Dancing Flames in the Dark
Drurrrrrk! Thud!
The wall descended from the ceiling, slamming into the floor and plunging the surroundings into pitch blackness.
Woo-gang gathered his focus and drew up his qi.
Recalling Si-woo's words that he must open all five senses, he closed his eyes.
It was a situation where he couldn't discern anything with his eyes anyway, thanks to the darkness.
Squeeeee!
A sharp whoosh cut through the air.
Having experienced it once before, Woo-gang was calmer than yesterday.
He focused on his ears, pinpointing the direction from which the staff was flying.
Crack!
Woo-gang swiftly swung his staff and knocked it away.
Squeeeee!
Another whoosh rang out.
Woo-gang immediately spun his body, swinging his staff once more.
Crack!
This time too, he precisely deflected the incoming staff.
It was the moment when his underwater swinging drills paid off.
But it wasn't over.
The intervals between the flying staffs began to shorten bit by bit.
Squeeeee! Squeeeee!
Before long, two or three came flying at once, surpassing mere shortened gaps.
Crack! Crack! Thwack! Thwack! Thwack! Thwack!
Woo-gang swung his staff frantically, but he couldn't block everything.
With eyes closed and full concentration, he could perceive the incoming staffs' movements more clearly.
Moreover, his senses, sharpened by entering the Yeom-yeon stage of the Hyeoncheon Yeolhwa Singong, aided him.
But even that had limits.
Simply swinging the staff faster wasn't enough to overcome it.
After getting hit here and there, his movements slowed.
The speed and power of his swings were noticeably diminished.
Thwack!
"Guh!"
Woo-gang took a direct hit to the abdomen and doubled over.
Squeeeeeek!
As he bent in pain, a staff flew toward his head.
Woo-gang failed to notice it in time, staggering from the agony.
And the moment he barely overcame the pain and lifted his head slightly!
Thwack!
The incoming staff struck his forehead squarely.
"Keurk!"
Letting out a short groan amid immense pain, Woo-gang collapsed.
Blood flowed from his split forehead.
***
Drurrrrrk!
The iron wall rose, slowly revealing Woo-gang's figure.
It was different from when he first arrived here.
He had grown taller, and his physique was much more robust.
This meant a fair amount of time had passed in this place.
Clutching his chest with his left hand and limping on one leg, he emerged looking severely injured.
He laboriously stepped outside and slumped to the floor, grimacing as he brushed back his sweat-soaked hair.
This exposed a long scar on his forehead.
The wound had healed into a scar, but Woo-gang still hadn't found a solution.
Woo-gang applied the golden sore medicine thickly to his wounds all over his body.
Even so, his mind was entirely consumed with thoughts of training.
This was on a whole different level from the thrusting and swinging drills.
Back then, ideas would come to him, he'd try them, and make gradual progress—but not this time.
He had no idea what to do or even what the training was for.
Countless thoughts swirled in his head, and attempting to put them into practice had eaten up a lot of time.
Even as Woo-gang floundered without direction, Si-woo offered not a single hint.
It felt unfair, but that only fueled Woo-gang's determination.
'Open your five senses. Your five senses...'
That was the only clue Si-woo had given.
But he had no inkling of how to do it.
With his vision blocked, his hearing sharpened once trapped inside the iron walls.
And as time passed, he could even feel the subtle air currents disturbed by the incoming staffs.
But that was the extent of it.
With only the swings and thrusts he had learned, he had no way to block or dodge the irregularly flying staffs from all directions.
They were trickier and more powerful than the stones that had flown at him during underwater swinging practice.
"Haa..."
Woo-gang let out an involuntary sigh.
As he rose, he happened to glance toward Si-woo.
Swish, swish, swish, swish.
Ignoring Woo-gang's gaze entirely, Si-woo was drawing something on the floor.
Wherever his finger passed over the thin layer of dust on the ground, shapes appeared.
After drawing for a while, Si-woo dusted off his hands and stood.
Woo-gang, pretending disinterest while doing something else, sneaked over once Si-woo walked away.
A drawing was on the floor.
Numerous lines connected to a roughly drawn human figure.
And beside it, several human figures with similar lines connecting.
'What is this?'
Woo-gang frowned slightly.
For a moment, he wondered if it held some clue, but the drawing was hard to decipher.
'One person and many people.'
Woo-gang pondered the drawing deeply.
And from a distance, Si-woo glanced at him.
Though Woo-gang didn't know, Si-woo unfortunately had no talent for drawing.
Several more days passed.
Woo-gang's routine was the same every day, with little change in results.
Amid these frustrating days, the drawing Si-woo had made lingered in Woo-gang's mind.
He didn't know what it was, but it felt like there was definitely some clue there.
Yet no matter how he tried to interpret or understand it, no answer emerged.
'What could it be...'
Woo-gang muttered inwardly while applying the medicine.
'One person and several people... and connecting lines. If the lines are staffs, is the person me? But I'm just one. I can't be many.'
Deep in thought, he barely felt the pain.
'I become many... here and there.'
Woo-gang repeatedly recalled Si-woo's drawing in his mind, especially the second one.
'Movement. It's movement!'
A sudden realization flashed through his mind.
"I must move and keep moving."
