Namgung Se-ga, the warrior, was reincarnated in Romance

Mage Boulder came up with a few alternatives after distinguishing between what was permitted and what was not from last week’s list of approvals.

I read through them carefully before silently observing Professor Douglas, who sat as still as a stone Buddha.

Douglas nodded quietly, as if confirming what he had already reviewed. I smiled with satisfaction.

Seeing this, Mage Boulder exploded with a complaint.

“What’s this? Now you two are communicating through your eyes. Are you leaving me out?”

“That’s not it.”

“Well then. I’ll begin.”

Professor Douglas Mustang kindly replied, but I didn’t feel the need to comfort Boulder, so I responded vaguely and sat down.

It was hard to indulge a grown adult acting like a child throwing a tantrum.

A man, especially an adult like Douglas, should exude silence and reliability, which is exactly what I expected. The fact that I wasn’t sighing already showed how much patience I had left.

Ignoring the whiny comments, I took a posture of concentration.

Boulder, noticing the shift in energy, immediately stopped talking and grabbed his pen, his eyes shining with focus.

Since I had already warned that during such a state of concentration, no one should speak or move, and any action that could disturb the flow of energy was not allowed, Boulder refrained from further complaints.

Naturally, I closed my eyes and began contemplating inwardly.

I straightened my back, placed my hands gently on my knees, and relaxed.

Just like rolling a snowball to build a snowman, I slowly guided the energy along my body’s meridians, building it up as I went, a process known as “chukgi” (cultivating energy).

The path of energy followed the same routes as blood flow, but not always.

Unlike the skin and bones that grow stronger with training, the blood vessels inside the body are much harder to refine.

For that reason, many skilled martial artists from the central plains would die from either an injury or by having their blood vessels overwhelmed by their energy. My current goal was to master my blood vessels enough to withstand the overflow or backflow of energy.

In Namgung’s teachings, everything pointed toward the sky, and the core of Namgung’s internal technique, “Changgung Daeyeon Sin-gong,” focused on refining the Du Mai, the central meridian.

The sky of the human body lies at the top of the head. The first breath of a child enters through the Baihui point, at the crown of the head. I inhaled the energy through this point, filling my lungs and allowing the energy to flow to both sides of my shoulder blades, where the Tianzhong points reside.

The energy then continued downward, traveling to the lower back and down to the Changjiang point, near the tailbone, before circulating around the Dantian (lower abdomen) and returning to Baihui.

The flow of energy was like a stream calling out to the river, and the river calling out to the sea. Energy called for more energy.

Even in my younger body, before the Baihui point was fully closed, my martial arts body had already established a connection to the “Ren” and “Du” channels. The energy now flowing through me was no small thing.

This was not about healing or mending damaged energy channels, but about gathering and cultivating energy. Since I had ample time, I continued circulating the energy around the body, not stopping after just one full cycle.

The energy pouring in through the Baihui point felt full and satisfying.

I breathed in through my head and nose, and out through my skin and mouth.

A refreshing energy enveloped my entire body, and I felt it flow through me.

One full cycle… then another…

Before the flow of energy grew too large for me to manage, I guided it back to the Dantian.

Just like a herd of sheep returning to a barn full of hay, the energy flowed steadily into the open Dantian, cooling my body that had been warmed by the energy.

I slowly opened my eyes.

“1 hour, 22 minutes, and 43 seconds. Wait, wasn’t it shorter last time?”

“That was during class. This time it’s different.”

“Oh, I see! No wonder I felt like I was using more mana than before. So why did you stop now? Was it because I was waiting?”

“I stopped because drawing in more energy would put too much strain on my body.”

“How do you know that?”

“…”

“How do you know?”

“…I just do.”

Instead of pressing further, Mage Boulder shifted the conversation to another question.

I made every effort to answer him sincerely, as much as I could.

It was frustrating that I couldn’t express the profound and vast principles of Changgung Daeyeon Sin-gong in a way that could be easily understood in this language, but I did my best.

However, even if the listener was exceptionally sharp, it was clear that such concepts wouldn’t be understood immediately.

Changgung Daeyeon Sin-gong was a technique that harnessed the energy of the heavens.

When absorbing this energy, one had to open the chest wide and sweep in the surrounding energy with every breath. It was necessary to inhale the light and high energy with the mindset of absorbing its weight.

The martial artists of Namgung had never questioned this method.

“Why do we absorb the light energy as if it were heavy?”

“…There are many different forms of internal techniques, but as far as I know, the power of the world comes from the heavens. Therefore, when drawing in energy, it is often drawn from above the head…”

“Is there a difference between the mana drawn from the heavens and the mana drawn from the earth?”

“…I don’t know.”

Since all I had learned was the Namgung’s internal technique, how could I know anything about that?

