The Fortunate Sword God of the Zhuge Clan - Chapter 16

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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 16.
Moo Hoon studied Dokgo Hyeon for a moment with a bewildered expression, then opened his mouth.
“…Isn’t that rather a large price to pay for a teacher?”
At those words, Dokgo Hyeon chuckled softly.
“I was planning to teach you anyway.”
“That was when your life hung by a thread. Back then, the purpose wasn’t clear—to carry forward the Dokgo Sword School’s legacy.”
“So now that you’ve lived, there’s no need? Ha. I’m not that kind of man. I keep my word.”
Dokgo Hyeon rolled his neck loosely from side to side and continued.
“Besides, I lived this time, but who knows when I’ll die once we reach Sichuan?”
Dokgo Hyeon spoke in a matter-of-fact tone.
Having resolved to seek vengeance against enemies whose very identities remained unknown, it wouldn’t be strange to turn up as a corpse at any moment.
“And more than anything, I can’t rest easy unless I do this. So just accept it.”
Moo Hoon exhaled a shallow sigh and smiled.
“If that’s how your heart stands, I understand. I will convey everything you teach me to the next generation without fail.”
At this, Dokgo Hyeon smiled.
“That’s the spirit. Even if not specifically the next generation, someone as sharp as you could put it to good use.”
Moo Hoon shook his head slowly.
“I’m afraid I won’t be able to practice it myself.”
“What? Why not?”
“Don’t you see, as a First-Rate martial artist? My Dantian is empty, and my meridians are completely sealed.”
At Moo Hoon’s words, Dokgo Hyeon seemed to examine Moo Hoon’s body with Energy Sensing, and soon his brow furrowed.
“Really? But there’s something… some kind of energy flowing, though extremely faintly. What is that?”
At Dokgo Hyeon’s question, wonder flickered across Moo Hoon’s eyes.
‘He perceives the effects of the Tianshan Continuous Technique without reaching the Peak?’
It was an Energy Sensing superior to his realm.
This wasn’t to dismiss First-Rate practitioners.
Yet detecting Inner Energy flowing through capillaries was far more difficult than sensing the Inner Energy of an ant passing by.
During the decades Moo Hoon had worked in the organization, all who could detect this had been martial artists at the Peak or beyond.
Moo Hoon inwardly marveled and continued.
“It’s the product of a Heart Method born from the struggle to survive.”
“You created a Heart Method yourself?”
“Indeed. I was able to accomplish it thanks to several forms of assistance.”
“Wow… the more I learn about you, the more impressive you become.”
Moo Hoon chuckled at Dokgo Hyeon’s reaction and shifted the subject.
“In any case, even if there were no problem with Internal Energy Cultivation, having learned this Heart Method, wouldn’t it be straightforward to master the Dokgo Sword School’s Heart Method?”
Every martial art possesses a Heart Method suited to it.
Rather, martial arts develop around that Heart Method at their core.
Therefore, learning a different Heart Method and then entering a martial art was rather like learning the fundamentals of the sword and then taking up the spear.
“Well, that doesn’t matter.”
Yet Dokgo Hyeon simply grinned as if it were nothing.
“It doesn’t matter? What do you mean?”
“The Dokgo Sword Technique doesn’t use Internal Energy Cultivation.”
“?!”
Moo Hoon’s eyes widened at something he’d never heard before.
“A martial art that doesn’t use Internal Energy Cultivation? Such a thing exists?”
Could something like that even be called a martial art in the first place?
At Moo Hoon’s question, Dokgo Hyeon gave a light shrug.
“To be precise, having Internal Energy Cultivation or not makes no difference. There’s no form that requires it.”
At Dokgo Hyeon’s words, Moo Hoon’s face filled with doubt.
“Yet you yourself never accumulated Internal Energy Cultivation?”
“Me? Well, I did. I wanted to try something called Sword Energy.”
Dokgo Hyeon answered as if it were nothing special.
“So I took the money from selling herbs and bought a secret manual that looked easy at the Marketplace and learned from it.”
Moo Hoon’s face showed complete incomprehension.
“A secret manual that looked easy…? Could you tell me its name?”
“Hmm? Well… something like Three? Samjae Heart Method? That’s what it was.”
At that answer, Moo Hoon was astounded.
“You reached First-Rate using the Samjae Heart Method?”
The Samjae Heart Method.
A technique renowned for its ease, something anyone could learn, with no deviation recorded in its practice.
But to say it was easy and safe was to say the Heart Method excluded the danger required to transcend one’s limits.
This was why it earned the rating of third-rate martial art—yet Dokgo Hyeon was claiming he had reached first-rate with this method alone.
“Hm? Why—is there something wrong with that?”
Dokgo Hyeon, unfamiliar with the laws of the martial world, wore an expression suggesting he wondered if he’d misspoken.
“No, there is nothing wrong. Rather….”
The mistake was Moo Hoon’s own.
He had thought Dokgo Hyeon a fine martial artist, but had judged his talent too shallow.
True, he had not dismissed the skill that approached the peak—even beyond first-rate—before thirty. Yet even that fell short of capturing half of half his true capacity.
Moo Hoon let out a hollow laugh.

“May I ask your age, if you don’t mind?”
“Me? I’m not entirely sure. Around twenty-four, I’d say?”
Twenty-four—the same age as his elder brother, Moo Young.
Yet with no foundation whatsoever, he was touching the threshold of the peak using only the Samjae Heart Method?
‘The final step toward the peak is said to be the most difficult….’
With talent of this caliber, in the cultivation of inner energy, was he not comparable to Seo Ryong himself?
“You called me remarkable, did you not?”
“Hm? Yeah, you’re the first person I’ve met who’s as sharp as you.”
“I believe you are far more remarkable than I.”
At Moo Hoon’s sudden praise, Dokgo Hyeon’s expression turned blank.
“What? All of a sudden? Why?”
“As a martial artist. Talent such as yours appears once in a generation, if that.”
“No, why are you suddenly saying such things….”
Dokgo Hyeon looked uncomfortable, scratching his head before speaking bluntly.
“I can’t make it easier to learn, even if I wanted to. There’s nothing I can do about that.”
“Ha! I wasn’t expecting that in the first place.”
Moo Hoon broke into a hearty laugh.
‘But I cannot allow talent such as this to fade away at the Imperial Palace’s whim.’
Moo Hoon swallowed his resolve and posed another question to Dokgo Hyeon.
“Then in the Dokgo Sword Technique, if one does not employ inner energy, what subdues an opponent?”
Dokgo Hyeon answered readily.
“Principle.”
At this, Moo Hoon tilted his head.
“To subdue an opponent through principle alone?”
“Yes. Even when I was building my inner energy, my master would chide me, saying all that was useless.”
Dokgo Hyeon offered a bitter smile.
“Because of it, I couldn’t sense intrusion through energy sensing and died.”
Dokgo Hyeon spoke of the memory from that day, which he would likely carry his whole life.
“I don’t fully understand it myself, but I’ll tell you what I’ve heard.”
“I’m listening.”
“Good. First, let me ask you something. What do you think is most important in martial arts?”
Moo Hoon pondered for a moment before speaking.
“Fundamentals, surely? Developing a body suited to the martial art one learns, and endlessly training the foundational forms—that’s the basis.”
“Right. Then what is the purpose of fundamentals?”
Again, Moo Hoon’s deliberation was brief.
“The supreme Ultimate Technique means nothing if one cannot execute it. Fundamentals must be sound to create such circumstances in the first place, no?”
“Sharp as ever.”
Dokgo Hyeon nodded with evident satisfaction.
“All the techniques of the Dokgo Sword Technique are fundamentals. But contrary to what you said, they are not groundwork for executing an Ultimate Technique.”
“Then what are they for?”
“An Ultimate Technique is, after all, merely one method among many to achieve victory.”
Dokgo Hyeon smiled with quiet confidence.
“The first form of the Dokgo Sword Technique comprises three hundred sixty individual fundamentals. From there, eight derived techniques serve as the foundation to respond to any situation.”
Moo Hoon’s eyes widened.
“The first form consists of three hundred sixty movements? What do you mean?”
“You wouldn’t know, but in real combat, any situation can arise. Three hundred sixty barely suffices.”
“Still, if the first form alone transmits so many movements… is it even possible to master them all?”
“That’s why the Dokgo Sword Technique remains obscure and its practitioners are few. Achieving mastery of this and gaining renown is no simple feat.”
“…I see.”
Convinced by the logic, Moo Hoon nodded in agreement.
“Learning the forms is just the beginning. Nine forms in name, but practically speaking, they’re all one form without distinction. They’re examples, applications of a single form—it’s a matter of perception.”
Dokgo Hyeon exhaled softly, as if recalling his own training days.
“It took me ten years just to memorize them. And my master never did achieve complete mastery, even in the end. Transmission itself has always been the difficult part….”
Dokgo Hyeon turned to regard Moo Hoon, a slight smile lifting the corners of his mouth.
“But you said you never forget anything you hear once. Where else would you find such talent?”
Moo Hoon met his words with a smile of his own.
“You’re placing a heavy burden on my shoulders.”
“Does that displease you? Then I suppose we have no choice.”
“In truth, I’ve long suspected my shoulders weren’t as light as they might be.”
“Then it’s settled.”
Dokgo Hyeon’s lips curved upward.
“Shall we begin at once? Seven weeks is barely enough time to explain it all, much less practice.”
Moo Hoon nodded.
“Very well. Though there is something I must tell you.”
“Hmm? What?”
“The transmission of the Dokgo Sword Technique will not be possible using the Practice Grounds at the Main Clan Residence.”
Dokgo Hyeon’s expression hardened slightly.
“What? Why? Aren’t you quite highly ranked here? You can’t use the Practice Grounds?”
“Rank notwithstanding, Father—as head of the Main Clan—would not permit me to learn martial arts in the Practice Grounds.”
Even this journey itself had been approved only on the hope that it might restore my health.
The likelihood of permission to study martial arts was nil.
“Ah, that old… the head of the clan seems quite fond of you. Well, it’s true your health isn’t good.”
“Indeed. And….”
Moo Hoon opened his mouth as if to say something, then closed it again.
“And what?”
“It’s nothing of consequence. In any case, it would be best if the transmission of the Dokgo Sword Technique remained secret within the clan.”
The expression on Father’s face when he looked at Dokgo Hyeon had been curious.
Since it was merely an observation, Moo Hoon saw no need to voice it aloud.
‘If there is something he is concealing, I will learn of it in time.’
Dokgo Hyeon pondered briefly, then nodded.
“Well, I don’t want anyone listening anyway. But we still need a place—how do we manage that?”
Moo Hoon smiled lightly.
“I know of a suitable place.”
From that day forward, Moo Hoon set out to the Marketplace each day under the pretext of gathering medicinal herbs and provisions for the journey.
Dokgo Hyeon, brought along under the guise of escort practice, accompanied him.
And once they had ventured some distance from the Marketplace, with Dokgo Hyeon’s help, they made swift passage to a secluded clearing on the Rear Mountain.
“Spacious and pleasant.”
“Indeed. When I sit and listen to the birdsong here, concentration comes quite naturally.”
It was a place he had sought out in his former life too, whenever he had something to ponder alone.
When his father passed.
When his brother passed.
And when he had finally resolved to alter the course of heaven—that place too had been here.
“Then shall we begin with explanation?”
And now it had become the place where Moo Hoon would learn martial arts for the first time.
“I await your instruction.”
Dokgo Hyeon’s teaching was straightforward.
For the first form, he explained and demonstrated each of the three hundred sixty movements one by one.
Then he handed Moo Hoon a wooden branch and had him imitate the movements.
“Hmm….”
Dokgo Hyeon’s assessment of Moo Hoon’s form was simple.
“Accurate, but your strength is severely lacking.”
“Ha! Lacking—it’s been a long time since I heard that expression used.”
“This isn’t a jest. There’s no point in practice like this.”
Even when force was applied at the right moments, no momentum could be felt, and the wooden branch merely wavered.
That much was only possible because of the Tianshan Continuous Technique.
“You said the reason for going to Qingcheng Mountain was to restore your health, correct?”
“Yes.”
“Then for now, simply commit to memory the movements and incantations I show you.”
“Hmm? But wouldn’t it still be better to ingrain it in the body?”
Dokgo Hyeon shook his head.
“At this level, learning it in your current state would be pointless. Once your body is healed, your sensitivity will be entirely different.”
Dokgo Hyeon rose from his seat with a serious expression and continued the demonstration.
“Otherwise, there’s no difference from starting fresh. Actually, it might confuse you more. So for now, just commit it firmly to memory.”
And so Dokgo Hyeon methodically explained and demonstrated the incantations.
In the process, Moo Hoon was somewhat surprised.
‘He explains so simply that even a ten-year-old would understand. Is this also Dokgo Hyeon’s talent?’
Though there might be things he himself didn’t fully grasp, Dokgo Hyeon’s explanations were easy to follow despite avoiding difficult terminology.
Yet he never felt the explanation was insufficient.
Moo Hoon knew well that such clarity was difficult to achieve.
“What? Why are you looking at me like that?”
“Dokgo Hyeon, do you have any thoughts about opening a school someday?”
At Moo Hoon’s question, Dokgo Hyeon’s expression twisted slightly.
“What nonsense is that all of a sudden? Focus properly.”
Dokgo Hyeon replied curtly and continued his explanation.
From the First Form, he taught three hundred sixty different movements and verified that Moo Hoon had memorized them.
After confirming, Dokgo Hyeon proceeded to transmit the Second through Eighth Forms.
“Fundamentally, this is how you do it, but you need to be able to adapt depending on the situation. It means your thinking shouldn’t be trapped in rigid patterns.”
From the Second through Eighth Forms, all consisted of methods to counter numerous weapons.
Swords, sabers, spears, Iron Plates, Three-Section Staffs, Fishing Nets, hand combat, and hidden weapons.
In theory, one could counter every weapon that existed in the world.
“Hah….”
Even by the standards of Moo Hoon, who had collected countless martial arts in his previous life, this technique was remarkably refined.
Most importantly, as Dokgo Hyeon had said, there was no fixed framework—only direction given.
‘It truly resembles Martial Principle more than martial art.’
Moo Hoon marveled, committing every form Dokgo Hyeon displayed to memory.
Thus, the day before the journey.
After completing the transmission of all eight forms, Dokgo Hyeon exhaled softly and spoke.
“And now it’s time to teach you the Ninth Form….”
“Mm? Is something wrong?”
Dokgo Hyeon scratched his head hesitantly.
“Well, it’s not that there’s a problem. I know the incantations and movements precisely.”
“Then why do you hesitate?”
“…The Ninth Form is called the Breaking Form—it’s a technique that suppresses opponents who possess superior internal energy through mental force alone. Since the Dokgo Sword Technique uses no inner energy, truthfully, without this, it’s difficult to call it a proper martial art.”
“I see. Such a technique exists?”
Certainly the Dokgo Sword Technique’s forms were excellent, but it seemed difficult to handle the power radiated by superior martial arts using forms alone.
‘The Ninth Form is what completes the Dokgo Sword Technique as a true martial art.’
Moo Hoon nodded in admiration.
“If such a technique exists, it certainly makes sense why one wouldn’t teach it carelessly. It would be difficult to master as well. I understand your concern.”
“No, it’s not that. The technique exists, but…”
“What?”
Yet the actual obstacle that appeared was entirely different from what Moo Hoon had imagined.
“The truth is, I can’t perform the Ninth Form.”

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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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