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Feeling drowsy, Lee Sungmin opened his eyes. Since it was a familiar feeling, Lee Sungmin realized what was going on without any difficulty.
‘A dream?’
It was not his first time having a lucid dream. When undertaking the dream trial on Mush’s mountain, Lee Sungmin had a lot of nightmares in the form of lucid dreams. The dreams he had those days were horrible enough to bother him even now. Speaking of lucid dreams, people can usually change it as they wish according to their choices, but the lucid dreams that Lee Sungmin experienced were not such convenient ones.
So he didn’t expect it to happen again. Lee Sungmin sat up and looked around.
“Are you up?”
A voice sounded. Lee Sungmin was not surprised by it. He looked in the direction of the voice. It was different from a nightmare. It was also different from an ordinary dream. In a sense, it resembled his subconscious realm that he had entered while doing Denir’s trial.
That voice belonged to Heoju.
He was using a flickering mirage as his body. There were no eyes, nose, or mouth where the face should have been. The whole body was like that.
“Why do you look like that?”
“Are you sure you want to see my true form?”
Heoju asked. Lee Sungmin wondered why Heoju had appeared in his dream, but he nodded first. Receiving his permission, Heoju’s body swelled greatly, manifesting bone and flesh to turn into a giant with a big head and broad shoulders. His one hand was big enough to crush someone’s head with his hands.
“You look more like a human than I thought.”
Lee Sungmin commented in a calm voice. He had imagined a hideous monster with horns, teeth, and fingernails. Except for his height and size, Heoju was not much different from humans.
“Ghosts are a lot like humans. If I had to compare, rather than a monster, ghosts are more like Ajin.”
(T/N: https://ajin.fandom.com/wiki/Sakurai_Gamon
In case you are as clueless as me when it comes to such things, Ajin is a type of Demi-human/Immortal from Sakurai Gamon’s ultra-popular mangas. It even has a movie starring Sato Takeru. hmm, I should watch it)
“Like orcs?”
“Don’t compare us to such inferior creatures.”
Heoju banged his fists on the ground as he grumbled.
“It’s not real, but having a body after a long time feels quite good.”
“Why are you here?”
“I wanted to test it out. I lent my power and connected spiritually to you. So I tried to see whether I could intervene in your dreams while you were asleep. Although I couldn’t control your body.”
“It looks like you’ve tried it once.”
“It was worth a try. But I failed. I couldn’t break through your protection with my power. In the sleeping forest, I couldn’t break into your mind… That time, I was pushed out by a force other than your own willpower.
“If you were a decent person, you would not be rushing to take control of my mind.”
He pointed out. Preskan’s mind control magic had also failed to breakthrough Lee Sungmin’s Aura of Favourability.
“Is that all? Then I’d like you to leave. I’m tired and want to sleep.”
“There are a few things I want to ask.”
Heoju gestured to Lee Sungmin to come closer. Lee Sungmin frowned but eventually moved closer to him.
“What?”
“Did I not tell you? There are a few things that I want to ask you.”
“So, what is it?”
“You. What do you plan to do?”
Heoju asked him directly.
“When I lent my power to you. At that time, I had a strong spiritual connection with you, so some of your emotions passed over to me as well. The feelings you felt when that small fry was fighting the monster and how you felt when dealing with that monster-like chick.”
“So you looked as you please.”
“I just felt it. That’s not something I can control.”
“What exactly do you want to know?”
“What you’ve been doing all this time. The relationship between you and that chick. What you want to do in the future.”
“You seem to have a lot you want to know. Why should I tell you?”
“You and I will have to stay together for a long time. Is there any harm in getting to know each other? You also owe me.”
“I owe you?”
“If I hadn’t helped, you and that small fry would have died in the middle of the fight.”
He had to acknowledge that. If Heoju hadn’t helped at that time, Lee Sungmin wouldn’t be able to handle Wijihoyeon’s doppelganger. The Nine Heavenly Spears technique that Lee Sungmin could perform with his body now was limited to the Nine Dragon Spirits, and his Shadowless was restricted to the Two-step Calamitous End. Although he knew more martial arts and had the experience from his subconscious, he could not perform them all perfectly with his current body.
It was actually bordering on ridiculous. Lee Sungmin’s body had already made a breakthrough, reaching transcendence. No matter how outstanding the Nine Heavenly Spears technique and Shadowless were, it shouldn’t be impossible to perform them with a body at such a level.
It wasn’t like he had a shortage of inner force. Lee Sungmin’s inner force was far more abundant than other experts.
