There Is No Hidden Villain in This Novel Chapter 80

“Three Flowers at the Summit?”

Ignoring Ryuseong’s uncharacteristically dazed voice, I dropped the ice hammer and unknowingly fumbled at the crown of my head.

Above my head, three flower-bud-shaped masses of mana were emitting a radiant light.

‘Did I just become a guy with flowers in his hair?’

It felt like a cat-ear camera filter had suddenly appeared in reality. I was so bewildered that I tried to rub it off with my hand, but seeing Ryuseong clap his hand over his mouth in shock, I finally remembered what Three Flowers at the Summit was. I don’t know much about Taoism, but I know it because I’ve read a shit-ton of martial arts novels. Although there is much debate in each martial arts novel about at which realm this ability appears, to summarize roughly, I know it as a super-awesome mark that appears when the protagonist levels up…

‘Come on, memory, do your thing.’

As if my pointless personification and encouragement had paid off, the results I had searched for on the internet gradually began to surface.

The book called Questions and Answers with Zhongli said this.

“Yang within Yin, Yang within Yang, Yang within Yin and Yang.

When the Three Yangs face the Inner Origin and return to the Celestial Palace, it is called Assembling at the Origin.

The Golden Elixir is transformed within the Yellow Court, and the Yang Spirit is refined amidst the Five Qis. The Five Qis assemble at the Central Origin, follow the Sovereign Fire, and transcend the Inner Origin.

The Five Fluids assemble at the Lower Origin, the Five Qis assemble at the Central Origin, and the Three Yangs assemble at the Upper Origin.

When the Assembling at the Origin is complete, its effects fill the three thousand worlds.

Sometimes a crane dances atop the summit, sometimes a dragon stirs within the body.”

…Fuck. I had overlooked the fact that I had only memorized it and hadn’t grasped the meaning at all. What the hell is it saying? Shouldn’t it be written so that a person can understand it!

But the martial arts novels gave me information. I quickly wracked my brain, reviewed the three thousand five hundred and seventy-eight martial arts novels I had read, and roughly recalled that Three Flowers at the Summit was when three types of Yang gathered in the upper dantian. It seems that if the middle and lower dantians also reach this state, something can be achieved.

“Only, the melody of an instrument is heard from a distant place, and immortal flowers are seen falling in disarray. The Purple Court is vast and the true fragrance is profound. When one’s merits fill the three thousand worlds, one is no longer a person of the secular world. By the time a single stick of incense has burned, one has already become a guest of Penglai and Yingzhou.
This is the path of transcending the mundane and entering sainthood, of shedding one’s mortal form and becoming an immortal.

When the Golden Fluid refines the form, the bones take on a golden hue, the body emits a golden light, and golden flowers appear spontaneously in the air. Then the Five Qis assemble at the Origin and the Three Yangs gather at the Summit.

This is the time when one is about to transcend the ordinary physical body, and the Golden Elixir will be greatly accomplished.”

In other words, if I gain this kind of enlightenment two more times, I’ll become a super-awesome master… is that it?

‘Was I more amazing than I thought?!’

I didn’t even do anything that great, but I’m growing on my own?

But the original protagonist’s expression was more serious than I expected.

‘W-What is it.’

Is it because you’re troubled that you have to kill me before I get stronger? But I had no intention of dying meekly!

“…You have achieved great success. Congratulations. I should have stood guard for you.”

“No, how could I circulate my energy with you standing guard.”

In a word, it means I don’t trust you. At my strong expression of distrust, Ryuseong’s face crumpled, but I was being sincere. I will definitely not circulate my energy near him! Am I going to be leveling up when I don’t know when I might be brutally murdered!

Perhaps because of the declaration of no confidence, the air was somewhat awkward. Still, I had no intention of dispelling the lukewarm atmosphere, so I poked at the embers of the half-extinguished bonfire and enjoyed the scenery of the dusk lifting in the bright morning.

A short while later, the one who was more desperate broke the silence first.

“Your body.”

“Thanks to the robe, it was bearable. Shall I give it back?”

“You keep it. For good.”

“Should I.”

Strangely, Ryuseong was enduring well without freezing to death. I almost died yesterday, but I couldn’t understand why he was perfectly fine when we were dressed similarly. What, is he a Supreme Yang Body or something? I know that the martial arts of the Halla Sect are not particularly biased toward Yang, but I was envious of his ability to withstand the cold so well. Well, if we had both been cold and fought over one robe, we would have been buried under the blizzard and become corpses, so I guess it’s a relief if it’s a relief.

“How shall I repay you.”

“You unsentimental bastard.”

“Should I give it to you with a kiss, or do you want something more.”

“…Crazy bastard…”

Ryuseong spat out the words savagely in a contemptuous tone, then got up and started packing the luggage he had untied. At the unspoken signal to depart, I willingly agreed. Since Ryuseong had been in charge of the camping anyway, it was right for him to see it to the end. I’m not a person who is accustomed to navigating great nature with a human body like this, after all. If I had come alone without Ryuseong, a saga of solving everything with magic would surely have unfolded. I would have lit a fire with magic, and used magic to pinpoint the coordinates of the black fox colony and teleported.

But now, not knowing what kind of battle might occur, it was an unexpected benefit that I could reduce my mana consumption just by following Ryuseong’s lead.

‘A veritable human B-X-Grills…!’

Ah, was Bear X-rills already human?

When I, changed into my combat suit, patted his shoulder to signal that I was ready, Ryuseong, who had been sitting with his back to me, carefully looked over my attire and then wordlessly led the way. Following the back of the guide, I wondered if the achievement I had obtained was not excessive… and thought that perhaps it was a process of the achievement that the original Cassis de Millang had obtained synchronizing with my body.

That was as reasonable as the fact that I was a genius. As I was concentrating on that for a moment, at some point, a forest spread out beneath my feet. We were standing on a snow-covered hill that was as sheer as a cliff, and below it was all forest.

The inside of the forest was completely covered in pitch-black fog, making it impossible to see inside.

Ryuseong gestured that he would go down first, then slid down with the tips of his toes as if the cliff were a slide. Before reaching the bottom, he lightly kicked off the cliff to reduce his speed and landed with a soft touch in the air, which was impressive.

But Ryuseong seemed to think that I couldn’t do as he did.

“Throw yourself off.”

“Are you telling me to die?”

“I will catch you no matter what, so come down. Hurry.”

For some reason, you’ve been doting on me for the past few days, and it seems you’re under a big misunderstanding. I’m only following your words to use less mana, not because I’m helpless and unable to respond.

‘How should I let you know that I am not someone you need to protect?’

But I thought it was childish to have a battle of wills over just going down a cliff. I looked down at the ground nonchalantly, then suddenly threw myself off so abruptly it was startling, and after fluttering in the air, I was suddenly held firmly in a man’s arms. He did not let me go. He had such ardent eyes.

“…You catch well.”

“Because you are light.”

But I wished he had something a little different. I hate being seen as someone who needs to be protected, and I’m not one to wish for a love that has melted softly with pity and compassion. But your desire was mixed with a sense of pity for me… and in my opinion, you shouldn’t be like that. At least, the me that Ryuseong thinks of is the villain who tried to destroy his world. If so, you needed to have a little more fear of me. I didn’t want a fool who would only understand if I had to spell it out that I didn’t exist beneath you.

“…Why are you smiling?”

You had to fear me. You had to find me terrible, shudder in horror, and love me fiercely.

You had to feel to your bones that I was above you.

“The thought of hunting makes me happy.”

I said, chuckling. I guess Cassis de Millang and I really do have similar personalities. Though my character is a little nicer, hmm.

It was to the point where I had the groundless thought that perhaps I became the possessor because Cassis de Millang and I were this similar.

Ryuseong was looking at me as if to ask what was so enjoyable about voluntarily crawling into a forest shrouded in black fog, but…

‘Like I care?’

I charged into the forest without hesitation.

“Cassis de Millang…! At least consult with the person next to you before you depart!”

Regardless of Ryuseong nagging me from the side, I looked at the brooch-shaped barrier artifact that had automatically activated in response to the black fog.

The black fog is a disaster in itself, polluting the soil and turning the air into poison. Life devoured by the black fog becomes a monster. Humans and beasts are no different.

However, subjugators have learned how to protect the world from the black fog.

It was a method of trapping the black fog in a certain area or trapping humans in a certain area, and the world called such things anti-magic barriers. It could be seen as a barrier that truly saved humanity.

‘Because it’s the only means to stop the spread of the black fog, for now…’

Of course, even a barrier is not perfect. To be precise, even if the barrier can be perfect, the caster of the barrier cannot be perfect. This is because if the caster dies or reaches a state of Qi Deviation and can no longer control their mana, the barrier will also break.

Therefore, anti-magic barriers that protect the caster from the black fog have historically been the artifacts created with the most painstaking effort.

And now, I unhesitatingly turned off the barrier.

“What…!”

Uh, I know it’s a crazy thing to do… but your hyung has a plan for everything.

So don’t be too surprised, Ryuseong?