Red Light District's Martial God

To be honest, from Jaseong's point of view, it was wise to avoid a fight right now.

As previously mentioned, even with the Celestial Gate Opening Art, less than half of his internal energy had recovered.

Lee Rin, too, couldn't so much as move a fingertip due to her severe internal injuries.

In other words, it was a situation where they couldn't exert even a fraction of their full strength.

'But if I can't avoid it, I'll just have to fight with everything I have.'

Muttering to himself internally, Jaseong prepared to draw up the internal energy from his dantian.

But at that moment—

"Kkyaaaak!!!"

A fleeing participant was caught by Kang Ryong.

This happened before he reached the end of the cave where Jaseong and Lee Rin were hiding.

Thanks to that, Kang Ryong didn't enter the far end of the cave,

and Lee Rin's use of the Ice-Blood Sealing Pulse remained undiscovered.

*Crack!*

"Kkyaaaak!!"

"Don't scream. You're hurting my ears."

"Kkuh, please, spare me...! I'll forfeit the tournament! I'll give you all the number tags I've collected...!"

"Shh. What if an overseer hears us? Then I couldn't kill you, could I? Hehehe."

*Thud!*

"Kehek! Ugh!?"

"It's far too dark here—let's talk outside."

With those words, Kang Ryong dragged the participant, whose jaw and leg bones he had smashed, out of the cave.

For Jaseong and Lee Rin, who were holding their breath in the hidden part of the cave, this was a moment to quietly sigh in relief.

'Fortunately, we've avoided this unfavorable fight.'

Of course, it was still too early to fully relax.

"Hmm. However...."

Kang Ryong suddenly stopped and looked toward the deeper part of the cave.

"There's a strange stench in this cave."

His sharp gaze pointed right at the small boulder behind which Jaseong and Lee Rin were hiding.

"Maybe it's the smell of bear droppings..."

Fortunately, Kang Ryong didn't search any further and left the cave.

Lee Rin quietly sighed in relief and kept applying the Ice-Blood Sealing Pulse,

afraid Kang Ryong might return—it continued for about an hour more.

"Whew... I felt like my life was shortened by ten years, right up to the end."

At last, Lee Rin let out a long breath and deactivated the Ice-Blood Sealing Pulse.

Having hid not only herself but also Jaseong's presence in her injured state, her face had grown pale again.

"Thank you. Thanks to you, we avoided fighting at a disadvantage."

"Hehe... If my internal injuries completely heal, you'll be even more grateful to me then, just wait and see."

It certainly sounded believable.

The martial arts from the North Sea he'd witnessed firsthand were nothing less than mysterious.

"By the way, great hero, you should try to wash up if you get the chance."

"What?"

"Didn't you hear what Kang Ryong just said? He claimed the cave smells like bear droppings."

Lee Rin said this as she sat cross-legged to circulate her energy.

Jaseong paused to weigh his words, then answered with a serious face.

"Let me be honest,"

"?"

"The bear dung smell Kang Ryong talked about... was coming from you, Lee Rin."

"Wh—what did you say...?"

"Actually, ever since you first entered this cave, there was this peculiar musk..."

"... Great hero. Do you want to die?"

At that moment, Lee Rin revealed a killing aura to Jaseong for the first time since they'd met.

To call the lady of the North Sea Ice Palace someone who smells like bear dung was going too far.

After that, Jaseong and Lee Rin continued to live in the cave and compete in the tournament.

As days passed, competitors who'd failed to collect number tags began charging at them with desperate eyes.

"Nakseong Palm!!!"

Fending off the intruders who came to the cave's entrance fell to Jaseong.

He participated in the battles with his Samadhi Eyes sealed, just as before.

It was more helpful for his growth that way.

While Jaseong was defeating opponents one after another, Lee Rin focused on healing her internal wounds.

At the same time, she widened her sense of ki to detect enemy movements outside the cave.

Thanks to that, Jaseong was sometimes able to rest with peace of mind.

'The art of reading ki... Every time I see it, it's an incredibly useful and mysterious skill.'

Jaseong observed Lee Rin, who sat quietly in the cave, sensing the auras around her, and coveted that ability.

So he asked,

"How exactly are you reading the energy of enemies more than fifty jang away?"

