Purple Sunset Divine Art
Gyeokseon’s arms were warm. And they smelled nice.
So staying like this felt indescribably pleasant.
The problem was… I had no idea how long I was supposed to keep this up.
That was a little awkward. Gyeokseon was the one holding me.
If I were the first to pull away, wouldn’t that be a bit rude, too?
But if we kept going like this… well. I didn’t mind, obviously, but it was also a little strange.
Still, it seemed Gyeokseon was thinking something similar.
A slight movement I hadn’t noticed at first ran through him.
How should I put it? Like he wanted to adjust his posture? Or maybe like he felt that this had gone on long enough?
And at that moment, I think Gyeokseon and I reached the same silent agreement.
Neither of us claimed to be first; we simply let go of the embrace at the same time.
"Thank you."
I offered the thanks to ease the faint awkwardness, and Gyeokseon replied with a slightly sheepish look.
"There is no need to thank me for such a thing."
He was still trying to keep his face stern, though it wasn’t working very well.
Honestly, seeing that made me think he was cute.
Good grief. I must be out of my mind too. How old was Gyeokseon again?
In any case, I’d finished comparing Ginkgo Divine Art and Unfettered Infinity Sword Art.
As expected, the fact that someone had spent years studying them mattered enormously.
Ginkgo Divine Art and Unfettered Infinity Sword Art fit together beautifully.
To the point that even someone like me, still basically a beginner, could feel it clearly.
"Senior."
"Speak."
"Which came first, Ginkgo Divine Art or Unfettered Infinity Sword Art?"
"Ginkgo Divine Art came first."
"Then Unfettered Infinity Sword Art was created to match the workings of Ginkgo Divine Art, I take it?"
"Is that not obvious?"
So that was it. No wonder they meshed so perfectly.
"Then is the same true of Purple Sunset Divine Art and the Twenty-Four Plum Blossom Sword? Purple Sunset Divine Art came first, yes?"
"So I have been told."
Exactly. Set effects mattered. There was nothing better than collecting them when you played a game, after all.
Synergy was the kind of thing that made efficiency-obsessed people like me light up.
It wasn’t just the actual effect, either; the very feeling that you were gaining an advantage was satisfying in itself.
"Senior. I’d like to try out Purple Sunset Divine Art now. Would it be all right to do that here too?"
"Why would it not be?"
When I asked, Gyeokseon answered that way and then returned to the bed, sitting there casually to watch.
Thank goodness. He didn’t seem annoyed.
So I sat down cross-legged on the floor and began to circulate Purple Sunset Divine Art.
As I ran my inner energy through my body according to the formula, I could distinctly feel a rising blaze of yang energy.
Right. That was it, wasn’t it? Purple Sunset Divine Art was an extreme yang art.
Since I was already practicing Ice Soul Divine Art, I could feel it even more clearly.
Inner energy like fire coursing through my whole body’s meridians.
If I released it outside my body, it would probably shimmer like violet flames.
But something was strange.
I’d only completed one circuit of the small heavenly cycle according to the formula, and the momentum was already no joke.
What was this? This didn’t quite match the formula.
And inside my body, I could feel another response that wasn’t mentioned in the text.
Huh…? Is this… Ice Soul Divine Art?
As I circulated Purple Sunset Divine Art, Ice Soul Divine Art began to operate naturally alongside it.
At first I didn’t think anything was seriously wrong, so I didn’t force Ice Soul Divine Art to stop.
But the two divine arts didn’t clash at all. They divided up their territories and ran together through my meridians.
What was this comforting feeling? Was this really okay?
Purple Sunset Divine Art had only just been learned, so it had no stars yet. Ice Soul Divine Art was four-star.
Maybe that was why the energy I felt in my body was much stronger from Ice Soul Divine Art.
But as the energy of Ice Soul Divine Art grew stronger, the power of Purple Sunset Divine Art began to grow as well.
Uh… was this really all right? Was this safe?
The energy of Purple Sunset Divine Art burned with fierce intensity, like a fire fed with dry logs.
For a technique I’d learned and used for the very first time, its power was absurd.
For a second, real fear shot through me, but strangely enough, I didn’t feel any actual danger.
For one thing, there was Ice Soul Divine Art.
No matter how much Purple Sunset Divine Art swelled, the cold of Ice Soul Divine Art remained stronger.
And it helped that Gyeokseon was sitting right in front of me.
If something went wrong, wouldn’t Gyeokseon be able to fix it? That was the kind of trust I had in him.
Though I had no idea whether he could really handle something like this.
In any case, I had two layers of safety, so I decided to leave it alone for the moment.
Purple Sunset Divine Art grew steadily stronger. The heat racing through my blood vessels grew more and more intense.
And after a long while, that energy became exactly as strong as Ice Soul Divine Art.
My body had reached a perfect balance without one side exceeding the other.
Wow… what was this? Now I was curious. How could this happen?
So I examined my own body.
This was happening inside me. If I didn’t understand it, that would be a problem, wouldn’t it?
I focused.
My dantian, my meridians, my extraordinary channels.
I inspected everything carefully and traced how the energy was moving.
Only then could I avoid future problems. And use it properly later, too.
And after studying it for a while, I thought I understood why.
When I compared the times I had circulated only Ice Soul Divine Art, only Purple Sunset Divine Art, and both together, the answer became clear.
This was probably due to the harmony of yin and yang, at least that was my guess.
I had already noticed something similar when I used Ice Soul Divine Art by itself.
When I circulated Ice Soul Divine Art and filled my body with yin energy, there was still excess energy left over.
