Ultimate Martial Venerable - Chapter 18

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Episode 18. The Birth of Fusion Strong Energy
“Exhilarating!”

Yuk Beom’s laughter rang through the forest.
The Destruction Mountain Collapse Fist

descended from his right arm, which tingled all the way to his fingertips, yet the sensation lingering in his fist was crystal clear. The weighty explosive force of the Collapsing Mountain Fist and the destructive power of the Lesser Destruction Fist had detonated at a single point.

Two different martial arts had merged into one stream beneath the Limitless Evolution Formation.

The Rock Carapace Dragon Turtle

collapsed on the ground still drew breath. Black blood welled from the root of its broken horn, and its four legs, hard as stone, clawed at the earth.
From the distance came a succession of heavy roars.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The scattered Rock Carapace Dragon Turtles, catching the scent of their companion’s blood, were returning.
Yuk Beom thrust the broken horn into the Nine Heavens Ring and pulled out a Dragon Fragrance Flower. He hurled himself upward into the trees, and the four beasts that arrived late circled around their fallen comrade.
O Jin called out from a branch above.

“How does the newly created technique feel?”
“Satisfying. Though it drains far too much strength.”

Yuk Beom flexed and released his trembling right hand.
A single Destruction Mountain Collapse Fist

had nearly exhausted the reserves of Strong Energy gathered in his arm. Even his body, tempered by the Blazing Gold Body, felt heavily weighted down.

“The missing core of the Lesser Destruction Fist actually helped instead.”

O Jin gazed down at the fallen beast.

“A perfected technique has a rigid flow, making it difficult to merge with others. But the secret manual you received had a hollow framework. You pushed the power of the Collapsing Mountain Fist into that empty space, and succeeded on your first attempt.”

“If Mak Ga had given me a complete secret manual, I would have failed instead.”
“The world rarely flows according to the giver’s will.”

Yuk Beom let out a quiet laugh.
The incomplete secret manual that Mak Ga had tossed at him mockingly had become the material for an entirely new technique. He found himself idly wondering what expression Mak Cheon would wear if he learned of this.
But there was no time to laugh now.
Facing the four Rock Carapace Dragon Turtles gathered below simultaneously offered no chance of victory. The moment they unleashed lightning together, even the Blazing Gold Body would fail to withstand it, and his entire body would burn.

Yuk Beom kicked off a branch and moved a li away.
He planted another Dragon Fragrance Flower there, and its rich fragrance spread through the forest. Soon after, one beast broke away from the others and followed the scent.
Yuk Beom waited until it was completely separated.

“One at a time.”

O Jin spoke.

“There is no need to act strong when facing a strong opponent. Transforming a losing battle into one you can win—that too is skill.”

Yuk Beom nodded and dropped from the tree.
Crimson flame engulfed his entire body.

“Destruction Mountain Collapse Fist

!”

Crash!
His fist shattered the carapace on the creature’s head. The Rock Carapace Dragon Turtle twisted its body and lashed its horn, but Yuk Beom swept wind beneath his feet and slid to the side.
He hadn’t brought it down in one strike.
The more he repeated the same technique, the heavier his arms grew, and each fusion of strength fractured by increments. Managing both sets of martial techniques simultaneously proved far more demanding than he’d anticipated.
Yuk Beom didn’t rush.
He slipped past its charges, shattering the carapace piece by piece with his fists each time lightning gathered at its horns. Only when a clear opening appeared did he drive the Destruction Mountain Collapse Fist

through.
By the time the second Rock Carapace Dragon Turtle fell, the sun hung at its zenith.
The third was more cunning than its fellows. It circled the Dragon Fragrance Flower, refusing to expose its head easily, then suddenly hunched its body and drove its back-carapace at Yuk Beom with full force.
Yuk Beom absorbed the impact with both arms.
Bang!
The ground beneath him crumbled and his body was driven backward. The edge of the back-carapace raked his chest and blood ran, but he didn’t release his grip on the front legs he’d seized.
He twisted his waist to overturn the massive body to its side, then drove his fist into the exposed throat below.
Finding the thinner section of carapace meant this time it was finished with one blow.
The fourth unleashed lightning until its final breath. Violet light climbed along Yuk Beom’s right arm and scorched his shoulder.
The stench of burning flesh spread, and his fingers no longer obeyed.
Yuk Beom clenched his teeth, gripping the creature’s horn with his left hand.
If he let go, it would rise again. If he held on, a greater lightning would come.
He gathered what strength remained into his left arm.
Following the flow of the Limitless Evolution Formation

the two martial techniques meshed once more.

