Play The Winning Move. (1)

Yu Seol glanced down at the spot her grandfather’s index finger pointed to.

A necklace was tucked beneath his clothes, right where he pointed.

‘…My treasure?’

It was a prized item she’d gotten from the Emei Sect, but now wasn’t the time to haggle over details.

Pluck!

When he snapped it from his neck, the necklace revealed a prayer bead that glowed brightly.

She was just staring at it when it happened.

Seeing his granddaughter dazed, Yu Jinsan trembled and said,

“…Qu-quick.”

No sooner had he finished than the necklace floated with a woosh into Yu Seol’s palm.

With a precise pressure of qi applied, the prayer bead suddenly burst.

Bang!

Where the bead had been, a dazzling orb flared to life.

It was so beautiful she couldn’t look away, but there was no time to hesitate.

“Quick, eat it, Grandpa!”

Yu Seol hurriedly shoved the sarira into her grandfather’s mouth.

At that moment,

as if a miracle had occurred, every tremor in Yu Jinsan’s body stopped.

“…Huh. I think I can live a bit now.”

Yu Seol blinked in confusion and asked,

“Grandpa, but how did you suddenly get better?”

No matter how excellent a Spiritual Pill is, it needs time to break down in the body before effects appear.

Yu Seol looked down, doubt written on her face.

Yu Jinsan croaked in a weak voice, trying not to arouse suspicion.

“Ugh… How can I look fine like this? First, let’s move.”

To properly absorb the Spiritual Pill’s qi, they needed an appropriate place.

This spot—well within the enemies’ activity radius—was far too dangerous.

Yu Seol scooped up her grandfather and took to the air.

Racing through the air, she asked,

“Are you really okay now?”

“Better than before, that’s for sure. Still, perhaps because it’s the best Spiritual Pill, its effect is tremendous.”

Only now did Yu Seol’s racing heart calm, and she sighed in relief.

“Phew. Don’t get sick, Grandpa. You have to live with me for a long time.”

“You little thing. You should be thinking about marriage—why live with your grandpa?”

“Because I…”

At that moment, as Yu Seol was about to continue, she looked down in puzzlement.

Her grandfather had suddenly contorted his face in pain.

“Gah!”

At that sight, Yu Seol snorted and said,

“Don’t joke, Grandpa. I actually know everything too.”

Yu Jinsan, instead of stopping his groans, clutched his stomach.

It seemed the sarira’s effect was only just beginning.

But he had never imagined such a reaction would occur.

In his entire life, he had never felt pain like this.

Not even the brain pills he’d taken to slow a tumor had caused pain like this.

“Guh…!”

“Hey. I know you’re teasing me.”

Annoyed by his granddaughter’s tease, tears welled in Yu Jinsan’s eyes.

His whole body was drained of strength to the point he no longer had the energy to scream.

“…Gra-grandpa is dying.”

His voice was a gasp; the twitching of his pupils was unmistakable.

Now Yu Seol also sensed something amiss and her expression changed.

“Gra-grandpa, why are you suddenly like this!?”

Yu Seol urgently descended to a flat area near the shoreline.

It was outside the enemies’ activity zone, a suitable place to catch their breath.

No sooner had he been laid on the ground than Yu Jinsan doubled over in agony.

“Gyaaah!!”

He had only taken the sarira—hailed as the best Spiritual Pill—and couldn’t make sense of his condition.

A tremendous energy was forming in his dantian, but that wasn’t the problem.

Why did it feel as if the blood vessels throughout his body were being torn apart in pain?

“Hang on a bit, Grandpa.”

Once the Buddha Lion Roar Divine technique’s true qi entered his body, he’d be able to breathe easier.

Yu Jinsan barely clung to consciousness as he checked his body.

Black veins looked as if they might burst, repeatedly contracting and expanding.

Moreover, the complexion of his skin kept changing.

‘It’s the sarira left by the Emei Sect’s traitor. It must be pure Buddhist qi. Is it colliding with the evil qi already spread through my body?’

For now, that was the most plausible hypothesis.

Looking up, his granddaughter was staring down at him with a face full of worry.

“It feels like two qi are fighting inside your body right now. And one of them is pushing my energy out.”

Hearing her words, he knew his guess was right.

There was no other option at this point.

Theoretically, one of the two energies had to be extinguished for this mess to end.

Yu Jinsan forced out a single word.

“Don’t hold back… Kill that damn thing…”

Yu Seol nodded and unleashed the Buddha Lion Roar Divine technique with all her might.

She unleashed every ounce of power she’d been hiding.

A brighter radiance enveloped her entire body, even forming an aureole around her head.

Wooooom!

What surprised him most were Yu Seol’s eyes.

Unbelievably, golden light poured from her eyes.

Yu Jinsan thought he was hallucinating.

Staring at his granddaughter’s face, he then lost consciousness.

Thud!

It was a miracle he’d lasted this long.

With so many energies colliding inside his body, the pain was unimaginable.

Yu Seol governed the sarira’s qi inside her grandfather and began to suppress the evil energy.

Waves and an owl’s cry drifted into Yu Jinsan’s ears.

How much time had passed?

His closed eyes were slowly opening.

By then the pain that had tormented him had completely vanished.

And that wasn’t all.

His body felt impossibly light.

The internal power in his dantian felt at least twice what it had been—alien, yet unmistakable.

‘How can this be? What on earth happened?’

He slowly cast his gaze downward.

Part of his clothes was torn, exposing his navel.

Further down, he saw his granddaughter crouched with her back turned.

On closer inspection, she had tied his leg with a strip of torn cloth.

At the same time, she murmured to herself.

“…You’re done for now. You made our grandpa like this? Without my permission.”

Yu Jinsan watched her back with a pleased smile and said,

“What are you muttering to yourself like that?”

Yu Seol whipped her head around.

“Grandpa! Are you awake?”

“Yes. You’ve suffered a lot, child. How did this happen?”

“I absorbed the bad spirit that was in your body into my dantian. You won’t be in pain anymore.”

Just as he had expected.

Even if he’d taken the sarira, there was no way his dantian’s power would more than double on its own.

“Well done. I should test it once.”

Yu Jinsan couldn’t contain the surge of power.

Moreover, the surging internal qi from his dantian felt boundless, like a deep ocean.

His gaze slowly scanned the surroundings.

By the shore there were many rocks; he selected a suitable target.

It was a rock about the size of his own body, some five meters away.

Huff.

He inhaled, pulled back his right fist, and struck with full force.

It was the Hundred Step Divine Fist, a Shaolin Sect martial art.

Swoooosh-!!

As the fist wind cut through the air, anticipation surged.

In the old days it would have left a deep punch mark.

But the power now was on a different level.

The instant the wind from his fist struck, the rock split in two.

Kraaaash-!!

Watching from the side, Yu Seol clapped her hands in encouragement.

“Wow! Grandpa, you’re amazing. So cool~”

Yu Jinsan did not move for a moment.

He didn’t have the presence of mind to respond to his granddaughter’s cheering.

His whole body was trembling.

In his movements and his martial power—everything was on another level.

It felt like he’d reached the final stage of the Supreme realm—no, surpassed it.

At last his mouth opened and a trembling voice slipped out.

“Child… Grandpa finally seems to have reached the Profound Realm.”

The Profound Realm was said to be the highest state a human could reach. Any higher states existed only in legend.

Yu Jinsan’s joy was beyond words.

But his granddaughter’s reaction was somewhat odd.

She tilted her head as she looked at him.

A moment later, a low voice came from Yu Seol.

“I don’t think that’s it~?”

She narrowed her brow and pulled back her fist.

Then, like her grandfather moments ago, she unleashed the Hundred Step Divine Fist.

Swooooosh-!!

The terrifying gust from her strike headed toward a boulder the size of a house.

The moment it hit, the impact felt like an earthquake.

Kraaaash-!!!

Watching, Yu Jinsan gaped.

A rock several times larger than the one he had shattered was blown to pieces.

….

Yu Seol approached and patted his shoulder.

“Don’t be upset. You were amazing too, Grandpa.”

Seeing his granddaughter’s martial art, the difference was clear.

Come to think of it, didn’t they say that upon reaching the Profound Realm you’d undergo another metamorphosis?

He hadn’t experienced such a phenomenon nor reached that enlightenment, so it seemed he had been mistaken.

Yet Yu Jinsan still wore a bewildered expression.

“Strange. It definitely feels like I’ve surpassed the stages of the Supreme realm,” he said.

Yu Seol smiled to ease his disappointment and said,

“Heehee. Then maybe it’s somewhere between the Supreme realm and the Profound Realm.”

“Bah. Where would such a thing exist?”

Yu Seol tapped his dantian and said,

“Right here. Don’t you feel something strange in your dantian?”

Not just his dantian—he’d felt something odd in every part of his body since waking.

Yu Jinsan checked his dantian again, just as his granddaughter had said.

Something in its nature seemed subtly altered.

Like a volcano before eruption, an unfathomable force writhed within.

“It is certainly strange. You absorbed that raging demon into Grandpa’s dantian?”

“Yep~ It can never come out again. And that power is yours now, Grandpa.”

That seemed to be why he felt powers of the Supreme realm and beyond.

In any case, it was extremely encouraging news.

Although he hadn’t reached the Profound Realm, there was no reason to be disappointed.

Yu Jinsan, beaming, scooped up his granddaughter and swung her over his shoulder.

She was bigger than his frame, so it looked a bit odd, but who cared.

“So what if it’s not the Profound Realm? Have you ever seen anyone faster than Grandpa in this world?”

After speaking, he grabbed his spear and set off toward the coastline, unleashing his light footwork skill at full power.

The speed at which he cut through the air was undoubtedly different from before.

The more he used his light footwork skill, the more he felt like he was flying.

At that moment, Yu Seol, hair blown by the wind, grinned and asked,

“Heehee. Is your leg okay?”

“Of course! Seol treated it, so it’s healed.”

“But where are we right now?”

“What do you want to do? Shall we go beat up the war dragon?”

Yu Jinsan brimmed with confidence.

Now, with his granddaughter by his side, no enemy seemed frightening.

“Just the two of us?”

There were still three gold-sashed agents near that guy; no need to risk an unnecessary adventure.

“Hmm~ If we take him down ourselves, won’t Captain Il Kwang feel hurt?”

For now, they planned to return to the resistance headquarters and prepare for the final battle.

“Heehee. Let’s hurry back to headquarters.”