Disciple of The Three Kings [EN]: Chapter 136

The Three Kings’ Disciple (137)

136

Sword and Body as One

It was a supreme state where the martial artist and the sword became one, a level that those who had only built up internal energy could never reach.

Even those who had reached the profound realm often failed to achieve true unity with their sword. It was a state that required a deep understanding and mastery of the sword.

Whoooong.

Mu Baek, or rather, Cheon Jong, the Wudang Sect Leader who had appeared by borrowing Mu Baek’s body, was crying with his sword, as if proving the state of sword and body as one.

Becoming one with the sword, his emotions were revealed through the sword’s cry.

“I was wrong.”

He realized his own mistakes and repented.

At the same time, he was accepting the consequences.

“That’s right.”

Lee Ro-woon said.

“You were just a terrible bystander.”

At Lee Ro-woon’s words, the Wudang warriors glared.

To martial artists, their teachers and elders were like parents, or even more than that.

Especially if it was the Wudang Sect Leader, who was full of pride.

Crack.

It was a wonder that they were holding back their anger, even though their teeth were grinding.

But they were also feeling it.

“That’s right. I was a bystander.”

The terrible emotion felt from Cheon Jong’s sword.

“I thought awakening my will would be a terrible thing to do to this child.”

Cheon Jong said with wide eyes.

“You all probably know already….”

He said.

“I divided my soul and spirit through the Dual Intent Mind Technique [a technique to split one’s consciousness], and placed the spirit in this child, Mu Baek’s body.”

Regret.

“But I didn’t show myself, fearing that my will would corrupt this child.”

That was Mu Baek’s secret.

The Dual Intent Mind Technique.

An absolute divine art passed down only in Wudang.

‘Dividing the mind into two.’

A divine art that was almost the only one that could break the unwritten rule that a martial artist could never use two martial arts at the same time.

However, Cheon Jong, the Wudang Sect Leader, abandoned not only his mind but also his body.

He had his fragment of consciousness reside in Mu Baek’s body, which was compatible with him.

However, because it was something a Taoist should not do, he suppressed his will and only watched everything.

“Even while knowing that my disciples… were going down the wrong path.”

That was the problem.

Whoooong.

“It seems my disciples thought my silence was permission.”

Even so, Cheon Jong could not reveal his intentions.

Because he thought it was for Mu Baek’s sake.

“I thought that going down the wrong path was also for the sake of going down the right path….”

Now he stopped talking.

“I was wrong.”

Back to square one.

He now admitted everything and reflected.

“I beg you.”

And he moved forward.

“Please, save Wudang. You, the successor of ‘that’ one.”

Lee Ro-woon’s eyes twitched as he listened silently.

***

Cheon Jong’s eyes were clear.

Now, there was no more regret or remorse in them.

Only a deep sense of mission to move forward and correct things was present.

However, a slight confusion settled in Lee Ro-woon’s eyes.

“Do you know what you’re talking about?”

At Lee Ro-woon’s words, Cheon Jong nodded quietly.

The cracks in the ground no longer spread.

“Wudang has a long history. And it has protected that history.”

Meaning he knew.

-And, also knows the origin of the martial world.

A voice only Lee Ro-woon could hear.

“But….”

Lee Ro-woon now spoke in an unpleasant tone.

“Did you call that a Heavenly Demon?”

Lee Ro-woon pointed to the Tai Chi [a symbol representing the balance of Yin and Yang].

There, the Heavenly Demon that Wudang had sealed was present.

If he knew the history, then that was the real Heavenly Demon….

“It is the Heavenly Demon.”

He said.

“…….”

Lee Ro-woon did not answer.

“But it’s a Heavenly Demon mixed with something….”

His gaze moved and looked at the Tai Chi.

“Something that Wudang must risk its fate and everything to stop.”

Twitch.

“We can’t do it.”

It was then.

“Sect Leader!”

The Wudang warriors, who had gathered even more, were there.

Among them, an old man shouted.

