CHAPTER: Chapter 34
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Chapter 34.
Ziiiing—!
The Life-and-Death Needles held between the Life-and-Death Exalted One’s fingers resonated with their master’s killing intent and let out an eerie ringing sound.
The eyes of the Old Monster covered in dust flashed blood-red.
“Who are you?!”
“I am Yuha, Young Guild Master of the Ilwol Merchant Guild, Senior Life-and-Death Exalted One.”
Yuha lightly folded the fan in his hand and offered a clasped hands greeting.
The heavy presence of the Sun-Moon Twin Elders served as his shield, but Yuha’s own composure was also far from ordinary.
The Life-and-Death Exalted One’s brow narrowed, as if he found that leisurely attitude displeasing.
“So you are a merchant guild brat. If the authority to decide rests with you, then hand over the Kongqing Stone Marrow without complaint. Its owner is in critical condition.”
“By the owner of the Kongqing Stone Marrow…… whom do you mean? My friend Uncheon, or your own precious granddaughter, senior?”
Yuha asked back with a deliberately troubled smile. The Life-and-Death Exalted One’s eyebrow twitched violently.
“……Both of them! There is no time to waste on arguing, so hand it over at once!”
Yuha’s eyes narrowed.
In his head, abacus beads snapped like lightning.
‘…The more it is like this, the calmer I must be.’
The spiritual medicine he had originally intended to deliver directly to Uncheon.
‘But the Life-and-Death Exalted One moved personally?’
Judging by the Life-and-Death Exalted One’s appearance, there was no doubt that the situation was urgent.
‘However….’
The Life-and-Death Exalted One was a man who would turn his back on the world for his granddaughter’s safety.
To him, Uncheon’s life was only a secondary value.
‘If I send the Kongqing Stone Marrow with him like this, far from saving Uncheon, there is a high chance the Kongqing Stone Marrow will simply be snatched away!’
Yuha finished his calculations coldly and opened his mouth.
All the calculations in his mind were complete.
“…I roughly understand the situation. However, I cannot hand over the escort cargo without any guarantee. That is the iron rule of a merchant guild. Do you perhaps have a letter or token from the owner?”
There was no way the Life-and-Death Exalted One, who had rushed over in such haste, would have something like that.
“How is a man dying from a sudden accident supposed to prepare that sort of thing in advance?!”
“In that case, this is difficult. If…… you, senior, were trying to harm the owner and seize the item, would our merchant guild not lose its credibility?”
At Yuha’s casually thrown words, the Life-and-Death Exalted One’s face instantly flushed red and blue.
It was because Yuha had struck the mark.
In truth, the moment Seolyeong’s qi and blood stabilized, what had flashed through his mind was the aged greed of ‘fully curing his granddaughter, even if he had to sacrifice Uncheon.’
‘If Yeong-ah had not called that boy her benefactor and risked her life for him…….’
However, the situation was different now.
If Uncheon died, Seolyeong would die as well.
Paradoxically, he had to save the boy for his granddaughter to live.
“You brat, do you dare see this Exalted One as some petty scoundrel?!”
“Credibility is the life of a merchant guild. The Ilwol Escort Agency does not hand over an item to a third party whose client’s safety has not been confirmed. Unless, that is, you have some ‘guarantee’ that you share a special relationship with the client, senior.”
Yuha’s logic was orderly, and the Sun-Moon Twin Wheels of the Twin Elders supporting him were fully prepared.
The Life-and-Death Exalted One bit his lip.
‘If that boy runs wild, Yeong-ah will not be safe either……!’
Time was drawing closer with every passing moment like the shadow of death.
If he tried to break through the Twin Elders by force, the delay would hurt more than the damage.
In the end, there was only one choice.
“……Fine. An oath staked on this Exalted One’s name should be enough as a guarantee.”
The Life-and-Death Exalted One’s voice, carrying inner arts, shook the forest road.
