CHAPTER: Chapter 37
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Chapter 37.
Inside the Demon Physician Hall.
The air was heavy, and the Life-and-Death Exalted One’s expression was more serious than ever.
Uncheon and Seolyeong sat side by side before the Life-and-Death Exalted One.
Over the table, where taut tension lingered, an old book was tossed down with a thud.
[Demonic Bone Rebirth Art]
It was the secret art that had been Uncheon’s original purpose in coming here, and the only hope he had believed in.
Uncheon’s eyes widened.
“Originally, I created the Demonic Bone Rebirth Art to cure Yeong-ah’s illness, but I failed.”
“…….”
“I clung to it for a long time, but in the end, it remained an incomplete secret art….”
Uncheon was calm.
It was something he had already guessed.
‘If the Demonic Bone Rebirth Art could cure the Severed Meridian Affliction… he would not have left Seolyeong to suffer like that.’
However, the Life-and-Death Exalted One’s next words differed from what he expected.
“However, thanks to you, a dying secret art has found breath again.”
The Life-and-Death Exalted One’s hand pulled another book from inside his robe.
Tap.
The book placed on the table still carried the strong scent of ink that had not yet dried.
It bore the traces of the Life-and-Death Exalted One writing through the night until just a little while ago.
“The Life-Prolonging Breathing Method you proved, and Yeong-ah’s improved condition… those things opened a hole even in my blocked medical arts.”
The Life-and-Death Exalted One picked up a brush and boldly wrote four characters on the cover.
[Heaven-Resisting Secret Art]
“To resist the Severed Meridians, the punishment bestowed by heaven. This is a secret art newly built upon the framework of the Demonic Bone Rebirth Art, with your principles added to it.”
Heaven-resisting.
Uncheon’s heart thudded.
Could there be a name more similar to his own life, having returned from death to defy fate?
In another way, it was also a secret art that seemed to resonate with Uncheon, who had returned from death and been reborn in a new body.
“However… it cannot be performed immediately.”
“What is the reason?”
“This art comes with the pain of shaving away bones and overturning the marrow. First, the body worn away by the Severed Meridian Affliction must recover… Moreover, there is one more problem.”
The Life-and-Death Exalted One smacked his lips as if regretful.
“Ordinary needles or surgical blades cannot withstand the savage energy of the Heaven-Resisting Secret Art. I need tools that are both more precise and sturdier….”
It was contradictory.
They had to be more precise and yet sturdier.
“Grandfather, then….”
“But don’t worry. I requested something long ago….”
The Life-and-Death Exalted One’s gaze turned outside the window.
“Still, we cannot simply wait until that item arrives. Both of you seem eager to move your bodies, so since you have recovered somewhat, why not loosen yourselves up?”
At the Life-and-Death Exalted One’s suggestion, Seolyeong’s eyes sparkled.
Her gaze turned toward Uncheon.
In those eyes, there was a heat beyond simple curiosity.
‘I want to directly clash with that strange power that was rotating inside Benefactor’s body and confirm it.’
At the same time, she wanted to check her own physical condition.
Now that her Severed Meridian Affliction had stabilized, she wanted to know how far her achievement in the Ice Soul Divine Art had reached.
Uncheon also did not avoid her gaze.
‘Not bad. I need to further refine the formula of the Limitless Iceheart Formula, which I have only established in my head, through actual combat.’
Above all, there was one more thing he wanted to confirm.
‘My inner arts’ nature has changed… Will it harmonize without clashing when I unfold Gonryun’s martial arts?’
Seolyeong offered Uncheon a respectful clasped hands greeting.
“Benefactor, please grant me a move.”
“Rather, I would like to ask the same of you. The Limitless Iceheart Formula is not yet complete.”
***
The front yard of the Demon Physician Hall.
Seolyeong and Uncheon stood facing each other at a distance.
The Life-and-Death Exalted One watched the two of them with his hands behind his back, as if he found this interesting.
‘Before the Severed Meridian Affliction manifested, Yeong-ah had no rival among those her age….’
