The Spirit Tree
Beyond the boundary line stretched a broad space not unlike those he had seen on the upper floors of the training ground.
Yet two decisive differences set it apart from everything that had come before.
The first was that this place was not underwater. The crushing resistance unique to the heavy waters had vanished without a trace, and the air felt as fresh as the world outside the training ground. Behind him rose a wall of heavy water; everywhere else, solid rock sealed the chamber. How such an environment could exist in a lightless underground realm where air itself should not have been able to circulate was a mystery.
The second difference stood at the center of the space.
A tree.
A colossal tree that could never have grown so far beneath the earth filled the chamber. Its branches were not bare; they were dense with lush, vivid green leaves. The sheer, vivid presence that flooded every corner of the cavern announced that the tree before him was no ordinary plant.
That tree… it’s a spirit being.
A spirit being—a living creature imbued with spiritual nature, born with mysterious powers comparable to the most profound martial arts. Cheonhwa had never imagined he would one day see with his own eyes a sacred existence he had only ever read about in books.
As if affirming his thoughts, a faint breeze stirred. Leaves rustled softly, and a voice sounded in his mind.
It has been a truly long time since a guest arrived.
It was not sound transmission. The will itself was being poured directly into his consciousness.
I am the Heavy Water Tree—the master of this place, and one might say the other administrator of the training ground. I welcome you, who have broken through the trial and come this far.
“I am Cheonhwa, a third-generation disciple of the Zhongnan Sect. By ‘trial,’ do you mean that boundary line?”
Correct. The boundary line and the darkness nested within it are trials meant to select those permitted to enter this place.
True to its name, the Heavy Water Tree was a spirit being that commanded the heavy waters. The fact that Cheonhwa had been able to breathe freely while submerged was thanks to the tree’s innate power. While the outer formations had been maintained by human hands, the interior of the training ground had long been the Heavy Water Tree’s sole domain. That the heavy-water training ground had endured intact through countless years was precisely because a spirit being watched over it.
Keeping the Heavy Water Tree’s existence secret was only natural. Word that a spirit being resided here would draw every manner of person like moths to flame—even martial artists of the Zhongnan Sect would be no exception. That was why the tree had restricted access to its heart with trials.
The pressure of the boundary and the darkness is a trial of the flesh. Three conditions must be met to pass.
First: one must have cultivated the Balanced Heaven Qi Accumulation Art. This barred outsiders of the Zhongnan Sect; without it, crossing the boundary was impossible.
Second: one must have perfected the Balanced Heaven Qi Accumulation Art. This tested whether the body could endure the trial. Without mastery, the crushing pressure upon crossing the line could not be withstood.
Third: one’s total internal energy must be small. This confirmed that the challenger had trained purely in the Balanced Heaven Qi Accumulation Art alone, and prevented anyone from simply forcing their way through with vast reserves of qi. The pressure that increased in proportion to one’s internal energy the moment one crossed the boundary existed for that very reason.
If the boundary and its pressure are a trial of the flesh, then the darkness is a trial of the spirit.
In pitch-black darkness where one could not see an inch ahead, the rebounding force that grew stronger with every step became pressure itself. Distance became unknowable. Time became unknowable. With every sense untrustworthy and the mind filling with doubt and delusion, only those who could cast aside every obstacle and every temptation and press stubbornly onward could pass.
You are the first to have overcome every trial and reached this place.
“I’m the first?”
Indeed. Countless challengers have come before, yet every last one of them possessed internal energy beyond a certain threshold. Because of that, none of them passed the trial of the flesh.
Cheonhwa could guess the reason. Most who perfected the Balanced Heaven Qi Accumulation Art went on to learn higher-level arts. Only special cases like himself remained with the foundational method alone once it reached the third stage.
In accordance with the ancient pact, I shall grant a gift to the one who has passed the trial. Come closer.
Cheonhwa obeyed and approached the Heavy Water Tree. At once a change occurred in one of its dense branches. Leaves showered down, and the branch itself—now dry and lifeless—fell before him.
