The Terminally Ill Young Master of the Baek Clan-Chapter 447: Power Borrowing, Heaven-Reaching Realm (3)
That power was granted only to the Honor Flower Disciples even within Azure Forest.
If this thing called Power Borrowing is really such a powerful, all-purpose means, then why was it only ever passed on to a handful of the sect’s Honor Flower Disciples?
In truth, it was because Power Borrowing was extremely dangerous.
Only those qualified could handle that power.
If an accident occurred, Power Borrowing could endanger not only the caster but the entire Azure Forest.
The reason was obvious.
“Power Borrowing is borrowing power. But what if the chosen entity despises Azure Forest, despises humans?”
That was Yu Jeong-shin’s explanation.
Yi-gang understood immediately.
The Pagoda Bearing Heavenly King he had met had sided with the Evil Cult.
Knowing what the Evil Cult had done and what they sought, it was unlikely such a being would be favorably disposed toward humans.
“As you know, members of the Evil Cult also use Power Borrowing. If an Honor Flower Disciple makes a mistake in Heaven-Reaching Realm and contacts such evil beings…”
There were a few unpleasant possibilities.
First: the locations and strengths of Azure Forest’s practitioners could be exposed.
This had happened several times already.
Conversely, Azure Forest had noticed Evil Cult movements before, but trapped as they were in the Rimju, there was nothing they could do.
The second was that beings on the other side would intervene directly.
Some Honor Flower Disciples who tried to borrow power had all their meridians burst and died.
It was tragic, but some were oddly relieved by even that outcome.
“Even if the Heavenly Path opens, causality is consumed, so Descent or Possession isn’t easy. However… some mighty beings might accept the burden and do so.”
Hearing that, Yi-gang’s expression hardened.
What Yu Jeong-shin was talking about was ‘stealing a body.’
“There’s a real possibility of a major accident if a great yokai or heavenly being steals the body…”
Yu Jeong-shin said that and shared his own experience.
When he entered Heaven-Reaching Realm and gained the power of Power Borrowing.
“What I saw in the Heaven-Reaching Realm was the night sky and seven shining stars there.”
The Heaven-Reaching Realm, the boundary between the real world and the spirit world.
“Those stars were surely watching me. I focused my mind and recited the Wisdom Mind Art.”
Wisdom Mind Art was Azure Forest’s basic art.
It wasn’t an extraordinary cultivation method, but a unique heart method that activated the Upper Dantian and replenished core life energy.
Its true value emerged when using Power Borrowing.
“Thus, of the seven stars, four grew brighter and three disappeared.”
When Yu Jeong-shin recited the austere Taoist mind technique, three heavenly beings who had lost interest departed.
That meant the remaining four were friendly entities willing to lend power to Azure Forest’s disciples.
It was the primary selection process.
Yu Jeong-shin reached out his hand toward the stars.
And those stars reached out to him.
Among them was Amitabha Buddha, and immortals and spiritual beings also lent Yu Jeong-shin their power.
This was the secondary selection.
“An Honor Flower Disciple’s vessel has limits, so usually they borrow power from one, at most two, sources.”
“You said what you saw in Heaven-Reaching Realm wasn’t just a few stars.”
What Yi-gang had seen was countless stars filling the sky.
A cluster of stars, what should be called a galaxy.
Did that dense field of stars mean they were all heavenly beings or their equivalents?
“…Impossible.”
Yu Jeong-shin said so.
But Yi-gang was not lying.
“That’s why it’s terrifying. If you reach out, all sorts of things might swarm toward you.”
If, when Yi-gang reached out, hundreds or thousands of heavenly beings or great yokai grabbed his hand, what would happen?
Yu Jeong-shin sighed as if the earth itself had sunk.
“Yi-gang, I forbid you from learning Power Borrowing.”
It was an unavoidable decision.
Yu Jeong-shin was certain Yi-gang had exceptional talent for Power Borrowing, but the risk was too great.
