Wudang Sacred Scriptures

As Seok Jangsan watched with a curious expression, Kwak Yeon walked over to Ha Gang.
Ha Gang was sitting alone.

None of the other disciples interacted with him.
He had always been quiet, and after what had happened on Jeol-ae Peak, his isolation was inevitable.
Thud.

As Kwak Yeon stood in front of him, Ha Gang looked up.
His eyes were filled with fear.
“You’re still not over it?”

“No.”
“……?”
“I let go of it all that day.”

Ha Gang’s expression darkened.
“Then… you pity me?”
“That’s not it either. I’m not that generous.”

“Then what?”
“That day, I understood that you had no choice. But even knowing that, I couldn’t help feeling angry. Still, I could have endured it if I wanted to.”
“……?”

“But when I saw your pale face, another thought crossed my mind. That you were probably angrier at yourself than I was at you. Of course, that might just be my own assumption. But that’s how I saw it. So I hit you on behalf of that pathetic version of yourself.”
“……!”
“You can hate me for it if you want. But I needed to say this—never let me see that same lifeless expression on your face again.”

After finishing his words, Kwak Yeon turned around.
Ha Gang suddenly called out.
“Kwak Yeon… I’m sorry. Really…”
Kwak Yeon did not respond and simply returned to his seat.

Seok Jangsan spoke.
“So, you forgave him?”
“No.”

“Then why did you bother saying that?”
“Because I needed to.”
“Huh?”

“I don’t want to watch someone snap and shatter right in front of me. If he were out of sight, maybe I could ignore it. But we’re stuck together, aren’t we?”
It was nothing more than smearing a handful of mud over a wound.
If Ha Gang could heal himself and form a scar, that would be ideal.

But Kwak Yeon had no intention of holding him together with splints and force.
He had his own wounds to deal with.
Once again, he recalled the words of Elder Jang Noya.

Know the limits of your help.
When training time arrived and the new disciples gathered at the martial training ground, Hyeonmun Dojang addressed them.
“Starting today, you will begin serious fundamental training. After three years of physical conditioning in the Training Hall, this should not be difficult for you.”

Hyeonmun Dojang gestured toward the wooden spheres in one corner of the training ground.
“Today marks the first day of training in Heaven-Earth Sphere Technique. We will begin with just one sphere.”
As the disciples each picked up a wooden sphere, Hyeonmun Dojang continued.

“The purpose of this technique is to train the foundations of footwork. In order to master Cloud-Step Technique, you must reach at least the eighth proficiency level in Heaven-Earth Sphere Technique.”
The training involved tossing the wooden sphere into the air, executing a sequence of footwork techniques, and then catching the falling sphere.
The morning session was spent learning the basics of footwork.

In the afternoon, they officially began training with the spheres.
“If you drop the sphere or fail to complete the footwork sequence properly, you will go out on your own and perform one hundred repetitions of the footwork.”
For disciples who had undergone three years of physical training, simply tossing and catching a wooden sphere was nothing. It was practically child’s play.

The problem, however, was executing the intricate footwork in between.
Even performing the basic Eight Directional Steps took nearly half a quarter of an hour.
Not a single disciple managed to catch the sphere before it hit the ground.

There was simply no way to keep a wooden sphere suspended in the air for that long.
Moreover, if they threw the sphere too hard, it would fly too far away, leaving them scrambling to retrieve it rather than focusing on their footwork.
“You slow-witted fools! Not a single one of you managed to catch the sphere? And you call yourselves the best of the Training Hall? Pathetic.”

The disciples endured Hyeonmun Dojang’s relentless scolding for the entire day.
Kwak Yeon felt utterly humiliated.
Hyeonmun Dojang kept branding them as Training Hall rejects at every turn, and Kwak Yeon could not bear it.

It was as if the master held a personal grudge against the Training Hall.
It was a cold truth.
Kwak Yeon had a vague understanding of why Wudang Sect maintained the Training Hall.

