Chapter 75: The Visitor (3)
“We’d be glad to have you, if you’ll come with us.”
“……”
Jang Woo-hyun took a slight step back, feeling uncomfortable as Maeng Ye-ju approached him with a smile.
He began to think about what would be the best course of action.
‘It is a good opportunity to gain real combat experience.’
Of course, since this was the Martial World of Middle Heaven Realm, he’d still be able to find fights just wandering around, even without Maeng Ye-ju. After all, this was a world of martial artists who trained in martial arts—conflict came easily here.
If he chose to go with Maeng Ye-ju, he would be forming a connection with a major sect. Since stepping into the Martial World, Woo-hyun had never relied on the power of a major sect, nor had he tried to form ties with them. But now, the situation was different from when he had been in the Central Plains.
Woo-hyun had people he needed to find.
There was Cheol Geuk-jin, the Lord of Paecheon Sect, a connection from the Central Plains, and Kim Min-soo, the Mad Demon Martial Hero, a fellow Earth native.
He needed to meet the ascended Cheol Geuk-jin to figure out how much time had passed between them. Just like in the Central Plains, he had to trace the clues Kim Min-soo left behind.
If Kim Min-soo was still alive and he could meet him in person, all the better.
Only then could he uncover the identity of the silver giant who was targeting him, or obtain the information that being had discovered.
Besides, Middle Heaven Realm was vast.
It was so much larger than the Central Plains that there was no way he could cover it all alone.
If he could use this opportunity to form ties with Maeng Ye-ju and the Beast King Sect, it would surely help him.
The Beast King Sect was a powerful sect renowned across the entire Martial World of Middle Heaven Realm.
And if he could make a name for himself through this mission, that would be a bonus.
Once his name began to spread, both Cheol Geuk-jin and Kim Min-soo would surely hear of him.
‘And I’m still worried about the children.’
Though their encounter had been brief, Woo-hyun couldn’t just sit idly by while those kids were being kidnapped.
He didn’t yet know what Bi Ik-ryeon’s ultimate goal was, but if left alone, they might continue abducting other beastkin.
For all he knew, they might still be kidnapping others at this very moment.
‘Besides, I’ve already made enemies of those bastards.’
He had destroyed several of Bi Ik-ryeon’s ships during their clashes. Even if they weren’t sworn enemies, they were already in opposition.
With his thoughts settled, Jang Woo-hyun came to a decision.
“I’ll go with you.”
Maeng Ye-ju welcomed the answer with joy, while Kang Yung frowned behind her.
“I’ll come pick you up in two days. Be ready. I’ll see you then.”
With that, Maeng Ye-ju and the warriors of the Beast King Sect left.
* * *
Jang Woo-hyun sat down and began analyzing his fight with Kang Yung from earlier in the day.
Battling a beastkin, who sometimes fought like a human and other times like a beast, had been a unique experience.
The most striking feature had been his teeth.
The strongest weapon a beast could wield.
‘Biting.’
It was a form of attack he had never even considered. And it wasn’t just a simple bite.
Each tooth had been imbued with Qi Projection, turning dozens of sword-like Qi blades into a unified force that had struck his Sacred River Flowing Armor.
Woo-hyun sat cross-legged and extended his hand.
He focused his thoughts on Kang Yung—specifically, the beastkin’s Qi-infused teeth.
Clatter—
At his gesture, the blade scales of Dragon King's Scale detached and floated into the air.
Dozens of small blades arranged themselves like the fangs in a beast’s mouth.
Once aligned, they moved like a predator’s jaws, aiming to tear through their prey in midair.
Crunch—
A massive invisible beast bit down on the air, but Woo-hyun didn’t like the result.
‘This isn’t it.’
It looked similar, but it wasn’t the same at all.
Neither the power nor the feeling was right. It was just an imitation.
The pieces didn’t unify. Each acted separately.
At that point, it was no different from simply launching hidden weapons imbued with Qi Projection.
He tried mimicking Kang Yung’s bite several more times, but none of the results satisfied him. Then a new approach came to mind.
‘Let’s not cling to the form.’
Kang Yung had used his mouth simply because that was where he focused his strength as a beastkin.
The method itself was simple: pour strong internal energy into each “tooth” and unify them as one.
Woo-hyun began manipulating Dragon King's Scale in a new way.
Following his will, the small, scale-like blades grouped into tens and formed about a dozen swords.
He imbued each sword with Qi Projection, then tried to merge them into a single entity.
Drrrrrrrrr—
Dragon King's Scale trembled under the compressed force. An uncontrolled power.
Ping!
The sheer force being forcibly held together caused the blade scales forming the sword to scatter from Dragon King's Scale.
Tik. Ping!
Eventually, the unmerged energy exploded.
