Return of the Mount Hua

I wish it would last. (4)

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“Haaaaaap!”

Kaaang!

The sword he swung with all his strength collided with the sword that had surged up to meet it and bounced back.

“Ugh……”

Jo Geol, who had jumped back, bit down hard on his lip and looked down at his wrist.

‘What the hell?’

He knew he’d been utterly overpowered. But what left him bewildered now was that, despite clearly being driven back, no real impact had been transmitted to his wrist.

‘Should I say it felt like cutting through a bundle of straw soaked in water? No, maybe a little more elastic than that…….’

It was hard to put into words… Yes, it felt more like the strength he’d poured into his sword was leaking away somewhere.

“Why are you making that face?”

Jo Geol narrowed his eyes at the one standing opposite him and growled.

“……If you’ve gone through something like a complete transformation, shouldn’t you at least have gotten stronger in some way?”

“I did get stronger.”

“That’s true, but still……”

Jo Geol scratched his head roughly with the hand that wasn’t holding his sword.

Of course he’d gotten stronger. Crossing swords like this, Jo Geol could feel just how much Baek Cheon had improved.

But somehow, this wasn’t what he’d expected.

The power packed into each and every strike hadn’t suddenly shot up.

It wasn’t as if his inner strength had grown unimaginably deep either.

He’d certainly become a little stronger in every aspect, but how should he put it…

“Man, this is really damn subtle, seriously!”

“You’re getting worked up over nothing.”

Clicking his tongue, Baek Cheon pointed his sword at Jo Geol again.

“Stop running your mouth, hurry up and come at me. I hear you’ve been getting pretty full of yourself these days, so as your Sasuk I’ll remind you that the sky is still higher.”

“Wow, so you think you’re about as high as the sky yourself. How arrogant of you.”

“Hmm. Well, everything in this world is relative.”

Baek Cheon grinned. It was a smile strangely reminiscent of Chung Myung’s.

“If my opponent is you, there’s no reason I can’t be the sky.”

“Uuuggghhh……”

Jo Geol, having taken the bait, trembled in frustration.

“I’ve always thought that if I added just one more sword mark to that obnoxious face of yours, you’d actually look a bit more handsome. So please, be careful. A sword generally has a way of following the heart before you even notice it.”

“Yeah, yeah. I should be careful. But what can we do? It doesn’t seem like your sword has reached the level where it follows your heart yet.”

“I’m not going to lose even a single word!”

“I’m your Sasuk, so why the hell should I lose, you lunatic!”

Bang!

Their swords collided in midair once more.

Just a bit further away, the remaining members of the Five Swords sat closely together, watching the scene with serious expressions.

“Got any peanuts?”

“I’ve got jerky, Sahyeong.”

“As expected of Soso, you’re always so well prepared.”

“Here. Have this one. This cut has good texture. Sago, you eat this one. That part was really lacking.”

“What you gave Sago looks way more tender than what I got.”

“You need to train your teeth and jaws too, Sahyeong.”

“……Thanks.”

Chewing on jerky that was as tough as a cow’s tendon, Yoon Jong held his aching jaw. Even so, his gaze stayed fixed on the spar unfolding before his eyes. He asked with a sour expression.

“By the way, that really is a spar between disciples of the same sect, right?”

“Yeah. They’re both from Hwasan.”

“…No. That’s not actually what I was asking, Sago.”

Yoon Jong let out a deep sigh.

“They’re both using Plum Blossom Sword Technique, Plum Blossom Sword… but… is it really okay for them to be that different?”

In truth, the scene before his eyes was quite strange.

Both of them were using the Twenty-Four Plum Blossom Sword as their foundation, mixing in the Seven Plum Blossoms Sword and Plum Blossom Sword Form here and there. Yoon Jong was sure of it. He knew those sword paths well.

But what had unfolded as a result was instead…

“…It’s like Wudang and Diancang are fighting each other.”

Their swordsmanship was at opposite extremes.

In Baek Cheon’s sword, beneath the splendor of the Plum Blossom Sword Technique, there was a deep softness that guided the enemy’s attacks away. In contrast, Jo Geol’s sword had reduced its variations to the point that it was hard to even call it Plum Blossom Sword Technique anymore, focusing purely on speed.

