Running was no exception.
Compared to his time on the Hwan Continent, this frail, pathetic, and utterly weak body would get exhausted just by moving forward at a speed that was far from impressive. His breathing would become labored, and even circulating Technique of sacred earth became a struggle.
There were times he just wanted to give up and collapse.
But Soohyeok kept running.
Because if you endure the pain and push past your limits—there's always a reward.
No pain, no gain!
Every reward comes with pain.
As the waste and stagnant energy in his body were pushed out, the energy of Technique of sacred earth , flowing through the soles of his feet in contact with the ground, expelled the impurities.
The more intense the pain, the more quickly Technique of sacred earth activated.
Sometimes, he could even hear the hum of energy spinning in his mind.
Of course, that was just an illusion.
With the tiny bit of inner energy he could control through Technique of sacred earth , there was no way he could do something as great as stimulating his upper dantian.
But it felt good.
At some point, the humming would fade, his head would clear, and strength would surge through his body.
That was no illusion.
Once the impurities were expelled and the innate energy activated, it filled his body with real power.
He had gone beyond his limits—and was rewarded.
"Oppa, slow down… just a little…!"
On the first day, Soohyeok and Sooah had run at a similar pace, but by the third day, the gap between them had widened drastically.
Unable to keep up, Sooah let out a pained groan.
For someone as prideful as her, gritting her teeth and pushing through to the second day had already been the limit.
Soohyeok stopped running and looked back at her with a smile.
"That shady stuff I saw online actually works. I feel totally pumped."
"Don't joke… around…"
"I'm serious. I'm going to keep running laps here, so catch up when you can."
Grinning mischievously, Soohyeok took off again in a flash.
Sooah stared blankly at his retreating figure, furrowing her brows before taking a deep breath.
Then she sealed her upper palate with her tongue.
She was trying her best to hold her breath, just about to exhale—
"Kek—cough!"
Her breath burst out of her against her will, leaving her gasping painfully.
Face red, Sooah felt deeply frustrated.
She had tried to follow Soohyeok's advice, but it wasn't easy.
It was hard to believe someone could breathe like that while running.
And yet, from what she had seen next to him, Soohyeok's breathing really did resemble what he'd described on the first day.
As she kept running just a bit longer, Soohyeok came up alongside her again.
"You look like you're having a tough time. Want to take it a little easier?"
"No, I'm fine."
Sooah replied coldly, her tone sharp despite Soohyeok's calm expression, and subtly listened to his breathing again.
She hadn't been mistaken.
Sensing this, Soohyeok grinned and said:
"Keep at it. If you're lucky, you might catch up sooner than you think."
He quickly ran past her once more.
Staring at his back with clenched teeth, Sooah shouted:
"I'm only pretending to fall for it because you're my oppa! Seriously! I'm only pretending because it's you!"
Soohyeok just smiled back without a word.
For two weeks, he had run like his life depended on it.
And the results came exactly on the fifteenth day.
A burning energy surged from the Yongcheon point beneath his feet, heating up Soohyeok's entire body mid-run. His breath caught sharply.
His heart pounded to the point of pain.
And then—
Ding!
A powerful determination is detected.
Level up achieved. Talent distribution is balanced. All stats +1.
Skill! Seongto Seoncheongong has leveled up to 2.
Along with the sound of a notification, bizarre words echoed in his head.
Soohyeok instinctively frowned.
'Level 2?'
It was a familiar word in the context of video games.
But applying it to martial arts felt extremely awkward.
Interface is detecting user consciousness. Converting…
As if reading his thoughts, another voice followed.
It was a subtle, ambiguous tone.
It sounded like a woman's voice, but also could've been a young boy's.
Despite this confusion, Soohyeok continued running.
The exhaustion that had been about to make him collapse disappeared with the level-up notification.
His body suddenly felt revitalized.
Just like how a character in a game would instantly regain HP upon leveling up.
A smile crept across Soohyeok's lips.
The human body—so often dismissed as weak—actually held some fascinating characteristics.
One of them was evolution, something all animals had to some extent.
At first glance, it might sound ridiculous.
In fact, when Soohyeok first heard about it from a wandering martial artist who had taught him the basics of martial arts on the Hwan Continent, he had asked:
"So if I evolve, am I going to grow horns on my head or stretch my arms like that bald yoga guy from that one game?"
The wanderer, who couldn't really be called a master but had taught Soohyeok much about the Hwan Continent, didn't quite get the joke—but burst out laughing anyway.
Then he smacked Soohyeok upside the head.
Soohyeok, who had tried to lighten the mood with a joke, looked hurt.
The wanderer laughed and said again:
"If your head doesn't hurt when I punch it, that's evolution, kid."
Across both Earth and the Hwan Continent, there was one famous martial sect that existed in both worlds:
Shaolin Temple.
And in that very Shaolin Temple, there existed a martial art known as Iron Head Technique.
It wasn't a form of internal energy cultivation, but rather an external martial art—the kind that trained the physical body.
