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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 6
Chapter Title: The First Opportunity (3)
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'Is this really internal energy?'
As Jinmyeong continued to memorize the internal energy cultivation method left by the Heavenly Demon, he could feel a stirring energy in his lower abdomen.
'Is this what I felt when I fought that tiger?'
A certain stirring energy.
Thanks to that energy, his body felt revitalized, and his strength seemed to have increased.
'I had a vague idea it was internal energy.'
He just didn't know how to move it.
'Is this the first time I've felt it so clearly?'
Unlike before, when he had only felt it vaguely, Jinmyeong could now precisely sense the internal power dormant in his lower abdomen.
'Is this demonic energy?'
Jinmyeong felt that the stirring energy in his body was impure.
How should he put it?
'Should I call it an impure energy?'
It seemed a little different from being simply clean or dirty.
'A murky energy.'
It felt as if not one, but multiple energies were murkily mixed, like oil and water that wouldn't blend properly.
'Is it enough to just keep memorizing like this?'
In the novels he'd read, internal energy cultivation methods were rarely described in detail.
Usually, scenes of memorizing the incantations of a cultivation method or training were glossed over.
'Huh? What is this…'
He continued to recite the incantations, breathing as instructed in the cultivation method.
Soon, he felt something entering through his nose.
'Is this qi?'
Jinmyeong tried to slowly send that energy to his lower abdomen.
'It's moving.'
Unlike the internal power in his lower abdomen that resisted movement, this new energy moved as Jinmyeong willed.
'Straight to my lower abdomen…'
He tried to send the energy to his lower abdomen, but strangely, it began to hesitate just outside.
Then, it all flowed back out through his mouth.
'Why did that happen?'
He couldn't understand why it didn't enter his lower abdomen directly.
'Ah, so absorption isn't just about gathering internal energy?'
Jinmyeong realized that the energy he had absorbed through his nose was different from the energy in his lower abdomen.
Absorbing qi is indeed about taking in the energy of nature.
'But you don't accumulate the energy of nature as it is.'
The energy of nature transforms according to the cultivation method.
The process of absorption includes storing that transformed energy in the lower abdomen.
'Circulating the energy comes after that.'
Forgetting about the next step, Jinmyeong focused again on absorption.
'How do I transform the energy of nature?'
While continuing to recite the incantations, Jinmyeong tried hard to recall the method for transforming nature's energy.
Fwoosh!
But before he could figure it out, the internal energy he had just absorbed was burned away by a pure white flame.
'What?'
The amount of nature's energy burned by the white flame was incredibly small.
'A single drop at most?'
He never imagined so little would be left.
'First, I need to put it in my lower abdomen.'
Was it because it was so small?
Jinmyeong felt this single drop of internal energy was incredibly precious.
'Huh?'
As he carefully placed the single drop of internal energy into his lower abdomen, Jinmyeong couldn't help but be flustered.
He had expected the single drop of internal energy to be devoured by the murky energy already there.
'It swallowed it?'
But contrary to his expectations, the single drop began to swallow all the dormant internal power within his lower abdomen.
'It works like this?'
Having devoured all the other internal energy in an instant, it once again created a pure white flame.
Fwoosh!
The internal energy burned by the white flame felt incredibly pure.
'Purification? Is this purification?'
The flame of purification the Heavenly Demon spoke of.
He felt like he was beginning to understand what it was.
'Still, it seems the internal energy doesn't just disappear.'
He thought purification meant all the murky internal energy would vanish, but that didn't seem to be the case.
'It decreased a little, but…'
Still, about eighty percent of the internal energy remained.
'This is the beginning.'
He had purified all his internal energy.
Now, the important thing was to compress this energy.
'An energy core, just like that.'
It was like creating an inner core, similar to what one might find inside a spiritual beast.
'I thought the dantian itself was the inner core…'
The Heavenly Demon had created this cultivation method with the goal of compressing internal energy within the lower abdomen to form an energy core.
'An endless, inexhaustible supply of internal energy.'
That was the cultivation method the Heavenly Demon had envisioned.
'Do I just have to clump it together like this?'
Jinmyeong applied pressure, clumping the internal energy together as if molding clay.
The gradually forming clumps of energy quickly dispersed, but Jinmyeong didn't give up and continued to mold it.
'Is this right?'
Looking at the result, Jinmyeong couldn't help but feel a sense of doubt.
The result was much smaller than he had expected.
'This is smaller than a finger, isn't it?'
A finger?
It was barely larger than his thumbnail.
'I thought it was a considerable amount.'
To have created something this small from a lower abdomen full of internal energy, he wondered if he had done something wrong.
'No. This is right.'
This was why the Heavenly Demon had abandoned this martial art.
'Because I have to make this energy core the size of my lower abdomen.'
Having no time to wait that long, the Heavenly Demon had abandoned this art and created the Divine Arts of the Heavenly Demon instead.
'It won't compress any further, will it?'
He wondered if it might compress even more and become smaller.
But the mass of internal energy settled in his body was incredibly dense and refused to change shape.
"Phew."
Only then did Jinmyeong release his meditative posture and flop onto the floor.
'I don't even know if this is really an energy core.'
To Jinmyeong, it just seemed like compressed internal energy.
Of course, by continuously compressing his internal energy, he now possessed far more than other martial artists.
But Jinmyeong wondered if it was really fitting to call it something as special as an 'energy core'.
'He might have just called it an energy core for convenience.'
Whether the thing created in his lower abdomen was a true energy core or just one in name didn't matter.
After all, the fact was that he now had more internal energy than an ordinary martial artist.
It was an essential art for Jinmyeong, who needed to master the Heaven-Embroidering Sword Control Arts, which consumed a great deal of internal energy.
