Martial Arts Ain't Anything Special-Chapter 28: Murim Debut (1)

Engraving one’s own star into qi...

Seojun frowned.

“Is it that thing about mind, qi, body, or like essence, qi, mind whatever?”

“Right. Essence, qi, mind. So you could say reinforced qi is when the mind dwells within qi.”

“What?”

“Sigh.”

Theory is hard. Who the hell needs theory anyways as long as you’re good at using it?

When Seojun grumbled, Chunbong provided some child-level education.

“It means your mental imagery becomes one with your inner qi and manifests in the form of a star.”

“Aha, I see. Why didn’t you just say that instead of making it so complicated?”

“Dunno either.”

Chunbong shook her head in resignation.

Experts in any field tend to use complex language, though they claim they all understand each other.

Seojun asked while staring at her blankly.

“By the way do you remember... that demonic creature?”

“The Armored Demon?”

“Yeah, that one. Do they normally just pop up anywhere?”

Isn’t that basically a natural disaster? It’s like if the neighbor’s tap water caused a tsunami that destroyed our house.

“Is that what you think? Half the population would be gone if that happened.”

“Oh, true. That wouldn’t make sense.”

“But I mean, who knows anymore? One did show up yesterday after all.”

“What...”

Wait, is this not a martial arts novel but an apocalypse story?

“Then where do demonic creatures usually live?”

“Hm... Usually not where people live. Martial artists clean them up in most towns.”

“Then what about here? Did these Clear River Sect bastards slack off?”

“I really don’t know. It doesn’t make sense for an Armored Demon-level creature to sneak down to human territories in the first place.”

“Hmm, then is this place close to demonic creature habitat?”

“Not at all. What, you think Shaanxi is some shitty backwater?”

Shaanxi? Seojun’s eyes lit up.

“THE Shaanxi where THE Mount Hua Sect is?”

“Yeah, that’s right. How do you know about Mount Hua Sect?”

“Mount Hua Sect is famous, aren’t they?”

“But you said you didn’t know about the Divine Sword Geum Clan?”

Chunbong was triggered, but this was genuinely unfair.

“Hey, ask anyone from my neighborhood! They’d know Mount Hua Sect but not the Divine Sword Geum Clan too!”

“Okay, okay. I get it.”

“No, I swear...!”

So damn unfair.

*Leaving the sulking Chunbong alone for now, he slipped out of the room.

You need to give it some time with these things before apologizing for it to work.

“Now where...”

Seojun wandered around the Clear River Sect until he stood before the sect leader’s quarters.

No one was standing guard. Either they were too confident or a rural sect like this didn’t need guards.

Since it wasn’t his concern, he knocked on the door.

“Are you there?”

“Come in.”

He opened the door and found the Clear River Sect Leader polishing a sword.

An elderly man sitting in lotus position wiping his sword with cloth definitely has that vibe. Now this is a martial arts novel!

“I have something to ask.”

“Speak as you please.”

“A sect like the Clear River Sect must have some spirit pills, right?”

“We do. Though nothing too high grade.”

“Would you give me one if I asked?”

“Do you need it?”

The sect leader looked up from polishing his sword, his profound eyes settling on Seojun. Their gazes met for a moment before Seojun nodded.

“Yes.”

“I see.”

The sect leader stood up.

He put away his sword and walked past Seojun out of his quarters.

“Follow me.”

*The sect leader led him to a building.

Medicine Hall.

Those characters were written large on the building’s plaque.

Wow, I’m oddly proud of myself.

I’m able to read some Chinese characters now.

Though I probably knew these characters before too, but anyways.

“Hall Master, are you in?”

“Sect Leader?”

The building was modest in size. A middle-aged man poked his head out when the sect leader called out.

“What brings you here?”

“I recall we had some spare Clear River Pills.”

“Ah yes, we do have some left.”

“Give me one.”

“Pardon?”

The hall master’s eyebrows curved.

He looked Seojun up and down once and tilted his head.

“Hmm... Very well.”

The hall master went back inside.

Seojun looked at the sect leader with a confused expression.

“You’re really giving me one just because I asked?”

“I heard about it. You gave Woon some guidance.”

Was it that advice about letting qi flow naturally?

He hadn’t expected a casual piece of advice to return as a spirit pill.

“It wasn’t anything special...”

“What’s trivial to one may be significant to another. Your words led Woon to enlightenment, so giving a spirit pill or two is no great matter.”

Seojun pressed his lips together and quietly stared at the sect leader before slightly bowing.

“Thank you.”

“Think nothing of it. Just keep doing as you have been.”

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“Wow, for real?”

“...Perhaps I should reconsider.”

*After receiving the Clear River Pill from the sect leader, Seojun returned to his quarters with light steps.

