Chapter 327: Legitimacy (4)
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Dazedly, I looked back and forth between Cheong-hwa and the fluttering book. Cheong-hwa was smiling, thoroughly pleased that I was flustered.
“It has been quite a while since I saw such a foolish expression on your face.”
“Have I ever made a foolish expression?”
“Quite often. You wouldn’t know because you can’t see your own face, though. For instance, when you were caught trying to run away from Wudang. By that alone, I feel bringing the Taiji Wisdom Sword was worthwhile.”
Cheong-hwa closed the book. On the cover, the characters for Taiji Wisdom Sword were written in a neat, elegant calligraphy.
“Did Master bring this?”
“Yes. Someone of your caliber is well qualified to learn it.”
Cheong-hwa gestured to me. As if enchanted, I walked over to the desk and sat down.
“No matter what anyone says, isn’t your talent outstanding enough to learn the Taiji Wisdom Sword? More than anyone else in the Wudang Sect, that is.”
“……Is that so?”
“Hah, pretending to be humble out of character. Spread your qi sense. There is no one around.”
“Am I someone who pretends to be humble just because people are around?”
“Aren’t you a rascal who changes a lot depending on the surrounding situation?”
I could not deny Cheong-hwa’s words. In fact, those words weren’t wrong. I was someone who could change quite a lot depending on the situation, and that was also the wisdom gained from dealing with countless people as a merchant.
“There is no reason you cannot learn the Taiji Wisdom Sword. Because the Taiji Wisdom Sword is something learned by the outstanding children among the Taiji Sword Guardians. Since none of the current Taiji Sword Guardians produces achievements comparable to yours, it is only natural for you to learn it in advance.”
“Does the Sect Leader think so as well?”
“I persuaded the Sect Leader that way.”
“Ah.”
I felt burdened. The Taiji Wisdom Sword. Was it not the very essence of orthodox martial arts?
Since I could now integrate and handle my energies, learning the Taiji Wisdom Sword would not pose a major problem. The issue was that my conscience pricked.
To learn the essence of the Wudang Sect without revealing that I led the Demonic Cult—that was unacceptable. It was a betrayal of the time spent together with these people.
“Still, it is a bit burdensome.”
“What kind of uncharacteristic talk is that? When did you ever refuse what was given?”
“I once refused the position of the Wudang Sect’s core disciple, didn’t I?”
Cheong-hwa narrowed his eyes. I hastily added an excuse.
“Ah, I am currently organizing my martial arts, so if I learn an advanced martial art like the Taiji Wisdom Sword here, wouldn’t it become a bit complicated, difficult, and cause me to lose focus……”
I watched Cheong-hwa’s reaction. Cheong-hwa’s eyes narrowed even further, now turning into thin threads.
“What is it?”
“Pardon?”
“What are you hiding?”
At Cheong-hwa’s words, I felt as if my solar plexus had caved in. Maintaining my expression immediately, I spoke. Su Je-heon had told me to clash with all my strength, but to be frank, I was not yet ready.
“What do you mean? Hiding something.”
“Because it is the first time I have seen you attempt such a long-winded, unpersuasive persuasion.”
“I am not a perfect person either.”
“You are simply reluctant?”
“Yes.”
“That is not for you to judge. Telling you to learn the Taiji Wisdom Sword—you know as well that the orthodox martial world is currently in crisis, don’t you?”
Cheong-hwa’s voice grew quite serious. It was true. If I learned an advanced martial art like the Taiji Wisdom Sword, not only would there be meaning in learning the Taiji Wisdom Sword itself, but it would certainly be of help to the Primordial Boundless Sword Art as well.
“Even so, I believe there is an order to things.”
“An order. There is something bothering your conscience.”
“I told you there isn’t.”
“Come out.”
Swishing the hem of his Daoist robe, Cheong-hwa turned his back. When he suddenly opened the door and walked out, I followed behind him belatedly.
“Where are you suddenly going?”
“The back courtyard.”
