Chapter 116: Taboo
The Kongtong Successor Cultivation Plan of the Hundred Paths was entrusted entirely to the Martial Alliance.
Naturally, the martial artists selected from each sect were also staying within the Martial Alliance.
The scholars of the Jegal Clan were conducting the selection process among sixty-five ultimate techniques from thirteen sects.
With sixty-five target martial arts, it ant that each sect had submitted five ultimate techniques.
The pavilion where the selection process was being carried out was guarded by martial artists dispatched from each sect.
Because the secret manuals of their respective sects had gathered there. For this purpose, each sect had dispatched an additional twenty martial artists besides the selected participants.
Their number alone reached two hundred and sixty, a detail that showed just how much effort the Martial Alliance was pouring into this endeavor.
Half a year had passed since the Kongtong Successor Cultivation Plan had been decided, and after four months of selection work, the ultimate techniques were finally chosen.
Since the martial arts all belonged to different sects, the foundational art ant to harmonize them all was Shaolin’s Muscle-Tendon Transformation, chosen for its great inclusivity.
Afterward, internal energy would be cultivated with Wudang’s Taiji Heart Art, said to achieve the finest harmony of yin and yang.
For swordsmanship, the Heavenly Flow Divine Fire Sword was selected—a technique so practical and excessive in killing intent that even Mount Hua had forbidden its training.
For lightness skill, Kunlun’s Cloud Dragon Great Nine Forms were chosen, having the best ratio between speed and internal energy consumption—in other words, the best efficiency.
The thirteen ultimate techniques selected in this manner were chosen not only for their utility but also for their ability to operate together without clashing against one another.
Each martial art gathered there represented the signature ultimate technique of its respective sect.
When the sect masters assembled once more to hear the results of the selection, they burst into admiration at the list of techniques laid before them.
It was a result that inspired great anticipation for the achievents of the martial artists who would master them.
That night.
Under the watchful eyes of the sect masters, the scholars of the Jegal Clan who had conducted the selection all took their own lives.
After confirming each death one by one, the sect masters of each sect returned with the secret manuals that had not been selected.
The martial artists dispatched for security naturally escorted both their sect masters and their secret manuals back to their respective sects.
Only then did the training of the selected martial artists truly begin.
Hundreds of Martial Alliance martial artists surrounded the training district like an iron fortress and kept watch.
That was right. It was surveillance.
The entry of outsiders was strictly forbidden. The sa applied to movent from inside to outside.
Thirteen secret manuals, each containing the ultimate technique of a different sect, existed within the training district.
In that state, the training proceeded.
Perhaps because the strongest masters from each sect had been selected and deployed, no separate instructors were appointed.
The masters themselves explained their sect’s martial arts and guided the training. They also took charge of educating the younger generation talents who had participated one by one.
While it would take ti for the younger generation to show training results, the growth of the masters was remarkably fast.
Since they were already individuals who had attained a certain level of enlightennt, their comprehension was high and their adaptability outstanding.
At once, the True Martial Hall Master of Wudang—and after the death of the Taiji Sword Emperor, the de facto number one of Wudang—Gugeom Jinren broke through into the Transcendent Realm.
It was a splendid achievent that had occurred in just two months of training.
In contrast, the Heavenly Flower Sword King of Mount Hua and the Azure Dragon Sword King of the Namgung Clan—who had been held in the highest expectations—had yet to produce notable results.
The Hundred Paths were hoping that among those two masters already in the Transcendent Realm, one would enter the Manifestation Realm.
In truth, the greatest surprise of this Kongtong Successor Plan was that Shaolin had put forward the Unyeon Dharma King.
As the head of the Four Vajra Guardians, Unyeon Dharma King was a master of the Transcendent Realm and was listed among the Seven Great Masters of the Martial World, yet he had not been considered a practical external force.
According to Shaolin’s rules, the Four Vajra Guardians could not leave the grounds of Shaolin Temple.
This was because they were the final bulwark protecting Shaolin.
For that reason, even the Hundred Paths had effectively excluded Unyeon Dharma King from their own combat strength.
Yet that very Unyeon Dharma King participated in this Kongtong Successor Cultivation Plan.
He was, in truth, the strongest master Shaolin possessed. To make that possible, Shaolin had removed him from his position among the Four Vajra Guardians.
In other words, they had changed his post.
And thus, Unyeon Dharma King finally broke through the Transcendent Realm and stepped into the Manifestation Realm.
His internal energy had reached Ten Gapja, and during energy circulation he achieved Five Energies in Harmony and Three Flowers Gather at the Crown.
