Chapter 1408
Rebirth Sword God Volume 80, Chapter 17
It’s already been over 50 days since I started practicing the piercing technique that carves mountains.
Thwack!!
I struck the hill before me with a spear thrust full of precision and rotational principle. At the moment of impact, there was a huge explosion, and dirt shot out from the back, creating a hole the size of a palm in an instant.
Rumble!
As the hill collapsed, dirt and rocks tumbled down, but I couldn’t muster a smile. I involuntarily let out a curse.
“Damn it!”
This is way too powerful!
Honestly, if I put my full energy into it, destroying a hill would be as easy as pie. Just gathering all my power and the momentum of Intent Heavenly Pillar for one hit would obliterate it. But the purpose of this training is the hardship itself, which I hoped would push my limits and raise my level. And to endure hardship, I must control my energy and focus to a minimum.
Controlling my energy doesn’t mean I completely lose my strength. It’s about concentrating solely on a single thought in a state of full focus, achieving what they call “Unity of Spear and Body!” As I concentrated to the extreme while repeatedly practicing this unity, no matter how vast my physical and mental strength was, there would come a time when I’d run out of energy, and in that depleted state, I hoped to realize and embody the true essence of the Unity of Spear and Body.
But what I’ve felt so far is that my strength is just too damn strong.
Thoom!!
“Damn it!!!”
Once again, I was startled by how easily I blew away the hill with my spear technique.
‘If I just unleash the essence of the Thread Snake Technique, the hill should crack without being destroyed, right? The fact that the hill keeps getting destroyed means…’
No matter how much I suppress my energy, the moment I unleash my battle aura, at least a minimum level of power is guaranteed! It undoubtedly stems from my overwhelmingly strong internal power.
In combat, there’s no reason to dislike this phenomenon. Having guaranteed minimum power is a huge advantage in life-or-death situations. However, on the flip side, it means that no matter how much I try to weaken my strength, the precision of my technique will never exceed a certain level.
AHHHHH!
I let out a wild scream and leapt into the air. Gathering all my energy into the tip of my spear, I unleashed a powerful thrust over the horizon.
Shine!
Boom, boom, boom!!!
A colossal mushroom cloud erupted beyond the horizon, resembling the nuclear explosions from the Gin Nara era, sending vibrations this way from dozens of miles away and triggering earthquakes. With just this strike, a small country could probably be wiped out. But even after concentrating all my energy, I realized nearly 30% of my power had recovered in an instant, leaving me dumbfounded.
‘What the hell!!! What kind of recovery power is this?!’
I vaguely recalled my internal power comparing to that of the Dharma Guardian’s, but now my power had completely soared beyond common sense. Literally, I had instantaneously regained 30% of my vast internal energy, and after a few breaths, I was almost back to peak condition!
It’s not just comparable to the Dharma Guardian’s internal power.
I’m practically the same as having the Heavenly Spirit Pill!
While the limit of my internal power is finite, considering the Dharma Guardian has a certain limit to how much energy he can expend, it’s clear that unless facing the infinite, I would hardly feel the difference between my internal power and that of the Heavenly Spirit Pill!
I fully understood why it was so hard for me to reduce my strength to an almost powerless state. Trying to unleash such potent energy is like a giant that supports the world trying to avoid killing an ant. No matter how much I try to weaken it, this immense internal power simply doesn’t allow me to eliminate even the absolute minimum force.
AHHHHH!
I persisted, creating bullets of pure internal power, shooting them through the horizon. Countless intangible energy bullets formed, sucking my internal power as they flew. Upon impacting the ground, massive explosions erupted along with great mushroom clouds. Each bullet was strong enough that an ordinary human would drain their entire internal power just creating one, so it was no surprise when the size of each was capable of creating dozens!
‘If I keep doing this insane thing, my internal power will surely hit rock bottom!!’
How many times have I depleted my power so far? There’s no way that using all this won’t cause any decrease!
Boom, boom, boom!!
Thud!
“No, damn it… damn it all!!”
After doing this for a whole moment, my internal power never dropped. Not even my vital energy, dantian, or meridians seemed strained, and I didn’t even feel like I was squeezing out my energy. Also, the energy bullets I had been shooting crazily had now set the horizon ablaze, with the world trembling around me as the sky darkened.
And yet, suddenly, after just a couple of breaths, my internal power surged back to over half, and I felt like I might explode from the sheer overwhelm.
