Chapter 52: Formatting |
My eighth life has begun.
Frankly, the previous life ended so abruptly that I didn’t feel much different. The only thing was the pain of self-induced death, akin to muscle soreness, that made me groan in bed for a while.
Last time, I was too overwhelmed by mental shock, surprise, and self-loathing to notice, but the method of breaking one’s heart meridian as a form of suicide was far from comfortable. In terms of pain, it was only slightly less agonizing than beheading. It was not a choice a normal person could easily make.
“Ugh… Damn it.”
Still grumbling, I got up. The one good thing about the self-induced death method was that it lessened the subsequent mental trauma since it was my choice. This made me think I should research a quicker, more painless way to die.
‘Anyway, let’s summarize. At the bottom of the pond where the black and white lotuses bloom, there likely lies a relic of the Seven Luminaries. The spiritual energy emanating from that shining sword was tremendous. However, to acquire it, I must defeat the guardian giant spider.’
Quickly reviewing the situation in my mind, the question now was ‘how’ to do it.
How exactly should I obtain that treasure?
I figured that avoiding combat with the guardian was impossible. It was worth considering quickly crossing the narrow bridge to grab the sword before the spider emerged, but the risk was too high. Given the spider’s reaction speed, there was a high likelihood of being overpowered and dying in vain. My current speed would need to be more than double to rely solely on it to win.
I sighed softly.
My current speed was by no means slow. I was confident enough to rank among the upper echelons of the martial arts world. For instance, the guards of the Jinui Guard struggled to react when I used my Thunder Shadow Step, so it was safe to assume that masters below the first-class level were slower than me. Furthermore, the enhancement of my physical abilities due to my internal energy was significant, even when facing peak-level masters.
To get even faster would require breaking through one or two levels of my current martial arts realm. The challenge of fighting the giant spider and seizing the treasure was needless to say. After much contemplation, I reached a conclusion.
I need to become stronger!
The simple and clear goal I had set last time felt even more urgent now. I walked out of the stable and took up the Horse Stance, channeling my internal energy to dull the pain. This stance was quite strenuous, so focusing on it seemed a good way to quickly forget the pain.
“……”
I realized it wasn’t enough to blindly train at the Azure Dragon Martial Hall; I needed to delve deeper into the subtleties of martial arts knowledge. Until now, I had been too busy learning from Threefold Expert Lee Gwang and Jin So-cheong to even catch my breath, but things were different now. I had years of study under them and considerable real combat experience using the Thunder God style.
“Now I must actively inquire about the higher principles of martial theory that I don’t know.”
Studying alongside geniuses, I realized something. They don’t mock or compare themselves with the less talented. Such petty behavior is for fools who lack confidence in their abilities. Geniuses don’t need to look back because every step forward reveals the next level to them.
To become even slightly stronger, I had to make them look back and explain, so I could learn as much as possible. And for that, the most necessary things were effort and sincerity.
Training at the Azure Dragon Martial Hall!
And getting stronger to retrieve the treasure from the Seven Luminaries relics!
“Let’s go!”
I set this as my goal for this life and left the stable half about two hours later. My journey to Huangshan, after effortlessly obtaining the Heavenly Tome of Dark Mysteries, began.
The journey to Huangshan took about the same time as before. This time, having a rough idea of the Huangshan Sect elder’s patrol route, I managed to reach the location of the Thousand-Year Snow Ginseng without much hiding.
Standing in the snowfield’s cave, I stared at the Thousand-Year Snow Ginseng and Black and White Lotus, lost in thought.
‘Maybe it’s time to stop eating it?’
Not without reason, it seemed like almost all of my minor meridians were unblocked. Even without actively practicing the circulation of internal energy, pathways were continuously opening. The Qi meridians inside my body had transformed, alive and writhing like dragon veins.
Eating it might really make me the person with the most internal energy in the world. How many people have eaten the Thousand-Year Snow Ginseng six times?
Put simply, it felt like a small vessel that had been expanded several times was slowly filling up from the bottom. The breadth had grown incomparably, so even thousands of times more capacity only slowly increased the water level. Adding more energy from the Thousand-Year Snow Ginseng and Black and White Lotus would increasingly have less effect.
