The Chief Disciple (2)
Only after finishing his report on the recent crisis and weathering the storm of questions from his martial brothers and sisters could Cheonhwa finally collapse into a deathlike sleep in his private quarters.
Even a Peak Expert could do nothing about sheer mental exhaustion.
The next day, Cheonhwa oversaw the training of his juniors in his capacity as chief disciple.
Ordinarily they would have been learning advanced martial arts under their masters. But many of those masters had left the main mountain for the campaign against the Southern Barbarian Beast Palace, and among the Hwa generation, Cheonhwa’s influence had drawn a great many of them into training the Thirty-Six Swords Under Heaven.
Those third-generation disciples who practiced the art all said the same thing with one voice.
“Once you train the mid-section forms of the Thirty-Six Swords Under Heaven, picking up the higher sword arts seems a lot easier.”
It was no illusion. It was the truth.
The higher sword arts dealt in true-qi arts such as sword-qi infusion, Balgyeong waves, and internal weighting methods—and those arts themselves had their origins in the mid-section forms of the Thirty-Six Swords Under Heaven. Master the root, and learning the branches became naturally easier.
On the training ground Cheonhwa watched the disciples with the Six Harmony Sensory Path. Whenever someone stalled, he went to them and told them exactly what was wrong.
Before, even diagnosing a problem would have taken time. After reaching the Peak realm and expanding the range of his spiritual perception, that was no longer necessary. He could simply read what intent had been loaded into body and internal energy the moment a form was executed.
“The linked motions of Heavenly Elegance are tangling because you’re focusing on the thrust.”
“Heavenly Elegance is a continuous form, though. You’re saying the problem is concentrating on the thrust?”
“Yes. In Heavenly Elegance, the recovery is more important than the extension.”
Cheonhwa first imitated the intent he had sensed in his martial brother’s form, then demonstrated the form as it should be performed.
“Do you see the problem?”
“I was so fixed on chaining the thrusts that I got pulled along by them and lost my balance.”
“Exactly. Once balance collapses, the flow into the next motion breaks.”
“I get that much. But what do you mean, the recovery is important?”
“You’ll understand if we cross swords.”
Cheonhwa sparred lightly with his martial brother using only Heavenly Elegance. The other’s form felt choppy and interrupted; Cheonhwa’s never broke, flowing smoothly from one motion into the next. In the end the martial brother’s sword path was swept up in the current Cheonhwa’s had created, and he lost.
“When the recovery is quick like this, you gain room to switch between offense and defense and to respond. That makes it far easier to keep the flow going.”
Mastery of Heavenly Elegance was of great help with any sword art that favored continuous linking motions—most notably the Clear Wind Sword Art, whose movements never ceased, and the Wondrous Fullness Sword Art, which demanded optimal positioning at every step.
Most of the third-generation disciples only asked about forms thirteen through twenty-one. No one requested instruction in the final three forms of the mid-section, and the reason was simple: unlike the nine that came before them, those three were punishingly difficult to learn.
Those three forms are essential for perfecting the mid-section of the Thirty-Six Swords Under Heaven. But do my martial brothers and sisters even care about perfecting the basic sword art?
Heavenly Flash, Heavenly Thunder, and Heavenly Lightning were absolute techniques in their own right—yet unlocking them required understanding the linkage of sword-qi infusion, Balgyeong waves, and internal weighting methods. That demanded considerable time and effort, and putting the same time and effort into a higher sword art would make one stronger more quickly and easily.
To gauge their intentions, Cheonhwa called Myeonghwa and Yeobhwa to his private quarters and asked them outright. Both answered without hesitation.
“Of course we want to learn them! Why else would we be grinding the basic sword art this hard?”
“This humble one feels the same.”
Myeonghwa was one thing, but Cheonhwa had not expected even Yeobhwa—whose mainstay was not the sword—to agree. He blinked in surprise.
“Is that so? I assumed it was only because it helps with learning the higher arts.”
“That’s half of it. The other half is that we want to wield the Thirty-Six Swords Under Heaven the way Junior Brother Cheonhwa does.”
“The way I do?”
“Yeah. At the Dragon-Phoenix Gathering you tore through the field with nothing but the Thirty-Six Swords. You proved a man can become strong with the basic sword art alone.”
The signature martial art of the Zhongnan Sect was precisely the Thirty-Six Swords Under Heaven. Through the Dragon-Phoenix Gathering, Cheonhwa had stamped that fact once more into the memory of the murim—and, without meaning to, into the hearts of the third-generation disciples who had watched the main tournament as well.
“Of course we know that no matter how hard we try, we won’t become Junior Brother Cheonhwa.”
There were many secrets behind Cheonhwa’s strength, but if one limited the discussion to swordsmanship alone, the decisive factor was that he was pioneering the realm of true mastery over the Thirty-Six Swords Under Heaven. That mastery was his alone; no one else could even imitate it.
“But mid-section forms of the Thirty-Six Swords? That’s a different story.”
The art itself was the foundational sword method any Zhongnan disciple could learn. Perfecting the mid-section forms, they reasoned, ought to be within their reach as well.
“Of course, once we actually tried, it turned out not to be that simple.”
“Mastering sword-qi infusion, Balgyeong waves, and internal weighting methods is hard enough. Building the sense to link them together is another matter entirely.”
Simple proficiency in each art could be ground out with time. The sensation of linking them, however, simply would not come—like trying to write two completely different characters at once, one with each hand.
“How did you perfect the mid-section forms so fast, Junior Brother?”
