WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

Chapter 18: In the Jianghu, One Cannot Control One's Fate (7)

──────

Yi Yubaek recited the formula for Windborne Drift.

"When there is emptiness, it fills of its own accord.

Do not push from behind.

Simply sweep the way clear and invite emptiness."

'A poem?'

The lines felt obscure, as though he understood them and yet did not.

Yeon Sowol carefully considered their meaning.

'When it is empty, it fills on its own. Do not push from behind. Simply sweep the way clear and invite emptiness.'

Ah.

Sowol understood.

"You're explaining how to guide the fire, aren't you?"

Fire filled empty spaces.

When moving the fire through the meridians, trying to push the flames from behind was inefficient. Instead, he only needed to sweep clear the place where the fire should go, creating emptiness and inviting it in.

'Air flows toward lower pressure too. It's similar. Don't think about pushing it. Lower the pressure where it needs to flow, and it will be drawn in by itself.'

It looked simple, but it was an invaluable lesson. With less effort, he could control the fire more quickly and precisely.

Yi Yubaek smiled with satisfaction.

"You truly have a remarkable gift for understanding. What did Mo Cheong say again? 'If it's empty, why does it fill up? People gather where there are already people, not in empty places, so why are you telling me to empty it?' He kept arguing like that, so I just told him to memorize it."

Mo Cheong, who had been standing quietly until then, grumbled.

"Master!"

"Isn't it true?"

"That's exactly why it's worse!"

"All right, all right."

Shaking his head, Yi Yubaek recited the next formula.

"Make the fire fierce with the drum.

Make the fire warm with the pouch.

Make the fire subtle with emptiness."

With a drum, make the fire fierce.

With a pouch, make the fire warm.

With emptiness, make the fire subtle.

"Do you understand this one too?"

'This is...'

It was a little harder than the last one.

Still, Sowol felt his way through its meaning with the Korean skills he had painstakingly honed in school.

'Fierce. Warm. Subtle. It must be about controlling the fire's temperature. The question is what the drum, pouch, and emptiness mean... Ah!'

He answered.

"It's a method for controlling the fire's heat."

"Correct. And how do you control it?"

"Drum means a drum. If you make currents of kindling the inner fire collide, as though beating a drum, the fire becomes fierce."

"Well, look at that."

"Pouch means a pouch. If you confine kindling the inner fire within an acupoint, like air swelling inside a pouch, the fire becomes warm."

Snap!

Yi Yubaek opened his fan. A bright lemon scent drifted out.

"Lastly, emptiness connects to the previous line. You said that when one empties a space, fire flows on its own. If you keep it flowing, the fire becomes subtle."

"Excellent!"

Yi Yubaek smiled as he lightly fanned himself.

"Your insight is more impressive by the day. You will learn these formulas far faster than I expected."

His words proved true.

In just two hours, Sowol had learned every formula and began awkwardly attempting the stage of maturity according to them.

Yi Yubaek was impressed.

Sowol was happy for the first time in a while.

'Yes! This is studying!'

Not this constant business of his body melting.

Or burning.

Or driving him insane.

Taking his time and achieving something safely.

This was exactly the kind of studying that felt familiar to Yeon Sowol, who had fallen here from the twenty-first century, and the kind he felt confident in.

"All right, shall we do it properly now?"

That was before Yi Yubaek strode over and seized both sides of his waist.

??!!

A chill ran down Sowol's spine.

"Ah, Father. Wait a moment!"

He thought Yi Yubaek was about to force a surge of kindling the inner fire into his body again.

'I'm not mentally prepared yet!'

There was no such thing as finding it easier because it was the second time.

The second time was worse. The first time, he had gone through it without knowing anything. This time, he already knew.

'Aaaah!'

He truly had been amazed by Yi Yubaek's extraordinary stage of maturity, but the experience had not been pleasant in the slightest.

The feeling of another person's kindling the inner fire burrowing through his body.

It was more chilling than having a blade pressed to his throat.

The terror that, if the other person wanted to, they could melt him into a mere bowlful of soft flesh at any moment.

No one could ever get used to that, no matter how many times it happened.

"Don't worry. I am not trying to temper you by force."