"Well, there are various methods."

"Various, huh?"

"If you build up internal energy of at least one 60-year cycle, your sensitivity to ki naturally increases and you can sense the energy of opponents far away. Or you could learn a martial art passed down by certain sects."

"So, have you learned the method for sensing ki of the North Sea Ice Palace?"

"Well, something like that. My internal power hasn't reached one 60-year cycle yet... But why ask all of a sudden?"

"Could you teach me that as well?"

"Huh...?"

The previous executor of Heaven's Mandate, Hong Gukyul, had said something similar.

Not only the arts of the Heaven Evading Way, but also any martial art in the martial world that seemed useful—he recommended mastering them all.

Insights gained in the world could help obtain enlightenment in the Heaven Evading Way as well.

So it was only natural that Jaseong wanted to learn the North Sea ki-sensing technique.

Of course, upon hearing this, Lee Rin doubted her ears.

'He's suddenly asking to learn the North Sea's sensing technique? What kind of nonsense is this...?'

Strictly speaking, the North Sea ki-sensing wasn't actually martial arts of the North Sea Ice Palace.

It was a craft learned from the hunters of the North Sea.

Still, passing even that to someone from the Central Plains made her uneasy.

Yet the next moment, Jaseong said something that caught Lee Rin's attention.

"I'm not asking you to teach me for free."

"Huh?"

"I'll give you eight of the number tags I've collected. With that, you'd only need to gather two more to pass the Dark Path Duel Banquet."

"......!"

At this point, Jaseong had collected a total of 18 number tags by hunting enemies near the cave.

He was offering nearly half of them to Lee Rin.

That was a tempting deal for Lee Rin.

Currently, she had zero number tags.

She'd lost them all after encountering the monster called Kang Ryong early on.

At this rate, Lee Rin could be eliminated from the Dark Path Duel Banquet.

If word spread that the young lady of the North Sea Ice Palace had been eliminated—

it would be an unbearable disgrace for her sect.

So after a long moment of contemplation, Lee Rin proposed her own conditions.

"Alright. But there's a condition."

"A condition?"

"There are only four and a half days left until the tournament ends. Until then, I'll teach you the North Sea's sensing method."

"Hmm..."

"Even after the tournament ends, I can't just follow you around and teach you martial arts, can I?"

Four and a half days.

It was far too short a time to master even one martial art.

Naturally, Lee Rin expected Jaseong to reject these terms.

But to her surprise—

"Fine. I accept."

Something entirely different happened from what she expected.

Jaseong nodded without another word.

With such a bold response, Lee Rin was left completely dumbfounded.

'He seriously thinks he can master the North Sea's sensing method in just four and a half days...? Is this guy insane?'

Of course, the ki-sensing method of the North Sea wasn't like swordsmanship or stepping arts—once you mastered the trick, you could use it immediately even without much training.

But grasping that trick was extremely difficult.

Even Lee Rin herself, hailed as the greatest prodigy in the history of the North Sea Ice Palace, took months to learn it.

"You can't take it back later, okay? I'm only teaching you until the end of the tournament!"

"Just start teaching me already."

"F-fine. Give me the number tags first."

At Lee Rin's words, Jaseong took out eight number tags from his pouch and handed them over.

At that, Lee Rin couldn't help but let a grin slip across her lips.

"Ahem. Then let's begin. In the North Sea, we have the white nights where the sun never sets, and the polar nights where darkness never ends. These are mysterious regions that not just anyone can enter.

Of them, in the perpetual darkness of the polar night, 'the First Hunter' known as Heukseong Chilya created a unique mind art.

A mind art that lets you see clearly even in darkness: 'Seeking Light in the Darkness'. The essence of this technique is to make your ki as thin as thread, then stretch it out far beyond your body. Like an insect's antennae."

... To create ki like thread and probe the surroundings.

Just hearing it didn't make it any easier to understand this martial art.

"Can you show me how it works?"

"A demonstration? It's a mind art, so seeing it doesn't mean you'll get it... I think it'd be better to just learn the core formula and—"

"Enough talk, just show me once."

"Hmph. Alright."

Lee Rin closed her eyes and demonstrated 'Seeking Light in the Darkness.'

