In one remote mountain valley there, a solitary house sat all by itself.
A quiet, secluded thatched house deep in the mountains, where neither the bandits who eked out a living through robbery on the mountain trails, nor the common folk who had hidden in the forests to escape the chaos, could be found.
Inside, an old man with an air akin to that of an immortal slowly stroked his long, drooping white beard and opened his mouth.
“...Hoo, say it once more.”
“By your command.”
Then the man in his late thirties, kneeling on one knee before him with a faint presence like a ghost, repeated his earlier words in an emotionless tone.
“The Zhengjian Gate, Guihong Pavilion, and Shura Gate established in southern Henan have collapsed, followed even by Heukso Lodge. The nearby powers have begun to guard themselves against this sudden situation, and as a result, the disturbances occurring in the region have temporarily entered a stalemate.”
The moment the man finished speaking, the old man stopped the hand that was stroking his beard, closed his eyes tightly, and fell deep in thought.
This region of Henan was an area where the influence of the Shaolin Temple, a power ranking foremost among the orthodox sects, was strongly exerted.
Therefore, in order to keep them in check and foment chaos, he had until now taken special care to incite various powers, regardless of orthodox or unorthodox status... ‘It is still merely a few sects in southern Henan. This much shouldn't significantly affect the plan, which has not much left to go... Hmm, but something weighs on my mind.’ However, a variable that had suddenly arisen while everything was flowing smoothly—
It was the matter of that unidentified eccentric, which continued to agitate the old man's mood, one that always pursued perfection.
“The culprit?”
“After slaughtering the Guangak Paedo of the Shura Gate, he annihilated Heukso Lodge as well, then vanished without a trace.”
“Have you ascertained his identity?”
“His attire was so striking that we are experiencing difficulties securing detailed physical descriptions from the witnesses. Judging purely by clothing, a background from the Southern Barbarians seems most likely, but we currently judge it highly probable that he is excessively disguising himself in order to hide his true appearance.”
“Hmm...”
In the first place, there would hardly be many with the gall to look straight at the face of such a powerful expert, but even so, the impressions left in the memories of the few witnesses were limited to only a handful of distinctive characteristics.
For the moment, it was a situation void of any information sufficient to infer the opponent. ‘Also that mysterious expert who is said to have routed the bandits of Dongting Lake and the Yangtze River not long ago. I wonder what is suddenly going on.’ He had thought that after the prolonged chaos, there were no more hidden extraordinary figures or strange affairs.
At the very least, where on earth had such experts, estimated to be at the edge of the Transformation Realm, been and what had they been doing to pop out of nowhere like this?
It was as if they had fallen straight out of another world... ‘No, that cannot be. Rather than that, it is far more plausible that they moved from Jinao Island.’ The old man, having thought that far, once again stroked his luxuriant beard.
By now, there were no more 'real' otherworlders left in this world.
At best, there would only be settlers who had given up even those special abilities and settled down.
“However, there is one matter worth noting...”
As the old man was quietly lost in thought like that.
The man, still kneeling on one knee, continued speaking again.
“It is said that he called himself the Mad Demon.”
“...Hoo, the Mad Demon?”
At that, the old man asked back in a voice laced with interest.
The Mad Demon was an expert he already knew of.
He naturally possessed outstanding strength enough to wander alone in this chaotic world, and due to his radical actions and words that never looked back, despite being a figure between orthodox and unorthodox, he had earned an alias befitting a demonic person.
And yet, the scoundrel had rejected the cult’s recruitment proposal peremptorily, instead showing hostility toward them.
But for someone to claim to be such a man—
“Of course, it is certain that he is not the real one. It has already been confirmed that the Mad Demon had been clashing with the Ung clan in Jinzhou of Hebei until recently.”
In the end, it meant an impostor.
If not that, he was either a real madman who cared not a whit for the Mad Demon or the eyes of the world.
Before long, the old man stroking his beard slowly nodded and tugged the corner of his lips up slightly.
“It works out well. We can use that. Leak this fact secretly to the Mad Demon in Hebei. Given his temperament, if he learns there is someone impersonating him, he will never sit still.”
