Chapter 44

Chapter 44.

Half a year was fair to everyone, but its density was different.

RUSHHH—!

In the depths of winter, beneath the frozen waterfall of the Demonic Martial Hall.

There sat a man, bare-chested and cross-legged.

The Black-Steel Cold Iron that bound his arms and legs now looked as natural as part of his skin.

“Hoo.......”

Uncheon opened his eyes.

Over the past half year, he had trained again and again while wearing the Black-Steel Cold Iron.

Rather than training, it had been a forced march closer to ascetic suffering.

As a result, taut, compressed muscle had settled over the boy’s body.

“Benefactor.”

Beside the waterfall, Seolyeong stood atop a snow-covered rock.

The pallor of illness had vanished, leaving only cheeks filled with healthy color and a steady gaze.

“It is the promised day.”

“...So it is finally today.”

Uncheon lightly loosened his body.

Crack, crack.

The joints throughout his body made pleasant popping sounds.

“Let us go. The elder is waiting.”

Demon Physician Hall.

Its usual atmosphere had vanished, and a solemn tension hung in the air.

Before the operating table lay surgical knives and Life-and-Death Needles, neatly arranged by size and purpose.

“You have come.”

Instead of a long explanation, he declared firmly.

“The Heaven-Resisting Secret Art is not simply a matter of opening blocked acupoints. It is, quite literally, a great reconstruction that cuts through bone and flesh, tears through muscle, and reconnects twisted Qi Meridians.”

The Life-and-Death Exalted One’s hand swept over an anatomical chart.

Three hundred sixty-one acupoints.

The Twelve Primary Meridians and the Eight Extraordinary Meridians.

“All of these will be set right.”

The Life-and-Death Exalted One’s eyes shone fiercely.

“Literally, the entire body. Since I will be physically tearing apart and repairing twisted and blocked paths... agony so great that even the phrase ‘bone-shaving pain’ will pale beside it will follow.”

Uncheon nodded calmly.

“I am prepared.”

The Life-and-Death Exalted One took a small medicine bottle from his robes.

“It is Numbing Powder. If you drink this, the pain will lessen somewhat.”

Uncheon stared silently at the medicine bottle, then asked.

“Is the success rate of the procedure higher with anesthesia, or without it?”

“...Theoretically, if you can endure the pain, it would be better for your mind to remain awake. Only if you yourself feel the flow of energy and respond to it will the newly connected Qi Meridians settle more firmly.”

The Life-and-Death Exalted One was silent for a moment, then answered honestly.

“However, it will not be pain that can be endured by human willpower.”

“Then... I will endure it as much as I can.”

But after hearing the answer, Uncheon pushed the medicine bottle aside without hesitation.

“......Are you serious?”

Uncheon’s gaze was firm.

At this moment, what he feared more than pain was failure.

“Hah, what a vicious brat....”

The Life-and-Death Exalted One clicked his tongue, yet inwardly, he was impressed.

“Good. In exchange, in case anything happens, I will bind you so that you cannot move if you convulse.”

CLANK.

Chains of Black-Steel Cold Iron firmly fixed Uncheon’s arms and legs to the operating table.

A thick leather gag was placed in his mouth.

The Life-and-Death Exalted One, who had been watching that sight, hesitated briefly before speaking.

“...Yeong-ah. Prepare the Kongqing Stone Marrow.”

“......!”

Seolyeong’s eyes widened at the Life-and-Death Exalted One’s words.

It was unexpected that her grandfather would order the Kongqing Stone Marrow prepared first.

However, the Life-and-Death Exalted One’s attitude was firm.

“No matter what, I cannot make the child who saved Yeong-ah die by my own hands. Moreover, that child’s breathing method and martial talent are the very clues to fully undoing Yeong-ah’s Severed Meridian Affliction. If this goes wrong here, Yeong-ah’s path forward will be blocked as well.”

Uncheon’s and Seolyeong’s gazes rested on the Life-and-Death Exalted One for a moment.

As though bothered by their looks, the Life-and-Death Exalted One gave a single dry cough, then continued with a solemn expression, pretending nothing was wrong.

