Chapter 42

Chirp!
“Mmm…….”
I opened my eyes to the light streaming in through the window.
A bird chirped in my ears.
“What?”
I rubbed my eyes and sat up.
I looked to the side and saw the source of the birdsong.
A sparrow was sitting on the table next to my bed.
“It’s not flying away, is it?”
I reached out to pick it up, and it shook its head and hopped onto my finger.
“It’s cute.
“Haha.”
I lift my hand up and flutter it around, but it doesn’t want to leave.
I raise my fingers above my head, and it climbs up and sits on my head.
A tingling sensation on my scalp.
“Ouch…….”
The sting of the sparrow’s claws makes me reach down again.
I bring my hand up to grab it, but it flies away with a squeak of disapproval.
“Asshole…….”
Boom!
I’ve got it.
It’s hard to see, but if I get it right, I’ll have him in a second.
I wrap my hands around it and sling it over my shoulder.
Tsk!
The sparrow stops struggling and tilts its head, as if it likes my shoulder better.
“Cute.”
I stroke its head with my finger and it closes its eyes.
“It’s a spirit animal, but it looks exactly like a sparrow…… So who owns it?”
If it hesitates to come up to you and play with you like this, it must be a spirit that can see your mind and understand your words, or it must be an animal that someone has kept.
I’ve never heard of a spirit that looks exactly like a sparrow, so it’s probably an animal that someone kept.
“Did the owner abandon it? Why did it suddenly come in?”
It’s a bird you’ve never seen before.
Animals have quirks, just like people.
When I was training my eyesight, I once tried to name and distinguish the animals around me.
I recognized it because I remembered it, and I try not to forget it now.
It was a bird I hadn’t seen around here.
“No, maybe its owner didn’t abandon it and it ran away. Here, come here.”
I lift my finger to his shoulder and he perches on it.
I walk over to the window and stick my hand out the window.
He takes one look at me, shakes his head, and hops outside.
Dada dada dada!
The sparrow spreads its wings and flies away.
I smiled lightly and sheathed the three swords I had left unpacked beside my bed.
A heavy steel sword, a blue cloud sword, and a blue steel sword.
Iron clang!
The scabbard of the heavy steel sword clashed with the scabbard of the blue steel sword.
He stroked it once and stepped out.
It’s not blindingly bright or hot.
It was a warm light that melted the cold wind.
It’s winter.
“Huh, it’s cold…….”
I raised my qi to block the cold.
Then the cold feeling disappeared and the area around my body became hot.
Zaha’s technique is the harmonizing energy of yin and yang.
It can be used regardless of whether you have yin or yang qi.
“Woohoo, I’ll have to practice my cultivation today.”
He had felt it since yesterday, and even before.
The plum blossom sword circle releases a surge of energy.
Today’s goal is to improve my bottom jutsu so that it won’t be affected by the Plum Blossom Sword.
“Huh.”
I let out a breath and sat down on top of the Hyuushin Stone.
It’s a hyuushin stone in the shade.
As such, it was frozen with snow on the surface.
But it doesn’t affect me, so I just sit on it.
‘Send energy to …….’
I raised my energy and guided it.
The energy moved through my veins.
Something wriggled and stirred.
‘This…….’
Upon closer inspection, the qi inside the dantian continued to fluctuate.
‘For what reason…….’
I kept moving the energy around, and even when I touched the blood vessels, the energy kept fluctuating.
“What should I do?
It wasn’t caused by the Plum Blossom Sword.
The source of the problem was not the Plum Blossom Sword.
‘Qin Lie…….’
After a long time of thinking, I figured it out.
Jing Qi had nowhere else to go.
In short, you’ve hit a wall.
I continue to improve my skills with the plum blossom sword.
It’s only natural that as my skills improve, so will my skill as a master.
However, because I was so focused on my initial training, I didn’t pay attention to my inner work, so the bowl of the bottomless pit couldn’t hold the water of my inner work and was overflowing.
‘This is a problem…….’
The turbulence was calmed down with the intention.
But this is only temporary, just like the old days.
“Enlightenment comes to those who are ready, but not to those who wish for it. What shall we do?”
There are two ways.
First, go to the training of the Good Swordsman and grow like everyone else.
Second, to continue to train with the Plum Blade.
“Training with the Plum Blossom Sword is good, but it’s useless unless you become a vessel for the Bottom War. I’d better start training.”
He made up his mind and stood up.
Ever since I was a land swordsman, I hadn’t been able to go through with the training prescribed by the academy, but this time is different.
This is what I need.
“Hmph, I wonder if I can adapt well?”
The only interactions between the former disciples were with Yoo Hyuk, who had suddenly become kinder, and Jang Il, who had changed accordingly.
The rest of them are just acquaintances. They don’t have much of a relationship.
And it’s not an exaggeration to say that I barely know the other Sokka and Bopyeong disciples.
I could have gotten to know them during the joint training exercise three years ago, but I didn’t have the chance because I was laid up since the first day.
And when I came back, I couldn’t afford to get to know them because I was avoiding their questions, so I was just as bad at interpersonal relationships as I was before.
