Chapter 179. Liuhe, Why Are You Teaching Me This?

I had no desire to circulate my qi and regulate my breathing, nor any particular wish to train, so I watched the drifting clouds.

Only if we stayed here for about three days would the line of refugees be able to enter Yuhwa Valley safely. If I thought of it as boring, these three days would become endlessly tedious. If I thought of it as resting at a mountain villa with fine scenery for once, it would be a rare respite.

I was in a state that needed rest more than training, so I did nothing.

What I had to do here was……

Look at the clouds, look at the flowers.

And occasionally glance at the Ghost Demon of my previous life, who was looking at the flowers. The man, who did not suit flowers in the slightest, seemed to have nothing to do either, for he was wandering along a flower path where a great many unusually peculiar blossoms were in bloom.

Suddenly, I found the sight of the former-life Ghost Demon looking at flowers rather striking, so I called out to him.

“Liuhe.”

“What is it?”

“Why are you prowling about like a neighborhood cat?”

“I’m just here.”

A man who could not say he was looking at flowers even while looking at flowers—that was Master Liuhe.

I thought of the former-life Ghost Demon admiring flowers as a painting, and began reciting whatever words came to mind to fill the empty space.

“Shut away in Uhyang Valley, gazing at flowers.”

When I spoke out of nowhere, the former-life Ghost Demon stared blankly at me.

“…….”

I pointed at the Ghost Demon and the flowers as I continued.

“The flowers swaying this way and that in the wind ask me.”

As if responding in kind, the Ghost Demon asked me.

“What do they ask?”

“They ask where I have come from.”

The Ghost Demon answered in an indifferent tone.

“I came from the Liuhe Sect.”

I answered as well.

“I came from Ilyang County. The flowers ask again.”

“…….”

“They ask whether there are flowers like them there as well. When I say there are, the flowers’ gazes linger on the sword.”

The Ghost Demon said.

“Why?”

“They ask whether the swordsman perhaps harmed those flowers with his sword. When I say I never did such a thing, only then do the flowers feel relieved. But I have told them the news that will befall them within a few days.”

“What did you say?”

“That if devil-like bastards swarm into Uhyang Valley, I will have no choice but to draw my sword as well.”

Master Liuhe, as if he too were beginning to lose his mind a little, asked me.

“What do the flowers answer?”

“They say that cannot be helped, and that they are glad to have spoken with me for a short while.”

By now, Master Liuhe was matching my rhythm rather well.

“So that is the nature of flowers.”

When I nodded, Master Liuhe smiled with a strange expression, then looked at the flowers and said.

“Listen, I’m Liuhe. Not Liujia…….”

I burst out laughing at once and slapped my thigh.

“Haha.”

Master Liuhe chuckled, then said to me.

“Sect Leader, let us cross swords without expending inner force.”

I got up and approached Master Liuhe. The man seemed as though some realization was about to come to him, and he wore an uncertain expression.

I gripped my wooden sword and said in a calm tone.

“I am I Jaha, a waiter from Ilyang County.”

Master Liuhe drew his sword and answered.

“I am the last survivor of the Liuhe Sect. Before I could even master all of the Liuhe Sect’s martial arts, the Liuhe Sect vanished.”

“What a coincidence.”

“What is?”

“Our inn burned down and disappeared too.”

Master Liuhe grinned.

“Ah, is that so?”

“But I took the Black Path’s money and am building it ten times larger than before it burned.”

Master Liuhe laughed with his shoulders shaking, then thrust out his sword.

“What a splendid villain.”

I deflected Master Liuhe’s sword with my wooden one, then shut my mouth.

The two of us moved while looking at one another like wild beasts that had come to admire the flowers.

Suddenly, Master Liuhe said to me.

“The sword of the Liuhe Sect is an exceedingly simple sword art. Block east, west, north, and south, then counterattack with the momentum to divide heaven and earth. After I was thrown into the martial world, I learned various martial arts and hid all of them within the principles of the Liuhe Sword Technique. I learned them in complexity, then unfolded them in simplicity. Try to understand that meaning.”

Out of nowhere, Master Liuhe was teaching me the principles of the Liuhe Sword Technique.

