Light Novel: Volume 17 Episode 21
Manhwa: N/A
Do Yeonsan cried all night until he collapsed from exhaustion.
It was just as the Ghost King said.
Do Yeonsan’s consciousness was awake.
Though his physical body was controlled by the Ghost King, making him unable to express himself, he was still aware of everything the Ghost King saw and heard.
Do Yeonsan had thought he was being punished by the heavens.
For all the people he had killed in revenge for his younger sibling and family.
Among them, there were surely innocent ones. He endured, thinking it was a punishment from the heavens, but his patience wore thin in the prison without bars.
Eventually, when he couldn’t bear it any longer and was on the verge of madness, a saving grace appeared.
The Ghost King, who had been possessing his body, disappeared.
Seeing how he could move his body freely as he pleased, Do Yeonsan wore an expression of disbelief.
He didn’t know how many times he had woken up in his sleep.
Each time he woke up, he would check whether his hands and feet were moving at his will. Once he was reassured, he would then fall back asleep, feeling relieved, only to wake up and repeat the process again.
It took three days after waking up for Do Yeonsan to fully accept his situation.
“Brother, thank you. It’s okay to call you brother, right?”
“Do as you wish.”
“Thank you so much. Really…”
“What do you plan to do from now on?”
“I don’t know.”
“Don’t you want to go back to Lake Tai?”
“Not at all.”
Do Yeonsan shook his head.
He had already gotten his revenge.
There was no reason for him to return to Lake Tai, where only painful memories remained.
Do Yeonsan cautiously said,
“Can I… follow you for a while?”
“Me?”
“Yes! I want to follow you around and organize my thoughts.”
“Go ahead.”
“Really? Thank you.”
Do Yeonsan breathed a sigh of relief. If Pyo-wol had refused, he would have had nowhere to go and no one to turn to.
With Pyo-wol’s permission, Do Yeonsan slept peacefully.
Pyo-wol left Do Yeonsan inside the cave and went outside. Outside, Yong Seolran had been smoking wild boar meat for quite some time.
She was removing all the fatty parts, leaving only the lean meat to make jerky.
Her clothes were a mess from preparing the boar meat. They were covered in the boar’s blood and fat, yet she didn’t mind.
It was something she never dared imagine doing back in the Emei Sect.
Back then, not only was she not allowed to butcher or smoke meat, she wasn’t even allowed to catch her own food.
Pyo-wol thought that Yong Seolran’s current appearance suited her quite well.
“Oh, you came out?”
Only then did Yong Seolran notice Pyo-wol and turn to look at him.
“Are you making jerky?”
“You’ll be leaving soon, right? It’s for you to eat on your journey.”
“What about you?”
“I’m going back to the village.”
“You’re going back?”
“Because I’ve already settled there.”
“Are you never going to come back to Jianghu again?”
“I might go out someday. But for now, I have no such intention. I’m very happy with my life in the village, and I don’t want to disturb the peace I currently feel.”
Yong Seolran’s voice was very soft. However, it was filled with a strong conviction.
Pyo-wol respected her decision. So, he didn’t ask any further.
Yong Seolran stared intently at Pyo-wol’s face for a moment.
He was dirty from not washing properly, but he was still beautiful.
Without realizing it, Yong Seolran reached out and gently touched Pyo-wol’s face. He didn’t shy away from her touch.
Yong Seolran’s eyes were filled with complex emotions as she looked at him, emotions that even she couldn’t fathom.
Yong Seolran withdrew her hand and said,
“I’m sorry.”
“……”
“Thinking that we’re parting tomorrow, I must have become emotional without realizing it, so I’ll leave now.”
“We’re not leaving together tomorrow?”
“If I spend another day with you, it will be much harder for me to part. So I’ll leave right now. You can keep and take all the jerky.”
“What about you?”
“I don’t need it. I’ll reach the village in just a few days.”
“Is that so?”
“If you happen to pass near here in the future, stop by the village. I’ll treat you to a warm meal.”
“I will.”
Pyo-wol didn’t stop her.
Interfering any further in Yong Seolran’s life would do her no good.
“Pass my regards to Do Yeonsan as well.”
“Mm!”
“See you.”
Yong Seolran gazed deeply at Pyo-wol’s face.
Biting her lip slightly, she took in every feature of Pyo-wol’s face. Some unknown regrets held her back.
But at the next moment, Yong Seolran leaped away.
She had cut off her last lingering feelings.
Pyo-wol watched wordlessly as she disappeared into the forest in the distance.
“Hoo!”
Pyo-wol sighed and walked towards the cave. He then sat down at the entrance of the cave and waited for Do Yeonsan to wake up.
Do Yeonsan was sleeping as if he had passed out.
He had only opened his eyes after a full day of falling asleep.
“Brother, where’s sister?”
Realizing that Yong Seolran wasn’t around, Do Yeonsan asked Pyo-wol.
“She went first.”
“Really?”
“Yes, she sent her regards and left first.”
“That’s a shame, I wanted to say goodbye in person.”
“Do you have any memories from when you were the Ghost King?”
“To a certain extent.”
“Then you should be able to find the village she was in. Go and visit her in person later.”
“I will.”
“How do you feel?”
“I’m fine now. I’ve fully adapted.”
Even though it was his body, it felt like it wasn’t his.
That’s what Do Yeonsan had been feeling for the past few days.
