Chapter 10: Chapter 10
About a cup of tea’s time after Hyeon-do left.
Cheon-hwi, who was looking at the sun that began to set little by little, lightly jumped up onto a large rock next to the thatched cottage and sat cross-legged.
‘I should gather Qi.’
He entered into breathing exercises to circulate his Qi.
Afterwards, he slowly observed the inside of his body while repeatedly exhaling deeply and resting.
He slowly began the Greater Heavenly Circulation.
A fingernail-sized amount of internal energy began to circulate through his Eight Extraordinary Meridians, and it merged as one with the energy coming in through his mouth and nose, accumulating step by step.
After fifteen minutes, he finished the Greater Heavenly Circulation.
‘How much has accumulated?’
He observed his lower dantian with his mind’s eye.
In his clean lower dantian, a speck of internal energy had gathered and firmly established a foundation… However, compared to before his Qi circulation exercises, the amount of increased internal energy was ridiculously small, to the point where he wouldn’t even know it was there if he didn’t examine it closely.
‘To think it is only this much even after performing the Greater Heavenly Circulation. In order to reach the minimum amount of internal energy I have in mind, it will take over a decade.’
His brow furrowed at the slow speed of Qi gathering.
Was it because the Plum Blossom Qi Art was a basic art learned before mastering a high-tier mental method?
Thanks to it, he was able to perform his Qi circulation exercises stably and accumulate pure internal energy, but he clearly felt its limits.
At least it was this much because it was the Plum Blossom Qi Art that only the inner disciples could learn, rather than the Six Harmonies Art that the registered disciples learned.
‘If it were the Heavenly Demon Divine Art, it would have accumulated ten times this amount of internal energy.’
While recalling the efficacy of the Heavenly Demon Divine Art he had mastered in the past, he shook his head back and forth.
When it came to Qi gathering, the Heavenly Demon Divine Art was superior to any mental method in the world.
Comparing it to the Plum Blossom Qi Art, which was merely a basic mental method at best, was nonsense in itself.
‘Should I change the mnemonic chants a bit instead?’
It felt like a pretty good idea.
Thinking about it, since the Plum Blossom Qi Art was a basic mental method, it would be easy to seek changes unlike other high-tier mental methods.
If anyone had known his thoughts right now, it would have been a matter that would make them faint in surprise.
Redefining a martial art was a daunting task even for a great grandmaster who created martial arts.
However, Cheon-hwi was speaking lightly as if he was going out for a walk.
It was because his confidence that he could do it overflowed.
That much was easy.
He slowly examined the Plum Blossom Qi Art.
Along with that, he slowly fell into deep thought.
How much time had passed swimming in the sea within his mind where countless martial arts manuals resided?
Cheon-hwi chose the martial arts of the Orthodox Faction first.
‘Focusing on the Nine Great Sects and One Gang.’
The Shaolin Temple’s Prajna Great Ability.
The Wudang Sect’s Two Extremes Supreme Ultimate Divine Art and the Mysterious Void Seven Stars Art.
The Kunlun Sect’s Jade Heart Return to One Art.
Followed by the Diancang Sect, the Zhongnan Sect, the Qingcheng Sect, and so on.
Around the time when the countless mental methods of the sects belonging to the Nine Great Sects and One Gang kept repeatedly appearing and disappearing.
Hmm? But looking at it like this, they are similar.
He felt a sense of strangeness.
On the surface, the mental methods were all completely different, but digging deep into them, he could discover many similar points.
Supreme Ultimate, Two Extremes, Nine Palaces, Origin.
They all started from the source.
Not to mention the orthodox supreme arts of the Nine Great Sects and One Gang.
Even the demonic supreme arts of the Heavenly Demon Cult.
Everyone possessed the exact same roots.
‘If that is the case…’
In order to put a sudden thought into practice, Cheon-hwi first drew up all of his internal energy from the Plum Blossom Qi Art.
After establishing the core known as the Plum Blossom Qi Art, he melted the mnemonic chants of the mental methods that kept popping up in his head one by one around it.
Like that, all the mnemonic chants in the world clung together as one.
Hwaaak!
Eventually, the boundary between the demonic supreme arts and the orthodox supreme arts collapsed, and they merged into one.
