The Lazy Young Master of the Jin Clan

Flying Sword.

Longer than a flying dagger or a short knife, yet shorter than a typical sword, the flying sword lacked a handguard, its blade and hilt forming a straight line. Its weight was uniform, and the blade was perfectly balanced.

"How is it?"

"Yes..."

Despite the utter lack of enthusiasm in Jin Sohyun's voice, his master, Kang Cheon, burned with passion.

'I can't think of this kid by ordinary standards.'

This was a matter of persuading the laziest person under the heavens.

Kang Cheon sidled up to Jin Sohyun and whispered in a suggestive tone.

"Think about it. If you had learned swordsmanship, you would have had to swing a heavy iron sword endlessly, dripping with sweat under the scorching sun. The same goes for saber techniques or spear techniques!"

"Hmm...!"

As Jin Sohyun nodded in understanding, Kang Cheon grew even more excited and continued.

"And what about fist or palm techniques? You have to stick to your opponent and move your arms and legs without rest. What an inefficient martial art."

"You're right!"

"But! My Flying Sword Technique is different."

Kang Cheon flicked the flying sword he was holding.

The lightly thrown flying sword flew at a tremendous speed and embedded itself in a thick tree.

"You just stand still and—whoosh—throw it, and it's over. How easy and convenient is that? No need to sweat, no need to bother getting close to the opponent. Also, no need to carry around a bunch of weapons, and no need to wear hidden weapons or poisons all over your body like the Sichuan Tang Clan."

Kang Cheon showed off the ten flying swords like a renowned merchant in the marketplace and said.

"You just need to carry these ten flying swords in a sword pouch, and that's it. This sword pouch just needs to be worn on your body, so you don't have to hang it on your waist like a sword or a saber!"

"Ooh...!"

For the first time, Jin Sohyun showed a positive reaction.

Of course, the reason for his positive reaction was the fact that he could perform martial arts with minimal movement if he learned the Flying Sword Technique.

"Now, then... open your eyes wide and watch carefully. This is the Flying Heaven Ten Swords that you will learn."

Kang Cheon took a flying sword in his hand and quickly sent it flying.

"This is the first realm of the Flying Heaven Ten Swords, Wind Flow!"

The flying sword, imbued with internal energy, flew at high speed and embedded itself in the tree. Its speed was as fast as the wind.

"And it's no problem even if the opponent is hiding behind a tree!"

As he sent the flying swords in his hands flying to the left and right, the two flying swords, which flew in an arc, embedded themselves in a tree that was hidden and not visible behind the first tree.

"But what if you can't get an angle to hit the opponent? In that case, you just need to unleash the next realm, Lightning Flash."

The flying sword in Kang Cheon's hand flashed with a blue light and instantly pierced through the thick tree.

The surface of the pierced tree was scorched as if it had been struck by lightning.

"Once you reach the realm of Lightning Flash, you can kill your opponent with lightning speed, no matter where they are."

After taking a deep breath, Kang Cheon raised both hands high.

"And this is the final realm of the Flying Heaven Ten Swords that you must achieve."

The flying swords that had left Kang Cheon's hands and were embedded in the trees were sucked into Kang Cheon's grasp as if they were attached to invisible strings.

The amazing sight made even Jin Sohyun, who had no interest in martial arts, open his mouth.

"Thousand Hands."

The ten flying swords gathered around Kang Cheon, forming a circle, and moved according to his hand gestures.

"Once you reach the realm of Thousand Hands, you don't have to do the undignified act of walking around to pick up your flying swords. You can just stand in one place and kill all your enemies, and retrieve the flying swords you sent flying with a light gesture. Keke! This is the Flying Sword Technique of this master, the Flying Heaven Ten Swords, that you will learn."

At Kang Cheon's gesture, the ten flying swords were sucked into the sword pouch.

Having finished his martial arts demonstration, Kang Cheon looked at Jin Sohyun with a benevolent face and said.

"How is it? This master's Flying Sword Technique."

"It's truly magnificent!"

Jin Sohyun was greatly moved by Kang Cheon's Flying Sword Technique.

Especially the fact that he could perform martial arts without moving his body resonated deeply with him.

"How long will it take for me to reach the realm of Thousand Hands?"

Seeing Jin Sohyun's sparkling eyes, a sight one might see once in ten years, Kang Cheon pondered for a moment.

