Ten Paths of the Master - Chapter 20

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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 20. Star Heaven, Divine Lotus, Fear of Death
As the Genius Dan Yeop accepted his dismissal as inevitable, Dan Bul-wi the sect leader asked casually.
“That fellow seemed keen on going to Jeom-mun. Is there anywhere you’d like to go?”
“At Jeom-mun, would I be working at an inn?”
“There are shops and storefronts, but the Ha-o Sect’s main operation is the inn business, naturally.”
“Anywhere but the pleasure houses will do for me.”
“You don’t want to go to a pleasure house?”
“No. My chastity is precious to me.”
Dan Bul-wi chuckled. “It seems you and that fellow think alike on that point. So be it—I’ll make sure to steer you away from the pleasure houses.”
“Thank you. Then I’ll go into seclusion for my training.”
After parting ways with Dan Bul-wi, Dan Yeop gathered his pack and water bottle from his lodgings and made his way to his training ground.
He began by deploying the Six Gates Martial Arts.
After running through the Fist Method, Palm Method, Golden Hand Water, Foot Method, followed by the Heaven-Earth Blade Method, Hundred Flows Blade Method, and Seven Celestial Blade Method, he exhaled a long breath.
“Haah!”
As he faithfully reproduced the Six Gates Martial Arts, a peculiar emptiness swept over him.
There was a saying: Ten Thousand Streams Return to Source.
Having mastered not only the Ha-o Sect’s methods but even the Heavenly Realm Tae-go Sect’s cultivation techniques, his insight had already transcended the human realm.
To someone at his level, the Six Gates Martial Arts were worse than useless.
After a moment’s thought, he decided to refine the Six Gates Martial Arts slightly.
These were techniques he’d rely on for life, and he didn’t want to practice them while cursing their flaws.
“I’ll just strip out the foolish movements from the worthwhile forms.”
He selected the Heaven Collapse Fist, Turning Heaven Water, Flash Lightning Foot, Falling Flower Mountain Water, Heaven-Earth Blade Method, Hundred Flows Blade Method, and Seven Celestial Blade Method.
Then he refined away the unnecessary movements.
Even with just partial adjustments, he felt a sharp clarity descend.
“This should keep me from sounding like an idiot.”
When he finished, his stomach rumbled audibly.
Only then did Dan Yeop feel hunger. He popped a Grain Avoidance Pill into his mouth.
After rinsing his mouth with water, he turned to practicing the Tae-go Sect’s cultivation techniques.
He began with the Great Void Shadowless Sword.
The first form, Fog Birth No Trace—the sword intent rises without a trace, like mist itself.
The second form, Empty Step Flowing Shadow—the steps tread on empty air, flowing mysterious as a phantom’s shadow.
The third form, Great Void Return Illumination—all things are emptiness, yet one sword returns and illuminates.
This was sword technique that even renowned martial artists would need to ponder their whole lives to barely grasp, yet Dan Yeop found no difficulty.
Compared to the Unobstructed Sword or Primordial Chaos Sword, the Great Void Shadowless Sword flowed without resistance.
Though he deployed all three forms of the Great Void Shadowless Sword, his breathing remained calm.
“This is how it should be.”
The Unobstructed Sword—even thinking about it made his breath catch.
Actually deploying the Unobstructed Sword brought his breath up to his throat.
Dan Yeop trained with the Great Void Shadowless Sword until exhaustion claimed him.
During brief rests, he chewed Grain Avoidance Pills and drank water.
After a day like this, he moved on to the Unobstructed Sword.
As his martial mastery deepened, his understanding of the Unobstructed Sword expanded accordingly.
How much time had passed?
His mind and body worn, he collapsed and crunched through Grain Avoidance Pills mechanically.
“Oh no! I was told not to eat them like this.”
Dan Yeop started in alarm at how visibly his supply of Grain Avoidance Pills had dwindled.
Whenever he trained the Unobstructed Sword, he lost control of his consumption like this.
He tied the pill pouch tightly and stowed it in his pack.
“Even a flea has its pride. This won’t do.”
Rising abruptly from where he’d been sitting, he deployed the Primordial Chaos Sword.
Not for training, but to keep from forgetting it.
As expected, the more he deployed it, the further he drifted from the sword intent—a strange and unsettling sensation.
“Ah, practicing was a mistake.”
Each deployment took him one step further away.
Then perhaps not practicing would bring him one step closer?
Lost in idle thoughts, he retrieved the Golden Silk Jade Garment from his pack, put it on, and lay down.
