The Mad Dog Inspector of the Martial Alliance

Chapter 114 : Extermination (3)

For hundreds of years, the people of the Sima Clan had followed the path of martial arts scholars, compiling the Sima Collection Record from generation to generation.

Although they had produced countless outstanding martial arts scholars throughout their long history, Sima Hui was a once-in-a-generation genius among them.

Although he had a strangely naive side to his temperament and had been swayed by Jang So-gil, as a martial arts scholar, he was a genius among geniuses, beyond any dispute.

Sima Hui, a genius acknowledged by himself and others, had believed in his own talent.

But that was overconfidence. He had underestimated the martial arts of Huashan too much.

He did not know that there was a flying bird above a running person, and a sky above the sky.

"Zixia Divine Art, Zixia Divine Art, they said. Is the one who created this martial art an immortal? Or is he a demon? How can there be such a martial art?"

It was difficult. It was so difficult that words could not come out.

It was so difficult that he wanted to meticulously sew up his own mouth, which had said that five days would be enough, and then throw it into the Yellow River.

It was not as if he had tried to completely analyze the divine art, supplement its weaknesses, and highlight its strengths. He had intended to transform only a part of the divine art and borrow it, to create a martial art that looked different on the outside even if it had the same martial principle.

He had thought that this itself would not be difficult. Because until now, he had grafted numerous martial arts to eliminate their shortcomings and highlight their strengths, or had created variation martial arts that pretended to be new martial arts by slightly changing their form. He had thought he could do it this time too.

It was a miscalculation.

"Even if I change it just a little, the yang qi is uncontrollable. If I touch another part, the qi and blood flow in reverse, and if an incorrect method is involved even a little, it breaks down without any answer. There is nothing to add and nothing to subtract."

The Zixia Divine Art was complete as it was.

Perfect, like a flawless bead, the Zixia Divine Art was completely the Zixia Divine Art.

The very act of saying he would change a part of it was arrogance.

The promised time passed as he blamed himself, rolled on the floor, and even broke a few desks and chairs in a fit of anger.

Sima Hui had no choice but to admit it.

"I can't do it."

To Sima Hui, training meant consistently making an effort in daily life. For that reason, he had never done anything like closed-door training.

To set aside the daily life that occupied most of one's life and to be cooped up in a cave, focusing only on martial arts, how forced was that?

Rather than training in a rush like that, it was much more efficient and ideal to accumulate results step by step by building up one's effort by 1 for 365 days.

Cramming was just an excuse for those who couldn't study!

But even for Sima Hui, who had argued so, there was a situation that couldn't be helped.

"I can't do it. But I can't say I can't do it."

Pride.

The pride attached to the name of a genius that the Sima Clan and the Martial Alliance boasted of was too great.

Even if he died, he could not utter that one phrase, 'I can't do it,' to Jang So-gil.

"I'll do it. I just have to do it, right!"

Sima Hui, gritting his teeth, entered closed-door training.

A month's time had passed since then.

* * *

Jang So-gil's impression crumpled. Sima Hui, as if he had become a starved ghost, was eating greedily, unable to come to his senses.

His complexion was not good, and his eyes were sunken. His skin was cracked like a mud-covered lizard. It was not the face of the handsome young master of the Sima Clan, who was said to have melted the hearts of many maidens with his handsome face.

"Well, where did you sell off the Sima Divine Art that your face is in that state?"

The Sima Divine Art was the ultimate art of nourishing life. His body condition would not become like that just by doing closed-door training for a month.

Worried that his dantian might have been broken due to falling into qi deviation, he asked, and Sima Hui waved his chopsticks.

"I was so completely immersed in the Zixia Divine Art that the Sima Divine Art was cut off."

The training method of the Sima Divine Art was different from other martial arts. Maintaining a regular lifestyle and managing one's body was the training itself.

Since his martial art had not collapsed because his dantian was broken, but because the rules of his life had been broken, it would not be that difficult to practice it again.

"So was there any gain from doing even closed-door training?"

"Hmm. I have achieved the third star of the Zixia Divine Art."

