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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 8
Chapter Title: Soul-Stealing Heartless Sword
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"Then, now I shall teach you the first form of the Soul-Stealing Heartless Sword. Il-mok, in your opinion, what do you think is the most important form for a swordsman?"
"…A fearsome ultimate technique that can kill the opponent in a single exchange?"
At my response, Master shook his head.
"For a swordsman, the most important form above all is drawing the sword. In the case of an ambush or an unexpected combat situation, if you can't draw your sword, you'll end up dying in vain, won't you?"
"Now that you mention it, that does seem right."
In the wuxia novels and comics I'd read so far, characters were always already holding their swords or weapons by the time fights started, but thinking about it, in real combat, it seemed there would often be interference preventing you from drawing your sword.
After all, enemies rarely wait around while you prepare your killing blow in actual battle.
"Of course, learning fist techniques, palm techniques, or forbidden hand methods in preparation for cases where you can't draw your sword is basic discipline for a swordsman. And even after drawing your sword, if the opponent has closed in deeply, using forbidden hand methods or palm techniques might be more convenient. But think about it—if your fist or palm techniques reach a higher realm, who would call you a swordsman instead of a fist master?"
"Indeed, you are absolutely right, Master."
With the sycophantic instincts honed from years of social life, I chimed in appropriately, and Master gave a faint smile as he wrapped up his explanation.
"In that sense, the Soul-Stealing Heartless Sword is quite an excellent sword art. The first form of the Soul-Stealing Heartless Sword, the Soul-Stealing Ready Sword, is a motion linked directly to drawing the sword."
Having finished his explanation, Master stepped one pace back with his right foot, slightly bent both knees into an elastic stance, and simultaneously drew the sword from his waist, pointing it forward.
"Step back one pace and draw your sword to aim at the enemy. And in the process of drawing the sword, align with the path of the opponent's swinging weapon to block that attack while drawing—this is the core of the Soul-Stealing Ready Sword."
It seemed like a form for blocking the enemy's attack the moment you drew your sword, then assuming an elastic stance right after to aim at the foe and switch to offense.
But no matter how elaborately explained, the visible result was quite underwhelming.
It was just stepping back one pace with the right foot, drawing the sword, and aiming at the enemy—that was it.
Since Master was looking at me as if telling me to give it a try, I gripped the scabbard with my left hand and the hilt with my right, mimicking the motion.
And after trying it once, I realized it wasn't as easy as it looked.
The most awkward part was drawing the sword itself.
With the blade about three chi long (roughly 90cm), it inevitably scraped against the scabbard midway through, so instead of sliding out smoothly like Master's, it came out with a clunky rattle.
Seeing me draw my sword awkwardly, Master smiled gently.
"Now do you understand why drawing the sword is so important? If you draw it like that, you'll die before you can even fight."
I had no idea why he was smiling while cursing me out.
But unlike his harsh words, Master kindly offered guidance.
"When drawing the sword, it's not just the hand gripping it that matters. Depending on the angle the blade emerges, you must twist the scabbard with the hand holding it. And accordingly, you need to twist your shoulders and body as well."
Not just with words, he personally touched my body to correct my posture.
After a few rounds of practice under Master's instruction, I started getting the hang of it.
Shing!
As I drew the sword cleanly in one smooth motion without clunking and assumed the stance, Master nodded in satisfaction.
"Now it seems you've taken a step forward. Then, let's add some variations. The enemy's attacks won't always come from the same spot. You must draw your sword and defend in various situations."
With that, Master demonstrated a variety of examples. It was the simple act of drawing the sword each time, but the sword path emerging from the draw differed every time.
Sometimes he blocked overhead while drawing, sometimes toward the legs.
Then, he rotated his body to the right, stepped back one pace, and drew while blocking the side.
"Now, this old man will swing his sword at you slowly, so draw and block it."
As soon as Master finished speaking, he extended his real sword toward me slowly.
A chilling sword energy approached me. Though slow, it was enough to make cold sweat trickle down my back on instinct.
Clang!
Still, because of the slow speed, I managed to draw and block it somehow.
As I sheathed my sword again, Master thrust from a different angle.
Shing.
Clang!
It was a strange sensation.
Even though I hadn't practiced the other postures, I was naturally drawing and blocking.
Shing.
Clang!
Because I understood the concept of twisting shoulders and torso while using the hand on the scabbard, whenever I thought, 'I need to move like this,' my body naturally followed that thought, drawing the sword.
"Hahaha. It seems this old man's eyes haven't failed him after all."
Master burst into laughter, pleased with my aptitude.
"Then, let's raise the difficulty."
Whoosh!
He suddenly increased the speed of his swing.
'Eek!'
Even as a scream nearly escaped me, my body moved on its own smoothly.
Shing.
Clang!
Shing.
Clang!
After successfully blocking a couple, my startled heart calmed. Confirming my eyes had steadied, Master sped up again.
'Whew.'
But this time, I didn't flinch like before.
Shing.
Clang!
Like that, blocking his sword from various angles as he gradually increased speed, dozens of times.
Whoosh.
Shing.
Clang!
"Hahaha. That should be enough to master the basics of the Soul-Stealing Ready Sword."
Master laughed in satisfaction and stepped back one pace.
"Whew."
At the same time, with the tension released, I let out a sigh without realizing.
Drip.
The sound of a sweat drop sliding from my forehead hitting the ground pierced my ears.
Sweat was pouring down like a waterfall before I knew it. I hadn't felt it at all while my focus peaked.
With half-dazed eyes, I looked at my hand gripping the sword.
'Is this really my body?'
Master's final attacks before withdrawing his sword were at speeds hard to follow with the eyes.
To be precise, Seo Ji-hoon's old body from the past couldn't have tracked them.
But these young eyes saw Master's sword path clearly. Of course, compared to the ghostly movements at the inn, it was generous, but it was still tremendous speed.
Yet I accurately perceived that path, and the moment I thought I needed to block it, my body moved naturally. Without the slightest hesitation.
'What is this, some kind of genius?'
If born in the modern world, he'd be Olympic fencing gold medalist material.
Here, he was just a cult leader's disciple, though.
* * *
How long had we been repeating the Soul-Stealing Ready Sword practice?
As sweat dripped steadily, Master's voice reached my ears.
"Hmm. Come to think of it, time has passed this quickly already. With this much left, I'll teach you the inner cultivation method for the remaining time."
Approaching me, Master ordered me to sit cross-legged and adjusted my posture.
"While the hypocrites of the Central Plains practice their arts with separate inner methods, sword arts, lightness skills, and such, taking long years to master, our Divine Cult's arts are mostly bundled together. It's thanks to the Forefathers who paved the way beforehand, so we can grow strong quickly to eliminate evildoers. Hahaha."
Though Master spoke with full pride, my mind filtered it to grasp the true meaning.
'The righteous sects' arts have no side effects and use pure inner energy, so they can mix and match, while demonic arts are dangerous even with one, so they bundled similar ones together, right?'
Sword arts, inner methods, lightness skills, qinggong. And minimal fist or forbidden hand methods to support sword arts.
If you learned six or seven demonic arts like the righteous sects, that meant six or seven mental illnesses.
'…Maybe the old Demonic Cult really was like that.'
Master's Forefathers' grace ran deep. Without them, I'd have to choose six or seven mental illnesses.
As that thought crossed my mind and I inwardly sighed in relief.
"Now, I shall teach you the meridians through which inner energy flows according to the Soul-Stealing Heartless Sword's inner method."
Master continued explaining, poking various spots on my body with his index finger.
"For now, memorize the meridians I've shown you. You can learn the rest of the body's points from Ha-yeon later."
As soon as Master finished, Jin Ha-yeon bowed at the waist as if to say she'd take care of it.
Finishing his explanation, Master suddenly placed his palm on my back.
"Focus from now on. Normally, you should circulate inner energy yourself to get used to it, but since you started learning martial arts late, Il-mok, this old man will assist your Qi Circulation and Breath Adjustment directly."
With those words, something began flowing into me through Master's hand on my back.
It was an utterly bizarre sensation—one I'd never felt before.
The energy that entered my body settled in the center, stopping its movement.
"This is your dantian. Now, take a deep breath in through your nose. Feel like you're pulling it all the way to the depths of your lungs."
Even as he sent inner energy to my dantian, Master naturally opened his mouth to instruct.
Following his guidance, I inhaled deeply through my nose, and the energy in my dantian moved.
It approached the air I inhaled, drew something out, and returned to the dantian together.
Then, it started circulating through my body from the dantian.
"This is the Qihai point."
Whenever Master's energy and the inhaled energy I'd drawn reached a specific meridian during the circuit, he named it.
Feeling the qi touch directly like this let me grasp the positions far more accurately than just pointing with a finger.
How long had I focused on Master's explanation and the qi's movement?
After dozens of deep breaths, repeating until I memorized the flow and meridians.
The energy in my dantian returned to Master's hand, and he withdrew his palm from my back.
But now, having familiarized myself somewhat with 'qi' and memorized the entire inner method path, I could circulate it on my own somehow.
"Sip."
"Exhale."
Like that, operating the inner cultivation method alone for a while.
When a pea-sized energy fully settled in my previously empty dantian, I exhaled calmly and opened my eyes.
Glancing sideways, the hourglass marking the remaining time had fully run out.
Facing me with eyes open, Master smiled warmly and offered congratulations.
"Hahaha. Congratulations on entering the Soul-Stealing Heartless Sword."
"Thank you, Master."
"Hahaha. Now that you've entered the Entering Demon stage, you must diligently cultivate until you reach Transcending Demon."
"I will, Master."
It was obvious. I had zero desire to live as a lunatic forever.
Watching my resolute expression with satisfaction, stroking his beard, Master soon said something peculiar.
"In that sense, your resolve to choose the Soul-Stealing Heartless Sword is truly admirable."
"???"
"The Soul-Stealing Heartless Sword is an art that copes with the opponent's movements in any situation, gradually wearing them down. Thus, it demands perfection to handle any circumstance. In a way, its nature leads to such side effects."
"Then, does it progress faster than other arts?"
"As I said before, since it requires perfection, even with the side effects' help, its achievement isn't particularly faster than other demonic arts."
Up to here, it was just a bit disappointing. Even with side effect assistance(?), no explosive progress.
But this was within what I'd steeled myself for when starting demonic arts, so no issue.
Until his follow-up.
"However, no matter how perfectly prepared, rigid patterns reach their limit. To transcend Extreme Demon to Transcending Demon with the Soul-Stealing Heartless Sword, you need variation beyond perfection. And its side effect makes breaking from your own created perfection exceedingly difficult."
"...."
So, in other words, reaching Transcending Demon is a goddamn pain?
"Yet, you've chosen that difficult path, so as your master, this old man is truly proud."
"...."
Looking at the beaming Master and Jin Ha-yeon, I thought.
'You crazy cultists should've told me that BEFORE teaching it!!'
It was a scream I couldn't voice aloud.