Martial Arts Ain't Anything Special-Chapter 9: Divine Art (2)

“Hiek...! Heek...! Oh god, I’m dying...!”

Chunbong sprawled on the ground, writhing. This was the price of victory in their game of hide-and-seek with those thugs.

“You need to exercise more. Your stamina isn’t cutting it.”

Seojun clicked his tongue. Of course, Chunbong shot him a fierce glare.

“You...! Cough...! This wouldn’t have happened if you hadn’t done something crazy!”

“What did I do? Haven’t you heard the saying in murim to be wary of children and women?”

“That’s total crap! Hold up...? That saying means you should be wary of everyone! What, you think we don’t need to be careful around grown men?!”

“Aha, I see. You’re right.”

As he nodded, Chunbong struggled to her feet and spat out sticky saliva mixed with blood.

“I seriously thought I was gonna die...”

After catching her breath for a while longer, she asked as if genuinely curious:

“So why did you really do that? When a woman comes onto you, you’re supposed to just squeeze her ass a few times and send her on her way.”

“What... Does my Geum Chunbong have no sense of chastity?”

“That’s their job!”

According to Chunbong, as a woman, there wasn’t much choice if you wanted to survive in the back alleys.

“Some choose it for themselves, but in the Black Tiger Sect, many women are kidnapped and forced to become courtesans. They cut the tendons in one leg so they can’t escape.”

“Cut their tendons? Those bastards are insane.”

“Like you’re any better? Anyways, moving on.”

Chunbong clicked her tongue. Seojun remembered the woman he saw on his first day in this martial arts world.

Could she also have been kidnapped and forced into prostitution? He wasn’t quite sure if it was a fate better or worse than death.

When he told her about that day, Chunbong gave him a strange look.

“Are you some kind of misogynist or something? Do you just hate all women?”

“It’s not like I hate them, I just can’t trust them. What if they stab me in the back when I’m fighting with all my heart?”

“Oh my god. Then what about me? I’m a woman too, you know?”

“Before you’re a woman, you’re Chunbong.”

They’d rested enough. He picked up Chunbong and started walking.

“Besides, you little thing, what woman are you talking about?”

“I’m old enough to get married, you bastard.”

“Sure, whatever you say.”

After that, they walked in silence for a long time. Occasionally, Chunbong would point in a direction, and Seojun would turn like a human controlled by a rat.

The place they arrived at was still in the back alleys.

“These back alleys are huge. They’re practically the size of a city.”

Ignoring Seojun’s grumbling, Chunbong patted his shoulder.

“Let’s go over there. There weren’t any people before.”

The place she pointed to was a building ruin similar to their previous home. But it was in even worse condition. It looked like it might collapse if you just touched it.

“Won’t we die in our sleep?”

“We won’t die.”

Inside was a pigsty—in a metaphorical sense, of course. As a bonus, there was a man who looked like a real beggar even compared to Seojun and Chunbong.

“Who the hell are you? Why don’t you get lost?”

Seojun ignored him and asked.

“Hey, there’s someone here you know?”

“Hm... Should we kick him out?”

“Why are you so mean? He was living here peacefully.”

“What? A human slaughtering piece of shit like you is one to talk.”

As they were chatting, the beggar quietly picked up a fist-sized rock nearby.

“You, leave that thing on your waist. It’s not something a kid should be carrying around.”

“Hey, old man. Put that down, okay? You might get hurt.”

At Seojun’s words, Chunbong added.

“This bastard’s a full-on human butcher. Unless you want to be chopped up, let’s all just get along and call it a day.”

“You little...”

The man approached staring daggers at them.

“Stop saying nonsense and hand it over!”

As his hand reached out, Seojun, still carrying Chunbong, slightly twisted his body.

“Eugh!”

The man tripped over Seojun’s foot and fell. He glared, panting angrily.

“I tried to be nice!”

When he jumped up and raised the rock high, Seojun held out one hand while still carrying Chunbong with the other.

Pak!

The projected qi bullet hit the man’s forehead.

“Agh!”

The man clutched his forehead and rolled on the ground. Seeing this, Chunbong said with surprise.

“You aren’t killing him?”

