WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
Chapter 189: Spring Silkworms Spin Silk Until Death (13)
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A short way into the stone cave, they came upon a broad chamber.
There was nothing in its center but an altar.
A lone incense burner smoldered there.
White smoke streamed straight toward the exit through which Yeon Sowol and Chungdam True Man had entered.
Five passages extended from the chamber.
Two to the left.
Two to the right.
And one behind the altar.
Chungdam True Man stopped before the altar and looked back at Yeon Sowol.
“We will try it here.”
“We are not going farther in?”
Beneath the Dark Heavens was said to suppress every demon Wudang had captured.
Yeon Sowol had prepared himself to enter its deepest reaches, but this place looked like nothing more than its entrance.
“We will go farther in another time. First, I will teach you the secret formula of the Yin-Yang Divine Art.”
Chungdam True Man immediately began to recite.
“When yang surges, yin sinks.
All things are born from emptiness.
If one knows only a single side,
One cannot yet call it knowledge.
Cast off bias, and obstructions will also be cast off.
Only by embracing all can one truly pass through.
Then yin and yang begin to answer each other.
Only then may one speak of the Supreme Ultimate.”
“This is the first secret formula. Do you understand it?”
“Yes.”
“You answered immediately. As expected of one who has touched Clear Knowing.”
Chungdam True Man chuckled and asked,
“What do you think?”
“It is remarkable.”
“Does it seem that way?”
“Yes. I understand now why Wudang places such importance on cultivating the mind through Clear Heart and Loss of Self.”
A smile touched Chungdam True Man’s lips.
“Why do you think that?”
“When throwing a ball, one often thinks only of the force used to throw it, without considering the force that pushes one back. If told to study a leaf, one may examine its color and shape closely, yet fail to notice the wind that shakes it or the insects that eat it.”
Chungdam True Man merely smiled.
“The Yin-Yang Divine Art demands exactly that. You must not see only one side. Where there is a push, there is also a recoil. If something hangs, you must know that it can fall. That is why the mind is important. Only a mind that has reached Loss of Self can see all things without being bound to one. And by doing so, it can recognize what connects them all... Ah!”
Yeon Sowol’s eyes lit up.
“I see. This applies to qi circulation as well. Wherever True Flame gathers and grows hot, there must be another place where True Flame is emptied and cools... When managing the stage of maturity, one must be able to handle and use both the places that heat up and those that cool down at once...”
“You have grasped the foundation of the Yin-Yang Divine Art from its first formula alone? As expected, you are as exceptional as ever.”
Yeon Sowol sank into deep thought.
“I think the Yin-Yang Divine Art is a martial art that can only truly be learned after reaching Loss of Self. One could enter the path through Clear Heart, but to master it properly, one must still reach Loss of Self.”
“Or Clear Knowing would do as well. Like you, moving between both is also fine.”
Chungdam True Man smiled calmly.
“You have seen well. And the realization within the Yin-Yang Divine Art leads directly into the introductory stage of Grafting Flowers onto a Tree.”
“Grafting Flowers onto a Tree?”
Yeon Sowol was puzzled by the unfamiliar words.
Grafting Flowers onto a Tree?
Did Wudang have a martial art called Grafting Flowers onto a Tree?
“It is the martial vista I have spent my entire life studying. It has no forms, so I cannot call it a martial art. Yet it has no distinctions, so I cannot call it a realm. Thus, I chose to call it a vista.”
Chungdam True Man gazed steadily at Yeon Sowol.
“You may think of every Wudang martial art I teach you from now on as being meant, in the end, to complete this Grafting Flowers onto a Tree together with you.”
Yeon Sowol’s eyes widened.
Chungdam True Man was an unmatched master, beyond anyone Yeon Sowol had ever encountered.
Could Chungdam True Man perhaps face the Flood Dragon of Dongting Lake alone? With the sword gang Chungdam True Man had displayed, it seemed more than capable of blocking even the bolts of lightning the Flood Dragon had commanded.
Yet such a master had spent his entire life researching a martial discipline he had still failed to complete?
And even Wudang’s martial arts were no more than means to complete it?
“I see its completion in three stages. I have only researched as far as the second stage. I still have no sense of how the final third stage should be achieved. In any case, I will show you the Yin-Yang Divine Art and the introductory stage of Grafting Flowers onto a Tree.”
Chungdam True Man crooked a finger at the fragment of the wish-granting pearl in Yeon Sowol’s hand.
“Ah.”
Yeon Sowol held it out, and Chungdam True Man placed a finger upon it.
Twitch! Twitch!
Tiny hands and feet stirred beneath the glassy surface as though they might burst free.
“Sowol, do you know demons?”
“A little. I have already fought them several times.”
“And each time, you used your power.”
