Chapter 421

That night, Do Yeon-san cried until he collapsed from exhaustion.

It was just as the Ghost King had said.

Do Yeon-san’s consciousness had been awake.

He couldn’t express himself because the Ghost King had seized control of his body, but he could see and hear everything the Ghost King did.

Do Yeon-san thought he was receiving divine punishment.

The countless people he had killed for the sake of revenge for his younger sibling and family.

Among them, there must have been innocent people. So he tried to endure it, thinking that heaven was punishing him. But inside the barless Thunder Prison, his patience gradually wore away.

Just as he was about to go mad, unable to bear it any longer, a hand of salvation reached down.

The Ghost King who had possessed his body was gone.

Looking at his body moving as he willed, Do Yeon-san wore an expression of disbelief.

He didn’t know how many times he woke up from his sleep.

He would wake up, see his hands and feet moving at his command, and fall back asleep in relief. Then he would wake up again, repeating the cycle.

It was three days after regaining his senses that Do Yeon-san fully accepted his situation.

“Hyung, thank you. Is it okay if I call you hyung?”

“Do as you please.”

“Thank you so much. Really…”

“What do you plan to do now?”

“I don’t know.”

“Don’t you want to go back to Tai Lake?”

“Not at all.”

Do Yeon-san shook his head.

He had already gotten his revenge.

There was no reason to return to Tai Lake, where only painful memories remained.

Do Yeon-san spoke cautiously.

“Um, is it okay if I follow you for a while, hyung?”

“Me?”

“Yes! I want to sort out my thoughts while following you.”

“Do that.”

“Really? Thank you.”

Do Yeon-san let out a sigh of relief. If Pyo Wol had refused, he would have truly had nowhere to go and no one to rely on.

With Pyo Wol’s permission, Do Yeon-san fell asleep, reassured.

Pyo Wol left Do Yeon-san in the cave and went outside. Outside the cave, Yong Seol Lan was in the middle of smoking wild boar meat.

She was removing all the fatty parts, leaving only the lean meat to make jerky.

Her clothes were a mess from butchering the wild boar. They were covered in the boar’s blood and grease. Still, she didn’t mind.

It was something she could never have imagined doing when she was in the Emei Sect.

Back then, she wasn’t even allowed to hold a kitchen knife, let alone butcher or smoke meat.

Pyo Wol thought Yong Seol Lan’s current appearance suited her quite well.

“Ah, you’re out?”

Yong Seol Lan belatedly sensed Pyo Wol’s presence and turned around.

“Are you making jerky?”

“You’ll be leaving soon, won’t you? I’m making this for you to eat on your way.”

“And you?”

“I have to go back to the village.”

“You’re going back?”

“I’ve grown attached to it.”

“Will you never come out into the Jianghu again?”

“I might someday. But right now, I have no intention of doing so. I’m very satisfied with my life in the village. I don’t want to break the peace of mind I’m feeling now.”

Yong Seol Lan’s voice was very soft. But within it lay a firm conviction.

Pyo Wol respected her decision. So he didn’t ask any more questions.

Yong Seol Lan stared intently at Pyo Wol’s face for a moment.

It was dirty from not being able to wash properly, but it was still beautiful.

Without realizing it, Yong Seol Lan reached out and caressed Pyo Wol’s face. Pyo Wol did not avoid her touch.

Yong Seol Lan’s eyes, as she looked at Pyo Wol, were filled with complex emotions. So many emotions were mixed together that even she herself could not fathom them.

Yong Seol Lan withdrew her hand and said,

“I’m sorry.”

“…”

“The thought of us parting tomorrow made me sentimental without realizing it. I should get going now.”

“You’re not leaving with us tomorrow?”

“If we spend one more day together, I think it will be that much harder to part. I’ll just leave now. Please take all the jerky.”

“And you?”

“I don’t need it. The village is only a few more days away.”

“Is that so?”

“If you happen to pass by this area later, even by chance, stop by the village. I’ll treat you to a warm meal.”

“I will!”

Pyo Wol did not hold her back.

Interfering any further in Yong Seol Lan’s life would not be good for her either.

“Say hello to Yeon-san for me.”

“Mm!”

“I’m going.”

Yong Seol Lan gazed deeply at Pyo Wol’s face for a moment.

After imprinting Pyo Wol’s features in her eyes, she bit her lip gently. An unknown sense of lingering attachment held her back.

In that moment, Yong Seol Lan threw her body forward.

She had severed her final lingering attachment.

Pyo Wol silently watched Yong Seol Lan’s back as she disappeared far into the forest.

“Hoo!”

Pyo Wol sighed and walked toward the cave. He sat at the entrance and waited for Do Yeon-san to wake up.

Do Yeon-san slept as if he had truly fainted.

He opened his eyes a full day after he had fallen asleep.

“Hyung, where’s Noona?”

Realizing Yong Seol Lan was not in sight, Do Yeon-san asked Pyo Wol.

“She left first.”

“Really?”

“Yes! She said to say hello to you and left first.”

“That’s a shame. I wanted to see her and say goodbye in person.”

“Do you still have memories from when you were the Ghost King?”

“To some extent.”

“Then you should be able to find the village she was in. Go and greet her in person later.”

“I can do that.”

“How’s your body?”

“It’s fine now. I’ve completely adapted.”

It was definitely his body, but it felt like it wasn’t.

That’s how Do Yeon-san had felt for the past few days.

Because of that, he had to struggle to adapt to his own body.