“What, am I some kind of murder-crazed lunatic?”

I’m finally getting the hang of the Finger Bullet Technique and it’s becoming easier to control its power. It’s getting more useful the more I use it. Though I created it myself, it’s pretty damn impressive.

“Y-You...!”

However, the beggar still hadn’t grasped the situation and charged again.

Maybe five minutes had passed since then?

“Heh-heheh.... Oh, Great Expert...! I truly did not recognize you, please forgive me!”

After getting thoroughly beaten, the man suddenly became servile and prostrated himself.

Chunbong, who had gotten down and started cleaning the house, looked at him with disdain.

“How did you survive this long with that lack of awareness?”

“You are absolutely right! It must have been my heavenly fortune!”

Ugh... Chunbong was horrified when she found bits of rotten food on the floor.

“Hey, clean this up. I was going to do it myself, but...”

Hearing her words, the man looked at Seojun nervously. Seeing this, Chunbong raised an eyebrow.

“...This fucker?”

“Now, now, Chunbong. We can’t use people if we keep hitting them.”

“Then what were you doing? Petting him?”

“It’s different for me.”

“You’re insane.”

Seojun chuckled and waved his hand.

“Old man, Chunbong says it’s tiring, so help clean up a bit.”

“Yes!”

While the man cleaned at lightning speed, Seojun looked around and sat down next to Chunbong.

“The more I think about it, the more of a waste it seems.”

“The pudaos? Just forget about them. We can’t even sell them, they’re just a burden.”

They had gotten two from those first criminal friends, and seven more from Jang Chundeuk and his men who became corpses.

He thought they might fetch a good price if sold to a blacksmith or something.

“Can’t we just sell them quietly?”

“They won’t take them. If the Black Tiger Sect hears about it, the blacksmith would be wiped out.”

“Is that so?”

Well, that’s a shame then.

As Seojun smacked his lips, Chunbong poked his side.

“More importantly, we need to check out the market near here. The one we used to go to is too far now.”

“Ah, right.”

He asked the man who was busy cleaning.

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“Old man, is there a market nearby?”

“Huh? Oh, yes! There is! Shall I guide you there?”

“Are you finished cleaning?”

Ugh, tsk. He heard a small click of the tongue.

The magnanimous Lee Seojun decided to let it slide. However, Chunbong seemed to have a few more questions.

“Hey, what’s the power dynamic around here?”

“Power dynamics, you ask?”

The man frowned in thought as he scooped up rotten food with his hands.

“Hmm... It’s hard to say. It’s not really Black Tiger Sect territory, nor is it controlled by any of the smaller groups.”

“Oh, what? Isn’t that good then?”

The man shook his head at Seojun’s words.

“That’s why they’re all out in the open. Those damn sons of bitches. If it was just one group, they might cut us some slack, but with multiple groups, we get extorted multiple times.”

“Wow.”

Those are some terrible living conditions. I bet you’d run into one group or another whenever you stepped out for a breather.

Wait, no. It’s not so bad looking at it in another way. Isn’t it like having training partners come to you on their own?

There’s no need to feel guilty about slitting the throats of guys like that.

Chunbong frowned at Seojun’s words.

“As I said before, blood has a bewitching power...”

“Ah, okay. I got it. You sure nag a lot.”

“I worry about you and this is the bullshit I get?”

Seojun grinned and patted her head.

“Aww, you were worried about me? How sweet.”

“Stop it.”

“Staahp iiit~”

“You bitch!”

He got hit.

*After finishing the cleaning and guiding them, the man left with a subservient smile.

They didn’t particularly intend to give him back the house, but when they asked if he had somewhere to live, he said he could always find another empty house.

“Try to clean a bit while you live there.”

“Yes, yes, of course, Great Expert.”

And so, middle-aged maid Mr. Kim Beggar left.

Chunbong, who was examining their reclaimed nest with some satisfaction, suddenly sharpened her gaze.

“Then let’s start as soon as possible.”

“Start what?”

“Passing down the Yellow Cloud Divine Sword. First, we’ll start with the Yellow Cloud Divine Art.”

*Unlike when she taught the Three Principles Sword Technique, Chunbong became a strict and sharp teacher.

