Thanks to the Demoness, no shockwave slammed into Liam or the already maimed mountain. He didn’t actually sense what she did, but the sky ended up being the sole target of that raging white beam.
Of course, the distance alone couldn’t save Liam from the attack’s repercussions. Nothing heavy spread from the sky to squash him into a pulp, but he felt his very insides trembling at the echo of the chaos happening far above.
The sky remained bright even after the beam vanished, as if the attack had scarred it too deeply for the night to return. However, darkness descended again, slowly devouring the leftovers of that raging energy until none of it remained.
Actually, devouring wasn’t the right word. Liam believed those leftovers had dispersed, eventually becoming too thin to matter. His swamp had suffered from the same fate.
The ability to literally light up the sky was honestly awe-inspiring. The beam had also been a beacon that could reveal Liam’s position, but he believed few would dare to approach the location with the Demoness there.
Besides, Liam had gone full alchemist, focused completely on the problem at hand.
’That was lightning, right?’ Liam reviewed. ’At least at the beginning. That should be her core’s nature.’
Lightning was a wild element in the Heavens, but the beam felt different. As the Demoness had explained, she had sought to surpass her core’s nature, and Liam found that method familiar.
The Demoness’ white sparks had been the same as Liam’s black Qi and Lancelot’s flames, which was understandable at her stage. Instead, the beam had been comparatively thinner. It would have been weaker if it weren’t for its absurd mass and raging nature.
’It’s similar to the Seven Hellish Steps,’ Liam concluded.
The Seven Hellish Steps forced the Qi inside a cultivator to clash to generate an energy release superior to the sum of its parts. Meanwhile, the Demoness had applied a similar theory that likely stemmed from the very nature of her Qi.
’Can I replicate it?’ Liam wondered, immediately finding countless flaws, but continuing to churn ideas.
The Demoness was about to laugh and send another threat to make Liam resume swinging, but stopped herself at the scene unfolding in her abyss-like eyes.
Liam’s face had gone feral. He was even scratching his head with the blunt side of the greatsword, casually using that hulking chunk of metal for that habit.
It was honestly absurd seeing that giant weapon go up and down, especially since Liam didn’t even seem to realize he was doing that, let alone experiencing any strain.
’I need both hands,’ Liam decided. After starting to see himself as a concoction, his whole mindset had warped around alchemical notions. Life was alchemy in his eyes, so he would tackle any issue as such.
Liam stabbed the greatsword on the ground and leaned against it, raising his palms, pointing them at each other. Flexibility was at the foundation of the alchemical flame, so he didn’t even have to think to release waves of Qi that resembled what the Seven Hellish Steps did.
Of course, what Liam tried to replicate wasn’t even a fraction of what the rank 3 martial art performed, but the results were lackluster nonetheless.
Invisible waves of Qi blew from Liam’s palms and clashed against each other, generating some energy, but not enough even to create a light breeze.
’This is never going to work,’ Liam immediately accepted. ’Not like this.’
The Seven Hellish Steps did follow a similar theory, but multiple clashes happened simultaneously. Moreover, the cultivator contained the generated energy inside his body before redirecting it.
Liam couldn’t release the same amount of Qi all at once. Powerful techniques could empty his body on the spot, but there was a delay otherwise, a maximum capacity.
Also, while Liam had started to dabble in the third layer of Qi mastery, he couldn’t replicate the intricate performance of the Seven Hellish Steps without the help of meridians, muscles, and whatnot, basically using his mind alone.
Even if Liam could become that good, which he wasn’t sure was possible since that was several levels above making the Qi replicate an antidote, he wouldn’t have ways to contain that energy release, let alone perform multiple build-ups.
There was nothing to contain that energy outside Liam’s body. His Qi and whatever energy he generated would just disperse.
The issue the Demoness had mentioned earlier became clear now. Lightning was a suitable element for that kind of reaction. It could condense all the required clashes of Qi into one, even building up power in the form of sparks without dispersing.
Liam’s black Qi couldn’t achieve that. It simply behaved differently. It was the wrong ingredient for that concoction, but not necessarily for the product he was trying to create. That result might be possible as long as he altered the recipe.
’I need to use the black Qi,’ Liam calculated. ’Mental filters would just weaken the energy release, and I can’t compensate with quantity of clashes. Yet, the clash of black Qi doesn’t generate that reaction.’
It was basic alchemy, really, or rather, what that noble art reflected from the world. Smoke could be achieved in many ways. It was just about finding the right method for the ingredients at hand.
’My Qi is different,’ Liam repeated in his mind, images from his battle with Dominic resurfacing. He recalled the mental representation of the Ancestral Snake’s Hatred, that seething black sea, so he had to treat his Qi as such.
’Fury explodes,’ Liam thought. ’Hatred swallows. Hatred drowns.’
Still, to drown, the black Qi had to be denser, far denser. Liam reviewed all the alchemical approaches he knew. He had manipulated ingredients through the alchemical flame to achieve similar results. It was just about applying that to his energy.
’Am I good enough to do it?’ Liam wondered. He still had a long way to go in terms of the Qi mastery’s third layer, so he simplified his first real test as much as possible.
Liam intertwined his fingers, cupping his hands to isolate a small space between his palms. He released a tinge of black Qi, willing it to spin in a circle.
The experiment succeeded. A wisp of energy ran circles inside Liam’s palms, too thin to leave any trails. Still, he worked on that, releasing additional Qi at specific intervals, pouring it inside that spinning ethereal body.
Liam didn’t just add energy. That spinning mass would only become unstable and disperse otherwise. So, each additional amount of Qi also forced it to accelerate to retain its shape.
There was no control over the spinning motion. Liam had just imprinted that behavior upon releasing the Qi, but he wasn’t actively making it spin. It was up to the additional energy to rekindle and surpass the previous propulsion, demanding constant calculations.
It was like making split-second decisions in front of alchemical variables. Actually, it was exactly like that in Liam’s mind because he placed that field under alchemy.
Liam lost count of how many times he had added energy. He didn’t even really acknowledge that the previous, relatively slow, wisp had become a blur so fast it drew a black circle inside his palms.
There was no real final goal, not at that first test. Liam just familiarized himself with the procedure, pushing it as far as he could manage, until a variable finally defeated him.
Liam miscalculated. Instead of propelling the Qi to keep spinning, the new addition of energy sent it off course, making it slip between his palms and crash on his torso.
Without that spinning momentum, the accumulated, condensed energy abruptly expanded, and everything in Liam’s surroundings went black, as if deep underwater.