Failed Possession Chapter-19

## Chapter 19

—

The artificial elixir of the Namgung clan, the **Azure Heaven Pill**, was about the size of two finger joints and jade-colored, so at a glance it looked like a small jade bead.

Lee Su-hyeok, who had grown up without parents, had never taken herbal medicine in his life, but he thought the faint scent coming from the Azure Heaven Pill might resemble one.

“To think I get to eat something like this in my life… I really made it.”

He muttered sincerely, without a hint of exaggeration. Across from him, Elena’s cheek twitched. If she had tried to show off any more, he had been ready to react as enthusiastically as possible, but she didn’t go that far.

“Pure and True Heart method. You memorized it all, right?”

Instead, she asked with a serious expression. It was only around first-rate level, and you didn’t have to memorize the whole book for the beginner stage, but the mnemonic verses weren’t short.

“I memorized it.”

Yuri answered seriously as well.

This was an important moment—he couldn’t afford to make a mistake.

He had already opened his dantian and accumulated inner energy with the **Evil-Quelling Heavenly Principle Technique**. But only Yuri knew that.

To others, it had to look like he was opening his dantian for the first time *now* through Pure and True Heart method and building inner energy.

In other words, this was Yuri’s first button.

“If only I had reached Sixth Tier, I could have guided your inner energy personally. What a shame.”

Haryeong said expressionlessly.

“Yes, that’s unfortunate.”

He said that aloud, but inwardly he felt relieved. If he had entrusted the guidance of inner energy to someone else, even with the veil of deception, it would have been impossible to fake things.

Yuri took a deep breath and sat cross-legged.

“The moment you swallow the Azure Heaven Pill, you must guide the qi according to the Pure and True Heart method verses. The elixir’s qi will flow through the meridians into your dantian. Your closed dantian will open, and the qi will accumulate to become inner energy.”

Though Pure and True Heart method was far inferior to the Evil-Quelling Heavenly Principle Technique, he wouldn’t use the latter during this process.

“You probably won’t be able to guide all the qi into your dantian, but don’t feel it’s a waste. As long as the dantian opens successfully, the qi won’t leak outside. After that, you can slowly guide the remaining qi into the dantian over time.”

Yuri nodded and placed the Azure Heaven Pill into his mouth.

“How is it? Does it melt softly?”

“Miss Elena, how can you talk to him at such an important moment—the very first time he’s regulating qi? And an elixir like the Azure Heaven Pill doesn’t melt softly. You have to chew it.”

He half-listened to their chatter and bit down.

It wasn’t something you could politely call tasty. The moment he chewed, bitterness exploded across his mouth and his face crumpled.

Still, he endured and kept chewing.

Pop.

Something burst inside his mouth. Before he even consciously swallowed, the qi released from the crushed pill slid down his throat on its own.

He immediately operated Pure and True Heart method. The verses surfaced in his mind and his meridians writhed.

“….”

He had braced himself seriously for this, but it ended too quickly.

He had concentrated, sure—but inner energy rushed into his dantian almost instantly. He hadn’t even used the Evil-Quelling Heavenly Principle Technique, yet the Azure Heaven Pill’s qi gathered in his dantian without the slightest loss.

Truly an artificial elixir of the Namgung clan.

As if proving why it had been such a valuable item in the game, the inner energy he gained was enormous—far more than what he had accumulated over a month with the Evil-Quelling Heavenly Principle Technique. Even considering the perks of being a possessor and a divine art, he had secured years’ worth of inner energy in one dose.

But he couldn’t open his eyes right away.

According to Haryeong, even with an elixir, opening the dantian and completing the first circulation should take several hours.

So Yuri kept his eyes closed and maintained his breathing.

Inside his mind, the first-rate Pure and True Heart method and what seemed to be a divine art, the Evil-Quelling Heavenly Principle Technique, faced each other.

It appeared more intuitively than words.