'Besides, I can't keep calling it 'the cultivation method made by the Heavenly Demon'.'
This cultivation method created by the Heavenly Demon had no name.
The Heavenly Demon, considering it a failure, had discarded it without even giving it a name.
'He must have had some lingering attachment to it, though.'
Even after creating a masterpiece like the Divine Arts of the Heavenly Demon, he must have thought this art was more perfect.
Otherwise, there would have been no reason to leave it behind as a secret manual.
'Since it purifies, how about 'Purification Divine Arts'?'
What a lame name.
'Since it originated from the Zoroastrian Cult, how about 'Zoroastrian Divine Arts'?'
Doesn't that sound too much like a Zoroastrian martial art?
'Divine Arts of White Flame?'
Since its characteristic was the pure white flame, he thought it wasn't a bad idea.
'Or maybe Divine Arts of Heavenly Flame? Divine Arts of Bright Flame sounds good too.'
In the end, only two names remained.
'Because of the character 'Myeong' (明) carved on the wall, Divine Arts of Bright Flame seems fitting, but…'
Somehow, he liked Divine Arts of Heavenly Flame more.
'Alright. Let's call it Divine Arts of Heavenly Flame.'
After much deliberation, Jinmyeong decided to name the cultivation method the Divine Arts of Heavenly Flame.
'I'm starting to get hungry.'
Jinmyeong got up.
'Those must be spiritual medicines.'
Jinmyeong looked at the wooden box and bottles placed a short distance from where he was.
The Heavenly Demon had said he left those spiritual medicines for whoever might discover this book.
As if challenging them to complete it.
'Things the Heavenly Demon had no need for.'
But for the current Jinmyeong, they were very much needed.
'But I won't take them now.'
He planned to absorb the spiritual medicines after he became more accustomed to the martial art and could handle his internal energy better.
'Shall I try swinging a sword then?'
Jinmyeong stared at the sword at his waist, the one that had saved his life several times, then tossed it aside.
'There are swords left by the Heavenly Demon, so there's no need to use this one.'
Jinmyeong immediately picked up one of the swords and drew it.
Shing!
As a sword left by the first Heavenly Demon, it must have been ancient.
But the sword was even cleaner than the one Jinmyeong had been carrying.
'It's gleaming like it's brand new.'
The sword, polished to a mirror shine, looked incredibly sharp.
'It's so reflective I can see my face in it.'
As he thought this, Jinmyeong remembered that he didn't know what he looked like.
'So I could have seen my face with my own sword?'
The thought occurred to him for a moment.
In his past life, he hadn't owned anything like a sword, so the thought of using one to see his reflection had never crossed his mind.
'Hmm. What, was I a foreigner?'
Jinmyeong's appearance was difficult to describe as East Asian.
'My features seem East Asian, but…'
His skin was pale enough to be Caucasian, and his hair was brown.
'At least my eyes aren't blue.'
It seemed he was of mixed heritage, with only his hair and skin color being different.
'Come to think of it, wasn't the first Heavenly Demon from Persia?'
Recalling the first Heavenly Demon's origins, the idea of being of mixed heritage made sense.
There must have been people who followed the first Heavenly Demon.
Their bloodline would have continued, so it wasn't strange for Jinmyeong to be of mixed descent.
"Hmm."
A smile played on Jinmyeong's lips as he brought a hand to his chin and examined his face from various angles.
'So, did the door open to my blood because the blood of Persia flows in my veins?'
He thought of the magic circle-like device the Heavenly Demon had left behind, but he soon shook his head.
'The door opened anyway, so what does it matter?'
Why the door opened, or whether it was related to his heritage, wasn't important.
All Jinmyeong had to do was train in martial arts here.
'Since I'm hungry, I'll eat that.'
Jinmyeong moved to the first cavern he had arrived in.
Then, he peeled off a bit of the moss the protagonist was said to have eaten and brought it to his mouth.
'It's not very tasty.'
Although it felt refreshing, the bitter taste was strong.
'Can I really fill my stomach with this?'
Worried, Jinmyeong continued to peel off and eat the moss, and drank some water.
Still, it was clearly no ordinary moss, as his hunger subsided.
'I probably won't feel the effects immediately.'
His internal energy wouldn't increase just from eating the moss.
But it was said that if he kept eating it, the amount of internal energy he could absorb would increase, so he had no choice but to wait for the effect to appear.
'I've sorted out my internal energy, so the next martial art to learn is…'
The martial arts Jinmyeong could learn.
The Heavenly Demon's Finger and the Heaven-Embroidering Sword Control Arts. And the various other martial arts the Heavenly Demon had left behind, calling them failures.
'Should I start with a sword art?'
Among the martial arts left by the Heavenly Demon, the first one that came to Jinmyeong's mind was the Lightning Flash Sword Art.
'How confident must one be in its speed to name it after lightning?'
Jinmyeong grasped the sword and assumed the stance of the Lightning Flash Sword Art that came to mind.
'A fast sword is bound to be simple.'
After all, a fast sword was all about moving along the shortest path to kill the opponent.
'But as simple as the sword art is, the footwork is not.'
With a simple sword, one had to move intricately to quickly approach the opponent.
'Shall I give it a try?'
Recalling the movements of the Lightning Flash Sword Art in his mind, Jinmyeong immediately put it into action.
Thud!
"Huh?"
But Jinmyeong's feet got tangled, and he couldn't help but tumble gracelessly to the floor.
'What?'
With a puzzled expression, Jinmyeong moved to perform the sword art again.
And it didn't take long for Jinmyeong to realize why the pursuers had called him 'the body forsaken by heaven'.