Chapter Title: Dark Heaven Village
I stood before Yi Cheong-un alongside Jin So-cheong, Geuk-ho, and the Sword Demon. Yi Cheong-un looked at the Sword Demon and said,
“Sword Demon. My teachings will be heavily focused on the Thunder God Style, and I must prioritize Baek Woong's growth, so I won't be able to pay you much attention. Is that alright?”
The Sword Demon nodded.
“It doesn't matter. I'm content just to cultivate the Seven Great Absolute Arts and Eight Immortal Divine Arts. In truth, that's an encounter worthy of legends. Just answer my questions whenever it's convenient for you.”
“Very well.”
Yi Cheong-un turned to me and said,
“Baek Woong. First, gather all the remaining black obsidian and give one to me and one to Jin So-cheong. Infuse them with as much martial insight and experience as possible.”
“Understood.”
Once he had sorted through the memories, Yi Cheong-un spoke.
“Good. Then let's begin the training. For now, we'll all practice the forms of the Seven Great Absolute Arts and Eight Immortal Divine Arts together. Three days from now, once we're familiar with the forms, we'll move into advanced training to study the profundities. The study of those profundities will involve discussing our insights as a group.”
As Yi Cheong-un said, we spent the first few days solely on practicing the forms. No matter how much martial enlightenment we received through the black obsidian, we still needed to embody it in our bodies. I'd trained so relentlessly up to now that it felt somewhat unnecessary for me, but I followed along to keep pace.
Three days later, as Yi Cheong-un predicted, everyone seemed to have mastered the forms. Yi Cheong-un and Jin So-cheong went without saying, and the Sword Demon and Geuk-ho, with their prodigious talents befitting their reputations, had no trouble either. After finishing the form practice, Geuk-ho grumbled,
“Damn it, I want some of that black obsidian too...”
I gave Geuk-ho a wry smile and said,
“Sorry. To pack in a lot of memories at once, I need a substantial amount. Wait until Miho buys up those black obsidian mines.”
“I get that, but can't you ask that Prophet guy for some ore from his homeland? It's way more efficient, right?”
“I asked once before, but he said it's top secret.”
Geuk-ho scratched his head vigorously.
“That was just from his underlings, wasn't it? The Prophet's the king of their kind, so negotiate directly with him for an exchange. Compared to the treasures you have, that should be a small price for him.”
“Hmm...”
I hadn't considered that. I nodded at Geuk-ho's words.
“Got it. I'll go when I have some spare time from training.”
Zhuge Sa or Mang-ryang had probably thought of that strategy already. But throughout my past lives, I hadn't acted on it because I always hoarded treasures to secure victory in that one life. In this life, I was focusing on maximizing my potential, so it would be highly efficient.
Once the form practice ended, Yi Cheong-un said,
“From now on, the rest of you will train primarily in the Seven Great Absolute Arts and Eight Immortal Divine Arts, while Baek Woong, you'll train in the Thunder God Style arts with me.”
“Huh?”
I looked at Yi Cheong-un and asked in confusion,
“Why is that? What's the reason for teaching me the Thunder God Style arts...?”
“Of course, for direct improvement in skill, learning Jiang Sambeng's absolute arts would be faster. But to break through the great barrier of the Absolute Realm, you must walk a grand path worthy of it. Baek Woong, you still haven't fully unlocked the hidden potential in the Thunder God Style arts, so we need to solidify that foundation first and build your strength from there.”
After explaining, Yi Cheong-un sighed bitterly,
“Sigh... This is all my fault.”
“...? Why is it your fault, Yi Cheong-un?”
“Because I died prematurely in the past, you never fully mastered the Thunder God Style arts. Had I, the lineage master, lived, I would have passed on every absolute art and technique perfectly...”
He gazed up at the sky.
“Gwang-a is a martial genius as well, but he'd only been under my tutelage for a little over ten years. I should have taught him at least five more years, but the sudden expulsion of the Thunder God Style left Gwang-a without the full essence. And you, as Gwang-a's disciple, ended up distant from the true core of the Thunder God Style.”