Her outstanding comprehension and her rapid achievement in the Ice Soul Divine Art.
‘Though that was a sign of the Yin Severed Meridian Affliction, that achievement did not simply vanish.’
Seolyeong had once been considered the finest among the younger-generation talents of not only the Ice Soul Seol Family, but even the Northern Sea Ice Soul Sect.
Although her body had weakened from a long battle with illness after the manifestation of the Yin Severed Meridian Affliction, if one judged by objective conditions, it was only natural for Seolyeong to surpass Uncheon.
The condition of being the direct lineage of the Northern Sea Ice Soul Sect.
The training period she had accumulated for more than ten years since childhood.
The vast inner arts that had instead been accelerated by the Yin Severed Meridian Affliction.
Although Uncheon had achieved miraculous progress in just over a year, surpassing ten years of time was close to impossible.
‘And yet… it is strange. Somehow, in that boy, I glimpse a vessel that cannot be measured in that way.’
The Life-and-Death Exalted One’s eyes narrowed.
“I will go first!”
Pat—!
Seolyeong kicked off the ground first.
Her figure dug in nimbly, like a swallow on a snowy mountain swept by a blizzard.
It was the Snow Wind Step, based on the Ice Soul Divine Art.
It was a footwork as fast and splendid as snow swirling in the depths of winter.
Swish!
Then came the techniques of the Ice Soul Divine Palm, the ultimate art of the Northern Sea Ice Soul Sect.
It was a contest of pure techniques, without inner arts.
However, Seolyeong’s movements were anything but ordinary.
‘Fast…! Her skill is at least above Yayul Hui’s…!’
Uncheon inwardly admired her.
As expected of someone said to have been called a prodigy from childhood, it was no empty claim.
In Yayul Hui’s case, she had not properly received the martial arts of the Mad Wind Yayul Family, but Seolyeong was different.
She was the direct lineage at the root of the Northern Sea Ice Soul Sect.
She was an orthodox rising talent who had properly learned the martial arts of the Ice Soul Seol Family.
Swish, swish—!
Seolyeong’s hands embroidered the air as if dancing and aimed at Uncheon’s vital points one after another.
However, Uncheon was not flustered.
With the smallest possible movements, he let her attacks flow past.
‘Is it because she suffered from the Severed Meridian Affliction for a long time? She has become physically weak. Her techniques are splendid and sharp, but she lacks the muscular strength to support them.’
Uncheon’s eyes shone coldly.
The trajectory of Seolyeong’s Palm Strike surged toward him.
Instead of dodging, Uncheon dug half a step forward and lightly struck the inside of her wrist.
Tap.
Seolyeong’s balance collapsed.
She tried to retreat in alarm, but Uncheon had already taken her blind spot.
His hand blade stopped right before Seolyeong’s neck.
“One round.”
“…Again.”
Seolyeong bit her lip.
She thought she had let her guard down.
However, the pattern of the sparring that followed did not change.
As if an adult were handling a child, Uncheon lightly received and redirected Seolyeong’s fierce attacks.
Limitless Step and Shadowless Step.
Then Whirlwind Kick and Soul-Severing Hand.
Uncheon unfolded and checked the martial arts he had learned and created in the Demonic Cult one by one.
With that alone, he did not feel any difficulty in breaking down Seolyeong’s techniques.
The experience Uncheon had gained in his previous life through countless battles at the edge of life and death was not a realm Seolyeong could dare look upon.
“Haa… Haa….”
Beads of sweat formed on Seolyeong’s forehead.
It was a shock.
She was of the Ice Soul Seol Family’s bloodline and a talent acknowledged by both herself and others.
Although her body had been ill, leaving her lacking in practical experience, she had never expected to be toyed with so thoroughly by Uncheon, who had supposedly learned martial arts for only a little over a year.
‘With techniques alone… I cannot win.’
She had to acknowledge it.
Understanding of martial learning, distance control, psychological warfare. Uncheon was ahead in every aspect.
However, there was still something she trusted.
“Benefactor… I acknowledge that I fall short if we use only techniques.”
Seolyeong calmed her breathing and raised her head.
Her blue eyes sank coldly.
“However, the essence of martial arts is ultimately power. I want to compete while using inner arts.”
The Life-and-Death Exalted One looked at Uncheon.
Uncheon nodded.
“Good. I, too, was curious about how my inner arts would manifest in actual combat.”
The air of the second round changed.
Wooooong—.
The cold energy pouring from Seolyeong’s entire body instantly turned the front yard of the Demon Physician Hall into frozen ground.
The vast energy of the Nine Yin Severed Meridian Affliction slumbering inside her body.
When it flowed along the path of the Ice Soul Divine Art, its power far surpassed the level of a First Rate expert.
‘What an enormous amount….’
Uncheon grew tense.
The rotating qi center he had just created was still weak. In terms of sheer quantity, the gap was ten to one, no, even greater.
“Here I come!”
Seolyeong thrust out a palm. Ice Soul Divine Palm.
It was not simple palm force. It carried the pressure of a massive avalanche surging forward.
Uncheon avoided a head-on clash.
Instead, he fiercely rotated the qi center in his lower abdomen.
‘Absorb and let it flow!’
Limitless Iceheart Formula.
CRASH!
The moment Seolyeong’s palm force touched Uncheon, Uncheon’s body rotated like a top.
The ground around them froze from the aftermath of the collision, but Uncheon scattered Seolyeong’s attack into the air without so much as a single wound.
‘He blocked it?!’
Seolyeong was shocked.
Even though her inner arts were overwhelming, Uncheon’s use of energy slipped away like a loach.
It was the principle of controlling great force with little force.
Seolyeong’s competitive spirit rose, and she increased her output.
“Haaap!”
Shiiik! Crack!
A fierce assault that seemed to freeze space itself continued.
Uncheon endured precariously, as if walking on thin ice, yet tenaciously.
However, as time passed, the scales of victory tilted toward Seolyeong.
‘As expected… I cannot do anything about the gap in quantity.’
Uncheon’s fingertips were turning white.
There was a limit even to receiving it with technique. It was like trying to bail out a pouring storm with a gourd dipper.
Seolyeong had seized the chance for victory.
However.
‘……!’
Uncheon caught sight of something strange.
Seolyeong’s eyes as she overwhelmingly pushed him back.
In them, there was not confidence in victory, but deep anxiety.
‘She is afraid?’
Even as Seolyeong poured out her inner arts, she was unconsciously hesitating.
It was not fear of her opponent.
It was a primal fear of herself—more precisely, of the power bursting from her own fingertips.
‘She does not trust herself.’
Like a child frightened that she would be devoured by the power she herself emitted.
To her, a rampage of inner arts was a terrible psychological wound directly connected to death.
‘She has overflowing power, but she is holding herself back for fear it might rampage.’
That faint hesitation.
There was no way Uncheon, who had crossed the line of death thousands of times, would miss that opening.
‘Now.’
Uncheon dug into the gap created by Seolyeong’s hesitation.
The moment the spiral-shaped Yin-Cold Qi condensed in his hand was about to clash with Seolyeong’s Yin-Cold Qi.
BOOM—!
A tremendous roar, as if a giant lump of iron had been driven into the ground, rang through the Demon Physician Hall.
The concentration of the two people delicately adjusting their energy was forcibly severed by the noise from outside.
“……!”
Uncheon hurriedly withdrew his inner force and stopped, while Seolyeong, who had lost her balance, staggered.
The taut tension of the sparring shattered in an instant.
“Whoops, sorry about that. Did I throw cold water on you while you were all in the middle of having fun? Someone turned the door into a rag, you see.”
A rough voice came from the broken main gate of the Demon Physician Hall.
“Judging by the traces, it was the old man. That temper of his. Why did he have to smash a perfectly good door? Now there is more work.”
The Life-and-Death Exalted One clicked his tongue, but a smile hung at the corners of his mouth.
“Tsk, your habit of barging in recklessly has not changed. Maybe because you handle fire, that temper of yours is something else.”
