Mastering Martial Arts (2)
The name that set his heart ablaze.
Martial arts.
Anyone who had read wuxia novels would imagine it: pumping internal energy into their chest to draw out sword qi, or using the techniques of the Flying Dragon to leap across water.
If he could realize that imagination, what couldn't he do?
But now, he regretted it deeply.
“Ha… ha…”
He couldn’t hold back anymore and let out a rough groan.
“Huuu…”
“Spread your legs wider.”
Even his groans didn’t affect Zhuge Hualian.
“Miss… I can’t…!”
“No.”
A firm voice.
“You rested enough earlier, didn’t you? You should be able to endure it.”
“Ha…!”
His thighs felt like they were burning.
“The posture is collapsing.”
Tap.
Zhuge Hualian’s toe lightly touched his leg.
“Wider.”
“Gah! Miss, it feels like my legs are going to tear…!”
“That’s normal at the beginning.”
Zhuge Hualian said casually.
He had been excited by the promise of learning martial arts and started immediately, but he hadn’t expected this.
He thought martial arts would involve basic techniques like Sanjae Simbeop or Neigong accumulation, but what he was doing now was far beyond his imagination.
Ma-bo.
Spread his legs wider than shoulder-width, bend his knees, lower his waist.
It looked simple, but it was no different from the transparent chair punishment he did as a kid.
No, upon second thought, it was even crueler than the transparent chair.
As a kid, he could secretly relax or lean against the wall if no one was looking.
But now, if he tried to use any trick to avoid it, Zhuge Hualian would say:
“Straighten your waist.”
“Spread your thighs wider.”
“The posture is collapsing right now.”
And repeat the same words, tormenting him.
Still, he gritted his teeth and endured under her supervision.
For the sake of mastering the martial arts he had only imagined!
“Uuuuugh!”
Just as his legs were trembling like a puppet dance.
“It’s enough. Now you can relax and rest.”
Zhuge Hualian’s words were heard, and as soon as they did, the strength in his legs completely left him, and he collapsed onto his butt.
“Master, here it is.”
When he confirmed he had sat down, Soso rushed over with water.
In his haste, he drank all the water before thanking Soso.
“Thank you, Soso.”
“What are you talking about? I told you to give it to you after because you might get dehydrated.”
At that, he glanced at Zhuge Hualian.
Was she adjusting it so he wouldn’t die?
And while thinking that, a truly fortunate word came from her mouth.
“Today’s training ends here. It’s better not to overdo it from the start, so rest tomorrow and do it again the day after. Remember.”
But the day after?
This again?
Even now his legs were trembling, tomorrow he probably wouldn’t even be able to walk properly.
And since recovery wouldn’t happen, he shouted desperately at Zhuge Hualian.
“Wait! Zhuge Miss! Wait!”
“Why are you calling out?”
“This martial arts thing, isn’t it about accumulating internal energy through basic techniques like that? As far as I know, just accumulating internal energy makes you naturally stronger?”
Did that touch a nerve?
Zhuge Hualian’s eyes suddenly turned icy cold.
Her narrowed eyes, for some reason, felt terrifying.
“Young master, what you said about starting with basic techniques to become strong is only a story from novels. Reality is different from novels.”
“Eh?”
At that, he recalled the novels he had read here.
Novels where characters become strong in a few sentences.
He tried to recall if there was content like what Zhuge Hualian said, but because there were so many absurd things, he couldn’t remember properly.
However, in modern wuxia novels he read, there were few physical training descriptions, and becoming strong after a few basic techniques was common.
“Martial arts is completed only when the balance of essence, qi, and spirit is achieved.”
Zhuge Hualian drew pictures of essence, qi, and spirit on the ground and explained to him.
At the bottom was essence, then spirit on top, and qi on top, like a pagoda.
Zhuge Hualian pointed to the structure with her finger.
“Just like you said, training by only pulling up qi is like this.”
Because of the giant qi drawn, the pagoda looked precarious and about to collapse.
“Essence and spirit would pile up burdens, and it would be in a state where it could collapse at any time. And in such cases, nine out of ten times, it leads to sudden death or madness from obsession.”
After finishing, Zhuge Hualian redrew the pagoda.
This time, the bottom was large, gradually getting smaller as it went up, a normal pagoda shape.
“By training essence and spirit first, it’s the correct way to practice martial arts.”
Hearing Zhuge Hualian’s explanation, he nodded without realizing it.
“Since you seem to be struggling, I’ll adjust as much as possible. After all, as long as your writing hand is fine, it’s okay.”
“Eh? Miss? I don’t think I need to learn martial arts…?”
However, Zhuge Hualian cut him off immediately.
“No. You must learn it. Who knows what will happen to you if you become famous? You need at least one defensive martial art to protect yourself.”
Zhuge Hualian smiled, but oddly, there was a hint of hostility towards him in that smile.
So, a month passed in pain, and after enduring to the bone, he finally entered the training to feel qi.
“Huuu…”
“Don’t make a sound. Concentrate and feel the energy flowing in your body.”
Zhuge Hualian poured internal energy into his body and guided him to feel the flow of qi directly.
But as time passed, her breathing behind his back gradually became rougher.
Perhaps because she had poured internal energy several times, Zhuge Hualian was also starting to feel the strain.
The problem was that even while she helped him like this, he wasn’t feeling the energy she was putting in at all.
The problem was the Qingming Xinjue she had given him, which she said was the basic of basics that people in the Zhuge Clan learn.
He had to feel the internal energy based on the pronunciation of the Qingming Xinjue, but as a modern person, it sounded like empty words to him.
“Merging breath with heaven and earth, empty your mind.”
“Quiet your essence and clear your spirit.”
These were some of the pronunciations of the Qingming Xinjue, the basics of basics.
Of course, he couldn’t understand the content of these pronunciations.
Modern people like him were used to clear explanations, not abstract phrases.
But thanks to Zhuge Hualian explaining it, he could at least understand some of the Qingming Xinjue.
While repeating the pronunciations of the Qingming Xinjue, a useless question suddenly crossed his mind.
“But don’t wuxia people start learning this from childhood? Then, does that mean they understand such words from childhood?”
If someone has the talent to understand such words, they should be able to write well, right? So, isn’t it a waste of talent?
At that moment, he felt rather fortunate.
Because kids with such talent were learning martial arts with swords, opening a path for him to eat.
If they picked up brushes instead of swords and wrote novels?
Perhaps even Romance of the Three Kingdoms would be hard to succeed.
While fantasizing like that.
“Concentrate!”
“Huh!”
Zhuge Hualian noticed he was daydreaming and shot at him.
At that, he snapped out of it and tried to feel the flow of qi according to the Qingming Xinjue.
After a while with eyes closed.
“Master! Master!”
Soso’s voice calling from afar was heard.
At the same time, the hand of Zhuge Hualian clinging to his back fell off.
“That’s enough for today. I didn’t expect you to feel qi in just a day anyway.”
“Thank you for the help.”
As he turned his head to give thanks, his gaze briefly stopped.
It seemed Zhuge Hualian’s clothes were soaked with sweat and clinging to her body.
Thanks to that, the outlines of her body that were usually hidden by her loose clothes were revealed, and his gaze naturally drifted.
“Hmm.”
After clearing his mind from the cough, Zhuge Hualian was looking at him with a slightly flushed face.
Flutter!
Suddenly, Zhuge Hualian’s clothes fluttered as if blown by the wind.
After the fluttering stopped, instead of the sweat-soaked clothes clinging to her, it was back to her usual loose clothes.
Startled by the sudden change in her attire, he blinked a few times, but Zhuge Hualian said casually,
“I used internal energy to dry my sweat. It’s a small trick. Young master will be able to do it someday too.”
Zhuge Hualian said it was a small trick and that he could do it too.
But since he hadn’t felt qi yet, the words didn’t sink in.
And then.
“Master, what were you looking at just now? How lewd.”
Soso, who had approached unnoticed, teased him playfully.
“What did I look at?”
“I saw it while coming over? The young master was staring fixedly at sister’s clothes that were clinging to her body.”
“That was…”
His mouth went dry for a moment.
He had definitely been staring fixedly.
“It’s a misunderstanding. It has to be a misunderstanding.”
“What misunderstanding?”
“I was looking at Zhuge Miss’s martial arts.”
“Eh?”
“I was looking at her drying her clothes with internal energy.”
“Ah~”
Soso nodded.
Then she smiled faintly.
“So you did see it?”
“You bastard!”
Slap!
Soso, hit on the forehead, grabbed her forehead.
“Ayaa!”
“Stop joking. What did you call me for?”
“Hmph! If I joke a little, this happens?”
Soso said while rubbing the spot that hurt from the slap.
“You have to joke within reason. It’s because of you that Zhuge Miss is in trouble.”
At that, Soso flinched and looked at Zhuge Hualian.
Zhuge Hualian was maintaining a calm expression, but her ears were slightly red.
Soso saw that and made an ‘oops’ face, then shouted.
“W-wait! I’m sorry!”
Looking at Soso like that, he sighed and asked.
“Sigh… So, what is it?”
“Ah.”
Only then did the original purpose come to mind, and Soso clapped her hands.
“Master, the first edition of the print has finally come out!”
Finally out. His masterpiece Romance of the Three Kingdoms: The Biography of Zhuge Liang Part 1 – Red Cliff.
***
“Yes, so you are the top scorer of this Hyeongju provincial exam.”
At that, Gu Unsang shrank, wondering if it was bad news.
It was only natural, because the person in front of him was Gong Yubaek, the Hanlin Academician, the greatest scholar of the era.
“Could it be that I know why I called you?”
“Th-this servant only arrived in Beijing today. Haa… I rushed here immediately upon hearing that the Hanlin Academician was looking for me, so I don’t know the reason.”
Upon arriving in Beijing, he rushed immediately upon hearing someone important was looking for him, but he didn’t expect the important person to be the Hanlin Academician.
Because of that, Gu Unsang answered while trembling in tension.
“Haha, I didn’t call you to harm you. I just wanted to meet you after seeing your answer sheet.”
“Answer… sheet?”
“Yes. Question 3, that was a question I personally set. But somehow, none of them were satisfactory. Except for you.”
“It’s an overstatement.”
Gu Unsang hurriedly bowed.
“I only had good luck.”
“Hahaha, modesty is too much. You passed the exam and became the top scorer, but if you call it good luck, what would the others who failed think?”
“…”
At that, Gu Unsang couldn’t say anything and just lowered his head.
“Well, if you insist it’s good luck till the end, I won’t pursue it.”
He picked up a document on the table.
“It’s not that important. I called you because I wanted to ask you about this.”
What Gong Yubaek unfolded was a copy of the exam answer sheet.
“You definitely had a different answer from the others. How could you write such an answer? Most records from the late Han Dynasty are lost, so there are few who know them.”
Gu Unsang was silent for a moment at Gong Yubaek’s question.
The good luck he mentioned at first.
It was because he accidentally got Romance of the Three Kingdoms.
Without that, he couldn’t have even passed the provincial exam, let alone become the top scorer.
And the answer to Gong Yubaek’s current question.
It was also Romance of the Three Kingdoms.
Thanks to reading the content in that book, he could write the answer to the question.
So, he could say it’s because of Romance of the Three Kingdoms to Gong Yubaek’s words.
But Gu Unsang couldn’t open his mouth easily.
He couldn’t easily answer in front of a great scholar like the Hanlin Academician whether it was right to say he read a novel and got the answer.
He wasn’t sure if it was the right thing to do, and if he did it wrong, he might be accused of mocking the classics.
“What are you hesitating for?”
When Gu Unsang didn’t answer, Gong Yubaek asked again.
At that, Gu Unsang made a decision and put his hand in his pocket.
“Thanks to this book.”
And Gu Unsang took out the Romance of the Three Kingdoms he always carried and showed it to Gong Yubaek.