The current of internal energy that was flowing through his blood vessels was immensely powerful. The internal energy from his dantian, which had been sealed with the Ghost Mask for the last few months, gushed through his internal circuitry like an overflowing reservoir.
Lee Sungmin was surprised as he felt his body tremble with power.
Following his internal energy, the Draconic Energy flowed directly after, followed by the unknown power and Heoju’s borrowed powers. The massive amounts of energy from the different sources caused him to flinch and shake slightly.
His nerves and five senses prickled with sharp, but minute pain from the new stimuli.
What was this incredible sense of power he was feeling?
Deep behind Lee Sungmin’s golden irises, a purple light shone faintly. Sima Ryunju spoke to Lee Sungmin, who was surprised.
“Oh, you’re probably feeling a lot stronger, aren’t you? Don’t worry, when this old man worked on your body after the fight, I injected my internal energy directly into your meridians and cleared the blockage of impurities inside, as well as created new pathways for your energy to flow. Of course, this was all just to allow your internal energy to flow faster than it has before.”
“Why don’t you at least tell me in advance……!”
“If I tell you in advance, I wouldn’t be able to watch your surprise.”
Although he was told by Sima Ryunju of what he was feeling, Lee Sungmin could not fully understand the changes in his body.
Through the several pathways in his internal circuitry, he could feel a certain branch that was working nonstop at high-speed. It was faster than anything he had ever witnessed before in terms of circulation. Was this what was needed in order for Lee Sungmin to fully utilize the Dark Storm Arts in full?
“The Dark Storm Arts that you have mastered is a combination of this old man’s martial arts and your other cultivation techniques. I made it fit well so that it could be mastered by you, but there is still a large difference in how your internal circuitry operates compared to the way the circuitry would operate with the original version of the Dark Storm Arts.”
Sima Ryunju was enjoying Lee Sungmin’s surprise quite a bit. It was a little pleasing to see his normally incompetent disciple, so frightened like a little chick.
“Do you know why this old man is so strong?”
“Because you are great.”
“You know it well.”
Sima Ryunju threw a content smile at Lee Sungmin’s answer. He raised his hand and pointed to Lee Sungmin and then Jehu right after.
“You’re a Transcendent, and you’re a Transcendent as well. But why do you think the gap is so wide?”
“……what are you trying to say?”
Jehu asked this time, but was listening intently because he wanted to know what Sima Ryunju’s answer to this was.
“Transformation of the body.”
“Crazy.”
Jehu laughed in vain at Sima Ryunju’s answer. Shaking his head from side to side, Jehu continued to speak.
“Aren’t all Transcendents supposed to go through body transformation? Why else would it be called the Realm of Transcendence, unless you transcend your body’s limits?”
“You don’t think breaking through the wall of Transcendence is a true body transformation, do you?”
Sima Ryunju posed the cryptic question in response to Jehu’s words.
Lee Sungmin did not speak, but he felt similar to Jehu in the sense that he knew he had already gone through a body transformation when he was breaking through the wall of Transcendence.
He also suffered greatly from the imbalance of powers that needed to be re-allocated when his body completely transformed. His heart, mind and body were out of sync once again due to it.
“On the edge of Transcendence, when there is no room for further development in the martial arts and the body for the practitioner. But when he achieves transcendence, he goes through a body transformation. In the process of this transformation, the body and martial arts, which had no room for development before, move to a more advanced place and those limits are heightened to a new degree. In fact, at that point, the body is far beyond the normal capabilities of the human race. At that point, learning new martial arts is easier for the practitioner as his talent rises, and his martial arts start to undertake a new transformation utilizing the power of space. The practitioner also will feel that there is no end to his internal energy compared to before and there is no need to develop his internal circuitry any further. However, this is the biggest mistake made.”
“What do you mean when you say that is a mistake?”
Jehu’s eyes sparked with curiosity as he felt he was gaining insight to something he had not thought of before.
Musin, the Martial God, had never said this to Jehu. He, too, was a martial artist like Jehu, who was seeking a higher level of martial arts due to his past defeat from Sima Ryunju.
“It means the whole body is only functioning half-properly. Do you understand what I mean? I mean that your outside body has gained a new ceiling, but you also need to rework and get a new ceiling for the body on the inside.”
“Such….”
Lee Sungmin’s mouth was half open. If Sima Ryunju was right, it was natural that he not only treated Jehu like a completel child during the fight in the Murim Alliance, but also why Lee Sungmin could never capture his movement despite learning the same technique of speed.
Pulling on his internal energy, no matter how deep the reserves may be, still was no different than when he was a Peak Realm expert in terms of circulation.
