Chapter 310

When Kwak Yeon opened his eyes after completing his qi circulation, Taoist Cheongmu immediately asked,

“Little Martial Uncle, are you all right?”

A campfire burned brightly nearby. Taoist Cheongmu, Hu Gae, and Jin Cheongha were all watching him.

“Little Martial Uncle, why aren’t you saying anything?”

Cheongmu’s round eyes were filled with worry and unease as he asked again.

Recalling how he had felt when he regained consciousness after collapsing in the ship’s cabin, Kwak Yeon answered,

“Brother Cheongmu, I’m fine.”

“R-Really?”

“You know disciples of Samryeong Palace must never lie. I truly am fine.”

He was not merely saying so to reassure Cheongmu. His body and mind genuinely felt well.

In fact, he felt better than before.

Completely emptying his dantian and filling it anew seemed to have refined his inner power and true qi to an even greater purity.

It’s the effect of the Honwonmusang Technique.

Kwak Yeon could feel that the Honwonmusang Technique, which had remained stagnant for some time, had grown in step with his enlightenment into the Formless Sword.

It was an opportunity no less extraordinary than obtaining the Formless Sword itself.

The higher one advanced in the Honwonmusang Technique, the more difficult it became to break through to the next stage—more than twice as difficult as the stage before.

“Then that’s a real relief.”

Tears welled in Cheongmu’s eyes, now as wide as brass bells.

“You were really strange earlier, Little Martial Uncle. I was scared you might turn into an Infant like Grand-Master Uncle Unseon.”

At Cheongmu’s sudden mention of the Infant, Unseon Taoist’s primordial spirit, Kwak Yeon could not help asking,

“Brother Cheongmu, what do you mean?”

“Smoke came pouring out of your body. Then it shook and gathered into five different colors. I’ve never seen flowers that strange before.”

Hu Gae, who had been listening in silence, could no longer restrain himself and cut in.

“Taoist Cheongmu, those were not flowers. That phenomenon is called the Five Qi Converging at the Origin. It appears when an internal master of the highest attainment finishes circulating qi—the five energies of water, metal, wood, fire, and earth separate and settle into their proper places.”

Cheongmu whipped his head around and shouted,

“Big Beggar, those were flowers!”

Why does this damned Taoist shout at me every chance he gets?

Hu Gae’s temper flared, but as befitted the Sub-Branch Master of the greatest beggar organization under heaven, he endured it and replied,

“Taoist Cheongmu, flowers bloom from grass and trees. People cannot bloom flowers.”

Surely even someone as lacking in wisdom as Cheongmu could understand when it was explained that plainly.

“Big Beggar, do you think I’m stupid? Of course people can’t bloom flowers.”

Hearing that, Hu Gae nodded, thinking Cheongmu possessed at least that much sense.

“I’m glad you understand.”

“But our Little Martial Uncle is different from other people.”

“...!”

Realizing Cheongmu fully intended to insist that the Five Qi Converging at the Origin had been flowers, Hu Gae said,

“Taoist Cheongmu, I know Brother Kwak is special as well. But whatever else he may be, what appeared earlier was not a flower.”

“It was! It bloomed, then it withered.”

“...?”

Faced with Cheongmu’s utterly simple logic, Hu Gae had nothing left to say.

Perhaps because he still resented all the times Cheongmu had gotten the better of him, he had stubbornly tried to make the Taoist understand. Now he only felt foolish.

He nodded readily.

“Fine. Then let us call it a flower.”

“It really was a flower!”

Cheongmu bristled, then turned to Kwak Yeon.

“Little Martial Uncle, that was a flower, right?”

A smile touched Kwak Yeon’s lips.

“If it looked like a flower to you, Brother Cheongmu, then it was a flower.”

Cheongmu’s expression brightened at once, and he glared triumphantly at Hu Gae.

“See, Big Beggar? I was right. If Little Martial Uncle says so, then that’s what it is.”

Hu Gae nodded with a weary expression.

“Taoist Cheongmu, it seems I must have seen it wrong.”

There was no reason to continue such a pointless war of nerves, so he surrendered without resistance.

Cheongmu puffed up like a triumphant child and sprang to his feet.

“Ah, Little Martial Uncle must be hungry. I’ll hurry and make wild-ginseng porridge.”

“Brother Cheongmu, I’m all right.”

“No! You haven’t eaten all day.”

Cheongmu noisily grabbed his travel bag and bounded over to the campfire.

Kwak Yeon raised his head and looked toward the sunken ceiling of the cavern.

Cheongmu’s words about the entire day had made him wonder how long he had spent circulating qi.

“...!”

A black moon hung impossibly high above.

Realizing the cavern entrance only appeared that way because night had fallen outside, Kwak Yeon said,

“Brother, I must have been circulating qi for a very long time.”

Hu Gae nodded.

“You were. At least it did not last more than a day.”

“...?”

“Otherwise, the three of us would have had to stay awake all night. Sitting here like stone Buddhas nearly drove me mad.”

Beneath Hu Gae’s grumbling lay boundless concern.

Kwak Yeon’s chest tightened when he realized the three of them had watched over him the entire day.

“In any case, Brother Kwak, congratulations on your advancement.”

“Thank you.”

Jin Cheongha followed Hu Gae’s congratulations.

“Chief Secretary Kwak, please accept my sincerest congratulations as well.”

“Thank you, Lady Jin.”

Unable to restrain his curiosity, Hu Gae said,

“Brother Kwak, I know one should not carelessly ask about another person’s attainment... but to be honest, I am far too curious.”

Jin Cheongha also looked at Kwak Yeon with open curiosity.

“...?”

Understanding why they were so eager to know, Kwak Yeon answered readily.

“I have not completely crossed the wall yet.”

Hu Gae flinched.

