Regression is a phenomenon that has existed since the distant past, and though rare, regressors have always been among us.
The facts I learned through Gakjeong were quite shocking, but they did not linger for long.
After all, wasn't it something I had already anticipated since I first noticed the existence of the seal, that regression was not a mere coincidence?
Ever since I heard at the Zhongnan Sect that, even if it wasn't regression, there were arts in the past that are unimaginable today.
Regression might be a legacy left behind by that distant era—when the arts still held their thread of life, and immortals occasionally revealed themselves on earth.
Perhaps it is one of the many miracles of the Buddha recorded in the scriptures.
The reason such a thing remains unknown must be because of the seal I am experiencing firsthand.
What weighs on my mind is not the principle behind regression, nor who among the past might have been a regressor.
It is the passage Gakjeong found in the Tianzhu scriptures—the one about receiving help from someone who moves toward yesterday rather than tomorrow.
Is that not a command for those who are not regressors to recognize a regressor and receive their aid?
It must mean there is a way to see through the seal, either for one who has escaped it or regardless of it.
If so… could I one day unburden the story I carry to others?
I know the person I was before the regression is different from who I am now. Even knowing that, I want to confess everything.
…Because holding it all alone, living in the gap between before and after the regression, has been a heavy burden.
After we finished discussing regression, our conversation turned mostly to Gakjeong and martial arts.
Just as the saying goes—all martial arts under heaven originate from Shaolin—the martial arts of the Shaolin Temple were vast and profound.
Gakjeong was a man who had a thorough understanding of all of Shaolin's martial arts.
I couldn't spar with him directly, but even just a little advice and Sword Discourse made me feel my horizons broadening.
Before I knew it, I got caught up in the excitement and ended up exchanging questions and answers until the sun had fully set.
After parting ways with Gakjeong—who had claimed the night roads were too dark to see, yet descended the mountain path with ease—I was on my way back to my room.
The weather was beginning to turn chilly. With my mind still clouded by tangled thoughts, a sigh slipped out before I could stop it.
"Hoo."
I stared blankly up at the sky.
Before I knew it, the sun had set, and the sky, dyed in darkness, seemed even darker because of the faint light of the crescent moon.
Perhaps that was why the stars scattered across the entire night sky shone all the brighter.
…Maybe I was a little tired, after all.
Since my regression, I had truly lived diligently, and I had actually accomplished many things.
But I couldn't be satisfied and stop here. I didn't want to, and I couldn't.
I grabbed hold of my weakening resolve once more and, with my usual stride, returned to the building I had been given.
"Hm?"
Seol Ri-hyang, who had neatly taken off her shoes, was sitting on the wooden floor, blankly staring at the sky.
A humming tune. Toes swaying lazily.
Was it because of her skin, white as snow? Even in the night when the moonlight itself was faint, Seol Ri-hyang's presence stood out clearly to my eyes.
Was it because I had been thinking about regression until just now? Or was it because the grown Seol Ri-hyang was beginning to resemble the image in my memories?
Without realizing it, I stopped for a moment and found myself gazing at her.
As if there were a transparent wall between her and me that I could not cross.
I had been staring blankly like that for only a moment. Seol Ri-hyang, who had spotted me, opened her eyes wide.
"Cheon Hwi!"
Seol Ri-hyang sprang to her feet with a delighted voice. She tried to run over as she was, but stopped short upon seeing her own bare feet.
Then, instead of putting on her shoes, she began eagerly patting the spot beside her.
"Here! Come sit down, quick!"
"What's the big hurry that you're rushing me like this?"
As I let out a dry laugh and headed toward the veranda, Seol Ri-hyang grinned and brushed off the spot where I was to sit.
I gave her a brief nod of thanks and took my seat, and she twisted her body fully toward me, sending a gaze so blatant it was almost overwhelming.
Perhaps it was the sparkle I sensed in those black pupils. Somehow, it struck me that it resembled the night sky I had been gazing up at just moments ago.
At the same time, the image of her from before the regression, which I had unconsciously been recalling, vanished without a trace.
The Seol Ri-hyang of my previous life had never been this bright. She had never shown such honest reactions.
"So? What's so urgent that you called me over with such excitement, abandoning the stargazing you were just doing?"
"Stargazing? I wasn't doing anything like that."
