LIGHTNOVELONLINE Chapter 23
23rd Chapter: The Man Who Does It When He Does It
As the door opened, Sahyeong gasped in shock.
“Disciple, what is this…?”
“…There was a suspicious empty space beyond the wall, so I found a weak spot with my energy and tapped on it, and this happened… I think this is an arrangement prepared by our ancestors for future generations.”
To avoid letting Sahyeong think about my hacking skills, I borrowed the name of Honwon Geomje, a figure from 300 years ago.
After all, they’re already dead, legendary figures like the most beautiful in the world and masters of the boundary between life and death.
Since I’m now a disciple of Gongdong Sect, they won’t get angry at me for borrowing a name.
Sahyeong’s eyes widened at my words.
“There were more arrangements from our ancestor… Disciple, amazing! If it weren’t for you, I would never have found this!”
I naturally dodged Sahyeong’s reaching hand as he tried to take mine.
What does he think he’s doing, touching a man?
“You’re overstating things, Sahyeong. I’m just lucky to have stumbled upon this. The ancestor’s arrangement awaits. Let’s hurry in and retrieve the legacy of Honwon Geomje.”
“Right, let’s go together, Disciple.”
Sahyeong nodded at my words.
I couldn’t tell if he was naive or just gullible, but he believed fully that he was lucky to have discovered the arrangement I mentioned.
Without a hint of doubt.
Not having knowledge about formations must be the reason for such trust.
“I’ll go in first. There might be unforeseen dangers… Disciple, follow me.”
“Understood.”
Nice of him to let me go first.
I thought this while maintaining a safe distance from Sahyeong, stepping into the cave that revealed its dark interior.
Thud.
The moment I took a step into the darkness.
BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP!
A noise that rattled my brain echoed through the space.
Along with this, Sahyeong’s presence, who was walking right in front of me, disappeared from my perception.
‘Is it a formation?’
I immediately sensed the nature of this unfamiliar feeling.
It was indeed a formation.
Well, formations always come with mechanisms.
It’s similar to how critical information is secured with multiple firewalls in reality.
Thus, the study was named “Mechanism Formation,” right?
‘Now, what kind of formation is this?’
Of course, I was confident that no matter what formation it was, I could find the living gate or break through it.
As I stretched my senses in all directions to uncover the true form of the formation…
Ugh!
The flow of energy twisted, and my vital energy got entangled.
The thread of consciousness broke momentarily before reconnecting.
My vision brightened.
I saw a ceiling.
An old wooden ceiling.
I moved my body.
Shiver.
My limbs wouldn’t move.
I was tied up somewhere.
Where am I?
“Hoho. This child?”
“Yes. She doesn’t seem to know our language, only spitting out Joseon words. Seems she’s a wanderer from Haedong; how much would we get if we sold her in the palace?”
“I’ve heard that the palace needs firebringers these days. It’s said they’re even sourcing firebringers from faraway Haedong.”
Familiar conversations echoed, conversations I could never forget, no matter how much I tried.
I couldn’t understand them at the time because I didn’t know damn Chinese, but now I understood perfectly.
This was a dialogue between Wang Sam, the merchant trying to sell me, and the broker, a eunuch known as a castrator, referred to as Eom-gong, who was about to sell me to the Imperial Palace.
The two of them were huddled together, quickly negotiating my price.
Shiver.
I moved my body, but my limbs, tightly bound to an old surgical table stained with blood, wouldn’t budge.
“Hehehe. I bet you’d prefer living as a eunuch in the palace, without worries for food and clothes, rather than dying of starvation in this distant land. Who knows? Maybe you’d rise to the rank of an internal authority like Zhao Gao. Hahaha. If you achieve that, don’t forget Wang Sam’s kindness.”
Wang Sam looked at me, grinning wickedly.
What?
Rise like Zhao Gao?
While Zhao Gao was indeed a treacherous minister responsible for the downfall of the Qin Dynasty, his words weren’t entirely wrong.
I actually rose as a eunuch in my previous life, hearing the praises of my name nine hundred and ninety-nine times, commanding intelligence agencies like Dongchang and Seochang, seizing control of the court through Eomdang, enjoying power surpassing even the Emperor.
However, Zhao Gao, who threatened others while pointing at a deer, saying it was a horse, and the Ten Regular Eunuchs who wielded absolute power during the late Han were all beneath me regarding power.
