One road, ever forward.
The key principle Yeo Hwi had passed to him along with the words that his own steps too had been the Unhindered Step.
Jeong I-shin, shaking the deep green fluid off his wooden sword, was able to grasp its meaning at once.
In truth there was no way he could not have. The nature of the Heavenly Thunder Qi was one road, ever forward, from the very beginning.
'Maybe it was only natural that I couldn't imitate Elder Yeo's Unhindered Step.'
Organizing even that small realization about his own true qi, Jeong I-shin settled his own version of the Unhindered Step.
And then he immediately bowed his head toward Yeo Hwi.
"Thank you so much, Elder Yeo."
"There is nothing to thank me for. You were already walking by your own intent. It was only a difference of timing; you would have realized it sooner or later."
"Come on, me? It might have taken more than ten years."
Jeong I-shin, conveying his thanks over and over, tilted his head.
"So do we just call this the Unhindered Step too? Ah! How about taking your name for it? You gave the name Silent Thunder Body to the body method I changed however I liked, after all......"
Whether the key principle of one road, ever forward was already carved into his head, there was no hesitation in Jeong I-shin's words.
It was as though he were treading the Unhindered Step with his mouth.
Yeo Hwi, who had been quietly listening to what he was saying, leapt up.
"No! That will do!"
"Mm. How about the Yeo Hwi Step? The step method left behind by Yeo Hwi. Or the Hwi Compendium Step? The step method compiled by Hwi...... or else......!"
The words coming out of that soft mouth were each more horrifying than the last.
Yeo Hwi pictured, for an instant, Jeong I-shin roaming jianghu scattering roars and radiance.
—Is that step method not the Hwi Compendium Step, learned from the Dark Severance Yeo Hwi?
—Kuh......! Astounding indeed. For master and disciple to boast the world's finest footwork arts one after the other?
—Hm? But was the Dark Severance not an assassin? Should a step method be that noisy? Far from hiding him, it looks visible from ten li away.
—Now that you mention it......?
"No!"
"......The Radiant Hwi Body Method has a certain...... sorry?"
"Never, never do that. The Unhindered Step is enough for me."
"Mm......"
"I beg you. It is that I have no face to show my master. Please understand."
"Ah!"
Only then did Jeong I-shin nod.
He understood Yeo Hwi's heart perfectly.
'If my skill falls short, it would disgrace Elder Yeo's name! Mm, in that case......'
Once I'm at a level no one can dismiss, I'll change it!
***
Leaving behind a thought that would have horrified Yeo Hwi had he known, Jeong I-shin headed south.
He meant to cut wood in the Thunder Tree Forest, and in fact this was a matter of no small significance.
Even after learning the Thunder-Severing Myriad Transformation Hand and the Sword as Martial Ultimate Form, Jeong I-shin had been forbidden to move about outside alone.
The moment that restriction disappeared was after he had made Yeo Hwi's Dark Shadow Body his own.
'The Silent Thunder Body.'
A method of handling the body with quiet thunder, roughly speaking...... and even at a glance one could tell it was a body method of deeply paradoxical meaning.
But there was a reason it could not be otherwise.
Originally Yeo Hwi's Dark Shadow Body was a body method that dissolved oneself into heaven and earth.
The Dark Shadow Body consisted of three stages of attainment.
First, blending with form: Form-Blending.
Then, mixing with energy: Qi-Blending.
And finally, dissolving into heaven and earth: Heaven-Blending.
Astonishingly, even Yeo Hwi was said never to have reached the stage of Heaven-Blending.
Yeo Hwi said that if one merely completed the stage of Form-Blending, then together with the Unhindered Step one could easily handle a martial artist one realm above oneself.
Even at a glance it was a tremendous body method.
'I really wanted to learn it.'
A concealment art that dissolved into heaven and earth! Its usefulness was hard even to guess at.
Naturally Jeong I-shin had wanted to learn the Dark Shadow Body, but the nature of the Heavenly Thunder Qi refused it.
At that time, with his inner arts insufficient, he had not managed a single technique of the Thunder-Severing Myriad Transformation Hand, never mind the Sword as Martial Ultimate Form.
And when learning even the Dark Shadow Body he had wanted so badly became impossible, all the frustration built up until then exploded at once.
"The truth is my eyes rolled back."
Jeong I-shin, kicking off the ground, felt the lightning qi flowing very finely throughout his body and wore a wry smile.
The Heavenly Thunder Qi was coursing through his body at a tremendous speed. It stimulated every acupoint and fine meridian, every nerve and muscle, without cease.
This was precisely the result of tearing the Dark Shadow Body apart in a fit of temper back then.
Stimulating the whole body with lightning qi to force it past the limits of the flesh.
It was the kind of overload Jeong I-shin had explained to Yeo Hwi, a principle of forcibly transcending the threshold.
However, for Jeong I-shin, whose scientific knowledge was very shallow, calculating the resulting recoil as well had been beyond him.
HISSSS—
Beginning with the smoke rising from the crown of Jeong I-shin's head, a chain of white haze ran on to his shoulders, arms, belly, and legs.
"Agh, hot!"
The recoil of his whole body gradually coming to a boil was an entirely natural price.
If anything, it was fortunate that he did not melt away in a single stroke — and fortunately, there was no chance of that.
Not intentionally, but because the Heavenly Thunder Qi was not the only true qi in Jeong I-shin's body.
GONG—
That temple bell, which until now had settled his heart and tended his spirit, subdued his boiling flesh in an instant, as though to say its merits did not end there.
It was the manifestation of the Sinew-Transforming Marrow-Cleansing Scripture.
The constancy of Shaolin's greatest study was more than able to bear the recoil of the body method Jeong I-shin had newly taken in.
