Chapter 62

• The Founding Principles of the Cheonmu Academy

"Excuse me, I have a question."

"What is it?"

The person who raised his hand was none other than Bi Ryu-yeon.

Is the sun going to rise from the west?

"Who on earth are the Three Sages of Cheonmu?"

"Hee-hee-hee-hee!"

Hyo-ryong and Jang Hong, who were sitting next to him, covered their faces with one hand in a state of despair and extreme embarrassment. Inwardly, they were hoping to be considered as unrelated parties to Bi Ryu-yeon...

"What is your name?"

"It's Bi Ryu-yeon."

He said proudly. Hearing Bi Ryu-yeon's name, Ok-hyeon Jin-in's face hardened as he spoke.

"I sincerely hope that the question you just asked is a light joke."

Ok-hyeon Jin-in asked in a grave tone. Why wouldn't he? His feelings were understandable.

"May I ask the reason?"

"Of course. It's because I don't want to admit the fact that one of my disciples is a patient with a serious lack of common sense who doesn't even know the names of the three most famous absolute masters in the Jianghu, excluding the Supreme Polarity Divine Lord, the Martial God, Hyeok Wol-rin."

He was originally an endlessly gentle and benevolent person, but today it seemed very difficult for him to maintain that.

"Then I'm sorry."

Bi Ryu-yeon apologized obediently.

"For what?"

"I really don't know."

It was a great fortune that Bi Ryu-yeon did not say that, in fact, until he had heard Ok-hyeon Jin-in's story just now, he had not known the Martial God Hyeok Wol-rin, the Hegemon Heaven Saber Gal Jung-hyeok, and ultimately, the Heavenly Calamity Spirit and the Heavenly Calamity Blood God, let alone the Three Sages of Cheonmu. If that fact had been known, even the good-natured Ok-hyeon Jin-in might have fainted.

But thanks to his excellent personality, he was also faster than anyone at composing himself. Soon, Ok-hyeon Jin-in was able to return to his usual benevolent and gentle old master self.

"Of course, you would easily know if I told you here. But in my personal opinion, I feel that your common sense about the Jianghu Murim is severely lacking."

This was not just Ok-hyeon Jin-in's opinion, but should be seen as the opinion of all the students in the classroom, including Hyo-ryong and Jang Hong.

"So I have judged that you need to acquire common sense about the Murim. If something like this happens again elsewhere, it could be a disgrace to our Heaven character group. I don't think that's a very good thing to see."

He wanted to prevent that at all costs.

"Well said."

Jang Hong and Hyo-ryong muttered at the same time, so that Bi Ryu-yeon couldn't hear. They felt relieved that Ok-hyeon Jin-in had said what they had wanted to say but couldn't. Jang Hong decided to respect Ok-hyeon Jin-in twice as much from now on.

"So, you are to find out about the Three Sages of Cheonmu and the history of the Jianghu for the hundred years after the Heavenly Calamity Blood Age by the next class. It's homework."

Ok-hyeon Jin-in declared in a dignified voice. It was homework given to Bi Ryu-yeon personally.

"Understood?"

"Yes."

Bi Ryu-yeon answered reluctantly. I said I didn't know what I didn't know, so why is that a crime and why do I have to be punished alone? Bi Ryu-yeon thought of homework as a punishment.

'I should look for someone to do my homework for me. Who would be good?'

There was no sign of remorse at all. There was no motivation either. He didn't seem to care at all why Ok-hyeon Jin-in had given him this homework.

'As expected, it's Mister Jang Hong...'

The first person on his list was Jang Hong, the owner of an appearance that looked far beyond his 30s, contrary to his own claims. Befitting his old-man-like appearance, he, who knew a lot, was perfect for this kind of work.

'Huh, what's this?'

Jang Hong suddenly felt a chill all over his body for no reason and had to feel a sense of wonder. He briefly looked around and looked for anything strange. A chill that had risen for no reason. But he had no idea that its cause was Bi Ryu-yeon.

"Then I will continue the story. So..."

Ok-hyeon Jin-in's story, which had been interrupted by Bi Ryu-yeon's interference, continued again.

As mentioned before, the Martial God Hyeok Wol-rin and the Hegemon Heaven Saber Gal Jung-hyeok, through the lesson they had learned from their fierce battle with him, keenly felt the need for nurturing talent and established an institution. That was how the Black Path's Demonic Heaven Pavilion and the righteous path's Cheonmu Academy were born.

They were specialized training institutions for absolute masters, established for the more professional and extensive research and development of martial arts and the nurturing of talent. What they needed was the existence of absolute masters, not peak masters. There were many peak masters at that time, but there was an absolute lack of beings who could be called absolute masters. Only the selected talents with the best talent, skill, and potential were allowed to enter this place, which aimed for the birth of absolute masters.

Thus, after 50 years had passed, the Cheonmu Academy and the Demonic Heaven Pavilion, under the absolute support and backing of the entire Murim, had grown so large that just entering them became a reason to be widely recognized in the Jianghu. Now, entering these two places had become the ultimate goal of the next-generation figures and young people of both the black and white paths, fanning the competitive spirit of the young talents.

