Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 10: Reading a Book a Hundred Times Reveals Its Meaning (9) The disciples of the Pungryu Martial Arts Hall were whispering among themselves.
"You know that Yeon So-wol guy? The one who bought his way in with gold taels?"
"Ah, that old rookie? Arrogant prick. Does he really think martial arts can be bought with money? God, I'm so jealous. Just because he coughed up some gold, the Hall Master and the instructors are giving him one-on-one lessons. It's total bullshit."
"But I heard he's been put into closed-door training?"
"Huh?"
"It's true. Ju-cheol said he saw several loads of beef jerky being carried to the seclusion room. It's already been almost fifteen days since he went in."
"That's insane. Why would someone who's just starting martial arts go into a seclusion room?"
"They must be teaching him a proper internal cultivation method."
"Not the Soyo Art?"
"Definitely not the Soyo Art."
"...Then he's going to die, isn't he?"
"Probably."
"Wait, you said it's been fifteen days? Then he's definitely dead by now."
"Sigh..."
"Damn it. Does that mean we have to clean it up? Corpses from Qi Deviation are absolutely gruesome."
"Remember Brother Cheol-bung last year? He ignored the Hall Master's warnings and pushed himself too hard with the mental cultivation method. His lungs literally burned up. The smell of charred flesh back then was just..."
"Hey, that was clean compared to others. About five years ago, when I first got here, there was a senior named Geum-hun. His Guanyuan acupoint got way too hot."
"The Guanyuan? Near the groin?"
"Yeah, right above the junk. But listen, once all the essence in that area overheated, it turned into mush... and all his internal organs just spilled out through his backside."
"Holy shit."
"His pants were sagging like he'd taken a massive dump because of the organs piling up... He died while waddling toward us, begging for help. Man, I couldn't eat for a month after seeing that."
"Ah, I remember that story. I heard it when I first arrived. My god, you actually saw it? That's insane."
"Exactly. People really shouldn't do what they're told not to do... But it's usually the talented ones who are worse. Once they start being called second-rate, they get greedy. They overdo it somehow, and then—ugh."
"It's really not easy. But to make an eighteen-year-old who just started do something like that... Wow, what was the Hall Master thinking?"
"I know, right? Poor guy... I take back what I said about him being an arrogant prick."
"I take back what I said before, too."
"What did you say?"
"I don't know. Just... I take it back. Forget it."
"...But still. They must have taught him the internal cultivation method in detail, right?"
"Probably. They must have stuck to him one-on-one and taught him the theory thoroughly since it's so dangerous."
"I'm a little jealous of that. Even though I've heard the explanation three times already, I still get confused about the connection between the Twelve Standard Meridians and the Eight Extraordinary Meridians. Since we all learn together, I feel self-conscious about asking questions..."
"So, you're jealous?"
"...N-No. No. I take it back. Forget I said anything."
"That Yeon So-wol guy is probably either burned to death or has spilled his guts out on the cold floor of that seclusion room by now... and you're jealous?"
"...Fine. I'm a piece of trash."
"Yeah, you are."
"...But when are they going to open the seclusion room? Honestly, if he died inside, no one would even know."
"Oh, that. They say if he doesn't come out on his own, the Hall Master will personally open it in two years."
"Two years?"
"Yeah. Apparently, he was told not to come out until he reached the Fire Phase. He was told to come out only after mastering the Twelve Standard Meridians and the Eight Extraordinary Meridians, so that's what it means."
"I see. Two years seems like a generous amount of time, since he'll either have reached the Fire Phase or be dead by then."
"There's no way he can do it. It's been over a year since I reached the Fire Phase, and I still don't fully understand the Twelve Standard Meridians and the Eight Extraordinary Meridians. I haven't even felt whether things like the Twelve Divergent Meridians or the Fifteen Collateral Vessels even exist."
"Ugh, my head hurts just thinking about it. Oh, but what happens to the deal? Didn't they say they'd watch him for three months before deciding whether to take him as a disciple?"
"That? It seems like the Hall Master intends to make him a direct disciple as long as he simply survives."
"Whoa! A direct disciple?! Not an outer disciple like us?"
"Why? Jealous again? Then why don't you go into seclusion too?"
"...No. Never mind."
"You piece of trash."
"..."
* * *
"Good. Another piece of trash cleared."
