There was a large cave, thirty zhang deep.
The cave was winding, so even in the middle of winter, a strong wind did not blow. At the very least, one could avoid the wind and rain.
He left Heo Heun there.
Leaving a seven year old child alone could be called cruel, heartless, or unfeeling. One could even curse it as a truly heartless act.
So he sought Heo Heun’s consent.
“If you’re scared to be alone, I’ll take you home.”
“You said I have to learn something called martial arts to become as strong as you, grandpa?”
“That’s right.”
“I have to learn it here, right?”
“That’s right.”
“Then it’s okay. I’ll stay here.”
“You have to be alone, will you be okay?”
“It’s okay. Actually, I’ve been alone in places like this many times. My mother and father don’t know, but there’s a pretty big cave in the mountain behind my house, and I used to go there to play often.”
“Then stay. For the time being, don’t do anything and just play to your heart’s content. That’s also a form of study.”
The old man left Heo Heun in the cave.
* * *
The day Dongbak returned, the day he barely overcame his sorrow, the old man visited Heo Heun despite the late hour.
The cave was pitch black. But after turning a few winding paths, a bright light came into view.
The little boy had lit a bonfire and was carefully examining the ground.
The old man approached Heo Heun.
The little boy felt his presence and looked up at the old man. Then he showed a bright smile.
“You’re here? What’s up? You don’t usually come at night.”
“I was bored, so I stopped by. What were you doing?”
“Watching a fight.”
“Watching a fight?”
“A scorpion and a stag beetle are fighting, and the stag beetle is winning.”
“Where did you get these? Do things like this live in this cave? You wouldn’t have caught them outside.”
“I caught them a while ago. I’m raising them by feeding them. Besides these, I’ve caught many other insects.”
“Really? You’ve picked up a good hobby.”
“It’s not a hobby. I’m raising them on purpose to make them fight. It’s pitiful for them, but it’s a great help to me.”
“Help?”
“They all have their own weapons, and if they work, they win, and if they don’t, they lose.”
“Really?”
The old man looked at the floor.
A scorpion was lying dead on its belly. The area under the scorpion’s neck was mangled by the stag beetle’s pincers.
‘This rascal, he’s a real genius!’
The old man looked at Heo Heun anew.
There are many geniuses in the world. There are geniuses who have read all the Four Books and Three Classics at the age of four, and there are geniuses who can handle weapons that even adults find difficult to handle at the age of six or seven.
Regardless of literature or martial arts, geniuses are everywhere.
There are many geniuses in the martial world as well.
Currently, there is no one who makes a living with a blade in the martial world who has not been called a genius at least once when they were young. There are people who have polished their martial arts only through patience and effort, but almost everyone entered the path after hearing something like, ‘Your bone structure is excellent, it would be good if you learned martial arts.’
Then why do all those many geniuses become ordinary after a few decades? The world of geniuses should be a playground where everyone has obtained an outstanding sword, so why are there only a few who make a name for themselves?
It’s a funny thing to say, but genius disappears after a certain period of time. There are only one or two people whose genius remains even after they grow up. There are many cases where people who were very outstanding geniuses when they were young become ordinary after they grow up.
It’s because they don’t develop their genius ability.
Isn’t that a strange thing to say? If it were a literary talent, they would have continued their studies, and if it were a martial arts genius, they would have trained in martial arts day and night under an outstanding master.
They continued to train in the field where they had shown their genius ability. They continued to develop their genius. But why does the genius disappear?
Genius is innate. It is within oneself. Polishing it through training from the outside only provides a very small help, and one must develop it themselves.
The only person who can develop genius is oneself.
Even a child is no exception. They must develop it themselves. They must continue to make efforts so that their genius does not disappear.
The most important thing here is voluntary effort and sustained interest.
Even if one is a martial arts genius, if they are not interested in martial arts, or if they become arrogant because they learn ten things when they are taught one, or if they are lazy… all the factors that hinder the improvement of martial arts play a role in killing genius.
I can say it many times. Genius does not disappear only if one has a great interest in it themselves. If they feel boredom, weariness, or pain, it disappears to that extent.
Heo Heun is a Dragon Bone among Dragon Bones, a True Bone. In terms of bone structure, he is a martial arts genius.
But he has never learned martial arts until now.
The old man also did not teach Heo Heun martial arts. It had been six months since he had brought him from the farming couple, but he had only let him run around the mountains to his heart’s content.
In fact, even this kind of play was a great danger to a seven year old child.
There are many fierce beasts in the mountains. He could be bitten by a snake, stung by a scorpion, eaten by a wolf, fall off a cliff, or slip in a valley.
To a seven year old child, a deep mountain is a land of death where death traps are lurking everywhere.
The old man had thoroughly neglected Heo Heun.
If he had intended to raise Heo Heun as a scholar, he would have taken care of him with all his sincerity. But if he wanted to make him the owner of the Single-Instant Blade… he should be glad that he had not pushed him into an even harsher environment than this.
Run around to your heart’s content.
In fact, he couldn’t run around to his heart’s content. A child is timid. So he almost couldn’t run around. As time passed, when he felt it was safe, he would move a little.
It was common to expand the range of movement like that.
But Heo Heun had run all over the mountain from the beginning. He had run around so much that there was no place he hadn’t been in six months.
The only thing the old man had done was to give him food at mealtimes.
He was still too young to have him solve his meals on his own like his other three senior brothers. So he only brought him food. He did not give him anything else. Of course, the same was true for teachings.
The reason the old man had left Heo Heun alone for six months was to find out what Heo Heun truly wanted.
