Chapter 17

No difference.
An ordinary thrust from an ordinary mabo stance.
“Where the hell does that include a bunch of ascension?”
“Tsk, tsk, you don’t see it, look again.”
Bam!
Master threw another punch.
As I watched closely, something seemed different.
The movement of the muscles, the rotational force.
“Let go of what you don’t need. It’s better to use only what you need rather than wasting muscle, and this is the same with the inner ball. When using one herb, you need to move the ball the fastest and most efficiently so that there is no waste. And then there’s rotational power. You know that a fist with rotational force is stronger than a fist that just throws out a punch. So why should a fist or a sword be any different? Just as you add warrior to your fist, you add it to your sword. These are the two families of baktu that I know of. I’m sure there are others, but I’m a swordsman.”
With a final smirk, he stood behind me.
“Try it, Mabo.”
I spread my feet apart and bend my knees.
Mabo pose, also known as horseback riding pose.
Sensei scanned my body for a moment, then reached out and grabbed my knees.
“Not that one, this one.”
He twists the angle of my knee, and I’m in a more comfortable position.
“Stretch out from there.”
Boom.
“Stop.”
Sensei grabbed my outstretched, still hand and straightened it.
“It’s not a circle. It’s a straight line. It’s important to strike quickly.”
At Sensei’s correction, I reset my stance and threw.
“You’re close, but there’s still a wasteful movement.”
Sensei grabbed his wrist and made a move.
A quick punch in a straight line.
But I felt nothing.
“That’s the fastest throw from that stance.”
“But it doesn’t make much difference, does it?”
“That ‘star’ is important. Even a blink of an eye is a huge difference in real life. It can be the difference between life and death.”
“I see.”
“I don’t think you’ve quite grasped it yet.”
At my lukewarm response, Sensei frowned for a moment, then drew his mabou in front of me.
“Let’s stab at the same time. One, two, three!”
On the count of three, I threw my fist out.
Instead of the turo that Sensei had taught me, I made a slightly circular turo.
By the tiniest of margins, Sensei’s fist landed on my face first.
“This is the difference. I can hit you, but you can’t hit me because of that slight difference. That’s not an ordinary fist, it’s a hollow fist. In a real fight, you would have been knocked out in one punch, or you would have lost the initiative.”
I finally understood.
‘This is the difference…….’
My fist stopping one punch short of his.
And his fist hitting my face.
This is what efficient movement looks like, I realized.
“Let’s take a break.” I slowed down again. The spirit of listening is full, but the body of movement is disorganized. We have little time, so we must get it right.”
“Yes.”
At his words, I stretched out on the mat and lay down.
“Huh.”
I lay on the cold floor and looked up at the night sky.
The bright stars shone like bright jewels on a black carpet, and the full moon, a tight circle of light, stood in the center of it all, illuminating the world above.
Suddenly, a star twinkled beside it.
“Another…… meteor…….”
The star fell in a long tail.
One by one, it grew and grew, until finally it poured down like rain.
It was a meteor shower.
“A meteor shower, I haven’t seen one in a long time.”
Master also raised his head and stared at the meteor shower.
The meteors sparkled and burned for a moment, then disappeared.
The master’s face was wet with emotion as he watched.
“If that little kid had grown up, he’d be in his mid-twenties by now…….”
Muttering, Master said something.
From the sound of it, it seemed like he was talking about the old days when he was wandering around Kang Ho.
“A little kid?”
“No, it’s just something that popped into my head, so you’ll never meet…… anyway.”
“……?”
“That’s it. Get up.”
“A…… I’ve seen such a novelty, don’t you think I could use a little more appreciation?”
“Shut up, get up.”
“Chet…….”
I grumbled and sat up.
“What were you explaining just now?”
“Boxing.”
“Yes, that’s right, you were. Then you should try…… herbalism, martial arts.”
This time he wasn’t using his body, and he tapped his finger on the flat stone beside him.
“Sit down.
“If chi kung and martial arts involve the use of the body, why are you asking me to sit down?”
“Because you’re not at that level yet. It’s just advice to enlighten you a little. Don’t throw up, and do as you’re told.”
As he sat down on the stone, the master stood beside him and opened his mouth.
“There are many kinds of martial arts. There are swordsmanship, swordsmanship, longswordsmanship, polearmsmanship, spearmanship, swordmanship, and so on. It’s the same as the number of weapons in the world. It’s uncountable. In any case, all of them are the same thing, with different names.”
“One?”
“Yes, the Ten Thousand Returns. They were all created to cultivate oneself, to see the extremity of nothingness. It’s just a matter of whether you use your own body or a weapon. However. One day, when you attain the same level of cultivation as the Divine Sword Master, you will know. The sword is me, and I am the sword. My body becomes the sword, and the sword becomes my body. Then it will be so. Isn’t it true that the sword method can be used as the art and the art can be used as the sword, just like this?”
