Whooosh!
A tremendous surge of internal energy began racing along the path.
Opening the Conception Vessel required passing through a pathway of twenty-four acupoints, beginning with the Huiyin Acupoint.
The problem was that the Huiyin Acupoint happened to be located in a rather important part of the body.
No. No!
A forced opening?!
No scream escaped my lips. The internal energy transformed into a raging bull and slammed into the Huiyin Acupoint.
Boom!
……!
It was a sensation only someone who had experienced it could understand. My vision went white as though I’d arrived in heaven, and all my senses faded away.
The faces of those dearest to me flashed before my eyes one after another.
Mom. Hayeon. And among them, the unfamiliar face of a newborn baby.
Y-You’re…
Waaaaah!
A baby’s cry echoed through my head like an auditory hallucination.
Only then did I realize who it was.
Oh, my baby!
Jin Taekyung Junior, whom I had yet to meet.
The child I might now never meet at all.
The baby’s innocent eyes seemed to ask me:
“Daddy, can’t I come out?”
The next moment, my vision returned—and unimaginable pain shot straight up from my lower body.
Kyaaaaaaah!
As I screamed from the depths of my soul, an urgent voice lashed my ears.
“Get a hold of yourself! If you can’t endure this pain, you’ll die!”
……!
Death? Me? And in such a disgraceful way?
My mind snapped back into focus as if someone had dumped cold water over my head.
The pain stabbing into my lower abdomen like a knife hadn’t lessened, but I summoned superhuman endurance.
I can’t die like this!
I had survived countless bloody battles. Even when I’d suffered injuries severe enough to threaten my life, I’d gritted my teeth and held on.
This was only this much—no, it wasn’t only this much, but still, I wasn’t so impatient that I’d let my life end over something like this.
Hng!
As I endured with everything I had, the tremendous surge of internal energy tore through the twenty-four acupoints without pause.
And finally…
Boom!
It crashed into the gate known as the Conception Vessel.
Pain nearly as intense as what I’d felt at the Huiyin Acupoint surged through me like a wave.
The difference was that this collision didn’t end with a single blow.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Once, twice, three times. Thunderous booms and vibrations rang out inside my body like thunder from the heavens.
Only then did I understand why Jeok Cheongang had pressed my Paralysis Acupoint and Mute Acupoint. And why he had secured me with ropes on top of that.
Gnnngh!
My entire body trembled despite my sealed acupoints. Faced with pain beyond anything it could bear, my body was reacting on its own.
Pop.
The tiny blood vessels in my wide-open eyes burst.
Through my blood-red vision, I saw Jeok Cheongang roaring.
“Endure it! This is the last one!”
The last one? Really?
Whether it was true or not didn’t matter. His words gave me strength.
Just a little more. More!
I drew up the internal energy lying dormant in my dantian.
Forty-five years of internal energy raced through the wide-open acupoint pathways, where all the turbid qi and obstacles had been removed, and surged upward in one burst.
Then it joined the elixir’s energy, which was already pounding against the Conception Vessel, and Jeok Cheongang’s internal energy.
The three energies merged into a single battering ram and struck the gate with greater force and sharpness than ever before.
Bang! Kwoooong!
That blow put an end to it.
The long struggle was over.
The tightly sealed Conception Vessel crumbled, and the energies poured through like a conquering army.
For an instant, dizzying pain swept through me. Then pleasure and exhilarating clarity several times more intense than that pain flooded my entire body.
Ding.
System
You have opened the Governor Vessel!
Quest Conception and Governor Vessels was completed successfully!
You have achieved a rare Achievement! As a reward…
System
You have successfully opened the Conception Vessel!
The handling of qi has become much freer!
Your speed of circulating and accumulating internal energy has increased dramatically!
You have achieved the Conception Vessel Opening Achievement!
As a reward…
Ah… Ahhh!
My body trembled, no longer from pain but from sheer joy.