Yeon So-wol continued to find waste, debris, and impurities within his body as he repeated the Soft Willow Art.
It was not an easy process.
The body might look small on the outside, but when observing it along the flow of energy, it felt as vast as a mountain range. Searching every nook and cranny of that mountain-like body to find and remove large pieces of waste one by one required intense concentration and patience.
Some waste, in particular, blocked the meridians so naturally that the work was even more difficult. Occasionally, Yeon So-wol would pass something by, thinking, 'Hmm? I guess this section is just shaped like this,' only to realize later that the entire thing was a lump of waste.
Identifying the waste, confirming multiple times that it was turbid qi from the outside and unrelated to his own essence, qi, and spirit...
It was as exhausting as searching for precise typos in a book filled with tiny text and no spaces. However, once he passed through that tedious process, a sweet reward awaited him.
Sssssss—
White smoke escaped from between Yeon So-wol's teeth.
His eyes were bloodshot, and the dark circles under them were deep. Yet, his lips curled into a smile.
"Why is this so much fun?"
Find it, and eliminate it. Then, acrid smoke rises through his mouth. It was a thrilling sense of impact hidden within a simple act—as addictive as a mini-game. Even the rewards were clear.
"I've cleaned two meridians now, right?"
The Twelve Standard Meridians. The twelve major pathways. These exist in pairs, forming perfect symmetry on the left and right. If there is a meridian called the Hand Yangming Large Intestine Meridian, it exists identically on both the left and right sides. In other words, while they are called the Twelve Standard Meridians, there are actually twenty-four pathways.
Yeon So-wol had cleaned two of them: the Hand Yangming Large Intestine Meridian rising from his right hand, and the Foot Yangming Stomach Meridian descending to his left foot. In the process, his understanding of the Twelve Standard Meridians deepened.
"It's fascinating. When looking at the diagrams, they were separate, but when I actually move the Gathering Fire, they're connected."
According to the meridian charts, the Hand Yangming Large Intestine Meridian and the Foot Yangming Stomach Meridian exist separately. The right Hand Yangming Large Intestine Meridian starts from the index finger and ends at the left Yingxiang acupoint beside the nostril. The left Foot Yangming Stomach Meridian starts from the Seung-eup Acupoint below the eye and ends at the left second toe.
They were separate on paper, but once he moved the Gathering Fire, he could see that there was a direct pathway connecting the Yingxiang acupoint to the Seung-eup Acupoint. Though they had two different names, they were actually a single pathway starting from the right index finger, passing through the head, and leading to the left second toe.
After cleaning it thoroughly, that part of his body felt incredibly light.
"So this is what it means for the essence to become warm."
As the Gathering Fire flowed easily through the cleaned pathway, his right arm and left leg grew warm. He felt a surge of strength and flexibility. It wasn't just a feeling.
Whoosh!
"Crazy. It actually makes a wind sound."
When he planted his left foot and threw a right punch with all his might, he heard the sound of the air being sliced. It was a movement that should have been impossible for the body of a high school senior.
But it worked.
Essence is the foundation of the physical body. As that which had been cold and stiff was warmed and loosened, vitality surged forth.
"My head feels clearer, too. If only I'd known this when I was studying..."
He felt even the fatigue accumulated over fifteen days wash away. Yeon So-wol was thoroughly encouraged.
"Alright! Let's clean the rest!"
Excited, Yeon So-wol resumed the Soft Willow Art. Since he had cleaned the cross-pathway leading from the right Hand Yangming Large Intestine Meridian to the left Foot Yangming Stomach Meridian, he now intended to clean the cross-pathway leading from the left Hand Yangming Large Intestine Meridian to the right Foot Yangming Stomach Meridian.
A full month passed in this manner.
Yeon So-wol was able to clean all of the Twelve Standard Meridians. Though the "cleaning" only amounted to barely clearing away the large waste that felt like threads, the difference Yeon So-wol felt upon completion was night and day.
"...I feel like I've been reborn."
His body was incredibly light. He had become flexible and gained a new sense of elasticity. His body moved exactly as he wished, and his strength extended effortlessly. It felt as if his very athletic nerves had been remodeled. It was as if a talent he never had had suddenly sprouted. With a body like this, he felt he could challenge himself to be a professional soccer player or a UFC fighter.
However, the expression on Yeon So-wol's face as he moved his body was not entirely bright.
