Heavenly Demon of the Huashan Sect - Chapter 8

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 8
Hyun Do swept his gaze over Tian Hui.
‘His body has recovered well.’
A small smile of relief crossed his face.
Of course, he hadn’t known Tian Hui in detail, nor had they met many times.
Yet when Tian Hui had collapsed, Hyun Do had gone to see him, and had prayed for his safety.
‘He’s Hyun Gang’s disciple, after all.’
As he gazed steadily at Tian Hui, his thoughts drifted to Hyun Gang, who no longer walked this world.
Eight years ago.
Hyun Gang had taken his newly appointed disciples of the Plum Blossom Sword from the Hua Shan School and set out into the Gangho.
And that same day, Hyun Do had entered closed-door cultivation.
He’d been proud of how swiftly Hyun Gang was catching up to him, yet it had also ignited a competitive fire within him as a martial artist.
But that decision would haunt him for the rest of his life.
Half a year later, the moment he emerged from closed-door cultivation, he received news that shattered him.
“The youngest master and his disciples are dead.”
Hyun Ryeo, devastated beyond words, had uttered those words the instant she saw him.
Rage and fury consumed him—he railed about taking revenge.
But everyone opposed him.
The enemy was Baigui Castle.
One of the Six Desolate Gates under the Sa Huk Ryeon, it wielded such power that its reputation shook the realm.
Though some had suggested that the Hua Shan School might succeed with aid from the Murim Alliance, an unexpected answer came back.
Baigui Castle itself had also lost the Myeoljjeol Pa Geom and the Ghost Annihilation Corps under his command, so they proposed letting the matter rest—and the Murim Alliance had accepted their proposal.
If the Hua Shan School wished for revenge, they were told, they would have to wage outright war, sect against sect.
Rage consumed him. Fury burned within him.
Wage a full-scale war?
It was impossible.
Unlike Baigui Castle, which had lost only one of its six military corps and still had the Myeoljjeol Pa Geom, the Hua Shan School had lost its core strength—Hyun Gang and the Plum Blossom Sword disciples.
Defeat was painted in unmistakable strokes.
He could not allow five hundred years of Hua Shan’s history to end in his hands.
In the end, he abandoned the thought and asked Hyun Ryeo.
‘Where is he buried?’
‘Following the youngest master’s final wish, I scattered his ashes to the heavens of Hua Shan.’
It felt as though the ground beneath him had collapsed.
At the time, everyone had laughed at those words.
What kind of final wish was that, they’d asked.
Yet no one in the Hua Shan School had foreseen that such a wish would become reality.
For a long time after that day, he could not escape the depths of sorrow.
If only he had gone with them!
If only he had not entered closed-door cultivation!
Regret strangled Hyun Do.
He should have found a way to go with them.
Yet for the sake of mere competitive ambition, he had devoted himself to closed-door cultivation—and because of that, he hadn’t even been able to greet their bodies.
It was then that Hyun Cheong, his elder brother, had let go of everything and entered the Manjing Pavilion.
‘It’s all because our school is weak.’
Those words, spoken before Hyun Cheong entered the Manjing Pavilion, had struck Hyun Do like a thunderbolt.
‘If I become an Absolute Master, we will never suffer such a loss again!’
He had regained his senses and thrown himself back into cultivation.
To become an Absolute Master.
Perhaps because he devoted himself entirely to cultivation, abandoning all else.
After six years had passed, he finally reached the threshold of the Wuji Realm and drew within sight of the Tianwu Realm.
Now came merely a single step.
Cross that one threshold, and he would ascend to the Tianwu Realm, becoming an Absolute Master.
And yet.
‘It still eludes my grasp.’
Even now, the wall of the Tianwu Realm shimmered before him—but he could not draw near it.
For two years now.
Thump.
Hyun Do sank to the floor.
After that, his right hand, weathered and calloused from years of training, tapped rhythmically against the ground as he spoke.
“Sit down for now.”
Tian Hui took his seat.
