Chapter 109 : Chapter 109

Chapter 109: Supernatural Power and Mysterious Phenomena (1)

The gathering of no less than five thousand ruffians.

In the current era, which had not experienced the great war of the Great War of Righteousness and Evil, it was not an easy thing to see such a military force with one's own eyes.

“Surround the vicinity without any gaps.”

“Yes, big brother!”

At Gangpae’s command, the five thousand ruffians moved swiftly.

It did not take long for a human net, which would not be lacking even when compared to the Murim Alliance’s Heavenly Net, to be spread.

“younger brother Myeong, what should we do now?”

Gangpae, who was used to making decisions and giving commands independently, sought another person’s opinion.

It wasn't because the other person was the superstar of the Jianghu Murim with the renowned name of the Divine Dragon of Dancheon, but because he was a younger brother whom he had sincerely accepted.

Furthermore, it was because that younger brother was a true man even in Gangpae’s acknowledged opinion.

“There is no other way but a frontal breakthrough.”

Dancheon Myeong answered resolutely.

“There is a hostage inside.”

It was the point that Gangpae was concerned about.

Leaving aside the feelings of admiration, if Yeo-wol were to be sacrificed, wouldn't this operation be no different from a failure?

“We just have to make sure there are no problems.”

Although he did not provide any evidence, the reason why it was trustworthy was because his younger brother, Dancheon Myeong, had the expression of a true man.

“Good.”

Gangpae had a thought that he had found a good younger brother.

***

A situation with a hostage is truly ambiguous.

When I am stronger than the enemy holding the hostage, that ambiguity can be said to become even more powerful.

I can easily subdue the opponent, but I cannot move carelessly because I am worried about the hostage’s safety.

The more precious the hostage is to me, the stronger that tendency becomes.

But if you ask if the opponent who has taken the hostage is free, that is not the case either.

This is because the moment the hostage disappears, it is a foregone conclusion that a powerful enemy will crush them.

Not just crush them, but since they know that they will rush at them like a wolf with the sole intention of revenge, the culprit also has no choice but to be careful.

In the end, everyone becomes in an unfree state.

The conclusion is this.

The culprit who stages a hostage situation is placed in a self-contradictory situation where they must seize the initiative on the premise of harming the hostage, while at the same time, protecting the hostage’s safety more than anyone else.

In the end, one must know the essence.

A hostage situation should not be seen as a forum for discussing whether to save or not to save, but as a field of struggle to seize the initiative.

And one must know that the initiative is taken by the one who moves first.

For reference, this is not the result of rational thinking.

-Myeong-gae, abandon me!

-How could I…….

-Uaaagh!

-You dog-like seeds of the Demonic Path, you are now dead meat!

It is a lesson learned from the things that Myeong-gae, who had lived in a timeline that had not yet come, had personally experienced.

The Great War of Righteousness and Evil.

In that brutal war, hostage situations were in the realm of everyday occurrences.

Myeong-gae at that time was naive.

It was because it was the first time he had experienced a hostage situation.

But I am different now.

Although I know that my appearance looks like that of a greenhorn who exudes the scent of a second son of a prestigious family, isn't my true identity Myeong-gae, who has gone through all sorts of hardships?

I will seize the initiative and rescue the hostage safely. And I will punish the opponent.

I must not make the hostage situation a place of trade, but a place of monopoly.

The point where I am different from Myeong-gae is in the fact that I have achieved the Fifth Stage: Union and have attained a power close to that of the heavens, so it should be sufficiently possible.

Especially in the current timeline, since a hostage situation is an extremely rare case, the opponent is bound to make a mistake.

It is wrong for bastards who have never even staged a hostage situation to face me, who has been in countless hostage situations.

For success, I must first break through the first obstacle, the underground secret cave.

***

Underground Secret Cave.

It is a term that refers to a space created by digging into the ground with human power, not a cave created by the greatness of nature.

In the current Murim, an underground secret cave would be a special place used as a warehouse or a place where a very few eccentrics and masters leave their arrangements, but it was not so in the era of the Great War.

The reason was that, in the midst of the fires of war, the martial artists had realized the strategic value of the underground secret cave.

The underground secret cave is dark.

Unless one is so rich that they can embed luminous pearls in every compartment, the underground secret cave is bound to be dark.

