The Masters Learn Divine Powers - 2
"The masters… you say? Can they really manage that in a single day?"
"Well, it's just one move — the one that makes the candy appear."
"Ah… that is… well…"
I understood what Hyeok Gi-rin wanted to say. Something along the lines of, Was it really that easy all along?, no doubt.
If you measured it by whether an outsider could perform the candy-appearing trick, even a Super-Peak or Transformation Realm master would find it impossible after a mere few hours of practice.
But for the children of the Jeomchang Sect, it was entirely possible. What makes magic difficult in the first place? The greatest reason is that you must present perfection to silence every doubt.
Magic, by its nature, begins from the assumption that the audience is staring wide-eyed, determined to catch the trick. You cannot leave even a sliver of suspicion. Give them that opening and negative perception spreads from it — and the mere spread of that doubt means the magic has already failed its purpose.
But what about the children of the Jeomchang Sect right now?
They believed Lord Hou Yi was the one giving them candy, and I had shown it so naturally, so matter-of-factly, that they had already decided, Of course Lord Hou Yi drops candy into the Nangin's palm — that's just how the world works. Even if it hadn't quite reached the level of common sense, they at least accepted it without question.
So even if a master's prayer gesture was a little slow, or a little awkward, the children — who already understood the system as "pray, and candy appears according to how good you've been" — would accept it without the slightest resistance.
Even if a master slipped up and a piece of candy popped out of a sleeve—
Ah, a brief transmission error. Heh heh heh.
—the children would probably just shrug and move on.
"If you're truly worried, shall I go with you?"
"No. The masters have their dignity. How could I, as high priest, go inspect their techniques myself?"
Well, to Hyeok Gi-rin every one of those masters was a teacher — so even harboring doubt might feel like blasphemy. I nodded, shoveled the rest of my rice into my mouth, and stood up.
All right. Time to go check on the masters' progress.
The magic move itself was simple. Ah — of course the technical difficulty was extremely high, but… for a martial arts master, any ordinary physical motion that did not require the circulation of qi was well within their ability, no matter how demanding.
That was the nature of martial artists: in daily life they focused far more consciousness on controlling qi than on controlling the body. Under the extreme premise of abandoning qi manipulation entirely, their physical control and concentration still left ordinary people in the dust.
Slap!
"Mm. Not bad. Usable enough."
"At this level, it should be more than enough to fool the children."
It seemed there was a reason they were Transformation Realm masters after all — every last one of them had perfected the pressed-palms candy-producing motion in half a day.
"Hmm. Still, I wonder whether we ought to be receiving a technique like this."
"It's nothing so grand. Just a simple motion."
"Heh heh… simple, yes. The problem is that I cannot even begin to guess how much blood, sweat, effort, and research went into reducing it to something so simple."
"Aigoo… to think a mere hand motion could neutralize the eye so easily. I've wasted my life. What was I doing in my youth instead of thinking of things like this?"
"…Hahaha."
Right. I was just some gaming shut-in who memorized in-game insights and spent days off watching magician and cardsharp videos on YouTube.
In any case, Hyeok Gi-rin's worries proved groundless. The masters possessed tremendous learning ability, and at the very least they had all mastered the motion of producing candy with pressed palms.
"All right! All right! Time is short. Masters who have finished the motion, show me once!"
I examined each of the eleven masters' performances one by one. Every one of them had reached a level fit for real use that very day.
"So then — which master will take the stage today?"
A brief battle of glances broke out among the masters, until Master Yeong-yul sighed and stepped forward.
"Amitabha… this humble one shall do it."
"Good. Yeong-yul, do it properly!"
"Keh keh keh… one mistake and you'll shatter their innocent little hearts on the spot!"
The masters seemed to be hoping Yeong-yul would fail. Or rather — not that they genuinely wanted failure so much as a suffer a little, you rascal kind of atmosphere.
"Mm…"
I could roughly tell what they were thinking. The pressure of performing a half-day-old magic trick in front of the children must have been considerable, so the general feeling was thank heaven it wasn't me — while Master Yeong-yul, as something of a representative among them, had stepped up out of a sense of duty.
Well… he had it coming, so it hardly mattered.
About thirty minutes remained until the performance. I fastened a candy pouch into Master Yeong-yul's sleeve one last time. The Sichuan Nangin's martial uniform bound the sleeves at the forearms for freer movement, but the masters' basic attire was the traditional Daoist robe — which made it extremely advantageous for magic.
"Hmm… so we must rely on the clothing as well?"
"Of course. Attaching a pouch to the sleeve is the most basic of basics."
I took out a piece of candy and demonstrated slipping it into a hole inside my own martial uniform's sleeve. Nearly every garment in Murim Cheonha was free-size, and the sleeves were naturally roomy beyond measure. Martial uniforms gathered those sleeves at the wrist or ankle with leather cords so they wouldn't snag during movement.
Naturally the fabric near the binding wrinkled heavily, and I had cut a small hole near that area and set a pouch inside.
"Hoh… a pouch in a place like this…"
"Here, put on these arm guards. You can tuck a few more candies inside them as well."
Master Yeong-yul tried the technique with the newly fitted tools and nodded.
"Mm. Fully adapted."
Now only the real performance remained.
I went down with a visibly tense Master Yeong-yul and the other masters to find the audience already fully assembled.
"Nangin-nim, we've been waiting!"
"I'm first today!"
I returned their enthusiasm with a light greeting, then cleared my throat.
"Ahem. Today, in my place, Master Yeong-yul will preside over the prayers!"
A flicker of bewilderment passed over the children's faces, but they soon swarmed toward Master Yeong-yul in a noisy cluster.
"So Master has divine powers too?"
"Nangin-nim has them, so it's not that weird if a master does."
"Master, Master! Can I pray? I did lots of good things today."
"H-hem… Yes. Haejeong, why don't you go first and tell me."
Only now realizing he had to play the role of "Daoist master with divine powers" in front of the children, Master Yeong-yul's face flushed red as he stammered and pointed to a child.
The other masters stifled their laughter. Mm… well, he had it coming.
"Master! Today I was the first one up at Cheongbin Hall, and I swept the courtyard and wiped the floors with Master Sagong-hyeon! I trained so hard at sword practice that Junior Sister Hwang Seon praised me for improving! And I chewed every last bite of my spinach! And in scripture copying I was second today…"
Unlike when he prayed with me, Haejeong poured out every last detail of his day. I felt a tiny twinge of envy — but it was only natural.
The children had probably heard stories about the Sichuan Nangin, or even if they hadn't, I was just a suspicious dark-clad man with a bamboo hat hiding his face. I gave them candy and showed curious tricks, so they came close… but they had never truly grown intimate with me.
Master Yeong-yul was different. Above all, he was an adult of the Jeomchang Sect. Being praised by an outsider for working hard was nice — but wouldn't a child want even more to boast and be praised by family of the Jeomchang Sect itself?
"Heh heh heh… is that so."
Even Master Yeong-yul, who had been rigid with tension, now wore a warm smile at the endless stream of proud little boasts.
"…and that's what I want to pray about!"
"Good. Let us pray together."
His expression tightened slightly as the tension returned, but Master Yeong-yul executed the pressed-palms technique splendidly.
Haejeong stared at Master Yeong-yul's palms with a gaze half expectant, half skeptical — and when the hands opened to reveal the candy, the children all erupted in cheers.
"Waaah! Master used divine powers!"
"Master! Master, can I pray too!?"
"Heh heh heh…! Of course."
From there it was smooth sailing. The children each boasted of the good things they had done that day, or made excuses for their mistakes, praying with Master Yeong-yul — and they hovered around him, impatient for their turn to show off.
He had completely monopolized the children's affection!
"Mm…"
"Ahem…"
The masters who had been watching the children's happy chatter with joy now wore complicated expressions.
I saw that look and smirked.
"Jealous, are we?"
"Ahem! Cough! Who said anything about jealousy!"
"Dao-wu, we simply… we simply wished to perform the technique ourselves as well!"
Seeing Master Yeong-yul suddenly become the children's favorite had clearly made them envious. Which was why I kept saying he had it coming. They had shoved him forward themselves, so they couldn't very well ask to switch places — they could only smack their lips in frustration.
"Master! I want to pray this time!"
"Ah, no! Me!"
"Heh heh heh… you rascals. You have to wait your turn."
"That… that blasted fellow… hurry up and finish the prayer meeting already… aigoo."
"It's late as it is, and the children need to sleep. Tsk!"
Watching elderly masters burning with jealousy was a strange sight, but having motivation was a good thing. I didn't know how the masters rated learning my technique, but a single month of practice was far too short to put on a proper show for the children.
So to teach them properly, I needed to spark some competition.
"Have any of you ever considered this? To understand children, you must think from a child's perspective."
"Mm… well, one thinks of it, of course, but…"
"It doesn't come easily, does it? To be frank, I came here today fully prepared to rigorously select the most skilled master and appoint a performer."
The masters turned toward me with questioning looks.
"I expected you would all be volunteering over one another. Ah — this is absolutely not a criticism that your attitudes today were insufficiently proactive. I simply… found it hard to understand."
"Mm… is that so. Honestly, presenting a half-day-old trick to the children was rather burdensome."
"Yes. Of course it was. But… have you considered it from the children's point of view?"
"Mm…? That the children will be disappointed in us?"
"Hahaha. Not at all. How would the children know how hard the masters practiced? They simply…"
I deliberately looked around at the masters and let the sentence trail off.
"Today, Master Yeong-yul simply became the first master to display divine powers."
A flicker of confusion crossed their faces. They hadn't grasped my meaning at once.
"What do you suppose the children will be thinking as they fall asleep tonight? Tomorrow I have to go tell Master Yeong-yul what good things I did. That's what they'll be thinking as they drift off."
"…!"
Only then did a quiet shock ripple through the masters.
"If a different master holds the prayer meeting tomorrow, the children will be delighted. And again, as they fall asleep, they'll think of that master and wonder, What should I tell that master tomorrow? But how long will that last?"
"…I see."
"The further back one falls in the prayer rotation… the more one is forgotten…?"
"Forgotten? No. The children will simply think, Wow, every master has divine powers! and stop regarding any of you as special."
Tension swept across the masters' faces.
"Frankly, even I cannot say at what point the children's thinking shifts from Master So-and-so can use divine powers — amazing! to All the masters can use divine powers… but if your turn comes late… you understand, don't you?"
Mm. Yes. That taut, electric quality the air took on from the tension. This was it. Was this not the ideal learning environment?
"Once today's prayer meeting ends, I will immediately teach you the technique for tomorrow's meeting. And… tomorrow we shall hold a fair evaluation and select the master with the finest technique, shall we?"
I said this while pointing toward the prayer gathering.
"Master! Master! When did you get your divine powers!"
"Master! Please listen! Earlier I couldn't think of it so I didn't say—!"
"Heh heh, you rascals. I'm listening to all of it."
Master Yeong-yul, surrounded by children, basking in popularity with a blissful expression. The masters watched him, bit their lips in envy, and lit fire in their eyes.
"Fine! Tomorrow it's me!"
"You clumsy oaf, where do you get off being greedy! Sit yourself down! Tomorrow is mine!"
I watched the masters bickering and nodded with deep satisfaction. I got to deliver quality education, Heukmyo got to train in martial arts alone with Hyeok Gi-rin, and the children got more and more skilled masters with wonderful tricks.
It was a day when everyone was happy.