Chapter 11

Chapter 11:

“Get up.”

“…….”

“Come on, get up now.”

“Ugh.”

Wei Yan-ho whirled his body around and covered his ears.

“Mmph.”

Baek Mu-han looked at Wei Yan-ho with a sorrowful heart.

It had been about one shijin since he started trying to wake Wei Yan-ho.

But this damn disciple had been ignoring his words and sleeping like this for a whole shijin.

“How much longer are you going to sleep? Don’t you need to train today?”

“Ah! Just a little longer!”

“You seem to have slept for eight shijin already.”

“How can a person sleep for only eight shijin!”

No, wait.

It should be “How can a person sleep for as much as eight shijin!”

Where in the world is there a human who spends two-thirds of a twelve-shijin day sleeping?

But Baek Mu-han’s bitter feelings couldn’t quite make it out into words. If he brought up such talk, there was no telling where this ill-tempered, lazy, and morally corrupt disciple might run off to.

‘How did I end up……’

Baek Mu-han was filled with regret as he reminisced about the past.

In the past, he had been the emperor of the Martial World.

Everyone praised him, and no one dared to approach the martial arts he had built up. Everyone under heaven placed his name above the sky, and even the emperor of that era showed him respect.

He had been someone who achieved everything in the Martial World.

But now…

Baek Mu-han looked at his disciple with a sorrowful heart. This damn disciple had fallen asleep again.

Since first entering this cave, four days had passed without him washing even once, so his face was filthy beyond measure, and he had even become puffy from sleeping too much.

Even in such a state, he slept so well that he was rolling around on the ground while talking in his sleep.

“Get up already.”

“Ah, just a little longer.”

“If you sleep more, it will interfere with your training. So…”

“Ugh! Fine, I get it, I said I get it!”

This damn brat actually got annoyed and bolted upright.

“Ugh! Can’t even let me sleep!”

Baek Mu-han wanted to cry. But what was the point of boiling inside? Wouldn’t that just be his loss? Baek Mu-han suppressed his rising anger as much as possible and continued with difficulty.

“First, go wash yourself so you can come to your senses.”

“Why?”

“…Then you’re not going to wash?”

Baek Mu-han raised his hand and sniffed.

“It’s fine though?”

Baek Mu-han carved the character for patience in his mind.

‘So what if he’s a little dirty! As long as he learns martial arts well!’

But there was nothing he could do about the accursed heavens.

“Today I will formally begin transmitting my martial arts to you.”

“Can’t we just start tomorrow?”

“It must be today!”

“Ugh.”

Baek Mu-han coaxed and sweet-talked the sulking Wei Yan-ho.

Though Baek Mu-han had never said a kind word even once under the belief that children should be raised strictly even when they’re born, he was groveling before Wei Yan-ho.

If anyone who knew him had seen this scene, they would have foamed at the mouth and collapsed.

“But…”

Wei Yan-ho tilted his head.

“Why did you choose such a troublesome method?”

“What do you mean?”

“If you want to transmit martial arts, you could just give me a secret manual.”

“Nonsense! How could one learn martial arts from a secret manual!”

“But usually when you hear about it, there are many people who obtained secret manuals in places like this and became masters.”

“That’s ridiculous! If someone became strong just from a secret manual, then they would have gained martial arts worthy of being called a master with only one-tenth of what they should have originally learned!”

“Huh?”

Baek Mu-han explained in detail.

“Expressing martial arts in writing is more difficult than containing all under heaven within a painting. Extend your arm.”

Wei Yan-ho stretched his arm straight forward.

“Bend it slightly.”

Wei Yan-ho bent his arm slightly inward.

“Can you now transcribe the movement you just made into writing?”

“I can.”

“How?”

“Well, I’d say to extend your arm forward and then bend it slightly.”

“Really? Then would someone who reads those words bend their arm exactly like you?”

Wei Yan-ho thought for a moment.

It probably wouldn’t be exactly the same.

“The direction of bending the arm could be different, and the angle of bending could be different. Even if you said to bend it about three inches and bend it to point exactly upward, the desired appearance might not come out because people have different arm lengths.”

“That’s right.”

“If even one arm is like this, what would you have to do to express the whole body? Probably explaining just one movement would require several pages. If you tried to contain an entire martial art in a secret manual, even a hundred volumes wouldn’t be enough.”

“But there are secret manuals circulating in the martial world.”

“That’s so they won’t be forgotten. Humans are creatures of oblivion. So they record only the most essential parts. Secret manuals are needed not for those who don’t know the martial arts to see, but for those who know the martial arts to see and remember.”

“Ah!”

Wei Yan-ho nodded.

“So that’s why you used this method.”

“That’s right! Only this way can I properly transmit my martial arts.”

“But you still can’t see it the same way.”

“Hah, you underestimate me too much!”

At that moment, a hazy form began to appear in front of Wei Yan-ho.

“Eek!”

The hazy form gathered together and soon created the shape of a person.

The person who appeared before his eyes was a tall man over six feet.

He had an overall slender build, and his hair was neatly tied up in a topknot. His face was red like a pepper, and his long white beard reached down to his waist, adding to his dignity.

He was truly the epitome of sage-like appearance.

“H-how did you do that?”

“Creating an appearance is nothing at all!”

“…Did you create a body?”

Baek Mu-han smiled bitterly.

“That’s not it. This is just a form. I can’t do anything with this body.”

“Hmm?”

Baek Mu-han’s foot sank into the ground.

“Look.”

“You’re no different from a ghost.”

“I can’t do anything with this body except show things. That’s all.”

Wei Yan-ho nodded.

“That aside, your appearance is quite…”

Baek Mu-han grinned.

