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Chapter 191: A Path Chosen By A Crazy Man
After Lookhin finished eating a ton of food and had filled its belly, Sila told everyone to go their separate ways to do whatever they wanted.
Sebastian asked for Sila’s permission to train himself in the dojo, and Mamon requested to pay his treasure room a visit. Sila didn’t mind, though he asked Julia to accompany Mamon.
In the end, only Sila and Lookhin were left in the yard in front of the mansion.
“Funny, huh? I purchased this place but I rarely spend time here. If I had known this beforehand, I wouldn’t have upgraded it to become this spacious,” Sila talked to Lookhin.
“...” Lookhin shot a side glance at Sila once before ignoring him, curling itself up, sleeping.
“Umm... Lookhin seems haughtier than before and its level of affection continues to decline. I really wonder why?”
Honestly speaking, if someone were to witness how Sila raised Lookhin, they would wonder why Lookhin still hadn’t fled from him yet. No animal lover would ever describe Sila’s behaviors as ‘taming’.
In the past, Sila released it to play around from time to time. However, recently, he had always kept it in the ring and only released it when it had to fight. Moreover, once it finished fighting, he would store it in the ring again.
As a pet’s level got higher, the owner would have to take even better care of it. Yet Sila did the opposite. The stronger Lookhin became, the more he neglected it.
The reason Lookhin didn’t attack him despite being a higher rank was only because it considered Sila its benefactor who raised it since it was just a baby bird.
Sila wanted to use this free time to re-evaluate himself. Mora had always taught him to look back on previous battles in order to analyze his actions and study the mistakes he made.
Sila circulated Yin Yang Energy throughout his body. He attempted utilizing some styles of Nine-Styles Weapon Subduing Art and found that he could still use them properly. He could even use Psychic Crush that was more inclined to be a move of psychic power than qi.
“Umm... Only the psychic-type skills were destroyed? Does that mean I can still use psychic power?”
Sila’s guess was very close to the mark. In fact, with Lucifer’s pride in qi type, once he saw that Sila had potential, he deliberately chose to only destroy Sila’s psychic-type related part without harming Sila’s core energy, forcing Sila to re-study his qi again. Lucifer also imparted his essence as a resource for Sila to learn qi faster.
As for Omniscient Evil God Qi, it wasn’t Lucifer’s intention to transmit it to Sila. Rather, it was Sila’s fortune that he had received qi from a monster before. Tiger Dragon Qi was a part of Yin Yang Energy which Sila used to both resist and take in Omniscient Evil God Qi. It had been infused in Sila’s body and allowed his veins to accept a part of Omniscient Evil God Qi by chance.
“The Unison Percentage is at 21%. Is this considered high or low?”
Sila checked his newly acquired stat. He was still unable to identify the benefits of having it, unlike special points as Sila could clearly tell that the fusion improved the quality of his energy.
Sila went over the previous battles in his mind, evaluating his past actions in order to not repeat the same errors. He was quite positive that his current ability was still not enough for him to stand a chance against Montra, who would have his full strength unsealed in the following week, not to mention the powerful allies, armies, items, and more backing him up.
“I won against Raidola and Shuran not because of my own strength but because I relied on the pellets. What if I didn’t have them? What would I have to do?”
Sila tried to come up with an answer, and the only answer he could think of was that he had to become stronger—so strong that even Montra couldn’t imagine, so strong that his strength alone could overwhelm Montra’s every advantage.
Montra was smarter than Sila. He was also slier and had more allies and subordinates. In fact, Montra was superior to him in almost every aspect.
Sila asked himself what about him was superior to Montra? The only answer in his mind was his potential regarding fighting ability. Although his fighting ability was now slightly below Montra, Sila believed that he could improve it to surpass Montra if he continued to put his mind and effort into it.
Since he couldn’t win against Montra in many aspects, Sila decided to pursue an extreme path—forsaking everything and focused only on a single aspect.
Sila had Lucifer as his role model. If he could become as strong as Lucifer, he wouldn't be afraid of Montra no matter how large Montra’s army was, how strong Montra became, or how many hundreds of high-tier items Montra possessed.
Sila knew he was not a clever person. His sole strategy for winning against Montra was simply to become stronger.
Most players would be satisfied when they had achieved Sila’s current strength, and that was one of the things that slowed down their growth, including the talented Lone Wolf and the genius Montra. However, Sila didn’t have that kind of mindset. He fought. Sometimes he won and sometimes he lost. No matter what the result was, he always thought that he could still become even stronger and never stopped practicing, even if he only took one step forward.
“In the Heaven’s Decree book, there is a part where it says ‘The greatest power is useless if lacking practical use.’ I always thought it was just a saying. It’s only now that I understand what it really means.”
Sila had successfully invented three ultimate moves—Lone Soul, Psychic Crush, and Fist of Reversal. Each of them could be considered an unmatched, supreme art. However, in practical use, if not for him taking the pellets, Sila couldn’t use even a single one of them to their full potential.
“In actual battles, there are many variable factors. What if I can’t end the battle before the pellets’ effect run out? Or, what if my opponent doesn’t allow me to take them during the battle? In any case, I will have to rely more on myself without depending on those pellets.”
