Rebirth of the Thunder God

The area around the Yellow River, as its name suggests, was made of yellow muddy water.

In fact, the Yellow River was not originally this muddy.

There were times when the water was clear, and there was also an era when it was called a fertile lifeline because it was full of fish.

"No. To think the river has become this dirty because of that damn dragon! Today's fishing is ruined."

"Should I just quit fishing and go dig for medicinal herbs?"

"Tsk, tsk. What medicinal herbs? Don't you know that Mr. Hwang went missing in a landslide the other day? Even hiking is dangerous because of this damn downpour."

"Then are you saying we should move to another region?"

"Well, we'll have to hope that the Martial Arts Alliance catches the dragon. I heard that the Zhengzhou Merchant Association has already submitted a petition to the Martial Arts Alliance. We have no choice but to wait patiently, as if we were fishing."

Even the passersby and the village residents were full of complaints about the dragon.

Without even knowing if it was a real being, they were vaguely resenting this heavy rain.

Well, it was also true that it felt somewhat out of place to be seen as a natural phenomenon.

"Still, the rain stopped just as we arrived."

"Then what are you going to do now?"

"I'll have to investigate the area around the river. It would be the icing on the cake if I could solve this localized downpour for the sake of the village residents."

Namgung Hui, walking along the deserted riverbank, asked the Sword Spirit.

-Sword Spirit. By any chance, do you feel anything?

[Hmm... I smell something familiar. It feels like a nostalgic smell.]

-Anything else? For example, do you feel the presence of a spirit beast similar to you?

[Wait. I think I'm starting to feel something, but I can't quite get a grasp on it. For some reason, I feel like something is blocking it.]

‘As expected.’

Namgung Hui knew that at times like this, Chichi was better at playing an active role than the Sword Spirit.

This time, he woke up Chichi, who was taking a nap, and asked.

"Chichi. If there's a spirit beast or a barrier nearby, point it out."

[You've been making me work a lot lately.]

"Didn't I give you a thunderbolt wine yesterday? Are you still not sober? From now on, I'll have to give it to you according to your drinking capacity."

[What are you talking about! I'm perfectly fine. Then I'll have to show you how fine I am with my ability. Now. It's over there. Over there. I feel a barrier inside the small island in the middle of the river. Only that place, my senses can't pass through.]

[Oh! Yes. That place has been bothering me too.]

The Sword Spirit also agreed with Chichi's words.

If so, that place was the most suspicious point.

Namgung Hui nodded his head and grabbed Beak Seolhwa's hand.

"Seolhwa. Let's go."

"Where?"

"You see that small island over there? That place seems suspicious. I'm going to go and take a look. Then, let's go."

Namgung Hui, holding Beak Seolhwa's hand, immediately performed the Wind God Steps.

Although it was a lightness skill he had performed to surprise her, Beak Seolhwa also skillfully followed Namgung Hui.

She did not fall behind in speed at all.

‘Seolhwa's lightness skill is amazing every time I see it. To think she doesn't fall behind me, who has learned the Wind God Steps.’

That was because Beak Seolhwa was not only outstanding in her Ki operation, but also skillfully utilized her own ice art.

She had completely shed the friction with the atmosphere and had eliminated the air resistance as much as possible.

Although he didn't know if it was theoretically possible, actually doing it was a different matter.

As much as that, it was a very high-level skill because not only did she have to operate her Ki minutely, but she also had to release her Ki at the right time and place.

And so, they crossed the river in an instant with their water-walking skill and arrived at the island that Chichi had pointed to.

Namgung Hui, looking at the desolate island with nothing on it, asked Chichi.

"I don't feel anything."

[I feel it from under here. Dig the ground.]

"Alright."

Namgung Hui pulled out a large Sword Ki and stuck it into the ground, beginning to cut out the ground.

Perhaps after digging about 3 zhang.

He felt something blocking the Sword Ki.

Namgung Hui stopped his work for a moment and blew away the dirt under the ground.

At that, a passage that seemed to go down to the underground appeared.

"Found it."

Beak Seolhwa also, sticking her head into the hole that Namgung Hui had dug, said as if she were slightly surprised.

"There really is something. What did they bury? A secret passage?"

"We'll have to go in to find out. Seolhwa. What are you going to do? Are you going to follow?"

"Are you telling me to stay in a boring place like this? Of course I have to go with you."

"I was just worried that you might get dirty. And I didn't want to make you suffer."

"Is there anything in a place like this that would make me suffer? Let's go together."

Namgung Hui nodded his head and then opened the lid.

Beak Seolhwa, as if she were in a good mood, linked her arm with Namgung Hui's and strode towards the underground stairs.

Although it was a dark and empty passage, it was no problem for the two of them.

***

"The damp smell is vibrating, so it must be a very old place. And look at this wall. It's about to rot and crumble."

"If we touch it wrong, the ground might collapse."

"What kind of place is it that they made a passage this deep? A secret escape route of the Martial Arts Alliance?"

"That could be. If it comes to it, they could escape to the east along the Yellow River. But my feeling is that it's a place where something is hidden rather than an escape route."

To be a secret passage, the dampness was too strong, and to be used as an escape route, the passage was excessively narrow.

That's why Namgung Hui couldn't even take his arm out of Beak Seolhwa's.

"Hoo... I see the end now. I see some kind of door on the other side."

"If there's a door, it's only right to open it. I wonder what's inside."

Although Namgung Hui had a rough idea, still, certainty was forbidden.

Since there might be a trap inside, he carefully approached the front of the door.

"It would be dangerous to go in recklessly from here. It seems there's a barrier, so let's solve this first."

"Hui. Do you know anything about barriers?"

