Chapter 12

In a way, it was the same as a planet. The Earth’s gravitational force pulled everything to the ground and made the planet suitable for life. Likewise, innate Genuine-Qi is what allowed acquired Genuine-Qi to continue existing.

Mari said, "This is just an example. As you know, qi has no appearance or scent, so its volume doesn’t increase. However, extracting your maximum internal force from the cultivation method…."

"It consumes the innate Genuine-Qi. According to your explanation, it’s like weakening gravity,” responded Yongno.

"Yeah, so the process is incredibly dangerous and complicated. If it goes wrong, your entire dantian can be damaged. In addition, anyone who receives your energy can’t use it to its full extent since everyone's internal martial arts have different characteristics or qualities. Do you understand?" Mari continued explaining kindly like a teacher.

Nodding, Yongno replied, "Well, not exactly, but I get the gist. Then, what about the Golden Pill Immortal Technique?"

"Hmm... the concept is simple, but it’s difficult to put into words. I'd say it's a matter of density. Like other cultivation methods, the Golden Pill Immortal Technique attracts acquired qi by having innate Genuine-Qi as its core, but the way it works is a little different. If regular cultivation methods are like liquid, the Golden Pill Immortal Technique created solid internal martial arts, and... hmm…."

Mari seemed to find it difficult to explain, and she contemplated for a moment before continuing, “The Golden Pill Immortal Technique has results comparable to mystical creatures’ Marble of Energy or the Liebelle school’s Circle System. As both martial power and Taoist magic, the Golden Pill Immortal Technique is also similar to the way of chakra. It’s like opening up microcosmos in every object."

The basic principle of the Golden Pill Immortal Technique was rotation-induced gravity, akin to how Mercury, Venus, Earth, and the other planets attracted the surrounding energy. Thus, practitioners should constantly rotate their qi without any breaks to maximize their growth.

Yongno asked, "Then, developing internal martial arts with the Golden Pill Immortal Technique is…."

"It's like adding planets one after another. The Gold Core may look like a marble on the outside, but it has a core, the sun, at its center. Whenever you add a new core that revolves around the previous one, your power increases exponentially,” replied Mari, thinking about how difficult it was to describe the technique.

Yongno closed his eyes and tried to feel qi within him, but all he sensed was a fist-sized lump near the pit of his stomach. There was nothing that resembled microcosmos or planets.

Yet, that was why Yongno kept imagining those things.

Whoosh!

"Oppa?" Mari stared at him in surprise.

With his eyes closed, Yongno continued thinking about those images. ‘Right, as she said, qi has no weight, figure, or scent.’

He felt only a small amount of energy within him. If the Gold Core was the sun like Mari said, there were no planets currently revolving around it. At that moment, Yongno realized why there was only half a year of internal martial arts remaining after he had used five years’ worth.

‘It’s because I didn't have a core!’

Mari said that Yongno would have new cores orbiting around the previous ones if he reached a higher level of mastery in the Golden Pill Immortal Technique. Unfortunately, his mastery was only 20 percent, and he had a mere 30 points of internal energy, which was equivalent to fifteen years’ worth of internal martial arts.

Considering that he’d only started cultivating a short while ago, this progress wasn’t insubstantial. Still, it wasn’t enough to open the First World of the Golden Pill Immortal Technique, which was created depending on the practitioner’s condition.

Currently, Yongno had only one core. If he tried to release his internal martial arts without any damage, then….

"Eh? Hold on. Are you...?" Mari was bewildered by the soft gold beam coming from Yongno’s palm and turning into a gold marble. It was even more surprising since this Gold Core was filled with more energy than before.

/Maximum spiritual power has dropped by 30 points!/

Mari murmured, "Did he even eradicate the basic core?! Although, it did extract the entire Gold Core.”

She watched Yongno with a dumbfounded expression, as she knew that his attempt would result in a complete loss of his internal martial arts. Only users unaware of this devastating setback would do such a thing. The outcome would be marvelous and innovative, but what was the point?

Whoosh….

However, Yongno continued circulating his qi and contemplated his inner side. His internal martial arts were completely gone. ‘Now is the only time that I can do it.

After making the Gold Core disappear, Yongno could thoroughly 'understand' the fundamentals of the Golden Pill Immortal Technique. Mari had explained its principle correctly, but this was a necessary step for Yongno to physically grasp the law of the Golden Pill Immortal Technique.

‘Finished. I understand now. The final goal of the Golden Pill Immortal Technique is to complete the absolute cultivation base.’

Yongno's internal martial arts disappeared, but it didn’t utterly destroy the Golden Pill Immortal Technique since Yongno 'remembered' his fifteen years’ worth of internal martial arts. Its sensation and feelings were still vivid in his mind.

He had removed his internal martial arts and core from the Gold Core, not the Gold Core itself. At the moment, the Gold Core was just an empty shell, so it would eventually shatter. For now, though, it still maintained its shape.

‘I need to condense it.’

According to Mari, Yongno had to make a new sun. Otherwise, the Gold Core wouldn’t survive without a core, an axis. There was also another problem.

‘The qi absorption is too slow!’

The Golden Pill Immortal Technique was a cultivation method that slowly produced a Gold Core; it placed heavy emphasis on filtering the qi in the air and accumulating it, then cultivating it into a more pure form. That was why even a small amount of internal martial arts gathered from this technique was safe, versatile, and explosive, but this also slowed down qi absorption.

‘It's risky. If I don't hurry to make the core, the Gold Core will be destroyed, and I’ll have to start from the beginning. Yet, at the same time, there needs to be at least a small amount of condensed internal martial arts to do something…. Oh!’

Yongno then came up with a solution. He recited, "Zhuang Zhou writes in his book 'Wandering at Ease,' in the bald and barren north, there is a dark sea, the Lake of Heaven. Within it is a fish which is several thousand li wide…."

