Chapter 19

“Now, let’s do it again.”
Repeat again, this time on the stage.
After doing it so many times, I had gotten the hang of it, and I could easily, if not skillfully, block his sword with my left hand.
“Here we go again.”
But Sensei was not satisfied, and he kept repeating.
I questioned that and said.
“You said we didn’t have much time. When we were doing the foot sword, we were only a little close and then we moved on, so why not now?”
“Anyway, all swordsmanship is based on these three things. Horizontal slash, vertical slash, and thrust. Therefore, this is the most important part of this training, and you must perfect it.”
“I don’t understand.”
“It’s loud, I know it is if you say so.”
You’ve been training for four days, arguing and arguing.
Finally, I was able to block the same as my right hand.
Three days is a short time.
But if you practice this all day, every day, with only two hours of sleep during that time, it’s a very long time, and I couldn’t get used to it even if I wanted to.
“Finally, you’re almost the same, hmm.”
Sifu smiled and nodded.
But I couldn’t help but feel sullen at his smile.
I felt dirty and unpleasant without being able to wash.
My body felt fine from the exertion, but my head ached like it had been shattered by days of labor.
“Why don’t you rest a bit?”
I said, trying to control my voice to sound pitiful and tired.
“Yes, I’ll give you a little time in particular. You’ll rest for an hour. I have to run out to get something anyway.”
“What kind of things?”
“Something for your training. Rest while you can. It’s going to get harder.”
With that, he turned and walked away.
He walked away from the stage at a leisurely pace, as if taking a stroll.
“Huh?”
I lay down on a flat stone, which I named the resting stone.
As I was resting, someone called my name.
“Qingwu, wake up.”
It was Master’s voice.
“Why are you waking me up so soon?
I rubbed my eyes and yawned.
“Ha-ha, it’s not even one o’clock yet.”
“It is. It’s half past one.”
“Eh?”
I sat up and looked at the sky, and the sun was high in the sky.
It was indeed past one o’clock.
“I must have fallen asleep…….”
“If you’re rested, get up and take it.”
Master handed me the sword again.
I took it easily, but this time I had the same problem with the iron ring.
“Ugh!”
It felt heavy.
Not as heavy as the iron ring, but still heavier than a normal sword.
“It’s about three times heavier than your blue steel sword.”
“Where else did you get a sword like this?”
“Shut up, and hand over that one.”
He held up the heavy sword with his right hand and handed over the other with his left.
“From now on, you will train with that sword and the blue steel sword.”
“But the weights aren’t balanced this way.”
If we’re going to balance our left and right hands, as the master said, why not do it with equal weight?
“Balance is good, but you need to be skillful, and the goal is to hold the sword with your left hand and have the same speed as your right hand.”
“Does that make sense?”
Three days ago, I could barely scoop rice with my left hand.
He’s gotten better, but not by much.
“If you train like this, you should be able to do it in about five days.”
“Haa…….”
I guess this is what I meant when I said to rest when I could.
I could see myself training without sleep.
“Move a little more while you’re resting. Let’s get started.”
“Okay.”
With a grunt, I rose to my feet and stood in the center of the training grounds.
He gripped his heavy sword in his left hand, and his right hand held the blue steel sword he’d been using for three days.
“Strike. I’ll point it out.”
“Yes. Hot!”
I slash down with the blue steel sword at a right angle.
Bang!
I blocked it with the blue steel sword Master gave me.
“Try it with your left hand.”
“Haat!”
I lift the heavy sword and slash down with my left hand.
Clang!
A dull sound, even duller than the blue steel in my right hand.
“Not balanced. The ratio of power in your left and right hands is different.”
Clang, clang, clang, clang!
He continued to swing the sword, correcting his master’s points.
“Not yet. Keep going.”
I stabbed, slashed, and cut, alternating between my right and left hands.
It had been a couple days since he’d worn a fifty-pound iron ring, so the sword didn’t feel that heavy, even though it was three times the weight of a normal sword.
But swinging it in balance with my right hand was different.
It’s like picking leaves with a polearm.
If I exerted a little more effort to lift the sword in my left hand, it was instantly out of balance, out of proportion.
And it manifested itself as a difference in speed.
“Your left hand is slow. Apply a little more pressure.”
Boom!
“Faster this time. Feel the weight of the sword and match it with your right hand. But don’t let your right hand slow down, or you won’t be able to call it dual wielding. Perfect balance between the left and right hands, that’s dual wielding.”
Dual wielding, I’m going to become ambidextrous.
Sure, it’s helpful, but it’s like trying to fit into a suit that doesn’t fit.
