Swallowing hard, Munpyeong looked into Cheonma's eyes. He had even tried The Art of Plucking Yang to Supplement Yang out of a desire to become a master, so what was there to be afraid of?

It might be better to be shameless for a moment than to remain a burden to Cheonma. He was a martial artist too, so he couldn't always rely on Cheonma's help, could he? To even repay Cheonma, he had to be in a better position than now. If he just kept receiving without giving, this one-sided relationship would be stuck forever.

"I will not refuse. Isn't this a martial art that countless people would have given their lives to have? When you're offering to put such a martial art in my hands, I'm not a detached enough person to ignore it."

Finally making up his mind, Munpyeong decided to accept the opportunity Cheonma was giving him.

`For someone so timid, he sure made up his mind quickly.`

Cheonma, thinking it was uncharacteristically brave of Munpyeong, told him what to do.

"Then perform the nine prostrations to Jeok Baek-mun. Seeing him feign death and pass away in a seated position, I can well imagine how old-fashioned his personality was in life. For someone like that, it's better to observe the proper formalities. Some people test the etiquette of their descendants, you know."

Following Cheonma's advice, Munpyeong stood up and stood before the corpse of Jeok Baek-mun. It felt strange to bow to a corpse that looked so alive. But he was the one who had left the martial art he was about to receive, and he was also his distant ancestor. Munpyeong told himself that it was only natural to observe the formalities and bowed to the corpse of Jeok Baek-mun.

One bow, two bows, three bows. Munpyeong, who was performing the disciple's prostration with a purified mind and a strict posture, did not realize that the corpse in front of him was slowly cracking. On the other hand, Cheonma, who was standing back with his arms crossed, was able to watch everything that was happening in front of him.

As the prostrations continued, the form of the corpse gradually crumbled more and more. The corpse, which had lost its form as if it were made of dust, turned into a small pile of dust after Munpyeong's nine prostrations were completed.

Munpyeong, surprised by the strange situation he had only heard about in stories, watched the scene with wide eyes. Now, all that was left on the pedestal was a small pile of dust, a booklet, and a mysteriously shining bead.

Approaching the pedestal, Munpyeong picked up the worn and tattered booklet. The elegant seal script announced that it was a martial arts manual. Heavenly Thunder Divine Art. Munpyeong read the characters aloud.

`Huh, Heavenly Thunder Divine Art? Not Heavenly Demon's Art?`

Munpyeong was flustered when a martial art with a different name than he had expected appeared. If the person he had prostrated to was really Jeok Baek-mun, it should have been the Art of the Heavenly Demon, not the Heavenly Thunder Divine Art. Why did a name he had never even heard of pop out?

As Munpyeong tilted his head in confusion, Cheonma cleared up his doubt with a look of pity.

"The Heavenly Thunder Divine Art is the Art of the Heavenly Demon. As I said before, in the Demonic Cult, Cheonma was originally called the incarnation of Śakra. The main weapon of Śakra, or Indra, is thunder and lightning. Therefore, the Art of the Heavenly Demon also considered thunder qi the most important, and the martial arts using it were considered the best."

It was for that reason that Cheonma's residence was the Thunder Palace, and the formal name of the new Heavenly Demon's Art he had created was the Thunder Flame Demonic Art.

Learning a new fact, Munpyeong opened the booklet and began to read its contents. Cheonma, who was genuinely not interested in the things Jeok Baek-mun had left behind, just watched Munpyeong retrieve the items with his arms behind his back.

"...My Lord. There's a letter left by the ancestor here, and in it, there's a request for his descendant."

Munpyeong, who had started reading the booklet, soon discovered something new. When he told Cheonma what he had found, Cheonma's brow furrowed in displeasure.

Being a man from 300 years ago, Jeok Baek-mun's way of thinking was old-fashioned. He was doing all the things that deceased masters who had left behind a fortuitous encounter would do.

A fortuitous encounter was something that the descendants who discovered the traces of the old people said, but the original purpose of the one leaving the traces was to prevent the achievements he had made from being forgotten by the world. So it was natural for the story to be long and winding, but Cheonma didn't care about such circumstances.

"How pathetic. Go on, read it. What kind of excuse did that man leave behind?"

