Chapter 032. To the North (2)
"Hoh, Heaven-Shaking Thunderbolt? It has been a long time since I have seen this too."
Dam Jeok-san’s eyes sparkled as he received the cylinder from Namgung Yeon.
The Heaven-Shaking Thunderbolt is an extremely rare item.
It is partly because the Imperial Court strictly controls its production and distribution, but.......
'It is difficult to make in the first place.'
In addition to materials such as sulfur and saltpeter needed for gunpowder production, it requires byproducts of monsters that are extremely difficult to obtain.
Furthermore, the formulation method is also very tricky, making mass production almost impossible.
Even the professional technicians belonging to the Imperial Court cannot guarantee success even after securing the materials.
Therefore, even Murim factions do not go out of their way to try and make Heaven-Shaking Thunderbolts.
'Of course, it is a great thing that an external object can stop a Peak Realm expert, even if only for a moment.......'
There is no need to obsess over the production of Heaven-Shaking Thunderbolts to the point of incurring the Imperial Court's wrath.
Since it is an item impossible to mass-produce anyway.
However, just because mass production is impossible does not mean the value of the Heaven-Shaking Thunderbolt decreases.
Rather, it has become more precious, if anything.
"Is it really okay to unseal this so carelessly?"
Dam Jeok-san asked slightly worriedly as he rolled the cylinder in his grasp.
A subtle auspicious light flowed between his hand and the cylinder, appearing and disappearing several times.
"Of course."
"But it must have been something received from the Prince's Palace in Nanjing to be transported to the Murim Alliance."
If that was the case, even the Namgung Clan should not be able to handle it carelessly. It was effectively a trade item between the Imperial Court and the Murim Alliance.
"I am the successor of Namgung."
However, Namgung Yeon shrugged her shoulders and answered in a light tone.
No matter if the Namgung Clan is the head of the Five Great Families, its influence falls far short compared to the Martial Sovereign Castle.
However, the solidarity of a clan that has continued its tradition for a long time is unrivaled.
If Namgung Yeon, the Young Family Head of the Namgung Clan, said she used the Heaven-Shaking Thunderbolt under transport to protect her own life.......
The Family Head, the Sword King, would personally step forward to settle the situation.
'It is difficult to expect that from Master.'
The Lord of the Martial Sovereign Castle is a person with a clear distinction between public and private matters. The mission must be prioritized in any situation.
Of course, the story would be different if Dam Jeok-san became the successor.
The Young Lord of the Martial Sovereign Castle is a position possessing power comparable to the Crown Prince of the Empire.
"Anyway, you understood, right? Just tell me whether you can break the seal or not."
Namgung Yeon spoke with eyes mixed half with expectation and half with worry.
A situation where a clash with a Peak Realm expert belonging to the Yin God Cult is half-certain.
If they could use the Heaven-Shaking Thunderbolt, it would be a very big help.
It would not be an exaggeration to say it is practically an extra life.
'But it cannot be helped even if he cannot do it.'
There was a reason for that.
The seal of the Heaven-Shaking Thunderbolt requires an expert of the Entering Transformation Realm to personally interpret its grain and sever it.
No matter how casually Dam Jeok-san uses extraordinary moves, the Entering Transformation Realm is literally a domain of a different dimension.
However, since Dam Jeok-san's way of circulating genuine qi was beyond delicate and truly extraordinary.
She hoped that perhaps, he might be able to bypass the seal and unlock it.
But it is a task beyond difficult, close to impossible.
So she was about to say it didn't matter if he couldn't do it—
"Young Family Head, here is the unsealed Heaven-Shaking Thunderbolt."
Dam Jeok-san spoke as he held out the Heaven-Shaking Thunderbolt, which was emitting intense energy without any restrictions.
"Ehh......?!"
A bizarre sound popped out of Namgung Yeon's mouth as she accepted it.
* * *
Dam Jeok-san scratched his head while looking at the astonished Namgung Yeon.
Releasing the seal of the Heaven-Shaking Thunderbolt was too easy.
To the point where the person who unlocked it was bewildered.
He too had heard the story that an expert of the Entering Transformation Realm was needed to release the seal of a Heaven-Shaking Thunderbolt produced directly by the Imperial Palace.......
Is this that level?
When he pushed genuine qi along the gaps of the seal, something flashed and it just unraveled as is.
Dam Jeok-san explained that fact.
"......."
Namgung Yeon looked at him with an expression that said she had no words.
"......To, to find the gaps of the seal in the Heaven-Shaking Thunderbolt, one needs the Mind's Eye!"
The Mind's Eye is a technique that goes beyond martial arts to penetrate the qi of all things in the universe itself.
