Geom Mugeuk bowed his head respectfully, paying his respects to the white bones of Ju Gasin, who had been the leader of the Sado Alliance three hundred years ago.
“Three hundred years have passed since the era in which you were active, Alliance Leader. I cannot know what happened at the time, but I believe these orbs were divided and safeguarded for the sake of peace in the murim.”
Of course, it might not have been for the sake of peace in the murim that the orbs had been divided. There must have been entanglements, each side keeping the others in check.
“I will be sure to protect the peace that you and the other seniors sought to defend with these orbs.”
Geom Mugeuk carefully lifted the purple orb resting in the skeletal hand. The moment he held the Purple Crystal, the Bi-gwe that had been vibrating continuously within his robes began to tremble even more fiercely.
Geom Mugeuk bowed his head to the white bones.
“Thank you.”
As if it had been waiting for that, the coffin lid closed on its own.
Clatter.
Then it returned to the place where the original coffin had been stored, and the secret door closed. Not even a trace of a door remained on the wall between the guardian stone statues.
Geom Mugeuk took the Bi-gwe out from his robes. More than at any other time when it had absorbed the energy of an orb, Geom Mugeuk was tense.
The Bi-gwe was smiling as always. It felt as if the day he had drawn that smiling face on it had been only yesterday.
“Bi-gwe, it’s the youngest!”
Wooooong.
He placed the purple orb atop the vibrating Bi-gwe.
Srrrrrk.
The Purple Crystal was sucked into the Bi-gwe as though a soft liquid were being absorbed.
Woom!
After vibrating powerfully once, the Bi-gwe rose into the air. Normally, it would spin in midair, but today was different.
Shaaaaaaa!
A purple radiance burst from the Bi-gwe.
At that, the five energies awakened within his body also began to emit their own colors all at once. The five energies became light, piercing through Geom Mugeuk’s body and pouring outward.
Six colors of light churned through the air.
It looked as though six dragons were coiling around Geom Mugeuk.
Had anyone seen it, they would have thought it a dream—a truly fantastical sight.
The six energies swirling around Geom Mugeuk gathered into the Bi-gwe.
Shoooooook!
Having absorbed the six energies, the Bi-gwe still floated in the air.
Shaaaaaaa.
The Bi-gwe expelled the six energies, now intertwined like skeins of thread, toward Geom Mugeuk.
Like sword qi being unleashed, the lights stretched out in a straight line.
When Geom Mugeuk had accepted all of that energy, he saw it.
Sssssss.
The Bi-gwe, having completed all of its duties, was vanishing from the air like smoke.
‘No, Bi-gwe!’
Until the very last moment, the Bi-gwe was looking at him and smiling. Moments of the conversations he had shared with it came to mind, and Geom Mugeuk’s chest tightened. He did not want to part with it like this, but if this was the fate between him and the Bi-gwe—
‘Bi-gwe, thank you for everything until now.’
With a bright smile, the Bi-gwe disappeared. It was a farewell to the friend who had been with him all this time.
The Bi-gwe had vanished, but the six energies it had expelled were racing through Geom Mugeuk’s body.
Kwa-kwa-kwa-kwa-kwa-kwa-kwa-kwa!
The six energies, finally gathered in full.
Geom Mugeuk could instinctively feel just how tremendous the potential of this power was. Its very nature was fundamentally different from ordinary elixirs. No, to begin with, it was not something that should be called an elixir at all.
Geom Mugeuk began to circulate the mental cultivation method he had obtained from the large Bi-gwe. The very method he had acquired when he returned to three hundred years in the past.
—In moving true qi, one must be as free as the wind, yet as heavy as the earth. One must surge hotly like fire, yet be able to stop like ice. One must be as deep as darkness and as powerful as lightning. If you can unite these six energies as one, you will be able to possess the greatest power of all ages.
The six energies that had entered him entwined as one scattered all at once, each taking a different meridian.
