Chapter 68. Opening the Eyes (2)

I stared blankly at that milky-white liquid.

I had never even imagined that there would be Gongcheong Seokyu here.

In my past life, I had never heard a story about Gongcheong Seokyu, nor had I ever seen it myself.

Had someone already eaten it?

Or had the Gongcheong Seokyu been contaminated as people flocked in and blood and corpses were scattered about?

Since I had turned back without coming this far, it was something I couldn't know.

And it was something I didn't particularly need to know.

Thump.

The sound of my footsteps echoed in the cave.

At some point, I had moved to right in front of the Gongcheong Seokyu.

I bowed my head and looked at the minuscule amount of milky-white liquid collected on the ground.

Perhaps because I had come right up to it.

The fine hairs on my body stood on end from the thick wave of energy emanating from the Gongcheong Seokyu.

I knew intuitively.

That the energy of nature contained in that tiny liquid was greater than the internal energy residing in my dantian.

There was a saying that medicine and poison were one.

The same was true for spirit medicine. A spirit medicine that could not be digested was no different from poison.

Could I really absorb that tremendous energy?

A sneer at myself escaped me.

“To think I’m afraid of dying now.”

What was the reason I came to the secret grotto of the Sun Moon Divine Sword elder?

Wasn't it to risk my life to chase geniuses like Hyeok Ilso?

I promptly dropped to my knees on the ground.

I pushed my face towards the Gongcheong Seokyu as if sticking my nose in a plate of water.

I couldn't scoop it with my hands.

Because it was a spirit medicine where the earth's qi had condensed over thousands of years.

The moment a human hand touched it, it would surely scatter and its energy would dissipate.

I brought my mouth to the Gongcheong Seokyu and sucked it in, like drinking the last few drops of soup left in a bowl.

A refreshing scent fills my mouth.

Without delay, I swallowed the Gongcheong Seokyu that had entered my mouth.

Gulp.

With the sound of my throat gulping, I felt the Gongcheong Seokyu going down my esophagus.

The Gongcheong Seokyu, which had been disturbed by contact with a human body, was emitting a tremendous amount of energy.

I immediately sat cross-legged and operated the Great Swallow Nest Building Divine Art.

But I was not trying to absorb the energy of the Gongcheong Seokyu right away.

It was too vast an energy to absorb immediately.

If that was the case, I just had to use it for another purpose before absorbing it.

Instead of enveloping the energy of the Gongcheong Seokyu with the Great Swallow Nest Building Divine Art, I pushed that vast energy to one side.

Instead of enveloping the water of a huge river, I was trying to control only the direction of the water's flow by pushing it in a specific direction.

After guiding the energy of the Gongcheong Seokyu for a moment, the place where the vast energy of the Gongcheong Seokyu arrived was the Receiving Fluids Acupoint.

And the Receiving Fluids Acupoint could be said to be the starting point of the Ren meridian.

It was an absurdly large amount of energy to absorb all of it anyway. I intended to use this to open the Ren and Du meridians.

Starting from the Receiving Fluids, the energy of the Gongcheong Seokyu raced along the meridians of the Ren meridian.

Every time the energy of the Gongcheong Seokyu passed a specific meridian of the Ren meridian, I cautiously exhaled and inhaled.

I felt a foul scent in my exhaled breath.

The minute turbid energies remaining in each meridian of the Ren meridian. After collecting those that had been washed away by the energy of the Gongcheong Seokyu, I was exhaling them with my breath.

After the tedious and painful process continued for who knows how long.

The energy of the Gongcheong Seokyu finally arrived at the Meeting of Yin Acupoint, which could be said to be the end of the Ren meridian.

After washing away the remaining turbid energy in the Meeting of Yin Acupoint, located between the genitals and the anus, the moment the energy of the Gongcheong Seokyu was about to head to the Self-Strengthening Acupoint, the starting point of the Du meridian.

Some kind of gate appeared and blocked the path.

Opening the Ren and Du meridians.

In fact, this did not just mean the process of washing away the turbid energies lodged in the Ren and Du meridians.

Both the meridians of the Ren meridian and the Du meridian were meridians that were constantly passed through during the process of practicing energy circulation.

Above all, thanks to returning to the past, my age had become younger, and I had even absorbed the Azure Spirit Pill, so there wasn't much turbid energy left in the Ren and Du meridians of my current body.

Breaking through each meridian was only the beginning of opening the Ren and Du meridians.

The Ren meridian and the Du meridian. The core was to break through a certain gate that separated and blocked the two great paths and connect them as one.

In the world, this gate was called the Gate of Life and Death.

The vast energy of the Gongcheong Seokyu, which had just passed the Meeting of Yin Acupoint, rushed towards that Gate of Life and Death.

Thump!!

Every time the energy of the Gongcheong Seokyu struck the wall of the Gate of Life and Death, a tingling pain was felt.

