WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR
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Chapter 179: Spring Silkworms Spin Silk Until Death (3)
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Chungdam True Man walked ahead, and Yeon Sowol followed behind.
Chungdam True Man did not look back, and their footsteps kept an even rhythm.
“Sowol.”
“Yes, Master.”
“Is there an energy you wish to achieve at the peak realm?”
“Yes.”
“Is it still the universe?”
“Yes.”
“You truly are an interesting fellow.”
Chungdam True Man chuckled softly.
“The universe. The universe... If I had met you earlier, if you were a little older, there is something I would have liked to study with you. That is a small regret.”
Muttering to himself, Chungdam True Man glanced back.
“Good. Then there is a place perfectly suited for this.”
Chungdam True Man led Yeon Sowol to a pavilion built atop a cliff.
“Sit here first. From now on, do not turn your head. Look only ahead. Think of it as a kind of meditation facing a wall. Though yours will be cultivation facing the heavens rather than a wall.”
Yeon Sowol did as Chungdam True Man instructed and sat facing the drop. The sunset was at its most brilliant.
“Before beginning, reflect for a while. On what you desire. On what you must do. On whether there is anything you have overlooked. Once you have finished thinking, open your eyes.”
Yeon Sowol slowly closed his eyes and sank into thought.
* * *
What was the peak realm?
To explain that, one first had to understand the difference between third-rate, second-rate, and first-rate martial artists.
Third-rate and second-rate martial artists handled essence.
Essence was force and pressure.
It sought to claim and protect.
When that essence dissolved within the Eight Extraordinary Vessels and began to become qi, it was called Refining Essence into Qi, the first-rate realm.
Thus, first-rate martial artists handled qi.
Qi was harmony and change.
It enveloped, guided, and flowed.
A second-rate martial artist's speed came simply from pushing against the ground with greater force. A first-rate martial artist's speed came from a far more intricate and mysterious harmony.
When the foot pushed against the ground, harmony caused foot and earth to cling together.
When the foot kicked away from the ground, harmony caused them to repel each other.
The wind naturally blocking the way flowed aside.
It drew one forward.
One entered a state where acceleration occurred without even needing to push against the ground.
That was first-rate martial arts.
Its mystery and effectiveness could not be compared to second-rate martial arts.
The peak realm meant driving such cultivation of qi to its utmost limit.
Until then, qi had revealed its presence only indirectly by enveloping and moving other things. At the peak realm, qi itself took on a nature and began to affect the world.
Hundred Flowers in Wild Profusion.
Qi, previously subtle and vague, finally revealed a distinct presence, like countless flowers blooming at once and dyeing the entire world in brilliant colors.
That was why Yeon Sowol had agonized over it.
‘What kind of flower should my qi bloom into?’
In truth, he had already chosen his direction.
The universe.
He would create energy that resembled the universe.
But he had yet to decide how.
‘There are two paths for now.’
One was the path of continuing his existing cultivation. The path of creating a more precise and more powerful model of the universe.
The other was the path of tearing down his cultivation and starting again. The path of destroying everything, then reflecting the universe as it was within that ruined energy.
The first was fast. But it would become difficult to receive Wudang Mountain's teachings.
The second was slow. But it would make it easier to receive Wudang Mountain's teachings.
Both the first and second paths were correct.
Either was worth choosing.
Yet Yeon Sowol's heart kept leaning toward a third path, one he could not yet be certain of.
‘A third path. It is possible. It is a viable path. But... I still lack clues.’
It was vague.
Yet the more he thought of it, the more desperately he wanted it.
Yeon Sowol gathered his thoughts and slowly opened his eyes.
The sun had set, and the surroundings were dark.
One side of the pavilion atop the cliff stood entirely open, revealing a night sky where stars had risen.
When he had first sat down, the sunset had seemed to burn.
Now, the night sky looked exactly like the universe.
“Ah.”
For a moment, his gaze was captured by the Milky Way cutting across the dark night.
Then a voice came from behind him.
“Sowol. Have you sorted out your thoughts?”
Yeon Sowol answered without turning around. Chungdam True Man had told him not to turn his head. He simply kept his eyes on the stars before him.
“Yes, Master. I have.”
“Then you understand. There are two paths before you.”
“Yes.”
“One passes through Clear Heart and enters Loss of Self. The other passes through Exhaustive Inquiry and enters Clear Knowing.”
They corresponded exactly with the two paths Yeon Sowol had considered.
The path of tearing everything down and beginning again was Loss of Self.
The path of continuing what he had built was Clear Knowing.
“As you know, Clear Heart and Loss of Self are teachings of Wudang Mountain. Once you pass through Loss of Self, you reach Nonaction.”
“Then what are Exhaustive Inquiry and Clear Knowing?”
“They are the teachings followed by that fellow over there who calls himself the king of swords. The one you have seen before.”
“Ah.”
The king of swords.
It meant the Sword Emperor.
An old man suddenly passed through Yeon Sowol's mind.
Long ago, three elderly men had been drinking beside the Jipseong River.
A beggar, a Daoist, and a nobleman.
The Daoist had been Sword Immortal Chungdam True Man.
Then...
‘That nobleman was the Sword Emperor.’
A chill ran down his spine anew.
What kind of fortuitous encounter had he stumbled upon that day?
That connection had now led to these teachings.
“In truth, that is not an insight belonging only to the Sword Emperor. I have heard that many martial officials generally follow a similar path of realization. At its root, it may be considered a teaching of the Confucian tradition.”
The winter night was quiet.
The sky before him was dark.
Starlight trembled slowly.
Yet Chungdam True Man's voice, though soft, came through clearly.
“Exhaustive Inquiry is what you have been doing. Asking one by one, what is this? What is that? If I do this, will that happen? It is the path of endlessly defining and limiting things, feeling through this tangled world until you grasp a thread.”
“...That is what trapped me.”
“It becomes a problem only if you are buried in it. But if it leads to Clear Knowing, it becomes something great. Clear Knowing means pursuing knowledge to its very end, until you find the place where you can no longer know.”
“Ah.”
At that moment, Yeon Sowol understood.
“That time, when you told me not to be a coward...”
A smile formed on Chungdam True Man's lips.
“Yes. That is exactly it. If you do not become cowardly, and you drive your knowledge to its end by holding yourself to the same standard, you will instead recognize the place where your own knowledge collapses. That is where Clear Knowing begins.”
Yeon Sowol blinked.
“Then, as I am now...”
“You know it yourself, do you not? You may be at Clear Knowing, or you may be at Loss of Self. It will be decided by where you take your next step.”
That was why there were two paths.
Yeon Sowol fell silent and thought for a while before asking again.
“You said Loss of Self leads to Nonaction.”
“That is right. Why? Are you wondering where Clear Knowing leads?”
“Yes, I am.”
“It leads to Renewal.”
“Renewal...”
The word carried a strange resonance for Yeon Sowol.
The Meiji Restoration.
The Yushin Constitution.
Turning points in modern history that had brought countless controversies and upheavals. This was the very word used each time.
Perhaps sensing his reaction, Chungdam True Man continued in a low voice.
“It is a phrase found in the Confucian classics.”
“If you can renew yourself for one day,
renew yourself day after day,
and do so again every day.”
“Though Zhou is an old state,
its Heaven-mandate is ever renewed.”
An old nation would inevitably exhaust its Heaven-mandate and perish.
But if it could renew itself each day, even the Heaven-mandate of an old nation could be renewed. It could then enjoy another long age of peace.
‘Ah... So that is why.’
Yeon Sowol finally understood why the word Renewal had been used so often in scenes from modern history.
Chungdam True Man's voice continued.
“I do not know the Confucian tradition well, but compared to Nonaction, Renewal seems to be this. If Nonaction means that nothing is forced, yet all things are accomplished without interruption, then Renewal is ceaselessly correcting things so that all things may be accomplished without interruption.”
“I see...”
Yeon Sowol silently nodded.
They were certainly two distinct paths.
Neither was superior to the other.
They were simply two ways with different places to stand and different directions to face.
“Will you choose? Will you go to Clear Knowing, or to Loss of Self? Either would suit your nature.”
Yeon Sowol asked, “The path of Clear Knowing would let me continue my current energy as it is, so it would be faster. But it would become difficult to accept your teachings.”
“Correct.”
“The path of Loss of Self would require me to tear down my current energy, so it would be slower. But it would make it easier to accept your teachings later.”
“Correct.”
Yeon Sowol nodded.
“Then I will go neither to Clear Knowing nor to Loss of Self.”
Chungdam True Man looked steadily at Yeon Sowol.
He neither showed surprise nor objected.
“Then you will neither discard your energy nor continue it?”
“Yes.”
“Then what will you do?”
“I will not discard it. I will make it anew.”
“Then it is a path that is neither Clear Knowing nor Loss of Self?”
“Perhaps. Or perhaps it is a path that embraces them both.”
“How?”
“I will start from what I know and advance toward what I do not know.”
It was a vague answer, like a Zen riddle.
But Chungdam smiled calmly.
He did not pry into every detail, nor did he rashly offer advice.
He knew Yeon Sowol, who had attained an understanding of either Loss of Self or Clear Knowing, had no need for that.
“If you have decided upon a method, then do so. Is there anything I can do to help?”
“Yes, there is.”
“What is it?”
In the pavilion atop the cliff, Yeon Sowol met the gaze of every star floating before his eyes and answered Chungdam True Man behind him.
“Tell me of the universe.”
“The universe?”
“I heard that all things were born from the primordial one, primordial qi. I wish to hear from you exactly how that happened, Master.”
What Yeon Sowol wished to hear now was the cosmology of this world.
The cosmology he knew belonged to a universe with a planet called Earth, a universe built upon different laws. He needed to understand in detail what the cosmology of this world, where he now stood, was like.
It might become the final piece of the third path he would walk.
“Very well.”
Chungdam True Man immediately answered.
The Daoist with the highest Dao in the world began to speak of the precelestial and postcelestial, of before and after the birth of the universe.
* * *
Chungdam True Man said, “At the beginning, primordial qi was nothing but a single Limitless Void. But when you boil water in a pot, the bottom grows hot first while the top remains lukewarm longer. Likewise, imbalance arose within the once-uniform primordial qi. From that came the Supreme Ultimate, and yin and yang divided. This imbalance is called partiality.”
Yeon Sowol listened.
“But boiling water eventually sees yin and yang connect and circulate, gradually becoming uniform again. In other words, when things connect, they become one. This is the proper way.”
When things connected, they became one.
Yeon Sowol repeated those words under his breath.
“On the other hand, an imbalance that arises may become fixed for all sorts of reasons. Foreign matter may enter. The fire may be concentrated too much on one side. The wind may blow. As that partiality deepens, things become turbid, and when it grows extreme, they can no longer connect. This is the path of demons.”
Before him was a black sky, its starlight trembling.
His ears filled with Chungdam True Man's teachings.
At last, Yeon Sowol found his clue.
‘When things connect, they become one...’
The model universe within Yeon Sowol's Eight Extraordinary Vessels.
The countless energies existing within it.
Then...
‘The more I make them connect with one another, the more they can become one.’
Just as, in the universe Yeon Sowol knew, gravity existed between matter and matter, drawing them together.
‘If I gather everything together, unite it all, and condense it into a single point...’
Then after that...
A smile formed on Yeon Sowol's lips as he faced the night sky.
He was now certain.
A path of becoming anew without discarding.
Neither Loss of Self nor Clear Knowing, yet perhaps both at once.
A path that began from what he knew and advanced toward what he did not know.
The third path.
Footnotes:
Yushin, rendered as Renewal here, is a term associated with both Japan's Meiji Restoration and South Korea's Yushin Constitution, explaining Sowol's association with political upheaval.
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