191. Taboo (7)
Taboo (7)
191. Taboo (7)
"You were doubting your own aptitude. Congratulations on breaking through a wall. And you're misunderstanding something—what you need isn't the Plum Blossom Sword Art. Aren't the Transforming Sword and Illusory Sword already present within that Qi-Guided Sword of yours?"
While I stared blankly, lost in memories of the past, Iseong continued at a leisurely pace.
"Then what is it you intend to teach me?"
"First, let me ask you something. Your Qi-Guided Sword contains four different martial arts, while the sword you wield yourself contains Wudang's Taiji and Mount Tai's Heavy Sword Art. But the internal art underlying your own cultivation is unquestionably an extreme-yang art, correct?"
"Yes. That's correct."
"Extreme-yang art. It boasts tremendous power, much like the Ice Soul Divine Art, but it is not mainstream in the Central Plains. Do you know why?"
"Is it not because it consumes a great deal of internal energy?"
"Wrong. No matter how much internal energy it consumes, that is not a weakness. In real combat, is it not far better to pour your whole heart and strength into defeating the enemy than to die a futile death with nine-tenths of your internal energy still in reserve? The weakness of an extreme-yang art is that it cannot accommodate any other internal art. Like a raging fire, it burns away every other form of internal energy."
Iseong explained it step by step, more like a scholar than a martial artist. Just as he said, the Flame Emperor had completely burned away the internal energy I had cultivated at Baek Clan Estate before beginning to build it anew. In Son Yeong's case, by contrast, the faint traces of the Taiji Art and Moonlit Divine Sword's internal art she had cultivated over several years never particularly clashed. Even Jeong-hyang had switched internal arts several times—from the Taiji Art to the Great Clarity Internal Art, and from there to the Ice Soul Divine Art—without any particular problem.
"What is the name of that martial art of yours?"
"It is the Flame Blossom Art. I heard it is the signature art of Flame Emperor of the Four Heroes of Dong-o."
"The Flame Blossom Art. A fine name. Then let me ask one thing. From a Taoist's perspective, to which energy does the Flame Blossom Art truly belong?"
"Naturally, it belongs to yang energy. What's more, it's an extreme-yang art."
"You are strange indeed. You surpass Ok-cheong in Taoist studies, yet at times you are this simplistic. How could a Taoist such as you divide all creation simply into yin and yang? Viewed in terms of yin and yang, it is correct to call it a yang-energy martial art, but what if we view it in terms of the Five Elements?"
He spoke like a skilled teacher, guiding me with questions until I found the answer for myself. As though bewitched by them, I opened my mouth and answered.
"In the Five Elements, naturally, fire. As the name Flame Blossom Art itself says, it is a fire-energy martial art."
"Indeed. It is a fire-energy martial art. The ultimate pursuit of the Tao is to form the natural body. However, have you ever once in your life seen a spectacle where only fire exists in the world? Fire burns all things, but after everything is burned away, it has no choice but to go out, does it not? That extreme-yang art of yours is an exquisite art so highly perfected that it is difficult for it to blaze any further. But making that flame stronger is simple. For wood makes fire stronger.
"Yin-Yang and the Five Elements. To cultivate fire energy, learn an internal art based on wood qi."
"Wood qi?"
Even with Iseong's precious advice, a martial art based on wood qi—frankly, I had no clue. Martial arts originally imitated the powerful aspects of nature in order to grow stronger. Fire and metal held a formidable image that animals instinctively feared, making them easy to use as visualization images for martial arts, and endlessly flowing water, too, was easy to imagine in things like Wudang's Taiji Sword. But wood? Did such a thing even exist? Even in the Paleolithic era, wood had not been the strongest tool. A martial art based on wood. If this were a fantasy world, at least some kind of healing-system image would begin to form, but as for wood qi in martial arts, I couldn't even begin to imagine it.
"I see you really don't know. What energy do you suppose Mount Hua's martial arts embody among the Five Elements?"
"Pardon? Mount Hua? It can't be?"