‘Of course, it’s true they’ve gotten stronger than before.’

At this point, he was starting to doubt whether the Plum Blossom Sword Technique they were displaying could even be called the real Plum Blossom Sword Technique.

No matter how much the application and interpretation were up to the individual, once it got that far, it wouldn’t be wrong to say they were practically on different paths altogether.

“Amitabha. That is how it appears even to my eyes.”

“Right, Monk?”

Hye Yeon, answering in Yu Iseol’s stead, nodded.

“It is certainly not the Plum Blossom Sword Technique I know.”

“Sago… does it feel this strangely wrong to me only because I’m the abnormal one, or is it not very bizarre that Monk Hye Yeon is the one evaluating this?”

“You’re normal.”

“Right?”

Caught off guard by the sudden remark, Hye Yeon grew quite flustered.

Beads of sweat shimmered on the top of his head.

Since he did not belong to Hwasan, in principle he was not supposed to watch, much less understand, the training of Hwasan’s martial arts.

And yet, just now, he had practically admitted, ‘I’ve seen so much of the Plum Blossom Sword Technique that I can tell in detail how far those techniques have strayed from proper application.’

“Hmm. What was the punishment for stealing another sect’s martial arts again?”

“Severing Tendons and Shattering Meridians [단근참맥(斷筋斬脈)].”

“Ah, right. Severing Tendons and Shattering Meridians. That was the one where we cut the ligaments in the wrists and ankles and smash the meridians, wasn’t it?”

“…A-Amitabha.”

The sweat that had originated on Hye Yeon’s head was now running down his face.

Tang Soso laughed heartily.

“Come on. Why are you getting so flustered, Monk? As if we’d actually do something like that to you.”

Still laughing as she stepped closer to Hye Yeon, she leaned in and whispered softly into his ear.

“But things should be fair, so… Could you maybe practice some fist techniques in front of me sometime?”

“…”

“Ah, if possible, something where the moves are easy to see. Arhat Fist would be just perfect. Hwasan is weak in fist techniques anyway.”

“S-Siju.”

“I’m kidding, I’m kidding.”

Tang Soso smiled brightly.

“So then, when is your training time?”

Unable to say anything, Hye Yeon began to twist like a squid laid out on a hot grill. Unable to watch any longer, Yoon Jong came to his rescue.

“Hmm. So it looks strange even to you, Monk.”

Brightening at once, Hye Yeon quickly sidled over to Yoon Jong.

“I wouldn’t go so far as to call it strange. To my eyes, it still seems to fall within the bounds of the Plum Blossom Sword Technique.”

“…”

“It’s only natural that martial arts undergo appropriate changes to suit each individual. If you judge it that way from the start, then the one here who is farthest from the original form of the Plum Blossom Sword Technique is Yu Iseol Siju, is she not?”

At Hye Yeon’s words, Yoon Jong glanced at Yu Iseol.

‘That’s definitely true as well, I suppose…’

Even as he agreed, Yoon Jong soon shook his head.

“Right now, you are correct, Monk.”

“If you say right now… do you mean that in the future it will be different?”

“From your perspective, how do you think those two’s swordsmanship will change from here on?”

Hye Yeon slightly furrowed his brow.

“…You mean that in the end, it will break out of the mold?”

“That is how I see it.”

If the swordsmanship they were displaying now were the final end point of its development, then Hye Yeon’s prediction would not be wrong.

But in Yoon Jong’s eyes, this was not the end, but the beginning.

From here on, if they kept altering it into forms that suited them, they would eventually end up using Plum Blossom Sword Technique that was no longer Plum Blossom Sword Technique.

For a sect that had to preserve the original form of its sword techniques, this was not an issue that could be dismissed lightly.

“Won’t this become a problem, Sago?”

Yoon Jong asked Yu Iseol with a serious expression. She answered with a blank face.

“Just ask.”

“Huh? Ask them?”

“No.”

Yu Iseol picked up a small stone lying nearby, turned her body at once, and hurled it towards the roof of the pavilion behind them.

“Sago?”

The stone shot up, then almost at a right angle changed direction and struck the roof with a thud.

“Arghhhhh!”

