Chapter 493 - Do You Need It?
A small hill located outside the Tang Clan.
By its original use, it was a place within the Tang Clan, and moreover a habitat for the wolves raised specifically by Tang Xiaolie, but.
Thud! Thud, thud!
Now, due to the presence of one man, the wolves were nowhere to be seen.
A black-haired man, having thrown off his shirt, was devoting himself to training, holding a rock the size of a house in one hand.
His body was drenched in sweat, and sweat trickled down through the gaps of his muscles.
His muscles, densely packed without a single gap, were enough to make anyone who saw them gasp in admiration.
"Whew...."
The young man, who had been training repeatedly with the rock to his utmost, soon caught his breath and set down the rock he was holding.
Kuwung! The rock was so heavy that the moment it touched the ground, the earth sank deeply.
Twisting his body this way and that to check his condition, the young man finally took the cloth lying nearby and wiped his body.
As he wiped his body, a man who had been watching this observed the situation and descended from the tree.
The young man showed no particular reaction, as if he had known from the start.
The man who saw the young man wiping his body spoke bluntly.
"You look a mess."
Hearing those words, Paejon let out a short laugh.
"The first thing you say when you see me is horse shit."
"You went saying you were worried about your disciple. Did you come back after getting thrashed?"
"Haha!"
Paejon reacted as if amused by the Dark King's words.
In fact, Paejon's left cheek was swollen red.
It was the aftermath of the fierce battle he'd fought with his disciple last night.
"I said he was vicious, vicious. Turns out he really was quite the vicious one."
Paezon couldn't help but shudder as he recalled his disciple, who he'd thought would give up at some point, clinging on until the very end.
At first, having heard that the boy took poison in the Tang Clan, Paejon had gone to see his face, wondering what he was thinking.
Ouyang Tian, whom he met after a few days, had changed too much.
Leaving aside the fact that his level had risen, the change in his physique was too great.
'Just what did he eat to end up like that?'
He knew the boy had obtained a fortuitous encounter.
Whether it had become a spiritual elixir or some kind of enlightenment, he did not know.
'His very physique changed.'
No matter what kind of encounter it had been, the result was unmistakable.
His skeleton had grown larger and his skin had strengthened.
It was similar to what is commonly called bone transformation and rebirth....
'But for his dantian itself to change is nothing short of strange.'
For his lower dantian to disappear and everything to flood into his middle dantian.
If things became like this, even Paejon could not predict what would happen.
What on earth had the boy experienced to change so much in such a short time?
He was endlessly curious, but Paejon did not ask Ouyang Tian about it.
Because Ouyang Tian had an expression that suggested he wouldn't answer anyway, and because it wasn't something important to Paejon right now.
As long as Ouyang Tian could inherit the Toa Pacheonmu, anything was fine.
Moreover.
'He doesn't seem like the kind to use this and do anything stupid.'
Even if he inherited the Toa Pacheonmu and his own name.
Knowing that Ouyang Tian wasn't someone who would do anything shameful with it, Paejon did not pay much mind to the changed Ouyang Tian.
However.
'I do envy that physique.'
No matter what, the physique Ouyang Tian had achieved was nothing but enviable to Paejon.
He said he had given up any lingering attachment by now, but ultimately, the reason Paejon couldn't raise his realm and was feeling his limits was because of his body.
'Hmm....'
He repeatedly clenched and unclenched his hand.
Even if he trained his external martial arts and filled his internal energy, since his fundamental vessel was not satisfied.
He couldn't raise his realm like this.
'It's suffocating.'
Had he hit his limit?
After the reversion to youth, around the time he had turned exactly sixteen under the name of Bieuijin.
Paejon had swallowed the spiritual elixir brought from his secret vault and reached the Peak, and afterwards could easily attain the perfected Peak.
But reaching the Transcendent Realm was still impossible.
'Tch.'
If he forcefully achieved bone transformation using internal energy, it might be possible.
But he didn't even have that much internal energy.
This inefficient body could not accumulate internal energy completely no matter how many spiritual elixirs he devoured.
Rather, it was a losing endeavor.
"So, do you regret it?"
At the Dark King's question, Paejon turned his head.
The man had returned his altered appearance to its original form.
That is, an old man with silver hair beyond blonde.
"No, I don't regret it. Had I remained as I was, I wouldn't have reached where I wanted to go anyway."
He sometimes thought.
The delusion that perhaps things would have been better if he hadn't undergone rejuvenation.
But. That was it.
Even if the circumstances had changed, this was his choice.
Since the path he wished to walk hadn't changed, he merely had to silently continue walking it.
"Even after letting your young disciple slap your cheek?"
At the Dark King's words, the corner of Paejon's lips trembled slightly.
"...Are you mocking me right now?"
"I have been from the start. You're slow to notice, Biju."
