Chapter 345. A Day Spent Circulating Qi Like Any Other.

I had never circulated my qi and regulated my breathing for this long before. It felt like dreaming within a dream, and even after waking from that dream, I still could not escape it.

Instead, my mind was calm.

After walking along a single-log bridge for a long time, I arrived in an unknown domain and discovered a massive hand.

Had it been the Buddha’s palm, I would have been startled, but it was simply my own hand. I could tell because I saw the wound where a nail had pierced it.

Though the palm had suddenly risen up.

I recognized this place as a domain of martial learning, and among them, the Transcendent Realm of the Golden Turtle Roaming Art, so I did not find it strange. With my arms crossed, I glared at my palm, then tried infusing the qi of the Wood Realm into the little finger.

Strangely enough, the enormous little finger was soon covered in the color of wood grain.

“……”

Why was I able to anticipate something like this without much difficulty? It was not that shocking. After all, it was something taking place inside me.

Naturally, I wrapped the ring finger in the Flame Realm.

Flames engulfed the fourth finger, and a pillar of fire surged upward.

“Excellent!”

At that moment, I looked around.

The single-log bridge was nowhere to be seen, and my blood vessels were spread out like a map. On that map, the path taken by the qi of the Wood Realm was marked, and now paths made of flame were shining here and there.

Unless one was an utter fool, it was not difficult to realize that I stood at an extremely important crossroads.

I looked back at the huge hand, then wrapped the middle finger in the Fighting Realm of the Golden Turtle Roaming Art. This time, the Fighting Realm bore a distinct ashen hue.

“……Completing the Three Phases with the Wood Realm, Flame Realm, and Fighting Realm.”

When I looked around, the energy of the Fighting Realm, which had begun from my dantian, surged up from the earth as it moved toward the middle finger. Its essence was a force that pierced through trees and pressed down flames as it rose.

The next stage, the Transcendent Realm, meant that it had surpassed the realms before it from the outset. This phenomenon seemed to have occurred because that transcendence included freely handling the three kinds of qi.

I glared at the problematic index finger and thumb.

“……My lifeline depends on you two.”

If my lifeline depended on them, that meant they would also affect the fate of the Hao Clan. Without simply accepting the pressure that instantly settled over me like a crushing weight, I exhaled and lightened my mind.

This was a domain of imagination, so if I was careless, a gigantic longsword might fall from the sky and pierce straight through the crown of my head.

That, too, was qi deviation.

Only if I organized my martial learning through this hard-won opportunity would I survive the battles to come. Even if my internal energy was lacking compared to some particular expert, I expected that the moment I completed this, I would somehow be able to keep the fight going.

After thinking it over, I reached this conclusion.

There was no need to place the qi of the Transcendent Realm into the index finger. That was because the Transcendent Realm was the administrator of the Wood Realm, Flame Realm, and Fighting Realm.

After pondering for a long while, I turned and gazed beyond the map of blood vessels. Once I had made up my mind, I summoned the Moon Shadow Heartless Art from the frozen earth.

From within the pitch-black darkness, a white beam of light surged into the sky, and then certain blood vessels froze as it raced toward where I stood. When I turned back, a cold wind swept past in an instant, and the index finger froze pure white.

‘……Is this right?’

For a martial artist, the most important finger was the index finger. Perhaps that was only true for me. After engraving the Moon Shadow Heartless Art onto the index finger, I looked at the thumb. The thumb sometimes changed the direction of a sword, and sometimes supported its weight. It was short, thick, and sturdy. I summoned the power that would enter the thumb from my dantian.

Even without looking, I heard a roar in the distance as though the sky were being torn apart.

The white lightning qi of the Hundred Battles Ten Stages Art arrived faster than ever before and wrapped around the thumb.

As I looked at the enormous palm engulfed in five different colors, I felt both proud and amazed.

I stared at the Five Elements Fingers that had risen within the domain of martial learning.

