WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
Chapter 21: In the Jianghu, One Cannot Control One's Fate (10)
──────
The meridians were both vessels and roots.
The essence, qi, and spirit bestowed by heaven and earth gathered and flowed through the meridians.
Thus, the meridians were vessels that held one's energy,
and roots from which life itself sprouted.
Qi guidance meant guiding and directing energy.
A spiritual elixir was nature's qi condensed into a single mass.
In other words, it was the essence of fire.
The Dragon Scale Mushroom was mild in nature, but its flame was strong and it held little turbid qi, making it ideal for cultivating a beginner's body.
Yi Yubaek personally used his own flame to guide the Dragon Scale Mushroom's fire and cultivate Yeon Sowol's body.
A grand, vigorous flame, though not unbearably hot, filled Yeon Sowol's Twelve Regular Meridians.
Unlike his lightness skill training, which had tempered flesh and bone, this time it was his meridians being touched.
That was why using qi guidance for bodily cultivation was so dangerous.
Not because qi guidance itself was dangerous.
Not because bodily cultivation itself was dangerous.
It was dangerous because he was guiding qi while cultivating a body, and the body part in question happened to be the meridians.
The meridians were a person's roots and vessels. The instant they were stimulated by a stranger's energy, the spirit rose as if it had been slapped awake in its sleep and watched the world.
The spirit was the foundation from which a person's will and consciousness were shaped.
Once it awakened, the world a person perceived became completely different.
Human consciousness could be called the record written by an author known as the spirit. And that spirit, having received a sharp slap it had never experienced in its life, suddenly began scribbling a thousand characters every second instead of a thousand characters a minute.
It watched the entire world, writing down everything that existed and everything that did not.
Thus, all that one feared became reality.
A single moment became like three years.
A person could experience hell while still in this world.
Fwoooosh!
The Dragon Scale Mushroom's fire heated Yeon Sowol's Twelve Regular Meridians.
It did not simply pass through as it had before. It clung to the walls, making the flames grow fiercer.
Fwoooooosh!
!!!!
At first, Yeon Sowol felt an unfamiliar pain.
‘What is this?’
It felt as though his very roots were burning.
‘I'm not even a plant...?’
Still, there was no other way to describe the strange pain and fear.
Panic seized him. Doubt followed.
‘Is this okay? Is this really okay?’
!!!!
At the same moment he doubted, indescribable pain rushed over him.
!!!!
It did not stop there. The pain kept growing. Yeon Sowol's fear shot up like it had grown taller, and the pain broadened its shoulders along with it.
The more he feared it, the more that fear became real.
‘This... this... No. It can't be. No!’
Just as Yeon Sowol was about to convulse,
「I t ' s A l l R i g h t」
‘Father?’
Had he heard it?
Or had he only recalled the voice he had heard repeatedly earlier?
Yeon Sowol did not know.
He only knew that its meaning had suddenly been carved into his heart.
In truth, it was heart-speech, a direct communion between an awakened spirit and a sincere heart. It was neither heard through the ears nor sensed through qi.
Ordinarily, it would only be possible at a profound realm where hearts could meet despite having no path between them.
Yet coincidence upon coincidence had allowed Yi Yubaek and Yeon Sowol's hearts to touch and commune deeply at this moment.
Neither of them realized it yet.
Fwoooosh!
The Dragon Scale Mushroom's flames burned grandly.
Guiding them was Yi Yubaek's True Flame.
Within it,
Yeon Sowol kept hearing his voice.
「I t ' s A l l R i g h t」
Strangely,
his heart settled.
Even the pain of having his roots torn from inside him became somewhat bearable.
「T h a t ' s I t」
Fwoooosh!
Only then did Yeon Sowol regain a little composure.
He quietly observed what was happening inside his Twelve Regular Meridians.
He watched the essence qi that formed them being tempered in the grand heat.
‘Wow...’
His meridians had been like narrow trails with sand, gravel, soil, grass, trees, and broad stone slabs piled together without order.
Now flames as full and warm as a sunset caressed them.
