Dantian Explosion
Dantian Explosion
Ever since the day Jeokryeon shed her suspicions about me, she began to instruct me with all her heart and soul.
Although we hadn't officially established a master-disciple relationship, her dedication was every bit as great, lacking nothing.
"What is the most important thing during the Qi Refining stage?"
"Gathering spiritual energy?"
"Normally, that would be correct. But in Mangnyeonggye, where the concentration of spiritual energy is thin, sensing it is more important than gathering it."
Jeokryeon spread her palm and gathered spiritual energy from the air.
As a wind of spiritual energy surged over her palm, the amount of spiritual energy inside the cave dwelling plummeted rapidly.
It felt stifling, as if I were underwater.
Pleased by my reaction, she shook her hand, releasing the spiritual energy.
"Your qi sense is definitely innate. Considering you have a garbage spiritual root, it's a blessing in disguise."
"Doesn't everyone basically sense it?"
"That might be true if spiritual energy were abundant. But cultivators here in Mangnyeonggye learn a special cultivation method called Qi Sensing Technique so as not to miss even a speck of dust-like spiritual energy."
According to Jeokryeon, sensory-related techniques had developed abnormally here just to scrape out every last drop from the absolute bottom.
Qi sense, spiritual sense, divine sense, soul sense, pulse sense, spell sense, blood sense, and so on.
Cultivators in Mangnyeonggye were so obsessed with spiritual energy that they categorized and studied senses that would normally be lumped together under divine sense alone.
"Having a good qi sense is a magnificent talent in Mangnyeonggye. There was even a sect called Gamgijong that was founded purely by delving into that single qi sense. Although it went extinct long ago, their traces became the foundation for numerous cultivation techniques."
Jeokryeon handed over all sorts of sensory cultivation techniques to me.
The pile was so vast that it reached up to my waist.
"Those are the basics. Once you read and master them all, let's move on to the next step."
"You want me to memorize all of this?"
I've read fewer books than this in real life, haven't I?
"Is it too little? Well, I suppose someone like you will master it in no time."
"Huh?"
Before I even had a chance to question her, the height of the stack had already surpassed my head.
Jeokryeon winked one eye and said,
"Since it's quite a lot, would about two days be enough?"
This woman is doing this even though she knows I'm struggling.
But I'd be the idiot if I didn't do it.
Swallowing my tears, I nodded.
"If I may offer some advice, start your studying after mastering the Divine Sense technique first. Normally, one can only properly use divine sense upon reaching the Foundation Establishment stage, but in Mangnyeonggye, if you can't use divine sense, they won't even treat you as a cultivator."
She added that learning divine sense would increase my reading speed.
That it would slam the contents of the books straight into my head.
"Oh, ooh!"
And when I did as told, my whole body writhed at the bizarre sensation of my brain being kneaded.
Jeokryeon merely enjoyed watching my suffering in silence.
"Now, moving on. A cultivator who trains the body is called a Body Cultivator, and a cultivator who mainly uses spells is called a Spell Cultivator. Those who train in both are called Dual Body and Spell Cultivators."
Jeokryeon tossed a sword to me, then beckoned with her finger.
"Come at me with the genuine intent to kill me. If you manage to make my body move even a little, I'll give you a special reward."
As if doing it on purpose, Jeokryeon disarmed herself completely, ending up half-naked with only a single robe draped over her.
Looking at the white, pale skin glimpsed intermittently between her clothes, naughty imaginations arose as to what kind of reward she might give, but I shook them off and gripped the sword.
"You've got some form, don't you? Where did you learn that?"
"No, nowhere."
Truthfully, I did learn Kendo because it was in my high school curriculum.
But I only did it for a year anyway, so I forgot it all.
"Do you have talent as a Sword Cultivator too? Well, doesn't matter. Come at me."
I charged with all my might.
Though it was only the 1st layer of Qi Refining, that strength was that of a superhuman beyond ordinary mortals.
