Chronicles of the Reincarnated Demon God - Chapter 18
Chapter 18 – Synchronization of Purposeful Intent
“…Are you saying I was followed?” asked Namgung San-yeon.
When she saw the beast jiangshi, she instinctively took a step back, a surprised look on her face.
“That’s right.”
“It must be that damned kid’s backer…!”
“The mystic art they’re using to control ghosts is rather distinctive, and it’s pretty high level. Something like that is passed down in relative secrecy within a sect… It looks like your family’s bastard child has paired up with a rather high-flying supporter?”
Namgung San-yeong’s expression hardened.
“Hm, this won’t do. It looks like the profitability here does not match the effort required. You will need to add two more crates.”
“What—”
“I’m saying that it’s a level that even we won’t be able to handle easily, you see?”
“You… you!”
Namgung San-yeon’s fists shook at the Master Templar’s shameless attitude, but soon she nodded her head.
“Fine. However, please make sure to take care of the matter properly. Make sure to find out the identity of his backer, and you need to make that bastard child into an advanced jiangshi.”
“The customer is king. How could I disobey the king’s command? Hahaha!”
When the master templar rang the bell with his left hand, the darkness next to Namgung San-yeon opened and a man stepped out, wrapped in dark bandages and exuding a dangerous aura.
He was a disciple the master templar was handling. An assassin.
“Did you call for me, Master?”
“Pursue him.”
“Yes, Master. Let’s go!”
The man lifted one arm high, and a huge vulture much larger than a person emerged from among the beast jiangshi and settled on his forearm.
Then…
Fwooosh!
All traces of them were carried away by a dark whirlwind.
* * *
After we finished drinking, Tang Gyu-jin and I returned to the White Pavilion.
“So, can I ask something?” Gyu-jin said.
“Yes, of course. But do you have no intention of returning to your quarters?”
“What would I do there? I’d just be bored by myself.”
After saying that, Tang Gyu-jin took a quick look around the White Pavilion like she was checking whether or not something was hidden here.
「She appears to be protecting you, Junior Lord, from any potential traps set by her mother.」
「For someone who was taught that Qingcheng Sect nonsense, that child has a proper character!」
She knew Namgung San-yeong’s personality better than anyone else, so it looked like she was preparing in case a situation arose.
Even though I wanted to say it was all right, I already knew that Tang Gyu-jin would not listen, so I did not stop her.
She was the type of person who had to do this to feel satisfied.
I grabbed a staff and adopted a stance, as if to say, Just don’t get in the way of my training.
I wanted to confirm something.
But before I could, Gyu-jin asked, “After taking Yu-chang down on the practice grounds, why did you immediately ask me for a duel?”
“Do I need a particular reason to want a duel?”
“But, you know… just beating Yu-chang would have been enough to consider your comeback successful. In contrast, losing to me would have made beating him pointless.”
I’d been wondering what had made her hesitate. She’d been worried about that?
Woosh, woosh.
I began slowly executing the Dispersing Flower Staff Technique and responded, “My reply is the same.”
“?”
“Must I have a reason to want a duel?”
“!”
“Truthfully, at first I did have various reasons, but… to put it simply, I just wanted to face you, Sister. So, I did. That’s it. And wasn’t the one who taught me that…”
Swooosh.
The staff cleanly stabbed the training dummy’s neck.
Thump!
“You, Sister? Didn’t you teach me that that’s what it means to be a martial artist?”
“!!”
Tang Gyu-jin asked no more questions on that matter.
But she did wear a brooding expression on her face.
It looked as if she still had a concern, or at least a topic she wanted to discuss.
She had given me a new perspective in my mental attitude, so I wished to be of some help to her as well.
I focused on my training once more.
But I was focused on my dantian, not on my staff.
During my duel with Tang Gyu-jin, I had felt something… click into place, maybe?
After that, handling my inner energy had become much easier, and moving my body had become smoother.
I’d hoped that training might help me figure out the difference between before and after.
However…
‘…I don’t feel much of a difference.’
There was not much of a change in my dantian.
「Is there a problem, Junior Lord?」
「If you need anything, leave it to me! I’ll help!!」
「When I was young, I was the training instructor at the Demon Initiation Palace. You can consider me the top star in training others, so feel free to ask me anything!」
As the ghosts jumped at the chance to prove themselves in response to me talking to myself, there was one ghost among them that seemed okay.
Its name while alive was… I couldn’t remember.
So I decided to just call it Ghost No. 1.
‘I’ve clearly achieved the Two Manifestations, you see?’
「Oh, oh! It’s only been two months since you began martial arts and you’ve already accomplished that. You can consider your talent to be no inferior than that of the most excellent First Heavenly Demon, Junior Lord—」
‘Enough with the empty praise.’
「Yes, sir.」
‘Why do you think this is?’
「I-I do not wish to be discourteous, but could I take a look at your body, Junior Lord?」
‘Do it.’
Since they were subordinate to me anyway, they could not bring me harm.
Ghost No. 1 very carefully entered my body and meticulously looked around.
It did not take long to come to a conclusion.
「While I can’t be entirely sure… I do believe this looks to be “synchronization of purposeful intent.”」
‘Synchronization of purposeful intent?’
「That’s right. Have you not felt it? Unlike mystic power, it should feel like there is a disconnect in the manipulation of your inner energy.」
‘That’s right, I have felt it. But I thought it was merely because there is a difference between mystic power and inner energy.’
Since mystic arts were my original specialty, if there was any aspect of it that felt off, I could finely adjust it at any time.
However, since this was my first experience with inner energy, I didn’t fully comprehend its properties. There had been more than one or two times when I had to put some effort in.
And there had been times when I ran into a problem because it would not behave as I wished, unlike with mystic arts.
That was why I wanted to figure out exactly why my manipulation of inner energy felt more natural, more like mystic arts were for me.
「Inner energy can also be called “cultivated energy” or even “karmic strength.” The depth and amount collected scales with the accumulation of one’s training. That is why, eventually, the practitioner’s purposeful intent gets stamped on the practitioner’s cultivated energy.」
‘That makes inner energy seem similar to the practitioner’s purposeful intent. In mystic arts’ terms, is this similar to the concept of the primordial god?’
「That is the case. However—」
‘But my inner energy was different. I had both Yeon Woon-hwi’s cultivated energy as well as Tang Woon-hwi’s.’
「As expected of a prodigy such as yourself. You can hear one thing and derive ten more—」
‘Zip it, you suck up.’
「I will shut up.」
I was beginning to understand.
‘Doesn’t that mean the reason I couldn’t naturally handle this body’s inner energy before was ultimately because the soul had changed?’
「I believe so.」
‘So the more natural manipulation is a result of Tang Woon-hwi’s cultivated energy melting with Yeon Woon-hwi’s cultivated energy?’
「No, this isn’t melting. This is more like fusion. However, inner energy typically does not fuse as the disposition of every person’s soul is different.」
If fusing inner energy was an easy task, then those people who mastered the Great Absorption Technique, which had the special characteristic of absorbing inner energy, would have become rulers of the world. That was basically the ghost’s explanation.
‘Wait, so cultivated energy doesn’t normally mix? Then how can you explain what I experienced?’
「That’s…」
I could tell Ghost No. 1 was taking its time to reply.
‘I won’t hit you, so explain. If you don’t, I’ll turn you into a ghost pill, just you wait and see.’
「Th-th-this is something I haven’t confirmed, but uhm… it looks like you have accepted the concept of Tang Woon-hwi, which you had previously kept isolated.」
It felt like a rude awakening.
‘So I’m no longer rejecting life as Tang Woon-hwi?’
「M-more precisely, you are accepting it…」
I had it figured out, now.
Even up until my duel with Tang Gyu-jin, I had thought of “Tang Woon-hwi” as a separate entity.
I had been waiting and watching as a third-party observer.
However, during the duel, my mindset had changed completely.
I had become serious about martial arts.
Martial arts was a person’s very life, a person’s mindset. That was what Tang Gyu-jin had taught me.
I had accepted that wholesale within me.
Which was to say that “Tang Woon-hwi” was now included within the framework of “Yeon Woon-hwi.”
Or to put it simply, he had been consumed.
Pfft.
I could not hold back a snicker.
Even in mystic arts, there was something similar.
Body-Soul Consistency.
In order to use mystic arts more naturally, the vessel in which the soul resided had to be further developed. Aligning one’s soul and body became that much more urgent.
So how could I not be happy to have finally reached this point?
‘So how much has that synchronization of purposeful intent or whatever progressed?’
「The synchronization seems to be progressing actively. The current progress looks to be at 40% or so.」
‘The higher my synchronization rate is, the faster I can master martial arts?’
「That is correct.」
‘Good. Then that’s fine.’
I laughed heartily.
Who would hate continuously getting stronger, quickly?
What was more, the higher my synchronization rate rose, the stronger my mystic power became.
My mystic arts would get stronger by training in martial arts. In that case, I had to focus even harder.
I finished my staff technique training.
What should I tackle next?
There were multiple weapons hanging on the wall, but at this moment, one in particular caught my eye.
A spear.
The spear, which had been used since ancient times, was one of several weapons that could be considered a foundation of military weaponry.
‘Bring it.’
「As you command!」
Ghost No. 1 hastily flew over and used telekinesis to float the spear into my hands.
A martial art worth learning came to mind.
War Situation Spear Technique.
The ancient martial art that ancient charioteers, who mostly wielded spears, learned before entering the battlefield.
It was simple, but for training in the spear, there was nothing better than it.
If I mixed the Dispersing Flower Staff Technique with it just right, then it would become even more useful.
Pararak!
I moved my body. My inner energy followed and seeped into the spear to make an appealing sound.
It was the sound of Tang Woon-hwi coming to a realization.
Thump!
* * *
Tang Gyu-jin was still focused on what Woon-hwi had told her.
‘He just wanted to face me?’
He had changed.
Of course he had changed, but… he had changed far too much.
However, if you were to ask her if that was a bad thing, she would say no.
In fact, it was a good thing.
The Woon-hwi she remembered was a quiet child who could not even look people in the eye properly.
However, now he knew how to crack jokes with her without holding back and how to connect with her on a deeper level.
He was even close with Tang Gon. And hadn’t he also become acquainted with the nearly forgotten Wild Wind Squad?
Woon-hwi now knew how to build his own castle.
And that was why she thought even more.
She could not let Woon-hwi’s castle just crumble. He had only just begun to build it.
Her mother would definitely take advantage of this incident to do something to Woon-hwi.
It was clear that her mother would use her nephews to take over the Nine Dragons Branch Family. It was clear that the Namgung Noble Clan would try to extend their influence out to even the Sichuan Tang Clan and somehow take care of Woon-hwi.
That was why someone had to help protect the castle gates until that castle grew taller, wider, and tougher.
And… the only one fit for that job was her. That was what she thought.
It was at this very moment…
Shiver!
A chill suddenly ran down Tang Gyu-jin’s spine.
The Blue Ghost Face Root’s personality, which had been sleeping, was now awake.
「Eeheeheeheehee! There seems to be something here?」
Tang Gyu-jin’s gaze glinted coldly, as if her face had been covered by a ghost’s, and she looked around.
Woon-hwi also had his head turned as if he had sensed something.
「Run away, Junior Lord…!」
At this moment, Captain Spider’s last will reached Woon-hwi’s ears.
Tsssssst!
Suddenly, a murky fog began to rise from the ground they were standing on.