Chapter 70

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

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

**

After the words of Immortal Im-won, the Prosperity Star Unit Leader.

The elders’ meeting was conducted once again.

The agenda?

How to nurture the Wudang Sect’s greatest talent!

Although it was an agenda item that had been brought up implicitly ever since he laid hands on Tai Chi Chuan and created the Primal Chaos Tai Chi Art.

-“He is a lacking disciple, after all. Besides, he does not particularly like receiving attention.”

Yeon Baek-jung was someone who had received attention early on for being born with natural godlike strength and skeletal structure. However, he had failed to meet those expectations, showing slow progress and even going astray.

Because Yeon Baek-jung had such a past record.

-“Gangwon’s words seem correct.”

Under the agreement of the Sect Leader, they had forbidden excessive interest or attention regarding Yeon Baek-jung.

But not anymore.

It was said that he had mastered the Four Symbols Flowing Sword in just one double-hour, not even twelve, and had displayed the realm of ‘martial dance.’

Since the words had come directly from the mouth of the Prosperity Star Unit Leader, who possessed the deepest mastery of the Four Symbols Flowing Sword, there was no room for doubt.

Even in the Wudang Sect, where geniuses were common, they could not simply leave a talent that was like a needle in a pouch alone.

Therefore, a heated debate began to take place.

“Is the Jianghu not in turmoil due to the movements of the Six Great Evils? I believe it is reasonable to keep him on the mountain to grow safely rather than letting him go down the mountain until he reaches maturity.”

The one who made that argument was Immortal Mang-won, the Lord of the Mysterious Heaven Pavilion, which stored and managed all major secret manuals of the Wudang Sect.

Because Yeon Baek-jung was the one who transformed the Primal Chaos One Qi Art into the Primal Chaos Tai Chi Art, filling a corner of the Mysterious Heaven Pavilion library.

Drips of honey were practically falling from Immortal Mang-won’s eyes.

In addition, who was the one who agreed with Immortal Mang-won’s words?

It was Immortal Hae-won, the Lord of the South Rock Palace where the True Martial Pavilion was located.

Although he was someone who had initially viewed Yeon Baek-jung unfavorably when he was late to the True Martial Pavilion entrance spar, he had become a person who cherished Yeon Baek-jung ever since he reborn the Primal Chaos One Qi Art, the final legacy of his master, into the Primal Chaos Tai Chi Art.

“If the child were to be seriously injured or disabled by any chance, that would be a great loss to the world, let alone our Wudang Sect!”

From Immortal Mang-won to Immortal Hae-won, the majority of the elders agreed with that.

Of course, there were opposing opinions as well.

Immortal Seung-won, the Lord of the Pavilion of Standards, who was in charge of Wudang Sect’s internal rules and rewards and punishments, was a prime example.

“I do not believe that giving special treatment to a single disciple will benefit the entire sect. Above all, did that child, Yeon Baek-jung, not already go out into the Jianghu and carry out his missions excellently? Giving him special treatment on the path of establishing the righteous path of the Jianghu does not seem like a proper idea.”

Since there was also truth in the words of Immortal Seung-won, who valued principles, there were elders who agreed with him. Of course, the number was small.

“Above all, overprotection may instead hinder that child’s growth. Since there is no one here who does not know how important experience is for growth, I ask you to reconsider.”

It was an even tougher decision because those who argued to continuously deploy Yeon Baek-jung to Jianghu missions did not cherish him any less.

Therefore, the place where everyone’s eyes turned was?

“Gangwon, speak up. What do you think?”

“Since the Sea Fog Pavilion Lord is the child’s master, think only of the child’s future.”

“Well spoken! If it is for the future of that child, the Bringer of Chaos, we must naturally protect him within the sect…”

Having received questions from the two opposing camps, Immortal Gangwon opened his mouth after a brief silence.

**

While the elders’ meeting was well underway.

I visited the Mysterious Heaven Pavilion to verify the difference between the existing Four Symbols Flowing Sword and the sword path I had practiced that I felt at the Prosperity Star Unit’s training ground.

However, there was a problem.

