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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: Chaos
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Anxiety.
That single word described the atmosphere in the room.
Muyong Hye prayed silently, bowing her head as if before an unseen Buddha.
Peng Ja-ryeong, his usual composure gone, tapped his fingers restlessly against his armrest.
Peng Ha-ryeong paced anxiously, unable to sit still.
The other Peng Family members, bound by propriety, remained in their seats, but their fidgeting and anxious expressions betrayed their inner turmoil.
“Hey, how long has it been?”
“Only two hours, Brother.”
Yang Jeong sighed and watched Yang Kwai nervously jiggling his leg.
But he wasn’t much better himself.
“Should we leave this to the Peng Family and go spar?”
“Weren’t you the one who insisted we wait for the boss?”
“Well… yeah, but…”
He felt like he was about to have a nervous breakdown.
“They say channeling Qi into the upper dantian is more dangerous than other forms of cultivation…”
The upper dantian housed the spirit.
If the lower dantian was damaged, you could still live.
It might be uncomfortable, but it wouldn’t kill you or cripple you.
At least, not as an ordinary person.
As a martial artist, however, it was a different story.
That’s why even the Buddhist and Daoist sects, who valued non-violence, didn’t hesitate to cripple their enemies’ lower dantians.
And as masters of martial arts, they could do it cleanly, without causing further harm.
But the middle dantian was different.
Located between the heart and lungs, it governed the body’s internal balance.
Damaging it could affect the surrounding organs, causing lasting disabilities.
Respiratory problems, heart disease… but even then, it wouldn’t necessarily be fatal unless the surrounding organs were also damaged.
It would severely restrict one’s life, but at least you’d live.
Still, it was more dangerous than damaging the lower dantian.
The Buddhist and Daoist sects only allowed elders to cripple someone’s middle dantian.
“But the upper dantian… one wrong move and you’re a vegetable. Or dead.”
“Why did the Peng Family entrust their precious daughter to the boss so readily?”
“How should I know? He’s clearly extraordinary. And I heard she’s fourteen. She’s probably nearing the end of her lifespan anyway. They’re gambling.”
“I suppose so. They must be desperate.”
They whispered, careful not to be overheard.
Such were the struggles of those who had yet to reach the Peak Realm and were unable to use Secret Voice Transmission.
Fortunately, the Peng Family seemed too preoccupied to eavesdrop.
“I think the boss is doing this because of… well, what do you think?”
“It’s possible. He’d gain a connection to the Muyong Family, and…”
The fallen Namgung Family.
As the last survivor, he had a duty to rebuild it.
“And most importantly, the Peng Family has a Dao Lord.”
Dao Lord.
One of the fifteen absolute masters who ruled the Jianghu.
The Three Extremes and Twelve Lords.
The Peng Family Head was one of them, one of only two Dao Lords among the Seven Great Families.
While the Peng Family was considered weaker than the Xuanyuan Family, who also had a Dao Lord as their head, they were the strongest of the Seven Great Families in terms of pure martial power.
Their support would be invaluable in rebuilding his family.
“But I doubt the boss is thinking about politics.”
Just as Yang Kwai finished speaking, a powerful surge of energy erupted from the training hall.
“What was that!?”
“Did something go wrong!?”
“Young Master, we need to go in!”
“Damn it, even if he’s our benefactor, they shouldn’t have entrusted the young miss to an outsider so easily…”
The Peng Family warriors prepared to storm the training hall.
Peng Ha-ryeong realized she had to stop them and stepped forward, her voice sharp and commanding.
“Don’t be rash!”
The warriors froze.
“I anticipated this. And considering the benefactor’s strength, if it were a Qi Deviation, the effects would be far more devastating.”
With both the Family Head and the Elder Council away, he was the strongest martial artist present.
Peng Ja-ryeong made his judgment not as Ye-ryeong’s brother, but as the acting head of the Peng Family.
“We will wait.”
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Namgung-Woo compared his actions to the phenomenon he was experiencing.
He’d used his Ethereal Void Divine Qi to help Peng Ye-ryeong control the external Qi flowing into her Baihui acupoint and taught her the Ethereal Void Divine Art so she could control it herself.
‘There’s nothing wrong with this approach.’
Their conditions were different, but the underlying principle was the same.
His Ever-Clear Vision was like incredibly powerful hardware.
So powerful, in fact, that it could overload his system and damage other functions if not managed properly.
Peng Ye-ryeong’s constitution was similar.
Born with an open Celestial Gate and an active upper dantian.
Her spirit and intellect were connected to a higher realm, but her physical body was too weak to contain them.
It was collapsing under the strain.
She needed software to control this runaway hardware.
The Ethereal Void Divine Art was a powerful operating system, more than capable of doing the job.
‘Her prognosis, based on my Ever-Clear Vision, was within manageable parameters. So why…?’
Why was he experiencing this strange phenomenon?
“Precognition.”
“Precognition?”
“That’s… the future.”
He understood instantly.
His own incredible analytical abilities, combined with her fragmented words, led him to the answer.
‘I see… they’ve overlapped.’
Peng Ye-ryeong’s extraordinary perception, the gift she’d received in exchange for her cursed constitution.
His Ever-Clear Vision, which allowed him to perceive the secrets of the world.
