Ultimate Martial Venerable - Chapter 49

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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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Chapter 49. The Legacy of Songyang Mujon
Il Cheong and Do Gwang left the Open Ground and headed straight into the forest.
Yuk Beom followed behind them without asking questions. His mind was already churning with what he’d witnessed in his fight with Im Je moments before. The Fusion Strong Energy created by the Five Elements Formation

and the Yin-Yang Array

was far more powerful than he’d imagined.

Yet there was no joy of victory on the faces of the two Sageuns.
Anticipation and tension mingled in their expressions.
The mountain path grew narrower the farther they got from Ilwon Academy. Leaves lay thick on the trail where no human feet had trodden, and ancient trees blotted out the sky.
At last, Il Cheong came to a halt.
Before them stood an ancient tree so massive that dozens of people would need to stretch their arms to encircle it. Branches that rose more than a hundred feet tall spread like a green cloud, swallowing even the sunlight.
Beneath its roots lay a simple cenotaph.
There was no ornate stele, no carved stone with a name. The tomb’s sides were bare, swallowed by shadow.
Only two weathered blades planted beside the roots spoke to the truth—that whoever slept here was no ordinary person. Both weapons bore the marks of time: dulled edges and corrosion spread across their surfaces.
Il Cheong bowed deeply first.
Do Gwang offered his respects in silence.
These two were ordinarily never without teasing or quarrels between them. But now even their breathing was careful, reverent.

“Yuk Beom.”

Il Cheong gestured to the weapons before the tomb.

“Take one in each hand.”

He offered no explanation.
Yuk Beom stepped forward and grasped the hilts of both blade and sword.
They were cold.
In that instant, the Fusion Strong Energy within his body began to move of its own accord. The power flowing through his meridians surged toward both arms, then streamed through his palms and connected with the two weapons.

“Release your Divine Soul Force.”

This time, tremor carried through Il Cheong’s voice as well.
Yuk Beom activated the Yin-Yang Array. The translucent Fusion Strong Energy transformed into clear Divine Soul Force and flowed out through his fingertips.
The ancient blade and sword sang in unison.
Hummmmm—
The deep resonance shook not his ears but his mind directly. His vision blurred for a moment as consciousness seemed to fracture from the impact.
But the weapons’ resistance didn’t last long.
Fine cracks appeared first along the blade’s edge. The sword followed, shattering in quick succession, both weapons crumbling into fragments that scattered across the ground.
Il Cheong’s eyes had reddened.

“It was truly perfect Divine Soul Force.”

A breath that was neither sob nor laugh escaped between his lips.

“Sageun. We have at last brought you the one we waited for.”

Yuk Beom gazed at the cenotaph.
Do Gwang stepped beside him.

“Within this earth rests the cenotaph of our Sageun, Songyang Mujon.

“Songyang Mujon…….”
“The Dragon-Scaled Mujon,

which is another name he was known by. During his lifetime, more than half of the martial arts he practiced began with transforming his body into Scale Armor

.”

Do Gwang’s gaze shifted to the powder on the ground.

“The sword that just vanished is a weapon the Sageun used for nearly ten thousand years. It had been steeped in Divine Soul Origin for so long that an incomplete Divine Soul Force could not awaken the final power within it.”
“So he was waiting for a true successor to the Ilwon Dao Jue?”

Il Cheong nodded.

“Both we and Mu Wi mastered the first stage. But the Sageun was not looking for a disciple who crossed the threshold through cleverness or suppressed the lingering Divine Soul Force through willpower alone.”

His words turned toward the grave.

“He was looking for a successor who could truly transform Strong Energy into Divine Soul Force.”

In that moment, the weapon powder scattered across the ground transformed into light.
White radiance spiraled and engulfed Yuk Beom.
There was no time to escape.
A tremendous force rushed into his body through his palms. His Fusion Strong Energy surged, and his meridians swelled to their limit.
Something solid rose beneath his skin.
Pure white scales.
Beginning at his chest, the scales spread rapidly across his shoulders and arms, waist and legs. Thin fragments layered seamlessly and covered his entire body. Even the light before his eyes shattered into white.
Then came an explosion.
Crack!
His meridians and bones shattered from within. Black blood surged up through his throat.
Yuk Beom clenched his teeth.
Force seeped into the fractured spaces. The severed meridians reconnected as passages wider and more resilient than before, and white, hardened bone scales formed on the surface of his bones. Even his internal organs were wrapped in thin light.
The force pushed against the wall of his realm.
Inner Gangjing Realm, Fifth Stage.
Without so much as a moment to resist, the next wall shattered.
Inner Gangjing Realm, Sixth Stage.
A third wave came crashing.
Inner Gangjing Realm, Seventh Stage.
It was not yet finished.
The remaining force surged directly toward the Outer Gangjing Realm

.
Yuk Beom’s eyes flew open.

