Ultimate Martial Venerable - Chapter 45

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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 45. The Yiyuan Space Opened by Blood
Literary Fire Cauldron

Inside it, a thick medicinal liquid slowly began to separate.
What had been a single mass of liquid condensed into spheres, while thin flames danced between them, burning away impurities. The slightest wavering of the flame could turn everything to ash.
Yuk Beom kept his eyes closed, following the transformation of the liquid.
He lowered the flame, added water energy, raised the temperature again, and the moment the medicine’s fragrance peaked, he struck the cauldron with his palm.

“Come forth.”

With a clear resonance, dozens of small pills surged upward all at once.
He swept his hand, gathering dozens of them above his palm. The quality of the ingredients was poor enough that they were scarcely larger than water droplets, yet within their transparent surfaces, a clean energy was evenly condensed.
O Jin’s words came to mind.
A pill formula is dead, but the medicine is alive. Do not despair at the lack of prescribed materials—read the properties before your eyes and reach the same result.
This batch of pills had materials more than half different from the original formula. Even so, almost no impurities remained, and the fragrance held true. At least it was not a failure.
Yuk Beom placed the Bright Calm Pills into a Celadon Bottle and put one final pill in his mouth.

The moment the medicine’s power spread through him, the pain that had been stabbing at his temples for days washed away. His clouded mind cleared as if submerged in cold water.

‘This will work.’

One bottle would allow him several attempts.
Thirty-six pills lay inside. He did not yet know how long each pill’s effect would last, but he was not the sort to retreat out of fear of failure. Even if he fell short of three thousand attempts, he would at least not collapse at seventy like before. He would draw upon both the will of a martial artist and the arts of a Flame Practitioner. That was his own path, the Dual Cultivation of Qi and Martial Arts.

The moment he reached for the scroll, the sound of wind being cut came from far away.
Two silhouettes were advancing rapidly along the mountain ridge. The blue aura wrapping their bodies was not a movement technique but a sorcery that manipulated the wind force of the Five Elements.

“Flame Practitioners….”

They had clearly tracked the medicine scent that had just dispersed.
Yuk Beom put away the Literary Fire Cauldron and took out his Black Robe and Iron Mask. He placed his Weaponless Heavy Sword into the family heirloom container, then threw himself from the mountain peak.

Landing in the forest by riding the wind, he unfolded Body Merging with Heaven and Earth on a high branch.

His breathing, body heat, and the tremors of surrounding energy vanished one by one. Shortly after, an old man in white robes and a younger man came to rest directly below.
Yuk Beom’s eyes narrowed as he made out the younger man’s face.
It was Jo Uk.

“Master, it seems he has already departed.”
“He must have hidden when he saw us coming.”

The old man raised his voice as he surveyed the surroundings.

“I am called Pung Reung. If there is a Daoist here who crafted these pills, might you show your face briefly? I wish only to exchange pill formulas and techniques with one who walks the same path—there is no malice in my words.”

Yuk Beom did not answer.
There seemed to be no falsehood in Pung Reung’s words. But Jo Uk stood beside him. The moment Yuk Beom saw the Iron Mask, memories surfaced of losing the Five Elements Pill in that pill-crafting wager.

As expected, Jo Uk’s lips moved several times.
He seemed eager to speak of the Iron Masked master he had met at Ganglim Castle, but he finally clenched his teeth. He lacked the courage to confess before his master that he had lost both his pills and the Five Elements Pill.
He clenched his fists as though he could only wait for the day he would meet the Iron Mask again.
Yuk Beom watched from between the leaves above.

‘We’ve already met.’

It was somewhat amusing to see the man vow his revenge without knowing that his target hung directly overhead. Still, Yuk Beom had no intention of revealing himself and mocking him. Pung Reung’s realm bore no comparison to Jo Uk’s.
When no response came, Pung Reung’s expression hardened.

“The Gyeongcheon Mountain Range is the domain of the Martial Arts Academy. If you insist on hiding yourself, I shall have no choice but to search for you thoroughly.”

His hands wove a seal.
Transparent wind-leaves scattered in hundreds of streams, sweeping through the forest. It was a technique that could detect every crack between trees and stones, even the faintest tremor in the air itself.
But the wind-leaves that approached Yuk Beom’s hiding place flowed aside, as though skirting empty space.
A being merged with heaven and earth was not a thing to be tracked.

‘If I move, I’ll be found.’

