Chapter 124
Chapter 124
In the training room.
[Would you like to attempt the Unification of the Three Dantians?]
As Seong Jihan tried to unify the Three Dantians, a system message spontaneously appeared.
It seemed that his level had significantly improved.
Unlike the last time, there wasn't any warning message stating, 'Attempting this unification with your current level poses a significant danger. It could harm your life.'
"Unify."
With those words from Seong Jihan, he began to dismantle the boundaries between the Three Dantians.
'This time, it will work.'
This wasn't a vague self-confidence.
The pre-conditions had been different this time around.
The faint borders between the Upper and Middle Dantians had blurred due to using both simultaneously, which gave him a sense of assurance.
[Attempting the Unification of the Three Dantians...]
Seong Jihan closed his eyes and began to break the walls earnestly. Unifying the half-dissolved Upper and Middle Dantians was easy.
'I've already accomplished this part.'
His focused energy began to resonate between the two Dantians, and soon, the boundaries vanished.
'The Two Dantians above have become almost one... but the Lower Dantian is the problem.'
The connection with the Lower Dantian was admittedly weak. While Martial Power and Force shared the same stats, the wall of the Lower Dantian remained substantial.
'I need to stimulate it both from inside and outside.'
Inside the Lower Dantian, he moved his inner energy to break down the walls.
From the outside, he used Force to stimulate it.
As he attempted to shatter the vessel containing his inner energy, a tremendous pain surged from his lower abdomen.
'It feels like when I faced the flames of Behemoth.'
Seong Jihan, who had faced numerous trials in his past life, relentlessly continued breaking the barriers of the Dantian.
Sweat drenched his body.
At times, his body felt cold as ice, while at others, it burned with heat.
His face flushed, then paled in a repeated cycle.
The unification of the Lower Dantian was undeniably challenging.
'But...'
A reward for his continuous effort appeared as cracks began to form on the walls of the Lower Dantian.
Faster than Seong Jihan had anticipated, he calmly continued the unification process.
* * * * *
After a long and exhausting day...
"It's... done..."
All boundaries had collapsed, and the unification of the Three Dantians was complete.
Now, instead of energy gathering in the confined space of the Dantians, Seong Jihan's entire being encompassed the energy of the Three Dantians.
"Huff..."
Taking a deep breath, Seong Jihan opened his eyes.
He could feel the energy surging throughout his body with every breath.
'Worth every moment of the effort.'
Satisfied, Seong Jihan was about to leave the training room when...
[Attempting the unification of the Three Dantians...]
'What?'
Despite having completed the unification, the system message remained unchanged.
He halted in his tracks.
Why was it still the same after the unification?
He opened his status window.
Martial Power and Force both remained at 100, unchanged.
'...Is this not the end?'
An error in the system was unlikely.
Pondering deeply, Seong Jihan wondered what was missing since all barriers were already broken.
After standing idly for a moment in thought, Seong Jihan's mind ventured to Force's Absolute Domain.
'Do I need to complete the domain to finally finish the unification?'
Seong Jihan unfolded the Absolute Domain he had once retracted.
With this, only the upper half of his body, specifically above the heart, was involved in the flow of the Absolute Domain.
'Even the Absolute Domain must be fully embodied, and all the Dantians must be able to handle it. Only then it will be true unity.'
Having found a clue, Seong Jihan focused on linking the combined Dantian with the Absolute Domain.
This, of course, wasn't easy.
'Just understanding the problem, I've already solved half of it.'
If not for the system message, he would have thought that the Three Dantians had unified.
Thus, while pondering how to connect the entire unified Dantians and the space completely dominated by the Absolute Domain,
'Let's merge that into the Dantian as well.'
He decided to further advance the Dantian that was limited inside his body.
He decided to expand the scope of the Dantian, moving away from the previous method that dominated space through Force.
'It's tough...'
This process was much more challenging than the unification of the Three Dantians.
The Three Dantians were inside the body, but this was about unifying external space with the Dantian.
'If it wasn't for my past experiences, I wouldn't have even tried.'
If he hadn't experienced controlling the Absolute Domain with Force, he would've ended up only imagining it.
He utilized all his previous experiences and pioneered a new path.
Another day passed by like this.
'...Is this the limit at this level?'
Seong Jihan felt that the entire Dantian had expanded slightly.
It felt as if he was wearing a full-body armor named 'Dantian'.
Of course, compared to the Absolute Domain of the Force, its range had drastically reduced to about 10cm.
'This can truly be called the Absolute Domain.'
The Absolute Domain dominated by the Force wasn't 'absolute' compared to this.
The Dantian, which expanded its territory even outside, was apt to say that it dominated space.
Then,
[You have completed the unification of the Three Dantians.]
[Martial Power and Force are unified and reorganized into a new stat...]
[Obtained a Star's Ability, Martial Soul]
Star's Ability?
'Is the star rank above unique?'
Seong Jihan looked at the reorganized stat, Martial Soul.
The value was the same as Martial Power or Force, 100.
