Chapter 957: Lost Soul.

“Everything.”

The turtle, having heard my ambition, laughed.

It wasn’t a laugh of pride, not at all.

If I had to say, it was scorn. Or perhaps a hollow laugh of disbelief.

It was closer to that.

“You’re certainly full of confidence. But do you really think that’s possible?”

“Whether it’s possible or not isn’t important. There’s something an old man I know used to say. Do you know what it is?”

“What is it?”

“Make the impossible possible. It’s the only saying from that ignorant old man that I somewhat like.”

“…”

There is no such thing as impossible.

You have to make it happen.

If necessary, I had to become whatever it took.

That was the life I had to live right now.

So.

“Please tell me. Because I have to do everything I possibly can.”

“…”

The turtle stared back at me with the same blank expression after I uttered those words calmly.

He wasn’t going to say no now, was he? A sudden sense of unease washed over me, but I waited.

Just then,

“You.”

the turtle spoke.

“What do you think sorcery is?”

Sorcery. The moment the word left his lips, the corners of my eyes twitched slightly.

‘So they call it sorcery over there too.’

It must have been the first time the turtle had directly mentioned sorcery.

More precisely, it was the first time the word ‘sorcery’ itself had been uttered.

Hearing it, I felt a sense of mild surprise.

‘Isn’t sorcery a term used only in the Central Plains?’

Or perhaps, just as the language here sounds like the Central Plains’ tongue.

‘Is the turtle’s speech itself sounding different to me right now?’

Perhaps that was the case.

After all, not a single thing that happened here made sense according to my common sense.

‘Besides.’

Sorcery itself. That was also a question.

‘I heard sorcery was the power brought by dragons.’

I heard it was the power left behind by dragons in the distant past.

The turtle, no matter how I looked, didn’t give off the vibe of a dragon.

However, he seemed quite confident about sorcery.

‘Perhaps sorcery itself isn’t the dragon’s power…’

Maybe dragons are closer to being the ones who brought the power? Such a thought occurred to me.

After thinking that far, I focused on the question the turtle had asked me.

‘What do I think about sorcery?’

I pondered.

What is sorcery? That was something I had just considered moments before.

“Metamorphosis (變質).”

“Metamorphosis?”

The turtle reacted upon hearing my answer.

“Metamorphosis…? Why do you think so?”

“Well. It just felt that way.”

It reveals what appears false as truth.

Creating and altering scenes that are normally unthinkable.

Isn’t that sorcery?

‘Just look at the current situation.’

The current situation.

Suddenly standing in a field.

The fact that the teahouse had disappeared in the first place.

The powers the turtle had been showing me until now.

All of that was metamorphosis, and I needed that power.

‘Especially if I were to use the Heavenly Demon Divine Skill.’

The power to achieve the impossible.

There is nothing I need more than this.

Combining and creating friction between the two martial arts. Something that would normally be unimaginable, but…

Sorcery made that incompatibility and anomaly possible.

However.

‘It’s not perfect.’

Even if I keep trying, it’s not perfect. Not only do I not know the theoretical aspects of making it possible,

but the knowledge I possess is shallow and limited.

‘This isn’t enough.’

It’s woefully insufficient.

To achieve what I desired, I needed to go deeper and higher.

Should I, as a martial artist, become accustomed to such personal power?

I had considered such thoughts before, but…

‘Bullshit.’

Since when was I only a martial artist?

Martial arts are merely a means to achieve a goal.

There might be those who find enlightenment and value there, but…

‘That’s not me.’

I am not a martial artist.

Such words are only applicable to people like the Pavilion Lord.

I know that even better now.

I wasn’t a martial artist.

Furthermore, it didn’t matter if I wasn’t.

‘I have to do everything I can.’

If I cling to such trivial things, I won’t be able to do anything.

I had much to protect right now,

and many things I needed to do.

And this moment was also for that purpose.

“Metamorphosis…. That’s not a bad answer.”

“Does that mean it’s not the correct answer?”

“Hmm.”

In response to my question, the turtle moved its staff.

As its tip shimmered, something seemed to move along with it, as if ripples were forming in the air.

“First, let me correct that part.”

“Huh?”

Thump. The staff lightly tapped the ground.

Whoosh-!!

The wind blew, and the field stirred.

At the same time, flowers bloomed in profusion.

Though there were no flowers, they appeared from somewhere, filling the sky with petals.

Just then.

“There is no right answer when it comes to sorcery.”

The turtle continued speaking, looking at me.

“If you thought it was metamorphosis, then that is also correct. If you think differently later on. That too, is correct.”

“…”

It was an ambiguous statement.

No right answer?

“Then…. What should I pursue?”

What should I pursue and follow?

Doubt arose.

If martial artists simply pursue a level or follow the principles of enlightenment,

what should sorcery pursue?

Isn’t it terribly ambiguous to take metamorphosis as its meaning?

So I asked, but…

“Find that out for yourself. You must find what you pursue on your own.”

“…”

I frowned. Find it out myself.

I didn’t want more things to find out here. It was troublesome.

The only fortunate thing was.

“What I will teach you from now on isn’t about showing you the path, but about enabling you to choose the path you wish to take.”

It was simply that the turtle would teach me sorcery.

“Show me your rings.”

“Rings?”

“Yes, rings.”

Rings, you say…

‘Is he talking about the ones bound to my heart?’

The things coiled around my heart.

It seems he means those.

“…How do I show you that?”

How do you even do that?

I asked because I didn’t understand.

“…Huh?”

This time, the turtle seemed taken aback instead.

“What do you mean, how? Surely you haven’t tried it even once?”

“Yes.”

“…”

The turtle glanced at me for a moment, sighed, and then moved its staff.

