Chapter 263. An Ultimate Technique Born of Solitude.

I tore off a sleeve and staunched the bleeding on my forearm. I hadn’t taken an injury like this even when I had briefly traded palm force with Cheonak.

What does that mean?

It means this is how terrifying it is when words don’t get through.

The Ghost Demon’s face was pale as well. He had no injuries, but his breathing looked unsteady, as if he had drawn too heavily on his internal energy. He must have had a hard time because the old man who guided us was highly skilled.

The Lust Demon was fine.

We sat down on the ground for a while and waited for the Ghost Demon to circulate his qi and regulate his breathing.

The Lust Demon muttered.

“If Master had been here, we wouldn’t have struggled this much.”

“True enough.”

The Chumyeong Scholar was lucky today. If the Sword Demon had been with us as well, it would have been difficult for him to retreat alive.

The Lust Demon looked at me with his arms folded.

“Now I’m getting pissed all over again. Let’s go back to the Wi Clan Estate and treat your arm first.”

“Let’s not show them anything unsightly. We’d be a nuisance.”

“I’m not saying we should go see Miss Wi. The Beopga bastards might chase us again.”

I shook my head.

“Chumyeong’s palm got pierced. He won’t show himself until his hand heals. Is there anything a swordsman hates more than injuring his hand?”

The Lust Demon nodded, thought about something, then opened his mouth.

“I see. But when we fought earlier, something felt strange.”

“What did?”

“Their internal energy is too deep. I was shocked when we first exchanged palm force. Why is their internal energy that deep? But do you know what shocked me even more after that?”

I had no trouble guessing what the Lust Demon would say.

“Their actual fighting ability fell short of their internal energy.”

“Exactly.”

“They’re bastards who learned martial arts from books.”

“What?”

“Figuratively speaking. They’re a closed-off bunch. They don’t seem to have fought often like the experts of the Murim Alliance or the Black Path. Maybe it’s a trait unique to Beopga. Just looking at them, they were so stifling that words didn’t get through at all. At least the Lone Walker seemed to have a lot of real combat experience. Probably because he went around killing people until he was publicly exposed.”

The Lust Demon nodded.

“So I wasn’t the only one who felt that.”

“Anyway, it seems I stuffed myself too much at the Wi Clan Estate. I fought worse than usual.”

In truth, I had fought incredibly well, but it was an excuse for the injury.

The Lust Demon said,

“Same goes for me. After seeing Miss Wi, I fought about twenty percent worse than usual.”

“You stupid bastard.”

“You country bumpkin bastard, you should’ve eaten good meals more often.”

After suddenly trading insults with each other, we shut our mouths.

A sigh was flowing from the Ghost Demon’s mouth as he sat with his eyes closed. Soon, steam rose in wisps from the crown of the Ghost Demon’s head like a warm bowl of rice, and his once-pale complexion returned somewhat to normal.

The Ghost Demon opened his eyes and said,

“Did you really have to fight like that next to me while I was circulating my qi?”

I answered.

“We fought to let you know we were fine, so you could relax and circulate your qi.”

“What kind of bullshit is that?”

I looked at the corpses strewn about.

“Let’s go. Leave the bodies. If Beopga’s law is righteous, they’ll come to collect them.”

“Where are we going?”

I helped the Ghost Demon to his feet.

“We’ll move to a busy district and hide. Now that I think about it, if that Chumyeong Scholar bastard tattles to his fellow scholars, a stronger enemy could arrive sooner than we expect. Whatever happens, we should be prepared.”

* * *

At a place called Nambong Inn, we got three rooms and each took our rest. Before changing into the clothes we had bought before entering the inn, I washed the sword wound clean and wrapped it with cloth. It was a wound that warranted applying golden wound medicine, but there was nothing I could do about that now. After washing the blood off my body and changing into new clothes, I checked the blade of my wooden sword.

The edge was fine, but it occurred to me anew that the sword was too light.

Of course, if I became accustomed to the Dugu Heavy Sword, I felt I could face experts even with a wooden sword. But for now, it consumed a great deal of internal energy.

There came a knock on the wall from the next room, then the Ghost Demon’s voice.

“Are you going to sleep?”

“I’m going to circulate my qi.”

“What about food?”

“Let’s eat a little later. One shichen should do.”

“Got it.”

“If you’re hungry, eat first.”

“I don’t have money.”

“Confirmed.”

The Lust Demon’s voice came from the other adjoining room.

“For your information, I won’t be circulating my qi.”

It meant he would stand guard, even if only from the next room. I checked outside the window. After idly watching the people coming and going, I climbed onto the bed and sat cross-legged. If I didn’t circulate my qi even briefly now, there was a risk that sleep would come pouring down on me.

