Chapter 3: The Birth of the Danjeon

‘I know what this is.’

Verdant Purification!

As my internal energy circulated, the toxins and waste in my body were being expelled.

“Huuuugh.”

The energy began to move, dancing in rhythm with the Qi Channels and Eight Extraordinary Meridians’ breathing pattern.

“1000.”

The moment I inhaled, the energy flowed into my body, seeking its place.

‘To the Danjeon…’

At last, the energy settled in the Danjeon.

“Ha…”

Though it’s a basic meditation method, So Cheon Seonggong, taught even in the Jegal Clan, handles energy with stable finesse.

The energy entering my body moved neither too fast nor too slow, steadily advancing toward the Danjeon.

Thunk.

A tiny speck of energy, invisible even to the smallest eye, settled exactly where the Danjeon should be!

“This is a seed!”

The seed that will grow into a fully formed Danjeon!

Thanks to the meditation method, a Danjeon was created from nothingness.

“…!”

So small.

But this was energy Jegal Hyeon and Kim Seong-geon couldn’t even sense.

Born with Jeongmak, Jegal Hyeon had never been able to anchor energy no matter what.

The yearning at that moment—the exhilaration of energy finally settling!

“Ah…”

A moan of pleasure slipped out before I realized it.

‘Calm down. Stay calm.’

The ecstasy was enough to break my concentration.

But moments like these required even more focus.

‘I can’t let this slip away.’

Enjoyment would come only after finishing the meditation.

The progress was faster than expected.

The fruit called the Danjeon was now visible before me, and I could not let excitement break my focus.

“Hoo…”

‘How many hours had I spent in meditation?’

When the meditation finally ended—

‘…It has appeared.’

The Danjeon I had dreamed of since my previous life was now formed within me.

‘I’m crazy.’

Normally, it takes months to form a Danjeon.

Mugong requires starting from a young age for the best results.

But as a child, it inevitably takes time to fully immerse in meditation.

There’s only one way to shorten this process.

‘Genius. Or an inherently superior body.’

The smarter you are, the less time it takes.

A gifted body learns quickly even if it starts late.

That’s why the martial world searches endlessly for talent.

Even so, when such children learn Mugong, the Danjeon still doesn’t form easily.

‘It’s never easy.’

You have to understand part of the Gyugyeol.

Only after months of hardship and achieving the first Small Zhou Tian can you use that foundation to build the Danjeon.

So naturally, it takes a long time.

Only the greatest prodigies in the martial world can do it in a single day!

But this hard task—

“To pull it off…”

I never thought it would be so easy.

Although my knowledge of Mugong in my past life was extensive, this was the first time I’d actually accumulated internal energy.

Jegal Hyeon never succeeded.

Even as a genius, trapped by his Jeongmak with blocked blood vessels, it was impossible from the start.

Yet here I was, achieving it so easily.

He never reached this in his entire life.

Knowing it was foolish, I still asked myself.

“Are you satisfied?”

Yes. Very satisfied.

Though not spoken aloud, his satisfaction seemed to echo in my mind.

I had resolved one of the regrets from my past life.

Even if only a part!

***

After creating the Danjeon and fully beginning my internal energy meditation, only one week had passed.

Yet in that time, my internal energy accumulated at an unbelievable pace.

By reducing sleep and intensively training, I gained the equivalent of a month’s worth of power in just one week.

My lower abdomen felt warm, and my body was full of vitality.

Thanks to that, my complexion improved, and I ate more than usual.

My family began to look at me with curious eyes.

“Did Count Geiren leave some good medicine behind? Your complexion’s been great lately.”

My sister commented mid-meal.

“My master has been out gathering research materials for a month now. No medicine involved. I’m just in good condition these days.”

I wanted to hide my improved health, so I gave a vague excuse.

If I said I remembered my past life or that I knew Mugong, it would only cause confusion at home.

First, I’d become an adult, then slowly share my knowledge with the family.

Later, I’d claim I wanted to travel and disappear for about a month.

Then return, lying about having discovered a dragon’s relic or something.

Sounds flimsy? Surprisingly, this kind of lie works well.

Especially if you have special abilities like mine.

Then I’d begin teaching the family, one by one.

Of course, I had no intention of becoming the head of the House of Ophern.

“By the way, where are Father and Mother?”

Right now, only my sister and I were in the dining hall.

“Forgot? They went on a territory patrol with you.”

“Oh, right.”

Territory patrol was one of our family traditions.

My sister had done it too.

It was a tradition started by an ancestor who believed that if we stayed locked inside the castle, we wouldn’t understand how the territory was managed, causing problems in governance.

I thought it was a good tradition.

