Chapter 3

Chapter 3

The ice white qi rising from Namgung Geom's qi center moved toward the heat of the extreme yang fire qi.

The ice white qi, having entered the Third Stage of the Ice White Divine Art, was on an entirely different level from before.

On top of that, the Heavenly Ice Body synchronized with the ice white qi and lent it strength.

'Now I can eliminate the extreme yang fire qi.'

Feeling the ice white qi's power surge to a new height, Namgung Geom was certain.

Before long, the ice white qi collided with the heat of the extreme yang fire qi.

CRACKLE—!

The heat of the extreme yang fire qi was flash-frozen and scattered in an instant.

But a great deal of the extreme yang fire qi's heat still remained.

Namgung Geom did not stop and kept the ice white qi moving.

He systematically suppressed the extreme yang fire qi's heat that had spread throughout his body.

The agony that had felt like being submerged in boiling water subsided rapidly.

But the heat of the extreme yang fire qi was merely a shadow.

The true threat was the extreme yang fire qi itself, rooted deep within nine of his meridians.

To cure the Nine Yang Severed Meridians, the extreme yang fire qi had to be removed.

Namgung Geom focused his awareness and condensed the ice white qi.

The ice white qi was honed sharp and solid.

Namgung Geom sent the ice white qi toward one of the nine meridians where the extreme yang fire qi was embedded.

Layer upon layer of the extreme yang fire qi's heat was packed tight, blocking the meridian.

But it could not withstand the ice white qi, honed like a sword.

Unable to overcome the ice white qi's cold, the extreme yang fire qi's heat scattered.

The ice white qi, having cut through the heat, drove relentlessly into the extreme yang fire qi.

BOOM—!

The ice white qi and the extreme yang fire qi collided, and a tremendous shockwave erupted inside him.

Namgung Geom's consciousness wavered, and for an instant, his connection to the ice white qi was severed.

The extreme yang fire qi pounced on the ice white qi as it lost cohesion and began to scatter.

The ice white qi seemed ready to melt away in the extreme yang fire qi's blaze at any moment.

But Namgung Geom's experience and enlightenment had not been won cheaply.

Namgung Geom swiftly regained his composure and reconnected his consciousness to the ice white qi.

Synchronized with Namgung Geom's consciousness, the ice white qi erupted with intense cold, extinguishing the extreme yang fire qi's blaze.

Then it charged at the extreme yang fire qi with ferocious intensity.

BOOM—!

Another shockwave followed.

But this time, Namgung Geom was braced for it.

He held his consciousness firm, and the impact did not faze him.

WHOOSH—!

CRACKLE—!

The ice white qi and the extreme yang fire qi tangled together, each trying to freeze and incinerate the other.

The two energies were locked in a dead-even standoff.

It seemed a victor would not emerge easily.

'Then I'll send in reinforcements.'

Namgung Geom drew additional ice white qi up from his qi center.

And sent it through the opposite end of the meridian.

Operating two streams of inner arts simultaneously was a feat only possible at the transcendent level of mastery.

But Namgung Geom achieved it through the enlightenment of his previous life.

The additional ice white qi drove into the extreme yang fire qi from behind.

Caught in a pincer attack by the ice white qi from both sides, the extreme yang fire qi was driven back rapidly.

But the extreme yang fire qi did not go down without a fight.

It expelled searing heat in both directions, struggling desperately to push back the ice white qi.

But it was not enough.

The ice white qi froze and shattered the extreme yang fire qi's heat, then pressed in from both sides.

Under the ice white qi's cold, the extreme yang fire qi began to freeze, flickering as if it would go out at any moment.

At this rate, he could freeze and shatter the extreme yang fire qi entirely.

Then, a sudden thought crossed Namgung Geom's mind.

'Do I really need to eliminate the extreme yang fire qi?'

The extreme yang fire qi was still an energy.

If he could make it his own inner arts, it would be the same as consuming an elixir.

The problem was that the ice white qi and the extreme yang fire qi were diametrically opposed.

Could those two energies truly coexist?

'The Azure Sky Grand Expansion Divine Art might make it possible.'

The Azure Sky Grand Expansion Divine Art.

A supreme inner arts method that embodied the vastness of the sky and the principles of the cosmos.

The sky embraces all things; under its canopy, even extreme yang and extreme yin could become one.

Namgung Geom recalled the verses of the Azure Sky Grand Expansion Divine Art.

The Azure Sky Grand Expansion Divine Art was a divine art passed down only to the direct line of the family.

Namgung Geom had received the Azure Sky Grand Expansion Divine Art as well.

Though he had been unable to cultivate it due to the Nine Yang Severed Meridians, he had a perfect understanding of its verses.

He had studied the verses of the Azure Sky Grand Expansion Divine Art so thoroughly that he could cultivate it at any time.

Namgung Geom had never once executed the Azure Sky Grand Expansion Divine Art in practice.

But he possessed the mastery and enlightenment of his previous life.

On top of that, he had a perfect understanding of the verses.

Executing the Azure Sky Grand Expansion Divine Art was a trivial matter.

Namgung Geom recalled the Azure Sky Verse—the mental cultivation formula of the Azure Sky Grand Expansion Divine Art—and began to circulate.

Namgung Geom's qi center became a vast, boundless sky, following the profound principles of the Azure Sky Verse.

And from his qi center, a tremendous gravitational pull arose, drawing in both the ice white qi and the extreme yang fire qi.

The ice white qi and the extreme yang fire qi spiraled into his qi center, tangled together.

The two energies repelled each other like water and oil.

Namgung Geom began to churn the two energies according to the Azure Sky Verse.

The two energies struggled desperately to break free of the Azure Sky Verse's binding force.

Namgung Geom focused his consciousness to keep the Azure Sky Verse's binding force from shattering.

The two energies fighting to repel each other and escape the Azure Sky Verse.

Namgung Geom, holding them fast and trying to fuse them into one.

A fierce battle raged, and time flowed onward.

Namgung Geom churned and churned the two energies.

How much time had passed?

The two energies that had been trying to fly outward were gradually drawn inward by the Azure Sky Verse's force.

And at last, the two energies merged into one beneath the Azure Sky Verse.

An azure sky qi belonging solely to Namgung Geom was born—one that held both the ice white qi and the extreme yang fire qi within it.

"Now that the energy has changed, I should call it by a different name."

Namgung Geom thought about what name would be fitting.

And soon, one came to mind.

"Azure Sky Ice Fire Divine Art sounds right."

It was the moment a new inner arts method belonging solely to Namgung Geom was born.

Namgung Geom examined the inner arts now residing in his qi center.

The azure sky qi, which embraced two disparate and extreme energies, was far more powerful than ordinary azure sky qi.

The volume of his inner arts had also increased dramatically.

He had absorbed the extreme yang fire qi that once threatened his life, gained a new inner arts method, and elevated his inner arts as well.

It could not have gone better.

A smile naturally formed on Namgung Geom's lips.

But the Nine Yang Severed Meridians had not been fully cured yet.

Eight of his meridians still contained extreme yang fire qi.

"It would be best to absorb the rest gradually."

A meal eaten too fast causes indigestion.

If he absorbed all the extreme yang fire qi at once, there was a risk of disrupting the balance of his inner arts.

It was better to absorb the extreme yang fire qi over time.

The concern was the extreme yang fire qi's episodes, but with the Azure Sky Ice Fire Divine Art's capabilities, calming them would not be difficult.

In other words, he no longer had to worry about the extreme yang fire qi erupting.

And that, in turn, meant he could cultivate martial arts to his heart's content.

All of this had happened in the span of a single night.

That night, Namgung Geom slept soundly for the first time in a long while.

And from the very next day, he began training immediately.

"First things first—I need to build up this body."

His body, which had been bedridden due to the Nine Yang Severed Meridians, was in no condition to learn martial arts.

He needed to develop his strength and stamina first.

Namgung Geom decided to temper his body using the Ice White Body Refining Art from his previous life.

The Ice White Body Refining Art was a body cultivation technique that used ice white qi to strengthen and temper the musculoskeletal frame and blood meridians.

At full mastery, the entire body would become as solid as myriad-year ice, impervious to any attack.

Namgung Geom planned to cultivate the Ice White Body Refining Art by adding extreme yang fire qi to the existing ice white qi.

If he tempered his body with both extreme yang and extreme yin energy, the results would be far greater.

The Ice White Body Refining Art consisted of dozens of movements.

Each was designed to stimulate the musculoskeletal frame and blood meridians to their utmost, and every one of them was bizarre and complex.

In his previous life, Namgung Geom had mastered the Ice White Body Refining Art to near-completion.

But for this body, it was the first time performing it.

Moreover, Namgung Geom's body had never been tempered even once.

As a result, his body refused to obey him properly.

To an observer, it looked like nothing more than flailing.

A handmaiden passing through the training grounds saw Namgung Geom and tilted her head in puzzlement.

"What is he doing?"

No matter how she looked at it, it did not seem like training.

***

The Family Head's hall of the Namgung Family.

A man of refined features sat in the grand chair. He was middle-aged, with a clean and dignified bearing.

Sword King Namgung Pae.

The Family Head of the Namgung Family, and one of the Six Venerables Five Demons—the most powerful masters in the present-day murim.

