The Small Moon of Cheongwol
Several days had passed since we set off in the carriage provided by the Alliance's Anhui branch.
"...Ugh, my back..."
After sitting with my back pressed against the seat for hours, I groaned and stepped outside the moment the carriage ground to a halt.
We had stopped near a valley. It seemed this was where we would camp for the night.
I walked over to a quiet, gravelly patch of ground and looked back at the carriage. It was still as grand and massive as ever.
At first, I had been amazed by how cushioned it was, but spending days cooped up inside it quickly wore off the novelty.
[That is why I told you to run. It would have been good exercise.]
"You say the craziest things with a straight face, old man."
Ever since we departed, this old man had been spouting nonsense about how I should run instead of riding a carriage or a horse.
"How am I supposed to run that distance?"
It took days even by carriage. Who in their right mind would run all the way?
When I gave him an incredulous look, Yoo Chun-gil replied.
[With enough effort, a single day is more than enough. If you cannot do it, it is simply because you lack effort.]
Hearing him spout such utter nonsense, I shot back immediately.
"Then why don't you use that effort to bring yourself back to life? I don't get why you can't do that instead of pestering me."
[What did you say, you punk? How are those two things even remotely the same?!]
"How are they different? Telling me to solve impossible things with just 'effort' makes even less sense!"
[Oh? Are you dropping your honorifics with me now?]
"...sir!"
It was a bit embarrassing, but this was how we had been spending the past few days. We bickered every chance we got.
In truth, we were both just killing time, using petty arguments as an excuse to banter.
Just as we were in the middle of another round of squabbling—
"No, I mean..."
I cut myself off mid-sentence. Yoo Chun-gil had gestured toward something with his chin.
That gesture meant only one thing.
"Young Master Bang."
"Yes?"
Cheon Ui-jin appeared from behind me, wearing a peculiar expression.
"What are you doing out here?"
"...Ah, I was just meditating for a moment."
"Ah. Meditating?"
"Yes. You could call it a time to search my soul."
Well, it wasn't technically a lie. I was indeed spending time dealing with a foul-tempered ghost.
At my response, Cheon Ui-jin's eyes widened slightly.
"Ah... searching your soul... As expected, you have a deep understanding of such matters, Young Master Bang."
"...Excuse me?"
"A Daoist elder once told me that martial arts and the soul are closely intertwined. Are you studying that aspect as well, Young Master Bang?"
"Ah... Yes. Something... like that."
"I knew it...!"
"..."
Cheon Ui-jin's eyes sparkled as if he had reached some grand, mistaken conclusion. It was incredibly burdensome.
Why has he been acting like this lately?
A cold sweat broke out on my neck. He had been like this ever since we left the branch.
No matter what I did, he would attach some profound meaning to it or watch me with intense scrutiny.
Because of that, I felt self-conscious even when trying to train.
I was reluctant to show off my pathetic swordsmanship.
With him staring at me with such high expectations, I couldn't bring myself to do anything.
Seriously, what is his deal?
I had no idea why he looked at me that way, and frankly, I didn't even want to ask.
"Ah, anyway... how much longer until we arrive?"
I deliberately changed the subject.
It was the only way to break the awkwardness.
"Ah, we are almost there. We should arrive by tomorrow at the latest."
"Tomorrow?"
"Yes. Normally, we would have arrived today, but..."
"Ah."
I understood what he meant. Our arrival was delayed due to the terrain and the weather.
It had rained along the way, and the roads were rough, so it was perfectly understandable.
"I am sorry..."
Yet, Cheon Ui-jin apologized as if it were his personal failing.
Honestly, it caught me off guard.
"Why are you apologizing for that, Young Master Cheon? You didn't do anything wrong."
It wasn't the carriage's fault, nor was it the driver's. And it certainly wasn't Cheon Ui-jin's fault.
He wasn't the one driving the carriage, so what blame could possibly lie with him?
"...Even so, since I am the one escorting you, Young Master Bang..."
"Escorting? We're just traveling together because we have to."
I replied, swallowing a sigh. Over the past few days, I had realized something about him.
This guy walks on eggshells way too much.
Cheon Ui-jin was far more self-conscious than I expected. Excessively so.
I didn't know if he was only like this around me or if he was always this way.
But either way, he was...
A bit of a wimp compared to his looks.
My first impression of him was that he would be sharp and cold, but getting to know him proved otherwise.
"Anyway, it's fine. It's not like anything bad will happen just because we're a bit late."
