Chapter 53: Chapter 53
Returning to the thatched cottage, Cheon-hwi sat at the edge of the steep cliff and looked down.
The procession of busy Mount Hua Sect Taoists, along with the merchants and martial artists awkwardly following behind them, continued endlessly.
It was like a swarm of ants.
The sight of the Mount Hua Sect visible below Lotus Peak was changing day by day.
“It seems the rumors are spreading further.”
Right when he was looking with a satisfied expression.
“Martial Uncle!”
Jeok-geom’s shout struck his ears.
Jeok-geom suddenly came running, even utilizing footwork, as if something was so urgent.
“Huff, huff. Martial Uncle. A, a guest has come looking for you.”
“A guest? Who is it?”
“That is…….”
At that moment, a light breeze blew in, and the cold-looking Martial Training Guild Leader appeared.
“Did you return safely?”
“Martial Uncle Hyeon-yang?”
Cheon-hwi looked at him with an unexpected expression at his appearance.
‘What brings that person all the way here?’
Cheon-hwi’s doubt was natural.
He and the Martial Training Guild Leader maintained a somewhat friendly relationship. They often ran into each other at the Ten Thousand Scenery Pavilion and exchanged greetings.
But he had never personally come looking for him at the thatched cottage until now.
“What brings you here?”
“I came because I have something I want to ask.”
“Something you want to ask?”
In an instant, he recalled Hyeon-cheong from this morning.
“What is it?”
“Just what kind of training did you put the disciples who left with you through?”
The Martial Training Guild Leader’s eyes narrowed.
The Plum Blossom Swordsmen he met today were completely different from before.
To be precise, their martial arts and internal energy were the same, but their mindset, their insides, had changed.
The disciples, who had been clumsy just the day before their departure into the Jianghu, had grown into proper Plum Blossom Swordsmen in merely a few days.
It was as if…….
‘Like they had become different people.’
Cheon-hwi stared at the lost in thought Martial Training Guild Leader and asked with a puzzled expression.
“Did they not tell you what kind of training they received?”
“Indeed.”
The Martial Training Guild Leader frowned.
He too had wanted to hear the answer directly.
However, when he asked what kind of training they had received from Cheon-hwi, their complexions would turn pale, and they would merely tremble in silence.
“So, in order to find out what kind of training it was, I came looking for you myself, as there was no other choice.”
The Martial Training Guild Leader’s eyes blazed.
Having clearly witnessed the disciples’ growth yesterday, he continuously suffered from curiosity.
‘Just what kind of training did they receive to achieve such eye-opening growth in a few days? No. Have the people themselves changed?’
That was why he came personally despite knowing it was a nuisance.
“If it is fine, could you teach that method to me as well?”
“That much doesn’t really matter, but.”
Cheon-hwi smacked his lips while looking at the Martial Training Guild Leader, whose two eyes were sparkling.
“I performed the Body Transformation Art.”
“Body Transformation Art……?”
A sound of empty air escaping came from the Martial Training Guild Leader’s mouth.
“It is a type of soft qigong that maximizes the flexibility of the entire body, and it is quite good.”
The Martial Training Guild Leader’s eyes grew larger than ever.
The body’s flexibility was one of the most important virtues for a martial artist, but mastering it was extremely difficult.
But to maximize that.
Listening to the explanation, the reason why their martial arts skills had become so superior made sense.
“I suppose it is an external qigong.”
“Well, it’s roughly similar.”
‘It is a bit different, but the result is the same, so it shouldn’t matter.’
It was fundamentally different from that, but Cheon-hwi, finding it annoying to explain, roughly glossed over it.
“Then, could you show me that so-called Body Transformation Art?”
“It is fine, but there is a problem since it makes the entire body flexible.”
“Problem……?”
“It hurts quite a bit.”
Wondering if it was a serious problem, the Martial Training Guild Leader, who had been fully tense, let out a chuckle.
“Just a bit of pain is fine…….”
“P-Guild Leader!”
Jeok-geom, who was listening to the conversation from the side, called out to the Martial Training Guild Leader in shock. He carefully opened his mouth with a deathly pale face.
“Th-That, it would be better not to do…….”
“What are you talking about.”
The Martial Training Guild Leader’s eyes slanted upwards.
“Do I look like someone who couldn’t even endure that much pain to you?”
Jeok-geom gasped and swallowed his breath.
But despite that, he did not give up.
“N-No. But it would be better not to…….”
“Be quiet.”
The Martial Training Guild Leader, coldly cutting off Jeok-geom’s words, approached Cheon-hwi and spoke.
“Just what in the world is it to cause such a fuss, I must directly confirm the efficacy of the Body Transformation Art even a moment sooner.”
“Alright. Then you need to sit in the lotus position first.”
“The lotus position, you say? Hmm, understood.”
The Martial Training Guild Leader obediently followed Cheon-hwi’s words and took the lotus position, and soon Cheon-hwi’s hands pressed his acupoints like lightning.
Ta-ta-tat!
Surprise nested in the Martial Training Guild Leader’s eyes.
‘This kind of technique……!’
The Martial Training Guild Leader, not knowing Cheon-hwi’s martial prowess, was shocked by the lightning-like hand movements that his eyes couldn’t even follow.
“To have struck eighteen acupoints and qi meridians in such a brief moment…….”
However, that was not all.
Cheon-hwi’s hand movements became increasingly unpredictable, and the eyes of the Martial Training Guild Leader, who felt them, also gradually changed.
‘How can this be! With such a fast technique, it wasn’t for nothing that Sect Leader Martial Brother and Martial Brother Hyeon-do cherished Cheon-hwi.’
Only then did he gradually understand the appearances of the martial brothers who took care of and cherished Cheon-hwi.
‘The future of Mount Hua is bright!’
A smile formed on his face, and warmth smeared onto his cold impression.
At that moment, Cheon-hwi also stopped his hands.
“It’s finished now.”
“Is that so? By the way, you said it would be accompanied by quite a great pain, but it’s fine……. Ggeu-eok!”
In an instant, the sound of a pig being slaughtered erupted from the Martial Training Guild Leader’s mouth.
Along with that, his entire body began to twist bizarrely, and veins bulged on his forehead.
Bba-deuk!
Clenching his teeth and enduring the pain, he flashed his bloodshot eyes open and muttered.
“S-So this was why they turned pale when asked what kind of training it was…….”
He now understood their feelings.
Meanwhile, Cheon-hwi stared at the Martial Training Guild Leader enduring the pain with newly amazed eyes.
‘Oh! He’s enduring this?’
He also knew just how hard it was to endure the pain of the Body Transformation Art.
“I, it is…… done now.”
Cheon-hwi immediately undid the Body Transformation Art.
With a cracking sound, the Martial Training Guild Leader’s twisted body returned to normal.
“You are the first person to endure the Body Transformation Art for this long, Martial Uncle.”
It was a word of praise that welled up from the inside.
“I-Is that so?”
The Martial Training Guild Leader, smiling bitterly, wiped the sweat beaded on his forehead and then moved his body.
“It truly is an astonishing result.”
The Martial Training Guild Leader moved his body here and there before unconsciously muttering to himself.
A lightened body and smooth movements.
He clearly felt the result.
It was to the extent that he wanted to perform it on all the disciples of the Mount Hua Sect right this instant.
But.
‘Will the disciples be able to endure this?’
The pain was so great that it would completely offset all these advantages.
‘I almost fainted.’
Swallowing his dry saliva, he looked at Cheon-hwi.
“By the way, when did you learn such a unique soft qigong?”
“At the Ten Thousand Scenery Pavilion.”
Cheon-hwi indifferently told a lie.
‘Who would know whether it’s in the Ten Thousand Scenery Pavilion or not?’
“From the Ten Thousand Scenery Pavilion, you say……. I see.”
As expected, the Martial Training Guild Leader accepted it.
Since the fact that Cheon-hwi visited the Ten Thousand Scenery Pavilion every day was already widely spread within the Mount Hua Sect, he did not doubt it.
“But it is surprising. For those kids to have obediently received the Body Transformation Art…….”
The Martial Training Guild Leader stopped mid-sentence.
It was because, at the moment he was speaking, Jeok-geom was showing a troubled expression.
“No, there’s no way they would have received it obediently.”
“That’s right.”
“How did you do it?”
“I made them choose one out of two.”
“Choose?”
“They couldn’t even swing their swords properly in real combat. So, I tried to give them some training that would be effective, but they refused, so I had no choice but to perform that at least.”
At Cheon-hwi’s words, which heavily emphasized the part ‘had no choice’, the Martial Training Guild Leader’s face turned cold.
“Did you just say they refused the training?”
“Yes.”
In an instant, he raised his eyebrows with eyes like sheets of ice and gritted his teeth.
“What kind of training did they refuse?”
“Performing the Three Talents Sword Art ten thousand times each.”
“Mere Three Talents Sword Art…… ten thousand times?”
The Martial Training Guild Leader burst into bewilderment.
He had thought it would be extraordinary training, but to swing the Three Talents Sword Art ten thousand times each.
It was dreadful just thinking about it.
“I-Is that true?”
“Yes.”
The Martial Training Guild Leader clutched his forehead.
It was certainly a difficult training.
However.
“Even so, to refuse training. Haa, have I been making them train too comfortably all this time.”
Sighing, he shook his head.
“I am sorry. I should have given them harsh training, but instead, you had to do it……. I received help from you.”
The Martial Training Guild Leader smiled bitterly.
‘Because his health wasn’t good, I hoped he wouldn’t get involved with the matters of our sect if possible, but…….’
The Cheon-hwi he knew was a weak child.
Weak in body and weak in mind.
But not anymore.
‘To have the heart to take on the role of the villain for the sake of the disciples’ growth, even if it meant being cursed at by those with the skills to become Plum Blossom Swordsmen at any time.’
He was a single Taoist, no, beyond that, he could be called a Taoist of the Mount Hua Sect.
‘Gang left behind a treasure.’
A smile hung on the Martial Training Guild Leader’s mouth.
“Ah, more importantly…….”
Blurring the end of his words, he approached Cheon-hwi and whispered in his ear.
“Could you teach that to me?”
“The Body Transformation Art?”
The Martial Training Guild Leader nodded his head.
“But as you could see, the pain is severe, so the disciples wouldn’t like receiving it; will that be fine?”
“Hahaha. If so, wouldn’t I just have to do exactly as you did? Will they swing the Three Talents Sword Art ten thousand times a day, or will they receive this Body Transformation Art thing? The decision is up to the disciples, isn’t it.”
In an instant, the corners of Cheon-hwi’s mouth curled up, and the look in his eyes as he looked at him changed.
‘Oho. You mean to say you’ll perform it on the disciples even after having suffered that pain yourself? Not bad?’
Cheon-hwi’s eyes curved.
“Teaching it to you is easy.”
“Then, I leave it to you.”
“First, the qi and blood…….”
Cheon-hwi spat out the mnemonic chants of the Body Transformation Art.
“Stimulate the acupoints and qi meridians from there……. So you loosen the muscles in that manner?”
Listening to that, the Martial Training Guild Leader continuously let out exclamations of admiration in between.
“You’ve memorized it all, right?”
“I have memorized it all.”
Having memorized all the mnemonic chants of the Body Transformation Art at once, the Martial Training Guild Leader nodded his head.
“Thank you.”
Conveying his words of gratitude once again, the Martial Training Guild Leader met his eyes with an expression of relief.
“If by chance something arises where you need my help, come find me anytime……. No, just come find me anytime if you are bored.”
“I will do so if I have a reason to go.”
“Yes, make sure you come.”
Having heard Cheon-hwi’s reply, the Martial Training Guild Leader left Lotus Peak with a satisfied face.
Meanwhile, Jeok-geom apologized to his martial junior brothers internally while looking at the retreating Martial Training Guild Leader.
‘I’m sorry I couldn’t stop him.’
A feeling of pity naturally arose.
He tried to stop the Body Transformation Art from being passed on by any means, but it was of no use.
The Martial Training Guild Leader was that resolute.
“Immeasurable Life Buddha.”
Around the time he was mourning with a pitiful expression, imagining the figures of the disciples who would soon be subjected to the Body Transformation Art by the Martial Training Guild Leader.
‘He was quite a decent fellow.’
Cheon-hwi smiled with satisfaction.
He did not care whether the disciples writhed in pain due to the Body Transformation Art or not.
He simply liked the Martial Training Guild Leader, who had accepted the Body Transformation Art, which other Taoists of the Hyeon generation would have made a fuss about and rejected.
‘Next time we meet, I should teach him something else.’
Who could have known.
That this short meeting between the two of them would become the cause of screams running rampant in the Mount Hua Sect in the future.
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