The Three Extremes
"Three Extremes, Three Extremes."
Making a mockery of that grand title, Cultivator Ok was instantly engulfed in the crimson beam. But anyone who had witnessed that beam of color—a light so maddening that merely staring at it for a second threatened to consume one's entire body in insanity—would never have thought his defeat hollow. No, if anything, surviving such a strike deserved utmost respect. It proved he was indeed worthy of his reputation. And Cultivator Ok did indeed prove his extraordinary nature.
"Cough, hack! Bleeegh!"
Even if that extraordinary nature was only half-intact.
"Cultivator Ok!"
The middle-aged man clashing with Elder Do cried out in horror, recalling his flying sword. He looked ready to rush over and save Cultivator Ok this very instant, but if only the world worked the way one wanted it to.
"...Khehehe. Not so fast, boy."
"You crazy monster! Get lost! What kind of trick did you pull? How could a mere Qi Circulation brat unleash an attack like that?!"
"...I do not know."
Elder Do shot a suspicious glance in my direction. His eyes were hidden beneath the helmet covering his head, but he couldn't completely conceal the sharp, stinging green glow of his gaze. Regardless, Elder Do's task remained unchanged.
"I already swallowed the Demon Body Pill, so the backlash is going to be immense anyway! Since it's come to this, taking you to the underworld with me is the only way to break even!"
"Then die!"
Crack! Rrrrrr—
The two traded brutal blows. If they had been holding back their trump cards or conserving their strength earlier, they were now locked in an all-out war. Elder Do knew I couldn't hold out forever, so he was trying to kill the middle-aged man as quickly as possible. He had swallowed the Demon Body Pill despite its ruinous side effects; had he known things would turn out like this, he might have been a bit more cautious. But what was done was done. He couldn't throw up a pill he'd already digested. His only choice was to slaughter the bastard in front of him before the medicine wore off and he collapsed.
The middle-aged man was even more desperate. Setting aside his deep bond and friendship with Cultivator Ok, if this dragged on and that bizarre young Dokkaebi joined the fray, the Sect Alliance would be utterly annihilated. He could not let that happen.
"Clear Bright Sword! Draw out your power to the absolute limit!"
"Shatter!"
Boom!
A massive shockwave of energy rippled all the way to where I stood. It was so powerful that Cultivator Ok, who was pushing himself up from the ground, stumbled and collapsed back down.
"Ugh... cough..."
Cultivator Ok was clearly in no state to fight. His skin, flesh, and muscles had been completely stripped away, leaving him looking like a human-shaped lump of raw meat. Worse, ominous, multi-colored eyeballs were sprouting like moss over his exposed white bones.
Contamination. No, it was clear he had suffered something far worse.
—Whew. It has been a while since I stretched my limbs. That was quite refreshing.
Ryeo-ah, the culprit behind this entire mess, laughed merrily as she returned to my body. I glanced over and saw that the monster known as the Jar Gu had long since melted into a sticky, porridge-like puddle.
"That thing isn't going to resurrect, is it?"
—I squeezed every last drop of life out of it. Even if I wanted to revive it, I couldn't. More importantly, hurry up and kill that one.
"I plan to. But there's a slight problem."
I wasn't the kind of saint who waited for a wounded opponent to recover. The moment Cultivator Ok hit the dirt, I had already fired the Red Agate Bow. When he was reeling from an overwhelming attack, that was my only real window.
But my expectations were shattered by a mysterious golden barrier.
"My Dharma treasure doesn't work on him."
—Ah. That is indeed a peculiar talisman. Judging by its unfamiliar design, it is either a treasure excavated from some ancient ruins or a secret heirloom passed down through his sect. Once they reach the Three Extremes, they usually possess at least one extraordinary item.
"So..."
—Are you asking for my help? I refuse!
Did I seem too shameless asking for help? To be fair, she had already done a massive favor. I briefly considered acting cute to win her over, but Ryeo-ah's tone was far from playful.
—I have done this much for you; it is only right that you deliver the finishing blow. I respect you, Hayun, because I believe you have the qualities to be my partner. I have no intention of coddling a fool who cannot even handle a half-dead Three Extremes cultivator.
"So you're telling me to handle this much on my own?"
—Precisely. Prove your worth, novice.
"It's not even time to renew our contract yet."
