The Mending Studio - Chapter 13

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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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Episode 13
Yi Jangmyeong lifted his head.
The excitement from moments before had vanished.
In its place, only resolve remained.
He spoke with clarity.

“Master.”
“Speak.”
“From today onward, I will train in the Sword Dao.”

Jang Hyeonjinin’s expression froze where it stood.

“……What?”

Upon hearing Yi Jangmyeong’s words, Jang Hyeonjinin went blank.
The Saint of Taehyeon Holy Land was abandoning the sect’s supreme Dharma Principle to take up the Sword Dao.
If word of this escaped, practitioners from other holy lands would clutch their bellies with laughter. The Saint’s seat was one the boy would have to shoulder in the years to come.
As his master, Jang Hyeonjinin could not take lightly the decision of such a disciple to cast aside the sect’s supreme Dharma Principle and walk a different path.
Jang Hyeonjinin’s gaze shifted subtly.

‘So he’s still bothered by naming Yuk Musang as Saintess.’

Though he’d denied it, the shock appeared far greater than expected. It was difficult to explain any other way—his disciple had not merely accepted that the Saint’s position was threatened, but had gone so far as to reshape his entire direction of cultivation.
Jang Hyeonjinin’s heart grew heavy.
This was the boy he had raised at his side since childhood. Beyond his natural gifts being extraordinary, his temperament was upright; Jang Hyeonjinin had even begun to consider entrusting him with Taehyeon Holy Land’s future.
If the child had suffered heartache because of him, he could not deny his share of responsibility.

“Jangmyeong.”

Jang Hyeonjinin stepped forward and patted Yi Jangmyeong’s shoulder.

“There’s no need to think so extremely. I understand what you’re thinking.”
“Master, it’s not that…….”

Yi Jangmyeong opened his mouth, but Jang Hyeonjinin raised his hand to silence him.

“It’s time I told you something.”

Yi Jangmyeong closed his mouth.
Jang Hyeonjinin’s expression grew more grave.

“That senior in seclusion at Sojigun has agreed to guide Yuk Musang’s training.”

Yi Jangmyeong’s eyes widened slightly.
Jang Hyeonjinin misread the reaction and continued.

“Moreover, that person likely shares a profound karmic connection with our Taehyeon Holy Land.”
“And someone of that caliber could observe everything happening within Taehyeon Holy Land whenever they wished, if they so chose.”

Jang Hyeonjinin’s voice lowered.

“My decision to raise Yuk Musang as Saintess was not meant to usurp the Saint’s seat. It was a means of preserving and strengthening our connection with that person.”

He looked at Yi Jangmyeong.

“Now do you understand this master’s intention?”

Yi Jangmyeong said nothing for a long time.
The old man before him had raised him like a true son. And yet, fearing his disciple had harbored some groundless misunderstanding, he was now laying bare his very thoughts.
A warmth spread through his chest.

“Master…….”

The corners of his eyes had grown slightly red.
Jang Hyeonjinin’s face softened into a gentle smile at the sight.

“Jangmyeong. You were born with a Peak-Grade Dual-Attribute Dual-Spirit Root. No one can deny your qualities as a Saint.”

He spoke with firm conviction.

“It is you who will one day become the Holy Master of Taehyeon Holy Land. That will not change.”

Yi Jangmyeong nodded heavily.
He knew full well how much his master cherished him.
And for that very reason, he could not delay any longer.

“Master.”
“Speak.”

Yi Jangmyeong hesitated for a moment before speaking softly.

“The truth is, I met that senior directly today in Sojigun.”
“What?”

Jang Hyeonjinin’s expression shifted in an instant.

“You sought him out yourself?”

Yi Jangmyeong nodded.
Jang Hyeonjinin’s eyebrows shot up.

“How dare you commit such a grave act without consulting me!”
“Master, please hear me first——”
“Do you truly believe you could ever fathom what manner of being he is?”

