Genius Martial Arts Trainer

The Four Shaolin Monks (5)

Facing Mu-jin’s worried face, Mu-gyeong replied in a gruff tone.

“Don’t worry. I’m not a kid.”

“……To me, you are still a kid.”

He was only nineteen years old. In modern terms, he would barely be a college freshman or sophomore.

He might see himself as an adult, but from Mu-jin’s perspective, he was just a young guy who didn’t know much about the world.

Of course, from Mu-gyeong’s perspective, this was nonsense.

“Mu-jin, did you know something?”

“What?”

He didn’t expect to be treated as an elder or a senior brother, but being treated like a child was annoying for Mu-gyeong.

“Yeah. This is all my karma. Sigh.”

Mu-gyeong sighed, thinking that first impressions might be crucial after all.

His first impression had been as a bullied novice disciple, so he might be treated as a helpless kid by Mu-jin for the rest of his life.

Of course, Mu-jin was worried about Mu-gyeong not because of his first impression but because he was actually young.

“Anyway, do you remember what I said?”

Mu-gyeong sighed and replied to Mu-jin’s nagging, which was like that of a mother.

“Don’t imitate your opponent’s martial arts in a duel, right?”

“That’s right.”

Mu-jin was concerned about Mu-gyeong’s habit.

It was the act of stealing his opponent’s martial arts during a duel.

Mu-gyeong’s teacher, Hye-gwan, had trained him through sparring that was close to actual combat.

Like the saying from a certain fighting game, “If you don’t know, you have to get hit,” was Hye-gwan’s training method. Combined with Mu-gyeong’s exceptional talent, this led to a peculiar habit for Mu-gyeong.

During sparring, he would steal his opponent’s martial arts or instantly find a way to counter them.

The problem was that the martial arts of each sect were the foundation of that sect.

If he stole their unique martial arts or found ways to counter them after seeing them a few times, it was tantamount to shaking the foundation of that sect.

As such, there was a risk that the opposing sect might attempt to assassinate him or engage in political maneuvers to ostracize him.

‘If it were a real fight, I’d rather steal the martial arts and aim for annihilation, but doing such a thing in a public duel would be troublesome in many ways.’

Therefore, Mu-jin kept warning Mu-gyeong.

‘Having too much talent can be a problem too, indeed.’

If Mu-gyeong’s talent were mediocre, there wouldn’t be a need for such warnings.

Who could imitate martial arts after seeing them a few times? It was an absurd notion.

But for Mu-gyeong, it was possible.

He could perfectly replicate even the so-called beginner or third-rate martial arts after seeing them once.

Even the so-called first-rate martial arts, after seeing them once, he could imitate the form, and after seeing them twice, he would grasp the meaning. By the third time, he would find a perfect way to counter them or a way to incorporate them into his own martial arts.

Fortunately, the higher-level martial arts or divine techniques required seeing them quite a few times to imitate.

‘There are probably only one or two crazy people in this world who could imitate divine techniques after seeing them a couple of times.’

The genius with the greatest talent in this world was probably rolling around somewhere in Xinjiang right now.

As for the other person, they were likely relaxing at Shaolin Temple, waiting for news from Mu-jin.

In any case, as Mu-jin was warning Mu-gyeong, the duel on the stage was coming to an end.

The winner was Hu Gae, considered the next leader of the Beggars’ Sect. He would be Mu-gyeong’s third opponent.

Of course, that was if Mu-gyeong won this duel.

“Hurry up and finish. I need to get to my workout before I lose muscle.”

Mu-jin didn’t even consider the possibility of Mu-gyeong losing.

* * *

On the stage, Mu-gyeong looked at his opponent.

His opponent was Byeok-wan, a young man in his mid-twenties, the second-class disciple of the Zhongnan Sect.

‘If it’s the Zhongnan Sect, they are famous for the Thirty-Six Swords of the World.’

The Zhongnan Sect, located near the Huashan Sect, focused on defensive swordsmanship, unlike the Huashan Sect, which emphasized the mysteries of transformation.

Their top martial art, the Thirty-Six Swords of the World, was known for its absolute defense, covering all thirty-six directions.

‘What if he blocks all my attacks?’

As Mu-gyeong was thinking negatively as usual, the judge announced the start of the duel.

But neither of the two contestants on the stage moved hastily.

Byeok-wan Dojang stood firm, taking a middle stance, while Mu-gyeong darted around, trying to find an opening in his stance.

Surprisingly, it was Mu-gyeong who broke the static atmosphere first.

‘Eh! It’ll work out somehow!’

It was a habit ingrained in Mu-gyeong’s body, having trained under Hye-gwan, who believed in the adage of “attack first, win first.”

To be precise, if he only defended, he would get beaten twice as hard by Hye-gwan, so he had learned to strike first.

Mu-gyeong moved around Byeok-wan in a light step, displaying various martial arts techniques without distinguishing between punches, palms, fingers, and kicks.

Although he was young and lacked internal energy, having only mastered two of the Shaolin Seventy-Two Consummate Arts, Mu-gyeong had, on the contrary, mastered most Shaolin martial arts, excluding the Seventy-Two Consummate Arts.

True to the name Thousand-Year Shaolin, the number of martial arts techniques exceeded three digits, and each time Mu-gyeong struck with a punch, palm, finger, or kick, it followed a different martial art principle.

For most martial artists, the complex combination of moves would have been overwhelming, but Byeok-wan Dojang blocked all of Mu-gyeong’s attacks with simple movements.

Clang!

Each time Mu-gyeong’s punches, palms, fingers, or kicks clashed with Byeok-wan’s sword, a metallic sound rang out.

However, this didn’t mean that Mu-gyeong had trained in the Iron Skin Technique like Mu-jin, making his body as tough as steel.

During his sparring sessions with Hye-gwan, Mu-gyeong had instinctively learned to efficiently use his limited internal energy by concentrating it on specific points of contact.

In other words, each time he collided with Byeok-wan’s sword, he enveloped his fists, palms, and shins with internal energy.

He created a precise and minimal energy barrier to match the size of Byeok-wan’s sword.

Naturally, the duel’s flow became a contest to see who would tire out first between Mu-gyeong, who launched varied and elaborate attacks, and Byeok-wan, who defended against them.

On the surface, it seemed that way.

‘Wow! So that’s how you block in this situation?’

‘They call it the Thirty-Six Swords of the World, but it seems like the footwork supporting the sword techniques is crucial.’

Even while attacking, Mu-gyeong was storing all the techniques Byeok-wan used to block him in his memory and analyzing those moves.

Diverting his attention during a tense duel could be considered madness, but it didn’t apply to Mu-gyeong.

It was as natural as breathing for him to recall and analyze his opponent’s techniques, so it didn’t disrupt his movements.

‘I thought it would be similar to Wudang, but it’s quite different. It’s stiffer than I expected. Or is it deliberate?’

Mu-gyeong had experience exchanging martial arts with Wudang, which, like Zhongnan Sect, focused on defense and counterattacks.

The Wudang techniques he had learned aimed to deflect attacks softly and disrupt the opponent’s stance to counterattack.

In contrast, Zhongnan Sect’s defense wasn’t soft. It was solid and rigid.

‘Rather than deflecting to disrupt the stance, they create a rebound force that injures the attacker!’

Mu-gyeong’s mind began to whirl as he grasped the characteristics of Byeok-wan’s martial arts.

‘There’s no need to forcefully counter. Couldn’t I mix in Wudang’s techniques to deflect smoothly? Oh! The Thirty-Six Defenses seem similar to Wudang’s Bagua Palm. Could I combine them to deflect attacks from all directions?’

Recalling the Taiji Sword and Bagua Palm he had learned at Wudang, Mu-gyeong began to connect those techniques with Byeok-wan’s defensive moves during the duel.

The myriad martial arts principles in Mu-gyeong’s mind intertwined and eventually formed a natural flow.

Mu-gyeong’s body and internal energy began to move in sync with that self-created flow.

Unconsciously, Mu-gyeong almost performed the Thirty-Six Swords of the World with his hands.

– Never imitate the opponent’s martial arts!

If it weren’t for Mu-jin’s repeated warnings, ingrained in his mind since the beginning of the Yongbongji Conference, Mu-gyeong might have remained in a trance-like state.

