"I'm home."
The moment Cheon Do-hyeon stepped inside, he sensed something was wrong.
Normally, what would he have heard?
The sound of someone pounding a punching bag in the courtyard.
But today, only silence filled the old martial arts hall.
"...Grandpa?"
Cheon Do-hyeon's footsteps came to a halt as he entered the living room.
His grandfather, Cheon Woo-hyeok, sat on the sofa with his back turned.
Those shoulders, which had always seemed as sturdy and dependable as a towering mountain, looked as fragile as a withered old tree today.
The unsettling sense that something was terribly wrong made Cheon Do-hyeon instinctively tread more carefully.
Right now, his grandfather looked so frail that a single breath might blow him away.
"Do-hyeon, you're home."
Cheon Woo-hyeok turned around.
His face was gaunt.
Do-hyeon had known him his entire life, yet he'd never seen his grandfather looking so emaciated.
His heart sank.
"Grandpa, are you sick? The hospital... We need to go to the hospital."
Normally, his grandfather would've scolded him for talking nonsense.
But this time, he said nothing.
"Sit down."
Cheon Woo-hyeok's voice was low but firm.
There was an authority in his tone that brooked no disobedience.
When Cheon Do-hyeon hesitantly sat across from him, Cheon Woo-hyeok spoke calmly.
"Do-hyeon. I do not have much time left."
"What? What are you... Don't joke about that. You were sparring with me just yesterday!"
"A martial artist knows when his death approaches."
Cheon Woo-hyeok took Cheon Do-hyeon's hand.
It was a rough, calloused hand.
But the warmth that should've been there was as cold as ice.
Cheon Do-hyeon's eyes reddened.
"No... Grandpa, if you're gone, I'll be all alone... Please don't do this."
"Do not cry. How can a man of the Cheon family shed tears so easily?"
Cheon Woo-hyeok didn't wipe away his grandson's tears.
Instead, he revealed a truth he had concealed his entire life.
"What I am about to tell you concerns the secret of the Cheon family. First of all, Do-hyeon, you are not powerless."
"...What?"
"The reason you cannot use magic is not that you are weak. Your vessel was simply born to contain something else."
His grandfather began telling him an unbelievable story.
The Cheon family were the inheritors of Martial Arts, a power that had long since disappeared from the world.
And Cheon Do-hyeon had been born with the Heavenly Martial Body, a constitution that rejected magic.
"But what good is that? I've trained so hard, and I still don't have any power."
"Because the seed has not yet been planted."
However, planting that seed required an enormous sacrifice.
For generations, the Cheon family had performed an inheritance ritual when their successors reached adulthood.
Through Marrow Cleansing, the successor's dantian would be awakened, and internal energy would be transferred to them.
Cheon Woo-hyeok had already performed this ritual for his son, Cheon Song-gyeong.
But his son had died.
The Cheon family's Marrow Cleansing ritual required an enormous amount of internal energy.
Having already performed it once, Cheon Woo-hyeok no longer possessed enough internal energy to conduct another succession ritual.
The family's lineage was on the verge of being severed.
However, there was one way.
"I shall transfer all my life force and internal energy to you. It is the only way."
"What about you, Grandpa?! That means you'll die!"
Cheon Do-hyeon shot to his feet.
He couldn't possibly sacrifice his only remaining family member just to obtain power.
"No! I don't want that kind of power! I'd rather keep living like this!"
"Sit down!"
Cheon Woo-hyeok's thunderous shout reverberated throughout the martial arts hall.
For the first time, he spoke to his grandson almost pleadingly.
"Do-hyeon. This is the selfish wish of an old man. I shall return to the earth, but my martial arts... my soul... I wish for them to continue living within you."
"...Grandpa."
"So please, accept them."
Cheon Do-hyeon lowered his head.
The desperation in his grandfather's eyes was so profound that he couldn't bring himself to refuse.
That night, deep within a valley in the nearby mountains.
Under the cold moonlight, two men sat facing each other.
"Remove your upper garments and sit in the lotus position."
Cheon Woo-hyeok positioned himself behind Cheon Do-hyeon.