Jang Hyeonjinin’s voice dropped low and rushed forward.
If the man in seclusion at Sojigun truly was a Founder descended from the Upper Realm, there had to be a profound reason for his living in hiding among ordinary mortals.
If reckless curiosity had led him there and he had touched upon forbidden ground, it would not be the problem of one person alone.
The entire Taehyeon Holy Land could fall into ruin.
Jang Hyeonjinin bore this weight more heavily than anyone.
If that man had deliberately chosen seclusion at Sojigun, it was natural to assume he wished to be undisturbed by others.
To seek him out without consultation was itself a dangerous act.

“It was reckless.”

Jang Hyeonjinin exhaled a long breath.

“This was not a matter that ended with you alone. Had things gone wrong, Taehyeon Holy Land itself could have been drawn into calamity.”

Yi Jangmyeong felt his ears burning.
Certainly, he had harbored similar fears at first. That was why he had moved with careful deliberation, one step at a time, entering Sojigun.
But the Yeop Jangcheong he actually met was entirely different.
He had remained unmoved even before the scattered corpses of countless demonic creatures, and when he offered calligraphy containing Sword Dao Truth beyond reckoning, he had smiled as if it were nothing at all.

“So then.”

Jang Hyeonjinin pressed him.

“Did you truly meet him?”

Yi Jangmyeong gathered himself and nodded.

“Yes.”
“What did he say to you? What did he tell you about yourself?”

Jang Hyeonjinin’s questions came in quick succession.
Yi Jangmyeong, afraid of being cut off again, hastened to open his mouth.

“Master, that senior gave me a piece of calligraphy.”

Light flashed.
A scroll of paper, carefully rolled, materialized in Yi Jangmyeong’s hands.

“Within it lay an incalculable depth of Sword Dao Truth.”

Jang Hyeonjinin’s mouth fell silent.
His gaze fixed upon the paper.

“Calligraphy?”
“Yes.”

Yi Jangmyeong offered it forward with both hands.
Jang Hyeonjinin did not take it at once.
He examined the paper first.
It was not mounted.
In that moment, the expectation that had begun to bloom on Jang Hyeonjinin’s face froze slightly.
The calligraphy Yuk Musang had brought was carefully mounted in fine backing. But what had been given to Yi Jangmyeong was merely dried ink on paper, rolled as it was.
The difference was too stark.
Before even seeing the content, that disparity struck his eye first, and Jang Hyeonjinin’s heart could not rest easy.

‘Surely not……’

A chill ran down his spine.
What if that person did not favor Yi Jangmyeong after all?
If he truly was the Founder of the Taehyeon Holy Land, then removing Jang Hyeonjinin from his seat as Holy Master for a single transgression by his successors would be no difficult task.
Jang Hyeonjinin’s expression hardened.

“Did that person truly give this to you with their own hands?”

A bitter smile tugged at Yi Jangmyeong’s lips.

“Yes. Without doubt.”

Only then did Jang Hyeonjinin take the calligraphy with both hands.
After a moment of hesitation, he unrolled the paper slowly.
The bright moon rises beyond Heaven Mountain, amidst vast clouds and sea.
Ten characters came into view. They were written in powerful, unbounded cursive script.
And in that instant.
The Taehyeon Hall vanished before Jang Hyeonjinin’s eyes.
He found himself standing atop a mountain peak whose summit lay beyond sight.
Beyond layer upon layer of ridges flowed a boundless sea of clouds, and above it hung a moon so crystalline it seemed to pierce the cold.
A chill wind swept across the cloud sea.
Before his eyes lay a vast mountain range and an endless sea of clouds, and a luminous moon shining upon them.
Yet it was not merely landscape and artistic conception that lay within.
Between the brushstrokes and the ink ran layers upon layers of Sword Dao Truth beyond measure. The deeper he gazed into the mountains and clouds and moon, the more the profound sword mysteries surged toward him.
Jang Hyeonjinin attempted to fathom them through the Dharma Principles he had cultivated. Because his attainment was higher than Yi Jangmyeong’s, he could perceive more even from the same ten characters, yet the more he looked inward, the clearer it became that what he had discerned was only a fraction.
It was difficult to isolate even a single brushstroke. The strokes and artistic conceptions of all ten characters interlocked seamlessly, without break.
Within these ten characters on ordinary paper lay what seemed to be a separate universe hidden. The further he tried to follow its depth, the more evident it became that what was contained here surpassed mere calligraphy.
Jang Hyeonjinin found himself holding his breath.
Though nearly an hour passed in actual time, he could not draw his spirit away from the artistic conception and Sword Dao Truth woven through the scroll.

