Pinnacle.

That’s the realm most martial artists in the Central Plains call the goal of their life and desperately yearn for.

The qi soaked into the dantian is something a martial artist cannot be without.

When you lay qi over your body, you can lift what you never could before. And if you pour it into a weapon you hold—

You pierce what you could never pierce.

You cut what you could never cut.

Qi is the most important thing for a martial artist.

That is why all the more, martial artists crave the realm called pinnacle.

The moment you climb up there,

a martial artist’s dantian and body grow one step further; they start to become one instead of just laying qi over the body.

You put the seed called qi into your flesh, then repeat harsh training and realizations.

So it ripens, and in the end, it blooms.

From third-rate to second-rate, from second-rate to first-rate.

Climbing and climbing like that, the stage where the seed you planted finally flowers is exactly pinnacle.

The stage where the qi contained in your body finally becomes one with it.

It’s the place every martial artist in the Central Plains dreams of,

and for some, it’s the place they can’t reach no matter how hard they struggle their entire life.

‘...The limit of the dull, and the proof of the gifted.’

The place where martial artists who were not granted talent fail to reach in the end and just fade away.

They say seven out of ten martial artists collapse without ever touching pinnacle.

‘You’re telling me I’ve come to pinnacle...?’

Feeling the vitality circulating through my body, I was dumbfounded.

Someone once said.

That the realm called pinnacle is, so to speak, the proof of genius.

You can reach it because you have talent; if you don’t, you can never climb it—that was pinnacle.

And that.

‘...How long has it even been since I became first-rate.’

It hasn’t even been ten days since I took the Great Rejuvenation Pill and became first-rate.

By the time I realized it, I’d shot up to pinnacle in an instant.

How the hell was I supposed to explain this? Nothing came to mind, so I just kept my mouth shut.

[...You really went and did something useless.]

Yoo Cheongil kept muttering like he didn’t like any of this.

[It’s not time yet. Tsk.]

He was making some twisted expression, like me reaching pinnacle wasn’t all that welcome.

Pinnacle.

Every time I thought of that word, a strange heat welled up.

‘Pinnacle, huh...’

When I reached first-rate, I’d felt a shockingly intense sense of emotion,

but now that I’d actually gotten to pinnacle, the feeling was oddly subtle.

Should I say it didn’t really feel real?

The weird part was that on a gut level, I did recognize that I’d reached pinnacle.

So this is pinnacle.

I broke through the wall and came up to pinnacle.

I could tell without anyone having to say it.

“...”

I kept clenching and opening my fists.

If I had to put into words what it felt like to reach pinnacle, yeah, it was awkward, but—

‘More than anything.’

What stood out was this sensation like I was floating.

My body felt endlessly light; it felt like if I lifted my foot, I might just fly.

Was I imagining it? The moment I became aware of that feeling, I wanted to draw my sword right away.

The thought of wanting to feel this changed realm with my whole body was invading my head.

So just as I was unconsciously about to grab the hilt—

[Get a grip.]

“...!”

At Yoo Cheongil’s words, I pulled myself together.

[Tsk, tsk. Being excited is fine, but you can’t be wavering already. It’s only pinnacle.]

“...”

Only pinnacle.

Those words cooled the heat that had been rising.

Others called it the proof of genius, the limit of the dull.

It was that brutal place wrapped in words like the dream of a lifetime.

And yet hearing him call it just “only” even after I’d climbed up there—it felt heavy, but somehow it made me laugh and even look forward to things.

“...Can’t you at least congratulate me a little?”

[Congratulate my ass. What kind of pat on the back are you expecting for a realm you climbed on someone else’s hand?]

Those words poked me right in the chest.

He wasn’t wrong. For both first-rate and now pinnacle, I’d only come up thanks to fortuitous encounters, so what he said hit especially hard.

Of course.

‘Still doesn’t feel bad, though.’

It was a place I’d thought I’d never reach in my whole life.

Who would’ve imagined it? Not me, and not anyone who knew me.

Just getting up to first-rate was unbelievable already, and now past that to pinnacle?

On top of that—

‘It hasn’t even been a year.’

It hasn’t even been a year since I met Yoo Cheongil.

And within that, I’d reached pinnacle.

It was an utterly ridiculous span of time.

What would take someone else a whole lifetime was, for me, not even a year.

‘And the one who made that happen is.’

The greatest of ancient and modern times, the former greatest under heaven, who was making the most disgruntled face.

‘...I’d rather die than admit it.’

