Chapter 92: Gaegaek Gaegaek Gaegaek
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 92: Gaegaek Gaegaek Gaegaek
That old man was incredibly strong.
So strong that I still couldn't see his level.
It was safe to assume he was at least on par with the Queen of Birds or the Snake Queen.
Moreover, unlike them, he didn't rely on special abilities or the advantage of size.
This meant that in terms of pure martial arts, the old Compy was likely superior.
If such a being offered to teach me a mental cultivation method, it was something I should welcome with open arms.
But there was something that bothered me.
The old man seemed to be in a bit of a hurry.
Just a moment ago, he was beating me as if to kill me, and now he was trying to pass on his techniques.
It felt like he’d skipped a few steps. As if he was running out of time.
He seemed to have no leisure.
Perhaps he was just excited about discovering a raw gem like Gomodo-Lania.
He’s a hateful little thing, but I can’t let anyone else have him!
He might be thinking something along those lines.
Or maybe he met my wife during his little outing just now.
Like the head of a clan, giving in to his daughter's pestering and passing down the family's secret manual.
That was the feeling I got.
…Of course, the chances of that were extremely low.
If he had met Swish-Swish, he wouldn't have let me live.
There was no point in speculating about various scenarios here.
How could I possibly guess what that old man was thinking?
Unless, of course, he believed in Gaegaek.
So, there was no need to try and figure out his intentions right now.
He must have his reasons.
If he was going to teach me quickly, that was even better.
It would give me more time to get used to the new mental method.
Fwoosh…
The fire energy continued to flicker.
It wasn't unbearable, just slightly annoying.
To control the fire energy, I assumed the same posture as the old man.
The posture for qi cultivation.
But I didn't close my eyes.
I needed to watch and see what this old man would do.
Wooooong…
Compy sat in the lotus position, completely still.
But being still didn't mean he was doing nothing.
I could feel it instinctively.
The old man's internal energy was circulating.
The Compy’s scales, a masterful blend of black and white, slowly began to glow.
To think such a change could occur just by circulating internal energy.
I watched with wide eyes.
It was the most wuxia-like scene I had witnessed since coming to this world.
A sight that rivaled the time I saw Baek Yeon-yeong’s Nine Yin White Bone Claw.
I was ignorant back then, but now I had some understanding of what Compy's actions meant.
I could faintly feel the flow of his internal energy.
Starting from his lower dantian, the energy circulated throughout his entire body.
It didn't stop there; the internal energy seeped into the area around his heart.
Thump.
Thump.
Compy's internal energy moved rhythmically, in time with his heartbeat.
It meant he had opened not only his lower dantian, but his middle dantian as well.
Since he didn't have a human body, it wasn't a perfectly accurate description, but it was safe to say he had surpassed the wall of the Peak Realm long ago.
The internal energy gathered in his middle dantian then circulated throughout his body once more.
The old Compy's name was Honhwi.
Just as his name suggested a mix of light and darkness, his scales emitted two colors of light: black and white.
Right now, the old man was no different from a perfect lifeform, with yin and yang in complete harmony.
Like a penguin or a panda.
As if reading my thoughts, the old Compy's eyes gradually opened.
"Kek."
Judging by the triumphant look he gave me, it seemed he hadn't.
Appearance aside, what the old man had just shown me was nothing short of incredible.
Honestly, I was even a little moved.
Baek Yeon-yeong had never taught me a mental method, nor had she ever shown me herself cultivating her qi.
The Snake Queen was the same.
…In the first place, even if she had shown me, I wouldn't have understood, what with her lower body being that of a snake.
And I had no expectations from that Tang what's-her-name.
In other words, the qi cultivation the old Compy had just demonstrated was the first I had ever seen in this martial arts world.
Excluding my own, of course.
"Kek kek."
The old Compy raised a finger and pointed at me.
He'd shown me something good, so now it was my turn to try.
Telling me to copy a mental method after seeing him sit in the lotus position just once.
Wasn't that a bit shameless?
He should at least tell me the verses so I could pretend to follow along.
That would be the case under normal circumstances.
Compy knew that I had copied his miniaturization technique without much difficulty.
The reason for that was the reverse scale on my chest.
[Using Reverse Scale LV1.]
Like the Human-faced Bird's destruction ray, I wouldn't be able to use it if I didn't understand it.
At the very least, like the destruction rays of the Snake Queen and Swish-Swish, I would have to watch it to some extent to barely be able to copy it.
[Temporarily acquiring the Little Dragon Mental Method.]
Having seen it from this close, understanding the movements wasn't difficult.
And so, I temporarily acquired the Little Dragon Mental Method.
Was it time to finish my training and steal the elixir?
No. Of course not.
From now on, my body was capable of using the Little Dragon Mental Method at any time.
…If I used my Reverse Scale, that is.
A mental method is something you must internalize until it's as natural as breathing.
When would I find the time to use my Reverse Scale, and when would I find the time to use the mental method?
It was worse than not copying it at all.
Copying the Little Dragon Mental Method with my Reverse Scale was a meaningless act.
Then why did I copy this mental method now?
The reason was simple.
I would completely ignore the verses and profound principles and just throw myself into it.
Until when?
Until I made this mental method completely my own.
I closed my eyes.
I could still feel the fire energy that had yet to calm down.
There was a reason the old Compy had touched the area around my Reverse Scale.
It seemed he had given me the task of taming this fire energy.
If I could fully master the Little Dragon Mental Method, I would be able to suppress it.
First, he stoked the fire, then he threw me a solution.
It was a teaching method reminiscent of the stories of beasts pushing their young off a cliff.
But that wasn't enough.
My eyes snapped open.
This fire energy was only half of what it could be.
