Have You Heard of All Things Returning to One?
The words Rok had spoken when he visited before leaving seclusion floated up in his mind.
“If you dare meet with Ha Yong-wol, I’ll kill you with my own hands the moment you leave seclusion.”
That day he had been slapped so hard his lip split open, and he had suffered for several days afterward.
Haa! I don’t have the slightest connection to Ha Yong-wol…
The more he thought about it, the more ridiculous it felt.
He had intended to train the White Current Blade Technique in the Seonmun training hall for a while, but he no longer had any desire to set foot there again.
Dan Yeop, who had been sitting in a daze, turned his gaze toward the head of his bed.
He rose, pulled the Prajna Heart Method manual from beneath his pillow, and opened it.
If he wanted to master the White Current Blade Technique quickly, the only way was to summon his inner demon.
“Is this heaven’s will…”
After reading the manual carefully, he climbed onto the bed, sat in a lotus position, and closed his eyes.
Since an inner demon would appear the moment he began cultivating his internal energy anyway, there was no need to seek out a hidden location.
Suddenly a line from the Prajna Heart Method flashed through his mind.
When one truly sees that the substance of the world is emptiness, one can overcome every hardship and reach that substance.
What exactly were these “every hardship”?
Wang Oh’s harassment?
The inner demon that gnawed away at his life?
The horrific memories of a mother who had tried to kill him at every turn?
He drew in a long, deep breath.
Huuuuup—.
Flash—!
Dan Yeop slowly opened his eyes.
Unlike the usual times when he felt nothing at all, his mind was now vast and empty, leaving him bewildered.
He remained in the lotus position and simply observed the flow of his thoughts.
A short while later, once his mind had completely settled, he rose from the bed.
“What just happened?”
As Dan Yeop tilted his head in confusion, a loud growl erupted from his stomach.
“What? Was I starving?”
He stepped outside first to gauge the time.
Trainees were gathered in front of the cafeteria, so it was clearly mealtime.
Before heading there, Dan Yeop checked the position of the sun. The bright light told him it was almost certainly lunchtime.
The dunce Dan Yeop called me out without even eating?
Unless the situation had been truly urgent, it meant he had lost his appetite entirely.
Judging by the mood of the trainees, it’s probably the latter…
That must have been why his mind had been so unsettled the moment he awakened.
“Heh. Well, I’m grateful.”
Dan Yeop decided to eat first and then seek out Chief Instructor Dan Bul-wi.
He was curious how many days he had been unconscious, but more importantly, he needed to learn who had left the scar on his neck.
Byeongmachong Cafeteria.
Dan Yeop accepted a flour flatbread and mutton soup, then dropped into the nearest empty seat.
He tore the flatbread into small pieces, dropped them into the soup, and was noisily spooning it up when the trainee sitting across from him kept stealing glances.
“What?”
Jang So-pal, a fourth-generation trainee, looked around cautiously before whispering.
“Ask Senior Brother Go to teach you instead of Senior Brother Wang.”
“Teach me what?”
“The White Current Blade Technique.”
“Ah. Did I practice the White Current Blade Technique this morning?”
“Excuse me?”
Jang So-pal stared at Dan Yeop, unsure what he was hearing.
“I asked whether I practiced the White Current Blade Technique this morning.”
“Yes…”
For a moment Jang So-pal regretted speaking to him at all.
He had offered the advice out of sympathy—after all, he too had suffered under Wang Oh—but the guy seemed to have a serious problem with his head.
Wow, fuck. He doesn’t even remember what he did this morning?
Dan Yeop nodded as he continued eating his mutton soup.
“Mm, a bit salty. The White Current Blade Technique is quite decent. Are you learning it too?”
“I’ve completed up to the fourth form.”
“Oh! Not bad at all. You’re a fourth-generation trainee, then?”
“Yes.”
“Name.”
“Me?”
Looking down on Dan Yeop, Jang So-pal didn’t answer right away and asked instead.
A person who couldn’t even remember what he’d done that morning had no business acting so high and—
“Is there anyone else here I’m talking to right now?”
“Jang So-pal.”
“So-pal, huh. You from Seonmun?”
“Yes.”
Jang So-pal gave a curt reply, buried his face in his bowl, and focused on eating.
The seat had grown uncomfortable; all he wanted was to finish quickly and leave.
“By the way, So-pal, why did you tell me to learn from Senior Brother Go instead of Senior Brother Wang?”
“Cough—urk!”
Startled, Jang So-pal choked and sprayed food everywhere.
The commotion drew every trainee’s eyes to the pair.
“23. Have You Heard of All Things Returning to One?”
Jang So-pal frantically wiped the spilled food from the table and hissed.
“Keep your voice down. If Senior Brother Wang finds out, we’re both dead.”
“Who is Senior Brother Wang?”
“Fourth-generation Wang Oh. You were with him this morning, Senior.”
“Was I? My memory’s been a little spotty lately. And who is Senior Brother Go?”
“Senior Brother Go Wol. He’s the strongest of the fourth-generation trainees. He’s an instructor at the Seonmun training hall. He taught you the White Current Blade Technique yesterday, remember?”
“Ah, did he?”
“Senior Dan, you’re joking right now, aren’t you?”
“Not at all.”
“You really don’t remember anything from yesterday or today? This is insane.”
“People forget things sometimes. Why are you so surprised?”
“No, this isn’t normal forgetting. What about the White Current Blade Technique? Did you forget that too?”
“The White Current Blade Technique? I’ve already mastered it.”
“……”
Jang So-pal stared at Dan Yeop with a dumbfounded expression.
The man couldn’t remember who had taught him the technique yesterday, yet he claimed to have fully mastered it.
Is he crazy?
He had watched from afar as Dan Yeop failed to complete even a single form all morning. What kind of nonsense was this?
This had gone beyond mere bluffing.
Jang So-pal leaned back, no longer wanting to speak with him.
At that moment a hand landed on top of Jang So-pal’s head.
“Well, well. The two biggest idiots in Byeongmachong history sitting together. What did I just hear? You mastered the White Current Blade Technique?”
At the voice of Senior Brother Wang Oh coming from above, Jang So-pal froze rigid.
Dan Yeop looked up with a bright, innocent face and met the eyes of the newcomer.
“Who are you?”
“Ha! Who am I? Wow, that’s rich. I spent all morning teaching you the White Current Blade Technique and now you’re pretending you don’t know me?”
“Ah! So you’re Wang Oh? Fourth-generation?”
“That’s right. I’m Wang Oh. But did you really just say you mastered the White Current Blade Technique? I didn’t mishear, did I?”
“Yeah, that’s right. By the way, isn’t your tone awfully casual with your senior? Where are you from that people don’t respect rank? Are we all just friends here?”
The first-generation trainee Dan Yeop’s provocation silenced the entire cafeteria in an instant.
In the Jianghu, Haomun was an organization with strict hierarchy.
The mutual respect between its six branches was no less than that of the Five Great Sword Factions.
That was why Dan Bul-wi, a former Amun Munwi, had used polite speech even when speaking to a coachman from the Chamun branch.
If they had been alone it might have been different, but for Wang Oh to speak down to a senior in front of trainees from every branch was a clear mistake.
The expressions of the Amun and Seonmun trainees twisted at once.
Amun felt the sting from Wang Oh’s words; Seonmun felt it from Dan Yeop’s.
When the mood grew icy, fourth-generation Gu Gyo-eon lightly elbowed Wang Oh in the side.
Only then did Wang Oh realize he had let his excitement carry him away and forgotten the time and place.
He wanted to crush Dan Yeop, but there were far too many eyes watching.
“Ah, of course not. It seems my manners slipped while I was instructing Senior Dan earlier. Still, mastering the notoriously difficult and ever-changing White Current Blade Technique in just two days is truly impressive. I heard it took fourteen years to learn the Heaven and Earth Blade Technique—perhaps the rumors were wrong?”
“Wang Oh.”
“Yes?”
“It is true that I took fourteen years to learn the Heaven and Earth Blade Technique.”
“A person like that…”
“Hold on. Your senior hasn’t finished speaking. Have you ever heard of All Things Returning to One?”
“All Things Returning to One?”
“That’s right. No matter how many rivers there are, they all eventually meet in the sea. Once you reach great mastery in one thing, you realize that ten thousand things are the same.”
“Wait, fuck— I mean, are you saying that if you master the Heaven and Earth Blade Technique, you can also master the White Current Blade Technique in two days?”
“Have you mastered the Heaven and Earth Blade Technique? Or not?”
“I have learned it, but I wouldn’t dare call it mastery.”
“I trained for fourteen years and reached mastery. If you’ve never truly mastered anything, don’t speak. That is what All Things Returning to One means.”
“I don’t believe you.”
“Then don’t. And stop talking to me. I haven’t finished eating yet.”
Dan Yeop scooped up more mutton soup and chewed thoughtfully.
Wang Oh, who had been standing there blankly, ground his teeth.
“Don’t spout lies that will be exposed immediately. Someone who took fourteen years on the Heaven and Earth Blade Technique claims to have mastered the White Current Blade Technique in two days? No one’s going to believe that nonsense.”
“I didn’t say I trained for fourteen years. I said I reached mastery. Are you looking down on the Heaven and Earth Blade Technique of the Jeommun branch? Is the White Current Blade Technique of Seonmun the greatest under heaven?”
This time the expressions of the Jeommun trainees hardened.
Even without that, the Heaven and Earth Blade Technique had always been treated like cold rice in Byeongmachong.
Yet Dan Yeop had just declared that mastering it would make the White Current Blade Technique easy.
Theoretically it could be true.
But since no one had ever truly mastered the Heaven and Earth Blade Technique, it could not be proven.
If anyone said “That’s still impossible,” it would be an insult to the technique itself.
In that instant Wang Oh changed his opinion of Dan Yeop from “retard” to “lunatic.”
What? Mastered the Heaven and Earth Blade Technique in fourteen years?
He spoke with such confidence that for a second it almost sounded plausible.
No, fuck that. Mastery my ass. I know this bastard’s thick skull better than anyone.
He quickly calmed his rising anger.
Dan Yeop’s words were flashy, but they contained a fatal flaw.
One had to both master the Heaven and Earth Blade Technique and learn the White Current Blade Technique.
“You’re saying Senior Dan has mastered the Heaven and Earth Blade Technique? I don’t believe it.”
“Believe it or don’t. Who are you to decide? Are you the Jeommun martial chief instructor? Why are you picking a fight with someone who’s trying to eat?”
At Dan Yeop’s shameless response, Wang Oh finally exploded.
He slammed both palms on the table and roared.
“Fuck off! You crazy bastard! Stop lying! I don’t believe you mastered the Heaven and Earth Blade Technique! I don’t believe you mastered the White Current Blade Technique either! Treat you like a senior? Like hell I will, you son of a bitch! I’m going to leave seclusion ten years before you, so why the hell should I treat you like a senior? If you really have mastered the Heaven and Earth Blade Technique and the White Current Blade Technique, then I’ll treat you like a senior. But if everything you just said is a lie, you’re nothing but a thick-skulled idiot!”
“Oh dear, how frightening. Why is our Wang Oh so angry? Since you don’t believe me, I’ll show you the Heaven and Earth Blade Technique. Watch closely.”
With those words, Dan Yeop began twirling the wooden spoon he was holding.
The Heaven and Earth Blade Technique performed using only wrist movements above the table looked like nothing more than a child’s game to anyone watching.
“Heavenly Thunder Falling Slash, Horizontal Mountain Cleaver…”
“Fuck! Are you messing with me?”
Unable to watch any longer, Wang Oh slapped the spoon away with his palm.
But his hand only cut through empty air.
At the same time Dan Yeop had lightly shifted backward and flicked the spoon.
“Wind-Cloud Transformation!”
Piiing—!
The wooden spoon spun at high speed, circling Wang Oh’s upper body once.
Startled, Wang Oh swatted at the spinning spoon like he was chasing away a fly.
Smack—!
“Ugh!”
The back of his hand burned as if scalded by fire, so Wang Oh immediately pulled it back.
Whoosh—!
The wooden spoon brushed past the back of Wang Oh’s head and returned neatly to Dan Yeop’s hand.
Clack.
Dan Yeop caught the spoon as if nothing had happened.
“See? Once you’ve mastered the Heaven and Earth Blade Technique, you can use Wind-Cloud Transformation like this too.”
Wang Oh stared at his own hand, face frozen.
The back of it had been sliced open in a long, clean cut as if by a blade.
Huk! What the hell is this…
Wang Oh was so shocked he couldn’t speak.
He couldn’t believe he had been helplessly cut by a wooden soup spoon.
While Wang Oh could only blink, Dan Yeop spoke again.
“You still don’t believe I’ve mastered the Heaven and Earth Blade Technique? Shall I show you again?”
“I-I believe you.”
“Wang Oh.”