‘It’s not possible.’
Bop Jeong felt as if his soul was fleeing.
It was ideal.
The extent of Buddha Palm unfolded by Hye Yeon was never lacking. Of course, he cannot say that the blaze (화후(火候)) is deep.
A small flower, however, is still a flower, and its power cannot be underestimated, even if it is a Buddha Palm that has only recently entered the entrance.
And he made it through that?
‘How the hell?’
Hye Yeon contains all of Shaolin’s essence, which they worked hard to recover after the war with Magyo.
How much time and effort went into that child?
Shaolin bet everything on Hye Yeon to reclaim their wounded pride from the Magyo war and stand firm as Kangho’s strong leader.
However, the child is now being pushed back helplessly by the disciple of Mount Hua.
‘How can this happen?’
Shaolin is the best sect in the world.
Shaolin has maintained its position as the world’s best sect for hundreds of years because its martial art is incomparably superior to any other sect.
But Hye Yeon, a Shaolin martial arts master, is pushed back by a disciple from another sect?
‘It can’t be! That’s not gonna happen!’
Furthermore, isn’t Chung Myung a fallen third-class disciple of Mount Hua?
This isn’t supposed to happen.
This event serves as a public declaration to the world that Shaolin is the northern leader of Kangho.
“Hye Yeoooooon!”
Bop Jeong jumped out of his seat and yelled.
But he saw something at that precise moment.
Chung Myung’s sword has a stunning curve that has not been seen before.
Bop Jeong nearly gave up on himself while taking on the heavy responsibility of being Shaolin’s head, but in the end, he is also a person who has dedicated his life to martial arts.
Even if he had forgotten his martial art, he couldn’t help but lose his soul in front of that enticing curve.
‘That’s…’
His eyes began to dimly ease at the sight of Chung Myung’s sword.
The hand holding the sword is so natural.
A sword he has carried his entire life.
As he swings it again and again, he eventually forgets he is holding a sword in his hand. As if you have an arm attached to your body. As if you have legs. The sword returns to its natural state.
The feeling of incompatibility that arose as a result of acquiring a new body faded with time.
Chung Myung’s eyes continue to droop.
Shaolin revealed every detail about them.
Hye Yeon demonstrated what they had built and created over the previous century.
But it’s in vain.
‘Just for that?’
Did they give up Mount Hua’s sword?
To create something like that?
As a result, he must demonstrate.
What they jotted down.
What they discarded.
From bottom to top, Chung Myung’s sword drew a soft line.
The start is a circle.
Perfection is difficult to put into words.
Chung Myung’s sword, which had drawn a semicircle, had come to a halt, pointing at the sky.
And gradually fell down.
The Wuji (무극(無極)), which is formed in the form of a circle, is divided in half into Yin (음(陰)) and Yang (양(陽)) to form Taichi.
Eventually, the tip of his sword pointed toward the center and stopped.
Yang becomes the Heaven, and Yin becomes the Earth.
It is a human that stands alone under Heaven and above the Earth.
No matter how beautiful Heaven is and how solid Earth is, it is just useless (무용(無用)) if there is no one in the center.
Human beings are added, Heaven and Earth (천지인(天地人)) with human beings became Three Gifts (삼재(三才)).
Heaven and Earth. And Human.
Swordsmanship is just a way to kill people.
However, if the murder technique can contain the Tao, the sword method does not just stay with the sword.
It’s here.
What Mount Hua has been pursuing for such a long time.
It begins in someone’s hands and is told and delivered. Mount Hua’s Sword Tao (검도(劍道)), which has been developed for many days, has been reproduced in the hands of Chung Myung for over a hundred years.
Start with Six-Combo (육합(六合)).
Heaven and Earth.
To encircle Heaven and Earth with a sword is to encircle the entire world.
Isn’t it the universe itself if one can put the world into a sword?
As a result, the person wielding the sword becomes a microcosm.
It’s a human, and it’s a sword.
Chung Myung slowly points upwards before quietly descending.
A meaningless motion.
It was only a single sword stroke in the air.
However, Hye Yeon felt as if he were being sucked into the sword.
And
Sogok.
His dazed eyes looked down slowly.
The hem of his sleeve, cut off, fluttered like a butterfly and fell to the ground.
‘When?’
There was no sword energy.
He didn’t even feel like he was getting cut.
