While Yeon Cheon-baek was smiling, Yeon Woo-jin’s energetic voice rang out.
“Just wait! I’ll definitely beco soone that makes you proud, Grandpa!”
“Hahaha! I’m already proud of you. How much prouder do you expect to get? If I get any prouder, I might not be able to handle it!”
There had never been a doting grandfather quite like him.
Who would believe this man was the greatest martial artist of all ti and the Lord of Mushincheon?
“Let’s have a al together today, just the two of us. It’s been a while.”
“Yes! Are you staying over tonight?”
“Why? Do you want to stay?”
“Yes! I want to sleep next to you, Grandpa.”
“Hahaha! Is that so? Then let’s do that! Co on, let’s go.”
“Yes!”
Yeon Cheon-baek’s radiant smile reflected his joy, while Yeon Woo-jin, looking at him, mirrored that happiness.
Those who watched them felt a warmth spreading through their hearts.
Two years had passed since Yeon Woo-jin entered the Boundless Library.
In that ti, he had devoured nearly all the books within its walls.
Today, however, he was preparing to step into a new place—
Heavenly Gate (Cheongwan).
The most secretive location within Mushincheon.
It was a forbidden area accessible only to the Lord himself.
Now, Yeon Woo-jin stood before its entrance.
Carefully, he inserted the identification token given to him by Yeon Cheon-baek into the door of the Heavenly Gate.
Clack.
The inserted token began to glow brightly, and soon a heavy sound echoed from all directions.
Clang—Boom.
Rumble—Groan.
Screeeech.
The massive door creaked open.
Dust filled the air, untouched for countless years.
It was no surprise—the Heavenly Gate was forbidden territory.
Without wasting ti, Woo-jin decided the first task was cleaning.
‘Suction.’
Whoosh!
A sudden gust of wind swept through the sealed space, sending the dust swirling into the air.
The airborne dust quickly gathered toward Woo-jin, forming a swirling mass in front of him.
Years of accumulated dust had created a sizable heap.
‘Compress.’
Crack.
The swirling dust began to shrink, compacting until it was no larger than a fist.
Thud.
The dust had hardened into a rock-like clump.
In those two years, Yeon Woo-jin hadn’t only gained knowledge—his abilities had also advanced by leaps and bounds.
He could now wield his powers with effortless precision.
With just a wave of his hand, he had cleaned the long-neglected Heavenly Gate.
Though all he had done was clear the dust, the space already felt fresher.
“Now this feels like a place worth reading in.”
Before delving into the books, Woo-jin decided to survey the room.
He clasped his hands behind his back and slowly inspected the shelves.
They were filled with rare and exotic books.
Woo-jin’s eyes sparkled with excitent.
While exploring, he ca across a shelf entirely dedicated to martial arts manuals.
It held treasures such as:
Yangyi Infinite Divine Art (Yangui Mugeuk Singong) from Wudang Sect.
Supre Pure Divine Art (Sangcheong Musang Singong) from Kunlun Sect.
Twenty-Four Hand Plum Blossom Sword Technique (Isipsasu Maehwa Geombeop) from Mount Hua Sect.
Bodhidharma Muscle-Tendon Changing Scripture (Dalma Yeokgeun Gyeong) from Shaolin Temple.
Avalokiteshvara Golden Summit Divine Art (Gwaneum Geumjeong Singong) from Ei Sect.
The shelves were packed with these priceless manuals.
“So these are the martial arts of the Nine Great Schools and the Five Noble Families that I’ve only heard about in stories.”
Carefully, Woo-jin began pulling out the books and reading them.
One by one, the pile of finished books grew.
Then suddenly, he stopped.
He had noticed sothing all these manuals had in common.
The martial arts books he’d seen in the First and Second Halls were techniques anyone could learn.
They were designed to integrate naturally with various internal energy thods.
However, the manuals here were different.
They required specialized energy techniques and unique thods of circulation.
It was clear these techniques had been refined and perfected through centuries of dedicated effort.
Woo-jin closed the book in his hands, overwheld with respect.
