Chapter 63: Violent Storm (3)
In my previous life, it was only in the twilight years of my life that I finally left Ascension Path and found Kim Young-hoon.
At that time, Kim Young-hoon was already pursuing beyond the extreme limits of the Ultimate Pinnacle.
Then, what level could Kim Young-hoon, who now has around 10 years of experience, have reached?
"Hmm, it appears that for now, the Makli Clan still has control over the imperial power."
It seems that neither the Jin Clan nor Kim Young-hoon had yet usurped the throne.
However, according to the rumors, the Emperor and the Crown Prince were assassinated by some mysterious figure.
It must have been Kim Young-hoon.
"From what I've gathered, Kim Young-hoon has not yet made contact with the Jin Clan and seems to be on the run..."
In that case, it seemed unlikely to enter the Jin Clan's domain through legitimate means.
"Still, I have to see their faces at least."
I headed to the territoriy of the Jin Clan and released a Gang Sphere.
Whooosh!
In the empty air.
A hole was punctured in the formation that was spread around the domain.
After erasing my presence completely with the Record of Transcending Cultivation and Exhausting Martial Arts and the Hidden Consciousness Technique, I entered inside.
Whether an alarm was raised or not, the cultivators of the Jin Clan were jumping out in all directions to guard, but none could detect me.
Leaving the cultivators behind, I headed towards the training ground where the disciples were practicing.
"There's no one."
Both the training ground and the disciples' quarters were empty, covered in dust.
It seems that after the Emperor and Crown Prince's deaths, the Jin Clan had decided not to operate the assassination unit.
"Then..."
I recalled my past life's memories and headed to where the disciples lived within the domain.
As expected.
The disciples were scattered throughout the territory, learning the work of mortals.
Their faces were noticeably younger than in my previous life.
Young adults, fresh-faced, were learning various tasks here and there.
After watching them aimlessly for a while, I smiled softly and quickly exited through the opening I created.
Having left the Jin Clan, I decided to look for Kim Young-hoon first.
"Considering Kim Young-hoon's personality, the pursuit of the Makli Clan, and the geographical features of Yanguo..."
I narrowed down the possible hiding places for Kim Young-hoon by combining information from my past life.
Before long, I set out towards a likely hiding place for Kim Young-hoon.
In the vicinity of Bakju City in Yanguo, among the mountain ridges.
He was likely hiding in a settlement there.
Tap, tap, tap!
I stepped through the air towards the direction of a mountain fort among the mountain ridges.
The majestic mountains unveiled themselves, and I could see people bustling below.
"Indeed, he was here."
I enhanced my sight to see what the bustling people were doing and smirked.
They were all practicing martial arts.
All familiar martial arts.
Although not the Severing Mountain Swordsmanship or Severing Vein Saber Method, every one of them carried traces of Kim Young-hoon.
As I was void stepping and looking down below.
Whooosh!
A flash of light spread in the air and rushed towards me.
Thud-
But as I flicked my finger, the flash of light dissipated and vanished.
"This is..."
Centered around me in all six directions - up, down, front, back, left, right - was dyed with clusters of Gang Qi.
"Dual Energy Sword Control."
I floated a Gang Sphere into my hand.
I transferred another consciousness of mine and embedded the Gang Sphere among the light swarms rushing at me.
I usurped control over the Gang Qi.
Whoooom!
The Gang Qi coalesced in the air under my will and lined up.
Then, I distinctly felt it.
A martial art that stealthily slashed through my consciousness and cut through my perception.
I densified my consciousness and launched the seized Gang Qi towards the sneaky approacher.
Boom!
A figure sprang out in the air like an apparition and deflected the bundles of Gang Qi I had thrown.
"What, who are you! How could a cultivator like you..."
"Haha, a cultivator, you say. That's quite an understatement."
I haven't even used any profound cultivation spells yet...
"It was purely a feat of martial skill."
Whooom!
As I coalesced thousands of Gang Qi clusters into a Gang Sphere in my hand, his eyes widened.
"Long time no see, Director Kim."
"You, you are...!"
And then, as he finally remembered my face, Kim Young-hoon's eyes widened.
"Deputy Manager Seo..?"
It's been a long time since I've heard that title.
However, I focused more on Kim Young-hoon's gaze rather than my title.
