Epilogue: The Dragon's Grace
"Hwaat...!"
With a strange cry, Paeng Ha-ryeong shot upright. "Eh? Ah? Hm?" In a frantic rush she patted herself all over, hands trembling across her head, chest, stomach, legs, and arms. Without pausing to examine her inner state, she spread her palms wide. The rough, callused skin bore the unmistakable marks of years of training. Like an infant discovering its own fingers, she clenched and unfurled them again and again, staring in open wonder at the simple fact that her hands obeyed her will.
No, it truly astonished her that her entire body moved without hindrance.
Why is everything fine?
She distinctly remembered trying to block the fiendish energy of the Demonic Ghost Net with the Mixed Origin Opening Palm, only to fail.
"So you have awakened."
"Hwaak!"
Paeng Ha-ryeong yelped in surprise and whipped her hands behind her back. "U-Uncle? H-how long have you..."
"Since the moment you shouted 'Hwaat.'"
That meant from the very beginning! Yet how could Paeng Mu-ho remain so calm when she had been teetering on death's edge and returned by some miracle? Under normal circumstances she would have composed her features, mindful of her dignity as a direct descendant of the Hebei Paeng Family. But right now she possessed neither the presence of mind nor the strength for such restraint. Anyone who could stay serene after clawing their way back from the grave would have to be an immortal or a celestial maiden.
Her thoughts lay bare upon her face. Paeng Mu-ho answered without hesitation.
"I knew you would regain consciousness around this time."
"How could you possibly know that?"
"The benefactor who treated you told me so."
"Ah... of course. Since someone healed me, it's only natural I'm completely fine... Wait, what?"
"What is it? Is something wrong? I checked your pulse myself and found nothing amiss, but perhaps there are lingering mental aftereffects...?"
"N-no, it's not that..."
Only now did Paeng Mu-ho reveal his worry that some trace of injury might remain. Paeng Ha-ryeong wanted to reassure him that his fears were misplaced, yet the sheer astonishment at her body's condition overwhelmed any thought of finishing her sentence. She stopped mid-speech, flung the blanket aside, and sat up fully.
"Ha-ryeong?"
Paeng Mu-ho called her name, the first of the two classic ways to annoy someone, but she ignored him completely. She folded her legs into a lotus position, closed her eyes, and sank at once into meditation.
How many days had she lain unconscious? Her muscles felt slightly stiff. Naturally, without circulating her energy, her internal qi had sunk to the bottom. Yet for some inexplicable reason her body felt lighter than it ever had.
It feels as though I've been reborn.
When the three meridians in her right arm had been devoured by the Demonic Ghost Net's fiendish energy and even her breath had been cut off, she had accepted that her life as a martial artist was over. But the moment she opened her eyes, that grim expectation had been turned completely upside down.
All the fine meridians throughout my body are open...?
Opening the fine meridians was an exceedingly arduous task. Unlike the twelve principal channels or the eight extraordinary vessels, many fine meridians remained unused depending on one's chosen arts. They were so delicate that clumsy attempts to force them open with crude qi usually resulted in internal injury. For that reason, it was considered standard progress for a practitioner to develop their fine meridians only upon reaching the late stage of the Peak Realm, at last maximizing the control and efficiency of their inner energy.
Yet Paeng Ha-ryeong had vaulted over that long and painful process in a single bound.
At this rate, recovering my former strength would take a month... No, half a month? Ten days. Ten days would be enough. If I devote myself solely to recovery for ten days... Huh? What is this?
Beyond the opening of every fine meridian, something new stirred in her lower abdomen. Coiled at the Zhongji acupoint was a small dragon covered in white-gold scales. It did not truly possess that shape, yet the instant she perceived it, her mind instinctively gave it that form.
Why is there lightning qi? Is it protecting something? From what?
Only then did she remember she had been in the middle of her monthly cycle. The Zhongji point governed the uterus. Could the lightning qi have been shielding the wounded womb from the invading fiendish energy?
Her face blazed scarlet at the realization that such a private matter had been exposed. Yet far stronger than embarrassment was boundless gratitude. The fact that the qi had not been withdrawn meant its original owner had expended at least twice the amount currently residing within her. It was the greatest gift one martial artist could possibly bestow upon another.
Thank you.
Though her gratitude could not reach its owner, the lightning qi responded to the sincerity of her intent. Originally it should have dispersed naturally, incompatible with the divine art she practiced, or else its pure essence would have merged into her own qi. But by accepting it, she had granted it a home. Settled at the Zhongji point, the lightning qi now obeyed her will exactly as her own internal energy did.