As he had no idea where to start, Sila began to inspect his base powers before they combined and became Yin Yang Energy. He submerged himself in his mind and studied the flow of Yin Yang Energy circulating through his veins. He could still notice the subtle differences between Tiger Dragon Qi, Flaming Cloud Qi, and Dark Psychic Corrosion that left their own identity within his Yin Yang Energy.
One more thing that Sila took his time to restudy seriously was Profound Qi Circulation Art. He reread the book again from start to finish. Although the content was the same, Sila’s comprehension ability toward it improved since he had gotten a chance to use it in actual combat.
“Qi circulation is very basic yet the most important. It is my power’s foundation. If I want to improve my abilities, I must start at the roots.”
Sila circulated his energy throughout his body for four laps and didn’t find any problem with that. His inner force could circulate through each of the five elemental organs without any obstruction. In fact, compared to before, manually circulating qi had become so easy to him, as easy as normal breathing.
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Suddenly, one particular idea struck Sila.
“Come to think of it, I have never studied my qi circulation when performing actions. Let’s see...”
Qi circulation was similar to breathing. Once accustomed to it, the body would remember how to perform it and did it semi-automatically. It was a process that one could either manually control or let the body do subconsciously, like how humans were always breathing regardless of whether they controlled it or not.
The same concept applied to Sila’s qi circulation. As he took action, his body subconsciously separated the power into five equal parts and continued to circulate through five organs with the same amount of power.
“This is wrong... the fire organ helps most with attacking, the earth organ helps most with defending, the metal organ helps most with swiftness, the water organ helps most with adaptation, and the wood organ helps most with restoration... My power spreads to all off the organs equally so no aspect becomes outstanding.”
Sila tried throwing a punch and found that his action stimulated the power within the fire organ. Then, he exhibited various styles of his personal profound art and found a grave problem.
“Nine-Styles Weapon Subduing Art is unkempt! Instead of understanding the profound arts I studied and united them into my own art, what I did was creating nine more arts with entirely different concepts. The foundations of the styles don’t share any similar characteristics! Alas... I always thought it was a decent art... but it turned out to be a dud. Why is inventing my own art this difficult?!”
The reason why it was especially difficult for Sila was that he learned both qi arts and martial arts simultaneously.
If he were to focus on studying a martial art, his body would naturally and gradually build up inner force suitable for his movements. On the other hand, if he focused on studying a qi art, the flow of qi itself would guide him to use suitable movements according to the qi circulation.
In one way, Sila was fortunate that he got a chance to study both qi arts and martial arts together. However, that very reason could also be said to be his greatest obstacle. Since those arts were invented by different experts, it was close to impossible for Sila to come up with a profound martial art that went along well with the qi art he learned.
Sila released a heavy sigh. It was a given that inventing a new art was hard. Most supreme experts could only come up with their profound arts during the latter half of their lives. Not many could invent a new profound art at a young age. Especially an art that could shake the martial world; no one young could ever create something like that.
“No one has ever done it, except... the Sword Prodigy!! My dad could do it. He came up with the peerless sword art when he was only in his early thirties. He got help from the brain scanner... but aren’t I using one as well?!”
Sila quickly read the part containing Pumin’s life experiences and found that Pumin had learned swordsmanship ever since he was a kid. He was a disciple of one of the traditional sword dojos that wasn’t too outstanding. Later, he quit the dojo and studied a qi circulation art together with Mora and restudied his sword art along the way.
Sila finally understood his father’s intention. After Pumin mastered Profound Qi Circulation Art, he forsook the previous sword art he had learned and invented a brand-new sword art in accordance with his qi circulation art. It was similar to how Kiryu studied Tiger Dragon Qi first, then came up with the most natural movement that best suited his qi, which led to Tiger’s Palm, Dragon’s Fist, and Tiger-Dragon Fusion.
“...My dad abandoned all of the knowledge regarding swordsmanship that he had learned since childhood in order to invent his personal art, Heaven’s Decree, from scratch...”
This could be a tough decision for many. However, Sila decided almost instantly to pave his own path, similar to how Pumin decided.
Sila intended to forgo his intermingled qi art and his messy martial art for the sake of beginning anew. Now wasn’t the appropriate time though. He planned to do so when he was in the Desert of Death, the place where Teacher Mora said the flow of time would be slower than normal. When the time comes, Sila would challenge himself to invent his new original profound art that could surpass even the genius.
Fixing things must be done at the very root, so Sila thought it was better for him to start from scratch. Sila’s way of thinking was something that Montra would never attempt to follow. There was no way Montra would abandon the power he already had in order to start anew.
Why in the world should he dispose of the great power he currently had in order to hope for something new that would take an unknown time to develop? Furthermore, there was still a possibility that the new power might turn out to be worse than the previous one.
This kind of path was more suited to a crazy man than a genius.
‘Understand the box to think outside the box.’ That was the heart of the Flaming Cloud dojo’s teaching.
Sila spent an entire night drafting his new arts in his head. This time, he didn’t forget to take the harmony between qi arts and martial arts into consideration. Sila firmly believed that he could achieve inventing them, and once they were completed, he would become a totally different person.
