Chapter 8
Chapter 8
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 8
Chapter Title: Unveiling Talent
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Hyeondo scanned Cheonhwi.
‘His body has improved.’
A relieved smile formed on his face.
Of course, he didn’t know much about Cheonhwi, nor had he met him often.
But he had visited when he collapsed and prayed for his safety.
‘Because he’s Hyeon-gang’s disciple.’
Gazing intently at Cheonhwi, he recalled Hyeon-gang, who was no longer in this world.
Eight years ago.
Hyeon-gang had taken his newly appointed Plum Blossom Sword Guards and ventured out into the martial world.
And that very day, Hyeondo had entered secluded training.
He had been proud of Hyeon-gang keeping pace with him so closely, yet his competitive spirit as a martial artist had ignited.
But that had been a lifelong mistake.
The moment he emerged from seclusion half a year later, shocking news reached him.
—The youngest martial brother and his disciples are dead.
Those were the words Hyeonryeo, utterly devastated and pale, spat out the instant she saw him.
Enraged and seething with fury, he had demanded to seek revenge.
But everyone held him back.
The opponent was White Ghost Castle.
One of the Six Evil Gates of the Evil-Black Alliance, its prestige echoed across the land.
Even if Mount Hua Sect couldn’t handle it alone, they could request aid from the Murim Alliance, he argued, but an unexpected reply came.
White Ghost Castle claimed they had also lost the Demon Extermination Sword and their Annihilation Squad under him, so let’s let it go. And the Murim Alliance accepted their proposal.
So if he wanted revenge, he should wage a sect-against-sect war.
He was furious, his chest burning with indignation.
Launch an all-out war?
He couldn’t bring himself to do it.
Unlike White Ghost Castle, which had merely lost one of its six elite forces and the Demon Extermination Sword, Mount Hua Sect had lost its core strength: Hyeon-gang and the Plum Blossom Sword Guards.
Defeat was as clear as day.
He couldn’t end Mount Hua Sect’s nearly five-hundred-year history with his own hands.
In the end, he gave up and asked Hyeonryeo.
‘Where is he buried?’
‘As per our youngest martial brother’s last words, we sent his ashes to the heavens above Mount Hua.’
It felt like his world collapsed.
Back then, everyone had laughed it off.
What kind of last words are those?
But no one in Mount Hua Sect could have imagined it would become reality.
After that day, he couldn’t escape his grief for a long time.
If only he had gone with them!
If only he hadn’t secluded himself!
Regret choked him.
He should have gone somehow.
But out of mere competitive pride, he had immersed himself in training and thus couldn’t even receive Hyeon-gang and the disciples’ bodies.
It was then that Senior Brother Hyeoncheong cast everything aside and entered the Ten Thousand Scriptures Pavilion.
‘It’s because our sect is weak.’
Those words before entering struck Hyeondo like thunder.
‘Once I reach absolute mastery, I’ll never let this happen again!’
He pulled himself together and threw himself back into training.
To become an absolute master.
Setting everything aside to focus solely on cultivation—perhaps that’s why, after six years, he finally touched the edge of the Infinite Realm and stood on the cusp of the Heavenly Martial Realm.
Now, just one step away.
One more step, and he would ascend to the Heavenly Martial Realm, becoming an absolute master.
But.
‘It still slips through my fingers.’
Even now, the wall of the Heavenly Martial Realm shimmered tauntingly, yet he couldn’t approach it.
For two whole years.
Thud—
Hyeondo plopped down onto the floor.
Afterward, he tapped the ground with his calloused right hand and said,
“Sit down for now.”
Cheonhwi soon sat.
“Before learning martial arts, you must build the foundation of your heart method, so I’ll teach you the Fundamental Breathing Technique first.”
Immediately, Hyeondo recalled the distant days when he first learned martial arts, mumbling the formulas from memory as he moved his lips.
“Body and mind must be pure to accept proper vital energy. The beginning is expelling the stagnant ancient qi accumulated in the body—the old, turbid energy. Then, deeply inhale to take in pure energy. That is the essence of the Fundamental Breathing Technique...”
Exhale, inhale.
It was a long explanation, but it boiled down to just those two actions.
Yawn, so when does this end?
He blinked at the boring lecture.
But he had to pretend to listen.
Across from him, Hyeondo stared with eyes ablaze.
After pretending to listen—letting the words flow in one ear and out the other—for about fifteen minutes,
“That is the Fundamental Breathing Technique.”
Hyeondo finished speaking.
Finally over.
As he relaxed his heavy eyelids,
“Now, give it a try.”
