Chapter 162
Yang energy became flame.
Flame became yang energy.
Cold energy became yin energy.
Yin energy became cold energy.
The things contained in Jinseong's body mixed and mixed, their nature becoming ambiguous, and eventually filled his body with meanings of warmth and coldness, brightness and darkness, addition and subtraction.
The yang thus created moved while grasping the tail of yin, and yin moved while grasping the tail of yang. This appearance was like the sky where wind flows, like the sea containing various currents, resembling the shape of slowly flowing earth, and like the slow movement of celestial bodies in the universe.
And the yang and yin moving while grasping each other's tails contained a bit of each other's symbol as if biting each other's mouth.
Just as there was shade in brightness.
Just as there was subtraction where there is addition.
Yang contained yin.
Yin contained yang.
Thus, a formless and shapeless taiji was completed inside Jinseong's body.
This meant that Jinseong had embraced the symbol of taiji.
Good, very good.
Moreover, unlike Chinese sorcerers, what Jinseong inscribed in his body was not a patterned taiji but a formless taiji, so he didn't have to worry about losing the symbol of taiji due to the price of sorcery.
As the formless has no shape.
Only its form changes according to the vessel, but its essence remains unchanged.
No matter how Jinseong's flesh changes.
Even if he loses all human form and transforms into a monstrous shape, the symbol of taiji inherent in his body will be eternal.
Moreover, yin and yang balance each other.
This meant that Jinseong could freely use yang and yin energy as long as he didn't overexert himself to the point where the balance of yin and yang was completely crushed.
For now, the imbalance has been resolved.
Jinseong smiled, enjoying the warmth and coolness flowing through his body.
But it was too early to be satisfied.
Because the price of the coming-of-age ceremony didn't end with simply resolving the imbalance.
Sss-
As if saying it would give the next price after resolving the imbalance, the moonlight showered Jinseong with stronger light. Then Jinseong's skin writhed as if resonating, and absorbed a faint light as if absorbing moonlight. And the faint light swept over his body as if coating his skin, and then disappeared, seeping under the skin.
Whoosh-
And as the light disappeared, a gentle breeze wrapped around Jinseong as if the moon was breathing.
It was a wind fully imbued with the scent of the forest, not the barren and dry air.
The wind lingered around his body for a while as if trying to imprint its smell on Jinseong's body, then disappeared.
And as if this was the end, the light illuminating Jinseong disappeared.
But the price of the coming-of-age ceremony didn't end here.
Crack!
The golden spear that had first pierced the wild boar's body broke free from the wild boar's body that was firmly holding it and fell to the ground with a clang. Then, as if trying to erase the impurity on its body, it emitted a light so intense it was dazzling, and shot that light towards Jinseong.
The light containing heat seeped into his muscles, passing through Jinseong's skin.
Twitch twitch.
All the muscles in Jinseong's body moved as if convulsing, and proportional to that movement, his muscles began to change. The muscles became tougher, gained elasticity, and even their structure changed to become firm, transforming into a texture like a tough rubber ball.
His thin body didn't swell greatly, but its contents changed into a blessed physique incomparable to before.
And as if changing the muscles wasn't enough, the gold permeated various parts of his body.
However, perhaps because Jinseong had already undergone a body purification ritual in Japan earlier, there was nothing else to touch.
Because of this, the light was absorbed into Jinseong's body without doing anything special.
Carrying almost intact power, without being consumed for 'purification' or such.
And the light thus absorbed transformed into primordial vitality and strengthened Jinseong's body, giving him a more vigorous physique.
Very good, excellent.
Before regression, Jinseong had performed the coming-of-age ceremony on Coming of Age Day.
But that ceremony was hard to consider satisfactory.
Although he had performed the coming-of-age ceremony with seemingly good sorcery he had scraped together while staying with the Lee family, its effect wasn't great.
At best, his body became a bit healthier and his hair became fuller and less likely to fall out.
For ordinary people, this wasn't a bad effect, but...
Not being particularly bad didn't mean it was satisfactory.
In the past, I couldn't even set a direction, nor could I embrace a symbol in my body.
Becoming an adult meant being able to properly influence the world.
