Chapter 26 : Tai Chi Profound Heavenly Sutra (2)

Chapter 26: Tai Chi Profound Heavenly Sutra (2)

‘I underestimated this far too much.’

Up until he had taken down six people, Yong Hwarin had rejoiced inwardly as every attack he had planned struck true.

However, these opponents were all seasoned martial artists who had trained for many years.

Though surprised, they weren’t standing idle. Naturally, Yong Hwarin wasn’t either.

When three of them launched a coordinated attack, Yong Hwarin responded with the Azure Bamboo Sword, focusing on defense. With movements as fluid as flowing water, he effortlessly parried their strikes coming from all directions.

Watching Yong Hwarin defend against the fierce onslaught without leaving a single gap, Mo Biyoung suddenly shed tears.

“Ah, Young Master has already grasped the essence of the main martial art.”

Even for Mo Biyoung, it was the first time witnessing such a beautiful harmony between the Soaring Dragon Emperor Sword and the Azure Bamboo Sword.

“So it seems.”

One of the Two Wook Sword Demons stared in awe at Yong Hwarin’s beautiful swordplay, momentarily forgetting that the one being attacked was their own Young Master.

The attack and defense were so exquisite, it looked choreographed—as if it had been rehearsed.

“This isn’t the time to be idle. We should help him.”

“With no internal energy, we’d only get in the way. Trust Young Master and wait. If he’s in danger, be ready to throw your swords.”

Mo Biyoung gathered herself and spoke.

Now, even Jeok Gwang had joined the fight, making it four against one.

The more Yong Hwarin drew upon the Demonic Master’s inner energy, the more he felt an inexplicable pressure pressing down on him.

Because this energy didn’t originally belong to his body, his entire being was gradually beginning to reject it.

‘I need to end this before I have a seizure or something. Should I try drawing out more power?’

Unable to switch to offense while fending off attacks from four enemies, Yong Hwarin considered extracting more of the Demonic Master’s energy.

In truth, the Demonic Master’s internal energy equaled three "cycle", but because his body wasn’t yet familiar with it, Yong Hwarin could only use one-fifth of that strength.

That’s why he couldn’t shift from defense to offense.

Yet even that much was already astonishing in itself.

‘Was this guy really this strong?’

Jeok Gwang was surprised even as he unleashed one sword strike after another.

Even he couldn’t confidently say he’d win if his three elite guards attacked him together. He had handpicked only the most skilled warriors for his entourage.

When those three fought together, they could easily exhibit strength beyond first-class martial artists.

And now, with even himself—who had reached first-class level—joining in the attack, Yong Hwarin was still blocking them without much difficulty.

‘I must kill him. If I don’t, I’ll never be able to surpass him!’

With that thought fueling him, Jeok Gwang intensified his assault.

“He must die! Avenge our guards!”

He cried out for revenge, spurring on his men.

Then he suddenly shouted the name of a formation.

“One Circle Four Point Strike!”

With that, the four spread out warriors gathered together.

They formed a small circle and simultaneously struck at a single point—an attack formation known as the Circular Point Strike, a proud technique of the Songcheong Sect and even acknowledged by the Wudang Sect.

It was a method where four warriors simultaneously targeted Yong Hwarin’s heart.

If Yong Hwarin blocked the incoming swords, he’d receive the combined impact of all four’s internal energy at once.

At that moment, as the Circular Point Strike was initiated, a specific counter-technique surfaced in Yong Hwarin’s mind.

‘Piercing Thunder, Riding Dragon!’

This technique, symbolizing a dragon piercing through lightning to ascend to the heavens, was a form of unity between sword and body.

However, Yong Hwarin had never achieved true sword-body unification, nor had he gained any real understanding of it.

It was a technique from the Soaring Dragon Emperor Sword that he hadn’t yet mastered. But instead of hesitating due to the risk, Yong Hwarin had already kicked off from the ground.

Leaving deep footprints behind, his body launched forward alongside his sword.

“My god! He’s using Piercing Thunder, Riding Dragon!”

Mo Biyoung could only imitate this technique slightly, and the Two Wook Sword Demons hadn’t even begun training in it.

Seeing Yong Hwarin flying toward him through sword-body unification, Jeok Gwang smirked inwardly.

‘These days, everyone thinks they’ve achieved sword-body unification. Just because your body and sword align in a straight line doesn’t mean that’s real unification! I’ll tear you apart!’

There was a reason for Jeok Gwang’s sneer.

True sword-body unification required the sword and the body to maintain the same level of internal energy to unleash its full power.

If half a "cycle" of energy was infused into the sword, then the body also needed to produce a protective internal force using the same half "cycle".

If one "cycle" was injected into the sword, then one "cycle" was also needed in the body to absorb the impact from enemy attacks.

Only then could it be called true sword-body unification.

What made this technique difficult was the need to split at least one full "cycle" of energy evenly between the sword and the body. Anything less would not only lack power, but also expose fatal openings.

Thus, only those with more than one "cycle" of energy could even attempt this technique.

That’s why even top-class martial artists generally avoided using sword-body unification. If your opponent was of equal strength, the technique could end up doing more harm than good.

Only with at least one full "cycle" could this technique generate tension and fear in an opponent when executed.

So someone like Yong Hwarin, who had barely half a cycle of internal energy, claiming to use a sword-body unification technique? Jeok Gwang couldn’t help but scoff.

Mo Biyoung, who understood the implications, wore a grim expression.

‘This shows that Young Master is still fresh to the martial world.’

The four swords, each filled with maximum internal energy, converged on a single point toward Yong Hwarin.

He leapt into the air, pulling together all the internal energy within his body and injecting it into his sword.

