Chapter 34: An Incantation to Endure
It seemed certain that something had gone wrong with this fellow. Even if it was a joke, seeing him talk about cutting off a part of my body made it clear.
Perhaps he felt it himself, as he tilted his head.
“It’s strange. Pretty words don’t come out well.”
“Since when did you ever speak nicely.”
“That’s harsh.”
Baek Mu-ho pouted his lips like a sulking person.
He looked a bit like his usual self doing that.
“Well! Anyway, I’ll try to cut it as prettily as possible.”
“Yeah, do your best.”
Yeah, no.
The version of him I knew and the version I didn’t know kept toggling back and forth.
Was he really okay?
Master Heavenly Demon said he would not teach anything sinister, but if tracing the traces left in the sword scar led to that state, I couldn’t help but feel uneasy.
However.
‘I must believe.’
Let’s trust Master Zhang Sanfeng.
Although it hadn’t been a long time, let’s trust what I had heard and learned so far. At the very least, he was not someone who would do anything to harm me.
In that case, let’s trust Master Heavenly Demon as well.
Both in teaching me, and in correcting Baek Mu-ho’s current state.
My cluttered thoughts were neatly sorted out.
I could look at Baek Mu-ho with much clearer eyes.
Baek Mu-ho’s sword thrust forward.
Whoosh!
A sound like a swarming hive of bees echoed from the sword blade.
Grand and Solemn Martial Way.
It was heavy.
It was not the commonly known sword art of Mount Hua.
If anything, it felt closer to the Wudang Sect.
Yet, it was not the Wudang Sect’s martial art either.
The sword path that followed.
Swish! Slash!
The sword path flowed like running water. Following me as I retreated, Baek Mu-ho’s sword extended gracefully.
There was splendor within that grace.
Being splendid meant there were fierce variations.
The tip of the sword bloomed as if scattering.
This definitely had the feel of the Mount Hua Sect.
Solemnity, grace, and splendor.
The problem was visible to my eyes at once.
He contained the sword intents, but they operated separately from one another. Since he could not unify the sword intents into one, a sense of discord was inevitable.
“You are greedy.”
“I admit that!”
Perhaps he knew it himself, as the answer came out immediately.
Along with that reply, the sword thrust out.
The shifting sword force fluctuated violently once again.
I closely observed the incoming sword.
Slash!
The foundation of the sword technique Baek Mu-ho unfolded.
Its base was the sword art of the Mount Hua Sect.
Splendid movement was the baseline. Amidst the abundance of variations, a softness that smoothly guided those changes filled the gaps.
When creating fierce changes, angles were bound to form in the forms, but there were few such angles in Baek Mu-ho’s sword technique. It meant the variations occurred seamlessly.
Even if it looked less fierce, it was more precise and stable.
The problem was when solemnity was loaded into it.
That was also where the disharmony arose.
Since I had to resolve Baek Mu-ho’s disharmony first, I focused on evasion rather than counterattacking to dodge the attacks.
A flow of the sword that both progressed and regressed. Because I could grasp the flaws of Baek Mu-ho’s sword, I was able to dodge irritatingly well.
“Hey! Let me cut you just once!”
“Have you lost your mind?!”
Perhaps he was getting frustrated, as the sword felt like it was growing increasingly fierce.
I wondered if it would become truly dangerous if the disharmony worsened further like that.
Master Heavenly Demon, is it still not time yet?
How long do I have to keep dodging!!
[When is the plum blossom at its most beautiful?]
‘What kind of nonsense is that again?!’
It wasn’t even a Zen riddle.
It was a completely incomprehensible statement.
However, I knew one thing for certain.
That those words were not directed at me.
“Hey! When is! The plum blossom! Most! Beautiful!”
It was a shout while dodging three consecutive sword strikes. Because I spoke while moving so rapidly that I wondered if I had even spoken properly, I thought it would be completely incomprehensible, but…
“Huh?”
Suddenly, Baek Mu-ho halted his body.
What? Did this actually work? Was there some kind of connection that only geniuses shared?
“Plum blossom…”
He really seemed to have caught onto something.
The sword he had been swinging like a madman until just now suddenly changed.