Cheonma urged Munpyeong in a cold tone. He didn't know why Cheonma was so fed up with Jeok Baek-mun, but knowing his hot-tempered nature, Munpyeong just let it go.

"To the one who has found this."

Munpyeong read the letter clearly as he was told. Like all deceased masters who had left behind a fortuitous encounter, Jeok Baek-mun's letter began by addressing the person who would retrieve his remains.

"I surmise that your arrival is by no means a coincidence. To have reached this place, you must have solved the many riddles I have laid out. The only person who could solve all those riddles and reach this stone chamber would be a descendant of our Demonic Cult."

Munpyeong, who was a descendant of the Demonic Cult but had not solved the riddles himself, began to feel a little guilty at this part.

"What excuse can I dare to make to you? I can imagine without seeing what turmoil the Demonic Cult must have gone through due to my disappearance. Knowing the suffering of those left behind, I could not return again, so I no longer have the right to carry on the lineage. I have no face to see my descendants, so how can I leave even my corpse behind? I hope that my descendant will take the Heavenly Thunder Divine Art and the inner core, but not my corpse. I have sworn never to face the blue sky again, so I want to keep that oath even in death. ...He says inner core, My Lord. What kind of inner core could it be?"

"There couldn't have been any spiritual beasts in this narrow cave, so it must be his own inner core. Don't get sidetracked and keep reading."

Hearing Cheonma's words, Munpyeong glanced at the mysterious bead on the pedestal. Was that the inner core of an absolute master he had only heard about in stories? Perhaps because he had heard the story, the bead's luster seemed even more mysterious.

"Ahem. Ahem. After you have taken the martial art and closed the door again, the stone chamber will collapse, and we two will finally find our rest. I ask you again, my descendant. I hope you will not retrieve the remains of the person next to me, let alone mine. I could not keep the oath to live together and die together, so I want to be buried in the same place even in death and stay by his side."

Cheonma raised an eyebrow and looked at the corpse of the dead man. Munpyeong also noticed something unusual in Jeok Baek-mun's words. Cheonma, who had been staring at the man in the white robe, strode over and untied his robe.

`What is that man doing to a corpse?`

Startled by his unexpected action, Munpyeong quickly grabbed his arm.

"What are you doing?"

Hearing his question, Cheonma replied with annoyance.

"I'm checking for traces."

"Traces?"

"I'm checking the cause of death."

As he pushed back the collar of the man in the white robe's robe, a horrific scar on the corpse was revealed. He hadn't noticed when the clothes were on, but now that they were off, he could see that the area across his chest and down to his waist was blackened as if struck by lightning. The skin had melted from the heat, and his internal organs had melted along with it, sticking to the melted skin.

Munpyeong felt a surge of nausea and looked away. He had seen many corpses before, but he had never seen one in such a gruesome state.

"As I thought, it was Jeok Baek-mun who killed this man."

Cheonma said as if to himself and ran his finger over the dead man's skin. It looked rough, but the feeling at his fingertips was surprisingly smooth. He had felt it when he touched his hand earlier, but it was indeed coated in wax.

Jeok Baek-mun's corpse was preserved in its complete form thanks to his own internal energy, but this man's corpse was intact because it had been specially preserved. Just as an insect is trapped in tree resin to make amber, this man's corpse had been preserved in its original form by pouring wax over it from head to toe.

"Is this the mark of the Heavenly Thunder Divine Art?"

"Yes. As you can see, there aren't many thunder qi in the Jianghu that can leave such a mark. It seems these two did not die on the same day as Jeok Baek-mun said. Looking at the situation, this one died much earlier. The fact that the preservation is so well done suggests that he might have been a corpse from the beginning when he was brought here."

"Preservation? You mean Jeok Baek-mun lived with a corpse?"

Munpyeong, who had not directly touched the corpse, was surprised to hear Cheonma's words. Cheonma rubbed his fingertips to get rid of the unpleasant sensation and looked around.

"Aren't there traces of that everywhere? Look at the things left in this stone chamber. There's one bed and one chair. I see one rice bowl over there too. Judging by the traces left here and there, it seems he lived in this stone chamber for quite a long time, but there are no traces of anyone else living here, so we have to assume one of them wasn't alive."

