Chapter 17
Chapter 17
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 17
Chapter Title: Emitting the Blue-White Light!
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“This gentleman is...”
“I will explain.”
Sang Gang-jo cut An Do-pil off in a quiet tone.
“I was on a mission for the Alliance Lord when I was discovered by the Demonic Emperor's Grand Union and pursued. If I were to return as things are, the Alliance Lord's location would be revealed. I came to the Dong-ro Branch while luring the pursuers away.”
“Did you lose the pursuers?”
Hyeong In-geol asked cautiously. He was worried the pursuers might storm the Dong-ro Branch.
“I lost them, so rest easy.”
Sang Gang-jo guessed what was worrying Hyeong In-geol.
But Sang Gang-jo said nothing about the mission he was entrusted with.
“How long will you be staying here?”
Hyeong In-geol's only concern was that the peace of the Dong-ro Branch would be shattered.
“Ten days or perhaps a fortnight. It won't be long.”
I knew nothing about Sang Gang-jo, other than the fact that he had been a Hall Master of the Martial Alliance thirteen years ago.
I only knew the rumors that circulated among the lower-ranking warriors: that he was a cold-blooded man without a shred of pity.
An Do-pil spoke to me, as if making a firm request.
“While this gentleman is here, he must hide his identity, so he will pose as a member of Team Three. Understand this and serve him well.”
“I have to serve him?”
“Well...”
An Do-pil hesitated when I spat out the words bluntly.
“If that's the case, I'm not confident I can do it. Why don't you keep him by your side and serve him, Branch Master?”
“If we did that, he could be discovered by the pursuers. That's why he's posing as a member of Team Three.”
An Do-pil glanced at Sang Gang-jo, trying to read his expression.
I said flatly.
“In any case, I will treat him only as a team member.”
“Did I not tell you? This man is from the Alliance Headquarters...”
As I walked silently toward the door, Sang Gang-jo stood up.
“Let's go together.”
Him following me meant he intended to abide by my words.
I liked that.
I led the way, with Sang Gang-jo following behind, as we walked to the Team Three quarters.
As we walked, I tried to eavesdrop on the conversation between An Do-pil and Hyeong In-geol, who remained in the Team One quarters.
“Branch Master, what is going on?”
“I don't know the details myself.”
I could hear them. The conversation between An Do-pil and Hyeong In-geol was as clear as if they were right beside me. But I didn't know why this was possible.
“Isn't he a close aide to the Alliance Lord?”
“As the Chief Hall Master, you could say he is.”
“The Chief Hall Master?”
“That's right. In terms of rank within the Alliance, he's a key executive, within the top ten.”
“Then how did he end up in such a state?”
“I don't know what his mission was, but I heard he lost all twelve of his trusted subordinates who were accompanying him while being pursued.”
“Good heavens!”
“I just hope nothing happens while he's here...”
“The Team Three Leader will do fine.”
“It's not that. I'm worried the pursuers will storm this place while the Chief Hall Master is here.”
“Ah! I see.”
***
As we neared the Team Three quarters, Sang Gang-jo suddenly threw a punch at the back of my head.
Having heard from An Do-pil about the Team Three Leader's brilliant exploits, it seemed Sang Gang-jo wanted to test how strong I was.
The punch came from just five feet behind me without the slightest hint of presence, but my body had already detected the surprise attack.
But I pretended not to notice and kept walking. Surely Sang Gang-jo wouldn't actually hit the back of my head.
I sensed his fist stop dead, just half a handspan from the back of my head, before being withdrawn.
As if I had eyes on the back of my head, I felt Sang Gang-jo give a faint smile.
But he did not see me smile.
***
A bright full moon hung in the night sky.
Out of habit, I was sitting cross-legged on the floor, attempting to circulate my energy.
'Starting' and 'attempting' are different. 'Starting' means to begin something you can do, while 'attempting' is to try something you may or may not be able to do.
In truth, my resolve to succeed in circulating my energy had faded. What could I do about something that just wouldn't work, no matter how much I tried?
Rather than just sitting or lying around blankly, doing this helped me relax and put my mind at ease.
So, in a way, this was a method of resting while attempting to circulate my energy.
‘Hm?’
Suddenly, I felt a coolness on the crown of my head.
It felt as if a piece of ice had been placed there.
‘What is this?’
Until that moment, it never once occurred to me that this could be related to energy circulation or the internal energy accumulated in my dantian.
I reflexively lifted my head and looked up.
‘What is that?’
A beam of pale, bluish-white light pierced through the ceiling and shone down on the bridge of my nose.
So, the coolness I felt on my crown earlier must have been because that light had touched it.
I didn't know what this blue-white light was, but seeing as it was shining on my head, I thought it might have something to do with me.
Another thought came to mind: the subterranean lake deep underground that I had fallen into during the cataclysm ten years ago.
I had sunk to the bottom of that lake, and when it rapidly froze over, I was trapped in the ice for ten years.
When I lowered my gaze from the ceiling and looked forward again, the cool energy bathed the crown of my head as before.
The cool energy lingered on my crown for a while, then I suddenly felt something in my dantian.
*Twitch!*
Then, I felt something flowing through the major meridians in my body.
‘What is this?’
I remained still for a while, observing what was happening in my body.
At first, the feeling of something flowing through my meridians was faint, but as time passed, it grew stronger, like a raging river.
Then, in an instant, a thought flashed through my mind.
