Emptying Out The Cave (1)

Inside the secret hideout of the Heavenly Martial Alliance, a man with thick black hair, a stout nose, and plump lips sat cross-legged, deeply engaged in meditation. His aura was so grand that his qi visibly rippled and swirled intensely.

After a short while, three flower buds bloomed above his head, and the fluctuations of his qi intensified.

Whoosh!

Flash!

With a flash, the man's eyes burst open, glowing with righteousness.

"Ha ha ha ha! Finally, I've reached the Three Flowers Poly Top!"

Seonwoo, the man who opened his eyes, burst into hearty laughter, his face bright with joy.

Seonwoo was a reader who found himself trapped in the world of a Murim Erotica novel, possessing a MacGuffin named Jangsam.

Although he had been living well, he got beaten by a girl as soon as he possessed the body and his situation took a turn for the worse when he was falsely accused of murder and forced to go on the run.

Fortunately, he managed to survive by taking refuge in the underground hideout of the Murim Alliance, a disposable setting remaining in the novel, and absorbed the martial arts of Yin-Yang Demon, a legendary lecher and absolute master, as well as spiritual medicine. This allowed him to reach the super peak realm.

Upon reaching this realm, Seonwoo's first priority was to recover his physical strength. He had to control the overflowing internal energy that had caused significant damage to his blood vessels and dantian, risking his life in the process.

He focused on quiet qi regulation and diligent meditation for nearly a month, avoiding strenuous physical activities. Eventually, after one month, Seonwoo fully recovered.

Once his physical strength returned, Seonwoo began to acclimate himself to the super peak realm. He implemented the martial skills trajectory and body movement that he had conceived in his head during his recuperation period.

The mental training he had undergone helped him embody the demeanor of a super peak realm expert.

After two months of recovery, while channeling his internal energy, three flower buds bloomed above his head, signifying that he had achieved the state of Three Flowers Poly Top. This meant that he had fully established himself as a super peak expert.

Although it was an incredible achievement for Seonwoo, who had recently reached the super peak realm, this feat was made possible by the one-of-a-kind Yin-Yang Harmonizing Divine Art and Jangsam's superior five elements.

Now, Seonwoo could confidently face top experts without breaking a sweat.

At a young age in his mid-twenties, he had reached the same level as the elder representatives of martial arts sects.

With a joyful laughter, Seonwoo grabbed his sword and began to swing it freely, guided by his thoughts.

The Yin-Yang Harmonizing Divine Art was a martial arts technique that went beyond the basics and did not have any specific forms.

If you swung as your heart commanded, that became the form.

Because the form became free, everything swung as your heart desired became the form, and everything became footwork.

That's why it was created with a structure that's easy to take up, whether the beginner uses a sword, a knife, or a spear.

This technique was in stark contrast to the ascetic monks' martial arts, which only swordsmen could practice. Their training focused heavily on energetic cultivation and intense basic training that often resulted in calloused hands.

After a round of sword dancing, Seonwoo used his internal energy to evaporate the sweat on his body. Steam rose from his entire body, causing the collected sweat to dissipate. Although inconvenient, this method served as a substitute for washing since there was no suitable place available.

The people of the Central Plains were known for despising bathing. It seemed absurd that a secret hideout, where one would need to hide for months, lacked a washing area. Neglecting proper hygiene could lead to the spread of disease and foul odors. The author didn't think through the detailed settings, which became an issue.

Seonwoo, having dealt with his sweat using evaporation, continued his journey west toward the location of the secret martial arts manuals. He spent his time in the library of the third cave to alleviate his boredom while his blood vessels and dantian recovered through qi circulation.

The library contained numerous martial arts books, providing a good source of entertainment. In the process, he discovered several useful martial arts techniques.

One such technique was the Formless Stealth Technique. It allowed the practitioner to conceal their body within the shadows, making it a favored method for assassinations.

Fifty years ago, a man known for traceless assassinations, called 'Traceless Kill,' used this technique to successfully eliminate the sect leader of the Wudang sect without leaving any evidence.

At the time, the Wudang sect leader held significant influence among the nine sects. In order to keep his power in check, the royal family decided to dispatch an assassin.

Although the government and Murim didn't usually interfere with each other's affairs, the emperor didn't want the influence of the Murim world to become too prominent.

The assassin managed to infiltrate the Wudang mountains and assassinated the sect leader, who had achieved the unrestrained realm, without leaving a trace.

The flawless and traceless nature of the assassination earned the assassin the nickname Traceless Kill, spreading his renown throughout the Murim world.

The murim groups, shaken by the assassination of the sect leader, who was regarded as the spiritual pillar of the Murim, rebelled against the emperor.

Terrified by this turn of events, the emperor made the decision to surrender Traceless Kill, the assassin of the sect leader, to the Martial Arts Alliance as an apology, thus resolving the situation.

