The Genius Youngest Disciple of the Wudang Sect

Chapter 13

He was the one who did wrong, so why was he so upset that he was even crying?

Looking at that face, my complicated feelings up until now were sorted out at once.

'A kid is still a kid.'

Even if he's that big, even if he usually acts so serious, in the end, he's just a child.

Moreover, he's a pure and gentle Wudang native.

I suddenly felt like laughing, wondering what I had been thinking of these kids until now.

"Get up."

"Unhwi-ya. Sob!!"

"Wow. This is a sight I wish all our senior brothers could see, but there really are no people around here, are there?"

"Waaah..."

Senior Brother Uncheol cried for a long time, making a sound that almost sounded like an animal.

Somehow, I ended up wrapping my arms around Senior Brother Uncheol, who was much bigger than me, and patting his back to comfort him.

"Now, now! Stop crying quickly."

"But I almost killed you!"

"In the end, I came back alive like this. Aren't you going to stop crying quickly?"

"B-But...!"

"Tsk..."

I raised my arm without realizing it.

And naturally, my fist clenched.

Even while crying, Uncheol flinched as if my hand was bothering him.

'Geez. I can't hit a crying kid.'

I patted Uncheol's shoulder with the hand I had raised.

"Senior Brother. Alright. I'll forgive you."

"Really...?"

"Yes. I've forgiven everything."

As if he was somewhat comforted by the word 'forgive', Uncheol finally stopped crying.

His tear-stained face is quite funny.

With such a fierce-looking face, those tears don't suit him at all.

"The past is just the past. I'm not saying you didn't do anything wrong to me, Senior Brother, but I'll let it all go now. And actually, I've changed a lot since I fell into the water, haven't I? Isn't that right?"

"Yes... as if you've become a different person..."

I felt a pang of guilt inside, but I tried to ignore it and continued.

"I think it was all something that had to happen. I don't remember well before I fell into the water, but I'm sure I wanted this change."

"Unhwi-ya...!"

Uncheol looked at me with a moved face.

I'd rather not have him look at me with that face, but I endured it and continued.

"So let's look forward, not back. Got it?"

When I spoke in a gentle tone, Uncheol finally wiped his tears and stood up.

"...Yes. I will look forward. Thank you so much for forgiving me. I will follow your words even better from now on."

"Alright. Just trust me. If you just follow my words well, you'll all become so strong that everyone will be surprised in no time."

Senior Brother Uncheol nodded with a firm face.

It seems the senior brother is trying to end this beautifully.

But I still have something to say.

"Senior Brother. Then shall we continue what we were talking about earlier?"

"What...?"

"You almost missed the opportunity to make our entire room strong, Senior Brother. Do you know that?"

"That's..."

I decided to make it clear this time.

Whether Uncheol was a kinder person than I thought, or whether he was deeply considerate of his junior brothers, these things are important, but they are not very useful in becoming strong.

"From now on, just think about yourself, Senior Brother."

"Just me...?"

"Wudang, senior brothers, junior brothers, none of that matters. For now, you have to become strong first, Senior Brother. Consideration is something the strong can do for the weak, not something the weak do for the weak."

At my words, Uncheol seemed to have felt something.

I continued speaking.

"Of course, you're stronger than Senior Brothers Unjeong, Unshik, and Unmi, Senior Brother Uncheol, but in my eyes, you're all the same weaklings. Consideration is something you can do when you've become strong enough for anyone to see, so until you become strong, just think about yourself. Is that a difficult thing to say?"

Uncheol shook his head.

His face showed that he was deeply impressed by my words.

He's more naive than I thought.

"I understand. I was rash."

It's good that he admits it quickly.

I started walking towards our room.

"Alright. Then let's go back quickly. It's almost time for the roll call."

"Yes. I understand."

"Oh, right! You come in a duck walk, Senior Brother."

"What...?"