“I swear to heaven and earth in the name of the Life-and-Death Exalted One, one of the Five Exalted Ones of our cult!”
A thunderous shout clawed through the forest.
The surrounding trees screamed and scattered their leaves all at once.
The voice of a Peak Realm expert carrying true qi was itself one enormous wave.
At the moment of the oath, the corner of Yuha’s mouth rose faintly in an arc.
“The owner of the escort cargo, Uncheon, is the benefactor who saved my granddaughter! This Exalted One swears to heaven and earth here today that I will become his guardian! I seek to receive the Kongqing Stone Marrow in order to save my benefactor, so if there is even a single speck of falsehood in these words…… I will abolish my own martial arts and live the rest of my life as a cripple!”
An oath of guardianship declared with the honor of one of the Five Exalted Ones at stake.
With this, not only had Uncheon’s merit been acknowledged, but he had also gained a towering mountain called the Life-and-Death Exalted One at his back.
Moreover, it was a publicly acknowledged shackle in front of the clear witnesses known as the Ilwol Escort Agency.
This was precisely the board Yuha had designed on the spot.
Snap—!
Only then did Yuha fold his fan with a satisfied expression.
‘Since he has taken it upon himself to be his guardian, the Life-and-Death Exalted One can no longer harm Uncheon. On the contrary, he is now in a position where he must protect him.’
At the same time as he tied the Life-and-Death Exalted One to Uncheon as his backing, the Ilwol Merchant Guild had also imposed an undeniable debt on an Exalted One under heaven.
It was truly a result that killed two birds with one stone.
“I will receive the Exalted One’s oath with due weight.”
When Yuha gestured, the Sun-Moon Twin Elders stepped aside to the left and right, opening a path.
Then he took out a jade bottle emitting a brilliant pale-blue light from his robe and handed it to the Life-and-Death Exalted One.
“I, the Young Guild Master, will take responsibility. Please take it.”
The Life-and-Death Exalted One seized the jade bottle as if snatching it away, then gave Yuha a short nod.
“The Kongqing Stone Marrow is a spiritual medicine that can shake the world… Though this matter concerns the trust of your escort agency, I will not forget the Young Guild Master’s decisive judgment.”
“…Please hurry. Did you not say it was urgent?”
“Let us meet again.”
Leaving those words behind, the Life-and-Death Exalted One shot back toward the Demonic Martial Hall like a bolt of lightning.
CRASH—!
In the spot where the Life-and-Death Exalted One vanished while raising a cloud of dust, the Sun-Moon Twin Elders supported Yuha with worried eyes.
“Young Guild Master, is it truly all right to hand over that precious treasure? It was a card meant to form a bond with a Young Cult Leader candidate….”
“The Demon Physician is a stubborn man with a one-track mind. Investing in him, who has no proper force of his own, does not seem profitable….”
However, Yuha shook his head.
‘That is because I did not invest in the Life-and-Death Exalted One.’
Instead of explaining, Yuha leisurely opened his fan and asked a question in return.
“Twin Elders, what sort of caliber do you believe I possess?”
“We have served you since childhood, young master. A Young Cult Leader candidate? We are certain that even that position would be insufficient for you.”
“Of course! With the Ilwol Merchant Guild under heaven supporting you from behind, who would dare stop you, young master!”
The Twin Elders answered without hesitation.
“Indeed. With the full strength of the merchant guild, reaching that position would be nothing. But Twin Elders, do you see me as someone who would fail to become Young Cult Leader merely because I lacked something like that Kongqing Stone Marrow?”
However, Yuha asked back with a sardonic smile.
“N-No… of course not! How could we!”
“There is no possibility of that!”
The Twin Elders hurriedly answered.
“I was born with too much. That was why the world became tedious. While searching for a variable to fill the emptiness, I met ‘that fellow’ in the Hidden Demon Cave.”