Actually, the delay suited me fine. I had a lot of things to think over before we arrived.
I'm still not ready.
I had to prepare for any potential emergencies.
Since I had no idea what might happen at Cheongwol Gate, I needed to keep my wits about me. On top of that...
...I still had to do that damn training.
The nightly struggle.
I had to master it before we reached Cheongwol Gate.
Night fell, and the moon rose. It was the time when we would normally gather around the campfire to camp.
If we were still at the branch, I would have been stuck standing guard at this miserable hour.
Instead, I stood holding my sword, my eyes closed.
This was what I had been doing repeatedly over the last few days.
[Can you feel it?]
I didn't respond to the old man's voice. There was no need to answer, nor did I have the luxury to pay attention to him.
The old man surely knew that as well.
[Focus on your breathing. Your shoulders are unstable.]
Even without a reply, he understood my intentions perfectly.
[Do not worry about anything else. Focus solely on the flow.]
The flow. The movement of energy felt within the body.
I focused on my breathing to keep my shoulders from rising, turning my awareness inward.
Something was flowing.
It was so faint that it was barely perceptible, but I could feel a tiny trace of it.
An energy so thin that the slightest anxiety or lapse in concentration would cause it to vanish completely.
I slowly circulated it through my body, careful not to let the thread break.
As I focused on maintaining that state—
[Correct your thoughts.]
The old man spoke, as if he had been waiting for this moment.
[You are not maintaining energy; you are maintaining light. Remember the moon that resides within your body.]
I wanted to curse the moment I heard those words. It was the most abstract nonsense imaginable.
Damn it. How am I supposed to maintain that?
Energy was just energy. Where was this light supposed to be? My eyes were closed, so I couldn't see a thing.
Even so, I grit my teeth and tried. I didn't understand his cryptic words, but I could at least make an attempt.
After all, I had experienced firsthand what the old man was talking about.
Forget the abstract talk of light and the moon.
I simply replicated what my body had felt.
The speed at which the energy moved. The physical sensations I felt back then. The tension in my muscles and the depth of my breath.
I remembered everything and tried to copy it.
This was the homework the old man had given me on the first day of our journey.
'I will show you once, so learn it.'
It had lasted barely ten seconds. That was the brief window when the old man had possessed my body.
In that fleeting moment, what the old man did wasn't anything grand.
He simply kept circulating the energy through my body, and after repeating it a few times, he stepped out and spoke to me.
'Do you remember?'
'Yes.'
'Then keep doing it from now on.'
That was the beginning of it.
...Until when?
'Heh. Until you can do it exactly the same way, of course.'
And so, days passed.
I repeated the process countless times on our way to Henan. I even cut back on sleep to practice, but it wasn't as easy as I had hoped.
Just because I remember it doesn't mean I can copy it perfectly.
Even if I remembered the entire process, my physical body couldn't keep up.
If I calmed my breathing, the energy wavered. If I focused on the energy, my breathing became shallow.
And when I tried to focus on both, my physical posture collapsed.
This is going to take some time.
It would take a long time to replicate the exact form the old man had shown me.
Hmm...
This only added to my worries.
We're arriving at Cheongwol Gate tomorrow. What am I supposed to do?
The old man had said I needed to have this completely under control before reaching Cheongwol Gate.
But time was running out.
...Tsk.
I had told him it would be difficult, but he insisted that it had to be done for his plan to work.
Moreover...
'I even showed you exactly how to do it, and you still cannot manage? Tsk, tsk. You truly are a talentless fellow.'
He had taunted me, rubbing it in.
I know that, you damn ghost.
I had known I lacked talent for a long time. If I had any, I wouldn't have spent a whole year rolling around like an idiot at the branch.
Sigh... Damn it.
Cursing inwardly, I circulated the energy once more.
The Cheongwol Mind Method, was it? It was vastly different from the martial arts of the Bang family that I had practiced my whole life, making it even more difficult.
I had only just managed to keep the energy stable.
I couldn't even begin to guess how long it would take to refine it to the level of natural ease the old man displayed.
The only thing I knew for sure was...
A few days won't cut it.
There was no way in hell I could reach the speed the old man wanted in such a short time.
"This isn't working."
I spoke honestly.
[Hmm?]
The old man tilted his head, furrowing his brow.
[So, do you intend to give up?]
"No, I'm not giving up."
I just couldn't get the hang of it. I needed to grasp the core concept again.
"Show me one more time."
[Haha.]
The old man chuckled at my request.
[It has only been a few days. Even if I enter your body, the duration will not be much longer than last time.]
"That's fine."
The important thing was to verify the feeling again.
Right now, a clearer sense of direction was what mattered most.
[Hmm...]
The old man rolled his eyes as if contemplating my words.
[Oh?]
Suddenly, he raised his head and looked off into the distance.
"What is it?"
[No, it is nothing. I thought I spotted a fox.]
"A fox?"
Where did that come from? I followed his gaze, but I couldn't see anything.
There was only the dense forest stretching beyond the gravel field.
Then—
[Very well.]
The old man spoke.
[It will likely be the same as before, but I shall show you once more out of the goodness of my heart.]
"Goodness of your heart? What load of crap. You're only doing this because it benefits you—"
[If you do not want it, so be it.]
"...but I will do my absolute best to learn."
I swore to myself that I would find a way to exorcise this old man later. He didn't deserve to move on peacefully; he needed to be banished.
I forced a smile while making that solemn vow.
[Heh.]
The old man chuckled and slowly merged into my body.
No matter how many times I experienced it, it was a bizarre sensation.
I still hated the feeling of my body not belonging to me.
Fortunately...
I don't lose consciousness anymore.
I could keep my awareness intact. And though I hadn't tried it yet...
I feel like I could take back control if I wanted to.
An inexplicable confidence told me that I could reclaim my body at any moment.
Clench.
My hand clenched into a fist. At the same time, my eyes closed.
The energy began to stir within my lower abdomen.
I focused on it. First was the speed.
It's three times faster than mine.
The speed of the energy circulation was incomparably faster, flowing in a clean, solid stream unlike my unstable, wavering thread.
There's almost no wasted strength.
My toes merely supported my weight. Was it the breath that anchored the energy?
My muscles relaxed, clearing a path so the energy could flow without hindrance.
How is this even possible?
Whenever I tried to maintain the energy, my muscles tensed up. Moreover, my breathing was too weak to support it.
What was the difference? I couldn't tell.
As always, I simply committed it to memory.
The breathing is slightly faster and deeper than I remembered. Ah, I see. Inhaling deeper keeps the shoulders from rising.
I noted the differences one by one.
What does that stream of energy represent?
The path of energy, crafted with such meticulous detail.
It was forming a shape within my body.
It was different from the messy tangles I created. The shape was like...
A circle... No, that's...
A moon?
Whoosh!
The moment I realized the shape, my eyes snapped open. But it wasn't me who opened them.
Yoo Chun-gil had opened my eyes. And he was staring somewhere.
Old man?
I called out to him, wondering why he was stopping in the middle of the demonstration.
But Yoo Chun-gil spoke first.
"Show yourselves if you have something to say."
Huh?
His words were sudden. What was he...
...Wait.
A chilling realization struck me.
No wonder the old man agreed to my request so easily... Don't tell me?
Shhh! My body raised the wooden sword, pointing it in the direction he was looking.
"I dislike being watched in secret. You had best show yourselves before I decide to kill you."
Hey, you crazy—!
"Or do you want me to come to you?"
The corners of my mouth curled upward.
"If that is what you wish, I shall oblige."
My foot moved forward. The moment he took a step—
Whoosh!
"Crazy bastard...!"
I reclaimed my body. I quickly shut my mouth, swallowing the curse that had slipped out.
I rolled my eyes to look to the side. Yoo Chun-gil was looking at me with his trademark, chilling grin.
[Get a grip.]
I couldn't even voice the curses bubbling up in my throat. I could already sense a presence ahead.
[The foxes are coming.]
I calmed my breathing and wiped away the cold sweat.
Then, I looked forward.
And there they were.
A crowd of people was approaching me.
They wore white martial robes adorned with blue embroidery.
Every single one of them carried a sword at their waist, and the very air shifted with their arrival.
There were just under ten of them.
Their formidable presence made me instinctively shrink back.
They felt entirely different from the martial artists I had seen at the branch.
The middle-aged man leading them asked me.
"Are you Young Master Bang of the Yoryeong Bang Clan?"
"...If I... am...?"
Yes, that's me. Please spare my life.
I barely managed to hold back those words.
I couldn't show weakness after the mess the old man had just stirred up.
The middle-aged man stared at me in silence. More precisely, he scrutinized my eyes.
Thud!
In an instant, all of them dropped to their knees in unison.
"The small moon of Cheongwol Gate greets the successor of the Sword Saint."
On this late night—
Cheongwol Gate had come for me.