With the Gentleman’s Sword at his waist, Geom Mugeuk continued looking around the place.
It was because he thought the Bigwe might possibly sound. The bead might have been hidden among the weapons, or inside a display cabinet drawer.
But even after he had examined every weapon there, the Bigwe did not sound.
Geom Mugeuk walked toward the door leading to the next room. Before it, he turned back and gave a greeting.
“Thank you for letting me look.”
It was a greeting to the souls of the warriors who had used those weapons.
After all, this exhibition hall valued the lives of the warriors who had wielded them more than the weapons themselves.
Geom Mugeuk opened the door and stepped inside.
This time, the room was narrower than the one with the weapons, but compared to the first room, it was still extremely spacious.
Protective armor was on display here.
As before, there were descriptions of the protective armor and records of those who had used them.
Geom Mugeuk slowly looked around.
“Oh, I’m seeing the Robe of Elegance in person!”
It was the protective armor of Yeongaek, the flirtatious swordsman once popular among female knights. This garment, with a beautiful woman painted on its back, was the long robe that symbolized him, and ordinary sword qi could not cut through that beauty.
“I’m jealous! One day, I too!”
With that half-serious, half-joking remark, he began properly looking at the protective armor.
There truly were all kinds.
“So this is what the Silver Scale Armor looks like!”
Its silver scales glittered so brightly they were almost blinding. Of course, its practicality looked rather lacking.
“Tyrant Dragon Armor! Splendid, truly splendid.”
A roaring dragon was painted across the chest, and if one wore this before enemies, it seemed like its sheer presence alone would be enough to intimidate them.
And the finest protective armor here, by far, was this.
“Heavenly Divine Armor!”
It was known as protective armor so light and elastic that wearing it felt like wearing nothing at all.
But one could not look down on it for being thin. It was protective armor that even sword qi or sword aura could not cut, truly one that vied for the very best.
“You bastards, don’t even think about fooling me from now on!”
Since the genuine article was stored here, if any weapon or protective armor said to have come from this place ever appeared on the market, it would all be fake.
But still, a martial artist would just leave this behind? The Heavenly Divine Armor?
However, he had already decided not to choose protective armor today. With precisely this thought:
“Yes, training is the best protective armor.”
Comforting himself that way, he moved on with reluctant steps.
As Geom Mugeuk continued looking over the remaining protective armor, something made him stop.
The Ice Dragon Divine Armor.
The moment he saw it, Geom Mugeuk recalled that time three hundred years ago.
This Ice Dragon Divine Armor was something the Lord of the Dark Palace had gifted to the Lord of Cheonui Palace along with the Heavenly Yin Pill. Geom Mugeuk had watched the scene that day.
At the time, the Martial Emperor Divine Sword, whom the Lord of Cheonui Palace had to fight, possessed extreme yang internal energy, so it had been given to help her prepare for him. But Geom Mugeuk had judged it to be a trap.
The Lord of the Dark Palace wanted the Lord of Cheonui Palace to lose.
He could not be certain, since he had not witnessed that day’s battle directly, but he guessed that an extreme yin attack had been unleashed against the Lord of Cheonui Palace, who had prepared for an extreme yang attack.
The Martial Emperor Divine Sword could not have been the only one in that battle. At that time, the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult had definitely been involved as well.
He looked around to see if there was anything else nearby related to what had happened then. And then, another object caught his eye.
‘Ah! This is?’
It was not protective armor.
It was simply one long piece of cloth.
Dream of the Divine Maiden.
Even without seeing the name written beneath it, Geom Mugeuk knew.
‘It’s the cloth the Divine Maiden used to cover her eyes.’
The Divine Maiden he had met in the world three hundred years ago had covered her eyes with this cloth.
He recalled the prophecy she had spoken.
Darkness will lead you to Heaven’s will.
At the time, he had interpreted her prophecy as saying he would be able to find the whereabouts of the great Bigwe through the Dark Palace.
But now that he had confirmed their descendants had continued on for three hundred years to this day, the prophecy felt different.
That the battle against this hidden force was his Heaven’s will.
Geom Mugeuk slowly picked up the cloth named Dream of the Divine Maiden.
“!”
The moment he grasped the cloth in his hand, Geom Mugeuk felt a certain energy.
It was not the sort of energy one could feel from a person’s aura or martial arts. This energy was auspicious and mysterious, entirely different from those things.
Was it because he had received a prophecy from the Divine Maiden? Geom Mugeuk could clearly feel this energy that had remained even across three hundred years.
Geom Mugeuk instinctively knew. This energy was not meant for him, nor was it meant for anyone else.
‘It is meant for one person alone.’
In that moment, Geom Mugeuk thought of someone.
The face of the one person he felt he had to give this to.
‘If meeting the sacred relic left behind by the Divine Maiden here is also fate?’
