Chapter 174 : Chapter 174
Chapter 174 - It Seems a Leap Has Been Made
“He’ll be okay, right?”
At Jeong-i’s question, I scratched the back of my head.
“Hmm. Probably?”
At that vague answer, Jeong-i’s eyes narrowed.
“You said it was for sure earlier.”
“Haha. Did I?”
“Don't play innocent. He really is okay, right?”
“Senior Sister, really. Do I look like someone who would talk nonsense?”
“……Sometimes?”
“Good grief. To think the trust between a senior sister and junior brother is this shallow…….”
I sighed and played shamelessly. On the other hand, Jeong-i’s insides were burning up. It was because of the man swinging his sword like a demon in the middle of the Phantasmal Confusion Forest.
“If he really goes wrong like that…….”
“Don't worry. If you really can't trust me, then try trusting Grandpa Hyeokri Chong.”
It wasn't that she specifically didn't trust me. No. Rather, Jeong-i was the one who trusted me more than any of the young talents. But seeing Eung Gajin, who had become a demon swayed by the energy of the Phantasmal Confusion Forest, her heart couldn't help but waver.
“If I think he’s crossed the line, I’ll go and bring Senior Brother. But if that happens, Senior Brother won't be able to overcome the wall.”
“……Yes.”
Jeong-i bit her red lips firmly and turned her gaze toward Eung Gajin. The reason I, Uma, and Jeong-i could be fine within the Phantasmal Confusion Forest. It was thanks to the special spirit pill Hyeokri Chong had made for us.
This spirit pill basically had the effect of making the heart pure, and through special processing, that effect was maximized. That special processing was, precisely, my pure internal energy.
-Keke. It turned out exactly as I said, right?
-T-To think this is actually possible……! Just what kind of fellow are you?
Even the great Medicine Saint Hyeokri Chong only knew of it in theory, but it was his first time actually making such a spirit pill. Originally, no other ingredients should be mixed into the spirit pill one is trying to make. This is because ultimate efficiency only comes when the ingredients of various materials are precisely harmonized like a mechanism formation.
However, I poured my internal energy into the spirit pill while it was being manufactured at a high temperature. Normally, it would be normal for the color to change or the efficacy to disappear, but my internal energy, which was pure without a speck of dust, made the impossible possible. This was a natural talent possessed by the vessel of the body named 'Biyoung', being neither the Heaven-Shaking Divine Pill nor the Earth-Drawing Spirit Pill.
When I first examined my interior, it wasn't for nothing that I clapped, saying it was a better vessel than the World's Fastest Sword.
‘It’s certainly an unbelievable efficacy.’
Jeong-i was also not unaware of it. No matter how good the spirit pills and decoctions one takes, one cannot be fine against the Phantasmal Confusion Forest. But Hyeokri Chong’s skill and my pure internal energy made that impossible thing possible.
Jeong-i herself, standing there as if nothing were wrong, was the living proof. Although she was quite a distance away from Eung Gajin, she and the other person were also within the area of the Phantasmal Confusion Forest. However, if there was a difference, it lay in the timing of taking the spiritual medicine.
Unlike the three of us who had taken the spirit pill in advance at the entrance of the Phantasmal Confusion Forest, Eung Gajin only took the spirit pill after entering the middle of the Phantasmal Confusion Forest. It was a considerably dangerous move, and that was why Jeong-i was so anxious. But as I said, this was the only way to break out of the shell through the Phantasmal Confusion Forest.
Swoosh!
Eung Gajin’s ferocious sword path cuts down everything around him. It was a wild hacking that was embarrassing to even call swordsmanship anymore. Jeong-i’s anxious gaze turned toward me once more.
“Uh………….”
Is this not it?
A drop of sweat trickled down my temple as I watched with an uncertain expression.
Slash!
Eung Gajin’s actions were gradually turning not like a human, but like a beast. The appearance of a hero in old books was nowhere to be found, and only the appearance of a demon struggling in agony remained.
“Hmm………….”
