Chapter 47

Chapter 47.

In the silence of the Inner Archive, Uncheon sat alone like an island.

His eyes were closed, but inside his head, his mind was moving more fiercely than ever.

‘Divide… the mind.’

Soul-Division.

It was not simply a matter of splitting his thoughts into two branches.

It was a realm in which one split the self and operated two independent consciousnesses at the same time.

Uncheon slowly stretched both hands into the air.

Sssssk.

The index finger of his left hand smoothly drew a flowing circle.

Meanwhile, the index finger of his right hand drew sharply bending squares.

Left Hand Circle, Right Hand Square.

They were opposing shapes that were difficult to draw at the same time with one mind.

For an ordinary martial artist, it was a feat that would have made his fingers tangle and his head throb until he gave up.

But Uncheon’s fingertips moved without obstruction.

‘The left is Uncheon, the Daoist priest of Gonryun. The right is Uncheon, the warrior of the Demonic Cult.

Memories of his previous life and the body of his current life.

Two already separated selves coexisted within Uncheon.

The oral formula of [Soul-Division] burrowed into that gap and clearly separated the two consciousnesses.

‘Hooh….’

Cheon Gyeon’s eyes narrowed as he watched while standing guard.

‘He is already imitating Soul-Division?’

It was no simple hand trick.

The shapes drawn by Uncheon’s fingertips were perfect, without the slightest distortion.

It was only the basic stage, but it was clear evidence that he had properly split his consciousness.

However, what truly shocked Cheon Gyeon came next.

WOOOONG.

A faint blue light settled on the tip of Uncheon’s left finger as it drew the circle.

It was cool and clear Yin-Cold Qi.

‘…He can even operate internal energy after less than half a day?’

That meant Uncheon had already far surpassed the introductory stage.

But the shock did not end there.

WHOOSH―.

The next instant, haze-like heat rose from the tip of his right finger as it drew straight lines.

It was too faint to be called internal energy, but it was unmistakable Yang Qi.

At that sight, Cheon Gyeon’s pupils shook as though an earthquake had struck them.

‘How can this be…? He is handling Yin Qi and Yang Qi at the same time?!’

This was not simply a matter of talent.

Yin and Yang were mutual opposition.

The common sense of martial learning held that they could not coexist in one body.

‘He has clearly only just entered Soul-Division Twin Absolutes, yet he is handling Yin and Yang energies with one body! Just what kind of bastard is he?!’

One possibility flashed through Cheon Gyeon’s mind.

A natural constitution.

One that only appeared in legends.

‘…Could he have been born with the Yin-Yang Physique?’

Cheon Gyeon shuddered.

No, that could not be.

When he first saw him, the boy’s qi center had been empty.

Then there was only one answer.

‘That old bastard the Life-and-Death Exalted One must have done something to his body!’

While Cheon Gyeon was sunk in astonishment.

Fssss―.

The heat in Uncheon’s right hand died away.

He could handle Yin-Cold Qi through the Limitless Iceheart Formula, but he had not yet learned a core cultivation method that could draw out the Yang-Heat Qi lying dormant deep inside his body.

Uncheon gathered his energy and slowly opened his eyes.

“Not bad. To enter Soul-Division in merely half a day.”

“It was not easy. I only managed to grasp its tail.”

“Krrk. Do not pretend to be humble. There are plenty who failed to grasp even that tail and went mad.”

Even under Cheon Gyeon’s praise, Uncheon remained calm.

Rather, he gave a polite clasped hands greeting and expressed his gratitude.

“…It was thanks to your consideration. You stood guard for me.”

It had been a dangerous training session that could easily have sent him into Qi Deviation. If Cheon Gyeon had not suppressed the surroundings with his force, it would have been difficult to concentrate.

Cheon Gyeon seemed to half-accept and half-ignore Uncheon’s thanks, then slipped a hand into his robes.

“If you truly wish to reach Twin Absolutes… you must broadly understand Yin and Yang, Orthodox and Demonic, or… the natural flow and the reverse flow. In other words, mutual opposition.”

After finishing his words, Cheon Gyeon pulled two secret manuals from inside his robes, so old they looked as if they would crumble.

On the dusty covers were written words that made Uncheon’s heart stop.

[Orthodox Two Polarities Sword Art]

[Reverse Two Polarities Saber Art]

Uncheon’s pupils narrowed.

“……!”

One was a saber art of the Mount Hua Sect.

And the other… was a sword art of Gonryun said to have been lost in actual combat in the past.

There was no way he could avoid being shocked when such secret manuals had emerged from the robes of this eccentric in the heart of the Demonic Cult.

“Hooh….”

He tried hard to hide his reaction, but he could not stop his eyes from burning.

Cheon Gyeon shook the secret manuals in front of him.

“You recognize them? It seems you have quite a discerning eye.”

Fortunately, Cheon Gyeon interpreted that look in Uncheon’s eyes as the greed of a martial artist.

