The World’s Greatest Martial Arts Instructor - Chapter 212

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 212. What Am I Supposed to Do…

 

 

The bright moon was illuminating the darkness.

It was quite late at night.

When everyone was spending time finishing their day.

There was someone alone in the training ground, swinging his sword.

No, rather than swinging, he was moving.

Namgung Ji-hu.

He was alone in the Jamryong Corps’ training ground, practicing the Emperor Sword Form.

It was time when even Namgung Ji-yu, who had been practicing alongside him, had gone inside.

Thanks to the moonlight, it was a fairly bright night, so there was no problem practicing.

No, darkness wasn’t an obstacle at all.

Rather, the problem was the incomprehensible incantation formulas that would be dark even if illuminated by the sun.

Interpreting it this way and swinging like this.

Interpreting it that way and swinging like that.

No matter what he did, he simply couldn’t understand it.

He even began to doubt whether this was truly the Namgung family’s strongest sword technique.

“It’s difficult.”

It was natural.

Otherwise, how could it be called the Namgung family’s strongest sword technique?

It wasn’t like this when he learned the Changkong Wuai Sword Technique.

Even if it was difficult, he never felt like he was facing an insurmountable wall.

‘Is this right?’

No matter how much he thought about it, he couldn’t understand.

The first half of the Emperor Sword Form.

Father had demonstrated it exactly once.

And the secret manual that was passed down.

He had memorized it all at the family estate.

It wouldn’t do to take the Emperor Sword Form’s secret manual outside the family estate.

‘Once more.’

Namgung Ji-hu raised his sword.

And he moved his sword according to the sword path his father had shown him.

Creak.

But at some point, his movements became unnatural and his body hesitated.

The reason was simple.

A conflict in interpreting the incantation formulas.

Namgung Ji-hu’s mind was saying ‘that formula is not that movement’ and trying to control his actions.

The desire to move as taught and the desire to move according to his own interpretation.

These two mental images were in conflict.

“Haah.”

A deep sigh escaped him.

He kept getting blocked.

There was no progress.

At this rate, it was obvious he would lose in the competition with his cousins.

When he couldn’t even properly execute a single form.

‘Ho. This is quite different.’

Ha Mu-baek was watching this scene from atop a distant rooftop.

After meeting with Peng Do-yul, he was heading to the dormitory when he became curious about Namgung Ji-hu’s presence.

Ha Mu-baek also knew the sword path of the Emperor Sword Form.

He had experience fighting alongside the direct descendants of the Namgung family in the last war.

But what Namgung Ji-hu was displaying now seemed like the Emperor Sword Form yet not quite.

A different appearance from the Emperor Sword Form, which had always shown the exact same sword path.

This stimulated Ha Mu-baek’s curiosity.

Even though he couldn’t properly execute even a single form.

Namgung Ji-hu tried to move his sword again, then shook his head and stopped once more.

“Why? Not going well?”

Then Ha Mu-baek jumped down and approached.

“I-Instructor Ha?”

Namgung Ji-hu was startled and stopped his movements. Then he didn’t know what to do.

Ha Mu-baek chuckled at his appearance.

“Why? Because I seem to have peeked while you were practicing your family’s secret technique?”

Since it was the Emperor Sword Form, he had been deliberately practicing late at night when no one was around.

At Ha Mu-baek’s words, Namgung Ji-hu’s face turned slightly red.

Ha Mu-baek extended his arm forward.

Gripping his sword fingers, he moved slowly.

Namgung Ji-hu was startled by Ha Mu-baek’s sudden action, but his expression soon turned to shock.

He had no choice.

Right now, Ha Mu-baek was showing exactly the same sword path of the Emperor Sword Form that his father had demonstrated.

His movements suggested he already knew all about the Emperor Sword Form’s sword path.

“H-how…”

Ha Mu-baek chuckled at Namgung Ji-hu’s shocked reaction.

“Well, if you watch something dozens of times, you can roughly imitate it.”

At Ha Mu-baek’s words, Namgung Ji-hu’s eyes widened.

Imitate?

That?

In some ways, it looked even more perfect than the first half of the Emperor Sword Form his father had displayed.

He roughly imitated it?

Namgung Ji-hu shuddered with great self-loathing.

Maengryong Corps Instructor Ha Mu-baek.

Just what kind of being was this man?

He knew he was a monster.

But this was going too far.

Why was such a person merely working as an instructor at Gyoryong Hall?

“The Emperor Sword Form, right?”

At Ha Mu-baek’s question, Namgung Ji-hu nodded slightly.

“Why is it called Sword Form and not Sword Technique?”

At Ha Mu-baek’s question, Namgung Ji-hu hesitated.

A question he had never considered before.

Ha Mu-baek had thrown it at him.

“The Emperor Sword Form that the Namgung Family Head’s brothers used was the Emperor Sword Form, but what you tried to display before stopping is also the Emperor Sword Form. Well, I liked your version a bit more of the two.”

Ha Mu-baek said that much and turned around.

He seemed to be walking slowly, but disappeared in an instant.

Namgung Ji-hu stared blankly at his retreating figure.

Soon he came to his senses and sat cross-legged.

“Not Sword Technique, but Sword Form.”

Muttering quietly the question Ha Mu-baek had thrown at him.

 

***

 

It was the same day as always.

The sun had risen, they had received morning training and lessons, and finished their meal during lunch time.

And what awaited the Maengryong Corps cadets was training at the Great Training Ground.

Their footsteps heading toward the Great Training Ground were unbearably heavy.

It was the same for the instructors as well.

Like cattle being dragged to a slaughterhouse, they reluctantly entered the Great Training Ground and lined up holding swords and shields.

Ha Mu-baek was already standing on the platform, glaring with frightening eyes.

“Today, I’m adding one thing to yesterday’s training.”

As he said this, he wiggled his finger.

Seeing this, Dan Mok Un-rae hurriedly climbed up onto the platform.

“Ready.”

At Ha Mu-baek’s words, Dan Mok Un-rae immediately took the basic stance.

“One step forward.”

He stepped one pace forward.

“Two steps forward.”

This time, two paces.

“At ease.”

Dan Mok Un-rae straightened his posture.

“Did you all see that clearly?”

There was no response whatsoever.

“Today will be more fun than yesterday. Now, to your positions.”

At Ha Mu-baek’s instruction, the instructors and cadets split apart at a distance like yesterday.

And the training began.

They hadn’t even adapted to yesterday’s training intensity, yet the training intensity increased even more.

“Ugh.”

When about one hour had passed.

Groans began flowing out from here and there.

It was the same for the Seventh Group cadets.

This was because Ha Mu-baek had placed restrictions on their internal energy from the start.

Ha Seol-ran was also completely soaked in sweat all over her body.

Even so, Ha Mu-baek still drove them mercilessly hard.

“Urgh.”

One by one, people began vomiting as well.

Just walking two steps.

That was tremendously difficult.

At first, it was just two insignificant steps, but as they repeated and accumulated, their whole bodies trembled.

Ha Mu-baek watched this scene quietly while calling out commands.

The instructors also received the same training from Han Seol-bing, and likewise, people began vomiting.

Without fail, they went past dinner time.

At Ha Mu-baek’s glance, Han Seol-bing ended the instructors’ training.

She immediately instructed them to circulate their energy, then approached Ha Mu-baek.

“From here to here, sit cross-legged. The rest continue training.”

Han Seol-bing took over calling commands after Ha Mu-baek.

The punishment toward those whose postures were wrong became weaker.

Compared to Ha Mu-baek, she showed some mercy in her actions.

Just that alone made the cadets feel like they could survive a little.

Ha Mu-baek placed his palm against the back of the person at the very front among those sitting cross-legged.

“Concentrate.”

And internal energy flowed in.

The internal energy moved along the pathways of the Three Talents Heart Method.

“Try moving it yourself now.”

Leaving those words, he moved to the next person, then the next.

He infused the internal energy of the Three Talents Heart Method into each person in turn.

The Seventh Group cadets who had been focused on training saw this scene.

“How kind of him.”

Dang Jin-san muttered quietly.

To infuse internal energy like that right from the start of mind technique cultivation.

For them, he had only done it after they had practiced breathing techniques for a while.

“There’s no time if everyone is going to survive.”

Baek Ri-pyeong spoke calmly.

Dang Jin-san nodded.

“That’s true.”

“Who’s chatting!”

At that moment, Han Seol-bing’s frost-like shout flew toward the two.

The startled pair focused on training again.

Deep into the night, reaching midnight.

Only now did the cadets’ training end.

It had taken time to infuse internal energy into all the cadets gathered at the Great Training Ground.

The instructors had already disappeared.

“What I taught you is the Three Talents Heart Method. The energy moving through your blood meridians right now, that’s what internal energy is. Forget about sleeping tonight and focus only on mind technique cultivation. Otherwise, it might disappear.”

Ha Mu-baek left those words and turned away.

Most of the cadets at the Great Training Ground focused on mind technique cultivation.

Among them, a few left their spots.

“Tch. Something like the Three Talents Heart Method.”

Several people immediately stood up once the instructors disappeared.

These were people who had received systematic training from fairly large sects.

Their reasons for entering Maengryong Corps were similar to Un Do-heon’s or had their own different reasons.

But they were all the same in that they couldn’t cultivate the Three Talents Heart Method.

In fact, they were even having doubts about whether they should continue practicing something like shield techniques.

Several people left the Great Training Ground like that.

Dang Jin-san watched their figures quietly.

“Idiots. Even when an opportunity is spoon-fed to them, they don’t know it’s an opportunity.”

Dang Jin-san still couldn’t forget the day Ha Mu-baek first infused the internal energy of the Three Talents Heart Method.

He had been so shocked that he even asked if it was demonic arts.

What he did for the other cadets today probably wasn’t much different from back then.

It might be a little different.

In any case, that alone was a tremendous opportunity.

They were just dismissing it because of the name Three Talents Heart Method.

“Wait?”

Suddenly, a different thought occurred to Dang Jin-san.

No matter how foolish those guys were, they couldn’t fail to sense the seed of internal energy settled in their dantian.

Especially if they had already learned other internal energy mental methods.

But if they were showing such reactions?

“He probably didn’t plant the seed of internal energy like he did for us.”

Baek Ri-pyeong calmly stated his speculation.

Dang Jin-san nodded.

“Are they trying to filter out those idiots?”

Dang Jin-san tilted his head and muttered.

“Probably because it’s bothersome. There are too many of them.”

Yeon Ha-min’s calm words.

At those words, the Seventh Group cadets were convinced and nodded their heads.

If it was their instructor, he was the type of person who would do exactly that.

 

Ha Mu-baek was looking down at the Great Training Ground from the rooftop of the Education Hall.

He could see several cadets leaving, but he didn’t pay attention to them.

He had spoon-fed them this much, yet these guys were refusing it.

He had no intention of forcing it down their throats.

He would help them, but taking care of only those who followed was already overwhelming enough.

‘Earth Absorption, Energy Accumulation.’

What he had taught today was a mind technique that contained only the principles of two abilities from the Three Talents Heart Method.

He hadn’t even taught them the incantations, just hammered in the energy circulation pathways.

Since Earth Absorption also contained some principles of Meridian Cleansing, even if they diligently cultivated just that, their blood vessels would become somewhat cleaner.

That was sufficient for those children.

Their role in Sanwol Demon Forest was to form battle formations with swords and shields to block those damn jiangshi bastards.

‘As for sweeping away the jiangshi…’

Ha Mu-baek’s gaze turned toward the Seventh Group cadets.

‘You guys will have to do that.’

For the Seventh Group cadets, he had additionally included the principles of Meridian Cleansing.

‘Earth Absorption, Energy Accumulation, Meridian Cleansing. These are the basic principles that form the foundation of Mugeuk.’

But he still hadn’t taught them the incantations.

Since they were talented children, he had transmitted the complete Three Talents Heart Method containing all abilities to test their affinity.

Whether they could take the first step into the basics of Mugeuk by comprehending those abilities through mind technique cultivation alone, without incantations.

If they could, then their affinity was connected, and even if they couldn’t, that would also be fine.

In any case, they were the first ones he had ever given teachings to since coming out into Gangho.

‘More importantly, I wonder if those guys are properly cultivating the Three Talents Heart Method.’

No matter how much he taught them a mind technique that could become the seed of Mugeuk, what good would it do?

If they didn’t polish and refine it, it would amount to nothing.

Moreover, Dan Mok Un-rae and Baek Ri-pyeong had obtained their sect’s mind techniques.

“Well, that’s something you guys need to figure out yourselves.”

Ha Mu-baek chuckled and leaped up, heading toward the dormitory.

 

“Damn it. How are we supposed to circulate energy if he doesn’t release the restraints…”

Dang Jin-san muttered with resentment.

“It works though?”

At Yeon Ha-min’s words, Dang Jin-san’s head whipped around.

“Huh? It works?”

Yeon Ha-min nodded at Dang Jin-san’s question.

“The Three Talents Heart Method. Energy circulation is possible. And the restraints seem to be releasing too.”

At her answer, the Seventh Group cadets immediately began cultivating the Three Talents Heart Method.

“It, it works.”

Just as Yeon Ha-min said, the restraints were released too.

The cadets immediately immersed themselves in the mind technique.

At those words, Ju U-myeong also immediately employed the Three Talents Heart Method.

Although he hadn’t learned it from Ha Mu-baek, as a disciple of Wudang, he knew at least the Three Talents Heart Method.

Indeed, the restraints were released.

He too employed the Three Talents Heart Method.

Ha Seol-ran quietly watched her friends in that state.

“Elder Brother. What am I supposed to do…”

Only Ha Seol-ran, who was the only one who didn’t know the Three Talents Heart Method, was unable to circulate her mind technique alone that day.

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