“Before you learn martial arts, you must first establish the foundation of your Heart Method. So I’ll teach you the Tona Method first.”
Hyun Do immediately groped back through his memory to those distant days when he’d first learned martial arts himself, his lips moving as he searched for the words.
“Your mind and body must be pure to receive the correct vital essence. The ancient, stagnant qi that has accumulated in your body must be expelled first. That is the beginning. After that, you draw in a deep breath and accept the clean qi—this is the essence of the Tona Method……”
Expel, then inhale.
It was a lengthy explanation, but in the end, it all came down to those two things.
Sigh, so when does this end?
His eyes grew heavy at the tedious discourse.
But he had to pretend to listen.
Across from him, Hyun Do had fire in his eyes, watching him intently.
As he pretended to listen, letting the explanation go in one ear and out the other, roughly a quarter of an hour passed.
“This is the Tona Method.”
Hyun Do finished his explanation.
Finally it was over.
The moment he gathered strength in his heavy eyelids—
“Now, give it a try.”
Hyun Do said with a smile.
Though the Tona Method was supposedly the foundation of the Heart Method, it was hardly reasonable to expect him to perform it with just one explanation when he understood nothing.
Normally a teacher would demonstrate first, or infuse their own True Qi to help the student grasp the Tona Method.
But he deliberately did not.
‘Please teach Tian Hui martial arts.’
Having received a request from Hyun Ryeo, who rarely asked him for anything, Hyun Do was resolved to teach Tian Hui thoroughly.
‘For now, I’ll watch the situation and let him feel the qi by infusing my True Qi—that should do it.’
Such was his martial philosophy.
That one act was more efficient than a hundred words of instruction.
“Understood, sir.”
Tian Hui assumed the cross-legged sitting position.
“Yes, yes. That’s the posture.”
Hyun Do smiled with satisfaction.
It was better than expected.
Most children couldn’t hold the proper cross-legged position, yet Tian Hui sat with the perfect form of someone who had trained for years like a Daoist sage.
‘He must have copied the youngest disciple.’
As he gazed at the cross-legged posture that seemed to echo his youngest disciple, nostalgia began to wash over him—
Inhale, exhale.
With eyes closed, Tian Hui drew in his breath and released it repeatedly.
After a quarter of an hour had passed—
His eyes opened gently.
Tian Hui opened his eyes.
“I’ve finished, sir.”
Hyun Do nodded.
“That is the Yunqi Zuoshi. If you practice the Tona Method this way, without fail every day, then at some point you will sense a foreign qi unlike the usual……”
“Are you referring to the qi that enters through the mouth and knocks upon the Lower Dantian, sir?”
“Exactly. Accumulating the qi that strikes the Lower Dantian is how you build Inner Power——wait, what?”
Hyun Do’s face went blank.
He felt the qi on the first Yunqi Zuoshi?
That made no sense.
“What are you saying?”
“I accumulated it in the Lower Dantian just as you explained, sir.”
At his continued words, a hollow laugh burst from Hyun Do.
The boy must be joking.
“Ha. You certainly enjoy your jokes.”
“A joke, sir?”
Hyun Do, dismissing it as childish play, stiffened as he saw Tian Hui’s expression.
That face held not a shred of deception.
“……You’re serious?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Give me your hand.”
Tian Hui extended his right hand.
The moment Hyun Do grasped the boy’s pale, slender wrist and infused his True Qi to examine the Lower Dantian, his jaw dropped.
……!
He nearly bolted upright.
Inner Power had accumulated in his Lower Dantian.
Still microscopic in quantity, but utterly pure.
“How… how is this possible?”
“I did as you instructed.”
“You mean, strictly as the oral teachings prescribed?”
“Yes.”
“Impossible!”
“Impossible? What do you mean, impossible?”
“How can you build Inner Power in a single attempt merely from hearing the oral teachings?”
“Then are you saying you ordered me to do the impossible?”
Tian Hui tilted his head.
Though inwardly, he was smirking.
‘This weakling is testing me?’
