Ascension of the Heavenly Demon - Chapter 200
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 200
When the story ended, Yeongmun had an expression as if everything he had known was being denied.
But he couldn’t help but believe it.
Though I mixed in some lies, most of it was the truth.
With this, I will restore my honor.
“To think that Hyeoncheonja thought of that Evil Seed in such a way.”
“….”
That damn talk about Evil Seed again.
Even though I explained it so clearly, aren’t you tired of it?
“Why? Do you still not trust me? Then do as you please. If uncle doesn’t trust me, what more can I say?”
As I spoke with a sigh, Yeongmun looked down at me with complicated eyes.
Why? Having second thoughts?
Even clowns who used to dance well when given a stage tend to hesitate.
Go ahead!
Try killing me!
Try living with the infamy of having killed your sworn brother’s son!
As I continued to give him such looks and hints, Yeongmun, who had been pondering for a long time, slowly nodded his head.
“I will believe you. Your spirit energy, the seal, and even the matters about the Eight Formation Diagram – I can find no falsehood in any of it, nor do I see traces of fabrication.”
He had returned to a calm and benevolent expression.
That of an uncle looking at his nephew….
“However, I must verify the part about the Evil Seed once more later. I simply cannot believe it… Amitabha.”
“….”
This is really….
Things go well and then keep going sideways.
Having lived believing only in the records of the great hero Hyeoncheonja who brought peace to the world by imprisoning the Heavenly Demon, it seems difficult for him to accept.
Ah, that damn Hyeoncheonja.
What kind of grudge did he have?
“For now, let’s take care of your body first.”
“Yes. But please tell me about ascension to immortality. About Half-Immortals and the Five Elements as well.”
“Hm?”
“I told you, didn’t I? That I’m very interested in ascension.”
“Ha, you rascal. Are you planning to attempt ascension?”
“For now, it’s academic interest.”
“What if you really become interested in ascension?”
“Well, I’ll just ascend then.”
“Ascension….”
After thinking for a moment, he asked calmly.
“Can you abandon everything?”
“Pardon?”
“The moment you cross the boundary from human to immortal, your world will be completely different from what you knew before. Thus, you will be severed from everything you know.”
“….”
To abandon.
To sever ties.
It used to be such easy words….
Now I find myself deeply troubled.
Can I abandon everything?
It seems I’m not ready to answer that question yet.
“That… I can decide when the moment comes to make that choice, can’t I?”
“Hmm….”
Where are there right answers in worldly matters?
Yeongmun nodded quietly and smiled as he spoke.
“Yes, if it’s about fate.”
“Yes.”
“Good. Then it would be proper to handle the fate that came first.”
“Pardon?”
“Starting from when you saw his records in Hyeoncheonja’s Hermitage, meeting the ascetic, and that path leading to me – if all of this is fate, then don’t I have something to pass on to you?”
“Something to pass on?”
“Yes.”
“What might that be?”
“That power you sealed within your own body.”
“…?”
“You didn’t know the method. Since you’ve imprisoned it, shouldn’t you now learn how to use it?”
“How to use it?”
“Yes. Originally, internal energy and spirit energy are the same yet different powers, so they cannot be released through mental cultivation techniques. You must dissolve them through the breathing that humans originally possessed.”
“What do you mean by the breathing we originally possessed?”
“Embryonic Breathing.”
“Embryonic Breathing?”
“The breathing from when humans were at their purest moment. Like when breathing in the womb. Like when treading the earth to contain earth energy and connecting to heaven to breathe.”
“…!”
This was unknown to me.
In the Destruction Method I knew, there was Energy Purification to purify energy, but there were no records of Embryonic Breathing.
“Those with spiritual roots naturally develop inner cores within their bodies over time, but in your case, you must contain it through acquired effort. If you master Embryonic Breathing and dissolve the spirit energy of the death threads sealed within your body, you will reach a realm similar to that ascetic. This is called the Qi Refining Stage.”
“….”
“After reaching Foundation Building, the realm of Half-Immortals will open, and when you achieve Core Formation… you will finally glimpse the world of immortals.”