“It's not your fault, Yi Cheong-un.”
I stated firmly.
“If you'd agreed to the cult leader's proposal back then, he might have led the strongest-ever White Lotus Cult to conquer the Central Plains. I believe the disappearance of the supreme Thunder God Style curbed his ambitions. And if the cult leader had conquered the Central Plains, then ultimately...”
“Yes. The gods would intervene, turning everything into chaos and massacring millions.”
Yi Cheong-un smiled as he said this.
“...Well, it might not have played out that way, but thank you for saying it. You're probably the only one who could speak so bluntly. Only a regressor like you could.”
“...”
“In any case, I failed to pass the full essence of the Thunder God Style to Gwang-a. So this time, I'll transmit it to you. This training will greatly aid your ascent to the Absolute Realm.”
“Hmm... If I may be so bold, I feel like I've already learned most of the Thunder God Style techniques...”
I trailed off.
And rightly so—I'd spent over a hundred years compiling and mastering the Thunder God Style's absolute arts, so it wasn't an exaggeration. Not only the ultimate battle art Thunder Roar, but I'd mastered the fists, spear, and even parts of the grappling art Ghost Soul Unity Wave. As for the Thunder God Style swordsmanship, I could claim to be the greatest master alive, excluding Dokgo-seong. At present, neither Yi Gwang nor Jin So-cheong knew more techniques than I did.
Yi Cheong-un burst into laughter.
“Hahaha! True enough. Even in my era, few had mastered as many Thunder God Style techniques as you. But you don't know how to link them, the subtle tricks, or the hidden techniques, do you?”
“There are such things?”
“There are. And you're qualified to learn them now.”
Geuk-ho, listening from the side, shot his hand up.
“Ancestor!”
“What is it, Geuk-ho?”
“If there's something like that, I want to learn it too.”
“No. These are subtleties that apply only to those who've reached advanced mastery in all Thunder God Style martial arts.”
“Tch...”
After the conversation ended, the three of them went off for individual training, and I headed to the training ground alone with Yi Cheong-un. He slowly picked up his spear and said,
“First... I'll spar with you at your level and teach you the subtleties.”
“Yes.”
Clang!
I began exchanging spear techniques with Yi Cheong-un. True to his word about matching my level, he wasn't using Thunder God Spirit Soul and was purely responding to my movements. Midway, he unleashed the three great essentials—lan, na, chal—to attack me, but I dismantled his assault with ease.
Buzz buzz buzz!
“...!!”
But suddenly, with a sound like a swarm of bees, the spear tip morphed into a round sphere, altering its trajectory. I hurriedly ducked to evade it. As I reeled from the unexpected feint, Yi Cheong-un withdrew his spear and said,
“Like that.”
“How did you do it?”
“Nothing special. I'll show you slowly.”
Yi Cheong-un began moving his spear extremely slowly, demonstrating the form transition at a pace I could clearly see. I stared intently at the motion and, realizing something, let out an exclamation.
“Thunder Dragon Divine Sword! And Thunder Cloud Hard Fist.”
“Well spotted. Exactly—I blended the forms of those two arts into the spear technique.”
“But that's...”
Swordsmanship and fist arts fused into spearwork!
I could do it if I tried, but what Yi Cheong-un had just done was seamlessly integrate two separate combat techniques into an ultra-fast spear pinnacle. That was an incredibly difficult feat. As I stared, speechless, Yi Cheong-un said,
“During one of your regressions, Jin So-cheong wielded sword and spear together in a frenzy. It was against the Twin Gate Temples' patriarchs...”
“I remember. That happened.”
“That child grasped it through innate genius—the fact that all Thunder God Style martial arts are organically linked, producing synergistic effects...”
Muttering this, Yi Cheong-un suddenly thrust an incredibly fast fist right in front of my eyes.
