Chapter 207: The Training of Two People (2)

“So it was called Thousand-Day Pass because it captures people for a thousand days.”

Heavenly Demon Founder burst out laughing at my words, finding them far more amusing than I intended.

“Hahaha, you’re surprisingly good at making jokes.”

“…That wasn’t a joke.”

Even as I retorted with a straight face, his laughter didn’t stop.

Ripping apart the Twelve Meridians—he meant that literally.

Watching someone’s limbs tear apart in real time, right before your eyes, was never a normal experience.

My entire body would burst, regenerate, and then burst again.

Even someone with considerable willpower would go mad and become a halfwit after experiencing something like this.

“Come at me again. This hell won’t end until every one of your flaws is fixed.”

‘…So he’s aware this is hell.’

With blood dripping from my arm, I gripped my sword.

Then I looked up at the sky and let out a long breath.

“Phew!”

Bones and muscles were regenerating in real time.

But it didn’t matter. They were going to be torn apart again anyway.

‘Somehow… I want to land at least one hit.’

I was currently sparring with Heavenly Demon Founder.

No—more accurately, I was undergoing physical modification in the form of sparring.

What was happening here was the repeated disassembly and reassembly of my body through trial and error, to forge a perfect form.

With each adjustment layered upon the last, I was being forcibly reborn through a process akin to metamorphosis.

But.

Brutally grinding down the body like this wasn’t solely for rebirth.

‘It’s being engraved.’

Onto my soul, and onto my body.

On the path I had walked so far, a new, paved road was being laid.

Smoother, wider, and deeper.

The potential to reach beyond the stage of shedding demonic nature—Transcending Demon—was being etched into my soul and body like a circuit, under the guidance of Heavenly Demon Founder.

Watching my gradual transformation, Heavenly Demon Founder smiled in satisfaction.

“Normally, I’d use the Organ Ritual to go through several stages of adjustment, but it seems you won’t need that.”

That ritual, most likely, was a safety mechanism to keep the subject from going insane.

And that was probably the original form of Thousand-Day Pass, said to be lost in modern times.

Unintentionally, I let out a dry chuckle.

‘Now I see why Thousand-Day Pass was lost in later generations.’

Even the degenerated version, called the “mainline,” had a survival rate of just five percent.

If this had been incorporated into the Heavenly Demon Cult, how many would’ve survived?

If something like this existed in modern times, it would’ve uprooted the foundation of the entire Cult.

As I tried to steady my breathing, Heavenly Demon Founder spoke.

“People often say willpower is the force that turns imagination into reality.”

Handling that willpower is essentially the first step to becoming a superhuman.

“But just having willpower alone isn’t enough to manifest your imagination into reality.”

He looked at me and asked,

“You can manipulate Qi and willpower at a high level, but in reality, you can’t use them effectively. Why is that?”

“…Because my body can’t keep up.”

He nodded at my reply.

“Exactly. To use a metaphor, you know how to paint, but you don’t have the proper tools in your hand.”

A true master doesn’t blame their tools.

But if you tell even a master to paint with unfamiliar tools, it’s difficult to bring out their full potential.

So what’s the solution?

The answer is simple: give them the tools they’re familiar with.

“Do you feel it? Each time your body is destroyed and regenerated, spiritual veins—Spiritual Vein—are starting to form throughout your body’s meridians.”

“…Yes.”

Spiritual veins couldn’t be formed through ordinary means.

You had to compress internal energy into each and every meridian of your body, to the point that it generated singularities—only then could they be obtained.

“This method can’t be used on successors or anyone else. Forcing someone into an ill-fitting garment only leads them further from their path.”

Otherwise, they’d simply be crushed by the weight of that garment.

“This is a method that can only be used on someone who has already experienced it once before.”

Of course, having prior experience didn’t mean it was easy.

Even now, the thought of giving up everything and dying peacefully was flooding my mind.

“The one saving grace is that you’re currently cultivating an advanced technique capable of embracing all of this power.”

