Chapter 415: That Bastard is Here (1)

Flash.

I got up immediately after opening my eyes. I then used Qi to check my body’s condition right after.

Once my Qi left my Dantian and made a loop around my body, I was able to let go of the breath I was holding.

Whew.

Thankfully, there doesn’t seem to be any problems.

I didn’t feel anything wrong with my body.

Though if I had to pick something out, I suppose my head hurt a little.

I was used to headaches in my life though, so I was fine with it.

After confirming that I was okay, I clicked my tongue. I was reminded of what happened.

Tsk…

All I was able to accomplish was barely light up the area around me.

I was referring to when I used Red Heaven in attempt to push away Dark King’s Secret Art that acted as a territorial field.

The Red Heaven too also affected areas around the user, so I wondered if it would work, but I failed to push the Dark King’s field away in the end.

It felt as if the field made by the Dark King vibrated in order to defend against the Red Heaven, but that was all.

That’s disappointing.

I smirked after being reminded of what happened.

Disappointing my ass.

I was never going to even come close in the first place, so how could I be disappointed?

I don’t know what made me want to do such a thing back then.

What would’ve happened if I accidentally pissed the Dark King off?

I must’ve lost my mind a little at the time.

This damned personality of mine.

Me not being able to mature despite my age had to be because of my personality.

Right as I was about to stand up with a smirk after a funny thought,

“What’s making you smile for?”

I heard a voice from somewhere.

I turned towards where the voice came from.

The Dark King was standing on the side with arms crossed, and it was the Dishonored Venerable who spoke to me, staring at me with a speechless expression.

After seeing the two, I responded with a calm tone.

“Of course I’m smiling. I accomplished all the tasks you’ve given me.”

“Sigh…”

The Dishonored Venerable frowned after hearing my response.

I was a little scared by his reaction, but I had to say what I had to say.

“I managed to make contact with the Dark King, so what’s the problem?”

The Dishonored Venerable responded with a shocked tone right after.

“…I put you in there for you to come up with creative ways to survive, yet you became even more reckless.”

“Creative ways?”

His response only made me feel speechless. I was put into a dying situation every day, so how could I become creative?

“I’m telling you to look at all the things around you, rather than what’s in front of you.”

“But isn’t a bit strange for you to teach it to me that way?”

“I didn’t think you would overcome the challenge in such a way.”

I struggled against the Dark King for a whole month, so how would I come up with a creative solution?

The Dishonored Venerable definitely wanted me to gain something from that training, and it’s not that I didn’t gain anything from it, but it didn’t really feel like the training was all too useful for me.

“…I hoped that you would stop being so reckless, yet you became worse…”

“Who cares if I overcame the challenge though?”

“Yes… you are not wrong. It seems like I was wrong.”

Right as I was about to be surprised by the fact that the old man agreed with me for once,

“Child, you are much more insane than I thought. This was my fault for not realizing earlier.”

“…”

Who’s calling who insane?

That was the craziest thing I heard this year.

That old man of all people is calling me crazy? How absurd.

I asked the Dishonored Venerable a question while hiding my thoughts.

“…Then what do you want me to do? Should I do it again since this isn’t how you wanted me to overcome the challenge?”

“No, there’s no need. At this point, it’s right for me to give up.”

Give up huh. It felt pretty special to hear that phrase from the Dishonored Venerable especially regarding martial art.

“…Are you sure?”

“It’s obvious at this point. You have your own ways of dealing with things.”

“…Hmm.”

“I will not try to change that any more from now on, so do you as you wish.”

After saying those words, the Dishonored Venerable stopped talking.

Should I be happy about that? The fact that the Dishonored Venerable was giving up on me.

I don’t think it’s necessarily a bad thing.

The Dishonored Venerable likely gave up because he believed it wasn’t necessary to fix this part of me.

In that case, it wasn’t a bad thing.

That means I could do whatever I want, right?

Right as I was about to nod after believing that to be the case, the Dishonored Venerable suddenly asked me a question.

“But how did you know?”

“Know what?”

“The fact that the bat bastard’s technique is different from reality.”

“…Oh.”

The Dishonored Venerable was referring to one thing.