Perhaps because he had slept so deeply, the feeling of alienation was now completely gone.

He could feel that he had fully regained his body.

“Then let’s get moving.”

“Right now?”

“I’m sick and tired of this forest now.”

“Me too.”

Do Yeon-san agreed with Pyo Wol.

It had already been ten days since they entered the Wulin.

During that time, they had slept on the ground and sated their hunger with completely unseasoned meat.

No matter how accustomed they were to sleeping outdoors and not being picky about food, at this point, they longed for proper lodging and food.

Do Yeon-san asked.

“By the way, where are we going?”

“North!”

“What? If it’s north of Yunnan…”

“That’s right! It borders Sichuan Province.”

“Is there a special reason for going to Sichuan Province?”

“It’s like a hometown to me.”

His home was in Chengdu. And in his home were Tang Sochu and Eun-yo.

It had been a long time since he left home, so he missed them.

“I’m curious. What kind of place it is.”

“I’m also curious about what has become of it.”

“Let’s go quickly.”

“Alright!”

The two men left the cave where they had been staying, walking shoulder to shoulder.

＊＊＊

Getting out of the lush Wulin of Yunnan without a guide was not an easy task. If an ordinary person had been dropped in the middle of the Wulin without any preparation, they would have gotten lost and wandered until they starved to death, or been bitten by a poisonous creature and lost their life.

The Wulin was a paradise for beasts and poisonous creatures.

Nevertheless, Pyo Wol and Do Yeon-san were not seriously harmed.

Pyo Wol was originally unaffected by poison, and strangely, poisonous creatures also avoided Do Yeon-san.

That wasn’t all.

Do Yeon-san had clearly never learned Martial Arts.

If he had, he wouldn’t have taken revenge for his sibling and family in such a difficult way. But now, he was moving at a speed that didn’t fall behind Pyo Wol’s.

He was using Lightness Art.

It wasn’t that he was consciously using it.

His body remembered.

The Ghost King’s Soul had been annihilated, but the Martial Arts he had used were imprinted on Do Yeon-san’s body.

Although he couldn’t exert the same power as the Ghost King, his skills were far superior to most Experts in the Jianghu.

Do Yeon-san found this new self of his fascinating and kept looking at his hands.

He swung his hand as a test, and a huge boulder shattered into pieces. It was clearly his own doing, but he couldn’t believe it.

A massive tree was also split in two in a single blow.

“Wow! This is crazy.”

As he shook his head, Pyo Wol said to him,

“Practice controlling your Internal Power until we get out of the Wulin. If you’re not careful, innocent people could lose their lives at your hands.”

“Yes!”

Do Yeon-san nodded, then suddenly looked at Pyo Wol.

“Why?”

“But how do I control my Internal Power?”

Do Yeon-san had no idea how to circulate Internal Power at all.

It was because he had never formally learned Martial Arts.

It was the same now.

He wasn’t consciously performing Martial Arts. Internal Power was just naturally seeping into his gestures and exerting its force.

Because of this, he had no idea how to control his Internal Energy.

This was a first for Pyo Wol as well, so he couldn’t decide what to do. But that was only for a moment; he soon came up with a solution.

“First, try to divide your power into ten parts.”

“What?”

“Let’s start by controlling your strength by dividing it into ten levels.”

“Ah, I understand.”

Do Yeon-san realized Pyo Wol’s intention and nodded.

“The first priority is to know for sure how much power you can exert at your maximum.”

“Yes!”

With his reply, Do Yeon-san swung his fist with all his might.

Kuuwaaang!

With a deafening roar, a house-sized boulder shattered into pieces.

Do Yeon-san looked at his fist and muttered.

“This is the full power I can exert right now.”

After wiggling his fingers for a moment, he reduced his strength slightly and struck another boulder.

Kwaang!

With a roar, another boulder was smashed.

The fragments were much larger than those of the previous boulder, which had turned to dust.

“This time…”

Do Yeon-san launched himself toward another boulder.

Pyo Wol silently watched what Do Yeon-san was doing.

In Pyo Wol’s eyes, Do Yeon-san’s movements had too many unnecessary flourishes. His Internal Power circulation was also inefficient. But one couldn’t be perfect from the start.

Since he had acquired Martial Arts differently from others, he had to learn to control his power in his own way.

Kwang!

Yet another boulder was shattered.

Startled by the explosive sound, beasts and birds scattered in all directions.

An unexpected disaster had befallen the beasts of the Wulin. Some excited fool was gleefully smashing their homes.

Pyo Wol did not stop Do Yeon-san.

There was no better Training ground than this place.

There was no need to worry about people’s gazes, and no one would complain about the destruction of rocks or trees.

All Pyo Wol had to do was to steer Do Yeon-san so that he wouldn’t go in the wrong direction.

Thus, the two men advanced through the Wulin.

Do Yeon-san gradually came to understand his own power.

He learned how much power he could exert at his maximum, and how much he could reduce it to at a minimum.

As he came to know his power for certain, he became able to control it.

He couldn’t divide it into ten parts as Pyo Wol had said, but he became able to control his power by dividing it into at least five levels.

That alone was a huge improvement.

Jjeojeojeok!

A giant tree split vertically into two pieces and fell.

Stepping over the broken tree, two figures appeared.

It was Pyo Wol and Do Yeon-san.

Do Yeon-san let out a cry of awe.

“Waaah!”

A landscape different from anything he had seen before unfolded before his eyes.

The tiresome Wulin had ended, and a large lake appeared. And beyond the lake, a huge city was visible.