Chapter 4: The Departing Way
While teaching me, Master Zhang Sanfeng spoke about the essence of orthodox martial arts.
The content was that orthodox martial arts were not originally created to defeat others.
The essence of orthodox martial arts is seeking the Tao, and the purpose is cultivation in pursuit of self-completion.
Its ultimate end lies in transcendence, and the ultimate aim is to become a being who completes oneself, a being who transcends human limits.
I am I,
Knowing myself.
I am my mind,
Knowing my mind.
I ultimately overcome myself,
Overcoming myself.
Ultimately, the enemy spoken of in orthodox martial arts is only oneself.
The moment one overcomes oneself, one can reach transcendence and become a being who transcends human limits.
The superhuman power shown by martial artists is merely a byproduct of the cultivation process.
[However, the current orthodox martial arts have been corrupted. All the martial arts you learned in the Wudang Sect are also focused on the way to defeat others, not the way to overcome oneself.]
Refining martial arts is refining oneself. The subject must strictly lie in my growth, and one should not focus on techniques for defeating the opponent comfortably and easily.
[That is why those who ascend to the realm of immortals no longer emerge.]
Master Zhang Sanfeng lamented this.
The deep regret generated by the seeker looking down from a high place upon the foolishness of his immature descendants was felt so poignantly that it struck my heart.
I felt that this was indeed the essence of Master Zhang Sanfeng, who had become an immortal.
Damn it! I believed in you!
[Grit! And thanks to that, not a single damn successor has entered, so I am rolling around like crap!]
……Excuse me?
[Ugh!! The more I think about it, the madder I get?]
Why was he giving off a suspicious smell in a strange place when things were going so well?
Is it really alright, that place called the heavens?
Anyway, that was how it was.
For now, those were the things I learned from Master Zhang Sanfeng.
Real orthodox martial arts, whose traces have vanished in this era, faded by those who seek an easy path.
The way to reach transcendence beyond human limits.
In Master Zhang Sanfeng’s case, he had to realize it himself, so there were countless trials and errors, but there was no such thing in the teachings bestowed upon me. Not to mention the cultivation methods from when he was once human, genuine ones that Master Zhang Sanfeng had refined over a long time in the heavens poured out.
Although I didn’t know the reason, my comprehension was at a level transcending common sense, strictly limited to the things Master Zhang Sanfeng taught. Finding that fascinating, Master Zhang Sanfeng also slammed all kinds of teachings into me.
Thanks to that, the hardship I had to undergo during the fifteen days transcended imagination.
Although it was merely fifteen days, considering what I had absorbed, it was natural that Yin Si-hoo began to look like ‘nothing.’
At my provocative words, Yin Si-hoo rushed forward as if having a fit.
Bow Stance. He attacked with the technique of Bow Stance and Push Palm, which involved extending the hand in a palm strike while springing forward with a typical footwork that bent the legs like a bow.
Although it was a technique that looked simple, what lay in its process was the essential secret of the Wudang Sect. From extending the feet to the posture of the spine that steeled the waist, a solid framework existed, adding the Wudang Sect’s true ultimate art to the internal movements that drew out power.
However, he must have thought that alone was not enough.
“Hap!”
Yin Si-hoo added trickery to the attack.
Suddenly steeiling his extending hand, he drew a diagonal line as if whipping a lash.
He struck steeply, as if sweeping.
A technique that seemed to combine a thrust and a downward strike.
Furthermore, the fingertips extending in that manner were slightly bent like claws.
If he could land a blow by sweeping, that would be good, and if I blocked or deflected that attack, he would immediately snatch my arm, grab it, and break it.
If it was before I met Master Zhang Sanfeng, I would have been unilaterally beaten.
Not now.
‘I can see everything.’
Every single thing, all of it.
What kind of technique Yin Si-hoo was performing, how it changed, and what Wudang Sect teachings were contained within it.
Even down to the minute bending of his fingertips.
I looked at them with unclouded eyes.
A calm sense read them clearly and transparently.
A world of a clear and tranquil lake without a single ripple.
Since heaven and earth in all directions were quiet, every change occurring within reached me clearly.
To be clear, I had merely trained my body a bit and my mindset had stabilized.
However, even with just that, the world had changed.
[That is listening force.]
The beginning of Wudang Sect martial arts.
To see and feel.
To grasp.
Naturally, as if it were a matter of course, reading everything about the opponent.
Fighting after reading.
The eye level of a crawling bug cannot see the world, but a bird flying high above gauges the size of all things in heaven and earth.
Just by refining oneself, one sees the world differently.
Grasping leads to knowing.
What is known is not feared.
Yin Si-hoo is not feared.
‘The claw just needs to be deflected.’
My hand in motion deflected the sharply set claw.
Pa-gak!
Giving no place for that sharpness to pierce.
‘He said he consumed an elixir.’
Even though I deflected and slid it away instead of clashing head-on, the hand that touched tingled.
‘I just don’t have to clash.’
Since when did Wudang Sect martial arts put strength first?
Violently pressing down with force is not Wudang Sect martial arts. At least, what I learned was not like that.
The real deal is different!
The moment I deflected the fingertips bent like claws, I also slid away Yin Si-hoo’s heavily reaching force.
No matter how strong a force is loaded, if it is not given a place to detonate, it will only disperse in vain.
The force dispersing in vain left a large opening.
I saw that opening.
The jaw that I could only strike before thanks to Master Zhang Sanfeng’s coaching.
Smash!
Palm heel strike. The technique of striking the jaw with the palm heel.
This time, I strike that spot with my own power!
“Keok!”
Screaming in agony, Yin Si-hoo stumbled backward.
“…Shit!”
Was it due to pride? Although his head must have shaken like mush, Yin Si-hoo managed to stand and hold on with his two legs.
“How… How!!”
He was being swayed by an opponent he had always looked down upon. His mind, which had been brimming with confidence after consuming the elixir, was being crushed.
The vortex of all the emotions Yin Si-hoo was feeling right now was also clearly visible to me.
I smiled as I looked at that Yin Si-hoo.
‘Right, it’s better for me to tie things up clearly too.’
Seeing my smile, Yin Si-hoo performed a technique frantically.
However, that momentum was not the same as the beginning.
His lower body and waist, the pillars supporting the body, tottered. Thus, the upper body extending the hand could not possibly be intact.
Swish!
It was an attack that failed to carry force properly. Although it was not to the extent where I could just take it head-on since internal strength was loaded, it was definitely sloppy.
Avoiding it was easy.
Smash!
Beating him was even easier.
An eye for an eye. A tooth for a tooth.
I pay back everything I have to pay back.
“After today, there will be no such thing as me being held back by you.”
Smash!
“Because I am going to go high and far.”
Just because the situation was reversed, I had met too great a destiny to remain obsessed with the likes of Yin Si-hoo.
Now, I wouldn’t have the luxury of worrying about minor things and looking back.
“So, don’t show up in my sight in the future.”
Yin Si-hoo’s face was caught in my hand. The twitching of Yin Si-hoo’s facial muscles left a clear sensation on my palm.
Boom!
“If you don’t want to keep being trampled.”
I ended the spar by slamming Yin Si-hoo’s head onto the ground just like that.
Crushing defeat.
The result was, by all accounts, a one-sided trampling.
The sound of other watching Wudang secular disciples swallowing their saliva was heard as loudly as the sound of beating Yin Si-hoo.
The sound heard in the midst of the silence did not come from the surroundings.
[Is the finish to make him leave the Wudang Sect on his own feet?]
“Yes.”
The Wudang Sect is narrow. If Yin Si-hoo continues to remain as a secular disciple, he will keep bumping into me.
Since it has become clear who will get smashed, the one who will leave the Wudang Sect will be Yin Si-hoo.
Because of this bastard Yin Si-hoo, I almost had to flee the Wudang Sect as if being chased out.
I am paying back that debt. Just as I almost did, I will make him crawl out on his own feet.
Even if he doesn’t, that’s fine.
Because I can just smash him every spar until he leaves.
I said I wouldn’t look back with worry, not that I would ignore what’s in front of me.
Considering Yin Si-hoo’s temper, I feel like a few more opportunities to trample him will come.
[That is appropriate.]
Master Zhang Sanfeng also agreed and took my side.
When I heard those words, I felt as if the Wudang Sect was taking my side.
I had thought so.
***
After beating Yin Si-hoo to a pulp, I was summoned by a high-ranking person.
Since my hands were somewhat excessive when beating Yin Si-hoo bloody, I had prepared myself to hear at least a word of scolding.
Although it was somewhat disappointing that they kept silent all along when Yin Si-hoo harassed me and only acted now.
Still, I suppressed that disappointment.
From now on, I just had to show my true worth.
I moved my steps with confidence.
“Descend the mountain.”
“…”
[…]
And when I visited Wise Tao Hall, the place that oversees the secular disciples of the Wudang Sect, the words I heard were these.
Wise Tao.
A wise and virtuous path.
On that path, the words I heard were to leave this path.
At the words of the cold-looking Wise Tao Hall Master, I was speechless with shock.
Perhaps Master Zhang Sanfeng shared the same feeling, as no words came from him.
“What… do you mean by that?”
“You are foolish. That is why your achievements were so poor all this time. Tsk.”
At my stuttered question, the Wise Tao Hall Master clicked his tongue and spoke.
“It means you should descend the mountain and never seek this place again.”
Words can also be weapons. The Wise Tao Hall Master’s words pierced me like a dagger.
Although I could at least stutter a moment ago, I was now so out of my mind that I couldn’t even do that.
The Wise Tao Hall Master drove a wedge into me.
“So do not go around calling yourself a disciple of the Wudang Sect anywhere.”
“…”
“It’s not a wrong statement, is it? The term ‘Wudang secular disciple’ is not light. Even for a secular disciple, the position of a Wudang disciple is a term that can only be used when proper qualifications are met. What have you achieved to justify calling yourself a secular disciple of the Wudang Sect?”
The words were long, but the meaning was simple.
Even the term ‘secular disciple’ is too good for you.
Wudang secular disciple. While it might not be much among the high-ranking folks, its weight is quite different below.
Among ordinary ruffians and third-rate martial artists, it carries a prestige that makes them crawl.
The Wise Tao Hall Master was saying that he could not even grant me the minor prestige of the Wudang Sect as I was expelled.
I thought about why I was being expelled.
Although hard to believe, although I didn’t want to recall it, there was only one reason that came to mind.
Smashed Yin Si-hoo.
It was true that Yin Si-hoo’s family was quite a famous place.
Defeng Yin Clan.
Although they didn’t encompass the entirety of Hubei like the Wudang Sect, they were influential enough to be considered the overlord of a region.
In contrast, my family was a humble one that had held official posts in the past but currently had no power or authority, with only a grandfather who had decent connections.
Strictly speaking on terms of conditions, I was not in a position to be compared to Yin Si-hoo.
If one only looked at conditions.
Therefore, I did not want to admit it.
Was this place not the Wudang Sect?
Were they rendering judgment based only on the backing background, rather than sorting out the right and wrong of the parties involved!
“…Was the Wudang Sect this kind of place?”
“How insolent. How dare you judge Great Wudang!”
At my words, which vomited the rising thoughts inside without filtering, the Wise Tao Hall Master drew out cold anger.
The voice drawn out in a low bass was low but fierce, like the growl of a wild beast.
After glaring at me for a moment like that, the Wise Tao Hall Master waved his hand and continued.
“Go. Letting you descend without punishing your insolent words is the final mercy of Great Wudang.”
The Wise Tao Hall Master ended his speech high-handedly and unilaterally.
Although there was something rising inside, the clear and refreshing breath soon rose and soothed my boiling insides.
The breathing of the Clear Brightness Mind Method corrected my body and mind.
Having cleared my mind a bit, I looked at the Wise Tao Hall Master again.
‘Now is… not the time.’
Perhaps all of this was a provocation. To trigger me to run wild first and cleanly sever my future.
At any rate, I had at least shown that I had talent by smashing Yin Si-hoo.
If it was before learning the Clear Brightness Mind Method, I would have surely lost my temper and engaged in violent behavior. The Wise Tao Hall Master would have taken action ruthlessly, as if waiting.
Then, even if he didn’t kill me, he would have highly likely turned me into a cripple, while securing the pretext that their disposition was reasonable to the outside world.
I endured and endured. In that way, I walked out.
“Tsk.”
A low tongue-clicking sound was heard from behind my back.
My fist tightly clenched as I grabbed the doorknob and walked out.
***
Descending the mountain after receiving the order, I opened my mouth in front of the Sword-Untying Pond, which could be called the boundary of the Wudang Sect’s territory.
“Still, one thing is a relief.”
[What is?]
“That I called you Master early on. Since I’m being kicked out of the Wudang Sect, it would be weird if I kept calling you Grandmaster.”
[Cut the crap.]
Master Zhang Sanfeng spat out a curse abruptly. However, I could tell that this curse was not aimed at me.
Master Zhang Sanfeng was also angry. It reached me in his voice that he was genuinely angry and swallowing his rage for my sake.
“Haha!”
If I left Wudang, or if I were expelled from Wudang, would my relationship with Master Zhang Sanfeng also be severed? Because the worry remaining in a corner of my heart vanished cleanly, I could burst into laughter.
Barely holding back something hot that surged up, different from when I spoke to the Wise Tao Hall Master, I looked up at the Sword-Untying Pond.
The Sword-Untying Pond, where they said one must hang up their weapons when entering Wudang to show respect. The sharp weapons hung all over the elegant tree looked bothersome.
Using that Sword-Untying Pond as a substitute for Master Zhang Sanfeng in the heavens, I offered the Ceremony of Nine Bows.
And I turned away without regret.
The ancient man planted a tree and spoke,
This is the Way.
The descendants praised him,
They merely hung up a sharp sword.
***
“I can understand the feelings of that fellow, the Heavenly Demon, a bit.”
Watching the figure of Yeon Cheong-un descending the mountain inside the Meridian Mirror, Zhang Sanfeng gritted his teeth.
In the mortal realm, there are humans who mistakenly think that immortals are perfect beings who have cut off all five desires and seven emotions, but that is not the case at all.
Even among the Eight Immortals of Taoism, who are the most well-known among Taoist immortals, records of them causing countless troubles because they couldn’t cut off all five desires and seven emotions are scattered everywhere.
If immortals were perfect beings who forgot emotions, the heavens would be a dry and dull world without any disputes or conflicts.
However, the heavens are not such a place.
Rather, it is a highly dynamic place.
It is also a place where one grits their teeth because of that dynamism.
“Those bastards who should be boiled to death in dung water. When your names are entered into the register, I will personally boil the dung water to fry you.”
Venting his anger in a way that was, in a sense, immortal-like (?), Zhang Sanfeng quickly moved his steps somewhere.
Meanwhile.
“Oh? That friend Sanfeng. He has been quiet lately, is something going on?”
A monk with blue eyes, showing curiosity, peeked at the place Zhang Sanfeng had just come out of.