The Miraculous Divorce Technique

Chapter 10

Martial Arts.

It is a Central Plains-style martial arts system that collectively refers to internal energy, which manifests qi, and stances, which move the body.

Enthusiasts debate whether internal energy is more important or stances are more important, but it cannot be concluded that one is more important than the other.

To use an analogy, internal energy is the ship, and stances are the sails.

If the sails are small, no matter how big the ship is, it can only float adrift in the vast ocean.

If the ship is small, no matter how good the sails are, it cannot overcome the rough waves and go out to the ocean.

In other words, the most basic and important thing in martial arts is the compatibility of the internal energy cultivation method and the stances.

It is only possible to fully display its mysteries when there is a synergistic effect between these two elements.

Of course, it was not impossible to fit in stances that did not match by guiding the internal energy along specific acupoints with a qi circulation method.

However, because each internal energy cultivation method has a unique breathing method, a stance with bad compatibility would have difficulty displaying even half of its power.

The series of actions of relaxing the muscles on inhalation and contracting the muscles on exhalation.

It was the same as the principle of the world that proper strength would not be applied if breathing and movement did not match.

A moment ago.

Cheok Sagyeol was avoiding Wi Chung's sword strikes with a tense face.

SWISH, SWISH, SWISH, SWISH.

It couldn't be called miraculous, but it was a change where the sword path suddenly bent from an unexpected route.

The cruelty of persistently aiming only for the vital points was melted into the first move.

It was a tendency that was quite the opposite of the righteous light felt from the sword qi.

'It's even more extreme when I face it directly. But there are no unnecessary movements. What method did he use?'

Cheok Sagyeol could see that Wi Chung's internal energy and stances were polar opposites.

Moreover, since two incompatible things were combined, there should have been a flaw, but there were no openings.

SWISH, SWISH, SWISH, SWISH. SWISH.

'Huh.'

While he was thinking, a sword that struck a blind spot grazed Cheok Sagyeol's left cheek.

To him now, Wi Chung was not an easy opponent.

Above all, it was because he could not use internal energy.

If the ideal distribution for a martial artist was three parts external arts and seven parts internal energy, Cheok Sagyeol could only display three parts of his skill.

And even that, the situation was more serious because he had returned to the body of an old man.

"Grand Master, why are you not using your internal energy? If you are worried because my martial prowess is low, that is an even greater shame for a warrior, so please do your best."

Wi Chung sneered and uttered empty words.

'Hehehe. As expected, he was a kid who wasn't even of age. This guy hasn't reached the realm where he can guide qi yet.'

Wi Chung once again made a premature guess about Cheok Sagyeol's identity.

'But it's a really exquisite human skin mask. To even make blood flow from the torn part. In that case, I'll tear it to shreds.'

After mincing him, there would be no problem if he said he was a culprit who impersonated Grand Master Muheo and was rude to the princess.

Wi Chung readjusted his grip on the sword hilt and began to unleash a murderous sword stance.

'Now I see, he was planning to kill me under the pretext of a spar. In that case, shall I start too?'

Faced with killing intent, Cheok Sagyeol moved his feet without rest and dodged the sword strikes.

His movements, with his momentary muscle strength enhanced by the Indian Yoga Divine Art, were concise and fast even without internal energy.

SWOOOSH.

While dodging a sword strike, Cheok Sagyeol's right hand chop aimed for Wi Chung's neck.

'Foolish. Was he a novice who didn't even know how to measure distance?'

Wi Chung sneered at Cheok Sagyeol, who was stretching out his hand from a distance that would never reach.

Since he was bare-handed, he would have to take one more step to enter the attack range, but it was clear that he had hastily struck out.

'In a real battle, a small mistake determines life and death... Gak!'

The pain that came with the illusion that his arm was stretching.

Cheok Sagyeol's fist flew at Wi Chung, who had been accurately struck on the Adam's apple.

Wi Chung hastily stretched out a palm to meet it.

BOOM.

'Ugh. What is this.'

Although it was sudden, his palm, which was imbued with internal energy, could not block Cheok Sagyeol's ordinary fist and was bounced off.

Moreover, that fist did not stop and was still approaching him.

'If... if I get hit by that, I'll die.'

Was it because he was on the boundary of life and death?

Wi Chung was able to retrieve the sword he had stretched out with all his might and defend.

CLAAAAANG.

"Kuh... Gak."

With a tremendous impact, Wi Chung flew about five zhang and was thrown out of the sparring stage.

A clear fist mark remained on his sword.

'If it wasn't for the General's Sword, I would have died.'

Wi Chung let out a sigh of relief.