Only if Heo Heun was truly interested in martial arts would his genius be developed. It would not disappear even when he grew up. However, although he was born as the son of the Sacred Sword Sect Master and was born with a Dragon Bone, he might not be interested in martial arts.
So he had observed whether he was interested in martial arts or not.
Heo Heun had not only run around the mountains, but he had also caught insects and studied their survival.
He had watched intently as a praying mantis and a hornet fought. He had also watched a swarm of ants kill a centipede without realizing the passage of time. He had also watched a snake and a snake fight, and a snake eat a snake, without even blinking an eye.
I will teach you martial arts.
Can’t I not learn that?
Lies. Your body and mind are already coveting martial arts, so why are you lying?
Me? I’ve never done that…
You may not know it yet, but your body and mind are already open to martial arts. You are trying to learn martial arts. By yourself. This is important. Martial arts are not something that someone teaches you. You must master them yourself. I will teach you forms and internal arts, but that is my martial arts, not yours. You must have your own martial arts.
The day he brought Heo Heun, from the moment he heard those words, Heo Heun had completely changed.
Heo Heun was interested in martial arts. And the genius of the Heo family’s True Bone had begun to awaken.
The act of catching insects and making them fight is a wicked heart. But he watches while feeling pity beyond the wicked heart. In that, he tries to master his own fighting techniques. He observes the movements of the insects. He learns their fighting methods.
He was finding his own way of fighting.
Originally, he had intended to leave Heo Heun alone for about a year. He had to run around that much to improve his physical strength enough to learn the Single-Instant Blade. Considering Heo Heun’s young age, he might have to run around for two or three years.
But now there was no time.
If the judgment of the Sacred Sword Sect Master was correct, Heo Dogi’s training would have surpassed the old man’s. Perhaps aiming his blade at him would be the last moment of his life.
He was confident he would not lose. The Single-Instant Blade would not be broken by anyone.
However, just in case, he was thinking of doing everything he had to do and then taking up his blade without any regrets.
“Your name is Geol. People will call you Ah Geol.”
“My name is Heun?”
“From now on, it’s Geol. Why? Do you want to be called Heun?”
“It’s my name.”
“I will give you a surname. Seori. Since your name is Heun, your full name is Seori Heun. This is your full name.”
“My surname is Kang?”
Heo Heun knew the farmer’s surname as his own.
The old man ignored the child’s words and unilaterally continued his own.
“This name, Seori Heun, must not be used without permission. You can only use it after you have obtained the Single-Instant Blade. The surname that only those who have obtained the Single-Instant Blade can use is Seori.”
“…”
The child was silent.
He looked at the old man with wide eyes. He instinctively realized that there was a deep meaning hidden in the old man’s words. Although he did not know what it was.
The old man looked at Heo Heun. And he touched his head and said, “Originally… you only say the surname after you have obtained the Single-Instant Blade. Before that, you never say the word ‘Seori’. You… will definitely obtain the Single-Instant Blade. That’s why I’m giving it to you in advance.”
“What if I can’t get it?”
“You will never be able to use the name Heun. The same goes for the Seori surname.”
The child said, “When can I get the Single-Instant Blade?”
“There is a unit that represents a number. Hal, pun, ri, mo, sa, hol. Hol is one hundred thousandth. The Single-Instant Blade is a blade that only one in a hundred thousand can have. And only one among the martial arts geniuses who have a place in the martial world can have it. So I can’t give you a definite answer as to whether you can have the Single-Instant Blade or not. But this master… I expect that you will definitely get it.”
“What do I have to do?”
“Effort.”
“And?”
“Nothing. You just have to make an effort.”
“Alright. I’ll do it. I’ll just make an effort without thinking about anything until you tell me that I have the Single-Instant Blade.”
“That’s not something this master can tell you.”
“…?”
“When you get the Single-Instant Blade, you will know it yourself. Ah! This is the Single-Instant Blade. Hahaha!”
The old man laughed loudly.
The sorrow of losing a friend subsided a little. No, it was a luxury to even feel such an emotion. Heo Heun had lost his father, mother, and brothers, but he didn’t even know it. His adoptive father and adoptive mother probably hadn’t escaped death either, but he didn’t know that either.
The old man deliberately did not tell him about their deaths.
Right now, Ah Geol had to focus only on obtaining the Single-Instant Blade. He would block out everything else.
Shing!
The old man drew his blade.
“Watch carefully. There are a total of sixteen forms and one hundred and twenty eight moves. You know what a dance is, right? A dance.”
“Yes. I’ve seen clowns dance.”
“Think of it as that dance and watch. But you have to follow it right away, so you have to watch with concentration.”
“Yes.”
The old man began to perform the Phantom Floating Killing Blade.
It was the Single-Instant Blade of the first generation Single-Instant Sect Master, the blade ghost who was called the Mad Blade.
The position of the Single-Instant Sect Master had changed a total of thirty six times until the present day. The old man was the thirty sixth to inherit the Single-Instant Sect.
The old man was going to show Ah Geol the thirty six blades of the previous sect masters and his own.
He was thinking of showing them to the first, second, and third disciples as well.
In fact, it was fine if they didn’t see the thirty six blades. The disciples each had their own blades. However, he was showing them with the thought that the blades of the previous sect masters should also be passed down.
But Ah Geol was different. He had to complete his own blade after seeing these blades.
Swoosh! Swoooosh!
The old man danced at a very slow speed.
He performed the Phantom Floating Killing Blade slowly, clearly, and impressively, like a dance, so that it would be clearly engraved in his memory.
The child watched with wide eyes, just as he had when he had watched the insects fight.
(End of Chapter)