Martial Arts Ain't Anything Special-Chapter 13: Yin-Yang Reversal

Spirit pills could be described as artificially created elixirs that combine various ingredients to make qi easier for the body to absorb as inner qi.

However, even so, consuming them carelessly would make them nothing more than a beneficial tonic. After taking a spirit pill, one needs to focus on converting that qi into oneself’s inner qi.

“Inhale... Exhale...”

And Chunbong, who had the pill forcibly shoved in her mouth, was no exception.

To avoid excreting the hard-earned pill as waste, she began to concentrate on circulating her qi.

There’s no reason this shouldn’t work.

Seojun immediately moved behind Chunbong and placed his hands on her back. As he focused with his palms pressed against her, the flow of inner qi within her became almost tangible.

Qi is influenced by the state of one’s mind. If you believe you can do it, then you really can.

Of course, it might not work, but that would just be unfortunate. Even if things don’t go as planned, the worst that could happen is wasting one pill.

Seojun took a deep breath as he concentrated on the flow of inner qi in Chunbong’s body.

Since the Blue Cloud Divine Art was derived from the Yellow Cloud Divine Art, their flows weren’t vastly different. He quickly grasped the slight differences and observed closely as the qi from the black wood pill was incorporated into Chunbong’s inner qi.

The nearly neutral qi is changing into yin qi.

It was the yin qi of the Blue Cloud Divine Art. But soon after that, the yin qi she absorbed began to freeze due to the cold yin qi blocking her meridians.

She’ll have no choice but to expel the qi from her body if left like this.

Now’s the time. Intervene in that conversion process and transform the black wood pill’s qi into hot yang qi.

“Chunbong, do your trust your big brother?”

Yes. Along with that answer he imagined, a golden haze rose from Seojun’s body.

What’s the difference between yin qi and yang qi? Yin is static, yang is dynamic.

From a modern perspective, it wasn’t much different from thermal energy. When the movement of particles that make up an object becomes more active, that energy increases, and vice versa.

It was essentially the vibration of particles. The nature of qi as a particle or a wave was unclear, but that rough understanding was enough.

Wait, does that mean the Supreme Polarity is a state of thermal equilibrium?

He briefly had a stray thought but pushed it aside for now. That wasn’t important right now.

Since it was impossible to perfectly fit martial arts into a scientific framework anyway, he just held onto his conviction with his limited knowledge.

Hot and active.

He grasped the freezing qi of the black wood pill and gave it a sharp slap, causing the calm qi to start thrashing about.

“Hmm...”

As the qi thrashed, a moan escaped Chunbong’s lips. At this rate, it would strain her body.

While controlling the degree of the qi’s thrashing, he assisted Chunbong’s lesser heavenly circulation along the path of the Blue Cloud Divine Art.

He could feel the qi passing through tiny gaps in the frozen meridians.

Okay.

I’ve got the hang of it.

A faint smile formed on Seojun’s lips. Now that he had grasped it, he discarded all theories. From now on, he would act purely on intuition.

What should I call this?

Nothing establishes an image better than giving it a name.

Ah, that’s it.

Yin-Yang Reversal.

That name sounds good.

*Geum Hee felt the qi within her being dragged along at will.

The qi was clearly her own, yet it was being controlled by someone else’s will. This foreign sensation sent shivers down her spine.

...This talent is beyond words.

Though astounded, she didn’t stop circulating her cultivation technique. But in the end, she could feel the qi from the black wood pill freezing due to the cold yin qi.

So it ended up like this after all.

It would be a lie to say she wasn’t disappointed. Of course, she had hoped for the best... but this was what she had expected.

She wasn’t disheartened. Her heart ached not for herself, but at how far he was willing to go for her sake.

That idiot. If he had just taken it himself, it would have been much more beneficial. He could have taken a step closer to becoming one of the Hundred Great Masters Under the Heavens...

Imagining him as one of the Hundred Great Masters filled her with a strange sense of pride. It was bittersweet that she wouldn’t be able to see it herself.

Seojun, wielding the secret martial arts of her clan and roaming across the martial world. The thought of his very name stirring the martial world sent an excited thrill through her body.

Well, he’s practically my disciple. It’s only natural.

Just as she was about to give up and expel the qi—

Thump!

Her heart beat greatly, warmth suddenly flooding her body.

Shocked, she closely examined the flow of qi.

The black wood pill’s qi, converted into the inner qi of the Blue Cloud Divine Art, was suddenly changing into yang qi without any warning.

This is impossible... Does this even make any sense in the first place?

But regardless of her shock, the yang qi spread rapidly like ink dropped in clear water.

Soon, that yang qi began to squeeze through the needle-thin gaps in her meridians, gradually widening them. The warmth of the yang qi was melting away the cold yin qi.

My body...

It’s melting. It felt like warm spring sunlight shining down on a body that had always lived in winter.

As if entranced by the warmth flowing through her body, she guided the qi, and gradually the flow of inner qi became smoother.

The tightness in her chest eased, and her once-cold fingertips became soft and pliant.