There were many martial arts in the world, but not even a handful contended for the number one in the world. Among them, the Zixia Divine Art was a supreme art of the world, not unworthy of the name 'divine art'.

But the Zixia Divine Art was also a martial art notorious for its excessive difficulty. In the long history of the Huashan Sect, there were quite a few cases where a dispute arose because a disciple who had been chosen as the next sect leader could not learn the Zixia Divine Art, the secret of the sect leader.

To have learned the Zixia Divine Art, which was said to be that difficult, in just a month, it was an achievement not unworthy of the modifier 'genius'!

"..."

But that was that. Jang So-gil's eyes gradually became sharp.

"Don't tell me that's all? You went in, learned the Zixia Divine Art by yourself. And you came out after finishing with that?"

"Don't get angry and listen slowly."

"Well, fine. Before my patience runs out, hurry up and make your excuse."

"Decomposing the Zixia Divine Art and creating a new martial art was a difficult task. So I first realized the need to understand the Zixia Divine Art."

"Yes. I'll be patient for one more hour. Please continue your excuse."

You really have a dirty temper.

Sima Hui, wiping the corner of his mouth, put down his chopsticks.

"To put it in conclusion, the recreation of the martial art was impossible. The Zixia Divine Art was so perfect that the more I tried to change it, the more it just broke."

"Keueueum... Then was there no result?"

"No. There was a result."

"Huh?"

"I spent fifteen days capturing the limit point where the martial art breaks. And based on the captured point, I spent the remaining time tearing the martial art into three branches. The result is this."

Sima Hui took out three books.

Zixia Divine Art - Yang.

Zixia Divine Art - Yin.

Zixia Divine Art - Gang.

"The 'Yang' volume of the Zixia Divine Art is a recompilation that has separated the Zixia Divine Art as a 'Hot Yang Art'."

"How does its function compare to the Fire Wheel Art that Yang Gwan has learned?"

"As a Hot Yang Art, it is three times more powerful and ten times more difficult to learn."

"That fellow Gwan, he's going to have a hard time. Then how is it for its original purpose?"

Jang So-gil had not originally wanted the Zixia Divine Art. His purpose was to break through the blocked part while training the Soul-Stealing Ice Art, and as a means for that, he had intended to learn the Hot Yang Art and compare the mysteries of the martial arts.

Sima Hui smiled.

"That is precisely the 'Yin' volume of the Zixia Divine Art."

"Heo, you're spoon-feeding me so that I don't have to suffer."

The corners of his mouth, which were rising on their own. As Jang So-gil touched the corners of his mouth, Sima Hui shook his head.

"It's not that I intended it to be that way. It naturally became so. The reason that was possible was surprisingly because the Zixia Divine Art itself was originally a martial art created with that kind of mystery."

"What?"

"The purple yang qi of the Zixia Divine Art is not an ordinary yang qi. It is the qi of 'primordial chaos' that has both yang and yin. Now, look."

Sima Hui raised his left hand to create hot yang qi. And with his right hand, he raised yin qi to create cold ice qi.

Jang So-gil let out a slight wry smile. In terms of hot yang qi, it was not even one-hundredth of Yang Gwan's, and in terms of cold ice qi, it was not even one-hundredth of So's.

But Sima Hui, without caring, continued.

"The one who created the Zixia Divine Art was originally a master of either the Hot Yang Art or the Ice Art. But in the process of developing the martial art and making it his own, he gained enlightenment and realized that if he used the power of yin and yang harmoniously, he could shatter all the qi of heaven and earth. Just like this."

Sima Hui brought his hands together. Then the red heat and the blue cold qi met and created a purple mist, 'zixia'.

The purple mist stealthily flowed out and finally reached the dining table.

Then, the part that the mist had touched disappeared cleanly as if snow were melting.

Even with Jang So-gil's visual acuity, he could not capture the moment it disappeared.

"What is this!"

As Jang So-gil, greatly alarmed, distanced himself, Sima Hui, who had lost his internal energy to the Zixia Divine Art, broke out in a cold sweat and raised the corners of his mouth.

"The qi of primordial chaos that annihilates anything. This is the Zixia Divine Art. The saying that if you master it, you will become the supreme ruler of the martial world is not an empty boast."