Body Merging with Heaven and Earth was not yet perfected. Even shifting a single toe could disturb the flow.
Pung Reung searched the mountain for a long time before finally withdrawing his energy.

“Whoever you are, you’re not weaker than me. You’ve left not a trace.”

Jo Uk lowered his voice.

“Could they have come seeking that treasure?”
“Mind your tongue.”

The old man’s eyes turned cold.

“This is not a matter to be discussed carelessly outside.”

Doubt flickered across the hidden Yuk Beom’s eyes.
It seemed the Martial Arts Academy possessed a treasure worthy of even a Flame Practitioner’s vigilance.
At that moment, a round shadow fell from the sky.
It was Do Gwang, a Sageun.

“What brings you to Un Mountain, Pung Reung?”
“I followed a scent. A strange Flame Practitioner crafted pills here, but I could not find him.”

Pung Reung explained the situation and rose to his feet.

“If he harbors ill intent, the Academy must deal with him. But if he has simply lost his way, please inform me—there are matters I would discuss with a fellow Flame Practitioner.”
“Fear not. I shall not kill him without cause.”

After the two Flame Practitioners departed, Do Gwang also swept the surroundings once before vanishing into the sky.
Yuk Beom did not move at once.
One hour.
Two hours.
Only after waiting through half a watch did he release Body Merging with Heaven and Earth.

“They won’t come back.”

He climbed to the summit and unfurled the pages of the Ilwon Dao Jue.

The moment he reached for the Bright Calm Pill, a familiar voice dropped from above his head.

“You hid yourself so thoroughly on this mountain—surely you owe me an explanation?”

Yuk Beom’s body went rigid.
Do Gwang hung suspended in the void above him.
He had simply disappeared and waited for half an hour.

‘I’ve been had.’

He retreated, clutching the paper, forgetting even to remove the Black Robe and Iron Mask.
Do Gwang’s gaze fixed on the paper in his hand.
At first it was suspicion.

The moment he saw the character—

suspicion transformed into rage.

“That is the Ilwon Dao Jue.”

The sky above darkened in an instant.

“What have you done to my direct disciple, Yuk Beom?”
“Sageun, I—”

Before the words could finish, a colossal force crashed down from above.
His knees carved deep into the stone. He tried to open his mouth, but his chest and throat were crushed, and no sound escaped.
The Gangjing surrounding Do Gwang’s body transformed into cyan and crimson armor. The radiance that blazed like the sun tore the clouds at the mountain’s peak to shreds.
The Heavenly Force Realm.

A power incomparable to any opponent Yuk Beom had ever faced.

“Speak.”

Do Gwang pressed his palm downward.
A hairline fracture spiderwebbed across the Iron Mask. Blood seeped through the cracks and dripped onto the paper clutched in his hands.

‘Let me speak, damn it!’

He screamed inwardly, but the cry could not reach his opponent.
As consciousness began to slip, a sharp roar tore through the air from below the mountain.
A black shadow rocketed from the stone.
It was Kkamangi.
Black flames erupted from its jaws, engulfing Do Gwang.

“Kkamangi, back off!”

The cry came from Do Gwang himself. With a single gesture, most of the flames scattered, but the remaining fire seeped into Yuk Beom, still pinned to the ground.
The black flames did not burn his flesh.
The force that entered through his right arm flowed through his entire body like warm water. It was the same connection as when he unfurled the Spirit Beast Fusion.

Strength returned to his crushed arm.
Yuk Beom threw off the stone and hurled himself into the forest.

“You dare flee?”

A massive blade materialized above Do Gwang’s palm, stretching to touch the sky.
Kkamangi cried out urgently.
As he entered the forest, Yuk Beom cast off the robe and mask and drew the Weaponless Heavy Sword.

“Sageun Do Gwang, cease this!”

His hand froze mid-stroke at the familiar voice.
But the force already in motion couldn’t be fully withdrawn. Even reduced to a tenth of its original brilliance, the sword light that had filled the sky stretched across dozens of spans.
Crack!
The forest vanished entirely.
He raised the Weaponless Heavy Sword like a shield, but it couldn’t stop the shockwave that tore through his body. Bones shattered. Skin split open. His blood-soaked form rolled across the flattened earth.
The pages of the Ilwon Dao Jue

remained untorn even by that sword light.
Instead, they drank deeply of Yuk Beom’s blood.
The character for “one” written in black deepened like an abyss with no end. A single thread of white light escaped from the paper and entered Yuk Beom’s brow.

“Yuk Beom!”