His presence, as though he contained the very sky within him, was worthy of being called an absolute being without reservation.

"Geom-i has been training, you say?"

Namgung Pae wore a puzzled expression upon hearing the report from Namgung Yu, the Secretariat Pavilion Master.

"He apparently began cultivating martial arts three days ago."

Namgung Yu nodded and answered.

He was of the Namgung Family's branch line and had served as Namgung Pae's trusted confidant for decades.

"The Nine Yang Severed Meridians should make martial arts cultivation impossible. How is he training?"

Namgung Pae asked, clearly unable to make sense of it.

"All I know is that Young Lord Namgung Geom has been cultivating martial arts for the past three days."

Namgung Pae nodded and asked further.

"Then do you know what kind of martial art he has been cultivating?"

"He has reportedly been cultivating a body refining method of unknown origin."

Namgung Pae's brow furrowed.

"Unknown origin?"

"I suspect it may be one of the martial manuals from the Azure Heaven Martial Archives."

The Azure Heaven Martial Archives was a repository where the Namgung Family stored martial manuals collected from across the murim.

Reading through the manuals in the Azure Heaven Martial Archives had been Namgung Geom's sole pleasure.

"Well, the boy has probably read more than ten cartloads of martial manuals by now."

Namgung Pae dismissed it as nothing of note.

What mattered now was not the origin of the body refining method.

"Were there no episodes of extreme yang fire qi during his training?"

"I'm told he completed his training without any problems."

"He tempered his body and the extreme yang fire qi did not erupt......"

Namgung Pae stroked his chin with a puzzled air.

Physical exertion raises body heat.

When body heat rises, the extreme yang fire qi of the Nine Yang Severed Meridians is stimulated, causing it to release searing heat.

That was why martial arts cultivation had been impossible until now.

And yet, despite three days of training, the extreme yang fire qi had not erupted.

There was no reason the extreme yang fire qi would show Namgung Geom mercy.

'Has he found a way to suppress the extreme yang fire qi?'

But how?

Namgung Geom could not have found a way that even he himself had failed to discover.

"Would it not be best to summon Young Lord Namgung Geom and confirm it in person?"

"That sounds like the right course. Send for Geom-i at once."

"Understood."

Namgung Yu immediately called a subordinate stationed outside the hall and instructed him to bring Namgung Geom.

"Has Geom-i met with anyone separately in recent times?"

Namgung Pae asked, as if the thought had suddenly occurred to him.

"Young Lord Namgung Geom has remained in his quarters throughout. Apart from the First Lady, no one else has visited his quarters either."

"And nothing was sent separately from Geom-i's maternal family?"

"Not to my knowledge."

At Namgung Yu's answer, Namgung Pae wore a skeptical expression.

"That means there is still a possibility that something was delivered without the Secretariat Pavilion's knowledge."

For an instant, Namgung Yu's eyes twitched.

"But the likelihood is exceedingly small."

Other places, perhaps—but within the family estate, nothing escaped the Secretariat Pavilion's eyes.

Namgung Pae was well aware of the Secretariat Pavilion's capabilities and did not press further, simply nodding.

Meanwhile, the martial artist who had received Namgung Yu's order went directly to Namgung Geom's quarters.

And relayed Namgung Pae's summons to appear at the Family Head's hall.

Namgung Geom was not surprised by the sudden summons from Namgung Pae.

He had already anticipated being called.

Namgung Geom headed straight for the Family Head's hall.

The distance from his quarters to the hall was considerable.

After passing through several gates and corridors, he arrived at the hall and went directly inside.

Following the pillars carved with azure dragons toward the inner chamber, he saw Namgung Pae seated in the grand chair.

Namgung Pae was simply sitting there.

Yet Namgung Geom felt an overwhelming pressure, as though the sky itself were looking down upon him.

'Remarkable.'

Namgung Pae's immense presence made Namgung Geom unconsciously clench his fists.

Even the Northern Sea Ice Palace's Palace Lord, the supreme ruler of the Northern Sea, could not hold a candle to Namgung Pae.

Namgung Geom felt the power of the Six Venerables anew and bowed his head.

"Namgung Geom greets the Family Head."

"Today I summoned you as your grandfather, not the Family Head. Be at ease."

"Understood."

Namgung Geom answered and relaxed his posture.

Namgung Pae glanced casually at Namgung Geom—then sensed his energy and was startled.

Azure sky qi.

And yet, something about it was different.

Moreover, it was no ordinary energy.

At the very least, it was at the first-rate level.

Namgung Geom, who had been unable to cultivate martial arts due to the Nine Yang Severed Meridians, had become a first-rate master overnight.

It was a suspicious situation by anyone's measure.

Namgung Pae's gaze sharpened.

"What has happened?"