78. Let’s Go on a Trip
Deep into the night.
Sirius had finished his bath and sat in his quiet room.
In the box before him was the Redflame Herb wrapped in moss.
‘I’ll be sure to eat well, Eustia.’
He thanked Eustia once more in his heart.
The Redflame Herb was a rare herb that even the Southern Branch had searched far and wide for but failed to obtain.
If it weren’t for Eustia, Sirius wouldn’t have been able to get his hands on it either.
‘Then… I should probably eat it soon.’
He had discussed the method of consumption with Berdian and had come up with a plan.
The Redflame Herb must be consumed whole without any special processing.
Chewing it in one’s mouth was also forbidden.
It had to be swallowed whole in order to fully absorb its energy.
For an ordinary person, this would be suicidal, but… to obtain the profound internal energy, the whole herb had to be consumed.
“Phew…”
After taking a deep breath, he put the Redflame Herb in his mouth and swallowed it whole.
Immediately, a heavy heat began to emanate from his upper body.
To release such energy as soon as it entered his body, it was certainly no ordinary herb.
Sirius quickly sat down cross-legged.
And according to the formula of the Cheonrang Heavenly Scripture, he began to circulate his energy.
“……”
The Redflame Herb was a herb with a more intense energy than he had anticipated.
He needed to be extremely careful to absorb it properly.
Sirius circulated his energy once, twice, and three times.
He wouldn’t be able to dissolve all of its energy at once anyway.
He had to slowly and carefully let his body adapt to it.
‘Definitely… it’s more potent than any elixir I could have gotten in Murim.’
He had felt it when he consumed the White Ice Flower, but the herbs of this world seemed to be more potent and violent than even the finest elixirs of Murim.
The Redflame Herb, in particular, contained a much more intense energy than the White Ice Flower.
‘I could easily fall into the trap of qi deviation, but… if I can control it properly, I’ll be able to gain great internal energy.’
If he continued to increase his internal energy through these herbs, he would be able to reach a higher level than he had in Murim.
He wouldn’t just restore the power of the Cheonrang Heavenly Demon Baek Moo-rang, but he would surpass it.
“Ugh…”
But just then.
Sirius felt something burst inside his stomach with a bang.
The medicinal energy began to depart from the flow of vital energy and run wild.
Thud.
Blood flowed out of his nose.
It wasn’t foul air being expelled. Blood vessels had burst and actual blood was flowing out.
However, Sirius didn’t panic. He closed his eyes and continued to circulate his vital energy.
It was a medicinal herb with a much more violent temperament than the white ice flower. He didn’t think he’d be able to subdue its energy easily.
He had to figure out a way to capture this wild beast. Sirius continued to circulate his vital energy without rest.
The medicinal energy scratched at his meridians like a wild beast clawing with its claws.
It felt like his meridians would burst at any moment, but Sirius endured it.
Then, in the midst of it all…
“Ugh!”
Black blood erupted from his mouth.
He felt like he might lose consciousness, but he gritted his teeth and endured it.
‘Keep coming at me, Crimson Grass.’
He couldn’t afford to be weak here.
He had to take the initiative against this violent energy.
If he couldn’t even control the energy of a mere medicinal herb, how could he possibly rule the world?
“Ugh…!”
He vomited blood once more.
However, he didn’t waver in the slightest.
Instead, his fighting spirit surged.
He would make this beast-like energy submit and make it clearly understand that he was its master.
With that thought in mind, he continued to circulate his vital energy.
This was a battle against the beast known as Crimson Grass.
“…….”
How much time had passed?
At some point, Crimson Grass’s resistance began to weaken.
He could still feel it resisting, but it felt more like it was lightly pushing back rather than attacking.
Now was the time.
Confident in that, Sirius poured the hot energy into his dantian.
The energy of Crimson Grass, which seemed like it would never be tamed by anyone, was instantly sucked into his dantian.
Thud.
It felt like his heart was pounding violently in his dantian.
In reality, there was no physical impact.
It was because it had collided with the extreme yin internal energy that already existed in his dantian.
‘Now I have to harmonize this hot energy… with the extreme yin internal energy I already have.’
In the martial world, there was a concept called the Yin-Yang Body.
It referred to a constitution that could possess extreme yin internal energy and extreme yang internal energy at the same time.
However, Baek Mu-rang thought it was a meaningless concept.
After all, humans were beings that had yin and yang in harmony from the very beginning.
Many martial artists fail to simultaneously possess extreme yin and extreme yang internal energy because their methods are incorrect.
The key is to harmonize extreme yin and extreme yang within the dantian.
If you try to forcibly separate and store yin and yang, it will cause qi deviation.
Just like the Taiji symbol where yin and yang intertwine… you must create a state where extreme yin and extreme yang are combined together.
“…….”
Extreme yin internal energy stirred within the dantian.
It tried to create a new balance as it accepted the newly entered hot energy.
The hot energy also gradually began to take on its most stable form as it blended with the extreme yin internal energy.
And…….
“Whew…….”
Sirius exhaled deeply and opened his eyes.
Then he focused his mind on his dantian again.
There was no doubt.
Pure extreme yang internal energy was harmonizing with extreme yin internal energy within the dantian.
He had finally become able to possess extreme yin and extreme yang at the same time.
This also meant that he could now use the true power of the Cheonrang Divine Technique, which seeks harmony between yin and yang.
Furthermore, the total amount of internal energy exceeded 3 gapjas.
“…….”
He got up in the dark room.
The moment he opened the door to go outside.
Whoosh!
A cold snowstorm swept in.
Outside was not the annex corridor, but a snowy field where everything was frozen.
“Hwanwang?”
There was no answer.
However, Sirius could be sure.
This was Hwanwang’s illusion magic.
It is not simply showing people an illusion, but creating a space filled with illusions and trapping people… It is Hwanwang’s unique magic that he created himself.
Thud!
In the snowstorm, an ice dragon rose.
Last time, he created a fire dragon and attacked in a volcanic zone, but this time it was an ice dragon.
Moreover, its size and momentum were much greater than last time.
As if it would swallow him in one bite, the fearsome ice dragon charged at Sirius.
“…….”
However, Sirius did not panic.
He drew out the extreme yang internal energy that had newly settled in his dantian.
In an instant, his whole body became hot, as if he had taken Red Flame Grass.
However, he does not use this heat as it is.
It must be converted and used more practically and realistically.
Extreme yang internal energy was instantly converted into a new energy.
Crackle, crackle. A tingling sensation ran through his meridians. Goosebumps erupted all over his body, and his eyebrows shot up.
In that state, he extended his hand forward.
As he lightly clenched his fist, azure energy crackled and began to surge.
It was the manifestation of Soulforce.
Crash!
Accompanied by a clap of thunder, an azure Soul Lance shot out.
The Soul Lance pierced through the ice dragon that was lunging to devour Sirius.
Immediately afterward, the enormous ice dragon shattered into pieces.
This was the Soulforce of the third stage of the Indigo Azure Sky Arts that wielded the power of extreme cold… ‘Azure Thunder’.
“…….”
Then, the entire space began to collapse.
This was because the Soul Lightning that had pierced the ice dragon had also torn apart the space.
Last time, it had been necessary to search for the vital point of the space, but this time, there was no need for that.
The third stage of the Indigo Azure Sky Arts, Azure Thunder, possessed the piercing power to penetrate anything.
It could even pierce a hole in the illusory space of a 9th Circle Great Mage.
“This is ridiculous…….”
A voice echoed from somewhere.
Having returned to normal space, Sirius climbed onto the roof through the window.
There, the Illusion King was crouching.
“This time, you collapsed the space with a single blow? It makes me want to beat up that damn sorcerer.”
“It was just that my opponent was weak.”
Saying that, Sirius sat down next to the Illusion King.
The night wind was cool.
“You seem to have gotten stronger than last time, but how did you do it?”
“Weren’t you observing the whole time?”
“I understand that you gained power from the Crimson Blaze Grass. But I have no idea how you were able to acquire that level of energy.”
