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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 5
Chapter Title: Chapter 5
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Ilhwa and Seop Mugwang swiftly arrived in the Anhui Province area.
If Ilhwa were to expel her internal energy, she wouldn't be able to use lightness skill. Thus, they decided to first travel to the vicinity of Hefei, then begin her Ungijo-sik.
The two stopped in a valley on the eastern side of Huangshan, Anhui Province.
Seop Mugwang led Ilhwa to the entrance of a cave.
"This is where I've been cultivating," he said. "The path is difficult to traverse, and the overgrown brush makes it hard to find, so there's no better place than this!"
Ilhwa looked around.
It certainly met all the conditions for the place she had been searching for. Given that no animal tracks were visible nearby, it seemed even animals avoided the area.
"Alright, kid. It's time for you to be reborn."
Ilhwa looked up at him.
Having spent the last few days with him, Ilhwa found Seop Mugwang to be more considerate than she'd expected.
He often checked if she was comfortable sleeping, if she was tired, or if she was in pain.
Though he grumbled a bit, he consistently looked out for her well-being, and for meals, he would always hunt an animal from somewhere, build a fire, and roast it for her.
He also knew the shortcuts to Anhui, allowing Ilhwa to arrive more quickly and comfortably than anticipated.
"Thank you," she said.
Ilhwa expressed her gratitude sincerely.
Perhaps Seop Mugwang sensed her sincerity, as his eyes widened slightly. He let out a soft chuckle and gently patted Ilhwa's head.
"Don't die, kid. It won't be easy, but just focus on your Ungijo-sik."
Ilhwa nodded.
Seop Mugwang stared intently at Ilhwa.
"Need help?"
Ilhwa shook her head.
"I can do it myself."
Seop Mugwang shrugged and lowered his hand.
"Alright. I suppose you'll manage just fine...."
Despite his words, his gaze was still filled with concern.
He let out a short sigh at the sight of the child, so composed even when facing a potentially fatal ordeal. Then, he approached a nearby rock near the cave and plopped down.
"When you're reborn, try to fix that stiff way you talk. You look exactly like a thirteen-year-old kid, but you're not cute at all."
He plucked a foxtail grass from nearby, stuck it between his teeth, and chewed on it as he continued.
"You'll be meeting your parents when you go back home, won't you? If their child acts so stiff after a long time, they'll just worry about you."
Seop Mugwang was right.
Having suddenly reverted to a child's body at the age of Irip (thirty), the words she unconsciously uttered were certainly not those of a thirteen-year-old.
'They might find it strange, so it's better to change it.'
Ilhwa nodded and replied.
"Yes. I understand."
Seop Mugwang let out a satisfied chuckle.
"Good. See you alive, kid."
Ilhwa politely bowed to him, still chewing on the foxtail grass and swinging his leg, then walked deeper into the cave.
Just as her figure was halfway swallowed by the darkness.
"Got a favorite food?"
Her lips, visible beneath the shadow, parted after a brief silence.
"...Tanghuru."
It was a small voice, but Seop Mugwang heard it clearly. Seop Mugwang waved his hand, as if telling her to go now.
Ilhwa's figure soon vanished completely into the shadows within the cave.
Immediately after the child's presence completely faded.
Seop Mugwang's playful expression instantly turned cold.
Behind him, figures dressed in black martial robes with blue sashes tied around their heads appeared.
They were the Bipunggeomdae, the Namgung Sega's hidden martial force.
"Have all the rats been dealt with?"
"Yes, Great Commander."
He handed Seop Mugwang a torn headscarf.
It was a headscarf embroidered with a red crow.
"Take this and return to inform the Family Head that the child has arrived in Anhui."
"Understood!"
Just as the man was about to employ his lightness skill.
"Oh, and when you return, buy some Tanghuru."
"...Tanghuru, sir?"
"Yes."
A hint of a smile returned to Seop Mugwang's face.
"While you're at it, bring back every kind they have in the marketplace. Every single one."
* * *
Upon entering the cave, a straw mat, large enough for one person, was spread out inside.
It seemed Seop Mugwang's words about occasionally cultivating his internal energy here weren't a lie.
Ilhwa sat in the lotus position on the straw mat.
She took a pouch from her sleeve and opened it, and a powerful aura, strong enough to take one's breath away, surged forth.
It was as if a brilliant golden light was radiating from it.
'This is... a Daehwandan.'
A legendary elixir, said to instantly heal fatal wounds and grant immense internal energy upon consumption.
It was so precious that even within the Shaolin Temple, it was rarely used except in extraordinary circumstances.
While the fact that such a medicine was in her hands might be due to Hyeolma's influence working behind the scenes, she decided to think about such things later.
Ilhwa popped the Daehwandan into her mouth.
As soon as the Daehwandan entered her mouth, it instantly melted and vanished without a trace.
*Whoosh—*
A profound power of unknown magnitude poured into her, like a vast ocean, like an endless wind.
Merely putting it in her mouth felt like glimpsing a part of the afterlife.
'Focus...'
If she were to be swept away by the Daehwandan's energy, there would be no turning back.
Even the best medicine could, at times, become poison.
As Seop Mugwang had warned, this was especially true for Ilhwa now, so she couldn't afford to be lost in the Daehwandan's energy.
Ilhwa closed her eyes and slowly felt the power dominating her body.
The pure power of the Daehwandan flowed through her meridians without obstruction, spreading throughout her body.
Ilhwa's body twitched.
