Chapter 7
Resolution (4)
Kang Yongwoon’s heart grew anxious.
“The Three Element Sword Technique?!”
How was that enough to protect himself?
“Sure, it might work against someone like that nasty Kwon Joonghyun from the Great Tiger Sword Sect, but what about someone even stronger?”
Would it hold up against them?
“Elders! Could you possibly teach me something stronger than the Three Element Sword Technique? Something that would drastically boost my martial ability in a short time?”
He pleaded earnestly.
[If a child who can’t even crawl yet jumps off a cliff because he wants to fly, what do you think will happen?!]
[Just go ahead and dig your grave, you fool.]
All he got in return were blunt rebukes.
Kang Yongwoon quickly changed his approach.
“I’ve noticed some changes in my body since I left an imprint in the Celestial Vault. So, if there’s a martial art that utilizes the foundation of the Grand Heaven Divine Art…”
He didn’t even finish before the scolding resumed.
[Foolish brat! Even after all this, you’ve learned nothing?!]
[If you toss an unshaped pot into a kiln and crank up the flames, what do you think will happen? It will shatter under the heat.]
[Are you so eager to break before you’ve even achieved anything?!]
The harsh reprimands jolted him.
Ah!
The urgency had blinded him. Now his mind cleared.
“Preparation prevents disaster. I’d forgotten that.”
A mysterious voice from before resurfaced in his mind.
—Never forget the incredible effort and strong will that allowed you to touch the Celestial Vault before you were even ready. Heh heh heh…
The Grand Heaven Divine Art.
To further master a martial art that could reach the Celestial Vault, the body had to be ready first.
“Right. My body is still too weak.”
That’s why he had decided to stop training the Grand Heaven Divine Art and just maintain its current state.
“So then, I have no choice but to focus on the Three Elemental Internal Art and Sword Technique?”
They were simple but foundational, their incantations slow and tedious to progress.
“Now that my inner eye has opened slightly, maybe I’ll see different results if I focus again?”
Day and night, he would have to dedicate himself entirely to those techniques.
“But what if an unexpected danger arises while I’m stuck with such slow-progress arts? How will I protect myself?”
As his thoughts deepened—
Suddenly, the voices of the elders filled his mind once more, as if ready to pass on deeper understanding.
[The Three Elements—Heaven, Earth, and Man—ultimately come from one source. So unify them within yourself.]
[Heaven is Yang, Earth is Yin, but there’s no real need to distinguish. All is one in the end.]
Kang Yongwoon’s eyes widened.
“It’s similar—!”
The incantation he had long contemplated for his Supreme Art closely resembled what the elders described.
“I’ve been clumsily cobbling it together from shallow knowledge… no wonder it felt vague.”
He understood what he had written—but that was all.
Understanding the characters wasn’t the same as feeling them in his body, or manifesting them.
“But this… this is different.”
As he listened to the elders, it was as if he could see the incantation itself before his eyes.
“No—it’s not just that. I can feel it in my body.”
It felt like he was experiencing the enlightenment they had accumulated through centuries.
A fusion of Heaven, Earth, and Man—
The unified power of the Three Elements slowly seeped into his body.
[Just as spring gives way to summer, then fall and winter follow, let Yin and Yang flow naturally in cycles.]
[You are merely the gate. Open it—open your gate!]
[If you open it, Heaven and Earth will seep into you and become one. That is the true unity of the Three Elements, and the essence of the Three Elemental Internal Art.]
Kang Yongwoon’s eyes gently closed.
He accepted the fused energy of the Three Elemental Internal Art into his whole body, and from their teachings, he formed a new incantation:
“Supreme Yin-Yang Unified Return—Three Elemental Reversion, Return to One Origin…”
His breath calmed like still water.
Unlike when he trained the Grand Heaven Divine Art, his half-opened eyes now turned toward his lower abdomen, where his energy center connected Heaven and Earth.
Though he began with the Three Elemental Internal Art, what he ultimately completed was the missing part of his Supreme Art—gathering the ultimate essence of Heaven, Earth, and Man into one.
※※※
Thirty chapters away.
Behind a large boulder, hidden in the shadows, two people silently watched Kang Yongwoon.
It was Hong Rugae and his disciple Damoh.
“Well, his posture’s decent at least.”
Damoh scratched his wild hair and turned away indifferently.
“You idiot. Posture isn’t what matters.”
“Then what is?”
What else was there?
Annoyed by Hong Rugae’s scolding, Damoh turned back to look at Kang Yongwoon.
“No matter how I look at him, there’s nothing special.”
“The wind…”
“The wind? What about it?”
Damoh tilted his head in confusion, but Hong Rugae swallowed his words.
“The wind… it’s starting to blow toward him.”
Maybe he was mistaken.
The falling leaves, the grass leaning toward him from all directions, the unusually glowing half-opened eyes—maybe it was all just his bias.
“Well, we’ll see soon enough.”
He had just begun his training.
As a guardian, Hong Rugae would know when the boy opened his eyes.
“I’ll see how focused he is—how deep into his training he goes.”
Just that alone would give him a good sense of the boy’s potential and the level of martial art he was practicing.
“What’s with the breeze, Master? Why is that such a big deal?”
“Pfft, why bother explaining?”
“Huh?!”
Maybe realizing he’d said too much, Hong Rugae just waved it off.
“Enough. You go train too. Now.”
“Ah, but I just want to sleep tonight…”
Before he could even finish whining, Hong Rugae’s fist met the top of his head with love.
Smack.
“That guy might end up as your martial brother. He’s working that hard and you’re thinking of sleeping?”
“But Master, the Martial Alliance is still so far away… Let me rest just today, please?!”
“This brat! Get up now!”
“Ugh, fine, I get it.”
Grumbling, Damoh corrected his posture.