If the emperor had not relinquished Traceless Kill, the power of the Formless Stealth Technique would have been immense and could have remained an unsolvable mystery.

The Formless Stealth Technique is a highly secretive infiltration method, so concealed that even a martial arts master who had attained unrestrained realm could not detect it.

Seonwoo diligently practiced and mastered the Formless Stealth Technique, although not achieving the same level of perfection as Traceless Kill.

The next martial arts skill that Seonwoo sought after was a body technique known as Wind Entering Steps, previously used by a skilled thief called the Flying Fox.

Despite being average in terms of thieving and martial arts abilities, the Flying Fox possessed exceptional evasion skills, allowing him to escape from dangerous situations.

For example, his famous story which involved him outmaneuvering an elder of the Beggar's Union, who was a master of the Drunken Fist technique, after a long chase, is still a famous tale amongst the nine sects.

After the Flying Fox became renowned for outwitting the elder and grew arrogant, he committed an act that should not have been done.

At the time, the leader of the Murim Alliance had a beautiful daughter. The Flying Fox secretly infiltrated the Martial Arts Alliance to kidnap her.

However, the Flying Fox overlooked one crucial thing.

It was said that Ju So-yang, the daughter of the Murim Alliance Leader, possessed incredible martial arts skills, deserving of the title 'the number one female fighter in the future.'

The Flying Fox, who excelled at escaping but was weak in martial arts, was quickly subdued by Ju So-yang and forced to reveal his secret body technique, 'Entering Wind,' under various forms of torture.

Though the Flying Fox narrowly saved his life, he met a lonely end as he was castrated by the Thousand Sword Marquis and slowly died.

Thus, the Flying Fox, who once reigned freely over the world, met a tragic end due to his arrogance.

Seonwoo discovered the Flying Fox's martial art in the library.

"Wow, this place has everything," Seonwoo exclaimed in admiration.

I remembered that most martial arts in the novel were vaguely described, as if the author had grown tired of explaining them in detail. However, there was a wide variety of books in the library that had almost everything one could think of.

The author probably didn't expect his hastily written setting to be so helpful.

Both the Formless Stealth Technique and the Wind Entering Steps were tremendously helpful martial arts for Seonwoo, who often found himself in precarious situations.

What's even more fortunate was that, due to the characteristics of the Yin-Yang Harmonizing Divine Art, Seonwoo could learn any martial art technique as a sub skill without difficulty.

Usually, it was nearly impossible to master only specific techniques of a martial art.

This was because, to learn any skill, one needed the basic knowledge suited to that technique.

For example, to master the Formless Stealth Technique, one had to first master the mental skill known as Black Moon Art, which Traceless Kill had mastered.

The Black Moon Art was a mental skill commonly learned by assassins. It was characterized by speed, stealth, and optimized instantaneous power.

If one attempted to master the Formless Stealth Technique without first learning the Black Moon Art, it would lead to qi deviation. That's how crucial this basic art was.

However, the Yin-Yang Harmonizing Divine Art could transcend such limitations, allowing one to change the nature of the qi depending on the occasion.

When the caster desires, they have the ability to transform the Yin-Yang Harmonizing qi to possess the same properties as Black Moon Art, and can activate the Formless Stealth Technique.

This was a heck of an ability that surpasses even Seon-ong's martial arts, which the protagonist, Lee Jaewon, had already mastered.

Seon-ong's martial arts had a quality similar to natural qi, making it versatile enough to learn any martial arts from the orthodox faction.

As a result, Lee Jaewon was able to master representative martial arts from the nine sects, such as Shaolin's Tendon Shifting Scripture, Wudang's Ten Rolls of Silk, and Kunlun's Cloud Dragon Great Eight Moves, and freely use them.

While Lee Jaewon merely roughly copied the martial arts, Seonwoo could fully implement them.

Furthermore, unlike Lee Jaewon, who was limited to imitating martial arts skills from the orthodox faction, Seonwoo had no limitations when it came to the type of martial arts. Whether they were orthodox, unorthodox, or even demonic skills, if he desired to learn them, he could.

Thanks to this cheat ability, Seonwoo was able to effortlessly learn useful techniques in his studies.

The last martial art he learned was the Shape-shifting Art, which was said to have come all the way from Tianzhu1.

The Shape-shifting Art was a martial art that maximized the flexibility of all parts of the body, including muscles, skin, bones, and even blood flow, allowing them to be adjusted at will.

When mastered to the extreme, it became a mysterious art that could create miracles, such as enlarging the hand, increasing height, extending the arm, and other unbelievable feats.

Seonwoo focused on a specific technique within the Shape-shifting Art, which allowed him to mold and shape the skeletal structure and appearance of his face, enabling him to alter his face for a certain period of time.

In the past, there was a notorious lecher known as the Thousand Face Lecher.