The front courtyard and back courtyard of the Hall of Preserved Wholeness were both training grounds. I felt an ominous premonition.
And that ominous premonition became reality the moment we entered the training ground and Cheong-hwa drew his sword.
“I shall judge your condition. Raise your sword.”
“All of a sudden?”
“There is no better method when a master assesses his disciple.”
I agreed with Cheong-hwa’s words too. After all, I had also clashed with swords when persuading Su Je-heon.
Right now, Cheong-hwa was telling me to draw my sword to know who I was. Hesitating, I drew Bright Elegance.
“Still……”
“You talk too much.”
Cheong-hwa would not let me drag things out. Cheong-hwa suddenly vanished from before my eyes. Then, Cheong-hwa’s clear, serene face drifted up right in front of me.
“……Crazy.”
In an instant, I raised my sword diagonally to block.
“Did you just use such vulgar language in front of your master?”
“I was talking to myself.”
“Making excuses as well. I see.”
Mist poured out from Cheong-hwa’s sword. The blade was veiled in mist and could not be seen. Only the hilt gripped by Cheong-hwa was visible, while the blade turned like shimmering heat haze. The realm where the sword itself became a flowing cloud. It meant he had mastered the Flowing Cloud Sword Art to consummation.
Widening my eyes, I concentrated on the energy of nature. Even if he could momentarily emit clouds to conceal the blade, the essence of it being a sword did not vanish. It was enough to track the metal qi that cleaved through the atmosphere.
Cheong-hwa’s movements were fluid and beautiful. It was at a level where it looked not like a swordsmanship intended to harm people, but a sword dance to heighten festive spirits.
“Hmph!”
With Cheong-hwa’s shout, sword qi poured out supplely from the cloud concealing his blade. Spinning my body, I unleashed Fullness.
With my body as the center, a spiral wave of force was generated, deflecting the sword qi incoming from all directions.
“A fine stance.”
Cheong-hwa admired. Come to think of it, after mastering the Primordial Boundless Sword Art, I didn’t seem to have held a spar with Cheong-hwa.
“However, that alone is not enough!”
Stepping into footwork, Cheong-hwa began to press me. Not lively footwork flashing in the east and appearing in the west, but a soft footwork flowing continuously without break.
From an invisible blind spot, Cheong-hwa’s sword flew in. I twisted my head to dodge, but the blade grazed past my cheek. Along with intense heat, droplets of blood sprayed onto the ground.
“Do you intend to kill your disciple?”
“Stop complaining.”
Cheong-hwa smiled coldly and stepped back briskly.
“Is it over?”
I asked with anticipation. Because I thought it would be good if it ended at about this level.
However, Cheong-hwa was not an easy person after all.
“How could that be?”
Gripping his sword in a mid-level stance, Cheong-hwa raised it before his chest. My eyes went wide. It was a posture I seemed to have seen somewhere.
“Wait a moment, Master.”
I spoke urgently. Because an overwhelming sense of dread assaulted me. However, Cheong-hwa did not answer.
Instead, a blue heat haze rose from Cheong-hwa’s sword and body. It was energy of a clear, elegant color. And through the color of that energy, I figured out where I had seen it.
When I had tried to flee the Wudang Sect, Cheong-hwa had once demonstrated the Taiji Wisdom Sword. Right now, Cheong-hwa was showing me the Taiji Wisdom Sword once more.
The only difference was that while back then was merely a demonstration to show me, now I had to face it directly.
“Aren’t you a bit excited?”
“What excitement? The essence of the Taiji Wisdom Sword is a heart like a calm lake.”
Cheong-hwa closed his eyes.
“Do you know how the mnemonic chant of the Taiji Wisdom Sword begins?”
“I don’t really want to know right now.”
“It is: ‘This is called the shapeless shape, the formless image; this is called elusive and intangible.’ Having shape yet being indescribable, possessing form yet unable to manifest, it is thus referred to simply as the ecstatic void.”
Cheong-hwa seemed sincere about teaching me the Taiji Wisdom Sword. In martial arts, the two great pillars were the form of the stance and the intent of the mnemonic chant.
However, stances exposed their forms when displayed to people. In the end, what could be passed down through oral transmission was the intent of that martial art. That was why it was called a mnemonic chant, and that was the essence of martial arts.
With the chant of the Taiji Wisdom Sword, which originally ought to be kept secret, being freely spoken, Cheong-hwa had already firmly set his mind on transmitting the Taiji Wisdom Sword to me.
“Why are you really doing this to me?”
“Learning the Taiji Wisdom Sword is the honor of a lifetime. It is the first time I have seen a rascal react like you.”
“No, it is an honor. It is an honor, but I am saying I am not ready yet.”
“That is for me to judge.”
Cheong-hwa’s sword quietly drew a circle in the air. As if the atmosphere were tearing open, blue energy formed a circle. The blue circle blazed like roaring fire.
“Behold. The Taiji Wisdom Sword is none other than a sword that encompasses and assimilates into all creation.”
Without even getting my consent, Cheong-hwa began his lecture immediately. But there was no time to listen. Because the energy emanating from the circle drawn by the Taiji Wisdom Sword was extraordinary.
“……”
Putting strength into my eyes, I gripped the sword hilt tightly.
“As the sword and all creation assimilate, there is nothing that cannot be cut.”
Cheong-hwa thrust his sword into the circle he had created. Rippling like a lake, the inside of the circle swallowed Cheong-hwa’s Ancient Pine-Pattern Sword.
“Thus, my mind is none other than the sword.”
Cheong-hwa said. And as the circle burst open, it enveloped the space where Cheong-hwa and I were.
In an instant, a space composed of a white background and black ground unfolded around me. An extremely simplified world. White and black. It was Taiji.
“Master?”
I called out to Cheong-hwa, who was standing far off with his eyes closed. Right then, without any sign, the hem of my Daoist robe was suddenly severed.
“Whoa.”
I was startled. Getting my robe sliced was one thing, but the natural energy inside this space was composed of the Five Elements in perfect balance.
Normally, natural energy leaned to one side. Near a river there was abundant water qi, and around a brazier there was abundant fire qi.
In that sense, a place where the Five Elements were balanced was virtually close to impossible to exist.
Furthermore, even though a sword was flying in, that energy was not disrupted in the slightest. Only then did I seem to understand what kind of sword art the Taiji Wisdom Sword was.
Cheong-hwa had said he assimilated with all creation and that his mind was the sword. Right now, Cheong-hwa’s sword was assimilated into this perfect energy of the Five Elements.
Truly, the chant stating that it possessed shape yet was indescribable, and had form yet did not manifest, was spot on.
If so, was there even a way to avoid this sword in the first place? Right now, Cheong-hwa’s sword was likely roaming freely, but because it had assimilated into the perfect Five Elements unleashed by the Taiji Wisdom Sword, it didn’t catch in my senses.
I unleashed my energy. However, in this space, my energy could not take form at all. This space was already complete. Nature, with its strong restorative power and momentum, would not tolerate the slightest impurity.
It was then. Pain flared in my dantian as if someone had driven a massive needle into it. It was a kind of pain that was utterly unbearable.
“What is the matter all of a sudden? Did the urge to relieve yourself hit you?”
As my expression warped, Cheong-hwa asked in a teasing voice.
However, in my agony, I couldn’t even bring myself to answer.
Then, the demonic qi I had stored in my lower dantian began to run rampant. I realized.
Spiritual qi and demonic qi were mutually incompatible. And spiritual qi was the gathered energy of nature. But right now, the energy of nature was achieving perfect balance. That meant the pure demonic qi I possessed stood at the complete opposite pole.
In this situation, having removed the All Streams Return to the Source talent that prevented adverse reactions among all energies, an adverse reaction from the demonic qi inside me was inevitable.
“Disciple. What is wrong? You are frightening your master.”
Gradually, Cheong-hwa seemed to tense up as well.
Finally, pure demonic qi erupted explosively from my body.