Training at the Heavenly Sect
My second brother looked bewildered by the sudden turn of events.
Sensing Han Yubyeok’s flustered expression, Cheon Yura stepped in and began to smooth things over.
“Since you’ll be staying in the Heavenly Sect for a while anyway, how about letting him receive some simple instruction for the time being instead of becoming a formal disciple right away? Since he’s a child of the Ice Palace, it would be difficult for him to become the Fist Demon’s disciple so abruptly.”
“Well, since he’s a child of the Ice Palace and not some wandering rogue, I suppose it can’t be helped.”
Kwon Taesan seemed to accept Cheon Yura’s words to some extent.
“I do want to receive the Fist Demon’s instruction. But deciding to become a formal disciple right now is a little difficult.”
My second brother clearly wanted to learn from the Fist Demon.
Still, he hesitated to make it official on the spot.
So I decided to give him a little push and spoke up.
“Besides, the heir to the Ice Palace is my eldest brother, so it shouldn’t matter if you become a disciple, right? Father told me to live however I wanted, and he told you the same thing. And becoming the Fist Demon’s disciple seems like an opportunity that doesn’t come easy, even to me. Why don’t you learn while we’re staying in the Heavenly Sect? Your skill might improve quickly.”
My brother nodded at my persuasion.
And so, while we remained in the Heavenly Sect, my second brother decided to receive Kwon Taesan’s instruction.
Now it was my turn.
“Then everyone except Yugang should step back. It’s time to see what his swordsmanship is like.”
I stood before Cheon Muhyeok with equal parts anticipation and nerves.
“Then I’ll be in your care.”
“Show me how much your swordsmanship has improved since you’ve been sharpening it all this time.”
“Then I’ll begin.”
I lowered my stance as much as I could and twisted my waist.
Then I drew my sword with a fierce motion and charged at Cheon Muhyeok.
Drawing Slash
With my strength and physique now transformed from before, the speed and power of my sword were beyond comparison.
But that was all.
After the young sect leader’s inauguration ceremony, I had focused only on physical training, so apart from my bodily conditioning improving, there had been no real progress.
In the end, my drawing slash was stopped cold.
What halted my blade was not some extraordinary technique, but Cheon Muhyeok’s palm.
It was only a single palm strike, but it felt as though I were trying to cleave a mountain and finding it utterly impossible.
I had nothing else to show, so I raised both hands in surrender.
“That’s the end of it.”
Unlike my deflated voice, Han Yubyeok and Cheon Yura looked astonished as they stared at me.
Cheon Muhyeok also wore a rather amused expression.
“It’s become a faster, more powerful strike than before. All thanks to your physical training, I’d imagine.”
“But that’s all it is, so now it seems like I need something else.”
Cheon Muhyeok grinned and continued.
“So that’s why Mubaek kept asking for help.”
“Father asked you for help?”
“He kept pleading with me by letter. He sent that precious ten-thousand-year cold iron and asked me to teach you some swordsmanship. Said he didn’t understand swordsmanship at all himself.”
Only then did I realize what lay inside the box my second brother had brought.
So Father really had been thinking of me all along.
“Even to my eyes, your swordsmanship is unusually tricky. To generate that much force without any special use of internal energy or set forms is astonishing. We’ll begin lessons first thing tomorrow.”
I was thrilled at the thought that I would finally be able to learn the true swordsmanship of this world.
So far, I’d reached the limit of what I could figure out on my own, and since I knew nothing about martial arts, it had been frustrating.
And so, for a while, I ended up receiving one-on-one instruction from the sect lord.
Meanwhile, my second brother was to learn fist techniques from the Fist Demon and gain practical experience through occasional sparring with the young sect leader.
The next day, I set out early in the morning for one of the peaks of the Ten Million Great Mountains that the sect lord had told me about.
When I arrived, Cheon Muhyeok was already there, waiting for me.
“You came quite early.”
“I was so excited to learn swordsmanship that I came early.”
“Then sit down for now.”
I found it a little strange to be told to sit when I had come to learn swordsmanship.
Still, thinking there must be some meaning behind it, I took a seat.
“There’s something more important than swordsmanship I need to tell you first.”
“What is it?”
“As I see it, you don’t seem to know the first thing about martial arts. Is that correct?”
His question struck right at the heart of the matter.
“It’s true. Ever since I was young, Father never taught me anything except the mind technique.”
“When Mubaek asked him about it, didn’t he say fist techniques weren’t much good? Since the only martial art besides fist techniques he could have taught him was the Cold White Divine Sword, which only the palace lord can learn, he probably couldn’t teach you anything. He’s always been rather blunt, that one.”
Cheon Muhyeok laughed heartily as he spoke.
The more I listened, the more it sounded like my father and these two were close friends.
“The very foundation of martial arts is what principle it contains.”
“A principle?”
“When you swing a sword, your goal is to cut down the enemy. But there are many ways to cut. That pursuit of how to cut is what we call a principle. There are many such principles, but three are the most common. First, speed, then variation, then heaviness. Quickness pursues swift, rapid cuts. Variation seeks to bewilder the enemy with dazzling swordplay before cutting them down. Heaviness pursues a devastating strike.”
Cheon Muhyeok picked up a fallen branch and swung it through the air.
He swung it quickly, then in a dazzling flourish, and finally brought it down on a rock so hard that it was the rock, not the branch, that split apart.
His teaching was the very bedrock of martial arts.
“What I just showed you was only a simple example.”
The principle of swordsmanship...
“These principles aren’t limited by the weapon in your hand. You can pursue quickness with a sword, or with a fist. If you reach a high enough realm, you can even do it with a branch like I just did. That’s why it can also be applied to your unusual sword. And you don’t have to pursue only one principle, either. It just makes it harder to infuse your swordsmanship with one. Since we’re talking about swords, let me explain further. Your sword has a curved blade, so unlike a normal sword, it can deliver a powerful attack as you draw it. A straight sword with a simple blade can’t put much force into the motion when it’s drawn, because it has to come out true and straight. But because your blade is curved, it can brace against the scabbard as you draw, and you use that force to let the sword snap free and slash out as though it were bursting from the sheath. Am I understanding it correctly?”
I had no answer to Cheon Muhyeok’s question.
The reason I had made and used a Japanese-style sword was simply because, in the vague memories of my previous life, that kind of weapon and the way those warriors attacked with it had seemed cool. I had never once thought about bracing against the scabbard or recoil force or anything of the sort.
At my silence, Cheon Muhyeok went on.
“That’s why your first strike is so fierce and powerful. You could say it contains both quickness and heaviness at once. But there’s one fatal flaw.”
“What flaw is that?”
“If your first strike misses or gets blocked, it looks like you have no way to respond. Even yesterday, once your blow was stopped, you simply gave up.”
He was right.
At first, I’d trained in drawing slashes because they looked cool, but since I had never thought beyond that one technique, I couldn’t imagine any way to respond if it was blocked or failed.
“A martial art has many forms. The reason those forms are so varied differs from art to art, but most share the same purpose: to deal with different situations. For example, do you remember the Heavenly Demon Sword Art Yura showed us yesterday?”
I nodded.
A wall of black, countless sword flashes, and then that upward slash that looked like it could cut through everything.
“Each form has its own role. The one she showed at the end needs a little preparation, but it can deliver a devastating strike. The one she showed before that is useful in all sorts of situations, whether it’s stopping an opponent or blocking their vision. Each form, if viewed alone, has weaknesses and limits. But when used appropriately according to the situation, they cover one another’s flaws.”
Hmm... forms, huh...
“In your case, since you can deliver such a powerful drawing slash, what you need most is swordsmanship to follow it up. There are many other things I could teach you, but the most urgent matter seems to be a new form. Think about the principles of martial arts I’ve taught you, and try creating a form of your own. When it’s complete, show me.”
With that, Cheon Muhyeok vanished somewhere.
Still, through the teaching he’d given me, I’d learned many things I hadn’t understood before.
Good. Let’s create a new form.
And so, every day, I climbed the peak, cultivated my energy, and thought.
Meanwhile, as for Han Yubyeok.
From the day I began receiving Cheon Muhyeok’s instruction, he started going to the young sect leader’s training grounds to learn from the Fist Demon.
“Good! My first disciple has appeared! Hahahaha!”
Kwon Taesan looked even more excited than Han Yubyeok, beaming from ear to ear.
Cheon Yura watched from a distance, looking uneasy around the Fist Demon.
“Disciple. What do you think a fist is?”
It looked as though Han Yubyeok was already being treated like a formal disciple, and I wanted to point that out, but at Kwon Taesan’s question, Han Yubyeok fell into thought.
He was still mulling it over when Kwon Taesan lost patience and spoke again.
“As for me, I think a fist is a man!”
“Pardon?”
Han Yubyeok was taken aback by the absurdity of it, and even Cheon Yura, listening from afar, looked startled.
“This fist, forged by my blood and sweat, is what makes a man truly a man! That is why I was searching for a man worthy of this fist.”
“I see...”
“Why that face? Ah! You want to learn quickly, do you? Then I’ll teach you at once. The Mount Tai Fist Art I created myself!”
At first, Han Yubyeok had thought the man was a fool who had named his technique after himself. But the more he learned from him, the more astonished he became.
It was a fist art just like Kwon Taesan himself, one that pursued a strike as heavy and immense as Mount Tai.
When Kwon Taesan’s demonstration of the Mount Tai Fist Art came to an end, Han Yubyeok began to look at him differently.
Apparently reading the admiration in Han Yubyeok’s eyes, Kwon Taesan looked even more energized.
“Hah! You’ve been completely dazzled by my fist art!”
“It was truly a crushing blow. Are you really going to teach this to me?”
“A man keeps his word once he gives it. If he doesn’t, he isn’t a man. From now on, I’ll teach you the principles of the Mount Tai Fist Art.”