"The duck walk is the best for strengthening your lower back muscles, muscular endurance, and patience. You said you wanted to become strong, right? You haven't changed your mind already, have you?"

"Keung... I understand."

As if he had never cried, he returned to his usual fierce face and sat down.

Seeing that, a smile unknowingly escaped me.

I said I forgave him, but how can I control a person's emotions as I please?

'It's going to be harder for a while, Senior Brother.'

I thought to myself as I watched him diligently following in a duck walk, and then turned my back.

There was a big harvest from today's conversation.

'From now on, Senior Brother Uncheol will even eat shit if I tell him to.'

I didn't just look at the near future.

The distant future.

Uncheol will surely become my faithful subordinate.

***

Life at the Yuyeop Hall is very boring.

For the fifteen days that passed after Senior Brother Uncheol's commotion in the moonlight, the same day repeated itself.

Wake up at dawn, do the dawn training, eat breakfast, morning training. Lunch, afternoon training (I train with Martial Uncle Hyeon Yang), dinner.

After dinner, we have free training time until the roll call, and then we go to sleep.

Of course, for me and our room number nine, there was no time to be bored.

During training, we do it so passionately that people around us wonder why we're like that.

The sound is always a roar.

Even when striking the sword once, with all our mind and heart!

And we didn't waste the break times in between either.

During the free time in between, in addition to basic stamina training, I've been looking over their basic sword-holding posture little by little.

'To think they can't even properly utilize such a good martial art.'

Fortunately, the senior brothers had quite a bit of aptitude, so they absorbed what I taught them quickly.

Recently, they've started doing muscle exercises without me even telling them to, which has surprised me.

They've even reached the stage where they're starting to wonder if there are any heavy objects around, saying that exercising with just their body weight feels like something is lacking.

"Unhwi! What are you thinking about so hard."

"Ah! I'm sorry, Martial Uncle."

"You usually never lose focus, but your concentration is lacking today."

The training time with Martial Uncle Hyeon Yang every afternoon.

At first, Martial Uncle Hyeon Yang would throw me something to train on my own and then do his own training, but these days, during the time we are together, he focuses solely on my training.

Did he say he realized something new while teaching others?

"It's nothing else. It's because of the martial arts competition in fifteen days."

"Oh-ho, has it already been that long?"

He smiled brightly and nodded his head.

He seemed to have good memories of the martial arts competition.

"Was there a martial arts competition when you were in the Yuyeop Hall, Martial Uncle?"

"Yes. I don't know when it started, but it's a long tradition of the Yuyeop Hall."

"Then you must have participated too, right?"

"That's right."

The way he smiled faintly and nodded his head made it seem like he had won a few times.

"Did you win a lot?"

"Yes. I won a lot. I never missed a single championship during the four years I was in the Yuyeop Hall."

"Not even once?"

"Yes. Hyeon Cheong and I were in the same room..."

After that, Martial Uncle Hyeon Yang said something, but it was all useless talk.

If Martial Uncle Hyeon Cheong was in the same room, there was no need to say more.

The two most talented in the Hyeon generation were in one room, so it would be a problem if they didn't win.

"Huh? But, aren't you and Martial Uncle Hyeon Cheong disciples of the Sect Leader Martial Granduncle?"

"That's right."

"But you were able to participate in the Yuyeop Hall martial arts competition?"

Usually, when you get a master, you move your residence, so I know you leave the Yuyeop Hall.

Then wouldn't you naturally be unable to participate in the competition?

"You'll meet him later, but our master is a bit peculiar. Even if we trained together, he made us live with our senior and junior brothers in the Yuyeop Pavilion. He said that's how we could develop social skills, and that in the future, even if Hyeon Cheong or I became the Sect Leader, we could lead everyone well."

"Ah... so me too...?"

"Ahem, ahem, yes. There was such a meaning."

This guy probably didn't have much thought. I got lucky.

I was about to pick on it, but it wasn't important, so I decided to let it go.