The Dark King’s power.

It seemed like a territorial field made by the Dark King’s Qi, but it was different in reality.

Every night I fought against the Dark King, my body was actually asleep the whole time.

I wasn’t able to explain it, but every sensation I felt was basically a dream.

Though I’m not sure how I could feel pain so clearly in a dream.

In my eyes, it was the most similar to a dream.

That was how I was able to come back to life every time I died.

He asked me how I figured this out.

“…I naturally figured it out since it’s been a whole month.”

Dying hundreds of times and over made me figure it out naturally.

It was impossible for a person to revive to begin with after all.

Though it is somehow possible to return to the past after dying.

That’s… an exception.

It was impossible to revive after dying dozens or hundreds of times in real life.

Moreover,

The fact that I didn’t feel that exhausted.

Every time I opened my eyes after the training was over, I only felt mentally exhausted but not physically which explained things.

I thought I went insane at first after dying so many times every night.

It at least meant that I was getting a rest physically.

However, this thought confused me more.

How does this power even work?

It was strange to call it martial art, and it felt different from a Formation.

The biggest mystery was how and when I was put to sleep by the Dark King’s power.

He must’ve done something in order for me to fall asleep, but I had zero memory of it.

That meant that it felt so natural for me that I never noticed it.

What is it I wonder.

I wasn’t able to come up with an answer no matter how much I thought about it.

I didn’t know what the Dark King’s power was.

I guess that makes it even scarier.

I felt like I knew after experiencing it myself.

The Dark King’s current level was so above mine I couldn’t even dare to look up to it in my current state.

I glanced over at the Dark King.

If this man was that powerful, it made me wonder how powerful the Three Venerables were, or how powerful the Heavenly Demon was who was responsible for killing all Three Venerables.

What about the Celestial Sword who managed to kill the Heavenly Demon?

…Haha.

What a big world I live in.

It made me realize once more just how far I still had left to go, and how dangerous my paths would be.

I carefully moved my body.

The sun was about to come up soon, so I prepared myself for training.

I didn’t have any problems with my body.

I may have been killed a ton of times in the illusive world created by the Dark King, but I was asleep the whole time in real life.

…Though of course, I can’t do anything about the fact that I still feel mentally exhausted.

I didn’t know about my mental state, but I at least felt physically refreshed.

Moreover,

Was it the Dishonored Venerable who stretched my body at night?

I was able to notice a slight change in my muscles every time I woke up.

It seemed like the Dishonored Venerable gave my body a proper massage every night.

It only made sense for it to be him after all.

I’ve felt his kindness during our spars as well.

Despite making me work a ton as if he was taking his anger out on me, I never once complained about it to the Dishonored Venerable because he intentionally controlled his Qi and aimed his attacks precisely so that he doesn’t damage my muscles.

Judging by that, it was probably the Dishonored Venerable who actually got less sleep than me.

Because of that, I listened to everything he asked of me despite cursing him out in my mind.

This old man was serious about raising his disciple.

It’s a lot of work for him to do it every day.

Massaging is not easy after all.

The process required him to be precise with his Qi so that he doesn’t damage my blood vessels.

I’m sure it was difficult for the Dishonored Venerable to deal with a Fusion Realm body especially since he was still only at Peak Realm.

Despite that, he took care of my body every day without showing any signs of exhaustion.

How could I complain when he’s doing all that for me? I’ll just have to work hard until the end.

When I stood up, the Dishonored Venerable got up with me.

“I don’t like how your eyes look right now. Have you been cursing me out in your thoughts again?”

“It was a compliment this time.”

“So that means you’ve been cursing me out before.”

“…”

Oops.

I fell right into the old man’s traps.

Cold sweat ran down my face.

I was wondering where his fist was going to strike.

His habit scared me.

I’ve been beaten up by him so many times that I-

Pow-!

“Shit…!”

I tilted my head and dodged his fist.

The Dishonored Venerable stared at me in shock as if he was impressed.

“Oh… you dodged it. You’ve improved a lot.”

“…What are you doing?”

“It looked like you were expecting me to attack you, so I did as you expected.”

“…”

Got nothing to say to that.

