Chapter 42

Chapter 42

A week had passed since training began.

“Have you heard?”

“Hm?”

I set down my teacup, looking at Iryang, who suddenly brought up the topic as we sat facing each other drinking tea.

“Heard what?”

“The situation in the surrounding areas is strange these days.”

“The surrounding situation? Are you talking about Sado Alliance?”

I tilted my head, looking at Iryang’s oddly serious expression. It wasn’t news that Sado Alliance was showing aggressive expansion—it had been that way for more than a day or two.

Even when I was still employed there, we were at a level where war could break out at any moment. Now that more time had passed, it wouldn’t be strange to say it was truly a powder keg situation.

Thinking that, I asked, but the answer that came back was unexpected.

“No. Sado Alliance is also making strange movements, but… truthfully, there aren’t any notable evil sects in Hwayonghyeon, so that’s a distant matter.”

“Is that so?”

“Yes. What I want to tell you about is something different.”

Iryang set down his teacup and continued in a heavy voice.

“Recently, in this vicinity and throughout the Hunan region, the number of people suddenly going missing has been increasing.”

“People suddenly going missing… You wouldn’t be putting it this way if it were simply a matter of not being able to track their whereabouts.”

“Yes. It’s unfortunate, but such cases are overflowing. The problem is that those who went missing are all discovered in the same condition. With their carotid arteries in their necks cut, having completely spilled out their blood.”

“…Hmm.”

I stroked my chin after hearing the story. Completely drained of blood.

“It must be a serial killer or a yokai. What about those who were attacked?”

“Most are civilians, and additionally, some third-rate martial artists were attacked. It seems they’re mainly targeting those traveling alone.”

“Mainly targeting those traveling alone…”

I fell into thought for a moment, listening to Iryang’s words. Yokai, he said yokai.

“How is the Murim Alliance handling it?”

“It seems they plan to deploy martial force corps members from nearby areas. In Hunan, Namgung Woo and Cheongha, who also visited during Uicheonmun’s opening ceremony, appear to have been dispatched, and in the Hubei region, I understand the Fierce Tiger Corps will respond.”

“Namgung Woo and Cheongha have been dispatched… With those two, there’s no need to worry.”

“Is that so?”

“Indeed. At the very least, those two show remarkable skill at resolving incidents.”

There was a reason why Squad Leader Cheongha, despite their bickering, only took Namgung Woo on missions. Unlike Cheongha, who possessed exceptionally strong martial arts but was weak at using his head, Namgung Woo was cunning and skilled at quick thinking.

Cheongha handled the martial power, while Namgung Woo handled the strategy. Cheongha’s strict nature also controlled Namgung Woo’s occasionally wayward and self-willed personality. Such a combination was hard to find even within Changcheon Corps.

“Then I suppose we don’t need to worry about this matter. That’s fortunate. The residents have been anxious.”

I chuckled softly at Iryang’s casual words, then flinched slightly at a memory that suddenly surfaced. A voice calling me from beyond that memory reflected in gray.

—…un!

“…I hope that’s the case.”

“Pardon?”

“It’s nothing. They’ll handle it well on their own.”

It was already a past event. Something from long ago that was now hazy.

I shook my head and turned my gaze to look out the window. Then Iryang also turned his gaze and nodded while looking toward the training grounds.

“Training seems to be progressing well. How is it?”

“What do you mean?”

“I’m talking about the training exchange. It’s somewhat awkward to say this, but from what I’ve learned, Mujeong Hall’s victory in this year’s inter-academy competition is being treated as a foregone conclusion.”

“That makes sense. I heard there was already a big gap before they even went in.”

The already outstanding Mujeong Hall was receiving training at Wudang Sect. In comparison, the place where Muryeon Hall came to receive training was at best Uicheonmun, which had only become somewhat of a topic locally.

Anyone would predict Mujeong Hall’s victory. No, if someone predicted Muryeon Hall’s victory at this point, that would be the strange person.

