WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR
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Chapter 19: In the Jianghu, One Cannot Control One's Fate (8)
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"Then shall we begin again?"
Even after Yi Yubaek said that, Yeon Sowol remained utterly still.
'A state of complete absorption?'
A state in which one gave their whole heart and forgot themself.
Yi Yubaek felt a flicker of tension.
He used his qi sense to examine Sowol closely.
All he could sense was utter stillness, as though his qi had been combed a thousand times with a fine-toothed comb.
'...Really? He gave his whole heart to it? From one sentence? In that instant?'
It was difficult to believe.
The study of the mind was the easiest thing in the world, and also the hardest.
Though Yi Yubaek had told him to do it, he had not expected it to happen all at once.
No. Even if it did, he had not expected Sowol to sink so deeply into it from the very start.
Could it really be true?
The flow of qi around Sowol had settled, thread by thread.
From what he could sense, Sowol's mind truly seemed to have deepened.
'...I'll know if I throw him.'
Suppressing the goosebumps creeping over his skin, Yi Yubaek leaped forward.
He grabbed Sowol by the waist and hurled him into the air.
Whooosh!
Sowol flew through the air, his hair streaming behind him.
This time, he did not struggle.
He relaxed his entire body and entrusted himself to the sky.
As though he were returning home.
Fwoooosh!
Flames suddenly rose within him.
The pulse of his hottest innate true qi heated the Twelve Regular Meridians and his entire body, while kindling the inner fire, gathered through breathing, traveled through the meridians across his body, strengthened by that heat.
Following the formula of Windborne Drift.
Sometimes fiercely.
Sometimes warmly.
Sometimes faintly.
Flames swept through his entire body.
As his body heated evenly, his bones and flesh gradually became clearer, as though on the verge of changing.
A faint scent of sandalwood.
The sound of stones striking together.
It did not compare to the tempering Yi Yubaek had forced upon him before,
but Sowol's body was certainly being tempered.
In the manner of Windborne Drift.
At that very moment,
Whooosh!
The feel of the wind against his body became completely different.
The wind that had been mercilessly crushed beneath his weight now pushed against him and held him up.
Sowol curled his body. His ascent into the sky grew faster.
He rode the wind, cut through it, and rose.
As he wished.
He could become lighter.
He could become heavier.
Anything he wanted.
"..."
Sowol suddenly thought he might cry.
Up here in the sky.
He was no longer helpless.
He was no longer a toy being tossed around without resistance.
In this open air,
he suddenly felt free.
Tiled rooftops stretched out beneath him. City walls and gate towers rose at the edge of a black sea of roofs. Beyond them lay mountain ridges, and beyond those, the red sun leaned as if it might slip over the horizon.
Though he floated high in the air and took in all of it, his heart did not feel the slightest danger.
His body rode the wind with ease.
This was nothing like the first time Yi Yubaek had tempered him and thrown him.
This time, he had done it entirely through his own strength.
Something he could create himself.
Something he could rein in himself.
His own training.
A lightness skill.
All the hard work he had piled up to become light
steadily supported him from within.
The wind brushing his cheeks.
The pressure swelling over his body.
For the first time in his life, he felt a sense of release.
'I'm flying.'
"What is this? What the hell is this?"
What was this?
What could this be?
Why did it keep making him feel this way?
"This world..."
Sowol twisted his body.
He tilted toward the ground.
He fell like a raindrop,
then turned like a fallen leaf
and landed lightly.
His knees bent, both hands touching the ground.
Thump!
It made more noise than when Yi Yubaek had thrown him, but it was still light.
Sowol remained seated, lost in the lingering sensation.
Yi Yubaek was stunned.
'He really did it? Already?'
Mo Cheong whispered beside him.
'Master. He's already got it.'
Yi Yubaek's lips moved soundlessly.
He considered it for a moment.
Should he stop here? This was already an incredible accomplishment.
But greed rose in him.
He could see Sowol sitting quietly, not even showing his joy at succeeding.
He was already in a state of complete absorption.
Moments like this did not come often.
'Wouldn't it be a waste to stop here...?'
He turned to Mo Cheong.
Originally, Yi Yubaek had not planned to put Mo Cheong into today's training. He had only brought him along to watch, intending to have him take over the training when Yi Yubaek was busy.
'This won't do.'
He discarded the plan.