With the sudden surge of power, the blood qi flowing through her meridians seemed to sense a threat and began to squirm.
'Internal energies with different roots cannot become one.'
Blood qi, rooted in 'blood,' was insatiably greedy, indiscriminately devouring internal energy of different origins to expand itself.
However, that was only true when the devoured power was relatively weaker or at least equal.
*Rumble—*
The blood qi occupying her meridians was powerless against the giant's footsteps and slowly began to be pushed back.
'If blood qi was a river, the Daehwandan's pure power was an ocean.'
So powerful it could not be devoured, but rather overwhelm.
So, even if she simply let it flow, the blood qi would naturally be pushed back.
'Just expelling it isn't enough.'
What Ilhwa intended to do was restore her meridians and body to a pure state, so pure that no one would even know she had cultivated blood arts.
To do that, she also needed to tear away all traces of blood qi clinging stubbornly to her meridians.
'Move faster, more violently. Unrestrained, like stirring up a storm...!'
As Ilhwa manipulated the Daehwandan's power even more roughly, the energy, which had been naturally expanding its domain, suddenly surged through her meridians like a raging tempest.
Beads of sweat formed on Ilhwa's forehead and streamed down her temples.
*Whoosh, Crash, Roar—!*
The power surged like a colossal storm, engulfing her body in waves.
The remnants of blood qi clinging to her meridians couldn't withstand the violent momentum of the Daehwandan and began to be swept away.
As the saying goes, even a cornered rat will bite a cat.
*Twitch!*
The blood qi, cornered in Ilhwa's dantian, began to thrash wildly as if it would shatter her energy core.
The blood qi's resistance was also intensifying.
'Gah...!'
A stream of dark red blood trickled from Ilhwa's mouth.
The Daehwandan's siege, aiming to conquer, met the blood qi's defense, refusing to be expelled.
With the fierce clash of these two powers, Ilhwa's dantian dangerously vibrated as if it might shatter at any moment.
It was a situation where her dantian could be destroyed or she could fall into Juhwaimma if she made even a slight mistake.
'I will... absolutely not lose...!'
Ilhwa clenched her fist tight.
* * *
A dark night. The rock in front of the cave entrance.
Seop Mugwang, the Bipunggeomdae Commander of the Namgung, sat with his arms crossed, eyes gently closed.
Contrary to his calm and relaxed appearance, he was constantly shaking his leg.
'She should be out by now, shouldn't she?'
Surely, nothing went wrong, did it?
Like her meridians twisting suddenly while circulating internal energy, or her being unable to withstand the Daehwandan's power and falling into Juhwaimma?
The more such thoughts continued, the faster his leg trembled.
Then, at a certain moment, Seop Mugwang's eyebrows twitched, and he opened his eyes.
Gazing at the dark cave, whose interior was invisible, he soon let out a low chuckle.
"What an incredible kid."
Seop Mugwang leaped nimbly from the rock and approached the cave entrance.
In his hands were a bundle of children's clothes and a paper bag overflowing with Tanghuru.
"Glad to see you alive, kid."
With a soft *pat-pat* of footsteps, a small figure emerged from the darkness of the cave.
Seop Mugwang's eyebrows arched when he saw her.
A pure aura, different from before, emanated from her body.
'Oh? Not only did she expel the impure energy, but she even accumulated internal energy?'
It was only a second-rate level of energy, but considering her age, it was an astonishing achievement.
He had thought it would be fortunate if she didn't fall into Juhwaimma, yet she had even made the remaining internal energy her own.
"You did well."
Seop Mugwang extended the clothes and Tanghuru to her.
Ilhwa took the items and looked up at him.
The silver moonlight sparkled clearly in her dark eyes.
As she expelled the impurities from her body, even her gaze had become clearer.
"Thank you," she said.
"I should be the one thanking you."
For staying alive.
Ilhwa tilted her head, not understanding his words, and Seop Mugwang patted her head.
"Come on, you haven't washed in three days, so let's get you into some warm water first. You reek."
During the process of circulating her internal energy, the waste accumulated in Ilhwa's body had been expelled along with it.
A terrible stench emanated from her body, where sticky black liquid had oozed out.
"Three days?"
"Yeah. Three days have already passed since you entered the cave. Didn't you know?"
Ilhwa nodded.
Since she had been completely engrossed in circulating her qi, it was natural that she hadn't known how much time had passed.
Three days, huh.
'Did he stand Hobeop for three days?'
It couldn't have been easy to stay still in this desolate place for three days.
She owed Seop Mugwang.
A faint rumble, *grrr*, came from Ilhwa's stomach.
At the sight of her rubbing her stomach, Seop Mugwang burst into laughter, "Hahaha!"
"Right. You must be starving! Since you're back in your hometown after so long, I'll specially introduce you to Hefei's famous delicacies!"
Seop Mugwang suddenly scooped Ilhwa up into his arms.
The child's body, which hadn't eaten or slept for three whole days, was as light as a feather.
"…!"
Ilhwa, suddenly in his embrace, looked at him with wide, surprised eyes.
"Hold on tight, kid. Don't blame me if you fall."
Seop Mugwang chuckled, then activated his lightness skill and moved swiftly.
Cradled in his arms, Ilhwa felt the cool breeze and gazed at the turbulent waters of the Yangtze River flowing fiercely in the moonlight far below.
Beyond it, the city lights sparkled brightly, as if welcoming her.
'Finally... Hefei.'
It was a night when the sweet scent of Tanghuru tickled her nose.
