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chapter 20
When the genius Danyeop accepted it as a given that he would leave the sect, the instructor Dan Bulwi asked him quietly,
“That fellow wanted to go to the Inns Division. Is there anywhere you’d like to go?”
“The Inns Division… does that mean working at taverns?”
“There are shops too, but the inns are Haomen’s main business.”
“As long as it’s not the Courtesan Division (Giru), I’m fine.”
“Not the Courtesan Division?”
“Yes. My chastity is precious.”
Pfft! “In that regard, it seems you and that fellow think alike. Very well. I’ll do my best to keep you out of the Courtesan Division.”
“Thank you. Then I’ll head off to closed-door training.”
After parting with Dan Bulwi, Danyeop picked up his satchel and water gourd from the dorms and went to his training grounds.
He began by practicing the Six Gates martial arts—fist, palm, grappling, kicking, then the Heaven-Earth Blade, White Stream Blade, and Seven-Wounds Blade.
When he finished, he let out a long sigh.
“Haa…”
Reproducing the Six Gates techniques so faithfully only left him with a hollow emptiness.
There’s a saying: all rivers return to the sea.
Having mastered not only Haomen’s skills but also the Taego Sect’s arts of the Celestial Realm, his insight had already transcended the human realm.
To him, the Six Gates martial arts were almost worse than useless.
After some thought, he decided to tweak them a little.
“Since I’ll be using these for life, I don’t want to train them while cursing them. I’ll just change the stupid moves in the otherwise useful ones.”
On the spot, he selected Heavenly Collapse Fist, Revolving Heaven Palm, Thunder Flash Kick, Falling Flower Palm, Heaven-Earth Blade, White Stream Blade, and Seven-Wounds Blade.
He trimmed away unnecessary movements.
Even small adjustments gave the techniques a fresh vitality.
“This way, at least I won’t be called an idiot.”
No sooner had he finished than his stomach growled.
Realizing his hunger, he swallowed a fasting pill, washed it down with water, then turned to cultivating the Taego Sect’s internal arts.
He began with the Taihe Shadowless Sword.
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First form: Mist Rises, No Trace—the sword’s intent arises like mist, leaving no mark.
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Second form: Shadow Flowing on Empty Steps—like a shadow flowing upon the void.
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Third form: Void Returning Light—amid emptiness, a single sword returns.
These were techniques that even famous masters would struggle a lifetime to glimpse, but Danyeop had no such difficulty.
Compared to the Boundless Sword or the Primal Unity Sword, the Taihe Shadowless Sword flowed effortlessly.
Even after performing the three forms, his breath remained steady.
“Yes… this is right.”
The Boundless Sword was different—just thinking of it made him feel suffocated. Using it, his breath would choke at his throat.
He trained the Taihe Shadowless Sword until exhaustion, then rested, chewing fasting pills and drinking water.
The next day, he moved on to the Boundless Sword.
As his martial attainment grew, so did his insight into the Boundless Sword.
He didn’t know how long he trained before collapsing to the ground, crunching another fasting pill.
“Oh no! I wasn’t supposed to eat this way.”
He stared at the dwindling supply of pills in alarm. Training the Boundless Sword always threw his control into chaos. He tied the pouch tightly and shoved it deep in his satchel.
“Even a flea has pride. I can’t keep doing this.”
Getting up, he drew the Primal Unity Sword—not to train, but to remind himself of its feel.
As always, the more he performed it, the further he felt from its sword intent.
“Ah… shouldn’t have practiced it.”
With each execution, he drifted one step further away. Would avoiding it bring him closer instead?
Shaking off the thought, he donned the Golden Silken Robe from his pack and lay down. It was time to cultivate the Tai’e Original Essence Method.
Half-closing his eyes, he gazed into the void.
—Quietly illuminating the dantian, within it shines the starry sky.
—From emptiness a flame arises, transforming into the divine lotus.
As he focused inward, stars emerged in his dantian—the harmony of Tai’e energy that Elder Redpine had instilled.
Without that Tai’e energy, even a lifetime of cultivation wouldn’t reveal the Starry Sky.
But thanks to the elixir he had taken, he could now behold it.
The stars turned to fire, then budded like a lotus.
Calmly, Danyeop gazed upon the Divine Lotus. He had seen this before, so it wasn’t new.
Then—
The bud slowly opened, blooming.
His brows furrowed as he focused on this new change.
Suddenly, the radiant lotus scattered into mist, and two pale hands appeared, seizing his throat.
Ghhhk!
Danyeop screamed inwardly.
I… I can’t breathe…!
He struggled desperately, but his body wouldn’t move.
Save… me…
Just as he was about to suffocate, the hands slipped back into darkness.
“Aaaaah!”
He bolted upright, gasping.
“Huff! Huff! Huff!”
His trembling hands crept up to his throat. Beneath his fingers, he felt the rough scars on his skin.
His once untroubled face twisted for the first time.
In that moment, he understood—
Deep within his bones was etched the fear of death.
Until he overcame it, he could not progress in the Tai’e Original Essence Method.
Holding up his hands, he saw them shaking uncontrollably.