The true reason why he could not reach that level was because the level of martial arts that he gained from his ‘enlightenment’ was higher than the level of martial arts that his body was capable of. His heart and mind were leading too far ahead, so his body could not follow. When assisted by Heoju’s power, he was able to unfold Void Rendering, which was the sixth technique of the Nine Heavenly techniques, but if he tried to do it using his current body, it would not be possible.
“… Didn’t you say you helped me because you liked me?”
“That’s also true. Don’t you want to tell me while I ask nicely?”
“What’s the point of saying it?”
“Do you feel embarrassed?”
“There’s a little bit of that too.”
“Bastard. You’re too high maintenance. Do you know about it, you son of a bitch? You have a problem.”
“What the hell does that mean?”
“You selfish bastard. You only want your own questions to be answered. If you want to know, tell this ancestor what he is curious about.”
Heoju coerced. Lee Sungmin looked at him wryly. In fact, he had no problem in answering his questions. It was just that he was a little unwilling. But he couldn’t ignore him either since he was troubled by the ‘problem’ that Heoju had mentioned. Lee Sungmin sighed and opened his mouth.
Either way, Heoju already knew that Lee Sungmin had died and returned to the past, so there was nothing to hide. Lee Sungmin told Heoju a lot of things. The promises he made with Wijihoyeon at Genavis and how he got involved with her. Then, he talked about his meeting with Baek Sogo at Mush’s Mountain and his descent from the mountain after completing the trials. The incidents from Behenger. Preskan, Aine, and the Black Heart. Practicing at the Shaolin Temple and the events at the Volcanic Sect, all the way to Denir.
The story was long. Heoju sat on the floor and listened to it. He sat with his arms crossed and a grave expression on his face. As soon as Lee Sungmin’s words were over, he opened his mouth.
“Why don’t you use magic too?”
“… Huh?”
Lee Sungmin opened his eyes wide at the sudden words.
‘Uhhhh…’
He took a peek into the status window as he paused.
“Ah.”
He had forgotten. Lee Sungmin had learned some magic from Scarlett on Mush’s mountain. Fatigue Recovery, Mind Cleaning, Strength, and Haste. In fact, the reason Lee Sungmin was able to endure on Mush’s mountain was because of those four spells.
“I can feel some magic from you. Although, I don’t know exactly what kind of magic you learned.”
“… Some types of auxiliary magic.”
“Are you a support character?”
“There’s that, too… ”
“You stupid son of a bitch. Why don’t you just use them if you’ve learned them? Will you catch some kind of disease if you use both magic and martial arts or what?”
Heoju swore at him profusely. Lee Sungmin had nothing to say to that. When was the last time he had used magic? He had only practiced martial arts to the point of exhaustion in Denir’s trial and completely forgot about magic.
“Using a combination of attack magic and martial arts may make you a cripple who can’t use either of them properly, but auxiliary magic can be combined with martial arts efficiently. Have you ever tried it??”
“A long time ago…”
“You stupid bastard.”
Heoju sprang up to his feet, finding it ridiculous.
“Well, whatever. I did like you quite a bit.”
“… Why?”
“I like simpletons like you.”
Heoju laughed while revealing his teeth.
“To be frank, it’s impossible for you to be at the same position as that Minor Heavenly Demon chick by next year.”
“I know.”
“Divine trials are tricky. 2,100 years in your subconscious? Somehow, you’ve accomplished more than your natural talent allows for. You’ve made up for your lack of talent with a tremendous amount of time. Although it’s ridiculous that you can only do this much after 2,100 damn years.”
“Am I that ridiculously weak?”
“I’ll admit it’s more power than normal humans could achieve. But it’s not enough to compete with the kind of geniuses who transcend humanity.”
Heoju asserted.
“That girly transcends humanity. If you really want to be equal to her, you need to transcend humanity too. The martial arts from your subconscious realm are not enough.”
“… I have no other ways.”
“There are many ways if you give up your humanity.”
Heoju narrowed his eyes and looked at Lee Sungmin. Lee Sungmin tilted his head and looked back.
“The easiest way is to become a vampire or a werewolf. They are the most common choices for humans who want to be non-human. The method is not difficult, either.”
“I don’t want to do that.”
At the word ‘vampire’, Lee Sungmin recalled Ghost Blade. It wasn’t a good memory.
“Are you dead set on living as a human?”
“It’s not like that. I don’t really feel the need.”
“Hehe! I don’t recommend it either. The hierarchy of vampires and lycanthropes is absolute. If you become a vampire, you will never be able to disobey the one whose blood made you a vampire. There are also many annoying constraints that come with it.”