“Are you ready? Once I begin, I cannot stop.”

Instead of answering, Uncheon opened his eyes wide and nodded.

FLASH—!

The Life-and-Death Exalted One’s hand moved like lightning.

Beginning with the first large needle piercing deep into the acupoint at Uncheon’s qi center, the curtain rose on Heaven-Resisting.

“Uuuuuup!”

The jaw joint clamped around the gag twisted as if it would be crushed.

CRUNCH!

CRACK!

The sealed chamber filled with terrible sounds.

The sound of bone being shaved and misaligned joints being forced back into place.

“This level of pain... is nothing.”

Even amid agony that felt as though his entire body were burning, Uncheon’s gaze did not waver.

Using pain as a signpost, he coolly observed the great reconstruction taking place inside his own body.

“Only now... the path is opening!”

Each time the Life-and-Death Exalted One’s needle pierced him, his qi and blood surged like a tightly blocked dike bursting open.

It was a success.

A faint smile was just about to spread across the Life-and-Death Exalted One’s lips.

WOOOONG—!

From deep within Uncheon’s qi center, a vibration no one had expected arose.

It was not the “Yin Qi” Uncheon had been controlling.

Beneath it was a ferocious beast that had been holding its breath for years.

Yang-heat qi surged upward along the opened major acupoints.

“Th-this is... could it be Yang Qi?! There was this much of it!”

The Life-and-Death Exalted One’s pupils shook.

Extreme Yin and Extreme Yang, which could not coexist within a single body.

That abnormal coexistence itself was the disaster contained in Uncheon’s constitution.

The true nature of the Yin-Yang Great Spirit Severed Meridian Affliction had finally revealed itself along the opened path.

The Yang Qi that had surged through the newly opened path collided head-on with the existing Yin Qi near his heart.

An unforeseen collision between Extreme Yang and Extreme Yin.

The result was nothing but destruction.

“Kheok...!”

That impact blew away Uncheon’s consciousness.

Black blood gushed from his mouth like a fountain, and his bound body bent grotesquely like a bow.

Even the Yin-Cold Qi that Uncheon had been consciously holding onto began to rampage violently.

“Ugh!”

The hands of the Life-and-Death Exalted One, who had been performing the operation, trembled.

“No! At this rate... this brat will die, and the Heaven-Resisting Secret Art will fail forever!”

There was not even time to use needles.

He needed something that could suppress the rampaging yin and yang at the same time, and immediately reconnect the torn heart meridian.

The only thing possible here and now was one thing.

Kongqing Stone Marrow.

At that moment, the Life-and-Death Exalted One’s eyes wavered for the briefest instant.

The supreme Spiritual Medicine under heaven that he had meant to save for his granddaughter.

The essence of life that even an absolute master could not obtain without the right karmic bond.

However, the time for hesitation was not long.

POP—!

The eerie sound of blood vessels bursting near Uncheon’s chest rang through the sealed chamber.

“You brat! Do you intend to make me into an ungrateful old man who could not even repay his debt to his granddaughter’s benefactor?”

Without hesitation, he knocked the stopper off the jade bottle and poured the Kongqing Stone Marrow into Uncheon’s mouth.

GULP, GULP—!

The clear, pure energy poured into his mouth and flowed down his esophagus like a waterfall.

“Not a single drop can be wasted!”

The Life-and-Death Exalted One immediately drove in Life-and-Death Needles one after another, blocking the pathways of the rampaging energy, then used his inner force to drive the energy of the Kongqing Stone Marrow toward the collision point.

HISSSSS—!

The Kongqing Stone Marrow wrapped around the violently clashing powers of yin and yang.

Soon, drawn by the Life-and-Death Exalted One’s inner force, that energy regenerated Uncheon’s heart meridian, which had been torn to shreds, as though stitching it together strand by strand.

Broken bones joined, and severed blood vessels connected.

“Hah... this is....”

Even as he marveled, the Life-and-Death Exalted One did not stop his hands.

