Chapter 100

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Translated by Seoulbound

Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net
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**

All the while sitting in the carriage heading to Wudang Mountain, he trained his internal strength using the experiences accumulated upon descending the mountain as a topic of meditation. The Primal Chaos Tai Chi Art was a divine art based on dynamic cultivation that moved the body, yet possessed versatility enabling even seated cultivation and reclining cultivation. Even inside a swaying carriage, there was no difficulty in training as long as he held onto the concentration originating from the spirit of his upper dantian.

And he was in a state of having reached the Nascent Soul Stage that unified the three dantians.

The Unification of the Three Dantians meant none other than the unification of Essence, Qi, and Spirit.

Beyond the Elixir Condensation Stage that coordinated the physical body and internal power, the realm where qi and essence were harbored in the upper dantian’s intent, and the axes of the three fully bloomed internal cultivations gathered at the Hundred Convergences acupoint at the crown of the head, was precisely the Nascent Soul Stage.

What became possible through this was.

‘Even breathing and energy circulation through the upper dantian’s Hundred Convergences acupoint becomes possible.’

As Hundred Convergences acupoint breathing was added to nasal breathing, an incomparably vast energy of heaven and earth compared to before harbored within his body.

From the speed of accumulating qi to the fine senses of feeling the energy flowing between heaven and earth. It was on a completely different dimension compared to the days when he remained in the Elixir Condensation Stage.

As he came to feel the qi sensation even more minutely than before, it hit him closely.

‘Telepathic messages are going back and forth?’

While not letting go of his concentration on energy circulation, he was able to grasp the flow of the surrounding external qi. Just like performing returning force and releasing force, or convergence and divergence simultaneously, the contemplation of his body’s interior and the observation of the exterior proceeded at the same time.

It was indeed a sensation felt naturally upon reaching the realm of the Nascent Soul.

Along that sensation, he was able to overhear the conversation of his senior brothers and sister going back and forth inside the carriage behind his back.

‘They are talking about me?’

He came to know his senior brothers and sister’s worries, and their trust in him that went beyond those worries.

‘They think of me this much.’

His heart, which had sunk downward while concentrating on his breathing, began to soar like a dandelion seed that had lost its mass.

However, he knew from experience.

That during his days as a nuisance, the ugly actions he performed wanting to be loved by his master had instead cast a shadow over his master’s face. He knew that after that, simply devoting himself to the Library Pavilion training ordered by his master and the wisdom of the butterfly dream he realized had led him to the present.

Therefore.

‘Let us not be intoxicated by it.’

Pretending not to have heard the telepathic messages of his senior brothers and sister, he concentrated on the flow of his internal power.

However, because the carriage was cramped.

He had ‘no choice’ but to inevitably hear the telepathic messages of his senior brothers and sister.

**

Just as his senior brothers and sister had intended in their consideration, he devoted himself to internal strength training throughout the entire route back.

‘As much as my senior brothers and sister trust me.’

He moved according to the expectations and trust he received.

It might have been that he was moving out of inertia, but…

‘This, too, must be a precious experience upon the path of pursuing the Tao. There should be no problem as long as I maintain the balance between the self and the other.’

He was one who realized through internal contemplation and external observation that sometimes, satisfying the expectations of others could also lead to his own satisfaction.

Wudang Mountain, which he returned to after a long time along with such satisfying training, was.

‘White.’

A pure white light.

It was the color felt when light of all wavelengths in the visible light spectrum that humans could see and feel entered the eyes.

Like the energy of the Primal Chaos of One Qi among the energy filling heaven and earth, the undivided, pure light entered through his visual organs and formed like a star over his upper dantian, and then dispersed into red and blue upon meeting his middle dantian’s inner core.

The refracted rays of the Primal Chaos of One Qi originating from the pure snow began to illuminate the various energies of the inner core situated in his middle dantian.

Among them, rays emitting an ominous light came into his eyes, an energy scorched onto a corner of his inner core.

‘Fighting spirit and killing intent?!’

The Three Flowers Gathering at the Crown, the unification of Essence, Qi, and Spirit, made him see things he could not see before.

An impure energy that he had never accumulated through breathing was felt.

‘Is there a flaw in the Primal Chaos Tai Chi Art’s mnemonics?’

However, he shook his head right away.

A deceased member of the Eight Disciples of Sanfeng.

