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Chapter 519: Training (4)

The process of qi entering his body and following a steady flow toward his baihui point before flooding into his dantian left a bizarre feeling in Yi Myeong-Hwan.

As a martial artist, utilizing his qi happened every day. However, the focus of his training had largely been on unleashing his qi. A man who constantly trained on unleashing all the qi that had been accumulating little by little would\'ve never had a chance to experience the sensation of so much energy rushing into his dantian like this.

“Fuu-huph!”

Yi Myeong-Hwan sucked in a deep breath as if he wanted to hold on and never forget this bizarre feeling sweeping over his body. He repeated this process several more times before abruptly opening his eyes.

“...Mister Jin-Ho?” Yi Myeong-Hwan cautiously addressed Kang Jin-Ho standing expressionless before him. “Did you perhaps...?”

“No,” Kang Jin-Ho firmly shook his head after figuring out the intent of Yi Myeong-Hwan\'s question. “I did not help you out. You pulled it off all by yourself.”

“...Yes!” Yi Myeong-Hwan\'s expression brightened in delight. \'Finally... I did it!\'

Just how much suffering did he go through to master this nonsensical way of cultivating? Something that seemed so distant and indecipherable no matter how hard he tried... suddenly progressed in leaps and bounds after he finally grasped the underlying principle.

“Mister Jin-Ho, do you think I\'ve done it?”

“Well, if you can do the same thing again, then yes.”

Yi Myeong-Hwan excitedly asked, “Should I try it again right now?”

“No. No need to be in a rush,” said Kang Jin-Ho with a leisurely shake of his head. “Your head memorizes, but your body engraves. Only after reaching a stage where your body naturally circulates qi in the prescribed manner can you honestly say you\'ve done it. Experiencing it a couple of times now won\'t change your situation much. Starting from the beginning with a clean slate and gaining fresh epiphanies would\'ve been more progress than what you\'ve achieved so far.”

“I-I see.” Yi Myeong-Hwan mindlessly nodded. He couldn\'t get his wits about him after the thoughts of finally breaking through the starting point had overwhelmed him. While he was elated, his desperation not to lose this sensation was even stronger.

That was when Kang Jin-Ho narrowed his eyes and said something. “Eating your meals too fast will give you indigestion.”

Yi Myeong-Hwan\'s passion instantly cooled after hearing those words. That advice... was timely for his current state.

Nothing was worse than rushing in one\'s journey through martial arts. Going through each and every step in the process might seem tedious and slow, but it was also the fastest way. And Yi Myeong-Hwan was well aware of it.

“Fuu-wuu-huph...!” Yi Myeong-Hwan slowly exhaled. Regulating his breathing like this for some time helped him calm his excited mind. He then glanced around. \'What about everyone else?\'

Usually, circulating qi to cultivate was done in private. A martial artist in the middle of cultivation was pretty much a sitting duck to enemy attacks, after all. That was why securing one\'s private space to cultivate in peace was crucial. Unfortunately, securing personal space in the modern era was a bit of a challenge.

Unlike the old days when people built houses with enough space between them, modern homes didn\'t have that luxury. And there were a lot more external stimulants in this day and age when living near crowded places. To make matters worse, modern-day martial artists had to act even more discreetly than ever before, too.

So, the solution was for everyone—well, mostly everyone—to gather in the Martial Assembly\'s auditorium and practice hall to cultivate together.

Yi Myeong-Hwan scanned his comrades, sitting all around him in lotus positions and intensely concentrating.

\'When you think about it... Isn\'t this one heck of a sight to behold?\'

They were members of the Korean Martial Assembly. One of the most important duties the Assembly members had to carry out was apprehending and punishing wayward martial artists daring to practice demonic arts. That was because everyone who got their hands on demonic arts almost always lost their humanity and committed atrocious acts.

These crazed demonic arts practitioners no longer cared about not affecting the surface world with their actions, so incidents they caused would always balloon into a huge mess.

At least the mass media wasn\'t as prominent back in the past. No matter how messy an incident was, it could be covered up pretty swiftly back then. However, reporters looking for a scoop would swarm around any and all incidents like persistent flies these days. And just about everyone and their grandmothers had smartphones with good-resolution cameras built-in. In such a world, covering up incidents involving martial artists was not an easy task.

So, the best remedy was to prevent incidents from happening in the first place. And one of the prevention methods was taking out the demonic arts practitioners ahead of time. But now...

The Martial Assembly\'s younger generation was collectively sweating buckets in order to master demonic arts! Even though they were doing this out of necessity, Yi Myeong-Hwan still felt shocked and weirded out by this sight. And the culprit responsible for this situation was standing next to Yi Myeong-Hwan, silently observing the younger-generation martial artists busy circulating qi in their bodies.