Maybe. I really should stop this……? Even as I had been full of confidence, I was starting to get nervous.
Stop.
Eung Gajin, who had been swinging his sword like a madman, suddenly came to a halt. He soon shed hot tears and then slowly crossed his legs in a meditative posture. At that sight, I let out a cheer from afar. Finally, Eung Gajin had won the battle against the Phantasmal Confusion Forest.
“See, Senior Sister Jeong. I was right, wasn't I? Haha.”
“……Unbelievable.”
To think you're sticking your belly out when your temples are soaked with sweat. But Jeong-i also ended up giving a faint smile.
As a result, it happened exactly as I said. Eung Gajin had finally passed the trial of the Phantasmal Confusion Forest. And the reward for the one who passed the trial was just about to begin.
***
Rumble!
Eung Gajin sprints across the ocean with a huge wave at his back. Beneath his feet was a dazzlingly bright and warm board.
As if it had a place to take him, the board advanced through the middle of the sea without hesitation. The more he concentrated on the energy, the more he felt like some arrogant person came to mind. And a short while later.
Flash!
“Whoa!”
The board vanished as if it had never been there, leaving Eung Gajin behind. Naturally, Eung Gajin fell into the sea.
Splash!
It wasn't particularly suffocating or uncomfortable. Because this was the sea of internal energy within Eung Gajin’s body. Eung Gajin was about to undergo the same trial as the Biyoung of the past. Huge waves soon surged from the left and right of Eung Gajin, who was adrift in the sea.
Rumble rumble!
It was a sight that made one tremble with fear just by looking at it. If the two energies collided, his body would surely be shattered to pieces.
However, Eung Gajin’s eyes as he faced the waves looked incredibly calm and peaceful. The dark emotions he had suffered because of the Phantasmal Confusion Forest had already vanished.
A mind from which agony had disappeared. An inner self refined purely. A Dantian wiped clean through my internal energy. All of those were in a state ready to accept the new tide. Soon, the two waves collided fiercely at the place where Eung Gajin was located.
Roar!
The streams of water merged into one, forming a huge waterspout. Eung Gajin readily entrusted his body to the waterspout. Eung Gajin refined and refined the fiercely swirling energy. Until he could hold the large waterspout in his palm.
Boom!
Soon, an incredibly huge energy erupted from his Dantian. Eung Gajin lowered the energy of his internal energy below the Dantian, sent it to the perineum, and guided it toward the path of the Governor Vessel. From the bottom to the top.
Eung Gajin’s internal energy, having consistently taken the Cradle-to-Grave Pill, powerfully pushed aside the obstacles in the middle.
Sting.
His brow furrowed at the pain he had never felt before in his life. However, compared to the emotion called inferiority he had felt a moment ago, this was nothing.
Eung Gajin’s internal energy, which had been passing through the wall with great momentum, finally arrived at the final gateway. The Baihui acupoint located at the crown of the head. Eung Gajin recalled the advice I had given him.
-Think of a technique. The strongest technique you can do.
‘The strongest technique…….’
He didn't have a perfectly polished technique, but he did have a favorite one. A technique he had thought of every single day since he first saw it at Simao. The technique, which was like a symbol of the Diancang Sect’s resurrection to him, slowly revealed its form.
Sun-Shooting One Flash.
Nine sharp spears began their advance toward the Baihui acupoint.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Every time the internal energy tapped the Baihui acupoint, a shock that felt like he would faint was applied. However, Eung Gajin held onto his consciousness firmly and continued to refine the technique of the Sun-Shooting One Flash. The Phantasmal Confusion Forest gifts confusion to travelers, but to those who cross the wall, it gifts incredibly sharp senses.
My Sun-Shooting One Flash, which he had seen at Simao, came into view as clearly as if he could touch it. More minutely. And more delicately. And more strongly! A sword strike sharper than the Sun-Shooting One Flash he had practiced countless times in reality was finally completed.
Kabaam!
