WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR
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Chapter 195: Spring Silkworms Spin Silk Until Death (19)
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A fever for training swept through Wudang Mountain.
Beside this wall and beneath that eave, the third-generation disciples moved whenever they found a spare moment.
Their faces twisted around bruised eyes and split lips as they recalled the lessons Yeon Sowol had drilled into their bodies.
“So, Great-Grand Martial Uncle said... from here, like this... with this kind of feeling...”
Whenever they struggled through their training like that, first-generation or second-generation disciples would pass by and offer a word of advice.
“Your shoulders are stiff. Relax them.”
“Yes!”
“They’re still stiff.”
“Huh? They still are?”
“Yes, loosen up more. More.”
“Yes!”
The results were remarkable.
The third-generation disciples’ martial arts improved by leaps and bounds.
Parts that had refused to work for ages suddenly came easily.
“This is fun!”
That was how everything worked.
It was frustrating when one was stuck, but fun once one broke through.
Yeon Sowol’s teachings had been painful, but once they endured that single day, all the martial arts they had learned so far looked completely different.
“Wow. This? Why couldn’t I do this before?”
“It was so obvious.”
“But did Great-Grand Martial Uncle see all that just from watching us for a moment? How profound are his martial arts, anyway? He isn’t even that much older than us...”
“That must be why the patriarch took him in.”
“True.”
“Ah, Senior Brother. Could you check how I’m connecting these forms here?”
“Sure. Let’s see.”
Whenever two or three third-generation disciples gathered, they would start talking about martial arts.
Their accomplishments grew just that quickly.
It was an extremely positive development, but some people watched it with concern.
“You boys have been training hard lately.”
“Ah, Martial Uncle.”
“Greetings, Martial Uncle.”
“Good. But do not forget. Before we are martial artists, we are Daoists who cultivate the Dao. I worry that you may forget that foundation by training too intensely.”
“Yes, of course, Martial Uncle.”
“We will remember, Martial Uncle.”
But after the adults passed, the third-generation disciples tilted their heads.
Honestly, those were difficult words for disciples still so young.
“Is martial arts training different from cultivating the Dao?”
“Exactly. I still have no idea what this Clear Heart thing is supposed to be.”
High martial arts were easy to see.
A brief exchange of hands was enough to tell.
But one could not see whether someone’s Dao was profound.
No, what even was the Dao in the first place?
They had grown up in the Wudang Sect since childhood, but even to them, the Dao was difficult and vague.
Perhaps it was even more so because it had always been close to them, like something familiar enough to be forgotten.
The Dao? Was it not just cleaning the statues in the temples, offering prayers, and performing rites?
Then word began to spread about Jin Hyeon, the third-generation disciple whose progress had been the slowest.
“Have you seen Jin Hyeon lately?”
“Ah! I have. Senior Brother Jin Hyeon looked different.”
“Right? It wasn’t just me?”
“It wasn’t only his expression. His martial arts have improved strangely too. How should I put it? It feels like he broke through a layer.”
“Did something happen?”
“Isn’t it because Great-Grand Martial Uncle Yeon Sowol taught him?”
“Ah.”
The details spread quickly.
Jin Hyeon repeated the story again and again to anyone who would listen.
“Scentlessness...”
“Yes. When I heard those words, it felt as though I had been struck by lightning. Things I had taken for granted. Things I had forgotten before I knew it. But everything had truly begun there.”
“Ah...”
“Everything feels new. I have begun looking again at things that became familiar before I knew it. Things we have always enjoyed. This Wudang Mountain. All of us... It all feels new. It makes me happy.”
“Ah.”
Whenever they heard the story, the third-generation disciples felt a strange chill.
Scentlessness.
They had entered the Wudang Sect young, learned difficult and dangerous martial arts, and endlessly driven themselves onward.
Though they had all begun in similar places, seeing those who were especially talented had secretly discouraged them, made them jealous, and left them feeling small.
They had felt miserable, thinking that whether someone like them was present in Wudang or not would make no difference.
Those words made them reconsider all of it.
