In a way, it was a strange sight.

Cheon Mubaeck, Lacquer-Faced Yama, Zhuge Seola.

The relationship between the three was unique. One was a kidnapper, two were kidnapped, and one of them was pretending to be kidnapped.

But the sight of the three of them sitting in their respective places and circulating their qi was quite unusual.

The first of the three to finish circulating her qi was Zhuge Seola.

“…”

Zhuge Seola, who lifted her long eyelids, was momentarily dazed by the sight before her.

“What on earth is going on…”

She couldn’t understand how the situation was unfolding.

But one thing was certain.

Zhuge Seola’s gaze turned to Cheon Mubaeck.

“Heavenly Dragon Sword Hero…”

It was clear that Cheon Mubaeck had saved her.

She really thought she was going to die. The coldness that rose in her whole body felt like it was squeezing her five viscera and six bowels. What was the fear of feeling her body freezing moment by moment?

Tears welled up in Zhuge Seola’s eyes without her realizing it. It was the first time she had felt this much pain and fear.

When had she ever been kidnapped and treated like this?

And in Hubei Province, which was her own backyard.

“Hoooo…”

Zhuge Seola tried to calm her welling heart.

Although it was not easy for Zhuge Seola’s clever brain to understand how the situation was unfolding and what on earth had happened.

“I would have died if it weren’t for that person.”

It was certain.

She would not have survived. She would have lost her life as a mere ice crystal, as the Lacquer-Faced Yama had muttered. How terrible was that? To turn a precious life into a mere ice crystal.

Her body trembled just thinking about it again.

Rather, her body now felt as light as a feather.

While circulating her qi, Zhuge Seola was shocked.

“How can it match my internal energy so well?”

Normally, sending one’s qi into another person’s body was something to be avoided unless they practiced the same heart art.

No matter how much it was the same orthodox martial arts, the nature of the qi was different unless it was the same heart art.

But Cheon Mubaeck’s Heaven-Shaking Soul Art melted into her body perfectly.

Rather, as if she had met a fortunate encounter, her internal energy became more uniform and pure.

The Zhuge Clan’s internal energy heart art was also famous for its purity among the orthodox martial arts.

Of course, it was not comparable to Wudang, Shaolin, and Huashan, but the Zhuge Clan had its own unique internal energy heart art. Weren’t they one of the Five Great Clans, after all?

But now she had made even more progress.

“A fortunate encounter…”

Zhuge Seola’s voice trembled slightly.

This was not simply a debt of saving her life.

What meaning did a being who had bestowed a fortunate encounter have to a martial artist?

In the martial world, debts, whether grudges or favors, had to be repaid one way or another.

Wasn’t that the way of the martial world?

Zhuge Seola pondered how to repay this debt and quietly observed Cheon Mubaeck. Without realizing it, she examined Cheon Mubaeck’s face one by one, as if analyzing it.

A gaze mixed with curiosity and a strange emotion was directed at Cheon Mubaeck without her even realizing it.

But it was then.

Cheon Mubaeck’s eyes flashed open. Zhuge Seola quickly turned her gaze away and closed her eyes.

“Keung…”

Cheon Mubaeck let out a groan and looked down at his lower abdomen.

The heavy energy felt in his lower dantian.

It was on a different level from the light yet profound feeling of the Heaven-Shaking Soul Art.

It was like a sharp ice pick, and it was heavily cold.

Fortunately, it was quiet. If Cheon Mubaeck had the will, the supreme yin energy in his lower dantian would quickly raise its coiled body and let out a roar.

“I can’t even guess how many years of martial power it is.”

Cheon Mubaeck clicked his tongue.

A hint of fatigue was in his voice.

The process of subduing the supreme yin energy using the Heaven-Shaking Soul Art.

“I would have been in big trouble if it weren’t for the immortal energy.”

The back of his neck felt cold and his hair stood on end.

To take one step forward, one always had to take risks.

Cheon Mubaeck took the risk and chose to swallow the Ten Thousand Year Moon Pill.

‘I thought I could subdue it with the Heaven-Shaking Soul Art.’

He hadn’t overestimated the Heaven-Shaking Soul Art. He thought that with the tolerance of the Heaven-Shaking Soul Art, it would be able to withstand the supreme yin energy. It was natural. Until now, the Heaven-Shaking Soul Art had always shown a power that went beyond Cheon Mubaeck’s expectations.

But he didn’t know that what he had swallowed was the Ten Thousand Year Moon Pill.

‘I heard rumors that the Fire Sect guys were making the Ten Thousand Year Moon Pill…’

To think he would feed it to him.

Well, the Lacquer-Faced Yama had mistaken Cheon Mubaeck for a Heavenly Divine Body. In other words, he thought that if he put in the supreme yin energy, he would become an ice crystal as it was.

So he must have thought that with the supreme yin energy of the Ten Thousand Year Moon Pill, he could block the supreme yang energy that burned even the innate qi.

‘The Fire Sect guys have always extended their lives in such a pathetic way.’

It gave them a brilliant martial prowess in their youth, but in their old age, that flame consumed their lives.

It was a characteristic of the Fire Sect’s martial arts.

To overcome that, the Fire Sect demons had created a method of absorbing women by turning them into ice crystals.

The Ten Thousand Year Moon Pill was created in that process.

‘It was enormous.’

What if the Heaven-Shaking Soul Art was a heart art of the lower dantian, not the upper dantian?

There would have been no space to accept the supreme yin energy.

Even if he forcibly opened the upper dantian and pushed in the supreme yin energy, the uncertainty was too clear. There was a possibility that his head would freeze if that enormous coldness dug into his brain.

It was truly a matter of coincidence and miracle overlapping.

Because the Heaven-Shaking Soul Art was in the upper dantian, the lower dantian was empty, and he could push the supreme yin energy into it.

And the immortal energy created by the Primordial Root Scripture added to the insufficient power of the Heaven-Shaking Soul Art.

‘It’s a fortunate encounter.’

The greater the risk, the sweeter the fruit if one succeeds.

He had obtained a fortunate encounter. Cheon Mubaeck stood up from his seat.

The upper dantian hummed and vibrated. The Baihui acupoint opened wide and the martial power of the Heaven-Shaking Soul Art fluctuated.

At the same time, the lower dantian wriggled.

The area around his navel became cold, and soon the supreme yin energy rushed through the eight extraordinary meridians. The Heaven-Shaking Soul Art accompanied it. A strange sight of two completely different energies flowing through the meridians.

How could that be possible?

It was only the immortal energy.

The strange immortal energy that was overlaid on the Heaven-Shaking Soul Art established the coexistence of the two energies.

Cheon Mubaeck recited the verses of the Primordial Root Scripture over and over again with all his might.

Because that was the only way the two energies could coexist at present.

“Anyway…”

A satisfied smile appeared on Cheon Mubaeck’s lips.

The supreme yin energy of the lower dantian.

The Heaven-Shaking Soul Art of the upper dantian.

The immortal energy of the Primordial Root Scripture that connected them.

Three energies were intricately intertwined in Cheon Mubaeck’s body.

A realm that no one in the history of the martial world had ever stepped into.

Cheon Mubaeck stood on that realm.

‘Of course, more research is needed…’

Cheon Mubaeck was satisfied with this for now. He would be returning to the escort agency soon anyway, so he could take his time and leisurely reflect on it.

It was then.

“Excuse me.”

A somewhat cautious voice pierced through. It was Zhuge Seola.

“You seem to be a little better.”

“Thank you for saving me. But… won’t you release my acupoints too?”

Cheon Mubaeck tilted his head.

“Isn’t the restriction on your internal energy released?”

“Yes. It’s released.”

“Then you’ve been sitting like that until now without releasing your acupoints?”

“…”

Zhuge Seola was silent.

It was easy to say, but releasing pressed acupoints using internal energy was by no means an easy study.

Cheon Mubaeck released her acupoints nonchalantly. In an instant, Zhuge Seola’s body staggered. She had been in the same posture for days with her acupoints pressed. Her body was stiff and then released, so it didn’t move as Zhuge Seola willed.