Hyeondo said with a smile.
Though the Fundamental Breathing Technique was the basis of heart methods, no one could perform it perfectly after a single explanation without prior knowledge.
Usually, one demonstrated or channeled qi to aid in sensing it.
But he deliberately held back.
‘Please teach Cheonhwi martial arts.’
Having agreed to Hyeonryeo’s rare request—something she seldom asked of him—Hyeondo intended to teach thoroughly.
‘I’ll observe first, then channel qi to help him feel it.’
That was his philosophy on martial arts.
One action was worth a hundred words in efficiency.
“Understood.”
Cheonhwi assumed the cross-legged position.
“Yes, yes. That’s the posture.”
Hyeondo smiled in satisfaction.
It was better than expected.
Most children couldn’t even sit properly cross-legged, yet Cheonhwi adopted a flawless pose, like a seasoned Daoist cultivator.
‘He must have imitated the youngest martial brother.’
As he lost himself in memories gazing at the posture so like his late brother’s,
Sip, haa.
Cheonhwi, eyes closed, repeatedly inhaled and exhaled.
About fifteen minutes later.
Swish—
Cheonhwi opened his eyes.
“I’m done.”
Hyeondo nodded.
“That was qi circulation and breath adjustment. Practice the Fundamental Breathing Technique daily without fail, and one day, you’ll sense a foreign energy different from usual...”
“You mean the energy that enters through the mouth and taps the lower dantian?”
“Yes. Accumulating that energy tapping the lower dantian becomes internal energy... What?”
Hyeondo’s face went blank.
Sensing energy on the first qi circulation?
Absurd.
“Wh-what do you mean?”
“I did as Fourth Uncle instructed and accumulated it in my lower dantian.”
At those words, he let out a hollow laugh.
It must be a joke.
“Haha. Quite the prank.”
“Prank?”
Dismissing it as childish mischief, Hyeondo froze upon seeing Cheonhwi’s expression.
There wasn’t a hint of deceit.
“...Really?”
“Yes.”
“Give me your hand.”
Cheonhwi extended his right hand.
Grasping the pale, slender wrist and infusing qi to check the lower dantian, Hyeondo’s jaw dropped.
“...!”
He nearly jumped up.
Internal energy had formed in the lower dantian.
Tiny as a speck, but remarkably pure.
“As you said.”
“Just from the oral transmission?”
“Yes.”
“Impossible!”
“Pardon? What do you mean impossible?”
“How can you accumulate internal energy in one go just from hearing the formulas?”
“Then why ask me to do something impossible?”
Cheonhwi tilted his head.
Of course, inwardly, he sneered.
This hack testing me?
He had seen through the test and played along ignorantly.
Unaware of Cheonhwi’s thoughts, Hyeondo shook his head and murmured low.
“I planned to help if you got stuck. Channel qi to guide the energy flow... But...”
Amid his confusion, as he voiced his thoughts, he snapped back and gripped harder.
Crunch—
“The heavens didn’t take our youngest brother for nothing! Hahaha!”
Cheonhwi stared puzzled at Hyeondo, who suddenly burst into laughter.
Has he lost it?
Hyeondo, laughing heartily in joy, released the wrist he’d been gripping.
Ow.
Cheonhwi shook his throbbing wrist.
A red handprint from Hyeondo stood out vividly, swollen.
Gazing at Cheonhwi rubbing his wrist, Hyeondo spoke.
“I’ll teach you the heart method.”
A shocking statement.
Typically, one familiarized with the Fundamental Breathing Technique before learning a heart method in Mount Hua Sect.
Yet Hyeondo skipped the process.
‘Not only sensing qi in one Fundamental Breathing session, but accumulating internal energy in the lower dantian—this talent is astonishing.’
Wasting time on the breathing technique would be a shame for such genius.
‘Sect Leader will understand when I tell him later.’
Cheonhwi eyed the pensive Hyeondo.
‘Huh? I heard righteous sects teach step by step. Is Mount Hua different?’
A breach of convention for one person, but Cheonhwi thought little of it.
“What I’ll teach you is the Plum Blossom Qi Art. A heart method only true successors of our sect learn, the foundation of all our martial arts.”
Hyeondo’s explanation grew lengthy.
But this time, it wasn’t boring.
Different feel from reading it.
He had read the Plum Blossom Qi Art manual and knew the formulas by heart.
Yet Hyeondo added his own interpretations for clarity, sparking interest.
“Unifying internal energy into one...”
