Future Over the Past (3)
His eyes snapped open. It was pitch black outside.
“Ah, dawn prayers…”
Jin Yeo-rip shook his head with a wry smile. Habits were terrifying things. His body remembered them all too well—the over ten years at Shaolin Temple, rising at the same hour every day for dawn prayers.
“Damn it, come on. Even so, my insides are completely different now.”
He tried lying back down, but sleep wouldn't come. Shit. Jin Yeo-rip, who had been staring blankly into the darkness, finally sat up and looked around the room.
Unjeong Pavilion. That was its name. Clouds lingering in the courtyard? It was like some immortal's playground. Jin Yeo-rip chuckled at the grandiose name of his new residence and sat on the edge of the bed.
“Hmm.”
Memories of the previous day flooded back. He couldn't understand his father at all. It wasn't like he'd given something only to take it away. He'd filled him with expectations, then suddenly told him to do nothing? Sure, Jin Yeo-rip hadn't inflated those hopes himself, but his heart had. How could he not have any thoughts after seeing this massive city!
Because of that, he hadn't asked a thing. Why he was being treated like this.
But thinking back, the reactions at the banquet had been odd. The collateral branch leaders had been friendly toward him, but the elders and top brass had been formal and cold throughout. It felt like the family was split down the middle. What secrets was this damn household hiding?
“Hah, whatever. Screw it.”
Irritated by the nagging mysteries, Jin Yeo-rip unwittingly picked up the Baji manual on the table—and startled himself.
“Haa, I'm really losing it. Totally crazy. Grabbing a book the moment I wake up?”
Even as he grumbled, he flipped open the first page. He'd read it so many times on the way to Cheongeumbang that he nearly had it memorized, yet here he was starting from the beginning again.
“Hmm.”
Baji detailed eight spear methods, starting with sweeping strikes and ending with disarming the opponent. The subtleties of spear techniques were recorded meticulously from the basics.
Flip.
It felt familiar. He'd read it countless times on the journey. And yet, it was still engaging. There were even illustrations here and there.
He was about halfway through when the content shifted from spear techniques to foundational arts—methods for gathering qi in the dantian, known variously as heart methods, inhalation techniques, circulation arts, and so on.
Jin Yeo-rip rubbed his lower abdomen. The dantian that had suddenly formed inside him, along with the mysterious inner power.
“Should I give this a try?”
He'd only read Baji so far, never practiced it. On the journey, he'd stuck to the heart method from Repentance Cave.
“Let's see.”
Sitting cross-legged on the bed, Jin Yeo-rip began breathing slowly as described in the manual. First, a long inhale. His lungs expanded, chest rising, breath sinking down to fill the dantian tautly.
“Hoo, hoo, hoo.”
Exhales came in short bursts, the final breath held inside before inhaling again. Easy enough so far. The breathing was the same. But the direction of circulating the gathered qi was the complete opposite.
Focusing his mind, he guided the qi along his meridians in the reverse direction of what he'd first learned.
“Ugh!”
It felt like his body was being torn apart. He couldn't breathe.
“Ugh… pah!”
Only after a long while did he manage to exhale, the breath escaping like air from a punctured balloon. Dizziness hit him hard, and Jin Yeo-rip clutched the bed for support.
“Hah, hah… what the fuck. Nearly died just breathing.”
Irritation surged for no reason. Damn martial art, trying to kill me… or not? His mother's legacy wouldn't be meant to kill him, right?
“Then why? What did I do wrong?”
Jin Yeo-rip reread the heart method in the manual carefully. He had it memorized, but maybe he'd missed something. No, it matched exactly what he'd done.
Then why? Back when he'd practiced “that” one in his room at inns on the way from Shaolin to Shandong, there'd been no issues.
Just in case, Jin Yeo-rip sat properly again and recited the incantation silently. Round observation… The heart method taught by “him” in his memories—the Twelve Flows.
Gathering inner power like a vortex in the dantian, then wielding it through twelve methods. It started smoothly. As he sank into a trance, his meridians swelled, pathways forming, gentle currents flowing within. They spread through his body's acupoints, then gathered back into the dantian via another route.
Eh? Jin Yeo-rip jolted. It had grown. Slightly, but his plum-sized inner power had gained some bulk.
How? From what he'd heard in the secular world, inner power didn't grow that easily.
Puzzled, Jin Yeo-rip slowly spun the inner power in his dantian. The vortex of qi “he” from Repentance Cave had described.
All the inner power was sucked into the vortex, then expelled throughout the body. The outflow was calm, but the return was a rapid torrent, circling the body in an instant before gathering again to spin.
As the cycle repeated, the flow accelerated beyond sensation. Soon, the tail of one cycle hadn't left the dantian before the next connected seamlessly. Inner power flowed ceaselessly along the meridians, whipping around without pause.
It was as if his entire body had become a qi vortex. The Gye-haeng “he” had mentioned.
And next…
With Gye-haeng achieved, he had reached the threshold. The first was Strength—a method emphasizing explosive power from inner force. Concentrate all might into a single point and detonate for maximum impact.
“Hoo.”
As his breath steadied, his closed eyes opened.
Flash! In that instant, crimson flame-light filled the room before vanishing.
Squeeze.
