Chapter 6. Dream Awakening (6)
Seven years ago, the Four Evil Bandits were defeated by Jin Won-Myeong. After their defeat, the group had trained arduously over the years and were now at the Peak Realm.
With coordinated attacks, they struck at the spearman at the same time.
Thump!
The spearman stepped forward with his right foot and swung his spear horizontally with just one hand.
Bang! Bang!
The Four Evil Bandits’ swords split in half and the pieces flew in all directions.
"What?!"
Doa couldn’t even see when the man had moved again. Identical, blood-colored holes appeared on the foreheads of the bandits, and the four men collapsed to the ground with blood spraying from their heads like a fountain.
~
Meanwhile, as Won-Myeong channeled all his qi into Song Woo-Moon for treatment, he began to feel something strange.
'What's this? There's a strange suction force acting from inside this child.’
The qi flowing out of him and into Woo-Moon was more than what he had intended. To put it more precisely, the qi was being sucked out of him.
‘What in the world is going on?’
Just as Won-Myeong was about to pull back his qi, something more surprising happened. The pure internal energy in Woo-Moon's dantian suddenly harmonized with Won-Myeong's, and it began to circulate in search of broken blood vessels to heal. It was actually faster and more perfect than Won-Myeong’s own technique. This new bout of healing qi not only helped Woo-Moon’s blood vessels recover, but also made them stronger and healthier than before they were broken.
Coming to that realization, Won-Myeong could no longer stop. He thus boosted his qi output and pushed all of it into Woo-Moon.
It was a strange phenomenon. Woo-Moon obviously hadn’t learned the qi cultivation manual of the Kunlun Sect, but he was nevertheless able to guide Won-Myeong’s qi freely and absorb it as if it were his own.
‘How? How is this possible? It’s not just blending in, no.... It...feels as if this child is controlling my qi....’
When Won-Myeong's qi started flowing in and healing his body, Woo-Moon fell back into his dream—just like when he was staring at the landscape painting in the past—while still feeling the Celestial Sect's Forbidden Divine Art responding to it.
In his dream, he saw his own body appear in front of him, and his mind was then sucked inside that body.
The first thing he noticed was the ruined blood vessels. Woo-Moon felt a strong urge to fix them, and the qi he was receiving started moving around his body following his will. Woo-Moon used it and his own internal energy to travel around his bloodstream and heal his broken vessels one at a time.
To be exact, he didn’t heal them. Rather, using the existing ones as nourishment, he created new blood vessels. New and more active blood vessels appeared next to the old and damaged ones, eating up the fragments of the old vessels. As a result, they quickly expanded until they became larger than his previous blood vessels.
He felt seemingly endless joy. It was as if everything was going his way. It was like being free from restraints, gaining true freedom, and becoming a Transcendent.
At that moment, Woo-Moon also noticed his wrecked muscles and bones.
‘It's my precious body. It’s more important than anything else. I want to fix those, too.’
As per his heart’s desire, his qi once more started circulating around his body. This time, it shifted away from his blood vessels and penetrated the surrounding muscles and bones, building them anew. Just like what had happened with his blood vessels moments before, his muscles and bones expanded and grew by using the old and damaged ones as nourishment.
The artificial metamorphosis transpired according to Woo-Moon's will.
Gathering enough small changes to create a miracle, Woo-Moon soon achieved a perfect rebirth.
Barf!
Won-Myeong vomited blood as he took his hands off Woo-Moon's back.
The first thing he sensed was a dense smell of blood, but it actually wasn’t coming from him. The ground was simply covered in blood.
"Doa! Doa! Where are you?”
"Here, Grandpa!"
Upon hearing Doa's voice, Won-Myeong’s tense body relaxed a little. Only then did he get to look at his surroundings. Four middle-aged men were lying in front of him.
"... Who are they?"
Looking at their faces, he immediately realized that they were the Four Evil Bandits. These wicked men successfully escaped from his pursuit seven years ago.
At that moment, Won-Myeong got the gist of the situation.
‘Doa couldn’t have beaten them, which means someone intervened.'
There was no one around except Doa, but she was simply not at that level.
The scar marks left on the corpses’ foreheads were all the same size, and they had all sprayed the same amount of blood as well. It was clear that the same person had dispatched all four of them in a masterful display of technique.