At the same time, a scream rang out from atop the pavilion roof.

“Uh…”

Bam!

A scurrying sound followed, like a dog scrambling to its feet, and a familiar head popped up from the edge of the roof.

“Who did that?! Who was it?!”

Chung Myung, a huge bump swelling on his forehead, glared down with bloodshot eyes.

“Sahyeong?”

“…Since when has that bastard been sleeping up there?”

“Why are you bothering someone who is sleeping so well, why?!”

Yu Iseol spoke calmly.

“Come down.”

“No, right now I’m…!”

Tap.

As Yu Iseol rested her hand on her sword’s hilt, Chung Myung stopped talking and pouted in protest.

“Ugh, seriously.”

With obvious annoyance written all over his face, he jumped down from the roof, landing with a slight wobble.

“What?”

“Take a look at that.”

“At what?”

Yoon Jong pointed at the two people sparring. After watching them for a moment, Chung Myung replied indifferently.

“So even Sahyeong noticed.”

“As expected, you already knew.”

“Of course. No matter how diligently you raise a loach [미꾸라], in the end it’s still a loach. It can’t become a dragon. Tsk, at their level… what a waste of my eyes…”

“That’s not what I’m talking about, you idiot!”

“Why are you yelling? You’re hurting my ears.”

Grabbing Chung Myung’s ear in a firm grip, Yoon Jong explained what he was worried about. After listening to it all, Chung Myung’s eyes filled with emptiness.

“…You woke me up over something like that?”

“Something like that, you say. And besides, this is supposed to be training time. Don’t go proudly talking about how you were knocked out taking a nap, you brat.”

Chung Myung clicked his tongue in displeasure.

“Tsk, so what about it is a problem?”

“The Plum Blossom Sword Technique is Hwasan’s identity.”

Yoon Jong spoke with the utmost seriousness. Chung Myung, picking his ear with his pinky, asked lazily.

“Who said that?”

“Huh?”

“Who said so?”

Well….

“You did?”

“Me? I said that?”

As if it were complete nonsense, Chung Myung looked around at the others. But Tang Soso, Yu Iseol, and even Hye Yeon all nodded their heads.

“Oh…. Then should we just go with that?”

“Say it properly, you bastard!”

“What, you want me to be some petty fool who takes back his own words?”

“Aren’t you already?”

This time as well, everyone nodded.

Only after the Five Swords barely managed to subdue Chung Myung, who had started thrashing about with his face all twisted, did he regain his senses and answer.

“All right, look. What do you think will happen if Jo Geol Sahyeong keeps developing that sword he’s using right now?”

With a firm expression, Yoon Jong replied.

“The variations in the Plum Blossom Sword Technique will keep getting simplified.”

“Right. And then?”

“…In the end, the crucial ‘variations’ will disappear.”

“Is that all?”

Yoon Jong shook his head.

“New variations that didn’t exist before are emerging. Simple changes that can bring out even more speed.”

Chung Myung nodded, looking pleased.

“Exactly. And once it gets that far, what do you think will happen?”

“…The way inner energy is circulated will become completely different.”

For now, even if things were changing in different directions, the operation of inner strength – the very core of the sword technique – was still mostly the same. The only differences were things like whether you put in a bit more strength or take some out, whether you circulate it faster or slower.

But if it reached the point where even the way it was circulated changed?

“Then it’s no longer the Plum Blossom Sword Technique. It would be something that ought to be called a heretical distortion of the sect’s teachings.”

Chung Myung nodded.

“Right. From that point on, it’s a different sword technique.”

“That’s what I’m saying.”

“So from that point on, Hwasan gains a new sword technique.”

Yoon Jong’s eyes went wide.

“…What? A new sword technique?”

“Of course. It’s not the Plum Blossom Sword Technique, and it’s not any sword technique that existed before. If you organize it properly, it becomes a new sword technique.”

“N-No, wait a moment.”

Yoon Jong frantically waved his hands, his thoughts tangled.

“That’s a variation of the Plum Blossom Sword Technique.”

“Originally, yes.”

“What do you mean, originally? This is…”

Chung Myung pounded his chest in frustration.

