The Farewell Gathering
The trouble involving the young master of the Dan Family Manor resolved more smoothly than anyone had expected.
The moment word reached him, the lord of the Dan Family Manor rushed over and bowed his head without delay.
"I offer my most sincere apology for the discourtesy my son showed to the heroes of the Zhongnan Sect and the master craftsmen of the Hyeonhwang Blacksmith."
Right there before every watching eye, he drove his forehead into the floor again and again. It was the tearful sacrifice of a parent desperate to salvage the mess his child had made.
Even Dan Myeong-geuk himself went pale with shock at the sight of a father he had never seen like this.
"Of course I will not end this with empty words. I will accept any punishment gladly, and I will make proper restitution to both the Zhongnan Sect and the Hyeonhwang Blacksmith. In particular, I will offer separate compensation to the young Taoist my son so troubled."
The lord of the Dan Family Manor spoke with his head still pressed to the ground. Avoiding punishment for what his son had done would be difficult, yet a young child's fault was a parent's fault. His earnest plea was that if anyone was to be punished, it should be him.
Judging by Dan Myeong-geuk's lawless arrogance alone, one could guess how thoroughly the boy was the precious jewel of the Dan Family Manor.
Inwol and Gu Un-cheol exchanged opinions by sound transmission.
—I never imagined the lord of the Dan Family Manor would come out this low.
—He has admitted the wrong and even stepped forward with compensation. The Hyeonhwang Blacksmith has no further mind to press responsibility. What of the Zhongnan Sect?
Had someone been seriously hurt it might have been different. The only person injured was Dan Myeong-geuk himself, who had started the uproar and been subdued. Thanks to Cheonhwa driving him out so quickly, the blacksmith had suffered no great damage either.
—First I intend to hear Junior Brother Cheonhwa's opinion.
—He is a party to it, so that is fine enough. But will it truly be all right?
Gu Un-cheol's worry carried a double meaning: the pressure of bringing a boy into a place like this, and the risk of letting a child's view sway a decision of such weight.
Despite that concern, Inwol answered without hesitation.
—Thank you for your concern. But I trust Junior Brother Cheonhwa.
—Ho. To cut it so cleanly, you must place quite a bit of faith in that child.
Inwol only smiled faintly and made no reply.
"You wish to hear my opinion on how the young master should be treated?"
"Yes. You are a party to this as well, so speak your mind freely."
Summoned by the two men, Cheonhwa looked from the lord of the Dan Family Manor to Dan Myeong-geuk and back, sinking into thought.
When the lord of the Dan Family Manor is prostrating himself full-body like that, I don't particularly care for a harsh punishment.
Yet a light one would never correct that insolent youth's habits. He needed at least a promise that would prevent any recurrence.
After careful consideration, Cheonhwa opened his mouth.
"Since no one was injured, confinement ought to be punishment enough. But it must be accompanied by the correction of the young master's habits that started this whole affair. Should the young master ever behave like a thug again, I would ask that a firm pledge be made for a punishment severe enough that he can never rise again as a martial artist."
Hearing that, Inwol smiled faintly. Gu Un-cheol burst into loud laughter.
"Hahahaha! Now I finally see why Inwol was so sure of himself. He could have demanded a heavy penalty, yet instead he asks for reform. The boy has a deep mind!"
The sudden reaction startled not only Cheonhwa but even the lord of the Dan Family Manor. Gu Un-cheol paid it no mind and continued, a thick smile still on his lips.
"Since the party's opinion is thus, the Hyeonhwang Blacksmith will of course follow it."
"I likewise find the opinion put forward by a disciple of my sect thoroughly reasonable."
At Gu Un-cheol and Inwol's conclusion, the lord of the Dan Family Manor recovered his wits and slammed his forehead to the floor once more.
"Thank you for the broad mercy and compassion you have shown! I will most certainly straighten my son's manners!"
Tears streaming, the lord of the Dan Family Manor offered his thanks again and again afterward. In the worst case, not only might his son's dantian have been destroyed, the Dan Family Manor itself could have been shattered. Cheonhwa's temperate judgment was, to him, a rope lowered from heaven itself.
And so the lord of the Dan Family Manor praised Cheonhwa's choice far and wide, and the tale of the incident spread swiftly through Xi'an.