Thinking that, I tilted my teacup, and Iryang shook his head.

“It’s not simply that kind of problem. Do you know who’s currently teaching Mujeong Hall?”

“I don’t know that much.”

“It’s Taiji Hero Cheongryoo. He’s the future foremost master of Wudang, a rare talent who might even be able to aim for the position of Number One Under Heaven.”

“…”

I set down my teacup and fell into thought for a moment at the unexpected statement. That guy is personally teaching people?

“That’s unexpected. He’s not someone who likes teaching others.”

“…Are you acquainted?”

“We were academy classmates. Though we were in different halls.”

Martial artists can understand their opponents to some degree just by crossing swords with each other.

Especially with Cheongryoo, I had crossed swords with him throughout all four years. I could confidently say that no one knew Cheongryoo from back then as well as I did.

“He’s a typical genius. He doesn’t have much talent for teaching others. What’s ‘naturally possible’ for him is often ‘impossible no matter what’ for others.”

What is education?

Education is trial and error. It’s passing on the trial and error I’ve experienced to my disciples so that they don’t have to go through that trial and error—that’s education.

Methods to avoid Qi deviation, methods to protect one’s body from an opponent’s sword, methods to cut down the opponent before being cut down—they’re all the same. However.

For those called geniuses, this process of trial and error itself doesn’t exist. After all, those called geniuses are people who comprehend ten things from learning one.

They don’t understand the necessity of teaching ten things to others, nor do they try to understand it. That is a genius.

So a genius teaching someone is quite an ill-fitting combination.

“…Did you say this year’s Mujeong Hall class has that many talented individuals?”

“Yes. According to the evaluations.”

I stroked my chin at Iryang’s words. The idea that geniuses have difficulty imparting teachings only applies when their target is ordinary people.

If a genius fully conveys their enlightenment, and another genius receives that enlightenment?

“It won’t be easy.”

Iryang made a puzzled expression at my chuckling appearance.

“Aren’t you worried? The synergy effect won’t be insignificant.”

“Worry is something humans can’t help but have… but in this case, I’m not particularly worried.”

“Why is that?”

“If a genius teaches a genius, that would certainly be threatening. A fearsome master might be born from Mujeong Hall.”

Top Hundred Experts, Sipcheon—such masters are all born that way in the first place. They’re born when rare talents blessed with genius encounter heavenly fortune and opportunities.

But that’s only when there’s a genius on their side alone.

Rummmmmmmble!

“…An earthquake?”

I restrained Iryang, who jumped up in surprise at the sound suddenly shaking the ground, and quietly sipped my tea. That tremendous energy wave felt beyond the training ground’s fence.

“This might sound like bragging, but let me say one thing. During the four years I attended the academy.”

There’s no reason to worry. Because.

“I never once lost to that guy.”

If he’s a genius on that side.

“In anything.”

Well, on this side.

It’s because there’s something beyond that.

***

—If you want to survive, listen well, brat. The answer to a problem is always within the problem itself.

They say that when people face a situation where they might truly die, there are cases where they instinctively realize it just beforehand.

Actually, not just people—any animal is like that. When a life that has continued for at minimum several years, or as many as decades or centuries, hangs by a thread, the crisis detection ability that has been trained all that time cannot help but sound an alarm. And.

In that sense, Seonwoo Gang’s crisis detection ability was currently thrashing about quite violently.

Kwarrrrrrr—!!!

‘Damn it…!’

Seonwoo Gang, cursing inwardly, gritted his teeth while controlling the internal energy rampaging wildly inside his body.

‘I never thought it would turn out like this…!’

He was able to grasp the clue about what to do just two days after training began.

It wasn’t really that difficult. Following the words of his former master, every problem inherently contains its answer within itself.

Every problem contains its answer within itself. Conversely, that means if you know what the problem is, you can know what to do.

