WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR
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Chapter 170: If I Hear the Dao in the Morning, I Can Die by Evening (10)
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Hwagokja stood quietly in the Hall of Manifest Dao.
Eight jars had already been completed.
Only the two jars representing yin and yang remained.
At the command of Hwagokja, the Sect Leader, the first-generation disciples had thrown themselves into this undertaking as if their lives depended on it.
But in truth, Hwagokja's heart was not bound to the jars.
It would be fine if the jars were completed.
It would be fine if they were not.
Some would attain insight through the process of breaking them over and over. Even if they failed to do so and forced them to completion, that would not be bad either. In the end, precious teachings would be inscribed here. For those taking their first steps, they might serve as a signpost.
“Master. I came because I have something to ask you.”
Hyeonjung, Wudang's eldest disciple, came to stand beside Hwagokja.
The jar before Hwagokja was the seventh one.
It bore an image of Zhang Sanfeng dressed in thoroughly tattered clothes.
The same outfit in summer or winter.
Zhang Sanfeng wandered wherever they pleased in those shabby, ugly garments and slept wherever they pleased.
Gen. The mountain's course.
It represented Loss of Self among the stages of cultivation: Clear Heart, Loss of Self, and Nonaction. One was no longer shaken by others' gazes or influenced by external things.
Hyeonjung gazed silently at the jar before speaking.
“I've been thinking about the realm of Loss of Self.”
“What about it?”
“Loss of Self is the realm where the heart is no longer shaken by external things, is it not? So I thought about how to achieve it. Wouldn't it work if I became very large?”
Hwagokja turned to look at the disciple. A faint, unreadable smile appeared.
“I would become very, very large and encompass all things. Then I would no longer be shaken, would I? That is why it is Gen, the mountain's course.”
Just as a great ship was not easily rocked.
Just as a mountain did not turn its gaze this way and that.
Hwagokja spoke.
“You are wrong.”
“...Is that so?”
“Yes. If you do as you say, you have already twisted the meaning of Loss of Self. Did Zhuangzi not say, ‘I have buried myself’? Where is that meaning in what you said?”
“...Doesn't it mean killing one's former self and becoming something far greater? Like a caterpillar shedding its skin and becoming a butterfly.”
“Good grief.”
Hwagokja continued.
“It means you have graduated from yourself. It does not mean becoming larger. It means leaving nothing outside yourself.”
“...Isn't that the same thing?”
“To others, it may look as though you have grown larger. To others, it may look as though you stand firm in one place. But in truth, it is not that you have become large, but that you have ceased to set limits. It is not that you remain in place, but that there is no place left to move to.”
“I don't understand...”
To the dejected disciple, Hwagokja spoke calmly, yet coldly.
“Be careful. You have already reached the peak realm. Growing is good. Becoming clear is good. But not now. You could easily fall into a heart demon. Greatness is only greatness, not the absence of an outside. Stopping is only stopping, not the absence of a place to move to.”
Hyeonjung blinked as though they understood and did not understand. Hwagokja flicked a gust of wind at Hyeonjung's forehead.
Smack!
“Argh!”
Hyeonjung, now over thirty, clutched their head after receiving a forehead flick from their master.
Hwagokja spoke toward the back of Hyeonjung's head.
“How large are you trying to become? What, do you intend to swallow this whole vast world with that little body of yours?”
Having said that much, Hwagokja's shoulders suddenly trembled.
Someone had come to mind.
‘Ah. So that is why Martial Uncle...’
Perhaps the lesson Hwagokja had just given Hyeonjung was what Chungdam True Man had wished to tell Yeon Sowol.
But if that was the case...
‘Does a child who has not even reached the peak realm yet already need the realization of Loss of Self?’
Hwagokja let out a quiet sigh.
“What is it, Master?”
“You thought something was large, only to find it larger still. You thought something was clear, only to find it clearer still. At such an age... At such a realm...”
“Are you talking about me?”
Hyeonjung's eyes widened, and a trace of excitement appeared on their face. Hwagokja shook his head.
“If only it were your story. If it were you, who cannot act their age even past thirty, you might somehow be able to overcome it...”
“Pardon?”
Ignoring the puzzled Hyeonjung, Hwagokja clasped hands behind their back.
“On the path of cultivation...”
There was little Dao and much demon.
With a sigh, Hwagokja left the Hall of Manifest Dao.
* * *
“You summoned me?”
Yeon Sowol straightened his posture, hiding his excitement.
‘Finally...!’
For days, he had demonstrated his martial arts at the Hall of Manifest Dao, then spent his time doing nothing in the guest hall.
It was boring enough, but the tension and anticipation made it even harder to bear.
What kind of person was Chungdam True Man?
