The Lightning I Harbor Is Too Strong - Chapter 35

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Episode 35
Whoooooom―
The massive gate’s light dimmed with a deep, prolonged vibration.
A man dressed in pristine white martial robes stepped forward.
His distinctive feature was his closely shaved head, dark as slate.
But the aura he radiated was so overwhelming that one would only notice this detail a moment too late.
At a glance, he seemed comparable to a master of Diamond Force itself.
‘What?’
Only then did the thought cross my mind—surely not.
I turned my head slightly, and Mu Jin nodded as if he’d been waiting for exactly this moment.
“That is Beom Cheon, our senior instructor.”
“Him……?”
A name I’d heard so many times, both from Shaolin and from Mu Jin.
The living embodiment of the martial way—someone who might even rival Master Mu Sang himself.
A man who became the Abbot’s disciple through talent beyond precedent.
Though he’d attained a lofty rank at a young age, he’d never been shadowed by even a whisper of controversy.
“The one they call Beom Cheon of Shaolin—his dharma name is Bin Seung.”
Shaolin’s future spoke in hushed tones, yet his voice carried an almost luminous clarity as he introduced the man to me.
He hadn’t raised his voice, yet every word struck the ear as if spoken directly beside it.
This, despite thousands upon thousands gathered in the hall.
“The Extinction Beom Cheon……!”
“So Shaolin’s Asura presides over the entrance ceremony?”
“I heard he annihilated an entire squad from Sadotalpae Poongyunbang during the last dispatch!”
“He’s already a pillar of the Orthodox Murim. To call him merely a promising junior is laughable.”
“I swear I shall follow in his footsteps!”
The crowd’s reaction was fierce. The quieting atmosphere ignited anew.
The clamor spread like wildfire.
Yet ultimately, today’s true protagonist was not him—and Beom Cheon knew this better than anyone.
In an instant, his martial robe swelled taut.
The fabric shrieked as if about to tear, a sight so familiar it was unmistakable.
Truly, the bearing of a Shaolin martial monk.
Crack!
Beom Cheon brought those massive palms together harshly.
The Qi-blast that erupted was so pure, so refined, that even those nearest to him staggered backward as if pushed by a wave, their mouths falling silent.
The solitary figure who had subdued thousands of martial artists opened his mouth with an expression of unsurpassed compassion.
“Cheonmu Academy awaits you. We shall now hold this year’s entrance ceremony.”
* * *
Beneath the Cheonmu sign, countless martial artists vanished.
It was exactly as the words suggested.
The moment one passed through the Cheonmu Gate, their forms simply ceased to exist.
And yet there clearly lay a long flight of stairs extending beyond the courtyard.
“Even seeing it with my own eyes, I can’t make sense of it. Where exactly are they being transported?”
Though we both beheld this incredible sight together, Mu Jin’s answer was straightforward.
“To Cheonmu Academy, I’d wager.”
“You’re saying space itself is transcended? Does that even make sense?”
“If you cannot believe your own eyes, then I’ve nothing more to offer, I’m afraid.”
……
This entrance ceremony served dual purpose—it was the Cheonmu Academy’s recruitment of new Academy Students, and simultaneously, their first trial to overcome.
Beyond that gate, it’s said, lay a bizarre examination hall constructed entirely of intricate mechanisms and formations.
Of course, not every martial artist could pass through to that place.
“No… no way!”
“Impossible! I’m Zhejiang’s future—how can I not even cross the threshold!?”
A pitiful wail tore from the throat.
Behind the courtyard, at the base of the stairs, knelt those who had been stopped.
“Those lacking qualification.”
“Qualification?”
“No clear explanation has been given, but those who cannot even reach the test site itself are called by that name.”
Jeong I Shin murmured softly, his thoughts turning to Je Gal Gi Cheon.
“They tell them nothing of the reason… truly devious.”
“Devious? What do you mean by that?”
“No, there is such a thing.”
It was precisely as Jeong I Shin rekindled his curiosity about the space beyond the gate.
‘…Did I truly take this step to enter Cheonmu Academy?’
Mu Jin found himself turning over a thought he hadn’t properly considered before.
A quiet shock rippled through him.
Until now, Mu Jin had attached various reasons to Jeong I Shin’s appearance here, but he had never believed it was to enter the Academy.
‘No, I just didn’t want it to be true.’
Only now did Mu Jin admit to his own failings.
He had disliked Jeong I Shin from the beginning—one-sidedly.
How could any reasoning born from such prejudice be sound?
Though Mu Jin had never seen Jeong I Shin properly display his martial arts, he knew well enough that his qi-perception was so clear and pure it was rare even in Shaolin.
Why would he subtly keep others at a distance, yet treat Mu Jin with such boundless warmth?
‘Shaolin….’
He couldn’t fathom why he had traveled such a long, roundabout path.
