I had never seriously considered the existence of God before.
Most of the Nine Sects were Taoist sects. They sought to cultivate themselves and become Immortals. Shaolin and Emei believed in Buddha, but they also sought enlightenment to become Buddhas.
Influenced by them, I resolved to live righteously so as not to be ashamed in the afterlife, but I did not revere any absolute God. I grew up in a world where a bowl of noodles and a dumpling were more precious than King Yeomra.
On the other hand, in Sierren, everyone said that some absolute being had certainly created the world. If it were just a verbal legend passed down by word of mouth, I wouldn’t have believed it, but the traces of Divinity were dripping before people’s eyes, so there was no way not to believe it.
But still, to me, God and mythology were closer to the old stories Michael liked. Like when I heard the stories of the Emperor in the Central Plains, I lived thinking that they existed but had nothing to do with me.
However, when I learned that Internal Energy and Divinity were such similar forces, and that Sound Transmission and Divine Speech were done in the same way, I became suspicious.
Did God really bring me to this land?
Am I borrowing the power of God?
But, why? Why me?
How could they have looked so fondly on my life, which I had endured silently day after day without anything special or great?
I wasn’t one to dwell on unsolvable problems for long. I tried to suppress my curiosity. But once a doubt sprouts, it will not wither until it bears flowers and fruit. I sighed deeply and poked a spot on the Anatomical Chart Boulder gave me.
I added comments to the explanations written next to it, or crossed out the wrong ones to cover the letters.
It was because I had decided to pour out all the Pressure Point Striking, Sound Transmission, Sound-Based Skill, and all the Central Plains skills I knew before this semester was completely over. I had already passed on some knowledge once before, but I had learned a lot more than before, so I needed to reorganize it.
Douglas and Mage Boulder had promised to rummage through books all over the world during the vacation to find related papers and let me know, so I had to hurry. The two of them were taking on the most annoying tasks, so it was right to endure this much trouble.
❖ ❖ ❖
On the second Thursday of April, I decided to give Benjamin and Bill the Jin Gi Do In.
It started when I suddenly thought of it while talking about Pressure Point Striking and asked. Douglas and Boulder, who had experienced Jin Gi Do In a few times to learn how to Qi Cultivation, told me that there was nothing seriously wrong with their bodies.
They said that opening up the path for the Internal Energy to circulate in their bodies and removing waste products would help their martial arts. Wanting to give the children something good, I quickly called them together.
I recommended it to Shayden as well, but unfortunately, Shayden couldn’t sit in the Lotus Position, so we decided to postpone his turn until next time. I couldn’t understand why that little rascal was so stiff. I recommended stretching and only got a pointless whine.
Just in case, I decided to do the Jin Gi Do In sequentially with Douglas and Boulder by my side, and Maelo Sanson, who heard the story, said he would like to watch, so I allowed it. Somehow, I felt embarrassed, like I was showing off in front of a slug.
But showing off my skills in front of others wasn’t something that happened just once or twice.
I sat Benjamin down on the floor first.
Benjamin’s body was different from Douglas’s and Mage Boulder’s. Despite his large body, he still looked like a child. There were many Acupoints that were not yet fully grown and closed because he was not yet fully grown. Nevertheless, his body was strong and his bones were straight and thick, so he did not hesitate to use his Internal Energy.
If I found an Acupoint that was not yet completely blocked, I opened it up as much as I could without going around it.
The Child had been confident that he could endure the pain well from the beginning. It was very helpful that he trusted and relied on me without any tension. I was very proud of the guy who endured it so well without flinching, even though the pain must have been considerable.
After turning around three times like that, completely examining his body, his large body was soaked. The guy smelled a foul odor, sniffed the tip of his nose, and hurriedly left to wash.
Before, I had to postpone the next one because I was exhausted after doing Jin Gi Do In for only one person, but now, with the help of Mana and the Middle Dantian slightly opened, I had plenty of Internal Energy to use and there was nothing to hold me back.
I sat Bill Brown in the same position.
I was operating the Internal Energy in the same way as I had observed Benjamin’s body. When I reached the guy’s Dantian, there was a foreign substance that caught my attention. It was even stranger because I had already experienced Benjamin.
I slowly examined every part of his body. In the path that was clearly visible in my closed eyes, there was one thing that was the darkest and stuck in it.
Why in this position, why in this shape?
My mind was confused, so I hurriedly finished the Microcosmic Orbit and took my hand off before anything went wrong. I did so knowing that everyone who saw me do that was tilting their heads in confusion. It was amazing that my fingertips didn’t tremble. I blinked slowly. No matter how many times I thought about it, there was only one shape I knew like this.
“What’s wrong? Is there something wrong?”
“Bill has… a Dantian in his body.”
“Yes? That can’t be. Does Young Master Bill Brown have an Internal energy cultivation method, by any chance?”
“Huh? No. Not at all…”
Bill was flustered and fussed over his body, but he couldn’t know.
I had kept the Child close to me, but I had never thought of examining such a deep place so thoroughly. I had only skimmed the surface and didn’t know until now. Most people in Sierren did not have a Dantian. They did not use Mana in the Central Plains way. Bill Brown, who had started learning Sword Art from the family’s Knights, had to be the same.
But what I read from Bill Brown was different.
I had taken the Pulse Diagnosis of many Martial artists on the verge of death. I knew well what form the Dantian of the Martial artists of the Central Plains took, and how the Dantian, which had devoured all the Innate True Energy (the energy of life that one is born with) they had before they died, shrank.
Bill Brown’s was a Dantian that had died halfway.
It was surprising how lively the Child’s Innate True Energy was. Only those who had been pierced through the Dantian and died suddenly or had this kind of Dantian. How did the Peng family guy die? I couldn’t remember at all. I only knew that I was with Namgung’s Martial artists and he was with the Peng family Martial artists.
The guy died a year before me.
I couldn’t open my mouth easily. I felt too afraid. This Child, who was born a year earlier than me, was said to have been very ill as a child. In the year I was born, or around that time, what else happened?
If this guy is really the Peng family guy, but he doesn’t recognize me. I had pointless thoughts. What is the reason why he has no memory and I have memory? What is the meaning of my reincarnation, which is not reincarnation…?
Douglas, who had been promoting Bill Brown in my place, who was confused and sitting still, sighed. Maelo Sanson massaged Bill Brown’s arms and legs to see if there was anything wrong. I stared blankly, afraid of how they would answer.
Douglas made a decision like a judge weighing sin and punishment.
“…Is this, should we see it as a Dantian… There is definitely a degenerated organ. It would be more correct to see it as a piece of Contaminated Mana, though.”
“Huh… in me?”
Bill Brown asked stupidly. No one in this place could give him an immediate answer. He was only a First-rate Martial artists now. The guy who had just become able to use aura had never even tried to gather aura. There was no way Contaminated Mana could have formed…
While the Professors and I were confused, I didn’t feel like comforting Bill, who was terrified and restless. If I hadn’t been sitting on the floor to give him the Jin Gi Do In, his legs would have given way and he would have collapsed. He was that shocked.
Leaving me dumbfounded, Maelo Sanson massaged my shoulders and tried to comfort me. I was dazed because what he was saying didn’t easily enter my ears.
I wanted to see Rubel. I was endlessly curious if that Child had crossed over from the same world as me. But I had already taken his Pulse Diagnosis several times. In the meantime, I had not found even a trace of a degenerated Dantian or a piece of Contaminated Mana in him.
It can’t be. It won’t be. Even if it’s true, what can I do? It’s a bad thing to keep pulling out what I should keep to myself and put the responsibility on that Child. I shouldn’t do that…
“But it’s not very serious. I don’t know how long it’s been there… But now his body has grown enough to accept Mana. If he continues to train and becomes able to use aura, it will heal naturally.”
“Ah… Huh, I was sick when I was young. So maybe it’s because of this?”
“It’s a case that hasn’t existed until now… Yes, there’s enough possibility. When were you young? Was there any special event?”
“No, I just heard that it was like that from birth… It got better as I practiced swordsmanship.”
I was sitting quietly and listening to Douglas and Bill chattering.
Then the door burst open. Benjamin, who came in with a fragrant smell, came in with his hair not completely dry, rubbing it with a towel, and said brightly and absurdly.
“Bill, you should wash too. You smell terrible.”
“Yes? Oh, right.”
“Okay. I’ll look into this a little more separately, so Young Master Brown, please wash up first.”
Unlike Benjamin, he wasn’t covered in dirt, but there were still traces of the Microcosmic Orbit left. Bill Brown shook himself off, stood up, looked at me, and smiled.
“But if this is resolved, you’ll do it again for me, right, Brother?”
“…Yes, I will.”
I wasn’t going to burden a Child who didn’t know anything.
I sent Bill to wash and sat quietly listening to the Professors talking to each other. Somehow, it was difficult to calm my mind. But this was also my share of worries. It was a mind that I kept hidden alone, not to be shown to others.