Chapter 124
Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 124
Chapter Title: Falling Behind (4)
Hoo! Hoo! Hoo!
He's breathing.
He doesn't artificially control his breathing rhythm. He simply lets his breath come and go as it naturally does. However, this isn't the same as the Zen meditation described in Buddhism. While he doesn't forcibly regulate his breath, there is a clear purpose in observing it.
He waits for his natural breath to align with the path of his internal energy.
He's not forcing his breath into the internal energy. He waits until the breath enters its pathway. As he breathes naturally, the breath will eventually merge with the energy. Without fail.
In truth, there's a subtle trick hidden within this waiting.
Breath doesn't automatically enter the pathway of internal energy just by passing time. As time goes on, the breath simply settles into stillness and calm. It never gets caught up in the energy on its own.
Pretending to merely observe the breath, he casts a thread of intent.
Before he even realizes it, the intent blends into the breath. And it flows along the pathway of the energy.
If he consciously directs this intent, it becomes ordinary energy circulation. But by releasing the intent unconsciously, allowing it to seep in gently from within, that's his unique method.
His circulation method takes time to fully activate the internal energy.
It's unusable in battles where immediate reactions are needed. Even with ample time, there's no reason to spend it deliberately mobilizing energy.
In short, no one can understand why he practices such circulation.
Even Four Thousand Four doesn't comprehend it. He has no idea what makes this circulation method special.
However... this is the breath of the one who guarded the Thunder Prison.
By inferring and imitating that person's breath, it naturally integrated into his practice. Like letting water flow as it will, by observing the breath's natural flow, he discovered this method. It's not his own circulation technique, but that of some unknown individual.
Yet, astonishingly, this method brings peace to both body and mind.
The manual provides criteria for judging circulation methods.
Those who master the manual almost always train alone without a master. Even if a master exists, they only guide the basics of initiation; the deeper aspects must be comprehended independently.
For that reason, the manual details guidelines for circulation in great depth.
Depth? Well... is it truly detailed? Or just casual chit-chat?
Regardless, when practicing circulation, there are times when one doubts themselves: Is this circulation going well?
Am I circulating correctly?
During circulation, my solar plexus feels heavy and blocked—is this a mistake?
The phenomena arising during circulation are incredibly complex and subtle, impossible to explain in a single phrase.
That's why a master is necessary. The master watches and explains each change as it occurs, correcting errors on the spot.
When circulating without a master, one must judge for oneself.
The manual lays out reference points for such situations.
- If you feel at ease during circulation, you're doing it right.
- If you feel refreshed after circulation ends, you're doing it right.
- If anxiety fades and joy arises, you're doing it right.
These aren't even detailed guidelines, so he paid them no mind.
After circulating the manual's method, energy overflows.
A sluggish body fills with vigor, and the mind clears. Feeling refreshed in body and mind is only natural.
Just like before, circulation leaves him feeling extraordinarily healthy.
Not just at ease, but a step further—his body feels light as if it could float away.
There was no need to keep such criteria in mind.
But this time is different. He only tried it by chance, yet after circulating, his mind finds peace. How to describe it? Like arriving exhausted at one's hometown?
Whether this is truly that stranger's method, he can't be sure. He doesn't know for certain if the stranger circulated this way. Sensing the stranger's breath was just his own feeling, so the method he's using now might be a newly devised circulation technique.
Simply by not consciously summoning intent but letting it sink into the unconscious... that alone creates a vast difference.
Whether this circulation is right or wrong is no longer an issue.
After circulating, his mind is at peace. It's the correct method. He's circulating properly.
He doesn't strain to circulate. He doesn't sit in lotus position with intent focused on his dantian. He lives comfortably, just like in daily life—sitting or standing. But he always watches his breath. He observes its rhythm. He watches it slowly settle.
Then, before he knows it, the breath flows as circulation.
Governing Vessel, Conception Vessel... powerful currents surge through the Eight Extraordinary Meridians.
There are no obstacles.
Even the Hundred Convergences acupoint opens coolly. No net-like barriers exist.
He can't even detect Jeon Ye-so's seals.
His body is free of even the tiniest anomaly. The traces of the white ants have been perfectly erased.
No. In truth, all of it has melted away and been absorbed.
"It's hard... So... so..."
"Four Thousand Four, why don't you kill us? End us like the nineteen you killed."
"Heh heh! What nonsense. We've got to cling on desperately!"
The people trapped in the Thunder Prison speak.
Not with voices. They can't utter a word. Suppressed by curse-like acupoint strikes, they lie motionless, slowly dying.
They long for those who died first. No, they still dream of escape. They seem to believe that enduring will lead to survival. That's why they hold on without dying yet.
To Four Thousand Four, it sounds like they're begging him to kill them.
Yes. They've suffered enough. The prolonged acupoint strikes have rotted parts of their bodies. Even if released, a normal life is unlikely.