What would he learn?
The more he thought about it, the faster his breathing became, yet each day passed painfully slowly.
Then at last, upon receiving word, he had run here at once.
‘Will I learn here? Of course... This sort of place does suit someone who has attained the Dao.’
This was not within Wudang itself.
It was simply somewhere deep in Wudang Mountain. A small, humble hill in the mountains, belonging to none of Wudang Mountain's seventy-two peaks.
Chungdam stood there.
Yeon Sowol gave a deep salute. When he raised his head, their eyes met.
“...Elder?”
He thought they had never met before, but the face was familiar.
‘Isn't that the person I saw in Shinheung County?’
─────
One.
If the streets suddenly fill with thick fog and the smell of alcohol, never raise your voice. Walk briskly, as though you have urgent business, and leave the fog. Do not earn their anger, nor their favor.
─────
The protagonist of Rule One in the Shinheung Danger-Avoidance Manual!
The three elders who had looked like immortals.
A distinguished person in splendid clothes, an old beggar stained with grime, and an elderly Daoist with a clean, refined appearance.
It was the old Daoist!
‘Don't tell me... That was Chungdam True Man?’
Was this... fate?
As Yeon Sowol swallowed hard, Chungdam gave a broad, genial chuckle.
“You saw me only days ago, yet you act as though this is our first meeting.”
“Ah.”
Only then did Yeon Sowol remember.
It was certainly in his memory. When he had first gone to the Hall of Manifest Dao, the two of them had exchanged greetings!
‘What? It really was him? Why do I remember this now?’
He felt as though he had been enchanted.
He had met that old man there and greeted him as if it were nothing? Without even being surprised?
And he had forgotten it until now?
A chill ran through Yeon Sowol.
Wasn't this practically a ghost?
Or an immortal.
His chest tingled with excitement.
To think someone like this would become his master.
A master!
A sharp pain pricked his chest.
The person he had wanted to find first after falling into this world.
A master.
He had finally found the master he failed to find back then.
Strictly speaking, Yi Yubaek had been his adoptive father, not his master.
And this was Wudang's greatest master.
Of all the masters he could have imagined, none could compare to Chungdam True Man. He would probably never again have the chance in his life to serve a greater master.
‘Let's do this right!’
He wanted to learn well.
He wanted to make a good impression.
He wanted to devote everything he had to serving this person as his master.
Chungdam looked at the excited Yeon Sowol.
“In the end, I am to take you as my disciple. This must be fate...”
Yeon Sowol could not read the emotion in Chungdam True Man's eyes. It could have been joy, pity, or indifference.
But what did it matter?
‘A disciple! I am this honored person's disciple!’
He had trembled when he heard Chungdam was Wudang's greatest master.
But he was also that immortal-like elder Yeon Sowol had seen then. Now it felt far more real.
What on earth would he learn?
Yeon Sowol hid his trembling excitement.
Instead, he judged the time. It was a little past noon.
Then there was one thing he had to ask.
As a Korean, if he met an elder at this hour, there was one question he absolutely had to ask.
“Master, have you eaten? If you permit it, this disciple will prepare a meal for you.”
Was asking after a meal not the very essence of warmth and courtesy?
However, over Yeon Sowol's respectfully lowered head came Chungdam's indifferent voice.
“Why would you prepare my meal?”
Yeon Sowol flinched inwardly, but did not show it. He answered brightly.
“This disciple is quite good at cooking!”
“Heh heh. You have become quite brazen.”
Chungdam laughed as though amused.
As the atmosphere softened for a moment, Yeon Sowol straightened up and gave another respectful salute.
“Allow me to greet you properly once more. I am Yeon Sowol of the Guangdong Martial Alliance. I am truly happy to see you again like this and to serve you as my master. You have not changed at all, Master.”
Chungdam stared at Yeon Sowol.
Then he suddenly gave a small sigh.
“And you have become quite murderous in that time.”
“Pardon?”
Sniff.
Chungdam wrinkled his nose once.
“You were already a murderous child, and now you wander around carrying such a murderous scent.”
Oh. Could it be?
Yeon Sowol's eyes widened.
A murderous scent.
Only one thing came to mind. The Ten-Thousand-Li Tracking Incense.
The scent he had picked up from the Demonic Cult elder.
It was a certain promise that the Demonic Cult would one day come for him again.
That was why he had once more resolved to grow stronger.
“You know this scent...?”
“Does it not belong to the Demonic Cult?”
!!!
“Then... Then do you know how to get rid of it?”
“That is impossible. It is not, in fact, a scent.”
“If it is not a scent... What is it?”
“A sword.”
“Pardon?”
A sword?
The scent was a sword?
But Chungdam closed his mouth and turned his gaze away.
