Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Namgung Geom gazed at the face reflected in the bronze mirror.

The face of a fifteen-year-old boy was pale with illness, but not bad to look at.

"Still surprising, no matter how many times I see it."

Namgung Geom still could not believe he had awakened in this body.

But he chose not to overthink it and simply accepted things as they were.

It was a problem with no answer.

Agonizing over it would only give him a headache.

He was better off spending that time thinking about what lay ahead.

"Well then, let's have a look at this new body."

Namgung Geom set the bronze mirror aside and turned his awareness inward.

'The musculoskeletal frame seems decent enough.'

He had virtually no muscle, but his bone structure was surprisingly robust.

'The blood meridians aren't bad either.'

They were wide and sturdy—well-suited for inner arts cultivation.

The problem was the extreme yang fire qi that had firmly sealed nine of his meridians and was radiating heat.

Nine Yang Severed Meridians.

A condition in which extreme yang fire qi crystallized within nine meridians, severing them and triggering violent episodes.

An incurable illness that typically killed the sufferer before the age of twenty, as the energy channels withered and died.

He had already known this through Namgung Geom's memories, but confirming it firsthand made him grimace involuntarily.

The Nine Yang Severed Meridians was exceedingly difficult to treat.

Nine out of ten died.

The remaining one might or might not survive.

It was not called an incurable illness for nothing.

To cure the Nine Yang Severed Meridians, the extreme yang fire qi had to be eliminated using its opposite—extreme yin energy.

But ordinary extreme yin energy would not suffice.

The extreme yang fire qi was the very essence of yang.

To eliminate it required energy of a comparable caliber.

"Ice white qi can do it."

The Ice White Divine Art, the strongest divine art of the Northern Sea Ice Palace, was in no way inferior to the extreme yang fire qi.

However, his current level of mastery was not enough to suppress the extreme yang fire qi.

To overpower it, he needed to reach at least the Third Stage.

"That much is child's play."

With his previous life's experience, Namgung Geom was confident he could reach that level faster than anyone.

"That said, I never expected to be reborn as the eldest grandson of the Namgung Family."

The Namgung Family.

A peerless house of the sword boasting several centuries of history, and the head of the Five Great Families that represented the orthodox faction.

As a background, the Namgung Family was as good as, if not better than, the Northern Sea Ice Palace of his previous life.

"Well, the status isn't bad, at least......"

In the murim, being a direct descendant of the Namgung Family was a status that rivaled even royalty.

But the more one possessed, the greater the danger.

Namgung Geom calmly assessed his position.

He was the eldest grandson of the Namgung Family.

Under normal circumstances, the succession of the Namgung Family would have passed to him.

But reality was far from that.

His father, Namgung Il, had fallen into a trap set by the Evil Tyrant Alliance and lost his life before Namgung Geom was even born.

On top of that, his own life hung by a thread due to the Nine Yang Severed Meridians, and he could die at any time.

No one in the Namgung Family believed he would carry on the family's succession.

As things stood, it was widely expected that one of Namgung Geom's uncles would succeed as head of the family.

Namgung Geom thought of his three uncles.

They were locked in a fierce competition over the position of Young Lord of the Namgung Family.

An interesting fact was that Namgung Pae, the Family Head of the Namgung Family, had yet to appoint a Young Lord.

This had given rise to much speculation.

Some even suggested that Namgung Pae was considering his eldest grandson, Namgung Geom, for the position of Young Lord.

But no one took that talk seriously.

Namgung Geom suffered from the Nine Yang Severed Meridians, and at this rate, he would struggle to live past twenty.

Even if, by some miracle, the Nine Yang Severed Meridians were cured, the chances of him prevailing over his uncles in the competition were virtually nil.

"But do my uncles really see it that way?"

For now, they would not perceive him as a threat.

But if he cured the Nine Yang Severed Meridians and began to distinguish himself—

There was no telling how things might change.

"I'll need to keep my guard up around my uncles."

He had no intention of making enemies of them, but there was no harm in staying vigilant.

As he was organizing his thoughts, the door to his room suddenly opened and a middle-aged woman stepped inside.

Upon seeing her face, a smile tugged at the corners of Namgung Geom's lips.

She was Gang Mo-yeon, Namgung Geom's birth mother.

Namgung Geom did not find her unfamiliar at all.

Namgung Geom's memories and emotions remained in his consciousness.

He accepted Gang Mo-yeon as his mother naturally.

"Geom-ah! You're awake. Are you feeling all right?"

Gang Mo-yeon's face lit up when she saw Namgung Geom was awake, and she hurried over to him.