Without thinking much of it, I exchanged over seventy moves with Master Liuhe. At first, sparring without infusing inner force felt extremely awkward, but since the attacks of that former-life Ghost Demon fellow were exceedingly plain, I was able to adapt without much difficulty.

In the middle of our fight, Master Liuhe suggested.

“Respond with the Liuhe Sword Technique.”

As he said, I countered along the directions of east, west, south, and north, and only when I saw an opening did I thrust, slash, or strike downward in return.

In a way, this was an exceedingly simple sword art, only barely one level above the Three Powers Sword Technique.

Once again, I clashed with the former-life Ghost Demon for quite some time using only the simple principles of the Liuhe Sword Technique.

At some point, Master Liuhe retreated on his own, then drew his sword vertically and poured out a single enormous stream of sword wind (劍風).

In an instant, my face and the space before my eyes were wholly engulfed by wind.

It was a move that could not be blocked unless I repelled it with inner force.

Since Master Liuhe had performed it with the intention of teaching me the Liuhe Sword Technique, I immediately raised sword wind with the exact same method.

The two streams of sword wind mingled like a whirlwind, then shot into the sky with a thunderous roar.

Master Liuhe, who had released the sword wind, lowered his sword and said.

“Do you understand why I kept up an iron-wall defense while guiding the sword path (劍路) in such a simple manner?”

I answered on the spot in the form of a discourse on the sword (論劍), speaking of what I had realized from the spar.

“First, to induce mistakes.”

“Second?”

“To block off variables.”

“Third.”

“To turn the tables with a single sword stroke (一劍).”

“Fourth?”

“To avoid excessively consuming inner force through unnecessary movements.”

“Good. Fifth.”

From here on, it took me some time to answer.

“……Because, in the end, the directions of Liuhe are movements of an all-encompassing concept capable of hiding every miscellaneous martial art within them.”

“It seems you understand roughly. What comes next?”

“There is more?”

Master Liuhe sank down onto the ground and said to me.

“Think it over slowly. Why I insist so stubbornly on such simple sword paths.”

I sat down across from him as well and folded my arms.

“In the end… the final attack that cuts off an opponent’s breath, no matter how many variations there are, converges on slashing, thrusting, or striking down. Ultimately, it is to refine it into a sword art that can kill with the greatest certainty. A martial art that trains in complexity in order to endlessly elevate the level of simple attacks.”

Master Liuhe looked at me for a moment, then nodded.

“That is the Liuhe Sword Art. The countless sword arts of the world contain dazzling forms, varied movements, deceptions, feints, and true strikes. But the sword art I practice is a defense that renders all of that powerless, followed by a one-move counterattack (一手反擊). And for that defense and that one-move counterattack to be performed over three days and nights without exhaustion, one needs stamina and inner power. The martial arts of the Liuhe Sect are so simple and clear that their progress is painfully slow. Those who came in expecting something flashy crawled out on their own nine times out of ten.”

“I imagine they did. And what led you to hide away all those complex martial arts you had learned?”

“When I took my revenge, I saw that in the end, most of them were killed by being stabbed or cut down simply. I thought I had found my own answer. The essence of the Liuhe Sword Art is, in the end, not imitating others. Since the completion of martial arts is a road without end anyway, one must not hurry.”

I agreed with that.

It must have been because Master Liuhe’s martial arts were like this that he had been powerful even as the Ghost Demon in my previous life. Whatever his personality or past had been, he had possessed more than enough ability to become a great master.

I nodded, then gave Master Liuhe a piece of advice.

“Your first disciple will have to be the most patient child under heaven. With ordinary stubbornness, it would be difficult to achieve greatness.”

“I wonder if such a disciple exists.”

“You’ll have to find one. But why are you suddenly telling me the essence of the Liuhe Sect?”

Master Liuhe spoke as if it were nothing.

“If I die, what use is any of this?”

Following the flow of the conversation, it was my turn to teach Master Liuhe the sword art I had learned, but in truth, that was an extremely difficult thing to do. It was because it was a martial art directly opposite to the sword art practiced by the Ghost Demon of my previous life.

So I, too, tried explaining it in words first.

“As it happens, I am pursuing a sword art that is the exact opposite of the Liuhe Sword Art.”

Master Liuhe shook his head.

“It is not the exact opposite.”

“Then?”

“That is difficult to put into words. When I was staying at the Black Cat Gang, I often saw So Gunpyeong shaking a plum tree and then striking down the falling blossoms with his sword. That was what you were trying to learn, was it not?”

I nodded.

“That’s right.”

“I watched him, found it absurd, and asked So Gunpyeong what on earth he was doing. He said he was imitating you. According to So Gunpyeong, the Sect Leader seemed to do it about ten times better than him.”

“So what did you tell him?”

“I told him it was a training method with no hope at his level, so he should give it up.”

“You were right.”

“Why were you striking at plum blossoms that fell without any pattern? It seems you were doing it well enough that your subordinates blindly tried to copy you.”

This clever man was drawing something out of me by asking questions, even without my teaching him.

I spoke with an easy heart.

“Because the forms of a sword art are, in the end, nothing more than a process.”

“Is that so?”

“If you stubbornly swing techniques like the Thirteen Moves without giving them any variation at all, you will be killed by an opponent who sees through them. There are countless sword arts and forms in the world, but all of that is necessary only when training. It is different when fighting directly. What expert deals with various situations exactly according to the forms he has learned?”

“None.”

“Learning the basics, making them more complex step by step, and mastering wondrous forms are all meant to train the body in advance and learn various sword paths so one can respond faster than thought. What does that mean?”

“If one trains obsessively, then striking down every fluttering plum blossom one by one would also become a form. But when in the world would one complete such a thing? It would take even longer than becoming the greatest under heaven with the Three Talents Sword Art.”

In this way, Master Liuhe’s sword art and the sword art I envisioned were different.

Even though we understood each other to a certain extent.

This would be the starting point from which the sword of Zhongnan and the sword of Huashan, while understanding each other, would flow in different directions.

After thinking deeply, I said to Master Liuhe,

“In my opinion, for the greatest swordsman under heaven to be born…”

“Go on.”

“He must know the stubborn essence of Liuhe and also possess the free-spirited nature of Huashan. If the disciples we raise do not interact with one another, no extraordinary swordsman will emerge. You understand what I mean, don’t you?”

Master Liuhe nodded.

“Because you and I pursue martial arts that are very far apart. Both sides must face each other and continue gaining insights. That is what you mean.”

Before we knew it, we had spent the entire day debating the sword, and our surroundings had grown dark. Only then did we head toward the residence of the Uhyang Valley Master and speak as we walked.

Out of nowhere, Master Liuhe said this.

“Good. I understand the sword to some extent now. Tomorrow, let us discuss palm arts, fist arts, kicking arts, and lightness skill.”

“And after that?”

“On the third day, let us discuss circulating qi and regulating breath, heart methods, and manifesting qi outside the body.”

“Let’s do that.”

Thinking about it, the Ghost Demon of my previous life and I were discussing martial arts while having no idea what master of the demonic path would come.

Because from the start, we were not men who ran away.

While waiting for the enemy, we exchanged our martial arts and argued in order to survive.

Perhaps that was why.

Forgetting whether three days had passed or five or six, we continued our debate on the sword in Uhyang Valley.

One day, as we were discussing inner power in a place where flowers were in full bloom, I suddenly turned my head and saw a white-haired man nearby, watching us with his hands clasped behind his back.

“……”

Unable to tell whether he was an enemy or an ally, I greeted him first.

“Old sir, welcome.”

As the white-haired old man approached, he asked me,

“Are you the Uhyang Valley Master?”

“I am not.”

The white-haired old man came closer and sat at the table, then asked us,

“Were you two the ones who killed the Third Young Master’s subordinates who came here?”

I looked at Master Liuhe, then answered in an indifferent tone.

“We were.”

The white-haired old man let out a sigh, then nodded.

“I came to the right place.”

For a moment, the three of us silently looked out over the scenery of Uhyang Valley. It seemed as though the faces of the once-colorful flowers were all turning deathly pale.

It appeared the Third Young Master’s maternal grandfather had come in person.