Chapter 171: Nerve Acceleration
“No matter how the result turns out, the grudge will be cleanly forgotten.”
“Of course!”
“Let’s do it. Ten moves.”
The situation was very different from when I confronted Ak Gun-pae last time.
Unlike then, there was no expert to pierce through Ak Gun-pae’s Soft Vajra, nor were there any helpers to create an opening.
Even though it was only ten moves, it was the worst situation where I had to face a powerful expert alone.
‘Up until last year.’
My growth rate was at a level that went far beyond common sense.
It was a growth made possible because the lectures of the masters filled my enlightenment, and divine power supplemented the internal energy that required time.
Furthermore, from last autumn through winter until spring, I refined my martial arts with all my heart and soul.
It was martial arts handed down by my masters in the heavens.
As I refined and supplemented it to approach its true meaning, what I obtained was by no means light.
‘If Master Heavenly Demon’s martial arts, which I obtained last night, are added to this…’
Master Heavenly Demon had opened up a truly ridiculous realm.
The nerves.
It all started with a single question that popped up yesterday evening.
***
[With what does internal energy move?]
It was a basic question and answer. To the point where I seriously agonized over what hidden trap lay within.
“It is will.”
[How fortunate. If you had said something like an internal cultivation method, I would have descended to the earth to break your head, even if it meant smashing the Divine-Sealing Great Barrier.]
“Hahaha…”
Looking at it now, it seemed that Master Heavenly Demon was also quite versed in joking.
Honestly, I was slightly cowed.
[Then where does internal energy move?]
The moment I heard it, I had a premonition.
That this was the question and answer Master Heavenly Demon truly wanted to ask.
“The dantian contains it, it flows through the meridians, and the acupoints center its flow.”
[That’s right. The Eight Extraordinary Meridians and the Twelve Primary Meridians are typical examples. Usually, qi flows through them.]
While the basic and fundamental lecture continued, I found one word in the context that caught my attention.
“Usually?”
[For you, who has trained in the Scripture-Refining Mind Method, it means power can flow elsewhere as well. You can create a special flow that others do not have.]
“The nerves…”
The old-timers of the martial world often compared qi to water.
Indeed, it was the most similar form.
Therefore, Master Heavenly Demon’s explanation deviated from the norm.
Water was normally gentle, but once it started to move, it could also become a raging torrent that swept away everything.
In fact, there were countless martial artists who became crippled because their acupoints and meridians tore due to unreasonable circulation.
Therefore, having a constitution where the Eight Extraordinary Meridians were tough and strong was a great talent in learning martial arts.
To make such qi flow through nerves that were incredibly sensitive?
It was a perfect way to become a cripple.
Anyone with even a shred of common sense about martial arts would call such a story the words of a madman.
Master Heavenly Demon spoke of that crazy talk with confidence.
[Thanks to that child you named Sang-hwa, it became a bit easier.]
The problem was that this crazy thing was possible.
Maybe not for others, but it worked for me.
In my nerves, Sang-hwa, who harbored the divine power of the tree, had taken root.
The Scripture-Refining Mind Method was refining and strengthening my nerves.
I had a meridian that others did not have.
[Simply pursuing power is a heretical path. Therefore, Zhang Sanfeng or that Bodhidharma fellow wouldn’t try to teach it, but I am not as narrow-minded as they are. If I feel you are straying into heresy, I can just take the reins myself. At any rate, looking ahead, it could be a way to open the stage of utilizing fine meridians early, so it is fully worth trying.]
“…”
[But as I already said, it won’t be easy.]
***
I learned from Master Heavenly Demon how to properly utilize the Scripture-Refining Mind Method.
It was literally like jumping into a new world.
Just stepping into that power for a moment left me completely knocked out.
The foundation laid down by the masters was at a level that dared not be measured in the human world.
Even Elder Divine Monk, who could be considered the current peak of Martial World, and Senior Jang Mun-gyeong shook their heads.
That foundation had reached its limit and screamed.
It was a feeling I hadn’t felt in a very long time since meeting the masters, but on the contrary, motivation welled up.
I could grow even further.
‘Anyway… for now, let’s focus on the opponent in front of me.’
The opponent was an expert of the Divine Steel Body. Furthermore, his specialty, Soft Vajra, was a tricky technique that returned the defense itself as an attack.
In addition, he was also someone who was proficient in using the subtleties of the Formless Staff, a martial art that originated from Shaolin.
According to Elder Divine Monk’s explanation, the Formless Staff was a martial art that started from self-forgetfulness, letting go of oneself, and pulling the realm of the unconscious to the surface.
It was a martial art that struck away everything entering one’s domain with extreme senses mobilized even to the unconscious.
Therefore, even if the forms seemed simple, it was a martial art that could open the realm of formlessness depending on the capability of the practitioner.
It was no exaggeration to say that it was a martial art faithful to the teachings of Shaolin.
Surprisingly, I felt that it also connected in some way with Master Heavenly Demon’s martial arts, which forcibly raised capabilities by utilizing even the nerves.
‘Then is it a clash between Master Heavenly Demon’s Scripture-Refining Mind Method and Shaolin’s Formless Staff?’
If so, which side would win?
However, this spar had a disadvantageous point for Ak Gun-pae.
It was because of his experience fighting me last year.
The discrepancy arising from my movements, which were distinctly different from his memory, was bound to be larger than expected.
I had even struggled to correct the discrepancy coming from the difference in speed, so if Ak Gun-pae tried to respond according to his memory of fighting me, he would suffer greatly.
If he truly opened the realm of formlessness, it would be different, but although he was sensible for his size, it was not to the extent of mentioning the realm of formlessness.
If so, I could pierce that opening.
‘At the beginning… I will settle the match.’
“You shouldn’t be arrogant, trusting in your backing.”
Ak Gun-pae warned. It was his way of saying I should abandon the expectation that he wouldn’t break my head out of fear of Elder Divine Monk.
“I didn’t expect it either. I’m not stupid enough to expect such a thing from a hero who stood against the Elder to keep his loyalty to his subordinates.”
“Ahem!”
For a brief moment, a satisfied look flashed across Ak Gun-pae’s face.
“I won’t go easy on you just because you flatter me.”
Though he quickly realized that the emotion had shown on his face and retracted it.
For his size, he seemed to have a simple side; because of such a personality, he was probably able to risk his life for his dead subordinates.
“Here I come.”
Since there was no set restriction other than being within ten moves, it was no different from a life-or-death battle, but the format itself was a spar.
Showing courtesy by clasping my hands to announce the start of the spar, I assumed the starting stance and immediately used what I had learned yesterday.
‘Open!’
Whuaaaa!
Something cold and fast seemed to spread through the nerves running across my entire body.
It felt as if something unknown was flowing in my blood.
A sense of foreignness came over my whole body.
It was like stepping foot into another world.
Everything in the world began to slow down.
‘Do my masters do this every time they work overtime?’
An absurd thought even crossed my mind.
I recalled the words of Master Zhang Sanfeng, who said that they increased their subjective time by raising their senses to the peak to move and resolve piled-up work.
‘No matter how I think about it, this feels like preparation…’
I felt Master Heavenly Demon’s dark will to work me to the bone as soon as I ascended to heaven.
The moment my feet kicked off the ground, all stray thoughts vanished, and all my senses focused on the opponent in front of me.
Swoosh!
In my head, a sound that made my ears go deaf continued to ring as if it would never end.
The load pressing down on my entire body was as heavy as a thousand pounds, as if mocking me that this was not a place for me to come.
‘This is thrilling…’
But I couldn’t stop.
‘Jumping in is my share!’
I traversed the rough storm.
It was a sensation of pushing through the overwhelming pressure.
I ran, tearing the pressure in front of me.
“…!”
I could see Ak Gun-pae’s astonished face.
‘I can see it… so well…’
In an instant, I penetrated and dug into Ak Gun-pae’s domain.
Following the subtlety of the Formless Staff, an axe strike came down, but my fist was faster.
‘I am… half a beat faster…’
My current movements were at a level where I wouldn’t miss even a split-second opening. A difference of half a beat was enough to determine victory or defeat.
When strength increases, power increases accordingly.
But when speed increases, power increases several fold.
The change in speed meant that the power of the martial arts unleashed was of a different dimension.
It meant that, albeit briefly, I could reach a level that looked upon the domain of the absolute peak experts in Martial World.
My fist, carrying the power of the Ultimate Extreme Strike, hit the center of Ak Gun-pae’s chest.
Boom!!
It was not the sound of a fist hitting a human body.
I could see him instinctively unfolding the Soft Vajra to absorb the force.
The groan that would normally sound brief stretched out long like taffy.
I was more concerned about that than the stinging sensation in my fist from hitting something hard.
‘This time, I will break it alone.’
Break the Soft Vajra!
My body, moving at a speed the expert couldn’t react to, was no different from a weapon itself.
Carrying the momentum of the fist I had driven in, I threw my body.
I smash into him with a body slam!!
Thud!!
This time, the sound of human bodies colliding rang out.
Whether because a crack had formed in the firmness of the Soft Vajra, Ak Gun-pae’s body was pushed back.
Swoosh!
Ak Gun-pae’s axe strike, which had been falling with the momentum to split my head, faltered from the aftermath.
‘Here…’
Avoiding that blow, I dynamically twisted my body.
Using the impact of slamming into Ak Gun-pae as an axis, I rotated my body half a turn.
Creak!!
Rapid advance and turning. Collision and impact.
Drawing a different line from vertical to horizontal.
As I suddenly twisted the force, my waist, where all that pressure rushed, screamed.
All the joints in my body roared as if they were about to explode.
‘Putting weight into the tips of my toes…’
With the feeling of loading a thousand pounds of weight onto my feet as I kicked off.
Gathering all the force to the tips of my toes!
“Break!!”
I vigorously thrust out my foot, which had become a sharp spear!!
Crack!
“Cough!”
Hitting Ak Gun-pae’s flank cleanly, his massive frame was blown away.
Ak Gun-pae’s body could no longer maintain the Soft Vajra.
I broke the Soft Vajra!
However, seeing that I couldn’t pierce through Ak Gun-pae’s body in the end, it felt like I had barely managed to break it.
‘He’s seriously strong, really!’
But Ak Gun-pae could no longer stand up.
Immediately after Ak Gun-pae collapsed, the moment the secret method taught by Master Heavenly Demon was cut off, it hit my entire body as if hundreds of thousands of bubbles swelling inside me were bursting.
“Huff… huff…”
There were several unfavorable conditions for Ak Gun-pae.
Like how his body was not normal after being broken by Elder Divine Monk yesterday, or how he was completely caught off guard because he didn’t realize how much I had progressed.
But even with those factors, the one who won was me.
“Phew… with this… the grudge is no more? Huff!”
It was a bit shameless, but if you’re upset, win.
As I took a breath, the surrounding scene came into view.
“…”
“…Huh?”
I felt everyone’s gaze directed at me, all with astonished eyes.