The Martial Master - 85 The Figure's thing.

900…

The fog kept on receding without any indication of halting in front of Su Min. However, with this, the entire world seemed to brew with a strange force.

It was one that gave Su Min the shivers, as he could sense a certain familiarity with it. One of enlightenment, or more specifically, information. Though this wasn’t a simple line of text, no, it was a lot larger than that…

950.

*GRRRRR*

The entire world seemed to shake with a primal rumble as Su Min paled a little. Dread shrouded his mind as if it was an instinct.

‘For my mind to fear something, whatever it is, I ain’t going to enjoy it…’

Su Min firmed his heart as he continued to display his comprehension. One that had taken a massive leap twice already in his lifetime. The first being when he reincarnated, and at that time it allowed him to be on par with 5th circle mages from the Tattoo Sect. This was equivalent to around the 7th to 8th step cultivation of the Condensation stage, but it was safe to say that most of this strength came from his new body at that time.

His body hasn’t changed ever since his reincarnation, even after his cultivation increasing to the peak of the first symbol; it still has the same strength, endurance and raw power.

You could say that before his second leap in comprehension and cultivation, his body was what had made him powerful. Without it, he wouldn’t be able to really use the ancient energy, and because he only had a 5m radius he could command he had no range to use it.

Nevertheless, even if his body hasn’t improved it is in no way a bottleneck to his power. Weapons can’t even pierce his skin and his brutal fleshy strength alone can rival an 8th step cultivator.

In fact, the heavenly sect he was in was in no means a small one. Their race just had a different system to work with, where the 6th circle mage correlated with a peak Martial Condensation cultivator. The only person on this level was the high elder, but even he wasn’t able to fight against the second realm energy Su Min summoned indirectly.

The fog continued to throw itself back in Su Min’s eyes as that brewing disconcerting force grew unbridled.

From 975…

980.

990.

‘This really isn’t giving me great vibes…’

Su Min thought to himself a tad surprised. He wouldn’t have expected his comprehension to have reached such a level. This gave him reasons to believe that he hasn’t been crippled in this factor, but in his mental power or capacity.

‘Maybe I cannot show my true power because my mind isn’t capable of it. Is it because my soul hasn’t evolved to what it should be, or maybe it has been injured? your soul evolves with your understanding, so that would be the only conclusion… Is that what the black figure meant..?’

Su Min felt that this was probable, as that’s the source of how he controls ancient energy. Nevertheless, as he gazed at the fog, he found that it was beginning to freeze…

995.

996…

With a shiver, the fog that was far from him trembled then halted in unison. Su Min sighed in response as he sat down and felt an unbearable force seep out from the ground and encompass him with snarly breath.

His mind shook and his pale face twitched a little with unwilling eyes.

‘Have I been training myself to handle incomprehensible quantities of information to just be thrown into my head at any given time? Fuck.’

*RUMBLE*

An invisible force that only he could feel erupted and pounced on him. His mind quivered and warped, but Su Min held his breath and let whatever was trying to get in his head do so.

“F–”

He didn’t hold his composure for long as he gasped on instinct and became drenched in sweat. Pain nearing his limit throbbed as he felt himself get dragged into the abyss of his own mind.

“AGH!!”

His scream reverberated throughout the fogged world as he collapsed and tugged at his own hair. His eyes went bloodshot, and his breath quickened like he was suffocating.

Blood dripped from his eyes and nose as if he wasn’t able to take it, but Su Min still didn’t dare let go. He, with a grunt and a quake, roared!

“You better not fucking injure me anymore!!”

*THUD*

His head slammed against the rock hard ground as blood dripped and slid over it. He felt an obnoxious and incessant feeling of annoyance and wrongness continually batter him before imprinting a set of rules onto his soul.

In fact, he felt that it was imprinting a strange law onto his very bones and muscle, and whenever it did so this unbelievable feeling of annoyance and wrongness would lessen just a little…

‘Thank fuck it isn’t doing the opposite!’

Su Min dragged himself over the floor to try to relieve this everpresent feeling that was still unbearable. He could tell that his soul wasn’t in the right state to take this, which was obvious as he was crippled.

But, he can somehow get through this with sheer will. Albeit with great effort…

*THUMP*

It was strange, but as time continued to go by and his body and soul went through this special baptism, he felt an old sentence surface in his mind. It was blurry, to begin with, but as time went on, it began to make some sense…

‘Fist.

Third Form.

################’

Even though he still couldn’t work out the rest of the text, he could feel his sensory feelings change. An exceptional sensation blasted him, one telling him that whatever he was doing before was stupid and rough.

It was mocking even; like it was comparing his previous self to a piece of dung. Su Min, though, seemed to understand this as his grunting breath relaxed and his quivering mind stilled.

‘This…’

He didn’t know what to say as this unusual sensation continued to bristle past him. He felt a new way to move, a new way to control, a new everything.

It was as if everything, even with his undeniable comprehension, was absolutely stupid. Like he was just a beggar trying to use a heavenly treasure.

Then, with an odd rumble, a resounding voice emerged from nowhere and imprinted itself in his mind. It was old, old enough to exude an outstanding aura that only time could create…

‘Fist.

Third Form.

Ancient Existence.

You as a child have now reached somewhere acceptable, kin.

Use this form that surpasses the two before in every conceivable manner.

Your movements shall follow the 5th law in this form. Your mind shall work in harmony with the world, making energy your plaything.

For as far as you can control, you can see, smell, touch and taste it!

You will transcend the trivial boundary of physical sense. Your mind, holding the highest comprehension of the first ancient realm, your body, the toughest there is; a being born to be a God!

We serve the True Ancient, and as the Gods we are, we express our divine might unto the heavens.