“This humble one wonders the same.”
Cheonhwa told them the truth.
“Thanks to Clear Wind Fine Rain and Elegant Flow Cloud Mountain.”
“Those are the applied forms you created, aren’t they?”
“Yes. Clear Wind Fine Rain combines sword-qi infusion with sword wind. Elegant Flow Cloud Mountain combines sword wind with the internal weighting method. Those two forms trained my sense for using several arts at once.”
The frustration his martial brothers felt was something Cheonhwa himself had endured. He knew exactly how chest-tightening that fog of incomprehension could be. And so he made a decision that would help them.
“I should petition to be allowed to teach Clear Wind Fine Rain and Elegant Flow Cloud Mountain to my martial brothers and sisters.”
“Are you sure about that? Those two applied forms are practically your signature techniques.”
Myeonghwa had watched the birth of Clear Wind Fine Rain from the side and knew how attached Cheonhwa was to those forms. They were the reason he could wield Okgyeong—a blunted wooden sword—as if it were a keen steel blade. The edge of vibrating force that wrapped Okgyeong was practically Cheonhwa’s emblem.
Was it really all right to hand such techniques over without reservation?
Cheonhwa answered with a quiet smile at the corner of his mouth.
“Senior Brother Myeonghwa, I am the chief disciple of the Hwa generation. And a chief disciple has the duty to lead his martial brothers and sisters.”
Myeonghwa had said it himself: the others wanted to become like Cheonhwa. How could he simply leave those who were chasing his back and his footprints to struggle alone?
“If teaching them my applied forms helps my martial brothers and sisters grow, that is a blessing for the Zhongnan Sect—and, more than anything, a joy to me as well.”
Until now the sect had given Cheonhwa so much. It had armed him with martial power to stand against the world. The main mountain had become a sanctuary as dear as a hometown. It had given him martial brothers and sisters closer than blood, and countless other bonds. Now it was Cheonhwa’s turn to give something back.
“But I cannot teach the applied forms immediately. I created both of them without ever considering anyone else using them.”
“So what are you going to do?”
“Refining the formula will take a great deal of trial and error. Above all, I need to watch other people attempt them.”
The intent woven into the formulas of those applied forms fit Cheonhwa like a tailored robe—and was therefore likely to fit anyone else poorly. He would need to take the time to examine the martial formulas carefully.
The process will be difficult, but it won’t be bad for me either.
Examining and correcting the intent embedded in a form would be of enormous help when he later bound that form into the vast ocean of true mastery. It would benefit his martial brothers and advance his own achievement. There was no reason not to do it.
“So you need people to test the forms while you refine them? Roughly how many?”
“I’ll need permission from the Martial Pavilion first, of course, but roughly ten, I would think. Why do you ask?”
“Obviously so I can start screening who among the third generation gets to join the refinement.”
Cheonhwa blinked at the unexpected answer.
Refining a form always carried real danger. A single misstep could tangle the flow of internal energy and plunge someone into qi deviation. They knew that as well as he did—and still they wanted to volunteer?
“Even if you screen people, will that many come?”
“I guarantee they will. I want in myself.”
“This humble one feels the same.”
That even Yeobhwa, a fist artist, was interested made Cheonhwa frown in puzzlement.
“Senior Brother Yeobhwa, for what purpose do you wish to join the refinement?”
“Because this humble one judges that Junior Brother Cheonhwa’s applied forms will also aid fist arts.”
Yeobhwa spoke without the slightest concealment.
“Clear Wind Fine Rain is a form that raises an edge of vibrating force upon a blunted wooden sword, is it not? Bare hands likewise have no edge. So this humble one concludes that the principle can be applied to fist arts as well.”
“That… actually makes a great deal of sense.”
The mid-section forms of the Thirty-Six Swords Under Heaven dealt in the fundamentals of true-qi arts, and those fundamentals applied to martial disciplines beyond the sword. Yeobhwa’s reasoning was sound.
“See? Even Senior Brother Yeobhwa is like this. Who knows—interest might not stop at the third generation. Second-generation martial uncles and even first-generation grand-uncles might take notice.”
“That much?”
“Of course that much! Think about the standing Junior Brother Cheonhwa has on the main mountain. It’s only natural.”
At present Cheonhwa could rightly be called the orthodox successor to the Zhongnan martial lineage, the one who had inherited the founder’s will. Interest in applied forms created by such a person was only to be expected. Even Muwol, chief disciple of the Wol generation, had said their completeness was high enough to be recorded in the martial manuals. How many people would gladly risk danger for a chance to take part in forging such techniques?
“If you announce a selection, they’ll come flooding in. I’ll bet on it.”
“……”
Faced with Myeonghwa’s absolute certainty, Cheonhwa closed his mouth. Mentioning a wager meant the man was thoroughly confident—but Cheonhwa still could not feel it for himself.
Permission first. That has to come first.
Even if he wanted to refine the forms, he needed the Martial Pavilion’s approval. Researching and using them alone was one thing; what Cheonhwa wanted was to teach the applied forms to his martial brothers and sisters as well.
And once word spread that he had filed a request with the Martial Pavilion to refine the forms, Cheonhwa felt the full force of the impact Myeonghwa had described.
How could he not, when—
“Hahaha. You wish to polish your applied forms? Then this old one shall lend a hand as well.”
—Okwon Jinin himself appeared at the discussion of the form refinement.
The unexpected entry of such a towering figure left Cheonhwa feeling as if the world had gone faintly distant.