What exactly is Qi?

Many people might have their own thoughts, but Seo-jun didn’t overcomplicate it.

It’s simply one path toward omnipotence.

Some might argue that all things are made of Qi, or that the form of all things changes depending on the nature of Qi, but Seo-jun saw no reason to be caught up in such complex theories.

With his talent, Qi could achieve anything.

Even if it was something he couldn’t do now, given time, he would be able to accomplish it.

And Qi wasn’t limited to pure internal energy.

Demonic Qi, Evil Qi, Death Qi—whatever the form, they were all ultimately just forms of Qi, diverged from the same origin.

If it was Qi, there was no reason he couldn’t handle it.

Or at least, that’s what I thought.

His thoughts had changed somewhat.

The demonic Qi coursing through his meridians—it was easier to handle than any other kind of Qi he’d dealt with before.

Even more so than the Yellow Cloud Qi of the Yellow Cloud Divine Art or the Mixed-Origin Qi of the Mixed-Origin Divine Art.

It wasn’t just that the demonic Qi followed his will easily. It was as if it had its own awareness, sensing what he needed and sprinting toward the most appropriate place.

Occasionally, it might misread his intent and do something strange, but so far, it had been nothing but an adorable companion.

“Come on, just give me a little more,” Seo-jun said, smiling as he tried to grip the hand of Soul-Stealing Demon Hyeok Mu-gang, who still held onto his fist.

“You insolent wretch...!” Hyeok Mu-gang, startled, quickly shook off Seo-jun’s grasp and leaped back.

But in that brief moment, half of the massive internal energy the old demon had accumulated was gone.

“You...! You’re with the Demonic Cult, aren’t you?”

“What?”

“You dare to challenge me with the Absorbing Star Technique? Fine! Try this, then!”

What was this old man on about? He wasn’t making any sense.

As Seo-jun let out a helpless chuckle, Hyeok Mu-gang unleashed a massive palm strike.

A giant hand-shaped energy blast shot toward Seo-jun.

Seo-jun calmly infused Demonic Qi into his hands, drawing a large circle as he activated the Hundred Rivers Return to the Ocean technique.

Whoosh—!

The giant palm strike slowed down, hesitating for a moment before it started being absorbed into Seo-jun.

“Hmm…”

After absorbing the entire palm strike, Seo-jun felt a slight discomfort in his stomach.

The issue was the old man’s energy. Keeping it inside wasn’t going to do him any good.

He shifted his left foot forward and twisted his waist.

The Demonic Qi he had absorbed from the Soul-Stealing Demon was channeled into his right fist, which he imbued with the essence of plum blossoms before launching a punch.

Demonic Plum Blossom? No, that didn’t quite fit.

Black Plum Blossom.

Dark plum blossoms bloomed from his fist, shooting out like daggers.

Whoosh—!

The Soul-Stealing Demon quickly unleashed a shockwave of energy to defend himself as he backed away, grinding his teeth.

“What kind of martial art is this? I’ve never heard of it!”

“Hold on a second.”

“What is it?!”

“Who even are you? Why are you acting like this all of a sudden?”

The Soul-Stealing Demon glared at Seo-jun with bloodshot eyes.

“You don’t know who I am? I am Hyeok Mu-gang, the Soul-Stealing Demon!”

“Who’s that?”

“This... this little brat! What is wrong with kids these days? What do they even learn?!”

As Seo-jun scratched his head, confused, Namgung Sua quietly whispered into his ear.

“He’s the Soul-Stealing Demon, Hyeok Mu-gang. A demonic martial artist who fled after losing a fight with the Demonic Sect.”

“Oh, do you know him?”

“That’s all I know.”

“Got it.”

Seo-jun chuckled and gently nudged Namgung Sua and Chunbong behind him.

“Just step back for a moment. I didn’t expect this elixir to come rolling my way.”

This martial art, the Absorbing Star Technique, that he had copied from the old man, was quite useful.

And unlike other times, he didn’t just get the outer shell of the technique—it had come to him in its entirety.

The core of the Absorbing Star Technique was the ability to absorb an opponent’s internal energy, weakening their attacks and enabling a counterattack using the absorbed energy. Taken further, it could even absorb the opponent’s true energy.

In simpler terms, you could siphon off their magic, and if you mastered it, you could even steal their magical core.

True energy = magical core.

It was an equation worth memorizing. You could also think of it as the maximum amount of magic one could wield.

To be more precise, it was the post-natal true energy that functioned as the core, but that wasn’t too important right now.

“Hoo…”

Seo-jun exhaled as he purged the impurities from the demonic energy he had absorbed from the Soul-Stealing Demon.

After filtering out the impurities, there wasn’t much left.

Still, it was better than nothing. Moreover, the real value of this martial art wasn’t just in its ability to absorb.

‘If I apply this well, Chunbong could…’

But that wasn’t the priority right now.

It was clear that the old man was getting ready to run.

He couldn’t let such a valuable elixir escape.

“Hold it right there!”

Seo-jun sprinted forward, wrapping his hands in Demonic Qi.

The vegetation in his path twisted unnaturally, bending and warping under the pressure of his Qi.

Twisting his waist, Seo-jun quickly gathered Demonic Qi into his palm.

“That technique…!”

Hyeok Mu-gang’s eyes widened.

At the same time, he mirrored Seo-jun’s stance, gathering Demonic Qi into his own palm.

“You... how do you know the Great Demon Palm of the Black Hand?!”

Their palms collided.

BOOOOM—!!!

The shockwave sent the Soul-Stealing Demon skidding backward, blood vessels bursting in his eyes as he screamed.

“How dare you! How dare you use my martial art! How could you use the Great Demon Palm?!”

