Late at night, after everyone had gone to bed.
At the window of the annex where Jin Cheong-un was staying, a flicker of lamplight still danced.
RUSTLE, RUSTLE.
Jin Cheong-un turned a page by the glow of the oil lamp.
One page.
Then another.
He lingered on a single passage for a long while, sometimes flipping back, and then another page.
Only when the night had deepened and the moon had tilted toward the western ridge did Jin Cheong-un close the book.
TAP!
He stared at the volume resting on the desk.
The Eight Desolations.
The title, written in an immaculate hand.
Jin Cheong-un hesitated for a moment, then flipped through the pages once more.
"I've handled my share of martial arts, but this......"
Deep.
Yes, that was the word that fit best.
'It is a step beyond the Underworld King's Ten Techniques—my former signature art. In certain areas, several steps beyond.'
And the Underworld King's Heart Art had been classified among the highest-tier martial arts in the Martial Arts Alliance's archives.
The problem was that only "certain areas" were so advanced.
'It's extreme.'
Jin Cheong-un's eyes deepened.
Not universally, but most orthodox martial arts prized balance—the absence of bias.
The Sovereign Heaven Art, however, was more akin to an awl. Certain elements were pushed to an extreme degree. It almost felt like sections had been deliberately omitted.
As though the gaps were meant to be filled by other martial arts.
'That's a hallmark of dark arts or unorthodox techniques......'
Surely his master had not been some heretical outsider?
No, surely not.
Jin Cheong-un let his gaze drift to the characters on the manual's first page.
'Volume One...... So that's why.'
Even so, the extreme strengths more than compensated for the gaps.
If even half of what was written held true, it might be enough to restore his shattered body to its former state.
Jin Cheong-un tapped the cover thoughtfully.
'No—perhaps even more than that.'
In the past, he had learned martial arts as though something were always chasing him.
He had always needed a stronger technique, a more powerful inner force—right now, right away.
Thanks to that, he had built a rather tall tower, but at the same time, he had met its limits.
What he had lacked was one thing.
The foundation.
A wide, solid base upon which to build a tall tower of martial arts.
But what about now?
His body and martial arts had been destroyed once, and a martial art more than sufficient to fill the void had appeared.
He could gather the spilled water back up.
No—he might even be able to build a bigger vessel and fill it with more.
Of course, there might be unforeseen side effects or blind spots lurking within, but he would not know until he tried.
Surely, knowing the master's temperament, if the art were truly dangerous, he would have left annotations. These things were meant to be taken on faith.
"It seems I'll be learning martial arts from scratch all over again."
Jin Cheong-un wasted no time sitting in the lotus position and drawing a deep breath.
HUUUUMMM!
He felt a vast, deep sea.
The Sea of Qi.
The sea of energy. That was the name given to the acupoint at the lower qi center.
But right now, his Sea of Qi was closer to a lake than a sea. The water merely pooled, never flowing.
From this moment on, that would change.
"Hooooo."
Jin Cheong-un slowly recited the mnemonic verses of the Eight Desolations' Sovereign Heaven Art and stimulated the Sovereign Heaven primal energy.
In that instant.
WHOOSH!
The oil lamp went out.
"Sssss...... hooooo......"
Exhalation and inhalation. Out-breath and in-breath.
Exhale the old, inhale the new. Through breathing, he drew external qi into his body, converted it to internal qi, and poured it into the sea of energy.
HISSSS!
And so the uninvited tenant that had occupied his qi center on its own terms stirred from sleep.
A pure and imperious energy flowed along the scarred and withered belt meridian.
Before long, the Sovereign Heaven energy began to spread, seeping into and filling the eight extraordinary meridians and the minor channels.
'Good.'
From here, he would lay the foundation.
His qi vessels had already been completed through the Underworld King's Heart Art.
He had confirmed that the Sovereign Heaven energy did not clash with it, but he still needed to exercise the utmost caution.
'No rush. Just like the first time I set foot on the path of inner arts, I'll start with accumulating qi......'
That was when.
DOOOOOM!
Out of nowhere, a tremor like the striking of a great temple bell—deep and heavy—rippled through his qi vessels.
"......?!"
The relaxation he had been easing into snapped taut.
Jin Cheong-un's face went rigid.
FLASH!
It was awakening.
There was no other way to describe it. Something that had slumbered for a long, long time stretched as if rising from sleep, and from deep in his lower abdomen, a fierce energy reared its head and surged upward.