I hadn’t understood it then, but now I think I do. That was yang energy.
In other words, it was like this.
When a refrigerator runs, the inside gets cold, and the outside releases heat.
Purple Sunset Divine Art was the same.
When I used it, the more yang energy it produced, the more yin energy appeared in its wake.
And so Ice Soul Divine Art responded to that yin energy naturally.
Purple Sunset Divine Art, an extreme yang art, and Ice Soul Divine Art, an extreme yin art.
When I circulated Purple Sunset Divine Art, the corresponding yin energy emerged, pure yin stripped of its yang.
So Ice Soul Divine Art rose of its own accord. That yin energy couldn’t be left alone, after all.
The reverse was true as well.
It was amazing. This was something enormous.
It felt like I was getting twice the internal energy for the same amount of effort.
And not only that, Purple Sunset Divine Art and Ice Soul Divine Art were supporting each other instead of interfering.
There was no clash, and no cancellation either.
Which meant I could even gather Ice Soul Divine Art in one hand and Purple Sunset Divine Art in the other.
After trying it for a while, I found that the left side held yang energy, while the right side held yin.
I tested it several times, but it was definitely more comfortable to wrap Purple Sunset Divine Art around my left hand and Ice Soul Divine Art around my right.
Mm. This is good. So I can use two martial arts at once like this?
Though my left hand still felt awkward. Should I start practicing doing things with my left hand right away?
Anyway, after trying a great many things, I began to gather my energy back in.
My internal force settled completely. Both energies returned whole and intact to my dantian.
When I opened my eyes after that… huh? The surroundings had gone dark.
"You’ve opened your eyes?"
And then I heard Gyeokseon’s voice. But his clothes were different from before.
Wait. Had he changed clothes?
"Yes. But is it already night? I’m sorry. I must have stayed too long and made things difficult for you, Senior…."
"You brat! It is not 'is it already night?' Three days have passed!"
"What!? Three days!?"
At first I thought Gyeokseon was teasing me.
But since it came from Gyeokseon, I had no choice but to believe it.
Gyeokseon wasn’t the kind of person to joke about something like that with me, was he?
Though hearing Gyeokseon joke at all was kind of eerie.
"Uh… wow. Three days…."
Ah. Right. It had been the same when I ate the fragment of the Ten-Thousand-Year Ice Crystal.
It had felt like only a little time had passed, but a full two days had gone by.
And Baek Jin-ah had stood guard beside me then.
So this time, too, Gyeokseon had ended up guarding me without meaning to.
But back then it had been because of the Ten-Thousand-Year Ice Crystal. This time, I’d done it all on my own.
How had I gone three full days like this? Had my concentration always been this ridiculous?
"And! What exactly did you do!? Don’t tell me you circulated Ice Soul Divine Art and Purple Sunset Divine Art at the same time!?"
Gyeokseon had been watching me the whole time, so it seemed he knew everything about my condition.
Well, someone like Gyeokseon would know. It would be strange if he didn’t.
So, without trying to hide anything, I told him everything I had done and everything I had felt.
Gyeokseon might know something more, after all.
"Th-that… is that even possible!? There is no way it should have happened so easily. Yin and yang harmony in a human body… it is still too early!"
"Mm… why not?"
"Men are yang, and women are yin."
"Ah…."
"Do you know why there are so few women in the martial world? It is because most martial arts are yang arts. That is also why the women of the Ice Palace are so strong. Their arts are rare yin arts, are they not? So for humans, born as men and women, it is not easy to achieve harmony between yin and yang."
And when I heard that, I actually thought, Isn’t that easier for me?
My mind is male. My body is female.
"Of course, it is not impossible. If that harmony is achieved, one surpasses the human realm. Does the brightness of a firefly matter before the full moon? It is the same thing. If one can harmonize energies vast enough to exceed the yin or yang humans are born with, then one transcends the realm."
"Ah… I see."
"But… how did you do it so easily!? How did that happen!?"
Actually, I’m a man. My body is female, but still.
Of course, that was something I couldn’t say even if my mouth split open.
Not even to Gyeokseon.
"I… don’t really know either."
That was the best answer I had. If I didn’t know, what could he do about it?
"Hngh…."
Gyeokseon let out a low groan and stared at me, full of suspicion and confusion.
But no matter how hard he stared, he wasn’t going to uncover anything.
There was no way he could ever imagine that my insides were male.
"Still, you said I was like this for three days…? No wonder I’m absolutely starving. Haha…."
Since it seemed like now was the time to leave, I said it a little awkwardly.
Gyeokseon, too, had nothing more to say and decided to take me out with him.
"Uh… I can eat by myself, though."
"Enough talk. Follow me."
"...Yes."
And so I obediently followed Gyeokseon.
He took me to the Murim Alliance’s kitchen and had the cooks prepare food in the middle of the night.
No. Could you please put it more gently? They were dragged out of bed in the dead of night to make food for us.
What if they had spat in it?
Anyway, while I ate the soft, easy food, I quietly opened my skill window.
And while I was eating, I nearly sprayed my food everywhere in shock.
Purple Sunset Divine Art had gone up to four stars.
No way. Was this because of Ice Soul Divine Art? That was the only explanation I could think of.
I could only conclude that Purple Sunset Divine Art had absorbed the yin energy of Ice Soul Divine Art while circulating, and that was why its stars had increased.
Mm. I’d struck the jackpot. I’d made a huge profit.
And this would keep being beneficial in the future too.
It meant that even if I ate an elixir heavily skewed toward either yin or yang, the opposing divine art would still rise along with it.