Scentlessness.
But even more powerful than those words was Jin Hyeon himself.
“How can a person change so much?”
It had only been a few days.
His expression was different.
His bearing was different.
He smiled more, trained with greater energy, and when it was time to make incense, he ran to South Cliff Palace with a bright grin.
All he had done was change his mindset a little.
All he had done was look at himself and the road ahead of him once more.
Yet the change was so immense.
That palpable realization sank deep into their hearts alongside the word scentlessness.
Even if one was not special.
Even if one was not remembered.
One was always there.
The things they had taken for granted had all been new and astonishing at first.
Everything began there.
Somehow, their hearts felt lighter.
As their shoulders relaxed, forms that had been difficult before suddenly came easily.
“I thought Great-Grand Martial Uncle was only extraordinary at martial arts.”
Similar smiles spread over the third-generation disciples’ lips.
“For the first time, I think I understand.”
“Exactly. I think I understand why our Martial Uncles said those things.”
“Before we are martial artists, we are Daoists who cultivate the Dao.”
The Dao.
The Way.
One could not move forward through the strength of one’s legs alone.
Knowing one’s position, knowing one’s destination, and knowing the road leading there precisely were where it all began.
The third-generation disciples still practiced martial arts whenever they found the time.
At a glance, they did not look very different from before.
But upon closer inspection, peaceful smiles rested on their bruised faces and split lips instead of grim wrinkles.
* * *
“You certainly made quite a commotion.”
At Chungdam True Man’s words, Yeon Sowol scratched the back of his head.
Over the past few days, he had noticed it too.
How could he not?
Whenever he went up or down the mountain, third-generation disciples with black-and-blue eyes and split lips kept catching his attention.
‘Was I a little too harsh...?’
Still, he had thought it was right at the time.
Even if he went back, he would do the same.
The third-generation disciples were sincere about martial arts. They wanted to learn. How could he refuse to teach them? He was their Great-Grand Martial Uncle, after all.
“You did well. Hwagok sees it favorably too.”
“Ah. That is a relief.”
If Hwagokja, the Sect Leader, saw it favorably, that practically meant the entire Wudang Sect did.
Chungdam True Man snickered.
“But Sowol, it seems you gained some enlightenment too. In such a short time.”
“I am still lacking, but... I have made some progress.”
“Hah. You truly are ill suited to Loss of Self. Very well, then. Do you think you can face the demon Beneath the Dark Heavens now?”
Yeon Sowol’s eyes gleamed.
“More than before. I think I can manage.”
“Let us see, then. Come.”
“Yes.”
Fwoooo...
Yeon Sowol’s stage of maturity deepened with his breath.
Flames spread along every meridian in his body.
Some flames pierced fiercely, while others scattered calmly. Flames with varying natures traveled through his meridians, stimulating his Eight Extraordinary Vessels.
Vwoooong!
True qi surged throughout his body alongside the writhing qi-blood.
Up to that point, it was the same as before.
But Yeon Sowol did not stop there now.
‘I weave the energy inside me together with the energy outside my body.’
Vwoong!
Vwoong!
The qi inside his body resonated with the qi outside it.
Energies so common that they had felt like stains or static touched one another, creating a resonance that intensified.
Vwoong! Vwoooong!
Auspicious qi bloomed from Yeon Sowol’s entire body.
A gentle wind curled around him. A subtle fragrance spread.
Yeon Sowol wove together the energy within and the energy without.
When the inside was yin, the outside became yang.
When the outside was yin, the inside became yang.
A current of energy that did not separate inside from outside, but connected and answered between them.
It resembled the very technique Chungdam True Man had demonstrated inside the wish-granting pearl.
The Yin-Yang Divine Art at sixth-stage mastery.
“This boy...”
A smile formed on Chungdam True Man’s lips.
“Then here I come.”
Whoosh!
Yeon Sowol thrust Clear Mirror forward.
They followed the exchanges they had tested countless times before.
Claaang!
Chungdam True Man’s Sword Fingers knocked Clear Mirror aside.