The Primal Chaos Tai Chi Art created by recovering the posthumous manuscripts of Immortal Jin-heo was a divine art. There was no room for impure true qi to mix in during the accumulation of qi, because the internal power mnemonics based on electromagnetism filtered out turbid qi.

Nevertheless, it could not be denied that fighting spirit and killing intent, which could never be accumulated through Wudang Sect’s internal strength mnemonics, had entangled within his middle dantian.

Since he could not guess the situation, he went to visit his master immediately. His master was relatively free thanks to temporary peace having arrived in Hubei after the Zhuge Clan and the Blood Cult were wiped out.

At his disciple’s question, his master nodded as if understanding something and gave him an answer.

“It is a toxin accumulated in real combat.”

“A toxin accumulated in real combat?”

“Those killed on missions. They are things that ought to return to the soil, so on the scale of the ledger of merits and demerits, it is indeed a matter to be recognized as merit. However, the anger and fighting spirit you felt when killing and eliminating someone eventually accumulate in your body. That intent has harbored within your true qi.”

The unification of essence and qi.

He said it was a characteristic of internal power that had reached the Elixir Condensation Stage.

His explanation was that since natural energy moved through the thoughts originating from the upper dantian’s spirit, the intent harboring within true qi was a natural reaction.

“Was your intent not easily read by the opponent, and did your emotions not grow intense? You must have also had nightmares from time to time.”

Since his master’s diagnosis was accurate.

He nodded with dumbfounded eyes.

His master stroked his head and continued speaking.

“It is a common occurrence. Since it is something the True Martial Pavilion disciples who frequently travel the Jianghu experience at least once.”

Following his master’s words, his anxious mind was swept away. Of course, that did not mean there was no problem.

“It is only right to shake off such wicked thoughts. Otherwise, they might block your path forward as a heart devil at a critical moment.”

“Then what should I do?”

“You must return to the fundamentals.”

**

“It takes a long time for ordinary children to wash away such wicked thoughts, but if it is you, there is something worth trying.”

His master led him to the summit of Wudang Mountain’s Heaven Pillar Peak. Even as a cold winter wind blew, his master made him sit upright there.

“Eat it.”

Only a cold and clear energy, just like the spot where he sat, was gathered upon the pill he held out.

He felt it instinctively.

‘A spirit pill!’

Just as he thought, what his master held out was a grand object.

“It is the Highest Clarity Pill manufactured by the Pill Refining Hall of the Palace of Medical Immortals.”

The Highest Clarity Pill was a spiritual medicine counted among the best in the Wudang Sect, just like the Supreme Clarity Pill. Hiding his trembling gaze, he slowly stretched out his hand. At that moment:

“Stop. It is not a pill for increasing internal strength. That greed. Greed is the problem.”

A solitary fist strike falling upon his Hundred Convergences acupoint after a long time awakened his spirit like a wooden clapper.

“It is merely a pill that helps shake off the wicked thoughts in your mind. It has nothing to do with qi accumulation, so abandon your greed. Even thoughts about your martial arts are wicked thoughts right now.”

“…Yes.”

Along with the realization that focusing too intently on something does not always bring benefits, he accepted and swallowed the pill his master offered.

Exactly as he had said at first, no effect like the enhancement of internal power was felt. A chilly coldness simply awakened the senses of the meridians and acupoints throughout his body, and his mind became a bit clearer.

‘I thought I heard that spirituality was harbored in the Highest Clarity Pill.’

He did not feel such a thing.

Although a bit of disappointment arose, he shook off even such thoughts and quietly closed his eyes.

Then his master’s voice was heard.

“Now, you are to concentrate only on the Primal Chaos Tai Chi Art’s energy circulation and breathing.”

“Right. Just like that, inhale and exhale. Now, let us add one more thing. Deploy the martial arts you have mastered in your mind through intent, as if engaging in real combat.”

In accordance with his master’s words, he overlaid the routines onto his inhaling and exhaling breath. In the midst of his breathing, which grew slightly intense, the memories of past real combat arose.

What was the very first thing that arose?

Naturally, it was the moment his Grand-Master cut down the Zhuge Family Head and the Blood Cult’s Blood Lords. However:

‘This is not yet it.’

He instinctively covered that memory and moved on to the next.

Thus, what he faced.

He recalled the moment he cut down Sagacious Eye Scholar and the Zhuge Clan’s Eldest Young Master.

Then it naturally arose.