Was it called Ten Thousand Streams Return to the Ancestor?
Reaching the end like this, whether it was a demonic supreme art or an orthodox supreme art, they were pointing to only one place.
Returning to the Origin of the Orthodox Path.
The correct path known as the source!
Hwiiing…
An astonishing energy swirled out from Cheon-hwi’s cross-legged body and swallowed the surroundings.
A sharp momentum to be called an orthodox supreme art.
A clean and clear momentum that couldn’t be called a demonic supreme art either.
That appearance was as if it brought to mind the mental method of the Mount Hua Sect, the Purple Cloud Divine Art.
And that was a matter of course.
The Plum Blossom Qi Art was the root of the Purple Cloud Divine Art.
Tracing it back, the path was the same.
However, it was slightly different from the Purple Cloud Divine Art.
While the Purple Cloud Divine Art exuded a unique violet energy and was bound by several restrictions, the energy emanating from Cheon-hwi right now was transparent and didn’t even have any restrictions.
A primordial martial art that surpassed the Purple Cloud Divine Art.
Just like that, an unparalleled mental method that would forever remain in the history of the Mount Hua Sect was born.
Seureureuk…
Cheon-hwi opened his closed eyes.
This is pretty good, isn’t it?
It was a mental method that perfectly suited his taste.
Its Qi gathering was excellent, and if he exerted the internal power contained within it, it was so pure that it would certainly display great might.
‘I thought about just changing the mnemonic chants a bit, but I somehow ended up creating a new mental method.’
He slowly examined his lower dantian.
The traces of the Plum Blossom Qi Art remained.
However, the contents contained within it had been completely changed.
If it were his past self, he wouldn’t have been able to create such a mental method.
No, he wouldn’t have done it.
Because he had already mastered the Absolute Reigning Art and the Heavenly Demon Divine Art.
A new mental method; if this is the case, do I have to at least give it a martial art name?
He, who had always thought that a martial art must definitely have a martial art name, crossed his arms and fell into deep thought for a moment.
“Still, since it’s a mental method centered on the Plum Blossom Qi Art for now, it would be good to include the word ‘Plum Blossom’. Then what would be good for the back? Heaven? Present? Or…”
After thinking step by step like that for a moment, he spoke the martial art name that suddenly came to mind.
“…Divine Art, yes, the Plum Blossom Divine Art. Since it is created by none other than me, it should at least include ‘Divine’.”
Spitting out words filled with considerable pride, Cheon-hwi smiled in satisfaction.
“Since I’ve decided on the martial art name, shall I try performing the Greater Heavenly Circulation properly now?”
He closed his eyes again.
Then, as he reminisced over the mnemonic chants of the Plum Blossom Divine Art.
Hwaaak!
He achieved the Greater Heavenly Circulation in an instant, and an energy incomparable to before flowed in, quickly filling his lower dantian.
‘This is what a mental method is.’
Soon, he became engrossed in the Plum Blossom Divine Art.
Seureureuk…
Two hours later, he slowly opened his eyes.
An open field of vision entered his eyes, and even the scenery he was looking at seemed different.
A martial artist required First Eye, Second Feet, Third Courage, Fourth Power.
First, to see.
Second, to handle the feet.
Third, to possess a heart that doesn’t waver under any threat.
Fourth, to boldly unleash techniques in any situation.
One could only be called a proper martial artist if they carried out these four processes.
And right now, perhaps thanks to the Plum Blossom Divine Art, his eyes, which were considered the most important among the four processes, had opened.
“Good.”
He abruptly stood up from his seat.
Movements that had become much lighter like a feather.
Starting with lightly moving his neck left and right, he loosened up his body that had stiffened from performing Qi circulation exercises for a long time.
In the midst of that, his emaciated forearms and scrawny body caught his eye.
“I will have to solve this gradually as well.”
Thinking of the future, he looked down.
The wooden sword he had briefly put down before performing his Qi circulation exercises lay on the ground.
“Before that…”
He kicked the wooden sword with his foot.
Hwiririk…
Lightly grabbing the wooden sword that spun once in the air with his hand, his eyes flashed.
“Shall I check to see to what extent it is?”
He drew up the internal power of the Plum Blossom Divine Art.
Was it because it was still feeble?
There were no visible changes on the outside.
