Everyone is bound to be flustered when something unexpected happens.

Heo Seong was the same.

“This is absurd.”

At the voice that pierced his ears, Heo Seong’s body froze.

A surprisingly cold chill flowed from the voice.

It was undoubtedly the first time he had heard Cheon Mubaeck’s cold tone.

Heo Seong did not have the courage to raise his bowed head and look at Cheon Mubaeck’s face. He was afraid. What the expression of that cold voice would be.

Of course, he didn’t expect a warm ‘Yes! I’ll help you!’ or anything like that.

That was, a kind of…

‘Disgust?’

Brrr!

It was clearly a feeling close to disgust.

Before he changed, he was a young master who always had a smile that drew people in, and even after suffering from a fever, that charm had not changed.

Although he had a somewhat blunt and rough side, the kindness and consideration contained within it were fully felt. If not, would he have treated everyone in the Lotus Pavilion one by one?

Moreover, he had even treated the disability of his body servant, Jeombak.

Such a person was disgusted with him.

Thump!

It felt like his heart was dropping.

“How many years have you been holding a sword? From the looks of it, it’s been 20 years, right? About 21 years.”

“…It’s been 25 years.”

“Wow. So you’ve been holding it since you were 10? And you’re in that state?”

“…!”

“From what I see, you look like you’ve been holding a sword for 20 years. Do you know what that means? It means you’ve been playing around for 5 years. Escort Warrior Heo. Huh?”

Cheon Mubaeck poured out abusive language without hesitation.

Originally, Cheon Mubaeck had used the hao-che style of speaking to Heo Seong and respected him, but now it was nowhere to be found.

But even so, Heo Seong could not move.

Cheon Mubaeck’s words became sharp daggers and stabbed his heart.

Of course, he hadn’t put down his sword for 5 years straight.

Honestly, Heo Seong might have a side to feel wronged. He had swung his sword continuously for 25 years. Because this was also his job.

But the thought of refuting the words that he seemed to have played around for a good 5 years completely disappeared.

A sharp gaze that seemed to look into his lungs pierced Heo Seong’s entire body.

‘Have I really tried my best for 25 years?’

If he asked himself and sought an answer, it was no.

‘I was blocked by a wall. Did I do my best to overcome that wall? I wasn’t that passionate. I didn’t put down my sword, but I didn’t use my sword as fiercely as I did when I was young.’

It was as painful as if his lower abdomen was being turned upside down.

That’s right. He hadn’t tried. No, he thought he had tried in his own way, but he wasn’t fierce.

Cheon Mubaeck had seen through all of that with just one look.

In an instant, goosebumps rose all over him.

He barely squeezed out his strength and raised his head.

Cheon Mubaeck’s gaze, looking down at him with a cold look and his chin pulled back.

It felt like his body was ringing.

“You tried half-heartedly and got blocked by a wall, so you played around while lamenting, and you didn’t even think about your past debauchery, and now you see an opportunity and you kneel and dare to beg?”

Cheon Mubaeck’s voice thundered. Cheon Mubaeck’s eyes flashed.

“Did you think that the path of a martial artist, the path of holding a sword, was something that could be solved just by begging?”

Heo Seong’s body trembled.

At this moment, he was not the youngest young master he knew.

When he was young, when he was studying as a secular disciple at Mount Hua Sect, it was a greater echo than the elders who shouted fiercely.

But, it was also that much more unfair.

He spat out the emotion that suddenly welled up.

“It’s been 20 years! For 20 years, even if I was lazy, I have never once put down my sword. I swung it to the end, and I always recited the forms so as not to forget the teachings! But all of that was different from what the Young Master had advised! Everything I learned, everything I had held a sword for 20 years!”

“Are you saying that what was different was the forms?”

Cheon Mubaeck’s voice, as he replied, became surprisingly calm.

Heo Seong felt dazed.

Was it a mistake to feel as if a scary grandfather was shouting and then his voice softened out of pity?

Heo Seong bit his lip until it bled and shouted.

“I learned it at Mount Hua, and it’s a form I swung until my hands blistered and bled. All of those forms were significantly less powerful than what the Young Master had just said through telepathy. The moment I thought that everything I had learned for 20 years was wrong, what kind of emotion would I have felt!”

“Who said it was wrong?”