"Did you hear? The young master of the Dan Family Manor who came from Tianyang County caused a ruckus at the Hyeonhwang Blacksmith."
"I heard as well. Past twenty and still unable to rein in his hot blood, so he went and made a scene, did he?"
"Even if there was no real damage, to forgive that—truly, the Zhongnan Sect and the Hyeonhwang Blacksmith have a broad chest."
"That is impressive enough, but the boy Taoist who subdued the rampaging young master in an instant is what sticks with me more. Word is his character is excellent too."
"Ah, I heard that as well. A boy Taoist who wields a mysterious blue-green wooden sword, they said. His name was certainly…"
In the process, the rumors about Cheonhwa—who had subdued Dan Myeong-geuk—naturally spread alongside them.
Knowing nothing of any of this, Cheonhwa was examining the apology gift the lord of the Dan Family Manor had pressed upon him.
It was a pure-white long robe the color of fresh clouds. At a glance it looked nothing special. When he actually put it on, the sleeves hung loose and the hem dragged on the floor; it had clearly been made for an adult, not a child.
What on earth had the lord of the Dan Family Manor been thinking, handing over a robe that did not even fit?
Inwol answered Cheonhwa's silent question.
"It looks ordinary enough, yet they say Heavenly Silk was used in that robe."
"Pardon? Then is this robe a Cheonjam-boeu?"
Heavenly Silk. The silk thread that could be obtained from a spiritual creature known as the Heavenly Silkworm. A garment woven entirely of that thread was called a Cheonjam-boeu—the Heavenly Silk Treasure Robe—and it was a famous treasure said to be uncuttable even by a Peak Expert.
"This is not the imperial household. How would a modest martial family obtain such a treasure?"
Inwol waved a hand, explaining it was not a pure Cheonjam-boeu made solely of Heavenly Silk.
"They luckily discovered a cocoon shed by a Heavenly Silkworm, but there was not enough for a whole garment, so they wove the Heavenly Silk in a lattice pattern."
"Even that alone will blunt cutting attacks to a degree. It is clothing that greatly reduces fatal wounds from blades."
"Exactly. They say the Dan Family Manor came to Xi'an in the first place to find a craftsman who could make a garment with Heavenly Silk. And of all times, their son caused an incident in the middle of it."
"Meaning they never even got to wear the robe and had no choice but to give it to me as an apology gift."
Saying it aloud made the lord of the Dan Family Manor seem almost pitiful. Still, what could be done? It was the retribution for failing to teach his son proper manners. Cheonhwa could only hope the man would raise his child more carefully from now on.
"So then—what did you feel in that real fight you were forced into against your will?"
"The principle of hardness within the Hocheon-gigong was powerful, and I was thoroughly satisfied with it. However…"
As he answered, Cheonhwa's gaze settled on Okgyeong standing in the corner of the room.
"Separate from that, I felt my skill is still lacking when it comes to handling Okgyeong."
"Well, swinging a longsword of that weight is no ordinary difficulty. The only weapon of such weight on the mountain itself is the Hyeoncheoljunggeom given to the chief of the Tae-eul Sword Unit."
"The chief of the Tae-eul Sword Unit—the foremost among even the Zhongnan Sect's elite, you mean."
Ever since he had fully mastered Gyunchon Chukgi-gong, Cheonhwa had never felt his physical ability wanting. Yet it still fell short of freely wielding Okgyeong.
"I believe the task I must solve is securing the physical capacity to swing Okgyeong."
"Even if you obtain a treasure, it means nothing if you cannot use it properly. Well thought. Have you already considered a solution?"
"Yes. I intend to train in the Hocheon-gigong and connect the middle dantian with the lower dantian."
Just as the middle dantian near the heart offered many advantages for circulating internal energy, the lower dantian near the lower abdomen made the body sturdier the more energy was accumulated there. Because the two dantians were independent of each other, stacking energy in the middle dantian did nothing to strengthen the functions of the lower. To obtain the benefits of both evenly, one had to accumulate energy in each separately—an inefficient arrangement.
But if the middle and lower dantians are connected, the story changes.
The energy of the middle dantian and that of the lower would be shared. Even stacking energy in the middle dantian would yield the same utility as stacking it in the lower. That was why any sect that taught middle-dantian methods always prepared a way to link the two. The Zhongnan Sect's higher arts, once fully mastered, naturally connected middle and lower dantian.
Things are going to get busy for a while.
For the sake of the Sinking Heavy Water Tree whose material had been given to him, and for Gu Cheol-mun who had crafted the wooden sword and given it its name, Cheonhwa meant to become a martial artist worthy of Okgyeong.
In a training cavern of the Zhongnan Sect—an individual chamber built so that one could focus on cultivation free of outside interruption—a boy sat cross-legged.
The practice of accumulating internal energy and circulating it together was called breath regulation. Generating true qi through the breath and circulating it through the body to harmonize its flow divided into the Small Heavenly Circuit, centered on the Conception and Governing vessels, and the Great Heavenly Circuit, which used every channel of the body—the eight extraordinary meridians, the twelve regular meridians, and even the finest subsidiary vessels.
A heavenly circuit was the turning of a celestial body once along its orbit. Because a human being was a microcosm, it was fitting to call them another celestial body. Thus the Great Heavenly Circuit was a grand work that traversed the entire microcosm. It took longer than the Small Heavenly Circuit, yet its benefits were correspondingly greater.
The boy—Cheonhwa—drew the long current to its close, settled his breathing, and opened his eyes. The flash of spiritual light in them announced that he had achieved something.
I have reached the minor completion of the Hocheon-gigong.
A little over a year had passed since he began learning the Vast Heaven Qi Art. Though he had spent those days training only the Hocheon-gigong through repeated Great Heavenly Circuits and constant simultaneous breathing, the growth had been far too swift. And something still more astonishing than that remarkable progress had occurred.
I only reached minor completion, yet the middle and lower dantians have already connected.
When the essence of the lower dantian and the qi of the middle dantian came into balance, the path by which essence and qi became one opened—called the Sun and Moon Conjoined. The vitality flooding his entire body was proof that he had reached it.
Cheonhwa lifted the blue-green wooden sword, Okgyeong, that stood nearby. Sure enough, he could raise it more easily than before. He could clearly feel that he had stepped beyond the range where the weight could still throw him about.
Not even great completion, only minor completion, and the two dantians connect. Is this another difference born from mastering Gyunchon Chukgi-gong first?
A function he had thought came only with great completion had arrived at minor completion. That meant fully mastering the Hocheon-gigong might yield an entirely separate function still.
The more I dig, the more new things keep turning up.
Should he be surprised that changing a single order produced this much difference, or surprised that the higher arts had functioned this long without deviation even when the order was not correct? By now he could no longer tell.
Think of it positively. I connected the two dantians sooner than planned.
Cheonhwa swung Okgyeong several times, then carefully stroked the blade of the wooden sword.
When I first took it up it felt so long. It does not feel that way now.
Only a year had passed, yet in that time Cheonhwa's body had grown. His limbs lengthened, his line of sight rose, and he had begun to catch up to the length of the wooden sword that had once been longer than he was.
Stroking Okgyeong, he sank into quiet feeling—then suddenly wondered.
How much time has gone by?
Lost in the Great Heavenly Circuit, he had no idea how long it had been.
Besides, I need to change clothes.
His robes were filthy and gave off a heavy stench; the turbid qi driven out by the Great Heavenly Circuit had clung to the fabric.
I should get out and wash at once.
With Okgyeong slung over his shoulder, Cheonhwa left the training cavern. Returning to his quarters without incident, he washed at once and changed. Then he put on the pure-white long robe interwoven with Heavenly Silk that the lord of the Dan Family Manor had given him. The sleeves and hem had already been adjusted to his height, so they no longer snagged as they had the first time he tried it on.
It is strangely quiet. Why is there no sign of anyone?
With his garments set in order, Cheonhwa found it odd that the Yukhapgamgakdo registered no presence of people. Because the Six Harmony Sensory Path let him examine every detail within its range of perception, he could be certain there was no one inside.
Wait—there is a presence approaching.
It was a familiar presence; he recognized it at once.
"Junior Brother Cheonhwa!"
"Welcome, Senior Brother Myeonghwa."
"Thank goodness—I am not too late!"
"What do you mean by that?"
"You have been in closed-door cultivation for over a month! Today is the day the entrance disciples' training period ends, and they are holding the farewell gathering!"
"……"
As the saying went, while the immortals played, the axe handle rotted. Lost in martial training, he had nearly missed an important occasion.