A Regressor’s Tale of Cultivation – Chapter 28: Life (2)
I stared dumbly at the faces of the children.
One after another, familiar faces came into view.
“...Is there anything else?”
“Hm? Anything else?”
“I... I have some knowledge of medicine. I’m also good at handling information, and I’m well-versed in various administrative matters. I could also oversee the manufacture of poisons or medicines. Or...”
“Enough, enough. Medicine or poison manufacturing is something a mere murderer can’t possibly request from a master. Information and administration are also useless now with too many people around. A martial artist of your level—Three Flowers Gathering at the Crown—would be far more useful as a martial arts instructor.”
“...Then what other tasks can a Three Flowers Gathering martial artist perform...?”
At that, the old man’s eyebrows twitched.
“You keep arguing. Do you not want to work with the master family?”
“...No. I spoke out of turn.”
I let out a small sigh and had no choice but to accept his offer.
If this is fate...
The children I had personally killed in my previous life.
To train them again with my own hands.
How cruel is fate.
I walked over to the instructor teaching the basics of martial arts to the children.
“Down with the downward chop! Next, straight through in one motion...”
“Excuse me, are you the martial arts instructor for these children?”
“Hm? Who are you...?”
The martial arts instructor held a dagger and was demonstrating forms. The moment I saw his sword techniques, I recognized them instantly.
The dagger art used by assassins in my previous life. This man was teaching it.
As soon as he realized I was a martial artist, he unleashed his red intent, clearly intending to test me.
However, I immediately connected our intents and covered his with my own purple intent.
This man’s yi was completely transparent.
A world where all colors had vanished.
Only blue, red, and purple intents moved in the void.
I swept away his incoming intent and plunged my own into his core, flooding it with purple.
He tried to defend in panic, but I kept firing intents at the positions he evaded, pushing him back relentlessly.
After a while.
Finally, the man who had been holding his own against me let out a long sigh and conceded.
“Hoo... I never expected a Three Flowers Gathering expert. Please forgive me. Yes, I am Yeolho, the martial arts instructor for these children.”
“Seo Eun-hyun. Nice to meet you. The master of the master family appointed me as martial arts instructor. Speaking of which... if you tell me what you’ve been teaching so far, I can adjust my progress accordingly...”
“Ah! A new martial arts instructor has arrived!”
His face lit up visibly.
“Hahaha! No time for that now. Come this way.”
He pointed to a small hut beside the training grounds, which he seemed to use as his quarters.
“Everyone, repeat the same motion five hundred times! I’ll be back after greeting our guest!”
“...?”
After making the children perform the meaningless repetitions, he took me to the hut.
The inside was simple and bare.
There wasn’t much that could be called his belongings.
“First, let me pour you some tea. You look quite young to be at Three Flowers Gathering. Is this the realm of the legendary Half-Life Reversal?”
“Hm... not quite Half-Life Reversal. Just think of it as an unusual cultivation method.”
“I see. No wonder strange arts exist even among masters. If there are a few ways to grow younger, it’s nothing strange. ...It seems you’ve been struggling to teach here in the master family. That’s why they brought in a new expert.”
As I watched him prepare the tea, I turned my gaze outward.
“Teaching isn’t easy?”
“Hah... their will is overflowing. Of course, their parents and siblings were all wiped out by the master family. How could they have no will to seek revenge... But apart from will, these children... tsk.”
Rattle.
He placed a small cup in front of me and poured the tea.
“They lack talent. We didn’t select them specially. We just took in orphans whose parents and siblings were killed and trained them. If they had real talent, that would be strange, but... even the most talented child I’ve seen can barely manifest Sword Qi at the beginning of the first rank.
That’s the limit for these children. Yet the master family keeps pressuring me, thinking I can’t teach them. On top of that, I have to steal their personal training time because of them. I’m about to lose my mind from frustration. So my motivation to teach is steadily dropping.”
“...I see.”
“That’s why I submitted a resignation letter, but the family said they won’t allow me to resign until a new instructor is appointed. Honestly, the master family wants at least a peak martial artist as an instructor, yet peak experts are as common as street dogs here. I’m struggling here, but originally I was a renowned figure in the jianghu.”