Cheonma's claim, which had sounded strange at first, had a plausible basis when he listened closely. Munpyeong, who had confirmed with his own eyes that Cheonma's claim was true, turned his gaze to the corpse of Jeok Baek-mun, which had turned to dust.

He couldn't understand Jeok Baek-mun's actions. He didn't know what kind of heartbreaking story there was, but his actions were truly hard to understand. Looking at the situation, it wasn't a heartbreaking love story, but a gruesome ghost story. No matter how he thought about it, it wasn't something a person with common sense would do, and Munpyeong's head ached.

`Could it be that all Heavenly Demons are like this? Do you have to be attracted to men and occasionally do things that are incomprehensible to human common sense to be worthy of being called a Heavenly Demon?`

Unlike Munpyeong, who was tormented by strange questions, Cheonma had some idea of the identity of the man in the white robe. The words of the tattoo on his right hand. And the faint trace of a brand on his forehead.

Jeok Baek-mun had disappeared after destroying the Wusheng Cult, and had spent the rest of his life with the corpse of the man in the white robe. Two men who had committed a sin so great that they were ashamed to look up at the sky. He didn't know the detailed circumstances, but he could guess the general story.

`Wu Shengli and Jeok Baek-mun. A pretty grim fate.`

Cheonma felt a strange feeling as he realized that he was facing the tragic end of the two men with Munpyeong.

It was not common for two Heavenly Demons separated by hundreds of years to face each other, but the fact that both were attacted to younger men and had their respective lovers by their sides was a strange coincidence.

`...But that doesn't mean I'm on the same level as that idiot.`

Cheonma, who had been caught up in uncharacteristic sentimentality for a moment, came to his senses as he saw Munpyeong staring blankly at the corpse of the dead Wu Shengli. If one only considered the external circumstances, their situations might seem similar. But Cheonma had no desire to be compared to the likes of Jeok Baek-mun.

He had caused trouble for many people with his foolish behavior, and he hadn't even been able to protect the person he was supposed to protect. How was he similar to a man like that?

If he was a partner so precious that he couldn't even let go of his corpse, he should have used any means to save him. Just as he was doing for Munpyeong now, he should have done whatever he could to save him.

He had missed the time to act, and then he had clung to a corpse and moped. It was pathetic. To be honest, a man like that didn't even deserve the title of Heavenly Demon.

"Don't get any funny ideas. I'm a hundred times better than that guy. Who are you comparing to whom?"

Cheonma threw out a remark as if to shake off the unpleasant feeling and stood up.

Munpyeong, who had once again been caught by Cheonma's amazing mind-reading ability, looked up with a start. Cheonma looked down at him with a look that said, You think I don't know what you're thinking?

"No, well, I wasn't really comparing you to anyone. I was just thinking that the previous Heavenly Demon had a very similar disposition to the current one, and wondering if all Heavenly Demons are like that, you know, just some trivial thoughts."

Munpyeong mumbled an excuse, leaving out the fact that he had suspected that the martial arts learned by Cheonmas were so demonic that their personalities all turned out that way.

"Similar? What's similar? Do I look like someone who would play with corpses like that guy?"

"Of course, you wouldn't do such a grotesque thing, My Lord. But..."

"Your small head is full of useless, idle thoughts. Remember this well. As long as I'm alive, I have no intention of sending you off first. I'd rather be buried alive with you than send you off before me. You're so much younger than me, how dare you think of going before me?"

He hadn't even said he was going to die, but Munpyeong received an unnecessary scolding. But what bothered him more than the scolding was the unexpected word "buried alive."

`Buried alive? What's with the burial? Is this the Spring and Autumn period?`

Hearing that word come from Cheonma's mouth sent a shiver down his spine. He knew that he was not a person who spoke without meaning, so even though he knew it was a joke, he felt uneasy.

`If I stay by this person's side, I might really end up being buried alive, right?`

He looked at Cheonma with a horrified gaze. Contrary to his appearance, that man was incredibly old!

As Munpyeong stared at him with a wary look, Cheonma met his gaze with a shameless expression.

`Why? Don't you like the idea of being buried alive?`

Cheonma asked with his eyes, and Munpyeong also answered with his eyes.