Its purpose was to cultivate Outer Sect disciples.
In a way, he and the others had been fortunate beneficiaries—having reached the Main Sect due to the countless sacrifices of the Outer Sect disciples before them.
From the perspective of the Wudang Sect, they were nothing more than chicken ribs—useful, perhaps, but not indispensable.

By the end of the day, not a single disciple had achieved even the first level of proficiency in Heaven-Earth Sphere Technique.
“If no one succeeds tomorrow, you will all spend half a day submerged in a pit of filth! You worthless parasites—dismissed!”
Dinner that evening was eaten in complete silence.

“Damn it.”
Seok Jangsan muttered bitterly.
“I expected some discrimination, but I didn’t think they’d be this blatant about it.”

“It’s unfair,” another disciple agreed. “If they think we’re incompetent, fine—then just criticize us. But they don’t need to keep throwing ‘Training Hall’ in our faces.”
“This technique is ridiculously difficult. The problem isn’t us—it’s just a hard skill to learn. They call it a fundamental technique, but…”
“Still, I have to admit—this training is effective.”

“Huh?”
“Look at how much faster we’ve gotten. If it weren’t for the airborne sphere forcing us to move quickly, we wouldn’t have improved this much.”
Seok Jangsan nodded at Kwak Yeon’s words.

“That’s true. The whole point of Heaven-Earth Sphere Technique is to force that improvement. There’s a reason it’s one of Wudang’s core fundamentals. But still… thirty-six steps within the time limit? That’s insane. We’re not panthers—we can’t just leap forward ten steps in an instant.”
“……”
“No matter how hard we try, we’re going to end up in that filth pit tomorrow.”

After dinner, Kwak Yeon entered energy circulation training for Taiji Internal Arts.
Most of the other disciples returned to the training grounds to continue practicing Heaven-Earth Sphere Technique.
In Yeongmudang, instructors only supervised the official training sessions.

Unlike the Training Hall, even meals were taken separately from the instructors, granting the disciples a sense of independence.
It was an implicit encouragement to train on their own.
The freedom allowed them to focus on their individual weaknesses, making the training highly effective.

The selected disciples from the Training Hall were naturally diligent. Their desire to improve their martial arts was stronger than most.
There was no need for forced discipline.
However, for newcomers like themselves, being expected to determine their own training schedule was overwhelming.

It would have been much easier if someone simply told them what to do.
Kwak Yeon couldn’t focus solely on breath regulation training all the time. He also couldn’t afford to neglect his training in Heaven-Earth Sphere Technique.
So he decided to maintain a consistent schedule, practicing breath regulation whenever he could find the time.

The nature of Taiji Internal Arts made it safe to practice even when distractions were present. In other words, it was a technique that could be used in any situation.
Since Kwak Yeon had been constantly visualizing the Celestial Meridian Map, he was able to transition smoothly into energy circulation training for Taiji Internal Arts.
Though he did not possess actual internal energy yet, he imagined the remaining thirty percent of his breath moving through his meridians along the designated acupoints.

Before long, he found himself observing his own body from within.
As he willed it, the flow of energy seemed to respond.
The route of Taiji Internal Arts was incredibly simple.

It ascended along the Conception Vessel, then descended before rising along the Governing Vessel, and descending once again—a straightforward loop.
In seated meditation, it was a wide-open direct path.
Since no actual energy was flowing, it wasn’t all that different from when he had imagined circulating the Celestial Meridian Map in his mind.

As long as one understood the acupoints, anyone could circulate energy using Taiji Internal Arts. This was why it had the advantage of allowing practitioners to complete the Microcosmic Orbit more quickly.
The real difficulty lay in breath control.
Soft inhale, subtle exhale.

Inhaling should be seamless, exhaling should be barely noticeable.
It was such a simple principle.
Yet breathing was not something people did consciously. No one went through life thinking about every breath they took.

Kwak Yeon wondered if the true purpose of Taiji Internal Arts was to master breath control.
What if I could breathe properly without thinking about it?
If he could achieve that, then this simple looped energy circulation could extend into standing cultivation, lying cultivation, and eventually even moving energy cultivation.

To achieve unconscious control over his breathing, there was only one method.
Endless repetition.
He would have to train his body until it adapted on its own.

But breath control was something people had performed naturally their entire lives. It wasn’t something inherently natural, but rather something the human body had simply adapted to.
I can’t just force my breathing to change. Instead, I need to make my body adapt, and my breathing will naturally follow.
Kwak Yeon had gained a sudden insight into the state of unconscious mastery.

But he had no idea how to transform his body accordingly.
He brought up the question to Seok Jangsan.
“Is there any way to achieve this?”

Seok Jangsan gave him a long look before responding.
“There are people in the martial world born with extraordinary physical constitutions. They’re called natural-born prodigies.”
Great martial artists could recognize such talents instantly. That was why they personally chose their disciples.

Unfortunately, Kwak Yeon had not been one of those chosen.
At best, he had been deemed worthy enough to become an Outer Sect disciple, which was why he had been sent to the Training Hall.
Even though he had been selected to become a Main Sect disciple, he was still just an ordinary talent.

Now, he understood why the Daoist masters of Wudang looked at them with such indifference.
There had never been any real expectations placed on them.
“But… that doesn’t mean there’s no way.”

“You mean there’s a method?”
“You’ve probably heard of Bone-Shedding Reformation.”
Kwak Yeon nodded.

It was the legendary process where a master would pour their internal energy into a disciple, restructuring their body.
“But that’s only possible if a master willingly sacrifices their internal energy to refine your body.”
Kwak Yeon’s face darkened.

“And no one would ever waste their internal energy on us.”
Seok Jangsan nodded.
“Exactly.”

“Then… is there any other way?”
“There’s always elixirs.”
“Elixirs?”

“Things like Taiqing Divine Pill or Purple Renewal Pill. Or if not that, you could seek out spiritual medicines—things like Pure Essence Jade Oil or Millennium Snow Ginseng.”
Kwak Yeon nearly laughed.
That was wishful thinking at best.

“There must be another way.”
Kwak Yeon believed that if he persistently trained in Taiji Internal Arts, he could achieve it himself.
The human body adapts—that’s its nature.

But the moment he let his concentration slip, his breathing would falter.
“If you train for decades, maybe it’s possible.”
Seok Jangsan’s words echoed in his mind.

At this rate, he would be stuck in seated meditation forever.
 
“Kwak Yeon! What are you doing, lost in thought during training?!”

Hyeonmun Dojang’s roar snapped Kwak Yeon out of his daze.
His wooden sphere had rolled far away.
“My apologies, Master.”

“Your footwork is a disaster, and now you’ve even lost the sphere? With that pathetic excuse for discipline, you think you can master martial arts? Get out of the training ground immediately!”
Being expelled from training was a severe punishment.
Every day of training mattered.

Having to stand on the sidelines and do nothing meant falling behind.
But Kwak Yeon could blame no one but himself.
It was simply his own tendency to hyperfocus on a single thought that had gotten him into trouble.

“I have no idea how such a failure even got selected. Bah! The Training Hall must be a complete joke.”
Kwak Yeon felt tears sting his eyes.
Not because of his own disgrace—but because his failure was causing the instructors and trainers from the Training Hall to be mocked.

“Are you… crying?”
Hyeonmun Dojang frowned.
“Do you find my punishment unfair?”

Kwak Yeon quickly shook his head.
“No, Master. I am not upset about the punishment. I am disappointed in myself for failing to live up to the expectations of my instructors and trainers. I feel ashamed of myself.”
“Then cry all you want. No—weep and wail like a child.”

“……?”
“And you are banned from entering the training grounds for the next three days.”