‘Someone killed all four Peak experts in such a perfect way. He’s got to be an Absolute Master!’
"Who helped you, Doa? Was it one of the Eight Heavenly Martial Emperors or one of the Six Rising Challengers?"
Although Won-Myeong had woken up, Doa’s eyes were still full of worries since he had just vomited quite a lot of blood.
Crying, Doa responded, "I asked the person who helped me for his name as he left. He called himself Gyeong Hong.”
"The Night Spear Devil! Hmm...Gyeong Hong... I owe him a lot now."
Won-Myeong was now in debt, but he still felt relieved. If Gyeong Hong hadn’t appeared, the Four Evil Bandits would’ve easily killed him, Doa, and Woo-Moon.
‘Fate is up to the heavens. It truly is... Hoho, hmm. Are the heavens looking out for this child too?
Woo-Moon had learned a strong divine art that could absorb the Kunlun Sect’s qi at will. It was a mysterious martial art, which produced a kind of qi unfamiliar to even Won-Myeong. The boy had also suffered injuries so grave that he nearly died, but by a stroke of luck, he had ended up healthier and stronger than before. Furthermore, as soon as he was in danger, the Night Spear Devil, Gyeong Hong, had appeared and saved them.
Perhaps he really was born with heavenly luck.
As he pondered about it, a bitter smile appeared on Won-Myeong’s face.
‘But my cultivation has been reduced to two-thirds of what it was.’
To a martial arts expert, one’s cultivation was the most important and was equivalent to one’s life. Won-Myeong didn't feel bad, however. He had come across many wonders because of this situation. Above all, he now had a great understanding of his own character. His bitter smile turned carefree and warm; it was an expression he hadn’t shown before.
"Well, by the way, Old Sect Master... Why isn’t he waking up? Is he dead?” Doa asked.
After Gyeong Hong left, Doa was still quite scared, as she had been left with no choice but to guard Woo-Moon and Won-Myeong alone. That was understandable. Any girl her age forced to stand still in a quiet location next to four corpses would have felt the same
Hence, Doa clung onto Won-Myeong’s arm tightly while she asked about Woo-Moon’s condition. She was suddenly haunted by the thought that Woo-Moon would become the fifth corpse.
"Hoho, he’s not dead. He’ll wake up soon."
Won-Myeong’s words seemingly served as a wake-up signal. Woo-Moon inhaled deeply, looking like he had just woken up from a wonderful dream.
"Phew!"
Opening his eyes, he found his vision clearer and more perceptive than before. His mind was also tranquil and refreshed, and he could vividly remember what he had gone through earlier.
‘I had an idea that what I was learning from the landscape painting was martial arts. It seems I was right. What I performed earlier was indeed a martial art technique.’
He also remembered that the collapse had occurred due to the energy rising inside him while he was using the technique. Thinking about that life-threatening moment again brought him terrible pain.
'So it was that old man who helped me.’
“Thank you for saving me,” Woo-Moon told Won-Myeong.
Won-Myeong smiled at the remark, thinking that Woo-Moon had nothing to thank him for. He had shamelessly bought the valuable landscape painting, which was more precious than billions of gold taels, with only a few gold taels and a sword. And even after coming to that realization, his stubbornness had gotten the best of him, pushing him to relieve his anger by challenging his junior under the guise of checking out the latter’s martial arts. That made him feel like having a considerable amount of qi taken away from him was nothing much.
"I'm sorry. I didn't expect that to happen. To pay for my actions, I will return the landscape painting and compensate you as well for trying to quench my greed under the pretense of testing you. I'm so sorry." Won-Myeong apologized profusely, bowing deeply toward Woo-Moon even though the latter was much younger.
Woo-Moon was surprised. He hadn’t expected Won-Myeong to smile and apologize so easily. The elder’s actions had completely erased Woo-Moon’s impression that Won-Myeong was a bad person.
“Doa, how much money do you have left?" Won-Myeong turned to his grand disciple.
"Why? Don't tell me...."
"I’ll pay you back a lot more when we get back, so just give me what you have right now.”
Won-Myeong handed Woo-Moon the two gold taels he had received from Doa.
