Stagnant Water Is Bound to Rot (4)
The sight of Yeon Ji-pyeong was so haggard it could not even be compared to how he had looked just over ten days ago.
His entire body was drenched in oily sweat as if he hadn’t washed in days. His disheveled hair completely covered his face. From the corner of his mouth visible between the strands, dried blood could be seen—evidence of the excessive training he had forced upon himself.
Even his training uniform was torn in several places and crusted with scabs, making him look utterly wretched.
Drip. Drip.
Blood fell from the palm gripping his sword. He had swung it without care even after his protective glove had torn.
“Huu… Huu…”
His breathing gradually calmed.
Slightly bent at the waist with his arms hanging naturally, Yeon Ji-pyeong’s eyes burned a fierce red.
“……”
Finally, his breathing grew completely still. Where… am I?
As he stared blankly at the shattered rocks, a sharp pain suddenly flared from his lips.
His cracked, dried lips split open, and fresh blood flowed over the already hardened crust.
Yeon Ji-pyeong thought, When did I last eat? No, he couldn’t even remember the last time he had drunk water. It felt like at least three days had passed, yet it was a wonder he was still standing.
Of course, the fact that he was still standing brought him no particular emotion. When did I start swinging my sword? He didn’t know. He couldn’t remember.
He couldn’t even recall how he had swung it. It seemed like he had practiced the family’s secret sword techniques during the first day, but after that, he had no memory of what kind of training he had done. Is this even okay?
It had been training bordering on self-abuse.
The methods of effort and training naturally change depending on what one is aiming for. Swinging a sword so recklessly like this would only damage the body.
No one knew that better than Yeon Ji-pyeong himself. His senses were sharper than anyone else’s, and he could instinctively grasp the proper direction his efforts should take.
But now? I don’t know. I just don’t know.
Whoosh.
The blowing wind stung his skin.
His five senses had become extremely heightened. His unfocused eyes could see even the tiny holes on the cut surfaces of the rocks. His nose picked up every scent of the natural world. His ears caught the sound of ants crawling through the distant forest. His mouth was filled with the salty taste of blood and the faint sweetness of the air. It hurts.
With his senses activated to an extreme degree, even the slightest stimulus made his body flinch.
It was then.
…? Someone was coming. Stealthily. Cautiously.
His expression remained dazed, but his senses had already detected the person approaching in secret. There is no hostility. And…
A faint gleam rose in his previously vacant eyes. It’s not one. There are two.
In that instant—
BAAAAANG!
The person who had been drawing near suddenly charged straight at him.
The flow of air changed. He could tell from the shift in the air against his skin even before the sound reached him. Fast.
It was an incredible speed. Even if he poured every ounce of his strength into explosive acceleration, he doubted he could even match half of that velocity.
Shockingly, an intense fighting spirit was radiating from the charging figure. And that fighting spirit was aimed directly at him. Who is it? Why so suddenly? But… can I even react?
For a moment, Yeon Ji-pyeong felt a strange sense of doubt inside. But why do I feel so relaxed?
This was no time to feel relaxed. Although there was no killing intent, the charge alone was threatening enough due to its sheer speed. In his current physical state, even a single misplaced punch could endanger his life.
And there was one more thing. It’s fast… but it doesn’t feel that fast.
Considering that monstrous speed and acceleration point, he should have been struck before he could even think this much. Yet here he was, thinking and thinking again—searching for a way to respond to the lightning-fast charge of this unknown expert.
How was this even possible?
Whoosh!
Suddenly, a terrifying light flashed in Yeon Ji-pyeong’s eyes.
It felt as if he had been wandering through a hazy dream only to be violently thrown back into the real world. The razor-sharp sensations that had been slicing into his flesh dulled in an instant. No!
Yeon Ji-pyeong instinctively swung his sword.
CLAAAAAAAANG!
It was an impossibly clean sound. The sharp clash of metal rang out like a fierce resonance.
Yeon Ji-pyeong stared blankly down at his sword.
The blade of his three-cheok long sword had been sliced cleanly in half, leaving him with a blade barely longer than two cheok. My sword… was cut?
It hadn’t shattered. It had been sliced perfectly in two.
What was even more shocking was that the opponent had not met his strike with a sharp counter. While the precision had been incredible, the reason a perfectly sound longsword had been reduced to a half-sword was due to a slashing strike delivered with explosive speed and power.
Yeon Ji-pyeong raised his head.
Standing before him was Yeon Hojeong, frozen in the exact posture of having swung the Mad Dragon Axe downward at a diagonal angle.
“Impressive.”
Yeon Hojeong relaxed his stance and smiled with a satisfied expression.
“I felt your qi sharpened to a terrifying degree. It was an extreme elevation of the senses I’ve never seen from you before. I poured the full power of a single slash into that strike just in case, yet you still reacted properly.”
“……”
“…Brother?”
“Well done. To be able to condense your true qi to that extent… even if the duration was short, it must have been an incredibly harsh ordeal.”
“Pardon?”
Yeon Ji-pyeong couldn’t understand a single word his brother was saying.
At that moment, Kang Liang, who had been standing behind Yeon Hojeong with his arms crossed, spoke up.
“This is truly astonishing. Should I call this a difference in talent, or a difference in concentration?”
Yeon Hojeong picked up where Kang Liang left off.
“It’s not talent. It’s concentration. However, it was an extremely dangerous attempt. If I had arrived even half a shichen later, Ji-pyeong’s life would have been in danger.”
“To think you would swing that monstrous axe at your own brother so mercilessly… Brother, you really are ruthless.”
