“Wang Bal has had a good sense when it came to making poems since young, and he was recognized for the talent he had at a young age allowing him to rise to the position of scholar. Along with Yang Hyung and Nak Bin-wang, he is a representative poet enough to be known as the Four Directions. It is said that his five word phrases are excellent enough. Do you know what the term five word phrase means, what the history it has behind it, and what type of poem it is?”
The examiner asked. It was not the content of poetry but one asking about the meaning of it. It was a question which could not be tackled unless one knew what poetry was, or had an understanding of its history, and why the terms as such were used.
“Five word phrase, it means for a poet to write down poetry by dividing the five Chinese characters and making it into an organized flowing poem within 20 or so characters.”
Seol-Hwi could not be stopped now.
“During the time of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, people died due to the war which lasted around 50 years and the people who remained had a hard time, unable to farm, and the world fell into chaos. And so, the king began to collect songs, folklore, and poems from all around his kingdom and even the music to understand the public sentiment through the songs circulating around. It was called ‘Yuefu.’ At the end of the year these Yuefu were introduced to the Tang Dynasty which developed slowly. Among them came this person called Wang Bal, who had been influenced by it. Should I continue to talk about the forms?”
“…”
“…”
At the clean flowing content, the audience had been silent. If he said this much, then it is obvious that he would know what type of poem it was.
“This time, I will ask about the scriptures containing the teachings of a sage. Will you take it?”
Next, the masked man on the other side spoke, and unlike before, this voice seemed quite old.
“Of course.”
“Huh…”
The sound came out like the person was shocked and continued right for the conversation.
“It is said that Zhuang Zhou’s theory on the intuitive feel of nature is based on the flow of nature which is open to understanding when one reaches a certain stage. What was he trying to say this time?”
One Body One Thing—
Zhuang Zhou who had turned into a butterfly and flew in the dream, woke up wondering if this was real him or if the butterfly in the dream was him.
The masked person had gone further to ask the question around the thought that when one opened up their senses to nature, they could feel it.
“It can be said that I know the future. Just like a farmer prepares for the coming rain. To know the flow of nature means to understand what is coming in the future. Because the human body is also part of nature, we can feel it and understand it.”
Seol-Hwi stopped to breathe and then continued,
“It must be the realm of all things and many more. The human body is after all, a thing of nature.”
“…!”
A method of inferring the state by cutting down the content in the scriptures.
Seol-Hwi’s words continued to make more and more people shocked.
“I will ask you about the method of oriental medicine. Will you be answering that?”
Asked another masked man.
“…I will.”
“Huhuhu.”
This time, the person laughed.
It was a response which made it seem like he had read all the volumes of the books. He laughed at the bold self confidence.
“Fine. Oriental medicine treats patients through the detailed movement techniques and it is usually called the external qi method. I will also ask. What is the connection of this technique to those of us who are learning the demonic martial arts and in what areas does it help?”
A relation between oriental medicine and the body of a warrior, this was not an easy question, it was actually a difficult one which would be impossible to guess the meaning unless one is a trained physician and well versed in martial arts as well.
Also, even if one was a physician who knows of demonic martial arts, oriental medicine was a practice close to the old medicine teachings which depended on body movement. In order to dig into the connection, one has to know the nature of both spheres.
“Oriental medicine is a technique which uses the body to control the physiology and the disease of the body by pressing the joints of the whole body, such as acupuncture, in the face and the spine. It adjusts the balance of the human body and if one releases the qi correctly, it will penetrate deep into the body and control the organs and the tissues around it.”
Seol-Hwi took a deep breath and spoke again.
“Demonic arts is originally a destructive and chaotic energy, but it is also one of nature. Because of that, there is a point in oriental medicine which uses the demonic energy. Also, for the martial arts which are focused on Yin and Yang in high numbers, the hand techniques are used on the palms and soles of the feet, and it is different for the practitioners who look for the whole body’s balance first. The principle of how it works doesn’t stray much from its basics. The first step is to stimulate the nerves on the skin. The muscle points will be used to stimulate the muscles to make the blood circulate through the body, repair the damaged area, and the intestine acids will get released through muscle meridian points. The second point is to generate pain to increase, decrease, release, and strengthen the response of the whole body. The third is to remove the elasticity which creates the balance through the technique, reducing the deficiency and damage through the body. The fifth is to take away the pain by raising the pain limit.”
“…”
“…”
No answer came back.
Without any single hesitation as the answer came out, the warriors just looked dumbfounded at it.
They could not believe this. In just three months, he looked through all the books and even understood them.
But without doing so, he could not have found the answer either. Even though the scope of answer was different from what they discussed, it was still the answer.
“Shocking. It looks like you have looked into everything.”
The Earth Demon, who was silent, spoke.
“…”
Seol-Hwi however, just lowered his head without answering.
As expected, the tone of the Earth Demon felt strange. At first the reaction was friendly, but it gave this standoffish impression.
“Nice. Nothing more will be asked, but this.”
When the eyes of the masked people gathered on him.
“Originally, the Heavenly Killing Star is said to live only up to 16 years. But I lived longer than that, do you know the reason for that?”
“…!”
It was a completely unexpected question, a completely different type of question.
“Is it difficult? I don’t think so… I am sure you would have been smart enough to find answers if you read all the books here.”
Seol-Hwi’s face went stiff.
He was not sure whether or not he should be answering this. With a cold look, Earth Demon said,
“It is always like this. Skimming through books will not help anything.”
