Chapter 5
Chapter 5
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 005
Chapter Title: Genius Seok Du-myeong, His Past
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In his dream, Seok Du-myeong came face-to-face with his master, Dan Mun-hyeok.
"Du-myeong, from today onward, let's begin properly training in the Heaven-Connecting Sect's martial arts. Our founder, Jang Jin-cheon, had an abnormal dantian just like you and me. That's why he created a unique heart formula called the Clear Wind Heart Formula. This heart formula differs completely from ordinary ones. While typical heart formulas form a dantian, draw in qi from nature, circulate it through the body's meridians, and store it in the dantian, the Heaven-Connecting Sect's Clear Wind Heart Formula uses the dantian merely as a stepping stone to accumulate qi in the three dantians."
"Then where do we store our internal energy?"
Seok Du-myeong asked out of natural curiosity.
"Throughout the entire body."
"Ah... I see."
'Looks like I've fallen for some martial arts scam. Who talks nonsense like using the whole body as a dantian?'
Seok Du-myeong eyed Dan Mun-hyeok—whether master or con artist, he couldn't tell—with deep suspicion.
"I didn't believe it at first either. The idea that such a heart formula could exist in this world... But I soon learned it was possible. Strictly speaking, internal energy is just one way of drawing in nature's qi and accumulating it in the body, and the dantian became the primary storage spot. Over generations, this method became standardized and systematized into internal energy heart formulas, evolving further. The dantian was simply chosen as the most suitable place in the body for storing qi, forming the foundation for all martial arts. There's no absolute rule saying qi must be stored only in the dantian."
'Who doesn't know that? The key point is that everyone else does it that way for a reason!'
Seok Du-myeong grumbled inwardly but didn't voice it.
What he'd learned from meeting Dan Mun-hyeok several times in his dreams was that his master pretended to be mild-mannered on the surface but was petty, held grudges forever, and...
Most importantly, his fingertips stung like hell.
How did he always pick the most painful spots to whack with that damned staff?
Having been beaten three or four times already, Seok Du-myeong dreaded the aftermath of angering his master.
Regardless of Seok Du-myeong's thoughts, Dan Mun-hyeok continued his explanation.
"In that sense, our Heaven-Connecting Sect's founder, the great hero Jang Jin-cheon, was a genius of the ages. He devised a method to store qi in each of the three hundred and sixty acupoints throughout the body, just like dantians. Isn't that incredible?"
"Master, then couldn't anyone accumulate qi that way, even without an abnormal dantian?"
Dan Mun-hyeok looked at Seok Du-myeong with surprise.
"I thought you were just some thoughtless fool, but apparently not."
Seok Du-myeong nodded at first, then felt a surge of annoyance at his master's words.
'How dare this old man judge me like that...'
Dan Mun-hyeok continued.
"I've thought about that too, of course. But the answer is no."
Seok Du-myeong's expression said, 'I'm curious.'
"The Clear Wind Heart Formula begins by using the qi leaking from the dantian to stimulate the acupoints throughout the body. Warriors with normal dantians have no such leaking qi, making it impossible to even circulate the formula from the start."
Heaven-Connecting Sect.
The sect had an awe-inspiring name meaning "connecting to the heavens," yet it somehow felt inherently pathetic.
'Like hell there's no leaking qi—it's not some recyclable trash.'
"From today, you'll cultivate the Clear Wind Heart Formula. First, you must memorize the incantation, so focus and listen as I recite it."
Dan Mun-hyeok recited the entire incantation of the Clear Wind Heart Formula from beginning to end.
The Clear Wind Heart Formula consisted of a thousand characters. It was long if considered long, short if short.
Of course, Dan Mun-hyeok would have to explain its meaning bit by bit, but first, Seok Du-myeong had to memorize the thousand-character core incantation.
The heavens begin from the same place: Tian Shi Yu Chu (天始於如處)...
The incantation started like this, functioning like a code, making it extremely hard to memorize in sequence regardless of the character count.
"Now, recite back as much as you remember."
Though he didn't expect much, Dan Mun-hyeok wanted to test his disciple's aptitude and instructed him accordingly.
Seok Du-myeong stammered through about five hundred characters from memory before saying,
"Master, could you recite it once more? I'll concentrate as hard as I can this time."
After glaring at Seok Du-myeong for a long while, Dan Mun-hyeok recited the thousand characters again as requested.
"Alright, now recite what you remember once more."
Dan Mun-hyeok's voice was flat and emotionless.
Seok Du-myeong hesitated, glancing nervously at his master, then recited the thousand characters from memory.
There were only five or six characters wrong, but he'd gotten through the entire incantation from start to finish.
Dan Mun-hyeok stared at Seok Du-myeong intently for a long time before speaking heavily.
"That's enough for today."
Feeling unnecessarily guilty toward his master, Seok Du-myeong bowed awkwardly, bid farewell, and withdrew.
Seok Du-myeong woke from his sleep.
The encounter with his master had been so brief that it was still the middle of the night.
"What am I supposed to do if I'm not smart? That petty old geezer gets all sulky about it..."
Seok Du-myeong grumbled, but he couldn't shake the unease gnawing at him.
'Ah, whatever. I'll just go back to sleep, damn it.'
Seok Du-myeong closed his eyes again.
Even after Seok Du-myeong left, Dan Mun-hyeok stood blankly in the pavilion for a long time.
"Heaven, earth, spirits, and gods! Thank you for granting me this opportunity!"
Tears welled up in the wrinkled eyes of the aged man. Dan Mun-hyeok was overcome with emotion.
Seok Du-myeong was a genius, though he never realized it himself. His aptitude rivaled Dan Mun-hyeok's own.
