Chapter 358
The Clear-Void Adept chuckled softly.
-You passed through... so you put it. Most call it having ‘broken through.’
“It was merely a passage for me.”
A curious light surfaced in the Clear-Void Adept’s eyes.
-Interesting. The trials I fashioned were never ordinary, yet you call it merely a passage...
“If I was rude, I apologize.”
-No — not rude, but honesty. That is fine as well.
The Clear-Void Adept regarded Unhwi slowly.
-It seems you have something to say. Try it.
Seol Unhwi had passed through countless hidden realms.
Both in his past life and in this one.
He had met thought-bodies often enough, but he had encountered a fully conscious thought-body like this exactly twice before.
The first was Goseung Seonsa in a Shaolin hidden realm.
The second was Jeokma Daegun in the Seongrim Mountain hidden realm.
And now the Clear-Void Adept.
It was so strange it was almost laughable.
Events he had never seen once in a prior life had occurred three times in this one.
“Thought-bodies appearing in hidden realms is rare but not unheard of. The problem is that most of those thought-bodies possess no consciousness. Yet you, Adept, possess intact consciousness.”
-It seems you are curious.
“Yes.”
-But I cannot tell you. There are many things I cannot speak of.
“.......”
-Why is a thought-body a thought-body? I have things I ❀ Nоvеlігht ❀ (Don’t copy, read here) can tell you; use those to form your own inferences. Beyond that I can do nothing.
“I understand.”
-Hmm. And you are remarkably quick.
The Clear-Void Adept’s gaze turned to Chief Seong.
He still held the dagger leveled at the Adept, and the Adept smiled gently, seeming impressed by the pose.
-You need not command your companion to be wary. My thought cannot be attacked, it can only converse.
When Unhwi glanced at Chief Seong and nodded, Chief Seong finally sheathed his dagger.
The Clear-Void Adept looked back at Unhwi.
-I repeat, your speed is most impressive. You do not seem one who has devoted himself to the Dao... nor to the Dharma either — how have you come to possess such extensive insight?
“I see no reason to tell you.”
-Ha ha... you have a peculiar temperament. I too cultivated the Dao; I know a fair measure of principle.
Unhwi stared at the Clear-Void Adept without speaking.
The histories from the time of the Thousand-Year Cataclysm had all vanished.
Yet martial curiosity could be blocked by nothing; with scattered data from those who had wandered the hidden realms and rumors in the world, fragments had been reconstructed here and there. As he had said before, Unhwi had previously described the Clear-Void Adept as a martial artist of Taehwumusang.
Perhaps because the Clear-Void Sect left so little trace, but now Unhwi perceived the Clear-Void Adept to be more than mere solitary supremacy.
The Clear-Void Adept raised his hand and traced something in the air; a blue sigil bloomed.
-I will ask you. What do you think the Dao is?
It was an unexpected question.
Unhwi did not falter.
“The Dao is the Way.”
-The Way?
“Yes. The path that all things travel, and the path to which all things return.”
The Clear-Void Adept smiled.
-Then where does the Way end?
“There is no end.”
-If there is no end, how can it be called a path?
“It is a path because it has no end. If it had an end, it would be nothing but a dead end.”
The Clear-Void Adept’s eyes brightened.
-Good. Then I will ask this: the Dao De Jing says, ‘The Dao that can be spoken of is not the eternal Dao.’ You have just spoken of the Dao. Does that not mean what you spoke is not the Dao?
Unhwi gave a short, amused sound.
“Lao-Tzu authored the Dao De Jing.”
-Indeed.
“The Dao De Jing is writing. Writing is the record of words.”
-.......
“In other words, Lao-Tzu spoke about the Dao. He said that if the Dao can be spoken, it is not the eternal Dao. Therefore the Dao Lao-Tzu spoke of is not the eternal Dao either.”
The Clear-Void Adept expressed admiration.
-Oh! Then is the Dao De Jing false?
“It is not false. Lao-Tzu said from the outset that a Dao that can be spoken is not the eternal Dao. He was aware that even his own words were not the true Dao.”
-Then why compose the Dao De Jing?
“Because the true cannot be spoken, he showed a semblance instead. Like a finger pointing at the moon.”
The Clear-Void Adept laughed heartily.
-Indeed! A finger pointing at the moon... the finger is not the moon, but without the finger one might not see the moon.
“That is so.”
The Clear-Void Adept asked again.
-Then what is wu-wei?
“It is not doing nothing.”
-Then what is it?
“Not forcing action.”
-Not forcing action?
“It is not resisting the natural flow. Like water running from high to low, follow that principle.”
The Clear-Void Adept nodded.
-Good. Then tell me — what are you doing now?
“Passing through a hidden realm.”
-Is that the natural flow?
“No.”
-Then are you not practicing wu-wei?
Unhwi thought for a moment, then answered.
“You said wu-wei is not doing nothing but not doing by force.”
-Right.
“I did not come here by force. I came because it was necessary and because there was a bond. Is that not also the natural flow?”
The Clear-Void Adept spoke in wonder.
-Indeed, indeed. Then I will ask one final question.
He looked Unhwi straight in the face.
-Who are you?
Unhwi fell silent.
This was not a simple question. It was a fundamental inquiry into identity and existence.
After a long pause, Unhwi spoke.
“I am but a human named Seol Un, who takes the name Unhwi.”
-That alone does not suffice.
“I believe it is sufficient. Ultimately you asked about origin and essence. Is it not so?”
-Hooh...
“You seem to want an answer, so I will speak more fully. The essence of the present Unhwi, the former Unhwi, and the future Unhwi is the same. The difference is only form.”
-.......
“Form may differ in various ways, but essence does not change.”
The Clear-Void Adept laughed loudly.
-Excellent! Truly excellent!
He clapped his hands, and the Nine-Palaces Eight-Trigrams Formation’s statues all began to glow.
-My reason for leaving this thought was simple. To find the true successor of the Clear-Void Sect.
“A successor...?”
-The Clear-Void Sect was wiped out. During the Thousand-Year Cataclysm. Yet I knew that one day someone would appear to revive the sect.
The Clear-Void Adept approached Unhwi.
-That person need not be outstanding in martial strength. He must understand the Dao. The Clear-Void Sect was the Dao before it was a martial school.
He raised his hand and touched Unhwi’s brow.
-You need not rebuild the Clear-Void Sect. But you understand the Dao. That alone is enough.
Blue light seeped from the Clear-Void Adept’s hand into Unhwi’s mind.
-I will transmit all the Clear-Void Sect’s martial arts. Clear-Void Sword Method, Great-Clarity Divine Skill, Nine-Heavens Mysterious-Lady True Scripture, and...
The light intensified.
-The enlightenment of the Clear-Void Sect’s past senior masters as well.
Unhwi’s eyes opened wide. A vast flood of information poured into his head.
Sword methods, divine skill, mind methods, formation scriptures, alchemical techniques...
A thousand years of the Clear-Void Sect’s history flowed into him intact.
-How you use this is your choice. Rebuild the Clear-Void Sect if you will, or simply make these your own martial arts.
The Clear-Void Adept’s form began to grow faint.
-But I will ask one thing.
“Speak.”
-Do not forget the Dao. Do not let your prowess erase the Dao. The Dao is both beginning and end, the root of all things.
“I will remember.”
The Clear-Void Adept smiled.
-And... have you seen other thought-bodies like me?
“Yes.”
-Who might they be?
Unhesitatingly Unhwi answered.
“Goseung Seonsa and Jeokma Daegun.”
The Clear-Void Adept’s eyes widened.
-...Goseung... that man and Jeokma Daegun... you are certainly not ordinary.
Something about it felt strange.
Goseung Seonsa was the last senior master of Shaolin and the Alliance Lord who had for centuries opposed the Millennium Demon Cult during the Thousand-Year Cataclysm.
Everyone in the martial world must have respected him, yet the Clear-Void Adept’s tone hinted at hostility.
-It seems you are unaware of something.
“What am I unaware of?”
-You must have received something from Goseung Seonsa. What did you speak about with him?
“We held a conversation similar to this one.”
-Then did you learn why the Thousand-Year Cataclysm occurred?
Unhwi shook his head.
Even as other erased histories were being pieced together somehow, there remained one thing that no one could be certain of.
Why did the Thousand-Year Cataclysm occur?
Was it simply the Alliance’s resistance against the Millennium Demon Cult that once unified the martial world?
How could such a conflict last for centuries?
It could not be a simple matter, and no one in this world had the answer.
Attempts to discover it had failed. There was nothing left to find.
-There were two beastly immortals who decided to destroy the world to become dragons. One was the Heaven of Demonicness, the other the Heaven of Righteousness.
Unhwi closed his mouth.
Chief Seong did the same — not even a breath escaped him.
-The martial artists of the current world, listen: unless ‘his’ grand enterprise succeeds, none can ascend to the Prior-Heaven Third Stage. The same will apply to you.
“...I do not understand. Could you explain in more detail?”
The Clear-Void Adept shook his head.
-I told you earlier. Even if I wished, I cannot tell you many things. Remember only one thing: the Dao we discussed with the elder just now. Do not forget it.
“You said ‘his grand enterprise’ — who is he, and what is the enterprise?”
-The enterprise is the work of turning the world’s disturbed Celestial Qi and Present Qi. ‘He’ is the vice cult leader of the Millennium Demon Cult, Baek Docheon.