Chapter 6
===================
Translated by Seoulbound
Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net
===================
**
The Purple Yang Hermitage, beautifully dyed by the evening glow, was unusually lonely today.
-If you fail the admission to the True Martial Pavilion, you know what will happen, right?
Master left behind a single bamboo slip containing such content and departed.
‘Suddenly?’
Of course, Master was usually busy with sect affairs. However, it was the first time he vanished leaving only a single bamboo slip behind, so I was flustered.
Moreover, the admission sparring was tomorrow.
Master, who had barely been apart from me for seven years, of all times, vacated his post just a day before an important test.
As twilight fell, a chilly mountain wind made me realize Master’s absence.
I felt as if a corner of my heart was empty.
**
“Martial Uncle! Surely you are not still sleeping, right?”
The ones who visited the Purple Yang Hermitage early in the morning were my three martial nephews—Seon-yang, Gye-yang, and Bo-yang.
“What is it?”
At my question, Gye-yang smirked and replied.
“Grand Martial Uncle Gangwon requested of us. Saying he is vacating his post due to urgent business, so to take good care of Martial Uncle. Let us go.”
At the unexpected visit of my martial nephews, my heart, which had been cold since yesterday evening, slowly melted.
“Master did? What did he say?”
“To prepare yourself if you fail.”
“Ah.”
My melting heart solidified appropriately.
At that moment, one more person appeared behind the three.
It was Je Un-seong, whose face had lost its greasiness and become clean, but whose frame was the same.
“Why are you here?”
At my question, Seon-yang smiled and spoke.
“He said he wanted to see Martial Uncle off.”
I was surprised.
Because I knew the fellow did not like me. However, to fifteen-year-old boys, relationships were bound to change moment by moment.
“I have been sorry for that time. Please forgive my rudeness, Martial Uncle.”
Je Un-seong, who bowed his head and apologized, lacked the fierceness he had during Push Hands sparring.
“Okay. Let us go.”
Although it was awkward, turning away someone who had visited out of a mind to support was a strange thing to do as fellow disciples who had watched each other for a long time.
Even so, the awkward silence continuing between the five of us could not be helped.
Meanwhile, Gye-yang, who was close with all of his sect generation-brothers, stepped forward.
“I will lead the way, Martial Uncle. I know the fastest shortcut leading to the True Martial Pavilion.”
Right after Gye-yang took the lead, the quiet Bo-yang stood shoulder-to-shoulder with me. Then, he quietly opened his mouth.
“…Martial Uncle, it is something I have wanted to ask since a few days ago.”
Bo-yang, who hesitated for a moment, soon spoke as if he had made up his mind.
“Just how could your martial arts become so deep in a single moment? Are we not the ones who have watched Martial Uncle for a long time? Honestly, I was curious. How a person can change so suddenly in a single moment.”
If the usually quiet Bo-yang asked this long of a question, it must mean he was truly curious.
It was not only Bo-yang who was like that.
Gye-yang also glanced at me repeatedly, and Je Un-seong had a openly curious expression.
Knowing the surrounding reactions, Seon-yang spoke with a smile.
“To be sure, Martial Uncle did change too suddenly. Mmh… since we know how Martial Uncle originally was, many rumors have been circulating among us of the Yang generation. Someone said Martial Uncle mastered demonic arts, and other fellows said you studied under the elders of the Eight Disciples of Sanfeng.”
The Eight Disciples of Sanfeng.
They were the direct disciples of Founder Sanfeng who opened Wudang Sect.
Some said they had already ascended to immortality, and others said they had retired from the martial world, living in seclusion in deep hermitages of Wudang Mountain, but.
In any case, what was certain was that they were sky-like figures whom young disciples like us had no chance to see.
“The elders of the Eight Disciples of Sanfeng. I also wish to meet them once.”
At my words, Je Un-seong opened his eyes wide.
“Do you truly mean you did not study under the Grand Masters?”
Seon-yang, Gye-yang, and Bo-yang, who were close to me, did not believe such rumors, but Je Un-seong seemed otherwise.
“No, what kind of studying under people whom we cannot even tell if they are alive or dead.”
To the Yang generation, the existence of the direct Eight Disciples of Sanfeng was too distant, like clouds in the sky.
“Indeed. That is true.”
Je Un-seong nodded.
Then, he suddenly tilted his head.
“Then just how did you, in a single moment…”
At Je Un-seong’s question, I replied calmly.
Of course, I did not bring up the dream story.
Since he was already tilting his head, the dream story would rather add confusion.
“Try studying hard in the Library Pavilion. The eyes with which you observe change.”
At my words, Je Un-seong muttered.
“Library Pavilion. Library Pavilion reading. Reading.”
Watching such a Je Un-seong, Seon-yang and Gye-yang giggled.
“Ah, so Martial Uncle changed like that because you did reading?”
“Ah, indeed. You did. Reading.”
Seon-yang and Gye-yang.
knew me too well.
I glared at the fellows and spoke.
“What, why? Can I not even read books?”