Mari intervened, "Hold on, oppa. What are you-"

"... Thus, the martial power of the Dark Northsea Divine Technique accumulates the natural Genuine-Qi in the body and exerts great power like the ocean keeping a huge ship afloat. If the Genuine-Qi is brought together and becomes abundant, the disciple can absorb every martial art in the world and use them. This is the way of the world, setting small and big ships afloat and embracing large aquatic animals just like the Dark Northsea…."

"... Dark Northsea Divine Technique?" Mari raised her brows with her eyes opened wide.

She wasn’t surprised by the Dark Northsea Divine Technique. It was indeed the highest, most perfect level of martial power that existed in the pugilistic world, but every martial power within DIO was 'perfected' and 'equal,' with the only difference being found in their characteristics.

Besides, it wasn’t unexpected for Yongno to know of the Dark Northsea Divine Technique, as the beginning of every martial technique was open to the public through the website. That was why she could teach the early part of the Golden Pill Immortal Technique to Yongno without any difficulties.

‘Right, no wonder. There’s a logical explanation behind everything.’ However, when Mari saw Yongno absorbing the qi around him as soon as he recited the enlightenment, she couldn’t stop her astonishment.

“Unbelievable…” gaped Mari.

While DIO had secret manuals opened to the public online, the only viewable aspects were the beginning parts and general information on the ideology or characteristic of each martial power. Thus, Yongno shouldn’t have been able to use the Dark Northsea Divine Technique’s advanced ability to absorb innate Genuine-Qi. However, he was performing the ‘impossible’ right now.

Something flashed through Mari's head. She muttered, "... Hold on. The general information?" Then, she realized that a detailed manual was unnecessary for Yongno; the secret manual online was enough.

Whoosh!

There was also another shocking revelation. Yongno used the Dark Northsea Divine Technique after learning the Golden Pill Immortal Technique, not the other way around.

Performing two different cultivation methods was possible, but as far as Mari knew, the Dark Northsea Divine Technique and the Golden Pill Immortal Technique did not work well together. These two techniques were difficult to perform simultaneously since they had completely different properties and strategies for circulating qi and absorbing it. As such, Mari didn’t think it made sense to use both of these methods.

She wondered, “This is inconceivable, but my eyes aren’t lying. Does that mean he developed a better version of the Golden Pill Immortal Technique?”

This also didn’t make any sense since the Golden Pill Immortal Technique was a perfect, flawless, and stable cultivation method. Making it stronger, faster, safer, more intensive, and greater in the amount of qi absorption was….

"Impossible."

Correct. It was absolutely impossible. There were no possible improvements for the Golden Pill Immortal Technique since it was absolutely perfect, like every other technique in DIO. If someone tried to improve one aspect, they’d have to sacrifice many others. Even a martial arts god couldn’t fix this situation.

Yongno opened his mouth again. "...The highest immortal cultivates patience, drinks qi, and trains the dragon and tiger to resist aging. The educator must not stand longer, sit, lie down, see, and hear. The point is to embrace one with three: essence, qi, and spirit; the other is the way. Essence gives birth to qi and qi to spirit. Essence is the profound energy, the mother of everything. Qi is vitality, the leader of all the innate Genuine-Qi. Spirit is the beginning, which comes from the head at noon, stays in a boat at night, and operates in two eyes…. Directing your mind to the state of serenity and quietude will lead to eternal life…."

"How could this happen..." murmured Mari. Then, she realized that Yongno wasn’t performing the Golden Pill Immortal Technique and the Dark Northsea Divine Technique at the same time.

She continued, “I see. He completely removed the Golden Pill Immortal Technique’s internal force and put the internal martial arts of the Dark Northsea Divine Technique into the empty Gold Core. It's theoretically possible, but how can he carry out Image-Making to transform the foreign technique’s internal martial arts into the core of the Golden Pill Immortal Technique?"

This was an ability closer to one’s imagination rather than logic, pleasant memories, or thinking power. In other words, it was a talent for creating something nonexistent in a person’s mind. Thus, Yongno was born to be a Creator and not a genius of martial arts.

‘Is he an idiot? Why does he only move in a way that I can easily anticipate?’ If Yongno easily knocked down his rival in a fight, that’s what he would think. Likewise, if Yongno learned magic, he wouldn’t need to cast a spell to imagine it, and if he were painting, he could finish a project in his mind and fix any flaws before he even picked up a brush.

"Hahaha! This is hilarious. Does he have any idea how many people die before reaching that level?" said Mari.

Whoosh….

Yongno kept reciting, "... And create a red firepot in our body and use our organs as a cauldron to make the Gold Core. In the end, we can become a Gold Buddha and achieve the way of immortality…."

Yongno absorbed the energy of nature, the qi, and combined them in the Gold Core, his cultivation base, before condensing and rotating them. Meanwhile, as he consumed internal energy, he absorbed more from the environment, and at last….

Hurrah! Success!

When he finally made the core inside his Gold Core, and his internal force began to rotate, Yongno felt the urge to dance in joy, but he still had more to do. The Gold Core was filled with unprocessed energy, which he couldn’t use. That was why he 'imagined' his internal martial arts before releasing the Gold Core.

‘This makes the beginning much easier.’

In fact, ‘Image-Making’ was a necessary step that Yongno had to go through to proceed with his plan. Once he finished the pretask, everything else was like solving a puzzle. He had to combine and refine nature’s qi to process it as internal energy suitable to the Golding Pill Immortal Technique. This entire procedure took quite some time.

‘Hmm, it’ll be fine; it also looks interesting too.’ As he smiled idly, Yongno began to circulate his qi.

WHOOSH!

Shortly after, he fell into his world.