He poured in all of his remaining inner force so that the energy of the Kongqing Stone Marrow would seep all the way to the ends of every fine meridian in Uncheon’s body.

At last.

The dying boy’s body began to be reforged in perfect balance.

It was the farthest edge of the Heaven-Resisting Secret Art that the Life-and-Death Exalted One had pursued all his life.

A realm that went beyond restoring a diseased body, and rebuilt a collapsed fleshly form into a more complete state.

“This is a domain I could never have reached with the secret art I envisioned alone....”

Medical arts, Spiritual Medicine, and the strange constitution known as the Yin-Yang Great Spirit Severed Meridian Affliction interlocked, producing a result beyond the Life-and-Death Exalted One’s imagination.

The boy’s painful breathing subsided, and peaceful silence finally settled over the sealed chamber.

With deep relief, the Life-and-Death Exalted One checked the boy’s pulse.

But that was precisely when it happened.

“......?!”

In the deepest, darkest place inside Uncheon’s body, which had been regaining its calm.

There, something alien twitched faintly.

The Life-and-Death Exalted One’s pupils shook as if an earthquake had struck.

“Th-this is poison!”

Demon Bell Soul-Chasing Gu.

The main body had died, but the Latent Venom that had seeped deep into his bones had not.

Coveting the energy of the Kongqing Stone Marrow, that poison finally stirred.

The Life-and-Death Exalted One’s face hardened coldly.

“This is madness...! If this poison spreads now, when his heart meridian is not yet whole, the body restored by the Spiritual Medicine will rot away completely!”

It was not something that could be detoxified immediately.

“Hoo.......”

The Life-and-Death Exalted One set down the jade bottle, about half of it still remaining, and once again drew out the Life-and-Death Needles with bloodshot eyes.

“For now... I have no choice but to wring out all my strength and seal it in the deepest place!”

There was not even time to breathe a sigh of relief.

At the old physician’s fingertips, another desperate struggle was beginning.

***

At the same time.

The underground prison of the Inspectorate.

In complete contrast to the hot air of Demon Physician Hall, only biting cold and the smell of death lingered here.

“Ugh... This cannot be. Do they know who I am...?”

A man crawled across the floor with his qi center destroyed and his four limbs bound.

It was Muk Yeonggi, once called the Venom Fang Hall Master.

There was no trace left of the dignity he had possessed half a year ago; he now looked like a crippled wreck.

“The Family Head... will save me. Yes, of course he will.”

He kept muttering, denying reality.

He believed that the prestige of one of the Twelve Guardian Families and the authority of the Family Head would save him.

It was then.

SLIP—.

The torchlight flickered, and a human figure rose from the shadows beyond the iron bars.

“S-Serpent Shadow?!”

The most secret blade used by the Family Head.

Color instantly returned to Muk Yeonggi’s face.

“As expected! Father sent you! Hurry, hurry and undo these chains!”

Dragging his iron chains, Muk Yeonggi crawled toward the bars.

“Once I get out of here, I will tear Uncheon apart first—”

However, Serpent Shadow did not move an inch.

The eyes revealed through the mask were not those of someone who had come to rescue him.

“...Serpent Shadow?”

A cold chill ran down his spine.

Serpent Shadow took out a small black needle from within his robes.

A poisoned needle coated in Heavenly Secret Blood-Sealing Powder, which left no trace behind.

“It is the Family Head’s order.”

There was no emotion in Serpent Shadow’s voice.

“Stop burdening the family any further, and end things here.”

“Wh... what?”

Muk Yeonggi’s face turned white.

“That is a lie! Do you know how much blood I stained my hands with for the family—”

“It would be troublesome if you opened your mouth at the Inspectorate.”

Serpent Shadow raised his hand.

“This is the Family Head’s final mercy.”

“Don’t come! Don’t—”

SWISH—.

The poisoned needle struck Muk Yeonggi’s throat with perfect accuracy.

“Kek...! Grrrk....”

The poison spread through his entire body in an instant, paralyzing his heart and lungs.

Muk Yeonggi stretched a hand into the air with his eyes wide open.

