Chapter 26

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Translated by Seoulbound

Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net
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There were two kinds of energy.

Kinetic energy, and potential energy.

Kinetic energy was intuitive.

How heavy an object was, and how fast it was.

That was all.

Potential energy, on the other hand, was less intuitive.

Even so, it became easy to understand if an example was given.

Let us think about dropping an object from a cliff.

The higher the cliff, the faster the object would fall.

In addition, the heavier the object, the greater the impact when it fell would be.

The phenomenon of potential energy converting into kinetic energy.

It was the law of conservation of energy.

Potential energy was such a thing.

The higher and heavier it was, the greater the potential to exert a larger force.

In that sense, the distance I leaped through the Cloud-Climbing Step’s propulsion force wave was substantial.

Because I had leaped nearly ten zhang at the very least.

If one calculated the potential energy at that time?

‘At least fifteen thousand joules.’

Of course, considering the loss through friction with the air during gliding, direction, and the like, the value of potential energy converted into kinetic energy would fall far short of that.

Even so,

‘He has been turned completely into a bloody pulp.’

The Green Monkey bandit trapped underneath seemed to have lost consciousness, with his mask shattered to pieces. This was because, at the moment of collision, his body had fully absorbed the impact. Nevertheless, the bandit’s chest was slowly rising and falling. It was a detail showing how amazing the external cultivation of the Great Sage Who Drives Spirits was. Still, since he was incapacitated for battle, there was no need to worry about him.

The problem was that there were four more masked warriors in the vicinity. And.

‘This.’

Among the ordinary masks, there was one additional mask with a peculiar decoration. It was indeed a monkey mask, but,

‘it had four ears.’

Its appearance was different.

Compared to the other masks, it was flashier and its appearance was also slightly different. It was not the shape of an ordinary monkey.

The appearance of the monkey monster named Changyou in the Classic of Mountains and Seas, a book with rare illustrations in the Library Pavilion, looked exactly like that mask.

And the moment the mysterious figure in the ornate Changyou mask opened his mouth,

“Wudang Sect?”

I felt a chill run down my spine.

—The masks of the Chaotic Heaven Green Forest have three levels. The third-class Constrained Sage mask, the second-class Beast Sage mask, and the first-class Great Sage mask.

It was one of the stories I had heard about the Chaotic Heaven Green Forest before. Inferring from that story, that ornate mask seemed to be at least second-class, a Beast Sage mask.

Simultaneously with inferring the identity of the ornate mask, the advice that Martial Aunt Hye-won had given before setting out on the mission also came to mind.

—You must assess your opponent’s ability, and if you judge that they are an enemy you cannot handle, you must run away without looking back.

If it were just one ordinary Green Monkey mask?

I could suppress them quickly.

What about two?

There was also no reason to back down.

What about three?

It was still manageable.

However, the moment that ornate mask joined, the calculation went awry.

If they were to rush at me all at once?

No answer came out.

It was dangerous.

Cold reason told me.

To retreat for now.

The problem was,

‘I have no path of retreat.’

Right after gliding, while I was raising my body, the Green Monkey-masked bandits blocked the escape routes in all directions rather than rushing in like a disorganized mob. No matter how ordinary the Green Monkey masks were, a coordinated attack was dangerous. Because I had two arms, and there were four enemies.

If so?

Either hold out until the support of my Senior Brothers and Senior Sisters arrived,

or break through one spot of the encirclement to secure an escape route.

‘For now, I will buy time and search for an opening.’

While scanning their encirclement, I slowly shook my head.

“No.”

At my answer, the ornate monkey, the Changyou mask, flinched but soon spoke with a sneer.

“Are you a madman? Wielding the pure internal energy of an orthodox sect while wearing the robes of the Black Pine Gate, and yet you say you are not of the Wudang Sect?”

“……”

“……”

With a slight silence, a brief moment of time was bought,

and I slowly raised my internal energy.

This was because I instinctively felt that the fight was unavoidable.

“Do not step forward. He is not a Taoist that those of the Constrained Sage level can handle.”

Fortunately, the Changyou-masked warrior who seemed to be the leader of the Green Forest bandits stepped forward alone.

Since they did not attack all at once, there was nothing bad about it for me.

I focused only on him and began to circulate my internal energy. The thick internal energy spread throughout my entire body, and my senses came alive along with the function of the upper dantian’s Tai Chi Diagram Exposition.

As if he too was preparing for battle, his hand went to his waist.

And at that moment, the world slowed down and the movements of the ornate mask came into view in detail. The moment his hand brushed his waist, the thickly tied belt was unfastened,

and the rolled-up belt unfurled stiffly, taking the shape of a long pole, while a sharp blade gleamed at one end.

