Chapter 70 : Rebirth (5)

The water bandits managed several remote villages.

Should I call it a kind of fox den? When destruction came upon them, they needed a place to temporarily hide their bodies. In preparation for that time, they chose a few temporary residences and watched them.

Sugujin was a village managed by the water bandits.

The water bandits could rush in and commit slaughter at any time. But as long as no harm came to them, Sugujin was also safe. The water bandits did not touch the villages they managed.

The water bandits did not want any changes to occur in the village. It had to be maintained in its current state. Of course, changes could occur in the village. How could changes not occur in a village where people lived? But even at such times, they had to report to the water bandits.

The reason why the Hui woman had asked Mongseol if she was a newlywed couple was to tell the two to act as a newlywed couple. Since it had been a year since they had come to the village, it was not a particularly new change.

There was nothing to report to the water bandits.

“How did they know we were coming and say there was a newlywed couple? They must have said it at least a year ago.”

“They create a person every one or two years.”

“Ah!”

Mongseol immediately nodded.

Since she was a Drunken Flower Garden assassin, she immediately understood.

They created a new person every one to two years… and when the water bandits rushed in like now, they would say that they had left a while ago. And they would create a new person again.

The fabricated person would be one or two… and this time, it was luckily two. It fit perfectly with Mongseol and Ah Geol. No, one of the fabricated people would definitely be a young man similar to Ah Geol. Because the person who would use Sugujin was Ah Geol.

“The people of the Red Wolf Squad are quite loyal. It’s been a long time since the Red Wolf Squad disappeared, but to see them still doing this.”

“Did the Red Wolf Squad really get annihilated?”

“No?”

“Huhu!”

Ah Geol laughed.

‘If the Red Wolf Squad wasn’t annihilated… is this the Red Wolf Squad’s headquarters? But these people don’t seem to know martial arts. If they know martial arts and are hiding it…’

Mongseol was newly surprised by the strong vitality of the Red Wolf Squad. No, she felt sorry for the Red Wolf Squad, who had to survive like this. And she was also very worried about the Drunken Flower Garden, which had to walk the same path.

* * *

Tang tang! Tang!

The sound of knocking on the door was heard.

Mongseol immediately raised her guard. The sound of the water bandits talking to each other was still heard from outside.

Although Sugujin was a village managed by the water bandits, they could not search it lightly. If the person they were looking for was hiding here, they could face a very big problem later.

No organization, no sect could stand against the Sacred Sword Sect.

The Sacred Sword Sect when it was just a martial world sect and the Sacred Sword Sect with the word ‘Duke’ added were completely different.

The water bandits searched the small village as if they were looking for lice. And they still did not go back.

“You can go out.”

Ah Geol said.

“The water bandits are still here?”

“They’re the ones left behind just in case. There are only three, and they’ll be leaving soon. Let’s go. Help me up.”

Ah Geol held out his hand.

Mongseol looked at Ah Geol with surprised eyes.

Ah Geol could not use his true energy. Naturally, his senses had also dropped to the level of an ordinary person.

And yet, he saw what Mongseol had not seen.

Not only did he observe the situation outside, but he also knew how many were left and what they were doing.

Mongseol supported Ah Geol.

She had been so surprised by Ah Geol that now, she could just be briefly surprised by most things. The number of times she just opened her eyes wide and let it go increased.

* * *

Mongseol had only trained all day.

Since Ah Geol had told her not to go out of the house, she had done all the training she could in the small room. Although it was perfect for energy circulation, the problem was the form training. Although she was training in the forms using her hands instead of a sword, since her movement technique did not support it, the flow was broken.

“Can’t I go out for a while at night?”

“No.”

“You’re not going to be guarding at night, are you? You’re underestimating me too much, I can face most people.”

“There’s no one among those guys who can be your match. But if you use martial arts, that’s the end of it. I guarantee you, you’ll have to face the Third Lord in less than one two-hour period.”

“If I just train in my movement technique in a secret place…”

“You can’t because you’re pretty.”

“…!”

“Anyone can see that you’re not from here. Are you a Hui person, is your skin rough?”

“Just now… what did you say?”

“What?”

“You said I was pretty, right?”

“I meant that you don’t look like a woman who has fought against the rough wind in the countryside. You don’t need to take it to heart.”

