Class (1)
Hyun Si-woon’s condition when he stepped into the room was nowhere near as good as he had hoped.
“Cough!”
It was not the heavy reverse flow of blood from before, yet a thin trickle still spilled from his lips.
Internal injuries.
“Haa…”
The moment he sank onto the sofa, strength drained from his entire body like an ebbing tide.
Not a technique I can throw around freely.
The price of burning everything into a single strike had been merciless. His dantian was hollowed out, and the qi and blood throughout his body twisted and rampaged of their own accord, as if they meant to shred flesh and grind bone.
- What do you mean, use it often? What did this lady tell you!
Ugh, enough with the nagging already.
- Your qi and blood are in reverse flow. You were lucky this time—it stopped short of a grave wound—but one wrong step and you could have fallen into qi deviation! Do you understand what that means? You would live out the rest of your life as a cripple who can never again use martial arts.
What are you talking about? If I was going to end up a cripple, I’d just regress.
- ……You little—!
Ha-wol was struck speechless. On second thought, he was not wrong.
This brat dies and comes back to life, doesn’t he?
The realization left her feeling bitterly unfair, yet she launched into another round of scolding all the same.
- Did this lady not warn you? With that kind of thinking you will never reach the Profound Realm—you will not even cross the threshold of the Transformation Realm. Have you already forgotten that the technique just now only succeeded by a miracle because you were thrashing about just to stay alive?
I know, I know.
Hyun Si-woon waved a hand dismissively. He had heard it all before. Keep listening and his ears would grow calluses.
Just do something about this qi and blood, will you? I feel like I’m actually going to die.
- Haaah.
Ha-wol let out a long sigh.
- Come to think of it, even your resurrection ability has a save point, does it not? If you had become a cripple this time, dying and coming back would still have left you a cripple. Am I wrong?
Hey, you just said I didn’t become a cripple. One wrong step and I would have, but I didn’t take that wrong step, right?
- In any case, be more careful from now on. First, sit in the lotus position and gather your mind. Circulate your breath and perform inner vision. You must pinpoint exactly which meridians are blocked and tangled.
At her words Hyun Si-woon settled onto the floor in the lotus position and closed his eyes.
“Hooo…”
As he steadied his breathing, he felt the last thread-thin remnants of energy lingering around his empty dantian. Having already passed the Heart Lake stage, observing the interior of his own body was well within his ability.
Thump. Thump.
The heartbeat that had pounded in his ears receded, and the whole world fell silent. At last a single landscape unfolded within his consciousness.
Countless waterways—his meridians.
He had seen them before. Yet they looked different now. The rivers of qi that should have flowed in calm order were surging backward, colliding madly in every direction; several channels had dried up completely and snapped. A red mist of blood filled the caverns of his body like fog. It was the scene of a disaster under a raging storm.
Ha-wol’s voice reached him.
- The Hand Shaoyin Heart Meridian linked to the Tanzhong point behind the sternum is on the verge of breaking. Beneath the shoulder blade, around the Gaohuang point, the qi has tangled into a massive dam.
As expected of Ha-wol. She diagnosed the ambiguous places with perfect precision.
So what do I do?
- Do not try to force them open in haste. First draw out the last of the energy remaining in your dantian, thin as a needle.
Hyun Si-woon followed her guidance and began wringing out the final ember of his dantian. It demanded absolute concentration.
- Clean. Now aim that energy toward the Tanzhong point. Do not collide head-on; open a path barely alongside the reverse-flowing current, like a salmon swimming upstream.
Okay.
He had to be careful. The slightest failure of control and the turbulent torrent of qi would sweep him away, scattering even the last of his inner energy.
Beads of sweat formed on Hyun Si-woon’s brow.
Not easy.
- For someone who says that, you are doing rather well.
His needle of energy carefully touched the thinned meridian. As if handling a gossamer spider’s thread, he gently wrapped his qi around both sides of the channel.
- Good. Now use that energy to join the two ends of the precarious Hand Shaoyin Heart Meridian. Think of it as temporarily connecting ropes across a broken bridge. You cannot repair it perfectly, but you can raise supports so it does not collapse any further.
Martial arts were akin to medicine. In truth, as Hyun Si-woon came to understand the formulas of the Moon Spirit Heart Art, he had come to pride himself on knowing the circulation of human qi and blood more deeply than most physicians. Pressing acupoints and reading the pulse? By now it was easier for him than breathing.
……!
He held his breath. At his will, silver-white energy was drawn out like thread and began to weave the two ends of the near-severed meridian together with gentle care.
One strand, two strands, three…
Honestly, I probably would have made a pretty good doctor if I’d skipped gaming.
With qi alone there was no need to open a patient’s belly with a scalpel. He could have become famous as a divine physician who performed surgery by touch alone.
- Concentrate, you brat!
Ah, sorry.
She always caught his wandering thoughts with uncanny accuracy.
Sssrk!
The threads of energy finally bound the precarious meridian tight. It no longer got swept away by the reverse-flowing qi and began to hold its shape, however barely. Emergency treatment was complete, for the moment.
- Well done. Now we must go to the real problem—the Gaohuang point. That is the source of every reverse flow of qi and blood. You must untie the knotted mass of energy.
Right.
Hyun Si-woon’s needle of qi halted before the vast dam of energy. At its core the qi had blackened and hardened like stone.
- Now, that dam must be brought down, but your energy is nowhere near enough. Stab the weakest single point—right there, where the current whirls.
Where?
