Chapter 27: Tai Chi Profound Heavenly Sutra (3)

After the three people closed their mouths, I circulated the Demonic Master’s internal energy to check whether the poison had been neutralized.

Sure enough, after ingesting the antidote, the poison that had spread through my body began to fade away gradually.

Judging by that, it didn’t seem to be an extremely dangerous poison.

Mo Biyoung and the Two Wook Sword Demons also took the antidote and began circulating their qi. Soon after, they opened their eyes and stood up.

“My internal energy still isn’t moving.”

I spoke to the disappointed group.

“This poison seems to fade on its own after taking the antidote. So don’t worry. And just in case, take all of these with you.”

I said that because there might be a need for further detoxification later on.

“But what should we do with them?”

Mo Biyoung asked with a troubled expression, and I replied nonchalantly.

“How about killing them all? That way, no one would know who did it. If we leave them alive, they’ll definitely come back for war.”

“But still, killing unconscious people doesn’t seem right for a martial artist.”

Mo Biyoung naturally objected.

Even as they spoke, everyone looked surprised by my cold suggestion. They had only seen me as a gentle and fragile Young Master. They hadn’t expected me to be so resolute.

Well, I hadn’t even blinked at the sight of corpses dying such gruesome deaths, so it wouldn’t be wrong to say I had a venomous heart.

“If they wake up and want to fight, then we’ll just have to fight. As Instructor Mo said, killing people like these doesn’t align with a martial artist’s pride. If they come after us again, we’ll deal with them then.”

I backed off easily.

Mo Biyoung tilted her head for a moment when I gave in so readily, but then concluded that I wasn’t cruel enough to kill the wounded.

However, I had a different thought in mind.

‘I’ve lived fifty years and never once saw anything good come from letting bastards like those live. If they bring harm, they’ll bring harm. They’ll never be a benefit. These kids might still talk about the purity of a martial artist’s heart, but not me.’

Though I looked like a young man in my twenties, I had lived nearly fifty years in my past life.

Through that life, I had learned that things always turned out badly if one didn’t wrap them up cleanly.

So I stopped by a nearby inn, pretending to wash up, and then came back here.

To make sure they were truly dead.

As I was about to step into the forest where Jeok Gwang’s group had fallen, I suddenly halted and frowned.

There were presences inside the forest.

Hiding my body, I looked within and saw over a dozen people recovering the wounded and collecting the dead.

They seemed to be part of a merchant union passing through.

They had already loaded the injured and corpses onto carts.

‘Damn it, I’m a step too late.’

While we were at the inn, a merchant group crossing the mountain must have discovered them.

I fell into deep thought over what to do.

I certainly had the venomous heart to not let a guy like Jeok Gwang live, but I didn’t have the wickedness to kill innocent people from the merchant group just to silence them.

‘Damn it, this complicates things.’

Left with no choice, I returned to the inn.

Back at the inn, my thoughts grew heavier.

Jeok Gwang was the type who would seek revenge simply over losing in a spar. Now that he had lost an arm and his escorts, there was no chance he wouldn’t seek vengeance.

From what I recalled, there would be no invasions of the Heavenly Central Sect by other sects for the next year.

So that gave me some relief.

But after that… who knew what he would do?

‘I need to improve faster.’

No matter how many elixirs one consumed, martial arts wouldn’t advance just from that.

Training and enlightenment had to go hand in hand for any real progress in martial arts.

When the Demonic Master’s internal energy that had filled my body dissipated once again, I immediately began circulating my qi.

While Mo Biyoung and the Two Wook Sword Demons were bathing to get rid of the smell of blood, I flipped through the Tai Chi Profound Heavenly Sutra.

Even if I didn’t understand it, I now made time to read it whenever possible. I believed that the sooner I improved my skills, the better I could handle any future incidents.

Though I only meant to glance through it briefly, I ended up getting completely absorbed by the Tai Chi Profound Heavenly Sutra, unaware of how much time had passed.

Thanks to having read and repeated it countless times, the meanings of the mnemonic verses began to take form in my mind.

Mo Biyoung, who had finished bathing, waited a full two hours, and when I still didn’t come out, she entered my room.

Even when the door opened, I didn’t lift my head from the desk.

“Young… Master.”

As she started to speak, she noticed me gazing at a book, suddenly moving my hand to trace something in the air, tilting my head, lost in contemplation—and covered her mouth.

“Instructor Mo, the Young Master is…”

When the Two Wook Sword Demon who had followed her in tried to speak, Mo Biyoung stopped him with a finger over her lips.

Receiving the signal to stay silent, he looked at me.

Even though they were right beside me, I didn’t sense them at all, lost so deeply in thought. They realized I was on the verge of gaining another insight.

They gently closed the door and smiled brightly.

“The Young Master must be approaching a new state of mastery. He keeps gaining enlightenment without warning… At this rate, he’ll become the strongest under heaven.”

At that, Jungwook looked at Mo Biyoung and Namwook seriously.

Mo Biyoung and Namwook were already thinking the same thing, so they were stunned to hear Jungwook speak it aloud.

‘Maybe… he really might.’

Just a few months ago, he had been training through sparring with them. Now, they couldn’t even guess how far his skills had progressed.

At this rate, there was nothing stopping him from becoming the best in the world.

In my past life, I had heard countless rumors about the Tai Chi Profound Heavenly Sutra, but never believed any of them. However, as I read the secret manual, I began to realize that those rumors might be closer to the truth.

‘It’s said that the Tai Chi Profound Heavenly Sutra forms two Dantians and stores Yin and Yang in each separately. That’s only half right.’