Because of that, he struggled to adjust to his own body.
Maybe it was because he had a good night’s sleep, but the feeling of discomfort and alienness he felt had completely disappeared.
He felt like he had fully regained control of his body.
“Then let’s move.”
“Right away?”
“I’m getting sick of this forest.”
“Me too.”
Do Yeonsan agreed with Pyo-wol.
It had already been ten days since they entered the rainforest.
In that time, they had slept on the ground and staved off hunger with barely edible meat.
No matter how accustomed they were to sleeping outdoors and not being picky about food, they still longed for proper accommodations and meals.
Do Yeonsan asked,
“But, where are we going?”
“North!”
“North? If you mean north of Yunnan then–”
“Sichuan.”
“Do you have a particular reason for going to Sichuan?”
“It’s like my hometown.”
Situated in Sichuan was his house, and in his house were Tang Sochu and Eunyo.
It had been a long time since he’d been away from home, and he missed them.
“What kind of place is it?”
“I’m also curious about what it has become.”
“We should go quickly.”
“Yes.”
Shoulder to shoulder, the two left the cave where they had been staying.
* * *
Navigating the lush rainforests of Yunnan without a guide was no easy task. If an average person had fallen into the middle of the rainforest unprepared, they might have lost their way, died of starvation, or been poisoned.
The rainforest was a land of beasts and poison.
Yet, Pyo-wol and Do Yeonsan remained unharmed.
This was because Pyo-wol was naturally impervious to poison, and Do Yeonsan was strangely immune to it.
It wasn’t just that.
Clearly, Do Yeonsan hadn’t mastered martial arts.
If he had, he wouldn’t have sought such a difficult method to avenge his sister and parents. But right now, he was moving at a pace no slower than Pyo-wol’s.
He was using qinggong.
But, he wasn’t doing it intentionally.
His body just remembered how.
Although the soul of the Ghost King had vanished, the martial arts he performed were engraved in Do Yeonsan’s body.
Though Do Yeonsan could not unleash the same power as the Ghost King, he was much more skilled than many of the average warriors in Jianghu.
Do Yeonsan, finding his newfound abilities intriguing, repeatedly stared at his hands.
He swung his hands as a test, and a massive rock shattered into pieces. Although it was clearly his doing, he still couldn’t find it in him to believe it.
A beautiful tree was split in half with just one motion from him.
“Wow! That’s crazy!”
As Do Yeonsan shook his head in disbelief, Pyo-wol advised,
“Practice controlling your qi before we leave the rainforest. If you don’t, innocent people could lose their lives at your hands.”
“Yes!”
Do Yeonsan nodded, but then he suddenly looked at Pyo-wol.
“What is it?”
“How do I control qi?”
Do Yeonsan didn’t know how to control qi at all.
He had never formally learned martial arts.
It was the same now.
He wasn’t consciously using martial arts. Qi would just naturally flow with his movements, releasing great power.
Given the circumstances, he had no idea how to regulate his inner energy.
Such a problem was a first for Pyo-wol too, so he didn’t know what advice to give. But after a moment, he came up with a solution.
“You should first divide your strength into ten equal parts.”
“What?”
“Start by controlling your power in ten levels.”
“Oh, I see.”
Do Yeonsan nodded, realizing Pyo-wol’s intentions.
“The first step would be to know how much power can exert at your maximum.”
“Yes!”
Do Yeonsan replied and swung his fist with all his might.
Kuwaang!
With a loud sound, a boulder as big as a house shattered into pieces.
Do Yeonsan looked at his fist and muttered to himself.
“This is the most I can exert right now.”
After fidgeting with his fingers for a moment, he slightly reduced his power and struck another boulder.
Kwaang!
With a loud bang, another boulder shattered.
The debris from this boulder was much larger, unlike the first one which had turned completely to dust.
“This time…”
Do Yeonsan leaped towards another rock.
Pyo-wol silently observed Do Yeonsan’s actions.
To Pyo-wol’s eyes, Do Yeonsan had made too many unnecessary movements and was using qi inefficiently. However, nobody can be perfect from the start.
Having a unique martial arts style meant he had to learn how to control his power in his own way.
Bang!
Another rock was smashed to pieces.
Startled by the loud sound, beasts and birds fled in all directions.
The animals and insects of the rainforest faced an unexpected calamity. Some thundering buffoon was enthusiastically smashing their dwelling.
Pyo-wol didn’t stop Do Yeonsan.
There was no better place to train than here.
There was no need to worry about the gaze of others, and nobody would complain if rocks or trees were destroyed.
All Pyo-wol had to do was ensure Do Yeonsan didn’t head in the wrong direction.
And so, the two advanced through the rainforest.
Do Yeonsan gradually realized his strength.
He understood how much power he could exert at his maximum capacity, and how much he could reduce it to at the minimum.
With a clearer understanding of his strength, he was able to control it.
Although he couldn’t divide his strength into ten as Pyo-wol had suggested, he managed to control it in at least five different levels.
This in itself was a significant progress.
Boom!
A massive tree split vertically into two and fell.
Beyond the fallen tree, two figures emerged.
It was Pyo-wol and Do Yeonsan.
Do Yeonsan exclaimed,
“Wow!”
A landscape unlike anything he had ever seen before was spread out before him.
The seemingly endless rainforest came to an end, revealing a vast lake. And beyond the lake, a huge city could be seen.
luna-cave
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