Chapter 24

One

‘Am I really seeing this correctly?’

Youshin Yun was so taken aback that he couldn’t even speak properly. The content of the quest he had just checked was so absurd.

[Hidden Quest / The Wishes of the Dead I]

To receive what the deceased desires, you must resolve the grudge they could not shake off even in death.

The deceased, who met their end before you, still cannot forget their grudge.

The deceased says that if you cut off one of your arms and offer it, they will willingly give you their martial arts.

Reward: Supreme Martial Art, 'Chuying Xueguizhao (追榮血鬼爪)'

However, even after washing his eyes and checking again, the content of the quest remained the same.

- The deceased says that if you cut off one of your arms and offer it, they will willingly give you their martial arts.

The deceased, that is, Goo Nam-sung, was demanding one of Youshin Yun’s arms in exchange for his martial arts.

Youshin Yun looked at the Assassin Skeleton with a gaze as cold as ice.

Click, Clack.

But the creature seemed to find the situation amusing, making a cheerful sound by clacking its jawbone.

Youshin Yun’s patience had reached its limit.

‘I need to make him understand his situation.’

Youshin Yun gave a sardonic smile.

Whoosh!

A fierce killing intent began to boil in Youshin Yun’s eyes.

The Assassin Skeleton, startled by this, shuddered and twitched.

Youshin Yun was no saint.

Especially not with his summoned creatures.

In his previous life, the method he used to tame all his summoned creatures, including the aforementioned True Dragon, was only one.

Boom!

Instantly, a surge of dark mana exploded from Youshin Yun’s entire body.

The wave of mana, like a tidal wave, engulfed the Assassin Skeleton, which had turned to stone.

At that moment, as Youshin Yun clenched his fist, the Assassin Skeleton began to make a bizarre sound by clacking its jawbone, as if in a scene from a horror movie.

The light in its eyes flickered precariously, like a candle in a strong wind.

Although Goo Nam-sung had lost his physical body and thus his sense of touch, Youshin Yun was inflicting extreme pain on his remaining soul.

‘I’ll make him regret not being able to die again.’

In his previous life, the method he used to control his summoned creatures was through extreme punishment.

A necromancer’s summoned creatures are under the absolute control of the necromancer, and this control includes the ability to inflict direct pain on the soul.

Thus, what felt like an eternity passed for the Assassin Skeleton.

Click, Clack.

Soon, a pleading light appeared in the creature’s eyes, as if begging for Youshin Yun to stop.

But Youshin Yun merely chuckled and ignored it.

“Before I summon you again, why don’t you continue to taste this pain?”

He continued the pain while forcibly dismissing the creature.

The creature’s appearance, like that of a criminal being led to a prison, was utterly pitiful.

As he had said, Goo Nam-sung would continue to suffer this cruel pain until Youshin Yun summoned him again.

After dealing with the disobedient summoned creature in this manner,

‘Now then.’

Youshin Yun summoned other first-class martial artist skeletons and repeated the same experiment.

And.

He confirmed one result.

[You have obtained the Hidden Quest, 'The Wishes of the Dead II'.]

[You have obtained the Hidden Quest, 'The Wishes of the Dead III'.]

The other skeletons also triggered the same hidden quest, and solving it would grant martial arts.

However, as the title of the quest 'The Wishes of the Dead' suggested, the wishes of the skeletons were different.

There were requests to deliver their last words to a younger sister left alone.

There were requests to avenge their family.

There were even small requests to eat their favorite food in front of them.

The content of the quests seemed to vary based on the nature of the martial artists who were sacrificed and their lingering regrets in life.

‘In any case, completing the quest will allow me to obtain the martial arts of the sacrificed martial artists.’

He inwardly rejoiced.

At the same time, his gratitude towards Yulrang deepened again.

If Yulrang hadn’t personally handed over the martial arts without being asked, he would never have imagined such a thing.

Although there were conditions, the ability to obtain the martial arts of the sacrificed martial artists was truly a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

Martial artists showed an almost abnormal obsession with excellent martial arts.

Even if they already knew martial arts, they would kill to obtain better ones.

This was because the ways to obtain martial arts were extremely limited.

In his previous life, once hunters awakened as ability users, they were taken to national academies or private guilds in various countries, where they were taught many things.

But in this world, society was much more closed.

Unless one was born into one of the seven great families or the nine sects, there was virtually no way to obtain high-level martial arts.

And even if one was a member of a villainous sect or the Demon Sect, the situation was not much better.

Youshin Yun carefully examined the multiple quest windows and thought to himself.

‘Hmm, it wouldn’t be good to learn just any martial arts recklessly.’

He rejected all the quests given by the first-class martial artist skeletons.

Although the Donghwa Seonjeol, which harmonizes all energies, would prevent any side effects from learning any martial arts,

he didn’t think that learning martial arts below the first-class level would be of much help.

There were specific martial arts he wanted to learn.

“Raise Skeleton Warrior.”

Whoosh!

A skeleton with black bones appeared from the summoning circle, accompanied by a beam of light.

Two

[Leiyun Shierjian (Thunder Cloud Twelve Swords)]

Rank: Supreme Top Tier / Evolvable.

- Automatically adjusted according to necromancy characteristics.

Achievement: 1 Star

Attribute: ?/?/Thunder Qi

Content: ?

The Leiyun Shierjian that Yulrang had given him was of the Supreme Top Tier rank.

However, the condition 'Evolvable' and the note 'Automatically adjusted according to necromancy characteristics' suggested that,

like in Yulrang’s case, the rank of the martial arts could be adjusted upward based on effort.

This meant it had infinite potential for growth.

In other words, there was no problem with the martial arts.

“Huff, huff!”

The problem was with Youshin Yun himself.

‘Damn it!’

Youshin Yun was recalling when he had last panted so heavily.

His saliva was unbearably bitter, and the ceiling of the cave looked yellow.

If not for the death energy continuously replenished by Yujin Sang and the effects of the Houtian Xian Gu, he would have collapsed from exhaustion long ago.

‘This body, I feel it again, is really trash.’

Despite losing a significant amount of weight through continuous physical training, his body still hadn’t crossed the line between human and pig.

The excessive fat made his body bear too much strain during training.

Click.

At that moment, the black skeleton, who had been watching his training with folded arms, clacked its jawbone.

Although it was just a sound, not words,

Youshin Yun felt his current frustration, ‘This is really not going well!’, welling up in his chest.

He let out a groan and spoke.

“Ugh! I am trying my best, sir.”

Despite being a summoned creature, Youshin Yun addressed it with respect.

His way of addressing it was also unique.

“Supreme Swordsman Skeleton…!”

Thud!

“Gah!”

When he called it a Supreme Swordsman Skeleton, Yulrang fiercely attacked him.

Surprisingly, absolute obedience didn’t work on Yulrang.

Click.

Yulrang’s bone sound carried a hint of annoyance. It seemed that Youshin Yun’s way of addressing him as ‘sir’ didn’t sit well with him.

Swoosh.

After a moment of awkward tension,

…Click.

Yulrang’s bone sound accompanied the resumption of Youshin Yun’s training.

‘Let’s try it again slowly.’

Youshin Yun began to carefully perform the first sword technique of the Leiyun Shierjian, which he had learned as a ‘skill’.

Whoosh!

Three energies were blending together, like flowing water.

Dark mana.

Donghwa Seon Qi.

And the Bie Li Xin Gong, Leiyun Xin Gong.

As the Leiyun Xin Gong began to flow through the mana circuit, following the familiar path in his memory,

Crack! Crack!

White lightning began to surge from Youshin Yun’s entire body.

Although it couldn’t compare to Yulrang’s pitch-black lightning, it was still quite powerful.

Youshin Yun raised his sword high above his shoulder.

And.

Swoosh!

He struck down with a speed like lightning hitting the ground.

Leiyun Shierjian.

First Technique.

Leiyun Zhigang (Thunder Cloud Direct Strike).

Boom!

A loud explosion echoed as the sword struck the ground.

Soon, the dust settled, revealing the mark left by Leiyun Zhigang.