I could feel it weakening as time passed.
I needed a stronger, more overwhelming fire energy than this.
"Gegek."
I raised a finger and pointed to my chest.
Compy stared at me for a moment, then a look of satisfaction spread across his face.
It seemed he understood the meaning of my action.
Compy approached me, and I closed my eyes again.
Tap.
The moment the old man's thin hand touched my Reverse Scale.
Fwoooosh.
KWAGAGAGAGAK!
An immense fire energy erupted as if surging from the depths.
Internal energy burst forth from the deepest part of my dantian.
Thump.
Thump.
My heart began to beat rapidly.
The stories about the reverse scale were no lie.
An instinct to tear apart the one who had touched my scale welled up inside me.
An extreme situation where it was difficult to even think of anything else.
This was more like it.
Haaaaaah.
I took a deep breath.
My body was so hot that I felt like flames would shoot out if I exhaled slowly.
I had to calm this fire energy with the profound principles of the Little Dragon Mental Method.
The 'Little Dragon' I knew was, in essence, a Water Dragon.
I recalled the memory of running through the swamp as a Green Basilisk, using the Little Dragon Ascending Heaven Steps.
If I continued to evoke the image of water to neutralize the fire energy, I would soon be able to master the Little Dragon Mental Method.
Yes.
Just a little more, and the Little Dragon Mental Method would be…
A certain feeling blossomed from deep within my chest.
It wasn't a very pure feeling.
If I had to define it, it was a feeling close to greed.
A very foolish greed.
Was obtaining the Little Dragon Mental Method like this the best I could do?
Acquiring martial arts through the power of the Reverse Scale was a wonderful thing.
It could drastically shorten the learning period, and the power wasn't much different.
But was a mental method the same as other martial arts?
I could probably learn it through repeated use.
But I would remain ignorant of its verses and profound principles.
FWOOOSH!
The fire energy grew even stronger.
It was because I had momentarily stopped cultivating the Little Dragon Mental Method.
What I needed to see wasn't the old man's Little Dragon Mental Method.
It was my Baekran Mental Method.
The Baekran Mental Method is a technique akin to a blank white canvas.
It was literally a blank page.
I knew neither its verses nor its profound principles.
I didn't even know if it could be called a mental method.
It might just be a skill the status window had thrown at me.
A tool for using internal energy.
I had never thought of it as anything more or less than that.
Until now, I had never once delved deeply into the Baekran Mental Method.
In hindsight, it was the first thing I should have looked into.
Fwoooooosh.
The fire energy grew fiercer.
Any more than this would be dangerous.
Normally, I wouldn't be in danger just because my Reverse Scale was touched.
But now, Hwari's fire energy was responding to my anger.
A heat intense enough to melt my own body began to spread from within.
If I used the Little Dragon Mental Method to quell the fire, I would be safe.
But I couldn't do that.
Now was the time to create my own mental method.
To be honest, my growth rate had been nothing short of phenomenal.
But I couldn't afford to be complacent.
While my internal energy was a factor in my continuous growth, it was safe to say that external techniques accounted for the majority of it.
I wouldn't be able to do anything by training only my external techniques.
If it weren't for the Snake Queen's mark, I wouldn't have even been able to graze the old man in our spar.
"Gegek."
I let out a low cry.
Tang Soyeong once said something.
That my cry wasn't 'Gegek,' but 'Gaegaek.'
And that 'Gaegaek' meant to grasp a high place.
A cry truly befitting a Gomodo, she had said.
The canvas of Baekran was ready.
Now, all I had to do was inscribe the verses to control this fire energy.
Gegek.
It was my cry from my days as a gecko, and it had led to the 'Gaegaek' of today.
'Gaegaek' could have been dismissed as a simple joke.
But under the name of Gaegaek, connections had gathered.
Those I already knew, and those I didn't know at all.
Gaegaek was their faith.
Now, Gaegaek could no longer be treated as a joke.
"Gaegaek (愾喀)."
When the lowest of beings looks up and roars, that is Gaegaek.
"Gaegaek (塏揢)."
When the lowest of beings seeks to grasp a high place, that is Gaegaek.
"Gaegaek (開客)."
When the lowest of beings seeks to open a door for others, that is Gaegaek.
The internal energy that began in my lower dantian circulated throughout my body.
An energy completely opposite to the fire—the cold energy of the snow ginseng—rushed toward the flames.
Fwoosh.
Crack-ck-ck.
The current situation was a frantic collision of fire and cold.
I knew instinctively.
If I made even the slightest mistake, my body would explode.
But I wasn't worried.
"Gaegaek."
Thump.
My heart pounded wildly.
It wasn't because I was nervous, nor was it the influence of the fire energy.
The inner cores and elixirs I had consumed over time were all responding in unison.
As if they were uncomfortable being forcibly stuffed into my lower dantian. As if they were eager to move to the new dantian that was about to open.
I felt like I could hear them clamoring wildly.
Thump.
The internal energies that had been rapidly circulating through my body gathered at a single point.
That point was my heart.
In other words, the middle dantian.
The moment the path to my previously blocked middle dantian was cleared, internal energy began to accumulate at an incredible speed.
Thump.
The wildly rampaging fire and cold energies naturally lost their power.
The fire energy went to the middle dantian.
The cold energy returned to the lower dantian.
The chaotically arranged internal energies naturally settled into their proper places.
The quantity and quality of the internal energy and elixirs I had consumed were by no means lacking.
It was just that my dantian was too small to contain them, and my mental method was too weak to utilize their power, so I had only been using a limited portion.
And now, that limit was released.
[The Baekran Mental Method has evolved into the Gaegaek Mental Method.]
Yes.
This was the threshold of the Peak Realm.