The force loaded into the sword was powerful enough to slice a human body in a single strike.
Kkaang!
Jeokryeon blocked such an attack of mine with just her bare palm.
No spiritual energy was infused into it. Yet the blade couldn't even pierce that delicate patch of skin.
"It's not that your attack doesn't work because my realm is higher. It's purely because my physical body is strong enough to ignore bladed weapons."
"Are you the Body Cultivator you mentioned earlier?"
"To be exact, a Dual Body and Spell Cultivator."
Jeokryeon concentrated a tiny bit of spiritual energy on the palm holding the sword and detonated it.
I was blasted backward as I was and slammed into the wall.
"Keu-heuk."
"Dual Body and Spell Cultivators are rare in other realms, but they are common in Mangnyeonggye. You know why, right?"
"Because of that damn spiritual energy..."
"Correct. When spiritual energy is too scarce even to raise one's realm, there's even less spiritual energy to use in battle. That's why research focused on conserving it as much as possible and using it efficiently."
Dual Body and Spell Cultivation was basic; along with Divine Sense Arts that crushed opponents to death using divine sense, Soul-Subduing Arts that broke the mind, Array Arts deployed using the target's own spiritual energy, Blood Arts focusing on vitality, and so on.
Because all kinds of creative and insidious cultivation methods overflowed here, if you fought with fixed preconceptions, you would die immediately, she said.
"You will walk the path of Dual Body and Spell Cultivation too. Furthermore, you will train your Divine Sense Arts and Qi Sense Arts even more. Will it end there? Scrape up and master every other miscellaneous trick out there, tooth and nail. Only then can you survive even a day longer."
Jeokryeon briefly wore a lonely expression before returning to a relaxed smile.
"Get up. Your body must be itching after doing nothing but reading books. Let's loosen up properly."
"For some reason, I feel like I'll go right back to studying even after this is over?"
"Of course. Next time, I'll teach you the Hundred Arts of Cultivation. You should at least know how to brew pills out of humans or demon beasts, right?"
"No..."
"If you won't come, I'll go to you."
I was beaten to the point where my whole body was bruised by an excited Jeokryeon.
Though bruised, perhaps because I was nevertheless in the Qi Refining stage, I was able to walk properly.
"Now, lastly, let's try breaking through to the minor stage."
"Eumeumueumu."
My face was so swollen that my words came out weird.
Jeokryeon covered her mouth for a moment with her sleeve, then went back to acting like a serious master.
Yet the corners of her mouth kept twitching.
Well, as long as she's enjoying it, whatever.
"Ahem. In your dantian, an excessive amount of spiritual energy has gathered for someone at the 1st layer of Qi Refining. But it's not particularly uncomfortable, is it?"
"Eumu."
"Ahem! Ahem! The Azure Wood Qi Absorption Technique you handed over is a cultivation method used by righteous cultivators, as well as a Qi Sensing Technique. The better your qi sense, the better that technique gathers spiritual energy and expands the size of your dantian. With an amount like yours, it could be said to be 1.5 times more than those in the Donggyeong Region."
"Eumu! Eumumumu!"
Dammit, Jeokryeon! Giving such a precious cultivation technique to me!
"Pfff! Ah, anyway, now that you've gathered it all, you should hurry up and break through the minor stage to reach the 2nd layer, right? I'll teach you how."
I sit cross-legged and listen to the explanation.
"Breaking through the minor stage of Qi Refining is no big deal. You expand the dantian. Expand it and expand it, making that dantian become one with yourself."
I focus on the spiritual energy filled inside me.
I push back the walls of the dantian with the tightly packed spiritual energy.
"I'll replenish any spiritual energy you lack during the breakthrough. It's a bit inefficient, but spiritual energy at the Qi Refining stage is nothing."
Her cold touch reaches my back.
Through my spine, extremely refined pure spiritual energy rushes in like a wave.
"...!"
"Endure it even if it hurts. If you make a sound right now, the breakthrough will fail, and the spiritual energy you worked so hard to gather will leak out. The dantian shrinking will be an added bonus."
Clenching my teeth, I look deeper inside myself.
Then my body floated up, guiding me inward.
When I opened my eyes, it was the inside of the dantian.
To be exact, it was the inner world that I imagined.
I was trapped unable to move at all, like a mountaineer caught in an avalanche or a vacationer buried in a sand bath.
Even as I flailed my hands and feet, the walls of spiritual energy pressed down on me even harder.
Just when a sense of crisis struck that I might get crushed flat like this, I felt a deep sense of annoyance and boredom.
'Is this really the right way to do this?'
If it were the standard method, breaking through Qi Refining would be a process done patiently over time, like the old man whittling a walking stick.
This body's aptitude and resources were insufficient to do it rapidly all at once, and trying to do so might even kill me.
'Is it really something worth suffering this much for?'
Though they say joy comes after hardship, it was stressing me out a bit.
I came to have fun. I didn't come to cultivate while wringing my brains out.
'Let's detonate it.'
A strange intuition struck me. If I exploded the spiritual energy right in front of me, the dantian would expand to a terrifying size.
Instead, if I couldn't endure it, my body would burst apart and die.
'Before that, I need to lay down a solid groundwork.'
An urge to detonate it immediately arose, but since I didn't want to die helplessly, I did the preliminary work.
That work was suffocating and tough, but perhaps because it was the path I chose, I only found it enjoyable.
'In games, fun comes first.'
I firmly protect the inside and outside of the dantian with spiritual energy.
Along with that, I take care of the heart and brain.
I wanted to care for the other organs too, but if I used any more spiritual energy than this, I wouldn't have enough spiritual energy left to actually break through.
— Wait, what are you trying to do?
A flustered voice was heard from the outside, but it couldn't be helped.
'Take good care of me so I don't die.'
Now that the preparations were roughly finished, I pressed the detonation switch.
'Art is an explosion.'
Boom!!!
The dantian crumbles down.
The walls collapse and shower down upon me.
Crunch!
My eyes pop from the pressure. My internal organs spill out of my abdomen.
My lungs are in tatters. My arms and legs have turned into lumps of meat.
"Keu-heuh-heuh-heuh."
A fatal wound where dying wouldn't be surprising in the least.
Instead, the dantian is intact. In fact, it has grown tremendously larger than during the 1st layer.
"Absurd... The dantian expanded more than double?"
Looking up at Jeokryeon whose expression had completely shattered, I spat blood and phlegm as I spoke,
"Save me..."
"Puha! You're really a fool."
Jeokryeon lifted my head and laid it on her lap.
Ah, what a pity I can't see because I have no eyes. There must have been a wonderful view.
"When you wake up, you'll be fully recovered. Noona will take good care of you."
First a servant, and now a younger brother?
Before I even had time to tease her about this sudden promotion in status, the screen went dark.
Anyway, reached the 2nd layer of Qi Refining!
'I should do it like this next time too.'
If noona heard that, would she have smacked my back?
Exploding the dantian to advance to the next realm.
It was truly a primitive and foolish method.
Even so, he succeeded.
Perhaps it was only possible due to his heavenly qi sense and her own help.
"What a foolish younger brother..."
Using the recovery pills she possessed, she brought her younger brother back to life.
His blood-drenched form returned to normal, breathing softly on her lap.
"What am I going to do with you...?"
At first, it was a whim. It was definitely a mistake committed out of a whim and stubbornness, but—
— Jeokryeon, come out. It's inspection time.
"..........."
Is it that time already?
Using Telekinesis Arts, she laid her younger brother on the bed and stood up.
Before leaving, she spoke a greeting she was offering for the first time.
"I'll be back."
Whether I would truly return or not, I wasn't sure.
I merely hoped so.