Chapter 158: Triple Sky and Yin Yang

In a secret training room within the headquarters of the Heavenly Dragon Guild.

Grunts could be heard as Kawin and Revin sparred in the corner of the room. Throughout the past week, Revin had gained a better understanding of the word ‘offensive,’ and his fighting style was being honed and evolved. Since Kawin had a near perfect defense, Revin had to become more skilled at being offensive. His usual direct attack style had grown, adapting more versatile moves as well as some trickery.

Kawin had improved his fighting style as well. Before, his fighting style was pure defense, wearing down his enemy and counter-attacking when he saw an opening. However, because of his matches against Revin, he had been honing his Six Moon-Grabbing-Claws to be slightly more offensive; there was an offensive aspect to his defending, while his attacks were hidden within his defensive movements.

Meanwhile, Montra was sitting inside a sphere Ramiel had created. The sphere increased the health regeneration of anyone inside it. Ramiel had been maintaining it for a week without a single break.

Three kinds of inner forces were circulating within Montra’s body. Each of them belonged to Revin, Kawin, and Montra respectively. The three of them had trained and grown up together in the same dojo, so their inner forces resembled each other. As such, Montra could borrow and control their powers without much difficulty.

The largest obstacle was Sila’s inner force within his body. The inner force had a unique circulation method unknown to him, so it continued to harm Montra without giving him a chance to control it. Worse off, his Martial Radiance had fused into it preventing him from exerting its power.

The worst part of this event was that Montra felt pain.

Pain.

A feeling that he always hoped would one day return to him. Ironically, it chose the most inopportune time to come back.

Montra had a hypothesis that the reason for his lack of pain was due to the power of his Martial Radiance Art. After a certain accident, the ability should’ve been created within his body, though he wasn’t able to make use of it until a couple of years ago. This power helped him amplify his ability and inner force, while at the same time, seizing away his sense of pain to the point he almost lost his sense of touch.

However, it was now being offset by Sila’s qi and finally lost its effect.

Sila’s qi was the biggest threat to Montra. Since it had a unique qi circulation method that he didn’t know, Montra used his indomitable willpower and transcendent perseverance to endure pain beyond what humans could normally handle, and circulated three flows of inner force to forcefully guide Sila’s qi and the power of Martial Radiance to various points on his body. As a result of forcefully trying to circulate it, the energy severely damaged his internal organs and veins, though Montra relied on the healing power of Ramiel’s spell to prevent himself from dying.

Nevertheless, the torturous sensation he was experiencing was surreal. He felt like someone had stabbed his body with numerous knives, took them out, healed him, then repeated the process. If his mind wasn’t strong enough, he would have already gone insane. What he was experiencing was a certain kind of qi deviation caused by incorrectly circulating inner force.

The only things preventing Montra from losing consciousness were his conviction and stubbornness. His firm belief that only the person who tries his best by overcoming difficulties with effort is suitable for the mighty reward, not someone who does nothing but wait for others to feed and bless them with fortune.

Such a person is unworthy.

Whether it was Montra’s conviction, persistence, determination, talent, or anything. At long last, his efforts had paid off.

Once Sila’s Tiger Dragon Qi and the power of Martial Radiance Art had circulated throughout his body in a certain sequence and the three flows of inner force had constantly been put under pressure, all three inner energies made a breakthrough and drove the foreign powers into his dantian, before scattering to three different acupoints in his body.

Boom—!!

The sound of an explosion suddenly went off. Revin and Kawin stopped their battle and rushed to where Montra was under the smokescreen.

“Montra!! Oi! Are you okay?!” Revin shouted while the worried Kawin tried to look through the smoke.

The first to appear from the smokescreen was Ramiel, who looked worn out. “Cough. Me being an angel doesn’t mean my magic power is limitless, Master.”

The smoke dispersed, showing Montra who was standing upright with his back straight like a deity on the cloud. The energy that radiated from him was both venerable and mighty. He waved his hand, gesturing Ramiel to get some rest.

“Did you succeed?” asked Kawin, to which Montra nodded. Both his friends decided to not bother Montra for a while since they knew that Montra needed some time to think.

Circulating inner force throughout his body, Montra perceived three flows of power within his body. The three of them were independent to each other but could still work together flawlessly. He realized that he could circulate three sets of inner force at the same time.

Inspecting his own body, Montra found that the power of his Martial Radiance Art was gone, along with Sila’s qi. As it turned out, he had pushed the three inner forces into making a breakthrough by eliminating the foreign powers. As a result, all three inner forces merged into one and evolved a step higher. Better yet, his newly acquired power didn’t have a downside like Martial Radiance Art.

“Hey, you’ve been silent for too long. How about it? Did you create a new power like you intended? Can we use it too?” asked Revin.

“You can. However, I need two days to study it first. When I finish, I will transmit it to you and teach you its circulation method.”

“Ouch, two more days? We have waited for a week already. Can you show us now? I’m bored sparring against Kawin.”

Montra shook his head. “Please wait for two more days, Revin. I still don’t understand it due to its complexity. Based on what I can tell, the power is simple, yet can be complicated to use. Please wait until I truly understand its ability so that you can make use of it immediately when I transmit it to you.”

“But won’t it be faster if we study it together?” proposed Kawin.

“Right? Right? Three heads are better than one. Sometimes, Even Montra’s big head needs to rely on my middle-sized head and Kawin’s small-sized head.”

Kawin frowned. “Did you just imply that I’m stupid?”

“Haha. Even with me telling you clearly, you still need to ask. Would you say you’re smart, then?” Revin laughed.

“Stop, you two. Don’t fight, okay? We’ll do as both of you suggested. Time is short. It will be faster with the three of us working together.”

The person who seemed to be the most energetic was Revin. “Hahaha. A new power that was invented by the Magic Emperor Montra. I want to try it already. Hopefully, it will be superior to Martial Radiance Art.”

“It’s indeed superior. Martial Radiance Art enabled me to exert twice my base power, while this energy can increase our base power by three folds.”

Revin grinned, while Kawin furrowed his brows. “Is there a downside?”

“As far as I know, at least for now, there isn’t one. This new energy is birthed from the combination of our three inner forces. It has a unique trait in that there are three starting points of circulation. If we bring out the energy from each of them simultaneously, we can exert three-times the power. Another way is we choose to use one in a battle, keep one in reserve, and use one for regenerating inner force. This could allow us to fight continuously without ever running out of power.”

“Wow, the more I hear about it, the more I want to try.”

Montra ignored Revin who was always joking around. “I am going to transmit this energy to both of you and explain the circulation method. Revin, I want you to exert most of its power in one go. I would like to know if there is a limit to unleashing the powers from all three points simultaneously. Meanwhile, Kawin, I want you to do what I just told; keep exerting the power from one point and use the others to regenerate the loss. It’s an experiment to see if there is a flaw in my theory. As for me, after I transmit the power to you two, I will need time to rest. I will do that while taking care of a guild matter. When we are all finished, we will share our findings.”

“By a guild matter, you must mean...?”

Montra nodded. “Yes. We have wasted a week’s worth of time and the production of Cloudy Pearl is already finished. It’s time for us to put the plan into motion, otherwise, we will miss our best chance.”

“By the way, Montra, do you have a name for the new power we will be using?” asked Revin, to which Kawin nodded, showing that he was curious as well.

Montra nodded. “The sky is a peak, a summit, a place where nothing can be above it, and we all belong to the Sky Dragon dojo. Facing against just a single sky, already no one can stand a chance. With us three working together, we unite and become three skies. As such, this power shall be called Triple Sky Energy.”

***

An entire day has passed since Sila started trying to merge his qi with his psychic power. After he had finished training under Divine, he went to Viola to ask her about Divine Raiment and internal utilization of inner force, though, for the latter topic, she didn’t give any new information to Sila; all she did was repeat what the Slime King had told him.

Well, at the very least, Sila had gained new information about Divine Raiment and finally got to understand the advice the Slime King had given.

Qi, magic, and psychic power were one and the same, though they possessed different redeeming qualities, thus, can be divided into three. To merge them together, a connector is required. In Sila’s case, for him to merge qi and psychic power, magic was needed, and the only magic ability he possessed was Divine Raiment.

White aura enveloped Sila’s entire body, and the shrouding power became fainter and fainter as he absorbed it into his body. He was planning to use it as a bridge between qi and psychic power.

All things great and small in the world possess a polar opposite; be it yin and yang, male and female, or light and darkness. Similarly, his qi and psychic power were also the polar opposites of each other. His qi had Tiger Dragon Qi as a base and was supplemented by Flaming Cloud Qi. Both qi represented what Sila called restorative and generating attributes; possessing the power of enhancement and strengthening.

As for his psychic power, it was Dark Psychic Corrosion. Based on what Divine had told him, this psychic power had been with him since the moment he was born. As such, even though he had just started practicing it, the power was equal in power to his qi. In fact, it was so powerful he couldn’t completely control it. His psychic power represented what Sila called hindering and overwhelming attributes; possessing the power of corroding and degradation. It was a power that should be used on an enemy rather than oneself.

Restoring and hindering were also classified as polar opposites in the principle of Yin and Yang.

While Divine Raiment was fully active, Sila exerted his qi on the left side of his body while unleashing Dark Psychic Corrosion from the right side. Neither power lashed out at the other due to Divine Raiment acting as a barrier.

Sila didn’t dare to rejoice, afraid of losing even the tiniest bit of concentration. Slowly taking deep breaths using his knowledge of the Profound Qi Circulation Art, he gently pulled out the smallest portion of each power to connect them. This first step could be said to be the most difficult; if he made even the slightest mistake and didn’t pull out exactly equal amounts of both powers, the result would be gravely harmful.

Slowly but surely, Sila maintained the state of duality and coexisting between qi and psychic power. He merged them together and gradually sank both powers into his body before circulating them at a very slow pace. The semi-combined energy respectively traveled from his lungs to his kidneys, liver, heart, and spleen, then looped back into his lungs.

