I knew about Ilkana’s personality from reading the original novel.
She normally acted like an extremely rational person, but when fighting, she truly showed what it meant to be bloodthirsty.
‘Seeing it in reality is no joke.’
Ilkana’s master, ‘Father,’ had never been named in the novel.
She had never called ‘Father’ by name either.
But he clearly had a profound influence on her character formation.
‘Well, considering the education process for raising assassins, there’s no human rights, no ethics.’
Plus, this is the Assassination Order, a cult that split off from the Selim religion.
Even while apostatizing, her habit of calling others ‘Brother’ was probably ingrained in her subconscious.
It was strange.
Refusing suicide.
Killing her master called ‘Father,’ yet still calling Jin Cheonhee ‘Brother.’
But that was her life.
Jin Cheonhee treated Ilkana’s wounds and looked around.
Ilkana said:
“There’s no need to collect the bodies or the wounded. The Order will send people to verify anyway.”
“…”
“Are you concerned?”
Jin Cheonhee shook his head.
“I’m not kind enough to care about enemies. Even my practice of not killing people is just for my own mental health.”
The physician draws a line.
Ilkana nodded.
“I didn’t think you were that rigid.”
After the emergency treatment, Jin Cheonhee dusted off his hands and stood up.
“We should ride on horseback again. Will they send new pursuers?”
“Do you think the Assassination Order grows like weeds with just a sprinkle of water? They’ve taken heavy losses from the Emperor’s shadows, and now this blow too. They won’t have the resources to send more people for a while. Despite appearances, they’re always stretched thin just maintaining the status quo.”
I see, that’s right.
Jin Cheonhee nodded and grabbed the horse’s reins.
There was no need to pack up the tent.
Jin Cheonhee mounted his horse and lightly shot a fire qi projectile.
Tang!
The fire that caught on the tent spread in an instant.
The warmth created by the bright orange light seemed to improve Ilkana’s mood, and she laughed cheerfully.
“Well, to maintain wealth built on blood, you must continue to pour in blood. That’s exactly what the Assassination Order and the Selim religion are.”
She took the reins first and moved forward.
Clop-clop-
Jin Cheonhee followed, driving his horse.
“…That’s a difficult problem.”
“Difficult? Isn’t it a common problem? The Demonic Cult must be the same.”
The Ten Thousand Great Mountains built on blood.
Its gold shines brilliantly, but gold nourished by blood continues to crave blood.
She added:
“Even if it’s not the Demonic Cult, isn’t that the case? Even the righteous faction’s family sects don’t earn money without bloodying their hands, do they?”
That’s also true.
Martial families who wield swords earn money by using those swords.
The merchant groups they protect, the escort agencys, and even private martial schools—none are without bloodshed.
Ilkana spoke in a humming tone:
“In the end, that’s how it is. Few things love blood as much as gold, Brother.”
“It’s not that gold loves blood. It’s people who love blood.”
“That’s not something a physician like you should say.”
Sometimes he acted like a perfect saint, and other times he was terribly pessimistic.
Jin Cheonhee smiled bitterly.
“I know the martial world is created by swords. I couldn’t not know. I’m a physician after all.”
Clop-
Horseshoes on sand create a slow rhythm.
Through some magic performed by the local-made horseshoes, the horses never sank into the sand.
Jin Cheonhee touched his pale eye area.
“There’s no end to this work. But that’s okay. For me.”
“…”
“I’m okay.”
After saying that, Jin Cheonhee stroked the thunder bird perched on his shoulder.
Peep-
The warmth from his furry friends felt good.
Even if gold grows by consuming blood, and swords outnumber bamboo in the martial world.
Still, with the warmth of these furry friends, he felt he could endure today.
That was enough, Jin Cheonhee thought.
‘Yes. Animal therapy is the best.’
Thinking about grand things won’t yield answers.
Knowing this, Jin Cheonhee decided to focus on what was right in front of him.
When they arrive at the inn later, he plans to hug Hwanggu and blow warm breath on its forehead.
And.
“By the way, I’m curious about the operating principles of Chakratant. Watching the battle earlier, it’s clearly on a different track from ordinary martial arts.”
“Since I’m not a martial artist, I don’t know what you mean by ordinary martial arts principles… but it’s definitely different from what you use, Brother.”
Jin Cheonhee’s eyes lit up.
“That’s what I’m curious about. When you threw the chakram in your first move.”
“…”
The young man incessantly chattered, asking her questions.
***
Throughout crossing the desert, he formally learned the theory of Chakratant from Ilkana.
‘It’s definitely different from martial arts.’
It’s more similar to the operational principles of sorcery than martial arts.
‘So Chakratant involves tattooing the body and using it to gather chakra in the body.’
Here, chakra is ultimately just another form of ‘qi.’
He had formed that hypothesis when giving her the elixir, and after hearing her explanation, it became even clearer.
It’s a heavy, sticky form of ‘qi’ like sorcery power.
He had wondered if it would harmonize with the different nature of qi that martial artists gather through breathing, but after giving her the elixir and guiding it to her danjeon, it became clearer.
‘However, unlike martial arts which use the danjeon and the eight extraordinary meridians, this method uses chakra throughout the entire body. Therefore, it’s less efficient compared to martial arts.’
Martial arts gather qi in the danjeon and circulate it through the eight extraordinary meridians as needed.
This allows for great efficiency even with little internal energy.
Because you just send what’s stored in the danjeon where it’s needed.
But Chakratant can’t do that.
