WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR
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Chapter 182: Spring Silkworms Spin Silk Until Death (6)
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There was a courtyard before Langmei Shrine, paved flat with rough stones.
There, Yeon Sowol exchanged greetings with Wudang’s elders.
“To avoid bringing shame upon the names of my teachers and senior martial brothers, I will always remain mindful and do my utmost.”
They exchanged greetings again, not as a martial hero visiting Wudang Mountain, but as senior and junior martial brothers.
A guest suddenly becoming a fellow disciple?
Even for the experienced elders, this was their first time encountering such a thing. Some forgot Clear Heart and showed rather awkward expressions.
Unable to hide his own discomfort, Yeon Sowol wore an embarrassed smile. He looked exactly like a young man his age.
Yet, seeing that, some of the elders found it strange.
‘That is not Loss of Self?’
‘Forget Loss of Self, has even his Clear Heart wavered a little?’
A heart that had reached Loss of Self did not become startled or shaken by ordinary matters.
That fresh-faced, bashful appearance did not look like that of a cultivator pursuing the Dao, no matter how they looked at it.
‘But that cannot be.’
‘Martial Uncle himself guaranteed that Junior Martial Brother Yeon attained a realm.’
Before Chungdam True Man, the elders did not dare voice their doubts. They only wondered in silence.
Then Chungdam True Man asked Yeon Sowol,
“You have reached the peak realm, Sowol.”
“It is all thanks to my teachers.”
“Congratulations. Now then, what will you do? Would you like to learn Wudang’s martial arts?”
“Yes. I would like to.”
“What would you like to learn?”
At Chungdam True Man’s words, Yeon Sowol appeared to ponder for a moment. Then his eyes sparkled as he replied in a voice full of eagerness.
“I would like to learn all of it.”
All of it?
Such blunt desire that it bordered on shamelessness.
“Goodness.”
“Hyeoncheon Josun Celestial Worthy... Was it Clear Knowing rather than Loss of Self?”
A few elders sighed.
But without a change in expression, Chungdam True Man calmly asked again,
“All of it... What will you do if I tell you that is impossible?”
“Then that would be regrettable.”
An immediate answer. He said it would be regrettable, but his expression remained entirely calm.
The strange atmosphere made several elders sigh again.
“Hyeoncheon Josun Celestial Worthy... No. He does seem like Loss of Self as well...”
“You fools. Did I not say it was neither?”
Chungdam True Man lightly rebuked them as he glanced over his shoulder.
Then, smiling, he looked at Yeon Sowol.
“As I see it, Sowol’s heart now runs free like that of a child. He likes what he likes. He dislikes what he dislikes. Yet there are no creases in it, no bindings upon it. Is that not close to the Dao as well?”
At those words, some elders nodded as though they understood, while others tilted their heads as though it was too difficult.
But Chungdam True Man explained no further. He merely clasped his hands behind his back and studied Yeon Sowol.
“You little rascal. Before I decide what to teach you, I think I must first know you better. Even I do not know exactly what attainment you have gained.”
“What should this disciple do?”
“Have a match with Hwamyeong over there.”
Chungdam True Man pointed into the air.
The person there was Hwamyeongja, Wudang’s Third Elder.
He was the very elder who had been saying it was wasteful to teach Yeon Sowol.
At the sudden selection, Hwamyeongja’s eyebrows twitched.
His face showed disbelief, as though wondering whether he had truly been chosen.
He was not the only one who found it strange.
“Senior Martial Brother Hwamyeong?”
“Does Grandmaster believe they need an instructional spar?”
Chungdam True Man cut through their questions at once.
“What instructional spar?”
With his hands still clasped behind his back, he casually added,
“Hwamyeong. Go all out.”
His voice was calm. But for the one receiving those words, they could not be accepted calmly.
If told to do one’s utmost, one had to do one’s utmost.
Even if it was said casually, almost like a joke, that was how it had to be. Such was the authority of Wudang’s sixty-eighth-generation patriarch.
Hwamyeongja still felt doubtful inside.
‘...Can I truly go all out? What could Grandmaster be planning...?’
Still, he said nothing and bowed his head.
“Hyeoncheon Josun Celestial Worthy... I will follow Grandmaster’s will.”
Yeon Sowol also bowed to Chungdam True Man, imitating Hwamyeongja’s manner of speech.
“Hyeoncheon Josun Celestial Worthy. I will follow my teacher’s will.”
* * *
Excluding Chungdam True Man and the masters of the previous generation, Wudang had four transcendent peak-realm masters.
Hwagokja, Wudang’s Sect Leader.
The First Elder, Second Elder, and Sixth Elder.
Add masters of the previous generation such as Chungdam True Man, and one could no longer count Wudang’s transcendent peak-realm masters on one hand. Such was the stature of Wudang, called one of the great pillars of the martial world.
Yet even within such a Wudang, the name of Hwamyeongja, the Third Elder, was never taken lightly.
Among the Hwa generation, to which the current Sect Leader and elders belonged, there had long been a saying that was half joke and half truth.
