Kwak Yeon was genuinely startled by Uncheon Zhenren’s words that he would pass down the Wisdom Sword of Taiji.
That was because he knew the Wisdom Sword of Taiji was the very essence of Wudang’s sword arts, handed down only to the Sword of Wudang.
Since even Uncheon Zhenren could not violate that rule, he had first bestowed on him the status of successor-apparent to the Sword of Wudang before passing on the Wisdom Sword of Taiji.
“Martial Uncle, I truly do not dare accept it.”
Kwak Yeon declined in complete sincerity.
“I do not believe this was the martial art my master asked Martial Uncle Uncheon to pass on to me.”
Before Unseon Taoist had entered Samryeong Palace, he had been the senior elder brother of Jaso Palace. There was no reason he would not have known how the Sword of Wudang’s legacy was passed down.
Which meant he could never have made such an unreasonable request as asking for the Sword of Wudang’s transmitted martial art to be handed over.
“I ask that Martial Uncle pass on some other supreme art instead of the Wisdom Sword of Taiji, so that I may fulfill my master’s dying wish.”
A pleased smile touched Uncheon Zhenren’s lips at Kwak Yeon’s heartfelt plea.
What kind of position was the Sword of Wudang?
It was the title granted to the supreme master of the Wudang Sect, one of the two great mountains and northern dippers of the martial world.
In every age, the Sword of Wudang stood among the ten greatest masters under heaven, a figure all martial artists looked up to with boundless admiration.
Anyone else would have burst into tears, accepted it in gratitude, and immediately bowed in acknowledgment. Who would ever earnestly beg for the order to be withdrawn like this?
“Elder Brother Unseon said that the bond of the true realm would reach the one chosen by heaven. It truly seems he was right.”
Kwak Yeon felt ashamed at Uncheon Zhenren’s praise.
“Martial Uncle, I fall far short of such generous praise. I merely received fortunate encounters through the care of the elders of Mount Wudang and barely reached this level today. My talent itself is ordinary...”
“That is enough!”
Uncheon Zhenren’s voice was stern, but his expression was exceedingly gentle.
“What you just said is precisely how heaven raises up worthy people. If you had been born a heaven-gifted genius and reached this day in a single bound, then I would have passed on no more than what Elder Brother Unseon had asked of me.”
The moment Kwak Yeon realized those words were in perfect accord with heaven’s will, a chill ran across his skin.
He suddenly understood that heaven’s choice was not something separate at all. One grew through bonds with other people.
After Kwak Yeon passed through that fierce moment of awakening, Uncheon Zhenren quietly asked,
“Answer me honestly, Martial Nephew Kwak. At your current level, is there any higher martial art you truly need?”
For a moment, Kwak Yeon could not answer.
It was because he knew Uncheon Zhenren was not asking out of ignorance, as though learning many martial arts could somehow be harmful.
What Uncheon Zhenren was really speaking of was the martial art required to cross the wall one faced at the highest extreme of the Flower Realm.
“...”
When Kwak Yeon lowered his head, unable to find an answer, Uncheon Zhenren calmly continued,
“At your current level, there is only one martial art I can pass on to you. The Wisdom Sword of Taiji. But the Wisdom Sword of Taiji may be transmitted only to the Sword of Wudang, so how could I, as one of Wudang’s own, violate the laws of the sect?”
The instant Kwak Yeon realized that Uncheon Zhenren truly wished for him to cross the wall of the Entrance-to-Divinity Realm, emotion surged through his chest.
To Uncheon Zhenren, he was merely a martial nephew he had met for the first time today. And he was a disciple of Samryeong Palace, the lowest-ranked among Wudang’s Eight Palaces.
It was not simply because of a request from his late master, Unseon Taoist, that Uncheon Zhenren was showing him such goodwill and affection.
WOOOOONG!
The bright light of the Honwonmusang Technique swept through the meridians of his entire body in an instant.
Kwak Yeon understood that yet another person’s heaven’s will—Uncheon Zhenren’s—had reached him and taken root within him.
“Martial Uncle, I will not be stubborn any longer. But there is one concern in my heart, and I have no choice but to ask.”
“What is it?”
“As I understand it, there has always only been one Sword of Wudang in each generation. Then should there not likewise be only one successor-apparent to the Sword of Wudang?”
