Chapter 32 – The Visit of Master Baek In-gyeom
The Small Heavenly Cycle – Part I
Baek In-gyeom's lips moved slightly.
It was the same motion he made when sending transmitted sound.
The explanation of the Small Heavenly Cycleechoed directly inside Yeong-woo's mind.
As the voice continued, Yeong-woo's posture slowly changed.
He straightened his upper body.
Then he folded his legs into a cross-legged meditation posture.
His hands came together before him, resting calmly like the hands of a Buddha.
He slowed his breathing.
His body relaxed.
For a moment he swayed gently forward and backward, then side to side.
Finally he settled into stillness.
Following the instructions carried through the secret voice, he began practicing the Small Heavenly Cycle.
Then something miraculous happened.
It worked.
No—
how could it possibly work?
His abdomen had been cut open.
Yet for the first time in his life, he felt qi.
For the first time, he circulated the Small Heavenly Cycle.
Because his master was beside him.
Because his master guided the circulation together with him.
This was not his own ability.
Ah—
The qi gathered in the dantian.
Slowly it condensed.
A warm current swirled beneath his navel.
His breathing deepened.
With every inhalation, the qi within the dantian grew denser.
Then—
from the depths of the dantian a faint ripple appeared.
Like a small wave spreading across still water.
The qi trembled.
It sank briefly downward,
then rose again.
It brushed past the huiyinpoint
and began climbing along the spine.
At first it felt like a thin thread.
But as it rose along the spine, the qi came alive.
It felt like a small dragon crawling upward along his backbone.
It climbed vertebra by vertebra,
as though feeling each joint of the spine.
At every segment it pushed upward,
like knocking on closed gates.
Heat spread through his lower back.
Flames seemed to run up along his spine.
When the current reached the base of his neck,
his mind suddenly brightened.
Thung.
A resonance rang inside his head.
It was not a sound heard by the ears.
It was a clear vibration spreading deep inside the skull.
With that resonance, the qi crossed the forehead,
touched the roof of the mouth,
and descended.
It passed down the throat,
then flowed through the chest.
When it passed through the chest,
his breath opened wide.
Something that had long been blocked seemed to release.
The qi continued its path.
Finally it returned to the dantian.
At that moment the qi inside the dantian curled inward.
A small vortex appeared.
The vortex grew clearer.
Inside the dantian,
a tiny Taijibegan to rotate.
Dark qi and bright qi pushed and pulled against each other,
forming a circle.
Then something changed.
The sensations of his body became completely different.
The movement of air brushing his skin became vivid.
Even the faint touch of his clothes against his body was clear.
Far away, he could hear a droplet of water falling.
The path of his breath opened wide.
Inside his body,
qi was circulating slowly.
No one was forcing it.
The qi moved on its own.
Very slowly.
Yet unmistakably.
Yeong-woo had succeeded.
He had completed the Small Heavenly Cycle.