Since it is an act of peeking into the origin of the world, one can only open the Mind's Eye upon reaching the Entering Transformation Realm, where one half-sheds the human form.
No matter if it is Dam Jeok-san, he could not have opened the Mind's Eye already.
She thought that if he hadn't opened the Mind's Eye, it would take a long time even if he could break the seal.
If unlocking the seal by opening the Mind's Eye is an act of following a set path,
Then poking at the seal by blowing genuine qi here and there is literally an act of pioneering a path.
"Hmm, Mind's Eye, you say."
At those words, a strange gleam hovered in Dam Jeok-san's eyes.
He felt like he was about to grasp something, yet not quite.
'It is not the Predator's Eye.'
Clearly, it is an amazing eye technique when judging only by efficiency, but It is on a different track from the Mind's Eye, which is said to be opened only upon reaching the Entering Transformation Realm.
What is possible is the fighting paths resembling that star cluster originating from Seo Woo-joo's memories.
Traces of one who reached some transcendental realm far surpassing even the Entering Transformation Realm, and the record of one who did not stop fighting even at the moment a world was perishing.
That must have opened Dam Jeok-san's eyes.
The Mind's Eye is an eye technique of a realm where one sees the essence of qi and thereby can even contemplate the grain of all things in the universe.
Dam Jeok-san definitely had not reached such a level.
But the gaps in the seal were just, literally just visible.
However, that 'just' might perhaps be a fragment of enlightenment.
Dam Jeok-san opened his mouth as soon as he realized that fact.
"How many of these Heaven-Shaking Thunderbolts did you say there were?"
"......Four. We cannot transport a large quantity at once."
The Northern Branch of the Murim Alliance stockpiles quite a few Heaven-Shaking Thunderbolts.
However, one cannot move a large amount in a single transport. A restriction created out of fear that an unfortunate event might occur where the Heaven-Shaking Thunderbolts are embezzled or stolen.
"That should be enough. I will try unsealing them all, so will you give them to me?"
Dam Jeok-san asked with sparkling eyes.
He had to find out why the path to unlock the seal was visible to him.
Since deciding to predate on the Half-Demons in the first place was also to understand even a little more of the principles contained in that star cluster.
"Uh....... Let us do that."
Seeing Dam Jeok-san urgently pressing her, Namgung Yeon handed over all the Heaven-Shaking Thunderbolts.
"Thank you."
Dam Jeok-san smiled as if he had obtained a treasure while looking at the black cylinders.
No, in a way, it might be better than a treasure.
Because even an age-old spiritual medicine or a peerless secret manual does not give a clue to open the Mind's Eye.
* * *
"......If it is not rude, may I ask you one thing?"
Dam Jeok-san was immersed in the Heaven-Shaking Thunderbolt, infusing genuine qi into it.
Namgung Yeon watched him and opened her mouth.
"Please do."
Dam Jeok-san's guard, Gyeong-won, nodded his head and answered Namgung Yeon's question.
"Weeell, what on earth happened while the Young Master lost his dantian? You do not have to answer if it is difficult to say."
She was simply curious.
The Sword Dragon Dam Jeok-san she knew was also a genius with innate talent and a refreshing personality.
But the current Dam Jeok-san was, how should she put it.
It felt like looking at something of an entirely different species.
Clearly, the aura he emitted was at best a level close to the entrance of the Peak Realm.
'No, no. Even that is only right now.......'
When he first fought the Butcher, he showed an aura that didn't even reach the Peak Realm.
At that time, she was in a very confused state and didn't have the leisure to think properly, but looking back, it is clearly strange.
If he is an expert with excellent control of genuine qi, completely hiding his aura is nothing.
The 'Return to Simplicity' commonly spoken of in the world corresponds to this.
However, freely adjusting one's aura is, at least within the bounds of Namgung Yeon's common sense, impossible.
Then that means he became stronger in the meantime.......
Normally it would be impossible, but the opponent is Dam Jeok-san.
A figure who had already reached the extreme of the Peak Realm when he sparred with her.
It would not be strange if he suddenly became a step stronger.
"It is not difficult to say, but in truth, I do not know well either."
Gyeong-won said while looking at Namgung Yeon, whose expression was changing moment by moment.
"You do not know well either?"
"Yes, although I stayed by the Young Master's side every day......."
Even for such a Gyeong-won, Dam Jeok-san's sudden growth felt astonishing.
"He changed every day, no, every hour. So I do not know well either."
During that short time, what kind of agony Dam Jeok-san went through, and what kind of achievements he obtained.
Even Gyeong-won, who was closest to him, could not know anything.
"......I see."
Namgung Yeon nodded. Because looking at the current Dam Jeok-san, it was a sufficiently understandable story.