“Yes.”
“Then you do not yet know demons.”
“...”
He did not know them?
Yeon Sowol felt a little wronged.
“Do not feel slighted. Before that power of yours, every demon must have been torn to pieces.”
“That is true, but...”
“You do not know what demons feel like to ordinary martial artists without such power. Is that not so?”
“That is true.”
“Yes. So today, do not use the power of your Extinction of Principles. Experience a true demon through martial arts alone.”
“Yes. Understood.”
Chungdam True Man smiled faintly at Yeon Sowol.
“Then put down that sword as well.”
“Yes.”
Yeon Sowol removed Clear Mirror from his waist and placed it on the floor. Even Clear Mirror, given to him by the Hengshan Sect Leader, held the power to expel evil and uphold righteousness.
Only now did Yeon Sowol stand bare-handed before a demon.
For the first time.
“Good. Then stop circulating your qi for a moment.”
A martial artist who had reached the peak realm constantly circulated true qi, even without conscious effort.
Chungdam True Man was telling him to stop.
“Yes.”
The instant Yeon Sowol stopped managing his stage of maturity, stilled his breath, and dispersed his true qi,
Twitch!
The fragment of the wish-granting pearl in his hand pulsed once, powerfully.
Whoosh!
It instantly expanded and swallowed everything around them.
In less than a quarter of a breath, the scenery changed.
‘What is this...?’
Yeon Sowol instinctively drew up his true qi and looked around.
Slosh.
The air was heavy.
As though he were deep underwater.
Even the slightest turn of his head met heavy resistance.
All around him was dark and flickering, as though he were surrounded by black demonic flames.
Then,
“Aaaaaah!”
“No! I do not want this anymore!”
“Help... Help me...”
Pale human figures flashed through the dark, flickering scene.
“Please. Please. Please...”
“I was wrong. I was wrong...”
There were many adult figures.
But there were also terribly many small children.
All of them were trying to escape.
Yet as though they were forcing their way through heavy water, or something behind them were dragging them back, they could barely advance one step at a time.
The air sloshed.
Their arms and legs trembled.
At first they ran a little, then walked, and finally almost crawled.
Then they were stopped by a thin membrane.
Even as they crawled, they stretched out their limbs, trying to break through it and push forward, but when their strength finally gave out, they were flung backward.
“No! No!”
“Aaaaaah!”
“No!”
Crack! Crunch!
Those dragged back rolled and slid across the ground past Yeon Sowol, sucked into the unseen darkness behind them. From within came the hideous sound of flesh being torn apart.
Then, a moment later, people staggered from that darkness again, desperately walking, crawling, reaching the end, and falling backward once more...
Hell?
“Where are we?”
Could it be...
“Are we inside the wish-granting pearl?”
At Yeon Sowol’s words, Chungdam True Man nodded.
“That is right. We are at the heart of the demon the Flood Dragon created.”
A chill ran down his spine.
This living hell had been unfolding inside that fist-sized bead he always carried?
Always?
Every moment?
An indescribable emotion clawed at Yeon Sowol’s chest.
“Is this your first time seeing such a thing?”
“...Yes.”
“That is why I said you had never experienced a true demon.”
Before a demon could fully reveal itself, Yeon Sowol’s hand had always shattered it.
“Demons interpret the world through a single thing. Those that reach an extreme often take the form of a realm like this. A space ruled by that interpretation.”
This dark, heavy space where they advanced endlessly and were dragged back endlessly.
At first, it seemed possible to escape, so they desperately found the strength to try. But it gradually grew heavier until, in the end, they fell into despair.
Chungdam True Man murmured,
“They suffer because they cannot escape. Yet because they suffer, they seek escape. Are both hope and despair born from suffering...? Indeed. It is a demon fit for a Flood Dragon that must wait a thousand years beneath deep waters.”
“...”
Endless suffering.
The desperation to escape that suffering.
That must have been transformed into the wish-granting pearl’s power to bend the world as one desired.
“...”
Yeon Sowol blankly watched the pale human figures.
People sobbed as they desperately pushed through the heavy air.
Even in death, unable to die.
Like that...
Chungdam True Man said,
“If we cannot escape this place, we will become the same.”
Rumble.
It was true.
Yeon Sowol could feel the sticky force dragging him from the darkness behind them.
But honestly, it was not that heavy for him.
“What do you think? If it were only you, could you escape?”
“Perhaps... I think I could.”
“That was not an immediate answer this time. Then give it a try.”
Yeon Sowol stepped forward.
‘It does not seem particularly difficult at the moment.’
The force pulling him backward was quite strong, but not beyond what he could endure.
Even if that force strengthened the farther he advanced, he believed he could overcome it.
He was a peak-realm martial artist.
