Return of the Heavenly Sword

Chapter 49. Education (4)

The Lust Disaster was a being who became a member of the Three Disasters by growing strong through the Absorption Art.

Most gossips used to discuss her.

Saying she was just a dirty woman who became strong through the Absorption Art.

I agree with the denigration of her being dirty or a madwoman, but at least the Lust Disaster’s talent was real.

The Absorption Art allowed one to become strong quickly, but it was a demonic art that made it nearly impossible to reach a high level.

The essence that a person contains is subtly different for each person.

The same went for internal energy.

It varied greatly depending on the internal energy divine art one was learning.

However, the Absorption Art was a technique that indiscriminately absorbed such essence and internal energy.

Dozens, hundreds, thousands of different kinds of energy would be mixed in the Dantian.

Naturally, those who learned the Absorption Art were bound to fall into qi deviation and go mad, become cripples, or die.

Just like that Lecher that Nam Geon and I had killed last time.

Containing different kinds of energy was that difficult.

Just as I, who was learning the Revolving Cloud Divine Art, had struggled to newly learn the Great Swallow Nest Building Divine Art.

However, the future Lust Disaster was a woman who had accomplished that near-impossible feat.

The Lust Disaster was a madwoman, but she wasn't mad because of the demonic art.

She had just gone mad because of her tragic story.

Then, what would happen if that madwoman learned orthodox martial arts without going mad?

That question could be answered soon enough.

***

“What I am about to teach you now is a basic sword art called the Nine Palace Chain Sword.”

Saying so, I handed a sword I had prepared in advance to Sohyang.

Among the swords used by the Akasan Sect or whatever they were called that ran the gambling den, it was the thinnest and lightest one.

“For the time being, use this sword.”

I heard that Sohyang was now fourteen.

Two years younger than me.

But for her age, she had a small frame and a thin body.

I couldn't tell if it was congenital or if it was because she couldn't eat properly due to her gambling-addicted father.

In any case, if she used a large sword with that kind of physique, it wouldn't be her wielding the sword, but the sword wielding Sohyang.

“First, I will demonstrate, so watch carefully.”

Nine Palace Chain Sword.

The basic sword art I had learned at the martial arts academy.

Vertical cut and horizontal cut.

Diagonal cut from left to right.

Diagonal cut from right to left.

The way to swing the four in the opposite direction.

And finally, a thrust.

It was a sword art composed of a total of nine basic techniques.

Moving my steps to match the speed at which Nam Geon was driving the carriage, I slowly demonstrated the nine techniques in order.

“If you can perform these nine techniques freely and in succession like this, you can be considered to have mastered it.”

As expected, I demonstrated by mixing and performing the nine techniques in no particular order.

“First, let's go in order from the first technique.”

And after performing the first technique, the vertical cut, I looked at my junior sister.

As the girl whose eyes I met drew her real sword, a scream was heard from inside the carriage.

“S-Sohyang!?”

The wife called her daughter's name and quickly jumped down from the moving carriage.

Fortunately, since the carriage was moving at a walking pace, the wife was not injured.

The wife, who approached her daughter who had drawn her sword, seemed to have come to her senses and said, glancing at me.

“I-I apologize, chivalrous warrior, b-but do we have to train with a real sword like this from the very beginning?”

It was natural for a parent to worry about their child.

I couldn't rebuke her for this.

“It is unavoidable to get used to the sword. I will be careful not to get hurt, so please trust me.”

“Mom. I'll be careful. Don't worry.”

Perhaps because Sohyang also took my side, the wife put on an expression of forced understanding.

However, as if she couldn't overcome her anxiety, she did not return to the carriage.

“A-anyway, at this speed, I-I think I can walk too.”

I could have forced her into the carriage, but it didn't seem necessary to go that far.

“Please do so.”

After replying to the wife, I looked at Sohyang again.

“The training was delayed a bit. If you don't remember the technique, I will show you again.”

The girl shook her head.

“I remember.”

The girl who said so soon took a serious expression and assumed the starting stance, then shouted and swung her sword from left to right.

“Haat!”

Her strength was weak, but a very clean sword path was drawn.