Sila started a new day by training his muscles. He let his body go with the natural flow of Tiger Dragon Qi and Flaming Cloud Qi without putting his mind into his actions. Even though some movements were quite strange to the eyes, they all felt natural and his body easily performed them. Sila tried his best to remember the most natural movements according to his qi.
Lookhin opened its beak, yawning. It flew into Sila’s treasure room and brought out a bag of high-quality pet food in its mouth. It then tore the bag open using its sharp talons prior to using psychic power to pull the food into its mouth while staring indifferently at Sila.
Sila continued practicing, completely losing track of the flow of time. It wasn’t until Bluebird and Burapha came to visit him that he was aware of the surroundings again.
“See? I told you he would be fine.”
Bluebird’s statement broke Sila’s concentration. He quit practicing and greeted both visitors.
“Oh, hi, you two. The meeting time has come?”
Sila greeted them while trying to remove his fabric armor soaked in his sweat, but he was not having any luck. All he could do was change the armor’s appearance, removing the upper half. In the end, he had to feel content with just using water from the pool to wash his face and upper half of his body.
His action stimulated the cleaning function in the armor and it soon cleaned itself, together with washing Sila’s entire body, making Sila feel as if he had just finished taking a bath.
“Mn. Quite convenient,” Sila muttered to himself.
“What meeting time, Big Brother? It’s already midday. Everyone is worried since you didn’t show up.”
“Really? Where is everyone?”
“Some of them can’t enter this place, so they asked us to bring you out, Big Brother Sila.”
“Umm... Actually, if we will be discussing the Wicked Union’s future direction, which will be a secret, how about we invite everyone to discuss it here?” proposed Sila.
“That’s not a bad idea, but isn’t this place your Mansion of Secrets? Shouldn’t it be your hiding place?” asked Bluebird.
“I no longer need to hide. It’s just my home now.”
As Varee already knew about the mansion, Sila didn’t have any reason to keep it a secret anymore.
Sila called Julia over and asked her to invite everyone participating in the meeting to the living room in his mansion.
“What about Mamon?” Sila asked Julia.
“I saw him doing this and that with Master’s items in the treasure room and laughing in a high-pitched voice. Do you want me to call him, Master?”
“No, that’s okay. He seems busy.”
Julia exited the mansion with Burapha. Meanwhile, Bluebird asked Sila, “Who is Mamon?”
“Ah, his real name is Mammon, the demon inside my Greed Card. It’s... um... how should I put it? He broke out from the card, I’d say.”
Bluebird showed a panicked expression. “Oi!! Isn’t that a big problem?!”
“Umm... you can say he is my ally. Mamon isn’t dangerous... I guess?” Sila said the last part quietly.
“Not dangerous!! Arghhh! Why can’t mine be the same? Lomyok got the lazy demon and you got the harmless one. Why do I alone have to suffer...?!”
As he was speaking, blue vapor began to emit from his body, to which Bluebird instantly shuddered. He quickly calmed his mind by repeating ‘calm down, calm down, don’t panic, don’t panic’ until the vapor faded away.
“Fuu... That was close. I brought it back down to 42% just in time.”
Julia emerged and said to Sila, “Everyone has arrived, Master. They are waiting for you in the living room. Do you want me to call Mister Head Butler to participate?”
Sila thought for a moment. “Nah, I don’t think we should disturb him. Sebastian must be diligently training himself in the dojo now. Please take care of them for the time being, Julia. I will go there soon.”
Julia bowed and pardoned herself. Sila turned his head to Lookhin and used Mind Link to ask if it would like to come with him or not.
Lookhin swallowed another two mouthfuls of pet food before flying to perch on Sila’s shoulder. This time, Sila had activated Formless Soldier beforehand, so its talons couldn’t harm him.
“Good kid... Please behave yourself in front of others, okay?”
Sila stroked its feathers, to which Lookhin showed slight resistance.
Bluebird took a look at Lookhin. “Oh? This is Lookhin? It grew a lot I almost can’t remember it. Come here, let me rub you a bit.”
Bluebird approached it, but his hand stopped in mid-air once he noticed Lookhin’s green eyes which clearly showed malice. His intuition told him that he would lose his hand if he extended it further.
“Oh... it seems fiercer. Come to think of it, there were times when Lookhin kept pecking me.”
“Mn. I don’t recommend you play with it yet. Let’s wait until Lookhin becomes more obedient. Look. It even tries to sink its talons into me.”
Bluebird looked at Sila’s shoulder and found that Lookhin’s talons really dug into the armor, though Lookhin’s talons couldn’t penetrate Sila’s flesh. Bluebird believed that if he swapped places with Sila, he would already be covered in blood.
“Umm... The monster’s personality may become fiercer upon promoting into Lord Rank, I guess. No one has ever raised a monster to Lord Rank so there is not enough information. Well, if you want to ask someone about pets, you can ask Swan. If memory serves me right, information regarding pets is within her area of expertise.”
The two men and the bird soon moved toward the living room, soon to enter a meeting. The result of the meeting today would become a turning point in determining Monster Soul’s future.