“That guy… if he really becomes my brother, I’ll make his life hell with training every single day.”
He muttered while closing his eyes.
Regardless—
“Heh heh heh. It’s not just because he brings me dumplings every meal… his character and talent are genuinely impressive.”
In Hong Rugae’s eyes, affection shone clearly.
How much time had passed?
Kang Yongwoon’s eyes snapped open. He looked down at his dantian with renewed awe.
Grinning.
Confirming the result of his meditation through inner observation, he couldn’t help but smile.
“I can feel it.”
The seed of the Supreme Art.
His very first training session after finalizing the incantation had created a new energy within his core.
“It’s inferior to the Grand Heaven Divine Art, obviously—but still, this energy is so clean and pure.”
Compared to the internal energy he used to have from the old Three Elemental Art, this was incomparably clearer.
But—
“Is this okay?”
He had formed the seed of this new art right after completing the incantation, but he still felt uneasy.
“The Grand Heaven Divine Art still dominates my body, so I don’t feel much conflict yet.”
The real problem would be when the power of the Supreme Art grew.
Would it harmonize with the Grand Heaven Divine Art?
“Why am I even wondering? I should just ask.”
He turned inward, invoking the Grand Heaven Divine Art and its incantation. Then he reported:
“Elders, I succeeded.”
Had they been holding their breath in anticipation?
[You’ve taken a solid first step. Congratulations.]
[Not bad, kid. Even though it was your own incantation, you managed to maintain immersion for a long time.]
[You silly fool. Don’t get cocky. The road ahead is still steep. Do you understand?!]
As soon as the light of his soul imprint returned, the entities from the Celestial Vault connected with him again, alternating between praise and advice.
“Elders, I have a question. Is the Supreme Art compatible with the Grand Heaven Divine Art?”
Their response, while expected, was blunt.
[How would we know, idiot?]
[Forget the Grand Heaven Divine Art—it’s your family’s secret. But at least explain the Supreme Art’s incantation if you want to ask about compatibility.]
[You’re hopeless.]
The words sounded like scolding, but their tone was warm.
Just like his long-lost grandfather.
“Ah! I completed the final part of the incantation based on the feelings your last words gave me. The full incantation is: ‘Supreme Yin-Yang Unified Return—Three Elemental Reversion, Return to One Origin…’”
He recited all 365 characters of the Supreme Art’s incantation in one breath.
Then—
[Hmm. It’s decent.]
[Not bad at all.]
[Nothing in it that goes against the natural order.]
[Though it’s a bit greedy to try to contain both Heaven and Earth’s powers at once…]
[Still, for refining your body as a vessel, it’ll do. Continue your training, boy.]
Their answer was hopeful.
“I really did it.”
Kang Yongwoon clenched his fists.
Three years had passed since he left his hometown and arrived in this land. His heart raced at the feeling of hard-earned achievement.
“But… what did they mean by ‘natural order’?”
That term was new to him.
“What is this ‘natural order’ you mentioned?”
He asked out of curiosity—and got a surprisingly intense reaction.
[Pfft! You opened the Celestial Vault and don’t even know what the natural order is?]
[Now I’m really curious about your Grand Heaven Divine Art!]
[You blockhead. ‘Grand Heaven’ is the natural order.]
[To be precise, it’s the force that turns the mundane into the divine.]
[Since you briefly opened the Celestial Vault and left a soul imprint, the power you gained from the Grand Heaven Divine Art is that of the natural order.]
Kang Yongwoon’s eyes widened.
“Grand Heaven… is the natural order?”
The Grand Heaven Divine Art turned the ordinary into the divine?
More mysterious revelations continued to fill his mind.
[The natural and the mundane belong to different realms, boy.]
[The natural is vastly superior in level and order.]
[It is power belonging to the origin—Heaven. Only those aligned with the Celestial Vault can wield it.]
[So unless your Supreme Art’s incantation contradicts that foundation, it won’t interfere with the Grand Heaven Divine Art.]
Despite the repeated explanations, the idea of the “natural order” still felt vague to him.
“Well… at least I understand this—it’s higher and purer than the Supreme Art!”
That much was enough.
“Thank you for the guidance, Elders.”
Eager to resume training, he quietly severed the connection to the Grand Heaven Divine Art.
As the light of his soul imprint began to fade…
[Hey! He just does his thing and vanishes again?!]
[This brat! Can’t he at least show us the scenery?]
[You little punk. Just one tour of your surroundings, come on—]
The Celestial Vault dwellers protested in frustration, but Kang Yongwoon pretended not to hear.
Then—
Shrrk.
He unsheathed his cheap iron sword.
“This is where the real journey begins.”
He didn’t yet fully understand what the Grand Heaven Divine Art’s ultimate form was.
But now that he knew it allowed him to reach the Celestial Vault, he couldn’t ignore that potential.
“Grand Heaven Divine Art… is the natural order…”
Honestly, he still didn’t quite get it.
“But I do know one thing: the Grand Heaven Divine Art builds natural energy—but right now, all I can do is maintain it. I can’t cultivate it further.”
The mysterious voice still echoed clearly in his mind.
The body must be strengthened first.
“Preparation prevents disaster. The real beginning is now.”
But now, it was only a matter of time.
Once his body was ready, he could resume training the Grand Heaven Divine Art.
“Well then, time to start the Three Element Sword Technique.”
Grrrrgle.
Just as he stood and assumed his stance, a thunderous growl echoed from his stomach.
“Huh?”
A sudden wave of hunger hit him.
Why was he so famished?
“I only stayed up one night—how could I be this hungry?”
It made no sense.
Unaware that three full days had passed, Kang Yongwoon shook his head and opened his travel pack.
“So strange…”
He muttered as he chewed on some dried meat, still confused.
