#10

Chapter 3

The Qi-Heart Method (2)

Noting Hyeong-un’s bewildered state, Gwi-hyeok finally spoke up.

“Come to think of it, I haven’t introduced him yet. This fellow is called Seok-jun.”

The man named Seok-jun offered a deeply respectful bow.

“Jin Seok-jun, the Captain of the Spirit Star’s Personal Guard, pays his respects to the young master.”

Hyeong-un was very flustered. He could perhaps accept that a man he normally wouldn’t dare even speak to was showing such courtesy, but “young master”? It was a title he’d never heard directed at him since the day he was born.

“O-oh, hello?”

“There is no need for you to return the courtesy, The young Master is after all, my superior. Although you do not possess direct command authority.”

“Oh, but I…”

“I understand your confusion, but it is best you keep that reality in mind. Regardless, I have instructed the subordinates to scout out a clothing shop, so if you go out and board the carriage, it should be ready. Well then.”

With those words, Seok-jun bowed his head once more, and then…

Swish

He vanished right before their eyes, as if snuffed out like a candle.

“Wha-what the—?!”

Hyeong-un’s eyes bulged at the scene that defied common sense. They were in a narrow hallway with absolutely nowhere to hide. Yet the man had disappeared like a ghost.

“G-g-ghost?”

“If you were a true martial artist of the Jianghu, your first suspicion would be that it was Phantom illusion arts.”

“Illusion arts?”

“Indeed. Seok-jun is a master of Stealth Arts. You likely won’t see his face again until we reach the Main Headquarters.”

“But why hide himself?”

Hyeong-un couldn’t understand. He realized that because Gwi-hyeok held a high position, he would have subordinates to protect him and handle his affairs. But shouldn’t that be something done out in the open?

Gwi-hyeok gave a short, dry laugh.

“It’s because I don’t particularly like revealing my identity outside. And there are many things one can do while remaining unseen. Well, I won’t ask you to understand just yet. You’ll come to learn in due time.”

Having said that, Gwi-hyeok stepped outside and boarded the waiting carriage. It took the two of them to a clothing shop in a bustling district, where Hyeong-un had several sets of new clothes made. They were plain in appearance, but made of such fine fabric that they felt incomparably more comfortable than anything he had ever worn before.

Changed into his new clothes, he returned to the Crimson Cloud Pavilion and was ushered directly to the highest floor. Unlike the public spaces below, the entire level was furnished as a private residence.

As Hyeong-un gaped around in wonder, several beautiful maidservants emerged from within and bowed their heads.

“Your bath has been prepared. Please, cleanse yourself.”

“Go on ahead”

This was all Gwi-hyeok said as he sat by the window, tilting a wine cup that had been prepared for him. His attitude signaled that no further explanations were necessary, so Hyeong-un, still in a daze, was led by the maidservants toward the bathroom.

The moment they entered, the maidservants reached out with practiced hands, attempting to strip off Hyeong-un’s clothes. Only then did he realize why they had been waiting, and in a panic, he clutched his garments tight.

“W-wait a minute!”

“Is something the matter?”

The maids paused, genuinely perplexed at his reaction. Hyeong-un’s face flushed red. He had heard that rich bastards even bathed with the help of others, but he never imagined it was actually true. The mere thought of beautiful women—older than him, no less—stripping him and washing his body was so embarrassing he couldn’t bear it.

“I-I can wash myself!”

At those words, the maidservants exchanged glances. Then, with knowing smiles, they nodded in unison.

“Understood. Shall we withdraw then?”

“Y-yes, please do.”

The maidservants bowed politely and left the bathroom. Once alone, Hyeong-un sighed with relief, took off his clothes, and stepped into the tub.

“Whew.”

It was a relief that they had accepted so easily.

In any case, bathing in warm water was a luxury he had never even dared to imagine before. During winter, his life had been so poor that he often gave up washing altogether.

After finishing his bath and stepping out, he found Gwi-hyeok looking at him with a dry, amused chuckle.

“Is it that embarrassing? That’s part of those girls’ job, you know.”

“W-well… I’ve never even thought about things like that before…”

“Well, I suppose that’s possible. I don’t particularly enjoy others washing my body either.”

“Right? No matter how you look at it, that kind of thing is a bit…”

Hyeong-un started to brighten up, but he immediately fell silent at Gwi-hyeok’s following words.

“You never know when an assassin might target you. During a bath, you’re defenseless and vulnerable to an attack, so I’m quite averse to it. There are plenty of bastards who would disguise themselves as girls like that, too.”

“……”

“There are quite a few people in this world who want my head. Well, the same will eventually be true for you.”

Hyeong-un swallowed hard. His master’s tone was light, but he was by no means joking. It was as if such a bloodthirsty reality was so natural to him that he could treat it as a casual topic of conversation.

Suddenly, the warning Gwi-hyeok had given him when they formed their master-disciple bond flashed through his mind. At that time, he thought he had steeled himself for the path ahead, but it seemed he still had many trials to go through before his resolve became truly unshakable.

Dinner was brought up by the maidservants, so they didn’t even have to head downstairs. The spread was not only magnificent but so abundant that they couldn’t possibly finish it all. Gwi-hyeok told him to just taste a bit of everything until he was reasonably full; Hyeong-un, though he felt it was a waste, had no choice but to comply.

After finishing dinner, Gwi-hyeok spoke.

“It’s still too early for sleep, so let’s discuss what you need to learn next.”

“Is it martial arts?”