I sniffed the fragrance of the leaf tea he offered and asked,
“Then, Instructor Yeolho... will you resign now that I’ve arrived?”
“Haha, yes, that’s the plan. I’ve been too talkative. We’ve laid a decent foundation. If you teach them well, it should work out. I’ve been earning a good salary, but I no longer want to waste time teaching these brats. Hahaha, well, I’ll be going.”
After finishing his tea, Yeolho explained a few more things to me and hastily packed his things, leaving the hut before I could even react.
He must have been extremely reluctant to continue teaching.
“...”
I didn’t expect this...
I had thought I could at least co-teach with him, but the very first day the other instructor ran away.
What kind of man is this...
I was slightly bewildered after finishing my tea, so I headed back to the training grounds.
The children were still stabbing repeatedly with their daggers.
“...Everyone stop!”
I released my inner energy and let out a lion roar. The children turned to me in surprise.
“Instructor Yeolho has submitted his resignation. From now on, I am your new martial arts...”
I almost said “instructor” but swallowed the words.
“Martial arts master! Starting today, I will teach you all!”
At my words, the children stopped what they were doing, stood in proper posture, and bowed to me.
He said he taught the basics, but he was teaching how to brace yourself?
By eye, there were roughly five hundred children.
From what Yeolho had told me, they were training assassins in other training grounds as well.
Why teach them how to brace when they’re assassins?
I cleared my mind and walked to the front row to the nearest child.
“What’s your name?”
“My name is... fourteen...”
“No number. I want your parents’ given name.”
At the mention of parents, the child’s breathing grew slightly ragged.
“...Manho.”
“Good. Everyone except Manho, go rest beside the training grounds! From now on, I will check your levels one by one!”
The children looked a little dazed for a moment, then sat beside the grounds.
“Come at me. Treat me as a master-family master and fight with the intention to kill.”
Manho hesitated briefly, then glared at me and kicked the ground, scattering sand into my eyes.
Good judgment. He knew the height difference and used sand to blind me and charge.
However.
Useless against a true expert.
I closed my eyes, sensed his intent, grabbed the tip of his dagger, and snatched it away.
“Your level is clear. Enter. Next, you come out.”
The next child hesitated a little, then bowed.
“No greetings. In real combat, will you greet the enemy before attacking? Fight with the killing intent!”
He drew his dagger and stabbed at me rapidly.
I shifted slightly and evaded, then snatched the dagger back.
“Good stab. What’s your name?”
“...Fifteen.”
“Good, Fifteen, go in. Next.”
I kept calling the children for sparring and assessed their levels.
After I checked the 233rd child’s level and was about to call the next, I flinched.
The next child was a girl, with a rather pretty face.
However, her expression was filled with killing intent.
I knew that face.
The day I awakened Sword Thread.
The female assassin whose neck I had personally cut.
“...What’s your name?”
“Gyehwa.”
“...Good. Come at me.”
Shhh!
Gyehwa attacked me with a dagger in a swift hand movement.
Among all the children I had seen so far, it was one of the fastest.
But.
This is strange.
I kicked her dagger away with the tip of my foot and thought.
Fast, yes. But that’s all.
Her forms were poor and her inner energy lacked.
Early third rank. Early third rank, at that.
Of course, her basic foundation was solid, so she ranked among the children with a little talent, but...
No talent.
Talent at this level was merely average for a neighborhood dojo—able to fight well in a crowd.
How could an assassin like the one in my previous life have been created with such talent?
Did the masters use some method to awaken their talent?
In my previous life, information Kim Young-hoon shared mentioned that they used vengeful souls to awaken assassins’ talent.
Forcing talent awakening... I don’t know how they did it. I have no sense of how these children will grow.
I organized my thoughts, sent Gyehwa away, and continued testing the children.
By the time I had tested all five hundred, the sun had set and evening had arrived.
Exactly eighty-three.
The number of children I had personally killed and checked the faces of in my previous life.
If I included the assassins whose faces I hadn’t checked, the number would be even higher.
I felt strangely heavy.
In my previous life, I had only done my duty.
Now, in this life, that same duty felt like a sin.
...No choice. The past is the past.
If I can’t wash away this unease, I will do my best to fulfill my duty in this life.
