Chapter 55
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 55
Chapter Title: A Painful Rebirth
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Neung So-mil, trying his best to remain calm, asked Cho Ak-ryang.
“To be honest, I have no great ambition for martial arts. What use is there in learning a new internal art at my age?”
Cho Ak-ryang advised him earnestly.
“Think carefully. The chance to be the first to learn the greatest internal art in the martial world is rare. This will be a true blessing for you.”
“But I already have thirty years of accumulated internal energy...”
Han Seol-hwa let out a dry laugh.
At that moment, Beom Gye-wi couldn't hold back and interjected.
“Forget that useless junk! I'll wipe it clean for you.”
Neung So-mil was startled.
“W-Wipe it clean?”
Cho Ak-ryang looked at Neung So-mil with a bitter smile.
“Thirty years of internal energy might sound like a lot, but it's not that impressive. When it comes to internal energy, quality is more important than quantity.”
Han Seol-hwa nodded.
“Making a fuss over a mere thirty years. I gained that much internal energy within two years of my training.”
“It took me about a year.”
Not to be outdone by Cho Ak-ryang, Beom Gye-wi shouted.
“Six months for me!”
Cho Ak-ryang scowled and glared at Beom Gye-wi.
“Can't you at least pick the right time and place for your bluffs?”
Han Seol-hwa also shot Beom Gye-wi a displeased look.
Beom Gye-wi suddenly felt wronged.
“It's true! You can ask my master...”
“Didn't you say he passed away?”
“...”
Listening to the three of them, Neung So-mil felt an otherworldly sense of alienation.
But they were all martial prodigies, geniuses of a rare breed, so he had no way to refute them.
However, with his fate on the line, he couldn't just stand by.
They called it the greatest divine art under heaven, but he couldn't entrust his life to some unproven, pseudo-martial art.
Learning a martial art and creating one were two entirely different things.
‘Better to die than suffer!’
How many people had become cripples after falling into qi deviation while practicing internal arts created by some shoddy group?
“I am perfectly satisfied with my current state.”
At Neung So-mil's words, Cho Ak-ryang continued his persuasion with uncharacteristic persistence.
“Remember what happened with those Evil-Shattering Corps bastards. If you had learned this internal art, they would have been no match for you.”
“Well, in life, you go through all sorts of things, don't you?”
“We're guaranteeing it's the best internal art, you know?”
“Isn't that all the more reason someone as untalented as me shouldn't learn it? It would be a waste of the art.”
As the situation dragged on, Cho Ak-ryang's gaze began to turn cold.
He had exercised the utmost patience, but he was reaching his limit.
The same was true for Beom Gye-wi and Han Seol-hwa.
Just then, Sa Mu-sim, who was clearing the meal, sensed the unusual atmosphere and approached.
“If it's truly necessary, I will learn it.”
At those words, Beom Gye-wi exploded.
“What, you punk? Are you saying you're going to throw away all the internal energy we helped you build with the Azure Essence Oil?”
Cho Ak-ryang and Han Seol-hwa also flared up with killing intent.
Sa Mu-sim looked at Neung So-mil with pity in his eyes.
“Haaah! It's a shame, but it seems I cannot learn the internal art created by these esteemed individuals.”
But Neung So-mil was surprised for a different reason.
‘Azure Essence Oil?’
He had wondered what kind of medicine had changed the man so much, and it turned out to be Azure Essence Oil!
‘I'd be the same way!’
Of course, the world would feel like a field of flowers.
“My apologies. I was too greedy.”
Seeing Sa Mu-sim politely apologize and step back, a sliver of suspicion rose in Neung So-mil's mind.
‘Someone who has taken Azure Essence Oil is this disappointed?’
Neung So-mil's resolve wavered.
‘Could it really be a divine art?’
At that moment.
Feeling a formidable aura that felt like it could slice his entire body to pieces, Neung So-mil turned his head.
And then he froze.