Countless martial artists and ordinary people fell victim to him, which led the Murim Alliance to form a pursuit team to capture him.

However, the Thousand Face Lecher laughed at the pursuit attempts by the Murim Alliance, and often annihilated the pursuers and slipped away leisurely.

He, who possessed inferior martial arts, was able to decimate the pursuers, who were stronger than him, by using the Shape-shifting Art. He would sneak among the pursuit and assassinate them one by one.

The Thousand Face Lecher, whom even the Murim Alliance failed to catch, gained a notorious reputation for raping more and more women, becoming a symbol of fear among numerous parents with daughters and female warriors of the Murim.

One day, when the Thousand Face Lecher heard the news of Flying Fox's castration, he sneered at him.

At the same time, he became curious.

How beautiful would the beauty be, for Flying Fox, who was known to be careful, to lose control and cross the walls of the Murim Alliance?

In the end, the Thousand Face Lecher made an irreversible decision.

Unable to resist his curiosity about Ju Soyang, he, like Flying Fox, crossed the walls of the Murim Alliance.

Once he had breached the walls, Thousand Face Lecher disguised himself as a servant and approached her.

His plan was to take advantage of a moment when she let her guard down to draw her martial blood.

Thousand Face Lecher caught Ju Soyang off guard and drew her martial blood. He then proceeded to undress her, attempting to take advantage of her.

However, an unexpected turn of events occurred for Thousand Face Lecher: Lee Jaewon appeared.

Just as Thousand Face Lecher was about to violate her, Lee Jaewon intervened and severed his head.

At the time, Lee Jaewon was a rising master staying in the Murim Alliance. He was attracted to Ju Soyang and crossed the wall with the intention of taking advantage of her himself.

However, when he discovered the Thousand-Face Lecher, who had beaten him to it, he decided to take action and beheaded him.

Afterwards, Ju Soyang developed feelings for Lee Jaewon, who had protected her innocence. This incident became a turning point for them, and they eventually got married.

The Thousand-Faced Lecher, who had mocked the Martial Alliance and insulted countless maidens, ended up doing a good deed for Lee Jaewon and met his demise.

Even though he had a miserable ending, his Shape-shifting Art was impressive enough to mock the Murim Alliance, the greatest force before the Heavenly Martial Alliance. For this reason, Seonwoo had no choice but to master the Shape-shifting Art.

After studying the theory during his recovery, he practiced physically for two months and achieved enough proficiency to imitate it, although not as skilled as him.

Seonwoo entered the library and took out the scrolls of the Formless Stealth Technique and Wind Entering Steps, as well as the Shape-shifting Art.

As he rustled the papers, he triggered Samadhi True Fire and burned all three secret manuscripts.

He didn't want the trouble of leaving them untreated, only to be exploited later.

If someone else learned of them, it would be extremely bothersome, so he decided to get rid of them preemptively.

After all, the contents of the secret scriptures were all in his head, allowing him to burn them without hesitation.

Having finished his work, Seonwoo stepped out of the library cave and returned to the main cavern.

Thud.

He then leaned against a wall, stretched out his legs, and sat down.

Staring blankly into space, he fell into deep thought.

The thought of leaving his hideout started to cross his mind.

While he had considered the idea of training quietly in the hideout, he felt the limits of training alone as his martial arts, which had already reached the super peak realm, ascended to a complete realm.

It had been a full six months, yet his master, Lee Jaewon, showed no signs of coming to his hideout.

It felt like he might never come in his lifetime.

He had disappeared from the Heavenly Martial Alliance, and not being able to deduce his hideout meant that he either forgot or wasn't planning to search; it must be one of the two.

Regardless of the reason, if Lee Jaewon couldn't find him, there was no reason for Seonwoo to stay here rotting.

In the end, he wanted to return home.

To his warm and comfortable home.

His life was different from Lee Jaewon's reality, which was difficult and harsh.

He had a stable job, and while he didn't make a lot of money, he had the luxury of eating beef twice a month and had a quiet but reliable father and a nagging but caring mother.

Lying comfortably on a warm bed, he badly wanted to use his smartphone and craved to sit at the desk to use his computer.

While Jangsam, who lived in this novel, must feel an unspeakable joy from mastering martial arts, it was infinitely lacking from Seonwoo's perspective as a modern person.

Even if his martial arts got stronger, what did that really mean?

It wouldn't bring happiness.

Sob.

Having been locked up for far too long, it seemed like nostalgia had taken hold.

A tear trickled down his cheek.

Anyway, he couldn't hide in this sanctuary for eternity if he wanted to return home.

Seonwoo wiped away his tears and got up from his spot.

"Ha, how embarrassing."

His nose was even running.

Having cried his heart out, Seonwoo headed towards the armory. It was time for action, not mindlessly waiting.