Almighty God of War - Chapter 204

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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204

‘My internal energy is different.’

After his fight with Gyo Myosangin, Guyang Cheongang realized what the gap was between him and other intermediate Transformation Realm masters.

It was the difference in density and purity of internal energy.

Guyang Cheongang’s internal energy was condensed as solidly as steel forged thousands of times.

If other masters’ internal energy was like massive rocks, his was like compressed steel.

Even wielding the same amount, the dimension of striking power had to be different.

The difference in purity was also stark.

His internal energy was like transparent crystal without a single impurity mixed in.

Unlike ordinary masters who had unrefined impurities mixed in from the heaven and earth qi absorbed during cultivation, Guyang Cheongang’s internal energy was pure energy itself.

‘It was after dissolving the fifth major acupoint of the Nine Yin Severed Meridians.’

The inner core formed then was initially just a small bead.

But now it had grown to the size of a peach, rotating at the center of his dantian while emitting mystical radiance.

The strange thing was the amount of internal energy.

After reaching four cycles, no matter how much heaven and earth qi he absorbed, his internal energy levels remained unmoved.

As if blocked by a massive wall, quantitative expansion had stopped.

However, the inner core became increasingly compressed and solidified, and its purity reached an extreme.

‘Why does this difference occur? Is the state of my inner core fundamentally different from theirs?’

He had thought that any martial artist who entered the Transformation Realm would naturally possess an inner core.

‘I can’t tell if it’s because of the innate characteristic called Nine Yin Severed Meridians, or because of the mysterious flow of the Transcendent Impermanence Divine Art.’

His experience in Gangho was insufficient to answer this himself.

But the right person to solve this question was in the very next room.

It was Neungnam Gwang, who had maintained the intermediate Transformation Realm for forty years and traveled All Under Heaven to break through that stagnation.

Guyang Cheongang immediately stopped his qi circulation and rose from his seat.

Instead of hesitating with his concerns, he headed straight toward Neungnam Gwang’s room.

Neungnam Gwang greeted Guyang Cheongang with vacant eyes.

Seeing him in casual clothes, he was clearly in the middle of contemplating the Cheonmujinggyeol rather than sleeping.

“To seek me out at this late hour, is there some urgent matter?”

Neungnam Gwang asked with a puzzled expression as he let Guyang Cheongang into the room.

“I came to see you because I have questions about martial arts, Elder Brother.”

As Guyang Cheongang sat down and answered, Neungnam Gwang, seated across from him, slightly furrowed his brow.

“A master of your level has something to seek advice about from me?”

He spoke with a somewhat doubtful tone as he observed Guyang Cheongang.

The fact that a peerless master who might have already surpassed him had come seeking advice felt strange.

Guyang Cheongang called out to Akasha inwardly.

‘Akasha, deploy a sound barrier. Don’t let our conversation leak outside.’

[Understood, Doctor. Forming nanobots barrier.]

With subtle vibrations, an invisible transparent membrane enveloped the entire room.

As perfect silence arrived, Guyang Cheongang opened his mouth.

“Can the nature of an inner core change depending on the type of divine art?”

It was a direct question. But instead of answering, Neungnam Gwang asked back with a stupid expression.

“…What?”

As if he didn’t understand the meaning, Neungnam Gwang added in a flustered tone.

“This isn’t some nonsensical talk, but inner core? What are you suddenly talking about?”

Guyang Cheongang answered with a calm expression.

“The nature of the inner core I formed seems too different from those of the masters I’ve faced so far, so I’m asking.”

It was said in an extremely ordinary tone.

As naturally as asking what someone had for lunch today, he mentioned forming an inner core.

But Neungnam Gwang’s reaction to those words was explosive.

As if he had seen a ghost, the color drained from his face instantly and he became pale as a corpse.

His gaping mouth wouldn’t close, and his two eyes filled with shock bulged as if they would pop out.

“You… formed an inner core?!”

It was almost a scream, and his voice trembled like an aspen leaf.

He shot up from his chair with an expression of disbelief.

Neungnam Gwang was a seasoned martial artist who had spent forty years at intermediate Transformation Realm and possessed the composure to not bat an eye at most upheavals.

Yet now he had jumped up from his chair as if struck by lightning, trembling all over.

Guyang Cheongang was greatly flustered by his bizarre reaction.

“What’s wrong, Elder Brother? What did I say incorrectly?”

“Just now…”

Neungnam Gwang barely parted his trembling lips.

The desperate hope that he had misheard was evident in his voice.

“Did you just say you formed an inner core in your dantian?”

“Yes, but…”

Guyang Cheongang’s confidence diminished in his answer.

Neungnam Gwang’s reaction was so strange that anxiety crept in, wondering if he had done something that greatly deviated from martial arts common sense.

“This is… insane…”

Neungnam Gwang staggered backward as if his legs had given out and slumped into his chair.

Then, holding his head in his hands, he stared into space like someone who had lost his mind and muttered.

“This is impossible. This couldn’t happen even if heaven and earth were overturned…”

His appearance, unable to recover from shock, was like someone who had witnessed the collapse of the world’s principles.

Guyang Cheongang finally couldn’t bear it and asked urgently.

“Why are you acting like this, Elder Brother! Is my condition that strange?”

Instead of answering, Neungnam Gwang let out hollow mutterings like someone who had lost his mind.

“An inner core can only be condensed after entering the Geumdan Sutra realm…”

His faintly trembling voice contained the collapse of martial studies common sense.

Faced with the fact that an intermediate Transformation Realm martial artist possessed an inner core, his forty years of accumulated knowledge crumbled miserably.

At that moment, a scene flashed through Guyang Cheongang’s consciousness.

