Mystical Journey

This was the power of the Fantasy Fist. By using air currents and sound wave vibrations, he was able to slightly adjust another person's brain nerves to wipe out memories from a certain time period completely. The Fantasy Fist was known as the most mysterious and terrifying fist technique because of this key aspect. Although it did not possess extremely powerful abilities, these frightening effects were enough to scare the majority of normal people.

Although Garen did not specialize in this fist technique, his superior understanding of martial arts allowed him to use the first technique that involved forgetting without any problems.

"Nothing. All of you can go downstairs now," answered Garen casually.

"Yes," answered the maids and subordinates immediately before leaving.

Once all of them had left, Garen returned to the study and got someone to serve him a cup of green tea before he sat on the leather chair alone.

The mask on his face was the second Black Copper Mask that he'd just received. It was an exact copy of the first mask. Its main characteristic was the clusters of eyes that covered the forehead area. If it wasn't for its ability to constantly absorb potential Qi, it would be very difficult for Garen to differentiate between the first and second mask.

His eye had coincidentally been wounded and now he could wear the mask to conceal his injuries while also speeding up the process of absorbing potential Qi.

He sat in front of his desk and entered a password into the heavy lockbox below.

After a short clicking noise, the box opened.

Garen retrieved a black hardcover notebook from the box and placed it on the table before opening it gently.

The white paper of the first page was filled with his own handwriting.

‘Two-Faced Waterbird Fist, divided into Negative Fist Technique and Positive Fist Technique.

First level —— Jade. It is reminiscent of white jade, undeniably smooth…'

The words there were clearly written in simple American English, but when it was arranged in a sentence, it gave off a faintly exquisite and seductive sensation. These handwritten words seemed like an incomparably gorgeous white jade beauty that was able to attract anyone's attention at first glance with her half exposed pale breasts and flirty poses.

It possessed extremely seductive abilities that made others feel as if their blood vessels were about to surge impatiently.

Garen picked up a pen and continued writing in the notebook.

He had recorded most of the Two-Faced Waterbird Fist's information in this notebook. While recording this, he organized all of the profound mysteries that he had learned about the Waterbird Fist once more. Unconsciously, he could feel that his martial arts were slowly but surely improving.

While he was writing everything down, strange icy blue auras with traces of Soul Seed Qi dispersed around him slowly. This mysterious and icy Qi filled the entire study. Earlier, when his subordinates were about to enter to report new information, they unconsciously felt chills running through their bodies when they reached the doorway, causing them to stop in their tracks as they were too afraid to even knock on the door.

While Garen continued to write slowly, the Two-Faced Waterbird Fist itself was soon pruned fully, allowing it become an extremely pure Demonic Technique. Moreover, Garen was organizing and adjusting his own martial arts while he wrote, causing his aura to release itself and overflow unconsciously before gradually entering this notebook.

Since more than half of the Waterbird Fist's records were already written, Garen continued to write about Shooting Shadow Secret Techniques. However, he would stop writing occasionally when he discovered certain inconsistencies regarding the Shooting Shadow Secret Techniques. He would put his pen down and ponder slowly.

He used this notebook to record and compile information and referred to it as the Book of Demonic Secret Techniques or the Demonic Book for short.

Garen had originated from the orthodox Secret Technique path. He was exceptionally well-versed in the right path of Secret Techniques but did not have much contact with Demonic Secret Techniques. This method of writing everything down allowed him to gain a deeper understanding of his Demonic Secret Techniques. Strangely enough, when he was writing the Demonic Book, his own aura would integrate into it slowly, causing this Demonic Book to be somewhat out of the ordinary.

Garen was looking forward to the changes that would occur in his martial arts once he'd finished writing this Demonic Book.

Black Sethe had once said that this organization method would deepen his understanding of martial arts. Since he was an individual who possessed a Soul Seed, once the organization process was completely finished and the effects of the Secret Techniques on the soul were dispelled, the purification of his own martial arts would occur.

Purifying his martial arts would allow his Secret Techniques to reach a new level. Perhaps this Demonic Book could help him form a second Soul Seed as well.

Garen had these vague feelings.

He was unsure of how to practice the Demonic Secret Techniques. It seemed as though it could not help improve him at all and could only strengthen the power and killing abilities. However, whenever he practiced Living Secret Techniques and upgraded his level, he noticed that his physical qualities would improve while certain specialized abilities and qualities would sometimes be given to the practitioner as well.

Regarding the Hellfrost Peacock Technique's abilities, he was looking forward to them as well. However, the first beginner's level would not upgrade his abilities at all. Instead, it would simply change the nature of his aura from the characteristics of the black Slaughtering Demon Technique to the icy blue frost-type aura.

Therefore, he was looking forward to level two and above even more.

Under the bright yellow desk lamp, Black Sethe slowly and silently condensed himself into a human-shaped black mist figure behind Garen. He looked on quietly while Garen wrote of the profound mysteries of Secret Techniques inside the Demonic Book while complicated expressions flashed in his blood red eyes faintly.

Through the knowledge and understanding that Garen had learned, he was able to see the complexity of his findings. Although the starting point was not too high, this relentless willpower and valiant bravery in the face of death caused Black Sethe to unconsciously think of his own body.

He could see that the Demonic Book was gradually being infected and polluted by his soul's impurities. These impurities were the poisonous substances that were expelled from Garen's soul. They seeped into the Demonic Book using methods that could not be seen by the naked eye and gradually transformed this normal notebook.

Meanwhile, the Qi of Garen's soul was slowly changing as well because it was constantly being purified. The image of the Demonic Book was unknowingly being condensed by his subconsciousness, forming a Demonic Book that was filled with the depths of his will and soul. That Demonic Book continued perfecting itself while he organized everything in reality.

‘Once he has perfected this Demonic Book completely, perhaps the day will come when his second Soul Seed is formed.' Black Sethe had already made these assumptions internally.

Once three Soul Seeds had become his fuel and backing force, there would be a possibility for him to strengthen and push his Secret Techniques to the next level. This was the greatest use of the Soul Seed. Perhaps there would come a day where he would truly be able to push himself to the Demon King level.

Furthermore, it could also increase the limits of one's physical qualities, modify characteristics, and even create Living Secret Technique Seeds… There were numerous functions.

The Soul Seeds encompassed rules and knowledge, possessed an awareness of the universe, and also had its own True Soul imprints.

It was similar to the Hellfrost Peacock Seed that was formed by condensing some of the Hellfrost Peacock's Soul Seeds. It contained the Hellfrost Peacock's awareness, understanding, and knowledge of itself.

Garen had heard Black Sethe's explanation on the uses of the Soul Seed before this. He wrote them down in the Demonic Book while thinking about the relationship between potential points and Secret Techniques.

For most Secret Technique Levels, accumulated potential points were able to speed up the process, decreasing the time required to practice it painstakingly. Since most Secret Techniques did not require complicated sentiments or difficult conditions, they were naturally able to upgrade themselves with potential points.

Meanwhile, it was difficult to use potential points to forcefully upgrade other high-level Secret Techniques like Living Secret Techniques. Potential points could only be used to shorten the time needed to practice uncomplicated Secret Techniques that did not have checkpoints. However, high-level Secret Techniques usually involved various hardships and dangers. Extremely powerful Halos with terrifying potential strength involved incomparable difficulties and required a lot of awareness and accumulated experiences and knowledge before it could evolve one step at a time.

This was probably the reason why it was difficult to use potential points to strengthen and upgrade Living Secret Techniques.

"In other words, potential points can only provide accumulated quantities, but qualitative changes depend on oneself." Garen made the conclusion before suddenly remembering the problem he had with his Soul Seed. That uncertainty became more obvious after he had fought with Nadia.

"Right, Black Sethe," Garen closed the Demonic Book gently before speaking. "If three Soul Seeds can strengthen a General level Secret Technique and upgrade it by one level, why was Nadia still unable to achieve the Demon King level after so many years?"

Black Sethe remained quiet for a moment before speaking slowly.

‘It's rare to find those who belong to the Demon King level now.'

"Why?" Garen was shocked.

‘The fury of Mother Stream destroyed everything who belonged to the Demon King level, regardless whether they were our own people or others. There were many things, not just Secret Techniques that were able to achieve that level. We had once tread across that summit,' Black Sethe replied. ‘During the ancient Warlock era, countless Warlocks were endowed with outstanding natural talents. They practiced various high-level Secret Techniques that were equivalent to the Demon King level. However, how many of them were able to reach the peak in the end?'

He paused before continuing. ‘It's similar to your awareness that you'll be able to succeed in anything as long as you fight determinedly, practice everything diligently, and add a pinch of inspiration and perseverance. But knowing it is one thing. Everyone already knows that as long as you persevere without giving up, you will succeed in the end even if you fail many times. However, there are only so many people who can actually endure numerous failures and persevere through such extents.'

Garen was speechless because Black Sethe's words were right.

The greatest drawback in life was giving up.

Even if an individual was able to face something without giving up, he would still encounter countless failures. However, even the unluckiest person would taste success one day. This was the principle behind ‘practice makes perfect' and ‘failure is the mother of success'.

He suddenly remembered the ancient Chinese teaching methods of Earth.

Those teachings had seemed outdated at that time because they focused on making students persevere in repeatedly reading and memorizing works of famous writers.

However, it now seemed extremely reasonable as it was suitable for everyone. It was a teaching method that could be used for anyone regardless whether they were naturally talented, slow-witted or bright.

Memorizing something many times would allow a person to be more familiar with a certain subject, allowing them to remember their punctuation marks as well. Therefore, the surface meaning of this literary work could be understood easily.

Meanwhile, the work of a renowned writer would contain layers of deeper meanings. The minds of most people would be unable to detect the profound meanings and philosophy behind it.

However, once someone was undeniably familiar with the text and continued to recite it by memory, this would certainly become mentally easy. Once the surface meaning of the text was recited and understood many times, the mental strength and attention used for reciting would be freed up. They would unconsciously focus on the concealed paths and cracks within the famous work instead. As one continued to unearth more information from the cracks, they would finally be able to find the deeper meanings and philosophies there.

This kind of wealth and knowledge that was gained from painstaking perseverance was truly the most precious thing to men. Things that could be obtained easily were not considered to be precious at all. The human subconscious was aware that anything that could be easily obtained could simply be found again in times of need. Furthermore, it knew that if it persevered slightly harder, it would be able to gain even more, leaving no need for such valuable things.