“You achieved the Five Qi Converging at the Origin and manifested the Formless Sword, yet you still have not entered the realm?”

“I believe I have placed one foot upon it. As you saw, Brother, I did complete the Formless Sword. But there are times when the outward form is achieved before the substance catches up, are there not?”

“...”

“Thanks to the guidance I have received from several people of late, I was able to bring forth the outward result ahead of time today.”

Hu Gae nodded at Kwak Yeon’s candid answer.

“They call the Entrance-to-Divinity Realm the Realm of Opening Heaven, and it truly is a forbidding wall. Still, now that you have set one foot upon it, you will soon stand there completely.”

The Formless Sword alone already represented an unfathomably lofty attainment. Few under heaven could hope to rival it.

It was unquestionably worthy of both congratulations and awe.

After Hu Gae, Jin Cheongha spoke with a trace of disappointment on her face.

“Your progress is without equal under heaven, Chief Secretary Kwak. I am certain you will enter the realm soon.”

Kwak Yeon gave them both a clasped-hands bow.

“Thank you both for your heartfelt encouragement.”

Hu Gae waved him off.

“We are not strangers. What is there to thank us for? Isn’t that right, Sister Jin?”

“...That is true.”

The faint flush rising to Jin Cheongha’s cheeks was not solely the reflection of the campfire.

When Hu Gae’s teasing remark that they were “not strangers” left her flustered, Kwak Yeon quickly changed the subject.

“Brother, what happened here?”

Not long after the others had appeared, the sinister energy filling the cavern had dispersed, and the Ghost Generals radiating blue light had vanished with it.

“Brother Kwak, the situation appears to be under control. Hurry and circulate your qi.”

If he failed to replenish his exhausted inner power and true qi, his origin true qi could be permanently depleted. At Hu Gae’s urging, Kwak Yeon had put everything else aside and immediately entered qi circulation.

As a result, he knew nothing of what had happened before or afterward, so naturally he had to ask.

At his question, Hu Gae looked toward Jin Cheongha.

“Sister Jin understands formations better than I do. It would be best for her to explain first.”

At Hu Gae’s concession, Jin Cheongha began.

“Chief Secretary Kwak, what was deployed inside this cavern was no ordinary formation. In fact, I do not believe it can truly be called a formation at all.”

“...?”

When Kwak Yeon looked at her in puzzlement, she continued carefully,

“At least... not as far as I know.”

Her voice trailed off, and Hu Gae stepped in to support her.

“Brother Kwak, I think the same. A formation deceives the five senses. It does not directly take human life.”

Kwak Yeon had learned the fundamentals of formations in the Hall of Heroic Martiality, and his understanding was the same.

Yet the Ghost Generals had unquestionably attacked them.

“Brother, if it was not a formation, then what sort of phenomenon was it?”

At Kwak Yeon’s question, Hu Gae once again deferred to Jin Cheongha.

“Let Sister Jin explain.”

“...”

When she hesitated, Hu Gae spoke again.

“Sister Jin, Brother Kwak thinks deeply about such matters. He will not dismiss it merely because it sounds bizarre.”

Pressed by Hu Gae, Jin Cheongha finally spoke.

“I came across it by chance while reading an ancient book on formations in the Ghost Night Castle library, so I cannot be certain it is correct. But what that book described was so similar to the phenomenon in this cavern that I cannot remain silent.”

“Lady Jin, I will listen with an open mind.”

“The book said that the Western Regions possess something similar to the formations of the Central Plains. The people there call it sorcery. What distinguishes their sorcery from our formations is that it uses spiritual energy to kill people directly.”

“Then the phenomenon in this cavern certainly seems closer to that Western sorcery.”

Kwak Yeon nodded, then asked,

“Spiritual energy refers to the energy of ghosts. But the boundary between the living and the dead is absolute. Should it not be impossible for such energy to cause real harm to a living person?”

The sinister energy filling the cavern could certainly have been the work of ghosts.

Yet the Ghost Generals that had appeared within it had unquestionably possessed physical substance.

Had they been mere spirits created through sorcery, they could not have shattered and been severed beneath his sword.

“Spiritual energy alone could never accomplish that.”

“...?”

When Kwak Yeon looked at her in confusion, Jin Cheongha walked toward the campfire.

“Taoist Cheongmu, may I borrow a piece of firewood?”

Cheongmu, who was holding a steaming pot over the flames, nodded.

“Sister Jin can take as much as she wants.”

Hu Gae’s brow furrowed involuntarily.

Had he been the one asking, Cheongmu would never have given him any.

“Thank you.”

Jin Cheongha pulled a well-burning piece of wood from the fire and hurled it into the distance.

WHOOSH!

The burning wood illuminated the darkness as it flew, revealing piles of stones scattered throughout the cavern and wooden posts driven into them.

Most of the posts had been split or broken, but several remained intact.

Kwak Yeon immediately understood where the firewood for their campfire had come from.

THUD!

The burning wood struck one of the stone piles and came to a stop.

The surrounding area brightened, revealing the posts erected upon the stones.

Bound to them were corpses resembling mummies.

Several of the mummified bodies stood with their arms spread, swords clutched in their hands.

“...”

Kwak Yeon frowned at the gruesome, unnatural sight as Jin Cheongha’s voice reached him.

“Those are the true bodies of the Ghost Generals.”

“...!”

“There were too many to count. You destroyed most of them, Chief Secretary Kwak, while the Sub-Branch Master and I broke the rest. The few corpses still standing remained intact when the sorcery collapsed.”

Kwak Yeon immediately understood why a foul stench had burst forth each time he destroyed one of the Ghost Generals.

At the same time, an enormous question arose in his mind.

He could not help asking,

“Lady Jin, those corpses were bound securely to the wooden posts. How were they able to move?”