“Don’t think about it. If it doesn’t fit, make it fit. If the bowl is small, make it bigger. Nothing is impossible if you try. You set your limits, you make your limits. If you think you can’t do it, you can’t do it, and if you think it’s impossible, you can’t do it. As I said, don’t mold, don’t be molded. It’s all in your mind.”
As if he could read my thoughts, he said.
His words drove away all my unnecessary worries and thoughts.
“Okay, that’s it. That’s better. Keep swinging. Swing, swing, swing. As you get better, you get better, and as you get better, you get better.”
Repetition, repetition.
Not the same action over and over again, but multiple actions for a single purpose.
At some point, it felt like my body wasn’t swinging the sword, but the sword was swinging me.
And before long, I didn’t know if I was swinging the sword or the sword was swinging me.
Chop, chop, chop!
All I could hear was the clash of blows, and I couldn’t feel or see anything else, as if everything was plunged into darkness.
I couldn’t tell if what I was holding in my hand was a sword or something else.
I don’t know if what I’m feeling is a sword or my own flesh.
It’s reversed, mixed up.
No, it’s all one.
As Sensei said, the sword method, the art, whatever, has a single purpose.
My swinging the sword and the sword’s swinging me are both actions that have a single purpose.
I am the sword, the sword is me, and we are all moving toward the same end.
Where is the difference?
Chop! Chop! Kwacha-chang!
“Oh no!”
I heard my master’s panicked voice.
The voice snapped me out of my reverie.
The veil of darkness was lifted, and the world returned.
The sight before him.
Master’s blue steel sword lay in shards on the ground, and my own sword stood still in front of him.
“Ah, this…….”
If I hadn’t realized a second later, my sword would have pierced his chest.
I quickly drew my sword back and looked at him.
He was looking at me with a serious expression.
I closed my eyes and lowered my head, thinking I was going to be punished, but then he muttered.
“Hehe, what a coincidence. It was just to balance things out, but it’s the first day of the Divine Sword Combine…….”
“The Divine Sword…… Union?”
What does that mean?
The Divine Sword Combining Day? The state of becoming one with the sword?
“That’s right.”
Master nodded.
After a moment of silence, the master spoke.
“Do you remember the sensation from earlier?”
“Mm…….”
I picked up the sword and swung it.
Boom, boom, boom.
No matter how I swung it, it didn’t have the same perfect unity as before.
It just feels like the sword fits a little better in my hand.
“Yes, it was a sudden realization, so you won’t remember much of it. But now that you’ve felt it once, it will be easier to experience it again. Don’t be heartbroken.”
He wasn’t heartbroken, but everything his master said was true, so he nodded and swung his sword with his left hand this time.
Boom.
It still wasn’t exactly the same as his right hand, but it was much better than before.
“I guess it’s the effect of the Divine Sword Combine. It’s not exactly the same, but it’s good enough. It might be better to continue training, but for now, it’s better to meditate than to move your body. Find a comfortable place to sit and think.”
What would be a comfortable place?
The ground, a boulder, or a bluestone.
I sat down on the ground and thought about it.
That feeling from earlier.
I could barely remember it, like I felt when I swung the sword, but the more I thought about it, the more I seemed to remember.
‘First…….’
My thoughts at the time.
The sword I, my body, wielded.
I grew weary and exhausted, until finally my body couldn’t keep up, and the sword became a form of flesh wielding flesh.
‘And…….’
I wielded the sword in a strange state for some time, my senses gone, trapped in a dark abyss of darkness, feeling nothing, only the sound of the swords clashing together.
I don’t feel the sword, I don’t feel my body.
No, I feel the sword, but I don’t know that it’s a sword, and I feel my body, but I don’t know that it’s my body.
Then I remembered my master’s advice, and my senses returned with the same warm, strange feeling I’d felt in Hapil.
“Haha, I don’t know…….”
I need to be in that situation again, but I think I can feel it.
At the moment, it’s impossible, even with meditation.
I can remember the situation and the feeling, but I can’t recreate it.
“Huh.”
I sighed in disappointment and stood up.
Sifu was sitting in his chair, looking at me.
“Why did you bring a chair?”
“I’m tired. I’m already fifty years old. My legs ache from standing for half a day.”
“The elder of the Great Volcano Sect has sore legs. By the way, half a day, …….”
The son-in-law was dark.
It was nighttime.
It seemed like he had meditated for only a short time, but half a day had already passed.
“Did you remember a little bit?”
“Yes. But I can’t recreate it.”
“That’s okay, it’s a good thing you remembered. There are many pathetic mere mortals who can’t remember such sudden realizations and blow them off.”
Master pushed himself up from his chair and walked over to me.
“Here, kick again.”
The black substance in his hand.
“This is…….”