Internal Energy
It was strange. The old man was clearly a master, and yet I couldn’t feel even a trace of his aura.
Martial artists made their living by killing people, so they carried a hard, merciless air about them, no different from butchers.
Even the weakest fighters, let alone the masters, thought differently from ordinary people, and the qi they gave off was different too.
The old man stood there with his hands clasped behind his back, staring me down with the same absent look as a country farmer standing at the edge of a rice paddy.
Without the sword at his waist, I might not have realized he was a martial artist at all. He was so calm that he didn’t even feel dangerous, which was far more unnerving.
“Who are you, old man?”
“Bring your blade. We’ll talk after I see your saber technique.”
I reached back and then froze. I hurried into the room and came back out with my long saber.
The old man drew his sword.
“Fight with everything you have. If you don’t, you’ll die.”
Whoosh!
He kicked off lightly and closed the distance in an instant.
The sword came at my chest in a trajectory like an arrow.
One glance was enough to know it wasn’t a strike I could casually dodge or block. If I didn’t go all out, it would pierce my chest in one shot.
I planted my feet in my footwork, braced my body firmly, and gripped the long saber with both hands.
Clang!!
With a clear metallic ring, I deflected the sword using one of the ultimate strikes of the Nameless Saber Technique. My grip throbbed as if I’d struck a boulder.
The old man’s brow twitched slightly.
I lowered my stance, moved to the side, and drew the saber inward.
Taking a deep breath, I slashed from left to right and advanced one step at a time, pressing him like a storm with no mercy at all.
It was the most vigorous and best-linked chain of strikes among the ultimate forms of the Nameless Saber Technique.
It was so savage and tyrannical that even Won Seo-gang had been forced back by this move rather than block it properly.
The old man was different.
He still swung his sword with that same indifferent face, expertly picking apart the savage openings in my saber strikes like a seasoned fisherman crossing a raging wave.
Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang!
At a glance it might have looked like we were evenly matched, but in truth it was nothing of the sort. It was one-sided enough to make cold sweat break out along my back.
Before I knew it, I was working my way through the Nameless Saber Technique from the beginning, one form after another, against the old man.
I wasn’t doing it because I wanted to. I was being driven into it while trying to block his attacks.
For some reason, the old man saw through the saber technique completely. He was deliberately herding me into using the forms in sequence.
In other words, he was playing with me.
My temper flared, and at the same time a chill ran down my spine.
Even when I twisted the forms into variations, the result was the same. No matter how far I’d come or how hard I struggled, I was still in the old man’s palm.
By the time I reached the final, eighteenth form, there was nothing left for me to try.
I clenched my teeth and rushed in, sending a thrust that made the most of the saber line.
For the first time, the old man’s calm eyes flashed with a glint of interest.
Over time, I had gradually refined the thrusts by fleshing out the sword line that had been woven into the Nameless Saber Technique.
Won Seo-gang had tried to dissuade me, saying it could ruin the saber technique, but I was sure of myself. That was where my path lay.
The old man kicked off as well and thrust out his sword.
Sword and saber rushed toward each other, drawing closer and closer.
I had no intention of letting them pass each other and aiming at his torso or vital points instead. That kind of feint wouldn’t work on a man like him.
Focus on one point.
Like any swordsman, the old man didn’t dodge my gamble.
The tip of his sword struck the tip of my blade.
The instant point met point, the spine of my long saber bent and pain shot through my wrist.
“Grrrhh!”
A monstrous sword force surged into me, passing from my fingertips to my toes and through my entire body.
I tried to hold on, but it was impossible. I was driven back helplessly.
Only after I staggered all the way to the wall did I finally stop. I stamped my feet and swung the long saber, dispersing the remainder of the force.
The hand gripping the blade trembled violently, and my whole body tingled.
The old man stroked his white beard as if savoring the exchange and fell into thought.
Gu-sam, sitting off to one side, gaped with his mouth hanging open and kept hiccuping in shock.
“Haa... haa...”
I dragged in rough breaths and checked my condition. The trembling in my hands and feet slowly subsided. The shock had been severe, but fortunately I hadn’t suffered any internal injury.
After a moment, the old man spoke.
“When did you realize your sword line?”
“Not long ago.”
“Why do you only use the first eighteen forms of the saber technique? Have you not learned the latter eighteen?”
“I don’t know what you mean, but I used everything I’ve learned.”
“Tsk, tsk. A half-made thing. At this rate, it’s hard to even call you a true inheritor.”
The old man clicked his tongue with a disappointed look and sheathed his sword.
“Who exactly are you, old man?”
“I am Do Goeng-il, successor of the Sword Sect of Cheongsan Sect.”
Cheongsan Sect. I’d never heard of it before.
“The saber technique you learned is the Thousand Steel Saber Technique. It is the foundational saber art of the Saber Sect of Cheongsan Sect, and the true core of the school.”
“It’s certainly a fine saber art, but I wouldn’t call it a true core technique.”
“That’s because you haven’t learned it properly. You’re still alive despite only knowing half of it, with no internal energy and no latter eighteen forms, aren’t you?”
Do Goeng-il fixed me with those same flat eyes, studying me intently.
“There’s some crude excess cluttered into your saber work, but for what it is, you’re not a bad specimen. If you can even read the failure in the sword line, then Mun Hwi had reason to take you as an inheritor.”
“I’m not his inheritor. He bought me drinks and taught me a few moves. That’s all.”
It was the plain truth, but the old man shook his head stubbornly.
“After that bastard Mun Hwi lost his left arm in a duel, he lived like a ruined man, but he wasn’t so mad that he’d casually leak the secret techniques of the sect. You were the only one he ever passed the saber art to.”
I’d suspected as much. The one-armed saber master in Hangzhou. He had insisted I never call him teacher, and there had been a reason for it.
“We were never bound as master and disciple.”
When I kept denying it, Do Goeng-il’s eyes narrowed in irritation.
“Very well. If you don’t want to become an inheritor, then I’ll settle for taking back the Cheongsan Sect’s martial arts.”
“What exactly are you planning to do?”
“I’ll cut the sinews and meridians in your limbs. Since you haven’t cultivated internal energy, I’ll leave your dantian alone.”
“Don’t talk madness.”
I clutched the scabbard tightly with my left hand and glared at him.
If the sinews and meridians in my limbs were cut, I’d become a cripple who couldn’t even walk. No matter how much stronger a master he was than me, I couldn’t just obediently become a useless wreck.
If I fought to the end, it wouldn’t stop at just the sinews and meridians.
So this was where I died. I’d killed plenty in my time, so there was nothing especially unfair about it if my turn had come. I would have regretted not seeing Soso noona and the others again, but who knew? Maybe I’d get to see them in the afterlife.
“Hic. Hic.”
I turned my eyes toward the unending hiccups.
With the mood darkening, Gu-sam had gone pale and was trembling uncontrollably, at a complete loss.
He’d run over to help me in his own way, only to put himself in danger instead. That kid would probably never forget today for the rest of his life.
Suddenly, I remembered the first time I’d taught him how to fight.
He’d tried to bow and take me as his master, but I’d refused flatly. I’d been afraid the bastards who held grudges against me might come looking for me and end up hurting him too.
I hadn’t known then that things would turn out this way, but it had been the right decision.
Would that old man kill me and then silence Gu-sam too? If I could buy even a little time for Gu-sam to run, that would be good enough.
As I steeled myself and prepared for the end, Do Goeng-il made an unexpected proposal.
“If you become the inheritor of the Saber Sect, I’ll teach you the latter eighteen forms as well.”
I tilted my head, wondering what he was talking about.
“You’re of the Sword Sect, aren’t you?”
“The life-and-death duels between the Saber Sect and the Sword Sect have lasted for more than fifty years. I know the forms well enough. I’ll teach you the internal energy method too. The latter eighteen forms can’t be learned without internal energy.”
“...You said internal energy?”
“The Saber Sect and the Sword Sect originally split from the same root. The methods differ, but the internal energy method is the same. If you receive the latter eighteen forms and the internal energy method too, then I can no longer say you aren’t an inheritor, can I?”
“What are you playing at?”
For a martial artist, martial arts were more precious than life itself.
Sometimes people did good deeds, but no martial artist would give away their martial arts for no reason.
That was doubly true for a peerless master like Do Goeng-il. They talked about not passing things on lightly, and people without real talent weren’t even worth their notice.
Let alone me. I wasn’t even a proper disciple, just a wandering fighter he’d never met before.
Sure enough, Do Goeng-il had an ulterior motive.
“In five years, under the condition that you face the inheritor of the Sword Sect in a life-and-death duel as the official successor of the Saber Sect.”
“If the Sword Sect inheritor is...”
“Me.”
Of course. I wasn’t strong enough to be worth fighting as I was, so he planned to raise me up before killing me.
A life-and-death duel with this old man...