Really, to what extent has Kim Young-hoon reached at this point of time?
What realm has he attained?
'I think I know, but.'
Confirmation is necessary.
Whoosh!
The Gang Sphere in my hand splits into two.
I absorb one to accelerate my mental capabilities and raise the other at my fingertip.
Bang!
Tearing through the void, I reach Kim Young-hoon and thrust my hand holding the elevated Gang Sphere.
Kim Young-hoon reacts hastily just before my hand can touch him, barely avoiding my attack.
He can't accelerate his mental facilities yet.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!
Gang Qi is layered over the void.
But it's chaotic.
Whoosh!
A powerful aura of control arises around my Gang Sphere, completely seizing control of Kim Young-hoon's Gang Qi.
Thousands of strands of Gang Qi wrapped in the void all move under my will.
'What...!'
Thousands of sword controls under my command orderly seal the six directions around Kim Young-hoon, pressuring him.
Kim Young-hoon, although flustered, continuously inputs his intent calmly trying to regain control of the Gang Qi I've taken.
At the same time, perhaps realizing he shouldn't approach me, he extends and swings the Gang Qi from a distance.
'His combat sense is excellent.'
It hasn't even been 10 seconds since we started fighting, but he's already becoming familiar with fighting against an Ultimate Pinnacle expert and figuring out the tricks.
On top of that, he keeps trying various ways to regain control of the Gang Qi, and his use of intent is becoming more refined.
However,
Boom!
The void is torn apart.
A cracking sound resonates, and before I know it, I've reached right in front of Kim Young-hoon.
'The difference in realm is inevitable.'
Bang!
I swing my hand containing the Gang Sphere.
This time, Kim Young-hoon doesn't hastily avoid it. Instead, he moves fluidly like water, dodging my attack and countering me.
'This movement is...'
It's systematic.
Yet, it's a movement I've never seen before.
There is only one answer.
'He just created a martial art just to counter me.'
It may sound crazy, but.
Kim Young-hoon is someone who saw the Severing Mountain Swordsmanship and invented the Severing Vein Saber Method in just two or three months of learning martial arts.
It's a martial art tailored to me, created on the spot while sparring with me.
If it's Kim Young-hoon, he really could create a martial art suited for the situation to oppose me on the spot.
Excitement starts to well up within me.
I smile brightly and stretch out my hand again.
'This is so Kim Young-hoon...!'
Kim Young-hoon's movement accelerates momentarily and reacts to my speed, knocking away my attack. Not my Gang Sphere, but my wrist.
'Ah!'
In my eyes, having reached Ultimate Pinnacle, I could roughly guess how he did it.
He momentarily accelerated the flow of internal energy in his body, optimizing his movement to the flow, and increased his instant reaction speed for a brief moment.
That's the martial art he created on the spot to use against me.
'At first, he was just busy avoiding. The second clash, he fluidly evaded. The third time, he knocked away my arm.'
He is growing with each exchange, second by second.
Tingle, tingle...
A chilling sensation encircles my entire body.
I could guess Kim Young-hoon's realm.
Right now, about 10 years in, he's at the realm of Five Energies Converging to the Origin.
He's not a match for me, an Ultimate Pinnacle, either in terms of experience or pure skill.
However, that insane talent of his is continuously creating martial arts to oppose me as he clashes with me.
Just...
'I can't help but admire.'
Kim Young-hoon swiftly mixes a couple of martial arts and rushes at me.
Again, they're martial arts I've never seen. At the same time, I can feel they're aimed and created just for me. It must have been made just now.
Nevertheless, it was a martial art excellently prepared to confront someone faster and stronger than himself.
However,
Boom!
Without accelerating my thinking with a Gang Sphere, I float two Gang Spheres beside me and rush towards Kim Young-hoon, dismantling his martial art with pure force.
I then reached out to Kim Young-hoon's head and grabbed it.
I raise my knee and strike.
Kim Young-hoon quickly deploys protective Gang Qi on his chin to absorb the shock. But I use the moment he loses his balance to flip him over and throw him down. Then, using the Thousand-Weight Fall, I pressed him from above as we both fall.
We started falling together.
Kim Young-hoon tries desperately to shake me off in midair, but I stubbornly stay above him.
When Kim Young-hoon swings his saber, a saw-tooth shaped Gang Qi whirls towards me.