But at this point, I couldn’t not.

‘So you were serious.’

Just like it was nothing,

like he was telling me to go out for a casual stroll, he’d tossed it out—

that I had to become the greatest under heaven.

Yoo Cheongil’s words, telling me that, suddenly echoed in my ears.

Feeling that, I spoke to him.

“...Old man.”

[What.]

“Are you okay?”

At my words, Yoo Cheongil narrowed his eyes at me.

[What are you talking about.]

“That... that elder of Tang leaving.”

A friend of his, in his own way, had left.

I hadn’t thought Poison Sovereign would go that simply.

Even if he said he had no more lingering regrets, I’d figured he’d cling to something and hold on a while longer.

I’d been worrying about that for nothing; he really just vanished cleanly.

So what I was asking was whether he was okay with him disappearing without even a proper goodbye.

[Ha.]

Yoo Cheongil looked at me and let out a laugh.

[What about it wouldn’t be okay. A guy who was going just went.]

“...Mm...”

[Why? You think I’m supposed to mope because he’s gone? Him or me, we’re both dead just the same anyway. It’s not like the two of us ever traded useless sentiment.]

He really did look completely unfazed.

Does that guy even have a thing called being shaken?

I was a little curious about that. Whether he sensed that or not, Yoo Cheongil spoke.

[He’s done shaking off all his ridiculous airs. Let’s just go now.]

“...Go where?”

[We have to get ready what we’re giving that Tang fellow.]

“Ah.”

At those words, I remembered the stuff about Myriad-Flowers Rain.

Right. I had to do that.

“Ha ha...”

A laugh slipped out of me without thinking at the situation.

The Tang hero once called Poison Sovereign, the ghost once called Heaven-Beyond-Heaven, had attained deliverance.

Thanks to that, even though my realm had risen to pinnacle,

I had no time to like it or even think about it.

Piled on top of the attitude that reaching pinnacle was nothing special, it was so absurd all I could do was laugh.

What I had to do in a situation like this was go back to my quarters and spend the whole night writing in a book.

*****

The next day, I went to see Poison King again.

It was to put an end to what we’d talked about yesterday.

You could say it was maybe the last thing I had to do in Tang Clan.

‘...Damn, I’m tired.’

Dragging along a body that hadn’t slept all night, I stood facing Poison King.

“Hello.”

“Welcome...”

Poison King, about to greet me the moment he saw me, stopped mid-sentence and furrowed his brows.

We’d met in a wide training ground.

I wondered why that kind of reaction, but I caught on to the reason quickly.

‘He noticed.’

It seemed Poison King had realized I’d reached pinnacle.

He’d been like that last time when I hit first-rate, and it looked like he’d sensed it again.

“Is something wrong?”

I played dumb and asked, and Poison King quickly schooled his expression.

“It’s nothing.”

There’s no way he could believe my realm had risen in a single day, so all I had to do was keep playing dumb.

As if to prove that, Poison King didn’t say anything more. Confirming that reaction, I pulled the book from my breast and handed it to him.

It was the thing I’d promised.

“...”

Seeing the book, Poison King carefully took it from me.

His expression was showing a rare, big reaction.

FLIP.

The moment he got it, Poison King started checking through the book.

“...The ink doesn’t seem to be dry.”

“Ah, yes. I was in a bit of a rush writing it, so it’s probably not fully dry yet.”

“...What?”

At that, Poison King made a puzzled face.

“You mean this wasn’t a secret manual that was already prepared?”

At those words, I waved my hands, like, what are you even talking about, and said,

“Come on. What are you saying. My master told me to read every secret manual about himself and burn them all.”

“You clearly said he left something about Myriad-Flowers Rain.”

When I talked about this with Poison King,

it had been about the part where I said I could help.

Back then, I had seen a secret manual about Myriad-Flowers Rain.

I’d said I’d pass that on and help him.

So saying I’d written it overnight, I could see Poison King’s face fall apart.

“Yes. That’s the one.”

“If you burned the original secret manual, this book you’ve handed me might not be correct.”

He meant, how could I remember after so much time, wasn’t there a high chance the contents were wrong.

That was what he was saying, and in common sense terms, he was right.

“No. It should be right.”

I knew that secret manual wasn’t wrong.

And for good reason.

‘I wrote it down myself yesterday while I was listening. How could it be wrong.’

I’d just copied down every word Yoo Cheongil had chattered behind me.

The contents weren’t that long, and there was no way it was wrong.

