〈 Episode 604 〉 Heart Fist.
Fwoooosh.
Above the traces of the massively perforated iceberg, heat haze was rising.
Blue flames fluttered in the wind, flickering.
The heat and smoke mixed with the blizzard, asserting their presence.
It was an overwhelming sight.
It wasn't Mount Tai, but the sight of a mountain's upper half being blown away in a single strike was truly indescribable.
And.
"Crazy."
I, who had created that spectacle, had to stare at the iceberg with a thoroughly bewildered expression.
"What the hell is that?"
All that from a single fist swung lightly.
I hurriedly examined my hand.
There was absolutely nothing wrong with it.
Meaning, after unleashing such energy, not a single trace remained.
'What the fuck...'
I couldn't understand it.
What was that strike just now?
Did I really do that?
I had no energy, and it wasn't even a proper attacking posture.
It was merely a desperate attack swung just to survive, and yet.
'...To think it created such a spectacle.'
It wasn't impossible.
If I gathered all the internal energy from my entire body and detonated it at a single point, I could probably produce that level of destructive force, but.
'I didn't even use internal energy just now.'
Just now, it was truly strength fueled by only a handful of internal energy.
Just what the hell was going on...
"...!"
Stagger-!
While trying to assess the situation, my legs suddenly gave out and I collapsed.
I barely managed to hold my posture and avoid falling completely, but.
Beeeeeep-!
This time, even ringing in my ears.
Booooom---!!
Even indescribable vibrations were being felt throughout my body.
"Hah... huff... hahk..."
My breathing twisted and nausea welled up.
How could I explain this?
The sensation that not just the strength supporting my body, but even the internal vessel had been shaken to its very core.
It was maddeningly dizzying.
Drip drip.
A nosebleed.
I had already been bleeding from the nose from getting hit.
On top of that, it started flowing in thick drops now.
Tak-.
It was hard to endure, so I planted one hand on the ground.
Blood trickled down onto the snow.
A body that felt completely broken.
Feeling this, I tried desperately to catch my breath, but.
"...Heh heh..."
I heard the voice of Paejon in front of me.
It was a hollow laugh.
"It's absurd."
It wasn't a situation where I could reply. Meanwhile, I was slightly anxious.
I was in this state, so he wouldn't beat me more, right?
That was quite unsettling.
If he had taken that head-on, even Paejon might not have known what would have happened to him.
Immediately after swinging my fist.
Until the moment the energy burst out, I had the Mind's Eye activated, so I could see everything.
The lines visible on Paejon were all devoured and extinguished by the energy I unleashed.
That meant, other than dodging, Paejon had had no other method then.
Just as he had truly escaped a brush with death.
I was somewhat worried that Paejon, angered by this, might harm me, but.
"I'm torn whether to praise you or curse you."
Fortunately, he didn't seem to have any intention of hitting me anymore.
Paejon approached me.
"In all my life, I've never seen someone gain enlightenment while trying to beat their master."
Enlightenment?
Wondering what he meant, I tried to raise my head.
"Stay still. Move wrongly from there and you shall die."
Hearing the warning, I obediently stiffened my body.
"Focus only on breathing. Your soul is shaken to its very core. Act hastily and your vessel will shatter."
As he spat out the explanation, Paejon placed his hand on my back.
Hwoooook-!
Starting from Paejon's palm, the energies that had been in chaos inside gradually began to correct their flow.
"I said you were something else, but to think you were this much."
Even in the midst of this, Paejon kept talking.
While helping organize the energy.
If it wavered even slightly, both of us could be swept up by qi deviation.
Therefore, the proper method is to concentrate not even on words but solely on breathing.
But Paejon didn't seem to care about such things.
Rather.
"How did it feel?"
He somehow seemed to be enjoying himself.
Even though he had been beating me mercilessly just moments ago.
'The feeling.'
What feeling was he asking about?
"I'm asking how it feels to have set foot in the domain of the Mental Image."
"...!"
My eyes widened at Paejon's words.
Surprised, my energy wavered, but Paejon nonchalantly grabbed and organized it.
'The Mental Image?'
I had heard of it before.
The domain of the Mental Image.