Both his hands came to rest against Do-hyeon's back, touching the Myeongmun acupoint.
"Remember this well. You must never lose consciousness. Do not lose track of the energy I send into you. Follow its path."
HUMMMM—
A searing heat surged into him from behind.
The agony was horrific, as though molten lava were being forced directly into his blood vessels.
"AAAAARGH!"
A scream burst from Cheon Do-hyeon's mouth.
But his grandfather didn't stop.
Instead, he pushed even more energy into him and shouted.
"Keep your wits about you, Do-hyeon! Focus on the flow of Qi!"
"Close your eyes, feel the Qi, and slowly circulate it along the path I show you."
RUMBLE—!
The pain was so intense that even relaxing for a moment threatened to send him straight into unconsciousness.
CLENCH—!
Yet even amid that agony, Cheon Do-hyeon concentrated on the flow of Qi through sheer superhuman willpower.
He could feel the energy pouring from Cheon Woo-hyeok's hands and entering his body.
As he focused more deeply, he began to perceive the internal energy flowing along a specific pathway.
RUMBLE—!
It traced a massive spiral, as though attempting to create a vortex of its own.
And at the very center of that spiral lay his dantian.
"Huuup!"
It felt as though a mass of burning lava had settled inside his abdomen.
Meanwhile, Cheon Woo-hyeok confirmed that his grandson had overcome the pain and was concentrating on circulating his Qi.
A smile appeared on his lips.
'My precious grandson. When did you grow so strong and dependable? When did you become a man?'
'Take it! This is my entire life!'
The amount of internal energy he was transferring increased explosively.
Cheon Woo-hyeok's body began withering at a terrifying speed.
His once-bulging muscles shrank, and his skin became wrinkled and shriveled.
Meanwhile, within Cheon Do-hyeon's dantian, which continued to receive that internal energy, a black vortex had begun to rage.
With this, the seed had been planted.
[Great Void Primordial Unity Heart Art]
Cheon Woo-hyeok's life-risking secret technique had succeeded, and the cultivation art was finally established within Cheon Do-hyeon's body.
And the completed cultivation art began spinning wildly, greedily devouring even the last remnants of his grandfather's life force.
'No... Grandpa...'
But Cheon Woo-hyeok, whose presence he could feel behind him, didn't withdraw his hands.
As though determined to give away every last bit of himself.
Amid the enormous torrent of life force and internal energy pouring into his body, Cheon Do-hyeon slowly lost consciousness.
How much time had passed?
When Cheon Do-hyeon opened his eyes, the surroundings were shrouded in thick dawn mist.
"Gasp!"
The instant he awakened, he sensed that the world had changed.
Every sensation throughout his body had become extraordinarily sharp.
The chirping of insects.
The whispering of the wind.
It was as though the world he'd always seen in 1080p had suddenly been upgraded to 8K resolution.
And that wasn't all.
His body felt so light that it was almost as though gravity had disappeared.
An explosive amount of strength surged through every part of him.
But he had no time to revel in his newfound power.
"Grandpa?!"
Cheon Do-hyeon slowly turned his head.
Cheon Woo-hyeok was sitting there.
Still in the lotus position, with his head hanging low.
He looked exactly like a martial artist immersed in deep meditation.
"Grandpa...?"
There was no answer.
His body had already grown cold.
He sat motionless, as rigid as a stone statue.
And even in his final moments, a smile had remained on his face.
Perhaps it was the relief of knowing that he'd left everything he possessed to his grandson.
With trembling hands, Cheon Do-hyeon wrapped his arms around his grandfather's bony shoulders.
No tears came.
Instead, a blazing ball of fire seemed to surge upward from deep within his chest.
A note slipped from his grandfather's clothing.
[Do-hyeon. The martial arts manuals are in the safe in the master bedroom. The password is your birthday.]
[You are not alone. I shall always be within you... So live your life without letting anything hold you back.]
Cheon Do-hyeon performed a deep ceremonial bow before his grandfather's remains.
He kept bowing until his forehead struck the ground hard enough to bleed.
And when he finally raised his head—
His eyes no longer belonged to a fragile young boy.
"Yes. Please watch over me."