Meridians are the pathways of qi that cover the entire body like a net.
They have no physical form, so even if you cut open a person's belly, you won't find them. But the evidence of their existence is so clear that no martial artist doubts their reality.
Through the meridians, martial artists circulate their internal energy, and in some cases, can stimulate them to induce various changes in the body.
This includes pressing acupoints to stop one's own bleeding, or to temporarily forget pain.
One can also press an opponent's vital points to paralyze their body, or press other points to knock them out entirely.
Some useful acupoint sealing techniques are considered common knowledge that any martial artist should know, even if they haven't formally studied the meridians.
Of course, Seol Ri-hyang had also learned the basics of this concept from the Deputy Commander of the Dark Soul Unit. She hadn't yet memorized the locations and names of all the acupoints, but she knew their power.
…I thought I knew.
Cheon Hwi's fingers lightly pressed the acupoint on my shoulder. I didn't know its name. Only a faint memory lingered that something was there in that area.
However, it wasn't my head but my body that responded faithfully.
Press.
The fingers pressed deep without wavering. It didn't hurt, but the pressure was felt—a delicate control of force.
Up to this point, it was fine. I flinched reflexively, but it even felt a little refreshing.
But then, the moment a wisp of internal energy flowed in through Cheon Hwi's fingers.
"Hieek?!"
Seol Ri-hyang's back arched like a drawn bow.
A flood of questions surged through her mind at the body's involuntary reaction.
'What—what was that?!'
She understood the process. The moment Cheon Hwi's internal energy entered, it transformed into searing heat in her shoulder, accompanied by a faint sense of foreignness.
The acupoint, stimulated by Cheon Hwi's internal energy, devoured the given power and instantly burst forth with vitality.
The fact that she grasped all of this in a single moment was itself proof that Seol Ri-hyang's talent was anything but ordinary—but right now, that meant nothing to her.
The problem was that the vitality erupting from the acupoint was so immense it felt like heat. And the moment this overwhelming vitality seeped into a body that had been systematically overworked in the name of training.
The reaction her body showed was beyond her understanding.
Like dry earth drinking in water, her muscles regained their energy in an instant, contracting once before relaxing to just the right degree.
In that process, Seol Ri-hyang twitched involuntarily. Feeling a belated wave of comfort and a faint sense of satisfaction, she cried out in alarm.
"Wait! Hold on, hold on a moment!"
"Didn't I tell you not to move? Meridian cleansing consumes more internal energy and requires more delicate work than it looks. This is all for your own good, so I'd appreciate a little cooperation."
"I'm saying it feels too good, that's the problem?! L-let's just stop here. Something's wrong about this!"
A desperate cry. But Seol Ri-hyang, who couldn't fully grasp what was happening to her, squeezed out her limited vocabulary—and her words didn't reach Cheon Hwi.
"Enough. Lie back down. We've only just begun."
"Huh? Wh-what…?"
Cheon Hwi pushed her back with a gentle but firm hand, and Seol Ri-hyang, unable to resist, obediently lay flat.
Before she could even realize why she hadn't put up any resistance, Cheon Hwi's relentless meridian cleansing began.
Press. Press. Press.
"Hnng! Hic! Ah-hnng?!"
Cheon Hwi's fingers moved without hesitation, striking Seol Ri-hyang's acupoints.
The weight of Cheon Hwi, who sat lightly astride her, felt as heavy as a mountain, and heat bloomed simultaneously from every part of her body.
The internal energy of the Crazy Wolf Life-Stealing Art, as if proving its rough nature, displayed a vivid presence… but even so, it couldn't escape Cheon Hwi's perfect control.
In the end, all Seol Ri-hyang could feel was the sensation of a foreign energy rampaging through her body as it pleased.
This was, with only a slight exaggeration, no different from merciless ravishment.
The problem was that it didn't feel unpleasant—on the contrary, it felt rather good.
"Kyaa?!"
Only a scream that wasn't quite a scream escaped her lips, and her body kept improving, but the reason that had to endure it was slowly melting away—Seol Ri-hyang.
She barely managed to hold onto her scattered wits and glared with wide eyes.
'Why is he so good at this?!'
Having experienced meridian cleansing once, Seol Ri-hyang realized something. Setting aside the perspective of the one receiving it, the one performing it needed considerable concentration, internal energy, and extensive knowledge of the human body—just as Cheon Hwi had said.
Seol Ri-hyang couldn't even begin to fathom what level of skill it would take to make her body respond so honestly to every single touch of Cheon Hwi's fingers.
However, this was entirely Seol Ri-hyang's misconception.
Cheon Hwi, despite his outward appearance, possessed a level of enlightenment that reached the Transcendent Peak, and thanks to having built his martial arts from the ground up, he had an exceptional understanding of both martial arts and the human body…
But if he were to perform meridian cleansing on someone else, the results wouldn't be nearly as effective.
That was because Cheon Hwi's meridian cleansing skill was tailored exclusively to Seol Ri-hyang.
In fact, across both before and after his regression, Seol Ri-hyang was the only person who had ever requested meridian cleansing from Cheon Hwi.
How much internal energy to infuse for the perfect result, which acupoints to press first to satisfy her, where she usually felt the most discomfort—he had learned all of it.
Half willingly, half unwillingly, Cheon Hwi had no choice but to study Seol Ri-hyang's body.
And although it was a matter from before his regression, the two of them had once been so close that they had practically shared skin.
That's right. Cheon Hwi was a monster created by none other than her…!
Of course, the Seol Ri-hyang of now, who knew nothing of the karma he had accumulated before his regression, was barely holding onto her sanity.
'This is dangerous…'
Heat rose through her body while her muscles ran wild on their own, then drooped and relaxed into comfort. The bones twisted by her hunched posture found their places again, and her nerves flashed with satisfaction at a body being healed and corrected on its own.
