Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Strange Forces and Turbulent Spirits (2)

I always regret this personality where the body moves first, but right now there is no regret.

『Aaaagh!』

『It hurts! It hurts!』

『Why does it hurt!?』

If not for that, I wouldn’t have been able to beat this thing so satisfyingly.

Unlike its semi-transparent form, every time I struck with my fist the hand feel was good, and the reaction of writhing in pain and screaming was also good, so I could not stop hitting.

『How can you touch us!?』

『We are ghosts!?』

『What the hell are you!?』

I beat and beat the thing that charged while waving its hands.

Occasionally it spat out insect-like energy, but just throwing a punch scattered it, and even if it luckily touched me it merely vanished against internal energy, doing no harm.

“Lee Shin.”

『I’m not asking for a name!』

Perhaps if I use internal energy I can hit ghosts too?

Since I burned the spell with internal energy, this thing’s weakness must be internal energy?

“A martial artist aspirant.”

『How can a mere martial artist hit us!』

“With internal energy.”

『Nonsense! Internal energy is nothing but a half-penny power like children’s play! There has never been such nonsense!』

So I am just special.

It’s not one or two special things—now I just accept it.

『Impudent brat! There is a limit to looking down on us!』

While I was thinking for a moment, another mouth suddenly flared up in anger.

Black energy rose from houses all over the village and flowed into the thing.

‘The same energy that entered my head earlier!’

Is it retrieving the spells cast on the villagers?

I don’t know what it’s trying to do, but I have no intention of just watching.

I already heard the approximate location of the children, and the things I’m curious about are not absolutely necessary, so I struck the thing’s head with full power.

『You will regret your arrogance!』

However, the thing’s body blurred like a mirage and in an instant fled far away.

I chased after it with full power, but it showed no sign of getting closer.

‘Ah! If I had learned movement techniques I could have caught up!’

At least if I had been given even a little time to train!

After running and running for a long while, I entered the mountain the thing had gone into.

‘Until now it couldn’t avoid my attacks at all, but it dodged in one go. Retrieving the spells means retrieving its own power, and that means it gets that much stronger.’

Then the place the thing is heading now is its hideout.

It is trying to retrieve the spells placed on the kidnapped children as well to regain its main body’s true power.

‘But even though I didn’t hold back when hitting it, it didn’t die? Is there a separate method to kill it?’

What do ghosts dislike?

I have heard stories that lightning-struck peach tree branches or talismans written with chicken blood are effective.

‘Peach tree!’

On the way, I discovered a peach tree in the mountains.

I quickly broke off a thick branch and chased after the thing again while trimming the smaller twigs.

‘It’s not in a lightning-struck state, but just in case, let’s try using this like a sword!’

The ghost stopped in front of a cave.

When it gestured, black energy poured out from inside the cave like a river.

『You followed.』

『Foolish thing.』

『Your arrogance has gone too far.』

Without question and answer, I leapt and swung the branch with full power toward the crown of its head.

The hand of the thing that had already grown large firmly grabbed the branch.

『Do you think it is the same as before?』

『It is not arrogance but foolishness.』

『If you had not chased us, you could have lived until tomorrow.』

I was thrown along with the branch and lightly landed to check the thing.

Its bulk had grown about twice as large as before, and black energy coiling around its body like a belt was unusual.

“Would I just let the one who kidnapped these kids go?”

『That is why it is foolishness. Are you trying to gain the honor of having saved the children?』

『Did you hope the parents would reward you?』

『Were you afraid that the parents who regained their memories would resent you for being the only one not taken?』

“Look at that thinking—who would say you’re not a ghost.”

Even an attack close to a surprise strike did not work.

Can I really win?

『How should I punish you?』

『Simply burying and eating you would not match our humiliation.』

『I have a good idea. I will make you kill the children you brought with your own hands.』

The three mouths laughed as if something was so good.

『After that I will not kill you but let you live. I will command you to be unable to take your own life and live your whole life. You will be unable to flee through death and will live in suffering, regretting your arrogant past.』

The three different mouths laughed.

From the black belt, black energy poured out like a flood and covered me.

『It is a good opinion after a long time.』

『I cancel the matter of stitching you up.』

Without even giving a chance to dodge, the poured energy dug into me.

『Go and kill your friends.』

『With your own hands.』

My body tried to move on its own. The qi sense I reflexively expanded rode the flow and imprinted in my head the appearance of the children buried in the cave with only their heads sticking out.

『Create something you will regret for life.』

Suddenly desire welled up.

I want to strangle the children’s necks so they can never breathe again.

I want to smash their heads and turn those peacefully sleeping faces into a bloody mess.

『Now, go.』

Like a traveler wandering the desert who has found an oasis, intense thirst and blind instinct lead me and shout to realize the desire.

The energy was too strong; I circulated internal energy trying to erase the spell, but it kept pushing in endlessly like being outnumbered, so I could not resist.

‘Hm.’

But in this moment, it feels as if lightning is striking my mind.

‘This thing’s power also feels like a kind of energy...’

In the urgent situation, a single thought that suddenly rose cannot be shaken off.

‘The countless energies I felt while circulating qi today—none of them were the same.’

Desperately resisting, I unknowingly fell into that thought.

‘Why are they all different even though they are the same energy?’

I grasp the thought tickling my mind like a thread and do not refuse the desire to know more about energy in detail.

‘What exactly is qi in the first place?’

Because knowledge is power.

* * *

The boy’s figure buried in black and turbid energy is blurry and cannot be seen.

The ghost with three mouths laughed gleefully, but soon realized something was strange.

