ISS-Chapter 25

Chapter 25

What is martial arts?

Simply put, martial arts are nothing more than methods of killing people. No matter how grandly they’re packaged as the Way of the Sword (Geomdo), the Way of Martial Arts (Mudo), and so on, in the end, martial arts are techniques for dealing with people.

Strictly speaking, the motion of wringing a chicken’s neck isn’t much different from martial arts. No matter how strongly or quickly you twist it, ultimately the purpose of martial arts is limited to defeating the opponent.

Then why are martial arts called martial accomplishments (mugong) and martial studies (muhak)?

That too is simple.

Because they are so vast and deep that even a lifetime of dedication cannot reach the end. Because an individual’s body cannot possibly contain all those martial principles (muri).

That is why martial arts are a scholarship.

[Basic Martial Arts Plagiarism Examination]

“…”

After reading the letter in silence, I quietly closed my eyes, circulated my internal energy, and ignited the Threefold True Fire. The letter burning away at my fingertips.

“So it comes to this in the end.”

Fifteen years since leaving the family—I let out an empty laugh upon seeing the letter that came from the family after fifteen years. To receive a letter like this after fifteen years, isn’t it truly peculiar?

“I was preparing for it though.”

I thought we would clash eventually. The father I know, Baek Rigang, wasn’t the type of person to let go of the family’s successor so easily.

But to think the method would be like this.

“…No, is it perhaps more fitting of the Baek Ri Family precisely because it’s this method?”

Why could the Baek Ri Family, which didn’t even have a proper name until three hundred years ago, become the leader of the Five Great Families by now?

Because they didn’t miss opportunities. Because they knew how to strike at opponents’ weak points and ride the flow. And to such a Baek Ri Family, the current Uicheonmun must have looked full of weak points.

“Basic martial arts plagiarism examination…”

Blowing the ashes of the burned letter out the window, I slowly fell into thought. For now, there are two things I need to verify.

‘Does Uicheonmun’s martial arts fall under basic martial arts plagiarism examination? And if I fail the examination, what disadvantages will there be?’

The former has considerable possibility. After all, the foundation of my martial arts itself is the Baek Ri Family’s martial arts.

Of course, I didn’t plagiarize the Baek Ri Family’s martial arts. Uicheonmun’s martial arts is something I compiled by gathering the insights I gained over fifteen years, and not a single strand of the Baek Ri Family’s martial arts is included in it. However.

Ultimately, the fundamental martial principles flowing within me are the Baek Ri Family’s. Then depending on interpretation, this could be viewed as plagiarism. It’s also honestly ambiguous to expect the Murim Alliance examiners to make a judgment favorable to this side while leaving the Five Great Families alone.

Then what’s the method to get through this basic martial arts plagiarism examination itself with minimal damage?

“…It’ll be difficult.”

I smiled bitterly and shook my head. Because there’s no method to avoid the plagiarism examination while failing it without damage. Of course there isn’t.

Fundamentally, the plagiarism examination is a device to protect sects’ martial arts. If the result shows the martial arts are plagiarized, that sect becomes unable to transmit those martial arts themselves and must pay enormous compensation.

Even if they create different martial arts and receive the Murim Alliance’s examination again, they’ll have to undergo examination under standards far stricter than before. So if I don’t pass this time, it’s over.

Uicheonmun is finished.

Of course, if I don’t pass.

“…It’s not that there’s no method though.”

I buried myself in the chair and frowned. Isn’t that actually the case?

This is only a ‘basic martial arts plagiarism examination.’ Martial arts other than basic ones are secrets that sects cannot carelessly show even if the Murim Alliance is the target. In other words, it means the martial arts the Murim Alliance examines can only be limited to basic martial arts. And if it’s only basic martial arts, aren’t basic martial arts that anyone can use scattered all over the marketplace?

“Three Powers (Samjae), Four Directions (Sabang), Five Elements (Ohaeng), Six Harmonies (Yukhap)…”

Those martial arts whose creator is unknown truly contain ‘only the basics,’ so they should be able to fulfill the role of basic martial arts reliably. At least they’ll be of great help in breaking through the immediate situation.

