Chapter 60: Heavenly Ordeal (2)

Qigong Energy Work, Chapter 1.

Place the object imbued with Yin and Yang and begin the prayer.

To be precise, it was a gesture of clasped hands in prayer.

Qigong Energy Work, Chapter 2.

After finishing the prayer, lift the object and offer the prayer to the ground.

Of course, the motion of offering it to the ground follows martial arts techniques.

Qigong Energy Work, Chapters 3 to 6.

Offer the prayer to the east, west, south, and north.

Each direction has its own distinct movements.

And then Qigong Energy Work, Chapter 7.

Raise the prayer to the heavens.

Although Nayu was staring at me intently, my thirty chapters of Qigong Energy Work, which I had practiced for a month, were not shaken by such a mere gaze.

Chapters 8 to 13: Movements for releasing energy.

Chapters 14 to 20: Movements for absorbing energy.

Chapters 21 to 29: Movements for circulating energy.

And finally, Chapter 30.

Place the object containing Yin and Yang, and end with a prayer of gratitude for the energy.

“Phew, all done.”

I looked up at the sky again.

The bright blue sky was in stark contrast to my wretched mood.

“I don’t feel anything. Damn it.”

Despair washed over me.

What am I doing on a sunny holiday morning?

Then the occasional inner demon visited.

I collapsed into an OTL pose.

“Ugh.”

Whether extreme Yang or extreme Yin, they felt no more than lukewarm hot packs or cool packs. If it’s like this, I might as well just train with hot and cool packs.

Wait, do Yin and Yang energies even exist? Isn’t it just a fabricated setting? Or have I gone mad?

Am I in a mental hospital since Harin disappeared?

“Ugh.”

Or maybe they’re filming a The Truman Show around me.

Ghosts? Psychics? Flying? Those can be faked with wires.

“Ugh.”

Or maybe everyone but me has gone crazy.

They used to say eating fly agaric mushrooms made you see ghosts. Maybe it’s something like that.

Maybe a ghost-illusion virus has spread from a lab.

This hypothesis is convincing, right?

I need to make a vaccine from my blood immediately.

“Ugh.”

“Nayu, worried look.”

Suddenly, a shadow fell over my vision.

I looked up to see a beautiful girl with sky-blue eyes gazing at me with a worried expression.

Nayu’s sky-blue eyes sparkled as she gently stroked my hair with her slender fingers.

“Nayu, helpless look.”

“What do you mean by ‘helpless’?”

“Nayu, teacher mode.”

Out of nowhere, Nayu pretended to adjust invisible glasses.

What’s with her?

Is there some kind of law that female teachers must wear glasses?

Then, suddenly, Nayu blushed.

“Nayu, em-embarrassed...”

She continued to fidget in embarrassment.

What’s wrong with Nayu?

I wiped the sweat off and stood up.

“Nayu, why are you...”

“Nayu, embarrassed booby rub!!!”

Then suddenly, Nayu hugged me tightly.

Very tightly. So much so that I could feel her soft parts against my back.

“N-Nayu, what are you doing?!”

To be honest, Nayu had great curves. She didn’t have a body as fierce as the tiger’s, but she was definitely above average in softness.

And here Nayu was, rubbing against me.

As a man, I couldn’t help but react.

Energy suddenly gathered in my lower region.

This was truly an involuntary physiological reaction.

As I awkwardly stood there, Nayu stared at me with an intrigued expression. Then, meeting my eyes, she quickly turned her head.

Why did Nayu suddenly do this?

At that moment, I realized that the energy from the extreme Yang and Yin in my hands felt similar to the energy gathering in my lower region.

To be precise, the energy from the extreme Yang felt similar. I unconsciously muttered to myself,

“Is this why they call it ‘energy’?”

Could this phenomenon, which starts from the feet, be due to the gathering of life force? Life force, blood, is Yang energy?

Thinking back, when I stepped on the Mireuk cult, I felt blood rush to my feet.

After the fight with Cheonsu, my eyes felt like they were about to burst. As if all the blood had rushed to them. I see. To use my abilities, I needed to concentrate blood in a specific part of my body.

Just like in my lower region now.

With this realization, I said,

“I see. Yang energy is life energy.”

Nayu, with a proud look, patted my head. Uncle Park Il had said Nayu was my age.

“Nayu, teacher pat.”

Getting patted by someone my age was quite embarrassing.

I mumbled shyly with my head down,

“I’ll make something delicious, so come over for dinner.”

“Nayu, nod.”

With that, I half-ran toward the elevator. I felt Nayu’s gaze behind me, but I decided not to look back.

After all, we would meet again this evening.