Unlike the swords used by martial artists, the General's Sword of the army was about twice as thick and wide.

Because it had to cut through the armor worn by enemy soldiers on the battlefield, its strength was also special.

'Oh? He blocked that?'

Cheok Sagyeol was inwardly impressed.

It was because he had shown the decisiveness to retrieve his sword in a moment of life and death.

This was thanks to his abundant practical experience.

If not, he would have twisted his body to avoid it or tried to deflect the force even if he was hit.

If so, Cheok Sagyeol's fist would have definitely taken his life.

'Still, I know their secret.'

Although it was a short exchange at close range, he could tell.

He had struck his Adam's apple to disrupt his breathing, but the bastard had used a palm imbued with internal energy without caring.

Moreover, not a single sound of breathing was heard until he defended with his sword.

'No breathing. Hmph... Is he some kind of turtle? A human being not breathing?'

He had not breathed because it would interfere with his stances.

To use an analogy, it could be said that he was unfolding his stances while maintaining the Turtle Breathing Grand Art.

In other words, it was a method to fully display the power of his stances while using internal energy with bad compatibility.

Cheok Sagyeol was once again correcting his thoughts about the Embroidered Uniform Guard.

'To make the impossible possible... If a little more time passes, the level of the imperial family's martial arts will not be something to be ignored.'

Those who seek change are bound to develop.

Even in the martial world, the Demonic Faction's Four Alliances, unlike the righteous faction's Eui-cheon Alliance or their own Demonic Cult, had acquired powerful military force at a rapid pace despite their short history.

They were able to become the rulers of the southern martial world because they had mastered all sorts of miscellaneous martial arts to survive and were not afraid of change.

"Ugh..."

Wi Chung got up and climbed back onto the sparring stage.

Unlike a friendly spar, a real spar was not a loss just because one fell out of the ring.

"Do you want to go on, benefactor? Haha."

At Cheok Sagyeol's flourish, Wi Chung frowned.

"There is still something I haven't shown you. I can't give up with regrets."

He had not yet revealed the identity hidden under the human skin mask.

Wi Chung had to take off the mask somehow for his promotion.

"Then let's have another go."

Cheok Sagyeol performed a half-bow and raised the corners of his mouth.

Not only had he not been able to land a proper blow on Wi Chung, but he was also feeling a change in his body for a while now.

'My lower abdomen is gradually getting warmer.'

To be precise, the area around his dantian was heating up.

'If I show this much movement, I should be able to circulate my qi too.'

Until now, the Bodhi Lotus Art had not moved no matter what he did, like Bodhidharma during his wall-gazing meditation.

It had been hiding its existence, clumped deep in his dantian like a stone Buddha.

Cheok Sagyeol was thinking of trying to use the stances of demonic arts by guiding his internal energy without breathing, just like the Embroidered Uniform Guard.

Of course, with a basic palm art that did not show any signs of demonic arts in its stances.

'The Ghost Face Palm would be good. If you take out the demonic qi, no one will think it's a demonic art.'

Having made his decision, Cheok Sagyeol focused on circulating his qi.

The internal energy of the Bodhi Lotus Art, which was gradually being activated, was running wild as if asking to be unleashed right away.

'What a picky fellow. Now it's like a colt with its reins off.'

Cheok Sagyeol was tightening the reins of his internal energy until his opponent entered his attack range.

And it was then, when Wi Chung's sword crossed the boundary it should not have crossed.

BOOOOOOOOOOM.

Wi Chung's body, whose General's Sword had been broken by a single palm, flew, spinning in the air.

The power of the Ghost Face Palm was not enough and blew away half of the sparring stage, and the bloodied Wi Chung was being slammed into the ground.

'Gasp... what is this...'

As the power was released, he could examine the dantian he had not been able to see until now.

'One, two, three... four... five... five cycles?'

Cheok Sagyeol's mouth dropped open as he looked at his lower abdomen.

One cycle was sixty years, meaning Muheo's internal energy was a whopping three hundred years.

'No wonder! I thought the old man fought without getting tired!'

Muheo had extraordinary stamina, even at the age of nearly eighty, while overusing an ultimate art that consumed a lot of internal energy.

Now he saw that it was because he really had internal energy to spare.

'Huh? What's this again? Eek.'

Suddenly, his stomach churned, and he began to feel nauseous.

Not only that, but the creepy feeling of cockroaches and rats crawling all over his body was a bonus.

"Ugh."

He hurriedly covered his mouth with his hand, but it was not enough to stop the vomit that had risen up to his esophagus.

'This internal energy... feels so damn bad. I feel like throwing up!'