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ The next day, when Cheonhwi returned from the Ten Thousand Scriptures Pavilion, Hyeondo was waiting.
“Fourth Uncle?”
Hyeondo held out a wooden sword.
“Take it.”
He accepted the wooden sword in bewilderment.
Then Hyeondo drew his sword.
The normally pristine white blade of the White Lotus Sword was dyed in sunset hues.
He raised it.
Swish—
In truth, his blood was boiling.
Because of yesterday.
Cheonhwi had grasped the Plum Blossom Qi Art formulas effortlessly and completed the Minor Cosmic Circulation.
In less than an hour!
That moment, he realized.
‘A genius for the ages!’
He devised a plan.
To raise Cheonhwi into a master who would etch his name in Mount Hua Sect’s—no, the martial world’s—history.
“Watch closely. This is our sect’s sword art, the Six Harmonies Sword Art.”
Hyeondo demonstrated the Six Harmonies Sword Art.
Whoosh— whoosh—
The sword swung powerfully.
Cheonhwi, glaring at the one-sided lecturer, changed his gaze the moment the sword art began.
Hyeondo’s sword carved through all directions.
The sharp White Lotus Sword, swung in every conceivable human direction, seemed adaptable to any situation with perfect freedom.
But something felt off.
Cheonhwi stared piercingly at Hyeondo.
To find what was unnatural.
Fifteen minutes later, after showcasing the Six Harmonies Sword Art, Hyeondo sheathed his sword and spoke.
“Did you see well?”
“I saw.”
“Then I’ll explain the forms.”
He raised his sword again.
Repeating the first form and beginning the explanation.
“First form: Six Harmonies Array Breaker. Step forward like this, raise the sword high—that’s the preparatory stance. From there...”
After demonstrating all six forms from Six Harmonies Array Breaker onward, Hyeondo sheathed his sword and said,
“Now, you try.”
He gripped the wooden sword firmly.
A thrill rose in his chest after so long holding a sword.
Sword, huh. It’s been a while.
He first performed the Six Harmonies Sword Art.
After repeating it several times.
This is the issue.
He found why Hyeondo’s display felt unnatural earlier.
No flow between forms.
Individually, they seemed complete, but as a whole, flaws emerged.
Better like this.
Whoosh!
The Six Harmonies Sword Art began to change.
The disjointed, freewheeling forms gained rhythm, weaving into one.
Hyeondo, watching from start to finish, furrowed his brow.
At first, it followed decently, but over time, the sword art devolved horribly.
‘So immature.’
Great expectations breed great disappointment; regret tinged him.
‘No, overdoing it is as bad as underdoing. For a kid who’s never held a sword, this is plenty satisfactory.’
He shook his head.
A bit regrettable, but fine.
‘Unlike heart methods needing elixirs and talent, sword arts progress quickly with effort.’
Nodding once, Hyeondo strode toward Cheonhwi, who wasn’t performing properly.
“Sloppy. Didn’t I explain the Six Harmonies Sword Art? When swinging like this, raise the sword. Cleave the heavens for true fulfillment...”
“But isn’t swinging like this more natural?”
Normally, interrupting would earn scolding from Hyeondo.
But after yesterday, their distance had closed; even casual interruptions were tolerated.
Hyeondo stared intently at Cheonhwi, who looked at him like ‘Why don’t you get it?’, and asked.
“What are you saying?”
“Watch.”
Replying, Cheonhwi unleashed his modified Six Harmonies Sword Art in one breath.
Whoosh— whoosh—
At a glance, it resembled Hyeondo’s, but lacked sharpness and the art’s essence. Soon, it fully transformed.
“You brat!”
Observing silently, Hyeondo’s eyes sharpened.
“The Six Harmonies Sword Art is passed down generationally in our sect. Altering it at will—do you intend to commit the sin of betraying master and ancestors?”
“But this is better.”
“Still haven’t learned, eh!”
Roaring, he drew his sword again, emitting internal energy.
“Watch closely how foolish your attempt was.”
To make him realize his grave error, Hyeondo mimicked Cheonhwi’s version.
First form: Six Harmonies Array Breaker.
Second: Six Harmonies Nine Streams.
As he swung the third: Six Harmonies Bitter Rain.
Whoosh— whoosh—
He unwittingly immersed deeper.
Completing the fully transformed Six Harmonies Sword Art to the end.
“...”
Fifteen minutes later, Hyeondo stood dazed.
The sword path he had traced lingered vividly in his vision.
“Such natural flow...”
Cheonhwi approached Hyeondo, still lost in the afterglow, and spoke.
“See, I was right?”