WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR
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Chapter 181: Spring Silkworms Spin Silk Until Death (5)
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At last, Yeon Sowol opened his eyes.
“...This is.”
An unfamiliar energy flowed through the Eight Extraordinary Vessels.
The energy Yeon Sowol had created upon reaching the peak realm.
Born through a Big Bang.
A new universe that had devoured everything Yeon Sowol had built, then been reborn in a way he did not understand.
“What could this be...?”
That was why even Yeon Sowol did not know.
What kind of energy he now possessed.
Well, he would find out if he used it.
“Good.”
Fwoosh-
True Flame burned along the Twelve Regular Meridians.
It heated and stimulated the Eight Extraordinary Vessels.
“Huh?”
But the Eight Extraordinary Vessels would not budge at all.
“What’s wrong with them?”
Fwoooosh!
Yeon Sowol summoned True Flame even hotter.
He did not merely raise its temperature. He deepened its stage of maturity.
‘If the Twelve Regular Meridians aren’t enough...’
He sent True Flame into the Twelve Divergent Meridians as well.
The flames traveled through even more varied paths, stimulating the Eight Extraordinary Vessels from every angle.
Yet the Eight Extraordinary Vessels still showed no response.
‘Then the Fifteen Collaterals too...’
The Fifteen Collaterals were major pathways that connected the Twelve Regular Meridians to one another.
Once he extended the stage of maturity there, True Flame could move far more freely.
Fwoooosh!
Hummm!
Only then did the Eight Extraordinary Vessels react for the first time.
But it was only a brief reaction, followed once more by silence.
‘Even this isn’t enough?’
His stubbornness flared.
Yeon Sowol deepened the stage of maturity even further. He filled even the fine collaterals, the minute meridians, with True Flame and carefully adjusted the fire.
Strong flames and subtle flames.
Gentle flames and fierce flames.
They alternated as they heated his limbs and body, stimulating the Eight Extraordinary Vessels within.
Hummm!
At last, the Eight Extraordinary Vessels began to stir.
The postnatal qi throughout his body responded to that movement and generated true qi.
Yeon Sowol was taken aback.
“True qi only arises when the stage of maturity is this deep?”
It had not been like this before.
Previously, he only had to recklessly send True Flame along the Twelve Regular Meridians for the Eight Extraordinary Vessels to react and true qi to arise. Its efficiency and quality had simply been poor.
But now, the Eight Extraordinary Vessels did not react at all unless the stage of maturity was considerable.
‘Does this really mean I’ve gotten stronger?’
Generating true qi had become harder rather than easier. Could that truly be called growth?
Yet Yeon Sowol’s doubt vanished as quickly as snow in the sun.
“Wait. What is this...?”
Yeon Sowol raised a hand.
He looked at the true qi wavering above it.
As befitted peak-realm qi, it had a distinct color.
Yet it was difficult to say what color that was.
It seemed dark, yet glittering. It seemed to contain countless shifting colors.
It was simply auspicious.
And that was not merely how it looked.
“What should I even call this energy...?”
It seemed rough, yet soft.
It seemed to seep in, yet repel.
It seemed fast, yet heavy.
All of those qualities existed at once.
“With this energy, wouldn’t I hold the advantage against any other energy I clash with?”
Because it contained every nature, it could hold an advantage over every nature.
“And...”
Yeon Sowol drew Clear Mirror and swung it.
Swoosh!
The sword cut through the air at full force.
Jolt!
Then it abruptly stopped in midair.
As though something had seized it.
No, as though it had never moved in the first place.
There was no sense of inertia whatsoever.
It was unreal.
Wonder filled Yeon Sowol’s face.
“The application and withdrawal of force are completely free.”
The universe-like energy sometimes revealed something, then hid it again.
Yeon Sowol could move suddenly and stop suddenly, as if inertia did not exist.
His expression grew dazed.
“I barely understand any of this energy’s secrets yet...”
The properties he had discovered in only a moment were already absurd.
