The Second Son of the Dancheon Sword Clan Prepared for Regression-Chapter 91 : Chapter 91

Chapter 91: The Ginseng Diggers (2)
Chun-baek hyung and I became Ginseng Diggers.
To be precise, since we were handling all kinds of spirit herbs and medicinal plants rather than just aiming for ginseng, the term ‘spirit herb hunters’ would be more appropriate, but the expression ‘Ginseng Diggers’ rolled off the tongue better, so that’s what we called ourselves.
The reason we went out of our way to imitate Ginseng Diggers, a role that didn't quite suit us, was to secure a plausible reason for discovering the Garden of Joy.
‘I just knew where the Garden of Joy was.’
Compared to that…….
‘I happened to discover the Garden of Joy while acting as a Ginseng Digger to find spirit herbs.’
The latter had a bit more plausibility to it.
Even the latter required a dash of heavenly luck, but wouldn't heavenly luck be better than the absurdity of a severed causality?
At the very least, it was a necessary process unless I was willing to reveal the fact that I was a regressor.
We would have to live as Ginseng Diggers for at least one season, and it would be a great waste to let this time pass idly.
I especially wanted to do something for Chun-baek hyung, who had willingly cast aside his own time to help me.
-Chun-baek hyung, would you like to have a spar with me?
That was the reason.
The reason I started sparring with Chun-baek hyung in the remote mountains and deep valleys.
-If you’re the one teaching, I will learn.
-I am a little lacking to be giving lessons.
-Then let us teach each other.
-That sounds good.
And so, we began our mutual-instruction spars.
What more needs to be said about the effects?
Chun-baek hyung, who was improving day by day, had reached the cusp of mastery in the State of Harmony, even though it hadn't been a year since he first set foot in its early stages.
He was a truly outstanding martial artist, and I had no doubt that he would soon reach the realm of Will.
For me, it became a period of overcoming my abnormal growth while simultaneously refining my Will.
It would be right to call it a truly symbiotic relationship.
Furthermore, our mutual-instruction spars did not end with just the crossing of swords.
“At the thirty-fourth move, why did you thrust at my Great Palace Gate acupoint?”
“The Great Palace Gate is the center of the body. If you deflect it half-heartedly, you're bound to get a sword wound on your side or chest.”
“You mean you forced my movement.”
“That was the intention.”
“You forced my strength and aimed for the Central Palace Gate acupoint at the thirty-fifth move?”
Chun-baek hyung was right.
In order to deflect the thrust, he would have had to twist his body, exposing the Central Palace Gate acupoint, so it was a move to subdue him there.
“That’s right. If my sword hadn’t been pushed back two ja (60.6 cm) by your deflection, I would have executed a thrust instead of a slash.”
“If you had thrust at the Central Palace Gate on the thirty-fifth move as you intended, I wouldn’t have been able to block it.”
“It would be difficult for the sword not to be repelled when aiming for the Great Palace Gate in the first place.”
“What if you used the thirty-fourth move as a feint?”
“You could set up the thirty-fifth move, but if a feint aimed at the Great Palace Gate is seen through, wouldn't you be in big trouble?”
“I suppose that would have been the case.”
Once one topic was settled, another would pop up.
“Next, at the forty-seventh move…….”
The sword debates we had while reviewing our spars broadened each other's horizons.
In truth, sword debate was a very difficult domain.
This was because problems would arise unless it was based on a perfect understanding and acknowledgment of each other.
-Alright! Let’s cross swords for real and see if what you say is true!
-Tsk, tsk. Now that your arguments are failing, you resort to shouting. You're no different from a ruffian!
-Shut up and draw your sword, you frog-mouthed fellow.
-Alright! Let's see who's right by testing our skills!
For that reason, sword debates usually concluded in such a manner.
If it became like that, it would be nothing more than an argument, not a process of mental training to elevate each other's realms.
But the sword debates between Chun-baek hyung and I were smooth.
While it was largely due to the nature of reviewing our previous spars, it could also be said to be proof that he and I perfectly understood and acknowledged each other.
In fact, at this point, it might be more appropriate to call each other sworn brothers rather than just close friends.