The sand burned into dark, fine soil.
The gravel heated, melted, shattered, and became broad stone slabs.
The grass absorbed the flames and rapidly grew into trees.
The messy little paths that made up his Twelve Regular Meridians were transformed in an instant into respectable mountain walkways, covered in fine soil, stone slabs, and trees.
Then,
Fwoooosh!
Another surge of heat swept across the trees. They grew thinner and longer until they finally became green bamboo.
Fwoosh!
Not ordinary bamboo, either, but straight, pure bamboo that seemed to have been selected with the greatest care.
Rustle, rustle, rustle.
Stone slabs were set here and there along the earthen path, while trees and bamboo swayed their leaves on either side.
‘...This is nice.’
The scenery within his Twelve Regular Meridians became so beautiful and peaceful that he forgot all about the pain and doubt from before.
Yeon Sowol stared, entranced.
Fwoosh.
Then, suddenly,
as yet another tree transformed into bamboo,
Yeon Sowol heard a whisper.
It felt a little different from before.
「Seoryeon. If only you could have seen this...」
‘Seoryeon?’
As heart-speech mixed with the True Flame and was carved into the meridians, Yeon Sowol's sensitized spirit recorded it.
Yi Yubaek's old memories seeped into Yeon Sowol's heart like a dream.
Amid coincidences bordering on a miracle,
Yeon Sowol read Yi Yubaek.
* * *
Severed Meridians referred to severed meridian channels.
More precisely, it was a condition in which the Eight Extraordinary Vessels were severed.
There were many kinds, such as Nine Yin Severed Meridians and Nine Yang Severed Meridians. Yet all Severed Meridians were congenital illnesses in which one was born with the Eight Extraordinary Vessels cut off.
Innate true qi slowly leaked from the severed eight vessels.
Those who let the hottest and purest energy bestowed by heaven leak away shone brilliantly.
Precocious.
They said that when she was born, she smiled more brightly than any baby in the world.
By the time she could walk, she could already dance.
When she first spoke, her voice sounded like jade beads rolling together.
When she began learning, she humbled adults.
The first time Seoryeon saw Yi Yubaek, she changed his life.
“The Book of Rites says that a father should be kind and a child should be filial. That's how people are supposed to be. So this is wrong. Your father beating you that badly. It isn't your fault. You're not supposed to beat a child like that.”
Yi Yubaek had asked in return.
His small, filthy body was covered in bruises.
“Why is that how it's supposed to be? I get beaten every day. I'm useless, stupid, and like a rat, but I eat every day anyway, so I get beaten. That's how it's supposed to be. How is not getting beaten supposed to be normal? That's something special.”
Seoryeon answered with a bright smile.
“You sure know how to talk.”
Flinch.
“Hey. That was a compliment.”
“...But whenever I talk too much, they beat me.”
“Exactly. They aren't supposed to do that.”
“Then why is that supposed to be...?”
“Because it's sad.”
Yi Yubaek's body trembled again.
This time, for a different reason.
A small hand wrapped deeply around him, passing over his filthy, scabbed ears and cheeks before reaching the back of his head.
A scent he had never smelled before.
“It's sad. What happened to you?”
“...”
“You're in pain too.”
“...”
“That's how people are. Things like this hurt, make you sad, and make you hate it. That's what makes someone human.”
“...My father isn't like that.”
“Then he isn't human.”
“Huh?”
“Don't ask me to repeat it. Memorize it. He isn't human.”
“...But the house next door and the house across the way are all the same. ...Not as bad as my house, though.”
“Then they haven't become human enough yet.”
“...What is a human?”
“Someone who doesn't beat children.”
“Who decided that?”
“Confucius did. And I did.”
Grab.
Seoryeon seized Yi Yubaek's wrist.
“Come with me.”
She dragged Yi Yubaek straight to his home.
Yi Yubaek's father, who had been drinking at home, was dumbfounded.
His seven-year-old parasite of a son had appeared holding hands with a girl about the same age.
The girl stared up at him and shouted. Her voice was as clear as jade, ringing loudly enough that the neighbors all came out to look.