‘This! Could this be energy circulation?’
Having practiced energy circulation steadily for three years and five months in the past, my mind didn't know what phenomena would occur, but my body remembered.
According to that memory, what was happening in my body right now was definitely energy circulation.
But my mind couldn't recall which heart art it was.
And I was bewildered as to why energy circulation was occurring when I hadn't even attempted it.
Then, a certain realization dawned on me.
‘Could it be that energy circulation has been constantly active within my body all this time?’
There's no way that energy circulation I hadn't even attempted would suddenly start on its own. And if it had, there's no way I wouldn't have felt the process.
Therefore, it was highly likely that energy circulation had been constantly active within my body without my knowledge.
Ever since I washed up on the banks of the Qiantang River.
I looked up again at the blue-white light piercing vertically through the ceiling.
‘That's right! Today is the full moon!’
The full moon is the day of the month when the moon is at its largest. That means today is the day when the moon's yin energy is at its strongest.
So, what was piercing through the ceiling and being absorbed into the crown of my head was the yin energy of the full moon.
It was this that made me realize a heart art was constantly circulating within my body.
But why did the yin energy of the full moon shine on my crown? It couldn't have been for no reason. The principles of nature never act without a cause.
A thought flashed in my mind.
‘Can I draw out my internal energy?’
With that thought, I carefully opened my right palm and channeled my internal energy.
*Ssshhhh...*
My palm became transparent, scattering a soft light.
‘Huh?!’
I was so startled I almost screamed.
When I rolled up my sleeve, my hand was transparent all the way to the elbow, emitting a soft, pale, bluish light—the blue-white light.
‘Is this internal energy? But why is it white, blue, and transparent?’
Because I didn't know what heart art I had learned in the past, I couldn't even begin to guess why this was happening.
I went outside to see for myself if it was truly internal energy, and if so, how to release it and how powerful it was.
Worried about being seen or making a loud noise by releasing the blue-white light, I walked for a while along the Qiantang River behind the Dong-ro Branch, stopping at a place where dozens of large and small boulders were gathered.
I went deep into the cluster of rocks so that my glowing hand wouldn't be visible from the outside.
Just as I had done in my room, I carefully gathered internal energy in my right hand.
*Ssshhhh...*
“Whoa!”
It gathered. It wasn't my imagination.
Like before, my right hand glowed a transparent blue-white, its outline only faintly visible.
‘What in the world is this? Why is it glowing blue and white?’
I examined my right hand from all angles.
‘Alright! What now? Can I release this?’
A hand glowing blue-white was useless on its own. It had to be put to use. It would only be useful if I could release it and hit a target.
‘Alright! Let's do it!’
I stared for a moment at a tall, slender boulder about my height, twenty feet away, then thrust my palm forward with all my might.
*Vwoom!*
A handful of blue-white light shot out from the center of my palm with a *swish*, startling me.
“Huh?”
*Crack!*
When the blue-white light hit the boulder, a sound erupted, like the cracking of a frozen lake in the dead of winter.
Normally, when a mass of light hits a boulder, you'd expect it to shatter and scatter in all directions. But surprisingly, the ball of light vanished without a trace, as if it had been absorbed into the rock.
The *crack!* from the boulder wasn't very loud, so it probably couldn't be heard from a distance.
I approached the middle section of the boulder where the blue-white light had hit—no, been absorbed—and examined it, but it was perfectly fine.
‘What? Could it be that this isn't internal energy?’
But then what was the *vwoom!* sound when I released it from my palm, and the *crack!* when it hit the boulder?
So, I carefully touched the area with my hand.
It was cold.
*Crumble! Crack!*
“Wha-?!”
I was so shocked I cried out involuntarily.
The part I had touched crumbled into fine stone dust.
Moreover, it was cold to the touch, like ice, and it glittered.
‘What on earth just happened?’
The question soon led to a guess.
‘Could it be that the light just now froze the boulder and shattered it?’
There was no other way to understand it. The boulder couldn't have crumbled just from my touch if nothing had happened to it.
I picked up a piece of stone that had just broken off the boulder.
‘It's cold!’
It was very cold. As cold as when I touched the boulder a moment ago. Looking closely, it was no different from a chunk of ice.
I opened my palm and tried gathering my internal energy again.
*Ssshhhh...*
Just like before, my palm glowed with a translucent, blue-white light. Looking at it again, it was even beautiful.
I looked around and this time, I focused on a boulder twice the size of the previous one, about thirty feet away.
‘Alright! Let's try drawing out a bit more energy.’
A moment ago, I used thirty percent of my energy; this time, I'd use sixty.
I gathered sixty percent of my energy, twice as much as before, into my palm and thrust it forcefully toward the boulder thirty feet away.
*VWOOM!*
*CRACK!*
A sound similar to before, but louder, erupted as the blue-white light was absorbed into the boulder it struck.
This time, however, before I could even get close enough to touch it, the area struck by the blue-white light shattered on its own, collapsing into pieces.
*Rumble! Thud!*
Then, the middle of the boulder snapped clean in half, and the top portion fell heavily to the ground.
It was clear that the internal energy I had produced—the blue-white light—had struck the boulder, turned it to ice, and shattered it.
“Hahaha! This is incredible!”
In the few days since I'd returned to the world after thirteen years, I'd had no reason to laugh. But now, laughter burst out of me uncontrollably.