The Martial Master - 82 Spells.

‘Shop’

“..?”

Su Min squinted for a while as he tried to gather his thoughts regarding the abruptness of everything.

“How strange…”

His eyes shimmered as he held that luke-warm jade, which soon redirected themselves to that old sign in front. He found this world to be similar to the heavens, or at least, he felt a certain hatred towards it.

But the jade in his hand was the opposite; and considering that the symbol was the exact same to the one on his chest, he even felt a little familiarity to the symbol.

It was just that the symbol held no lustre, not even a hint of that one of a kind aura. It felt more like a shabby replica than something originating from his own blood.

“Well, that beast was definitely something resembling my bloodline…”

He sighed as he put away the jade in a pocket, realising that he should go and get one of those storage pouches.

*Step*

“Let’s hope that Wen Mian doesn’t die in this place, heh… Agh, fuck…”

A little apprehension clouded his expression as he wandered past the sign and through the frothed fog. He soon found a small black building in the far distance, but in a rather disconcerting fashion, that far-away object lessened in distance a little too fast.

It was like it was coming towards him instead of him walking towards it, but that didn’t seem to be the case as he arrived at its front, metallic door.

“Black…”

Su Min murmured as he gazed upon the black box. It had no windows, its roof was flat, and the door seemed to blend in with everything else. The only reason he could see it was because it had a small sign on it, brushed with the word ‘open’.

Lifting his arm to push, Su Min shoved the door open and took a step in. What greeted him was a pitch blackness, one so distraught that it seemed to engulf the light that tried to enter into it.

*CLINK*

Yet, with a press, that blackness dissipated in an instant as a small lamp on the roof flickered a monotonous tune. Su Min’s eyes flashed as he noticed a single black orb float in the middle of the room.

Nothing else but this orb was present, and to Su Min, this orb seemed to contain something inexplicable. It was as if it was telling him to touch it, though it wasn’t malicious; it was just a sort of hint.

“I wouldn’t call this a shop, but ok…”

Su Min took a couple light steps as he appeared before the orb, eyes narrowing with a hint of nostalgia; it wasn’t towards the orb itself, but what it represented. A shop, as such.

*Wanggg*

Soft energy enveloped Su Min as he went within arms reach of the orb, where his vision blurred a little and three distinct sensations swept through him.

One depicted an oppressive and somewhat godly atmosphere as if it was the pinnacle of the world. The other next to it had a certain fierceness that wanted to pierce this atmosphere, glowing in a mighty gold.

The last, but not least, held something a little more ordinary. It carried no special property, but maybe because of this, it felt all-encompassing. As if it held every power in the world, and held them tight.

Su Min’s eyes narrowed as these three distinct feelings bombarded his senses. He knew one all too well, but such a thing wasn’t what he needed.

‘I need to cultivate martial energy, so…’

His mind locked onto a certain sensation, and in a surreal fashion, a drowning blackness drenched his sight and formed a limitless array of lights in his vision.

Each light conveyed a different feeling, and each seemed to represent something.

Some lights were more blinding than others, and some simply flickered like a dull lamp without oil. As Su Min saw this, he found that the jade in his hand was beginning to sizzle.

“Hm?”

His expression changed as a strange glare spewed out of such a jade, enveloping him in a three colour flash. A golden, white, blackened light. It didn’t seem like energy to him, as he couldn’t recognise the gold to be ancient energy, which confused him greatly.

*PSST*

The blackness encompassing him trembled as those blinding lights dimmed until they disappeared. In fact, nearly everything disappeared in view.

The only thing left was a dim light in the corner of his eye, floating with a weak gait that seemed near dead. That multicoloured light around him had also merged into a strange wisp. One without colour, more like a transparent lucid thing…

It didn’t seem tangible in his eyes, but it floated around him nonetheless. He got an odd sensation as he gazed at this wisp gliding, but by a rare occurrence, he couldn’t work out what it was.

It felt out of this world, like something surpassing anything he could know. By any form of guesswork, the only answer he could come up with was that this was energy in the second realm…

‘The second realm that I have only touched, could it be..?’

Su Min didn’t know a lot about such a realm, but in comparison to other cultivators, what he knows is at a level of expertise. He has used and felt the power of second realm energy, and it was a mighty almost god-like feeling.

Yet, this was a different thing altogether, and it was a fierce riddle that contradicted his view on the second realm.

‘Energy represents power, so if this is second realm energy, why is it emitting so little? In fact, I feel the same I would for a single wisp of ancient energy…’

Su Min stared at this wisp with growing uncertainty. Its unique presence brought that unsurpassable feeling, yet, it carried the same power as the first realm… So what was it?

‘Mhm… I’ll leave this for now.’