The true qi moved along paths he had never imagined. It flowed in reverse, and it moved along routes that, by common sense, seemed certain to cause internal injury. It was a mental cultivation method that shattered in an instant all the martial principles he had known.
After circling through the meridians of his entire body along new paths, the six mysteries gathered at his dantian in the final moment.
The very instant the mental cultivation method ended and the energies merged into one—
Flash!
Radiance burst from Geom Mugeuk’s entire body. The light was so intense that even the Divine Eye Art could not look upon it.
At that moment, Geom Mugeuk felt a refreshing energy he had never experienced in his life.
If he had to choose one word to describe the sensation, it would be this:
Mystery.
The energy that had merged into one did not disappear, but instead enveloped his dantian.
Was that why? A mysterious energy flowed together with the inner power emerging from his dantian.
‘My inner power has completely changed.’
To describe that change merely by saying it had become purer was far too inadequate.
It was then.
He felt as if his whole body were floating up into the air, and dizziness washed over him. It was likely because of this new energy in his dantian.
Geom Mugeuk sat down on the spot and assumed the lotus position.
He tried to calm his mind and stabilize his body, but he still felt dazed.
How should he describe this feeling?
It was like standing in place and watching a gigantic tidal wave surge toward him from far away. He should flee, yet he could only stare blankly. He wanted to move, but his body would not budge.
He felt his heartbeat gradually slowing, but his body did not respond. The Heavenly Demon Body-Protecting Art remained still, and his instinct for danger did not react.
‘What on earth is about to happen?’
This was truly the first time his body had ever been in such a state. Had he perhaps been afflicted by poison or a soul-bewitching art? Impossible. It was certainly a side effect of the energy he had accepted.
The moment the gigantic tidal wave in his mind crashed over Geom Mugeuk—
Crack!
“Urgh!”
A short scream burst from Geom Mugeuk’s mouth. He was a man who would not so much as blink at most pain, yet his face was already twisted in agony.
Crack-crack-crack.
From Geom Mugeuk’s body came again the sound of bones snapping.
“Uuuugh!”
Geom Mugeuk screamed. The bones throughout his body began to break one after another. Something absurd was beginning to happen.
He tried to raise his inner power to stop it, but the energy inside him would not move. It felt as though this were not his body.
The energy surrounding his dantian!
‘Was this energy actually a trap?’
Had it been an arrangement meant to harm him?
No, that could not be. There was no way a trap would have been laid so difficult to discover.
But then why on earth was this happening?
Crack-crack-crack.
“Aaaaaaargh!”
The bones inside his body moved on their own.
Crack-crack-crack! Crunch-crunch-crunch!
The muscles and tendons attached to the bones stretched, then contracted again.
“Aaaaaaaaaaah!”
It was pain no human could endure.
* * *
Geom Mugeuk was dreaming.
The ground was full of blood. Looking around, he saw that he was in front of the Heavenly Demon Hall.
Those collapsed while bleeding were the guards of the Heavenly Demon Hall.
Among them was Hwi. Hwi, who had blocked the doorway, was dead while sitting propped against the wall. His eyes had not even closed.
‘Uncle.’
Geom Mugeuk knew instinctively.
‘It’s that day.’
But before his regression, he had never made it this far on that day. Before then, he had been struck down by Hwa Mugi and brought to the brink of death.
That was why the scene before him now was an imagination he had created.
After closing Hwi’s eyes, Geom Mugeuk opened the doors of the Heavenly Demon Hall and stepped inside.
Splash.
Blood was pooled thickly across the floor. The Path of Blood had become a true path of blood.
Far in the distance, he could see the grand preceptor’s chair. Instead of his father, who had always sat there, another person was seated upon it. On the floor before it, his father sat facing this way. Geom Mugeuk instinctively knew that his father had already passed away.
‘Father!’
He knew it was a dream. He knew it was a scene created by his own unconscious mind. Even so, Geom Mugeuk felt as if his heart were being torn apart.
Hwa Mugi sat upon the grand preceptor’s chair, looking this way.