To think he had acquired such treasures so easily.
It made him feel guilty.
His gaze swept across the shelves.
They all appeared to be original copies.
Then what about the sects these manuals belonged to?
Would they still have copies?
The likelihood was slim.
If these originals were here, the sects might not have even preserved copies.
Woo-jin hesitated.
He couldn’t take these books out.
But he could take the knowledge with him—by morizing it.
After so thought, Woo-jin made up his mind.
He would morize all the manuals and return copies to the sects.
Of course, it wouldn’t be possible right away.
But it felt like the right thing to do.
Even if he couldn’t return the originals, he could at least give them replicas.
He would first seek Yeon Cheon-baek’s permission.
After all, he couldn’t make decisions involving Mushincheon without approval.
And he would ensure that his actions never put his grandfather in a difficult position.
If Yeon Cheon-baek refused, he would persuade him until he agreed.
Taking a deep breath, Woo-jin refocused.
With renewed determination, he resud reading the manuals with reverence.
As more and more finished books piled up, Woo-jin found himself lost in his studies, completely imrsed.
*****
What is internal energy (naegong)?
It refers to the process of gradually drawing in the energy present in all things and storing it within the body.
The act of gathering and circulating this energy is called Un-gi Jo-sik—regulating energy and breath.
If one wishes to obtain internal energy more quickly, they can consu spiritual elixirs (Yeongyak) that are rich in condensed energy.
But how do these elixirs accumulate such vast amounts of energy?
The answer is ti.
Over long periods, energy continuously accumulates and condenses.
A pri example of this is wild ginseng (Sansam).
A Thousand-Year Ginseng (Cheonnyeon Sansam) contains the accumulated energy of a thousand years.
Even more extraordinary is the Ten-Thousand-Year Ginseng King (Mannyeon Samwang), which holds the energy of ten thousand years.
By consuming such treasures, one can absorb their condensed energy and exponentially increase their internal reserves.
However, elixirs like the Ten-Thousand-Year Ginseng King contain such overwhelming energy that mishandling them could result in the body rupturing and death.
Does consuming elixirs grant everyone great internal energy?
No.
The results vary depending on a person’s constitution and their energy circulation techniques (Un-gi Beop).
Even if one consus an elixir containing a thousand years’ worth of energy, only about one-tenth of it can typically be converted into usable internal energy.
To preserve as much energy as possible, these elixirs are often refined into pill dicines (Dan-yak).
Such pills include:
Great Restoration Pill (Dae Hwan-dan) from Shaolin, Purple Perilla Pill (Ja-so Dan) from Mount Hua, and Grand Purity Pill (Taecheong Dan) from Wudang.
Among them, the Martial God’s Golden Pill (Musin Geumhwan-dan), which Yeon Woo-jin consud, was the most powerful.
Even after consuming three Martial God’s Golden Pills over two years, Yeon Woo-jin’s internal energy was only equivalent to fifty years’ worth of cultivation.
The reason for this relatively modest gain was that most of the absorbed energy flowed to his brain rather than his dantian (energy center).
As a result, his internal energy remained limited, but his special abilities grew stronger and more versatile.
Even now, his powers were steadily becoming more formidable.
After leaving the Heavenly Gate (Cheongwan), Yeon Woo-jin continued his research into internal energy.
Specifically, he focused on amplifying the power of his internal energy using his special abilities.
He succeeded in amplifying his energy.
However, the enhanced power was so overwhelming that it required precise control chanisms.
To manage it, Yeon Woo-jin created internal gates (Gwanmun) within his body.
He called this system Transcendent Gates (Chowol Gwanmun).
A total of eight gates were constructed, and with each gate opened, his internal energy doubled.
With this thod, he could continuously amplify his strength while maintaining control.
Now that he had resolved his internal energy limitations, he could focus entirely on developing his psychic abilities.
His abilities were truly extraordinary.
They allowed him to manifest anything he imagined—practically granting him omnipotence.
However, overuse of this power could result in ntal overload, causing confusion, fainting, or worse.
This was extrely dangerous.
