Chapter 177. You Seem to Remember, At Least?

‘M, Master.’

Master.

The Azure Heaven Divine Warrior, who had left the world a long time ago, was wearing his characteristic hearty smile.

‘You look like a mess, my disciple.’

‘…’

‘What did this Master say? I said if you’re going to croak anyway, croak coolly, didn’t I?’

‘Yes, you did.’

‘But what is this appearance? Lying down in one hit without even being able to try anything. Tsk tsk.’

‘…I apologize.’

‘Of course you should apologize.’

A light of reproach rose on the Azure Heaven Divine Warrior’s face.

‘How did this Master teach you, yet does it make sense to be knocked out in just one hit?’

‘What can I do when nothing works no matter what I do?’

Jin Cheon was honestly a bit aggrieved.

The opponent was not human, and thus not a martial artist.

The Flame Monkey Great Sage was a strange and powerful being living in the Scorching Hell where a living person would burn to death in the blink of an eye, and a monster beyond human enjoying hot spring baths in boiling lava.

How could he win against an opponent whose hide couldn’t even be split, let alone having its head fly off, even after being slashed by the Heavenly Demon Fighting Soul Martial Art Light Wing Blade?

‘Stupid guy!’

Thwack!

‘Ouch!’

A scream naturally burst out from his mouth.

The finger flick hit after a long time was so painful that tears were about to well up.

‘Why do you hit me! Huh? Ugh!’

‘Does it hurt getting hit after a long time?’

‘Yes, it hurts.’

Even while answering so, Jin Cheon reddened his eyes regardless.

How much he had missed him…

To think he would see the Master who didn’t appear even once in his dreams usually, like this at the threshold of death…

‘Why, are you glad to see this Master? Why is a guy bawling and making a fuss, a fuss.’

‘Then wouldn’t I be glad?’

‘This punk has a lot of affection.’

The Azure Heaven Divine Warrior showed a gentle and benevolent smile.

‘Enough, let this Master ask just one thing.’

‘Yes, please ask.’

‘What did I say a martial artist must do when facing an enemy?’

‘That is… You taught that one must look at the enemy properly.’

‘You seem to remember, at least?’

‘You hit me if I didn’t remember.’

‘K-Khm!’

Master blushed.

‘This punk is narrow-minded! Remembering things like that!’

‘You can’t say it’s not true.’

‘A, Anyway!’

Master hurriedly changed the subject.

Right, it was worth changing the subject…

‘So did you look at the enemy properly?’

‘Pardon?’

‘That monkey guy. I mean, did you properly look at the guy who sent you to the netherworld in one hit.’

‘That is…’

He was speechless.

Did I truly look at the enemy properly?

‘See there. This punk is full of nothing but pretension.’

‘…’

He just listened silently to Master’s rebuke.

Because he had nothing to say even with ten mouths this time.

‘What does it mean to look at the enemy properly.’

‘It means to think.’

‘Why do you have to think?’

‘Only then can you find the Weakness.’

‘A guy who knows that fights without thinking like that and gets beaten futilely?’

‘…’

‘What is a Weakness? Is piercing the flaw of a martial art’s form or technique a Weakness?’

‘No.’

Jin Cheon shook his head.

‘The true meaning of Weakness is the insight to look at myself and the opponent properly. Only then can you know how to fight and what to do to win.’

‘Then it’s done. Don’t lie there, go and clash once more.’

‘Pardon?’

‘I mean even if you croak, don’t croak futilely like this! Try clashing again, and if it still doesn’t work, come again then. I won’t say anything then.’

‘U, Understood.’

Jin Cheon moved his steps toward where the light was visible, pushed by the Azure Heaven Divine Warrior’s hand.

‘But by the way.’

Jin Cheon turned his head slightly and looked at the Azure Heaven Divine Warrior.

‘What is your relationship with the Cult Leader?’

‘Cult Leader? Who? Dokgo Seong?’

‘She uses the name Yi Cheong-ha.’

‘That is…’

The Azure Heaven Divine Warrior’s expression became faint.

It was a gaze filled with melancholy, somewhat lonely and sad.

It was an appearance even Jin Cheon was seeing for the first time.

He was a person who didn’t forget to throw a trivial joke with a smile even when he passed away…

‘You don’t need to know.’

