Chapter 85

Dan Wooseong and Gwangshin lay sprawled inside the cave, exchanging hiccups. Had they been ordinary men, they would have succumbed to their drunkenness and passed away right there. But the two were fighting off the alcohol’s effects. Dan Wooseong slurred drunkenly as he asked.

“Senior, how many drinks have you had?”

Kwang-shin replied in a dog-like prone position.

“Five drinks. I guess that’s it for me. How about you?”

Danwooseong burst out laughing as he answered.

“Hahahaha… I had six drinks. Looks like I won.”

Kwang-shin lay sprawled on the floor, grinning.

“You idiot, just say you won. Good for you. You bastard. I’m amazed you could drink that much with a full stomach.”

It truly wasn’t ordinary liquor.

Dan Woo-sung and Gwangshindo were both dead drunk. Suddenly, Dan Woo-sung looked up at the stalactites on the ceiling and chuckled.

“Senior, isn’t this just regular liquor?”

A moment of silence passed before Kwang-shin burst out laughing.

“Hahahahahaha… That could happen. That would be a funny turn of events. No. It’s just like when I drank Gongcheong Oil in my youth. I nearly died then too, but the situation is much better now. Let’s slowly get ready.”

Gwang-sin rose again, crossed his legs in the lotus position, and then, waving his hands like a drunken reveler, recited a poem.

Life is like a grand dream, so why live it only in weariness? This is why I remain drunk all day long. Singing while waiting for the bright moon, when this song ends, I shall try to forget old affections.

Danwooseong looked at Gwangshin.

“······.”

The song seemed somewhat out of character for Gwangshin. Danwooseong asked.

“Whose song is that?”

“It’s a poem by Li Bai called ‘Spring Day Drunk, Awake and Speaking My Ambitions’.”

Gwang-shin had taken only the beginning and end of ‘Spring Day Drunk and Awake, Expressing My Aspirations’ and sung it as he pleased. Sure enough, Gwang-shin chuckled and said.

“The poetry of those who live comfortably in this world is always like this.”

Dan Woo-sung nodded.

“That’s right. It’s not the song of a fanatic.”

“That’s exactly what I mean.”

Kwang-shin pointed at Dan Woo-sung with his finger and turned Li Bai’s poem completely upside down.

“How can you speak of forgetting?”

They nodded back and forth like drunken revelers exchanging verses.

“How could we forget?”

Kwang-shin said with a smile.

“I do not forget.”

“I won’t forget either.”

Life is like a grand dream, so I shall live it all the more wearily. I will wait for nights when the moon does not rise, singing songs, and then, with my lips sealed, I will remember and remember again the old affection. This fanatic has never forgotten.

Suddenly, Gwangshin and Danwooseong met eyes and smiled faintly. Gwangshin’s heart was exactly the same as Danwooseong’s.

Gwangshin exhaled deeply, closed his eyes, and began his breathing exercises while intoxicated.

“Let’s begin. From now on, this qi connection is mine.”

Danwooseong also steadied his breath.

“And mine as well.”

Danwooseong looked around and quenched his thirst with the clear water pooled from the ceiling. He couldn’t be sure when this new round of qigong meditation would end.

He thought that if it weren’t for Gwangshin and himself, he would have died here drinking natural wine. The two of them had created an incredible situation.

After settling in a spacious spot, Dan Wooseong looked at Gwangshin before closing his eyes.

As soon as Gwangshin began his qigong breathing exercises, three distinct rings formed by qi rose clearly above his head. He had witnessed the outward manifestation of the Three Flowers Gathering at the Crown. This signified three flowers converging and blooming atop the head. Since he displayed the Three Flowers Gathering at the Crown immediately upon beginning qigong cultivation, it was entirely possible that the Five Energies Gathering at the Center might appear by the time his cultivation concluded.

This was no time for mere observation, so Danwoo Seong immediately began his own qigong practice.

His physical state was highly problematic.

