Chapter 160: Strengthening the Foundations
“You have changed.”
That was the evaluation given by the Divine Monk Elder after a light free sparring session ended.
While being one with the training ground, I listened carefully to the Divine Monk Elder’s words.
“Did you gain some great realization during the night?”
“Something… like that.”
To be precise, it would be correct to say that one martial art difficult to explain and a miraculous thing also difficult to explain had dwelled in my body, but since it was indeed difficult to explain, lump-summing it as a realization would be the wise answer.
“You have indeed become stronger. But there is a problem too.”
“A problem?”
“You have grown noticeably in sensory aspects, but your failure to adapt to that change yourself is also noticeable. Not realizing on your own that you have become faster means a gap has formed between your actual senses and your thoughts. Well, there is nothing to worry about. It is a sense of discrepancy commonly seen when one grows rapidly in an instant after gaining a great realization. However, you must fill in that gap as quickly as possible.”
“Ah…”
That I do not know myself is a terrifying story. Especially so in martial arts.
The old saying of ‘know your enemy and know yourself’ does not exist for nothing.
If I do not know myself precisely, I cannot estimate the difference between myself and the opponent. Unless the difference in skill is overwhelming, it becomes a problem perfect for showing a weakness that could easily lead to a gap.
“It is a downside of rapid growth.”
“…If I were just a bit younger and full of hot blood, I would have smashed your head.”
It meant my words were like complaining on a full stomach.
The Divine Monk Elder’s brow twitched subtly.
Was it because my physical strength was already completely depleted and I was on the verge of losing my mind? I interpreted those words in a different direction.
“So when you were young, your personality was even worse than it is now…”
“You are asking for another round. Alright, I will properly touch you up this time.”
With a bright smile, the Divine Monk Elder approached and lifted me up with one hand.
And a forced free sparring session followed.
It was the moment I gained the realization that if one continues to be beaten up, even the freedom to collapse vanishes.
“Gwaaaaaaargh!!”
Only after being trained (?) for about half an hour could I barely lie down on the ground.
As I lay spread-eagled looking at the clouds floating in the sky, I suddenly thought of the essence of the peach blossom tree, which had ended up entering my body and rolling around with me.
“Sorry. You entered an innocent person’s body only to suffer.”
When the essence of the peach blossom tree settled in my nerves, the very first worry that arose was whether everything I felt through my nerves would be shared.
Fortunately, it didn’t seem to be greatly affected, but I was concerned.
Because painful and distressing things could not be left out.
‘Huh?’
Suddenly, a tickling sensation was felt alternately on both of my earlobes. It seemed it was imitating a person shaking their head in its own way.
‘Cute.’
Although its response was simple, somehow I felt an attachment to it.
“Should I give you a name?”
Then, this time, my forehead and chin tickled alternately.
This time, the speed was faster than when it tickled my earlobes. If it had been in front of my eyes, it would have looked like it was nodding its head frantically as fast as possible.
“Let’s see…”
The first names that came to mind were Sohwa (Little Flower) or Seonhwa (Immortal Flower).
However, when I thought about it carefully to give it a meaning, a name that I thought was better came to mind.
“How about Sang-hwa?”
The flower that is above.
It could be a metaphor for it settling in the Upper Dantian, but it also carries the meaning of returning to heaven someday. Although the word ‘Sang’ means above, metaphorically it is also used to refer to heaven.
Running around my entire face excitedly, it seemed it liked the name.
‘Its expressions are indeed colorful.’
It seemed it would be fun to commune with it.
“Drink some water.”
Yi Hwa, who had approached before I knew it, knelt and held out a bowl filled with water.
“I will drink it well.”
Raising my body and receiving the bowl, I emptied the water in one go.
It felt like water soaking into dry soil. A pleasant refreshing feeling enveloped my body.
“I drank it well…”
I was about to return the empty bowl with a refreshed feeling, when Yi Hwa’s slightly lowered head caught my eye.
Perplexed for a moment, I pondered for about the time it took to count to three in my head, then raised my hand and stroked Yi Hwa’s head.
‘Is this right?’
I thought she disliked being treated like a young child and thus didn’t particularly like having her head stroked, but looking at it now, it seemed she didn’t hate it.
Yi Hwa, raising her head, smiled with a highly triumphant face while straightening her shoulders.
‘Ah! This is that.’
The childish bickering of young kids when they start a fight, saying, ‘You don’t have something like this at your house, do you?’ or ‘You can’t do this, right?’
It was not Cheong-u, who was sulking as if puberty had hit because I hadn’t hung out with him lately due to wandering outside, but the mature-beyond-her-years Yi Hwa acting like this, which surprised me greatly.
‘Is she jealous or something?’
The first thought that arose was this, but it was immediately dismissed.
Even though she was young, if I were to choose the most mature people around me, Yi Hwa was a child who would fit within the top three.
I think she was behaving this way because I had been dedicated to training lately and hadn’t been able to pay attention to her.
‘Ah! Now that I think about it, there was Cheong-u too.’
According to Baek Mu-ho’s opinion, siblings fight like enemies, but perhaps because there was a bit of an age gap between me and Cheong-u, he grew up with a personality that trusted and leaned on me a lot.
Thinking that he was sulking like that because I hadn’t been able to pay attention to him for a while, my conscience pricked a bit.
“Should I play with Cheong-u after a long time?”
I was also curious about his achievement in the Tai Chi Chuan that I had passed on to him before.
Raising my body, I approached Baek Mu-ho and tapped him.
“Mu-ho, are you alive?”
“I’m dead.”
“Good. Let’s go see Cheong-u.”
“How is the word ‘dead’ defined in your dictionary?”
Even while grumbling vehemently, Baek Mu-ho raised his body.
So dishonest.
“Would you like to go with us, Young Lady Jang?”
“Next time.”
Young Lady Jang So-wol raised her hand with difficulty and waved it.
It seemed to mean it was hard to join us in this state.
As my sweat cooled, I felt the chill of the cold wind.
“It will be winter soon.”
The sky was high.
***
One of the several hermitages of the Mount Hua Sect. Mae Gyeong-pung, who was staying at Adept Zihe’s residence, bowed his head as he saw his master returning.
“Have you returned.”
“Yes.”
Adept Zihe’s reply responding to the greeting was short.
Mae Gyeong-pung sensitively observed Adept Zihe, who seemed to be in a bad mood.
“It seems the matter you went for did not work out well.”
“It did not.”
Adept Zihe’s reply was still short.
Convinced that his master’s mind was uncomfortable, Mae Gyeong-pung quietly shut his mouth and waited for Adept Zihe’s words.
After keeping his place in silence for about fifteen minutes, Adept Zihe spoke in a slow tone.
“The Zhongnan Sect has caused trouble.”
“Was the agenda of the Nine Sects meeting requested by Wudang this time the Zhongnan Sect?”
“Yes.”
“It seems they found it bothersome that they were wiping out bandits recently?”
“If it were a problem of that level, it would not be this serious.”
“If inciting the movements of the Green Forest is something to be treated at that level…”
“It seems the Defeng Yin Clan joined hands with the Blood Cult.”
“What?”
“It seems that fellow, the Sect Leader’s disciple who was supposedly killed by the Demonic Cult, was also entangled with the Blood Cult. Thanks to that, all justification vanished at once. It seems the Nine Sects are planning to go into internal discipline respectively.”
It was an enormous matter.
Externally, and internally as well.
Above all, it was a story that was bound to cause problems in the big picture drawn by Adept Zihe and Mae Gyeong-pung.
“If it becomes like this, doesn’t it mean the board has been completely flipped?”
“It has become so.”
“Ah! I think I understand why your complexion was so dark, Master.”
Mae Gyeong-pung consoled Adept Zihe with sincerity.
Once again, Adept Zihe’s silence continued for about fifteen minutes.
“What do you think?”
Adept Zihe’s voice was slower and heavier than a moment ago.
At that question where the subject was not clear, Mae Gyeong-pung tilted his head.
“What are you referring to…”
“The Blood Cult. Would those things be in Mount Hua too?”
Adept Zihe’s voice, a thick disgust for the Blood Cult was smeared.
“Probably… wouldn’t there be none?”
“There is no way to know. If we consider the sinister nature of those fellows who joined hands with us.”
Regarding the faction they joined hands with, Adept Zihe strongly revealed distrust, just like with the Blood Cult.
Joining hands, but drawing a line.
Adept Zihe revealed his inner thoughts to his disciple without hiding, so that he could trust them.
“The earliest memory I recall is the scenery of Mount Hua. I grew up in Mount Hua, trained in Mount Hua, and grew old in Mount Hua. It is safe to say that my entire life has been together with this stuffy yet proud Mount Hua.”
“Yes, you did. You lamented, saying what use is the strength to only stay in the mountains, no matter how much one repeats training to build up martial arts.”
“I did.”
Even if one possesses the greatest strength in the world, what use is it if the people of the world do not know it?
Even if one has the strength to match a thousand, what use is it if there are no thousand enemies to prove it?
No matter how high a realm one reaches, if one only rots in the mountains without anyone recognizing it, wouldn’t that be worse than a circus strongman in the marketplace?
Adept Zihe’s thoughts were such.
“Therefore, I wished for a troubled world.”
I wanted to prove the strength I spent my life building, and rise to a position shining like a star as a hero.
“However, if it is a path that defiles Mount Hua, the story is different.”
“The Blood Cult… you mean.”
“There is a clear gap between reason and emotion. The reactions of the Zhongnan Sect, which swallowed its anger due to losing justification but ultimately could not suppress its wrath, and the Nine Sects, which consoled that they must endure but did not hide their criticism of the Zhongnan Sect, were to a dangerous degree. What I saw at this Nine Sects meeting was a deepening rift.”
Stroking his beard as he recalled the memory of that time, Adept Zihe’s eyes flashed strongly.
“It is something that must not happen. What I wished for was to gather the strength of the Nine Sects as one to eradicate unorthodox evils, not the division of the Nine Sects. The matter of the Blood Cult has crossed the line.”
“Then are you planning to cut ties with them?”
“For now… I plan to wait and see. Once we confirm what results the Green Forest we stirred up will produce, the route that you, I, and Mount Hua must take will also become clear. It won’t be too late to make a conclusion then.”
If the Green Forest achieves great harmony, they will inevitably have to descend from the mountains.
The sudden emergence of a huge force will disrupt the balance between orthodox and unorthodox.
Through the appearance of a powerful enemy that cannot be ignored, we will be able to induce the unity of the Nine Sects.
That was the big picture Adept Zihe drew.
“I will entrust a task to you.”
“Please give your command.”
“Find someone in Mount Hua who might have a line connected to the Blood Cult. There was already a Demonic Cult spy named Sang Woo-kyung. In the Zhongnan Sect, a child touched by the hand of the Blood Cult was the Sect Leader’s disciple. It is correct to judge that what has happened once will happen twice.”
“Leave it to me. I will execute the command without a hitch.”
As if he found Mae Gyeong-pung’s confident response reliable, Adept Zihe patted the shoulder of his disciple who had bowed his head.
Mae Gyeong-pung, who received plenty of trust from Adept Zihe, smiled quietly as if responding to that belief.
***
While conspiracy and belief, ideology and justice contested, time flowed relentlessly.
Autumn passed, winter passed, and spring came.
Around the time the sprouts announcing spring grew, new news was delivered to Samyang County.
“What? What did you say?”
“Bandits have been active lately, you see. So, the escort agencies are planning to put their heads together this time.”
“And the representatives of the escort agencies in Hubei are coming here to Samyang County, right?”
“This uncle is quite outstanding, you see. It seems everyone wants to gather around this uncle. Hahaha!”
Uncle Baek Jin-seong laughed heartily.
Hearing those words, I looked around.
The Divine Monk Elder, Senior Jang Mun-gyeong, the flag of the Sichuan Tang Clan flying in the villa far away, and on one side, Vajra Iron Demonic Sovereign, one of the absolute powerhouses of the Demonic Cult, sweeping with a broom.
Because illustrious names were so lined up, the members of the Dragon Scale Squad, who were treated as relatively minor figures (?), were diligently taking the lead in cleaning the town.
It is a town that has gone completely crazy.
“Here, of all places?”
“…”
At my questioning inquiry, Uncle Baek Jin-seong avoided my gaze.