The Feeling Of Ascension. (1)

I had never in my life heard of a root that so closely matched human form.

Could it really be a Spiritual Elixir with mysterious effects? No matter how I thought about it, I couldn’t be sure.

I wouldn’t know until I tried it.

Yu Jinsan first brought the unidentified root to his granddaughter’s mouth.

“Here, hurry and try it.”

Even if it turned out to be a poisonous root rather than a Spiritual Elixir, it wouldn’t be a problem.

Her body in the Profound Realm was immune beyond ‘impervious to ten thousand poisons,’ resistant to all harmful things in the world.

Yu Seol opened her mouth like a baby bird waiting to be fed.

Yu Seol bit off about half of the root in one mouthful.

A crisp cracking sound came from her mouth.

But it lasted only a moment. Suddenly his granddaughter’s expression hardened; she looked serious as if she had a severe stomach upset.

Watching, Yu Jinsan quickly asked.

“What’s wrong? Doesn’t it taste good?”

Yu Seol nodded with a grimace.

“…It’s the worst.”

So the taste apparently wasn’t good.

If she spat it out like that, they wouldn’t be able to know the effect of the Spiritual Elixir.

Yu Jinsan, anxious, patted his granddaughter’s shoulder and said.

“Usually the healthier something is for the body, the bitterer it is to the mouth. Bear with it and eat.”

“…I really can’t eat it.”

“You have to swallow it. If you spit out the first harvested crop, the year’s farming will be cursed.”

What could she do when her grandfather said that much?

After a moment’s hesitation, Yu Seol squeezed her eyes shut.

Yu Jinsan confirmed that his granddaughter had swallowed and asked cautiously.

“How is it? Do you feel your body improving at all?”

“Yeah. A new internal qi is condensing in my dantian.”

Yu Jinsan clapped his hands with a bright face.

As he expected, it seemed to have the effect of increasing internal qi.

“How’s the effect? How much qi have you gained?”

“Grandpa, you try it once.”

She refused to answer straightforwardly. Was she sulking? But that didn’t matter.

He would have to try it himself anyway.

Yu Jinsan pushed the other half of the root he was holding into his mouth.

He chewed it several times as if eating a carrot.

Suddenly his face turned pale.

“…Hup!?”

A foul smell so strong it made him dizzy hit him, and he began to retch.

It wasn’t just bitter. Without extreme willpower and endurance, one couldn’t even attempt it.

As a martial arts warrior with more developed taste than ordinary people, the pain was immense.

How on earth could anyone swallow this?

He was about to give up eating it.

Yu Seol was watching with wide eyes right in front of him.

She couldn’t ignore him since he’d already said those words.

‘What a mess…’

How on earth had Yu Seol swallowed this? She must have used some trick he didn’t know.

Tears welled up in his eyes.

Regret flooded him for having agreed to eat it, but there was no way out.

Yu Jinsan held his breath and squeezed his eyes shut.

Gulp!

He barely succeeded in forcing it down his throat.

But independent of his will, nausea rose from his stomach.

“Ugh!”

Just as the swallowed piece was about to rise back up with retching.

He saw his granddaughter’s right hand disappear from in front of him.

For a moment he felt a sting below his throat.

Yu Seol must have pressed his acupoint to prevent the food from refluxing.

“You said you mustn’t spit out the first harvested crop. I’ll help you, Grandpa.”

There was no point in arguing.

Before he knew it, Yu Seol’s hand was on his abdomen.

‘…Why!?’

He wanted to ask, but no sound came from his mouth.

It wasn’t hard to guess what his granddaughter had done—the nauseating scent was rising from his throat.

She must have used her internal qi to forcibly dissolve the root in his stomach.

Yu Jinsan grabbed his throat and collapsed to the floor.

Tears streamed down from a pain that couldn’t be put into words.

“Grandpa, why are you crying?”

Her innocent questioning was infuriating.

“Oh dear, how pitiful. To be tormented by your granddaughter in my old age…”

Yu Seol, watching, patted her grandfather’s back to comfort him.

She did seem a little apologetic.

“Don’t cry, Grandpa. It’s okay. There, there!”

In fact, he wasn’t crying from sadness—the tears were an involuntary bodily reflex.

Having calmed himself, Yu Jinsan wiped his tears with his sleeve.

“In all my life, I’ve never tasted something this vile. How did you eat it?”

“Me? I just ate it.”

“Don’t lie. This isn’t something a person can eat.”

At that moment, a meaningful smile appeared on his granddaughter’s face.

“I melted it with my internal qi, evaporated it, and expelled it through my skin. Hee hee.”

She meant she expelled the vapor through the pores of her body.

It was a technique he couldn’t even imitate. If he could do that, he wouldn’t have been retching and burping.

But one question remained.

“Then what was it you said about feeling energy in your dantian earlier?”

At that moment, Yu Seol widened her eyes and tilted her head.

“Huh? Did I say that?”

Yu Jinsan realized he’d been tricked.

To deceive his grandfather without even blinking.

Her acting skills, improving by the day, left him astonished.

“How dare this brat deceive her grandfather? Today’s sparring is canceled.”

Today was supposed to be the day he’d spar with his granddaughter for fun.

But he needed to teach her a lesson so she wouldn’t trick him again.

“Ah! You can’t do that!”

Yu Seol clung to her grandfather’s arm.

“What’s ‘can’t’? Let go of this at once.”

Yu Jinsan shrugged off her arm and sat cross-legged; his dantian was heating up.

