Chapter 5. Dream Awakening (5)
Won-Myeong watched Woo-Moon pick up a crude wooden stick from the ground and run toward him with bloodshot eyes. He suddenly felt intense pressure from the boy, almost as if the latter could destroy a mountain.
Indeed, Woo-Moon now exuded incredible power.
It had been a long while since he had last felt this way, but Won-Myeong’s calm was well and truly shaken as he witnessed the miraculous sight unfolding in front of his eyes.
Woo-Moon had actually picked up an unrefined wooden sword that someone had thrown away. When he first held it, a vivid image played in his mind. He felt as if he had reunited with an old-time friend.
It was one of the Gentle Celestial Sword’s moves, Raging Storm. It was the combination of two independent techniques: Raging Wind and Heavy Rain.
As soon as Woo-Moon picked up the sword, the qi of the Celestial Sect's Forbidden Divine Art in his dantian[1] started to move. Unceasing qi coursed through his whole body and then naturally flowed to his arm.
He charged at Won-Myeong with a shout. He was tens, hundreds, thousands of times faster than his prior attempts.
"Hyaaa!!"
Won-Myeong looked back at Woo-Moon and said something, but Woo-Moon couldn't hear him. The old daoist looked nervous and surprised, but Woo-Moon couldn't see that either.
Only Woo-Moon, his weapon, and the Gentle Celestial Sword existed in his world.
The enormous power of the Celestial Sect's Forbidden Divine Art, which Woo-Moon had only practiced and cultivated in his dreams so far, surged from his body into the stick.
Buzz~
The wooden "sword" rattled hard as the energy of the Forbidden Divine Art manifested with a brilliant golden aura that enveloped it.
Won-Myeong stared at Woo-Moon with his eyes wide open. He suddenly felt regretful for not having a sword in his hand.
‘Damn, I guess I have no choice but to use something other than the Crane Chasing Dragon Palm!’
Won-Myeong activated the final level of the Amitabha Vajra Divine Art. Golden energy covered him, gradually thickening.
Just like Woo-Moon’s, Won-Myeong's energy manifested with a golden hue. However, it was not a sword technique—Won-Myeong was reinforcing his body with a type of strengthening qi called Amitabha Vajra Qi. In that state, he waited for Woo-Moon's attack, holding his left hand up and his right hand down in a defensive stance.
‘Come at me, little monster!’
Won-Myeong could feel the force surrounding Woo-Moon's sword was as fast and destructive as the wind, as pervasive and ever-changing as heavy rain.
Finally, Woo-Moon swung at him.
Boom!
As immense energy came out of the tip of his sword, Woo-Moon injected the power of the Celestial Sect's Forbidden Divine Arts into it with even more intensity. However, unable to withstand his power, his weapon exploded due to the violent vibration.
Usually, when using a sword or any other weapon, a murim martial artist would use their own cultivation to protect the weapon so that it would be able to withstand the stress of being infused with qi. Of course, Woo-Moon lacked this basic knowledge, which meant that he couldn’t stop his sword from exploding.
In turn, Won-Myeong was confident in preventing Woo-Moon's first attack. However, Woo-Moon's sword unexpectedly exploded, the resulting wild energy piercing through his defenses.
Though Woo-Moon's sword was blown apart, the Raging Storm's first and last wave of energy struck Won-Myeong's left forearm directly. The result was a serious injury; blood spurted out, a sign that an important blood vessel had been cut open.
"Ahh! Grandpa!" Doa exclaimed.
Ignoring the wound on his left arm, Won-Myeong drew a circle with his right hand, without even frowning once. All the fragments of the wooden sword flying around him lost their strength in midair and fell to the ground.
"Ugh!"
The fragments resulting from the explosion didn’t just shoot forward. Some were also launched backward, at Woo-Moon's thighs and sides. Fortunately, the energy of the Celestial Sect's Forbidden Divine Arts deflected them to some extent, so he didn’t sustain any deep wounds.
Woo-Moon had been distracted due to his extreme concentration. Now that his focus had been disrupted, intense pain coursed through his entire body.
