Chapter 27. Head-Opening
Tap, tap-tak, tap!
Dot-like bruises were engraved across several parts of Dong Bong-su’s body.
Careful yet razor-sharp movents.
At last, the Head-Opening Great thod of the Tang Sect’s secret arts began unfolding upon Sosam—no, upon Dong Bong-su’s body.
To perform the Head-Opening Great thod, Tang Wu had to arbitrarily create ridian pathways within Dong Bong-su’s body using Dragon-Phoenix Golden Needles. Since there was no path, the work of creating one had to co first.
Tang Wu’s hands swiftly sliced through the air. Following his movents, the Dragon-Phoenix Golden Needles floating in midair began embedding themselves across Dong Bong-su’s body, and Tang Wu’s true energy weaved between the needles, carving out pathways.
Passing through the Zhongfu, piercing Shaoshang and Shangyang running through Yingxiang and Jiquan, breaking through Shaochong and Shaoze, crossing Qigong and Tianchi, passing Zhongchong and Chengqi, striking Yutang and Yinbai, marking Dafu and Qingming, crossing Zhiyin and Yongquan, striking Youfu and Guanchong, scraping Sizhukong and Tongziliao, piercing Zuqiyin and Dadun, and reaching Qin.
[T/L: Above ntioned are the acupuncture points.]
At last, pathways were opened through all twelve ridian points according to yin-yang and the five elents.
From that mont on, the true Head-Opening Great thod began in earnest.
Papapap!
Tang Wu’s hands and the Dragon-Phoenix Golden Needles road across Dong Bong-su’s entire body.
As he continued the Head-Opening Great thod, he felt even more deeply the astonishing nature of the Bloodless Body. Despite following temporarily created ridian pathways, there was not the slightest obstruction in the flow of qi and blood. Rather than being blocked, the qi flowed several tis faster than in an ordinary martial artist.
He grew excited and gradually beca imrsed in the Head-Opening Great thod.
That said, he had not completely lost his reason. There was still an important task he had yet to complete.
As the Head-Opening Great thod neared its conclusion, Tang Wu pressed a button attached sowhere on the bottom of the Dragon-Phoenix Golden Needle case. The base opened, revealing a hidden compartnt inside the case.
Inside were countless tiny, pitch-black granule-like objects. But upon closer inspection, those tiny things were wriggling. They were not grains—they were insects.
They were a type of ultra-fine insect known as Thousand-poison Insect.
Thousand-poison Insect was a poison insect secretly developed by the Tang Sect, a special breed created by refining multiple poison insects together and infusing them with ten thousand poisons.
Once a Thousand-poison Insect settled in a host’s dantian, it would devour any poison that infiltrated the body. Thus, even soone without any poison resistance could beco a Body Invulnerable to Ten Thousand Poisons simply by harboring a Thousand-poison Insect.
However, the Thousand-poison Insect was abandoned shortly after its creation.
The reason was the danger involved in its use.
Thousand-poison insects lived in colonies like ants or bees, but once they encountered hosts, the colony would disperse. At that point, the person harboring the Thousand-poison Insect Queen could control all others who carried the remaining Thousand-poison Insect.
In other words, if soone harboring the Thousand-poison Insect Queen harbored malicious intent and endangered the Tang Sect, the Tang Sect could be driven down an irrecoverable path. Aware of this danger, the Tang Sect buried the Thousand-poison Insect despite having developed it.
And yet, the Thousand-poison Insect believed to be lost was now in Tang Wu’s hands.
Why did Tang Wu bring out Thousand-poison Insect at this stage, when the Head-Opening Great thod was nearly complete?
It was obvious.
It was to restrain Dong Bong-su.
He did not want such an outstanding specin as Sosam to be taken away elsewhere, even by chance, and he wanted to make him completely his own.
However, there was sothing he did not know.
Dong Bong-su had already heard everything.
Knowing all this, he accepted Tang Wu’s proposal in full and was now allowing a single male Thousand-poison Insect into his body. The reason was simple: he could kill the poison insect whenever he wanted. The Inventory Divine Art worked the sa way even inside the body. This was sothing he had discovered only recently.
It was a conclusion drawn from pondering the extent of the Inventory Divine Art—if he could take items in and out of the inventory, then what exactly was its range?
Could the Inventory Divine Art function even within empty spaces inside the body?
The result was "yes."
Therefore, as long as Dong Bong-su knew where the poison insect inside his body was located, he could eject tiny weapons like needles from within his body and burst the poison insect at any ti, killing it instantly.
Tang Wu did not know this and firmly believed he could completely control Dong Bong-su.
Tang Wu inserted a single Thousand-poison Insect into Dong Bong-su’s ear.
Creeeeping.
Like an ant burrowing into sand, a single male Thousand-poison Insect disappeared into Dong Bong-su’s ear canal.
Even then, Dong Bong-su sat still, feeling the newly accumulating energy within his body brought about by the Head-Opening Great thod. Simply by receiving qi, he was grasping how it flowed and how it should flow within the body.
Though the pain caused by the Head-Opening Great thod and the infiltration of Thousand-poison Insect was horrific, Dong Bong-su—having reached a state of unity between self and all things—gradually forgot the pain.
Though it was not a long ti, Dong Bong-su was evolving further into a monster.
***
Several hours later.
Only after the dawn rooster crowed did the Head-Opening Great thod finally co to an end.
A satisfied smile ford on Tang Wu’s exhausted face as he looked down at Dong Bong-su and spoke.
"Open your eyes."
Dong Bong-su slowly opened his eyes and looked at Tang Wu. The dullness in his gaze had completely lifted, and in so ways, there was even a dizzying sharpness to it.
"I have given you the na Tang Sam, aning to cut down demons like mowing grass."
"Yes."
An awkward voice flowed from Dong Bong-su’s mouth. To Tang Wu and others, it would have seed as though he had lost the ability to speak for a long ti—just right.
Believing that everything had gone perfectly, Tang Wu smiled in satisfaction. Dong Bong-su smiled back at him. Of course, his smile was also one of satisfaction that everything had gone perfectly.
Which of the two had truly succeeded was obvious without needing to say it.
At last, Dong Bong-su shed the shell called Sosam completely and gained new wings under the na Tang Sam. Though no one in the martial world yet sensed the danger he posed.
Today was the day a monster attached small wings and began preparing for flight. How far he would soar—or whether he would crash before ever taking off—was sothing only ti would tell.
***
(Revision) New Murim Online Rule No. 2: Any object that is in direct contact with any part of the body (addition: regardless of whether it is inside or outside the body) can be placed into the inventory. (However, it must be smaller than the inventory itself and must not be a living creature.)
Addition: It is not limited to inserting and retrieving only one item at a ti; through training, that number may increase.
※ All of these rules are still not fixed or certain.
Side Story 1: The Birth of a Psychopath
Being a good person is sothing that can only be said when brushing past soone. When viewed over an entire lifeti, there is no such thing as a good person in this world.
– Hannibal Lecter, from ’The Silence of the Lambs’
***
I was different from a very young age.
Kim Yang-suk said she was shocked when I didn’t cry at birth and instead just looked around at my surroundings. She tried hitting my butt for quite a while to make cry, but when I still didn’t, she pinched . Only then did I cry from the pain.
Ten months later.
I finally started speaking.
Even then, I was different from other children. The first words I uttered weren’t short words like "mom" or "dad" or "milk," but a complete sentence: "Mom, give food."
It seems my mother, Kim Yang-suk, realized then that I was different from other children. Perhaps because of that, I was given gifted education and learned many things from a young age. However, my progress wasn’t much different from other children. In reality, I had already learned everything and was busy enjoying ant-fighting gas, but outwardly I pretended to still be learning.
Perhaps even then, instinctively, I knew that standing out was never beneficial.
As ti passed, I turned five.
Kim Yang-suk’s obsessive gifted education had mostly ended, and I was going through a normal growth phase.
I played with neighborhood kids—ddakji, marbles, land-grabbing gas, and various ga consoles. Among them, my favorite activity was catching insects, reptiles, and amphibians and playing with them.
Ants, dragonflies, cicadas, beetles, rhinoceros beetles, mantises, various grasshoppers and katydids, frogs, salamanders, tadpoles, and more.
Most of the kids’ mothers hated such things, so storing them always fell to . Kim Yang-suk didn’t pay much attention to them as long as I was fine with it.
I usually played with them in my room.
One morning, Kim Yang-suk ca into my room and, not seeing them, asked about it.
"Huh? Bong-su, what did you do with all the bugs you caught with the other kids yesterday? You shouldn’t just throw things like that into the trash."
She rummaged through the trash can in my room. But of course, they weren’t there.
"I ate them."
I think that’s what I said. It wasn’t wrong.
Startled, Kim Yang-suk scolded harshly, saying I mustn’t eat things like that. She even told my father when he ca ho that evening, and I got scolded even more.
In truth, I only ate the frog. The rest I made fight each other. They killed and were killed. In the end, the one that survived was the frog, and I simply ate it. In the end, it amounted to eating them all.
I proved that I was stronger than the frog, but I was still weaker than my parents.
That was when I realized it. You mustn’t do what you like in front of others—especially those stronger than you.
Ti passed again.
I grew up healthy and exemplary.
I didn’t worry my parents, nor did I draw negative attention from teachers. Rather, my younger self was a model student recognized by everyone.
Kim Yang-suk praised wherever she went.
"A smart and kind son."
Teachers often patted my head and praised as well.
A perfect child, praised wherever he went.
That was who I was back then—Dong Bong-su. Acting that way allowed to do what I liked while others conveniently interpreted it as scientific curiosity or easily accepted it.
However, while being a smart, praised child might please parents, it inevitably drew hostility from peers. At the ti, I hadn’t fully realized that.
It was probably when I was in my second year of middle school.
I secretly captured so stray dogs and cats wandering the neighborhood and made them fight. Then, while burying the dead animals in the school flowerbed, I was caught by other kids. As a result, I was ostracized. After that, for the remainder of my middle school years, it beca impossible to continue my hobbies or experints.
That was when I learned sothing else. Not only did I need to look good to people stronger than , but also to those weaker than —and I needed to hide my hobbies.
Ti passed again, and I beca a high school student.
By then, at least on the surface, I had beco quite ordinary.
My grades were average, I had no particular talents, just an unremarkable high schooler—soone who wouldn’t stand out anywhere. That was , Dong Bong-su.
But.
There was still sothing that wasn’t ordinary.
Strangely, girls liked and followed . At first, I couldn’t understand why.
Eventually, despite the hassle, I dated one of them. One day, I asked her.
"Why do you like ?"
"Oh my! Look at you. How could I say sothing like that myself? It’s embarrassing!"
So I did what she liked, and when she reached her climax, I asked again.
"Why do you like ?"
Gasping, she finally gave the answer I wanted.
"I don’t know. Maybe... because you’re not ordinary?"
"What does that an?"
"You seem different sohow. You’re ordinary, but at the sa ti, you don’t seem ordinary."
That was when I gained a new realization. Even if I did nothing, I wasn’t ordinary.
So from that point on, I began wearing artificial camouflage. I exercised like everyone else, watched the TV programs everyone watched, laughed when others laughed, and cried when others cried.
At so point, people started saying this about .
"Mr. Bong-su, you’re really a good person."
"Bong-su, thank you."
"Mr. Bong-su, could you take care of this?"
"Mr. Bong-su..."
"Bong-su...."
"Bong...."
Before I knew it, I had beco a good person.
No one hesitated to approach . n liked as a colleague or friend, and won perceived as just a coworker, a senior at school, or an older brother.
At last, I realized it.
That I had finally obtained true camouflage—ordinariness. Like a chaleon, no matter where I went, even without conscious effort, I had beco "a good person, an ordinary person."
I had finally escaped people’s scrutiny completely.
Only then could I truly reclaim myself.
It was a truly long ti of endurance.
Now was the ti to unleash the desires I had restrained for so long—not on insects or animals, but on real prey.
Only in front of them could I shed my camouflage and return to my true self.
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