His white beard and hair, and deep wrinkles, spoke of his age, but his straight back and grand physique made it difficult to guess his age.

“What are you saying!”

He was clearly an elder of Wudang.

“Wudang…!”

With a voice full of pride.

“Will not succumb to evil!”

He shouted at Cheon Jong.

The answer to that was.

“Shut up.”

It was nothing but cold.

“Sect Leader, what are you….”

“I said shut your mouth-!”

Kwaaaang!

With Cheon Jong’s roar, the air changed, and Cheon Jong’s internal energy heavily pressed down on everyone.

Cheon Jong was the one who had never treated the Wudang disciples carelessly.

Because of that, he did not even show himself for fear that Mu Baek’s will would disappear, and because of that….

“You are the ones who should have led Wudang properly-!”

Wudang was broken.

“But, what are you doing here?”

Cheon Jong glared at them.

That was something that would have been impossible to imagine with the Cheon Jong of the past.

“Do you see it?”

The direction of the Tai Chi.

Flames!

Flames burning fiercely.

“The disciples are dying, and the martial artists who were forcibly dragged in are losing their lives.”

An emotion similar to those flames.

“But you-! What are you doing here!”

You should have gone there.

You should have fought with all your might.

You should have clashed.

“Does Wudang! Only pursue swordsmanship for power-!”

Now his voice spread throughout the entire Wudang area.

-What does the Wudang sword exist for!

He shouted, and shouted again.

-To protect the weak, and to uphold the Tao [the Way, the fundamental principle of the universe]. That is what it exists for.

The Wudang sword.

-That is what it is.

But Wudang had lost its way.

Everyone closed their mouths and lowered their heads.

Because Cheon Jong’s earnest heart, which had achieved sword and body as one, had become a dagger piercing their hearts.

“Please….”

Once again.

“I beg you.”

Cheon Jong, the Sect Leader of Wudang, bowed his head to Lee Ro-woon and said.

“Please, help us find the path of Wudang again.”

Lee Ro-woon looked at Cheon Jong.

Until just now, what Lee Ro-woon had felt was terrible displeasure and anger.

But now, Cheon Jong’s heart had reached Lee Ro-woon a little.

“There were some, right?”

A presence approaching from behind, as if they had joined late.

Baek Cheong and Ha Se-min, and among them, Baek Cheong spoke.

“There were proper martial artists in Wudang too.”

Now Baek Cheong looked at Lee Ro-woon.

Even so, he knew.

That everything depended on Lee Ro-woon.

And.

“For free?”

Lee Ro-woon said.

His eyes were languid again.

“Are you asking me to save you for free?”

“I will do anything I can. Even if….”

Cheon Jong’s eyes flashed.

“It goes against the Tao.”

“Sect Leader….”

Cheon Jong had bet everything.

His life and his sword.

He bet everything on Lee Ro-woon.

“Will Wudang….”

Lee Ro-woon answered.

“Shall I tell you how to survive?”

A soft whisper.

It was a voice that made even those who heard it feel languid.

In that voice, Cheon Jong felt a sense of relief and answered.

“Please… tell me.”

* * *

“Hehehe.”

Jang Bo was humming as if he was enjoying himself.

Unlike his joyful humming, the scene around him was extremely cruel.

A mountain of corpses.

Goo-uh-uh-uh.

The yellow monsters that created that mountain.

“The Wudang sword….”

Jang Bo’s voice echoed softly.

“Can’t reach me.”

The Wudang sword that he had followed and trained in all his life.

There was a time when he thought that path was the only path for him.

But none of those swords could reach him.

Rustle.

The Wudang disciples who had learned the sword with him.

“Ugh… uh….”

The martial uncles who had taught him the sword.

“You bastard… Mu Cheon….”

The elders who had always looked down on him with noble eyes.

“Hehehe.”

All of them were lying down and dying under Mu Cheon, or rather, Jang Bo’s feet.

This was it.

“Did you see it?”

This was his path.

Power.

This overwhelming power was the path he had found.

And the end of this path….

