When a martial artist faces a life-or-death battle, the most tormented part is his meridians.

Meridians are naturally exposed to Qi pressure due to their function, but in a life-or-death fight, they must endure pressure multiplied several times because of heightened intent.

-Karl Heinrich Marx-

Relentless explosions of pure white true essence fly at me incessantly.

Every time I narrowly dodged Nobel’s fierce attack, which was too fast to catch with the eye, by deploying the Scuabtuinne, an indescribable exhilaration surged within me.

Could it be that the instinct of a martial artist seeking battle with a strong opponent was ignited?

No. That’s not all.

My essence, which challenges the unknown and digs to its depths, was manifesting the same way even before I encountered this unfamiliar Kung-Fu principle.

“Show me your hidden trump card, Little Heavenly Demon! Whatever you try, I will crush it!”

“There’s no need to go that far.”

The energy concentrated in the Ni Hwan Palace accelerates my intent.

Facing imminent death, my boiling survival instinct lashes and whispers.

Gather it all. All your internal energy, wisdom, knowledge, and resources—use them to survive.

What began was an extreme high-speed thought process.

Even after escaping the Faust Moment, I continued analyzing in a moment that felt frozen.

Alfred Nobel’s Distinct Kung-fu, Explosive Gale Fist.

To counter this war Kung-Fu that unleashes a transcendent amount of internal energy to crush enemies, I must first uncover the Kung-Fu principle mechanism supporting it.

Understanding takes precedence over everything.

Since I am at a lower level and lack accumulated energy and skill compared to my opponent, it is impossible to counter a Kung-Fu I do not truly understand.

From the moment I witnessed the power of Burst Stream, I never stopped deducing.

The first question concerned Alfred Nobel’s remarkably developed internal energy control ability.

“Control” literally means a martial artist freely gathering or releasing essence.

Moreover, energy control requires various fundamental abilities.

Being able to perform delicate energy manipulation does not mean one can always raise essence as much as desired.

Naturally, to execute a powerful technique, sufficient internal energy is necessary.

And one more thing.

If one cannot create the ‘pressure’ to move a large amount of internal energy at once.

No matter how vast one’s internal power is, there will be limits to the amount of energy that can be released at once.

This pressure that pushes and accelerates essence is precisely the Qi Pressure discussed in Kung-Fu Physiology.

Every time Alfred Nobel throws a punch, the beautiful gardens of The Palace gradually turn into a barren battlefield, indicating that besides storing immense energy in his middle Elixir Field, he possesses a method to generate powerful Qi Pressure.

Then, how did Alfred Nobel obtain Qi Pressure far surpassing other top-tier martial artists?

This was the key to analyzing the martial principle of Explosive Gale Technique.

“The fact that he firmly surrounds his left hand and its vicinity with protective enhanced energy to guard the Blue-Eyed White Snake…”

I realized that the technique Nobel displayed was not even unleashing half of its original firepower.

Nevertheless, the speed of his energy manipulation and fierce power were enough to destroy a peak martial artist.

As all martial artists know, internal energy moves according to intent.

While executing a destructive Kung-Fu with his right hand, raising a thick layer of protective enhanced energy with his left hand thick enough to distort space means Alfred Nobel is directing part of his intent elsewhere.

Considering the Kung-Fu Logic of the Burst Stream, which uses the body as a cannon to unleash directional explosions, the destructive power lost by forcibly diverting some intent to protective enhanced energy is at least one-quarter.

If he had mastered the Two Face technique of temporarily dividing and efficiently using intent, he could have drawn up to half his usual power, but few in Europe have trained in such a strange mind method.

Due to the nature of Explosive Gale Fist, which causes explosions by releasing essence, a reduction of power to 25% is unavoidable.

If the Blue-Eyed White Snake were not here, I would have been hit by a Burst Stream four times stronger than the one that just grazed me.

Countering that would have been impossible with my current level.

However, now that the Blue-Eyed White Snake shackles Nobel from unleashing his full power, the situation is different.

“What’s needed to generate such Qi Pressure is—”

Based on the various Kung-Fu theories and experiences I have studied, there is more than one factor in creating Qi Pressure.

First to consider is the abundant energy naturally pushing internal energy outside the body as pressure.

This explains why internal power increase and Qi Pressure increase are proportional up to a certain level.