"You don't have to return the money I gave to your father. Just take these as well.”
"Oh, no. You saved me and made me healthier, which is already more than I could ever ask for.”
"Your landscape painting is truly an everlasting treasure. If only you knew its true value, you’d realize the compensation I’m giving you for the greed I exhibited as a martial artist of the Righteous Faction and a Daoist who abandoned the greed of the world really isn’t all that much. Take it. You'll need it for your family,” Won-Myeong said, looking at Woo-Moon profoundly.
"... Thank you." Woo-Moon bowed to Won-Myeong as he accepted it.
Won-Myeong shook his head with a smile. "No. You shouldn’t thank me. All of this transpired because of my greed and stubbornness."
Won-Myeong didn’t mention that he had consumed one-third of his cultivation to save Woo-Moon. He didn’t find it necessary.
Then, Woo-Moon noticed the four corpses with blood oozing from their foreheads. "Those people...?”
Won-Myeong answered his question with a sigh. “They had a grudge against me, and they tried to take advantage of our vulnerabilities to get revenge, but the Night Spear Devil Gyeong Hong killed them."
Gyeong Hong, one of the two Absolute Masters that were going to fight in Go-Ryang Pyeong, had saved them.
Woo-Moon felt amazed. Being indebted to such a great person, in and of itself, was a great feat.
"But you don't need to worry about that. This incident occurred because of me, so I'll repay the debt."
Even though the old man tried to take full responsibility for the incident, Woo-Moon thought that he had to repay Gyeong Hong’s kindness someday anyway.
"There’s something I’m curious about. Is it alright if I ask you a question?” Won-Myeong inquired.
"Sure."
Before speaking, Won-Myeong took out the landscape painting from his robe sleeve and handed it to Woo-Moon without any hesitation or longing.
"Who drew this landscape painting?"
Woo-Moon was also curious about it.
"I don't know either. I heard from my dad that when the old man left, he said he was a member of the Celestial Sect."
Won-Myeong's eyes widened.
"Did you just say he’s a member of the Celestial Sect? Huh?!"
Won-Myeong was at a loss for words. He just kept repeating “huh...,” and each sigh was mixed with admiration.
"I see. That's why he did that....”
Won-Myeong kept murmuring to himself in deep thought. He muttered something along the lines of “yes, of course, that makes sense.”
"Do you know who he was? Please tell me. I’m also quite curious," Woo-Moon pleaded, full of curiosity, when Won-Myeong showed no signs of stopping out of his musings.
Only then did Won-Myeong snap back to reality.
"Oh, I'm sorry. I was so surprised that I blanked out for a moment there. Child, do you know anything about Daoism?"
As soon as Woo-Moon heard the word “Daoism,” he thought of the Mount Hua Sect. He recalled the sorrowful memory of watching the backs of the Mount Hua Sect members departing together with his younger brother.
"All I know is that Daoists study and pursue the Dao." Woo-Moon smiled bitterly.
"I see. Well, it doesn't matter, what you’re curious about is that landscape painting. I don't know that much about it, but I'll tell you what I know."
"Thank you."
"Do you know about the Yellow Turban Rebellion of the Three Kingdoms period?"
"Yes."
"Zhang Jiao was the Yellow Turban Rebellion leader. He also founded the movement called the ‘Way of the Great Peace’ as a branch of Daoism and established the Great Peace Sect."
Zhang Jiao was the originator of one of the two main enemies that had led Han to destruction. The two parties were the Yellow Turban Rebellion and the Ten Attendants [1].
"At the time, another leading Daoist school was the Five Pecks of Rice Sect."
"The Five Pecks of Rice Sect...."
Woo-Moon had heard of the Great Peace Sect once or twice. They were a demonic cult that had started a rebellion at one point due to their impetuousness. But he had never heard of the Five Pecks of Rice Sect.
"The founder of the Five Pecks of Rice Sect is Zhang Ling, also known as Celestial Sect Master Zhang."
Woo-Moon's eyes sparkled.
"If he went by the name of Celestial Sect Master Zhang...”
1. Also known as the Ten Eunuchs—a group of influential eunuch-officials at the imperial court of Emperor Ling in Eastern Han China. ☜