But that’s only the lesser evil, not the worst.

“…All my martial arts are made centered on the current basic martial arts.”

Basic martial arts aren’t simply martial arts for laying foundations. Because basic martial arts inform those just entering martial arts what kind of martial studies they will learn going forward and become their guide.

If I change the basic martial arts, it becomes close to impossible to fully convey my current insights. Uicheonmun’s martial way would become different from the martial way I pursue. Ultimately, it would be no different from selling the future.

Then.

“What should I do?”

Sell the future to buy the present, or cling to that probability of less than one percent, perhaps less than one tenth of a percent, one hundredth of a percent, and hope for a miracle?

I quietly looked at those two choices presented before my eyes and slowly crossed my arms.

Sell the future, or hope for a miracle?

“…It wouldn’t be.”

Right.

That’s not my way. From the moment I decided to establish Uicheonmun, wasn’t my goal at an immensely high place?

I won’t sell the future. I won’t hope for a miracle either. If I had to say… Right.

“…I’ll create a miracle. Now. With my own hands.”

The probability is low. Strictly speaking, would it be less than one in a thousand? But I don’t care about efficiency or probability. Because.

That’s the best option.

“I need to secure as many basic martial arts as possible.”

Two weeks.

Within these remaining two weeks, I must create new basic martial arts excluding Baek Ri’s martial principles. And for that, I need new martial arts.

“I’d like to have famous family basic martial arts, not market basic martial arts.”

I could reference basic martial arts like Three Powers or Six Harmonies if I wanted to, but the efficiency is poor. It’s best to observe basic martial arts that clearly bear the characteristics of prestigious families.

But such basic martial arts aren’t something you can obtain just by trying to obtain them. Unless there’s considerable trust, even asking to see them would be reluctant.

“…Tsk.”

I clicked my tongue and shook my head. Having come to this, I’ll have no choice but to buy up as many martial arts available in the market as possible and reference them.

That’s what I thought.

Until I heard the voice.

—Wow, so flashy. Did the Commander really buy this manor with his salary? That stingy Commander?

—Don’t touch things carelessly. Before I kill you.

At the voices coming from outside the door—voices that shouldn’t be heard in this place—I stared blankly outside. And simultaneously, the door opening.

“Sect Master. The guests…”

Seeing Seohwa entering and two familiar faces, I smiled.

Perhaps.

“This might be doable.”

I might be able to give the Baek Ri Family a good hit.

***

Hwayonghyeon. Haun Merchant Company building.

“What will you do?”

At the sight of Ga Yeom raising his voice while Lee Ryang was immersed in thought for a moment, he leaned his body obliquely and reclined in the chair.

“The Baek Ri Family…”

Baek Riyun and the Baek Ri Family.

He knew to some extent that there was a connection. Since even the name so obviously indicated it, it was impossible not to know.

He just thought it was a branch family, so he looked into it, and was able to learn the fact that it was unexpectedly the direct line. And he also discovered that at some point, the connection between the Baek Ri Family and Baek Riyun had been severed.

“To think they’d strike at this timing after fifteen years of silence, I didn’t expect that.”

He could never have imagined that the proud Five Great Families would come out this aggressively. That phrase fits the current situation perfectly.

“What will you do? If we’re going to pull out, now is the only time.”

“Hmm.”

At Ga Yeom’s voice, Lee Ryang, who had been pondering with a cautious expression, calculated gains and losses inwardly before bursting into laughter.

“It’s a funny situation.”

“What do you mean?”

“The fact that it makes me ponder at all.”

The opponent is the leader of the Five Great Families.

Even if Baekgeommun stepped up, it wouldn’t be easy, yet the Five Great Families are directly intervening to crush Uicheonmun. Anyone with normal thinking would predict Uicheonmun’s defeat. However.

“The problem is that Uicheonmun Master has the ability to make me ponder.”

It was like that from the beginning. Who purified the haunted manor by breaking through thread-thin probability like being possessed by ghosts? Who defeated Baekgeommun, which had overwhelming capital compared to Uicheonmun, at the auction?

