Chapter 1547 Spectating (2)

Crack.

Crunch...!

Kang Jin-Ho silently clenched and unfurled his fists.

He had gotten stronger. And at an inconceivable rate, too.

Other people’s failure to predict this rate of improvement was understandable. Especially if they possessed some knowledge of how martial arts and cultivation worked; they would have all shouted “Impossible!” until their throats grew hoarse.

However, even Kang Jin-Ho, the man experiencing this improvement, had not predicted this rate, either. After all, it had been only a few years.

A few years since his return to the modern era, that was! So, for him to regain this much martial prowess so quickly was deeply encouraging news. However...

No, I still have a long way to go.

Kang Jin-Ho subtly bit his lip. Despite this unprecedented rate of improvement, it still felt inadequate. He still hadn’t regained that sense of fulfillment and confidence he used to feel when he was still known as Heavenly Crimson Demon Emperor.

Craaack...!

More popping and cracking noises came from his hands.

Damn. I used to be so stupidly strong back then.

What an unfunny situation this was. To think that he’d actually feel inferior to his past self!

Kang Jin-Ho rubbed his face slowly. Of course, he was convinced that the path he was on would lead him to a much loftier peak than what he had attained in the past. Maybe, he might even reach the fabled realm some people called the perfection of martial arts, which was something he failed to reach in his previous life.

However, the issue was with time. The idea of “someday” was simply too inadequate for him. If he didn’t possess the appropriate strength... No, more than appropriate strength when he needed it the most, what was the point of it all?

Kang Jin-Ho didn’t care about the path ahead right now. What mattered was the path he stood on this very minute.

“Fuu-woo...”

He sucked in a deep breath.

Anxiety would usher in rashness and urgency. And urgency would open the door for the heart demon to invade. Wishing to become stronger and working diligently toward this goal differed significantly from rashly rushing forward out of anxiety. He should not forget this. But it was not as easy as...

“Urgh... Groan...”

Kang Jin-Ho snapped out of his thoughts and turned his head. Vator was trying his hardest to stand back up. His crimson eyes and skin proved that the big man had circulated his demonic cultivation to the extreme.

“...Bloody hell!”

Vator loudly gritted his teeth. It felt like something boiled even more than before inside his gut from the sight of how relaxed Kang Jin-Ho was.

I couldn’t even touch a hair on his body!

Vator worked hard to suppress his rage and tried to analyze what had happened here.

The gap between them had widened once more. And this time, it had widened so much more than in the past, too. But, how was that even possible?

Vator understood better than anyone how much stronger he had gotten. With the demonic cultivation improving his strength, he had full confidence of tanking the combined assault from ten of his old self that had just arrived in Korea before bludgeoning them all into bloody chunks of meat.

Even then, he couldn’t do much against Kang Jin-Ho. Back then, he pushed Kang Jin-Ho to the breaking point. But now? The gap had widened to a point where he couldn’t even leave a scratch behind!

This rage! A fresh wave of irrepressible rage nearly tore his rational mind to bits just then. But Vator gritted his teeth and suppressed himself.

If this damn gap could be bridged, even by a tiny bit, by charging toward Kang Jin-Ho and receiving the beating of his life, then yes, he would have done so without a shred of hesitation.

But Vator knew that would not happen. So, now wasn’t the time to get agitated but to remain as rational as possible.

“...Master.”

Kang Jin-Ho’s gaze met Vator’s mid-air.

“Tell me,” said Vator while sucking in a deep breath. “What? What should I do to become even stronger?”

Kang Jin-Ho subtly furrowed his brow. “You’re already getting stronger at a fast rate.”

“Don’t waste my time with obvious nonsense! You know what I’m talking about, after all!”

The corners of Kang Jin-Ho’s lips curled up after he noticed how hard Vator was suppressing his rage.

That’s better.

It looked as if Vator was ready to sell his soul for a chance to become stronger. And Kang Jin-Ho liked people with this level of hunger.

“It’s the issue of the method,” said Kang Jin-Ho.

“The method?”

Kang Jin-Ho nodded. “What is the strength you speak of?”

“Well, that is...”

Vator furrowed his brow.

Yes, talking about this topic was not a waste of time for him. Once a martial artist reached a certain realm of strength, their techniques and training method would become a crucial element, after all. However, Vator couldn’t help but feel that this concept didn’t quite apply to his situation.

“What are you saying, master? You want me to become a Daoist or something?”

“You want what now? Even though you’ve been mastering demonic cultivation?” Kang Jin-Ho chuckled in dismay. “I’m not talking in riddles here, okay? No, this is a practical question. What is the strength you speak of?”

“I...” Vator frowned deeply. “I don’t understand.”

“Is it to gain even greater physical strength?”

“...?”

“Or is it to enhance your muscles? To increase your speed? Or to become even more proficient in demonic cultivation? If not, is it to perfect your original school of martial arts? The external arts?” Kang Jin-Ho slowly shook his head. “I have a feeling that it’s none of those.”

“...!”

Vator dazedly stared at Kang Jin-Ho.

“Every cultivator wishes to become stronger. But most of them don’t know what they want. Their idea of strength is nothing more than a vague concept. In other words...” Kang Jin-Ho pointed at Vator with his chin. “You’re running in a marathon even though you don’t know where the finish line is.”

“I... don’t know where the finishing line is? What?”

“That’s right.”

Vator tilted his head this way and that. “But, master. Isn’t that obvious? To a martial artist, the finishing line surely must be the perfection of their martial arts. But who among the living knows what perfection looks like?”

“You’re right,” Kang Jin-Ho replied with a nod. What he said next hit Vator like a truck, however. “But your problem is that not only the finishing line, but you also don’t know where the midpoint is, either.”

“...!”

“What you’re doing is running forward blindly. With no plan. You simply train over and over again to push your body to the absolute limit. Then, you circulate demonic cultivation to the tipping point repeatedly so that you could get more used to controlling it. In a way... You’re simply repeating yourself.”

“But, isn’t that training, too?”

“Sure, it is. Or was. It would’ve served its purpose in the past.” Kang Jin-Ho slowly shook his head. “But not anymore. Not from this point on. Knowing your destination and heading toward it cannot be the same as blindly running forward without knowing what your end goal is. From now on, you need to think about what you meant by getting stronger.”

“Getting stronger...?”

“It’s a bit tricky to explain. But... Let me break it down this way, then.” Kang Jin-Ho grinned cheerfully. “What do you need if you want to punch me in the face just once?”

“That is... Mm?” Vator licked his lips. “It’s not more power.”

“Who knows?”

“Then... Am I too slow?” Vator frowned while pondering his question. “I hear you, master. But I’ve spent my entire life improving my body and my physical strength. That is my foundation. I don’t think catching up to you will be possible even if I start making up for the things I lack.”

“You still don’t get it.” Kang Jin-Ho shook his head again. “I’m not telling you to increase your speed at this stage in your cultivation. You have your preferred ways of doing things, after all. But your issue is that you’re simply repeating the same training. Your goal is to punch me one day, but you don’t have any clear idea of what to focus on to achieve that goal. No, you believe that by doing the same thing over and over again, you will reach your goal one day.”

“...!”

“You will get nowhere with that method.”

Vator clamped his mouth shut.

“Figure out where you are. As accurately as possible. And then, try to see where you want to go. Without doing that, you’re simply wasting your time and energy.”

What a stock-sounding theory that was. But Vator finally realized that this was what he needed to hear right now.

“You want me to... set myself as a goal? Myself who can land a punch on your detestable face? And think about the best way to reach that goal?”

“Yeah, something like that.”

The rest couldn’t be explained in mere words. If the human vocabulary had all the words necessary to describe the paths to attaining strength, everyone in the world would have reached the realm of top experts by now. But even Kang Jin-Ho had no clue about what was influencing his own improvement.

“For now, I think I understand,” said Vator.

Without a doubt, even Vator would struggle mightily to unpack this vague concept. However, when he finally found the answer, he’d gain an invaluable clue to becoming even stronger than before.

Kang Jin-Ho chuckled. “That’s enough about concepts. Your immediate problem is your poor proficiency with demonic cultivation.”

“Mm...? Still?”

“Ask Chang Min for help. He’s better than me at teaching you how to master regular demonic cultivation, after all.”

“But you’re here, master. Why bother with that old fart?”

“Well, according to Chang Min, I’m pretty horrible at nurturing people. Apparently.”

“Huh?”

“He said something about me being a superstar-player-turned-coach or something.”

“...I think I know what he was trying to say.”

Chang Min was probably saying Kang Jin-Ho was the type of coach who said, “Look, I can do this. So why can’t you?”

“I see. Although this wasn’t the answer I was looking for, I’m less frustrated now,” said Vator while staring suspiciously at Kang Jin-Ho. “On the other hand, you don’t look so happy about something, master. Even though you have trampled on this Vator as if I’m made of clay, you still don’t feel satisfied? Now that wounds my pride.”

Vator’s brows quivered ominously. Since he got the answer he was looking for, more or less, he was getting ready to pounce on Kang Jin-Ho again.

“No, rather than not feeling satisfied...” Kang Jin-Ho sighed and shook his head. “No, never mind. I can’t explain it.”

“Do you feel that you’re not strong enough yet?”

“I’ve always felt that way ever since my return to the modern era, Vator.”

In a way, it felt as if Kang Jin-Ho’s limbs had been severed. Or... If an ordinary person got into an accident and lost around ten percent of their mobility, they should be able to sympathize with Kang Jin-Ho’s sentiments.

What if you only needed five minutes to pop into a convenience store in front of your house, but then, you now needed over one hour to make the same trip? Who would be able to hold on to their patience and rational mind from the onslaught of frustration?

Even though Kang Jin-Ho knew he had regained quite a lot of his former strength, reaching his former peak strength still seemed a long way off.

“I don’t get it,” said Vator gruffly, his brows furrowed. “Even when you were much weaker than now, you still fought the Crimson King to a deadlock, didn’t you? So, the Crimson King shouldn’t have a hope in hell against the current you.”

“No. I lost that fight.”

“Untrue. You won that fight. Because the conditions were against you back then. But you survived and came back home. That alone is enough to claim victory. If the conditions weren’t against you, the one dying would have been the Crimson King that day.”

Kang Jin-Ho chuckled dismissively. “Doesn’t matter either way. That’s not what’s important, after all.”

“Mm...”

“I’m not the only one getting stronger, Vator. The Crimson King, too, must’ve gotten incomparably stronger by now. No, he already has.”

Didn’t Kang Jin-Ho sense it when he ran into the Crimson King in Beijing?

It was obvious as day that the Crimson King had taken a major leap forward. But that was what it meant for a martial artist to surpass a wall.

One mustn’t equate martial artists with a car stuck in front of a wall. No, they were more like water being held back by a dam.

The longer they trained and the harder they tried to break through, the quantity of water contained by the dam would grow. And when the dam finally broke down, all the water would rush forward like an unstoppable tsunami wave.

...Right until they slammed into the next wall, that was!

No one can tell where or what the Crimson King’s next wall will be.

Kang Jin-Ho’s existence had stimulated the Crimson King until he finally reached an even higher realm. That was why what Vator said about the two of them being equals in the past didn’t apply now. There was no guarantee that Kang Jin-Ho could easily win.

“Huh. Do you honestly think you would lose against him, master?”

“No, I won’t lose,” Kang Jin-Ho replied with a crooked smirk.

The idea of losing didn’t even cross his mind once. As a matter of fact, he’d never think that, no matter who his opponent was. It was just that Kang Jin-Ho knew that beating the Crimson King wouldn’t be the end of the story.

“I’m also mindful of other Kings, you see?”

“The Azure King and the Dark King?”

“Yeah, those two.”

Kang Jin-Ho still remembered the indescribable delight he felt when he first saw the Crimson King. In a world where martial artists had gotten pathetically weak, he wondered if there was anyone strong enough for him to fight with everything he had. And the Crimson King’s existence was the confirmation that yes, there were.

Since that’s the case, I wonder how strong the Azure King and the Dark King are.

Kang Jin-Ho’s eyes dangerously flickered. Vator groaned deeply at this sight.

You sure have been holding yourself back admirably, haven’t you?

Holding back his unrivaled competitiveness from overtaking his senses, that was!