Overture to the Murim
"Whew..."
I drew in a deep breath, then let it out.
This was the depths of a cave, far from any light.
Sitting cross-legged, I had no idea how long I'd been here. I'd stopped counting the days ages ago. If I really had to guess the passage of time...
The hair that once barely brushed my ears now hung all the way down to my waist. When did I end up like this?
It all started one dawn, back when I was a shut-in burrowed into the corner of my room, devouring martial arts web novels. I'd already read every title on the rankings, so I was dredging the abyss of the obscure that day — deep-sea diving through the dregs. And then, in sometrashy mess of a novel whose origins I couldn't even guess, I left behind a single spiteful comment:
I left that venomous little remark, went to bed with a sour taste in my mouth — and yes, that really is how it happened! But when I opened my eyes, I was in the middle of some mountains. Not exactly the natural next chapter of my life.
I was draped in ragged, threadbare clothing I'd never seen before, and the gaunt, hollow-cheeked face staring back at me — like a war widow's — was utterly unfamiliar. For all the disheveled appearance, though, the body underneath was astonishingly sturdy. Both my palms were covered in thick calluses.
In that moment, I knew it instinctively. This was, one hundred percent, the physique of a martial artist deep in the mountains, sealed away in secluded training. My heart pounded like crazy even as I told myself it was impossible — but it wasn't fear. It was excitement.
If I really was a murim cultivator, then there was one thing that absolutely had to exist.
The dantian.
I immediately crossed my legs, pressed my palms together, and steadied my breathing. Never in my life had I wanted anything so desperately — because if there was nothing there, then I was nothing more than some poor soul who'd tumbled off a cliff.
Perhaps my yearning reached something, because I truly did feel it, low in my abdomen. Hard to say if it was warm or hot — but an unmistakable sense that something was there.
When I kept that feeling alive and swung my fist at a tree, the thick trunk split clean through and crashed down. After just a short sprint, my body lifted off the ground and floated all the way to the treetops. I was dumbstruck.
So this was internal energy. So this was lightness skill. Everything I'd only ever imagined in the corner of my room was happening inside my own body right now — and with that realization, I felt like I owned the world.
But the euphoria didn't last. Suddenly my solar plexus went stiff and numb, and my breath caught in my throat. It felt like an unbridled horse rampaging through my innards, tearing everything up as it went — and that was excruciating. My body simply couldn't withstand the wild, unrefined internal energy coursing through it.
So I came up with a solution:
Energy Circulation and Breathing Regulation
And with that, I went and found myself a cave to hole up in. This one, right here.
Of course, it wasn't all smooth sailing. I vomited blood when Qi deviation came for me. I blacked out from hunger. I very nearly became a midwinter snack for a wild bear that had wandered in to hibernate. And yet, every single time, I strangely couldn't bring myself to give up — because living out, in the flesh, what I'd spent my whole life only imagining just felt that good.
And now.
"Hooowoo..."
As I exhaled, the internal energy wrapped around my entire body settled without a ripple, calm as a still lake. The same energy that had once rampaged like a raging storm now obeyed my every gesture, docile as tiny ripples on the water.
Instinctively, I knew: it was time to come down from this mountain.
"Ucha!"
I rose, loosening my stiffened limbs.
Crack! Crick-crack!
The sound of popping joints echoed through the cave.
Riiip.
I tore off a strip of my clothing and tied my hair up as high as it would go. The cool breeze grazing the back of my neck lifted my spirits a little.
When I stepped outside, the sunlight — the first in ages — stung my eyes.
"Ack, so bright."
I tilted my head back and looked up at the sky. Not a single cloud in sight, perfectly clear — as if the heavens themselves were cheering on my debut.
I took a deep breath, and then I pushed off the ground.
Whooosh!
My body sprang lightly upward, and in an instant I stood atop the highest branches of a tree. By then, a smile had already found its way to my lips.
"Shall we go conquer the murim, then?"