What had the Abbot introduced Jeong I Shin as, in the first place?
‘An old family of Shaolin—walk the path together and cultivate our connection.’
What had held him captive all this time?
Looking back, it wasn’t just his attitude toward Jeong I Shin.
It had been the same even before rumors of Jeong I Shin spread through Shaolin.
Hadn’t he carried himself as though his meager talent placed him above his senior disciples?
No matter how he examined it, such pride had no place in a disciple of Shaolin.
‘Ah….’
Deep in his chest, a prickling ache blossomed, as though bitter regret had taken root there.
Mu Jin understood instinctively.
This very moment was the one the elders of his sect had so warned him about—the moment a Heart Demon begins to sprout.
‘The karma of an unvirtuous man.’
With nothing left to blame, he could only feel the weight of his own insufficiency.
“Disciple, it’s our turn now. But why are you so far away?”
“…Jeong I Shin.”
“Take your time. I’ll be waiting outside.”
“What?”
Jeong I Shin’s casual manner caused a great wave in Mu Jin’s heart.
The way he harbored no doubt whatsoever about his own passing—indeed, took it for granted that he would finish the test first.
“Hah, hahahaha!”
Mu Jin burst out laughing despite himself.
What kind of person could there be like this in the world?
Along with the laughter, something like a warm ember came to rest somewhere deep in his chest.
What he had taken for a Heart Demon melted into warmth and scattered throughout his entire being.
Then, at some unknown moment, a familiar voice reached him.
“Congratulations, disciple.”
“Beom Cheon, senior….”
Satisfaction was evident in Beom Cheon’s deep eyes. He patted Mu Jin’s shoulder before subtly turning his gaze elsewhere.
“You’ve gained a troublesome family member.”
“…Yes.”
“See you at the Academy.”
After exchanging bows with Beom Cheon, Mu Jin stood before the Cheonmu Gate.
Jeong I Shin, who had been observing the gate ahead, urged him on.
“Let’s go. Oh, they said we need to give our names before entering. I wonder what happens if you give a different name?”
“…I have a proposal.”
“Hmm? Suddenly?”
“What if whoever passes the test first becomes the senior disciple?”
At Mu Jin’s brazen words, Jeong I Shin’s eyes widened.
“That’s a fair point. We’re the same age, and with our ranks being ambiguous anyway…why should you necessarily be the senior?”
“True. You’ve got a point.”
“I take it you’re in agreement?”
“Of course.”
Jeong I Shin nodded decisively and broke into a broad smile.
“Jeong I Shin!”
Whoosh—
Then he dashed straight through the gate.
Unable to read him to the end, Mu Jin responded with his usual hollow laugh.
“I’ll collect interest on all those years of elder brother duties, so consider yourself paid back, junior.”
He steeled himself and took a step forward.
“Mu Jin of Shaolin.”
Whoooosh—
* * *
It felt like being a water droplet falling onto a still surface.
As though he were being absorbed wholesale into some vast reservoir of natural Qi.
The sensation of approaching the entrance trial was otherworldly, yet Jeong I Shin’s mind was elsewhere entirely.
‘What sudden wind blew this way?’
Mu Jin’s provocation was genuinely unexpected.
Mu Jin had always kept his distance from Jeong I Shin.
Though the gap between them had narrowed somewhat, Jeong I Shin was well aware of the deep resistance that lived in Mu Jin’s chest.
Yet it had vanished without warning.
‘Well, if it’s good, it’s good.’
In any case, his own attitude toward Shaolin would not change.
The moment he finished ordering his thoughts that way, sensation gradually returned.
“Ah…?”
In common parlance, the Cheonmu Academy was called a Separate World.
Jeong I Shin had always taken this to be a metaphor—a description of some extraordinary opportunity or providence that a martial artist might encounter.
Certainly, the name alone was enough to kindle flames in countless warriors’ hearts, so it was apt.
But now, standing here, he found the meaning of the term itself equally fitting.
For what lay before his eyes was indeed a separate world.
Everything changed at the threshold of the Cheonmu Gate—inside and outside were utterly different, different enough to call them separate realms entirely.
The Academy’s martial artists who had been watching him moments before, even Mu Jin who had been following close behind—none of them were here.
What greeted him beyond the entrance was a stone chamber.
A stone chamber sealed completely on all sides.
“I thought that since you’d already transcended spacetime once, you’d cross this with ease—I figured you’d see it and understand right away… but it seems you don’t understand at all?”
He spoke calmly, though his mind was genuinely unsettled.
The sensation was strange. Qi saturated the space, yet it felt utterly artificial.
It was filled entirely with something that could never be called natural Qi.
“So this is a Formation Technique.”
He’d thought of it merely as a discipline for deceiving the senses, but to experience it directly was almost beyond belief.
