Chapter 318
The Meteor King called me over and had me sit down.
Before I sat down, there was something I needed to confirm, so I said to him, "Before that, I would like to ask a few things first."
"What do you want to ask?"
"That relic... am I the only one who gets it? My senior brothers can't get it?"
He nodded his head.
"In the first place, the condition to receive the relic I left is that only a person who has passed both the Cheonhwamok Formation and the Fear Illusion Formation can receive it. Among you, it seems you are the only one who has passed the Cheonhwamok Formation. So even if I give them the relic, it will be of no use."
"Can you find out something like that?"
"Of course. The Cheonhwamok Formation, although it seems very simple, is actually a very scary and difficult formation to escape from. Because the same-looking trees and land repeat continuously, it is difficult to grasp which is the object that makes up the formation, and when you move your body to find the object, you are back to the beginning before you know it. Originally, you just have to overcome the formation's attempt to scatter your five senses, find the object of the formation, and turn its direction..."
He, with a deep sigh, continued, "I never thought you would cut down all the trees that make up the Cheonhwamok Formation."
"Because that's the best way to disarm the formation."
"Even so... did you know that if you had cut down all the trees but couldn't find the object among them, you could have been trapped in an empty field for the rest of your life?"
"I didn't know. Because I didn't know, I was able to do it so bravely."
"Oh dear..."
The Meteor King, despite being a ghost, looked at me with a pitiful eye several times.
It seemed he was very sorry that no one could challenge the treasure of the Meteor King again, and the fact that I was the protagonist of that was once again disappointing.
"To continue... the energy of the Cheonhwamok Formation sticks to the body of a person who has entered and then come out of the Cheonhwamok Formation for about a week. And the same goes for the one who has escaped from the Fear Illusion Formation. So to receive the real relic, you have to be a person who has overcome both the Cheonhwamok Formation and the Fear Illusion Formation within a week."
"What on earth is that relic?"
The Meteor King hesitated for a moment. It was an eye that seemed to be contemplating whether he should really give me that relic.
But what choice does he have? I am the only one who has met the conditions he mentioned, and there will be no one who can meet those conditions in the future.
"The real relic I left... is the eyes."
"The eyes?"
"To be precise, it's eye power. It refers to the power of the eyes to see through things that do not conform to the principles of the world."
"What do you mean by things that do not conform to the principles?"
He, raising his finger, pointed to himself and said, "It's beings like me."
"Ghosts?"
"No! You keep calling me a ghost, but I'm not a ghost. How many times do I have to tell you that I have left a fragment of my soul with a formation?"
I was about to retort that that's what people call a ghost, but since he seemed genuinely angry, I swallowed my words and just said I was sorry.
Then he, after looking at me with a displeased expression, opened his mouth.
"Huu... to continue the explanation... do you know what a formation is?"
"I don't know in detail, but I know roughly. It's about artificially controlling the energy that should naturally flow in any object or living thing in the world to create a desired effect."
"You know that well. The key was in your words just now. To artificially control the energy of nature. That is what a formation is, and that means that formations are things that do not conform to the principles."
My eyes, which had been listening to his story, gradually widened.
"Th-Then are you saying that the real relic of the great hero Meteor King is the eye power to see through formations?"
"That's right. That's it."
Unlike a little while ago, my heart begins to beat like crazy.
The relic of the Meteor King was much, much more amazing than I thought.
The eyes that can see through formations.
If you were to pick the three most dangerous things in the martial world, you could say this.
People, poison, and formations.
But if you can see through formations, one of those three dangerous things is solved.
"I will do my best to learn it!"
"......"
I, bowing my head deeply, said to him with sincerity, but he did not answer.
After staying in that position for a while, I stealthily opened my eyes and looked at him, and he was looking down at me with a complex and subtle expression.
Wondering if there was a problem, I couldn't say anything and was just watching his reaction, when words flowed from his mouth.
"Finally... I can finally escape from this place."
Various emotions were mixed in his voice.
A sense of relief, a sense of liberation, and even a little joy and sadness were felt.
"Congrat... ulations."
"Congratulations... yes. It's something to be congratulated for. Can you listen to my story a little more?"
I nodded my head.
Because I can of course listen to the story of a soul that has been waiting for a successor for hundreds of years.
"But before that. Are my senior brothers okay? I think I've spent quite a bit of time here, so I'm worried they might be wandering around looking for me."
"Huhu... you take good care of your senior brothers."
"I brought them here... and as I spent a long time with them, they became precious to me."
"Precious people... you don't have to worry about your senior brothers. It seems like a long time has passed, but in real time, it's just a fleeting moment. Your senior brothers are still confused because it hasn't been long since they escaped from the Fear Illusion Formation. Even if I impart my eye power and go, it will only be a short time."
"That's a relief."
