Dropped into Murim with an Instant-Kill Skill - Chapter 171

WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

Chapter 171: If I Hear the Dao in the Morning, I Can Die by Evening (11)

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At Wudang Mountain in early winter, the trees were bare, and the wind carried a sharp scent like pine.

“Martial Uncle. How was he?”

At Hwagokja’s question, Chungdam True Man slowly shook his head.

“He is full of heart demons.”

Heart demons?

Hwagokja did not quite understand.

“I now understand that Young Hero Yeon is in a precarious state. But is it really that serious?”

To Hwagokja, Yeon Sowol was like a young bird flapping its wings for the first time.

A creature that had only ever grown its wings now faced the moment when it had to truly fly.

If it flew wrongly, it would break. But if it flew properly, it could soar high.

There was nothing inherently wrong with having grown such large wings.

The problem was only thinking that he could fly with them even without wind.

Surely it would be enough to enlighten him now. Was there really a need to say he was full of heart demons?

At least, that was what Hwagokja thought.

But Chungdam True Man was coldly certain.

“Yes. He is full of heart demons.”

“What kind of heart demon could it be?”

“Enlightenment. That itself is his heart demon.”

Ah.

Hwagokja’s mouth fell open.

“Is it because he continually seeks enlightenment and wishes to grow ever stronger?”

“Yes.”

Hwagokja sank into thought.

“But, Martial Uncle, that is not necessarily a bad thing. The Namgung Family’s martial arts also pursue greatness, and greater greatness still. That does not mean every Namgung martial artist falls into demonhood.”

“It is different. Namgung pursues greatness with lofty pride. Yet they do not call it the universe.”

“Ah.”

Chungdam True Man turned toward Hwagokja.

“He sees what is not the universe and considers it his own universe. That is why it is a heart demon. That boy wishes to place himself at the center of the universe and command everything. But when has the universe ever taken orders?”

Hwagokja reflected.

Hwagokja had already reached the stage of Loss of Self, yet even so, those words were deeply stirring.

“Heaven and earth naturally follow their cycles and give birth to all things without any intention. Yet he speaks of the universe, while trying to move all of it himself. In that universe, nothing can happen that he does not know about. No matter how intricate it becomes, it is only a toy. If he insists on calling that a universe, is that not demonhood itself?”

A demon was the attempt to explain the whole with one part, or one facet.

It resembled the Dao’s desire to return to the source, but in truth stood at its exact opposite.

To the heavily silent Hwagokja, Chungdam True Man said,

“That is why I told him to do nothing.”

“You mean he should do nothing, gain no enlightenment, and simply remain still.”

“Yes. If he stays on that small hill with neither food nor water, unable even to use internal energy, even that absurd child should set enlightenment aside for a while.”

Watching Chungdam True Man smile faintly, Hwagokja gave a quiet sigh.

Hwagokja turned to look toward a small hill in the distance and muttered,

“Young Hero Yeon is going to have a truly difficult time...”

* * *

“Do nothing?”

Yeon Sowol reasoned it out.

“But he didn’t mean I should just stand still or lie down. So doing nothing must not refer to something physical. It must mean something conceptual.”

In other words...

“Eating, drinking, and sleeping are fine.”

His gaze turned toward the foot of the hill.

A clearly engraved line lay there.

For some reason, the line Chungdam had drawn had not faded in the slightest, even as time passed and wind blew over it.

“As long as I don’t cross that.”

Yeon Sowol searched the hill.

He found several ugly, sour fruits and a few mushrooms.

He even caught a bird by throwing stones.

It would taste awful, but it seemed edible enough.

So food was not the real problem.

“...If possible, I should avoid eating too and minimize my movements. I can’t circulate internal energy, but with my current body, I can probably last a month with barely any food. More importantly...”

Without another word, Yeon Sowol took off his clothes.

He removed his flowing Daoist robe, then the wandering warrior’s outfit beneath it. He hung them from a tree, leaving himself in only his underclothes.

“Not having drinking water is a problem too... But that isn’t the real problem either.”

If he gathered dew and merely moistened his tongue, he could endure for a month.

But...

“Not being able to wash is the real problem...”

If there was no water to drink, where would he find water to wash with?

For an entire month!

“Even during closed-door seclusion, there was at least spring water to wash with...”

Was he supposed to go without washing?

No washing his face, brushing his teeth, cleaning his feet, or rubbing himself clean in every nook and cranny?

For a month...?

His whole body already felt itchy.

That was why he took off his clothes.

