(2) Now, it was time to truly open her meridians and absorb the Yin energy.
Patrick poured all his energy into rummaging through the girl's body.
"Heuk..."
In that moment, a pained cry escaped the girl's lips. Pain was unavoidable in the process of opening one's meridians. But right after the pain, the girl experienced a completely unfamiliar sensation.
'It's warm.'
Even in her hazy state of consciousness, the girl could feel a warmth heating her body. It was the kind of warmth she had only felt in her mother's embrace when she was very young. Unbeknownst to her, a small tear was trickling down her gaunt cheek.
'I'm...
I'm gonna die. This is really going to kill me.' One, two, three, four...
Patrick had already dissolved four of her meridians, absorbing the Yin energy that had been clogging them into his own body. As a result, Patrick's dantian couldn't handle the sudden surge of energy and was on the verge of exploding. 'No. If it explodes, we're all dead.'
He had already absorbed an immense amount of Yin energy into his body. What would happen if it burst? It wouldn't end with just the girl and Patrick dying.
Considering the dense concentration of energy in this world, the Yin energy would use the external energy as a conductor and spread far and wide. Anyone struck by that Yin energy would naturally have a cold chill take root in their body, and in severe cases, vital organs like the heart or brain could malfunction, leading to death.
'Ah, so that's why they call it a curse.' Unlike in the Central Plains, the Nine Yin Severed Meridians of this world scattered Yin energy in all directions upon death, harming those nearby. It was understandable why others would see that as a curse.
'So that bastard from earlier wasn't a complete quack.' His understanding of energy was just primitive. That physician had done his job.
Thinking that, Patrick felt a tiiiiny bit sorry, but what was important now was how to manage this energy. 'I have no choice. The Great Clarity Heart Technique can't handle this energy.'
The heart technique Patrick had been practicing ever since he was reborn was the Great Clarity Heart Technique, which he had taught to the soldiers as the Basic Blessing. It was a basic art of Wudang with few side effects, and most importantly, a heart technique that was easy to convert into other types of energy later on.
But it wasn't enough to control such an immense amount of Yin energy. To control such terrifying Yin energy, Patrick had to circulate the most outstanding yet insane heart technique he knew.
'Haaah...
I really have no choice.' Patrick removed his hands from the girl's body and struck his own major acupoints with both hands. Black Gate, Chest Center, Heavenly Penetration, Shoulder Well, Seal Hall, Hundred Convergences.
After quickly suppressing the major acupoints leading from the lower dantian to the upper dantian, he brought both hands toward the energy residing in his lower dantian.
And then...
"That founding ancestor was a crazy son of a bitch!"
With those words, he completely shattered his own lower dantian.
"Kuaaack!"
Of course, it hurt.
Twin Dragon Heaven and Earth Primordial Heart Technique. As is the case with most heart techniques with grandiose names, this was the ultimate advanced energy art that only the sect leaders of the Twin Dragon Sect and their direct disciples could learn.
Well, since the founding ancestor, Radiant Dragon Grandmaster Jin Cheon was the only one to have ever learned this heart technique. Once upon a time, a certain martial artist had a thought. Why must one create only a single dantian?
It is said that when one becomes a master, they open their middle dantian, and when they become an even greater master, their upper dantian opens, allowing them to reach a state of being half-human, half-immortal. But before that, everyone uses just the one small dantian in their lower abdomen. Wouldn't it be much more efficient to have two dantians?
Twice the energy accumulation. Twice the energy release. The risk of energy deviation would also be twice as high, but still, wouldn't it be great?
Normally, such a thought would have been dismissed as a ridiculous delusion, but the problem was that the person who had this delusion was an extraordinary genius in martial arts. He ultimately created a heart technique that allowed one to form two lower dantians.
That was the Twin Dragon Heaven and Earth Primordial Heart Technique created by the founding ancestor of the Twin Dragon Sect. The process of creating them was surprisingly simple. First, you create a dantian using a normal heart technique.