“No. Well, I just recalled the complaint made by On-yang, a disciple of Taoist studies, who complained that the books Martial Uncle was reading were damp.”
“Hey. I said I read them.”
“We understand. We will count it as… you read them.”
“No. I said I read them!”
“We said we understand, though?”
While walking and bickering like that, when the slope ended and a slightly flat section appeared, Bo-yang spoke.
“Martial Uncle, may I ask you something regarding Tai Chi Chuan by any chance?”
Following Bo-yang, Seon-yang also erased his previous playfulness and asked seriously.
“If I did not see it wrong, it seemed the mnemonic formula for speed was added? Just how did you add speed to the slow Tai Chi Chuan routine?”
“It seemed there was a secret in the routine, but it was not resolved at all. Can you let us know?”
They were martial nephews who had watched my changed Tai Chi Chuan for several days. A person who changed suddenly was bound to draw eyes naturally.
Gye-yang, who was leading the way as a guide, asked while walking completely backward, and Je Un-seong was also looking at me with burning eyes. Like that, everyone’s gaze pierced onto me.
Although they were all still young, as much as they were Wudang Sect disciples of martial studies, their greed for martial arts was stronger than anyone else.
And facing the children possessing such aspiration for learning, I felt an unknown passion boiling within my chest.
‘What is this?’
As if this situation was not the first, I opened my mouth naturally. As if I became someone standing on a platform looking at students.
“Correct, the routine is the core.”
Like that, I began to explain.
“You guys remember the Tai Chi Ball Skill training, right?”
“Of course.”
“If we say the iron ball of the Tai Chi Ball Skill is rolled along the arm, there will be a routine drawn by the curve that a single point on the iron ball draws. Try deploying the fist along that path.”
Whoosh. Whoosh.
The flat path suddenly changed into a Tai Chi Chuan training ground, and
“Huh? It truly works?”
“What is this? Why is this fast?”
“This is indeed the Cycloid.”
“Yes. Release the strength in your arms. While maintaining the relaxation of mind and energy, go as the force leads. Yes, like that. If you utilize centrifugal force, the mnemonic formula for speed, which is greater than a straight routine, revives instead.”
Once they felt the effectiveness, the martial nephews’ questions began to pour out.
“But at this rate, it seems it will be hard to catch the point of impact?”
“And the routine will have to continue changing according to the opponent.”
“Therefore, training through Push Hands sparring is important. You read the intent while feeling the opponent’s force. You modify the routine in response to the opponent’s attack. It is about expressing Wudang study’s core key secret, Wisdom.”
“Ah, then Striking Second to Control First will become possible!”
“Wow.”
“You truly read a lot of books!”
“These rascals?”
Although playfulness accompanied them, the posture with which the martial nephews engaged in learning was excellent.
They did not learn only as taught.
If they were curious about something, questions followed immediately.
“Even so, in the case of Striking Second to Control First, won’t one be pushed back by the opponent’s force? If the Release of Force is late, one will also be pushed back in force at the moment of impact.”
In Gye-yang’s figure pointing out the loophole, I felt supreme joy. This was it. A disciple who questions the master in reverse rather than just accepting what is given looks more lovely.
Like this, even when teaching one thing, they do not obtain one but can take away two or three. Suddenly I wanted to drag these fellows into the space referred to as “graduate school,” but I held back and continued the explanation.
“Here, push me. I am not easily pushed, right?”
According to my words, Gye-yang pushed me with his palms, and as I endured, Gye-yang was pushed back slightly.
“Not easily pushed, right? You also feel the recoiling force.”
“Indeed.”
I pointed out the essence of the phenomenon that was passed over, thought of as natural. That was the core of “physics” studied in the dream.
“An object at rest tries to continue staying at rest. This is called inertia. And the force you feel? The force returns to you as much as the force you exert on the opponent. This is called action and reaction.”
As if realizing something at my words, Bo-yang spoke this time.
“Then by any chance, is Borrowing Force to Fill Energy also due to this reason…”
“Yes. It is utilizing the opponent’s force in reverse. You supplement the force not satisfied in the Striking Second to Control First mnemonic formula with the opponent’s force. Since you use the opponent’s force in reverse, you can save your own force, and additionally, the burden exerted on the body can also be reduced. Furthermore, if you do not receive the force head-on at the moment of impact? You can reduce the force further. That is why maintaining the center is important in Tai Chi Chuan. Erecting the center and not being pushed back by the opponent’s force with minimal movement. Redirection of the opponent’s force to collapse them thereby. That is the core.”
Since Wuxia study’s core key secrets were explained by melting them into Tai Chi Chuan, the martial nephews absorbed the learning like cotton.
Additionally, a suspicious light gathered in the fellows’ eyes, and their gazes directed toward me.
“You say such things are truly all in the Library Pavilion books?”
Gye-yang spoke as a representative, but I felt the other fellows also had the same mind.
Whether one can truly know such things if they read in the Library Pavilion.
At Gye-yang’s question, I shrugged my shoulders and replied slyly.