Swoosh!

Was right there.

Hundreds of Wudang disciples blocking the path to the Tai Chi.

Jang Bo stepped lightly over them and moved forward.

Kieeeek!

The Yellow Turban monsters rushed towards the Wudang warriors.

Slash!

The Wudang warriors cut them down.

“The Taoist gate…!”

Even if they tried to perform exorcism, it was useless.

The Tai Chi Seven Star Formation, the Great Heavenly Demon Sealing Formation.

Smirk.

This was also the result of Wudang’s arrogance.

They thought that Wudang’s power could seal and suppress the demon.

In reality, they had sealed and suppressed the Heavenly General and the Yellow Turbans.

“How can they not know that there is Yin in the Tai Chi.”

They had not properly understood the nature of the Tai Chi.

Yin and Yang.

There is light and there is shadow.

If they had defined the demon as the shadow.

“They shouldn’t have placed the Tai Chi and the demon together.”

The time of sealing, terrible pain followed, but it was not without reward.

Fwoosh! Fwoosh! Fwoosh! Fwoosh!

Look at this power.

It was the power gained by absorbing the Yin energy within the Tai Chi Seven Star Formation.

Then….

Swoosh!

What about the Heavenly General, who was sealed in the even greater Great Heavenly Demon Sealing Formation?

“The true Great Peace will be achieved.”

It would already be complete.

Not the form that was sealed by Wudang due to anxiety, but the true Taoist who would swallow Wudang, no, the entire world, and lead it to the Great Peace, would have been completed.

“No….”

“It can’t be…!”

Reaching hands.

Fwoosh!

They exploded at Jang Bo’s gesture.

What was the point of the Hwagyung realm [a martial arts realm]?

What was the point of the Hyungyeong realm [another martial arts realm]?

This power.

There was nothing that could reach this power that surpassed everything.

And so.

“Ah.”

Jang Bo reached the broken Tai Chi.

“My Tao is awakening.”

Jang Bo’s hand, as he said that, reached towards the broken Tai Chi.

Charrrr!

The Yellow Turbans wrapped around his hand were released, and it was the moment when the distance between the Tai Chi and Jang Bo was connected.

Fwaaaaaa!

Black energy spread from Jang Bo’s body.

Crack!

The balance of the Tai Chi, which had barely been maintained, was completely broken.

Charrrrrrrr!

The Yellow Turbans began to flutter from all directions.

Dozens, hundreds, thousands of Yellow Turbans.

Chak!

They wrapped around the broken Tai Chi, covering it in yellow.

“Now! Look!”

Jang Bo’s voice echoed.

“The era of Great Peace begins.”

Goo-oo-oong!

The Tai Chi was now completely covered in Yellow Turbans, looking like a yellow egg.

* * *

“Will it be alright?”

Cheon Jong muttered to himself.

“Yes. If that is your will.”

Cheon Jong spoke alone, even though there was no one to answer him.

“Then….”

But as if he had found an answer.

“I beg you.”

Gooooooo-!

His aura began to change.

Cheon Jong had not been talking alone.

He had been talking with Mu Baek, who was asleep after awakening.

Mu Baek, who could disappear depending on the outcome of what was about to happen.

-I must atone.

Mu Baek had put everything on the line to atone.

If Wudang could find the right path, if he could make amends for the mistakes he had made so far, even a little.

-I will bet everything.

He said he would endure everything.

This was not about leaving the fight to Cheon Jong.

Mu Baek was also stepping forward to fight.

“Yes. Good.”

Cheon Jong said, looking ahead.

The yellow egg.

The moment that breaks, an uncontrollable demon will come to this world.

He had to stop it.

“Wudang disciples, listen.”

The Wudang disciples lined up behind Cheon Jong.

Their number exceeded three thousand.

“Today, Wudang will regain its lost swordsmanship.”

He bet everything on Wudang.

“I beg you.”

Cheon Jong also said to Baek Cheong and Ha Se-min, who were standing next to him.

But Lee Ro-woon was not there.