Gongsun Cheongi and I traded lines of verse back and forth, talking so long we lost track of time.
Maybe we truly clicked—before we knew it, we even dropped formalities and became friends.
“COUGH! COUGH!”
Having too much fun, Gongsun Cheongi didn’t even realize he was burning through his strength, and he began coughing hard.
His escorting martial artists hurriedly took out a bowl of herbal decoction, warmed it with blazing-yang internal energy, and held it out in front of Gongsun Cheongi.
“Young Master. Please drink.”
“Thanks.”
“You seem to be enjoying yourself, so I couldn’t bring myself to stop you, but you must be careful.”
“I know. It’s just... I met my first true kindred spirit and got carried away, so I must’ve overdone it. Sorry.”
At Gongsun Cheongi’s apology, the martial artist shook his head as if he didn’t deserve it.
“W-what are you saying? This subject only spoke because I was worried about you. An apology to me is... unthinkable.”
It was obvious how dearly they cherished Gongsun Cheongi.
Watching that with a pleased look, I asked carefully.
“What kind of illness is it, that a few lines of verse do that to you?”
At my question, Gongsun Cheongi hesitated for a moment, then sighed and spoke.
“Gang Wi... do you know about Nine-Yin Severed Meridians?”
“I do. A disease where nine meridians slowly freeze from intense yin energy, and in the end you die. Don’t tell me... you have it?”
“That’s right. You know Nine-Yin Severed Meridians well.”
“I do. Because I’ve treated it before.”
At my words, it wasn’t just Gongsun Cheongi—every martial artist nearby stared at me in shock.
Gongsun Cheongi asked back in a trembling voice.
“W-what... what did you just say?”
“I said I’ve cured Nine-Yin Severed Meridians before.”
“I-is that really true? You really cured Nine-Yin Severed Meridians?”
Saying I’d cured it before was a lie meant to calm him down.
I hadn’t cured it before, but I can cure it.
All I have to do is engrave a mantra that radiates strong yang energy into the meridians freezing from intense yin energy.
Then the meridians won’t freeze anymore—rather, yang energy will overflow, and he’ll be able to unleash martial arts that use blazing-yang internal energy as much as he wants.
Of course, since I’d never tried it even once, I’d need to be extremely careful... but I didn’t think I would fail.
“H-how?”
“I learned sorcery. If I engrave a mantra that emits yang energy into the meridians where yin energy leaks out, the yin energy won’t be able to run rampant anymore, and Nine-Yin Severed Meridians will naturally disappear.”
“You-you can fix Nine-Yin Severed Meridians... with sorcery?”
I nodded.
Gongsun Cheongi stared at me blankly for a moment, then climbed down from the chair, dropped to his knees, and prostrated himself, begging.
“Th-then please, heal me! I’ll do anything you want! So please—heal me!”
“Come on. What conditions do we need between us? If a friend is sick, of course I should fix him. Honestly, I knew you had Nine-Yin Severed Meridians from the moment I first saw you. I didn’t think you’d believe me if I acted like I knew... and you might even dislike it, so I kept quiet.”
Gongsun Cheongi looked at me with trembling eyes.
No wonder he’d felt strangely compelled to come here today.
Maybe it was to meet a benefactor like this.
In truth, Gongsun Cheongi’s body was reaching its limit.
He was barely controlling the yin energy, but even that was about to collapse because his stamina couldn’t support him anymore.
He was living day to day in a state of resignation.
“Young Master! He’s an unverified person! You must be careful!”
At the martial artist’s words, Gongsun Cheongi said,
“If this friend, Gang Wi, harmed me, what would he gain? And he’s my friend. Don’t speak carelessly about my friend.”
“Th-that is....”
Then Gongsun Cheongi apologized to me.
“I’ll apologize for their mistake. Sorry. But they didn’t say it with bad intentions. They’re only doing that because they’re worried about me, so please understand with a generous heart.”
I grinned and nodded.
“I know. You’ve really kept good people at your side.”
“That’s right. They’re more than I deserve.”
At that, the escorting martial artists rubbed their noses awkwardly and looked away.
“Live a long, long time, and show those people a good sight, too. I’ll heal your Nine-Yin Severed Meridians.”
“Thank you! Really—thank you. Is there anything I need to prepare?”
“First... it’s not a good idea to treat you here, so it’d be best if there’s somewhere quiet, like a secluded hall.”
“Our family has a mountain lodge. Let’s go there.”
“You really believe me that much?”
At my question, Gongsun Cheongi grinned.
“I believed you from the moment I first saw you.”
At that, I let out a small laugh and said,
“Then I have to repay that trust. Let’s go.”
*****
Gongsun Cheongi and his people arrived with me at Greenwood Mountain Lodge, the Gongsun Family’s mountain estate.
The staff managing the lodge flustered at the sudden visit as they rushed to receive us.
Gongsun Cheongi told them he’d come to recuperate, so they were not to make a fuss, then went into a room with me.
When the escorting martial artists tried to follow, Gongsun Cheongi said,
“It’ll be just the two of us.”
At that, the martial artists made troubled expressions.
“Young Master....”
“If you come in, my friend will be uncomfortable.”
At Gongsun Cheongi’s words, I grinned and shook my head.
“No. It’s fine. They can stay. It won’t interfere or anything.”
“Really? That’s okay?”
“Yeah. Their job is to protect you. You should consider their position, too.”
At my words, the escorting martial artists relaxed their wariness toward me a lot.
Not completely, though.
They held themselves ready so they could respond instantly if I tried anything.
Honestly, I liked that better.
