The Weight of a Martial Truth
Was it because the smell of meat had seeped into him as if it were settling all the way to his marrow?
Before he even realized it, the words were out of his mouth, and saliva had already flooded his mouth.
This has to be the first time in how long?
It might have seemed absurd for a Buddhist monk to be salivating over meat, but in truth, he had been eating meat ever since his days of training at Shaolin.
If someone asked whether that made him a defrocked monk, the answer would be no. At Shaolin, even novice monks were permitted a moderate amount of meat, and the same went for secular disciples.
Of course, the trouble was that moderation meant something different to everyone.
Hmm.
In any case, it wasn’t forbidden by the precepts.
He stared at the lavish spread and forced his startled heart to settle.
Amitabha.
There was a saying in Buddhism: All is created by the mind alone.
It meant that everything depended on one’s state of mind. Once he calmed down and looked again, the food on the table began to seem neither excessive nor meager, but just right.
Gang Hyeon looked at him with a baffled expression.
“Huh? Of course we eat it right out in the open. Who’s supposed to come stop us?”
Imaje, too, was staring at him from across the table, looking puzzled.
“Haha, that came out wrong. There’s a physician who’s making a huge fuss that I should only eat porridge for a while, so I got confused for a second……”
He had no choice but to throw Sama Ryang under the bus. Sorry, but the meat came first.
“Were you sick?”
“Just a little internal injury. I’m fine now.”
Imaje spoke curtly.
“Eat.”
“Yes.”
“I’ll eat well.”
The moment Imaje lifted his chopsticks, Cheon Sohyeon reached out as if he had been waiting for this very moment.
First, he took a piece of dongpo pork and tasted it.
Oh? Not bad.
It wasn’t merely polished on the outside; the flavor was excellent as well.
The rich sauce and fragrant juices burst across his tongue. He had barely chewed before the dongpo pork seemed to melt apart and vanish.
Maybe because it had been so long since he’d eaten something with real texture, the sensation was almost enough to give him chills.
For some reason, he suddenly thought that the reason Imaje kept Gang Hyeon by his side might simply be that the boy was good at cooking.
There was no way to imagine that giant, mountain-like man standing before a stove.
What would happen if you returned after grueling training only to find there was nothing to eat?
You’d have to fill your stomach with wall-flower pellets or something like that. In that case, it would be impossible to maintain a body as thick and powerful as that.
So it was because of the cooking.
Having reached that conclusion, he moved on to the noodles, only for Gang Hyeon to suddenly thrust a water cup toward him.
“Young Master, slow down a little, will you? Why are you eating like you’re at war? Anyone watching would think you were possessed by the ghost of someone who died because they never got to eat meat.”
To think this brat could even read the room.
“Ahem, thanks.”
He cleared his throat and drained the water.
“Still, this is part of training, so I’ve got to finish properly.”
“Training?”
Imaje spoke in a low voice.
“Focus on eating.”
“……Yes.”
He ate like a man possessed, and just as the fullness began to rise in his stomach, he lifted his head and found himself looking straight into Imaje’s eyes.
“By the look of it, you seem to be quite familiar with external martial arts.”
“Pardon?”
“Did you not pick up the essentials rather quickly? There are some points that are difficult to explain one by one in words, and yet you adapted surprisingly well.”
“Ah, I suppose I am somewhat accustomed to it.”
No matter how unusual Imaje’s training method might be, it wasn’t completely unfamiliar. He had experience training with sandbags strapped to his body.
“Then what do you think of external martial arts? The common opinion in the martial world is that its limits are obvious.”
“……?”
Why was he asking something like this? Cheon Sohyeon looked at him silently.
“There’s no need to worry about it too seriously. I’m only curious about your opinion.”
Cheon Sohyeon slowly nodded and organized his thoughts.
“Hmm…… to be honest, I do think it has more definite limitations than internal energy.”
“Explain further.”
“If you stop training, it declines. Even if you train every day, the efficiency drops unless you keep raising the intensity. It’s a bit different from internal energy, which deepens simply by accumulating qi.”
External martial arts did not merely mean training the muscles. It referred to martial arts that refined the body itself toward perfection.
But the body’s completion tended to rise naturally as one built up internal energy or practiced techniques, so many martial artists didn’t bother spending extra time on it.
“That’s correct. Which is why many people dismiss external martial arts as a crude skill.”
“Yes, there are certainly no shortage of ignorant fools in the martial world. When I see people neglecting what matters without even knowing why, I just want to take their shiny heads and—”
A faint look of interest entered Imaje’s eyes.
“So you recognize its flaws and still do not think that way?”
“Its flaws aren’t unique. Internal energy has its own flaws too, doesn’t it?”
Imaje’s brow tightened slightly.
“The flaws of internal energy?”
“How many martial artists lose patience and fall into deviation from qi chaos? If you want to make proper use of the internal energy you’ve spent years building, your body has to support it. If you want your martial prowess to rise in harmony, don’t you eventually have to delve into external martial arts as well?”
“Well, that would only be true if time were infinite, wouldn’t it?”
“……?”
“For martial artists as for anyone else, time is limited. To bring even one school of martial arts to completion, one is often forced to choose and focus at every moment. The judgment you make today changes tomorrow’s training, and even the direction of your future.”
“Hmm, I suppose it would.”
“Then what if you devoted yourself only to external martial arts, only to meet an opponent with profound internal energy? If your blade never reached them and you were forced back helplessly, then the path you have walked until now might feel hollow.”
“……”
He couldn’t quite understand why Imaje was suddenly talking about this.
Perhaps it was an interest of his own. Perhaps he was trying to gauge Cheon Sohyeon. Or maybe he intended to teach Gang Hyeon by way of the conversation.