“Memorize it again. If you mess this up, it’s really fucking doomed.”

“There’s too much.”

“Just stop complaining and do it.”

Hundred Convergence, Third Eye, Heaven Projection, Center of Chest, Middle Epigastrium, Sea of Qi, Yin Convergence, Tailbone Gate, and so on and so forth.

Starting from the acupoints of the Conception and Governing Vessels, then the rest of the acupoints throughout the body, plus terms like the Twelve Primary Meridians and the Eight Extraordinary Meridians—memorizing all this endlessly was enough to make his head explode.

“The Three Principles Cultivation Technique isn’t too advanced and is more general, so it’s actually safer. But the Yellow Cloud Divine Art is different. You think it’s called a divine art for nothing? If you mess up, forget becoming crippled, you might explode and not even leave a corpse behind. So memorize it until you can’t possibly mess it up.”

So he memorized. Maybe his memory had improved along with learning martial arts, because it didn’t take as long as he expected.

“Good. Now I’ll teach you the qi circulation path for the Yellow Cloud Divine Art.”

He memorized that too.

“Next is the sutra.”

He memorized it.

“The Yellow Cloud Divine Art is fundamentally based on the principle of Non-polar, yet Supreme Polarity.”

“Non-polar... what?”

“Non-polar, yet Supreme Polarity. It means Non-polar is also the Supreme Polarity. The Supreme Polarity is like Non-polar, akin to a state of chaos or nothingness, and thus the beginning of all things.”

“That’s pretty grandiose.”

“Just keep it in mind. You’ll have to realize these things as you learn the Yellow Cloud Divine Art anyways.”

“Wow.”

After memorizing everything he needed to, he began circulating qi based on the Yellow Cloud Divine Art.

It was definitely different from the Three Principles Cultivation Technique. The qi path was incredibly complex, and there were moments when he almost went down the wrong path.

“Cough...! Ah, blood.”

“Hey, hey! Focus!”

The fortunate thing was that since the Three Principles Cultivation Technique was basic, he didn’t have to abandon the tiny bit of inner qi he had accumulated so far.

After becoming somewhat familiar with the Yellow Cloud Divine Art, he received instruction in the Yellow Cloud Divine Sword.

“I haven’t mastered it all either. Originally, I was learning the Blue Cloud Divine Sword, not the Yellow Cloud Divine Sword.”

“What?”

He looked at Chunbong in disbelief, and she glared back.

“What are you looking at me like that for? The Yellow Cloud Divine Art and Yellow Cloud Divine Sword are martial arts based on yang qi, so they’re not suitable for women. The Blue Cloud Divine Art and Blue Cloud Divine Sword derived from them are for women.”

“Aha, I see.”

“They eventually merge into one when you achieve the Supreme Ultimate anyway.”

And so, a year passed.

*“You really have a natural talent for manipulating qi. In my opinion, you might be the greatest in history.”

“Of course. That goes without saying.”

Chunbong looked at the nodding Seojun disapprovingly.

She wanted to say something, but a fact’s a fact, so there was nothing she could do.

This was a guy who could control inner qi like his own limbs not long after learning the Three Principles Cultivation Technique. Even fighting those Black Tiger Sect guys, Jang Chundeuk was it? He fought well against them even with that tiny amount of inner qi he had.

“But you don’t have much talent for using your body. Well, you’re not talentless, but it’s just so different from your talent for qi manipulation.”

“Is that sooo?”

“Ah, I told you to stop petting me!”

Chunbong ran away from his hand, fuming. Seojun chuckled at the sight.

It had been a year already, but that tiny body showed no signs of growing. Whether it was because of her meridian blockage or if that was as much as she would grow. He didn’t particularly mind since she was cute as she was.

“Anyway, just remember that. It doesn’t seem like I have much left to teach you... Cough!”

There was blood mixed in with her cough. Chunbong acted like nothing was wrong and roughly wiped it on her clothes, but Seojun, whose eyes were starting to awaken to martial arts, wasn’t fooled.

This is dangerous.

At this rate, her life is in danger. Is there anywhere we can get some spirit pills?

Tap, tap, his fingers drummed against the sword at his waist.