Even as we spent our time idly under the guise of being Ginseng Diggers, we built our friendship, so it was by no means a meaningless time.
“I think we should stop here for today.”
“You’ve worked hard.”
Of course, I was a person with much to gain to be satisfied with just friendship, so I concluded the sword debate and rose to my feet.
“Are you going to look for spirit herbs?”
I affirmed his question.
“We are Ginseng Diggers, are we not.”
Even if it was a disguise, we were still Ginseng Diggers.
“I’ll be back.”
At my words, Chun-baek hyung also quietly got up.
“I’ll go see if I can find anything good too.”
“It’s a competition to see who finds the better one.”
“Sounds good.”
With those words, Chun-baek hyung and I vanished from the bamboo forest.
Rustle-
Only the bamboo, shivering and scattering snow, proved that we had been there.
Since we had come all this way to these remote mountains and deep valleys, it would be nice to find a good one.
***
At the summit of the nameless mountain, a surprisingly wide plain was situated.
“This is fascinating.”
To find a plain at the summit after passing through a snowy bamboo forest on the mid-slope and navigating through rugged cliffs—this too must be a mystery of nature.
It also meant that the mountains of the Central Plains were that majestic.
In the first place, a martial artist of my caliber would have been unable to conquer the summit of this mountain in half a day.
“And it is beautiful.”
The snow that fell in time for the winter solstice covered the plain, creating a pure white snowfield at the summit.
Humans are bound to be moved by beautiful things, so I admired the pure white snowfield for a long time.
I also thought that in such a mystical and beautiful place, there might be a spirit herb or two growing.
The clean snowfield, which bore no traces of animal footprints, let alone the marks of the wind, was evidence that no one had visited this place for a long time.
These were the optimal conditions for a spirit herb to take root for many years.
Ssk.
I closed my eyes.
After entering the realm of Five Qis Courting the Origin, my five senses and Qi sense had become so sharp that they could capture everything without me having to deliberately focus.
However, what I was trying to do now was not to expand my Qi sense, so I blocked my vision for better concentration.
What I was trying to grasp right now was precisely Spirituality.
Even now that I had awakened my Spirit and could handle Will, Spirituality was still an unknown territory for me.
Unlike the Healing Sage, who was born with spiritual eyes, Spirituality was like an illusion to me.
Wasn’t Spirituality something that an ordinary person, not born with divine energy, could never know in their entire life?
But to me now, having achieved the Fifth Stage of the Healing Sage’s Mind Cultivation Art, Spirituality could come with a slightly different meaning.
Spirituality had become like an unexplored land that I had yet to pioneer, rather than an illusion I would never have a connection with in my life.
It meant that although I didn't know it now, it had become something I could sufficiently reach depending on how I pioneered it.
In any case, ‘unpioneered’ meant that I had not yet reached it, so perhaps the current attempt was all the more valuable.
-Spirituality possesses a mechanism quite different from that of the Spirit.
It is difficult for me, the master, to express in words, but I shall try to describe it for you, my disciple.
The biggest difference between the two is that the Spirit is something within a person, so only the person themself can know it, whereas Spirituality is something that is represented and appears externally.
My spiritual eyes, which I was born with, could not gauge another's Spirit, but they could contain the Spirituality of a peerless spirit herb, so this cannot be wrong.
The Healing Sage added a warning that even for a peerless martial artist, it would be impossible to capture Spirituality in most cases.
In truth, that was a given.
This was because Spirituality was something completely unrelated to the realm of martial arts, closer to the world of mystique.
-If my theory is correct, a disciple who has achieved the Fifth Stage: Union, will be able to open their eyes to Spirituality.
However, it would be right to say that this, like the Sixth Stage: Pacifying the World, is in the realm of theory.
The reason is that I have not been able to prove it, so I cannot be certain.
In the Jianghu Murim, I am the only one who has reached the Fifth Stage of the Healing Sage’s Mind Cultivation Art.
However, since I had already opened my spiritual eyes, there was no way for me to confirm whether the abilities of the Fifth Stage included the serendipity of being able to capture Spirituality.
However, after I achieved the Fifth Stage, my spiritual eyes expanded vastly, so it is a plausible hypothesis.
