The Undefeatable Swordsman

Chapter 89.1 The Entire World is My Home (10.1)

Dae-Woong continued to explain to the puzzled Woo-Moon.

“You haven’t learned what it means to be the head of a household yet. If my memories had come back when I was younger, when I was nothing but an orphan, I would have spent my whole life seeking revenge. However, I can’t do that now. You’re right, the first thing that I felt when my memories came back was a fierce thirst for revenge. But that was just for a moment. The only thing I could think of afterward was you, Woo-Gang, and your mother.”

Although Dae-Woong’s words were simple, Woo-Moon could sense just how greatly distressed Dae-Woong must have been. He had merely imagined the situation himself and it had still caused his killing intent to overflow, so how much worse had it been for his father?

The more Woo-Moon realized how much Dae-Woong loved him and his family, the more his heart sank.

“Although the Western Nihility Gate lived far away from society and was unknown to the gangho, their level of martial arts was truly outstanding. I can assure you that you would be able to count on your fingers the number of people in the Baek Family that could match even a common disciple of the Western Nihility Gate.”

Woo-Moon was inwardly surprised by the amount of confidence he felt in Dae-Woong’s words.

“However, Martial Heaven was stronger than the Western Nihility Gate. In particular, their Three Heavenly Martial Kings were really... They were so powerful that no one could stand against them. Even your grandfather died by the hands of just a single one of them. While I definitely wanted revenge against them, no matter how strong they were, I considered what could happen to my family and decided to give up on that.”

Woo-Moon suddenly thought of something.

“What about talking with grandfather?”

Woo-Moon’s grandfather was the Palm Martial Emperor, after all.

“Actually, I thought about that, too. However... I don’t think my father and grandfather’s cultivation and martial skills were inferior compared to my father-in-law's. Although it’s just a feeling because I was too young back then to fully sense it... Also, in the end, it’s still too difficult for one hand to defend against two, no? I know my father-in-law is truly outstanding, but it seems to me that it would be difficult even for him to fight them on his own while also protecting our family.”

“... I see.”

Although Woo-Moon’s rage couldn’t compare to that of Dae-Woong, he still couldn’t help but feel angry with Martial Heaven.

It was natural for anyone to feel angry hearing about good people being slaughtered like pigs, even if those people had no relation to them. Of course, people who had neither the courage nor the ability to do anything about it would just choose to ignore it and forget about it eventually.

Of course, that was not the case with Woo-Moon. Even though he hadn’t met any of these paternal relatives of his, Woo-Moon couldn’t help but empathize with his father and feel a sense of despair over their brutal murder.

“I’m just telling you this just in case, but forget about getting revenge. Seeing as they haven’t done anything in the gangho since then, there shouldn’t be any reason for you to run into them.”

As Woo-Moon thought about hidden forces, however, he suddenly turned his suspicions on the group that had attacked his grandfather that day and the group that Mu Heon belonged to.

‘Couldn’t one of the two actually be Martial Heaven? Or maybe they both are from Martial Heaven. Hmm, I have more doubts regarding Heon and his group. They both use the same character in their names.’[1]

“Anyway, because our lineage is from the Western Nihility Gate, I want to teach you our foundational martial arts.”

Woo-Moon’s eyes sparkled.

In all honesty, he didn’t really need any other martial arts as the Forbidden Divine Art and the Gentle Celestial Sword were so excellent. Even the skills he had created using the Gentle Celestial Sword—the Raging Wind Palm, Heavy Rain Fist, and Northern Wind Steps—were incredible techniques, and as far as Woo-Moon was concerned, they were unmatched throughout the gangho.

Although he had learned and used the Nine Yin White Bone Claw and the Divine Phantasm Steps, even those two had changed considerably under the influence of the Gentle Celestial Sword and Forbidden Divine Art.

If Woo-Moon were to create a new claw technique or footwork based on the Gentle Celestial Sword, it would be as good as, if not better, than the Nine Yin White Bone Claw or the Divine Phantasm Step.

However, that didn’t mean that learning any other peak martial arts wouldn’t be of any help to Woo-Moon, either.

Just learning other martial arts could help him realize the supreme martial arts of the Forbidden Divine Art and Gentle Celestial Sword. After all, these two arts were more profound than the oceans. For example, if it would take ten years to reach a certain level of mastery in the Gentle Celestial Sword, that time could be shortened if Woo-Moon learned some other martial arts related to whatever bottleneck he had reached.

“Please teach me, father.”

“Good. With your memory, it shouldn’t take us long.”

“Yes, but I might ask you to repeat a part if I have any trouble.”

“Okay. Now, let me recite the sutra first.”

Although the Western Nihility Gate had many martial techniques, Dae-Woong focused on those known as the Three Absolutes—their most outstanding qi cultivation method, sword technique, and finger technique.

Auspicious Cloud Lifting Aura Art.

Transcendent Flash Sword.

Flawless Finger.

Although there were only three arts, and their sutras were not particularly long, the meaning contained in each character was so profound that it was impossible to understand the entire sutra with just a single recitation.

After asking about the few characters that he hadn’t understood and memorizing all three sutras, Woo-Moon nodded his head.

“I’ve memorized it all, Father.”

“You did well, son. Then, I’ll show you the sword and finger techniques directly now.”

“Yes, father.”

One silver lining to Dae-Woong locking his childhood memories was that now that he had recovered them, he was able to reproduce all these sutras exactly the way he had heard them originally, with no deformations or modifications. Otherwise, he would have either forgotten them in time or changed them as he practiced by himself, and neither was a desirable outcome.

“Transcendent Flash Sword, First Stance. Red Flash Dragon Dance!”

Dae-Woong used Woo-Moon’s sword as he displayed the technique. Red flames suddenly surged from the blade, forming into a dragon-like shape as they flew through the sky.

‘Wow...’

It was such an amazing sword art that even Woo-Moon was impressed.

Apart from the Gentle Celestial Sword, Woo-Moon wondered if there was any sword art that could compare to what he had just seen. On the surface, Dae-Woong’s swordsmanship was obviously awkward and rusty, but from the profound wisdom he could sense even in the midst of Dae-Woong’s mistakes, Woo-Moon naturally realized that the sword art itself was something unquestionably uncommon.

Dae-Woong displayed all of the Transcendent Flash Sword before moving over to the Flawless Finger. The Flawless Finger, as the name said, was simply a method for martial artists to use finger qi. Maybe that was why the Flawless Finger didn’t have any particular stances or specific techniques, instead simply being divided into three realms.

The first realm was to be able to release three layers of finger qi in succession with a single finger. The second realm was to be able to release three layers of finger qi from three fingers on each hand. Finally, the third realm was to be able to continuously release finger qi from six fingers simultaneously.

Eventually, Dae-Woong finished his demonstrations.

“Now, you try it.”

“I’ve memorized it all without missing anything, so I’ll practice it on my own and show you later. It’s already very late. You should go rest, Father.”

However, Dae-Woong shook his head.

“No. We should just get it all done today now that we’ve started.”

“Mm. Understood, Father.”

Woo-Moon took back his sword and proceeded to display his understanding of the Transcendent Flash Sword.

As he circulated his qi according to the sutra and imbued it into his sword, flames of various colors appeared, changing their shade according to the different stances.

Red, yellow, white...

The Transcendent Flash Sword wasn’t an art that created sword aura. Instead, the extreme flames that its techniques created not only provided as much power as sword aura, but also provided additional effects that simple sword aura couldn’t. Of course, those additional effects had their own advantages and disadvantages.

Dae-Woong was impressed by the sight of Woo-Moon practicing the Transcendent Flash Sword. Although he had been extremely clumsy and made many mistakes, his genius son had been able to internalize the technique in spite of those mistakes and even correct them, using it nearly as perfectly as the masterful Transcendent Flash Sword that Dae-Woong had seen when he was young.

Dae-Woong shed a tear, because the image of his son seemed to overlap with the image of his father that he saw as a child. Quickly wiping his eyes, he said, “The Transcendent Flash Sword is fine. Now, use the Flawless Finger.”

“Understood.”

Woo-Moon sheathed his sword and straightened his finger, pointing at a rock in the distance.

Bang, bang, bang!

A shart sound rang out three times in succession as a hole the size of Woo-Moon's finger appeared in the rock. Immediately, Woo-Moon stretched out both hands and pointed with six fingers. Each shot out an arrow of finger qi, and they flew at different speeds in different directions, piercing through other rocks around Woo-Moon.

“How impressive, son. As expected, I was blessed with amazing children.”

Woo-Moon smiled brightly at Dae-Woong’s words.

“Of course, it was impressive. Whose son do you think I am?”

"Ha ha ha ha ha!"

Dae-Woong’s boisterous laughter rang in the air. The father and son talked about a couple of other things for about another half hour before returning to the Baek Estate.

***

Woo-Moon had just returned to his room and was getting ready for bed when a servant knocked on his door.

“The elders are looking for you.”

“For me?”

As it was the first time he had been called at such a late hour, Woo-Moon looked puzzled as he followed the servant. He was led to a rather secluded room, where all the elders were gathered.

“Oh! You’ve here, Woo-Moon.”

“Welcome back.”

Woo-Moon entered the room, said his greetings, and sat down.

“What’s going on that none of you are sleeping at this hour?”

Hearing his words, the elders’ expressions looked as if they had lost something expensive. Finally, Gong-Su broke the silence.

“Ahem. There’s one more important issue ahead of this trip to the gangho.”

“What is it?” Woo-Moon asked.

Another elder spoke up.

“As you may know, our family’s original motto was that we were not to follow the other families in their vain ways. We were to sleep and travel in the wilderness as if we were all wandering martial artists with no roof above our heads.”

Gong-Su took over again.

“However, about twenty years ago, the family’s mentality changed, and luxury began to be taken for granted. The same goes for the children you’re taking with you this time. None of them have any experience living on the road, and none of them know how to travel without copious amounts of money.

“One day, those children are going to have to go out into the gangho alone, and there would be times when they would have no choice but to sleep out in the wilderness. Don’t you think it would be a shame if they didn’t get to have that experience before being forced into it?”

Woo-Moon suddenly felt something ominous coming.

“...And your point is?”

Gong-Su glanced meaningfully at him. “Woo-Moon, have you slept in the wilderness before?”

1. The Mu in Mu Heon means “martial” (as in martial arts) and is the same character as the one in Martial Heaven. ☜