“Ha… I’m ruined.”
Whenever the Divine Lotus bloomed after the Starry Sky, the fear of death awoke, consuming him.
At this rate, not only was mastery of the Tai’e Method impossible, even absorbing the Tai’e elixir would be difficult.
Once he calmed down, he tried again.
But as soon as the lotus bloomed, the white hands strangled him once more.
Screaming awake again, he stripped off the Golden Silken Robe and stuffed it back into his pack.
“I’ll have to meet Father.”
Afternoon training. Amun Training Hall.
When Dan Bulwi saw Danyeop return after three days, he smiled faintly.
If he merely avoided sleep, he could have lasted longer. But once physical training was involved, three days was clearly his limit.
“You’re back?”
“Yes. I have something to ask.”
“What is it?”
“Do you know anything about the scars on my neck?”
He bared his throat. Dan Bulwi frowned awkwardly at the sight of the scarred skin.
“I don’t. It was like that when I first found you in the market, fourteen years ago.”
“Fourteen years ago… I’d have been about four?”
“Yes.”
“How did you know I was four?”
“I asked how old you were, and you held up four fingers.”
“That was Dullard Danyeop?”
“Yes.”
“Surprisingly bright, then?”
“At the time, yes.”
“Did Dullard Danyeop ever mention his neck scars?”
“Never.”
“Do you have any idea who might have done it?”
“Whenever I mentioned parents, the boy recoiled. I assumed he had suffered at their hands and didn’t press further.”
“Please ask Dullard Danyeop who it was.”
“After all this time, what good would it do?”
“When I cultivate, the scars weigh heavily on me. The pain of strangulation overwhelms me—it seriously disrupts my training.”
“What! Astonishing.”
“It’s as if Dullard Danyeop’s terrifying memories are shackling me.”
“You think knowing who tried to kill you would help?”
“I don’t know. But at least knowing might give me a way forward.”
“Very well. I’ll coax it out of him.”
Dan Bulwi regarded him with strange eyes.
Dullard Danyeop’s inner cultivation had halted due to his fractured personality. Now Genius Danyeop’s progress was blocked by Dullard Danyeop’s past.
Ironically, the dullard shackled the genius, and the genius shackled the dullard.
Whether it was because they shared one body, or fate’s cruel joke, who could say?
Leaving the hall, Danyeop lay on his bunk, his heart heavy.
The past three days had begun so well—adjusting the Six Gates, training the Taihe Sword and the Boundless Sword.
If only he had finished with the Tai’e Method, it would have been perfect. But at the crucial moment, disaster struck.
Unless he could overcome those terrifying hands, cultivation was impossible.
“Haa… Danyeop, just what happened to you?”
Not knowing Dullard Danyeop’s past was frustrating beyond words.
That night, he dreamt endlessly of those pale, bony hands strangling him.
Groaning in his sleep, his cries filled the stone chamber.
Waking with a scream, he gasped,
“Haa…!”
He hadn’t had nightmares in a while, but his exhausted body and mind had left him vulnerable.
Throwing on clothes, he stepped outside.
Seeing students gathered near the Tomb of Generals, he realized it wasn’t training time. Smelling his sweat, he hurried to the Spirit Spring.
After washing, his eyes fell on a broken bamboo stalk.
He picked up a length, about three feet long.
A sudden confidence surged in him, as if he could do anything.
He instinctively unleashed the Heaven-Earth Blade.
First form: Heavenly Thunder Strikes Down.
Second form: Crossing Mountain Severance.
Third form: Wind and Cloud Aligned.
In one breath, he executed them all.
Collecting himself, he exhaled deeply.
“Phew—!”
Unknowingly, he had perfected all three forms.
Before, he could only manage up to the fifth movement of the third form, but since his split, the remaining moves had flowed forth naturally.
What normally required forty days of grueling practice, he completed in an instant.
It was what he had hoped for, yet unsettling.
At least I haven’t been overtaken by the 14th cohort. That’s a relief.
Thinking of them, he smiled bitterly. If newcomers surpassed him, he wouldn’t be able to show his face.
After swinging the bamboo a few more times, he headed toward the Tomb of Generals.
Next after the Heaven-Earth Blade is the White Stream Blade!
If his mind had truly sharpened, he should be able to master that too.
Morning training. Sun Sect Training Hall.
When Danyeop appeared, the students glanced at him with puzzled eyes.
Everyone knew: First Cohort Danyeop, the famous blockhead, had never even mastered the Heaven-Earth Blade.
Despite his good looks, he was whispered to be a fool.
The younger cohorts, having never met him, believed it even more firmly.
Soh Yu-gang, the instructor who believed the ever-shifting White Stream Blade to be Haomen’s greatest art, beckoned to Danyeop.
Danyeop rushed over and bowed.
“Yes, Instructor.”
“Are you here on someone’s errand?”
“No.”
“Then why are you here?”
“I came to learn the White Stream Blade.”
“You?”
Soh Yu-gang stared at him in disbelief.
The boy who had failed to master even the Heaven-Earth Blade in fourteen years now wanted to learn the infamously difficult White Stream Blade? Unthinkable.