The cold of early winter was nothing. He only had to endure it with the stamina of a first-rate master. That was better than letting his clothes become saturated with awful body odor.

“And if I hang my clothes like that, dew will gather on them overnight.”

He could wring it out and drink it.

It would feel unpleasant, but still...

A sigh suddenly escaped him.

“I started learning martial arts so I could live like a human being...”

Why was he gradually being driven into a life worse than a human’s?

Thud.

But what else could he do?

He had to do it.

“Let’s gain enlightenment.”

He closed his eyes.

He tried to feel out Chungdam’s intention in throwing him into this place.

What could he possibly gain from remaining here with nothing to do? Yeon Sowol carefully considered it.

He could not train in martial arts anyway.

And moving about unnecessarily would only make him smell worse.

So he sat still and meditated without moving a muscle.

* * *

The first week was awful.

“Aaaaaah...”

Doing nothing.

It was more horrible and difficult than he had imagined.

Especially...

“Internal energy. I’m not supposed to use internal energy? How am I supposed to do that?”

Continuing to breathe according to his inner cultivation method.

Ever since his first closed-door seclusion, it had been imprinted into his body.

Even when he was not formally circulating qi and regulating his breath, he had always maintained at least the barest degree of breathing.

He drew in innate heat with his breath and spread those flames through the Twelve Regular Meridians...

In other words, he had already been using internal energy constantly.

That had been a realm all martial artists desperately desired. The uninterrupted operation of internal energy.

Yeon Sowol had struggled to reach that realm himself...

And now he was being told not to do it?

Was that really all right?

It felt as though something terrible would happen.

Would his entire body rot away?

Would he burn to death?

Was this really all right? Could he stop?

His mind knew that stopping would not cause a problem at this stage, but his body rejected it. His heart could not accept it.

Even if he fought his anxiety and forcibly set aside the breathing, whenever he came to his senses, he found himself continuing it again.

Cold sweat streamed down him.

He could not sleep.

“Ghk! My breathing!”

He would bolt upright after realizing, in the middle of sleep, that his breathing had stopped.

“Ah.”

Then he would realize too late that he was supposed to set his breathing aside and lie back down.

“B-Breathing!”

Then he would bolt upright after realizing, in the middle of sleep, that he was breathing.

“Huh? But if I’m breathing, isn’t that right?”

He would suddenly become confused.

“Ah. No, that’s not it... For now, I need to set even my breathing aside... Master told me not to use internal energy...”

Then he would realize again and scatter the breathing he had resumed.

Yeon Sowol often clutched his head.

Was it this difficult to set aside something he had always done?

“Let it go. Let it go. Let’s do this... Yeon Sowol...”

Chungdam True Man must have a reason for making him do this.

He just had to try.

“Let go of myself. Let’s do this...”

After one week of bitter struggle passed, he gradually became more at ease from the second week onward.

Without forcing himself to fight his mind and disrupt his breathing, he became able to naturally let it go and take hold of it again.

“Mmm...”

“Mmmmm...”

But then, terrible boredom came for him.

“There’s... nothing... to do...”

Until now, Yeon Sowol had never spent even one day, not even one moment, doing nothing.

When he had been a student in South Korea, living by conquering his schedule minute by minute had been normal.

Even after coming here, he had struggled every day just to survive.

And now he was suddenly being told to remain still in a place with nothing at all. To Yeon Sowol, it felt close to torture.

He now understood.

“Without internal energy... it’s this boring...”

To a martial artist, operating internal energy and breathing were no different from a modern person’s smartphone.

If he was hungry, he could operate internal energy.

If he was tired, he could operate internal energy.

If he was bored, he could focus on operating internal energy.

If something was fun, he could operate internal energy more intensely.

If he needed to think, he could operate internal energy more deeply.

It was simply...

Everything.

Even when alone.

In any situation.

Something that let him focus and immerse himself.

A warmth that had always remained with him.

And now it was gone.

“Mmmmm...”

Still seated, Yeon Sowol twisted his entire body.

He tried meditating, but even that did not go well. It felt as though his thoughts could not sink into the depths, only flopped about at the surface.

“This is driving me crazy.”

His body was not comfortable either.

“I’m thirsty...”

His mouth felt cracked and dry.

When he woke at dawn, he wrung out the dew that had gathered on his hanging clothes and drank it. He licked the dew pooled on trees and leaves.

As a first-rate master, he could somehow endure with only that.

But now that he was in an environment where there was nothing to do, even such small discomforts felt increasingly severe.

“I’m hungry too...”