‘Perhaps you were in a close relationship…’

‘This punk, seriously!’

Thwack!

“Ouch!”

Jin Cheon screamed a single cry and jumped up.

Fwoosh, fwooosh!

The surroundings were all a sea of fire.

Seeing that the hot heat was felt on his skin, it seemed he had returned to reality from the threshold of the netherworld.

“Ugh!”

As soon as he came to his senses, terrible pain assaulted him.

His chest was caved in, perhaps his collarbone was shattered.

He couldn’t even guess how many ribs were broken.

Without needing to guess, his heart seemed to have stopped for a moment as his chest caved in from a single punch of the Flame Monkey Great Sage.

But it was okay.

Since he succeeded in returning to life, there was still one more chance.

Sssss!

The Nine-headed Dragon Robe began to repair Jin Cheon’s damaged body at a rapid speed.

‘There is still one more chance.’

Jin Cheon raised his body with difficulty and steadied his posture.

Right, since it came to this, he just had to fight again.

Just as Master Azure Heaven Divine Warrior said, if it still didn’t work, wouldn’t dying be enough then?

“Surprisingly, you didn’t die. For a trivial creature, your lifeline is tough.”

The Flame Monkey Great Sage revealed its sharp canines and sneered at Jin Cheon.

“Aren’t you a creature yourself?”

Jin Cheon retorted without losing.

“Don’t chatter as if you’re something for a mere monkey.”

“It seems you still haven’t come to your senses fully.”

“No?”

Jin Cheon snorted and replied.

“I came to my senses long ago after getting hit by a finger flick from Master.”

“…?”

“Now, let’s see.”

Jin Cheon’s Purple Eyes emitted a chilling ominous light.

“What would be your Weakness?”

Jin Cheon’s eyes, the eyes of the Heavenly Demon’s Physique, penetrated the Flame Monkey Great Sage.

Turning over a new leaf.

The counterattack started from looking at the enemy properly, just as per the teaching the Master Azure Heaven Divine Warrior had reminded him of.

* * *

Shimmer!

Jin Cheon’s two eyes shining deep purple were not simply providing vision.

They were Demonic Eyes of insight.

Demonic God Eyes.

Demonic Eyes of insight recorded even in the Heavenly Demon Scripture.

An ability he hadn’t realized before, but awakened due to the Azure Heaven Divine Warrior’s teaching.

‘It’s fire.’

The Flame Monkey Great Sage reflected in Jin Cheon’s Demonic God Eyes was not something that could be called a living organism.

An existence made of Fire… He didn’t know since when, but the Flame Monkey Great Sage seemed to have completely assimilated with this Scorching Hell.

‘Right, a sword cannot cut fire. The answer was not martial force.’

The thought of using the Northern Yin Wind Way Talisman crossed his mind, but Jin Cheon did not do so.

‘Simply suppressing Fire with Water is not the answer. Those two are antithetical, but one cannot exist alone. It is like the principle of Yin and Yang. Then… fire, it’s fire.’

Suddenly, enlightenment came.

A way to suppress the Flame Monkey Great Sage, the fire ape made of Fire energy.

“I will crush you, and crush you again to make you into powder.”

The Flame Monkey Great Sage leaped greatly.

Woosh!

A long distance, it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say the leap distance and speed were like an arrow despite that massive bulk.

Jin Cheon did not confront such a Flame Monkey Great Sage.

Dash!

Jin Cheon kicked off the ground and threw his body.

Heavenly Demon Fighting Soul Martial Art Movement Art.

Ghost Soul Dance.

The mysterious movement art said to be the most profound and fastest under the heavens, and also difficult to predict, unfolded.

Craaaack, booooooooom!

The spot where Jin Cheon had been standing was hollowed out, creating a wide pit.

Rumble!

The impact of the Flame Monkey Great Sage’s landing was so strong that the whole area vibrated as if an earthquake had occurred, and the shockwave scattered flames in all directions.

“The slow rat is showing off its tricks!”

The Flame Monkey Great Sage shouted thunderously and leaped again toward the fleeing Jin Cheon.

‘Speed, increase it.’

Jin Cheon drew up his demonic qi and raised his speed to the peak.

He felt an illusion as if time was flowing slowly.