What the hell is going on!! Why isn’t my internal power decreasing?
While I was in despair, a gleaming light suddenly zipped toward me from afar, and a familiar voice reached my ears.
“Baek Woong, what’s happening? Did a formidable enemy show up?”
“Shim Su-ryeok.”
It turned out Shim Su-ryeok had used Thunder Spirit to fly over. I mumbled with a gloomy expression.
“No matter how much I use, my internal power won’t decrease….”
“…?”
I explained my situation to Shim Su-ryeok. He looked at me with a confused expression before speaking.
“You didn’t seriously think your internal power was lacking compared to the Heavenly Spirit Pill, did you?”
“Of course! I have a finite dantian like any human, while the Heavenly Spirit Pill draws infinite power directly from Father’s throne!”
“I’ve never directly faced the owner of the Heavenly Spirit Pill, but I have faced Howol. And from what I saw of Howol’s astonishing internal power, the difference in level was beyond comparison. Howol’s power is likely at your level, and yet he wasn’t even the owner of the Heavenly Spirit Pill.”
“Hmm… come to think of it, I’ve never heard much about Howol’s internal power.”
“I’ve never seen Howol struggle with a lack of internal power in the Jianghu either. And just like what you did, I’ve seen him use nearly infinite power to take down a hundred thousand people in one fell swoop. By all accounts, he must be at your level.”
“Hmmm.”
“Anyway, that’s not what matters. Can I check your pulse for a moment?”
“You can check pulses too?”
“Do you think I only studied combat techniques? I’ve studied the authentic Buddhist medical techniques for over a decade!”
He grabbed my wrist and began pulse diagnosis. After a moment, he touched the back of my neck, my forehead, and my dantian and muttered faintly.
“As expected… just like Howol.”
“Like Howol?”
“You wouldn’t know by self-diagnosing, but your entire body is boiling with dragon energy! The meridians are several dozen times sturdier than those of an ordinary person and are constantly generating immense vitality. The boundary of your lower dantian has disappeared long ago, and your whole body is composed of thousands of dantian clusters. So to speak, each of your meridians possesses internal power exceeding that of an average person!”
“…?!”
“The reason you can’t see the bottom of your internal power? It’s simple. You may think you’ve drawn out all your latent power, but in that brief moment when you unleash it, your internal power is already regenerating. Moreover, the regenerative energy is over thousands of times what you’re used to… you practically have infinite internal power.”
“That… I already knew. I thought it was near infinite…”
“No, you can think of it as truly infinite. You can never deplete your power completely no matter what,” said Shim Su-ryeok with a rueful smile.
“Howol had this type of body too. The difference lies in the fact that he knew the power he possessed.”
“….”
I was momentarily dumbfounded and rebutted Shim Su-ryeok.
“But I clearly reached a state of depletion not long ago when I completely used all my internal power! What about those situations?”
“That was likely when you were either fueling divine treasures or battling deities, right?”
“…Yeah, that sounds about right.”
“It’s a simple story. If you use internal power like you’re doing now to draw out energy, you couldn’t totally deplete it. But if a divine being exerts their absorption power several dozen times your internal power limit, they could draw it all at once. An ordinary person would already be in a state akin to a mummy, but your ignorant strength allowed you to barely hold on. Yet even after reaching that depleted state, as long as you can recover, you’d gain an even stronger form of dragon energy than before.”
“…!!”
“You’ve crossed life-and-death thresholds over hundreds of times, growing your internal power each time. Specifically, your body has advanced. Recently, while practicing the Soul of the Evil God, you’ve pushed your dantian several times, so your internal power has undoubtedly grown since entering the Training World.”
Is this actually happening?!
I absentmindedly turned to Shim Su-ryeok and said, “So does that mean I can’t reach a state of void while slowing down my strength?”
“I’m afraid so? But that’s for normal practitioners only.”
Shim Su-ryeok gazed at the rising flames in the horizon.
“You’ve already destroyed an area spanning hundreds of miles with your energy alone, and soon an earthquake will split the continent. That’s some serious power that can influence the movements of this planet. Practicing something demanding focus with such enormous force is indeed illogical.”
“….”
“Surprisingly, I’ve learned something today. Too much power can actually hinder cultivation… ha ha.”
In that moment, the faces of the Master of the White Lotus Sect and Yeodong-bin flashed through my mind.
And I remembered something Yeodong-bin had said.
[The infinite power you gained is hindering your attainment.]
