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A brief silence followed. Lying on the floor, staring up at the lobby ceiling of Niue de Corb, Adrian swallowed a suppressed sigh.

‘Damn it. Where did these strong people come from? How did I get tangled up in this?’

When Adrian heard the news of being attacked out of the blue, he had scoffed. But now, his mind was filled with frustration and confusion over his misfortune.

Originally, hitting pressure points without the opponent knowing was supposed to be his specialty. Yet, Adrian still couldn’t properly recall what had happened the moment he was thrown by Conra. In the blink of an eye, the weapon in his hand had flown away, and he found himself lying on the floor, staring blankly at the ceiling.

The impact of hitting the ground was so merciless that Adrian struggled to shake off the sensation of his skull and tailbone simultaneously ringing.

And that wasn’t all. The moment he acknowledged the presence of the Nun Knight, Sophia, who had already taken down the underlings and was now observing him with her arms crossed, Adrian felt an inexplicable chill run down his spine. Her gaze felt as though it was dissecting every part of him.

At that moment, Sophia was in the midst of deducing the composition and history of Adrian’s ethereal muscles and ethereal brain. So, in a way, Adrian’s perception had pierced through the truth.

‘Hmm, I think I roughly understand the principles and training methods. Applying it this way should work, right?’

Sophia, in her past life, had been a genius capable of reconstructing ancient techniques from mere traces left in ruins thousands of years old. With such a clear sample right in front of her, there was no reason she couldn’t replicate and refine it.

She was already thinking about how to apply this to Conra’s training, satisfied with the unexpected gain.

‘Conra seems to have grasped the clue to Wu Xin Dong (無心動). Well, I’ll have to consider this fully in his future training plan.’

The essential components of martial arts, and simultaneously the shackles that limit them, are the mind, technique, and body. And the attempts to overcome these limitations gave birth to Wu Xin Dong, Wu Xing Jian (無形劍), and Shen Yi Dong (審意動).

Mastering any of these three would allow one to enter the world beyond perception for the first time.

Once one can manipulate the world beyond perception, previously unrecognized due to mental, physical, and technical limitations, a martial artist can manifest the laws of the microcosm in the macrocosm. From techniques like sword arts, void steps, and explosive palms, to heart swords, mind-in-action, simultaneous multi-strikes, and overlapping techniques—all can be unleashed from this point.

If Conra masters Wu Xin Dong and comprehends this principle, he would truly qualify to receive the genuine teachings from Sophia.

‘But before that, we’ll need to address the weaknesses that arise in the initial stages of Wu Xin Dong.’

The weakness of Wu Xin Dong in its early stages was clear: the movements become predictable, making it easy for masters to read.

Without the intervention of thought, the body moves as it is led, naturally resulting in ingrained movements. Every movement inevitably has gaps, and these gaps are easily exploited by masters familiar with such patterns. Thus, the movements in the early stages of Wu Xin Dong are overly simplistic and easy to read.

Conra’s joy upon seeing Adrian’s ethereal muscles and ethereal brain stemmed from the calculation that these could compensate for the weaknesses of Wu Xin Dong in its early stages.

The idea was that the alien and autonomous movements derived from the cephalopod-like ethereal muscles and ethereal brain would introduce irregular unpredictability to the otherwise straightforward and simplistic movements of Wu Xin Dong.

Of course, the process of mastering this would be hellish for Conra. Improving the already formed second band of ethereal muscles and ethereal brain, and then proceeding to the third band, would undoubtedly be a challenging process.

But that was the disciple’s burden to bear, not Sophia’s concern.

Unaware of Sophia’s thoughts, Conra focused on interrogating Adrian, ignoring the inexplicable chill that had struck him.

“Boss, sorry, but you’ll have to answer my questions.”

“Ha, fine. You’ve caused such a mess here, and now you want to ask me something? What is it?”

Adrian, not knowing what was coming but wanting to understand why he was in this situation, decided to hear Conra out. But soon, his eyes widened at the name that came out of Conra’s mouth.

“Maria Francesca. She’s been here, right?”

For a moment, Adrian froze, then quickly feigned nonchalance. But it was too late; Conra’s sharp senses had already caught the change in his expression.

Realizing he had been caught, Adrian decided to play dumb, thickening his skin and sticking to denial.

“Hmph, I have no idea what you’re talking about. Why are you looking for that girl’s name here?”

“Well, I didn’t expect you to answer honestly.”

Contrary to Adrian’s expectations, Conra wasn’t disappointed.