“Huh.”

It wasn't the crooked and shaky sword path from when I first learned at the martial arts academy.

Next, I demonstrated the remaining eight techniques, and Sohyang followed the sword path I showed exactly.

It was a slow and powerless movement due to her weak physique, but the trajectory was perfect.

While I was at a loss for words and watching the scene.

The girl tilted her head once and then began to swing her sword from the beginning again.

From the first technique, the vertical cut, to the final thrust, in succession.

The flow did not break.

All the techniques connected naturally.

As if she couldn't be satisfied with this, the girl continued to swing her sword with an intoxicated expression.

As I had demonstrated, all the techniques were performed freely and in succession, regardless of the order.

As if she was trying to master the Nine Palace Chain Sword she had just learned right now.

The sight of her falling into a state of self-forgetfulness from the first day she held a sword and learned martial arts.

Watching her, such a thought naturally occurred to me.

The thought that, ‘Perhaps, that girl might reach a higher realm than me in less than a year.’

No, it was to the level where I wondered if it was even appropriate for me to teach that genius.

I stealthily turned my head and saw that the wife was also watching her young daughter's sword dance with a surprised expression, dazed.

That was right.

It was a sword dance.

Since her body was still young and weak, she lacked speed and power, but instead, the flow was smooth, and all her movements were connected softly and elegantly.

After watching the scene for a moment, I realized something and grabbed the arm of the girl who was swinging her sword.

“Stop.”

It wasn't to interfere with her rapid progress.

It wasn't out of jealousy either.

I had just belatedly realized, while watching the sword dance, that there was something I could teach a genius.

The girl, who was in the middle of being intoxicated by martial arts, stared at me blankly with a face covered in sweat.

Then, the girl, who had belatedly come out of her state of self-forgetfulness, asked.

“D-did I do something wrong?”

The look of her watching my expression.

I shook my head and answered.

“The sword path was clean. However, if you continue, you might develop a bad habit.”

The girl's internal energy and muscles were still weak.

In that state, she was performing the techniques of the Nine Palace Chain Sword in succession and freely.

The power that made the impossible possible was her innate insight.

To connect movements that couldn't be connected, she used the momentum from the previous movement to twist her posture and change the sword path.

And that too, in the most optimal way at every moment while swinging the sword.

Because of that, the sword path was clean and perfect, but her posture was slightly distorted at every moment.

To say it was overcoming through insight was putting it nicely; in the end, it meant she was overcoming her collapsing posture with a shortcut every time.

“For now, build your foundation. It may be good to progress quickly for now, but if you get used to shortcuts, your growth might be hindered later on.”

There was a risk that all the sword paths she had drawn through her insight would remain as bad habits.

“When you have enough muscle strength and internal energy so that it's not uncomfortable to swing the sword without forcing shortcuts, you can swing the sword to your heart's content from then on.”

The teaching I could give to the genius girl.

It was to prevent the genius from going astray, intoxicated by her own insight.

Fortunately, the girl did not express any dissatisfaction.

“How should I build my muscle strength, senior brother?”

“It's not difficult. Since they are the muscles needed to swing a sword, wouldn't it be enough to just swing a sword? However, instead of swinging in succession like now, swing one technique at a time, slowly. So that your posture doesn't collapse, so that you don't develop bad habits.”

If she just solidifies her foundation like that, this genius will advance to a high realm on her own without me having to teach her anything more.

And as for the foundation, it was the field I was most confident in.

“Since it's the first day, let's just swing the first technique about a thousand times for now.”

For some reason.

As soon as my words ended, Nam Geon, who had been quietly driving the carriage by himself, interrupted.

“B-brother. Sohyang is not me. I-if she swings a thousand times, Sohyang will die.”

I frowned.

“Isn't a thousand times the basic?”

When it came to training, the minimum unit was, by law, a thousand.

***

Unfortunately, Sohyang’s thousand cuts came to nothing.

It wasn't because of Nam Geon's desperate opposition.

Nor was it because of the worried face of the wife.

Flop.

Sohyang, who had swung one hundred and thirty-seven times, collapsed just like that.