“I have assessed everyone’s levels. Listen carefully. From now on, one by one, you will demonstrate martial arts in front of me. Manho, come out first!”
“L-Lord Master...?”
“Call me Master. Or Sabi-nim.”
“Yes... Sabi-nim. The previous instructor, Yeolho, would go in when the sun set so I could practice breathing...?”
“Breathing practice?”
I snorted.
“Listen well. You are all dullards. From what I’ve observed in our sparring, none of you can even reach the first rank, let alone peak, through normal training!
To reach that realm, you must go mad! Far beyond genius, you must crave the heavens more than geniuses. Otherwise, hope will never appear.
Starting today, you will not practice breathing when the sun sets. Only when you can naturally perform the forms while breathing will you begin inner energy cultivation!
And from now on, you may not enter your quarters until you meet my standards. Whether the sun sets or rises, if you haven’t trained properly, you will not rest!”
A hint of dissatisfaction appeared in the children’s eyes.
“Until every single one of you can do it correctly, there will be no rest! Again, one by one, come out and demonstrate your martial arts in front of me!”
Starting with Manho, I had the children demonstrate one by one.
They’ve all learned basic dagger martial arts. It must be Yeolho’s influence.
While watching them demonstrate, I thought.
But not all of them will suit dagger-based assassination arts.
Some will fit swords, others spears or hammers.
Some say such flashy or wide-ranging arts don’t suit assassination.
But that’s nonsense.
The Grand Protector of the Shadow Guards wielded that huge glaive and protected the emperor flawlessly in the shadows. Why should assassins be limited to small weapons?
While observing the children’s demonstrations, I examined their minor habits, tendencies, and intent flows and came up with appropriate weapons for each.
Manho would suit a greatsword. Fifteen would fit a halberd. Gyehwa, a dagger, as is.
Recalling the martial arts manuals I had seen during my time as leader of the martial alliance, I recalled forms suited to each weapon.
After the demonstrations ended, I asked the children to fetch suitable trees near the training grounds.
Once they had cut the wood, I taught each child the appropriate martial techniques, then had them carve weapons of fitting size.
By the time all the children had finished carving their awkward weapons, the day was beginning to break.
The children swung their newly made weapons, their faces as if about to collapse, while practicing the basic forms I had taught.
A while later, at noon, children began collapsing all over the training grounds.
They had overexerted themselves.
I dragged the exhausted ones out, laid them in a cool place, activated their life force and inner energy with the Circulation Method, and enhanced their self-healing ability.
After a while, all the children in the training grounds had fallen unconscious.
I carried them all out, activated their life force with the Circulation Method, and headed to the master family.
The master family had both an internal financial controller managing family assets and an external one managing wealth that murderers circulated in the world.
I went to the external financial controller.
“I need new weapons.”
“What kind?”
“The kind...”
I took out a list of the weapons I had brought and handed it to the former murderer serving as the external financial controller.
The external financial controller glanced at the list, glared at me, and growled,
“Have you gone mad? You want all of this?”
“Just one of each is enough. After all, the master family is rich. It doesn’t matter, does it?”
“T-This... still, there are limits.”
“And I’d like a bit of medicinal herbs supplied as well.”
“What? Medicinal herbs? Which ones?!”
“Herbs to aid recovery during training. Hah, I clearly asked for them. If the children’s martial arts progress stalls, it’ll be all your fault.”
“W-What is this...”
The external financial controller looked furious, but eventually agreed to supply the weapons and herbs.
Days later, I received the herbs and weapons. After distributing the weapons to the children, I taught them how to wield them properly.
They practiced the techniques I chose until they collapsed, then I fed them the pills I had prepared to restore their energy.
After roughly a year of teaching, a murderous glint appeared in the children’s eyes.
Now, they could unconsciously perform the forms of the martial techniques I had taught.
At that time, I began teaching inner energy circulation methods.
Of course, I didn’t let them sit comfortably and practice.
They had to swing weapons while performing the forms.
Another year passed.
A killing intent filled the children’s eyes.
Now they’ve all reached early second rank.
Except for eating and resting, my disciples trained martial arts nonstop.
They slept only when they fainted.
The sun rose and set again and again, pushing them relentlessly.
When they fainted, that was when they slept.
The children’s bodies were never easily injured.