‘I can’t.’

Accepting all the force that came simply because there was much of it was not cultivation. A realm that had not truly become one’s own would inevitably collapse one day. Even now, fully controlling the force of the Seventh Stage of the Inner Gangjing Realm was difficult.
Yuk Beom forcibly seized the rising momentum.
The force from the previous master was too great to simply block.
He changed direction.
He drove the remaining force into the Five Elements Formation in his Dantian.
Five lights erupted outward. The small formation nearly tripled in size as it shook through his entire Dantian.
Immediately after, he channeled the same force into the Yin-Yang Array in his mind.
The black and white array spun forcefully. It ceaselessly transformed the incoming force into Divine Soul Force, Strong Energy, and Original Qi, easing the burden on his body.
Yuk Beom sent the force from the previous master back and forth between the two arrays multiple times.
Finally, the fierce wave subsided.
The Five Elements Formation and Yin-Yang Array had grown more than five times larger than before. The amount of Force of Heaven and Earth

that the two arrays drew in had increased immeasurably.
The scales that had covered his entire body sank back beneath his skin.
Only a thin mark remained on his back.
It was a faint but unmistakable character.
One.
(I)
.
Il Cheong exhaled a long breath.

“I thought you’d rise all the way to the External Force Realm, but you held yourself back.”
“I can’t yet claim that Inner Gangjing Realm seventh stage is truly my own strength.”
“If you’d coveted only the realm before your eyes, you wouldn’t have deserved the Sageun’s transmission.”

Do Gwang’s face bloomed with satisfaction.

“What entered your body just now was a single strand of Gangjing that the Sageun left in his weapon before he passed away.”

Yuk Beom found himself turning to look at the tomb.
A single strand.
It alone had lifted his realm three stages higher and magnified his two formations fivefold. The power that Songyang Mujon possessed in life was now scarcely imaginable.

“What are these scales?”
“They are the Sageun’s Scale Armor. Awaken them with Divine Soul Force, and cultivate them with Gangjing. As your training deepens, the scales will fully merge into your bones and flesh.”

Do Gwang tapped Yuk Beom’s chest lightly with a finger.

“He said that at the pinnacle, even if Heavenly Thunder poured down, not a single wound would remain.”

Il Cheong brushed away the dust piled before the tomb with his hand.

“It was a transmission that required both the Sageun’s intent and complete Divine Soul Force. That’s why neither we nor Mu Wi could obtain it.”

Yuk Beom slowly knelt.
The ancestor whose name he had never even known had left behind his weapon of ten thousand years and his final strength to him.
He bowed his head three times.

“I will not treat this transmission lightly.”

Mountain wind stirred the leaves of the old trees.
A gentle breeze passed, patting his shoulder twice—warm as a human touch.
Il Cheong and Do Gwang said nothing more.
After the two men departed, Yuk Beom remained before the tomb.
Through the night he sat with eyes closed, retracing the transformations of the Scale Armor inscribed in the transmission.
Divine Soul Crystallized Scales.

Awaken the form of the scales with Divine Soul Force, unfold them across the body with Fusion Strong Energy. The scales were no mere armor wrapping the skin. When dormant, they seeped into bone and organ to guard from within; when power was poured in, they would cover the entire body in an instant.

As dawn broke, white scales rose again across Yuk Beom’s skin.
They wrapped seamlessly around chest and back, arms and legs, then climbed the neck and crowned his head. When the helm shaped like a dragon’s head was complete, his reflection in the water resembled a warrior from legend who had slain dragons.
The Weaponless Heavy Sword

strapped across his back added a weighty aura of oppression.
Yuk Beom struck his own chest hard with his fist.
Thud!
Only a dull sound echoed. There was almost no pain. The defense was far more solid than his previous Dragon Bloodline Skin.

When he withdrew his focus, the scales vanished in an instant. The bone armor sank beneath his skin and quietly wrapped around his bones and organs.
In a single night, he’d mastered both unfurling and withdrawing them.
From now on, he would only need to continuously nourish them with Fusion Strong Energy. Had another person learned from the beginning, the first step alone—using Divine Soul Force to fashion the armor’s shape—would have required considerable time. Songyang Mujon had crossed that threshold himself and handed it directly to his successor.
By the time Yuk Beom had tidied the area around the tomb and returned to Ilwon Academy,
a piercing scream erupted from the Open Ground.

“Harder! Please strike harder!”

Han Pung was rolling on the ground.
Cho Cheon and Cho Haeng hurled punches from either side, while even the gentle Mu Wi shook his abdomen and stomped with his feet.
Yuk Beom stopped walking.