That alone made the world seem to grow quiet.
No, perhaps it would be more accurate to say it became clearer.
Birdsong he had not heard before reached his ears. The sound of distant water, the rustling of leaves in the mountains.
For some reason, Yeon Sowol could not bring himself to say anything.
Then Chungdam opened his lips.
“From now on, you will do nothing.”
Nothing?
“Do you mean I should stand still?”
“I mean exactly what I said. Standing still is still standing.”
“Uh... Then should I lie down?”
“That is lying down.”
“Hmm...”
What did he mean?
As Yeon Sowol sank into thought, Chungdam said,
“Do not use internal energy. Do not train in martial arts.”
That much, Yeon Sowol thought he understood. He merely had to refrain from doing those things.
“For one month, do not cross this line either.”
Shhk!
Yeon Sowol had not seen Chungdam draw a sword.
No. Chungdam had not actually drawn one.
No, Chungdam did not even carry a sword.
And yet, at Chungdam's feet, the world had been cut apart on its own.
A single line split the ground and stretched far into the distance.
He could not see it, but Yeon Sowol was certain.
The line must be drawing a great circle.
It must completely enclose the small hill before him.
‘What kind of realm is this?’
Without drawing or swinging a sword, the world had cut itself apart?
If Chungdam could just fly, they would be no different from an immortal.
‘Chungdam even noticed the Ten-Thousand-Li Tracking Incense, which no one else had recognized...’
Once again, Yeon Sowol realized what kind of person he had taken as his master.
That was why he wished all the more to receive Chungdam's teachings with all his heart.
But what did it mean?
‘Do nothing...?’
Do not stand, do not lie down, do not train in martial arts, just...
For an entire month...
“Then would it be all right if I simply meditated?”
“What would you meditate upon?”
“The peak realm, of course.”
“Is there a qi you wish to create?”
Was this the moment?
Yeon Sowol grew a little excited. He could share the concern he had agonized over alone with his master.
Was this not why he had come to Wudang?
“Though it embarrasses me to say it... I wish to create qi like the universe.”
“Then have you contained the universe within yourself?”
“It is insufficient, but I have tried to contain as much as I could.”
In truth, calling it insufficient was excessively humble.
If the martial artists he had met in Yuezhou heard him say that, they would be speechless. At the first-rate stage, he possessed monstrous qi that overwhelmed even peak-realm qi. If that was not a universe, what was?
But Chungdam merely asked calmly,
“Then is the universe within you alive?”
Alive.
That was different.
Containing something was not the same as having it live.
Yeon Sowol thought deeply.
‘My universe is moving.’
The Five Elements circulated in an endless chain, and the formation of the Eight Trigrams arose. Yeon Sowol's universe was not still. The harmony and wonders within it were alive.
“At least... I do not think it is dead.”
“Is that so?”
Chungdam clasped his hands behind his back and looked up at the sky before abruptly asking,
“Did you eat breakfast?”
“Yes. Did you enjoy your own meal, Master?”
“What did you eat?”
“The guest hall took very good care of me. They stewed a large chicken, and I ate until I was full.”
“Did you digest it as well?”
“Yes, all of it. It is already past noon, is it not?”
“Then that is strange.”
Chungdam looked straight at Yeon Sowol.
“You who ate chicken well and digested it well, why can I not hear a chicken crowing inside your belly?”
“Ah...”
Yeon Sowol was left speechless.
It grew quiet again.
No, noisy.
Birdsong, the sound of water, the rustling of leaves.
But no sound came from within his belly.
Was the universe alive?
Then...
Was the chicken alive?
So...
Yeon Sowol wiggled his toes.
His fingers twitched.
Something nearly slipped from his mouth, only to stop.
Just a little.
Just a little more.
If only he could hear one more sentence.
Whoosh.
Chungdam turned their back.
Leaving only a line drawn upon the ground, Chungdam seemed ready to leave.
Yeon Sowol panicked.
He was leaving like this?
He felt as though he might realize something if Chungdam explained a little more...
He was supposed to stay here for a month like this?
He still did not fully understand what doing nothing meant...
No, more importantly.
‘Isn't this hill too small?’
It was too small. Even if he picked things here and caught things here to eat, he could never endure a month. It was that small.
Yeon Sowol called out urgently.
“M-Master! How am I supposed to handle meals here?!”
Without looking back, Chungdam replied,
“Why would I prepare your meal?”
Pardon?
Yeon Sowol hurried to follow Chungdam, then stopped before the line Chungdam had drawn.
“Master?”
He was not allowed to leave this tiny hill.
He was not to train in martial arts or do anything.
For an entire month...?
What was he supposed to do?
Yeon Sowol was left without words.
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