Chapter 212
Translator: Ace
Chapter: 212
Chapter Title: What Am I Supposed to Do...
A bright, clear moon illuminated the darkness.
It was quite late at night.
The time when everyone else was wrapping up their day.
Yet there was one person swinging a sword alone in the training ground.
Or rather, moving.
Namgung Ji-hu.
He was practicing the Emperor Sword Form by himself in the Hidden Dragon Corps training ground.
Even Namgung Ji-yu, who had been training alongside him, had gone inside.
Thanks to the moonlight, the night was bright enough for practice—no issues there.
No, darkness wasn't the problem at all.
The real issue was the cryptic verse that would baffle even under the sun.
Interpret it this way and swing like so.
Interpret it that way and swing like that.
No matter what, he just couldn't figure it out.
It even made him doubt if this was truly the Namgung Clan's strongest sword art.
"This is tough."
It was only natural.
If it weren't, how could it be called the Namgung Clan's supreme sword form?
He hadn't felt this way mastering the Vaulting Sky Carefree Sword Method.
It had been challenging, sure, but never like hitting an impenetrable wall.
'Is this right?'
No matter how much he pondered, he couldn't grasp it.
The first half of the Emperor Sword Form.
His father had demonstrated it just once.
And passed down the manual.
He had memorized it all back at the clan.
There was no way they'd let the Emperor Sword Form manual leave clan grounds.
'Once more.'
Namgung Ji-hu raised his sword.
And moved it along the path his father had shown.
Kik.
But at some point, the motion grew unnatural, his body hesitating.
The reason was simple.
A clash in interpretations of the verse.
His mind was insisting, "That's not the right movement for that verse," and overriding his actions.
The intent to follow what he'd learned warring with his own interpretation.
The two images collided.
"Haa."
A deep sigh escaped him.
He kept getting stuck.
No progress.
At this rate, he'd lose to his cousins for sure.
Unable to even execute a single stance properly.
'Hoo. That's different.'
Ha Mu-baek was watching from atop a distant rooftop.
On his way back to the dorms after meeting Pavilion Lord Pang Do-yul, he'd sensed Namgung Ji-hu's presence and grown curious.
Ha Mu-baek knew the Emperor Sword Form's paths too.
He'd fought alongside the Namgung Clan's direct descendants in the last war.
Yet what Namgung Ji-hu was attempting looked like the Emperor Sword Form... but not quite.
Different from the uniform paths he'd seen before.
That piqued Ha Mu-baek's interest.
Even if he couldn't execute a single stance properly.
Namgung Ji-hu tried moving again, only to shake his head and stop.
"What's wrong? Not going well?"
Ha Mu-baek leaped down and approached.
"I-Instructor Ha?"
Namgung Ji-hu froze in surprise, flustered.
Ha Mu-baek chuckled at the sight.
"What? Practicing your clan's secret technique, and you think I peeked?"
He'd chosen this late hour precisely because no one was around for the Emperor Sword Form.
Namgung Ji-hu's face flushed slightly at Ha Mu-baek's words.
Ha Mu-baek extended his arm.
Gripping an imaginary sword hilt, he moved slowly.
Namgung Ji-hu jolted at the sudden action, but his expression soon turned to shock.
It was inevitable.
Ha Mu-baek was replicating the exact path of the Emperor Sword Form his father had shown.
As if he already knew it inside out.
"H-How..."
Ha Mu-baek smirked at Namgung Ji-hu's stunned reaction.
"Eh, see it dozens of times, and you can mimic it well enough."
Namgung Ji-hu gaped at the words.
Mimic?
That?
It looked more perfect in some ways than his father's demonstration of the first half.
A rough mimicry?
A massive wave of self-doubt crashed over Namgung Ji-hu, making him shudder.
Fierce Dragon Corps Instructor Ha Mu-baek.
What kind of monster was this guy?
He knew he was a freak, but this was over the top.
Why was someone like this just teaching at the Dragon Training Pavilion?
"Emperor Sword Form, right?"
Namgung Ji-hu nodded faintly at Ha Mu-baek's question.
"Why call it Sword Form instead of Sword Method?"
Namgung Ji-hu paused at the question.
A doubt he'd never considered.
One Ha Mu-baek had voiced.
"The Emperor Sword Form your clan's lord's brothers displayed was the Emperor Sword Form. And what you tried before stopping? That's the Emperor Sword Form too. Though between the two, I prefer yours a bit more."
Ha Mu-baek turned and walked away.
It looked leisurely, but he vanished in an instant.
Namgung Ji-hu stared blankly at his retreating figure.
Then snapped to, sitting cross-legged.
"Not a sword method, but a sword form."
He murmured Ha Mu-baek's question softly.
The same old day.
The sun rose, morning training and classes done, lunch finished.
And waiting for the Fierce Dragon Corps cadets: training at the grand training ground.
Their steps toward it were heavy as lead.
The instructors felt the same.
Like cattle herded to the slaughterhouse, they entered, swords and shields in hand, lining up.
Ha Mu-baek already glowered from the platform.
"Today, we add one thing to yesterday's drill."
He crooked a finger.
Dan Mok Un-roe scrambled up at the sight.
"Prepare."
Dan Mok Un-roe assumed basic stance instantly.
"One step forward."
One step ahead.
"Two steps forward."
Two steps this time.
"At ease."
Dan Mok Un-roe straightened.
"See that?"
No response.
"Today's gonna be more fun than yesterday. Back to positions."
At Ha Mu-baek's order, instructors and cadets spread out as before.
And training began.
They hadn't adapted to yesterday's intensity, yet it ramped up further.
"Ugh."
About an hour in.
Groans echoed everywhere.
Even Squad Seven cadets.
Ha Mu-baek had sealed their internal energy from the start.
Ha Seol-ran was drenched in sweat.
Still, Ha Mu-baek drove them mercilessly.
"Urk."
Vomiting cadets started appearing one by one.
Just walking two steps.
It was brutally hard.
Seemed trivial at first, but repetition piled up, bodies trembling.
Ha Mu-baek watched impassively, barking commands.
Instructors under Han Seol-bing endured the same, some starting to puke.
Dinner time passed as expected.
At Ha Mu-baek's glance, Han Seol-bing ended the instructors' training.
Ordered them to circulate energy, then approached him.
"Sit cross-legged from here to here. Rest of you, keep training."
Han Seol-bing took over commands.
Punishment for sloppy form lightened.
Compared to Ha Mu-baek, she showed mercy.
Cadets felt a sliver of relief.
Ha Mu-baek placed his palm on the back of the lead cross-legged cadet.
"Focus."
Internal energy flowed in.
It followed the Three Talents Heart Method paths.
"Circulate it yourself."
He moved to the next, then the next.
Infusing the Three Talents Heart Method energy one by one.
Squad Seven, focused on training, noticed.
"He's being nice."
Dang Jin-san muttered.
Implanting energy right from the heart method basics.
For them, it'd been after some breathing practice.
"No time if we all wanna survive."
Baek Ri-pyeong said calmly.
Dang Jin-san nodded.
"True."
"Who's chatting?!"
Han Seol-bing's icy shout flew at them.
They flinched and dove back into training.
Deep into midnight.
Cadets' training finally ended.
Took time to implant energy in every last one at the grand ground.
Instructors gone already.
"What I gave you is the Three Talents Heart Method. That energy moving through your meridians? That's internal energy. Forget sleep—focus on heart method practice. Or it might slip away."
Ha Mu-baek turned after that.
Most cadets at the grand ground dove into heart method practice.
A few slipped away.
"Tch. Three Talents Heart Method my ass."
As instructors vanished, some stood immediately.
Those from major sects with systematic training.
They'd joined Fierce Dragon Corps for reasons like or unlike Un Hon's.
But they wouldn't practice Three Talents Heart Method.
Doubting even shield training's necessity.
Those few left the ground.
Dang Jin-san watched impassively.
"Idiots. Spoon-fed fortune, and they don't even recognize it."
He still remembered the day Ha Mu-baek first implanted Three Talents energy.
So shocked he'd asked if it was demonic arts.
Probably no different for today's cadets.
Maybe a tad.
Still, an enormous boon.
Yet dismissed for the name Three Talents Heart Method.
"Wait?"
A thought struck Dang Jin-san.
No matter how dumb, they couldn't miss the energy seed in their dantian.
Especially if they'd learned other methods.
That reaction meant...?
"Probably didn't implant seeds like ours."
Baek Ri-pyeong voiced his guess calmly.
Dang Jin-san nodded.
"Weeding out the idiots, huh."
"Too many. Hassle."
Yeon Ha-min's flat words.
Squad Seven nodded, convinced.
Fitting for their instructor.
Ha Mu-baek overlooked the grand ground from Education Hall's roof.
Saw a few leave, ignored them.
Spoon-fed, yet refusing? No forcing it.
Even caring for the willing was taxing.
'Earth Intake, Accumulate Ki.'
Today's lesson: just two principles from Three Talents Heart Method functions.
No verse given—just paths hammered in.
Earth Intake included some Three Vessels insight, so diligent practice would clear meridians somewhat.
Enough for those kids.
They'd form shield walls with swords and shields against damnable jiangshi in Mountain-Crossing Demonic Forest.
'Sweeping jiangshi...'
Ha Mu-baek's gaze shifted to Squad Seven.
'You'll handle that.'
For Squad Seven, he'd added Three Vessels principle.
'Earth Intake, Accumulate Ki, Three Vessels. Basics of the Infinite.'
Still no verse.
Talented kids, so testing fate with full Three Talents Heart Method.
Could they grasp functions via paths alone, stepping into Infinite basics?
If yes, fate aligned. If not, fine too.
They were his first true students since entering the world.
'Wonder if those kids are practicing Three Talents properly.'
Teaching Infinite seed heart method meant nothing without polish.
Dan Mok Un-roe and Baek Ri-pyeong had sect methods too.
"Your business now."
Ha Mu-baek smirked and leaped toward dorms.
"Damn. No seal release—how to circulate...?"
Dang Jin-san grumbled bitterly.
"Works though?"
His head whipped to Yeon Ha-min.
"Huh? It does?"
She nodded.
"Three Talents Heart Method. Circulates. Seal lifting too."
Squad Seven immediately tried.
"It... works."
Seal lifted as she said.
They sank into the method.
Joo Woo-myeong followed suit.
Not taught by Ha Mu-baek, but as Wudang disciple, he knew Three Talents Heart Method.
Seal lifted indeed.
He circulated it.
Ha Seol-ran watched her friends.
"Brother. What am I supposed to do...?"
Only she, ignorant of Three Talents Heart Method, couldn't practice that night.