– A martial art with a clear intent cannot be called the cultivation of the Wudang Sect.

It was a teaching his master had given him while he was being pushed back against the Zhuge Clan’s Eldest Young Master.

That teaching touched a piece of realization accumulated in his body.

‘The intent connecting the initial starting point and the final end point. If that intent is read, the optimal path cannot help but be derived.’

The realm of supreme masters.

It was the method of reading the opponent’s moves in the world of supreme masters, represented by the Hamiltonian.

It was the battle of wits that he had utilized against the Young Spirit Slayer, and that the Zhuge Clan’s Eldest Young Master had utilized against him.

He returned to the fight with the Zhuge Clan’s Eldest Young Master once more.

As if he had become a third party, he looked down at the bloody battle between himself and Zhuge Jeong from above.

And it was visible.

‘The intent has harbored within the true qi accumulated in my dantian itself. That is why it was read. No matter how much I try to control it, while operating internal power, the intent bound to that internal power is read.’

Upon that memory, he adjusted the routines and internal power.

In a direction where killing intent and fighting spirit were erased.

That was what would defeat the opponent…

– No. That is not it.

At that moment, a voice as clear as first snow was heard.

As the voice full of spiritual energy led his memory differently.

‘Saying it is not. That means the direction I am correcting is wrong.’

Only then did he remember.

‘The fundamentals. He said he must return to the fundamentals of Wudang Sect’s martial studies.’

In accordance with his master’s words, and following the voice as clear as first snow, he thought again.

‘Wudang Sect’s martial arts are not martial arts for defeating others.’

‘Erase the intent and advance purely into learning.’

Then it began to become visible.

The intent, which had remained only as an emotion instead of a clear memory, was visualized.

From Guizhou Province to the Zhuge Clan in Hubei.

The non-human things that lived by sucking the blood of commoners.

Seeing those who sympathized with those non-humans and abandoned being human, the anger accumulated in his mind had unknowingly influenced his middle dantian’s inner core.

“You must not forget that the experiences in real combat are merely a process of advancing toward the Path of Chivalry and Righteousness.”

Thanks to having reached the Nascent Soul Stage, the voice emitted from the outside was clearly heard even in the midst of his grand heavenly circulation.

It was his master’s teaching.

He recalled immediately.

The moment he received the Highest Clarity Pill.

The realization engraved by the fist strike that struck his Hundred Convergences acupoint while he was only concentrating on martial arts and qi accumulation.

‘If you focus too intently on something, you eventually lose what you wanted to have.’

The voice like first snow nodded at his thought.

‘If you cling too much to the Path of Chivalry and Righteousness, you eventually drift away from that path.’

Advance onto the right path.

He must not obsess.

Since if the mind stays, it cannot flow, and what cannot flow pools and rots.

The most fundamental teaching of Taoism.

It was the teaching that supreme goodness is like water.

Like that teaching.

The voice like first snow melted and flowed over his mind.

He recalled the fundamentals of Taoist martial studies.

‘Ultimately, the fundamental purpose of Taoist martial studies lies in nourishing life.’

‘Nourishing life is achieved through energy circulation, and energy circulation is in turn based on breathing.’

As he swirled the inhaled breath throughout his entire body in accordance with the subtle logic of returning force, the fighting spirit and killing intent harbored in his body were loaded onto the circulation of energy.

As the wicked thoughts entangled in his middle dantian were exhaled in the exhaling breath.

‘Let us cast it off.’

The toxins accumulated in his body through real combat began to be resolved.

He erased his fighting spirit and killing intent, leaving only a cool and clear essence and qi.

Thus the anxiety subsided, and only breathing remained.

He only engraved upon his mind the vessel that was his body and the flow of true qi pulsating endlessly contained within that vessel.

Then it began to disappear.

Both the will to kill someone and the anxiety that his martial nephews might perhaps be killed were swept away in the flowing water.

Above the space of his mind emptied in that manner, faces arose naturally even though he had not intended it.

From Yi Won-yu, formerly an inn waiter with whom he had formed a connection on his way to Guizhou, to his senior brothers Myeong-jin and Myeong-hun, and Martial Uncle Mang-won, with whom he had shared joys and sorrows in close proximity.

His fellow disciples.

Hwan-yang and his martial nephews.

His Grand-Master and Master.

And the faces of the people he had saved through missions until now were engraved.

With that, he opened his eyes once more. —