Gazes that could kill a man a hundred times over were fixed on him, gleaming eerily.
“Did I ever have a choice in the first place?”
The three of them nodded simultaneously.
“If I refuse..., will I die?”
But an unexpected answer came back.
“No.”
Beom Gye-wi picked up where Cho Ak-ryang left off.
“We won't kill you.”
And Han Seol-hwa drove the point home.
“We won't *kill* you.”
“...”
A chill ran down Neung So-mil's spine.
That was far more terrifying than an outright threat of death.
Neung So-mil let out a sigh.
“Very well. But let's get one thing straight.”
Neung So-mil asked the three of them.
“So, you want to use me to confirm whether the martial art you three created is safe or not, is that right?”
“What does it matter? Whether you know or not, the outcome will be the same.”
At Beom Gye-wi's retort, Neung So-mil's expression turned serious.
“Because if I'm going to suffer, it's less frustrating if I know why.”
“Isn't it the other way around? Suffering willingly is just foolish.”
“I used to think so, but not anymore. After being betrayed without knowing why, my perspective on life changed.”
Beom Gye-wi nodded at his words.
“You're right. But I assure you, this is the greatest internal art in the history of the martial world!”
Cho Ak-ryang also nodded at Beom Gye-wi's statement.
“If I were twenty years younger, I would have given up my current internal energy to learn this.”
Han Seol-hwa added a word.
“This is the art that Physician Dan will learn. Do you think we would have created it carelessly?”
Hearing the confident assurances of the three, Neung So-mil began to feel a sliver of trust.
“What if there are problems? Like qi deviation, or other side effects.”
The three of them laughed simultaneously.
Because they had Dan Ak-seon, a reliable safety net.
“I guarantee it. You have found a great fortune here.”
The other two nodded at Cho Ak-ryang's words.
In the end, Neung So-mil made his decision.
No matter how skilled he was, there was no way he could shake them off and escape.
“Alright. I'll do it.”
And so, Neung So-mil became the first person to learn the Dignified Fire Divine Arts, the internal art that the three had poured their hearts and souls into creating.
* * *
To build internal energy, one must go through the process of qi circulation and cultivation.
It is the process of circulating true qi for one full cycle according to the incantations of the internal art, then storing it in the dantian.
One must repeat this qi circulation every single day for internal energy to begin accumulating in the dantian.
Therefore, internal energy was not merely a measure of a martial artist's strength.
It was the effort poured in over a lifetime.
It was akin to their very identity, proof of their life as a martial artist.
That was why martial artists would rather lose an arm than give up their internal energy.
It was that difficult of a decision.
As Neung So-mil hesitated until the very last moment, Cho Ak-ryang spoke.
—To fill something anew, you must first empty it.
As he steeled his resolve and nodded, Beom Gye-wi stepped forward.
A torrent of extreme yang true qi poured in through the Gate of Life point on his back, traveled along his qi meridians, and pierced into the Sea of Qi point where his dantian was located.
And in an instant, it burned away Neung So-mil's internal energy.
When internal energies of different natures collide, they naturally repel each other.
But the difference in level was so vast that resistance was impossible.
What followed was a sense of emptiness.
It was an agony that felt as if his entire life up to that point had been utterly negated.
He suddenly recalled the time he first learned internal arts.
Around the age of eight.
Having lost his family to a plague, Neung So-mil starved for three straight days.
Then, on the fourth day.
He sold himself to survive.
And so, Neung So-mil entered the Haomun, where every day was like hell.
He was forced to do all sorts of menial chores while enduring constant insults and violence.
Then, by a stroke of luck, he obtained a method for qi circulation.
It was a third-rate internal art, with no proper name and only a few incantations.
Even so, at the time, it felt like he had the whole world.
The process of accumulating internal energy was slow and arduous.
Even after training for over five years, he had only managed to accumulate about a year's worth of internal energy in his dantian.
But Neung So-mil was grateful for even that.
Then, he caught the eye of the Haomun's branch leader.
