Kicking Away the Torch (4)
Dust and small pebbles pelted my face as I charged forward. I shielded my eyes and mouth with both sleeves.
“Senior Brother!”
I shouted for Myeongseong, but he was in no state to respond.
His eyelids fluttered open and shut, revealing eyes rolled back into his head.
What do I do?
It was qi deviation. But I wasn't a martial artist. There had to be a way to handle it, yet I didn't know it.
Should I run out and fetch Master right now? But looking at Myeongseong, blood trickling from his eyes, nose, and mouth, there wasn't time for that.
“Damn it! Get up!”
I grabbed his shoulders and shook. That's when I felt the inner energy raging wildly inside him.
...This is.
If I wasn't mistaken, what was swirling inside him was demonic qi. More precisely, the pure inner energy from the Tae-cheong Pill and Myeongseong's own was mutating into demonic qi.
Was this qi deviation? Pure inner energy twisting into demonic qi. They said demonic qi lodged in the upper dantian, shattering the mind. I'd built some resistance by consuming the Shinma Pill, but Myeongseong hadn't. If left like this, he'd end up a vegetable.
It's not just a simple rampage—it's a mutation. That I can handle.
I released his shoulders, propped the collapsing Myeongseong into a proper sitting position, and placed my hand on his back. His inner energy churned so fiercely it stung my palm like sandpaper scraping his meridians.
Back in Wuhwan, I'd absorbed demonic qi while healing people. If I applied that experience, I could draw it out. Something only I could do.
“Hup!”
I widened my eyes and summoned my demonic qi.
As I'd confirmed in Wuhwan, my demonic qi dominated others'. When it seeped into Myeongseong's body, the demonic qi inside him stilled for a moment.
Slowly draw it out... into my body.
With my palm on his back, his condition became clearer.
His lower dantian was on the verge of bursting, stuffed full of the Tae-cheong Pill's energy. The overflow had triggered changes in his still-unopened middle and upper dantians.
His meridians and blood vessels were already badly damaged and weakened. Any more, and they might shatter beyond repair.
I thinned my demonic qi to a thread. To minimize strain on his meridians.
Then I gently pulled. Having done this before, it wasn't painful, and the newborn demonic qi followed obediently, as if recognizing my qi as its parent.
...Huh?
Pressure built in my head. My face was probably beet red, temples and veins bulging.
Suddenly, the demonic qi in Myeongseong's body surged toward me. Too obedient. I tried to throttle the speed, but forcing a halt now risked backlash that could rupture his fragile meridians.
Damn.
Even perfect obedience was a problem. I endured the mounting pressure in my skull, helplessly absorbing it.
The real trouble came right after. The demonic qi's sensitivity dragged in energies that hadn't fully mutated yet.
Now I had to separate the demonic qi from the Tae-cheong Pill's pure spiritual energy. Even separated, problems remained. Different inner energies couldn't coexist in one body—that's why I'd sought dual yin-yang cultivation.
Am I screwed?
They said trying to help another's qi deviation could trigger your own. This must be what they meant.
But what choice did I have? Myeongseong had tried to protect me in front of the Zhuge family, calling me his junior brother. So I'd protect him. I always repaid what I owed.
No choice but to try.
I'd already extracted all the demonic qi from Myeongseong. His ragged breathing steadied.
Now to deal with my body, where I'd recklessly taken in both the spiritual energy and demonic qi.
I recalled the dual yin-yang manual. No need to search—black and white flickered in the darkness.
If I didn't master it now, I was in danger. That thought sharpened my mind instinctively. A sensation from my merchant days, kicking in only during crises.
What an odd situation. They say focus your mind in a crisis. But here, to escape it, I had to split my mind in two.
An old memory surfaced.
Back when I traveled light with one bundle as a merchant. I spotted a caravan ahead, seized by bandits.
The quickest thing was to backtrack to the authorities. But my bundle held perishable meat. So I pressed on. I reported it upon arrival, but it was too late—they'd all been killed.
Hearing that, I felt no guilt. Caravans got robbed all the time; no merchant had a duty to help.
I'd sunk my entire capital into that meat. Failure would've set me back years. Caught in sentiment, I'd have stayed a small-time peddler, never a great merchant.
So what now?