Mo Cheong would take part.
"Mo Cheong."
"Yes, Master."
"Beat him."
"Excuse me?"
"Are you questioning me?"
"N-no, Master."
"Now that he has fixed the stage of maturity in his body, he needs to deepen it, doesn't he? Beat him."
"Yes!"
Mo Cheong sprang forward.
Toward Sowol, who was still seated with his eyes closed.
'I'm sorry!'
Shuddering beneath his master's icy glare from behind, Mo Cheong tried to kick the seated Sowol in the head.
At that moment!
!!!
Sowol's eyes flew open, and he shot backward.
Whoosh!
Sowol moved as lightly as a falling leaf. Both his speed and trajectory were completely different from before.
"Mo Cheong. What are you doing?"
"Yes! Yes, Master!"
Whoooooo...
Thick white vapor poured from Mo Cheong's mouth.
Tap!
Mo Cheong kicked off the ground, and his movements became swift as well.
He closed the distance in an instant.
Sowol muttered.
"I see. You adjust your weight in an instant."
Heavy when stepping on the ground. Light when pushing away from it.
By shifting the stage of maturity and changing his body's weight in an instant, he could spring forward as quickly as a coiled spring.
Tap!
Sowol slipped away from Mo Cheong's grasp.
"You...!"
Mo Cheong's eyes widened at that absurd improvement.
"Mo Cheong."
At Yi Yubaek's call, Mo Cheong's shoulders trembled, and he gathered a great deal of internal energy.
"I'm sorry!"
Thwack!
Mo Cheong shot forward. Rather than a leaf, he looked like a bird launching from the water's surface.
Sowol could not react to that speed and took the blow to the chest.
Boom!
The palm strike carried added speed, and a heavy sound rang out. Sowol flew backward, hit the ground, and bounced three times.
Scrape!
He left a long trail in the dirt before sprawling out.
Only then did Yi Yubaek speak with satisfaction.
"How was that, Sowol? Getting hit once cleared your head, didn't it? That is what it means for your stage of maturity to be shallow. If your control of the fire breaks after one hit, what martial artist can fight? That is why your stage of maturity must be deep. Deep enough to sustain it in any situation, even on the verge of death. It has to be deep."
The moment he finished speaking,
"Haaaaa..."
Thick white vapor poured from Sowol's mouth.
"Hm?"
Sowol lightly pushed off the ground and rose to his feet.
"Hah!"
The corners of Yi Yubaek's mouth stretched toward his ears.
"Mo Cheong! Hit him!"
"Y-yes!"
Boom!
Mo Cheong kicked off the ground again and chased after Sowol.
Sowol evaded the pursuit.
His movements had become more varied than before. He ran up a wall, leaped away and kicked off it, then landed on a thick tree branch in a single step.
With his mind completely unified.
With his consciousness wholly focused.
He watched only Mo Cheong as he evaded him again and again.
Of course, that did not mean he could overcome the difference in skill between them.
Bang! Crack! Thud!
Sowol tried desperately to dodge, but he was inevitably struck by Mo Cheong now and then.
He was kicked in the stomach, punched in the cheek, struck in the chest by an elbow, then hurled away and slammed into the ground.
Yet Sowol's Windborne Drift did not break.
He rose lightly and evaded the next attack.
Each time, Mo Cheong looked back at Yi Yubaek.
'He's doing incredibly well. Should I keep going?'
Yi Yubaek only smiled as he fluttered his fan, marveling to himself.
"Good! His stage of maturity is already deep! If this is to remain in his body even after he leaves that state of complete absorption, we need to press him harder now. Mo Cheong! Hit him hard!"
"...Yes!"
Mo Cheong gritted his teeth and rushed in. He decided it would be better to hit harder. That way, he might have to hit Sowol one time less.
Whoosh!
As Mo Cheong charged, Sowol leaped onto a tree branch.
"I told you that won't work!"
Mo Cheong jumped after him.
Whoosh!
At that point, Sowol leaped to the top of the tree.
But,
Sway!
No matter how light his body had become, the tree's uppermost branch was too thin and fragile.
The moment Sowol stepped on it, it bent sharply.
"This is the end!"
Mo Cheong thought he had caught his chance.
He threw himself at Sowol.
At that moment,
Fwoooosh!
