Martial 3

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Sssss.

Whoosh.

“Huh…?”

Taeje let out a hollow laugh as he watched Eugene, seated in a cross-legged position, practicing his breathing exercises. It had only been three days since they crossed into the world of Seifran, and already Eugene had ascended to the second star. For others, this would take at least four years. Even a genius would take two to three years to reach the second star, yet Eugene had done it in just three days, leaving Taeje deeply shocked. As a divine beast who had seen and heard much over the ages, this was a first for him.

And the shock was mutual for Eugene.

“Only two stars…?”

Eugene felt a bit disappointed as he assessed his internal energy. He had hoped to jump to three stars in an instant.

“Maybe I’m being too greedy…”

The body Eugene inhabited had the Three Yin Severed Meridians. Considering this, his expectations were perhaps too high.

“What the heck did you do to reach the second star so quickly?”

Unable to contain his curiosity, Taeje finally asked Eugene. No matter how he thought about it, Eugene’s rapid rise to the second star was beyond his understanding.

“This body has the Three Yin Severed Meridians.”

“Oh…”

Taeje finally nodded in understanding at Eugene’s explanation.

“What a joke from the heavens…”

“What?”

Eugene turned to look at Taeje, who was muttering to himself.

“Even Galtian had the Three Yin Severed Meridians.”

Five hundred years ago, Galtian, the Heavenly Demon who had overturned the martial world with the Heaven’s Killing God Technique, also had the Three Yin Severed Meridians. At that time, the divine beasts of Mount Kunlun were prepared to intervene directly to kill Galtian, who easily killed people.

Divine beasts typically did not involve themselves in worldly affairs, but Galtian’s evil deeds were so great that they intended to descend upon the world to kill him. And Galtian, with all his wickedness, had the Three Yin Severed Meridians.

“The previous Heavenly Demon and the current one both have the Three Yin Severed Meridians…”

Taeje sighed, lamenting that Eugene had the same condition. Although Eugene did not become the Heavenly Demon by choice—the martial world gave him that title—it was still a situation that made Taeje laugh hollowly.

“So, how much longer until you reach the third star?”

Eugene’s face hardened at Taeje’s question. From the third star onwards, no matter how good the Heaven and Earth Foundation Technique was, advancing was not easy. Eugene had quickly ascended beyond the third star in the past because of the many elixirs left in the cave. Although it was possible to reach the third star through internal techniques alone, it took a considerable amount of time.

“From the third star onward, the internal energy required increases exponentially…”

Therefore, elixirs were essential for rapid progress. Moreover, to accumulate the internal energy needed for the third star in a short time, the blockage in the Three Yin Severed Meridians had to be cleared, which required the internal energy of at least five stars. 

“To quickly reach the third star, I need the internal energy of five stars… What kind of nonsense is this?”

“Exactly.”

Taeje tilted his head in confusion, while Eugene sighed.

“It’s a situation where the tail is bigger than the body.”

“Looks like you need elixirs after all.”

“But are there any elixirs in this world?”

Taeje wondered aloud at Eugene’s muttering. In the martial world, there were many elixirs like the Great Return Pill or the Ten-Thousand-Year Snow Ginseng. But this was not the martial world; this was Seifran, an entirely different realm.

“If they don’t exist, I’ll just make them.”

“What…?”

Taeje tilted his head in disbelief. Make elixirs?

“Wasn’t the Great Return Pill of the Shaolin Temple made as well?”

“Yes, but the Great Return Pill was made through the long efforts of many monks. You’re trying to find elixirs to quickly reach the third star. Do you plan to spend that much time making them?”

In that case, it would be faster to reach the third star through internal techniques. Although making the Great Return Pill would allow one to jump to ten stars instantly, the time and ingredients required were a major issue.

“Seifran is filled with things imbued with magic.”

Smirk.

“Magic?”

Eugene smiled as he recalled his memories.

“All flows return to the source. Magic and internal energy are not different.”

By forming a circle around the heart based on the magical energy in the air, it transforms into mana used by magicians. When you accumulate qi (氣) in the dantian through internal techniques, it becomes internal energy. 

Eugene, the former Heavenly Demon who once manipulated qi freely, knew that he could use objects imbued with magical energy found in Seifran.

“Can you even call them objects…?”

Eugene recalled from his memories: the wings of a forest fairy, the heart of a troll, valerian root, and honey. 

“With these, I can make the elixir I need right away.”

Eugene mentally organized the items he needed.

“What are all these?” Taeje asked, tilting his head after hearing Eugene list the necessary items. While he knew about honey and valerian root from the martial world, he had never heard of fairies or trolls.

“Think of them as beings that exist in Seifran.”

“I see… So, are you going to get them?”

Taeje tilted his head again as Eugene silently stared at him in response.

“You’re going to get them, right?”

“What?!”

Taeje was startled by Eugene’s words. He didn’t even know where they were, and now he was being asked to steal from an unknown place?

“I’m a divine beast!”

“So what…?”

As if there were martial artists who didn’t know that the white tiger was a divine beast.

“Is it right to make a divine beast steal?!”

“These are things from the main house. Since I’m also from the family, it’s not really stealing if I use them.”