It was what Si-woo had said on the first day of training.
He had fixated only on the added instruction to open his five senses and forgotten it—until now.
Until now, Woo-gang had stood in place, trying to block the incoming staffs.
He had no concept of footwork, and for proper thrusts or swings, both legs needed firm footing to generate power.
But with this clue about movement, he had to try, whether it worked or not.
"Haa..."
As if a weight had lifted, Woo-gang exhaled deeply.
He glanced at Si-woo, thinking he really couldn't draw.
The next day.
Woo-gang rose, practiced the Hyeoncheon Yeolhwa Singong, then warmed up with repeated thrusts and swings.
Once sufficiently limbered, he headed to his usual training spot, and the iron wall began descending slowly.
Drurrrrrk!
For a while, this sound had evoked terror.
The time inside was hellish.
But today, it strangely excited him.
Soon the iron wall fully descended, trapping him in darkness.
One try wouldn't fill him up.
Though he had the clue, Woo-gang got thoroughly beaten through three shifts of training.
But it wasn't without gain.
He boldly incorporated movement and even saw results a few times.
He also confirmed that the power of his thrusts and swings didn't diminish as much as expected.
Now, all that remained was adapting and refining the movement.
Seeing hope, Woo-gang trained more enthusiastically, thinking positively despite the pain.
With a changed mindset, his actions and the atmosphere shifted.
Time passed like that.
***
Squeeeee!
A sharp whoosh pierced the darkness into Woo-gang's ears.
Swish!
Woo-gang's feet slid smoothly.
Before, he would instinctively swing first; now, his feet moved first.
He had fully adapted to movement.
Bam!
The staff he missed slammed into the iron wall.
Squeee! Squeeeee!
Consecutive whooshes followed.
Again, Woo-gang moved his feet first, smoothly swinging his staff.
Crack! Crack!
He precisely deflected the incoming staffs.
Even as he did, his legs never stopped.
They moved ceaselessly; his ears heard the whooshes, his skin felt the air currents, weaving through the incoming staffs.
Woo-gang's movements grew even faster.
If until now it had been defensive, from here it turned more aggressive.
Thwack!
The moment he changed, he got hit.
But Woo-gang didn't stick to passivity.
Instead, he busily moved his legs to increase speed further.
His qi responded to his will, bolstering his legs.
Woo-gang's speed quickened.
Crack! Thwack!
Deflecting and getting hit repeated.
Pain surged, but he was immune now, not flinching.
Woo-gang drew more qi from his lower dantian, spreading it throughout his body.
Whoosh!
The staff sliced the air,
Swish!
His feet glided flawlessly over the floor.
Crack! Crack! Crack!
Woo-gang deflected the incoming staffs without respite.
As if he knew their trajectories in advance, responding became much easier.
Squeeeee!
As if refusing to end, the number and speed of staffs increased.
Crack-crack-crack!
His arms and legs moved busily.
He deflected diligently, but a sense of insufficiency lingered.
He was holding on somehow, but it wouldn't last long, he thought.
Thwack!
Sure enough.
A staff struck his back, its power stronger, making him stagger.
But Woo-gang gritted his teeth.
Giving up now would waste everything so far.
Woo-gang scraped together his qi.
The qi accumulated in his lower dantian was nearly depleted.
'A bit more! Please! Just a bit more!'
Woo-gang screamed inwardly.
And at that moment.
Roooar!
Flames surged once more within Woo-gang's body.
Qi erupted from nowhere, spewing hot fervor and igniting a fierce fire demon.
His movement speed accelerated.
Deflecting motions grew nimbler.
Crack-crack-crack!
But matching it, the staffs' speed and power intensified.
The blocking darkness seemed filled with countless staffs.
"Uwaaaaaah!"
Woo-gang roared—kihap or scream?—swinging madly.
Boooom!
The massive flames surging from his body exploded.
Kaboom!
A sound like a bomb detonating echoed inside the iron walls.
And no more staffs flew.
Drurrrrrk!
The iron wall slowly rose toward the ceiling.
Thud.
Woo-gang collapsed to his knees.
Clatter!
He dropped the staff from his hand, clutching his arms in agony.
"Aaaagh!"
Unable to endure, Woo-gang writhed on the floor.
Si-woo slowly approached him.
Then, without any action, he simply watched Woo-gang suffer.
"My body... my body's burning!"
Woo-gang cried out in pain, looking at Si-woo.
It hurt so hot it felt like he was on fire.
Si-woo, watching, took something from his bosom.
A small pill in his hand.
Peeling off the layers of paper, Si-woo pried open Woo-gang's mouth and placed the pill inside.
"It's the Goeum Yeonmyeonghwan. It will ease the pain."
Si-woo said calmly.
Shortly after the pill entered Woo-gang's mouth, his thrashing subsided.
"Haa... haa..."
Woo-gang exhaled ragged breaths.
The pain had been so intense his face and entire body were flushed red, sweat pouring like rain.
"You've entered Muyeom. Your training here is now complete."
With Si-woo's words as the last thing he heard, Woo-gang lost consciousness.
"Congratulations on mastering the Chu Pung Gu Hwan Bo as well."
Si-woo murmured softly to the unhearing Woo-gang.