Why was I helping Myeongseong? To repay Myeonggyeong? I could repay her directly. And my reciprocity wasn't self-sacrifice.
In the end, I admitted it honestly. I wasn't helping because Myeonggyeong had helped me. She'd changed me. Changed who I was.
When did it start...?
Was I closer to a merchant now?
Or a martial artist?
Then it hit me. Why not both? They called the body a small universe. Couldn't it hold just two things?
With that realization, the demonic qi and spiritual energy began separating. Demonic to the upper dantian, spiritual to the lower—they tore apart. My consciousness caressed both simultaneously.
Dual yin-yang wasn't splitting me into two people. It was realizing I was vast enough to hold two wills. Yin and yang. Taiji. Heaven and earth. Sun and moon. Harmonizing opposites—that was the Dao.
I opened my eyes. The moment I attained the first stage of dual yin-yang cultivation.
I sent Myeongseong to the medical hall. Even after stabilizing his rampaging inner energy, his damaged meridians and vessels needed treatment.
“What happened?”
Cheonghwa descended from Samcheong Hall at once.
Her voice was gravely serious, laced with grief. Her disciple had suffered major internal injuries and been carted off—what else could she feel?
“Seems he took the Tae-cheong Pill.”
“Tae-cheong Pill. Even medicine becomes poison in excess. Even first-generation disciples need elders' help to consume it.”
Cheonghwa sighed regretfully.
“I checked his pulse at the medical hall. Quite the severe qi deviation.”
“Yes. First time I've seen one.”
“You quelled the outbreak?”
“That's how it turned out.”
I explained everything in detail, including how Myeongseong had tormented himself comparing to others.
Cheonghwa listened, then spoke in self-reproach.
“Truth be told, I knew to some extent. About his struggles. But I thought he needed to overcome it alone, so I let him be.”
“Would've been better if he had. Not your fault, Master.”
“No. As his master, I failed to tend his heart. My own cultivation is lacking.”
I fell silent. I couldn't argue with her thinking that. Just as Myeongseong's desperation had driven him to the pill.
After a pause, Cheonghwa spoke.
“But how did you tame the qi deviation? It requires overwhelming inner force and deep knowledge of the eight extraordinary meridians.”
“Yeah, no idea.”
I just shrugged. No way to dress this up. Deny knowledge and dodge.
“His pulse showed not just rampage, but mutation into demonic qi. And you, a third-generation disciple, controlled and drained it.”
“...Ahem.”
I couldn't say it was my superior demonic qi if my life depended on it. Fortunately, she didn't suspect.
“I thought you were just a sword and footwork genius. Turns out you're one with inner energy control too.”
“Uh, y-yeah? Guess so.”
“Unbelievable guy.”
A brief smile crossed Cheonghwa's troubled face.
She patted my shoulder and rose.
“Rest now—you must be exhausted. There'll likely be rewards and punishments tomorrow.”
“Rewards and punishments?”
“You saved a disciple, so reward. He disobeyed the sect leader and took the pill without permission, so punishment.”
“...I see.”
The punishment for Myeongseong soured my mood more than any reward for me.
I thought his taking the pill was inevitable. Even admirable, betting his life.
Punishing him when he deserved more care? It grated.
“I'll try to mitigate it. But the sect leader is quite angry.”
Reading my face, Cheonghwa spoke bitterly.
My head spun, but I lay down anyway. I was tired, as she said.
As I lay there, my head and lower abdomen grew faintly hot. The absorbed energies weren't fully integrated.
I bolted up, sat in meditation, and circulated my qi. Demonic and spiritual energies flowed through my vessels together. Perfect dual yin-yang. I kept cycling, assimilating them. Bright sunlight seeped through my closed eyelids. Morning already.
“Yawn.”
Sleepless and weary, but my mind was steady.
Expanded demonic qi filled my upper dantian; the Tae-cheong Pill's spiritual energy brimmed in my lower, bringing fulfillment.
Too much to fully assimilate, but steady progress would come.
My thoughts turned to Myeongseong. I hadn't taken all the Tae-cheong Pill energy—only the mutated parts—but he'd gained plenty too. The pill held immense power.
“Time to go.”
I kicked off the blanket and rose. Cheonghwa had ordered me straight to Samcheong Hall upon waking.