And then you destroy that dantian. This is the process commonly known as crippling one's martial arts. However, even if you destroy the dantian, the energy in your body doesn't vanish immediately.
The energy slowly dissipates over the course of about an hour, and before that happens, you must gather the scattering energy and form two dantians in the lower abdomen. This is normally impossible, but in the process of the dantian shattering, the vessel that contained the energy also loses its shape.
In other words, that is the only moment when one can alter the nature of their energy. If successful, a martial artist with two dantians in their lower abdomen is born. Once that happens, the efficiency of energy accumulation and energy release doesn't just double, it increases severalfold.
The efficiency when the two dantians resonated and moved simultaneously far exceeded even the expectations of the Twin Dragon Sect's founding ancestor who created this heart technique. However, there was a minor problem: if you missed that moment when the dantian shattered, you would simply lose all your martial arts and become a cripple.
[Hahaha. Who could fail at something so simple? If they are my descendants, they should all be able to do this much.] he had laughed it off.
And now, across time and space, across worlds, in the Schneider Fief, Patrick ground his teeth and said.
"Who would do something this crazy? You insane old man! Seriously, not a single one of them is in their right mind. Not one."
Even his Master, who always preached about respecting the ancestors and keeping their will in mind, never did this. The only one who had done this crazy thing was Radiant Dragon Grandmaster Jin Cheon, who had risked his life in a gamble to revive the Twin Dragon Sect. 'Dammit, and I'm even doing this twice.'
At this point, he figured he had no right to call the founding ancestor a lunatic. It could only be called birds of a feather flocking together... In any case, perhaps because he had succeeded once before?
Patrick managed to gather the scattering energy and finally succeeded in creating two vessels in his dantian. The degree of perfection was even higher than in his past life. 'The size of both dantians is perfectly equal.
In my past life, the right one was larger, which made it difficult to manage.' To use two dantians stably, the energy drawn from both sides had to be exactly the same. But in his past life, the energy from the two sides was different.
Because of that, Radiant Dragon Grandmaster Jin Cheon of his past life had never once used his full power in his entire life. Even if the left dantian exerted ten parts of its power, the right one always had to stop at around seven parts. Otherwise, energy deviation would strike him directly, so what could he do?
Jin Cheon had never used his full strength, not even at the moment of his death, but now, things were different. Dantians with perfectly equal energy on both sides. Now, a person who could truly and perfectly use the Twin Dragon Sect's Twin Dragon Heaven and Earth Primordial Heart Technique had been born.
It was the first time since the Twin Dragon Sect's first ancestor.
"Good. Shall we start right away?"
Patrick looked at the girl trembling before him and licked his lips. Half of the Yin energy in her body had been removed, but the remaining Yin energy had started to run rampant, seeping into the empty spaces, causing her to suffer again.
"I'll heal you in no time."
Assuming a starting posture once more, Patrick placed his hands on the girl's back.
And then...
"You Yin energy bastards are all dead."
Now he was even picking fights with energy itself.
When the girl opened her eyes again, what she saw was...
"A goddess?"
"Oh my. Are you awake?"
"Am I... in heaven? Is my mom here with me?"
At the girl's words, Ava made a troubled expression and said.
"You didn't die, dear. This is the residence of the House of Schneider."
"What? But I..."
The girl was confused. She didn't die, she was alive? Then why was her body in such good condition?
The chill that had pierced her to the bone was completely gone, and her body felt healthy. No, she felt even better than she had before when she was healthy. On top of that...
"Are you really not a goddess?"
"I'm not. I am Ava Schneider, the baroness of the House of Schneider."
"But... you're so beautiful."
To the girl's eyes, Ava was clearly a goddess. Soft, flowing brown hair and fine skin without a single blemish. Beautiful features in perfect proportion.
It felt unnatural for someone with such beauty to insist they were human. At the girl's compliment, Ava smiled brightly and said.
"Thank you. But you're cute too, you know? You'll be a beauty when you grow up."
