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“SMACK!”

The Bright Dragon slapped my back hard, revving up my Qi like a turbo engine. Blood surged in my mouth, and as I spat it out, I stood up, reestablishing my stance, and called upon the Thunderclap to execute the Six Harmonies Sword technique.

Whoosh!

My internal power drained at an alarming rate. I clenched my lips tight, feeling as if my brain was about to implode from the sheer drain and emptiness. My eyes must have looked bloodshot, as I struggled with thoughts slicing through my reason, questioning why I was enduring this madness.

‘Survive, survive, survive!!’

With every ounce of strength, I completed the basic technique of the Six Harmonies Sword. It was a simple form, but getting there felt like I was wishing for death. My arms, legs, heart, and ribs screamed in protest as I clung to my sanity. I begged my brain to stop this madness, knowing I was approaching the brink of death. But the Bright Dragon’s icy words cut through, “Fifty-one.”

Just one time down. Despair whirled in my mind.

‘Ugh, more! I can still do more!’

I swung!

I swung!

Imbuing my will into the tip of the sword!

“…Sixty.”

I swung!

I swung!

Then I collapsed! Stars danced before my eyes!

Huh? What am I thinking?

Crack!

“Get your head together!”

As the Bright Dragon slapped my cheek, I finally came to my senses. He filled me with Infinite Divine technique and spoke as if astonished, “Your mental strength is truly incredible. How do you manage to remain silent even when dying?”

In a daze, I replied faintly, my exhaustion so profound I couldn’t be bothered to use formal language.

“…No strength… left…”

“Ah, I see. My bad.”

He gave me a pat on the back, saying, “Let’s call it a day.”

Those words felt like divine grace from the heavens. Tears of gratitude almost welled up. But then he followed up with, “Hey kid! Tomorrow, let’s aim for over sixty rounds.”

My teeth ground together. I was fuming with frustration.

“…Re…covery…”

“That’s right. Initial Recovery!”

The Bright Dragon clenched his fists.

“What can be done? If your head doesn’t keep up, your body suffers!”

“……”

It’s an undeniable truth that I hated to accept!

‘Ugh, this is insane.’

I fell asleep in the cave like a dead man. The next day, I was dragged out again, repeating the cycle of exhaustion and awakening through the Six Harmonies Sword technique. This brutal toll on my stamina and internal power showed no signs of letting up.

I had a feeling I was finally grasping the essence of the Bright Dragon as a master.

Unlike Lee Kwang, he truly cared for his disciples. However, his methods were far too reckless and madcap to repeat. And he showed a shocking level of indifference towards the suffering of his students. It was becoming clear why the Wudang masters were terrified of him.

“Ughhh…”

I lay face down, groaning as I returned to the cave in a semi-conscious state.

‘Ugh… my insides hurt…’

The pain pierced my lungs!

By the end of the second day, I felt like my insides were falling apart. No matter how incredible the Infinite Divine technique was, it couldn’t shield my body from this relentless toll. I had no choice but to rummage through my belongings in the wooden armor to extract some needles and stimulate my meridians.

Using medical acupuncture points as a stopgap to restore my internal energy, I then turned to the True Qi Manipulation Technique to heal my insides. Inside, I grimaced quietly.

‘Ugh… my lungs are a bit damaged… and my spleen and pancreas are inflamed… some meridians are torn too… my heart’s weakened.’

I urgently pressed on the acupuncture points to alleviate the inflammation and restore the meridians. After a frenzied hour of self-healing, I felt the pain dull a bit. With the healing complete, I let out a sigh of relief.

‘Man… if I hadn’t learned medicine from Goryeo, I would’ve died again in such an absurd way…’

What kind of training method did the Wudang masters practice that was this extreme? A normal person would have died at least five times by now!

At that moment, while medicine appeared useless, it was the one thing that could tip the scales of life or death here. I sensed if this training continued without some kind of strategy, it wouldn’t be surprising if I suddenly dropped dead one day.

How can I survive this?

Deep in thought, I remembered that there’s a great solution in Huatuo’s Medical Vision.

“Huatuo’s Five Animals Play”

Secret Technique

“Art of Death!”

Shwooosh!

During my break, instead of just sleeping, I decided to maximize my sleep time. In the Huatuo family’s passed-down techniques, there was a secret that emulated the movements of animals, and that was this Art of Death.

I began to follow the breathing patterns of the secret. My consciousness slowly faded away.

When I awoke again, exactly three moments had passed. I checked my body and quickly realized I was fully restored.

“Alright!”

The Art of Death allows you to play dead like an animal! Originally used by physicians trained in Huatuo’s methods to save lives, it also helped rapidly rejuvenate my body during rest. The recovery effect was overwhelmingly better than any internal energy cultivation methods.

In fact, after gaining immense internal power, I wondered what use this technique would serve, but it turned out to be incredibly handy! I decided to express my gratitude to Hwa Seong-myeong later.

Then I trained, and trained some more.

I swung!

I swung!

Imbuing my will into the tip of the sword!

I swung!

I swung!

…

Imbuing my will into the tip of the sword!

Living and dying repeatedly, falling into a trance.

Suddenly, annoyance began bubbling within me.

Under normal circumstances, my brain would’ve gone bonkers long ago.

When will it end…?

Was what I was practicing a technique after all…?

Why was I doing this?

I had already swung that technique over five hundred times, and lost track of how many days had passed. What remained clear was that time had dragged on far longer than I originally expected, and even the Bright Dragon appeared visibly fatigued.

While time slipped away into oblivion…

“…?”