As Lee Rin had said, even with a demonstration, this mind art wasn't visible to the eye.

Ki, after all, was formless.

Unless one had reached the state of perceiving energy as color, the level called 'Three Paths, pursuing Truth and Purity,' seeing ki was impossible.

But Jaseong could see it.

Swaaa—

When he activated the Samadhi Eyes, he could see the route of true ki being used by Lee Rin's 'Seeking Light in the Darkness.'

In slow motion, the brilliant yellow ki streams danced from Lee Rin's body.

Like seaweed in the water, dozens of threads fluttered from her skin.

Some of those threads extended to over fifty jang, spreading out beyond the cave.

And Lee Rin delicately maneuvered those threads, reading the energies outside the cave.

They truly looked like the antennae of an insect.

'Unexpectedly simple.'

Afterward, Jaseong learned the core formula and ki circulation method of 'Seeking Light in the Darkness' from Lee Rin.

While Lee Rin healed her injuries by circulating her energy, Jaseong focused on memorizing and mastering this mind art.

* * *

'To think he's trying to master a North Sea mind art in just four and a half days... What an unbelievable man.'

Having taught Jaseong all the essentials of 'Seeking Light in the Darkness,' Lee Rin thought to herself.

'Even North Sea hunters need several years to learn it, and more than half still fail... And you need the unique natural environment of the polar night for real progress... To try mastering such an art in the middle of a martial arts tournament.'

Watching Jaseong struggle to master 'Seeking Light in the Darkness,' Lee Rin went from being incredulous to feeling a little sorry for him.

She thought he was fruitlessly wasting his efforts on something impossible.

That was why she flatly refused to teach him any further after the tournament, though she did consider helping him a bit more.

Then one evening,

as Jaseong sat cross-legged, he suddenly murmured,

"... So this is what it feels like."

'Huh...?'

At that abrupt muttering, Lee Rin's eyes shot open.

When she looked at Jaseong, he was sitting in meditation, staring blankly toward the outside of the cave.

"Beyond the bushes outside the cave, I sense a cluster of extremely faint presences... Around thirty jang out. Judging from the movements, it seems to be a herd of deer..."

Lee Rin unconsciously felt a chill run down her spine.

She truly felt as though Jaseong was using 'Seeking Light in the Darkness' right before her eyes.

And her intuition was correct.

Swaaa—

Activating the Samadhi Eyes, Jaseong could see the ki threads flowing from his own body.

'Tranquil Ki Like Silk, searching for Shadows Without Form, sensing the Pulse and Examining the Breath, breaking the Dark with a Single Thought...'

As he recited the core formulas of 'Seeking Light in the Darkness,' Jaseong refined his ki into slender threads.

Letting the cool breeze carry those ki threads, he gently swept through the woods beyond the cave.

'Amazing... It feels like the darkened woods are now clearly visible to me...'

For the first time, he extended his perception far out.

Thanks to that, Jaseong awakened to a new level.

He could now detect the presence of enemies at a distance, just like Lee Rin.

Of course, for Lee Rin—who had taught him the technique—this was unthinkable.

"Great hero. What was that you just said? A herd of deer thirty jang away...?"

"Thank you."

"Huh...? For what...?"

"Thanks to you, I've learned a wonderful skill."

"Y-you're saying you actually mastered it? 'Seeking Light in the Darkness?'"

"Why? Is there something wrong with that?"

At Jaseong's calm response, Lee Rin's eyes widened as if they might pop out.

In only a day and a half, Jaseong had learned the North Sea's ki-sensing technique.

To master 'Seeking Light in the Darkness' this quickly—well, even her mother, the leader of the North Sea Ice Palace, could scarcely achieve that.

So it was only natural for Lee Rin to not believe it.

But for Jaseong, who possessed the Samadhi Eyes, it was all too easy.

His specialty was the delicate control of energy.

So a skill that needed nothing more than fine control of ki, like 'Seeking Light in the Darkness,' was extremely easy for him.

Lee Rin, unaware of Jaseong's talent, found her whole body frozen with shock.

'W-what on earth is this man...?'

She felt a chill gripping her whole being even more than the first time she'd faced Kang Ryong.