When he became a Transcendent, he thought that his body was already completely different than before, and like many others, did not transform their circuitry to better suit their martial arts.
There was not much of a difference in speed originally with Lee Sungmin and other Transcendents due to his speed of the improvised Dark Storm Arts, but if he could further more increase the amount of pathways he could draw his power from and at a faster speed, he could very well become much stronger than he was before.
“It may be difficult to complete the full transformation you need at your level, but this old man has cleared your clogged meridians and opened the entry points to the higher levels of pathways required to complete the transformation. You should have a fun time playing around with it.”
Sima Ryunju said it would be ‘fun’.
Lee Sungmin thought for a moment before fully unleashing his internal energy through the Dark Storm Arts. Black tendrils of lightning gushed out and exploded around his feet and body. The internal energy flow of the Dark Storm Arts, met up with the flow and internal energy of the Nine Heavenly Spear Techniques, and gushed out in a purple and black aura.
The sheer power that was being emitted from his body was enough to completely surprise Lee Sungmin as well as Jehu, who was originally looking only in mild interest. Seeing the output of power Lee Sungmin was now able to wield, Jehu had no choice but to blink repeatedly with his mouth agape.
Standing behind Lee Sungmin’s back, Sima Ryunju, who was looking at him, nodded in approval.
“How does it feel?”
“Just how does cleaning someone’s meridians make them as strong as I am right now?”
“Don’t say such stupid things. Acupuncture and mastery of one’s internal circuitry is what this old man is best at; perhaps even the best in the world. That’s why cleaning your meridians and developing your pathways a bit, has made you so strong. You can thank this old man for it.”
It was a smug remark. Normally, Sima Ryunju would have spanked him like a child, but Lee Sungmin instead put down his spear and bowed at a ninety-degree angle.
“Thank you.”
“If you’re so grateful, serve me some of that alcohol I like.”
Without hesitation, Lee Sungmin took out Heoju’s gourd of endless liquor and handed it to Sima Ryunju. Sima Ryunju received the gourd with a satisfied face and opened the cap to savor the fragrant scent.
“There’s nothing more to show you, I’ll take my leave.”
Saying so, Sima Ryunju turned around and went into the carriage with a childish grin on his face as he looked at the gourd the entire way back.
Scarlet was still inside the carriage. Looking out of the window, she looked at Sima Ryunju who was approaching the carriage and took off her glasses.
“You take good care of him.”
“Because he’s the only disciple this old man has ever taken in.”
Sima Ryunju plopped into his seat as he replied. He didn’t even bother to grab a glass and started to drink straight out of the gourd.
The mellow scent tempted Scarlett, but now she was still focused on writing her book, her memoir containing the secrets of her magic and her life. Such a thing was far more important than alcohol.
[Do me a favor.]
Scarlett raised her head at the mental message that popped into her head from Sima Ryunju.
* * *
Security in Travia collapsed after the death of the Bloody Heavenly Demon. Some people tried to recover the lost prestige and make a name for themselves in the City, but the people who lived in this city knew it was nothing but a bunch of ridiculous nonsense.
Regardless of the existence of the Baek Museon, the City had long been the territory of a certain Vampire Queen.
The mansion in the central district where she lived had a beautiful red rose garden that could not be frozen or wilted from the frosty northern winds, and was filled with large windows that was opposite to most people’s thoughts as they commonly assumed the sun was a vampire’s natural enemy.
Basking herself in the scent of iron, Geniella was enjoying a red drink.
On the other side, there was a bloody child panting, but Aine’s painful groans were not much different to Geniella than the sound of pleasant music.(T/N : God, that is so twisted.)
Aine staggered to her feet. At that moment her body was already regenerated back to normal.
‘The speed of regeneration is comparable to mine.’
Geniella took the glass to her lips with that thought. When the red drink touched her lips, Aine jumped forwards.
The speed of Aine’s jump in that moment was phenomenal, but Geniella did not even bother to worry about her speed or movements.
It was because it was not even a remotely decent threat to her.
“You’re too slow.”
Geniella put the glass down. Licking the lips that were botched red from her drink containing human blood, she murmured in disappointment at Aine.
She looked ahead with her faint eyes. A red awl rose from the ground as it was surrounded in a mist and disappeared.
Aine’s body was mercilessly shredded so viciously, that her body did not even have any remotely similar semblance to her childish figure.
Whoosh!
To match the sound of internal organs being shredded apart and blood dripping to the ground, Geniella tapped the table with her fingertips rhythmically. The child’s body was left flinching on the floor in terrible pain.
