Dropped into Murim with an Instant-Kill Skill - Chapter 172

WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

Chapter 172: If I Hear the Dao in the Morning, I Can Die by Evening (12)

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Who is the greatest master alive today?

No more than five names come up in answer to that question.

Yet two names are always spoken together.

The Sword Immortal and the Sword Emperor.

Both were peerless masters who had attained great heights through the sword.

Yet their martial arts stood at opposite extremes.

As a Daoist, the Sword Immortal sought to resemble the Dao and commune with it through cultivation.

As a secular noble, the Sword Emperor sought to understand the Dao and use it through diligent practice.

And lately, the Sword Immortal had often been thinking about the Sword Emperor.

People did not know it, but the two were in fact the closest of friends.

“How did someone who should have gone to that bastard end up at Wudang...?”

Give it autonomy?

Was that not exactly the sort of idea one would expect from a man who called himself the king of swords?

Should he send the boy to him now?

“No. No. He’s already desperate for realizations. He’d probably reach another realization on the way and fall prey to a heart demon.”

Chungdam True Man, known in the Jianghu by the epithet Sword Immortal, stood far away and shook his head as he watched the hill where Yeon Sowol sat.

* * *

“You want me to hold out here for another month?”

Yeon Sowol was suffering badly.

“This won’t be easy...”

The fruit and mushrooms had nearly run out already.

And now, another month?

“Should I just starve?”

Fine, he could starve.

But what about water?

“I’m reaching my limit...”

He had endured for a month on dew.

Even that was becoming difficult now.

Winter was deepening by the day. That meant less and less dew would form.

And besides,

“I really want to wash now...”

Wearing nothing but his underwear, Yeon Sowol twisted his whole body.

He looked longingly at the line drawn below the hill.

He wanted to cross it so badly.

“But there has to be a reason Master told me not to cross it. I can’t go over until I fully understand that reason...”

He bit his lip before dropping heavily to the ground.

“I don’t know. I’ll endure as long as I can. I’ll breathe as little as possible and move as little as possible too.”

Yeon Sowol closed his eyes.

His breathing grew slow and deep.

As time passed, he no longer looked like a person, but a tree or a rock.

Chirp! Chirp!

A bird flew down, perched on Yeon Sowol’s head, then flew away.

Yet Yeon Sowol did not move in the slightest.

He was merely lost in thought.

Lost in thought.

Merely.

‘What was the problem?’

Chungdam True Man had extended the one month he had initially given him by another month.

To Yeon Sowol, its meaning was clear.

‘Why did I fail?’

He had thought he had prepared the best possible answer.

And even that was not enough...?

Could it be?

‘Was the problem that I said twice as strong?’

Now that he thought about it, it made sense.

A universe. Not a universe forcibly imitated, but one that truly lived and breathed on its own.

If he had truly created such a thing, would it only become twice as strong?

‘Of course...’

Was there not an immeasurable abyss between the living and the dead?

‘If giving it autonomy really made my universe alive, would it have stopped at twice as strong? Would it even have been possible to measure the difference?’

Ah.

Yeon Sowol understood.

A chill ran through his entire body.

‘Master really is on a different level.’

He had only thought of doubling his strength and decided that was enough. But Master had seen beyond that. He was telling Yeon Sowol that after coming this far, he could not be satisfied with merely twice as much.

It had to become something fundamentally different.

‘Then what should I do?’

Yeon Sowol turned his gaze inward.

The energies circulating through his Eight Extraordinary Vessels.

Now, they moved on their own even when Yeon Sowol did not direct them one by one. At times, they formed currents he had never even considered.

After all, they were moving autonomously!

But...

‘In the end, they’re still too simple.’

They formed currents he had not anticipated, but when he examined them closely, they were all flows he could understand.

‘You can’t really call this alive.’

It was still only a train running along tracks. Could he call a train alive simply because it ran automatically rather than being pulled by hand?

‘The universe isn’t this simple.’

Forget the universe. Even Earth, no more than a speck of dust within that universe, was not so simple.

Even a typhoon or earthquake, merely one phenomenon among countless things happening on Earth, proved that much.

At last, Yeon Sowol recalled a concept he had seen in a science documentary.

‘Complex systems theory!’

Complex systems.

Systems where the interaction of countless variables created unexpected, higher-order properties.

Chaos phenomena could arise within such systems. Minuscule differences in initial conditions, small enough to be dismissed as errors, could lead to entirely different results.

In other words, a single butterfly flap could determine whether a typhoon arose on the other side of the world.

‘Right. That’s what my universe needs.’

What was the point of having countless energies interact if they still functioned in ways that were too simple and predictable?

‘What if I made them interlock in even more complex ways?’

The cycle of the Five Elements was one-directional.

But what if he added the way the Five Elements restrained one another?

What if he wove the Eight Trigrams together with the Five Elements? At times, the movement of the Eight Trigrams could become the movement of the Five Elements...

What if he expanded it again through the Twelve Earthly Branches?