I grumbled but gripped my club. The immense power Ryeo-ah had just displayed... If I wanted to stand proud before someone wielding that kind of strength, I had to be capable of at least this much.
Even before standing proud in front of Ryeo-ah, I had to be proud of myself.
So-wol, Jeongha, Sehyeon, Hayeon, and even Kang So-ye, who was bound to become my personal cum-dumpster. I needed to prove through my own strength that I had the right to hold so many women in my hands.
The thought ignited a fierce fighting spirit within me.
Ah, fighting spirit. How long had it been since I felt this unfamiliar sensation?
While a fighting spirit could be useful at times, overall, it was like lust—something that clouded rational judgment. Like a sudden surge of carnal desire that made you abandon reason to focus entirely on the physical dialogue of flesh. I had spent a long time ignoring and suppressing it, fearing that combining lust with a hot-headed fighting spirit would ruin my plans.
But suppressed emotions only build up. It was incredibly sudden, but Ryeo-ah's provocative words had thoroughly fired me up.
"Ugh... pant..."
Cultivator Ok was still struggling to regain his senses, slapping healing talismans onto his body and pouring a strange, life-force-laden spring water over his wounds.
I gave up on a sneak attack. Ordinary methods wouldn't pierce that bizarre protective barrier anyway. If I were a scholarly type, I would have tried to deduce the barrier's identity, analyze its properties, find its counter-element, and choose a logical solution.
But I was a Dokkaebi, and my kind wasn't known for being so refined. There was a much simpler truth right in front of me—one that applied to everyone, young and old, including myself.
"What did you say earlier? 'Prove your worth, novice'?"
—Fufu.
"That line, and your tone just now, is getting pretty cliché, Grandma."
Just like when I blasted Cultivator Ok earlier, actions spoke louder than words. I could practically see an imaginary vein throbbing on Ryeo-ah's forehead.
—Fu... fufu. Let us see how well you perform. If you fail...
"I'll just have to raise the stakes."
Besides, trying to clumsily beat a half-dead corpse like Cultivator Ok to death would look pathetic.
I plopped down right where I was. Then, I pulled a gourd emitting a clear jade glow from my robes. It was the Sensory Awakening Immortal Wine, the very elixir that had earned me the recognition of Kang Baek-jin and the other clan leaders.
The Sensory Awakening Immortal Wine. Even in the distant past, it had been treated as a rare treasure, and in the present era, its recipe was believed to be completely lost. Yet, the passage of time had done nothing to fade its value. If anything, its rarity had only elevated its reputation, turning it into a legendary elixir revered as a true drink of the gods.
When consumed, the Sensory Awakening Immortal Wine heightened all senses by several degrees. Its most famous legend claimed that if a cultivator at or near the Three Extremes drank it, they would instantly reach the pinnacle of one of the three pillars: Essence, Qi, or Spirit.
Because the exact process was completely incomprehensible and impossible to trace, it was dubbed an "Immortal Wine." Even the ancient alchemists who brewed it only knew the recipe; they had no idea how or where its miraculous efficacy originated. Since it defied human comprehension and proof, people simply attributed it to the gods.
—Are you aiming for the limit of the physical body?
"No."
I was going to challenge the limit of Qi.
There was no grand reason. It was simply because using it on my physical body, which was already near its limit, felt like a waste. My body instinctively recoiled at the thought of dumping such a precious resource into an experience bar that was already almost full and on the verge of leveling up.
Of course, if I thought about it rationally, I could come up with plenty of excuses and logic. Logic that would scream at me to stop this madness of casually attempting a breakthrough in the middle of a battlefield while leaving a half-dead enemy alone.
But none of that mattered.
—Why?
"Because I want to."
That was the only answer I could give to Ryeo-ah's loaded, questioning gaze.
Yet, I didn't feel like I would fail.
—Is that arrogance?
"No."
Who did she think was residing inside me? An ancient supreme being who had reached unfathomable heights, survived even after her soul was shattered into pieces, and could even manifest avatars.
With such a being fused with me, every time she used her power, something inside me began to grow accustomed to a level of energy manipulation that touched the heavens. Perhaps even more so than my physical body, which was still stuck at the peak of the Qi Circulation realm.
"Just the glimpses I've caught of how you circulate and control energy while hanging out with you are more than enough to aim for the limit."