“……”

“I sense in your cultivation method a unique style that can only be found in the supreme secrets of Tianzhu. Did you have some sort of connection?”

I understood what he meant and nodded.

“Yes, to some extent…”

The Muscle Changing and Marrow Cleansing Classic.

A secret manual the Buddha himself had offered me as a favor.

I had memorized the entire thing and forgotten about it afterward, but I must have been using it subconsciously.

“Hoho, I can sense a mischievous twist of fate in this. The one who handed you that method probably thought it wouldn’t yield much benefit…”

Huh?

The Buddha thought that?

“This, too, is fate and karma. The price must be paid. But I’ve seen a fated connection that promises to be quite amusing.”

“……?”

While I stood there confused, not understanding his words…

Heavenly Demon Founder’s sword gleamed ominously once more.

“Now, we’re far from finished. You can’t leave this place until you withstand one of my strikes. Or as some would say—like a canned good, sealed in until it’s ready.”

The moment I heard that, I hastily summoned my internal energy.

A powerful Kanghwan—Qi barrier—formed on my blade, at a level far beyond before.

But before I could even swing it—

My entire body was torn apart once again.

Even as my consciousness scattered, I held tightly onto the sword’s hilt.

Heavenly Demon Founder said there was still a long way to go, but—

To my senses, it wouldn’t be much longer.

‘I will land at least one hit.’

While Cheon Yura and Jin Yeomyung were risking their lives to absorb their miraculous opportunity—

The atmosphere in Luoyang was like a sheet of thin ice.

Starting from the southern gate of the fortress, over three thousand members of the demonic sects swarmed beneath the walls and around the outer perimeter, all letting out a unified roar.

“Long live Demonic Sword Flower!”

“Long live the Black Lotus Union!”

And as the fervor of their cries surged, the expressions of the hundred martial artists who stood to face them grew grim.

“Their discipline is quite impressive.”

Baek Gongjin expressed his unease at the formidable energy emanating from the Black Lotus Union.

“At this rate, it would be wiser to avoid a battle.”

“Hmm, since the Lotus Lord said she would personally come, let’s wait a little longer.”

Not long after.

Warriors from the Black Lotus Union came forth carrying supplies and began setting up a temporary tent a short distance from the southern gate.

And then, a woman in a black mask appeared at the encampment of the Golden Dragon Heavenly Sword Squad.

She was not just young—she hadn’t even reached full adulthood.

The girl slowly bowed toward the Sword King.

“It’s been a long… no, this is our first meeting, Lord of the Alliance.”

“You are…”

Immediately grasping her identity, the Sword King’s expression twisted into distaste.

“I am Sama Eun, the Second Strategist of the Black Lotus Union.”

“…Sama?”

“Yes, Sama.”

The Sword King fell into a brief silence, then let out a deeply exasperated voice.

“Wouldn’t the Sama Clan have something to say about this?”

Smirk!

Her expression was unreadable due to the mask, but the Sword King got the sense she was smiling.

“Is the Sama surname exclusive to the Sama Clan of the world?”

“Well, I suppose not.”

“My sister… no, the Lotus Lord is waiting. I shall escort you.”

Just as the Sword King was about to nod—

Baek Gongjin glared at her suspiciously.

“Lord of the Alliance, it might be a trap. She might look harmless, but she could be harboring sinister thoughts…”

“Please be quiet, Gongjin. Do you wish to make enemies of the Jegal Clan?”

“Huh? The Jegal Clan? What are you talking about—”

The Sword King let out a sigh deep enough to sink the earth.

He was Baek Gongjin, the Celestial Night Divine Sword.

He was the future of the Southern Baek Clan and a top contender for the title of the best in the world.

Had he been of the direct line, the Sword King would’ve abandoned his own son to appoint him heir of the clan, such was his martial genius.

In addition to his talent, he had broken through to the Flower Realm at the young age of just over forty through sheer effort. But…

‘And yet, he has no damn sense.’

He was so steeped in martial discipline that, for his age, he was woefully lacking in social perception.

