Just before Hyunryeo arrived.
Flap— Flap—
Cheonhwi was following the incantations written in the martial arts manual with his right hand while swiftly flipping through the pages with his left.
As he flipped through, he saw blank pages appear and shook his head in disbelief.
'Some of the incantations are missing now.'
Looking at it with incredulous eyes, he decided to give it a try and read the remaining incantations.
The core of Nanhwa Dahyeolsu was two things.
Nanhwa (Orchid Flower) and Dohyeol (Dao Acupoint).
'Is this what it's telling me to do?'
Swish—
He raised his right hand and swung it.
From top to bottom, from bottom to top.
His right hand, with fingers undulating like waves, rode the air like a fluttering breeze and snapped at the empty space several times.
The two words that seemed unrelated to each other merged into one martial art and bore fruit.
'So this is how it goes.'
Like handling an orchid flower, the soft and fluid hand gesture moved along the flow.
Slither—
He pressed along the path where the acupoints were located.
Yuyudodo (Flow Has Dao Guidance).
Where there is flow, a path is guided.
This Yuyudodo, which was heavily emphasized in the final incantation of the martial arts manual, was precisely the incantation that pierced the core of Nanhwa Dahyeolsu.
Tap.
After a brief moment, he withdrew Nanhwa Dahyeolsu.
'The important incantations have all been lost.'
He realized what the missing incantations were.
That was natural, as Nanhwa Dahyeolsu was a technique the old woman had used in the past, so he had seen it multiple times and knew its flow.
In his mind, he recalled the old woman wielding Okhwanmyobo while unleashing Nanhwa Dahyeolsu like crazy.
A very vicious and malicious technique.
'Then...'
He drew a human figure in the empty air, then regulated his breathing.
Following that, he withdrew his softly fluttering right hand and straightened his fingers sharply.
In an instant, the air changed.
In that brief moment, his right hand harboring a sharp aura took the form of a sword and then slashed diagonally.
Whiz—
He pulled the human figure toward him and bound it.
The soft hand gesture was not like the Golden Grappling technique that deflected an opponent's attack, but rather served to rotate the surrounding air to pull the opponent toward him.
And against the defenseless opponent.
Thrust.
He pierced through.
Crash!
The pierced figure shattered.
'Yes, this is it.'
This was the true Nanhwa Dahyeolsu that the old woman had wielded—a vicious technique that struck death acupoints without a moment's hesitation.
'This is Nanhwa Dahyeolsu (Orchid Blade Blood Hand).'
He recalled the alias that the cultists who had witnessed the old woman's technique in the past used to call it.
A technique with hand gestures as soft as an orchid flower, but sharp and fierce like a blade that calls for blood the moment one approaches.
'Of course, it must be forgotten by now.'
He shrugged.
Three hundred years had passed.
It was natural for martial arts to change.
There were cases where incantations changed, and cases like this where incantations were lost.
Nanhwa Dahyeolsu was particularly severe in this regard.
Of course, he could guess the reason.
This place was the Huashan Sect.
A Daoist sect.
'Why would the Huashan Sect, which has built a long history with Daoist teachings, keep such a murderous martial art? No one practiced it, so they wouldn't have even noticed the incantations were lost.'
He casually glanced at Seogok.
The Demon-Extermination Sword Technique was also an outstanding sword technique, but it was far from a Daoist sword technique, left neglected to the point of gathering dust.
'Well, that's that.'
He cut off his thoughts right there.
Having adapted to the current situation of three hundred years later, this much was not a big deal.
'Nanhwa Dahyeolsu is done now.'
Snap.
Just as he stored the properly restored incantations of Nanhwa Dahyeolsu in his mind and closed the martial arts manual with a satisfied expression.
"Hwi-ya!"
He turned his head at the booming voice that shook the previously quiet Mangyeongak.
'Hyunryeo?'
At her completely unexpected appearance, he stopped Nanhwa Dahyeolsu.
As he was looking at her with a puzzled expression.
Grab!
Hyunryeo, who had come right up to him, grabbed Cheonhwi's shoulder tightly with her hand. Then she glared with both eyes and shouted loudly.
"Wh-when did you learn martial arts?"
"Excuse me?"
He blurted out in disbelief.
Cheonhwi could confidently say that there was no one in the world who had learned more martial arts than himself.
Yet she was asking when he learned martial arts.
It was so absurd he was speechless.
"I've known martial arts since before..."
He flinched while saying that.
His eyes met with Hyunryeo, who wore an expression of disbelief.
In her deep, clear, pitch-black eyes, the face of a young Daoist wearing an absurd expression was wavering.
Alas!
He was so absorbed in martial arts that his realization came late.
That right now, he was not Dokgo Guryon, but Cheonhwi of the Huashan Sect.
Flustered, his eyes darted around until he found the martial arts manual in his left hand and immediately held it up, smiling awkwardly.
"Haha, I just tried following what was written in this martial arts manual."
"……!"
Crush!
His shoulder throbbed in pain.
She's damn strong.
As he tried to resist grimacing in pain, Hyunryeo's hand trembled.
"Are you saying you learned Nanhwa Dahyeolsu just by following the martial arts manual?"
Muttering softly, she let her hands drop with an expression of sheer disbelief.
Then she thrust her face right up close.
"Then what was that Nanhwa Dahyeolsu you just performed? Some of the incantations written in the martial arts manual are lost, so it's absolutely impossible to learn, so how...!"
At her barrage of words, Cheonhwi showed a troubled expression.
How should he answer this?
Say he saw it before? Like they'd believe that.
Then say he recalled the martial arts he used to perform and restored it?
That's even more insane.
As he was agonizing over it, Hyunryeo seemed to misunderstand that Cheonhwi was already frightened and started to come to her senses.
'What have I done...'
She released her grip on his shoulder.
And with a clear mind, she thought.
'I'm crazy. Crazy. To harass a child who can't even use martial arts like this.'
Hyunryeo blamed herself and shook her head.
'Probably, the clumsy imitation without internal energy just happened to look slightly similar to what was passed down orally.'
Thinking that, her mind eased.
Soon she met Cheonhwi's eyes and spoke.
"I'm sorry. You shouldn't be able to properly perform Nanhwa Dahyeolsu without internal energy, but I must have been bewitched to have such an absurd delusion and press you like this..."
Cheonhwi remained silent at Hyunryeo's words that came while he was only agonizing over it.
Good thing I didn't answer.
Just as he was relieved to have passed over something that could have become troublesome with one wrong move, Hyunryeo suddenly hugged Cheonhwi tight.
Sigh, again?
He shook his head inwardly.
It was a hug she gave every time they met. At first, he tried to refuse, but now he was too tired to push her away and just went along with it.
How many seconds did she hug him?
Hyunryeo released the hug and met his eyes.
"Hwi-ya."
Calling Cheonhwi, she wore a complex look in her eyes and asked carefully.
"By any chance, do you want to learn martial arts?"
"Huh? Yes."
At the sudden, unexpected question, he blankly answered without thinking.
Then Hyunryeo nodded.
She clenched both fists with a resolute look in her eyes and opened her mouth.
"I understand."
As if making a resolution, she turned around and went back down the stairs.
Thud— Thud—
After Hyunryeo disappeared beyond the stairs, Cheonhwi, who had been standing blankly, made an expression of disbelief and muttered.
"Did she come all this way just to say that?"
* * *
Two days later, at the hour of You.
The weather had become considerably warmer during that time.
The plum blossoms bloomed even more profusely than before, gently embracing Huashan.
It was now fully spring weather.
Under the blue sky, Cheonhwi, who left Mangyeongak at his usual time, was walking along the mountain path toward the thatched cottage.
'The orthodox supreme arts are much more different from the demonic supreme arts than I thought.'
He had already skimmed through one hundred martial arts manuals.
During that time, he was able to understand many things.
Demonic supreme arts would use any means necessary solely to become stronger.
But orthodox supreme arts were different.
An extension of training.
That was the case for most orthodox supreme arts.
Saying they would accumulate the Dao, attain enlightenment, and achieve ascension to immortality.
Most pursued non-killing.
If that was the case, they should rather not learn martial arts and only learn mental cultivation methods.
What is martial arts?
A weapon to kill opponents.
Yet they only incapacitate opponents?
If the demonic practitioners of the Cheonma Shinkyo, who followed the law of the strong ruling, saw this, they would snort and mock.
However, Cheonhwi found it interesting.
'It's different from what I know, so it is fun.'
Walking lost in thought for about an hour, he arrived at the thatched cottage.
Instantly, his eyes sank coldly.
Unfamiliar shoes were neatly placed at the threshold of the cottage.
It had been about ten days since he stayed here.
During that time, the only person who had visited the cottage was Hyunryeo, and even she had never come inside the cottage.
He slowly opened the door and entered.
Then, when he pushed open the door to the room without a single light.
Flash!
Two gleams flashed in the darkness.
"Have you come?"
His head turned at the deep voice.
In the center, a massive middle-aged man sat in a lotus position with his arms crossed.
'Who is that?'
He surveyed the man shrouded in darkness.
Hair disheveled as if he didn't care, and a faint scar running across his cheek.
He flinched for a moment.
Jeez. Gui-an-mado (Ghost Face Demonic Blade), I almost thought that guy was here and got startled.
The man with sharply raised eyes and thick dark eyebrows didn't lose to that guy at all, who was counted as one of the most frightening-looking people even within the Cheonma Shinkyo.
If not for the Huashan Sect Daoist robes he was wearing, his rugged appearance would have made him think he was brothers with that guy.
Cheonhwi surveyed him and then his eyes gleamed.
It wasn't just his appearance that was intense.
The man possessed the strongest aura among all the people he had met in the Huashan Sect.
'He's stronger than the Sect Leader?'
In an instant, one person crossed his mind.
"Hyundo... Fourth Uncle?"
Thump.
Hyundo pushed off the floor and stood up.
Then Hyundo's head, which had been at chest level, gradually rose higher until it almost reached the ceiling.
A height easily exceeding six cheok.
With his massive build, he strode over and approached Cheonhwi.
"Hmm..."
Stroking his sparsely grown beard as he looked down, he nodded.
Then his tightly shut mouth, as if all his stubbornness had been gathered into one, slowly opened.
"I heard you want to learn martial arts."
Learn martial arts... Ah!
He suddenly recalled the answer he had blurted out during the conversation with Hyunryeo two days ago, and reluctantly nodded.
"That's right."
"That's why I came."
Hyundo, who was speaking, lifted his chin.
He looked down with an expression full of pride and straightened his back fully.
"To teach you."
"What?"
Cheonhwi's eyes widened.
'Seems like he's overwhelmed that I'll be teaching him.'
Satisfied with his shocked appearance, Hyundo smiled and nodded his head greatly.
But did he know?
That Cheonhwi was not overwhelmed at all.
Rather, he was finding it absurd.
'I have to learn martial arts from this weak guy?'