“Hoho! It sounds strangely good? It’s the first time I’ve been called pretty.”

Ah Geol closed his eyes.

Ah Geol had his eyes closed all day. Although she knew that he was in the middle of energy circulation, she didn’t know what kind of study he was operating.

The two were in the same small house, the same space, but they hardly talked.

She had keenly realized that her martial arts were lacking. She had to train in martial arts even to live.

Mongseol was desperate, and Ah Geol was also desperate.

No, it wasn’t just for that reason that they didn’t talk.

The two didn’t know what to do. What to say, what to do… they seemed to know each other, and they seemed not to know each other… it was awkward whenever their eyes met… so they had just focused on their martial arts training.

Was it because of that? Ah Geol’s body had recovered at a very fast speed.

Just as Mongseol’s wounds had healed at an unbelievably fast speed when she had been treated in Dongseung, his wounds had also healed quickly.

It wasn’t that he had a green line leech. He was just treating his wounds with energy circulation, but his recovery power was very surprising.

* * *

About ten days had passed since they had stayed in the house.

Knock!

Someone knocked on the door.

It was the Hui woman. No one else visited. Only the Hui woman came.

She would put in a day’s worth of food.

Mongseol didn’t even need to open the door.

The knocking on the door was a signal that she had come, and the door was always open. So she would open the door, push in the food, and then quietly return to the house next door.

When the Hui woman brought food, Mongseol would put rice balls and side dishes on a small tray and bring them to Ah Geol.

It had always been like that for ten days.

But today, she could not touch the food. She had not even known that the Hui woman had opened the door and had put in the food.

Chiiiit!

True energy circulated throughout her body.

* * *

Generally, the true energy that flowed out from the dantian moved along the Du meridian. It passed through the Huiyin point, went up the spine, and shot up to the top of the head. After communicating with the external qi at the Baihui point, it came down the Ren meridian like a shot. It entered the dantian.

This was the Small Heavenly Circulation.

Although energy circulation referred to the Great Heavenly Circulation, which circulated through the eight extraordinary meridians, the Small Heavenly Circulation, which used only the Ren and Du meridians, was also used.

Mongseol had also done this kind of energy circulation all her life.

Even after acquiring the first volume of the Blood Sword Sutra, the center of her true energy was the dantian. Although the Mud Pill One Sword was revealed from the upper palace that had nested in her head, her true energy was still operated with the dantian as the center.

“Shall I help you?”

Just as she was about to start her morning energy circulation, Ah Geol stepped forward.

“No, it’s fine. If you have the energy to help me…”

“I think I should help. Sit down.”

Ah Geol sat down behind her without any warning.

Mongseol sat down without any suspicion and crossed her legs.

How would Ah Geol help her? What was he trying to help with? There was nothing wrong now. The energy circulation was going well, and she was personally experiencing the fact that her internal energy was increasing.

Now was just right.

If she trained like this for a few more years, she was confident that she would not tarnish the name of the Blood Sea Sword Saint.

Mongseol really didn’t need any help. Moreover, Ah Geol’s body was not well, so it was difficult for him to operate his true energy. Although it seemed that he was also doing deep energy circulation these days, he could not hold it for long.

His internal energy could not yet support the energy circulation method.

Chiiiit!

She raised her true energy from her dantian. The true energy that had been pushed out with a strong force shot up along the Du meridian. It went up the spine and occupied the Baihui point. In that instant!

Chak!

A strange palm touched her dantian.

Ah Geol had pressed his palm tightly against her lower abdomen, her dantian.

It was surprising that the person who had been sitting behind her had suddenly come to the front, and it was also strange that he had touched her dantian instead of her Mingmen point.

‘Heuk!’

She was so startled that she almost lost her true energy. If she had, she would have immediately fallen into qi deviation. At the very least, she would have received internal injuries, and at the worst, she could have become paralyzed or could have died.

Chiiiit!

Ah Geol’s true energy rushed in through his palm. No, it struck her dantian. He had sealed her dantian with his external qi.

If this happened, even if the true energy that had stayed at the Baihui point came down the Ren meridian, it would have nowhere to go.

