readease Chapter 399 - 400
Chapter 399 - 400
The books were scattered around him. The volcano roared in the background. Ash fell slowly from the sky.
An entire minute passed.
Then...
An idea emerged.
Suddenly.
So suddenly that Kyrian’s eyes widened slightly.
"I’m thinking about this the wrong way..." he murmured.
His heart began to race, not from fear, but from excitement.
"Why should I follow someone else’s path?"
His mind seemed to clear instantly.
As if an invisible fog, a fog he had not even realized existed, had suddenly vanished.
A strange sensation spread through his body, tingling, electric.
Light. Natural.
As if something inside him had finally aligned.
"Why should I search for a technique that suits me..."
"...when I can simply create one myself?"
Silence.
The volcano continued roaring in the distance, but Kyrian barely heard it.
His mind was elsewhere.
Then, a smile slowly appeared on his lips.
Not an ordinary smile, not the cold smile of superiority, not the exhausted smile of relief.
It was genuine.
Filled with excitement. Filled with anticipation. Filled with ambition.
"I am unique."
"My eyes are unique."
"My path should be as well."
He slowly tightened his grip on the book in his hands, not with force, but with determination.
The decision was born in that instant.
Firm and unshakable.
"I will create my own cultivation technique."
The words echoed softly along the volcano’s slope.
But the moment they were spoken...
Kyrian felt something strange.
A faint sensation passed through his mind, like a breeze, like a gentle wave.
As if the world itself had responded.
As if some invisible barrier, a barrier he had not even known existed, had shattered.
His eyes narrowed slightly.
He did not know exactly what had happened.
He did not know whether it was significant or merely his imagination.
But he was certain. It was something important. Something good.
Kyrian then looked once more at the books scattered around him.
His gaze became serious, not serious with worry, but serious with purpose.
"But before that..."
"I need references."
He pulled two more books from his own spatial ring, the techniques he had found earlier inside the mountain tomb where he encountered the young man from the White Tower.
Weaker techniques, but still useful.
Now, Kyrian possessed five different cultivation techniques.
Five different ways to understand the flow of Qi.
Five different perspectives on how a cultivator could evolve.
And that was only the beginning.
Kyrian took a deep breath.
Then he opened the first book once again.
His eyes began scanning every symbol.
Every described flow of Qi.
Every circulation method.
The study had begun.
For the first time since stepping onto the path of cultivation, he was finally beginning to create something truly his own.
Something only he could understand.
Ash danced around Kyrian.
And there he remained.
Studying.
...
About half an hour passed quickly.
The sky remained red above the Great Volcano, stained by ash and the constant glow of magma flowing down the slopes.
The color never changed.
Always the same deep red that resembled coagulated blood beneath the light of a dying sun.
Kyrian remained seated upon the black stone the entire time.
Motionless.
The books scattered around him, the cultivation techniques, battle techniques, scrolls, and jade slips, had all already been completely read.
Every symbol. Every word. Every Qi circulation diagram.
Every explanation regarding meridians, spiritual absorption, and energy refinement.
Everything.
With his special eyes, Kyrian possessed perfect memory.
No matter how complex the content was, how dense the explanations were, how intricate the diagrams might be, reading something only once was enough for the information to engrave itself deeply into his mind, as though carved into stone.
If he wished, he could recite any of those books backward without making a single mistake.
It was terrifying.
And useful.
But memorizing was only the beginning.
Understanding was what truly mattered now.
Kyrian slowly closed his eyes as he mentally reviewed all five cultivation techniques.
One by one.
Separating their differences.
Their foundations.
Their paths.
The first technique that surfaced in his mind was the Crimson Flame Solar Art.
The spear elder’s technique.
Kyrian carefully recalled every page, every flow diagram, every explanation about meridians, and every detail regarding Qi compression.
It was an extremely aggressive technique.
Its entire foundation revolved around compressing fire Qi into an absurdly pure and explosive state.
The cultivator absorbed fiery Qi from the environment, repeatedly refined it within the meridians, compressing, burning, purifying, and then accumulating it within the spiritual core.
The purer the fire...
The more destructive the Qi became.
The technique also greatly strengthened the physical body.
Especially the meridians.
According to the book, this was necessary because the Qi refined by the Crimson Flame Solar Art was naturally too violent for ordinary meridians to endure.
Without a strong body, the cultivator’s own Qi would destroy them from within.
The energy flow described by the technique resembled a river of magma.
Heavy. Hot. Dominating.
Kyrian immediately understood why the old man possessed such explosive attacks.
His Qi had been extremely refined, far more refined than that of ordinary cultivators within the same realm.
Every attack carried years of compression.
Furthermore, the technique seemed to greatly increase the offensive power of any fire technique used by the cultivator.
’The technique is good,’ Kyrian thought.
’Very good.’
’If I used it to form a third core, my offensive power would probably increase absurdly.’
’My flames would become far more destructive.’
And yet...
Something still felt incompatible.
Limited.
The Crimson Flame Solar Art demanded absolute specialization in fire.
Everything within it revolved around that.
Absorption, refinement, circulation, storage, everything was designed to maximize the power of fire and only fire.
The technique practically transformed the cultivator into a living furnace.
Kyrian slowly opened his eyes.
’It doesn’t suit me.’
Soon after, his attention shifted to the second technique.
Another technique of the Path of Fire.
But clearly inferior to the first.
Its name was...
"Scripture of Blazing Embers."
Kyrian picked up the book once more for a few seconds, observing the simple red leather cover, without runes, without ornaments, only the title engraved in ordinary characters.
Unlike the Crimson Flame Solar Art, this technique seemed far more stable.
Less destructive.
Less aggressive.
Its focus was not explosion, but continuity.