Chapter 135 :

Chapter 135. The Black Flame Dragon Proves Himself (5)

The position of Martial Academy Director occupied an ambiguous place within the Martial Alliance.

If someone who had already served as a unit captain and hall master was appointed to the position, it was considered a post that guaranteed further advancement.

On the other hand, if someone who had risen as high as deputy pavilion master was assigned as Academy Director, it was generally taken as a sign that they should begin preparing for retirement.

Seen from that perspective, the current Academy Director, Buk Wonpyeong, the Three Pure Guardian Divine Dragon, could be said to be advancing along a career path comparable to the elites of the Nine Great Sects.

It was an exceedingly rare case for a disciple of a one-successor lineage.

Even within the laws of the murim world, where forming factions had become almost inevitable, the status of the Three Pure Supreme Sword was uniquely special.

Perhaps that was natural, considering its sacred standing was comparable to Shaolin's Bodhidharma Tendon-Changing Scripture and Wudang's Heaven and Earth Taiji Divine Art.

'How did I end up in this situation...?'

Buk Wonpyeong looked at the young man before him.

His martial uniform, sword, and even the cloth tying his hair were entirely black, and his dark eyes stared directly at Buk Wonpyeong.

"What I want to learn is the Jade Purity Heavenly Star Sword."

Buk Wonpyeong, now approaching the age of seventy, swallowed a groan at the young man's attitude, which made it sound as though he were demanding something that already belonged to him.

Even when learning a fragment of swordsmanship from a third-rate wanderer, one would normally offer at least three bows, if not nine...

"You're not planning to break your promise now, are you?"

Despite Jin Sowoon being almost as forceful as a moneylender, Buk Wonpyeong could not openly complain.

After all, their wager had indeed been for him to teach Jin Sowoon martial arts.

"Before that, there is something I want to ask."

"What is it?"

"How does a young man barely twenty years old know about the 'theory concerning the relationship between acupoints and qi deviation,' something even martial arts instructors rarely know?"

Until recently, conventional wisdom in the murim world held that qi deviation was caused by impurities in the internal energy accumulated within the dantian or by excessive use of internal energy.

Recently, however, among warriors who had studied medicine and physicians highly knowledgeable in martial arts, a theory had begun emerging that weak acupoints could also become a cause of qi deviation.

It was something even instructors knew little about unless they had a particular interest in martial arts theory.

That was precisely why Buk Wonpyeong had been confident enough to accept the wager.

And yet this young man, barely twenty years old, had rattled off the theory without hesitation.

"I felt the limits of my sect's martial arts, so I read every book I could find that seemed as though it might help."

Buk Wonpyeong himself knew well that the Taeul Sect had once been considered insignificant.

Compared with the treatment given to the one-successor lineage of the Three Pure Supreme Sword, even placing the Taeul Sect beside it for comparison would once have seemed disrespectful.

"...And while doing that, you learned about the theory concerning the relationship between acupoints and qi deviation?"

"Yes. I have a fairly good memory."

"..."

Only then did Buk Wonpyeong understand how Jin Sowoon had managed to rattle off the names of all three hundred sixty-five acupoints when an instructor questioned him about acupoint methods.

'Man proposes, Heaven disposes...'

Had he simply done everything he possibly could for his sect, even when the situation appeared hopeless?

Buk Wonpyeong found himself thinking that perhaps Jin Sowoon recovering the true teachings of the Taeul Sword Emperor had not been mere coincidence either.

"You're not planning to cancel the wager because you didn't know my memory was this good, are you?"

Jin Sowoon looked at him suspiciously.

Buk Wonpyeong had viewed him unfavorably because he constantly caused incidents, but for some reason, Jin Sowoon's behavior was gradually becoming harder to dislike.

"I heard you recovered the true teachings of the Taeul Sword Emperor. Why are you interested in another person's martial arts?"

"I don't know how to use sword aura."

Buk Wonpyeong's brow furrowed.

If a martial art possessed profound teachings, then naturally it should contain a path leading at least as far as sword aura.

Even allowing for some exaggeration in the legends, if even half of what was said about the Taeul Sword Emperor was true, it was strange that sword aura would not be recorded in his martial scripture.

"It seems the Taeul Sword Emperor did not consider sword aura particularly important."

"Is that so? Even then, among the elders of your sect..."

"I've seen Hall Master Kang Chaeseok of Kuaehwa Hall release sword energy, but that's about it..."

That alone was enough for Buk Wonpyeong to roughly understand the situation.

If a sect possessed no experts, it could hardly raise new experts either.

"Ah, that fellow..."

"You know him?"

"We attended the academy together. He was quite promising back then..."

Buk Wonpyeong omitted the words, 'His progress slowed because his martial arts could not support him.'

Nearly sixty percent of those admitted through the Hundred and Eight Peaks' special admission experienced that same frustration.

"So I asked you because I thought your teachings might help me learn sword aura."

"You didn't ask. You made a wager."

"If you tell people you lost a wager and handed over your martial arts, wouldn't your patriarchs be saddened?"

"Then you should not have made such a wager in the first place."

"Is that so?"

He showed absolutely no sign of understanding that he had done anything wrong.

For some reason, Buk Wonpyeong felt something strangely familiar.

It was like meeting an old companion from his youth again after turning back time.

Kang Chaeseok had once possessed the same astonishing will and conviction.

"In any case, a promise is a promise, so I will teach you martial arts. But I cannot simply teach you sword aura. To learn sword aura, you would have to formally inherit a martial art, and you have no intention of succeeding the Three Pure Supreme Sword, do you?"

"Isn't there something like private tutoring that only teaches the exact point I need?"

Buk Wonpyeong stared at him in disbelief.

"Do you think sword aura is some hand trick you can learn separately?"

Jin Sowoon nodded obediently.

"I expected as much. That's why I said I wanted to learn the Jade Purity Heavenly Star Sword."

Buk Wonpyeong shook his head.

"Unfortunately, that is impossible as well. The Jade Purity Heavenly Star Sword can only be practiced by someone who possesses Jade Purity Heavenly Star Power, one of the Three Pure energies."

That was precisely why the Three Pure Supreme Sword could only be passed down through a one-successor lineage.

The Three Pure were Great Purity, Jade Purity, and Supreme Purity.

They were not ordinary energies moved by the will of a martial artist.

They could only be accumulated through Heavenly Dao Power, the essence underlying the Three Pure.

Moreover, to build the Three Pure with Heavenly Dao Power required an innate martial god physique and a dantian formed from perfectly pure internal energy.

Humans who consumed cooked food from childhood were practically born incapable of cultivating the Three Pure from the beginning.

"Jade Purity Heavenly Star Power, in particular, consists of the purest internal energy among the Three Pure. So even if you learned the sword forms..."

Buk Wonpyeong suddenly stopped speaking, his mouth hanging open.

His gaze had locked onto something like a meteor hammer extending from Jin Sowoon's left hand.

"Th-that..."

A weight hung loosely toward the ground, and around both the weight and the thread connected to it, a golden radiance shimmered.

"Jade Purity Heavenly Star Power?"

Buk Wonpyeong sounded as though he himself could not believe the words leaving his mouth.

"H-how can a secular martial artist..."

"The foundation of the Taeul Sword Emperor's martial scripture turned out to be based on Heavenly Dao Power. Fortunately, I suppose, I've practiced only the Taeul Heart Method, the foundational cultivation of the Taeul True Scripture, since childhood."

It was astonishing.

Heavenly Dao Power was something ancient Daoists obtained in the process of accumulating emptiness.

It was fundamentally different from the worldly energy used for martial arts.

"So because the true teachings were lost for five hundred years, you never had the chance to stray onto another path... Is that what happened?"

"Well, I'm not sure whether I should call that fortunate now."

"Does the Taeul True Scripture you speak of contain no martial arts that make use of the Three Pure? If it uses the Three Pure, surely such martial arts should also have been prepared."

"Actually, I realized this while learning a martial art created by a certain eccentric. When the Taeul True Scripture was influenced by that eccentric's martial art, I became capable of handling Jade Purity Heavenly Star Power."

"You happened to become capable of using Jade Purity Heavenly Star Power? What sort of martial art did this eccentric create...? Or are you unable to tell me who it was?"

"Hoho..."

"My greatest problem right now is this. My Jade Purity Heavenly Star Power is effective at suppressing demonic energy, but it has no effect when I try to strike someone with it."

"Naturally. It is fundamentally energy used to accumulate emptiness, not to harm others."

"If you teach me how to use it offensively, then you don't need to formally transmit the sword art to me."

"Hmm..."

It was strange that the Taeul True Scripture contained the energy of the Three Pure without explicitly explaining how to use it.

No.

Perhaps the people of that era simply had not thought such an explanation necessary.

Maybe the cultivation of the Taeul True Scripture was on a level that could not even be compared with the Three Pure Supreme Sword, already considered one of the most difficult martial arts in existence.

"Have you considered becoming an outer disciple of my lineage?"

"No."

Buk Wonpyeong hurriedly waved his hands at the immediate rejection.

"I'm not saying I would impose responsibilities upon you. If you want to use all three Pure energies, wouldn't learning only one or two techniques be limiting?"

"I'm not sure. If the Taeul True Scripture doesn't reproduce Great Purity or Supreme Purity Power, wouldn't learning other martial arts be pointless anyway? And if I begin cultivating a different internal energy method now, no matter how pure it is, wouldn't the original nature of my dantian change?"

"Well... that is true..."

Buk Wonpyeong smacked his lips regretfully.

He himself was already approaching seventy, and it was time to find a disciple to inherit his teachings.

He had planned to search for a disciple after achieving enough success within the Martial Alliance, but he had never risen as far as he had hoped.

No matter how highly the murim world treated him, there was ultimately only so much one man could accomplish alone.

"Then how about you becoming an outer disciple of the Taeul Sect instead?"

"Hm?"

Buk Wonpyeong was about to laugh at the ridiculous joke and begin the training, but Jin Sowoon's face was completely serious.

Then something astonishing came from his mouth.

"Aren't you reaching the age where you need to start searching for a disciple?"

"..."

"But finding a vessel capable of accepting the energies of the Three Pure isn't easy, is it?"

"How do you know that...?"

"I told you. I've studied quite a lot of things. So how about becoming an outer disciple of the Taeul Sect?"

"What does my need to find a disciple have to do with becoming an outer disciple of the Taeul Sect?"

"Isn't the Taeul Heart Method, the Taeul Sect's foundational martial art, ultimately connected to Heavenly Dao Power?"

"..."

Buk Wonpyeong felt as though someone had struck him squarely in the head.

"Of course, I only discovered this recently myself. But considering the Taeul True Scripture and Taeul Heart Method were originally one cultivation system, a child who builds their foundation with the Taeul Heart Method should develop a body suitable for inheriting the Three Pure Supreme Sword."

"..."

If Jin Sowoon's words were true, even a child who had consumed cooked food could gradually purge the fire energy from their body through the Taeul Heart Method.

Furthermore, if they formed their dantian using the Taeul Heart Method, then filling it with the energies of the Three Pure afterward would not be particularly difficult.

The entire reason they searched for those with the martial god physique in the first place was because such people naturally accumulated less fire energy.

"Can you teach me the Taeul Heart Method?"

At some point, the person who was supposed to teach and the person who was supposed to learn had switched places, but neither of them cared.

"Hoho..."

After completing a full circulation according to the chant Jin Sowoon recited, an incredulous laugh escaped Buk Wonpyeong.

There had been absolutely no problem circulating his dantian, which was already filled with pure energy.

That meant the Taeul Heart Method truly was a cultivation method for Heavenly Dao Power.

"An outer disciple... an outer disciple..."

Though he was nearing seventy and had no shortage of experience in the murim world, Buk Wonpyeong felt little resistance toward entering the Taeul Sect as an outer disciple.

No.

If anything, he desperately hoped they would accept him.

If they did, the Three Pure Supreme Sword could finally abandon its one-successor tradition and be reborn as a proper sect lineage.

"Would the Taeul Sect accept me as an outer disciple?"

"It's not as though you're asking for the Taeul Sect's core teachings. You only want to use our foundational martial art, so I don't think it will be a major problem. Our sect leader is quite broad-minded."

"Hahaha... That's the best news I've heard in a long time. May I go greet the Taeul Sect tomorrow?"

Jin Sowoon frowned.

"Isn't the semester still in progress? And you still have something you need to teach me first."

"Ah... right. Of course."

And so, while teaching someone martial arts for the first time in his life, Buk Wonpyeong suddenly asked something that had been on his mind.

"Why are you opposing the Righteous Path Association?"

He knew that all sorts of discussions were taking place among the instructors.

As a member of the Education Pavilion, he was naturally supposed to maintain neutrality.

But things in the world rarely remained that pure.

Even the current examination incident had begun because several instructors connected to the Righteous Path Association had suspected Jin Sowoon.

"The Nine Great Sects, Five Great Families, and Twelve Peaks Fortress are enormous powers. They aren't people you can confront with youthful recklessness."

Buk Wonpyeong spoke almost as though he were talking to his younger self.

Jin Sowoon's current appearance was not very different from what Buk Wonpyeong himself had once been.

But in the end, Buk Wonpyeong had been broken.

There were things one could not overcome no matter how hard one struggled or how strong one's will was.

"I have never deliberately opposed them."

"I merely said that something wrong was wrong."

"But those actions may cause them to decide that you are someone standing in their way."

"I don't care."

"You don't care about advancement or wealth and glory either?"

Weak convictions could not overcome powerful desires.

Whether Jin Sowoon knew that or not, he answered without hesitation.

"What joy could there be in gaining advancement and wealth through unjust means? I only wish to become someone I need not feel ashamed of before my junior brothers and the elders of my sect."

"And I don't believe anything is absolute."

"If I resist them, even if I fall, my junior brothers will carry on my will."

"If even my junior brothers fall, then their disciples will continue carrying that will."

"Isn't that what the spirit of the righteous path is supposed to mean?"

"...!"

Buk Wonpyeong could only stare blankly with his mouth open at Jin Sowoon's profound words.

After remaining silent for a long time under the shock that felt like lightning striking his head, he muttered almost like a groan.

"A dragon is still a dragon even if it was born in a stream..."

For some reason, Buk Wonpyeong found himself thinking that if he became an outer disciple of the Taeul Sect, perhaps he might be able to raise a disciple like Jin Sowoon.

"Still, be careful. I occasionally overhear the instructors talking, and they seem to be planning something unusual."

"If the Academy Director is going to become a member of my sect, what do I have to worry about?"

At Jin Sowoon's shameless joke, Buk Wonpyeong burst into hearty laughter.

The atmosphere at the academy became somewhat excited once the written examination ended.

That was because the practical examination would be a series of spars that directly measured the students' martial ability.

For academy students who were warriors down to the bone, an event like this was practically a festival.

"It's only the first day, but there are already so many people."

Not only academy students had gathered to observe the practical examinations beginning with Class A.

Many people from the Alliance had also come to watch the performances of their sect's junior brothers or disciples.

"Most of the spectators today seem to be from the Nine Great Sects and Five Great Families."

Seong Moran spoke while looking around at groups of people wearing matching uniforms and sitting scattered throughout the stands.

"Wouldn't a gathering like this become a matter of pride even among them?"

At Eunho's words, Seong Moran nodded as though she understood.

"By the way, who is Young Master Jin fighting?"

Before I could answer, Namgung Seonhwa spoke.

"There aren't any people in Class A outside the Nine Great Sects and Five Great Families, so wouldn't someone probably come up from Class B?"

I thought the same.

If people with vastly different levels of ability were paired together, it would not accurately measure their strength.

Naturally, the instructors would make fairly objective judgments when arranging matches like these.

"If it's someone from Class B... would it be Crosswind Yu Jagwang?"

Yu Jagwang of the Beijing Yu Family was a talent whose ability did not fall behind even the elite disciples of the Nine Great Sects.

Seong Moran stared at my face for a moment.

"But you don't seem nervous at all. The sharpness of the Yu Family Spear Style is considered one of the finest in the murim world."

Fortunately or unfortunately, thanks to Yuk Sirang, I already knew the six ultimate techniques of the Yu Family Spear Style.

Moreover, with Jegal Cheongi's assistance, Yuk Sirang had completed breaking forms against all six techniques of the Yu Family Spear Style.

His dream of returning to the Yuk Family Estate after the war and taking revenge had never been fulfilled.

Perhaps today, here, I might be able to fulfill that dream for him.

"It's not a life-or-death battle. What is there to be nervous about?"

Looking around the spectator stands, I could see members of Class B waiting in various places, apparently because some of them were taking their examinations today.

"We will now begin the Martial Academy practical examination! Those whose names are called, come down to the training ground!"

The instructor's booming voice echoed throughout the grand training ground.

Looking at the paper in his hand, the instructor shouted,

"Jin Sowoon of the Taeul Sect!"

Everyone's gazes turned toward me.

Admiration, jealousy, hatred, wariness, dissatisfaction—

all sorts of emotions mixed together and seemed to cover my entire body.

As I rose from my seat and headed toward the training ground—

Eun Seollan, sitting beside Saryeon, called out,

"Do your best, Orabeoni!"

I nodded toward Eun Seollan.

For some reason, Seong Moran and Namgung Seonhwa immediately glared at me with vicious eyes.

"Keep your head straight out there. Don't let your guard down."

"I heard Crosswind Yu Jagwang lives an extremely disciplined life and devotes himself entirely to training... It may be difficult for you to win, Young Master Jin."

I gave them an aggrieved look, but both women simultaneously turned their heads away and snorted.

It had been the same in my previous life.

A woman's heart truly was impossible to understand.

As I walked toward the training ground, I saw Yu Jagwang, dressed in blue martial robes, rising from the opposite stands.

The instructor gave me a strange look, then looked back down at the paper and shouted loudly.

"Your sparring opponent is... Ilgak of Shaolin."

My footsteps stopped dead.

Yu Jagwang, standing in the opposite stands, did the same.

From among the gathered Shaolin monks, one monk quietly rose to his feet.

"Crazy..."

Beginning with someone's muttered curse from the audience, the grand training ground erupted into noise like a crowded marketplace.