Namgung Geom could tell from her expression just how much she had been worrying about him.

"I'm fine, so please don't worry."

"Are you truly all right?"

Gang Mo-yeon asked, still unable to set her concerns at ease.

"Yes. I'm a little sluggish, but other than that, I'm fine."

"Even so, just in case, it would be best to call Physician Jang for an examination."

Gang Mo-yeon instructed a handmaiden outside to summon Physician Jang.

"You've been worrying a lot because of me, haven't you?"

"What does a mother's worrying matter? You're the one who suffers through that pain every time."

Gang Mo-yeon gazed at him with pained eyes.

Ever since the extreme yang fire qi of the Nine Yang Severed Meridians first erupted when he was ten, Namgung Geom had been suffering through periodic episodes.

As the episodes grew more intense over time, so did the pain.

After each episode, he would be so drained that he could not even rise from bed for days.

Gang Mo-yeon's heart ached for her son, who endured such terrible agony every time.

"Mother! I'm not that fragile. I won't lose to the pain of the Nine Yang Severed Meridians, so please don't worry."

Namgung Geom's resolute composure reddened the rims of Gang Mo-yeon's eyes.

"I'm sorry. What kind of mother can't even help her own child?"

"I know how much you worry yourself sick over me, so please don't say things like that."

Gang Mo-yeon shook her head.

"What good is just fretting inside?"

"I know you've been searching high and low for extreme yin elixirs and divine arts through your maternal family."

Gang Mo-yeon was the treasured daughter of the Hangzhou Gold Merchants, one of the four great merchant houses of the Celestial Commerce Alliance.

She had been using the Hangzhou Gold Merchants' wealth to scour far and wide for elixirs and divine arts that could cure the Nine Yang Severed Meridians.

"And what has that accomplished? Years have passed with nothing to show for it."

Gang Mo-yeon let out a sigh.

"That devotion alone is more than enough for me."

Namgung Geom's words were sincere.

In his previous life, he had lost his mother at a young age.

He had never had the chance to receive a mother's affection.

But now, here was a mother, alive and present, showering him with worry and love.

For him, that alone was more than enough, and something to be grateful for.

After all, curing the Nine Yang Severed Meridians was something he could do on his own.

Gang Mo-yeon stared at Namgung Geom intently.

"Why are you looking at me like that?"

"It seems like our Geom-i has grown up quite a bit all of a sudden."

Gang Mo-yeon sensed that something about Namgung Geom had changed.

Until now, Namgung Geom had lost all will to live under the weight of the Nine Yang Severed Meridians' agony, spending his days listless and hollow.

Especially after each episode, he would be so drained he wanted to die.

Yet now, he was showing a resolute composure.

His manner of speaking and his bearing also seemed somehow more mature.

"I'm already fifteen, you know."

When Namgung Geom joked around as if to say he was all grown up, Gang Mo-yeon could not hold back her laughter.

Just then, the sound of someone arriving came from outside.

"I've brought Physician Jang."

A handmaiden announced the physician's arrival.

"Show him in."

With Gang Mo-yeon's permission, the door opened and a physician who appeared to be in his mid-thirties entered the room.

He was Jang Sin-myeong, a disciple of the renowned Sacred Hand Valley, and the physician in charge of Namgung Geom's treatment.

Namgung Geom bowed his head in greeting to Jang Sin-myeong.

"You're awake. How are you feeling?"

"I'm fine."

"Even so, just in case, could you please take a look at Geom-i's condition?"

At Gang Mo-yeon's request, Jang Sin-myeong approached Namgung Geom.

"I'll take your pulse."

Namgung Geom offered his hand without protest.

He had already dispersed the ice white qi beforehand.

Unless Jang Sin-myeong was a master of inner arts, he would be unable to detect the ice white qi's presence.

Jang Sin-myeong closed his eyes and felt Namgung Geom's pulse.

The examination continued for a long while.

"How is he?"

Once he finished, Gang Mo-yeon asked.

"The extreme yang fire qi has settled into a dormant state. There is no need for concern at the moment."

Even at Jang Sin-myeong's words, Gang Mo-yeon's expression did not brighten.

Even if things were fine for now, she worried about the next episode.

But she held her tongue in front of Namgung Geom.

"Thank you for your trouble. You may go."

Jang Sin-myeong offered his courtesies and withdrew.

"As Physician Jang said, I'm fine, so you should go rest as well, Mother."

"Is there anything you need?"

"No. There isn't."

"All right. Then get some rest. I'll come back in the evening."

Gang Mo-yeon gazed at Namgung Geom with tender concern, then left the room.