Yet the words coming from that little girl's mouth were vicious beyond measure.
“Even beasts lick and cherish their own young! What kind of beast are you, to leave your own child in this state?”
“What...?!”
At first, he could not lay a hand on her because she was dressed in silk. He worried that even giving her a smack might cause trouble.
“Mencius said there must be affection between father and child! You have neither kindness nor affection, so you are no father at all!”
“W-What?!”
The next reason he could not act was the muttering of the villagers, who had all come rushing out by then.
“She isn't wrong. Even if it's his own child, he beats the boy far too badly.”
“At first, the kid screamed his lungs out. Later, I think he beat him until he couldn't scream anymore. He was just making these choking noises. Even I felt sorry for him.”
“You raise your child with a few beatings, sure, but that's too much. Doesn't he feel bad for his own kid?”
“That bastard has always been like that. I never thought he'd treat his own child that way too.”
Yi Yubaek's father froze under the increasingly hostile stares of the villagers.
This was a world where someone who fell out of favor with the village might be rolled up in a straw mat, beaten in the night, and buried in the mountains.
“So. I'll take him with me, then?”
“What?”
“Huh?”
Both father and son asked at once.
“Why? Do you want to keep living with that person? Don't. Come with me. My home is nice, you know?”
Her little hand pulled Yi Yubaek toward her with warm strength.
That day, Yi Yubaek gained a master, a lifelong friend, and a home.
* * *
Fwoooosh!
Another tree absorbed the flames and became bamboo.
A new memory was carved into that bamboo.
Yeon Sowol blankly watched it.
No.
He experienced it.
“Yubaek. Yubaek. Have a drink with me.”
“Seoryeon. If Master finds out...”
“Listen. I found someone who actually acts like a person. He's a merchant named Jo Manseok. It's been so long since I've met a real adult. Ah, this liquor tastes good.”
Once Seoryeon turned fifteen, she stole liquor whenever she got the chance. That was how Yi Yubaek learned to drink.
They secretly left behind the senior brother whose name Yi Yubaek had forgotten, and the two of them always drank together.
Sixteen.
Seventeen.
The happiness that seemed as though it would continue forever ended in the year she turned eighteen.
Her first fainting spell.
After that day, Seoryeon lost her light.
She weakened day by day, wasting away.
Only after a monk summoned from Gukeun Temple visited did Yi Yubaek learn that a disease called Severed Meridians existed in the world.
He also learned that his master and Seoryeon had known of her fate from the beginning.
“The innate true qi in her eight vessels has already completely leaked away. There is no longer any way.”
Everyone cried.
Even Master, who had already known.
Even Seoryeon.
Even the senior brother whose name Yi Yubaek had forgotten.
But Yi Yubaek could not cry.
The ground beneath his feet was collapsing.
She died at eighteen.
She had burned more brilliantly than anyone in the world, only to cool too quickly.
Like a sudden downpour that fell as if it would melt the earth, then vanished without warning.
Yi Yubaek picked up the fruit that had ripened too quickly and fallen.
He buried it in his heart.
In truth, he did not bury it.
Instead, he swallowed it.
In truth, he could neither bury it nor swallow it.
He only held it.
He only held it.
* * *
Fwoosh.
The memory ended.
For some reason, Yeon Sowol could not bear it.
Quietly, he kindled his inner fire.
「S t o p」
Yi Yubaek warned him through heart-speech.
Stay still.
Yet Yeon Sowol did not stop.
His heart was already soaked in Yi Yubaek's memories, and he could not endure it.
His flames moved alongside Yi Yubaek's True Flame.
When Yi Yubaek drove the Dragon Scale Mushroom's flames to shape bamboo, Yeon Sowol gathered the remaining heat and baked the sand and gravel, forming soil and stone slabs.
「T h i s?」
Yi Yubaek had initially tried to push him away, but he soon seemed to understand and accepted Yeon Sowol's help.
Yeon Sowol's keen qi sense joined with their hearts through heart-speech. Father and son continued the bodily cultivation as though they were one body.
