“That is the proper attitude for one of the younger generation.”
Martial Supreme Venerable Cheol Gun-ak nodded with satisfaction and continued.
“You have received instruction in Wudang’s sword, so adding this seat’s miscellaneous attainments to what you already possess would be nothing more than an unnecessary extra.”
As a disciple of Wudang, Kwak Yeon felt proud that the Martial Supreme Venerable held Wudang’s sword in such high regard.
“Moreover, you have mastered numerous timeless consummate arts that even this seat covets. In terms of martial arts alone, you lack for nothing.”
When the Martial Supreme Venerable candidly revealed his thoughts and praised Kwak Yeon’s martial arts, Kwak Yeon’s face reddened on its own.
“Therefore, what this seat intends to give you is only the insight into qi force that I gained when I crossed the wall.”
For a martial artist to pass on realization was something done only for blood relatives or direct disciples. It was on an entirely different level from teaching a single martial art.
Deeply moved, Kwak Yeon said, “I do not know where to put myself for gratitude toward your grace, Alliance Leader.”
Yet even as he spoke his thanks, a question lingered in one corner of his heart.
Realization could not be passed on through words.
Even when a master wished to impart realization to a disciple, all he could do was offer a question for contemplation, then guide the disciple through repeated exchanges of questions and answers.
Even then, the final awakening had to be attained by the person himself.
One could forcefully drag someone to the edge of a well, but that person still had to draw up the water and drink it on his own.
Kwak Yeon was wondering how the Martial Supreme Venerable intended to pass on realization.
WOOOOONG!
The Martial Supreme Venerable formed a blue sword-shape in the air and asked, “What lies between my sword seal and that sword-shape?”
At the question, almost like a riddle for contemplation, Kwak Yeon realized that the Martial Supreme Venerable intended to guide him through questions and answers, as a master would teach the disciple who would inherit his mantle.
Ah!
Determined not to treat the Martial Supreme Venerable’s earnest instruction carelessly, Kwak Yeon spread his outer-body qi field to its utmost and examined every inch of the space between them.
Yet he could not sense a single trace with his qi sense.
“Nothing.”
“Then why does that sword-shape maintain its form? And why does it obey my will?”
“......!”
Kwak Yeon realized that the Martial Supreme Venerable was not asking what he could physically perceive, but what he thought.
“I will ask again. What is there?”
“There is qi force.”
The Martial Supreme Venerable nodded.
“That is right. That sword-shape maintains its form because it is connected by qi force. Yet because your outer-body qi field could not sense its trace, you concluded that there was nothing.”
Kwak Yeon felt ashamed of his arrogance.
He had been intoxicated by the conceit that no qi sense under heaven could evade his outer-body qi field.
“Look again.”
At the Martial Supreme Venerable’s command, Kwak Yeon spread his outer-body qi field once more.
SSSSS—
Ah......!
To his amazement, he could feel the qi force linking the blue sword-shape to the Martial Supreme Venerable’s sword seal.
“Did you feel it?”
“Yes.”
“What did it feel like?”
“Cold. Like ice.”
“What does it feel like now?”
Kwak Yeon flinched as the qi sense that had been cold abruptly turned hot.
“Like a heated iron chain.”
Afterward, Kwak Yeon felt the force within the outer-body qi field change several more times.
Then it vanished as cleanly as though it had been washed away.
Even so, the sword-shape still held its form.
“Qi force is still there, of course. Yet to you, it no longer exists. Why is that?”
“My thought is that my outer-body qi field differs too greatly from yours, Alliance Leader.”
“And where do you think that difference comes from?”
The Martial Supreme Venerable’s questions were not as abstruse as riddles for contemplation, yet they were still exceedingly difficult.
And they came one after another without pause. Even Kwak Yeon, quick-witted as he was, could not answer easily.
“.......”
Fortunately, the Martial Supreme Venerable did not press him for an answer, giving Kwak Yeon time to think.
What is different between our qi forces? Since the Alliance Leader calls it qi force, it must be the same thing as my outer-body qi field.
As he thought, the impatient, blazing qi sense he had felt during his duel with Jegal Geon suddenly came to mind.
That sensation had been strikingly similar to the heated iron chain the Martial Supreme Venerable had let him feel moments ago to show him that qi force truly existed.
Ah!
Seeing Kwak Yeon’s eyes brighten, the Martial Supreme Venerable asked, “Do you understand the difference?”
Kwak Yeon answered calmly, “I believe it is because emotion is carried within my qi force.”
“Exactly.”
A pleased smile appeared at the corner of the Martial Supreme Venerable’s lips as he nodded.
“Qi arises from the heart. Therefore, the emotions of the person who manifests it cannot help but be carried within an outer-body qi field.”
Kwak Yeon understood that because no emotion was carried within the Martial Supreme Venerable’s qi force, it had not revealed itself through qi sense.
Naturally, Kwak Yeon’s impure outer-body qi field had been unable to find it.
“Qi force is inherently without trace or mark. It only grows heavy because the heart of the person who manifests it is filled with the seven emotions and five desires.”
After explaining the foundation of qi force, the Martial Supreme Venerable spoke as though asking him a question.
“Now you know the method.”
“You mean that I must empty my heart of the seven emotions and five desires before manifesting my outer-body qi field.”
Kwak Yeon’s expression darkened as he answered.
“However, my cultivation is still far too lacking. To erase the seven emotions and five desires from my heart is truly a distant prospect.”
The Martial Supreme Venerable abruptly asked, “Are you trying to become a divine man?”
“......?”
This question sounded even more like a riddle for contemplation, and Kwak Yeon could not answer at all.
“Unless one is divine, one cannot escape the seven emotions and five desires. This seat is no different.”
Kwak Yeon felt as though he had been trapped in a maze by those words.
Had the Martial Supreme Venerable not just displayed a pure qi force free of the seven emotions and five desires?
Seeing Kwak Yeon’s complicated expression, the Martial Supreme Venerable said, “I am saying that you need not try to erase the seven emotions and five desires.”
“......!”
After ✧ NоvеIight ✧ (Original source) leading him through that long exchange, the Martial Supreme Venerable was finally about to give him the question that would lead to realization.
Kwak Yeon listened with utter focus.
“Use the heart to govern desire. Empty the heart, and there is no desire.”
Flash!
Kwak Yeon felt as though he had been struck by lightning.
Use the heart to govern desire. Empty the heart, and there is no desire!
Even if the seven emotions and five desires existed within him, what did it matter so long as he was not ruled by them?
For a brief moment, Kwak Yeon seemed to glimpse beyond the wall of the Entrance-to-Divinity Realm.
Even there, it was a world of people who possessed the seven emotions and five desires.
It was merely a realm permitted to those who had obtained the realization to empty them.
He understood why it was called the Entrance-to-Divinity Realm rather than the Realm of Divine Men.
How much time passed?
At last, Kwak Yeon emerged from the flash of lightning.
“Realization does not linger for long. Engrave it within yourself, and pursue it diligently.”
At the Martial Supreme Venerable’s teaching, Kwak Yeon stood.
SHING!
Kwak Yeon smoothly drew the Blue-Steel Sword, and dazzling White Astral Qi surged forth.
Use the heart to govern desire. Empty the heart, and there is no desire!
Kwak Yeon separated another self from within his heart.
He left his original self, full of the seven emotions and five desires, where it was.
Then Kwak Yeon alone stepped out into the world.
WHOOOOOSH!
White Astral Qi left the Blue-Steel Sword.
Even after leaving the blade, it maintained its form.
FWOOSH!
It soon vanished as though extinguished, but it had undeniably remained connected by qi force.
CLICK.
Kwak Yeon sheathed the Blue-Steel Sword and offered a deep bow to the Martial Supreme Venerable.
“If you give me a command by which I may repay your profound grace, Alliance Leader, I will carve it into my bones and devote my heart to it.”
The Martial Supreme Venerable spoke with a pleased expression.
“This seat has already told you everything I desire. And because this teaching follows the unbroken chain of bonds, it will be enough for you to pass it on when the opportunity comes and you encounter someone to whom it should be given.”
At the Martial Supreme Venerable’s words—that he wished only for bonds to give rise to bonds, continuing without end—Kwak Yeon was moved even more deeply.
“I will certainly do so. Even so, my heart is too heavy for me to raise my head. Please give me even one command, Alliance Leader, so that I may rise.”
As Kwak Yeon stubbornly remained prostrated with all five points of his body touching the floor, Martial Supreme Venerable Cheol Gun-ak frowned.
“You truly insist on leaving regrets in this old man to the very end.”
The Martial Supreme Venerable shook his head and spoke with an expression of reluctant acceptance.
“Since you are so stubborn, I will say one thing.”
“.......”
“This seat did not teach you only because I hold you dear. More than anything, my heart was moved because you belong to Wudang.”
KOOOOONG!
Kwak Yeon felt a tremor even greater than the one he had felt when realization had struck him.
Wudang’s lineage!
It did not merely mean that he was a disciple of Wudang Sect.
It meant that he was a disciple of Wudang—the sect Patriarch Jang Sam-bong had founded in the spirit of chivalry and justice, the sect that had guarded all under heaven as one of the great pillars of the martial world.
“Become an immortal sword of all under heaven.”