Just as he was about to perform the Thirty-Six Swords of the World with his hands, Mu-gyeong barely snapped out of it thanks to Mu-jin’s warning etched in his mind.

‘Phew. That was close.’

If he had used martial arts like this, he would have become an idiot who couldn’t understand even if warned.

Then, Mu-jin would have scolded him tremendously.

Although he had long given up on being treated as a senior brother, there was still a last shred of dignity as a senior brother.

‘Tsk. I should go back and practice after the match. If I blend our Shaolin martial arts with Wudang martial arts and modify them, it won’t be too noticeable then.’

Having made his decision, Mu-gyeong moved to end the match.

He wanted to observe and analyze more of Byeok-wan’s movements in the Thirty-six Swords of the World, but his internal energy was starting to run out.

Mu-gyeong lacked internal energy compared to his talents and realm. No matter how efficiently he used it, his danjeon was gradually emptying.

Of course, just by changing his mindset, he couldn’t break through the defense he hadn’t been able to before.

Mu-gyeong had already been analyzing the martial arts and had thought of a countermeasure.

“Ha-at!”

With a shout, Mu-gyeong thrust a palm towards Byeok-wan’s lower right side, the most vulnerable part of his defense.

However, it was still only relatively vulnerable, and Byeok-wan blocked Mu-gyeong’s palm with his sword.

This was precisely what Mu-gyeong aimed for.

The moment the rebound force from Byeok-wan’s sword transmitted to Mu-gyeong’s palm, Mu-gyeong used the subtlety of Tai Chi to deflect the rebound force back towards Byeok-wan’s sword.

It was as if he had performed a seamless consecutive strike with no time gap.

“Ugh.”

For the first time, Byeok-wan let out a faint groan and his stance slightly faltered.

Mu-gyeong did not miss this gap.

He explosively used the internal energy he had been conserving and performed the Revolving Fist Technique, one of the seventy-two consummate arts taught by Hye-gwan, at full strength.

Although he had not yet reached Hye-gwan’s level of leaving afterimages with the technique due to his lack of internal energy, it was enough now that Byeok-wan’s stance was broken.

“It’s over.”

Before he knew it, Mu-gyeong had moved to Byeok-wan’s left side, with his fingertip touching Byeok-wan’s body. Mu-gyeong had used the Stone-crushing Finger technique to strike Byeok-wan’s acupoint.

The result was anticlimactic compared to the intense match, but Mu-gyeong didn’t mind.

He was eager to return to the Shaolin Temple and reinterpret the Thirty-six Swords of the World he had just observed in his own way.

‘If I can perfect this, I might get beaten less by my master uncle!!’

For Mu-gyeong, martial arts were a way to figure out how to get beaten less by Hye-gwan.

* * *

With Mu-gyeong’s match, all the martial arts matches of the second round of the Yongbongji Conference ended.

The results of the second round of the Yongbongji Conference caused an uproar throughout the entire region.

“Huh. To think all the Shaolin disciples would advance to the third round!”

“No matter how renowned the Thousand-Year Shaolin is, such a one-sided result is surprising…”

The reason was, of course, Shaolin’s overwhelming performance.

Out of the eight participants advancing to the third round, half were Shaolin disciples.

It wasn’t that Shaolin had sent dozens of disciples; the four participants who entered the conference all advanced to the third round.

Naturally, whenever martial artists gathered in inns or taverns throughout the region, they talked about Shaolin.

“Perhaps, ten or twenty years from now, the era of Shaolin might truly begin.”

“At this rate, aligning with Shaolin early could be a choice for the future.”

“Hmm. While their martial arts are impressive, Shaolin has always been disinterested in worldly matters, no?”

“You’re behind on the news. Shaolin has been collaborating with Cheonryu Sangdan on several projects for years. Isn’t that a sign of reaching out to the secular world?”

“Ha. With martial arts and wealth, Shaolin’s era might indeed begin.”

In the minds of the martial artists imagining the future of the righteous sects, the image of Shaolin stood tall.

And at the forefront were the four disciples who participated in this Yongbongji Conference.

News of the Four Shaolin Monks began to spread from the region to the entire Central Plains.

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