Chapter 239: The Secret of the Heaven Sea Divine Art (2)

Hoi Eulshin couldn’t help but despair upon realizing that truth.

He had only grasped martial arts suitable for the level of an escort, so even if he acquired Gwae Wolbaek’s insights, he came to understand there was little he could gain from them.

Still, Hoi Eulshin couldn’t abandon Gwae Wolbaek’s momentum-based martial arts.

Because it had the power to instantly transform his martial arts into supreme techniques and elevate him from second-rate to first-rate, and even to the master level, he couldn’t give it up.

However, due to the shallow depth of his own martial arts, Hoi Eulshin attempted integration from another angle.

That path was none other than the Art of War.

Until now, even while serving as an escort, the foundation of Hoi Eulshin’s discipline had always been the Art of War.

In the Art of War’s chapter on military engagement (軍爭篇), the following passage appears:

其疾如風 其徐如林

侵掠如火 不動如山

難知如陰 動如雷震

Swift as the wind,

Still as the forest,

Fierce as fire when striking and plundering,

Immovable as the mountain,

Unfathomable as the shadow,

And when moving—strike like thunder.

These lines summarize the guiding principles of military movement in warfare.

Hoi Eulshin went beyond treating these principles as mere military doctrine and incorporated them into martial arts.

He fused the six energies—wind, forest, fire, mountain, shadow, and thunder—mentioned in the Art of War into Gwae Wolbaek’s martial arts to create his own martial art.

That martial art was the Heaven Sea Divine Art.

And graciously, Hoi Eulshin revealed that the techniques of the Heaven Sea Divine Art consisted of six forms.

Of course, these six forms reflected the expressions found in the military engagement chapter of the Art of War.

Rather than assigning new names to his original techniques, Hoi Eulshin named each form after the inspirational phrases.

Thus, the first form was ‘Swift as the Wind (其疾如風)’ and the sixth form was ‘Strike like Thunder (動如雷震)’.

What was astonishing was that these six forms had turned countless top masters of the Heavenly Demon Sect into wandering spirits.

Hoi Eulshin had not merely filled the gaps in Gwae Wolbaek’s martial arts with his own inadequate skills, but enhanced them with military principles to create a truly supreme martial art never seen before.

When Yong Hwarin thought about it, he realized that every technique in the world ultimately fell within the scope of those six momenta.

‘Perhaps it was precisely because Hoi Eulshin combined the reasoning of military strategy—not martial arts—with Gwae Wolbaek’s skills that he created something so powerful.’

Moreover, Gwae Wolbaek’s martial arts were based on enhanced qi.

To craft an entirely new style from such martial arts, it must have been something exceedingly rare in the murim world.

The more Yong Hwarin examined the parchment, the darker his expression became.

It was because of one particular passage left by Hoi Eulshin.

“To infuse the six energies of wind, forest, fire, mountain, shadow, and thunder into one’s martial art depends entirely on the individual’s aptitude and effort. The reason people called my martial art the Heaven Sea Divine Art was because I had mastered those six energies. I imbued those six energies into the Heavenly River Sword that I once knew. It only evolved from Heavenly River to Heaven Sea. Thus, the Heavenly River Sword gradually changed and became not the Heavenly River Sword, but the Heaven Sea Divine Art.”

As Yong Hwarin also knew, Hoi Eulshin had become an escort through the Heavenly River Sword he learned from a secular disciple of the Zhongnan Sect.

Among the many sword arts passed down to the secular world by the Nine Great Sects, the Zhongnan Sect had disseminated the Heavenly River Sword.

Its nature was gentle and soft, making it well-suited to the secular world, and it became widely known alongside the Three Talents Sword of the Wudang Sect and the Five Elements Sword of the Mount Hua Sect.

Yong Hwarin now understood that Hoi Eulshin’s martial art was a momentum-based martial art, and that it only truly became the Heaven Sea Divine Art once one comprehended those six energies.

That meant no matter how much one trained in the forms, it was meaningless without achieving insight. Realizing that left him feeling hollow.

“No wonder… it was for this very reason that Hoi Eulshin couldn’t pass down his martial art directly and left it behind in this form. Judging by his words, it’s clear he meant that unless one possessed the aptitude, one shouldn’t even dream of inheriting his martial art.”

Yong Hwarin reread the parchment thoroughly, checking to see if he had missed anything.

Soon, he found the method to acquire the six essential energies of the Heaven Sea Divine Art.

“Hmph! This is nothing but grasping at clouds!”

The method was written on the part of the parchment he had previously skimmed over.

Can the six energies be contained within the human body?

Hoi Eulshin began the explanation with that question.

“No. But yes, they can. If the human body becomes one with nature, it is possible. However, the human body is far too fragile to become a natural vessel.

Therefore, it is only possible by undergoing Body Reformation or employing a similar kind of supernatural technique. But even those two options are not easily attainable. Thus, I approached it from another angle.”

Yong Hwarin had become so engrossed that he didn’t even realize how deeply he was immersed in Hoi Eulshin’s writings.

This was the part that intrigued him the most.

He could not imagine how one might infuse the six energies of wind, forest, fire, mountain, shadow, and thunder into the body and then connect them to martial arts.

“I unraveled the six energies—wind, forest, fire, mountain, shadow, and thunder—through the principles of the Five Elements. I made my true qi light and free like the wind, calm like the forest, fiery like fire, weighty like the mountain, and gloomy like the shadow. Through the subtle mysteries of the Five Elements, I succeeded in creating these five energies from the qi stored in my dantian. However, I could not form the energy of thunder. Even to the very end, I could not create the thunder energy. My dantian was already filled with the other energies and left no room for thunder. My dantian was simply too small to hold all six energies.”