That statement wasn’t aimed at me, but at the Master of the White Lotus Sect channeling the power of the Primordial Spirit. The Master of the White Lotus Sect couldn’t retort and simply appeared to accept those words because Yeodong-bin had landed a blow. At that time, I couldn’t grasp what Yeodong-bin meant, but now, I seemed to understand it faintly.
‘Aren’t the Master of the White Lotus Sect and I the same?’
The notion that infinite power hinders attainment mirrored my current predicament.
If you go deeper into it, the meaning may change, but at least I could profoundly empathize with Yeodong-bin’s statement about hindering achievement. With overwhelming levels of power, it’s inevitably about destruction rather than martial arts.
Then how do I resolve this?
I knew that Yeodong-bin had provided that answer at the time.
[You must discard first, then you can fill again!]
Discard first, then fill again…?
If I were to follow that advice…
“…….”
“Baek Woong. You look like you’re about to eat something awful, kind of like before a forced meal.”
“What the heck kind of ridiculous analogy is that?”
“Just saying. Hehehe.”
Shim Su-ryeok, who was laughing cheerfully, continued.
“I know you don’t want to use your divine power, but you need to restore what you’ve broken. If it goes on like this, there’ll be a catastrophe on the continent and training won’t be feasible.”
“Understood.”
“There’s definitely a way out. Think it over well.”
With that, Shim Su-ryeok disappeared, leaving me silently staring at the flames beyond the horizon. Watching those flames, I realized just how enormous my power is.
‘Right… this is no different than Howol blasting away the Wind Bullets without limit back in the day… No, Howol wouldn’t be able to unleash this kind of power either.’
I might have already surpassed the Heavenly Spirit Pill in terms of pure energy. Whether infinite or immense, in practical terms, there’s hardly a difference. I’m able to unleash firepower greater than how Howol would, by employing my extreme restoration abilities. To even compare with the Master of the White Lotus Sect’s Primordial Spirit is probably the kind of power I need.
Realizing this brought an extreme feeling of emptiness.
‘In training against monsters, I’ve become a monster myself.’
Perhaps the reason I unconsciously compare myself to peak experts is that I want to self-soothe by telling myself I still haven’t transcended my humanity.
Lost in thought, I waved my hand forward.
“Return!”
Whoosh!
In that moment, my divine power manifested, reversing all the natural damage I had done. I clearly found that using the divine power was becoming increasingly familiar, and that I didn’t need to practice for it to respond to my desires. Just as Fuxi said, it turned out my only aversion was to divine power, so I didn’t need to train it at all.
I sighed.
“Huff, if it weren’t for divine power, I wouldn’t be able to deplete my internal power at all… Oh?”
At that moment, a brilliant idea sparked in my mind.
No, I remembered something I had almost forgotten!
“……!!”
Yeah! Why didn’t I think of this earlier?!
I had only been using my bare body while practicing spear techniques and hadn’t realized it!
Feeling the epiphany, I descended from the air and gripped my spear from the ground, aiming ahead. Then I concentrated my mind.
I would activate the Nine Chambers of Thunder Technique first.
Whooo!
Four Spirits’ Soul!
Water Soul Transformation!
Swish!
The Water Soul of the Four Spirits wrapped around my body, and I immediately achieved Water Soul Transformation. I didn’t stop there, quickly moving to the next change.
Four Spirits’ Soul!
Fire Soul Transformation!
Whooo!
‘Nice. The transformation speed has improved compared to before!’
Now, Shim Su-ryeok could undoubtedly transform faster than me, but it felt like I’d reached a level even faster than the past Shim Su-ryeok. At this rate, I could confidently say I had fully comprehended the White Lotus Sect’s transformation secrets. Giddy, I transitioned from Fire Soul Transformation to Wind Soul Transformation and then switched back to Thunder Spirit.
Zap!
When I transformed into Thunder Spirit, I could feel an enormous amount of internal power being drained, and the rate of consumption could not be compared to when I was forcibly expending energy. Finally, I recognized that true depletion was approaching and couldn’t help but chuckle.
‘The reincarnation of the Four Spirits is indeed the key!’
If I couldn’t deplete my power with human martial arts, then using divine martial arts is the answer!!
I had known this fact for a while, but it likely had slipped my mind after being so obsessed with spear techniques for years. As my internal power reached a critical depletion point, I maintained the Thunder Spirit and suddenly released that state.
Swish!