In truth, unlike the Sixth Stage: Pacifying the World, this is not an area where even I am confident, so it would be best for my disciple to think of it as just one of many possibilities.
After achieving the Fifth Stage, I believed the Healing Sage’s words and tried tirelessly to capture Spirituality, but I still hadn't found a clue.
Perhaps the Healing Sage's theory was wrong.
Even the Healing Sage, who was always full of conviction, mentioned it as a mere possibility, so it could be that this possibility had not manifested in me.
But I did not let go of the thread.
This was because I had a feeling that there was a moment when I had unknowingly felt Spirituality.
Heavenly Demon Seol Cheon-sang.
The day he visited the Dancheon Clan.
Long before the Heavenly Demon appeared, I had vaguely known that an irresistible death was approaching.
It was different from my father, Dancheon Gang's case.
He said he had detected the presence of the Demonic Cult members who were secretly infiltrating the clan.
But looking back, I remember being quite different from him.
I had surely sensed the Heavenly Demon’s presence.
As I said before, it was because I had a premonition of the advent of an irresistible death.
What other being besides the Heavenly Demon could be called an irresistible death?
It was clearly not something like a Qi sense, so I had a vague thought that I might have unknowingly captured Spirituality.
If that assumption were true, being able to feel Spirituality could be a great source of strength for me.
It was a waste to let go of that possibility, so I tried like this every time.
-It is only natural that Spirituality is invisible. Therefore, to see Spirituality is a contradiction.
What should not be seen, what is clearly not seen, will nevertheless be seen.
With my abilities, I have no other way to express it than with these contradictory words, so my disciple will have to understand it well.
If there is a knack, it is to focus on the representation.
Mulling over the Healing Sage's message, I turned my introspective gaze to the snowfield.
As someone who was mastering Will, it was not so difficult to externalize my introspective gaze.
The Healing Sage was right.
Spirituality was an even more ambiguous concept than Spirit or Will.
In fact, it was closer to something belonging to a shaman or a fortune teller rather than a martial artist.
Just as the Healing Sage was born with spiritual eyes, shamans and fortune tellers are beings who awaken to Spirituality because they are born with something called divine energy.
In truth, the biggest difference between Spirituality and Spirit might be whether one acquires it through training or is born with it.
I was not born with the constitution to capture Spirituality, but through the unprecedented serendipity of regression, I have learned the divine art of a Grandmaster, the Healing Sage’s Mind Cultivation Art, so I have no intention of giving up.
This is because I know that trying anything is a step closer to the Heavenly Demon than asserting inaction and doing nothing.
Whooosh-
The wind, made colder by the power of the high altitude, brushed against my body, but I paid it no mind.
This was because for a martial artist who had awakened their Spirit, being Impenetrable to cold and heat was a basic quality.
For a long time, I stood frozen like a wife-waiting-for-her-husband-statue, becoming one with nature.
“Hmm?”
Some unknown sensation guided me.
Seventy-two steps in the northeast direction.
Something was emitting a subtle presence not too far away.
At first, I thought it was a heat haze reflecting the light of the snowfield, but I soon realized that was not the case.
If I hadn't realized that I still had my eyes closed, I might not have noticed.
The Healing Sage’s expression was right.
It was a strange sensation where what should not be seen, what was clearly not seen, was nevertheless being seen.
I opened my eyes and slowly walked in the northeast direction.
It was a distance I could cover in a single bound, but I purposely counted my steps one by one.
It was a process of confirming whether what I had captured was an illusion or Spirituality.
“Is this it?”
I began to slowly part the snow and dig into the ground with my bare hands.
For a moment, my bare hands, devoid of internal energy lest the spirit herb be damaged, dug into the frozen ground.
Thud-
“Hmm?”
Something got caught in my hand.
When I carefully pulled it out, what finally revealed itself to the world was clearly a spirit herb.
“Hmm.”
Perhaps, at this very moment, the strongest Ginseng Digger in the Jianghu Murim has been born.
But the important fact right now was not that the strongest Ginseng Digger has been born.
“This is Spirituality……”
As I focused my senses, an illusion hovering around the spirit herb began to be captured.
Joy filled my expression.
This was because I had achieved something greater than discovering a single spirit herb.