- The edge where the flow of qi is unstable. You see it, do you not?
Ah.
He saw it. Having reached the Soft Form stage, finding an opening in anything was easy.
- Make a small hole in the dam and the pressure of the water that has been held back will destroy the dam on its own. Stab, seal, stab again—widen the hole little by little. Grow impatient and your own energy will be swallowed first.
Hyun Si-woon held his breath once more. Once, twice, thrice. Following Ha-wol’s instructions he poked the weak spot of the dam with his needle of qi.
Tuk. Tuk. Tuk.
With every tiny crack that formed, the suppressed energy tried to force its way out in a frenzy. Each time, Hyun Si-woon hastily withdrew his qi and sealed the hole. The precarious work of reinforcing a crumbling levee continued for hours.
How much time had passed? At last the cracks in the dam crossed the critical threshold.
Kwaaaaaaaaa!
The repressed torrent of qi exploded outward and shattered the entire dam. The blocked meridians opened with a sudden, exhilarating rush—and at the same instant a tearing agony flooded through him.
“Kehek!”
Blood burst from Hyun Si-woon’s mouth once more. Stagnant blood.
- Done! From here is the real beginning!
Ha-wol’s voice dropped lower still.
- Begin the Small Heavenly Cycle.
If the Great Heavenly Cycle circulated energy through every major meridian and the Eight Extraordinary Vessels of the whole body, the Small Heavenly Cycle was the core highway that ran only the Conception and Governing Vessels—the front and back axis of the human form.
One circuit, two circuits, three. With each successive loop the flow of energy grew smoother and stronger. Turbid qi cleared; parched meridians drank moisture. The damaged walls of the channels crumbled away, and new energy filled their places, building pathways broader and sturdier than before.
Amazing.
Hyun Si-woon marveled as he watched the process of destruction and reconstruction. Martial arts truly were mysterious. To be able to heal oneself by sensation alone!
How much time flowed by?
Whoa!
He shuddered. The fullness he felt inside his body was of an entirely different order. Beyond the mere recovery of his internal injuries, his inner energy itself was becoming purer by another degree.
- In the murim they also call it break then establish. Only after something has been shattered can it stand whole.
Guess I should push myself a little harder from now on.
- Quiet. You still have far to go. Now comes the Great Heavenly Cycle. Circulate all Twelve Principal Meridians of the body!
Yes, Master.
Hyun Si-woon sank once more into deep samadhi. His energy stretched out to the tips of his arms and legs, to every joint of finger and toe. The sensation of every cell in his body awakening.
In that way three full days and nights passed.
Meanwhile, outside Hyun Si-woon’s door.
“…It’s already been two days.”
Baek Yeon-ho fretted, gripping and releasing the doorknob over and over. The other members stood beside him with equally worried faces.
“Something’s wrong, right? There’s no other reason he’d stay inside for two whole days without a word.”
“Maybe the internal injuries got worse?”
They were certain he was still in the room. They too could sense energy, at least a little.
“I can’t take it. I’m opening it.”
In the end Baek Yeon-ho could hold back no longer and laid his hand on the knob.
“Wait a moment.”
Kang Si-a stopped him.
“Huh?”
“Everyone, please go back.”
“Why?”
“I think it’s better if you just leave. Oppa Si-woon is safe.”
In truth, behind her stood the spirit form of Chu Pung with his arms folded. He was speaking.
- Best not to touch him. From the looks of it he is performing a light treatment of his qi and blood while running the Great Heavenly Cycle. Interrupting him would not be dangerous, but it could easily make the process take longer.
Kang Si-a planted herself squarely in front of the door and issued an eviction order to the rest of the party. Then she quietly settled into the lotus position before the entrance, laid Chu Pung’s bow across her knees, and closed her eyes.
- Yes. We call that standing guard—the role of protector.
Protector. Guarding someone.
Oppa had always protected her, had always protected every member of their climbing party. They had passed through countless moments of crisis thanks to his help. Now that solid pillar of theirs had curled up for a short while to heal his own wounds.
In that case?
Now it was her turn to stand watch over him.
I won’t let anyone disturb him.
She drew every one of her senses to the absolute limit. The faint currents of air brushing the corridor, the distant breaths of the residents, even the cries of night insects—everything painted itself with stark clarity inside her consciousness.
And so she kept the post of protector in silence.
“Hoo.”
Hyun Si-woon opened his eyes. Deep in his pupils a moonlight-like gleam of inner light flashed once and vanished.
Hm?
The sensation was different. His dantian felt far deeper than before, and his meridians far tougher as well.
Ssshk.
The instant he rose to his feet, Hyun Si-woon spread his hand by pure instinct.
Swaaaaaa.
At his will, the energy of his dantian bloomed above his palm as sword qi.
“…!”
It worked. Far denser and more stable than before.
- Oh?
Ha-wol’s spirit form widened her eyes as well. This was the initial form of Moon Aura—the first step toward becoming a peak master who could extend the sword qi that once stayed only at the tip of a blade and wrap it around the body itself.
This feeling…
It was not the sensation of forcibly draping sword qi over his body. It was the sensation of linking the qi inside and outside his form, of opening a path so that energy naturally enfolded him through that flow. And it happened of its own accord, without conscious effort.
This might actually work.
Hyun Si-woon’s heart began to pound. The realm he had failed to reach no matter how hard he tried for six months—the realm Ha-wol had said would take another twenty years of training—
Right now, he felt as though he could finally attain Moon Aura.