Defying the Heavens Scholar - Chapter 7

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Reverse Heaven Scholar Episode 7

Episode 7. The Unnamed Heart Method. (II).

I drew in a deep breath.
This was the moment I would test the Unnamed Heart Method I had just conceived through my own body.
I could not force the Qi to gather; instead, I had to let the flow collide with itself naturally.
Even with the principle clear in my mind, embodying it would demand considerable time.

First breath.
Fire Qi surged through my chest like roaring flame.

Second breath.
Water Qi seeped in, freezing my spine.

Third breath.
Fire and water collided head-on.

“Hack—!”

My organs felt shredded, my meridians screaming as though about to rupture. My vision flashed white and consciousness wavered on the edge of dissolution, blood flowing backward to coat my lips.

‘The principle of Reversal… it is no trifling matter.’

I clenched my teeth and pushed the breathing forward.
Recovery could wait until I left the Sealed Chamber.
Unless the internal damage threatened death itself, I chose not to dwell on it.
Steadying my heavy breath, I again contained neither the fire nor the water, the Qi each intent on destruction, but let them collide as they were. Like a river mist upon striking stone, like vapor rising through flame, after the violent collision the Qi finally twisted into a new form.

At the place where extreme met extreme, new Qi emerged.
Neither hot nor cold—yet paradoxically embracing both extremes at once.
This energy flowed through my meridians of its own accord.
It filled the places that had ached with tearing pain, gently calming the blood vessels that had swollen to bursting.
Heat and cold crossed through my entire body, and finally condensed into a single point of light deep within my Dantian.

I collapsed, drenched in sweat. My breathing was ragged and my heart pounded as though ready to burst, yet one thing was certain: a new energy I had never possessed before now dwelt within me.
A power to command both fire and water simultaneously, yet bound to neither—Harmony born from Reversal.

“It is done.”

The words escaped between my lips.
I quietly savored the strength I had wrested from terror.
This was no teaching from any sect—only my own Unnamed Heart Method.
Steadying my rough breath, I stepped out of the Sealed Chamber.
My weary eyes fell upon the candle.
The three-foot taper had not diminished.
Not even half a double hour had passed.

‘Unbelievable. I have studied martial arts manuals countless times, conceived my heart method, even healed my internal wounds—and yet barely half a double hour has elapsed?’

A sigh of relief escaped unbidden.
Neither hunger nor thirst had touched me. It truly had been but a moment.
I hesitated, wondering if I should clear my head, yet I could not release the reins now that they were already taut.

‘Is there a way to advance the Unnamed Heart Method more swiftly?’

My thoughts drifted naturally toward the heart methods of the Demonic Sect.
Unlike those of the Orthodox Sects, their techniques aimed at rapid advancement and genuinely produced swift results—strange and potent methods indeed.
Yet the price was destruction that gnawed away at the flesh itself.
But what if I could tame that poison, dissolve it into the Unnamed Heart Method? Surely it would prove invaluable.

Seized by an anxiety I couldn’t quite name, I first made my way to Kang No’s quarters.
As I’d expected, he lay buried beneath thick quilts, breathing in ragged, labored gasps.
I stood beside him for a moment, watching his breath, then carefully adjusted the tangled blankets over him.
His gaunt face pressed heavy against my chest.

‘If he knew what I was about to do…… what could he possibly say?’

A moment’s hesitation flickered past, but I turned away just as quickly.
I retrieved several texts of Demonic Sect methods and made my way back into the Sealed Chamber.

* * *

I unfolded a Demonic Sect heart method.
From the very first page, written in dark crimson characters, a damp and sickly Qi seeped forth.
Each line seemed carved in blood and hatred, and merely reading it felt as though killing intent was seeping into my bones.

‘So this is the Demonic Sect’s heart method…… a forbidden path, different from the Orthodox way.’

The text held genuine power.
Methods to forcibly draw up Inner Force in a single breath, to violently expand the meridians themselves.
Yet every path led to destruction.
Those who did not survive watched their bodies crumble and their minds consumed by madness.

I closed my eyes slowly.
The Unnamed Heart Method had already bound fire and water together, birthing a third current between them.
To mix in the Demonic Sect’s cruel methods now would be like pouring oil into that flame.