Fortunately, the foreign internal energies still responded to Yong Hwarin’s will. Since the Demonic Master’s soul resided inside him, it acknowledged Yong Hwarin’s body as its owner.

Just before his sword collided with the four incoming blades, it was enveloped in a blue aura, making it appear more like a club than a sword.

Then, at the moment of impact, a thunderous boom echoed as all five were thrown into the air simultaneously.

The aftermath of the clash flung them skyward, only to come crashing back to the ground. While suspended midair, Yong Hwarin stabilized himself using Soaring Cloud Dragon Art and landed gracefully.

But the three warriors alongside Jeok Gwang flailed helplessly in the air and slammed violently into the ground.

Already wounded internally by Yong Hwarin’s energy, they had no strength left to stabilize themselves.

Two of them had ruptured sides with intestines spilling out, and one had his shoulder completely shattered.

It seemed unlikely any of the three would survive.

Jeok Gwang’s right arm, too, dangled like torn rags.

Even though he had poured all his internal energy upon seeing the Piercing Thunder, Riding Dragon technique, not only had he failed to kill Yong Hwarin, he had ended up critically injured himself.

“Khugh!”

As his three guards died wailing in agony, Jeok Gwang dropped his head in defeat.

‘How could this be…?!’

If he had been overpowered, it meant Yong Hwarin’s sword held more than half a cycle of energy.

To repel the combined attack of three elite guards would require at least a full cycle infused into the sword.

‘Does that mean he achieved one full cycle of internal energy at that age? That’s impossible. I’ve never even heard of such a thing!’

But there was something both Yong Hwarin and Jeok Gwang didn’t know.

The energy infused in the sword was indeed one full cycle.

That was the Demonic Master’s energy—one full cycle had gone into the sword.

The remaining two cycle of the Demonic Master’s energy were hidden within Yong Hwarin’s skin, functioning like a defensive internal energy barrier.

Thanks to that, the power he had displayed was akin to a master at the peak performing a perfect sword-body unification.

That was why neither Jeok Gwang nor his guards could withstand Yong Hwarin’s Piercing Thunder, Riding Dragon.

‘Where did it all go wrong? Where?!’

Jeok Gwang stared at Yong Hwarin with eyes full of resentment before collapsing to the ground. The frustration and pain overwhelmed him, robbing him of consciousness.

Mo Biyoung suddenly realized her hands were trembling.

It was because she had just witnessed a true Piercing Thunder, Riding Dragon.

‘A one cycle Piercing Thunder, Riding Dragon? Does that mean Young Master’s internal energy has reached one cycle?’

She remembered measuring Yong Hwarin’s energy when she first passed down martial arts to him a few months ago.

Back then, it hadn’t even reached half a cycle.

Despite consuming countless medicinal elixirs since childhood, he hadn’t reached even half a cycle, which had been such a disappointment.

He wasn’t able to learn martial arts to cure his illness, but she knew he had started practicing the Nine Dragons Heavenly Ascent Technique from the time he began taking those tonics.

So by now, after passing adolescence, she had expected he would at least possess one full cycle of internal energy.

That was the average level for promising disciples of major sects or heirs of prestigious clans.

‘No… maybe I couldn’t read Young Master’s energy properly because I lack the skill.’

She figured that, having barely reached first-class herself, she simply couldn’t sense the immense internal energy he now possessed.

“A… a catastrophe!”

Namwook exclaimed, watching Yong Hwarin take down ten enemies on his own. They might be heading toward a full-blown war with Songcheong Sect at this rate.

No one believed they could just walk away after doing that to the Young Master of Songcheong Sect.

“Guard Jung, that guy probably has the antidote on him.”

Jungwook rifled through Jeok Gwang’s clothes and pulled out a silk pouch.

Opening it, he found several jade bottles inside.

“But I don’t know which one’s the antidote.”

There were five jade bottles in total.

“I’m sure some of them are poison. And that guy was actually a Young Master of a righteous sect…”

Mo Biyoung, uncharacteristically agitated, spat out her criticism of Jeok Gwang.

If things had gone slightly differently, it could have been them lying on the ground right now.

“I really don’t know which one’s the antidote.”

The others hadn’t dealt with poisons before, so they had no idea how to identify an antidote. But in his past life, Yong Hwarin had faced countless assassination attempts using poison and had even been poisoned more than once.

Each time, he had barely survived by obtaining an antidote—so he had developed a keen sense for identifying them.

“Let me see. Antidotes give you a dizzy sensation and make you feel thirsty when you smell them. That’s because the poison inside your body reacts. On the other hand, actual poisons will make you nauseated and want to vomit. If you just remember that, finding the antidote shouldn’t be difficult.”

Mo Biyoung and the Two Wook Sword Demons didn’t ask how he knew all that about poison.

They just assumed he had read it in some book.

“Can you really trust something you read in a book?”

Jungwook asked, but Yong Hwarin sniffed each bottle one by one before picking up a red jade bottle and drinking a small amount.

Startled, Mo Biyoung shouted.

“Young Master! What are you doing?!”

Her voice came out like a harsh scolding.

The Two Wook Sword Demons looked at Yong Hwarin as if he were a madman.

‘That’s not courage. That’s just reckless.’

Yong Hwarin replied,

“Even weak poison, if left in your system too long, can infiltrate your organs and become impossible to cure. So it’s better to find the antidote quickly like this.”

“Still… you could have asked me to drink it instead…”

Mo Biyoung said, still upset.

“The one who knows poisons well is the one who should take the risk. I can respond to it. How could a Young Master ask others to take such a risk for him? I’ll do it myself.”

Yong Hwarin hadn’t meant it with any grand intention, but the three were struck by his words. In them, they heard genuine care for their well-being.

The three of them suddenly felt a lump in their throats.