A huge firecracker exploded in Eung Gajin’s head. The internal energy that started from below and pierced through the Baihui acupoint followed the Conception Vessel like a flood toward the Dantian.
Now, no obstacle existed anywhere to block Eung Gajin’s celestial circulation. As the second among the Diancang Sect young talents, Eung Gajin had crossed The Gate of Life and Death.
“…………!”
The sound of grass leaves rustling around him. And the cries of small creatures sounded several times louder. Every single fine hair on his body seemed to react with the world. It wasn't because this was the Phantasmal Confusion Forest. It was that Eung Gajin’s senses had remarkably changed as an effect of opening the Conception and Governor Vessels.
Grin.
Eung Gajin smiled. When he pursued strength, he failed every time. When he gave up on strength, was an incredibly large gift not given to him?
‘Grandfather.’
Eung Gajin called out to Eung Jinsan, the previous Sect Leader and his grandfather, in his heart.
Perhaps he was able to escape the confusion thanks to the spiritual medicine Biyoung delivered.
However, the one who spoke to him within Eung Gajin was definitely his grandfather.
‘I will not be a strong person, but a person like a pillar that everyone can rely on.’
No inferiority toward anyone remained in Eung Gajin anymore. There was only a heart full of care for the Diancang Sect and his colleagues.
“Senior Brother?”
Only then did I and Jeong-i return to Eung Gajin’s side. When one is having a battle within oneself in the Phantasmal Confusion Forest, even if a Great Golden Immortal came, they could not interfere.
Even if I had intruded in the middle, it would have been impossible to solve that confusion. The most I could have done was to knock him unconscious to make him escape the confusion.
But the thing we worried about did not happen. Eung Gajin brilliantly overcame his own reverse scale and crossed a huge wall.
“……You’ve come.”
“How did it go?”
“It seems a leap has been made.”
Color returned to my and Jeong-i’s faces. Indeed, a layer of depth had appeared in his eyes, his skin had become smooth, and his face was overflowing with confidence. What had changed significantly was his internal energy. The internal energy racing through his body without hesitation seemed almost visible to the two of us.
“Hmm. We should fight again.”
“With whom?”
“Who else could it be? Brother Chu, who beat you black and blue, Senior Brother.”
“Namgung Chu…….”
Only a few days ago, Namgung Chu was a subject of great inferiority. However, Eung Gajin calmly closed his eyes.
“Just leave him be. Winning against him won't make me the number one young talent under heaven. I will just do my part.”
“Oh? You opened your Conception and Governor Vessels and suddenly became a sage?”
Eung Gajin smiled brightly with his eyes closed.
“It’s all thanks to you. Thank you.”
“Thank you for what? It’s all thanks to your effort, Senior Brother.”
As one who had already experienced it, I knew. The Baihui acupoint is not something that can be easily pierced just by having a lot of internal energy.
If that were the only condition, not to mention Jeong-i, even Hyeokri Hong would have been able to do it.
A strong will to definitely achieve it. And desperation. A yearning to become a Peak Master.
One must gather such things to have a mental strength harder than Ten-Thousand-Year Cold Iron.
The Phantasmal Confusion Forest was a shock treatment for Eung Gajin’s growth, and as such, it must have been harder than general conditions. There was a reason I gave a compliment, which I rarely do.
“Since things seem to be settled, let’s move. That person is also in a hurry.”
“Right.”
Eung Gajin rose from his seat and looked around. Then, he pointed in one direction with his finger.
“It seems to be that way.”
‘Ho.’
I gave a satisfied smile at that sight. The direction I predicted was not different from Eung Gajin’s. It was a point where one could know that Eung Gajin’s sense of energy had taken a leap to another dimension.
“Then let’s go!”
Following me, Eung Gajin and Jeong-i took flight. Using the Phantasmal Confusion Forest to give Eung Gajin shock treatment was something that wasn't planned. The one they originally intended to break out of their shell was not Eung Gajin, but another swordsman.
“Aaaaaaaakh!”
“!”
From the direction Eung Gajin pointed, the scream of exactly that swordsman echoed out.