He wasn’t wrong.

“Anyway.”

“How can you just say ‘Anyway’ after you tried hitting a person?”

“Do you want me to continue, then?”

“Just finish what you were about to say. I’m listening.”

“Haha, you damned bastard…”

The Dishonored Venerable put on a serious expression right after he chuckled.

Each expression of his was scary.

I couldn’t tell if he was actually being serious or not.

“Anyway… you finished the task not in a way I hoped you to, but since you completed your homework, I shall keep to my promise.”

After saying those words, the Dishonored Venerable lightly tapped my chest with his fist.

“I shall teach you the One Fist technique.”

Finally.

I let out a sigh of relief after hearing him.

I can finally learn that damned technique.

“When do we start?”

Do we start in the afternoon?

It felt refreshing for me to learn a martial technique from a different person.

At most, I was taught how to use Destructive Flame Arts and its Mind Art in my past life.

Besides that, I trained alone with the First Elder occasionally checking up on me to give me a scolding.

After hearing my question, the Dishonored Venerable tilted his head as if he was confused.

“What do you mean when?”

“Huh?”

“We obviously start now. When did you think we were going to start?”

“Now?”

We are starting now? Isn’t that a bit too sudden?

When I showed a flustered reaction due to how quick the Dishonored Venerable was in making decisions, I saw him make a small smile on his face.

“Don’t worry. It’s not going to be that hard since this is the first technique you will be learning.”

“…I see.”

I wasn’t really worried about that.

I just didn’t like the fact that we were starting so early.

Moreover, I couldn’t even see the Dark King anymore, wherever he went.

Wasn’t he here literally a moment ago?

“You don’t seem satisfied at all. Maybe we save it for next time? I can do that if you want me to.”

I considered starting from the afternoon slowly, but I decided that it was better for me to save time instead.

“No, I’ll just start now.”

“That’s a good answer.”

The Dishonored Venerable nodded his head after hearing my response.

So then he’s going to teach me the new technique?

But…

Why isn’t he leaving?

Despite him saying that he’ll teach me, he was still standing still in front of me.

Moreover, he still had his fist on my chest.

I asked out of confusion.

“Elder?”

“It’s not hard to learn the technique. I assure you, that this will be the easiest thing to learn in all of Central Plains.”

But the Dishonored Venerable only continued to explain.

“…It is?”

It sounded rather strange.

Others were dying to learn the Heaven Destruction Art when they saw it for themselves.

Even I, who was almost killed by the Dishonored Venerable, believed that there was something unbelievable about his martial art.

Yet, the Dishonored Venerable said the first technique was that easy.

As I continued to wonder, the Dishonored Venerable spoke again.

“It’s simple. You’ll be able to learn it once you experience it for yourself.”

“Pardon?”

“You’ll do a good job learning it.”

…What did I just hear?

“What do you- “

Right as I was about to ask again,

Woong-!

“…!”

I felt a familiar Qi from the tip of his fist.

It was the Dishonored Venerable’s Qi from his Heaven Destruction Art.

I stared at him while feeling the chilling sensation.

“Oh, I’ll warn you now. Make sure you don’t lose consciousness. Unlike your training with the bat bastard- “

I instinctively turned my body before the Dishonored Venerable could finish his words.

Then, I started wrapping myself in Qi in order to protect myself.

“You might actually die in this training.”

As soon as he finished, the Dishonored Venerable’s fist struck along with a heavy impact, vibrating all of the surroundings around us.

I then realized.

After waking up from a nightmare, hell was awaiting me.

As Gu Yangcheon started to roll around in dirt in a forest somewhere,

Swish-! Swish!

A white-haired lady repeatedly swung her sword in a field filled with silence.

She must’ve moved around harshly as hair stuck to her face due to her sweat.

However, she continued to swing her sword more without caring.

Swish-!

Sword enhanced with Lightning Qi left a trace in the air.

It looked beautiful under the midnight sky, but her emotion and movement didn’t match its beauty.

Zap-!

Others became very impressed by her speedy swordplay, but the lady herself felt very dissatisfied.

…No.

It’s slow.

That’s what the lady felt when watching her sword.

Moreover,

It’s weak.