Qi Refining Stage, Foundation Building, Core Formation.
The wisdom of immortals floods in like a tide.
But one question arose.
“Then how do those born with spiritual roots achieve accomplishment? Do they also practice Embryonic Breathing?”
“Some do, and some don’t.”
“Pardon?”
“Those born with spiritual roots naturally comprehend Embryonic Breathing, but increasing spirit energy through it takes quite a long time. So they often achieve accomplishment through other methods.”
“Other methods…?”
“Why do you think the fox spirit of Dongho Lake that you met kidnapped children to ripen their death threads?”
“That was….”
“Death threads are cores. It was trying to forcibly create cores to increase spiritual power.”
“But that was an improper method. All those children….”
Zhuge Munhyeon frowned, recalling the bone fragments of children he had seen in the bamboo forest.
“How can immortals be judged by human standards? They have no distinction between good and evil. They are beings who seek to be reborn as non-human entities to become gods.”
“I see.”
According to the theory of childlike innocence, the ultimate Way approaches childlike innocence.
Childlike innocence has no good or evil.
Only purpose exists.
It is not constrained by methods.
“Perhaps immortals… might be evil.”
“Depending on how you look at it, yes. But that too cannot be judged from human standards. We haven’t achieved anything yet.”
“….”
“There are other methods to increase spiritual power besides that.”
“What methods?”
“Devouring.”</Human: Continue with the next chunk (CHUNK 2 of 3). Remember to output EXACTLY 200 lines.
“Gluttony?”
“It steals the spiritual power of others.”
“St, steals?”
“That’s right. Why do you think Elder Brother’s gwi attacked me and tried to devour you?”
“…No way?”
“It must have seen the spiritual energy inside your body through its spiritual sight.”
“Ah…”
Now I finally understood why the tiger cub had looked at me like prey.
Come to think of it, the Beast Palace warriors who had died in front of the waterfall were torn to pieces, but there were no traces of them being devoured.
‘I see. That’s why only the corpses remained and the beasts they always traveled with were nowhere to be seen.’
What I hadn’t understood at the time finally made sense.
It had devoured them all.
I also seemed to understand why there wasn’t a single beast visible on Aenoe Mountain.
Even the tiniest bit of spiritual energy would be helpful to that creature.
“Uncle, may I ask one more thing?”
“Hehe, are you curious about my level?”
“Well…”
I felt embarrassed since he immediately saw through my inner thoughts.
“Unfortunately, I have only achieved the Smoke Energy stage.”
Smoke Energy stage?
Then he was also at the level of an ascetic, like that fish creature from Dongho Lake?
“But how do you know all of those processes?”
“My longing reached the heavens and created a connection.”
“Pardon?”
“Perhaps you could call it a fateful encounter. I received teachings from an Immortal I met while searching All Under Heaven in pursuit of Ascension to Immortality.”
“I see.”
Zhuge Munhyeon, who could only blink his eyes since he couldn’t nod his head, asked again.
“Then how long does it take to achieve Smoke Energy, Energy Accumulation, and Crystallization?”
“Hehe, you rascal. You haven’t even learned the Embryonic Breathing yet, but you’re already looking for shortcuts?”
“Well, that’s…”
“It’s fine. Everyone is curious when they start, and I was the same. However, unfortunately, I don’t know how long it will take either. I’m also still in the process… It might take decades, or perhaps hundreds of years.”
“Ah…”
He was saying he couldn’t guarantee how long it would take.
“Then what happens if you can’t achieve it in your lifetime?”
“You disappear. You return to nature to make way for something new to replace you. That is the natural order. One must disappear for another to be born. Amitabha Buddha.”
“One must disappear for one to be born?”
“Yes. According to the Immortal, it was originally ordained to be so.”
“Then what happens to me, who acquired spiritual energy through external means?”
“Who knows? How could I fully understand the natural order of starting from nature and returning to nature? As I said, I’m also still in the process… I’ll find out someday.”
“Ah…”
I had simply become curious.
About what would happen to my current self who wanted to cultivate spiritual energy, as well as my past self who had been the Heavenly Demon.
