## Chapter 53 – (4)
“…Sorry.”
“…Hoo, no, it’s okay.”
Seol-yeong lowered her head.
I waved my hand, accepting her apology.
Thankfully, I hadn’t suffered from inner force deviation.
Rather, thanks to Seol-yeong placing her hand on my face, my extreme Yang internal energy and Seol-yeong’s Yin energy fought against each other.
It became a kind of training.
Thanks to that, my internal energy seemed to have increased quite a bit.
Yes, I could now feel what internal energy was.
Perhaps it was because the amount was too small to feel before, but now I could feel something warm slowly heating up my body.
“…Now, can you believe me?”
Seol-yeong clenched and unclenched her hand, where the warmth still lingered, and nodded.
“…You really have talent.”
“Right?”
“Yeah, I don’t understand why you came to the Inmu Academy.”
I smiled bitterly.
This academy really had a bad reputation.
Even the students attending this academy were badmouthing it.
Well, overturning such an evaluation was one of the fun things about reading martial arts novels.
Of course, that was Pung-un’s job, not mine.
Good luck, Pung-un.
I was busy enough just trying to win over Seol-yeong.
When I came to my senses, Seol-yeong was looking at me.
Looking into her lake-like blue eyes, I felt like I was being sucked into them.
“…Let’s make a deal.”
“A deal?”
The deal was simple.
To master the Solar Heart Sutra and cure her illness.
In return, she would do anything I wanted.
“The entire Bukhae Ice Palace will help you.”
Seol-yeong, with her exotic appearance, was from Bukhae Ice Palace, a place slightly removed from the Central Plains.
She was even the Vice Palace Lord of the Bukhae Ice Palace, practically the next Palace Lord.
In other words, she was in the second-highest position.
Thinking about it now.
There was an elegance in her every movement.
“Bukhae Ice Palace…”
I had heard of it somewhere before; I remembered reading about the Bukhae Ice Palace in a martial arts novel.
It was a bit removed from the Central Plains, and its influence on the Central Plains was a bit weak, but its size was comparable to other large sects and clans in the Central Plains.
The Bukhae Ice Palace would spare no expense in supporting me with elixirs, weapons, and even their secret manuals.
Considering the size of the Bukhae Ice Palace, it would definitely be a great help to me.
But, on the other hand, I was suspicious.
“…Can you say something like that without discussing it here?”
It was the help of the entire Bukhae Ice Palace.
No matter how high Seol-yeong’s position was, she was still just a young prodigy.
She couldn’t make such promises carelessly.
“…Yes. Those people would do even more…”
Her expression didn’t change, but Seol-yeong’s atmosphere seemed to darken a bit.
It seemed like there was something going on, but I didn’t pry.
“So? How do you cure your illness?”
So far, the conditions seemed too favorable to me.
But a deal meant that if you gained something, you also lost something.
“…I think I need to tell you about the illness I have.”
“What illness is it?”
“It’s a disease called Gu-eum Jeolmaek.”
“Gu-eum Jeolmaek.”
In fact, Gu-eum Jeolmaek was one of the most common diseases in martial arts novels.
Different people had Gu-eum Jeolmaek in different situations, but there were always two characteristics that were described the same way.
It was very difficult to cure, and people with Gu-eum Jeolmaek had a short lifespan.
These two facts were the same in every martial arts novel.
“I’m dying.”
Seol-yeong spoke calmly about her death.
I had expected it to some extent.
The content of Seol-yeong’s fortress, which seemed to be looking for her savior, and the fact that she, who was assigned the high number of 5, was learning martial arts from the beginning again.
When I remembered that she was suffering from Gu-eum Jeolmaek, everything fit together.
“There’s only one way to cure the disease.”
Seol-yeong said that and explained the treatment method.
The treatment for Gu-eum Jeolmaek, where the meridians are blocked by Yin energy, slowing down the circulation of internal energy and Qi, and eventually leading to death, was.
The only way was to burn away the Yin energy blocking the meridians with extreme Yang internal energy.
The problem was that there were very few people with extreme Yang internal energy, and the treatment itself was very dangerous.
“Danger?”
“I might die during the treatment.”
It was about burning the Yin energy stuck in the meridians.
It was natural that there would be danger involved.
As if the story wasn’t over yet, this time she looked at me.
“And maybe you’ll lose your internal energy too.”
The Yin energy emitted by Gu-eum Jeolmaek was different from ordinary Yin energy.
There was a possibility that it would be swallowed by the Yin energy and the Dantian would freeze.
Indeed.
So that was the deal.
If you gained something, you also lost something.
There was no need to hesitate.
“I’ll do it.”
“…”
Losing internal energy was a big risk for a martial artist, but it wasn’t that big for me.
Besides.
Saving Seol-yeong and becoming her savior at the same time.
That was the only way to open Seol-yeong’s heart.
Seol-yeong’s eyes widened a little when she heard my answer.
But that was only for a moment.
Returning to her usual expressionless face, Seol-yeong stared at me and then turned her back.
“…Thank you.”
And after saying thank you in a barely audible voice, she slowly walked towards the dormitory.
I guess that meant the deal was done.
I also returned to the dormitory.
Jeong-seon was still lying down with a dissatisfied expression.
Seeing me walk in, he rarely spoke to me first.
“Hey, how’s…Seol-yeong?”
“Seol-yeong?”
“Is she the same as usual?”
“Yeah. I think so?”
“Hoo…that’s a relief. I didn’t want to become an enemy of the Bukhae Ice Palace.”
Only now did Jeong-seon let out a sigh of relief and wipe his face.
Now that I saw it, it seemed that I was the only one who didn’t know that Seol-yeong was the Vice Palace Lord of the Bukhae Ice Palace.
Well, there were test takers who looked like neighborhood uncles, and it was a world where you could guess the martial arts just by looking at the basic stances.
“I’m sorry to Instructor Cheol-ung, but teaching Seol-yeong is impossible.”
Saying that, Jeong-seon raised his voice and poured out his complaints.
“She has no expression, doesn’t answer well, it’s all because everyone around her spoils her.”
Then he slapped his bedding with his hand.
“She has no basic manners!”
“…”
Could it be that he doesn’t remember?
His own behavior towards me yesterday?
Doesn’t answer well, has no basic manners…
I stared at Jeong-seon.
Then I nodded appropriately, affirming Jeong-seon’s words.
“Well, that’s right.”
“Haa, they say I have to teach her like this for the next 5 days…”
With those words, Jeong-seon only sighed, blaming Cheol-ung and then refuting his own words and defending Cheol-ung.
What should I say.
Jeong-seon and Jeong-seon were fighting.
Ignoring Jeong-seon, I sat on the bedding and took a stance.
Before going to bed, I once again performed Qi circulation, focusing on the energy and internal energy inside my body.
I could feel the energy, though small, circulating quickly through my body.
As soon as I performed Qi circulation, it rampaged around as if it had been waiting, devouring the Yin energy hidden throughout my body and increasing in size.
I wondered if I could move this internal energy as I wanted, so I lightly focused my mind, and the energy began to gather near my arm, though only partially, as I intended.
I felt a subtle warmth in my arm.
As I moved the internal energy, I was able to move the internal energy even without performing Qi circulation.
“Hoo…”
When I came to my senses, quite a bit of time had passed.
The outside, which had been dark like a slightly cloudy day, was now completely dyed black with darkness.
“Instructor Cheol-ung…”
Jeong-seon was already asleep and making creepy sleep talk.
If Jeong-seon had been the Vice Palace Lord of the Bukhae Ice Palace, Cheol-ung might have been forcibly kidnapped.
I carefully got up and took a stance, recalling the movements that Pung-un had shown me.
Among the series of movements that Pung-un had shown, I decided to try to imitate the movement of thrusting the sword out like an arrow.
I slowly moved the internal energy and gathered it in my arm.
Strength, speed, swordsmanship. And internal energy.
Using everything I could, I focused solely on speed.
“Hoo…”
Slowly exhaling, I focused all my strength on my arm.
In an instant, energy surged sequentially from the Dantian, through the waist, chest, and shoulders, to the arm, as if water was boiling, and at that timing, I reached out my hand.
Whooshㅡ
Bang.
In the void, the sword cut through the air, and the clothes on the outstretched arm fluttered in the wind, making a cheerful sound like shaking laundry.
And then silence came.
“…Did it work?”
I couldn’t tell from the position of the one who thrust.
It was fast, but I couldn’t feel the difference between using internal energy and not using it.
Pat.
At that time, a small fragment fell on the wall in the direction where the sword was thrust.
“Was there originally such a trace?”
It was a shallow trace, but for some reason, it caught my eye.
Whatever the result, I wasn’t disappointed.
I still had time left.
[Remaining period: 3 months.]
***
“Is your real name really Seong Han?”
“Hoo…I told you it is, so how was it?”
“It was…very good.”
Five days after that day.
I unleashed my internal energy in the open space in front of the dormitory and unfolded the Inmu Sword Technique.
It was different from what Pung-un had shown, but I swung the sword as my senses and swordsmanship guided me.
As a result, I was able to get a passing grade from Pung-un.
[You have cleared the hidden quest.]
[Receive recognition of the Inmu Sword Technique from Pung-un or Cheol-ung.]
[You have acquired Inmu Sword Technique LV.2.]
That’s how I was able to acquire the Inmu Sword Technique.