“Must be nice, having escorts like that.”
“You probably have them too.”
“I do. I suddenly miss them. Maybe I should’ve brought them.”
“Show me later.”
“Sure. Let’s start. First, take off all your clothes and lie down.”
He did as I said, undressed, and lay on the bed.
Maybe because he hadn’t been able to eat properly, Gongsun Cheongi’s body was gaunt.
“It’s not a great sight, is it?”
To the embarrassed Gongsun Cheongi, I said,
“So what? Once you’re cured, you’ll have a body worth looking at soon.”
“Do you really think my illness can be cured?”
“Up until now, you tried everything you could to cure it, didn’t you?”
“Yeah. Even a Heavenly Physician shook his head and left. He said my condition is too severe—beyond a level that can be treated.”
“But you haven’t tried sorcery.”
“Th-that’s true.”
“Why? Now that we’re actually doing it, are you nervous?”
“Yeah. I’ve never heard of healing the body with sorcery.”
“Ah. It’s sorcery, but it’s not the kind of sorcery you’re thinking of.”
“Then what is it?”
“There’s something like that. I’ll tell you once you’re healthy. You might be able to understand.”
“Okay.”
“Alright. Then I’m starting.”
“...Yeah. I’m counting on you.”
I nodded, then murmured an incantation.
“Open the eyes, observe the soul; illuminate the qi, observe the meridians.”
As I murmured the incantation, my eyes turned white.
Gongsun Cheongi watched that with fascination.
With White Eyes, I could see every meridian in Gongsun Cheongi’s body clearly.
His qi wasn’t flowing smoothly, and I could see meridians that had turned bluish from vicious cold.
There were nine in total.
‘Let’s start with the Kidney Meridian.’
Still in that state, I murmured another incantation.
“Open the eyes, observe the soul; illuminate the qi, observe the meridians.”
My white eyes abruptly contracted, turning as if white had appeared atop black pupils.
The sight was grotesque enough that the escorting martial artists tensed up as they looked back and forth between me and Gongsun Cheongi.
I was stacking two incantations at once.
If a mage of the Pasa Kingdom saw this, they’d be horrified.
But it wasn’t over.
After magnifying the spot where cold energy was leaking out, I brought my finger to it and began focusing so intensely that veins bulged on my forehead.
I was attempting a secret technique I’d never tried before.
So I was focusing and focusing, more than ever.
A secret technique that engraves mantras into an extremely tiny meridian.
It was the Mantra Qi Engraving Art.
Sun rises, heavenly yang; qi floods in, spirit engraving.
I was casually attempting something insane—stacking three mantras at once.
If the mages of the Pasa Kingdom saw this, they’d foam at the mouth and pass out.
A faint, delicate qi gathered at my fingertips and began engraving a mantra into Gongsun Cheongi’s meridian.
A first attempt.
A thin line of sweat ran down my forehead.
DRIP—.
The instant a drop of sweat wet the floor—
“Hoo!”
I exhaled and lifted my finger.
“One down!”
“Huh? What’s down?”
“I cleared one. Now it’s Eight-Yin Severed Meridians.”
“A-already?”
“Isn’t it warm here?”
“Huh? It—it is? I-it’s really warm!”
“Right? Come on. Let’s do the rest too.”
“Mm!”
With a choked, emotional expression, Gongsun Cheongi nodded hard.
The escorting martial artists saw it clearly.
Color was returning to the spot where I’d pressed my finger, then lifted it.
*****
After engraving mantras into seven meridians, I looked at the remaining two.
The last two were the Conception Vessel and the Governing Vessel.
If I made even a small mistake here, it could mean instant death.
Even the people who’d watched me treat the other meridians tensed up when I reached my finger toward the Conception and Governing Vessels.
But I was smiling like it was nothing as I extended my finger.
At this point, it felt like I could engrave mantras with my eyes closed.
Still, I had to be careful—so I focused again.
That was when it happened.
Maybe startled by the yang energy rising from the other meridians, the Conception Vessel and the Governing Vessel suddenly began releasing an enormous amount of yin energy.
If this continued, Gongsun Cheongi—weak-bodied—wouldn’t endure it and would die.
Not one place—two places had to be blocked at the same time.
‘Seriously... you keep forcing me into new attempts.’
Stacking three mantras at once was already unheard of—now I had to split those mantras into two sets and deploy them simultaneously.
I clicked my tongue.
Nothing had tested me like Nine-Yin Severed Meridians.
But I couldn’t stop here.
If I did, Gongsun Cheongi would die.
The °• N 𝑜 v 𝑒 l i g h t •° problem was I needed to chant in two layers, but I only had one mouth.
Was there any way?
As I thought, a clone came to mind.
There was no rule that said I had to summon a full clone.
Summoning just a mouth should work, right?
That was the insane choice I made—stacking a fourth mantra on top.
The rings around my heart were spinning at an incredible speed.
A normal human would’ve exploded and died on the spot.
But I’m Jeok Wigang.
Another mouth formed inside my own mouth.
After taking a deep breath, I stretched out both hands, brought them to the Conception Vessel and the Governing Vessel, and chanted dual mantras.
From the two mouths, the mantras flowed at the same time, and white light streamed from my fingertips into the Conception Vessel and the Governing Vessel.
The Conception and Governing Vessels were also called the Gate of Life and Death.
It meant a mysterious gate where life and death crossed.
The deathly energy inside the Gate of Life and Death violently pushed back and resisted.
GRRRT—.
Gongsun Cheongi’s body shook hard.
PUK—!
Thick blood burst from his nose.