Then.

Woong.

Something appeared on the staff.

They were rings. A total of eight rings with a faint yellow glow.

Eight rings were wrapped around the staff.

I stared intently at them.

How did he just do that?

‘What was the flow like?’

A strange sensation surfaced within me.

As I tried to focus, I couldn’t see anything else around me.

All I could see were the turtle’s staff and the rings floating above it.

The unfamiliar sensation and flow I felt when displaying those.

As I clearly observed that,

Thump.

I focused strength into my heart.

“…It’s not difficult. Your energy…”

Fwoosh.

“…Move…”

“Got it.”

A light flared, and rings formed in my hand.

Unlike the turtle’s, the rings glowed blue.

Four rings wrapped around my arm like that.

“So this is how you do it.”

It’s easier than I thought. Why didn’t I know this?

As I absorbed the sensation into my body, I spoke to the turtle.

“…”

For some reason, the turtle seemed speechless, looking back and forth between my arm and me with a rather strange expression.

“…Damn.”

“Huh?”

“…Never mind. I’ve half given up now.”

What is it? Wasn’t this the right way?

No, it wasn’t. Judging by his reaction, it seemed like the correct way.

I moved my left hand back and forth.

The rings moved with my arm, but they didn’t exactly jingle or anything.

The turtle looked at my rings and said,

“Four. Not bad.”

“Is it okay?”

“Yes, the quality seems good too. From the looks of it, you seem to have tried reasonably hard.”

“I didn’t try that hard.”

“Then, how long did it take you? About ten years…?”

“Well. It hasn’t been over a year.”

“…Oh, right.”

The turtle trailed off and nodded. Did he almost say something just now? Or was that my imagination?

“Right, I’m not surprised anymore. This much is nothing.”

“Elder-nim?”

“Enough. Anyway, four is acceptable. You asked me to teach you everything, but for now, what do you need most?”

The most needed thing.

As soon as I heard that, I immediately said:

“The power to cover what’s about to burst and prevent it from exploding.”

It was related to the Heavenly Demon Divine Skill.

Controlling the power that threatened to explode due to friction and maintaining its stability.

I wondered if sorcery might help with that, and asked the turtle.

“Hmm…. The power to prevent explosions, you say.”

The turtle seemed lost in thought for a moment, pondering deeply.

A moment passed like that.

“I understand what you want. You intend to use it for what you were trying to show earlier, right?”

“That’s correct.”

The power he had intended to use for his teahouse.

It seemed the turtle remembered that.

“…In that case.”

Thump.

He lightly tapped the ground with his staff once more. Then, a book sprang out of thin air.

There were two volumes in total.

One floated before the turtle, and the other flew towards me.

Thwack! As soon as I caught the book, the turtle said:

“What you will learn from now on is called Full Manifestation (滿化).”

“Full Manifestation?”

“Yes. It’s the power to maintain something without changing its form.”

Flutter.

My hand didn’t move, yet the book opened on its own.

Rustle-!

The pages turned and stopped at a certain point.

I frowned the moment I saw it. The letters were densely packed.

Moreover, they were characters whose meaning I couldn’t comprehend at all.

But.

‘I can read it?’

I could read it. Strangely, I could read it even though I didn’t know what language it was.

As I calmly observed it,

“I won’t teach you twice, so you’d best concentrate.”

The turtle’s voice reached me.

“Don’t worry. I’ll understand even if you don’t get it. This is quite difficult material.”

The turtle said so confidently, and then proceeded to explain the contents of the book.

Hearing that it was difficult, I began to listen with some apprehension.

---

Time flowed by, reaching the hour when the sun began to set, painting the sky with twilight.

“Oh….”

I let out a strange exclamation of admiration.

The reason for that was.

‘So this is how it’s done.’

The turtle’s teaching concluded, and I felt a change within my heart that hadn’t existed before.

The threads of sorcery that were being emitted had become sturdier and far more numerous.

At this rate, it should hold up for a long time when bound.

It still felt a long way off from being properly usable, but I was satisfied just with the change itself.

“As expected….”

Coming here to learn was the right decision.

Admittedly, the content was difficult and the teachings were complex, but it was still invaluable.

With that, I smiled and said to the turtle.

“It’s definitely difficult, but it’s worth trying. Is it because your teachings are so good?”

Feeling good, I even tried a little flattery, but the turtle didn’t react.

What the…?

“Elder-nim?”

I cautiously called out to the turtle.

At that moment.

“…Damn…”

“Huh?”

“Damn bastard…”

A rather rough voice came from the turtle’s mouth.

Did I mishear?

As I tried to call out to the turtle again stealthily,

“…Elder-nim.”

“This damn…!”

Bang!

The turtle shouted roughly, throwing the staff he was holding onto the ground.

“There’s a limit to how much you can do!”

“Wh-?”

“You should at least do it to a degree that a person can understand!”

“Elder-nim, wh-why are you suddenly acting like this?”

“Half a day? Ha-a-alf a day? It took me a year of getting beaten while learning, and you did it in ha-a-alf a day!?”

“P-please calm down. Just calm down for a moment…”

“Calm down my ass! Get out! I don’t want to see your face, so get out!”

“No, where am I going? I’ve only learned one thing so far-“

Woong-!!

The air shook, and pressure suddenly poured onto my body.

By the time I realized it, I was already outside the teahouse.

I had to assess the situation, wearing a dumbfounded expression.

“What the…?”

He suddenly threw a tantrum by himself and kicked me out.

“…What the hell?”

Staring blankly at the turtle’s teahouse amidst this bizarre situation.

Just then, the rings on my hand, which had been four, increased to five and shone brightly.