Zhuge Rin spoke.
“Martial Force Hall Master, what do you consider to be the standard for directions?”
“I don’t understand the meaning of your question.”
At that moment, Jin Cheon-hee lightly twisted his body to avoid an attack.
Despite using the Three-Elements Stride, he flowed like water, avoiding attacks without any hindrance.
Seeing this, Dokgo Junghoo thought Jin Cheon-hee might be using a different footwork technique he had learned. If so, that would be problematic.
This wasn’t about medical skills, but martial arts. In the martial world, martial arts held significant meaning.
If he had learned another family’s martial arts in advance, he wouldn’t be qualified to learn the Zhuge Clan’s secret techniques.
However, no matter how closely he examined each movement, it was clearly the Three-Elements Stride.
Zhuge Rin chuckled, seemingly pleased.“Surely the Martial Force Hall Master hasn’t made the mistake of using the bamboo as the standard for directions?”
Only then did Dokgo Junghoo realize.
‘Ah, I see. Directions are relative. There’s no need to be fixated on the terrain…!’
But was it possible to achieve this with just a few months of training?
It was hard to believe even after seeing it. The boy was demonstrating the essence of left, right, and forward on top of the thin bamboo, creating his own sense of direction.
Finally, Jin Cheon-hee safely landed on the ground.
“If I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes, I wouldn’t have believed it. He’s not even a child with particularly outstanding physical talents, is he?”
“He just had enough physical aptitude to learn.”
“But how on earth…?!”
The master seemed to be enjoying Dokgo Junghoo’s reaction, savoring it with his eyes closed.
At that moment, he wasn’t the world-renowned genius Divine Doctor Baek Rin, but simply Zhuge Rin, the world’s biggest doting parent.
“Internal energy certainly plays a big part in martial arts, doesn’t it? That’s why prestigious families tend to be so fixated on physical aptitude.”
“Are you saying that’s wrong?”
“No. Better physical aptitude makes it easier to build internal energy and learn family secrets, so it has its advantages. However, in martial arts, physical aptitude is just one aspect. That child simply trained his external techniques more diligently than anyone else.”
“By external techniques, do you mean he trained his body?”
As expected of a martial artist from the Zhuge Clan, he understood quickly.
“Yes, that’s right. He focused especially on training his lower body.”
“To that extent, any martial artist… should be able…”
“The crucial point is that it’s not just to that extent.”
Just how intensively had he trained his lower body?
It was hard to comprehend.
Zhuge Rin didn’t explain further and just grinned. Dokgo Junghoo said,
“But establishing one’s position isn’t just about the lower body, is it? No matter how well-trained the body is, if the mind doesn’t follow, it won’t work. Without a certain deep understanding of formations, it would be difficult…”
“Quick thinking is absolutely fundamental.”
He was so dumbfounded that he was at a loss for words.
Leaving the stunned Dokgo Junghoo behind, Zhuge Rin approached Jin Cheon-hee.
“It seems you’ve become quite familiar with the Three-Elements Stride.”
It wasn’t just a matter of being familiar. There had never been such a stubborn, persistent learner.
Jin Cheon-hee had been practicing relentlessly in a way that would have made others grind their teeth in envy, yet he acted as if it were nothing.
More than the fact that he had dodged all the flying stones without being hit once, the boy was more concerned about how to get back at Yoo Ho after this demonstration was over.
However, his expression was as innocent as anyone’s.
“Hehe, I’m so happy that you’re pleased, Master!”
“Yes, yes. Now we should move on to the stage of the Mystifying Stride[1]. It will be incomparably more grueling than now. Can you handle it?”
“What are the Mystifying Stride?”
Although he already knew from reading books, it was important to act like he didn’t know.
“It’s the next stage after the Three-Elements Stride.”
The Three-Elements Stride starts by establishing three directions: left, right, and forward.
In a way, it was similar to the Five-Elemental Cultivation Technique. The Zhuge Clan’s Five-Elemental Cultivation Technique begins with the five attributes of the elements, and as one’s ability increases, they use these elements to employ more diverse abilities.
Wind energy using fire, wood, and water energies.
Ice energy created by using water, metal, and earth energies.
In the case of lightning energy, it’s created by mixing fire, metal, and water into the previously created wind energy.
It is said that when one reaches mastery of the Five-Elemental Cultivation Technique, they can handle the energy of all things in the world, manipulating creation and destruction as easily as breathing, reaching a state of unity with all things in heaven and earth.
This is the realm of transcendence spoken of in the martial world.
Unlike the ending known in the Three Kingdoms story on Earth, in this world, the ancestor Zhuge Liang succeeded in extending his lifespan by offering sacrifices to heaven.
After achieving his desires to some extent, he retired to seclusion to nurture future generations, and finally reached a state of effortless action in harmony with nature and ascended to heaven.
In that sense, it’s said that when one reaches the higher level of the Heaven and Earth Five-Elemental Cultivation Technique, they can even make the southeast wind blow, truly befitting the world of martial arts novels.
Similarly, the Three-Elements Stride initially uses only three directions.
However, like combining the five elements, these three directions are combined to eventually control 9, 27, 61, 81, and later, 10,000 changing directions.
The 3 of the Three-Elements Stride Technique and the 5 of the Five-Elemental Cultivation Technique.
Both are prime numbers that are significant not only in Eastern philosophy but also in mathematics.
‘They’re the first and second Fermat primes, respectively.’
The paths of the Three-Elements Stride, which could only avoid in three directions at first, become more varied in the Mystifying Stride.
And when that variation is completed, the next evolution awaits.
“What comes after the Mystifying Stride?”