Sowol nearly relaxed at those words.

Fwoooosh!

A sudden blast of wind struck his face, and his eyes flew open.

"Huh? Huh?!"

It was a sensation he had experienced earlier.

His body flailed in empty air. Yi Yubaek and Mo Cheong looked tiny below him.

"Aaaah!"

Yet unlike before, his body did not feel light in the least.

Earlier, he had been light enough for the wind to nudge him away. Now, Sowol was heavy enough to crush through the wind as he fell.

At a height of eleven meters, where people supposedly felt fear most strongly, Sowol stopped rising and began to fall.

"Ugh, aaaaaah!"

Yi Yubaek's voice flew into his ears.

"Come now. What are you doing? You learned the formulas, so use them. Lighten your body. Fly, my son."

"Aaaaaah!"

How was he supposed to do that?!

He had only just learned it and was still fumbling through it!!!

He wanted to scream those words, but nothing came from his throat except cries of terror.

Screeeech!

The wind shrieked.

His heavy body would not even right itself. The more he flailed in midair, the more his limbs twisted as he spun wildly.

The dirt ground rushed up before his eyes.

The moment Sowol's eyes widened.

Whoosh!

Yi Yubaek darted in, wrapped an arm around Sowol's head and torso, then spun once through the air and slammed him into the ground.

KRAAASH!

The ground shook, and a cloud of pale dust billowed up.

"......"

Sowol stared wide-eyed, his mouth hanging open.

Yi Yubaek had supported the back of his neck and head with his hand, but the impact that shot through his back and buttocks shook his insides.

"Ghk. Ghhk..."

He could not breathe.

Had the Willow Serenity Art not tempered his body, the impact might have burst his organs and killed him.

Yi Yubaek looked down at the utterly dazed Sowol.

"Why didn't you fly?"

!!!

"Wait..." Before Sowol, who sensed what was coming, had the chance to stop him,

Fwoooosh!

Another fierce gust struck his face.

Yi Yubaek and Mo Cheong shrank below him, and all of Shinheung County spread out before his eyes.

"Aaaaaah!"

Sowol was tossed around for more than two hours.

By the time beads of sweat had formed on Yi Yubaek's forehead, he was granted a brief rest.

"Blegh! Bleegh!"

His stomach was completely turned over. Sowol crawled across the ground, dry-heaving over and over. He had already vomited everything he had eaten. There was nothing left to come out, and even his stomach acid had dried up.

Mo Cheong watched him with pity before speaking.

"Master. Isn't this too harsh...?"

"What is?"

"Well. He only just learned the formulas, but making him perform the stage of maturity according to them while being thrown through the air..."

"It's fine. He won't die."

"......He probably will not, but if training is too difficult, it breaks one's spirit. Once someone's spirit breaks, their progress drops sharply."

"That is true."

"Then..."

"But Sowol entered the martial path at eighteen and achieved Breathing Smoke into Clouds in less than half a year."

"......"

"Do you really think this is harsh training for him?"

"On second thought, I do not think so."

"Right? Neither do I."

Yi Yubaek smiled.

"Seven days and nights. If he does this for exactly seven days and nights, he will be able to reach first-stage mastery. A great vessel takes a great fire to fire."

* * *

Sowol was thrown.

Then thrown again.

Training had begun in the morning, but the sun was already sinking.

"Sowol. Sowol. You must devote your whole heart to it. When are you going to make up your mind? You need to make up your mind to fly if you are going to fly."

As if it was not difficult enough already, Sowol felt like he would go insane whenever Yi Yubaek said things like that.

He even stopped dry-heaving, sprang to his feet, and protested.

"...I have been making up my mind. I only think this may be difficult to accomplish through resolve alone."

He had held himself back and back until those were the only words he could force out.

Inside, he was screaming.

'How can it be done through willpower alone?! To use Windborne Drift, don't I have to move the fire through thirty-six routes according to twelve methods of fire control, then control it through one hundred and eight changes to temper my body? That alone is enough to make my head explode, but you throw me into the air and tell me to do it! How can that be done through willpower alone?!'

He had swallowed all of that and spoken as politely as he could, but Yi Yubaek's attitude did not change at all.

