Chapter 30
Chapter 30: Third-rate Martial Family Becomes the Best Under Heaven
“Aaaaargh!”
“You lunatic old crone!”
Whoooosh! Violent gales howled past their ears with deafening fury.
Curse it all!
To be fair, a sheer precipice was well within Yanghwi’s capability to handle. Even if his present martial cultivation amounted to no more than that of a third-rate practitioner, the profound insights of his previous incarnation remained intact; surviving such a plunge was far from an impossible feat.
The real trouble lay by his side.
“Eeeeek! Aaaargh!”
Every shrill shriek that tore from Zhuge Seolha’s throat sent ripples of peach blossom qi surging outward in volatile waves.
“Seolha, be quiet!”
“Kyaaaah!”
Expecting a sheltered, fragile maiden who had lived in total isolation to maintain her composure while tumbling into an abyss was clearly asking for the impossible.
He pivoted to the second-best course of action without hesitation.
Yanghwi struck her fainting acupoint with a precise tap. Zhuge Seolha’s eyelids fluttered shut, and he frantically channeled the Harmonious Heaven Primordial Art. Endowed with the core nature of encompassing all creation, his Harmonious Heaven qi effortlessly assimilated the intruding peach blossom qi running rampant through his meridians.
That handled it!
Next, he required an implement to wedge against the rock face to arrest their descent—damn it, he was empty-handed.
Right as Yanghwi prepared to plunge his bare fingers into the solid stone out of sheer desperation—
Fssssh!
A projectile tore downward from overhead at blistering speed. Reaching out in a flash, Yanghwi snatched it out of thin air.
Well, it seems she possesses a shred of decency after all.
Though it was merely carved wood instead of tempered steel, not having his hands flayed to the bone was reason enough to feel grateful. Tucking Zhuge Seolha securely under one arm, Yanghwi drove the wooden blade straight into the towering stone wall to bleed off their lethal momentum.
Skrrr-screeech!
Yet the valley floor was still hurtling toward them at alarming speed.
Employing a standard fall-break technique would allow him to walk away unscathed, but doing so meant casting Zhuge Seolha aside. Impacting the earth as they were, however, would shatter both of his legs at the very least. Scrambling for alternatives, Yanghwi rallied his Harmonious Heaven qi and drove it down into his lower limbs.
Seolha, brace yourself for quite an impact.
Ten zhang remaining. Five. Three.
At last, a single zhang.
“Haaahp!”
His soles struck the ground simultaneously, landing solid and flat. A massive shudder traveled upward from the bottoms of his feet.
In an instant, Yanghwi’s entire frame rippled from the ankles upward. The kinetic force traveled through him like a raging torrent. The moment the shockwave reached the ends of his fingers, he extended his arms straight above his head, using the kinetic crest to cast Zhuge Seolha into the air.
Her figure vaulted over ten zhang into the sky. Channeling and releasing the drop’s momentum through qi meant that a gentle upward push sent her soaring toward the clouds.
With the kinetic violence bled away, catching her on the descent will be child’s play.
Securely catching Zhuge Seolha as she drifted back down into his arms, Yanghwi finally released an extended breath.
“Phew… I nearly crossed over to the underworld for real.”
It was no idle remark; he had genuinely brushed against the gates of death. Cold perspiration that had erupted during those fleeting seconds of freefall drenched his skin.
“…”
She couldn’t possibly hear me from down here, right? Unlikely. Then again, even if she can, I’m not swallowing this down.
“Just because you’re an almighty elder, you think you can toy with… with…!”
You ancient dried-up hag trapped inside an infant’s skin!
He could not quite bring himself to voice the insult into the open air. No matter how much he tried to brush it off, a nagging gut feeling warned him she might still be listening.
Curse it all. You can thank that wooden sword for sparing you a proper cursing.
Yanghwi laid Zhuge Seolha onto the ground with care before folding his legs into a lotus posture. Exhausting every shred of his inner energy to disperse the fall had left his dantian utterly drained. Pitiful as his present reserves were when compared to the vast sea of his former lifetime, replenishing them was the only way to regain any sense of security.
“Inhale, exhale…”
As he drew rhythmic breaths and dedicated his focus to guiding the internal flow, Yanghwi noticed a sharp, biting chill creeping into the surrounding air.
“Ugh…”
A soft murmur escaped Zhuge Seolha as her senses began to return. Considering the amount of qi he had driven into her fainting acupoint, she ought to have remained unconscious far longer; the plummeting temperature seemed to be jolting her awake ahead of time.
No matter; I have replenished sufficient internal energy by this point anyway.
Possessing consummate mastery over qi paired with a modest dantian brought a distinct advantage: exceptional circulation efficiency allowed him to refill his reserves in the blink of an eye.
