Chapter 3
Chapter 3
School Ghost Story (1)
The first step is the hardest. After that, it becomes easy.
I kept repeating the meridian diagram in my mind while breathing.
A threadlike strand of qi settled in my chest, in the middle dantian.
Refine the body, gather the qi.
That line from the Heavenly Demon Divine Art surfaced in my mind.
Even though I had never properly learned Chinese characters, I understood it naturally.
Qi follows intent and flows.
Intent stays within the dantian.
The cultivation formula burned into my mind guided the qi toward my middle dantian.
Qi was not only in the air. It also existed inside my body.
Some of it flowed through the twelve meridians like air currents, while other parts were stagnant and massive, like molten iron pooling in different places.
“Urgh—!”
All the energy in the twelve meridians rushed toward the middle dantian, and unbearable pain swept through my entire body.
I wanted to roll on the floor and break my cross-legged stance.
My whole body felt like it was burning.
If blood vessels were being seared with a hot iron rod, it would probably feel like this.
A metallic, bloody smell filled my mouth.
I clenched my teeth so hard I thought they might break, forcing myself to continue breathing through the pain.
If the qi entering through breathing was a spark, then the energy rushing through my meridians toward the dantian was molten lava.
“Ghhhhh—!”
A burning sensation. Even my groans smelled like scorched iron.
The stronger the pain became, the clearer my will grew.
A single flame ignited inside my mind.
One point of heart fire ignites.
Use suffering as sacred firewood.
A voice echoed like an hallucination.
Swallow suffering and become demonic.
That is what fuels the sacred flame.
The moment all the pain that wrapped around my body condensed into my chest, my vision flashed white.
“Haa…”
I opened my half-closed eyes.
The warmth that had engulfed my body was gone.
Instead, a hot presence burned within my chest.
The sacred flame had settled in my middle dantian, pulsing like a second heart.
It felt like I had grown another heart inside my body.
With trembling fingers, I immediately opened the post window.
Title: I’ve got a flame thing in my chest is this the sacred flame?
Author: me (8.8)
just asking
Reply: GalaxySmile: what is this guy even saying
Reply: SerialKimchiMaker: He’s saying he formed a flame in his chest.
Reply: GalaxySmile: LOL stop lying, even the greatest geniuses can’t form a dantian and ignite sacred flame this fast, this Heavenly Demon Divine Art is broken lol
Reply: me (8.8): I just breathed and something like molten metal in my meridians gathered and happened
Reply: GalaxySmile: there’s no way that exists in someone who never learned martial arts, especially in a world without spiritual medicine ☆
Reply: me (8.8): ? I’m serious it hurt like hell
Reply: GalaxySmile: it hurting is weird too… awakening sacred flame shouldn’t be painful… what did you do??
Being openly doubted made me slightly annoyed.
Maybe I should try it like this.
I recalled the Heavenly Demon Divine Art and guided the flame resting in my middle dantian downward.
“Oh.”
It worked.
The qi moved through my chest, down my abdomen, through my waist and pelvis, and finally reached the soles of my feet.
Was this Yongcheon point?
Carefully, I stood up.
Ah.
Just having qi flow into my lower body was enough to stop me from collapsing.
I could walk.
Slowly, step by step, I moved forward.
The sensation I had forgotten returned to me.
So this is what it felt like to walk.
Reply: KawaiiHighschoolGirl: anon, you there?
Reply: me (8.8): yeah
Reply: KawaiiHighschoolGirl: did your body have any illness in your original world?
Reply: me (8.8): I was terminal. I would’ve died soon if I didn’t come to the tower
Reply: KawaiiHighschoolGirl: ah, that explains it
Reply: GalaxySmile: ohhh that changes things
It felt like they were talking among themselves again, like “ah, so that’s it.”
Just tell me directly…
Reply: me (8.8): explain properly please…
Reply: KawaiiHighschoolGirl: what you felt like lava is probably innate qi. cultivated qi is acquired qi. innate qi is what humans are born with
Reply: me (8.8): ok got it
Reply: KawaiiHighschoolGirl: innate qi is normally sealed in the extraordinary meridians because if it leaks, you die
Something clicked faintly in my mind.
Reply: me (8.8): that felt insanely strong though
Reply: KawaiiHighschoolGirl: that’s the problem. if acquired qi is low-voltage electricity, innate qi is high-voltage. meridians are designed for different levels. if you force high voltage into low-capacity channels, what happens?
Reply: me (8.8): it burns out
Now it made sense why even my doctor couldn’t figure it out.
Reply: KawaiiHighschoolGirl: exactly. modern medicine wouldn’t detect that at all
So my illness wasn’t a normal physical disease.
Reply: KawaiiHighschoolGirl: your condition is called severed meridian syndrome. your extraordinary meridians are damaged, so innate qi leaks out and burns you from within
So that molten iron inside my meridians…
It was my own innate qi destroying me from the inside.