Dam Hyun snickered beside them.
Rarely angered, Yu Jeong-shin suddenly barked.
“You bastard Dam Hyun! Do you find it funny that your junior can’t learn Power Borrowing?!”
“Huh? No…”
“You must learn Power Borrowing instead. Show results within seven days.”
Yu Jeong-shin said that with a stern expression.
Then he looked at Yi-gang and gave a gentle smile.
“You help Dam Hyun. The brat just can’t find the knack.”
“I will.”
Dam Hyun tried to retort, but got no chance.
In the end, Yu Jeong-shin departed.
“Damn…”
“Why poke Master’s temper like that?”
“I’m telling you, it’s not like that, seriously.”
Dam Hyun protested, looking wronged.
“I didn’t laugh out of spite, though I was relieved.”
So Yi-gang wasn’t laughing because he couldn’t learn Power Borrowing either?
Not overly curious, Yi-gang nonetheless asked.
“Then why did you laugh?”
“Because the other disciples’ expressions were ridiculous.”
Yi-gang fell silent, wondering what he meant.
Dam Hyun whispered so only Yi-gang could hear.
“Some were relieved, and some were afraid.”
That included Ho-cheong, who had thought Yi-gang and Dam Hyun wouldn’t be able to enter Heaven-Reaching Realm.
When they heard Yi-gang had seen the galaxy, they trembled with shock.
Some felt relieved when Yu Jeong-shin forbade the passing on of Power Borrowing.
“They’re scared, even Master was like that, though I shouldn’t say it.”
Dam Hyun said that and grinned again.
His eyes shone.
“It’s funny. We’re going to fight non-human things, yet they’re already afraid.”
Dam Hyun viewed not only the surviving Honor Flower Disciples but even Yu Jeong-shin critically.
“You have to take risks. Only then can you beat foes you otherwise couldn’t.”
“…Right.”
“I think you should learn Power Borrowing more than anyone…”
Dam Hyun turned away first.
“I’ll somehow master it. You help Master.”
Yi-gang watched Dam Hyun walk away.
A senior brother who had performed unexpectedly poorly in learning Power Borrowing.
Yet for some reason Yi-gang wasn’t worried about him.
Dam Hyun would manage his part somehow.
All manner of transcendent beings.
Those not born from parents’ bodies, but self-formed at some inflection point of the cosmos.
Great deity-class beings.
Heavenly beings.
Or those who have transcended human status.
Dala immortals and earth-immortals.
Great yokai, messengers of the Netherworld.
Dragons.
They all felt a massive ripple.
Tsu-tsu-tsu-tsu—
The Heavenly Realm’s Peach Garden.
The peach trees there shook their leaves in response to their master’s stirring.
In the Demon Realm, great yokai raised their heads and looked at the moon.
In the Netherworld, Yama and the Ten Kings who oversee the dead set down their registers and looked upward.
They all felt something.
Someone in the lower realm had revealed their presence.
The lower realm was ruled by pitiful humans.
Some there had transcended humanity, but what called them now was clearly a human.
No, that person was too resplendent to be called an ordinary human.
Many noticed the human who radiated existence like a star.
Among them was also a heavenly being.
It was a place where lotuses bloomed fully.
Lotuses taller than people exuded a heady fragrance.
A breeze made the lotus petals flutter softly.
Someone rose from within.
Far larger than the lotus, its stature must have been ten feet tall.
That wasn’t the only inhuman feature.
Azure-blue skin.
Three heads.
And eight arms.
The heavenly being who rose from the lotus gazed at the sky.
The night sky was crowded with stars.
But to the heavenly being’s eyes, only two stars were visible.
One shining with brilliant light.
And beside it, a smaller star emitting a slightly gloomy light.
“…Interesting fellows.”
The stars soon vanished, but they were enough to pique the heavenly being’s interest.
“Shall I search further?”
The heavenly being bent its legs slightly and shot upward like lightning.
Lotus petals scattered in all directions.