“I will be back.”
Hummm.
Drawing up a great deal of true qi, he stepped forward.
Slosh. Slosh.
The thick air like water brushed against his cheeks and waist.
But Yeon Sowol paid such resistance no mind and strode onward.
The Eight Extraordinary Vessels burned hot.
True qi rose from every corner of his body.
He easily overcame the resistance of the sloshing air and the force pulling him backward.
Step.
Step.
Ste...
“Hmm?”
Confusion crossed Yeon Sowol’s face.
“Wait. This is...”
Rumble.
His waist bent.
His hand touched the ground.
He strained with all his strength to keep from being dragged backward.
Cold sweat dripped from him.
“The force... pulling me back did not grow stronger?”
He had watched the figures struggle more and more as they advanced.
So he had thought the force pulling them back grew stronger.
But that was not it.
The pulling force actually weakened the farther he went.
As though it were heavier in the deep sea and lighter near the surface.
But instead...
His strength was leaving his body.
“Urk...”
Yeon Sowol’s fingers dug into the ground.
The true qi he had drawn up kept scattering like smoke.
The farther he advanced, the more his internal energy faded.
“Ghh!”
He tried to move forward with physical strength instead, but his muscles also began losing their strength.
Even breathing became difficult, as though the air had grown thin.
The muscles across his entire body went slack.
“This... is...”
In the end, Yeon Sowol could not tear through the final thin membrane either.
It seemed as though it would rip if he pushed only a little harder.
But he could not find that little bit more strength.
His cultivated power and physical strength had both been completely exhausted.
“Urk!”
His hand fell harshly from the thin membrane.
Crash! Bang!
Sliiide!
Unable to withstand the pulling force, his body slid backward.
“Hup!”
Screech!
Only when he reached the area near where Chungdam True Man stood could Yeon Sowol stop himself again.
By then, the strength and true qi that had drained from his body had returned.
“This is...”
“It is the demon’s rule. A demon that explains the world through only one side creates a terribly self-centered rule. It seems that within this demon, suffering itself is strength, so the farther one moves from suffering, the more strength one loses.”
“That is...”
Yeon Sowol raised his head.
Beyond the dim view, the thin membrane was not far away.
His body was now brimming with strength.
With this strength, it felt as though he could tear that membrane apart in an instant.
“...That is why none of them can give up. They keep trying.”
The figures running, walking, and crawling through the darkness.
When they could still run, it felt possible.
It felt as though they could escape this suffering.
Was that why they could not give up and continued to try?
“Yes. And it is difficult to deny a demon’s rule head-on. Your level must be at least one or two stages higher than the demon’s. But though this one is only a fragment, it was made by the Flood Dragon. You cannot overcome it directly.”
“Then how...?”
“But a rule is ultimately only one side of things.”
“Ah! Then...”
“Yes. I believe that with the Yin-Yang Divine Art and the introductory stage of Grafting Flowers onto a Tree, escaping will be easy. I will leave this place using only first-rate qi.”
Chungdam True Man stepped forward.
“The farther one advances, the more strength drains away. But that too is only one side. Looking at the whole, the energy within me has merely moved outside me. For every bit of energy absent from me, there should be more energy around me.”
Chungdam True Man’s steps remained steady.
They were entirely different from Yeon Sowol, who had slowed, then begun to crawl.
“Then is it not simple? The Yin-Yang Divine Art is the power to handle two kinds of energy at once. If I see the strength within me as yang and the strength outside me as yin, I can connect the energy within and outside myself and harmonize them as one.”
“Ah...”
Yeon Sowol saw it.
Chungdam True Man was demonstrating it openly before him.
“His stage of maturity...”
How intricate and profound it was.
True qi moved in and out of Chungdam True Man’s body.
Chungdam True Man’s wondrous management of the stage of maturity went beyond controlling cultivated power within the body and embraced the cultivated power outside it as well.
It was as though the entire world resonated with Chungdam True Man.
As the true qi within Chungdam True Man emptied, the true qi outside pushed Chungdam True Man onward.
Chungdam True Man had no need to stop.
Step. Step. Step.
Walking comfortably as though out for a stroll, Chungdam True Man arrived before the thin membrane and raised a hand.
“Where there is one phenomenon, another phenomenon derived from it must exist. The Yin-Yang Divine Art is the study of embracing and handling both kinds of energy. With it, one can break the opponent’s intention. That is the introductory stage of Grafting Flowers onto a Tree.”
Chungdam True Man turned to Yeon Sowol.
Chungdam True Man’s expression was at ease.
“Sowol, can you escape now?”
Yeon Sowol’s gaze turned serious.
“Yes.”
Chungdam True Man smiled broadly.
“This time, you answered immediately.”
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