“I shall do so.”
“There is no need for us to step forward from the beginning. After all, information is always better the more one has.”
Thus, thanks to their unseen machinations, a big match between the 'self-proclaimed Mad Demon' and the 'current Mad Demon' was arranged.
A historic title match to determine the real owner of the alias, which one side had been sharpening his blade for since long ago.
“It seems the timing will roughly coincide with the great undertaking soon to take place. The target selection is all finished, yes? The candidates for sacrifice...”
“Yes. And among them, the place that requires attention is, as expected...”
The two began exchanging suspicious whispers once more.
A sinister scheme blooming from the darkness cast over the Ganghwangye began to grow at a frightening speed.
***
After the two forces of the Zhuge Family and the Wudang Sect joined.
The period during which their alliance could pass through the territory without much disturbance was not very long.
“Attack! Now is the perfect opportunity to break the momentum of those orthodox bastards! Kill them all, those who dared enter our territory without fear!”
“Uwaaaah! Aaack!”
“You don't know your place, charging in like moths to a flame! Very well, I'll cleanse you all this time!”
It was because the attacks, which had been cut off for a while as if they had ever been quiet, had resumed.
Perhaps knowing that this side had united among themselves, they too had gathered their strength in numbers, and martial artists of various garb surged in violently.
“Hoo, even at this point, those unprincipled scoundrels still haven't come to their senses. I shall personally guide them to Xuantian Shangdi.”
“Deploy the Taiyi Chain Formation! Show those fools clearly the power of our Zhuge Family!”
Confronting them, the Wudang Sect's Yunhyun Zhenren and the Zhuge Family Elder Zhuge Qi stepped forward, shouting solemnly.
Amid the chaos that thus began anew, Hugo followed the others while his eyes shone meaningfully.
In truth, since this situation was also something he had deliberately intended, there was no reason to be flustered now. ‘...Finally, I will be able to see the Wudang Sect’s real combat.’ As a martial sect and simultaneously a Taoist gate, what the Wudang Sect pursued was basically softness, harmony, and balance.
Such philosophy naturally resided in the martial arts they used, and accordingly, it was only natural that the Wudang martial arts generally bore the nature of softness overcoming hardness.
Of course, as everywhere, there were always exceptions. ‘Now is not the stage to think that far. Let's start from the beginning and proceed step by step.’ However, it was impossible to stand idly by watching alone while everyone was busy in this situation.
In order to prevent talk later, he too needed to join the fight and lend a hand. ‘Well, I'm used to doing several things at once.’ Perhaps doing it this way would be even more helpful for his training.
Saaaa— Energy derived from the Qigong Martial Art rampantly circulated through Hugo's body, which possessed the Heavenly Secret Physique. Gradually, his thoughts accelerated, and the surrounding environment began to slow down.
And he gripped the sword hilt tightly, looked straight ahead, lightly bent at the waist, and took a heavy step forward as if treading the true step.
As if pushing forward through this world that dragged at his flesh like water.
Thud—
—“......!”
At the same time, the face of a demonic sect martial artist who had been quite far away approached close in an instant.
Pupils and a mouth that began to widen gradually, perhaps surprised by the sudden situation.
But before any words could flow from that mouth, Hugo's blade had already grazed past the opponent's neck.
“Gkk...!”
Leaving behind the enemy falling with bloody foam at his mouth, his gaze swept across the broadly configured battlefield. ‘This is my best right now. As expected, it is still insufficient.’
Enemies dying after floundering in confusion against the giant defensive formation infused with the Zhuge Family's sorcery techniques, and Yunhyun Zhenren pouring out offensive pressure at a level that his current self could hardly properly perceive, driving the opponent back.
And even the Wudang disciples gathered in groups of several, displaying a high-level sword formation befitting a famous major sect. ‘Seven people... is that the Seven Star Sword Formation I had only heard of in rumors?’
He had been momentarily captivated by the majesty of that organic sword formation, but only for a moment.
No matter how good the performance of a combined formation was, if it was a sword formation made for humans to fight humans, it would not suit him at all.
Besides, that sword formation probably wasn't made with winged enemies in mind, was it? ‘Of course, I could try making something new based on it, but for now... it's more important to build up from the basics.’
Clang—! Chang!
“Kuk, this brat...! What kind of strength is this...!”
“Huuuu—.”
Even while immersed in contemplation analyzing his surroundings, he continued to move his body.
Repeatedly crossing swords with enemy forces and felling them, deep, slow breathing continued thinly.
But even as he fought like that, his gaze observing the surroundings held a completely different world in his eyes. ‘I see.’
His senses, further strengthened upon obtaining the Heavenly Secret Physique, simultaneously activated multiple skills such as Hypersensitivity and Insight, sucking in surrounding information in an instant.
Of course, if it had stopped there, the 'understanding' necessary to activate Mimicry would have been far insufficient. ‘I am not alone.’
The wisdom of Hans, the intuition of Heinz II, the skill of Heinrich, the instinct of Halli, the experience of Harris...
And Hubert's Analysis and Horus's Seeker of Mysteries all combined together—. ‘As expected, I think I roughly understand the principles of how things work now.’
Most of the martial arts reflected in his vision were immediately disassembled and decomposed piece by piece, then processed into elements necessary for him, applicable to himself, and transmitted to him.
Throb—
Meanwhile, due to the synchronization with several duplicate avatars, the central figure Hugo's brain began to overload, but this level of pain and heat was nothing compared to the durability of his body, which had been strengthened by pouring in massive amounts of karma.
‘There is no need to perfectly copy everything.’ While it wouldn't be impossible if he set his mind to it, it was too inefficient and there was a possibility of facing troublesome situations later.
Perhaps later, after he had grown stronger than now, but for the time being, wouldn't it be wise to prepare at least an escape route? ‘Anyway, what is important is the core essence contained within; I will rewrite the form to suit this body and take only what is needed.’
In that sense, the Wudang Sect's martial arts held the element he needed most right now.
Because the element most diametrically opposed to his martial studies, which had grown based on Auterica, was precisely the softness that formed the core of the Wudang Sect. ‘In Auterica, since we fought monsters with thick hides and vitality that didn't flinch at ordinary attacks, it inevitably had to develop toward emphasizing destructive power.’
There might have been martial arts of a different mold somewhere, but at least he had never encountered such martial arts.
In the first place, the 'Aura' used by warriors itself was an energy specialized in explosive energy emission. ‘But the internal energy built through ki is different. It is an essential process to reach the realm as a martial artist in this world.’
It wasn't for nothing that those from the martial world were said to be specialized in interpersonal combat.
When conditions were similar, the secret essentials of unpredictable internal energy and techniques optimized for killing granted an overwhelming advantage. ‘Of course, they show somewhat weaker sides against non-human races because of that.’
Just as the Thousand Kill Demon Lord, who had just returned from the Ganghwangye, had shown a very weak side against Hans.
As time passed, gradual changes began to occur in Hugo's movements.
A lightness settled into his footsteps, which from the beginning of the battle had only stepped heavily while forcefully treading the true step.
Softness mixed into his sword, which had prioritized strength and speed, bending gently. ‘What I lack is simply understanding of the mysteries of martial arts and internal energy. If viewed purely from a combat perspective, this side has nothing to be ashamed of.’
No matter how shallow his knowledge of this world's martial arts, he was already a specialist who had raised several Transcendents of the Martial Faction.
Hugo's monotonous breathing gradually changed.
At a glance, it seemed quite similar to that of the Wudang disciples including Yunhyun Zhenren, but if felt properly, it was a clearly different breathing technique. ‘Done. At this level...’
At that, Hugo gave a faint smile to the demonstrators who had given him teaching and enlightenment, then slowly exhaled deeply.
Thanks to that, he could clearly know what softness and harmony in their martial arts implied, and how to utilize them in combat.
And as if to congratulate him. 《The individual has met the conditions for growth. The skill 「Qigong Martial Art」 evolves into the growth-type special skill 「Nameless Gong」.》 A new message window floated before his eyes.