“What are you suggesting?”
“Becoming a ghost is also another way.”
Heoju’s eyes glinted.
“A ghost is both a monster and an Ajin. Some ghosts are humans that were turned, some are just born into existence, and others are birthed from the union of other ghosts.”
“… Are you telling me to become a ghost?”
“It’s just one of your options. Haven’t you experienced the power? In the first place, your heart is a monster’s, not a human’s. If you become a ghost with that at the centre, along with my powers, it could yield interesting results.”
Heoju said with conviction. However, Lee Sungmin was reluctant to do so. He had lived as a human until now, so it was only natural that he could not easily accept being a ghost. Heoju laughed loudly at Lee Sungmin’s expression.
“What? I’m just letting you know there is such a way. I’m telling you because I like you. I’ll tell you this much now, it’s not a bad opportunity. It is also the favour of this elder.”
Heoju turned into fog and disappeared, leaving those words behind. Lee Sungmin sighed deeply, feeling the dream coming to an end.
“You enter into someone else’s dream without permission, say what you want to say and disappear.”
As he grumbled like that, Lee Sungmin’s consciousness drifted away.
He opened his eyes to the sound of birds chirping. Lee Sungmin pushed away the blanket over his body. He focused on the nearby sound of breathing and noticed that Rubia was curled up under the bed, fast asleep.
“I guess I forgot.”
Lee Sungmin muttered and picked her up. He lifted Rubia’s body and put it on the bed. Maybe she had entered into a deep slumber. Rubia only let out a whispering breath but did not open her eyes. The spear containing Heoju was standing nearby.
[What are you going to do today?]
‘I haven’t fully recovered yet.’
Although he consumed several potions one after another, his body still had many problems. Lee Sungmin sat on the floor, ignoring Heoju. Then, he took out the Greater and Lesser Restoration Pills as well as the Magic Jewel Pill from his interdimensional pocket.
Heoju said that consuming them would not cause any major problems. Lee Sungmin first put the Greater and Lesser Restoration half-pills in his mouth. All of the qi entered his dantian without any loss. It was a lot larger than it used to be a few days ago. It was natural since he took the best restoration elixir of Shaolin. Lee Sungmin focused on his dantian and absorbed the pill.
‘I can see why people go crazy in search of dungeons.’
Lee Sungmin poked his tongue out after confirming that all the qi from the Magic Jewel Pill had entered his dantian. He wasn’t particularly concerned by the benefits of the Magic Jewel Pill. The quantity of inner force provided wasn’t as high as the Greater Restoration Pill or the Lesser Restoration Pill, but it was great to immediately gain strength without needing him to refine it at all. In addition to such a pill, it was also possible to obtain Orichalcum, which was pure enough for a master blacksmith to go crazy over. Thinking about it this way, it was only natural that many would wander in search of dungeons.
‘Come to think of it, there’s also the Eighteen Dragon Subduing Palms.’
Lee Sungmin took out the Eighteen Dragon Subduing Palms manual from his interdimensional pocket. How should he dispose of it? He wanted to sell it through Erebrisa as well, but it was unlikely that it would fetch a very good price, considering what they had said about the Hundred Step Manual last time.
‘Shall I take it to the Wandering Sect?’
Of course not right now. First, he needed to receive information related to Baek Sogo and Heoju, which he had commissioned through Erebrisa. , he had to get answers from Preskan.
‘I have to go north.’
He was going to follow Grandmaster Bulyoung’s advice and search the North. He had to reach there by winter, so he had some time to spare, but he didn’t have enough time to stop by the Wandering Sect.
Lee Sungmin began cultivating by circulating his inner qi and discovered the existence of a strange force at the bottom of his dantian. It stood alone without mixing with his inner qi.
‘What the hell is this now?’
Lee Sungmin stopped cultivating and asked Heoju. Heoju replied to him with a grave expression.
[This is my remnant. It is the trace of your spiritual connection with me.]
‘It’s annoying. Can’t you clean it up?’
[Let it be.]
‘Isn’t this ability adversely affecting me?’
[You’re worried about things adversely affecting you when you’ve got a monster’s heart in your body? There’s nothing wrong with it, so you can ignore it.]
Lee Sungmin nodded his head, seemingly convinced in response to Heoju’s words. He entered into a trance as he immersed himself into his cultivation. Each breath that he took swirled around his body, pushed by a tremendous amount of inner qi – surrounding him with a purple glow.
It was noon when he opened his eyes.