Worry welled up in me that, once I woke from the dream, this insight might flee. But since I had confirmed it with my own eyes like this, I should be able to reach it again at any time.

If I unfolded the Five Elements Fingers at the same time and attacked, that would be the Five Elements Palm Art. I thought I could use it as a finger technique, or even as palm force slightly inferior to Ilwol Gwangcheon.

Perhaps…….

Had what I had been using all this time by emotionally crushing together every technique and principle been the Violet Haze Divine Art? The spaces between my blood vessels had burst apart and made blood flow, and when that manifested externally, it became a merciless violet hue.

The problem was that even the blood vessels in my eyes burst apart, making the entire world look blood-red.

In other words, if I recklessly unleashed the Violet Haze Divine Art, it also put strain on my own body. That meant it only burst out of me unconsciously when I was faced with a situation that made my eyes flip with rage, and it was also why it did not appear depending on the occasion.

If I could freely handle the Five Elements Fingers.

I could establish the empty space of martial learning with my own theory and proceed directly to the Violet Haze Divine Art.

A path toward a rational Violet Haze Divine Art, so to speak.

In other words, the insight I gained beneath Manjang Cliff could be called the process of researching and organizing the techniques of the empty Violet Haze Divine Art.

‘That’s enough for today…… Let’s not overdo it.’

When I quietly opened my eyes, I saw the dimness of dawn, and I was once again in the world beneath heaven. I had carefully crossed the single-log bridge all night, but instead of my legs or feet hurting, my neck and shoulders were stiff.

“……”

The Ghost Demon and the Lust Demon were lying askew, asleep.

The Sword Demon walked over from somewhere and put firewood on the flames. Nearby, the Scholar in White was, surprisingly, still sitting cross-legged with his eyes closed.

Because the Scholar in White had not yet returned from the single-log bridge, I did not bother opening my mouth. The temperature had dropped considerably, but once the Sword Demon revived the campfire, warmth soon pressed in.

I made not being greedy the posture of my mind.

That was how important this moment was.

Was it only my impression that the Sword Demon seemed strangely peaceful?

For a while, I focused only on my breathing as I looked at the Sword Demon and the Scholar in White.

Suddenly, my eyes met the Sword Demon’s, and I nodded once. The Sword Demon read my expression, smiled, and nodded once in return. His gaze showed that he had realized I had achieved something.

“Hoo……”

All of a sudden, the Scholar in White beside me let out a long breath. Eldest Brother and I looked at the Scholar in White. He moved his hands as though gathering the internal energy scattered throughout his body back into his dantian, then exhaled at length once more. Then white steam surged from the crown of the Scholar in White’s head, and his entire body was enveloped once in a pale haze. It seemed this fellow, too, had crossed the single-log bridge and stepped into the next domain.

Was the Scholar in White lucky, or were we the lucky ones?

This was my first time experiencing such a joint, group, alliance, training-camp, outdoor-camping fortuitous encounter, so I was bewildered.

The Scholar in White, who had opened his eyes at some point, looked at the Sword Demon and me, then gazed at the dawn sky.

“……Is it morning?”

Only then did the Sword Demon speak.

“Third Brother, White Robe. Congratulations. It seems the two of you made extraordinary progress last night.”

I also looked at the Scholar in White and offered my congratulations.

“Martial Emperor, congratulations.”

The Scholar in White tilted his head and asked.

“Did something happen?”

The Sword Demon looked at me.

“Third Brother was engulfed in five colors throughout his body near dawn. They were respectively wood, fire, water, and lightning, but I could not recognize the one in the middle. It was an ashen energy.”

I nodded.

“That was probably a gamecock.”

The White-Clad Scholar asked.

“You were enveloped in five colors? Then you experienced the Five Qi Converging at the Origin.”

I had heard of the Five Qi Converging at the Origin, but my knowledge of orthodox martial studies was lacking, so I did not know exactly what it meant.

“What is the Five Qi Converging at the Origin?”

The White-Clad Scholar said.

