Chapter 54

Chapter 54
All My Fortune into Inner Power (2)

Deep within the woods behind Baek So-cheon’s residence, the three years of internal cultivation he had managed to gather were being put to the test for the very first time. Baek So-cheon threw himself into mastering the fourth stance belonging to the Heavenly Thunder Nine Fists, the precise threshold where true internal energy was required to manifest its genuine power.

Heavenly Thunder Nine Fists

Fourth Fist: Moon Bright, Stars Rare (Moonlight Star Rare)

Although performing this fourth technique demanded genuine inner energy, his current reserve of three years was enough to at least execute the form. It fell drastically short of its full, terrifying devastation—failing to reach even a fraction of what it should be—yet the mechanics of the strike were within his reach. Executing the fifth stance and beyond, however, remained bound to strict thresholds of internal development. Attempting the fifth form called for a foundation of no less than twenty years of cultivation, whereas the sixth necessitated half a jiazi, thirty full years. Lacking that foundational depth, any effort to deploy them was out of the question.

While the opening three movements were inspired by observing the natural patterns of the gale and ocean waves, the fourth fist onward drew directly upon the grand celestial movements of the sun, the moon, and the boundless heavens. This fourth style, Moon Bright, Stars Rare—alluding to how a luminous moon renders the surrounding stars pale and few—consisted of five separate sequences that primarily relied on dual-handed strikes. It was at this stage that the Heavenly Thunder Nine Fists genuinely began to show its true, lethal nature.

Boom!

Even with merely three years of internal strength backing the blow, a solid wooden trunk violently burst apart. Paired with his raw physical conditioning, the impact doubled in destructive might, carrying sufficient force to easily shatter standard masonry.

Flinging another chunk of timber upward, Baek So-cheon drove his knuckles forward.

Crack! Crack! Crack! Crack! Crack!

The airborne wood exploded into jagged splinters, showering the clearing.

Remnant Moon, Dawn Star—the most fierce and devastating sequence within the fourth fist. It was a brutal sequence of continuous impacts hammered into the target’s chest. The moment a profound well of authentic inner energy infused those rapid strikes down the line, any adversary caught within the onslaught would be pulverized beyond recognition.

Letting out a heavy breath after finishing the sequence, Baek So-cheon felt an invigorating rush surge through him. Three long years had passed since he last executed an art powered by internal qi. A slight residue remained scattered in his energetic channels, but his newly reconstructed physique swiftly worked to integrate it.

A sudden voice drifted toward him from above.

“You know, fist techniques fit your style surprisingly well.”

Looking toward the canopy, Baek So-cheon caught sight of Cheon-geuk sitting comfortably on an elevated branch. As usual, not a single trace of her guardian stars could be sensed around her.

“Once you channel real internal power through those punches, it’s going to be deadly. Why not just abandon the blade and switch entirely to hand-to-hand combat this time around?”

“I’m actually considering it.”

“Seriously?”

A shift in approach had become essential. In their past encounter, he had suffered defeat at the hands of the Black Heaven Alliance Lord while wielding a sword, meaning clinging stubbornly to the same methods would be foolish. Simply charging forward with purified qi was a reckless gamble, for the Black Heaven Lord was an extraordinarily monstrous master. Furthermore, there was every possibility that his foe had pushed his boundaries even further while recovering from his wounds.

“Were you able to obtain them?”

“Had to act like an utterly shameless bitch, but yes.”

She shifted around to reveal the crimson sack resting against her back.

Baek So-cheon’s expression brightened instantly.

“Look at that—suddenly treating me like a treasure. Quite the contrast to how you greeted me before!”

“Let’s head inside.”

Baek So-cheon turned and walked toward the residence. Cheon-geuk gave a small pout before dropping down from the bough and trailing behind him. Stepping across the threshold, she glanced around at the quarters.

“Decent place.”

“Gasp!”

