Chapter 200 - Disruption

Anti-magic, what the hell was I thinking? I was already going against the natural law, fighting against the superior Spirit Qi with my Golden Qi. But that was at least understandable since my energy was extremely dense compared to what others used.But for me to create anti-magic on a whim… Well, I'm not saying it's impossible to do, since there clearly is something above the planet that destroys magic, but it's not something a little me can just make.I scoured my memories well and even visited the Vault to have a read on the topic of energy disruption. I got some good ideas, even some semi-finished techniques, but nothing seemed good enough. Using disruption just wasn't something people did. It was expensive in terms of energy, and against an equally skilled opponent, it often didn't do much. Maybe it was useful the first time, but then they quickly adapted and the technique didn't work anymore.Against weaker opponents using disruption was just wasteful, since they were, well, weaker. Why bother disrupting their Mystic Arts when overpowering them was so much easier?Yeah, basically I didn't find much. Ideas yes, but not practical examples. Still, it all seemed to be like that because the disrupting techniques were too wasteful, too expensive. They weren't worth developing because of it.Ah, but that was in the Myriad Beasts Sect. There was that guy… I couldn't remember his name, but he used some kind of disruptive technique that was applied through his fists. The Drums of War. He nearly reversed my transformation, and that was one of the most stable magic arts out there. Not just because the flesh physically changed, but also because Qi inside the body was much more protected from outside influence.I tried to return to that time, to visualize his punches, to experience the feeling, over, and over, and over again. I went through the memory, engraving every detail into my mind, dissecting and reexamining every minuscule movement of Qi.I love my memory. It was already good naturally, but enhanced by Cultivation it became godlike. Having the ability to remember anything I wanted and actively relive that moment as many times as I wanted after was way too good for such occasions.I focused inward, on the Dantian near my heart. In the years since reaching the Golden Core Realm, it had grown. It was the size of a pea in the early days, maybe even smaller, but then it doubled in size over a year and then doubled again, reaching the size of a cherry. I could feel my energy stores slowly growing as it expanded.My Dantian was the one thing that could contain 80-90% of my energy and not leak any. It was the organ designated to just that task, after all. No mental effort was required. Stuffing it with that last bit of energy was what made Cultivators appear like Mortals, but that's where special cloaking techniques were required.That was the most perfect cloaking you could achieve, and it was fucking difficult to do. Most people just contained Qi inside their body, still keeping their Aura of a Cultivator, but with unclear power levels.Anyway, I focused on my Dantian and the energy inside it. The various techniques required the disruption to come from there since it had the most energy and could alter it as well. I already hypothesized a way to make it do what I wanted.A spark of Chaos, a Null field, a pulse of Disruption. Whatever name people used, it was all the same. I just needed a tiny disruption during the critical formation of a spell. That way it would collapse, maybe even wounding the creator with a sudden backlash.I compressed the energy inside my core and let it bounce back. It wanted to leave the confines of my Dantian, but it didn't let it, forming a hard shell around it. But it did create a pressure wave that continued weakly for a few meters before it dissipated. Very interesting.The dense energy sphere was compressed and allowed to bounce again, like a heartbeat, and it struck the Qi inside my flesh, pushing it out.It was progress. I formed the first requirement, proving it could work, I just needed to improve it.I trained for a few hours until I could form the pulse at a whim and with extreme speed. The pulse had about ten meters range in a sphere around me. I used about 1% of my Qi for every attempt. If I didn't contain the energy in my Dantian, every pulse would waste about 20% instead. It would be much stronger, but I would just burn through energy.I just needed it as a spring to punch back.I formed another layer around my Dantian, another shell, and compressed it with a chaotic mess of energy. Chaotic Qi. I opened my defenses and let it pass through my flesh unimpeded. I wouldn't be able to use my own magic that way, but that would be for just a split-second, and I could control it. It would be completely different for my opponent since it would be unpredictable for them.Having ironed out the kinks in my new technique, I took out Tiny and powered him up.[Sorry buddy, but I need you to test something. Just… keep walking in a circle around me.]Tiny did as he was told without question and began slowly making his way around.I focused for a moment, compressed the Qi in my Dantian, formed another layer of chaos around it, and then released it all at once. The energy in my Dantian sprang back, giving the layer of chaotic Qi around it a good smack, and blasted it out of my body in a perfect wave of expanding disruption.My perception slowed down and I could see the pulse hit Tiny. He froze mid-step and then crumbled as the core inside him was turned off for a split second. He wasn't reanimated again.[Huh… It actually works.]Don't get me wrong, I expected that to happen, but it was a bit… too good? I could push chaotic Qi out of me manually and even shape it better, but it would be a hundred times slower, and in a high-level fight, where every fraction of a second mattered, a strong, rapid pulse was much better. Especially since it came with no warning.[Oh, well…]I reconstructed Tiny and powered him on again. Everything worked as it should and there didn't seem to be any permanent damage as might happen with an EMP. Those things fried sensitive electronic devices instead of disrupting them like I did. That was good. I would kick myself if I somehow damaged my marvelous creation.[Alright, let's go again.] I said to Tiny and he began marching once more. I powered up and released another pulse. Same thing happened.[Again.]Another pulse, another golem crumbled to the ground. I repeated that over and over, getting slightly faster each time. Tiny clearly had some weaknesses that I would eventually sort out or he would be too easy to beat, but for the time being, he was sufficient.I just needed him to train.I needed to be perfect for when I fought a teleporting sniper next time. Every slight delay could allow my target to escape, and we couldn't have that. The short pulses of powerful disruptions also didn't allow for quick adaptation as they came strong and fast, and disappeared just as quickly, leaving them no time to be examined.But training just against my golem was not enough. I needed a real person to train against. People were unpredictable, maybe there was something I was missing and others could help me perfect the technique.I went out into the Core Sect public space and found an arena with many people gathered, sharpening their skills. Looking over the crowd, I found someone I thought might be appropriate and approached.[Excuse me, Senior Brother.]The man turned."Yes? Hello."[I've got a new technique I want to try out and I've been wondering if you could give me some pointers.]The guy looked at me up and down, and though we were about the same height, he was already at the peak of Golden Core Realm. He smiled and nodded."Sure, why not? What's the technique?" He said after gesturing for me to follow him to an empty space.[It's a new creation, with many other techniques as inspiration. It's called Disruption. It should break all Mystic Arts. Hopefully.]"Oooh, that sounds interesting. Alright, let's see whether it's any good. I'll start with something simple."I nodded and took my place opposite to him. Ignoring the various techniques flying by from others, I focused on my opponent. He lifted his hands and then made a slow, swirling motion, before shoving them forward."Aqua Vortex!"I totally expected water to form, but instead, his Qi surged, taking the general shape and color of water instead of gold as one would expect of Golden Qi. The swirling vortex rushed at me to engulf me, but I focused and released my Disruption.A pulse of chaos exploded outward in an instant, destroying any technique in a radius of ten meters around me. It even hit the guy I was using it against, and he took a step back in surprise."Woah! Nicely done!"He laughed after watching his first spell collapse. "That has some real kick to it."[Thank you, Senior. But could you use something stronger? That one attack didn't seem too strong.]"Haha, sure! But it wasn't an attack, just a technique meant to trap the enemy. Still, well done for breaking it." He said. "Alright, here I go again."He took half a step back with one leg, and then made a pushing motion with his hands. Together with his movements, his Qi was mobilized as he pushed it forward in a massive wave."Tidal Surge!" He shouted.Water Elemental energy rushed at me, and for a split second, I saw a vision of a tsunami. It was gone just as quickly as it came as the Intent behind it wasn't strong enough, but by then the Qi already wrapped around me and I felt the pressure descend on me like a tidal wave, squeezing me from all sides.Disruption.The chaotic Qi exploded outward from my core, collapsing the technique as the pulse pushed through it. Chaotic Qi messed with the structure of the Mystic Art, breaking it apart and bursting it like soap bubbles in a storm.The arena around me was clear and I straightened my robes that got messed up by the magic."Yohoho, Tenzin, don't hold back just because he's a kid. The guy clearly has some skill!" I heard someone shout, and as I looked around, I noticed a crowd of people had gathered around us, watching the spectacle with interest."I'm not!" Tenzin, the guy I was fighting, shouted back. "That stuff is really strong! You try it if you don't believe me.""Hah!" The guy laughed and confidently stepped forward. "Don't mind if I do. What do you say, kid? Are you ready to take on the challenge?"The question was directed at me and I just opened my mouth to agree, when Tenzin spoke."You don't have to do it. I can see that you use quite a lot of Qi for that technique. It's fine if you want to rest a bit first."[No, that's fine. I can keep going.]"Haha! The kid is confident, I like it! Alright, get ready, here I go!"My second opponent pointed confidently at me, and I saw Qi gathering at the tip of his finger."Frostbite Ray!" He shouted, and a beam of icy energy nearly instantly reached me. I used Disruption immediately and it collapsed in its entirety all the way up to the caster. But after my technique did its thing, the Frostbite Ray continued to fire in an unending stream of energy, freezing over my hands which I used to guard myself."Hey, stop that! That's cheating!" Tenzing shouted at the guy."What? I found a weakness and exploited it." The man shrugged defensively. "Isn't that the whole point of this?""Yeah, but don't hurt him for no reason! You could have at least held bac-!"[It's fine!] I shouted, breaking the ice on my arms, and wiggled my fingers, showing they worked just fine. [I wasn't hurt anyway, the beam was quite weak.]There was silence for a few seconds and then Tenzing burst out laughing and slapped his friend on the back. "Oh, that was a good one. I thought you used full power! You got me there.""I did…" The guy grumbled and his face became red in embarrassment.A few quiet chuckles came from the crowd.I loudly cleared my throat. [I already know about the weakness of my technique. It was made for a close-quarter fight and to disrupt powerful Mystic Arts in the first place. But if anyone wishes to help me improve...]I turned to the gathered Cultivators and a few of them immediately stepped forward."Oh, me, me! Let's see if it's really that good. I'll use my ultimate technique, alright?" One guy immediately offered."I'd like to try it as well! Pick me, alright?!""And me! I'm third!""Fourth!""Fifth!"The guys scrambled around me to get a shot at me. I couldn't help but smile. The day suddenly became very interesting.