And the influence on the world had a direction.
A direction to achieve one's life goals.
Serving gods.
Creating things.
Exploring magic power.
Searching for truth.
Accumulating knowledge through repeated study.
Walking to achieve life's purpose and move towards that purpose.
The coming-of-age ceremony performed by sorcerers gave meaning to this direction.
In the case of a voodoo practitioner who performed a coming-of-age ceremony receiving the blessing of spirits, they gained a body that was not easily harmed by the poison emitted by plants, and a sorcerer who performed a ceremony to become friendly with animals emitted pheromones that make animals feel affection. Machine sorcerers who performed machine-related coming-of-age ceremonies became less likely to generate static electricity from their bodies and gained bodies that could withstand the poison emitted by rust and minerals.
But Jinseong couldn't properly set this direction.
There were several reasons for this.
As South Korea became a barren land for sorcery, there was a limit to the proper sorcery he could obtain.
Because he only had a vague obsession with sorcery, he couldn't properly set its direction.
There was no one around who could help him sorcerously.
The overlap of these numerous factors made him perform a coming-of-age ceremony that was directionless, insignificant, and utterly ordinary, instead of a proper one.
And this remained as a strand of regret for Jinseong, but now that regret has been completely resolved.
Because he performed a coming-of-age ceremony that embraced the correct direction.
A coming-of-age ceremony fitting with his past when he was called a parasite sorcerer.
A coming-of-age ceremony of primitiveness, barbarism, and wilderness.
The coming-of-age ceremony he performed now was an ancient one.
A coming-of-age ceremony from when humanity was scattered in tribal units rather than countries.
A very crude coming-of-age ceremony, not a refined one made by creating legends, creating myths, and gathering them together.
In the very old days when humans lived bowing their heads to nature and worshipping celestial bodies in the sky as great beings, humans proved their adulthood by proving their ability through hunting.
This coming-of-age ceremony of 'proving ability' was very common and a form of event that could be found commonly anywhere in the world.
It was a coming-of-age ceremony created by the harsh environment where one person had to do more than one person's share to survive.
If one couldn't prove their ability, they would be driven out without becoming an adult.
Even if one proved their ability, the treatment differed according to the 'results' they brought back.
One's status and position within the tribe changed according to the size of the prey brought back and its ferocity.
This 'universal' coming-of-age ceremony of early humans seen around the world gained sorcerous meaning as time passed and history was absorbed.
However, as civilization gradually developed, this crude, barbaric, dirty, dangerous, and inefficient coming-of-age ceremony disappeared.
It was relegated to a topic of conversation for passing time, like 'In the old days before civilization, there was this kind of culture.'
People only regarded this as 'the barbaric culture of uncivilized humans.'
Some even regarded performing such 'barbaric' things as sinful.
But just because something is shunned by some doesn't mean it's shunned by all.
For Jinseong, this ancient coming-of-age ceremony embracing primitiveness and barbarism was no different from a treasure.
That was why Jinseong put in all sorts of efforts.
He created a terrible cursed object by layering impurity upon impurity, used that cursed object as material to create a wild boar monster, fed the shaman evil spirit to the monster to grow its body, and completed the coming-of-age ceremony by capturing the plump prey thus fattened and burning it as an offering.
The result of the coming-of-age ceremony that maximized symbolism and greatly enhanced the effect was...
It will be of great help in the future.
Very satisfactory.
Jinseong smiled and turned his body.
Screech-
With space-folding, Jinseong moved towards the safe zone where he originally stayed, and in the place where he disappeared, only the burned wild boar, debris, and the village turned into a wasteland remained.
The village, now devoid of evil spirits and demons, buried all sounds in darkness and became a space where only silence prevailed.
* * *
[Ah, informing all personnel! Type A deployment! Type A deployment!]
[Inform that this is a real situation, all personnel Type A deployment-!]
"Aaaaargh! Damn it!"
"Type A deployment!"
"Type A deplooooyment!"
"Wake up! Wake up and put on your equipment and grab holy water right now-!"
If there's a place becoming quiet, there must be a place becoming noisy to maintain the balance of the world.
The safe zone became noisy.