Chapter 93: Above and Below the Heavens

Nothing lasts forever. The flow of the sword that drew a beautiful circle in my hand and locked harmoniously with Adept Heo Do also subsided.

Amidst the silence, like after a massive typhoon had swept through, I calmed my beating heart and naturally recovered the sword, sheathing it.

It was a magnificent sight, reminiscent of a scene from an epic poem in an old tale.

At least, it probably was.

From a third-party perspective.

‘Phew! Phew! I thought I was going to die…’

The hairs on the back of my neck stood on end. Goosebumps broke out all over my body.

At first, he showed signs of consideration for me, but as time passed, those signs faded.

As the consideration for me faded from Adept Heo Do, who had fallen into a state of selflessness upon gaining enlightenment, what remained was something reminiscent of a natural disaster.

At least the consciousness of matching the flow and sharing swords with me remained, so I was barely able to share the sword until the end.

‘No, even if that was matching the flow with me, it’s only natural to be scared when such a thing is writhing in front of your eyes.’

How should I put it, it felt like juggling thunderbolt bombs that could explode at any moment.

With only the thought of surviving, I completely let go of myself and moved solely according to Master Zhang Sanfeng’s instructions.

The form of moving the sword was engraved deep into my bones, but I didn’t obtain even a bit of the essence contained within.

It was nothing more, nothing less than an imitation.

They say enlightenment visits the prepared. I was not yet prepared.

On the other hand, Adept Heo Do realized it on his own and swung the sword.

The difference was vast.

‘Although it was nothing more than an imitation now, there will come a day when this becomes meaningful to me too.’

Sword arts and fist arts are different. Sometimes, there are those who say that if one reaches a high realm, holding a weapon is just an extension of the hand, but in fact, it is an extremely difficult thing.

Especially at my level.

Since the sword and bare hands have different lengths, their operation is different, and since their spacing is different, the way of unraveling them is different. The advantages and disadvantages arising from the unique sense of distance, and the presence or absence of grabbing and bending, are also different.

In the martial world, they say those who use left-handed swords are venomous. They dislike even that small difference in distance enough to drive them to the unorthodox path, so there is no way the distance of holding a sword versus not holding one is meaningless.

Shouldn’t it be even more important in the realm of high-level martial arts?

To begin with, the biggest factor determining victory or defeat in the realm of high-level martial arts is dominating the distance.

However, the unique flow itself can be shared.

Just like the principle of the Contest of Circles that Adept Heo Do and I shared just now.

‘Take what is useful, discard what is not.’

Even as I thought so, another thought came to mind.

‘A sword…’

During my time as a lay disciple of the Wudang Sect, I couldn’t even master the basics, so I clung to fist arts, and after leaving the Wudang Sect, I learned fist arts from my masters, so I had been using fist arts.

For utilizing the martial arts of the three masters comprehensively, bare hands were also the most suitable.

‘But shouldn’t it be fine to use one? Among Master Bodhidharma’s Shaolin martial arts, there was one famous for the sword.’

I should consult with him sometime.

While I was organizing my thoughts, Adept Heo Do, who was collecting his enlightenment while regulating his breathing, opened his eyes.

The eyes of the opened Adept Heo Do felt deeper than before.

Those deep eyes looked straight at me.

“I believe you said… you had never learned the sword…”

“Yes, I haven’t.”

“Then what was that just now…”

“I merely put what I learned in Wudang into the sword.”

With those words, I drew a circle with my hand.

[Well done, my boy!]

I didn’t know if he was talking about Adept Heo Do’s achievement or if he saw through my reason for saying that, but either way, Master Zhang Sanfeng was also excited.

“Ah… Haha… Ah…”

Was it admiration or a sigh?

Adept Heo Do, revealing without filter the two emotions that were separated and then merged, looked at me with complex eyes.

Various emotions could be seen, but if integrated into one, it seemed he viewed me as a tremendous genius.

‘Should I call it an honor?’

Though I felt a bit guilty inside since it wasn’t a sword art shown purely by my own skill.

“To think they expelled such a child, saying he lacked qualifications…”

*Grit!*

A sound that made me worry about the health of the elderly Adept Heo Do sounded like the wailing of Shin Je-hyeon and Yin Si-hoo.

After grinding his teeth several times, Adept Heo Do stared at me, and with a face of resolve, he extended his hand.

“Accept this.”

“Uh…”

What Adept Heo Do offered with earnest request was a sword full of the marks of time.

The sword he would have cherished as a companion.

He offered his own Pine Pattern Ancient Sword.

There was no way I didn’t know the meaning of that.

“Elder…”

“This is something this old man, who wished to live a life without a single stain of disgrace, does while swallowing his shame. I hope you will accept it.”

A master conferring to a disciple.

Bestowing the Pine Pattern Ancient Sword carried such a meaning.

Become a disciple of the Wudang Sect again.

Even if I couldn’t register my name as a Wudang disciple on the official registry, it certainly meant connecting the ties with the Wudang Sect again.

[Yes! That’s it!]

In my head, Master Zhang Sanfeng’s voice resounded in delight.

[What are you doing not accepting it?!]

Seeing Master Zhang Sanfeng shouting loud enough to make my head ring, although he hadn’t spoken of it, it seemed my expulsion had been weighing heavily on his mind.

‘Would Yi Hwa calling me Heavenly Demon also have some influence?’

With Adept Heo Do earnestly requesting, and Master Zhang Sanfeng’s reaction in my head telling me to accept it by all means.

It was not a situation I could refuse.

However, I couldn’t just accept it lightly.

Ultimately, I bowed deeply and murmured a single phrase.

“…Primordial Heaven Honored One.”

“Ha-ha-ha-ha!”

What I uttered was a Taoist chant.

In response to my words, which replaced the Buddhist chant ‘Amitabha’ representing devotion to Buddha with a Taoist style, Adept Heo Do burst into a joyful laugh.

Adept Heo Do, laughing with satisfaction, placed the sword in my hand and made a firm declaration.

“Do not worry. Even if I have to twist the neck of my Sect Leader nephew, when you return to the Wudang Sect, there will be nothing blocking your path.”

Only after hearing those words did I suddenly realize one thing.

‘Oh? Come to think of it, his seniority…’

If my memory was correct, Adept Heo Do’s generation was one generation higher than the current Sect Leader.

In official settings, he would show respect to the Sect Leader as the representative of the sect, but in private settings, he was someone the Sect Leader would call Senior Uncle and show respect to.

‘Then do I have to call the Sect Leader Senior Brother in private?’

Strictly speaking, my seniority as a direct disciple of Master Zhang Sanfeng and Master Bodhidharma would be at a level not of this world, but since I couldn’t reveal my connection to heaven, it was a part that couldn’t be shown.

But even the part that could be shown was at an absurd level.

I felt like the family tree was becoming messed up.

***

It was the moment a master like Adept Heo Do gained enlightenment.

The aftermath could not be small.

Tang Cheon-gi, the Family Head of the Sichuan Tang Clan and the Myriad Poison Divine Lord, who felt the giant power surging, stood on the roof and watched everything.

“Incredible.”

What came out first was pure admiration.

Tang Cheon-gi’s martial power, which had barely established the foundation for connecting heaven and earth after his upper dantian opened through a miraculous encounter, could be called the beginning of the Realm of Entering Divinity, the boundary of transcending mortality.

However, what was felt now was a realm beyond that.

It was the moment a master who was already ahead of him gained enlightenment.

“If my eyes are not mistaken, it looks like that kid transmitted something…”

What followed admiration was shock.

Because it was a long distance, it wasn’t clearly grasped, but looking at the circumstances before and after, it was clear.

“Adept Heo Do, the leader of the Ten Great Swords under Heaven, receiving enlightenment from him? Does this make sense?”

It might as well be called astonishment.

It was a sight unbelievable even after seeing it directly.

In fact, even at this moment, inside a corner of his head, unbelieving thoughts denying or rationalizing the current situation were surging wildly.

However, Tang Cheon-gi was not foolish enough to deny what he had seen with his own eyes.

He had clearly seen it.

“Certainly… he is not someone to be kept as a son-in-law.”

From the first time he saw Yeon Cheong-un, Tang Cheon-gi felt a strong premonition.

Not as an individual, but the feeling of someone leading a force.

What is commonly called the flow of the times.

“…If we don’t ride it, we will be left behind.”

He hadn’t mentioned heroes for nothing.

The flow of the times, the one who leads the trend of the era.

The world calls such a person a hero.

And when such a hero is born, those who are not chosen are bound to be weeded out.

Staring down at the messy clan from a high place, Tang Cheon-gi nodded.

“If this is the harm of a centuries-old family law… yes, it is time to change.”

If they couldn’t contain him, they had to at least stand beside him.

Watching Yeon Cheong-un accept Adept Heo Do’s Pine Pattern Ancient Sword, Tang Cheon-gi firmed up his resolve.

***

“He’s ridiculously happy, that Zhang Sanfeng guy.”

“Well, he has reason to be. Looking at it, the probability of that Heo Do fellow ascending to the realm of immortals is higher than that Tang Cheon-gi or whatever guy, right? Besides, the disciple’s identity is connecting back to his roots.”

The price for playing tricks to create an immortal representing the medical field fell upon Bian Que and Hua Tuo as an enormous amount of work. It was to the point where they couldn’t estimate how many days and nights they would have to spend working overtime.

At least they could endure it by the pleasure of watching Yeon Cheong-un’s life in the lower realm through the treasure bought from the Heavenly Demon.

“Sigh… Is it just me who feels it’s unfair? Someone gets a hard road opened up as a reward for barely saving one guy through all that fuss.”

“If you’re unhappy, become an immortal.”

“Why does it seem you don’t feel the same way as me?”

The two divine physicians glared at each other, engaged in a strange battle of nerves.

But it didn’t last long. Hua Tuo’s subsequent words were significant.

“At least we are better off.”

“Huh?”

“It has been several hundred years since heaven suffered from a labor shortage, hasn’t it?”

“Several hundred years? It’s been that long since a new recruit hasn’t entered at all. Since it has steadily decreased after the Divine-Sealing Great Barrier was set up, the labor shortage has been going on for almost a thousand years… Ah?”

Bian Que, who was answering, realized one thing and looked back at the vessel reflecting Yeon Cheong-un.

“How many people in heaven do you think would have their eyes roll back looking at that?”

“True.”

In just a few days, he had created two immortal roots with the potential to ascend to the realm of immortals.

Calling it two made it sound like a small number, but it was by no means a small number.

To those who worked overtime as a daily routine, the prospect of two more hands was indeed enough to make their eyes roll back.

“So shouldn’t we move diligently here?”

Under Zhang Sanfeng’s threat-like pressure, the two were looking into the memories of the dead in the Underworld.

“That is true. Honestly, both you and I have had our secret techniques sucked by that Zhang Sanfeng fellow under the pretext of giving them to his disciple, so we need something to negotiate…”

Bian Que, who was flipping documents with a sigh, suddenly trailed off.

As if he had discovered something, Bian Que’s reaction drew Hua Tuo’s gaze.

“This…”

“It’s not a jackpot, but… since it’s related to what Yeon Cheong-un is doing now, it looks like we can use it, right?”

Fortunately, the two had found something.

“Where should we sell this to get a good price?”

“What about Jin’ao Island? Or… the Queen Mother of the West of Kunlun also seems quite interested in Yeon Cheong-un.”

Exchanging sinister smiles, the two divine physicians began to roll their brains again.

In a place Yeon Cheong-un did not know, heaven was creating a flow of its own.

Above the Heavens, Below the Heavens. The flows of the heavens and earth were gathering in one place.