“When the Mystifying Stride reaches the level of the Twelve Stars, you’ll arrive at the Heavenly Energy Mystifying Stride[2]. It’s a secret martial art and can be called a divine skill. There are hardly five footwork techniques in the world that can reach the Heavenly Energy Mystifying Stride.”
It’s not just five.
In Jin Cheon-hee’s view, the Heavenly Energy Mystifying Stride was the supreme footwork technique under heaven.
These Heavenly Energy Mystifying Stride were more akin to precognition than footwork.
It possessed the ability to foresee a single path among countless uncertain variables.
Even Jin Cheon-hee didn’t know how this was possible. But somehow, it became possible when one reached the extreme level.
However, the Heavenly Energy Mystifying Stride had a fatal flaw.
The Mystifying Stride, which acted as an intermediary, were incredibly difficult.
It went beyond martial arts and entered the realm of mathematics, calculating natural numbers and probability variables.
Even within the Zhuge Clan, only a very small number of people could transition from the Mystifying Stride to the Heavenly Energy Mystifying Stride, even more so than moving from the Three-Elements Stride to the Mystifying Stride.
He came to understand why the Three-Elements Stride were easy while the Mystifying Stride were hellish as he gained insight.
It was an insight that could never have been obtained without intense dedication, and it wasn’t an insight that could be gained from the perspective of a martial artist.
It was an insight unique to Jin Cheon-hee, obtainable only by an Earthling with Earth’s knowledge pushed to the extreme.
‘It does become easier to gain insight if you understand the concept of number systems. Not the formation[3] of martial arts novels, but the number system[4] of mathematics. And that’s the ternary system. You have to replace -1, 0, +1 with left, forward, right.’
This is what’s called the balanced ternary system.
In Jin Cheon-hee’s view, even the Three-Elements Stride were incredibly difficult to truly delve into properly.
If the transcended ancestor had come to the modern era instead of the martial world, he would probably have been creating quantum computers.
The problem was that, typical of geniuses, he didn’t consider that later generations might not be able to keep up.
Although he also created the Profound Origin Heaven and Earth Divine Technique[5] to expand the brain, the fact remained that without an understanding of numbers, the difficulty was doubled.
‘In that sense, our master, who gained insight with just his innate talent without modern mathematical theory, seems inhuman.’
Jin Cheon-hee said,
“Master, can’t I just train more in the Three-Elements Stride before learning the next one?”
“Oh? Why do you think that?”
Usually, disciples of martial families would be eager to move on to the next level.
But instead, Jin Cheon-hee was saying he wanted to continue practicing the Three-Elements Stride, which was considered not very strong in the martial world and called the basics of basics.
It was strange.
Jin Cheon-hee furrowed one side of his brow.
“I feel like I need to solidify the Three-Elements Stride more before learning the Mystifying Stride.”
“Do you find the Three-Elements Stride difficult?”
At those words, Jin Cheon-hee nodded.
“Yes. The more I learn about it, the harder it gets.”
Hearing this, Dokgo Junghoo, who was watching, wore a perplexed expression.
‘Usually, if someone says the mere Three-Elements Stride are difficult, they’d be called a dunce, and not just any dunce…’
Why? The boy before him had mastered the Three-Elements Stride more deeply than anyone.
The actions the boy had shown were paths that couldn’t have come from anything less than a deeper insight than ordinary trainees.
How could such a child say that the Three-Elements Stride, which only move in three directions, were difficult?
Then Zhuge Rin answered.
“Interesting. In fact, I’ve always thought the Three-Elements Stride were difficult too.”
If you don’t gain proper insight during the Three-Elements Stride, you’ll be utterly destroyed in the Mystifying Stride.
‘Hohoho, our approaches are different, but our conclusions are the same.’
There were aspects where he and the master understood each other well, which made things comfortable.
If it had been an ordinary martial family, they would have been frustrated, beating their chest at the idea of continuing to practice mere Three-Elements Stride.
Moreover, Zhuge Rin’s life depended on Jin Cheon-hee’s achievements.
Even in such a situation, he always prioritized what was best for Jin Cheon-hee.
“Haste makes waste. Let’s start when you’re ready.”
Jin Cheon-hee bowed deeply with clasped hands.
***
Jin Cheon-hee continued to delve intensively into the Three-Elements Stride.
After the first insight, it didn’t take long to gain the second insight.
However, the third insight took longer than the first and second combined.
The boy’s footprints extended in three directions across the white frozen snow field.
Although his movements were free-spirited, the boy’s footprints always stopped when one triangular number was completed.
When Jin Cheon-hee realized this while sitting absentmindedly counting his footsteps, he thought,
‘Did… did Fermat enter the martial world as Zhuge Liang?’
He had conflicting thoughts about whether he’d really like to see such a novel if it existed or absolutely not want to see it.
If it were titled according to current trends, something like “The Protagonist Hides His Mathematics” might work.
It was always like this in martial arts novels.
Some small principle would often hide a great insight.
There were protagonists who gained enlightenment in martial arts by reading the Thousand Character Classic, and others who found enlightenment in Laozi’s Tao Te Ching or Confucius’ Analects.
Even Phantom Archer reached the Transformation Realm by gaining insight from the Buddhist concept of emptiness.
It didn’t matter where one gained enlightenment.
Whether it was an old woman’s scythe-wielding or the march of ants, it didn’t matter.
It could be small, it could be trivial.
It didn’t matter even if it seemed absurd.
The question was, how much of the world could it encompass just as it was, by itself?
That was enlightenment and insight.
Numbers were the most direct way to explain the world.
A small realization began to expand Jin Cheon-hee’s world.
- 미리보(迷離步)[↩]
- 천기미리보(天氣迷離步)[↩]
- 陣法[↩]
- 進法[↩]
- 현원전단신공(玄元 檀神功)[↩]
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