Sword God Reborn

Chapter 6 : It Is Not Yet Time to Hold a Sword

Lately, the Azure Star Escort Agency has been quite noisy.

A plague that started far away in Shaanxi Province has now seen patients in Henan Province. All but the most important escort missions were canceled or suspended. On top of that, normal business was not proceeding due to a previous failed escort mission.

The escort warriors ended up having nothing to do but focus on their training.

Training is inherently a painful and boring task. So even a small matter became a big topic of conversation.

What caught the attention of the escort warriors was the training of the youngest young master, Cheon Mubaeck.

"I give him a day."

"Hey. Still, the Vice Chief scolded him harshly. He'll last at least three days."

"You know that Chief Instructor Jang is merciless when it comes to training, right? I give him half a day."

The escort warriors even made bets on how long Cheon Mubaeck would last.

Looking at the results, no one had predicted it correctly. Cheon Mubaeck, breaking everyone's expectations, continued his training for over a month.

"My goodness. What's with the youngest young master?"

"I've only seen the youngest young master's face a few times since I came here."

"But now we run into each other once every morning at the training ground."

"Is the young master unexpectedly interested in martial arts?"

"Haha!"

At Cheon Mubaeck's age, like any other young man of his age, he would probably want to swing a sword stylishly.

The problem was that Old Man Jang's training method was not like that.

"Thoroughly building the foundation, it's brutal."

"There was a time when I did nothing but horse stance all day."

"Do you know that after I came here as an escort warrior, I didn't swing a sword in the training ground for two months?"

Chief Instructor Jang's training was.

"To hold a sword, you must at least have the posture!"

That's right. The basic training was to create that posture.

It was a method that the escort warriors called 'the most boring training'.

So they suspected. No, not just the escort warriors.

His sister, Cheon Yuhwa, and his father, Cheon Mungyeong, also tilted their heads.

"Is Chief Instructor Jang going easy on him?"

"Hey, no way. You know how strict Chief Instructor Jang is when it comes to training, right?"

"Still, when it comes to the young master, Chief Instructor Jang is just like a kind grandfather, isn't he?"

To the escort warriors, Chief Instructor Jang was like a demon from Buddhism, but to Cheon Yuhwa and Cheon Mubaeck, he was a kind man like their own grandfather.

That's how much he thought of Cheon Mubaeck as his grandson, so the question was whether he was going easy on him.

But such suspicions soon disappeared completely.

"His complexion has changed completely."

"He seems to have grown taller too..."

"Doesn't he seem to have a more dignified presence?"

"I caught a glimpse of him the other day, and he had some muscles on his arms."

"Compared to a month ago, his body has become unbelievably firm."

"Huh. Our immature youngest young master is now becoming a man."

The escort warriors were surprised by Cheon Mubaeck's change.

In fact, the most surprised were not the escort warriors and the people of the escort agency.

It was Old Man Jang who was teaching Cheon Mubaeck, and Cheon Mubaeck himself.

"Young Master, please excuse me for a moment."

Old Man Jang touched Cheon Mubaeck's body here and there.

"This can't be..."

Old Man Jang, who was touching Cheon Mubaeck's body, unknowingly opened his mouth slightly.

A light of admiration appeared in his wrinkled eyes.

'His constitution... his constitution has changed?'

Old Man Jang's eyes blinked rapidly. It was a hard to believe thing.

When he first started training, his constitution was undoubtedly terrible...

Now it had completely changed.

'How can this be?'

Cheon Mubaeck's training exceeded his expectations. He met the goals he had set. No, he always did more. Did he go easy on him as the escort warriors suspected? No. Old Man Jang swore that he had given more intense instructions than when he trained the escort warriors.

Putting aside the patience and fighting spirit to endure it, it was amazing that his body could withstand it.

Muscles also built up quickly.

At first, he thought it was all just Cheon Mubaeck's efficient body management.

Because it was actually so.