“The amount of internal energy stored in the middle Elixir Field is on an incomparable level. Since a while ago, extra energy has been flowing out, creating a heat haze…”

Next to consider is the intensity of intent.

Essence moves according to intent. It has been repeatedly verified that strong desire and will form high Qi Pressure.

“Intent sharpened on the battlefield, imbued with the will to cut even kin if necessary.”

Third is constitution.

If one is born with meridians that can withstand the torrent of internal energy creating Qi Pressure, or has trained specially to manipulate large amounts of essence at once, more energy can be mobilized for a single technique.

“This is a moot point since Nobel succeeded in creating his own distinct Explosive Kung-Fu. He must have already perfected a body suitable for his distinct Kung-Fu.”

Additionally, the nature of internal energy can also be a factor in raising Qi Pressure.

According to a paper presented at Cambridge University, energy with extreme Yang nature is known to have higher expansion power compared to Yin Qi.

If one strengthens the Yang nature of internal energy through mind methods or spiritual medicines, Qi Pressure can be efficiently increased.

“Just by looking at the color of the Essence Jet1, it’s certain that he had altered the nature by some method.”

He is known as Europe’s richest man.

Changing the innate nature of essence would not have been too difficult for him.

However.

“Still, it’s hard to accept.”

Right after considering the change in the essence’s nature, I realized something.

No matter how abundant the energy, how strong the intent, or how successful the physical modification or energy nature changes.

One cannot perform a technique with four times the output internal energy of the Burst Stream I just witnessed.

The momentum in Nobel’s internal energy explosion was beyond explanation even considering the four factors above.

If the Burst Stream were unleashed at full power, no one short of Sir Harcourt could easily block it.

What makes Alfred Nobel different from others to obtain such extraordinary Qi Pressure?

Surely, the answer I seek is hidden within the Kung-Fu, Explosive Gale Fist itself.

“At the moment of release, two qi frequencies occurred.”

This means that the core teaching of the old Ulster method, Outburst Impact, is also embedded in the Kung-Fu principle of the Explosive Gale Fist.

This technique is undoubtedly the key to explaining the root of the overwhelming power of the Burst Stream.

“Somehow, I’ve come close enough to touch the answer.”

Impact, as the name suggests, refers to techniques that release internal energy outward to create impact, and all internal Kung-Fu in the martial world use it in various ways.

Meanwhile, Outburst Impact is a quite distinct type of Impact, rare even in European Murim.

To understand Outburst Impact’s principle by analogy, it’s suitable to use the example of a hammer-action firearm used in the past.

When the spring tension moves the hammer to strike the firing pin, the primer ignites the powder, and the resulting gas pushes the bullet out with high pressure—this is the firing mechanism of a hammer-action gun.

Similarly, Outburst Impact delicately gathers a large amount of internal energy at the body’s extremities instead of explosives, then tightens meridians to rapidly shoot small amounts of essence to collide, causing an energy explosion.

A martial artist well-versed in modern Kung-Fu theory and quick-witted would realize that the Outburst Impact is an application of the Double Impact.

At the same time, they would understand that performing the Outburst Impact is several times more difficult than the Double Impact.

Regardless of natural or human essence, all energy in the world continuously moves and circulates.

Even with delicate energy manipulation, it’s not easy to keep a large amount of essence bound in one place.

The process of rapidly colliding small amounts of essence toward the bound energy while controlling the direction and speed of an explosion is twice as difficult.

However, if successful, one can handle Qi Pressure far exceeding that of similar-level martial artists, as when I deployed Scuabtuinne.

If there is a problem—

“…The time Nobel needed to perform the Burst Stream was incomprehensibly short.”

There is still something I have missed.

The key to countering Explosive Gale Fist is hidden somewhere.

If I fail to find it in time, defeat is certain.

Though the rules forbid death in this life-or-death duel, the byproduct of the Blue-Eyed White Snake is something I desperately need.

By any means, I must counter Nobel’s Kung-Fu and obtain the snake.

“…?!”

As the heat of the Ni Hwan Palace engulfed my body, a clue I had missed struck my cervical spine like lightning.

“Explosive Gale Fist… uses the middle Elixir Field, did it not?”

Even without hearing rumors about Nobel, observing him from a distance reveals this fact.

The majestic Qi frequency emanates not from his lower Elixir Field but from his heart.

Of course, Kung-Fu using only the middle Elixir Field instead of the lower one are rare even in the vast martial world, so I have no knowledge of them.