Under his guidance, Neung So-mil was finally able to receive a proper internal art.
For thirty years since then, he had not missed a single day of training his internal energy.
People came and went, money was gained and lost, but the internal energy he had built was entirely his own.
But now, even that was gone.
The sense of loss was indescribable.
Ten days passed like that.
The following ten days were excruciatingly painful.
Because Cho Ak-ryang and the other two had forcibly opened his Ren and Du meridians.
It was hard to believe, but the master of this valley, whom they called Physician Dan, had already opened his Ren and Du meridians.
So, to meet the same conditions, he too had to have his meridians opened.
They called it "opening," but the process was beyond compare to any torture he had ever endured.
A tidal wave of immense true qi became a massive pressure that tore through and overturned every part of his body.
He lost consciousness several times a day from the extreme pain of his body being ripped to shreds.
The pain was so intense that the revolving lantern of his life, said to appear before death, flashed before his eyes.
The year he turned fifteen.
Neung So-mil was in charge of errands and odd jobs at the Haomun's brothel and gambling den.
It was around that time he became close with others his age who had joined the Haomun under similar circumstances.
One day, a disciple from a famous sect died at the gambling den.
The cause of death was poisoning.
Neung So-mil and a friend, the ones who had brought him drinks and food, were identified as suspects.
The Haomun, which he had trusted to protect them, instead forced them to give a false testimony.
They were shown a portrait of a man and ordered to testify that he had instigated them to poison the victim.
In return, the Haomun leadership promised them safety and a higher position.
But Neung So-mil was not foolish enough to be deceived by such sweet talk.
He had not forgotten the fates of those who were used and discarded in such a manner.
Pretending to meekly follow the leadership's orders, he lulled them into a false sense of security, then seized an opportunity to escape with his friend.
To prepare for a possible pursuit, they fled for days and nights without rest.
It was then that he vowed to become someone no one could mess with.
And so, he took on a new identity and started a new life.
That was the beginning of the Shinsobang, started by the two of them.
Afterward, they went through countless hardships that are difficult to put into words.
But he was able to endure because he had a friend he could trust with his back.
That was why Lee Gyu's betrayal was all the more painful.
Because he was the only friend who had built the Shinsobang with him, sharing life, death, and everything in between.
‘But what's the point of it all.’
In the end, he had come full circle, his situation no different from the beginning.
This terrible pain was the same.
It was the price for entrusting his fate to Cho Ak-ryang to save his own life.
Nothing had improved from the time he sold himself to the Haomun to avoid starving to death.
However, when the seemingly endless time of suffering came to an end, Neung So-mil was able to face a changed world.
It was due to the changes in his body, which were so profound they surprised him.
Not only had his senses become incomparably sharper than before, but his reaction speed and cognitive abilities had also noticeably improved.
His physical strength was the same.
He no longer tired easily, and his stamina recovered at a frightening rate.
The final ten days were a series of astonishments.
It was because of the energy that had begun to settle in his dantian.
Circulating qi with his Ren and Du meridians open was certainly different.
The time it took to complete one full cycle of true qi was reduced by more than a third, and conversely, the amount of internal energy accumulated in his dantian was far greater.
Naturally, the speed at which his internal energy grew was on a whole other level.
The difference was like heaven and earth.
Moreover, as it was an internal art created with the utmost effort by three people comparable to grandmasters, his internal energy began to establish itself with tremendous force.
Cho Ak-ryang, Beom Gye-wi, and Han Seol-hwa also spared no effort.
To prevent any unforeseen incidents, at least one of them would always watch over Neung So-mil whenever he circulated his energy.
Through their conversations during this process, Neung So-mil came to understand just how much effort they had poured into the Dignified Fire Divine Arts.
And so, on the one-month anniversary of learning the Dignified Fire Divine Arts.
Neung So-mil, having finished his qi circulation, slowly opened his eyes.
And without realizing it, he let out a gasp of admiration.