It was a short spear.

It was one of the weapons commonly used by the Green Forest bandits because it was easy to carry and simple to manufacture.

However,

‘That kind of material?’

A short spear made of a material so elastic that it could be used as a belt was surely a rare treasure.

It was an eccentric weapon that my Master had warned me to be careful of.

Moreover, he did not go easy on me just because I was young.

As he took the initiative and swung the short spear, the turbid force unique to the heterodox and unorthodox paths coiled like fragments and stretched out.

In addition, the tip of the spear glistened as if coated with liquid. My sense of smell, activated by the Tai Chi Diagram Exposition, spoke to me.

‘It is poison.’

In addition to an eccentric weapon, he even employed dirty tricks.

Although he had stepped forward to face me alone, a Green Forest bandit was indeed a Green Forest bandit.

The slight guilt I had felt when denying that I was of the Wudang Sect was completely wiped away, and I predicted where the spear tip would point from the angles of his arm and wrist.

‘From the lower right abdomen to the lungs.’

The problem was a martial arts level incomparable to the remnants of the Blood Selling Cult in Wuchang, and the presence of the Green Monkey masks who surrounded the optimal space for evading the trajectory.

There was no space to evade in the front, back, left, or right. It was so with the Cloud-Climbing Step and the Flowing Cloud Movement Skill’s footwork force.

‘I heard that the Seven Stars Evasion or the Nine Palaces Shadowless Step are a bit different.’

But I had not learned either. This was because I had only heard that the footwork force of Wudang’s secret Seven Stars Evasion was learned by the Senior Brothers of the Army Breaker Unit, and the Nine Palaces Shadowless Step by the Senior Brothers of the Integrity Star Unit, but I had never even seen them.

Yet, there was a way.

The triumphant gaze inside the hollow eyeholes of the Changyou mask wielding the short spear was scanning my toes. I read his intention to modify the routine at any moment by predicting my direction of evasion.

From there, the answer was derived.

Within the stretched time, I left my toes to the flow of natural energy. The inspiration obtained from the mysterious steps of the Gold-Knot Wandering Beggar.

‘Brownian motion.’

Following the flow of energy, my toes vibrated like pollen on the surface of water,

and splitting space, I entrusted my body to the unpredictable realm.

Beyond the eyeholes of the Changyou mask wielding the short spear, the pupil dilated.

It dilated as much as Senior Sister Yi Chae-yang’s did.

Hesitation also settled into the spear tip that had been unwavering.

This was because the clear point of impact was blurred by the unpredictability of the footwork coupled with the movement of the upper body.

In that fleeting gap, time to draw in internal energy was obtained.

I recalled the martial art with the most outstanding power among those I possessed.

‘Four Symbols Wind and Thunder Palm.’

Although it was practically my first real battle, there was no hesitation.

The thick internal energy, having reached the end of the Resonance Stage, headed toward the center of my palms with fierce momentum.

As the yin-cold supporting force mixed with the Primal Chaos of One Qi pulled in the external air and formed a vortex,

‘First form. Obscure Dust Accumulated Clouds.’

The internal energy in my palm spun the natural energy like thread, and the true qi began to condense around the Daling acupoint of my palm.

As I swung my palm following the routine of the first form, Obscure Dust Accumulated Clouds, a breeze resembling the movement of the stars gently pushed away the short spear.

The shaft of the spear bent under the wave of force, and its routine was twisted.

“Hup!”

The already widened eyes of the Changyou mask dilated as if they would pop out. However, the short spear held in his hand was an eccentric weapon.

The moment the hand of the Changyou mask moved to the end of the spear shaft, I could guess his hidden intention.

‘The principle of the lever.’

It was the principle where force is transmitted to the opposite end when one end of a rod is pressed by a hand. As predicted, the flux of true qi visible through the Tai Chi Diagram Exposition changed.

As I saw, calculated, and predicted that changing form,

‘It bends. The target is the lungs.’

The moment the Changyou mask flicked the end of the spear shaft with his hand, the shaft bent once again, then snapped back in the opposite direction, abruptly twisting the trajectory of the spear blade. A future where the tip of the spear blade drove between my right ribs was drawn.

Before that,

Thud!

I stomped my foot lightly. The center of gravity loaded on my right foot shifted to my left foot, and twisting my toes, I delivered a rotational force wave.

The rotational force wave starting from the tip of my toes merged with the internal energy of my right palm, which had pushed the short spear, and accelerated. As it pivoted to my left palm, the true qi condensed once again through rotation and acceleration.

‘Second form. Cloud Mystery Primal Chaos.’

The thread-like energy gathered like a cloud as it added rotation. I gripped the true qi, which was trying to escape due to centrifugal force, by adding the yin-cold supporting force to my brachioradialis muscle and muscular strength.

