Chapter 10

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Translated by Seoulbound

Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net
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The South Rock Palace was spacious.

As such, there was also plenty of space to train.

To the extent that there was a space quiet enough to contemplate and refine alone, with even the presence filling the South Rock Palace’s True Martial Pavilion erased.

‘Phoo.’

Sitting cross-legged, I steadied my breathing and reflected on the sparring match with Senior Brother Myeong-hun.

‘If I had not obtained the Sensitivity of the Tai Chi Diagram Exposition, I would have completely lost the initiative in the first exchange.’

In Wudang Tai Chi Chuan, where Striking Second to Control First was the core, losing the initiative meant losing wisdom, the core.

Although I fought hard, I was not satisfied.

Although I had gained a lot, I saw even more areas that needed to be supplemented.

‘The amount of accumulated energy is insufficient. I need to sharpen the Sensitivity further too.’

The tasks to resolve in the future piled up. Only then did the words my master had said come to mind.

-As your understanding of martial arts deepens, you will bow your head.

It was exactly as those words said.

Previously, I felt proud even at small achievements, but now was different. Taking a step forward, a high peak came into view. A peak so high that it was difficult to even fathom when I would reach it.

‘I will be able to reach it someday.’

Steeling my mind like that, I stood up.

There was a need to prioritize the various tasks at hand. First was internal energy.

Thanks to absorbing two Lesser Cleansing Pills without any loss, I had accumulated internal energy far superior to my peers, but had I not already felt the lack of internal energy during the sparring match with Myeong-hun?

‘I need to pay more attention to energy accumulation.’

If so, there was a need to understand more deeply what energy accumulation was.

‘The act of bringing the natural energy flowing outside the body into the body and converting it into internal energy.’

In other words, it meant that only by understanding true energy would there be progress in energy accumulation. I stared blankly at the flow of true energy, which resembled the pattern formed by iron filings sprinkled on magnetite.

‘Magnetite.’

It was not that I had suddenly thought of magnetite.

It was a passing thought obtained during the training of the Tai Chi Diagram Exposition.

I delved into that passing thought without letting it go.

‘Magnetic force, electric current.’

In my dream, Faraday, an English scholar from a land ten thousand li away who was revered as a symbol of tenacity, discovered after tens of thousands of attempts that the energy emitted by magnetite forced the free electrons running wild inside the iron wire into a single flow.

In other words, a change in the magnetic field created an electric field, and vice versa, and he finally realized that the two disparate forces were actually one.

It was the beginning of the discovery of the electromagnetic field.

‘Then, could it be that internal energy and true energy are also connected by the same principle?’

The internal energy moving inside the body moved the true energy outside the body.

Just as electricity and magnetism were distinct yet one body, internal energy and true energy were also distinct yet shared a single root.

‘I will try it. Just like Faraday.’

I followed in the footsteps of the one who had made the great discovery.

First, I checked the martial arts I possessed.

Naturally, the first thing that came to mind was Tai Chi Chuan.

The training of Tai Chi Chuan was, in essence, the training of the operation of internal energy and the way of using the body itself.

It possessed the efficacy of moving cultivation in itself.

In addition, the movement of the body also influenced the flow of true energy.

My thoughts reached the point that moving cultivation would be more useful for moving true energy than sitting or lying cultivation.

‘I will operate my internal energy in a way that pulls the flow of true energy.’

Thoughts moved the body.

I thought that if I combined the mnemonic of the Primal Chaos Light Skill’s qi circulation with Tai Chi Chuan, a useful moving cultivation might be created.

I embodied that thought with my body.

Instead of deflecting and counterattacking an opponent’s attack, the target of the fist technique became the true energy, the external energy, flowing outside the body.

Following the mnemonic of the Primal Chaos Light Skill and the routines of Tai Chi Chuan, the internal strength of the Lower Dantian flowed grandly through the acupoints and meridians.

The flowing internal energy moved the surrounding true energy.

Just as electricity generated magnetism, and magnetism moved electrons.

As the routine of the fist technique pushed away the true energy, it faded, and natural energy gathered again in the space where the lines had thinned.

Within the external energy circulating like waves coming and going on the beach, I instinctively inhaled during the high tide and exhaled during the low tide.

As the breathing took on a single cycle, the true energy was converted into internal energy and accumulated in the Lower Dantian.

In a single inhalation, I absorbed more than double the true energy compared to the existing Primal Chaos Light Skill’s qi circulation.

In addition, as the internal energy coordinated with the muscles moving along the routine of the fist technique, the true energy filling the lungs was rapidly converted into internal energy. The pure and clear internal energy flowed into the well of the Lower Dantian along the Belt Vessel and fine meridians connected from the lungs to the Qi Ocean.

The true energy that dispersed and returned to nature because it could not be converted into internal energy in time was noticeably reduced.

‘The efficiency of energy accumulation has increased. What if I just filter it into a more pure internal strength from here?’

Just as it felt like a moving cultivation I would not be ashamed to show my master or Martial Aunt Hye-won would be created if I refined it just a little more like this—

Tap. Thud. Tap. Thud. Tap. Thud.

The sound of walking while leaning on a crutch struck my ears amidst the silence.

It did not shake the true energy, nor was it loaded with massive internal energy, nor was it noisy enough to strike the ears, yet it captured my attention enough to make me stop my moving cultivation training.

An old Taoist was walking, using a sword as a cane.

However, his appearance was unusual.

‘He is missing an arm and a leg?’

The sleeves and hem where the right arm and leg should have been fluttered slightly. Scars also covered the right side of his face. The surface of the scars was rough, as if wild beasts had clawed them.

Being a martial arts sect, meeting a disabled person was not rare, but it was my first time seeing someone with such gruesome injuries. Usually, if one suffered injuries of that level, even a martial artist was bound to lose their life.

Tap. Thud. Tap. Thud. Tap. Thud.

In that way, I followed the appearance of the old Taoist with the unusual look with my eyes as if possessed.

Then, the old man stood before me and spoke.

“Tsk, tsk, tsk. Your talent is usable, but your eyes are filled with delusion. With eyes so blind, how can you climb a high peak?”

Even though it was not a voice infused with internal strength, I felt my body totter at the impact that struck my head.

Indeed.

I had been distracted by the old man’s outward appearance.

But was the old man’s essence that disabled body?

No.

It was a basic theory of Taoism that all things were made of energy and condensed essence.

I had truly looked pityingly at the opponent with a body that ‘appeared’ uncomfortable. But was that really so?

The Tai Chi Diagram Exposition stripped away the illusion and examined the old man’s essence.

At that moment.

‘Hup!’

A huge shock struck my head once again.

‘What is this!’

The deep principles of martial arts were contained within the old man’s small hand gestures, body movements, and breath. It was a principle so deep that I could not yet dare to fathom. Because of that, an overload came as if my head would burst.

‘Ugh!’

To the extent that blood flowed through my tightly shut mouth.

Simply looking at it caused internal injuries.

But I did not take my eyes off the old man.

The old man was inspiration itself.

The creation of the moving cultivation that combined the Primal Chaos Light Skill and Tai Chi Chuan also seemed like it would be helped toward completion if I could properly interpret just a single breath released by this old man.

If the martial arts of my master and Martial Aunt Hye-won were high peaks, the disabled Taoist before my eyes was the sky. He was an existence too high and distant for me, who had not even climbed a peak yet, to look up to.

Knowing that, I exerted myself to steal even one more of the principles of martial arts that the old man naturally released.

However.

“Tsk, tsk, tsk. A child who calls himself a Taoist disciple is blinded by greed. If so, how can you call yourself a disciple of Wudang?”

The old man’s voice that had been striking my head now struck my heart. Or rather, it caressed it. The wavering internal strength was corrected by that single voice, and the blood flowing from between my teeth stopped.

‘Greed.’

Indeed.

Trying to digest what one could not digest all at once was greed.

Too much was as bad as too little.

Even if one could climb a peak on foot, what about the sky?

One could not reach it without growing wings.

And wings had not yet grown on my body.

I accepted and acknowledged my insufficiency.

At the old man’s words, I immediately closed my eyes and deactivated the Sensitivity of the Tai Chi Diagram Exposition.

When I opened my eyes again—

There was only a physically disabled old Taoist before my eyes.

He was not born disabled from the start. The scars filling half his face were proof of that.

And I could see it again.

Despite his acquired disability of missing his right hand and foot, there was no visible discomfort in his body movements. It had only appeared uncomfortable due to my preconceptions. The old man’s face was peaceful.

Despite a level of disability equivalent to hemiplegia, his body balance was fantastic.

If I threw a punch right now?

I could be sure that it would never reach the old man’s body.

Only then did I realize.

The effort and time the old man had invested to overcome his disabled body.

On the hand holding the sword like a cane, there were calluses like spider webs, and on the other side of the scarred face, there was a clear face without a single wrinkle or blemish.

It was the trace of a youthful face seen in a Taoist who had cultivated the Taoist Three Clarities Power for a long time.

At that moment, I recalled the words Senior Brother Myeong-hun had said.

The anecdote of meeting one of the Eight Disciples of Sanfeng, the disciples of Immortal Sanfeng who were only known to have ascended to immortality.

And it came to mind.

The feeling I felt when I first saw the old man.

The feeling of facing the true heaven, not a peak.

I immediately clasped my hands in greeting.

“I pay my respects to Grand Master Jin-cheon.”

Indeed.

The old Taoist who appeared before me.

The current number one sword of Wudang.

No, the Sword Immortal who was counted as the number one sword under heaven, he was Immortal Jin-cheon.

At my salute, only then did Grand Master open his mouth with a satisfied smile.

“I came down here giving Gangwon the benefit of the doubt, and it is beyond my expectations.”

Only then did I realize.

whose disciple Immortal Gangwon was.

‘My master’s master!’

The reason I had not immediately realized that fact even after facing Immortal Jin-cheon was because I had never seen him since entering the Wudang Sect. Furthermore, my master had mostly changed the subject whenever talk of Immortal Jin-cheon came up.

I only now knew the reason.

‘He must have suffered a misfortune.’

I had never heard in rumors that Immortal Jin-cheon was disabled. That meant he had suffered a massive injury at some point. If this fact were to become known within the Wudang Sect and the Jianghu, the repercussions would be significant.

No matter how much one admonished young disciples, it was difficult to force them to keep the sect’s secrets, so it had been hidden from the start.

As all those circumstances and situations became understandable, respect naturally welled up inside me.

Because I was proud of Grand Master who had risen again despite being elderly and having suffered a great injury.

“I congratulate you on recovering your martial arts.”

At my words, Immortal Jin-cheon’s eyes shone.

It was a gaze that resembled my master’s.

“Ho. I did not hear from Gangwon that his disciple was clever?”

I struggled to press down my shoulders that were rising at Immortal Jin-cheon’s praise as I spoke.

“It seems my master has grown old and his eyes have become dim.”

A small chuckle was heard at my joke.

When I raised my head, my scar-covered Grand Master was looking at me with strange eyes.

“Indeed. I was just going to observe and leave today, but I must pay for making an old man with nothing to laugh about laugh.”

With that, Grand Master let go of his sword.

Even though he let go of the sword, the sword did not fall over.

It floated gently in the air.

For a moment, I activated the Tai Chi Diagram Exposition to gain insight into the Telekinesis technique, but—

“What you must look at is my body.”

At Grand Master’s words, I turned my gaze and looked back at Immortal Jin-cheon.

Even though he stood on one leg, he was not unstable.

Soon, I knew the reason.

‘He is making a leg out of true energy?’

As a translucent film was overlaid on the old Taoist’s body, the missing arm and leg sprouted. Internal strength and natural energy took physical form. Was this the Nascent Soul that I had only heard of? Or was it the limit of Sword Qi Materialization?

Even if I could not know,

Grand Master changed completely from disabled to a whole body.

Yet, my brain did not overload like before.

It was Grand Master’s consideration. He had lowered his own high martial prowess.

It was something possible because he perfectly controlled even every single gesture and hand movement.

In that state, Grand Master slowly began to move his limbs.

With his palms wide open, he pushed lightly, pulled to block, or struck upward.

Watching the palm technique which seemed simple yet was filled with intuitive routines at the same time, I recalled the movements of the sun, moon, and stars moving across the sky that I occasionally looked up at.

The Sun, Moon, and Stars.

The operation of the Four Symbols and heavenly energy permeated the old Taoist’s body, and—

As the forms unfolded, internal energy and true energy repeatedly overlapped in the center of his palms. In the face of a martial principle far ahead of the Force Release of the Tai Chi Chuan I practiced, I felt an excitement as if the cover of my Hundred Convergences acupoint was opening.

‘Controlling true energy with forms and routines. I can utilize this in moving cultivation. If I apply it to the newly modified Tai Chi Chuan? I can add more power!’

Without even blinking my eyes, I captured Grand Master’s movements on my corneas and engraved them in my mind.

In that manner, the palm technique progressed past the middle stage and into the latter half, and—

the palm wind, which surged like waves and blew like a whirlwind, was controlled, staying without dispersing entirely in accordance with Grand Master’s touch and the routines of the palm technique, and—

At the last moment.

The routine of the palm technique aimed at the ground.

With a roaring thwoosh, the dirt ground of the empty lot turned inside out.

It was a massive explosion, as if the gunpowder used by the military had exploded.

Ending with that movement, the translucent film that had been overlaid on Grand Master’s body disappeared, and the sword that had floated in the air was caught in his left hand.

And.

Grand Master spoke.

“This is none other than the Four Symbols Wind and Thunder Palm. It is the true transmission of Immortal Sanfeng.”