The Genius Youngest Disciple of the Wudang Sect

Chapter 3

The first competition ended anticlimactically.

I finally relaxed my horse stance and looked around.

Some were looking at me with expressions of disbelief, while others were sending looks of admiration.

'What's the big deal about this...'

Even though I was told I had won the competition, I didn't feel happy at all.

I had just done the obvious.

"The second competition will begin after a break of one tea time. Everyone, loosen up your bodies."

Martial Uncle Hyeon Cheong said his piece and entered a tent that seemed to have been set up temporarily next to the training ground.

As I was staring blankly in that direction, someone approached and spoke to me.

"Unhwi. Are you okay?"

"Yes?"

I turned my head to see an unfamiliar boy speaking to me.

Since they said I was the youngest, he was clearly one of my senior brothers.

This senior brother seemed to be a few years older than me, as he was a head taller.

"Junior Brother, your body is weak, so don't push yourself too hard."

"This much is fine."

"But when did you train so much? You used to have trouble holding it for even a moment."

"My body doesn't really look like it's trained..."

"What?"

"Ah, no. I've been training in my spare time."

Thanks to being close with Un Gwang, I thought I knew all the Taoists who would become successful in Wudang later on, but I had no idea who this young Taoist in front of me was.

'Huh?'

At that moment, the Taoist name 'Unjin' naturally popped into my head.

This wasn't my memory.

It was the memory of this body's original owner, Unhwi.

To check if the memory was correct, I called out to the senior brother.

"Senior Brother Unjin?"

"Hm? What is it?"

Seeing as he responded immediately, his name must be Unjin.

I thought I could trust the body's memories that surfaced like this from now on.

"Ah, just wishing you good luck in the second competition."

"You little punk. Alright. I'll do my best. I have high hopes for you too."

He smiled and patted my back heartily.

He must have been born a strongman, because the impact on my back was no joke.

"Alright, everyone gather over here!"

The one who saved me from him was Martial Uncle Hyeon Cheong.

He called to us as he came out of the tent. A tea time must have already passed.

"Huh...?"

But next to him stood another Taoist I hadn't seen just a moment ago.

He was a man so tall and burly that the Taoist robes seemed ill-fitting.

If he took off his current robes and wore something else, some might mistake him for a strongman performer or a mountain bandit.

"Heok...! Martial Uncle Hyeon Yang."

Unjin, who was naturally standing next to me, was startled and muttered to himself.

"Martial Uncle Hyeon Yang?"

"Yeah. He's known as the top master among the second-generation disciples right now."

"Is that so?"

I looked at him with wide eyes.

No matter how I looked, he was a complete stranger.

I knew most of the faces of the Hyeon-generation masters.

And I was sure the strongest of the Hyeon generation was Hyeon Cheong...

"Before we begin the second competition, Unhwi!"

"Ye-Yes!"

"You, come over here."

It was Martial Uncle Hyeon Cheong who broke me out of my thoughts.

I timidly walked forward as the Martial Uncle called.

He gave me a bright smile and said, "You are to follow Senior Brother Hyeon Yang here. You know about Senior Brother Hyeon Yang, right?"

"Yes. Of course."

I know him well because Unjin just told me a moment ago.

Up close, Hyeon Yang was even bigger than I thought.

Thanks to my much shorter stature than in my past life, I had to look way up.

He looked down at me and said, "Follow me."

He uttered only that one phrase and immediately turned around, striding away.

His steps were so fast that I had to trot to keep up, and eventually, I was almost running to follow him.

The place we arrived at after following him was a spacious room in a pavilion.

The room was truly empty.

Except for a few wooden swords hanging haphazardly on one wall.

"Sit."

"Pardon?"

"I don't like to repeat myself. Sit anywhere."

"Understood."

I looked around and then sat cross-legged in a suitable spot.

"Do you know how to sit in the lotus position?"

"Yes, I do."

"Do it."

I skillfully... failed to get into the lotus position.

My head knew how, but my body wasn't ready.

An untrained body was too stiff.

