A Fateful Encounter on the Snowfield (3)
The moment my eyes fell on the sentence — If your feet begin to freeze while circulating the mind method, follow this method at once — I snatched the book up and started reading in earnest.
One. Sit on the ground, release all tension from your body, and wait until half of your body has frozen.
...Did I misread that?
I wondered if something had gone wrong with my eyes and read the same line again, then again, then again. The words on the page stubbornly refused to change.
Well... might as well try it.
I plopped my rear down on the floor and squatted. And then... just wait, right...? I let every muscle go slack and waited for the ice to claim half of me.
After roughly three hours, half my body had frozen solid.
Next...
Two. This state resembles qi deviation, yet it is not a fall into the heart demon. It is the natural process of mastering the divine art. Focus on the dantian in the middle and lower part of your body.
In your present condition the dantian will already be freezing. The Ice Heart Divine Art preserves that frozen dantian so that internal energy itself takes on the attribute of pure cold.
Do not force the energy to circulate. Think of your internal energy as small shards of ice floating on water, and open channels so those shards may drift freely through the entire body.
Three. Do not attempt to thaw the dantian.
If you forcibly drive internal energy while the dantian is frozen, the ice will shatter and the energy will scatter. The broken energy races along the meridians, tearing them apart. Anyone who reaches that state has the connection between dantian and meridians shredded beyond repair; even if they survive, they will live out their days in a body no different from a cold corpse.
Therefore accept the frozen dantian as it is. Do not try to melt it. Maintain it.
...They wrote some pretty terrifying stuff as if it were nothing.
I swallowed hard. Ice already covered me up to the belly; my toes had lost all feeling long ago.
If I get up right now...
The thought flickered for a second. Then my gaze dropped back to the page and the final line leapt out at me.
Anyone who forces a release will die without fail.
...Right. I've come this far.
I stopped myself from wriggling free.
Four. Do not chase the ice; open the path for the ice to flow.
Concentrate on the dantian. By now it will already have begun to freeze. That is not failure.
The Ice Heart Divine Art is a divine skill that transforms internal energy itself into the attribute of cold by keeping the dantian frozen.
Do not force circulation. Let the energy move naturally along the meridians the way tiny ice shards drift with a river's current.
A river... ice shards...
Hmm... so I just imagine it roughly?
I closed my eyes. At first there was only darkness. After a little while, though, a single speck of blue light flickered in the exact center of my dantian.
Huh?
It was a tiny ice crystal — smaller than a fingernail — yet it began to travel along the meridians on its own.
Wait... I didn't move that.
I nearly lost concentration from the shock. The crystal wavered for a moment, then slowly advanced again.
Okay... so I just watch?
I decided not to interfere and simply observed.
Five. The first circuit must finish of its own accord.
The ice crystal will travel the entire body once and return to the dantian. The first circuit takes a long time; impatience is the greatest poison of all.
How long, exactly...?
I flipped the page. Only a single line waited there.
It differs for every person.
...Could've written that a little earlier.
I grumbled inwardly and shut my eyes again. Time slipped past without measure. In the past, Antarctic cold would have been nothing to me. The chill I felt now, however, was not coming from outside. It was a strange cold rising from deep inside my own body.
Then, at some indistinct moment, the final ice crystal drifted slowly back into the dantian.
Crack.
Fissures spider-webbed across the ice that sheathed me.
Oh? Did it work?
The cracks spread wider. Instead of shattering into shards, the ice dissolved into a blue mist that seeped straight into my flesh. At the same time a cool, limpid internal energy began to bloom gently from the depths of the dantian.
Whoa... so this is the internal energy of the Ice Heart Divine Art...
It felt cold, yet somehow not threatening.
I opened the book again. The next passage read:
If you have succeeded, the ice covering your body will have soaked into you in the form of blue mist. Once you confirm this, circulating internal energy will no longer pose a problem.
Success... I guess.
I set the book down and let out a long breath.
Haah... that really scared me.
Anyone would jump if their body suddenly froze solid, but still — that was genuinely terrifying.
What kind of mind method is this, anyway...
It called itself a divine art, yet the process looked more like demonic arts than anything else.
Is that why people called the old man a demon?
Honestly, from the outside it would look pretty demonic.
Anyway... I should be safe now, right...?
A faint unease lingered, but I flipped back to the opening pages.
Let's read it again... Tai Xu Wu Ji, Bing Sheng Yu Kong. Wan Xiang Gui Yi, Han Nai Qi Zong.
The Great Void is without limit; ice is born from emptiness.
Ah... so that's what it meant.
Reading it now, the meaning was clear. From the infinite source of the void the first cold is born, becoming the power that freezes all things. In other words, freezing one's internal energy is the foundation of this mind method — the power that freezes everything. The process I had just endured really was the natural path after all.
Then... on to the next formula.
Having cleared the basics, I turned the page and looked at the next verse.
Wan Xiang Gui Yi, Han Nai Qi Zong.
All phenomena return to one; cold is their origin.
Everything returns to the One... and cold is the foremost of them?
I had no idea what that was supposed to mean.
Hmm... guess it's not the right time yet.
I closed the book and looked outside. A blizzard was howling across the plain.
Hah... the last thing I saw before I died was a blizzard just like that...
I waddled over to a corner of the cave.
Come to think of it... shouldn't a cave be dark?
Curious, I glanced up at the ceiling.
Huh? What are those?
Stones that gave off light were embedded in the rock above.
Those... night-glowing pearls?
Night-glowing pearls were gems that shone by themselves once night fell. In the modern world some people claimed they were radioactive minerals, but this was a murim world, so that probably wasn't the case.
From what I remember, everyone said night-glowing pearls were insanely expensive...
Well, I was a penguin. Trading with humans wasn't exactly on the table, so it didn't matter.
Anyway, at least I can read books at night. That's a plus.
I sat with my back against the wall.
I can't read any more of the Ice Heart Divine Art yet. Maybe look at the others?
I set the remaining two manuals on the floor and stared them down.
First, the Ice Heaven Step.
Probably a footwork technique.
Honestly, this one appeals more than any attack art...
In survival, hunting for food mattered, but running from predators mattered more.
If I could get into the water it'd be different, but on land I'm a sitting duck.
Next was the Ice White Divine Palm.
It had "palm" in the name, so it had to be a palm art.
Hmm... the name alone makes it sound like it shoots freeze beams from your hands...
For now the footwork was more important. I opened the secret manual of the Ice Heaven Step.
Okay... so...
I read the first page.
Tread snow without a trace; body like cold smoke.
Detailed explanations followed beneath.
First.
Load internal energy evenly into both feet and lower the waist. Bend both knees to secure your center, then push off the ground with the tips of your toes.
...Hold on.
I tore my eyes from the book and looked down at my own legs.
Tips of the toes?
Plump legs and webbed feet. They looked nothing like human feet no matter how I squinted.
...Do I even have toes to push with?
I tried to copy the stance written in the manual. Bend the waist. Bend the knees. Power into the tips of the—
...How?
After a long moment of baffled staring I waddled outside, stood on the snow, and shoved roughly with the front of my flippers.
Thwump.
My legs sank straight into the snow.
...Not that, then.
I yanked my legs free and opened the book again.
Second.
Use the ankles as pivots and tilt the body at an angle, letting it flow.
Ankles...?
I looked down at my legs once more. Short, feather-covered stubs. No free-rotating joints like a human's were in sight. Still, I twisted them by force.
Creak.
My balance collapsed instantly.
Whump.
I rolled sideways across the snowfield.
...
I lay there for a while, staring up at the sky.
This was made for humans from the start, wasn't it.
Thinking about it, of course it was. The person who wrote the manual, the old man himself — every last one of them had been human. No one would have designed a technique with a penguin in mind.
...So what now?
I mulled it over, then remembered the Ice Heart Divine Art. Back then I hadn't followed the text word for word; I had adapted it to my own body, and that was why it worked.
Don't tell me this is the same...
I looked again at the opening verse.
Push with the tips of the toes.
Humans push with their toes. But penguins?
I slowly rocked my body from side to side. Sliding felt far more natural than walking. Even in water I moved with my whole body rather than my feet.
There's no reason I have to do it the human way.
...The human method won't work.
I stared down at the manual again. Human legs. Human feet. Human joints. Every single line was written for a human body.
But I can't just give up on it either.
I had somehow fitted the Ice Heart Divine Art to myself. There had to be a way for the Ice Heaven Step as well.
If I remake it for my body...
I stood motionless on the snow for a long time. Cold wind whispered between my feathers.
How do penguins move?
I could walk, sure. But it was slow. That waddling gait was useless for covering long distances.
Swim?
I shook my head at once.
There's no water here.
Then...
I dug through my memories. A scene from a documentary in my previous life surfaced. A vast snowfield. A single emperor penguin gliding forward on its belly. Its two feet kicked the snow in turn for thrust while both wings kept its balance — exactly like a person riding a sled. The bird had shot across the ice at unbelievable speed.
...Ah.
My mind lit up.
Tobogganing.
The method penguins used for long-distance travel: belly flat on the snow, sliding, feet providing propulsion, wings holding balance.
If the whole point is running away, I don't need to walk on two feet at all.
Humans run on two legs, so their footwork is built around two legs. But I am not human.
I am a penguin.
For a penguin, the fastest and most natural movement on land is not walking — it is sliding.
I slowly pressed my belly against the snow. Cold seeped through the feathers.
If...
If I used the cold of the Ice Heaven Step to freeze a thin film of snow and cut friction, generated thrust with my feet, and kept balance with my wings...
I wouldn't be using human footwork. I would be creating a penguin's own lightness skill.
The moment the thought clicked into place, the corners of my beak lifted on their own.
Let's give it a shot.
If it failed I could just fix it. Trying to copy human martial arts exactly had been doomed from the start.