Though he himself said he was still lacking, a Manifestation Realm martial artist had been born within the Hundred Paths, filling the vacancy left after the Taiji Sword Emperor’s death.
Not only the Martial Alliance, but the entire Hundred Paths rejoiced.
Because at last, the Hundred Paths possessed a weapon capable of standing against the Cult Leader and Vice Cult Leader of the Bright Cult—no, the Demonic Cult.
Perhaps it served as stimulus to the martial artists in training.
Afterward, Ghost Immortal of Mount Dian ascended to the Transcendent Realm, and the Taiqing Pavilion Lord—already the strongest master of Kunlun—also rose into the Transcendent Realm.
The effectiveness of the Taiji Heart Art combined with the Muscle-Tendon Transformation was trendous.
After all, the founder of Wudang, Zhang Sanfeng, had first begun learning martial arts at Shaolin, and what he had obtained there were the Muscle-Tendon Transformation and worldly insight.
Perhaps because Wudang’s internal energy had its roots in Shaolin, the compatibility between the two was extraordinarily harmonious.
It was said that the efficiency of the Taiji Heart Art operating upon the foundation refined by the Muscle-Tendon Transformation was astounding.
One month after Unyeon Dharma King had ascended to the Manifestation Realm, the long-awaited news finally arrived at the Martial Alliance.
The Heavenly Flower Sword King and the Azure Dragon Sword King achieved Five Energies in Harmony and Three Flowers Gather at the Crown two days apart.
That was right.
The two of them had also stepped into the Manifestation Realm.
The entire Hundred Paths was swept with ecstasy. Though they might still be lacking in ability, in numbers they had surpassed the Bright Cult, which possessed two—its Cult Leader and Vice Cult Leader.
At the ti when the Hundred Paths were cheering the ergence of new Manifestation Realm masters, the Great Heavenly Martial Festival was being held within the Demonic Cult, and the Main Fortress was filled with cheers and whistles.
In particular, the enthusiasm for the team battles was trendous.
In the case of a one-on-one spar, the result was decided in a single match, but in team battles, multiple match results were combined to determine the victor.
In other words, a single loss did not an the end.
That fact excited both those participating in the sparring and those watching it.
In the midst of the heated team battles, during a brief interval set aside like a mont of rest, a sparring match was held to select the Sacred Fla Throne.
It was a contest among Transcendent Realm masters.
A fervor different from that of the team battles filled the Great Heavenly Martial Festival.
Previously, the only Transcendent Realm masters the Bright Cult possessed were the Five Demons. From among them, only Demon Flower stepped forward to compete.
None of the others participated. Naturally, one might have thought Demon Flower would beco the Sacred Fla Throne by default, but that was not the case.
There were no fewer than seven additional challengers.
It would not have been an exaggeration to say that the fervor within the Bright Cult over the past several months—mad with training—had pushed a considerable number of those hovering on the brink of the Transcendent Realm over the threshold.
Among the Thirteen Bloods, Iron Shatter Blood and Ghost Spirit Blood rose up, along with Flashing Light Blood and Cold Blade Blood.
In addition, from the Red Army, Heaven-Mixing Crushing Demon and Nine Suns Demon stepped into the Transcendent Realm, and from the Bright Army, Death-Scorching Demon Lord advanced as well.
The sparring between them unfolded in a literal spray of blood.
Not a single one retreated, and no one held back simply because it was a spar. After all, in the Heavenly Martial Festival’s matches, everything was permitted except deliberate killing of one’s opponent.
Of course, the final result ended in Demon Flower’s victory.
Even though they were all in the sa Transcendent Realm, none could surpass the seasoned maturity of Demon Flower, who had remained in that realm for over a decade.
That did not an her victory was easy.
Her final match, against Heaven-Mixing Crushing Demon, had been so fierce that even Demon Flower suffered quite serious injuries.
When the team battles resud afterward, the Bright Cult—already heated by the Sacred Fla Throne selection—overflowed with cheers.
The Heavenly Martial Festival had originally been a festival solely for the Bright Cult’s martial artists.
However, when the Cult Leader granted the Vice Cult Leader’s request, believers who had petitioned the Guardian Division to observe were allowed to participate.
Of course, to avoid exceeding the Main Fortress’s capacity, the number of attendees was appropriately allocated.
Since the festival lasted five days, the spectators changed each day.
Thanks to that, many people were able to attend the Heavenly Martial Festival.
Thus, not only the people of the Mountain Foot Village but also those from the Military Farm Village set aside their work for a while to attend the festival, spending a joyful ti watching the martial artists’ sparring.
With so many believers gathered, the Guardian Division, together with the won of the two villages, prepared several dishes to share, and naturally the martial artists also received food.
