Peak Realm
“Master, so what’s the method, then?”
In the training yard beneath a moonlit sky freckled with stars, I put the question to the old man who reeled this way and that, reeking of liquor.
Hwang Geolgae rapped me across the calf and told me to sit cross-legged.
“I don’t know whether you’ve noticed, but thanks to a string of greater and lesser insights, you already possess the physique, the internal energy, and the aptitude of a Peak Realm master.”
He pointed at the enormous mass of internal energy coiled near my dantian as he said it.
He wasn’t wrong. Through the chaos of the Dragon-Phoenix Gathering I had gained more than a few flashes of understanding. On top of that, I had gone so far as to perform the kind of good deed I would never normally have touched—something straight out of “love thine enemy.” The result was a volume of merit surging inside me that I could scarcely measure.
“So there’s only one thing left. You must learn how to command that vast qi at will. Clear that hurdle, and you’ll step up as a Peak Realm master.”
What stood in my path, he said, was neither internal energy nor bone and sinew, but the insight needed to wield qi itself—a shortfall in the fundamentals of energy control. Hwang Geolgae’s take was that it was a side effect of training methods that leaned more on shortcuts than orthodox practice.
“Then why did you spend every training session beating the daylights out of me?”
“Don’t interrupt. Want another one?”
“…No.”
The instant he raised his fist I pulled my neck in like a turtle. My skull had been hammered so many times it was hard as stone, yet those knuckle-raps of his still set my brain ringing like a struck bell.
“So what do I have to do to grasp the art of circulating qi?”
I had watched others scatter their qi laced with killing intent more times than I could count. I had even roughly imitated martial arts I had seen only once. But I had always been riding the talent of the Heavenly Killing Star, copying forms without knowing the reason or the principle behind them. Even the arts I used now simply told me, in their formulas, which meridians to pass through and which to reverse—I only followed the instructions.
“This old man will show you the flow of that qi.”
“How?”
Qi was something you could neither see with the eyes, nor touch, nor hear.
“I will guide your energy myself through the True Qi Dao Method.”
“……!”
He dropped down behind my cross-legged form and planted a hand squarely against my back.
“I’ve asked you plenty of times before, and you always refused, saying you were afraid of running into ‘that thing’ inside me.”
“I am still afraid of it, you brat.”
Hwang Geolgae shuddered as he spoke.
Damn it. If he said that, how much more terrifying was it supposed to be for the one who actually carried the thing around in his body?
“Then why now? Last time you said no.”
I twisted my head just enough to look back at him.
“At the Dragon-Phoenix Gathering you piled up more merit than you’ve ever held before, didn’t you? That means we’ve got a chance worth trying. Heh heh.”
Hwang Geolgae stroked his beard and gave me a look that was almost proud. He must have expected me to go out there and cause disasters; instead I had put on a decent show in more ways than one, and it clearly pleased him.
“Heaven ordered you to punish the world. I hope you will rise above that destiny and do the world some good.”
An indefinable sage’s light ran through the old man’s eyes and voice. Most days he was a hopeless drunk, but every so often he put on the air of a true Daoist like this.
“Can you manage it? If so, this old man will risk it with you.”
The fate of a baleful star I had never asked for, never wanted—a fate that tried to devour my mind?
Of course I was going to rise above that garbage.
“Hell with it. Let’s do this.”
I met his eyes and gave a firm nod.
He grinned and drove a finger into the Spirit Pillar point on my back.
Another person’s internal force rode the meridians and sank into my body. Because it was foreign, every thread of it stood out with crystalline clarity.
Then Hwang Geolgae’s energy—bearing the same nature as my own heart method—began to gently lead the power massed in my dantian. Like a quiet river, it carried me through the Grand Circulation with serene dignity.
And that was when the Heavenly Killing Star sensed the intrusion of foreign energy and flew into a frenzy.
Thick, blood-red killing intent began to billow up through my whole body.
Tssss—
Sound Transmission into the Secret. A strange voice that seemed to vibrate the cochlea itself.
I began reciting the formulas of the Seongun Simbeop with everything I had. Energy surged along every meridian in my body and gathered in a roaring tide.
Star-Spirit Unification… water-heaven qi parts the ages… wherever one abides, one becomes the master and the true lord…!
Embrace the stars of the open sky, and illuminate the whole world. Do so, and the realm beneath heaven will be at peace, and you will set yourself free.
Shaaaa—!
The power of merit charged toward the baleful star with the force of a raging flood.
