WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Ceaseless
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◈ Martial Arts Survival Guide ◈
Chapter 4: No Manners.
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“The Heaven-Shattering Divine Transformation Art is a divine art I created by gathering all the insights I gained through my later years. Learn it, and you will gain the martial power to shatter the heavens. Master it completely, and you may even become a god.”
Ju Han-o had given the Heaven-Shattering Divine Transformation Art no set moves. By the time he created it, he had already gone beyond fixed moves and martial forms.
An arrogant, unhelpful martial art. That was exactly how Baek Hyun felt about it.
“They say a crow-tit will split its legs trying to keep up with a stork.”
Ju Han-o stood with his hands behind his back, looking at Baek Hyun.
“It is better to risk splitting your legs if it means getting even a little farther. A crow-tit that walks like a crow-tit will never be anything more.”
“That’s true.”
“Though we were both born with Innate Martial Genius, there is an enormous gap between your level and mine, Hyun. I devoted more than a hundred years to reaching this realm, and it took countless experiences to make me what I am today.”
“I’m sure it did.”
Baek Hyun stood still, facing Ju Han-o.
More than a week had already passed since he arrived in the Peach Blossom Realm. In that time, Baek Hyun had memorized every book Ju Han-o gave him and grown used to putting their teachings into practice. It would once have been unimaginable, but Ju Han-o’s strikes to his acupoints had opened his understanding and freed the tangled and blocked flow of his qi and blood.
“To understand martial arts, you must master not only the body (體), but also the mind (心) and qi (氣). Set moves make martial arts easier to perform, but if you let them bind you, your mind, qi, and body will all become trapped within them.”
“Yes.”
Ju Han-o spoke with a stern expression, and Baek Hyun listened seriously. Over the past week, he had learned that talking back for no reason only earned him beatings he could have avoided.
“Over the past week, Hyun, you have learned the foundations of the Heaven-Shattering Divine Transformation Art from me. How much internal energy have you accumulated?”
“I can feel something stirring in my dantian.”
“The Peach Blossom Realm has more qi than anywhere else in the world. And the Heaven-Shattering Divine Transformation Art is superior to every internal cultivation method I know.”
“I see. Of course.”
He did his best to agree enthusiastically.
“Indeed. I raided not only Shaolin’s Arhat Hall, but also the martial arts libraries of the imperial palace and the Demonic Cult, examining every martial art within them. None was better than my Heaven-Shattering Divine Transformation Art.”
“Why did you raid them, though?”
“I thought I might find something outstanding to draw upon, but they fell short of my expectations.”
Ju Han-o shook his head and muttered.
“But Hyun, strength in martial arts is not determined by the quality of the art itself. Even someone who has spent a lifetime learning only the Three Powers Sword Art, the lowest of low-grade arts, may wield a sharper sword than a practitioner of Wudang’s sword arts, which are considered the finest among sword schools. Of course, if someone capable of taking the Three Powers Sword Art that far had learned Wudang’s sword arts instead, they would have been called the Sword King long ago.”
“So the person using it is what matters.”
“Yes. And experience is important.”
As Ju Han-o spoke, he raised a hand and extended it before him. Gray light wrapped around his body. Baek Hyun watched without surprise. Ju Han-o’s body seemed to waver once, and then the gray light around him stretched straight forward.
“...Uh...”
He had tried not to be surprised, but this time, he couldn’t help it. Standing before Baek Hyun, where Ju Han-o’s hand pointed, was a small boy. It was the first time Baek Hyun had seen anyone other than Ju Han-o since entering the Peach Blossom Realm, and his eyes widened.
“...Who’s that?”
“My name is Ju Han-o.”
The boy standing in front of Ju Han-o answered. Bewildered, Baek Hyun studied the boy’s face. He was certain he had never seen it before, yet it felt strangely familiar.
“This is what I looked like at ten.”
“...Is this another one of those... mysteries of the Peach Blossom Realm?”
“Indeed.”
Baek Hyun asked no more questions. This place, the Peach Blossom Realm, was said to lie on the boundary between life and death. Common sense did not apply here. Ju Han-o, the Martial God Demon, took a few steps back with his hands behind his back.
“I began learning martial arts at eight. Back then, I had yet to learn any remarkable arts. I practiced the Myeonggong Internal Cultivation Method, a low-grade art that circulated among thugs. I also picked up a few fist techniques, but those were nothing special either.”
“To think someone like me would later become the greatest martial artist under heaven. I’m deeply moved.”
Ten-year-old Ju Han-o chuckled. He grinned at the Ju Han-o standing behind him, then turned back to Baek Hyun and took a fighting stance.
“...What exactly are we doing?”
“Try to defeat my ten-year-old self.”
“Come on, my future disciple.”
Ten-year-old Ju Han-o curled his fingers at him in a taunt. Feeling slightly dizzy, Baek Hyun sighed.
“So... you want me to beat up my master’s ten-year-old self?”
“If you can.”
“Isn’t this going a bit too far? A ten-year-old would be in third grade...”
Ten-year-old Ju Han-o barely reached Baek Hyun’s waist. Naturally, his arms and legs were short too. His cheeks were still plump with baby fat. Baek Hyun looked at him uneasily.
“Fighting a kid is a bit...”
“You scared?”
Ten-year-old Ju Han-o sneered.
“What are you yapping for? Hey, come at me. Scared a ten-year-old’s going to beat you up?”
“...Ha. Haha...”
Baek Hyun gave a hollow laugh and began circulating the Heaven-Shattering Divine Transformation Art through his body.
“You ill-mannered little shi...”
Before Baek Hyun could finish, ten-year-old Ju Han-o rushed him.
* * *
“You’re weak.”