Do Gwang descended to his side in an instant.
Only when he confirmed the faint rise and fall of the boy’s chest did color return to his rigid face. He channeled an immense surge of Gangjing into Yuk Beom’s body, which began instinctively drawing it in.

“He’s alive. Thank the heavens.”

Kkamangi found no relief in this.
Clinging to Do Gwang’s arm, the creature bit down hard.

“That hurts! I’m trying to save him!”

Black eyes glinted with fury.

“If it weren’t for that black-robed bastard escaping—well, never mind. Just let go!”

Kkamangi bit down once more before releasing its grip.

“I may have made a mistake, but we need to save him now, don’t we?”

Do Gwang spoke as if soothing a child, but received only sharp teeth in return. In the end, he had to keep his distance while wrapping Yuk Beom solely in Gangjing.
As Do Gwang lifted Yuk Beom with his energy, he noticed the pages on the ground. His face twisted again at what he found within them.
The powerful Divine Soul Force

had nearly vanished, leaving only faint traces behind.

“That Flame Practitioner laid hands on the paper.”

He never questioned how the Flame Practitioner had vanished from his very arms. Flame Practitioners possessed strange evasion arts aplenty, and before him lay a disciple at death’s door.
Upon returning to Ilwon Academy, the senior disciples swarmed around them at once.

“Junior Brother!”
“Who did this to him?”

Do Gwang held out a medicine bottle with reddened face.
After a brief silence, he spoke not to his disciples but into empty air.

“A Flame Practitioner in a black robe wearing an iron mask. First, have him take the Ice-Fire Dual Yin-Yang Pill

at once.”

It wasn’t entirely false. There had been a Flame Practitioner in a black robe, and they had escaped. He simply omitted the matter of who had actually reduced Yuk Beom to such a state.
As the medicine entered Yuk Beom’s body, coldness bloomed first. His wounds froze solid and the bleeding stopped, then warmth spread through him, knitting the torn flesh back together.
Once his breathing steadied, Han Pung sprang to his feet.

“Where is that black demon? I’ll capture him at once!”
“Your opponent is a Flame Practitioner

of considerable standing. You won’t find them easily.”
“We’ll figure it out once we find him.”

Cho Cheon and Cho Haeng silently picked up their weapons.
Mu Wei rose slowly from his seat, the warmth draining from his perpetually smiling face.

“I’m coming too.”

A large hand clenched into a fist.

“If someone has laid hands on my student, they must answer for it.”

Within moments, every student of Ilwon Academy had ascended the mountain in search of the non-existent masked Flame Practitioner.
Il Cheong left to spread word to the other Academy Branches—this was no matter to overlook. If word spread that an outsider wearing an Iron Mask had infiltrated the Academy, it would shake the entire Gyeongcheon Mountain Range to its foundations.
Do Gwang ran his hand through his beard—a gesture he repeated uselessly several times over. Events were unfolding faster than his blade could cut. He could have confessed the truth right then and there, but the thought of admitting he’d nearly killed his own student left him voiceless.
Only Kkamangi remained at the bedside.
The creature pressed its nose to the back of Yuk Beom’s hand, confirmed the scent of his wounds, then curled its body beneath the bed. Low, threatening growls rumbled through the room whenever Do Gwang drew near.
Do Gwang stepped outside and sighed.

“Yuk Beom, I didn’t mean to. When you wake, please don’t resent me too bitterly.”

Yuk Beom heard it.
He heard Han Pung’s anger on his behalf, and the Grand Senior’s killing intent laid bare.
But he could not open his eyes.
His consciousness was trapped in endless darkness.
Then a single ray of light split the void.

“At last…….”

A voice echoed, as though it had crossed an abyss of ages.

“Someone has finally reached this place.”

The light gathered and transformed into an old man with white hair.
Yuk Beom asked, on guard.

“Who are you?”

The old man smiled and pointed to the character engraved on both his palms—the character for “origin”.

“You’ve entered the Yiyuan Space and yet you don’t know me?”
“The Yiyuan Space…….”
“I am Yiyuan.”

In the darkness, the old man’s form seemed vast as a mountain.

“The founder of your Ilwon Academy—the Yiyuan Martial Sovereign.”

Yuk Beom’s eyes widened.
The supreme master who had vanished a million years ago stood before him now.
The old man, seeing Yuk Beom’s shock, extended his hand.

“Your blood and your first Soul Force opened this space.”

White light bloomed from his fingertips.

“Now I shall teach you the first stage of the Ilwon Dao Jue directly.”

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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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