"Hm?"
"I don't have time for such leisurely things."
"Then what were you doing?"
"Obviously, I was waiting for you, Cheon Hwi."
Seol Ri-hyang giggled as she said that, then leaned toward me, bracing herself with her hand.
The distance suddenly closed. Her black hair cascaded down slowly, carrying a clear, refreshing fragrance.
No, strictly speaking, it was because the coolness of the Yin Energy unique to her Pure Yin Constitution was added to Seol Ri-hyang's natural body fragrance, making it feel that way.
Seol Ri-hyang had been taking a fairly proactive attitude ever since she received Tang So-wol's tacit approval, but this time, the feeling was a little different.
It was because she had closed the distance purely out of innocent excitement, without any particular intention.
As always, an unexpected strike is all the more fatal.
As I blankly stared at Seol Ri-hyang, who was now within arm's reach, she tilted her head.
"Cheon Hwi? What's wrong all of a sudden? Is there something on my face…"
"…It's nothing. I was just thinking for a moment about what had you so excited."
"Ah! Right! That reminds me… Hehe."
Seol Ri-hyang stepped back with a grin, and before I even had a chance to feel disappointed, she continued with a smug look on her face.
"I won my sparring bout."
"Oh?"
"My opponent was a monk who'd just reached Peak Realm, about the same as me. He was really sturdy, you know? Even when I tried to push Yin Energy directly into him with my whip, it just bounced right off."
"The martial arts of the Shaolin Temple are built on profound internal energy and well-trained External Arts, so they're not a great match for you, Seol Ri-hyang."
"Yeah. That's exactly how it was."
"But you said you won, didn't you? How did you seize the advantage?"
"Remember when we fought the Blood Flame Fist Demon?"
Of course I remember. When the Blood Flame Fist Demon's Blazing Yang Art had prevented me from using my full strength, I had forced myself to pour out Yin Energy to neutralize the heat.
If the Blood Flame Fist Demon hadn't been there, that power would have been enough to freeze the entire surrounding area solid.
The fact that I had projected my internal energy not around myself, but into a space far away.
And the experience of having to wield internal energy at a level far beyond Seol Ri-hyang's ability would become the seed of enlightenment leading toward the Peak Realm.
But although a momentary enlightenment and the explosive growth it brought could raise one's level.
It takes time to become accustomed to it and to wield it freely.
That is why martial artists who have just broken through a wall quietly meditate or train alone, reflecting on themselves…
"Surely not?"
"You just thought right, Cheon Hwi, didn't you? There was a bit of a trick involved, but I managed to handle a similar amount of internal energy. I pushed through with raw force, but… anyway, a win is a win!"
"Skill isn't just about technique—it also includes capability. What you did was impressive enough, so have some confidence in yourself."
Still, if he could now wield that level of output at will, it truly was a remarkable feat.
After all, it was enough power to hold his own against the Blood Flame Fist Demon, a Transcendent Peak martial artist.
As for the purity and quantity of Yin Energy—he was born with the Pure Yin Constitution, so it was possible in theory, but the skill to control it would have been impossible without Seol Ri-hyang's efforts.
"But what do you mean by a trick? There's no opponent less susceptible to tricks than a martial artist of the Shaolin Temple."
"It's nothing much… Remember that new Yin Art you asked Clan Head Paeng and Clan Head Eon to obtain for you last time?"
"Ah, right, that existed too."
Yin Arts are martial arts that channel internal energy into the voice, using it to unleash all manner of techniques.
The basics require one to wield sound freely, and since it shares properties similar to the Force Qi Skill, one must also possess deep mastery over the release and control of internal energy.
However, because sound is wielded like a weapon, it is not easy to block or evade, and it can inflict internal injuries or scatter the opponent's senses.
It offers the advantage of enabling unorthodox combat, but…
Regardless, the fact that it is difficult to master remains unchanged. That is why secret manuals for Yin Arts are so rare.
"No matter how talented you are, Seol Ri-hyang, I doubt you could have mastered that martial art in such a short time."
"You're right. I didn't master all of it—just a single Technique. There's a move called One-Mind Sound Gathering that focuses sound into a single point."
"The concentration of power is important everywhere."
The most fundamental yet most important part of swinging a sword is the proper method of doing so.
