Training...? (4)
“There’s a lightness skill called the Cloud-Running Sky-Unmoving Technique.”
No point dragging things out, so after finishing our meal, we packed up and headed straight to our next destination.
Just as the village we’d left was fading from sight, Hong Yeonhwa thrust out her ample chest and declared it proudly.
“Like clouds that flow while the sky remains unmoved, it’s a lightness skill that stays unflustered no matter how long you run.”
“So... it means you don’t get tired easily? Pretty straightforward, but seems useful in a lot of ways. Why bring up lightness skills all of a sudden?”
“Why? Don’t you need to know what martial art you’re about to learn from now on?”
Hong Yeonhwa bounced forward like a rubber ball and began leaving footprints along the quiet roadside.
I know this one! Follow those footprints, right?
I stepped precisely into them, then looked at Hong Yeonhwa expectantly. Her response was a voice full of disbelief.
“What are you doing?”
“Wasn’t I supposed to follow your footprints?”
“Can you learn a sword art just by looking at sword scars?”
“No?”
“Then how do you expect to learn a lightness skill just from footprints?”
“Ah...”
Right... Why did I even think that?
...Wuxia novels! You’re the one who made me like this!
Unable to argue against her flawless logic, I writhed in embarrassment.
“Ahem. It’s wonderful that you benefactors are so diligent in your training... but is it really okay to show it to me?”
Paeng Soso cleared her throat softly to get our attention and said that.
Fair enough. From her perspective, she had to be cautious.
Unless you’re from the same sect or equally close, peeking at someone’s martial arts training is a major taboo in Murim. You might steal the technique or figure out its counters.
Hong Yeonhwa surely knew this too. So there had to be a reason she was teaching lightness skills right in front of Paeng Soso.
Sure enough, Hong Yeonhwa smirked and dismissed her worries.
“Is that what you were thinking? If you want to watch, go ahead. It’s practical, but ultimately just a slightly modified basic technique.”
“Pardon?”
Paeng Soso’s short reply brimmed with clear doubt.
Why teach something like that?
It was a perfectly natural reaction.
She’d only seen me using Martial Spirit Divine Art at full throttle, so she probably pegged me as a peak first-rate expert on the verge of breakthrough.
Basic techniques are usually for tempering the body or preparing for advanced martial arts.
From the explanation, Cloud-Running Sky-Unmoving Technique seemed to focus on endurance training for the body.
She’d expected something decent, if not top-tier, but hearing it was a basic technique must’ve thrown her off.
Well, what can you do about my talent being this mediocre...
Still, it was nice that we could keep training even with Paeng Soso watching. Basic techniques are so simple they don’t have any real counters.
Take Three Powers Sword Art—no fancy method needed to block a vertical slash. Just parry or dodge. You don’t even need to know the art to figure that out.
The level of my techniques is so low I can show them off without worry. Not sure if I should be happy or bummed about that.
I let out a sigh amid my complicated feelings... only to notice Paeng Soso’s eyes sparkling brighter and brighter.
“That’s amazing! Basics are always the most important, right? I know it in my head, but actually sticking to them is hard... Today, I’ll run alongside you with the mindset of training my own lightness skill!”
“Huh? Wait, that’s...”
She’s misunderstanding it this badly?
Her eyes were shining too much to correct her now.
I shot Hong Yeonhwa a pleading look—help me out here—but...
“Well said! Basics never betray you. In your most desperate moment, what you can rely on is the effort you’ve built up.”
Did my glance not get through? Hong Yeonhwa nodded in full agreement.
She’s not clearing up the misunderstanding—she’s reinforcing it...?
I glared at her with a hint of resentment, but all I got back was her warm gaze.
Pink eyes narrowed as if beholding something sparkling.
Our eyes met, and Hong Yeonhwa sidled closer, placing a hand on my collarbone.
“In that sense, you’re doing wonderfully.”
From my collarbone to chest, abs, side, and thigh. She caressed my muscles with a touch carrying a strange heat as she continued.
“Come to think of it, you’ve been like this since we first met. You knew your own shortcomings well. Yet you never gave up or despaired—you swung your sword as if it were the most natural thing.”
“That’s...”
Yeah, back when she first gave me Poking Blood Acupuncture—I mean, when she was poking at the Heavenly Demon all squishy-like—she’d been impressed by my solid fundamentals.
But... that was just because training was all I could do, so I kept at it.
Emperor’s Sword Art, Hundred-Step Divine Fist, Asura Heaven-Shattering Palm, Twenty-Four Plum Blossom Sword Technique, Cloud Dragon Great Eight Forms, Tai Chi Radiant Sword, Striking Dog Staff Method, Thousand Heaven Flowers Rain, and even Heavenly Demon Divine Art.
My head was stuffed with all sorts of flashy, powerful techniques from my past life. I desperately wanted to recreate them myself.
Imagine yourself endlessly firing sword auras, shattering earth and cleaving mountains. How cool is that?
But all I’d actually learned were Three Powers Sword Art and Eight Directions Step.
More precisely, those third-rate arts were all I could learn.
I did pick up Martial Spirit Divine Art later... but grasping its true power was extremely recent.
I’d believed Master’s words that hard work would make me strong, running my heart method and swinging my sword every day.
Thanks to that, I’d scraped my way to first-rate—the pinnacle you could reach through effort alone. But I’d also thought first-rate was my limit.
Until I met Hong Yeonhwa, that is.
“Your sword may be clumsy, but I know your will is not. I witnessed it myself.”
She was beating around the bush, but she probably meant when I took down Cheok An Geum Gwi with Martial Spirit Divine Art.
Hong Yeonhwa leaned back slightly, one hand on her hip, the other pointing dramatically at me.
“So don’t let your eyes wander to flashy things. You need only look at this lady.”
“......”
Her voice carried a touch of worry. So that’s why she was saying all this... She must’ve noticed my complicated feelings about being able to train carefree because my arts were so low-level.
You don’t have to go this far for me.
The days of feeling insecure or embarrassed were long past.
...Still, whatever. If she’s saying this much, I’d better train hard.
But first—
I lightly bit the finger she’d raised.
Then I sawed my teeth back and forth loosely.
“Nyaaang...?! W-What are you doing! What reason could there possibly be to bite this lady’s finger right now?!”
As expected, Hong Yeonhwa hopped in place.
“It was there.”
“You little...! Sucking on my cheek last time, and now this. I can’t fathom why you keep trying to devour me!”
There’s a reason for this.
Something from my past life: when you encounter excessive cuteness, aggression bubbles up to maintain mental balance.
Since you don’t really want to hurt them, it manifests mildly as pinching or nibbling.
That’s where the urge to “bite because they’re cute” comes from.
I think the clinical term was “cute aggression.”
How do I even start explaining this? I pondered for a moment.
“Last time! Eating her up... Hmph!”
A voice mixed with embarrassment and excitement came from the side.
Of course, it was Paeng Soso.
I whipped my head around in surprise, and there she was, covering her own mouth, equally startled.
Sigh... Right, it’s not just me and Hong Yeonhwa anymore.
I need to hold back a bit when she’s around.
We’d get separate rooms at the inn anyway, so I could indulge in alone time with Hong Yeonhwa then.
I slipped her finger from my mouth.
To lighten the awkward mood, I roughly mimicked the movement she’d shown.
“...Like this?”
“Ahem. Move your legs, but keep your waist still.”
Hong Yeonhwa corrected my form to match my rhythm.
As we desperately pretended nothing had happened, Paeng Soso started stretching her long limbs as if ignoring it too.
This time, we hadn’t arrived at some small village.
It was Beoping, a full-fledged city.
The undisputed capital of the Ming Dynasty, which dominated the central plains—near Beijing. It was the biggest city I’d seen since reincarnating into this world.
Ornate buildings, red lanterns, colorful shops, throngs of people.
The bustling atmosphere I hadn’t felt in ages... and the first thing I did was flop straight onto the ground.
“You said it doesn’t tire you! Clouds flow, but the sky stays put!”
“How is that the technique’s fault? It’s all because your attainment is lacking.”
She was right; I couldn’t expect miracles from a technique I’d just learned.
Still, tiring was tiring.
Not only did I have to run nonstop in an unfamiliar posture for “training,” but I also had to circulate Martial Spirit Divine Art every moment.
Unlike Paeng Soso running alongside, Hong Yeonhwa had been interpreting the Iron King Heart Protection Art manual while riding piggyback on my shoulders.
She did use lightness skills, of course. Her already light body felt even lighter, so no physical burden there.
The problem was the heavy weight of her breasts pressing on my head and her flower-like scent constantly breaking my focus.
My mental energy drained twice as fast, and the moment we reached Beoping, the technique released, bringing a backlash.
That’s why I was exhausted to the point of not lifting a finger.
A grown man throwing a tantrum on the ground naturally drew stares, but I had no energy to care.
Hong Yeonhwa grabbed my panting shoulders, hauled me up, and lightly supported me by linking arms.
“Now we just book an inn, swing your sword a few times lightly, and finish training Iron King Heart Protection Art.”
“...What?”
“This lady worked hard on the interpretation, so I want to test it at least once...”
With that, she slipped my arm between her breasts and looked up at me with pitiful eyes.
“Will that be okay?”
“......”
Where’d she pick this up?
“Of course it’s okay!”