The Day She Reached It
It had at last been reached.
Only Hyejeong and Soyeong remained in the tent.
This was, after all, a matter of passing down a mind method.
No one but the giver and the recipient had any business being in that space.
At one point, Tang Cheon-ak had even thrown a fit, insisting he would “stand guard,” but...
“You’re making noise. Get out.”
At that one line from Soyeong, the Tang Clan lord drooped his shoulders and went outside.
Soyeong sat down in a cross-legged position with her back to Hyejeong.
“The mind method I’ll be passing on to this young lady is the method of Musang Geumgwang Shin Gong.”
Musang Geumgwang Shin Gong.
It was the profound divine art of the Ami Sect, said to have been created by Ami’s founding patriarch by inheriting the Dharma lineage of Shaolin’s Bodhidharma.
“Is it really all right to teach an outsider something like that so carelessly?”
“No, it isn’t. If the disciples of Ami ever learned about this, I’d be expelled from the sect.”
Hyejeong’s joke left Soyeong staring at her in disbelief.
She was the sect leader of the Ami Sect—who on earth was going to expel her?
Fortunately, Hyejeong failed to see that expression.
“I’m giving away something I truly hate to part with. To me, and to Ami.”
“What do you mean by that...?”
“So don’t forget it. Ami has very high hopes for you.”
A candidate to become the greatest master under heaven.
Soyeong would surely become the greatest martial artist in the world.
That is, if nothing unexpected happened.
But what sort of unexpected turn could there possibly be for a young lady of the Tang family?
According to Jeonghyeon, she had real martial talent, and her attitude toward martial arts was also impeccably correct.
This is the sort of child we need to keep close.
In truth, there was a darker motive as well.
Dharmic power was profound and weighty, and not easy to handle.
Its performance was excellent, but it took a long time to make it truly one’s own.
That was why Ami and Shaolin were said to be the schools of late bloomers.
No matter how gifted a child might be, it would not be easy to carry Dharmic power in the body and use it properly.
To make better use of it, she would likely come to the Ami Sect and begin asking about this and that.
And once that happens, isn’t it possible she’ll take a liking to us and decide to become a nun?
Hyejeong thought that was unlikely, but you never knew.
Life always had a way of handing out enormous gifts at the most unexpected moments.
“This poor nun will circulate her energy along the meridians and recite the verses while I guide you.”
“I’m in your care.”
Hyejeong placed a hand on Soyeong’s back and began to move her energy.
A deep lotus fragrance began to flow out.
A heavy yet lofty Dharmic power could be felt from Soyeong’s body.
As Hyejeong recited the verses and guided her energy, Soyeong accepted the flow.
It feels very different from the mind method of Hyeoncheon Jinwon Shingong.
The defining trait of Hyeoncheon Jinwon Shingong was simplicity.
A divine art that had taken a martial art ordinary people could learn and driven it all the way to its absolute limit.
Because of that, even its mind method was nothing more than a third-class breathing technique one could find anywhere.
What everyone could learn was, quite literally, the basics.
No matter how remarkable a mind method might be, it could not escape the fundamentals.
And so, to Soyeong, every martial art was ultimately the same.
All mind methods were the same, too.
“This is the Musang Geumgwang Shin Gyeol. You’ve completed one circulation now, so according to my guide, the young lady should begin circulating her own energy again...”
“I’ve already memorized it.”
“...What?”
For one brief instant, Hyejeong was flustered by Soyeong’s words.
Then Soyeong immediately began to circulate her energy.
At the same time, the distinctive fragrance of Buddhist practice began to seep from her body.
Hyejeong knew at once what it was.
Musang Geumgwang Shin Gong.
Unbelievable.
No, awe-inspiring.
She had heard the girl was exceptional, but to master the mind method as though it had always been hers after experiencing it only once...
And with each circulation, the mind method grew deeper and the time required grew shorter.
She was becoming familiar with it.
No—she was improving it.
The time required for one circulation has already been cut in half.