\'Yup, none of this would\'ve happened if it wasn\'t for him...\'

Kang Jin-Ho was a total mystery not just to Yi Myeong-Hwan but to everyone as well.

Obviously, everyone here knew Kang Jin-Ho was a demonic arts practitioner. And he cultivated what many people despised and held in contempt—demonic arts. However, Kang Jin-Ho\'s humanity was fine. Despite reaching such a nonsensical, unbelievable realm in demonic arts, Kang Jin-Ho remained perfectly—mostly—sane. That shattered all the preconceived notions about demonic arts in everyone\'s mind.

A wonderful example who demonstrated the prowess of the demonic arts was waltzing around right before everyone\'s eyes, so why would anyone care about the old and outdated prejudices? Better still, the man himself said he\'d personally teach them suitable demonic arts. Who in their right mind would refuse that?

It was just that... Well, Yi Myeong-Hwan got a little worried after reaching this far. In a certain sense, this whole thing about mastering demonic arts was one big experiment.

No one, even Yi Myeong-Hwan, thought everyone would succeed. However, Yi Myeong-Hwan succeeded in finding and grasping a lifeline that might lead him down the path to greatness. And that made him worry about what the future might hold in store for him.

His worries eventually morphed into words coming out of his mouth. “Excuse me... Mister Jin-Ho?”

“Mm? What is it?”

“I, uh... Do you mind if I ask you something?”

“Not really. What do you want to know?” Kang Jin-Ho replied nonchalantly.

Yi Myeong-Hwan pondered how he could smooth out the words tumbling around in his head before uttering them out in the open. “Uhm... So... It\'s about this demo... Ahem, this cultivation method we\'re practicing right now.”

“Mm?”

“Is the... consultation process finished?”

“What do you mean?” Kang Jin-Ho tilted his head as if he couldn\'t understand what Yi Myeong-Hwan was asking about.

“N-no, I mean... I know the Assembly Master has given his go-ahead, but... I was wondering if other directors and executives are aware of what we\'re doing here…”

"Hmm. I\'m not sure," Kang Jin-Ho briefly shrugged his shoulders, indicating his general disinterest in the matter. He seemed to be saying he didn\'t care either way.

However, Yi Myeong-Hwan knew this issue wasn\'t as simple as that. “Mister Jin-Ho... Even if the Assembly Master and the Yeongnam Branch Manager consented to our training, it\'ll still become a massive problem if the directors find out about us later on. Their prejudice toward demonic arts is waaaay more hardcore than that of the younger generation, you see? I\'m dead certain that some elders will not accept the idea of demonic arts practitioners appearing in the Assembly\'s roster. In fact, they will be downright furious.”

“I see. Continue,” said Kang Jin-Ho.

Yi Myeong-Hwan nervously gulped his saliva. “I don\'t know how you\'ll take what I\'m about to say, but... You\'ll find plenty of people with severe prejudice toward demonic arts, Mister Jin-Ho. And that feeling isn\'t at the level of, \'Oh, I hate it, so I will never let it anywhere near me!\' Even we, the younger generation, would\'ve opposed the idea of cultivating demonic arts without first going through the process of... uh, realizing what it takes to become stronger. We\'re still young, so our resistance toward accepting new things is on the lower side, but the elders... Well…”

Kang Jin-Ho remained silent, only nodding occasionally.

“To make matters worse, I heard that in the past, crazed demonic arts practitioners killed a whole load of people or frequently clashed with the Assembly members just so they could murder their fellow martial artists. We\'re a bit too young to really witness all the atrocities the older generations are talking about, but we can still see how the elimination of demonic arts practitioners has brought peace to our world. So... Can you imagine how the older generations would react after learning about the demonic arts practitioners in the Assembly...?” Yi Myeong-Hwan sighed, the end of his sentence drifting away along with his sigh.

With that, he said his piece. Kang Jin-Ho was a smart dude, so he should have no problem figuring out what Yi Myeong-Hwan was trying to say.

However, it seemed Kang Jin-Ho didn\'t share Yi Myeong-Hwan\'s concerns. He replied without care. “I guess so.”

“Mister Jin-Ho, this problem is more serious than...”

Kang Jin-Ho cut Yi Myeong-Hwan off. “What is the problem here, then?”

“I\'m sorry?”

“I\'m asking you, what is the problem here exactly?”

“...?” Yi Myeong-Hwan clamped his mouth shut and began mulling over Kang Jin-Ho\'s question. He asked what could be the problem, so... “Uhm, isn\'t it about the opposition from the executives of the…”

“Them? No need to worry about that,” Kang Jin-Ho tutted in disinterest.

