Recognition Ascends to Heaven (2)
The day after leaving the Medicine Hall, Cheonhwa returned to his usual routine.
Mornings were for morning training and duty shifts. Afternoons were for scholarly study and free time.
He did not immediately raise the intensity of his morning training. That was because of the Medicine Hall Head Danwon’s advice, laced with threats, forbidding him from doing so.
The injuries from the spar and the half-month of rest had left Cheonhwa’s body weaker than before. Plunging straight into high-intensity training risked wrecking it completely. He would need about a month to gradually restore his physical capabilities to their previous level.
In the free time he had during that period, he went to the Jangseogak to read. Today, unusually, Myeonghwa was with him as well.
Myeonghwa casually glanced at what his junior brother was reading. Mostly martial arts manuals for the Nine Palaces Footwork and the Five Elements Fist. There were annotated medical texts and books on external arts as well, but the martial manuals took the greater share.
The external arts books are probably for Second Stage training. The medical annotations make sense given the knowledge he memorized at the Medicine Hall. But why is he looking at the manuals for Nine Palaces Footwork and Five Elements Fist?
Among the entry disciples, few had delved into the Nine Palaces Footwork and Five Elements Fist as deeply as Cheonhwa. To the point that even the martial arts instructors had declared there was nothing more they could teach him.
Unable to contain his curiosity, Myeonghwa asked him.
“Junior Brother Cheonhwa, why are you looking at the manuals for Nine Palaces Footwork and Five Elements Fist?”
“Because I haven’t reached great mastery yet. I’m going back to the beginning and examining them again.”
“Isn’t minor mastery enough? Once you get that far, you move on to other martial arts, right?”
In Myeonghwa’s view, the Nine Palaces Footwork and Five Elements Fist were martial arts with clear limits. They were easy for absolute beginners to learn, and he thought of them as stepping stones for building foundations before advancing to other arts. It was no different for the other Four Introductory Martial Arts. Didn’t many people only train the Four Introductory Martial Arts to minor mastery before moving on?
To this, Cheonhwa shook his head.
“Surprisingly, that’s not entirely the case.”
Ever since he had awakened his spiritual consciousness, Cheonhwa had been examining how intent worked upon martial arts. In the process, he had realized something unexpected.
“The power of the Nine Palaces Footwork and Five Elements Fist changes depending on the user’s capability.”
At that answer, Myeonghwa tilted his head as if finding it strange.
“Isn’t that obvious? Even a third-rate marketplace martial art becomes strong when a master uses it.”
“Similar, but different. With a third-rate martial art, you can’t fully contain a master’s full capability.”
“And the Nine Palaces Footwork and Five Elements Fist are different?”
“Yes. Those two arts can fully bring out a martial artist’s capability as is.”
No matter how outstanding a master, the innate limitations of a third-rate martial art could not be overcome. If one did break free of those limits, it would no longer be a third-rate art but a new martial study created based on it. In contrast, the Nine Palaces Footwork and Five Elements Fist had no such limitations. When a novice used them, they were nothing more than third-rate arts, but when a master used them, they could produce power comparable to superior martial arts. There was a reason the Zhongnan Sect used them as the Four Introductory Martial Arts.
“So what you’re saying, Junior Brother Cheonhwa, is that you can become a master with just the basic martial arts?”
“If your capability is sufficient, it’s theoretically possible.”
“Then why don’t other people just learn the basic martial arts?”
“Because learning superior martial arts is easier and faster for growing stronger than purely cultivating your capability as a martial artist.”
“I get what you mean. People would rather learn superior martial arts than stick with the basics.”
Myeonghwa nodded in agreement. There were many standards for measuring a martial artist’s capability. A well-trained body. An unshakable center. Forms internalized through repetition. The eye to see through an opponent. The courage to maintain composure, and so on. But cultivating such capabilities was an extremely tedious and dull affair. Plain and simple, it required long periods of time and effort. That was why so many people wanted to learn superior martial arts and grow strong the easy way—overlooking the fact that one needed the capability in the first place to master superior martial arts.
“Still, I do want to learn other martial arts besides the Four Introductory ones. Repeating the few forms gets boring easily.”
“To learn other martial arts, you first have to refine the Gyunchon Chukgi-gong to the Third Stage.”
“That’s the problem—it’s not as easy as it sounds.”
Myeonghwa grumbled that the refinement of the Second Stage was getting slower the further he went. The Second Stage of Gyunchon Chukgi-gong was the stage of building the body through external qi arts. Unlike the First Stage, it required actively training the body. At first, growth came as swiftly as a fish in water, proportional to the time and effort invested. But past the fifth layer, progress slowed to a crawl like a turtle. By the ninth layer, it felt as if growth itself had completely stopped. As a result, completing the Second Stage usually took years.
“Still, with the Qi Building Pills, you’ll be able to complete it much faster.”
“That’s the one consolation. Without them, I’d have had to pour a full year and a half into just the Second Stage.”
Then Myeonghwa seemed to recall something and changed the subject.
“Speaking of new martial arts, it made me wonder. What was that sword art Junior Sister Yeonhwa used in the sparring match?”
“Since it’s Junior Sister Yeonhwa, maybe she learned another of the sect’s martial arts?”
“I haven’t heard any talk of her reaching the Third Stage. Or of her learning a family martial art either.”
The sword art Yeonhwa had used at the end was different in nature from the basic sword art. The soft, flowing defense even felt as if it were striking empty air.
“Unlike the Thirty-Six Swords Under Heaven, it’s definitely a soft sword art. But what sword art is it exactly……”
“Clear Wind Sword Art.”
They turned their gazes toward the voice, and an unexpected person was there.
“Junior Sister Yeonhwa?!”
“Hi.”
“Why are you here?”
“Reading.”
It was a sound argument. What else would one do at the Jangseogak but read? But Yeonhwa seemed more interested in the two’s conversation than in reading. Instead of looking at books, she took a seat right next to Cheonhwa.
“What were you talking about?”
“We were talking about where the sword art Junior Sister Yeonhwa used in the sparring match came from.”
“I copied that.”
At Yeonhwa’s following explanation, Cheonhwa and Myeonghwa’s eyes went wide like startled rabbits. Cheonhwa asked to confirm he had heard correctly.
“So the Clear Wind Sword Art you used in the sparring match was something the instructor showed as a preview of what we’d learn later, and you just imitated it?”
“Yeah.”
“……”
Cheonhwa was so flabbergasted he was left speechless. Never mind the guts to use a martial art she’d only seen once in an actual spar—the fact that a martial art she was deploying for the first time had been effective enough for real combat was hard to believe. Myeonghwa was just as stunned and couldn’t close his mouth.
“……Junior Brother, how on earth did you win?”
“I don’t know either, Senior Brother.”
It was no wonder Cheonhwa’s victory over Yeonhwa was called a miracle.
“Then is Junior Sister Yeonhwa going to learn the Clear Wind Sword Art from now on?”
“No.”
Yeonhwa shook her head, then pointed at the martial arts manual Cheonhwa was reading and continued.
“Basics.”
It was a declaration that she would focus on the basic martial arts, including the Four Introductory ones, rather than other arts. The reason she chose not to learn other martial arts even though she could was because of the boy right in front of her. She wanted to know why Cheonhwa had been able to win in the sparring match. And so she intended to delve intensively into the basic martial arts just like the boy. Of course, she felt that alone was insufficient, so she made one proposal.
“Let’s spar later.”
“Spar?”
Cheonhwa couldn’t tell what her intention was in proposing it.
“Why?”
“Because I want to know.”
Yeonhwa said, looking straight at him. In her gaze was pure curiosity, unrelated to winning or losing. It was a desire to understand what kind of person the boy before her was through a spar. To feel curiosity rather than resentment toward the opponent who had defeated her in a spar. It was a reaction as unfamiliar as goodwill itself.
“Can’t we just resolve it through conversation?”
“No.”
“It might be less interesting than you think.”
“Doesn’t matter.”
“Because of my injuries, I’ll need time to recover before I can fight like before.”
“I’ll wait.”
Her firm will to have the spar no matter what was palpable. In the end, Cheonhwa accepted the proposal conditionally.
“Alright. I’ll do it.”
“Really?”
“But wait until I reach the Third Stage of Gyunchon Chukgi-gong.”
“Okay.”
At Cheonhwa’s answer, a faint smile formed on Yeonhwa’s lips.
“See you later.”
Having secured the promise, Yeonhwa stood up to go read. The girl’s departing steps seemed more buoyant than usual. Watching her back, Cheonhwa let out a sigh. Myeonghwa patted his shoulder in sympathy.
“I never imagined Junior Sister Yeonhwa was this persistent.”
“I also never saw Junior Sister Yeonhwa talk that much before.”
Yeonhwa usually didn’t speak much. Even when she did, it was only about official matters; she rarely said anything personal. Her answers were short, so conversations often didn’t last long.
“She must be really curious about you. She even came to me before to ask for information about you.”
“What did you tell her?”
“I told her as it was.”
Of course, he hadn’t gone deep into private life. Things like what he usually did, his rough trajectory since entering the sect, and so on. Only information that anyone interested could find out. Even that was surprising considering Yeonhwa’s usual indifference to those around her.
“Well, it’s not just Junior Sister Yeonhwa. The number of people asking about Junior Brother Cheonhwa has increased a lot.”
“What do you mean by that?”
“Take a look around.”
Following Myeonghwa’s words, Cheonhwa looked around inside the Jangseogak. It was usually a quiet place, but today it seemed unusually crowded.
“As you can see, a lot more people are coming to the Jangseogak, right?”
“Now that you mention it, yes. What does that have to do with anything?”
“It has everything to do with it—you could even say you’re the cause.”
At the claim that he was the cause, Cheonhwa tilted his head.
“Did I do something special that would make more people come to the Jangseogak?”
“What do you mean ‘no’? You beat Junior Sister Yeonhwa in the promotion exam.”
Cheonhwa’s victory had been a pure shock among the entry disciples. And that shock soon turned into questions. Just how could one defeat the greatest talent among the third-generation disciples? To find out the reason, people started following Cheonhwa’s daily routine.
“While you were in the Medicine Hall, a training craze swept through. There were even people training the Nine Palaces Footwork and Five Elements Fist just like you.”
“There were people like that?”
“They’ve all quit by now.”
Those who had tried all said it wasn’t something a human should do. At the same time, they realized something. Only by being able to keep up such insane training could one match a genius.
“But the aftereffects remain, so a lot more people are reading martial manuals in the Jangseogak during free time or doing personal training.”
“All because I won a spar……”
Cheonhwa could hardly believe it. Until now, he had simply charged toward his goal without regard for anything else. Yet when he looked back, there were people following in his footsteps. It was a situation he had never experienced in his short life, and it left him thoroughly bewildered.
But whether Cheonhwa accepted it or not, the way he was treated had changed from before. The boy once called a stubborn hard worker had, before he knew it, become the one walking at the forefront of the entry disciples.