WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR

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Chapter 15: Southern Heavenly Steel Sword (2)

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I set aside the unsettling feeling from before. I really had heard a voice.

I had not heard anything when I held the other weapons. Why had I suddenly heard a voice when I gripped this steel sword?

‘A steel sword...?’

I looked at the SoDam Sword at my waist.

It was a short sword, but it was still a kind of sword.

And the common link between the SoDam Sword and this steel sword was...

‘Swords?’

That was it.

‘The voices of swords? Voices? Ha! That was it. That was what Sword Heart meant.’

Only then did I realize I had misunderstood those words.

Sword Heart.

I had taken it as a simple abstraction.

Martial Arts manuals sometimes described sensations abstractly rather than stating them outright.

That was what I had assumed, but...

‘It really was Sword Heart.’

The Sword Sage had been called the greatest swordsman under heaven.

Since this was the secret art left behind by the Sword Sage, I had assumed it carried some profound meaning and made it more difficult than it was.

‘So I can only hear the voices of swords, not sabers or other weapons.’

Considering the Secret Records of the Sword Sage and what had just happened, I could definitely hear the voices of swords.

In the end, the SoDam Sword was not special...

“You became special.”

At those words, a thrill ran through my entire body.

At first, this ability had only seemed absurd. Now, it felt entirely different.

The thought that I possessed such a special power filled me with joy.

“Your mouth will split at this rate. Stop grinning and ask this one already.”

The SoDam Sword rained on my parade.

I had suffered through a hard life. Was it so wrong to enjoy this much?

Still, it was right.

‘An opportunity like this will never come again.’

I had never imagined being able to speak with a sword could be this useful.

“So, sweet-talk it.”

I gripped the steel sword's hilt again.

“Haa...”

‘!!!’

I immediately let go of the sword.

That creepy feeling from before had not been my imagination.

The voice sounded like an excited woman putting on a seductive act.

“Why are you even bothered by that?”

‘...That?’

The problem was that it was not a woman's voice. It was the gruff voice of a middle-aged man.

Imagine that voice whispering into your ear.

It was enough to make me dizzy with disgust.

In a bad way.

‘SoDam.’

“What?”

‘Could you just ask it for me? I really can't do this.’

As I trembled all over, the SoDam Sword let out a deep sigh and agreed to try speaking with the steel sword.

But it soon returned with one answer.

“It says that if you want to know, you should negotiate with it yourself.”

‘Negotiate?’

Did this really require negotiations?

I had thought the SoDam Sword was unusual, but this steel sword seemed no less strange.

‘...Tell it I’ll negotiate if it stops making that weird sound.’

“It agrees.”

I was not pleased, but I gripped the hilt again.

I faintly heard something like flaring nostrils, but it seemed to be forcing itself to hold back.

“Forgive my rudeness upon our first meeting.”

‘Fine.’

“Ah... You really can hear my voice?”

The steel sword sounded amazed.

It reminded me of how the SoDam Sword had reacted.

Had swords ever encountered a human who could hear them?

“I have been rude again. I am the Southern Heavenly Steel Sword. That is the sword name my late master gave me.”

It was unexpected.

I had been afraid to touch the sword again, but once we began speaking, it seemed perfectly normal.

Perhaps it had been influenced by its former master, the Southern Heavenly Swordmaster Hoh JongDae, but it spoke with the dignity one would expect from a great hero.

“I am So WoonHwi.”

“Very well, WoonHwi. I am pleased to have formed this bond with you. I heard that you wish to learn my master's Innate Cultivation Technique.”

The conversation was progressing more smoothly than I had expected.

It told me the name of the cultivation technique.

At this rate, it seemed I would quickly be able to learn the technique from it.

‘That’s right. I’m in quite a difficult situation right now. That is why I need to learn your master's cultivation technique.’

“I know. I watched what happened earlier.”

That made things easier.

I thought I could persuade it by explaining that I had to face the twins taught by Bizarre Oddity Evil Heaven.

‘If you saw it, then you know...’

Before I could finish, it replied.

“I understand.”

‘...You understand?’

“Yes. I will teach you.”

What?

It agreed immediately.

Things had progressed so smoothly that I was left dumbfounded.

“My former master, the Southern Heavenly Swordmaster's honor is at stake. If you lose after poorly learning my master's Martial Arts, his honor will be tarnished, WoonHwi.”

‘Ha...’

“Why do you react that way?”

‘No, it’s just unexpected. I thought you would take great pride in your master. I didn’t expect you to be so open-minded.

Well, something like this could happen.

I thought you might say, “I cannot teach my great master's Martial Arts to someone like you, whose dantian is broken.”

I had somewhat expected that kind of response.’

“Interesting. But I am a sword. I was born to be used. I can do nothing on my own. My master's honor is important, but I wish even less for my own value as a sword to be lost.”

This sword was cooler than I had thought.

If it had been a person rather than a sword, I might have wanted to respect it.

“Moreover, I wish for my master's Martial Arts to be passed down to future generations. That is my desire.”

“Keu. This bastard is far too cool.”

Even the SoDam Sword admitted it.

I was relieved that things had gone well.

I had been a little nervous when it said it wanted to negotiate, but it seemed the Southern Heavenly Steel Sword and I wanted the same thing.

Just as I was rejoicing, the Southern Heavenly Steel Sword spoke.

“Now then, shall we begin negotiations?”

‘What?’

I was bewildered by its expectant tone.

‘Didn't you just say that you wanted your master's Martial Arts passed down?’

“That is my wish for my master.”

Then it had something else it wanted?