Whiiirl!
Using that force, Yeon Sowol spun and tried to cut Chungdam True Man.
Whoosh!
Chungdam True Man stepped in, trying to seize Yeon Sowol and slam him down.
Smack!
Yeon Sowol threw off the hand and thrust Clear Mirror through the instant opening.
Then.
Press!
Chungdam True Man pressed the blade downward and launched himself into the air. Just as the tip of his foot came for Yeon Sowol’s temple again,
Stagger!
Yeon Sowol shook Clear Mirror.
Chungdam True Man’s stance crumbled.
The foot aimed at Yeon Sowol’s temple kicked uselessly through the air above his head.
“Hah.”
Chungdam True Man gave a short laugh.
At a glance, Yeon Sowol’s last move had looked like nothing more than a careless swing of the sword.
In truth, it was not so simple.
No matter how Yeon Sowol’s energy changed, Chungdam True Man had been able to suppress even those changes.
At least, he had until now.
But Yeon Sowol had shaken that control just now.
He had moved not only the energy inside his body, but the energy outside it as well.
Then,
Clang!
Tap!
Smack!
Clang!
Yeon Sowol thrust his sword. He swung it. He leaped and kicked.
Chungdam True Man knocked Clear Mirror aside with Sword Fingers. He reached out and pressed down on Yeon Sowol’s elbow. He dipped his head slightly to evade, then hooked Yeon Sowol’s leg.
Their exchanges flowed between them like water.
Past the fourth.
The fifth.
The sixth.
Huff! Huff!
Perhaps still unaccustomed to handling his new enlightenment, Yeon Sowol’s breathing grew more ragged.
Yet he blocked again and again.
He counterattacked.
Finally, the tenth exchange arrived.
A deeply satisfied smile rested on Chungdam True Man’s lips.
Crack!
“Urgh!”
Unable to keep up in the end, Yeon Sowol took the final strike. He clutched his chest and wheezed on the ground, yet still looked up at Chungdam True Man.
His face was full of triumph.
It was as if he were asking, Did I do well?
Chungdam True Man clicked his tongue.
“I am worried because you did too well. If you were someone practicing Loss of Self, I would have scolded you. But you are neither Loss of Self nor Clear Knowing, so it is difficult to say anything. Tsk.”
Yeon Sowol rolled about on the ground, gasping for breath, before forcing himself upright.
“I... Cough. Ahem. Still, I have completed the introductory stage of Grafting Flowers onto a Tree now, right?”
Chungdam True Man smiled bitterly at the sparkling eyes turned toward him, then nodded.
Yeon Sowol’s eyes lit up.
“Then can I face the demon Beneath the Dark Heavens now?”
A demon.
It was the shadow hanging over Yeon Sowol’s future.
Since Ten-Thousand-Li Tracking Incense had marked him, he could no longer spend his life fleeing from the Demonic Cult.
He needed to master Grafting Flowers onto a Tree through real combat against demons and carve the tricks of dealing with them into his bones.
But honestly.
Beyond all that, he also wanted to experience another demon.
The experience of shattering the wish-granting pearl had remained rather thrilling and memorable.
Chungdam True Man stared at Yeon Sowol.
“You know you are still lacking, yes?”
He had gained enlightenment, but had not yet completely made it his own.
If he had fully absorbed this new enlightenment into his body, he would not have fallen apart on the tenth exchange.
Yeon Sowol flinched.
He knew himself that there were still clumsy parts to his technique.
He hunched his shoulders, and his voice became quieter.
“Yes...”
Chungdam True Man snorted.
“Well. Learning while getting knocked around can be good too. Since you have gained the enlightenment, that may be faster for you right now.”
“Then!”
“Tomorrow, we will go up to Beneath the Dark Heavens.”
!!!
Yeon Sowol jerked his head up.
‘At last!’
What kind of demon would he meet this time?
Real combat with demons.
More experience.
If he mastered Grafting Flowers onto a Tree more deeply through this, would he no longer need to fear the Demonic Cult?
Excitement and tension crossed within his chest.
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