16. Void Grasping?
From the Peak realm onward, the martial arts a warrior wields come to carry the imprint of that warrior's spirit.
The imagery shaped by the techniques each has mastered, the emotions they feel in this very moment, the life they have lived — all of it settles, little by little, into the martial arts they wield. That is why, when martial artists of the Peak realm or above cross weapons, each can read the spirit of the other.
I felt the heart woven into the sword form Cheon Seolhyeon had just unleashed, and quietly drew her into my arms. The agony of having her entire clan swept away by the sect called the Evil Black Alliance had cut deep into my own heart — and so I came to understand, truly and completely, the feelings she carried as she relived that day.
Cheon Seolhyeon, still nestled against me, murmured softly.
"You're... kind of amazing, you know that?"
"About what?"
"Just... everything. How do you train like that? Not one day of rest, pouring your whole heart into it. I don't think I ever could."
I hadn't been the only one reading hearts, it seemed. Cheon Seolhyeon had peered a fair way into my spirit as well.
"Well... I had a goal I was chasing, that's all."
"Even so."
"Anyway. If you ever need help, just say so. Got it?"
With that, I caught both her cheeks between my fingers and gave them a long, slow stretch. Between the springy, chewy feel of them against my fingertips and the sullen pout she aimed my way, Cheon Seolhyeon was, frankly, adorable.
"Mmmph..."
"Wow. This is genuinely so much fun."
Utterly addictive — admiration escaped me unbidden. How could a person's cheeks possibly feel this much like fresh sticky rice cakes?
I was still kneading away at her cheeks a good while later when, far off in the distance, my master came walking slowly toward us.
It happened to be mealtime, and my master laid out a feast so lavish the table legs all but buckled under it. Plates crowded with every meat, fish, and mountain green you could name covered the table from end to end, and the two of us fell upon it all faster than a crab could blink. Maybe it was because we'd just worked our bodies to the bone, but it was the finest meal I could ever remember tasting.
My master watched the two of us and smiled.
"...Eat slowly, now."
"Did you prepare all of this yourself, Master?"
"I did. You two should count yourselves blessed. The other disciples are down in the mess hall below the peak, making do on weeds and gruel as we speak."
"Ah..."
So that was why the mess hall had been empty when I sneaked a peek the other day.
"Listen while you eat. First things first — that tedious initiation rite and the oaths you were meant to swear? I've simply waived them, by my own authority."
"Isn't that... sort of important..?"
"What in the world could be important about a farce like that? One more swing of the sword in that hour does far more for your growth — and for the sect — than any ceremony ever will."
"..."
Well, if it spared us the hassle, there was nothing for us to complain about. And yet something about Yeon Sohee's expression told me... whatever came next would not be good news for us.
"And... Baek Sihyeok. There is something I owe you an apology for."
"...And that would be?"
"It seems... there isn't a single elixir left to give you."
"...?"
"To be precise, all that remains are three Taecheong Pills and one Taegeuk Divine Pill, set aside for emergencies only. And those may not be touched unless a key figure of the sect falls into grave peril, so..."
"Then why not simply make more?"
"Easier said than done. One of the elixir's principal ingredients is an herb that grows only in Sichuan, and Wudang is in a rather difficult position to lay hands on any right now."
"Sichuan... so this involves the Tang Clan?"
"It does."
The Sichuan Tang Clan. Decades sealed away in the mountains doing nothing but swing a sword, and still that name needed no introduction. Sichuan was land under the Tang Clan's dominion — much like the country perched just above South Korea, where a single outfit called the Workers' Party of Korea reigns without challenge.
"Wait — did they go to war with the Tang Clan or something? Why on earth would one of the Six Great Clans be feuding with the Nine Sects Alliance?"
"To be precise, the Tang Clan has barred every righteous figure in the murim — themselves excepted — from setting foot in Sichuan. Some corners even whisper that the whole Sichuan Tang Clan has gone over to the Evil Black Alliance, lock, stock, and barrel."
"The Evil Black Alliance..."
"Come to think of it, the two of you are both tangled up with them in rather unpleasant ways."
Cheon Seolhyeon's eyes flew wide.
"H-how could you possibly know that?"
"You unfurled the Heavenly Escape Sword Technique in broad daylight — of course I know. Anyone who witnessed that technique a hundred years ago could hardly fail to recognize it."
The way she tossed off "a hundred years" like it was nothing left me momentarily dumbfounded.
"...A hundred years?"
"The higher the realm, the slower the body ages. A martial artist of the Peak realm lives two or three times as long as an ordinary man; a Transcendent, roughly ten times. Past the Harmony realm, lifespan scarcely means anything at all."
"Then how old are you, exactly, Master..?"
Honestly, she didn't look a day past her early twenties. And she was telling me she was older than my own grandmother back in the modern world?
Yeon Sohee held a finger to her lips, pondered a moment, then answered.
"A little over two hundred years since I was born, more or less. Live that long, and the exact figure rather slips your mind."
"..."
"In any case — that is why the elixir cannot be made. So... much as it grieves me, I've been told to have you wish for something else."
"Right now, there is nothing in this world I need except that elixir..."
One way or another, I had to solve this damned inner power problem. Ever since I'd laid eyes on the Black Tiger Gang Lord's hardened qi, I'd known exactly how to step into the Transcendent realm — I simply lacked the inner power to act on it.
At my grumbling, Yeon Sohee's smile spread wide. Her eyes fairly gleamed with a single message: Hooked, aren't you?
"Then... how does this sound?"
"Yes?"
"Several sects of the Nine Sects Alliance are assembling an investigative team to send into Sichuan. Why not put your name forward? If all goes well..."
"If all goes well?"
"If you return with the ingredients needed to craft the elixir, you shall receive the Taegeuk Divine Pill besides. It is a supreme elixir that yields nothing even to Shaolin's Great Restoration Pill — compensation more than fitting. Well? Will you make the journey?"
"..."
An elixir, mine for the taking. But there was a word sweeter still.
"...How many sects are coming?"
"Heh... So that's where your interest truly lies?"
"Tell me quickly, please. This is urgent."
"The Huashan Sect, Shaolin, the Beggars' Union. And... the Namgung Clan."
"...The Namgung Clan too?"
Hadn't she said, not two minutes ago, that it was the Nine Sects Alliance and nothing more?
Yeon Sohee shrugged, the picture of composure.
"They were the ones who volunteered first. And what reason would I have to refuse?"
"True enough. No reason whatsoever."
The corners of my mouth curled up all on their own. I coveted the Namgung Clan's martial arts — badly. I wanted the techniques of the other Nine Sects too, but nothing under heaven could rival the sheer romance of the name "Namgung Clan."
"...I shall take that as your answer."
With that, Yeon Sohee tipped her chin toward the ravaged table.
"Clear it away and make yourselves presentable. Our guests are waiting."
"...I beg your pardon?"
"What, then — the master cooks the meal and washes the dishes?"
"If I'm the one who cooked it, doesn't the cleanup fall to you, Master?"
"Do you want a beating?"
"...No, Master."
Cheon Seolhyeon and I had just gripped either end of the table and were stepping outside when Yeon Sohee suddenly seized the empty air in her fist. Every last scrap of leftover food rose into the air and gathered itself into a single clump — and then flame bloomed out of the void, reducing it all to ash that scattered on the wind. All that remained on the table were plates, spotless.
"Stack them on the shelf however you like. Now go on out ahead of me."
"..."
My first thought at the sight was this: I'm fairly sure I could do that too.
The art of stretching one's qi outward to grasp and move objects. The art of condensing qi in the empty air through sheer force of will and kindling it into flame. Both methods circled my head, demanding to be tested — and there was no reason under heaven not to. I reached out a hand toward the plates on the table, and in perfect unison, they rose into the air.
"...Oh."
Cheon Seolhyeon let out a hushed gasp of awe, while Yeon Sohee — who understood precisely what had just happened — could only stare at the hovering plates, eyes gone perfectly round.
"Have I grown so old I'm seeing apparitions? Why, might I ask, are those plates floating?"
"Your eyes are serving you perfectly, Master."
"Void Grasping — usable only from the Harmony realm and beyond... no. Never mind. Forget it."
Clutching her head, Yeon Sohee swept out of the room. I heaped the plates haphazardly onto the shelf, threw on my clothes, and headed down below the peak.
Cheon Seolhyeon and I made our unhurried way toward the mountain gate. She kept running her fingers over her new clothes as though they were made of something wondrous, glancing at me all the while.
"Wudang robes... comfier than I expected."
"They're martial robes to begin with. They'd hardly be worth the name if they got in your way."
"Huh... By the way, why are you spinning that rock around? It's making me dizzy."
"Void Grasping practice."
"...Right. Must be nice, being you."
Beyond the mountain gate, four figures stood watching us. A woman in snow-white martial robes with a plum blossom blooming at her breast. A boy in yellow robes whose shaved scalp gleamed in the sunlight. The familiar old man with his wine gourd. And last, standing at the gourd-man's left, a woman with long hair and eyes sharp as a blade's — the word "Azure Heaven" stitched across her chest beside a cloud emblem declared her allegiance plain enough.
She, for her part, seemed wholly indifferent to everyone present, gaze averted, fixed on some far-off ridge. At least, until the Huashan woman spoke.
"Wh... wha... Void Grasping?"
"The Harmony realm? How..??"
"..."
Every gaze locked onto the pebble lazily circling my body. Only the man with the wine gourd, who alone knew the truth, went on watching me with an expression of quiet wonder.