Having achieved inner power circulation, Jin Yeo-rip clenched his fist in his seated position and thrust it forward. Channel the flow on extension, sever it at the peak, and explode in one burst.
Bang!
“……”
The air exploded with the sound, leaving Jin Yeo-rip's mouth agape, fist fully extended. What… what was that? Did the air just burst? From his fist?
Clatter.
“Huh? Huh?”
And that wasn't all. The flower vase on a stand a short distance from his fist began to wobble.
That thing's gonna fall…
Crash!
His uneasy prediction hit the mark perfectly. The vase rocked side to side before plummeting to the floor and shattering into pieces.
“Ah, damn it.”
Jin Yeo-rip grimaced. What now? It looked expensive… Even as the young master, with his father and the family's brass already cold toward him, they might chew him out for breaking it.
As he stood with a worried expression—
Thud thud thud!
Bam!
“Who goes there!”
Im Pilsaeng burst through the door, splintering it, his eyes fierce as he scanned the room.
It's me. I messed up accidentally…
“Young master!”
Before he could confess, Hwang Ja-su appeared.
“Pilsaeng, check for any signs of intrusion immediately. Hwang, confirm the young master's safety!”
Finally, So Hye arrived, issuing crisp commands.
Everyone's awake now. Vase broken, people roused.
“Hey… hold on a sec, everyone.”
“……?”
“……?”
Jin Yeo-rip raised his hand. Except for Im Pilsaeng, who had dashed outside, So Hye and Hwang Ja-su paused and stared blankly at him.
“The vase.”
“……”
“Fell on its own.”
“Ah!”
So Hye finally glanced at the floor and exclaimed.
“The sound of the vase breaking?”
“Yeah.”
“Oh, what a relief. I thought something had happened to you, young master.”
So Hye patted her chest in relief. Good, it seemed to pass.
“Hmm? Young master, really? It was faint, but it sounded like thunder from afar.”
“……”
Hwang Ja-su tilted his head. Sharp ears too? He heard that?
“And no wind in the room—how did the vase shatter on its own?”
Now that he mentioned it… Hwang Ja-su was sharper than expected. So Hye narrowed her eyes suspiciously at his words.
Suddenly, Jin Yeo-rip was the liar pretending he hadn't broken the vase. Damn, what do I say? Ah!
“Oh yeah, it felt like the ground shook a bit too.”
“An earthquake?”
Earthquake worked here too? Fine, roll with it.
“Yeah, I woke up feeling that slight tremor.”
“I see.”
As So Hye's suspicion eased, Hwang Ja-su piped up again.
“I didn't feel a thing.”
This old man's relentless.
“I did. Very faintly.”
“Come on, that's nonsense. I'm a physician, but I used to be something else back in the day. You might not know, young master, but once upon a time…”
Hwang Ja-su launched into his “back in my day” routine. No choice. A bit sneaky, but…
“You don't believe me, huh.”
“Pardon?”
“No, I felt it, the vase proves it, but you keep denying it.”
“No, that's not what I meant.”
“Hmph.”
Jin Yeo-rip scowled, and Hwang Ja-su panicked. So Hye shot him a sharp glare.
“Hwang, are you doubting the young master?”
“What? Why would I doubt my lord?”
“It sounded like doubt to me.”
“Huh?”
“He said it fell on its own.”
“You know that's impossible too, right?”
“He felt the earthquake!”
So Hye glared fiercely, and Hwang Ja-su clamped his mouth shut, looking dejected. It seemed smoothed over. Relief.
Then—
“Young master, no signs of intrusion. Did you see anyone?”
Im Pilsaeng returned from outside, face serious.
“Looks like an earthquake knocked the vase over,” So Hye answered for him. Im Pilsaeng tilted his head.
“Earthquake? I didn't feel it. And the sound… didn't quite match a breaking vase.”
So Hye furrowed her brow and snapped at him.
“Are you saying you don't believe the young master?”
“Huh?”
“Unacceptable. Questioning the words of our heaven-like young master, heir to that bloodline. Both of you, out.”
“Huh?”
Im Pilsaeng blinked in confusion. He hadn't contradicted Jin Yeo-rip—just questioned So Hye.
“What are you waiting for! Out!”
“Uh, um.”
“……”
So Hye herded them out with a sharp tone, then turned sweetly to Jin Yeo-rip.
“Sleep more, young master.”
Like a different person. Jin Yeo-rip instantly grasped Unjeong Pavilion's power structure. So Hye was the boss among the three.
“Hey, the vase?”
“Oh, just a moment, young master. Once I'm done talking with them, I'll clean it up and replace it with a new one. Goodnight.”
So Hye closed the door and left. Staring at the shattered vase shards, Jin Yeo-rip scratched his head sheepishly with an awkward grin.
He'd panicked for nothing. Probably overreacted because it looked pricey.
Still, that earlier experience had been incredible. Jin Yeo-rip gazed at his hand with a smile.
“Twelve Flows.”
He felt great. The thrill of qi surging out, and after circulating the heart method, his tangled worries had cleared refreshingly.
“Haa, I'm gonna get hooked deep.”
Looked like he'd be a total stan this lifetime. A Twelve Flows fanatic. The vibe just felt right, even if the term was weird.