Chapter 30
Chapter 30
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 30
Chapter Title: Cliffside Descent
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“Kyaaah!”
“You mad bastard!”
Whoosh—a vicious wind sliced past his ears.
Damn it all!
In truth, Baek Yang-hui was confident he could handle a cliff like this without breaking a sweat.
No matter that his current martial arts were only third-rate; with the prowess from his past life, it was no big deal.
The problem was...
“Kyaaak! Kyaaaak!”
Zhuge Seol-ha’s screams, each one rippling outward like waves of her Peach Blossom Qi.
“Seol-ha, quiet down!”
“Kyaaaak!”
Asking a delicate girl, who’d spent her life suppressing herself, to keep quiet while plummeting off a cliff might have been too much.
He immediately went for plan B.
With her pressure points sealed, Zhuge Seol-ha’s eyes drifted shut smoothly, and Baek Yang-hui desperately circulated his Harmonious Heaven Principle Origin Art.
The Harmonious Heaven Qi, with its nature of embracing all things, merged seamlessly with the invading Peach Blossom Qi inside her body.
Got it!
Next, jam something into the cliff face to slow their fall... Damn, no sword.
With no choice, he was about to shove his hand into the rock when—
Screee!
Something hurtled down from above, even faster than they were falling.
Baek Yang-hui swiftly reached out and snatched the sword from the air.
At least you’ve got a shred of conscience.
It was a wooden sword, not steel, but it’d keep his hand from getting mangled. Good enough.
Clutching Zhuge Seol-ha, Baek Yang-hui jammed the wooden sword into the cliff wall, slowing their descent.
Screeeech!
Still, the ground rushed up far too fast.
He could use a landing technique to avoid injury, but that’d mean tossing Seol-ha aside.
Land as they were, though, and at least one of their legs would crack for sure. Baek Yang-hui quickly channeled his Harmonious Heaven Qi into his legs.
Seol-ha, it’s gonna be a bumpy landing.
Ten zhang to the ground. Five zhang. Three.
Finally, one.
“Hah!”
Both feet hit the earth squarely. Shock rippled up through his soles.
In that instant, Baek Yang-hui’s body began undulating from his ankles upward like a wave.
The ripple surged toward his head. He thrust both arms skyward.
The moment it reached his fingertips, he gave the cradled Zhuge Seol-ha a gentle push.
Her body soared over ten zhang into the air. Thanks to channeling the fall’s impact through his soles via qi, even a light shove sent her flying high.
Impact dispersed. Catching her’s a piece of cake.
Baek Yang-hui safely caught the descending Zhuge Seol-ha and finally let out a breath.
“Whoa, we almost died for real.”
And he meant it—he’d truly thought this was the end.
Cold sweat from that brief fall drenched his face.
“...”
She won’t hear that, right? Yeah, she won’t. Even if she does, I couldn’t hold it in.
“Think being my disciple makes you special, you... you...”
Brat trapped in a kid’s body!
He couldn’t spit out the last word. It felt too likely she’d hear it.
Damn it. Fine, I’ll hold my tongue since you tossed me that wooden sword.
Baek Yang-hui carefully set Zhuge Seol-ha down and sat cross-legged.
He’d used every bit of inner energy to absorb the fall’s shock, leaving his dantian empty.
Even if it was rice-grain-sized compared to his past life, he needed to refill it for peace of mind.
“Suuuup... Haaaah.”
He was focusing intently on circulating his qi, even taking deliberate deep breaths, when he noticed the air growing colder.
“Mm...”
Zhuge Seol-ha let out a low groan, her consciousness returning.
Considering the amount of qi he’d pushed in to seal her points, she should’ve had time, but the chill was waking her faster.
Eh, my qi control’s sharp and my dantian small, so this works out.
Efficient circulation meant quick recovery.
The issue was that once she woke fully, the Peach Blossom Qi would start acting up again.
“...”
Baek Yang-hui recalled his first thought upon realizing her constitution.
Maybe... the Harmonious Heaven Principle Origin Art could offset the Peach Blossom Body’s side effects.
The Baek Clan Manor’s foundational art was the Principle Harmony Six Unions Art, blending internal and external cultivation to draw in qi via the six harmonies principle.
In his past life, Baek Yang-hui had built from that foundation to create a divine-level technique.
That was the Harmonious Heaven Principle Origin Art.
An internal art centered on embracing all qi under heaven and refining it to its origin.
All qi has its own nature and properties. And Harmonious Heaven Qi’s nature is embrace.
Embrace and harmonize. Fuse everything into one, make it your own.
Use that property right, and it could neutralize Peach Blossom Qi.
However.
Teaching it to Zhuge Seol-ha wouldn’t help.
The art didn’t include methods for the upper dantian.
Without reaching Super Peak and linking the three dantians herself, she couldn’t handle the upper dantian’s Peach Blossom Qi now.
But I can infuse it for her.
Interfering with someone else’s upper dantian was tantamount to murder.
But Baek Yang-hui trusted himself.
He’d reached Super Peak in his past life and opened his upper dantian.
Plus, his inner energy’s Harmonious Heaven Qi was embracing and harmonizing by nature—low risk.
“Suuuup... Hooo.”
Taking a deep breath, he placed his hand on her forehead, precisely the INH acupoint.
The gateway to heaven is the crown’s Baihui, but the vessel holding derived spirit energy, the upper dantian, centers on INH.
Harmonious Heaven Qi flowed from the center of his palm, the Laogong acupoint, seeping into her forehead.
Direct intrusion into the upper dantian’s too risky, even with Harmonious Heaven Qi.
But forming a thin membrane around its exterior? That could be done safely.
It required extremely precise qi control, though...
That was the moment.
Hm? The Precept Pearl...?
From the Precept Pearl at his dantian’s core, a pure, profound energy flowed out.
Mingling with the qi stream linking her forehead and his heart-center.
Qi exchange... Impossible at my current level. What’s going on?
Mind gives birth, qi follows. His intent arose, and the qi obeyed.
The Harmonious Heaven Qi, fused with Precept Qi, wrapped her upper dantian exactly as he willed.
He’d perfectly replicated the mind-follows-qi subtlety, a prerequisite for the intent-made-real realm only Peak experts could achieve.
“Hooo...”
Finishing the procedure, Baek Yang-hui exhaled deeply and withdrew his hand.
Didn’t expect this bonus.
Never thought he’d grasp mind-follows-qi overexertion at third-rate level.
Like succeeding at a master calligrapher’s script without knowing how to hold a brush.
He’d sensed from its creation that the Precept Pearl and Precept Qi were extraordinary.
This confirmed its link to time reversal. Baek Yang-hui woke Zhuge Seol-ha.
“Seol-ha. Zhuge Seol-ha. Wanna wake up?”
“Mm...”
Low groan, eyes fluttering open.
“...Where...? Ah.”
Zhuge Seol-ha clapped a hand over her mouth, eyes wide like a rabbit’s.
Baek Yang-hui grinned at the sight.
“Good, it worked. You can talk, so lower your hand.”
“Mmph, mmph.”
Not quite believing it, apparently. Baek Yang-hui scratched his head, then yelped “Wah!”
“Kyak! Mmph! Huh?”
She screamed in surprise, covered her mouth—then widened her eyes.
“Feel it too, right? The Peach Blossom Qi isn’t spreading.”
Nod, nod.
“It’ll hold for a while, so talk freely.”
“...Really? Mmph.”
Habitually covering her mouth again, she cautiously lowered her hand and spoke.
“For real... Mmph. It’s true...”
Her trailing voice turned to a sob.
“Hic, it’s real... Sob, it’s true...”
The sobs grew into heaving wails.
“Waaah! Hic, Father! Waaah, Mother...!”
Baek Yang-hui watched her with pity.
Was gonna head out right away, but no helping it.
“You’ve been through hell, huh? Cry it out. Let it all go.”
He patted her shoulder.
If it were his little sister Yeon-yeon, he’d hug her, but he couldn’t flout the seven-years-separate-boys-and-girls rule, so patting it was.
About fifteen minutes passed like that, until her tears subsided.
“Young Master Baek. What happened?”
Baek Yang-hui scratched his head for real this time.
“Didn’t we agree to be same-age friends? Formal speech just embarrasses me.”
“But you sealed my Peach Blossom Qi. It’s improper to speak casually to my benefactor.”
“It’s not permanent, just temporary.”
“Still.”
Hm. Uncle really raised her right.
True to a prestigious clan.
“Still feels awkward. We’re fellow disciples now—call me senior brother.”
“No way.”
“Huh?”
Zhuge Seol-ha stared straight at him.
“Pardon, but may I know your birth date?”
“...Why?”
“When fellow disciples are the same age and initiation date, they compare birth dates to set seniority. I might be the senior.”
“...When’s yours?”
“Second month.”
Second month of twelve. Tough to beat on birthday.
A bit of a cheat, but no choice.
“Mine’s first month, so senior brother it is.”
“...Really?”
“Why lie about this?”
“On the honor of the Baek Clan?”
“...”
Instead of answering, Baek Yang-hui met her gaze steadily.
She stared back with an innocent expression, unflinching.
She wasn’t usually this bold—what changed?
“Orphan beggar, picked my own birthday. It’s New Year’s Day—first month, first day.”
“...”
Turning Zhuge Seol-ha speechless, Baek Yang-hui grinned.
“So, I’m senior brother?”
“...I’ll call you Senior Brother. Thank you again for your grace, Senior Brother.”
“Good.”
Anyway, time to figure out where they were.
The temperature kept dropping even as they talked.
Great. Now it’s snowing.
That instant, the scenery warped like a mirage.
The cliff base had been lush forest; now it was blanketed in snow everywhere.
The location had shifted to a snowy mountain.
“Senior Brother, looks like a formation.”
“Agreed.”
Formation: A technique distorting natural energies via special object arrangements, creating illusion-like phenomena.
“Zhuge Clan’s famed for formations. See a way to break it, junior sister?”
“Sorry. My studies aren’t deep enough.”
“It’s fine. Wasn’t expecting it anyway.”
“...”
Zhuge Seol-ha tried to play it cool, but couldn’t hide the pout.
Now she’s acting her age. Cute.
Chucking softly, Baek Yang-hui eyed the snow-covered path stretching far.
“Got it roughly. Endure the cold and reach the peak, I bet.”
No matter how far you walked, the summit wouldn’t near.
An endless path testing endurance against cold and despair.
Man, this really drove home that Eum Hu was an old man over a century old.
Such an outdated method. Even street novels don’t use this cliché anymore.
Baek Yang-hui raised the wooden sword.
“Senior Brother, what’re you doing?”
“Watch and learn, junior sister.”
Sorry, but he had no intention of playing along with Eum Hu’s initiation rite.