As Nam Geon had said, it seemed that a thousand times was impossible with that weak body.

Moreover, it seemed she had already used up most of her stamina due to the sword dance she had performed earlier.

I said to Sohyang, who was getting up with the help of her wife.

“For now, rest in the carriage.”

“I-I am sorry. Senior brother.”

I shook my head at her apology.

“It is enough that you did your best.”

Her limbs were trembling, and her face had turned pale.

If she did her best with what she could, her stamina would eventually increase.

“I’m sorry. Because of this good-for-nothing mother.”

At her mother's apology, whose eyes had reddened, Sohyang smiled brightly with a face that looked like she was dying of exhaustion.

“It's okay, Mom. And, it was more fun than I thought.”

Was it enjoyable because she was a genius?

No.

She was just maturing quickly and trying to reassure her mother.

Perhaps the wife thought the same, as her eyes reddened even more.

After the wife and Sohyang got on the carriage, I said to Nam Geon.

“Drive the carriage and follow me. From now on, I need to do some training too.”

As I used my movement arts and ran, Nam Geon's shout was heard from behind.

“Giddy-up!”

It was now time to move at a running pace, not a walking one.

After that, I alternated with Nam Geon, balancing training and moving.

After moving like that for about two shichen.

As the sky was tinged with the sunset.

We arrived at a new village.

While looking around for a place to have dinner and sleep.

We luckily found an inn.

“Oh my. Please, just let it slide this once. W-we also need to have money to live on, don't we?”

“Then you should have worked harder to earn more money, you stupid old man.”

Along with the sight of underworld figures tormenting the innkeeper.

I thought it was rather fortunate.

If I hadn't gone to Gaeri to take down the gambling den, I wouldn't have even visited this village in the first place.

But, to have found underworld figures in a place like this, how could I not be happy?

Also, I was already disappointed because my training was insufficient.

Warming up my body, and cleaning up trash.

“Killing two birds with one stone. No, is it three birds with one stone?”

Yes.

There was one more advantage.

Because it was an opportunity to give a lesson to the genius girl I had somehow ended up teaching.

“Watch carefully, junior sister. Those guys are trash. I will teach you not only martial arts but also how to distinguish trash.”

For some reason.

The wife, who was next to Sohyang, was smiling somewhat awkwardly.

On the other hand, Sohyang answered in a very sharp tone.

“Yes. Senior brother. I will remember.”

The trash shouted in a trashy tone.

“Which crazy bastard dares to call us trash!”

Drawing my sword, I said.

“And today, I will also show you how to deal with trash.”

***

It took less than a quarter of an hour for Jin Yuseong and Nam Geon to clean up the underworld figures who were rampaging at the inn, and furthermore, to deal with the underworld gang they belonged to.

“Remember. After dealing with those who tormented the innocent commoners, it is the natural order of things to return the wealth to its original owners.”

It seemed it would take longer to return the underworld gang's wealth.

At that moment.

Sohyang raised her hand and said.

“Senior brother. If we all go around the village together, it might get dark. I have memorized everything written in the ledger, so I will move separately with my mother and distribute it.”

Jin Yuseong tilted his head and asked.

“Have you learned to read?”

Sohyang shook her head.

“I have not learned it separately. I learned by asking the village elders about the characters I saw around, or by deducing from what people said. I haven't learned it properly, so there are not many characters I know.”

“Roughly how many characters have you learned?”

“It seems to be a little less than a thousand characters.”

“……”

Jin Yuseong was at a loss for words.

Because it meant she had mastered the Thousand Character Classic just by observation, without properly learning it.

‘Wait. She already memorized the entire ledger?’

Since the village wasn't very large, the contents of the ledger weren't extensive.

But, she had only opened it and looked at it once just a moment ago?

Jin Yuseong asked a few things written in the ledger just in case, but Sohyang answered everything without hesitation.

Furthermore.

“After doing some mental calculation, the numbers didn't add up. It seems these guys have already spent some money, and someone has secretly siphoned some off. It would be best to sum it up and distribute it according to a ratio.”

“……”

The girl had begun to organize the wealth to be returned to the residents according to the ledger.