Chapter 19
Chapter 19
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 19
Chapter Title: Mastering Taiji Eight Immortal Steps
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Another alarm rang out.
Yang Su-hyeok immediately opened his Force Status window.
⚔ STATUS ⚔ 📛 Name: Yang Su-hyeok 🎂 Age: 27 ♂️ Gender: Male ⭐ Level: 13 💼 Job: Martial Artist ⚖️ Alignment: Chaotic Neutral 🔮 Karma: Excess ⚡ Strength: 33 💨 Agility: 35 💪 Stamina: 37 🧠 Wisdom: 35 🛡️ Will: 43 Special Notes: Karma value is extraordinarily high compared to age and racial norms. Body Purification: 70%. Effects enhanced when using ki-based techniques. Ren and Du Meridians opened. Real-time internal energy recovery and usage efficiency doubled proportional to base values. Unified Body: Internal energy is divided. Power increases with higher-density dantian usage. Current (Lower Dantian 100% baseline): Middle Dantian +70%, Upper Dantian +150% enhancement. It was only natural that his stats had risen with the level-up.
But there was a clear difference from before.
First off, Wisdom had shot up dramatically.
In truth, Wisdom felt like an incredibly subtle stat.
Did higher Wisdom make Su-hyeok smarter?
If asked whether it boosted his five senses or comprehension, he would shake his head.
The stats displayed in the Force Status window weren't some abstract notion like getting smarter.
Instead, they had very tangible, direct effects.
Just like Strength, Agility, and Stamina.
After much contemplation, the answer he'd arrived at was that Wisdom was tied to qi—in other words, internal energy.
It undoubtedly influenced his ability to handle qi and his recovery rate.
In fact, even with his Ren and Du Meridians open, his internal energy recovery was ridiculously fast.
And he could definitely feel the benefits growing sharper as Wisdom increased.
That was why he was so certain.
And then there was Will.
Unlike Wisdom, its growth had slowed.
He found it odd, but he wasn't particularly disappointed.
This one surely had some tangible effect too, but he just didn't grasp its utility yet.
Besides, it would rise on its own once he engaged in whatever it was connected to.
Su-hyeok decided to set aside his curiosity about Will for now.
Instead, he checked the new Unified Body entry under Special Notes.
And once again, he marveled at the Force System.
'It's grasping things pretty accurately.'
Compared to the basic internal energy of the lower dantian, the qi in his middle and upper dantians was far less in quantity but packed much greater power—and the multipliers matched almost exactly what he felt in practice.
For now, with so little qi in his middle and upper dantians, it was hard to use them aggressively in real combat.
But if he could employ them at all, they unleashed proportionally devastating might.
'With this, I've finally taken my first proper step forward.'
Heaven and Earth Unification Divine Art.
He had reclaimed one of the martial arts that had defined him back on the Huand Continent.
Now it was time for the second: his footwork.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ The blistering sun beat down on the sandy beach, an environment mimicking a desert that even seasoned Hunters wanted to avoid.
Desert-type worlds teemed with monsters.
Among them, the most common in Rank 3 portals were Gerha—mole-like beasts with blunt, eyeless, noseless, mouthless heads, compensated by rows of shark-like serrated teeth and long, razor-sharp claws.
While portals and worlds varied slightly, Gerha generally looked alike. They tunneled beneath the sand to ambush Hunters, making them tricky Rank 3 monsters—not overwhelmingly strong, but notoriously difficult.
Shar Cal Eluriate had figured Team 8 would struggle against these unfamiliar foes.
She was dead wrong.
More precisely, today's Su-hyeok was utterly overwhelming.
He was culling the pesky Gerha like a whack-a-mole player at an arcade, hammering them indiscriminately.
Gerha had tough hides.
Even Su-hyeok hadn't one-shot any before.
Today was no different at first.
He dodged and countered swiftly to fell them.
But then, in a split second, his movements accelerated dramatically.
His fist shot out, piercing straight through a Gerha's chest in one blow.
'Iron Palm Strike, ultimate technique: One Thought Pierces Rock. A fist concentrating the mind penetrates even stone.'
Iron Palm Strike's most domineering move, enabled by its ultimate technique.
Something impossible with just his lower dantian's internal energy.
He'd accelerated with middle dantian qi and focused power with the upper dantian's.
The sheer force depleted his upper dantian qi in an instant.
'Still too little quantity.'
But his middle dantian had some left.
