Nano Machine c 51 to 60

 Chapter 51 Chapter 51: I will crush them all (5) After quite some time, Chun Jongsum began to regret using the poison on Bakgi. ‘Damn that poison!’ Chun Jongsum had learned about the poison because of a certain visitor at his home when he was very young. A middle-aged woman who hid her face with a red veil contacted his mother, Lady Baek. Chun Jongsum overheard their conversation while he was studying herbs. ‘How long will it take to see the result?’ ‘Possibly a year.’ ‘Good. Is there any way for one to notice it if they don’t have internal energy?’ ‘There is no way. Someone with sixty years worth of internal energy can burn the poison from the body while meditating, but without it… there is no way.’ ‘Good. I will trust your words then.’ ‘So… where are you going to use the poison?’ ‘I don’t know. What do you think?’ And the woman left. A year later, news of the Lord’s 7th wife Lady Hwa’s passing spread across the entire Demonic Cult. At the time, Chun Jongsum’s mother, Lady Baek, was also glad about the news since she hated Lady Hwa too. But the excitement didn’t last long. After it became apparent that Lady Hwa’s death was due to the poisoning, the Poison Clan and Lady Baek became the number one suspect. If it wasn’t for Demon Doctor Baek Jongwu’s claim that the poison could be acquired even if it wasn’t for the Poison Clan, things would have gotten out of control. The Lord became furious and arrested every servant who served Lady Hwa, but after finding out that the cook that had killed herself, they couldn’t find the real culprit behind it all. They found out that the cook had met with some woman with a veil, but they couldn’t find out exactly who it was. After Lady Hwa’s death, the Lord cut ties with every wife from the six clans. And as for the Poison Clan, Leader of the House Baek Oh had to step down from his Eldership. Baek Oh knew that the Lord suspected his family, so he couldn’t even object and he too was suspicious that the culprit might be his own daughter. ‘No! It’s not me!’ Lady Baek wanted to tell the truth to the Lord. But if things got out that the source of the poison came from her, that was the same thing as saying that her family was behind Lady Hwa’s death anyway. So she couldn’t tell the truth. She deliberately sold the poison, not knowing who it would be used upon. ‘Jongsum, my child. You must keep this secret between you and me. Or else, even you will be hated by your father.’ Lady Baek told Chun Jongsum to not say a word about it and soon passed away while suffering from the stress. ‘Mother…’ Chun Jongsum became furious. The real culprit was hiding behind the six clans, and the fact that his mother died because of it only made him angrier. ‘No! It’s not my mother! It’s not!’ However, he had no way to find out who the red-veiled lady was. So, Chun Jongsum decided to become the future Lord and find who was behind the incident. He would then wipe out her entire family to avenge his mother. ‘If it wasn’t for that b*tch, my mother would still be alive!’ Chun Jongsum blamed all of this on Lady Hwa, and thought to kill Chun Yeowun, her son instead. “Nnnnnnghhhhhrgh!” However, he was the one who was on the verge of death. All the bones in his body had been destroyed and he couldn’t move. He despaired and was terrified of Chun Yeowun. No amount of martial art training would allow him to defeat this monster. “Your bones have all been crushed, so I should finish it then.” Chun Yeowun then began focusing energy in his hand, trying to finish it off by destroying the internal energy within Chun Jongsum. This was to ensure that Chun Jongsum would never try to hurt anyone without killing him. ‘W-wait! No!’ Chun Jongsum, who almost had given up, began twisting madly. “NNNNNRGH!” Having all his bones broken and taking internal damage were two different things. With the latter, there was no way one could be a warrior anymore throughout his entire life. “Stay still!” Chun Yeowun pressed on the blood points to make him stop moving. “NNNNNNGH!” ‘Hmm?’ Chun Jongsum kept on trying to say something, so Chun Yeowun allowed Jongsum to speak by pressing on the blood point again. “Argh… ahh….” Chun Jongsum panted for few seconds. “Yyouush…. Mosher… wash keeled… nooot… bye… ma… crrrran….” His teeth were all gone and his chin was distorted, so it was hard to understand what he was saying. ‘I don’t know what he’s saying. Nano, analyze it.’ [Yes, Master. Interpreting from the pronunciation and lip movements.] [Your mother was killed not by my clan.] Nano told him with the correct pronunciation. “Huh? What are you saying?” Chun Yeowun became shocked and Chun Jongsum sighed in relief. He was trying to tell the secret he had been keeping all along, trying to stop his internal energy from being destroyed. But there was another reason for this. Chun Jongsum thought that if this monster brought out the real culprit, then the monster would go after the culprit and kill her in the most painful way possible. [The real person who killed your mother is one of the ladies in the five clans other than mine.] “One of the ladies in the other five clans?” Chun Jongsum barely nodded. This was all he knew, but if Chun Yeowun yearned for vengeance, then he was going to find out no matter what. [So please… don’t destroy my internal energy at least.] Chun Yeowun asked Jongsum with a suspicious look, “So… how do you know this?” “Nnngh?” “How can I tell if you are telling the truth that the culprit is from one of the other clans?” It was hard to believe that the Poison Clan was innocent when his mother had died from the poison. Yeowun thought that the Poison Clan and Lady Baek were behind his mother’s death all along. Jongsum then couldn’t find the word to describes, but if he had to tell everything, then he had to say that his mother was the source of the poison. ‘Nano, analyze his facial expression.’ [Analyzing…] Chun Yeowun activated Nano’s ability to find out the truth. “Is it true that culprit is with the other five clans?” Chun Jongsum nodded. This was true, so there was no need to hesitate. [No change in muscle movement. Chance of lying: 5%.] This meant that Jongsum was telling the truth. The truth was shocking however, for Yeowun had long thought that it was Poison Clan who was behind his mother’s death. “Then… does the Poison Clan… Lady Baek has nothing to do with my mother’s death?” At that question, Jongsum’s eyes shook slightly. He didn’t need to tell the truth about this, so he nodded. Nano’s voice resounded in Yeowun’s ears. [Detected change in facial expression and eyes. Chance of lying: 75%.] This was much higher than when it was used on Yumpa. This meant that the Poison Clan did have a part in Lady Hwa’s death. Yeowun looked down at Jongsum coldly. “I knew I couldn’t trust your words.” “I-ish nott lyeeeeing…” “Shut up.” Chun Yeowun then struck his underbelly. Chun Jongsum almost screamed from the pain coming up from his stomach, but he was put under silence by Yeowun as he pressed on the blood point. Yeowun punched again with the energy, destroying Jongsum’s internal energy. All the energy within Jongsum’s body began to dissipate. It was gone. ‘My energy! No! NOOOOOO!’ At the medical room, Doctor Baek Jongmeng did not go home and waited. “Hmph… should I prepare an antidote?” He was worried that Yeowun went out full of anger. Even if he had gotten stronger, it could be dangerous if Chun Jongsum used his poisons. Yeowun was the first cadet that Jongmeng had become friends with, so he was worried that Yeowun might get hurt. That’s when he heard someone running up the stairs. Soon, he heard guards talking in alarmed voices to go ahead, and the door opened. “What?! You!” Jongmeng looked at Chun Yeowun bursting in. He had someone on his shoulder, who was hanging like a rag doll. “What’s going on!” “Do something about him first!” Chun Yeowun threw the man down on the bed. It was Chun Jongsum. “Nnnnrgh…!” He had bubbles coming up from his mouth, almost dying. His entire face turned purple as if he had been poisoned. “W-what have you done? What is going on?!” Jongmeng was baffled, but he quickly moved over to start checking on Jongsum. And the bed next to it was where Chun Mukeum laid. He was dumbfounded. ‘This bastard…’ He didn’t think Yeowun would really bring Jongsum next to his next bed, right on the verge of death. Chapter 52 Chapter 52: Cool heads but warm hearts (1) The Poison of Destruction art. When one reached the fourth level, it allowed them to store poison within the body and use it when needed. The internal energy helped control the poison that was within the body, but if the energy was shattered, the poison spread out uncontrolled. “Nnnrggghgh!” Chun Yeowun was shocked when Chun Jongsum’s face turned purple and his mouth was full of bubbles. He wasn’t going to kill him because of the academy rule, but it looked like Jongsum was dying. “God… his internal energy is gone,” Baek Jongmeng gasped. He realized why Jongsum had been poisoned. ‘I knew something was going to happen, but this…’ He didn’t think Yeowun would destroy Jongsum’s energy. He was not a martial artist, but he knew how important internal energy was for a martial artist. Looking at all those bones that had been destroyed, it made him frown. ‘You should’ve stopped after breaking his bones. Why did you go so far?’ Jongmeng had many questions he wanted to ask, but he had to treat his patients first. Jongmeng quickly placed needles over Jongsum’s blood points. He didn’t know what poison was in effect, so he had to get the poison out of the body first. The blood points began to spill black blood with the foul stench of poison coming from it. “Ugh!” It was a powerful poison that should have killed a normal person already. Fortunately, Jongsum was not dead yet. ‘Is he immune to poison?’ But even then, this level of poison was going to kill Chun Jongsum anyway. “Oh! I have that!” Jongmeng then quickly went through his desk drawers and found a red silk pouch that had small medicinal pills inside. ‘I’m so lucky that I have these.’ It was what his teacher Baek Jongwu told him to take. Jongmeng put on a glove so he would not come into contact with the poison and opened Jongsum’s mouth and place three pills inside. “You might feel like dying, but swallow it if you want to live. Go on!” Chun Jongsum was dying, but he barely swallowed it. As Jongmeng was doing his best to save Jongsum, Yeowun looked on with a serious expression. ‘I didn’t expect this.’ He didn’t know anything about poisons, so there was no way Yeowun would have known this. If Jongsum died, Yeowun was going to be expelled. ‘Dammit. I can’t let him die.’ He had gone too far, but there was nothing he could do now. ‘I have to let him live.’ The best way was to make Nano analyze the poison and detoxify it, but Nano said it was not possible to move into another person’s body. ‘Why can’t you?’ [It is against the system protocol. There is a lock on it that restricts you from doing it.] ‘Why is there a lock?’ [There is an embedded genetic code that protects the Nano Machine from being taken by other entities.] Yeowun didn’t know, but there were a lot of restrictions in the Nano Machine program. It was done to protect the current time frame from having highly advanced technology so that it wouldn’t be revealed to the public. ‘Then what should I do?’ “OH!” Chun Yeowun then found the blood that was on his clothes from carrying Jongsum. ‘Nano, can you just analyze the poison then?’ [Understood. Please place your hand over the substance.] Yeowun placed his finger over the poison as Nano instructed him to do. [Analyzing.] Chun Yeowun then walked over to the cabinet that held herbs while Nano was analyzing. Jongmeng was busy tending to Jongsum so he didn’t know what Yeowun was doing. [Analyzing complete. Total of seven poisons have been mixed, thus making a new poisonous effect.] ‘Analyze the way to the mix herbs I see right now to detoxify it. Hurry!’ [Understood.] Nano then began searching through the medicinal herbs that Yeowunw was looking at. Soon, Yeowun was what herbs he had to use and how much through Augmented Reality. Yeowun quickly grabbed what he needed and began creating medicine soup. As smoke began to rise up from the boiler, Jongmeng turned toward him. “What are you doing?” He was drenched in sweat, barely relieved. It seemed like Jongsum was barely controlling the poison with the medicine pills. “Uh… I’m just creating medicine soup.” Chun Yeowun hesitated for a second but he ended up telling the truth. Baek Jongmeng, who was having a hard time due to what Yeowun had done, got up and tried to scold him. “What are you talking about! How can you even try… huh?” He was shocked to see the medicine on the table. All of the herbs that Yeowun had taken out were those that were used to nullify poisons, and some required to be mixed with others. ‘What? He wouldn’t know this if he didn’t study medicinal herbs…’ Jongmeng then tasted the soup a little with his finger. Medicinal herb mixture could be toxic if done incorrectly, but this didn’t seem to have any problems. ‘He studied medicines!’ He didn’t. Yeowun was only following Nano’s instructions. However, Baek Jongmeng did not know this and was astonished. Even then, making a medicine soup without knowing what it was for was still dangerous. “It’s not bad, but we need to know what poison it is to…” “It’s Sulfuric Poison, so it includes poison fish, poisonous mushrooms, plague insects, blue oak, and red extracts.” “Oh…” Yeowun quickly listed off the poisons inside Jongsum and Jongmeng was shocked. It was unbelievable when Yeowun didn’t even extract the poison to study it. “Doctor Baek, can you trust me on this one?” Yeowun had no time to waste so he begged Jongmeng. The doctor then turned to Jongsum who was still purple and told him to wait. Jongmeng then gathered a small drop of blood from Jongsum and placed it into a small bowl. He then began checking to see if the blood really contained the seven poisons that Yeowun had spoken of. ‘…It really is!’ What Yeowun said was correct. Yeowun probably knew what he was doing with the medicine soup, so Jongmeng then decided to use the soup that Yeowun had created. He brought the soup over and had Jongsum take it spoon by spoon. All that was left to do now was to wait. “We’ve done everything we can now. I have to keep him on the needles so that the poison will not spread.” “I’m sorry, Doctor Baek.” Yeowun deeply regretted doing something out of control. Jongmeng shook his head. “But why did you have to destroy his internal energy? Even if the basics of the academy supports the survival of the fittest, this… this seems like too much. Can you take the backlash?” Jongmeng was really worried. Yeowun was still in the academy, but he would graduate in four years and after placing the candidate of the Poison Clan in such a state, it was likely that the Poison Clan would retaliate. Yeowun spoke with a bow. “…Thank you for your concern. I will take anything that comes to me for what I have done.” There was no going back even if he regretted it. And he had decided to fight six clans from the very beginning, so it didn’t matter anyway. ‘Ah… you are still young.’ Jongmeng then felt Chun Yeowun’s young recklessness and gave him some sincere advice. “I hope you think deeply about every instance from now on. From what I have learned in the cult, it is more common for smartest ones to survive, than the strongest one. Be flexible with your thinking.” Baek Jongmeng hoped that Yeowun would not be arrogant about his own power and become smart instead. Thinking that brute strength would topple everything in the cult was the wrong idea. Chun Yeowun thought deeply about the advice. ‘Maybe… I was too reckless this time.’ His fast growth in power made him arrogant. He couldn’t understand it now, but he did feel like he had done something wrong after hearing Jongmeng’s advice. “Well, it’s too late. You should go back now.” It was almost time for the dorms to close. Chun Yeowun bowed and tried to return when someone spoke up awkwardly. “Uh… what about me?” It was the 18th cadet, Bakgi. Chapter 53 Chapter 53: Cool heads but warm hearts (2) As they walked out, Bakgi watched Chun Yeowun silently. Yeowun didn’t say anything, and Bakgi felt apologetic for what had happened. ‘I got him into something that I should have dealt with by myself.’ Bakgi was shocked when Chun Jongsum came in almost dying due to the poison. He too knew that Chun Yeowun was going to use violence when dealing with Jongsum, but he didn’t expect Yeowun to destroy Jongsum’s internal energy either. He first wondered why Yeowun had gone so far as to destroy Jongsum’s internal energy. That meant that Chun Jongsum’s life as a warrior was over, and not to mention, all of his bones had been crushed. ‘Does he not think about the backlash? Or is he that vengeful against him?’ Bakgi then thought about what would he have done if he faced someone who might have killed his own parents. It was questionable to say the least. Bakgi then spoke to Yeowun. “7th cadet.” Yeowun stopped and looked back curiously. “Let me ask you something.” “Yeah.” “Why did you destroy his internal energy?” After going so far, Chun Yeowun now was going to get all the fury from the Poison Clan. Yeowun answered calmly. “…I was just let my anger out of control.” Yeowun continued, “I was afraid that if I let him be, he would use poison on the other cadets also.” That made Bakgi astonished. Yeowun was more worried about the other cadets being poisoned than him being blamed by the Poison Clan. ‘This guy…’ He wasn’t just a reckless fool. His decision-making wasn’t perfect, but he was still more of a leader than the other princes that Bakgi had met. ‘He’s different.’ Chun Yeowun wasn’t actually worried about other cadets. He just didn’t want to see the poison that killed his mother spreading across the academy. However, Bakgi had interpreted it as Yeowun’s noble sacrifice and began to think that Yeowun was fitting as a leader. “What if…” Bakgi then tried to say something to Yeowun when seven cadets came running for him. They were Yeowun’s team members. “Master! Where were you?” Hu Bong asked with sweat over his face. The seven cadets looked like they were really worried and sighed in relief. Ko Wanghur also spoke with relief. “We were worried that you got ambushed. I was waiting for you to come out of the private training ground.” “Oh.” Yeowun then remembered talking with Wanghur to go back to the dorm together after dinner time. But when Yeowun did not come out after an hour, Wanghur began searching the academy with the other members. Yeowun apologized to them. “I’m sorry.” “No, it is good that you are okay.” Bakgi then looked at them and smiled bitterly. ‘He already has his own people.’ Bakgi realized that he always distanced himself from the other cadets, so even when he was a leader for the 12th group, no one followed him. Yeowun then asked Bakgi, “What were you trying to say?” “No, it’s nothing.” Bakgi shook his head and returned to his room. When Yeowun’s team heard about what happened between him and Chun Jongsum, they became concerned. Ko Wanghur of the Demon Fist Clan was also worried about Yeowun destroying Jongsum’s internal energy. Wanghur then gave them a solution to deal with this. “We have to grow in power for now. They cannot do anything to us while we are still attending the academy, but we are against one of the six clans of the cult. We must focus on growing in power while we can.” Ko Wanghur was big and muscular, but he was also very intuitive and logical. Yeowun agreed with him. He had to be prepared for the Poison Clan to retaliate in any way. And unlike Wanghur, Hu Bong was worried about another issue. “Master. I’m more worried about how the Chief will handle this issue.” The rules of the academy didn’t state that one couldn’t destroy another’s internal power, but internal power was like a lifeline to a warrior, so they weren’t sure about what the academy would do about this issue. “Let’s hope nothing happens.” Hu Bong’s concern became a reality. Early in the morning the next day, three instructors came to Yeowun and his members in the forest nearby where they were going to train. One of those instructors was Impeng. “You’ve done a foolish thing.” “…I’m sorry.” “The Chief has ordered us to take you to his room.” ‘Oh no..’ The seven members all became worried. They just hoped that Yeowun would not get expelled. If that happened, then Yeowun would be targeted by the Poison Clan right away. When instructors brought Yeowun up to the office of the Chief, they let Yeowun go in alone. “Chief, the 7th cadet is here.” “Let him in.” When Yeowun walked in, Lee Hameng had tied his long red hair to the back and was working on a document. Yeowun then bowed politely. “7th cadet, reporting to the Chief of the Demonic Academy.” Lee Hameng did not respond and focused on his document. The air went cold as silence fell. Soon, Lee Hameng finished writing on the document and got up to stretch his muscles. “I had to write an incident report thanks to you, so don’t be angry about me not responding to your bow.” That was what Lee Hameng had been working on. He had to report Baek Jongmeng and the other instructors on what had happened. Hameng pointed at the chair near the meeting table and allowed Yeowun to have a seat. Lee Hameng sat across Yeowun and looked at him with his fingers crossed. It was hard to tell what he was thinking. After a long time, Hameng said, “You are still young.” “What?” “Let’s deal with the work first. Let me speak first as the Chief of the Academy.” ‘As the Chief?’ Yeowun became curious and Hameng continued, “You’ve done some serious damage by destroying another cadet’s internal energy.” The problem here was that. Fighting and dueling behind the scenes were unofficially recommended by the academy, so the actual fighting was not a problem. “You basically killed a martial artist.” It was likely that there was going to be punishment for this. Yeowun’s eyes shook. This meant that he might even get expelled. “Through our long history in the academy, you are the first to do such a foolish thing. If we let you walk freely after doing such a thing, there will be others who will replicate such a foolish act.” ‘No…’ Yeowun put his head down. Hameng concluded, “So, as the Chief of the Academy, I hereby order you to turn over your yellow tag and stay for five days in the prison cell.” Yeowun’s eyes widened with shock. “…Am I not getting expelled?” “Expel? What nonsense are you talking about? The only expulsion in the academy is from failing a test, or killing another cadet outside an official duel.” “Oh…” Yeowun then sighed in relief. At least the worst-case scenario did not happen. Hameng shook his head. “Hmph. It’s too early to feel relieved.” It was as Hameng said. If he had to return the yellow tag, it meant he would lose the right to become a leader. After five days in prison, it would give him only one day to get the tag back when he came out. But would there be any instructors left with a yellow tag on the last day? ‘…That’s a problem too.’ Lee Hameng had given such punishment to show all cadets what will happen when one went too far with violence. ‘I was going to make you stay for seven days, but that will give you no chance.’ This was a small gift from Lee Hameng. He couldn’t bear to lose talented individual like Chun Yeowun, although he was really disappointed over this issue. “Well, so with that done, let’s talk about your foolishness as a senior graduate of the academy.” Hameng then unleashed his powerful energy throughout the office. It was so terrifying that it even made Chun Yeowun flinch. The reason why Hameng covered his office was to mask the sound that could seep out of the office. “I am very disappointed with you.” Unlike how he was formally punishing Yeowun, he now seemed very angry. “I had big hopes for you, and you’ve done something only a thug would do,” Lee Hameng spat angrily. Yeowun then thought Hameng was disappointed in Yeowun for destroying the internal energy of a fellow cadet and apologized. “I’m sorry.” “Sorry for what? Can’t you do your work better? You have no head to take care of your shit?” “What?” “Did you bring him to the medical room after you destroyed his internal energy because you sympathized with him?” “That’s…” “Of course not. You were afraid you might get expelled. Then you should’ve not have done that from the beginning.” “But Chun Jongsum…” “He used the poison that killed your mother, so he deserves to be killed? Is that it?” Yeowun was confused and the words got stuck in his throat. Lee Hameng had found out every little detail of what had happened. Baek Jongmeng had spilled all the details about Chun Yeowun, in hopes of defending Yeowun’s position. Lee Hameng scoffed and spoke with a cold voice. “You bring him to the medical room when you think he’s the one behind your mother’s death? Because you were afraid that you might be expelled? What a fool! If you were going to do it, then you should’ve done it right.” ‘Wait- is he…?’ Lee Hameng wasn’t talking about destroying internal energy. He was implying that Chun Yeowun should’ve just killed Jongsum. “You shouldn’t have let an enemy live. That will only create more enemies.” Chapter 54 Chapter 54: Cool heads but warm hearts (3) Lee Hameng got the report of what happened the other night when he came to work early in the morning. He quickly came to understand that Chun Yeowun had lost his control over his rage, and thus he was unable to comprehend the problem at stake. ‘He must have been busy learning martial arts for two weeks…’ Hameng hated Right Guardian Submeng, but he too knew that there was no time for Submeng to teach Yeowun things other than martial arts. It seemed that Chun Yeowun was missing out on real-life lessons. ‘I can’t just let him rot with his talent.’ Chun Yeowun had high potential, given the right lessons and guidance. Lee Hameng valued his connection with the six clans, but he was also intrigued by Chun Yeowun. “Do you know what follows for the one who fails to clean up after his mess?” “…” “It is death. The ruckus you caused is exactly what you are bringing upon yourself.” Unlike Doctor Baek Jongmeng, Lee Hameng was a realist who usually criticized and judged on the actual problem. “You. Why did you enter the academy?” Lee Hameng asked. Yeowun bit on his lips and answered, “…It is to become stronger than anyone else.” “Than anyone else, you say?” Yeowun noticed the hint of anger in the voice after he said why he wanted to become strong. He wanted revenge. “Is anger what pulls you and make you stronger?” Everyone had a goal, and a goal was what made people work harder. All cadets in the academy had their own goals. “Anger can be your reason to live, but you are also a candidate to the throne.” Chun Yeowun shuddered. “As a possible future Lord, will you be satisfied after getting your revenge? Anger is only part of the path you take. It should stay as your motivation.” The Lord was the Demonic Cult itself. If Yeowun was just another cadet, the goal would not have been that bad, but he was also a candidate to the future Lord’s throne. “You have to look at the forest. Your anger burns the entire forest, not just the tree. And it will burn yourself with it in the end.” Lee Hameng was now advising Yeowun. “Do you know what I mean?” “…I think so, sir.” “If you unleash your anger like a thug, it will hurt the people around you, and it will hurt you too in the end.” Hameng spoke coldly. “7th cadet. No, Chun Yeowun. If you want to survive and become the future of the cult, you should have a cool head but a warm heart. Or else, you will die before you even avenge your mother.” ‘…Cool head, warm heart.’ Yeowun etched the advice deeply in his heart. He had never heard of any kind of advice in his fifteen years of life. All he thought about was revenge and to put an end to the six clans that killed his mother. But he had never thought about what would happen afterward. Those thoughts cooled Yeowun’s anger. ‘He is right.’ If he only focused on revenge, that was going to be it. If he wanted to achieve his revenge and survive, he needed to look higher and farther. He had to accept his mistakes and amend it. ‘Well, he doesn’t seem like entirely idiot at least.’ Lee Hameng smiled. He thought if Yeowun didn’t understand what he was saying, Hameng was going to forget about Yeowun. But if Yeowun understood and could fix his mistakes, it was likely that Yeowun would grow to become a real monster in the cult like no one else. ‘And I will be the trusted teacher who gave him a valuable lesson, if it comes to that. Heh.’ Lee Hameng then retrieved his energy, hinting that their conversation was over. Chun Yeowun got up and took the yellow tag to hand it over to Hameng. “Thank you for your advice, Chief. I really am thankful.” Yeowun bowed to Hameng who had given him a life lesson. Hameng was satisfied by that, but he didn’t show that he was. “Instructors, come in.” “Huh?” After Hameng gave the order, the instructors immediately walked into the office. “Take him to the prison cells.” “Yes, sir.” Chun Yeowun was shocked. He wanted to tell his teammates about what happened and was going to give them orders on what to do while he was gone, but he didn’t think he would get taken in right away. “Chief. Can you give me a little more time before going to the prison cell?” Lee Hameng shook his head and snapped coldly, “No.” “At least so I can talk to my teammates…” “Your imprisonment will be announced officially. And, it is your ‘former’ teammates. They are now just cadets.” “Ah…” Chun Yeowun then moaned. He then realized what Lee Hameng did to teach him. ‘…He wants me to know the consequences of my actions reaching other people.’ Chun Yeowun was able to feel it very truthfully. His imprisonment was announced after lunch time to every cadet. [The 7th cadet has destroyed the 4th cade’s internal energy, thus destroying the 4th cadet’s chances of being a warrior for life. As punishment, his right to become a team leader has been taken away and he will be imprisoned for five days. All cadets should learn from this and never attempt such foolish acts within the academy.] This shocked all cadets. Even when the aademy had a basic rule of the survival of the fittest, destroying one’s internal energy when they were all in the same cult was beyond reasonable. ‘Whoa. He’s terrible.’ ‘He’s just not strong then.’ ‘He’s mad.’ ‘4th cadet… Is it Chun Jongsum from the Poison Clan?’ ‘How he dare attack the Poison clan? He will be killed right after he leaves the academy!’ ‘Or he might get killed in the academy beforehand.’ ‘Yeah, but who knows? He might have someone on his back.’ ‘Yeah. No fool will dare to attack the Poison Clan without a way to protect himself.’ The cadets all had different thoughts about this issue. Despite all this, at least Chun Yeowun was no longer an unworthy son of the Lord who was going to die soon. Chapter 55 Chapter 55: Cool heads but warm hearts (4) “Hahahahaha! He really is crazy! How did he even think about destroying the internal energy?” Chun Yuchan burst into laughter as he read the announcement on the wall. Chun Yeowun’s action was unpredictable. It was amusing, but it didn’t feel like he had made the right choice. ‘I thought the competition was going to come from three sides, but that won’t be the case.’ He thought Yeowun would be dangerous after seeing him fight an instructor, but this made him feel relieved. This way, Yeowun would surely fail the third test without even being tested. Chun Yuchan touched his three yellow tags and smiled. ‘Well, well. Isn’t it a wonderful thing?’ Chun Kungwun of the Sword Clan also liked what he saw on the announcement. Chun Muyun of the Wise Clan, however, didn’t pay much attention. He just glanced at the announcement and walked away. However, there were those who were beyond shocked. It was Chun Yeowun’s team members. Luckily, Yeowun had not been expelled, but they were now teamless. ‘There will be one day left when the Master comes back. Will there be any yellow tags available until then?’ Ko Wanghur was worried. He believed Yeowun was strong, but at this rate, it was likely that Yeowun would need to steal a yellow tag from one of the other teams. ‘It won’t be easy.’ Someone soon came up to them. It was Bakgi, the leader of the 12th group from the second test. He spoke to Yeowun’s seven members, making them confused. During dinner time, the mansion located west of the Cult’s castle, the home to the Poison Clan was full of anger. Four hours ago, they had received a letter and someone was carried in. It was Chun Jongsum. All of his bones had been shattered and his internal energy had been completely destroyed, shocking all the Poison Clan members. After reading what had happened from the Chief’s letter, they became furious. Leaders of the Poison Clan gathered at House Leader Baek Oh’s office. It had been a long time since they all gathered like this ever since the day of Baek Oh’s resignation from being an elder. All of the leaders had been looking at Baek Oh silently for two hours already. Baek Oh had the letter in his hands with his eyes closed from fear and a certain hesitation. A middle-aged man interrupted the silence. “We must do something! Leader, we can’t just wait until he comes out of the academy!” With that as a signal, others began to shout also. “Let’s send assassins! If we hire an assassin from the Kill Clan, we can do it quietly.” “No, how about we just bribe one of those instructors to do the job?” “We can just use cooks or servants at the academy to poison him to death!” They all had different opinions but they had the same goal of killing Chun Yeowun. They didn’t care where Chun Yeowun was. They wanted to kill the person behind the near-death of their prince. Baek Oh, who had been listening quietly, then opened his eyes and spoke coldly. “And if he dies… who will be the most suspicious?” The leaders were then lost for words. They were blamed for Lady Hwa’s death a few years ago and they lost most of their power over the cult. If they were to cause more problems, that might even be their end. “But we can’t just let him walk away after almost killing our prince!” Baek Munwung, the second son of Baek Oh, shouted angrily. Chun Jongsum was his nephew. He was angry that his nephew had lost a chance to become a warrior, but he didn’t like being laughed at by the other clans because they couldn’t do anything. “Fool. If that was that important, the Lust Clan would have done something already.” Baek Oh was talking about Chun Wonryou who failed the second test. She didn’t have her internal energy destroyed, but she had lost her right arm. The Lust Clan was also furious after knowing that it was Chun Yeowun who did it. Yet, they were holding back from doing anything. “After what happened a few years back, the Lord is distancing himself from the six clans and is looking for every opportunity to take our powers away. We can’t act foolishly.” Doing something to a cadet of the academy was against the way of the Demonic Cult itself. If they were to kill Chun Yeowun, they were giving the Lord every reason to persecute them. “Then are you saying we have to wait until he comes out of the academy!?” Munwung shouted, biting on his lips. Baek Oh answered, “That is how it should be… but.” Baek Oh looked down at the letter. He then stared for a long time at the letter and grabbed his staff. “I will need to meet the Left Guardian myself.” Late at night a day later, there was a big mountain peak far from the academy’s library. There were many caves on the upper portion of the peak where the prison cells were located. The academy did not have its own prison since it was made to train people. But this prison cave had a way to block the entrance from outside. Inside the cave, there was only one small candle that brightened the area. Yeowun bit on the hard grain. ‘Ugh, this is terrible.’ Chun Yeowun was given five days worth of grains and was locked here to train alone. The entrance was sealed tight and the cave was dark and stuffy, which made it harder to train. Nonetheless, Chun Yeowun didn’t feel too bad while spending his time here as he was training with Augmented Reality. ‘It’s fortunate that the guards don’t watch what I’m doing.’ The guards stayed on the outside of the gate, so he didn’t worry about being noticed. Yeowun then concentrated on training late into the night and now he was eating his grain. “Huh?” Yeowun then heard the vibration of a rock being pushed away. There were still three days left for him to be freed, but the door was pushed open and fresh air swept in. ‘Hmph.’ Then, someone came in slowly wearing black attire. It was an old man with a weird-looking staff. “So, you are Chun Yeowun.” His voice had hatred in it. Yeowun then focused his internal energy and the old man reached toward him. Then, powerful energy stormed within the cave, throwing Yeowun up into the air. Chapter 56 Chapter 56: Blessing in a disguise (1) Chun Yeowun was shocked. He had never felt such powerful energy ever since he had learned martial arts. Telekinesis. It required a very high amount of internal energy and a lot of understanding of qi, but it allowed one to even lift a person up into the air. ‘He’s a powerful warrior.’ Yeowun had unleashed 100% of his energy, but even he couldn’t resist against the power. And the old man was very hostile; Yeowun could feel it on his skin. ‘I will get killed if I don’t do anything.’ Yeowun then tried all he could to regain control over his body. As his muscles became tense, the body began to move slowly. ‘This boy has a tremendous amount of physical power.’ The internal energy was only at about sixty years worth, but Yeowun’s muscle strength was like that of a monster. The old man had seen many warriors in his life, but he had never seen a man with this amount of muscle strength. It was due to the Nano Machine strengthening Chun Yeowun’s muscles so that he could physically damage the blue pearl stone. ‘He resists too much. Hmph.’ As Chun Yeowun kept on squirming, it sucked too much energy from the old man and he made a gesture to pull him in. Yeowun was then sucked toward the old man’s hand. “Argh!” The old man grabbed Yeowun’s neck. The energy was so powerful that even a slight twist was going to snap Yeowun’s neck. That’s when Yeowun heard Nano’s voice in his head. [Detected powerful hostile energy threatening the user. Activating Emergency Defense mode.] But Yeowun put a stop to it quickly. ‘No, Nano. Hold for a second.’ Nano’s defense mode was to send out electricity from the body, but Yeowun thought the enemy was too powerful for such an attack to work. If it failed, then it was only going to make the enemy even angrier. ‘If this old man wanted to kill me, he would have done so already.’ Yeowun’s guess was correct. The old man could have killed Yeowun the moment he barged in here. Although he was still wary of the old man, Yeowun stopped resisting the old man smiled. “I wanted to come see the one who made waste of my grandson. You seem to have grasped the situation quickly.” If Yeowun tried to resist in some way, he would have been attacked with the incoming energy, thus damaging his internal organs. ‘Grandson?’ Yeowun’s eyes shook. There was no way he couldn’t understand it. ‘The Poison Clan!’ This old man was the leader of the Poison clan, Baek Oh the Demonic Poison Hand. Chun Yeowun was shocked. He thought the Poison Clan would try to do something in retaliation for what had happened, but he didn’t think the leader himself would come for him. “Do you know why I came to see you myself?” “Argh… are you here to kill me?” The hostility proved it. There was no way the leader of the house would forgive Yeowun for destroying the prince’s internal energy and shattering all of his bones. ‘Think. Think about how to get out of this situation!’ Yeowun tried to keep calm to think about it, but there was no way. He was going to die the second Baek Oh twisted his hand. ‘Am I going to die here?’ And when he came to such a conclusion, what came to him was anger, not the fear of death. He was angry that he was going to die before getting his revenge. ‘His eyes…’ The fifteen-year-old boy was at the brink of death, but his eyes were now filled with anger and determination. Baek Oh was surprised. However, he couldn’t allow anyone to make such eyes toward one of the top ten leaders of the Demonic Cult. “Hmph. You need some punishment.” “ARGH!” Baek Oh put his energy into the staff and smacked Yeowun’s stomach. The energy was so powerful that it Yeowun felt the immediate pain and blood soared up through his throat. ‘Now, you won’t make such eyes… huh?’ Baek Oh was dumbfounded. He had expected Yeowun to be in pain, but his angry eyes still remained. Baek Oh didn’t know this, but Yeowun’s internal damage was healed instantly by the Nano Machine. It still gave him pain whenever he was hit, but the pain didn’t last for long as the damage was healed quickly. ‘So, you’re not like any other child.’ Baek Oh shook his head. He figured Yeowun would be very vengeful, thus destroying the internal energy, but Baek Oh didn’t think it would be this serious. ‘He will be problematic if I let him be.’ Baek Oh was going to decide what to do with Chun Yeowun after meeting him, and now he decided that he shouldn’t let Yeowun be. Baek Oh’s hostility began to strengthen, and Yeowun spoke to him. “Are you going to kill me?” “You know the answer to that yourself.” “You are going against the academy rules if you do.” “Don’t think such a petty rule will control me. I will kill you here and melt your body with my poison so no one will notice.” Baek Oh didn’t think about leaving any traces. Yeowun then became silent for a second and then said, “You can erase the trace, but if I disappear within the academy, the Poison Clan will be the main suspect for it anyway.” Baek Oh raised his eyebrow at such a sharp thought. A fifteen-year-old boy at the brink of death was not afraid. Instead, he was thinking everything through rather thoroughly. ‘He really is dangerous.’ Yeowun had powers beyond his anger, determination over fear, and decision-making skills for each situation. All of this showed how dangerous he would be to the Poison Clan if he grew up. ‘I would have killed him right now if it wasn’t for the academy.’ Baek Oh became frustrated. He didn’t think to kill him at first. As Yeowun said, if he killed Yeowun here, the Poison Clan was going to be seen as the suspect and the Lord would not look over this. His main reason for visiting him here today was to see Yeowun’s face and warn him. “You are clever. But you still have a lot more to go. Since you hurt my grandson, you have brought this upon yourself.” Chapter 57 Chapter 57: Blessing in a disguise (2) “…” Yeowun knew he had made a mistake about this one. His lack of experience and uncontrolled anger had made it come down to this. “As you said, even I can’t kill you while you are here, but…” Baek Oh’s hand quickly moved over Yeowun’s blood point, freezing him. Yeowun couldn’t speak anymore, and Baek Oh continued, “Let me promise you this. As soon as you leave the protection of the Demonic Academy, you will be given pain beyond imagination.” Baek Oh’s eyes were on fire from the anger from the pain that his grandson had gone through. “You have shattered my grandson’s bones, so I will shatter your bones and carve out your flesh to feed it to the animals. Then I will destroy your internal energy and keep you alive so you can beg to be killed.” Baek Oh’s warning was terrifying. When he was done, he took something out from his pocket. It was a small medicinal ball which was even smellier than the Black Dragon Ball. He then sent a telepathic message. [I can’t just leave you, so I will give you a small gift. Then we will be able to meet faster.] “Nnngh!” Baek Oh then opened Yeowun’s mouth forcefully. Yeowun tried to resist, but he couldn’t as the hand that grabbed his neck increased the energy. “Argh!” Baek Oh then threw the ball down into Yeowun’s throat. He tried hard to not swallow it, but as the grip on the neck strengthened, the ball went down his throat. [It is not a poison that will put your life in danger. But if you ever talk about the ball to anyone, I will not care about the rules of the academy and I will come to kill you myself.] He finished with the final warning. “Nnnngh!” “You have been warned. I look forward to our next meeting.” Baek Oh then tossed Yeowun back inside the cave and flew out. Yeowun was stuck next to the inner side of the wall. When Baek Oh came out, the giant stone that acted as the entrance rolled over to seal the cave again. Baek Oh spoke to someone waiting for him outside. “I am done.” “You promised me that you would not harm him.” It was Left Guardian Lee Hameng. Chun Yeowun was confused as to how Baek Oh had come to see him, but it was through Lee Hameng that Baek Oh was able to come here. Lee Hameng heard the giant cracking sound coming from within and he was asking about Baek Oh about that. “Would you stop yourself from smacking once or twice while standing in front of someone who hurt your family?” “…” “Haha, okay. I will apologize for that. But it is not that bad, so don’t worry. I didn’t damage him.” “…Okay.” Hameng acknowledged it suspiciously and Baek Oh bowed. “Thank you for listening to my request, even if it was against the rules.” “Please make sure no one else knows about this.” “Of course. I will bring this to my grave.” Normally, not even the leaders of the six clans were allowed into the Demonic Academy. Lee Hameng was worried about the Poison Clan retaliating against Chun Yeowun out of rage and that was why he sent the letter to request them to not attack Chun Yeowun, at least inside the academy. Baek Oh then promised that he would accept the request only if he was allowed to see Chun Yeowun himself. Lee Hameng valued his connections with the six clans, so he couldn’t refuse such a request. “I will return.” Baek Oh then covered his face with his clothes and used his stepping skills to run down the peak. After checking to make sure Baek Oh had left, Lee Hameng glanced at the cave and mumbled, “You have four years before your protection wears off. It is up to you to survive after that.” Meanwhile, Chun Yeowun was sitting down in meditation. His eyes were closed and his clothes were blackened while the foul stench filled the area. It was what happened after he was flung into the wall. Yeowun heard Nano’s voice coming to him. [Detected toxic substance coming into the user’s throat.] He wasn’t sure what Baek Oh had made him eat, but he was certain that it was bad so Yeowun quickly ordered Nano. ‘Take it out of my body, now!’ [Careful analysis of the substance shows that if some of the toxic components are removed, it will help the internal energy activation, similar to the substance: Black Dragon Ball.] ‘What?’ [Toxic components are what diminishes the energy.] What Baek Oh fed to him was a medicine ball that made the target lose its internal energy partially. It was so harmful that it created immunity inside the body after one dosage and it could not be used repeatedly. If the one eating was unlucky, it could possibly erase more than half of the internal energy. A powerful warrior with over ninety years worth of internal energy would have ways to extract these poisons when swallowed, but that was the only way to fight it. ‘So, he tried to weaken my internal energy!’ Baek Oh was going to make Yeowun lose his internal energy so that he would fail the third test. However, Baek Oh did not know about Nano. Nano quickly analyzed the substances and came to the conclusion that if only those poisons were removed, the other substances were actually helpful. ‘So, I just need to remove those poisons?’ [Yes, Master.] ‘Whew… good. Then do it.’ [Beginning to remove the toxic components from the substance.] And that’s what Nano was now doing. Soon, the black ooze began coming out from Yeowun’s upper torso. It wasn’t a lot since it was from a small medicine ball, but the smell was too awful. “Ugh!” Yeowun felt sick over the smell when Nano’s voice spread throughout his body. [Successfully removed toxic components. The substance now activates the internal energy flow within the body.] Yeowun then began using his Breathing of the Thousand Martials to meditate. Chapter 58 Chapter 58: Blessing in a disguise (3) Nano quickly helped the activation of the flow of energy within Yeowun’s body. After a long time, Yeowun opened his eyes. He then smelled the foul stench from the black ooze and took off the clothes that were drenched in the ooze. “Ugh… this is really disgusting.” He was able to forget about the smell while meditating, but he couldn’t bear it anymore when he was awake. He then felt the heat within the cave. It seemed like the energy activation within his body let out some heat, warming up the entire cave. Yeowun then felt heaviness under his stomach and felt the weight of his internal energy. “Whoa.” He gasped in astonishment. The whole incident was a blessing in disguise. The internal energy that was just over sixty years worth now had ninety years worth of energy. Baek Oh’s action had resulted in helping Yeowun instead of harming him. ‘…He really did give me a gift then.’ Baek Oh’s small gift had turned out to be a huge gift. Chun Yeowun’s internal energy was now within the top five out of all the cadets. ‘I would have died if it wasn’t for Nano.’ Nano had given unfortunate Chun Yeowun a climactic turn in his life. ‘I was really lucky this time. I never thought the Poison Clan would go so far.’ He then thought that it was good experience for learning how his wrong decision might come back to him. ‘It was an important lesson.’ He was lucky this time, but Yeowun decided to not make any foolish mistakes. ‘So, what is this?’ Yeowun then got up and walked to the inner part of the cave. It was too dark to see in the cave, but Yeowun had night vision from Nano. ‘Nano, night vision mode.’ Yeowun was then able to see the inside of the cave. A part of the inner wall was broken when he was thrown into it by Baek Oh. ‘Something felt weird.’ Yeowun felt like the inside of the wall was empty when his back hit the wall. He felt curious, but he had to focus on taking care of the poisonous medicine ball he ingested. “Oh?” Air was seeping out from the cracked part of the wall. It was proof that there was space on the opposite. Yeowun then became curious. ‘Let’s check on it.’ Yeowun began to tap the cracked side with his fist. The wall had too many cracks in it and the slight tapping made it fall apart, making a small hole that Yeowun could crawl into. ‘There we go.’ The hole let cold air come in from the opposite side, making the cave a bit cooler. Yeowun then crawled into the dark hole. He then frowned. ‘Huh?’ Unlike his expectations of seeing a bigger cave, it seemed like a tunnel-like cave that connected somewhere else. Yeowun then got up and looked back. The cave wall was shaped as if it was made artificially to block it. The opposite side looked natural so he didn’t realize it, but it was very apparent from this side. ‘Was it blocked off intentionally?’ It seemed like something was hidden inside. Yeowun then thought about going in when Nano’s voice called out to him. [Detected faint natural light coming from the tunnel.] Yeowun became curious. The only possible natural light source in such a cave could only be from a firefly. Yeowun then began to walk in. The cave was located on the peak of the mountain, but this tunnel seemed to lead him below. ‘It’s getting brighter…’ As Nano said, the green-colored light began to grow stronger. He now didn’t need night vision mode to see anymore. Yeowun then deactivated the night vision and walked in. Soon, he then reached the closed end. It shined very brightly with the light. Yeowun then took a step forward and almost fell. The ground in front had a huge hole. “What in the world…?” Yeowun looked down, but he couldn’t see anything. He then jumped down. It was a few meters deep, which was not safe for any normal human to jump down, but Yeowun was able to land easily with his walking skill. He then looked up to where he had come from. The entrance he went through looked more like an air vent from what he saw from below. The space he was in now was very wide. “Whoa.” Countless light-emitting stones were on top, brightening the entire place with the green light. It was so bright that it was hard to even look up at it. “To think such a place was hidden inside the prison cave.” It was amazing. He looked around and found a round stone pillar in the middle and nothing else. There was an exit at the southern side of the cave, and that was blocked by a stone from the outside. ‘It’s an unused place.’ It felt strange to not use such a nice place. “Huh?” Yeowun then looked down and found traces of something being dragged out. From the size of it, one could tell that it seemed like a large stone was pushed out from it. As he followed the trace, it led him to the center of the area. ‘There’s more than one.’ The trace was made by more than once. It seemed like something was placed in five directions around the pillar until it was dragged out. It must have been very heavy if it made such a deep trace. ‘It looks like there must have been some kind of giant stone… a pedestal…?’ Yeowun then thought of the blue pearl pedestal in the library. He then realized the library had five floors, which meant that the pedestal was also created through the five levels. ‘Nano, activate Augmented Reality and show me the blue pearl pedestal on the first floor in the library.’ [Activating.] Yeowun then was shown the actual size of the blue pearl stone. ‘Nano, do you see those traces on the ground? Can you see if this stone was placed in any of those spots?’ [Analyzing the traces on the floor.] Nano then began scanning the five spots and placed the same blue pearl stone over the five spots. And when they were all in place, Yeowun’s eye grew larger. ‘It has the same size.’ The size of the trace and the stone were the same. When the five stones were placed there, the one located on the south side shined in red. [This location seems to be where the blue pearl stone from the first floor was located at.] Yeowun then walked over to check it out himself. ‘Can you check the second floor one too?’ Nano then began scanning everything, and it seemed like the second stone was located on the southwest side. ‘Ah… so, this was the place.’ It seemed that all those stones were originally placed here. If all of them were still here, then it would have been much easier to learn about Father Chun’s original sword skill. ‘What is up with this pillar then?’ Yeowun was curious as to why all these stones were placed around it while facing the pillar. Yeowun walked over and looked around. On the north side of the pillar, there was a letter written in handwriting. [Sword Force of the Sky Demon] Yeowun felt his heart pounding. He then found a small dots that looked like those under the writing of the blue pearl stone which showed a drawing. Chapter 59 Chapter 59: Blessing in a disguise (4) A martial art that represented the Lord of the Demonic Cult was the Godly Force of the Sky Demon. Every cultist knew of the power beyond that martial art and it was also one of three Godly Forces of the Jianghu. But the word said Sword Force, not Godly Force. ‘Hmm… is it a sword skill?’ Chun Yeowun was confused. He had never heard of Sword Force. Was it a breathing skill or a sword art? He learned from Guard Jang that the Lord’s best martial art was the Sword Art of the Sky Demon. But what was this Sword Force? ‘Is it the name of the original sword skill in the blue pearl stone?’ That seemed to be the most likely case here. The bearded middle-aged man who Yeowun met on the first floor of the library said that the blue pearl stone held the truth from Father Chun. ‘He would leave a new name for it of course. I guess Father Chun is the one who wrote this here.’ It was natural for making up such a name for a powerful sword art like that, especially if it was made after the Sword Art of the Sky Demon. ‘Nano, can you check the writing on this pillar to see if it matches the writing on the blue pearl stone pedestal?’ A white line then scanned the writing on the pillar and Nano soon responded. [Analysis complete. It is from the same writer.] ‘That is the name then!’ Yeowun then learned the real name of the original sword skill he had learned. ‘What up with these holes then?’ Yeowun then looked down at the holes underneath the name. Holes under the poetry on the pedestals represented numbers, but these holes looked different. ‘It looks like a drawing.’ The holes formed the shape of a dragon. ‘Dargon?’ The animal in the myths symbolized unity and power. He would have not paid that much attention if he didn’t find out about the secret behind holes on the blue pearl stone pedestal. He was curious if this drawing had some secret behind it also. ‘What is it trying to say?’ Yeowun then sat down to give it some thought. He brought the pedestals to his left and right and began looking closely at the holes in the shape of a dragon. However, he couldn’t find identify any relationships between these holes. ‘Are the holes related to the numbers again?’ Yeowun then counted the number of holes. ‘…Twenty-four?’ There was a total of twenty-four holes. He wondered if the number twentyfour meant anything. After thinking for an hour, all he could think of was the sword movement comprised of the Sword Force of Sky Demon and its twenty-four movements. ‘What is it talking about?’ “Whew…” He sighed in frustration. He couldn’t find any answers. What did this soaring dragon mean? ‘It should mean something… why is there a drawing of a dragon going up… huh?’ Yeowun then looked up at the ceiling. “Ugh!” The light stones from above shined down on him, making him look down. It was too bright to look up directly. ‘It’s too bright.’ It was too painful to look directly at the stones. Yeowun looked up because the dragon was trying to go up into the ceiling, but he then thought that maybe the secret was on the ceiling. However, he couldn’t look directly at it to see what was going on up there. ‘Hm…’ Maybe the secret was hidden behind the light, not the darkness. Nothing left by Father Chun Ma was easy to get, but Yeowun had a way to look directly into the light. ‘Nano, can you control the light coming into my sight?’ [Adjusting light perception.] Yeowun’s eyes flickered and the cave turned dark. Yeowun then looked up again as he was ready. “This is amazing…” Yeowun was astonished. There were a number of shiny stones, but the ones around the giant center pillar showed hundreds of bright stones with writings. “This was it!” Yeowun smiled. He wasn’t sure what these hundreds of stones were talking about, but they surely held the secret related to the Sword Force of the Sky Demon. ‘Nano, can you scan those stones?’ [Yes, Master… scan completed.] ‘Project it on that large wall so I can see it more closely.’ Nano then recreated the writing on the ceiling over on the wall. Yeowun walked over and checked the writing. “…What?” Yet, the writings weren’t related to martial arts at all. It consisted of poetry and other things. ‘This… and this… and this… what is going on?’ All of them had no relations to martial arts. Yeowun frowned as he had expected a great finding. ‘Did I miss something?’ He thought that going through all of these writings would give him the answer to a great secret, but even if there was a secret hidden within the writings, it didn’t seem like it would be that hard to decipher it. ‘Maybe it’s hidden among all this.’ Yeowun figured there must be something that was related to martial arts. Finding it was the problem. Of course, he didn’t need to read all this writing by himself. ‘Nano, can you find anything among all this that might have a relationship to martial arts?’ [Scanning.] Nano proceeded with the scanning. This shortened the amount of time Yeowun needed if he were to look at every stone. Soon, Nano finished scanning and analyzing. [There is a total of twenty-four stones that contain writings and drawings that seems to teach the Breathing Skill.] ‘Breathing skill?’ Yeowun’s eyes grew larger. What kind of breathing skill would be divided up into twenty-four stones? Nano then highlighted the twenty-four stones in red. Yeowun’s eye grew larger as he looked at it. “This…!” Chapter 60 Chapter 60: Blessing in a disguise (5) It was astounding. Over hundreds of stones were placed around the pillar, and twenty-four of them had placed in the shape of a dragon soaring up into the sky. It was the same shape that was placed on the pedestal. “So, this was what that dragon meant! This was it!” Yeowun’s voice became excited from the finding. He then quickly wanted to look into what meaning it held. ‘Nano, get rid of the other stones and leave only those twenty-four stones.’ [Understood.] And Nano’s voice trailed off, the extra stones in the image began to disappear. Yeowun looked closely at the remaining stones. There were writings and teachings related to a breathing skill. However, it didn’t seem like any other breathing skill. ‘What is this?’ The writing required a certain movement and flow in the internal energy through certain blood points. And the movement of the skill was very familiar. Yeowun frowned as he knew these movements. ‘This is similar to the movement of the Sword Force of the Sky Demon.’ It was the exact same sword movement. Yeowun then walked over to other stones. After checking out every stone, his eyes shook in shock. “Oh my… these are all sword movements from the Sword Force.” All the movements recorded on the stones were equal to the twenty-four sword movements of the Sword Force of the Sky Demon. However, those were all paired with the related breathing skill, and that was connected from the head of the dragon to its tail. ‘This is strange… it’s really strange.’ This was strange if these things represented a breathing skill. A breathing skill usually required one to sit or lie down to take a comfortable position, but this was one with the sword movement to display a sword formation. ‘I should just give it a try.’ He had no way to find out unless he tried it out. ‘Nano, can you transfer these teachings and movements into me?’ [Understood. Transferring to the user’s brain…] Nano soon transferred all the information into Yeowun’s brain. When it was done, Yeowun used his finger to follow the first movement. ‘Take a deep breath and move into…’ The meditating also started. He had to connect all the movements together while in motion. Yeowun followed the twenty-four movements and sent his internal energy into the blood points as written in the breathing skill. As the energy stopped flowing through his body, the qi in the body began to tremble. Yeowun then repeated the twenty-four movements again without thinking, as if he had gone into a trance. The powerful energy flowed inside, and Nano began to analyze to store it as data. After some time had passed, Yeowun stopped. He didn’t even know how long he had been practicing this breathing skill. ‘Nano, how long have I been doing this?’ [It has been two hours.] ‘What? Two hours?’ It was shocking to hear that he had been moving through the movements for two hours straight. Yet, he didn’t feel exhausted or tired. It even felt like he was full of energy and the internal energy was flowing fluidly within him. ‘It felt like the energy flow became faster as I moved through.’ [Yes, that is true, Master.] Nano had recorded the quick energy flow within the body already. Yeowun then became curious about Nano’s conclusion and brought up his internal energy. “Huh?” The speed of the internal energy flow had gotten much faster. He focused slightly and the energy spread into his body very quickly. When Yeowun focused on his right hand, a clear light appeared to create a qi on his hand. ‘It’s much faster now!’ Yeowun was not used to shaping qi outside his body. But with the quickened energy flow, shaping qi was also much easier now. The breathing skill that was written on the stone was beyond the level of any breathing skill. ‘Ah… this should be the best breathing skill in the world!’ Chun Yeowun was astounded beyond belief. There was no telling as to how much he would grow if he trained with the breathing skill. Yeowun then walked over to the pillar at the center. [Sword Force of the Sky Demon] He now knew why this was written as Sword Force. This martial art was a sword formation and breathing skill combined into one. ‘So Father Chun really was a legendary man.’ No one else in the Wulin would even dare to combine a sword skill with a breathing skill. The Sword Force of the Sky Demon would allow one to train the sword skill while meditating with the breathing skill. ‘Father, please accept my bow.’ Yeowun then bowed twice to the pillar. It was to show his respect for receiving such a gift from the ancestor. Yeowun then got up. ‘This is fortunate that I came across this.’ Baek Oh’s action to put Yeowun into danger was truly a blessing in disguise. If Baek Oh found out about what followed after he left, he might collapse because of a stroke from the shock. ‘So, there’s only one thing left to do then.’ Yeowun then walked over to the pillar so he could erase the traces. He couldn’t do it near the blue pearl stone pedestal since there were guards, but no one was here. It would be hard to find out what Father Chun had left without Nano’s help, but he didn’t want to leave any hints for the others to find out about it. ‘I’ll just erase these holes.’ Yeowun then reached out to the holes while wielding internal energy in his hand. That’s when the pillar began to tremble while letting out steam. “W-what?!” Yeowun jumped back. Something came up from the pillar and soared up into the ceiling, striking the glowing stones. The ceiling shook and some of the stones dropped to the ground. Yeowun was shocked, but he quickly hopped to dodge the falling stones. It seemed like the shock wasn’t too bad, since only a few stones had dropped. “Huh?” Yeowun’s eye grew wide. The number of stones that dropped was the twenty-four. ‘No way..’ He then walked over and frowned. The stones were those with the movements and writings from the Sword Force of the Sky Demon