It echoed the dying wish of his late master, Unseon Taoist.
“Never forget, wherever you may be, that you belong to Wudang’s lineage. That is this seat’s final request.”
RUSTLE.
With the sound of his robes, Martial Supreme Venerable Cheol Gun-ak turned his back.
Kwak Yeon knew that this was the Martial Supreme Venerable’s dismissal.
He rose and offered three deep bows.
The Martial Supreme Venerable sat with his back turned and gave him no acknowledgment, but Kwak Yeon had gained teachings as precious as life. Thus, he offered the courtesy due to one who had saved his life.
“......!”
Hearing the Martial Supreme Venerable’s breathing settle into stillness, Kwak Yeon knew he had entered qi circulation.
Empty courtesies would only interfere with that qi circulation, so Kwak Yeon quietly withdrew from the sealed room.
*****
CLACK!
As the iron door shut and its sound echoed through the sealed room, Martial Supreme Venerable Cheol Gun-ak opened his closed eyes.
His complexion, which had remained bright until then, slowly faded.
HOOOOO—
After releasing a long breath, the Martial Supreme Venerable soon recovered his color and muttered softly to himself.
“Hah...... What kind of heart method could be so utterly pure?”
The Martial Supreme Venerable was regretful that a treasure of all under heaven had passed beyond his reach, and his heart ached.
What made his heart ache was that he had not merely gilded another house’s main beam. He had also given away some of his own inner power and true qi.
The outer-sphere true qi Kwak Yeon had cultivated was simply too pure and immense. The Martial Supreme Venerable had had no choice but to add some of his own inner power and true qi in order to restore it.
Still, when he eventually met the Wudang Sword Sovereign, this would give him one more excuse for stepping down as Martial Alliance Leader.
He had served as Alliance Leader for this long already. Was that not enough?
Once he finished dealing with the Demonic Eight Divisions, even if he stepped down from the position of Alliance Leader, he had also looked after someone of Wudang’s lineage.
The Sword Sovereign would not be able to say that he had been slighted.
*****
Leaving Righteous Heaven Hall, Kwak Yeon saw that the sun had begun to sink toward the western horizon.
The Yangtze River’s broad, winding waters glittered gold.
“......!”
When he had come to Righteous Heaven Hall, the sun had not yet reached its zenith.
Then I was unconscious for that long!
Kwak Yeon immediately understood why he had been unconscious for so long.
It was because the Alliance Leader restored my shattered outer spheres one by one.
That meant the Martial Supreme Venerable had labored for nearly half a day.
And naturally, restoring and recovering those outer spheres would have required him to expend his own inner power and true qi.
Ah!
Even someone in the Entrance-to-Divinity Realm would have found it truly difficult to spend inner power and true qi for such a long time.
Then Kwak Yeon recalled that his outer-sphere true qi had become even more vigorous than before.
“......!”
At first, he had thought the wounds had hardened into knots and made him stronger.
But that was not the only reason.
In that instant, Kwak Yeon realized that he had not merely received insight into qi force.
Ah! He shared his inner power and true qi with me as well!
That was why Kwak Yeon had been able to draw forth pure qi force and form a sword-shape out of White Astral Qi.
Kwak Yeon quickly turned around.
Righteous Heaven Hall shone red beneath the sunset.
Alliance Leader, how can I ever repay such boundless grace?
The Martial Supreme Venerable’s voice surfaced in Kwak Yeon’s mind.
“I have already told you what I desire.”
Then the Martial Supreme Venerable’s commands came back to him one after another.
First, he had told Kwak Yeon to eliminate the remnants of his inner demon from the root.
Then there was the meaning hidden within his comparison of Kwak Yeon to that man: that Kwak Yeon must not walk the same path as someone who stood alone against the world.
And finally, there was his last request—that Kwak Yeon never forget, wherever he was, that he belonged to Wudang’s lineage, founded upon chivalry and justice.
All of it led to one task.
Kwak Yeon also remembered what Eldest Senior Brother Hyeonhae had told him before he descended Samryeong Peak.
“Junior Brother Hyeonmu, because you have remained only in the mountains, you will encounter many difficulties in the world’s murkiness. A person is called human because people must live among people. Rejection alone is not the answer. Remember this: the human heart is like a blade. It may stab you, but it may also protect you.”
At the time, Kwak Yeon had thought it was merely a warning against becoming self-righteous.
Now he clearly understood that it had been a great teaching about embracing all under heaven.
Kwak Yeon offered a silent bow toward Righteous Heaven Hall, then turned away.
As he descended the steps of the Alliance Leader’s Office, Kwak Yeon’s footsteps were as light as heaven and earth compared to when he had climbed them.
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