I don’t know when he drew it, but he was standing over me, holding the sword that had been sheathed at my waist.
“First, the kungfu, the best-known unauthorized form of taijiquan.”
I stiffen my legs and gently move my hands in a circle, a tai chi.
His hands, with their fluid and graceful curves, exuded a gentle yet fierce momentum.
Even as a numbed man, I could see it clearly.
“This is the sword.”
With his right hand, the hand that holds the sword, Sifu traced the Taijiquan circle of his left hand.
It was a smooth curve, just like a taijiquan, only longer.
“Like this.”
“Hmm…… I don’t quite understand.”
“Where do you mean?”
“What the master did was just to take the Taijiquan technique and apply it to the sword, but it didn’t make Taijiquan into Taijiquan sword art, did it?”
If Master can do it, I can do it.
As long as it’s just a sword representation of the swarm in Taijiquan.
“You don’t understand because it’s a sword? Then let’s do it the other way around. First, the sword, the twenty-four plum blossom sword method.”
The master performed the flag ceremony for the Twenty-Four Plum Blossom Sword.
“This candle is the plum blossom dance.”
Gentle movements.
A plum blossom blooms.
It moves gently, like a butterfly flitting about.
The sword surface absorbs and disperses moonlight.
It was as if a bright star had fallen from the sky to earth and landed here.
“This is the longsword.”
He handed the sword back to me and gestured.
“……!!”
“What is that? What’s going on?
My eyes fluttered open.
I can’t get my bearings.
It’s the same.
How could he be able to perform the same sword technique?
The hand that slowly draws circles and straight lines is like a sword extending out, and the hand that reaches down is like a plum blossom fluttering in the wind.
“Do you understand?”
I can’t answer.
I’m stunned, and I don’t know how he did it.
“This is the last lesson I will teach you today. You can stay here and organize what I have shown you, or you can go inside and sleep. I have somewhere to go.”
Without waiting to hear my answer, the master stormed off.
No, I didn’t have the presence of mind to answer anyway.
He showed me the technique.
No, the sword technique.
No, there is no distinction between the art and the sword.
If you swing with a sword, it’s sword art; if you extend a longsword, it’s longsword art; if you swing with a spear, it’s spear art; if you swing with a pole, it’s pole art; if you strike with a fist, it’s fist art; where is the distinction?
“Yes, it is martial arts. The study of nothingness. Why did you think it was different?”
The clue is revealed.
The clue to controlling the Plum Blossom Sword.
He continued to organize his thoughts in his head until the morning dawn.
“Ugh!”
I sat up and looked around, squinting at the sunlight.
When I woke up, Sensei was standing next to me, staring at me.
“Have you been up here all night? You must be cold. Enlightenment is good, but your body is more important. Get up.”
He grabbed my wrist.
It was more than warm, it was hot.
“Mmm…… You’re completely frozen, Ice.”
Master smirked and pressed his palm to my aura.
Hot energy surged through his palm, searing his body.
“Come, let’s go inside.”
He led me back to the hermitage.
“You overexerted yourself yesterday, so you should rest here for the rest of the day. Your body will be tired, and your mind is not yet clear.”
I nodded and lay down on the bed.
I still wasn’t completely organized.
Besides, he was tired from yesterday’s labor with the iron ring.
“Get some rest. I’m not done yet, so I’ll go out again.”
With that, the master left, just as he had yesterday.
Alone in the cage, you unravel the clues through your master’s advice.
With the transformed plum blade.
I feel like I can control it.
Chapter 7 Twin Swordsmanship (1)
After organizing everything for the day, you step outside.
A cool breeze swept through my body, refreshing my mind.
“Good morning, Master.”
He was sitting on the same stone I’d been sitting on the day before.
“So, are you feeling well?”
“Yeah, I’m a little more acclimatized now, so it’s not too hard.”
I swung my arms around and tried to move my feet a few times.
It was a bit of a struggle, but bearable.
“Well, in that case, I guess it doesn’t matter. Take it.”
With a flick, he throws something.
I quickly moved my hand to catch it.
“What is this?”
“Don’t you know it when you see it?”
“No, I know, but…….”
It was a sword.
Not just any blue steel sword you could buy at any blacksmith shop, but two.
“Why two swords? I can understand if it’s called two swords, but I have a sword, so is it three swords?”
“It’s two swords.”
“Why?”
“That sword at your waist is unsheathed for the week. You won’t need it.”
At his word, I handed the sword over to him.
Giving my sword to someone else.
I was a little disappointed, but I calmed myself down by saying to myself, “It’s my master’s sword, so why should I be disappointed?