Polishing the Rough Stone
Duseong and Hwaung both nodded after listening to my explanation. Duseong seemed convinced there wasn’t a single gap in my plan, while Hwaung looked as though he was simply awed by Dasa-hyung’s sheer force of will.
“First, I’ll take a look at Duseong’s swordsmanship. Draw your blade and show me your sword form from the beginning.”
At my words, Duseong drew his sword with a tense expression.
Clang.
Duseong began to demonstrate the Jigeom Sect’s sword art. The Jigeom Sect possessed a technique called the Jigeom Eighteen Sword Forms, and as the name suggested, it consisted of eighteen total stances. Ordinary disciples could only learn as far as the fifteenth form. Of course, learning the last three would not make a drastic difference anyway.
“I’ll begin.”
Duseong slowly started to perform the sword forms. In truth, I didn’t need to study his movements in such painstaking detail, but there was a reason I was making him do it this way. If I corrected his swordsmanship after carefully examining every flaw, he’d trust me far more than if I simply pointed at him and said I was changing it.
I had to take these two into dangerous places.
Those who venture into the unknown need absolute trust in me.
The Jigeom Eighteen Sword Forms were at a level I could perform even with my eyes closed. If I only refined Duseong’s technique a little, he could become a useful piece on the board for my plans.
Clang.
After Duseong finished all eighteen forms, he let out a long breath. Watching him struggle for air, I sighed inwardly.
The current Jigeom Sect is so weak it’s practically just a martial hall in name.
A warrior who was winded after performing only fifteen forms. Even the Kunlun Sect wouldn’t have accepted someone of this level as a mere initiate. Still, there were no better options. I would have to forge Duseong and Hwaung, the only people I could use right now, into something more reliable.
I’ll make up for what they lack with my own experience.
I looked at Duseong and said, “Hmm. From what I can see, your stamina is the biggest problem. From now on, you’ll train your endurance with me every day, and I’ll correct the forms one by one.”
“Yes, Dasa-hyung!”
Duseong’s eyes began to shine. In the Jigeom Sect, my martial skill was overwhelming. After my regression, especially, I possessed an even stronger level of power than before. My training methods were something the disciples admired, and I had never shared them with anyone.
“Next, Hwaung. I don’t need to look at anything else for now. You’ll train the way I teach you, at least for the time being.”
Hwaung, who had been preparing to demonstrate his sword form after Duseong, blinked his eyes wide.
“Huh?”
“There’s no need to perform your sword form. To begin with, you don’t have the talent to become a swordsman.”
“D-Dasa-hyung.”
At my blunt and accurate assessment, Hwaung’s gaze shook violently. He had entered the Jigeom Sect as a child and spent years training in swordsmanship. So hearing, all of a sudden, that he simply didn’t have the talent to be a swordsman had to be a shock.
“It’s the truth. Accept it. But not having talent as a swordsman doesn’t mean your life as a martial artist is over. You need to see the world more broadly, Hwaung.”
“See the world more broadly?”
“Right. Swordsmanship isn’t the entirety of martial arts. From what I can tell, your body is small and your arms are short, which means your talent as a swordsman is practically at rock bottom. But those same physical traits are ideal for training external cultivation.”
Hwaung stared at me in a daze.
“Ex... external cultivation? But our sect doesn’t have any external cultivation methods...”
“Exactly. The Jigeom Sect doesn’t possess external cultivation. But what’s so special about it, really? If you can keep taking hits and endure for a long time, that’s external cultivation enough in my book. So I’m going to turn you into a body that can withstand being hit over and over. What do you think?”
“A body that can withstand being hit for a long time... It sounds a little unsettling, but I kind of want it.”
A look of earnest curiosity appeared on Hwaung’s face. His response made even me pause for a moment. I’d just told him I was going to teach him how to take beatings, and he looked positively interested.
“Right? Sounds tempting, doesn’t it? Then I’ll take that as agreement that you’ll be training with me too.”
“Yes, Dasa-hyung. Please guide this lacking disciple.”
I smiled with satisfaction.
With that, the first step of my plan had been set in motion.
***
Whoosh.
From top to bottom.
Whoosh.
From left to right.
Blood dripped from the tip of the blade as it was swung over and over again.
“Huff... huff...”
Duseong’s face was full of pain as he repeated the same motion countless times. He had already swung his sword thousands of times. The blisters on his hands had burst, blood was flowing, and it ran down the blade. But Hwaung never gave up; he gritted his teeth and kept the movement going.
“Good. I really like that kind of grit. In that case, add another thousand.”
I ordered Duseong to keep repeating only that one motion. What he was doing now was close to fundamental training. It was a method used by the Kunlun Sect when raising martial artists for beast hunting. Unlike fighting other martial artists, beast hunts depended heavily on stamina and endurance.
In duels between people, a sharp and powerful strike matters most, but fights with beasts usually turn into one-sided slaughter.
Of course, that was true only after the murim had accumulated a certain amount of information about beasts. Before that, the martial world still relied on high-level experts for beast hunting. But that was a grotesque waste of manpower. Beasts had appeared, and yet the murim was still trapped in its sect-versus-sect rivalries. On top of that, all the interests tied to beast-related resources only made the competition and hostility between sects worse.
“Aaaagh!! A-th... a thousand?”
“Yeah, a thousand. What, is that too few? Want me to add another thousand?”
“N-no! One thousand repetitions, understood!”
Afraid the number might increase, Duseong hurriedly endured the pain.
Whooosh.
“Your trajectory is starting to drift. Then it’s invalid.”
At my criticism, Duseong clenched his teeth and steadied his sword. During the early stages of training, this kind of correction often forced him to start over from the beginning more than once.
“Aaaah!”
Duseong shouted and swung again. I watched the path of his blade grow more consistent and smiled to myself. This sort of training had two advantages.
First, it builds the endurance to keep swinging a sword. Second, it teaches you to strike exactly as instructed, no matter the situation.
Lower-ranked beasts tended to follow predictable behavior patterns. Against creatures like that, using fixed forms was efficient. Once a beast’s rank rose, intelligence began to factor in, and the story changed.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh.
The sword tip whistled with greater force each time Duseong swung it. Through endless repetition, he was becoming more accustomed to the same form, and the power behind it was steadily increasing.
“Good. It’s finally beginning to bear fruit.”
At my praise, Duseong’s spirits rose as well. He had been suffering like a dog, and just as he felt every ounce of strength drain from his body, the sword’s power was increasing instead.
“H-Huh? I definitely feel like I’m about to die... So why is this actually working...?”
“That’s how it’s supposed to be. To bring out the true power of a form, you have to know how to let go of your strength. Simply forcing yourself to use it doesn’t make the form stronger. If anything, your body stiffens and everything becomes unnatural. This training builds endurance, lets you perform the form smoothly in any situation, and most importantly, teaches your body how to release excess force. In other words, it’s excellent training. Now then, let’s take a short break.”
Since Duseong had achieved a small victory, I decided to give him some rest. A fitting carrot for someone who had earned a result would become the driving force that pushed him forward again.
“Th-thank you...”
At my order to rest, Duseong stopped swinging. Yet he couldn’t hide his exhilarated expression as he looked down at the hand gripping his sword.
Drip. Drip.
Blood was still flowing, but it didn’t hurt at all. No, he felt a surge of elation unlike anything he’d ever experienced before, and strength seemed to be returning to his entire body.
Step.
Without even being told, Duseong took his stance again. Then he began swinging once more.
Whoosh. Whoosh.
I watched Duseong, who was hacking away at the air with all his might, with satisfaction, then turned my gaze aside.
“Let’s see...”
There, Hwaung was running around the training yard with heavy iron pouches strapped all over his body. Hwaung truly had excellent basic physical conditioning. At first, I had made him wear pouches filled with sand, but he hadn’t looked particularly exhausted even then.
I could tell he was healthy, but I didn’t expect him to be this good.
As expected, my guess had been right. Hwaung’s martial skill ranked notably low even within the Jigeom Sect, but that was simply the result of having walked the wrong path. Watching him, I felt my eyes brighten.
If I raise him properly...
What I especially liked about Hwaung was his calm, heavy presence. A martial artist who stood at the forefront of a battle against beasts couldn’t afford to lose his composure no matter what happened. In that respect, Hwaung was more than acceptable.
“Hwaung, can you keep running?”
At my question, Hwaung wiped the sweat from his face and answered stoutly, “Yes, Dasa-hyung. I can keep going.”
“Good. Then you run until I tell you to stop.”
He flinched for a moment, but Hwaung still answered, “Yes!”
I sat to one side and fell into thought for a moment.
I should adjust the initial plan a little.
In truth, the two disciples were supposed to be the ones I’d use to wipe out the beast den I was planning to target, but I hadn’t been overly concerned with their safety. That didn’t mean I intended to teach them carelessly, of course. If they couldn’t do their jobs properly, I’d be the one put in danger.
But seeing Duseong’s unexpected grit and Hwaung’s unexpectedly promising talent, I changed my mind.
For now, I’ll raise them enough that they can stay by my side a while longer.
I was still short on resources, but I already had an endless supply of future momentum waiting for me. Smirking, I thought of the rare treasures I would seize one or two steps ahead of the great sects of the martial world. I could even feel the disciples shivering when they looked at me like that.
Step.
I collected my thoughts and took a seat at one side of the training yard. At this late hour, only I and the two disciples remained there. Everyone else had already finished training and gone back to their quarters. At first, when word spread that I would be teaching the two of them, several disciples had lingered behind.
I had never been one to show much interest in the other disciples’ training.
So when they heard I was going to instruct these two, curiosity had spread like wildfire.
After all, no matter what anyone said, I was the strongest expert in the Jigeom Sect. But their interest quickly faded. They watched the way I trained the two disciples, clicked their tongues, and gave up.
Clang.
I drew my sword from its scabbard.
Then I settled into my stance.
“Good. Time for me to move on to the next stage too.”