After struggling and groaning to achieve the perfect posture I remembered, it felt incredibly awkward.

"Hoh..."

But the look in Martial Uncle Hyeon Yang's eyes as he watched me was unusual.

"Who taught you?"

In that moment, I realized my mistake.

This body had never learned martial arts, they said.

Naturally, it wouldn't have properly learned the lotus position either.

I blurted out a name that came to mind, trying to cover it up.

"Senior Brother Un Gwang taught me."

"Un Gwang?"

"Yes. He is our senior-most brother."

"Ah... I heard there was a child who was particularly affectionate."

He nodded as if he understood, then looked at me again and said, "It's a good posture. In that position, naturally place the backs of your hands on your thighs."

"Like this?"

"Yes. And maintain that state."

Contrary to my expectations of something special, his instructions were simple.

'Is he kidding me? Is this it?'

I had definitely started with such a light heart...

Two hours passed in that state.

I had thought it was just a mere lotus position, but there was something I had overlooked.

'This damn body.'

This untrained body couldn't even handle the lotus position.

I had no sensation from my thighs to my waist, and the back of my neck felt stiff.

The clothes I was wearing were already soaked with sweat.

'I want to get up.'

That thought flashed through my mind.

Perhaps because I had entered a weak body, my spirit had also become weak; I desperately wanted to give up.

I peeked through my closed eyes and saw Martial Uncle Hyeon Yang in front of me.

He was watching me with a serious face.

'Let's overcome this. This pain is proof that I am getting stronger. What training is there without pain? How did I train in my past life... let's remember that time.'

Remembering the painful training snapped me to my senses.

The Un Family Sword Art and Un Family Internal Technique were just nice-sounding names.

They were martial arts not much different from the Three Talents Sword Art and Three Talents Internal Technique.

To keep up with others using such martial arts, I had trained to the very brink of death.

When others swung their swords a hundred times, I cut back on my sleep and swung a thousand times. When others finished their qi circulation after a few hours, there were countless times I did it all day.

'Pain is there to be overcome. It's not like it's going to kill me, is it?'

I had endured worse.

So I could endure a mere lotus position like this.

"Stop."

At that moment, Martial Uncle Hyeon Yang's mouth finally opened.

"You may get up now."

"Yes, Martial Uncle."

I staggered as I unfolded my legs and stood up.

My legs were so numb I couldn't tell if I was standing or floating in the air.

But a sense of anticipation began to grow in my heart.

'Are we finally going to do something proper?'

But the next words from the Martial Uncle shattered my expectations once again.

"That's all for today. Come again tomorrow."

"Pardon...?"

"You have excellent patience for one so young."

I almost repeated what I had said after finishing the horse stance earlier: "Eh, that's it?"

"When should I come tomorrow...?"

"Come between the end of the Hour of the Dragon and the beginning of the Hour of the Snake (around 9 AM). We will start in the morning tomorrow."

"Is this really it for today?"

"What else?"

As I stared at him with a dumbfounded face, he waved his hand as if to ask why I wasn't leaving.

'What in the world is this?'

I thought Wudang would have something more amazing, more incredible.

Back when I was a master, I had always envied their splendid sword techniques and immense internal energy.

But what could I do? There was nothing I could do.

"I will see you tomorrow, Martial Uncle."

I cursed him inwardly, but on the outside, I smiled brightly, bowed politely, and left his room.

I didn't know if they weren't training me properly because I was still a child, or if it was because they hadn't officially started teaching me yet.

Lost in these thoughts, I arrived at my quarters.

Un Gwang was waiting for me there.

"Unhwi!"

"Ah. Senior Brother."

"Did anything happen... It looks like something did?"

Un Gwang was so shocked by my appearance that he looked me up and down before continuing.

"All the other junior brothers came back, but you were the only one who didn't, so I was worried."

"Yes. I went with a Martial Uncle named Hyeon Yang."

"I heard from Unjin! What did you do there? By any chance, did you go and sit in the lotus position?"

Thinking about what just happened, my brow furrowed on its own.

"How did you know? As expected! Is tormenting people his hobby?"

