Encounter With The Ogre Demon

“I heard Senior Brother Daaren fought an ogre demon.”

Chenfa, one of Elder Mon’s direct disciples, asked Elder Mon to confirm it.

“Yes, it seems he wounded it, but it got away.”

Hearing that, I became interested.

“Is an ogre demon really so strong that even high disciple Senior Brother Daaren would have trouble with it?”

“That’s right. Though perhaps the correct way to put it is that some ogre demons are formidable.”

“Hm? What do you mean?”

“Many ogre demons are beings that were originally human, but transformed into demons after taking in demonic qi. So if the original human was a master of martial arts, it becomes a terrifying existence.”

Demonic qi was something like the qi possessed by demons. Normally it existed inside a demon’s body, but apparently there were cases where demonic qi was generated in places where large numbers of people gathered.

“If a skilled Taoist practitioner were exposed to demonic qi and became an ogre demon, that would be terrifying, wouldn’t it?”

Elder Mon’s face became grim.

“It’s not as if there have never been such cases in the past. But they are extremely rare.”

“Why is that?”

“Because a Taoist practitioner can repel demonic qi with the qi they possess.”

I see. In that case, Taoist practitioners would not become ogre demons. Still, the fact that there had been cases bothered me a little. Under what circumstances had Taoist practitioners become ogre demons?

“More importantly, let’s go treat Princess Meifan.”

“Yes.”

Together with Elder Mon, I went to Princess Meifan’s room. Thanks to the effects of the two immortal medicines, Princess Meifan had recovered enough to sit up.

“Good. This is truly wonderful.”

A noble-looking young man standing beside the luxurious bed spoke up. I recognized him.

“Elder Mon, it has been a long time. Is it already time for the treatment?”

The noble-looking young man who had seen Elder Mon asked the question. Elder Mon confirmed it, then exchanged greetings with him. After that, he turned his eyes toward me.

“You’re… Kou, aren’t you?”

That noble-looking young man was Prince Lianghong, the king’s second son.

“It has been a long time.”

“So it really is you. You’ve grown a great deal.”

“That’s enough talking. Let us begin the treatment.”

Elder Mon checked Princess Meifan’s condition.

“She is much better. But let’s continue the treatment for about three more days.”

Today as well, I carried out the treatment of pouring qi into Princess Meifan, and when Elder Mon and I were about to leave the room, Prince Lianghong stopped us.

“Elder Mon, I heard the extermination squad let the ogre demon escape. Can they really kill it?”

“Daaren has the ability to kill it. What worries me is whether wounding it has made the ogre demon cautious and caused it to hide.”

Prince Lianghong nodded as if to say, “I see.” After that, Prince Lianghong and Elder Mon spoke for a while. When the conversation ended, I made one request.

“I would like to practice martial arts. Could I borrow a place to do so?”

“There is a place where the soldiers train. You may use it.”

Prince Lianghong gave me permission to use the training ground the soldiers used. He said he would inform the person in charge of the training ground that we would be using it.

“Kou, you must have improved your skills, yes?”

“I think I have improved a little, but it is nothing remarkable.”

When I answered modestly, Elder Mon laughed.

“Kou is being modest, but he defeated a Thunder Bear in the test to become an inner disciple.”

Hearing that, Prince Lianghong became interested. As a result, he asked me to tell him what it had been like when I fought the Thunder Bear.

“I want to hear it too.”

Princess Meifan, lying there, said the same thing. Unable to refuse, I began talking about what had happened during the inner disciple test. First, I described the Thunder Bear’s size and characteristics.

“A Thunder Bear is really such a huge bear? And it even releases lightning from its body? That is far too frightening.”

Princess Meifan said it was “frightening,” but her eyes were sparkling.

When I finished speaking, Prince Lianghong nodded in satisfaction.

“If you compare that Thunder Bear and an ogre demon, which one is stronger?”

I had never seen an ogre demon, so I did not know. Besides, since ogre demons apparently varied greatly in strength, it probably could not be judged so simply.

“It seems ogre demons vary greatly in strength, so you cannot judge one unless you see the actual ogre demon.”

Elder Mon explained.

“So that is the kind of demon it is.”

Starting the next morning, I resumed martial training. When I went first thing in the morning to the training ground spread out beside the palace, no one was there. After making one light circuit of the training ground, I began practicing Lightness Skill.

The basics of Lightness Skill at Gyorei Cave began with filling the entire body with Floating Yang Qi. Once that was possible, the next step was releasing Floating Yang Qi from the soles of the feet and controlling it. The difficult part was moving the Floating Yang Qi released outside the body exactly as I wished.

I trained by focusing my awareness on the Floating Yang Qi I had released, bringing it under control, and continuing until I could manipulate it as though my feet themselves had been extended. I was still at the first stage, so when I ran around the training ground with Floating Yang Qi being released from my feet, it felt like I was digging deeply into the soil underfoot and blasting it backward.

Because of that, instead of the light, graceful movement that true Lightness Skill should have, it became the exact opposite: loud and clumsy movement. My speed increased, but this would not do.

“With true Lightness Skill, you would not even leave footprints on the ground.”

I let out a sigh as I looked at the miserable footprints left in the ground, as if a giant had run across it. At that moment, I sensed a presence behind me. When I turned around, a slender figure was running toward me at incredible speed.

The moment I saw its face, I went rigid.

“This is bad. An ogre demon.”

It was not human, but an ogre demon. I glanced at the weapon in my hand. Since this was only practice, what I had brought as a weapon was just an ordinary staff.