‘If it’s the Geumdan Sutra realm…’

Cheongi Jinjun had also said those words in the Cheongi Dungeon of the Bottomless Pit.

Those words asking how someone who hadn’t even reached the Geumdan Sutra realm could withstand Hyeonmu’s presence.

At the time, he had vaguely thought it was just a higher realm, but now the meaning of those words became clear.

An inner core was an achievement that could only be accomplished after reaching a realm far beyond the Transformation Realm.

Yet he had already achieved it at the threshold of intermediate Transformation Realm.

“Elder Brother.”

Guyang Cheongang swallowed and asked carefully.

“Is it… impossible to form an inner core at my level?”

“How can you call that a question!”

Neungnam Gwang shouted loudly.

The suppressed shock, anger, and frustration close to jealousy all burst out at once.

Trembling all over as he glared at Guyang Cheongang, his eyes still clearly showed disbelief.

“Do you… truly know nothing about the realms after Transformation Realm and their characteristics?”

It was a tone of disbelief.

Because it was common knowledge that someone with Guyang Cheongang’s level of martial power should naturally know.

Guyang Cheongang let out a small sigh and bowed his head.

“As you know, Elder Brother, it’s been barely two or three years since I entered martial arts. Having not received systematic sect education, I’m ignorant of much martial studies common sense, so please give me your teachings.”

Neungnam Gwang let out a long sigh and slumped powerlessly into his seat.

Now he was beginning to understand the strange situation this young man before him was in.

Guyang Cheongang had pioneered the path of martial arts alone without a master.

Though he was unparalleled in analyzing meridian structures and grasping energy flows to understand principles with his terrifying genius, there was no one beside him to pass down the ‘products of experience’ that had been orally transmitted in Gangho for thousands of years.

The stagnation periods and their breakthroughs whispered by master to disciple’s ear, the cultivation obstacles passed down through generations of sects, and the realm markers left by ancient and modern masters.

Guyang Cheongang completely lacked such common knowledge.

In Neungnam Gwang’s eyes, this younger brother was a lonely genius who had navigated the abyss of martial studies through his own enlightenment alone, without anyone’s help.

Having no comparison, he didn’t even know how abnormal and shocking an achievement he had accomplished.

Relying solely on his genius, he had climbed the cliff at an unparalleled speed, yet he was walking through the heavens without even knowing whether he stood above the clouds or on the ground.

For Neungnam Gwang, who couldn’t even dream of the transcendent existence called Akasha, all of this could only appear as a miracle accomplished solely by the peerless genius named Guyang Cheongang.

It was natural that this young man’s achievement of dismantling and reassembling the source of martial arts by himself, without master or sect’s secret manuals, approached him as terror beyond reverence.

Neungnam Gwang looked at Guyang Cheongang with complex feelings.

While the fact that he had reached such a realm without a master was wondrous, on the other hand, his ignorance was pitiful.

Neungnam Gwang maintained silence for a while, organizing his complex feelings.

He seemed to be gauging where to begin, then let out a deep breath and opened his mouth in a serious tone.

“Listen well, younger brother. Up to the intermediate level of Transformation Realm, those born with talent can achieve it in their lifetime by learning divine arts and continuously accumulating internal energy.”

He lightly clenched and unclenched his fist as he continued.

“But the advanced level is a different story. You can’t just push through with the sheer amount of internal energy. To break through the intermediate stagnation period, you must open the upper dantian.”

His gaze fixed on Guyang Cheongang’s eyes.

“If you can’t open it, you’ll be trapped in the prison called intermediate level until you die. Your foolish older brother who has remained at this realm for forty years is living proof of that. Unable to take one more step forward, I’ve only been marking time my entire life.”p>

Though he wore a bitter smile mixed with self-mockery, Neungnam Gwang composed his expression and entered the main topic.

“Usually when you reach the intermediate level of Transformation Realm, the middle dantian opens following the lower dantian. When the accumulated internal energy overflows and finally opens even the upper dantian, it’s called the advanced level of Transformation Realm. But the real thing comes after that. When these three dantians are unified and condensed into one, you can finally condense an inner elixir.”

Indescribable reverence filled Neungnam Gwang’s voice.

Warriors call it the Golden Elixir. The moment this Golden Elixir is generated, you can cast off the shackles of Transformation Realm and enter the threshold of the Golden Elixir Realm.”

Guyang Cheongang held his breath.

Everything was an earth-shattering story he was hearing for the first time, and he got goosebumps realizing how enormous a mountain he had crossed without any preparation.

Neungnam Gwang lifted his tea cup as if to moisten his throat, took a sip, then continued speaking.

“When the Golden Elixir is further refined to finally form a Nascent Soul that takes human shape, that’s the Ethereal Realm. It’s like a true second self being conceived within the dantian.”

His gestures grew larger as he continued speaking with apparent excitement.

“When that Nascent Soul succeeds in shedding the shell of flesh and emerging outside, existing as a Primordial Spirit with internal energy converted to spiritual power, that’s the Profound Heaven Realm.”

“Ah…”

“Since it can act beyond the physical body, it’s practically no different from an immortal. At that point, lifespan extends to hundreds of years, allowing one to even mock death, so it’s said.”

Finally, Neungnam Gwang spread both hands wide, making a gesture as if embracing even the air in the room.

“And when the Primordial Spirit becomes completely one with the universe’s providence and gains a new physical body, that is the highest pinnacle, the Life and Death Realm. By unifying with the Dao and crossing the sea of life, death, and causation to reach eternity and infinity. At this point, you can’t even call them human. They can truly be called genuine immortals, True Immortals. What the world calls the ‘Immortal Realm’ refers to precisely this Life and Death Realm.”

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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