Energy that might hold the advantage over all other energies.
Energy that ignored inertia and allowed him to freely apply and withdraw force.
And none of it required any effort.
It was simply the nature of the energy he possessed, so there was no need to manipulate qi as intricately as before.
This alone made all his hardship until now feel rewarded.
“At this point, I can accept that the stage of maturity is difficult.”
The more advanced a rocket engine was, the more delicately one had to control its ignition and the flow of heat.
Yeon Sowol cried out excitedly.
“Master! Where are you, Master!”
His qi sense could not detect Chungdam True Man anywhere nearby.
But Chungdam True Man had always been impossible to detect, so Yeon Sowol simply assumed they were somewhere close and called out loudly.
He wanted to discuss what he had gained with his master.
But Chungdam True Man was not the one who answered.
“Martial Uncle.”
“Yes?”
Hyeonjung, Wudang’s chief disciple and the first disciple of Sect Leader Hwagokja, approached and bowed.
“Martial Uncle, this martial nephew has been waiting under the Patriarch’s orders.”
“Ah.”
Only then did Yeon Sowol realize what it meant for him to call Hwagokja martial brother.
The next successor of Wudang, Hyeonjung, was in their early thirties, yet Yeon Sowol had become their martial uncle.
That was what it meant to have one’s generational standing recognized.
‘Is this really all right?’
As someone born in the Eastern Nation of Courtesy, he found it deeply awkward.
While Yeon Sowol stood there uncomfortably, Hyeonjung simply raised their head and led the way without a trace of concern.
“The Patriarch said to escort Martial Uncle to Langmei Shrine once you opened your eyes.”
Langmei Shrine.
That was another place he had never heard of.
‘Wudang really is enormous.’
Yeon Sowol was a little dumbfounded.
“Come along. On the way, please teach this martial nephew a little about what realization you attained.”
Hyeonjung smiled broadly with narrow eyes and led the way.
Thanks to that, Yeon Sowol was able to shake off some of his discomfort and follow.
“Ah, yes. Of course. I learned from my master as well, so I’ll gladly share what I have come to know.”
“Thank you, Martial Uncle. But you cannot speak politely to your martial nephew. The elders would scold me if they saw it.”
“Ah...”
He had to speak informally to an adult in their early thirties too?
“Martial Uncle?”
“...”
Yeon Sowol became awkward again.
* * *
Wudang Mountain was where the True Martial Great Emperor, the deity who governed the north, had cultivated in their days as a human.
Legends of the True Martial Great Emperor overflowed throughout the mountain.
One of them was the legend of langmei.
In youth, the True Martial Great Emperor nearly gave up on cultivation and descended the mountain. Fortunately, with the help of an immortal, they attained enlightenment and climbed the mountain once more.
On that path, they came across a betel palm.
The betel palm bore fruit with a red juice that was strongly stimulating and addictive.
In countries such as twenty-first-century Taiwan, it was widely consumed like tobacco. Yet it was originally a palm that grew only in southern lands as warm as Taiwan.
But the True Martial Great Emperor had found one on Wudang Mountain in Hubei, so it naturally drew their attention.
Perhaps that was why.
The True Martial Great Emperor broke off a plum branch nearby, inserted it into the betel palm, and made a vow.
If they attained the Dao, flowers would bloom and fruit would form even from that plum branch.
Time passed, and flowers truly bloomed from the branch and bore fruit. That was how langmei, said to grow only on Wudang Mountain, came into being.
Langmei bore a unique fruit that resembled both a plum and a betel nut. It was considered sacred and was a treasure presented to the Emperor.
Langmei Shrine.
A shrine halfway up one of Wudang Mountain’s peaks, surrounded by langmei trees.
Chungdam True Man walked among the red walls that stretched between the langmei trees, lost in thought.
While Yeon Sowol remained behind to settle the energy and realization he had gained after reaching the peak realm, Chungdam True Man had descended first.