"Tormenting?"

"Well. He made me sit for a long time and then told me to come back tomorrow."

Un Gwang's eyes went wide.

"He told you to come back tomorrow?"

"Yes. I guess he plans to torment me tomorrow too."

"Unhwi! Junior Brother, you've passed Martial Uncle Hyeon Yang's test!"

"A test?"

Un Gwang exclaimed, making a fuss.

"The Martial Uncle hasn't taken a single disciple until now. He's been rejecting our Un-generation disciples, saying they don't meet his standards. You're the first one he's told to come back the next day!"

I stared blankly at Un Gwang.

"Is that such a big deal?"

"Of course! Martial Uncle Hyeon Yang is the Sect Leader's direct disciple. He's also the strongest in martial arts among our Hyeon-generation Martial Uncles!"

A disciple of the Sect Leader.

I finally understood why Un Gwang had been so excited.

If I became Martial Uncle Hyeon Yang's disciple, didn't that mean I could eventually inherit his martial arts?

"Advanced martial arts!"

"Huh?"

"I'll be able to learn advanced martial arts!"

"That's right!"

I clenched my fists.

But one question arose.

"But, not a single senior brother has passed the Martial Uncle's test until now?"

"I'm telling you!"

"That's strange... Then did the test content change this time?"

"Why? Was it not a difficult test?"

"No. It was nothing special."

Curiosity flickered in Un Gwang's eyes.

He was curious about the test method that had filtered out all the other talented students until now.

The junior brothers who were rejected by Hyeon Yang never said what the test was, likely due to their pride.

"I just sat there."

"Huh?"

"In the lotus position for two hours? No, was it a little longer than that? Anyway, it was an easy test where you just had to sit."

I laughed it off as if it were nothing.

"It was still tiring, though, so I'm going to go in and rest a bit. You should rest too, Senior Brother."

"R-Right."

After Unhwi went inside, Un Gwang thought to himself.

Could he, before learning martial arts, have sat still in the lotus position for two hours?

"...And Unhwi did that?"

A question appeared on his face.

It might be possible now that he had started learning martial arts properly, but he thought it would be an incredibly difficult test for a young child who hadn't learned any.

He looked at the door Unhwi had entered and smiled faintly.

"You've really made up your mind."

He thought that the always timid Unhwi seemed to have changed somehow, and turned to walk away.

He thought that he would have to train even harder so as not to be overtaken by Unhwi.

***

That evening, in Hyeon Yang's room.

Hyeon Cheong, who had finished all the competitions and stopped by his room, was talking with Hyeon Yang.

"So, are you planning to teach Unhwi yourself, Senior Brother?"

"Yes. He seems to be a pretty decent kid."

Hyeon Yang smiled faintly.

It was a smile that couldn't be seen at the training ground.

"Did you make him sit still for a long time again?"

"I did."

"And that child endured it? He didn't look like he could."

"Indeed. Based on his appearance alone, he seemed frail. But the boy's tenacity was real."

"Tenacity...?"

Hyeon Cheong tilted his head.

He hadn't been able to read any tenacity from Unhwi at all.

"He endured until the end without showing any signs of difficulty. Moreover, at the end, his eyes were cursing me while his mouth was smiling. Hahaha!"

He laughed loudly, as if something was very funny.

"Anyway... If you had said you wouldn't take any disciples this time either, the Sect Leader said he would never entrust a child to you again, Senior Brother. I hope you do well this time."

"Right. This child seems different from the weak children until now."

Hyeon Cheong let out a sigh.

"By the way, I'm relieved. I was worried about what would happen if you didn't take a disciple, Senior Brother..."

"Why are you worried about that?"

"You are the most outstanding among our Hyeon generation, Senior Brother. If they learn from you, doesn't that increase the chances of a great talent emerging for our Wudang?"

"I like this child. I will do my best to raise him."

Hyeon Cheong felt a momentary sense of unease and looked at him.

For some reason, hearing Hyeon Yang say he would do his best made him feel sorry for Unhwi.

(End of Chapter)