WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR
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Chapter 62: When Water Is Too Clear, There Are No Fish (10)
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As soon as Yeon Sowol arrived at Windflow Martial Academy, he went looking for Yi Yubaek.
He had unexpectedly spent the night away from home and even missed his morning greeting, so it was only right that he reported to him at once.
Yi Yubaek had been seated at a table, with brush, paper, and ink laid out before him as he pondered something. The moment he saw Yeon Sowol, he burst into hearty laughter.
“You rascal. You reek of alcohol. Is that why you couldn't come give your morning greeting?”
Yeon Sowol smiled awkwardly.
“Well done. Clearing away the frustration built up during closed-door seclusion like that is a good method too.”
As he spoke, Yi Yubaek glanced down at the papers spread across the table. Even while talking, he seemed unable to take his mind off his work.
Yeon Sowol looked at him and was slightly startled.
Yi Yubaek, a first-rate martial artist, had bloodshot eyes.
The bottle of alcohol that was usually always at his side at this hour was nowhere to be seen. Since the Heavenly Road Mountain Expedition had been decided upon, Yi Yubaek had not touched a drop.
He had simply been busy day and night.
Yeon Sowol grew solemn.
“Are you sleeping properly?”
“There is much to do. Too many people from the Jianghu have gathered. And if I am to oversee your training, I need to finish things ahead of time.”
Yeon Sowol suddenly recalled the conversation he had had with Jin Geol.
The part about there being many difficult matters related to the expedition.
“Are you troubled over how to keep the Jianghu people under control?”
Yi Yubaek nodded.
“That is right. Jianghu people are all loud by nature. They are so loud that people from all across Guangdong have come all the way to Shinheung County to raise their voices together.”
Yeon Sowol chuckled softly. Now that he heard it, that was true.
“With so many loud people gathered in one place, what do you think will happen if we do not arrange things beforehand? At the critical moment, words will clash against words, and they will end up fighting each other. That is why I have so much to do. Conduct is important in the Jianghu. Like a flowing river, like a lake that embraces all. Broad and blue. But not too blue.”
Yi Yubaek looked exhausted even as he spoke, and Yeon Sowol wanted to help him if he could.
“What exactly should I do? Is there an immediate goal you have in mind?”
“There is. I need to make many people firmly support me.”
Yi Yubaek glanced at Yeon Sowol and smiled with satisfaction, as though he was pleased that Yeon Sowol had asked.
“At the very least, one-third. Ideally, I intend to have a stable majority on my side. Then I can guide the crowd's sentiment and determine the broad direction of things somehow. The Heavenly Road Mountain Expedition began under my name, after all. Everything will become my responsibility, so I must lead the way somehow.”
“I see.”
Yeon Sowol quietly made up his mind.
‘I should do my part too.’
Just as he had gained the support of Seong Anjin, perhaps Yi Yubaek's burden could be eased somewhat if he obtained promises of support from even a few more people.
“Father, please rest as you work. You seem to be pushing yourself too hard. You need to sleep enough.”
Yi Yubaek let out a short laugh.
“Sowol, you would not understand how long I have waited for this moment.”
He looked out the window, toward Heavenly Road Mountain stretching in the distance.
“I have slept more than enough all these years.”
Yeon Sowol closed his mouth.
Yi Yubaek had said that much. There was nothing more Yeon Sowol could say.
“By the way, what on earth did you drink? The scent of the liquor is unusual. I have never smelled anything like it.”
“Ah, that is...”
Yeon Sowol told Yi Yubaek about what had happened the night before.
“Is that truly what happened?”
At first, Yi Yubaek could not believe him.
So Yeon Sowol showed him several pieces of proof.
Hummm.
When Yeon Sowol drew his sword and poured true qi into it, the blade hummed, and a pale white light gathered at its tip.
A realm where true qi produced sound and changed the light around it. A change symbolizing Faint Fragrance Unfading, the late first-rate stage.
It was clear proof that Yeon Sowol could now properly wield internal energy at the late first-rate stage. Yi Yubaek had expected it to take quite some time, yet Yeon Sowol had made it his own in a single night.
Yi Yubaek's mouth opened and closed.
“What in the world are you...?”
He sighed.
“If that is so, then everything you said must be true. To think that such recluses visited Shinheung County.”
Perhaps because the shock was so great, Yi Yubaek only moved his lips for quite a while before he finally spoke again.