He caught the thick limb by pure reflex and his eyes went wide.
What… this branch is absurdly heavy.
Even an iron longsword would have felt lighter. And weight was not its only quality; the wood was unimaginably hard. When he rapped it lightly, the dull clang that answered was the sound of solid metal, not timber.
He looked up at the tree as if to ask its purpose. Sensing his gaze, the Heavy Water Tree answered.
Fashion a wooden sword from that branch.
“A wooden sword… from this?”
Yes. Should you one day wield that wooden sword as freely as your own limbs, there will be no blade in this world you cannot master.
The branch was straight, free of warp, of ideal thickness, and perfectly balanced. As a piece of a spirit being, its toughness far surpassed ordinary wood. With the smaller twigs trimmed and the surface carefully refined, it would become an exceptional wooden sword.
“Thank you. I’ll use it well.”
I too have enjoyed speaking with someone after so long. Leave me now. I wish to rest.
Fatigue colored the voice that echoed in Cheonhwa’s mind. Forming the branch must have cost the tree dearly. Remaining when the administrator of the training ground asked him to leave would have been discourteous. Shouldering the spirit branch, Cheonhwa stepped back toward the boundary.
Darkness once more filled his vision, yet the crushing pressure of his arrival was gone. Instead a gentle force seemed to urge him outward from behind—clearly the Heavy Water Tree was using its power to ease his departure.
Returning to the fifth floor of the training ground, Cheonhwa went straight outside. Having perfected the Balanced Heaven Qi Accumulation Art, he would have no reason to visit this place for some time. Before he left he cast one last look over the familiar chambers, then turned toward the exit passage. Light shimmered across the rippling surface of the water as though offering a final farewell to the departing youth.
Upon returning to the Zhongnan Sect from the training ground, Cheonhwa went straight to Gakhyeon. He had been told to come the moment he reached the heart of the heavy-water training ground and uncovered its secret.
Gakhyeon’s expression upon seeing him was far from welcoming—until his eyes fell on the branch Cheonhwa carried. Understanding at once, he ushered the youth into his private chamber and raised a qi barrier as a precaution.
“With this, no sound will leak outside.”
“So this is a qi barrier. I’ve never seen one before.”
“Only a Super Expert who can freely shape materialized true qi can employ such a technique. It’s no surprise you’ve never encountered it.”
Gakhyeon had Cheonhwa set the branch on a nearby table.
“Judging by that, you reached the heart of the training ground. Tell me everything that happened.”
Cheonhwa recounted his experience. Gakhyeon stroked his beard as he listened.
“I suspected a spirit being might dwell there, but I never imagined it would be a tree.”
“You expected a spirit being, Senior Brother?”
“Maintaining a training ground for so many years by ordinary means is impossible. I simply reasoned that something natural—like a formation—must be at work.”
He added that he had pictured a water-dwelling creature such as a carp or a turtle. Then he examined the branch Cheonhwa had brought.
“It is not itself imbued with spiritual nature, yet as a fragment of a spirit being it possesses remarkable traits. Heavier than a longsword of black iron, and tougher than most famous blades.”
“I’d like to have a personal wooden sword made from it. Is that possible?”
“It can be done, but only a true master craftsman would dare touch it.”
Even trimming the twigs and shaping the wood would be nearly impossible with ordinary skill.
“To work material of this quality, you will have to seek out a craftsman yourself. You cannot entrust something so precious to just anyone, and it would be an insult to the craftsman as well.”
“I’m still only an initiate disciple. Is it acceptable to leave the main mountain for personal business?”
“Of course it is not. A full year has passed since the Night Slaughter Pavilion’s attack, yet the atmosphere remains tense. At the very least you will need to become a first-class martial artist before you may leave.”
Over the past year the Zhongnan Sect had devoted every resource to hunting the Night Slaughter Pavilion that had assaulted the mountain. They had eventually located the branch responsible for the raid, only for the branch leader to take a lethal poison and die by his own hand, erasing every lead. With no further clues, the sect could not afford to lower its guard—and certainly could not allow an initiate disciple who could barely protect himself to wander outside.
Thus, if Cheonhwa wished to forge a wooden sword from the spirit branch, he first had to become a first-class expert as swiftly as possible.
“What you need most urgently is a new internal art and the mid-section forms of the Thirty-Six Swords Under Heaven. Footwork, lightness skills, and protective qi arts can wait.”
Cheonhwa found the advice sound. Perfecting the Balanced Heaven Qi Accumulation Art had completed his body, yet his internal energy remained insufficient. He needed a new internal art soon to fill that gap. Moreover, the mid-section forms of the Thirty-Six Swords Under Heaven contained the sword principles required of a first-class martial artist; they would have to be learned in tandem with the new art.
“Have you already decided which internal art you wish to learn?”
“I intend to cultivate the Vast Heaven Qi Art.”
The Zhongnan Sect’s advanced internal arts numbered four principal methods:
The strong Vast Heaven Qi Art;
the soft Blue Heaven Qi Art;
the extreme-yang Flame Heaven True Qi;
and the extreme-yin Dark Heaven True Qi.
Together they were known as the Four Directions Heaven Arts. Among them, the Vast Heaven Qi Art was the heaviest and sharpest method of Zhongnan, granting exceptional endurance of true qi. It also harmonized innately with the Balanced Heaven Qi Accumulation Art.
According to the Five Elements, the Balanced Heaven Qi Accumulation Art is of Earth, while the Vast Heaven Qi Art carries the nature of Metal.
Earth nurtures Metal—Earth generates Metal. The Vast Heaven Qi Art suited the principle of strength, while the Balanced Heaven Qi Accumulation Art tempered the body. Wielding the Vast Heaven Qi Art through a physique already hardened by mastery of the foundational art would produce devastating power.
The internal art was decided. All that remained was how quickly he could step into the realm of a first-class martial artist.
Cheonhwa began learning the new internal art at once. First he memorized the Vast Heaven Qi Art manual until he could recite every formula without error. Once certain he had missed not a single character, he sought out the martial instructor to request formal transmission.
“I heard you had sealed yourself away in closed-door training, yet here we are already teaching you a new internal art.”
Inwol, who had been assigned to oversee the transmission, smiled with genuine feeling.
“As you know from the manual, advanced internal arts cannot be learned as easily as the foundational methods. Do not rush. Proceed one step at a time. If any problem arises, I will be right here to assist you.”
“I will keep that in mind, Instructor Inwol.”
Cheonhwa sat cross-legged, closed his eyes, and entered meditation.
Zhongnan’s advanced internal arts differed from the foundational methods in many ways; the greatest difference was their use of the middle dantian. Centered on the Jade Hall Point in the middle of the chest, the middle dantian did not strengthen the body through qi accumulation the way the lower dantian did. Instead it focused purely on the energy itself, granting superior efficiency in storage and circulation of internal energy.
First, create the middle dantian.
The method was not greatly different from forming the lower dantian: refine true qi and compress it around the Jade Hall Point. Yet forming a dantian so near the heart carried far greater risk. A single mistake could injure the heart itself—which was precisely why an instructor’s presence was mandatory for every transmission.
Cheonhwa gathered the refined true qi of the Vast Heaven Qi Art at the Jade Hall Point. After roughly the time it took to drink a cup of tea, he opened his eyes.
Inwol, seeing him awaken far too soon, assumed the attempt to form the middle dantian had failed.
“Any discomfort in the body?”
“No, none.”
“Good. That is enough. Even if you fail, so long as your qi and blood are not disrupted you may try again as often as needed.”
“Um… Instructor Inwol. Forgive me for interrupting your kindness, but—”
“What is it?”
“I succeeded in creating the middle dantian.”
“What did you say?”
Inwol could not believe the answer and checked for himself. Sure enough, a middle dantian had formed near the heart.
“You formed a middle dantian in a single quarter-hour?”
Even Yeonhwa, the foremost genius of the third generation, had required a full day to create hers. Confronted with this unbelievable reality, Inwol could only stare in stunned silence.