Chapter 78
[To the Young Lady Whom I Miss Very Much.
Young Lady, have you been well?
You’re probably wondering why I’m writing you a letter all of a sudden today.
I’ve been learning how to write from Hyeon lately. They say I’ll learn much faster if I practice by actually writing things down like this, so I decided to write this as practice.
That’s one reason, but… honestly, I don’t know when I’ll meet you again, do I? So I thought I’d write these things down. That way, I’ll be able to tell you everything whenever I see you,
I’ve been through so many things since then.
After parting with you, I was chased, fell off a cliff, and, ah, there was someone I met after falling off the cliff…
……(omitted)……
And that’s how I became the Cult Leader!
Haha, amazing, right? A guy who used to shovel shit suddenly became the leader of an organization overnight.
Honestly, I was really worried, you know? Setting aside the fact that it’s a slightly strange religion, I wondered whether someone like me, who hasn’t learned anything and doesn’t know anything, could suddenly lead so many people.
But as it turns out, there isn’t actually anything for me to do.
Eom Papa has always handled all the major and minor affairs of the cult, and apparently the only thing I have to do is find the ‘Cult Canon,’ which is the duty of the Cult Leader.
Ah, you’re probably wondering what the Cult Canon is. It’s the Gwangjin Cult’s divine treasure… Um, I’ll explain this again when we meet!
Anyway, I’m doing well.
Contrary to my worries, everyone here treats me very well, too.
How are you?
Are you… doing well?
I really hope you are. Wherever you may be, I hope you’re healthy and happy.
But don’t have too much fun. You might have so much fun that you forget about me. I won’t forget you either!
So let’s promise to meet again soon.
It’s a promise!
—Seo Dan, who will always miss you.
P.S. I’ve made myself a new alias.
I can’t use my real name outside until we find out who was behind the destruction of the Xiao Family Estate, and since things have turned out this way, I thought I might as well use a new name.
Of course, Eom Papa and Sahyeon know my real name.
You’re curious too, aren’t you, Young Lady? The alias I painstakingly came up with is…
Dan Yeonjeong.
I’ll tell you what it means when we meet ♥]
[To the Young Lady Who Is Doing Well Somewhere.
Young Lady, I’ve finally started learning martial arts!
I told you before that I somehow ended up learning the Gwangjin Cult’s divine art, right?
More precisely, that divine art is an advanced internal cultivation technique, and apparently my body was re-formed into a state suitable for practicing it.
After that, I have to cultivate according to its formula before the true power of the divine art can emerge.
Anyway, the first thing I learned was the blood points.
Apparently, I need to know where the acupoints are on the human body so that I can circulate qi according to the sequence of acupoints in the formula.
Eom Papa taught me about the acupoints.
I didn’t know this, but apparently it’s customary for someone of the same gender to teach you these things. Since teaching requires touching the body, if someone of the opposite gender teaches you, the two might develop feelings for each other.
Apparently there have actually been martial artists who developed such feelings. And one of the women who developed such feelings was even a married woman… a married woman who already had a husband…
…Ahem. Anyway, acupoints are much more complicated than I thought. There are an enormous number of things to memorize, too.
But do you know what’s really amazing? It’s not difficult for me at all. I’ve become so incredibly smart that I can memorize things after hearing them only once or twice!
Shocking, right? I’m shocked too.
I asked Hyeon about it, and although he isn’t sure, he says it might be an effect of learning the divine art.
If that’s really the case, isn’t this totally overpowered? It would be nice if you could learn it too, Young Lady, but the initiation is a little tricky. Still, you’re much smarter than me, so you’ll be fine, right?
Anyway, I memorized all the acupoints within just a few days, so I’ll be starting internal cultivation soon. According to Hyeon, I have to begin by cultivating the Six Yin Meridians…
Ha, I’m already afraid I’ll become too strong.
Please wait just a little longer. I’ll come to take you away after I’ve become incredibly strong!
When that happens, you can hit me whenever you want ♡
—Seo Dan, who misses the touch of the Young Lady’s hand.]
[To the Frail Young Lady.
Young Lady, I think I’m really going to become incredibly strong…
I’ve already finished cultivating all the Six Yin Meridians and moved on to the Yin Linking Vessel.
Even Hyeon is astonished. It normally takes several years to get this far, but I accomplished it in just a little over a year.
I can feel my body changing every day, too.
Normally, when an ordinary person moves around all day, they eventually get tired, right? But I don’t get tired. If anything, the more I move, the more strength seems to overflow from me!
That’s how much it overflows. The other day, I accidentally destroyed a tree. I only meant to knock down a few fruits, but I was so shocked when I hit it once and watched the tree topple backward…
Later, Eom Papa told me it was because I still haven’t learned to control my internal qi properly.