The herbs from the master family, the pills I made, and the Circulation Method I taught them to use themselves all prevented damage.
They were allowed to rest once or twice a month without incident. The rest of the time was nothing but training, training, training.
Thanks to my mad teaching method, after three years all my disciples had entered the early second rank.
It’s fortunate they followed so well.
Even today, I thought while sparring with my disciples.
The training was grueling to the point of making me vomit, yet none of them ever lost motivation.
That must be because their rage at the master family that killed their families is enormous.
Whoosh!
With a greatsword swinging, Haewoong let out a roar as killing intent burned in his eyes as he followed my movements.
However, I closed my eyes, evaded his strike, and swept his leg with my foot.
“Your lower body is empty.”
Boom!
Yet the man ignored the kick and swung his sword anyway.
Good. His fighting spirit has improved.
I evaded the strike again and stabbed deep into his side.
“Kuh!”
“Next.”
The next opponent was a girl named Cheongya.
According to what I’d heard, she had witnessed her father and mother being turned into blood by a master’s hands with her own eyes.
Piit!
Cheongya charged at me with daggers in both hands.
Since assassination techniques suited her, I personally taught her the Duigwa Poison Martial Art.
“The Twin Assassin’s forms aren’t used like that. You need a very slight time difference.”
I caught all the daggers she threw in midair and returned them while saying,
Her growth compared to three years ago was astonishing, but it still wasn’t enough in my eyes.
Still, they all have more talent than I did.
When I was in third rank, it took me ten years just to barely advance to the next realm.
Of course, at that time I had no dedicated master and no insane training schedule. I didn’t even have enough time to train martial arts properly. But compared to me, the children were better.
Even right now, while they leap over a realm, I could only take one step forward.
I hadn’t been slacking off either. While teaching, I constantly opened my eyes to peak martial artists, entered the world of intent, and observed intents.
Even while instructing, I used Wansuigungmurok to the point of my brain threatening to explode, observing the results of perception. The effort I had put into digging into intents... had it been wasted?
It was only recently that I had taken one step further within the Three Flowers Gathering realm.
By constantly honing the sense of manipulating intents, training Wansuigungmurok, and growing familiar with intent itself, I had crossed over into the world of three colors and discovered the next color.
The fourth color!
I had discovered it the day after my last sparring session with my disciples.
It had appeared on the day they were allowed to rest once a month.
This intent was not as sharp as others.
It was not in the form of a combat intent either, and the actions it connected to were not precise.
Far too alien compared to the intents I had felt so far!
Paradoxically, because it was so alien, I could sense it.
The color of the fourth intent was a faint pink.
The name of this intent was Yeonjeong—love.
The intent of yearning extended from Manho to reach Gyehwa.
How fresh.
I remembered the surprise I had felt upon discovering this intent.
While training until I was about to vomit, love was budding.
Of course, besides Manho, several other disciples also had yearning intents extending toward others.
Humans... how wondrous.
Emotions sprout even in hell.
That was what it meant to be human.
While observing my disciples’ intents, I continued to teach them martial arts.
***
Two years after discovering the yearning intent, I finally found the fifth intent.
I had grown fully proficient with intents.
The new intent was a dark red color.
The name of the intent was Jungyo—hatred.
Because hatred had been mixed into the disciples’ intents so naturally all along, it took some time to discover it.
Though it was very faint, it flowed toward me and sometimes toward each other, but most intents still extended invisibly somewhere.
It was probably directed toward the masters of the master family.
Strange.
The intents I could sense only after reaching Three Flowers Gathering seemed a little distant from mu.
Yet why, in the pursuit of mu, did humans discover such emotions?
In the duel between opponents, what meaning could these carry?
...The promised date is approaching.
The day I would meet Kim Young-hoon was coming.
***
I left the realm of the Jin family sect and headed toward Iron Dragon City after a long time.
When I entered the estate where I had placed my residence in Iron Dragon City, Kim Young-hoon was waiting for me.
“Long time no see, Seo Eun-hyun. I couldn’t even find you when I came looking. Where exactly did you disappear to for five years?”
“Hm... well, I was hiding in some quiet mountain village. By the way, brother Kim...”
I checked his intent and asked,
“Now that you’re at the edge of Three Flowers Gathering... no, you’ve already surpassed the next realm?”