But the moment the sword was swung, he had already been cut.
His face is stunned.
‘Heart Sword?’ (심검(心劍))
No, it’s not like that.
It’s just perfect.
It does not allow even waste of any sword energy that has been polished to the limit and reached perfection. There is no need for a sword that divides the sky and a wave that separates the sea.
Just cut.
It achieves the desired outcome with minimal effort.
That is the ultimate weapon.
Hye Yeon’s heartbeat began to slow.
How much does……
How long will it take him to sharpen his sword to that level?
His entire body trembles.
Hye Yeon was able to recognize this moment on instinct.
What is Martial Art? (무도(武道))
Is it just martial arts to crush the opponent with a stronger force? Is it martial arts to pursue greater destructive power and pursue faster speed?
He doesn’t believe so.
The act of bringing the body to an ideal through martial arts is known as martial arts. It is to bring into the world through one’s own body what one has drawn with one’s heart.
In other words, it is the level at which Hye Yeon aspired to someday. It is a state of liberation from the power of internal strength, from the form of martial arts, and finally from the martial arts themselves.
That realm is now in front of him.
The martial art he expected to be unattainable even after decades of practice was now unfolding in front of him.
When he realized the distance that felt distant from his own body, something in Hye Yeon’s heart began to collapse.
‘I’m…’
Hye Yeon, who bit his lips tightly, made a near-crying sound and rushed as if having a seizure.
“I’m Hye Yeon of Shaolin!”
If it goes on like this, he will be beaten without even being able to use his hands.
His impatience made him seek out the martial art he was most confident in.
Kwaaang!
His advance destroyed the stage.
Uuuung.
The Hundred Steps Divine Fist, which has already been introduced once, unfolded.
A huge wave of Fist Qi flew toward Chung Myung.
Chung Myung looked at the golden Fist Qi flying toward him with half-closed eyes.
His sword lifted slightly upwards and slowly descended again.
Chwaaak.
Cut apart.
As natural as it can be.
Sword is a thing that exists to slash and stab.
If you grind and polish, there’s nothing you can’t cut in this world.
The sword of Tao is such a thing.
It cut.
It cuts the air, cuts the trees, splits the chi, and even cuts down the reason of the world and the Five Desires and Seven Emotions that bind humans.
Like a torrent that swelled in the pouring rain, the golden Fist Qi that rushed forward was split left and right by Chung Myung’s sword lost its direction, and divided here and there.
Kwaaang!
The power flew across the stage and the crowd blew a large pavilion with a blow.
A remarkable internal strength.
However, no matter how strong the power is, it is meaningless if it cannot reach the target. Not a single strand of the energy touched Chung Myung’s body.
“Aaaaargh!”
However, Hye Yeon’s fist was tireless and exuded a golden brilliance.
The Arhat Divine Fist. (아라한신권(阿羅漢神拳).)
Shaolin’s Seventy-Two Unique Martial Art embodies the power that the Arhat demonstrated to destroy demons.
The Seventy-Two Unique Martial Art, which subdues its opponent only with the pressure of the heavy fist (권(拳)), began to be realized through Hye Yeon.
Uuuuuung.
The pressure was enough to bend the iron and crush the hard blue stone covering the stage.
The ends of the sleeves are crushed by the pressure.
The falling hair shot up.
But Chung Myung just stood aloof under pressure.
His slender eyes still sank deeply, and the edge of his sword remained steady under the pouring pressure.
It seemed that nothing in the world could disturb Chung Myung’s posture.
‘What was in it?’
Is there in Shaolin the teachings of the Buddha to save all sentient beings in the world?
If not, is there in Shaolin the teachings of Dharma, who did not hesitate to suffer for themselves in order to save the sentient beings in the Jungwon?
Do the teachings of Hyega, the second generation, who was trying to gain enlightenment even by cutting off his own arm still remain?
It’s in vain.
The moment they pursue self-interest (이(利)) and fails to follow the Dharma (불법(佛法)), Shaolin no longer deserves to be called Shaolin. Those who are there are just people who are blinded by their egos.
Everything in the world enjoys a glorious moment someday. However, if the glory continues, they will one day lose their sanctuary and fade away.
