Chapter 57

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Translated by Seoulbound

Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net
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It was a tremendous welcome.

‘Yan Jong-hak, the Black Hand Overturning Heaven; Baekri Gwan, the Divine Eagle of the Blue Sky; Cheong-song, the Silent Night…’

They were faces too excessive to welcome young experts.

And the one person on whom they focused their attention and aura waves (Gipa) was me.

From the clear and quiet aura wave of the Yan Clan’s secret Skeleton Mysterious Yin True Qi, to the detection of the Deep Consciousness Eye derived from the Diancang Sect’s Five Aggregates Sincere Clarity Mind Art, and the sharp gaze of the Qingcheng Sect’s Clear Light Eye. The detection aura waves of the masters from the Nine Sects and One Association and the Seven Great Families tangled chaotically around my body.

“You’re saying he broke the sword of the Young Spirit Slayer, the disciple of the River of Three Crossings Lord?”

“That that young child broke the sword of the Young Spirit Slayer, who had achieved the Three Flowers Gathering at the Crown… It is not easily believed.”

“His skeletal structure is unusual… He might display martial prowess beyond the internal strength he possesses.”

“No matter what, it is not easily imagined how that was possible.”

In the favorable gazes, energies of probing and vigilance were also mixed. If a rookie from another sect appeared and achieved excessive merit, anyone would be like that.

Most of those sending eyes and aura waves were masters who had risen to a realm similar to Martial Aunt Hye-won’s.

The aura waves emitted by the martial arts masters, whose names were worth no less than the Nine Swords of Wudang, became inspiration themselves and were engraved in my head, so…

‘They would be suitable as stepping stones on the road to rising to the Nascent Soul Stage.’

Receiving their gazes and expectations was a great honor in itself, and at the same time, it came as a stimulus to my upper Dantian.

Over those gazes, the disappointed looks that the sect elders used to send in the past overlapped, so it felt like experiencing a complete transformation in a short period of time.

What arose next was the conversation I had shared with my master.

The words my master had said regarding the martial prowess one must possess to face the Six Mighties of the Demonic Path who stood at the peak of the Six Great Evils.

—At the very least, surpass this master and the elders of the Nine Sects and One Association. Only that level would allow you to receive at least a single blow from those devils called the Six Mighties.

It was as if the milestones, which I had wondered how far I would have to go to reach, were welcoming me.

Although the road to travel was still far, pride was sprinkled like rain on the fertile soil of the middle Dantian. It felt as if the two growing sprouts grew about a foot taller.

At the moment when the heat of Guangxi, the killing sword of the Young Spirit Slayer, and the moment of enduring the terrifying water art cultivation of the Great Sage Who Overturns Seas all felt like a dream.

Something wriggled, and vigilance arose.

It was because a secret gaze that was not entirely favorable was felt among the masters’ gazes.

In a way, it was a natural thing.

The Nine Sects and One Association and the Seven Great Families were in a relationship where they cooperated yet competed at the same time.

When a cousin buys land, one gets a stomachache, so if a rookie appeared in another sect, there could not fail to be looks of jealousy.

I accepted even such gazes skillfully.

For I considered it a reaction that would naturally appear once one gained fame.

However, just as I was concerned that those gazes might damage the source of inspiration being engraved in my head,

A reliable back blocked my front like an awning.

“Haha. It seems this poor Taoist’s disciple has caught the attention of many fellow Taoists, indeed.”

My master resolutely cut off all those gazes directed at me.

“Isn’t this a place to welcome the young disciples who have returned after successfully performing their mission? If we pay excessive attention to one person, how would the other children of Group Bing who achieved merits feel?”

“Ahem. That is also true.”

“If the Murim Alliance meeting were held at our home sect, we would have thrown a grand banquet, but since we cannot do so at the Shaolin Temple, the main temple of the World’s Zen Sect, we were trying to replace it with words of encouragement, ahem.”

“Isn’t it an unbelievable matter? Immortal Hye-song, please show us your disciple and help broaden this old man’s horizon.”

Suddenly, my master looked back at me.