“Mister Jin-Ho? Why do you say that?”

“Their primary concern is you losing your mind and going berserk after mastering demonic arts, isn\'t it?”

“...Probably?”

“You\'ll prove to everyone that that won\'t happen, so what could be a problem here?”

Yi Myeong-Hwan slightly bit his lip. Kang Jin-Ho had a point. There shouldn\'t be any issues as long as the younger generation could prove Kang Jin-Ho\'s demonic arts cultivation method was a different beast from the other similar methods.

\'However, the actual problem is that... Proving that difference is not as easy as it sounds!\'

Even if the younger generation martial artists were fine now, doubting voices arguing that the side effects would only manifest much later on should still crop up. Hell, some of them might even say that underhanded tricks had been employed somewhere to make everything look good, even after the secret manual was provided to them for a thorough inspection.

...All because they refused to believe the truth!

Humans were naturally fearful of change. Martial artists were wary about accepting brand-new techniques built on the same foundation as their cultivation methods, so how willing would they be in accepting demonic arts? The answer was \'not very.\'

Kang Jin-Ho raised his voice and broke Yi Myeong-Hwan\'s train of thought. “Besides, that problem isn\'t as serious as you think.”

“Sorry?”

“Changes are inevitable. And, once the change occurs, you get two kinds of people. Those who accept change, and those who don\'t.”

Yi Myeong-Hwan slowly nodded while listening.

“Regardless of what we do, frictions and clashes are inevitable, too. And the people on the right side of the argument would crush and absorb the voices from the other side at the end of the day. So, all you have to do is prove that you were right all along. That\'s it.”

“But, sir... Problems will rear their heads during that process.”

“There are no such things as trouble-free solutions,” said Kang Jin-Ho with a loud tut.

“...”

“Even the cleanest-sounding solution will still leave behind some scars where you can\'t see them. That\'s what change does. Change where everyone benefits and things work out for everyone... simply doesn\'t exist. So, the real question is... Are they willing to put up with the inconvenience? Or keep resisting the change?”

Yi Myeong-Hwan furrowed his brow. “If I\'m being brutally honest, Assembly Master Bang Jin-Hun\'s faction isn\'t as large as former Master Lee Jung-Geol\'s. Assembly Master Bang enjoys the support and backing from the majority of the younger generation, but elders and directors aren\'t so keen on his leadership, you see? They might use this situation as the pretext to hurt Assembly Master Bang or even try to remove him from the post altogether.”

“Mm, sure. That might happen.”

“Shouldn\'t we try to stop that?”

Kang Jin-Ho tilted his head. “Why?”

“...I\'m sorry?”

“Why should we stop that?”

“...?” Yi Myeong-Hwan blinked his eyes in confusion.

Didn\'t Kang Jin-Ho consider Bang Jin-Hun as one of his people? Or did he not care who occupied the Assembly Master position as long as the Martial Assembly was still in his control? If it was none of those...

Yi Myeong-Hwan sneakily raised his head and looked up at Kang Jin-Ho... only for his entire body to break out in uncontrollable shivers.

Kang Jin-Ho was making a truly bone-chilling face just then. At a casual glance, he seemed expressionless, but an icy-cold killing intent bubbled under the surface. Only Kang Jin-Ho was capable of making such a terrifying face.

“Yi Myeong-Hwan... Tell me, what do you need to do with festering wounds?”

“...Wounds, sir?” Yi Myeong-Hwan blinked his eyes and replied without thinking too deeply about his answer. “Aren\'t you supposed to treat it?”

“No. You cut it out.”

“...!”

“The dangerous thing about a wound isn\'t it festering. No, it\'s not knowing where the wound is in the first place. Not knowing where the festering wound is hiding means you can\'t cut it out from your body.”

\'...No way. This guy, is he thinking of...?!\'

Yi Myeong-Hwan shuddered even more at that thought. Did Kang Jin-Ho say he\'d find the festering wounds hiding within the Martial Assembly? By using the younger generation martial artists?!

That was when Yi Myeong-Hwan realized that Kang Jin-Ho\'s reason for teaching the younger generation his demonic arts wasn\'t as simple as strengthening the Assembly\'s combat force. This man, he...

Kang Jin-Ho could be looking much, much further ahead while playing this game. Such was his foresight that someone like Yi Myeong-Hwan would never comprehend!

“All you have to do is wait. Then... The festering sores and rotting wounds will reveal themselves soon enough.”

A cruel smirk floated up on Kang Jin-Ho\'s lips.