Chapter 28: Enlightenment
“Dan River Cleaving Sabre (斷江大刀)……”
When Hwang An muttered his nickname, Pyo Deuk-won burst into hearty laughter.
“Cleaving a river, my ass. That’s way too much praise.”
It was a nickname he’d earned when, during a battle with water bandits on Lake Dongting, he split a fleeing boat on the Xiang River clean in half with a single blow.
Dan River Cleaving Sabre, Pyo Deuk-won.
He was the Sect Leader of the Grand Sabre Sect and the top master of the Xuanwu Alliance.
The top master of the Xuanwu Alliance meant he was one of the true leaders of the current Ten Demonic Paths, as well as one of the top ten experts of the unorthodox factions.
“I’m Jang Woo-hyun.”
While everyone was still stunned, Jang Woo-hyun calmly stated his name, prompting the others to introduce themselves as well.
“I’m Hwang An.”
“I’m Jin Ha-un of Mount Qingcheng.”
“I’m Pung-yu of Mount Qingcheng.”
It was a little surprising to see disciples of Mount Qingcheng within one of the Ten Demonic Paths, but Pyo Deuk-won didn’t particularly care. Even if the martial world was divided into orthodox and unorthodox factions, real life was rarely that black-and-white. Sometimes, the two sides mingled or even helped one another.
“Good to meet you all. I’m in your debt. You’ve probably already heard, but let me say it myself—I appreciate the help.”
He lowered his head slightly. Everyone was taken aback.
They never imagined someone representing the unorthodox factions would bow so easily.
It became clear that even though Pyo Deuk-won held a lofty position, he wasn’t one to fuss over formalities.
“Warrior Jang. Great Hero Jang? Master Jang? Hmm. May I just call you Junior Jang?”
“Call me whatever’s comfortable. Then should I call you Sect Leader Pyo?”
“Sect Leader, my ass. You should just call me Senior Pyo.”
Pyo Deuk-won turned his gaze toward Jang Woo-hyun, examining him carefully.
“I heard you captured that bastard Ha Jung-do. Are you hiding your strength now? Fascinating. I can’t even get a proper read on you. Is it some kind of special martial art?”
The way he so casually contradicted his earlier offer to drop formalities and now inquired about someone else's martial art made it clear—Pyo Deuk-won wasn’t someone bound by worldly norms or etiquette.
Of course, Jang Woo-hyun wasn’t like typical martial artists who were secretive about their martial arts either. He didn’t particularly care about such things.
“I trained in the assassination sect’s secret techniques. That helped a lot.”
“Assassination? Oh, I see. So those skills can be used like this. Haha! You really are extraordinary. Could you show me a bit of your skill? I’m quite curious, you see. But I suppose I should go first before asking something like that from someone else.”
With that, Pyo Deuk-won unleashed the qi he had been concealing.
Qi radiated out from him as the center.
“Hrrmph.”
“Mm.”
Just by revealing his aura, the surrounding space felt like it was being crushed.
Jang Woo-hyun, having increased his internal energy and reached the peak of the Master Level, believed that if he faced Ha Jung-do again, he could defeat him. That confidence applied even if he were to face another Super Master.
But Pyo Deuk-won was different.
Even among Super Masters, he stood in a different league.
He was someone moving toward the Absolute Realm—the realm beyond mastery.
Withstanding the pressure, Jang Woo-hyun deactivated his Secret Flowing Body Technique.
His concealed and scattered qi gathered around him, revealing its full might.
Huuu—
The qi radiating from Jang Woo-hyun pushed back the crushing pressure.
A glint flickered in Pyo Deuk-won’s eyes.
“Ho, impressive indeed. A Master? No… Is this really just a Master?”
He was shocked by the unexpected display of power. Ha Jung-do had been referred to as a Super Master, and Jang Woo-hyun, who had defeated him, was supposedly at the Master level. So Pyo assumed Ha Jung-do was barely into the Super Master realm, just beginning to use Sword Qi, and Jang Woo-hyun had simply gotten lucky.
But his assumption had been off.
If this was the level of a Master, it was in a completely different category from ordinary Masters.
The first to retract their qi was Pyo Deuk-won.
“This is more than enough. Our junior here is quite exceptional.”
Saying so, he casually walked over to the garden in front of the lodging and drew his sabre.
“What are you doing?”