“So you are worried there may already be a successor-apparent at the main mountain.”
“Yes.”
No matter what martial art it was, to reach great accomplishment one had to begin cultivating it early.
And the Sword of Wudang’s higher arts would be all the harder to attain, so it only made sense that a successor-apparent would be designated early and made to train from youth.
Moreover, Uncheon Zhenren was no longer young, so Kwak Yeon naturally assumed there must already be a successor-apparent.
“Your thoughtfulness is the foundation on which the man you are now was built.”
In contrast to the satisfaction in his voice, Uncheon Zhenren’s expression darkened.
“In any case, Wudang currently has no successor-apparent to the Sword of Wudang.”
Kwak Yeon flinched at those words.
Currently there is none!
Which meant there had been one before, did it not?
Kwak Yeon could not help but be deeply shocked.
Within the Wudang Sect, the successor-apparent to the Sword of Wudang was a position scarcely less important than the next Sect Master.
If some change had occurred in a position like that, it could only have been a grave incident.
What in the world happened to the successor-apparent to the Sword of Wudang?
He was desperately curious, but when he saw the shadow that had fallen across Uncheon Zhenren’s face, he could not bring himself to ask.
“You have made your decision, Martial Nephew Kwak, yet many things still weigh on your heart.”
Uncheon Zhenren wiped the shadow from his face and continued,
“That only proves how upright your character is, and it makes me all the more pleased. If I could, I would nail you to the position of Sword of Wudang and keep you at my side. That is my honest feeling.”
“...”
“However glorious the Sword of Wudang may be, it is still only a seat desired by worldly Taoist companions like me.”
Kwak Yeon was startled by the way Uncheon Zhenren lowered himself to raise him up.
“Martial Uncle, that is not true at all. If anything, I feel the exact opposite—”
“No.”
Uncheon Zhenren cut him off with a firm shake of the head.
“As you know very well, Elder Brother Unseon was not the kind of man to make that kind of request without reason. He ascended Samryeong Palace because he wished to look not at Wudang, but at all under heaven. How could such a man ever wish for someone who had formed a bond with the true realm to remain in a trifling position like the Sword of Wudang?”
“...!”
Kwak Yeon recalled once more Unseon Taoist’s dying wish that he become an immortal sword that swept away the spirit of the world.
Even if Uncheon Zhenren did not know Unseon Taoist’s intent in exact detail, he had seen through the fact that its true scope lay not in Wudang, but in all under heaven.
Ah! Martial Uncle Uncheon has accumulated immortal aura deeply through his study of martial arts alone.
For a moment, Kwak Yeon found himself wondering just how far Uncheon Zhenren had advanced.
He had long known that Uncheon Zhenren had already reached the level of Peak’s End years ago.
At his own current level, all he could tell was that Uncheon Zhenren had gone far, far ahead of him.
If not for the snowy hair and white beard, together with skin as fine as an infant’s and the clear radiance in his eyes, he would have been certain the man had reached rejuvenation.
“I have placed you in the position of successor-apparent to the Sword of Wudang for the sake of passing on the Wisdom Sword of Taiji. So do not let yourself be bound to Wudang in the slightest, Martial Nephew Kwak. Instead, follow the dying wish of Elder Brother Unseon, your master. For that reason, I will not publicly announce that you have received the position of successor-apparent to the Sword of Wudang, so do not be disheartened.”
Kwak Yeon was deeply moved by the care Uncheon Zhenren was showing so that he would remain free, unbound by Wudang.
“Even if my body remains away, I will not forget my duty as the successor-apparent to the Sword of Wudang. And if the rightful owner of that seat should ever appear, I will yield the place to him at once.”
Uncheon Zhenren spoke quietly.
“If that is truly your will, then there is nothing to be done. But hearing you speak so coldly of giving up the seat leaves me somewhat disappointed.”
Kwak Yeon realized then that, in his heart, Uncheon Zhenren truly hoped he would carry on the line of the Sword of Wudang, and he felt ashamed.
“I only say that because I do not know when I will have fulfilled my master’s dying wish and return to the mountain. As one of Wudang’s disciples, how could I not desire the honor of becoming the Sword of Wudang?”
Uncheon Zhenren fixed him with a stern gaze.