Beon Saeng instantly froze right at the entrance. Standing before him was a breathtaking woman the likes of which he had never laid eyes on. The real trouble, however, was that he recognized her identity the second he saw her.

“It’s… really you, isn’t it?”

“Indeed.”

She had always kept her visage hidden behind a veil, yet now her true features were laid bare before him.

“Does this mean I’m a dead man?”

“Not quite.”

“Ah, what a relief.”

“When it comes to people I know, I typically just pluck out an eye. Sometimes the tongue goes with it, sometimes it stays.”

Beon Saeng forced a strained chuckle as she strolled past him with those horrifying words.

“Haha, professional assassins really have the most terrifying sense of humor.”

Cheon-geuk slightly tilted her head back toward him, her gaze silently questioning whether he genuinely believed she was teasing. Without another word, she followed Baek So-cheon straight into his private quarters.

“Hey, at least confirm you were joking before walking away!”

The wooden door remained firmly shut.

“That gorgeous woman has an absolute razor for a sense of humor.”

Beon Saeng attempted to stride away with casual bravado, but as he reached the far turn of the hallway, his knees buckled and he slid down against the wall. Staring blankly down the deserted corridor, his expression crumpled in distress.

“…That was just a joke, right? It had to be…”

Inside the chamber, Cheon-geuk remarked to Baek So-cheon, “I kind of feel like giving him a real scare.”

“I know that urge all too well.”

“Why does that sound like you’re aiming that comment at me?”

Baek So-cheon simply let out an amused breath and unfastened the crimson sack. Opening the three containers inside one after another, his eyes stretched wide in utter disbelief as he realized the exact identity of the three miraculous substances resting before him.

“You managed to secure every single one of these with that sum?”

“Sure did. Walked away with an absolute steal.”

“You certainly had fortune on your side.”

Baek So-cheon’s mind immediately flashed back to her earlier remark: *Had to act like an utterly shameless bitch, but yes.*

He could piece it together easily enough; she had gone to extreme, ruthless lengths to secure all three treasures.

“You really didn’t need to push things that far.”

Catching the realization in his eyes, she answered smoothly, “The very same applies to you.”

“What are you getting at?”

“You could have easily taken that mountain of wealth, slipped away somewhere quiet, and spent the rest of your days in leisure. ‘Didn’t need to push things this far’ fits you just as well, doesn’t it?”

“It’s different. This is a matter of staying alive. The Black Heaven Lord will relentlessly track me down and slaughter me.”

“If you threw yourself entirely into hiding, it would take far more than average ability to ever sniff you out.”

“Regardless, you have my thanks.”

“Simple appreciation is plenty. Since I’ve already dragged things this far, we may as well see the result. I’ll take up guard duty—ingest them and begin circulating your qi.”

Baek So-cheon felt an immense, genuine gratitude. Absorbing supreme spiritual medicines and guiding the flow of energy was a fragile, high-risk endeavor; even if the odds were slim, any disturbance during the process could trigger a fatal catastrophe.

Looking down at the three items, Baek So-cheon weighed which to consume first. He settled on the thousand-year ha-su-o.

Placing it into his mouth, he chewed carefully before swallowing the medicinal root. An unfathomably rich, transcendent fragrance instantly flooded his palate, bearing zero resemblance to common century-old specimens.

Elixir Consumed: Thousand-Year Ha-Su-o

Full Efficacy: 1 Jiazi

GRADE: SUPREME SPIRITUAL HERB

Initiating the Immovable Wisdom King Heart Method, Baek So-cheon began refining the vast vitality of the thousand-year ha-su-o.

Shhh…

An eternity seemed to have passed since a tidal wave of internal strength this immense rushed through his physical frame. An intoxicating wave of euphoria washed over his senses, evoking a sensation akin to sharing a bed with a woman.

Following a complete cyclical transit through his meridians, the purified vitality converged toward his lower abdomen. True to expectation, he thoroughly refined the entire jiazi of potential, securing exactly twenty years of internal power directly into his center—accounting for one-third of the herb’s total reservoir.