Geom Mugeuk took the Dream of the Divine Maiden without hesitation. This was Geom Mugeuk’s second choice.
Both his first and second choices had been for others.
‘For the last one, let’s choose something for myself.’
Having made up his mind, Geom Mugeuk headed for the next room.
The moment he opened the third door, he could tell what kind of room this was from the scent that wafted out.
That medicinal fragrance, always pleasant no matter when he smelled it—this was the place where spirit medicines were stored.
“Wow! This is incredible.”
Countless spirit medicines were spread out before his eyes.
The first thing that caught his eye was the Ten-Thousand-Year Snow Ginseng.
Ten-Thousand-Year Snow Ginseng were displayed in individual boxes.
Had he ever seen so many Ten-Thousand-Year Snow Ginseng gathered in one place? Truly, this was the first time.
With Ten-Thousand-Year Snow Ginseng here, the Thousand-Year Snow Ginseng displayed separately beside them felt like mere bellflower roots.
And that was not all. Beside them, Nine Yang Divine Pills, which bestowed extreme yang internal energy, were on display, while across from them, Nine Yin Divine Pills were arranged as if to say extreme yin internal energy was on this side.
In front of those was the Red Heart Pill. There were three or four of a spirit medicine that most people would struggle to taste even once in their lives.
And was that all?
Great Yang Pills and Lesser Yang Pills, Taiji Heart-Calming Pills and Cloud-Accumulating Pills, Bright Clarity Pills… truly, every kind of spirit medicine was here. And they were impeccably organized.
Seeing this, he could freshly understand just how extraordinary it was that Jin Paecheon had allowed him into this place.
What if he ate all these spirit medicines? What if he devoured them all like a madman and ran away?
If there was even the slightest possibility that such a thing might happen, he could never have allowed him in.
Yet the fact that he had let him in meant he truly trusted him.
‘The next room is probably where the secret manuals are. I don’t need martial arts anyway, so I should choose a spirit medicine here.’
He already possessed such vast internal energy that one might ask if he really needed more, but internal energy was also something where the more one had, the better.
There was no need to agonize over which spirit medicine to choose. As he walked along the spirit medicines, he encountered the ruler of this room at its very center.
“Gongcheong Stone Milk!”
The pinnacle of all spirit medicines!
There truly was a pure white bottle containing Gongcheong Stone Milk.
When he carefully opened the stopper and looked inside, there seemed to be several drops of milky-white Gongcheong Stone Milk. Even a single drop had effects superior to any spirit medicine in this place.
“I was planning to eat it all by myself, but you really are blessed with luck!”
He was speaking to his older brother. He had decided to split it with him. What reason was there to give him all of it? Ah, lately, he did like him somewhat. Still, he ought to be grateful to receive even half.
“Alliance Leader, I clearly told you when I came in. I said I would bring out only the best.”
Thus, Geom Mugeuk had chosen all three things he needed to select from this place: the Gentleman’s Sword, the Dream of the Divine Maiden, and the Gongcheong Stone Milk.
Now what remained was finding the bead for the Bigwe to absorb. To Geom Mugeuk, that was even more important than this Gongcheong Stone Milk.
He carefully looked through the room containing the spirit medicines, but the Bigwe showed no response.
Geom Mugeuk opened the next door and entered.
As expected, the final room was packed full of martial arts secret manuals.
Dozens of large bookshelves were filled with precious manuals the Martial Alliance had gathered over its long history.
“Ah, it smells good.”
It was a pleasant scent in a meaning different from medicinal fragrance—the scent of books.
After becoming acting cult leader, Geom Mugeuk had become immersed in reading at the Heavenly Demon Library. Now, he felt he understood a little of what the joy of reading was.
“What kind of books are here?”
Geom Mugeuk slowly examined the shelves as he moved.
They were mainly filled with martial arts of the righteous sects. As for demonic arts or unorthodox arts, they had mostly collected martial arts meant to counter them.
He could feel their will and confidence that righteous martial arts would certainly suppress demonic and unorthodox arts.
If righteous faction warriors saw them, there were peerless divine arts enough to make them faint, practically every other volume. Geom Mugeuk did not take them out to read. To him now, the only martial art was the Guhwa Demonic Art.
Thus, Geom Mugeuk slowly moved along, passing between shelf after shelf.
‘Bigwe, sound! Please, sound! You’re hungry too, aren’t you? Isn’t it about time you ate one?’
But even after he had gone around all the shelves, the Bigwe did not sound.
Geom Mugeuk forced himself to shake off his disappointment.
‘Well, that can happen.’
Geom Mugeuk was not in a hurry. From the beginning, it was not as though he had desperately struggled to gather all the power of the beads. He had simply followed the flow of fate faithfully, and had happened to gather three.
“No! That can’t happen! I have to find it!”
