Chapter 7: 7. A Bouncy(?) Dantian

"I’m sorry, little one..."

"It’s all right, Master..."

My master and I were sitting on our knees on the wooden floor, facing one another.

When Master came to her senses, she tried to prostrate herself in repentance on the spot, and after I hurriedly talked her out of it...

...we had arrived at the present situation, locked in a suffocating silence.

Honestly, I was fine.

It was the first time someone had praised me like this, and the first time someone had been happy simply because I existed.

She must have been so happy.

"Even so... to do something like that to a boy..."

I spoke to my master, who was muttering as she sank into self-reproach.

"Master, I was happy instead."

My master, who had been idly staring at her fingers, jerked her head up.

"You were happy?"

I conveyed my feelings to my master as she looked at me with trembling eyes.

"Yes. I think it was the first time I ever made someone happy."

Master looked at me with a sad yet complicated expression.

"Little one..."

Ah. It felt like the atmosphere was somehow getting worse.

I answered with a bright smile.

"Besides, this sort of thing can happen between a master and disciple, right?"

"Huh...?"

"Master was simply praising her disciple because she was moved by his accomplishment! Right?"

"That’s... right?"

"I’m really fine, so you can hug me as much as you want next time too. I’d welcome it if it’s a beauty like you, Master!"

"No!"

The sudden lion’s roar nearly knocked the wits out of me.

"M-Master?"

Wondering if I had said something I should not have, I looked at her. Startled herself, Master grabbed my shoulders.

"Ah, no, that’s not it... I’m sorry, little one. That’s right... Hugging one’s disciple is perfectly natural."

"Um... yes..."

"Still, you mustn’t go around calling just anyone beautiful. Understand?"

No, I had only called a beautiful person beautiful. What was that supposed to mean...? Did Master never look in a mirror?

Or was complimenting someone’s appearance considered extremely rude in this world?

Still, wouldn’t anyone like receiving a compliment...? Maybe I only thought so strongly because I had lived without receiving any praise.

"Master, am I not supposed to call a beautiful person beautiful? And it’s not just anyone—you really are pretty, Master..."

Master’s face grew redder and redder. She squeezed her eyes shut and covered my mouth.

"Mmpph??"

"Ah! I-I’m sorry... That’s not what I meant. How am I supposed to explain this...?"

"Mastuh?"

"My disciple... You must become strong. Strong enough that no one can easily lay a hand on you. Now, we should finish the training we didn’t get to complete. Sit down comfortably over there."

????

I did want to become strong, but sometimes it was hard to understand the context of the things Master said.

Maybe this was the result of neglecting martial arts novels.

Would it have been easier to understand if I had read even one of the martial arts novels the director had offered me?

As I drifted into stray thoughts, Master slapped the floor with her tail.

"Hurry and sit with your legs crossed."

"Yes!"

Well... I would get used to it as I learned more things.

**

Arin swallowed a sigh as she looked at her disciple, whose face was full of bewilderment.

How could she explain to a boy, ‘You shouldn’t say things like that because someone might rape you’...?

It was such a cruel world for men.

Appearance could be power, but outstanding looks possessed by someone without strength could become a curse.

Arin imagined a future where she had never found her disciple.

If a handsome man with no one to protect him went around smiling foolishly and seducing women...

He would absolutely, absolutely suffer something terrible somewhere.

‘I will make him strong, no matter what.’

A sense of responsibility toward this lovely child, the younger sibling she saw reflected in him, and a tangle of complicated emotions set Arin’s resolve aflame.

Arin went behind her disciple and placed her hands on his back.

When his firm back muscles met her hands, those alluring shoulder blades twitched...

Smack!

At the sound of Arin slapping her own cheek, her disciple turned around.

"M-Master?!"

"Close your eyes."

"??? Yes..."

Arin cast aside the inner demon trying to open its eyes inside her mind and calmly explained.

"From now on, I will help you feel qi directly. I will guide the process by which the qi of nature... qi outside the body gathers within it and becomes internal energy."

"Yes."

"Once we begin, making any sound is forbidden. Do you understand?"

"..."

"Good. I will begin."

Just as when she had examined his body, she first sent qi flowing into him.

"This is what qi is. You should be able to feel the energy flowing into your body."

Nod

"You need not move. Memorize the sensation of this energy flowing in."

Arin let qi flow into him, then removed her hands.

"Still your mind. Make your body sensitive enough to feel the qi brushing past you."

For now, she decided that would be enough.

It might take over a month just to feel qi.

It had taken even Arin, who had been famed as a genius, more than three months to feel qi. Judging by her disciple’s aptitude, one month should be enough.

Look, she could already see the natural qi gently flowing into his body—

"??!?!?!?!?"

The flow of qi visible to Arin’s eyes was heading into her disciple’s body.

‘O-One day? Is this the legendary aptitude of a Grandmaster?’