He wasn’t quite sure what had happened.
He remembered shouting boldly and trying to fight. But at some point, stars had flashed before his eyes. The moment he thought, That hurts, Pow-pow-pow! Something else happened. He briefly lost consciousness, and when he came to, he was staring up at the gloomy sky of the Peach Blossom Realm, which he had seen more than enough of over the past week.
Baek Hyun raised a hand and felt his nose. Blood poured from both nostrils of his flattened nose, and his lip was split too. Swearing, he pushed himself up. A short distance away, he saw his master, Ju Han-o, watching him with an impossibly complicated expression.
“...What am I to say about this...?”
Ju Han-o muttered quietly.
“Should I praise myself for being so outstanding at ten? Or should I lament the weakness of the disciple I went to the trouble of summoning and taking under my wing...?”
“Why not do both?”
Ten-year-old Ju Han-o snickered, shaking the blood from his fists.
“Didn’t you more or less expect this? He might have learned the Heaven-Shattering Divine Transformation Art, but he’s a beginner with hardly any fighting experience. I was beating up the local thugs even before I learned martial arts. After I started learning, I killed Greenwood bandits in the mountain behind the village too.”
As the boy bragged, Baek Hyun finally understood what had happened.
He had been beaten senseless without getting a chance to try anything. The boy was short. His limbs were short. Baek Hyun had let that make him careless. His field of vision had narrowed. The boy had darted beneath it far faster than he expected, so he had failed to react. Had the first blow hit his chin? That was when his consciousness first wavered, and he had taken every blow in the flurry that followed.
“It’s a matter of experience,” ten-year-old Ju Han-o went on.
“You don’t have nearly enough experience. You don’t know how to fight. Your martial art is far better than mine, you have more internal energy than me, and you’re bigger than me. But you’re still weaker, because I’ve fought more than you have.”
Even so, could the difference really be this great?
“Get up.”
Ten-year-old Ju Han-o urged him on.
“If that were your real body, those injuries would take quite a while to heal. But this is the Peach Blossom Realm. Look, they’re already gone.”
It was true. Baek Hyun raised a hand and felt his face. The blood that had flowed from his nose was still there, but his flattened nose had returned to normal.
“Come to think of it, what were you trying to say earlier? An ill-mannered little shi... what? Fighting a kid is a bit much? Bwahaha!”
“...Holy shit.”
Baek Hyun spat out the blood pooled in his mouth and stood.
“That sure woke me up.”
He had never imagined a day would come when a ten-year-old would beat him this badly. Baek Hyun clenched both fists and glared at ten-year-old Ju Han-o.
“I’ll go a little easier on you this time.”
Ten-year-old Ju Han-o took his fighting stance again. Baek Hyun roughly wiped the blood from his nose and mouth.
He had let his guard down earlier. He had to admit that much. Then would keeping his guard up be enough?
‘No, that’s not it either.’
He watched ten-year-old Ju Han-o move. Rather than lowering his gaze, he widened his field of vision. He had built up internal energy while practicing the Heaven-Shattering Divine Transformation Art. It had only been a week, but training in the qi-rich Peach Blossom Realm had firmly established the presence of internal energy in his dantian. Thanks to his Innate Martial Genius, which was said to grant the blessing of martial arts, he had yet to struggle with the art’s internal cultivation.
Only a week had passed, but Baek Hyun’s body was far better tuned than it had ever been before. With those “eyes,” he followed Ju Han-o’s movements.
Keeping up was difficult. The boy moved so fast that it was hard to believe he was only ten. This wasn’t a matter of letting his guard down. Ten-year-old Ju Han-o was simply stronger than Baek Hyun was now.
“I told you, you’re weak!”
Overwhelmingly stronger.
A difference in experience. He had been right. Ten-year-old Ju Han-o had more experience in “fighting” than twenty-one-year-old Baek Hyun. Baek Hyun lost count of how many times he was beaten down and got back up. No matter how many blows he took, he never got used to the pain. By then, irritation and stubborn defiance were welling up inside him.
“You son of a...”
He took a hit to the chin before he could even finish swearing. He lost consciousness without managing a single proper punch. When he thought the boy was swinging a punch, a straight punch hit him; when he thought a straight punch was coming, the boy kicked him. The boy was toying with him, plain and simple. He felt like an idiot for being toyed with by a mere ten-year-old.
Innate Martial Genius?
The blessing of martial arts. A genius’s gift for combat. When he memorized Ju Han-o’s books in just half a day, his heart had raced as he recalled Ju Han-o’s promise that his miserable life would change.
“Master.”
There was no night in the Peach Blossom Realm.
But he knew a day had passed. Sprawled on the ground, Baek Hyun stared up at the realm’s gray sky. Just how many times had he seen that sky today?
“Why am I so weak?”
“...I was simply too outstanding from childhood.”
“No, I get that. But I have Innate Martial Genius too. Why am I so weak?”
“Having Innate Martial Genius does not mean you need not work hard.”
Ju Han-o spoke as he gazed down at Baek Hyun. His ten-year-old self had vanished at some point.
“You simply lack the experience and effort of my ten-year-old self.”
“I know.”
Baek Hyun gave a bitter smile and sprang to his feet.
“Master, how long do you think it’ll take me to beat that little shit...”
“Calling your master a little shit is rather inappropriate.”
“...How long until I can beat up your ten-year-old self?”
“Judging by the beatings you have taken so far, I would say ten days.”
Ju Han-o answered without exaggeration. Baek Hyun gave a small laugh.
“People really do need a goal.”
A week later.
“You ill-mannered little shit!”
After thoroughly beating up ten-year-old Ju Han-o, Baek Hyun was finally able to shout those words with a voice full of emotion.
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