Commencing the Great Heavenly Circuit and gathering the energy of the natural wine into his internal energy went smoothly, but while space was limited, the vital energy flowed uninterrupted. As the essence of the elixir overflowed abundantly, Dan Woo-seong completed one cycle of the Great Heavenly Circuit before forcibly expending the energy using the mental techniques of martial arts he had mastered in a past life.

Black Bullet Rebound Technique.

Dan Woosung repeatedly practiced the self-defense technique’s mental discipline he had taught the Ssangbo brothers, exhausting his energy, then converted the immense energy back into the Ihwa Shin Gong’s mental discipline, repeating this dozens of times. At that moment, realizing demonic possession was just a step away, he switched to the mental discipline of the Hundred Battles, Ten Deaths Technique. He lost all sense of time. His entire body became drenched in sweat, then waste poured out as if undergoing a complete transformation. Only when he felt dizzy did Dan Wuseong grasp the gravity of the situation. He used the Mind-Splitting Technique to objectify himself, then divided into three clones.

Each clung to the Black Bullet Rebound Technique, the Ten-Thousand-Battle Ten-Thousand-Shatter Technique, and the Two-Flower Divine Technique.

Is this what self-division feels like?

Failure to control this would lead to demonic possession.

The one overseeing the three avatars was the core entity within Danwooseong, possessing the strictest nature. Yet, the energy of the Natural Spirit Fruit still overflowed.

It would be one of three outcomes: the body exploding, blood vomiting, or the mind being utterly devastated.

Danwooseong had no choice but to begin the work of synthesizing the Black Bullet Rebound Technique, the Tenfold Iron Fist Technique, and the Peach Blossom Divine Technique into a single martial art—crossing their core principles, establishing their sequence, and deciding what to add and what to remove.

Even amidst the chaos, Danwooseong’s mind remained utterly calm.

First, he decided on the name for the martial art that would synthesize the three into one.

Wuliao Divine Art.

“Wuliao” meant complete enlightenment. Before perfecting the Wuliao Divine Art, Dan Wuseong first gave himself a mental gift. Lost in a state of selflessness, he indulged in wild imaginings: achieving martial greatness, purifying the demonic path, defeating even the Three Demons, and finally entering the Wuxin Inn to thoroughly beat Jin Xiaoguo and Bai Wuzhen.

With his eyes closed, Danwooseong sat cross-legged, the corners of his mouth lifting slightly. Then, the characters of the meditation technique began to disintegrate as if splitting apart, only to be reestablished by the martial arts of the Kwonwang.

The Black Bullet-Deflecting Technique was a self-defense art centered on hardening specific body parts as solid as steel. Dan Wuseong designed it to combine with the Ten-Thousand-Battle Hardening Technique, enabling defense against lightning strikes. He then discarded the arrangement using the Mind-Splitting Technique to deploy both Void Grasping and lightning strikes to the left and right, respectively, and integrated them into a single martial art. By rearranging the sequence of qi manipulation while continuously refining the core principles of the Five Elements Divine Art, the foundation was solidified as if he had just begun mastering it. Complete enlightenment knew no distinction between foundation and perfection. Thus, Dan Wuseong concurrently practiced the Great Circulation while clearly establishing the theoretical framework.

Three days passed in the blink of an eye, as swiftly as a gust of wind.

On the third day, Danwooseong quietly opened his eyes after systematically eliminating the heart demons that had been wandering like vagabonds within the virtual realm.

“Huuu…”

The moment his eyes opened, everything appeared more detailed, as if his vision had changed. Then, to Danwooseong’s own surprise, his hearing sharpened so much that it seemed he gained spatial awareness through sound alone. Events unfolding in unseen places were being imprinted into his mind.

Suddenly, Dan Wooseong locked eyes with a stranger staring at him. He asked with an expression of utter bewilderment.

“Senior?”

Kwang-shin replied with a wide grin.

“You’re awake?”

Dan Woo-sung asked, studying Gwang-shin’s face closely.

“What happened to you?”

Kwang-shin touched his own face as he answered.

“What happened?”