Better than not doing it at all.

“Are you going to study more after eating?”

“My master gave me a lot of homework.”

It was true.

My master had given me plenty of assignments.

I had finished them all.

As I trained, I realized something.

Since awakening my past life, I seemed to have inherited Jegal Hyeon’s extraordinary intellect.

Where once I had to mutter ten times to memorize something, now I just needed one glance and a single mutter.

Thanks to this, I memorized all the runes essential for Ma Beop Sa.

Before awakening, I still hadn’t learned them all.

Wow, what a relief. Past life awakening is amazing.

“Do some exercise too. Even if you’re weak, you’ll get sick otherwise.”

“I’ll do it later. Later. The homework is overwhelming right now.”

That’s how I chatted over a meal, just the two of us.

After parting ways with my sister, I returned to the training hall.

I’d recently devised a method to train internal energy faster, and I wanted to test it.

Wuuuung.

Instead, I started manipulating my hands in the seat next to me.

If left alone, the energy would remain at its usual state.

But using rules to arrange it, I could use small amounts of energy from objects and the surroundings to create effects akin to magic.

For example—

Fwahhh!

Like Giwhan Hwaeomjin spitting flames right before me!

It burned like a campfire, but it only looked like fire.

No actual flames or heat were felt.

“Jinbeop success. As expected… it works here too. Maybe the rules are similar. Either way, good. Shall I draw the next Jinbeop?”

Once the Jinbeop succeeds, things speed up.

Jegal Hyeon researched Jinbeop extensively to fix his Jeongmak.

Among those Jinbeop were some that assisted internal energy training.

Singijin.

This was exactly that.

“Complete.”

Singijin absorbed the surrounding energy, gathering it in the center.

I could see a flickering mass of energy.

“Ah… this world has so much energy, that’s why it works like this.”

Such a phenomenon is only seen at the highest quality dragon veins.

The energy entered without hesitation, and I used So Cheon Seonggong.

Fwah!

Energy surged through me.

I immediately felt the Qi Channels and Eight Extraordinary Meridians’ Imdok Yang Meridian circulating energy.

Time flew by as I immersed myself in training.

The House of Ophern had no high expectations for the Count’s second son.

In polite terms, I was the spare tire to be used if the heir died.

That was the usual treatment for second sons.

‘Compared to that, I’m lucky.’

Fortunately, the Ophern family members had genuine affection for each other.

Not just continuing the family line, but treating each other as people.

Compared to families that decided the strongest son would become Yeongju and produced dozens of children for that, the Ophern family was much better.

Thanks to that humanity, though born in a knightly family, I could learn magic according to my talents.

The funny thing was that I was putting magic aside for now, spending time instead on Mugong training.

“It’s already been three months.”

Ah.

With no expectations, no obligations, and my master still not returned.

According to a letter, he got caught up in some incident.

But he was healthy.

That was good news for me.

As a high-ranking Ma Beop Sa, he would surely notice the Danjeon’s internal energy if he scanned my body.

So before he returned, I had to master methods to hide internal energy.

All of it.

“I’m busy, busy. But it’s worth the effort.”

Feeling the internal energy swirling through my body, I was so full it felt like I didn’t need to eat.

“I’ve already accumulated about three years’ worth of internal energy.”

Three years of energy in three months!

That speed could only be possible if I trained ten days’ worth of energy each day.

So Cheon Seonggong was considered a second-tier Mugong in the martial world.

It was designed for maximum stability, so energy accumulation was slow.

Still, it was second-tier!

Second-tier Mugong created one day’s worth of internal energy per session.

First-tier was double that, two days’ worth.

The pinnacle was double that again, and the absolute pinnacle even more.

When reaching the final stage—Hyeonwon Dan Shingong—the practitioner obtained absolute pinnacle Mugong.

Then the energy accumulation would be beyond that speed, but even now, I couldn’t guarantee this pace.

“It’s thanks to Singijin and Ma Na Seokeul. I didn’t expect such synergy.”

This world was full of magic power.

Singijin boosted my speed by at least tenfold.

Adding magic on top of that made one day’s training feel like ten.

Layer upon layer, I achieved first-tier Mugong training effects at an absolute pinnacle level!

Although they say the Danjeon’s growth slows after surpassing the first cycle, the speed was still shocking.

“This state… I think it’s time to move on.”

Having lots of internal energy wasn’t everything.

***

After three months, I had achieved my initial goal.

I had accumulated a considerable amount of internal energy, but bodily balance was important.

From here, I had to train external techniques alongside internal energy.

I also had to learn assassination Mugong and magic training.

I wonder if I’ll have enough time.

“You mean if I don’t train magic, my master will scold me.”