Geom Mugeuk returned to the first room.
He began again from the start, examining everything meticulously as he made his way inward.
From the Poison-Warding Pearl room to the weapons room, then from the protective armor room to the spirit medicine room. Finally, to the secret manual room.
He searched every place thoroughly, but the Bigwe did not respond.
‘Ah! There was no bead in the Martial Alliance report.’
He had somehow felt there would be one.
It was regrettable, but he should still say goodbye before leaving.
“Thank you for letting me look.”
He was about to simply go outside, but then Geom Mugeuk looked back around the library.
Just as he had said in his farewell, he had looked through the other places well, but here he was leaving without reading even a single book.
“I may not look it, but I’m someone who has read quite a few books lately.”
Geom Mugeuk picked out the thinnest book from a nearby shelf.
“Since coming in here is a commemoration in itself, I should read at least one before I leave.”
In a corner of the library, a small chair was set against the wall, as if for someone to sit on while reading.
It was when he approached that chair.
Wuuung.
The Bigwe sounded from his chest.
Geom Mugeuk was startled. He had not expected the Bigwe, which had not sounded no matter where he searched, to sound here.
Come to think of it, he had only gone between the shelves; he had not come all the way to this corner!
There was nothing here but one chair. The chair was also so small there was no way a bead could be hidden in it.
“There’s nothing here.”
In that instant, Geom Mugeuk flinched.
“No, there is!”
Geom Mugeuk’s gaze turned toward the night-shining pearl embedded in the wall behind the chair.
It was a night-shining pearl set there for reading.
‘That’s it!’
Sure enough, as he approached the night-shining pearl, the Bigwe vibrated even more strongly.
Geom Mugeuk removed the night-shining pearl with great care.
Then, from the space behind where the night-shining pearl had been, something rolled out with a clatter.
What rolled out was a single bead.
A yellow bead—it was Hwangjeong.
Geom Mugeuk cheered.
“I found it!”
Had he found it from the beginning, he would not have been this happy. But finding it after giving up because it seemed absent made him overjoyed.
There was a reason he had thought nothing in particular of the corner chair and the night-shining pearl above it.
Night-shining pearls were embedded here and there in every room. From the corridor at the entrance, high-quality night-shining pearls had been set into the walls.
Because they were so common in every room, he had treated even this night-shining pearl in the farthest corner of the final library as nothing special.
Geom Mugeuk took the Bigwe from his breast and placed Hwangjeong upon it.
Ssssss.
As always, the Bigwe absorbed Hwangjeong.
Soon after, the Bigwe vibrated greatly, and a golden energy began flowing out from it.
The energy of Hwangjeong that flowed out of the Bigwe spread from Geom Mugeuk’s hand through his entire body and began to be absorbed.
Shooooo.
The energy shimmered like light and spread like waves.
The process felt so good. It was like drinking cool water when one’s thirst had reached its peak, giving him an indescribable sense of refreshment.
Geom Mugeuk naturally began circulating the chant he had learned before.
Then the energies of Heukjeong, Cheongjeong, and Baekjeong, which had been sleeping inside his body, awakened.
These three energies began moving in a way completely different from ordinary internal cultivation methods, welcoming the newly joining energy of Hwangjeong.
When the four energies raced through the blood vessels of his entire body together, Geom Mugeuk experienced something new.
His whole body became as light as a feather, as if he might fly up into the sky.
At the final moment of the chant, the four energies merged into one.
In that instant, he felt the tremendous power contained within that energy. This power was different from the might granted by ordinary internal energy.
However, the energies could not fully become one, and scattered again, quietly falling asleep throughout his blood vessels.
Geom Mugeuk slowly opened his eyes.
“Haa.”
Now he had perfectly absorbed even the energy of Hwangjeong.
Two colors remained.
Only the red and purple beads were left.
Where could they be?
What would happen if he gathered all the energies?
As he was briefly immersed in the lingering impression of that mysterious energy—
Clack.
The Bigwe spat out the bead whose energy it had absorbed. The Hwangjeong that rolled out had now become an ordinary pebble.
“Did you eat well?”
At Geom Mugeuk’s question, the Bigwe merely smiled as always.
Geom Mugeuk placed the energyless Hwangjeong back into its original hole and inserted the night-shining pearl again.
Then he sat there and read the book he had brought. It was writing left behind by an old master who had longed for his hometown. As he read, he missed his father, and the people at the cult headquarters.
A little while later, Geom Mugeuk returned the book he had finished to its original place.
If he had not thought to read one book before leaving, he would never have found Hwangjeong. After all, he would never have occasion to enter this place again.
Long live the Heavenly Demon Library! Long live Geom Mugeuk, the bookworm!
Geom Mugeuk gathered the three divine items and began walking toward the entrance where Jin Paecheon was waiting.
“Thank you for letting me read!”