“Ruthless? He’s my brother. Of course I have that much faith in him.”
Yeon Hojeong smiled and patted Yeon Ji-pyeong on the shoulder.
“Listen, kid. No matter what, don’t do such dangerous training again in the future.”
“What? Dangerous training…?”
Kang Liang clicked his tongue.
“He doesn’t even remember what kind of training he was doing.”
Yeon Ji-pyeong looked at Kang Liang with a dazed expression.
Kang Liang shook his head and continued.
“I don’t know what kind of shock you received or how much, but you lost track of time and kept swinging your sword until your heart, body, and qi were completely immersed in the flow of the blade.”
“…?!”
“It’s also called the state of no-self, but what you experienced goes beyond what that term can describe. Whether you hypnotized yourself or not, you didn’t just become one with the sword—you completely bound yourself to it.”
“…!!”
“Sword and Self as One. Because you merged into the sword, your true qi naturally changed as well, becoming as grand and sharp as your swordsmanship. That’s why you were able to react instantly to Brother’s attack.”
Yeon Ji-pyeong looked at Yeon Hojeong with trembling eyes.
Yeon Hojeong nodded.
“Having this kind of experience won’t make your martial arts improve immediately. However, the difference between someone who has walked this path once and someone who hasn’t is enormous. It will undoubtedly be a tremendous help to your future growth.”
“Ah!”
“You’ve suffered greatly. But from now on, it would be best to refrain from this kind of training. I cannot help but admire the effort you put into concentrating to that degree in such a short time. Still, the ability to control your immersion at will is what guarantees at least a minimum of safety. Forgetting oneself in immersion can bring great rewards, but it always comes with equal danger.”
Yeon Ji-pyeong was bewildered. This was martial theory he had never heard before.
Yeon Hojeong continued.
“Did I mention this before? If not, I’ll tell you now. A martial artist who has learned internal energy cultivation is someone who knows how to handle qi. Qi is fundamentally rooted in the mind. If your mind is unstable, your qi will be unstable. If your mind is stable, your qi will be stable as well.”
“I… I know that much.”
“The problem is that the reverse is also possible. Qi can freely change its form and nature according to one’s will, but if you neglect controlling it, your mind will eventually be dragged along by qi that runs wild on its own.”
“…!!”
“The demonic arts commonly spoken of in the world are exactly this kind of martial art. They say that practicing demonic arts breaks the harmony between mind and body, leading one to madness or making murder as casual as eating? While such unstable arts are rare these days, the phenomenon does occur.”
Yeon Hojeong pointed at Yeon Ji-pyeong’s chest with his index finger.
“The root is the mind. Qi is merely a warhorse that you command. Internal energy you cannot control is not truly yours. If you’re not careful, even if you practice orthodox arts, you could become a slave to your own true qi and lose yourself.”
“…!”
“And that is the early symptom of qi deviation. Uncontrolled qi running wild and harming its owner. If I hadn’t stopped your training just now, your life would have been in danger from qi deviation.”
As he taught his younger brother, Yeon Hojeong also came to a realization.
Why his own martial arts hadn’t grown as quickly as before, despite clear goals and effort. Why he hadn’t been able to step into the next realm. I too nearly fell into deviation.
His efforts had certainly been sincere. However, as the Black Dark Emperor, he had been obsessed with the realm he had already achieved.
It was inevitable. It was a path clearly visible to him, one he had already walked. If he simply followed it properly, he believed he could reach the realm of the Black Dark within a few years. He had been that confident. I was wrong.
Yes. He had been wrong.
Yeon Hojeong was no longer the Black Dark Emperor. He was the eldest son of the Yeon family, the greatest rising star of the world known as Byeoksan Tiger Fang, the Grand Commander of the Martial Alliance’s strongest Righteous Army Unit, and the leader of the Myeolsa Army.
There was no longer any place for the Black Dark Emperor.
He could make use of the Black Dark Emperor’s experience, but the path forward as the Black Dark Emperor was closed. He was forging a new path, and that path was completely different from the one he had walked before.
If the mind leads qi, then what leads the mind is clear reason and self-reflection. And what allows reason and self-reflection to bloom is also qi, which is once again rooted in the mind.
A cycle of enlightenment. At some point, Yeon Hojeong had stepped off the infinite staircase he had been climbing and gone astray. I will wander no more.
Unlike his days as the Black Dark Emperor, when he had grown based on the Hongcheon Technique, he was now growing by forming the Yeon Family Divine Elixir.
His head had understood the difference, but his heart had not yet felt it.
He would no longer show such a pathetic side of himself.
Clink.
Yeon Hojeong fastened the Black and White Twin Dragon Axes to his waist, picked up the Mad Dragon Axe he had set down, and turned around.
“I stopped by before departing on the mission to check on your condition. If you were alright, I was thinking of taking you along this time.”
Yeon Hojeong no longer looked back at Yeon Ji-pyeong. He simply walked steadily toward the entrance of the forest.
He asked without stopping.
“Will you come with us?”
Yeon Ji-pyeong’s eyes shone.
Beyond the forest entrance, countless warhorses and the battle-hardened veterans riding them stared at this place with cold eyes. That’s it.
Right there, in the world those people lived in, was where his brother belonged. And Kang Liang had been chosen for the path leading to that world.
Then what about him?
“I will go.”
Shing!
Yeon Ji-pyeong sheathed his broken sword and staggered after Yeon Hojeong.
“I will no longer simply wait and worry.”
Even before being chosen, he had already prepared his heart.
Yeon Hojeong nodded.
“Then guard your own life.”