From among the wreckage of the collapsed door, a massive man appeared.
He had a rocklike build covered in coppery muscles.
With a huge black-iron bundle the size of a person’s torso slung behind his back, the man was idly kicking at the shattered door panels as if annoyed.
It was Gongya Pae, the blacksmith and disciple of the Blazing Flame Exalted One.
“It has been a long time, Senior Life-and-Death Exalted One. You are still lively as ever.”
Gongya Pae grinned and bowed.
Then, he glanced sideways at Seolyeong, who was wiping her sweat and calming her breathing.
“Huh? Who is this? Is that not the sickly weakling?”
“It has been a long time, Elder Brother Gongya.”
“Huh, well now. Every time I came, you looked like you might die today or tomorrow. You finally look a bit human, do you not? The cold that used to chill you to the bone has died down quite a lot too.”
His manner of speaking was crude, but within it was the discerning eye of an expert who had noticed Seolyeong’s improved condition at once, and the concern he had felt for her.
When Seolyeong gave a faint laugh, Gongya Pae laughed heartily and turned his gaze toward Uncheon standing beside her.
Crackle—.
Their gazes had merely met, yet it seemed as if sparks flew in the air.
Gongya Pae’s gaze blazed like a furnace.
In contrast, Uncheon’s cool and indifferent eyes tangled tensely with his.
“Ho. So it is you. The fellow the old man took it upon himself to guard despite not being related by blood.”
Gongya Pae lowered the bundle behind his back to the ground.
THUD—!
The bursting sound of heavy metal pieces striking one another shook the ground.
It was about as loud as the noise from before.
‘The bundle and the hammer… both are considerably heavy. What tremendous muscular strength.’
Gongya Pae extended a rough, callused hand.
“Nice to meet you. I am Gongya Pae, disciple of Senior Blazing Flame Exalted One. For now, let us shake hands.”
It was not a simple greeting.
Fwoosh—.
In an instant, his palm heated until it turned bright red.
The heat was enough to make the air, which had cooled from the clash between Seolyeong and Uncheon, shimmer like a haze.
It was not simply a hand offered for a handshake, but a challenge to clash the yang-heat qi of the Blazing Flame Demonic Art against Uncheon’s Yin-Cold Qi.
“Let us see whether you are a fellow who will not melt before my flames. You don’t mind if I test you a little, do you?”
At Gongya Pae’s provocative smile, Uncheon calmly extended his hand instead of avoiding him.
“I am Uncheon. Gladly.”
A cool white-blue energy rose from Uncheon’s fingertips as well.
Hissssss—!
The moment the two men clasped hands, an enormous amount of steam burst out as if exploding.
A head-on collision between heat and cold.
Gongya Pae’s eyebrow twitched.
‘Ho… look at this fellow. He is receiving my yang-heat qi head-on?’
Without either of them moving, they were offsetting yang qi and yin qi against each other.
A moment later, both men released their hands at the same time.
“Kahaha! Useful, you are useful! You don’t seem to have much inner arts, either. The old man did not pick up just anyone.”
Gongya Pae laughed heartily and was about to pat Uncheon’s shoulder, but suddenly stopped.
His gaze fixed on the black object wrapped around Uncheon’s wrist beneath his sleeve.
“Hm? Wait.”
With the eyes of a blacksmith, Gongya Pae grabbed Uncheon’s arm as if snatching it.
“Is this… an Iron Weight? The weight is no joke. You look slender… but you are quite something, are you not?”
He flicked the Iron Weight with his finger as if intrigued.
Clang—.
A dull metallic sound rang out.
“Huh, you madman. You have been walking around wearing these scrap-iron lumps in the name of training? The material is cheap, and the finish is a mess too.”
Gongya Pae clicked his tongue as he looked at Uncheon.
However, the look in his eyes was not mockery, but gleamed with the joy of finally meeting a man worth interacting with.
Gongya Pae tapped the bundle and said,
“Hey… if you can clash with me for one round and endure, I might make you something useful in place of those scrap-iron lumps. What do you think?”
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