‘It’s like external martial arts yet also like internal. External martial arts operate on the principle of evenly permeating the entire body with qi gathered for internal energy. Ultimately, the Indestructible Vajra Body is the ultimate goal of external arts… that’s different from Chakratant.’
There are definite advantages to this approach.
‘First, there’s no qi deviation at all.’
Qi deviation is caused by accidents when circulating internal energy through the eight extraordinary meridians.
Since there’s no need for circulation, there are no accidents.
‘Second, the speed of gathering chakra is as fast as decent demonic arts.’
The problem is that if both had the same amount of qi, martial artists would overwhelmingly have the advantage over Chakratant practitioners.
However, the accumulation speed is much faster with Chakratant.
‘Being both safe and fast is a considerable strength. Might be worth researching.’
Plus, what he learned while helping with circulation:
He observed that when she took the elixir, the internal energy gathered toward her tattoos rather than her danjeon.
Forcibly redirecting it to find her danjeon seemed risky, so he let it follow its natural flow, and after absorbing power this way, he could observe her strength increase by at least 20%.
‘This is revolutionary.’
One more thing to add is that practicing Chakratant makes the body as flexible as a cat’s.
The principle behind this would need more research.
At the master level, the body moves with fluid density, enabling attacks and postures impossible for ordinary people.
After understanding this much, he thought he knew how to make her stronger.
“We’ll win with quantity, right?”
“What?”
“If Chakratant specializes in gathering chakra, let’s pour in formations and elixirs to strengthen it?”
It was a crude method.
But Jin Cheonhee wasn’t one to reject the fastest path.
“Brother…?”
“Additionally, I’ll pass down one top-tier external martial art and a sword technique. Since you have Chakratant for internal energy, we’ll base it on that.”
Ilkana asked with a skeptical look:
“And with just that, I’ll become several times stronger within five years?”
No, don’t underestimate the power of quantity.
The reason family sect children continue to dominate the martial world is because of the top-tier arts that come from abundant quantity (internal energy).
Learning top-tier arts is useless without the internal energy to support them.
Conversely, with abundant internal energy, even the same Three-Elements Sword Technique shows different power.
‘Everything starts with quantity, but people tend to overlook this.’
Even family sects that raise children on elixirs hold their noses high because of their supposedly amazing arts, rather than admitting they became strong by feeding children elixirs from a young age.
‘Well, fine. After getting this much stronger, she probably won’t die if she goes to the Ten Thousand Great Mountains.’
Even if she meets Yeo Ha-ryoon according to fate and goes through a tumultuous adventure, she’ll at least be able to protect herself.
That was the book payment Jin Cheonhee was giving her.
Just as the Phantom Archer had once been a comfort to Jin Cheonhee as a reader of their novel, he was now repaying the same to Ilkana.
‘Sometimes certain stories keep people alive.’
People are complex yet quite simple beings.
In a harsh life, just waiting for tomorrow’s serialization can somehow make one resolve to live on.
A single chapter that others might read in less than 10 minutes.
Some might ask what great meaning could be attached to that, but when life is too hard, it can sometimes be the only energy source.
Novels were good because you could stop anytime and resume later.
Compared to videos, they were less straining on the eyes.
In truth, beyond all these reasons, novels were simply more entertaining.
“I can pass down the external martial art starting now. You can learn the sword technique or bow technique after we arrive at the White Dragon Medical Pavilion.”
“If it’s too difficult… I might struggle, Brother. I’m not a person with high comprehension.”
“Hahaha. That’s fine.”
Jin Cheonhee answered with a light laugh.
“External martial arts… well… learning the basics itself is easy. It’s what comes after that’s challenging. When we arrive, I’ll tell Yoo Ho to pass down my training method.”
Yoo Ho and the nine wooden puppets will help.
‘Hmm, which external martial art would be good?’
He recalled various basic external martial arts in the White Dragon Medical Pavilion’s library.
The most decent purely as an external art is the Heaven Earth Vajra Arts that Jin Cheonhee is learning, but it’s an unorthodox technique requiring abundant internal energy as its foundation.
‘Hmm… something similar to Chakratant yet…’
Jin Cheonhee pondered and then changed his mind.
‘Let’s just… mix them.’
Anyway, when it comes to external martial arts theory, few in the martial world are as knowledgeable as Jin Cheonhee.
Furthermore, the insights gained from practicing external arts had reached a level not inferior to prestigious orthodox sects.
Hadn’t he been constantly establishing countless external martial arts with the help of the Profound Origin Heaven and Earth Divine Technique?
‘Even I have already learned and applied various martial arts without discrimination.’
Perhaps because he was a modern person at his core, he lacks a martial artist’s stubbornness.
Without such stubbornness, he prioritizes immediate efficiency over pride in martial arts.
‘Not many martial artists would understand.’
It doesn’t matter. Survival is what’s important to Jin Cheonhee anyway.
And he’s willing to do anything for that survival.
On horseback, Jin Cheonhee slowly rebuilt external martial arts theory to match her Chakratant.
Knowledge and experience.
When these two mesh together, the rest is direction.
Winding thoughts meet modern pragmatism and transform further.
Simpler, easier to use.
If the purpose is the same, there’s no need to make things unnecessarily complicated.
Eventually, Jin Cheonhee opened his mouth.
“Let’s talk about the basics of external martial arts.”
He’s not sure about metaphors or symbols. The martial insights will be resolved through the wooden puppets’ interrogation acupoints (beating).