With a sigh and a slight turn, Su Min decided to forget about the issue as he focused on that bleak light in his eyes. The light wasn’t anything special, akin to a small flame or a mortal’s lamp.

Though, without him noticing, a line of text had formed beneath the light. His gaze shifted to such a small line under the light, a strange light brewing in his eyes.

‘First Realm Mortal Dao Spell.’

“Mortal Dao..?”

An instinctual murmur escaped out of his lips as his thoughts blazed.

‘Mortal Dao… The Limitless Sect was said to be a Mortal Dao sect by the humans. It must be some sort of ranking. But in the case of a spell, which I guess is like my Ancient Fist Arts, it works differently? Maybe a 1st realm spell can only be used for first realm energy, and the Mortal Dao represents its… Power?’

Su Min felt a little excited as he verged on some understanding.

‘No, power isn’t right. It’s more like what causes a spell to be powerful, its complexity? No, it’s something a technique, a spell follows. I have always known this, it’s like a sort of law… The higher the rank of a spell the higher its law is. So a Mortal Dao spell must be at the bottom, and higher ranks would mean higher laws that the spell follows, I think?’

Yet, as this thought entered his head, his gaze shifted to his scarred chest.

‘That reminds me. As I have forced my cultivation to the peak of the first realm, shouldn’t I get a new techniq~uh spell?’

He knew that to increase his ancient cultivation he has to comprehend the spells in that space. But, quite strangely, he was able to bypass this and force his cultivation up just by gazing at a speck of second realm energy with the ancient space half-merged in his view.

He didn’t gain anything new after that near-traumatic experience of enlightenment. He can only control the energy better, well on a whole new level.

But, then shouldn’t he gain or at least finish the incomplete second fist spell he has learnt?

‘Mhm, well I can check soon and see if I can still enter the ancient space. Maybe I’ll have a similar experience and get a shit load of information thrown into my head again…’

Su Min’s face darkened as those memories triggered a little shiver to quake through him, but he threw it out as he concentrated once more on the spell at hand.

“I don’t even have a martial cultivation, but this will be useful soon…”

His face lifted with a strange smile. His mind churned, and that far-away speck of light magnified itself until it became a blinding orb right in front of him. It sparked and spat hot steam at him, making it quite a shocking view compared to its once dwindling form.

Though, Su Min didn’t hesitate at all as a string of information entered his mind. That floating and almost ethereal wisp around him quivered and shot itself at the fiery ball of light, causing a resounding crack to strike Su Min’s eardrums.

Su Min wasn’t paying attention to this though, instead, his mind was reading a small passage that seemed more like a poem than anything.

‘ Persisting, a mighty man gripped his fists.

“I am Supreme!”, he cried.

And so he was, supreme.

Drenched in the blood of the fallen.

Smothered in the guts of those who once stood tall.

Condensed with the supreme law, his Martial Energy surpassed all.

As it is, supreme.

As it always will be, supreme.

For it is the supreme path!

Supreme Martial Cultivation.’

“Lovely.”

Su Min didn’t know what to say as he scratched his head and gazed at the mass of light. He didn’t control that wisp to just throw itself at it, but he could somewhat guess that he was about to gain the spell; or cultivation method?

‘It isn’t a spell?’

*WANGGG*

A tremble shook such an orb of light, then in a blitzing flash, Su Min felt his mind flutter as an ethereal book formed in his vision. It seemed to condense out of nothing, except that the ball of light would dim every second.

Until, in a plod, a thin manual fell into Su Min’s grasp; striking his heart with a fierce string of words.

‘Supreme Cultivation Method’

The text had an aura of bloodshed and battle intent that made Su Min feel a little manic. It seemed to contain an unquenchable urge to kill all, but also an undeniable pride of being above all.

“Sure. A spell…”

Su Min grasped the manual as his blurred vision returned to normal. He lifted his hand off of the orb and stared into space for a while.

‘I have nowhere to put this book…’

The black jacket he has been wearing for what seemed for forever no longer had any space. One pocket had that weird Martial Book that he has nearly forgotten about, and the other the jade.

So, he could only hold it for now as he stepped out of the shop and onto the white world. However, instead of the expected emptiness of whiteness, two black portals hovered in front of him.

They each had a different atmosphere, one emitting a bloodthirsty battle intent; the other a peacefulness. There wasn’t any indication of which did what, but Su Min could guess.

“Maybe one is to continue and the other is to return..?”

If so, he had the urge to continue. Yet…

“Agh… I should rest and sort out my ancient spells first. My mind is full of fatigue, and I can at most attain the strength of a peak 8th step cultivator right now…”

He was weak right now, so he didn’t want to go in without going all out first.

Hence, with a light step, Su Min entered the portal that was shrouded in a peaceful nature…

*SHIINGG*