It’s Hwamusibilhongio (화무십일홍(花無十日紅) / It’s about a poem, No flower blooms over ten days). It’s Mulgeukpilban (물극필반(物極必反) / When things develop to the extreme, they will transform in the opposite direction).
But nevertheless, life goes on.
Even if the gorgeous flower fades, it will bloom again someday. Isn’t it a flower that blooms, fades and then blooms again?
Therefor it blooms.
Even the old tree on the cliff, which no one cared for, blooms again after enduring the long winter.
“Bloom.”
Finally, the edge of Chung Myung’s sword paints flowers.
Draw it out.
He drew a picture of Mount Hua.
Even in the cold snow, in the gentle spring sun, and in the spirit of a Buddhist who has lost himself.
Flowers eventually bloom.
Is there a place in the world where flowers don’t bloom?
‘It’s not a dog death.’
‘Cheon Mun Sahyung.’
‘In the world you were trying to protect, Mount Hua will bloom again.’
‘Even if the world doesn’t recognize you.’
Just like the roots that stretch out into the ground are invisible to anyone, but eventually grow trees and make flowers bloom.
‘It won’t be in vain.’
‘So take a look.’
A small flower is drawn in the air.
The small, sordid buds looked lonely and sad.
‘It’s not me.’
One after another, new flowers began to bloom at the edge of his sword.
The plum blossoms that bloom alone are just lonely.
But if countless flowers bloom next to it, plum blossoms will color the whole mountain and the world red.
Chung Myung’s gaze quietly turned to the side.
He saw them.
His Sahyung, his Sasuk.
And just pitiful Great Sasuk and Sect Leader.
He clasped his fists and clenched his lips while watching.
It’s like they’re pushing him on the back.
‘Bloom.’
Each one of them is Mount Hua’s plum blossoms. It’s still a bud, but one day it’ll turn the whole mountain and world red.
A small smile formed around Chung Myung’s mouth.
Does he think his Sahyung will be happy?
With his plum blossoms?
‘No.’
He doesn’t think so.
Chung Myung’s plum blossoms are like ghosts.
What has already been lost should disappear what remains is nothing more than a ghost.
So he won’t be able to be happy.
But.
He must have clenched his fists at the plum blossoms that Jo Gol had made.
He would have applauded the plum blossoms Yoo Iseol had made.
Maybe he will shed tears on the plum blossoms that Baek Chun made.
New plum blossoms bloom on the dry land of Mount Hua. Plum blossoms bloom again by feeding on the petals that have fallen off earlier as nutrients.
So how can falling petals be in vain?
‘Sahyung.’
Plum blossoms bloom at the edge of Chung Myung’s sword.
From a small and large, a slightly under-ripe, a crouching plum blossoms to full blooming plum blossoms.
None of them is the same.
Just as different people gather to form a sect, so plum blossoms that are not alike form a plum forest.
Soon, the colorful petals began to flutter like an illusion in the gentle breeze that blew.
Hye Yeon opened his eyes wide.
The world seemed to be filled with red petals.
However, no matter how hard he tried to open his eyes and hold himself together, he couldn’t escape that petal’s illusion.
“Satweda!” (삿되다)
Hyeyeon, who screamed out loud, chanted with his Half-Palm stance. Magnificent golden energy poured out of his body at the same time.
Buddha’s Light Brilliance. (불광보조(佛光普照).)
The Dharma pushes away all the peculiarities of the world. He who has truly realized the Dharma does not lose himself to any deception.
But…….
‘How come?’
Hye Yeon’s eyes shook.
It doesn’t disappear.
The petals that touched the golden dawn did not disappear but were gently pushed in as if they were surrounding the flames.
“Why…?”
Hye Yeon’s gaze was stunned and chased Chung Myung.
Chung Myung’s sword embroidered the air amidst the petals of plum blossoms that covered the world. The figure of him dancing with the sword as if drunk was like a painting.
‘What is illusion and what is reality.’
Naturally.
Right.
It’s just natural.
The petals passed Hye Yeon like an illusion.
The scent of plum blossoms that cannot be seen permeates the tip of the nose, and the improbable plum blossom petals dye the world red.
Yet.
When all the sights that they don’t know whether it’s an illusion or not are gone.
At the end of the neck of the monk, who continued the essence of Shaolin, there was a long sword with plum blossoms engraved on it.
Phew… Such a sad and melancholy chapter
Tooo long talks than fights