Chapter 16

Chapter 16

Cultivation Through Copulation.

Episode 16: So-hyang.

It looked more like scribbles than annotations.

The Taiyi is the source of all things. When Taiyi incarnates, it is the Heavenly Emperor, and the Heavenly Emperor is the ruler of all things. Observing the Heavenly Emperor is possible at least at the level of a grandmaster. Therefore, what is observed in the realm of Qi Condensation is the basic form of Taiyi and…

Ugh, it’s complicated.

The scribbles underneath say,

Taiyi = Heaven and Earth’s Spiritual Qi. Celestial Whisper = The sound of wind when accepting Heaven and Earth’s Spiritual Qi. You must fully absorb Heaven and Earth’s Spiritual Qi into your body and circulate it! The more wind sounds, the higher the level is rising!

It was explained like this.

It was definitely much simpler and more memorable than what’s written in the manual.

It’s much easier to understand this way than vaguely talking about Taiyi. Writing it like this makes it easier to recognize than saying Taiyi is the Heavenly Emperor and so on.

Whoever wrote these scribbles, are they a top instructor in the cultivation world?

Who on earth is it? Did they write who they are at the end?

Flipping through to the end, a clue about the owner of the scribbles appeared.

-Taiyi Grandmaster wrote the annotations-

Taiyi Grandmaster? What does he do? Since he’s called a grandmaster, is he someone of a great level?

Generally, titles like grandmaster or true monarch are not names given to the deceased but usually refer to a high level.

But…

The handwriting of the scribbles has no hint of elegance and rather looks like a child’s scribble.

The letters saying Taiyi Grandmaster are crooked, suggesting the scribbles are not by someone actually named Taiyi Grandmaster but by someone with a grand desire to be called Taiyi Grandmaster.

‘So, this person’t isn’t the Taiyi Grandmaster yet but wants to become the Taiyi Grandmaster in the future. Judging by the annotations, this person’s intelligence is remarkable. Thanks to them, I’m benefiting from it.’

Yuk-gyeong ignored the verbose explanations of the Taiyi Celestial Whisper Scripture and began studying primarily through the annotations.

Isn’t this a bit easier?

There’s a reason why people attend lectures by top-tier instructors. Even cryptic texts that seem impossible to understand are made comprehensible through the teaching methods of these instructors, who already grasp the content thoroughly.

Ah, this part is meant to be interpreted this way. This makes it definitely easier.

Hmm, yes. If I go this way, indeed. I had felt something like this too.

Yuk-gyeong gradually became immersed in the Taiyi Celestial Whisper Technique as explained by the Taiyi Celestial Whisper Scripture.

And naturally, he entered a meditative state. Even though he didn’t know how to meditate, he could do it as effortlessly as breathing. It was an astonishing feat.

His fairly decent intellect combined with the remarkable talent of the Single Spiritual Root achieved this triumph.

Heaven and Earth’s Spiritual Qi gathered around Yuk-gyeong. The intensity was overwhelming, far beyond what was expected at the Qi Condensation stage.

Yeong Sun-il, the deacon of the Servant Hall and a Qi Condensation 7-Star cultivator, opened his eyes from meditation, startled by the violent flow of Spiritual Qi in the dead of night.

Whiiing!

Such a flow of Spiritual Qi was definitely not at an ordinary level of training.

It seemed like the Spiritual Qi of Heaven and Earth was condensing.

Even Yeong Sun-il, who was a Qi Condensation 7-Star cultivator, couldn’t create such a flow of Spiritual Qi.

So naturally, Sun-il assumed it was the training of a senior above him.

‘Hmm? Is a senior of the Foundation Establishment stage training nearby? What brings them to train near this Servant Hall? If it’s a Foundation Establishment stage senior, they must be at least a named disciple of our Sect.’

If there’s one thing Yeong Sun-il learned from decades of cultivation,

is that it’s better not to question the activities of cultivators at a level higher than oneself.

‘They’re probably just training and then leaving. It’s none of my concern. I shouldn’t unnecessarily provoke the senior. What a strange situation.’

Sun-il closed his eyes again and continued his training calmly.

Due to the presence of the unknown Foundation Establishment cultivator, training didn’t proceed smoothly, but there was no choice. It wasn’t someone he could simply tell to leave…

The next morning dawned.

Yuk-gyeong stretched and got up, preparing to train.

Toilet cleaning? Someone else would handle that.

He just had to wait in the dormitory until a sahyung came to take him to a training location. That was all he needed to do.

I wonder when he’ll come today.

The deacon Yeong Sun-il, probably hoped Yuk-gyeong would be worn out from cleaning the toilet, but Yuk-gyeong wasn’t tired at all.

His body felt incredibly refreshed. Was it the result from yesterday’s training? It seemed his body felt even more revitalized.

Yuk-gyeong could feel his cultivation level rising steadily.

If Elder Geum saw Yuk-gyeong now, he would be surprised.

Clearly, Yuk-gyeong, who had barely touched the threshold of the Qi Condensation stage at the Single-Hearted Bridge, had entered the Qi Condensation stage in just one day.

Yuk-gyeong was currently at Qi Condensation 1-Star.