She even believed that it was weak.

There was no flaw in her sword or movement, but she wasn’t satisfied.

…This much isn’t enough…

I can’t stay by his side like this.

With that thought, Namgung Bi-ah bit her lips.

She then stopped swinging her sword.

“Hah… Hah…”

Heavy breaths left her soft lips.

How long has it been since she started training?

She spent the whole training swinging her sword, forgetting sleep.

Despite that, Namgung Bi-ah couldn’t get rid of the frustration she felt in her heart.

The lady who loved training her sword, was now struggling with unknown inner demons.

…

Namgung Bi-ah looked at her hand with a frown because of the sudden pain she felt.

Was it because she was holding onto her sword too tightly?

The skin on her hand was slightly ripping apart.

What must be done?

Just what can be done?

…How can I… protect him…?

Namgung Bi-ah frowned while thinking about Gu Yangcheon.

It was because of him that she was struggling with her inner demons.

Gu Yangcheon seemed unstable and precarious.

That’s what Namgung Bi-ah felt from him recently.

Gu Yangcheon who used to always act with confidence, now seemed like he was being suppressed by something unknown.

Despite noticing that, she wasn’t able to do anything for him.

That made Namgung Bi-ah feel bad.

I can’t protect anyone…

When the Lord of the Black Palace ambushed the Heavenly Dragon Academy, Namgung Bi-ah realized how weak she was.

At the time, she wasn’t able to do anything.

She was only able to escape from danger thanks to Tang Soyeol sacrificing herself, and she had to be saved by ‘him’.

She wondered.

I…

Just what was she?

She endlessly trained her sword hoping to escape from the stenches that filled the world, and she was able to escape once she found him.

Then, what was she swinging her sword for now?

…I just want to be by his side…

Namgung Bi-ah answered her own question, but she felt like she was missing something.

However, she was fine not being able to convince herself. That answer was enough for her.

I have to… protect him…

She wanted to protect him from the things that made him feel worse.

Others may see him as almighty and powerful, but she didn’t see Gu Yangcheon that way.

Gu Yangcheon seemed as if he wanted to collapse any moment, but he was holding on because he had many people to protect.

With that thought, Namgung Bi-ah picked up her sword again, using her injured hand.

…I…

She wondered how she could protect him.

It was impossible for her because of how weak she was.

She couldn’t even touch the White Ripple Sword’s clothes, let alone the Black Palace Lord.

She then even lost against the swordman who went by the title, Water Dragon.

How could she protect anyone at this rate?

Dribble.

Blood started to leak from the lips she was biting down.

She wasn’t able to accept her useless self.

“…I can’t… let this go on…”

She had to find a way.

To find a way to get stronger.

Then, she’ll be able to stand by his side and protect him.

She was determined to find it.

Zap.

She started swinging her sword again.

Namgung Bi-ah was already exhausted, but she didn’t stop.

She thought to herself.

She thought about the conversation she had with her father a few days before her trip to Sichuan.

[Your grandfather wants to see you.]

Namgung Jin said these words to Namgung Bi-ah before returning to Anhui.

The greatest of Namgung Clan, one of the Three Venerables, the Heavenly Venerable wanted to see Namgung Bi-ah.

[He said that it’s a good timing, since you planned on going to Sichuan.]

[…Why…?]

When Namgung Bi-ah asked why the Heavenly Venerable found it glad, Namgung Jin responded this way.

[He said that he has a business in Sichuan as well. Do make sure to visit him when you arrive.]

[…]

Namgung Bi-ah thought to herself while thinking about the conversation.

Her brother may have been understandable, but she and the Heavenly Venerable didn’t have much of a relationship.

They’ve seen each other a few times from far away, but they barely faced each other directly.

However, Namgung Bi-ah was already prepared to meet the Heavenly Venerable.

I have to become stronger.

Considering he was Namgung Clan’s sky and one of the Three Venerables, she believed that the Heavenly Venerable was capable of opening a path for her.

She was determined to become stronger.

She had to become much more powerful.

She couldn’t afford to stay at her current level if she wanted to protect him.

Along with that thought, Namgung Bi-ah continued to swing her sword.