The True Advantage of Cheonma Shingong
One week ago. Right before the hunter practical exam, I was just about to begin proper weapon training. As I stood there holding a practice sword that still smelled new, Heugryeon asked me,
“Do you know what the real advantage of Cheonma Shingong is?”
“The advantage? Isn’t it destructive power?”
The most distinctive feature of Cheonma Shingong was indeed its destructive power. That much I already knew. At my answer, Heugryeon gave a faint smile.
“Correct. Cheonma Shingong is, by nature, a martial art of destruction.” Her voice was calm and measured. “It can shatter mountains and cleave rivers using only a small amount of internal energy. One might even call it efficient. However—”
“It carries a fatal flaw.”
“That power is simply too rough and ferocious. Due to the very nature of the art, handling it with any real delicacy is nearly impossible.”
“In other words, even in situations where you should use minimal force, you end up expending far too much internal energy. That is why its poor efficiency is its weakness.”
In short, it was like firing a missile to kill a single chicken. Powerful, yes, but incredibly wasteful.
“Even the Heavenly Demons of the past focused solely on projecting their energy outward. Striking harder and more tyrannically was the only way they knew to bring out the art’s true strength.”
Heugryeon pointed at my shoulder.
“But you, Cheonma-nim, who has inherited the body of Nongcheonma, are different.”
“Cheonma Shingong is an art that extends outward. Therefore, Cheonma-nim, you must gather.”
“Gather?”
Heugryeon nodded at my question.
“Yes. Condense your energy—compress it again and again—within that small, flexible body of yours.”
A strange heat had crept into her voice.
“The smaller you make it, the more delicately you refine it, the more endlessly the efficiency of the martial art will rise.”
Once she finished explaining, Heugryeon’s expression quickly returned to its usual serenity.
“Of course, it is not a concept that can be grasped intuitively. It is a problem the successive Heavenly Demons pondered for their entire lives.”
She added gently, as if making allowances for me.
“Since it may not make sense right away, there is no need to rush. Take your time and awaken to it slowly.”
She was right. It didn’t click immediately. Compress the energy small, and efficiency would improve. I could roughly understand the logic, yet it still felt distant.
First things first.
What I needed to do right now was imbue my sword with internal energy. Even if I couldn’t produce sword qi yet, simply coating the blade with internal energy would bring huge benefits in cutting power and durability.
This isn’t working at all.
Unlike channeling power into my fist for a Cheonma Punch, transferring energy into a weapon instead of my own body proved far more difficult. The first day ended in failure. So did the second.
“Ugh.”
The energy I’d managed to layer onto the sword scattered uselessly. No matter how carefully I tried to carve and shape it, the result was always the same.
Then came the morning of the third day.
I was lying in bed, recovering my stamina. In other words, I was mindlessly scrolling through shorts.
“Cheonma-nim. It is about time to begin training,” Heugryeon said quietly.
“J-just a second. I’m… getting some inspiration right now…”
I burrowed deeper under the blanket and mumbled. Ugh. It was way too comfortable in here.
“Understood.”
Heugryeon’s voice came from outside the blanket. She didn’t nag or pressure me. I’d only recently discovered that she wasn’t the type to force training on someone who resisted. I’d always imagined her as the strict, drill-sergeant type.
“Tsk.”
Honestly, her patience only made me feel guiltier.
“I-I’ll come out now.”
Just five more minutes. I flicked the screen upward. A new short began to play.
— Hey everyone, did you know? Oseong just succeeded in their 2-nano process! To explain how huge this is…
The familiar background music played while a TTS voice explained Oseong Electronics’ nano process in simple terms. The takeaway was that the smaller the semiconductor process, the better. Thinner circuits meant less heat, lower power consumption, and faster speeds. In short, the smaller it became, the more insanely efficient it got.
“Oh.”
I shot upright in bed.
“This is it!”
If semiconductors became more efficient the smaller they got, maybe martial arts worked the same way? I immediately flopped back onto the bed, closed my eyes, and focused on my dantian.
I understand now.
Understanding. That was the key.
My brain had unconsciously processed Heugryeon’s words. The knowledge I’d only known on the surface, I had finally internalized. In martial arts, that single step made all the difference.
Once I truly understood, the results changed completely. Instead of forcing the energy down to stop it from scattering, I carved it thinner, finer, more precisely. The internal energy began to obey my will with delicate control.
It was incomparably easier than the first two days. It felt like a dam had burst.
Deeper.
I pushed the energy into the deepest part of my dantian.
It’s working.
Like a black hole, the internal energy compressed endlessly into a single point. Heugryeon’s words—condense, condense—echoed in my mind. If condensation was the answer, I had just found it. Cheonma Simbeop had advanced another level.
The mental method was the foundation of all martial arts. Only with a proper simbeop for handling energy could any technique hold meaning. And a deeper simbeop meant a deeper understanding of every other aspect of the art.
“Wait. This…”
I finished my circulation breathing, stood up, and grabbed the practice sword from the corner of the room.
Just like I felt a moment ago.
Make it smaller. Break it into finer pieces. Handle the internal energy with absolute delicacy.
I channeled the compressed energy into the sword.
Ziiing—
The internal energy seeped naturally into the metal. The blade glowed with a faint heat. When I opened my eyes, the energy hadn’t scattered. A sharp, dark-red aura rested perfectly on the sword.
“How astonishing…”
Heugryeon materialized with a soft rustle, her expression one of pure surprise. “To gain enlightenment in just a few days… Your progress is occurring at an incredible speed.”
“As I thought, there was meaning behind what you were doing on the bed earlier.”
Her gaze drifted to the smartphone still lying on the sheets.
“Ahem. O-of course there was…”
I slowly turned my eyes away from her stare.
Thank you, Jae Dragon.
Because I’d jumped up to train immediately, the phone had kept playing. On the screen, the chairman of Oseong Group was brightly giving a thumbs-up while tearing into a chicken.
And then came the day of the exam.
At the practical examination site.
Thirty-one people had gone before me, but the wait wasn’t long. My turn arrived sooner than expected.
It’s already my turn.
I dragged the heavy sword behind me and stood in front of the golem.
Ugh.
More than a hundred people were staring at me. Having so many eyes focused on me made me strangely nervous.
“Examinee. You must remove the cloth wrapped around your weapon.”
At the supervisor’s voice, I snapped back to reality and began unwrapping the cloth. If you’re going to start the test, at least give a ready signal. How was I supposed to know when to begin if I was just standing here like an idiot?
“U-um, here I go.”
I muttered quietly and circulated internal energy throughout my body. At the same time, I slowly unwrapped the cloth covering the weapon.
“Huh?”
It wasn’t coming off easily. I’d tied it extremely tight on the bus, afraid it might unravel on its own. Carrying a sword openly had felt too conspicuous.
Should I just rip it off?
No. I shook my head. That would be inconvenient on the way home later.
Anyway, the golem won’t attack first.
It should be fine to take my time. That’s what I thought—until the golem, which had been frozen, suddenly lifted its head.
Thud! Thud!
It strode straight toward me and swung its massive iron fist.
“Uwaaak!”
I ducked sharply. The fist grazed just above my head.
Why was it attacking first? None of the thirty-plus people before me had been attacked right away. Everyone had moved in response to an attack. Something was clearly wrong.
Don’t tell me it actually broke?
I remembered examinee number 31, who had been detonating weapons in front of it. Had that person actually damaged the golem?
No.
It had been inspected just before my turn. Even if something had gone wrong, it should have been fixed.
It’s getting faster.
Not only did it refuse to stop, its attacks were gaining speed. Still—
I can dodge this.
I used the footwork I had grown familiar with. Guiyeongbo. The irregular stepping method of the Demonic Cult, favored by every Heavenly Demon in history. Heugryeon’s explanation echoed in my ears.
Guiyeongbo is irregular.
Yet within that irregularity lay precise forms and rules. Therefore, it was also regular.
And inefficient.
Because its balance was broken, it was inefficient. That was precisely why it was effective. Even if the opponent possessed outstanding combat sense, they couldn’t calculate movements that existed outside all patterns. The principle worked perfectly against the golem’s mana-circuit system as well.
My footsteps wove chaotically across the training ground. The golem’s heavy attacks continued to slice through nothing but air.
Should I just hold out like this?
Steam was beginning to rise faintly from its joints, as if it were overheating. At this rate, wouldn’t it stop soon?
It’s ridiculously sturdy, though.
Even after the previous examinee had gone wild, the thing hadn’t taken a single scratch. It was obviously incredibly durable. If I just waited until its battery ran out—
Wait.
I remembered what I’d seen earlier. This golem had just had its magic stone replaced. It was running on a full charge. It could keep this up for a long time. Holding out wasn’t the answer.
“Cheonma-nim.”
Heugryeon’s calm voice reached me.
“Did I not tell you? The greatest advantage of Cheonma Shingong is its overwhelming offensive power. The best defense is also offense.”
As expected, I had no choice but to fight. I didn’t know why the golem had suddenly gone berserk, but—
I gripped the cloth-wrapped practice sword tightly. There was no time to bother with unwrapping it.
“The sword of the Heavenly Demon cannot be hindered by mere scraps of cloth.”
Heugryeon’s voice sounded as if she had read my mind.
Kwaaang!
The golem stomped the ground and accelerated violently. Its target was obviously me.
I drew internal energy up from my dantian. The flow of time around me seemed to slow.
Imbuing a weapon with internal energy is far more difficult than channeling it into bare fists.
Heugryeon’s earlier words. But after a full week of practice, I had mastered it enough to use in real combat.
Gather. Do not disperse.
Whether it was a practice sword or a real one didn’t matter.
If I compress and condense the energy to its absolute limit,
it would become the sharpest weapon in existence.
Ziiing—
I felt heavy energy loading into the practice sword through the cloth.
Whoosh—
The golem leaped into the air. Its target was precisely my head.
It really is broken.
This wasn’t a suppression attack. The trajectory was meant to kill me outright. For a brief moment I wondered why a golem that had just been serviced was suddenly rampaging, but—
Focus on the fight.
This wasn’t the time for questions. The killing intent was clear, which actually made dodging easier. I casually dropped the hand holding the sword downward.
Shuuuk—!
The massive iron mass hurtled toward my neck. I bent at the waist. By a hair’s breadth. Feeling the cold metallic wind brush my cheek, I focused every ounce of internal energy I had drawn from my dantian onto the tip of the blade.
The sword I had lowered, I swung upward with all my strength.
The sword art I had trained until the very day before the exam.
First Form of Cheonma Shingeom — a single flash of condensed dark flame that severs the enemy in one decisive strike.
Hwaaaaaah—!
The thick cloth wrapped around the practice sword burst into flames from the heat. Dark, turbid black fire that seemed to swallow light itself surged along the blade. A dark-red trajectory tore through the golem.
From crotch to crown, the sword carved a perfect vertical line.
Kiiiiiiiig—!
It sounded less like scraping metal and more like the golem itself screaming. Steel crumpled and melted as it let out a horrific death cry. The sword, having struck the golem’s solid armor, did not stop. With a tearing sound, it sliced upward in one flawless motion.
Kuoong—!
“Hoo…”
I slowly straightened my body. The golem that had passed over me now stood motionless right behind me. I corrected my stance and let out a short breath.
“Did I get it?”
I muttered unconsciously while looking at the golem.
Oops.
Whenever I said that, even dead enemies would suddenly jump back up. But contrary to my worry—
Creeeeak—Kuoong—!
The two-meter golem, its cut surface glowing like molten lava, split cleanly in half and collapsed to either side.
And then—
“Uh…”
Behind it, I saw the examiners standing with their mouths hanging wide open.