Hyeong-un’s eyes sparkled. He had seen with his own two eyes that Gwi-hyeok’s martial prowess was at a world-shaking level. The thought that he would finally begin learning such arts made his heart pound.

Gwi-hyeok nodded.

“Yes. First, I must tell you about the Qi-Heart Method.”

“The Qi-Heart Method?”

Hyeong-un tilted his head at the unfamiliar term.

Gwi-hyeok continued.

“The foundation of all martial arts is the Heart Method. By cultivating Internal Energy through the Heart Method, one builds the foundation to exert power that transcends the limits of ordinary people.”

The Heart Method is the study of mastering one’s inner self. It involves absorbing the energy of nature, accumulating it within the body, and governing it through intent, thereby transcending human limitations.

“The Heart Method begins with breathing techniques. Instead of the natural inhaling and exhaling you’ve done since birth, I’ll teach you a completely different way to breathe. It must become so natural that you breathe that way at all times, no matter when or where.”

Those who train only their external strength through combat martial arts are not very different from ordinary people. They are merely sturdier, and they know how to use their bodies more effectively.

However, those who cultivate internal energy through the heart methods are different from ordinary people in every way.

Their way of breathing is different.

Their way of seeing the world is different.

Their way of using their bodies is also different.

This is why people of the Murim exude a unique aura distinct from common folk. Because they breathe differently and move differently, even when simply walking down the street, an eerie sense of “otherness” clings to them.

“Countless martial arts exist in this world, beyond reckoning, each built upon a different philosophy. However, all those various arts share a single root. That is the Qi-Heart Method.”

After laying out the general framework of martial arts, Gwi-hyeok asked,

“Hyeong-un, where do you think the force that sustains human life—what we call Life Force—comes from?”

“Uh, well…”

“Any answer is fine, speak your mind. Not something abstract, but something clear.”

At that, Hyeong-un thought it over deeply before answering.

“Wouldn’t it be the heart?”

“Correct. Any human—no, any living creature—will die if their heart stops. The heart is the very root of life force.”

The Qi-Heart Method was a form of transcendental art that began from such a foundation.

Since human life force begins in the heart, the operation of internal energy is also shackled to the heart. Just as a body cannot properly exert its strength when one’s breathing is ragged, the same limitation is reflected in the circulation of internal energy.

To transcend this, the Qi-Heart Method creates a virtual heart known as the Qi-Heart.

“…You create a heart?”

Hyeong-un’s face stiffened in shock. No matter how one looked at it, the idea was absurd. Creating a heart—how could that possibly be done?

Gwi-hyeok continued calmly.

“That is why I called it a virtual heart. Life force originates from the heart but at the same time shackled by it. While the energy each human possesses varies wildly, the total amount that the heart can contain is roughly the same for everyone”

Of course, that is based on the average human’s strength. On an individual level, the deviations in strength could be quite large.

However, from the perspective of a martial artist who has mastered the Qi-Heart Method, those deviations are insignificant. Because they possess far more energy, both the ‘strong’ and the ‘weak’ by ordinary standards appear to have roughly the same amount of energy compared to them.

“You take the real heart as the first step, and within the body you create a virtual heart—the Qi–Heart. By doing so, not only can you accumulate far greater amounts of energy, but you can also control it with far more freedom.”

That was the very essence of the Qi-Heart Method. The Heart Method was in truth a system designed to absorb the Qi of Great Nature and use it to form a Qi-heart.

“The history of internal energy techniques is so ancient that no one knows when it began. Some say it was transmitted by immortals from the celestial realm, who had risen above worldly fame and fortune. Others claim it was born from the research on immortality arts by an ancient emperor.”

In the distant past, martial artists could train only the external body through martial arts.

Every martial artist—no matter how skilled—was confined by the limits of their physical frame; flesh and bone, unable to advance beyond it.

But by absorbing and storing the Qi of nature through the Heart Method, they were able to become super human. They reached realms that was unattainable through muscle alone, no matter how much they trained them to the extreme.

“Even so, in the beginning, it was not considered anything extraordinary—before all martial arts were unified under the concept of the Qi-Heart Method…”

It was said that practitioners merely accumulated natural Qi and circulated it around the lower abdomen, which they regarded as the center or core of the human body. Even that alone was enough to unleash superhuman strength.

However, with the emergence of the Qi-Heart Method, martial arts advanced a step further. The internal energy of martial artist soared to heights incomparable to before, as did the techniques used to wield such energy. When modern martial artist look upon ancient martial arts manuals today, they consider them utterly inefficient.

“The internal energy level of those who have mastered the Qi-Heart Method is divided by clear standards: 1st Heart, 2nd Heart, 3rd Heart, 4th Heart… In this way, the number of ‘Qi-Hearts’ one possesses becomes the benchmark.”

An ordinary person, who lacks the ability to perceive natural Qi—that is, Qi-sense—cannot even fully utilize the energy they already inherently possess.

Through The Heart method, Qi-sense is awakened. Through that sense, one perceives the flow of energy within their own body and learns to control it at will. With relentless training, one not only strengthens the functions of the physical heart but also steadily increases and fills it with internal energy.

When that process is complete, the realm of the 1st Heart of the Qi-Heart Method is attained. To the eyes of an ordinary person, that alone bestows abilities that seem nothing short of superhuman.

“Of course, the level of internal energy and the mastery of techniques used to wild it, are separate matters. Still, the greater one’s internal energy, the greater the power one can unleash.”

“Then, Master, how high is the level of your internal energy?”