- Defeat Hwamyeong, and you reach the transcendent peak realm.
Not every peak-realm martial artist was the same.
Wudang Mountain was filled with peak-realm masters, but none of them could defeat Hwamyeongja in a martial match. Even lasting a hundred exchanges before losing was no easy feat.
He stood at the absolute limit of the peak realm.
A genius born with exceptional martial talent.
A master people said could not be defeated by anyone in the same peak realm unless they had first crossed into the transcendent peak realm.
Perhaps the strongest peak-realm master in the entire world.
That was Hwamyeongja.
Naturally, Wudang’s elders could not help but worry and wonder.
No matter how much of a genius Yeon Sowol was, he had only just entered the peak realm. It went against common sense for him to face Hwamyeongja, considered one of the greatest masters in that realm.
“To tell Senior Martial Brother Hwamyeong to go all out...”
“And to say it is not even an instructional spar...”
“I cannot understand Grandmaster’s intentions at all.”
In the courtyard before Langmei Shrine, Yeon Sowol and Hwamyeongja faced each other amid the elders’ whispers.
Hwamyeongja spoke.
“Junior Martial Brother Yeon. As you heard, I must do my utmost.”
“Yes, Senior Martial Brother.”
“So be especially careful. If you believe it is too much, concede at once. Do not stubbornly suffer an internal injury for nothing.”
“Yes. I will, Senior Martial Brother.”
Yeon Sowol answered every word obediently.
Hwamyeongja found that unconvincing, but what could he do?
‘If he takes my warning lightly and suffers an internal injury, that cannot be helped either.’
Hwamyeongja spoke.
Pretending not to care, he looked past Yeon Sowol’s head at the majestic peaks of Wudang Mountain and the blue sky between them. Then he casually said,
“Then, since I must go all out, I will not yield the opening...”
Whoosh!
“...to you!”
An attack that cut through the natural breath and pause between words.
Before he had even finished announcing that he would strike first, Hwamyeongja suddenly used his lightness skill.
Flappp!
Hwamyeongja’s robes shot forward, lashing violently.
“Huh!”
Yeon Sowol was flustered from the start.
But it was not because of Hwamyeongja’s surprise attack.
‘What kind of movement is that...!’
A surprise attack?
The Jianghu Yeon Sowol had experienced had never been easy.
From the moment he heard the words “go all out,” he had been prepared for that much. By now, Yeon Sowol was accustomed to the Jianghu.
But Hwamyeongja’s lightness art, used for that surprise attack, was not something Yeon Sowol could have prepared for.
‘I cannot read the tell...!’
All movement was fundamentally based on the laws of physics.
To move forward, one had to push against the ground. That was the law of action and reaction.
When one went from stillness to movement, one started out slow and sluggish. That was the law of inertia.
Yet Hwamyeongja’s movements appeared to defy those laws head-on.
He did not strongly kick off the ground, yet he suddenly moved a great distance. He went from stillness to motion, yet he was immediately fast.
How could Yeon Sowol possibly predict his movements?
Sway!
Yeon Sowol stirred up Windborne Drift and used Willow Leaf Steps, slipping past Hwamyeongja’s attack.
Thoom!
Hwamyeongja’s outstretched palm struck the empty air like a drum.
The attack had missed. Ordinarily, his movements should have paused for a moment.
But then,
Flappp!
Hwamyeongja’s robes fluttered like wings. Without the slightest hesitation, he came after Yeon Sowol at once, like a bouncing rubber ball.
Hwamyeongja closed in again in an instant.
Yeon Sowol swallowed dryly.
‘It can be done like this...’
Qi was originally a force that created harmony.
Harmony was a phenomenon that ignored or twisted the laws of physics.
But even considering that, Hwamyeongja’s movements were bizarre.
That was true even from Yeon Sowol’s perspective, after experiencing many first-rate and peak-realm masters.
‘He’s like some kind of UFO!’
He turned sharply.
He stopped sharply.
His movement continued regardless of his posture, as though he were moving while holding onto an invisible ladder.
Flappp!
His robes shook as though invisible threads were attached to them, pulling him along at will.
‘This was possible without even having the qi of the universe.’
Unable to hold back any longer, Yeon Sowol unconsciously voiced his admiration.
“Celestial Worthy, Incarnation of the Golden Palace Who Subdues Demons.”
Sway!
Hurriedly using Willow Leaf Steps, he swayed this way and that like a willow branch, slipping free of Hwamyeongja’s attacks as he asked,
“How did you do that? What kind of lightness art is that?”
Thoom!
Thud!
Whenever Yeon Sowol swayed, Hwamyeongja’s palm narrowly struck empty space.
The bursting waves of qi made the whole world tremble.
“...”
Hwamyeongja gritted his teeth.
He did not answer Yeon Sowol.
To him, going all out meant exactly that.
Instead, Chungdam True Man answered Yeon Sowol.
“Sowol. That is Wudang’s Cloud Ladder.”
“Cloud Ladder!”
Ascending by using clouds as ladders.
It was a lightness art known throughout the Jianghu like a legend.