He spun three times in midair, accelerating instantly.
Thin threads of Gang Qi shot out, secretly targeting me in the void.
All of these were martial arts I have never seen before.
And all of them were obviously crafted to counter me.
Kim Young-hoon was creating martial arts in real-time, doing everything he could to shake me off.
The ground was getting closer.
The martial artists training at the fort saw us falling and panicked.
"Haah!"
In a brief moment, another martial art he just created activated.
Kim Young-hoon's Gang Qi concentrated at one point, displaying a tremendous explosive power.
It wasn't a Gang Sphere, the principle was entirely different. Only the form was somewhat similar.
But that explosive force momentarily separated me from Kim Young-hoon.
In that instant, Kim Young-hoon spun his body, accelerating rapidly and blended into the void like a phantom with Record of Transcending Cultivation and Exhausting Martial Arts.
In a blink of an eye, Kim Young-hoon was above me, grabbing my clothes.
The ground was right before us!
He intended to smash me right into the ground.
In a single moment.
I read the flow of energy inside Kim Young-hoon's body and used that flow to reverse the situation.
The situation, where Kim Young-hoon was about to smash me into the ground, turned upside down, and now I was about to do the same to him.
Boom!
Dust flew up, shaking the surroundings.
Birds in the quiet mountains flew upwards, and the area became noisy.
Tingle!
I saw a tingling pain in my hand holding Kim Young-hoon and smirked slightly.
As a master of Five Energies Converging to the Origin, I knew he'd protect himself with defensive Gang Qi when I smashed him into the ground.
But in that brief instant, he created another martial art that transferred some of the impact of the descent to me, delivering a painfully sharp counterattack.
'Such insane talent, no wonder he managed to ambush and kill Qi Building cultivators even when he was just at the Five Energies Converging to the Origin.'
He creates optimized martial arts on the spot, depending on who he's facing.
A monster, unbelievable, wondrous — such terms don't do justice to his talent, which exists in a different dimension.
'A talent that won't appear again in a thousand years, before and after?'
Nonsense.
Even in ten thousand years, before and after, no martial artist surpassing Kim Young-hoon's talent will likely appear.
I stepped down from above Kim Young-hoon and dusted off my hands.
"Please get up, Director. I believe you must have gained a lot from this spar."
"Spar? Was that sparring? You were attacking like you wanted to kill me! I was just desperately fighting for my life."
"Haha, I originally intended to make it feel like a light spar. But your talent is unbelievably great, so I did put in a few serious moves."
Kim Young-hoon chuckled and got up, brushing off his waist.
"Serious moves? You didn't even absorb that mass to accelerate at the end and just drove me with pure force. Are you mocking me?"
As we talked, the bandits who had fled earlier started to peek their heads out.
Seeing them, Kim Young-hoon frowned and shouted.
"You lot! There's a guest here, what are you dawdling for! Hurry up and prepare to welcome the guest!!"
"Yes, yes! Leader!"
"Hmm, who are they?"
"Nothing much. They were going to raid the village I was hiding in, so I beat them all nearly to death and reformed them to make use of them."
"That's commendable."
We chatted and slowly unwound the reunion of 10 years.
Several days passed.
During these days, I taught Kim Young-hoon martial arts and gave him the key to ascend to Ultimate Pinnacle.
'At this rate, he'll reach Ultimate Pinnacle within half a year.'
The growth rate is insane.
Plus, it's only been 10 years.
I have about 40 years left until I die.
In that time, will he be able to surpass the Record of Surpassing Path and Martial Arts in this life?
"...Right. Let's give some help to Kim Young-hoon."
Seeing Kim Young-hoon's talent, I further resolved to study demon beast methods.
If the martial arts of humans are similar to those of demons, perhaps we can also learn from the demon beasts regarding the realm we aspire to reach.
Just as humans learned martial techniques from animals.
Could the next realm also be learned from demon beasts?
I have already passed on all the enlightenment and keys of Ultimate Pinnacle to him.
With his talent, he should be able to reach Ultimate Pinnacle and form his Inner Core within half a year without my guidance.
"...Then, I shall take my leave."
"Are you not going to stay to see me reach Ultimate Pinnacle?"