Unable to contain her excitement, Arin explained.

"That’s it! My disciple! Don’t forcibly pull the qi in. Let it flow through your body instead."

Arin’s eyes sparkled as she saw the flow of qi become noticeably smoother.

"Breathe! Breathe! Put your tongue against the roof of your mouth, inhale through your nose, and exhale through your mouth!"

Seeing her disciple already trying to accumulate natural qi, Arin became more and more excited.

"From now on, breathe while repeating my words silently in your mind!

Plant your feet upon the earth, yet do not rely on it.

Borrow the wind, yet do not grasp it.

Entrust yourself only to what flows onward,

Rise high like the clouds, then descend to earth and leave your mark.

So, too, must the heart circulate...

"

Arin continued reciting the cultivation formula for her disciple’s achievement.

She was thrilled beyond measure to see a body with such talent gradually being steeped in her family’s martial arts.

Arin had been imagining her disciple attaining great mastery and traveling the world when she saw him trembling all over and panicked.

"Little one...?"

Crackle

"????"

She had never taught him about the properties of qi, so why was there the sound of lightning...?

In that instant, her disciple’s waist jerked out to both sides before snapping back.

Cracklecackle!

"Little one!!!!"

Horrified, Arin grabbed and pressed down on the shoulders of her disciple, who was bouncing up and down.

"You can’t ascend to immortality, you fool! There is nothing but qi deviation at the end of that path!!"

Arin began examining her disciple’s condition.

Then, something that should not have been there... no, something that should not have been moving, was moving.

"H-His dantian is moving??! N-No!!"

In a panic, Arin began feeling all over her disciple’s body.

"Ghh! How can a dantian... how can a dantian move around inside the body?! Stay still!"

Like trying to catch a ball bouncing around, Arin thoroughly pawed at her disciple’s body.

Having barely seized the dantian with her qi, Arin let out a sigh and pulled it back to where it belonged.

"Whew... N-No, the dantian moves...?"

Arin pondered what kind of constitution could possibly cause such impossible things to keep pouring forth one after another.

What brought her back to her senses was her disciple’s pitiful voice.

"Master..."

Along with the pillar touching her lower body...

"Huh...? Sniff sniff!"

Throb!

Arin’s sensitive senses involuntarily measured the size of the pillar pressed against her lower body.

‘It can get even bigger than it was then...?’

All manner of obscene fantasies short-circuited Arin’s brain.

"Ah..."

The one word that brought her to her senses came from her disciple, whose ears were bright red as he covered his face with both hands.

"I’m sorry..."

The handsome man’s robe was completely open at the front, her handprints all over his body. He smelled of a male in heat, yet he was apologizing instead.

Still, perhaps her training thus far had not been in vain. With superhuman willpower, Arin barely held onto her reason.

Forget the dantian moving all over the place—what mattered most right now was...

"I have committed a sin deserving death!"

All she could do was prostrate herself and beg fervently for forgiveness.

**

An incident that occurred during meditation.

I bent over, trying to disperse the blood that had pooled as much as possible.

It was not easy, since the sensations and scent that had covered my whole body until just now were still so vivid... but I somehow managed it.

I closed the open front of my robe and looked at Master.

Master was lying flat on the floor.

Seriously, how many times had we already been in this situation today...?

I cleared my throat and spoke.

"Master."

Flinch!

"I keep telling you, I’m fine. If anything, I’m the one who should be sorry."

Master slightly raised her head and looked at me.

"Sorry for what...?"

"While you were teaching me, I showed you such an unseemly side of myself as your disciple."

So Master would not feel embarrassed, I bowed to her in return.

Master looked startled and hurriedly stopped me.

"Little one... what are you saying? You mustn’t apologize when you have done nothing wrong."

"You had done nothing wrong either, yet you apologized. It is only proper that I do the same."

"Oh, goodness, get up quickly. Quickly."

I could not help but laugh when I saw Master lift me up and brush off my arms.

If it had not been for Master... things could have turned out very badly for me.

Filled with gratitude for the person who had saved my life, I said:

"Master, you saved my life, so please do not apologize over something so trivial. I still have so much to learn from you. This is nothing at all."

"..."

"Master?"

"Slurp! Ah, r-right! I see! Ahem!"

Master clutched her head and furrowed her brow, then laughed helplessly.

"Ha... Thank you, little one... I am fortunate to have such a kind-hearted disciple."

"Don’t mention it."

Master closed her eyes and smiled faintly.

Having calmed down, she carefully asked me:

"Is there anything wrong with your body?"

I rolled one of my arms around, then nodded.

"No, I’m fine."

"I see... Then that’s good... You must be hungry, so let us eat."

"Yes!"

"We’ll examine your dantian this evening for now... We need to make a new plan..."

"Master?"

"T-The kitchen is on the right."

And so, my daily life with Master began.

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