KWAANG!
Even with the protection of Sacred River Flowing Armor, Woo-hyun took considerable damage and was blown backward.
‘Still too much for now?’
He had found the path, but didn’t know how to walk it yet.
How could he unify them? No method came to mind right away.
He sat in place and spent a long time thinking.
Recalling various martial arts he had learned, he began pondering how to fuse or adapt them.
That’s when he realized something.
‘I need to reorganize everything.’
The martial arts he had acquired weren’t learned from a single system. They were picked up from all over, and thus not unified.
He should have reorganized them long ago. But he had been rushing forward without pause, leaving no time for such work.
Now that the thought occurred to him, Woo-hyun decided to reorganize his martial arts system.
He went over everything he had learned—starting from Tiger Form Sword, Seven Star Sword Art, the large sword style Silent Night Three Swords, the swift sword Single-Heart Sword, the soft sword Three Wheels Sword Art, Asura Sword Sect’s Six Asura Swords and Three Heads, Three Origins Technique, Sacred River Flowing Armor, and the stealth and concealment techniques from Secret Flowing Body Technique and Dispersing Mist Skill.
To that, he added the Horse King’s Six-Legged Step, the incomplete dual-element technique Heaven and Earth Yin-Yang Twin Hands, and a slew of bizarre secret techniques that had been crammed into his head.
Woo-hyun recalled all of it and began the process of organizing.
Normally, this would have taken a long time. But Woo-hyun was a martial artist who had reached the Transcendent Realm.
With thoughts moving at transcendent speed, he began dismantling and reconstructing the martial arts he had learned.
‘Let’s start with sword techniques.’
The reorganization began.
From Silent Night Three Swords, he kept the slashing technique Black Wolf Fang and its application, while consolidating Seven Illusions, Five-fold Slash and Shadow Serpent Coiling Sword not as formal forms, but as a pool of techniques to adapt as needed.
He then added Destruction Slash from the Demonic Destruction Fist.
The result was a streamlined sword technique: Destructive Silent Night Sword.
A simple sword style with two forms—Black Wolf Fang as the first, and Destruction Slash as the second.
The swift sword Single-Heart Sword was merged with Six Asura Swords to form a new category: Swift Sword System.
He retained three core forms—Instant Sword, the lightning-fast slash Flashing Blade, and the sword net Thunder Web.
All discarded forms and the unusable remnants of Silent Night Three Swords were bundled together into a new collective system: Ten Thousand Swords Convergence.
From there, Woo-hyun planned to draw out techniques only when needed, or even create new martial arts directly from it.
Although Empty Step had been added to the Six-Legged Horse King's Step, there weren’t any major changes.
For now, there was nothing that needed fixing.
Three Wheels Sword Art had no techniques to combine it with, and since it was still useful as a defensive technique, he decided to keep it as is.
There was also nothing to adjust in Sacred River Flowing Armor, Secret Flowing Body Technique, or Dragon King's Scale.
‘Other than sword techniques, I haven’t really changed anything.’
Technically true, but that didn’t mean he wouldn’t make changes later. As he continued seeing and learning more martial arts, there would still be plenty of room for improvement.
“Hoo…”
With a long sigh, Jang Woo-hyun finished reorganizing his martial arts.
Since it was more about discarding and organizing than creating something new, the process of restructuring had ended quicker than expected.
Not wanting to damage the Blue Dragon Martial Hall, Woo-hyun had trained outside, but now he turned and made his way back to the hall.
* * *
“It’s time for you to descend the mountain.”
“What are you talking about all of a sudden? We’re not even on a mountain, why say descend?”
“It means I have nothing more to teach you, so leave the hall and soar.”
“……”
Jang Woo-hyun looked startled by Gwak Yu-chan’s sudden declaration, and Pung So-bong frowned.
“You haven’t even been here that long. It’s only been a few months.”
“You’ve learned the fundamentals now, so it’s time to go out into the Martial World. Seeing and experiencing things for yourself is what will truly build your strength. Wasn’t it like that where you came from too?”
“I did… wander the Martial World.”
“Right, it’s the same anywhere. Nothing beats firsthand experience. After this task with the Beast King Sect, you don’t have to come back. I hope you keep traveling and continue experiencing the Middle Heaven Realm Martial World. Frankly, at your level, there’s not much I can even teach anymore. I believe that gaining real battle experience will be more than enough for you.”
Jang Woo-hyun stood there blinking, caught off guard by the abrupt announcement.
“You should get going. You’ll need to prepare if you’re leaving tomorrow.”
“I don’t really have anything to prepare.”
He didn’t have any luggage to begin with, so there wasn’t much to get ready.
He lingered for a moment, sensing that Gwak Yu-chan and Pung So-bong had something to discuss privately, so he was about to excuse himself.
