“Thank you!”
“Oh, thank you so much. Thanks to you, we’re finally free!”
“I don’t know how I can ever repay this kindness……”
They collected the items plundered by the Bucheon Brothers Clan and released the people who had been kidnapped.
Then, after telling those who came to thank them to hurry up and run, Yohan turned around.
He saw Jeonghu and Junga picking up all the items scattered on the ground from the fallen gang members and loading them into their truck.
“How many teams have we taken out so far?”
“Let me see…… one, two…… I think it’s four teams, Dad?”
“Already that many?”
Day three of the Game.
In this unusually long third Game, Yohan’s family had already defeated, one by one, four teams—28 or more members—of the Bucheon Brothers Clan.
Considering that the total number of Bucheon Brothers Clan members was said to be about 150, this was a significant blow from their perspective.
“Hey! Dad! Hurry up!”
While they paused to talk, Junga shouted.
“Ah, right. Let’s get moving, Dad?”
“Yeah, we should.”
Of course, while so many of their members were being killed, the Bucheon Brothers Clan hadn’t just sat around.
After taking down the third team, the Bucheon Brothers Clan had started tracking them.
It wasn’t a good situation, but it wasn’t particularly dangerous, either.
Even though Bucheon is a relatively small city for its population density, it’s still far too big for 150 people to manage.
No matter how hard they tried to chase them, it wasn’t easy to catch Yohan’s family, who were locals.
Maybe that’s why the raiding team they caught today from the Bucheon Brothers Clan had 15 members, including five who were classified as A-Rank in their own terms—a strong team.
They probably didn’t expect Yohan to be able to take them all down by himself.
As Yohan thought about it, he realized there was probably only one powerhouse on the Bucheon Brothers Clan’s side who could match him.
Only one person to be wary of.
Nam Taegu, the boss of the Bucheon Brothers Clan.
“Dad, the car’s coming!”
“Hurry! Get in!”
This time, as if they’d been waiting nearby, a van suspected to be from the Bucheon Brothers Clan appeared.
Jeonghu hurriedly jumped into the truck, started it up, and took off first, followed by Yohan and Junga getting into the SUV and driving away.
As soon as Yohan’s family started moving, Junga noticed the enemy’s car speeding up and raised her hand to summon a Block.
Thud! Thud-thud!
The car, unable to avoid the Block that blocked the road ahead, crashed and flipped over.
“Look at these guys, huh?”
A small bus was also coming from the direction they were escaping.
“They were prepared, after all.”
It could have been a dangerous situation, but without panicking, they swerved the car into a side alley.
Since there were escape routes everywhere in this neighborhood, even if the entire Bucheon Brothers Clan came after them, they’d never be able to block them.
Besides, after roaming around for more than three days, they even knew where the monsters were, so they managed to return to the shelter safely without running into any obstacles.
“Whew…… That was a bit thrilling this time.”
As Jeonghu got out of the truck and let out a sigh.
“Oppa!”
Sejeong came running out to the yard with Juhui’s son Soyul.
“Oh, Sejeong, were you waiting for me?”
“Yeah! What about the ice cream? Did you get it?”
“Ah…… Oh, right. I forgot.”
“What! You promised you’d bring it since it was next to Baskin!”
“Sorry, I didn’t have time!”
“I hate you, oppa!”
As Sejeong pouted, Seoyoung appeared and comforted her.
“You know how dangerous it is outside. Oppa must have had his reasons. Have you ever seen him not get you something you asked for, even if you called him an idiot?”
“I…….”
Even so, Sejeong still pouted her lips, then suddenly hardened her expression and quickly went inside the house.
Because the one thing her dad never forgave was throwing tantrums, even if he was generous with everything else.
“Geez, Dad, you spoiled the youngest too much and now she’s always throwing tantrums!”
“Did I spoil her? You guys did. Why’d you buy her everything she asked for when you don’t even have money, huh? That’s why Sejeong’s gotten spoiled.”
Yohan said this as he started pulling items out of the truck one by one.
So far, the items they’d found came in five types: Common, High-Grade, Special, Rare Grade, and Legendary.
There could be higher ones, but these five were most of what they’d found so far.
Most of the items below Rare Grade were absorbed by Yohan to increase his internal energy.
Except for the Legendary Demon King’s Chainmail of Annihilation that Jeonghu had, they’d never found a Legendary item, and some Rare Grade items were being kept just in case they might need them later.
Still, after taking so many items from the Bucheon Brothers Clan and absorbing them all, he’d accumulated over 20 years’ worth of internal energy—two full cycles—within his dantian.
And…….
-You have achieved Heavenly Demon Divine Art Third Stage.
-Check your Third Stage perks.
The long-awaited notification sounded at that moment.
Almost instantly, the internal energy throughout his body began to surge.
As the internal energy that had been circulating madly through his meridians during Small Heavenly Circuit tried to expand its territory, Yohan instinctively realized this was a crucial moment and looked at Jeonghu.
“Dad’s about to level up. I need to cultivate in the storage room, so don’t come in, and even if something dangerous happens, hang on as long as you can……!”