"Is there any special prize for winning the martial arts competition? I asked, but everyone just said they don't know."

"It's only natural that they don't know."

"Why?"

"Because the prize changes every martial arts competition."

"Aha. So it's not fixed?"

"Yes. The range of the reward is very wide. It could be a spiritual medicine, or it could be a martial art. It could even be an opportunity to become a disciple of a renowned elder."

Thump—

The two words that passed by in an instant struck my heart.

Spiritual medicine, martial art!

To think you can get both a spiritual medicine and a martial art if you win the martial arts competition.

These two things were exactly what I needed.

"Have you ever received a spiritual medicine, Martial Uncle?"

"Yes. I received the Micheongdan twice."

"Micheongdan? I guess they don't give the Taecheongdan?"

"Haha. The Taecheongdan is something that only a couple of pills are made a year in our Wudang. How could it be a prize for the Yuyeop Hall martial arts competition? We should be grateful for even the Micheongdan."

The Martial Uncle is right.

I pouted my lips but nodded my head.

The Taecheongdan is the best spiritual medicine that our Wudang can make.

It's comparable to the Great Recovery Pill of Shaolin, which is said to be the most effective spiritual medicine in the martial world, so there's no need to explain its efficacy.

The Micheongdan is a spiritual medicine made by improving the processing method of that Taecheongdan.

Of course, its efficacy is not comparable to the Taecheongdan, but the number that can be made is quite a lot.

'Right. Even if it's the Micheongdan, that's something.'

In my past life, I was fated to never even see the 'spiritual' in spiritual medicine.

No, the ginseng that a wild ginseng digger scammed me with, saying it was a hundred-year-old snow ginseng, and sold to me for a high price could be a spiritual medicine if you call it that.

"Martial Uncle, by any chance, if I perform too well in the martial arts competition, do you think some elder or the Sect Leader or someone like that would want to take me as a disciple?"

"Why? Are you hoping for that?"

"No! On the contrary, I'm saying it because I really hope that doesn't happen."

"Are you serious?"

I nodded my head several times.

Martial Uncle Hyeon Yang, perhaps finding me cute, placed his hand on my head and said, "Don't worry. Although we haven't formally established the relationship of master and disciple, I will make it clear to the elders of our sect."

"What will you say?"

"I'll have to tell them the truth. That I'm putting a lot of effort into this child, so don't get any ideas."

After he spoke, he turned his head slightly, as if he was a little embarrassed.

The more I get to know Martial Uncle Hyeon Yang, the more I realize he has a strange side.

But I reacted clearly to his words.

"Martial Uncle! That's great. I also want to learn from you forever! I'll focus from now on, so please continue teaching me the Chilseong Sword Art you were teaching me earlier."

"Alright. Good. Today, we're going to completely master the form of the Chilseong Sword Art. Got it?"

"Yes, Martial Uncle!"

I nodded my head readily and followed the movements that the Martial Uncle showed me.

'To think this is a basic sword art.'

The Chilseong Sword is the most basic sword art of Wudang, along with the Taiji Sword.

If the Taiji Sword is a sword art that allows for both defense and offense by utilizing the principles of Taiji, the Chilseong Sword is a sword art purely for offense.

'When blocking an opponent's sword, it would be very effective to use the Taiji Sword to gather the force and then strike with the Chilseong Sword when attacking.'

The harmony of the two sword arts is naturally drawn in my head.

For the past few days, my head has been feeling tingly.

It feels like something amazing is about to be created, but it's not happening easily.

'In times like this, training is the only answer. If I keep swinging the sword, I'll think of something.'

I rather emptied my mind and tried to follow Martial Uncle Hyeon Yang's sword.

My body was soaked with sweat, but my heart couldn't be more refreshed.

'Good. I'm going to own this martial arts competition.'

As I shed beads of sweat, the day of the martial arts competition was drawing near.

(End of Chapter)