The Tai Chi Profound Heavenly Sutra didn’t deal with Yin and Yang, but more accurately with the energies of Darkness and Light.

Zhang Sanfeng had discovered the reason why humans could never transcend to immortality, no matter how long they pursued the Dao.

Even after reshaping their bones and bodies, pursuing the Dao for ages, and undergoing another transformation, they still couldn’t ascend—so he sought the root cause.

After long meditation, Zhang Sanfeng was left disheartened.

The reason was absurd.

Humans were inherently imperfect beings that contained both good and evil, yet they lived weighted toward goodness.

Because they lived without understanding that both forces must coexist, they could never ascend.

He also came to realize that what was commonly referred to in the martial world as “innate qi” was, in fact, a mix of evil energy and virtuous energy that produced immense power.

Thus, Zhang Sanfeng left behind his enlightenment.

When humans began to create martial arts, techniques that used righteous qi came to be categorized as orthodox martial arts, while those that utilized demonic qi were classified as demonic arts.

However, he eventually realized that this crude division meant that all martial arts would ultimately remain incomplete.

Just as good and evil must coexist, martial arts too must contain both forces in order for internal energy to manifest its true strength.

After this realization, Zhang Sanfeng created the Tai Chi Profound Heavenly Sutra.

He developed this martial art based on the idea that if one creates two dantians in the vital meridian system—placing righteous qi in one and demonic qi in the other—and then twists the two together during release, the resulting power would be several times stronger than using a single source of internal energy.

Yong Hwarin continued reading the Tai Chi Profound Heavenly Sutra until he reached the end, where Zhang Sanfeng’s lament caused goosebumps to ripple down his spine.

Perhaps what I’ve seen is not a martial art created by humans, but one forged by a god.

If this can be realized within the human body, I cannot even begin to imagine what form it might take. But I am not overly worried. In this current age, there likely exists no one who has created two dantians as I have.

Though I achieved enlightenment and created the Tai Chi Profound Heavenly Sutra, this is merely a step for my ascension to immortality.

If someone in the future ever reaches a level close to mine, I hope they will use this power for the sake of the billions of lives in the world.

Yong Hwarin felt shivers crawling over his body from the immensity of it all.

Zhang Sanfeng realized that humans are inherently incomplete beings made of both good and evil—and he accepted that truth. Then he left behind the Tai Chi Profound Heavenly Sutra and finally ascended to immortality.

Yong Hwarin gained much insight from this revelation.

He now understood why the martial art was named Tai Chi Profound Heavenly Sutra.

“Tai Chi” referred to the two primal forces of good and evil, while “Profound Heaven” signified that the sky is originally black. In other words, the Tai Chi Profound Heavenly Sutra was about realizing the fundamental forces.

But there was one regretful thing about reading the secret manual: there was no methodology.

It did not describe how one could create two dantians.

Perhaps just before his ascension, the immortal realized this was not something humans were meant to learn.

Yong Hwarin’s thoughts continued.

But then how did Ha Cheolryeong obtain that power, despite not knowing how to form two dantians?

Even after reading the Tai Chi Profound Heavenly Sutra, only more questions piled up.

Then he suddenly stood up and shouted,

“I know it. I know it! Then there must be some clue, right?”

Who was he? Wasn’t he the once-fat man who had lived fifty years into the future? The head of the Upper World?

If I can just find out where Ha Cheolryeong passed through, I’ll know where he realized that method.

But he couldn’t afford to wait until Ha Cheolryeong grew up.

He had to use his memories of the future to retrace Ha Cheolryeong’s steps. The intense curiosity filled him with urgency, and he broke out of the meditative state he’d been maintaining.

Then, like a madman, he began frantically rummaging through his travel pouch.

Outside, Mo Biyoung, who had been standing guard, sensed the disturbance and entered.

“Young Master.”

Seeing her, Yong Hwarin spoke.

“Master Mo, please prepare brush, ink, and paper quickly.”

Hearing that, the Two Wook Sword Demons exchanged glances.

They assumed the Young Master, who had spent the entire day reading, was now about to create some tremendous martial art. They hurried to prepare writing tools.

Yong Hwarin, who had been muttering nonstop until then, picked up a brush as soon as Namwook placed the tools on the table, and began scribbling something down on the paper.

The three of them stared intensely, curious about what kind of powerful martial formula would emerge.

Yong Hwarin began pouring out his memories onto the paper without hesitation.

He drew out everything he remembered about Ha Cheolryeong.

Ancestral Decree Sect.  

Sun and Moon Temple.  

Master Bangwoo.  

Descending Peach Blossom Pavilion.  

Yiwoong Manor.  

Shangguan Clan.

Yong Hwarin only wrote down the traces where he believed Ha Cheolryeong might have obtained the two dantians of Tai Chi Profound Heaven.

Since Ha Cheolryeong had been such a great martial artist, he had heard countless rumors about him—he only wrote the ones he deemed important.

Mo Biyoung had expected some grand martial formula but deflated when all she saw were names of sects and external organizations.

She couldn’t make sense of how those sects were even related.

The Two Wook Sword Demons were similarly disappointed.

Regardless, Yong Hwarin put down the brush after listing only the major incidents in Ha Cheolryeong’s life.

Then, seeing the disappointed faces of the three standing before him, he asked,

“Huh? Why do you all look so disappointed? Did something happen?”

They were so dejected, their faces looked on the verge of tears, and Yong Hwarin asked with concern.

“N-no, it’s not that… But what exactly are these?”

At that, Yong Hwarin grinned.

“They’re clues—clues to a power that will shake the heavens and earth in the future.”

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep