Chapter 44
It was a normal day.
"Agong, what is your dream?"
Master Gongsun, who was watching Agong practice in a corner of the tavern, dripping with sweat, casually spoke to him when he was catching his breath.
"My dream?"
Agong, who could not easily concentrate on his martial arts training, knew that Master Gongsun had been watching him.
Master Gongsun's question was a kind of koan to Agong.
Come to think of it, he had never once thought about his dream.
"It can't be that your dream is to work as a waiter in this tavern."
Of course, being a tavern waiter could not be his dream. If it had been before he had entered the Hermit's Valley, his dream would have been to be able to live without going hungry the next day, but the situation had changed.
"I've never thought about it."
Agong answered honestly.
While staying at the tavern, he had been so busy with chores and being pushed around by his various masters that he had not had the leisure to think about such things.
"Whether it's by your own will or by someone else's, since you have come to associate with the famous masters of the martial world, you could become a martial artist, or you could become a hunter or a fisherman with the skills you have, or you could learn scholarship or miscellaneous studies from me in earnest and become a scholar or a Taoist."
"Now that you say it, there are really a lot."
Considering his past, it was a luxurious worry.
Although there had been many difficult and painful things, Agong thought that he would be grateful for the opportunity that had come to him as a blessing in disguise.
"If it's neither this nor that, you can continue to work as a waiter in the tavern."
"Although I like you, master, I don't want to stay here for the rest of my life."
"Hahaha! That's right."
Master Gongsun stroked his beard and laughed heartily.
After the Taoist Lingbao had left, he had been a little worried because Agong had seemed to have no energy lately, but it was a relief that he seemed to be better than he had thought.
Although he did not know what Old Ancestor Hongjun was thinking about Agong, it was clear that Agong had some role in the God-Sealing Plan that they were preparing.
But Master Gongsun could not help but think about Agong's life after the God-Sealing Plan was over.
Since he was the first disciple he had taken in, he had grown fond of him.
The reason he had even thought of accepting Agong as his adopted son, suggesting the path of a scholar to him before, was because he had had such a heart.
"Come to think of it, it's not a dream, but there is something I really want to do."
"Something you want to do?"
"If I get to leave the Hermit's Valley... I want to visit the Black Contemplation Fortress and hear the reason from the Slender Moon Squad who did a bad thing to me."
"That's certainly not a dream."
In fact, Master Gongsun had thought that Agong had forgotten the fact that he had been deceived by the Slender Moon Squad and had almost died.
Agong, with a complicated heart, put strength into his big toe.
Revenge was a secondary matter. He needed strength even just to question them.
According to the Tongtian Cult Master, Agong's skills did not even reach the tips of the toes of the many people who lived in the Hermit's Valley.
His chest was stuffy as if a stone were on it, as his skills were already lacking, his training was slow, and there were no results.
"You don't look well."
"Yes."
"Is it related to the Taoist Lingbao who left?"
"I think so."
Unlike his frail appearance, Master Gongsun was a person with a firm will and a sharp sense.
He had already seen through the cause of Agong's worries.
"Before he left, he showed me his martial arts, and I can't concentrate on my training at all because I keep thinking of that."
"He showed you... it seems it was something like an 'understanding'."
Nine Gates Ten Thousand Sword Adjustment.
The one word of the Taoist Lingbao in his memory was strongly embedded in Agong's mind.
The incantation he had recited was ringing in his ears, and the movements he had displayed were shimmering before his eyes.
It was surely the essence of the martial arts displayed by the Taoist Lingbao, and it was the pinnacle of the orthodox martial arts.
But for the current Agong to understand it was like a child who had just started to walk wanting to run.
Since a child who had not even properly learned how to walk was trying to run, it was natural that everything had become a mess.
"You seem to be frustrated."
"Yes..."
Agong had not realized that it was so frustrating to be blocked after achieving something.
Until now, he had been able to break through it because there had been high-quality assistance, but the understanding that the Taoist Lingbao had left this time was not something that someone could help with.
The Tongtian Cult Master, who could have helped, did not like Agong learning the understanding of the Taoist Lingbao, so in the end, it was as if there was no one to help.
"It is very natural and normal for a person who craves learning to be blocked by a dead end. It is important to not be impatient and to solve things one by one, starting with what you can do."
Master Gongsun told Agong what could be said to be a sound argument.
Then, Agong suddenly became curious about Master Gongsun's dream.
"Then what is your dream, master?"
"Me?"
A scholar who had even faked his name and had flowed into the rough and remote Hermit's Valley.
Although Agong knew that Master Gongsun was studying something strange, he did not know what he was studying it for.
'I was too indifferent...'
Although he was young, he was not an animal who did not know the many kindnesses that Master Gongsun had bestowed upon him.
Master Gongsun, at Agong's question, paused for a moment and then calmly opened his mouth.
"What do you think the world is made of, Agong?"
"The world?"
Agong, at Master Gongsun's sudden question, thought for a moment and then carefully opened his mouth.
"Money or... power?"
"Hahaha!"
Master Gongsun burst out laughing, as if Agong's answer were so funny.
Since it was rare for him to laugh so heartily, Agong was both embarrassed and somehow proud.
"That's also right. But it's too early for you to say that, Agong."
As Agong was scratching his head, Master Gongsun quietly picked up a branch that had fallen on the ground.
"I wasn't asking about such secular things, but literally about the foundation that makes up the world."
Earth, water, fire, wind.
Master Gongsun wrote four characters on the ground.
"In the western regions, they call these earth, water, fire, and wind the four great elements and say that they are the power that forms the foundation of the world."
"The four great elements..."
"In Buddhism, they add emptiness and consciousness to this and call it the five great or the six great... but my master, Hongfan, said that the foundation of the world is not earth, water, fire, and wind, but earth, water, fire, wind, and wood, that is, the five elements."
Although it was a difficult content for Agong to understand completely, Master Gongsun continued his words as slowly as possible.
"If you look down on all things in the universe, all things are made of yin and yang, so yin and yang are the ultimate essence of matter."
Master Gongsun, after the four characters of earth, water, fire, and wind, wrote down the three characters of wood, yin, and yang.
"In the five elements, yin and yang are together, and they are intertwined and rotate. If you understand the principles of nature, it is no different from obtaining the wisdom of the universe."
Master Gongsun drew a large circle outside the seven characters he had written on the ground.
"The source of those things is called 'Taiji'."
Master Gongsun, who had drawn the Taiji symbol that divided yin and yang in half, slowly wrote down eight more characters around it.
Heaven, earth, mountain, lake, water, fire, wind, thunder.
"Yin and yang are in opposition to each other and circulate, and through the combination of these, one approaches their essence. I call this 'Yi', and my dream is to bind this into a single 'Jing'."
Although Agong could not understand it well, he could tell that Master Gongsun was trying to achieve something very difficult.
But it was a strange thing.
Although it was Master Gongsun's explanation that he could not understand all the meaning of, strangely, as Agong was listening to the picture and explanation that Master Gongsun had drawn on the ground, it seemed as if the characters were moving.
With his eyes on the characters on the ground, his ears on Master Gongsun's explanation, and in his head, the dance of the Taoist Lingbao suddenly came to mind, and in an instant, a heat surged through his whole body.
Agong, at the sudden feeling of fatigue and dizziness, felt his whole body become languid as if submerged in water.
"Agong?"
Master Gongsun, startled, supported the staggering Agong, whose face was flushed red.
The heat was so high all over his body that he could feel the heat even through his clothes.
"Get a hold of yourself, Agong!"
"Tsk, tsk..."
As Master Gongsun did not know what to do, the sound of someone clicking their tongue was heard from behind him.
"Old Ancestor! Agong is..."
Old Ancestor Hongjun, who had appeared out of nowhere, clicked his tongue and glanced at the Taiji symbol and the messy characters drawn on the ground.
He lightly trampled on the traces with his foot and then trudged towards Agong, whom Master Gongsun was supporting.
"This is why I was going to break the vessel and make a new one..."
"What do you mean...?"
"Everyone is so greedy that they pour water into a soy sauce dish-sized vessel. How can it not overflow?"
Old Ancestor Hongjun raised his hand and lightly tapped Agong a few times.
Then, the heat rash on Agong's boiling body disappeared, and his fever subsided, and Agong, who had been panting, soon regained his composure.
Seeing the relieved Master Gongsun, Old Ancestor Hongjun was about to turn his feet again.
But Master Gongsun grabbed such an Old Ancestor Hongjun.
"Old Ancestor... what did you mean by what you just said?"
"Have you become so foolish as to ask for the meaning?"
Master Gongsun had heard before that Agong had learned the martial arts of the Black Contemplation Fortress and had almost died.
At that time, he had wondered why Old Ancestor Hongjun, who had brought Agong, had neglected Agong's near-death crisis, but there must have been some other reason.
"If you want to do the work, you have to make a new vessel that is large enough to hold it... but since you meddlesome people have repaired and patched it up, now there's no choice but to just use it."
"Old Ancestor... then again..."
"Tsk, for a person who seeks the secrets of the workings of heaven and earth to be so foolish."
Old Ancestor Hongjun scolded Master Gongsun once and then calmly continued his words.
"There is a time for the workings of heaven. Since the right time has already been missed, there is no choice but to just use it."
Master Gongsun, looking at Old Ancestor Hongjun, who was talking about Agong as if he were an object, shuddered at his coldness.
Cook Li, who had tried to keep his distance from Agong, and he himself had eventually opened their hearts to Agong to some extent, but Old Ancestor Hongjun was still as unchanging as a rock.
"But since you've repaired it anyway, try to reinforce it well so that no trouble happens again."
Old Ancestor Hongjun, who had handed Agong back to Master Gongsun, strode away somewhere.
Master Gongsun, looking at the back of such an Old Ancestor Hongjun, frowned slightly.
Agong was a person, not a house or an object.
How could a person be reinforced and repaired?
But Master Gongsun was also in a situation no different from Agong.
It was just that his use was different for Old Ancestor Hongjun.
In the end, it was clear that he was a tool with no difference.
"Ugh..."
A faint groan came from Agong's mouth.
Agong, who had opened his eyes, realized that he was in Master Gongsun's arms and hurriedly stood up.
"Did I lose consciousness?"
Although he had not been feeling well lately, he had never been like this.
Agong, recalling the experience of getting sick after learning the martial arts of the Slender Moon Squad, turned pale.
He was worried that something had gone wrong while he was learning martial arts.
Hadn't it been said that the thing that a person who learns martial arts should be most careful of is qi deviation?
It was said that even a healthy person would lose their life in one go or live as a cripple for the rest of their life if they fell into qi deviation.
Master Gongsun, who was looking at Agong, who was looking at his own body with a worried expression, called Agong with a calm voice.
"Agong."
"Yes, master."
"It seems it's time to learn something other than just simple writing."
"Something else...?"
"Although I cannot teach Agong a powerful martial art like the other elders, I think I can teach Agong the principles of the world that I know and how to handle them."
Agong opened his eyes wide, not knowing why Master Gongsun was suddenly saying this to him. Then he soon realized that it was because he had lost consciousness, and his complexion became noticeably worse.
"Is my condition bad by any chance?"
"Right now, Agong, your body is in a state where it cannot follow the teachings. You can think of me teaching you a method as a way to prevent your body from being crushed by the teachings."
"I see."
Master Gongsun said to the sighing Agong with a strict voice.
"But! The study I will teach you from now on is a study that can be life-threatening depending on how you handle it. From now on, I will teach you strictly, so you must be prepared."
"Ugh..."
Agong, at the declaration of war from Master Gongsun, who had been endlessly gentle in his learning among his masters, had a premonition that his life at the tavern would become even more difficult and let out a mournful groan.
(End of Chapter)