The sheer refinement of this energy defied description. Even though this power belonged entirely to him, he found himself yearning to lose his senses within its pristine clarity. His existing three years of foundation had been pure, yet they paled beside this new accumulation. He had assumed mixing the two would merely strike a middle ground, but the less refined portion had instantly transformed, taking on the exact celestial purity of the incoming qi as they merged.

An internal gasp of realization struck him. This was yet another astonishing revelation regarding his altered internal center. Factoring in his baseline, his reserves now stood at a clean twenty-three years.

Right at that exact second—

Whoosh…

The internal power gathered within his core surged forth like an ebbing tide, cascading outward to permeate his meridians all over again. This was completely involuntary; the energy moved of its own accord.

Closely monitoring the astonishing reaction developing inside his flesh, Baek So-cheon was left thoroughly stunned.

*How could something like this occur?*

This newly formed core was not acting as a traditional vessel; it served purely as an open threshold, while his entire physical form was functioning as the actual reservoir. With only three years of cultivation previously, the meager volume had merely lingered around the entrance. That explained why a faint residue had always remained scattered within his pathways whenever he struck—it had been intended to reside throughout his system from the beginning.

Through grueling physical conditioning pushed beyond mortal constraints, coupled with the profound execution of the Bone Transformation Great Law, an unprecedented physiological state had been born.

Baek So-cheon gently guided the turbulent energy saturating his flesh. It gradually stilled, settling into an equilibrium as though gathered within a conventional core, dispersing with absolute symmetry across every single meridian.

He extended his forearm toward Cheon-geuk.

“Take a measure of my internal strength.”

“Showing off already?”

“Just do it quickly.”

“Wait… where did all your cultivation go? I can’t detect a single shred of it.”

“You truly feel nothing?”

“Where did you tuck it away?”

She probed intensely through his wrist, yet came away empty-handed.

Baek So-cheon realized he held the ability to completely conceal his internal power throughout the vast network of his energetic pathways. Even if an adversary managed to locate his secondary dantian, masking his power across his physical meridians would thoroughly deceive them; no martial artist would ever imagine such an anomaly.

He willed the internal power to rise. Normally, energy would have to embark from the dantian before radiating outward, yet now it surged directly from the entirety of his physical vessel. In practical combat, this meant he could deploy his qi with unmatched speed, retaining a pristine purity that far surpassed his past limits.

This marked a completely unprecedented milestone within the annals of the Murim: an absolute unification of internal and external martial paths. From this point forward, every scrap of inner energy he acquired would root itself directly into his entire body, shattering the conventional boundaries of a dantian.

Whole-Body Dantian Fusion:

Internal power thoroughly permeates every meridian.

Instantaneous mobilization, flawless purity.

Transcends traditional limits.

Baek So-cheon tightened his fingers into a fist. Internal power responded instantly to his will, filling his knuckles with enough crushing momentum to splinter iron, arriving far more rapidly than ever before.

Cheon-geuk looked on with a thoroughly bewildered stare, completely unable to grasp what had just transpired.

“Are you all right?”

Baek So-cheon gave a firm nod. “Keep watch over me.”

Had it not been for her presence, his progress would have stalled right here. Thanks to her relentless pursuit of these medicines, a greater leap awaited him.

He reached for the second treasure: the Seven-Colored Five-Pill Dan.

Unlike the gentle depth of the root, this pill radiated an aggressive, fiery sting. Wincing slightly from the bitter heat, he ground it between his teeth and forced it down.

Elixir Consumed: Seven-Colored Five-Pill Dan

Full Efficacy: 1 Jiazi

GRADE: SUPREME DETOX PILL

Fierce medicinal energy surges, purified by heart method.

Reactivating the Immovable Wisdom King Heart Method, he systematically refined the raging medicinal potency before guiding it toward his center. Just as calculated, he drew forth the maximum yield—a complete jiazi, amounting to twenty years of pure cultivation.