"It is possible. It is possible through the heart alone. A martial artist who devotes their whole heart to their fists will strike even after losing consciousness. A bird that devotes its whole heart to flight will still manage to land even with torn wings. Only when the heart reaches its utmost can one perform martial arts in any situation."

'Aaaah! That damned willpower sermon again!'

Ever since he had been on Earth, Sowol had hated mindless ideas about willpower.

There was nothing that could not be done through sheer spirit?

That was how people died while exercising.

Humans were living things bound by clear limitations. Reaching achievements through scientific efficiency was far faster than blindly forcing oneself through things.

That was a fact proven in the twenty-first century.

It was unfair. Absurd. How long did he have to remain this helpless? How long did he have to be thrown around like a toy?

At last, unable to contain his resentment, Sowol revealed more of what he truly felt.

"But I have to control the fire. I have to watch over the body I am tempering. I have to think about how I will move through the air, and only after all that mental strain can I barely use Windborne Drift. This is something that needs time for the body to grow accustomed to it. I do not think it can be done by simply deciding to do it. I truly do not."

For the first time, Sowol argued forcefully with Yi Yubaek.

Yi Yubaek looked at him seriously.

Then he spoke in a low, weighty voice.

"Sowol. We call the Willow Serenity Art an inner cultivation method."

'What is he going to say now...'

"Why do you think that is? It handles innate true qi, and the stage of maturity is its core. Would it not be more fitting to call it a qi art or a method of fire control?"

"......"

That was true. Why was it called that?

Sowol's expression grew complicated.

"Of essence, qi, and spirit, spirit is the mind, and the mind is light. That is why. Light reaches everywhere."

What kind of riddle was that supposed to be?

"It reaches everywhere. Only the mind does. It illuminates everything within you all together, all at once, yet each thing on its own."

Tap.

Yi Yubaek pressed a finger to the left side of Sowol's chest.

"The light called the mind touches every difficulty you mentioned at the same time, and each one separately. Like the Song of the Moon Reflected in a Thousand Rivers, each river holding it in its own way. It ripples with the waves, yet never fades no matter how much water is drawn away."

"......"

"If you dye your essence, qi, and spirit with a single light, then even after flying a thousand times, you will not neglect a thing. Even on your first flight, you will not be in danger."

"......"

"Because only the mind can accomplish such a difficult task."

Yi Yubaek continued.

"The study of controlling the hottest fire within you, the hardest study in the world, is called an inner cultivation method."

Why?

Sowol ran a hand over his arm beneath his clothes.

Goosebumps had risen across his skin.

Why?

It felt as though he understood, yet did not.

He still did not understand Yi Yubaek's teaching.

And yet, for some reason, goosebumps already covered his body.

"Have you not experienced it once already? During your closed-door seclusion. I thought you would have."

!!!

At Yi Yubaek's casual remark, Sowol felt as if he had been struck by lightning.

The time he had spent in closed-door seclusion filled his mind.

At first, it had been horrible.

Then he had hated it.

Then, little by little, he had begun to enjoy it.

And at last...

'I had forgotten it all.'

He had forgotten everything.

There had only been himself, endlessly observing, probing, and moving.

Perhaps, at that time, even the self-awareness of someone called Yeon Sowol had not existed.

'If that... was a state of devoting my whole heart.'

Sowol suddenly looked within himself.

The innate true qi inside the Eight Extraordinary Vessels.

The postnatal qi within his flesh and bones.

The fire circulating through the Twelve Regular Meridians.

'Ah.'

The traces of what Sowol had carved with a heart at its utmost remained there, whole and clear.

The Twelve Regular Meridians, heated more warmly.

The Eight Extraordinary Vessels, their impurities burned away, their qi hotter and purer.

His bones and flesh, softer and stronger.

All of them were traces carved by his utmost heart. Simply tracing them one by one made Sowol feel as if he had returned to that time.

Yes.

He could feel that state of mind.

It had not been swept away by time. It was still engraved within his inner cultivation method.

"......"

Sowol's qi settled calmly.

The wavering vanished from his eyes.

"......Good."

Footnotes:

Join our discord at https://dsc.gg/wetried