A short while later, stepping outside, Hyundo smiled with satisfaction as he saw the Plum Blossom Swordsmen taking their horse stances in a row across the manor.
"A fine sight."
He soon whispered to Cheonhui beside him.
"Was it you who taught them?"
"Yes."
Cheonhui swept his gaze over the Plum Blossom Swordsmen who were drenched in sweat, seemingly having reached their limits.
"Their fundamentals were a mess."
"Hehe. Everyone is like that."
Hyundo said softly.
Had he himself not been the same?
When one learned high-tier mental methods and martial arts, it was inevitable to grow negligent in foundational training.
Visible sword qi.
Invisible foundational stamina.
People naturally obsessed over visible results.
"Fourth Uncle!"
When the Plum Blossom Swordsmen belatedly noticed Hyundo and tried to greet him—
"It hasn't even been one shichen yet."
Cheonhui blocked their movement.
"Listen to Cheonhui."
Hyundo drove the wedge in.
The Plum Blossom Swordsmen who had been trying to pull a trick and briefly release their horse stance darkened in expression.
Hyundo looked at them and opened his mouth.
"How long do you do it?"
"One shichen."
The Plum Blossom Swordsmen looked at Hyundo.
Seeing the desperate looks in their eyes begging to be saved, Hyundo spoke with a feigned expression of surprise.
"Why so short?"
The Plum Blossom Swordsmen's jaws dropped.
'Fourth Uncle! That's not right!'
'One shichen is short?!'
Who does horse stance for a whole shichen?
They thought there was no one more ruthless than Cheonhui, but one was right before their eyes.
But at Hyundo's next words, they fell silent.
"Didn't you make Seolran and Jeokgeom do it for at least half a day?"
"They didn't even have the basics at all, so it couldn't be helped."
The two from back then and the Plum Blossom Swordsmen were different from the very starting point.
"And I'm thinking of ending horse stance soon too. We can't just keep doing horse stance like this forever."
The Plum Blossom Swordsmen inwardly cheered at Cheonhui's words.
"Hmm. Already?"
"It's not like I'll be staying here forever, so I should at least teach them some proper martial arts."
At that moment.
Thud!
The Plum Blossom Swordsmen collapsed onto the ground.
"Heh, heh."
"F-finally over!"
Cheonhui looked down at Cheonyu, who had flopped down spread-eagled like the character 大 (great).
"Eldest Senior Brother."
Cheonyu, looking up at Cheonhui whose hair was cascading down, said with a troubled expression.
"Haha, Junior Brother. I'd like to rest for a moment."
"I was going to teach you a palm technique. But if you don't want to..."
"What? Palm technique?"
Cheonyu leapt up.
When Cheonhui watched him with cold eyes, Cheonyu's expression turned strange.
"H-haha. Well..."
"Enough."
Cheonhui cut off his words and raised his hand.
"This is the palm technique you'll learn, so watch carefully."
The moment those words ended, a purple aura began to swirl from the wide-open, pure white palm.
"Purple Divine Art...?"
Cheonyu, flustered, rubbed his eyes.
But the aura blooming in Cheonhui's palm was exactly the same as before.
At that moment, an indescribably intense energy began to surge from Cheonhui's palm, crushing the space itself.
Crack!
The void burst open and the ground caved in.
From the palm mark distinctly imprinted about three inches deep into the ground, purple aura was still flowing even now that everything was over.
'I-It was like the Purple Divine Sword Art...'
Cheonyu swallowed hard as he looked back and forth between Cheonhui and the palm mark with dazed eyes.
"W-What kind of palm technique is this?"
"What kind of palm technique?"
Cheonhui paused for a moment.
This palm technique was created to maximize Cheonyu's Purple Divine Art.
Therefore, it had no name.
'I'll just come up with something.'
He spat out the martial art name that came to mind.
"Purple Divine Palm (Zixia Shenzhang)."
"Purple Divine Palm?"
Cheonyu's eyes shook.
"The Purple Divine Art has a palm technique too?"
"I'll recite the incantation."
"W-wait."
Without even time to think, Cheonyu memorized Cheonhui's voice as he immediately began reciting the incantation.
"Did Cheonhui see the Purple Divine Sword Art?"
From afar, Hyundo's eyes gleamed with interest as he watched the palm technique Cheonhui had displayed.
The palm technique Cheonhui had just demonstrated looked exactly like the Purple Divine Sword Art.
"Was it in the Man Gyeong Pavilion? Or did Cheonhui create it again?"
Hyundo shook his head slowly.
Whether it was from the Man Gyeong Pavilion or something he created.
What did it matter?
Cheonhui was a disciple of the Huashan Sect.
"This is our sect's great fortune."
By the time Hyundo smiled, Cheonhui had not only visited Cheonyu but also gone to each of the remaining Plum Blossom Swordsmen and individually passed down martial arts suited to them.
Sword techniques, saber techniques, palm techniques, kick techniques, movement techniques...
The martial arts Cheonhui was displaying and teaching were not just one or two.
'If they merely achieve Great Success in the martial arts I've taught them, there won't be many rivals in the world.'
After teaching everyone their martial arts like that, he finally approached Cheongeuk.
"Senior Brother, you have something you're curious about, right?"
Cheongeuk's eyes widened.
"How did you know?"
"You've been fidgeting, wanting to talk to me."
"I recently started emitting sword fragrance."
"That's quite a rapid achievement."
Despite his indifferent expression, Cheonhui was slightly surprised.
Until recently, Cheongeuk couldn't even properly execute the Plum Blossom Sword Technique, let alone sword fragrance.
But to have produced sword fragrance in just the few days he went down the Changgang?
It was quite a remarkable achievement.
'Unexpectedly, he might have the most talent among these.'
"That's quite a fast achievement you've made."
"Haha, it's all thanks to you, Junior Brother."
Cheongeuk smiled softly.
It was natural for him to rejoice in his accomplishment.
He had achieved greater results in just fifteen days than three months of training.
"So, Junior Brother. About when do you think I'll be able to bloom sword flowers?"
"What?"
Cheonhui stared intently at Cheongeuk.
"You should be able to do it already."
"No, I've never bloomed one before."
"That can't be."
Cheonhui started to speak, then frowned.
"Try executing the Plum Blossom Sword Technique once."
Immediately, Cheongeuk grasped his sword.
And executed the Plum Blossom Sword Technique.
In an instant, the internal energy that bloomed and the Plum Blossom Sword Technique embroidered the manor, and a faint plum blossom fragrance tickled the tip of the nose.
"Tsk. That's not how you swing it."
Cheongeuk was flustered.
"I learned it exactly as written in the martial arts manual, so if that's not it..."
"That's exactly why."
"Huh?"
"That's why it became strange."
"What?"
"Why does plum blossom bloom and fragrance emanate when executing the Huashan Sect's sword technique?"
"Because it's the Huashan Sect's sword technique..."
Cheonhui's eyes turned cold.
"You don't really think that, do you?"
"......"
"Sigh."
With a single sigh, Cheongeuk shrank back.
"Of course, since you've accumulated internal energy from the Plum Blossom Heart Method and then learned the Plum Blossom Sword Technique, if you reach a certain level, you can produce sword fragrance and sword flowers. Because it's originally that kind of sword technique."
Cheonhui shook his head.
Because he had only mimicked the martial arts on the surface, this was the result.
"But what's important is understanding and executing the martial art. If you don't do that, it only becomes a half-baked martial art like what Senior Brother just displayed."
"Understanding?"
"Yes."
He held the sword along with its sheath.
"Open your eyes wide and watch carefully."
The pitch-black scabbard moved smoothly from left to right, wrapping around Cheonhui's body.
It was the first stance of the Plum Blossom Sword Technique that Cheongeuk had executed earlier—Plum Blossom by the Roadside (Meihua Lúbàng).
"This is what it looks like when you just swing it according to the sword form like Senior Brother did earlier. It's the same, right?"
Cheongeuk nodded without realizing it.
"And this..."
The scabbard swayed.
The firm and rigid Plum Blossom by the Roadside from earlier suddenly became infinitely light.
Like flower petals scattering in the wind.
As he gazed entranced at the scabbard moving gently—
'Plum blossom?'
A rich plum blossom fragrance pierced his nose.
"This is the proper Plum Blossom by the Roadside."
"H-how can you produce sword fragrance without even manifesting internal energy...?"
Cheongeuk was panic-stricken at the bizarre sight, but—
"Because it's originally supposed to be this way."
Cheonhui was matter-of-fact.
"The founder of the Huashan Sect must have been obsessed with plum blossoms, as even the martial arts are all related to plum blossoms. Because of that, if you properly execute the Huashan Sect's sword technique, sword fragrance blooms."
Cheongeuk was astounded.
To describe the founder like that.
"J-Junior Brother. The founder..."
"It's the truth, isn't it."
He didn't know who the founder of the Huashan Sect was, but he was certain he was a madman.
Who would create martial arts where every single one was related to plum blossoms?
And it wasn't just the mental method and sword technique.
Palm techniques and movement techniques, even finger techniques.
Without being thoroughly obsessed with plum blossoms, one couldn't have created such martial arts.
"Anyway."
Cheonhui continued his interrupted explanation.
"No matter how the sword emits fragrance, it's not real fragrance, and no matter how sword flowers bloom, they're not real flowers."
"That means..."
"Being and Non-being produce each other (You Wu Xiang Sheng)."
Cheongeuk fell into doubt.
As a Daoist himself, he knew well what Being and Non-being produce each other meant.
It was Laozi's philosophy of observing the principles of all things in the world from a relative perspective.
'But, why that now?'
That question was resolved when Cheonhui drew his sword.
Soon, Cheonhui swung his sword.
Swish—
Plum blossoms embroidered the void.
Beautiful, and deadly plum blossoms.
"What's important is only being and non-being."
Cheonhui's sword stopped.
At that moment, the plum blossoms also vanished.
"Since you've produced false fragrance, of course you can produce false flowers."
"......!"
Lightning struck Cheongeuk's mind.
It was exactly as he said.
Sword fragrance and sword flower. They were the same illusions.
Yet he had only obsessed over sword flowers.
"What's important is being and non-being."
Cheongeuk's aura changed.
Discarding his earlier hesitant demeanor, he gripped his sword with all his might.
"Oh, you understood this right away?"
Surprise dwelled in Cheonhui's eyes.
His internal energy was less than a handful, and his physique was like that of an ordinary person.
But one thing.
His martial aptitude—in other words, his comprehension—was outstanding.
"Is what you just said true?"
At that moment, Hyundo came running over breathlessly.
"That sword fragrance and sword flowers are the same?"
He too had been shocked after listening to Cheonhui's explanation to Cheongeuk.
The traditional teachings of the Huashan Sect passed down from old were that sword fragrance bloomed first, and then sword flowers would bloom.
But what Cheonhui's words implied was that sword fragrance and sword flowers were originally the same thing.
"That's..."
The moment Cheonhui was about to answer—
Bang!
Suddenly, the gate flew open, and Hyunjin, who had gone outside, came running urgently.
Hyundo, looking at Hyunjin approaching even using movement techniques, said,
"What's the mat—"
But his words couldn't be finished.
Because before he could speak, Hyunjin spat out even more shocking words.
"T-the Zhongnan Sword Saint has come to the Alliance!"