“Even though I look like this, when I was alive, I was said to be a handsome man comparable to Song Yu or Pan An.”

“I see. The grandmothers must have followed you around.”

“Hmph.”

Baek Mu-han frowned.

Can this damn brat only speak in such ways?

“Ahem~! Anyway, from today I will begin transmitting martial arts.”

“Yes!”

Wei Yan-ho’s eyes lit up as he sat properly.

“…You’re not saying anything else?”

“Like what?”

“Like let’s start tomorrow, or let’s rest a bit.”

“Don’t you want to teach?”

“It’s not that…”

“When I say let’s rest and do it later, you say let’s do it now, and when you say let’s do it now, I find it strange, so I’m worried you might have eaten a tree frog in your previous life.”

“Hmph…”

Baek Mu-han felt fortunate that he had no physical body.

If he had a body, he would have either gone mad long ago or beaten this impudent disciple to death.

‘Think positively! At least he has motivation! Yes, that’s right!’

He desperately consoled himself, but he couldn’t help feeling sorrowful in one corner of his heart.

“I will transmit martial arts to you. But first, let me tell you something.”

“Yes.”

Surprisingly, Wei Yan-ho was docile.

“I am Baek Mu-han, descendant of the Ten Thousand Swords Baek Family. While learning my family’s sword techniques, I realized their inadequacy and created my own martial arts.”

“Yes.”

“I took the advantages of countless swords under heaven and incorporated the insights of my hundred years of life to create this swordsmanship, which I called Mad Sword Style. You will be the first person to receive the transmission of Mad Sword Style.”

Wei Yan-ho raised his hand.

“Speak.”

“I’m the first?”

Baek Mu-han smiled.

“That’s right. You are the glorious first recipient of Mad Sword Style!”

Wei Yan-ho’s face contorted.

“Then you’re saying I have to learn martial arts that you created but haven’t even been tested?”

“Huh?”

“Do you know what side effects there might be, and you’re thinking of teaching such untested martial arts?”

“Well…”

“Did you do clinical trials? What about human experiments? Are the risks of qi deviation okay? Did you check if there are side effects?”

“…”

“Can’t I just not learn it?”

Baek Mu-han looked up.

He couldn’t see the blue sky, only the black ceiling of the cave. Baek Mu-han felt so sorrowful that the black ceiling seemed to show him his future path.

After Wei Yan-ho’s desperate struggle, he finally changed his mind following Baek Mu-han’s earnest persuasion that it was absolutely not dangerous. Having finally turned Wei Yan-ho’s heart after persuading him for a long time, Baek Mu-han cursed the heavens once again.

“The sword is an extension of the hand.”

“A sword is a sword, why is a sword an extension of the hand?”

“…Isn’t a sword held and used with the hand!”

“If you put it that way, a dao is also an extension of the hand, a sickle is also an extension of the hand, and a staff is also an extension of the limbs. Everything you hold with your hands would be an extension of the limbs.”

“Yes, you’re right.”

“Huh? I’m right?”

“Weapons held and used with the hands are all extensions of the hand.”

Baek Mu-han felt proud that for once a proper explanation was continuing. But Wei Yan-ho was never such a docile disciple.

“Then is a chain sickle also an extension of the hand?”

“…”

“What about a Ten Direction Hammer?”

“That’s…”

“Then hidden weapons are also extensions of the hand since you use them with your hands, but those are thrown. Your hand doesn’t fly away, so are those also extensions of the hand?”

“That’s… different.”

“Why is it different? You said all weapons held and used with hands are extensions of the hand.”

“No, let me correct that. Weapons that are held with hands but don’t fly away are extensions of the hand.”

“Then what about weapons like whips or Ten Section Staffs? Hands can’t do such things…”

“Gah! Just understand it roughly!”

Wei Yan-ho grumbled.

“Why are you getting angry?”

Baek Mu-han carved the character for patience in his mind again and again as he continued.

“Anyway, the sword is an extension of the hand. The moment you think of the sword as something separate from your body, unity breaks down. You must always think of the sword as part of your body.”

“I’ll try.”

“…Right.”

The shape of a sword suddenly appeared in Baek Mu-han’s hand.

“The sword is called the King of All Weapons. It means it’s the most excellent weapon under heaven.”

“People who use daos would curse if they heard that.”

Baek Mu-han deliberately ignored Wei Yan-ho’s words.

“The first weapon to appear in the world was the staff, that is, the club. It’s no exaggeration to say that all weapons under heaven developed from this club. The staff appeared by specializing and developing the club’s length and thrusting, and the axe appeared by strengthening the club’s swinging.”

“Yes.”

“And the staff developed into the spear, and the axe developed into the dao. Thus, all weapons under heaven should be seen as having transformed from the club.”

Wei Yan-ho raised his hand.

“Speak.”

“What about the bow?”

“The bow developed from the sling. The direction is different, but the branch is the same.”

“Yes.”

For once, Wei Yan-ho nodded obediently.

“And the sword, as a weapon, appeared later than these. But as soon as it appeared, it surpassed other weapons to become the most widely used weapon. That’s because the sword was made by taking only the advantages of the dao and spear, which were the most excellent weapons under heaven before it. The sword cannot make cuts as fierce as the dao, but it can thrust, which the dao cannot do. Its thrusting is not stronger than the spear, but it can cut faster and stronger than the spear.”

“That’s true.”

“That’s why the sword is called the King of All Weapons. What did you feel from this story?”

Wei Yan-ho answered honestly.

“The sword is the strongest.”

Baek Mu-han closed his eyes.

Without expectations, there would be no disappointment.

What had he expected?

At this age, Baek Mu-han had learned one new thing.