He quickly recognized Hyun Do’s attempt to test him, and deliberately played ignorant.
Unaware of Tian Hui’s true thoughts, Hyun Do shook his head and spoke quietly.
“I was prepared to help if you got stuck—to guide your True Qi flow and induce the circulation of energy. But…”
Hyun Do had been spilling out his thoughts in confusion when he belatedly came to his senses, and he tightened his grip.
Crack—
“So the Celestial Worthy didn’t simply take his youngest disciple away! Ha ha ha ha!”
Tian Hui stared at Hyun Do, who had suddenly burst into laughter, with a bewildered expression.
‘Has he lost his mind?’
Hyun Do, laughing boldly in his delight, finally released Tian Hui’s wrist from his grip.
It ached.
Tian Hui shook his throbbing wrist.
Clear red handprints marked his wrist, swollen where Hyun Do had gripped it.
Hyun Do opened his mouth as he watched Tian Hui massage his wrist.
“I will teach you the Heart Method.”
It was a remarkable declaration.
Ordinarily, even after building Inner Power, one had to master the Tona Method before learning the Heart Method—such was the custom of the Hua Shan School.
Yet Hyun Do was skipping that step entirely.
‘Remarkable talent—he not only sensed the energy after just one practice of the Tona Method, but also accumulated Inner Power in his Lower Dantian.’
It would be far too wasteful to let such talent decay while squandering time on the Tona Method.
‘I’ll explain it to the sect leader later—he’ll understand.’
Tian Hui watched Hyun Do, lost in thought.
‘Hmm? I’ve heard that orthodox sects learn martial arts step by step… Perhaps the Hua Shan School is different.’
It was an unprecedented departure from custom, made for a single person, but Tian Hui himself took it lightly.
“What I will teach you is the Plum Blossom Qi Art. It is the Heart Method that only True Disciples of this school may learn, and it forms the foundation of all martial arts within our sect.”
Hyun Do’s explanation grew lengthy.
But this time it was not tedious.
It felt somehow different from reading it in a book.
He had read about the Plum Blossom Qi Art in martial texts before, and the verses were identical.
Yet Hyun Do had woven in his own interpretations throughout, making it easier to understand, and this drew his interest along effortlessly.
“Merging the Inner Power into one…”
* * *
The next day, when Tian Hui returned from Manjing Pavilion, Hyun Do was waiting for him.
“Master?”
Hyun Do held out the wooden sword in his hand.
“Take it.”
Tian Hui accepted the wooden sword somewhat taken aback.
Then Hyun Do drew his blade.
The White Lotus Sword, which should have gleamed pure white, was now tinged with the crimson of sunset.
He hefted the sword into position.
Swoosh—
Truth be told, his body was burning with excitement.
It was because of what happened yesterday.
Tian Hui had grasped the oral teachings of the Plum Blossom Qi Art so thoroughly that he achieved the Minor Heavenly Circulation.
In less than a quarter hour!
In that moment, Hyun Do understood.
‘A genius destined to be remembered through the ages.’
He formulated a plan for the future.
A plan to raise Tian Hui as a master whose name would be inscribed in the annals of the Hua Shan School—no, in the history of the entire Gangho.
“Watch carefully. This is the true sword technique of our school—the Six Harmony Sword Technique.”
Hyun Do demonstrated the Six Harmony Sword Technique.
Whoosh— whoosh—
The blade swept forth with tremendous force.
Tian Hui, who had been glaring at Hyun Do for his one-sided pronouncements and actions, felt his eyes sharpen the moment the technique began.
Hyun Do’s blade carved through the four cardinal directions and the space between them.
The sharp White Lotus Sword, wielded through every angle a human body could achieve, moved with such fluidity that it seemed capable of responding to any circumstance.
Yet something felt unnatural about it.
Tian Hui watched Hyun Do intently, his gaze unblinking.
He searched to pinpoint what seemed amiss.
After displaying the complete Six Harmony Sword Technique, Hyun Do sheathed his blade and began to speak.
“Did you observe it well?”
“I did watch.”
