#13

Chapter 3 

The Qi-Heart Method (5)

Gwi-hyeok handed a small bottle to Hyeong-un. As Hyeong-un took it and pulled out the stopper, a thick, pungent medicinal scent wafted from within.

“Is this medicine?”

“Yes. It’s an elixir designed to enhance one’s internal energy.”

“This?”

Hyeong-un’s eyes widened. To think that he would be drinking the kind of secret elixir that martial artists used to become stronger!

“It’s not one with particularly strong effects. Something like that would only ruin your current body since it couldn’t handle it. This medicine will serve to activate the latent qi within your body.”

Even ordinary people who have never practiced martial arts will still absorb qi when they consume elixirs refined by alchemists. Of course, without cultivating a Heart method, the efficiency is abysmally low—but still.

Gwi-hyeok decided to exploit that very gap. No matter how lacking Hyeong-un’s natural aptitude was, if he practiced the Vast Soul-Heart Method while downing elixirs every single day, his Qi-sense would have no choice but to awaken.

Watching this from a hidden vantage point nearby, Seok-jun clicked his tongue.

‘The Spirit Star… really means business.’

The elixir Hyeong-un had just swallowed was by no means cheap. It contained rare medicinal ingredients; it was a high-grade elixir that even wealthy sects would only consider investing in a Direct Disciple during the early stages of teaching them a heart method. While its ability to boost internal power was modest, it was unparalleled in its ability to activate the body’s Qi Meridians and lay the foundation for internal energy cultivation.

And yet… he was feeding such an elixir to a child who hadn’t even awakened qi-sense?

What was even more terrifying was that Gwi-hyeok clearly intended to make Hyeong-un drink this every single day—until his Qi-sense finally awakens!

Even in the wealthiest of organizations, one considers the “Efficiency of Investment” when raising a warrior. Giving that elixir to him was no different than pouring it directly into the dirt. At best, the medicinal efficacy he could absorb right now might amount to a 1 pun(1%), and even that was doubtful.

‘If the Spirit Star plans to take more disciples and insists on raising them all like this, the Council of Elders might actually lose their minds.’

At this rate, the amount of wealth poured into nurturing Hyeong-un would be so enormous it would defy imagination—more than what it would cost to raise dozens of other disciples.

It was fortunate that Gwi-hyeok had not taken disciples until now. Thinking that, Seok-jun shook his head in disbelief.

The time it took for Hyeong-un to awaken his Qi Sense from then on was four days.

Anyone who had assessed Hyeong-un’s aptitude from the beginning would have been astonished. Unless practicing some legendary peerless divine art, progressing that quickly was impossible for someone with his qualities.

“To be honest, I never imagined you would go as far as performing the Great Soul-Reviving Golden Needle Ritual on the young master.”

Seok-jun was utterly dumbfounded.

The Great Soul-Reviving Golden Needle Ritual.

Within the Jianghu, it was relatively well-known—a type of ritual that combined medical arts and phantom qi-arts. It involved inserting 108 specially crafted golden needles into the body to activate the meridians, while using a qi-channel formation to draw external qi into the body.

The number of people capable of performing this “Great Ritual” was quite high, so it wasn’t considered a secret sect technique. However, it required both a physician and qi-channel formation master of top-tier skills, and because the cost of crafting the golden needles and constructing the qi channel formation was astronomical, those who actually received this treatment were exceedingly rare.

Furthermore, the Great Soul-Reviving Golden Needle Ritual is something that must be received at a very young age—before the qi-meridians become turbid—in order to produce its full effect. For Hyeong-un, who has lived for thirteen years without knowing a single thing about martial arts, even undergoing it now would yield perhaps one-tenth of its intended effect at best. It felt like far too much of a waste to justify the huge fortune invested.

Yet, Gwi-hyeok did not hesitate for a moment in having the ritual performed on Hyeong-un.

“Why? Do you think it’s a waste?”

“To be honest, yes. The elixirs he is taking daily, this ritual… it is all a waste.”

Seok-jun spoke his mind plainly, without hiding his thoughts. Given Gwi-hyeok’s status, it was only natural for Hyeong-un to receive special treatment. While a part of him might have felt a flicker of envy, he had no intention of raising an objection.

However, feeding the boy elixirs that could not display their proper effect, or performing a great ritual that would fail to reach its full potential, was another matter entirely. If Hyeong-un had at the very least, awakened his Qi-sense and begun circulating Qi before taking the elixirs—or if he had received a different, more appropriate ritual after establishing a foundation—Seok-jun wouldn’t have spoken up like this.

Faced with such an opinion—so frank it bordered on recklessness when directed at someone wielding supreme authority—Gwi-hyeok let out a soft chuckle.

“By the standards of efficiency, you are right. However, I believe the time saved is far more precious than the efficiency wasted here.”

“Time?”

“Yes. Unfortunately, Hyeong-un’s natural aptitude was far more lacking than even I had anticipated.”

As he began teaching Hyeong-un, Gwi-hyeok realized just how complacent he had been. He reached the conclusion that he could never achieve his goal using the methods he had originally planned.

“Thirteen is already too late an age to enter the world of martial arts. Furthermore, he lacks aptitude in every single aspect. Therefore, I must use whatever means necessary to accelerate his start.”

Children of prestigious martial families not only possess outstanding talent by default, but also receive extraordinary privileges from the very start. From early childhood, they learn superior martial arts, consume body-enhancing medicines, and are supported by exceptional individuals.

The gap between them and Hyeong-un is despairingly vast. Furthermore, the one Hyeong-un must surpass is not some ‘common genius’—it is the Star-Fated Prodigies, beings destined to fulfill the Mandate of Heaven, is it not?

“Thus, if we can advance the progress even a little faster, no investment is too wasteful. Besides, originally, wouldn’t my disciple need to undergo something like Beol-mo-se-su?”

The Beol-mo-se-su (Removing Impurities and Cleansing the Marrow) was a ritual where a newborn infant is bathed in medicinal water made from all sorts of rare ingredients, while high-level masters infused their own energy into the child to activate the body’s meridians, reshaping it into one perfectly suited for martial arts.

This isn’t something one can receive simply because they have money. It requires masters of superior Qi levels to sacrifice their own internal energy to assist. Thus, it is a privilege reserved only for the heirs of the most prestigious clans.

However, as Gwi-hyeok’s disciple, he was entitled to at least that much. After all, the disciples of those holding nearly equal status to Gwi-hyeok had received such privileges as well.

Gwi-hyeok spoke.

“You said earlier that the backlash from the Council of Elders would be fierce. That opposition won’t be directed at me alone. Hyeong-un will be facing an incredibly difficult struggle ahead. Therefore, I intend to do everything within my power for him.”

“Indeed… If Young Master Hyung-un is to be acknowledged as the Spirit star’s disciple, then perhaps such measures are necessary.”

It was a horrific waste, yet Seok-jun had to admit the necessity.

‘But even so, can Young Master Hyeong-un truly surpass the Star-Fated Prodigies? No, even before that…’

Could he even reach a level of skill worthy of being recognized as Gwi-hyeok’s disciple? Honestly, Seok-jun was skeptical about that from the start, but he dared not voice such doubts to Gwi-hyeok.

Instead, he asked something else.

“May I ask one more thing?”

“What else are you curious about?”

“Regarding the Vast Soul-Heart Method that the Young Master is learning…”

“Mm. What about it?”

“Is it really acceptable to leave him this exposed? It’s a martial art personally chosen by the Spirit Star, after all…”

Naturally, those of the Murim hate others to see them practicing their martial arts. Not only could their techniques be stolen, but if their weaknesses were identified, it could lead directly to their death.

Hyeong-un, too, had been cautioned about this by Gwi-hyeok, so when practicing the Vast Soul Heart Method, he was mindful of others’ gazes. However, that “others” did not include Seok-jun and the rest of the Spirit Star Guard.

Gwi-hyeok let out a smirk.

“I wondered what you were going to say. It’s no problem at all.”

“Pardon?”

“If anyone wishes to steal the Vast Soul-Heart Method, they are more than welcome to try. It isn’t exactly a ‘grand’ martial art.”

“What do you mean by that?”

Seok-jun was bewildered. This was the martial art Gwi-hyeok had chosen instead of the supreme heart methods he himself mastered, the pinnacle possessed by the Star Guardians— and yet he said it wasn’t grand?

Gwi-hyeok replied.

“It’s exactly as I said. The Vast Soul-Heart Method is not that impressive. It stays extremely faithful to the basics and employs absolutely no tricks. As a result, it’s easy to learn and has no flaws, but its efficiency is quite poor.”

“Then why on earth are you passing down such a heart method?”

A heart method is the very root of all martial arts. The choice of which method to master determines how efficiently one can accumulate internal energy and how that energy is ultimately circulated and deployed. And yet—to deliberately choose and pass down a heart method that isn’t particularly outstanding?

Gwi-hyeok spoke.

“You see, I want to raise Hyeong-un to be a being without weaknesses.”

“A being without weaknesses?”

“Superior Heart methods create protruding characteristics for the sake of efficiency, and because of that, weaknesses inevitably arise. Even my own Indestructible Soul-Refining Divine Art cannot escape that fate.”

The Guardians of the Star had established martial organizations to protect themselves and exerted every effort to raise their overall levels. Generations of masters and martial scholars had accumulated their efforts to create the ultimate martial arts.

The Indestructible Soul-Refining Divine Art was the supreme divine art born from those efforts. Even within the Guardians of the Star, only five people, including Gwi-hyeok, had been able to master it, and it could not be recklessly passed on to others. Before ascending to the position of Spirit Star, Gwi-hyeok himself had only learned the Soul-Refining Energy Art, which serves as its foundation; that was the limit of what he could have transmitted to Hyeong-un at this point anyway.

However, the Soul-Refining Energy Art was also among the supreme heart methods. The Indestructible Soul-Refining Divine Art merely adds new characteristics to the foundation established by the Soul-Refining Energy Art.