Chapter 139 – Blurred, Suddenly (9)

– Stretch like a dog and persevere to the end.

These were the words I heard from the old man when I began my training.

– Your body has already transcended its limits, so as long as you don’t break in the middle, someday you’ll be able to win.

And the old man added more.

– Except against me.

– Kwajik!

I’m struck by a fist flying from the front and crumple to the ground.

My ribs snap, and the shattered bone fragments pierce my lungs, cutting off my breath. My vision turns bright red.

‘I died again.’

An unfamiliar experience of death etched into my body as I continued my training.

No, by now, it’s more of a familiar experience. Trembling, I force myself to regain consciousness.

“Kahak… Krek.”

The training I undertook in the present day was comparatively more relaxed.

During the lulls in combat, there was time to think and even occasionally make jokes.

The battle with him was a struggle to minimize fatalities.

“Heugh, hah. Cough, cough.”

An intense fight where one’s entire body becomes a blood-soaked mess, leaving no time for tears.

The elder spoke in admiration, unable to catch his breath as blood poured from him.

“Is this truly human talent?”

Blood streamed from his nose and ears, reaching the ground and dampening the grass.

‘Talent? Nonsense. I don’t even think I can beat White Peach yet. What realm do these humans inhabit?’

Heavenly Demon… The more I observed him, the more unfathomable he became. In contrast, I felt like a pathetic mortal whose depths could be easily seen just by glancing.

“Heugh.”

As I exerted force upon my body, my bones and flesh were compelled to return to their proper places.

– Wooddeuk!

I stood again and tightly clenched my fists.

Instead of flower petals, viscous black magic coiled around both arms.

“It seems like it’s time for some teaching.”

An old man, without a single scratch on his body, looked down at me. As he lowered his arms, the black magical power receded to the floor.

“Rein in your strength, yes. Now you can at least pretend to be human. You might even be able to face off against those boasting about being S-class or something.”

S-class Hunters or Heroes. I had experienced victory while wielding a myriad of powerful items and buffs.

Though it was an experience in purgatory and a triumph over lifeless corpses, knowing that I am now at such a level allowed me to gauge how much I’ve grown stronger in just a month’s time.

“Even when I praise you, there’s no reaction. Are you going to die again?”
“Maintaining consciousness is a challenge in itself right now.”
“Of course. Look who you’re up against.”
“…”

The old man took a seat on a nearby rock and tossed me a water bottle he’d drawn from his waist.

An elixir to heal magical energy.
My magical power had grown considerably, so now one bottle was insufficient.

I asked the old man as I drank the potion.

“But what do you mean by teaching?”
“Have I ever given you proper instruction before?”

I pondered for a moment and quickly replied.

“No. It seems like I’ve only been beaten severely.”
“Right. In reality, there isn’t much to teach you. You’ve had the knack for it from the beginning, so you’d learn everything on your own without me having to tell you.”

The old man spread out his palm and released his magical energy.

Dark energy hovering over his wrinkled hand.
It coiled around his hand, and when he clenched his fist, it folded lightly and dissipated.

“However, these few things could lead to significant trouble if I don’t mention them now.”

I attentively listened to the words of the old man who had crossed through the chaotic realm.

First and foremost—
The old man, who had gathered his thoughts, finally spoke.

“You have yet to learn how to conceal your power.”
“I’m consistently working on the habit of suppressing my mana.”
“That’s merely a second-rate method. Now, observe.”

As the old man demonstrated by drawing all his mana into his body, the once-intimidating aura dissipated instantly.

“Do you feel anything?”

‘…’

Shockingly, no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t sense any power at all. Aside from the aura coursing through his body, he appeared no different from an ordinary person.

The old man exhaled his mana once again and continued speaking, seemingly annoyed.

“Normally, it’s wise to reveal some power to avoid complications, but for those with moderate strength like you, hiding it is the better strategy.”
“Is that so?”
“Don’t respond, just listen quietly. It’s far from easy by your standards.”

