Chapter 79. Youngwoo's Training (2) – Refining Essence into Qi
The spark did not go out.
Deep within the Milyeo Palace, that small warmth remained exactly as it was.
Youngwoo let his breath settle.
He did not grasp it, nor did he force it upward.
He simply let it be.
As time passed, a current began to form around that spark.
At first, it was faint.
Like mist, it brushed past and scattered.
Yet it did not disappear.
Once, then again.
With every cycle of breath, that current brushed against the spark.
Gradually, it began to linger longer.
With his eyes closed, Youngwoo observed the flow.
The current rose along his back, passed through his chest, brushed his throat as a faint warmth, then descended again to his lower abdomen.
It did not break.
It rotated, circling, as if searching through every part of his body.
For the first time, a single path connected.
It was circulation.
Each time the flow completed a cycle, the spark grew clearer.
The energy gathering around it changed as well.
It no longer scattered.
It began to wrap around it.
Little by little, it gathered.
Youngwoo's breath deepened.
When he inhaled, the energy followed inward.
When he exhaled, it did not disperse—it remained within.
More time accumulated.
At some point, the nature of that energy changed.
What had once been light and drifting sank into something heavy.
It condensed around the spark.
It became a small mass.
Yet it was unmistakable.
It did not waver.
Youngwoo's body trembled faintly.
It was neither hot nor cold.
It was a quiet heat.
He left it as it was.
He did not force it to grow.
He did not force it to move.
He simply nourished it with warmth.
Following his breath, following his intent, he gently enveloped it.
The mass gradually hardened.
It did not break.
It did not scatter.
It solidified within.
This was what they called the Small Medicine.
Youngwoo did not open his eyes.
Yet his body had already changed.
His back was no longer blocked.
His waist had opened, light and unbound.
His chest was no longer constricted.
His breath reached all the way through.
His entire body had become one continuous whole.
With his eyes closed, light flickered past.
It was deep night, yet it was not darkness.
Across a space that stretched like night, small points of light appeared.
They were stars.
They did not move.
They did not scatter.
They simply hovered in stillness.
His breath grew quieter.
His body grew lighter.
Though seated, the sense of contact faded.
Weight disappeared.
It was warm.
It was soft.
He existed in a stillness beyond the body.
Then, the Small Medicine moved.
On its own.
Youngwoo did not follow it.
He simply let it be.
The Small Medicine traced the path.
It rose along his spine, brushed the crown of his head, and descended along the front.
One cycle.
Then again.
Matching the flow, Youngwoo drew a short breath.
When the circulation completed,
he held his breath.
After confirming its completion, he sealed it in stillness.
He did nothing.
He did not move.
He left it as it was.
The energy within his body connected with the air outside.
Nothing was blocked.
The boundary grew faint.
Inside and outside no longer stood apart.
He and the space were not different.
The flow became one.
More time passed.
The Small Medicine circulated again, then stilled, then condensed once more.
Each time, his body became clearer.
What had been knotted loosened.
What had been scattered returned to its place.
The stillness deepened.
At some point, the light changed.
What had been faint became clear.
It was no longer just scattered points.
They gathered.
And condensed.
Youngwoo's breath grew long—very long.
He did nothing.
Yet within him,
something
was being completed.