He was asking with his eyes.

It was a gaze telling me to decide since it was a matter concerning me.

‘I already have enough attention and inspiration. For now, digesting what I have obtained is the priority.’

Because I needed time to review and contemplate,

I shook my head.

“Haha. After all, these children have not fully recovered from the fatigue of their journey. Please let them rest first.”

With my master’s words, Yan Jong-hak, the younger brother of the Yan Clan Head, and Baekri Gwan, the elder of the Diancang Sect, also agreed. They were all masters of the sects that had members in Group Bing.

“Correct.”

“Indeed. Fatiguing the children who suffered again is not what adults should do.”

The crowd that had gathered like clouds parted.

We were able to escape the welcoming crowd under the pretext of internal injuries sustained during the battle—which had already fully healed.

**

Leaving the chaotic mountain gate, all the members of Group Bing scattered to their original residences. My master, Martial Aunt Hye-won, and I were also able to reach the Wudang Sect lodging in the Shaolin Temple’s Guest Hall.

Although it was Shaolin and not Wudang Mountain, its quietness was no less than any Taoist temple.

In that tranquility, I was able to face my master after a long time.

“You accomplished an absurd thing.”

Deep affection was felt in his blunt words.

Because I knew that although anyone else hearing it would think it was a scolding, it was a supreme compliment that was hard to hear from my master, who was stingy with praise.

I skillfully retorted to my master’s praise.

“Whose disciple am I?”

Looking at my master’s slightly twitching brow, I showed a pleased smile. Toward me, my master maintained his composure and opened his mouth.

“Tell me properly what happened.”

At my master’s question, I told him the details of the circumstances. The arduous journey to Guangxi through sparsely populated mountain roads for security. When he heard about the process of martial discussions with the Group Bing companions, who focused on refining their martial arts while gradually becoming exhausted in the meantime…

“How like you. Since you stripped and ate someone else’s while pretending to give, there is no separate thief other than a Taoist.”

However, looking at the corner of my master’s mouth twitching as he spoke, I beamed a smile.

“Whose disciple am I?”

“I have never taught you such a thing, though?”

“Didn’t you tell me not to be taken advantage of?”

“You interpret the words ‘do not go around losing out in the Jianghu’ in your own way.”

“But I cannot walk around with my eyes closed either. I merely captured what was visible in my eyes.”

“I wonder if a public enemy of the martial world might emerge from the Wudang Sect.”

Even as he spoke like that, because the corner of his mouth was turned upward, it seemed that even the sword that the downward-striking Young Spirit Slayer drew diagonally would be blocked by the corner of my master’s mouth.

However, when stories about martial arts came out, it was different. Erasing his smile, he spoke seriously.

“I saw the way leading to the True Formula of Thunder of the Four Symbols Wind and Thunder Palm.”

At my words, a slightly serious light returned to my master’s eyes as well.

“The rumor that you faced the Great Sage Who Overturns Seas was not empty words.”

Parrying water qi with thunder qi.

Unlike the majority of martial artists for whom encountering thunder qi was extremely rare, my master accurately grasped the compatibility.

In addition, as if to gain deeper insight, my master cast his gaze into the void.

“Indeed. Even if we combine the skill you possess with the Qingcheng Sect’s Blue Cloud Sunset Sword, you could not compare to the Young Spirit Slayer who cut off the neck of the Mount Heng elder, but you realized it when you broke his sword.”

As if he were a person who had been at the scene, my master saw through the process of my realization. Following his slightly nodding head, my master’s insight continued.

“It was a good thing that you were in the same group as the young master of the Namgung Clan. The Namgung Clan’s sword studies touch upon the formula of the Four Symbols Wind and Thunder Palm.”

It felt as if my eyes flew open at my master’s words.

It was a situation where I had not yet perfectly mastered the True Formula of Thunder.

There seemed to be some secret story, but now was the time to concentrate on the martial art itself rather than such things.

“Surely, it must not be easy to handle thunder qi with your internal strength yet.”