Left alone, Namgung Geom turned his thoughts to what lay ahead.

The first thing that came to mind was vengeance from his previous life.

According to Namgung Geom's memories, a hundred years had passed since the death of his previous life.

Seol Jin-ak was most likely already dead and gone.

The same would be true of the enemies from the Northern Sea Four Families.

If that was the case, there was no reason to pursue the vengeance of his previous life.

He could let go of the grudges of the past and focus on his present life.

The most important thing right now was curing the Nine Yang Severed Meridians.

'First, I raise the mastery of the Ice White Divine Art and focus on eliminating the extreme yang fire qi of the Nine Yang Severed Meridians.'

Everything else could wait until then.

"Then let's get started right away."

Namgung Geom wasted no time and began cultivating the Ice White Divine Art immediately.

The first step was refining the inner arts in his qi center into ice white qi.

The inner arts in his qi center were imperfect energy that had been hastily processed.

Refining that energy into complete ice white qi was the first task.

For Namgung Geom, who possessed the mastery and enlightenment of his previous life, it was not a difficult feat at all.

He refined the hastily processed energy according to the core verses of the Ice White Divine Art.

How much time had passed?

A cold, solid energy of ice settled firmly within his qi center.

The ice white qi of the Ice White Divine Art.

That alone seemed to dispel the oppressive heat of the extreme yang fire qi that had been tormenting him.

'The First Stage is complete.'

The First Stage of the Ice White Divine Art was the process of opening the qi center, gathering energy, and refining it into ice white qi.

In his previous life, Namgung Geom had taken three months to achieve the First Stage.

Yet this time, he had completed it in less than a single two-hour period.

A remarkable rate of progress.

But Namgung Geom was not satisfied with that and immediately moved on to the Second Stage.

The Second Stage of the Ice White Divine Art involved using the ice white qi to open the major pressure points and complete the Minor Heavenly Cycle.

The ice white qi in his qi center synchronized with Namgung Geom's consciousness, honing itself sharp as a sword.

The ice white qi, now transformed into an ice blade, moved toward Namgung Geom's pressure points.

CRACK—!

A tightly sealed pressure point was torn open like a sheet of paper.

Opening blocked pressure points was no easy task.

But Namgung Geom's ice white qi, honed by transcendent-level enlightenment, was akin to a divine sword.

Under the ice white qi's assault, the firmly shut pressure points gave way one after another.

At last, the pressure points of the Conception Vessel and Governing Vessel were opened, and a cycle of circulation was formed.

The Minor Heavenly Cycle.

Namgung Geom circulated the ice white qi.

The energy from elixirs that had accumulated in the pressure points merged with the ice white qi and flowed into the qi center.

With that, the Second Stage of the Ice White Divine Art was complete.

In his previous life, it had taken a full year to achieve the Second Stage.

Yet now, he had done it in just a few hours.

Even Namgung Geom found it absurd.

The achievement was far too rapid to be attributed solely to the mastery and enlightenment of his previous life.

"Come to think of it, this body seems to accept ice arts far too readily."

When opening the major pressure points, and when the ice white qi settled into the qi center, there had been virtually no resistance.

If anything, it felt as though the body was welcoming and responding to the ice white qi.

As his thoughts arrived there, a particular constitution came to mind.

Heavenly Ice Body.

A body in which the qi center and blood meridians were specialized for ice arts, said to accelerate the rate of ice arts mastery by several times.

"A Heavenly Ice Body...... I never would have imagined."

Others might not appreciate it, but for Namgung Geom, the Heavenly Ice Body was the greatest fortune imaginable.

With the Heavenly Ice Body, he could recover the mastery of his previous life far faster than expected.

Not only that—surpassing his previous life's mastery was not out of the question either.

Above all, with the Heavenly Ice Body's power, he could eliminate the extreme yang fire qi of the Nine Yang Severed Meridians far more easily.

Namgung Geom decided to press on and complete the Third Stage of the Ice White Divine Art.

The Third Stage was the Major Heavenly Cycle.

The ice white qi moved toward the energy channels of the Major Heavenly Cycle.

WHOOSH—!

At that moment, the extreme yang fire qi of the Nine Yang Severed Meridians suddenly awakened and spewed forth a blaze.

The ice white qi, an opposing energy, had agitated the extreme yang fire qi.

Searing heat spread through his entire body, and pain came crashing in.

"Ngh."

Namgung Geom swallowed a groan of pain and drew up the ice white qi.

Last time, he had done no more than push the extreme yang fire qi back.

"This time, I'll finish it for good."