He had thoroughly searched the hill and found sour, astringent fruits and a few edible mushrooms, but they did little to ease his hunger.

He had not wanted to move much in the first place, but because there was nothing to do, he became hungry for no reason. Then, because he was hungry for no reason, he moved his body more.

Whenever that happened, his body somehow felt sticky.

“...It itches.”

Yeon Sowol tried not to smell the odor rising from his own body. At least it was the beginning of winter. Even smells seemed to shrink back before cold air.

“Whew...”

Gritting his teeth, Yeon Sowol sat down again. He closed his eyes.

“Let’s not do anything. Let’s do nothing at all. If I’m hungry, then I’m hungry. There must be a reason Master told me to stay somewhere with nothing.”

This was the first time since falling into this world that he had done absolutely nothing.

That was why he forcibly calmed his ever-racing heart and closed his eyes.

Chirp, chirp, chirp.

Birds called in the distance.

Rushhh.

A valley stream flowed somewhere far away.

Another week passed like that.

...

“...”

The third week.

Yeon Sowol had now become quiet.

He no longer twisted his body, and instead sank silently into thought.

‘Now I understand. Why Master gave me this task.’

Chirp, chirp, chirp.

Birds cried, mated, searched for food, and built nests.

Rushhh.

The valley stream flowed, wearing down stone and seeping into the earth.

‘I was wrong. There was never nothing here.’

After spending three weeks blankly doing nothing, he came to understand.

It was not empty.

It was full.

The sky stretched endlessly overhead, winter trees stood shoulder to shoulder, and small animals ran about beyond sight.

Microorganisms grew where birds had searched.

Underground water that would moisten the world gathered beneath the earth where valley water flowed in.

It was full.

It was a universe endlessly cycling on its own.

Whether Yeon Sowol noticed it or not, everything had already been there.

“This... is what he wished to tell me.”

Now Yeon Sowol contemplated his inner self.

Though he had stopped operating internal energy, the qi of the universe still stirred within his Eight Extraordinary Vessels.

“Until now, I only thought of moving all this myself.”

But how long could he continue to do that?

The more the qi came to resemble the universe, the greater it became. The deeper it became. The more mysterious it became.

“It will become impossible for me to move all of it by myself.”

Ah. That was why.

“That is why Master asked why a chicken did not crow inside my belly.”

It had to move on its own, without direct command. It had to keep moving, even when he was not watching it and could not notice it.

Even things unknown to the owner of that qi had to be able to occur.

“Only then can it be a universe.”

A smile touched Yeon Sowol’s lips.

The training he needed to undertake from now on became clear.

It was training, and yet it was not training.

Training he could perform without using internal energy.

“Let it go.”

He would release the qi of the universe that he had artificially woven together and circulated according to plan. He would watch it grow and move on its own.

“I will give you autonomy.”

Autonomy to the qi of fire.

Autonomy to the qi of water.

Then he would watch as they grew and spread on their own.

He would take one step back, as though running a simulation.

A smile lingered on Yeon Sowol’s lips as he sat with his eyes closed.

* * *

A month passed.

Chungdam came.

Chungdam faced Yeon Sowol, who sat in place with a faint smile on his lips.

“...”

Yeon Sowol and Chungdam silently looked at each other for a long time.

At the end of the silence, Chungdam spoke first.

“Did you starve?”

“I went a little hungry, but I am fine.”

“What did you eat?”

“Small fruits and mushrooms.”

“I see.”

Chungdam asked again.

“Your disposition has changed somewhat.”

“I have learned that all things in the universe move on their own.”

“Did you train?”

“I did not train. I merely let go, little by little.”

“You let go...”

Chungdam’s gaze deepened.

Chungdam carefully examined Yeon Sowol and asked,

“Did you gain enlightenment?”

“Yes.”

“So you did gain enlightenment... What did you realize?”

“I realized the contradiction of saying I would create a universe, while trying to turn it entirely through my own power.”

“Mmm.”

“The universe is nature. Therefore, the qi of the universe must also move naturally. Not because I command it, but so it moves on its own. That is why I let go. I gave the qi autonomy.”

“Huh.”

Chungdam looked up at the sky.

Then Chungdam suddenly asked,

“So. Have you become stronger?”

“Yes. I merely let go, yet I believe I will become at least twice as strong.”

“Twice as strong?”

“Yes.”

“Then do you think you can now advance to the peak realm?”

“It is all thanks to you, Master.”

Yeon Sowol dusted himself off and rose.

Twice as strong.

A truly great enlightenment.