Chapter 7: The Sunflower Manual
While Shanghua was lost in confusion, Jin Myeong’s voice continued without pause.
“When the bone is badly injured, apply cold compresses. When the swelling subsides a little, switch to hot compresses. It heals quickly. I saw it in Hwan-gwa… no, in the medical text.”
His low, steady voice sank deep into her unsettled mind.
The question of how Jin Myeong had learned that his family members practiced martial arts vanished without a trace. Shanghua’s consciousness followed only the sound of his voice.
Hwan-gwa? Is that the title of the medical text? When did Ming learn all this from the medical text?
She was drifting off in some strange direction, not realizing she had almost blurted out the truth about learning from the Imperial Physician when she was still a eunuch.
Warm.
The ice was cold, but Jin Myeong’s hand holding it was warm. The heat traveled up her wrist and into her chest, making her heart flutter.
“And you should prepare for situations like this. You know that, right? How many Zhong Tianxiang-type bastards have there been so far?”
“Yeah.”
“Those kinds of bad people are everywhere. We can’t keep enduring things like today, can we? Right?”
“Yeah.”
Shanghua answered reflexively, as if her mind had wandered far away. Her entire focus was locked on Jin Myeong’s face and the warmth of his body.
“The biggest problem is that our sister is really pretty. Kids, you know how to recognize pretty people.”
“Yeah… yeah? No, no! What I meant was—”
She realized her mistake and tried to correct herself, but Jin Myeong’s next words cut her off.
“Really, pretty people think they’re pretty. None of the old sayings are wrong.”
Whether Shanghua liked it or not.
Jin Myeong wrapped the ice in a cloth and tied it gently to her wrist. He met her flustered, stammering gaze.
I didn’t mean it that way… haa…! How can there be such a sudden way to come in?
She was the lively, sparkling one among the Thirteen Flowers, but she only thought it inside. On the surface, she was completely flustered and couldn’t say a word.
It was because Jin Myeong had called her pretty and it had hurt her deeply.
“But when did our Shanghua become so quiet? Our sister has finally decided to become a gentle lady?”
Jin Myeong’s face, voice, and body heat were exactly the same as in the morning. Yet she saw him kneeling there, smiling faintly and looking up at her with an unfamiliar expression. Somehow, she could no longer meet his eyes directly.
***
Late night after the meal had ended.
I and the aunties gathered in Grandmother’s room.
It was not something to be shared with the public, so only the aunties were present.
The aunties were the core and heart of the current Yuwol Pavilion.
“Sit down.”
“Yes, Grandmother.”
The aunties answered in unison, their expressions more serious than ever.
Late-night meetings were rare, so everyone wore serious faces.
“Today is a meaningful day for all of us. Jin Myeong, come forward.”
While imagining the developments ahead, Grandmother suddenly told her to come out, surprising her. But she stood up boldly.
“Yes, Grandmother.”
I walked steadily from beside the wet nurse and stood before Grandmother.
If I was this flustered, the thirty-two years I had survived in the vicious palace would be meaningless.
Once, see what happens.
***
With my back to Grandmother, I sat in half-lotus position on the bed.
“Jin Myeong asked this old man one question.”
After I sat down, Grandmother began quietly. The aunties looked solemn, probably having received a signal from Zheng Hui the wet nurse.
Since the martial arts they had hidden until now had been exposed to me—who had never noticed them—it was no trivial matter for the aunties.
The martial arts of Yuwol Pavilion were definitely not ordinary.
If I counted the martial artists who had passed through Yuwol Pavilion’s generations, there would be countless. Among them were several peak-realm experts, and perhaps even Transformation-realm masters.
The fact that they had not been discovered proved that Yuwol Pavilion’s martial arts were extraordinary.
Of course, those experts might have some connection to Yuwol Pavilion or remain silent for some promise.
Anyway, the answers to my various questions would come from Grandmother.
Now was the time to focus on her voice.
“The old man and the family members learned martial arts, you ask? Surprising. How did you know? Hehehe!”
Was she asking me? It was hard to read Grandmother’s intention.
While I pondered, Grandmother continued.
“Jin Myeong’s question comes first, then the old man’s. The answer should come from this side first. Yes, that’s right. We all learned martial arts. We are martial artists.”
“Understood. I had a feeling. When the wet nurse and sister hugged me, I felt it.”
Since I had already confirmed it, I answered calmly and glanced left and right. The aunties all sighed softly.
It would be embarrassing for them how I had known their secret without knowing martial arts.
Anyway, Grandmother’s decision to come out from the shadows to the light seemed unexpected.
“It is also related to Jin Myeong’s birth. When he comes of age, I planned to reveal it. But it is fate. The true name of Yuwol Pavilion is Shengmu Palace.”
“Shengmu Palace!”
“Have you heard?”
“No, I just thought I knew the real name of our house and it was surprising.”
No, of course I had heard.
The origin of all martial arts in the world is Shaolin!
A sect with a history as old as Shaolin, which proudly claims that all martial arts in the world originate from Shaolin.
A sect of women!
The origin of the Hanbing martial arts that freeze people with cold and ice!
It was said that the lineage of Shengmu Palace, which had hidden its traces after being attacked by the Shin Cult, continued.
Moreover, it was our house.
Somehow, the women in the house never aged easily, staying young all night.
But why was Shengmu Palace, located on Jade Dragon Snow Mountain in Yunnan Province more than four thousand five hundred li away, in Yingtianfu?
What had happened?
For thirty-two years before regression, Yuwol Pavilion had remained here.
It had never been revealed as Shengmu Palace.
“Shengmu Palace is a sect of women. Its history is over a thousand years. Details will come later. This time, Halmi asks. How did you know that the family members learned martial arts?”
When Grandmother asked, all eyes focused on me as if they had been waiting for it.
“I also learned martial arts. It’s not much yet, but—”
“Wow! You learned martial arts? Where? Who taught you? Zheng Hui?”
“No. I didn’t teach it.”
The grandmother shook her head with trembling eyes.
The grandmother probably did not truly suspect the wet nurse.
Perhaps she was only asking if there was something she knew.
“Yes, that makes sense. It cannot be learned by a man. How many martial arts are there to recognize the sealed Yin-yang Qi of the current sound and flower?”
The grandmother’s face was the most surprised expression I had ever seen from her.
“According to records, there are three: Shaolin’s Prajna Great Ability, Shin Cult’s Thousand Autumn Demon Transformation, and Dongfang’s Sunflower Manual. Of the existing ones, it is Shaolin and Shin Cult.”
The wet nurse’s answer was the same.
Zheng Hui the wet nurse also glanced at me with trembling eyes and answered. When I heard the wet nurse’s response, I finally understood the aunties’ shock.
It meant that the sealed Yin-yang Qi of Shengmu Palace was a Qi so rare that even experts would have difficulty noticing it if sealed.
I had casually recognized such a Qi. In other words, unless it was the Sunflower Manual, I could not have recognized it.
As expected, I had found a great new skill.
“Now, it might be added one more. Jin Myeong could not have learned Shaolin or Shin Cult’s martial arts, and the old world’s number-one family Sunflower Manual is extinct… so will you tell me?”
Originally, one does not ask about the opponent’s martial arts origin and background before they speak first, according to Jianghu etiquette.
Since it was not an obscure sect and it was Shengmu Palace with a long history and awareness of being a martial artist, the grandmother seemed somewhat cautious.
There was no need. We are one family.
“The grandmother and Yuwol Pavilion are my family, so of course I should know. That is why I asked first. The name of the martial arts I learned is…”
Again, the aunties’ eyes gathered on me.
Being looked at like this felt different from when I was a concubine.
When I was a eunuch, what kind of interest was it?
Whether out of jealousy or twisted personality, they suspected the other’s intentions.
Not calling me a eunuch or castrated, but looking down on me.
Even if they seemed to respect my dignity and authority, inwardly thinking lowly of me with all sorts of vulgar thoughts. Wasn’t that the case?
Probably, other eunuchs were the same.
“The Sunflower Manual.”
“Hm?”
When I answered with a faint smile, the grandmother asked in a dazed expression and the aunties had deflated expressions.
It could not be. I was joking without substance.
“… Jin Myeong!”
The wet nurse shouted lowly, perhaps embarrassed by the sight.
“It is true. The Sunflower Manual that Dongfang Guihua learned five hundred years ago.”
Had these women lived only in the world?
Before regression, I was a carefree child who did not know the world’s affairs, happy in the grandmother and wet nurse’s arms. But now it was different.
[……]
Even with my repeated emphasis, the atmosphere in the hall remained unchanged.
No choice. I had to make them believe.
“Wet nurse, since I trust you the most, I am showing it to you.”
“Hm?”
“There is a technique called Harmony Qi Absorption. From now on, I will show it.”
“Harmony Qi Absorption!”
The wet nurse exclaimed when she heard my explanation.
The wet nurse would have instinctively felt it when she heard of Harmony Qi Absorption.
That it might be the real Sunflower Manual.
Since I knew the specific technique name of the disconnected new skill without knowing the world’s affairs.
I grabbed the wet nurse’s hand and sat down, shocked.
Then, slowly recalling the method of Harmony Qi Absorption, the wet nurse’s palm and Qihai acupoint opened. The Qi sleeping in the wet nurse’s whole body began to gather at the Qihai acupoint.
Since it was happening in real time in her body, the wet nurse herself would feel it most vividly.
“Hah!”
“If this starts, the wet nurse will not be able to move. Stay still for a moment. I will not hurt you, right?”
Holding her other hand tightly as her eyes widened like tearing, patting her, the surprise and confusion in her heart seemed to subside a bit.
Since it was the wet nurse who trusted me, this much. If it had been someone else, she might have been surprised and fallen into qi deviation.
I had never felt the sensation of Qi being forcibly sucked out.
Unless it was some kind of cultivation, a martial artist would usually writhe in instinctive repulsion.
“Now, this time, I will return it.”
I returned the Yin-yang separated and then purified and merged Yin-yang Qi through Harmony Qi Absorption to the wet nurse, slowly.
I completed the circulation of Harmony Qi Absorption.
“How is it, wet nurse? Okay?”
“Zheng Hui! What happened? Is it true?”
The grandmother, noticing the demonstration had ended after hearing my words, asked with an urgent voice.
She asked, but in fact, the grandmother had probably realized it when she saw the wet nurse’s reaction.
Of course, we had the grandmother’s old hand.
“The Qi moved. It could not be stopped. It escaped to Jin Myeong through the Qihai acupoint and came back.”
“Wow! Confirmed?”
“Yes, Mother. It is true.”
The wet nurse who experienced it directly did not even realize that she had called the grandmother “Mother”.
“Wow…! The original form of the Great Absorption Art, the day when the old man sees the ideal world with his own eyes. What on earth happened?”
[!!!!!!]
The grandmother and the aunties, in shock, burst into long sighs.
Three hundred years ago, what martial art did the Kuang Mo who appeared like a storm in Jianghu create?
Its name is famous: the Great Absorption Art.
Why did the grandmother suddenly bring up the Great Absorption Art?
Because the Great Absorption Art was a martial art created by imitating the Harmony Qi Absorption of the Sunflower Manual by the Mad Demon.