“In the past, Gonryun and Mount Hua were the twin pillars of Daoism. This sword art and saber art were originally a pair. They say when the two combine, they can be discussed as peerless under heaven.”

Cheon Gyeon’s explanation was accurate.

Uncheon, too, had heard of it in his previous life.

A master of Gonryun and a master of Mount Hua.

A joint assault formation the two unfolded in harmony, the ‘Orthodox-Reverse Two Polarities Formation.’

“However… is that not a formation in which two people unfold martial arts together?”

“Correct. It is originally an ultimate technique that can only be unfolded when the minds of two people become one. But….”

A mad smile settled on Cheon Gyeon’s lips.

“Can you not split your mind into two all by yourself?”

“……!”

“If you unfold Gonryun’s Orthodox Two Polarities Sword with your left hand and Mount Hua’s Reverse Two Polarities Saber with your right hand, would that not mean you were unfolding the Orthodox-Reverse Two Polarities Formation alone?”

It was an insane idea.

But theoretically, it seemed possible.

It was an unprecedented realm that only one who had learned Soul-Division Twin Absolutes could reach.

‘Young brat. Of course it is tempting.’

Cheon Gyeon enjoyed the wavering look in Uncheon’s eyes.

The peerless martial arts of the Nine Sects and One Gang.

On top of that, the temptation of manifesting a legendary formation alone.

It was an offer no martial artist could refuse.

‘If he fails, he will die of Qi Deviation, and if he succeeds, my theory will be proven.’

Cheon Gyeon tossed the secret manuals against Uncheon’s chest.

“What do you say? Did you not say you had already entered ‘Qi Deviation’? Then you would not withdraw in fear now, would you?”

It was a blatant provocation.

Uncheon accepted the secret manuals with trembling hands.

A nostalgic energy could be felt from Gonryun’s secret manual.

And from Mount Hua’s secret manual, an unfamiliar but sharp energy.

‘It’s obvious he has some scheme… but this is an opportunity for me.’

Gonryun’s sword had been placed into Uncheon’s hands.

Though it had been plundered by the Demonic Cult, this was undeniably the legacy of his sect.

‘Cheon Gyeon. It seems you were trying to test me in your own way… but you have given me the gift I needed most.’

With this, he had gained justification to draw Gonryun’s sword once more in the heart of the Demonic Cult.

Moreover, Mount Hua’s saber art also had its roots in Daoism, so it was rather familiar to him.

“I will try. I will either go mad, or I will become a legend by manifesting the Orthodox-Reverse Two Polarities Formation alone.”

Uncheon answered as he stowed the secret manuals inside his robes.

Cheon Gyeon laughed heartily, as though satisfied.

“Kahahaha! Yes, good! I will look forward to it.”

Cheon Gyeon was about to vanish into the darkness as if his business was finished.

“Wait. Where are the Gonryun and Mount Hua shelves?”

Uncheon asked naturally.

“Hmm… Yes. Examining other basic martial arts books will also help you learn those two martial arts.”

Cheon Gyeon did not suspect him.

Rather, he pointed in a direction as if he found it commendable.

“Gonryun’s shelves are in that corner, and Mount Hua is opposite them. You will know when you see them, but… they are nothing impressive. Krrk….”

Cheon Gyeon left behind meaningful words and disappeared.

Uncheon’s eyes sank coldly.

‘Nothing impressive….’

He had to check.

Uncheon moved toward Gonryun’s shelves without hesitation.

***

Meanwhile, in another corner of the Inner Archive.

Yayul Hui was wandering frantically among the dusty shelves.

“It’s not here… and it’s not here either!”

A footwork art that would complete the Mad Wind Yayul Family’s saber art.

She searched for a martial art that could replace [Wind Soul Step], which she had not inherited from her family, but the Demonic Cult’s archive was vast and immense.

There were many footwork arts with similar names, but most were far too lacking to bear the rough force of the Mad Wind Saber Art, or their texture was different.

“Was I wrong from the very beginning…?”

Uncheon had told her to walk her own path, but she was once again wandering in search of another path.

“…But I don’t have enough talent to create martial arts like he does….”

Yayul Hui shoved a book back roughly and mussed her hair.

The gap between her and Uncheon was widening, yet she felt as though she herself was standing in place.

At that moment, something struck her foot.

It was a thin booklet rolling carelessly on the floor, with its cover half-torn.

[Wind God Dance]

‘Dance?’

There was no way a dance would catch the eye of Yayul Hui, who had been thinking only of footwork.

However, the grand name Wind God somehow drew her gaze, so Yayul Hui turned the pages, thinking she had nothing to lose.

But the instant she read the first page, her eyes widened.

[The wind does not consider the road. If it is blocked, it coils around; if it is open, it runs.]

[Forget the body and entrust yourself to the flow. As if dancing, as if singing.]

The moment she read those lines, a flash of light crossed Yayul Hui’s mind.

‘Your feet cannot keep up with your blade.’

Uncheon’s advice crossed her mind.

Until now, she had tried to make her feet chase her blade.

That was why her hands and feet had always moved separately.