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It was a warmth she had forgotten. A faint smile formed on her lips as she hazily surrendered herself to the flow.

*“Phew...”

Seojun opened his eyes after exhaling deeply. His sweat-drenched expression was far from refreshed.

“Maybe I hoped for too much.”

He had wished to cure her meridian blockage completely with this opportunity, but that had been too much to ask.

Clicking his tongue, Seojun picked up the now-sleeping Chunbong.

“This brat. How amusing.”

Her bright smile finally made her look like a child her age, putting his mind at ease.

After laying her down straight on the floor, he touched her fingertips and toes, confirming that warmth had indeed returned.

Before, they had been cold and stiff like someone with poor circulation, but now they were warm and soft like a baby’s skin. Despite being seventeen years old.

Chuckling, Seojun flopped down beside Chunbong with the grimace of a madman.

Yin-Yang Reversal. It had been no easy feat, living up to its grandiose name.

He was laughing, but it felt like his head might split in two at any moment.

“...You better pay me back for this someday, Geum Chunbong.”

Seojun’s consciousness faded.

*Chirp chirp— The sound of birds woke him up.

Seojun sat up groggily, clutching his throbbing head with a groan.

“Ugh...”

Did I overdo it yesterday? Everything else aside, the Yin-Yang Reversal was certainly pushing it.

Well, I can’t complain when it only ended in a headache.

Brushing it off, he reached out and grabbed the nearby water jug. This was the first thing they had changed once they got some money. The water quality.

Gulp—

“Bleh...”

It still tasted like shit, but it was 32 million times better than the sewage they used to drink.

“Man, this world is so fucking shitty.”

Selling well water for money? I ought to crack their heads open.

As he regained his senses, he felt something odd on his leg.

“This brat.”

Chunbong was fast asleep, tightly hugging his leg. He was about to absentmindedly pat her head when—

“Hey, hey! What the hell?! Wake up, now!”

“W-What, what is it?!”

Chunbong jumped up and looked around frantically. Seojun pointed at her head.

“Your hair! Why is it gray all of a sudden?!”

“Gray hair...?”

Chunbong blinked stupidly and gathered her hair in front of her eyes.

Her hair was about half black and half white. She stared at it blankly before letting out a hollow laugh.

“Well, I guess it’s because of the cold yin qi.”

“Huh, did something go wrong?”

“No, it’s fine. Just a change in hair color.”

Chunbong waved her arms around.

“My body feels completely fine. I’m bursting with energy!”

She grinned, clearly in high spirits. Relieved, Seojun stood up.

“You kinda look taller too?”

“Huh?”

Chunbong’s head now reached his chest level. Considering Seojun’s growth over the past year, she must have grown significantly overnight.

“Eh, ehhh?”

This time, Chunbong hurriedly felt her chest.

Thump, thump—

An empty sound echoed. While she had grown taller, her chest remained perfectly flat. Her head drooped.

“...Fuck.”

“It’s okay. There’s surprisingly quite a demand for that kind of chest too— Ow! Why’d you hit me!”

“Just shut up!”

Well, she seems healthy, so that’s good.

*After overcoming the loss of a chest she never had, Chunbong suddenly stared closely at Seojun before bowing her head deeply.

“...nks.”

“What did you say?”

“I-I said thanks... Honestly, I didn’t expect you to go this far...”

Chunbong fidgeted before grabbing Seojun’s sleeve with her small hand.

“Attacking the Black Tiger Sect, giving up the spirit pill for me, and somehow transforming yin qi into yang qi...”

She glanced up, pouting.

“I-It’s all thanks to you, b-big... big brother!”

“...”

With her face bright red, Chunbong stammered and shouted.

“S-Say something, will you!?”

Seojun, who had been frozen, slowly reached out. His hands settled under her armpits, gripping tightly, and suddenly lifted her up.

“You! Ah, you adorable kid! This brat finally called me big brother!”

“L-Let go! Do you have some kind of obsession with being called big brother?!”

“Oh, you cute little thing!”

As he hugged her and rubbed his cheek against hers, Chunbong panicked and started kicking.

“L-Let go, you son of a bitch!”

“Ow!”

Seojun collapsed on the spot after taking a kick to a sensitive area. Did it break...? He felt around and thankfully it was intact.

“Urgh...”

“A-Are you okay...?”

Talk about giving someone a disease and then offering the cure. Chunbong patted his tailbone.

“You evil woman...”

“Hey, I... I’m really sorry.”

I’ll let it slide since you apologized. Seojun wiped away the tears that were about to fall and forced a smile.

“...Anyways, let’s get another spirit pill later and cure you completely. You should be fine for a while now, right?”

“Y-Yeah... But are you really okay? It’s not broken, is it?”

“It’s fine. Want to check?”

“No, you crazy bastard!”

Chunbong flared up in anger but held back this time. She must have felt genuinely sorry.

“Alright then.”

Well, I’ve more or less taken care of the Black Tiger Sect now. Should I try unifying the back alleys?

And find out what happened to that woman.

He was a bit concerned about the woman he met on his first day in this martial arts world, wondering what had become of her.