“Hmm-”

The clear fragrance seemed to course through his body as he opened the wooden box’s lid and took a sniff. It felt more refreshing than the Black Wood Pill he had fed Chunbong before.

“With this... Will it still be hard to cure her completely?”

Seojun sighed and stared closely at the Clear River Pill.

A brown lump mixed with lots of dried herbs. The qi dwelling in this seemingly insignificant pill could save lives.

The more you know, the more you realize you don’t know.

What exactly is qi?

The more he learned, the further down the rabbit hole he found himself falling.

“Whatever.”

I’ll understand eventually.

Seojun closed the lid and opened the door, entering their room.

“Hey, Chunbong. Still sulking?”

“I wasn’t sulking.”

“Aww, is my little Chunbong all worked up?”

As he pressed her extra puffy cheeks that were even rounder than usual, she glared at him.

“Stop it.”

“Come on, don’t be like that. Your big brother got something good for you.”

When he held out the wooden box, Chunbong’s eyebrows twitched.

She stared at the box for a moment, then scratched her cheek and glanced at Seojun’s face.

“...Seriously, it’s fine. I’m almost completely healed now.”

“What do you mean healed?”

“I mean it. I already took one last time. You should take this one.”

“Tsk!”

When he tried to force-feed her by shoving the box forward, Chunbong pouted.

“You can get stronger and find other spirit pills later.”

“Who knows when that’ll be.”

“Well... Would it take that long?”

“Probably not.”

If things go well, couldn’t I get a spirit pill or two somehow?

Seojun had a rough idea of his level.

He had reached a realm where few were his equal around here, though that power was too dangerous to act recklessly.

The Peak Realm seemed easy to reach, but he knew better than to underestimate it.

“But you know.”

“Mm?”

“An opening...!”

Seojun moved like a lightning bolt, opening the box and grabbing the Clear River Pill.

Chunbong reacted, her eyes flashing. She slapped the ground, using the rebound to stand up.

“Where do you...!”

Seojun reached out his hand and used the Geum-style Grabbing Technique he had learned somewhat to grab her sleeve.

While he might match her in qi manipulation, Chunbong was superior in actual martial arts.

She also grabbed his sleeve with her caught hand. Just as he planned.

Seojun hadn’t intended to beat Chunbong in pure martial arts anyways.

“Got you, you brat!”

He pulled their locked arms to hug her.

“W-What...!”

A startled Chunbong flailed her arms and legs about. She had fallen for it.

“What can you do now!”

She could break free if she hit me seriously, but there’s no way Geum Chunbong would do such a thing.

Seojun held her tight and brought the Clear River Pill to her lips.

“Won’t you open your mouth? The pill will break. You know if this breaks, all its effects will be lost, right?”

“Mmph!”

“Now now, do it the easy way!”

“Mmph!”

“Tsk!”

Seeing Seojun’s eyes, Chunbong instinctively knew. This bastard will definitely break the pill.

So she gave up, opening her mouth.

Beyond her gut-wrenching guilt, she felt the refreshing qi of the spirit pill flow in.

“Sit in lotus position and stay still.”

She closed her eyes and followed his warm voice.

...Idiot.

Being too kind will only get you hurt.

*After treating her meridian blockage with Yin-Yang Reversal like before, Seojun went outside their room.

“Haah...”

Chunbong had fallen asleep after absorbing the spirit pill.

He looked down at his hand before clenching it into a fist.

“This works.”

It was a new attempt, but luck was on his side.

Nah, it was pure skill. Who else could’ve pulled this off but me?

Feeling satisfied, he found himself humming.

During the treatment of Chunbong’s meridian blockage, yin qi had leaked out. Rather than risk the complex process of converting it back to yang qi, he chose to absorb it directly.

The Primordial Divine Art recognized no distinction between the two. It absorbed the yin qi with equal efficiency, strengthening his inner qi in the process.

“Now that’s killing two birds with one stone.”

Standing in the courtyard, Seojun began circulating his inner qi. The murky qi of the Primordial Divine Art flowed freely through his meridians.

Usually people can’t absorb 100% of a spirit pill, but isn’t it pure profit just absorbing what leaks out?

For a moment, he considered hanging around anyone taking spirit pills, but gave up since no one but Chunbong would allow such a thing.

Anyways, that wasn’t important right now.

Like a college student pulling out an assignment they procrastinated on, Seojun reviewed last night’s battle.

The Armored Demon’s protective qi.

While he wasn’t sure how it would work on bare skin since the armor itself was defensive too, it couldn’t hurt to learn it.

He smiled, guiding his qi along the flow he remembered.

The difference between him and a college student was that while assignments sucked, martial arts were fun.

And so, the night quickly passed.

*The next morning.

Seojun was devastated.

“N-NOOOOOOO...!!!”

Chunbong’s cheeks as she walked out yawning, had shrunk ever so slightly.