He didn’t know the reason, but the answer wasn’t difficult.
“What’s there to feel hollow about? If I poured everything I had into it and still there was that much of a gap, then losing would simply be the proper outcome.”
“……Just losing, you say?”
“Yes. External martial arts are still only one branch of the martial way. If I lost in battle, then I lost through martial arts, didn’t I? The issue would be density, not the direction of my training. I don’t think there’d be any need to look back on it in a pitiful way.”
In truth, he had never once devoted himself to external martial arts since his reincarnation, so he wondered whether he really ought to be saying such things.
He was only just recovering from internal injuries, after all. Wouldn’t it sound laughable coming from this frail body?
“A branch of the martial way, huh……”
Yet Imaje seemed oddly moved, and his expression showed more surprise than Cheon Sohyeon had expected.
In fact, for someone who had inherited the true teachings of Shaolin, it was a perfectly natural thing to say.
If one were to name the most prestigious sect in all the world, Shaolin would stand at the very top without question.
The Taishan Beidou of the martial world. The Thousand-Year Shaolin.
Its renowned prestige drew attention wherever it went, and countless gifted talents from around the world knocked on its gates in hopes of entering.
What was the first thing those gifted talents did after joining?
Brutally simple external martial arts training.
Even those who had once made a name for themselves elsewhere had to correct their stances and grind away at external martial arts while adding more and more weight to their sandbags.
That was because at the root of Shaolin’s fame for transcendent martial arts and formidable techniques lay power forged upon external martial arts.
As a result, in the Central Plains—where Shaolin’s influence was vast—there was scarcely any sect that neglected external martial arts. But the Demonic Cult seemed to be a different matter.
“That is a way of interpreting it I’ve never heard before.”
“Do you not consider external martial arts to be a branch of the martial way, Imaje?”
“Of course not. I believe that if one reaches the extreme in it, it too can become an exalted martial art. It’s just…… I had never heard it put into words.”
Cheon Sohyeon’s eyes flicked back and forth as he studied Imaje. Since the reaction didn’t seem negative, he asked bluntly, “Did you have another reason for asking about external martial arts?”
Imaje answered in a calm tone.
“Nothing special. I was merely curious what kind of martial doctrine you held.”
“My martial doctrine?”
“When I was abroad from the Senate, I would occasionally hear things about you. I thought that perhaps one day, I’d like to speak with you.”
“News, huh…… haha, did someone spread bad things about me?”
“Not at all. It was about your talent. It didn’t sound like empty talk.”
Gang Hyeon, who had been listening quietly, cut in.
“Master, what exactly does talent even mean?”
“It’s a general term for martial gifts such as bones, sinews, and natural aptitude. You could say it’s an innate sensitivity to martial arts.”
“Ah, I see.”
“How did you hear all that we’ve discussed so far?”
Gang Hyeon paused briefly before answering.
“Everything you said sounded right, one after another, so I took it all to heart. I don’t think I can afford to dismiss any of it.”
“Good.”
Imaje nodded and looked back at him.
“Then why have you come all this way? It must have been a long journey.”
At last, it was time. Since Imaje might leave without hesitation, Cheon Sohyeon spoke directly.
“I intend to oppose the grand plan. Would you help me?”
“……”
Imaje looked at him in silence.
Nothing could be read from that hardened expression. As the silence stretched on, unease began to creep up from his chest.
Should I have phrased that more carefully?
If the Commander-in-Chief’s information is correct, he shouldn’t react negatively, should he?
At that moment, Imaje pointed at Gang Hyeon.
“Why did you come with this boy?”
Cheon Sohyeon met Gang Hyeon’s eyes. The boy gave him a quick wink, clearly asking him to honor an earlier request.
Young Master. Please keep the Jagui Gate matter secret.
Why?
Well, it’s closer to freeloading than anything else, and I didn’t want to broadcast anything that might count as a stain on my name, so I didn’t mention the revenge part. I’ll explain it to you separately later, so please.
Since he had been fed a hearty meal, Cheon Sohyeon decided to comply.
“We happened to meet by chance and talked a while. Since he was your disciple, I asked him to guide me.”
Imaje looked at Gang Hyeon.
“Is that true?”
“Yes. It’s my first time meeting the successor, but he turned out to be unexpectedly easy to talk to, and I got the feeling there was a lot I could learn from him. I didn’t think it would be a burden to Master either.”
“I see.”
Even without hearing the details, Imaje didn’t press further. So the rumor that he truly ignored all manner of trivial matters must have been true.
“I heard you were discussing entry into the Central Plains. But to oppose it……”
Imaje’s voice sank lower.
“We have no special ties between us, and yet you came all this way. For what reason?”
“The Commander-in-Chief advised me to. He said you would likely share my view that the move into the Central Plains is too soon, and recommended I meet you.”
Imaje’s eyes twitched.
“……The Commander-in-Chief?”
“Yes.”
In that instant, a pitch-black current seemed to ripple through Imaje’s eyes. The calm weight of that gaze made it feel as if breath itself were being squeezed out of him.
……Is this the emperor of the Demonic Cult?
Even when compared to the elders of the Nine Great Sects or the Five Great Clans, he did not lose an inch in presence.
Breaking the silence, he asked, “Are you confident you can do it?”
“I have to. Even if the soles of my feet catch fire, I’ll make it happen.”
“Then I’ll lend you my strength.”
“……Pardon?”
“I said I’ll lend you my strength. Isn’t that why you came here?”
“That is true, but……”
He had expected more resistance, so the ease of it left him momentarily at a loss. But the next answer made him think, Of course.
“However, there is one condition.”