Pay‑to‑Win King of Martial Arts (Novel) - Chapter 50 - Kick Off the Torch Stand (1)

Chapter 50 – Kick Off the Torch Stand (1)

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Translated by Heavenly Cat

Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net

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Thanks to Cheong-ui’s merciful heart, the fact that I vomited in the Sect Leader’s room did not spread outside. Instead, I heard that Cheong-hwa had cleanly taken care of the vomit himself.

Cheong-hwa resentfully asked me why I’d vomited, but since I had no suitable answer, I only mumbled that my stomach had felt bad. It wasn’t as if I could say I’d had an excessive reaction because I smelled spiritual energy that was opposed to demonic qi.

Fortunately, it wasn’t deviation. It was only something like an immune reaction from my body. If I’d swallowed the Supreme Clarity Pill without knowing any better, I likely would’ve collapsed spitting blood from all seven orifices.

In any case, this was a problem I needed to solve myself. Either convert the Supreme Clarity Pill’s spiritual energy into demonic qi, or change my constitution. Or if worst came to worst, sell it. I had plenty of choices.

“Uuugh.”

I stretched my body. It had been peaceful days for the first time in a while.

After returning, I’d done nothing particularly special, only my ordinary training.

As I sat there shaking the sleep from myself, the door flung open.

“Junior Brother.”

“I keep telling you to knock before coming in.”

“I’m the senior brother. Do I need to bother with manners too?”

“Fine, then. What was so urgent that you rushed in like this?”

Yawning long, I looked toward Myeong-gyeong. Myeong-gyeong hooked a thumb over his shoulder and said,

“Master’s looking for you.”

“Master?”

What was so special about that? Master had looked over my Five Elements Sword even yesterday before leaving.

“Where is he?”

“He says he’s waiting in the Three Peaks Pavilion.”

“The Three Peaks Pavilion?”

Only then did I understand why Myeong-gyeong was making such a fuss. The Three Peaks Pavilion, named after Immortal Zhang Sanfeng, the founding grandmaster. It was a place Wudang’s disciples longed desperately to enter. That was because all of Wudang’s martial texts were gathered there. For Master to summon me to the Three Peaks Pavilion meant he intended to teach me a new martial art.

“Right. So hurry up! Before Master changes his mind for no reason. I’m going off to train!”

Myeong-gyeong dashed outside without even shutting the door he’d opened himself. I straightened my clothes and went to the Three Peaks Pavilion.

For no reason, my heart was pounding. Was it finally time for me too to learn a true supreme martial art?

Then again, Five Elements Sword and Three Calamities Sword were such basic sword arts that there had been no need to go all the way to the Three Peaks Pavilion for them. I’d only learned them from the Myeong-generation senior brothers. Seen that way, this would in truth be the first time I was going to learn a proper supreme martial art of Wudang.

Since the Three Peaks Pavilion was an important place where martial texts were gathered, it lay tucked away in a corner even on Wudang Mountain, and it too was hidden by a formation.

When I was still working courier duty, I’d come to the Three Peaks Pavilion a few times and knew where it was, but I’d never entered the formation itself. I had only handed messages over to the person on duty from outside each time.

“Master.”

Upon arriving at the Three Peaks Pavilion, I saw Cheong-hwa standing there with his back turned. The moment I called to him, Cheong-hwa turned around.

“You’ve come.”

“Yes.”

“You know why I called you here, of course.”

“The moment a great master who will shake the jianghu is finally born.”

“Tsk. Lacking all humility, how could you be called a Daoist.”

“I’m not a Daoist. I’m a proper merchant with a merchant company and everything.”

“Enough. Talking to you on that subject only makes my mouth hurt. Follow me.”

Cheong-hwa immediately entered the estate where the Three Peaks Pavilion stood. Inside the estate was a hazy mist, and somehow it felt familiar. I quickly realized where I’d felt it before.

“This seems like the exact same formation they had at the Zhuge Clan.”

“Since it was the people of the Zhuge Clan who came and set it up, that would only be natural.”

“Ah. I see.”

Since the Zhuge Clan excelled at formations, it seemed they provided formations to other sects as well. The Nine Great Sects and the Five Great Families had a strange competitive relationship, but they were also cooperating forces within the larger boundary of the orthodox path.

If I’d seen it for the first time, it would’ve felt strange, but since I’d already seen this formation once, this time I could observe it with more leisure. Unlike the energy of the natural world, which flowed through any route it liked, the inside of the formation seemed to trap energy by forcing it into closed curves. Since it was a formation that deliberately warped energy in order to induce illusion, that was perhaps only natural.

Once through the formation, a strange building with not a single window came into view. This was the true archive that held Wudang’s martial learning, the Three Peaks Pavilion.

“Books are sensitive to changes in climate, so they must be stored in the most consistent environment possible. That is why the windows were eliminated.”

“I see.”

“Come inside.”

The moment I entered the Three Peaks Pavilion, the first thing that caught my eye was a statue of Zhang Sanfeng that looked at least ten jang high. The shelves of raw wood formed a circle around the statue.

The shelves, which covered about half the statue, were densely packed with books. That meant the shelves alone rose at least five jang high. How exactly were you supposed to pull the books from all the way up there? Was there even a ladder?

Meanwhile, Cheong-hwa took out a single book from the very bottom and showed it to me. Of all the books on those shelves, that one looked the most worn.

“Now look. This is the secret manual of the Three Calamities Sword Art.”

“So even the Three Calamities Sword Art is here.”

“Do you think that’s all? This entire lowest row is nothing but the Three Calamities Sword Art.”

Cheong-hwa laughed. Even I found that somewhat surprising. How could there be so many editions for a sword art corresponding only to horizontal cuts, vertical cuts, and diagonal cuts?

“The grandmasters kept researching martial arts like this, adding commentary and annotations, and continuing to develop them. In that sense, the Three Calamities Sword Art you learned is entirely different from the Three Calamities Sword Art that floats around in the streets. That version has no subtle principle, but Wudang’s Three Calamities Sword carries subtle principle.”

“I see.”

I looked at the shelves again with new eyes. It felt like I was facing the vast history of Wudang. What I felt there was a kind of reverence.

It was the first time since I had seen a Huizhou merchant’s vault full of gold characters as a child that looking at something had made my skin prickle.

“Now then. Look. Magnificent, isn’t it?”

“I hate to admit it because of your tone, but honestly, it is.”

“This is Wudang. It is also the sort of place where, if you’re taken in as a main-sect disciple, you ought to enter saying thank you without even asking questions.”

It seemed he still had lingering regret over the fact that I’d chosen to become a lay disciple. I simply changed the topic.

“So what martial art am I going to learn?”

“Well now. What should you learn?”

“I’d like to learn the martial art on the very top shelf.”

“Don’t even dream of it. What’s on the very top shelf are martial arts that only Sect Leaders can learn. You’ve got a keen nose, though.”

As expected, the higher they were placed, the more supreme the martial arts. I smacked my lips while looking upward.

“And in any case, even if you learned the martial arts up there, that wouldn’t make you stronger right away. Unless your internal energy has reached a certain level, you can’t even begin them.”

“A certain level meaning?”

“The martial arts the Sect Leaders learn require at least three jiazi.”

Ordinarily, if one’s internal energy passed one jiazi, one was considered a peak master. Beyond two jiazi, a transcendent master. Three jiazi was the realm of Transformation. In other words, those not in Transformation weren’t even to touch them. How horrifying and terrible that was.

“Is there any martial art you want to learn?”

Cheong-hwa asked in a suggestive tone. I thought carefully. The only talents I possessed were movement arts and sword arts. I had trained fist and kicking arts through the talent Unyielding, but no matter what, since the talent didn’t support me, my attainment there was still shallow.

“Ah, I forgot to ask this. Just what heart method are you cultivating, anyway?”

“Pardon?”

I started violently. I wondered whether some demonic qi had leaked out. But it seemed that fear had been groundless.

“I mean your heart method. Your heart method. Surely you didn’t consume an elixir without any heart method? In that case, you couldn’t possibly have properly digested the elixir’s energy.”

That was something I hadn’t thought about. I hadn’t used a heart method and accumulated qi through any normal method, but had instead absorbed other people’s demonic qi and stored it in my body. It was a method more heretical than any heretical one.

“…Um, ah.”

“Well, if you have unavoidable circumstances, then you needn’t say.”

“Pardon?”

Just before I could lie and say that I did in fact have a heart method, Cheong-hwa saved me.

“It is taboo to pry too deeply into the roots of another’s martial arts. Even if I am your master.”

“Thank you for your consideration.”

“Still, it is a bit regrettable. I do not know what kind of heart method and internal energy you cultivate, but Wudang’s sword arts only display their full strength when supported by Wudang’s heart methods.”

Even I, who knew almost nothing of martial-world common sense, knew that much. The internal energies and heart methods of the unorthodox path were generally unrefined and rough. In that sense, they matched the rough paths of unorthodox martial arts.

By contrast, the internal energies and heart methods of the orthodox path were quiet and serene. Wudang especially was even more so, since it was a Daoist sect.

At that moment, something suddenly flashed through my head.

“Ah.”

“What is it?”

“I’ve thought of a martial art I want to learn.”

“Which martial art?”

“I want to learn the Dual Intent Heart Art.”

“Huh?”

Cheong-hwa’s face colored with bewilderment. Since Wudang was a famed sect, many of its martial arts were known in the world.

Typically, its best-known sword art was the Taiji Wisdom Sword, its movement art Ladder-to-the-Cloud, its palm art Tenfold Brocade. And among its heart arts, the most representative one was of course the Dual Intent Heart Art.

“…Ah, that’s difficult.”

“Why? Because it’s too hard?”

“Why else? It’s a heart art so difficult that, in the entire history of Wudang, only a handful have ever fully mastered it.”

That made sense. The Dual Intent Heart Art divided one mind into two, allowing one to carry two currents of internal energy. To split the mind in two. Just hearing that made it sound difficult and complicated. But it was also a martial art I absolutely needed, considering I had somehow ended up containing demonic qi within me.

“I want to learn it.”

“And there has never been a precedent for a lay disciple learning the Dual Intent Heart Art. Probably not even a registered disciple. Since the Dual Intent Heart Art is not a martial learning that is easily completed, it likely was never permitted to registered lay disciples. In fact, even for main-sect disciples, it is one of the martial arts that requires the Sect Leader’s permission before it can be transmitted.”

“Then please obtain permission.”

“Do you think it’s that easy? The Dual Intent Heart Art is a martial art that can turn a person into an idiot if done wrong. How could it be permitted lightly?”

“I can do it.”

I had more confidence than other people, especially when it came to the mental aspect.

Ever since acquiring the talent Unyielding, I had never once stopped to rest because something was too hard. That likely meant my mental strength itself had become stronger. But I couldn’t exactly pull out the Martial Talent Shop and show it to him. It was all terribly awkward.

“…At the very least, I’ll speak to the Sect Leader.”

In the end, Cheong-hwa lost to the earnestness of my gaze. As expected, desperation opened ways.

Aside from that, I also received a secret manual for the Flowing Cloud Sword Art. He said it was a sword art that further developed the subtle principle of Water from the Five Elements Sword. From Cheong-hwa’s point of view, my current Five Elements Sword was too rough and needed softening, so that was the martial art he selected. I wondered whether that roughness was also because what I had inside my body was demonic qi.

Thus ended my trip to the Three Peaks Pavilion. It was now finally time for me as well to begin learning a proper sword art of Wudang.

***

As though it were not even worth consideration, Cheong-ui closed the book he had been reading and let out a sigh. In front of him stood his junior brother, Cheong-hwa, sweat beading down him.

“What’s this sudden talk of the Dual Intent Heart Art?”

“…Indeed.”

“Talent for sword arts and the training of the mind are entirely different domains. It would be a grave mistake to think that simply because Hui-yeong excels at sword arts and movement arts, he will also excel in mind training. On top of that, isn’t he a child who has never once properly cultivated his heart?”

“That’s all entirely true, so I have nothing to say.”

“Then leave.”

“Even so, shouldn’t a master do what his disciple wishes?”

“If what he wishes is unreasonable, then it cannot be done.”

Cheong-ui considered it an absurd matter. Even among the first-generation disciples, there were indeed some with great talent who wished to learn the Dual Intent Heart Art. Yet even those who had cultivated their minds for twenty years often could not progress beyond ten percent in that abstruse martial art, and now a third-generation disciple, and even a lay disciple, wished to learn it. There were limits to nonsense.

“Wouldn’t you grant him one chance, if only for the sake of my face?”

“It is not that I am standing in the child’s way. Hui-yeong too is one of Wudang’s precious talents. How could we recklessly throw away the talent of such a child?”

“That is true, but I somehow feel that boy really might be able to do it.”

Cheong-ui looked at Cheong-hwa. There was earnest longing in Cheong-hwa’s eyes.

‘At some point, you’ve grown attached.’

That a master and disciple would become attached was the most natural thing in the world. Yet because of that very fact, reason could also be clouded.

“Then send him to be included in this term’s selection test for the Taiji Sword Guardians. There, we will see how much mind cultivation he truly possesses.”

At Cheong-ui’s words, Cheong-hwa’s expression brightened, then darkened again.

“Isn’t that basically the same as saying you won’t teach him? Isn’t the Taiji Sword Guardians selection test the one even the Jade Emperor would flee from, saying he couldn’t handle it?”

“Do not insult the Jade Emperor.”

Cheong-hwa looked dissatisfied, but still followed Cheong-ui’s words. The odds were absurdly low, but it was true that a chance had been granted for him to be recognized. That alone was tremendous consideration.

“Thank you for Senior Brother Sect Leader’s consideration.”

“Enough. It won’t work anyway.”

But neither Cheong-ui, who had granted the chance, nor Cheong-hwa, who had received it, thought that Muk Hui-yeong would actually seize that chance.

The hell that had descended upon Wudang. That was what the disciples called the selection test for the Taiji Sword Guardians.