The change was so dramatic that it was impossible not to recognize.
“It’s slow?”
Since it used the Mount Hua sword technique as its foundation, the flow of the sword, which originally boasted swift speed, slowed down visibly.
Hidden Sword.
Abandoning its fierceness, the gentler sword began to draw its own path.
***
‘It’s a mess.’
A hand was a hand because it was like a hand, and a foot was a foot because it was like a foot.
No matter how many good merits were gathered together, if they did not harmonize, it would only become a ridiculous clown show.
No matter how many expensive fabrics were gathered, if they were not stitched properly, they would only become splendid rags.
Although the strengths were gathered together, they were not harmonizing properly.
The swiftness of Mount Hua, the gentleness of Wudang, and the weight and depth like the bottomless abyss seen in the cave. Bringing them all together was no easy feat.
Just thinking of those three at the same time made his head throb with pain. Along with the headache, a sense of restlessness arose. His skin itched, and a boiling urge to smash something welled up.
While swinging the unsatisfactory sword in that state, a scene flashed through Baek Mu-ho’s mind like lightning upon hearing Yeon Cheong-un’s words.
When is the plum blossom at its most beautiful?
‘Ah!’
With those words, Baek Mu-ho felt his mind instantly brighten.
The dark and gloomy mental imagery was torn away in an instant, and a pure white tempest raged.
In the center of that mental imagery, something boasted a steadfast vitality.
The moment a single red plum blossom rose against the pure white background, Baek Mu-ho thought he could paint that plum blossom.
A vitality felt even more because it bloomed during the cold, freezing winter—a time when the world’s living things held their breath.
He channeled what rose in his mind into the sword.
The frosty snow (weight) pressed down on the plum blossom (Mount Hua sword path).
What of it? His plum blossom had branches (grace) that did not break even in the freezing wind, so it would neither bend nor fall.
The moment he forgot the need to be fast.
The moment he realized it was fine to be a little slower.
Baek Mu-ho’s sword clearly drew a plum blossom even amidst the heaviness.
A plum blossom brimming with life.
A single plum blossom blooming out of season,
Lays down its body, heavy with frosty snow.
Even if heavy snowflakes cover the petals,
The flower that stands tall is beautiful indeed.
Plum Blossom in the Snow.
A flower that blooms in the winter frost, more beautiful than in the bright spring.
It was beautiful because it bloomed in the pure white winter.
The moment he realized he could go a bit slower, a deep heaviness naturally began to be loaded onto Baek Mu-ho’s sword.
***
“This bastard, his eyes have gone unfocused.”
He was completely absorbed in his own sword.
The guy who caused all sorts of worry and threw a nasty fit with a blade ended up getting what he wanted in the blink of an eye.
What kind of wicked bastard is this?
No, more than that.
Slash!
The quality of the incoming sword was different.
“Damn it.”
It had slowed down, but dodging it became even harder.
[What remarkable talent. If I had met him while I was alive, I would have definitely taken him as my disciple.]
“Ah! Is that s—…!”
[Do not shout. You will break his immersion.]
“Haa…”
The shout he was about to yell retreated right back inside.
I couldn’t throw away the hard work up to this point.
But why was I so annoyed when things had clearly gone as desired?
Because I couldn’t shout?
Come to think of it, I felt a bit envious too.
Anyway, since the matter was resolved, if I just let him dance with his sword alone now…
[You must keep sparring. If the target suddenly disappears, his immersion will break.]
Ah! Man!! You are so demanding!!
According to Master Heavenly Demon, it meant I had to keep taking it like this.
If it were up to my feelings, I would want to just smash it with the Extreme Might Strike.
I wanted to clash to see who was stronger.
But that would ruin everything.
If it were a sincere Extreme Might Strike, Baek Mu-ho would be obliterated.
Slash! Flutter!
The problem was that I would die before that.
Now that he knew how to load weight into the sword, it felt like the sword was gaining speed again after that.
His talent was honing the sword.
I could see him catching up to the growth that others would have to cultivate for over a decade with every single swing of his sword.
At this rate, immersion be damned, I would have to smash it just to survive.
[What I impart is Void.]
Yes! So what is that Void!!
[What is a Kalpa?]
You really love Zen-like riddles!
I was losing my mind trying to dodge the pouring attacks, yet the words passed down as a martial art were the definition of vague.
It felt like he was throwing a topic of meditation and leaving me to think about it on my own.
But what could I do?
Just like with Master Zhang Sanfeng and Master Bodhidharma, each master had their own way when teaching martial arts.
If cornering me was Master Heavenly Demon’s goal, he was doing a damn good job of it.
In any case, I had to match it.
Slash!
Dodging the attack once more, I thought.
Kalpa.
A concept in Buddhism referring to an infinitely long time.
“Time!”
Slash!
I felt all my concentration soaring to the extreme. Following the state of my mind, the nerves of my entire body moved frantically, enough to feel like the nerves at my fingertips were burning hot.
Amidst that, I had to think.
[Then, what is the absence of Kalpa?]
As my reaction was delayed, I felt a stinging pain spread across my skin.
What is the absence of Kalpa?
Boundless?
No time?
No. This did not mean that.
[Understanding Void leads to Emptiness, and reaching Emptiness allows one to see the world correctly. The beginning starts from knowing.]
The Zen-like words remained the same.
I still couldn’t understand them.
Yet.
Slash!
The next sword strike of Baek Mu-ho was dodged unusually easily.
The strike was grasped to a bizarre degree from start to finish.
I had realized nothing, yet I had realized something.
Me and myself.
The same, but different.
Something poured into my head.
Words I did not comprehend or understand surged like a tsunami.
Things like a foreign language I couldn’t understand at all poured in uncontrollably.
Something flooded and overflowed, making it hard to maintain my sanity.
However, unlike ‘me’, ‘myself’ was accepting them.
Throb!
The last thing my barely-held edge of reason perceived was a splitting, severe headache.
One that I had felt several times before.
Just like the time I first released Jin under Master Zhang Sanfeng’s guidance.
Beyond that fading thread of consciousness.
[Within my domain, only I am supreme.]
Master Heavenly Demon’s voice was heard.
[This is the Heavenly Demon Boundless Hand.]
Absolute Dominance.
Solely absolute dominance.
Standing tall alone, honored alone.
The resolve to erase even time itself to reign supreme over all things.
Ruuuuuumble!
Such a principle gathered in my hand.
***
The Heavenly Demon stared at Yeon Cheong-un inside the Meridian Mirror with disbelieving eyes.
“What is with that fellow?”
What the Heavenly Demon had taught was merely what kind of martial art he would teach—its essence.
This was not taught for him to master it. It was thrown to him just to let him get a superficial taste of it.
Yet, he had mastered it.
He had understood it instinctively.
If understanding, accepting, and mastering the essence of a martial art were that easy, there would be no one in the world who wasn’t a master.
An absurd thing had occurred.
“It is not the first time either.”
“Extreme Might Strike.”
Hearing Zhang Sanfeng’s words, the Heavenly Demon muttered as he realized it belatedly.
Come to think of it, that was true.
The Extreme Might Strike was a martial art Bodhidharma created after ascending to heaven by refining the remaining flaws of the Great Strength Vajra Palm. There would be countless geniuses who couldn’t properly perform even half a move even if they dedicated their entire lives to it.
Even if he had learned it since he was in his mother’s womb, it was realistically impossible for Yeon Cheong-un to perform the Extreme Might Strike.
“No matter how talented he is to have achieved communication with heaven and earth, this is going too far. Is he the incarnation of an exiled god?”
Zhang Sanfeng formed a deep smile as he looked at the Heavenly Demon.
“That is also why Bodhidharma has been absent lately. He seems to be looking into it. Even by our standards, that is certainly out of the realm of common sense.”
“Hmm…”
“Is there any need to think so complexly? Think simply. That kid is our disciple. There is no master who wouldn’t be pleased by their disciple’s brilliant talent. We just need to be purely happy.”
“Disciple… Disciple…”
The unfamiliar word was repeated inside the Heavenly Demon’s mouth.
“Yes, yours, mine, and Bodhidharma’s. Our disciple.”
Zhang Sanfeng responded.
Laden with feelings that could never be hidden.