The Mad Dog Inspector of the Martial Alliance

A strategist's job is to handle people. Sama Hwi, one of the most renowned strategists under heaven, prided himself on his skill in handling people. And that included himself.

With near-perfect schedule management, he stopped by the Sama family on his way to see Master Zhongli, succeeded in modifying the internal energy cultivation method he had brought to suit Jang So-gil, and also ordered the family's herbalists and wild ginseng collectors to gather medicinal herbs in large quantities.

The Zhongli family was located quite far to the northeast of Chang'an, and the distance from Luoyang was even greater, so it would take not just a few days but a month to travel on foot. Sama Hwi, who believed that time was gold, changed his blood-sweating horse five times, which he had brought from the Sama family, and covered this distance in just one day.

He set off at sunrise and arrived at sunset. On the running horse, he finished revising the modified internal energy cultivation method before going to bed. The next day, he delivered the goods to Master Zhongli, received a promissory note for a whopping three thousand taels, put it in his bosom, and set off on his return journey. He arrived at the Martial Alliance after sunset and nonchalantly showed the promissory note to the Alliance Lord. It was truly a murderous work processing speed.

Despite all this, Sama Hwi acted very calmly. It was like a duck swimming on a lake with its short legs. The surface was elegant, but below the surface, it was paddling furiously. Jang So-gil couldn't hold back his laughter and burst out laughing. Anyway, seeing him like that, Sama Hwi was really putting all his heart and energy into this work.

Could there be a more joyous thing than having the genius of the world cooperate so actively? Jang So-gil happily devoted himself to his work. He searched for his next prey, and cultivated his noble spirit while feeding, putting to sleep, and raising the children.

One day, as he was spending his time increasing his influence in Luoyang.

Sama Hwi, with hollow eyes from not having slept a wink, came to Jang So-gil's residence.

What he brought were three martial arts manuals and a large box.

"It seems you've finally completed it."

"Of course. I'll explain them one by one."

Sama Hwi opened his folding fan with a somewhat relieved expression.

* * *

The cultivation method he brought was the unique internal energy manual passed down in the Sama family. This internal energy cultivation method had its origins in the life-nourishing cultivation method. The life-nourishing cultivation method was not a proper martial art, but a kind of health exercise that those with some money learned to improve their health or prevent minor illnesses.

"The Sama family has suffered from many minor illnesses for generations. There are often records of ancestors suffering from carbuncles, fevers, headaches, and boils. Then one day, they learned the life-nourishing cultivation method from a Taoist. Now, even the old men who play Go in the marketplace know this cultivation method, but at that time, even this was a difficult manual to obtain."

Since it was a meeting to explain the family's history and martial arts, Sama Hwi used informal language. It was natural, as the process of transmitting knowledge was a brief master-disciple relationship.

Jang So-gil nodded his head and listened attentively.

"Based on that life-nourishing cultivation method, the Sama family pondered many things over the generations. How can we live a little healthier? How can we make this cultivation method a little more helpful? As they did so, a desire arose in the heart of one ancestor. The desire to become stronger, a normal desire for a human being."

He observed other martial artists and went through many contemplations. And he learned one fact.

"The people of the Sama family are fundamentally not suited for martial arts."

"Why is that?"

"Because they try to understand everything and do not trust what they cannot understand. Think about it, do you believe in the qi of nature?"

"Whether I believe it or not, all martial artists use it. They say they store it in their lower dantian and call it internal energy."

"Yes. You know the principle. So I'm asking if you can believe and trust it. Can you store it in your body? A suspicious thing that you don't know how it happens at all?"

"...That's a little reluctant."

"That's right. Just as you and I think, the old people of the Sama family could not trust what they did not understand. But other martial artists use internal energy and fly around without any problem. It was visible but unbelievable, so our ancestor made a constant effort to understand martial arts."

"Did he succeed?"

"He failed."

Even if the people of the Sama family were highly intelligent for generations, they were still human. It was impossible to understand the principles of nature. But they were not people who would give up just because it was impossible.

"We studied martial arts for generations. We sponsored many people and roamed the battlefields. And we dismantled and analyzed martial arts. We recorded for hundreds of years without exception the changes in the body that occurred by taking a specific action, having a specific imagination, and facing a specific person in a specific place."

It was madness. It was an approach that no martial artist, no family, had ever tried, only the Sama family and the Zhuge family.

"The Zhuge family, who went through the same questions and the same process as us, saw the answer in formations and medicine. So they proceeded by grafting martial arts onto formations and medicine. But we continued to study martial arts. And finally, we learned that the brain structure of people like us and martial artists is different, and the way we learn martial arts is completely different."

"How is it different?"

"They dealt with martial arts at the level of senses. The so-called enlightenment. But we don't have that enlightenment. That's why we brought martial arts down to the realm of arithmetic."

"Arithmetic?"

"Adding, subtracting, multiplying, and dividing. Based on the changes in the body that occur depending on the action, the place, and what you imagine, we added the benefits, reduced the losses, and dispersed the damage to create the optimal training path. A manual created through countless people learning, modifying, improving, and advancing. That is this 'Sama Collection Record'."

Sama Collection Record. A book that gathered all the history, will, and thoughts of the Sama family.

Unlike its grand name, the manual he took out was clean.

It was because it was a manual he had newly modified and revised for Jang So-gil.

"The internal energy cultivation method doesn't have a specific name, so it's called something like the Sama Divine Art."

"Sama Divine Art..."

"There are two main things to be aware of. First, you must control your mind. Since the divine art was created in the realm of arithmetic, you cannot exert its full power if your head is cluttered. And because of that, you are vulnerable to qi deviation."

"I'm confident in controlling my mind, so don't worry."

"Don't be arrogant. In my eyes, you are dangerous."

"Dangerous?"

In Sama Hwi's eyes, Jang So-gil's temperament was close to hot-tempered. The surprising thing was that his actions, which were close to those of a mad dog, almost matched his hot-tempered personality, but at the same time, he had a calmness that did not lose his reason. A person with a hot-tempered disposition acts like a mad dog, yet is as calm as ice. It was a contradiction like burning ice.

"Perhaps a later event and constant effort have made you calm. But that's why it's even more dangerous. Once the balance is broken, it will be uncontrollable."

"Alright. I'll be careful."

"The other request is that unless you plan to become a son-in-law of the Sama family, you should learn it but give up on passing it on. This is a secret martial art of the family."

"I have no intention of having children, but even if I do, I have no intention of passing it on."

"That's enough."

This was the first external leak since the completion of the Sama family's manual. The fact that it was a burden weighed on one of Sama Hwi's shoulders, but it was not enough to make him go back on his word. The fact that Jang So-gil was a trustworthy person who would keep his word not to leak it was a big factor.

He drank cold water with a much more relieved face.

The next two manuals were not his family's secrets, so there was no burden.

"The footwork is the secret treasure of the Kunlun Sect, the 'Cloud Dragon Great Eight Forms'. As its name suggests, it consists of eight forms that allow you to reign like a dragon roaming the clouds."

"Why did you choose this one?"

"Among the existing footworks, its achievement is overwhelmingly the most outstanding compared to the effort of learning it. The 'Dark Fragrance Step' of Mount Hua is outstanding in speed but extremely difficult to learn, so it's hard to achieve great mastery, and the 'Ladder to the Clouds' of Wudang is even more difficult. The 'Drunken Eight Immortals Step' of the Beggars' Sect is easy to learn and its function is great, but..."

"Great, but...?"

"It's extremely ugly."

Jang So-gil closed his mouth.

He thought he was joking, but Sama Hwi's eyes were endlessly serious.

"N-no, you're not joking, but is that important?!"

"The value of beauty and ugliness is a given. If it becomes known that you learned martial arts from me and you show an ugly appearance, there is no greater disgrace. To be specific, there is also a practical problem. Didn't I say that there should be no emotional fluctuation in the Sama Divine Art?"

"I see..."

It was a concern that his mind might be shaken if he performed an ugly footwork. Jang So-gil also, imagining himself moving ugly, couldn't help but nod his head as his mind was quite shaken. After all, the thought of 'a cool me-!' is a source of confidence, so it is a very important thing.

"The Cloud Dragon Great Eight Forms is a supreme martial art where lightness and grace, as if floating on the clouds, and the freshness and elegance of a celestial being riding the wind coexist. And yet, it is frighteningly fast. Among footworks, it can be called an ultimate art."

"To be worth taking out from the martial library, it must be an amazing martial art."

"But there is one thing you must be careful of when you learn it."

Sama Hwi asked with his eyes as if asking if he knew what to be careful of, and Jang So-gil answered immediately.

"I'll have to be careful of the Kunlun Sect."

"That's right. This is originally a secret martial art that only the sect leader learns. The rumor that you've learned it will be unavoidable, but if you perform it in front of a Taoist of the Kunlun Sect, probably..."

"Probably?"

"They will try to make you a disciple of the Kunlun Sect by any means necessary."

"I'll be careful."

Thus, he obtained the second manual. The Cloud Dragon Great Eight Forms.

Jang So-gil couldn't hide his pounding heart and slightly raised the corners of his mouth. An internal energy cultivation method with the name of a divine art and a supreme lightness skill called the ultimate art of the world. It was an opportunity that could not be seen anywhere. With this, he had taken one step on the path to becoming a martial artist.

His body heated up and he quickly asked.

"What is the last manual? Fist art? Foot art? Sword art?"

"If you say fist art, do you know what the principle of the fist is?"

"I don't."

"The principle of martial arts is so simple it gives you goosebumps, yet it is not empty. The principle of the fist is to throw a punch. And to twist it and quickly retract it."

"Is that all?"

"That's all. Because that's all, training is important, and you have to break and shatter your bones through a hundred, a thousand, and ten thousand refinements, and heal them to train your body."

Jang So-gil, noticing the implied meaning in Sama Hwi's words, let out a sigh.

"Is time the only medicine?"

"That's right. It's the same for fist art, foot art, and sword art. Most martial arts that use the body have a limit even with spiritual medicines, and you can only become a master with time and enlightenment. You have to train and build your body, engrave the forms on your body, and go through countless fights to complete it."

"It doesn't suit me."

Jang So-gil was only twenty years old, but for a martial artist, he was learning martial arts at a very late age. Even if he started training now, he would only become a master after his youth had passed and the fiends of the Sichuan Tang Clan were dead, so it was meaningless.

Sama Hwi also couldn't have not known that, so he didn't even glance at martial arts like fist, staff, spear, sword, or saber in the library. What he was looking for was a martial art that could be learned quickly. And a martial art where factors other than time were more important in training.

No one except Gu Munryong knew exactly how many manuals were in the martial library. Sama Hwi had only checked as many manuals as he could. He had really put all his heart and soul into this task. He had used all his strength to come up with a plan and exercised his knowledge as if Jang So-gil's body were his own.

What he decided on after looking at thousands of manuals was an unexpected manual.

(End of Chapter)