Now was the time to cultivate the Tai-eul Primordial Yuan Transformation Technique.
Dan Yeop gazed into the empty air with eyes half-closed.
―When you illuminate your Dantian in quietness, the Star Heaven reflects within it.
In emptiness, a flame arises and transforms into the Divine Lotus.
The moment he concentrated his consciousness on his Dantian, stars began to emerge one by one.
The harmony of Tai-eul Ki that Jeok Song-ja had infused into him.
Had Dan Yeop lacked Tai-eul Ki, he would have found it difficult to glimpse the Star Heaven even with a lifetime of cultivation.
Fortunately, Dan Yeop had obtained Tai-eul Ki through the Response Qi Pill, so he could perceive it within his own Dantian.
The stars transformed into flames, then almost at once budded like a lotus flower.
Dan Yeop gazed at the Divine Lotus with an impassive face.
There was nothing new here—he had done this much before.
But then it happened.
Suddenly, the Divine Lotus that had been closed began to open slowly, its petals unfurling in bloom.
As the new change unfolded, Dan Yeop’s brows furrowed as he focused intently.
The radiant Divine Lotus scattered like mist, and two pale hands materialized, throttling his neck without mercy.
*Cough!*
Dan Yeop screamed silently within.
*I… can’t… breathe….*
He thrashed desperately, but his body would not budge.
*Please… help me….*
Just before his breath gave out, the hands slipped away into darkness.
“Aaaaahhhhh—!”
With a cry, Dan Yeop thrust his upper body upright.
“Gasp! Gasp! Gasp! Gasp!”
His hand rose slowly toward his throat as he heaved for breath.
His fingers traced the rough texture of scar tissue.
……
His flawless face contorted for the first time.
In that moment, he understood.
The fear of death was carved deep into his very bones.
Before he could overcome it, the Tai-eul Primordial Yuan Transformation Technique would remain beyond his reach.
Dan Yeop lifted both hands before his eyes.
Regardless of his will, they trembled uncontrollably.
“Damn. It’s ruined.”
When the Divine Lotus bloomed after the Star Heaven, the fear of death awakened.
He had been consumed by that terror.
At this rate, not only would mastering the Tai-eul Primordial Yuan Transformation Technique be difficult—even absorbing the Response Qi Pill would be no simple matter.
Once his body had settled, he attempted the Tai-eul Primordial Yuan Transformation Technique again.
But the moment the Divine Lotus bloomed fully, white hands appeared and strangled his neck.
After waking again with a scream, he removed the Golden Silk Jade Garment and placed it in his travel pack.
“I should see my father.”
***
Afternoon training time.
The A-mun martial hall.
Upon seeing Dan Yeop return after four days, the instructor Dan Bul-wi smiled inwardly.
If it were merely a matter of not sleeping, he could endure longer, but physical training would only shorten that window.
In Dan Yeop’s case, four days seemed to be his limit.
“You’re back?”
“Yes, sir. I had some questions.”
“What is it?”
“Do you happen to know anything about the scars on my neck?”
As he spoke, Dan Yeop revealed the skin around his neck.
Seeing the scarred throat, the instructor Dan Bul-wi answered with an embarrassed expression.
“I don’t know. You already had them when I first met you in the Marketplace fourteen years ago.”
“So that would make me four years old at the time?”
“That’s right.”
“How did you know I was four?”
“When I asked your age, you held up four fingers.”
“As the Fool Dan Yeop?”
“Yes.”
“He seems to have been sharper than I thought?”
“He was, back then.”
“Didn’t the Fool Dan Yeop say anything about the scars on his neck?”
“Not a word.”
“Do you have any idea who might have done it?”
“That child always bristled whenever I mentioned his parents. So I assumed he’d suffered something terrible at their hands and didn’t press further.”
“Please find out who did this to Dull-witted Dan Yeop.”
“What good will knowing that do us now?”
“The wound on my neck keeps distracting me when I practice my Mental Cultivation Method.”
“What does that have to do with your Mental Cultivation Method?”
Elder Dan Bul-wi looked at Dan Yeop with bewilderment.
“You asked before, didn’t you? Whether Dull-witted Dan Yeop and I share a resonance.”
“I did.”
“It seems that resonance occurs when I practice my Mental Cultivation Method. The sensation of being strangled is so intense it feels like death itself—and it’s interfering with my practice.”
“Ha! How extraordinary.”
“His terrifying memories are holding my feet to the ground, so to speak.”
“Do you think it would change things if you knew who tried to kill you?”
“I’m not certain. But knowing who they are might help me find a way forward.”
“Understood. I’ll coax it out of Dull-witted Dan Yeop and find out who did it.”
Elder Dan Bul-wi regarded Dan Yeop with a peculiar gaze.
Dull-witted Dan Yeop’s Inner Power cultivation had stopped due to his Personality Split, yet Genius Dan Yeop’s cultivation was now caught in the past of his duller self.
Absurdly, Dull-witted Dan Yeop held Genius Dan Yeop’s ankle, and Genius Dan Yeop held Dull-witted Dan Yeop’s in return.
Whether it was because they were one body or some cruel joke of fate, he couldn’t say.
***
Dan Yeop left the training hall at A-mun and returned to his quarters, stretching out on his bed.
Reflecting on the past four days, his mood was restless.
He’d been in perfect spirits while refining his Six Gates Martial Arts and training in the Great Void Shadowless Sword and the Unobstructed Sword.
It would have been a flawless finish to practice only the Tai-eul Primordial Yuan Transformation Technique as before, but demonic interference had slipped in at precisely the wrong moment.
Unless he could overcome the “Hand of Terror” that surfaced without warning, the Tai-eul Primordial Yuan Transformation Technique remained impossible to master.
“Sigh! Dan Yeop, what in heaven’s name happened to you?”
His frustration only deepened from not knowing Dull-witted Dan Yeop’s past.
That night, Dan Yeop dreamed of being strangled by a thin, pale hand for hours.
“Uhhh…….”
Moans spilled from his lips as he thrashed in the nightmare.
The stone chamber filled with the sound of his agony.
“Ngh—stop—!”
Dan Yeop’s eyes snapped open as his own cry startled him awake.
“Haah!”
It had been some time since he’d suffered such nightmares; clearly, his body and mind had grown weary of late.
He rose, hastily dressed, and stepped outside.
Seeing disciples gathered around Byeong-ma Chong told him it wasn’t training time.
Catching the reek of sweat-soaked skin, he made straight for the Spirit Spring.
After washing himself in the underground stream, his eyes fell upon a broken bamboo pole.
Dan Yeop picked up a length of bamboo about three hands long.
In that instant, a surge of confidence—as if he could do anything—set his heart racing.
He unfolded the Heaven-Earth Blade Method without thought.
The first form, Heavenly Thunder Falling Slash; the second form, Sideways Mountain-Cleaving Slash; the third form, Wind and Cloud Transforming into Flowers—he poured them all out in one breath.
When he recovered the bamboo, Dan Yeop steadied his breathing.
“Whew—!”
Once again, he had completed the three forms without thinking.
Before, he’d only been able to reach the fifth movement of the third form, but after his Personality Split, the remaining four movements had finished themselves.
He’d accomplished in a blink what should have taken forty days of hard training.
Though this was exactly what he’d hoped for, part of him wondered if it was truly acceptable.
‘At least the Fourteenth Generation hasn’t caught up with me yet?’
A wry smile crossed Dan Yeop’s face at the thought of the Fourteenth Generation.
To be overtaken by disciples who’d just entered the sect—he’d never be able to hold his head up again.
Waving the bamboo through the air, he turned his steps toward Byeong-ma Chong.
‘After the Heaven-Earth Blade Method comes the Hundred Flows Blade Method!’
If his mind had truly sharpened, he should be able to master that as well.
***
Morning training time.
Seon-mun training hall.
The moment Dan Yeop appeared, the disciples regarded him with confusion.
The First Generation Dan Yeop was infamous as a blockhead who had yet to master even the Heaven-Earth Blade Method until now.
There were even rumors that he had a handsome face but was fundamentally a fool.
The lower one descended in the disciple generations—those who had never met him directly—the more readily they believed the rumor.
So Yu-gang, a master instructor from the Seon-mun branch who ordinarily revered the ever-shifting Hundred Flows Blade Method as the Ha-o Sect’s supreme technique, beckoned to Dan Yeop.
At So Yu-gang’s summons, Dan Yeop rushed over and bowed his head.
“Yes, master instructor.”
“Have you come on someone’s errand?”
“No, sir.”
“No? Then what brings you here?”
“I’ve come to learn the Hundred Flows Blade Method.”
“You?”
So Yu-gang’s eyes widened in disbelief as he looked Dan Yeop up and down.
Here was someone who hadn’t mastered the Heaven-Earth Blade Method in fourteen years, now claiming he wanted to learn the notoriously difficult Hundred Flows Blade Method—it was absurd.

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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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