Blink
"Heugh!"
I gasped for breath as I opened my eyes.
I'm alive.
It was still the familiar smell of plants and trees.
I had returned again.
"Deputy Manager Seo."
"Hmm, be quiet for a moment."
Thump!
Before Jeon Myeong-hoon could say anything, I moved quickly and pressed his sleep acupoint.Then, I quickly pressed the sleep acupoints of Kim Young-hoon, Oh Hyun-seok, Kang Min-hee, Oh Hye-seo, and Kim Yeon.
Thud, thud, thud!
All six, excluding me, fell asleep on the spot, and I quickly dug up some sleeping grass around me.
After extracting the juice skillfully, I administered it into their mouths.
They won't be able to wake up for at least three to four hours.
"...A bit stiff."
Perhaps due to forcibly drawing internal energy through a body devoid of any internal energy, my arms and legs felt a bit stiff.
I wandered around, quickly digging up a yellow bamboo root, and popped into my mouth.
Crunch, crunch-
I chewed on a bit of dirt, but that was bearable.
After chewing on the yellow bamboo root for a while, I felt a warm energy surging in my stomach.
I sat down and started to meditate, first anchoring the Dragon Vein Qi Method in my meridians.
How many times did I perform internal cultivation while sitting?
"Hoo..."
I could feel all the fatigue in my body being relieved.
"Now that the framework is set, let's give it a proper try..."
The last moments of my past life.
During the fight with Makli Wangshin, a new realm was drawn by the souls of my disciples.
"Hooo..."
Taking a deep breath, I got up and recalled the final moments' memory.
Then, I took the stance of the Severing Mountain Swordsmanship.
While Kim Young-hoon achieved enlightenment sitting in a lotus position, I found holding the riding stance a bit more comfortable.
Whoosh- Boong-
With empty hands, I revived the memories and sensations from that time.
Joy (喜), anger (怒), sorrow (哀), pleasure (樂), love (愛), hatred (惡), desire (欲).
The seven basic emotions and intents.
Based on these basic intents, a multitude of colors fill the space between heaven and earth.
All these immense intent were emanating from me alone.
'Integrate them.'
As numerous as they seem, the subject is ultimately one.
All originated from one color spectrum.
The myriad of colors intertwined and integrated.
Then, they became colorless and merged into the void.
As the infinite colors reached their limit, they transformed into the nothingness.
Thus, my intent evolved into divine consciousness , encroaching the surrounding space.
'Entering.'
Even with my eyes completely closed, all the information from the surrounding space entered my mind.
It wasn't just reading intent.
Integrating all intents, I sensed the world itself!
My six sleeping colleagues, rustling in their sleep.
The smell of grass.
Small insects crawling under the ground.
The warm sunshine.
Small leaves swaying in the wind.
All information seemed graspable in the palm of my hand.
I awakened a new sensation I had never felt before.
Not just the flow of intent, but the flow of the world.
The flow of heaven and earth that operates the world!
The Spiritual Energy of Heaven and Earth!
'This is... Spiritual Energy...'
Everything in the universe has Spiritual Energy.
Even if not like human intent, each has its unique energy (Qi).
This energy naturally flowed, aligned with each object's movement and operation.
I sensed the flow of energy from a small ant crawling under the ground, solving one of the mysteries I had always wondered about.
Intent is something only the living possess.
That's why Jiangshi cannot use sword energy.
But why did I sense intent even from the Jiangshi?
'It wasn't human intent.'
I merely read the natural flow of energy in Jiangshi.
Whoosh-
While sensing the flow of thousands of strands of heaven and earth's spiritual energy.
I realized something was wrong.
'My head, it hurts.'
It felt like it was about to burst.
This wasn't just a metaphor.
Right now, my head was literally swelling up in real-time.
I had felt this sensation a long time ago.
When I was transitioning from first-rate to peak.
All day long, imitating the vision of peak masters!
When my brain was overloaded back then, I felt a similar sensation for a moment.
'My brain is overloading!'
It was on the verge of explosion from the overwhelming volume of information
Not metaphorically, but in reality, the upper dantian was absorbing the surrounding energy, causing my head to actually swell.
'Right, it was like that then too.'
Even in the final moments of my past life, it wasn't much different.
It was just that I hadn't paid attention to it due to the wailing in my brain and the pain throughout my body.
Indeed, this is what happens when one acquires a consciousness like that of a cultivator.
'Back then...'
Recalling the enlightenment from my past life, I began to take the same actions as I did at that time.
I slowly observed my body.
The balance of the upper, middle, and lower dantians were twisted and discordant.
The upper dantian had become excessively large and was still growing in real-time.
If left as it is, my head would eventually not withstand the growth of the upper dantian and would explode.
'I shall evolve my physical body!'
The Spiritual Energy of Heaven and Earth inherently seeks to harmonize all things.
Therefore, naturally, the Spiritual Energy of Heaven and Earth began to seep into me, responding to my severe disharmony.
The Five Elements Spiritual Energy, the most fundamental of the Energy of Heaven and Earth, the origin of all Qi movements in the universe and nature.
Five strands of energy gathered towards my upper dantian and converged above it.
