TS Is Orthodox Martial Arts
"It would be better if I didn't learn it."
"Wise of you, my disciple. No matter how thoroughly this world has embraced martial arts as the answer to everything, there are still a few values one must never abandon."
"Indeed."
"Ahem…! Of course…!"
"?"
"Should my disciple truly desire it… this one… can respect that choice."
"No. I don't want it."
"A TS beautiful girl is… well, it is orthodox martial arts, you see…"
"I said I don't want it… Wait, you're calling that orthodox martial arts?"
Throughout the history of the martial world, there had been no shortage of men who forsook their masculinity through martial arts in exchange for power.
In the distant ancient days of Terra, long before the birth of the Martial God, there had lived a eunuch who seized a nation with power greater than any emperor. That feat owed something to his unmatched cunning and political genius—but far more to the fact that he was a peerless martial artist of extreme talent. Having already lost his manhood, he perfected arts men were never meant to practice—the Nine Yin White Bone Claw, Ice Arts, and the like—until he stood among those who could claim the title of greatest under heaven.
No one could stop the tyranny of the man who had become the foremost expert of the imperial palace. Yet even he, with power above all others, could not escape the side effects: gynecomastia, a thin voice, a body that gradually took on feminine form.
There was another example as well. Further back still than the eunuch's reign, there had lived a martial artist known simply as "Invincible." Originally his epithet had been "Invincible East."
But in the Middle Ages, when Martial God Namgung Hwe came to be called "Invincible East" by the people of the Western world, the name was revised to plain "Invincible" to avoid confusion. Poor man.
At any rate, this man Invincible—the original bearer of that epithet—had been so utterly obsessed with martial arts that he scoured the world in search of a path to still loftier attainment. The method he finally found was to castrate himself. He developed and mastered a divine art that traded manhood for peerless martial power, became the true greatest under heaven, and made the world tremble. Later, it was said, his body transformed completely into that of a woman.
It was a modern reinterpretation and refinement of this Invincible's art that produced the Third Great Space Heavenly Demon—and he/she led the Space Heavenly Demon Sect into its golden age by adding an entirely new form to the Heavenly Demon Divine Art.
Thus gender transformation through martial arts possessed history and tradition. It was orthodox martial arts that no one could deny.
"So. What exactly is orthodox martial arts supposed to be?"
"The soul of human civilization, of course."
"I'm asking what that means in concrete terms."
"My disciple. To ask such a thing is not very orthodox-martial-arts of you."
"?"
"At any rate, my disciple—when you first learn a mental cultivation method, you must always have someone assisting you."
"Ah. Yes. I've heard that much."
"This one tried it alone and nearly died of qi deviation! For a good half-month after, this one could not even walk properly and had to crawl!!! Survived by tearing into raw, innocent moles and eating them!!! Kyaaaaah!! Even now, just thinking of it makes this one's teeth chatter!!!"
"Ugh. Sounds like you went through a rough stretch."
"There was such a time… truly a matter of the distant past…"
"…"
The distant past…
Just how distant?
Gong Ryun recalled something Brigit had said—that he showed far too little interest in his master, that he didn't even know her age or her realm.
In truth, he was curious too. The stronger a martial artist became, the longer their lifespan stretched and the longer they held their physical prime; appearances alone told you nothing.
So he decided to ask.
"Medilla. Come to think of it—how old are you?"
"What! To ask a lady her age so abruptly is most improper!"
"Hmm. But we're master and disciple. Isn't this much okay?"
"Kishishi! My disciple has a point. Very well then… try guessing! How old does this one appear to be, in my disciple's eyes?"
…
He would have to choose his words carefully.
Gong Ryun understood perfectly well the danger of a woman asking, "How old do I look?" There had been women even on the Slave Planet. Fortunately, he had a big-data-backed response strategy ready.
He wet his lips. And began Twenty Questions.
"Wow. Looking at our Medilla…"
"Looking at?"
"Just going by appearance, you're so girlish and young you almost look like a teenager…"
"How dare you!! Calling someone a teenager is flattery so transparent it practically glows!!"
"Wow! Medilla's so cute she could pass for late teens, too."
"Ahem!! That is still entirely wrong!! Though it does please this one somewhat!!"
"Then… around your twenties?"
"Kishishishishi!!! My disciple!!! Do I look that much like a child to you!!! Be more generous with your estimates!!"
"Your sixties?"
"Kyaaah!!! My disciple!!!!! That is far too far!!! Even as skilled as this one is, that is not the case!!! You cannot possibly be serious!!!"
"Of course I'm joking~!! Hahaha!! Maybe around your thirties?"
"Hihihit!!! Truly? Do I truly look like I'm in my thirties???"
"Looking at your mature side, you could also pass for your forties."
"Is that so? Well, if that is how it appears, so be it."
"Fifties."
"……I see. Well. I see. Yes."
"Just kidd~~ing! Thirty really does seem right after all!"
"Of course it is!! Kishishi!!! My first disciple truly knows how to look at people!!"
"I can read a room! Hahaha!"
So she was in her forties.
Gong Ryun had shrewdly pinned down Medilla's age.
The mystery was solved. The truth was always one.
In the galactic age, where even ordinary people reached at least the Harmony Realm as their baseline martial level, the average human lifespan had broken two hundred years. The higher one's martial rank climbed, the further that lifespan stretched.
Aging slowed as well. In other words, the body held its prime for far longer. With proper care, one could maintain a fresh, vigorous physique of the twenties and thirties for a remarkably long time.
That was why everyone wanted to raise their martial rank.
Lifespan itself increased. Who would object to living longer?
And natural anti-aging on top of that—long life and health.
Which was precisely why "When are you reaching the Profound Realm?" was such a sensitive question.
The older one grew, the more anxious one became. Old Man Kim next door hit Profound last week, threw away his cane, and threw a lifespan-extension party—and no matter how hard I train, I can't get there. Am I just going to die like this? That kind of fretting set in.
Un-rang and Brigit, who had entered the Profound Realm so early, were truly gifted people.
Brigit was thirty-five. She had been able to train steadily in civil-engineering martial arts from childhood through family connections, so her progress had been rapid. She had reached Profound about three years ago; Gong Ryun hadn't been particularly close to her at the time and hadn't attended the celebration party.
At any rate—modern human lifespans had roughly doubled compared to the past. Naturally, perceptions of age had shifted with them.
Think of the elves in Western fantasy novels, and you would have the right idea.
Brigit was thirty-five, but her physical age was early twenties. In the galactic age, anyone up through their thirties was still treated as a cute junior. True youth, the real prime of life—that sort of feeling.
Medilla, too, was in her forties, yet in practical terms her appearance was early-to-mid twenties. Forties still counted as youth. Mature youth. That "just right" feeling.
And with her martial attainment surely high, she would age even less from here on.
…That said, Medilla…
Had she really shut herself away alone all the way to her forties…?
Gong Ryun clamped a hand over his mouth. She must have been truly lonely. A little mental illness would not have been unreasonable in the slightest. No—if anything, living alone down in the sewers for that long and ending up only this crazy was honestly impressive. And hadn't she said that the tteokbokki-shop ajumma she'd only recently gotten to know was the first friend she had ever made? Then all those long years before that…
Her excessive familiarity toward Gong Ryun for simply playing along with her jump-scare prank was starting to make sense. Well—if someone had lived without a single friend and then someone finally played along and talked with them, of course they'd be glad…
"My disciple. This one knows not what you are thinking, but let it be stated clearly: this one has many friends."
"What kind of friends are we talking about?"
"This one has internet friends."
Gong Ryun clamped his hand over his mouth even harder.
"What! What is the problem with that!! This one has internet friends! Earns money! Occasionally goes on walks aboveground to buy secret manuals! Ah! Yes! The moles are this one's friends as well! They are somewhat closer to retainers, true!! But this one talks with them and eats meals together!!"
"Khuhp!!!"
"Silence!! And this one has achieved high martial attainment!!! In the martial world, that counts as success!! Do you have any idea how magnificent this one's martial talent is!!"
"Come to think of it—what's your martial realm?"
"The Life and Death Realm!! A stage at which one can make a stable living no matter what one does! So cease those pitying eyes!!!"
Right. At least she was good at martial arts; that was something. In this galaxy, if you could use martial arts well, you could get by at least somewhat no matter what you did.
Gong Ryun tried to give Medilla a comforting pat on the back, only to be thwarted by a fierce, bristling resistance of "Eeeeiit! This one has no need of that!"