Yuha’s gaze already pierced beyond the Demonic Martial Hall, toward the place where Uncheon would be.
“Look at the current Demonic Cult. Talents without backgrounds are consumed everywhere, while incompetent fools who were simply born with good bloodlines occupy the seats above them.”
A cold, stubborn defiance settled in Yuha’s eyes.
“This is not the doctrine of our cult, The Strong Are Exalted. It is nothing more than the hereditary succession of vested interests!”
Strength entered the hand with which Yuha held his fan.
“But he was different. He had nothing, yet he twisted open the heavens with his own hands. That power that refuses to submit to fate is the true ‘qualification’ I am searching for. I intend to raise him to the peak of the Demonic Cult.”
Yuha’s gaze was already fixed beyond the Demonic Martial Hall, where Uncheon would be.
“In that process, I will overturn this stagnant cult of ours and realize the true doctrine of The Strong Are Exalted…! What amusement could be more thrilling than that?”
A mad delight spread across Yuha’s lips.
‘To think there is someone the young master evaluates this highly…….’
‘If that boy does not meet the young master’s expectations, this old man will not leave him be….’
The Twin Elders lowered their heads, but inwardly, they resolved that they would test the boy named Uncheon, whom Yuha had evaluated so highly, with their own eyes.
“Now, then. Since we handed over the escort cargo earlier than planned, we have gained some time in our schedule. We should commend our escort guards for not backing down even before the Exalted One’s blood-chilling threat.”
Yuha grinned and looked back at the escort guards.
“Let us go to a tavern! This Young Guild Master will treat everyone to celebratory drinks in honor of the successful completion of the escort mission!”
“Waaaaaah—!”
“Young Guild Master is the best!”
The cheers of the escort captains and escort guards filled the forest road and drifted away.
Only the Sun-Moon Twin Elders following behind him let out deep sighs and pressed their hands to their foreheads.
“Ugh…….”
“Young master, truly…….”
At times, he wore the face of a mischievous boy, yet in the blink of an eye, his eyes turned into those of a ruthless strategist looking down on the world as if it were a Go board.
Even the seasoned Twin Elders struggled to keep their bearings before the ever-changing footwork Yuha laid out.
Yuha turned his horse’s head and gazed at the dark shadow of the Demonic Martial Hall growing distant.
‘Survive safely. Only then will the board I have arranged finally be complete.’
There, by now, was a breathtaking connection that must be locked in a battle of life and death.
‘See you soon, Uncheon.’
***
[Let the Ice Heart Be the Camp, Let Cold Energy Take Form….]
Seolyeong’s voice pierced his mind.
Uncheon’s consciousness snapped awake as if ice water had been poured over him.
‘…Is this the formula of the Ice Soul Divine Art?’
As expected, it was a difficult formula worthy of being called a divine art.
If it were an ordinary martial artist, they would not even cross its threshold after devoting their entire life to it.
But Uncheon was different.
The experience of thoroughly examining Seolyeong’s meridians as if dissecting them, and the vast martial insight he had accumulated in his previous life, opened his eyes.
‘It is cold. And precise.’
The essence of the formula was drawn clearly as if engraved into his bones.
The nature of the Ice Soul Divine Art was to compress scattered cold energy and create a solid inner core.
But that was the problem.
Uncheon and Seolyeong suffered from Severed Meridian Afflictions.
‘The method for handling Yin-Cold Qi is worth referencing… but forming a qi center like this is not good…!’
He could not follow the same path that had worsened Seolyeong’s Yin Severed Meridian Affliction.
‘Is there… no other method?’
Flash!
A cool flash cut across his mind.
The essence of the Heaven-and-Earth Dynamic Art.
Movement, not stillness.
Making it flow, not confining it.
‘I can see it.’
Common sense was to compress energy and create a fixed inner core.
But what he needed was a method that maintained a dynamic flow while preserving a still, inward-pulling force.
‘A rotating storm does not scatter.’