If such a collapse happened in front of an enemy, it would an certain death.
That’s why understanding his limits was critical.
When Woo-jin first discovered his abilities, even floating a single sword in the air caused him to collapse from overload.
Now, he could control hundreds of swords without difficulty.
His limits were steadily increasing as ti passed.
Still, there was no harm in being cautious.
To avoid over-reliance on his psychic powers, Woo-jin had created the Transcendent Gates as safeguards.
Despite his rapid growth and extraordinary transformation, Yeon Woo-jin still couldn’t recall his childhood mories.
An unshakable feeling told him that recovering those mories was important.
‘If my powers grow stronger, maybe my mories will return.’
All he could do was hope that one day, he would regain his lost mories—
And rember the faces of his parents.
*****
A year had passed since Yeon Woo-jin entered the Heavenly Gate.
Over that year, Yeon Woo-jin had thoroughly absorbed all the supre martial arts manuals that existed in the world.
He had spent more ti analyzing and internalizing those techniques than simply reading through the texts.
With even the books stored in the Heavenly Gate completely embedded in his mory, Yeon Woo-jin felt it was ti to leave. He asked Chun Ho-seong to deliver his request to Yeon Cheon-baek.
He now wanted to return ho and fully make the knowledge he had gained his own.
After receiving Woo-jin’s request, Chun Ho-seong stepped away.
Jeok Seong, in the anti, had gone out to buy ingredients to cook a delicious al, hoping to reward Woo-jin for his hard work.
The librarians were scattered across the vast Boundless Library, busy tending to their duties.
Left alone, Yeon Woo-jin decided to help the librarians, as he had nothing better to do.
He began dusting off the shelves, just like the librarians.
While he was dusting, a man dressed as though he had descended straight from the heavens entered the library.
The elderly man wandered around as if searching for sothing.
Eventually, he noticed Yeon Woo-jin.
Unaware that the old man had approached him, Yeon Woo-jin remained focused on dusting the shelves, humming a tune.
Tap, tap, tap.
The old man, who had been quietly observing Woo-jin, finally spoke.
“Who are you?”
Startled by the sudden voice, Yeon Woo-jin quickly turned his head.
“W-who are you?”
The old man’s eyebrows twitched at Woo-jin’s reaction.
He was young.
Typically, the librarians in this place were scholars who had failed to achieve fa and fortune.
Those who first entered the Boundless Library were usually between thirty (Irip, 而立) and forty (Bulhok, 不惑).
Yet standing before him was a boy who was clearly much younger.
“A child who doesn’t belong here? How in the world did you get in?”
“Uh… well…”
What excuse could he make?
He had been told to avoid being noticed by anyone outside the Boundless Library.
But by trying to help the librarians, he had ended up drawing attention to himself.
“Whose son are you? Are you from the Baek family? The Im family? Or the Yeom family?”
The old man seed to think Woo-jin was the son of a noble clan leader.
“So they’ve been adding more people lately, and now they’re sneaking in their own family mbers too?”
The misunderstanding continued to grow deeper.
It was natural for the old man to think that way. The Boundless Library was guarded by the Heavenly Martial Corps under strict security.
No unauthorized outsiders could enter.
The Heavenly Martial Corps protected the library to prevent anyone with ulterior motives from sneaking in during staff recruitnt.
Every ti new recruits were brought in, the Heavenly Martial Corps temporarily reinforced security.
Thus, the old man had no reason to doubt the situation.
“Tsk, tsk. Are you keeping silent because you’re worried about your family getting in trouble? That’s admirable.”
Yeon Woo-jin had simply been too flustered to respond, but the old man had already drawn his own conclusions.
“Very well. Go deliver this ssage. I’ll let it slide this once out of respect for old ties. But tell them there will be no forgiveness next ti.”
“Yes.”
“And make sure to inform the other clan leaders as well. Understood?”
“Yes. But… if they ask who sent this ssage, what should I say?”
Hearing Woo-jin’s question, the old man smiled proudly and replied.
“Just tell them it’s a ssage from the Commander (Gun-sa).”
“Yes.”
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