Of course, the overly heated competitive spirit and sense of privilege also caused various harms, but they were very minor compared to the positive functions of the two places. Because the effect of the development of martial arts that the birth of these two places had brought to the devastated Murim was truly enormous.

With the lesson of the Heavenly Calamity Spirit, the righteous path and the Black Path agreed to end the long-standing confrontation and animosity and to have a truce. Since the two were like water and oil, dogs and monkeys, it was still impossible for them to mix completely. Even a tentative truce agreement was a great leap forward.

The Cheonmu Academy and the Demonic Heaven Pavilion, at the time of their establishment, had agreed to nurture a second Martial God to prepare for the Blood God. And although they had failed to kill the Blood God, they agreed that since he was also a martial artist, he was fully qualified to be revered. No one raised any objection to that.

And they promised to hold a friendly match once every five years to nurture and discover talent, regardless of the confrontation between the black and white, righteous and unorthodox. And the place was designated as Mount Hua, and the competition was named the Hwasan Pact Assembly.

The competition is divided into various martial arts fields, and each is given the right to participate in their specialized and confident field. That is, sword against sword, saber against saber, whip against whip. The competition in each field is decided only with the same weapon and the same martial art. And finally, the final winner is decided through a comprehensive, unlimited duel. But since the evaluation method changes every time, no one can find out the content until the day of the competition.

The winner is given a huge prize money, position, and privileges. All sorts of wealth and glory are concentrated on one person. What is most important and amazing is that the privilege of becoming a joint disciple of famous strange and extraordinary people and learning various martial arts is given.

For example, one could become something like a joint disciple of the nine great sects. What an amazing proposal. Of course, the ultimate techniques learned at this time are forbidden to be passed on to others—even if it is between parents and children—unless it is a martial art that one has newly created. Despite this restriction, for martial artists who risk their lives for martial arts and divine arts, it was a temptation so ecstatic and sweet that it would make their eyeballs spin. The Hwasan Pact Assembly was the way to get closest to the number one under heaven, which every martial artist would have dreamed of at least once.

As time went on, the number of martial artists who made winning this competition their greatest goal on earth gradually increased. The competition was a competition worth devoting one's life to and putting all one's efforts into for a martial artist.

It is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to transform one's life in an instant, to ascend from an imugi to a dragon at once. Besides, the winner of this competition is treated well by both the black and white paths. No matter how much of a Black Path person they are, they cannot be carelessly picked on or challenged. They can receive respect and reverence from both sides to the point of being sick of it. They have more than enough qualification for that.

But it was good up to this point, but as time gradually passed since the defeat of the Blood God and the establishment of the two institutions, the painful memories of the past began to be diluted, and harms arose. The most serious harm among them was that the Cheonmu Academy and the Demonic Heaven Pavilion had become the standard for the tug-of-war of power between the righteous and the unorthodox.

In other words, since the Righteous Heaven Alliance and the Black Heaven Alliance, which could be called the darlings of the righteous and unorthodox Murim, could not fight in an open, all-out war, the Demonic Heaven Pavilion and the Cheonmu Academy, which were under them and could officially and legally compete and make contact, emerged as a means of competition for the righteous and unorthodox Murim, which had entered a lull.

The continuing Hwasan Pact Assembly, or Hwasan Assembly for short, gradually degenerated into a stage for a confrontation of pride and skill. Amid the sighing worries of well-meaning strange and extraordinary people and thoughtful martial artists, the competition became more and more overheated, and it even reached the point where they would send spies with disguised identities to each other's camps.

As things grew to this extent, they could not help but be on edge about the existence of spies who had entered their own front yard. But since the Murim, due to its characteristics, had more unknown strange and extraordinary people holed up in countless unknown mountains than a swarm of bees, it was really difficult to grasp their identity if they participated in the Ascending Heaven Martial Festival with a moderately fabricated identity. But since they couldn't just give up with their hands tied, they monitored each other. In other words, random surveillance became rampant. It was by no means a right phenomenon, but the eyesight of both sides, blinded by the confrontation of pride, showed no signs of recovering.

Still, the martial arts of the Black Path Unorthodox Faction tended to emphasize the attributes of internal energy and skill, with demonic arts at the forefront, and since their ki or nature often belonged to the yin, there were often cases where they were caught if one looked with their eyes wide open. As there were occasional bites like this, not a complete bust, they were in a position where they could not even reel in the fishing rod they had cast and end the game. And that has continued to this day. Forgetting their own duties...

The era in which the fear and infamy of the Heavenly Calamity Blood God, Wi Cheon-mu, pushed the entire Murim into a crucible of fear and roasted it in the hellfire of despair was called the Heavenly Calamity Blood Age by martial artists, and they feared it. Preventing a second Heavenly Calamity Blood Age was the supreme task of all martial artists. The Cheonmu Academy and the Demonic Heaven Pavilion, which were created to stand against his shadow, or phantom—although his life or death was still unclear, all martial artists believed in the theory of his survival—or his remaining forces, were also gradually becoming lazy as nearly a hundred years had passed, and the possibility of a successor was also gradually decreasing.