The Evil-Quelling Heavenly Principle Technique looked like a massive flame.
Pure and True Heart method looked like a small spring.

The flame could keep growing. Depending on what you fed it as firewood, it would burn more and more fiercely.

But the spring had a limit to its source. To draw more water, you’d have to dig new ground.

*‘I see.’*

A raging flame wasn’t automatically better. If you couldn’t control a fire that grew too large, you’d end up becoming firewood yourself, consumed by it.

But Pure and True Heart method had far less risk. Even if the spring dried up, you could dig deeper and find another source.

*‘Consumed by the flame… burned as firewood… is that qi deviation?’*

Unlike the game, martial arts here were divided into three broad types:

Orthodox, Underworld, and Demonic.

In Yuri’s judgment, the Evil-Quelling Heavenly Principle Technique—

It absolutely didn’t feel orthodox. But it didn’t feel underworld either.

A violently blazing fire. A fire that seemed ready to swallow him whole and reduce everything to ash with the slightest lapse.

*‘I am the flame that carries out heavenly punishment, the asura that eradicates evil, the envoy that sets right the laws of heaven.’*
*‘My hands bear holy fire, my feet trample demons.’*

The verses he had recited during every breathing session drifted through his mind.

Compared like this to Pure and True Heart method, it sent chills down his spine.

*‘This… is demonic arts.’*

Cold sweat trickled down.

Demonic arts carried far greater risks than orthodox or underworld techniques. Not everyone who practiced them destroyed themselves—but the possibility alone was dangerous.

*‘And why is a Priestess of the Order learning demonic arts?’*

And she had even taught it to him directly.

Still… it wasn’t entirely unbelievable. Considering Lorellia’s personality, which praised violence, demonic arts suited her well.

*‘It’s not guaranteed to cause qi deviation. If I train it properly… yeah, if I train it properly.’*

Calling it demonic or not, it was too valuable to abandon for something like Pure and True Heart method alone.

And now that he could see it so clearly, the “floor and ceiling” Haryeong mentioned was obvious.

*‘Still… couldn’t she have taught me a normal technique instead of demonic arts?’*

The Church of Order.

A nearly ruined sect expelled for protecting possessors. Even their goddess had fallen into a long sleep from repeated miracles.

Calamity Saint Lorellia represented their violence. The Order barely survived because of her.

Yuri had received the Evil-Quelling Heavenly Principle Technique directly from her, and even the Veil of Deception.

Not without reason. It was repayment for setting an overwhelming Hall of Fame record to prevent more possessors from coming.

*‘But it’s probably not just that.’*

Even if his record was overwhelming, there was no guarantee it would never be broken. Time flowed differently. Decades later, someone else might surpass him and new possessors might appear.

Yet the Order had given him gifts that were excessively generous.

And the fact that Lorellia personally handled him was suspicious.

*‘Lorellia isn’t originally assigned to possessors.’*
*‘There were… various circumstances within our order, so I ended up handling you.’*

He never heard what those “circumstances” were. Maybe it was her own decision.

*‘The Order doesn’t seem naive enough to act for nothing.’*

Did they want him to hunt other possessors? Or even kill the God of Chaos someday?

Whatever.

*‘Damn it, what’s the point of overthinking?’*

First priority was being strong enough to protect himself.

Even Chuk Shin-do openly called himself a possessor and still lived. In the end, strength was everything.

His thoughts slowly faded.

The raging flame dimmed, and the spring flowed quietly.

The verses dissolved into the water, and his mind flowed with it.

“Uh… how is it?”

When he opened his eyes, Elena was sitting exactly where she had been.

“I think it went well.”
“Let me see.”

Haryeong sprang up from the nearby sofa and approached. Yuri calmly extended his hand.

“Hmm…”

Through their clasped hands, her inner energy flowed in. She checked the energy gathered in his dantian and nodded.

“About halfway?”
“Is that good or bad?”
“It’s good. As expected, my eye wasn’t wrong. Your martial talent is quite good.”

Yuri swallowed a sigh of relief.

“With this, you can call yourself a First-Tier martial artist. Brag about it if anyone asks.”
“It’s not even worth bragging about.”
“Then train hard. Don’t forget daily breathing exercises. When spreading the dantian’s energy through your meridians becomes as natural as breathing, you’ll reach Second Tier.”

She released his hand.

“Then the two of you enjoy celebrating his dantian opening and martial initiation. And be grateful to me.”
“Why grateful?”
“I sat here for hours for someone who isn’t even my guard target. I deserve thanks.”
“Thank you.”
“Such light thanks. Don’t you think?”

Her calm eyes shifted to Elena. Elena blinked, then frowned.

“Do we owe extra money for this too?”
“When you say that, I sound like some money-obsessed miser. I just took a look. No payment needed.”

Really?

Anyway, she didn’t take money. After bowing lightly to them, Haryeong left the mansion.

“Celebration party… want one?”
“Aren’t you full?”
“S-some champagne is fine, right?”

Come to think of it, Yuri hadn’t had alcohol even once since becoming Yuri.

He didn’t particularly crave it, but Elena’s expression clearly did.

“Let’s drink lightly.”

He wasn’t sure of his tolerance. He remembered being decent before possession—but was it the same now? Wasn’t drunkenness tied more to the mind than the body?

*‘Surely I won’t get drunk off a few glasses of champagne…’*

The biggest thing to avoid was getting plastered and babbling things he shouldn’t say.

When Yuri gets drunk, that bastard’s already lousy personality becomes even worse. He picks fights, more than half the words out of his mouth turn into curses, and depending on the other person, his fists move before his mouth.

On the other hand, “Lee Su-hyeok” had the desirable habit of simply passing out when drunk.

Even so, he couldn’t relax.

“Do you drink often?”
“Not often. Maybe once a month?”
“Doesn’t seem like you’d drink with Miss Haryeong.”
“Of course not. Most recently, I drank with some adventurers after finishing a rank-four request together. Just lightly, before parting.”

Pop!

The cork of a rather expensive-looking champagne bottle was neatly removed with magic.

“Before that, the Tower Master dragged me out to drink… and I drank a few times with Senior Lacy too.”
“That senior who reached Fifth Tier? You must be pretty close.”

Thanks to the earlier whispers that she might be a possessor, that name remained clear in his mind.

“Yeah, I guess. When I first came to the Dercia Magic Tower, I shared a room with Senior Lacy.”

“You don’t drink with other seniors?”

“Senior Arist? I told you before, I don’t like her much. Until last year she openly looked down on me, but after I reached Fourth Tier, the way she looks at me is just…”

Elena stopped pouring champagne and glared fiercely at Yuri.

“She stares at me like this all the time. Well, it’s not hard to understand. I reached Fourth Tier a whole year faster than her. Senior Lacy also reached Fourth Tier at my age. That means our talents are similar, so in seven years, I could reach Fifth circle too.”

She relaxed her eyes and smiled brightly, swirling the half-filled champagne glass.

“Well, tiers don’t rise that neatly. After Fourth circle, it’s not just talent—you need experience… or rather, an opportunity.”

“An opportunity?”

“Unique magic is about reaching the ideal of magic that a mage pursues. Even if it’s shallow, you’re creating your own magic. Without desire, the mana inside you won’t respond.”

An opportunity.

Yuri thought for a moment. Reaching Fifth Tier was just as harsh for martial artists. For them, it wasn’t about creating unique magic, but about harmonizing mind, qi, and body perfectly to draw out aura.

“So, how does it feel?”

Her gently swaying champagne glass came closer.

“You’re a real martial artist now. Don’t you have any thoughts?”

“Honestly, it still doesn’t feel real.”

Yuri raised his glass as well.