'He'll have to train for at least thirty years, but...'

If he told the truth, Jin Sohyun would surely give up everything and run away, saying he'd rather take over as the head of the Jin Family.

"With your talent, ten years should be enough."

Of course, it was an absurdly short period, but even this seemed to be a shock, as Jin Sohyun's eyes widened.

"T-Ten years?"

As Jin Sohyun's body trembled, Kang Cheon was startled.

'This is!?'

It was the exact appearance just before foaming at the mouth and collapsing.

The flustered Kang Cheon hurriedly added.

"O-Of course! Depending on how you do, it could be shortened to five years!"

"Five years... five... five..."

Should he learn martial arts, or would it be better to become the young family head and receive successor training?

Jin Sohyun's frozen brain began to spin rapidly.

'If it's five years... I can play and eat for the remaining eighty years!'

Having finished the calculation in his head, Jin Sohyun awkwardly clasped his fists and showed his respect.

"I'll be in your care, Master."

"Hoo... yes, a good decision, my disciple."

Finally having formed the bond of master and disciple, Jin Sohyun and Kang Cheon looked at each other and gave a faint smile.

'Let's just think of it as being dead for five years. I have no intention of becoming a martial artist anyway, so I'll just learn roughly and then play and eat for the rest of my life!'

'You brat! Do you think you can just get the realm I've achieved over a lifetime for free in just five years? Dream on! You'll have to roll under me for at least twenty years!'

'Hehehe...!'

'Hehehe...'

The two men, dreaming different dreams in the same bed, laughed silently.

***

"The first thing you will learn is the mind method. Simply put, it's the art of breathing. First, sit in the lotus position."

Sitting still was Jin Sohyun's specialty and forte.

As Jin Sohyun sat in a somewhat awkward lotus position, Kang Cheon extended his hands behind his back.

"From now on, I will infuse my internal energy into your body. Close your eyes and feel the energy."

"Yes."

"From now on, do not answer at all and concentrate. If you don't, your energy might flow backward, and you could fall into qi deviation and become a cripple."

At Kang Cheon's terrifying warning, Jin Sohyun clamped his lips shut.

After a little while, Jin Sohyun felt a tickling sensation from his back.

Soon, he could feel the energy flowing from Kang Cheon's palms, traveling through his meridians and spreading to every corner of his body.

"Remember the direction the internal energy flows. From now on, you must breathe every day and make the internal energy you accumulate in your body flow steadily as I have taught you."

Unable to answer, Jin Sohyun focused on committing Kang Cheon's teachings to memory.

'As expected, with no impurities, the flow of qi is free and unobstructed.'

Kang Cheon felt a strange excitement.

Jin Sohyun's body was like a clean, white sheet of paper.

Just as a picture is drawn as the brush moves, Kang Cheon's internal energy could flow freely in Jin Sohyun's great meridians.

If the meridians of a boy with ordinary martial talent were a small stream, Jin Sohyun's were the ocean.

No matter how much internal energy he poured in, it never overflowed or got blocked.

'Rather...!'

As if it wanted internal energy, Jin Sohyun's body began to suck in Kang Cheon's internal energy.

Startled by this, the old master quickly gathered his internal energy and removed his hands from Jin Sohyun.

"Hoo!"

Hot breath burst from his nostrils, having almost lost about twenty percent of his internal energy.

'A Heavenly Martial Body is indeed different!'

Admiring Jin Sohyun's talent, Kang Cheon stood up and returned to the front of his disciple, who still had his eyes closed.

"How was it? Did you remember?"

"..."

Jin Sohyun was silent.

"My disciple."

"..."

Seeing him still silent, Kang Cheon, uncharacteristically, became greatly flustered.

'Did something go wrong in the process of sending the internal energy? No, that can't be!?'

There was no problem with sending the energy.

There was no feeling of repulsion, nor did his qi and blood flow backward.

Nevertheless, Jin Sohyun remained silent with his eyes closed as if he were dead.

The flustered Kang Cheon shook Jin Sohyun's shoulder.

"Sohyun! Jin Sohyun!"

"Ugh... mmm... yes... yes?"

Opening his eyes blearily, Jin Sohyun rubbed one eye with his hand.

And he did so while letting out a yawn.

"Is it over?"

"W-Were you sleeping?"

"I have a hobby of sleeping when I close my eyes... haha... but I remember the teachings."