That arrogant, lofty gaze was exactly the gaze from the day he had killed him.
Geom Mugeuk knelt before his father.
He did not know what kind of battle had taken place that day, but—
“This time will be different, Father.”
At that moment, Hwa Mugi extended his hand.
Whoosh.
Geom Mugeuk’s body flew helplessly into his grasp. It was Void Seizing of tremendous power.
Hwa Mugi asked in a cold voice.
“What will be different?”
Looking at him, Geom Mugeuk said calmly,
“You’ll find out later.”
A sneer seemed to form at the corner of Hwa Mugi’s mouth.
Then, without hesitation, he broke Geom Mugeuk’s neck.
Crack.
“Aaaaaaaaaaah!”
Screaming, Geom Mugeuk’s eyes flew open.
Crack-crack-crack! Crack!
Inside the tomb, lying on the cold floor, the bones within his body were still searching for their new positions.
* * *
How much time had passed?
When Geom Mugeuk opened his eyes, he felt heat blazing throughout his entire body. Truly, he had never been in such pain before.
But the changes within his body continued.
If earlier his bones had been completely reconstructed, this time it was his flesh.
Riiiiip.
His muscles tore, and new muscles regenerated.
Riiiip! Rip!
Geom Mugeuk had truly endured the agony of bones being carved away, but the pain of muscles tearing was likewise a pain difficult for any human to bear. Even so, he clenched his teeth and endured.
He lost consciousness, then came to again, only to lose consciousness once more.
Even while that happened, the old house was being demolished and a new house was being built.
Kwa-kwa-kwa-kwa-kwa-kwa.
The true qi that exploded from his dantian raced through the meridians of his entire body. Every blocked meridian was opened. Every meridian through which true qi flowed became wider and sturdier. It was a transformation of the meridians different from the Heavenly Meridian Strengthening Art.
When all the flesh and meridians inside his body had been reconstructed, another change occurred.
Every pore in his skin opened, and the turbid qi and impurities accumulated in his body began to be expelled.
An absolutely unbearable stench wafted out. It was a foul odor he could hardly believe had come from his own body.
And that was not all.
All the hair on his body fell out and began to grow anew. His skin peeled away, and new skin formed. It was molting.
Geom Mugeuk could not tell whether this was a dream or reality. In truth, he continued to dream.
Splash.
Once again, Geom Mugeuk entered the Heavenly Demon Hall.
As expected, the floor was thick with blood.
The moment he looked at the grand preceptor’s chair, Geom Mugeuk was startled.
The person seated there was not Hwa Mugi, but his father.
And below him sat Hwa Mugi.
Hwa Mugi was dead, seated in the spot where his father had been in the earlier dream.
When Geom Mugeuk looked up with a joyful expression, his father on the grand preceptor’s chair spoke.
“Now only the unification of the murim remains.”
The moment he heard those words, Geom Mugeuk woke from sleep and his eyes flew open.
He was still lying on the floor of the tomb.
Geom Mugeuk heard it. The sound of his own blood flowing through his veins. It was truly a strange experience. He heard the beating of his heart, and vividly felt the touch of the air brushing against his body. Smells he had not sensed inside the tomb stabbed into his nose.
Amid that overwhelming flood of senses, Geom Mugeuk lost consciousness again.
How much more time had passed?
This time, Geom Mugeuk was standing among countless stars. In the deep darkness, he saw an illusion of innumerable glittering stars passing him by.
The largest star flew toward Geom Mugeuk.
The moment that star collided with him, Geom Mugeuk opened his eyes.
Geom Mugeuk could tell that he was now fully awake. Just how many days had passed?
Geom Mugeuk slowly raised himself. The maddening pain had vanished as if it had been a lie. The five senses that had thrown him into chaos had also settled.
‘I feel like I could fly away.’
His body was truly light. This must be what people meant when they said something was as light as a feather.
But soon, he frowned at the foul odor coming from his body.
His body was covered in filthy grime.
Snap.