‘Yet…… there is no other path.’

My body remained weak still.
The Qi that harmonized both Yang and Yin together would surely be strong, yet doubt rose first in my mind.
This was a place where all the martial arts of both Orthodox and Demonic had been gathered.
Could such a place truly be breached by merely a single new heart method?

‘Even the scions of the Zhuge Clan and the lay disciples of Shaolin met their end here. Mere strength is not enough to survive.’

So by any means, I had to succeed.
To do what those who imprisoned me could never imagine.
I carefully began to channel the Demonic Sect’s method into the circulation of the Unnamed Heart Method.
In an instant, the blood vessels throughout my body trembled violently.
The Qi writhed within me like serpents intertwining.

“Hnngh—!”

My breath caught in my throat as blood surged backward.
My vision flooded crimson.
The Demonic Sect’s method was savage and merciless.
A path of forcibly drawing Qi to expand the meridians, splitting blood vessels themselves if necessary to increase Inner Force.

Then, the Unnamed Heart Method stirred once more.
Fire and water, opposites by nature, crashed down upon the Demonic Sect’s rough current, and a battle began—each trying to consume the other.
My meridians twisted as if they might tear asunder, my organs roasting in flame and freezing in ice simultaneously.
Yet within that torment, an unexpected equilibrium took shape.
Just as the Unnamed Heart Method harmonized opposites, so too did the Demonic Sect’s madness find itself absorbed, beginning to emit an altogether different light.

A Qi neither hot nor cold, layered over by a single dark current flowing through it.
It honed my inner strength to a razor’s edge, condensing at last into another singular point deep within my Dantian.
I collapsed onto the floor, my body trembling violently.
Drenched in what could have been sweat or blood—I couldn’t tell anymore—my mind remained lucid.

‘I did it.’

But in the same breath, I understood the truth.
This path could never be walked backward.
A heart method unlike those of the Orthodox Sects, laced with the venom of the Demonic Sect.
My Unnamed Heart Method had now consumed even the forbidden poison.

* * *

Two days.
Outside, merely two days had passed.
But within the Sealed Chamber, it felt as though years had crawled by.
The candle burning against the stone wall still flickered, and beneath its light, I had drawn thousands upon thousands of breaths.
The Unnamed Heart Method, beginning in crude collision, gradually found its flow, and at last took root as deep and solid as steel.

At first, even commanding fire and water seemed beyond me.
But the long hours within the Sealed Chamber cultivated an Inner Force that could temper all opposing elements.
Flames scattered into vapor, ice melted into water.
Opposition was opposition no longer.
All the Qi that flowed within me transformed into harmony and balance within the Unnamed Heart Method’s boundary.
Upon that foundation, I layered the heart method of the Demonic Sect.
Even the mad force it carried was swallowed by the Unnamed Heart Method, and the poison remained not as poison.

Then I opened the Martial Arts Manuals of the Orthodox Sects.
The resonance of keen sword techniques, methods infused with steadiness, the breathing of quiet meditation……
All flowed into the Unnamed Heart Method and wove together as one body.
Within the Sealed Chamber, I studied the martial arts of the Demonic and Orthodox alike without distinction.
And so the boundaries between schools dissolved, all their power absorbed into this nameless heart method called the Unnamed Heart Method.
Moreover, the Qi within me was a path belonging to neither Orthodox nor Demonic—something new entirely.

Through endless breathing, I came to understand.
The Unnamed Heart Method was not merely a heart method, but a vessel that could embrace and orchestrate all things.
I opened my eyes.
The candle still stood three fingers’ width in height.
Though only two days had passed outside, my body and heart method had lived through years.

As I exhaled, my meridians resonated throughout my entire frame.
Fire and water, light and shadow, Orthodox and Demonic.
All of it had become one within me.

* * *

The candle still did not waver.
So I remained within the Sealed Chamber for still longer.
During that time, the Unnamed Heart Method transformed into a vast ocean that held and governed all Qi.
The pure inner force of the Orthodox Sects and the frenzied energy of the Demonic Sect—all of it flowed in like waves and sank into the depths.

That ocean was deep and still, and now no tempest could shake me.
But soon I understood something else.
The moment I revealed this power, I would become visible.
A Qi that neither Orthodox nor Demonic—that no one—would accept.
And if they ever learned of this strength, they would surely take my head.
So I chose a different path.

