Chapter 441: A Future Borne on the Sword (3)

WHOOSH!

The pressure from Buseon’s thrusting fist compressed the air for an instant before it burst outward with a sharp crack.

Her eyes darkened.

So I still can’t do it.

Her body was drenched in sweat.

She had lost track of how many double-hours she had spent throwing punches. And she had not been practicing a fist art based on Blood Lion Qi, either. She had done nothing but repeat the same straight punch over and over again.

At her level, with a body as thoroughly trained as hers, several double-hours of straight punches should not have left her soaked in sweat like this.

Which meant the mental strain was just that severe.

I can’t even imitate the punch Master showed me that day.

Enlightenment could come from anywhere.

One might attain it while sleeping, eating, staring vacantly into space—even while answering nature’s call.

Put another way, there was no method one could point to and confidently declare, This will definitely lead to enlightenment.

Persistent effort and contemplation merely provided the nourishment from which enlightenment might someday grow.

But this time was different.

The single punch her master had displayed that day had given Buseon absolute certainty that she could become stronger.

It was not something she could reproduce simply by copying it. But if she continued pursuing that punch, she was certain she would eventually gain something from it.

The problem was that she had no idea when that enlightenment would come.

“You’re thinking too much.”

Buseon started at the voice beside her and turned.

Her master stood there with his hands clasped behind his back.

He was smiling at her, his face carrying a warmth she had never seen in him in years past.

“Master.”

Buseon immediately dropped to her knees.

“I have shown you an unsightly side of myself.”

“You certainly have. Focus and immersion are not optional in training. They are essential. Your mind is far too cluttered right now.”

“My apologies.”

Yangcheon shook his head.

“Still, I know why you’re struggling. It must be because of that punch—the one you saw that day.”

No matter how she tried, there was no hiding anything from her master’s eyes.

Yangcheon smiled.

“If constantly showing you that punch and the martial principles behind it could hasten your growth, I would have demonstrated it a thousand times. But doing so might force my martial principles into the martial path that should belong to you alone. That is why I have refrained.”

“......”

“There is little else I can tell you. All I can say is to keep working and keep thinking. But do not cling too desperately to that one punch. At times, practice the Lion Divine Fist. At others, train with weapons. If your heart is still pursuing that punch, you may find the clue you need somewhere you never expected.”

Yangcheon acknowledged Buseon’s talent.

More than that, however, he acknowledged her effort.

This disciple would go far.

Even with less natural talent, she had already reached a level comparable to his eldest and third disciples—perhaps even beyond them.

That alone made Buseon worthy of recognition.

And precisely because of that, Yangcheon did not teach her every detail.

Sometimes overly meticulous instruction could ruin a disciple.

If he had believed his teaching would pose no obstacle to Buseon forging a martial path of her own, he would have taught her everything long ago.

“Still, I believe I can at least help clear away some of the frustration weighing on your heart.”

“......What?”

“Who is it? Who has you worrying yourself sick like this?”

“......!”

“Who is it? Who has made you so impatient?”

“......”

“Yeon Hojeong?”

Buseon could not answer.

He was right.

She was impatient.

In the past, she had been able to turn impatience into fuel for her martial growth.

Now it consumed her so completely that she could barely train properly.

And Yangcheon had seen straight through to the reason.

Yeon Hojeong.

Buseon could not forget the terrifying battle Yeon Hojeong had once fought against her master.

He was incredible. I’ve never seen a master like that before...

It had been a first.

His age?

He seemed younger than her, but that was irrelevant.

Whether he was older or younger mattered far less than whether he was someone she might have to contend with in the next generation of the martial world.

And judged by that standard, Buseon had no confidence that she could ever surpass Yeon Hojeong.

It was not simply because he was strong.

There was something else about him, a certain stature she did not possess and perhaps never would.

The dignity of character?

No.

Even at a glance, there was nothing particularly noble about Yeon Hojeong. If anything, he was so rough that it was difficult to believe he was the eldest young master of the prestigious Yeon Clan of Green Mountain.

His was the stature of the strong.

The kind of presence possessed only by someone who had truly reached the heights of a discipline.

That discipline might be martial arts. It might be scholarship. It might even be music.

And that same stature could be felt from a young man who had not yet reached thirty.

That man has already seen the ultimate heights once before!

Astonishingly, Buseon had caught the faintest glimpse not of Yeon Hojeong’s current level, but of the supreme heights he had once attained.

It was not because Buseon possessed some extraordinary gift.

It was because she had always spent her life looking upward from below.

She had analyzed countless rivals again and again, cutting into her sleeping hours to study them and ultimately surpass them.

That life had given her a certain instinct.

And that instinct was telling her that by any normal path, she would never surpass Yeon Hojeong in her lifetime.

Even if she someday reached the level of the Supreme Heavens, even if she became stronger than anyone else, she had the ominous certainty that Yeon Hojeong alone would still remain one step ahead of her.

That was why impatience had taken hold of Buseon.

For the first time in her life, a sense of defeat she had never known before was eating away at her mind.

“It must have been a shock.”

Yangcheon nodded.

“The ambition that never broke even before the terrifying talent of my eldest and third disciples finally broke before that boy. Yes. I understand.”

“......My apologies.”

“He is different. Even I can see that. There may be countless geniuses in this world, but there cannot be another Yeon Hojeong. And his mind and instincts are every bit as formidable as his martial arts. Even I sometimes find myself wondering how such a creature could possibly exist.”

“......”

“Do you want to surpass him?”

Buseon raised her head.

Her eyes, fixed on her master, were bloodshot.

“I do.”

Those two words carried far more than a simple desire to become better at martial arts than Yeon Hojeong.

Yangcheon smiled faintly.

“Follow me.”

Silence filled the space between them as they left the training chamber.

After they had walked for some time, Yangcheon spoke.

“I did not establish Ink Dragon Manor here because I intended to spend the rest of my life living underground.”

“Master?”

“No matter how vast or secret it may be, a tunnel is still a tunnel. Ink Dragon Manor is an alliance of the Dark Path. It may well be the first organization of its kind in history. How long should an organization like that remain buried beneath the earth?”

Yangcheon shook his head.

“At least while I still draw breath, I will not allow Ink Dragon Manor to end here. I will build a great citadel openly beneath the sun and turn it into the greatest power under heaven. That is one of the many goals I intend to achieve.”

Buseon was deeply moved.

Knowing her master’s personality, he likely had never said such a thing even to her eldest or third martial brother.

And even if he had, the mere fact that he was revealing a conviction he had kept buried deep within his heart filled her with emotion.

“But we cannot simply abandon this place either. It is so deep, solid, and vast that no explosive could bring it down. Would it not be a terrible waste to leave a secret stronghold like this unused?”

“Yes.”

“So I devised a plan to convert it into a Brain Prison and interrogation complex. The construction underway now is not intended to turn this place into some hidden city of Ink Dragon Manor. The work has continued all this time because I intend to make it a prison and interrogation facility.”

“I see.”

“Which means there are several unusual chambers here that no one else knows about.”

After passing through countless caverns, Yangcheon stopped before a stone wall with a faint reddish tint.

He placed a hand against it.

“It looks like stone, but it is actually an iron door made from a material resembling rock. More importantly, the iron contains a rare substance called Soft-Form Ghost Iron. It is a treasure of the world that can expand or contract depending on how much Inner Qi is infused into it.”

“What?!”

“I only learned of it recently myself. There are truly some remarkable things in this world.”

Yangcheon raised his Inner Qi.

HMMMMM. RUMBLE.

The reddish wall contracted slightly.

“Of course, such a treasure exists only in tiny quantities. But even mixing in a small amount allows the size to be adjusted to some degree.”

Buseon could only stare with her mouth half open at a sight she had never witnessed before.

Iron that changed size when internal force was poured into it?

She had never imagined such a thing could exist.

Yangcheon pushed harder.

RUMBLE.

When he shoved against the contracted wall, it slid backward with a heavy grinding sound.

Even knowing the secret of the wall would not be enough to open it. Moving an iron door this thick and massive would require the internal force of at least a Peak master.

It was obvious that considerable thought had gone into its construction.

“Come in.”

“Y-yes!”

Buseon hid her bewilderment and followed Yangcheon inside.

The chamber was darker than she had expected.

Like the rest of Ink Dragon Manor, luminous pearls had been embedded in the ceiling, but there were fewer of them here, and their light was noticeably dimmer.

Buseon’s eyes widened.

“This is an observation room connected to an interrogation chamber.”

Yangcheon pointed toward one wall made of transparent glass.

Beyond it, two women sat drinking tea.

“You can see into the interrogation chamber from this observation room. But no one inside the interrogation chamber can see us. Naturally, they cannot hear our voices either.”

“T-that’s incredible.”

“The world is vast. For those of us who live in the martial world, improving our martial arts is a lifelong burden we must carry. But turn your eyes aside even slightly, and you will find unimaginable treasures and things straight out of legend everywhere you look.”

Yangcheon laughed heartily.

Ever since the Yin Desolation Divine Palm had been purged from his body, he had grown so relaxed that anyone who knew him would have been startled by the change.

“One day, I intend to modify this place so that we can hear everything said over there while they still hear nothing from us. Perfectly clearly, at that. Though whether it can actually be done remains to be seen.”

“That’s amazing.”

“Well, enough about that.”

Yangcheon gestured with his chin toward the younger of the two women.

“What do you think of her?”

Buseon studied the woman with a sharp gaze.

She could neither hear her voice nor sense her presence.

All she could judge were her posture and her eyes.

After a moment—

“......She’s incredible.”

Shock spread across Buseon’s face once again.

“That woman is tremendously strong. And she doesn’t look much different in age from me...”

“She has not yet reached Limitlessness. But with martial arts like that at her age, she could easily reach the level of the Supreme Heavens within ten years.”

“......!”

“That is the woman considered closest to attaining the position of the next Sword Empress.”

Yangcheon’s gaze deepened.

The genial warmth vanished from his eyes.

In its place burned the gaze of an ambitious man who intended to conquer all under heaven.

“I will take them—and the power of the Sword Empress—into my hands. And that is not something one can accomplish through martial strength alone.”

“......?!”

Yangcheon turned to Buseon.

“Your master reached this point by eliminating one formidable opponent after another—men I once believed were beyond my reach. Do you truly think I never once felt despair during all those decades?”

“......!”

“The world is vast, and the strong are many. Yeon Hojeong. That girl. There will always be people like them.”

A trace of vitality slowly returned to Buseon’s exhausted eyes.

Yangcheon’s voice hardened.

“But the martial world is not a place where the strong win.”

“It is a place where those who win are judged to be strong.”

Buseon stared at him.

“Do not try to surpass him. What matters is winning. If he is stronger than you, then exploit his weakness by whatever means necessary.”

“......”

“If what you desire is not to become a great master, but a ruler.”