Even Hyejeong, who had refined Musang Geumgwang Shin Gong to its peak, would find it impossible to complete one circulation in so little time.
Buddhist inner power was noble precisely because it was slow.
Because of that, it took a long time for qi to travel through the blood vessels.
No matter how skilled one became, it was physically impossible.
And yet the girl before her was pulling it off as though to mock the very idea of impossibility.
There was only one thing that could mean.
She’s revising the mind method in real time.
With only a few attempts at energy circulation, she fully grasped the method and cut away everything unnecessary.
With each circulation, the meridians her qi passed through became fewer, yet the amount of Dharmic power she gained did not change.
No, it was increasing.
“Amitabha.”
A genius.
She had seen many geniuses in her life, and Hyejeong herself had been counted among them, but...
Before this child, we were all mere mediocrities.
They all were, Hyejeong included.
They had simply been born in an era without Soyeong.
Watching Soyeong’s talent, Hyejeong thought of one man.
The one her master had feared, and the one he had never managed to surpass, even in the end.
The greatest of the unorthodox sects, and now a being no longer of this world.
Was that what that man felt like?
She didn’t know.
How could a mediocrity judge the qualities of a genius?
“Hoo...”
Soyeong finished her cultivation and opened her eyes.
A great change had come over her dantian.
The thirty years of internal energy she had gathered until now.
It had all transformed into Dharmic power.
“Amitabha. Congratulations, young lady.”
Hyejeong could feel it too.
Smelling the Buddhist fragrance contained in Soyeong’s dantian, she smiled in satisfaction.
Soyeong gave Hyejeong a martial salute.
“Thank you for your instruction.”
“Amitabha. No, not at all. Rather, I’ve had the pleasure of seeing something wonderful.”
Hyejeong meant it.
Merely witnessing the possibilities contained within this small child had already been a rare sight.
Perhaps, because of the strange things this little girl had shown, the path to a new realm had finally come into view.
I thought nothing was ever wasted.
But perhaps some things did need to be cast aside without hesitation.
Just as Hyejeong was slowly breaking through the wall before her...
“You’re too early to be surprised yet...”
“...What?”
The Buddhist fragrance began to leave Soyeong’s dantian.
No—it was changing.
Into the colorless, scentless energy that had filled her dantian when Hyejeong first saw her.
How can the nature of qi change like that!?
Hyejeong couldn’t understand it.
It was possible to transform a lower quality inner force into one made from a higher mind method.
But for the Dharmic power or dao energy thus created to turn back into third-class inner force—there was no such thing.
“How in the world...?”
“It’s not actually that difficult. Would you like me to tell you the verses?”
Hyejeong’s lips twitched at Soyeong’s response.
Soyeong was sincere.
If asked, she really did mean to recite the verses.
There was no hidden meaning.
She had simply been asked, so she was answering.
At least when it came to martial arts, Soyeong always had that same attitude.
“...Please.”
“To begin with, Dharmic power and dao energy are nothing but illusions.”
That simple first sentence.
After that, Soyeong kept speaking the verses, but Hyejeong did not hear another word.
By the time she heard that first line, she had already fallen into a terrible heart demon.
“Young lady, the nuns haven’t eaten for several days now.”
Garyeong said it with evident concern.
Soyeong wore an indifferent expression.
“Foolishness. That’s how the orthodox sects always are. Why should the underlings starve just because their sect leader has gone mad?”
“Young lady, they might hear you outside.”
“I’m saying it so they’ll hear me.”
“...I see.”
Garyeong let out a sigh of surrender.
Soyeong had really said it loudly on purpose.
It had been a full week since the Ami Sect’s sect leader passed on her mind method to Soyeong.
And it had been exactly a week since Hyejeong had fallen into a heart demon.
It had also been a week since the nuns of the Ami Sect had stopped eating grain.
“Won’t they collapse if this keeps up?”
“I’ve already seen a few go down. The Qingcheng Sect Taoists just tied them to ropes and dragged them off somewhere.”
“...Is that really okay?”
“They’re disciples of Buddhism, aren’t they? Their only real strength is that their bodies are sturdy, so they’ll be fine.”
In truth, the hallmark of Buddhist martial arts was a strong body.
Other martial arts strengthened the body in order to cultivate inner power, but Buddhist martial arts felt more like they cultivated inner power in order to strengthen the body.
It all started when the great Patriarch Bodhidharma, on some whim, created the Tendon-Refining Classic with the attitude of, “Maybe I should make the kids a little healthier.”
If Bodhidharma had made inner power thinking, “I’m going to smash everyone’s heads in,” then an unprecedented bloody art would have been born.
In a way, that was a relief.
“Young lady. May I speak with you for a moment?”
“Who are you?”
Garyeong asked the person outside the door for their identity.
The voice sounded somewhat familiar.
“Amitabha. It’s Jeonghyeon.”
“Come in.”
At Soyeong’s permission, Jeonghyeon opened the door and stepped inside the carriage.
She looked rather gaunt, as though she too had gone without food for a week.
“It’s been a while.”
“Amitabha. It has.”
Jeonghyeon cut straight to the point.
“I came because I had a question. Young lady, what on earth did you show our sect leader to make her fall into a heart demon?”
“It would be better if you saw it for yourself.”
Soyeong immediately raised her right hand and let a little of her energy flow out.
“How does this qi feel?”
“Amitabha. It doesn’t seem special.”
Jeonghyeon was right.
What she had just shown was the colorless, scentless energy built up through Hyeoncheon Jinwon Shingong.
“And now?”
“...This is...”
Jeonghyeon gave a weak start as the fragrance of Buddhist practice suddenly rose from the energy Soyeong was emitting.
She seemed greatly shocked, though her energy was too depleted to show it loudly.
Still, with Soyeong, it was possible. That much felt believable.
In any case, it was within the realm of possibility.
“Amitabha. Congratulations. You’ve fully mastered the mind method of Buddhism.”
“That’s not all.”
At that moment, the Buddhist fragrance within Soyeong’s inner force began to fade again.
One could dye clear water with fragrance and make it murky, but murky water would not return to clarity on its own.
And yet Soyeong was doing exactly that.
How?
Well, she must have managed somehow.
Jeonghyeon wasn’t all that shocked.
She had been surprised, yes, but then she had immediately thought, Of course she could.
It was Soyeong.
The genius who had looked once at the Qingcheng sword, reinterpreted it, and opened a new realm from it.
This was probably the same sort of thing.
She fell into a heart demon over something this trivial?
If Jeonghyeon had been in full possession of her wits, she would have fallen into a heart demon too.
But right now she had already gone a week without eating, and she was exhausted from a week of forced marching.
To be honest, she was tired.
Very tired.
The more exhausted she got, the more important it was to eat properly—but how could she, when that damned sect leader had suddenly fallen into a heart demon and the disciples had all stopped eating grain? As an elder, how was she supposed to put food in her mouth?
At first, she had thought Hyejeong would shake it off and get back up soon, so she had left her alone. But now it was looking as if she might truly descend into qi deviation.
At this rate, they might all starve to death before they even reached the main headquarters of the Murim Alliance.
“Amitabha. That was quite the sight. Then...”
So Jeonghyeong immediately left Soyeong’s carriage.
Soyeong watched her back with an expression of utter disbelief.
So even nuns are still just people.
They lost their minds when they got hungry, too.
That was a rather amusing discovery.
And a little while later, Jeonghyeon’s shouting could be heard from the tent where Hyejeong was staying.
“What? So what if there are strange things in the world and strange things can happen to people? You went into a heart demon over that!?”
It was an outburst of wrath carrying the bitterness of a week’s ordeal.
At those words, Hyejeong burst out laughing—and broke free of the heart demon.
Only then were the disciples of the Ami Sect able to put tears-soaked rice into their mouths again.
And the next day, Hyejeong reached the level of Mystic Realm, and the carriage arrived in Luoyang.