There are many legends regarding rebirth and gaining immortality. Monsters Soul is a quest that replicates one of those tales.
There is a certain legend explaining that, for a mortal to step into the realm of immortality, ones body and mind will be split into two. One is the god, representing the purity, and the other is the demon, representing the malignancy. Both existences cannot coexist so each part of the mortal will have to fight each other. If the purity wins, there will be another god joining the realm of gods. Otherwise, if the malignancy wins, there will be another demon joining the demon realm.
In the instant when Silas fist was about to connect with Moon Reflecting Mirror, Sila was aware that he had been lured into a trap. The plan to provoke the opponent to attack so he could counterattack was always his plan, but now the monster used it against him.
This fist was reinforced with his maximum power so he was aware that he couldnt retract the power in ti. Thus, instead of retracting the power back, he chose to accelerate his speed to narrow the distance. This fist belonged to him so he was well aware at what point it would be able to unleash its full potential.
Narrowing the distance could be considered an application of the Weaken technique of Six Moon-Grabbing-Claws; advancing to the source of the power instead of facing it directly.
The only qi-type power that Sila didnt include in this attack was Formless Soldier. Ever since he was able to use Tiger Dragon Qi, he had been using it as his base power as its performance was better.
Thus, he activated Formless Soldier at this mont to harden his body and soften his internal organs. He also made his body lighter to flow with the wind, lessening the impact. This, again, counted as the Migrate technique.
Silas body intensely clashed against the power of the fist and was blown away. Although he was severely injured, he was glad. The fact that there was an impact ant Genesis Punch hadnt successfully launched its full potential. The distance that was off caused him to be blown backward from the impact instead of being turned into dust on the spot.
Unexpectedly, the seemingly useless Six Moon-Grabbing-Claws had saved Silas life in a mont of crisis.
He sighed and activated the softness attribute of Tiger Dragon Qi to create a soft cushion behind his back, preventing himself from being slamd into the caves wall.
Upset that its plan to kill Sila had failed, the monster furiously glared at him.
Sila circulated Immortal Qi and activated his new fusion skill, Unblemished Cool Breeze, to heal his body. His eyes shot back at his inner self.
As it wasnt clothing designed to directly receive attacks, his Unjust Wuxia Clothing was torn apart since it couldnt take all of the damage. Silas upper body was laid bare and there was a big, bleeding wound on his chest, though the wound was quickly healed.
Sila controlled his breathing to calm his mind.
Do not let yourself be drawn into the opponents flow. In this case, his opponent was his own soul. He could regain his composure in no ti since no one would know him better than himself.
You cant take the truth, huh, Sila? Nunthima is like Sangdao. She approached us only to observe. Once she was done, she left!
Nunthima ca to speak to honestly. She herself didnt want to do that, replied Sila.
Only one day before the day of the match?! What did she expect? Did she expect us to understand her, accept what she said, and go fight Montra without shackles around our heart?! Thats clearly a strategy! Are you a fool to not notice that?!!
I can tell that she was sincere. That much is enough for to feel content.
You can tell? You are content? Hahaha! What a joke, Sila. Im you. Dont tell you didnt fret over this at all when you fought against Montra. Dont tell you fought without the matters regarding Teacher Mora and Nunthima in your head. Dont tell you fought sincerely without the flas of vengeance in your heart.
Sila shut his mouth. His inner self was right. Humans werent saints, and that included him. Although Sila felt content that Nunthima ca clean, deep down he couldnt help but feel betrayed.
Sila had been raised in the dojo. His life was all about practicing. Practicing for what purpose? He didnt know.
One day, he t her, Nunthima. She ca to join the dojo and beca his Junior Sister. This woman made a slight change to his life. The two of them were secretly in a relationship. From that point on, Sila felt like his life finally had so aning.
Even when his teacher went missing and the disciples stopped coming to the dojo, she was still with him.
Until that day ca, a day before his match against Montra. She confessed sothing to him. It was the truth that extrely affected Silas state of mind.
She said that she could no longer keep it a secret from him, that it was Montra who had sent her to befriend Sila and spy on him. She said that she couldnt bring herself to stay with Sila who was sincere to her while she was deceiving him.
The mont when she turned her back to Sila and left was still vivid in his mory. There was no goodbye. There was no holding her back. Sila returned to being lonely once again.
So, it would be a lie if he said he only resented Montra for what happened to his teacher. He resented Montra for what happened with Nunthima as well.
Sila adjusted his breathing again. He wasnt as stupid about love as Bluebird constantly claid he was, but that event caused him to build a wall to protect his heart. Sila was not ready to have soone again until he could put an end to this matter. His naivety was sothing he relied on to prevent himself from falling in love.
Pretending to not know. Pretending to not care. It was easier that way, right, Sila? His inner self continued.