Could the technique be that difficult?

I attempted to mimic the old man’s actions one by one, retracing my memory.

– Ugh!

Gather all the mana and condense it in one place. Lock it up.

Up to this point, the task had been manageable, but the next step presented a challenge. Even when attempting to fix the mana within the body, the instability of the vessel storing the mana caused it to continuously leak out.

“It’s difficult.”

Upon admitting his honest feelings, the old man let out a mischievous chuckle.

“Can you gather all the blood flowing through your body into your heart in a single day?”
“If I did that, not only would I die, but I wouldn’t be able to control my blood’s movement either.”
“Right. You seem to understand well.”

In this world, it was common knowledge that mana coursed through the bodies of powerful beings.

To not display any signs of this meant not only gathering all the mana from the vessel, but also capturing and imprisoning every bit of mana flowing through the body. Such a feat was far from simple.

To make matters worse, my vessel was still undergoing expansion, making it unstable. As if the task wasn’t already challenging enough, the added complication of an unstable vessel further exacerbated the situation.

“But, given what you said today, it seems it’s not impossible…”
“It’s only a matter of time if you grasp the essence. Though it will be somewhat intense.”
“Then let’s proceed immediately.”
“Put aside your haste; there’s more I have to teach you.”

The old man struck my head with an oddly-sourced pipe, the origin of which I couldn’t fathom.

– Thwack!

The impact was so powerful, it felt as though my head had been cleaved.

Blood streamed down from my forehead.

“I’ve been observing your movements, and I’ve noticed a few shortcomings.”
“…”
“Your control over a stable spirit and mastery of qi are impeccable. Perhaps one day, you’ll wield a hegemony capable of upending the world.”

Hegemony, overturning the world. It was quite novel to hear words I’d never even imagined before.

While it didn’t matter now, I felt I could discern the thought process of the man before me just by examining his choice of words.

“The foundation is different.”
“… Yes?”

“One section is absent. It feels intentionally omitted. There are many aspects that differ from the structure I created.”

It took a month for this revelation to be shared.

The elder seemed to have his own set of principles.

“Do you know the origin of the power you are using now?”
“Isn’t it a martial art created by Heavenly Demon?”
“Wrong. I adapted the martial art passed down from the Peach Tree lineage in my own way. If you insist on scrutinizing, it would be appropriate to consider it a re-creation.”

Now that I think about it, Cheondo had mentioned something like that.

I recall her words from before:

“This is the culmination of the Peach Tree heritage, handed down from ancient times. Fist, sword, and inner energy merged as one. Can you comprehend its mystery?”

When Cheondo first taught me the principles and techniques, the relatively insignificant details took a backseat in my mind due to the continuous surge of inspiration and enlightenment.

“But how does that power differ from mine?”

“Explain what you’ve learned from beginning to end.”

The Seven Primary Forms.

These forms are inspired by the fruit of the peach tree, each movement assigned a purpose. From these movements, the Five Techniques are derived.

The White Peach technique that I use is an adaptation of one of the Seven Primary Forms. The next stage, Mancheopbaekdo (萬疊白桃), is also a technique developed through repeated application of other movements.

As the Seven Primary Forms progress, they form a solid foundation. The Five Techniques, based on these forms, are connected one by one, with their power increasing accordingly.

From one, White Peach, to seven, Heaven.

At this point, it becomes clear that they are more like pathways rather than the initial forms.

The mastery of martial arts demonstrated by White Peach was the epitome of talent and effort that I have yet to achieve.

“So…”

I did my best to explain everything I had learned.

What is important in each movement, and what is useful.

As much as I relied on my power, I held pride and knowledge in my own abilities, and so I gave a speech with all my might.

However, the old man, smoking a cigarette, spoke to me with a listless expression.

“I see.”
“…Pardon?”
“I know what’s missing. From the beginning, there was one thing left out. That, too, is the most important aspect. It seems you’ve appeared quite incompetent in the eyes of the eldest daughter.”

