Chapter 70

• The Hidden Weapon Lecture of the Soul-Stealing Hand, Tang Pyeong

"Listen carefully to what I am about to say.
From now on, I intend to shatter the existing,
fixed, and narrow common sense that you have held.
I hope you will not be severely shocked by the collapse of your common sense,
and prepare your minds."

The story was grand from the very beginning.

"Ordinary people seem to think that the stories in martial arts novels are impossible. Is that not so?"

After opening with this, Tang Pyeong looked around with a calm gaze.

"Yes, that's right."

The students answered reluctantly. The current class was 'A Contemplation on the 108 Hidden Weapons Existing in the Jianghu', and the Soul-Stealing Hand, Tang Pyeong, from the Sichuan Tang Clan, was in charge of the class. Today was the first class, so it was their first meeting with him, but judging from his skinny frame, gloomy yet sharp gaze, and other factors, he was not a likable impression at all. The common assessment of those around him was that his personality was as eccentric as his appearance.

"It's not just ordinary people who are unrelated to the Murim. Even those who are called masters by those around them think that it's a lie."

So what is it? Shouldn't you start the story after bringing up the topic of what you want to talk about?

"Old Master, but what is it?"

It was a protest that he should at least present the topic clearly when he was going to talk.

"Huh? Did I not say?"

At the dumbfounded question, the 40 disciples nodded their heads.

"Ahem, so what I want to talk about is the art of the eye."

Since it was clearly written on the blackboard that today's lesson was 'The Relationship Between Martial Arts and the Five Senses', it was a class content that everyone knew. Of course, the class was a time to learn the countermeasures and usage of numerous hidden weapon techniques.

"When people usually read martial arts novels or hear stories of masters passed down from others, they usually question one fact. What that is, is the discrepancy between time and thought."

"...?"

The disciples could not yet understand the story of Old Master Tang Pyeong, which was like grasping at clouds.

"You all must have felt it at least once."

Old Master Tang Pyeong once again looked around the crowd and drew their attention. Because from now on was the main subject, he wanted to induce more concentration from the disciples. Moyong Hwi was still diligently and actively consuming his paper, brush, and ink. Seeing his appearance, a very satisfied smile hung on Old Master Tang Pyeong's lips. It was a smile that wanted to assert, 'The attitude of a true student is just like that.'

"How can one think for so long in a confrontation where every second counts? How can one earnestly contemplate, judging the opponent's forms and martial arts, when a sword is flying at one's neck like a flash of light? Isn't something strange? Isn't this a lie?"

Only then did the disciples nod their heads and show their agreement. That was a question that anyone would have had at least once while reading a martial arts novel. In particular, everyone knew well that such passages appeared a lot when reading the popular complete collection of absolute masters, the 'Martial Records of the Three Sages of Cheonmu', or the extremely popular book about the Supreme Polarity Divine Lord, the Martial God, Hyeok Wol-rin, the 'Peerless Records of the Martial God'.

The literature of the Jianghu Murim of this era was mostly composed of books that recorded the lives or deeds of previous masters. Among them, the writings about the Supreme Polarity Divine Lord, the Martial God, Hyeok Wol-rin, and the Three Sages of Cheonmu, who had saved the Murim from the demonic shadow of the Heavenly Calamity Spirit a hundred years ago, were particularly popular. There were numerous types and titles of stories written by numerous authors about them. They were stories that everyone would have read at least once in their youth.

"But that is a fact."

Old Master Tang Pyeong solemnly declared. In the lie-like stories in the martial arts literature that recorded these old facts, especially in the life-or-death battlefields or duels where every second counts, the protagonist is somehow relaxed. For an ordinary master—isn't a master already extraordinary?—to cut the tree in front of him into sixteen pieces, a single blink of an eye is enough.

"Let's briefly quote from the Sword Saint chapter of the 'Martial Records of the Three Sages of Cheonmu' by Jin Seo-wol of the One-Stroke Weeping Heaven, which is recognized as the most credible story, completed through oral narration."

The Divine Sword Hero, Moyong Jeong-cheon, who was later revered as the Sword Saint, one of the Three Sages of Cheonmu, happened to meet the Piercing Blood Demonic Sword, Cho Gae-hyeon, at a ferry on the Yangtze River.

The Piercing Blood Demonic Sword, who was in charge of a part of the detestable crowd of evil, was a well-known mid-level master of the Heavenly Calamity Spirit at that time, and he could not tolerate the young and energetic new standard-bearer of the Righteous Heaven Alliance, the Divine Sword Hero, Moyong Jeong-cheon, with his eyes open. The cursed demonic sword, Piercing Blood, of the Piercing Blood Demonic Sword, Cho Gae-hyeon, which boasted a record of having drunk dozens of barrels of the blood of the spirited dragon and phoenix talents of the numerous orthodox sects, was held in his hand, preparing to call for blood. Like a cowardly, despicable, and even cunning minion of the Heavenly Calamity Spirit, the Piercing Blood Demonic Sword, Cho Gae-hyeon, launched an unannounced offensive.

"Blood-Breaking Sword Gathering!"

A blood-red sword ki emanated from his cursed demonic sword, threatening the life of the Divine Sword Hero, Moyong Jeong-cheon, who was like the rising sun. But the Divine Sword Hero, Moyong Jeong-cheon, was not swayed by the despicable sword method of the Heavenly Calamity Spirit minion. He began to respond cautiously.

'16 changes. Among them, 10 are real forms, 4 are false forms, and 2 are variable forms!'

The Divine Sword Hero, Moyong Jeong-cheon, grasped that the despicable sword method that the bastard Piercing Blood Demonic Sword, Cho Gae-hyeon, had unfolded was the Blood-Breaking Sword, the unique sword method of the detestable demonic sword method of the Heavenly Calamity Spirit, which had called for the sacred blood of numerous orthodox sect talents. Also, his divine eye did not stop at revealing the identity of that detestable and cursed sword method, but also saw through the weakness of the Piercing Blood Demonic Sword, Cho Gae-hyeon.

'Hmm! Looking closely, the area under the shoulder blade is empty.'

The sword of the Divine Sword Hero, Moyong Jeong-cheon, was not so dull as to miss a weakness. Judging that the most efficient attack in that state was the ultimate move of his Milky Way Meteor Sword Method, the Milky Way Ten Thousand Phosphorus, he unfolded the ultimate move of the Milky Way Meteor Sword Method, the Milky Way Ten Thousand Phosphorus, with all his might.

"Milky Way Ten Thousand Phosphorus!"

A cursed blood spurted out like a fountain, and the arm of the Piercing Blood Demonic Sword, Cho Gae-hyeon, fell off his body. He had become a well-deserved state where he could no longer hold the cursed demonic sword and threaten the lives of the righteous sect heroes. And to the flustered and pained Cho Gae-hyeon, the final sword strike of the Divine Sword Hero, Moyong Jeong-cheon, was delivered, and his cursed and dirty life was returned to the heavens. Cho Gae-hyeon's soul left his body to see hell.

As can be seen from the above, even in a fight with a peak master, the protagonist Moyong Jeong-cheon swings his sword while thinking of tens of thousands of things. But is this not a lie? Then what on earth is the basis for it? How can a person fight while thinking of tens of thousands of things in a fleeting moment? It was a story that was hard to understand.

"It is a fact. There is no lie here."

Tang Pyeong said, looking around at the students who still had a look of disbelief.

"Old Master, then what is the basis for it? I believe there must be a reason."

Hyo-ryong raised his hand, representing the curiosity of all. Tang Pyeong praised Hyo-ryong's courageous act in his heart and then nodded his head up and down.

"Of course."

The full-fledged lecture of the Soul-Stealing Hand, Tang Pyeong, began. Perhaps because it was a story about his grandfather, Moyong Hwi was more enthusiastic than ever, dipping his brush in ink and diligently moving it on paper.

"Do you know what is the most important and basic thing in all martial arts, including hidden weapon techniques? It is the eyes, the eyes! The training of the art of the eye is the basic and core training of each chapter of all martial arts. The eyes are the passage of emotion and ki. The eyes are the passage that connects the inner world and the outer world, so many turbid energies can come and go through here. And various colors and strange shapes delude us. That is why people close their eyes when they try to immerse themselves in internal energy training and meditation. To prevent the mind from turning to the outside and to make it stay inside. I believe you can all easily do this as you all have experience."

Up to this point, it was a part that Hyo-ryong could also understand. Old Master Tang Pyeong's lecture continued.

"If you keep your eyes open, fatigue comes easily. Because your mind becomes active without you knowing it. A huge amount of information flows into our brain through the open vision, and our brain, whether we like it or not, is forced to suffer the hard labor of processing a huge amount of information. That comes to us as fatigue. But if you close your eyes, fatigue does not come easily, and on the contrary, the accumulated fatigue is relieved. It is something that you can fully experience if you take the time to do it. If you close your eyes, emotion and ki are stored in the inner world. It becomes easy for emotion and ki to accumulate in the inner world. I believe that if you have accumulated training to your level, you have all experienced this."

Of course, all the members of the Heaven character group here had had such an experience. Because it is something that must be gone through in the stage of moving from the ordinary to the extraordinary. Sometimes, there are people who lose their minds and go crazy at this stage, but they start with the determination to face such a risk.

Everyone was listening to Old Master Tang Pyeong's lecture with firm silence. Tang Pyeong looked at them one by one with sharp eyes.

"If I were to pick the senses that are most related to martial arts, I would pick vision, hearing, and touch, these three. Just as the eyes are the window to the world, the ears are also another passage connected to the world. Of course, touch, which can feel the yin and yang and the Five Elements of the sun and moon, water and fire, and wind and earth, cannot be left out either. But the ears or touch are different from the eyes and are not easy to control. All sorts of thoughts of the world enter through the ears and confuse us. But you must never be deluded by such things. Most distracting thoughts enter our body through the senses of the eyes, ears, and skin and drive our minds into confusion. Of course, you can also confuse the sense of taste and smell with delicious smells or ecstatic tastes, but they are not as fatal as these three. Meditation is necessary to remove this confusion and miscellaneous thoughts."

The lecture, which had jumped from a lecture on the art of the eye to hearing and touch, suddenly flowed to the topic of meditation. It was not yet even possible to grasp what the ultimate story that the Soul-Stealing Hand, Tang Pyeong, wanted to tell was.

"Meditation sees the highest completion as reaching the state of no-thought, no-mind, where nothing remains in the end, by pruning the tens of thousands, hundreds of millions of thoughts that come to mind one by one, like pruning branches. Our body and its inside are mysteriously and profoundly a great microcosm itself. Because of that, humans can become an endlessly vast and great being. This is a deep and vast ultimate world where even the end does not exist. With the inner contemplation and enlightenment, the mind can soar endlessly, faster than light, and in a fleeting moment, cross the inner microcosm, this endless, infinite land, and reach the realm of the gods. There, through the training and pursuit of the mind through inner contemplation and meditation, our mind grows wings and soars endlessly. The endless inner microcosm, the infinite universe, is soared through endlessly in a fleeting moment. Thus, we can obtain the ultimate sense that transcends the six senses, the 'seventh sense'."

Tang Pyeong's lecture was racing towards its climax. Moyong Hwi's writing speed was getting faster and faster. Bi Ryu-yeon was just amazed at how he could keep his eyes fixed on Tang Pyeong and move only his brush on the rice paper without a single mistake.

"If you train your mind through meditation and contemplation, and train your five senses, including vision, to the extreme, and sharpen your six senses, the sensory organs of the human body will reach their peak and you can obtain a new sense. It is the ultimate sense that can only be obtained when enlightenment and practice are combined. You guys, do you know what is the fastest thing in this world?"

Tang Pyeong suddenly asked the students a question.

"Is it light?"

Hyo-ryong answered. With an attitude of 'I knew you would say that', Tang Pyeong shook his head.

He did not care about this, and Tang Pyeong's lecture continued.