`Of course I don't.`

`Then you'll have to do your part, right?`

`What should I do?`

`First, memorize that booklet you're holding. It's best to burn such things after you've memorized them to avoid any future trouble.`

`Yes, sir.`

Receiving Cheonma's command, Munpyeong quickly opened the booklet in his hand and began to memorize the incantations. With only the word "buried alive" stuck in his head, Munpyeong was completely unaware of the fact that he had just had a conversation with Cheonma with only their eyes.

He should have been more conscious of their immediate proximity rather than a distant funeral that may or may not happen, but Munpyeong, who always missed the point at important moments, was still failing to grasp the crucial situation and was fumbling in a completely different direction.

Cheonma looked down at the top of Munpyeong's head as he memorized the incantations, his nose almost buried in the book. He had meant the word "buried alive" as a joke, but seeing him so tense and frightened by that one word made him laugh.

He had a picky personality that couldn't stand to see a person being foolish, but to see Munpyeong's cluelessness and find it cute was a big problem.

`Am I really going to find it a pity to leave him behind?`

He was already feeling that his attachment was growing stronger lately, and he himself felt it was dangerous. Cheonma smacked his lips, looking at Munpyeong, whose clumsy appearance was even endearing. Having undergone the Rejuvenation, he would live much longer than Munpyeong if nothing went wrong, but being as old as he was, it was inevitable that his perspective was that of an old man.

"Hoo."

Munpyeong sat cross-legged on the floor and took a deep breath. He straightened his back, placed his hands in front of his dantian, and assumed the standard sitting meditation posture, his breathing even as he purified his body and mind.

He cleared his mind of distractions and recalled the incantations he had painstakingly memorized. After three days of barely memorizing the 1,840-character incantation, Munpyeong opened his eyes halfway, checking if he had forgotten anything.

"I'll begin."

If he had tried to do this alone, he might have been so nervous that he would have been out of his mind. He was trying to absorb the inner core of the previous Heavenly Demon with a internal art learned only from a manual, without the guidance of a master. It was not something that could be easily attempted without considerable guts. But fortunately, he had Cheonma.

He had explained in detail the tips and precautions for absorbing the inner core, and he was even in a sitting meditation posture behind him, ready to help in case Munpyeong's internal energy went wild.

Perhaps because he knew Cheonma was waiting for him, Munpyeong's mind was surprisingly calm. Even if his master or father, whom he had never had in his life, were by his side, he didn't think he would be this at ease. He couldn't remember when he had started to rely on this person so much.

He had only thought of him as a terrifying and overwhelming person, a sharp and venomous person who would make him bleed if he let his guard down. But now that he thought about it, he had become someone he could trust with his back even during energy circulation.

"You must not rush, no matter what. You must not be greedy for energy you cannot control. Do you understand?"

Cheonma repeated the warning he had given several times. Munpyeong nodded and reached out to pick up the inner core left by the previous Heavenly Demon.

**Gulp.**

Without hesitation, he swallowed the inner core, and the two-finger-sized core went down his throat. It had felt as hard as any other bead to the touch, but once in his mouth, it melted instantly like a refreshing nectar and disappeared down his throat.

As the inner core went down to his stomach, that area tingled. A hot sensation spread wherever it passed, so he could tell where it was. The inner core, flowing through his internal organs at a speed that surpassed the normal digestion of food, began to accumulate in his dantian.

Munpyeong quickly began to circulate his energy using the Heavenly Thunder Divine Art's internal art. He had to rush a Grand Heavenly Circulation before his narrow dantian was completely filled.

The churning energy, like lava, flowed through his qi and blood channels. If he hadn't widened his qi and blood channels through The Art of Plucking Yang to Supplement Yang until now, they might have been torn apart in an instant. Sweating profusely, afraid that his true qi would go wild, Munpyeong painstakingly controlled the speed of his circulation.

The rampaging true qi rushed through the Eight Extraordinary Meridians like a raging torrent. As a large amount of qi rushed into the narrow qi and blood channels at once, the impurities accumulated in the meridians scattered and the qi and blood channels expanded. The true qi from the inner core just rushed forward like a carriage that had lost its driver. It didn't think to follow the twelve meridians that formed a single loop in order, but tried to change direction at will or take a detour. If he let it be, all his attempts would be for naught. Munpyeong focused with all his might and guided the direction of his circulation. His will was the reins, and his effort was the driver.