“Seems like we’re not close enough for you to be honest. Let’s spend some time getting to know each other.”

“What? What are you talking about?”

“Traditionally, there’s no better way for strangers to become friends than by sharing new experiences together.”

Regardless of Adrian’s protests or reactions, Conra continued, slowly loosening his hands.

“This is my first time trying this in real combat, so I’m not sure if I can pull it off without mistakes. But even if I mess up, it shouldn’t be a big deal. At worst, you might lose the use of a limb.”

“What!? Wait, hold on…!”

At the ominous statement, Adrian’s face changed, and he hurriedly tried to speak, but Conra’s hands were faster.

*Papapap!*

In an instant, Conra’s fingers jabbed into various points all over Adrian’s body.

The next moment, Adrian writhed in pain, screaming as if his bones and muscles were twisting and grinding against each other.

“AAAAAH!”

“Oops, I forgot to block the demon blood and human blood. Well, it’s fine. I’ll do better next time. Let’s block it now, shall we?”

As Conra’s fingers aimed again, Adrian, despite his pain-clouded mind, tried to move to avoid them. But his muscles no longer obeyed him. As Conra’s fingers pierced his body, Adrian felt his vocal cords, mouth, and entire body stiffen as if paralyzed.

Even with his limbs immobilized, the pain of bones and flesh twisting and grinding didn’t lessen. In fact, unable to writhe or scream, the unresolved pain began to swirl in his mind, tormenting him.

It was as if his entire body was being torn apart, bones sawed—indescribable, endless, uncontrollable, and unresolvable pain that left Adrian utterly exhausted.

How much time had passed? To Adrian, it felt like an eternity. Finally, when Conra tapped his body again, the pain that had tormented him vanished as if it had never been.

But the lingering effects of the pain remained, leaving Adrian unable to gather himself, lying helplessly, breathing heavily.

“Thinking about it, we might not have enough time to go through the whole process of getting to know each other.”

‘Ugh, what the hell is this lunatic saying now…?’

“So, I’m going to insert a special needle coated with a unique solution into your cervical spine. This will dramatically increase your brain’s perception speed. My skills are still lacking, so I can only increase it by ten times. Roughly, one second will feel like ten. Then, we’ll have another session like the one we just had. Excited, aren’t you?”

Adrian’s inner thoughts were anything but calm. His mind raced, but unable to speak or move, nothing showed on the outside. Ultimately, despite his silent pleas, Conra inserted the needle into Adrian’s cervical spine.

Suddenly, Adrian felt as though time around him had slowed. Sounds, light, everything reached him in this stretched perception, and Conra’s fingers, undeterred, began to pinpoint Adrian’s meridians and chakras.

The pain that followed was on a completely different level from before.

Adrian’s brain, overwhelmed by the shock of unbearable pain, caused him to pass out, only to wake up moments later to the unending agony, repeating the cycle almost every second.

Conra, watching indifferently, suddenly turned his head. Sophia, who had been observing with her arms crossed, was walking over. Seeing Adrian writhing in pain, his muscles contracting and bones grinding, she confirmed that the bone-setting technique had been properly executed and praised her disciple.

“Your acupoint technique has improved a lot. You did well for your first real attempt.”

Despite Sophia’s praise, Conra’s expression remained grim. It was due to the emotions he had felt while dealing with Adrian and the thugs from the slums.

For the first time, he had seen the dark underbelly of society, human trash. Instead of improving their dire circumstances through mutual support, they preyed on others in the same plight, spreading the filth of their inner malice without hesitation.

And the girl named Maria, who had undoubtedly been entangled with them.

All of this left the young boy’s mind in turmoil. The violent display he had shown Adrian was likely a twisted manifestation of his complex emotions.

Sophia, having long noticed her disciple’s emotional turmoil, pondered what advice to give. But even as a superhuman, she couldn’t resolve another’s inner struggles. She was a martial artist seeking strength, not a counselor or savior.

However, she knew exactly how to handle such situations.

‘It seems we’ll need to increase meditation time.’

After all, building the spiritual vessel to withstand spirit and ghostly energies required time invested in meditation. Since things had come to this, it seemed necessary to put more effort into meditation training.

The mind that judges and condemns others, the anger towards someone—all these attachments and chaos in the heart dissipate like a passing breeze once the ego is removed from consciousness. And meditation is the most traditional and orthodox method to reach a state where one can accept things as they are, stripping away the facade of the self.

 

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