Chapter 117. Enlightenment (4)
"......."
Dong Bong-su accepted the child's mooncake and, without the slightest hesitation, poured it into his mouth. The salty taste masked the sweetness, but once it was digested it would all become nutrients anyway. Taste was not what mattered.
Gulp.
He could see the saliva hastily going down the child's Adam's apple.
Had the child given up the emergency rations he had saved for a long time just to eat himself?
To someone who had a million gold, one tael of silver would be nothing, but to someone who had only one tael of silver, that was everything. Likewise, to this kid, Hee-a, the mooncake that Dong Bong-su had just swallowed, soaked in sweat and gone soggy, was everything he had.
And he had given it to a complete stranger, without expecting anything in return.
It was something Dong Bong-su could hardly imagine, something he had never experienced.
A completely new kind of … human, utterly different from the ones he had seen until now.
Dong Bong-su took out a lump of silver and one painting he had drawn yesterday from his inventory and held them out to the child.
Just like the child's mooncake, that too was everything Dong Bong-su had.
All the money he had left after spending everything, and a painting containing all the insights he had gained after opening his eyes.
The child stared blankly at the silver—naturally, he did not even glance at the painting—and gulped again, but in the end did not take it.
"Eh~. It's fine. Hee-a just gave you the mooncake. I don't need money. I'll gratefully take the painting. Thank you."
Hee-a bowed and took only the painting.
No matter how young he was, he knew that silver was money, and he knew how precious a lump of that size was. He must also know, of course, that with it he could buy a whole armful of delicious mooncakes.
Heh—.
At the corner of Dong Bong-su's mouth, a natural chuckle—so natural it might have been the first of his life—flickered for a brief moment. It soon disappeared, but the trace of it was unmistakable.
He quietly looked at the child for a bit longer, then tossed the lump of silver upward over his head.
The lump of silver shot high into the air, then fluttered down like a butterfly and slipped quietly into the back of the child's pants.
The child, not even realizing that the silver had gone into his pants, lifted his head and looked around, trying to find where it had gone.
At that moment, Dong Bong-su's emotionless voice reached the child's ears.
"Let's meet again later, when you've at least got yourself a fine ivory tusk or something."
".....?"
Hee-a lowered his raised head and looked back at Dong Bong-su.
He could not understand his words at all. And it was better for the child not to understand them.
"If a lot of kids like you gather, then even playing hero at the Martial Alliance might be worth trying."
Dong Bong-su ruffled the child's hair once, then bent down again and picked up a small pebble rolling around by the stream. Then, just like before, he gently tossed it.
Only, this time, the direction was different from before. Instead of the stone tower, it flew far off in the opposite direction, toward the hill in the distance.
The hill was quite high, serving as a kind of boundary separating this small, secluded village of Zhengzhou from the bustling part of Zhengzhou.
The little one, Hee-a, naturally followed the stone's trajectory with his eyes. Just like he had been doing for the past few days.
Pak!
The stone that had been flying over the hillside like a butterfly suddenly exploded in midair.
"Late."
As his voice lingered as an aftersound in Hee-a's ears, Dong Bong-su was already charging toward the top of the hill. His body, moving like a sliding snake, was advancing at a truly terrifying speed.
Whether that happened or not, the other children besides Hee-a were just playing, circling around the stone tower that Dong Bong-su had piled up over the past few days, a tower several times taller than themselves...
Divine Snake-Response Movement.
It was a movement technique that had now been lost, but to the children it was less interesting than the frogs by the stream that were laying eggs as the Awakening of Insects approached.
Of course, to Dong Bong-su as well, the children were no more than frog eggs that were not even worth hunting.
Huuung—.
The inner power that had been latent throughout Dong Bong-su's entire body freely coursed through his fully opened acupoints and meridian pathways, guided by [Novice's ???]. There was not the slightest obstruction.
All the operation and emission/reception of energy that had been practiced through virtual simulations over the past few days was now being carried out freely.
Operation meant moving energy according to forms, movement techniques, or movement patterns.
Emission/reception meant releasing one's true energy outward to strike the enemy or absorbing energy.
Now, one might wonder whether it was really necessary to release energy and then take it back in again, but if one looked at Dong Bong-su, it was easy to see that this was not the case.
Around his body, within a radius of ten zhang, an invisible Super True Energy Field was spread out.
Around all objects, a gravitational field exists according to their mass. And since humans also have mass, they likewise possess a gravitational field.
Then, would not someone who possessed true energy also have a true energy field around them? This had been a question Dong Bong-su had held for a long time.
