Don't Go On About Ranks
“First, Cha Yu-sik.”
Kang Hyun already knew he led the Oinbang.
“You take these first.”
“Yes, sir.”
Cha Yu-sik accepted the two manuals Lee Se-ah held out to him.
“……These.”
His brow furrowed slightly.
Boundless Azure Sky Sword Art? I’m supposed to be learning the Emperor’s Sword Form.
And these two arts!
They were clearly third-grade techniques under the Manbakza ranking.
“Could these be the divine arts I practiced on the peak?”
“They are.”
Kang Hyun tilted his head a fraction.
“Not to your liking?”
“……No, sir. I’m sure you have your reasons, Professor.”
He couldn’t honestly say otherwise. Simply being taught by the professor was already something to be grateful for. Yet he couldn’t quite hide the impatience that showed on his face.
His goal was singular.
To defeat his older brother. To earn their father’s recognition and become the master of Cheonrang.
“A brat who’s only just learned to walk is already thinking about flying.”
“Sir?”
“Did you think the path of an emperor would be easy? What I just gave you teaches you how to run before you fly. Master those first. Only then will you be able to master the Emperor’s Sword Form as well.”
Color returned to Cha Yu-sik’s face at last.
So this was a stage toward true mastery.
Through the Three Talents Sword Style he had already learned just how vital the fundamentals were. Learning properly, step by step, rather than skimming the surface would only widen the gap between him and his brother.
Cha Yu-sik decided to trust Kang Hyun.
He had already started trusting him—what else was there to do but see it through to the end?
“I’ll keep that in mind.”
“Next! Kwak Do-jin.”
“Yes, sir!”
“You learn these first.”
Kang Hyun had deliberated quite a bit over what to give Kwak Do-jin. In the end he had chosen the Gongdong Sect.
Those mad Taoists who thrash demonfolk.
As one of the Nine Great Sects, they sat closest to the Demonic Cult and were inevitably rough around the edges. Their ultimate technique was the Demon-Subduing Sword Art—the sword that forces demons to kneel. Before learning that, one first had to master the Seven Killings Sword.
“I like the name! I’ll work hard and become your disciple for sure, Professor!”
“I’ll be looking forward to it.”
When the time came to face Asura’s underlings, nothing would serve better than the Demon-Subduing Sword. Kang Hyun hoped Kwak Do-jin would one day stand at the vanguard of that fight.
“Next, Yoon Hyun-jong.”
“Yes.”
Yoon Hyun-jong stepped forward, one arm still wrapped in bandages, tension plain on his face.
“How’s the arm?”
“It still throbs a bit.”
“From the moment you start learning these, you’d best not lend that arm out again.”
“These are……”
“That’s right. From now on you’ll train in twin-sword techniques.”
Yoon Hyun-jong was meticulous and calculating by nature. In Murim terms he was a perfect match for the Moyong clan—the sort who liked to keep their heads working even while they fought. So Kang Hyun had brought their hereditary arts.
But—
“This sword art……! I’ve seen it in the Martial Library!”
“You have.”
Yoon Hyun-jong could have been disappointed. The Heaven-Earth Yangless Divine Art was still third-grade, but the Invincible Twin Swords was only fourth-grade.
“Disappointed?”
“Ah—no, sir.”
“Manbakza is nothing more than an appraiser who doesn’t know a damn thing. Calling this fourth-grade? In my eyes the Invincible Twin Swords stands toe-to-toe with second-grade arts.”
“Really?”
Even in Murim, people preferred one sword over two. The reason was simple.
Because it’s easier.
Distance control was simpler, power was easier to concentrate, and offense and defense switched faster. Twin swords, on the other hand, forced the hands to work independently, so the difficulty of mastery soared. Movements tangled easily, and in a chaotic melee one’s own actions could get in each other’s way.
“Master it properly and I wouldn’t even put first-grade past it.”
“Hah!”
Yoon Hyun-jong could scarcely believe it. A manual you could pick up easily even in the library…… standing equal to a first-grade art?
“And among the five of you, it also happens to be the art with the second-highest potential.”
“I-Is that true?”
“What would I gain by lying to you?”
“Hah—I’ll train with everything I have!”
Color finally returned to Yoon Hyun-jong’s face as well. Meanwhile the other students’ eyes flicked toward one another for a brief moment.
Invincible Twin Swords is second?
Then where do I rank?
And first place is……?
Could it be me?
Some of them even suspected Kang Hyun might deliberately refuse to tell them. Hand out the ranking too freely and they might get distracted by pointless jealousy.
“Next, Seo Hae-in!”
“Yes, sir!”
When Seo Hae-in approached with hesitant steps, Kang Hyun held out the exact same manuals he had once given Ma Chul-woong.
“Master these to completion. Then I’ll teach you the Ohodanmundo.”
“……!”
“Huk?”
“O-Ohodanmundo!”
The students’ eyes went round. It was currently the hottest martial art in the country—the very technique S-rank hunter Ma Chul-woong had been scammed over at Daeseong Market.
“You know that one too, Professor?”
Cha Yu-sik in particular felt a headache coming on. The Emperor’s Sword Form, and now the Ohodanmundo as well…… plus countless arts of equal caliber, and he was still writing new manuals even now. Was there some legendary library stuffed inside the professor’s head?
There’s definitely something more to him.
He had plenty of questions, but he couldn’t ask them rashly or poke around. Better to wait until the time was right and, for now, devote himself to learning.
“Lastly, Han Tae-ho.”
“Yes, sir……!”
Having watched the seniors receive their opportunities, Han Tae-ho swallowed hard. Kang Hyun fixed him with a steady gaze.
Looking at the boy always stirred a sense of romance. A complete newcomer who had passed a contract professor’s test, then kept showing up without fail until he could hold his own even against a kid with the Vajra Body. Take that romance and add a spoonful of guts?
It brought to mind the horse-faced Taoists of Mount Hua.
“These are what you’ll learn.”
“Th-These are……”
Han Tae-ho’s eyes went wide. Because they were incredible manuals?
No—exactly the opposite!
“This is too much, Professor!”
“What is?”
“These are arts we learn in regular class!”
Eighth-grade techniques under the Manbakza ranking! Among the students they were known as the most basic of basics—trash, basically. He had just finished celebrating graduating from the Three Talents Sword Style, only to be handed more fundamentals.
“You said even neighborhood dojos teach the Three Talents Sword Style, didn’t you? And how did that turn out? The Six Harmonies Sword is the same.”
If the Invincible Twin Swords ranked second in potential, then first place belonged to the Six Harmonies. Mount Hua’s sword divided the fundamentals into even finer stages; fail to lock those down properly and you couldn’t even begin the higher arts.
“Master them properly. It will take time, but if your achievement is good enough, I’ll teach you the Plum Blossom Sword Art and the Purple Mist Divine Art later.”
Silence fell for a beat.
The Plum Blossom Sword Art.
And the Purple Mist Divine Art.
Just hearing the names made the chest swell. Both were famous as first-grade arts under the Manbakza ranking.
“Is that real? First-grade arts actually exist? And you know them, Professor?!”
The students weren’t the only ones stunned—Lee Se-ah and Baek Yu-yeon couldn’t hide their shock either. Even Manbakza had only claimed knowledge of them through ancient texts; across the entire world, no first-grade martial art had ever actually surfaced.
“Whether you believe me or not is up to you. And from now on, don’t go on about ranks in front of me.”
Even if martial arts had grades, within the Nine Great Sects and Five Great Families the difference was only a hair’s breadth. If the quality of the manual were everything, a new greatest under heaven would have appeared from those places every generation.
“What matters is the person. Even if you all master these arts to completion, do you really think you could stop my Three Talents Sword Style?”
Ranks were empty shells. And if Manbakza had set them, they were emptier still.
I’ll have to re-establish the system later through Lee Se-ah or something.
“Anyway, hand the manuals back.”
With a light sweep of his hand through empty air, an invisible force snatched the manuals from the students’ hands as if vacuuming them up and reclaimed them.
“Starting at dawn tomorrow, report not to the Old Hall training grounds but to the lot behind the New Hall.”
He had won the wager, so that land was his from now on.
“I’ll store every manual I just showed you on that lot. Taking them outside is absolutely forbidden.”
Keeping peerless manuals from circulating freely was an ironclad unspoken rule in Murim and here alike.
“In exchange, even outside the set training hours, if you come to that lot I’ll leave it open so you can take out the manuals and train whenever you like.”
After sending the students off, Kang Hyun went alone to Baek Yu-seol’s house. Bringing Do Jeong-hyeok in was important, but managing Baek Yu-seol was just as critical. In cancer terms she was already terminal. He needed to check her pulse regularly and make sure she was properly absorbing the Snow Moon martial arts.
Ding-dong.
He pressed the doorbell and waited a moment.
Click.
The door opened.
“Ah—hello. Professor Kang Hyun…… right?”
Surprisingly, it was Baek Yu-seol herself who opened the door, not her parents.
A good sign.
Not being bedridden meant she had made real progress.
“May I come in?”
“Y-Yes! Please come in!”
“Oh my, Professor!”
The moment he stepped inside, Baek Yu-seol’s mother hurried over, beaming.
“What brings you all the way out here! Come in, quickly! Perfect timing, actually! I was just preparing dinner—please stay and have a meal with us!”
“No need. I only came to check on her condition for a moment……”
“Don’t say such cold things! You saved our Yu-seol.”
Her mother’s eyes reddened.
“Thank you so much, Professor! Our Yu-seol used to just lie in bed every day, complaining she was sick and crying, but lately she says the night pain has completely vanished, and now she can even walk around on her own like that.”
“M-Mom! Don’t put pressure on the professor like that.”
Baek Yu-seol tried to soothe her mother in a fluster, but Kang Hyun quietly studied the girl’s complexion. It was clearly different. Faint color now touched cheeks that had once been so pale they looked translucent, and as a little flesh returned to her gaunt frame, her original features had grown distinct and striking.
As expected—a face that would turn heads anywhere.
If Baek Yu-yeon possessed an intellectual, refined charm, Baek Yu-seol carried a cool, almost cold atmosphere that still made it impossible to look away. As he had mentioned before, beauty was a trait of the Guumjeolmaek.
“Looking well.”
Kang Hyun offered the brief praise and got to the point.
“How far have you read? Are you circulating your energy properly?”
The instant the question left his mouth, Baek Yu-seol’s eyes lit up.
“Yes! At first I thought taking in the energy exactly as the formulas said would make me even colder and hurt more, right? But when I didn’t force it down into my dantian and just let it flow along my spine instead, the pain strangely lessened. And around the third verse I felt a blockage, but when I lengthened my breathing a little more, that part seemed to melt open…… And for the fourth verse……”
She chattered on without pause. In the kitchen, her mother—who had been bringing out side dishes—stared with wide eyes.
Was our daughter always this talkative?
She had always been quiet and gloomy. Yet now she was bubbling over like a little child presenting a perfect test paper and begging for praise.
Kang Hyun, meanwhile, was marveling inwardly.
Would you look at this kid.
He had actually come today to teach her the application method for the third verse. And she had figured it out on her own?
The Guumjeolmaek really does produce geniuses.
“Well done. Keep training that way. I’ll visit often.”
“Yes!”
Before long the living-room table was groaning under a lavish spread—braised short ribs, japchae, all sorts of namul.
“It’s nothing fancy, but please eat plenty, Professor.”
“……Thank you. I will.”
Kang Hyun had no choice but to pick up his chopsticks. Casually he reached into his coat for the whiskey bottle, about to take a sip as a dinner drink, when the mother carefully spoke up.
“Um, Professor. It’s just that……”
“Go ahead.”
“Yu-seol can walk on her own now and the pain is gone, right? So…… does she really still need to keep doing this dangerous, difficult martial training? I just want my daughter to live an ordinary, healthy life……”
It was a natural worry for any parent. But—
“No.”
“Pardon?”
“The fact that she isn’t in pain right now doesn’t mean she’s cured. We’ve only paused the timer on a time bomb. The moment she stops training, the suppressed yin energy will explode and rupture her heart meridians.”
“Rupture her heart meridians means……”
“She’ll die.”
The mother’s face went white.
“She’s learning this in order to live.”
If she could master the Snow Moon martial arts to completion atop the Demand True Qi, then the Guumjeolmaek constitution itself would become an enormous opportunity.
Kang Hyun calmly explained everything to the parents while he ate. Across the table, Baek Yu-seol watched him steadily.
This man.
There was no falsehood in anything he said. All of it was truth. For some reason, anticipation stirred in her.
I have to enter the Academy next year? And he’ll help me with that?
What would it be like to live as a student with a healthy body? It had once been an impossible dream, but thanks to Kang Hyun she now had hope.
I’ll work even harder.
So please—just make me better!