“Yes. That’s right. I think it’s because my internal energy has only reached the Elixir Condensation Stage…”

“Wrong.”

“Pardon?”

“I mean the mastery of internal energy is not the problem.”

“Then what is it?”

“It is because the management of internal energy is biased to one side. Thunder qi is an energy originating from the extreme Yang, the dry heaven. There must be a formula of Yin softness to neutralize the Yang hardness so that the body can endure. It is not for nothing that practitioners of the Four Symbols Wind and Thunder Palm have ceased.”

It was the Four Symbols Wind and Thunder Palm, one of the true signature techniques of Zhang Sanfeng himself. Even so, the reason why it had reached the brink of extinction, with extremely few having learned it within the Wudang Sect, was explained as being because there was no one within the Wudang Sect who could master it to the end.

“It was only thanks to your constitution that you endured the thunder qi. If someone else had managed the True Formula of Thunder like you, it wouldn’t have been strange if they had become a ghost who would never return.”

‘Indeed.’

Even if a current of only one ampere flows through the body, ordinary people cross the Yellow Springs.

The load that the management of thunder qi through massive charged particles would inflict on the body must be beyond imagination.

“You must achieve the unification of true qi through harmony and balance. My master said in the past that the True Formula of Wind and the True Formula of Thunder of the Four Symbols Wind and Thunder Palm are fundamentally not different.”

As the grandmaster’s teachings, heard through my master, penetrated and passed through my cerebrum…

‘That’s right.’

I recalled the principle of how wind rises.

‘Wind rises due to friction between air particles. Then the cause of friction? Coulomb’s law!’

One of the most fundamental formulas among the formulas of electromagnetism.

In the end, the electromagnetic force acting between air particles was the fundamental cause of friction.

‘If I minimize the bodily contact of thunder qi through the True Formula of Wind, form a negative pole and a positive pole in the inner core, and store thunder qi? The body’s resistance to thunder qi will increase, and since I extract and utilize the stored thunder qi, I can manage thunder qi more easily. The side effects could disappear.’

Perform electrical storage just like qi accumulation.

A thing that was possible because I could move air through internal energy.

The reason why the Namgung Clan’s Great Derivation Celestial Wind Sword, the power that moves the wind, could reach heavenly thunder. My master’s words that the Namgung Clan’s sword studies touched upon the formula of the Four Symbols Wind and Thunder Palm were not empty words.

“.”

Simultaneously with my words, I closed my eyes and concentrated on my breath.

As the True Formula of Wind and Thunder of the Four Symbols Wind and Thunder Palm was combined on top of the formula of the Primal Chaos Tai Chi Art, the electric charges contained in the charged particles accumulated in my body through breathing. Between the positive charges and negative charges, resistance was formed through the inner core’s internal energy, and the electric charges were recharged with every breath.

A form like having a simple dry cell battery inside the body.

Accumulating electricity that could be pulled out and used at any time.

Electricity was no different from a kind of true qi.

Because all things were made of true qi.

Even atoms were particles of vital energy with clustered true qi.

It united with the internal energy and naturally settled in the inner core.

“.”

A light electrical discharge was mixed with a small breath.

However, such instability also gradually decreased as breathing was repeated.

Finally, when it entered a state of complete stability, I opened my eyes.

“The True Formula of Wind and Thunder. I have unified them.”

Perhaps due to the influence of the thunder qi, my eyes seemed to have become brighter.

It was an amazing achievement.

It felt as if my internal strength had risen to another level even without going through qi accumulation.

It was as if I had achieved a high accomplishment even though I hadn’t reviewed the battle with the Great Sage Who Overturns Seas yet.

After clasping my hands to my master, I headed straight to my room.

It was because I wanted to concentrate on my breathing a bit more.

**

Immortal Gangwon scanned the empty space where his disciple had been until just a moment ago with trembling eyes.

‘To handle thunder qi so easily? Was the Unification of Wind and Thunder such a simple matter?’

Thunder qi originates from the dry heaven.