"No, I'm not..."
Although it was because she hadn't been able to eat, she looked at her own emaciated body, all skin and bones, and then looked back at the beautiful noble lady before her. Though she was a young girl, a sigh escaped her as feelings of inferiority she couldn't help but feel surged up. How could two humans be so different?
That lady was definitely a goddess. Just then, the door opened and a young boy entered.
"Is the kid awake?"
"You're here, Patrick. She just woke up."
"That's good. I brought some soup, try feeding her."
"Alright, I will."
Seeing the boy who came in with the warm soup, the girl spoke without realizing it.
"An angel?"
"Huh?"
Patrick looked around from side to side, confirmed there was no one else, and pointed to himself.
"Me?"
"Yes. It's... it's just..."
"Wow. You've got a good eye. Yeah, with my personality, I deserve to be called an angel. Hmm, as expected of a True Nine Yin Severed Meridians. Your insight is amazing."
At this moment, it would not be strange at all if every angel in the celestial realm coughed up blood and collapsed. And Patrick gave the slightly watery soup to the girl and said.
"How about it? Can you eat by yourself?"
"Yes. It's alright. But..."
"It's fine. I'm not going to ask you to pay for it later, so just eat. Kids shouldn't worry about such things."
The girl did not say, 'But you look younger than me, angel.' Instead, the girl bowed her head in thanks and then scooped up the soup with a spoon to eat. No, she tried to eat, but...
"Oh, you're spilling it all. Hey, hey. This won't do."
The girl, who didn't even have the strength left to hold a spoon, was spilling almost all of the soup. Seeing that, Patrick took the spoon himself, scooped up some soup, and gave it to her.
"Here, give it to me."
"You don't have to do this, it's alright."
"How is it alright when you can't eat by yourself. Just eat for now."
The girl shyly bowed her head but ate the soup as if she had no other choice.
"That's right, good girl. Eat slowly. Your condition is severely weakened, so you shouldn't eat too quickly."
Patrick carefully fed the girl spoonful by spoonful, and watching him, the girl thought to herself.
'How...
How can a person like this exist in the world?' To show such unconditional kindness and treat a stranger like me so gently? The girl now thought she could believe it even if he really was an angel.
'Hehehe.
Yes, eat well and grow well. My Heavenly Martial Body.' Well, there's no way of knowing what's in a person's heart...
After eating the soup, April fell asleep. And Patrick made a special request to Ava.
"Mother, please take good care of her."
"Are you sure you can leave her to me?"
"Yes. Since she had the same constitution as you, Mother, I think it would be best if you looked after her."
In Patrick's mind, April was already slated to be the next knight commander of the Schneider Fief and his closest aide. If one were to ask where he saw such a future in a scrawny little girl... 'She's a Heavenly Martial Body.
Kids with a Heavenly Martial Body can reach the state of mastery on their own even if you just teach them the Three Talents Sword Art. What couldn't I teach her?' The state of mastery, the level where one can produce Sword Aura, which in this world would be the seven-star level.
With Patrick's teachings added to that, one couldn't even imagine what kind of monster would emerge. 'I have to secure her, no matter what.' Right now, she was just a skinny girl, but if he raised her well, he could add a tremendous military asset to the fief in the future.
That was why he entrusted her care to Ava, a member of the lord's family and the person with the highest status in the fief, in order to form a bond with her from now on.
'Hehehe.
With this, she will feel indebted to us, think of our fief as her benefactor, and then become my faithful right hand.'
"Kehehehe..."
"Son, why are you laughing so strangely?"
"Ah, it's nothing. Anyway, I'll leave her to you, Mother. Please treat her well, as if she were your own daughter."
"My own daughter. I see. So that's what you mean."
Huh?
What do you mean? What is it that I mean?
"Yes. I understand. If that's what you think, then this mother of yours will not oppose it."
"Yes, well... As you wish."
He didn't know what she was talking about, but since his mother was smiling warmly and speaking as if she understood everything, he just let it be.