WeTried Translations

Translator: ZERO_SUGAR

Editor: Abstract

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Chapter 14: Entrance Examination (1)

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Entrance Examination (1)

[The essence of the Four Ounces Deflecting a Thousand Pounds lies in dispersing incoming force. The foundation of martial arts begins in the feet. Master this principle until it becomes second nature, and you can scatter even the mightiest force into the earth.]

Those were the words of Cho Il-ryang, second master of the Kangxi Three Heroes, the man who had taught him.

The second master had a slimmer frame than most, yet he could hold his ground for half a day on his toes alone, even with ten grown men shoving against him at once.

Jin-hyeok had learned that skill, and he prided himself on having mastered at least eight parts of it.

'......This makes no sense.'

And yet the very skill he had taken such pride in had just been broken.

By raw strength, no less.

Even Madam Jang, who had so proudly told her husband Yu Yeop-kyung to watch their son, was so flustered by the sight that she could not hide her embarrassment.

"Mu... Mumu really is incredibly strong."

"Did I not tell you?"

Yu Yeop-kyung spoke quietly, almost in a whisper.

His son, Yu Jin-hyeok, had meant to show off and failed so miserably that Yeo worried the boy might have lost his nerve.

Just then Yu Jin-hyeok spoke, his face flushed red.

"L, let's do it again."

"Do it again?"

"That was a slip. I haven't fully absorbed what my master taught me. That's the only reason you could push me back."

Even now, he refused to bring shame upon his master.

'This boy......'

Demanding a rematch while still speaking that way filled Yu Yeop-kyung with quiet pride.

It told him his son had grown up righteous.

The boy might not understand what Mumu's martial arts were, but the fact that he held to such principles as a matter of course was enough to make Yu Yeop-kyung proud.

Yu Jin-hyeok, his pride wounded, kept insisting on another round, while Mumu said it was too much of a bother and refused.

Their squabble carried on for a good while.

Yu Yeop-kyung, who had worried Mumu might not fit in, could breathe a little easier in that moment.

And so the family's reunion stretched on, loud and lively, late into the night.

* * *

Early the next morning.

In the training yard of a manor not far from Yu Yeop-kyung's home.

A boy sat cross-legged there, and that boy was Yu Jin-hyeok.

He exhaled in an even rhythm, drawing in the clear energy of the air and gathering it into his dantian while circulating it through his major meridians, a whole sequence of steps.

This was called the Breathing Technique, or a Cultivation technique.

Yu Jin-hyeok was honing his Cultivation technique through this channeling of energy.

'......I can't focus.'

On any other day he would have slipped into a state of empty, thoughtless calm during the Cultivation technique.

Instead, stray thoughts kept clinging to him, and he could not concentrate.

Whenever he recalled the day before, the resentment was more than he could bear.

'Then what was the point of all the effort I've put in until now?'

Ever since he was young, he had admired his brother and trained in martial arts without rest.

That had earned him much praise from his masters.

They had told him that, apart from the rising talents born of distinguished martial families like the Nine Sects and One Clan or the Six Great Families, few would prove a match for him.

And yet, what was this?

'Overpowered by mere strength.'

To be honest, calling it mere strength made no sense at all.

He had been thoroughly startled by those finely packed, enormous muscles.

But no matter how he turned it over, he could not understand it.

'How can strength made from muscle be greater than my energy?'

Internal energy was, by its very name, a matter of ki.

It was no exaggeration to say that force built up by accumulating ki was twice the force honed through external energy.

And yet that fellow Mumu had overwhelmed the essence of the Four Ounces Deflecting a Thousand Pounds with sheer strength.

Even granting that he himself had been unpracticed, it was almost impossible to accept.

It was right then.

Tok!

"Ow."

Yu Jin-hyeok's eyes flew open in alarm.

Before him stood a middle-aged man with a goatee and a slender frame, hands clasped behind his back.

He was Cho Il-ryang, one of Yu Jin-hyeok's three masters.

In his youth he had made his name as one of the Kangxi Three Heroes, and now he had settled here in Kaifeng to raise disciples.

"Your breathing is uneven. Why can't you concentrate?"

"M, my apologies."

Ordinarily, striking the head of someone channeling energy was a dangerous thing to do.

But a master of Cho Il-ryang's caliber had ears keen enough to tell whether the breathing method was being done properly, which was why he had rapped the boy's head with his staff.

Yu Jin-hyeok rubbed his aching head.

Cho Il-ryang looked at him as if he were a sorry sight and said,

"In three days comes the entrance examination for Changcheon Martial Academy. Everyone else is preparing with fire in their eyes, working themselves to the bone. How will this do?"

At those words Yu Jin-hyeok hung his head, ashamed.

His master was right.

Even full concentration left it uncertain whether he would pass the entrance examination, yet here he was, letting resentment drag him into idle thoughts.

Watching his disciple reflect, Cho Il-ryang smiled inwardly.

'Stubborn, earnest boy. On any other day he would never come undone like this. Seeing his father and that adopted son for the first time must have rattled him.'

Cho Il-ryang understood the family's situation thoroughly.

So even if he did not show it, he could grasp how Yu Jin-hyeok felt.

But for now, preparing for Changcheon Martial Academy came first.

"Concentrate and channel your energy at once. If your third master brings back an Elixir, you'll need to take it this evening along with the Meridian Opening Technique."

"Understood."

Yu Jin-hyeok's entrance into Changcheon Martial Academy mattered to Cho Il-ryang as well.

If the boy got in and made a name for himself, then this small martial school he and the others had founded would win even greater renown as a Changcheon Martial Academy prep school.

The disciple seemed to be finally settling back into his channeling.

Then Yu Jin-hyeok spoke, choosing his words with care.

"Master."

"Tsk. Why can't you concentrate?"

"Is it truly possible to break the essence of the Four Ounces Deflecting a Thousand Pounds with brute... no, with strength alone?"

At his disciple's question, Cho Il-ryang let out a small chuckle.

The question was a touch childish, but at least, mercifully, it had nothing to do with the family.

So he answered with a smile.

"If you master that principle properly, then even should a force of a thousand catties bear down on you, you could scatter it into the earth through the soles of your feet. To put it to use in real combat, though, you would have to go beyond the Four Ounces Deflecting a Thousand Pounds and reach the Realm of Flower Grafting Union."

Footnotes:

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