So.

“From now on, I must find out.”

Why does Explosive Gale Fist, which uses the heart, unleash powerful Qi Pressure unattainable by normal methods to explode internal energy?

Why did Alfred Nobel choose the middle Elixir Field instead of the lower or upper ones?

There must be good reason he is called Europe’s youngest Grandmaster.

The difference between the lower and middle Elixir Fields is—

“…blood.”

A light of realization brightly illuminated the Ni Hwan Palace.

It was a mistake to focus only on Nobel’s absurdly high Qi Pressure.

He used the middle Elixir Field because the heart supplies blood to the whole body, not because it’s better than the lower Elixir Field at storing internal energy.

“The faint smell of nitroglycerin wasn’t because he had came from the dynamite factory.”

Alfred Nobel must have periodically ingested nitroglycerin enhanced by elixirs to accumulate internal energy in his middle Elixir Field.

Through repeated training, he must have mastered using blood vessels and flowing blood as a medium to manipulate energy.

He surely gained an additional channel for energy manipulation beyond just the meridians.

“A Kung-Fu that uses blood as a medium to flow essence… Did he get the clue from the exiled Blood Cult’s secret teachings?”

It’s truly a groundbreaking idea.

I have seen orthodox Kung-Fu applied to demonic arts, but never the reverse.

Surely, this method allows the movement of much more internal energy at once than using only the meridians.

My competitive spirit and curiosity toward Alfred Nobel surged, and simultaneously, a method to counter the Burst Stream began to form quickly in my mind.

Perhaps by deploying the Ulster old method’s technique, I can counter Nobel’s vital points.

There is one condition.

That I secure an additional channel for essence passage here, just as Nobel uses his blood vessels in addition to his meridians.

Not to boast, but I can now freely manipulate 75% of the internal energy inherited through the Succession2.

If I expend a large amount of energy in one move, I can block the Burst Stream reduced to a quarter power and close the distance.

“Using blood vessels for energy manipulation right now is impossible, but if I can find another way—”

If you don’t have teeth, use your gums.

If I can’t use my blood vessels, I must find something to replace them.

“The Zion Clan’s indulgence talisman has channels engraved for internal energy passage. In reality, these are not much different from human meridians.”

When realization compounds realization, a new path opens.

“If it’s possible to create corridors for internal energy circulation even in lifeless objects—”

The greatest joy a martial artist can experience is granted.

Facing the Essence Jet shooting straight at me, I lowered my sword.

Through the skin touching the Ancient Vicuna Wool shirt, which incurs no energy loss, a large amount of essence flowed out of my body.

No. The term “out the body” is not accurate.

A gentleman’s clothing is his second skin.

The martial garb is part of my body and an extension of it.

At the moment I raised intense intent and redefined the existence and scope of “me.”

The twelve meridians and the eight extraordinary vessels.

And the extra-meridian acupoints and the minor meridians beneath the skin.

-Tsht!

They connected.

-Paah!

The flow of internal energy led by intent connected to every fiber of the martial garb.

On the fur of the spirit beast severed from its master and lifeless, a new law was imbued.

The essence infused into the clothes spread like thorny bushes, weaving through fibers to create its dwelling.

Following strong intent, the martial garb, regarded as part of my body, was inscribed with meridians stitch by stitch by essence.

An extension of the flesh. An invisible tattoo engraved on the gentleman’s skin, now layered one more time.

This was the true reason Celtic warriors painted blue pigment on their bodies instead of wearing clothes.

Another meridian wrapped on the skin: War Painting.

No matter how thin the paint layer was, warriors could be reborn as stronger beings through it.

Through an unconscious realization, an ancient Kung-Fu principle was inscribed onto the martial garb.

“Essence Circuit.”

Another meridian existing outside the body.

I named this rediscovered concept.

Nobel’s fist wave from the Burst Stream rushed close, but I felt no fear.

After a large amount of internal energy gathered in the connected channel, energy swiftly moved along the body’s meridians and was released through the minor meridians, striking the martial garb from inside.

The next moment, a pale explosion engulfed me.

“The Explosive Reactive Qi Armour, Fragarach.”

The essence bursting from the martial garb repelled it.

1. TL/N: directional energy explosion ️

2. TL/N: the act of transferring one’s energy to another. Sherlock’s master had transferred power to Sherlock before he had left ️