The dishes were so delicious that even those who had initially shown discomfort at the believers’ presence beca enthusiastic.
Moreover, the cheers and support of the attending believers served to steady the hearts of the martial artists entering the arena, making the sparring even more serious.
That was the true reason the critical view toward believers’ attendance disappeared.
On the fourth day of the Heavenly Martial Festival, sothing occurred that widened the eyes of both so capable spectators and all the martial artists of the Bright Cult.
The Treasury Throne selection match was that stage.
Iron Demon, Profound Demon, Ghost Demon, and Pageuk—who had earned an Elder position after passing the Vice Cult Leader’s test—stepped forward as challengers.
Here lay the reason for the astonishnt.
Only those in the Manifestation Realm could challenge for the Treasury Throne.
In other words, Iron Demon, Profound Demon, Ghost Demon, and Pageuk had all reached the Manifestation Realm.
When the Bright Cult’s martial artists belatedly realized this, a thunderous cheer erupted from their mouths.
Waaahhh!
Even the Bright Cult, known as a land of masters, had never in its thousand-year history possessed six Manifestation Realm masters at once.
In fact, even the recent period in which they had held two had been surprising enough, as masters of the Manifestation Realm were exceedingly difficult to produce.
And yet now, such masters had poured forth in droves.
Another cause for renewed fervor was that all of them belonged to the Vice Cult Leader’s Pavilion.
Even Pageuk, who had beco an Elder, practically lived in the Vice Cult Leader’s Pavilion, claiming that Yul Han was his lord.
The Cult Leader had snorted with a half-smile, saying, “That madman. What does he think he’s doing, becoming an Elder and serving the Vice Cult Leader as his lord?”—and thus it had been allowed.
An Elder was an official position within the Bright Cult and a post that must serve only the Cult Leader.
Pageuk was from the Lu Tribe beyond the Heavenly Mountains and did not fully understand the Bright Cult’s regulations, but from the beginning he had submitted to Yul Han and thrown himself into the Bright Cult. That fact alone permitted such an absurd claim.
Otherwise, even if the Cult Leader had tolerated it, the Council of Elders would never have overlooked it.
The Council of Elders of the Bright Cult was a body that detested anything that blurred rules and tradition.
In any case, perhaps thanks to training at the Vice Cult Leader’s residence, Pageuk’s progress was dazzling.
It was such trendous achievent that even Demon Flower—who had spent more ti training at the Vice Cult Leader’s Pavilion than Pageuk—felt envy.
As the Treasury Throne selection match proceeded amid cheers so great that it seed the Main Fortress might collapse, Poison Demon sat beside Yul Han and transmitted his voice ntally.
It was not because they were discussing secrets, but because the surrounding cheers were so loud that spoken words could not possibly carry.
—You are late, Vice Cult Leader.
At Poison Demon’s ntal transmission, Yul Han turned and smiled.
—You have arrived? I was just wondering why you did not participate in the Sacred Fla Throne selection.
—I could not spare the ti. There were many patients in the Military Farm Village.
—Many patients?
—There are too many who work during the day and train at night. The martial artists are relatively fine, but quite a few who began training late…
—They overexerted themselves with insufficient internal energy.
Poison Demon nodded at Yul Han, who grasped the core of the situation imdiately.
—Yes. Many whose dantians were not fully ford suffered damage, so I could not leave my post.
Indeed, there were not many physicians within the Bright Cult capable of treating the dantian.
And among them, Poison Demon’s skill was by far the most outstanding.
—You have worked hard.
At Yul Han’s praise, Poison Demon spoke cautiously.
—However, Vice Cult Leader.
—Yes?
—I have a request…
—Speak.
At Yul Han’s response, Poison Demon transmitted his voice with even greater care.
—Would it not be possible to establish an educational institution to cultivate physicians?
Thus far, the Bright Cult’s physicians had been filled by Poison Demon’s own trained martial artists.
His teachings had been passed down combining martial arts, poison arts, and dical arts.
Poison and dicine were inseparable fields, but it was also because the first Poison Demon—the Seventh Cult Leader—had taken particular interest in dical arts, leaving behind a considerable level of dical knowledge.
The problem was that the atmosphere within the Bright Cult looked down upon the study of dicine and scholarship itself.
In fact, the Heavenly Demon, the founding ancestor of the Bright Cult, had declared that anything other than martial arts was utterly useless.
That attitude had descended through the Bright Cult’s history almost like a taboo.
But the current Yul Han did not know that.
—Is there any reason it cannot be done? I will seek the Cult Leader’s permission.
It was why Poison Demon’s eyes widened in surprise at Yul Han’s forthright reply.
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