Kang Cheon was dumbfounded.

'What kind of hobby is that in this world!?'

It was only natural to be tense when an outsider's qi was rummaging through one's body.

Especially when learning about the mind method, one should not lose focus, but this laziest person under the heavens had fallen asleep less than two hours after starting his lesson.

Kang Cheon felt a wave of dizziness and had to calm his mind and body.

'Patience, patience. A disciple I worked so hard to get... I must be patient.'

Suppressing his anger, Kang Cheon continued his teaching.

"The first step begins with feeling the qi."

"Yes."

Once again getting to display his specialty, Jin Sohyun sat in the lotus position and concentrated.

Breathing as Kang Cheon had taught him, Jin Sohyun felt a tickling sensation during his breathing.

'Ah, is this what qi is?'

Jin Sohyun slowly gathered the energy contained in his breath into his middle dantian.

He recalled Kang Cheon's teaching that if he repeated this process, a dantian for storing internal energy would be formed, and as the internal energy grew, the size of the dantian would also increase.

'This is better than I thought.'

Jin Sohyun quite liked the mind method training, where he just had to sit still and breathe.

Doing nothing.

This was his main specialty, which he had trained for the past eleven years.

'But... I'm... getting... sleepy...'

Of course, the perseverance and patience of the laziest person under the heavens, Jin Sohyun, were not enough to withstand the approaching demon of sleep.

'Kooo... kooooo...'

***

A week had already passed since he started his mind method training.

Kang Cheon was proud of Jin Sohyun for following along better than expected, so he tried not to get too close to him so that he could concentrate on his mind method training.

However, at dawn on the seventh day of training, Kang Cheon saw it.

"That damn brat!?"

The sight of Jin Sohyun dozing off with his head bowed forward.

"You brat! I told you to do your mind method training, and you're sleeping!?"

At Kang Cheon's roar that struck his eardrums, Jin Sohyun opened his eyes.

"Sleeping...! This disciple is being falsely accused!"

"Then what were you doing!? Huh? Explain it with your own mouth!"

"I was doing my mind method training! The Heavenly Flow Mind Method that you taught me, Master!"

"Hmph! If what you say is true...!"

Kang Cheon stomped over and suddenly thrust his hand into Jin Sohyun's lower abdomen.

"Ugh!"

The one who was surprised was not just Jin Sohyun, who had his lower dantian unexpectedly exposed.

Kang Cheon blinked in surprise at the clear internal energy he felt in his palm.

'In just one week, a dantian was formed, and internal energy has accumulated!?'

An ordinary martial artist would have to breathe for at least a few months with a breathing method that matched the mind method to form a dantian, and only then could they accumulate internal energy.

But Jin Sohyun had created a handful of internal energy in just one week.

'Is this what a Heavenly Martial Body is?'

He had only heard of the Heavenly Martial Body, but this was the first time Kang Cheon had actually seen someone born with a genius talent.

He was so amazed by Jin Sohyun's incredible talent that he couldn't say anything and just blinked.

"Is something wrong?"

As Jin Sohyun, who didn't recognize his own talent, looked up with an innocent face, Kang Cheon raised his voice.

"Wrong...! You are...!"

No, wait a minute!

Jin Seomok's warning flashed through Kang Cheon's mind.

—Elder, even if you think Sohyun has talent, you must never praise him! He'll think he's all that and become lazy right away.

As Jin Seomok had warned, Jin Sohyun's nature was that of the laziest person under the heavens.

If he praised him even a little here, he would surely become lazy in an instant.

"I-It's... a-a-a mess! I've never seen someone as untalented as you! By now, you should have accumulated much more internal energy than this! Aish! Tsk tsk!"

Turning away after speaking, Kang Cheon had to squeeze his eyes shut.

'I never knew it would be so difficult to call a genius a dunce.'

As Kang Cheon turned his back and his shoulders shook, Jin Sohyun scratched his chin.

'I guess I really don't have any talent for martial arts. Well, I'll probably learn it roughly in five years anyway, right?'

Jin Sohyun had no intention of becoming great in martial arts.

'But at this rate, he might tell me to learn martial arts for ten years. I should breathe more diligently from now on.'

Was it because he had been breathing lazily out of annoyance?

Fearing that he might end up leaving the mountain later than planned, Jin Sohyun resolved to breathe properly starting today.

(End of Chapter)