“Maybe I’ll do better this time…….”
Nowadays, the battle of the gatekeepers and checkpoints has begun in earnest.
Although they are the same sect, they can’t fight with force, but there is a lot of power struggle between the elders and their disciples.
Dormoon, the origin of the Volcanic Sect, and Sword Gate, known to the world.
Ximen wants to take the initiative and become a powerhouse, as he has always been, and Dao Wen wants to prevent Ximen from suddenly growing too big.
Why?
Master Mujin says it’s because he thinks it will grow too fast and cause too much trouble.
“I guess so…….”
To me, it does.
I live in the four gates, and I live away from the four gates.
It’s a contradiction in terms.
However, the censor’s position is different.
Liu Hyuk, Zhang Il, and Man Chengfeng.
All of them were taken in by the inner family and made into immediate disciples.
And he’s a man of the gate.
With the sudden growth of the Volcano Sect, they have accepted many such talents.
They are already growing unrivaled from now on.
It is their position that the more of these martial arts they embrace, the more the Huashan Sect will develop.
“I think that’s right too…….”
Well, it’s none of my business.
My position is that I shouldn’t get involved in the fight.
I have not yet decided whether I will be a gatekeeper or a checker.
Master Mujin is a man of the Tao as a true man, but there is no law that requires his students to be.
“It’s almost time for the crown…….”
Disciples of the Huashan School decide where they belong when they become Yongyuan.
Those who want to be part of the Tao Gate become Qin Yin, while those who want to be part of the Sword Gate go out as inner disciples, or continue to serve the master’s orders and later become plum blossom swordsmen or go out in public.
“I don’t really like the gate, and I don’t really like the checkpoint…… even less…….”
I’m worried.
My age is eighteen.
Next year, I’ll be nineteen, and then it’s terms.
“I have a little over a year left…… and it seems like I have that much left to control this Plum Blossom Sword…….”
Boom!
The air crackled around his outstretched fist.
It was a faint sensation, but it felt like he was even faster than before.
“When this body is perfectly fast, I’ll decide where I belong.”
Well, that’s for later.
Right now, I need to worry about the present.
I sleep nervously, ready for tomorrow.
Chapter 7 Preliminary Examination, Gates and Checkpoints (1)
“Come on, let’s go.”
I overslept, so I woke up at noon, cleaned up, and packed my sword.
This is the first time I’ve gone to training in a long time, not since my first day as a swordsman.
This is my second time going, and I don’t know if the Five Elements Master remembers me.
Before that, when I was training as a land swordsman.
I only went for one day.
I thought I didn’t need all that training.
I thought that training with Master Mujin was the most important thing.
And when I told him that, he said he would try it once, and after that, Master Zhang said yes.
Normally, this would be absolutely impossible, but somehow he allowed it.
And that’s how it came to be.
“Wow.”
I’m incredibly nervous.
I’m very nervous to see people my age who I haven’t seen in a long time.
It’s funny to think that I’m so nervous about meeting people even though I’ve been eating for eighteen years.
But I can’t help it. Because this is my life.
‘I was like that before I came to the volcano…….’
No, let’s forget about that time.
When I think of that time, I can only smile bitterly.
You should forget those unhappy memories.
It’s not good for your heart or your cultivation.
“I am Qingwu of the Huashan Sect, not a child of the slums…….
I muttered to myself hypnotically.
How long did he walk like that?
Before I knew it, I was in front of a pavilion.
The hall was very large.
It’s no wonder, because until two years ago, the position of a swordsman was a big one.
It was right on the verge of the Plum Blossom Sword Test, so there were very few people trying to get there.
Behind the overwhelmingly large hall was a large performance hall, and next to it was their private dining room, with a great view of the volcano in the distance.
The hall was quiet.
But there was a loud noise coming from the performance hall behind it.
A loud kippa accompanied by the sound of cheering.
“Training?”
Well, since you’ve already realized the Land and the Seven Ways of Misuse, you don’t need to worry about knowledge.
Unless you’re going to be a non-soldier.
That’s why they spend more time on martial arts from the time of the preliminary examination.
That’s why they’re still training at this hour.
“We should go to the hall first, right?”
The elder might be inside.
When I opened the door and entered, an old man was writing at a table in front of me.
His face is wrinkle-free despite his age, and his hair is well-groomed.
He had a chest-length beard and deep eyes.
“Who was that?”
The old man answered without looking at me.
“It’s been a long time, Mr. Five Elements Master.”
As I said that, the old man raised his head.
“That is the Five Elements Master, the pride of the Huashan Sect, the one who attains enlightenment of the Five Elements.
The Five Elements Master is said to be one level above my master, Mujin Master.
However, upon closer inspection, I realized that while he was strong, he was not as strong as my master.
‘Master is a replacement…….’
The stronger I get, the stronger I get, the more I don’t understand people’s evaluations.
To be honest, Master is highly regarded in the Huashan Sect, but his skills are not very good. He’s an elder who is rumored to be a true master of the Dao.
When I look at these other elders, I feel a barrier between them and me.
That’s the difference between them and me.
But when I look at Sensei, I feel something else.
I feel the big sky.