“Such liquor is called spirit brew in the Jianghu. It is a marvel that only enlightened physicians or Daoists with a profound understanding of the world's principles can produce. Their martial arts must be exceptional as well. The ingredients must have been extraordinary too. It was a fortunate encounter. A true fortunate encounter.”
Yi Yubaek fell silent again for some time, then opened his mouth once more.
“I have heard the epithet Immortal Physician. I thought it was only a Jianghu legend... The people you met were likely peerless masters at least at the transcendent peak. They would not be beneath General Chu Seongho, the Commander-in-Chief of Liangguang whom we met before. They might even stand above him. It truly was a fortunate encounter. No. Was it fate?”
Yi Yubaek looked at Yeon Sowol with an unreadable expression and spoke.
“Sowol.”
“Yes.”
“There is truly nothing left for me to teach you.”
“...That is not true.”
“It is. That is the truth. Once I teach you about the Small Circulation, there will truly be nothing more to teach you. I must find you a proper master now. As soon as the Heavenly Road Mountain Expedition ends, I will ask even the Governor-General of Liangguang to help me find one.”
“Father...”
“Do not make that face. I am happy. Because you have grown strong. Not some other bastards. My proud son has grown strong. The Heavenly Road Mountain Expedition will be the smallest of the many things you accomplish in the future.”
Yi Yubaek reached out and ruffled Yeon Sowol's hair.
“Thanks to you, I have gained a little more time. I will have less time to oversee your training.”
He gave a hollow laugh. He seemed pleased, yet regretful.
* * *
For several days, Yeon Sowol practiced the Small Circulation.
It was the last lesson Yi Yubaek taught him.
The Small Circulation was a method of warming the Eight Extraordinary Vessels evenly.
First, he gathered the fiercely burning True Flame in his dantian and warmed the Conception Vessel, Governing Vessel, and Penetrating Vessel together.
Using that heat, he slowly made the Eight Extraordinary Vessels stir.
Within the Eight Extraordinary Vessels, essence, like a solid, and qi, like a liquid, were thickly mingled together. Once the vessels became hot and began to stir, qi slowly started to flow within them.
Then he pressed his tongue against the roof of his mouth behind his front teeth.
The tip of his tongue connected to the Yinjiao Point, the end of the Governing Vessel, while the root of his tongue connected to the Chengjiang Point, the end of the Conception Vessel, allowing the Governing Vessel and Conception Vessel to connect.
The slowly moving qi climbed his back along the Governing Vessel, passed through his tongue, and descended through his chest along the Conception Vessel. As the hot qi began to circulate, heat spread evenly throughout the Conception Vessel and Governing Vessel, melting essence and refining qi into something purer.
Yi Yubaek had said:
‘Though we call it qi, not all qi is the same. All things in the world contain impurities, and when impurities are mixed in, their nature changes. Among them, our Windflow School seeks pure qi with the least possible impurities, the energy of the Five Elements. That is the purpose of the Small Circulation. Through the Small Circulation, you can produce the pure energy of the Five Elements.’
Yeon Sowol experienced those words firsthand.
‘I thought my qi was already clear...’
He circulated qi through the Eight Extraordinary Vessels again and again, slowly brewing it down.
The process closely resembled distilling clear rice wine into soju with a higher concentration of pure alcohol.
Careful not to let it burn, he kept it circulating, sending heat into every corner of the Eight Extraordinary Vessels as he painstakingly brewed his qi.
His qi became steadily more transparent.
It grew lighter and clearer, until at the end it melted into the energy of the Five Elements: fire, water, wood, metal, and earth.
‘Sowol, the unrefined essence and qi within you are called medicine. The cultivation of internal energy is the process of gathering and brewing that medicine into an elixir. You have finally stepped into the true cultivation of internal energy practiced by the orthodox schools.’
Yeon Sowol now fully understood why his body was called an Elixir Furnace.
Melting essence to create qi. Then brewing that qi again to make it purer.
At the end of that process, Yeon Sowol examined the energy of the Five Elements that had been created.
Clear and pure, with endless harmony within it.
“...If I use this energy, I will be able to handle true qi more easily.”
He had thought that after drinking the spirit brew, he had reached the end of the late first-rate stage. Yet simply refining his energy once more had allowed him to take another step forward.
“Martial arts really are incredibly deep.”
A smile hung on Yeon Sowol's lips as he said it.