“Junior Brother Yeon, you do not have entry authority yet. How about speaking to the Greedy Wolf Unit Leader or the Sea Fog Pavilion Lord, obtaining entry authority, and coming back?”

The words of the senior brother guarding the Mysterious Heaven Pavilion meant that entry to the Mysterious Heaven Pavilion was not free for young disciples. He said it was for security reasons.

Although it was a well-known fact since I had entered accompanied by my master in the past.

“Because my master has entered the elders’ meeting.”

“Has the elders’ meeting not ended yet?”

“Yes.”

There was no one to give me entry authority.

Not my master, nor my Martial Aunt Hye-won.

However, since I had come here because my desire to know how different and in what way the realization was from the existing Four Symbols Flowing Sword took precedence, after the realization arrived.

“Yes. Because I really want to see the secret manual of the Four Symbols Flowing Sword.”

“Well, although there is no way you would do such a thing. Sometimes there are such disciples who try to leak the secret manuals. In any case, it seems difficult to make an exception.”

As much as the rumors about me had spread, the senior brother also expressed his desire to let me in, but rules were rules.

‘True. No matter how much they filter them out, such betrayers are bound to be anywhere.’

No matter how free our sect’s atmosphere was, creating an exception by violating the sect rules was not something to be done.

The larger the organization was, the more they had to keep what must be kept.

“…I see. Then I will obtain the entry authority and come back.”

“Alright.”

Since they had ordered the True Martial Pavilion disciples who went to the Murim Alliance to rest well, there would be plenty of time to train without going on missions for the time being.

In the end, I turned my steps back, leaving my regret behind.

At that moment.

“Huh? Bringer of Chaos?!”

Immortal Mang-won, the Lord of the Mysterious Heaven Pavilion, who had come out of the elders’ meeting, returned to the Mysterious Heaven Pavilion.

**

‘He is someone notorious for being extremely strict, though…’

If it were according to the original rules, no matter how much I begged, he would definitely be a person who would tell me to get permission from my master or Martial Aunt Hye-won before coming, but…

“Enter comfortably. Comfortably!”

Since there was no one who could exercise entry authority as much as the Lord of the Mysterious Heaven Pavilion himself.

I was able to enter the Mysterious Heaven Pavilion safely thanks to Immortal Mang-won.

As soon as we entered the entrance, Immortal Mang-won asked me in an extremely gentle voice.

“By the way, what brings you to the Mysterious Heaven Pavilion?”

‘He is excessively gentle, though?’

At him showing a favor whose reason was somehow hard to guess, I answered in a slightly tense state.

From obtaining the Four Symbols Flowing Sword at the Prosperity Star Unit building to wanting to verify the Four Symbols Flowing Sword.

Then, for some reason, Immortal Mang-won’s eyes sparkled even more.

“Ahem. If all those things are true… does it mean you also revised the Four Symbols Flowing Sword, just like when you modified the Tai Chi Chuan routine in the past?”

“Uh… because it is not certain. Since it may simply be that I modified it to fit my body, and I have no certainty that it is better than the existing Four Symbols Flowing Sword. That is why I want to verify it.”

“Ahem, if it is such a matter, then I must hinder your entry even less. Take this.”

What fell into my hand was a dark-colored jade plaque.

“It is an entry token issued by the order of the Lord of the Mysterious Heaven Pavilion. It is a sign that you can enter and leave the Mysterious Heaven Pavilion at any time if you wish, so if you ever have business at the Mysterious Heaven Pavilion in the future, present it at any time.”

It was a sign that I could now freely enter and leave the Mysterious Heaven Pavilion without anyone’s permission anymore.

Since it was no different from a considerable privilege, I expressed my gratitude.

“Thank you!”

I could roughly guess the situation.

It meant that I should look at the sect’s secret manuals and improve them in a better direction, just as I had done to Tai Chi Chuan in the past.

‘Just what I wanted!’

I headed straight to the bookshelf where the secret manual of the Four Symbols Flowing Sword was located.

“How is it? Is the secret manual of the Four Symbols Flowing Sword different from the Four Symbols Flowing Sword you practiced?”