Sowol's Eight Extraordinary Vessels stirred. Kindling the inner fire flowed through his Twelve Regular Meridians and Twelve Collateral Channels, making his body even lighter.
His muscles and bones were tempered another step, becoming clearer without burning away or evaporating, just enough.
Twing!
As his weight suddenly lightened, the bent tree snapped back into place, and Sowol accelerated with that force.
Tap!
He leaped from the tip.
No.
He flew.
Flutter!
"...Huh?"
Having lost sight of Sowol right before his eyes, Mo Cheong kicked the tree once and landed on the ground.
He hurriedly cast his gaze into the air.
Flutter, flutter!
Sowol's robe fluttered in the wind.
His body drifted like a single willow leaf, riding the breeze.
Following the path the wind opened for him, Sowol crossed through the open air.
Tap.
His foot touched the peak of a roof.
Without breaking a single tile.
High atop the roof, Sowol straightened his back as he stood there weightlessly.
"M-Master?"
Mo Cheong turned around.
His eyes asked,
'Do I chase him up there and catch him too?'
But Yi Yubaek was not looking at Mo Cheong.
Unusually, he was completely dumbfounded.
"Does that... make sense? In a single day?"
Hear One, Understand Ten.
Yi Yubaek had always thought it was exaggerated rhetoric. How could there be a genius who heard one thing and understood ten?
"Unless he is an immortal who fell from the heavens..."
One stood before him now.
* * *
"Hoo..."
Sowol let out a long breath of white vapor.
The thrill from moments ago swept over his entire body.
The sensation of becoming a bird, riding the wind and soaring into the sky.
The state of mind that had not felt even a little afraid.
'Now, even if I suddenly fall from the sky again like when I first came here...'
He did not think he would panic as he had back then.
Of course, with his current level of Movement Art, he would not escape death.
'Then I'll just grab the sky's thread again.'
His chest suddenly swelled with pride.
The realization that he was no longer helpless.
The certainty that he would become freer still.
The world felt a little less frightening.
Little by little.
No matter how unfairly the world came after him, he was building the strength to shake his head and avoid it.
Sowol raised his head.
"Ah."
Shinheung County at sunset spread out before him at a glance.
The black tiles on every roof burned red, and the wavering curves of the eaves stretched and curved all the way to the distant mountain ridge.
The sun had buried half its face beneath the mountains, while cooking smoke rose within the reddened city walls.
Sowol forgot the time.
Soon, he even forgot where he was.
He stood there, staring blankly.
He felt the urge to leap straight into that view.
Tap!
Then he heard footsteps land behind him.
"You flew."
"I was lucky."
"Lucky, my foot."
Sowol glanced back, and something flew toward him.
He caught it in the air. It was a small cup that fit neatly in one hand.
Its exterior was black, while the inside glimmered with gold dust mixed into the glaze.
Yi Yubaek shook a liquor bottle.
"Let's have a drink."
As Sowol approached as if entranced and respectfully held out his cup, red liquor flowed from the tilted bottle.
"This is Jade Crown Red. Fruit wine made from lychee. The flesh of the lychee is white as ice, but if you brew it with plenty of that red peel, you get liquor like this."
A southern fruit called lychee in the twenty-first century.
The sunset was already fading,
yet the red sun rose again within the golden cup.
"Drink."
Sowol swallowed that dawn.
The first liquor he had ever tasted
was bitter. It was hot. It was terribly hot, then suddenly fragrant at the end.
Fragrant.
"How is it?"
"It was my first time."
"Fragrant, isn't it?"
"...Yes."
Now, and earlier too.
"That is how it is. There is no liquor in this world that is only bitter."
Sowol quietly held out both hands.
"This time, I will pour."
"All right."
He filled Yi Yubaek's cup with liquor.
Yi Yubaek tipped his head back and swallowed it in one gulp.
"Ah! Good liquor! Truly good. Here, take it."
"Yes."
One cup, two cups, three cups.
A father and son bound by loyalty shared their cups.
After emptying the last cup, Yi Yubaek spoke.
"Tomorrow, we eat the spiritual elixir."
Sowol flinched.
"Have I reached first-stage mastery?"
'I thought it would take a few days.'
As he felt glad at the faster-than-expected progress,
Yi Yubaek casually said,
without even looking back, lifting the bottle itself to drain the final drop.
"Third-stage mastery."
Footnotes:
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