Reincarnated Sword Ghost-Chapter 8 : One Illumination Movement Technique

One Illumination Movement Technique
Jang Hong walked with a light step.
'By now, he must be heading to the training hall.'
Once again, he was on his way to the young master's residence.
Although the sun hadn't properly risen yet, he felt remarkably refreshed.
It had been like this for the past few days.
"... It wasn't just a three-day resolve. He's truly changed."
Jang Hong muttered blankly, as if he still couldn't believe what had happened yesterday.
Even though he'd watched it happen right beside him.
The young master defeated the third young master in a duel.
And he did it perfectly.
At first, as expected, the third young master drove the young master back over and over.
It was only natural, he had thought.
Anyone could see the third young master was there with the intent to torment the young master.
So he hadn't thought it strange when, a few times, Yu Jeong-un managed to block Yu Dong-ryong's wooden sword attacks.
But the duel began to take an unexpected turn.
On the face of the third young master, who had seemed to be in control, clear signs of bafflement soon appeared.
Though he swung his wooden sword relentlessly, soon he was floundering wildly, almost like a child.
In contrast, the young master looked even relaxed.
Despite it being his first duel, he didn't show a single sign of panic.
It was, without a doubt, an odd sight.
'The third young master was definitely faster and sharper.'
Looking at it logically, that made sense.
The young master had only been swinging a sword for barely a month, while the third young master had practiced the Ascending Dragon Sword Technique for years since childhood.
Moreover, the third young master's body had internal energy built up.
That meant his body was overwhelmingly stronger than an ordinary person's too.
'Even if he wasn't reinforcing his movements with internal power...'
But even so, could an ordinary person really defeat someone who had practiced martial arts since childhood in a duel?
It was truly something that shouldn't have been possible.
'And at some point, it started to look very strange.'
The young master wasn't just blocking the sword.
He seemed to move his sword in advance, as if waiting for the third young master's blade to belatedly meet his.
Almost as if he knew in advance where the third young master would attack.
'No way, that's impossible...'
Following that train of thought, Jang Hong shook his head.
It didn't make sense that someone who'd been swinging a sword for only a few months could anticipate an opponent's sword path.
Not even those who had reached first-rate level could do that easily.
It wasn't just a matter of how much internal energy you'd built up.
It was something only masters who had swung a sword hundreds of thousands or even millions of times could achieve – a level Jang Hong had only heard about.
'Besides, the third young master is still quite unpolished. And no doubt he was careless too.'
That was the only explanation.
And in fact, it wasn't wrong.
The third young master boasted that he'd mastered the Ascending Dragon Sword Technique, but to Jang Hong's eyes, it was not so at all.
Sword technique isn't about memorizing the moves and swinging the blade.
You actually have to penetrate the true essence contained in each move and unfold them according to the situation.
'Besides, the young master still doesn't have internal energy, right?'
The core of the Ascending Dragon Sword Technique is in the One Peach Heart Breathing Technique.
The breathing methods are learned for the very purpose of deploying the sword technique.
Only when weaved together—using the internal energy cultivated through One Peach Heart Breathing Technique with the Ascending Dragon Sword Technique—does its true power manifest.
So even if the young master won a simple sword duel, it's hard to say he's superior.
He's already seventeen, and yet he hasn't even learned any internal energy breathing methods.
That alone creates an insurmountable gap.
'I hope, when he realizes that, he doesn't get discouraged.'
Jang Hong worried the young master would be disheartened by the limit that such a gap imposes.
Over ten years was an overwhelming difference.
Martial arts ought to be learned as young as possible.
The rising stars of great houses learn famous martial arts and take all sorts of elixirs from a very young age.
Though the children of the Yu household weren't trained to that extent, they still grew up with a solid foundation.
Everyone but the young master.
'That makes it all the more regrettable.'
If only the young master had come to his senses just a little earlier.
If so, things might have turned out differently.
Just as he was having these thoughts, Jang Hong reached the entrance to the young master's quarters.
He paused as he glanced over the front.
"...."
The young master's shoes were set atop the porch stones.
That meant he hadn't left for the training hall yet.
Normally, he would already be at the training hall by this hour.
'No way...!'
Had he given up again?
Jang Hong couldn't hide his alarm.
He feared the young master would return to being the Lazy Ghost from long ago.
"Y-young master!"
Jang Hong hurriedly called out to the young master.
But there was no answer.
'Don't tell me he's still sleeping!'
Why!
With a stunned face, Jang Hong opened his mouth again and tried to take a step closer—when the door suddenly swung open.
"...!"
And Jang Hong had no choice but to freeze right there, looking up.
Yu Jeong-un had just come out the door.
"Y-young master."
His presence had changed—noticeably so, and in just one night.
It was obvious the moment he saw him.
The question was what, and how, had changed.
There was undeniably something unusual about his aura, but Jang Hong couldn't pinpoint its origin, nor how such a thing could change overnight.
"I won't go to the training hall today."
Yu Jeong-un spoke quietly to Jang Hong, who was gazing up at him with wide, unblinking eyes.
Jang Hong, who was standing there dazed, quickly answered.
"Th-then, where shall we go?"
"To the private training hall."
Yu Jeong-un replied tersely and slipped gently past Jang Hong.
Jang Hong, staring blankly after him, hurried to follow.
His face still bore a complicated, confused expression, as if he couldn't make sense of what was happening.
* * *
"Did you master the One Peach Heart Breathing Technique?"
After following quietly for a while, Jang Hong asked softly.
He received exactly the answer he expected.
"No."
Right. That's impossible.
Master the One Peach Heart Breathing Technique in one night?
And without anyone having taught him?
That was just not possible.
Besides, even if you start practicing for a day, it doesn't itself bring about any big change immediately.
Internal energy breathing methods accumulate true ki bit by bit, with repeated cycles of training.
Just starting them doesn't produce instant change.
'Then where is this aura coming from....'
Jang Hong couldn't make sense of the strange and unfamiliar energy he felt from Yu Jeong-un.
Something was clearly different, something strange was in the air, but he couldn't even guess what it was.
Caught in his confusion, Yu Jeong-un suddenly came to an abrupt stop.
"Do I look different to you today?"
"... Pardon?"
"Your gaze has been strangely different since earlier."
At Yu Jeong-un's words, Jang Hong opened his mouth and quickly bowed his head.
"I'm sorry, young master. You look the same as any other day. It's just..."
"Just?"
"I feel an odd sort of energy..."
"Odd energy?"
Jang Hong nodded.
"Yes. It's hard to explain, but I definitely feel something. I was worried that something might have happened to you during the night..."
"Ah."
Jeong-un nodded, as if in realization.
He quietly cast his eyes down, then slowly closed them.
"...!"
Jang Hong, staring at him with a curious expression, opened his eyes wide in surprise again.
The strange aura he had felt from Jeong-un had vanished in an instant.
"How about now?"
"... Ah, I don't feel anything now."
"That's good."
Nodding once again, Jeong-un resumed walking.
Jang Hong, staring blankly after him, murmured,
"Did... did he just feel proud of himself...?"
* * *
As it turned out, the One Peach Heart Breathing Technique was also said to be an in-house martial art created by his grandfather, who had studied martial arts at Mount Hua.
The fact that the Yu household had made a name for itself in the region was all thanks to the One Peach Heart Breathing Technique and the Ascending Dragon Sword Technique.
But to Jeong-un's eyes, both the sword technique and the breathing methods looked crude.
No matter how impressive it was that his grandfather had invented them himself, there was no denying their roughness.
'Still, it was helpful.'
It was simply a method for accumulating true ki in the lower dantian, but it had indeed helped him understand how to move the flow of energy.
But for Jeong-un, the method of sitting in place and gathering energy through a breathing technique felt utterly worthless.
'Who has the time for that?'
He was already too old to be starting.
He couldn't afford to sit idly, inhaling and exhaling repeatedly to build energy.
'You breathe even when you're moving, after all.'
Why should he cultivate energy sitting peacefully?
He had already sensed power with his very first breath.
It almost felt disturbingly natural, as if it was something he'd been doing for a very long time.
'One Illumination Movement Technique(一照動功)."'
That's what he named it.
The gist being it was something grasped and created in a single go.
That was how this internal energy breathing method was born.
There was no grand meaning behind it.
And today, there was no other reason he went to the private training hall instead of the main one.
He'd already acquired the method of circulating true ki throughout his body.
Only, channeling it into the sword was a slightly different matter.
'That sword.'
The last attack Yu Dong-ryong had tried to use on him.
That had absolutely contained internal energy.
He wasn't curious about its power or destructive force.
He was simply interested in the difference between swinging a sword normally and swinging it with internal energy.
'It will surely be different.'
But he could not try such a thing with others watching.
If it became known that he had mastered internal energy overnight, people would find it strange.
That would bring about unnecessary attention, and it would soon be revealed that he hadn't even practiced the One Peach Heart Breathing Technique.
'That would just hinder my training.'
It was still early, and so the private training hall was empty.
Satisfied, Jeong-un nodded and calmly took up the center stance with the wooden sword, just as he always did.
With slow, even breaths, energy poured in without rest, circulating through all the meridians he had polished with One Illumination Movement Technique.
He moved the sword.
A motion repeated countless times.
Raising the sword and bringing it down swiftly—a simple move.
His focus converged in his fingers gripping the sword.
As if following a law of nature, as he swung the sword, the true ki moved through every muscle.
At last, as he brought the wooden sword down—
The sword drew a smooth arc as it descended.
At the same time, the air shuddered around it.
True ki flowed from his hand, along the hilt, and out to the tip of the sword like a gentle wave.
Fwoooong─!
A sharp sound split the air, echoing through the empty training hall in the early morning.
A faint gust rose along the path of the sword, ruffling his hair lightly.
"... Ha."
Jeong-un let out a dry laugh at the thrilling sense of fulfillment tingling at his fingertips.
Just as he expected.
A sword imbued with internal energy was altogether different.
He checked his stance, then reflexively looked down at his palm.
"So this is how it's done."
It was surprising because before, he had no idea how to move internal energy through his body and into his sword.
He had planned to keep swinging the sword until he figured out the method.
But he realized it after a single stroke.
"Internal energy obeys the will. Fascinating."
The boy muttered his realization aloud.
He looked delighted.
-------------= Clacky's Corner -------------=
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