Episode 204

Seol-Hwi used one of the best techniques at once.

Tsssss

The sword moved slowly.

Yet he managed to get the perfect execution of the technique.

Shhh

Where the sword moved, frost began to cover the area, and soon sparks followed, leading to an explosion.

Kwakwakwang!

This… is completely mine.

Seol-Hwi put the sword down. Previously it was something which needed him to be in a perfect state.

And now he could use it whenever he wanted to. There were numerous ways to use it, and in the meantime, his practice had him more proficient in using it. It now felt natural to use even the highest rated techniques.

So, is this the best of the White Light Body Demonic Martial Arts?

No.

There was one more above.

“Ice Field Compression.”

—the technique written on the last page of the book.

According to the explanation, it has the ability to control things in a limited area.

Things—

Everything which exists there.

Land, space, air, and now places like rivers and mountains too.

Control all that?

That is a skill similar to the slowing down technique, but… the more I see it the more it seems different.

There was a clear difference between simply binding time and being able to control it as needed.

If there were any weapons around, he can use them with a thought, and if there were enemies, he can kill them with a thought.

Of course, to perform that would be extremely difficult.

And it could be used only when the lower dantian is crossed over, it needs the mid and upper dantian too.

This was the reason why Seol-Hwi did not try to quit being in the sect.

Controlling the dantian and handling the mid and upper dantian means to create a perfect flow.

The words, essence, energy, and body.

The martial arts were possible when all three of them were used together.

“Let’s try it.”

Seol-Hwi was confident.

He would not be this sure in the past, but it felt like he could try it now, so he took a deep breath and concentrated.

“Phew.”

By circulating all the energy at the dantian, the energy was further raised according to the teachings.

And—

Flash!

Seol-Hwi first shot for the upper dantian and then began to set the range for the bottom, and infused internal energy there before stopping.

Pii…

In an instant his ears perceived a metal sound.

This!

Looking around, nothing was there but he realized.

The sound is… gone.

That small sound which was annoying to the ears, the sound of bugs in the ears, there were no animal steps or rough gasps.

Now he wondered if the sound was being blocked, but soon realized that it was not the sound being blocked.

Swish

The body was moving slowly, highly slowly.

This is…

Taking one step made Seol-Hwi frown more.

He had to control the surroundings.

It was written in the book, but it was not described as to what kind of martial arts it was. Because of that, it was not known how the change would be. From now on, Seol-Hwi had to do it on his own to find it out.

Slow

As if moving in heavy flowing water, when he took three steps.

Swish!

Like a lie the force around vanished and the sound of grass, bugs, and all could be heard.

And—

Ah!

As soon as he looked at the text he wanted to see, Seol-Hwi realized what he just used and the sentence came.

“…Ugh, this is insane.”

As soon as he saw the skill table, he couldn’t stop saying that word.

Doesn’t this mean he would not be able to use this?

Unless there is a situation where his internal energy is completely exhausted and the opponent was giving him time, there was no way he could execute such a technique.

“But well, I managed to get it.”

It was a technique which could control the surroundings and the things within it. To be able to use it and how much he had to be prepared could be a thought of later.

Seol-Hwi turned to the other martial arts he learnt.

Annihilation of All Things—

Originally, this was a martial art which represented the Fiery Bare-handed martial arts.

But with this done, there is another technique ahead too.

“Hellish Annihilation Arts…”

As it was of flame arts, it was said that the flames of hell which are not supposed to exist in this world and it would cause everything to explode.

It was said that it destroyed everything that it passes by and its power cannot be assessed.

“Let’s try this out too.”

Seol-Hwi raised his sword.

This was a martial art which was a lot better than the previous one.

Wheik!

As Seol-Hwi infused internal energy, flames burned around the sword.

It was to the point that it felt like a normal flame of flame arts.

The problem came from here.

“Uhhhh.”

Seol-Hwi continued and infused more internal energy. He recalled what he read in the book and clearly implemented it.

Pat!

But it wasn’t easy. The sword flame began to give out sparks and the flames continued to vanish.

Shhh…

After holding on for a while, the flames turned bright blue. The blue flames were a quiet but hotter flame.

But this was not what he wanted to do. It seemed unlike the last time, it was not going to work on his first try.

“Phew.”

Seol-Hwi caught his breath and focused.

Hellish Annihilation. This too required upper dantian to be used.

However, unlike before, where it opened up at the right moment, it did not open now.

This was a technique which attacked three times, so they had to use all the internal energy at once. If the internal energy and the essence was not balanced right, the true effect of Hellish Annihilation cannot be seen.

Shhhh

After repeating several mistakes, Seol-Hwi picked up some tricks. Concentrating on the three dantian points, he moved again.

Tatatak!

The flame began to move again, and vanished like a lie.

And—

Huh!

The flame turned dim purple this time.

Now!

The flame did not have a bright glow or furious movement. It was just burning like a flame in the fog.

Let’s focus and shoot it once.

Ohhhh!

It made a horrid sound, stretched out, and soon disappeared. However, the disappearance was not normal.

It vanished, leaving a purple light, as if the two energies were interlocked.

“Huh. Huh.”

Seol-Hwi stumbled and his face turned pale.

He felt everything within him get drained for that single attack.

He needed a terrible amount of energy to make this work, and even though his body could generate internal energy, he realized this was something that could only be used just once a battle.

“With this…”

Seol-Hwi began to take calm breaths. It could have been used against a real enemy, but it felt like he should have higher understanding before deciding to risk it.

“If it were Goo Jong-Myeong…”

There were words which appeared in front of his eyes occasionally. It was confirming that he learned something new.

But—

“Fuck…”

He cursed.

This too…

The list of actions required had no end in sight.

The next day—

The party decided to live in the middle of the mountain in Haenam island.

They avoided any crowded place with people. Training was important but they could not let something bad happen like the last time.

“It will be a mess if we move too far away from people too.”

So it was the right location.

If they moved one mile in, they would find a deserted valley too.

If they go down, they would find a village and a port, so it was convenient for when they needed things, and they could easily head back for training.

“Is there anyone here who can do some wood work?”

Imugi hired three to four people from the village, and asked them to build a house by paying a good amount.

And they completed the task within three days.

“…Are you really a fisherman? Not a carpenter?”

The fisherman smiled at the question of Imugi.

“Hehehe. You must not know about boat works.”

They fixed boats on the sea, so building a house on solid land was too easy. In any case, the man said this was his side income and Imugi gave him the money.

In the meantime, Songhwa was teaching Seol-Hwi.

Seol-Hwi, who was being taught, was naked this time. He decided it would not make much difference, so he took down the sword, belt, and shoes and placed them into the box.

“Now let’s get down to business.”

Songhwa taught theory first and then gave him practical lessons.

The art of disguise, it was known to be the foundation of a spell, and it played a big role in establishing the nations in the past.

The theories of astronomy, divination, stealth, the zodiac signs, shapeshifting, and the other things Songhwa knew.

Seol-Hwi found this quite difficult to understand, but it did not matter much to learn.