A realm similar to yet different from what martial artists reach while learning martial arts and training.
A realm where one grinds and polishes the soul to build a form based on the martial artist's physical body and expresses it.
For swordsmen, it is said to be the position of Unity of Body and Sword.
It was said to be the realm where one could finally wield the absolute power called Heart Sword.
Furthermore.
'The realm where one can properly use the Hwalyunseong.'
The power of Guga that can only be used upon entering the domain of the Mental Image.
Not the half-baked Hwalyunseong I used, but the position where one can use the proper Hwalyunseong.
In other words.
'...Does that mean I've reached that place?'
It was hard to believe.
How could that happen so suddenly?
Then.
"As I said before. You haven't crossed over; you've merely stepped on it."
Paejon seemed to have read my mind and added an explanation.
"Though it is regrettable that you haven't fully crossed over... merely stepping on it is a great feat in itself."
If Paejon, who was stingy with praise, said it was great, it couldn't be anything but tremendous.
'Then, what I used just now too...'
The power that blew away the upper ridge of the iceberg in one blow. Was that the power of the Mental Image?
Since I didn't use a sword, it's not Heart Sword.
Should it be called Heart Fist?
'Certainly...'
Thinking that way, I understood Paejon's question about how it felt.
Because it truly had been a strange sensation.
In performing the movement, energy was not the main thing.
Not the dantian, but inside the heart.
No, a position that couldn't even be clearly pointed to as simply "inside."
Immediately after extending my fist, I felt something escaping from that place.
Something being pulled out entirely.
Afterward, feeling terrible emptiness, before long the body lost its center.
That was the sensation.
"That is what using the soul originally means."
"Huu..."
My trembling breathing roughly returned.
"When the vessel called 'I' is complete. When the conviction of where I wish to go is fully built. Only then does the soul finally obtain form and construct a domain."
It was difficult.
Both the words and their meaning.
Merely listening, I couldn't understand them at all.
"The Mental Image is, in short, using the path I have walked thus far as power."
Breathing, of course, and gradually energy too began to stabilize.
"With shallow enlightenment and path, far from reaching it, you cannot even lay eyes upon it."
Paejon's hand slowly fell from my back.
Only then could I raise my head, which had been looking only at the ground.
"Since you've succeeded in stepping on it, you can be seen as having achieved half of it."
"...Ahh..."
I slowly tried out my voice.
Fortunately, there seemed to be no problem making sound.
"Then, does that mean what happened just now is a power like Heart Sword?"
"Who knows."
"Huh?"
Who knows?
In the moment of bewilderment at the unexpected answer.
Paejon smiled and continued.
"How did it look to you?"
"...I asked precisely because I don't know?"
"Then try seeking the answer until you clearly realize it."
"That's..."
"My disciple. Do you know why Heart Sword is called Heart Sword?"
I had to furrow my brows at the question.
How would I know that? I hadn't even known about the Mental Image for long.
"Swordsmen live their whole lives with swords. Therefore, the first thing they build upon entering the domain is a sword."
The soul takes the form of a sword.
That is why it is Heart Sword.
"Because the shape of the path they have lived was a sword. They themselves are convinced that their soul's form is the shape of a sword. That is why it is Heart Sword."
"Then that means."
"The shape and meaning of the power you expressed. You must find out yourself, not ask others."
"..."
The form of the soul lived.
The shape of the mental image one is convinced of.
What was it that manifested from the tip of my fist just now?
I didn't really know.
I wasn't certain of anything.
'I.'
The form of the soul created inside my body.
What kind of appearance does it truly have?
Can I simply call it Heart Fist just because I unleashed it with my fist?
Such concern brushed past, but.
'...It's too difficult, so let's just call it Heart Fist for now.'
That was the best option for me now. While I was thinking that.
"If there is something I find a bit questionable...."
I had to lend my ear to Paejon's words.
Questionable?
"It would be that you are not yet prepared."
"Huh? I'm not prepared?"
"The framework of the vessel's completion is roughly in place. But I thought it was too much to reach the Mental Image, and that it wasn't yet time to teach you. That you stepped over alone is somewhat questionable."
"..."
Physical conditions were met, but.