Although Taoists are those who read the energy of all things under heaven by reading the creation of the Jade Emperor,

wind qi and thunder qi were the most difficult to handle among the true qi filling the space between heaven and earth.

Wind qi alone is difficult to handle.

In the Jianghu, even if one can only generate sword wind or fist wind through the resonance of internal energy and true qi, one is treated as a master.

The layer of such masters being overwhelmingly thick compared to other sects was the groups of the Nine Sects and One Association, the Seven Great Families, and the Six Great Evils.

But.

“—…The True Formula of Wind and the True Formula of Thunder of the Four Symbols Wind and Thunder Palm are fundamentally not different.”

“—Then I must first unify the True Formula of Wind with the True Formula of Thunder.”

Between that short exchange, the disciple found the answer.

The road that someone could not reach even by repeating wall-facing contemplation and realization for a lifetime, the disciple accomplished in the midst of dozens of breaths taken with his eyes closed.

It felt as if he had dreamed a dream.

‘I think it was said that Grandmaster Sanfeng had accomplished such a thing.’

It was said that a brief moment was sufficient to form the basic routine of the Two Polarities Patterned Sword. It was also said that his master took more than ten years to polish and refine such a realization of the grandmaster.

‘What talent!’

The wall of this Shaolin where they were located looked low anew.

The wall that had felt high enough to make him wonder if he could ever cross it in the past was now seen differently.

‘The Seventy-Two Supreme Arts… Although I always considered Wudang lacking compared to Shaolin.’

He realized anew that it was not lacking.

Moreover, such a change in impression occurred due to his disciple alone.

Watching a disciple’s achievement was like that.

**

The Eight Eminences of Qingcheng were the eight masters representing the Qingcheng Sect.

They were the Qingcheng Sect’s highest fighting power, to the extent that it was considered that two of the Eight Eminences could definitely defeat one of the Nine Swords of Wudang.

Two such masters sat down in front of a young disciple.

Su-gyo was distressed.

“You unified the Blue Cloud Sunset Sword? You mean you didn’t just restore the Qingyun Sword and Chixia Sword, but even accomplished their unification?!”

The one who grabbed his martial nephew’s shoulder, greatly surprised,

was the swordsman, Immortal Cheong-in, who led the Qingcheng Sect Taoists dispatched to the Murim Alliance.

It seemed he had come after hearing it from someone among the Group Bing members.

Beside Immortal Cheong-in, the silent Taoist who did not open his mouth was also experiencing a storm in his eyes.

For Immortal Cheong-song, the Silent Night, who was one of the Eight Eminences, it was his most intense expression of emotion.

Looking at that gaze, Su-gyo was distressed again.

‘This was why I placed the restriction, but…’

There was no help for it.

It was because, while performing the mission together, Yeon Baek-jung had turned into a beloved younger brother before he knew it.

Excluding the junior brothers of the Pacifying Sword Unit with whom he had associated for a long time, the person he cherished most had become Yeon Baek-jung. The discourses on martial arts they shared in the shade of the Shaolin Temple’s Guest Hall, the path to Guangxi, and the numerous discourses they shared between destroying the counterfeit poison workshops in Guangxi added depth between them.

The existence of a junior who would walk together on the path of martial arts, which one might not reach even by dedicating a lifetime, and who might soon surpass Su-gyo himself, was a new stimulus even for Su-gyo, for whom people were a distress.

Such a Yeon Baek-jung was in danger.

He had no choice but to lift the restriction.

Therefore.

‘Junior Yeon. You’ll have to take the attention.’

Although Su-gyo felt a slight sense of guilt,

since I am not telling a lie,

he was able to let go of the burden in his heart with effort.

Then, he resolutely spoke to his martial uncles, who were sending him burdensome looks as if they would do anything for him.

“It was not something I did alone. The contribution of Young Hero Yeon Baek-jung of the Wudang Sect was decisive in the unification of the Blue Cloud Sunset Sword. If you wish to commend, I hope you will commend Junior Yeon as well.”

Watching his martial uncles’ eyes waver, Su-gyo felt his mind become slightly more at ease.

Su-gyo was that kind of person.