What crimes did they commit to deserve such torment?
'I have to help them.'
But to aid them, he first needs to deal with the iron shackles binding his hands and feet.
The shackles bind tightly.
Locked so they can't be removed without severing hands and feet above them. Moreover, the material is incredibly tough; ordinary strength won't budge them.
He doesn't rush. Just as he waited endlessly for circulation, he waits calmly now too.
Tzzzzzt!
Internal energy concentrates in his wrists.
He selects only the yin energy from it and pushes it below the wrists. He extracts the yang energy, trapping only the yin. Then the yin turns to cold energy, discoloring both hands white.
This is called the Chilly Yin Jade Hand Technique.
Before, he had no idea how. It said to trap yin below the wrists, but how do you contain energy flowing faster than lightning?
The manual is full of such riddles.
It doesn't explain detailed circulation for unfolding techniques. Figure it out yourself. And the things to figure out are all absurd.
Suddenly, a way to concentrate energy below the wrist came to mind.
At the boundary of wrist, forearm, and palm, there are three acupoints.
Taiyuan acupoint flows from thumb to wrist. Daling acupoint is at the center inner wrist, and Shenmen acupoint where pinky flows to wrist.
In the meridians, Daling corresponds to the Pericardium Meridian, Shenmen to the Heart Meridian.
Flow energy into the Pericardium Meridian, trap it in the Heart Meridian.
Energy enters but doesn't exit. Of course, only yin is trapped. All yang is drawn out.
But how to distinguish yin and yang in one's own energy?
Another puzzle... but he entrusts it to time. The manual's words seem nonsensical, unsolvable by normal reasoning.
Fortunately, he knows the method of entrusting to time.
Tzzzzzt!
He circulates while waiting.
Intent only needs to be summoned once briefly at the start, then forgotten. If it revives in the unconscious, good; if not, nothing to be done.
The goal is to begin at Daling and end at Shenmen.
Suddenly, his fingers begin to swell thickly.
Visually, no change. Fingers look normal. Yet they feel stiffening rigidly, like sticks.
They harden to the point of pain... and now both hands feel as cold as touching ice.
The Chilly Yin Jade Hand Technique is truly manifesting.
"It's actually working?"
Four Thousand Four chuckled softly.
The Chilly Yin Jade Hand Technique is also useful for breaking jade locks. No better weapon for shattering the unbreakable.
Snap! Crack!
Just touching shatters the jade lock.
But it's not great for killing people quickly.
Cold energy instills fear. One should meet death in utmost comfort, but cold disrupts peace and heightens tension.
So at the final moment, he releases the Chilly Yin Jade Hand Technique.
He draws out the cold from his hands, stroking the flesh with the warmest touch possible. With the most comforting, pleasant caress on the nape. Whispering inwardly not to worry.
'It'll be okay.'
'Really?'
'Really, it'll be okay.'
'Liar...'
The victim can't even finish the thought.
In the midst of it, they cross death's bridge unnoticed.
The swiftest death is the most peaceful. Dying unaware is best.
Those he touches prepare for death.
The instant his hand caresses their flesh, they instinctively know the end has come.
Thus, everyone feels extreme terror.
Who wouldn't fear someone about to kill them? Who wants to die?
What Four Thousand Four does is remove that terror.
He lets them depart this world with mental preparation and calm.
This distinguishes accidental death from the deaths he guides. Both are unaware, but one dies utterly unprepared, the other watches their own death unfold.
Squeeze!
The Tianzhu acupoint on the nape collapses weakly.
Thud!
Four Thousand Four leaned against the Thunder Prison wall and sat. He stared blankly into the pitch darkness.
Fourteen people.
Including the nineteen who left first, thirty-three were trapped here.
He doesn't know their crimes. But no one should be confined like this. At least, not if they're human in form.
Humans must move. Immobility stiffens bones, disrupts blood flow. Blockages in qi and blood become inevitable.
The prisoners were in that state.
When he touched them, only one or two felt death's terror. The others? Relief, perhaps?
He'd never seen people welcome death.
This place was living hell.
He nearly ended up the same.
The acupoint strike from Punisher was profoundly intricate. Even experts couldn't unravel it.
Escaping it was sheer luck.
Yes. He didn't do it. The white ants did. The Heavenly Annihilation Division's relic helped him. Otherwise, his skin would be necrotizing by now.
'Punisher, you must die.'
For the first time, Four Thousand Four felt killing intent.
He'd killed countless, but never with malice. Never out of hatred.
Tzzzzzt!
Internal energy concentrates in both hands.
The Chilly Yin Jade Hand Technique arises naturally.
Pop!
He released Shenmen. The trapped yin energy rushed out, returning hands to normal temperature.
Tzzzzzt!
He activates the Chilly Yin Jade Hand Technique.
Pop!
He opens Shenmen, releasing it.
Without thought, he repeatedly activated and released the Chilly Yin Jade Hand Technique.