“Gasp!”

Jang Hyeonjinin drew in a sharp breath.
The mountains and sea of clouds collapsed in upon themselves.
He stood before Taehyeon Hall.
The paper still hung in his grip.
Astonishment flooded across his features.

“Within this….”

His voice trembled slightly.

“So many mysteries of the Sword Dao are inscribed here.”

Yi Jangmyeong’s expression brightened.
At last his master seemed to understand what he had meant.
Jang Hyeonjinin murmured, unable to tear his eyes from the calligraphy.

“He’s woven an entire universe into the characters themselves. To push the Sword Dao to such heights and then scatter it across the paper so effortlessly….”

With each expression of wonder, Yi Jangmyeong’s conviction deepened.
The conclusion he’d reached upon leaving Sojigun had not been wrong.
The Founder would never have chosen ordinary phrases, and it could be no accident that he had embedded such immeasurable swordsmanship within them. More than that—even a master of his teacher’s lofty caliber could not conceal such amazement upon witnessing it.
All of this pointed to only one thing: an exhortation to cultivate the Sword Dao.
He smiled.

“Master, I too have grasped the profound intent behind this gift.”

Jang Hyeonjinin raised his head slowly.

“Profound intent?”
“Yes.”

Yi Jangmyeong did not hesitate for a moment.

“That you have granted me calligraphy imbued with so many mysteries of the Sword Dao—this is surely meant to encourage me to cultivate the Sword Dao itself, is it not?”

The wonder faded from Jang Hyeonjinin’s face.

……

A moment passed.

“You are mistaken.”
“Master?”

Jang Hyeonjinin brushed at his sleeve.

“You are a Saint of the Taehyeon Holy Land. Do not entertain the thought of abandoning the supreme dharma of our sect to pursue another path.”
“But Master—”
“What happened today must never occur again.”

Jang Hyeonjinin’s voice hardened.

“Should it happen again, I will be truly disappointed in you.”

Yi Jangmyeong stared at him in bewilderment.
Disappointed?
When the calligraphy held so many mysteries of the Sword Dao within it?
Didn’t the Master himself observe it directly and marvel at it?

‘Have I…… misunderstood something?’

His lips pressed together tightly.
Jang Hyeonjinin regarded his disciple and exhaled softly.
After a long pause, he spoke in a roundabout way.

“Jangmyeong. The higher your cultivation rises, the less you can rely on what appears on the surface.”

Yi Jangmyeong lifted his eyes.

“You must learn to read great meaning in small differences. You must also master the art of observing the subtle and inferring the whole.”

With that, Jang Hyeonjinin waved the paper in his hand lightly.
A question mark formed in Yi Jangmyeong’s eyes.

‘So…… what does it mean?’

He understood nothing.
In the meantime, the sun tilted toward the west.
As their conversation stretched on, the light before Taehyeon Hall had shifted without his noticing.
A crimson sunset draped across all of Taehyeon Mountain, staining even the mist between the peaks red. The distant silhouettes of islets and pavilions blurred faintly within the glow.
Their conversation lapsed. Yi Jangmyeong asked nothing further, keeping his lips sealed and standing in silence.
Then it happened.
Boom—!
A tremendous tremor erupted from the direction of Youngeombeong far away.
The spiritual energy of the entire mountain range shuddered in that instant.
Immediately after, a thick column of divine light surged from Youngeombeong, piercing through the sky.
Jang Hyeonjinin and Yi Jangmyeong turned their heads in unison.

“That is…….”