"Argh!"
Thick, vine-like veins covered his entire body. The pain made him collapse and roll on the ground.
"Argh!"
The pain was unimaginable. His muscles and blood vessels had been torn and twisted, and his bones had been split and broken.
There was an explanation behind this abrupt pain.
Woo-Moon had learned martial arts through imagination alone. Staring at the landscape painting put him in a dream-like state, leaving him no chance to execute the techniques physically. The only thing that he had extensively used was the dantian. Unlike other qi cultivation methods, the Celestial Sect's Forbidden Divine Arts regarded a human’s innermost parts as a small universe, and the practitioner could use the Art based on the dantian alone. In other words, Woo-Moon's physique and meridians were no different from an ordinary person’s.
Hence, it was only natural for his untrained body to be significantly burdened by suddenly using the Forbidden Divine Art to the fullest. The only reason he hadn’t felt the pain was that he was so tense and concentrated on attacking.
As Woo-Moon rolled on the ground with a painful scream, Won-Myeong was naturally concerned and rushed over to help him.
"What’s wrong? Did you fall into qi deviation?"
He had never felt any enmity toward Woo-Moon. Seeing Woo-Moon's pitiful state, he was shocked and worried.
'Damn, I think I’ve been too mean to the poor kid.'
Won-Myeong hurriedly examined Woo-Moon and came to an alarming conclusion.
'Huh, what the hell? How can his body be so broken? It actually collapsed like this because it couldn’t withstand the sudden infusion of qi?!’
"Idiot! Sit in the lotus position now!"
Woo-Moon was in so much pain that his heart was actually no longer functioning. Even his lungs had stopped working due to the backlash. He could feel pain as he was gasping for air.
Even in such a state, Won-Myeong's voice struck Woo-Moon's eardrums like a hammer and reached his mind immediately, as Won-Myeong was amplifying his voice with the Azure Dragon Cry.
‘I can survive if I listen to him!’
Instinctively coming to that realization, Woo-Moon struggled into the lotus position. Won-Myeong sat behind him in the same position and placed his palms on Woo-Moon's back.
"Doa! Stand guard and stay alert for two hours!” shouted Won-Myeong.
Doa nodded and urgently replied, "Yes, Grandpa!”
"Idiot! If you want to live, listen to me!" Won-Myeong shouted at Woo-Moon.
Woo-Moon’s blood vessels, meridians, muscles, and bones had been severely damaged, putting his life at risk. That made Won-Myeong anxious. He regretted buying the landscape painting without Woo-Moon's permission—before he could even apologize properly, this incident had occurred.
Despite being so young, Woo-Moon had actually managed to use that sword technique perfectly. It was a pity to think that such an amazingly talented young man was dying before his eyes.
Won-Myeong fully devoted himself to Woo-Moon’s treatment, forgetting that he was also injured and blood was still flowing from his forearm.
“Keep your mouth closed and endure it no matter how painful this gets. Your life is at stake, so I'm sure you'll be able to overcome this."
With those words, Won-Myeong moved his qi into his palms and transferred it into Woo-Moon.
At first, he only used a bit of internal energy out of fear that Woo-Moon's internal energy and his would clash and cause a rejection. Fortunately, however, nothing like that happened. Rather, Won-Myeong and Woo-Moon’s internal energies harmonized quite well, almost as if they were from the same origin.
‘This is good!’
As his worries softened, Won-Myeong started to freely infuse his internal energy and treat Woo-Moon's blood vessels and meridians. However, not long after he began, Won-Myeong felt greatly dejected.
'Sigh, he’s gravely injured. I can save his life if I do my best, but he'll never be able to use his cultivation again.’
Won-Myeong suddenly felt guilty. It was just a mistake. This wouldn't have happened if he had said “I am sorry” and just returned the landscape painting. Instead, thinking that Woo-Moon was rude, Won-Myeong had intended to teach him a lesson, but instead, this terrible accident had happened.
Full of regret, Won-Myeong decided to go to Woo-Moon’s parents and apologize if this process went wrong and he couldn’t save Woo-Moon. However, he couldn’t think about that now. Sweat flowed down his forehead as he fully focused on treating Woo-Moon.