'What the—'
He scrambled to focus his mind.
BOOM!
A shock like a thunderclap detonating rocked his qi vessels.
BOOM!
Jin Cheong-un's body shuddered violently.
"Gkh."
He swallowed down the gasp that had reflexively leapt from his throat.
The Sovereign Heaven energy was hammering through every qi vessel in his body like a thing gone mad.
Jin Cheong-un clenched his molars shut.
'Qi deviation, now?!'
No. It was flowing along the correct path.
But as if furious at being kept asleep for so long, the Sovereign Heaven energy tore through his qi vessels without pause.
'Easy. An orthodox art should be taken slowly. I just entered the gate. Work with me here.'
Jin Cheong-un gently coaxed the energy, guiding it toward the qi center.
HUUUMM!
Mercifully, the energy's intensity began to wane, and it started slinking back toward the Sea of Qi.
'Hoo, that's it.'
That took ten years off his life. He had thought he was going to die of qi deviation the moment he retired.
But why had it suddenly recoiled like that?
A heartbeat ago it had been rampaging as if it meant to kill him, and now it had curled up like a predator poised to pounce on its prey......
'Poised to pounce?'
Jin Cheong-un flinched.
His qi center already had a prior owner.
The true qi he had cultivated over a lifetime—the inner arts of the Underworld King's Heart Art, not yet fully dissipated.
Jin Cheong-un's brow twitched.
Surely not.
An orthodox art's true qi would never do such a thing.
CRAAASH!
"Gkh."
The Sovereign Heaven energy erupted.
As if it had no intention of sharing the table, it rammed headlong into the Underworld King's Heart Art.
THUD THUD THUD THUD!
His entire body shook, and it felt as though fireworks were going off behind his eyes.
Beyond the agony of his qi vessels twisting, Jin Cheong-un sensed the change.
'Ah......!'
A sensation he had never felt before bleached his mind white.
The Sovereign Heaven energy, having seized total dominion over his qi vessels, began to incinerate everything that stood in its way, one by one.
Paradoxically, alongside the pain, Jin Cheong-un felt relief.
A coolness he had not experienced since sustaining his injuries, and with it, something forced its way up his throat.
"Cough! Cough cough! Gkh!"
SPLATTER!
A basinful of dark, grimy blood poured out.
It was not mere blood. It was the turbid qi that the Sovereign Heaven energy had burned away, being expelled from his body.
HISSSSS!
Pale wisps of vapor began to seep from the crown of Jin Cheong-un's head, his brow, and the centers of his palms and soles.
By now, Jin Cheong-un was feeling his consciousness slip away.
Even so, the Sovereign Heaven energy flowed on through his qi vessels, imperious and unyielding.
The Eight Desolations, Sovereign Heaven Art.
Sovereign—the first of the Eight Trigrams. Its symbols: heaven, strength, purity.
True to its name, the Sovereign Heaven Art blazed through the remaining turbid qi in his body like wildfire, then seeped into his muscles, bones, and meridian channels, forging a solid foundation.
A simple energy moving as though it possessed its own will and spirit.
In the martial world, such a martial art bore a name.
A peerless divine art.
***
CHIRP! CHIRP CHIRP!
With the birdsong heralding early morning, Jin Cheong-un's eyes snapped open.
"Hoo!"
He stretched wide—and stopped short.
'The pain?'
His recovery had been miraculous, true, but the lingering effects of his injuries had not vanished entirely.
Even a simple stretch used to catch and snag as though he were about to pull something, yet now there was nothing of the sort.
He hurriedly examined his body and clicked his tongue in amazement.
"My."
The meridian channels that had been knotted and blocked by internal injuries had returned to their original state.
Misaligned muscles and tendons had regained their elasticity.
While he was at it, he continued observing his body—and clicked his tongue again, this time in disappointment.
'Not fully recovered, then.'
Well, it would hardly make sense for a single session of cultivation to wipe away injuries that severe.
'And the Underworld King's Ten Techniques have vanished without a trace.'
Half a lifetime's worth of martial arts, gone.
His inner arts reserves were perhaps half—no, half of half—of what they had been during his Alliance days.
But the sense of loss lasted only a moment.
He could feel it.
The Sovereign Heaven Art energy settled into his qi center, and the change it had brought to his essence, qi, and spirit.
The flow of true qi, incomparably purer than before.