This was different. Everything I’d known until now had been no more than a drop in the ocean.
The difference was as vast as the gulf between First Rate and Peak.
How can it change this much?
I’d suffered unimaginable pain, but an achievement like this was worth it. No—I had to endure it.
As I marveled at the transformation, Jeok Cheongang beamed at me.
“You did very well!”
Seeing how genuinely delighted he was made something stir deep in my chest.
I couldn’t believe he had gone so far to help me. If my acupoints hadn’t been sealed, I would have dropped to the ground and given Jeok Cheongang a deep bow.
Jeok Cheongang, you really…
Just as my eyes began to grow moist, he spoke.
“We can open the Governor Vessel the same way.”
“…….”
Oh, fuck.
I forgot about that.
He wants me to do this all over again?
No. I’m not doing it! At least let me rest for a while first!
Jeok Cheongang chuckled as I blinked desperately.
“You’re beside yourself with eagerness to begin at once. I was going to let you rest for a while, but… Very well. Let’s ride this momentum and open both the Conception and Governor Vessels!”
……!
“Here we go!”
And so, the express train to hell departed once more.
One shichen later,1 I faintly heard a System notification through the haze clouding my mind.
Ding.
.
.
.
Whatever. Fuck this.
To hell with rare Achievements and everything else. I couldn’t take any more.
Having exhausted every last shred of mental strength, I plunged headfirst into endless darkness.
The moment Jeok Cheongang loosened the ropes, Jin Taekyung’s collapsing body fell into his careful embrace.
The sweat Taekyung had shed while enduring the pain and the turbid qi expelled from his body earlier combined into a terrible stench, but Jeok Cheongang didn’t care.
They were the traces left by a martial artist striving to reach a higher realm.
Jeok Cheongang gazed down at the unconscious Jin Taekyung with eyes deeper and gentler than ever.
The more I learn about him, the more remarkable he becomes.
At first, Jeok Cheongang had wondered one thing.
Why him, of all people?
In his eyes, Jin Taekyung had been neither white nor black. He was gray—the same ordinary gray found everywhere in the world.
He wasn’t exactly burning with a sense of justice, but neither was he evil.
Nor was he particularly devoted to training in martial arts.
From the moment Jeok Cheongang arrived at the Jin Family of Taiyuan, he’d heard about Jin Taekyung until his ears ached.
He hadn’t even needed to ask. Everyone around him was always talking about the boy.
His martial arts were Third Rate, while his drinking, womanizing, and gambling were First Rate. Unlike his two gifted older brothers, he had been called a disgrace to the family.
Upon learning that, Jeok Cheongang had resented the heavens, if only for a moment.
Why did you give the Heavenly Martial Physique to someone like him?
A fine sword ought to belong to a swordsman, not a farmer.
Yet the Jin Taekyung of the rumors was no different from a farmer holding a fine sword. Worse, he didn’t even possess a farmer’s diligence.
The only pursuits he approached diligently were drinking, womanizing, and gambling. What more was there to say?
But…
I was wrong.
Looking back, Jeok Cheongang realized that everything he had thought was merely an old man’s stubborn prejudice and contradiction.
He was no immortal sage. How could he divide someone he’d only just met into black or white? And what did it matter if Taekyung was gray?
A human heart. As long as he keeps hold of that, it is enough.
Judging by everything Jeok Cheongang had seen so far, Jin Taekyung was a decent young man.
Humans were imperfect beings to begin with. Trying to divide them into perfect white and black was absurd.
Perhaps gray was merely another name for a good person.
And on top of that, he possesses remarkable mental strength.
What good was being born with a fine physique? Opening the Conception and Governor Vessels was so difficult and agonizing that the process could only be called hellish.
Yet Jin Taekyung had done it—and done it splendidly.
It must have been unbearably difficult and painful. Even so, he had endured through sheer determination to become stronger.