With the addition of the Primal Chaos Tai Chi Art’s force field, stability was added to the palm method’s routine.

Just like that, I swung my left palm along the silk reeling force and the curved routine.

As the first form of Cloud Mystery Primal Chaos, which contained the profound truth of striking second to control first, pushed away the middle part of the short spear just before it could dig between my right ribs,

with a bang, the shaft of the spear shook violently, and the tip of the spear lost its way.

“Heh!”

Leaving the Changyou mask’s gasp behind, I adjusted the angle of my left palm’s center and strongly contracted my biceps and triceps. Since it was made of a highly elastic material, the recoil felt from the short spear was fierce. However, the martial studies of Wudang regarded even that as harmony,

‘taking the recoil as centripetal force.’

It was one of the core elements of Wudang’s martial studies.

Through the cultivation of borrowing force to fill energy, I controlled the energy that tried to escape from overlapping instead.

To that, I twisted my toes to add silk reeling. As my deep internal energy wrapped around my lower body, a rotational force wave was added.

It was the overlapping of true qi through rotation, which was the core of the Four Symbols Wind and Thunder Palm.

Because the true qi loaded in the second strike multiplied compared to the first, and in the third compared to the second, force accumulated in the acupuncture points and the palm center.

‘Third form. Primal Chaos Producing Infant.’

Following the continuous forms, the internal energy resonated with the true qi, and as more external energy condensed at the center of my palms, a haze-like energy rose around my palms.

The thick internal energy met the natural energy, scattering light and shaking the air layer.

Instead of the hand wind created with muscle strength along the Four Symbols Wind and Thunder Palm’s routine previously, a real true qi wind arose.

Swoooosh—!

The palm wind rising from the rotational routine of Primal Chaos Producing Infant shook the routine of the short spear that flew in to target my vital points once again.

At the same time, keeping an eye on the Changyou mask’s hand movements, I slightly turned my head.

With a slicing sound of tearing air, the spear tip changed its direction in an unpredictable way, but I evaded it right beneath my earlobe.

Simultaneously with the evasion, the stomp of the Cloud-Climbing Step burst a propulsive force wave and I advanced.

Thud!

The true qi of Primal Chaos Producing Infant that had risen in my right palm formed a long tail like a comet along with my advancement. Just like that, twisting my arm, I thrust it forward toward the open chest of the Changyou mask.

‘Fourth form. Infant Star Stirring Plate.’

I could feel the face beyond the ornate mask distorting,

and due to the fourth form of the Four Symbols Wind and Thunder Palm, the air and true qi between the Changyou mask and my spiraling right palm compressed and rotated, until

it exploded.

Fwoooosh—!

The fabric on his chest tore in a spiral, revealing a chestplate engraved with ornate patterns. As the laminar flow of the repeatedly overlapped internal energy pushed the armor, the body of the Changyou mask was pushed back nearly three zhang along with a popping sound of bursting air.

However, a proper sense of impact like when I had smashed the chest of the Blood Selling Cultist was not felt.

And just as expected,

“He… has the Yurong Armor!”

Although a whirlwind-shaped scar remained on the pushed-back Changyou mask’s chestplate, no signs of internal or external injury were visible as he gasped for breath and straightened his body.

Yet, even though he hid his face with a mask, he could not conceal his embarrassment, which was obvious at a single glance.

“What is that palm method?!”

Did he really ask thinking that I would answer if he asked like that? Around the time a feeling of absurdity arose,

“The Beast Sage elder lost?!”

“What is that guy!”

“How could such a young kid do that to the Beast Sage elder…”

The Green Monkey-masked bandits slunk back, and the encirclement began to loosen.

“Do not break the encirclement!”

When the ornate monkey, the Changyou-masked warrior, shouted in a hoarse voice, the Green Monkey masks halted abruptly. It seemed as if some strong spell of spoken command was cast upon them according to the hierarchy among the masks.

“Heuu.”

A turbid light was revealed through the hollow eyeholes of the green monkeys. They looked blank, as if they had lost their reason.

In addition, the internal energy of the monkeys being revealed also began to shake even more precariously.

The Changyou-masked warrior was also taking a step forward.

However, I did not feel the same sense of crisis as before. It was thanks to a group of people caught by the sensitivity of the Tai Chi Diagram Exposition.

“How dare you touch Junior Brother Yeon!”

“Don’t touch our kid! Are you okay? You are not hurt anywhere, right?”

“Senior Sister, you should ask if those guys are hurt anywhere instead.”

From the exchange between my Senior Brother and Senior Sister, I felt a firm trust and affection. The potential energy in my heart rose, and a smile was carved on the corners of my mouth.