Concealment.
Ordinarily, such masking could only be found in the martial arts of assassins, but the Unnamed Heart Method was a heart method woven backward from the principles of countless martial arts.
And so it held infinite possibility—to be shaped in any form whatsoever.

‘In other words, what I choose becomes the path itself.’

From that moment, I devoted every waking hour to the Unnamed Heart Method—specifically to the art of concealment.
Each time my heart beat, I practiced sinking the Inner Force that rippled outward like waves deep beneath the surface.
I trained to veil the killing intent that leaked from my eyes beneath a gentle smile.
I learned to suppress the Inner Force that tried to burst from my fingertips, breathing like an ordinary person.

At first, it was difficult.
The more I tried to contain the surging Qi, the more it struggled to break free, and the process brought endless pain.
But the function of the Unnamed Heart Method lay in reconciling opposites.
Just as fire and water within me governed each other, so too did strength and weakness, revelation and concealment, eventually become one body.

I sank the stagnant Inner Force within me to depths so profound that no one, observing me, could find anything amiss.
Like a single tree in a vast forest. Like an ordinary pedestrian in a great crowd.

Shoulders that seemed frail, an aura of insignificance. Yet beneath it all, a power as vast as the sea lay dormant.

‘I must conceal it. The time is not yet.’

I steadied my final breath and opened my eyes.
The candle still burned.
And so I gathered it all away, rising quietly from my seat.

* * *

I was reading in the Library when Kang No called to me in a heavy voice.
He still trembled faintly against the cold, his face pallid. His vitality had visibly waned in the span of mere days.

“Which martial arts manual were you reading?”

Fortunately, my efforts had borne fruit—Kang No showed no sign of detecting any change in me.

“I was reading the martial arts of the Huashan School, as you instructed, sir.”
“How was it?”

Though I had already absorbed the martial knowledge of the Huashan School and many of the Nine Schools within the Sealed Chamber, I kept my voice humble.

“As you said, it was truly profound and difficult to comprehend.”

Kang No smiled bitterly and nodded.

“Of course it was. Martial Arts is martial arts precisely because it is martial arts—and martial arts, too, is a discipline. Consider how many have labored to perfect such disciplines. They have been refined and developed over long ages, and their depth runs deep indeed.”

So saying, Kang No carefully withdrew an old, worn volume from his robes and handed it to me.

Natural Transformation Realm.

The faint characters on the cover bore witness to the marks of time. The pages were so brittle with age that they pricked my fingertips as I touched them.
Kang No rose slowly and spoke in a grave voice.

“One year is the time allotted to you. This may be your final trial, or it may be another wall waiting ahead. Do all you can to break through it.”

My breath wavered, almost imperceptibly.
Noticing the tremor, he paused as he turned toward my quarters and spoke in a low voice.

“Forgive me…… but if you wish to live as you desire, in the end you must follow the will of those above.”

He did not look back. Only the heavy drag of his footsteps cut through the silence of the Library.
I watched his retreating figure for a long while, then took a sip of the cold tea.
Then he carefully opened the pages. After turning through them for a time, he suddenly steadied his breathing and closed his eyes.

‘Unlike other martial arts, the forms here are not refined into neat sequences.’

This was not a method of forcibly controlling the flow of Qi, but rather a record of accepting the principles of heaven and earth through the body itself.
It differed fundamentally from the Martial Arts Manuals he had encountered in the Library. Each chapter probed the depths of understanding, demanding contemplation.

‘The pinnacle of swordplay that the Huashan School achieved… and yet, it can be broken through.’

I closed the book and rose slowly to my feet. I no longer dwelt on the Natural Transformation Realm.
As though untangling a knot of tangled thoughts, I made my way toward my quarters.
The moment I lay down on the worn bed, countless martial arts techniques flashed across my mind’s eye.
Among them, the Natural Transformation Realm stood supreme—yet strangely, conviction outweighed fear.

‘A swordplay that sketches the formless flow…’

I closed my eyes gently.
Clearing my mind, I quietly began to trace the formless texture woven within the Natural Transformation Realm.
The candle flame held steady, and in the silence, only my breath resonated clearly.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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