Im not pretending or anything. That naivety is also a part of .
You could change yourself, but you decide not to. You didnt dare to change. Youre afraid. You fear to experience the sa feeling back then.
Listening to it talking in a circle, Sila felt that sothing was off. Sothing was surely wrong but he couldnt tell what it was.
Sila took a deep breath and think about it calmly. If it was him and he was it, what was it that was unnatural?
Why didnt it attack ? This was the answer Sila ca up with.
His inner self was cursing and swearing at him nonstop as if it intended to stall for ti. It was unnatural. He was currently in the middle of the quest and he only had to wait for the ti to be up. The one who should be stalling for ti should be him, not it.
Sila looked at the sky above. An hour should have passed but the positions of the stars had not changed at all. He had been forced to study the stars when he was being taught Twelve Celestial-Traveling-Steps. Thus, even if he wasnt an expert at astronomy, he could sohow tell that.
He took several, eccentric steps forward and approached the black monster. His body was circulating Tiger Dragon Qi while his right fist, reinforced with qi, was thrown at the monsters blind spot.
His inner selfs left arm drew an arc with the power of Moon Reflecting Mirror while reinforcing psychic power into its right hand. It shaped its hand like a claw and pounced on Sila.
This ti, however, Sila was prepared. His fist had yet to connect as he had slight enlightennt about being slow ans an act of unending changes. His fist suddenly changed its course halfway.
Sila opened his hand and used his palm to deflect the incoming claw. Then, he depended on the impact to rotate his body and strike his left arm at his opponent.
His inner self took the attack and had to retreat. anwhile, the eroding psychic power damaged Silas right hand and corroded his muscles. Sila quickly circulated qi to heal his wound.
As expected. You are the other half of who was born from psychic power. It was different than when I took the Way of Slis ordeal. While I cant use psychic power, you cant use qi. My aptitude over qi is better than psychic energy, so of course, Im stronger than you.
His inner self glared back at Sila with its gleaming red eyes. The psychic power was being emitted from its body like water steam.
Despite the fact that you are , you didnt take the action that I would take. You didnt attack and were even kind enough to wait for to recover. That ans there is so restriction on you. Maybe your power is conditional or youre waiting for sothing. No matter what it was, I think I can no longer wait.
You are too late. I have already swallowed enough of your negative feelings.
His inner self jumped at him. Although it was a simple movent, Sila had to admit that the power he felt from it was overwhelming. However, instead of resisting the attack, Sila chose to disperse all of his power and leave himself defenseless.
This is not real.
The claw penetrated Sila but brought him no harm. His inner self panicked and tried to attack Sila several more tis but they were all useless. All attacks flew right through Silas body.
Although we are the sa person, you are only a part of , not all of .
Its not true!! Im stronger than you. My psychic power is the strongest!! I will swallow. I will grow. I will destroy!!
A calm mind is the strongest psychic... Soone has taught that, and it is the core principle of Moon Reflecting Mirror. A calm mind that is as clear as a pond without any ripples. A psychic power that will reflect everything back without lies.
The body of the monster shrinked drastically. Its color was also fading.
This was never a trial to test my battle prowess. It is a trial to test my mind. The weaker my mind becos, the stronger you will beco. On the other hand, if my mind is calm and clear, you will weaken.
Sila stopped for a second while looking at the body of a monster that was about to vanish.
The monsters soul is a part of .
As he accepted this fact, its body disappeared and Silas body suddenly beca heavily. His eyelids closed. And when he ca to his senses again, he found that he was sleeping on the ground. His clothing was still intact.
That just now was a battle within his mind.
He stood up and looked into the pond. The pond was full of water, reflecting a moon in the sky, though the moon was no longer full.
The system sound went off.
You have completed the hidden quest, Monsters Soul, and gotten a psychic-type skill: Dark Psychic Corrosion, Level 89.
For the record, the skill you obtained from this hidden quest is counted as a secondary energy type. You will not be able to obtain so psychic-type skills. Please refer to your system window for more information.
You have spent 51 hours, 32 minutes, and 25 seconds to accomplish the hidden quest.
He had spent more than two days to finish the quest even though his perception of ti told him that it shouldn't have been more than a few hours. He checked the current ti with his system window and found that it was exactly like the system told him.
Sila walked around and found that there was no exit from this place. It seed he would have to wait until sunrise before he could leave, like the system had said. So, he decided to sit on the rock and study his newly acquired psychic-type skill.
First things first, Sila tried to circulate qi throughout his body to reaffirm that the psychic power that had clogged in his body was indeed gone. It had now completely beco a part of Sila. As his power was no longer clogged up, Sila hoped that he would be able to polish his qi further in the future.
Dark Psychic Corrosion, Level 89.
It is the nature of your psychic power which has the ability to corrode and consu. The more it swallows, the stronger its corrosive ability will beco. It is a dangerous psychic power to have. Please use with caution.