“Can you speak clearly?”

“Grrrr…!”

Veins bulged in Hyeok Mu-gang’s neck.

Unlike the Absorbing Star Technique, which many within the Demonic Sect had learned, the Great Demon Palm of the Black Hand was the Soul-Stealing Demon’s unique technique.

It was a secret martial art passed down within his family, and he had slaughtered his entire clan, leaving him as the only one who knew it.

In order to master the Great Demon Palm, one had to immerse their hands in corpse poison. Without doing so, the immense power of the technique would destroy their hands.

Once the hands had been thoroughly soaked in poison, they would turn black, hence the name Black Hand. Until one reached mastery, it was impossible to hide the blackened hands.

But here was this brat using the Great Demon Palm, and his hands were perfectly fine, as if he had already mastered the technique.

It was incomprehensible. Not that the Soul-Stealing Demon cared to understand.

“I’ll kill you!”

All thoughts of retreat were gone as Hyeok Mu-gang gathered every ounce of his internal energy.

Even though he had sustained internal injuries due to Seo-jun’s use of the Absorbing Star Technique, he paid no mind.

His life had been filled with far worse hardships than this.

Not that any of that mattered to Seo-jun.

“Seriously, isn’t it time for you to go? Why do you keep flip-flopping?”

Respect your elders? Seo-jun wasn’t sure about that.

But attacking the elderly? That was something he had some skill in.

“I’ll send you off nicely!”

Seo-jun charged forward, and Hyeok Mu-gang unleashed a massive wave of demonic energy. His clothes billowed as an overwhelming amount of Qi gathered in his hands.

It was like a blazing inferno, the flames of demonic energy reaching the tops of the trees.

“Die…!”

Hyeok Mu-gang unleashed the Great Demon Palm, sending a colossal hand-shaped Qi blast flying toward Seo-jun.

In midair, Seo-jun twisted his body and drew his sword from his waist.

With no one around to witness, he decided to unleash the Yellow Cloud Divine Sword.

Yellow Dragon Splits the Heavens.

The creator of the Yellow Cloud Divine Sword might have been bad at naming techniques, but they were undeniably skilled at creating martial arts.

A dragon of pure demonic energy coiled around Seo-jun’s sword, its black form twisting and writhing as it reached the tip of the blade, its mouth agape.

Should I call it Demon Dragon Splits the Heavens?

Seo-jun laughed as he twisted his body, gathering all his strength before releasing it in an upward slash.

CRAAAAAACK—!!!

The Soul-Stealing Demon’s massive Qi attack was effortlessly torn apart.

In its wake, the black dragon roared as it shot into the sky.

“How… how could this happen so easily? Why does my demonic energy obey you?!”

Absorbing the dissipating energy from the Soul-Stealing Demon, Seo-jun grinned.

His internal energy, no matter how much he used, didn’t deplete at all.

“Hey, you!”

Chunbong yelled angrily from behind, clearly irritated that Seo-jun had used demonic energy for the Yellow Cloud Divine Sword. But Seo-jun chose to ignore her for now.

With a final leap, he closed the distance to Hyeok Mu-gang, tossing aside his sword and grabbing the demon’s wrist.

“This is my elixir!”

“Let… go…!”

Hyeok Mu-gang struggled to free his hand, but Seo-jun wasn’t letting go.

They were locked in a contest of internal energy.

“You… brat!”

The Soul-Stealing Demon had more internal energy—that had been true from the start.

But the quality of Seo-jun’s Qi was overwhelmingly superior.

On top of that, Seo-jun’s internal energy moved as if it were alive.

In the blink of an eye, Seo-jun’s Qi snatched away the Soul-Stealing Demon’s demonic energy.

The demonic Qi, now trapped inside Seo-jun’s body, took a moment to realize what had happened. Then, recognizing the situation, it eagerly started snuggling up to him.

“Yay.”

With all of Hyeok Mu-gang’s internal energy—his post-natal true energy—siphoned away, the old demon’s already aged appearance grew even more withered, as if he were on the verge of death.

“Ugh…”

Seo-jun realized that if he were to drain the Soul-Stealing Demon’s pre-natal true energy—his life force—what remained of him would be a mummified corpse.

‘That wouldn’t benefit me much.’

Pre-natal true energy was akin to the soul. It carried the deepest imprint of one’s essence.

Absorbing it might grant tremendous power, but it would also come with significant risks.

Seo-jun had no desire to take that chance.

“Namaste.”

Crack!

With a swift motion, Seo-jun crushed Hyeok Mu-gang’s skull.

He turned to find Chunbong, clearly furious, and Namgung Sua, staring in disbelief with wide eyes.

‘Oh, right. I haven’t explained any of this to her yet, have I?’

His abilities, his martial arts—none of it.

Well, he’d explain it later.

With confidence, Seo-jun stood tall, his body still surrounded by swirling black demonic energy as he declared:

“Yeah, that’s right. I’m a demon.”

“Could you explain what you mean by that?”

Seo-jun flinched and turned around.

He had been so distracted by the adorable demonic energy coursing through his body that he hadn’t noticed the new arrival.

It didn’t help that the approaching presence had kept its internal energy completely still, making it hard to detect.

The figure’s eyes shone with a soft golden light, clearly visible even in the dark forest.

And in that darkness, the man’s bald head gleamed.

It was a monk from Shaolin.

“Um… what?”

Seo-jun quickly replaced the demonic Qi with Mixed-Origin Qi, eyes wide as he tilted his head in feigned ignorance.

“I don’t know anything~.”

But then he wondered, If I fought Shaolin, would I be able to learn some of their martial arts too?

For a brief moment, he seriously considered it.