While Sirius was absorbing the energy of the Crimson Blaze Grass, the Illusion King had been observing Sirius from outside.
However, his questions only grew.
“Can’t you tell me honestly? How did you do it?”
“If I told you that easily, it wouldn’t be fun.”
“Hey!”
Sirius was willing to let the Illusion King observe and research him as much as he wanted. After all, Sirius himself wanted to continue observing the magic of the Illusion King, a 9th Circle Great Mage.
However, he had no intention of explaining his martial arts to the Illusion King in detail.
“You wouldn’t teach your own unique magic to someone else, would you?”
“Tsk…….”
The Illusion King bit his lip.
He had nothing more to say.
“So just stop nagging and keep following me.”
“Arrogant brat…….”
Huanwang, who had been glaring at Sirius, let out a long sigh.
“Huanwang.”
“What is it?”
“Have you ever fought the head of the Strauss family?”
“……”
Huanwang fell into a brief silence when Sirius asked the question.
“I have tried to pick a fight with him, but he wouldn’t take me on.”
“He wouldn’t take you on?”
“It seemed like he had no intention of fighting me at all.”
Huanwang made a face of displeasure.
“Sirius, dark sorcerers like us train in magic to become stronger. But that’s not always the case for sorcerers from prestigious families.”
“……”
From Noble mtl dot com
“There are many who just want to explore the truth of magic. To them, magic is just an academic pursuit.”
His words brought to mind the faces of several people.
Lutvein Rigel, the craftsman, and David Letiud, Leticia’s husband… they were people who seemed to fit the description of ‘magician’ better than ‘sorcerer’.
“The head of the Strauss family is similar. He has reached the 9th circle, but… he has no desire to test his strength against other 9th circle sorcerers.”
“……”
“Whenever I stand before him, I feel like a philistine. That’s why I ended up not approaching him anymore.”
This time, he was reminded of his memories from his days as the undefeated swordsman, Baek Murang.
If the martial world was divided into black and white, then the end of black was the Demonic Path.
They were the embodiment of darkness itself. They were the ones who would destroy the world if left alone, so Baek Murang had done everything in his power to annihilate them.
On the other hand, there were also those who stood at the end of white in the martial world.
It would be easy to think of them as righteous figures who saved the world, the opposite of the Demonic Path… but that wasn’t actually the case.
After all, they had not offered any help in subduing the Cheonma Divine Cult.
Could the head of the Strauss family be such a figure?
If he was such a person, he would not help the new alliance that Sirius was going to create.
But if he wasn’t…
“I wonder.”
“What?”
“I want to meet him in person.”
“……”
Huanwang looked at Sirius’s face.
“Can’t you just meet him at the Southern Union meeting?”
“I heard from Andres that he doesn’t attend very often. He usually sends a proxy.”
“Is that so? Then I guess we’ll just have to wait until the day of the meeting.”
“There’s no need to do that.”
“What?”
The head of the Southern Union is the head of the Strauss family, after all.
It might be more meaningful to meet him in person than to attend this meeting.
If they get along well, everything will go smoothly… and if they don’t get along, they might end up in a head-on collision with the Southern Union.
“Hwanwang, let’s go on a trip.”
“A trip?”
“Before the Southern Union meeting, let’s go meet the Strauss family head.”
“……!”
“The Strauss family is said to be at the southern coast, so it will be like a light trip.”
Hwanwang made a face of disbelief.
“You crazy kid, if you want to go on a trip, go with your wife. Why me……”
“Don’t you regret it?”
“What?”
“The last time you were ignored by the Strauss family head.”
“What……!”
Sirius’s words made Hwanwang’s eyes widen.
“Let’s go and try again.”
“No, didn’t he say he didn’t want to fight me?”
“Is fighting the only way to compete? Seeing how deeply one understands the truth of magic is also a competition.”
“……!”
“I think the Strauss family head will accept that kind of competition.”
Hwanwang looked at Sirius with a speechless expression.
“Let’s go, Hwanwang.”
Sirius said in a calm voice.
“Let’s see for ourselves what level another 9-circle Great Mage of the South is at.”