Chapter 336: Xi'an (7)

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The reason I had displayed higher achievements than others until now was partly due to the talents from the shop, but the experience gained from the past certainly played a role as well.

I had undergone an experience no one else in this world would ever have. That was none other than death.

Thanks to the life that flashed past like a revolving lantern in the process of death, I was able to gain a deeper enlightenment about life than others.

While it was not easy to say that one person’s enlightenment was superior to another’s, on this matter alone I could be certain that it was.

Because of that, I came to cherish those who accompanied me even more, and paradoxically, there was an aspect where I grew quite detached regarding my own life. I held the thought that even if I died, it was a life gained as a bonus anyway.

Many people might wonder what connection such enlightenments had with martial arts. However, martial arts were fundamentally the summation of the life a martial artist had experienced.

Grasping my sword, I channeled my energy. From the large orifices in my body to the invisible tiny pores, I opened them all. I felt the energy of nature naturally permeating my body.

The process of assimilating my body with natural qi. When I first learned the energy of nature from Grandmaster, the first thing I mastered was the method of concealing my presence. The completion of the technique would be far more superior now than back then. Because right now, with the Wind God talent, I could see natural qi with my own eyes.

Now, my body had become transparent enough that even the flowing natural qi was deceived.

And onto that blank canvas, I painted my life one piece at a time.

The martial arts I had learned so far were close to things that had flown in and attached themselves to me. The Five Elements Sword, the Flowing Cloud Sword Art, the Heavenly Demon Sword Art. The Primordial Boundless Sword Art I had created was merely a combination of those as well.

However, things were different now. I was a person possessing internal energy, enlightenment, and experience unprecedented in the martial world. If so, the forms I had learned merely defined and restricted me instead.

I would build them anew from the very beginning. Suited to my breathing, suited to my internal energy, and suited to my enlightenment, I broke down the existing martial arts and reconstructed them.

The martial art I had used most frequently in the jianghu was Wudang’s Flowing Cloud Sword Art.

Just as Hyeon-wol had said, when I denied myself as a merchant, the sword art emerged trapped within a rigid mold. But now that I acknowledged everything, something new was bound to be born.

The Flowing Cloud Sword Art was a sword art that gave form to flowing clouds. When the patriarchs of Wudang created the Flowing Cloud Sword Art, they probably created it thinking of the clouds in their natural state drifting freely. Now that I had achieved mastery in the Flowing Cloud Sword Art, I could understand.

Yet to me, clouds represented moments of crisis and opportunity. When thick clouds gathered and rain fell, if one had prepared umbrellas, it was an opportunity; if one had been selling salt, it was a moment of crisis. Thus, crisis and opportunity cycled continuously.

If so, my Flowing Cloud Sword Art would become a sword art walking a precarious tightrope, unlike Wudang’s leisurely sword.

The Flowing Cloud Steps paired with it were the same. The Flowing Cloud Steps were also smooth footwork that connected seamlessly like flowing water, but the life I had lived was filled with sharp twists and turns.

For now, I reinterpreted only those two. Because facing an enemy in front of me, I did not have much time.

Even if I had displayed original sword paths when using the existing Flowing Cloud Sword Art, that was merely a variation of the Flowing Cloud Sword Art. Reconstructing it from the foundation altered the forms themselves. And I would have to change the name of the martial art as well.

The Cloud and Rainbow Sword Art. Clouds and rainbows. There were no words more fitting than these to symbolize crisis and opportunity. Naturally, the footwork was also decided as the Cloud and Rainbow Steps.

I took my stance. The Mount Hua elders wore bewildered looks. Their expressions showed they could not even imagine that I had just devised and created a martial art on the spot.

Even so, given what I had shown so far, they did not lower their guard. They merely approached cautiously.

Though I had created it myself, conceiving it in my mind and actually executing it were different matters. Even in my own assessment, my current stance was clumsy. Nevertheless, I believed in myself.

Without even making eye contact or showing any sign of using voice transmission, the Mount Hua elders naturally prepared their joint attack. It was the underlying strength of an illustrious sect like Mount Hua.

“Haah!”

With a shout from Gyeong Dae-gang on the right, the two charged. Though only by a fraction of an instant, Ro Hwa-un was slightly slower than Gyeong Dae-gang. Since he could not use one arm right now, Gyeong Dae-gang was showing consideration.

A splendid sword art bursting with the fragrance of plum blossoms enveloped me from both sides. The swords were so fast that at least ten blades seemed to target me, but astonishingly, there were no feints among them.

Employing the Cloud and Rainbow Steps, I swiftly rotated my body and slipped out of the tiger’s mouth they had created. Since it was a martial art I had created, the movements themselves were certainly far freer.

“……!”

I felt Gyeong Dae-gang and Ro Hwa-un, who had been observing my movements until just a moment ago, fall into fluster.

Astonishingly, the Cloud and Rainbow Steps I created were thirty percent faster than the speed when unleashing the Flowing Cloud Steps. I had never anticipated this degree of efficiency myself either.

Come to think of it, learning an existing martial art was the process of fitting the person named oneself into the martial art. And the more one assimilated into that martial art, the better the martial art that emerged.

However, I had approached it from the opposite direction. Instead of assimilating into a martial art, creating a martial art from the start out of who I was. Of course, displaying such a craft was something possible only for someone endowed with prehistoric talent, or for me, who had been granted all manner of talents from the Martial Talent Shop.

“Just what kind of trickery are you pulling?”

Ro Hwa-un asked in a dazed voice.

While Gyeong Dae-gang had watched from behind, Ro Hwa-un was the person who had personally traded several exchanges with me. He could not help but feel the change all the more dramatically.

“Did I not tell you? That I am unveiling it for the very first time.”

“It seems overbearing yet soft, full of variations yet simple. Every part preserves the golden mean, so it can never be called vague.”

“That is quite a favorable evaluation.”

“Why are you using such high-level martial arts for the first time? You should have used it often long ago to raise your proficiency.”

Ro Hwa-un spoke as if finding it regrettable. Right now, he was an orthodox senior lamenting that he could not see an even better martial art, rather than an enemy. Aware of that, Muk Hui-yeong replied in as humble a voice as possible.

“Though you may not believe it, it is because it is a martial art I only just thought of.”

“……You truly exceed the imagination of ordinary mortals by far.”

“Calling an elder of the Mount Hua Sect an ordinary mortal seems a bit unfitting, does it not?”

“Ordinary mortals and geniuses are relative. I too am a genius to someone, yet I can be an ordinary mortal as well.”

Now it seemed Ro Hwa-un and Gyeong Dae-gang would believe it even if even more absurd words came out of my mouth.

“You are truly a fascinating person. At times you seem like someone who tells lies without hesitation, yet at other times you seem like someone who speaks only the truth. That is imbued within your martial arts.”

As expected of Mount Hua elders, they possessed eyes capable of discerning martial arts.

Having someone recognize me was delightful, but that did not mean the three of us were not enemies right now.

“If the elders were members of the Wudang Sect, you would have made wonderful seniors for me.”

“A meaningless hypothesis.”

“How cold-hearted.”

At my words, Ro Hwa-un and Gyeong Dae-gang smiled bitterly. I let out a light chuckle as well.

To martial artists, crossing blades was the same as having a conversation. Hence, developing some degree of affection was not entirely strange.

“There is something I wish to ask the seniors.”

“What is it?”

“Do you genuinely believe that colluding with the Private Martial Union is right for Mount Hua?”

“I wondered what you were going to say.”

Gyeong Dae-gang let out a hollow laugh.

“Whether that is right or wrong is not important. Personally, I would rather die uprightly than live wrongly, but Mount Hua is different. Mount Hua must unconditionally be kept alive even if the process goes wrong. Mount Hua does not belong to us alone. It belongs to everyone from the ancestors to the future Mount Hua disciples not yet born. We cannot make decisions as we please.”

It was quite a profound discussion. I thought I understood what kind of dilemma they were facing. Resisting the Imperial Court, which was currently deeply involved in the martial world, was dangerous even for the Mount Hua Sect. Thus, they had conservatively chosen the safe path.

“However, if the predecessors show such a conduct, will it not affect the disciples of later generations as well?”

“Mount Hua is eternal. Our unsightly conduct may affect our direct disciples, but it will be forgotten after a hundred years pass. We can endure infamy for the sake of Mount Hua. Because the righteous spirit of Mount Hua will never be severed.”

“Then in the end, if there were a way to keep Mount Hua alive uprightly, you elders would have chosen that path as well, wouldn’t you?”

“That goes without saying. Do you think we wanted to join hands with the Private Martial Union?”

The Imperial Palace’s stance had never changed from the past to the present. Whether orthodox or unorthodox, martial artists were people who wielded weapons and threatened the safety of the common people.

Lacking understanding of the jianghu like that, they forcibly attempted to bind the Palace of Heavenly Worship and the Private Martial Union together. And as I saw it, that was the Imperial Palace’s first blunder.

“Then what would you do if the New Justice Association were to open that path for you?”

“You speak of absurd things. How could you, who oppose the Imperial Palace, possibly open that path?”

“I cannot tell you right this moment, but if that were the case, would Mount Hua join the New Justice Association?”

“I will not entertain meaningless hypotheses. It only looks like you are speaking to shake our mental composure.”

“I understand for now.”

I sheathed my sword. Ro Hwa-un and Gyeong Dae-gang wore dumbfounded expressions.

“Are you sheathing your sword in front of us right now?”

“Senior Ro needs to treat his shoulder, does he not? As you are advanced in age, you must take measures as quickly as possible for recovery to be swift.”

“You say words that hurt one’s pride.”

Ro Hwa-un furrowed his brows, but Gyeong Dae-gang nodded his head.

“Even if you run away, it does not seem we could catch you anyway.”

“Yes. So please do not bother chasing. It is a waste of time.”

I continued speaking.

“I will not ask the seniors to hide that I came to the Mount Hua Sect’s territory. That would be treasonous communication and an act of placing a debt on you seniors. Just remember the words we discussed today. If the New Justice Association can walk the righteous path while allowing the Mount Hua Sect to survive, please consider it then.”

“A martial artist of Mount Hua does not make promises he cannot keep.”

“A martial artist of Wudang is the same. We are fellow orthodox members after all, are we not?”

Flashing a grin, I prepared to leave the scene. No matter how much I hid our clash with the two Mount Hua elders behind a qi curtain, since the elders did not return, additional manpower would be dispatched. If I were trapped like that, it would only become troublesome for me, so I had to slip away while only the two of them were present.

Of course, slipping away while admitting that would hurt my prestige and that of the New Justice Association, so I used treating Ro Hwa-un’s shoulder as the pretext. In truth, stabbing Ro Hwa-un’s shoulder weighed slightly on my conscience as well, so it was not a complete lie.

“Then, farewell. This junior will visit again next time.”

Without waiting to hear their parting words, I immediately left the scene. Because I could sense Mount Hua martial artists gradually approaching using lightness skills.

The gains obtained in northern Xi’an were quite substantial.

Namely, confirming that even though they walked a different path from us, they had not abandoned the banner of the orthodox faction.

Now that things had turned out this way, the results in Gansu became all the more crucial. I had to persuade Cheong-hwa, and I had to persuade the Mount Hua Sect.

[ The Legitimacy stat increases. ]

Heading toward southern Xi’an, I grinned at the words slowly rising into view.

No matter how much unyielding rigidity the seniors of Mount Hua had shown, they had undoubtedly been persuaded to some degree by my words.