Cheon Mubaeck, who was next to her to release her acupoints, supported her staggering body.

“…!”

“Slowly push the energy throughout your body to awaken your senses. The senses you perceive in your head and your actual senses are a little different right now, so it’s not moving as you wish.”

“…Yes.”

Zhuge Seola lowered her head deeply. She couldn’t raise her head at Cheon Mubaeck’s hand that had wrapped around her waist.

Still, she tried to come to her senses, stood up straight, and bowed her waist.

“Thank you for saving my life. When that Inhuman Lust Fiend was about to do something to me, you stepped in and saved me. No, the fact that you came all the way here was with the sole intention of saving me, so I would have died if it weren’t for you in the first place.”

Zhuge Seola’s voice trembled slightly, but it was extremely polite.

Cheon Mubaeck shrugged his shoulders.

‘It wasn’t just with the sole intention of saving you.’

To be precise, it was to make a contract with Zhuge Seohu and install the Guardian Array of Wondrous Questions.

And if you go deeper, it was that Lacquer-Faced Yama.

Since he had encountered the Fire Sect of the Seven Demonic Sects, his intention was to confirm whether they were related to the Blood Demon Valley.

So Zhuge Seola had misunderstood completely.

Didn’t she look at him as if he had come all this way risking his life to save her?

But Cheon Mubaeck did not deny it. In fact, what was the reason he had deliberately gotten himself abducted?

‘The Zhuge Clan guys would probably try to kill this guy right away.’

Since he was the one who had kidnapped their precious daughter, it was clear that they would try to kill him.

Paradoxically, Cheon Mubaeck had to prevent the Lacquer-Faced Yama’s death. Because he had to capture him and extract information first.

Cheon Mubaeck turned his gaze.

The Lacquer-Faced Yama’s back was bent deeply like a hunchback.

His hair was not just bleached white but had fallen out, and his face was so full of wrinkles that his features were unrecognizable. Looking at the liver spots that had bloomed all over his body, it was as if he was looking at a corpse that had walked out of a coffin.

Just half a day.

He had aged rapidly in that time.

But he was still alive.

Still, the effect of extending his lifespan by abducting women and turning them into ice crystals was there, so he didn’t die right away.

Of course, that was only for a moment. Now it was really the end.

“How is it, are you breathing okay?”

Flash!

The Lacquer-Faced Yama’s eyes flashed open.

“…You… baaaastard…!”

His pupils blazed. It was as if flames were soaring.

“Hey, don’t get too heated. You’ll burn again. Burn.”

It was a clear mockery.

But the Lacquer-Faced Yama couldn’t say anything more.

Wasn’t it a paradoxical story?

The supreme yang energy that had made him so strong in his youth was now burning his life.

“I will definitely tear you to pieces!”

“If I die, you can’t live.”

“…!”

The Lacquer-Faced Yama’s body, which was about to end his qi circulation and rush at him, risking his life, froze for a moment.

The Lacquer-Faced Yama’s pupils trembled as he grasped the hidden meaning in Cheon Mubaeck’s words.

“Right now, my body has the supreme yin energy of the Ten Thousand Year Moon Pill. If I use this, I think I can do something about the flames that are burning your innate qi.”

Seeing the grinning smile, various emotions swirled in the Lacquer-Faced Yama.

The intensity of wanting to tear this guy to pieces right away.

But bigger than that was the intense desire to overcome the aging of this body and live longer.

If he survived here…

His realm could only rise further. If he could just get a hold of the crazily burning flames of the supreme yang energy, he could advance to a higher realm.

Time, it was possible with just time.

If that happened?

He could tear this arrogant brat in front of him to pieces right away.

Cheon Mubaeck’s meaning.

How could he not know?

A deal. This was a deal.

That guy was expressing that he wanted something from him.

The Lacquer-Faced Yama lowered his voice.

“What do you want? What must I give you to let me live?”

Cheon Mubaeck grinned.

“Everything in your head.”

(End of Chapter)

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep