Chapter 29

===================
Translated by Seoulbound

Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net
===================

**

On the way back after finishing the mission in Zhushan, green willows stood in a line along the river. As the drooping willow branches swayed here and there in the gentle breeze, they also tickled the hair of the senior brothers and sisters who had sturdy builds.

Feeling like the smell of blood from Zhushan was being washed away, I slowly enjoyed the scenery without using my footwork force.

Thanks to that, we had plenty of room to talk while walking along the path.

“By the way, junior brother.”

“Yes?”

“So what is that secret transmission of your master?”

At Senior Brother Myeong-hun’s playful question, I wondered what he meant for a moment before finally recalling what I had said to Tang Jong-hyeok.

-Young Hero Yeon, may I ask how you did that?

-Yes?

-I mean the method by which you detoxified that Immortal… poison just now.

-Ah, it is a secret transmission of my master.

“I don’t think there was any formula related to detoxification among the formulas of the Primal Chaos Tai Chi Art…”

At Senior Brother Myeong-hun’s words, Senior Sister Yi Chae-yang spoke up, her eyes shining like a hawk catching its prey.

“Our Myeong-hun actually knows how to ask when he’s curious. You’ve become a decent person. Before, you would just thrust your sword first.”

“When did I ever do that, senior sister?”

While the two were bickering, I recalled my first duel with Senior Brother Myeong-hun.

The recollection that he had indeed thrust a hand-blade as sharp as a sword, but certainly had not thrust an actual sword, felt like a very long time ago.

‘I have lived a fulfilling life in the True Martial Pavilion.’

Along with the awareness, the altitude of my mind rose.

I naturally recalled the moment in my head when I was detoxifying the poison thrown by the Changyou mask.

“That detoxification method was a makeshift measure, but…”

Driven by my elevated mood, an explanation of the principle of centrifugal separation quickly burst from my mouth.

“…Although it was a temporary measure limited to paralyzing poisons where the poisonous energy has a heavy nature, I think other poisons could also be detoxified in a similar way.”

When I finished my words, the senior brothers and sisters each reacted in their own way.

“Ah. Such a method…”

Senior Brother Myeong-hun nodded his head and began to quickly swirl his true qi along the acupoints formed in his lungs, just as I had done.

“The light rises and the heavy sinks. To think that obvious principle could be utilized in this way…”

Senior Sister Yi Chae-yang chewed over the meaning of the words.

It wasn’t just the two of them.

Senior Sister Yoon Heun, who was the most well-versed in mathematics, clapped her hands and added her thoughts.

“Since the radius and angular velocity terms cancel each other out in the centrifugal force calculation, only weight becomes important. Then, the light poisonous energy actually floats above the cultivation force, so it can be gathered through cultivation force? Is that what you want to say, Junior Brother Yeon?”

“Exactly. Unless it is a poison that completely dissolves into the cultivation force, you will be able to detoxify it just as you said, senior sister. At least in theory.”

When I added that proviso, Senior Brother Myeong-jin, who had the most experience, spoke up.

“It is possible. Poisons that completely dissolve into cultivation force are not common. Unless it is one of the Tang Clan’s Eight Deadly Poisons, it is a perfectly possible detoxification method.”

Senior Brother Yo Yeon-myeong, who had only been listening beside us, also chimed in.

“If poisons that penetrate through breathing are discharged through the lungs, it would be best to discharge poisons that seep through the skin through the Shaoshang acupoint or Shaoze acupoint at the fingertips.”

“Then, shall we create a formula?”

Although the senior brothers who had passed their thirties might be laymen in mathematics or physics, they were experts who were establishing their own houses in martial arts.

The senior brothers supplemented the deficient parts of the Primal Chaos Tai Chi Art. When they poured out qualitative explanations, Senior Sister Yoon Heun and I set up equations and unraveled them into formulas.

In that way, a formula capable of detoxifying most poisons was quickly added to the Primal Chaos Tai Chi Art.

‘It was fun.’

Although it was enjoyable when pondering martial arts alone, putting our heads together was even more joyful. As if the mass of my mind had vanished, my potential energy rose limitlessly and soared to my Upper Dantian.

At the same time, I naturally recalled a footstep that had been filling a corner of my Upper Dantian.

‘The steps of the Gold-Knot Wandering Beggar. And the movements in the air.’

The fact that if I only utilized potential energy, I could strike the opponent even with footwork force training.

And even the steps of the Gold-Knot Wandering Beggar that created space where there was none.

The utility of these two methods had been thoroughly proven through the battle with the dogs of the Chaotic Heaven Green Forest.

I first spoke about the steps of the Gold-Knot Wandering Beggar.

Then, the reaction was somewhat complicated.

“So you mean you copied the steps of the Beggars’ Sect branch leader, junior brother?”

“You should be careful about recklessly learning the secret transmissions of other sects. You could end up being branded as a public enemy of the Jianghu.”

“It is dangerous.”

“It could lead to a dispute.”

Senior Brother Myeong-won and Senior Sister Myeong-myeong, who were disciples of the Master of the Pavilion of Standards, Immortal Seung-won, who was in charge of law enforcement, and even the usually quiet twin brothers, Senior Brothers Myeong-heon and Myeong-ryu, showed disapproval.

At the same time, there were also those who showed a different reaction.

Senior Brother Myeong-jin, the oldest among the group, put his arm around my shoulder and spoke.

“It is fine.”

I raised my bowed head and looked up at Senior Brother Myeong-jin. He was not looking at me. Having made eye contact with each of the other senior brothers and sisters, Senior Brother Myeong-jin spoke in a grave voice.

“Originally, the martial arts of the righteous Jianghu, represented by the Nine Sects and One Association and the Seven Great Families, developed while mutually checking and influencing one another.”

The words that followed were about the origins of the Wudang Sect’s martial studies.

“It was said that the Wudang Sect’s Four Great Sword Studies created by the Sword Immortal were not made entirely by the Sword Immortal alone. The Three Absolutes Desolate Sword was strongly influenced by the routines of the Qingcheng Sect’s Seventy-Two Wave Swords, and the Four Symbols Flowing Sword shares similarities with the Mount Heng Sect’s Heaven Pillar Cloud Qi Sword in the subtlety of its force release. The Seven Stars Secret Sword shares its profound principles with the Diancang Sun-Shooting Sword Art, and the Nine Palaces Shadow Sword shows the characteristics of an illusion sword like the Mount Hua Sect’s Twenty-Four Stances Plum Blossom Sword Art. Ultimately, it means that the higher the principles of martial arts ascend, the more they originate from a single trunk.”

In addition to Senior Brother Myeong-jin’s words, Senior Brother Yo Yeon-myeong, who always stuck by him, also spoke up. Senior Brother Yo Yeon-myeong, a son of the prestigious Zhejiang Yo Clan, was also well-versed in the origins of martial arts among the various Jianghu sects. It was something worth listening to attentively.

“A significant portion of the Zhuge Clan’s fan art studies was focused on defeating the Sichuan Tang Clan’s hidden weapon art studies, and the Kongtong Sect’s Demon-Subduing Sword Art was designed to have a structural advantage over the Mount Hua Sect’s Twenty-Four Stances Plum Blossom Sword Art. It is a mistake to think that is a coincidence. The opening of the Martial Alliance in the righteous path is not simply for promoting friendship. Rather, its greater purpose is to mutually exist and develop through the exchange of martial arts.”

The words of the senior brothers.

It was the path of thesis, antithesis, and synthesis.

That path naturally reminded me of the academic lineage of the geniuses in the butterfly dream.

‘Just as the free fall thought experiment of the Italian Grandmaster Galileo (Adding benefits to arrive at the profound) later exerted a decisive influence on the young genius of England, Newton (Leaking sheath words), in establishing the three great laws of mechanics.’

Like them, I too want to carve out my own steps based on the mysteries passed down from the past. Not the Drunken Eight Immortals Steps, but a step of the Wudang Sect.

The moment my heart stirred, I made eye contact with Senior Brother Myeong-jin.

Senior Brother spoke.

“Junior Brother Yeon. So now, show us the steps you saw and thought of. Do not hesitate.”

Those words began to stimulate the ideas in my mind.

**

Myeong-jin could feel it immediately after spitting out those words.

‘Something is happening.’

On his first day entering the True Martial Pavilion, the youngest junior brother, Yeon Baek-jung, had shown an extraordinary Tai Chi Chuan. As soon as he entered the True Martial Pavilion, he had mastered the Tai Chi Diagram Exposition in a single night, and after that, he had mastered the Four Symbols Wind and Thunder Palm, which was known to have been cut off from transmission.

It was even said that during his first mission, he had watched and mastered Myeong-hun’s Flowing Cloud Movement Skill with his own eyes.

The true qi around the small body of such a youngest junior brother was trembling fiercely. It was as if what was happening inside his junior brother’s head was visible to the eye.

‘What are you going to show us again?’

The senior brothers and sisters of the Greedy Wolf Unit also closed their mouths, exchanged looks, and immediately began to surround the youngest junior brother, Yeon Baek-jung.

Those with deep cultivation force spread their true qi widely to isolate Yeon Baek-jung from external stimuli, while the rising stars like Yi Chae-yang and Myeong-hun stood on the outside and kept watch on the exterior.

Standing at the innermost part of the guard and watch was Myeong-jin, the strongest expert of the Greedy Wolf Unit. He perceived that the true qi of Yeon Baek-jung, who stood in front of him, was shaking more and more violently. Meanwhile,

‘Hmm?!’

Yeon Baek-jung’s eyes scanned the sky. His gaze slowly lowered. From the blue sky to the willows along the river, and from the willows to Myeong-jin’s own face.

And at that moment, Yeon Baek-jung took a step.

‘?!’

It was a normal step, but it was not normal.

It was light yet heavy at the same time, and heavy yet rising at the same time.

‘It was profound and mysterious.’

The staggering toes, like dandelion seeds fluttering in the wind, felt as if they would fly away anywhere. At the same time, the movements of Wudang Sect’s unique Silk Reeling Force were threatening enough to pierce through any defensive stance.

At that movement, Myeong-jin instinctively grasped his sword.

Even though not a single shred of fighting spirit was felt from his junior brother’s body, his instinct spoke.

‘I must swing.’

But his reason spoke.

‘This is an important moment for the youngest junior brother. I must not interfere.’

In that moment when instinct and reason collided, causing confusion,

he made eye contact with Yeon Baek-jung’s frowning eyes.

Only then did everything become clear.

‘You need a stimulus, junior brother.’

Why his instinct had told him so strongly to swing his sword.

Right now, what his junior brother needed at this moment was a new stimulus. Without hesitation, Myeong-jin drew his sword and executed the Wudang secret transmission, the Soft Sword Wrapped Around Fingers.

**

The idea, the will, which began from Senior Brother Myeong-jin’s words, opened my eyes, and the blue sky filled my pupils. I engraved the clouds flowing above it and the willow leaves swaying aimlessly in the wind below it onto my cornea.

The imprint engraved in my eyes seeped into the flow of natural qi filling the space between heaven and earth, and over the steps of a certain middle-aged beggar who had assimilated into that flow and was limitlessly harmonious.

As inspiration was added to inspiration, and the footprints of the predecessor led the steps of the successor, a path was created.

‘I must utilize my ankles a bit more softly. Only then will a propulsive force wave attach to my toes. What if I add the formula for overlapping true qi of the Four Symbols Wind and Thunder Palm here?’

The subtlety of striking second to control first, which forms the foundation of Wudang Sect’s martial arts, was added to the creation of space through evasion and deception unique to the Drunken Eight Immortals Steps.

As a single step of evasion transformed into a single step of counterattack, a single step expanded into two steps within the created space.

‘Two steps can expand to three, and three steps to four.’

It was an inductive reasoning.

However, this was a step that had not yet been printed in reality.

Suddenly, a thirst arose.

It was a thirst to turn an illusion into reality.

At that moment, I made eye contact with Senior Brother Myeong-jin.

A sword was drawn from Senior Brother Myeong-jin’s waist.

‘It is dangerous.’

It was a sword path I had never seen before in my life. The tip of the sword drew a large arc from the outside to the inside.

In addition to the wide sword range, the cultivation force densely formed at the tip of the sword-drawing finger touching the blade spoke.

‘Like the spear of the Changyou mask, it bends.’

Like the bending spear that the guy had abandoned and fled from, which was now tied to my waist, a highly volatile movement was drawn in my head.

Simultaneous with my prediction, my sensory perception of the Tai Chi Diagram Exposition captured the flow of true qi around Senior Brother’s sword blade. The cultivation force and natural qi extending out branch by branch were limitlessly harmonious.

Which meant,

‘It cannot be predicted.’

The variables were not isolated.

Senior Brother Myeong-jin’s sword was just like that.

It was an unpredictable sword path.

If so, would a hole be pierced by that unpredictable sword tip?

‘No.’

I chewed over the profound meaning of the step I had first felt from the Gold-Knot Wandering Beggar’s step once again.

‘Brownian motion.’

I chewed over once again what the law of that motion organized by the German Grandmaster meant, just as Senior Brother Myeong-hun had done and Senior Sister Yi Chae-yang had done.

‘The rotation and translation of atoms.’

Clarifying that the movement of water molecules constituting the water surface disturbed the pollen grains. That was the substance of the Brownian motion spoken of by the German Grandmaster Einstein (One Stone).

And that meant,

‘A case that demonstrated the existence of atoms and explained the movement of pollen grains based on the statistical fluctuations of the microscopic world.’

Through the disorderly moving pollen grains, the German Grandmaster Einstein (One Stone) predicted the existence of molecules, and furthermore, atoms, whose reality was not proven at the time.

That realization approached me as well.

‘No matter how harmonious the true qi is.’

The cultivation force that arose along the sword strike, and the true qi responding to that cultivation force, existed. Instead of predicting, I had to feel it exactly as it was.

‘I feel it through the force field of the Primal Chaos Tai Chi Art.’

Simultaneous with my recognition, the force field formed through the swirling cultivation force detected Senior Brother Myeong-jin’s sword path.

‘In the end, action and reaction.’

The third of the three laws of motion organized by the English genius, Newton (Leaking sheath words), was also applied between Senior Brother’s sword and me.

Senior Brother’s harmonious sword rushing in, and the force loaded on the sword, became the water molecules striking the pollen grains, and became the wind shaking the willow leaves.

Without resisting the action of the rushing force wave, I entrusted my body to it.

And then, I lightly stepped on the soft soil of the riverbank.

The tip of the sword narrowly missed the center of my body.

Like a bird brushing past the clouds, the sword blade flowed beneath my sleeve.

Senior Brother Myeong-jin’s sword finger pressed gently on the blade.

The sword tip bent in a direction that deviated from conventional laws of physics.

It was completely different from the lever of the Changyou mask.

‘He vibrated the sword blade itself.’

The tip of the sword, fluctuating along with the vibration, flicked its teeth like a live snake.

But even that was a single force pushing away the force field of the Primal Chaos Tai Chi Art.

Following the repulsive force felt through the force field of the Primal Chaos Tai Chi Art,

I escaped from the sword range by lightly twisting my toes.

At the same time, along with the lightly twisting toes, torsional stress acted on my tendons, soleus muscle, and calf.

It was a torque different from the force entering in a straight line.

The stress rode up my lower body, passed through my thighs, and hung on my waist.

‘Softly.’

While creating space where there was none by rotating my hips, I simultaneously contained the force inside my body. Straightaway, I unfolded my palm and executed the first stance of the Four Symbols Wind and Thunder Palm, the Obscure Dust Accumulated Clouds.

Gently pushing away the sword blade that vibrated and rushed in like an obstinate snake,

I took another step once again.

By the time Senior Brother Myeong-jin’s body brushed past me, I was able to completely escape from the sword range.

‘Good.’

Looking at Senior Brother Myeong-jin’s wide-open eyes as he turned his head,

delight filled my heart.

**

“What was that just now?”

“Junior Brother Yeon instantly…”

“Pushed away Senior Brother Myeong-jin’s sword and passed by…”

They could not close their mouths, which had opened in admiration.

On the way back after finishing the mission.

There was only a discussion about martial studies that unfolded on a peaceful road.

However, as if the young junior brother had received some inspiration from that talk about martial studies, he showed off a new step.

Everyone who watched could tell.

The step shown by the youngest junior brother was not simply a movement skill that copied the Beggars’ Sect’s Drunken Eight Immortals Steps.

It was a step where the subtlety of striking second to control first, which forms the foundation of Wudang Sect’s martial arts, was added to the creation of space through evasion and deception unique to the Drunken Eight Immortals Steps.

Evasion and counterattack were loaded into a single step.

It was a footwork force of unity in offense and defense.

Behind Yeon Baek-jung, who had taken an amazing step, the long lines of slender willows were swaying. At that sight, Yo Yeon-myeong could not help but admire it in spite of himself.

“It is indeed a Slender Willow before the Wind!”

And as if matching that statement with a couplet, Myeong-jin, who had let his sword hang down, quietly muttered.

“A thin willow branch fluttering in the wind. Yes, it is the Slender Willow Flutter.”

It was a new name attached to the step Yeon Baek-jung had taken.