BOOM—!
Pure white energy and blood-red energy crashed against each other inside me with savage violence.
Jolt!
Shock and pain flooded my mind until the world went white. My body tried to leap into the air as if it would fly apart, but luckily Hwang Geolgae pinned my shoulders down.
That did nothing for the sensation of being hammered from the inside.
BOOM—!
The second collision of the two opposing forces. Pure white and blood-red tore at each other in my body, each trying to swallow the other whole.
“Nnngh.”
A thread of blood spilled from between my clenched teeth—aftermath of the shock, no doubt.
No one had opened their mouth, yet Hwang Geolgae’s voice rang in my ear. Seeing me waver, the old man told me to gather my energy and strike again.
Easy for him to say. My thoughts were already blurring under the blows that threatened to knock me unconscious.
Shit. Thinking about it, he was right.
Even when I was on the verge of blacking out, even when my whole body was a wreck, spite would rise and I would roll across the dirt and bite if I had to—anything to hit back.
Shiiiit!
Without flinching I hurled every scrap of energy in my body back into the battlefield. The pure white force gathered into a single mass and hammered the red energy without mercy.
BOOOOM—!
My body tried to bounce up again and was caught and pressed down by Hwang Geolgae. For an instant my consciousness nearly fled, but I bit my lip hard enough to draw blood and clung to reason.
Pain that failed to kill me would only make me stronger.
I clenched my fists until blood ran between my knuckles and launched my energy upward yet again.
BOOOOM—!
“Kh!”
Blood burst from the seam of my lips. My entire body felt as if it were boiling over.
But there was a result. That single blow, swinging vast merit like a war hammer, shattered the concentrated red energy of the Heavenly Killing Star.
Merit then surged toward the upper dantian with unstoppable force, as if a blocked blood vessel had finally burst open. I pushed the Seongun Simbeop—the method that annihilates evil and nurtures the energy of the stars—to its absolute limit.
The fierce pure-white power struck the star embedded in my mind, the Heavenly Killing Star, like a siege ram.
KWAANG!
A roar like that seemed to explode inside my skull. The baleful star, which had been blazing red as the sun, shrank as abruptly as if it had been struck by a block of ice.
Crack—
With a sound of rupture, the hairline fractures that had already formed lengthened and deepened. Fragments of star-like energy spilled from the baleful star.
The peerless heart method that stole those incomprehensible scraps and converted them into internal force one could actually understand—the Seongun Simbeop. I felt a colossal tide of internal energy well up as if I had swallowed some divine elixir.
“Hup!”
Power roared through my whole body like a swollen river. And Hwang Geolgae began to guide that wild-horse energy with perfect clarity.
Following his lead, the fierce force bored into every fine meridian throughout my body.
Tssssss—!
White energy wrapped me so completely that it rose from my skin like steam. When that dreamlike Grand Circulation finished a single full circuit, an understanding of qi rose of its own accord in the depths of my mind.
Qi is the breath of all creation under heaven and earth, the fundamental force that runs through every living thing.
I had thought only what lay inside me was true qi—but when I came back to myself, I realized the entire world was made of it.
At the same moment my eyes snapped open, blazing with clear light, and a fist shot out of its own accord under the crushing pressure of that terrible power.
“Hyaaah!”
Fist Qi, waking from sleep, stretched and struck the air of the world with a violent crack.
FWOOM—!
The long session of energy circulation and breath regulation finally wound down. Once I had settled my roiling insides and reined in the runaway power, dawn was already rounding the horizon and lifting the sun.
“Hoo.”
A deep exhale. The aftertaste of Peak Realm still seemed to tremble at my fingertips.
Perhaps under the influence of the Seongun Simbeop, a pure white Fist Qi clung to my hand in sharp, vivid form. This was the Fist Qi said to smash iron and pulverize stone.
When I took up the Dog-Beating Staff, white Staff Qi blossomed along its length just as vividly. The internal force that formed it was so intense that the white energy did not merely rise—it climbed in fine, silk-like threads.
This was the next stage beyond Sword Qi coating the edge: Sword Silk.
Since I had drawn it with a staff, it was technically Staff Silk.
“Staff Qi, Staff Silk… why do these names all sound so wrong?”
I had felt it before. Unlike swords or sabers, this Dog-Beating Staff somehow refused to carry any real dignity. Starting with the name—what kind of weapon was a “dog-beating staff,” exactly? Other martial artists gave their cherished arms flashy nicknames.
“Still thinking useless thoughts, I see.”