Nervous, Doa stood by Won-Myeong and Woo-Moon with her sword drawn, wary of her surroundings. Numerous martial artists and masters were gathering in the area due to the confrontation between the Night Spear Devil Gyeong Hong and the Palm Martial Emperor Baek Sang-Woon that would be held in Go-Ryang Pyeong.
There was no guarantee that there wouldn’t be an evil group among them. It was possible that some of them harbored ill feelings toward the Kunlun Sect in general and Won-Myeong in particular.
‘My grandfather killed a lot of evil men...’
At that moment, Doa swiftly swung her sword upon feeling a slight presence.
Clang!
Two branches caught on her sword and fell to the ground. One was flying at Doa and the other at Won-Myeong.
"Who are you? I mean, who the hell is it?!”
The impact on her sword was heavier than she expected.
‘If they can even put this much power in a mere twig, they’re definitely at the Peak Realm.’
"Ha! The little girl from the Kunlun Sect is better with the sword than I thought."
Four men showed up, but she didn’t know where they had appeared from.
The sight of them made Doa nervous. It would’ve been hard enough to deal with just the one who had thrown those branches, but now, four people had shown up. They looked at her and Won-Myeong with burning hostility.
At that moment, Doa remembered who they were.
"The Four Evil Bandits!"
They were a group that committed all kinds of atrocities in murim. About seven years ago, Won-Myeong and the Kunlun Sect disciples had pursued them, but despite sustaining severe injuries, the bandits had managed to successfully escape. Unfortunately, they just happened to be passing by right now.
‘Trouble really doesn't come alone... I won’t be able to deal with them on my own.’
Doa felt hopeless and afraid. She was just a First-Class martial artist, while the Four Evil Bandits had already been near the Peak Realm seven years ago.
"How dare you appear before Kunlun Sect's old sect master? You're not afraid of death, are you?" Doa said as she glanced at Won-Myeong.
Daehung, the head of the Four Evil Bandits and the one that had thrown the branches at Doa earlier, stepped forward.
"Do you think you can fool me? Even a child could kill Jin Won-Myeong in his current state."
It was just as he said. Won-Myeong couldn’t move at all because he was helping the dying Woo-Moon. At times like this, both of them would lose their lives if they were subjected to external shocks.
The second of the Four Evil Bandits gritted his teeth. "We’ll wash away the shame from our past by killing that damn daoist!"
“Haha. I’m going to have some fun with you. After the First Sword of Kunlun dies, he’ll twist in his grave when he sees that,” said the third, looking at Doa with glistening eyes. He was well known for his debauchery.
"Don't you dare come near me!" Doa shouted as they approached.
Instead of answering, the Four Evil Bandits charged at Doa. Even though they were facing a girl much younger than them, they were shameless and attacked her simultaneously.
Doa couldn’t stop or avoid all of their attacks. Prepared to die, she gritted her teeth and was about to swing her sword when a gust of wind blew in front of her.
Clang!
With a sharp rattle, all of the Four Evil Bandits’ swords were deflected.
"What the hell?!” Daehung roared, powerful evil energy gathered in his chest.
Looking ahead, Doa saw a man who looked to be in his late thirties. He was dressed in black, with a matching cape, and had a long spear in his hand.
“Going after someone in danger is already disgraceful in itself, yet you’re also shameless enough to attack a little girl at the same time,” the middle-aged spearman said, looking at the Four Evil Bandits with an icy stare.
As the saying went, humans had to be quick-witted to live long. However, the Four Evil Bandits couldn’t pass up this opportunity. They were now in front of a very coveted prey called Jin Won-Myeong.
"Fucking bastard! How dare you interfere with us!"
"Fine, then! We'll kill you first!"
In spite of their brave words, the Four Evil Bandits instinctively felt something unusual. They all used their best martial arts techniques simultaneously.
1. The term is loosely translated as "elixir field", "sea of qi", or simply "energy center," and is considered the energetic core of the body. ☜