Hwasan Sect’s Genius Swordsman Chapter 10

Chapter 10

The Wudang Sect that pursued Taichi had the Taichi Fist and Taichi Wisdom Sword.

The Jeomchang Sect that pursued Yin and Yang had the Four-One Sword Method and Silver Moon Scattered Light Sword.

The Cheongseong Sect that pursued the Eight Trigrams had the Blue Cloud Red Mist Sword and Four Lightning Cut Light Sword.

Each Taoist sect in the martial world embodied their pursued principles in their martial arts.

It was about physically manifesting the Tao (道) that the sect pursued by displaying martial arts containing these principles.

Then how did the Hwasan Sect, which pursued the Six Harmonies, come to connect with Plum Blossoms?

Was it simply because Hwasan had many plum blossoms?

This was the first philosophical question Mu Hwi pondered after being initiated into Hwasan Sect’s martial arts.

“The thirty-six directions of the Six Harmonies. The Six Harmonies Sword is a sword technique for building the foundation to extend and block the sword in any direction from these thirty-six directions.”

“That’s why they make you repeatedly train the Six Harmonies Sword for a long time at the Spring Plum Hall.”

As he watched Mu Hwi speaking calmly, a different light gradually filled Baek Yu’s eyes.

‘They said Mu Hwi’s behavior had changed, and it was true.’

He doubted if this was the same child from his memories who used to stutter words in front of him due to timidity.

“While training each direction, a thought suddenly occurred to me. What if all techniques were displayed simultaneously in all directions of this Six Harmonies Sword?”

Nodding his head, Baek Yu quietly waited for Mu Hwi’s next words.

“Blooming (開花). I thought that if you looked at that form from above, it would look like a flower blooming.”

The swordsman displaying the Six Harmonies Sword at the center is the flower calyx.

The swords spreading simultaneously in each direction are the petals.

“Your words are correct.”

Baek Yu looked at Mu Hwi appreciatively with a bright smile.

He had only asked to throw out a philosophical question about the Six Harmonies Sword, but Mu Hwi already had deeper thoughts and answers than expected.

“On this Hwasan, there are various flowers besides plum blossoms. It would be a good study to think about why it’s specifically plum blossoms.”

Baek Yu didn’t give the answer outright.

Isn’t the process of contemplating to gain enlightenment itself what makes a martial artist grow?

Baek Yu had faith that Mu Hwi could find the answer sufficiently. Looking at Mu Hwi now reminded him of Hyeon Jo in his second-generation disciple days.

That brilliant appearance with crystal clear talent.

The appearance he thought he would never see again was now shining through Hyeon Jo’s disciple.

‘Hyeon Jo. Were you the only one who saw this child’s potential that no one else saw?’

Baek Yu reached out and gently held Mu Hwi’s hand.

Those rough hands were covered in wounds and calluses were forming over them.

He could tell how much time Mu Hwi was pouring into the sword.

“I hear you’ve been showing different behavior from before recently as if you’ve set some kind of goal.”

“I haven’t set anything grand. I just want to carry on what master wanted to do and fill his empty space myself.”

“Hoho…”

Baek Yu couldn’t answer and just chuckled while stroking his beard.

Baek Yu also knew that Hyeon Jo had tried to create new martial arts. But creating new martial arts was no ordinary task.

‘It will be difficult.’

No matter how much effort Mu Hwi put in, he wouldn’t see a new sword technique before his death.

But Baek Yu was pleased that Mu Hwi was trying to carry on Hyeon Jo’s will, regardless of whether it was possible.

“By empty space, do you mean Hwasan’s First Sword?”

“Yes. I have no intention of yielding to anyone.”

Baek Yu and the elders had assumed that if there was to be a next Hwasan First Sword, it would naturally be one of the Three Flowers.

But seeing Mu Hwi’s firm gaze now, he thought that prediction might be wrong.

‘Wouldn’t more new plum blossoms that survive winter and bloom be better?’

Though he was just hearing a second-generation disciple’s determination, perhaps it was because the disciple he worried about most had shown such a reliable appearance.

Baek Yu, who had vaguely worried about the future Hwasan Sect, was rather looking forward to it now.

“You’ve clearly decided the path you want to take.”

“Isn’t it a disciple’s duty to succeed their master and surpass them?”