He had already reached the Five Qi Consorting with the Origin realm.
“Haha, that’s right. I challenged the strongest under heaven and won. Now I’ve reached Five Qi Consorting with the Origin. All thanks to the supreme saber art, Cheongmunryeong. That really... is something one can hardly call a divine martial art.”
Cheongmunryeong was indeed an incredible martial art.
The minimum entry requirement was Three Flowers Gathering, yet even I, who had reached that realm, struggled with it, and I was only exploring the inferior version, Wansuigungmurok.
“Thanks to Cheongmunryeong, I’ve come this far... and it seems you’ve made some progress as well?”
“Yes. I succeeded in discovering the third, fourth, and fifth intents.”
“Haha, congratulations. Isn’t it truly interesting? The world of mu. I thought we had finally reached the end, but the fact is it was only the beginning, leading to even more intents...”
Interesting...
Do I truly feel interest in mu?
I don’t know. I had simply challenged without thinking.
Perhaps that was the source of Kim Young-hoon’s talent.
I asked him the questions I had been curious about.
“By the way, brother Kim. I have never thought about love or hatred while training mu. I actually thought such emotions had no use in mu. In fact, they don’t help in duels.
Then why do we discover these emotions while pursuing mu?”
“Hm...?”
Kim Young-hoon looked thoughtful for a moment, then smiled and drew his sword.
“A martial artist can’t tell just by talking. Let’s spar.”
“Haha, brother Kim is so reliable.”
Shring!
Yes, that was what a martial artist was.
Peeing!
Kim Young-hoon’s intent shot toward me.
A red line intertwined with mine and turned purple.
I read his intent, grasped his purpose, and swung my sword.
Danmakdo.
Sanbaem!
Through the purple intent we shared, Kim Young-hoon’s sword art seemed to echo.
Peeing!
An intent hard to perceive. An extreme-speed stab aimed at me.
Danak Sword Art.
Ipsan!
Flash!
I switched to the lower body stance and evaded his stab, then
Danak Sword Art.
Gisansimcheon.
Opening my meridians, I extended the sword thread’s length and aimed at his ankle.
Danmakdo.
Sanollim!
Teeing!
The sound of the blade echoed.
Kim Young-hoon’s energy vibrated his blade body.
The faintly vibrating blade body fell toward my sword qi.
It must not touch.
Even if it was sword qi or sword thread!
Flash!
I infused intent into the sword thread, connected our intents, and turned it into sword gang.
Toowhoong―
When the vibrating blade body touched my sword gang, the gang became faintly visible, and sword speed slowed.
If I hadn’t turned it into sword gang, the sword thread would have shattered instead, and the shock would have reached me.
Kim Young-hoon’s intent spread wide.
Danmakdo.
Sanori.
The sword qi flowing from his blade spread like a wave.
Though it seemed to echo in all directions, it was a single strike aimed at me!
This couldn’t be blocked by ordinary martial arts.
Danak Sword Art.
Sanmyeonggong.
I changed my sword gang into a wave shape to counter his form.
Beyond the sound of the wave, countless intents rushed in, and Kim Young-hoon slowly approached.
It was light.
His steps were free, yet at the same time, his movements dodged every strand of air’s will, approaching with the most efficient motion.
Danmakdo.
Sannew.
His movements were like a small bird.
While reading the trajectory of the intent flowing from him, I was responding to his next move.
“...?”
At Kim Young-hoon’s chest, yearning intent burst forth, and the trajectory of that intent collided with the one I was trying to read.
Simultaneously, the trajectory I had been reading became a mess I couldn’t understand, making it impossible to read.
Danmakdo. The blade body of the Sannew form had swung right in front of me.
What...!
To twist his trajectory, I first used Wolakbo to restrain his actions and caught the Sannew form.
Kim Young-hoon, who had gotten close to me, smiled faintly and thrust his sword.
Danmakdo.
Sanyeolim.
Chwoaak!
Countless blade bodies swept in.
I countered with the forms of Sansuhwa and exchanged blows with him.
One form after another.
His intent poured out, and my intent met his.
Each time we sparred a form, a countless lines of intent crossed in the world of intent, and a battle of wills raged.