****

After watching Yoo Hajin get into the elevator, Nayu placed her hand on her chest.

“Nayu, chest tingle.”

Why did her chest hurt? Nayu didn’t know the reason.

With her hand still on her chest, Nayu looked up at the sky once more.

Massive lightning filled the sky. If that lightning struck the earth, many people would die.

Nayu wanted to stop that lightning and protect the world.

She closed her eyes, resonating with the sky.

Her anger transformed into lightning,

and the lightning took the form of some language.

The lightning was speaking.

It told Nayu to return to the Heavenly Ordeal Sect.

To save the world with her sacrifice.

For some reason, her heart ached again.

But Nayu looked at the sky and answered, yes.

****

Tonight’s dinner was braised short ribs and fresh kimchi.

After washing the stainless steel bowl in which I mixed the kimchi, I removed my rubber gloves and thought.

Soon, Jamsuni and Nayu would arrive.

As soon as that thought crossed my mind, I heard a rapid pattering of footsteps.

“Smells good!”

“You’re here. Wash your hands and sit down.”

“What are we having today? Braised short ribs? Wow, this looks insanely delicious.”

“Quit making a fuss.”

I glanced toward the door. Nayu was unusually late today. She usually arrived with Jamsuni.

Before I knew it, Jamsuni had served herself some rice and placed a piece of braised short rib on top.

Then she topped it with kimchi and devoured it in one bite.

“Mmm! This is fucking good. This is heaven.”

“What kind of nonsense is that for a girl to say?!”

“Eek!”

Nayu didn’t arrive even after I smacked Jamsuni on the head.

Eventually, we finished our meal and set aside Nayu’s portion of the short ribs, but she still didn’t show up.

“Nayu, are you okay?”

Knock knock—

I went to Nayu’s house, but there was no response.

Maybe she went out.

Nayu is an adult, after all. She can go out sometimes.

There were times when she disappeared before.

Or maybe she just went to bed early today.

“Food tastes best when it’s fresh.”

With a sense of disappointment, I turned back.

Then I went home and opened my book on developing spiritual powers.

Having sensed energy, I had passed the initial stage.

Now, I had to achieve the final stage, the state of “Jeong’gak.”

“It says you can only achieve Jeong’gak by aligning the correct spell, the correct hand seal, and the correct meridian points?”

The spell was probably something like activating principles or manifesting spiritual forms. For someone like me, it would be something dramatic like “Heavenly Descent.”

The correct meridian points likely referred to concentrating energy in a specific part of the body. This was challenging to do consciously, but not entirely impossible.

Thanks to Nayu, I now understood what energy was.

But here was the problem.

The correct hand seal.

What does it mean to form a seal?

This children’s book had various seals introduced. I decided to try them all.

The first was the “Knowledge Fist Seal,” where the left hand points the index finger and the right hand wraps around it. It was said to represent the union of the spiritual and mundane realms, often used by psychics.

“Heavenly Descent. No feeling.”

The second was the “Dharma Realm Concentration Seal,” where both hands are placed on the abdomen with the palms facing upward. It was the most basic seal, widely used by those with psychic abilities.

“Heavenly Descent. This isn’t it either.”

The third was the “Turning the Dharma Wheel Seal,” where both hands form the shape of a Dharma wheel. It symbolized the principle or law, often used by sorcerers.

“...Heavenly Descent.”

There were many other seals like the “Fearlessness Seal,” the “Wish-Granting Seal,” and the “Union Seal.” I tried them all.

“Nothing feels right.”

Finally, I reached the last chapter of the seal section.

The seal introduced here was the “Subjugating Demons and Touching the Earth Seal.”

It involved placing the right hand in a position similar to the Dharma Realm Concentration Seal while pointing to the ground with the left hand. This posture seemed to crush earthly beings with enlightenment.

“It feels... unpleasant.”

No, it wasn’t just unpleasant.

Just looking at this seal made me feel slightly nauseous.

“Damn it.”

I looked at the book’s description. The “Subjugating Demons and Touching the Earth Seal” was said to crush the demon king, the enemy of enlightenment, with supreme enlightenment. Crush the demon king? Could the demon king be both the Heavenly Demon and the demon king?

I thought about trying this seal but decided against it. This seal couldn’t possibly be the one that resonated with me.

“What a waste of time.”

I closed the book and turned off the light.

Tomorrow morning, I’ll meet Nayu and give her the leftover short ribs.

I wanted to hear her say, “Delicious meat, Nayu yum-yum.”

***

And morning came.

As soon as it did, I knocked on Nayu’s door.

But there was no sound from inside.

– – – The End of The Chapter – – –

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