The dilemma was that once Zhuge Seolha regained complete awareness, he would have to contend with the encroaching peach blossom qi all over again.
“…”
Yanghwi reflected on the notion that had crossed his mind when he originally recognized her unique physical constitution.
Perhaps the Harmonious Heaven Primordial Art can neutralize the volatile backlash of the Peach Blossom Body.
The ancestral martial foundation of the Baek Estate had originally been the Pear Blossom Six Harmonies Art, which balanced internal and external training to draw in energy guided by the tenets of the Six Harmonies. In his previous incarnation, Yanghwi had built upon that very art to forge an esoteric cultivation method approaching the divine realm.
That creation was the Harmonious Heaven Primordial Art.
It was an internal discipline founded on the core principle of encompassing every ambient force under the heavens to nourish the primordial origin.
Every variety of qi harbors its own inherent character and temper. The defining nature of Harmonious Heaven qi is total embrace.
To envelop and to blend. To merge everything into a unified whole and claim it as one’s own. Should he harness this trait properly, subduing her chaotic peach blossom qi was entirely feasible.
However…
Instructing her in the Harmonious Heaven Primordial Art directly was a futile endeavor. The technique lacked methods for governing the upper dantian. Without independently breaking through to the apex realm and harmonizing all three dantians simultaneously, she had no means to rein in the peach blossom qi presently concentrated within her upper dantian.
That left only one option: he had to guide the flow into her personally.
Interfering with an outsider’s upper dantian was generally regarded as nothing short of attempted murder.
Even so, Yanghwi harbored full confidence. In his prior life, he had stepped into the apex realm and broken the seals on his own upper dantian. His inner energy bore the mild, unifying nature of Harmonious Heaven qi, which kept the inherent peril to an absolute minimum.
“Deep breath in, and out…”
Inhaling steadily, he brought his palm to rest against the juncture between Zhuge Seolha’s eyebrows—the Yintang acupoint. While the Baihui acupoint atop the crown served as the gateway for communing with the heavens, the upper dantian, functioning as the vessel that gathered the celestial power channeled from it, was anchored at the Yintang acupoint.
Surging outward from the Laogong acupoint nestled in the center of Yanghwi’s palm, the Harmonious Heaven qi filtered directly between her brows.
Penetrating the upper dantian outright is dangerous, even when using Harmonious Heaven qi.
Forming a fine film over its exterior, on the other hand, would keep the procedure entirely safe. The catch was that such a feat demanded an agonizing degree of micro-control over his true qi…
At that very second—
Wait? The immortal core…?
A pristine, profound vibration emanated from the immortal core—the seed of immortal qi residing at the very center of his dantian. Flowing along the conduit of true qi linking his palm to her forehead, the immortal energy seamlessly joined the current.
To release and recall energy purely at will… Such a level of finesse should be out of the question for my current cultivation. How is this possible?
Mind-directed qi. Where the mind wanders, the qi obeys.
Blending with the immortal energy, the Harmonious Heaven qi shifted in perfect lockstep with Yanghwi’s intent, gently draping itself over Zhuge Seolha’s upper dantian. He had executed the essence of mind-directed qi without a flaw—a prerequisite state of unity of intent and qi that only cultivators of the apex realm could ever command.
“Phew…”
With the intervention complete, Yanghwi released a heavy sigh and pulled back his hand.
I never imagined stumbling into a breakthrough of this magnitude today.
To comprehend the core of mind-directed qi while confined to the third-rate realm. It was akin to an amateur who could barely hold a brush perfectly reproducing the calligraphy of a grandmaster.
Ever since its initial awakening, he had suspected there was something extraordinary about his immortal core and the power it held. Growing increasingly convinced that its presence was bound to his reincarnation through time, Yanghwi lightly shook Zhuge Seolha to bring her around.
“Seolha. Zhuge Seolha. Are you awake?”
“Nngh…”
Letting out a soft groan, Zhuge Seolha peeled her eyes open.
“…Where are we right—ah!”
The moment she realized words had left her lips, she clapped both hands firmly over her mouth, her eyes going wide with panic like a startled hare.
Yanghwi offered a reassuring smirk.
“It worked, thankfully. You’re free to speak now, so you can drop your hands.”
“Mmph, mmph!”
Seeing her hesitation linger, Yanghwi feigned scratching his scalp before abruptly shouting, “Boo!”
“Eep! Mmph! …Huh?”
Frightened into a squeak, Zhuge Seolha slammed her palms over her lips once more, only to blink in bewilderment.
“You can tell, can’t you? The peach blossom qi isn’t leaking anymore.”
She bobbed her head up and down in quick succession.
“It will remain suppressed for quite some time, so speak all you want.”
“…Truly? Mmph.”
Habit took over as she clamped her mouth shut once more, but Zhuge Seolha slowly dropped her hands and tried again.