Then energies would flow, cancel one another out, and resonate according to rules with different numbers and different concepts: five, eight, and twelve. And in between them, he could place all sorts of energies that belonged to neither the Five Elements, the Eight Trigrams, nor the Twelve Earthly Branches...

“Ugh...”

His head felt like it would split apart.

In the past, he could never have operated his energy like this. He would not have been able to handle the complicated calculations himself and would have suffered Cultivation Deviation.

But things were different now.

‘Let it go. Let it all go.’

His role was only to make the rules. The rest, he would leave to autonomy.

Standing at the center of energies that tangled, intertwined, and erupted in complexity beyond even his own understanding, he maintained only the broad framework.

He would leave the details to flow as they pleased.

Wooooom...

Yeon Sowol clearly had not operated his internal energy.

He had merely let the rules that already existed bind themselves together.

In other words, he had only let go of what he had been controlling.

And yet,

Woooooom...

Five-colored auspicious radiance continuously bloomed around Yeon Sowol as he sat still with his eyes closed.

Chirp!

Squeak!

The bird on the branch and the fox hidden in the brush watched in fascination.

* * *

A month passed, and Chungdam True Man came to see Yeon Sowol again.

Yeon Sowol had become skinny as a stick.

Yet his eyes shone with clarity.

Yeon Sowol put on the clothes he had hung out to dry, straightened his posture, and received Chungdam True Man just as he had before.

“My qi is now completely different from before. If I complete it in this state, it will possess profound properties that cannot be explained by something as simple as being several times stronger.”

Yeon Sowol showed him the energy wreathed in blooming five-colored auspicious radiance, then smiled brightly.

“It is all thanks to you, Master. I had forgotten that the universe is far more complex than I thought. Thanks to you, I can now embrace a greater principle without fear. Only now can I say that my universe has become alive.”

“...You gave it principles that cannot be calculated...”

“Yes.”

“...”

Chungdam True Man clasped his hands behind his back and looked up at the sky.

A long silence followed.

At its end, Chungdam asked,

“You have reached another realization.”

“Yes, Master.”

“I will return in another month.”

“...What? W-Wait, Master!”

Yeon Sowol hurriedly grabbed Chungdam True Man.

He was desperate.

Another month was impossible.

“Was I wrong?”

“I do not know.”

“What? Then why...?”

“Let us meet again in a month.”

“No, Master! Please just tell me clearly! What am I supposed to do?”

Chungdam True Man stared at Yeon Sowol.

“What did I tell you to do?”

“No, but you should at least tell me what I am supposed to realize, or what kind of cultivation this is...”

“Why do you ask me about your cultivation?”

“You were the one who told me to do it!”

“Giving you an order and doing it for you are different matters.”

Yeon Sowol opened and closed his mouth.

What kind of Zen riddle was this...?

“Then... Then what do you do, Master? I wish to follow your example.”

“Why do you ask about my cultivation?”

“No...”

Chungdam flicked his sleeve and took a step.

He had taken only one step, yet his figure was nowhere to be seen.

“Hmm...”

Yeon Sowol lowered his head.

He fell into thought.

“What is it...?”

He worried over it.

“What is it...?”

He worried some more.

He had truly thought he was right this time...

It had been a certain realization.

That was why, now that it had been denied, he felt hollow as though the entire world had collapsed.

As though he had lost himself.

“What is it, really...?”

Everything lost its meaning and drifted away.

Everything became unfamiliar.

“Hmm...”

Yeon Sowol became so deeply lost in thought that he did not realize he was walking.

“What could it be...?”

He did not realize that he had crossed the line Chungdam had drawn, either.

“What is it, really?”

Only his thoughts remained.

Yeon Sowol simply moved, following what his body wanted.

Ruuush...

He headed toward the sound of valley water that had not yet frozen.

Splash, splash.

There, he bathed.

He drank his fill from the valley stream.

“What is it...?”

He did not even realize he had violated Chungdam’s prohibition.

Even if he had realized it, it would not have mattered. At that moment, only his thoughts mattered to him.

He had no intention of forcing himself to endure anything. He wanted to gather even that strength and use it to think.

If he washed himself clean and drank water, he would have more strength to think.

“What could it be, really?”

He washed his clothes too.

Then he dried them with internal energy and returned.

The prohibition against using internal energy was no longer in his mind.

Even if it had been, it probably would not have mattered much.

Everything was simply wavering.

Meaning dissolved and drifted in its dissolved state.

As though he had lost himself.

“You brat.”

Chungdam stood in Yeon Sowol’s path.

“Yes, Master.”

Yeon Sowol answered, but his eyes remained unfocused. He was still lost in thought.

“Did you cross the line I drew? Did you use internal energy as well?”

“I don’t know.”

“...You truly don’t know?”

At those words, some focus returned to Yeon Sowol’s eyes.

“Oh. Master.”

He turned toward Chungdam, then looked around at his own appearance and surroundings in surprise. He scratched his head awkwardly.

“Ah. I was so lost in thought. I did not mean to cross it, but when I came to my senses, I had. I suppose I was thirsty and my body was itchy.”

Chungdam asked,

“Now that you know, will you stop crossing it?”

Yeon Sowol thought carefully, then gave an awkward smile.

“Well... I don’t know.”

Everything simply felt unfamiliar and vague. Then, suddenly, and then again, he seemed to forget. This feeling was new to him. He did not understand himself.

So he simply...

“You do not know?”

“Yes...”

“I see.”

Chungdam nodded and turned away.

“You are not going to scold me?”

When Yeon Sowol asked, Chungdam answered,

“I do not know either.”

“...”

Chungdam True Man walked away.

Yeon Sowol blankly watched his retreating back, then suddenly realized something.

“I don’t know... He refuses to say anything to the end...”

A thought flashed through his mind.

Could this be...

“The Dao that can be spoken is not the eternal Dao.”

The moment one calls the Dao the Dao, it is no longer the original Dao.

It was a line everyone encountered at least once while working through nonfiction reading passages. A teaching that could not be conveyed through words.

Yeon Sowol’s gaze deepened.

“Come to think of it...”

Yeon Sowol had asked.

Was I wrong?

Chungdam had answered.

I do not know.

He had not defined it with words.

Then Yeon Sowol had asked.

What should I do?

Chungdam had answered.

What did I tell you to do?

Once again, he had not defined it with words.

When Yeon Sowol asked him to explain what kind of cultivation it was, Chungdam had asked why he was asking him about his own cultivation.

When Yeon Sowol asked how his master cultivated himself, Chungdam had asked why Yeon Sowol was asking about his cultivation.

And just now, it had happened again.

When Yeon Sowol asked if he would not be scolded, the answer he received was this.

I do not know.

“Does it mean it cannot be conveyed through words...?”

The Dao that can be spoken is not the eternal Dao.

“But do I need that? In a universe? The Dao that can be spoken is not the eternal Dao. Does a universe really need...?”

Yeon Sowol’s shoulders jerked.

“It does! It needs it badly!”

A realization suddenly exploded in his mind.

Think back on twenty-first-century science.

There were exactly two theories that looked like the most intellectual theories for explaining the universe.

One was the theory of relativity.

The other was quantum mechanics.

“The Dao that can be spoken is not the eternal Dao. Isn’t that basically the uncertainty principle?”

The moment one called the Dao the Dao, it was no longer the original Dao.

The moment one observed a quantum, it was no longer in the state in which it had been observed.

“Right. Complex systems were not enough.”

Every educational documentary and science YouTube channel he had watched in twenty-first-century Korea hammered at each of his brain cells.

“If it is a living, breathing universe, shouldn’t it have quantum indeterminacy? No. It has to go beyond that, all the way to a superposition of probabilities...”

A beaming smile of realization blossomed across Yeon Sowol’s face.

* * *

“...”

Today as well, Chungdam True Man watched Yeon Sowol from very far away.

That fellow, clean and gleaming after washing and drinking his fill, sat cross-legged and sank into thought again.

“Martial Uncle. You are here again.”

Hwagokja, Sect Leader of Wudang, approached him.

Hwagokja looked at Chungdam True Man with a complicated expression.

Hwagokja’s sight could not pierce past those distant peaks, so Yeon Sowol was not visible to Hwagokja.

“It has already been three months.”

“I see.”

“It will not be easy at such a young age. When one’s realizations are repeatedly denied... does it not feel as though the whole world has collapsed, until one can no longer believe in anything?”

“...Usually, yes. But someone who has become as rigid as him must go that far before he can finally be broken...”

Chungdam True Man glanced once more at Yeon Sowol in the distance.

He sat cross-legged in stillness.

And smiled.

An involuntary sigh escaped Chungdam’s lips.

“If only he had gone to the Sword Emperor. He could have beaten that heart demon out of him.”

“That is true. Things would have been clearer if he had gone there. But from our side, it cannot be conveyed in words...”

The Dao had to be felt and realized for oneself.

That was why cultivation in the Daoist tradition was vague.

At times, the process of letting go of oneself became hellish. Many cultivators fell into a demonic state that way.

And yet,

“What a tenacious fellow. Even when told not to reach realizations and simply feel, he keeps reaching realizations. Earlier, he seemed to have gained a Dao Heart, so I let myself hope a little. But now he is sitting there having another realization. Look at him. Is he not trying to reach another realization even now? Heh heh. What am I supposed to do about that heart demon?”

What was that thing that kept reaching realizations without tiring?

Chungdam True Man clicked his tongue.

Then Hwagokja suddenly felt something strange.

“Why are you looking at me like that?”

“Martial Uncle, for some reason... you seem pleased.”

Hwagokja’s gaze settled on Chungdam True Man’s lips.

A faint but unmistakable smile.

Chungdam spoke with an easy chuckle.

“That fellow never gets tired of bringing me wrong answers. And he keeps bringing more and more plausible wrong answers.”

At this point, Chungdam was no longer sure they were actually wrong answers.

“I thought he was a demon that looked like the Dao, but now he may be a Dao that looks like a demon...”

So,