But he couldn’t begin his qi circulation practice with his granddaughter there.

“I was wrong~”

“Hey? Move aside quickly. I need to practice qi circulation.”

“Then will you spar with me?”

Pouting, Yu Seol refused to let go of his arms.

He couldn’t hesitate any longer because he needed to start his practice.

Yu Jinsan sighed as if resigned.

“Huh. Fine, then go to the Training Ground first.”

At that moment, Yu Seol’s expression brightened instantly.

She let go of his arm and sprang up from her seat.

“Okay. Come quickly when you’re done with your practice~”

He needed to test the power of the Devil Divine Art through his granddaughter anyway.

Feeling a bit better, Yu Jinsan nodded once.

“All right. But be prepared today. I’m not the same grandfather I used to be.”

“Hee hee hee.”

Yu Seol skipped away lightly.

She seemed very excited.

At that moment Yu Jinsan’s pupils dilated briefly, then returned to normal—his youngest son’s image had flickered into his granddaughter’s back for an instant.

‘Sigh. Who can deal with that stubbornness?’

Still, he couldn’t bring himself to blame her character.

She was simply the spitting image of her sly, stubborn father.

Yu Jinsan shook his head and began his energy circulation practice.

‘First, I’ll check the change in internal qi. Let’s see.’

He checked the Spiritual item’s energy gathering anew in his dantian.

There was certainly an increase in internal qi, but the result was somewhat disappointing.

Even considering the root hadn’t fully matured, the effect was very slight.

‘To see the efficacy of the first cycle, you’d need to eat at least twenty roots, I think.’

There were hundreds of seeds sown in the field, so quantity wasn’t an issue.

The problem was that even eating half a root put one between life and death; even the patient Yu Seol had given up and expelled it.

Would it taste better once fully mature? It probably wouldn’t.

He had to find a method. Otherwise, ingestion would be impossible.

‘Should I boil a soup? Or stew it?’

He mulled over various methods, but nothing specific came to mind.

There was no hurry, so it seemed best to take time to ponder.

Yu Jinsan brushed off his seat and stood up.

Rounding the temple corner, he found his granddaughter standing waiting in the center of the Training Ground.

Yu Jinsan approached slowly with his hands clasped behind his back.

“All right. Today we’ll go bare-handed.”

That way he’d have a slight advantage. He couldn’t hold out even a moment with spear techniques.

“Grandpa, you can use a spear.”

“No. A spar must be fair and square.”

Though they called it sparring, it was a test of endurance.

If Yu Seol didn’t go easy on him, it would end the moment it began, but that wouldn’t happen; she would want to play longer.

Facing each other, they put their hands together and bowed slowly—a ritual before starting sparring.

Then Yu Jinsan subtly flicked his left wrist.

Clack!

The prayer beads on his left hand moved into his right hand.

He released the pressure of his left hand.

At best, he could maintain this state for half an hour; any longer and dizziness would make it unbearable.

‘Quick and decisive.’

As soon as the open-hand sequence ended, Yu Jinsan launched the first attack.

His left hand swept like a claw to snatch Yu Seol’s shoulder.

It was lightning-fast, but his grasp only cut through empty air.

Yu Seol twisted her shoulder and wore a surprised expression; it wasn’t the speed she knew from her grandfather.

But Yu Jinsan’s attack was only beginning.

He moved so fast his left hand seemed to multiply into dozens.

It was an incredible offensive, but Yu Seol’s evasive movements surpassed human limits.

Pa-pa-pat! Pa-pa-pa-pat!!

His clawing strikes spewed black currents, darkening the air.

At that moment, Yu Seol, who had been only evading, suddenly began to stretch out her form.

Having created distance, Yu Seol asked with a mixture of surprise and excitement.

“Grandpa, what was that just now?”

It was a martial skill she’d never seen, so she couldn’t help but be curious.

But there was no time to answer leisurely.

Yu Jinsan followed the same footwork to catch up but couldn’t match her speed.

“Don’t run away; come here at once!”

As if she’d been waiting, Yu Seol’s movement changed.

Yu Seol, who had been widening the distance, altered her footwork’s path and collided with Yu Jinsan.

Finally, after exchanging the first clash, the two slid in opposite directions.

While Yu Jinsan was pushed back about three changs, Yu Seol only slid back about one chang.

It was a clear victory for Yu Seol.

Yet Yu Jinsan’s chest was pounding fiercely.

Because his iron-walled granddaughter had retreated backward for the first time in her life.

“Oh~ Grandpa, you’re awesome!”

It was the grandfather who had grown stronger, but she was the one who seemed more thrilled.

She even lowered her stance and gently extended both hands forward—assuming a challenger’s posture against him.

This was the first time such a thing had happened in their sparring.

“Now you finally feel like getting serious? Then today you’ll get a lesson from your grandfather!”

Filled with confidence, Yu Jinsan charged with full force.

Soon his left hand and his granddaughter’s right hand met in the middle.

A series of thunderous roars that could shake heaven and earth began to erupt.

Kwahng! Kwa-kwa-kwahng-!!

The two hands clashing wildly yielded not an inch to each other.

The problem was that Yu Seol was still using only one hand; she was holding back to some extent.

Nevertheless, it was an encouraging result.

Even with only one hand, to match movements in the Profound Realm at near-transcendent levels was nothing short of a miracle.

Wanting to test his limits, Yu Jinsan shouted confidently.

“Don’t joke around; give it your all!”