"Uuugh."

PWAAAK.

"Uweeeeeeek."

The loser suffered a disastrous defeat with his beloved sword broken and all the bones in his body shattered, and the winner was vomiting in a corner.

There was no beautiful scene of the winner comforting the loser and praising each other's martial arts.

* * *

"What on earth is this!? I really have no face to see our ancestors!"

Grand Master Musan was nagging Cheok Sagyeol with all sorts of complaints.

"Tell me honestly. How much did you drink yesterday! A man who has never vomited before, how much did you drink to vomit like that! And in a place like that!"

Cheok Sagyeol scratched his head and answered.

"Think whatever you want. What can I do? I've already thrown up."

Grand Master Musan's anger flared up even more at his martial brother's nonchalant reply as if it were someone else's business.

"Phew! I'm the crazy one for putting you in such a place! Me!"

Grand Master Musan was fed up with his martial brother, who never once failed to meet his expectations and caused trouble.

Then, he took out an identity token and a sealed letter from his bosom and handed them to Cheok Sagyeol.

"This is an identity token that proves you are a disciple belonging to the Shinhyun Sect, one of the secular sects. If you give the sealed letter to the abbot of Jaryun Temple, he will arrange a place for you. Leave tonight."

Grand Master Musan turned his head away as if he didn't even want to see him.

Cheok Sagyeol put the identity token and the sealed letter in his bosom and stretched out his arm again.

"What is it?"

Cheok Sagyeol smiled and said.

"You're sending me off empty-handed? You should at least give me some travel money."

At those words, Grand Master Musan couldn't help but grab the back of his neck.

* * *

Cheok Sagyeol was lost in thought as he packed his things in his residence.

Now that he could use the internal energy of the Bodhi Lotus Art.

It was because there were two problems when he reflected on the sparring process.

'First, why did the internal energy, which had been clumped up and not moving until then, suddenly stir?'

He could easily guess the answer to that.

Feeling his dantian, which had been warm, gradually getting colder, he lifted his shirt and looked at his lower abdomen, and there was a phenomenon that had not been there before.

In his dantian, there was the image of a Buddha sitting in meditation on a lotus flower, and it was fading as the feeling of cooling down.

Cheok Sagyeol suddenly moved his body vigorously and soon understood the reason.

'As expected... the Bodhi Lotus Art also has the function of circulation. When the internal energy reached a certain level, the image of a Buddha appeared in the dantian, and it became possible to circulate qi.'

At that time, Muheo's internal energy must have been almost depleted from the battle with him.

Since he couldn't replenish his internal energy through qi circulation and meditation after his body was swapped, his internal energy must have been naturally replenished while he was moving his body. And he must have crossed that limit during the spar.

He calculated that the limit was roughly one cycle, and he would have to have more than that to be able to circulate qi.

As Cheok Sagyeol sorted out the first problem in his own way, he recalled the second problem.

'Second, why on earth do I feel nauseous?'

It was definitely a rejection of the internal energy.

'Is it because demonic arts and Buddhist qi arts are polar opposites that I instinctively feel that way?'

That might be it.

Unlike the martial arts of the Daoist school or the Demonic Faction, the roots of demonic arts and Buddhist qi arts were in the study of the mind.

If demonic arts were rooted in negative mental images such as killing intent, anger, and despair, Buddhist qi arts were at the opposite pole.

'Anyway, even if I can use internal energy, I don't want to use it now...'

To think that he would have to worry about whether to use the three hundred years of internal energy in his body.

Cheok Sagyeol had come to have a ridiculously luxurious worry.

'For now, let's focus on the Indian Yoga Divine Art.'

The Indian Yoga Divine Art was still only at the achievement of about the third stage.

If he mastered it, the possibilities were surely endless.

Moreover, if internal energy was added to the external arts enhanced to the extreme with the Indian Yoga Divine Art, its destructive power would be beyond imagination.

'Let's see... did I pack everything?'

After checking a few daily necessities and the manuscripts of the seventy-two ultimate arts, Cheok Sagyeol looked around.

Since he had a sturdy money pouch from Grand Master Musan, there seemed to be nothing else to pack.

Then, something flashed in his mind.

"I was in such a hurry to leave that I forgot about that."

Cheok Sagyeol put down his bundle and left his residence.

It was because there were two things he had to get from Shaolin that he had not yet obtained.

"There's no time, so it's too late to get them legitimately. I'll just steal them."

Cheok Sagyeol's figure quickly moved in the direction of the Medicine King Hall.

'Wait for me, Great Recovery Pill. Hehe.'

(End of Chapter)