‘Hmm. What to do… How should I proceed…’
I sat pondering, but eventually, I decided to eat it. Selling it in the outside world could instantly bring unimaginable wealth and power, but that wasn’t the goal of this life. If it’s not for others, even if the benefits are minor, it’s better for me to consume it.
Fwoosh
After the energy circulation, I felt something breaking inside, but it wasn’t a negative sensation. It was like the spirit medicine’s energy, once obstructive, was now fully pushing through the meridians. I shivered as I felt my internal energy accelerating.
‘Wow…! It feels like a storm surging inside me.’
However, this alone didn’t mean I had become significantly stronger. It felt more like a prelude to the ‘next stage.’ Satisfied with this progress, I stood up. My eyes caught the sight of the pond blooming with Black and White Lotuses.
Inside lies the relic of the Seven Luminaries.
“… Maybe I should try one more time?”
This time, if I enter the Azure Dragon Martial Hall, I plan not to come out for decades. Since I might not come out again for a long time, it seemed harmless, perhaps even necessary, to enter the pond once more. I steeled my resolve and dived back in.
Splash!
I turned the orb again to open the door, passing through the underwater passage into the ruins. Stepping into the cavern where the altar was set up, I searched around it more thoroughly, wondering if I had missed anything before.
“… Ah! What’s this!”
I discovered a box hidden far behind a pillar. Last time, I was too focused on the altar to notice it, tucked away in such a secluded spot. The box, made of an indeterminate wooden material, was surprisingly heavy and solid, more like a rock than wood.
Pondering how to open it, I eventually decided to use my dagger and slashed at it.
Swoosh!
The sealed wooden box was cleaved open in one strike. My dagger, imbued with my internal energy, was as good as a legendary sword, faintly emitting sword energy. I carefully opened the lid of the box.
Fwoosh
“Oh…!!”
I let out a sound mixed with sighs and astonishment.
Gold bars!
Though I’m no expert in appraising, their pure and clear luster left me with no doubt. I had seen silver bars at the village chief’s house, but gold bars typically held twenty times the value of silver. Just selling one of the ten or so gold bars in this box could instantly make me as wealthy as a king.
I was pleasantly surprised and intrigued by this unexpected find. I had entered the ruins again just on a whim, and here I was! It felt like a lucky encounter earned by being thorough.
‘Wait, what if?’
I picked up two or three gold bars and stood up.
Then I went to the altar and let my blood drip onto it.
Rumble
The stone wall opened.
Once again, the door towards the precious sword opened in the distance. I could faintly see the narrow bridge in the darkness. I considered how long it would take to run to the end of the bridge, but quickly realized that quickly going back and forth before the guardian appeared was too risky.
“……”
Instead, I walked up to the stone wall and stood at the beginning of the narrow bridge, holding a gold bar. Then, I threw it forcefully into the abyss below.
Clang!
[ Roarrrrrrrr!!!]
Suddenly, a sound akin to a demon’s roar from hell echoed from the abyss, followed by loud thuds as something rapidly climbed up. It seemed the giant spider guardian, hit by the gold bar I threw with my internal energy, was furiously reacting. I threw the torch I was holding down as well and shouted.
“Eat this too!”
Whoosh
I saw the torch catch onto a faint shape. The guardian seemed to flail in confusion, and I felt the cavern shaking from the tumult. Luckily, the torch must have hit the creature’s eye.
‘Slowed down? Then…’
I took this as an opportunity, activating my Spiritual Thunder and speeding across the narrow bridge. My lightness skill briefly accelerated.
Whoosh!
I quickly grabbed the primitive sword and surveyed the bottom, then started running back to the original spot. About ten zhang into my run, a huge shadow suddenly surged up from below.
Boom!!
“……!!”
Just one of its legs shot up, but that alone shattered the narrow bridge. Wooden fragments fell, and I was flung into the air. Believing I was on the brink between life and death, I clenched my teeth, trying to fall towards the exit.
Crash!
“Ugh!”
I hurriedly deflected an oncoming bundle of silk with my dagger. Unlike before, the rebound didn’t help much, and I veered slightly off course. Like a cat, I rotated in mid-air and momentarily touched my feet to the ceiling. In that instant, I locked eyes with the guardian giant spider furiously climbing up.
