Harmony
"What this old man taught you was the Taiji Divine Art. It’s absolutely forbidden to pass a sect’s martial arts on to outsiders, mind you, but since this old man is saying it, no one will have anything to say about it. Most of those youngsters probably don’t even know the Taiji Divine Art exists."
It was a little odd hearing someone who looked so young call himself an old man.
Still, that was something I’d have to get used to. People like him weren’t exactly rare here.
"No, no, that’s not the point. Since the subject’s come up, let me say this: these days, the kids who are just starting out avoid martial arts that are hard to learn and slow to show results far too much. Have you never heard the saying that a great tree grows late? Isn’t martial training supposed to be like that? If you keep at it steadily, achievement will come on its own! Everyone just goes after tiny gains right in front of their noses and acts impatient! Does that make any sense?"
And with that, Hyeonseong Jinin suddenly went full throttle.
The problem was that Geukseon nodded along and backed him up.
"Exactly! It’s a disgraceful, highwayman’s sort of mentality! I truly cannot understand what they think martial arts are for! And why do youngsters these days all assume they have talent!? It’s ridiculous! There are swarms of fools no sturdier than pebbles, measuring themselves against one another and somehow imagining they’re granite mountains! Yes, fine—if they’re disciples entering the world’s great Wudang, then that much confidence is acceptable. Without at least that much confidence, there’d be a problem! But they all seem to forget that the seniors and masters they’re staring at were once juniors who entered Wudang by exactly that same path! Untalented as they are, yet so full of themselves…."
"Hyeongseong. Enough."
Even Geukseon seemed to think Hyeonseong Jinin’s zero-to-one-hundred routine was a bit much, because he finally stepped in to stop him.
Only then did Hyeonseong Jinin catch Geukseon’s eye, clear his throat with a cough, and finally calm down.
"Ahem. This old man overdid it. I made a fool of myself."
I only smiled in silence. Honestly, there wasn’t much else I could do here.
"In any case… I did teach you the Taiji Divine Art, but though it’s called a divine art, it’s really nothing more than a simple knack. It’s not called divine because the Taiji Divine Art is amazing. If you can use it skillfully, then whatever you learn can be called a divine art in its own right. Even the Three Talents Sword Art could become the Three Talents Divine Art."
Then Hyeonseong Jinin held out both hands.
"Now. Look closely."
With those words, he let qi bloom in both palms.
Yang qi in the left hand. Yin qi in the right.
Wait—what? He’d been making such a fuss about how hard it was, and then he pulled that off so easily?
"Uh…."
"Surprised, are you? But listen, child. What you did and what this old man is doing may look the same, but they are completely different. So watch carefully and feel the difference. Think about the Taiji Divine Art I taught you, too."
"If I may… can I touch them?"
"Heh heh. Do as you like."
Carefully, I reached out and touched Hyeonseong Jinin’s hands.
The yang qi and yin qi were unmistakable.
It didn’t feel all that different from when I circulated the Purple Sunset Divine Art and the Ice Soul Divine Art.
What was different, exactly? He had to mean something by saying it like that.
Just as I was about to ask, I suddenly remembered what Hyeonseong Jinin had said earlier.
The kids these days were impatient, he’d said? They wanted results quickly?
Thinking of that, it would be stupid of me to immediately blurt out that I didn’t understand.
So I shut my mouth and, still holding Hyeonseong Jinin’s hands, fell into deep thought.
Martial arts were mysterious.
Back when I lived in twenty-first-century Korea, I’d never thought of myself as especially good at concentrating.
I wasn’t bad enough to have ADHD or anything, but I definitely couldn’t focus on one thing for very long.
The only exception was games.
Once I got hooked, I could sit there for hours without moving and keep going.
Maybe martial arts were like games to me.
Both martial arts and games had clearly defined tasks.
And the more you used them, the more skilled you became. Like leveling up.
That’s how games worked, after all.
If you only gained 0.0004 percent experience from killing one monster, then you’d have to kill 250,000 monsters to level up.
Martial arts were the same.
If one training session raised you by 0.0004 percent, then you just had to do it 250,000 times. Then your achievement would rise one step.
Though, honestly, 250,000 times was way too many. That was definitely overkill.
Anyway, that was why martial arts suited me so well.
Besides, in a situation like this, thinking things through alone didn’t feel especially difficult or overwhelming.
It felt like following a game walkthrough.
This was a problem with a fixed answer. And he’d probably asked because he assumed I’d figure out the process too.
Games were the same. They were designed so they could be cleared.
All I needed was time and effort.
So I thought. And I reasoned. I sank into it and focused. What was the difference between Hyeonseong Jinin and me?
And I don’t know how long I spent at it, but in the end, I found the answer.
The yang qi and yin qi in Hyeonseong Jinin had originally been one thing split apart.
The Taiji Divine Art was the answer. I’d already experienced something like it myself.
When I circulated the Ice Soul Divine Art, there was leftover yang qi.
Normally I would have let it dissipate pointlessly, but I used it to circulate the Purple Sunset Divine Art instead.
Thanks to that, the Purple Sunset Divine Art advanced as much as the Ice Soul Divine Art.
But Hyeonseong Jinin was different.
He had taken something that was already united and split it into yang qi and yin qi. That was why he could circulate them separately in his two hands, just like I was doing now.
Hyeonseong Jinin’s two energies were split apart, but their root was one.
I, on the other hand, had two roots from the start.
That was also why I finally understood why he’d taught me the Taiji Divine Art.
He wanted me to use the profound principles of the Taiji Divine Art to fuse the two together and control them as one.
Taiji. Yin and yang.
Taiji was wondrous. It wasn’t merely a process of yin and yang mixing together.
Within taiji’s yin lies yang. Within taiji’s yang lies yin.
That was what the dot in the taiji symbol represented.
Not everything called yin was pure yin. Not everything called yang was pure yang.
I’d been using the yang qi left over from the Ice Soul Divine Art to circulate the Purple Sunset Divine Art.
That was yang hidden within yin.
And the same would be true if I used the Purple Sunset Divine Art.
Unused yin qi would emerge, and with that I could circulate the Ice Soul Divine Art.
But right now, since I was more familiar with the Ice Soul Divine Art, I was using its leftover yang qi to trigger the Purple Sunset Divine Art.
But that wasn’t it. I’d only been using half of it.
Taiji is the union of yin and yang. That meant I hadn’t truly achieved the harmony of yin and yang yet.
I let go of Hyeonseong Jinin’s hands. Then I circulated the Ice Soul Divine Art and the Purple Sunset Divine Art at the same time, one in each hand.
Blazing violet heat. Chill silver-white frost.
Once I stirred the Purple Sunset Divine Art, leftover yin qi emerged. Once I stirred the Ice Soul Divine Art, leftover yang qi emerged.
I let them circulate.
My body. The profundities of the Taiji Divine Art. Circulating energy. Harmony.
The leftover yang qi added itself to the Purple Sunset Divine Art. In the same way, the leftover yin qi added itself back to the Ice Soul Divine Art.
Not a one-way use, but a cyclical relationship in which the two complemented one another.
What I’d been lacking was filled in like that. Not a one-time process, but something repeated many times.
Not a fleeting burst, but an engine that could be operated indefinitely.
"Ah…."
Only then did I hear the sounds around me.
Hyeonseong Jinin was staring at me in amazement, and Geukseon had his eyes wide open with a huge grin on his face.
And then a message appeared before me.
Primal Chaos Divine Art has been acquired.
Huh? Did that even make sense? A skill had been created?
I hurriedly tried to recall the verses of the Primal Chaos Divine Art. But there were no verses at all.
Only the Ice Soul Divine Art, the Purple Sunset Divine Art, and the Taiji Divine Art came to mind.
What the heck. So you can actually create a martial art just by cobbling things together like this? That’s kind of broken, isn’t it?
Anyway, I drew in the qi gathered in my left and right hands.
And then immediately stirred it again.
This time, the yin and yang qi naturally complemented one another, settling into my palms with familiar ease.
Two energies moving like one.
Then this should be possible too.
Since the two forms of qi had become one through the Taiji Divine Art, they shouldn’t repel each other outright.
I sharply reduced the qi, then brought the index fingers of both hands together.
Normally, they would have repelled each other and produced a shock. But now there was no shock at all.
Harmony.
The harmonizing qi that embraced both had prevented their repulsion. That was why there was no impact.
So this time, I let the harmonizing qi dissipate.
Then, with a small pop, a slight shock burst between my fingers exactly as I’d intended.
Seeing that, I laughed. I couldn’t help it.
I’d gained complete control over the collision between yin and yang qi.
Under the name of the Primal Chaos Divine Art.
"To give an answer in just three shichen… what an astonishing child!"
At Hyeonseong Jinin’s words, I was surprised again.
Three shichen? Had six hours already gone by?
This was why martial arts were scary. Still, thank goodness this time it hadn’t dragged on for days.
"I have gained so much from Senior’s teachings. Thank you very much."
When I bowed politely, Hyeonseong Jinin broke into a broad grin.
Then he glanced at Geukseon and asked, rather slyly, "Yukmae. This child… what is your relationship to her?"
Geukseon’s smiling face instantly stiffened, and he asked in a cold voice, "Why do you ask?"
"You’re not related yet, are you? I’m only asking because I’m curious."
Hyeonseong Jinin said it with a shamelessly sly expression.
But Geukseon’s expression only grew colder, and he replied in a calm voice, "Stop saying useless things. And don’t entertain any foolish ideas."
He looked ready to draw his sword at any moment.
Still, Hyeonseong Jinin didn’t seem to find him very frightening.
He kept that same roguish grin on his face and chuckled softly.
"Senior Geukseon is a person I respect deeply, even if I don’t dare call him my master."
At my words, the chilly air around Geukseon vanished at once.
His expression loosened all at once, like the north wind of deep winter turning into a warm spring breeze.
"Ho ho. Is that so? The way you think of Yukmae is quite touching. But I suppose that still means there’s no relationship yet, doesn’t it? Heh heh."
At Hyeonseong Jinin’s words, Geukseon’s face stiffened once more, though not quite as before.
He simply looked at me with warm eyes, unlike usual.
Still, that was a little hard to handle. Geukseon giving me warm eyes, of all things.