But since the two were combined under the category of Martial Soul, the area of Absolute Domain had doubled from 10cm.
'This is overwhelmingly powerful...'
The Star's Ability called Martial Soul wasn't just about simply doubling the Absolute Domain area but amplified the Martial Power and Force several times.
An ability that even Seong Jihan, who had overwhelmingly conquered the league, found thrilling.
'With this, I can definitely use the third technique.'
Seong Jihan thought of the third advanced technique of the Nameless Divine Arts.
With Martial Soul, he could definitely use this martial art.
'I might use it in the upcoming national representative battle...'
As Seong Jihan anticipated how to use his newfound power,
Suddenly, a system message appeared.
[The Star's Ability is a power that only a single being from one star can possess.]
['The Wandering Martial God' already possesses Martial Soul.]
'What?'
The Star's Ability, Martial Soul, which only one being from a star can have, is possessed by the Wandering Martial God?
'Does this mean... the Wandering Martial God is from Earth?'
He had heard that the Wandering Martial God, unlike other Constellations tied to their maternal stars, stayed in the star he created, 'Tuseong', and hunted other Constellations.
Based on the current system message, it was speculated that the Martial God was from Earth.
'What happens now?'
Since the Martial God had Martial Soul first, does that mean he can't possess the Star's Ability?
As he pondered this,
['The Wandering Martial God' summons you.]
Before Seong Jihan's eyes, a pitch-black space opened.
In an instant, his body was sucked into it.
* * * * *
A desolate land shrouded in darkness.
Swooosh!
The space swirled, and a new form of Seong Jihan emerged from it.
He first checked his condition.
'My body's fine.'
Considering he was forcibly taken by an irresistible force, he was unharmed.
His abilities, reformed without a soul, remained intact.
He looked around.
It was dark everywhere, but above, faint lights of various colors shone down.
When he looked up, he saw.
'Weapons....'
Various weapons floated above in the dark space.
They seemed randomly placed.
However, Jihan could quickly discern that each one was of extraordinary caliber.
'Those must be at least EX-grade.'
The Phoenix Spear he had recently acquired couldn't even compare; the energy emitted by these weapons was of a different class.
It was astonishing that such impressive weapons were left unattended.
Lost in the array of floating weapons, Jihan couldn't help but admire.
Then,
"Nice to meet you, young one."
Thump! Thump!
From the darkness, a figure approached.
"You are..."
"I am Dongbangsak."
A kind-faced old man with white hair, wearing a long blue robe, spoke while stroking his beard.
Although the language he spoke wasn't Korean, Jihan instinctively understood.
'Dongbangsak...'
The Dongbangsak who lived through the three thousand worlds.
That name had special meaning to him.
"You obtained martial Power through my brush."
Through Dongbangsak's brush, Jihan was able to overwrite his status window.
"Yes, I did."
"That's why I was chosen as the representative to converse with you on behalf of the Martial God."
"Representing the Martial God...?"
"You should ideally meet him in person..."
Dongbangsak glanced Jihan up and down while stroking his beard.
"Even though you possess the Martial Soul, your level is still too low. At your current level, you would perish just by making eye contact with a Martial God."
The Wandering Martial God.
Death just from eye contact? Was he some cursed being?
Jihan tilted his head and asked, "Why was I summoned?"
"To give you a choice," Dongbangsak leaned back, speaking slowly.
"Will you accept the Martial Soul, ready for an uncertain death, or will you surrender it cleanly and accept the Martial God's reward?"
Accepting the Martial Soul means being prepared to die?
'Is it because only a single being from one star can possess it?'
Jihan immediately asked Dongbangsak, who was being polite, "Why must one die when they obtain the Martial Soul?"
"Only one being can possess the Martial Soul. You might coexist with the Martial God for a while if you don't give it up, but..."
Dongbangsak straightened up and stroked his beard again.
"Sooner or later, coexistence will become impossible. When your level rises significantly, the system will inevitably pit you against the Martial God. And when that day comes, you will die."
It was a definitive statement that defeating the Wandering Martial God was impossible.
He pointed to the sky.
"If you forsake the predetermined death and surrender the Martial Soul... the Martial God will bestow one of those items upon you."
"That is..."
"It's the essence of a Constellation. Those weapons positioned in the sky as Constellations actually belong to quite high-ranking Constellations. They belong to Constellations of at least level 1,000. Since you are my disciple, I'll let you pick a good one."
Dongbangsak, certain that Jihan would surrender, meticulously examined the floating weapons, contemplating which was best.
"That's not suitable for humans... Ah, that's the 77-foot mace, but you can't fully harness its power. That one is too small..."
Dongbangsak scrutinized them as if choosing for himself.
To resolve his contemplation, Jihan spoke up, "Sir Dongbangsak, you don't need to pick a weapon for me."
"Hm? What do you mean?"
"I want to keep the Martial Soul."
At those words, all of Dongbangsak's actions halted.
"...Are you out of your mind?"
* * * * *