I closed my mouth.

It was partly because the eldest daughter, Heaven, was a question directly connected to the future.
Another reason was that the words stating I appeared incompetent were grating to my ears.

“What is it? Lacking, you say, but there doesn’t seem to be any room for another element in what I’ve learned so far…”
“There is one.”

White Peach, Ten Thousand Petals White Peach, Ten Thousand Petals Red Peach, Barae Boksa, Gam Boksa, Dragon Eye Boksa, and Heaven.

I had learned everything I needed to, and my power, once limited to White Peach, could now reach beyond the otherworldly secrets.

But something was missing?

“The most crucial aspect is absent.”

The old man chuckled at me and conjured a feeble magical force upon his fingertips.

-Paang!

A boom resonated through the air, like the sound of a grenade exploding. I widened my eyes in astonishment.

Such power was produced by a magic so seemingly insignificant.

“The most crucial aspect in mastering this martial art, which unleashes explosive power, is the eighth herbivore technique. The name… well, there isn’t one at the moment.”

A technique that ignites mana and sends it into a frenzy. If used within the body, the mana circuit would be annihilated instantaneously.

I could learn a fair amount just by observing.

I summoned a minuscule amount of magical energy in my hand and attempted to mimic the action.

The old man’s eyes widened in surprise for a moment.

“You, wait–”

-Kwajijijijijik!

In an instant, a brilliant light enveloped the mountaintop.

A thunderous roar that poured forth in the briefest of intervals. The specks of light that filled the sky momentarily brought morning to the depths of the forest.

*Drip, drip.*

The trees around me burned, and I numbly stared at my blackened, blood-dripping hands.

“…Ah.”

My eyes ached. If I hadn’t instinctively protected myself with magic, I might have been swept away by my own martial arts technique.

The old man looked at me with a bewildered expression.

“There was a reason I didn’t teach you.”

I almost unwittingly responded with, “That’s true.”

The destructive power was dispersed, limiting the damage. However, if that power could be focused on a single point, then a mere handful of magic could produce a force rivaling that of White Peach.

“But it’s fascinating.”

The old man wore a grin laced with madness, reminiscent of when he first met me.

“I created it, but it’s as though this technique was meant to exist for you.”

Goosebumps spread across my skin.

As I felt the searing pain, I began to regenerate my body.

It took a considerable amount of time to fully regenerate everything.

“Originally, this would be combined to develop a primordial technique.”
“True, but if we can’t control it like now, it’s utterly useless.”

Magi.

I thought it wouldn’t be strange to call the black magical power that springs forth when deploying the Black Sword as Magi, but that was all a misconception.

While practicing refining my mana into Magi, I spoke to the old man.

“But why is this called a primordial technique? Isn’t a primordial technique about the movement?”
“Well, if you assign it a name, it becomes a primordial technique. The methods have changed significantly from the past.”
“…They say this is the generation that marks the end of the martial world.”

The old man didn’t overtly disagree. Well, it was more convenient to call it a primordial technique. In this world, too, the martial world has been all but forgotten, so there was no one to dispute it.

Nonetheless, merely acquiring this knowledge was enough to justify my journey to the past.

‘…As long as I get used to it.’

I felt I could now approach those three whom I never thought I could reach.

The sensation that had been stifled until now seemed to suddenly clear.

– Thwack!

At that moment, the old man’s pipe struck my head again.

As I stared at him with wide eyes, the old man smiled and loosened up.

“Getting cocky so soon? It’s still too early to be excited.”
“Didn’t you say we were stopping here for today?”
“I never said that. Besides, it’s only natural to have the next stage if you’ve come this far.”

He had a delighted face, having found an opponent to fight.
Heavenly Demon, his face bore a battle-crazed deity with eyes glaring fiercely.

Without a word, I coiled magical energy around my hands.
Thick layers of dark incantations jutted out like thorns between my fingers.

“Understood.”

That day, I took one step closer to Heaven.
For some reason, I felt an incredibly strong conviction.