From the way he spoke, he was a master who knew how to use internal energy. And if he was this strong even without using it, I had to wonder whether I’d even survive a single exchange when he fought seriously.
Internal energy method...
Just thinking about it made my chest throb.
All this time I’d only heard about it in rumors while scraping by as a blade man. I had never once seen a master who actually used internal energy.
That was how rare internal energy methods were. The saying that even a fortune in gold and silver couldn’t buy one had not come out of nowhere.
Even if I managed to get a manual, there was still the problem of understanding it.
I once spent three nyang of silver in the black market to buy a Three Powers Method after a great deal of trouble.
I’d been filled with hope, thinking I might become a master too, but when I read it, it was full of nonsense about the energies of heaven, earth, and man.
There were more than three hundred acupoints, and the meridians used to circulate qi were impossibly complex. Just from the manual alone, it was impossible even to feel internal power.
I’d heard that when proper clans and great families introduced someone to internal energy, they received true qi guidance from an actual master. At Do Goeng-il’s level, maybe it was possible.
Would I ever get another chance in my life to be taught an internal energy method?
Five years was a long time. No one knew what would happen in that span.
Time was on my side. I would grow stronger, and this old man would only grow older and weaker.
He might even die of old age. Or maybe senility would take his mind and he’d forget all about the duel.
His tone was calm, but if I refused, it seemed likely he would really cut the sinews and meridians in my arms and legs.
Rather than spend my life as a cripple who couldn’t even lift a spoon, it would be better to die fighting.
Leaving all that aside, the chance to become stronger had come to me. Turning it down would mean I wasn’t a martial artist.
“All right. I’ll do it.”
Apparently assuming I would agree, Do Goeng-il waved a hand indifferently.
“Hold out your hand. I need to check your internal power.”
I put the long saber back in its scabbard and walked over to him.
Even after confirming that he was an astonishing master, I still couldn’t feel much of that overwhelming pressure one would expect from someone like him.
Was this the level of a superior expert who had perfectly contained every trace of his qi?
I stopped at arm’s length. When I extended one hand, Do Goeng-il caught my wrist.
A cool, refreshing current seeped from his hand into my body along my arm. It was a force I had never felt in my life. This must have been internal energy.
After examining my body with his internal energy, Do Goeng-il shook his head as if displeased.
“You’ve neglected your saber practice all this time.”
He sounded like an elder of the sect scolding his disciple.
“The energy gathered in your dantian is as thin as dust. It’s embarrassing even to call this internal energy.”
“Internal energy? What are you talking about? I’ve never learned an internal energy method.”
“You really know nothing at all, do you?”
Do Goeng-il looked at me as if I were hopeless.
“Sitting cross-legged and regulating your breath is called seated practice. When your energy naturally circulates within as you perform set forms, that is moving practice. Not every martial art can do it. Only true arts that properly stand on a lineage can accomplish such a feat.”
I was dumbfounded. I had never heard any of this before.
“So you’re saying I was gathering qi through moving practice without realizing it?”
“It doesn’t even count as gathering qi. It’s hardly there at all. Seated practice isn’t suitable for building it either, but moving practice is even worse for that. Sit cross-legged. I need to look at your dantian.”
“Before that, let’s send the kid away.”
Only then did Do Goeng-il notice Gu-sam. He frowned in annoyance.
“Boy. Go back to the inn.”
“Ah, yes...”
As the pressure eased, Gu-sam finally came to his senses and stood up unsteadily. Even as he headed for the gate, he hesitated and kept glancing at me.
“I’m fine. Hurry up and go.”
I shoved him gently from behind and sent him out, then barred the gate.
I climbed onto the wooden veranda, unsheathed the saber, and sat cross-legged. Do Goeng-il took his place behind me.
It was a chilling position to be in, but I decided not to care. Whether he stood in front of me or behind me, if Do Goeng-il decided to kill me, he could do it whenever he pleased.
I felt the touch of his hand on my back. The internal power seeping from his palm was much denser than before as it sank into my back.
“Don’t say anything. Focus on the path the internal energy takes. That is the circulation route.”
The energy moved through my body, twisting through my chest and down toward my lower abdomen. Near the dantian below my navel, it swirled softly like mist.
I closed my eyes, breathed slowly, and contemplated the mist until, all at once, I sensed something.
It was only the size of a millet grain, tiny and faint, but it undeniably existed.
When I shuddered, Do Goeng-il told me what it was in that same indifferent tone.
“You felt it, didn’t you? That is Internal Energy.”