“Destruction Mountain Collapse Fist

!”

His left fist shattered the base of the horn.
The light scattered, and the massive body of the Rock Carapace Dragon Turtle collapsed to its side.
By the time the last one fell, a day had passed.
Around Blood Moon Lake

lay the corpses of five Rock Carapace Dragon Turtles. The scent and aura of blood from these powerful Yellow Water Beasts kept the smaller ones from even approaching.
Yuk Beom himself was far from unscathed.
His right hand bled, his left face was scorched black by lightning, and heat still rose from the wounds on his arms and chest.
Yuk Beom glanced once at the blood dripping from his right hand, then walked toward the crimson lake.
His body, after fighting five creatures in a day, had pushed near its limit. But if he withdrew now, next time he would only repeat the same battles.
He could only finish this training by perfecting both forces in Blood Moon Lake.
O Jin didn’t stop him. He merely observed the flow of Strong Energy and Primal Qi until his disciple’s back touched the water.

“Let neither force outpace the other.”
“I will keep that in mind.”

Yuk Beom stepped into Blood Moon Lake.
Cold qi pierced into the wounds.
He instinctively caught his breath. The lake was red as blood but offered no heat. Instead, a chill that seeped to the bone crept slowly upward from his ankles to his thighs.

“The power here… it’s truly dense.”

Crimson qi flowed through his pores into his body.
Damaged meridians grew firm, muscles exhausted from battle surged with renewed strength. Yuk Beom waded to the center of the lake and submerged himself completely beneath the surface.
He released the Primal Qi from his Dantian, linking it with the breath of heaven and earth around him.
Even beneath the water, his breathing did not falter. His Primal Qi drew in the vital force he needed, becoming nose and mouth alike.
Yuk Beom closed his eyes.
He turned the Five Elements into a single current, sinking his mind inward.
The Limitless Evolution Formation

—its incantations flowed through his consciousness.
His body descended slowly toward the lake floor. When it stopped just three inches above the bottom, the crimson force of Blood Moon Lake surged in like a whirlpool.
In his Dantian, four colors of Primal Qi rotated.
Fire and water, wind and earth.
Between the four currents, a fifth light began to bud.
The signs of Gangjing circulating across his skin grew steadily more vivid. The milky radiance that had lingered beneath the flesh now clawed outward, hammering against his body.
Yuk Beom held neither back.
Whenever one surged forward, he drew up the other, and when the balance of power tilted, he turned the flow through the Limitless Evolution Formation

to restore equilibrium.
The surface of the lake was still, but beneath it, a vast whirlpool was growing.
O Jin sat at the water’s edge, unable to close his eyes.
What Yuk Beom faced was no ordinary Breakthrough. It was a path that O Jin himself had devoted a lifetime to opening, yet never succeeded in perfecting.
A single moment of imbalance could tear the Meridians. If the two forces collided, the Dantian itself could crumble.
Yet O Jin did not reach out.
The current of Qi flowing from the lake floor remained unbroken—the only evidence that Yuk Beom lived. As long as that force did not fade, O Jin would wait until the end.
Before his disciple could complete both forces on his own, there was nothing he could do to help him.
Day passed and night fell.
The corpse of the Rock Carapace Dragon Turtle began to rot, and Yellow Water Beasts, catching the scent of blood, prowled the forest’s edge. Five times O Jin rose from his place to drive them away.
Each time, he did not exert himself greatly. He scattered their senses with a breeze summoned from his fingertips, or diverted them by shifting the flow of the earth beneath their feet.
If he strained himself now, his remaining lifespan would shorten.
Knowing this truth, O Jin did not leave the lake’s shore for a month.
As long as the force beneath Blood Moon Lake remained connected, Yuk Beom was alive.
But when the month drew to a close with no change, even O Jin’s composure began to fade.

“He hasn’t gone too deep, has he?”

He was in the moment of deciding whether to go in and retrieve him.
The crimson color of the lake began to pale rapidly from its edges.
The blood-thick water cleared, and at the center of the lake, a massive whirlpool surged upward.
The breath of heaven and earth all around was drawn into that single point.
O Jin jumped to his feet.

“It’s finally beginning.”

