Arc 22: Ondol

Returning to the medical clinic, everything returned to its original state. He imparted new knowledge to the White Qilin Medical Pavilion interns who had come from the branches, and he meticulously reviewed the treatment cases that had arrived from each branch. With his remaining time, he dedicated himself to martial arts training, realizing that he needed to invest significantly more time in it than before.

“Now that you’ve surpassed two gapja, controlling that internal energy is your top priority, Hee-ya.”

Jin Cheon-hee sat in a meditative posture, listening to his Master’s explanation.

“First, you have achieved a level of accomplishment far too quickly for your age. Even considering that, your control over your internal energy is exceptionally fine. That is an outcome made possible only because you built your foundation step-by-step with the Five-Elemental Cultivation Art from the very beginning.”

“Yes.”

“However, I believe that through this last battle, you’ve realized that even that has reached its limit.”

Jin Cheon-hee nodded, rubbing the back of his hand. The traces of his fight with Corpse Spirit Grotesque Demon had almost completely faded, but the scar on his body remained. He had no particular desire to remove it. It was, after all, a mark of his battle, a source of pride, and a reason for reflection.

The long scar running from the back of his hand was unnoticeable unless one looked closely, but he could feel the hard, bunched-up flesh when he touched it. He had developed a habit of unconsciously tracing it. This habit will probably fade when the scar does, he thought.

The Void-Grasping Art I used and the Void-Grasping Art Yeo Ha-ryoon used… even if they’re the same technique, they were fundamentally different.

He was certain that, at this moment, he possessed a greater quantity of internal energy than Yeo Ha-ryoon. Yet, Yeo Ha-ryoon wielded the same technique as if it were one of his own limbs. It was the same with his mental command. His use and emission of Sword Qi, his control over its density—it was all sharp and incredibly condensed. It was a realm bordering on ‘Realm of Unity of Spirit and Sword.’

Even if the amount of internal energy isn’t the only thing that decides a fight, Ha-ryoon was on another level. Is that what it takes to become the future Heavenly Demon?

He had only ever thought of the young Yeo Ha-ryoon, and being confronted with one who had grown as much as he had, the shock was entirely different. There was a toughness to him that no description in any novel could ever capture.

Can I learn to do that?

It was a ridiculous thought, but it was also true that even with all this internal energy, he wasn’t confident he could win a fight against Yeo Ha-ryoon.

But, to look at it another way:

If I can achieve Ha-ryoon’s level of control with this much internal energy, how much stronger will I become?

He was already hitting the limit of what he could gain from “elixir-doping.” Even if he consumed more elixirs, it wouldn’t make a significant difference.

Zhuge Rin said, “For your first training, how about a game of dice with your Master?”

“Dice?”

“If you can use Void-Grasping Art to make the die land on the side you want, you win. If you lose, you get a penalty.”

Tak—

His Master placed an old-fashioned wooden die on the table. Every face of the die, save one, was covered in tiny, densely packed characters.

“Master, looking at the writing, I see things like ‘Endure two shichen of Pushing the Palace and Passing the Acupoint Attack from the wooden dummy,’ ‘Practice Three Talents Sword Art with the left hand and Ten Paces Divine Spear with the right for two shichen,’ ‘Climb a cliff with one hand and no footwork’…”

“You’ve read correctly, Hee-ya.”

This is terrifying. If I roll wrong, I’m just sent straight to hell-training?

“I also see ‘Play Baduk with Master’ here.”

“It won’t be easy to place the stones where you want with Void-Grasping Art while also managing the flow of the game.”

Jin Cheon-hee dusted off his hands and prepared himself. The 32-sided die was inscribed with hellish internal and external art training methods on every single face but one.

Human rights… gone. My two gapja of internal energy… gone.

His Master’s hell-training had been intense before, but now it had returned, new and improved. It was a choice between having his two gapja of internal energy drained, or having every last drop of energy in his muscles wrung out.

“Hoo.”

“Go ahead, roll it, Hee-ya.”

His Master’s voice was bright and cheerful.

No matter how I look at it, I’m pretty sure his favorite thing is to torture his disciple. He must have made some terrifying resolutions while stitching his only disciple’s flesh back together.

Jin Cheon-hee rolled the die. He then used Void-Grasping Art to guide its direction, aiming for the one and only ‘Rest’ space. He tried to control its angle and shape, intending to let it fall perfectly. But at the last second, the die twisted.

Tang!

“Ah, Hee-ya. I suppose I forgot to mention that I would be interfering with your throw. Training must be as realistic as possible to be meaningful, wouldn’t you agree?”

[Two shichen of Pushing the Palace and Passing the Acupoint Attack using Yoo Ho’s wooden dummy]

Da-Damn it!

His Master smiled, savoring the look on his disciple’s face.

“Don’t you worry. While you are training, I, too, will be training. You are not the only one suffering. Yoo Ho!”

Yoo Ho, standing behind his Master with an expression so beatific it looked like a halo might appear, said, “It is a specially modified wooden dummy, Young Master. I wonder if you’ll be able to block it. I would, however, recommend that you just lie back comfortably and accept the Pushing the Palace and Passing the Acupoint Attack.”

“As if I’d go down that easily!”

“Oh, and Hee-ya.”

“Yes?”

His Master tapped the pressure points on Jin Cheon-hee’s wrist and shoulder.

Tak, tatak!

“I’ve placed a restriction on you to make it difficult to manifest your two gapja of internal energy. Try to evade the attacks while operating your internal energy in this state.”

A weight, as if gravity had been multiplied by ten, pressed down on him. Jin Cheon-hee then was dragged away by Yoo Ho.

“Aaaaaaaahk—!”