In truth, since there was an aspect of intending the darkness, there was no reason to embed expensive luminous pearls.

In addition to that, the underground secret cave is narrow.

Especially, deliberately making the passages narrow was the key.

This showed a special effect in defending against a large-scale invasion.

Pitch-black darkness and a narrow space.

There would be nothing better than this in terms of cost-effectiveness for restricting the opponent.

In addition to that, since it was the most basic of basics to have the arrangement of a cunning rabbit having three burrows in the underground secret cave, it was also extremely difficult to wipe out the forces that had built the underground secret cave.

That's not the end of it.

Unlike a cave where nature has configured the space as it pleases, an underground secret cave follows human intention from start to finish.

This means that it is easy to install various traps and mechanisms.

Lastly, an underground secret cave secretly created in enemy territory is usually equipped with an Exploding Mountain Formation.

The Exploding Mountain Formation is a mechanism that has the same mechanism as when the entire cave collapsed when I touched a luminous pearl when obtaining the legacy of the master craftsman Heavenly Artisan, the Dancheon Sword.

It means that the opponent can collapse the underground secret cave with a single fuse if they so wish.

The memory of numerous Righteous Faction Murim masters who tried to catch the rabbit hiding in the cave being crushed to death when the situation went awry and the cave was buried with the Exploding Mountain Formation is not a very pleasant memory even now.

I cannot be sure how much the mechanisms of the underground secret cave have developed in the current Murim, which has not yet experienced the Great War, but it is right to be careful.

This was because what was in front of me was made by the Hidden Shadow, the originator of the underground secret cave.

“Should we enter?”

Brother Gangpae asked.

Since his iron fists would have always smashed through the opponents who blocked him and advanced, even if the Emperor Breaker Yeom Gi-ha had been in this place, he would have said the same thing.

“We need to think about it a little more. Entering blindly is not a good move.”

Although he had seemed anxious all along, Ma Sok, who had regained his composure upon reaching the brink, dissuaded him.

Ma Sok must have instinctively known that he had to regain his composure to rescue Yeo-wol safely.

“That may be so, but there is no time.”

Brother Gangpae also acknowledged Ma Sok's opinion but could not agree.

There was no way that top-tier masters would not know the importance of the battlefield.

Since the inside of the cave was the enemy's battlefield, it would not be right to enter carelessly.

Nevertheless, the reason why Brother Gangpae wanted to enter was because there was no other special plan, and at the same time, he was worried about Yeo-wol's safety.

“Even so, it is not right to enter blindly.”

“Brother Ma Sok, it's about Sister Wol.”

Grit.

At the same time as Brother Gangpae's words, Ma Sok's teeth, which had been trying to maintain composure, ground roughly.

“Do you think I don't know that?”

Ma Sok's momentum was so fierce that even the manly Brother Gangpae flinched.

“I'm sorry. I misspoke.”

“……No. I was oversensitive.”

But Ma Sok was a person with a good sense of reason, so he soon accepted Brother Gangpae's apology.

In truth, the one whose heart was rotting the most among them would be Ma Sok.

“Should we wait until they come out?”

Brother Gangpae, who had lowered his momentum, asked…….

“Waiting blindly is the worst plan.”

This time, I was the one who denied it.

“How about we send in smoke?”

“Oh!”

Brother Gangpae agreed with Ma Sok's opinion.

It made sense; it seemed that Ma Sok had thought of the method used when hunting rabbits hiding in a burrow.

But…….

“That would just be letting them know that an enemy is waiting outside, wouldn't it?”

“Hmm.”

Ma Sok could not refute my counterargument.

I remember that sending in smoke was mainly used in the Great War, but it was not a very successful method.

Since there was no time, it would be right to tell them the answer quickly.

“I will cause an earthquake.”

“Hmm?”

Brother Gangpae looked at me with a look that said, 'What kind of crazy talk is that?'.

Since there was no time for a detailed explanation, I decided to ignore it.

***

Communicating with all things in the universe and containing the universe in one's body.

It refers to the act commonly called qi circulation, or breathing.

A person who has fully contained the power of all things in the universe in their Qi Center becomes a martial artist.

Breaking the mold of an ordinary person and soaring, they would be no different from the supernatural power and mysterious phenomena that appear in folk tales.