“Then I shall now explain each form.”
He raised his blade again.
Beginning with the first technique he had displayed, he began to explain as he demonstrated once more.
“First comes the opening form—the Six Harmony Opening Array. You step forward with one foot like this, raising the blade high. This is the foundational posture. And from this position……”
After demonstrating the first form and all five remaining ones, Hyun Do sheathed his sword and spoke.
“Now attempt it yourself.”
He adjusted his grip on the wooden sword.
A slight exhilaration rose in his chest at wielding a blade again after so long.
A sword—how long it had been.
He began to unfold the Six Harmony Sword Technique.
After repeating it several times.
There it was—the problem.
He had found what seemed unnatural when Hyun Do demonstrated the Six Harmony Sword Technique earlier.
The forms had no connection to one another.
Each individual form seemed complete in isolation, but when executing the entire Six Harmony Sword Technique in succession, the flaw became apparent.
It would flow better like this.
Whoosh!
In an instant, the Six Harmony Sword Technique began to transform.
The blade, which had moved freely and disconnectedly from form to form, began to find a rhythm, and the separate movements wove together into one fluid whole.
Hyun Do, who had watched the entire transformation from start to finish, felt his brow furrow.
At first, the boy seemed to execute the moves well enough as instructed, but as time passed, the technique was becoming degraded and crude.
‘To think he could be so clumsy.’
As the saying goes, great expectations breed great disappointment, and Hyun Do felt a twinge of regret.
‘No—excess defeats its purpose. A child who has never held a blade before performing to this degree is sufficiently satisfactory.’
He shook his head.
It was somewhat disappointing, but acceptable.
‘Unlike inner power meditation, which requires talent and aptitude, sword technique can reach high levels quickly through effort alone.’
After nodding once, Hyun Do strode toward Tian Hui, who was still struggling to execute the Six Harmony Sword Technique properly.
“Clumsy. Did I not explain the Six Harmony Sword Technique to you? When you swing like this, you must raise the blade higher. You must split the heavens to achieve true fullness……”
“But wouldn’t it be more natural to swing it this way?”
The old Hyun Do would have been angry at being interrupted.
But after yesterday’s encounter, the distance between them had closed considerably—enough that Hyun Do now understood when Tian Hui spoke freely or interrupted him like this.
Hyun Do gazed steadily at Tian Hui, whose expression seemed to ask ‘how could you not understand this,’ and asked quietly.
“What are you saying?”
“Watch.”
Tian Hui immediately unfolded the Six Harmony Sword Technique he had altered of his own accord in one smooth motion.
Whoosh— whoosh—
At first glance it resembled what Hyun Do had demonstrated, but it lacked sharpness and the true essence of the Six Harmony Sword Technique remained absent. Then the technique transformed entirely.
“You!”
Hyun Do’s eyes, which had been watching silently, suddenly narrowed with an intensity that cut like blades.
“The Six Harmony Sword Technique is a technique passed down through generations in our school. And yet you would dare alter it as you please? Would you commit the crime of Deceiving Teacher and Betraying Ancestors?”
“But this way is better.”
“Still you refuse to see reason!”
With a sharp rebuke, he drew his sword again and released his inner power.
“Watch carefully and see exactly what foolish thing you were about to do.”
To make him realize how grave a mistake he was about to commit, Hyun Do recreated the Six Harmony Sword Technique that Tian Hui had just unleashed.
First Form: Six Harmony Opening Array.
Second Form: Six Harmony Nine Flows.
And as he moved into the Third Form, the Six Harmony Bitter Rain.
Swish—swish—
He found himself drawn deeper in, almost without realizing it.
Having fully transformed the Six Harmony Sword Technique and pushed through to its end.
“…….”
A moment later, Hyun Do stood motionless.
The sword paths of the Six Harmony Sword Technique he had just performed still gleamed vividly before his eyes.
“Such seamless transitions…….”
Tian Hui approached Hyun Do, who was still lost in the profound afterglow, and spoke.
“I was right, wasn’t I?”

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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