"No. I don't know much about this area either. However, there's a way to use the gap in the barrier. Chichi."

[You want me to go in there and open the door, right? Wait a minute.]

Hadn't he opened the secret cave of the Gonggong Sect with Chichi's help before?

If it were an old place like this, there would surely be a hole that Chichi could enter.

[Found it.]

Chichi squeezed his body through a gap as narrow as a needle's eye.

To think that he could fit his body into such a small hole. That's why even the Thunder God Sect had been invaded by Chichi.

"By the way, Seolhwa. You're not taking Feifei with you these days?"

"Ah. I thought it would be dangerous when I went to the Blood Cult, so I left her with Sang-a. I left her behind this time too, just in case."

"Then will a bond be formed?"

"You don't have to worry about that. She comes flying whenever I call. She recognizes me as her mother. And that's right."

Originally, animals recognize the being they encounter when they are born as their parent.

Beak Seolhwa had hatched the egg of the Snow Mountain Roc and had even periodically injected it with cold energy.

Not to mention the food, since there was a period when she had raised it, it was perfectly reasonable for it to recognize Beak Seolhwa as its mother.

However, there was also a part to be worried about, that if he left the precious spirit beast to someone else for a long time, it might be taken away.

‘Well, since Yi Sang-a is a Moon Maiden Palace Daoist, it shouldn't matter. And to think she comes flying when called, I'm a little envious.’

Wasn't it similar to the appearance of a hunter who used a hawk?

Perhaps because Beak Seolhwa was from the North Sea, there seemed to be a part where she was skillful.

And so, while chatting with Beak Seolhwa, as if Chichi had accomplished some mission, a clicking sound was heard from inside, and a wave was felt from the door.

‘The barrier has been lifted. It's worth it that Chichi has become stronger lately. To think he has such a skill.’

Shouldn't Chichi become the true successor of the Empty Gate Sect?

Not only did he show the appearance of a great thief better than anyone, but that small stature was a great advantage as a thief.

[Everyone, come in.]

As if Chichi had become the owner of the house, he beckoned, and Namgung Hui gladly responded to Chichi's call.

As he opened the door and entered, unlike the passage, the air was quite fresh.

Perhaps this was an effect of the barrier.

Now that Chichi had even lifted that, from now on, this place would also be filled with a turbid smell.

Since he planned to leave here before that, it wasn't a problem.

The cave was quite... no, it was very spacious.

To the extent that it could be called a dragon's cave.

"Wow...! It's really spacious. No, to think there's a space like this under that small island, I can't believe it."

"I know, right? This really seems like a secret cave that an expert planned and made in advance. Then shall we find out what great thing they hid?"

"I don't think we need to look for it. Because that thing is right in front of our eyes."

As Beak Seolhwa said, a large something was placed in front of them.

Although it was covered with a large tent, so the contents could not be seen directly, looking at its shape.

"Don't tell me this is that being called a dragon?"

"It probably is. Let's take off the tent first."

Namgung Hui sent a palm wind and took off the tent.

The unidentified nude figure that was revealed amidst the scattering dust indeed had an appearance reminiscent of a dragon.

However, its appearance was not that of a living thing.

"A stone statue? Who carved such a large dragon? Their hobby is quite peculiar."

Namgung Hui approached the dragon's stone statue, tapped it, and even injected his true Ki.

At that, he soon nodded his head and stated his guess.

"This is not a simple stone statue. Someone has artificially turned a corpse into stone."

"A corpse? If it's a dragon's corpse, isn't it a legendary being on par with Ten Thousand Year Cold Iron? My Dragon's Fang Sword that I'm holding right now was made with just one tooth, and it's being called a divine sword."

As she said, every part of a dragon's corpse was extremely valuable.

If you made armor with its scales, you wouldn't be harmed by fire, and you wouldn't even feel the cold or the heat.

Moreover, since its teeth were so sturdy, like the Dragon's Fang Sword that Beak Seolhwa was holding, it would not be damaged by any ordinary Sword Ki.

Besides that, since a dragon's inner core had an effect that could not be called a spirit medicine.

In fact, before the First Emperor of Qin aimed for the elixir of life, he had been coveting this dragon's inner core.

But not only was it impossible to hunt a dragon, but even seeing one was close to an impossible task in a lifetime.

That's why the First Emperor of Qin had turned his direction to the elixir of life to hold on to his fading life.

Well, that also didn't work out in the end, and he eventually met his death.

"If we can undo this petrification, it will return to a complete dragon's corpse."

"Oh. Then we've hit the jackpot, right? With this, we can arm the entire Namgung family and the Moon Maiden Palace."

"No. We won't. Actually, this has a separate owner."

"The people who hid this? Since we found it like this, we're the owners. Why would we return it?"

"That's not it. I meant that there's a real owner. Well, it would be faster to show you."

Namgung Hui, who had finished his words, drew his Thunder God Sword, approached the dragon's corpse, and opened his mouth.

"Sword Spirit. It seems your memory has come back. Why don't you tell me?"

Namgung Hui had clearly seen that as Chichi lifted the barrier, a part of that energy had seeped into the Thunder God Sword.

To be precise, it was directed at the Sword Spirit dwelling inside the Thunder God Sword, and Namgung Hui, who had seen that, was turning his guess into a certainty.

That's right. The being in front of him was not a dragon, but something close to an imugi.

And there was no one but the Sword Spirit who was such a being.

[Yes. The corpse in front of me is me. Those guys took out my soul, bound it, and sealed my corpse here. Keuk!!!]

Perhaps because he had regained his memory, a huge energy suddenly shot up from the Thunder God Sword.

A black and ominous energy, like the blade of the Thunder God Sword, surged.

(End of Chapter)