“It really… it actually is…”
Her voice withered to a faint murmur, trembling before dissolving into quiet whimpering.
“Sniff… It actually worked… It truly did…”
The quiet sniffles rapidly swelled into an uncontrollable downpour, her shoulders trembling under the weight of genuine tears.
“Waaah! Sniff… Father… Uwaaah! Mother…!”
Yanghwi observed the breakdown with genuine empathy.
I meant to suggest moving out right away, but this will have to take precedence.
“You’ve carried a heavy burden, haven’t you? Cry as much as you need. Empty it all out.”
He reached out and patted her shoulder gently. Had it been his younger sister Yeon, he would have pulled her into an embrace, but out of respect for proper boundaries between a young man and woman, he confined himself to a simple, comforting pat.
After roughly one da-gak, Zhuge Seolha’s weeping gradually subsided.
“Young Hero Baek. How did you manage this?”
Yanghwi gave his scalp an awkward rub.
“Didn’t we already settle on being friends since we share the same age? Addressing me with such high honorifics makes me look downright rude for speaking so casually.”
“Even so, you held back my peach blossom qi. Forgetting decorum with my savior would violate propriety.”
“It is merely a temporary patch, not an outright cure.”
“It makes no difference.”
Hmm. Her father certainly brought up a well-mannered daughter.
She carried herself like a proper young lady of high standing in every gesture.
“Using ‘Young Hero’ still feels entirely too stiff. Since we’ve both ended up taking the same master, you should simply refer to me as Senior Brother.”
“That would not be proper.”
“Why not?”
Zhuge Seolha locked her eyes onto his.
“If I may be so bold, what is your exact date of birth?”
“…What does that have to do with anything?”
“When disciples entering the sect under the same master at the exact same hour are peers in age, birth date determines seniority. I may very well be the elder.”
“…What month were you born, Seolha?”
“The second month.”
The second month of the year. Topping that fair and square was virtually impossible.
A bit shameless, but desperate times call for desperate measures.
“I happen to be born in the first month, which means you should call me Senior Brother.”
“…Are you telling the truth?”
“Why would I bother fabricating something like that?”
“Can you swear it on the honor of the Baek house?”
“…”
Rather than answering right away, Yanghwi met her gaze in silence. Beneath her pristine, innocent facade, Zhuge Seolha held her ground without the slightest sign of backing down.
I didn’t peg her for this sort of character. Where did this stubborn streak spring from all of a sudden?
“Being an orphan who used to beg in the streets, I picked my own day of birth. It just so happened to fall on the dawn of the new year, so my birthday is officially the first day of the first month.”
“…”
Leaving Zhuge Seolha completely rendered without words, Yanghwi broke into a broad grin and pressed his case.
“Which means I’m officially your Senior Brother, wouldn’t you say?”
“…I will address you as Senior Brother. Once more, I offer my deepest gratitude for your aid, Senior Brother.”
“Very good.”
At any rate, it is time to survey whatever realm we have been cast into.
Even as they traded words, the frost in the air grew steadily more biting.
Well, would you look at that. Actual snowflakes are drifting down now.
Right before their eyes, the surrounding environment wavered like a shimmering mirage. Though their landing had occurred within a sunlit, green valley, their entire field of view abruptly turned into an endless expanse of blank white.
The verdant peak had completely morphed into a frigid, snow-covered landscape.
“Senior Brother, I suspect this to be a formation.”
“I agree.”
A formation: a tactical craft that redirected environmental energy through the deliberate arrangement of ritual implements to create grand sensory illusions.
“The Zhuge clan is renowned under heaven for their mastery over formations. Do you perceive a way to unravel this, Junior Sister?”
“Forgive me. My study of the craft is still far too shallow.”
“Think nothing of it. To tell the truth, I wasn’t placing much hope in it anyway.”
“…”
Zhuge Seolha attempted to maintain her composed demeanor, yet she could not entirely suppress the subtle pout pulling at her lips.
Now she finally acts like a girl her age. Rather charming, actually.
Letting out a faint chuckle, Yanghwi cast his gaze down the snow-blanketed trail winding infinitely into the distance.
“I believe I grasp the intent behind this. We are supposed to brave the elements and fight our way to the crest.”
Yet no matter how far one journeyed, the summit would never grow an inch closer. The ordeal was engineered to test endurance, compelling the initiates to march along an endless track through howling winds without faltering.
Scenarios like this served as a stark reminder that the Sound Empress was an old eccentric who had traversed more than a century of life.
An utterly antiquated trial. Even cheap storytellers abandoned this trope long ago for being far too worn out.
Yanghwi hoisted his wooden sword.
“Senior Brother, what are you planning?”
“Keep your eyes open, Junior Sister.”
To the empress’s misfortune, Yanghwi had not the slightest intention of clearing her entry rites according to her script.
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