They refined and refined.
Then they smiled.
“Fwooo...”
“Hoo...”
More than ten hours had passed by the time they both exhaled and opened their eyes.
“You did well. Don't use any internal energy today. You'll start feeling the effects tomorrow morning. I doubt anyone has ever gotten this much out of one Dragon Scale Mushroom. You probably won't get beaten anywhere now.”
“Thank you.”
“And another thing.”
Yi Yubaek looked at Yeon Sowol with troubled eyes.
At first, he had not realized it. Yet as they cultivated the body together, faint impressions had reached him through their hearts.
What thoughts Yeon Sowol had been immersed in as he helped him.
“...Did you see it?”
Yeon Sowol did not bother lying.
“If you mean Aunt Seoryeon, yes. I saw her.”
“...For heaven's sake. Even Muhyeok doesn't know that.”
“I'm your son. Your only one.”
“This brat thinks he can peek at a little of my heart and starts acting up.”
“I was glad I saw it.”
“You were glad?”
“She was someone I wanted to remember. Our aunt. I was happy to learn that someone like her existed in this world.”
“...Is that so?”
Yi Yubaek let out a long sigh.
“I only meant to help your training, yet you ended up seeing right into my heart.”
“Was she your first love?”
“You brat.”
Flick!
Yi Yubaek flicked Yeon Sowol's forehead with a finger.
It did not hurt much.
“Anyway, I think this happened because of your absurd qi sense and your heart becoming sincere. In truth, someone who makes their heart so sincere at the same time they first enter martial arts is rare under heaven. There may not be anyone else.”
“Is that so?”
“Yes. Qi sense and heart. Those are your weapons. Knowing your own strengths is important for a martial artist, so remember that.”
“Yes.”
“Cough. Cough.”
Yi Yubaek coughed.
His complexion had turned pale.
“Father?”
“It is nothing. Qi guidance is... dangerous for a martial artist who has not even reached the peak realm to attempt carelessly. I simply used up a little essence-blood.”
“Essence-blood? You can't use that up.”
Essence-blood was innate true qi. Something one had to protect.
“It is fine. It isn't serious, just a little cooled and twisted. A minor internal injury. If I rest and recuperate well, I'll recover completely.”
“But.”
“Enough. This much is fortunate. I guided qi for the other children when they were third-rate, but you have already reached Breathing Smoke into Clouds...”
“Does that make a difference?”
“Of course it does. Your innate true qi has already awakened. I could not suppress it. If your spirit had been startled into convulsing, your innate true qi would have burst out and flowed backward. Then both you and I would have melted at the same time.”
“...?”
“A monk once guided a disciple's qi, and the disciple's innate true qi burst out. They turned into candles while sitting there. Not blazing away, but steadily glowing. They said no one could touch them without getting caught up in it, so they watched for three months, until they burned down completely and only ash remained. Master and disciple, burning side by side like candles.”
“Why are you only telling me this now...?”
“If I had told you beforehand, your heart might have been stained with fear and it could have really happened. Once the spirit is stimulated, it exaggerates everything and turns it into reality. That is why I kept it from you, so don't resent me.”
“...”
Yeon Sowol pressed his lips together until his nose stung.
This was different from all his previous training.
Until now, there had at least been some way to survive through skill or effort.
But the heart did not obey a person's will.
Telling someone who was afraid not to be afraid would never work.
‘And he just did that?’
If Yeon Sowol had not calmed his heart even after hearing Yi Yubaek's heart-speech,
that day would have been the day they became candles side by side.
“Why would you do something this dangerous?”
“I know you carry a purpose more important than your life. That is why you crossed all the way from Annam to find me. Knowing that, how could I alone spare my own body?”
“...”
That was a misunderstanding.
A very serious misunderstanding.
But one he could not explain.
Cold sweat trickled down Yeon Sowol's back.
“Still, look at your meridians. See how much you gained from one spiritual elixir. You have probably mastered our Windflow School's bodily cultivation method as well.”
“But Father could have died too...”
After hesitating, Yeon Sowol protested.