I heard the faint sound of flaring nostrils in its voice.

“I have been so lonely by myself. Haa... I want you to become my new master and touch my hilt every day, stroke my blade...”

Whoosh!

I snatched my hand away from the hilt like lightning at its revolting request.

That had been a mistake.

Even for a moment, thinking it was cool had been nothing but my misunderstanding.

The SoDam Sword seemed to share my thoughts as it muttered,

“Should we just give up on the cultivation technique?”

* * *

After countless disputes, we finally concluded the negotiations.

The condition was that I would become its new master.

I added my own conditions.

I told it that if it made that perverted, nostril-flaring breathing sound or asked to be touched in that strange way, I would give up on the cultivation technique and abandon it.

Desperate, the Southern Heavenly Steel Sword accepted my terms.

‘Who knew I would sweat this much while negotiating with a sword?’

“Tell me about it.”

The SoDam Sword agreed as though exhausted.

In any case, the negotiations ended safely, and I focused with all my might to sense the cultivation technique as the Southern Heavenly Steel Sword instructed me.

“Innate life energy must be felt with the chest. My former master called the point at the very center of the chest the Central Dantian.”

It was my first time hearing of it.

I had only known the place beneath the navel where Essence gathered as the dantian.

But the Southern Heavenly Steel Sword called that place the Lower Dantian.

‘If there is a Lower Dantian and a Central Dantian, then there must be an Upper Dantian too?’

“My former master said that the center of the forehead, above the space between the eyebrows, is the Upper Dantian.”

‘What kind of energy gathers in the Upper Dantian?’

“I do not know.”

‘He never even mentioned it? You watched him from nearby.’

“He only said that the Upper Dantian was the realm of spiritual enlightenment.”

‘The realm of enlightenment...’

It was too abstract for me to grasp.

But solving the mystery of the Upper Dantian was not important right now.

I needed to sense the innate life energy within the Central Dantian. Yet I could not get a feel for it.

Two two-hour periods had already passed.

“There is no need to make it difficult. Innate life energy is the vitality of life itself.”

‘I know that.’

But I had no idea how to sense that energy.

It felt entirely different from when I first formed Essence in my dantian, so it was difficult.

As I continued struggling, the Southern Heavenly Steel Sword said,

“If it is difficult to sense through mental imagery, it may be faster to experience it through the five senses.”

‘The five senses?’

“The energy of life is most pronounced in extreme situations or when one's life is in danger. If you gain strength you normally could not summon, or feel intense heat rising from within your chest, that is the sensation of innate life energy.”

I was startled by those words.

If it was easier to sense innate life energy in danger, then everything that crazy old man Evil Heaven had forced me to do had not merely been meant to torment me.

‘Had he been trying to develop my sense of innate life energy from the beginning?’

He truly was impossible to understand.

It was hard to define him as merely eccentric.

“Do you think you understand?”

Without answering, I closed my eyes and concentrated.

I recalled those moments to revive the sensations I had felt before.

The time I nearly died after losing my footing while climbing down a cliff, the time I desperately clung to a cliff to survive, and the burning heat I had felt when I consumed the Blood Worm...

Thump! Thump! Thump!

My heart began pounding madly.

It felt as though the blood throughout my body was circulating at high speed.

At the same time, hot energy surged from within my chest.

‘Ah!’

I knew instinctively.

The hot, condensed energy within my chest was innate life energy.

Perhaps it had read the joy on my face, because the Southern Heavenly Steel Sword said,

“Congratulations. That is innate life energy. You have more talent than I expected.”

Its praise made me feel good.

“My former master struggled for months just to sense innate life energy. To do so in only two two-hour periods is truly remarkable.”

‘Months?’

I had not known it took that long.

But in truth, it was difficult to say I was exceptionally fast.

When I thought about it, I had spent two months climbing and hanging from cliffs, and I had faced many life-threatening crises.

Considering that, I was probably not very different from Hoh JongDae.

“Concentrate on the innate life energy.”

As the Southern Heavenly Steel Sword instructed, I focused on the hot energy within my chest.

Innate life energy felt entirely different from when I had first formed internal energy.

It was more refined and purer.

“You should feel a nail-sized essence of innate life energy within the Central Dantian.”

‘Hm?’

I questioned its words.

“Do you not feel it? If so, then unfortunately, your innate life energy may be smaller than that of ordinary people. But it is all right. Once you learn the Innate Cultivation Technique, you can gradually grow that essence...”

‘That is not it.’

“Hm? What do you mean?”

It was the complete opposite.

The essence of innate life energy was not the size of a fingernail as it had said.

Instead, it was about as large as two segments from two fingers placed together.

“...That cannot be.”

The Southern Heavenly Steel Sword spoke in disbelief.

As it muttered to itself that this was strange, it taught me a simple method of guiding innate life energy to other parts of my body.

“Use internal observation to guide the life energy through the Extreme Gate.”

‘Like this?’

As the innate life energy moved along the path it had instructed, hot energy gradually spread through my shoulder and arm to my wrist.

I had thought too much time had passed for me ever to feel this sensation again. The feeling was indescribable.

“Punch the cave wall.”

I was curious too.

I wanted to know how much strength this much innate life energy possessed.

“Whew.”

I steadied my breathing.

Then I threw a punch at the wall.

Boom!

At that moment, crack! The section of the cave wall my fist struck sank inward by about a finger segment, and cracks spread around it.

‘Ha!’

Even I, the one who had thrown the punch, was left speechless by the power beyond my expectations.

The Southern Heavenly Steel Sword muttered in astonishment.

“...So it was true.”

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