The sensation he had engraved into his bones by personally circulating the Dynamic Art all this time presented the answer.
Once he made his decision, Uncheon deliberately twisted the path of the inner force Seolyeong was pouring into him.
Crack!
The blood vessels around his qi center twisted and screamed.
The Yin-Cold Qi that had been rampaging at will drew a spiral and was fiercely sucked toward a single point.
“……!”
Seolyeong’s shoulders, which had been supporting Uncheon’s back, flinched.
The energy passing through her palm was swirling along a trajectory she had never seen in her life.
‘B-Benefactor?!’
Though she was briefly flustered by the unfamiliar qi-circulation method, Seolyeong decided to trust Uncheon and watch.
‘…This is not the Ice Soul Divine Art. But he is clearly controlling the Yin-Cold Qi. In a way different from me!’
It was an unprecedented method that mocked existing common sense.
Wooooong—!
A strange resonance sounded from deep within his lower abdomen. The gathered energy began to rotate.
A heavy vibration like a millstone turning rose up along his spine.
A peculiar spiral began to whirl in Uncheon’s lower abdomen.
‘Now.’
The principle of Taiji met the flow of Heaven and Earth and formed the eye of a typhoon.
It was not a matter of gathering Yin-Cold Qi together and hardening it, but a divine skill that made it whirl violently and maintain its own form.
“……!”
Seolyeong’s eyes widened as she poured inner force into him from behind.
What she had taught him was clearly the formula of the Ice Soul Divine Art, yet the phenomenon occurring inside Uncheon’s body ran on a completely different track from the inner arts she had cultivated all her life.
‘The energy… is rotating endlessly?’
A peculiar spiral formed around Uncheon’s qi center and began sucking in the surrounding Yin-Cold Qi at a terrifying speed.
Within the storm of yin qi, the subtle principle of Taiji bloomed.
“……Ngh!”
Seolyeong let out a short groan.
The vibration she felt through her fingertips was anything but ordinary.
It was clearly the formula she had transmitted, and yet the change occurring inside Uncheon’s body had far surpassed the category of the Ice Soul Divine Art.
‘It is not Ice Soul. This is…….’
Seolyeong shuddered.
What was pulsing inside Uncheon’s body was not solidified ice.
It was a cold-energy typhoon rotating in lofty solitude.
“Huu…….”
At last, the vortex that rotated without stopping deep in Uncheon’s lower abdomen finally settled into place.
It was something too fierce and alien to be called a qi center.
A long stream of white cold energy poured from Uncheon’s mouth.
The leaden color of death that had covered his face lifted, and a cool but clear complexion returned.
“H-He’s alive….”
As the tension left her, Seolyeong’s legs gave out, and she collapsed to the floor.
She, too, was on the verge of exhaustion.
Since she had controlled the rampage of her own yin qi and immediately adjusted Uncheon’s energy afterward, it was only natural that she would be exhausted.
However, a bright smile spread across her cheeks.
“Benefactor… are you all right?”
Uncheon slowly opened his eyes.
A cool azure gleam brushed past the depths of his pupils.
“Thanks to you.”
Uncheon quietly stroked his lower abdomen.
It was not a complete qi center.
It was a precarious form of qi center that could only be maintained by constantly focusing his will and rotating it.
However, with this, for the first time in a year, Uncheon had obtained the power known as ‘inner arts.’
“You saved me, Lady Seolyeong. And…… you even gave me a precious secret art….”
“Benefactor saved my life first. And…….”
Seolyeong lowered her head shyly.
“You did not even learn it the way I taught it. Rather, I was the one who learned a move from you.”
Just as Uncheon tried to rise.
CRASH—!
The thick doors of the Demon Physician Hall were torn away like sheets of paper and flew apart.
Through the thick cloud of dust, the Life-and-Death Exalted One stormed in.
“Yeong-ah! This old man is here! The medicine…!”
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