Chapter 130 : Chapter 130
Chapter 130: Spirit Sense Diagram (2)
Grandmaster Bodhidharma’s Wall-Facing for Nine Years legend is a very famous story in the Jianghu Murim.
After difficult training, whether to call it Sudden Enlightenment or Gradual Cultivation, Grandmaster Bodhidharma established the foundation of Shaolin.
Thousand-Year Temple.
Northern Song Shaolin.
All Martial Arts Under Heaven Come Out of Shaolin.
The First Sect of the Jianghu.
Thinking that all those honors started from Bodhidharma’s Wall-Facing for Nine Years, one cannot doubt the greatness of Wall-Facing training.
But there is a fact one must not forget.
The fact that one does not become a Grandmaster by looking at a wall for nine years, but it had value because the Grandmaster called Bodhidharma did Wall-Facing for nine years is exactly that.
“Did you gain anything?”
“……I don’t know well.”
It means I gained nothing from the ten days of Silent Wall-Facing.
At least I felt so.
There is no way to know whether it is because the time of ten days is short like a moment compared to nine years, or because my aptitude is infinitely meager compared to Grandmaster Bodhidharma.
“Good.”
However, Wuji Jin-in, who heard my answer, smiled broadly.
Although great harm does not come to supreme masters just because they forget sleep and food somewhat, Silent Wall-Facing for ten days was something worthy of being called a toil for me too.
It meant there was difficulty in gladly accepting Wuji Jin-in’s behavior of smiling at me who said I don’t know. Because my nerves were sharp.
“What is good?”
Therefore, I cannot deny the fact that my question was somewhat sharp.
“The fact that you bastard are honest with yourself is good.”
“……?”
It is a fact I feel repeatedly, but the Sword Emperor’s words lack intuitiveness.
I couldn’t tell whether it was the hazy, roundabout manner of Daoists who have walked the Way for ages, or if that was simply Wuji Jin-in’s true nature.
As if understanding my feelings, Wuji Jin-in smiled benevolently.
The carefree nature of an old master was stained on the young appearance not even looking Weak Crown.
“Generally, knowing starts from the cognition of ignorance. Usually, the breed called martial artists are busy blabbering that the beginning of realization came or mental growth was achieved through inner cultivation when put to Wall-Facing for ten days. But since you said you don’t know yourself, it would be right to consider that you don’t have useless vanity.”
“Hmm.”
Although it became so due to the fragment of living Myeong-gae’s life, I cannot deny the fact that it is pleasing.
Although I didn’t call myself a Grandmaster, since I respect the level the Sword Emperor has achieved, wouldn’t I have no choice but to feel good at his recognition?
“Look.”
“……!”
Simultaneously with the Sword Emperor’s words, I had no choice but to be astonished.
Because the spirituality Mind Sword I saw on the sparring stage earlier was placed intactly in front of the Sword Emperor.
Brilliant radiance surpassing even the Formless Sword was there.
“Try grabbing it.”
As if the Sword Emperor’s suggestion became a mantra, I reached out my hand towards the Mind Sword without realizing it.
Thud—.
Although it is difficult to see it as a sensation of the material world, clearly I seem to have touched the spirituality Mind Sword.
As if he knew it would be so, the Sword Emperor’s smile became thicker.
“This Daoist named it Spirit Sense Diagram.”
“……What on earth is this.”
It seems the ten days of Silent Wall-Facing were not useless.
.
.
.
Ten days.
The time I spent with Sword Emperor Wuji Jin-in, and at the same time the time I performed Silent Wall-Facing.
Although time is originally relative, it would be right to say it is a difficult time to call long in training martial arts.
Ten days is because it is insufficient time to melt even one intact form (Form) into one’s body, let alone lofty profundity.
Isn’t it common sense that martial arts originally measure achievement in units of years, not days?
Of course, that doesn’t mean one should equate the ten days of Silent Wall-Facing with the ten days of daily life.
As said before, time is relative.
Some might ask what is so hard about looking only at a wall without opening one’s mouth.
In reality, since I was also in a similar position before doing Silent Wall-Facing for ten days, it would be right to give an answer to the ignorant ones.
Adding personal sentiment, the difficulty of Wall-Facing can be answered as ‘Me’.
I don’t know how it was for Grandmaster Bodhidharma, and I don’t know how it will be for Cheon-am Jin-in who will continue Wall-Facing for three hundred fifty-five days in the future, but I saw myself in the firm wall during the time of Wall-Facing.
—Mom…….
Dancheon Myeong of childhood looking for the mother whose face he had never seen formed in the imagery.
Curling up wrapped in a blanket in the dwelling on the outskirts of the Dancheon Clan to find warmth somehow.
—……Master?
—Eheo. Do not call me Master.
Fragments of the Third Elder also brushed past.
—Mother?
—I am not your mother.
The appearance of the cold woman Baek Yeo-hae also flowed by.
—Pathetic.
The words Dancheon Hak left quietly with a blade to my neck at the end of the Young Clan Head competition also came to mind.
—If I also had a chance…….
I pretended to be calm, but my back turning away from the clan while suppressing resentment was seen.
—Phew, damn it.
The life of Myeong-gae, which was peaceful but full of suffering, flowed by.
—Terrible…….
Myeong-gae, putting the misery of the Great War of Righteousness and Evil in his eyes, cried sadly.
All were things that happened, and most were things that are gone now.
The important fact would be that in those faces, there was the lacking me who fell far short of my current expectations.
In reality, if it were late night under the blanket instead of during Wall-Facing practice, it would not be unreasonable to evaluate it as time spent practicing kicking techniques against the blanket.
Inside the wall, I kept drifting along.
—Why do you want to become the Clan Head?
—I don’t want to live with regret.
Meeting Uncle Yeo Baek.
—Will you join me?
—If it is with you, anytime.
Brother Chun-baek broke the wall and entered.
—Heheot.
Received Father’s recognition.
—You!
Yang Su-rin became not an enemy.
—Kuhahaha.
A new connection called Emperor Breaker was also created.
“…….”
When the long rumination ended, what came to me was anxiety.
‘What are you anxious about?’
I asked myself.
‘Future.’
I gave myself the answer.
Future, to be precise, it would be right to say the future where the Great War of Righteousness and Evil will come is the source of my anxiety.
Although I said I am certain of a future where I eliminate the Great War of Righteousness and Evil myself, maybe I myself didn’t fully believe those words.
The miraculous encounter called regression.
Arrangements created by myself with the power of information.
Unexpected coincidences that happened after regression.
And new connections met within.
Because the current me is what was completed through all of that.
Since I am not a perfect god, even if I made arrangements, how could they be as perfect as the plan?
Unlike the lacking me, a figure intact like a god had no choice but to come to mind.
—Nice to meet you. This Seat is the Heavenly Demon of the current generation, Seol Cheon-sang.
It was Heavenly Demon Seol Cheon-sang, whom I myself named irresistible death.
—Die now. I will send you all together so you won’t be lonely.
Maybe it is because his unapproachable dignity was engraved strongly in my brain.
Can I overcome him?
Honestly, I don’t know the conclusion well.
As the word Future implies, it is because it is something that has not come yet.
Since I am fundamentally an informant, it was also because infinite optimism excluding objectivity is difficult.
—What happened today is…….
—Tsk. No answer today either.
In reality, looking back, it is so.
Whenever anxiety assaulted me, Sword Emperor Wuji Jin-in came to my side, rambled nonsense, and disappeared suddenly.
Maybe the Sword Emperor read my imagery looking only at the wall.
Since the Sword Emperor was also a Daoist walking in the realm of the incomprehensible that I cannot understand, the thought that such a divine skill might be possible also occurred.
Anyway…….
That was merely ten days.
Since it was enough time to be swept by anxiety about the future with time remaining even after ruminating on all lives before and after regression, ten days of Wall-Facing was a sufficiently long time.
‘Even so…….’
I don’t know what mechanism was in that process that made me sense spirituality.
Since I cannot grasp even a fragment of that mechanism even with my brilliant brain, it was a strange event not unreasonable to evaluate as mystery.
The gaze that headed only to the wall for the past ten days headed to my hand.
The sensation of the hand that touched the Sword Emperor’s Mind Sword as if it were materialized was still tingling.
There is indeed no error in the Sword Emperor’s naming of Spirit Sense Diagram.
“Myeong-ah.”
The Sword Emperor called me.
“Yes.”
“Tsk.”
Although the appearance is peer, since there is a generation gap not insufficient to be called grandfather and grandson, organizing titles was inevitable.
He was dissatisfied with me just answering ‘Yes’.
“Myeong-ah.”
The Sword Emperor called me again, and I decided to respond to his expectation.
“Yes, Elder Sword Emperor.”
Only then did the Sword Emperor nod with a satisfied expression.
It was agreed that he calls me Myeong, and I call him ‘Elder Sword Emperor’ or ‘Wuji Jin-in’.
The Sword Emperor is the first person to obtain my complete honorifics after Father Dancheon Gang.
I wonder what’s so great about this, but I thought it would be right to keep it secret from Emperor Breaker Yeom Gi-ha.
‘Elder Emperor Breaker’, if I call him that, hives might break out.
Wuji Jin-in, satisfied with the correctly organized hierarchy, asked me.
“What is the most important thing in Will?”
Gravity settled in the Sword Emperor’s tone like a Grandmaster imparting teachings.
“Is it a Zen riddle?”
“If you think so, you may consider it so.”
Although the somewhat arrogant Sword Emperor’s expression is detestable, I cannot ignore it.
It is not a matter of generation rank or hierarchy, but it should be right to say it is because I couldn’t grasp even a fragment of the Spirit Sense Diagram he enlightened me on.
“Hmm.”
I chewed over the Sword Emperor’s question.
Because I knew the fact that in Zen riddles, the answer often comes from the question.
What is the most important thing in Will?
The conclusion reached after contemplating for a long time was…….
“I do not know.”
I don’t know.
Although I am getting used to the thick face I learned during the Myeong-gae days, it has not become thick enough to claim I know what I don’t know.
At a glance, the answer ‘Imagery’ came to mind, but it would be right to answer that I don’t know rather than giving an uncertain answer.
The Sword Emperor, who grinned, gave the answer.
“The answer is exactly Imagery.”
……He said.
“……Ah.”
“Do you understand a bit?”
“Ah…… Yes.”
I swallowed the word ‘No’ that came up to my throat with effort.
Since it was solely me who brought this situation upon myself, it is right for me to endure that injustice as well.
However, a little rebuttal would be necessary.
“But, I am drawing imagery every day.”
It was not a lie.
It is not insufficient to say that every day has been days of always drawing imagery after achieving Fifth Stage: Union and Five Qis Courting the Origin.
Because originally, for a martial artist who reached the State of Harmony, imagery training is more important than physical training.
“Don’t interrupt.”
“Yes.”
Although I never interrupted his words, it would be right to just accept.
Even though all I did was stare at the wall, that alone was enough time to grasp the nature of the one called the Sword Emperor.
“Imagery and conviction, it would be right to say.”
“Conviction?”
“Right. Conviction.”
“Hmm.”
Myeong-gae is an informant.
Since the life of Myeong-gae left the deepest trace in my life, it wouldn’t be insufficient to call the current me an informant as well.
Originally, informants tend to like specific figures and realities.
Thanks to obtaining the realization of Five Qis Courting the Origin myself, I can accept up to the abstraction of imagery, but it was unreasonable to fully accept his speech connecting conviction and martial arts.
“What is conviction?”
“A heart believing in something.”
“Right. Conviction is called belief in other words. Then what is belief?”
It would be right to use the technique learned in Myeong-gae days against him continuing the Zen riddle.
“Regardless of factually certain empirical evidence or the presence of reality, the attitude of considering it true would be right to call belief.”
Usually, I know well that those who enjoy Zen riddles dislike pedantic rhetoric.
But the Sword Emperor’s head nodded satisfactorily.
“Your words are right.”
“…….”
I failed. It seems the Sword Emperor didn’t dislike pedantic rhetoric.
As expected, I realize the fact that the supreme old coot of Great Wudang is not easy.
“The motive for this Daoist to start investigating belief was…….”
Even after that, I had to suffer from the Sword Emperor’s long speech for a long time.
It would be right to evaluate it as a time becoming blood and flesh.
“…….”
It was so.