“Ugh…”

Taeje groaned at Eugene’s somewhat logical reasoning. Among the items Eugene needed, the fairy wings and troll heart, as well as the honey, were at the main house. Although there was plenty of valerian root nearby, the other items were only at the main house.

“Why don’t you go get them yourself?”

“I’m practically an outcast in my family. If I go without any special reason, I won’t even be allowed in and will probably be chased out.”

“No matter how you put it…”

“Most of my siblings like cats, so even if you’re discovered, it won’t be a big deal. Plus, as a divine beast, you can move around without being noticed, right?”

Eugene smiled, mixing truth with flattery to persuade Taeje. If he went himself, he would undoubtedly be turned away without even being allowed to enter. Although he could have used martial arts to sneak in without being detected, he wasn’t yet at the level where he could completely erase his presence. Also, Taeje, who did nothing but watch, was quite annoying, so Eugene thought he might as well make use of him this way.

***

“Damn Heavenly Demon… Using me for theft…”

Taeje growled as he stealthily approached the main house after stealing honey from the dining hall. 

‘If you want to go back, cooperate…’

That was what Eugene had told him when Taeje refused to go. For Eugene to quickly regain his former level, Taeje had to cooperate so he could return to Mount Kunlun.

“Damn it…”

Taeje sighed as he looked up at the vast main house. The main mansion alone was 500 meters wide. Compared to this, the hut where Eugene stayed was nothing more than a barn.

“How am I supposed to find anything in this vast place…”

Eugene had shown Taeje drawings of the items he needed and explained their characteristics, but searching this enormous main house with his small cat body made Taeje’s head hurt. The building was only six stories high, but its vast width made it enormous.

Fortunately, the head of the Bedia family disliked large houses despite being a duke. If he had built a grander mansion like other dukes, finding the items would have been even harder for Taeje.

“Hmm… Their energies are all over the place.”

Jumping to a third-floor window, Taeje nodded as he sensed the energies inside the house.

“Only one seems to be at the peak.”

Although it was mana instead of internal energy, the size of the energy suggested a level equivalent to a peak master in the martial world.

Creak.

Using his front paw, Taeje carefully lifted the window and slipped inside. The other floors had people by the windows, but the third floor was clear.

-The fairy wings and troll heart should be in the storage room on the right side of the fifth floor.

Taeje looked towards where Eugene had said the items would be.

“This is the left side of the third floor… So, it’s the far end of the fifth floor.”

Guests new to the Bedia mansion often got lost due to its size, but Taeje had no such problem.

Swish.

Reaching the fifth floor via the central staircase, Taeje bit his lower lip as he looked toward the storage room.

“No problem getting here, but…”

The issue was the master at the peak level near the path to the storage room. Although not martial arts, the value of the level was the same for warriors and magicians alike.

Typically, a peak master was someone with the internal energy of at least ten stars.

A peak master typically needed to have internal energy of at least ten stars. Besides just having internal energy, their five senses were extremely developed, allowing them to react to even the slightest movements or sounds. Therefore, if Taeje moved, the person inside the room might notice him.

“I can’t fully utilize my power in this form…”

As a cat, Taeje couldn’t access his full strength. Even if he transformed into the size of a leopard, he could use some power, but the energy released during the transformation would alert the person inside. Going outside to transform and then coming back in would make him too noticeable.

“My dignity as a divine beast is really…”

Taeje lamented his situation as he stealthily crept forward. If he could return to his original form, he could move silently despite his enormous size. This was quite a struggle for him.

“Alright, I need to stay unnoticed…”

At that moment, the door inside suddenly burst open with telekinetic magic.

Thunk. Thunk. Thunk.

“Meow.”

As the door opened, Taeje scratched himself with his leg and meowed, pretending to be a regular cat.

“A cat inside the house?”

The person inside, Joel Bedia, the second son, looked puzzled as he saw the cat grooming itself in front of his room. There were no pets in the main house, so seeing a cat was strange.

“Did Roa bring it?”

Roa Bedia, the fourth sibling, was the only one in the family who liked animals. Joel assumed Roa had brought the cat and approached Taeje.

Swoosh.

Hesitate.

“Hmm… It probably doesn’t have fleas or other germs, right?”

Joel extended his hand to lift Taeje but then withdrew, unwilling to touch the cat with his bare hands due to his obsession with cleanliness since childhood.

“That… That guy…”

Taeje trembled with anger at Joel’s words. As a divine beast, he understood the language of Seifran. Being treated as dirty with germs made him furious.

“I take such good care of myself… Ah, this is no time for that.”

Taeje quickly dashed to the storage room at the end of the floor. According to Eugene, all non-valuable items were stored there. The high-value items were sealed on the sixth floor in the head’s room, while the rest were on the fifth floor.

Creak.

Taeje entered the storage room, quickly scanning for the fairy wings and troll heart that Eugene had described. He grabbed them with his mouth and swiftly exited through the window in front of the storage room. He had already hidden the stolen honey in the bushes, so he had gathered all the necessary items.

“Let’s go back.”

Crunch.

With the fairy wings and troll heart in his mouth, Taeje slipped into the dense bushes.

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