It could not be blocked with internal energy, nor could it be blocked with an object.

Since it was made of mist, it was extremely difficult to even evade.

But if it touched, it was a certain kill.

The supreme art of the world, the name 'divine art' was not wasted.

"The mystery is simple, but it is difficult to actually learn. I said earlier that the 'Yang' volume of the Zixia Divine Art was ten times more difficult than the Fire Wheel Art, right? The complete Zixia Divine Art is a hundred times more difficult. So it is also practically good to divide it like this and learn them separately. It will also be a great help to the Soul-Stealing Ice Art."

"I understand."

Originally, the Zixia Divine Art was to use both yang and yin, hot yang qi and cold ice qi, at the same time. If he learned how to handle only the yin qi, the cold ice qi, from there, there would be progress in the stagnant Soul-Stealing Ice Art.

Jang So-gil, nodding his head, his eyes suddenly sparkled.

"Then what is this 'Gang' volume?"

"The Zixia Divine Art gathers the qi of yin and yang to create the qi of primordial chaos, and the qi created in that way has the form of a purple mist, as you saw earlier. The remaining secret of the Zixia Divine Art is to make that mist into a 'sword gang'."

"You mean that if I apply this, I will be able to use a sword gang with cold ice qi."

The realm of 'sword qi transforming into a person', where one could make formless qi into the shape of a sword. Above that was the realm of 'sword qi becoming gang', where one could wrap the sword held in one's hand, not one's own body, in gang qi.

Both Yang Gwan and Jang So-gil had already reached the 'sword qi transforming into a person', but the path to 'sword qi becoming gang' was still far.

"If I just learn this..."

Greed was lodged in Jang So-gil's eyes.

It was no exaggeration to say that creating a gang qi that wrapped around a sword was the dream of a martial artist. If one could use a sword gang, one could be called a peak master.

Since it was such a great realm, it was the most important secret in any sect, and it was strictly controlled as 'not to be taken outside the gate'.

Such a strictly controlled secret art, and moreover, wasn't it the Zixia Divine Art of the Huashan Sect?

The Huashan Sect, the best in the Central Plains in terms of the sword. The divine art secret of that Huashan Sect.

In terms of value, these three books were rather greater than the White Azure Divine Sword.

That was why it was dangerous.

Sima Hui, changing the atmosphere, warned sternly.

"It will be a big problem if the Huashan Sect finds out that we have obtained the secret of the Zixia Divine Art."

"They will surely try to kill us."

"Is that all? The Martial Alliance will be torn to shreds over the martial arts library. So you must not learn all three of these."

The Yin volume. The Yang volume. The Gang volume.

If you learned all three of these, it would become the Zixia Divine Art at that moment.

Sima Hui shook his stiff wrist.

"I deliberately did not learn the gang qi secret of the Zixia Divine Art. That is why the qi of primordial chaos was in the form of a mist."

"If you had completed the Zixia Divine Art..."

He would be able to create a purple sword gang that annihilated anything.

Its power would be chilling, but the fit of the Huashan Sect would be a more chilling matter.

Jang So-gil, who had understood Sima Hui's words, nodded his head.

"I will learn the yin and the gang qi, and Gwan will learn the yang and the gang qi, so we have to deliberately create a flaw."

"That's it."

"Understood. Thank you for the gift, Brother. As expected, you are the number one martial arts scholar in the world."

Rarely, Jang So-gil bowed his head in gratitude. Sima Hui, pleased by that sight, unfolded his fan and covered his grinning mouth.

To see this sight, he had gone through a month of being a madman, shitting blood.

Although it was absurd, it was giving him considerable satisfaction.

That stiff-necked complete scoundrel was genuinely grateful.

He was praising him, saying he was the number one martial arts scholar in the world, until his mouth wore out.

Was there anything else that gave him this much satisfaction!

It was when Sima Hui was trembling his shoulders in that pleasure.

Jang So-gil grinned and muttered.

"Still, it seems it was impossible within five days."

"Hey."

"Ah, it's nothing, Brother."

"..."

Anyway, he was a scoundrel who never knew how to end things on a good note.

(End of Chapter)