Su-hyeok accelerated with that qi, channeling it into the Taiji Eight Immortal Steps he hadn't fully utilized yet.
His companions watched in stunned awe.
"Uncle Su-hyeok's on another level today."
"I can't even dream of keeping up."
Even Baek Yi-yeon and Jin Chang-hyeok noticed the change.
To Shar, it was crystal clear.
'His movements are more refined, and his qi efficiency has improved.'
Especially One Thought Pierces Rock.
The moment Iron Palm Strike's ultimate technique extended, Shar's feet twitched forward involuntarily.
She wanted to experience it firsthand.
Just watching couldn't convey its full power.
Who would believe a mere trainee like Su-hyeok had shattered a Rank 3 Gerha's heart in one strike? Even those who thought highly of him would call it a joke.
'And that footwork.'
It was extraordinary.
Finding hidden Gerha with qi was impressive enough, but deliberately leaping above them to draw them out—those movements were beyond astonishing, almost mystical.
Su-hyeok's prior motions had been special too, but this was on another plane.
Mystically subtle, like casting magic.
Su-hyeok ignored the stares from Shar, Baek Yi-yeon, and Jin Chang-hyeok, fully immersed in his battle.
The instant a hidden Gerha burst from the sand, qi flowing through his Heaven and Earth Unification Divine Art completed an invisible Taiji.
Su-hyeok stepped within that Taiji's circle.
Three steps.
But to others, it looked like one.
Puhak-!
As another Gerha lunged, Su-hyeok took another step.
Eight steps total.
The moment he completed them, an alert chimed in his head.
⚙ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ⚙ Legendary Discovery. Divine Art Absolute Skill. SS-grade martial art, Taiji Eight Immortal Steps mastered. He had perfectly executed another divine art absolute skill: Taiji Eight Immortal Steps.
His fingertips, following its mystical variations, tapped the massive Gerha's body in key spots.
Those playful taps, combined with the footwork's speed, scrambled the Gerha's nerves.
As Su-hyeok took his first step again, passing the dazed Gerha...
Its body crumpled wildly—then exploded with a bang, blood spraying everywhere.
Su-hyeok glanced at the result and nodded curtly.
Blood Burst Demon Finger Art, Explosive Blood.
'It landed perfectly.'
Compared to his other martial arts, Blood Burst Demon Finger Art was a step lower at B-grade.
A demonic art with immense destructive potential by implanting qi like explosives into the foe's body—but the process was complex and inefficient.
To use it properly, one needed overwhelming speed to dominate or such subtlety the enemy couldn't react—areas where it already fell short.
But paired with Taiji Eight Immortal Steps, the story changed.
The footwork was so enigmatic even superior experts could lose track of it.
And Blood Burst Demon Finger Art could deliver massive power with minimal qi if slowly injecting the desired explosive qi quantity.
This combination let him seize the advantage even against superiors.
He had now reached the realm of a true first-class expert.
A tiger wouldn't scare him bare-handed.
He'd achieved his primary goal.
Though his middle and upper dantians had bottomed out soon after entering the portal, it didn't matter.
'Still recovering fast.'
With Ren and Du Meridians open and much bodily waste purged...
And the power unlocked by rising Wisdom!
Even mid-battle, holding out five minutes with lower dantian qi would refill middle and upper completely.
He had fully confirmed his realm and power level.
Su-hyeok calmed his exhilaration.
Only then did he keenly feel the stares from behind.
Lost in reclaiming his martial prowess, he'd forgotten he wasn't alone.
And everyone here was a trainee.
"Uh..."
Turning sheepishly, Su-hyeok scratched the back of his head with an awkward grin.
No trace remained of the fearsome Hunter who'd just massacred seven hidden Gerha.
Perhaps that's why.
Baek Yi-yeon let out an involuntary chuckle.
"We got a great demo from the master instructor. Now it's our turn."
No Gerha left nearby. Time to seek new nests.
"S-Sorry."
Su-hyeok mumbled, embarrassed.
Normally, he'd leave some for training, but he'd been so absorbed in his breakthrough that he'd forgotten entirely. Swayed by emotion, it was no less than a blunder.
"Looks like Private Yang Su-hyeok... no, Instructor Yang's place isn't among the trainees."
Shar smirked at their exchange, pointing beside her.
"By instructor's authority, I hereby end trainee Yang Su-hyeok's field training."
"Instead, as Private Baek Yi-yeon said, I appoint you assistant instructor. Guide your comrades well through the final day. Heh."
Su-hyeok's position had changed in that instant.