Jeonghu, worried by his father’s strained voice, asked, “Uh, how long will it take?”
“I don’t know!”
With that, Yohan hurriedly went into one of the newly built storage rooms, the one full of junk, as if rushing to the bathroom.
Two cycles.
In Online Game Murimmeng, this was the level of a peak master, and even among real players, it was considered the level of a game expert.
Bang!
The internal energy, still circulating in a strange way through Small Heavenly Circuit, gradually expanded its territory and broke through blocked acupoints.
Each time, lightning flashed in his head and pain surged through his meridians, but it was a refreshing, tingling kind of pain.
It felt so good that he almost lost consciousness.
‘No, I can’t…….
Yohan forced himself to stay focused.
Bang! Bang!
Once one acupoint was pierced, the others followed in rapid succession.
‘While I’m at it……’
Yohan made up his mind and began to control his internal energy at will, touching the Ren and Du Meridians.
With the momentum gained from Great Heavenly Cycle, his internal energy became one and opened most of the acupoints in the so-called Junction of Life and Death, leaving only the final gate, the Hundred Meetings Point at the crown of his head.
Yohan hesitated.
Should he ride this momentum and open all the Ren and Du Meridians, or stop here?
The truth was, the Heavenly Demon Divine Art wasn’t a martial art that required enlightenment, but one that forcibly made you stronger through overwhelming internal energy, so you could become a peak master without opening the Ren and Du Meridians.
The reason Heavenly Demon Divine Art was considered broken in the Game Murimmeng was precisely because you could become a peak master without opening those meridians.
But Yohan knew better than anyone that reality and games were different.
You could become a peak master with just internal energy, but if you couldn’t control all the internal energy in your body by opening the Ren and Du Meridians, you’d only be half-complete.
So he hesitated now.
‘Should I break through?’
After a long pause, Yohan gave up.
Trying something that might or might not work with just two cycles of internal energy was something you could only do in a game.
If he pushed himself here and failed, the only things waiting for him would be death or turning into a real demon.
“Whew…… Still, I’m a peak master now.”
Yohan, having gathered his overflowing internal energy into his dantian, took a deep breath and opened his eyes, a red aura swirling and then fading.
Maybe because he’d just stepped into the threshold of the peak, his whole body was overflowing with vitality.
Yohan opened his status window in that state.
[Martial Art Information [Open/Close]]
1. Heavenly Demon Divine Art
Achievement: Third Stage
Perks
-You can cultivate without sitting cross-legged.
-You can absorb the opponent’s attacks as internal energy during combat.
-You can learn one of the Heavenly Demon’s legendary martial arts.
“Oh……!”
Of the three perks, the last one made him gasp in awe.
Another martial art besides the Asura Blood God Palm—he couldn’t help but be pleased.
“Do I get to choose?”
-Checking Martial Art Perk. Randomly assigned from Legendary grade.
“Ah…… guess not.”
Disappointed that it was random, as he smacked his lips, a new notification popped up.
[Projection Step (Legendary)]
-The movement technique and lightness skill that the Heavenly Demon himself developed as a young man, then called the Demon or the Devil. Unlike quick movement skills, this focuses on aggressive and combative movement. It was renowned as the most efficient footwork in battle. Later, after the Heavenly Demon gained further insight, Projection Step was reborn as a legendary martial art.
“This is it.”
His disappointment at it being random vanished instantly.
What he’d always wanted was a movement technique.
He had learned Ghost Step, but that was more like a stealth skill, not suitable for maneuvering in battle.
Every sport relies on footwork, so why not martial arts?
Every time he fought, he had to move roughly and fight, so he’d always wanted a good movement technique.
Same with traveling—if he had even one lightness skill like in martial arts novels, he could fight even more stealthily without a car.
“This is worth trying.”
He had become a peak master and gained a movement technique.
No matter how powerful Nam Taegu’s abilities were, he now had a way to evade and plenty of internal energy to attack.
Thinking of the internal energy boiling through his body, he no longer feared Nam Taegu.
So only one thing remained.
“Now I just have to go catch Nam Taegu.”
Nam Taegu was someone he absolutely had to catch.
It was a problem that Nam Taegu’s Bucheon Brothers Clan was growing, but honestly, Yohan was more interested in Nam Taegu’s abilities.
Even if Nam Taegu’s powers, which he called those of the Heavenly Demon, had come from another Game, if they were truly the Heavenly Demon’s abilities, he hoped they’d synergize with his own.
Even if there was no connection, he still wanted to take Nam Taegu’s abilities.
Creak.
Resolving himself, Yohan opened the storage room door and saw that the sun was already setting.
“It’s already night? Guess we’re done for today.”
At Yohan’s words, Jeonghu, still sorting items in the yard, looked over.
“Oh, Dad, you’re out?”
“Yeah, nothing happened while I was gone, right?”
“I wish nothing happened…….”
As Jeonghu’s expression darkened, Yohan’s face also hardened.
“What happened? Did those thugs find us here?”
Clenching his fist and trembling, Jeonghu said, “Sejeong ate five Excellents! That brat, I told her to leave some for me and you!”
“….”
Yohan silently kicked Jeonghu’s butt.