After that, Dam Hyun focused on solitary meditation.
Other cultivators took turns assisting entry into Heaven-Reaching Realm, but there was no result.
Strangely, when nothing came of it, Dam Hyun dismissed others’ help and began to concentrate alone.
He even refused Yi-gang’s help.
Yi-gang couldn’t offer meaningful aid either, so he mostly stayed beside their master rather than his senior brother.
This had been the case for about three days.
“Jin Mu and Ri-yeon, those children are alive.”
Yu Jeong-shin replied.
The worried expression on Yi-gang’s face softened slightly.
Jin Ri-yeon was also the person who had guided Yi-gang to Azure Forest. There was a bond between them.
“I thought it’s about time I told you anyway.”
Yu Jeong-shin was sweating profusely.
It wasn’t for another reason. He was preparing a sacrifice.
Of course, they wouldn’t offer a living person’s life as a sacrifice.
They didn’t slaughter livestock like pigs or chickens; they merely wrote sutras on yellow locust-wood paper.
Those talismans would substitute for the sacrifice.
They contained the Taoist’s mind force and life energy.
“Remember that our goal is not merely survival.”
“Yes, it’s to stab the Evil Cult.”
The roughly one hundred people here were a death squad.
Azure Forest’s secret sword to pierce the Evil Cult’s heart.
And Yi-gang too had to kill the Cardinals to save some eighty thousand survivors.
Yu Jeong-shin confirmed there was no other way to save the people of the Crouching Dragon Basin.
“We’ll have only one chance, so aim precisely. Ri-yeon and Jin Mu left the forest two years ago for a mission.”
“To find the Evil Cult’s main headquarters.”
To counterattack, they had to find the Evil Cult’s main base.
Jin Mu and Jin Ri-yeon were capable talents for such a task.
“Did they find it?”
Yu Jeong-shin nodded.
That crucial secret had finally been revealed.
“Their main headquarters is located under Yunnan, in Nanman.”
“…I see.”
Previously, there had been reports that traces of the Evil Cult were found in the Yunnan region.
But it was said that further tracking found nothing.
If their main headquarters really was in Nanman, the region just below that, then it was truly a case of the lamp being darkest at its own base.
“We will go to Nanman and strike them. The goal is to break the Sealing Boxl.”
Is it possible to break the Sealing Box? If it were, why hadn’t they done it already?
He asked, and Yu Jeong-shin explained as if there was a way.
“A destiny determined by causality is surely unavoidable.”
Yu Jeong-shin said.
Just as the Heavenly Demon was fated to revive, it seemed the Evil Cult’s victory and the resurrection of the evil god were also destined.
“But one can somehow interfere with the manner in which that fate is realized.”
Yi-gang understood at once.
The Heavenly Demon had indeed been resurrected. However, the Evil Cult interfered and prevented the Heavenly Demon’s full revival.
As a result, the Heavenly Demon rose in a crumbling body and quickly died.
Yi-gang hesitated briefly, then asked.
“But Nanman is far. Can we safely reach there?”
Nanman is a far place.
And the entire Central Plains had already fallen under the Evil Cult’s hand.
Could the hundred plus Azure Forest disciples possibly reach Nanman safely?
It was a natural question.
Yu Jeong-shin answered as if he’d been waiting.
“Yes, it’s impossible to quietly infiltrate Nanman by ordinary means. That’s why we’re performing a ritual to borrow power.”
The ritual Azure Forest’s cultivators were preparing.
It was also a kind of Power Borrowing.
“We plan to receive a blessing, hide our forms, and go to Nanman.”
“Whose power will you borrow? An immortal?”
“Neither an immortal nor just a heavenly being.”
“Then who?”
Yu Jeong-shin raised his hand and pointed upward.
It didn’t seem to simply mean the Heavenly Realm.
“A heavenly god among heavenly gods. The Greater Deities… we’ll borrow power from Taihao Fuxi of the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors.”
