Chapter 80

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Translated by Seoulbound

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

Yeo Sim-yang carefully opened the envelope handed over by his martial uncle, Yeon Baek-jung.

He had already known of his family’s difficulties through floating rumors. Although he relieved his worries about being abandoned by his family, no one would feel at ease knowing that their family had run into difficulties.

That was why he had been anxiously waiting for his martial uncle, Yeon Baek-jung.

Furthermore, according to the rumors, there was even a bloody battle.

It went without saying, considering that as many as two Great Sage masks had appeared at the manor of the Yeo Clan.

It was said that in the past, it took about one double-hour for a single Great Sage-class mask to appear alone and exterminate a branch of the Shaolin Temple.

Even a branch of the Shaolin Temple, which was considered the pillar of the world’s martial arts community, suffered such a fate, so he had been worried about how much damage the Yeo Clan—which was not even a Jianghu martial family but merely a wealthy, affluent family—would have suffered.

‘They said a bloody battle broke out.’

For that reason, he could not let go of his anxious mind, worrying that bad news might be written in this letter handed over by Yeon Baek-jung.

-To my youngest brother. Due to the invasion of evil bandits, Father has… As my brother Jung-yang and I will settle the affairs of the family, you should focus only on martial arts… My heart is heavy as if we have placed a great burden on your young shoulders, but you too will soon reach the age of majority, so I hope you will properly do your share as a member of the family and a disciple of the Wudang Sect.

Written by your older brother, Mun-yang.

The family fortune had rapidly declined due to the all-around pressure from the Chaotic Heaven Green Forest. The help of the Wudang Sect had arrived just in time. Because of that, there were even expressions of feelings and words of advice regarding why the reply could not be delivered until now.

Even if the family fortune had declined, it did not seem that people were severely hurt or that anyone among the family members had died.

Although it was painful to hear that his father had collapsed,

‘It is a great relief that they did not die.’

Compared to the notorious reputation of the Great Sage-class masks, the fact that they survived felt like a miracle.

Therefore, Yeo Sim-yang felt as if his heart, which had been frozen during the summer, was melting away.

And once again, the last sentence of the reply sent by his older brother caught his eye.

-…I hope you will properly do your share as a member of the family and a disciple of the Wudang Sect.

Had he indeed been properly doing his share?

Suddenly, reflection on the past brushed by.

The martial uncle whom he had cursed and spoken ill of had saved his family.

Even after doing so, he gave him his older brother’s reply without taking any credit.

The reflection that had continued from the moment he shed tears in Yeon Baek-jung’s embrace matured at this point,

and Yeo Sim-yang bowed deeply toward Yeon Baek-jung.

“Thank you. And…”

Yeo Sim-yang, who bowed his head, opened his mouth again with all his sincerity.

“I am sorry. As an official disciple of the sect, I committed words and actions that I should not have.”

Along with the apology, he confessed what he had done in the past.

To an elder of the sect who was of the same age.

Confessing his sins.

Although he could have just buried it, the man was a great benefactor who had saved his family.

It was also written in the letter.

That without Yeon Baek-jung, his older brothers might have died, and that he must serve Yeon Baek-jung, who brought the letter, with extreme care.

He had to be honest with the person to whom he owed the grace of saving his life.

Having confessed all his sins in that manner, Yeo Sim-yang swallowed his saliva.

He could not guess what kind of expression Yeon Baek-jung was wearing behind the back of his head. It was Yeon Baek-jung, who was of the same age as him. This meant he should not expect the words and actions of an adult just because he was his martial uncle.

Would he get beaten up?

Or would he get scolded?

He was also a bit scared.

Since it meant he had revealed all of his past, in which he had not treated his martial uncle as a martial uncle.

However,

“…”

Not a single word was heard. Yeo Sim-yang cautiously straightened his waist and raised his head to examine Yeon Baek-jung’s face.

And he was surprised.

‘He is smiling.’

He was smiling brightly.

It was a face as if it were nothing, no, rather as if he found it amusing.

At that moment, sunlight shone down on Yeon Baek-jung’s head,

and Yeo Sim-yang felt the demeanor of a great hero from Yeon Baek-jung’s appearance bathed in the auspicious light.

**

I listened to all of Yeo Sim-yang’s words and struggled to suppress the artery bulging on my forehead.

Inside the Greedy Wolf Unit’s building, Martial Aunt Hye-won and Uncle Yim-won were still present.

I could not commit violence in front of them.

Most of all,

‘I was planning to roll him around from the start anyway.’

it meant he had crawled into the tiger’s mouth on his own.

His bowed appearance was as respectful as could be.

It was a face that looked as if he would obey even if I told him to jump off a cliff for his future training.

Looking at that face, there was no way I couldn’t laugh.

‘Just when I needed a training partner, too.’

According to Uncle Yim-won’s words, I was told to master the energy sensation formed in the sword blade through one-versus-many sparring with people who are similar or weaker.

At the very moment Prince Slope came to mind, he appeared most appropriately.

The right person to join my training.

I cleared my throat and opened my mouth.

“Yeo Sim-yang. Do you want to become stronger?”

Yeo Sim-yang, who had been looking up at me with respectful eyes, nodded.

“Yes. I want to become stronger.”

Having secretly read the letter,

since it told him to grow into a proper warrior,

it was only natural that he would want to become stronger.

Moreover, since his family suffered a hard time from the Green Forest bandits due to their lack of martial power, his motivation must be sufficient.

‘Good. Very good.’

I wore a smile of satisfaction and spoke.

“Then, gather the kids you are close to on Prince Slope. Only those you are close to. I modified the sword paths of the Four Symbols Flowing Sword through this mission. You all must learn it anew. I will teach it to everyone.”

At those words, Yeo Sim-yang’s face brightened,

and as if deeply moved, he replied with tears even welling in his eyes.

“I… understand! I will go and prepare immediately!”

I felt a bit guilty at the sight of him being so deeply moved, but

‘You said you spoke ill of me behind my back.’

There was something called the Ledger of Merits and Demerits among the important teachings of Daoism,

which was the belief that if one committed a demerit in the past, one must repay it with a merit to greet blessings and happiness in the future.

Therefore,

‘It is all for your blessings and happiness.’

I began to walk with light steps, following behind Yeo Sim-yang who had left first.

Speaking ill of an elder of the sect behind his back?

It was a great sin.

It was time to wash away that sin.

**

The Wudang Sect’s Prince Slope was highly famous for its beautiful scenery.

The red brick walls built along the mountain ridge, the blue tiles covering them, and the blue stone floor laid inside naturally stimulated the young disciples’ desire to train.

Prince Slope of Wudang Mountain was precisely the space where official disciples who had not yet become direct disciples always sweated and trained.

It meant it was not a space for lying down and rolling around.

“Ugh, ugh, ugh.”

“My legs…”

“My arms…”

In such a space, disciples from prestigious families among the Yang generation official disciples, who had been filtered and selected, were rolling on the blue stone floor.

Even the wooden swords, presumed to have been held in their hands, were flung aside.

The one who looked down upon those disciples of the Yang generation was

the youngest disciple of the Myeong generation, Yeon Baek-jung.

“In this manner, you can accelerate your sword by utilizing the sword force of those who swarm and surround you in reverse. As children with outstanding energy sensitivity would know, you know very well that the amount of internal energy I loaded onto the sword does not have a big difference from the amount of internal energy you normally operate.”

Of course, although Yeon Baek-jung was in a state of loading internal energy throughout the entire sword blade along the energy channels of the sword blade in accordance with Immortal Yim-won’s advice,

it meant that there was no difference in the total amount of internal energy.

And that rather brought about the result of increasing the hardness of the sword blade when swinging the sword, but reducing the power of the sword edge.

In other words, it meant he had not utilized a sword that was particularly more powerful than those of the Yang generation disciples. Even so, the swords of the Yang generation disciples could not reach Yeon Baek-jung’s body.

“The angle of the arm changed.”

“The position of the fingers holding the hilt, too. It seems the internal energy utilized at the fingertips has also been adjusted.”

“Didn’t the sword… seem to gradually get faster?”

“That’s right. While deflecting Yeo Sim-yang’s Supreme White Mysterious Light stance, martial uncle’s sword rather accelerated.”

“Look at the sword manual here. Looking at the modified contents, it seems he utilized the opponent’s sword force as the source of acceleration attached to his own sword.”

At young Hwan-yang’s words, the Yang generation disciples such as Gye-yang and Bo-yang nodded.