This sharply contrasted with his peers, who hadn’t even begun their training. Was it because they were lazy? No. Despite their efforts, they couldn’t start training due to the complexity of the cultivation manuals.

Even in the history of the Dark Moon Sect, cases like Yuk-gyeong, who entered the Qi Condensation stage in just one day after receiving the cultivation manual, were rare.

Yuk-gyeong steadied his mind, which was starting to slacken.

Isn’t my training speed fast enough? Can’t I take it a bit slower? Whenever such complacent thoughts arose, he reminded himself why he was receiving this special treatment.

Since he was a Single Spiritual Root holder, it was expected that his cultivation speed would be fast. That’s why they set aside time for cultivation instead of miscellaneous chores.

Yuk-gyeong spurred himself on, avoiding laziness, and dedicated himself to cultivation.

Aside from that, Yuk-gyeong also found joy in cultivation. As his skills improved, he felt that he was well-suited to being a cultivator.

Breathing according to the methods in Taiyi and observing his body internally, he could vividly feel the Qi of Heaven and Earth gathering, circulating, and exiting.

It was like the wind.

A wind that washed over and out of his body.

When the wind swept through his bones, joints, major blood vessels, and capillaries1, his whole body felt refreshed. Each time the wind cleansed his body, he could feel his physical form being trained.

The Taiyi Celestial Whisper Scripture also mentioned that cleansing the muscles and blood with Spiritual Qi would build a strong body.

Yuk-gyeong judged that he was at the early stage of Qi Condensation 1-Star.

Even though Yuk-gyeong and the other novice disciples were too busy to interact, he believed his cultivation progress was relatively fast.

When he occasionally saw his fellow disciples from afar, he noticed they had not yet transcended the realm of ordinary people.

This was a sense perceptible to someone of a higher realm.

Yuk-gyeong was surprised by the effectiveness of the annotations in his Taiyi Celestial Whisper Art.

Of course, his exceptional Single Spiritual Root played a part, but he couldn’t deny that with the annotations, he was soaring rather than just leaping.

It seemed that with just a bit more practice, he could quickly advance to the middle or later stages.

Was receiving an annotated basic cultivation technique also a special privilege granted to the Single Spiritual Root holder? …That doesn’t seem to be the case. The basic technique was clearly given by deacon Yeong Sun-il, who seems to dislike him.

Also, training is great, but one should also eat.

The Dark Moon Sect provided two meals a day, breakfast and dinner. In the morning, they gave each a rice ball, and in the evening, they served a meal at the dining hall.

When work was done and the sun began to set, the dining hall opened, allowing anyone from the Dark Moon Sect to come and eat.

Yuk-gyeong was about to sit at a table after serving himself some food.

“Hey! You smell, so can you please eat outside?”

“Huh?”

“You smell, so I’m telling you to eat outside instead of in the dining hall.”

The bold dining hall woman lit up with indignation.

Her attire and demeanor were exactly what you’d expect from a woman working in a menial dining hall.

Loose clothing, tightly fastened sleeves, eczema on her hands, and her apron was wet.

She was trying to drive Yuk-gyeong out of the dining hall with determination.

Yuk-gyeong asked back, dissatisfied.

“Is there a rule that if you smell, you have to eat outside?”

Yuk-gyeong retorted. Eat outside? What, sit on the ground and eat while inhaling dust? That’s not right.

Smell like a toilet? I haven’t actually cleaned the toilet, so there’s no way I smell!

“There is. If I, So-hyang, decide as such in this dining hall, then that’s how it is.”

The dining hall woman named So-hyang placed her hands on her hips and put on a fierce expression.

However, her expression wasn’t particularly fierce. So-hyang’s face was so cute and charming that no matter how much she frowned, it was more adorable than scary.

With such a cute and charming face, her body…a massive chest that could be felt even through her loose clothing!

So-hyang, the woman from the dining hall, was the owner of an impressive bust.

To display that kind of volume through loose clothing, it must be so large that it couldn’t be fully grasped with both hands.

Yuk-gyeong unconsciously estimated and then shook his head.

That’s not what’s important.

What this damn woman is saying to me right now is what’s important.

“There are no such rules, didn’t you make them up? Does this make any sense?”

“Of course it makes sense, why wouldn’t it? Get out, get out now!”

Yuk-gyeong was promptly kicked out of the dining hall.

Wow, being petty over food like this.

To do that with food, that’s crossing the line.

Yuk-gyeong was boiling with anger.

It turned out that So-hyang was a woman who handled the critical task of managing the hearth in the dining hall. She was said to be one of the top five power holders in the dining hall.

Well, you might wonder if there’s a power ranking in a place like a menial dining hall, but that’s how it always is where people lived. Even with just two people, power would be divided.

Anyway, being such a power holder, she could say things like “my word is the rule” and whatnot.

Fine, you avoid poop because it’s dirty, not because you’re scared of it, right? Just avoid a mere dining hall power holder.

However, just as Yuk-gyeong couldn’t avoid a smelly toilet, there was no way to avoid So-hyang when going to eat.

ED: Capillaries are the smallest type of blood vessels. In descending order of size: Arteries and Veins > Arterioles and Venules > Capillaries ↩️