A Wandering Warrior's Survival Guide - Chapter 43

WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Asakusa

◈ A Wandering Warrior's Survival Guide ◈

Chapter 43: Every Connection Is a Fortuitous Encounter (4)

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Murong Gyu snorted inwardly as they watched Cheon Hwi's retreating back.

‘He won't even last an hour before his head starts hurting and he runs out. How could someone who doesn't even know the Murong Clan's basic inner cultivation method understand the writings in the Martial Classics Pavilion?’

They expected him to find nothing beyond ordinary martial arts manuals at best.

Cheon Hwi's sharp gaze swept across the books filling the shelves.

Light filtering between the shelves faintly illuminated the dust. Watching it drift, Cheon Hwi felt strangely at ease.

The thought that the breaths of masters from ages past lingered within those martial arts manuals filled him with both excitement and reassurance as a martial artist.

Tall bookshelves stood in rows, each hung with a wooden plaque.

There were many categories.

Inner Cultivation Methods. Sword Arts. Fist and Leg Arts. External Arts. Weapons.

Lightness Arts and Footwork.

General Principles of Countering.

Even the classifications alone showed that the collection was vast.

He could not possibly read every book. Nor did he have the courage or confidence to try. Besides, he did not think reading them all would be the best method.

Cheon Hwi already knew what he needed to do.

To advance toward first-rate. No, to reach the middle and late stages of second-rate and narrow the gap to the first-rate wall, the first thing he needed was...

‘Inner energy.’

That was also the first hole he needed to fill. It was the greatest difference between himself and first-rate martial artists, an insurmountable wall of time and training.

Lightness arts would come next, then sword arts, then external arts manuals.

Once he had set his order, Cheon Hwi immediately headed for the central shelves, where the inner cultivation methods were gathered.

There were manuals other than the Murong Clan's inner cultivation methods.

Just from their titles, they were what his body needed now.

Cheon Hwi pulled out four books and stacked them on the table. The one that interested him most was the Murong Clan's inner cultivation manual.

Rustle, rustle.

Not long after he began turning the pages, Cheon Hwi's expression stiffened.

‘...What is this even saying?’

The wording was difficult.

Of course, not only martial arts manuals but Chinese characters themselves were full of implications, their meaning growing deeper or shallower depending on how one interpreted them. But martial arts manuals were worse.

They seemed no different from secret books written by medieval alchemists, filled with metaphors and symbols known only to themselves.

‘Is this really a martial arts manual?’

It was unlike the readily available manuals he had seen until now.

Terms based on the Murong Clan's martial arts kept appearing.

Returning Star True Qi. Star Meridian. Central Palace Returning Flow. Returning-Origin Star Breath.

Perhaps these were easy terms for someone who had learned the Murong Clan's inner cultivation methods, but not for Cheon Hwi.

Still, was it not said that all rivers eventually returned to the sea? No matter how something was expressed, there were things he could grasp once he read them.

‘I’ll skip anything I don't understand for now.’

The elders' confidence that outsiders would not understand even if they saw the books had some basis. Cheon Hwi clenched his teeth.

If he could not understand, he would memorize it. After memorizing it, he could find the same words in other books and compare them.

He opened <Three Origins Righteous Qi Extract> first.

The upper dantian, middle dantian, and lower dantian.

The distinctions between qi and blood, intent, inner energy, and true qi.

The flow of essence, qi, and spirit.

He felt his understanding deepen of the process by which inner energy blossomed into inner qi, and inner qi extended outward as internal force.

At times, Cheon Hwi recalled the book's mnemonic formulas as he continued his qi circulation and breath regulation.

Cheon Hwi read fiercely, as if cutting through the pages with his eyes.

‘There isn't much time.’

Reading even a single martial arts manual required the same intensity as a desperate battle. Before six hours passed, he had to take the elixir and die. Naturally, Cheon Hwi wanted to experience that pain as little as possible.

Rustle, rustle.

Even sitting down with the book seemed a waste of time, so Cheon Hwi dropped down where he stood and devoured the manuals.

Two hours passed.

The Clear Stream Qi-Absorption Formula was a basic qi-absorption method for settling turbid energy and taking in clear energy.

Three hours passed.

The Connecting Meridians, Restoring Origin Formula was a restorative qi circulation method that repaired damaged blood vessels and qi channels.

Four hours passed.

The Lesser Yang Returning Origin Art was an inner cultivation method that circulated yang qi through the body to restore internal injuries and qi and blood.

He had not fully mastered the method, but Cheon Hwi now knew how to sit cross-legged by himself, inspect his damaged internal injuries and qi channels through qi circulation and breath regulation, and restore them. It was a great gain.

