Descent of The Demon Master [EN]: Chapter 821

Embodiment.

That was probably the right way to call it. It wasn’t about creating a new concept or taking another step forward from where he was now.

It was something that had been there from the start.

The things Kang Jin-ho had conceived and newly created were already firmly rooted in his mind.

A martial art that transcended demonic arts.

A martial study that surpassed his own limits.

It wasn’t to the point where he could use it perfectly and formally, but the concept of the martial art was now establishing itself, repeating and taking on a complete form.

However, embodying it in the flesh was another matter.

Creating a perfect blueprint and building a building according to that perfect blueprint were two separate challenges.

The attempt to embody the martial arts created in Kang Jin-ho’s mind within the framework of his body was something he had never done before.

The problem was that he had to do it in this urgent situation.

Energy poured in through his open Baihui point [the crown of the head, a key acupressure point].

Explosion.

It felt like colorful fireworks were going off in his head. As he left his body and observed the energy of the world, he could feel the energy more clearly.

As a result, several dozen times the energy he normally received was rushing into his head all at once. This was something Kang Jin-ho hadn’t anticipated.

“Kkeueup…”

A groan escaped his lips as his body was being pulled in different directions.

It felt like his head was constantly exploding. Even in that pain, Kang Jin-ho’s mind became clearer. He could clearly see his head absorbing the world’s energy.

The energy that entered his head traveled down his neck and towards his dantian [an area below the navel, considered the center of vital energy]. However, it could not advance any further from the dantian.

This was the starting point.

There must have been those who had tried to inhale while emitting energy before. But no one had crossed this barrier.

Kang Jin-ho also stopped in front of this wall.

The energy that had entered his body began to waver, not knowing where to go. The unstable energy rushed to various parts of his body, shaking it, and then repeated the process.

At the same time, Kang Jin-ho’s body twisted.

Crack, crack.

Bones broke.

Thud!

With a dull sound, his skin cracked, and blood spurted out.

Kang Jin-ho watched the scene with calm eyes. The pain his body was experiencing was transmitted to him as it was. It was only natural. Just because his mind had left his body didn’t mean they weren’t connected.

To be precise, he hadn’t left his body at all. His soul was still within his body. The scene he was seeing now was merely a visual reconstruction of the sensations his body was feeling, to better observe the phenomenon.

So, there was no need to panic. It was something he had already expected.

Usually, people stop here.

If this phenomenon continued any further, the body would eventually explode like a balloon. Unstabilized energy was no different from poison. No, to be precise, it was more like a bomb than poison.

It would explode from the inside and tear apart even the most trained martial artist’s body like paper.

He breathed slowly.

So as not to waver.

Kang Jin-ho knew. If he lost his composure, he wouldn’t be able to do anything.

Of course, it wasn’t easy.

Kang Jin-ho was a fiery person.

He pretended to be calm and indifferent, but Kang Jin-ho knew that his inner self was hotter than anyone else. Moreover, most of his martial arts were made up of demonic arts.

Demonic arts make people impulsive.

His existing personality and the martial arts he had learned had nothing to do with composure. But now, he had to achieve composure.

Clear mirror, still water.

He slowly suppressed his wavering mind.

As if to interfere, many things tormented Kang Jin-ho.

Worries about whether Jo Gyu-min and the children had escaped safely.

Concerns about whether the people inside the aquarium would be safe if the water continued to pour out like this.

And the tank that was gradually opening and spilling water.

The shaking building and flickering lights. Even the increasing pain in his body.

Maintaining a clear and calm mind in this chaotic situation was almost impossible.

But Kang Jin-ho was doing it.

His mind, honed like a blade, cut down the elements that were hindering him one by one.

He forgot.

And forgot again.

Worries, concerns… even the situation he was in.

Kang Jin-ho, who had forgotten and abandoned everything, focused solely on his own situation.

‘Is it difficult?’

It wouldn’t seep in.

Energy poured out of his dantian. The energy that had seeped into his body dared not approach the dantian because of its fierce momentum.

It was only natural.

You can’t exhale while inhaling.

Unless there was a separation, there would be no room for energy to seep in.

So, what should he do?

‘Should I divide it?’

The first method that came to mind was very simple. He just had to cut it off. Inhale and exhale, inhale and exhale, repeatedly in a very short time. Then, the energy being emitted wouldn’t be a big problem either. After all, a continuous phenomenon was just a series of small events.

But…

‘It’s incomplete.’

It was just a shortcut.

Even if he achieved it, he wouldn’t be able to move forward.

It was just about creating a situation with the abilities he had now. Kang Jin-ho didn’t want that.

A perfect foundation that would allow him to move forward. He had to build that foundation here.

So, what should he do?

Dantian.

The problem was the dantian.

The root of the problem was that both inhalation and exhalation were happening within the dantian. To solve this situation, he had to divide the dantian in half.

One side would receive, and the other side would emit.