Why the Half-Immortals had transmitted the Destruction Method to kill me.
But Yeongmun was right.
What fun would there be if I knew all the answers?
‘I’ll find out someday.’
I decided not to worry about it unnecessarily.
Right now, learning the Embryonic Breathing to melt the spiritual energy in my body was important.
A new power.
What would it feel like to use real spiritual energy, not the spiritual energy mixed with my bloodline?
Thinking about it, I couldn’t hide my excitement.
“Please teach me the Embryonic Breathing.”
“Before that, it would be good to learn one more thing.”
“Yes?”
“I don’t know how your life will unfold, but unlike me, you haven’t made a decision about abandonment yet, so you shouldn’t treat what you have carelessly.”
“…”
“Human things and non-human things. For now, keep both, and if you make a decision someday, then abandon one at that time.”
“Is that possible? From what I know, to achieve the Returning Essence stage, you must first return everything you learned as a human to nothingness.”
That’s what was written in the Destruction Method.
It probably wasn’t false.
The reason the spiritual energy mixed with my internal energy didn’t clash was simply because the amount was too minuscule.
“Of course that’s true. However, humans sometimes achieve things that even Immortals cannot predict… Fortunately, there’s a heart method in our main text for this purpose, so it should be perfect for you.”
“…?”
I was puzzled.
By main text, he surely meant the Wudang Sect.
A type of heart method that could cultivate both… Ah!
“Don’t tell me you’re planning to teach me the Two Principles?”
“Quite good. Have you heard of it before?”
“How could I not know of a heart method that has become legend?”
“Right. I intend to teach you the Two Principles.”
“But that’s…”
“It’s fine. Are martial arts owned by anyone? You’ve already been of great help to the Wudang Sect and saved my nephew Mujin, so our ancestors wouldn’t reproach us. Moreover, Master Jin Ja-bae, who achieved greatness with the Two Principles, left words saying to teach the Two Principles to anyone who needs it.”
“Ah…”
“From what I observed earlier, you’ve already opened your middle dantian and contained spiritual energy… There should be no problem. Keep your internal energy in your lower dantian and spiritual energy in your middle dantian.”
I could only admire his actions again and again.
I had only saved Mujin because I considered him a disciple who inherited my techniques and didn’t want anything bad to happen to him.
‘Indeed… living kindly…’
Regardless of intentions, Zhuge Munhyeon realized anew the important fact that kindness returns as kindness.
He was also grateful for Uncle’s consideration in teaching him his sect’s martial arts for someone like himself who couldn’t decide on abandonment.
Thus, the Two Principles were transmitted.
“Wuji becomes Taiji, yang moves and yin is still, the Five Elements clash… Wuji is Taiji and Taiji is Wuji, yang moves to become stillness and stillness stops to become yin…”
I listened to Yeongmun’s voice repeatedly transmitting the incantation formulas and explanations, engraving the content in my mind.
Since the Two Principles originally had their mysterious use in embracing, they didn’t clash at all with the Lesser Heaven Sacred Heart Method I had learned first.
Learning the Embryonic Breathing came after that.
Breathing to achieve immortality.
Since I already contained spiritual energy, I strengthened my middle dantian and slowly melted the spiritual energy.
Like placing ice that had hardened for a long time on the snow mountain under scorching sunlight to slowly melt and flow, allowing it to seep into my body with careful attention.
And in one moment, the moment of achievement arrived.
The first stage of immortality called Smoke Energy.
“Ugh!”
It was unbearably excruciating pain.
Like parched earth becoming muddy when blessed rain falls during drought, my body became limp, and my broken bones twisted randomly.
“Kuk!”
With a single groan, my body bounced up by itself.
Intense pain like being skinned alive and branded with a hot iron covered my entire body.
Someone once said.
New wine must be put in new wineskins.
The spiritual energy was melting and flowing, and my body was changing to match it.
As if undergoing Bone Transformation.
Damn it!
You never mentioned this!
You should have at least hinted that it might hurt!
“Endure it, bear with it!”
“…Grrrgh.”
Can I… endure this?
Yeongmun’s voice grew distant and faint.
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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