“It refers to a certain realm. According to ancient martial studies, the Five Qi Converging at the Origin is usually placed alongside the Three Flowers Gathering at the Crown, and some schools even rank the two, but in my opinion, that has little meaning. You can think of it as merely a difference in when the flowers bloom and wither, depending on one’s martial arts and internal energy.”

“I see.”

In any case, it sounded like he was telling me not to worry about it, and that struck home. I dislike troubling myself over such logical distinctions of what is right and wrong. Besides, there could not possibly be any martial study of the past that could accurately define the state of my body. What madman would have swallowed the Heavenly Jade, practiced martial arts of yin and yang, and even handled lightning qi? Since I was the only one, I did not want to force my current situation to fit the martial arts of old.

The White-Clad Scholar continued.

“Moreover, most cases of the Five Phases refer to metal, wood, water, fire, and earth. I have never heard of a case like yours, Sect Leader, where wood, fire, water, and lightning are linked together. Which means…”

The White-Clad Scholar stared at me.

“If you can organize your martial studies and pass them down, it means you have already become the grandmaster of a school. There may be similar martial arts, but there will be nothing quite like the martial arts you display.”

As the conversation continued, the Lust Demon and the Ghost Demon also woke up.

At any rate, even if a mere waiter had become the grandmaster of a school in terms of martial studies, I did not feel anything in particular.

It was more like, so that was how it was.

In truth, becoming the grandmaster of a school was not important.

Simply surviving was more important. The bastards trying to kill me would not spare me just because I had become the grandmaster of a school.

The Lust Demon, still looking half asleep, asked the Sword Demon.

“Third became the grandmaster of a school in a single night?”

The Sword Demon nodded.

“That is what the Martial Emperor says. Then it must be true.”

The Lust Demon looked me up and down and said.

“Not bad for a country bumpkin. Congratulations.”

The Ghost Demon, still half asleep as well, smiled and said.

“Third, congratulations.”

There are people who feel awkward when praised and do not know how to react. That person is me.

“…Me, a grandmaster? It doesn’t suit me.”

The Sword Demon said.

“It seems the Martial Emperor also achieved something remarkable last night. Is that not so?”

The White-Clad Scholar nodded with an expression as if he were groping through last night’s dream.

“It was not bad.”

Suddenly, we followed the traces of sunlight slipping into the dark canyon below with our eyes, then looked up at the sky. Dawn was breaking.

The Lust Demon muttered.

“I also fought a tremendous life-and-death battle last night.”

The Sword Demon replied.

“You circulated your qi and regulated your breathing briefly, then slept all night while trembling.”

I looked at the Sword Demon anew. Come to think of it, his disciple had been shivering through the night, so the Sword Demon must have been feeding the firewood into the flames. Did sharing warmth with someone else bring peace to oneself as well? The Sword Demon’s air was far calmer than it had been last night.

The Lust Demon said.

“All night, I walked across a snowfield in my dream.”

We looked at one another, then asked the Lust Demon.

“That’s it?”

The Lust Demon nodded.

“Amazingly, that’s it. I just walked across a snowfield all night long.”

The Sword Demon asked.

“Insights are one’s own, so it is difficult for others to judge them. What do you think?”

The Lust Demon thought for a while before answering.

“…I think it is telling me to simply endure. The cold itself, until I grow accustomed to that terrible pain.”

“There was no exit?”

“No.”

I realized anew that we were discussing martial studies. Perhaps it was fortunate in itself that we could speak like this about martial studies that were difficult to explain in words. To those who had not practiced martial arts, these words would have been close to mad nonsense. We looked at the Ghost Demon, who had only been listening in silence.

It was because I wondered if all of us had either gained insight last night or encountered a fortuitous opportunity that let us break through a realm.

The Ghost Demon said with a sour expression.

“It seems you are all expecting something from me…”

“We are.”

“I did not see any strange dreams or visions in particular. However, after finishing my qi circulation and breathing, I spent the whole night thinking about a single form. Perhaps I should call it a consummate technique.”