Yes, like a heart.

Was it possible?

He didn’t know.

It was a path no one had ever taken. So, no one knew if it was possible.

Perhaps with a slight mistake, everything he had built up so far could collapse. If his dantian exploded and he lost consciousness, there was a high chance he would die, unable to withstand the pressure of the pouring water.

The corners of his mouth curled up.

Wasn’t it ridiculous?

The end of Kang Jin-ho, who had built up great martial arts and looked down on the world, was to be drowned by the water in an aquarium.

If the people of the Central Plains [a region in China, often used in martial arts stories] who knew him heard about it, they would laugh for three days and nights.

But so what?

Kang Jin-ho even abandoned that thought.

It was not something that could be done with fear and hesitation. Even if the possibility was close to zero, the person who attempted it had to proceed with the conviction that they would succeed.

That was Kang Jin-ho’s way.

The moment he made up his mind, the world changed.

Kang Jin-ho, who had been observing the situation and his body as if he were watching from afar, was instantly sucked into his body. Then, he became one with his body.

The moment he felt the sensation of water pouring onto his face, Kang Jin-ho closed his eyes.

He felt it anew.

How immense this power was.

How terrifying nature was.

MArtial arts were ultimately about becoming one with nature. Humans cannot lift mountains, nor can they overcome storms. They cannot push back the sea, nor can they reverse rivers.

A phrase he had always heard while learning martial arts.

Become nature.

Become one with nature.

But Kang Jin-ho could not accept those words.

Kang Jin-ho and the people of the Central Plains, who worshiped nature, had fundamentally different ways of thinking. To modern people, nature was not something to be revered. It was something to be overcome.

He could not lift a mountain, but he could fly over it.

He could not overcome a storm, but he could build things that would not collapse in a storm.

He could not push back the sea, but he could use it, and he could not reverse a river, but he could change its flow.

Moving forward.

Human progress had allowed them to conquer things they could never conquer. But now, he was supposed to conform to nature?

No.

That was not the way Kang Jin-ho wanted. Even if something was incredibly powerful, he would conquer it someday. That was the path of humans.

He closed his eyes.

Then, he focused on himself. What he had to deal with was entirely his body.

He felt his dantian vividly, as if he could grasp it.

Existing but not existing, clearly tangible but also intangible. He nonchalantly divided the dantian, located in his lower abdomen, in half.

A circular space.

A red line penetrated the space that formed a perfect circle, a space that did not exist in the world. The red line nonchalantly divided the single space, which had been mixed with gray, in half.

As a result, the circle warped and twisted.

And it collapsed.

It shook as if it were impossible, as if it would lose everything if it continued like this, as if it were struggling.

Intense pain, as if a red-hot iron skewer was piercing and piercing his lower abdomen, dominated Kang Jin-ho. His body reacted to the pain first, trembling like an aspen.

Even Kang Jin-ho, who was accustomed to all kinds of pain, was drenched in cold sweat from the intense pain.

This was a warning.

His body was saying. That this was impossible, a futile attempt.

His body was resisting his attempt with the maximum pain it could endure.

But Kang Jin-ho did not waver.

It was strange to say that he didn’t give up. He had no intention of giving up from the beginning. If he hadn’t tried, it would be different, but once he had tried, there was no retreat. Even if the result was the worst, he would not go back on a decision he had made. That was Kang Jin-ho’s way.

It split.

The dantian, the world, everything.

As the red line almost completely divided the dantian, a change occurred.

The energy that had been clumped together began to divide in half. As if layers were forming in water, pure white energy gathered on one side, and dark black energy, as if it would absorb everything, gathered on the other side.

The energy that had been mixed together as the world split apart began to occupy different areas.

And then, they pushed each other away fiercely.

Pushing and being pushed, they found their own areas. The spaces that had been perfectly divided in half twisted and distorted, and then began to reconcile into a form that was symmetrical but not symmetrical.

Kang Jin-ho knew what that form meant.

He had seen it too many times.

Black and white things perfectly divided in half, pushing and being pushed by each other. The world called that form this.

‘Taiji.’ [The concept of Yin and Yang, often represented by a circular symbol]

The dantian was forming a Taiji.

That was the beginning.

The energy that had been rushing into his body and threatening to explode it poured into the dantian as if they had found their place.

The white dantian accepted them.

The white dantian, which had purified the heterogeneous and turbid energy into a flawless energy, nonchalantly sent that energy to the black dantian. The black dantian instantly dyed the pure white energy black and sent the energy up to his hands as he desired.

Just as the heart receives and pushes out blood at the same time, Kang Jin-ho’s dantian began to simultaneously perform the process of receiving and emitting external energy.

Flash.

At that moment, Kang Jin-ho opened his eyes.

The pouring water shook his body more violently than ever, but Kang Jin-ho smiled even in that torrent.

It was done. It was done.

Finally… he had done it.