If something was wrong, that would mean Yoo Cheongil was wrong.

“Everything my master wrote and left behind, I memorized. Not a single word will be off.”

“...You memorized it all? All those many books?”

“They actually weren’t that many. It wasn’t that hard.”

“...”

He still looked unconvinced. Seeing that, I scrunched my nose and said,

“If you can’t trust it, I don’t have anything else to say. But this book really is exactly what I received from my master. If you truly can’t believe it, at least try it and see.”

Look at the book and try it.

When I said that, Poison King, like he’d been waiting, looked back over the secret manual.

Inside were packed the sequences of qi application and the forms for using Myriad-Flowers Rain.

As he read, qi started spilling out from Poison King.

FWOOOOOSH---!!!

I could feel a {N•o•v•e•l•i•g•h•t} wind made of qi blowing from Poison King.

His martial robes fluttered, and he slowly moved his hand.

In that moment—

SHWAAAAK---!!

Dozens of hidden weapons burst from Poison King’s hand and flew through the air.

PABABABABAK----!!!!

The hidden weapons filling the sky soon swept across the ground.

Hidden weapons were stuck all over the floor.

Poison King’s expression changed slightly when he saw that, and so did mine.

‘Is that Myriad-Flowers Rain?’

The technique said to be Tang Clan’s ultimate art and symbol.

I’d heard it filled the sky with hidden weapons that poured down like rain and swept the battlefield.

‘...It kind of seems right...’

Just from the shape of it, it seemed right, but... something was off.

Right then—

[...We’re screwed.]

Yoo Cheongil spoke to me in a voice like this was bad.

[That bastard. He can’t use it properly.]

He was saying Poison King had done something wrong.

I had thought it felt strange, and in reality, something was off.

“...How is it?”

So, curious about Poison King’s reaction, I asked.

“...This is...”

“...Hm?”

Poison King, though, had a moved expression at the Myriad-Flowers Rain he’d just used.

What? Why is he satisfied...?

No matter how I looked at it, it just felt like he’d thrown a bunch of hidden weapons.

But for some reason, that guy seemed pleased.

Ah, no way.

‘Is it because he’s never seen it?’

Because he’d never seen the Myriad-Flowers Rain Poison Sovereign used.

Or.

‘Maybe it just feels successful enough to him, so he’s fine with it.’

Even if it wasn’t perfect, he probably felt the secret manual was genuine, so maybe that was why he reacted like that.

“Mmm...”

I tilted my head.

Then, before I knew it, my body was walking toward the hidden weapons.

For some reason, I was already doing it.

The training ground, proving it belonged to Tang Clan, had countless hidden weapons in sight.

I grabbed three or four of them.

This was my first time actually handling this kind of hidden weapon.

But.

‘Feels familiar?’

As I fiddled with them, they felt familiar somehow. What is this?

In the moment I was wrapped up in that dazed feeling at how strangely familiar it was—

WOOONG-!

A sensation rose from my dantian.

[Hm? Boy? What are you doing?]

Yoo Cheongil spoke to me as he watched me.

By then my body was moving without even answering.

In my head, the method for using Myriad-Flowers Rain that I’d written all night and memorized was rising up.

Why am I suddenly doing this?

I was questioning myself, but at the same time—

The qi that started from my dantian burrowed into my meridians.

The fingers holding the hidden weapons, now filled with qi, flung them.

“Young Hero Bang. This secret manual—”

Right as Poison King started to speak to me in a slightly brighter voice—

KWAGAGAGAGANG---!!!!

“...!”

The hidden weapons that flew past him landed in the training ground.

As the hidden weapons that had risen into the air fell, they kicked up bombardments and explosions.

The sound was completely different from what Poison King had shown.

And unlike the hundreds of hidden weapons that had simply stuck into the floor,

the three or four I’d thrown smashed not only the ground but all the walls, punching holes through the training ground in an instant.

RATTLE RATTLE...

Debris fell from the ruined wall.

“...The fuck?”

Seeing the state of the place, I cursed without thinking.

Poison King, Yoo Cheongil, and I all had to make stupid faces at that sight.

After a moment, Poison King creaked his head around and looked at me.

Seeing that, there was only one thing I could say.

“...I mean, I just tried to copy it a bit, but... why does this work? This isn’t supposed to work like this. I mean, uh... I’m sorry.”

“...”

Poison King didn’t say a word to the apology I barely squeezed out at the end of my excuse.

That silence scared me even more.