I expect that you have already faced the laughable divine punishment of the heavens, and I am happy for you. Wherever you are, we will be waiting in the Sect of Gods.

Alas, the world breathes and we are the ones that break its breath, kin.’

Su Min felt his mind lighten a little as his body relaxed. An intoxicating sensation of control erupted from him, where his mind begun to, somehow, feel the ground around him.

In fact, with his eyes closed, Su Min somehow saw said ground a couple meters away from him. Then an instant later he was a hundred meters further and staring at the fog in the distance.

He could feel the earth in this state, he could smell the air. It was a truly strange sensation, and with this, Su Min somehow knew that something within a 996-meter radius of his body was in his absolute control.

This was ancient energy!

‘This is nice…’

Su Min could also tell that his body felt almost twice as light compared to before, like a feather. Of course, the power he would be capable of producing with this lightness would be astronomical.

Though, as Su Min was enjoying this sensation, a strange lock began to form around his soul…

*SNAP*

“Guh!”

He gasped on instinct as his sense that was about a hundred meters away from him got tugged back into him. That absolute control faded, and his light body became heavy once more.

Everything, within an instant, returned to normal. It was just that a tiny lock-like symbol was now embedded on Su Min’s forehead. It shined a gold that merged with his skin, and Su Min could feel an inherent power over it.

One where, with but a thought, he would be able to unlock said lock…

‘So this is the third form…’

Su Min grumbled to himself as he got up. Everything felt dull right now, his body seemed murky and his mind slow. It was as if he got pulled out of bliss, but he couldn’t complain.

‘It must mean that this puts a strain on me…’

He didn’t feel any different compared to before, so he could only attribute that time as a mere facade just to show him what it is like. Luckily so, as his mind couldn’t handle any more strain…

He wants to recover not go any further down this rabbit hole of ‘never using his abilities’.

‘Although I still can’t face second realm cultivators, at my fullest, if I were to summon a 996-meter radius of ancient energy, I might just near such boundary with the sheer quantity of energy… Though I probably can’t do that considering that my soul is half charred, so I guess I can at most summon a 498-meter area instead. Still, that’d probably exhaust me.’

Su Min thought to himself. He could guess that when the area around him reaches a kilometre he would transcend the first realm.

But, what was strange was that he could tell that the message seemed to assume that he has done so already. Hinting from the fact when it concluded that he went through ‘divine retribution’, which wasn’t the case.

What came from this was that he would have to face such a thing to transcend, but with the mockery coming from the strange voice, he could tell that it seemed to be irrelevant in the eyes of that person.

‘Eh, it doesn’t really matter anyway… I need to recover right now, and every second that passes attaches weight onto my mind!’

Su Min waved his hand as the fogged space dissipated back into that small 2-meter space with a tree and flower. He was about to sit down, but he froze as he felt a disconcerting premonition strike him.

He turned around and looked behind him, where his gaze narrowed a bit and he seemed to sigh.

“Looks like the creepy thing wants me…”

*BANG*

A thunderous bang resounded in his vision as a vicious pitch-black hole formed. A long-nailed hand grasped the side of the hole, then with a tug, a snarly smile and two gaping eyes emerged from the hole and stared at Su Min; white in features.

The head tilted as a questioning expression emerged, speaking.

“Calling someone creepy isn’t a nice, y’know…”

Su Min quivered on instinct as he took a step back, though he found that he would fall into an infinite abyss if he were to move any further.

The black head seemed to blend in with the hole, where only the three white features shone. It was akin to the hole having a disproportionate face instead, and it wasn’t a nice sight to see.

‘Why doesn’t he look like a human? Instead, his mouth is literal white and his eyes are just two floating orbs. Christ.’

Su Min could only complain in his head as he watched that frightening clawed hand grip the hole even further and pull on it. The hole tore in response with a chilling screech.

The figure jumped out soon after, revealing his lanky frame that was a little too thin and tall. The figure’s eyes beamed as his everpresent grin widened. He gestured towards the bottomless hole in space behind him as he spoke to Su Min.

“Su Min, I have a gift for you! Quick, get in here and take a look, as this gift may solve the little babysitting predicament you have right now! Of course, you could just have NOT insulted the dragon running this place, but that’s YOUR job, isn’t it! Fucking pain in the ass…”

Su Min’s expression changed several times as he gaped at the figures disdainful stare at him. But, with much unwillingness, he leapt toward the hole behind the figure with a dull face.

The figure in return clapped as he laughed with praise.

“Bastard, you better be grateful when you see the beautiful thing I made! My ass was exchanged for it, and it hurt goddamit!!”

Su Min grumbled in return as he shoved himself in the hole that a bit too small.

“Yes yes…”

*Wannggg*

The figure paused with the grumble, where it took a few seconds for him to frown a little and jump in with Su Min.

“Hey, I felt some disrespect in that tone you just used!”

*SHEWWWW*

…

…

…

“Uh…”

Standing in a blurry world, where a hut stood in front and piercing black blades of air jumbled the sky, Su Min seemed a little gobsmacked as he stared at something.

A black figure materialised behind him as he clutched Su Min’s shoulder and spoke.

“Ah, you see, as I didn’t really have a body to work with, I had to add some of my… Artistic touches to it. It came out alright if I may say so myself…”

The figure seemed to become a little apprehensive as Su Min remained dull to it all. Though, with a long breath that seemed to exceed sighing, Su Min spoke.

“What the fuck is this?”

The figure didn’t seem to hear the almost insulting vibe coming out of Su Min’s voice as he marched in front of the ‘thing’ whilst thumping his chest with a roar.

“Your very first Martial Warrior! I named him Demon One in your steed, and he seems to like it!”

Su Min’s eyes seemed to dull again as he opened his jaw to say something, but after a while, nothing came and said jaw shut tight.

“Ok…”