Chapter 272

Chapter 272

Baek Risan has seen Baek Riyun’s martial arts quite a number of times.

That’s actually natural. After all, Baek Risan studied under Baek Riyun for several years.

Baek Riyun went beyond simply correcting Baek Risan’s posture and showing the way forward—he wanted Baek Risan to pioneer new territories. If she couldn’t pioneer new territories, wouldn’t Baek Risan’s martial arts be nothing but unstable?

Even masters need to accumulate many examples to pioneer new martial theories. That’s why Baek Riyun didn’t hesitate to reveal his martial arts to Baek Risan. However.

“That’s… what on earth.”

That didn’t mean Baek Risan had seen all of Baek Riyun’s martial arts. Beyond simply that Baek Riyun had hidden martial arts from Baek Risan, there were martial arts that even Baek Riyun himself couldn’t easily demonstrate.

Right.

“What is that…?”

In the end, the skill of Baek Riyun that Baek Risan had seen was just the tip of the iceberg.

Resounding thunder.

A giant Thunder Dragon opened its mouth wide and roared while simultaneously grabbing one of Heukya’s tails and slamming it into the ground. A scene as if pressing down on the opponent with overwhelming energy.

But that couldn’t be. No matter how much Baek Riyun had eaten elixirs since childhood as a scion of a prestigious family, there’s no way he could match strength with Heukya, a yokai who had lived for tens of thousands of years.

Then what was that scene?

‘He’s digging in…’

Thunder’s form is commonly described as a single winding line, but the actual form of lightning is like roots. The nature of lightning is to constantly dig into whatever conducts best and has the weakest resistance.

Right now, Baek Riyun’s attack takes that form. Digging through the gaps between the densely packed yokai powers, cutting off the convergence of force, and pushing his own power through those gaps.

A sense that has truly reached the divine.

“How can that be…”

“—It’s not that different from your martial arts.”

At the heavy voice that reached her, Baek Risan instinctively shrank back and turned her gaze, then widened her eyes when she saw the man who had approached at some point. It was a face she hadn’t seen in a while.

“Fa… ther.”

A visibly exhausted appearance.

Seeing countless wounds on his arms, shoulders, and legs—relatively non-fatal areas—Baek Risan clenched her fists.

“Why, why are you so injured… Rather than that, what are you doing? Treatment first…!”

“I’m fine. They’re just grazes.”

“What do you mean grazes!”

At Baek Rigang’s words, Baek Risan lost her temper and took out wound medicine from her bosom, carefully applying it to Baek Rigang’s wounds. Wound medicine from which a mysteriously fiery energy spread.

“There’s no need to worry so much over wounds that will heal if left alone.”

“Who was it that taught me that if you don’t treat wounds carefully, you could suffer greatly?”

“I’m fine.”

“Stop being stubborn! What did you do to get injured like this? Did you fight Hyeolgeom?”

“Taeak is taking care of Hyeolgeom instead. He’s consumed quite a bit too, so it should be decided soon. More importantly, it’s about that one’s martial arts.”

“…I don’t know why all the men in our family are so stubborn.”

Baek Rigang quietly ignored Baek Risan’s glare as she scrunched up her face, and continued explaining slowly while watching Baek Riyun clinging to Heukya.

“San-ah. What martial art do you use?”

“That’s… Jinyeombaekhwa Gyeol. Though it’s changed a bit from the family’s version.”

“We’ll examine your achievement later, but his martial art isn’t much different from your Jinyeombaekhwa Gyeol in its core.”

“…That?”

“Yes. In the sense that it places a massive burden on the body that it can withstand and draws out power.”

What kind of elixir is a Daehwandan?

Daehwandan is an elixir among elixirs, said to make even a dying person spring up. Even Shaolin only makes one every few years and rarely releases it externally, and even when they do, they only give it to those who have greatly helped Shaolin or made significant contributions to the Orthodox Martial World.

Warriors who happen to possess a Daehwandan usually count its effects in two ways and use it accordingly. They use it to increase their internal power in a short time as befits an elixir’s original effect, or carry it around as a spare life when they’ve suffered internal injuries.

But thinking that way, isn’t it strange?

“Daehwandan doesn’t increase one’s realm. It has the effect of increasing overall internal power, but not the effect of explosively releasing internal power in a short time. There are no elixirs with such effects to begin with.”

“The effects of Daehwandan. None of them allow one to release such great power in such a short time.”

“…Then what is that?”

“Didn’t I say? Daehwandan has the effect of protecting the body from internal injuries. What did I just evaluate his martial art as?”

“You said the core isn’t much different from Jinyeombaekhwa Gyeol… Ah?”

“Right. He maximized Daehwandan’s effects in that direction.”

Jinyeombaekhwa Gyeol directly pours out internal power. And because of that, there’s naturally a limit to its output.

That’s natural. Superior output means the mouth of the jar containing water is large, but no matter how large the mouth is, you can’t pour out more than the total amount you have. The total amount of internal power a warrior with one gapja of internal power can pour out is ultimately limited to one gapja.

That’s true for ordinary warriors. They can’t demonstrate output beyond the total amount of internal power they possess. Demonstrating power equal to one’s internal power isn’t easy to begin with. Doesn’t the fact that Jinyeombaekhwa Gyeol, which extremely raises output, is renowned as a formidable martial art prove that?

Baek Riyun is not an ordinary warrior.

“Thunder Energy doesn’t derive from combining Yin Energy and Yang Energy, but from their collision. In that process, Yin Energy and Yang Energy don’t suffer great losses. Do you know why?”

“Because you… draw internal power from outside.”

“Right. It’s just that the Thunder Energy derived that way is too difficult to handle if not refined, so you refine it and store it in your body beforehand—but the fundamental Thunder Energy has no limit to its quantity.”

Baek Riyun’s martial art deviates from such norms. A martial art that believes only in the user’s skill to the extreme and keeps walking a tightrope. A martial art that can continuously output power by generating destructive Thunder Energy.

“But this martial art has a weak point. Thunder Energy is something humans absolutely cannot fully control.”

“That bastard…”

“That bastard?”

“…Brother controls it freely though.”

“It only looks that way. He just has the ability to lead the largest stem among thousands of stems.”

A martial art where burden accumulates in the blood vessels the more you use it.

That is Baek Riyun’s martial art, Cheonroesin. Needless to say about other martial arts created based on Cheonroesin’s activation. Even with Baek Riyun’s god-like internal power control ability, as long as he’s human, there’s a limit that inevitably accumulates.

“If that limit disappeared, or even if it didn’t disappear but the limit itself was raised, what would happen?”

“…You could raise the output?”

“Right.”

Of course, normally, even if you learned such a martial art and used Daehwandan that way, your skill wouldn’t straightforwardly increase. There’s a limit to what humans can control to begin with. However.

‘That one’s sense has been second to none since childhood.’

Important things and unimportant things. Fatal things and non-fatal things.

If it’s Baek Riyun who can distinguish such things like a ghost, if he’s someone who reaches beyond human limits like a machine.

‘Perhaps he might glimpse the realm of Talgak temporarily.’

Baek Rigang, who had been watching the fight between Baek Riyun and Heukya for a moment, kept silent then sat cross-legged. And at that sight, Baek Risan panicked and widened her eyes.

“What, what are you doing?”

“I’ll circulate energy for a moment. Stand guard.”

“Here… No, you want me to stand guard? What can I do…”

“The Blood Cult members have all already melted away. The experts from the search party are separately handling the masters you can’t face.”

“But…”

“I trust your achievement.”

The miscellaneous yokai targeting him during energy circulation—Baek Risan should be able to handle at least that much.

More important than that is Heukya. For some reason, she’s not being serious yet, still leisurely facing the masters, but if Heukya starts moving in earnest, there’s no telling how the situation will turn.

‘I need to conserve strength.’

Looking at Baek Risan standing dazedly, Baek Rigang nodded, closed his eyes, and began energy circulation to restore his condition. And.

“…Really, why are all the men in our family like this…!”

Baek Risan, who had been looking at the situation helplessly, let out a deep sigh.

The next moment, white flames blazed up.

‘It’s overwhelming.’

Pajijijijik—!!!

Feeling the current flowing from fingertips to toes so overwhelmingly, I fell into thought. Blood vessels swelling as if about to burst.

My body glows red to withstand the burden. Gritting my teeth while feeling the sensation of my body heating up as if about to burn from being unable to withstand the destructive Thunder Energy. I’ve long since exceeded my limits.

Cheonroesin is a martial art that places tremendous burden on the body.

That’s why I devised a plan to strengthen my body’s durability with Daehwandan. If I increase the total amount of internal power, I can use that internal power to protect my blood vessels, but using it that way would be inefficient.

I take superficial wounds as they are. I only block massive shocks reaching deep inside. Then Daehwandan’s healing power will quickly heal the superficial wounds, allowing me to endure even while continuing to demonstrate power beyond my limits.

That was the calculation.

What exceeded the calculation was that the maximum output I was thinking of and the maximum output I drew out to face Heukya had an infinitely large gap.

An attack that arrives before the sound.

Feeling space distort from overwhelming yokai power, I gritted my teeth and swung my sword. Simultaneously, a sword strike that instantly transforms into a Thunder Dragon’s form running along the Uicheongeom’s blade.

Gaebyeok Cheongeomryu

Cheongyeok

The sword that struck as if to split the sky touches the tail. Simultaneously, the tail bounces back greatly.

Space shatters into myriad forms. The space that had been shaped into a form of nothingness where even light couldn’t intrude due to the clash of power and power reassembles, emitting bizarrely indescribable light. A torrent of force so intense that even Heukya’s tail, which held such overwhelming power, couldn’t push through.

However, Heukya’s tails aren’t just one. And what those tails are aiming for is also extremely simple. When a warrior is most defenseless.

The gap after swinging a sword.

Uicheon Yeokgigong Basic Third Form

Yeokdo

Feeling the force approaching my nape in a split second, I grit my teeth. Raising my elbow, the impact strikes my shoulder heavily.

If hit, I die. But I can’t dodge. Retreating speed can never beat charging speed. There’s only one method.

Chilyeon

Only to deflect.

Deudeudeudeudeudeuk!

Though nothing touched it, the tail that was making a scraping sound from successive adjustments deflects greatly from my body. Simultaneously, Heukya expresses admiration as if she saw something miraculous.

—What a fascinating technique. It doesn’t seem easy to use though.

“I can use it as many times as needed.”

—Your eyes are keen. You can’t fool me even with bluffing.

“Tsk.”

I clicked my tongue and spat blood-mixed saliva onto the ground. The fishy smell of blood vibrating in my mouth from internal injuries received from the earlier impact.

‘The status window said two sichens, but enduring for two sichens is impossible.’

Skill is maximally elevated.

That’s what the status window said about Daehwandan’s effects. It’s not wrong. Actually, the internal injuries I just received are also rapidly healing from Daehwandan’s effects, and my concentration is maintained without scattering.

‘That’s only my situation. There’s no answer for the others.’

Geomhu, who was handling one tail, is already gasping for breath, and Songbyeok Jinin and Dokgo Cheon, who are handling one tail together, also don’t look very good.

It’s something I anticipated the moment we clashed. Geomhu became a Sipcheon not long ago, so she’s staying in the lowest ranks, and Songbyeok Jinin and Dokgo Cheon have learned mutually incompatible martial arts. Their cooperation efficiency wouldn’t be good.

‘Daesageom is somehow enduring but…’

In the end, once those two fall, Daesageom will be next to fall. Ilryun is showing quite good movement against two tails, but if cutting off the tails is impossible, then it’s ultimately a meaningless assumption.

‘Should I endure?’

If I endure.

I’ll be able to endure. Daehwandan’s effect duration still has plenty of time left. As long as I don’t allow a fatal strike, I should be able to receive attacks without problems for at least two sichens.

But then, the overall situation will likely worsen. To break through this situation, there’s only one thing to do.

‘Either strike Heukya directly or cut off her tails.’

Either way is nearly impossible with my current skill.

But I must do it. If the only way out is there, there’s no need to hesitate. There’s no time for that.

—It seems you’ve made some kind of decision.

Kwaaaang!

Seeing Heukya, who joyfully asks while striking down Nakcheon, who had charged in, with her tail and slamming him into the ground, I clenched my fists. And the answer that follows.

“The name of my martial art is Gaebyeok Cheongeomryu.”

“It would be laughable to discuss opening the heavens or a heavenly sword with a sword that can’t even cut a yokai.”

A martial art that even I, the founder, cannot fully use—completed only in theory.

But the theory is established. What remains is only my skill to put that theory into practice.

Then it’s now.

“I should have you evaluate it. Whether my sword suits opening the heavens.”

—…You’re leaving the evaluation to me?

“Right, though there’s no need to answer with your mouth.”

Taking a deep breath, I awaken my entire body. I observe everything—the flow of air touching from toes to head, the tactile sensations and temperatures felt, the movement of internal power. And.

“Because it’ll prove itself once I cut you.”

The moment I slowly raise the Uicheongeom.

[Caution! Caution!]

Tuduk.

A sound of something snapping.

[Attempting Talgak is extremely dangerous. Please be careful!]

The limit I set as a human.