However, Cheon-hwi was feeling it.
‘The power contained within the internal energy is quite different.’
Was it because it was close to a primordial martial art?
Was it because the martial art had reached the beginning?
Or was it because it was pure?
It was an internal power of a level where, if someone else exerted sixty years of internal energy, he could oppose it with less than half of that internal energy.
Flash!
His two eyes half-opened.
A moment later, he stepped forward with his left foot.
Following that, his hand holding the wooden sword moved broadly from top to bottom.
Huuung!
The wooden sword swung without hesitation cleaved the wind in an instant and shed its residual force.
“With this level of internal power, I might be able to execute the Plum Blossom Sword Art that didn’t work properly last time.”
The corners of Cheon-hwi’s mouth twisted.
Before, he couldn’t execute it due to a lack of internal power, but with this much, it was completely possible.
He immediately loaded internal power into the sword.
He couldn’t manifest sword qi just yet.
However, that alone was enough to imbue the sword with a sharp edge and load it with power.
“How did it say to execute it?”
He recalled the martial arts manual he saw in the Ten Thousand Scenery Pavilion.
The martial arts manual that had the Plum Blossom Sword Art, or more precisely the ‘Twenty-Four Movements Plum Blossom Sword Art,’ written on it was the very first one he picked up from the archives containing sword techniques.
It made sense, since it was the sword technique that immediately came to mind when thinking of the Mount Hua Sect, and it was the one that the old bull-nosed Daoist used to perform.
‘It was messy, exuding the scent of plum blossoms or blooming some flowers every time he swung his sword, but it was still a fierce sword technique.’
A sword technique that dazzled with splendor.
He thought so when he faced it back then.
“How did it go again?”
He spread his feet shoulder-width apart, raised the wooden sword, and slowly drew a circle.
Like that, starting with the first move, Plum Blossom by the Roadside, he executed the moves one by one.
Second move, third move, fourth move…
The more he executed the moves of the Plum Blossom Sword Art, the more Cheon-hwi’s expression changed to one of astonishment.
‘It’s at a level where it ranks among the top of the countless sword techniques I’ve seen so far.’
He recalled the sword techniques densely filling the Heavenly Demon Archives and the Ten Thousand Scenery Pavilion.
Sword techniques that numbered well over hundreds even at a rough guess.
The Plum Blossom Sword Art he had just executed was exceptional enough to be counted on ten fingers among them, and regarding illusion swords, it was undoubtedly at a level to compete for first place.
‘Of course, there are some slightly lacking points, but that is a matter to solve later on.’
Drawing up his internal energy, he half-opened his eyes.
Seureureuk…
Internal energy naturally flowed into the wooden sword.
As he let it flow according to the mnemonic chants, the scent of plum blossoms faintly drifted from the wooden sword and tickled the tip of his nose.
‘It’s the scent from back then.’
The moment he suddenly recalled the old bull-nosed Daoist.
Seureureuk…
Before his eyes, the sword paths of the Plum Blossom Sword Art that the old bull-nosed Daoist used to execute appeared like an afterimage.
Seueuk…
His hand naturally followed that path.
How many times had he repeated swinging the wooden sword along the sword paths like that?
The boundary between his hand and the sword became blurred.
‘This is…’
As a situation he had experienced a number of times in the past arrived, he let out a laugh.
It was the state of selflessness, a condition that brought immediate enlightenment or drastically shortened martial arts stages in a single breath.
‘It came faster than I thought?’
He quickly concentrated on the Plum Blossom Sword Art.
If he missed it once, he wouldn’t know when it would come next; that was the state of selflessness.
Around the time Cheon-hwi, fully absorbed in the Plum Blossom Sword Art like that, was gradually falling deep into the state of selflessness.
Tak.
Two people appeared.
It was none other than the Sect Leader, Hyeon-sang, and Hyeon-do.
“…!”
“…!”
The Sect Leader, who had come all the way to the thatched cottage where Cheon-hwi stayed to confirm if the words Hyeon-do had just spoken were true, was the first to be astonished, and Hyeon-do beside him also opened his mouth wide.
Cheon-hwi was dancing a sword dance.
A beautiful sword dance exuding a thick scent of plum blossoms, enough to swallow all of Mount Hua.
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