Apparently, this can happen when someone’s internal energy suddenly increases after consuming a spiritual medicine or encountering some fortuitous opportunity. So these days, I’ve been learning how to control my internal qi from Eom Papa.
I’ve also started training my external skills alongside internal cultivation so that I can properly utilize my internal energy.
Palm techniques, kicking techniques, fist techniques, movement techniques, and so on…
There’s just one thing. I’m still absolutely hopeless with swordsmanship.
Why can’t I get used to holding a sword? The moment I hold one, my stomach starts churning, so I can’t properly use it no matter what I do…
Anyway, aside from swordsmanship, I’m improving so quickly that even I’m scared.
What… what if I become the greatest martial artist under heaven?
Be prepared, Young Lady.
Soon, you’ll become the mistress of the greatest martial artist under heaven!
— Seo Dan, who will become the future greatest martial artist under heaven.
P.S. My body has been feeling a little chilly lately.
I’m usually fine, but whenever I circulate my qi, I get a bout of coldness once in a while.
At first, I thought it was just a sensation, but the other day it got so cold that I stopped cultivating and opened my eyes, only to find frost covering my clothes.
Could there still be some cold poison left inside my body? I was told I’d completely recovered…
I should ask Eom Papa about it later.]
[To the Young Lady Whom I Miss More Than Ever Today.
Young Lady, there’s a big problem.
I told you last time that I’d been feeling a little cold, right?
At the time, I thought I’d simply caught a cold. Or maybe I was just feeling a little under the weather.
But neither was the case.
It was a side effect that comes as my martial arts cultivation grows deeper!
No, how can this happen? I went through all that trouble just to enter the art, and I thought that from now on I’d only have to practice it, but suddenly there’s a side effect?
But according to Hyeon, it can’t be helped.
Apparently, the only reason my body was able to withstand this much was that it had changed to suit the martial art.
He says that’s because this divine art is somewhat unusual.
Normally, martial arts are based on harmonizing yin and yang. So if you practice Lesser Yin, you have to practice Lesser Yang, alternating between the yin and yang meridians.
But this martial art is the exact opposite.
First, you train the yin meridians to their limit and create an extremely yin energy. Then you train the yang meridians and create an extremely yang energy.
Once you’ve accumulated these opposing energies within a single body to their utmost limits, you combine them according to the formula, and you can obtain an enormous amount of internal energy…
Haha… I’m not really going to get into serious trouble from practicing this, am I?
It obviously isn’t an ordinary martial art.
Even a dam eventually bursts if the current is too strong, so what if I gather these two energies and can’t withstand them? What if my body ends up bursting too…
Sigh, I’m going to stop thinking such scary thoughts.
I’ve already started learning it, so there’s no way I can stop now anyway.
Still, Eom Papa’s medical skills are renowned, so I have no choice but to trust him. Well, even if something goes wrong, what more can happen besides dying?
Besides dying… I shouldn’t die, though?
Young Lady, I’ll be okay, right…?
— Seo Dan, who is trembling with fear.]
[To the Young Lady Whose News I Want to Hear.
Young Lady, fortunately, I’m still alive!
I was being a little dramatic last time, wasn’t I?
Of course, it wasn’t completely painless… but fortunately, it was something I could endure.
At one point, while circulating my qi, the yin-cold energy invaded me, and I almost lost consciousness, but I somehow endured it through sheer grit, and it worked out somehow.
When you look at it that way, I really do have a tenacious hold on life, don’t I?
Could this all be a miracle brought about because you prayed day and night earnestly for me to be safe? Or maybe not.
Anyway, I’ve finished cultivating all the yin meridians, and I’m resting for now.
Before I cultivate the yang meridians and truly contain both energies within my body, I’m going to build up my body a little and make various preparations before I begin.
In the meantime, I’ve gone out a few times with Eom Papa.
Actually, it was my first time going outside in a very long while. Since you’re not supposed to have worldly worries in your heart while cultivating, I had been avoiding going outside as much as possible and shutting myself away in the mountains to practice.
The outside world was just as it always was.
The world was monotonous enough to be boring, and people were simply living their day-to-day lives without anything particularly happening.
If something like that hadn’t happened to us, would I have been living like them?
It’s all a pointless hypothetical.
Still, sometimes I think about it. Forget being the greatest martial artist under heaven and all that, wouldn’t living together with the people you treasure actually be the happiest thing…?
Lately, seeing people outside has made me think of you a lot.
Young Lady, you’re doing well, right?
Please let me hear from you someday.
I’ll always be waiting for you.
— Seo Dan, who misses the Young Lady.]
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