Because Hwan-yang explained the contents that Yeon Baek-jung had taught before starting the one-versus-many sparring in easy language, all the Yang generation disciples could nod.

Of course, from the perspective of the disciples from prestigious families who were crawling on the floor, it might have been a bit unfair. It would have been great if they had known that interpretation a bit earlier, but

-If you do not know, you can learn with your body.

since the result of the wooden sword sparring, which had started with that single sentence, was a meeting with the floor.

What was the fortunate point for the disciples lying down?

“Now, the rest of the Yang generation kids should draw their wooden swords, too. Huh? Why are you stepping backward?”

Excluding the still young disciples,

the boys around fifteen, similar in age to Yeon Baek-jung, stepped backward until their backs touched the red brick wall of Prince Slope, and finally had no choice but to lift their wooden swords,

“Ugh, ugh, ugh.”

“My thighs…”

“My knees…”

and rolled on the floor in a manner similar to the disciples from prestigious families before them.

Although the time it took to fall gradually decreased as such training continued for several days,

in the end, most of the Yang generation disciples had no choice but to face the ending of meeting the blue stone floor.

**

‘Real combat is even more vicious than this.’

I scanned the Yang generation disciples who were collapsed on the Prince Slope training ground, rubbing their bodies against the floor.

There was no longer any fellow who did not get up when he still could. One could say they had definitely acquired fighting spirit.

Furthermore, they seemed to have even mastered the method of utilizing true qi in situations of hard fighting.

‘Is the fastest way of learning indeed learning through real combat?’

Repeating the process of feeling deficiencies and filling them through real combat, I had come this far.

I taught my martial nephews exactly as I had mastered.

‘Train like it is real combat. Real combat like it is training.’

When I was surrounded by the Changyou masks at the grand manor of the Yeo Clan.

When I overcame the internal injuries suffered from the Great Sage Who Overturns Seas and faced the masks.

I felt it to the point of my acupoints tearing.

That had I not added a routine considering real combat to the training of the Four Symbols Flowing Sword, it would have been difficult to survive.

I delivered what I had seen, heard, and felt in the Jianghu to my martial nephews exactly as it was.

Engraving the proposition that training is the only way to survive onto their bones.

Because I considered that to be a task more important than letting them master the Four Symbols Flowing Sword, I held back my hand slightly less than usual.

Of course,

‘since I also fully utilized the transformed routine of the Four Symbols Flowing Sword. They must have watched and learned it.’

I showed it repeatedly over the past few days.

The utilization of the Four Symbols Flowing Sword that changed through real combat.

The changes in the sharp-eyed martial nephews were dazzling,

and as I guided the slightly slow-witted martial nephews to master the sword paths through the sensation of flesh and bone,

perhaps thanks to that, the fellows were growing far more excellently than I had expected.

‘There were even fellows who gradually began to utilize the core principle of the Four Symbols Flowing Sword.’

What was particularly surprising was Yeo Sim-yang.

Even before receiving the letter from me, his eyes had changed, making me expectant, but the one who grew fastest among the Yang generation disciples was precisely Yeo Sim-yang.

Unlike crawling on the floor during the first Four Symbols Flowing Sword sparring, Yeo Sim-yang had now become one of the disciples who held out until the very end.

‘From Gye-yang, Bo-yang, Seon-yang, Je Un-seong, to Yeo Sim-yang.’

They were children who had mastered to some extent the grafting of flowers onto a tree, which efficiently utilized a small amount of internal energy to use the opponent’s force in reverse—the greatest advantage of the Four Symbols Flowing Sword.

Although it was possible because I adjusted my force,

still, they seem likely to do their share against average Green Forest bandits, right?

They did not seem likely to be pushed back by the bandit groups of the Chaotic Heaven Green Forest who did not wear masks previously.

For young disciples, it was undoubtedly an outstanding growth.

Therefore, I looked at my martial nephews crawling on the floor with satisfaction and opened my mouth.

“Then let us end today’s sparring here. Everyone, review the newly adjusted routine of the Four Symbols Flowing Sword. Since I marked the modified parts in the sword manual, it will be easy to review if you compare and check it against what you saw today.”

Leaving those words behind, I stepped out of Prince Slope.

Because teaching was no different from learning,

now it was my turn to organize the learning I had acquired.

‘I loaded only the minimum internal energy onto the wooden sword.’