According to the wanderer, a monk who had trained iron head teachnique to a high level could supposedly smash steel plates with his bald head.
At the time, Soohyeok laughed and told him not to joke. Could a human skull really become strong enough to crack steel? Even though Soohyeok, having read plenty of fantasy novels and played many games, was somewhat familiar with concepts like inner power and qi, he still couldn't believe the human body could achieve such strength without relying on some supernatural force.
And yet—it really happened.
Roughly two years after the wanderer, who had once smiled as he taught Soohyeok about the Hwan Continent's ecology and martial arts, had died in battle, Soohyeok witnessed it with his own eyes.
It was in the southwestern region of the Hwan Continent, where a somewhat well-known demonic cultivator and a monk who had trained at Shaolin were fighting.
Their internal power and martial arts techniques seemed to be evenly matched.
They clashed, exhausting their qi reserves, and Soohyeok—watching—had no idea who would come out on top.
In a moment of crisis…
When the demonic cultivator's iron club came crashing down on the monk's head, Soohyeok instinctively muttered, "Amitabha…"
He had assumed the monk had lost.
But in the end, that shining bald head shattered the club—which wasn't even imbued with inner energy but had been swung with considerable physical strength.
Then, using his solid skull, the monk landed a devastating headbutt that crushed the face of the demonic cultivator and won the fight.
It was a triumphant victory for iron head technique.
After witnessing that, Soohyeok no longer doubted that the human body could evolve beyond its limits.
And later on, he realized that this kind of evolution was an essential part of transcendent-level martial arts.
Mind , Technique , and Body .
You couldn't become a true master if any one of those were lacking.
Even if someone possessed vast reserves of inner power, without the body to withstand it or the technique to express it, their effectiveness would be cut in half.
It's like putting a jet engine on a compact car you see on the road—you can't expect it to fly.
In fact, if you try to push it beyond its limits, it'll break down.
That's why proper martial arts—the orthodox path—pursues the integration of mind, qi, and body.
On the Hwan Continent, the higher you climb in martial realms, the fewer demonic cultivators you see. This, too, follows the same logic. Demonic cultivators typically train in dark arts and unorthodox qi techniques that let them grow rapidly at first, giving them an early edge over those who follow the orthodox path.
But such rapid growth comes at a price—the misalignment of mind, qi, and body. As a result, they naturally hit a ceiling and find it difficult to ascend further.
In short, this is why people say the human body evolves.
To handle the harsh spiritual and energetic training, this evolution is essential.
So then—how does the human body evolve?
The answer is simple:
Treat it like steel.
That doesn't mean foolishly breaking bones and hoping they'll fuse back stronger.
The human body isn't literally steel. There are martial sects on the Hwan Continent that train in exactly that way, and they sometimes produce exceptional martial artists—but it didn't suit Soohyeok's temperament.
And the key word is "sometimes." That fact alone proves the flaw in their method.
Most trainees either died under the harsh regime or came out crippled. Soohyeok had seen plenty of both outcomes.
That sect was known for being open to all, giving everyone a chance.
They didn't believe in "Do not teach the art to outsiders" or "Only pass it on to the worthy."
Anyone could try, and that's exactly what led them to be eventually branded as a demonic sect.
Anyway, what mattered was this:
To evolve the human body, you must train at the edge of your limits.
Naturally, the greater your potential capacity, the greater the pain you must endure.
And Soohyeok liked that.
As he'd said before—every pain comes with a reward.
And the greater the pain, the greater the reward.
"Huff… Huff…"
Each breath he exhaled stabbed into his lungs like a sharp blade.
After passing his previous limits and recovering some stamina, Soohyeok had once again reached the edge—and was crashing into a new wall.
Even while deep in thought, Soohyeok kept moving, never stopping.
Strictly speaking, he was dragging his already maxed-out body back to the edge—then shoving it further.
From a distance, it might look like he was just starting over again, but the mental anguish and physical fatigue that came with it were entirely different.
Far deeper.
Just like how revisiting something you've already studied doesn't automatically make it easier.
His body may have recovered—but his mind still remembered the pain.
Such an extreme state was squeezing every last ounce out of Soohyeok's body.
It was brutal—but he couldn't stop smiling.
He knew he could surpass it.
He wanted to collapse, but he wouldn't stop.
Ping!
System image transformation based on user consciousness has been completed.
Another notification rang out.
But it wasn't the one Soohyeok was waiting for.
So he kept running.
His whole body felt heavy.
Like a giant bear was sitting on his shoulders.
Then came the pain—like his entire body was about to shatter.
He had crossed another limit. This was a danger signal.
If he didn't stop now, the backlash might be just like one of those reckless sects he looked down on.
But Soohyeok still kept running.
His limbs felt like they were tearing apart, and even his senses began to fade. Sweat dripped from his brows, blurring his vision—but he ran on.
"I feel it. It's close. Really close."
He could sense it.
That gut feeling born from countless trials, countless limits pushed through.