Cheon Mubaeck clicked his tongue as if it was pathetic.

At first, it was a feeling close to disgust, but now it was a gaze mixed with pity.

“You think you can break through the wall and grow just by learning the forms properly.”

“…”

“It’s so easy. So easy. Right, huh? If you can cross the wall just by learning the proper forms.”

Cheon Mubaeck sighed and said bluntly.

“You’re still putting a limit on the forms.”

“…!”

Heo Seong’s face hardened in an instant.

“Hey, look at this.”

It was then.

Cheon Mubaeck picked up a wooden sword that was next to him and suddenly swung it.

Heo Seong’s eyes flashed. In the midst of his confused mind, Cheon Mubaeck was trying to show him something.

Cheon Mubaeck swung his sword several times. From the left, to the right, from the right, to the bottom, from the bottom, to the front again.

Heo Seong’s gaze shook. A question appeared on his face. He couldn’t understand.

What was he doing now?

There were no forms. It was just a sword being swung blindly. To someone who didn’t know, it would look as if a child was swinging a sword blindly to look cool.

“Did you see that well?”

“Pardon?”

Cheon Mubaeck looked at him with a sullen face.

“This is the Yang-o Sword.”

“What kind of?”

Heo Seong’s face contorted. Regardless, Cheon Mubaeck shook his head.

“Agh. The bell has rung today. I’m going in to play the daegeum. Go in, Escort Warrior Heo.”

Heo Seong was dumbfounded.

To swing a sword a few times recklessly and call it the Yang-o Sword?

Of course, considering the Plum Blossom Sword of Mount Hua, the Yang-o Sword was clearly of a lower class.

But it was a renowned martial art that had been passed down since the founding of Mount Hua Sect.

If you mastered it, you would become a person who could hold your own as a martial artist. Wasn’t the reason why the secular disciples of Mount Hua Sect were strong because of the Yang-o Sword?

But… no matter how much you ignored the Yang-o Sword, still.

“What on earth is that Yang-o… huh?”

An earthquake occurred in Heo Seong’s gaze.

He unknowingly sniffed.

“…The scent of plum blossoms?”

A faint yet widely spreading scent of plum blossoms.

It was different from the scent he had scattered at the Lotus Pavilion.

It was more noble, elegant, and deep.

It was a feeling as if he were standing in a garden made of plum blossoms.

Heo Seong was startled and stood up from his seat.

And he hurriedly looked around.

“………!”

He staggered and could not properly balance himself.

In the training ground, there were a few wooden pillars that had been set up for training.

That was until just before.

But now they were all cut. And with a clean cross-section.

Moreover, the faint scent of plum blossoms rising from the cut cross-section.

Heo Seong’s body trembled slightly. His gaze fell on the room where Cheon Mubaeck was headed.

Footprints were deeply engraved on the floor.

As if an old tiger had jumped out with a determined look for its last hunt.

He felt such a momentum.

“The Angry Tiger Exiting the Forest…”

It was just an ordinary step, but the trace was the Angry Tiger Exiting the Forest.

The Yang-o Sword, and the Angry Tiger Exiting the Forest.

It was not the forms or footwork he knew. He had just swung his sword and moved his feet.

‘He’s putting a limit on the forms?’

In an instant, a strong shock as if a thunderbolt had struck pierced him from the top of his head to his anus.

Heo Seong, as if possessed, drew his sword on the spot.

And he swung his sword, concentrating on each and every movement, and at the same time, he stepped on the Angry Tiger Exiting the Forest.

While pouring everything out. Until the internal energy in his dantian dried up. Until all the strength in his body disappeared.

Time was passing like that.

* * *

If Heo Seong had caught a glimpse of a small part of enlightenment, Cheon Mubaeck had also encountered an unexpected situation.

‘Heaven-Shaking Soul Art reacted sensitively to the martial arts of Mount Hua Sect.’

The reason Cheon Mubaeck had hurriedly entered the room was this.

Originally, Cheon Mubaeck was someone who strictly followed a set training order.

But it was a groundbreaking discovery, enough to break that rule and enter the room.

Cheon Mubaeck spread his palm.

“Plum blossom…”

A hollow laugh came out on its own.

The Yang-o Sword was clearly an excellent martial art. Wasn’t it a long-standing sword art that had been passed down since the founding of the Mount Hua Sect?