The two miracles, linked by the Ethereal Void Divine Art, had created a synergistic effect.
She saw through his eyes, and he thought through her open Celestial Gate.
“I’ve had glimpses of the future before. But never this clear and expansive.”
He saw Beijing from above and it was engulfed in flames.
Her open Celestial Gate, combined with the information gathered by his Ever-Clear Vision, had foreseen the city’s destruction.
Which meant…
“It’s not far off.”
“No. Ten days at most.”
With her heightened perception, he’d managed to piece together some of the events leading to the catastrophe.
“A Ghost Gate has opened in Beijing.”
The strange Ghost Gate he’d seen in Wuan County.
The otherworldly power it concealed.
Her intuitive understanding of cause and effect had bypassed the intermediate steps and arrived directly at the conclusion.
“Let’s go back. We don’t need to continue the Qi transfer, right?”
“I want to stay a little longer. It’s the first time I’ve been able to control Heavenly Profound Qi so easily.”
She was fascinated.
The boundless energy of the universe, the Heavenly Profound Qi.
Even her extraordinary perception couldn’t fully grasp it.
But the world seen through his Ever-Clear Vision was so clear and simple.
She felt a sense of omnipotence, as if she could ascend to the heavens right then and there.
“That’s not a good idea. The boundary is collapsing.”
The edges of their shared vision were blurring and crumbling.
And beyond the crumbling edges, he saw their individual worlds.
“They’re merging.”
He shared her reluctance to leave.
He wanted to stay.
If they remained in this state a little longer, he could completely resolve the imbalance in his essence, energy, and spirit.
But if they stayed too long, their spirits would merge completely.
Seeing the future was one thing, but becoming entangled like this was dangerous.
“…There’s no other choice.”
“Have you fully grasped the Ethereal Void Divine Art?”
“Yes. You can stop the Qi transfer.”
Once was enough.
He’d experienced her talent firsthand.
“Let’s go back.”
He withdrew his Ethereal Void Divine Qi from her mind, and they returned to the training hall.
The sense of floating, of being detached from reality, was replaced by a jarring sense of grounding.
They closed their eyes and focused in silence.
She consolidated her understanding of the Ethereal Void Divine Art and stabilized the Qi in her upper dantian.
He organized the insights he’d gained from her connection to the Heavenly Gate.
‘I think I can merge my three Divine Qis.’
The Heavenly Thunder Emperor Divine Art.
The extreme yang, wielding the power of lightning.
The Sky Vault Great Evolution Divine Art.
The boundless, all-encompassing Wuji. [T/N: Wuji = Boundless / Limitless]
The Ethereal Void Divine Art.
The pure yin, finding fullness in emptiness.
Extreme yang, Wuji, pure yin.
Like the three components of the Taiji symbol, they maintained a delicate balance.
Each Qi resided in its respective dantian, distinct and separate.
But what if he could merge them?
‘Could I reach an even higher realm?’
It was a clue, a possibility.
A small one, but a significant step forward for someone like him, who’d already reached the near-perfect state of the Spirit Harmony Realm.
‘But first, I need to harmonize my essence and Qi with my spirit.’
He’d made progress in that area, thanks to this experience.
It was a matter of time.
He opened his eyes and found Peng Ye-ryeong’s face inches from his.
“What are you doing?”
“Um… observing?”
She pulled back slightly.
She’d been studying his upper dantian, or perhaps his Ever-Clear Vision.
She’d always been unusual, so he didn’t think much of it and stood up.
“Let’s go. Hopefully, not too much time has passed.”
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At the heart of Beijing stood the Forbidden City, the Emperor’s residence.
Completed in the 18th year of the Yongle Emperor’s reign, it had served as the heart of the empire for fifty-six years.
Even now, it was a magnificent and imposing structure.
No building was allowed to be taller, lest it challenge the Emperor’s authority.
But there was a man looking down upon the Forbidden City.
Li Zi-long.
The hidden power behind Beijing’s throne, even in this era of strong imperial rule.
He stood atop Longevity Hill, the highest point within the Forbidden City and looked down upon the Emperor’s palace, a blatant act of disrespect.
“Magnificent.”
He spoke with genuine admiration.
The Forbidden City was an architectural marvel, but he saw more than just its beauty.
It was a world of its own.
Built according to the principles of Feng Shui, with exactly 9,999 rooms, representing all of creation. Its materials were gathered from every corner of the empire, symbolically uniting the realm.
It wasn’t just the grand structures and overall layout. Every decoration, every tile, every brick held esoteric significance.
The layers upon layers of enchantments, tens of thousands of them, all working in harmony, would awe any sorcerer.
He still remembered the first time he’d seen it.
“But that’s also its weakness.”
It wasn’t truly the Emperor’s residence.
It was a shell, a facade for a false ruler.
The divine lightning that had struck the Forbidden City upon its completion, a sign of Heaven’s displeasure, was proof of that.
He looked up at the sky, a smile playing on his lips as he gazed at the Big Dipper.
His voice was a low murmur, swallowed by the wind
“Soon, the world will know who the true Son of Heaven is.”
The True Mandate of Heaven.
The true incarnation of the Purple Star.
Him, Li Zi-long.
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Thanks Chaos!
I think the actual name for this Li Zi-long guy is supposed to be Li Jing-long like the actual Ming dynasty general