The Loose Cultivator (2)
The atmosphere had turned treacherous.
Gwiyeongja was glaring at Cheon Woo-jin with murder in his eyes.
It was the look of a man ready to reach out and snap his neck on the spot.
A far cry from the kindly mentor's demeanor Gwiyeongja had worn in his presence until now.
This was the true nature of a cultivator surfacing — a being who thought of nothing but his own ascension.
Yet Cheon Woo-jin felt no fear.
"I'm sorry, Master."
He bowed his head, concealing what he truly thought.
"At first, I tried to circulate all the energies evenly, just as you taught me. But I came to realize that focusing on a single energy brought faster results. So I interpreted the Five Elements Dao-Entering Art in my own way and trained using a new method."
"A new method? What exactly did you do?"
Gwiyeongja's brows twitched.
"I selected the pure essence of the elixir and sent only the energy that felt most comfortable into the meridians of my limbs. The rest I directed downward through my torso to keep the whole body in balance."
"You mean you didn't stop at selecting and disseminating the suitable energy — you also desublimated the remainder?"
"Balancing above and below, inside and out, seemed to make the circulation of qi — its rising, falling, entering, and exiting — far more stable that way."
"Hohh......"
The explanation offered Gwiyeongja a genuine revelation.
Until now, whenever he consumed an elixir, Gwiyeongja had extracted only the spirit qi that matched his own spiritual root and vented the remainder on the spot.
Cheon Woo-jin, however, hadn't discarded the excess spirit qi — he had put it to work maintaining the equilibrium of the whole.
Come to think of it, that was the more logical approach.
The human body, after all, could only remain stable when its upper and lower halves, its interior and exterior, held each other in balance.
Considered through the lens of yin and yang, it held true as well: as yang energy roamed the body's upper and outer regions, yin energy circled its lower and inner depths.
Only then did the body's yin and yang fall into harmony.
Cheon Woo-jin had applied that very principle to the forging of spirit meridians.
Without his master Gwiyeongja ever teaching him.
"Master, the more I think about it, the more certain I am that this Five Elements Dao-Entering Art is no martial cultivation method. What exactly is it that I'm learning?"
"Ahem......"
Gwiyeongja fell deep into thought.
The boy before him possessed extraordinary aptitude.
If he kept training like this, he would surpass Gwiyeongja before long.
The thought made his blood curdle.
Left to his heart's desire, he would have wrung that neck right then and there.
But he could not.
He knew all too well that yielding to a flash of jealousy would cost him alone.
Having secured a young man of rare talent, he had to wring every last drop of value from him.
So thinking, Gwiyeongja spoke again.
"You're right. The Five Elements Dao-Entering Art is a cultivation method for immortals."
"For immortals?"
"A method for becoming a cultivator and ascending to a realm far, far beyond anything a martial artist could reach."
Gwiyeongja explained the world of cultivators slowly, deliberately.
"There are beings in this world called cultivators — people whose goal is to become immortals."
"This is the first I've heard of them."
"Of course it is. Unlike martial artists, cultivators have no interest in making names for themselves in the world."
Ordinary people had no idea cultivators existed.
Gwiyeongja himself hadn't learned of them until he was nearly sixty.
"But cultivators wield power far beyond that of martial artists. They even bend the great martial clans to their will like slaves."
"Is that truly so?"
"Even the Won Clan, the foremost power in Weijin Country, is nothing more than a vassal of a sect of cultivators known as the Taiyi Inverse Principle Sect. Within the clan itself, only the family head and a handful of others even know the truth."
A cold smirk curled across Gwiyeongja's lips.
"Even that arrogant old family head drops to his knees the moment he stands before a cultivator of the Taiyi Inverse Principle Sect."
"I can't believe it. Are cultivators truly that strong?"
"In a head-on fight, a martial artist would have some chance of winning."
He declared it boldly — but then his expression soured, and he added bitterly:
"But cultivators use strange and wondrous arts. They spit fire and conceal their very forms. When caught in such sorcery, an ordinary martial artist can hardly hope to cope."
"Ah......"