‘There are so many kinds of inner cultivation methods. Is this what they call a martial lineage?’

Put another way, it could be called a foundation.

Different inner cultivation methods had been designed and prepared depending on a martial artist's condition, circumstances, and reason for raising inner energy.

The terms that had initially seemed disconnected and vague began to make sense as he pressed through several books. He could roughly guess their meanings now.

‘As expected. The martial arts of a family that has accumulated such long history and tradition are this diverse.’

Cheon Hwi recalled the Well-Returning Moving Art he was cultivating.

The art that let him build inner energy while moving, fighting, and dying.

Cheon Hwi drew a small pill from his robes. The six hours were nearly up.

A Lesser Yang Pill. An elixir awarded by the Murong Clan.

Without hesitation, Cheon Hwi swallowed it.

Before its medicinal energy spread, Cheon Hwi stared into his lower dantian.

‘Oh... Has the pool grown a little?’

It seemed the long time he had accumulated while repeatedly dying in the previous battle had gathered as inner energy.

There were black water stains around it as well, which probably had to be considered turbid qi. Perhaps the turbid qi was also why his internal injuries had not fully healed.

‘Ah... It's coming.’

Soon, Cheon Hwi saw the Lesser Yang Pill fall into the pool with a tiny plop, like a drop of water adding to the inner energy.

Then, as hot energy traveled down his throat and spread through his body...

Rumble...

The inner qi of the Black-Shell Softshell Turtle Elixir, which had yet to fully dissolve into his lower dantian, reacted. The pool began to boil violently.

‘I’ll try to control it... Urk!’

Cheon Hwi tried to absorb the energies, but it was impossible.

“Grrrk!”

No matter how hard he struggled, his lower dantian could not suppress the explosive force of those incompatible energies surging against each other.

Cheon Hwi's body shook violently. His blood vessels twisted. Energy surged in all directions, and excessive power burst forth where it did not belong, exploding through his acupoints.

The wound on his shoulder burst open, and the veins in his wrist swelled hotly. Yang qi tried to warm his wounds, while the black rain tried to swallow that yang qi. Cheon Hwi clenched his teeth against the pain.

“Cough!”

In the distance, he heard the librarian Murong Gyu jump to their feet.

“You madman, suffering qi deviation in the Martial Classics Pavilion...!”

Before the words could finish,

Cheon Hwi's vision went dark.

As always, returning his memories began with recalling his name.

Cheon Hwi died and died again, watching his father's thin back.

His father's back as the man carried his bundle onward.

At some point, his eye level had changed from looking up at his father to looking down upon him.

His father could have said just one thing. Called him a fool for dying again and again just to learn a little more martial arts. Told him that if he was going to do this anyway, what would change if he simply wore the clan's leash a little longer.

But he never heard his father's voice.

After repeating death dozens of times, Cheon Hwi once more stood at the entrance to the Martial Classics Pavilion.

Behind the low table just inside the door, Murong Gyu continued their dry explanation with half-lidded eyes.

Glancing over the permit token, Murong Gyu said,

“Six hours. No copying. No damaging the books. No going above the second floor. If you so much as set foot on the stairs toward the third floor...”

“Yes, I'll be careful. Thank you.”

Cheon Hwi moved before they could finish speaking. Murong Gyu thought nothing of it at first.

But then...

“...Huh?”

Murong Gyu's eyebrow twitched.

Even with six hours, he could not easily find the Murong Clan's foundational manuals, which were secretly and carefully hidden throughout the archive.

Murong Gyu had arranged them that way over many years, like laying out a Mechanism Formation, so that no one could easily find the books without their recommendations or guidance.

‘It won't be easy if he wants to find even one proper Murong Clan sword manual.’

The Murong Flash-Breaking Sword, an advanced swift-sword art of the Murong Sword.

Or manuals that the clan's direct line might learn, such as the Flying Swallow Twin-Stream Sword, which led toward one of the Murong Clan's highest advanced martial arts, were on the third and fourth floors from the beginning.

To reach the insights of those major arts, one could only consult basic explanations, annotated editions, and abridged explanations. In other words, their fragments had been scattered everywhere.

To reach the insights compiled in a single Flash-Breaking Sword manual on the third floor, one first had to gather three or four foundational fragments of the art from below.

And to collect such scattered pieces and bring them to a plausible level of completion, Murong Gyu's advice would surely be essential.

Yet...

“...!”

Pretending to inspect the books, Murong Gyu approached Cheon Hwi in surprise and could not help admiring every book he pulled out.

The books Cheon Hwi casually selected were these:

‘Those books...!’

Murong Gyu did not know whether Cheon Hwi understood what he was selecting, but if he gathered those three martial arts manuals and mastered their principles, they led into a single advanced movement technique.

Like stars pointing to a constellation, once one mastered those movement arts, the location of the next star would reveal itself.

The name of that movement technique was...

‘Meteor Chasing the Moon Movement Technique...!’

The Meteor Chasing the Moon Movement Technique was one of the Murong Clan's highest movement techniques. It was named for how a martial artist's movements and instantaneous speed resembled a meteor chasing the moon.

‘...It must be a coincidence.’

Murong Gyu remained silent for now. They merely pretended to touch the books nearby and rearrange them, clearing their throat uncomfortably.

But after seeing the sword manual Cheon Hwi selected next, Murong Gyu could not help asking in surprise,

“You, isn't this your first time here?”

Cheon Hwi set the book on the table and answered,

“Yes, it is.”

“...You've got an eye for choosing books. Did someone give you a hint before you came in?”

“No. The wooden plaques are clearly written, and everything is neatly categorized.”

“No... Even so... You found only... the good ones?”

“Ah, did I happen to choose the good ones? Then I was lucky. I only picked the ones that felt right.”

What a shameless answer.

Murong Gyu narrowed their eyes but did not ask further. What did it matter if an Outer Hall warrior found the books a little faster?

Yet the more they watched, the more exquisite it was. Cheon Hwi skillfully avoided the books Murong Gyu had placed as feints, selecting only the important ones. Murong Gyu even felt the rare thrill of watching it.

‘Oh, this brat... Really... Oh ho...’

Had they not watched countless people enter, look only at worthless things, and leave?

Even the direct line was no different. More than once, Murong Gyu had thought that they could give them something good if only they would ask for recommendations.

After watching only such frustrating people, meeting someone who recognized good books one after another and scratched that long-standing itch felt deeply satisfying.

The sword manuals Cheon Hwi selected next were the same.

<Flash-Breaking Sword Abridged Explanation>

If a swordsman asked Murong Gyu to recommend a book, they would have picked one of those manuals. Except for the Three Powers Sword Art, of course.

In all the at least fifty years Murong Gyu had spent in the Martial Classics Pavilion, they had never seen someone like this.

‘...Has he been chosen by the books? Does he have an instinct for finding good martial arts manuals?’

Naturally, Murong Gyu knew that this fellow was Cheon Hwi, the one whose name had spread throughout the clan.

At first, they had dismissed it as mere rumor.

But the books Cheon Hwi was choosing and reading were not books that someone with his past could possibly select. He could not understand all those books in the extremely short span of six hours, of course.

That was precisely why Murong Gyu felt sorry for him.

‘He doesn't even have time to read them all... Yet he gathered them so accurately.’

Thinking how disappointed Cheon Hwi would be, Murong Gyu went up to the third floor, took out a book, and dropped it beside him while pretending to reorganize it.

Even Murong Gyu could not understand why.

For over fifty years of guarding the Martial Classics Pavilion, what Murong Gyu had found hardest to endure was watching people who could not recognize books merely let their eyes wander over good ones and leave. Was that not poverty amid abundance? Since there were so many books, there were even fewer people who recognized the truly good ones.

But this wanderer was different.

No one had taught him, yet he was tracing the hidden threads among the shelves. It was as if he understood why Murong Gyu had placed each book where it was.

That was why they could not help bringing down and dropping a book from the third floor.

Thud.

Murong Gyu dropped a book.

“Ahem. A book just f-fell. Dear me... Could you pick that up for me?”

The instant he saw the movement manual's title, Cheon Hwi's eyes widened in surprise before returning to normal.

It seemed to be a book that could fill the gaps in his lightness art, movement technique, and footwork.

“Would it be all right if I read it for a little while before putting it back?”

“...Mm. Hm! Well... Go ahead.”

Cheon Hwi also knew that there was no manual called the Meteor Chasing the Moon Movement Technique anywhere in the first or second floor archives.

The moment he read that movement technique, Cheon Hwi realized something.

He might need to extend his time a little further.

‘What other martial arts manuals can this person bring me?’

Cheon Hwi had found a path toward the fortuitous encounter of obtaining the Meteor Chasing the Moon Movement Technique from Murong Gyu. Now he considered how he might indirectly bring out other books from the third floor.

He had thought of Murong Gyu as merely an old person he happened to pass by.

But now, Murong Gyu looked like a ladder leading to the martial arts manuals on the third and fourth floors.

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