Chapter 77: A New Martial Art

The Devouring Demonic Monarch had a face that did not seem to understand this situation well.

He looked like a person sinking into a swamp at a slow speed.

He was being encroached upon.

Unbefitting of a cunning veteran, his emotions were clearly revealed on the surface of his face.

‘I don’t even understand it myself, so how much more must it be for him?’

When in fact, I was in a situation where I myself could not understand what was happening in my own body.

Since Master Zhang Sanfeng had foreseen this situation, he would surely know something about it.

If Master Zhang Sanfeng knew, the other masters would all know as well.

Still, the fact that they did not mention it to me could be considered as either something I did not need to know, or something that would be of no good for me to know.

‘Well, anyway.’

It was good to see an annoying guy make a face like he had been screwed over.

It was just as good as shutting his mouth that was mocking me so proudly.

‘It’s thrilling.’

The aftermath of opening my mouth during the clash of internal force was not nonexistent. My physical vessel, which was doubly and triply protected by all sorts of things and as hard as diamond, shook violently. Normally, my qi and blood would have been torn and burst, causing me to vomit blood and collapse.

However, looking at the reaction of the Devouring Demonic Monarch before my eyes, it was well worth enduring.

Even the pain spreading in my stomach was thrilling.

‘How long will it last?’

If my thoughts were correct, even if there was a limit due to the small size of the vessel, under certain conditions, my internal energy was infinite.

If I applied the state of protecting the physical body like when unfolding the Heavenly Demon Kalpaless Hand, there would be almost no one who could defeat me, at least in a clash of internal force.

If applied differently, I would have to re-evaluate just how strong and dangerous of a martial art the Heavenly Demon Kalpaless Hand was.

[Since the other side must be at his limit as well, he will start moving soon, wouldn’t he?]

At the advice of Master Zhang Sanfeng, who spoke as if watching a person suffocating in real-time, I also prepared myself.

Unless he intended to die like this, the Devouring Demonic Monarch would also move.

Even if it meant taking a desperate measure.

Sure enough.

“Kuak!”

The Devouring Demonic Monarch forcibly struck away the hands we had been pressing together.

He forcibly severed the connected flow.

“Hup!!”

“Keueueok!!”

Ultimately, it was a situation where my internal energy was overwhelming the Devouring Demonic Monarch. The aftermath was not small.

The Devouring Demonic Monarch was retreating while spewing blood from his nose and mouth. He looked to have suffered a severe internal injury.

[Come to think of it, disciple, you used the Ultimate Extreme Strike that the fellow Bodhidharma taught you on the spot, didn’t you? As for the Heavenly Demon Kalpaless Hand, you completely crossed the line.]

In the midst of that, Master Zhang Sanfeng cut in.

As I guessed his next words, my heart naturally pounded.

[It seems you learned something good but cannot utilize it properly. I have roughly made something based on what you have learned, so shall we see how far you can go with this?]

He was teaching me a new martial art.

A customized one, at that.

[It is about the listening force I taught you and the synesthesia you obtained from that Heavenly Demon bastard’s martial art. You seem to combine and utilize the two in your own way, but in my eyes, it has not escaped a basic level. So…]

It meant that rather than a newly learned martial art, it was a way to properly utilize the martial arts I was already using.

If so, there was no reason I could not use it as soon as I learned it.

While Master Zhang Sanfeng’s teachings continued,

Pak!

I dashed toward the Devouring Demonic Monarch, who was retreating while spitting blood.

‘Even a glance shows that the flow of his breath is a total mess.’

The internal energy he had coveted out of excessive greed and overeating fluctuated violently inside the Devouring Demonic Monarch’s body.

Internal energy that could not be digested became a poison instead.

He seemed to be in a state where he could not even control his own internal energy.

As proof, the astral qi he had shown when facing Taoist Cheongpung was nowhere to be seen.

[If you know the eight forms and the eight changes, you will awaken to the sixty-four principles, and further understand the transformations of all things. Since all movements of the hands and feet are derived from this, if you know the way to suppress and subdue them, there is nothing you cannot dissect.]

The comprehension of Master Zhang Sanfeng was transmitted. It was a feeling similar to when I encountered the Heavenly Demon Kalpaless Hand.

My body, rather than my head, understood and mastered it first.

Eventually, following the body, what the head came to understand, even if only partially, was the essence of this martial art.

[As long as you can read and grasp it, no martial art can escape from this.]

The foundation was the Supreme Ultimate Fist, but the domain it reached was above it. When listening force and synesthesia were combined, it reached something high-dimensional that surpassed the ordinary track.

[I named this the Spirit-Descending Hand.]

Listening force and synesthesia.