For a long time, he had not been able to confirm it because no true energy at all had accumulated inside his body. But now that he could freely operate true energy, he began to see the flow of true energy with his own eyes.
Not only that, thanks to [Novice's ???], as true energy emission and reception became freely controllable, his sensitivity to true energy also became incomparable to that of others.
No, the word "excellent" was far from sufficient.
It was insane.
Yes, insane.
Even if one knows that a gravitational field exists, there is no one in the world who can feel it. The same was true of a true energy field. Knowing what true energy is and operating it inside one's body, and breathing together with nature and feeling it, were completely different dimensions of things.
And yet...
Dong Bong-su was feeling and breathing the true energy field with insane senses.
Not only feeling it, but also controlling the true energy field around himself through true energy emission and reception.
He named this the Super True Energy Field.
Energy Emission.
A Super True Energy Wave briefly leaked out from his body, and his Super True Energy Field rippled. But no one noticed that fact. Only someone as sensitive to energy as Dong Bong-su could possibly notice it.
Unfortunately, there was no one like that here. Perhaps there would never be again in the Central Plains...
Energy Reception.
The Super True Energy Wave collided with all things in every direction, then returned to his body.
'Five.'
The first effect of the Super True Energy Wave, obtained through simulation.
It was an ability very similar to how bats send out ultrasound to check the surrounding terrain and the position of their prey. The only difference was that what Dong Bong-su sent out was not ultrasound, but a Super True Energy Wave.
The moment Dong Bong-su grasped the positions of the "five delivered prey," he was already circling behind the pine tree towering high on the hill. Because the Super True Energy Wave had told him so.
That the foremost prey was there.
" ...! "
The man was startled. His expression and his movements were clearly saying, "How?!" Even though his face and entire body were covered with a mask, it was obvious.
The fellows must have chosen morning as a good time to launch their ambush, but Dong Bong-su was...
Not a human bound by something as trivial as time. He was merely feeling bored at the laziness of these assassins who had been delivered late.
Clench.
In Dong Bong-su's hand, [Wanderer's Sword] was already held.
It came crashing down. An indifferent voice followed right after.
"True Vertical Sea-Splitting Strike."
"Yik!"
The masked man crossed the blades of the twin sabers he held in both hands and raised them upward.
Clang!
The Wanderer's Sword struck between the twin sabers and could go no further. It had not been a blow with full strength, but still, to think it only had this much power. A disappointing form.
Dong Bong-su immediately erased the True Vertical Sea-Splitting Strike form from his mind. It was a useless form if it could not even kill an enemy like this in one strike.
Then it happened.
The wavelength of the Super True Energy Wave that had been emitted behind Dong Bong-su and then returned shortened. That meant a new enemy was approaching.
3, 2, 1 .....
At the very moment the enemy came within one meter directly behind him.
Dong Bong-su retrieved the Wanderer's Sword and pulled sharply backward. That supple movement was like clouds freely drifting across the sky.
"Hut!"
Another assassin, who had been approaching stealthily, cried out in alarm as the "target," with his back still turned, suddenly pushed straight toward him. Not only was it completely unexpected, but the speed was far beyond imagination.
And moreover...
Because he seemed to have heard somewhere about a movement technique that could move so freely even with one's back turned like that, his shock doubled. He had never seen it in person, but he felt certain.
"Cloud Void Steps?"
However, whether the assassin recognized it or not, the moment Dong Bong-su judged that the target had entered the Wanderer's Sword's range, he turned his body and swung his sword.
Huuung—!
Clang—!
Even while startled, the assassin hurriedly raised his saber to the side to block Dong Bong-su's sword. But the force was so great that he was sent flying violently in the opposite direction.
Tok.
Dong Bong-su flowed after the flying assassin like a cloud, circled around to the other side, and swung his sword again. His appearance was so ferocious that even the surrounding trees shook. Just moments ago, when he was sticking close to the assassin, he had been as gentle as drifting clouds, but now it was hard to find even a trace of that.
"Left-Turning Profound Slayer."
Dong Bong-su continued to speak the names of the forms aloud as he unfolded his sword techniques.
Why he was doing so was something only he knew.
The attack continued.
Bang!
The assassin, struck again from the opposite side while already being flung away, suffered a terrible internal injury and was sent flying far away, even though he had defended properly. Even if he did not die, it would be hard for him to stand up again. Death was only a matter of time.
Even in the meantime, Dong Bong-su's Super True Energy Wave rippled in all directions. It was not yet perfect, but just as a gravitational field remains maintained in any situation, his Super True Energy Field was solid.
The Super True Energy Wave informed him that another assassin was approaching.
A sword blade fragment appeared at Dong Bong-su's lips.
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