Reincarnation…

Transmigration, resurrection, and circulation were all that came to mind.

In Buddhism, the world of reincarnation consists of hell, hungry ghosts, beasts, asuras, humans, and heavenly beings—six realms in total.

Strangely enough, I began to wonder why the Six Harmonies Sword technique I wielded reflected the reflection of these six realms.

Eventually, it struck me that I had become void.

Drifting within the source of nothingness, there was nothing but emptiness around me.

My body faded away, my efforts vanished, and finally, even life itself dissipated without leaving a trace. What remained was only a faint consciousness barely held together. My mind, stretching across the eons, didn’t wash away into nature.

Calling it death would be the clearest kind of death. If the phenomenon of life ceasing is called “Entering Mortality,” now with no body left, I was in a state of complete cessation.

But the issue was that one thing remained—consciousness. Although my body was gone, my awareness existed. In this nonsensical situation, I still wondered if my body existed, but there was none, just as I suspected.

My consciousness can accelerate anywhere, according to thought speed. So, I turned my awareness upwards. Based on the theory that the spirit rises to the sky while the essence sinks to the earth, it seems I ascended as a spirit.

Am I dead?

Did I stop the cycle of reincarnation and truly pass away?

I wasn’t shocked, as this wasn’t a surprise. But then, suddenly, I reconsidered. If I were dead, such a grand spectacle wouldn’t be occurring. I would be pondering why I died while staring at the barn ceiling.

Ah.

That’s it.

My spirit is merely watching over my body.

Swoosh!

In that moment, I felt I somehow grasped the essence of the phrase I had been yelling like a scream, “Imbuing my will into the tip of the sword!” Every trivial thought washed away, and in that fleeting instant, the singular action of ‘swinging’ felt as if it lingered for eternity. Thus, I could forget all my strength and focus on one thing alone.

Kiiiing!

The sharp focus sharper than any awl coalesced into a thread of intent at the tip of my sword. The thread became a sphere of light that shimmered and flowed down the sword’s body. The azure light emitted by that thread thickened and solidified into a seemingly endless transparent form.

Phaaah!

“Ah…!!”

My consciousness returned to my body. I exhaled in astonishment.

It was Sword Strength! My sword had indeed achieved Sword Strength!

And unlike before, where I forced it out, burning through my internal power, this was real, legit Sword Energy without the heavy burden of internal power!

I blinked in disbelief at the white light.

My surroundings transformed, and soon the Sword Demon and the Bright Dragon stood nearby, speaking simultaneously.

“You did it!”

“Outstanding!”

They exchanged a brief awkward glance before turning to me and saying, “Really… that’s an insane training method, but you pulled it off.”

The Sword Demon, though astonished, couldn’t hide his delight.

“Phew! I knew you’d succeed!”

The Bright Dragon spoke confidently, but in truth, he knew I would have been dead ages ago without employing external techniques to endure. Even now, seeing the astonished look on his face, it was clear he hadn’t thought I’d manage it either.

I just smiled wryly. Maybe it was due to all the brutal treatment, but even now, my body felt strangely resilient despite my internal power being on the verge of depletion. No—more than that, it felt like my absolute power had significantly increased.

‘Could this brutal initial recovery process have enhanced the essence of the Thousand-Year Snow Ginseng even further…?’

Crack!

As I retracted the Sword Strength, the white light faded swiftly. Unlike sword energy or sword flame, Sword Strength exuded an aura that belonged to another dimension. I could finally say I had surpassed the beginner stage in the realm of intent.

I realized my body was covered in a terrible stench and crusted with dried blood. Upon catching a whiff, I grimaced at the thought that this smell was worse than a dirty rag that had been soaked for days.

“Ugh… how long has it been?”

“About three months.”

“… What? It’s been that long?”

Based on my feelings, I thought it couldn’t have been longer than half a month. Yet, three months had passed in the blink of an eye. Hearing this, the Bright Dragon chimed in, “Seems you mistook the rounds of near-death experiences. You became a swinging machine for the technique, practicing in a dull manner and gradually awakened your Sword Strength today.”

“But, I surely woke up at times to use medical treatment…”

“Whatever you did is unclear, but by the end, you probably executed the technique purely out of survival instincts. Your sense of time must be broken entirely.”

“……”

This was absurd.

Are you telling me that I swung the Six Harmonies Sword thousands of times in a daze and never even realized it?

Words failed me as the Sword Demon grinned.

“Three months is an incredibly fast time frame. You should be proud of yourself.”

“Is that so…?”

“Definitely. You’ve endured that crazy training; you’re a superhuman now.”

As the Sword Demon patted my back, he continued, “Well then, rest up today, and tomorrow we’ll dive back into training. Both the Bright Dragon and I have been researching the Heavenly Contraction Sword and Cave-Collapsing Sword and discovered levels even better than before. We’ll share our insights with you soon.”

“Really?!”

I lit up at the joyous news. The Sword Demon assured me, “Absolutely. Plus, now that you’ve realized Sword Strength, you’ll grasp our insights effortlessly.”

“That’s great to hear.”

“Hah! Great to hear is an understatement.”

The Sword Demon laughed heartily.

“You do realize what it means to wield Sword Strength, right? You’ve now become a renowned expert in martial arts whom none in the world can ignore!”

“……!!”

Renowned expert!

I felt my heart race at that word. Many may call themselves masters throughout Heaven and Earth, yet to acquire the title of renowned expert among masters is a rarity hard to find. In other words, my skill level in martial arts had risen to at least intermediate within the peak experts category, and my martial arts overall had ascended a notch!

 

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