"But what on earth are the Eight Extraordinary Meridians?"
At first, he had thought lightly of it. Just as he had discovered the Twelve Standard Meridians and understood their meaning while learning the Soft Willow Art, he thought he would naturally come to know the Eight Extraordinary Meridians as he continued to train.
He was completely wrong.
"Do these things even exist?"
When he gathered the flames through breathing and moved them, he could naturally feel the heat flowing along the Twelve Standard Meridians. However...
"There aren't any particular pathways where the Eight Extraordinary Meridians are drawn."
Yeon So-wol pondered. He pondered while training, he pondered while chewing on fasting pills and beef jerky, and he pondered while scrubbing his body with spring water. He didn't just ponder with his head; he pondered while endlessly continuing his breathing and movements. He continued to observe his inner self.
Pathways. Where were the other pathways?
But there were none. Nowhere to be found. Instead, he discovered other pathways that weren't the Eight Extraordinary Meridians.
"This... there's a pathway that branches off from the Twelve Standard Meridians and goes deep into the body."
Observing one's inner self was similar to fumbling through a dark, complex cave with only a single, faint candle. Because of this, he often found new pathways he hadn't discovered before—other pathways that weren't drawn on the meridian chart Lee Yu-baek had given him.
"What is this...?"
Yeon So-wol explored those as well. They were packed with impurities and waste. He wanted to clean them, but because they were narrower than the Twelve Standard Meridians, he couldn't feel any "threads," making cleaning impossible. He had no choice but to slowly explore, losing chunks of his Gathering Fire every time he hit a blockage.
"Still, I have to check. This might lead to the Eight Extraordinary Meridians."
In that way, Yeon So-wol discovered twelve side roads branching off from the twelve major meridians. Those also had a name—the Twelve Divergent Meridians—but Yeon So-wol did not know that yet.
Another month passed. It had been two and a half months since he entered seclusion. But Yeon So-wol still hadn't found the Eight Extraordinary Meridians. The side roads he had found did not lead to them.
"Will it connect this time?"
Instead, he found another, even smaller pathway. If the Twelve Standard Meridians were long, large caves, and the Twelve Divergent Meridians were side roads one had to duck to enter, the new pathway he found this time was as small as a mouse hole. He had found even these because he was searching so thoroughly.
"It looks tough, but I have to explore it. Where the hell are these Eight Extraordinary Meridians...?"
Yeon So-wol began to cautiously explore the small pathway.
"It's incredibly complex. The pathways are connected like a net? Huh? Wait. This leads here?"
Yeon So-wol was startled. The Twelve Standard Meridians, which he had thought were separate from each other, were all connected through the small pathways he had newly discovered. Not stopping there, the pathways grew smaller and smaller as they continued to extend, creating an endless number of microscopic connections, like capillaries.
"Wow. It's insanely complex. And fun."
The pathways Yeon So-wol found this time also had a name: the Fifteen Collateral Vessels. It was a network that martial artists also called the "Full Body Fine Meridians." Yeon So-wol explored those pathways as far as his strength allowed, but no results came of it.
"What is it?"
Splash!
He pondered while washing his body with spring water.
"Where could they be?"
Munch, munch.
He pondered while eating beef jerky and fasting pills.
"The Eight Extraordinary Meridians..."
Exhale. Inhale!
He pondered while practicing the Soft Willow Art. He was the type of person who, once he started digging into something, had to see it through to the end. He had been the same way when studying back on Earth.
Then one day, Yeon So-wol suddenly felt it.
"But why does the Gathering Fire keep weakening in certain sections?"
It had been a long time since he cleaned the Twelve Standard Meridians. The flames gathered through the Gathering Fire now moved quite smoothly throughout his body, but strangely, he observed the flames weakening at several points.
"It only happens when the flames get stronger than a certain level."
As if the heat was being sucked away somewhere. And only in specific sections...
"Wait!"
Yeon So-wol trembled as if struck by lightning.
"Could it be!"
Specific sections. What if those were the places that connected to the Eight Extraordinary Meridians?
"Did the flames escape into the Eight Extraordinary Meridians from here? But there are no connecting pathways?"
Yeon So-wol closed his eyes and observed his inner self, sharpening his already keen Qi Sense even further.
'Where are you? Where on earth are the Eight Extraordinary Meridians?'
He searched every inch of the pathway walls. But there wasn't even the smallest opening.