"However....... I do not intend to just stay stopped either."
Gyeong-won turned his head and spoke while looking at Dam Jeok-san.
Deep essence flashed in his eyes.
Although only a few days had passed since he blocked the single sword of the Heaven-Breaking One Sword Woo Gi-tae at the Martial Sovereign Castle.
Gyeong-won was becoming a completely different person from back then.
As a guard, and as a close friend.
Because he clearly knew what he could do for Dam Jeok-san.
Peak Realm.
Gyeong-won began to step into that realm, which only the chosen ones among the rising stars could reach.
And Dam Jeok-san was,
"I can break the seal, but......."
He was clutching his head at the fact that the fragment of enlightenment he grabbed was trashier than he thought.
"I have no sense at all beyond that."
As expected, opening the Mind's Eye was absolutely not an easy task.
But Dam Jeok-san did not give up easily.
The genuine qi of the Extreme Heaven Strange Sovereign Technique dwelled and shimmered in his eyes.
Soon, the predator's instinct awakened, and his eyes distinguished every single trace of very faint demonic energy without omission.
Demonic energy is a heterogeneous energy clearly different from the natural qi dwelling in heaven and earth.
If demonic arts or evil arts are natural qi transformed by vicious intent.
Demonic energy is something aberrant, twisted from its very origin.
And this Heaven-Shaking Thunderbolt clearly contained demonic energy.
'Because it is an item made by mixing monster byproducts and gunpowder.'
Dam Jeok-san analyzed the structure of the seal slowly from there.
A structure that suppresses the demonic energy, restricts the explosion, and makes contact with the outside impossible. It is a kind of barrier technique.
The structure of the formula is woven very organically and complexly. To the extent that it makes sense why one must open the Mind's Eye to find the gaps.
But in Dam Jeok-san's eyes, it was just, simply visible.
Why is that? Is there some connection between the fighting paths he saw and the Imperial Court's sealing formation?
Considering that Seo Woo-joo touched something essentially consistent with martial arts despite being an existence from another world completely unrelated to the Central Plains, it is not impossible.
'Eventually, I have to grow the ability of predation further.'
The growth of the ability is not everything.
He needed to know a little more about Seo Woo-joo, and the despair he faced.
No matter what anyone says, he was Dam Jeok-san's past life and simultaneously one who reached a certain extremity.
Of course, it wasn't that he wasn't worried about the erosion of his mind. But Dam Jeok-san didn't mind it much.
All he knew about Seo Woo-joo was that he hated the things called monsters in the Central Plains very much, and tried to save his world against them.
That is enough. His interests coincide completely with Dam Jeok-san's.
Dam Jeok-san, harboring no more lingering attachment, released all the seals of the Heaven-Shaking Thunderbolts.
Because the situation was too urgent to waste time being held by the delusion of enlightenment.
Half-Demon, since the Butcher failed, the expert appearing this time will be an expert who has reached the Peak Realm.
He must make all preparations thoroughly.
And.......
If that guy is also a Half-Demon.
'I might obtain an unexpected gain.'
WHOOOOOM!!
Along with the pulsation of genuine qi, bright light poured out.
The seal hanging on the wick of the Heaven-Shaking Thunderbolt was released, transforming it into a state where it could explode at any time.
"It is all done."
Dam Jeok-san said so and shook the Heaven-Shaking Thunderbolt.
"Let us each take one of these. I will take two."
Dam Jeok-san spoke confidently as he distributed the Heaven-Shaking Thunderbolts.
The owner is Namgung Yeon, but anyway, the one who broke the seal was himself.
And the person who could use the Heaven-Shaking Thunderbolt most efficiently would also be Dam Jeok-san himself.
Like that, the three people headed to the North, crossing Shanxi at the fastest speed possible.
Without sleeping, and roughly filling their stomachs with dried meat.
Their steps stopped only after a full day had passed.
Arriving at the plain past the mountain valley, they sat down without even unpacking to replenish their genuine qi for a moment.
Judging by the position of the moon, it was around the Hour of the Tiger—
"Freeze! If you move, I cut."
"If you want to live, leave everything you have and go. Ah, leave that girl behind. Kuhaha!"
"......?"
A group of mountain bandits surrounded them.
* * *
"How can we leave everything behind if we cannot move......?"
Namgung Yeon, looking at them as if dumbfounded, asked Dam Jeok-san.
"You cannot go anyway, can you, Young Family Head?"
He answered nonchalantly.
However, a vivid gleam dwelled in his eyes.
Because from the pupil of one of the mountain bandits, another existence's gaze was felt.
Sorcery that was clearly not of the Central Plains Murim.
'They are watching here.'
My my, quite the voyeur has arrived.