It was to the point where the pain I had felt while washing away the turbid energy and expanding the meridians until now was not even comparable.

Grit.

I pushed the energy of the Gongcheong Seokyu with the energy of the Great Swallow Nest Building Divine Art while gritting my teeth so hard they could break.

Each time, a terrible pain was felt near the Meeting of Yin Acupoint.

For some reason.

It felt like the corners of my tightly clenched mouth from the sharp pain were about to rise.

Repeating painful and perilous things.

Because that was what I was best at.

I pushed the energy of the Gongcheong Seokyu with a smile.

Thump!

Thump!

Thump!!

A refreshing feeling surged from near the Meeting of Yin Acupoint. The immense energy that had finally broken open the Gate of Life and Death advanced towards the Self-Strengthening Acupoint.

Soon, the energy that had washed away the turbid energy of the Self-Strengthening Acupoint continued to rise along the meridians of the Du meridian.

If the Ren meridian was a meridian that followed the centerline of the front of the body, the Du meridian was a meridian that started from near the tailbone and went up the spine on the back of the body.

The energy that continued to race arrived at the Hundred Convergences Acupoint located near the crown of the head.

Right after driving out even the turbid energy accumulated in the Hundred Convergences Acupoint, the second Gate of Life and Death, which could be called the final gate, finally appeared.

It was the most difficult and most dangerous gate.

The Gate of Life and Death at the Meeting of Yin Acupoint was also dangerous, but the Gate of Life and Death at the Hundred Convergences Acupoint side was located in the head.

The moment you strike it wrong, you would at least become an idiot or a madman, and if it was severe, it was instant death.

Thump. Thump. Thump.

Every time the energy of the Gongcheong Seokyu struck the Gate of Life and Death, a terrible pain as if my head would break was felt.

But it didn't matter.

Compared to the pain I had experienced in my past life, this was nothing.

I continued to strike the Gate of Life and Death, gritting my teeth so hard they could break.

Thump!!

After pushing my internal energy in the midst of the pain as if my brain would burst for who knows how long.

Crash!!!

A huge explosion rang in my head, and a hole was pierced in the Gate of Life and Death, as if a dam that couldn't withstand the water pressure had a hole in it.

Because of that tremendous pain that echoed in my head, I felt like I was about to faint.

I held onto my consciousness by biting my tongue.

I had succeeded in opening the Ren and Du meridians. Even if I fainted now, I wouldn't become an idiot or a madman.

But if I fainted here, the energy of the Gongcheong Seokyu would return to nature.

To lose the energy of a spirit medicine obtained through heavenly luck just because my head hurt a little.

I would rather die than see that happen.

The coppery scent of blood rising in my mouth awakened my mind.

Soon, the energy of the Gongcheong Seokyu passed through the hole created in the Gate of Life and Death and advanced to the Receiving Fluids Acupoint, the starting point of the Ren meridian.

The path from the Du meridian to the Ren meridian was opened.

The energy of the Gongcheong Seokyu and the Great Swallow Nest Building Divine Art flowed without rest.

Because both the turbid energy and the Gate of Life and Death were gone, there was no blockage in its flow.

The Ren meridian and the Du meridian were completely connected, and the Lesser Heavenly Circulation became possible.

Holding onto my consciousness, I recalled the principles of the Great Swallow Nest Building Divine Art.

I calmly guided the energy of the Gongcheong Seokyu, which was flowing aimlessly like a river, in the direction I wanted.

That huge milky-white river was gradually dyed with the deep blue color characteristic of the Great Swallow Nest Building Divine Art.

Even though the circulation of energy had become much easier with the Ren and Du meridians connected, because the amount was so large, it was bound to take a long time.

An endlessly tedious process.

It wasn't particularly a problem. Repeating a tedious process was also something I was used to.

Pfft.

I almost fell into qi deviation from laughing without realizing it.

Tedious.

It wasn't tedious at all.

Wielding a sword thousands, tens of thousands of times in the air while searching for an uncertain path with a pathetic talent was a tedious act.

But what about now?

A huge energy is gradually being dyed with my color.

I could clearly see my internal energy increasing at a glance.

I could feel myself getting stronger every moment, so where was the room to be bored?

I couldn't die from falling into qi deviation while laughing like an idiot, so I forcibly lowered the corners of my lips and continued to circulate my energy.

After operating the Great Swallow Nest Building Divine Art for a long time in a state of self-forgetfulness.

I belatedly realized a certain fact.

The milky-white energy was no longer flowing in my meridians.

All the energy was dyed with the color of the Great Swallow Nest Building Divine Art.

I loftily guided the internal energy flowing in all the meridians of my body towards my dantian.

When all the energy filled my dantian, I felt like my lower abdomen would bulge out.

It seemed to have increased by at least double compared to the energy that had resided in my dantian before.