As I glared sourly at the Dog-Beating Staff, Hwang Geolgae shook his head and spoke. Sometimes he really did seem to have some kind of divine sense. Did becoming a Daoist mean you could read a man’s mind?
“So. You have become a master of the Peak Realm. What do you intend to do with that power?”
He asked again about my goal and my will.
“Same as always. Play troubleshooter, pile up merit, and make money.”
There was still a long road ahead before I could escape the world’s shackles around the Heavenly Killing Star. And I had my own reasons for needing to reach the Transcendent Realm someday.
“Heh heh. Looking at this old man has got your hands itching, hasn’t it?”
Exactly that—beating the stuffing out of the man in front of me. Paying back every thrashing I had ever taken.
“Ahem. I have no idea what you mean.”
“You brat. Did you think this old man wouldn’t notice the look you keep giving me?”
He spent every day drowning in booze, yet his instincts were razor-sharp.
“I am merely grateful for Master’s boundless kindness, deep as the seas and the rivers.”
“Tch. That kind of talk doesn’t suit you at all.”
Hwang Geolgae snorted at my answer. Then he snapped a nearby branch and shaped it into a serviceable club.
“By now your body must be itching to pour out everything you’ve just gained. If you want, I can oblige you.”
He seemed curious to see the fruit of the work he had helped me achieve. If he was going to roll out the mat this far, I wasn’t about to refuse.
I stabbed the Dog-Beating Staff into the empty air—destructive internal force already crawling along its length—and declared with swagger:
“Then let’s go a round, old man.”
“Tch… now that sounds more like you.”
His mouth twisted into a wicked grin at the provocation.
I was a Peak Realm martial artist now. Even if I got thoroughly worked over, I would at least plant one solid hit in that face of his.
Pouring out internal force hard enough to tear the training yard apart, I charged my master.
“It’s Staff Qi time—!”
“Boss. Boss.”
Someone prodded me where I lay sprawled across the training ground looking like a ragpicker’s leftover. Slender fingers jabbed at my shoulder.
“Whoa, Boss. You look rough.”
She took in my face, mottled with bruises, and let out a short whistle of awe.
“Who did this to you?”
“Someone who can thrash a Peak Realm martial artist… who do you think?”
That vicious old bastard. Bare my teeth a little and he beats me half to death. I had heard that once you peeled off a layer of human limits by reaching Peak Realm, wounds and pain healed fast. Yet after fighting that hard, my whole body still throbbed even a full shichen later.
“…Wow. Congratulations, Boss. You looked stuck against a wall, but you finally punched through it?”
She had watched me groan through every late-night training session, failing to draw out Staff Qi, so the congratulations came at once. Then she hauled on my wobbly arm and pulled me to my feet.
“Urgh. So why’d you come looking for me?”
“On the way back we took that unscheduled escort job for Guild Leader Jo, remember? I went to the Vagabond Association and settled the payment. Here.”
She tossed me two gold coins. I was fairly sure the original fee had been quoted in silver. Guild Leader Jo must have padded the price hard to keep a connection with someone who had just entered Peak Realm.
“It was three coins originally, but they skinned one for the brokerage fee.”
I still hadn’t updated my rank, so as a mid-grade vagabond I had been charged the full thirty percent. Bunch of delivery-app parasites who barely did anything and still raked in the cut.
“But you know… it’s kind of amazing.”
“What is?”
“Back when we were beggars, scraping together copper coins was a struggle. Lately money just piles up, whoosh whoosh.”
Ilhong rolled a gold coin between her fingers with a silly grin.
“That’s exactly when you have to be the most careful. The moment fortune starts flooding in.”
Get cocky, start spending like the money is pure skill, and you lose every last coin. I had blown fortunes that way a few times when I was young.
“So, Boss. You’ve got to have a serious pile by now. What are you going to do with it?”
The bounty from taking down a big player, the reward the Murim Alliance Leader had bestowed, plus every commission fee I had scraped together so far—Ilhong was clearly curious what I planned to do with all of it.
“Now I’m going to do the one thing I’m best at.”
Once the money was gathered, you put it to work in a business. Peak Realm cultivation, the nickname Dog-Beating Dragon that had been making some noise lately, and a fat stack of cash—was I really going to keep letting middlemen skim off the top forever?
“I’m going to open a troubleshooter’s office right here in Beijing.”
The office I had always wanted. Jobs that were mine alone. At last the time had come to cast my own color across the vast Central Plains.