The texture of the stone chamber walls felt far too vivid. Could one truly call this false?
It was as though he stood on the boundary between reality and illusion.
Jeong I Shin swallowed his admiration with effort. Knowing that all of this was the depth of Je Gal Gi Cheon’s power made something twist in his gut.
At the same time, a childish thought occurred to him.
“Good. I need to win the wager anyway… I’ll smash through this in record time.”
He wanted to show that Je Gal Gi Cheon’s traces were nothing special.
The structure of the chamber was now clear.
There truly were no gaps or flaws.
On the front wall was a character meaning “Break.”
On a small shelf in the center of the chamber lay a glass orb inscribed with “Exit,” along with a Water Bucket and a Bigyok Dan.
And beneath the shelf in the floor was a round hole, so the instructions for progression and escape were admirably straightforward.
The structure was simple.
“So I just have to break the wall?”
There was something Gu Ja Woon, who loved to talk, had once told him.
That what the entrance trial tests never changes.
The Cheonmu Academy had always placed the Essence-Qi-Spirit of new Academy Students to the test.
‘Don’t worry too much. It’s not about achieving perfect unity of the three Dantians. Even master-level experts often fail to align their lower, middle, and upper Dantians, so why would they demand it of new students?’
One merely had to prove body, inner strength, and spirit working as one.
“Break the wall. It’s unmistakably a test of the physical form.”
He walked past the shelf and stood before the wall.
Jeong I Shin habitually reached to awaken his Dantian, then hesitated.
The Dantian’s response was weak—was this truly meant to be a test of the body?
The artificial Qi filling the chamber was clearly interfering.
“…Really? Bare fists? That’s crude. It looks quite thick.”
Tap. Tap.
He knocked against the wall, but it gave no resonant sound.
He couldn’t gauge how thick it was at all.
“Just strike it head-on?”
Was this a test of courage rather than physical strength?
Simply swinging one’s fists against this massive wall of unknowable thickness felt like considerable pressure.
“The highest educational institution of the Orthodox Murim wouldn’t be that foolish.”
They said that if the mind is weak, the body suffers.
True, during these months at Shaolin, I’d seen how a strong body eased the burden on the mind—but this wasn’t it.
“Find the weakness, he said.”
Using the Five Senses to locate the vulnerable point.
Essence doesn’t simply refer to physical capability.
Rooted in the lower Dantian, Essence is the source of life’s activities and governs instinct and sensation.
Mu Sang, who had once marveled at Jeong I Shin’s senses, had said something to this effect.
‘A martial artist’s perception is the sum of the Five Senses and Qi-Perception.’
The Five Senses are bodily perception arising from Essence.
Qi-Perception is the perception of Qi arising from Qi.
At that time, Jeong I Shin, unable to properly handle Qi-Perception, was essentially incomplete.
Yet the reason Jeong I Shin felt no inconvenience was that his Five Senses were simply honed to perfection.
‘The Yeokgeun Sesu Gyeong.’
The body’s strength forged through Bodhidharma’s teachings.
This discipline, which had never once disappointed Jeong I Shin’s expectations, would be no different this time.
Thus he gathered all his senses to their peak.
Click—
“…Huh?”
Click—
The sound of interlocking gears turning became distinctly louder.
Something about Formation Technique, about artificial Qi, about space-time—
The gears continued to turn leisurely, as if none of that concerned them.
Click—
A sudden thought crossed his mind, and turning his awareness inward, he found Qi coiled around his Dantian indeed.
Only the amount was meager and weak.
The Heavenly Thunder Qi lying dormant in his Dantian was plainly visible.
“…Ha! So that’s it. What kind of power do you think you are?”
Rip—!
In rhythm with Jeong I Shin’s scoff, the Qi that had encircled his Dantian tore apart uselessly.
Roar—
The Heavenly Thunder Qi surged forth with a violent cry, wrapping around Jeong I Shin’s hand. The artificial Qi flooding the surroundings dared not intrude upon it.
What it demanded was unmistakable.
Jeong I Shin chuckled softly and nodded.
“Right. My heart raced at the sight beneath Cheonmu Mountain… honestly, I’ll admit it moved me. As a martial artist, I was tempted for a moment. But… why should I follow the rules you made?”
Je Gal Gi Cheon.
I came here to destroy this place you built.
“Essence this, Five Senses that, Qi-Perception this and that. Tedious and pretentious.”
Jeong I Shin had forgotten the version of himself so deeply absorbed in the trial moments before.
Shameless as it was, he was no fool to choose the harder path when an easier one lay open.
And the technique his hand’s Heavenly Thunder Qi was demanding was nothing if not crystal clear.
“A little click is all we need… easy now. Let’s go.”
Dan Roe Man Hwa Soo
Third Move
Leiming
Boom—!
The lightning I hold burns too bright
Author |
Woo San Yu
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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