“The Heavenly Killing Star body is an incurable disease which kills nine out of ten and even if one survives, one is bound to die the next year.”
Seol-Hwi interrupted the Earth Demon and spoke, which made the entire crowd turn to him. Even the Earth Demon had to stop talking.
“If the person is alive then it wouldn’t have been a normal method at all.”
“…Is that so?”
The Earth Demon frowned. It was like asking “as if you know,” an annoyed feeling.
However—
“I am guessing you used something. The first would be a pill or an elixir. So one must have tried to delay the point at which the body flares up by using the pill to further increase the capacity of the body, which can be controlled by extreme methods. The second one is the way to burn life through martial arts through blood. It is a way to slowly take away life and die before the power which cannot be controlled flares up. In that case, you can extend the life until 20 years but then after that, it would be a body which can die at any time.”
“…”
Seol-Hwi looked at him and said it.
Like—
He had a face asking if it was alright to say all this.
“I do not know how the best pills are made, but I am sure that martial arts of the Bloodbath All over the World were used.”
“….”
The Earth Demon was silent.
Regarding the pill, it was something Seol-Hwi had past experience with.
The Purple Spirit Grass—
The pill which Choi Sang-seung used for the highest cultivation. It was judged that this was probably related to lifting the curse of it.
Next was the Bloodbath all over the World.
Among the many books the Earth Demon wrote, it was the only martial art which spoke of spirituality. It was not known if it had anything to do with the Heavenly Killing Star, but judging from his reaction, it seemed like he was right at some point.
“Then I will ask again.”
The Earth Demon’s eyes changed.
Now, they looked menacing as if this was no longer a test but a fight against a criminal.
“What do you think it will take for me to get rid of all the other disciples and gain power?”
“Fourth disciple…?”
“Lord…!”
The entire hall turned into a mess.
This was no longer a question to test him. It was a plan to consider the future. It was a question which should not be asked now.
Naturally, his men were shocked, and Seol-Hwi could not speak right away like before.
“Why aren’t you answering? So far you spoke out in a valiant manner to the questions given. If so, you will also understand my troubles. How the inevitable future is baring its teeth at me. right?”
“…!”
“…!”
Suddenly, the conversation flowed to a dangerous place.
Ahead, the future—
What the Earth Demon is mostly concerned about. It was to the extent that it was an excessive push to get an answer.
Naturally, those hearing this were on the edge. They did not understand why he did this or what he was expecting from Seol-Hwi.
And at this moment—
It felt like everyone would get up right away.
Because the Earth Demon, who rarely spoke out honestly, suddenly expressed his emotions, in order to find a way to overcome the curse and see a future.
“For the future of the Earth Demon’s…”
Seol-Hwi’s mouth, which was firmly shut till then, slowly opened.
“Of course, you have to kill the other three disciples. But they are all ambitious. The First Disciple will draw the knife first.”
“…!”
The Earth Demon was shocked. What Seol-Hwi said was what he expected countless times. But he never had the confidence to be sure of it. With an attitude of being certain of the future, for the time being, he spoke right in front of the man.
“I will tell you what will happen in the future. With the battle to take power increasing, the easiest target, the Third Disciple, will be the target. At that time the Second Disciple will ask for an alliance with the Earth Demon.”
“Look here.”
A masked man suddenly intervened.
“He will tell you this ‘Since you are a lord who cannot get the position, if you want to save the lives of your subordinate then cooperate with me’ and the Earth Demon will not refuse this order.”
“You!”
“Fucking brat!”
A few masked men jumped up at this. Seol-Hwi’s actions were pure rudeness.
“…”
But the Earth Demon, who was the target of this, waved his hand and stopped them.
“He speaks of an interesting story. Did you see the future?”
“Yes.”
“…”
“I am foretelling the future. Just like the Fourth Disciple did. The future will come. A fate which cannot be escaped. A hell which we know is coming but not escaped from. To get tired because of that and to sit down after trying for a long time, right?”
“…”
The Earth Demon shut his eyes. His eyes were twitching which made everyone silent.
“You…”
The Earth Demon did not speak, but it looked like he would.
All this while, the countless disappointments—
The Earth Demon tried to see every possible outcome in the future, assess, predict, everything. But the future that could be seen was all darkness.
He had more talent than everyone else, he tried harder than everyone else, and it was also he who fell down in frustration.
The loneliness, this kid who suddenly appeared and spoke of the difficult times he went through like everything was known.
Guessing the inside of it was a ghost. This guy who carried out impossible missions one by one and carried them out like a lie.
“You… what will you do next?”
Apparently it looked like he wanted to say a lot. Thinking so, the Earth Demon wanted to hear the end. But—
“I intend to make you the winner in this power struggle.”
“…”
“…”
Silence passed.
Everyone went stiff. No one had ever said such a thing to the Earth Demon. Even his own advisor who knew everything in the world and the ambitious warriors with complete loyalty had never said such things.
“Why?”
Because of that the Earth Demon was not confident. There was no frown, no nonsense, no smile of being reassured.
For some reason, Seol-Hwi, it felt like his words were ones that could be turned to reality.
Why was he doing this to him?
“Don’t you have a bit of romance left in you?”
“…”
“You have the goal to protect your subordinates, rise to the top, and live happily without regrets. Later when the chance comes, sneak into Hangzhou and have a pint.”
“…”
The Earth Demon’s mouth opened wide before he realized. And to him,
“Same here. I still have it.”
Seol-Hwi smiled brightly and said,
“The romance within.”