'On top of that.'
A flash of elation crossed Jin Cheong-un's eyes.
His tightly clenched fist trembled.
'My back doesn't hurt!'
His joints felt brand-new!
He had been grinding through the martial world since childhood, and every little thing used to make his joints ache!
What kind of martial artist gets excited over something like that, you ask?
Anyone who has never suffered from a bad back and bad knees can kindly keep quiet. Do you have any idea how much that drags down one's quality of life?
Those born into prestigious families who grew up pampered might not understand, but most martial artists wore their bodies down in the daily grind, and sooner or later, joints started to ache everywhere.
'Now this is a peerless divine art.'
Indeed. What other peerless divine art could there be?
Just then, he heard someone outside the door.
"Master. Are you still asleep?"
It was Jeong So-so. Jin Cheong-un tilted his head and answered.
"I'm up. But what brings you here so early? I told you there's no training today since you need to pack to stay elsewhere."
"Oh, that's actually what I came to talk about. May I come in?"
"Mm, sure. Come in."
"Yes! I trust you slept well last ni...... GASP!"
Jeong So-so suddenly recoiled, clamping her hands over her nose.
Jin Cheong-un looked puzzled.
"What is it?"
"Wh-what is that smell?! Why does the room reek of......?"
"Smell?"
Jin Cheong-un tilted his head and scanned the room.
That small motion alone sent Jeong So-so stumbling backward in a panic.
"S-stop! Please don't move! The sm-smell is...... URP!"
Jin Cheong-un wore a slightly wounded expression.
"That just now was very nearly hurtful."
"I-I'm sorry. But......"
"What smell? Where?"
As his eyes swept the room, they soon locked onto one spot. Jeong So-so's gaze, too, was fixed there.
The place where he had been sitting in the lotus position last night.
There, the turbid qi and waste expelled from his body during cultivation had left their mark.
A dark, sizable stain.
"......"
"......"
Jeong So-so regarded Jin Cheong-un with a look of pure contempt.
"How can a person......"
***
"For now...... I'll accept that explanation."
"It's not 'accepting an explanation'—that's what happened! Come see for yourself!"
"I said I'll go with that! Stop moving! AAAH! I don't want to see! No! Please!"
Even after explaining the full story, Jin Cheong-un was left with the maddening feeling of being deeply wronged.
"So, what did you need?"
"Oh! Master, would it be alright if I left So-ryong with you?"
Jeong So-so spoke with an apologetic expression.
"I'm working at the apothecary today and it's a bit of a distance. If I drop So-ryong off at the White Cloud Inn first and then go to work, I won't make it in time."
The Jeong siblings had decided to vacate the house starting today.
Baek Seo-gun's visit had been just last night, so there was no need to rush this much. But better to move too quickly than to sit around and have something blow up.
"Sure, I need to be at the school today anyway—the stoneworker is coming. I'll drop him off at the inn in the evening. I was planning to check on his condition during the day, in any case."
"Thank you!"
"You remember what I told you?"
"Yes, Master."
Shortly after, Jeong So-so finished her hurried preparations for work.
Peeking out the window, she saw Jeong So-ryong rubbing his eyes as he saw her off.
"Why are you up? You can sleep more."
"Mmm. No, I'm fine. You're leaving—how can I just sleep?"
"Alright, So-ryong. See you later. Be good for Master, okay? Don't be a bother. Listen to Mister Seo at the inn. Make sure you eat properly. And if you feel sick, don't just tough it out......"
Despite the rapid-fire nagging, Jeong So-ryong spoke with composure beyond his years.
"Sis, I'm fine. If anything, you're the one who shouldn't push yourself at work. If you get sick, that defeats the purpose."
Jeong So-so chuckled at her little brother's usual grown-up manner.
"Since when does a crybaby worry about someone else?"
"I'm not a crybaby."
"You brat."
Jeong So-so ruffled Jeong So-ryong's hair into a mess.
"Don't worry. These days, with you feeling better, I've actually got more energy. Your sister's off now!"
"Mm. Have a good day."
"I will!"
Jeong So-so stepped through the gate with a bright smile.
A moment later, she tapped her cheeks as if casting a spell on herself.
"Everything's going to be fine!"
Jin Cheong-un, leaning against the window frame, chuckled.
She had tried to lower her voice so no one would hear, but his student evidently did not yet know how sharp a martial artist's ears could be.