When my blue line blocked his red line’s trajectory.
Whoong!
Kim Young-hoon’s red trajectory turned dark red.
hatred intent.
That hatred intent easily pierced my blue intent and entered my core,
and in reality our swords and blades clashed.
The sword qi on his blade body boiled like fire.
At the same time, just like in the world of intent, his blade cut through my sword and aimed at my chest.
Flash!
Our sparring ended that way.
“...What you did just now.”
“You saw it yourself.”
Kim Young-hoon smiled faintly.
“You can give emotions to mu.”
“...”
I couldn’t calm the trembling in my head for a moment and asked him,
“The meaning of emotions in mu means mu is alive?”
He smiled, showing teeth.
“What do you think? Is mu alive?”
“...No.”
I spoke of what I had felt while training martial arts.
The realization I had felt when sensing sword thread.
“mu is not alive. What is alive is me, and the act of infusing my own yi into it makes it mu.”
“Correct. The sword is not alive. But the martial artist who grasps and swings it is alive. The sword thread is what infused that martial artist’s yi, and sword gang is what allows that yi to communicate with the world. Then...”
His words continued.
“If infusing one’s own yi is mu, then mu is oneself. You said emotions like love and hatred have no meaning in training mu, but in the end, one is made up of those very things.”
“...Ah...”
I seemed to understand.
“mu is not alive, but the human who wields mu is alive. What makes up that human is emotions. So the more one pursues mu, the more one learns about oneself. About ourselves.
When one masters oneself, one can also influence intent trajectories like what we just did.”
“...Thank you for the advice.”
“Hahaha, if blue and red are the level of survival instincts, and purple is the level of hatred, then the colors after that are about oneself. And...”
He looked at the sky and said,
“When we grasp all the colors we humans have, we gain the right to see the colors beyond. That is...”
“Five Qi Consorting with the Origin, right?”
Kim Young-hoon nodded.
“Thanks to Cheongmunryeong, I’ve gained the qualification to challenge Five Qi Consorting with the Origin. So... would you mind being the protector?”
I nodded.
“Of course.”
Since the estate was empty of other people, Kim Young-hoon immediately sat in meditation and began challenging the realm.
I watched with wide eyes as he crossed the realm.
The vision of the peak realm.
Blue and red.
The vision of Three Flowers Gathering.
The purple beyond that, and countless other colors.
Those are the colors Kim Young-hoon has realized.
In my eyes, of Kim Young-hoon’s colors, only a faint pink and dark red were visible.
However, I could guess at his other intents through those two colors.
The intents I couldn’t see seemed to writhe beyond yearning and hatred.
Ah...
His red intent gradually extended in branches.
This was the scene I had seen in my previous life.
However, with me at Three Flowers Gathering, a new domain appeared.
Yearning and hatred intents intertwined, filling the gaps in the red intent.
And they began to connect.
p>Countless other intents I couldn’t see would be the same.
The red intent extended, the dark red intent grazed the edges, and the faint pink intent filled the inside.
Beautiful.
Eventually, countless intents of his became connected, and the area around him was consumed.
Uwoong―
The surrounding energy was sucked in.
I couldn’t see it in detail, but I could guess that Kim Young-hoon was already looking at another world.
The energies rushing around him soon gathered into five rings above his head, then merged into a five-colored cloud and flowed into his mouth and nose.
Shortly after,
Woong, woodeuk―
Kim Young-hoon’s body began undergoing Hwan-gol-tal-tae.
I observed the intent flows created during Hwan-gol-tal-tae until my brain exploded.
His skin became clean and wrinkles smoothed.
Dead cells revived, and hair grew from his head.
His aged face grew younger, younger even than mine.
p>Perfect Half-Life Reversal!
Kim Young-hoon, who had succeeded in Half-Life Reversal, opened one eye.
“Did you see, Eun-hyun?”
“...Yes. It’s beautiful.”
“I hope it was helpful to you.”
“Thank you.”
I bowed to him in gratitude.
The scene from just now would bring me immeasurable help when I reached Five Qi Consorting with the Origin.
I spent several days talking about martial arts with him and returned to the realm of the Jin family sect.
On the way back, I discovered another intent.
The color was gold.
The name of the intent was Hei—joy.
It was the intent of happiness.