Thud.
Scrrrrch—!
A scraping noise echoed along the wall,
A hand brushed past, leaving a mark on what had once seemed like a solid wall.
There was a slight resistance, but I forced my way through it.
Thud thud—! Thud!
I kept throwing punches at the wall, being careful not to break the flow of my qi.
As my fists hit the wall, they didn’t meet resistance but instead broke through, creating holes.
Craack—!
The holes began to spread cracks across the wall. I didn’t pay attention and kept punching.
The qi flowing from my dantian moved up to my upper dantian, while my whole body cried out, wanting to release the heat building inside.
But holding back was important.
It was crucial to maximize my body’s abilities.
“Huuuuu.”
I exhaled lightly, feeling the heat mix with the air and expel from my mouth.
I could feel it — that was definitely my qi.
I rotated my upper body.
At the same time, I gathered all the qi in my upper dantian into my fist and threw one last punch.
Craack—! Boom!
A loud crash echoed everywhere as the massive wall collapsed.
Thud thud thud—!
As the debris fell to the ground, I withdrew the heat and qi I had spread around and regulated my breathing.
“Hoo…”
I guided the energy, which had spread throughout my body through the acupoints, back into my dantian.
I cooled my body, which had been heated from the exertion, and checked my state.
As I closed my eyes and focused on scanning different parts of my body, I frowned.
‘It’s not sinking in properly.’
It had been a few days since I reached the level of Hwagyeong (Fire Realm), but the insights I had gained weren’t sinking into my body.
I had trained for a long time in the Magyeong (Demon Realm), and I felt my cultivation level rise accordingly.
After reaching a certain level of control, I returned to the physical world.
Using the insights I gained there, I managed to immediately touch upon the Hwagyeong level even in the physical world.
‘But the sense of dissonance remains.’
It was quite different from the level I had felt in the Magyeong .
‘What’s different?’
In the Magyeong , I focused more on mental training rather than physical.
I had known I would lose everything upon returning, and I thought my inability to reach the Hwagyeong had mostly to do with my mental state.
As it turned out, I was right.
Thanks to that, I was able to reach the Hwagyeong level as soon as I returned to the physical world,
but…
‘This is still only halfway there.’
I couldn’t say I had fully reached the Hwagyeong level.
It felt unstable.
My body’s balance was off; it was incredibly uncomfortable.
If I had to pinpoint the reasons...
‘First, I’ve never reached the Hwagyeong level with only the Gu family’s martial arts.’
It was my first time reaching this level purely through Guyeomhwaryungong .
It was different from when I had relied on demonic energy to forcefully raise my level, so I wasn’t used to this proper method.
Even this was just a guess, not a certainty.
The second reason I could think of...
‘There’s too much energy inside me.’
I was dealing with four types of energy: the fire energy of Guyeomhwaryungong , Taoist energy from Mount Hua, demonic energy, and blood energy.
For most martial artists, even having two different types of energy would lead to their qi clashing and causing their bodies to explode.
But here I was, handling four types.
Moreover, their natures were all completely different. Except for the Taoist energy, the rest were all incredibly violent.
Now that I had reached the Hwagyeong level, my capacity had expanded,
which meant I could control and use these energies much more efficiently than I could at the Peak level.
‘But the other energies have grown just as strong.’
I could feel it.
Every time I used my inner energy, the other energies I had stored away began to stir, slowly emerging.
It was as if they were demanding to be used.
It was a situation I wasn’t too happy about.
Taoist energy wasn’t dangerous.
And with Shin Noya
residing within me, there was no risk of it clashing with my inner energy and causing an outburst.I had long since grown accustomed to handling both energies.
But the other two were different.
They were like wild beasts.
Demonic energy couldn’t tolerate the existence of any other energy within me,
and blood energy constantly expanded its territory, though I had no idea why.
Both were dangerous.
I didn’t want to use them unless I absolutely had to.
But the more I used my inner energy, the more those two energies pushed forward, making them difficult to ignore.
‘I can’t exactly get rid of them either.’
Demonic energy had already been etched into my heart, so I couldn’t remove it.
And blood energy wouldn’t disappear even if I tried.
The best course of action would be to avoid using them as much as possible.
‘I may have succeeded in converting the demonic energy into my own energy, but blood energy...’
In my previous life, I had relied on demonic energy, instinctively knowing how to use it.
But blood energy was something I couldn’t fully understand.
Perhaps the reason my insights hadn’t fully taken root was because my body was dealing with so many types of energy…
But that was just another guess.
‘...If there’s one thing I’m almost certain of,’
it’s that even though I managed to reach the Hwagyeong level by overcoming the mental challenges,
I had hit a wall for the same reasons.
“...Tch.”
I calmed my body and slowly opened my eyes.
It was already evening.
I gazed at the rising moon and thought about what had happened earlier today.
‘Wi Seol-ah.’
I brushed my hand over my chest as I thought about her.
Though I had absorbed the energy that had been scattering as she disappeared,
I couldn’t sense anything from it.
I had only managed to capture a very small amount of it, and maybe that’s why.
Still, the fact that I couldn’t feel anything at all was concerning.
I even tried talking out loud, thinking maybe, like Shin Noya , I could communicate with her.
But all I got in response was the growl of that annoying beast.
[Grr...?]
‘I wasn’t talking to you. Go back to sleep.’
[Grr…]
Had Wi Seol-ah truly disappeared?
The unease crept up on me.
It wouldn’t be surprising if she had disappeared. She had said herself that she was out of strength.
I hadn’t been able to ask all my questions or say everything I wanted to say.
But that was my regret. If she had vanished, there was nothing I could do.
After all, not long after she had closed her eyes in my arms,
Wi Seol-ah had opened them again.
With her usual large eyes, she had looked at me and spoken the words that still lingered vividly in my mind.
–"Gongja-nim...?"
It stung.
Part of me felt relieved that she had returned to normal.
But what I felt first was a deep sense of regret and an indescribable fatigue.
Wi Seol-ah had looked at my expression, then, as if she had sensed something, she had gotten up and said,
–"Sister...? Was Sister here...?"
That’s what she had said.
Hearing that, I had realized Wi Seol-ah had known about her presence all along.
How much did she know?
Did she know her identity as well? And if so, did she know my circumstances too?
Should I have asked?
Maybe.
But what had come out of my mouth wasn’t that.
–"I’m sorry."
–"Gongja-nim...?"
–"I’m sorry. Let’s talk about it later."
I had stroked her hair a few times, then escorted her back to the building, before coming here.
It weighed on me.
I knew I shouldn’t have just left her there like that.
But staying there any longer felt unbearable.
Had she truly disappeared?
Maybe.
But I didn’t think so.
Despite all the signs pointing to her having vanished,
I believed otherwise.
Because of the voice I had heard at the very end.
–"Embrace her."
That warm, gentle voice.
And the touch that had wrapped around my arms.
‘...Mother.’
That voice had undoubtedly belonged to my mother.
What in the world had happened?
I had thought about it the entire time I was moving.
In the Magyeong , the World Tree had told me:
–"Your mother is alive."
My mother was alive.
It was something I had already known.‘...Rather than knowing she was alive,’
I had only seen her step into the Magyeong through a portal that had opened in midair when I was a child.
I never knew whether she had died or not.
But if that voice truly belonged to my mother...
‘Where is she...?’
How had she known to reach out to me?
I had tried again and again to hear her voice, but there had been no response.
‘Do you know something?’
I patted my belly.
The World Tree had said this beast was somehow connected to my mother, so I wondered if the beast had done something.
[Grr...?]
But the beast just looked at me, puzzled.
As I took that in, I bit my lip.
‘She told me to embrace it.’
She had told me to embrace the energy of the disappearing Shingeom .
That voice had definitely said that.
The force that had immobilized me had disappeared in an instant as soon as I heard my mother’s voice.
There must have been a reason for it.
Especially considering what I had learned from the World Tree about what kind of existence my mother was.
‘The Lord of the Myriad Worlds.’
A being even the World Tree couldn’t easily approach,
and the second disaster to descend upon this world.
Just those two descriptions alone were enough to tell me that my mother was no ordinary person.
And knowing that she had tried to help me...
‘If that voice truly belonged to my mother...’
Of course, it could have been the intervention of some other being. I didn’t know yet.
All I knew was that I had followed her words and absorbed the energy, but beyond that, I had no idea what to do.
The only course of action left was clear.
‘I have to find my mother.’
It was an absurd conclusion.
I knew the Magyeong wasn’t a single place, and there weren’t many ways to get there.
But I had to find her.
Right now, my mother was the only one who could explain what had happened with Shingeom .
And to do that...
‘I need to meet my father.’
The only person who might know what happened to my mother was surely my father, the head of the Gu family.
With that decision made,
I concluded my thoughts and decided to go find my companions, if only to clear my head. I also needed to check on Wi Seol-ah.
As I began to walk away...
“...!”
I stopped in my tracks, chilled to the bone.
There was someone in the shadows, just out of sight.
‘How long has he been there?’
I hadn’t sensed a thing.