Instead, she had searched for even faster footwork.

‘I took Uncheon’s advice too flatly…! Why did I only think of trying to catch up to my blade with my feet?’

This secret manual was saying it.

Not her feet, but her entire body had to become the wind.

It was not telling her to create wind, but to become the wind herself.

‘Was I… wrong?’

She rose from her seat as if bewitched.

She closed the secret manual and shut her eyes.

The faint flow of air inside the archive.

Her feet moved unconsciously.

Instead of rushing forward in a straight line, she drew a curve and rotated gently.

Slide.

As if dancing.

But within that movement, cool saber qi began to settle.

The ferocity of [Mad Wind Thirteen Blades], to which she had devoted her entire life, melted into the softness of [Wind God Dance].

WOOOONG―.

A small whirlwind rose around her.

Yayul Hui’s eyes flashed open.

Joy filled her pupils.

‘This is it. It doesn’t have to be Wind Soul Step. No, this is even better!’

It was not a martial art whose name she had heard before.

Perhaps it was merely a miscellaneous skill left behind by an unnamed eccentric.

But to the current Yayul Hui, it was a more perfect piece than any peerless divine art.

Yayul Hui sat down on the floor and began reading through the secret manual as if bewitched.

A new wind began to blow in her eyes.

***

Standing before Gonryun’s shelves, Uncheon held his breath.

Cheon Gyeon’s words had been true.

“Nothing impressive” was not enough to describe it.

It was…devastating.

“…….”

The shelves of the other sects were packed full of plundered secret manuals, but Gonryun’s shelves alone were especially badly damaged.

Most of the remaining martial arts books were basic martial arts texts, and even those were scorched by fire.

Slide.

With trembling hands, Uncheon picked up one blackened book.

In his heart, the voices of the Gonryun disciples and his Sect Leader Senior Brother, who had died, echoed.

[Burn them instead… Do not… hand them over… to those bastards….]

“Ah…….”

Uncheon’s chest collapsed.

The sight of his senior and junior brothers resisting the Demonic Cult’s invasion until the very end appeared before his eyes.

Until the moment they died, they had burned the secret manuals to protect Gonryun’s martial arts.

It was a resolve to reduce them to ashes rather than hand their sect’s ultimate arts over to the Demonic Cult bastards.

‘Sect Leader Senior Brother… my junior brothers….’

Uncheon held the book to his chest and gritted his teeth.

Along with sorrow, blazing anger surged up.

But at the end of that anger, Uncheon discovered a single thread of hope.

‘The burned secret manuals are all basic martial arts texts.’

Then where were the true secret manuals that contained Gonryun’s essence?

A secret place deep in Mount Gonryun, known only to the successive Sect Leaders and senior disciples, came to Uncheon’s mind.

‘The Secret Cave.’

If his senior and junior brothers had not merely burned the secret manuals, but had also made preparations for the future.

Gonryun’s true legacy would be sleeping there.

‘If the Secret Cave is safe… then Gonryun’s roots have not disappeared.’

Uncheon’s gaze hardened.

These empty shelves were not traces of defeat.

They were proof that Gonryun had not submitted to the Demonic Cult, and a promise waiting for its master to one day return.

‘Wait for me. I will return without fail and awaken the sword sleeping there.’

Uncheon carefully placed the burned secret manual back in its place.

Then he turned around.

There was no more time to grieve.

Now was the time to build strength.

‘I will definitely… come back to reclaim it.’

It was the moment Uncheon was about to leave Gonryun’s shelves.

Crack.

The floor stone beneath his feet trembled faintly.

The books on the shelves shuddered and spat out dust.

“……?”

On the ceiling beam, Cheon Gyeon, who had been hanging like a bat and dozing off, snapped his eyes open. Displeasure crossed his lips.

‘Tch. A bastard reeking of blood has arrived.’

Cheon Gyeon hid himself in the shadows as though he found it bothersome.

An unwelcome guest even he, the master of the Inner Archive, did not want to get involved with.

Step, step.

A man walked out of the darkness near the entrance.

Ornate clothing, a neatly trimmed beard, and a benevolent-looking smile.

But Uncheon knew instinctively.

That smile was nothing but a mask.

What was hidden behind it was the true nature of a cold-blooded man who would not blink even after cutting down thousands with a single stroke.

“It is you.”

A gentle yet cloying voice, like a snake licking the back of his neck.

Behind the man stood Sado Myeong, sweating coldly with his head deeply bowed.

Like a herbivore standing before a beast of prey.

“I finally get to see your face. I have heard much about you. They say Inspector Sado Myeong was indebted to you.”

The man looked Uncheon over persistently.

“…It was not so great as to be called a debt.”

Uncheon calmly gave a clasped hands greeting and answered.

“Huhu… Is that so? Then that is fortunate.”

The corner of the man’s mouth curled up unpleasantly.

“I am Sagong Jin, Deputy Chief of the Inspectorate.”

The moment of the ‘borrowed knife’ Gal Muheun had warned him about.

“I have come to collect the debt.”