“Hmm?”
“You said you came to see my skills. Let’s have a bout.”
“Wh-what?”
At the suggestion of a spar from the top master of the Xuanwu Alliance, Hwang An let out a yelp. Who in their right mind would casually spar with one of the top ten experts of the unorthodox factions? A man like Pyo Deuk-won had his sights set on the entire martial world. Drawing a blade against him wasn’t something done lightly.
Srrng—
But then, the sound of a blade being drawn rang out. Turning his head, Hwang An saw a man calmly doing what no one else dared.
“…Oh.”
Right. It wasn’t easy, but such people did exist. And one of them was part of their group. On top of that, Jang Woo-hyun was even smiling as if he were enjoying himself.
Crossing the garden, Jang Woo-hyun stood before Pyo Deuk-won.
After a slight bow, the two immediately clashed.
Kwaaang!
The well-manicured garden screamed as it collapsed from the impact.
* * *
Once a day. For three days straight, Jang Woo-hyun and Pyo Deuk-won sparred. Even Jin Ha-un, perhaps itching for action, joined in, and the garden in front of their lodging was now utterly destroyed—like it had been hit by dozens of artillery shells. Its original shape was unrecognizable.
As he exchanged swords with Pyo Deuk-won, Jang Woo-hyun realized that this was a true opportunity. Through their bouts, Pyo Deuk-won was teaching him. It was probably his way of showing gratitude.
“Shame that today’s the last.”
Pyo Deuk-won turned his gaze toward the two.
Jin Ha-un lay sprawled out in one corner of the garden, and Jang Woo-hyun stood with trembling legs, barely upright.
Sparring with these two had been genuinely enjoyable.
Regardless of affiliation or age, mentoring talented individuals and watching them grow had brought unexpected joy. He had even gained a few insights himself.
‘So this is why people raise disciples.’
Teaching itself was no different from a form of training.
“Senior Pyo, may I ask something?”
“Anything.”
“What exactly is enlightenment that leads to the next level? And how does one attain it?”
After reading the records of Kim Min-soo, specifically about the Demonic Demon Art, Jang Woo-hyun had been reflecting on the concept of enlightenment for some time.
He hadn’t faced any obstacles when reaching the Master Level like Kim Min-soo had. But now, he stood before the wall of the Super Master realm. He feared that without attaining some kind of enlightenment, he wouldn’t be able to break through it.
“Attaining enlightenment, huh…”
Pyo Deuk-won understood why Jang Woo-hyun would bring that up. Jang Woo-hyun had reached the very limit of the Master Level. More precisely, he was restraining himself right at the edge. With just one more step, if he could just overcome one more wall, he would reach the realm of Super Masters.
It was understandable that he’d be fixated on the idea of enlightenment.
Everyone believed enlightenment was necessary to break past that wall. But Pyo Deuk-won thought differently.
“Before I answer, let me ask you something. How do you think enlightenment is attained?”
“……”
Jang Woo-hyun didn’t answer right away. He had neither thought about it before nor experienced it himself.
“Do you think enlightenment is something you gain by meditating in seclusion or through long bouts of contemplation?”
“I’m not sure.”
“Then let me ask you this. How did you become strong up until now?”
“I just… repeated the process. I trained, I fought, I trained again, and fought again. Eventually, I got to where I am now.”
“That’s it.”
“Pardon?”
He looked at Pyo Deuk-won, confused by his words.
“I don’t know what enlightenment really is either. I’ve simply trained in my own way, just like you’ve become strong in yours. Enlightenment is like that. Some people find it. Others pass it by without even realizing it. Some attain it through solitary meditation, some while haggling in a market, others during a spar, or even in the middle of a blood-soaked battlefield.”
“Ah…”
“Every person is different. How can there be a single path for everyone? I have my way. You have yours.”
“My own way… a way unique to each person…”
Jang Woo-hyun repeated those words to himself and fell into thought, as though something had clicked.
Something felt within reach, yet he couldn’t quite grasp it. A vague, indescribable presence flickered in and out of sight. And then, he saw the path he needed to take, the areas in which he was still lacking.
After a long period of contemplation, he organized his thoughts.
‘I wasn’t wrong. I just rushed. I need to return to the basics.’
His eyes, which had seemed unfocused as if staring into the distance, slowly regained their clarity.
“So? Did you gain something?”