It meant he saw reaching the domain of the Mental Image as too much due to lacking enlightenment.
'...Does that mean he even intended to teach it?'
I don't know how he planned to teach this unknown realm, but.
To leave this as questionable, knowing what kind of monster the person called Paejon is, I decided to just let it go.
Anyway.
It meant that in Paejon's eyes, I wasn't even at a level to look upon it yet.
Paejon seemed to find it strange that I could step even halfway into it in such a situation.
'That's questionable to me too.'
I was glad that I seemed to have gotten stronger somehow, but.
It was strange that I had reached it now, at a lower realm than my previous life, when I couldn't do it even then.
He said the establishment of conviction was important for creating the Mental Image.
'Conviction...'
I couldn't find my bearings and was still standing at a crossroads.
Though I was in a position where I couldn't be sure of anything.
There was no way such a thing had been achieved.
Which means.
'No way...'
I recalled the conversation with the Blood Qi from just before.
That guy who suddenly appeared and spoke to me.
He had clearly said this to me.
[I shall help you.]
That he would help.
Because I was entangled in a troublesome situation, he would help me just this once.
Could that have been the cause?
Could that be the reason I could suddenly use Heart Fist?
'To say it isn't...'
I couldn't think of anything else.
The burning-like heat I had felt then, and the Blood Qi's smile as it looked at me.
Everything felt irritating and bothersome.
[We are Dragons.]
Even that crazy bullshit I last heard.
"..."
Thinking I obtained this power through his help, it felt uncomfortable and unpleasant.
While I was silent for a moment with that thought.
Paejon, who had been watching me quietly, spoke.
"It seems something is bothering you."
He seemed to have noticed something from my sour expression.
It was truly a shame I wasn't wearing a mask at a time like this.
"It's nothing."
I tried to pretend it was nothing, but Paejon just snickered upon hearing my words.
As if saying 'As if that's true.'
Whatever the case, it was fortunate that I had reached the Mental Image.
Should I think that way?
'It's not like I'm in a position to be choosy.'
I must not be particular about means and methods.
I had definitely made up my mind like that.
Even so, the discomfort didn't disappear.
'Think positively.'
I got stronger.
Whatever the case, I had broken through to another realm.
And obtained a power comparable to my previous life.
I had to be satisfied with that.
I slowly raised my body.
'First, I need to properly figure out what this is.'
Exactly how to use it.
How much power it contains.
And how much I can use it.
Grasping this was the priority-.
Thud-!
"Kuk."
My knee, which had barely tried to rise, buckled again.
Puh-huk.
Then blood burst from my mouth.
The amount was different from the blood flowing from my nose earlier.
What the fuck? Why is this happening again?
'Didn't Paejon help settle my energy?'
I tried covering my mouth, but blood kept flowing through the gaps between my fingers.
"Ah."
Paejon, seeing me like this, let out a short exclamation.
"Seems I couldn't catch the recoil. Heh heh."
"What do you... mean..."
I couldn't finish voicing the question.
Thud-! Thud thud-!
Because tremendous pain was felt along with vibrations inside my body.
I immediately clutched my chest and trembled violently.
It really fucking hurt.
"I organized your energy so your body wouldn't explode, but I couldn't catch the recoil from using power beyond your level."
A very frightening remark came from ahead, but it wasn't the time to care about that.
Thud-!
The pain surged up to my head.
This wasn't a level where enduring was even possible.
It was as if an earthquake was happening inside.
Then.
[Young master-!!]
Beyond my gradually fading consciousness, I heard Dang Soyeol's voice running toward me.
I didn't want to show such a miserable sight. But there was no way to bear it.
Paejon, who had been quietly watching me, spoke.
"Sleep for a bit and wake up."
The moment I wondered if he meant to faint.
"Then you'll feel a bit better."
Along with those words.
Thwack-!
From the sensation at the back of my neck, I immediately lost consciousness.
Time passed like that.
When I regained consciousness again. What greeted me when I opened my eyes was.
"Oh my."
The voice of a woman that was somehow familiar, and.
An unfamiliar ceiling I was seeing for the first time.
And.
"Are you awake?"
It was the face of Baekryeongeom, pinching both my cheeks.