Chapter 22
"Take one each and return to your newly assigned cave chambers."
"Today, you may rest as much as you want."
"However, no one leaves their chamber."
"Dismissed."
When we returned from the Dark Scripture Pavilion...
Another gift awaited us.
Trainees returning from different repositories muttered formulas under their breath.
Some seemed to be desperately rehearsing everything they'd memorized.
The Dark Demon Corps ignored them.
Instead...
They distributed high-quality lunch boxes.
Inside...
There were no Fasting Pills.
Actual food filled the boxes.
Properly cooked meat.
Rich seasoning.
Real meals.
"Ohhhh!"
"Special meal today?"
"Anything is better than Fasting Pills!"
"If they fed us like this every day, the Dark Demon Well wouldn't be so bad."
"All we need now is alcohol!"
"Who knows? Maybe they'll give us some later!"
"If that's the reward, I'll become A-grade right now!"
"Hahahaha!"
Everyone celebrated.
They'd received pills.
Martial arts.
Now proper food.
I sighed.
Were these people all civilians who had never served?
I had eaten enough military food to know exactly what this meant.
When an institution like this gave you good food...
It was because the training coming afterward was going to be brutal.
I still remembered one day from my intelligence unit days.
Our terrifying senior instructors had personally grilled pork belly for us.
It had felt like a dream.
Exactly one day later...
We entered what they called Hell Week.
A full week with essentially no sleep.
Even now...
I occasionally dreamed about it.
The survival week where we lived in the wilderness with almost nothing had been the same.
Good meals always came before hell.
Sometimes I even missed military soup.
Or terrible braised pollock.
At least nobody made you suffer after feeding you those.
I took my lunch box and went toward my new chamber.
There were fewer trainees now.
So the cave chambers had become larger.
Mine had enough space to lie down comfortably...
And extra room for training.
It looked like two rooms had been combined.
Let's start immediately.
Once official training began...
I'd probably need a cultivation method and movement art constantly.
There was no reason to delay even one night.
I sat down.
Ate enough to restore my energy.
Then began practicing what I'd memorized.
First...
The Formless Heaven-Breaking Divine Art.
The cultivation method needed to establish itself before I practiced the movement and fist techniques.
Then internal energy could properly reach those techniques.
Let's see...
I reconstructed the口诀 from memory.
The structure.
The dantian framework.
Despite its grand name and arrogant introduction...
The early stages were not dramatically different from ordinary cultivation methods.
According to the manual...
Before destroying form...
You first had to create one.
The Formless Heaven-Breaking Divine Art contained eight stages in total.
The first three created and strengthened the Form.
At the fourth...
The Form was broken.
And the martial art was no longer restricted by shape.
At the fifth...
You could create a new Form after breaking the old.
At the sixth...
That newly created Form became stronger.
Stages seven and eight were written in more abstract language.
I couldn't understand them immediately.
The only clear part was this:
At the eighth stage...
The practitioner reached a supreme state called Ultimate Formlessness.
That was enough for now.
Once I understood the structure...
I began cultivating.
Fortunately...
I already had considerable internal energy.
The early stages progressed rapidly.
I recited the口诀.
Directed energy through the proper channels.
Constructed the dantian framework.
Powerful energy began filling my lower abdomen.
First stage.
I broke through it after only a short while.
This body had once reached the Peak Realm.
My meridians were already wide open.
They were practically highways.
So internal energy flowed easily.
I immediately moved toward the second stage.
There was still plenty of energy.
Second stage.
After creating the basic framework...
I needed to leave traces of the Formless Heaven-Breaking energy at several points throughout the meridians.
This stage was actually easier than the first.
It merely strengthened what had already been created.
The third was similar.
I poured excess energy through my meridians.
The sensation filled my entire body.
Then...
I felt something.
A tiny path.
Small.
Barely noticeable.
But I knew.
If I passed through it...
I could enter the third stage.
Let's go.
I gathered the remaining energy.
Then poured it toward that narrow point like a sudden flood.
Naturally...
The path opened.
A refreshing feeling traveled down my chest.
Like years of congestion suddenly clearing.
And then...
Awooooooo!
Heukrang howled happily.
That confirmed it.
I had entered the third stage.
I opened my eyes.
The candle had burned down significantly.
Nearly four hours had passed.
Good.
I still had plenty of time.
But...
Third stage wasn't enough.
I immediately attempted the fourth.
And failed.
Not because my understanding was wrong.
Because I lacked internal energy.
Then the solution was simple.
Add more.
I finally opened the wooden box I'd carefully preserved.
The Demon Essence Pill.
This was why I hadn't eaten it earlier.
Heukrang's tail immediately began wagging violently.
Yeah.
Dinner time, Heukrang.
Without hesitation...