Once a lap of circulation was completed, both powers seemed to have less resistance toward each other. However, Sila still didn’t dare to be complacent. If he rushed it, everything he had done might be in vain.

For the record, compared to Montra, Sila was using an entirely different method of breakthrough. What Montra did was taking a shortcut: torturing one’s body to make oneself became stronger. In the past, this method would be called a dark art. As for Sila, his method was a standard one. Unlike his usual, torturous experiences of making himself stronger, this time, Sila relied on a firm, standard method of comprehending his own power using his mind.

Though, in the end, be it a dark art or a standard method, there wouldn’t be too much of a difference in skills. What truly made them different was the user and how they utilized the acquired power.

Normally, when Sila was meditating, he would enter a subconscious state; the time would flow without him realizing how much time passed. However, he was using Divine Raiment at the moment and his concentration was kept at its peak. He could feel every passing second. By the time the circulation entered the sixth lap, an hour had passed, and his mind was dead tired, but he couldn’t stop; all he could do was maintain the speed of circulation.

Another five hours passed, and Sila felt very tormented; the burden wasn’t on his body but on his mind and his concentration; he felt like he was threading a string through the eye of a needle over and over again for five hours straight. Despite his body still being in top condition, his concentration was strained and could be broken at any moment.

The only things that prevented Sila’s mind from reaching a mental breakdown were his strong sense of not wanting to lose and his strive for strength. Teacher Mora always taught him that what made people strong wasn’t their power but their mind; an uncontrollable strength could be called nothing but madness that brought harm to the user and those around them. Imagining Montra taking the position of Wulin Lord and using his right and power as he pleased, Sila’s feeling of not wanting to lose strengthened. At the very least, he didn’t want to be defeated by that kind of person.

Such a person is unworthy.

He had to quickly become stronger. Now that Montra had set his eyes on Sila as a direct enemy, if Montra were to become the Wulin Lord, with his position and authority, he would be able to drive him, his teacher, and his dojo into the ground. Therefore, Sila only had one choice; to become stronger than Montra and block off his path.

Both powers within his body traveled at a faster speed. With every circulation, they were gradually merging into each other. The more times Sila circulated, the quicker each lap became, and the more the powers fused together.

At long last, his efforts paid off. Sila slowly opened his eyes; they gleamed with a mysterious light while not even a speck of energy was emitted from his body.

The system notification went off.

[You have achieved a certain condition. All of your powers have fused together and become one. As a result, the skills Dark Psychic Corrosion, Tiger Dragon Qi, and Flaming Cloud Qi have been deleted.]

[You have achieved a certain condition. The level of Shapeless Qi has risen to 100 (Maximum).]

[You have obtained a new kind of energy. Since there is no information about it in the database, you have been given the right to name it yourself and can change the name anytime using the system window. Additionally, the system cannot assess your degree of mastery over it, so its level will be set at Transcendent Rank.]

[You have been enlightened about the Essence of Qi: Fusion. All energy resources have been combined into Special Points.]

Opening his right palm, newfound energy flew to his hand, though it wasn’t visible because it was concentrated within his body. Sila forced the power within his hand to surface, and a thumb-sized ball of energy emerged. It rolled around according to his will.

It was similar to psychic power, but it wasn’t psychic power. At the same time, it was similar to qi, yet wasn’t qi.

He opened his system window and looked at the new energy bar, Special Points, only to find that its current maximum value was 500,000.

Flicking his finger, Sila sent the ball of energy flying into a boulder. Upon impact, a small explosion occurred. The big boulder was replaced by multiple small rocks once the dust dispersed.

“That’s a relief.”

Just a moment ago, Sila was concerned about the amount of Special Points being fewer than the original resources. However, after he had tried using it, he discovered that its performance was several times higher than his old qi. It turned out that his power had become more focused on quality instead of quantity. As a result, he could control his newfound power easier than the qi points he used before.

It was due to the Profound Qi Circulation Art that Sila was studying right now. Not only could his inner force flow with greater speed, but it could also regenerate itself while being used. As expected of the art coming up by his father’s belief that a smaller amount of qi with complete mastery of circulation was superior to a tremendous amount of qi with limitations.

Nevertheless, if his father were to witness Sila’s power right now, he would be surprised. The quality of Sila’s inner force was superior even to his father’s. For the sake of comparison, in the past, Sila had to spend almost a million Qi Points to unleash the power of Genesis Punch. Now, however, only a hundred thousand Special Points were required. The main difference was that, by reducing the amount required, he could control the energy more precisely. Furthermore, by learning the Profound Qi Circulation Art, his understanding of qi circulation surpassed his old self, and even many experts. Sila was confident that, with the way he currently was, he could even exert the power of Genesis Punch in a split second, mixing it with his normal punch. Moreover, his energy constantly replenished itself, so the limit of five uses per day was solved, though he would still need time to replenish his power.

His system window was still open, waiting for Sila to name his new power.

He thought about it seriously. Since the principle of his power came from the concept of duality—the dual energies that flow and cycle, ebb and reverse, elevating each other—there was no better name for it that he could think of.

“I will name this power Yin Yang Energy.”