‘Moving the body is meaningless. Tearing out habits… Since I’m not moving my body, I can’t fix bodily habits. Then what needs to be fixed is.’

Endless pondering. Forgetting to eat and sleep, diving into the problem.

Thinking. Thinking. Thinking to figure out what needs to be fixed, what needs to be forgotten.

And at the end of that, Seonwoo Gang finally reached the answer.

‘…Habits of internal energy. Blood pathways.’

It was just that it wasn’t an easy path.

Thud-thud-thud-thuk!

“Keu-eu-uk…!”

A groan that couldn’t be suppressed leaked from Seonwoo Gang’s mouth at the shock of internal energy violently colliding with his blood pathways. Simultaneously, turbid energy poured out and mixed with his internal energy.

Pain invaded his body. The agony that rose like wildfire raced through his blood pathways, asserting its presence. However.

He couldn’t give in just because of that. If he succumbed to the turbid energy and lost consciousness now, at best he’d become a cripple, and at worst he’d meet an end where his entire body was torn to pieces.

‘I must control it…!’

Seonwoo Gang, teeth clenched tight, observed his body while coldly assessing the current situation.

A person has a total of 365 blood pathways. Among them, the blood pathways martial artists use are at most 70—in other words, not even one-fifth.

However, he was now trying to open more than ninefold of those 365 blood pathways. He had actually broken through more than forty new blood pathways as well.

But he was slowly reaching his limit.

Confirming that the internal energy, having devoured turbid energy and changed in nature, was pounding his body, Seonwoo Gang gritted his teeth. Blood pathways swelling up in an instant.

‘If it continues like this…’

If it only continued like this, he might lose his dantian. Then shouldn’t he try something before that happened?

In his impatience, Seonwoo Gang unknowingly gripped the reins of his internal energy and concentrated his mind. And.

Just as Seonwoo Gang was about to draw up his internal energy as a last resort and simultaneously strike all the blood pathways in his body.

“—Don’t be hasty.”

At the voice that pierced his ears, Seonwoo Gang’s mind returned as if cold water had been poured on it.

“…”

While maintaining silence and calming the violently surging internal energy, Seonwoo Gang raised his gaze to look up at the man before him. Then Baek Riyun quietly met those eyes.

“Choosing the fastest path just because things aren’t going as you think is what idiots do. It’s the same as being pressed by a deadline and thinking of running ten steps when you can’t even take one step right now. Do you truly think it’s dangerous?”

At Baek Riyun’s words, Seonwoo Gang unknowingly posed a question to himself and bit down hard.

‘Am I currently in danger?’

He thought it was dangerous. He thought he could no longer hold the reins beyond this. And indeed it was, because controlling internal energy mixed with turbid energy consumed an tremendous amount of mental strength.

Forcibly breaking through blood pathways filled with turbid energy, and processing the turbid energy that poured out—both were tedious and painful tasks. It was hard to endure. So he tried to let go and become comfortable.

That’s right.

He had tried to let go. Not to confront it.

“They say loss is easier than acquisition, but this is digging back out in less than two weeks what you’ve carved in over ten-some years. There’s no way it would be easy.”

He was changing the sword path he’d built up, and his life. He had long since abandoned any thought that it would be comfortable. He had resolved to endure even the pain that bleached his mind. But what was this?

He had almost given up his own life with his own hands, unable to endure even a few days. If Baek Riyun hadn’t spoken to him, he would have actually thrown his body at a probability of success less than one percent.

However, he hadn’t thrown his body yet. That meant one thing.

An opportunity remained.

“—.”

Once. Twice.

The work of emptying blood pathways and purifying turbid energy again continued. It passed ten times, and circulated twenty times. And.

When the number of Small Circulation cycles exceeded fifty.

Passed one hundred.

Skipped over five hundred and reached one thousand.

A shadow fell over Seonwoo Gang’s eyes as he opened them vacantly.

“Congratulations on becoming a blank slate, Seonwoo Gang.”