That was how fast Jin Cheon’s speed was as he fled from the Flame Monkey Great Sage.

“How long do you intend to just run away!”

Perhaps agitated, the Flame Monkey Great Sage shouted loudly.

Nevertheless, Jin Cheon did not stop.

Boom, craaack!

After a few evasions, the target came into view before his eyes.

Bubble bubble!

A spring where deep red lava boiled.

It was the very lava spring where the Flame Monkey Great Sage had been soaking his body.

“You, surely…”

Realizing what Jin Cheon intended to do, the Flame Monkey Great Sage’s face froze like frost.

“You cannot enter the Scorching Heat Spring!”

The Flame Monkey Great Sage shouted and threw himself toward Jin Cheon.

As if he was truly serious this time, the Flame Monkey Great Sage’s speed was simply immense.

Jin Cheon did not stay still either.

‘If I get caught, I die.’

Jin Cheon unfolded his movement art with all his might, using even the strength he had used to suck milk as a baby.

As if he had become a single ray of light, as if his physical body had disappeared and only his spirit was sprinting, his body reached where his will was directed.

“…!”

Urgency dwelled in the Flame Monkey Great Sage’s eyes.

However, Jin Cheon was fast, and the Flame Monkey Great Sage could not catch him.

It was literally a difference of a single sheet of paper.

Woosh!

The Flame Monkey Great Sage’s urgent hand narrowly missed the back of Jin Cheon’s neck.

Dash!

Jin Cheon threw his body toward the Scorching Heat Spring without hesitation.

And…

Splash!

Deep red lava swallowed Jin Cheon.

“T-This.”

The Flame Monkey Great Sage made a bewildered expression seeing Jin Cheon submerge into the Scorching Heat Spring.

To think an existence from the outside would throw his body into the Scorching Heat Spring…

Something he had never even dreamed of had happened.

* * *

“Ugh, uuugh!”

Jin Cheon, who threw himself into the Scorching Heat Spring, groaned while fully submerged from head to toe.

However, Jin Cheon did not melt away.

It was just painful, as if he had entered an immensely hot bath.

‘At this level… it is bearable.’

Since Jin Cheon was inured to pain, the heat of the Scorching Heat Spring was sufficiently bearable.

In the first place, what was pooled in the Scorching Heat Spring was not something like lava, but something closer to a kind of spiritual medicine.

For example, like the Stalactite Milk one only hears about.

Jin Cheon instinctively knew what he had to do.

‘Inhale Qi.’

Jin Cheon operated the Heavenly Demon Divine Qi and began to suck in the energy of fire pooled in the Scorching Heat Spring to the fullest.

Wooooong!

The purest Fire Qi ran through Jin Cheon’s acupoints, permeated his detailed meridians, and filled his qi center.

‘Ah.’

Jin Cheon realized.

That the essence of Fire the Iron-Blooded Demonic God spoke of was the energy of fire pooled here in the Scorching Heat Spring…

In the end, obtaining the essence of Fire meant absorbing the Fire Qi from this Scorching Heat Spring.

Rustle, Jin Cheon raised his body.

Fwoosh, fwoooosh!

Deep red flames soared from Jin Cheon’s body.

Thanks to the Fire Qi filling him from his detailed meridians to his qi center, flames naturally spewed out from his body.

“Y-You.”

The Flame Monkey Great Sage flinched and stepped back seeing Jin Cheon walk out of the Scorching Heat Spring.

“Why, are you trembling because you got caught with the honey pot you were sucking alone?”

Jin Cheon sneered at the Flame Monkey Great Sage.

‘Fire must be suppressed with stronger fire.’

Jin Cheon was now certain that it would be a fight against the Flame Monkey Great Sage.

Since he had absorbed the essence of Fire from the Scorching Heat Spring, Jin Cheon was also in a state like fire, so he thought he could sufficiently inflict damage on the Flame Monkey Great Sage, who was made of the energy of fire.

Grip!

Jin Cheon clenched his two fists.

Sizzle!

Jin Cheon’s fists turned red hot like metal heated in fire.

Roooooaaaaaaar!

Deep red flames wrapped around Jin Cheon’s two arms like snakes.

“Now then, let’s fight properly from now on.”

Saying so, Jin Cheon kicked off the ground and rushed toward the Flame Monkey Great Sage.

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