“Sowol. I did it because I had something to trust in too.”
“...Really?”
“Yes. I have risked my life around twenty times. And do you know what? I have never died even once. Today made twenty-one.”
“...”
“Heaven cruelly takes those it means to take, but harshly turns away from those it does not. This is all your and my fate. A fate to fulfill our purpose.”
“...”
After barely overcoming the way his words caught in his throat, Yeon Sowol spoke again.
“Still, you did not need to risk your life too...”
“Hmph. If I cannot even die for my son, how could I call myself a father?”
Yeon Sowol was confused.
He did not know whether to be angry or moved.
‘...This insane Jianghu.’
Once again, Elder Jo Manseok had been right.
“Cough. Cough. Anyway, go now. Send Muhyeok in when you leave.”
Yeon Sowol wanted to say more.
But when he saw Yi Yubaek's pale face and slightly slumped shoulders, he could not bring himself to do so.
“...Yes.”
Yeon Sowol composed himself and stood.
“Thank you. For today.”
“Mm.”
Yeon Sowol left.
“Fwooo...”
Only then did Yi Yubaek curl his shoulders and hunch over, letting out a long groan.
“...”
He fumbled for a bottle of liquor, poured himself a cup, and tossed it back.
A line of song slipped through his lips.
Draw a blade to cut the water, and still the water flows.
Raise a cup to drown sorrow,
and longing only grows deeper.
“...If Seoryeon were here, she would have taught that boy poetry too.”
With a groan, he adjusted his seated posture and rubbed his shoulder.
* * *
“You came out. How is Master?”
“Whew. What a relief.”
“Sowol, are you all right? Did it go well?”
The three disciples greeted Yeon Sowol when he came outside.
His gaze fell on the countless footprints around them, and on all the fur and feathers clinging to their clothes.
They all looked exhausted and pale.
“How did you end up like that...?”
Mo Cheong answered.
“Not even the smallest sound could get inside. An awakened spirit hears them sensitively and creates every sort of fear and falsehood.”
“Ah...?”
“Yeah! So birds, cats, mice, even the wind. We chased them all away!”
Mo Cheong beamed.
Kang Muhyeok and Seon Jehun smiled awkwardly.
‘For ten hours?’
An inexplicable warmth rose in Yeon Sowol's chest.
‘This...’
Was it because he had read Yi Yubaek's memories?
A thought suddenly came to him.
‘Maybe... nothing in this world was ever truly a given.’
The friendship between friends.
The warmth between fellow disciples.
Even a parent's love.
Perhaps everything he had assumed was natural had never truly been natural.
Just as the scent he had assumed was normal had never been normal in this land.
Perhaps someone had struggled to make all the things that were not natural become natural.
When he thought of it that way, nothing failed to make him grateful, and nothing failed to make his heart burn.
The hearts of the three disciples, who had worked for ten hours for Yeon Sowol.
And though he still was not sure this had been right, Yi Yubaek's heart, which had risked his life to guide Yeon Sowol's qi.
“...Thank you, everyone.”
“Come on, Young Master. Don't be like that.”
“You need not worry about it. Someone did the same for each of us when it was our turn.”
“Though it was a little hard. It was my first time standing guard as a protector.”
Warm laughter spread among them.
“Sowol! Send Muhyeok in! Cough!”
That was, until Yi Yubaek's shout came from inside his quarters.
“Ah. Right.”
Kang Muhyeok hurried into the quarters.
Yeon Sowol watched his back with worried eyes.
Was it because their heart-speech had connected?
Though he had always felt this way.
Yi Yubaek now felt even closer.
At first, Yeon Sowol had only thought of him as some crazy man of the Jianghu.
Later, he had come to know him as a dependable master and father.
Now, he saw him simply as Yi Yubaek.
His heart gradually turned toward the path Yi Yubaek walked and the thoughts he carried.
“Jianghu...”
What in the world was this place?
Muttering under his breath, Yeon Sowol quietly looked up at the sky.
Footnotes:
Join our discord at https://dsc.gg/wetried