Although it would be easier to read and grasp the energy channels engraved on the sword blade as the amount of true qi increased, one could not always be in perfect condition in real combat.

I brandished my sword against my martial nephews while assuming a situation where I suffered from the water column emitted by the Great Sage Who Overturns Seas and my internal injuries were severe.

Because I utilized physical strength and attacks most efficiently in that situation, it also touched upon the essence of the Four Symbols Flowing Sword.

Thus, one fact was confirmed.

The fact that sword qi gradually began to be loaded onto my martial nephews’ swords.

And I felt it.

The internal energy of releasing force emitted by my martial nephews was transmitted in the form of ‘waves.’

It was fundamentally no different from the sword qi force waves I had utilized before receiving advice from Uncle Yim-won.

There was merely a difference in the amount and density of internal energy loaded onto the surface of the sword blade.

However,

‘My martial uncle and martial aunt told me to achieve returning force, which circulates internal energy.’

I used the sword while paying attention to that part throughout my training with my martial nephews. And I also achieved some degree of results.

Hummm.

Now, simply by utilizing fine internal energy, I could fill the center of the sword blade with true qi.

The moment my sword broke under the attack of the Great Sage Who Overturns Seas previously came to mind.

‘If true qi is filled in the center of the sword blade. It will not break easily now.’

Even if I could not prevent the sword edge from chipping.

In addition,

‘if I can expand the energy channels to load true qi onto the entire sword blade, I will be able to protect even the sword edge.’

It was not at that level yet.

At present, there were frequent cases where the wooden sword broke instead while utilizing internal energy.

The wooden sword, which was weaker than an iron sword, burst because it could not withstand the power of the internal energy loaded onto it.

‘A slightly more detailed utilization of internal energy is needed.’

If I could load internal energy with the density of the Nascent Soul Stage beyond the Elixir Condensation Stage based on such detailed internal energy adjustment capability?

‘Only then will I be able to rise to the realm of Sword Qi Materialization shown by my martial uncle and martial aunt.’

To do so, the Unity of Body and Sword was the priority.

Starting from wooden swords to iron swords.

I performed the practice of loading energy onto objects and the accumulation of internal energy simultaneously.

And now was the time to focus on accumulating internal energy.

The true qi, moving along the formulas of the Primal Chaos Tai Chi Art, flowed out of the inner core of the middle dantian, scanned the lower dantian and fine meridians, and headed toward the upper dantian.

And it confronted.

The thin membrane located at the Hundred Convergences acupoint.

The barrier blocking the passage of energy.

Hundred Convergences was an acupoint located at the crown of the head.

It was an acupoint encompassing the entire upper dantian.

Just as the lower dantian is located at the Qi Ocean acupoint and the middle dantian at the Danzhong acupoint, the upper dantian is located at the Hundred Convergences acupoint.

Furthermore, it was also a stepping stone for the Conception and Governing Vessels, the two great meridians passing through the center of the body.

Such a Hundred Convergences acupoint was blocked.

By some wall.

However, this wall did not exist since birth.

Because it was a well-known fact that the Hundred Convergences acupoint of a child who had just come out of their mother’s womb was open. It was the reason why there was a saying that children also breathed through the breathing hole in their heads.

Therefore, in Daoism, the state where this wall is pierced is called the Nascent Soul Stage, referring to returning to the state of a newborn baby.

-By breaking the wall blocking the upper dantian, the Conception Vessel, and the Governing Vessel through solidified and condensed internal energy, one can reach the Nascent Soul Stage.

It was a passage regarding the opening of the Conception and Governing Vessels learned in the sect.

No matter how much I thought about it,

‘breaking a wall existing inside the body is unnatural.’

As also felt while reading the manual of the Four Symbols Flowing Sword,

‘writing’ is not accurate.

Writing was human language.

It was merely an expression of facts in a way that humans could interpret.

It was the reason why I wrote ‘formulas’ instead of ‘writing’ when rewriting the sword manual of the Four Symbols Flowing Sword.

Because formulas left no room for misunderstanding.

However, writing had plenty of room for distortion.

In other words, it meant it might differ from reality.

‘Maybe. Didn’t it just feel like breaking the wall? Even without the wall actually being broken.’

Furthermore, I knew it.

The method of reaching beyond the wall without breaking the wall.