Yuri, the orphan from Aldor, had longed to become a martial artist or mage but died without even opening his dantian.

The current Yuri could already call himself a martial artist even before meeting Elena.

And yet, it still didn’t feel real.

Because he had never truly fought as one.

“Doesn’t feel real… huh…”

Elena bit her lip instead of clinking glasses.

Part of her wanted to avoid the topic entirely, but she knew she couldn’t.

They couldn’t live together in this house forever. If Yuri hadn’t become a martial artist, maybe they could have. But now—

He had the foundation for independence.

“Still… congratulations, Yuri.”

She smiled without revealing her thoughts. Their glasses clinked lightly, a little late.

“It’s thanks to you.”

Ah.

Why did those words sound so sweet?

It had been right to go to Aldor to meet Yuri.

She had avoided it before. Afraid he’d changed too much. Afraid he wouldn’t be the Yuri she remembered. Afraid she’d be disappointed.

*‘If I’d known, I would’ve brought him sooner.’*

Thinking that, Elena raised the glass to her lips.

*

*

 

They emptied one bottle of champagne together, but nothing happened.

He barely felt drunk, and he didn’t slip up.

Late at night, he returned to his room and did another breathing session. This time he used the Evil-Quelling Heavenly Principle Technique instead of Pure and True Heart method.

He could quickly feel the increase in inner energy. Even after spreading it throughout his body, plenty still remained in his dantian.

The next day.

He carefully read the manual for *Rantian Flowing Cloud Fist*.

[The lofty sky has no ceiling and no walls.]
[What disturbs the sky are clouds. Flowing clouds lower the sky, block the sun, and lead the night.]
[Stand on the earth and look up. A sky full of clouds appears terribly low. Rise to the sky and stand among the clouds. The earth remains far below; the sky is never low.]
[The clouds drifting through the sky become me. Depending on how I flow, the color of the sky changes.]
[Sweep your hand and part the clouds. The divided clouds continue to flow.]

“…What the hell is this nonsense…?”

Similar ramblings continued for quite a while. After reading the verses over and over, Yuri’s shoulders trembled.

Fortunately, beneath the nonsense were movements. Those, at least, were worth looking at.

He stared intently at the diagrams and annotations.

*‘Do you have to practice drawing too if you want to leave behind a manual…’*

Looking at the diagrams and verses together, he understood what kind of fist art it was.

He stood and followed the drawings.

The room was too small, so he went out to the garden and practiced properly.

There were only four forms.

First form, **Floating Cloud Drift**.

He repeated extending and retracting his fists. A fist art didn’t mean using only one fist. *Rantian Flowing Cloud Fist* required skillful use of both.

He focused only on Floating Cloud Drift for a long time.

Swing, retract, extend again—yet it never felt satisfying. Something was missing. This wasn’t like the game where pressing a key automatically activated a skill. He couldn’t even guess how long it would take to master one form.

The more he practiced, the closer it felt.

The fist art he had once seen through a monitor slowly aligned with what he was performing with his own body.

Thump.

His heart pounded hard enough to hurt.

At that moment, something connected in his head. The puzzle piece of that unknown “lack” clicked into place.

Hoo.

There was no inner energy in the punch he extended. In the end, it was just a fist.

Yet Yuri felt a small sense of satisfaction.

“Hah…”

He couldn’t savor it.

Because he heard an exclamation behind him.

Startled, Yuri tried to turn—

But he couldn’t.

The moment he moved, dizziness hit him and strength drained from his legs. As he was about to collapse, someone supported him.

“Y-you okay?”

It was Elena.

Still confused, Yuri blinked.

His entire body was drenched in sweat. The sun hadn’t set yet, but it felt like hours had passed since he started. Realizing that, his shoulders ached as if they would break.

“What… what happened?”

He asked blankly and turned his head.

Fist Wolf Bakered.

The man he was supposed to meet tomorrow stood in the garden of Elena’s estate, eyes wide open.

—