In other words, it's the way to fully transmit one's power into the blade.
The Three Talents Sword Technique isn't a sword meant for cutting down opponents—it's a sword meant for training the body to understand this distribution of power.
"But wouldn't it have been difficult to concentrate that much Yin Energy into a single point?"
"Yeah. That's why I created multiple points of concentration."
"???"
"In other words, to put it simply, it's like a sound that can be heard from here and also from over there… Ah, should I just show you?"
Seol Ri-hyang said this, cleared her throat, and then let out a small sound with the minimum amount of internal energy.
"Ah——."
"Heh."
It was clearly Seol Ri-hyang who had opened her mouth right in front of me, yet the sound came from the crown of my head and my left ear.
"…No matter how I think about it, this seems like a more difficult art than what you described at first."
"That's how it is when you use it properly. I just pushed through with my internal energy. If you actually listen closely, you'll notice the volume differs at each point, right? That wasn't intentional—it just ended up that way."
I see. So one can imitate it, but fine control becomes impossible.
"In that case, isn't it lacking in real combat application?"
It's the same principle as swinging a sword with all sorts of flashy flourishes—if you can't swing it straight at your opponent, you'll never land a hit.
However, Seol Ri-hyang solved this with a simple method.
"Yeah, that's why I swung the whip too."
"The whip?"
"When you swing a whip, it makes a sound, right? The sounds mix together, and since my concentration was broken, the sound that had been gathered in one place scattered in all directions. …Like an explosion."
"Ah."
Only then did I understand how Seol Ri-hyang had won the sparring bout.
Strictly speaking, it wasn't like the Blood Flame Fist Demon's case, where she fully controlled a massive amount of internal energy.
Instead, she concentrated her internal energy at several points along with sound, then used the whip's air-splitting sound as a signal to detonate them all at once.
It's impossible to concentrate sound at an exact desired point, but since the internal energy was already gathered together and simply explodes, it doesn't matter as long as it's roughly in the vicinity.
It can't press the opponent's entire front with Yin Energy the way a full simultaneous release would, but the power of the internal energy when it detonates must have been considerably stronger.
In the end, Yin Energy of a similar power to what she'd used against the Blood Flame Fist Demon burst out from a point that even Seol Ri-hyang herself hadn't predicted.
No matter how skilled a Shaolin monk might be, to block that, he'd have to concentrate his internal energy and defend a single point, but…
Unlike ordinary weapons, whose trajectories are limited by the shape of the body, Seol Ri-hyang's Yin Art had no such restrictions, so he simply couldn't respond properly.
It was a bit different, but in any case, in the sense of filling the entire space with her own cold energy, she'd made good use of the enlightenment from the previous battle.
"Where in that is a cheap trick? It's just a little unpolished—it's a proper application. If you refine it a bit more, it'll definitely become a fine Technique."
"Right? I did pretty well this time, didn't I!"
Seol Ri-hyang, apparently satisfied with herself, lifted her chin slightly and puffed out her shoulders.
That look oddly resembled Seomun Hwa-rin. They'd been sticking together lately—had she picked up the habit?
As I let out a small chuckle, Seol Ri-hyang pressed herself against me again, much closer than before.
One hand settled on my thigh. The other gripped my shoulder as she leaned in close enough for her breath to touch me, speaking with those ever-sparkling eyes.
"Hey. You said that if I win, Cheon Hwi has to give me something as a prize, right?"
"Th… that's right."
"Which means, in other words, that Cheon Hwi will do whatever I say, doesn't it?"
"???"
I blinked, wondering what she meant by that, but only for a moment. Seol Ri-hyang's dark eyes were still full of expectation, yet they no longer held the pure excitement I had seen at first.
Was it because of the overflowing Yin Energy? A faint Seductive Aura seeped from Seol Ri-hyang as the corners of her lips curled upward.
"What should I have you do, I wonder? Hm? Cheon Hwi, what would you like me to order you to do?"
"…"
It was the gaze of a beast certain it had completely ensnared its prey.
I knew that look. It was the exact expression Seol Ri-hyang wore every time she bought a single pill and handed it to me before the regression.
But the situation now was different from back then.
I swallowed hard, then calmly opened my mouth.
"You can't do this within the grounds of Shaolin Temple…!"
Ah, I bit my tongue.