Hwagokja hurried over with the elders and clasped their hands in salute behind Chungdam True Man.
“Grandmaster. Did you send for us? Your disciple Hwagok and all thirteen elders have assembled.”
Thirteen elders meant every elder of Wudang had gathered.
With the Sect Leader and every elder present, it would not be an exaggeration to say that all of Wudang had assembled here.
It was an extremely formal summons, so Hwagokja did not address Chungdam True Man as Martial Uncle as usual, but respectfully called them Grandmaster.
Yet Chungdam True Man, who had summoned them all, said nothing.
They merely gazed at the langmei before the red wall for a long time.
Hwagokja and the elders stood quietly, waiting for Chungdam True Man to speak.
After a long while,
“Hwagok.”
“Yes, Grandmaster.”
“You know that I have recently been studying a certain martial art.”
“Yes, Grandmaster.”
“Strictly speaking, it cannot be called a single martial art. Unlike martial arts such as the Cotton Palm Art or Cloud Ladder, it has no forms or techniques. It is closer to a principle. Perhaps it could be called a certain martial vista within martial arts.”
Hwagokja bowed even deeper and listened intently.
Everyone knew that Chungdam True Man had been absorbed in some research, but no one had heard the details until now.
“This principle already lay latent in Wudang’s teachings. I merely wish to reveal it.”
Hwagokja and the elders swallowed unconsciously.
A martial art that a genius said to appear only once in a century, if at all, sought to forge by synthesizing Wudang’s teachings.
Even Daoists who had reached Loss of Self could not restrain their curiosity.
Rather, they were even more curious.
To those who believed that if they heard the Dao in the morning, they could die that evening without regret, this was not simply martial arts. It was also a teaching that pointed toward the Dao.
“What do you think is the name of the martial principle I am studying?”
Hwagokja suddenly looked around.
They studied the langmei that Chungdam True Man had been watching in particular before answering.
“Could it be related to langmei?”
A smile touched Chungdam True Man’s lips.
“Correct.”
They said,
“The new martial vista I am refining, I call it Grafting Flowers onto a Tree.”
Moving a flower and grafting it onto another tree.
If one grafted a pear branch onto the trunk of an apple tree, pears would grow from that branch.
Making one’s own flowers bloom and bear fruit through another tree’s strength.
Just like the legend of langmei, in which a plum branch was grafted onto a betel palm.
“The reason I study this is to stand against demons.”
At last, Chungdam True Man turned to face Hwagokja and the elders.
Rare concern showed on their usually tranquil face.
“In this vast and harsh world, the human path is not even worth a speck of dust. Is not humanity’s struggle to follow the Dao crushed far too often?”
The mood sank.
Those gathered here could dare call themselves the center of the martial world.
That was why they knew more than others, and the more they knew, the heavier their hearts had to be.
“Even Sowol encountered a Flood Dragon in Yuezhou, did he not? A Flood Dragon. How truly frightening. Yet in this immense world, can a Flood Dragon truly be called great?”
“...”
“...”
To Hwagokja and the elders, silent beneath the weight of those words, Chungdam True Man said,
“That is why I conceived of Grafting Flowers onto a Tree. We humans, who are not immortals, find it truly difficult to stand proud before demons. A martial principle that makes the flower of righteousness bloom even atop a great demon. That is Grafting Flowers onto a Tree.”
“Grandmaster, if that is so...”
Then one of the elders who had merely listened until now spoke.
The Third Elder, Hwamyeongja.
With a cautious expression, yet a voice unable to fully conceal their dissatisfaction and concern, they asked,
“If that is so... Would it not be somewhat improper to teach Yeon So... No, Martial Brother Yeon?”
Chungdam True Man stared steadily at them.
“Continue.”
“Well... Is that not so? If the martial vista called Grafting Flowers onto a Tree truly holds the power to stand against demons, even gathering all of Wudang’s strength around it may not be enough. Martial Brother Yeon is ultimately a lay disciple, an outsider. It feels somewhat wasteful to spend such precious time on a child like him...”