At Mu Hwi’s bold answer, Baek Yu let out a rare big laugh.

“Hahaha! Then Hyeon Jo would surely be pleased.”

Stopping his laughter, Baek Yu showed a deep smile.

After exchanging a few more words, as Mu Hwi said he would look at more secret manuals, Baek Yu left the Scripture Pavilion alone.

Though it was night, the cold moonlight shone on the plum blossoms making them appear not just white but almost blue.

“Good.”

Baek Yu stopped for a moment to take in the plum blossoms.

‘Hyeon Jo…’

The most splendid plum blossom in Hwasan had finally set, but a small flower bud remained beside that plum blossom.

Perhaps one that could contain an even more brilliant color than that previous plum blossom.

‘My job would be to protect and bloom the flower bud you left behind. Am I right, Hyeon Jo.’

Plum Fragrance in Snow (雪中梅香).

Though the winter cold when snow falls is said to be fierce, the fragrance of plum blossoms that endure this and bloom would be even deeper.

Like Hong-rim’s red plum blossoms.

Baek Yu moved with light steps while taking in the deep plum blossom scent of Hong-rim.

* * *

Mu Hwi, hanging from a plum tree branch with his upper body bare.

“Huff!”

Mu Hwi’s face and upper body were as red as the fully bloomed plum blossoms around him.

Every time Mu Hwi, hanging from the branch, bent and straightened his arms, the muscles in his arms and back would writhe.

Each time, the iron rings worn on his arms and legs to increase training intensity would clank, creating a steady rhythm.

“Whoo.”

Mu Hwi breathed out regularly while listening to the screams of his muscles throughout his body.

Mu Hwi’s physical condition was utterly ordinary in terms of training. Naturally, being who he was, he wouldn’t leave it at that, so he was properly overworking his muscles.

Even with heavenly martial arts and ocean-like inner energy that could split the sky, it would be pointless if the vessel containing it—the body—was inadequate.

Mu Hwi was alternating between rest and training, even reducing sleep, to bring his body up to the minimum standard.

Though the training was harsh, the rush of pleasure he felt whenever he noticed himself getting even slightly stronger served as his driving force.

Thanks to that, even though only about two months had passed since starting training, Mu Hwi’s body showed dramatic changes.

His waist stood straight, and his back and shoulders spread out impressively. Because of this, he recently needed to have new training clothes tailored.

‘It might be brutally simple, but the effects are certainly there.’

Two months was a short time to achieve noticeable results in external martial arts.

Nevertheless, the reason Mu Hwi could transform his body this much was not only because he invested time to the extreme by reducing sleep, but also because he followed exactly the external training method of a certain master.

Iron Mountain Boxing King

While the martial arts world called the Iron Mountain Boxing King the man with the heaviest fists in the world, to Mu Hwi, he was just an old man obsessed with muscles.

While other masters meditated for enlightenment or practiced sword strikes and punches tens of thousands of times, the Iron Mountain Boxing King just focused on muscles.

– Hey, junior. No matter how good you are with a sword, how can you manage with such a weak body? Look at these solid muscles. I recently established a new training method…

Even Mu Hwi didn’t know he would end up using the muscle talk he had tiredly listened to during a drinking session after a martial arts match in his previous life.

‘The effects are so much better than expected, it’s frightening.’

If well organized, it could even be applied to other disciples’ training.

Though his muscles were screaming that they had reached their limit, Mu Hwi gritted his teeth to increase the count by even one more. His arms trembled.

“Ngh!”

Every time Mu Hwi’s body moved on the tree branch, two or three plum blossoms would fall.

The ground where the petals fell was wet as if it had rained, but it was actually from the sweat Mu Hwi had shed while training.

“Senior Disciple!”

While Mu Hwi was concentrating on training, Mu-hwa bounced into the cottage yard with rabbit-like light steps.

Mu-hwa swallowed while looking at Mu Hwi’s writhing upper body muscles.

Muscles draw appropriately rough lines without being excessive. Plus the large scar on his chest seemed alive, writhing whenever the muscles moved.

Usually, scars make people frown when they see them, but it somehow suited him well on top of the nicely defined muscles.

Mu-hwa, whose gaze was momentarily stolen, quickly turned her eyes away and shouted.

“Senior Disciple! Please put on your training clothes!”

“What are you saying? Who dared to interrupt my training? You should close your eyes.”

Mu Hwi wiped the sweat from his face with his forearm and roughly draped the training clothes over his shoulders. Seeing this, Mu-hwa fidgeted with her lips before firmly closing them.

She now knew well that nothing she said would have any effect on her Senior Disciple.

“Senior Disciple, let’s eat together today. You hardly ever eat at the dining hall.”

“Did you come all the way here just to ask me to eat?”

“Of course not. I also have something to tell you while eating. Senior Disciple, you’ll be surprised when you hear it!”

As Mu-hwa flashed a refreshing smile, Mu Hwi dropped something into her hand.

When Mu-hwa looked to see what it was, there was a flint. At this, Mu-hwa tilted her head.

“Senior Disciple?”

“You learned how to start fires at Spring Plum Hall, right? I’ll be back shortly, so just light the fire well.”

Mu-hwa blinked her large eyes while looking at the forest where Mu Hwi had disappeared.

“What?”

* * *

Mu-hwa blankly stared at the rabbit meat browning before her eyes, dripping with oil.

“Senior Disciple… Now I know why you hardly ever came to the dining hall.”

“Tch. If the food there was delicious, I would have eaten there.”

When Mu Hwi first saw Hwasan Sect’s diet, he was shocked beyond belief.

Most of it was just vegetables, and what little meat there was had been thoroughly boiled with all the fat removed and almost no seasonings used, making it tasteless and dry.

While he understood that they aimed for immortal foods as befitting a Taoist sect, Mu Hwi wasn’t the type to force himself to eat it while enduring.

Mu Hwi took out some jerky from somewhere, cut it into small pieces, and spread it evenly over the rabbit meat. Thanks to the surface oil, the jerky stuck firmly without falling off as it cooked in the flames.

“Why did you do that with the jerky?”

“When you do this, the saltiness of the jerky makes the meat more delicious.”

“Wow.”

While Mu Hwi naturally knew this from his previous life memories, Mu-hwa, who was born and raised only in Hwasan, found it simply fascinating.

When the meat was cooked appetizingly, Mu Hwi gave one of the two pieces to Mu-hwa.

“Don’t tell the other disciples. If you do, I’ll focus on training just you intensively for a month.”

“Ugh.”

Mu-hwa glanced at Mu Hwi with a disgusted expression.

Besides dawn training, Mu Hwi would stay at the training ground to guide the martial arts of his fellow disciples.

Originally, this was mainly the responsibility of first-generation disciples.

Since not all Hwasan disciples formed master-student relationships, first-generation disciples took turns supervising the martial arts of second-generation disciples who had no masters.

However, due to the Shaanxi Blood Incident, the number of first-generation disciples had decreased, and the remaining ones were busy with administrative work to recover from Hwasan Sect’s damages.

So regardless of whether they had masters or not, second-generation disciples were thirsting for martial arts guidance.

Mu Hwi had perceived this problem and made separate time to oversee the second-generation disciples’ martial arts.

However, since his method always involved martial matches, getting hit several times with wooden swords was very common. This was because Mu Hwi’s principle was the one that learns and corrects flaws faster by getting hit while learning.

Mu-hwa, who had recently approached confidently only to get thoroughly beaten, puffed her cheeks in protest.

“Senior Disciple. I’m the youngest of the second-generation disciples, can’t you be a bit nicer to me? The bruises on my thighs and waist still haven’t faded.”

“Of course, I’m being nice. I’m only hitting you once when I could hit you three times.”

“Sigh. Never mind.”

Sighing, Mu-hwa opened her mouth wide and took a big bite of rabbit meat as if venting her frustration. Mu Hwi watched her and asked.

“So what did you want to tell me?”

“Ah, right!”

Mu-hwa wiped her greasy lips and exclaimed in an excited voice.

“Senior Disciple! We’re going down the mountain!”

At those words, Mu Hwi’s previously indifferent eyes sparkled.

“Oh… Really?”

It was the most interesting thing Mu Hwi had heard so far.

Seeing Mu Hwi’s lively reaction, Mu-hwa chewed her meat curiously.

“Senior Disciple, did you want to go down the mountain that badly?”

< A Small Flower Bud Remained. > End

< I want to smash everything to pieces. >