From the very first question, I was stumped.

When asked if it was impossible to draw in the earth’s energy, I had answered that it was, but Boulder immediately moved on to another question.

“It seems like the path the mana flows along is set. Could you explain that?”

“Oh, that… it starts here, at the Baihui point.”

“Baihui? What’s that?”

“…It’s the crown of the head.”

It was difficult to explain because he didn’t even understand the terminology for the energy pathways.

If I had been well-versed in medical texts or if I had a bit more ink on my hands, I would have taught Boulder the characters used in the Central Plains’ martial arts system.

It was a frustrating matter.

This was a technique I had spent decades mastering since I was young.

In the Central Plains, it was rare for someone unfamiliar with Namgung’s techniques to ask such questions, but Boulder was asking about things I had never thought about in my entire life, and the more I tried to answer, the more I found myself becoming frustrated.

“Why do you have to bring the energy all the way down to the Dantian, to store it there? There’s no special organ there, is there? Could it be related to the womb, like the birth of life or something…?”

“Enough!”

“Huh?”

“What are you talking about?”

“Oh, sorry. I was just saying whatever came to mind, please don’t be angry. I really am sorry, okay?”

I scolded him, but I couldn’t remember ever thinking about why the Dantian was where it was, so I felt a bit strange. The Dantian was the Dantian, and it was what it was… why was he even asking about that?

On top of that, Boulder kept asking why the limbs weren’t included in the flow of energy from the front to the back of the body, and why I was sitting with my legs crossed if the limbs weren’t involved in the energy channels. He also asked about the flow in the eight extraordinary meridians and why the energy circulates around the body during meditation.

It was a common practice to sit in meditation during Qi cultivation, and if someone in the Central Plains had asked such things, I would have been given a nickname like “Madman” for such questions.

Boulder also asked why the blue energy circulated around the body during meditation, and what the blue light around the eyes meant when finishing meditation. He wondered if the internal energy changed color as well.

It was a given that the energy would circulate around the body; if it didn’t, something was wrong. But why that was the case, I had never questioned.

All of his questions were things I found hard to answer.

After a lengthy exchange of words, I eventually decided to take a different approach.

“Would you like to try it yourself?”

“Huh? Me?”

“Yes. Mage Boulder, you.”

I was considering doing a “Jing Qi Dong” (helping someone with their Qi flow when it’s blocked), which I had done a few times in the Central Plains. Although my internal energy wasn’t vast, I was confident in handling it delicately.

Of course, if Boulder had been an ordinary civilian instead of a magician, I would not have considered it.

However, given that he had been consistently training to accept external energy at his Dantian for decades, I figured even if something went wrong, he could use some recovery magic, like Angela Sting had done in the past.

Though creating a Dantian in his body was a different matter, I felt it would be fine for him to experience the meditation for a short while.

More than that, answering his questions was harder than actually doing the Qi cultivation for him.

“Really? Me? How would I do it?”

“I will transmit energy to your body. You should try to remember what it feels like and write it down later. It would be more accurate than me explaining it with words.”

“Is that even possible? Have you ever done it before?”

“Yes.”

“When?”

“…I don’t remember.”

I couldn’t bring myself to mention that I had done it in a past life.

To my surprise, Boulder easily crossed his legs into a proper seated position.

I asked him why he was so flexible for his age, and he explained that he often did some strange stretching exercises, claiming that wizards spend a lot of time at desks and need to stay in shape.

At that moment, I realized he was truly a proper wizard.

I told him to close his eyes and regulate his breathing. I also instructed him not to move or speak. Then I sat behind him.

I placed both of my palms, in the center of my hands, gently on his back. Feeling the tension in his body, I suppressed a smile.

“If your body is tense, the energy channels narrow, and you won’t be able to use them properly. Relax.”

“How am I supposed to relax?”

“Should I stop?”

“No, no, no. Just… just give me a moment.”

“Imagine you’re sitting in a bath of warm water. No, sit up straight. Yes, now, breathe in through your nose and out through your mouth. Calmly. Once your breathing is steady, we’ll begin.”

When doing “Jing Qi Dong,” it was easier to use well-established internal energy rather than drawing in external energy.

I guided the energy from the Dantian through my palms into Boulder’s body. Upon inspection, his energy channels were generally blocked, but his body, having practiced mana for years, was tough and resilient.

Rather than disturbing his sensitive channels, I carefully navigated around them and slowly circulated the energy.

After three full cycles, I returned the energy to my own Dantian and withdrew my hands.

Before I knew it, Boulder sprang up, his eyes wide open, staring ahead.

Even though I had completed the process, Boulder remained silent, so I gently tapped his shoulder.

“Are you alright?”

“AAH!”

He suddenly screamed out, startling me and leaving me dumbfounded.