Geom Mugeuk immediately opened the Space-Time Transference Art.
It was that very place in the snowy field where a warm hot spring lay.
Geom Mugeuk flung off his clothes and threw himself into the hot spring.
Splash!
Geom Mugeuk washed his body clean in the warm water.
Once was not enough, so he created another new hot spring and washed again.
After finishing his bath so thoroughly, he stepped out of the hot spring and snapped his fingers once more.
A large bronze mirror appeared before Geom Mugeuk, large enough to reflect his entire body.
As Geom Mugeuk looked at his face and body, his expression filled with astonishment.
His body had changed.
It was not drastically different from before, but his frame had clearly changed. His shoulders, arms, and legs—their breadth, thickness, and length—had changed.
His skin was clean. Not a single trace remained of the wounds he had suffered before.
When he touched it, it was smooth as jade and soft as a baby’s skin.
But Geom Mugeuk could feel it. The muscles beneath this skin were incomparably stronger than before. This skin, too, was no ordinary skin.
And that was not all. His already keen eyesight had grown even sharper, while his hearing, smell, and touch had become far more sensitive. To exaggerate only slightly, if he focused, he felt he could hear even the sound of ants crawling far away.
At that moment, Geom Mugeuk was certain.
‘I truly underwent Bone-Exchange Rebirth (換骨奪胎)!’
The moment his bones twisted, he had thought perhaps that might be the case.
But Bone-Exchange Rebirth was the greatest of all fortuitous encounters a martial artist could experience.
He had wondered whether such a miracle could really have come to him.
What he had undergone was a transformation in which his old body died and he was reborn in a new one, pain endured for the sake of perfection.
With a trembling heart, Geom Mugeuk picked up the Black Demon Sword lying on the floor and drew it.
Shiiik, shiiik!
Geom Mugeuk swung his sword within the Space-Time Transposition Art.
The sensation of swinging the sword had changed completely. Until now, he had thought his body was optimized for martial arts, but that had been a mistake—an arrogance.
‘It feels even better!’
His body had changed into one perfect for unleashing martial arts.
Geom Mugeuk’s face seemed to brighten radiantly, and then his laughter rang out thunderously through the world within the Space-Time Transposition Art.
His joy was not merely because he would now be able to face Hwa Mugi better.
A perfect body, new senses, and even a clearer mind.
It was because he had drawn closer to perfection as a martial artist.
Geom Mugeuk, too, was a martial artist. Born with the Heavenly Martial Physique, he was truly a martial artist among martial artists.
Killing Hwa Mugi was not the whole of his life. No matter how difficult a mountain’s summit was to conquer, he was not going to live there forever once he reached it.
The gift bestowed by the energy of the secret coffer was not limited to Bone-Exchange Rebirth. The energy of the secret coffer, still merged into one, was wrapped around his dantian, and a wondrous energy lingered within his internal power.
Shwaaaaaak.
Geom Mugeuk unleashed the Nine Flames Demonic Art. Was it because of the mysterious energy carried within his internal power?
With less internal power than before, he produced even greater might.
When he circulated his energy and replenished his internal power, the newly formed internal power continued to contain that mysterious force.
It was truly as if he had obtained a new dantian.
He could not yet know for certain whether this power merely made his internal power more efficient and more potent, or whether it would have some other effect, but he believed it would help in his battle against Hwa Mugi.
Geom Mugeuk even washed his clothes clean and dried them with yang heat energy before leaving the Space-Time Transposition Art. A fragrant scent rose from his body.
‘After enduring that pain, I should at least smell good.’
Geom Mugeuk stood before the wall into which Ju Gashin’s coffin had entered earlier. He bowed to him with solemn courtesy.
“If the day comes when I see you again, I will greet you properly then.”
Geom Mugeuk walked to the entrance of the tomb through which he had come, stood at the boundary between life and death, and spoke loudly to the successive leaders of the Evil Dao Alliance.
“I will live with this fragrant scent instead of the smell of blood. I swear I will live that way!”