The spider, with a gold bar lodged in one of its dozens of eyes and another eye burning from the torch, seemed crazed. The torch, which had fallen just right to exacerbate its pain, and the gold bar, likely embedded by my internal energy, caused it to go berserk. I felt chills seeing such intense energy from the monstrous spider.
Such a gigantic spider!
I hadn’t fully realized it before, but the creature was truly monstrous in size. It seemed doubtful whether a sword strike would even damage such a behemoth. The notion of facing it head-on seemed ludicrous, like trying to scratch a siege weapon.
‘Ugh… I can’t be eaten!’
I’d rather die on my own terms! That intense desire triggered a sudden surge in my internal energy. A flash of lightning flickered on my feet and muscles, and I leapt towards the exit, propelled by my Spiritual Thunder.
Boom!
Rumble…
As I leapt towards the exit, the spider’s massive body rose, creating a cloud of dust. Realizing I had narrowly escaped death, I ran without looking back. From beyond the stone wall, the spider hurled its steel-like silk, each strand powerful enough to obliterate a human body.
Boom
Boom
“Aaaaah…”
As I deflected the bundles of silk with my dagger, my body suddenly spun in the air like a swallow. I managed to fend them off, but the force carried by the silk was so strong that it hurled me involuntarily. Such force would surely be impossible for an ordinary martial artist to handle.
Crash
After spinning three times in mid-air, I rolled and desperately climbed the stairs. After a while, the sounds of pursuit and collapse from below ceased. But I didn’t stop running and finally managed to reach the exit of the underwater passage.
Splash
Emerging from the pond, I took deep breaths, drenched and exhausted.
“Huff! Huff! Huff…”
I realized the madness of what I had just done.
‘Whew… I was lucky.’
It was just a test to see if throwing the gold bars would hurt the guardian, and somehow it worked. But it was only because the gold bar I threw coincidentally hit the spider’s weak spot – the eye – and the torch I threw added to the injury. If asked to do it again, there would be a 99% chance of failure. Had the gold bar hit anywhere other than the eye, the spider would have remained unharmed.
I also realized that it was impossible to quickly grab the gold bars and avoid a fight with the guardian. The giant spider guardian was much more agile and powerful than I thought. Even with the luck of the gold bar and torch buying me substantial time, I was almost caught. A battle with the creature seemed inevitable.
Lying back on the snowy ground, I laughed heartily.
“Still, I got the precious sword!! Haha.”
Holding the sword in my left hand brought a sense of satisfaction.
The primitive-looking precious sword!
It must be one of the Seven Luminaries’ treasures.
In this life, I was determined to rigorously train in martial arts while also exploring the origins and value of this precious sword.
‘It’s a pity I couldn’t bring the wooden box with gold bars, but it doesn’t matter.’
The value of the gold bars likely wouldn’t come close to that of the sword. If what Mangryang Seonsa said is true, this treasure of the Seven Luminaries must have been passed down since the ancient times.
Curiously, I tried infusing Qi into the precious sword.
Whoosh….
“… Characters?”
Mysterious characters appeared on the surface of the sword. Unlike the indecipherable script of the Heavenly Tome of Dark Mysteries or the altar, this wasn’t completely unreadable. After examining it for a while, I recognized the type of characters.
“It’s the prototype of Oracle Bone Script. Ancient text.”
During my study of the script and formation books, I learned many archaic and obsolete languages. Among them was the basic Oracle Bone Script used in the Yin dynasty, which, though somewhat different, resembled the script on this sword.
This sword was likely crafted thousands of years ago by an ancient person. Fortunately, interpreting the Oracle Bone Script from the Yin dynasty wasn’t as impossible as deciphering strange languages. With a bit more scholarly effort, I might be able to interpret it.
‘Hmm… What to do? Should I try to decipher the engravings on the sword before heading to the Azure Dragon Martial Hall?’
After some thought, I made a decision.
“Let’s go to Mang-ryang.”
If anyone could determine whether this was truly a treasure of the Seven Luminaries and help interpret the Oracle Bone Script, it would be Mang-ryang.