"...Then let's see where the flames disappear to."
Yeon So-wol chose one of the points where the flames weakened the most: three inches below the navel, the Guanyuan Acupoint. He concentrated the Gathering Fire there. Normally, he would have kept the Gathering Fire moving instead of leaving it in one place, but this time, he decided to take a risk.
He piled up the Gathering Fire. And kept piling it up.
'Ah!'
Finally, Yeon So-wol felt it.
'Crazy...!'
The flame, which had grown quite large from being piled up, suddenly soared. It scattered sparks in all directions like a firework.
'Whoa.'
They seeped into various parts of the Guanyuan Acupoint's walls as if being absorbed. The walls of the pathway rippled as if they were alive.
'Could the Eight Extraordinary Meridians be beyond this wall?'
Yeon So-wol used all his Qi Sense to observe beyond the Guanyuan Acupoint.
'Ah!'
He shuddered.
"Found it."
He hadn't recognized it until now because he had been obsessed with finding a "pathway."
"The Eight Extraordinary Meridians weren't just simple pathways."
They were different from the Twelve Standard Meridians. They were massive and full. Like an ocean.
"What is all this...?"
Beyond the Guanyuan Acupoint, things far hotter and much denser than what Yeon So-wol had called "fire" until now were packed tight. Not fire, but lava.
Only then did Yeon So-wol realize.
"This... it's residual heat."
The Eight Extraordinary Meridians deep within the body. There, the innate heat received from heaven and earth when a person is born was still packed tight, without having cooled down. That was the very source of life. What martial artists called Innate True Qi.
The Eight Extraordinary Meridians were the vessels and pathways that contained Innate True Qi.
"The Eight Extraordinary Meridians are indeed the source of life. When the flames flowing through the Twelve Standard Meridians are strong, the Eight Extraordinary Meridians absorb that heat and make the interior hotter. Conversely, if the Twelve Standard Meridians cool down too much, heat is released from the Eight Extraordinary Meridians to warm the exterior..."
Yeon So-wol completely realized the relationship between the Twelve Standard Meridians and the Eight Extraordinary Meridians. He had perfectly met the criteria Lee Yu-baek had demanded.
Though Yeon So-wol didn't know it, at this point, he had already entered the Fire Phase. Since he had felt the Eight Extraordinary Meridians and understood their connection to the Twelve Standard Meridians, he could now indirectly use the heat of the Eight Extraordinary Meridians to create even larger flames.
That was the core of the Fire Phase.
It was now time for Yeon So-wol to break his seclusion and come out. But he didn't even think of that fact.
"Crazy. This is really interesting."
The Eight Extraordinary Meridians—a kind of insulation tank that kept the heat received at birth packed tight. As he practiced the Soft Willow Art, Yeon So-wol carefully observed and experimented with how it linked beyond the Twelve Standard Meridians and into the Eight Extraordinary Meridians.
In that way, the seasons changed. During the night, the first snow fell heavily. The snow piled up high, and Lee Yu-baek's voice was heard from outside the door.
"Are you alive?"
Yeon So-wol, who was practicing the Soft Willow Art while drenched in sweat, answered reflexively.
"Yes. I'm alive."
"So-wol. Three months have passed."
"I see."
Three months. That was the time Lee Yu-baek and Yeon So-wol had agreed upon. The time he said he would watch him before deciding whether to take him as a disciple.
But Yeon So-wol didn't think of that. He was completely intoxicated by the structure of heat circulating through the Eight Extraordinary Meridians and the Twelve Standard Meridians.
The voice was heard from outside the door again.
"...So-wol."
"Yes."
"I mean that the promised three months have passed."
"I see."
Now, Yeon So-wol wasn't listening to those words at all. He answered, but his mind was entirely focused inward. Then, a small laugh was heard from outside.
"Your heart has finally become sincere."
"..."
Yeon So-wol did not answer. He had already fallen into a state of selflessness. Beyond Gathering Fire, he was mastering the Fire Phase on his own.
"...So-wol?"
"..."
At some point, the voice was no longer heard. Yeon So-wol was no longer swayed.
The first snow was piled high around the seclusion room where Lee Yu-baek had tied the taboo rope. The pure white first snow, which no one had stepped on, was spread like a cotton blanket without a single flaw.
However, due to a strange heat, the snow on that roof was melting and dripping down, bit by bit.
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