Permission From Above (5)

Diligence is the right hand of Kung-Fu, and enlightenment is its left.
-British Proverb-

It had been a long time.

Raising my realm without the help of Succession or elixir.

-Gogogogogo……!!

I could feel an immense surge of aura rising from my Elixir Field to my Mind Palace.

My body lifted into midair on its own.

A cool, clear aura overflowed, circulating through every corner of my body and driving out the turbid Qi left in my marrow and blood paths.

Disciples of great clans and heirs of Kung-Fu Noblesse, commonly called Super Juniors, reinforce the quality and quantity of their Essence through Breath Control, consuming elixir, and Succession, and reach the realm of first-rate from second-rate no later than their thirtieth year.

Then, around the time they pass forty, they set foot in the Peak Realm and are acknowledged by the great elders of the martial world as having shed their greenhorn stink.

Finally, upon reaching the age of Heaven’s Bidding, a handful of lucky Kung-Fuists who gain a decisive enlightenment or a fortuitous encounter come to eye the Transcendent Realm.

The reason people call the age of fifty Heaven’s Bidding is because they believe that upon entering this age, a person is bound to realize the fate heaven has allotted.

They dress it up in sweet-sounding words, heaven, fate, and all the rest, but reality is cruel.

The true meaning of Heaven’s Bidding is the age when a Kung-Fuist’s limits are set.

Save for an extreme few exceptions, a duelist who failed to breach the wall of the Transcendent Realm, even after bringing everything they had honed before turning fifty to bear, had to remain in the Peak Realm for the rest of their life.

Conversely, a Kung-Fuist who reached the Transcendent Realm before Heaven’s Bidding possessed the potential to leave the martial world’s shallow currents and go forth into a deep, wide sea.

The cruel truth spoken by ordinary talents, who can achieve only what lies within the reach of obsession and effort, meant nothing to a genius who, favored by heaven’s unreasonable love, treated all under heaven as a playground.

In that sense, I’m—

“Jolly Lucky.”

To learn heaven’s intent at such a young age, this could not be anything but a blessed life.

When I observed my inner self, I could feel the internal energy filling my elixir field slowly swirling counterclockwise.

The angular teeth that sprouted around the spinning aura were an additional function of the Cogwheel Method, one of the auxiliary Kung-Fus my master added while improving the Lionheart Method. Now, even without conscious effort, formless gears were generated by the method and made the Essence throughout my body circulate all the more in lockstep.

That’s right.

Even unconsciously, the phenomenon of the Cogwheel Method’s wondrous principle taking root in the aura dwelling in one’s elixir field was proof that a practitioner of the Renewal Lionheart Method had entered a mature peak realm.

From the moment I took Heavenly Demon Red Dragon Phileas Fogg as my master, one could say I had already gained Britain’s greatest fortuitous encounter.

However, as for my childhood before meeting him, I achieved everything relying only on my own talent and effort, so I could not say I had the most advantageous start.

Just looking at the average childhood of those lucky geniuses, who trained with the highest possible efficiency, possessing both overwhelming Kung-Fu talent and a blessed environment, showed a great difference from me.

The infancy and early childhood of those who reached the Peak Realm at an age similar to mine generally pass through the following process.

First. Before birth, they open their potential and carry out Succession through a supreme-grade Kung-Fu Tutorial secret manual.

Second. In infancy, while the Ren and Du meridians are not yet blocked by turbid Qi, under the lead of wealthy and strong parents or a master, they undergo Waxing&Marrow Cleansing, purifying their Qi Points and laying a foundation suited for training.

Third. Exactly one week after completing Waxing&Marrow Cleansing, they crush solid-state Danube Steel into small pieces, mix it into water melted from Alpine ten-thousand year-old snow, and carry out the Infant Baptism.

This rite, commonly called Immersion Of Achilles, makes the infant’s muscles and bones, blood paths, and even the internal organs supple and resilient, so they can more easily endure the harsh training that will begin in the not-so-distant future.

At that time, if one does not continuously perform Succession, the infant’s body is crushed by the Essence pressure emitted by the Danube Steel fragments and turns into a handful of blood, so one who shares the same bloodline must touch the infant’s body and steadily breathe power into it.

At that time, the place where the bodies touch is not exposed to the aura of Schwarzwald dissolved into the Danube Steel and so becomes far more fragile than other places, carrying the meaning “Achilles’ dry part,” it is called the Achilles tendon, and for the child’s future, the Infant Baptism is carried out in secrecy behind thick drapes.

The rate of progress between a Kung-Fuist who has passed these three rites of passage and one who has not is truly apples and oranges.

My parents were ministers of a fairly well-off Kung-Fu-gentry class, but they were not rich enough to invest that much into Mycroft and me, nor was their realm very high.

I’ll say it, just in case. I have never resented them.

I only wished to make it known that I did not begin with everything in hand.

Even so, thanks to my inborn Kung-Fu talent, and the luck of serving Britain’s number one as my master, I was able to reach my current realm.

‘……Soon.’

Having trained the inverse-principle demonic Kung-Fu, the process I went through to raise my realm was the exact opposite of a Kung-Fuist who learned an orthodox internal energy method.

Unlike orthodox Kung-Fuists who open the Ren and Du meridians early and then, around the time they reach mature first-rate, open the minor meridians, I followed my master’s teaching and postponed the opening-through of the minor meridians and the Ren and Du meridians.

But now that I had reached a mature Peak realm, if I opened only the Ren and Du meridians, I could finally step into the Transcendent Realm.

-Tuk.

The swirling of Essence stopped, and my body, which had been floating in the air, descended to the floor.