『Why are you not moving?』

Even if you moved, you should have moved long ago.

But the worry was brief; at the sight of the boy occasionally wriggling his body, it sighed in relief.

『You are putting up a futile resistance.』

『You will follow the command soon anyway.』

『I look forward to the expression you will make after everything is over.』

The ghost mocked, but the boy, Lee Shin, did not hear.

During the short 14 years of life since being born again and growing up, several moments filled his mind, leaving no room for other thoughts.

-If you break the character for qi, it divides into energy and rice. Rice is a meal, the power for a person to live, so qi is the source of life and further the source of the form that constitutes all things in the universe.

The moment I asked the schoolmaster about qi, not long after learning that this world was a martial arts world.

-If you want to become a martial artist later, be careful with qi circulation. While drawing all the internal energy of the dantian and circulating the meridians, if the heart force is even slightly disturbed the internal energy runs wild.

The story of the martial artist who seriously advised with the eyes of looking at a future junior.

-Yin-yang and the five elements are important! When yin energy and yang energy are harmonized, only then does qi flourish, and when fire energy, water energy, wood energy, metal energy, and earth energy achieve balance all diseases are cured, so this yin-yang five elements water is truly a panacea for all illnesses!

-You scammer old man! Get out at once!

Even up to the day when some peddler was spouting plausible words to sell medicine and was driven away by the schoolmaster.

I have heard countless stories about qi and now possess it, but I still do not know about qi.

-Energy? Like those qigong classes in front of the station? Aren’t those all scams?

-It’s a lie made up by shamans to sell medicine.

-It only appears in martial arts novels—where is qi in reality?

This is a world where qi is not an illusion but exists.

Analyzing unscientific power scientifically is foolish, but I do not doubt that it has at least minimal regularity.

And now, contacting the ghost’s energy, I have come to realize a little about energy.

‘Energy constitutes all things under heaven and earth. That is why it possesses countless properties.’

Lee Shin expanded his qi sense.

He feels the heavy energy melted into the earth.

He contacts the light and swift energy carried on the wind.

He shared the warm energy held by a field mouse trembling in the bushes.

He imprinted the cool and refreshing energy from water pooled between stones.

He rejected the ghost’s disgusting and violent energy.

He accepted energy like his own universe.

‘And energy responds to will.’

Because will resonated with the world’s energy, qi sense was expanded.

Because it resonated with the ghost’s disgusting thoughts, it was dyed with disgusting energy.

Because it assimilates with the will and existence of all things in the world, energy is as diverse as the number of all things.

‘Then if my will extends not to the interior but to a wider place, will internal energy also follow behind it?’

Before he knew it, the trembling in Lee Shin’s body stopped.

The energy extending from the dantian tightly bound the entire body and completely extinguished the ghost’s energy.

Insect-like energy swept in again like a storm, but like a great tree that does not fall even in fierce wind and rain, the boy’s will was firm.

-Uahaha! What? Sword Aura? Pfft! Manifesting internal energy externally! Your imagination is really something!

-I have heard rumors that a high monk of Shaolin destroyed a rock by launching energy with a fist from a hundred steps away, but it is all false rumor to raise the sect’s honor.

Through the hand tightly gripping the branch, the boy’s will extended.

Internal energy followed the extended will.

The internal energy manifested externally beyond the flesh covered the branch.

-You must have heard about the Sword Qi Grandmaster somewhere and made up that story, but the Sword Qi Grandmaster is nothing but a legend. Manifesting internal energy externally and materializing it—such a thing is nothing but fiction created by idle talkers like immortals or arhats.

Dazzling blue radiance swept away the remaining black energy.

Within the radiance like the lofty sky, red energy flickered like sparks but soon vanished without a trace, and the blue light also gradually calmed and settled faintly and loftily.

『What is that!? That power!?』

『Such dense energy is the first time!』

『How can a human handle such an ability!』

The light has lessened, but the sky-like energy remains.

The boy felt regret that the red light did not fully manifest, but soon smiled and stepped forward.

『Answer! What exactly is that power!』

『No matter how great the power, you cannot kill us!』

『The rising of the sun and moon is the principle of the world! Our existence is the same, so we never disappear!』

Exactly as written in the sword manual Father bought.

Stepping the supporting foot, firmly putting weight, and accurately swinging the sword from above to below.

“Mount Tai Pressing Down.”

A blue trajectory was drawn in the air.

The ghost’s body was accurately divided in half from the crown.

『Ah, aah!』

『How can you kill us!?』

『Those ones also could not exterminate us and fled!?』

Nevertheless, the ghost that was alive and trying to reattach its body shattered into pieces like grains of sand.

The mouth that had spoken the most spat out its last words and disappeared.

『Strange forces and turbulent spirits...』

After extinguishing the sword qi, Lee Shin lightly swung the branch to shake off the remaining debris and smiled faintly.

“I cannot deny it.”

What else would one call an existence born with memories of a previous life in an orthodox martial arts worldview, possessing talent and abilities at the level of a munchkin martial arts novel protagonist, if not strange forces and turbulent spirits?

‘I have already killed a dead ghost, so it is fitting to be called strange forces and turbulent spirits.’

If there are more existences like that thing, they might think similarly.

We never die. There is no human who can kill us.

But I heard there is a human who can kill us—is that true?

Aigoo, it’s superstition! Where in the world is there such a human! Believing such false rumors—come to your senses!

“Ha!”

The boy burst into laughter.

“This is completely the strange forces and turbulent spirits of strange forces and turbulent spirits.”