I considered taking Kim Young-hoon with me, but he declined, expressing a desire to properly enter and consolidate his understanding of Ultimate Pinnacle.
"...With your talent, Kim Hyung, I know you will surely reach it. However, I wish to seek information about realms beyond Ultimate Pinnacle elsewhere.
I will return later. When we meet again..."
I smiled and bowed to Kim Young-hoon.
"I hope next time, Kim Hyung, you can teach me."
"Alright. Next time, I'll make sure I've reached a higher realm than you."
We bid each other farewell and went our separate ways.
Leaving behind my intense encounter with Kim Young-hoon, I set out for the Black Wind Sea, as mentioned by Seo Hweol.
Black Wind Sea, Utmost Chaos Island.
The Black Wind Sea, located to the south of Shengzi, Yanguo, and Byeokra, is a treacherous sea where storms blew unpredictably, and deep within lived numerous demon beast packs.
Known as the territory of numerous demon tribes, it was also said that the main headquarters of the Black Ghost Valley was near the Black Wind Sea.
There are many islands in Black Wind Sea, but finding Utmost Chaos Island was not so difficult.
An island ruled by a Sea Dragon.
Utmost Chaos Island was one of the islands famous for being under the rule of a Sea Dragon.
I sailed to Utmost Chaos Island and inquired with the locals about the Sea Dragon, Seo Ran.
Seo Ran was revered as a kind of guardian spirit of the island, receiving modest offerings each year to protect the ships from storms and the island from demon beast packs.
'A benevolent Sea Dragon, it seems.'
After all, the offerings were just a few food items from Utmost Chaos Island.
It wasn't a wicked demon demanding maiden sacrifices but genuinely seemed like a guardian spirit of the island.
"Originally, Utmost Chaos Island was just a land full of thorny bushes, not so suitable for living. It wasn't called Utmost Chaos Island but Thorn Demon Island. But our ancestors were pitied by the guardian spirit who came to this land and helped cultivate it.
Since then, following the guardian spirit's name, Thorn Demon Island was renamed Utmost Chaos Island. Honestly, where would you find orchids (蘭) on this island to call it Utmost Chaos Island (棘蘭島)?" (Doesn't make sense when translated but think of it as a pun)
One of the village elders explained the origin of the name Utmost Chaos Island and about the guardian spirit, Seo Ran.
Seo Ran was a giant Sea Dragon about ten feet in size.
It was said to be a wise dragon, interested in human culture and proficient in their language.
At the same time, to see Seo Ran, one had to go west of Utmost Chaos Island.
At the Western Sacrificial Altar, where offerings are made every year, one could occasionally see Seo Ran swimming in the sea beyond.
"Is there anything I should be careful of when meeting the guardian spirit?"
"Well, the thing is... the guardian spirit doesn't like sharp objects, so don't bring swords or such in front of them."
"Thank you."
I thanked the elder and headed towards the Western Sacrificial Altar mentioned in Utmost Chaos Island.
The altar was located on a cliff on the western side of the island, a simple altar built three feet high on the cliff.
'I'll be able to see Seo Ran from here.'
What should I say when I see it?
That Seo Hweol sent me?
Before I could finish my thoughts.
Whoosh!
A massive shadow was cast over my head.
Bang!
At the same time, the demon beast method manual given to me by Seo Hweol, hidden in my possession, emitted a blue water attribute spiritual energy and vibrated.
Simultaneously, through my consciousness, Seo Ran's consciousness echoed.
[What are you? What brings you here with the skin of a sea crystal beast that only reacts within the embrace of the demon race while in the form of a human?]
He was a dragon with blue scales, a slender body, silver-blue horns, and a white beard like sea foam.
I smiled, took out the manual, and introduced myself.
"I am called Seo Eun-hyun. The Sea Dragon King Seo Hweol told me that I am a hybrid of human and demon and instructed me to go find Seo Ran to learn the language and script of the demon race and master the demon beast methods."
It's now time to study the method of demons.
"Please teach me, descendant of the great Sea Dragon King."
Seo Ran asked me in a curious tone.
[The King said you are a hybrid of human and demon...?]
"Yes, that's right."
[Strange. Why do I see you as a demon disguised in human form?]
I couldn't help but be surprised by Seo Ran's following words.
[It's not just a feeling of strong demon blood in you. Aren't you just a demon itself?]