Sila decided to give it a try and materialized his psychic power on his right palm. The black steam appeared on it and, suddenly, Sila felt great pain. The psychic power was eating away his flesh.
Ouch! Sila gritted his teeth and endured the pain. He resisted it by cladding his hand with qi but it was futile. The psychic power swallowed his qi and absorbed it to strengthen its corrosive power. Silas hand eroded at a faster pace and the pain run through his arm.
He didnt know what to do so he slamd his hand against the ground.
The impact didnt seem to be excessive but the black psychic power moved to the nearby ground and wore into the soil.
Silas arm was covered in blood and the wound on his right arm was so deep that his bone was visible. He took a deep, long breath to bear the pain while circulating Immortal Qi with Unblemished Cool Breeze to heal the wound.
I cant even use it normally. Will it always harm the user every ti?
The wound was slowly closing. Sila decided to postpone thinking about his psychic power for later. His understanding of psychic skills was lacking so he planned to ask for advice.
Sila moved his arm back and forth to ensure that it was completely healed. It would take several more hours until morning ca so he decided to kill his ti by studying Tiger Dragon Qi.
The previous battle inspired Sila to adapt the six main techniques of Six Moon-Grabbing-Claws with Tiger Dragon Qi.
Although it happened in my mind, I was able to use the soft attribute splendidly and could change my action in the middle of the attack. It is similar to the concept of Tigers Palm that Im still unable to put into use.
Sila flicked his wrists slowly while circulating the tiger attribute of Tiger Dragon Qi and reading the pages about how to specifically circulate qi to perform Tiger's Palm in the book.
The tiger hides in the wild, moves in secrecy, slowly approaches its prey, then successfully hunts them down in a single attempt.
He practiced it for a long ti. Despite believing that he was a step closer to success, he was still unable to unleash its power.
It was also worth ntioning that, during his fight against his inner self, his coincidental successful use of Tiger's Palm couldnt be said to be perfect. Although it was indeed in line with the changing concept ntioned in the book, the power that he unleashed was nowhere near as powerful as the book described.
Or should I practice Dragons Fist first? Well... I dont know whether practicing them simultaneously will be the good call. These sub-arts also require different thods of qi circulation.
Tiger Dragon Qi consists of three offensive sub-arts that require different ways of qi circulation. They are Dragons Fist and Tiger's Palm while the last one is the result of the two aforentioned sub-arts combined together. It is called Tiger-Dragon Fusion.
Dragons Fist has a hard attribute, aiming to deal external damage to the opponent, while Tiger's Palm has a soft attribute, aiming to deal damage internally. These two sub-arts share so aspects with Genesis Punch, though Poluk didnt break his art down that much until he was asked to downgrade his art to Formless Soldier.
Lastly, Tiger-Dragon Fusion can only be practiced when the user has mastered both Dragons Fist and Tiger's Palm. Thus, Sila saved his interest in it for later.
Well, Tiger's Palm is more compatible with my Weapon Subduing Fist and I also have the knowledge of the six techniques of Six Moon-Grabbing-Claws to support it. Lets just stick with the tiger attribute for a little while longer.
Sila committed the part about Tiger's Palm to his mory.
He reviewed the knowledge about Six Moon-Grabbing-Claws in his head while simultaneously imagining the slow movents of Kawin.
He followed the slow movents in his imagination as he wanted to correctly use the art first before gradually increasing the speed later.
The sweat was dripping on the ground. Sila had fully imrsed himself in practice. Soon, the images of Kawin in his mind faded away as he started to develop his own version of Six Moon-Grabbing-Claws. Even though it wasnt a perfect version, it was unique to him and was still practical.
Sotis Silas fingers pointed forward, and sotis his fingers bent like tigers claws. These gestures ca to him naturally as his qi was the one that guided him through the motions to bring out the most power from his body.
Sila was once again in awe and had a profound respect for Kiryu.
He approached the stone wall and placed his palm on it. His fingers easily sank into it.
He then tried to drag his hand along the wall. Once he flicked his wrist, the claw marks clearly appeared on it.
It might not work well against experts, but at least it can be used in actual combat. Sila was confident that the current him could hold his ground if he were to face off against Kawin again.
There was a subtle sound behind his back. Sila looked at the sky and found that morning had co.
The sunlight pointed toward the exit. Sila calmly walked along the route while circulating qi. The level of his Tiger Dragon Qi had reached 40.
When Sila got out of the cave, he saw a certain man standing in the distance.
Currently, his mind was calm and reveling in himself for the growth of his ability. This Cave of Immortals changed Sila more than he had anticipated.
He always imagined what he would do when the ti ca. However, once the ti really ca, he just approached the man and greeted him like usual.
Hello, Teacher Mora. It's been quite a while.
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