She did not know the mental technique required to cultivate it, so she could not use it to speed her recovery. Still, given the nature of lightning qi, it would undoubtedly become a powerful hidden trump card.
Fortune upon fortune. Grace without limit.
With her eyes half-lidded, Paeng Ha-ryeong began breathing according to the formula of the Hebei Paeng Family's secret divine art, the Heaven-Earth Pervading Void Divine Art. Her qi completed a full circulation. Like a child exploring a newly opened garden, it danced joyfully through every fine meridian. When she finished the small heavenly cycle, which had lasted twice as long as usual, she realized even her estimate of ten days had been too generous.
Three days will suffice. So having all the fine meridians open makes this much difference.
The only remaining obstruction was the life-and-death barrier of the Ren and Du meridians she had yet to open. Nowhere else in her body did qi find itself blocked. An entirely new world had unfolded within her.
"Congratulations on your achievement, Ha-ryeong."
"Uncle... thank you."
"At this rate you may very well reach the Transcendent Realm before I do."
"That..."
She had been about to say it seemed excessive, but the words died on her lips. Spoken aloud, Paeng Mu-ho's prediction suddenly sounded entirely possible.
"B-but what exactly happened? What in the world occurred during the closed-gate battle?"
"Haha, you ask quickly indeed."
"You know me. I am a martial artist, after all."
"Of course I understand. He bestowed such fortune upon you; he is the benefactor of all benefactors. Even I failed to notice until you completed your full circulation. I cannot begin to imagine how profound his martial arts must be."
Paeng Mu-ho shook his head. At first he had assumed the man was merely a Transcendent expert. Now he suspected the truth lay even higher.
"You asked what happened. Before I explain, let me first confirm how much you remember."
"When I subdued one of the Demonic Ghost Nets, you left to block the second. In that gap I tried to stop the fiendish energy with the Mixed Origin Opening Palm."
"And then?"
"I failed and collapsed. Everything after that is hazy, but I think I saw the back of a young man. That is all."
"So you did catch a glimpse of Young Hero Nam."
"Young Hero Nam?"
"Yes. The very Young Hero Nam Woo we sought. It was exactly as you guessed. He was a pearl shining in the dark; we never needed to hover at his side to watch over him."
Paeng Mu-ho recounted the events of that day. Nam Woo had dispatched one Demonic Ghost Net with ease. When the intruding Yang brothers pointed out that sword qi was insufficient, he had immediately manifested sword gang and sliced the creature in two with a single stroke. Without showing the slightest fatigue, he had offered to treat Paeng Ha-ryeong. At that point Paeng Mu-ho and the other Paeng warriors had staked her life on a desperate gamble.
The gamble had succeeded brilliantly.
"I believed he had simply purged the fiendish energy from your body and guided your qi for healing. But seeing you today, I realize he granted far greater grace than that. When I asked the warriors of the Lee estate, they told me he is only twenty years old..."
"Quickly, let's go meet him at once!"
Whatever Paeng Mu-ho said afterward no longer mattered. Paeng Ha-ryeong's mind overflowed with the need to express her gratitude and the bright hope that, just as he had saved her, he might also heal the Paeng Family's greatest wound.
"Is he outside? You didn't leave him in inferior lodgings, did you?"
She took it for granted that he would still be in Muan County. No matter how powerful an expert, he would require rest. His feats at the closed gate had been extraordinary, and the miracle he performed on her went beyond simple healing; it was nothing short of marrow-cleansing and tendon-renewing. The fatigue could not be light. Besides, though it embarrassed her to admit it, Paeng Ha-ryeong was an exceptional beauty. Though various reasons had kept her from being named among the Seven Dragons and Four Phoenixes, rumors still whispered that she was the greatest beauty of Hebei. Having received such grace from a man, he would surely look forward to meeting her—
"There is no need. He has already left."
—or so she had thought.
"What? Left? Who left?"
"The benefactor has already departed Muan County."
"You should have stopped him! Not only for me, but perhaps for Ye-ryeong as well...!"
"Would it not be ungrateful to forcibly detain a benefactor who wished to leave?"
"There is the story of the three visits to the thatched cottage! Wait, is that the same? In any case, perhaps he was only being modest..."
"I visited three times. He remained resolute."
"Then..."
Emptiness swallowed her. Paeng Ha-ryeong sank onto the bare floor.
I couldn't even offer a single word of thanks...
Regret and the disappointment of watching a fragile hope slip away filled her eyes with tears.
"For what it is worth, I did learn his destination. He is heading to Beijing."
"You should have said so sooner! Let's go at once!"
§
"By the way, why are you two following me?"