Yong Hwarin nodded.

True qi was a type of energy that could not be defined by a single form.

The fact that he used the principles of the Five Elements to form it into five different energies proved that Hoi Eulshin was indeed a once-in-an-age genius, second only to Gwae Wolbaek, the Celestial Martial God of Heaven and Earth.

Hoi Eulshin, the only Emperor of the Martial World to emerge from the secular world rather than a major sect, was regarded even in the Muhang Sword Record as being among the greatest under the heavens.

This was likely due to the Heaven Sea Sword, which Hoi Eulshin developed by combining the martial arts of Gwae Wolbaek with his own insights.

His martial arts delivered a shock similar to when Yong Hwarin had first encountered the Tai Chi Profound Heavenly Sutra.

“It was a pity that I had only one dantian. Had I possessed even just one more, I could have mastered the energy of thunder as well and achieved martial arts on par with Gwae Wolbaek, the Celestial Martial God of Heaven and Earth. But even holding the energies of wind, forest, fire, mountain, and shadow in a single dantian was a struggle. To that end, I poured in blood-soaked effort. Only after relentless cultivation to make my energy shift according to my will was I finally able to wield these five energies freely.”

As Yong Hwarin examined the parchment, he suddenly murmured,

“Seeing this, perhaps this martial art is perfectly suited for me. I already possess two dantians, and I’m currently in the stage of resonating with Nature’s Energy through the Inner-Outer Realm, so mastering these five energies should not be difficult. And the most difficult one, the thunder energy—wouldn’t Self-Revolving Inner Qi resolve that?”

The Self-Revolving Inner Qi, quietly resting in a corner of his body, would flare up and surge throughout his body when its energy reached sublimation, almost as if declaring its own presence.

“If I can make this Self-Revolving Inner Qi mine, wouldn’t I be able to fully realize the six energies of wind, forest, fire, mountain, shadow, and thunder that Hoi Eulshin envisioned?”

He asked himself and fell into deep contemplation.

There was no reason it couldn’t be done. After achieving the Inner-Outer Realm, Yong Hwarin had even considered resonating the Self-Revolving Inner Qi with Nature’s Energy to completely fuse it within his body.

Should that be achieved, the Self-Revolving Inner Qi would no longer be a source of pain but a source of power.

However, he had not yet attempted that.

It hadn’t been long since he attained the Inner-Outer Realm, and he had been preoccupied with other matters, leaving him little time to explore martial cultivation.

“This moment is truly important for me.”

Yong Hwarin realized just how critical a time this was for him.

He read and reread the contents of the parchment, memorizing everything and meditating until he understood its meaning.

Whenever hunger struck, he would catch fish from the pond or chew on grains to quell his appetite.

In this way, Yong Hwarin led a repetitive lifestyle for several days.

However, he had yet to discover the method of embodying the six energies within his body, so his meditation only continued to deepen.

The Demonic Master quietly followed Deung Hwaun from a distance of ten jang.

After remaining confined to her room for a time, Deung Hwaun had suddenly said she wanted to go out, and so the Demonic Master accompanied her.

From his perspective, he couldn’t leave Deung Hwaun alone.

They were bound together by the Yin-Yang Twin Parasites—if one died, the other would inevitably perish as well. That was why he couldn’t let his guard down.

For that reason, the Demonic Master had no choice but to monitor Deung Hwaun.

Several forms of sorcery were required to remove the Yin-Yang Twin Parasites, but he had yet to learn them.

Fortunately, there was word that an inner agent of the Heavenly Central Sect was skilled in heterodox sorcery, and he had pinned his hopes on that.

Until they arrived at the Heavenly Central Sect, he had to ensure Deung Hwaun didn’t act recklessly.

If she fell into the hands of the Heavenly Demon Sect, he would become their hostage without question.

– Wouldn’t it be better to watch me up close than from so far away?

As Deung Hwaun’s telepathic message came through, the Demonic Master let out a quiet laugh.

If he had to keep watch anyway, doing so up close was better. And if Deung Hwaun didn’t mind, there was no need to worry or follow from a distance.

As he walked up beside her, Deung Hwaun spoke.

“I’m going to the fabric shop to get some cloth for new clothes. I’ve been wearing this same outfit for over a month.”

The Demonic Master didn’t quite understand Deung Hwaun’s obsession with clothing, but even as a woman of the demonic path, her concern for clothes wasn’t all that different from an ordinary maiden’s.

Despite being a martial artist, Deung Hwaun had always liked clothing, particularly elaborate and colorful ones.

It was remarkable she had managed to endure with only a few outfits until now. Living as a hostage had forced her to suppress her desires, but now that the Sky Ocean Merchant Union had stabilized, her desire to go out surfaced.

As Deung Hwaun tried to enter the largest fabric shop in the marketplace, the Demonic Master said,

“I’ll wait here.”

He didn’t want to follow her inside.

“Just wait a little.”

As Deung Hwaun stepped inside, a clerk rushed up and immediately began babbling about high-end fabrics.

But the moment Deung Hwaun shot him a cold glare, the clerk retreated and said,

“You appear to have an exquisite eye, madam. Please feel free to look around.”

From then on, Deung Hwaun immersed herself in picking out cloth, draping various fabrics across her body and admiring them.

At that moment, she felt a chill behind her and turned around.

A woman was staring at Deung Hwaun with cold eyes.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep