I Became the Hidden Chapter 98

'The prelude to demonic possession.'

Namgung Jehyun, who was observing Baek Sowol from a distance, accurately pinpointed her condition.

Because it was a state he himself had experienced before.

By Namgung Jehyun's standards, demonic possession was a familiar sight.

'Demonic possession itself can be overcome. The problem is Qi Deviation.'

Demonic possession is a state where the mind-image is unstable.

Because the mind itself is unstable, one could go mad if one is not careful, but if one can maintain one's sanity even in this state, one can achieve great accomplishments in martial arts.

On the other hand, Qi Deviation.

'Because the Qi itself runs wild unstably, if one is not careful, the body itself can fall into an uncontrollable state and become a murderer or a cripple.'

Namgung Jehyun watched Baek Sowol and pondered what to do.

Although he had not revealed it to anyone, Namgung Jehyun had used the process of demonic possession to build up his current realm.

At that time, he had achieved considerable accomplishments in martial arts due to demonic possession and thought that it was right.

But.

'I don't want to make excuses, but the blood on my hands may have been influenced by that demonic possession shaking my mind.'

Namgung Jehyun looked at Baek Sowol with a miserable heart.

Baek Sowol's martial arts were so similar to the path he had pursued.

The martial arts of walking the path of hegemony itself.

That's why he was concerned.

Lest she walk the same path as him.

Lest she walk a path riddled with regret.

'Has my face become thick as my dying day approaches? To dare to worry about Sowol so brazenly.'

Namgung Jehyun, conscious of himself worrying about Baek Sowol, smiled bitterly.

It was absurd.

Whose fault was it that Baek Sowol had become like that?

'Right. That's why I can't just leave her be.'

Namgung Jehyun decided to become even thicker-skinned since his face had already become thick.

Anyway, his life was not long, and even the remaining life would be given to Baek Sowol after he achieved his purpose.

That's why he could cast aside his shame.

Namgung Jehyun quietly appeared in front of the training Baek Sowol.

"Calm your mind. Your current mind-image will not help you in the slightest."

At Namgung Jehyun's voice, Baek Sowol slowly lowered her sword and looked at him.

"Don't say such things. You are not my master."

Her eyes were dyed as black as a bottomless pit.

At those eyes, Namgung Jehyun felt his own mind-image prickle with guilt.

'I thought I had sharpened my mind like a knife, but now...'

Namgung Jehyun smiled bitterly and did not stop his advice.

"I know. I dare not think of myself as a master. But."

Since he had already started, he had no intention of stopping.

"Don't you know that if your own sword is not sharp, you should take your enemy's sharp sword and stab him?"

Even using such a situation, Namgung Jehyun continued to offer advice.

"That way, even if I break my promise, you will be able to stab me, won't you?"

At Namgung Jehyun's advice, Baek Sowol slowly raised the sword she had lowered.

"Go on."

Then she aimed the sword at Namgung Jehyun's neck.

"The advice to plunge a sword into your neck."

At Baek Sowol's words, Namgung Jehyun felt that his intention had been conveyed.

It wasn't that he felt particularly rewarded.

Because it was his own karma in the first place.

From that day on, whenever Baek Sowol trained, Namgung Jehyun added his advice.

"The martial arts you have learned are too deep for your enlightenment."

"Then what should I do?"

"From now on, I will teach you the martial arts imbued with the subtleties of strength and weight that I have realized in my own way. Try to practice it in parallel with the martial arts you have learned."

"Okay."

Namgung Jehyun taught, and Baek Sowol learned.

In that process, there was not a single bit of affection.

With repeated advice and training, Baek Sowol felt the level of her martial arts, which had been stagnant since she had started calling herself the Heavenly Demon, rise sharply.

'It's still not enough to kill that man.'

Of course, in that process, there was not a single bit of gratitude or affection.

And so, they arrived in Nanjing.

Nanjing, with a large imperial palace visible even from a distance.

They set up their last campsite on a nearby wild mountain overlooking Nanjing.

And so, as they were preparing for camping.

"Keolluk!"

Namgung Jehyun spat out blood.

"Are you okay?"

"Are you worried about me?"

"Of course not."

Baek Sowol frowned as she looked at Namgung Jehyun, who was spitting out blood and trembling.

"Don't die until you die by my hand."

"I plan to."

After spitting out blood for a long time, Namgung Jehyun pulled himself together and prepared for camping.

After finishing the camping preparations, Baek Sowol and Namgung Jehyun, as if it were natural, loosened their bodies and stood facing each other without any conversation.

"This is the last of this too."

"Your useless meddling is also over."

"Yes. The meddling is also over as of today."

Namgung Jehyun smiled hollowly as he looked at Baek Sowol, who did not mention learning or teaching until the end.

"Don't laugh. It's disgusting."

On the other hand, Baek Sowol's face was so murderous that it felt as if a cold chill were rising.

Throughout the journey, Baek Sowol's attitude had not changed once.

There was no gratitude or appreciation.

It was just the feeling of picking up a well-sharpened sword from an enemy.

"Keolluk."

Although it was the usual meddling and training, Namgung Jehyun's condition looked much worse today.

"Are you okay?"

"I'm fine."

"Pull yourself together and meddle. That way, I can take a proper sword."

"Hut."

Namgung Jehyun wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth and smiled bitterly.

Then he turned his body and walked away.

Baek Sowol quietly followed Namgung Jehyun.

The place where Namgung Jehyun arrived was on a deep mountain where the appearance of Nanjing and the imperial palace could be seen at a glance.

Although she didn't know what he was thinking, he was looking down at the scenery with very distant eyes.

Baek Sowol looked at Namgung Jehyun with black eyes.

"Are you feeling sentimental now that your dying day is not far off?"

"Sentimental..."

Namgung Jehyun slowly turned his head towards Baek Sowol.

At that moment, Namgung Jehyun's eyes flashed.

Baek Sowol hurriedly grabbed her sword at Namgung Jehyun's suddenly heightened aura.

"Don't you know? I am a piece of trash who is not even worthy of feeling sentimental."

At some point, Namgung Jehyun had taken Baek Sowol's back and was quickly tapping her back with his fingers.

Although Baek Sowol tried to quickly counter him.

'My body?!'

She could only grit her teeth and try to somehow move her unmoving body.

"This is called acupoint sealing. It is usually used only for training or medicine. A technique where it is used in this way is not very well known."

Behind Baek Sowol, Namgung Jehyun slowly explained the technique he had just used and slowly sat her down.

"There are still many things that are not known in martial arts."

Namgung Jehyun, who had sat Baek Sowol down in a posture as if she were performing a cultivation method, placed his hand on Baek Sowol's back.

"The secular world has come to know that the transcendent is the end, but it was not. The depth of martial arts is so endlessly deep that a human cannot dare to measure it."

In that state, Baek Sowol barely moved her mouth.

"Wh-what are you doing...? Are you afraid of your life...?"

"Life... it's always precious."

"Keuk."

Having barely opened her mouth, Baek Sowol shut her mouth at the energy of Namgung Jehyun that had suddenly invaded her body.

"You know the location of the dantian, right? This is the lower dantian."

Inside such a Baek Sowol's body.

Namgung Jehyun's energy stimulated and enveloped Baek Sowol's lower dantian.

"When you create a lower dantian, you can be considered to have entered the realm of flow. It is a realm where you can feel the flow of internal energy and use internal energy."

Baek Sowol could not understand at all what Namgung Jehyun's intention was.

However, since it seemed he would have harmed her long ago if he had intended to, she just listened to Namgung Jehyun's words.

The energy that had enveloped Baek Sowol's lower dantian began to slowly be imbued inside.

Baek Sowol desperately resisted that energy.

Her unique ferocious energy ran wild like crazy.

"Keolluk."

Although Namgung Jehyun spat out blood in that process, that was all.

Namgung Jehyun's energy was so vast and deep that it overwhelmed Baek Sowol's energy.

Baek Sowol felt so disgusted at the feeling of Namgung Jehyun's energy being imbued in her lower dantian that she wanted to vomit.

Since she could barely move her mouth, she even thought of biting her tongue right away.

"Accept it. It is just a sword. A sword that will cut me to pieces, so just accept it."

But at the subsequent words of Namgung Jehyun, her head cooled.

Looking at it calmly, the current act was an act that would not benefit Namgung Jehyun in the slightest.

On the other hand, for Baek Sowol, it was an act with a huge benefit of taking the internal energy of a martial artist who was far above her.

"If you have calmed down, I will continue."

Confirming the quieted Baek Sowol's appearance, Namgung Jehyun continued to pour his energy into her lower dantian.

The internal energy of the lower dantian, which had grown immensely, incomparable to before.

Confirming that, Namgung Jehyun.

"Next."

He guided the internal energy of the lower dantian and pulled it up.

"Keuk!!"

In that process, Baek Sowol let out a groan at the great pain, as if her body were being split in two.

Since it seemed she would never open her eyes again if she lost her mind even for a moment, she gritted her teeth and her eyes widened.

The energy of the lower dantian, which seemed as if it would split her body, was madly pounding at the area of Baek Sowol's heart.

In that process, Baek Sowol's mind continued to become blurry.

"Endure it."

But at the voice of the man behind her, which seemed as if it would not be enough even if she tore him to pieces and killed him, she gritted her teeth so hard that blood flowed from her mouth and somehow endured it.

It felt as if her gums were collapsing, her heart was being torn, and tens of thousands of needles were piercing her, and a thrill coexisted.

A moment later, with the feeling of something shattering inside her body, a feeling similar to the lower dantian began to be felt in the area of Baek Sowol's heart.

At the same time, Baek Sowol became aware.

That the realm of her, which had been stagnant until now, had jumped.

Feeling her vision go dark, Baek Sowol at the same time felt a dark space that she had seen before.

A path that she had not been able to see for a long time.

There, she saw a river as red as blood that she had seen before.

And near it, she felt a strong energy guiding her.

'Namgung Jehyun. The path that person walked.'

Unconsciously, Baek Sowol knew that that path was the path of martial arts that Namgung Jehyun had walked.

The moment she set foot on that path, Baek Sowol would be able to set foot in a distant realm that surpassed the past.

'Your will!!'

But Baek Sowol did not walk along that path.

Nor did she walk along the path stained with blood from before.

Having set foot in a dark place where only a faint, nostalgic feeling was felt, Baek Sowol began to walk slowly and with difficulty.

At the same time, the original scenery began to appear before Baek Sowol's eyes.

"Keolluk! Keolluk!!"

And she felt the appearance of Namgung Jehyun, who was coughing repeatedly and spitting out blood.

"Phew, I'm glad... that you didn't go the same way as me..."

Although she couldn't see his appearance because he was behind her, Baek Sowol felt that Namgung Jehyun was smiling faintly.

A strange emotion mixed with disgust and pity stirred inside Baek Sowol.

At that feeling, resentment welled up, and she wanted to say something, but she couldn't move.

Namgung Jehyun, who had been coughing up blood for a long time, calmed his coughing and then led the energy inside Baek Sowol again.

"This is the middle dantian. A power and proof that you obtain by setting foot in the realm of the peak, which is on a different level from the previous martial arts."

Although it was a voice she didn't want to hear, Baek Sowol felt that she had set foot in a realm that was on a different level from before.

At the same time, she realized that the transcendent martial artists of the Heavenly Mountains she had faced before had not properly set foot in the realm of the peak.

Baek Sowol collected the energy she felt and the enlightenment that came flooding in.

'Ah...'

Baek Sowol realized that she had already harbored the enlightenment to rise to the realm of the peak.

However, she realized that the reason she had not been able to rise until now was because she had been learning a martial art that was far too high for her level.

'Now I can finally even set foot in the Heavenly Demon Divine Art. My master who created such a martial art is, in fact...'

Baek Sowol admired the level of her master, Baek Yoonjun's, martial arts and collected her energy and enlightenment.

A moment later, the energy of Baek Sowol's middle dantian stabilized, and her condition also stabilized.

Confirming that Baek Sowol had finished collecting, Namgung Jehyun moved his energy again.

"And."

Namgung Jehyun's energy led the energy of Baek Sowol's middle dantian and soared up.

An indescribable pain, incomparable to when he had pulled up the energy to the middle dantian, tore through Baek Sowol's whole body.

"This is just to create the foundation to make a path..."

Taking in the words of Namgung Jehyun that were heard from behind her, she gritted her teeth and her eyes widened.

The energy inside her body changed to be as thin and sharp as a needle and then pierced through Baek Sowol's head.

"Ah...!"

Baek Sowol let out a groan.

And at the same time, she felt confused as the world looked different from before.

It was a sensation where the information that had been acquired through the body was directly stuck in the brain.

As the world changed from black and white to natural colors, the breathing of all things was heard vividly in her ears.

"This is... the upper dantian. When you someday reach the realm of the state... the scenery you can see..."

The voice of Namgung Jehyun behind her was heard intermittently.

Since it felt as if information that could not be contained at once was being directly stuck in her head, it was difficult for Baek Sowol to maintain her sanity.

"Since it is a realm that is difficult for a human body to set foot in... I am also just calling it the realm of the state..."

Namgung Jehyun's voice became increasingly thin.

"Keolluk."

At the same time, Baek Sowol felt a burning sensation on her back.

Just from the feeling, Baek Sowol could tell that Namgung Jehyun had vomited blood at an unusual level.

"Phew. With this, the meddling is... over."

She felt the hand on her back fall.

"...This is... the end of the martial arts that I foolishly... pursued, forgetting my purpose and pride..."

At the same time, Baek Sowol felt the feeling of the upper dantian fade, and the transcendent senses she had just obtained also fade.

In that process, although she felt an indescribable sense of futility and regret, since there was an immediate problem, she quickly abandoned her lingering attachment.

Namgung Jehyun's well-being.

Because his life had to be taken by her.

(End of Chapter)