Eventually, the Five Elements Spiritual Energy crumbled into one and started seeping into my body through my nose and mouth.
'Hooo...'
Inside my body, the fundamental five energies, which establish the balance of all things under heaven, began to flow.
Instinctively, I realized what I needed to do.
'I must evolve my physical body!'
Based on these five streams of energy, I must completely remodel my body to withstand the growth of the upper dantian!
I finally understood what rejuvenation truly meant.
Previously, I thought that the Spiritual Energy seeping into the body would naturally evolve it.
I was mistaken. Energy doesn't evolve the body; it's just the material used for remodeling.
The actual agent of rejuvenation was always myself.
'I, personally!'
Crack, crackle!
'I must balance my body!'
With intent, I rearranged my bones and muscles.
I pulled and optimized the meridians, making them flow through the most efficient paths.
The Five Elements Spiritual Energy did not directly help but showed me the 'right' way to reconfigure my bones and muscles.
Adding my medical knowledge from being a doctor, I was able to easily remodel my body.
Bones rearranged, skin shed.
Useless fat pushed out, and toxins like nicotine and cholesterol in the blood vessels expelled.
My entire body's bones and muscles were remodeled into a form optimized for accepting the flow of Energy from heaven and earth.
The best physique for martial arts.
The meridians widened, the bones and muscles strengthened, and the dantian expanded significantly.
Simultaneously, all the minute blood vessels in my body opened wide, absorbing the Spiritual Energy of Heaven and Earth little by little.
I could live by just breathing through the skin without needing to breathe through my nose.
At this moment, I was more of an evolved human than a regular human.
Flash!
As I opened my eyes, it seemed as if pure light flowed from within.
"Hoo..."
With empty hands, I performed the primary stance and unfolded the Severing Mountain Swordsmanship’s Transcending Peaks.
Tiny dewdrops at the tips of the grass under my feet were flung up by my stance.
With my movements, the dewdrops flew higher into the air, and in my eyes, I could clearly see the trajectory of each droplet.
Within those droplets, I could see a reflection.
Flawlessly clear skin, a face not particularly handsome but without superfluity.
Though not much, a considerably younger face.
Through rebirth and rejuvenation, my own reflection was seen in those dewdrops.
Shush!
I sliced through the air with my hand, and the sharp intent split the dewdrop in mid-air.
Continuously unfolding sword techniques.
The flow of energy floating between heaven and earth.
I infused my intent into that flow, injecting my internal energy.
Whoosh-
Gang Qi began to form in the empty space.
Now, I could use the 'flow' of the void itself as a weapon!
Crash!
Grasping the Gang Qi formed in the air, I used the first to the twenty-second moves of Severing Mountain Swordsmanship.
Then, I decided to do something I had always wanted to try.
Whish!
I performed the Mountain Lord’s Soaring Flight and leaped towards the highest tree nearby.
In an instant, I reached the top of the tree and kicked off a branch from there.
I could see.
Into the newly acquired consciousness.
Into the sensations of my newly acquired physical body.
The countless wind patterns flowing through the sky.
And the flow of the Spiritual Energy of Heaven and Earth between the winds.
'Is this how it's done?'
Naturally, in my mind, I figured out where I could 'step.'
With optimized movements and without any waste, I 'stepped' on the breezing wind and the flow of Spiritual Energy of Heaven and Earth.
Boom!
My foot struck the void.
Stepping in the Void (虛空踏步)!
Although it wasn't familiar yet and consumed a lot of my internal energy, I felt a tingling pleasure coursing through my body as I continued to step in the void.
Boom, boom, boom!
Stepping on the void, I continuously soared higher into the sky.
Higher and higher!
The ground gradually became distant, and the sky drew closer.
I moved my feet faster, stepping on the flow of the void and surging towards the sky.
Then, suddenly.
Whoosh!
I broke through the clouds and found myself above them.
"Ha, hahaha... hahahaha..."
Shaking off the water droplets that clung to my entire body, with the white sea of clouds beneath my feet, I laughed out loud.
Finally, I have reached it.
The realm I had longed for and aspired to.
The minimum requirement I aimed for.
Unknowingly, I felt tears welling up.
The tears, mixed with the droplets from the clouds, began to fall to the sky below.
"...Thank you."
I spoke to my disciples from my past life, to those across the timeline whom I could never see again.
"It was thanks to you that I could reach this point."
I nurtured you with my heart.
But now, I will never be able to see you again.
The you in this returned time won't be the disciples I raised.
Since I can never see you again, all I can do is wholeheartedly thank you.
Thank you, my disciples.
And I'm sorry, my disciples.
I was able to reach this realm by taking care of you, listening to your wishes, acting foolishly on my stubbornness... and cutting through that stubbornness.
The realm I endlessly aspired to reach.
"The Five Energies Converging to the Origin."
Not maintaining Stepping in the Void, I fell back down, facing the patterns of the wind.
I embraced the refreshing breeze from the expansive sky, while simultaneously cherishing the memories of my disciples deep within my heart.
Holding onto these past memories, I came to understand that I had truly arrived at the starting point.
Whoosh!
'From now on, it's the real beginning...'
Buried in the clouds, I thought so.
Yes, from now on, it's the real starting line.
***
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