Chapter 592
Translator: Ace
Chapter: 592
Chapter Title: Right, Two Steps
That day's training came to an end there.
Just as he had said, Ha Mu-baek continued his conversation with the two children.
It was mostly about the events of that day.
The day Neung Tan first threw his tantrum.
And the day he came back seeking revenge.
They delved deeply into what had happened then, and the emotions they had felt that day.
They slowly traced how the tendencies in the children's martial arts had formed.
And the result was just as Ha Mu-baek had guessed.
Before they knew it, the sun had set.
The conversation had gone on for that long.
In that extended time, they covered every topic imaginable.
Ha Mu-baek now knew most of what had happened in the short lives of these two children.
"Blindly smashing your opponent isn't the way. Nor is just blindly defending."
It was time to wrap up the conversation.
Ha Mu-baek circled back to the starting point of today's talk.
"You might take an unexpected blow while trying to smash them, and if you don't move, you can't bring down the enemy."
"Doesn't that mean everyone ends up the same?"
It was Gong Hae-jun's question.
Thanks to the long conversation, the two children seemed much more at ease with Ha Mu-baek now.
The question cut straight to the heart.
"People are different, so their tendencies can't help but differ. Ten people, ten colors, as they say. But you have to guard against letting any tendency swing to one extreme. No matter what you prioritize, balance and harmony are essential. In that sense, Jun, your thinking leans toward one extreme."
Gong Hae-jun nodded slightly at Ha Mu-baek's words.
"Bin is finding balance and harmony within the tendency she pursues. She seeks stillness and calm, but that doesn't mean there's no motion within it."
A small smile played on Gong Hae-bin's lips at Ha Mu-baek's assessment.
The reason she pursued stillness was ultimately to defeat her enemies, so it wasn't a blind chase for pure calm.
On the other hand, Gong Hae-jun was fixated solely on the three tendencies of strength, dominance, and speed.
Gong Hae-jun's face stiffened.
"Stillness amid motion, motion amid stillness. Pursuing just one disrupts balance and harmony."
The two children nodded faintly.
They understood what Ha Mu-baek meant.
"But what if you reach the pinnacle in a lopsided tendency?"
It was Gong Hae-bin's question.
Gong Hae-jun was mulling over Ha Mu-baek's words, and it was she who raised the doubt.
Ha Mu-baek smiled faintly as he replied.
"Once you reach the pinnacle, it doesn't matter. Have you heard of 'all rivers return to the sea'?"
The children nodded eagerly at Ha Mu-baek's question.
They had overheard it from martial artists chatting in inns.
"Anything carried to its extreme eventually converges. It means that even if you pursue pure motion to the extreme, you'll end up encompassing stillness, and even pure stillness to the extreme will embrace motion."
"Ah..."
Gong Hae-jun let out a low exclamation.
Gong Hae-bin pondered deeply before asking again.
"Then, wouldn't it be harder to reach the pinnacle if you're lopsided toward one extreme? You'd have to embrace the opposite tendency, which is a path you never pursued."
Ha Mu-baek let out a small sound of admiration at her words.
To connect those thoughts so quickly—true talent.
"Right in a way, wrong in a way. Enlightenment to reach the pinnacle can come suddenly or never at all."
Both children tilted their heads at that answer.
It couldn't be helped.
They had only been training in martial arts for less than a month, so discussing enlightenment was far too early.
"Still, it's better to pursue balance and harmony from the start rather than leaning to one side. Lopsided martial arts are unstable and can reveal unexpected weaknesses. There's such a thing as counters. Have a primary direction to focus on, but don't neglect the rest. That sums it up."
As Ha Mu-baek finished, the children still tilted their heads.
It sounded simple yet difficult.
"Keep training, and one day you'll understand it. And one day, you'll grasp it."
Ha Mu-baek said calmly.
Darkness had already settled around them.
"And experiencing it firsthand is better than just hearing about it. Let's have you two spar."
At Ha Mu-baek's words, the children looked at each other.
Until now, they had only repeated what Ha Mu-baek taught them in training; they had never sparred.
"Hold your swords and face each other."
The two children stood at a proper distance, facing one another.
"Begin."
At Ha Mu-baek's command, they moved toward each other hesitantly.
They had never swung wooden swords at a person before.
That's why they showed such caution.
Ha Mu-baek watched patiently without urging them.
Like small children bickering, they swung their wooden swords playfully.
As time passed, their swords gradually took on proper form.
And as it started to resemble a real spar...
The children began moving according to their own tendencies.
Hae-jun unleashed relentless aggressive strikes throughout, while Hae-bin calmly and steadily blocked her younger brother's assaults.
[Right, two steps.]
At that moment, Gong Hae-bin heard Ha Mu-baek's telepathic message in her ear.
Startled, she instinctively followed his instruction.
[Rear, one step. Diagonal left forward, three steps.]
Following the continuous instructions with her footwork, she effortlessly slipped away from Hae-jun's heavy strikes.
And there, glaringly exposed, was Gong Hae-jun's flank.
It was wide open.
Gong Hae-bin naturally aimed for it and thrust her sword, and Gong Hae-jun hurriedly twisted to block, but it was too late.
Tap.
The tip of Gong Hae-bin's sword lightly tapped Gong Hae-jun's side.
If it had been a proper thrust, it would have struck faster and harder.
Unable to bring herself to do that to her little brother, Gong Hae-bin had merely brushed it.
In other words, if she had thrust properly, Gong Hae-jun wouldn't have reacted at all.
Ha Mu-baek spoke as he watched the two.
"Spar as if it's real combat. I understand you held back for Jun's sake, Bin, but don't do that from now on."
"Yes."
Gong Hae-bin answered shortly.
"Jun, you've experienced it now, haven't you? Your skills are evenly matched, yet you left such an easy opening. A sword lopsided to one extreme naturally shows ridiculous vulnerabilities like that."
"Yes."
"Let's head back now."
Darkness had enveloped the surroundings, so the three headed to the inn.
Having skipped lunch, they were famished.
After arriving at the inn and finishing dinner, Ha Mu-baek went up to his room.
The two children washed up and talked in the room behind the kitchen.
Ha Mu-baek had told them not to train anymore today, so they didn't go to the backyard.
"Sis, how did you do that back then? I was shocked."
He meant it.
Gong Hae-jun hadn't imagined Gong Hae-bin capable of such movement.
"Well... Master told me."
"What?"
Gong Hae-jun was startled by Gong Hae-bin's confession.
But soon doubt flooded him.
He hadn't sensed anything at all.
"How?"
"I don't know. It was like a whisper in my ear."
At Gong Hae-bin's words, both children were wrapped in doubt.
When they were in Luoyang, countless martial artists visited the inn, but the children had never heard of telepathy.
"Master is amazing..."
After pure admiration.
"But wasn't that cheating? It's unfair."
As Gong Hae-jun grumbled, Gong Hae-bin thought for a moment before replying.
"I think Master was trying to show you. That even against someone of similar skill, training in an extreme martial art can lead to such a pathetic defeat. He mentioned counters earlier too."
"Ah...!"
"Before the spar, Master said experiencing it firsthand is better. And what he said to you after."
Gong Hae-jun sank into thought without a word at Gong Hae-bin's addition.
Falling Dragon Abyss.
Cheonjung Mountain's northern Thousand-Zhang Cliff.
At the summit, which was also the rear of the Myriad Things Brigade, Bang Sa-uk stood.
He had climbed from the bottomless cliff base to here.
Deep handprints and footprints marked the cliff midway.
He had embedded hands and feet there, using the rebound to leap upward with lightness skill.
Bang Sa-uk gazed south toward the Myriad Things Brigade with eyes tinged faintly red.
He turned his head to look north.
Toward Kaifeng, situated north of Cheonjung Mountain.
During the bloody battle at Falling Dragon Abyss, many from the Righteous Heaven Alliance had joined, especially Beggars' Sect warriors.
Being in the same Henan Province, with Kaifeng directly north of Cheonjung Mountain, it was easy to send large numbers.
The one who led the Beggars' Sect's division leaders back then was Deputy Leader Bang Sa-uk.
Thanks to that support and sacrifice, the Myriad Things Brigade was safe from rear ambushes.
If this place had been breached, the brigade would have suffered massive losses.
But that wasn't the only issue.
If the brigade's numerous fire bombs had been seized, the Righteous Heaven Alliance would have faced even greater damage.
"Which way first?"
His voice reeked of blood.
Bang Sa-uk alternated glances between south and north, seemingly pondering.
"Hm?"
When he looked south again.
Bang Sa-uk tilted his head.
"Ugh. Maybe I don't need to go there..."
What had he sensed?
He finally made his decision.
"Let's head into the darkness together."
Bang Sa-uk stepped north.
A red aura surged from his body.
Right after awakening, right after recovering.
Stronger and denser than before.
His steps were unhesitating.
He headed straight for the Beggars' Sect.
Not casually—he hit every one.
The path to Kaifeng passed many villages, and where there were villages, there were beggars.
Nine out of ten were Beggars' Sect division leaders, and beggar dens were branch headquarters.
Bang Sa-uk missed not a single one.
"Argh!"
"Aaaack!"
Even now, screams erupted from a Beggars' Sect branch.
Bang Sa-uk annihilated every branch along the path.
Not one escaped.
He could do it because he was the Beggars' Sect Deputy Leader.
An exceptional one, with every branch location in the jianghu etched in his mind.
Branches unchanged since then were all crumbling under Bang Sa-uk's hands.
"Children of darkness return to darkness. Keh heh heh."
Bang Sa-uk laughed bloodily.
Demonic energy kept rising in his dantian.
Thus, Yang Ha-hyeon's Beggars' Sect branches were being wiped out.
All division leaders guarding them met death.
"Hm. No branch leader in sight."
Bang Sa-uk muttered after checking the belt knots of the fallen beggar warriors.
At that moment.
Little Wind Beggar, Soyeonggae, the branch leader just returning, froze at the faint bloody scent from afar.
"What is this...?"
The direction was toward his branch.
Now an old beggar, Soyeonggae held the creed that beggars must act like beggars, so even as branch leader, he begged personally.
He had just finished begging and was heading back.
Sensing the blood, he didn't rush to the branch.
Instead, he hid his presence.
Erased his aura.
If the scent reached here, it was already too late—better to cautiously assess than charge in recklessly.
Thus, stealthily observing, moments later.
A man passed Soyeonggae's hiding spot like the wind.
Long after.
Soyeonggae muttered in disbelief.
"B-Bang, Deputy Leader...?"