Boom—!
As the divine light rising from Youngeombeong split the evening sky, all of Taehyeon Holy Land trembled.
Disciples who had been meditating in sealed chambers rushed outside from mountain peaks, and practitioners emerged one by one atop pavilions and towers.

“What’s happened at Youngeombeong?”
“With that much force, it seems someone has broken through a threshold.”
“Could it be the head of the Wongeom Sect?”

Murmurs spread throughout the grounds.
The higher-ranking practitioners of Taehyeon Holy Land perceived the situation far more swiftly.
Brief exchanges passed through the Spiritual Formula.

(With such momentum, it must be Wongeom Jinin.)
(Has he finally entered the Hwashin Realm?)
(Strange. Even the previous Holy Master said he would need at least another two thousand years.)
(Then he must have obtained a Fortuitous Encounter.)

Upon confirming the divine light from Youngeombeong, the higher-ranking practitioners did not simply stand by and watch.

(What manner of Fortuitous Encounter could halve the time required for Realm Breaking?)
(This is scarcely believable.)
(I must go and verify this myself.)
(I will go as well.)

With those words, the brief exchange through the Spiritual Formula ended. None had any intention of remaining.
Moments later, crimson light surged from several peaks across Taehyeon Mountain in succession.
The higher-ranking practitioners flew toward Youngeombeong as if bound by a pact.
Before Taehyeon Hall.
Jang Hyeonjinin and Yi Jangmyeong were also watching the direction from which the divine light had risen.
Joy appeared on Jang Hyeonjinin’s face before surprise.

“So Wongeom Jinin has finally broken through.”
“You knew this would happen, Master?”

Yi Jangmyeong asked.
Jang Hyeonjinin nodded, stroking his beard.

“He was receiving insight from the calligraphy that Yuk Musang brought. It seems that fortuitous encounter pushed through his final barrier.”
“The calligraphy……”

Yi Jangmyeong’s expression hardened.
Now a doubt resolved itself.
Yeop Jangcheong had not given the writing only to him.
Yuk Musang had received a piece of calligraphy first as well, and Wongeom Jinin, the practitioner of Youngeombeong, entered the Hwashin Realm much earlier than scheduled, having finally comprehended it.
Yi Jangmyeong suddenly recalled what Jang Hyeonjinin had said a moment ago while holding his own calligraphy.
In small differences, one must read great meaning.

‘Could it be…… that there’s a difference between the two pieces?’

Yuk Musang’s had been carefully mounted and framed.
His was not.
That fact troubled him.
Until just now, he had thought nothing of the fact that it wasn’t framed. Hadn’t Yeop Jangcheong said directly that time was short and framing would be difficult today?
Yet after his master specifically told him to observe the ‘small differences,’ everything appeared in a new light.
Could that instruction itself have been a clue?
To Yuk Musang, he had given a completed work; to Yi Jangmyeong, merely a hastily written sheet of paper.

‘Did my senior regard me lightly?’

The conviction he had felt until moments before wavered.
Yuk Musang had received recognition from Yeop Jangcheong first, and Wongeom Jinin had broken through his barrier with nothing but the calligraphy she had brought.
Then did Yeop Jangcheong believe his aptitude inferior to Yuk Musang’s?
As the thought reached that point, his chest grew cold.
Yi Jangmyeong stood in silence for a time, then bowed deeply before Jang Hyeonjinin.

“Master.”
“Why do you do this?”
“This disciple has erred.”

Jang Hyeonjinin turned his gaze away.
The stubborn set to Yi Jangmyeong’s face had vanished, leaving only a bitter taste behind.

“That will do.”
“Yes.”
“For the time being, remain in Jangmyeong Hall and first settle your mind.”

Yi Jangmyeong offered no objection.

“This disciple hears and obeys.”

He bowed once more and turned to leave.
His shadow, stretched long beneath the setting sun, looked peculiarly forlorn.
Jang Hyeonjinin watched his departing disciple’s back, then released a soft sigh.

“That one has carried a heavy heart indeed.”

In the next moment, his form transformed into crimson light.
The beam of light streaked directly toward Youngeombeong.

—————
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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