Despite the energy that had returned to nature during the process of washing away the turbid energy and opening the Gate of Life and Death.

When I quietly estimated the amount contained in my dantian, it looked to be about one and a half Gapja.

“Sseup. Hoo.”

After taking one last deep breath in and out, I calmly lifted my eyelids.

At some point, the torch had gone out.

The cave was filled with darkness, but for some reason, everything looked clear.

I got up and drew the Restoring Name Sword.

When I drew up the huge energy residing in my dantian, a huge stream of water like the waves of the Yangtze River raced through all the meridians of my body.

The huge energy that raced through the meridians without blockage and without taking a detour pierced through my palm towards the Restoring Name Sword.

Vwiiiiing.

Soon, a sword cry rang out, and a hazy, deep blue energy rippled along the Restoring Name Sword.

After staring blankly at that Sword Qi for a moment.

A laugh escaped me.

“Peak after Sword Unification. The order is strange.”

Had I fallen into an inner demon without realizing it?

It felt like my laughter hadn't stopped since I entered the secret grotto.

***

After sheathing the Restoring Name Sword, I took the secret manual of the Sun Moon Divine Sword elder and started walking.

I couldn't just stay here and practice the elder’s secret manual forever in this place with no grain pills or luminous pearls left.

I followed the path from the end of the secret grotto back to the entrance.

As I got closer to the entrance of the secret grotto, bright sunlight greeted me.

It had been around afternoon when I entered the cave, yet the sunlight was still shining.

It seemed that a whole day had passed while I was opening the Ren and Du meridians and absorbing the energy of the Gongcheong Seokyu.

Even though I had stayed up all night, I didn't feel particularly tired.

After arriving at the entrance of the secret grotto, I raised my head and looked up.

A sheer cliff.

I bent my knees as they were and pushed off the ground with all my might with both feet.

Thump!

With an intense noise, my body soared several zhang high.

It was one of the movement techniques I couldn't even dream of in the past, Controlling Qi to Soar.

After soaring for a moment, defying the laws of nature.

As my body was about to fall again, I extended my feet as they were and kicked off the cliff.

After that, I used my movement technique to climb the cliff several more times.

Thump!

Thanks to pushing off too strongly, my body was thrown to the other side of the cliff.

Using that momentum, I twisted my body in the air and thrust my left palm towards the direction opposite the cliff.

The immense energy that raced through all the meridians of my body gathered in my palm, and the energy of the Great Swallow Nest Building Divine Art was strongly emitted.

After pushing my body with a palm wind and flying towards the cliff, I once again used my movement technique to run up the cliff.

Pa-bak!

Thanks to fully utilizing the energy that filled my dantian, climbing the cliff did not take that long.

After getting to the top of the cliff, I lightly clicked my tongue.

“Tsk.”

My internal energy had doubled. My meridians flowed without blockage. The control of my qi had become free, but I was not able to properly control that freedom.

But my regret was brief.

Slap!

I slapped my own cheek.

“I’m being ungrateful.”

It's not that I lack internal energy, but I'm complaining because it's overflowing.

It was nonsense that was more than just being ungrateful; it was bursting.

“It’s something I can overcome with training anyway.”

With the mindset of training my movement arts to get used to the suddenly increased internal energy, I moved my feet again.

After descending the mountain for a moment.

The sight of five men climbing the mountain from the opposite direction came into view.

There was no need to stop my training just because people were passing by, so I continued to move my feet.

The distance between me and them, who were dressed as herb gatherers, closed in an instant.

And the moment I was about to pass them as if crossing paths.

Suddenly, five trajectories were embroidered in the air.

Trajectories all aiming for my vitals.

But there was nothing to be surprised about.

Because I had also already drawn the Restoring Name Sword and was swinging it at the assassin bastards.

The Restoring Name Sword wrapped in Sword Qi.

The assassin bastard closest to me hastily threw his body.

Slice.

With a cutting sound, a faint spray of blood flew out, but I couldn't cut a vital point.

Soon, a dagger flew towards my head.

Right after dodging it narrowly by turning my head, the dagger thrust by the herb gatherer on the right flew towards my heart.

Even that dagger had blade qi on it.

I brought down the Restoring Name Sword I had thrust out towards that dagger.

The Restoring Name Sword wrapped in Sword Qi and the dagger thrust by the assassin bastard clashed, and a clear sound erupted.

Clang!!

But it was not a situation to leisurely cross weapons and have a contest of strength.

There were still hidden weapons flying towards my vitals.

Paat!

At the same time as pushing away the assassin bastard’s dagger, I used the Eight Trigrams Flying Stream Steps to hastily retreat three steps.

Pa-ba-bak.

Hidden weapons flew and embedded themselves where I had been standing.

After receiving the coordinated attack of the five bastards once, I asked them.

“Are you bastards from the Black Market?”

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