“When a Taoist breaks a promise, his immortal aura is shattered. Do you truly mean that?”
Kwak Yeon’s chest ached at the question, filled as it was with Uncheon Zhenren’s utmost sincerity.
“For one as lacking as I am, there is nothing to do but receive such grace with gratitude.”
Only then did Uncheon Zhenren break into a bright smile.
“At last, one of my long-standing worries is lifted today!”
Hearing that, Kwak Yeon understood that Uncheon Zhenren had long been troubled by his inability to choose a successor-apparent to the Sword of Wudang.
And yet he could not understand how, among all Wudang’s brilliant first-generation disciples, there had not been one disciple to Uncheon Zhenren’s liking.
Could it be that the senior brother who had once held the position of successor-apparent to the Sword of Wudang was simply too extraordinary, so extraordinary that none of the other first-generation senior brothers could compare in his eyes?
That was the only reason he could readily think of. At the same time, he felt slightly embarrassed.
Because that thought could only arise if he assumed he himself now stood above all the first-generation disciples.
What nonsense. Taoist Hyeonmun and Taoist Hyeonam alone are already senior brothers of extraordinary worth.
Even amid those thoughts, his curiosity only deepened over why that senior brother who had once been the successor-apparent to the Sword of Wudang had stepped down.
What unavoidable circumstance could possibly have forced it?
Kwak Yeon was feeling guilty, as though he had stolen the place of that unnamed senior brother, when—
“Now then, I will pass on the Wisdom Sword of Taiji.”
At Uncheon Zhenren’s words, Kwak Yeon jolted and tried to perform the formal bow of discipleship.
Uncheon Zhenren immediately said in a firm voice,
“The Sword of Wudang is not a master-disciple line. It does not receive the bow of discipleship. Sit.”
Only then did Kwak Yeon realize his mistake.
It was only natural that one did not have two masters within a single sect.
The Sword of Wudang, in particular, could designate anyone within Wudang’s ranks to inherit it, without regard to position or generation.
That was why there were even cases in which the Sect Master himself, in the position of Supreme Patriarch, became the Sword of Wudang.
When Kwak Yeon sat back down in his place, Uncheon Zhenren also stepped down from the chair and sat before him.
“The Wisdom Sword of Taiji is, as its name suggests, a sword of the heart. It has no fixed form and no fixed path.”
A sword of the heart was the ultimate sword art, one that created form and path through enlightenment.
It was said that once one brought it to the twelfth star of great accomplishment, one could produce a sword through thought alone.
The Formless Sword!
If the Entrance-to-Divinity Realm was divine entry, then the Formless Sword could be called the Divine Sword itself. There could be no doubt that training in the Wisdom Sword of Taiji would help in crossing the wall of the Entrance-to-Divinity Realm.
That was why Uncheon Zhenren had no choice but to designate him successor-apparent to the Sword of Wudang and pass on the Wisdom Sword of Taiji. Kwak Yeon felt his chest surge once more.
“Calm your mind and close your eyes.”
Kwak Yeon took a deep breath and closed his eyes.
A moment later, Uncheon Zhenren’s voice rang out inside his mind.
Words of Wisdom-Light spoken directly into the heart.
Kwak Yeon was not the least bit startled by the voice resonating within his head.
He had already once heard the words Jang Sam-bong had left behind in the meditation chamber.
As he listened to Uncheon Zhenren’s Wisdom-Light words ringing through his mind as though surfacing there on their own, he felt as if he had gone back in time to that meditation chamber.
To that very moment when he had chosen the road of ascetic hardship through the unfinished dream instead of the peace of an ordinary life.
He had once believed that road toward the Ultimate Void would be nothing but a lonely and painful one, but now he knew that was not so.
All along that path were people who reached out a helping hand and cheered him on, just as Uncheon Zhenren was doing now.
And he had also come to understand that the heaven’s will Jang Sam-bong had told him to awaken to was present in each and every one of those hearts.
<...When the mind is divided into yin and yang, and you reach the Two-Intent Divided Sword, then within a single sword you may unfold the harmonies of Taiji. Only then may it be said that you have established the foundation of the Wisdom Sword of Taiji.>
Amid the deep stillness, Kwak Yeon gradually sank deeper and deeper into Uncheon Zhenren’s Wisdom-Light words.
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