A sense of fulfillment even greater than when I opened through the minor meridians with Headmaster Louise’s help filled the three Elixir Fields.

A Kung-Fuist’s life is, in itself, like a single stone pagoda.

Stacking stones of essence, Qi, and spirit one by one, and advancing day by day to achieve immortality without swaying even amid raging storms, Kung-Fu.

That essence, Qi, and spirit unite seamlessly at higher realms, and that they must be properly refined, both are for building a tall, sturdy tower.

And what I gained through this fortuitous encounter was a new kind of intent.

Another fragment of spirit was added to the elements that make up me.

The name of that intent was Succession.

I, severed from the past this world’s self had lived through because I crossed from another world.

I, who acted arrogantly, believing everything had been achieved by my power alone.

The moment I realized that what I had never doubted to be mine, knowledge or strength, had in truth been handed to me by Heaven And Earth and my predecessors, and must, in the end, be passed on to later learners.

Everything changed.

‘I can feel it.’

In the Hundred Meetings acupoint, which had been tightly shut by stubborn attachment since my self was born, a breathing hole formed.

I could sense the existence of a faint yet immense aura that circulated between Heaven And Earth. Something I had never once truly been conscious of in my life.

Drawing in nature’s primal Qi through the Breathing Exercise and cultivating it into Essence was something anyone who had learned Kung-Fu could do.

But that did not mean everyone could, through Qi Sense, discern how natural Qi flowed, and in which direction.

That they could store Qi through Breath Control was thanks to faith that did not doubt old teachings. In other words, intent.

But what of me now?

When I acknowledged that the power given to me was not mine, but only something entrusted to me for the next generation, and held a grateful heart, I finally connected, in the true sense, with Heaven And Earth.

As fast as lightning, yet gentle.

A threadlike aura that descended into the tiny gap in the Hundred Meetings acupoint passed through my brain and spine, and flowed out through the Qi Sea Point.

A single streak of radiance revealed itself as I observed within.

The trail left by heaven’s aura flowing into the earth through my body as a conduit shone with dazzling brilliance.

It was certainly a minute aura, yet the instant glitter it showed was beautiful.

“Ah…….”

In the past, I would have greedily closed the Qi Sea Point to seize heaven’s aura and keep it.

But the new enlightenment changed me.

Heaven, earth, and man are originally one.

What descends from heaven soaking into the earth is the natural order.

Man and tree alike set their feet on the earth and live within providence.

How could I alone bind heaven’s grace to myself?

In the end, when the time comes, the land I stand on will bear rich fruit according to Heaven’s Bidding.

-Kwaaah!

The moment my thoughts reached that point, a cool, clear aura began to gush up from my soles like spring water.

The surging primal Qi naturally spread throughout my body, then completed a rotation on its own and flowed into my elixir field.

Even though I had not particularly moved my intent, the aura that finished circulating melted smoothly, without clashing with my Essence.

The moment I, who had long trained an inverse-principle method, gained enlightenment of the natural order, the lacking half was filled.

I believed only humans could defy heaven’s flow and carve out the fate they were given.

But yielding to Heaven’s Bidding and laying down vain desires is also something only humans can do.

By realizing this, I could take one step closer to my true nature.

Enlightenment changed more than the relationship between me and Heaven And Earth.

‘Have I grown closer to this world’s me.’

I could feel the Essence sealed in the Mind Palace come loose and move purely in accordance with my intent.

As the intent of Succession took root, the severance from the past was restored, and my master’s Essence, which had been provoking rejection, and the karma the me of London Murim had built up began to follow me.

“Holmes……! Your left arm……!”

That was when, startled by Watson’s shout, my eyes snapped open.

In fact, until she spoke to me, I had not even realized my eyes were closed.

Because even with my eyelids shut, the Qi Sense that now communed with Heaven And Earth conveyed everything happening around me without missing a thing.

“Did you not say it yourself? That at the earliest, I’d recover within three days.”

At some point, I had taken the posture of joining my hands together in prayer.

It seemed I had realized unconsciously that forming a ring with both arms was most advantageous for circulating the aura imbued with the Cogwheel’s principle.

“……Even so, I didn’t think it would be like this in a single day. More than that, congratulations. Your realm has gone up.”

“It’s all thanks to Her Majesty the Queen.”

“……?!”

“Why that expression?”

“Because I feel as if I just heard something unlike you. That booklet you were holding earlier, it must have been the secret manual Her Majesty bestowed.”

I nodded quietly.

That my paralyzed left arm recovered was the harmony wrought by the newly added fragment of intent.

As the intent of Succession entered the mental image I had once emptied clean, the nervous system that had suffered functional impairment was reset and restored.

Nerves are, as the term says, the path through which the spirit of Intent passes.

Since a dramatic change had occurred in an old Intent, it was only natural that the damaged path would be repaired.

Still, raising my realm was important, but I had something to do now.

“Raising my realm is certainly a happy thing, but for now, there’s someplace I must go with you.”

“No, this is something we should tell Mrs. Hudson and throw a celebration for, and it still wouldn’t be enough. Where on earth are we going?”

I held out to the bewildered Watson the letter Black Chess Piece had made by clipping and pasting newspaper text, and took my pipe in my left hand.

“Last night I found a rather pleasant clue to a case, so I must see it through today. It’s a matter with a capable sculptor’s fingers at stake.”

“My God, you still can’t resist when it comes to a case.”

Watson shook her head with a fed-up face, but I lit my pipe with Buddha Fire and laughed brightly.

“First, let’s go meet the Postmaster General. We have to find the postman who delivered the letter.”

The time of Kung-Fu ends here.

Now it was time to face a culprit again.