But what was the point of having such power?
‘I can’t have sex!’
I held real martial arts skills that could make birds fall and had power even greater than the Emperor’s, yet none of it intrigued me.
Because I had no, um, personal area.
What good is wealth and fame when you’re a eunuch?
Even meeting the most beautiful woman in the world wouldn’t matter if I couldn’t win her heart!
A life where I can’t even engage is simply miserable.
Like drinking seawater, the more power I wielded, the thirstier I became for the pleasure of cloud and rain.
Yet what?
Don’t forget Wang Sam’s kindness?
“Then I shall begin the purification now.”
Swish.
Jang I-hyun picked up a surgical knife.
Purification.
In polite terms, it refers to the act of making one’s body ‘clean’ while also being a euphemism for castration.
Contrary to its elegant meaning, in everyday use, it carries the implication of calling someone a eunuch, akin to insults of “you poor thing.”
So, cutting off one’s testicles and penis to rid someone of their male functions is described as purifying the body?
What nonsense!
Bubble bubble.
My emotions were boiling.
In truth, I knew.
Even though every nerve in my body was alive and kicking, I was simply trapped in an illusion displaying phantoms.
I suspected this was a formation laid down by Honwon Geomje, the legendary martial artist, to test future generations—showing visions that stimulated trauma and inner demons.
But that’s that.
It still felt disgusting.
Even knowing it was an illusion, I couldn’t endure it.
“These son of a bitches…”
My insides were boiling with rage.
Changing my mind.
Testing future generations? To bring forth such unpleasant memories in a vivid manner?
Here’s a deceased figure from 300 years ago, still messing with the living like this in some senseless experiment?
I didn’t search for the living gate.
I’d destroy the formation.
Illusion formations interfere forcibly with another’s mental realm and display phantoms.
While inferior illusion formations deceive the five senses, higher ones directly invade the mental domain.
Thus the reality it created was vividly hallucinated, deceiving even the perception of energy.
But I was a martial artist who reached the realm of Hyeongyeong in my previous life.
And the state of Hyeongyeong meant completing a microcosm through enlightenment.
Completing the microcosm and harmonizing the Upper Dantian, I could refine my mind’s nature into pure martial wisdom and express it in martial arts.
What the world calls the heart sword, reaching the realm of Mind’s Martial Arts.
Even though I regressed and lost my internal energy, my mind remained intact, so my completed microcosm was still there.
This meant:
“Damn it, I didn’t want to use this again.”
I glared at my enemies within the illusion, speaking in Korean.
“What are you mumbling about?”
“I might not know Joseon well, but it seems you are scared of the knife. It’s common for people to tremble in fear of purification, so don’t worry too much. It’s rather impressive that you’re not pissing yourselves.”
As I listened to my enemies murmuring, I closed my eyes and focused.
In reality, it was impossible, but this was the mental world.
In the realm of Hyeongyeong I had achieved, I could not guarantee victory even against fellow masters at that level.
Illusory arts and formations should ordinarily not affect the already perfected spirit and will of a Hyeongyeong master.
In my case, I had completed my microcosm, but my body was still unpolished, and I lacked internal energy, leading me to fall into the illusion.
However, having already been interfered within the mental realm, breaking the illusion was just a matter of time.
Mind’s Martial Arts is the pure essence of the mind; it might be impossible to deploy it in reality due to the inferiority of my body and internal energy, but wielding it within the mental realm was not difficult.
Gritting my teeth, I recited the spell of that ‘trash’ inner power.
WooOOOooooo!
Following the nuances of Gyuhwabojeon, an unthinkable dark energy surged from my dantian.
A miracle possible only in the mental realm.
Crack.
The ropes binding my limbs shattered like ice.
The cold air, filled with the chill of the northern wind and snow, swept through my entire body.
“Ugh?!”
“What, what’s happening?!”
The phantoms of my enemies, my trauma, erupted.
I stood up, unleashing the purity of my martial artistry.
And along with it…
Ilpyeon Bingsim
The pure heart trained solely for the transformation of flesh and bone and the pleasures of cloud and rain surged forth, striking like ice blades at my enemies.
BOOMBOOMBOOMBOOMBOOM!
With a mighty crash, the bodies of my foes were pierced by the icy blades, shattering into pieces.
And it wasn’t just them.
Even the cursed surgical table, the old filthy workshop of the eunuch, and even the power of the formation binding me froze and fell apart.
Just then, as I aimed to break the formation…
“Gaga, please stop.”
Swish.
I felt a warm body behind me.
Alongside that, a beautiful face suddenly appeared before me.
Truly the dreamlike figure I had always imagined, a stunning beauty with breathtaking features, draped in a translucent silk robe, perched close to me.
Her ample, fair bosom, resembling a pair of sweet peaches, pressed against my chest.
“Gaga, were you having a bad dream? Why the scary expression? I worry about your health.”
A sweet scent rose from her body as she nestled into me.
I glanced around.
Under the bright moon, the lake was reeking of alcohol, and the garden, adorned with decorative flowers and plants along with peculiar rocks, was strung with juicy red meat draping down.
It was a genuine Wine Pond and Meat Forest.
The changing formations turned the scenery.
“I too! I too want to be held by Gaga!”
“No, Gaga! First me…”
Like swans, seven beauties with varying charms began to throng around me, vying for my embrace.
Samcheosacheop and Wine Pond and Meat Forest.
The ultimate goal of my life had appeared right before me.
But that wasn’t all.
Surge.
Their silky skin and pleasant scent made my… emerge robustly.
A grand manifestation, supreme in size, capable of sending a woman directly to paradise with mere union.
While it was a dreamlike situation,
‘Still, it’s unpleasant.’
I didn’t feel good at all.
This was an illusionary world crafted by the formation.
Those Samcheosacheop beauties and the Wine Pond and Meat Forest were all just phantoms, mere figments of my imagination.
Had I been a mere lustful demon, seeking gratification with my lower self, I might have fallen for these illusions and indulged in an orgy with the beauties.
But I was no mere predator; I was a master in the spectrum of pleasure.
What I pursued wasn’t just fleshly delights.
While I could satisfy those simple needs at any red-light courtyard, it wouldn’t elicit true satisfaction.
True pleasure, the real cloud and rain joy—what could it be?
It’s that of heartfelt connection during intimacy.
Modern science has proven this fact: during connected sex, women release the hormone oxytocin, evoking happiness.
To manifest true joy leading to paradise, one must capture a woman’s heart.
Pursuing mere physical pleasure without the joy of connection will hit a limit promptly.
Spiritual pleasure is indeed the peak of cloud and rain and represents the ideal I seek within the spectrum of pleasure.
“You have no heart.”
However, dreams have no heart.
Thus sharing true sex, the ultimate cloud and rain, with illusions is impossible.
I desired nothing less than the void of mere physical relations; I sought the type of connection that resonates heart and mind, bringing true fulfillment beyond sinew and sense.
I would win the hearts of the purest beauties and create my own Samcheosacheop.
Thus, I would immerse myself in the ultimate love under the vitality of my own Wine Pond and Meat Forest.
So, I needed no such false delight.
“I cannot engage with you in real sex!”
Disgust washed over me at those phantoms.
I was no mere lustful creature.
I did not think with merely my genitals.
I was a rational, cool-headed man, arousing the hearts of countless women with my intellect.
A brainy charmer destined to become the ultimate master of pleasure; such cheap tricks with beauties were utterly intolerable.
Ilpyeon Bingsim
My intense heart responded through Mind’s Martial Arts.
With it, a blade of cold arose, freezing the space and blooming into the form of a great tree.
The branch of frost from the great tree pierced the seven beauties and turned the wine-soaked lake, along with all the world, into ice.
At that moment, as the northern wind and snow whitened the Wine Pond and Meat Forest…
The world turned gray.
Time halted.
Chuckle chuckle chuckle…
A tongue-clicking laughter echoed from every direction.
It was the sound of Yukhapjeonseong, the celestial communication technique.
“This… this successor surpasses my expectations.”
Standing alone in the gray masterpiece of Wine Pond and Meat Forest, was a middle-aged man clothed in a black martial attire adorned with an yeoktaegeuk.
As soon as I saw him, I instinctively knew.
This middle-aged man was Honwon Geomje.
The strongest master of the Gongdong Sect, who halted the march of the Blood Sect while saving the martial world during the chaotic final years of the Yuan dynasty, the number one in the world.
And the supreme vitality, the owner of Purest Life Force, or rather, the absolute energy he wielded.