"Ha."
To think the man cracked jokes with such a cold expression—it was simply absurd.
"Tch...."
But he had no words to refute it. That too was a result.
'Sigh.'
"What kind of sight is this in my later years."
'...Damned bastard.'
When he recalled his disciple, curses flowed out on their own. The brat was endlessly detestable.
Paejon had tried to help him relax, thinking he felt a sense of dissonance with his body and suffocation after his realm ascended.
Moreover, his internal energy seemed a bit tangled, so under the pretext of a beating, he had performed Tuigong Guoxue on him.
His muscles had already strengthened and his movements quickened, making it damnably difficult to attempt.
'But. That guy....'
Recalling Ouyang Tian rampaging about energetically, Paejon ground his teeth.
Ouyang Tian wasn't a man without sense in martial arts, so he must have known that Paejon was attempting Tuigong Guoxue on his body.
'And he used that as an opening to attack instead?'
Paejon instead recalled how the attacks had intensified the moment he realized that.
It was absurd. How could a disciple do such a thing?
'...So I took a crazy bastard as my disciple.'
Paejon finally realized this, but the time was already far too late.
And there was a reason for that.
'Damned bastard, if he didn't have talent, I would have kicked him out long ago.'
Because even in Paejon's eyes, Ouyang Tian was an outstanding talent.
He seemed to have an inferiority complex, whether he knew it or not. Paejon could not understand this.
Setting aside that he was the disciple Paejon had chosen.
The realm and martial prowess Ouyang Tian had reached now were at a level unattainable for his age.
He himself and those currently seated as the Three Venerables had reached the Transcendent Realm past the age of thirty.
Even they had been hailed as geniuses of the era, throwing the Central Plains into an uproar.
If the news that the Transcendent Realm of Ouyang Tian—currently treated as baseless rumor—turned out to be true.
'All hell would break loose.'
It was something that would make all the great clans and sects stomp their feet in haste.
Because the story of a youth not yet of age reaching the Transcendent Realm meant he was certain to become the Number One Under Heaven one day.
Even if he were already engaged to the Nangong family, any great clan with a pretty daughter might brazenly push themselves forward.
Why Ouyang Tian, with such impact, lacked so much confidence was something Paejon didn't know.
He'd probably figure it out, but if necessary, Paejon could intervene.
If that pathetic inferiority complex caused problems in learning martial arts.
Having thought that far, Paejon suddenly recalled something he wanted to ask the Dark King.
"Come to think of it, did you finish what you were doing?"
For the past two days or so, the Dark King had been away, saying he had something to check in Sichuan.
The Dark King nodded slightly at Paejon's words.
"Yes."
"Did it go well?"
"No."
"Then it didn't go well?"
"No."
"Do you want to die...?"
"No."
"..."
At the Dark King's answers, Paejon grabbed his brow.
Talking to this man made him so furious he felt like he would die.
As Paejon repeatedly sighed, the Dark King finally spoke slowly.
"I merely became certain of something."
"Of what?"
"..."
The past two days.
The Dark King had gone to the location of the Geumcheon Yeon Family's secret vault that Ouyang Tian had spoken of.
There were traces.
Traces that some kind of formation or special power had once been placed.
However, nothing remained beyond that.
Seeing that, the Dark King could be certain once again.
"My ancestor. Did not think of his descendants in the slightest."
"..."
Paejon could not offer any answer to the Dark King's words.
The only one who could curse the one who had made the Central Plains what it is today would be the Dark King standing before his eyes.
"There was nothing left behind. Even though he knew his own bloodline would suffer terribly."
In the words quietly spat out with an expressionless face, a cold anger was steeped.
"Moreover, to think I only learned of the secret vault's existence through another person now. It truly makes one want to die."
"Yeon...."
At the Dark King's words, Paejon had almost unconsciously spoken his real name, but barely held back.
Because the Dark King hated his own name enough to die.
"Unable to die even if he wants to. Isn't it amusing, Biju?"
"..."
At the Dark King's dry voice, Paejon bit his lip.
There were few words he could offer his friend right now, and even if there were, they were not words for him to say.
"...When do you intend to return?"
Forcing his thoughts elsewhere, Paejon asked something else.
The Dark King had to return someday. It was not right for the head of an organization to be away from his post for so long.
"Hm."
The Dark King turned his head and sent his gaze elsewhere.
The location where a strong aura could be felt.
It was not the martial pressure that a martial artist possessed.
This was a sensation felt by the Dark King's essential, primal instinct.
"A little longer."
Should he call it his last hope?
It probably wasn't. Because all that remained for the Dark King was time.
"A little longer. There is still something that must be done."
"Very well."
At the Dark King's words, Paejon merely nodded without saying anything more.
"Ah, but don't look for me for seven days and nights."
"Hm?"
The Dark King tilted his head at Paejon's words.
Why seven days and nights?
Unable to understand, the Dark King frowned and glared, but.
"...Anyway, there is such a matter."
Paejon had no intention of explaining it.
******************
'Ugh, it stings.'
He looked at his swollen cheek and thought. It hurt like hell.
'Damn it....'
It wasn't just his face; his whole body was in this state right now.
His body, beaten all over, was swelling up as it pleased and causing pain, and honestly, it was no easy situation even to walk.
'He really vented everything out.'
He had to inwardly grit his teeth recalling Paejon, who had thrashed him.
That old man must have had a lot pent up against him. He really beat him without rest.
'Ha....'
No matter what, how could it be like this.
Paejon was still at the perfected Peak, and I had now reached the true Transcendent Realm.
The fact that there was still such a gap was unbelievable.
'I can't reach him.'
Moreover, I had used every bit of strength I could.
Of course, since it could cause problems to the surroundings, I hadn't used secret techniques, but.
Paejon would be the same, so let that pass.
'I'm clearly faster.'
Speed-wise, I was overwhelming.
I tried to gain the upper hand using my superior internal energy and higher realm than Paejon, but.
Every move was often neutralized as if read by him.
I couldn't reach him.
No matter how fast I was.
[It is because the level of enlightenment you have attained differs.]
'...'
[Though his eyes are exceptional to begin with, it is possible because the realm he has achieved is extraordinary, and he understands his own body perfectly.]
He knew that, but even so.
'To think he dodged them all, really....'
Even in that situation, knowing that Paejon had attempted Tuigong Guoxue on his body, he couldn't help but feel the gap even more.
Even though his realm was clearly higher, Paejon stood firmly before him like an overwhelming wall.
If he continued mastering the Toa Pacheonmu, could he reach Transcendence as Paejon wished and defeat him?
He didn't know. Recalling the Paejon of his previous life, he could only call him a monster.
If the Paejon before the reversion to youth was even stronger than the Paejon of that time.
'Then Paejon in his prime. Wasn't he effectively the Number One Under Heaven?'
He couldn't be sure since he hadn't witnessed the full might of the Three Venerables, but it made him wonder if that wasn't the case.
'Still, anyway. I landed a hit, so I did win.'
Even though his whole body hurt from being beaten.
Since he won in the end, he won.
[How boldly the one who struck a man trying to help him up while pretending to be unconscious speaks.]
'That is what we call improvisation.'
[No matter how grandly you dress it up. You cannot erase the down upon your conscience.]
'I didn't have a conscience to begin with, so wouldn't that be fine?'
[I shall go mad.]
Just as Old Man Shin was giving off an atmosphere of "What on earth am I going to do with this brat?"
I grabbed my throbbing cheek and looked ahead.
Because there was yet another old man looking at me strangely.
"I hope you have been well."
"For someone in that state, your pronunciation is still good...."
"Well, it's just... I'm used to it. Haha...."
Having been thrashed and swollen many times before.
This much was nothing.
After the spar with Paejon.
I came straight to find Shen Yi.
I hadn't originally planned to come so early in the morning, but I wanted to quickly finish the matter that was nagging at me.
"So, what is it?"
Shen Yi seemed to be holding back the urge to ask about my ruined face as he spoke.
It was a good thing he didn't ask and annoy me, so I decided to let it slide.
"Yesterday, I stopped by the Baekhwa Merchant Guild and heard some things."
"Hoh...?"
At my words, Shen Yi's face furrowed sharply.
He seemed to realize what I had heard. After all, we ran into each other in front of the guild, and then I went inside. It wouldn't be hard to guess.
"That fool seems to have forgotten a merchant's proper duty. I'll have to give him a severe scolding."
"I more or less threatened him to get it, so please don't be too angry."
Since I had already sent a letter to Lady Mi at that point, if that man got in trouble, it would have been a bit difficult for me as well.
Perhaps that was why. Shen Yi's anger changed direction upon hearing my words.
"Then I shall direct my anger at you. How dare you...!"
The moment Shen Yi was about to truly explode in anger at me.
Swish.
Seizing the moment, I took out the item I had brought from the room earlier and showed it to Shen Yi.
"...!"
The moment he saw the object still radiating a brilliant white, Shen Yi hardened like a stone.
"I heard you needed this."
Hearing my words, the surprise in his eyes at my wrecked appearance vanished completely.
Shen Yi looked up at me with an expression close to shock.
Seeing that, it seemed the branch manager's words were indeed true.
Moreover.
"Do you need it?"
Looking at Shen Yi's face.
He seemed to want the White Horse Stone far more than I had expected.
Confirming this, I smiled slightly.
That's a relief.
The greater the desperation.
The easier it is to use.