One tea's time after Hyun-do left.
Seeing the sun slowly beginning to set, Cheon-hwi lightly leaped onto a large rock next to the thatched hut and sat in the lotus position.
'I should at least gather some qi.'
He entered a state of Qi circulation.
Afterwards, he repeatedly exhaled and inhaled deeply, slowly observing the inside of his body.
He slowly began the Grand Heavenly Circuit.
A fingernail-sized amount of inner qi began to circulate through the Eight Extraordinary Meridians, merging with the qi entering through his mouth and nose, and steadily accumulated.
One incense stick later, he finished the Grand Heavenly Circuit.
'How much has accumulated?'
With his mind's eye, he observed his lower dantian.
In the clean lower dantian, a speck of dust-sized inner qi had gathered and firmly taken root, but... the amount of inner qi increased compared to before the Qi circulation was absurdly small, to the point where one wouldn't notice it at all without looking closely.
'To only reach this amount even after a Grand Heavenly Circuit. It will take over ten years to reach the minimum amount of inner qi I have in mind.'
His brows furrowed at the slow speed of qi gathering.
Was it because the Plum Blossom Qi Art was a foundational skill learned before mastering superior mental methods?
Thanks to this, he could circulate his qi stably and accumulate pure inner qi, but he clearly felt its limits.
It was only at this level because it was the Plum Blossom Qi Art, which only core disciples could learn, rather than the Six Harmonies Art that registered disciples learned.
'If it were the Celestial Demon Divine Art, I would have accumulated ten times this amount of inner qi.'
He recalled the efficacy of the Celestial Demon Divine Art he had learned in the past and shook his head.
In terms of qi gathering, the Celestial Demon Divine Art was superior to any mental method in the world.
Comparing it to the Plum Blossom Qi Art, which was merely a foundational mental method, was utter nonsense.
'Should I rather modify the mantra a bit?'
It seemed like a pretty good idea.
Come to think of it, since the Plum Blossom Qi Art was a foundational mental method, it would be easier to bring about changes compared to other superior mental methods.
If anyone had known his thoughts right now, they would have fainted from shock.
Reconstructing a martial art was a daunting task even for a grandmaster who created martial arts.
However, Cheon-hwi was speaking of it as lightly as if he were going out for a stroll.
It was because he was overflowing with confidence that he could do it.
That much was easy.
He slowly examined the Plum Blossom Qi Art.
Along with that, he slowly fell into deep thought.
How long had he been swimming in the sea of his mind where countless martial arts manuals resided?
Cheon-hwi chose the righteous faction's martial arts first.
'Focusing on the Nine Sects and One Clan.'
Shaolin Temple's Prajna Great Power.
Wudang Sect's Two Taiji Divine Art and Mystic Void Seven Star Art.
Kunlun Sect's Jade Heart Return-to-One Art.
Followed by the Dianchang Sect, Zhongnan Sect, and Qingcheng Sect.
As countless mental methods belonging to the sects of the Nine Sects and One Clan continuously flashed through his mind and disappeared.
Hmm? But looking at it this way, they're similar.
He felt something strange.
Although the mental methods looked completely different on the surface, upon delving deeper, he could find many similarities.
Taiji, Liangyi, Nine Palaces, Hunyuan.
All started from the same origin.
Not to mention the orthodox ultimate arts of the Nine Sects and One Clan.
But even the demonic ultimate arts of the Celestial Demon Divine Cult.
All shared the exact same root.
'That means...'
To put into action a thought that suddenly crossed his mind, Cheon-hwi first drew up all the inner qi of the Plum Blossom Qi Art.
After establishing the Plum Blossom Qi Art as the core, he slowly melted the mantras of the mental methods that kept coming to mind one by one around it.
Like that, all the mantras in the world stuck together into one.
Hwaaak!
Eventually, the boundary between the demonic ultimate arts and the orthodox ultimate arts crumbled, and they merged into one.
Was it called 'All Streams Return to the Origin'?
Like this, whether it was a demonic ultimate art or an orthodox ultimate art, upon reaching the end, they all pointed to the same place.
Returning to the Origin and True Orthodoxy.
The right path of the origin!
Hwiiing—
An amazing qi swirled from Cheon-hwi's body as he sat in the lotus position, swallowing his surroundings.
A sharp aura that was too fierce to be called an orthodox ultimate art.
Yet, a clean and clear aura that couldn't be called a demonic ultimate art either.
Its appearance reminded one of the Huashan Sect's mental method, the Purple Mist Divine Art.
And that was only natural.
The Plum Blossom Qi Art was the root of the Purple Mist Divine Art.
Tracing it back, the path was the same.
But it was slightly different from the Purple Mist Divine Art.
While the Purple Mist Divine Art emitted a unique purple qi and was bound by a few restrictions, the qi emanating from Cheon-hwi right now was transparent and had no restrictions whatsoever.
A primordial martial art that transcended the Purple Mist Divine Art.
Thus, a peerless mental art that would go down in the history of the Huashan Sect was born.
Seuruk—
Cheon-hwi opened his closed eyes.
This is pretty good?
It was a mental art that perfectly suited his taste.
Not only was its qi gathering outstanding, but if the inner power contained within was unleashed, its purity would undoubtedly exert immense destructive force.
'I only meant to change the mantra a little, but before I knew it, I've created a new mental art.'
He slowly examined his lower dantian.
The traces of the Plum Blossom Qi Art remained.
However, the contents contained within had completely changed.
If it had been his past self, he wouldn't have been able to create such a mental art.
No, he wouldn't have done it.
Because he had already mastered the Absolute Reign Art and the Celestial Demon Divine Art.
A new mental art... does this mean I have to name it?
Having always thought that a martial art must have a name, he crossed his arms and fell into thought for a moment.
"Still, since it's a mental art centered around the Plum Blossom Qi Art, it's better to include the word Plum Blossom. Then what would be good for the rest? Heaven (Tian)? Manifest (Xian)? Or..."
Thinking step by step like that, he uttered a martial art name that suddenly came to mind.
"...Divine Art, yes, Plum Blossom Divine Art. Since I created it, it should at least have 'Divine' (Shen) in it."
Spitting out words full of considerable pride, Cheon-hwi smiled with satisfaction.
"Now that the name is decided, shall I properly do a Grand Heavenly Circuit?"
He closed his eyes again.
As he recollected the mantra of the Plum Blossom Divine Art.
Hwaak!
In an instant, it formed a Grand Heavenly Circuit, and an incomparable amount of qi compared to before rushed in and quickly filled his lower dantian.
'Now this is a mental art.'
He soon became immersed in the Plum Blossom Divine Art.
Seuruk—
One shichen later, he slowly opened his eyes.
His open field of vision caught his eyes, and even the scenery he looked at seemed different.
A martial artist required One Eye, Two Feet, Three Courage, Four Strength.
First, seeing.
Second, moving the feet.
Third, possessing a mind unshaken by any threat.
Fourth, boldly executing techniques in any situation.
Only by fulfilling these four processes could one be called a proper martial artist.
And now, perhaps thanks to the Plum Blossom Divine Art, the most important of the four processes, the eye, had opened.
"Good."
He sprang up from his spot.
His body movements became as light as a feather.
Starting by lightly moving his neck left and right, he loosened his body, which had stiffened from maintaining Qi circulation for a long time.
In the meantime, his scrawny forearms and stick-thin body caught his eye.
"I'll have to solve this gradually too."
Thinking of the future, he looked down.
The wooden sword he had briefly set down before taking up Qi circulation was lying on the ground.
"Before that..."
He kicked the wooden sword with his foot.
Hwirik—
He effortlessly grabbed the wooden sword as it spun once in the air, his eyes flashing.
"Shall I check how much it is?"
He drew up the inner power of the Plum Blossom Divine Art.
Perhaps because it was still weak.
There was no visible change on the outside.
But Cheon-hwi could feel it.
'The power contained in the inner qi is completely different.'
Was it because it was close to the primordial martial art?
Because the martial art had reached its primordial state?
Or was it because of its purity?
It was an inner power that could match someone else exerting one cycle's worth of inner qi with less than half of that amount.
Flash!
His two eyes half-opened.
A moment later, he stepped forward with his left foot.
Following that, his hand holding the wooden sword moved largely from top to bottom.
Huwoong!
The mercilessly swung wooden sword cut through the wind in an instant and let out residual force.
"With this much inner power, I should be able to execute the Plum Blossom Sword Art that didn't work properly last time, right?"
The corners of Cheon-hwi's mouth twisted into a smirk.
He hadn't been able to execute it before due to a lack of inner power, but with this much, it was fully possible.
Soon, he imbued his inner power into the sword.
He couldn't manifest sword qi yet.
But that alone was enough to fill the sword with sharp killing intent and power.
"How did they say to execute it again?"
He recalled the martial arts manual he had seen in the Wanjing Pavilion.
The Plum Blossom Sword Art, or more precisely, the manual written as 'Twenty-Four Stances Plum Blossom Sword Art', was the first one he had picked up from the library where sword arts were recorded.
That was only natural since it was the sword art that immediately came to mind when thinking of the Huashan Sect, and it was the one that Horse Nose Taoist had used.
'It was flashy, emitting a plum blossom scent every time the sword was swung or blooming some kind of flowers, but it was still a fierce sword art.'
A sword art that mesmerized with its splendor.
That's what he thought when he faced it at the time.
"How did it go again?"
He spread his feet shoulder-width apart, raised the wooden sword, and slowly drew a circle.
Like that, starting with the first stance, Plum Blossom by the Road, he executed the stances one by one.
Second stance, third stance, fourth stance...
The more he executed the stances of the Plum Blossom Sword Art, the more Cheon-hwi's expression changed to surprise.
'It ranks among the best among the countless sword arts I've seen so far.'
He recalled the sword arts densely filling the Celestial Demon Library and the Wanjing Pavilion.
Even roughly estimating, there were over hundreds of sword arts.
The Plum Blossom Sword Art he just executed was outstanding enough to be ranked among the top ten of them, and when it came to Illusionary Sword techniques, it was undoubtedly vying for first place.
'Of course, there are some regrettable points, but that's something to solve later.'
He drew up his inner qi and half-opened his eyes.
Seuruk—
His inner qi naturally flowed into the wooden sword.
As he circulated it according to the mantra, a faint plum blossom scent flowed from the wooden sword, tickling the tip of his nose.
'It's the scent from that time.'
The moment he suddenly recalled Horse Nose Taoist.
Seuruk—
The sword paths of the Plum Blossom Sword Art that Horse Nose Taoist had used appeared before his eyes like afterimages.
Swiik—
His hand naturally followed that path.
Like that, swinging the wooden sword following the sword paths, how many times did he repeat it?
The boundary between his hand and the sword became blurred.
'This is...'
When a situation he had experienced several times in the past visited him, he let out a laugh.
It was the state of Mushin, where one achieves enlightenment or drastically shortens the time to reach a higher martial realm in an instant.
'It came faster than I thought?'
He quickly focused on the Plum Blossom Sword Art.
Once missed, there was no telling when the state of Mushin would come again.
Just as Cheon-hwi, immersed in the Plum Blossom Sword Art, was gradually falling deeper into the state of Mushin.
Tak.
Two people appeared.
They were none other than the Sect Leader, Hyun-sang, and Hyun-do.
"...!"
"...!"
The Sect Leader, who had come all the way to the thatched hut where Cheon-hwi was staying to confirm whether what Hyun-do had said earlier was true, was the first to be horrified, and Hyun-do next to him also gaped in shock.
Cheon-hwi was dancing with the sword.
A beautiful sword dance that emitted a rich plum blossom scent intense enough to swallow the entirety of Huashan.