"And... even that slim hope only applies against cultivators at the lowest stage — the Qi Condensation Realm. Cultivators at higher stages, they say, can toy with even an absolute master who has reached the Hyeon Realm with nothing but a finger."
No martial artist, however formidable, could stand against a cultivator of the Foundation Establishment Realm or beyond.
The fight itself would never be able to begin.
"So we martial artists were nothing but frogs at the bottom of a well."
Gwiyeongja let out a long sigh.
"I trained in the martial arts my entire life. But once I learned of cultivators, I was overcome by a crushing helplessness — the sense that everything I had done had been for nothing."
"Master......"
"So I resolved to walk the path of cultivation."
There had been another way — living out his remaining years in comfort as an elder of the Won Clan.
Gwiyeongja had thrown it all away to become a cultivator.
"I knocked on the door of the Taiyi Inverse Principle Sect to become one. Fortunately, I possessed the spiritual root — the inborn aptitude of a cultivator — so I met the qualifications for entry."
"Then did you learn the cultivation method there?"
"No. I was never accepted into the sect."
"Why not?"
"That is......"
Gwiyeongja hesitated for a moment.
"They told me I was too old."
"What?"
"No matter how diligently I trained, I would grow old and die before reaching any great realm... or so they judged, it seems."
Entering the Foundation Establishment Realm extended one's lifespan to two hundred years.
But Gwiyeongja possessed a mixed spiritual root of four attributes, and it was expected to take him far too long to reach that stage.
"Still, I could not give up. If the Taiyi Inverse Principle Sect would not have me, I resolved to become a cultivator by my own strength alone."
"......"
"And so I walked the path of cultivation alone, belonging to no one. People like me, I'm told, are called loose cultivators."
A loose cultivator.
A cultivator who trained alone, unaffiliated with any sect.
Gwiyeongja was a loose cultivator in the truest sense.
"By luck I obtained the Five Elements Dao-Entering Art and mastered the fundamentals of cultivation, forged my spirit meridians, and learned to wield spirit qi. I became a proper cultivator of the Qi Condensation Realm."
"That's remarkable, Master."
"But honestly... I've been feeling my limits."
Gwiyeongja's face was bitter as he spoke.
"And that is why I began taking disciples."
"Master......"
"My lifespan is nearly spent. If I die like this, everything I've struggled for will have meant nothing. That, I cannot accept."
Gwiyeongja met Cheon Woo-jin's eyes.
"Soon, you will convert all twelve meridians into spirit meridians and enter the Qi Condensation Realm. But even then, you would be nothing more than an early-stage Qi Condensation cultivator."
Converting the twelve meridians into spirit meridians was, in the end, only the bare minimum condition for entering the Qi Condensation Realm.
To grow as a cultivator, he would have to transform his other meridians as well.
"Not only the twelve meridians flowing through the limbs, but the Conception and Governing Vessels that run through the body's very center must become spirit meridians as well. That would bring you to the middle stage of Qi Condensation."
"......"
"Convert the rest of the extraordinary meridians, along with the countless fine collaterals, until your entire body can circulate spirit qi, and you will reach the late stage. Train beyond that, and you will attain the great completion of the Qi Condensation Realm — earning the right to challenge the next realm, the Foundation Establishment Realm."
Early, middle, late, great completion.
Those were the subdivisions of each realm.
Gwiyeongja was currently in the middle stage of Qi Condensation.
He had strived to break into the late stage, but had yet to bear fruit.
"That sounds like a story far beyond me. How could I ever......"
"No. You are wrong."
Before Cheon Woo-jin, Gwiyeongja shook his head.
"With your talent, challenging the Foundation Establishment Realm is well within reach. I am certain of it."
"Master......"
"I will help you. The time I have left is not long, but......"
Gwiyeongja's deep, grave eyes turned upon Cheon Woo-jin.
"I want to spend the rest of my life for your sake."
"......"
To the silent Cheon Woo-jin, Gwiyeongja spoke with utter solemnity.
"Become an immortal in my stead. That is all I ask."