“The body is perfect, and it’s regenerative power is outstanding. It seems to have enough strength…… but I’m not satisfied with it at all. Can you be any slower?”
“Ughhh……”
Aine grated her teeth and forced her body up despite the aching pain and raised herself. Geniella shook her head at the miserable sight of Aine.
“Or am I expecting too much from you? Are you just some trash and my prediction was wrong? That’s strange. I thought it was definitely you that I saw in my vision.”
“What…?!”
Aine stumbled to her feet, panting hard. Geniella smiled sadistically as she looked at Aine who didn’t even have so much as a scratch.
Geniella smirked, recalling the future she had seen.
It was the future regarding the Predator of Massacre. It was not known who it was exactly, but the closest thing to the Predator of Massacre was Aine.
“Just what is it that makes you lacking?”
Geniella gazed at Aene. Lack of instinctual predation? No, not that. Aine had shown several urges of wanting to eat everything in sight.
However…… that did not mean that the conditions for Predator of Massacre was to have an instinctual level of predation.
Even before the urges or power of regeneration to eat everything in sight and to massacre everything it saw, the Predator of Massacre obviously needed the power to do so.
“Just what is it….. Huh?”
Geniella’s eyes suddenly gleamed brightly as she looked directly at Aine. Feeling the penetrating gaze of Geniella, Aine shuddered.
The eyes of Geniella that saw through everything and anything.
Jeniella saw the ferocious and numerous energies overflowing within Aine’s body. It was the souls and spirits that Aine had accumulated and predated over. There was nothing lacking. Geniella raised herself up as she muttered to herself.
“Do I need to use an instrument?”
Geniella asked with a smile.
For Aine, it was not a pleasant feeling to be looked at so intrusively. It was like feeling utterly naked.
She glared at Geniella, grating her teeth. Geniella just giggled playfully at Aine’s fierce gaze.
“……Ah.”
Geniella stopped laughing.
swooooo-
Geniella raised her hands and covered her eyes. Her once red eyes dilated and stretched, eventually becoming dyed in a black light. The whites of her eyes slowly started to become painted in the blackness as her eyes turned completely dark like a demon out of a fairytale.
Geniella was using her ability to look into the future once more.
If she succeeded in using her power correctly, she would be able to see different scenes needed to be taken in order to get to the future she wished for.
The blackened vision in her eyes started to fluctuate and blur. Scenes started to unfold in front of Geniella’s eyes as she grinned with a cruel smile.
“……yes.”
The scenes stopped playing and Geniella smiled as she now knew the next course of action to take in order to achieve her desired future.
“I’m going out. Do you want to go too?”
Geniella asked, looking back at Aine, who was still glaring at her.
At the question, Aine’s expression paused. She looked toward the mansion without realizing it. In the basement of the mansion, she saw Frescan.
He was not killed for his relationship to Aine, but was shackled in the basement to make sure he did not interfere with Geniella’s plans.
“Don’t worry. It’s not like he is going to be eaten by the vampires here. They are under my watch, so they won’t do anything to him. Also, he is a Lich. He has no blood to suck in the first place.”
Geniella grinned as she joked.
“It’s okay, it’s okay. I’m just going for a brief stroll. You don’t have to come if you don’t want to.”
“……I don’t want to go.”
“Really? If so, it can’t be helped.”
At Aine’s refusal, Geniella nodded without hesitation and slowly turned away,
Poof poof!
The moment Geniella turned around and took a step. A red awl soared from the ground and penetrated Aine’s body.
“Oh…… Ugh…”!”
“Stay calm.”
In the future video she saw, it wasn’t important to take Aine with her right now. It was too important to let Aine have her own free will in the matter. Even if Aine refused like she just did now, she would have to be dragged with force.
Still, she asked her to come with her out of goodwill. She felt bad when she was rejected, so Geniella might have lashed out a little bit.
Geniella walked out of the garden, leaving Aine twisting around in her grasp of internal energy nearby her.
Even if Aine desperately tried her hardest, she could not break free of Geniella’s grasp, and Geniella made sure that her internal energy was as painful as it could be when wrapping itself around Aine’s body.
“My Queen, are you going out?”
“Yes.”
On the way to the gate of the mansion, careful questions were asked by her concierges.
Geniella nodded at the question, full of authority.
“I’m leaving Travia for a while.”
“Are you going alone?”
“I’m thinking about it. Hm….what should I do? I’m on my way to meet an important guest.”
Standing at the door of the mansion, Geniella smirked.
“I think I should dress rather fancy, wouldn’t you?”
To the extent that it suits the guests.She smiled as she muttered to herself.