The Starry Sky Within the Dantian
He returned to the inn.
Though it was the middle of the night, the owner welcomed him warmly, perhaps because there were no other guests. After paying for his lodging, Dan Yeop entered his room and sat down at the table.
With the tension finally released, exhaustion washed over him, yet sleep refused to come. He took out the fire striker he carried and lit the oil lamp.
“Sigh!”
Meeting the mother from his memories only made him feel the utter impermanence of life.
He had not gone looking for her with any particular expectations. Yet seeing her aged and sickly form made existence itself feel hollow. If she could endure life while living it, why had she taken out her frustrations on him…?
What must the Heart Demon have thought upon meeting her? He had left as though he would never see her again, so the anger must have run deep. Why had he reacted that way when he held no memories of her at all? Meanwhile Dan Yeop himself—the one who should have been furious—felt strangely indifferent.
Dan Yeop pulled a hundred-page notebook from his travel bag and recorded these thoughts. He was not writing them for the Heart Demon. He simply wanted to leave some trace of the life he had lived.
“There really is nothing more to do now.”
It felt as if he had reached the final station of his existence. Still seated in the chair, he began to circulate the Mind-Heart Severing Art.
A shining thread rose from his dantian, pierced the heavenly eye between his brows, and exploded in brilliant light.
Flash—!
Dan Yeop opened his eyes and looked around with a strange gaze. The furniture and atmosphere inside the room still belonged to an inn. This was the first time he had ever awakened in such a place in the dead of night.
“What wind brings me here this time?”
As he muttered to himself, his eyes fell on the open notebook. It recorded his visit to Scholar Kwak’s house and the meeting with his birth mother. Reading through the entries, Dan Yeop murmured.
“You turned into quite the bodhisattva.”
To his mother’s plea of “Do not forgive me,” he had answered “Yes,” yet in truth he no longer harbored any resentment.
Dan Yeop read to the final page and closed the notebook. His mood was indescribably complex. He could feel the emotions of Dunce Dan Yeop with unusual clarity—even the empty, resigned state of that other mind.
“Hey, this is making me look like the villain here.”
As he sat with a sour expression, his gaze landed on the travel bag. Upon closer inspection, he saw it was the Maha Mat he had received from his master. It seemed he had packed various items, expecting the journey to take several days.
If I wear the Golden Silk Jade Garment while training, wouldn’t the completion of the Yi-won-gwi-il-gong accelerate as well?
Until now he had only worn the garment while practicing the Tae-eul-bon-won-yeon-seong-gyeol. But nothing forbade him from wearing it during the Yi-won-gwi-il-gong. If it aided one, it should aid the other.
“Why didn’t I think of this sooner?”
He locked the door, took the Golden Silk Jade Garment from the bag, and put it on. Then he extinguished the lamp, climbed into bed, and lay down. A faint thrill stirred in his chest at the expectation that this might actually work.
—Hey, Heart Demon.
Huh?
Startled by the sudden call, Dan Yeop’s eyes flew open. He had been deep in the Yi-won-gwi-il-gong when a clear, resonant voice spoke right beside him.
—It’s me. Me.
He whipped his head around. Seated on a chair before the dark table was a beautiful youth who looked exactly like himself.
Dunce Dan Yeop?
—Who are you calling a dunce? The idiot is you.
All sorts of wild thoughts flashed through Dan Yeop’s mind in an instant.
What is this? You were talking about dying, but you were the real one all along?
Seeing the other sitting there perfectly intact, Dan Yeop had jumped to that conclusion—that the dunce had been the true self and he was merely the illusion created by him.
—What nonsense is that fool spouting? Don’t you remember? You were the one who created me.
That’s impossible. I created you? The one who learned the Divided Mind Art and suffered qi deviation was you, not me.
—Long before you ever touched the Divided Mind Art. You made me. Try to remember.
I did? When?
—A very long time ago, your birth mother would try to kill you the moment your eyes met hers. You were so terrified that you created me and hid behind my back.
I did that?
—Yes. It was so long ago that the memory is gone, but that is what happened.
The moment he heard the other’s confident tone, Dan Yeop knew it was the truth.
I’m sorry. For pushing such a painful burden onto you.
—There’s no need to apologize. If I were you, I would have done the same. That sounds a little strange, doesn’t it? Haha.
Then what happens to you now?
—Naturally, I will remain inside your memories.
In my memories? That’s a relief.
—Even the things our mother did will rise vividly, and you call that a relief? Aside from Junior Sister Baek, there was nothing good in my life.
You liked Junior Sister Baek that much?
—She was the best. So much that I felt glad to have been born. Maybe it was thanks to her that I could forgive Mother. If she hadn’t given birth to me, I would never have met Junior Sister Baek.
I had no idea your feelings for her ran so deep.
—Neither did I, until later. The regret nearly killed me. So don’t do anything you’ll regret. That’s why I’m telling you—quit the Virgin Boy Technique immediately.
Actually, it isn’t the Virgin Boy Technique. I needed time to absorb the Qi Condensation Pill Master gave me. He said I had to preserve my purity to absorb it completely.
—You had a master?
Yes. In Byeongmachong…
Dan Yeop told the other everything that had happened inside the ancient tomb. The Dunce Dan Yeop listened with a stunned face, then spoke.
—You really were an incredible bastard. Just hearing it makes my blood boil with excitement. You could unify the entire Haomun of the Ten Blades and become the Supreme Guild Master.
Should I?
—Do it. Become the Supreme Guild Master. Show Na Bu-gang and Na Geum-ryeong exactly how great you are. Do you know what Na Geum-ryeong said to me?
The Dunce Dan Yeop recounted every word Na Geum-ryeong had spoken to him not long ago. After they had talked for a long while, he suddenly said:
—It seems my time is up.
…Farewell. Just as you asked, I will unify the Haomun of the Ten Blades and become the Supreme Guild Master.
—Good. Don’t live like me.
What do you mean by—
Dan Yeop could not finish the sentence. The Dunce Dan Yeop was already dissolving into particles of light. The glittering specks drifted toward him and were absorbed into his body.
Huh?
There was no time to be startled. A brilliant flash exploded before his eyes, and the world turned to complete darkness. While Dan Yeop looked around in confusion, specks of light began to appear one by one in the void. Soon they transformed into a vast night sky.
When the dantian is quietly illuminated, the starry sky is reflected within it.
Looking again, it was unmistakably a starry sky. He was practicing the Yi-won-gwi-il-gong—why was this appearing?
Is this night sky I’m seeing actually my own dantian?
That was impossible. His dantian was, at best, like a small well. The difference between a night sky reflected in a well and the one spread before him now was like the distance between heaven and earth.
What is this?
A galaxy floated within arm’s reach, and stars of every color flickered in and out of existence.
Could it be…
A past conversation with his master flashed through his mind.
“According to Taego Sect tradition, the ninety-nine jade tablets contain the secret of the Mixed Origin Star Array.”
“What is the Mixed Origin Star Array?”
“‘Mixed Origin’ refers to primordial energy. ‘Star Array’ refers to the order of the heavens. The beginning and end of the universe are all contained within those ninety-nine jade fragments. I trained for tens of thousands of years inside the stone coffin yet could not unravel it. It may simply be a cruel prank left by an immortal of the mythic age, so merely remember it exists.”
The starry sky before him was undoubtedly the Mixed Origin Star Array his master had spoken of.
Is this truly the Mixed Origin Star Array?
What had he done that something hidden even from a god-like being’s tens of thousands of years of cultivation was now revealing itself?
Just in case, Dan Yeop recited the verse of the Tae-eul-bon-won-yeon-seong-gyeol once more. The starry sky that had unfolded before his eyes vanished as if it had never been.
Startled, he opened his half-closed eyes without thinking. He was lying neatly on the bed, staring at the ceiling. At some point dawn had arrived; the window that had been pitch black was now bright with morning light.
Geomnamdo. Geomgak County. Geomgak. Cheongeom Hall.
Cheongeom Hall was the residence of Geomgak’s head. Inside, two old swordsmen with snow-white beards sat facing each other: the Sword Lord Baek Mu-yeong, head of Geomgak, and the Right Protector, the Flying Sky Sword Tiger Hwang Cheon-gang.
“…It is said that a ronin named Go Geom-haeng is currently teaching martial arts to the Haomun branch in Guannei Circuit, and that he is originally from Geomgak. We should verify whether this is true.”
“Among the disciples who left the mountain, was there anyone connected to Haomun?”
“There was not. It appears one of those who fled because they could not endure training drifted into Haomun.”
“You said the Cheongseong Sect delivered this information?”
“The Cheongseong Sect claims they received a report from the Cheondo Association. Since there is no direct correspondence between the Cheondo Association and Geomgak, it must have come through the Cheongseong Sect.”
Geomgak walked its own path without associating with the Five Great Sword Sects, but the Cheongseong Sect exchanged letters with the Cheondo Association in order to become one of the Five Greats.
“Can the Cheondo Association’s report be trusted?”
“We will need to investigate, but it does not appear to be false. The Cheondo Association has no reason to fabricate such a thing.”
“Do you truly believe the Cheondo Association acted out of pure goodwill?”
“It seems to be because of Haomun.”
“Haomun?”
“Last year, did Haomun not invade Hadongdo claiming they would unify all Ten Blades branches?”
“Yet they failed to cross into Hadongdo and were forced to retreat, were they not?”
“That was due to the limits of their strength. If a high-level expert from Geomgak were to assist them, their dream might actually come true.”
“So they reported this to us in order to prevent that?”
“If Geomgak cleans up its own house, Haomun will naturally collapse as well.”
“You wish to borrow a knife to kill another?”
“Since we must clean our own house anyway, we have no choice but to act on the information.”
“Then it must indeed be a former disciple of Geomgak. Sending an outer disciple just to deal with a single man seems excessive, however.”
“There is one suitable candidate.”
“Who? Someone who can go alone and clean up the matter.”
“The Heartless Sword, Naeng Han-sang.”
“Ah! The Heartless Sword.”
A sigh of admiration escaped Baek Mu-yeong’s lips. Naeng Han-sang was the nephew of the greatest swordsman under heaven and a named disciple of Geomgak, though he had never formally entered the mountain. Even so, his presence in Geomnamdo rivaled that of an elder from the Five Great Sword Sects.
“The only question is whether Naeng Han-sang will accept our proposal.”
The remark came because Naeng Han-sang kept his distance from Geomgak.
“But he will listen to his master’s words. Let us entrust this house-cleaning to Elder Muhun. What do you think?”
“Indeed! If the request comes from Elder Muhun, even Naeng Han-sang will not be able to refuse.”
Satisfied smiles spread across both men’s faces. Considering Geomgak’s dignity, Naeng Han-sang was the perfect choice for cleaning up their internal affairs.
Geomgak will eliminate the traitor Go Geom-haeng. The Heartless Sword Naeng Han-sang shall carry out the task once the snow melts.
Naeng Han-sang was not easily moved. To Elder Muhun’s request, he had answered, “I will consider it once the weather clears.”
Perhaps that was only natural. He could hardly travel all the way to Chang’an Castle in the middle of winter just to clean up a single loose end.
“Maternal uncle, who exactly is this Go Geom-haeng?”
“I asked the disciples of his age. They say he was someone who failed the sixth gate and ran away.”
“If he reached the sixth gate, he must have been quite skilled.”
“That was already more than thirty years ago, so do not let your guard down.”
“Even so, he has only been wandering as a ronin since then. A ronin’s sword art is nothing special.”
“That may be true, but the fact that no one knows which school he follows bothers me somewhat.”
“How many schools have been lost inside Geomgak over the years? Do not worry about it. If it had been a useful sword art, it would not have been abandoned by our disciples.”
“That is true, but…”
“Maternal uncle, I am the Heartless Sword Naeng Han-sang. Once the snow melts, I will go immediately, cut off Go Geom-haeng’s head, and return.”
The Heartless Sword Naeng Han-sang declared with a confident face. The previous generation’s greatest swordsman under heaven, Muhun, was his maternal…