* * *
Cheon Woo-jin bowed in a deep, formal prostration to express his gratitude.
He looked utterly moved.
Watching his disciple, Gwiyeongja smiled quietly to himself.
The gullible little fool.
Only moments ago, Gwiyeongja had delivered an eloquent vow to devote himself wholly to Cheon Woo-jin's guidance.
It had all been a lie.
What use is there in making you an immortal when I cannot become one myself?
For a cultivator, it went without saying.
He had cast aside everything and poured himself into the pursuit of immortality — there was no reason to sacrifice himself for the sake of turning someone else into an immortal.
I will never give up. If you possess talent greater than mine, then I will devour you and make that talent my own.
A boy with such exceptional aptitude would yield an extraordinarily potent elixir.
Gwiyeongja was certain of it.
The day you reach the middle stage of Qi Condensation will be the day of your funeral.
If Cheon Woo-jin entered the late stage of Qi Condensation, Gwiyeongja would no longer be able to handle him.
He himself was still mired in the middle stage, after all.
Which meant he had to raise the boy only to the middle stage, and then subdue him.
Subduing Cheon Woo-jin, who had never once trained in the martial arts, would be no difficult task.
Ordinarily, one who reaches Qi Condensation may begin learning the mystic arts — but I will not teach you a single one. If you ever tried to oppose me with such arts, it would give me a headache.
He would keep the boy focused solely on accumulating spirit power and raising his realm.
And the moment he touched the middle stage of Qi Condensation, Gwiyeongja would devour him.
Just wait a little longer.
Watching the back of Cheon Woo-jin's head as his disciple headed for the kitchen to cook, Gwiyeongja smiled.
I will be sure to consume everything you are.
* * *
Right about now, he's wondering exactly how he's going to devour me.
Feeling Gwiyeongja's gaze fixed on the back of his head, Cheon Woo-jin stepped into the kitchen.
Gwiyeongja, I know exactly what you're thinking.
A short while ago, Gwiyeongja had revealed the path he had walked to get here.
But there were parts he had deliberately concealed.
All this time, Gwiyeongja had raised his realm around Mount Goeyu by absorbing the spirit qi of heaven and earth.
But that alone had proved insufficient — so he had gathered up children with spiritual roots and refined them into living elixirs.
Even now, Gwiyeongja intended nothing except to render Cheon Woo-jin into an elixir and consume him.
And yet... doing that would only leave you treading water where you stand.
Gwiyeongja's cultivation method was riddled with flaws.
He had never received proper instruction from a sect, forging his own path with nothing but the Five Elements Dao-Entering Art as his guide.
Even if Gwiyeongja did refine Cheon Woo-jin into an elixir and consume him, breaking into the late stage of Qi Condensation would be impossible.
After all, Gwiyeongja's own elixir-refining technique was utterly shoddy to begin with.
That is the limit of a loose cultivator who trains alone.
Still, Gwiyeongja retained his usefulness — for now.
In the days to come, Gwiyeongja would gather all manner of precious herbs around Mount Goeyu and feed them to Cheon Woo-jin.
Because he possessed the Body of the Dark True Abyss, Cheon Woo-jin could absorb that spirit qi at maximum efficiency.
Only after stockpiling spirit qi with Gwiyeongja's "help" could he plan his next move.
Gwiyeongja, don't feel betrayed when that time comes. After all, weren't you planning to betray me first?
Gwiyeongja was scheming to stab Cheon Woo-jin in the back.
So Cheon Woo-jin would simply return the favor.
An endless chain of betrayals.
That was what a world of cultivators was.
You think a greenhorn like me will be easy to swallow. But that day will never come.
Gwiyeongja was a martial artist of genuine skill.
A middle-stage Qi Condensation cultivator, capable of wielding the mystic arts as well.
He surely believed he could easily overpower and incapacitate someone like Cheon Woo-jin, who had never properly trained in the martial arts and had learned nothing of the mystic arts either.
That was certainly what Gwiyeongja was thinking.
But it was a colossal delusion.
Cheon Woo-jin already possessed the means to bring Gwiyeongja to his knees.