It was the same at the Baekgeom Competition. No one would have imagined that a newly formed sect that hadn’t even been established yet would raise disciples in just one month and seize victory at the Baekgeom Competition. And what was clear when seeing that?

Even excluding Baek Riyun’s potential, Uicheonmun, which hasn’t even held its opening ceremony yet, has already proven its worth sufficiently.

“Hmm. I’m troubled about what to do.”

“Is there a need to ponder? No matter how many hardships they’ve overcome so far, this hardship is of a different caliber. No matter how great that Uicheonmun Master is…”

“Wait, this hardship is of a different caliber…?”

“Yes. After all, isn’t the opponent that Baek Ri Family?”

Lee Ryang, who had been carefully organizing his thoughts, suddenly repeated Ga Yeom’s words as if something had occurred to him upon hearing them. And Ga Yeom, gaining momentum from those words, continued adding his opinion.

“Even if heaven’s luck touches him and Uicheonmun Master creates standards to pass the basic martial arts examination, with the Baek Ri Family’s power, filling the basic martial arts examination personnel with their faction isn’t a difficult matter at all. It’s practically a predetermined fight, isn’t it?”

Ga Yeom’s negative reasoning also lies in that. If this were a situation that Uicheonmun Master, that Baek Riyun, could somehow escape with his own capabilities, Ga Yeom wouldn’t have tried to dissuade him like this.

However, the opponent is the pillar of the Five Great Families occupying the core of the Murim Alliance. It’s self-evident whose side the Murim Alliance will take.

The probability is low. No, it’s not low—it doesn’t even exist.

“We must withdraw this time.”

Ga Yeom, thinking that, put forth the opposing opinion. And at that moment.

“What if it’s not predetermined?”

“Pardon?”

Lee Ryang’s eyes glinted with a trace of light.

“From Guard Captain Ga Yeom’s opinion, it sounds like if there’s even one tenth of a percent probability, it’s worth trying—am I correct?”

“Didn’t I say the probability doesn’t exist…”

“What if we can block the Baek Ri Family from making moves?”

At the sight of Lee Ryang looking at him with a meaningful expression, Ga Yeom let out a deep sigh, pressed his forehead, and answered.

“It would be… worth trying.”

“Worth trying. Why do you think so?”

“Because all the miracles so far didn’t originate from ‘luck.'”

If Baek Riyun had rather walked his path so far through luck, he might have judged there wasn’t even a trace of possibility even without the Baek Ri Family’s intervention. That would merely be luck piled upon luck, and he couldn’t think luck would come again this time. But what about Baek Riyun?

The opportunities Baek Riyun seized so far were things that for anyone else would have been nothing more than crises. Meaning they couldn’t even become opportunities. In such situations, if that ability to turn crisis into opportunity is added.

“That kind of person isn’t easy to judge with logic… Is that enough?”

“Sufficient.”

Lee Ryang, who grinned at Ga Yeom’s words, pondered for a moment, then pulled paper from beside the desk and picked up brush, ink, and inkstone. As soon as the brush absorbed ink, Lee Ryang swept it across in one stroke.

Lines of text carved through the paper, advancing from Lee Ryang’s extended hand. And…

“If it’s different from past hardships, we just need to adjust the situation to match past hardships.”

Lee Ryang, who had finally completed the letter, held out the letter to Ga Yeom.

“I’ll expand the board.”

“…What do you plan to do?”

“Until now, even calling it investment, it was realistically investment with nothing to lose. But shouldn’t we make a decision around this point too?”

“Which means…”

“Send this letter. Using an express letter should work.”

“…To whom should I deliver it?”

“Isn’t that simple?”

Someone who wouldn’t mind making an enemy of the Baek Ri Family.

Moreover, someone who possesses authority that even the Baek Ri Family cannot dare carelessly disregard.

“Anhui’s provincial capital, Hapbi.”

There exists a force that rose up there, suppressing Namgung, the powerhouse of Anhui.

Lee Ryang, finishing his words, smiled faintly.

“I’ll draw out the master of the Sado Alliance.”