In truth, Seol Ri-hyang knew this sensation.
The Deputy Commander of the Dark Soul Unit had genuinely cared for Seol Ri-hyang, who had entered the Tang Clan under circumstances similar to her own, and had taught her like a disciple.
Knowing that she had put the skinny child who knew nothing of martial arts through grueling training, she would sometimes personally massage her limbs and work out the knots in her muscles. Truly, she could be called a genuine master.
But now. In Seol Ri-hyang's mind, the sensation of the Deputy Commander of the Dark Soul Unit loosening her tired muscles was gradually fading.
What took its place was something far more efficient, far more intense, and far more dangerous.
'I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm sorry!'
Seol Ri-hyang repeated her apology to the Deputy Commander of the Dark Soul Unit over and over in her mind. Yet she could not help the way her memories were being overwritten.
In that moment, Seol Ri-hyang had a sudden intuition. From now on, whenever her body ached and she felt tired, she would instinctively recall this very moment.
"Kyaaah…"
In the end, Seol Ri-hyang gave up resisting. With a deflated sound, she melted like a cat stuffed into a box.
.
.
.
.
.
The meridian cleansing had gone on for a long while, but no matter what happened, an end always came eventually.
Finally freed from Cheon Hwi, Seol Ri-hyang lay sprawled on the floor, her body limp as jelly.
With her face flushed red, she could barely catch her breath, looking as exhausted as if she had just sprinted at full speed—yet in truth, her body felt more refreshed than if she had slept soundly.
Seol Ri-hyang once again realized how precious a single breeze was, cooling her heated body as vitality surged through her.
Then, a voice like a thunderclap rang out at her ears.
"For the next three years, I'll do meridian cleansing for you whenever possible, so you, Seol Ri-hyang, focus solely on your training."
"…What? Every day?"
"It's not set in stone. I have my own circumstances and my schedule might not always align. So it's only whenever possible."
"T-That's too much, isn't it? You must be busy too, Cheon Hwi, and it'll be tiring for you."
"Your basic foundation seems to be more or less established now, and I've also acquired a decent Mental Cultivation Method this time, so we'll soon begin learning martial arts in earnest. It'll be far more grueling than what you've experienced so far. I'm the one who brought you to the Tang Clan, so won't you let me help at least this much?"
"…"
From Cheon Hwi's perspective, he had given Tang So-wol the purple poison-nurturing herb, but he hadn't been able to give anything to Seol Ri-hyang, and this was his way of expressing his guilt.
But for Seol Ri-hyang, this was not a matter she could easily nod her head to.
"Do you do this kind of thing every day? …Can you even endure it?"
Just imagining it for a moment made her face fall. Seol Ri-hyang, who had been agonizing over how to answer while trying to ignore the anticipation blooming in one corner of her chest—
Suddenly, a person flashed through her mind, and she cried out in a startled voice.
"Elder sister Dang…!"
She was the very image of the young lady Seol Ri-hyang had always pictured in her head, and a good person who had always treated her kindly because she was the daughter of her betrothed's benefactor.
For Seol Ri-hyang, who had rarely experienced goodwill in her life, Tang So-wol was precious to her in a different way than Cheon Hwi was.
It was only natural, then, that she would not want to be hated by Tang So-wol.
"Wh-what do you think you're doing, trying to sneak into a woman's room when you're a man who already has someone! Go get elder sister Dang's permission first! Then it'll be fine!"
"I suppose that sounded a bit strange… but fine, I understand."
Cheon Hwi nodded indifferently. His nonchalant attitude was so irritating that Seol Ri-hyang unconsciously clenched her fist.
Her hand slowly relaxed, and she let out a sigh of relief.
"Hoo."
At the same time, a sharp sensation like a needle pricking deep within her heart brought tears to her eyes, but… Seol Ri-hyang still did not know the name of that emotion.
She merely thought that her tension had eased and her heart had loosened without her realizing it.
'Right. This is how it should be.'
Seol Ri-hyang tried to comfort herself. Tang So-wol surely knew well how dangerous (?) the meridian cleansing was.
If it had been her, she would never have allowed it, so Cheon Hwi's tyranny—if it could even be called tyranny—would end here.
…Seol Ri-hyang was still under a misconception. Her case was unusual; meridian cleansing did not normally come with such intense exhilaration.
The next morning. At the sight of Tang So-wol granting permission so casually, Seol Ri-hyang trembled all over.
"Hueueue…"
Whether that was anticipation or fear, only she herself would know.
***
Tang So-wol, having received the Manryu Gwiwon Divine Art from Tang Jincheon, entered a half-secluded training.
Seol Ri-hyang, in earnest, began learning the Glacier True Energy, starting to control the Yin Energy of her Pure Yin Constitution with her own will.
I focused on naturally weaving the Flow martial arts I had seen and experienced at the Zhongnan Sect into my sword work, and the essence of the Gwiyeongbo footwork I had learned from Gwiyeong Sin-tu into my footwork.
And so, three years passed.
Tang So-wol, thanks to the Tang Clan's generous support and the excellent tutelage of Tang Jincheon, finally set foot on the threshold of the Peak Realm.
Seol Ri-hyang, showing a rate of progress that surpassed everyone's imagination, rose to the mid-stage of the first-rate.
And I…
"You've grown taller."
I had grown taller than Tang So-wol.
By a full two finger-widths, no less!
"Is that really such an important matter to you, young hero Cheon…?"
"Obviously."
Tang So-wol, who always had to look up at me slightly, who loved to dote on me while boasting about being my senior by age—I could finally escape that humiliation.
Compared to that, the fact that I was beginning to glimpse the wall of the Transcendent Peak was nothing but a trivial achievement.