In the end, it had no choice but to clash with Ah Geol’s true energy in the dantian. There was no need to argue whether Mongseol’s true energy was strong or Ah Geol’s true energy was strong. The battlefield was her body. No matter what kind of collision occurred, the aftermath would destroy her internal organs.

It was a fatal attack.

Even if it were an enemy, it would be difficult to seize such a perfect opportunity.

‘Iik!’

Mongseol could not do this or that… she was struggling, holding down the true energy that was trying to leave the Baihui point.

Cold sweat was pouring down her face without her realizing it.

Ah Geol knew Mongseol’s situation well. He knew that Mongseol’s true energy was stuck at the Baihui point. And he even knew that if this situation continued, her true energy would eventually become a poison and would shock her brain.

What was he trying to do!

She had to extinguish her true energy.

There was a way to release it through the Baihui point, and there was also a way to gather her true energy in her fingers and strike Ah Geol.

But in either case, she would fall into an irreversible state.

Ah Geol was holding her dantian.

Her true energy also played the role of suppressing Ah Geol’s true energy. Although most of her true energy was gathered at the Baihui point, the residual qi spread throughout her body was pressing down on Ah Geol’s true energy.

Anyway, it was her body, wasn’t it? Her true energy was much more than the true energy that Ah Geol had poured out.

But if she poured out the Baihui point’s true energy, the situation would be reversed.

Even if Ah Geol did not intend it, the true energy he had concentrated would destroy her internal organs.

‘Take your hand away!’

There was no way Ah Geol would take his hand away.

The words she had said in her head would not be heard, and if he were the type to listen to words, he would not have done this in the first place.

Mongseol just poured out cold sweat.

She had to do something, but there was no way. And then!

‘Ah!’

Mongseol suddenly thought of something.

That’s right! There was one more place to store her true energy! She didn’t have to go back to her dantian!

Chiiiit!

Mongseol moved the true energy gathered at the Baihui point and pushed it into the upper palace, the Mud Pill Palace, the upper dantian.

She gave up the lower dantian and operated the upper dantian.

Chwaaaaak!

The boiling true energy subsided as if it were a lie. The true energy that had been boiling like lava disappeared without a trace as it entered the upper palace. It became as calm as when it had entered the lower dantian.

At that moment, Ah Geol suddenly released the true energy he had been blocking.

Then, a strange thing happened. The residual qi that had remained in her dantian shot up along the Ren meridian.

It was reverse flow, reverse current, reverse qi.

The Ren meridian was a path for going down, not for coming up.

‘No!’

Mongseol’s composure was about to be scattered in an instant.

In that instant, Ah Geol let out a roar.

“Get a grip!”

Kwaaang!

The moment Ah Geol had let out a roar and the residual qi that had flowed back up the Ren meridian had struck the upper palace was the same.

Attacking your own upper dantian with your own true energy? It was exactly that situation. It was the appearance of the true energy that had flowed through the Du meridian and the true energy that had shot up the Ren meridian clashing. The two branches of true energy clashed in one place.

Paaat!

The Ren meridian’s true energy that had struck the upper palace… disappeared!

Just like the Du meridian’s true energy, the Ren meridian’s true energy also became a calm wave in the upper palace and subsided.

The true energy of the two meridians had united. No, they had crossed in the upper palace.

The Du meridian’s true energy flowed into the Ren meridian, and the Ren meridian’s true energy flowed into the Du meridian. The two true energies crossed again in the lower dantian, and as expected, they continued to move on their way. And they gathered in the upper palace.

‘Ah!’

Mongseol felt an indescribable refreshment.

It felt as if all the dregs that had been dyeing her body had been washed away, and her body and mind had become clean.

Since the one true energy had increased to two, her internal energy had naturally doubled. Her internal energy had not just doubled. The two true energies had created a synergistic effect and had increased three, four times.

‘Bone Marrow Cleansing! It’s Bone Marrow Cleansing!’

Something that a martial artist would wish for even in their dreams had happened to her. Wasn’t it the Bone Marrow Cleansing that was said to be achieved only after three generations had accumulated virtue?

She sank into the energy circulation. She had no intention of coming out of the new energy circulation method. She wanted to continue to enjoy the lively energy circulation like this. She wanted to fully enjoy the refreshment.

(End of Chapter)