Seeing this, Youshin Yun

“…Damn!”

cursed.

A small, pitiful hole was dug into the ground, far smaller than the one Yulrang had created during his battle with Goo Nam-sung.

Another failure.

Yulrang scratched the back of his bald skull, disappointment evident in the flames of his eyes.

‘Sigh, it’s not just because of my body. There’s some fundamental difference.’

Youshin Yun sighed deeply and began to ponder the reasons for his failure.

Unfortunately, no matter how much he thought, he couldn’t pinpoint the problem.

Unlike his necromancy, which he had mastered, he was completely ignorant about martial arts.

Just then,

Click.

‘Huh?’

Something sharp poked Youshin Yun’s back.

Startled, he turned his head to see Yulrang.

“…What?”

Confused, Youshin Yun just blinked.

But Yulrang was poking a corner of his back again with his bony finger.

Click. Click.

Yulrang continued to poke.

‘What’s going on? Why is he doing this?’

Youshin Yun thought Yulrang might be trying to cheer him up, but

he soon realized the flames in Yulrang’s eyes were serious.

‘…Wait! Could it be?’

At that moment, a glimmer of realization appeared in Youshin Yun’s eyes.

He sat cross-legged and closed his eyes.

Youshin Yun began to send the Donghwa Seon Qi, the safest energy, through his mana circuit.

‘As expected…!’

He realized that the positions Yulrang was poking were slightly different.

He focused on identifying the locations Yulrang was repeatedly poking.

‘To properly use the Leiyun Shierjian, I need these acupoints!’

Youshin Yun swallowed, having gained insight.

The places Yulrang was poking were all acupoints where the mana circuit was blocked.

Youshin Yun had been using the acupoints of martial arts as part of his mana circuit, but this was where the fatal error lay.

Yulrang, seeing that Youshin Yun was not using certain acupoints while circulating his inner energy, had pointed them out by poking them with his finger, since he couldn’t speak.

Having found the solution, Youshin Yun immediately began the necessary process without delay.

Opening blocked acupoints was not an easy task, as the backlash could severely affect the body.

‘I’ll open them directly with the Donghwa Seon Qi!’

He used only the Donghwa Seon Qi to attempt to open the acupoints because it had the ability to mitigate such side effects.

A moment later.

Boom! Bang! Bang!

Explosions, like fireworks, continued to ring in his ears.

‘…!’

Eventually,

numerous system messages appeared before his eyes.

[You have gained deep insight into the sword techniques of the martial art, 'Leiyun Shierjian'.]

[The achievement of the martial art, 'Leiyun Shierjian', has increased.]

[The achievement of the martial art, 'Leiyun Shierjian', has reached 2 stars.]

[You have obtained the skill, 'Sword Qi (B+)'.]

[You have obtained the trait, 'Supreme Swordsman'.]

[Your experience has reached the maximum.]

[Your level has increased.]

[The seal on the skill, 'Corpse Explosion (B+)', has been lifted.]

[The seal on the skill, 'Soul Barrier (A)', has been lifted.]

[The seal on the skill, 'Phantom Robe (B+)', has been lifted.]

[The trait, 'Necromancy', has reached the B+ rank.]

[The rank increase of the necromancy trait has adjusted the rank of 'Leiyun Shierjian' upward.]

[The rank of the martial art, 'Leiyun Shierjian', has changed to 'Super Supreme / Evolvable'.]

[You have gained additional proficiency in all necromancy-related skills.]

[The proficiency of the skill, 'Skeleton Mastery', has reached the maximum.]

[The rank of the skill, 'Skeleton Mastery', has reached B.]

[The number of summonable subordinates has increased to 1000 due to the rank increase.]

[New types of skeletons have been added due to the rank increase.]

[You can summon 'Skeleton Mage'.]

[You can summon 'Skeleton Knight'.]

…Omitted…

It was a great success.

Smirk.

Youshin Yun gave Yulrang a satisfied smile.

And.

Click.

Yulrang also seemed satisfied, making a pleasant bone sound.

Martial World Family, Reincarnation Ranker