He, with a slightly more peaceful face, looked at me and said, "When I was alive. There was a formation master who was famous throughout the martial world. His name is Ma Chang-seo. Have you heard of him?"
I shook my head.
How could I know the name of a person from hundreds of years ago, and a formation master at that, not a martial artist who was the best in the world?
"As expected. Anyway, Chang-seo was a close friend of mine. The Cheonhwamok Formation that you shattered. And the numerous formations and mechanisms in this cave. And even the Fear Illusion Formation that you just overcame were all made by Chang-seo."
"He must have been a very skilled person."
"Of course. His formations were the best of his time. The fact that he completely destroyed a notorious evil faction with just one formation was a famous anecdote that no one among the martial artists of our generation did not know. A person with not a single bit of internal energy annihilated over a hundred evil faction martial artists."
There was a subtle pride in his voice.
I felt that the Meteor King and Ma Chang-seo were not just close friends, but had a stronger bond.
Like not just friends, but like me and my senior brothers... shall we say, a brotherly relationship?
"Anyway, Chang-seo, who was a master of formations, after reaching the age of forty, went beyond formations and began to devote himself to researching a method to see through formations. In fact, this cave is where Chang-seo came in and researched it. He researched and researched a way to break through formations by setting up formations himself and breaking them repeatedly."
"Such an amazing person... why didn't I know about him?"
"Because he came in here when he was too young and could never leave this place again."
"What do you mean by that?"
"Ten years after Chang-seo came in here. In just ten years, he created a martial art that can see through formations. We decided to call it the Divine Eye Art. Although it may sound strange for a person who doesn't know martial arts to create a martial art, he did it anyway. Although he didn't learn martial arts himself, he had a perfect understanding of the energy of nature and internal energy while researching formations. As soon as he completed it, he called me and imparted the Divine Eye Art to me... and I learned it perfectly."
Although various questions came to my mind at the same time, for now, I just stayed quiet without saying anything.
Because it seemed his story was not over yet.
It seemed better to let him speak as much as he wanted for now.
"But... the problem started from then. Was it because he had consumed too much mental energy in creating the martial art? Or was it a heavenly punishment for having done too many things that went against the principles of nature? After that, he fell ill with an unknown disease, and in the end, he had no choice but to live in this cave until he died. He spent the rest of his short life here, making formations and mechanisms all day long... he just repeated that."
"What did you do during that time, great hero?"
"I was a nobody until then. But after learning the Divine Eye Art, I began to succeed. Martial artists often borrow the power of formations to supplement their lack of strength, and I began to shatter all those places with the Divine Eye Art."
I had a feeling that the fame of the Meteor King that I had vaguely heard of was from that time.
While I was thinking this, he continued, "Then one day. He was really on the verge of death because his illness had deepened, and he called me and asked me. He said he didn't want his Divine Eye Art to end here. He asked me to promise that I would surely pass it on to a successor someday... so I entrusted a fragment of his soul to him. The result is this state of affairs."
"But why didn't you pass on the Divine Eye Art to your descendants, old man Meteor King?"
"It's an embarrassing thing to say, but none of my descendants have overcome both the Cheonhwamok Formation and the Fear Illusion Formation. It's not that I didn't want to pass it on. I couldn't."
He, looking at me with sad eyes, continued, "Well. This is my story. I feel relieved after telling you everything. I feel like I could even achieve nirvana."
Although he seemed to be joking, it didn't sound like a joke to me at all.
"You. Are you a smart person?"
"Yes. I am proud to say so."
"That's a relief. Then memorize the incantation I'm about to say well..."
He immediately began to say the incantation as if he were muttering.
I desperately memorized what he was saying so as not to miss a single letter.
Fortunately, the Meteor King repeated the incantation twice, and I was able to memorize it perfectly.
"Now, follow me."
He took the lead and began to walk somewhere.
After following him for a long time, we soon reached a dead end.
"Come here and push this wall a little hard. As you can see, I can't use my strength."
As he tried to push the wall with his hand, it passed right through.
I, while thinking to myself, 'What. He's a ghost after all,' pushed the star hard as he said.
At first, there was no reaction, but a little while later.
Ku-gu-gu-gu—
At that time, the wall began to be pushed back, and a very small space appeared in the gap.
There was nothing else in that space, only a small bottle.
"Put one drop of the liquid in that bottle into each of your eyes. And then operate the incantation I taught you a little while ago."
"I understand."
Although it wasn't that I didn't feel a little uneasy, I, without doubting, took the bottle and dropped one drop into each of my eyes.
At that moment, a cool feeling arose, and suddenly, my vision became blurry.
Although I couldn't help but be flustered for a moment, since the Meteor King had told me to operate the incantation right away, I sat down in a cross-legged position.
"Thank you for liberating my descendants who have been trapped here for hundreds of years due to my wrong judgment..."
I, at the end of his faintly heard voice, fell into a state of selflessness.
(End of Chapter)