The waiting room had sealed the broken channels, and the leaked innate qi had become fuel for the sacred flame.
I didn’t have to worry about the illness anymore.
Strangely enough, I felt relieved.
Then I thought of my doctor’s smile.
She would’ve been happy to know this.
Now I could never tell her.
Tick.
Tick.
A sound suddenly echoed in my ears.
A clock.
My spine went cold.
I checked the screen.
[00:00:08]
Less than ten seconds left.
I grabbed the weapon and ran toward the spatial gate.
My body moved on its own now. I could run.
A blue light swallowed my vision.
You have entered First Sinkhole World, School Ghost Story.
Description: This world originally had no supernatural entities. But a schoolgirl’s prank ritual accidentally connected to something beyond the ██ ██. Ah, a world without ghosts. A world without resistance to ghosts. What happens when ghosts descend into such a world?
World destruction.
Even minor anomalies can lead to world-ending consequences.
This world was simply unlucky.
A snowball effect started from a schoolgirl’s prank and grew far beyond control.
Preventing the emergence of anomalies is not allowed.
However, intervening right after emergence, before they evolve into world-ending entities, is possible.
Adversary, you have entered a branching point of First Sinkhole World.
Stop the anomalies and save this world.
That is the only way to save your own.
Clear conditions:
Resolve the Five Urban Legends of Inshin Middle School.
???
A damp smell hit me.
Moisture so thick it stung my nose snapped me awake.
“Spit.”
I pushed myself up from the ground, spitting sand from my mouth.
Asphalt, wet moss, and darkness.
It was a pitch-black night with no moon or stars.
Only a flickering streetlight illuminated the surroundings.
When I looked up slightly, I saw a rusted iron gate stained red like dried blood, and beside it a tilted nameplate.
Inshin Middle School.
A chilling name.
Creeeeak—
The gate opened by itself.
The sound of scratching chalk made me instinctively step back.
Then I realized.
A wall.
An invisible barrier surrounded everything.
The only path forward was the gate leading into the school.
I checked my body.
My hospital gown was gone. I was now wearing a neat school uniform.
So the system equips appropriate clothing for the world.
I tried opening the gallery.
Nothing.
[Interdimensional interference prevents access.]
No advice.
I picked up the weapon lying on the ground.
A short sword, lighter than a wooden practice blade but strangely heavy.
I hadn’t even properly learned how to use a sword.
Still, I had to try.
There’s no way they would place a useless weapon here.
I focused the sacred flame into my arms.
Let it flow.
The Heavenly Demon Divine Art surfaced in my mind, calming me.
I swung the sword experimentally.
Vmmm—
It felt lighter.
After a few swings, the motion became smoother.
Good. I can do this.
I stepped into the school.
The decaying concrete building and the creaking wooden sounds made goosebumps rise across my skin.
The darkness itself felt suffocating.
School ghost stories were the most classic kind.
And classics exist because they work.
But compared to hospital ghost stories…
I had survived ten years in a hospital bed.
I had endured every terrifying thing my doctor used to warn me about.
My trembling legs stopped.
Step by step, I moved forward.
Thud. Thud. Thud.
A rhythmic sound approached from the darkness.
Something massive was moving.
First objective: Statue.
It didn’t need explanation.
A statue of General Kim Yushin on horseback blocked the entrance.
It was over three meters tall, holding a massive halberd nearly two meters long.
And I.
Only had a short sword about 80 centimeters long.
Are you serious?
The confidence I had just built collapsed instantly.
No other path existed.
Only this entrance was usable.
My thoughts accelerated.
It’s only the first floor. A tutorial stage. There has to be a method.
But no hints appeared.
Unless… it wasn’t hostile?
No. I couldn’t gamble my life on that.
My only options were the Heavenly Demon Divine Art I had just learned and the sword in my hand.
I circulated the sacred flame into my arm meridians.
If I release everything in one strike…
My body might burn out, but it was worth attempting.
I organized my thoughts.
One. If it doesn’t attack first, I postpone it.
Two. If it attacks, I retreat.
Three. If I can’t escape, I strike with everything I have.
I stepped forward carefully.
The statue stopped.
It looked at me.
I looked away instinctively.
Slash.
Pain exploded through my body.
My mouth opened but no sound came out.
My vision spun.
Something was falling into my ears.
Then I realized.
It wasn’t the world spinning.
It was my head.
Black worms twisted in my vision, staring at me with grotesque eyes.
Rage surged through me.
I’m going to die like this?
After finally escaping death?
Like this?
To something so absurd?
My thoughts faded.
I refused.
I refuse this ending.
I—
[Adversary Kim Muhan has awakened a hidden trait.]
[“What matters is an unbreakable mind” has been acquired.]
[Returning to waiting room.]