Pyo Deuk-won, who had been quietly observing him, asked with a smile.
“Yes. I think I’ve found a clue.”
“Good, then that’s enough. Let’s end it here and meet up for dinner later. It’s our last day together—we should at least have a meal.”
“Understood. I’ll see you then.”
After a polite bow, Jang Woo-hyun returned to his lodging.
As soon as he arrived, he sat down in the lotus position and closed his eyes.
“Phew…”
Taking a deep breath, he turned his awareness inward.
His internal energy wasn’t lacking, and his martial path had been built through real combat, which had led him to neglect qi circulation and breathing techniques.
It hadn’t always been like that. Back at the White Tiger Martial Hall, he had practiced internal energy cultivation three times a day. Even after developing his internal energy, he had consistently trained his breathing and qi flow.
But with rapid growth came an obsession with speed and a focus on learning new martial arts techniques. He had forgotten his foundations.
Hadn’t Kim Min-soo done the same? With his overwhelming talent, had he failed to reflect on himself, lost in the rush of growth, forgetting the mindset he had at the beginning?
Jang Woo-hyun began circulating his qi the same way he did when he first learned martial arts, when he had first created his dantian.
He focused his mind and repeated his breathing. After about a quarter of an hour, the surrounding qi began to stir.
This wasn’t just simple energy accumulation. Like when his cultivation suddenly jumped, like what Yang Hyo-myung had seen at the White Tiger Martial Hall—heaven and earth qi churned wildly around him.
With each breath, the internal energy he had accumulated surged out of his dantian and began to move rapidly. It mixed with the incoming qi and shot through his entire body.
A small stream became a brook, then a river, and eventually a mighty current. That current surged through his whole body.
An overwhelming amount of internal energy, far beyond the level of a Master, flowed from his dantian and branched out into all his meridians.
A tingling energy pierced his entire body.
Crunch. Crack.
His body twisted.
It wasn’t to the point of muscles tearing and bones resetting. It wasn’t quite a full transformation, but his body began to change little by little.
His posture corrected itself—to make it easier to unleash martial arts, to become sturdier and more stable.
Within that, Jang Woo-hyun observed his own body.
His internal energy flowed smoothly upward to his head—and then discovered something. A tiny flaw. It had probably formed quite some time ago.
Inside his inner world, Jang Woo-hyun identified what it was.
It was the energy that had surged toward his head when Gal Pyeong from the Cloud Sword Sect had passed on that deep sense of isolation. He had never completely purged it.
A red energy was nestled in one part of his brain.
Seeing it, he came to a realization.
How had someone like him, who’d barely experienced combat in his life, come to harm others so easily? How had he lost his fear of sharp weapons and deadly threats?
It was because of that red energy. It had driven him slightly mad.
That energy had made everything feel numb. What had once tried to control him had, in the end, actually helped him.
Jang Woo-hyun guided his internal energy toward the red qi. The remaining traces of that energy were washed away by the stronger flow.
He didn’t need it anymore. He had changed after all he’d been through.
Jang Woo-hyun was no longer a normal person—he had become a true martial artist.
As the red energy disappeared, he focused on a single thought.
Qi Projection.
Not ordinary energy, but qi imbued with will and thought.
Qi Projection was often said to be imbued with “intention and thought.”
The will to cut. The thought of striking down an enemy. The will to break through or defend. Only by embedding such intentions could one create things like Sword Qi or Defensive Qi Projection.
Could he create Qi Projection?
How does one form energy shaped by intent and thought?
Doubts followed questions in an endless cycle. Then, all thoughts disappeared.
He simply acted. He just did it.
A method for attaining enlightenment? He didn’t know.
He only trained and accumulated in his own way.
If imbuing intention and thought was the key to creating Qi Projection, then so be it.
He willed it—may powerful strength dwell in this hand.
He thought—may this blade become sharper than ever.
Sitting in the lotus position, he slowly clenched the hand that rested on his knee.
Whooosh.
Heaven and earth qi churned and surged into his fist.
When he fully clenched it, brilliant light burst from his hand as if he held a radiant flame. When he opened his hand, ten beams of light shot out from each of his fingers.
Kagagagak—
Everything inside the room was cut down. The table, a small drawer, the bed. Even the walls, pillars, and ceiling.
The ten beams of light were Claw-shaped Qi Projections unleashed through his fingers.