The principles of a demigod who stood just below the heavens, far beyond the Creation Realm, were infinitely closer to the ultimate truth than any mortal flesh could ever be.
"They say even a school dog can recite poetry after three years. The future husband of our lovely Ryeo-ah can't be worse than a dog, can he?"
—You truly spout the most magnificent nonsense.
As always, Ryeo-ah shot me a look of disdain accompanied by a sharp tongue. Yet, beneath it all, there was a subtle hint of anticipation.
That anticipation was proof enough that my choice wasn't wrong.
—But this should be quite a spectacle. Succeed spectacularly. If you wish to speak with me as an equal, you must show a fitting level of status.
"I was planning to do exactly that."
I popped the cap and downed the contents.
The sensation on my tongue was less like drinking alcohol and more like swallowing mist, but that only allowed it to seep deeper into my body.
"Ah..."
A profound, soul-stirring sensation washed over me. Having consumed countless spiritual medicines on my way up to this point, it wasn't hard to distinguish a mere elixir from an Immortal Wine. In fact, it was impossible to miss, as the wine proudly flaunted its unique, peerless nature.
"Just once."
I had exactly one shot at this.
At the same time, I looked at Cultivator Ok, whose healing was nearly complete—at least, his outward appearance had recovered to a human shape—and raised the Red Agate Bow, drawing back the bowstring.
Simultaneously, my Qi began to circulate. Under normal circumstances, I would have been more than satisfied with such a precise and exquisite control of energy, but that was all it was. It was nowhere near enough to reach the next level.
I needed to layer experience on top of it.
The knowledge and applications that Ryeo-ah had directly shown me while piggybacking in my body—things that my current level could barely even comprehend. If I could melt just a fraction, a mere fragment of those principles into my body...
Creak, creak—
The string of the Red Agate Bow was drawn back with unprecedented, lethal tension.
It wasn't pulled by raw physical strength. Just as I had learned to manipulate external energy upon reaching the middle stage of Qi Circulation, the External Circulation realm, I was now extending my influence beyond simple physical interaction to affect the Dharma treasure itself. It had been quite some time since I acquired this weapon, but only now had I finally mastered how to properly draw out its true power.
And right in front of me.
"Haaah!"
Cultivator Ok merged his thick flying needles into a single point and unleashed them at me. Even at a glance, the attack carried an overwhelming destructive force, packed with the remaining strength of a Three Extremes master.
"No, that's not right."
Let me correct myself. It used to feel like overwhelming destructive force.
Amidst my hazy, chaotic senses, as if dreaming, I let my demonic energy drift and absorbed it directly into the Dharma treasure. My demonic energy, which should have been completely incompatible with the Red Agate Bow, flowed into it as naturally as breathing.
Just like Cultivator Ok, I packed every ounce of my power into the Red Agate Bow and loosed the arrow.
Ping! Snap!
The result was a shocking draw. The silver flying needle and the heavy stone arrow, carrying almost identical power, clashed; the needle was deflected, and the arrow shattered.
But...
"...cough."
Cultivator Ok couldn't bring himself to smile.
His body, which had been crushed and burned by the monster, had barely regenerated. That last strike had squeezed out every single drop of lingering energy left in his crumbling frame.
The heirloom treasure of his sect. The forbidden medicine that maximized recovery at the cost of his future. He had exhausted every single card in his hand just to survive the monster's maddening beam.
The strike he had just faced would have easily claimed the life of any Qi Circulation cultivator, and even for a Three Extremes master, it was a blow that would cause significant damage. That was an undeniable fact.
However, because his opponent was also a Three Extremes level threat, a merely 'fairly powerful' blow wasn't enough to bring him down.
It made perfect sense.
"Even if it had... cough... hit me dead-on, it wouldn't have killed me..."
Against a cultivator of the same realm, an attack that was merely 'fairly powerful' could only wound, not kill.
Everything had been set in stone the moment that damn, mysterious 'senior' had blasted him with that beam of light.
"Strike."
"No!"
Cultivator Ok wore a serene smile as he watched the middle-aged man, Cultivator Jang, desperately flying toward him.
"Now that I look closely... your beard has grown quite a bit, my friend."
Gazing at the man who was no longer the youth from his memories, a man who could no longer be called young.
A beard and wrinkles don't look half bad on you either...
Crunch!