“Good grief, you dense idiot. There’s nothing new under the sky, so why would sword techniques be any different? Did you seriously think that creating a new sword technique meant some master at the peak going, ‘Starting today, I shall create a new technique!’ and then just whipping one up out of nowhere?”

“Yeah.”

“Yeah.”

“…Was that not it?”

“Amitabha. I also thought as much.”

“…I’m gonna go insane.”

Chung Myung let his head flop sideways limply, then with some effort straightened his neck and brought it back up.

“That’s how creating a sword technique works in the first place. If you boldly push forward in the direction you personally believe is better, at some point something different is bound to appear. Of course, whether that sword technique that’s born that way is actually worth passing down is a completely separate question.”

“…“

“There must’ve been dozens of sword techniques born and lost that way within Hwasan alone.”

Yoon Jong tilted his head, still looking unconvinced.

“Isn’t altering sword techniques a taboo for a sect to begin with? Wouldn’t that be the same for every sect?”

“Yeah. It is.”

“And back then, when Jo Geol got caught changing the circulation of his inner strength however he pleased, you beat the hell out of him.”

“I’ve hit him so many times I don’t really remember, but sure, let’s say I did.”

“Then what’s different this time? In the end, it seems the same to me.”

“What are you talking about? Of course it’s different.”

“How is it different?”

“Oh, Sahyeong. Try actually thinking for once. If an adult climbs a tree to pick some fruit, what do you say to him?”

“…Good job? Thank you?”

“Exactly. Then what if a five year old is climbing a tall tree?”

“Uh… well, obviously…”

You smack his backside. So he never does anything that dangerous again. No, you make sure the other kids don’t even think of trying it.

“Right.”

Chung Myung nodded lazily.

“Clumsy modifications made before you’re at the right level are a shortcut straight to the grave. You’ll probably get to experience every kind of qi deviation along [Juhwaibma – 주화입마(走火入魔) – glossary] the way.”

“…”

“Back then, you weren’t going that way because it was right, but because it was easy. But now they’re trying to find the right path.”

“Mm.”

“So just leave them be. Something interesting might come out of it.”

Yoon Jong let out a faint groan. His expression still said something was bothering him. Chung Myung glanced at him and let out a small laugh.

“You really worry about everything. If you’re that worried, just have those guys show you the Plum Blossom Sword Technique in its original form from time to time.”

“Huh?”

“If something’s wrong then, you can just correct it. But I doubt that’ll ever happen. To mix in something new, you have to know what you already have inside and out. They’ll probably be able to perform it without a hair’s breadth of deviation.”

Only then did Yoon Jong nod, as if he finally understood.

“So you mean it’s not that the Plum Blossom Sword Technique is being twisted, but it’s a process of moving towards a separate sword technique.”

“Exactly.”

Yoon Jong cast a renewed look at the two still absorbed in their spar.

Biting on his lip, Yoon Jong asked earnestly.

“Do you think it’ll work out?”

“Who knows. You can’t figure out the result just by looking at the process. Especially with things like that.”

“Mm.”

“But even if it doesn’t work out, so what.”

At Chung Myung’s calm reply, Yoon Jong let out a small laugh.

“Yeah, you’re right. Even if it doesn’t work out, so what.”

It would be worth it for the attempt alone.

Having finally shaken off the weight on his heart, Yoon Jong watched the two spar with a calm expression. Chung Myung sat down beside him, snatched away Yoon Jong’s jerky, and chewed on it. A faint smile hung at the corner of his lips.

‘The little chicks have grown up a lot. Really.’

Chung Myung himself didn’t know what would become of these sword techniques.

As had happened countless times before, it might end up as nothing more than a narrow, self-contained style that failed to be passed on to the next generation.

But then again, it might be recognized as an excellent sword technique and be handed down alongside the Plum Blossom Sword Technique. It might even someday be judged superior and come to stand as the sword technique that represents Hwasan.

Of course, to Chung Myung, the outcome didn’t matter either way.

What mattered was that they had finally reached the point where they could establish a system of swordsmanship [검학(劍學)] of their own. Those pitiful brats who had once been so hopeless.

“…It looks like Hwasan might really be doomed, Sahyeong.”

“Hm?”

“No. It’s nothing.”

The sky he looked up at was clear and cool. It was the perfect day for a nap.

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