As soon as the light halo began radiating from Tang Hwa-eun’s seated body, I too folded my legs into a lotus position and raised my inner energy.
That was because the mixed substance of refined blue stone oil and the toxin of the Azure Steel Centipede that I had been holding in my mouth could still poison me.
It wasn’t a particularly potent poison, but purging even a trace of toxic energy was a step that could never be skipped.
After driving out the invading toxins with my inner energy for a moment and opening my eyes again, I saw three flowers blooming above Hwa-eun’s head.
It was the familiar Three Blossoms Gathering Essence.
But it wasn’t quite the same state I’d seen during her usual energy circulation.
The three flowers weren’t closed buds.
Normally, Three Blossoms Gathering Essence manifested as three flower buds, but now, one of the three flowers forming a triangle had begun slowly blooming.
One of its petals had flipped back and begun to open.
‘Oh! So she’s really heading for the next realm. Maybe my wish will come true? Hehe...’
I’d heard that when all three flowers of the Three Blossoms Gathering Essence fully bloom, one transcends into the next stage.
That stage was Five Energies Returning to Origin.
The three-divided qi would split into five and reach a state of harmonious integration.
While I was watching the flowers above Hwa-eun’s head with a pleased expression, Sister Seol’s voice echoed from outside the stone chamber.
“So-ryong, can I come in now?”
Although I’d said I’d call her in, it seemed she’d been waiting outside the whole time. But there was a reason for that.
The part involving the kiss was something only Hwa-eun and I could go through privately—a process that embarrassed even Murim warriors to watch—but the stage of raising one’s realm ~Nоvеl𝕚ght~ after consuming the elixir required a master’s guidance, which is why I had asked Sister Seol to supervise Hwa-eun.
Though Sister Seol’s inner energy couldn’t compare to mine or Hwa-eun’s, her understanding of martial theory far surpassed ours. If anything went wrong, I needed her expertise.
“Yes, Sister Seol. Please come in.”
I spoke softly toward the outside of the chamber, and Sister Seol stepped inside.
The moment she looked up at the flowers blooming above Hwa-eun’s head, her face lit up with uncontained delight.
“Oh! Is it because the elixir had such a large quantity of inner energy? The qi is already spreading through her body, and the flowers have begun blooming?
Normally, it should only start during the sealing process. If it’s already begun now, we might truly get to witness a rebirth! The first flower has already started blooming!”
“It’s happening, right? You think she’ll really achieve rebirth?”
“Mm-hmm!”
Once the flowers are in full bloom, she will transition into Five Energies Returning to Origin, and that process occurs simultaneously with Rebirth.
Seeing how excited Sister Seol was—grabbing my hands and bouncing on her feet—it seemed she fully believed that Hwa-eun would complete her bloom and enter that next realm.
I too was eagerly looking forward to an even more beautiful Hwa-eun and the extra benefits that came with it, but after about one hour, the waiting began to get a little boring.
Just watching Hwa-eun didn’t give me much to do.
That was when it happened.
—click, click.
A faint clicking sound came from the corner.
That reminded me of the Azure Steel Immortal Ant worker that had been left in the corner.
—click.
‘Ah, right. That little guy was still here? I should take him back.’
While Sister Seol was supervising Hwa-eun, I decided to take the now-shrunken Azure Steel Immortal Ant outside first.
It would still take a while before Rebirth truly began, so I figured I could take this worker ant back to the queen in the meantime.
I’d completely forgotten about the little guy who had worked so hard.
“Sister Seol, I’m going to take the worker ant back to the queen ant. Please keep watch just for a moment.”
“Sure, go ahead. By the way, he’s gotten smaller too.”
“He has?”
“Yup. The one outside got smaller too.”
Following her words, I turned my gaze to the Azure Steel Immortal Ant worker, and sure enough, its belly had deflated. It had reverted to an ordinary worker ant, just like she said.
The first one looked like a deflated balloon, and it was normal for even honey jar ants to end up like that—once they expanded, they’d stay bloated for life. But this was unexpected.
“Oh! You’re right?”
Usually, once a storing ant expanded, it would stay like that for life. But this one, perhaps because it was a spirit creature, seemed to possess superior recovery abilities and had returned to a normal worker ant.
Still, it didn’t seem fully recovered yet, as it couldn’t move on its own. I lifted it onto my shoulder and spoke as I headed outside.
“Sorry for the trouble. I’ll take you back to your mom.”
—click.
As I stepped outside with the little one, the others were sitting around a campfire, resting.
There was a pot over the fire, and it looked like they were cooking some sort of porridge.
They even had blankets draped over themselves—where had those come from?
Even our creatures were nearby, wrapped in blankets and warming themselves by the fire. At least they weren’t made of Yo-hwa’s threads.
“Wait, where’d you get the firewood and pot? And blankets too?”
When we’d entered this place, we’d only brought preserved food—jerky and dried flour, that kind of thing. We didn’t know how long we’d be staying, and we couldn’t carry much.
The only fire-starting supplies we had were torch sticks and lantern oil.
We certainly didn’t bring any pots or firewood, and yet here they were making porridge.
At my question, Ji-ryong pointed to one side of the wall.
“We found a passage leading outside, Young Hero So.”
“Really?”
I turned to where Ji-ryong pointed, and there was a staircase that hadn’t been there before.
He continued.
“Didn’t Elder Yeoncheon say the door would only open once the sword was drawn?”
“Yes, he did. And that the stone chamber would collapse...”
“Exactly. But maybe because the sword was broken, after the stone chamber’s door opened, those stairs appeared. I tried going up, and you can come and go outside freely now. The tomb didn’t collapse either.”
Was it because the broken blade’s tip was still lodged in the mechanism?
While I was pondering that, Brother Gwiseong’s voice called out.
“So-ryong, it’ll still be a while before Dokhwa awakens. Why don’t you eat something too?”
“Oh, should I? But what about Sister Seol?”
I was definitely hungry and wanted to eat, but I remembered Sister Seol.
Just then, Sister-in-law handed me a bowl of porridge with a smile.
“Don’t worry, Young Master. I’ll set some aside for her myself.”
“Thank you, Sister-in-law.”
“No need for thanks.”
Since she was handling it, there was no need to worry.
As I sat down where Brother Gwiseong gestured, the kids quickly scurried over to me.
—slurp. 『Daddy, is Mommy okay?』
“She’s doing well.”
—sluuurp. 『When will it be done? Daddy?』
“Well, your aunt said it should take about three days.”
—tsk? 『Three days means three nights?』
“Yup. Three nights.”
While I was answering Cho, Hyang, and Bini’s questions and eating porridge, my eyes fell on Brother Gwiseong, whose expression remained gloomy.
‘Looks like he’s still shaken.’
Earlier, he’d seemed deeply upset that a legendary martial technique from the same path—though not one he could learn—had been lost due to the sword’s destruction.
He hadn’t seemed able to move past it.
The blade, made of black iron, was going to be melted down to forge a pair of couple’s daggers for me and Hwa-eun. But maybe I should give Brother Gwiseong a shard as a keepsake.
While I was pondering that, a voice called out beside me.
[Benefactor.]
“Yes, Senior Yeoncheon?”
Turning my head, I saw Senior Yeoncheon and Senior Yeonji atop Yo-hwa’s hand.
They had clearly come to speak with me about something.
Yeoncheon pointed with his eyes at my brother.
[That man who is your sworn brother.]
“You mean Brother Gwiseong?”
[Yes.]
When his name came out of my mouth, both Brother Gwiseong and Sister-in-law looked over at me.
But Yeoncheon turned his eyes back to me and asked,
[Is he someone you trust?]
Even though he asked outright, the way my brother and sister-in-law tilted their heads in confusion made it clear they hadn’t heard him. He must’ve directed the question only to me.
So I responded using sound transmission.
[Yes, I believe he’s a man of great integrity. Why do you ask?]
Brother Gwiseong was trustworthy beyond question, so I answered accordingly. But Yeoncheon’s continued inquiries felt almost like a background check.
[Then what about his family background?]
[His family?]
[I must ask. It’s important.]
[Hmm.]
It would have been rude if asked by a person, but Yeoncheon was a snail.
Though he was quite familiar with human etiquette, he wasn’t perfect, and I didn’t think it came from distrust.
Since he said it was important, I decided to explain in full the relationship between Brother Gwiseong and me.
[We’ve gone through life-or-death situations together. I also saved his friend and younger sister from a plague, and I helped his wife when she was nearly forced into marriage with someone else. Because of that, both he and his household regard me as a benefactor. He would never betray me—not even if his life depended on it.]
Honestly, I’ve done enough for Brother Gwiseong that if he ever betrayed me, could he even call himself human?
He’s a solid man through and through. I saved his younger sister Yeong-yeong and his wife. There’s no way he’d turn on me.
‘If he ever did, he’d be lower than an insect—no, worse than a beast.’
As I firmly stated that there was no chance he’d betray me, Senior Yeoncheon nodded and finally explained why he’d asked.
[Thank you for answering without reproach even though my question was rude, Benefactor. The reason I asked is because of Hwamu-jin’s martial technique.]
[Hwamu-jin’s technique? I thought that had already been lost?]
I hadn’t checked personally, but I had heard it was gone—Hwamu-jin’s legendary sword technique.
So I wondered why he was bringing it up now, but then he said something completely unexpected.
[Hwamu-jin created that technique by watching the movements of my wife and me. His sword style, especially its emphasis on heaviness (jung) and slowness (man), was inspired by the way we moved.]
[And so?]
[After hearing that his martial technique was lost, my wife and I decided to review what we remembered. We were both present when he created and inscribed that technique here, so we retain a fair bit of the content.]
[Oh! So then the technique might not be completely lost?]
A human martial artist would have kept such things a secret even while creating or recording them—but they were snails. I suppose Hwamu-jin must have just shown them most of it as he worked.
If so, then maybe the martial art hadn’t truly vanished. I smiled with hope—only for Yeoncheon to respond in a regretful tone.
[No. I wish that were the case, but it wasn’t that important to us. Even after pooling everything my wife and I remembered, it only came out to about one arm’s worth.]
[Ah. Still, that’s pretty impressive.]
Even if they couldn’t restore it completely, eighty percent was certainly better than nothing. I praised him for it, but Yeoncheon shook his eyestalk and pointed to my brother.
[No. If it’s only eighty percent, it may as well be gone. That’s why...]
Sure, even a single incorrect mantra could lead to Qi deviation, so he wasn’t wrong in saying it amounted to nothing. Still, it wasn’t nothing.
Just as I was about to reassure him, he continued.
[Your sworn brother is well-known in the Daoist arts, and I hear he trained in the Dao from a young age. So, what if...]
[What if what?]
[What if we allowed him to study the incomplete martial art—and if he managed to complete it, he would return it to you, the benefactor? We could bind the knowledge to a promise that he may pass it on only to one child.]
‘Ahh.’
So that was why he’d asked such personal questions—he was considering this kind of arrangement.
Honestly, I always say: let the hawk catch the pheasant. That is, let the expert handle the job.
Even if the Tang Clan had the sword technique, we had no idea how long it would take to restore it.
After all, the Tang Clan wasn’t specialized in sword arts.
But if Brother Gwiseong and the Peng Clan could help reconstruct it, that wouldn’t be a bad plan at all.
And truthfully, I didn’t even use sword techniques. Hadn’t I once thought it would be nice to show it to him just once?
Now I could pass it along in a completely legitimate way.
I gladly accepted Senior Yeoncheon’s proposal.
[Let’s do it that way.]
[Then I’ll relay your wishes to him.]
[Please do.]
Just as our conversation concluded and I set down my bowl of porridge...
Sister Seol’s voice echoed from within the stone chamber.
“So-ryong! Come quickly!”
At her urgent call, I dashed into the chamber.
The moment I entered the room, I saw it—
Three golden lotus blooms had fully blossomed above Hwa-eun’s head, and from them, five distinct colors of light began to shine.
“Is this Rebirth?”
“It’s not certain yet. This is the critical moment. The light aura must be completed. Hwa-eun! Hang in there!”
Sister Seol said it was still too early to tell if Rebirth would be achieved.
Then suddenly—my vision began to blur.
‘A sudden mental shift?’
It was unmistakable—this was the precursor to entering an inner mental realm.
I’d experienced it enough times to recognize the signs clearly. As I wondered what triggered it this time, the answer clicked.
Cheong-yu Sojeo had once told me that when a registered venomous creature under my command grew stronger, it would open the next gate in the Five Venoms technique progression.
Given that Spirit Beast Martial Focus regarded Hwa-eun as a spirit creature, her growth now likely triggered the opening of the third gate—Gate Three.
Sister Seol might still be unsure, but from what I could see—Hwa-eun’s evolution had already been decided.