**Pop. Pop. Pop-pop-pop.** The sound of something breaking and shattering was heard along his meridians. The narrow passage, which had only been wide enough for true qi to pass through, expanded at once, and the sound of the impurities being washed away was manifested in that way. The speed of his circulation gradually increased due to the true qi being pushed out from his dantian. As the speed increased, the noise also grew louder.

Munpyeong felt as if he were running toward the light. Even though it was happening inside his own body, he was so busy just holding on to the reins that he couldn't control it. It was a natural result, as less than half of the moving energy was his own, but Munpyeong couldn't accept that fact.

`Get a hold of yourself, Seok Munpyeong. Do you think opportunities like this come every day? If you can't handle it, you shouldn't have been greedy in the first place!`

Behind him was Cheonma. The very person who had given him this incredible opportunity was waiting to support him even in his failure. Of course, he was grateful and reassured, but apart from that, he also didn't want to fail, especially with Cheonma watching.

Cheonma was a man of many talents, who knew all the studies in the world and could do anything. It was something he really wanted to avoid, showing a foolish side that missed a rare opportunity to someone so outstanding that he didn't even seem human.

Fueled by a sense of pride, Munpyeong focused even more on his circulation. He felt a tearing pain in his swollen meridians, but he gritted his teeth and endured it. The internal energy rotating along the Ren Mai began to spin faster and faster. The situation was the same for the internal energy following the Du Mai.

The internal energies, chasing each other's tails like a snake biting its own tail, finally crashed into each other. **BOOM! BOOM! KABOOM!** The two forces, extending in different directions, collided without restraint. The successive collision sounds were so loud that his ears went numb.

The intersection of the Ren and Du meridians was shaken violently. The successive impacts of the energy, like a log in a fast-flowing stream hitting a bridge, sent thunder and lightning through his head.

Though everyone is born with them open, the walls of the two meridians, hardened by years of cooked food and turbid qi, were thick and stubborn. With one or two strikes, they shook but did not break through.

Indeed. If it were easy to break through, would this place be called the Gate of Life and Death? It was called the Gate of Life and Death because one had to cross the threshold of life and death countless times to break through it. Without crossing it, one could not advance on the path of a master.

If the bounced-off internal energy were to flow backward, it would immediately lead to Qi Deviation. Munpyeong quickly came to his senses and turned the direction of his refined internal energy back.

**BOOM, KABOOM, KABOOM.** Once again, the internal energies struck the Gate of Life and Death. One time, two times, three times. Each time the internal energy collided, his whole body shook. His qi and blood were shaken by the churning internal energy, and his insides felt raw as if he had suffered an internal injury.

Swallowing the blood that flowed from his damaged qi and blood, Munpyeong desperately focused his mind. With repeated attempts, the walls were gradually breaking down. He felt the walls gradually thinning, and finally, like a levee swept away by a flood, they came crashing down.

Black sweat poured from Munpyeong's entire body. As the Ren and Du meridians were broken through, the impurities accumulated in the meridians were flowing out through his pores. Not only the meridians, but also the turbid qi accumulated inside his body was flowing out, and the stench was indescribable. But the face of Munpyeong, who continued to circulate his energy, was serene. He didn't seem to have noticed the terrible smell coming from his own body.

`Not bad.`

Cheonma, who had been watching him with a wary eye, worried that he might suffer from Qi Deviation due to the strenuous circulation, saw this and realized that Munpyeong had broken through the Ren and Du meridians. He had thought he would achieve some results, but he hadn't expected such an enormous result.

Cheonma looked at Munpyeong with a strange light in his eyes. With this, Munpyeong had surpassed the wall of a first-rate master and reached the state of a peak master. Since it was a state gained not through enlightenment, his martial prowess itself was low, but since he had broken through the Gate of Life and Death, his ability would be on a different level from other peak masters.

Generally, the Ren and Du meridians are broken through on the way from a peak master to a transcendent master. One has to reach that level to have the ability to contemplate the Gate of Life and Death. But Munpyeong had broken through the Gate of Life and Death while only on his way to becoming a peak master. He had brutally broken through the iron-like meridians, which must have been still firmly hardened, with just sheer force.