But since martial artists also ultimately have a human body, the reality is that they cannot be compared to the magnificence of nature.

I have heard that in the case of sorcerers, not martial artists, they overcome the limits of the body with the art of calling the wind and rain and command the power of nature with their fingertips, but since sorcerers who can use the art of calling the wind and rain are as rare as masters of the State of Harmony, it is right to exclude them and think about it.

Anyway…….

The magnificence of nature is more than enough to make the existence of humans into insignificant creatures.

This is especially true for the strange phenomena called natural disasters.

Lightning, storms, tsunamis, earthquakes, landslides, volcanic eruptions, etc.

Disasters that humans cannot overcome became objects of awe and fear.

It was for such reasons that numerous top-tier ultimate arts resembled the appearance of natural disasters.

But.

A logical and rational-thinking informant should have doubts.

Whether humans can truly not fully contain the magnificence of nature.

It means, how can a martial artist, who has shed the skin of an ordinary person just by breathing with qi circulation, be so sure that anything more is impossible?

It means, shouldn't a martial artist who has awakened and expanded their Spirit be able to do more than that?

Of course, I know the answer.

This is because I am a martial artist who has reached the Fifth Stage: Union of the Healing Sage’s Mind Cultivation Art and has achieved the Five Qis Courting the Origin.

“Stand firmly on the ground.”

Without refuting my words, Ma Sok and Brother Gangpae unfolded the subtlety of the Thousand Jin Weight.

“I will be unable to use my strength for about a quarter of an hour, so I entrust the aftermath to you.”

Since it was a matter of perfectly imitating the magnificent nature, that much of a backlash was inevitable.

But this would be the best.

Rather than stepping into the dark cave of an underground secret cave oneself.

Perhaps because he had read the sincerity in my demeanor, Ma Sok nodded his head with a determined expression.

Whoooosh-

In response to my will, the energy of all things in the universe began to circulate in my body.

The strong energy that started from my Qi Center circulated to the top of my head, the Baihui acupoint, and then rushed towards the Yongquan acupoint at the soles of my feet.

‘Slowly.’

In truth, it would be a lie to say that I was not nervous.

Because this was the first time I was projecting this power, which had reached the Fifth Stage: Union and the Five Qis Courting the Origin, with all my might.

But it is right to believe in the time I have accumulated so far.

Chun-baek hyung, father Dancheon Gang, Uncle Yeo Baek, older brother Dancheon Hak, etc.

Weren't the sword debates and spars I had with them for the purpose of using my power fully at this very moment?

Gooooo-

The unprecedented great powers that had circulated through all the vital acupoints of my body began to gather at my Yongquan acupoint.

As the blood vessels in my body expanded powerfully, in response, the blood vessels all over my body bulged.

Pssh-

The blood vessels, polished by the First Stage: Body Reformation of the Healing Sage’s Mind Cultivation Art, could not withstand it and ruptured.

It didn't burst excessively, so blood did not gush out like a waterfall, but it was a dangerous situation all the same.

Normally, one would recognize it as a dangerous situation that might even call for Qi Deviation, but…….

‘It’s okay.’

I was different.

Sssk.

The efficacy of the Second Stage: Golden Body was repairing my body in real time.

An exquisite balance.

As much as the blood vessels had expanded to circulate a huge amount of true qi, my body repaired itself and withstood that circulation.

Rumble-

I had finally reached it.

It meant that the true qi gathered at my Yongquan acupoint had reached its critical point.

The power I have gathered now is my full strength, so if this is not enough, it will mean that I am still lacking to cause a natural disaster.

But the reason why I am not worried must be due to my conviction and confidence in myself.

Thud.

I stomped my foot.

Compared to the 'bang!' or 'thump!' of the foot stomps used to manifest power so far, it was a sound that seemed infinitely weak, but the reality would be different.

This was because, due to the small stomp, the true qi that had been contained in my Yongquan acupoint up to its critical point was completely transmitted to the earth.

“……?”

Everyone showed a dumbfounded expression, as if they didn't know what was going on.

“What the……?”

Brother Gangpae, who had the least patience, opened his mouth.

Fortunately, there would be no need for an explanation.

Ruuuumble-

This was because the ground screamed as if it were thunder.

Even to my own thinking, it was an art of supernatural power and mysterious phenomena, difficult to consider as human.