All my strength felt like it had disappeared. It was as if the hundreds of vital energies in my body had instantaneously gone numb. Thinking it was finally time, I raised my spear and unleashed a strike imbued with the essence of the Thread Snake Technique.
Swish…!!
The hill didn’t collapse; only the essence of the Thread Snake flowed into it, meticulously carving out the mountain! I was thrilled to have finally reached the initial goal of my training.
“This is it!!”
By repeatedly reincarnating the Soul of the Evil God while exhausting all my power, I could take my spear techniques to the extreme!
‘With this method… I’ll eventually carve down the entire mountain!!’
Stumbling slightly, I felt dizzy from just having reincarnated the Soul of the Evil God, but this feeling was more delightful than distressing. I realized that draining my strength artificially using the Soul of the Evil God was beneficial. Had that not been the case, I might have thought about suppressing my internal power with divine energy. But there was no need for that.
Fwooosh!
I waited for my internal power to recover completely before repeating the same process.
It seemed like I could execute a thrust every half a moment.
Fwoosh!
“……”
After repeating this training dozens of times, I suddenly became acutely aware of how mentally fatigued I felt. I wiped the sweat accumulating on my chin and coughed dryly.
“Cough.”
Experiencing this, I realized that driving myself to the limit was far from a pleasant feeling. With my mental strength, physical strength, and intents all bottoming out, how could I feel good? However, my passion and elation for training acted as my only sustenance.
I’ll strip the mountain away…!!
Boom!
I knew that to fully carve down this mountain would probably take millions of attempts. There was a high likelihood I wouldn’t complete it in a timely manner.
But who cares about that?
If I’m having fun, that’s what matters!
Boom!
Boom!
…….
How much time had passed?
I was kneeling in a cave, supporting myself on my spear. I could hear the sound of bugs crawling in the dark, and there wasn’t a sliver of light in the enveloping darkness around me. At the brink of my physical and mental capabilities, I pondered in a daze.
Why hasn’t the wild horse come to me?
Could it be that I was mistaken?
“…….”
An abyss of darkness where even a step ahead was concealed.
Isn’t this my life?
“Damn it…!!”
No! How long must I live thinking such thoughts?
I wanted to shake off the negative thoughts that had haunted me since my lowest point. But even when I tried to shake them off, those pessimistic thoughts gnawed at my mind like drowning rats. I hated thinking like this, and I despised seeing others who were even slightly like me.
Crunch!
“Aaaaaahhh!”
Consumed by madness, I once again turned the Soul of the Evil God, creating a state of depletion and screamed as I thrust. The cave collapsed along with my thrust, and I began repeating the Nine Chambers of Thunder Technique and the Soul of the Evil God while gasping for breath from the collapse.
Hiss –
“…….”
Self-loathing.
And fear.
I think I finally understood why I don’t easily feel fear towards foreign beings or the Old Ruler.
Because they’re not my problem.
What I’ve always feared is only myself…….
Sizzle!
I tightly grabbed a palm-sized clump of earth and crushed it. I looked at the earthen debris with childlike eyes, contemplating.
‘I’ll see this through to the end.’
Now it doesn’t matter what I gain.
What matters more is what I become.
I had a gut feeling that when this training ended, I would definitely gain something, whether I wanted to or not.
Wooooo!
As I unleashed another thrust of the Soul of the Evil God, trying to break free from the earthen pile, it happened.
“……!!”
Woosh!
As I unconsciously made contact with the energy of the Earth Spirit, I found myself in an energy counterbalance.
In this ultimate state, had I made a mistake?
As I touched upon the forbidden path I had never dared venture, despair churned within me like my brain was melting away.
‘Ah, this can’t be the right time to challenge this…!!’
I’m certainly going to die!
If I transform a fifth time, I’ll become a total mummy!
I should have stopped, but in the panic of having stepped onto forbidden territory…
Suddenly, the energy of the Earth Spirit enveloped my body. No, to be precise, it was melting my body while maintaining my consciousness.
As my body started to dissolve and fade away.
My awareness remained intact, and the vividness of that consciousness felt strangely intense.
Oddly, my vision widened immensely, as if I were able to view all the heavens and earth simultaneously.
[Hmm…?]
And then I understood the situation I was in.
Assimilation.
I had become one with this land.
[Could it be…?]
The fact that I had become the mountain itself suggests one answer regarding my training with the Soul of the Evil God.
The Earth Spirit had been enhanced.