When Dan Mun-hyeok had learned the Clear Wind Heart Formula from his own master, he'd memorized it almost perfectly in just two recitations, just like Seok Du-myeong now.
His master had been astonished, jumping up to cheer and dance in joy, proclaiming he'd found a once-in-a-millennium prodigy to succeed him...
According to his master, Dan Mun-hyeok himself had taken over two months just to memorize the incantation—and that was fast compared to past Heaven-Connecting Sect ancestors.
Due to the nature of their martial arts, the Heaven-Connecting Sect couldn't be selective with disciples. Their goal was simply to pass them down without letting them die out.
The founding patriarch, Jang Jin-cheon, was a genius, but later successors ranged from prodigies to ordinary folk.
Many spent their entire lives just learning and transmitting the sect's martial arts.
That the arts had survived unbroken until Dan Mun-hyeok's generation was already fortunate.
Dan Mun-hyeok's own master had found him late and worried endlessly about ending the lineage.
Yet that late-found disciple possessed genius-level talent.
Dan Mun-hyeok's soul had clung to the Clear Wind Sword Manual, unable to pass on, precisely to continue the Heaven-Connecting Sect's line.
But once awakened from the manual, he had at most two years left.
It was nearly impossible to fully transmit the arts even to a prodigy in that time.
Dan Mun-hyeok had wandered the world seeking a disciple but had no luck.
His strong pride was a problem too. Being a genius himself, few prospects impressed him.
He'd naively thought he'd eventually find one worth teaching.
But he never anticipated the sudden clash with the Heavenly Demon, nor his own abrupt injury and death.
There hadn't been time to prepare.
Physically, Dan Mun-hyeok had died.
His soul should have dissipated, but he'd defied heaven to linger, unwilling to be the one to end the Heaven-Connecting Sect.
It was a desperate gamble, and it had paid off.
The Heaven-Connecting Sect's martial arts were few: the Clear Wind Heart Formula for internal energy, Wind Step for movement, Clear Wind Sword Technique and Clear Wind Throw for swordsmanship. They seemed simple, but...
Take the Clear Wind Sword Technique: six initial forms and five advanced ones, each with separate sword sequences, totaling seventy-three intricate and profound moves.
Even prodigies needed at least ten years—no, more—to master it alone.
Thus, whether his disciple was ordinary or gifted, fully transmitting the arts after awakening was impossible.
Yet the seemingly dim-witted Seok Du-myeong possessed genius talent. In terms of aptitude, he matched Dan Mun-hyeok himself.
Seok Du-myeong's physical condition was already decent, per Dan Mun-hyeok's assessment.
After some training to build his frame, he'd be perfectly suited for martial arts.
In two years, he could fully teach and transmit everything.
That genius disciple was now snoring away blissfully...
Seok Du-myeong knew he had some talent for martial arts but never dreamed it was at a genius level.
Seok Du-myeong was an orphan. Truly, he had no memory of his parents' faces; both had passed when he was too young to remember.
Fortunately, a passing ronin elder found the near-dead child abandoned by the roadside and took pity, raising him.
The ronin elder's name was Gong Son-chan.
Gong Son-chan was in his sixties, a spry ronin who had survived to that age thanks to second- to third-rate martial skills.
Having never built a family and living alone, he decided to raise the foundling boy like a grandson.
Gong Son-chan didn't pass on his own surname. Instead, to honor his deceased childhood friend, he gave the boy the friend's surname, Seok, and named him Du-myeong.
As a ronin, Gong Son-chan often left home for days on assignments.
During those times, Seok Du-myeong stayed alone in the house all day.
Gong Son-chan avoided dangerous commissions as much as possible.
Still, steady odd jobs kept Seok Du-myeong fed.
Time passed, and when Seok Du-myeong turned seven, Gong Son-chan, unwilling to let him live illiterate, bought books and taught him to read whenever he had time.
For a ronin, Gong Son-chan had learned reading and writing the hard way.
One reason he taught Seok Du-myeong was his own bitter experience of struggling to learn as an adult.
He didn't want Seok Du-myeong to suffer the same.
Seok Du-myeong was surprisingly bright. No, Gong Son-chan simply hadn't realized it—Seok Du-myeong's aptitude was genius-level.
While Thousand Character Classic took others months, Seok Du-myeong memorized, read, and wrote it in days.
His memory was extraordinary; he never forgot what was taught once.
Gong Son-chan could only gaze at his talent with regret.
The world was divided, with local overlords carving out territories.
The Yan Dynasty's court had lost all central control, existing in name only.
Local tyrants ruled the cities.
The Yan Dynasty held real sway only over Hubei Province, home to the capital Beiping.
Most of the Central Plains—Anhui, Jiangbei, Jiangnan, Shaanxi, Sichuan, etc.—fell under the Murim Alliance, a righteous coalition of nine sects and five great families.
Qinghai and parts of Sichuan were under the Sun and Moon Divine Cult, aka the Demonic Cult.
Zhejiang was the Four Evils Alliance's domain, a coalition of evil sects. Uniquely, the Southern Tyrants, who ignored righteous-evil-demonic divides, dominated Guangdong and southern Guangxi.
Fierce struggles raged as factions vied to expand.
The nominal Yan Empire persisted, allowing trade and some free travel between regions.
It was the age of murim unfolding.
Hubei Province, where Seok Du-myeong and Gong Son-chan lived, lay under Yan rule.
But it wasn't particularly safe or prosperous compared to others.
True to form, the corrupt, incompetent emperor and court had ruined any control.
Hubei's security was worse than most, taxes higher.
Life for the common folk was all the harsher for it.