Meanwhile, there is a noteworthy point about the Blood God Wi Cheon-mu, and that is the problem of his origin. No one knew his origin. With his martial arts, which had already deviated from the mold of form and shape, it was almost impossible to grasp his origin. Everyone thought he was from the Black Path, and that was a natural conclusion of logic. Where else could the origin of that person, who had washed the Murim with blood along with his cruel hand techniques, be found if not in the Demonic Path?

But that was a huge miscalculation. Although his title was the Blood God and his hand techniques were cruel, it was revealed that his martial arts were by no means based on demonic arts. It was a fact that most people at that time did not know. Well, since there was not a single survivor among those who had directly exchanged blows with him at that time, there was no way to find out that fact.

It was difficult to predict from the wounds left on the bodies that had already become a bloody pulp. So they had concluded that his martial arts were demonic arts just from the cruelty and terror of his hand techniques. Except for the only survivor who had fought a one-on-one duel with him, the Supreme Polarity Divine Lord, the Martial God, Hyeok Wol-rin.

With the survival of the Martial God Hyeok Wol-rin, a faint outline of him was finally revealed. The fact that the origin of his martial arts might not be the unorthodox demonic path was enough to confuse the entire Murim. But no more facts have been revealed to this day.

There were many words and countless hypotheses among scholars about his origin, and it was still a point of contention. Stories circulated that he was a forgotten disciple of Shaolin, a descendant of the Demonic Cult, a successor of the Blood Cult, or a discarded disciple of the Wudang Sect, and even that he was from the legendary ancient sect, the Heaven Beyond Heaven. But his identity was still wandering in a labyrinth, not accurately grasped. Only the organization he had founded, the Heavenly Calamity Spirit, along with his name, pushed the Murim into absolute fear. And as his survival was almost certain, that fear and despair had not yet cooled down.

"The Murim is quiet now. But we must not forget the possibility of his resurrection and second coming, and we must devote all our efforts to cultivating a military force to stand against his resurrection or a second Blood God."

Ok-hyeon Jin-in looked around at the crowd and said firmly. Even on his face, which had seemed endlessly gentle, a firm will was now tinged.

"This old Taoist knows. I felt how much fear he brought at the age of twenty, and I despaired, shuddering at my own weakness. I have seen many young people at that time who felt their own humbleness and weakness fall into a deep, abyss-like sense of despair and lose their sense of self. This old Taoist does not think it is over yet. It is this old Taoist's small wish that you do not forget the original founding principles of our Cheonmu Academy."

Ok-hyeon Jin-in was also one of the few witnesses of the Heavenly Calamity Blood Age at that time. That story meant that his current age was over 120 this year.

"One thing I can say firmly is that we must not tolerate the coming of such despair a second time. Such a thing must not happen a second time. This is the background of the birth of the Cheonmu Academy and the Murim Alliance, which you all know."

Bi Ryu-yeon raised his hand without hesitation.

"What is it?"

"I didn't know."

Ok-hyeon Jin-in's eyes widened.

"You really don't know?"

"Yes."

Bi Ryu-yeon nodded his head without hesitation. Ok-hyeon Jin-in felt a headache that had not come for 20 years was coming back.

"Is it really strange if I don't know?"

Bi Ryu-yeon, who had sensed that the atmosphere was strange with his sharp senses, said. And then he looked around and saw that he was the only one who had raised his hand. It was a situation where an ordinary person would have blushed with shame and quickly lowered their hand. Because no one enjoys showing off their ignorance. But since he was not an idiot to feel suicidal impulses just because he was severely alienated from those around him, the surprising thing of being hurt in his heart did not happen.

"You surprise me once again."

For a person who had experienced a miracle, it was a rather calm exclamation. He had thought that if there was someone who didn't know this story, it was a 'miracle', but he had come to accept that it was strange for him to know this when he didn't even know the Three Sages of Cheonmu.

Thus, the first class of the General Theory of Martial Arts ended with the dark secret history of the Jianghu a hundred years ago.

It could be said that there was no one in this Jianghu who did not know this story, but there are exceptions to everything, and that exception was Bi Ryu-yeon. In the history of his sect, the Flying Thunder Sect, there was not even half a page about adversity, hardship, and the dark ages. At that time, when the Murim was in darkness and was suffering from a bloody storm due to the strange weather of the heavens, for some reason, the Flying Thunder Sect had continued its history without any obstacles and without any hardship. It was a question how that could have been possible.

The first class ended without any particular questions. For a first class, it was a somewhat heavy atmosphere. The first class felt more like a mental education time than a history time. In fact, it was a lecture time for the basic principles of martial arts, but the content could be changed at the discretion of the person teaching.

In the end, the conclusion of the class was to train hard and become the number one master under heaven, and then to get rid of the really strong and bad guys when they appear, something like that. Bi Ryu-yeon summarized it simply like that.