“I have just opened the cover, Martial Uncle.”

“Ah, yes. Quite so. Read comfortably. Comfortably.”

Immortal Mang-won pretended to look elsewhere and scan other secret manuals, observing me.

‘Mhm. It would feel more comfortable if you went somewhere else, though.’

However, I could not possibly kick out the elder of the sect who had given me the authority of constant entry to the Mysterious Heaven Pavilion.

I let out a small sigh and sat down, spreading the secret manual on the table.

Skipping past the initial parts I had heard from Immortal Im-won, as a result of scanning the section where the stances and force release oral formulas were written.

‘Gravity manipulation through sword force. Based on this, deflecting the opponent’s attack like the swing-by phenomenon, and overlapping sword force on my sword to apply pressure.’

I felt certain that I had accurately grasped the core essence.

However.

‘It is different.’

There were differences in the detailed parts.

The operation of the stances, the detailed movements, the routine of the sword force release, and so on.

‘This is… somehow…’

It seemed that it was possible to operate internal energy slightly more efficiently compared to the ‘Four Symbols Flowing Sword’ I had first implemented.

However, expressing that statement in another way.

‘They suppressed the power of the sword technique. By excluding movements that consume internal energy or put a burden on the skeletal structure.’

I reached the conclusion that the power of the sword technique itself was superior in the sword technique I implemented.

At that moment, Immortal Mang-won, who had been pretending to look elsewhere, asked again.

“How is it? Is the secret manual of the Four Symbols Flowing Sword greatly different from the sword path you achieved?”

At Immortal Mang-won’s question, which seemed to hope they were greatly different, I shook my head.

“It is not greatly different…”

However, it was difficult to explain this concretely and easily.

I could explain how it was different, but the ‘why’ was difficult.

“Um, a brush and paper for a moment, please.”

“Ah, here it is. Here. Use as much as you want.”

Even though it was an era when paper was precious, Immortal Mang-won handed me hundreds of sheets of paper at once and even ground the ink himself.

‘Whoa.’

I did not know what to do at such extreme hospitality, but.

‘It feels subtly good, though?’

Feeling like I was receiving a reward for the training I had done so far, I did not stop him.

Having sufficiently soaked the brush in the ground ink, I expressed the form of the Four Symbols Flowing Sword ‘that I practiced’ through mathematical formulas and shapes.

‘Come to think of it, there are too many abstract expressions in the secret manual of the Four Symbols Flowing Sword. Making it hard to recognize.’

Therefore, in order to make it recognizable to ‘anyone,’ I excluded abstract oral formulas and created a sword manual that wove only mathematical formulas, muscle movements, and how much force and internal energy should enter into concrete formulas.

Immediately after, I also expressed the existing secret manual of the Four Symbols Flowing Sword, which was similar but subtly different, in the same way.

When the two sword manuals were completed in that way, the difference was finally clearly visible.

‘Now I can explain why it is different!’

Pointing at the differences in the values and the shapes of the figures, I quickly explained to Immortal Mang-won.

“If you look here, the existing Four Symbols Flowing Sword suppressed the consumption of true qi by converging instead of stretching out, but the sword I practiced supports the Danzhong acupoint here…”

I explained the detailed differences between the two Four Symbols Flowing Swords to Immortal Mang-won.

Immortal Mang-won, who had listened to all of this, glanced at me with cloudy eyes, where his previous sparkling gaze had gone, and carefully opened his mouth.

“Um. So what you are saying, Bringer of Chaos… is that in terms of internal energy consumption efficiency and the difficulty of training the sword technique, the existing Four Symbols Flowing Sword is superior… and in terms of the power of counterattacking, your sword technique is dominant… is that correct?”

Although I could not know why Immortal Mang-won, who was the oldest even in the Won generation, was walking on eggshells around me.

“Exactly. Ah! However, if I utilize the flexor muscles of the wrist slightly more here, and activate the Shaohai acupoint below the elbow, I will be able to reduce internal energy consumption!”

As if I had returned to myself in the butterfly dream, engrossed in research, I frantically fell into the research of the sword technique.