I didn’t know why.

Whenever I touched the Heavenly Jade, some kind of aftereffect always followed.

If that aftereffect was sleep instead of dreadful pain, it was a problem I could handle as much as needed.

In truth, was there any man in the martial world who had grown strong as quickly as I had?

No.

So I ought to be grateful for side effects of this degree. I chose the Golden Turtle Roaming Art and entered qi circulation. As soon as I closed my eyes and focused, flames were flickering in a pitch-black space, but I calmly settled my mind.

“…….”

When I approached and checked, the remains of an inn lay around the flames. In other words, it was the fire that remained after burning my Zaha Inn to the ground. Without giving it much thought, I lifted my foot and stomped on the flames.

“Just go out already.”

It was clearly a flame that looked like it would go out if I stepped on it three or four times. But the foot I was stepping with was engulfed in flame, and then my entire left leg was wrapped in fire.

“Ah, damn it… I apologize.”

The flames grew fiercer. The moment my entire lower body sank into the fire, I hurriedly sat cross-legged. In other words, I had sat cross-legged and closed my eyes, only to sit cross-legged again inside a dream.

There are times when one dreams inside a dream, and this was one of them.

Was it just my imagination that I felt I was in serious trouble?

Before I knew it, the flames I had tried to stomp out had engulfed my entire body. Even though I had no sensation of heat, the feeling that I was screwed came surging over me like a wave.

Trapped inside a single, very beautiful and enormous flame, I checked my breathing first.

Now my entire body was engulfed in fire.

Had there ever been a martial artist who turned to ashes while circulating his qi?

I hoped it would not be me.

In an instant, the darkness around me transformed entirely into a sea of fire, and before I knew it, I was standing in the middle of a blazing hell.

Good heavens…….

Had I really committed that many sins?

How had I fallen into a fiery hell without even bidding farewell to my flesh? Backed into a dead end, my mouth opened on its own.

"……Let's talk. If you want something, we start with a conversation."

There was no one to talk to in the first place, since it was something trapped inside me. Had I fallen into qi deviation? Or was this some kind of price for touching the Cheonok?

No matter what it was, I would escape.

Because I was engulfed in flames, I stopped the qi circulation of the Golden Crow Wandering Art that I had been performing unconsciously and immediately switched to the qi circulation of the Moon Shadow Heartless Art.

It was a simple mindset: since I was burning, I should train in ice arts.

I had previously reached the edge of the Crescent Moon realm of the Moon Shadow Heartless Art. As I circulated my qi, I wrapped the cold energy of the Crescent Moon, which had started from my dantian, around my entire body. At that moment, a white crescent moon rose like a blade before the blazing red inferno.

It was a merciless moon whose very existence felt cold.

I glared at the merciless crescent moon and pushed away the flames engulfing my body with the cold energy of the Moon Shadow Heartless Art.

Was it because I was a twisted man?

The crescent moon was mocking me like this. How could I describe the feeling of watching the moon taunt me while engulfed in flames?

"Lonely indeed."

I pushed back the inferno with cold energy. It was no easy task because my attainment in the Golden Crow Wandering Art was higher than that in the Moon Shadow Heartless Art from the start. Was this the price for possessing yin and yang energy simultaneously due to the Cheonok? To avoid burning to death, I had to maintain balance.

If so, then I was…….

A guardian of balance.

An arbiter of the sun and moon.

A qi deviation specialist.

Betrayed by flames ever since I owned a shabby inn.

A man mocked by the moonlight he gazed at so wretchedly while alone at dawn.

That was me.

When I woke from this dream, I would trample the flames again and slap the Moon across the face.

Because I was a survival specialist.

I focused my mind, broke through the Crescent Moon realm of the Moon Shadow Heartless Art, and then stepped into the Full Moon realm, where dizzying white moonlight poured down.

The crescent moon I had been glaring at gradually swelled, covering the blazing red earth with white cold energy as it became a full moon.

I stared endlessly at the Full Moon radiating white light in the air, entranced.

At that moment, my entire body was enveloped in a wave of cold energy.

It was as cold as wearing clothes made of snow. The flames that had been wrapped around my body scattered, and the earth covered in an ominous hue had already become a snowy plain.

The moment I felt a chill, I forced my eyes wide open as if piercing a gap with the Dugu Heavy Sword.

"Hah……."

It felt as if I had pierced the border of qi deviation with a sword and escaped.

White breath was escaping from my mouth.

"Damn it…."

The moment I opened my eyes, I saw the Lust Demon and the Ghost Demon. The two were standing before me with arms crossed, looking at me.

The Ghost Demon said with a bewildered expression.

"Third, are you alright?"

The Lust Demon answered from beside him.

"I told you he'd be fine. Wow, he really circulates qi like a fucking madman. Absolutely insane bastard. Look at your bed."

I lowered my gaze at the Lust Demon's words. The bed that had been fine was frozen over due to the aftereffects of the Moon Shadow Heartless Art.

It couldn't be, but I asked out of worry.

"Did my piss freeze?"

"Fortunately, that doesn't seem to be the case."

"Confirmed."

My mind still couldn't properly distinguish the boundary between dream and reality, so I was simply dazed.

The Ghost Demon asked.

"Are you alright?"

I checked my body's condition and answered.

"I'm fine. It was incredibly lonely, but it's not bad now."

The Ghost Demon explained my state.

"We were watching over you because you didn't come out even when we called you to eat. Four hours have passed. By the end, your bed had completely frozen over."

"I see."

Only then did I come to my senses. It seemed the Golden Crow Wandering Art had rebelled and been suppressed by the Moon Shadow Heartless Art. In any case, since I had entered the Full Moon realm, I surmised that the chill of my ice arts had grown even stronger.

I felt like complete shit since I had dreamed within a dream, but it was fine because I had grown stronger.

I said as I got up from the bed.

"Let's eat. Let's drink too. Let's rest. I can't take it anymore. We need rest. Let's stop fighting today."

I was spewing crazy talk even to my own ears. The Ghost Demon clicked his tongue and patted my back.

"My lord has had it rough. Let's go. To drink."

I felt that my pants were damp, and when I touched them, it seemed I had pissed myself because of the ice arts. The Lust Demon checked my pants and clicked his tongue.

"This bastard always calls me a shit-pants, but he pissed himself while circulating qi."

The Ghost Demon sighed.

"What shit-poor brothers I have. Here. Change into the pants I bought earlier."

I made an excuse to the Lust Demon.

"It's damp, but I didn't piss myself."

I changed into the pants the Ghost Demon had brought and left the room. Who would have thought dinner would be so difficult? I found myself thinking that an ordinary life was the hardest thing. Once we finally reached the first floor of the inn, the Lust Demon ordered a load of food from the waiter.

We watched the people passing by on the street with blank expressions for a moment.

"….…"

Ordinary people immediately lowered their heads or moved away as if fleeing the moment they met eyes with us.

Had we now become madmen at a glance?

I couldn't tell.

I casually looked up at the darkened night sky. The round full moon I had seen in my dream was staring back at me.

"Wow, tonight is the full moon."

"So it is."

"The moon is bright. Days like this are good for fighting at night."

"It's a day assassins hate."

"Right."

Shortly after, the Lust Demon grabbed the bottle the waiter had brought and poured drinks for us. Only when I saw the alcohol falling into my cup did my sense of reality properly return. Perhaps this was why those in the martial world could never quit drinking.

I asked the Lust Demon as I grabbed my cup.

"Did you order Dukang wine?"

"I ordered Dukang wine, of course."

I tried injecting ice arts into it before drinking. The Dukang wine in the cup froze in an instant. As I stared blankly at the cup, the Ghost Demon asked.

"What are you doing? Let's drink."

I melted the frozen alcohol with flame arts again and looked at Second Brother and Fourth Brother.

"Let's drink."

We poured the Dukang wine down our throats. As the liquor slid down our gullets, our minds snapped awake.

The Lust Demon gazed at the moon, then said to us.

“Kuh… It would’ve been perfect if I’d been drinking with Miss Wei. Second Brother and Third Brother seem to have no women in their fates. Are you planning to live like that until you become Daoists?”

The Ghost Demon replied.

“Don’t say such unlucky things. I can’t stand Daoists.”

I spoke honestly about how I felt.

“I have no confidence in meeting a normal woman.”

The Lust Demon and the Ghost Demon nodded as if they agreed.

“That’s how it looks to me, too.”

“Right.”

Women or whatever—suddenly, the insight I’d gained in my dream came to mind. Dreams were often vainly forgotten if one did not grasp hold of them, so in order not to forget the insight I had struggled to obtain, I gave it a name.

“While circulating my qi and regulating my breath, I thought up a technique.”

“What is it?”

“The Solitude I Felt While Wearing the Snow Garment. It was an incredibly lonely technique.”

“What the hell are you talking about?”

“Seems you’re not fully awake yet.”

I poured drinks for the two of them and said.

“Anyway, there’s something like that.”

After pouring drinks for the two of them, I laughed to myself.

I was glad I hadn’t lost the dream.