Cheon Mubaeck knew that very well. Because it was a martial art created by a friend he had learned the sword with in one of his past lives.

However, unlike the other true martial arts of Mount Hua Sect, the Yang-o Sword was quite well known.

That’s because it was a sword art mainly used by the secular disciples of Mount Hua Sect.

It was inferior compared to the Plum Blossom Sword.

The representative difference was this plum blossom.

The plum blossom made of qi that bloomed in Cheon Mubaeck’s hand.

Originally, the Yang-o Sword could not make a plum blossom bloom.

Only the Plum Blossom Sword could make a plum blossom bloom. The limit of the Yang-o Sword, even if you mastered it to the extreme and understood the essence of the martial art, was to produce the scent of plum blossoms.

But…

“The internal energy of Heaven-Shaking Soul Art made a plum blossom bloom.”

Cheon Mubaeck’s eyes sparkled.

The upper dantian was clearly related to spiritual power. The people who utilized the upper dantian were mostly Taoists, shamans, etc., rather than martial artists.

Although the current Mount Hua Sect was purely focused on martial arts, wasn’t it originally just a Taoist sect that cultivated the Way?

Cheon Mubaeck smirked.

“Well. That guy was originally a Taoist too.”

Recalling the friend who had created the Yang-o Sword, Cheon Mubaeck searched his mind once more.

“What if I grasp the key points of the Taoist internal energy and relate them to Heaven-Shaking Soul Art?”

A new idea flashed.

It was a thought that even an extraordinary person would not dare to have.

Even if he had such a thought, the problem was the knowledge to realize it.

What were the Taoist sects?

Weren’t they Mount Hua Sect, the Quanzhen Sect, and Wudang?

But Cheon Mubaeck, by his own evaluation, thought that Heaven-Shaking Soul Art was overwhelmingly superior among his numerous past lives.

If it was an internal energy cultivation method that would go well with such a Heaven-Shaking Soul Art, it had to be at least the core of Mount Hua Sect, Quanzhen, and Wudang.

No matter how extraordinary, how could one obtain the internal energy cultivation methods of those who had claimed to be the leaders of the Nine Great Sects in the Central Plains of the martial world for hundreds of years?

‘I already have them, so what.’

If someone could open Cheon Mubaeck’s mind and check, that person would truly shout this.

“It’s a treasure map containing all the martial arts in the world!”

Of course, that might be a bit of an exaggeration.

But in fact, Cheon Mubaeck’s numerous memories were a huge archive of martial arts.

‘The Primordial Heaven Clear-Heart Method? This isn’t bad either. The Six Yang Divine Art, the Taiji Divine Art, the Wudang internal energy is also good. But these are a bit strong in yang energy. Or should I look at the Quanzhen Sect’s martial arts?’

If someone saw Cheon Mubaeck casually recalling the martial arts of the Nine Great Sects, they might complain that it was unfair.

But Cheon Mubaeck did not care at all.

Because he had not stolen all those martial arts.

‘I’ve been in Wudang, I’ve been in Mount Hua Sect, and as for the Quanzhen Sect… well, I was rewarded for saving their descendants when they were about to be destroyed.’

Numerous past lives. They were things that Cheon Mubaeck had obtained legitimately himself.

After analyzing the pros and cons of so many martial arts and comparing them with each other, Cheon Mubaeck finally nodded his head.

Adding another internal energy cultivation method to the Heaven-Shaking Soul Art he was already learning did not simply mean a combination of martial arts.

The creation of a completely new martial art.

Since Cheon Mubaeck had already far surpassed the knowledge, experience, and realm of a grandmaster who could create martial arts, it was an attempt that only he could make in this Central Plains of the martial world.

In fact, Cheon Mubaeck’s heart was pounding.

The fear of failure?

There was no such thing in the first place.

Analysis and analysis, and experience and vast knowledge were combined.

He had already reduced the probability of failure as much as possible, and Cheon Mubaeck had finally come up with an answer.

He suddenly shouted.

“Jeombak! Don’t let anyone in until I come out. Even if my sister comes! Absolutely!”

A situation that required a high level of concentration.

Cheon Mubaeck’s eyes flashed.

“Alright, shall we begin?”

(End of Chapter)

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep