Chapter 5 : The Dansim Art
A kind of energy that could not be expressed in words lingered in Jang Baekseo's body as he recalled the past and the things he had to do in the future.
It was different from killing intent, and it was also distinct from fighting spirit. Yet, it was too sad to be called pure energy.
So as not to wake Sohyun, who was still wandering in dreamland on the bed, Jang Baekseo suppressed the energy with superhuman concentration and control.
After successfully suppressing the energy that would have killed small rats or insects just by being near it, Jang Baekseo took a deep breath and cleared his head.
'Five years from now! Within five years, I will find the Ghost Doctor who can cure Sohyun's illness and an elixir of the Great Rejuvenation Pill's level!'
To do that, he needed to get stronger as soon as possible.
'At least the peak, I have to reach the peak to get the elixir with 'that' method!'
The three goals he had set after his regression!
And the common prerequisite to achieve those goals was just one.
'Get stronger. Regain my original martial prowess with the highest efficiency and speed!'
***
The young disciples of the third generation of Mysterious Profound Sect, a small to medium-sized sect located in Gangjeong County, Sichuan, had been experiencing a series of rapid environmental changes recently.
The first change began with their senior brother.
The senior brother, who was gentle, simple, and always had a silly joke or witticism on his lips, and was thus treated lightly by his junior brothers, had become a completely different person overnight, catching his junior brothers like lice and spewing harsh words without hesitation.
That alone was bewildering, but that senior brother had a duel with the second senior brother, who was publicly considered the strongest of the third generation, and even gave him a three-move handicap.
And what was even more surprising was that the senior brother had easily defeated the second senior brother.
While they were still shocked by the senior brother's drastic change, those who could read the atmosphere a little guessed that the atmosphere of the morning training would be uncomfortable for a while since the senior brother and the second junior brother had had such a public power struggle.
But what was this?
"Senior Brother, should I lower my stance a little more in this form?"
"Hmm, you know it well. If your center of gravity is too high in that form, there's no problem with the form itself, but it will be difficult to connect to other forms later. But don't be too conscious of that and make the movement of the form itself awkward. Be mindful of that."
"Yes, I understand, Senior Brother."
The third-generation disciples thought they might be seeing things wrong. That was because the second senior brother they knew was not the type of person who would blush and affectionately call 'Senior Brother, Senior Brother' and follow someone like a puppy following its mother.
Moreover, he had suffered a crushing defeat in the duel just the day before. It would be understandable if he gritted his teeth and vowed revenge, but such a friendly appearance…
Of course, this bewilderment was the same for the second-generation instructors who were participating in the morning training as instructors.
"What on earth is that situation? Senior Brother Cheongmu, don't you know anything?"
"What's so strange about it? Is it so strange for a senior brother and a junior brother to be affectionate?"
"No, but usually they're not like that…"
"Yuhan has always followed Baekseo a lot, he just didn't show it in front of other people."
As he grew a little older, Yuhan had stopped expressing such intimacy to Jang Baekseo in front of others, but with the incident last night as a turning point, he had returned to being a junior brother who acted childishly and followed his senior brother like in the old days.
"That's that, but… what on earth happened to Baekseo?"
"What about Baekseo? Cheongdo, you're really interested in strange things."
"No! No! Let's say, for the sake of argument, that Yuhan suddenly started treating Baekseo affectionately like in the old days! But Baekseo is not! He's changed too much! His personality and…"
The last words that Cheongmu's junior brother, Cheongdo, was about to say but swallowed were, of course, about Jang Baekseo's martial prowess.
Jang Baekseo was now guiding Yuhan on the Hyeoncheon Sword Technique. A senior brother guiding his junior brother's lacking martial arts. It was a very nice scene to see. The problem was…
"Senior Brother Cheongmu, you haven't taught him the Hyeoncheon Sword Technique yet, have you!? No, even if you did, what kind of kid is Yuhan that Baekseo is teaching him?"
Moreover, Jang Baekseo was teaching him very well now.
While intensively teaching Yuhan's lacking and immature parts, he was also explaining in detail why those lacking parts were disadvantageous and would cause strain. It was to the point where Cheongdo wondered if he could teach that meticulously and accurately even if he taught him himself. He even wanted to go and ask questions himself!
"Baekseo said he had achieved a certain level of accomplishment recently."
"Accomplishment? Does that make sense just because he achieved an accomplishment once!? It was the same during the duel yesterday. Not an accomplishment, but an enlightenment, no, even if he had achieved enlightenment a few times, could that Baekseo change like that overnight!?"
Ignoring his junior brother Cheongdo, who couldn't control his excitement, Cheongmu looked at Jang Baekseo and Jang Yuhan with warm eyes. Cheongdo said this was strange and all, but just a few years ago, that was a daily occurrence. The scene, which was like returning to the past a few years ago, made Cheongmu smile with satisfaction.
And as for the level of martial arts, Cheongmu didn't particularly care.
He was originally a diligent and honest child. In fact, it would not be an exaggeration to say that his achievements so far were too meager compared to his efforts. To think that it had borne fruit on a certain day was not so strange.
It was not a common occurrence, but it was something that happened from time to time in the world of martial arts.
While Cheongdo was fuming and Cheongmu was smiling with satisfaction, the young disciples of the third generation were also taking a breather. That was because, as they had worried, the atmosphere had not become tense, and the senior brother, who had not spared his harsh words yesterday, was so engrossed in teaching the second senior brother, Yuhan, that he was not paying much attention to them.
Thanks to that, the third-generation disciples were able to regain the peace of their morning training.
…But that only lasted for a few days. From a certain day, the senior brother stopped coming to the morning training that all third-generation disciples had to attend. It was said that the senior brother had recently achieved a certain level of accomplishment in his martial arts training and was taking time for his own training to organize and consolidate that accomplishment.
Although the senior brother, who was pouring his efforts into the second senior brother, did not bother them much, the senior brother who had become a different person overnight was still scary.
If he just yelled at them without reason, it would be less scary, but to calmly point out the flaws in their martial arts, ask why they were so lacking, and then ask how they would make up for it, and if they couldn't answer, to pour out harsh words, was a source of terror for the young disciples of the third generation.
With such a senior brother not attending the morning training at all, the hearts of the third-generation disciples became much lighter.
…Until the second senior brother, Jang Yuhan, took over his harsh words…
"…"
"…"
"…"
"…Uh, Second Senior Brother, do you have something to say…"
"Stance…"
"My stance? Is something wrong with my stance…"
"It's a mess."
"Yes!?"
"The width is not consistent, and the angle of your feet is not properly adjusted."
"Th-ah… I'm sorry…"
"Why are you sorry to me? If you go out into the martial world with such a crappy footwork, you're the one who's going to get stabbed and die, right?"
"…"
If the senior brother was the type to calmly wear you down and then deliver a powerful blow to completely shatter you when your defense weakened, the second senior brother, Jang Yuhan, was the type to sneak up and slash you with a razor blade without warning! The kind of viciousness that would press down on your head with his foot when you were lying on the ground with your head bowed in pain!
Yuhan, who was not interested in what his junior brothers were thinking, recalled what his senior brother, Jang Baekseo, who had become absent from the morning training for his personal training, had said to him.
'Yuhan.'
'Yes, Senior Brother.'
'What do you want our sect to become in the future?'
'…This junior is foolish and has only been interested in my own martial prowess, so I haven't thought about such deep things yet.'
'No, it's normal for that to be the most important thing at your age. But Yuhan.'
'Yes.'
'As you know, one day, you and I will be the ones leading the sect from the very front.'
'Yes!'
Yuhan's eyes lit up with excitement as he imagined himself leading Mysterious Profound Sect with his senior brother.
'But if I'm away, who should lead the sect from the very front?'
'…It's me.'
'Yes, you're next after me. So you and I have to work hard. Not only for our own martial prowess, but also for the martial prowess of our other junior brothers!'
'Yes!!'
'From now on, I will be absent for a while to consolidate the accomplishment I have recently achieved. And when I'm not here…'
'I have to lead the junior brothers!'
'Yes, Yuhan. I'm counting on you for a while.'
'Leave it to me!'
In this way, Yuhan, who had received a very long directive to 'not go easy on them and push them hard,' was whipping the third-generation disciples in place of Jang Baekseo with the maximum intensity he could muster.
***
Meanwhile, Jang Baekseo, who had started skipping the morning training, was training in an old, deserted training ground within the sect.
There were a total of three things he had to do urgently.
The first was to get his current body used to the sword techniques he had used before his regression. No matter how much he had mastered the sword techniques to the extreme in his will, mind, and knowledge, a technique that was ultimately used with the body could not be made one's own without sweating and engraving it into the body! There were no shortcuts, and the most honest path was the fastest path.
The second was to regain the strength of his past internal energy and body.
He was not worried about his internal energy. He had already cultivated his internal energy to the limit of a human being.
And the sense of handling such energy, which went beyond knowledge or wisdom, had been passed down as a clear sense and instinct even after his regression, and was still vividly alive.
It was a simple story.
Even if two people had the same conditions, if one had cultivated their internal energy to the limit once and the other had not, and they cultivated their internal energy with the same martial art under the same conditions for the same amount of time, it was natural that the person who had cultivated their internal energy to the limit once would be able to cultivate their internal energy overwhelmingly faster than the person who had not.
Moreover, Jang Baekseo had previously reached the transcendent realm beyond the heavens.
Even if he only learned the Three Talents Heart Method or some nameless breathing technique that was floating around in the market, he could cultivate his internal energy at the speed of learning a famous sect's divine art.
Moreover, the heart method that Jang Baekseo would learn was an advanced martial art he had received from the Demonic Cult!
The Void Demon Divine Art!
It was one of the martial arts passed down to those who had pledged themselves to the cult and were chosen as Sword Fiends.
As the name 'Void' in its name suggested, it was a divine art that had emptiness as its foundation, and its notable feature was that there were almost no side effects even if one switched to it after learning another martial art, and similarly, there was almost no loss even if one switched from the Void Demon Divine Art to another divine art.
In addition, the Void Demon Divine Art strongly reflected the characteristics and properties of the martial arts learned before it, so in fact, even if he learned the Void Demon Divine Art, the properties of the Orthodox Faction's martial arts, in Jang Baekseo's case, the unique martial art of Mysterious Profound Sect, the Mysterious Origin Pure Art, would be strongly maintained, so it would still look as if he was learning the Mysterious Origin Pure Art.
'It's good for deception and for moving on to the next martial art, it's the best!'
In fact, what was more troublesome than his internal energy was recreating the level of his body before his regression.
Before his regression, Jang Baekseo's body was like steel. He had performed basic physical training to a level that had shed several layers of human limits, and he had also learned the advanced external training and alchemy of the cult. It was because of his indomitable body, which had been trained with a good balance of basics, effort, and research, that he was able to fight a series of battles against three of the Eighteen Stars of Demon Suppression right after fighting the Sword Star Tang Yuha before his regression.
'Tsk, I'm going crazy thinking about going through that hardship again…'
And the last, the third.
The third was the prerequisite that had to be done first, and at the same time, it was very helpful in achieving the previous two accomplishments.
The Dansim Art.
It was the only martial art of Mysterious Profound Sect that Jang Baekseo had not let go of and continued to practice even after becoming the Sword Demon.
The Dansim Art was a type of energy circulation and at the same time a primitive form of alchemy.
Cultivating internal energy was not just about accepting external energy and accumulating it in one's body. It was only when the energy brought into the body combined with the energy generated by a living human being in the main acupoints, blood vessels, and dantian that it could exert its true power. So what was that energy?
The most fundamental energy generated by being alive!
Innate True Qi!
When the acquired true qi brought in from the outside and the innate true qi originating from life force itself combined, the power that became the greatest weapon and limbs of a martial artist, internal energy, was created.
For those who truly aimed for the top, this innate true qi was very important, and there were various ways to cultivate this innate true qi. The Dansim Art was one of the training methods that could cultivate this innate true qi.
In addition, it had the excellent effect of driving out the turbid qi in the acupoints and making the acupoints flexible and strong!
An enormous function that would make anyone's mouth water just by hearing it!
But both before and after his regression, the only person in Mysterious Profound Sect who practiced this training was Jang Baekseo.
There were two main reasons for this.
The first reason was that the difficulty of the prerequisite to start the training of the Dansim Art was too high.
In a word, the training itself required a special technique.
But this condition was meaningless to Jang Baekseo.
'I did it so much before my regression that I can do it with my eyes closed.'
To exaggerate a little, he could do it with his eyes closed and half-asleep!
And the second reason!
This was actually the decisive one.
The practice of the Dansim Art was difficult to begin with, but decisively…
It was incredibly, incredibly…!
'Painful…'
Jang Baekseo was someone who had endured all sorts of painful external training and alchemy training with a smile if it was for the sake of getting stronger.
But this Dansim Art alone, even after doing it for decades, he could never get used to the pain.
'But to not do it, the function is too amazing…'
If it was a bit ambiguous, he would have given up and looked for something else, but the function was too superior for that!
Jang Baekseo let out a big sigh and prepared for the Dansim Art training.
(End of Chapter)