A martial art that, with those, subdued every stance I could comprehend in a single exchange.

‘This is crazy.’

It transcended the domain of martial stances.

The peak of sensory paths.

At this level, it was worthy of being called an insight.

To think it was a martial art that, despite being of the orthodox path, could be evaluated as having reached the unorthodox path because it went too far.

He had been sharpening his blade for a long time to create a martial art suitable for me, and he truly created something ridiculous.

There were only two ways to break the Spirit-Descending Hand.

‘Either it must escape the sensation of combining those two—my listening force and synesthesia—or it must be shattered purely by force.’

It was a martial art that allowed me to conditionally stand on par with or gain an upper hand against a master of higher skill than me, and naturally win against those of equal or lower skill.

Thinking about whether such a martial art was allowed to exist was a matter for later.

“Keuhahap!”

A red bloody light flickered in the eyes of the Devouring Demonic Monarch, who was retreating while spitting blood.

The thick veins that rose around the whites of his eyes were so dark that they almost looked like red eyes.

A strike harboring that red fury stretched out.

‘Now!’

If he could not use astral qi, there was nothing to fear.

As I opposed the Devouring Demonic Monarch’s strike, the technique of the Spirit-Descending Hand floated into my hands.

The hand stretched out like that was my hand, yet it did not feel like mine.

The hand, moving on its own, found the most fatal path to the Devouring Demonic Monarch.

It opened a space where it could seep in most naturally on its own.

A martial art that rendered the meaning of the word ‘stance’ meaningless was realized.

Pang! Pa-pang!

Although his qi and blood were distorted to the point where the flow of his breath was a total mess, the opponent was a powerhouse who was several levels above me. Even though I found and struck the most fatal path, the pressure reaching my hands was not small. Despite parrying and deflecting it, my hands turned red from the impact.

Yet, the Spirit-Descending Hand, which I used for the first time, produced a clear result.

Teong!!

“Keueuk!”

Bouncing off the strike that the Devouring Demonic Monarch thrust as if in a death struggle, I opened a gap. To the extent that the word ‘torn open’ was fitting, the Devouring Demonic Monarch’s body was completely exposed.

“……ryeong…… of all things……!”

He seemed to be saying something, but because he was repeatedly vomiting blood, his pronunciation was slurred and could not be heard.

‘Who cares what he’s saying.’

It would only be a curse anyway.

In the midst of this,

[When the mind gathers, the intent arises, and when the intent gathers, the form emerges. Extreme Mind is the overflowing of the mind. The overflowing mind becomes the Extreme Intent, and the form achieved by the Extreme Intent can surely reach the heavens (thunder).]

One more thing descended from Master Zhang Sanfeng, who was exceptionally generous today.

While quickly accepting it, I realized it in real-time.

This martial art was also close to an application of what I already knew.

[This is the Ultimate Extreme Thunder.]

‘Ultimate Extreme Strike?’

Although it resembled Master Bodhidharma’s Ultimate Extreme Strike in that it was a destructive blow, it was different.

If the Ultimate Extreme Strike was about compressing all force into a single point to strike, the Ultimate Extreme Thunder exploded the force gathered at a single point.

Since it stood at the opposite pole, perceiving it in the opposite way of operating the Ultimate Extreme Strike made the acquisition itself easy.

Since he handed it to me to use, there was no reason not to use it.

I dug into the bosom of the Devouring Demonic Monarch, who was trying to manage his collapsed defense somehow.

Kwaang!

“Keoheok!”

My fist, which turned into a bolt of lightning, pierced the Devouring Demonic Monarch.

When a roar like a thunderbolt striking burst out, all the hairs on my skin stood on end.

“Hwiyoo!”

If the Ultimate Extreme Strike was a solid rock, the Ultimate Extreme Thunder was an exploded thunderbolt. It was a flash of light that erupted and flickered in an instant.

If the Ultimate Extreme Strike crushed things from the front, the Ultimate Extreme Thunder was closer to a blow that penetrated like an awl.

Even if they were martial arts that decided the outcome with a single blow, their uses were different. In that respect, the Ultimate Extreme Thunder was certainly suitable as a martial art to harmonize with the Spirit-Descending Hand.

‘Although he didn’t say it, he must have cared tremendously.’

He seemed to place a lot of significance on being my first master. His displeasure at his share of attention being eaten up by Master Bodhidharma recently could be felt in the martial art I learned this time.

‘Should I say only the Devouring Demonic Monarch was unfortunate?’

The sensation that reached my fist was correct.

It landed perfectly.

It was not a power that the abnormal Devouring Demonic Monarch could endure.

“Uuk…… wek!”

As if still unable to believe reality, the eyes of the Devouring Demonic Monarch, which had been tinged with a red light, grew blurry.

Seeing that there were things like pieces of internal organs among the blood clots he spewed from his mouth, he also seemed to have lost his mind from the pain of his insides being completely torn apart.

“……cannot be……. No way……”

Judging by the words he muttered while vomiting blood, he seemed to have been more shocked by something else.

“Heoheoheo……”

The other person, who had received a shock comparable to the Devouring Demonic Monarch, let out a low laugh.

“Whether I should believe this or not……”

Even though Taoist Cheongpung saw it with his own eyes, he doubted his own eyes.

A young rising star who had not even reached twenty years of age had brought down a Demonic Lord, who, although at the lowest rank, was one of the central pillars of the Demonic Cult.

Looking closely into the details, it was thanks to being caught in an overwhelmingly advantageous compatibility battle, but to someone who did not know that, it would feel like witnessing an incomprehensible domain.

‘In fact, that overwhelmingly advantageous compatibility was as good as non-existent if that fellow hadn’t used the Great Absorption Method.’

What if he hadn’t used the Great Absorption Method and had swung his astral qi from the very beginning, just like when facing Taoist Cheongpung?

I would have been soundly thrashed.

It might sound like I’m making various excuses about thrashing him thanks to the compatibility, but it’s just that there was no lack of risk on this side either.

Anyway.

“Do you want to finish him off?”

I casually suggested to Taoist Cheongpung, who had still not returned to reality.

He seemed to have quite a grudge.

“……”

Perhaps quite tempted, Taoist Cheongpung’s hand twitched.

Though it was a short time, perhaps because he pondered deeply, Taoist Cheongpung drew his body back with a deep sigh.

“You finish it.”

“I won’t offer a second time.”

“I won’t ask twice.”

The corners of Taoist Cheongpung’s mouth turned up as he mimicked my words.

“Didn’t that disgusting bastard say so? To become his history. That word suddenly crossed my mind. After all, your name is likely to be greater and last longer than mine. So, if he dies by your hand, he will be remembered a bit longer…… as a dishonor.”

“Ah.”

If you say so.

Having heard his reply, I immediately moved toward the Devouring Demonic Monarch.

However, before my steps surpassed three, I had to stop my feet.

Puhwak!

The Devouring Demonic Monarch’s body exploded like a firecracker, scattering blood clots and bone fragments in all directions.

I even had to directly strike away a few flying towards me with my hands.

The sight of flesh scattered along with blood in all directions was a scene where disgust would not fade no matter how well one packaged it.

“Tsk! I should have cut off his head.”

If it were the severed head of the Devouring Demonic Monarch, it would have been good proof that the Demonic Cult was operating in secret. The Devouring Demonic Monarch also seemed to have blown himself up to guard against that.

He had said with his own mouth that it would be troublesome if anyone returned alive from here, so that must be right.

Setting that aside,

“To think guys harboring such venomous minds are in a civil war. Whoever the current Heavenly Demon is, unless he is also out of his mind, he must have quite a headache.”

***

The world seen through the mirror was full of red.

Several beings looking at it licked their lips, as if excited.

“To use Kongling (infinite internal energy) in that way against a martial art that plunders another’s energy. It seems they are not telling him what kind of weapon he holds in fear of hindering his growth…… he is a very courageous child.”

There is no surprise if one knows in advance how things will turn out.

But risking one’s life in a state of knowing absolutely nothing about the context requires something special.

That young one in the lower realm believed in his master and threw himself toward the unknown.

Ignorance and courage.

A young and foolish passion can be glimpsed.

There are things that are recalled through that sight.

“Ah, the old days.”

It reminds one of nostalgic memories.

It recalls the memories of once walking the earth like him and living fiercely.

The era when red blood flowed in the veins.

The era when one was foolish, lacking, and reckless.

Perhaps because the sensation that disappeared long ago was sprouting, the skin tickled.

“I really want to lick it.”

I wondered what that crazy bitch Daji was thinking when she said such a thing, but seeing it in person, I understand.

I want to bite that once.

Enough for red blood to flow.

If it were blood piercing through that skin, it seems like it would smell more fragrant than any flower.

“Certainly, it is worth it for that Heavenly Demon to do such a crazy thing.”

What a boiling sensation.

There is no way to endure it.

“Find out if there is a way to sponsor him.”

At the solemn command, several figures left the area at a slow pace, as if full of lingering regrets.

Hearing the grumbling of the one leaving, it seems he intends to prepare one.

Besides him, there are countless others who are seriously deciding to purchase.

“It will spread a lot.”

A new stimulation appeared in the dry and dull heavens.

In a corner of the heavens, the gazes looking favorably upon Yeon Cheong-un increased even further.