It appeared to coalesce for a brief instant, only to violently erupt outward in a sweeping wave.

Rush…

Paying close attention to the unfolding changes, he observed the distinct temperament of this newly added energy. The moment the two currents intertwined, the blazing force transformed completely, adopting the exact crystalline purity of the ha-su-o before settling peacefully into his meridians.

Ah!

An involuntary exclamation of sheer triumph slipped past his lips. His unified cultivation had now reached an impressive forty-three years.

Without pausing, Baek So-cheon reached for the final offering, the Emperor Pill. While its inherent potency was the mildest among the three, it certainly did not fall short of expectations. He thoroughly assimilated all twenty-five years of its latent energy, allowing eight years—one-third of its true measure—to permanently merge into his pathways.

The grand total now reached fifty-one years of profound cultivation.

He remained a mere nine years short of a complete jiazi. Yet owing to the pristine, peerless purity running through his flesh, the sheer combat potency he could unleash would easily eclipse the standard full jiazi he had once commanded in the past.

Baek So-cheon concluded his meditative cycle, a bright grin spreading across his face. The sensations governing his body had been completely reinvented. No longer bound to an isolated focal point in his lower abdomen, a tremendous, awe-inspiring might hummed through every fiber of his physical frame. A fierce, volcanic desire to release that power surged upward.

With a deliberate breath, he pacified the roaring torrent, watching the immense qi slip effortlessly back into total concealment within his pathways.

Reading the clear change in his demeanor, Cheon-geuk instantly understood that a monumental evolution had taken place within his body. There was clearly no longer any reason to worry about the energy she had failed to sense earlier.

Baek So-cheon met her gaze.

A playful smirk touched her lips. “Why express gratitude like you’re speaking to someone you despise?”

“Did I really come across that way?” Baek So-cheon chuckled alongside her. “Why go out of your way to assist me like this? You had every opportunity to end my life and claim the entire 1.4 million nyang for yourself.”

“I already have plenty to keep myself fed and sheltered.”

“Having more never hurts.”

“Perhaps it’s because I spent my entire youth learning nothing but the craft of murder, but hoarding wealth has never held much charm for me. Having enough to live comfortably is plenty. Besides, there isn’t anything I particularly care to spend it on.”

Baek So-cheon found himself sharing that exact sentiment. It was the sole reason that staggering fortune had remained sitting untouched within the manor grounds for so long.

Cheon-geuk tilted her head, asking, “So, how does it feel?”

“It means I won’t be on the receiving end of a beating anymore.”

“Just because you’ve gotten stronger doesn’t give you license to strike me.”

“I was weak back then. I am genuinely sorry for laying hands on you.”

That unvarnished, sincere apology caused a soft smile to grace her features. In bonds that took root through violence, if one party never offered genuine remorse, both sides might share endless superficial smiles while remaining forever estranged. That was a reality she understood better than anyone.

“Think you can bring down the Black Heaven Lord now?”

Baek So-cheon slowly shook his head. If he gambled every single drop of his fifty-one years into an all-or-nothing strike, he might stand a chance at claiming his opponent’s life. But should that singular chance miss and the confrontation drag out into an extended battle of endurance, certain doom awaited him.

“I still have to keep the fact that I’ve recovered hidden from the world. On top of that, I need to accumulate even more internal strength.”

Cheon-geuk nodded in quiet agreement. Having stood before the Black Heaven Lord in the past, she was acutely aware of just how terrifying the man truly was.

“Accompany me outside for a moment.”

“To where?”

“There’s an individual I’d like you to meet.”

Cheon-geuk turned and stepped through the doorway with Baek So-cheon right beside her.

“By the way… you’re fully aware by now, aren’t you?”

“That I held back a hundred thousand nyang to serve as an emergency reserve?”

“Seriously?”

Her stride became remarkably light, almost as if she were walking on air.