'It felt like he knew his body's limits well and was managing them. How much to move, and how much rest was needed. It felt like he understood everything about his muscles, muscle meridians, and muscle quality.'

In fact, he couldn't easily understand that either.

Just sixteen.

Even he, who had been learning martial arts for sixty years, was only at the level of guessing the body's movements, reactions, muscle density, and muscle quality by feel.

But the immature young master with a biased personality who had only played instruments and painted his whole life understood it perfectly?

Right.

He could understand up to that point.

Because in the martial world, in the Central Plains, incomprehensible geniuses sometimes appear.

But this, this was really incomprehensible. Old Man Jang carefully sent his internal energy into Cheon Mubaeck's body.

'Huh. Look at this.'

Cheon Mubaeck's eyes sparkled.

The moment Old Man Jang's internal energy entered his body through his touch.

He carefully moved it and scanned Cheon Mubaeck's lower dantian.

'They say you get sly when you get old.'

Cheon Mubaeck laughed inwardly.

It was a scheme to secretly send his internal energy to check if he had accumulated internal energy.

Well, the change in his constitution was not something that could be understood with the common sense of the martial world.

If one were a martial artist, the first thing that would come to mind in such a phenomenon would be bone and marrow cleansing, and naturally, the thought would reach whether he had accumulated internal energy.

'But he wouldn't think of scanning the upper dantian.'

Cheon Mubaeck smiled as he felt the firm internal energy accumulated in his upper dantian, the size of a baby's fist.

Unlike the lower dantian, the upper dantian is located in a person's brain.

Moreover, unlike the lower dantian, much research has not yet been conducted on the upper dantian. The brain is a complex thing, and so is the upper dantian in it.

No matter how much of an Old Man Jang he was, even if he suspected the upper dantian and sent his internal energy, he would not be able to find the pure internal energy accumulated in the upper dantian.

Cheon Mubaeck was confident. The strange operation of the upper dantian was that much of a great help to Cheon Mubaeck.

Moreover, if someone tried to check his upper dantian by sending their internal energy, Cheon Mubaeck would block it before that.

"You are truly excellent. You are following along much better than this old man expected."

Old Man Jang's voice was much softer.

In the end, it wasn't internal energy either.

Then this was the conclusion that it was a miracle created by the result of pure effort and innate talent.

'Perhaps he is the true genius that masters have been searching for so desperately.'

The change in his constitution, his extensive knowledge and senses about the incomprehensible body.

And the will and patience to endure it.

And that unfailing bright light.

Old Man Jang shuddered.

"Then, would you perhaps like to try holding a sword?"

* * *

"Hoho..."

Old Man Jang let out a hollow laugh.

"What's wrong? Chief Instructor?"

Heo Seong, the leader of the Azure Moon Faction, asked.

There were two groups in the Azure Star Escort Agency.

They were groups formed by dividing the escort warriors into 40 each, and one of them was the Azure Moon Faction and the Soaring Dragon Faction.

The Soaring Dragon Faction was in charge of escort missions, while the Azure Moon Faction was in charge of security and protecting important people.

So they often stayed within the escort agency, and Heo Seong was the leader of such a Azure Moon Faction, and also the owner of the second strongest martial power after Old Man Jang.

Heo Seong had recently returned from being in charge of security at a wealthy man's house in the nearby Bonggu County, so he did not yet know the details of Cheon Mubaeck's change.

"I thought I had aged as much as I could, lived as much as I could, and knew as much as I could. But I gained a great enlightenment in an unexpected place."

"Enlightenment?"

"The youngest young master has now become a full-fledged adult."

Heo Seong's face was dumbfounded at the incomprehensible words.

But Old Man Jang could not explain in detail.

He was not good with words, and it was difficult to fully express the feelings he had felt at that time.

"It is not yet time to hold a sword..."

Old Man Jang recalled what had happened an hour ago.

At Cheon Mubaeck's unexpected growth, he had tried to give Cheon Mubaeck a sword.

In fact, his initial intention of just having him take care of his health had disappeared from his memory.

That talent.

A talent that he could not understand even after seeing it, and could only exclaim in admiration, had made Old Man Jang greedy.

Wasn't it a talent that any master would covet?

Although he himself had failed in martial arts and walked a heretical path, he thought that Cheon Mubaeck could go to a high place properly in his stead.

So he tried to give him a sword even earlier than when he trained the escort warriors.

But that was greed.

Cheon Mubaeck's eyes flashed, but he said firmly with a hardened face.

That it was not yet time to hold a sword.

The moment Old Man Jang heard those words, his breath caught in his throat.

Was it because he understood the hidden meaning in the words? No.

'Was he really the immature young master I knew?'

The look in his eyes.

A look so deep that its end could not be known.

That was by no means the 16-year-old immature young master.

Old Man Jang's nerves were on edge as he took a deep breath.

'The greatest master I had ever seen was the Silent Red Demon. More than that time...'

It was a dizzying feeling, as if falling into a bottomless pit.

To such an Old Man Jang, Cheon Mubaeck said with a slightly bitter face.

'A sword should be held when you have to protect someone, or when you have to kill someone, shouldn't it?'

That's right.

But because Old Man Jang had not thought deeply about the sword before, he could not easily answer.

He had first held it to make a living, then he had become greedy and swung it to reach a higher realm, but in the end, he had tasted failure and was now living a satisfying life as an ordinary escort warrior.

To Old Man Jang, the sword was just that.

But to Cheon Mubaeck, at least as far as Old Man Jang knew, the sword had a different meaning to Cheon Mubaeck, who had never even held a sword.

'But if you just hold a sword blindly, that's wrong. A sword can be just a weapon for killing. No, originally, that's probably right. But if you hold a sword without being prepared yourself...'

At the following words, Old Man Jang was momentarily shocked.

"You get eaten by the sword. Isn't that right? Chief Instructor Jang."

At the eyes that were looking at him, Old Man Jang's breath caught in his throat.

'Could it be... that he found out about me?'

A look that seemed to read his insides completely.

'No. No one knows. Only I, only I know about it...'

Old Man Jang, listening to the sound of the daegeum coming from Cheon Mubaeck's residence, closed his eyes full of regret.

* * *

"Young Master. Why did you say you'll learn swordsmanship later?"

Jeombak is Cheon Mubaeck's body servant. He always watches Cheon Mubaeck's training from one side of the training ground. Because he has to bring him water and wipe his sweat.

Cheon Mubaeck answered bluntly.

"I told you, didn't I? It's not time to learn yet."

"Hehe. Young Master, you were actually scared to learn swordsmanship, weren't you?"

Cheon Mubaeck smirked.

In fact, there was no special reason.

But really, it was not time to hold a sword now.

The thin muscle meridians that seemed about to snap were just now slowly starting to gain strength.

His constitution and physique were slowly changing, but as mentioned before, it was 'slowly'. At least in Cheon Mubaeck's eyes, it was not yet satisfactory.

'There's no need to rush and hold a sword.'

It's not like there's an enemy he has to kill right now.

So there's no need to rush and hold a sword.

To Cheon Mubaeck, a sword was that kind of thing.

The moment you hold it, not just when you swing it, but from the moment you wear it at your waist, you have to concentrate all your nerves on every action.

That was Cheon Mubaeck's attitude towards the sword, and it was the foundation that eventually made him the Sword God during his numerous past lives.

So, there's no need to rush. He just needs to build his body more, accumulate more internal energy, and then slowly use the sword after that.

"Right. I'm scared of the sword too."

And then he muttered to himself.

'I've held it so much, but I still don't know its end. It's so damn, scary, so scary.'

Cheon Mubaeck turned his gaze.

The standard sword used by the escort warriors on one side.

Cheon Mubaeck smirked, turned his gaze again, and grabbed the daegeum.

It was not yet time to hold a sword.

(End of Chapter)