Boom!
With no killing intent, I didn't dodge. Staring at Yi Cheong-un as his fist halted before my nose, he said,
“I blended them there too. Did you see?”
“Yes. You used Thunder Shadow Step's Heaven's Executioner and Nameless Palm, then suddenly shifted to Heavenly Thunder Man and Ten Thousand Swords Formula forms...”
“Well spotted. You're truly an outstanding Thunder God Style master.”
Smiling faintly, Yi Cheong-un continued,
“You seem to deploy single martial arts, but in truth, the Thunder God Style allows all techniques—movement, fists, sword, spear, saber, etc.—to connect organically and sublime into wondrous arts. It was designed that way from the start and refined by countless masters over a thousand years.”
I let out an exclamation of admiration.
“Ooh...!!”
“That's why we Thunder God Style lineage masters couldn't specialize in one to become a master—we had to excel in everything.”
“...”
“You look like you have something to say.”
“Then... if I organically deploy the Thunder God Style arts to reach the wondrous arts realm, I'll become even stronger?”
Yi Cheong-un nodded.
“Of course. You'll definitely grow stronger. I guarantee it.”
“Hmm...”
“And teaching the domain of wondrous arts is reserved for at least peak transcendent experts and worthy successors to the lineage. Most Thunder God Style masters die without even knowing it exists.”
“But Jin So-cheong frequently used that wondrous arts domain you just described...”
“Precisely why Jin So-cheong is an extraordinary genius. This is the essence normally transmitted one-on-one between master and disciple over long years of training, yet he roughly reached that realm through sheer intuition.”
“...”
I was speechless. According to Yi Cheong-un, the wondrous arts domain had no specific forms but was clearly the supreme linking principle for all the synergistic arts mastered so far. Jin So-cheong's talent in self-reaching such an ultimate difficulty terrified me.
Then, a sudden thought struck me, and I asked,
“I barely know the Thunder God Style's Ghost Soul Unity Wave arts. I only know the forms for Ghost Spells and Self-Rotating Ghost Path. Is it still okay to learn the wondrous arts domain like this?”
“It's fine. That branch is peculiar, so it's not necessary.”
“Pardon?”
Yi Cheong-un spoke in a slightly awkward tone.
“I've mastered most of the Ghost Soul Unity Wave arts and spells myself. But the more I delved, the more I felt they were fundamentally a different branch from the main Thunder God Style. Not enemies, of course, but an alien element mixed in from the early days...”
“...”
“Heh. Ask the Ghost Soul Unity Wave's successor sometime. They have many secrets.”
“Yes.”
And so the training began. Through endless spars with Yi Cheong-un, I learned the subtleties of blending and unleashing forms, mastering eight of them in a single day. I even applied them in practice that same day, boosting my confidence inwardly.
‘Huh? Am I actually pretty talented?’
But as training continued, my expression soured. The next day brought eight entirely new subtleties. They tangled in my mind, and I couldn't memorize them properly, wasting about two days in repeated drills.
On the third day, when I finally started getting it, Yi Cheong-un said,
“You're still far off. You must etch the strengths, weaknesses, and characteristics of every single technique until they're learned into your bones. You can only apply them once you know everything. At minimum, memorize a thousand motions and combinations.”
“Ughhh...!!”
I groaned and said,
“A thousand? How am I supposed to memorize all that?”
“It seems like a lot, but it's just applying arts you've already mastered, isn't it? And the number of forms from those arts far exceeds that already.”
“That's true, but...”
As I hesitated to rise, Yi Cheong-un said,
“You're either dull or mediocre. You know your talent is lacking.”
“...”
“That's why, to reach the application and essence that only geniuses attain, you have no choice but hundreds of times the effort. I'm certain that once you grasp the wondrous arts domain, your martial insight will sharpen dramatically.”
“But the sheer volume is...”
As I grumbled, Yi Cheong-un grinned.
“Trust me. In my view, half-heartedly skimming the Seven Great Absolute Arts and Eight Immortal Divine Arts won't yield much growth and will only confuse you. But deepening your primary art, the Thunder God Style, to mature your enlightenment will naturally make learning those others easier.”
“Ugh... Understood.”
Coming from the Thunder God Style lineage master and Absolute Realm expert, I had no choice but to believe him. Daunted by the endless, grueling training ahead, I pressed on regardless.
Thus, about three months passed.
I still didn't fully grasp the wondrous arts domain, but at least I'd learned how to fuse spear and fist forms to some degree. It wasn't memorizing hundreds of cases from scratch but recalling ways to combine what I'd already mastered, so it was easier than expected.
‘But I don't feel particularly stronger...’
To put it bluntly, it was just deploying what I knew in new ways.
My inner dissatisfaction was building when,
“Baek Woong. The imperial palace is starting to move.”
Zhuge Sa called me over. He continued slowly,
“After you rescued the hostages from the Great Thunder Jade, they're desperate and openly gathering humans for human sacrifice.”
“Human sacrifice?”
“Yes. Currently, the Brocade Guards and Eastern Depot are unofficially buying up slaves nationwide and transporting them to Luoyang. Roughly five thousand in number...”
That made sense.
The Brocade Guards had tight ties with the Wind God Clan running the slave markets, so securing five thousand slaves would be easy for them. Mang-ryang, standing beside Zhuge Sa, said,
“From our discussion, we suspect it's to mass-produce Dragonfolk and Demonfolk. They probably want to quickly build an army ready for immediate combat.”
“Hmm... Superhuman Soldiers.”
“They might also use the sacrifices to boost their spells or obtain powerful demonic artifacts.”
I let out a groan.
Dragonfolk and Demonfolk superhuman soldiers possessed immense physical prowess, with no guarantee even peak transcendent experts could subdue them unscathed. I'd experienced firsthand how devastating they were when produced by the dozens or hundreds. I said worriedly,
“Then should we strike the imperial palace now and take Jegal Yu-ryong and the emperor's heads...?”
“No. We won't.”
“Huh? Then leak Jegal Yu-ryong's heavenly secret divulge to the Heavenly Realm and send down the Demon Queen...?”
“That too, no.”
Zhuge Sa crossed his arms firmly and continued,
“Just leave them be.”
“What?”
“Je-gal Yu-ryong's legion has limits to its power no matter how much he builds it. It's fated to be massacred by the White Lotus Cult Leader anyway. And he lacks the strength to sacrifice entire cities like Luoyang at once. He can't execute any grand plan right now, so let him do as he pleases, and you keep training.”
Hearing Zhuge Sa, I stood stunned before shouting,
“Zhuge Sa... Are you saying... leave the human sacrifices alone?!”
“Yes. Whether their hearts are ripped out or they're devoured by tentacles.”
Zhuge Sa said curtly,
“You think I'll step in to save them, lose more training time, and get swept into another vortex of worldly strife? Five thousand random slaves aren't worth the cost. Because your rapid strengthening to achieve our goal is far more important.”
“But!!”
“Sending the Demon Queen down isn't an option either. As a former yokai king, once she possesses someone, she can endure on earth almost indefinitely. You know how great a threat her wandering the mortal world would be to us going forward, right?”
“...”
As I fell silent, Zhuge Sa said coldly,
“I'm indifferent to the fate of five thousand strangers. Same for Mang-ryang. What matters to us is our lead—you achieving your purpose.”
Zhuge Sa's words were all correct. But I ground my teeth and said,
“Then how am I any different from the White Lotus Cult Leader or the Vermilion Bird?!”
“You're different. You must be. But that doesn't mean getting swayed by emotions, failing to advance a single step, and keep losing. It means too many have died pointlessly.”
Zhuge Sa sighed.
“...Let me ask again, Baek Woong.”
His following words froze me.
“Are the lives of five thousand strangers more precious than the seven lives you now share memories with?”
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