The figure leaned against the wall, staring in my direction.
This feeling... I’d felt it before.
Which meant that person was...
“Greetings, senior.”
As soon as I recognized who it was, I cupped my hands and greeted him.
The figure stepped away from the wall and walked toward me.
As he moved out of the shadows and into the moonlight,
his face came into view.
As I thought.
It was the Amwang (Dark King).
I tried to suppress the trembling in my body as I looked at the Amwang .
His expression was the same as when I had first seen him: blank, cold, showing no trace of emotion.
The Amwang spoke.
“I waited because you seemed focused.”
There was an unspoken rule about not interrupting someone’s training,
but it seemed the Amwang didn’t care about such things.
Not that I was any different.
“Do you have business with me, senior?”
“I did say I would check up on you, didn’t I?”
“...That you did.”
So he had said.
But I hadn’t thought he would actually come.
‘Is that guy not normal either?’
How could someone as powerful as the Amwang say he was going to see me, without considering how terrifying that would be for me?
Then again, someone at his level probably didn’t concern himself with things like that.
Power was everything in this world.
‘They say he could even kill the Three Lords if he wanted to.’
That was a popular rumor.
That if the Amwang wished it, he could kill even the Three Lords, the strongest in the land.
Most people considered it an exaggerated statement meant to praise the Amwang ’s strength, but...
Now that I was facing him in person,
I could believe that it might be possible under the right circumstances.
‘I can hardly sense his presence.’
Even though he was standing right in front of me, his presence was barely detectable. At least this time, I could feel something, unlike before.
I didn’t know what effect his mask had,
but I could sense a faint trace of his presence.
When he wasn’t wearing it, there had been nothing.
“Boy.”
“Yes, senior.”
His choice of words irked me, but I didn’t comment.
In his eyes, I was just a boy.
Though he looked to be somewhere between thirty and forty years old,
the Amwang was a veteran from the era of Iljangro, the First Elder.
In other words,
he was an ancient master, far beyond what his appearance suggested.
Looking at me, the Amwang suddenly spoke.
“The more I see you, the more you resemble him.”
It was a familiar comment. I’d heard it many times before.
“I get that a lot.”
He must have been referring to my father.
Most people who said I resembled someone were talking about my father.
“Hm?”
But the Amwang tilted his head slightly at my response.
...Was I wrong?
“Aren’t you saying I look like my father?”
“No.”
“Uh... Then, who are you saying I look like?”
Was he talking about Iljangro?
It would be odd if he was saying I resembled that old man.
That would feel strange.
And it would probably annoy me.
Just as I was thinking that,
the Amwang mentioned someone else entirely.
“I’m talking about your grandfather.”
“My grandfather?”
I had heard that before too.
I had been confused back then as well. Why did the Amwang keep bringing up my grandfather?
What kind of relationship had they had?
I was about to ask when—
“Considering how much you resemble him... It’s hard to believe you’re not of the same bloodline.”
“Pardon?”
The Amwang started speaking in riddles.
“It truly is a mystery.”
“What are you talking about...?”
Tap.
“...!”
I wanted to ask what he meant,
but I couldn’t.
The Amwang had suddenly disappeared and reappeared right in front of me, grabbing my right arm.
Was this an attack?
The thought barely had time to cross my mind before I instinctively tried to gather my qi.
“Boy.”
The Amwang pulled up my sleeve without warning.
‘Damn…!’
I froze.
Beneath my sleeve was the mark left by my demonic transformation.
It looked like a patch of reptilian scales, about the size of my thumb.
I didn’t know what to do.
But then, the Amwang stared at my skin and asked,
“What is your connection to Yeonga?”
“...What?”
I couldn’t help but ask in return.
The question had come so far out of left field.
________________________________________
TL Notes
The translation of the phrase “너는 연가와 무슨 관계가 있더냐.” as “What is your connection to Yeonga?” is based on the fact that “연가” here looks like a name or title, perhaps of a specific person, clan, or organization. In the context of the original text, this is a question about how the protagonist is connected to a certain “연가”.
Here are the key points:
The word “연가” - can indicate a name or group that has special significance in the story. If “연가” is a name or title, it is retained in translation as “Yeonga”, as this is a typical approach for adapting Korean names or terms in English translations. Context is important - the character asking the question clearly implies some important connection between the character and “연가”. This is a moment of intrigue, and the question is meant to convey a sense of mystery, so I translated it as “What is your connection to Yeonga?” which leaves open the nature of that connection. If it becomes clear in the future that “연가” has a different meaning (e.g., it is not a name but a term or phrase with a more specific meaning), the translation can be adjusted.