At the lake floor, Yuk Beom opened his eyes.
The moment he moved his body, the power he had held in check erupted all at once.
First, milky Gangjing surged outward, wrapping around his form. Then, from his Dantian, the completed Five-Colored Primal Qi came pouring forth.
The two forces collided.
Crack!
The inside of his Meridians tore, and blood welled up in his chest.
In the Soft Body Stage, the two could coexist without touching each other. But the completed Gangjing and Primal Qi both sought to be the master of the flesh.
The milky force pushed against the Five-Colored Qi, which drew in the surrounding heaven-and-earth force to resist.
Explosions erupted one after another within Yuk Beom’s body.
O Jin immediately drove his voice down into the water.

“Embrace all things! Temper your spirit through the Limitless!”

That cry pierced the water and shook Yuk Beom’s consciousness.
Yuk Beom grasped at his scattering mind.
The Limitless Evolution Formation

—he ran it with all his strength, and one thread of Gangjing and one thread of Primal Qi began to interlock and rotate.
The two forces that had been pushing against each other now occupied opposite sides of the whirlpool.
The slightest imbalance in ratio would shatter the flow. Yuk Beom paired each measure of Strong Energy with an equal portion of Primal Qi, then matched it with the same force of Strong Energy once more.
The power that had erupted outward now traced back along his meridians, returning to his Dantian.
Small vortices formed throughout his meridian network. In the end, all the currents converged into a massive maelstrom at the center of his Dantian.
The entire lake rotated around Yuk Beom as its axis.
O Jin stepped through empty air, ascending above the vortex.
The vortex at Yuk Beom’s Dantian was spinning far too fast.
His bones creaked with strain, his meridians swollen taut. At this rate, Yuk Beom’s body would shatter before the fusion could complete.
O Jin waited for his moment.
Intervene too early, and Yuk Beom’s power would become subordinate to his own. Wait too long, and the Dantian would rupture.
The instant the vortex reached its critical threshold, a thread-thin strand of Fusion Strong Energy

flowed from O Jin’s fingertips.
The current descended through Yuk Beom’s crown to his Dantian.
The runaway vortex froze for a heartbeat.
Yuk Beom seized that single moment.

“Haaaaah!”

He poured his entire consciousness into the Dantian, compressing the vortex.
O Jin’s Fusion Strong Energy

became a kindling flame at the center. Following that spark, Strong Energy and Primal Qi each transformed in nature.
A pale, luminous current like flame bloomed from his Dantian.
One, two, ten, a hundred.
Every vortex within his body shifted into the same flame.
The two forces that had warred against each other vanished.
In their place remained a new power that belonged to neither yet carried the essence of both.
Yuk Beom’s Fusion Strong Energy

had been born.
Boom!
A pale, flame-like current erupted from every fiber of his being.
The lake was driven back three lengths, its bed laid bare. The water, drained of its crimson hue, rose like a towering wall.
Yuk Beom beheld the currents of wind and the grain of water.
He saw the vitality seeping into the earth below and the faint trembling of life at the tips of leaves—all at once, as if with a single glance.
That sensation did not last.
The moment the world returned to its true form, Yuk Beom kicked off the lake bed.
His Fusion Strong Energy

exploded beneath his feet, launching his body skyward above the water.
Yuk Beom and O Jin landed on the shore almost simultaneously.
Late in coming, the lake water erupted into the sky, forming a towering pillar.
Yuk Beom gazed at his own hand.
Pale, luminous current wound like flame between his fingers. When he gathered his strength, it became as solid as a martial artist’s Strong Energy; when he shifted his intent, it drew in water and wind.
The two paths were no longer divided.
A smile spread across O Jin’s rigid face.

“Yuk Beom, I congratulate you.”

His voice trembled faintly.

“You have done it.”

Yuk Beom gazed at the power in his palm for a moment longer, then dropped to both knees before O Jin.
This breakthrough was not his alone.
O Jin had allowed his own failure to be seen without concealment, making it possible to begin; through a month of guarding his life, it had been possible to endure to the end. And in that final moment, a single thread of strength from his master had held the collapsing vortex together.
Yuk Beom pressed his forehead to the ground.

“Thank you, Master.”

O Jin placed his hand upon his disciple’s head.
He gazed up at the sky and exhaled slowly, releasing a breath held for far too long.

“The roots of a sect have taken hold again, and two diverging paths have finally become one.”

A fierce light kindled in O Jin’s eyes.

“My will is Heaven’s will.”

He spoke with a smile.

“This life—I have not lived it in vain.”

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