When people named the greatest lightness arts under heaven, it was always mentioned at least once, an unrivaled art beneath the heavens.
Chungdam True Man briefly explained its principles as well.
“It is a Movement Art that uses the principles of the Supreme Ultimate and the Eight Trigrams. When the Supreme Ultimate moves, it gives birth to yang. When it stops, it gives birth to yin. And things that move and stop possess four pairs of natures.”
Qian was Heaven, great and strong.
Kun was Earth, vast and yielding.
Zhen was Thunder, sudden and fierce.
Xun was Wind, supple and permeating.
Li was Fire, bright and rising upward.
Kan was Water, deep and flowing without rest.
Gen was Mountain, halting and abiding.
Dui was Lake, communicating and joyful.
“If you comprehend all these within your body, you can use even the smallest currents of qi, like clouds, as ladders to move this way and stop that way.”
Yeon Sowol was amazed.
Flappp!
After hearing Chungdam True Man’s explanation, Hwamyeongja’s fluttering robes looked different to him.
They were not simply fluttering like a banner.
At times, they were sudden as thunder.
At times, they were gentle as wind.
They stretched out like fire and sank down like water.
‘I see.’
Yeon Sowol understood, if only a little, the principles of Cloud Ladder.
‘It is not ignoring inertia.’
It merely appeared that way on the surface.
In truth, it followed the responses of incredibly subtle currents of qi.
The force of water sinking downward pierced like thunder, while the force of fire rising upward rode over things like wind.
Great movements emerged through the amplification and weakening of tiny forces.
Those endlessly fluttering robes were like ripples created by the responses of those subtle currents of qi.
In short, it was an insane martial art.
‘It would be far too difficult to realize through Clear Knowing.’
It was impossible to calculate and control all of that in one’s head.
Wudang’s Daoists performed it through a sensation that could not be put into words.
Only Daoists who could reflect the world as it was through Clear Heart and Loss of Self could hope to master it.
Having grasped all that in an instant, Yeon Sowol sincerely admired it.
“It is truly an astonishing art! To gather even the tiniest currents of qi and move so freely. No wonder one cannot sense the tell in advance, and it is difficult to follow those changes even after they occur. Forget counterattacking, simply avoiding it is already all I can manage.”
“...”
Yet Hwamyeongja still said nothing in response to that admiration.
His brow merely furrowed more deeply.
Then Hwagokja, his senior martial brother, asked the question in place of Hwamyeongja.
“But how, Junior Martial Brother Yeon, are you continuing to avoid it?”
Sway!
Like a willow leaf fluttering in the air, Yeon Sowol swiftly changed direction and evaded Hwamyeongja’s attack.
At the same time, he answered.
“Ah. Well, I think I may be able to imitate something similar. It would not be the proper method, of course.”
“Imitate...?”
Just as Hwamyeongja, his brow deeply furrowed, opened his lips for the first time,
Whoosh!
Yeon Sowol’s body stopped.
Though he had not planted his feet and braced himself, the momentum carrying him forward vanished in an instant.
As if he had never moved to begin with.
The hem of his robes leaned slightly forward, then fell.
Thoooom!
At the same time, Hwamyeongja’s palm struck the empty air.
The palm strike he had sent ahead, expecting Yeon Sowol to move a little farther forward, had missed in vain again.
“Mm...!”
A groan escaped Hwamyeongja.
Flapppp!
His true qi surged.
The moment his robes rippled in varied waves, Hwamyeongja took another step.
His body suddenly stretched straight forward, as though he were sliding or being pulled taut.
He perfectly closed the distance and thrust his palm toward Yeon Sowol’s chest.
But then,
Whooosh!
This time, Yeon Sowol abruptly accelerated.
Just as Hwamyeongja had.
Without striking a grand pose. Without the sluggishness of starting from stillness.
He suddenly retreated.
The hem of his robes stretched forward, then sank behind him.
Yeon Sowol’s movement was extraordinarily quiet.
Thoooom!
Once again, Hwamyeongja’s palm struck empty air.
Once again, he had failed to catch Yeon Sowol.
The qi of the universe Yeon Sowol had formed upon reaching the peak realm.
As befitted its name, it could contain every kind of qi and release every kind of qi.
When the momentum carrying him forward was placed within the harmony of the universe, it became nonexistent, and he stopped.
Then, when he released it again, he suddenly moved.
As though he had never stopped.
That was one of the abilities of the qi of the universe Yeon Sowol had discovered.
And it bore a remarkably strange resemblance to Cloud Ladder’s movements.
It was merely quieter.
“...”
At last, Hwamyeongja stopped.
For the first time, the man who had pressed Yeon Sowol without pause completely lost his momentum.
He stared blankly at Yeon Sowol. His lips moved, then moved again, until at last a sound barely emerged between them.
“...Celestial Worthy, Incarnation of the Golden Palace Who Subdues Demons.”
He hesitantly asked,
“Um. Junior Martial Brother Yeon. That... How did you do that?”
He hesitated.
“Ahem. Ahem.”
Ashamed and embarrassed, his gaze wandered from place to place.
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