“Ah, Woo-hyun. Take this with you.”
Just as he was about to leave the room, Gwak Yu-chan handed him a small box that had been given to him by Maeng Ye-ju.
“This is…”
“So-bong checked it and said there’s nothing wrong with it. It’s not particularly useful to me, so you take it.”
“Are you sure it’s okay for me to have all this?”
“I told you, it’s not that helpful for me. And since So-bong isn’t a martial artist, it’s not much use to him either. Don’t take the Ho-cheon Pill right away. Start with the Cheong-rang Pill. It’s a decent elixir. Try taking one or two to see if it suits your body. Then take the Ho-cheon Pill if it does.”
“Even so, it feels wrong for me to accept all of this alone…”
“Hey, when an elder gives you something, you just say, ‘Thank you,’ and take it.”
With a serious expression, Gwak Yu-chan gave him a stern look. Jang Woo-hyun bowed deeply.
“Thank you. I don’t know how I can repay this kindness.”
“What kindness? We didn’t do anything special. It’s all your ability.”
“Yeah, seriously, what did we even do? We didn’t really help you. That Gwak guy said he’d train you for ten years and now he’s kicking you out already.”
“Hey, why are you twisting it like that? It’s all for Woo-hyun’s sake. Go to your room and try it. Don’t worry about side effects.”
“Yes. I’ll do that then.”
Jang Woo-hyun gave another polite bow and left the room.
As he disappeared from view, Pung So-bong turned to speak.
“Why’d you lie?”
“About what?”
“That the Ho-cheon Pill wasn’t helpful. An elixir of that level would definitely benefit you.”
“I just don’t need it. Woo-hyun needs it more than I do.”
Pung So-bong silently studied Gwak Yu-chan’s calm, almost enlightened expression.
“What the hell happened while I was gone that things turned out like this?”
Gwak Yu-chan smiled in response.
“There’s nothing left for me to teach him. That kid’s a genius.”
“…What?”
“Even if we didn’t help much, the brand issue on his shoulder is resolved now, so it’s fine for him to start traveling.”
“Wait a sec. A genius? What are you talking about?”
“A genius is a genius. What more do I need to say?”
Looking at Gwak Yu-chan’s serious expression, Pung So-bong hesitated, trying to choose his words.
“How much of a genius are we talking?”
“He’s on a completely different level than the average person. I was once called the greatest in the Lower Realm, and even I can’t comprehend it.”
“Didn’t you say before that it’d take at least ten years to teach him?”
“That’s what I thought. I didn’t expect this.”
“How much of a genius is he, exactly…?”
“He’s the best I’ve ever taught. To the point that… though I’m not sure yet, if he keeps growing at this rate, the Six might become Seven.”
Pung So-bong was stunned silent upon understanding what that meant.
In the Middle Heaven Realm Martial World, those referred to as the "Six" were a clearly defined group.
The Six Heavenly Masters.
The top martial artists of the Middle Heaven Realm Martial World. Beings said to have reached the realm of the divine through martial arts.
They were the reason the cultivators from the mad world of Immortal Ascension, who vastly outnumbered martial artists and even refined humans into elixirs, didn’t dare invade the Middle Heaven Realm Martial World.
Even scouring the entire Middle Heaven Realm Realm, there were only a handful who could stand against them—true monsters. The idea that Jang Woo-hyun could one day be among them left Pung So-bong in shock.
“…You think he could reach that level?”
“That’s what I feel. I’ve never seen them personally, but Woo-hyun’s skill and talent are so beyond the norm, it’s unreal. Even among the ascended who’ve experienced transcendence, he stands out.”
“……”
“Do you know how old Woo-hyun is?”
“I mean… he probably used age-reversing techniques…”
“Nope.”
“What?”
“He didn’t use any. That’s his natural appearance.”
“What?”
“He said he’s thirty-two in Lower Realm years.”
“WHAT!?”
Pung So-bong shouted in shock without even realizing it.
“I’ve never seen anyone ascend that quickly. Maybe he won’t reach the level of the Six Heavenly Masters, but even the members of the Seventeen Lords or the Ten Seats couldn’t ascend to Middle Heaven Realm at that age.”
The Ten Seats and Seventeen Lords were elite martial artists ranked just below the Six Heavenly Masters. They were the current leading figures in the Middle Heaven Realm Martial World, yet even they hadn’t accomplished what Jang Woo-hyun had.
“…Just what have we encountered?”
“I don’t know. But there’s one thing I’m sure of.”
Gwak Yu-chan paused briefly before continuing.
“We might be witnessing the person who will rewrite the history of Middle Heaven Realm.”
Faced with such a surreal statement, Pung So-bong could only remain silent.