53 Smoke Devil

Over the next three days, he slowly consumed the beast cores of the Black-Spotted Pigs, Gatling Swallows and Fanged White Rabbits. When all the power had been sucked into his spiritual river, Van concluded that he was two-thirds of the way to the 4th level of Qi Distillation.

The 4th level was the minimum requirement for training 'Scattering Smoke Steps'! Remembering this, Van grew determined once more. The one thing is was really lacking at the moment was a good movement skill.

Van pulled out the ant queen's giant crystal core and placed it in his hands. Strong energy with demonic traces within it leaked into the air.

Van opened his meridians. The power got sucked into his spiritual river.

Like this, he slowly absorbed the energy within the core over the next three days.

Due to the sheer amount of energy inside the giant core, Van could feel that the suction capacity of his normal meridians wasn't enough to absorb all the spiritual power.

About ten per cent of the qi in the beast core escaped too fast for him to absorb. Therefore his absorption was only ninety per cent efficient.

Van could absorb at one hundred per cent only if his 99th meridian was opened – and that would last for 10 minutes 30 seconds.

When Van had nearly absorbed the entire crystal, he felt that there was only a thin barrier before he could level up to the 4th level of Qi Distillation.

He could only calm himself and quietly prepare for his breakthrough.

______

[Two days later]

The pressure within Van's spiritual river had slowly grown higher and higher, until finally with a small 'pop!' the barrier between layers broke.

The spiritual water gushed forth uninhibited. It looked a few degrees clearer and more liquid-like than it had before.

Van eyes finally opened. His dark eyes gleamed.

[The 4th level of Qi Distillation!]

[Finally, I can train 'Scattering Smoke Steps.']

The young boy took out the small black book and opened the first page. A strong scent of smoke emanated out of the book. Instead of coughing, Van felt as if the scent were familiar and homey. It relaxed him.

"Scattering Smoke Steps," he read aloud, "Be not like the lightning, quick and loud, but be like smoke, intangible and unreachable. Focus not on speed, but on making oneself impossible to percieve. Like smoke, you are everywhere and nowhere at the same time. Like smoke, you cannot be held down!"

Van's eyes shone.

"To learn this skill one most, have a flexible mind and exceeding patience. The first step is to understand the 'essence of smoke' and the second step is to tread as if upon scattering smoke!"

[But how do I understand the essence of smoke?]

Van scratched his head. His affinity for flame did not directly translate into an understanding of the essence of smoke. It was like saying a duck should be able to communicate with a chicken just because they were both birds!

[Fuck it. Let's just do this the dumb way!] Van thought to himself.

The young man picked up the book and walked over to his small fireplace. He went outside to gather some wood and then placed it in the earth.

"Flaming Bull Fist!"

Van punched lightly at the air. Fire spat out of his fist and lit the wood. The flames crackled and hissed.

He sat in front of the fire and began to watch it. Or rather, he focused his attention on the grey smoke that billowed upwards.

_____

[Two days later]

Van stared, red-eyed at the smoke. His eyes were ringed with exhaustion and his hair and clothes smelled of nothing but smoke. Undaunted, he continued to stare at the billowing grey cloud.

…

Hours passed. The only times he ever left the room was every few hours to chuck in a massive pile of wood.

…

Van kept staring mindlessly at the smoke.

He grew more and more exhausted. His eyes started to blur. Half-asleep, Van's head drooped lower.

Black tendrils started to flow out of the little book. They crawled out of the pages and started to permeate the air like thick black oil.

A hideous face appeared in the air.

Sinister cackles filled the room. The hideous face grinned and spoke in a gleeful tone.

[Eheeheehee! Another tasty morsel falls into our clever trap. Eheeheeheee…]

The hideous face loomed closer. Two swirling grey eyes appeared. They were like swirling water, taking you around in circles and circles, numbing your brain and making you more susceptible to its wiles.

[Succumb, little one. Succumb…let me in…Eheeeheeeheee….]

Like a gently lullaby, smoke drifted towards Van and curled around his face. It was very comfortable. The smoke began to intrude into his mindscape. Grey drifted across the darkness and into the central space where the ring and green turtle shell lay.

[Eh…? Whatsa this….] The hideous face said curiously.

Van's red-rimmed eyes finally snapped open.

[Get out of my head!] He screamed internally.

Jet woke up. The ring immediately noticed the intruder.

[Who the fuck are you? Riff-raff are not allowed inside this Granddaddy's sleeping-place!]

The hideous face drew back, shocked.

[Who are you!? Why are you inside this boy's head?]

Jet spun angrily. It did not address the hideous face.

[Green Bastard. Earn your rent. Now!]

ZZzzzt!

A sharp aura emanated from the green turtle shell. A bolt of icy, cold energy shot out.

[What!?!?]

The hideous face tried to run. This bolt of energy would send it to the Yellow River!

The dark bolt struck accurately.

[Aaaaaaaaaaaaaah! Noo!]

A tortured scream emitted from the hideous face. The tendrils began to dissipate. The smoke-like body disappeared from Van's mindscape and reappeared in the real world.

Van watched the hideous face writhe in pain. Finally, with a silent scream, it vanished.

Thunk!

A small grey ball fell onto the floorboards.

Van picked it up.

He held it to his eye and saw swirling smog within. What was this marble-looking thing?

[You just killed a low-level Smoke Devil. That's probably it's spiritual core.]

Van rolled it his palm. He felt that the appearance of this devil inside the book was too suspicious.

"Is it safe to consume?"

[There's no problem physically. Mentally, there may be side effects. However, eating it will increase your understanding of the 'essence of smoke.' It will help you learn Scattering Smoke Steps several times faster – hey!]

Van had directly just thrown the core into his mouth and swallowed it.

As the energy burned in his belly, a kaleidoscope of the Smoke Devil's memories flashed through his mind.

A few minutes later, Van's eyes cleared.

He frowned.

According to the Smoke Devil's memories, it had been planted inside that skill manual for many decades now.

The previous disciple that had tried to learn 'Scattering Smoke Steps' was possessed by the Smoke Devil as he tried to cultivate the movement skill. However, the young man's willpower was too strong. Instead of succumbing to the demon, he chose to kill himself and die honourably. Alas, the Smoke Devil's compulsion powers were too strong. The young man was still forced to return the book to the library before he suicided!

For decades now, the Smoke Devil had been biding its time, waiting for a new victim…

…It had a mission to complete!