No, to be precise, he had general sense—just extremely poor discernment in certain matters.

“Haa, let’s go for now. Who else is coming from their side?”

“Other than the Lotus Lord, it’s just me and Elder Ten Thousand Evil Blade Emperor.”

“Well, thank goodness there aren’t any others entangled in this mess.”

With that, the Sword King led Baek Gongjin and Jegal Eun and trudged toward the tent.

Inside the tent were Saber King Heon Yanghu, who had visited before, and Baek Sang-ah, who had taken off her mask.

“S-Sang-ah? Why are you here…?!”

“Ah, hello Uncle. It’s been a while.”

Baek Sang-ah gave a vague smile.

“What are you doing here when you should be back at the clan?”

“There are deeper circumstances behind that.”

Her calm but steady presence shook Baek Gongjin’s expression.

“Sang-ah, you… what on earth…”

Though often criticized for lacking awareness, Baek Gongjin was still a Transformation Realm master.

He couldn’t possibly fail to notice something off in a niece he hadn’t seen in a long time.

“I’ll explain later, so just stay quiet for now.”

“Ah… alright.”

At the Sword King’s instruction, Baek Gongjin quietly withdrew and composed himself.

—or tried to.

“First,”

Sitting on a prepared chair inside the tent, the Sword King turned to his granddaughter.

“My beloved granddaughter… and Lotus Lord of the Black Lotus Union.”

“……?!?!”

Ignoring Baek Gongjin’s gaping jaw, Baek Sang-ah replied.

“Yes, my beloved grandfather… and Lord of the Justice Alliance.”

“First of all, where is that bastard—whether he’s Jin Yeomyung or Jin Yeomong—who caused all this trouble?”

“…Well, that’s…”

Baek Sang-ah couldn’t answer easily.

She found it hard to say that he had been missing for days.

Seeing her hesitation, the Saber King answered in her place.

“He disappeared along with the Young Cult Leader of the Demonic Cult.”

“Disappeared?”

“It’s been quite a while. The problem is, even Brother Venerable Buddha and that bastard Gwan Hyun vanished as well.”

“……”

Once he had heard the full story, the Sword King’s expression twisted sharply.

“This is serious.”

“Indeed it is. If that monster loses control, the Central Plains might be doomed.”

Those in the know were already aware.

The current Cult Leader cherished his daughter beyond reason.

“Thanks to that, the situation has gotten very complicated. We needed those two to have a proper conversation about the future of the Black Lotus Union.”

“Hmm…”

The Black Lotus Union was an aberrant organization, one that could only exist with the Demonic Cult’s backing.

Naturally, the two highest-ranking individuals in the cult needed to be present for talks to proceed.

“They disappeared after entering the city of Luoyang, huh…”

It was at that moment—

“Kekekeh! This humble monk knows where they are.”

From outside came a deep but lighthearted voice of an old monk.

“Brother Venerable Buddha!”

The Saber King’s face lit up instantly as he rushed out of the tent.

A short distance away stood the Left Guardian of the Black Lotus Union, Mansabuhwang, wearing a black mask.

“Where in the world have you been, huh?”

Venerable Buddha gave a slight nod.

“Hmm, I had some things to take care of. May I come in?”

“What kind of question is that?”

Just as the Saber King was about to usher Venerable Buddha into the tent—

“Wait.”

Someone’s voice stopped him.

“Venerable Buddha, you may not enter.”

The voice belonged to Baek Sang-ah.

“Sang-ah? What are you saying right now…?”

Ching!

Baek Sang-ah instead drew her Jade Green Heavenly Net Divine Sword.

Even the Saber King, the Sword King, and Jegal Eun were taken aback as they turned to face her.

“S-Sister? You’re still roleplaying even after coming all this way…?”

“This isn’t a roleplay, Eun-ah.”

With fierce eyes, Baek Sang-ah glared at the masked Venerable Buddha.

“Venerable Buddha Myeongjeong.”

“……”

“No… Who are you, really?”

Behind the mask, the smile of the one called Venerable Buddha deepened.

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