“What are you doing right now?”

When Yuk Beom pulled Han Pung out, his face was swollen beyond recognition.
Cho Haeng pressed his trembling eyelids and spoke.

“Ask him directly. He asked us to beat him until he’s nearly dead.”
“Why?”

The pig-faced swollen visage forced itself into a smile.

“Little brother. You said that if I survived a brush with death, I’d master the Ilwon Dao Jue—”

and I’m trying to enter through the same method.”

Han Pung pointed to a slip of paper that had fallen to the ground.

“I’m attempting to learn through the same path.”

Yuk Beom’s lips tightened.

“I never said that method was guaranteed to work.”
“Well, I’ll just beat myself nearly to death and see if it works.”

Han Pung turned his head with great effort.

“Senior Cho Haeng. I confess—it was me who tore the hole in your trousers before. It was me who watered down Senior Cho Cheon’s prized liquor. And I put a special herbal poison in the meat that made the eldest senior sick for three days.”

The air in the Open Ground grew cold.
Mu Wi laughed.

“So that’s what happened.”

Cho Haeng’s hand moved to his sword hilt.
Cho Cheon cracked his knuckles.
Yuk Beom quietly released the hand he had been holding.

“Little brother, why are you letting go?”
“Because this is the training path you’ve chosen, senior.”

The three came at him again.
Screams and the sound of blows filled the Open Ground for some time.
Il Cheong and Do Gwang sat under the eaves drinking tea. Kkamangi cast an annoyed glance at Han Pung before disappearing into the house.
When the three seniors finally withdrew, Han Pung pried open his eyelids with his fingers and stared at the slip of paper marked with the character for “One.”

“Now…… it comes.”

The moment his consciousness sank into the paper, his body convulsed violently.

“Aaaahhh!”

The paper fell from his hand.
Il Cheong tilted his teacup.

“It’s not working after all.”

Han Pung barely lifted his head.

“You already knew…… that?”
“Of course. A brush with death is merely the catalyst. If one could master the Ilwon Dao Jue by simply taking blows without opportunity and enlightenment, the technique wouldn’t have waited ten thousand years for its rightful owner.”

Do Gwang smiled with satisfaction as well.

“I didn’t tell you because I wanted to see you find your own way.”

A trickle of blood ran from Han Pung’s lips.

“You both…… went too far.”

With that, he lost consciousness entirely.
Il Cheong laughed for a moment longer, then reached out and fed a thread of Gangjing into him.

“Surface damage only. The bones and organs are intact. Mu Wi and the children held back.”

Half a day later, Han Pung walked out with nothing but faint bruises on his face.
His recovery was almost monstrous.
Cho Cheon and Cho Haeng needed to acquire new weapons. For the Academy Branch Ranking Tournament, common swords and blades wouldn’t suffice.
The four of them gathered their things and departed from Ilwon Academy.
As they walked the mountain path, Han Pung grumbled beside Yuk Beom the entire way.

“Youngest. Why didn’t you tell me this method wouldn’t work sooner?”
“I wasn’t certain myself.”
“When someone gets beaten like that, shouldn’t they at least look sorry about it?”
“You’re the one who chose to reveal your secret yourself, eldest.”

Behind them, Cho Haeng swallowed a laugh.
Han Pung pouted, then changed the subject.

“Regardless, doesn’t the Ilwon Dao Jue have a prohibition against using it on fellow disciples of the Death Gate?”
“I’ve heard no such restriction. It’s less a formal offensive technique and more a method of channeling Divine Soul Force.”

The eyes of the three older brothers widened in unison.

“It’s not an offensive technique?”

Cho Cheon’s brow furrowed as he recalled the direction Im Je had been sent flying.

“And he knocked away half a realm of Outer Gangjing with a single stroke?”
“The consumption is substantial. I haven’t yet mastered a separate technique for utilizing Divine Soul Force.”

Only then did Han Pung nod, satisfied.

“That kind of power naturally demands high consumption. We’ll need to finish fights from the start rather than drag them out.”

Yuk Beom answered only with a faint smile.
Now that both formations had expanded fivefold, the speed of recovery exceeded the speed of consumption. The Ilwon Dao Jue had its own circulation method, but compared to the Five Elements Formation and the Yin-Yang Array, there was no real need to use it.
If he revealed even that fact, he had no idea what new training Han Pung would devise.
After a full day and night of walking, a colossal mountain revealed itself through the clouds.
It was less a mountain than a city carved from stone. Pavilions and shops stretched endlessly along the cliffs, while the summit was flat as if cleaved by a blade.
Han Pung grinned through his bruised face.

“Youngest.”

Countless lights sparkled like stars between the clouds.

“Welcome to Gambo Mountain.”

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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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