***

His Master’s magical die held an extensive collection of torture… and training methods. Yoo Ho’s newly enhanced wooden dummies mercilessly battered Jin Cheon-hee’s pressure points. Feeling the immense weight on his limbs, Jin Cheon-hee flailed and dodged.

There are nine of them! He’s mad! He built nine wooden dummies!

To block this, he couldn’t waste a single point of internal energy. He had to move his internal energy by the shortest possible route to evade the attacks.

On the first day, Jin Cheon-hee endured a grueling half-shichen before being mercilessly attacked by all nine dummies with the Pushing the Palace and Passing the Acupoint Attack. As a result, his external arts proficiency increased in direct proportion to the beating he received. The outcome of the next day’s dice roll, however, was rather unexpected: Separating white rice from brown rice.

“The key is to identify them with your eyes and separate them. Until now, you’ve only had to move your internal energy to wield large objects like a sword. Now, you must separate them one by one, using only a minuscule amount of internal energy. It is, I admit, a tedious task.”

“Can’t I separate rice and millet instead? That seems more helpful for meals.”

“Hahaha, Hee-ya. If I did that, you would just use the difference in the grains’ weight to sort them, wouldn’t you? That would be too easy, as you’d only need to finely control your Wind-Vein Qi.”

…He saw right through me.

The master and disciple of the Zhuge Clan knew each other all too well.

“Ah, and while there is a minuscule weight difference between white and brown rice, I trust you’re smart enough to know that if you tried to use Wind-Vein Qi for this, it would just create a disaster, Hee-ya.”

His Master smiled brightly and stroked Jin Cheon-hee’s head.

“Yoo Ho, please use this brown rice to cook for Hee. He’s in the middle of training, so brown rice would be better for him.”

“Understood.”

Yoo Ho replied, glancing at Jin Cheon-hee. Jin Cheon-hee looked back at Yoo Ho and thought, I’ve been working Yoo Ho hard again lately, but he doesn’t seem to be getting tired.

Is it possible that as I’ve grown, he’s also grown?

He had no way of knowing.

“Well then, Young Master. Please call me when you are finished.”

“Just don’t slam the door open on your way out.”

“Hm, that, too, is part of the training.”

I’m screwed.

After separating the rice, he had to anticipate Yoo Ho bursting through the door. Therefore, he had two options: use the Five-Elemental True Qi to hold the door in place or use the Void-Grasping Art to keep it shut. With that, his Master and Yoo Ho departed from the granary.

Jin Cheon-hee was left alone, reminded of Kongjwi and Patjwi from the ‘100 Classic Children’s Fairytales’.

Don’t I have any animal friends to help me? Damn it. No… if I called Hwang-gu or Noe-jin in here, they’d just knock everything over.

And using such a shortcut wouldn’t help his training.

Right. This just proves how lazy I’ve become.

Jin Cheon-hee raised a millet-sized speck of internal energy from his danjeon. To distinguish between white and brown rice in this dark granary, he had to continuously maintain his Profound Primordial Complete Foundation Divine Art. And in this state, he had to use either Wind Qi or Void-Grasping Art, moving the absolute minimum amount of internal energy to sort them one by one.

This is tough.

He’d rather just be getting beaten up by the nine wooden dummies. At least that was less mentally taxing. And so, Jin Cheon-hee began to separate the grains of rice.

***

This time, it’s sewing.

He had to embroider tough cow leather, using only internal energy to push the needle. This was similar to how a surgeon practiced suturing. Countless hours of this type of practice were necessary to properly suture human flesh. The problem was that he had to do it without his hands, using only his internal energy.

To get the needle through without tearing the leather, I have to pierce it in one go. Does that mean I have to imbue the needle with a faint trace of Sword Qi?

Since it had come to this, he decided to enjoy it.

Hmm, I should make some gifts for Ha-ryoon and my other ‘little brothers’.

What should he send them? Jin Cheon-hee fell into thought.

Time had flown by since he’d returned to the clinic, lost in his training. He needed to send a letter to check in. He also had to send a letter about the… “car crash test”—no, the “Number One Sworn Brother Selection Tournament, Subtitle: Die If You Want to Be My Brother” thing that Yeo Ha-ryoon was apparently organizing.

I also need to send the funerary urn to the Wudang Sect… Hmm, it would be better to deliver that one in person.

The Murim, a Confucian society that thrived on the sword, was an unusual blend of two seemingly incompatible elements. Despite this, they coexisted in a peculiar harmony. Jin Cheon-hee was unaware of the insults he might face if he sent the former Grand Elder’s urn through an escort agency parcel.

When he claimed ignorance, he meant it. He had never encountered a wuxia novel where the protagonist conveniently bypassed the grudge-settling process and simply mailed the ashes. If they were to be antagonists, they would simply refrain from holding a funeral or engaging in such half-hearted acts of goodwill.

This is something that, no matter how long it takes, I have to deliver personally with a ‘ta-da!’

He might not be a people of Murim, but his modern social mixer told him it was the right thing to do.

After some thought, Jin Cheon-hee decided to make fur scarves for his three little brothers. Time had passed quickly while he trained, and just as he had grown, so too would his brothers. They were at an age of rapid growth, so he had no idea how big they’d gotten.

If I cut the material generously and make it double-sided, they should be able to use it for a long, long time.

Jin Cheon-hee got wolf pelts, marten pelts, and rabbit pelts from Yoo Ho.

“This is all top-grade fur, so the material cost is very high, Young Master. If you ruin it and need new pelts, I will be deducting the cost from your monthly stipend.”

Gulp—

Hearing that, Jin Cheon-hee gathered his internal energy at the tip of the needle with intense focus.

Puk—

Yoo Ho’s warning was the ultimate mantra for concentration.