It must have been a pain so terrible that death would have been preferable. How did he endure it? Cheonma had not thought that Munpyeong had such a venomous heart, so he was proud of this unexpected result.

When Munpyeong finished his circulation and opened his eyes, a lightning-like divine light flashed in his black irises and disappeared. Munpyeong, who had emerged from a state of selflessness, finally noticed the stench coming from his body and looked at himself in bewilderment. Cheonma, who was a neat freak, had even stepped back to avoid him.

"You stink."

When Cheonma pointed it out bluntly, Munpyeong's face turned red. There is no greater insult than stating the truth as it is. Munpyeong stammered, defending his situation.

"I-I know. But it can't be helped, can it? It's a natural process for black sweat to flow when the Gate of Life and Death is broken through."

"Get away from me. The air is already thick enough, and your smell is giving me a headache."

Cheonma didn't say a single word of congratulations to Munpyeong, who had just managed to break through the Ren and Du meridians. He must have experienced this state before him, so he should have known it was an unavoidable situation, but he just kept teasing him, saying things like his head hurt and it was hard to breathe.

Munpyeong's spirits fell when he received no reaction even after achieving results through his best efforts. From Cheonma's perspective, something like this was probably not a big deal.

`Well. To someone like Cheonma, a mere peak master is probably not even worth looking at. I guess this isn't enough.`

He should have been happy to have achieved such an unexpected great result, but he didn't feel happy at all. It was just bitter.

"Let's hurry down the mountain, wash up, and eat. I've been eating only fish for days, I feel like I'm going to grow scales."

Cheonma, who had had to go back down to the cave with the underground waterway to catch fish because they couldn't find anything to eat in this stone chamber, muttered as if he would never eat fish again.

"...Yes."

When Munpyeong replied weakly, Cheonma turned to look at him.

`Why is he so down?`

Cheonma tilted his head for a moment, looking at Munpyeong, and then, as if a thought had occurred to him, he clicked his tongue softly and shook his head.

"You insufferable creature. A man who hasn't even reached the peak stage yet, borrowing the power of an inner core to break through so recklessly. Of course, you have no energy left even after opening the Gate of Life and Death. If we go to Zhaoxian, there's a tavern that brews good Youth-Restoring Wine. Let's go there, have a drink, and you can rest well tonight."

Cheonma said some ambiguous words that could be either comfort or praise and left the stone chamber. Munpyeong, who was bewildered for a moment, quickly went out the door when he realized that Cheonma was about to collapse the stone chamber.

After closing the door of the stone chamber, Cheonma pressed the word puzzle to activate the mechanism again.

**Rumble, rumble, rumble.**

A different vibration sound from the first one was heard, and the cave shook. The sound of something collapsing was heard continuously from outside the thick iron door. It seemed that the perfectly fine room was collapsing with that one operation, thanks to some mechanism installed inside.

After a long time of roaring, the noise subsided. Only after the iron door, which had lost its support, collapsed helplessly, could they see the long passage that had formed behind it. As the stone chamber sank, the passage that had been hidden by the wall was revealed. Like the caves they had passed through so far, the other side was also pitch-black.

Since the dust of Jeok Baek-mun's corpse was in the stone chamber, the collapsed stone chamber itself was a tomb. Cheonma, who didn't care about things like etiquette, strode over it and went out into the passage. Munpyeong also hurriedly followed him.

Endless darkness spread out again, but Munpyeong was not as afraid of the darkness as he had been at first. Cheonma was holding out his hand to guide him, and his eyes had become brighter than before, so he could at least vaguely see the shapes of things.

"Ah, this smell, really. I can't stand it. It's going to get on my hand."

...Although Cheonma was being quite spiteful, Munpyeong endured it.

His way of speaking was a bit bad, but so what? He was an incredibly great benefactor to Munpyeong. He had saved his life, brought him out of a cave that was sealed on all sides, and on top of that, he had made him a peak master. He was a benefactor among benefactors. Considering his damn difficult personality, Cheonma was doing quite well for him. Not just quite well, but very well.