Jin Taekyung possessed a mental strength as firm as his physique.
The Heavenly Martial Physique chose its master well.
A satisfied smile appeared around Jeok Cheongang’s mouth. After gazing at Jin Taekyung for a long while, he muttered:
“Perhaps… it may happen much sooner than I thought.”
As soon as he finished speaking, Jeok Cheongang’s wrinkled fingers began to tremble.
Even for him, the process had consumed a considerable amount of internal energy and mental strength. Before his mind could fully register the toll, his aging body had already made it clear.
“Not yet, you bastard. Hold out for just a few more years.”
Jeok Cheongang muttered bitterly and lifted Jin Taekyung into his arms.
They had crossed a great mountain. Now it was time to rest.
For the young man and the old man alike.
It was around noon when Ak Bulgun, a spear instructor at Heaven’s Gate Temple, arrived at Jin Wikyung’s office.
When he opened the door and entered, Jin Wikyung, who had been scribbling something across a bamboo slip, brightened and rose from his seat.
“Sir Ak, welcome. Thank you for accepting my invitation despite how busy you must be.”
“It only makes sense for the man with more time on his hands to make the trip. Please don’t concern yourself with it.”
The Shandong Yue Family was renowned throughout the Murim as a prestigious family of spear masters.
Yet despite being a direct descendant of such an illustrious family, Ak Bulgun was a straightforward man with little patience for empty formalities.
That personality showed plainly when he got straight to the point without even pausing for a sip of tea.
“Why did you summon me? Could it be…”
Jin Wikyung smiled faintly.
“Unfortunately, this isn’t about Mukyung.”
“I see.”
Ak Bulgun nodded, then added bluntly,
“Lesser Family Head, please understand that Heaven’s Gate Temple enforces its rules strictly.”
Heaven’s Gate Temple was both a treasure trove of outstanding talent and a gateway to advancement.
Anyone with sufficient talent could become a cadet regardless of their background. Its members consequently ranged from disciples of small sects in remote regions to the disciples and scions of prestigious major sects.
Despite bringing together people from such disparate backgrounds, Heaven’s Gate Temple had avoided serious conflict by enforcing the same strict rules upon every cadet.
“If he fails to return by the appointed date, he may be expelled. Even the Ten Dragons and Phoenixes are no exception.”
“I did go to see him myself, but…”
“Did he refuse?”
“Yes.”
After much deliberation, Jin Wikyung had gone to see him, but Jin Mukyung hadn’t even shown his face.
According to Childeuk, the martial artist stationed at the training hall, Mukyung hadn’t stepped outside once since entering.
He subsisted on fasting pills and refused to let anyone approach him. At least, when he heard that Jin Wikyung had come, he sent back a brief answer:
“I won’t return until I achieve Great Completion.”
Ak Bulgun let out a short laugh after hearing Jin Wikyung’s explanation.
Having taught Jin Mukyung several times before, he knew the young genius’s personality well.
“That sounds like him.”
“It’s unfortunate, but I don’t think even I can overcome my little brother’s stubbornness.”
“The Temple Master will be just as disappointed as you are, Lesser Family Head.”
Everyone had their own path to follow. Ak Bulgun nodded matter-of-factly and continued.
“I don’t believe I’ve heard why you asked to see me.”
“Ah, I wanted to deliver a message to you.”
“A message?”
Instead of answering, Jin Wikyung drew a small bamboo tube from inside his robe and handed it over.
Ak Bulgun examined the characters engraved into the blue bamboo tube and murmured,
“Heaven’s Gate Temple?”
“It arrived half a shichen ago.1 I thought it best to bring you here so I could hand it over personally.”
“Please excuse me for a moment.”
After asking permission, Ak Bulgun silently read through the message.
He checked it twice, then a third time, before raising his head and staring at Jin Wikyung.
“Lesser Family Head.”
“……?”
“I’m going to need your help.”
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