The moment the difference and superiority were felt, a remedy flashed through my mind.

In that way, based on the inspiration received from the secret manual of the existing Four Symbols Flowing Sword, I began to modify the shapes of the Four Symbols Flowing Sword ‘that I practiced’ again.

“What do you think, Martial Uncle? It seems that this way, about a quarter of a breath’s worth of internal energy will be saved? If so, I will also be able to introduce changes with movements like this.”

“…It seems that it could indeed be possible in this way?”

“Oh! That was something I had not thought of! You are right! Thank you. I can add changes here!”

Thanks to Immortal Mang-won joining me, I was able to refine the sword path of the Four Symbols Flowing Sword I had obtained once again.

“Thanks to you joining me, Martial Uncle, the organization was quick!”

As the sword manual modified based on the inspiration obtained from the secret manual of the existing Four Symbols Flowing Sword, which corrected the weaknesses of the Four Symbols Flowing Sword ‘that I practiced,’ was completed, a smile naturally formed on my mouth.

Just one thing.

‘I only need to verify if it truly has utility in actual combat.’

Stretching my body and looking out the window, the darkness was thick. It meant it was a time close to the hour of Zi.

“Oops! I held onto you until too late, Martial Uncle. I am sorry. Ah, I will leave the original copy of the newly made sword manual here!”

Leaving the Mysterious Heaven Pavilion with a joyful heart, I returned to the Greedy Wolf Unit’s quarters.

**

“Heh.”

Even though he had received his help.

“The sword manual of the Four Symbols Flowing Sword has been rewritten.”

Holding the sword manual written with complex shapes and mathematical formulas—making it difficult to grasp the exact oral formulas, but intuitive enough that one could grasp the form of the sword technique simply by following the shapes—in his hand, Immortal Mang-won, the Lord of the Mysterious Heaven Pavilion, became dazed.

Martial arts develop in accordance with the passage of time.

It was the result of the wisdom of past sages and the efforts of future scholars being added.

Therefore, the older the history of a sect was, the more bound they were to possess well-polished secret martial studies.

Such people formed the backbone of the current Murim.

On the other hand, the history of the Wudang Sect was short.

Had it not been for geniuses like Immortal Jin-won, who was the master of Immortal Mang-won and the first disciple of Immortal Sanfeng, and his martial uncle, the Sword Immortal Immortal Jin-cheon, they would not have been able to create martial arts comparable to, and in some aspects transcending, the martial arts of other sects in such a short time.

Therefore, the existence of geniuses was crucial to the Wudang Sect.

Yet, another one had appeared.

A genius above genius.

By doing so, Immortal Mang-won’s thoughts became even more firm.

‘He must be protected!’

Just as he had argued during the elders’ meeting.

His belief that Yeon Baek-jung was a talent who must not go outside the sect and be lost became firm.

**

No matter how loose the Wudang Sect’s rules were, the True Martial Pavilion disciples were the disciples who symbolized the Wudang Sect.

Within the True Martial Pavilion, there were also rules and standards, and naturally, the curfew for the disciples staying inside was also set. It meant that unless they were permitted personnel, entry and exit in the late night were not smooth.

Fortunately, the senior brothers who were guarding the South Heaven Gate of the South Rock Palace today were Senior Brother Jin Yang-cheol and Senior Brother Myeong-tae, who belonged to the Giant Gate Unit and had shared martial exchanges with me when I created the ‘Cotton Palm’ in the past.

“I heard the news that you visited the Mysterious Heaven Pavilion. I have already spoken to the seniors, so hurry and go inside.”

“Thank you, senior brothers!”

Fortunately, thanks to the senior brothers speaking to the seniors, there was no need to be questioned by the Pavilion of Standards.

In my quarters that I returned to in that manner.

“Huh? Master?”

“Are you back only now?”

My master was drinking tea.

“What brings you here at this hour?”

My master briefly told me of the agenda of the elders’ meeting held today.

“It means you can decide whether you will receive missions from the True Martial Pavilion or devote yourself to training under the name of closed-door cultivation in the future.”

It was a statement that they would reflect my opinion in the elders’ meeting agenda, of all things!