“Fa... Family Head....”

THUD.

In the eyes that had hoped for salvation until the final moment, only betrayal and resentment remained as their light went out.

Serpent Shadow looked down at the corpse for a moment, then turned away.

“Uncheon....”

Leaving behind that single low word, he seeped back into the shadows.

Only a deathly silence remained in the underground prison once more.

It was the end of a hunting dog whose use was finished.

***

Dawnlight seeped through the crack in the door of Demon Physician Hall.

“...It is over.”

After finishing the forced march of the procedure, the Life-and-Death Exalted One sank to the floor, covered in blood and sweat.

Of course, that blood had flowed from Uncheon’s body.

It was a procedure so difficult that even a Transcendent Peak Realm master had been driven to exhaustion.

On the bed, Uncheon lay without the slightest movement, as if dead.

His entire body was wrapped in bandages and splints, and he was a wreck, covered in sweat, blood, and black impurities that had been expelled from his body.

“...A Fortunate Encounter. For me and for you.”

Only after carefully tending to Uncheon after the procedure did the Life-and-Death Exalted One leave.

︙

Seven days later.

“Ugh....”

Uncheon opened his eyes with a low groan.

“The... procedure...?”

He had clearly refused even Numbing Powder, saying he would not lose consciousness, yet at the shock of yin and yang exploding inside him, he had lost consciousness all the same.

But the moment he opened his eyes, he knew instinctively.

“It... succeeded.”

His body was different.

The moment he inhaled, it felt as though the air did not merely fill his lungs, but seeped along the meridians of his entire body.

The energy that he had once forced and twisted into motion now flowed without obstruction, like a river that had found its proper course.

CRACKLE.

When Uncheon slowly raised his body, heavy yet crisp sounds came from all over his stiffened frame.

His body was as light as a feather.

Yet within it, a force of a density incomparably greater than before was condensed.

The blockage and suffocating tightness that had pressed down on Uncheon for so long had vanished.

His Internal Energy no longer wandered through cramped fine meridians.

It was finally flowing in great torrents along the opened major meridians.

“It really... succeeded.”

Uncheon got down from the bed and undid his bandages.

The man reflected in the mirror was no longer a sickly boy.

He had grown a span taller, his shoulders had broadened, and his skin was as white and firm as white jade.

His twisted bones and muscles had found their rightful places, and a body that could be called Martial Bones without shame had been completed.

Uncheon raised his hand and slowly curled it into a fist.

CREAK.

From the mere sensation of his finger joints locking together, he could tell that the quality of the power dwelling in his body had changed completely.

“Congratulations.”

The Life-and-Death Exalted One, who had appeared at some point, spoke while looking at him.

“The procedure succeeded. However... all I did was open the blocked paths and set the twisted body straight.”

“Thank you.”

Uncheon bowed deeply.

Until now, he had been unable to use his major meridians, so he had diverted his breathing through his fine meridians.

Because he had to force it through complicated side paths and connect it as though wringing it out, the efficiency of his Internal Energy circulation had been terrible.

“Hoo.......”

Uncheon drew in a deep breath.

His chest, qi center, and four limbs and hundred bones seemed to connect as one, and his qi and blood circulated refreshingly.

However, the Life-and-Death Exalted One’s expression was not entirely bright.

“Hmph. don’t run wild too much.”

The Life-and-Death Exalted One warned coldly.

“The path has opened, but this is not over. Thanks to the Kongqing Stone Marrow, I barely managed to contain the rampaging yang-heat qi, nothing more.”

The Yang Qi of the Yin-Yang Great Spirit Severed Meridian Affliction and the Latent Venom.

They were still coiled inside Uncheon’s body.

“And now that the Kongqing Stone Marrow has been used up, if you stimulate and awaken them again... even I cannot guarantee what will happen then.”

Uncheon looked down at his two hands and clenched his fists tightly.

“Still... now it is different.”

WOOOONG—!

The energy settled in his qi center responded to its master’s will and stretched fiercely through his entire body.

The shackles that had been binding Uncheon all this time had finally been released.