“You cannot know if you only read it as written. You must think and realize.”
Gye-yang’s expression crumpled.
“Martial Uncle, you are suddenly obnoxious, you know?”
“What? This fellow?”
The arm that drooped like a whip, slow at first, accelerated rapidly and struck Gye-yang’s flank. It was the Fourth Form of Tai Chi Chuan, Single Whip.
“Urgh!”
Gye-yang’s body folded in half, and the faces of the remaining fellows who wore similar expressions to Gye-yang’s brightened up.
Watching that figure, I pointed at the folded Gye-yang.
“The magnitude of force is determined by mass and the extent to which velocity changes. Swings blindly fast are not important. How greatly you raise velocity at the moment of impact, that moment. That is the core. If woven into a mnemonic formula, it can be summarized as Force is as weight multiplied and added.”
Like that, we wove the mnemonic formulas and trained in Tai Chi Chuan while demonstrating directly with our bodies.
Forgetting even the time of the True Martial Pavilion admission sparring.
**
There are countless pavilions and temples on Wudang Mountain, but among them, the most famous were the Supreme Clarity Palace where the Sect Leader of Wudang Sect resided, and the South Rock Palace, which was said to be the symbol of Wudang Sect’s martial arts, in the southern area of Wudang Mountain.
The Supreme Clarity Palace was famous as it was the Sect Leader’s residence, but the South Rock Palace was different.
First of all, the construction method surpassed human imagination.
In addition to the rugged terrain, they carved the rocky peak flat and erected a giant pavilion upon it.
Truly a massive construction.
And the only person under heaven who could initiate such a massive construction was but one.
It was the Emperor of the Empire.
The reputation of being a kind of imperial gift, built by the order of the emperor two generations prior who was called the Iron-Blooded Emperor, made the South Rock Palace a space that could not be approached.
A building constructed in a martial sect by the direct order of the emperor.
The reconstruction of Shaolin and the rebuilding of Wudang were the hands extended to the martial world by the previous emperor, and thereby, a kind of pact was formed between the Imperial Court, the government, and the martial world.
The government and the martial world do not invade each other’s domains.
It was the beginning of Non-interference between government and martial world.
In other words, Wudang Sect’s South Rock Palace was the symbol of Wudang martial studies, while simultaneously being the basis for orthodox sects to rectify the order of the martial world.
The martial power derived from the emperor’s authority and the depth of Wudang martial studies.
Since the martial sects that could oppose those two forces were truly few and far between, Wudang had now become one of the two giant sects of the orthodox martial world along with Henan’s Shaolin Temple.
Therefore, the pride of Immortal Hae-won, the Wudang Sect elder responsible for this South Rock Palace, was truly grand.
“…Just why has he not shown himself yet? Does he look down upon the South Rock Palace, the True Martial Pavilion?”
Yet, veins bulged on Hae-won’s forehead.
A few disciples serving Hae-won were breaking out in cold sweat.
Even if not to the extent of Immortal Hae-won, the True Martial Pavilion disciples belonging to the South Rock Palace also possessed pride in belonging to the True Martial Pavilion.
“Is fifteen not too early? Even Myeong-hun’s admission was after capping age. I worry that a young disciple is displaying unnecessary bravado.”
“Indeed. Though I heard he was a child who drew attention from before… isn’t he a disciple who actually fell short of expectations? What whim drove him to apply for the True Martial Pavilion admission sparring suddenly. Tsk, tsk, tsk.”
“What else could it be? It is a young child’s childishness. Won’t Myeong-hun admonish that child well and send him back?”
Most of the disciples belonging to the True Martial Pavilion maintained a lukewarm attitude toward the formal disciple Yeon Baek-jung who applied for the admission sparring.
Meanwhile, Myeong-cheol, who stepped forward as a notary for Yeon Baek-jung’s True Martial Pavilion sparring on behalf of the absent Immortal Gangwon, watched the surrounding reactions and thought.
‘Come quickly and show them. What kind of child you are.’
Myeong-cheol believed his own eyes.
If it was Yeon Baek-jung who possessed the qualities of a Grandmaster that he saw, he would sufficiently be able to enter the True Martial Pavilion.
Only, the problem was.
“Has he still not arrived?!”
That even as the shadow of the sundial slided from noon, the scheduled sparring time, toward the afternoon, Yeon Baek-jung had not shown himself, and
“It seems he grew scared and is not showing up?”
“It was indeed bravado.”
On the faces of the True Martial Pavilion disciples who had come out to watch the admission sparring after a long time, disappointment was also reflecting.
And at that moment.
Tap. Tap. Tap. Boom!
The sound of stomping feet was heard from the stairs below the main gate of the South Rock Palace.
The eyes of the True Martial Pavilion disciples who had suspicious looks grew wide and directed toward midair.
“Oh?”
“Cloud-Climbing Step?”
A boy with a youthful face soared into midair and appeared on the South Rock Palace training ground.
At that moment, the gazes of all those gathered there directed solely to one person.