* * *
After completing the Small Circulation, Yeon Sowol finally had free time.
“Let us help Father.”
Yeon Sowol took some gold and headed outside.
Jin Geol had said that the easiest way to gain people's favor was to pay for their drinks.
So Yeon Sowol intended to go out, buy liquor for people without warning, and try to win them over.
He headed to Shinheung County's busiest district.
It was the street where the most Jianghu people in Shinheung County had gathered.
At every stall lining the street, Jianghu people with weapons at their waists sat drinking, eating, and talking loudly.
Yeon Sowol walked slowly, scanning the area with hawk-like eyes for somewhere he could join in.
That was when it happened.
“Ho. This young hero's realm is remarkable, is it not?”
A man suddenly approached Yeon Sowol from the side.
It was rather rude, but Yeon Sowol clasped his hands politely first. He had come out to earn everyone's favor, after all.
“It is a pleasure to meet you, senior. I am Yeon Sowol of Windflow Martial Academy.”
“Ah. So you are Yeon Seonhong of Shinheung County!”
The man looked to be in his late twenties. Or perhaps exactly thirty.
He slowly looked Yeon Sowol over from head to toe and spoke in an admiring tone.
“Truly remarkable. If I am not mistaken, it seems you have reached Faint Fragrance Unfading. Is that correct?”
Yeon Sowol was slightly surprised. It was never easy to discern another person's realm.
First, one needed an extremely sensitive qi sense. Second, one needed broad knowledge and insight into many different martial arts.
Even Yeon Sowol possessed more than enough qi sense, but he lacked knowledge and insight into martial arts, so he could not precisely determine another person's realm.
“Thanks to my father, I have been able to attain a realm far beyond what someone my age deserves.”
“Ha ha. That cannot be true. How could Faint Fragrance Unfading be attained through another person's favor? Then have you learned swordsmanship as well?”
This time, the man looked at Yeon Sowol's waist as he spoke.
At this point, Yeon Sowol was honestly beginning to feel annoyed.
The man's rudeness, asking one question after another without even introducing himself, was getting on his nerves.
Yet Yeon Sowol did not lose his smile. He needed to earn favor.
“Yes. I've trained in Windflow swordsmanship.”
“Ho.”
The man let out a long sigh.
“I envy you. I truly do. At your age, I was told that fundamentals were important, so I was not allowed to learn swordsmanship. I only had to perform ten thousand basic cuts every day. Those with poor talent and dull minds, like myself, must walk such a path. I am truly envious of Young Hero Yeon.”
At that moment.
Yeon Sowol felt a strange sense of familiarity.
The way this man spoke stirred something in a corner of his memory. Something was almost coming back to him.
‘Could it be...?’
The man continued.
“In truth, I still perform ten thousand cuts every day. My talent is so poor that if I do not, the tip of my sword loses its way. Would you like to see?”
Before Yeon Sowol could answer, the man drew his sword.
“Like this. It is only basic sword training, nothing more than swinging once. I still cannot escape it.”
Swish.
The man's sword drew a single line through the air.
The sound of the blade passing was almost inaudible.
The manifestation of true qi was barely perceptible as well.
And yet.
Tap.
A leaf fell cleanly from a tree ten paces away, fluttering down to the ground.
A ghostly manifestation of sword qi.
The passing Jianghu people widened their eyes in amazement.
“An incredible master!”
“Is he not a demon of the sword...?”
Yet the man who had displayed such divine skill wore a bitter expression as he disparaged himself.
“I have studied the sword for nearly twenty years, yet I am ashamed that I still cannot escape such a dull level. Seeing such brilliant talent as yours makes me even more ashamed.”
At that moment, Yeon Sowol thought:
‘This humblebragging comes as naturally as breathing. Is it him? I think it is?’
He was about ninety percent certain when voices filled in the remaining ten percent.
“There he goes again.”
“The Undeserving One, Noh Huideok. Is he really doing that even to a junior who has not yet reached twenty?”
“Relentless. Absolutely relentless.”
The Undeserving One!
Noh Huideok!
‘The Register of Jianghu Figures!’
Yeon Sowol felt a thrill.
* * *
<Chapter Eighteen. The Undeserving One, Noh Huideok>
He always humbles himself by saying that his fame exceeds his ability, but in truth he subtly boasts and looks down on others. That is why he bears the epithet the Undeserving One.
* * *
Footnotes:
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