"Yes. 'It can't be,' indeed. Could the plum blossom that symbolizes Mount Hua possibly be fire, or water, or metal, or earth? Even when a mountain crumbles in a typhoon, a tree puts down its roots and flexibly sustains its body, and a single small seed can grow into a vast tree that casts shade over wide lands. You—your Taoist title is Yeongmok, was it? Frankly, I'm a little disappointed."
Ah... So embarrassing. I was so embarrassed I wanted to die. He was right. Now that I thought about it, a martial art based on soft movements rooted in a solid lower body, like judo from my past life, was close to the image of wood.
"Everyone misunderstands, but Mount Hua's true hidden strength does not come from the Plum Blossom Sword Art. The splendid plum blossom is but for a moment; it is only when the roots are sturdy that the tree truly becomes a plum tree. Young disciples who don't know this struggle desperately to unfold the Plum Blossom Sword Art with insufficient internal energy. Mount Hua's Sword Fragrance comes not from the Plum Blossom Sword Art, but from its internal art."
Like the female martial artist of Mount Hua I had seen the day before, many young martial artists of Mount Hua were more absorbed in sword techniques than in internal energy, diligently unfolding the Plum Blossom Sword Art with internal energy that could not even manifest Sword Qi. I had thought that was a reasonably rational tactic, but in the eyes of a Mount Hua elder like him, it seemed to be quite an unsightly sight.
"The Violet Mist Internal Art. Surely you don't fail to know even this name? I shall recite the essential formula only once. How much you gain from it is entirely up to you."
"The Violet Mist Internal Art?! Is that not a secret transmission of Mount Hua?"
"I do have at least that much authority, you see. And besides, are you not the grandson of my disciple? The master is as a parent, so if I teach one thing to a great-grand-disciple, the Sect Leader, my junior brother, will likely let it pass. Whether the Violet Mist Divine Art will be a help to you, who has already reached the first-rate realm through a fire-energy martial art, or a hindrance, or utterly useless—only Heaven will know that."
—The Violet Mist Internal Art! In life, I searched all the world for a wood-energy martial art to replace it, yet this internal art, which had no connection to me, has reached you!—
Naturally, Flame Emperor, who knew more than enough about wood-energy martial arts, let out an exclamation, unable to hide his excitement. Before I could even answer, Iseong recited the essential formula of the Violet Mist Internal Art. Naturally, even if my aptitude had risen a little, my head could not possibly remember that difficult formula after hearing it just once, but with the Four Heroes, who were brimming with interest in Mount Hua's secret transmission, and with Hwangseong's efforts—whose intelligence, if not wisdom, was of the very highest order—the single transmission was able to end perfectly.
"Then do your best to work at it. If the Supreme Deity's benevolence truly exists, a fragrance will eventually begin to issue from your sword as well. If that comes to pass, even if you unfold Wudang's Limitless with that Flame Sword Aura of yours, the crowds who cannot grasp Limitless's abstruse principles will feel the Sword Fragrance from your blade and praise Mount Hua's martial art."
Reverend Iseong smiled brightly, patted my shoulder, and walked out of the training hall. Faced with such an immense gift, I bowed toward his retreating figure. On the face I glimpsed for a moment, an expression of utter satisfaction was plainly written. Stronger than me or weaker, the bearing of a perfect senior of the martial world drew a bow even from an irreverent person like me. So that was the pleasure of teaching someone a thing or two. Perhaps I ought to try it myself someday.
Flame Emperor, together with the heroes and Hwangseong, examined the content he had heard, then asked me to yield my body to him and entered the first Microcosmic Orbit of the Violet Mist Internal Art. A sensation as if my spine were cooling. The Violet Mist Internal Art, renowned enough in the Martial World to be called the Violet Mist Divine Art, boasted a truly complex qi-circulation method, but well, qi-circulation and energy conduction were always Flame Emperor's responsibility, and since it was hard to find anyone with as deep an understanding of martial arts as him, the qi-circulation concluded without major issue.
The truly fascinating sensation was that, in the end, the Violet Mist Internal Art was devoured by the Flame Blossom Art without even managing to settle into my dantian. For a wood-like Violet Mist Divine Art to settle stably in my dantian, which was like a furnace, considerable time and effort would be needed, but even the Violet Mist Internal Art that vanished in that way greatly nurtured the Flame Blossom Art, like fine firewood.
In the past, when I had thirsted so desperately for power, no such miracle had existed. Yet after I obtained power, miracles appeared one after another. No—not miracles, but opportunities. To a pauper, the chance to earn a billion felt farther away than the stars, but a chaebol encountered countless chances to earn a billion. Power begot new power. Grateful for this considerable and unexpected harvest, I offered a prayer to the Jade Emperor enshrined in Mount Hua Estate's Daoist hall even without Hwangseong's urging, then left the estate.
"You, your build is truly enormous. Are you really a woman? Aren't you a man dressed as a woman?"
As I left the Mount Hua Estate, in front of the manor, the female disciple of Mount Hua who had narrowly missed entering the Four Phoenixes in the previous day's women's division match, a woman of the Zhuge Clan I was seeing for the first time, and the Four Phoenixes champion Nangong Hye had surrounded a large woman and were sneering at her.
"Heheh. I'm big because I take after my grandfather, but I am a woman. My breasts are big like this too, and I had my menarche not long ago."
Nun Suyeon of the Mount Tai Sect, scratching her head with an innocent smile at words that were plainly insulting no matter who heard them.
"Good heavens. From afar, one would think you a man. But you—you're not with your daughter today? Did you fight with your daughter?"
"That young lady isn't my daughter; she's Young Lady Cho-ryeong of the Yeongsan Sect. I'm still sixteen, I tell you. If I had such a cute daughter, I'd truly be delighted, but since I've devoted myself to the Buddhist order, I've given that up."
Even in the face of obvious mockery, Nun Suyeon smiled goofily, looking very pleased about something, recalling Cho-ryeong's face.
"Well, indeed. That explains it. I thought something was strange. With a face like yours, it's utterly impossible for such a cute child to exist."
"I thought you'd kidnapped her or something."
"Devoting yourself to Buddhism, you say? A fine choice. Frankly, with a face like yours, miss, it's hard to find a marriage match."
The bitches gathered around Nun Suyeon, each taking a turn at a word. Whether Nun Suyeon was truly a fool, or whether Mount Tai, with its weak standing, sought to avoid conflict with the martial artists of the Nangong, Zhuge, and Mount Hua Clans, she simply stood there smiling with a troubled face.
"Novice Nun, what are you doing here?"
As I revealed my presence and approached them, displeasure was painted across the three women's faces.
"Oh? Young Master Baek? What business could you, Young Master Baek, have at the Mount Hua Estate?"
She spoke with a face full of welcome.
"While I was watching the Dragon-Phoenix Gathering, Reverend Iseong of the Mount Hua Sect brought me here."
The Mount Hua woman was visibly startled by Reverend Iseong's name.
"Reverend Iseong? I know him. He's an elder of Mount Hua Sect, isn't he? Wow. Young Master Baek. You were an impressive person, weren't you? And how did you come to know Reverend Iseong?"
"A few days ago, we spent a little time together concerning the matter of Reverend Hyeon-gang. But, Novice Nun, Young Lady Gyeong Su-yeon calls me Young Master Baek because she is a hometown friend of mine, but I am currently not the young master of the Baek Clan Estate; I am a Taoist of the Yeongsan Sect."
"Eh? Then shall I call you Reverend? Doesn't Young Master Baek seem friendlier? Our faces even resemble each other, so may I just call you oppa?"
Although her appearance closely resembled Geo Am's, these eyes were more innocent than anyone's. Even if she had not been Geo Am's descendant, I liked her very much.
"Then that would be fine. I have as many as two sworn younger brothers, but this is my first sworn younger sister."
Young Master Peng Gang aside, if I, Byeok-geum, and Nun Suyeon were gathered together, we would likely look quite well-matched. Nun Suyeon clapped her hands and beamed brightly at the word 'sworn younger sister.'
Right. I needed at least one cute younger sister too, instead of nothing but perverted younger brothers.