It was a statement openly challenging the decision of Chungdam True Man, a sixty-eighth-generation patriarch of Wudang.
Everyone held their breath and watched for a reaction. Yet inwardly, they seemed to agree with Hwamyeongja.
Hwamyeongja swallowed, their lips apparently dry, then continued because the words had already been spoken.
“There is also a proper reason. While Grandmaster was teaching Martial Brother Yeon, a messenger came from the imperial court. They requested that Martial Brother Yeon enter the palace because of what happened in Yuezhou. When we answered that he was studying at Wudang, they asked when his instruction would end.”
Watching Chungdam True Man’s calm expression, they continued.
“The imperial court has summoned him. We cannot keep him for too long, can we? Let us teach him for another two months or so, then send him away. You have also already given him the most important teaching, the teaching of the heart, so no one can claim that Wudang was negligent in its instruction.”
It was a reasonable argument.
The imperial court had called for him.
He had already been taught enough.
Who could object?
But Chungdam True Man said,
“Well, I do not know. We must see first. Once Sowol comes down, I must see what sort of energy he has formed. Whether two months will suffice, or whether several more years are needed.”
Hwamyeongja’s eyes widened.
“Yes? Several years? But the imperial court...”
“If I send a letter, they will gladly wait.”
Hwamyeongja looked as though they could barely breathe.
If the peerless Sword Immortal, a sixty-eighth-generation patriarch of Wudang, personally sent a letter asking it, of course they would wait.
But Hwamyeongja’s voice turned sullen.
“However, Grandmaster, there is nothing more to teach him, is there? It is not as though you will teach him Wudang’s mountain-guarding ultimate arts...”
“Nothing more to teach? Well... Perhaps, conversely, there may be something for us to learn.”
“What?”
Hwamyeongja’s eyes widened.
Hwamyeongja was not the only one.
The elders who had quietly supported Hwamyeongja all tilted their heads in confusion.
Learn?
Who?
Us?
From whom?
From Yeon Sowol?
Chungdam True Man noticed their expressions and smiled.
“You fools. Do you think you know everything in the world?”
“That is not what we mean...”
“Then what realm do you think Sowol’s heart has reached now?”
Hwamyeongja answered.
“We heard that from the Sect Leader as well. He has reached Loss of Self, has he not? It is a remarkable thing. I understand why Grandmaster wishes to teach that child. But...”
“No.”
“Pardon?”
“I said it is not Loss of Self.”
“Then... Clear Knowing?”
“No.”
“What?”
“Neither Loss of Self nor Clear Knowing. He used both to reach the peak realm through a new realization.”
Chungdam True Man smiled, clasped their hands behind their back, and took a step away.
Suddenly, the langmei standing before the red wall filled everyone’s view.
“Sowol merely grafted his own flower onto Wudang’s tree.”
Just as the True Martial Great Emperor had grafted a plum branch onto a betel palm.
Wudang’s tree had provided the nourishment, but the flower that bloomed belonged not to Wudang, but to Yeon Sowol.
“Then why should Wudang not graft its own flower onto a tree that Sowol has raised?”
Chungdam True Man spoke in a gentle tone, as though instructing young disciples.
“Seen that way, how can we be in a position only to teach?”
It was simple logic.
Wudang was not merely teaching and bestowing favor upon Yeon Sowol. Wudang would also learn and gain something, so there was no need to begrudge the time spent.
But to Hwagokja and the elders, those words were far too difficult to accept.
Not because the logic was difficult, but because they could not accept its premise.
Hwamyeongja spoke, frowning as though their head hurt.
“Grandmaster, even so... Can we truly compare the martial arts of Wudang, built over a thousand years, with those of a young man who has only just passed twenty?”
Chungdam True Man did not dispute that.
They merely said,
“You will know when you see.”
Their gaze rested on Yeon Sowol, who was just entering the gate of Langmei Shrine in the distance.
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