I asked.

“What is it?”

The Ghost Demon answered.

“It is nothing impressive. I was merely pondering a consummate technique that uses sword wind and sword qi at the same time.”

The White-Clad Scholar looked at the Ghost Demon.

“Why were you pondering such a technique?”

The Ghost Demon looked at the White-Clad Scholar and said.

“It occurred to me that if chopsticks suddenly flew at me from the side, and I wanted to deflect them with sword wind while also cutting down the enemy before my eyes with sword qi, I would have no choice but to unleash both at the same time. I would train so that sword wind could be emitted from an energy wave and even from the cutting posture, while releasing sword qi from the blade. To be precise, it would be an energy wave and sword qi, but if I refined my realm, I wondered whether I could manifest them simultaneously as sword wind and sword qi… My words are getting tangled.”

I looked at the Ghost Demon with my arms crossed.

“That’s not bad.”

In other words, the technique the Ghost Demon had thought of had been devised because of the White-Clad Scholar’s surprise attack. If those chopsticks had been aimed at the Ghost Demon, then the one who died in that instant would not have been the phantom, but the Ghost Demon.

I asked the White-Clad Scholar for help.

“White-Clad, you look like you have some advice to give.”

The White-Clad Scholar looked at the Ghost Demon.

“It is a trick.”

“I do not mind if it is.”

“First, when you unleash sword qi, train while stamping your foot with a zhenjiao. If piles of stones or dirt rise up and you send them out as an energy wave, the effect will be somewhat similar to sword wind. Once you are used to that, unleash it without stamping your foot. Once you are used to even that, mix advances and retreats into your footwork. Will you unleash the technique Yukhap mentioned while advancing? While retreating? Or will you hide your body for an instant with the zhenjiao, as if veiled by clouds? The number of choices will naturally increase.”

My eyes opened on their own. Depending on how one interpreted it, this had become a lecture in which the White-Clad Scholar had all but gifted him an entire sword art.

“That’s good.”

The White-Clad Scholar said.

“When you think of sword arts, you place an unusually large emphasis on defense. In truth, more than half of effective defense is footwork. You know as well that even the simplest sword art becomes complex once footwork is added to it.”

The White-Clad Scholar was presenting the direction of the sword art the Ghost Demon would have to train in from now on.

The Ghost Demon seemed to accept the White-Clad Scholar’s teaching as well, for he nodded and fell into thought.

I looked around the steadily brightening Manjang Cliff and said to the group.

“Let’s rest a little, then eat once we’re out of Manjang-ae. A person can’t live on spirit medicines alone.”

No one particularly opposed my suggestion. I remembered something I’d forgotten and asked the Sword Demon.

“Eldest Brother, did you have any gains?”

We all looked at the Sword Demon. Come to think of it, I was curious what sort of fortuitous encounter the Sword Demon might have had after sharing that rare spirit medicine with us.

The Sword Demon looked around at us and said in a calm tone.

“None.”

It was a little disappointing, but since the Sword Demon’s air had changed slightly, I asked what I felt.

“Then why are you grinning like that? Something funny? What’s so funny? Let us laugh too.”

The Sword Demon let out a short sigh, then looked around at us.

“It was just that, for the first time in a very long while… I performed an ordinary session of circulating qi and regulating breath.”

“…….”

“I wasn’t tormented by spirits, and I didn’t hear any ghostly wails. As I breathed, I built up a certain amount of internal energy. I opened my eyes, and the stars were still visible in the night sky, while all of you were circulating qi and regulating breath as well. Even after that, nothing happened all night long. Before dawn it was cold, and in the morning I watched the sun rise. All of this is an ordinary day… but to be honest, I find it deeply astonishing. This is not a fortuitous encounter in martial arts.”

The Sword Demon looked around at us.

“It is a fortuitous encounter in life.”

Eldest Brother’s reflection was calm, but I too found myself smiling.