“You look younger. I’d believe you were my older brother.”

Kwang-shin’s appearance had reverted to his late thirties to early forties, not his fifties. Unless one possessed exceptional discernment, few could have guessed his true age.

Kwang-shin burst out laughing.

“Hahahaha…”

Even his voice carried more vitality than before.

Kwang-shin explained.

His energy was overflowing, yet he had no way to expend it. Trying to release it through the martial arts or meditation techniques he was practicing was no easy task either. In the end, he recalled the disguise technique he had mastered in his youth and altered the face reflected in the mirror. He made it appear as youthful as possible.

Dan Woo-seong had created the Five Elements Divine Art, and Gwang-shin had reversed the flow of his life force, pouring most of his energy into it.

Guangxin said.

“It’s regrettable, but old men like us can’t help it. With energy overflowing, we’re just doing things like this. Have you made any progress?”

Dan Woo-seong replied.

“I have synthesized the martial arts I’ve been mastering.”

Kwang-shin said it as if it were something amazing.

“That must have been incredibly difficult…”

“I believed that if I fell into demonic possession, you would come to my aid.”

Kwang-shin blinked his eyes as he spoke.

“Hey, junior. I just opened my eyes. I was about to check my joints when you opened yours almost at the same time. I have no idea how much time has passed.”

The two men released their lotus positions and stood up, gazing intently at the stalactite cave. It could be described simply as consuming the elixir and building up their inner strength, but the process was truly arduous. Over the past three days, they had faced death multiple times. Therefore, they could not treat the remaining natural elixir lightly.

Kwangshin spoke as if without regret.

“Those destined to drink it will drink it, or die after drinking it. We survived, so that’s enough. Let’s go.”

“Let’s go.”

As they exited the cave, Kwangshin said.

“When you eventually have a disciple of your own, have them come see me then. That disciple should be at least as skilled as you were when you first met me.”

Dan Woo-sung replied quietly.

“Yes, I understand.”

The eldest, Lee Jin-eon, or Cheol Myeong-ho, possessed a level of spiritual potion that could kill them if consumed carelessly. Qualification-wise, Baekyak might be suitable, but Baekyak had already mastered an extreme Yin martial art requiring the consumption of spiritual herbs like the Ten-Thousand-Year Snow Ginseng, so it wasn’t something to recommend to her immediately either.

Danwooseong, who had suddenly emerged at the cliff’s edge, lifted his head and gazed at Myeongmyeongdowon. He had come to Myeongmyeongdowon because of Gwangshin. He couldn’t help but feel that fate ultimately began with connections between people.

As Gwangshin looked down at the cliff below with renewed focus, Dan Wooseong called out to his senior.

“Senior…”

Kwang-shin waved his hand.

“Don’t start bowing like that all of a sudden. It’s bad luck. Aren’t we far removed from formal etiquette anyway?”

Dan Wooseong, who had been about to bow, stumbled awkwardly before straightening up and replied.

“Understood.”

Suddenly, Gwang-shin gazed at the world spread out below the cliff and spoke.

“When I venture into the martial world, you needn’t call me Fanatic anymore. The Demon Sect is wary of me. I don’t want them to be wary. Don’t call me senior either. You’ve grown strong too, so if you call me senior, it’ll carry that weight. I dislike even that. I want to appear to the Demon Sect like an ordinary local. A worthless man who seems like he’d die if touched.”

Dan Woosung listened to all of Kwangshin’s words before responding casually.

“Yes, senior.”

Danwoo Seong was no ordinary madman either. Gwangshin tilted his head, then nodded several times as if resigned.

“Brother… I suppose you are my brother. Even Yoo Jeong-hong couldn’t call me ‘brother,’ but you’ve managed to do it. You’re a remarkable fellow.”

“You flatter me.”

“They say the martial world is vast and madmen are plentiful. You’ll see things in your long life. Live long yourself. Mad King, brother, let’s go down.”

The God of Madmen and the King of Madmen leapt from the cliff together.

ⓒ Yoo Jin-seong