The conclusion was...... that the Silent Thunder Body's merits were remarkable enough to make solo activity in the Bottomless Abyss possible.
"Whew......"
When he arrived at the Thunder Tree Forest and released the Silent Thunder Body, his heated head slowly cooled.
"My body comes back fast enough, but my head is slow to recover. Is there no way to temper the brain?"
Jeong I-shin surveyed the Thunder Tree Forest with a Shaolin-esque thought that would have made Gongheon applaud.
He could simply get on with cutting wood, but he kept stealing glances toward the inner part of the Thunder Tree Forest.
It was then.
ZZZT— HISS!
That strange sensation he had once felt arose. His qi center tingled at the energy budding inside the Thunder Tree Forest.
Soon a single golden line was drawn straight through the air, exactly as it had been that time.
WHIZZ—!
The one thing different from that time, however, was that he no longer surrendered his chest so helplessly!
"Got you, you little thing!"
EEP!
The ball of fur caught snugly in Jeong I-shin's grip squirmed without pause.
SQUEAK! SQUEAK SQUEAK!
The Heavenly Thunder Flying Squirrel cried adorably and kept swatting Jeong I-shin's hand with its tiny feet, tap! tap!
"Hsss. Stop that."
SQUEAK!
"Come now! Keep that up and you get no food."
SQUEEEAK......!
When the squirming lessened he loosened his grip a little, and the creature slipped free and climbed up his arm. The place it arrived at was Jeong I-shin's shoulder.
"Is that your reserved seat? Look at the chairman gracing us with his presence."
Jeong I-shin scolded the creature sternly while bringing up his index finger.
Soon a single strand of Heavenly Thunder Qi came wafting off its tip.
EEP!
As though it had been waiting, the Heavenly Thunder Flying Squirrel seized Jeong I-shin's index finger and chewed away at the strand of lightning qi.
Truly astonishingly, it chewed with an audible crunching.
"......Is it good?"
This moment, while the creature was absorbed in its meal, was precisely his chance.
Jeong I-shin raised his other hand and gently scratched its back.
It twitched, but for now the meal took priority!
Running up the back, stroking the nape and the brow once, and sliding all the way down for a light pass over the flat, soft tail, and then.
EEP!
The creature, having finished its meal, sprang up. And again, as it had that time, it tapped Jeong I-shin's cheek once and leapt off his shoulder without a backward glance.
WHIZZ—!
"You ate quite a lot."
Jeong I-shin gauged the Heavenly Thunder Qi remaining in his qi center and let out a hollow laugh.
For a creature no bigger than a palm at most, it really did eat a great deal.
Was it because it was a spirit beast?
Indeed, the other creatures looked closer to demonic creatures than spirit beasts, but the Heavenly Thunder Flying Squirrel seemed like a true spirit beast.
"Spirit beast...... tsk."
Which was why that designation was so unwelcome to him.
If that freeloading creature really was a spirit beast...... then its end was already decided.
There was a material absolutely required for the plan Tang Mu-jeong had drawn up to escape the Bottomless Abyss.
Most cruelly, that material was the inner core of the Heavenly Thunder Flying Squirrel.
'Haha, Sparkles. You didn't think I protected the flying squirrel like that because it was cute, did you?'
'You didn't?'
'Of course not. Do you know how tiresome it is to drive off the Blood-Armored Centipede every single time?'
'......'
'Keep this in mind out in jianghu too. If someone appears to be going to trouble over something for no reason, it means you simply have not found the reason yet.'
Hearing it from Namgung Baek's mouth had made the story all the more shocking.
The inner cores of the other spirit beasts were at the level of nice-to-have, but the Heavenly Thunder Flying Squirrel's was said to be indispensable.
The inner core of a creature that handled lightning qi would offset the murky fog of the Bottomless Abyss.
"Would something that small even have an inner core? Surely not?"
It was a pointless thought.
Biting his lip slightly, Jeong I-shin strode toward a tree.
At the very least, Tang Mu-jeong had never been wrong until now.
Nor did he have any particular relationship with the Heavenly Thunder Flying Squirrel.
There was...... no problem.
"Today too I just...... came to cut wood, anyway."
Along with a short sigh he could not quite hide, he drew his wooden sword.
***
Another year passed after he gained the Unhindered Step of one road, ever forward.
They were days with nothing that could be called an event. And that was what pained Jeong I-shin most.
"Go on in. He says he has words to leave with you."
So said Tang Mu-jeong, coming out of Gongheon's hut supported by Namgung Baek and Yeo Hwi.
The reason a man who had had trouble moving for a long while now had made this walk was obvious.
"......Ah."
Jeong I-shin squeezed his eyes shut. That day had come at last.
It had been more than several months since Jeong I-shin had sparred with anyone at all, and a long while since he had borne the Demonic Wind alone.
The stronger he grew, the weaker the four old men became. Everyone knew that death was drawing steadily nearer.
But a parting being foreordained did not make it any less abrupt.
"See him off well, Sparkles."
"......Yes."
He passed the three of them and stepped into Gongheon's hut.
The moment he saw Gongheon sitting cross-legged on the bed, Jeong I-shin stopped short.
"Monk......"
Gongheon, gaunt as a withered tree, was too unfamiliar. It was a sight he had not seen since the day the man passed the Sinew-Transforming Marrow-Cleansing Scripture to him.
Until now the divine art had held that body together, but at last its true qi had run out and it could preserve him no longer.
"Monk......"
Jeong I-shin called to Gongheon endlessly.
Gongheon wore his usual benevolent smile.
He had worn it when Jeong I-shin first opened his eyes in this world, and he wore it now, facing their parting.
Over more than three whole years, Gongheon had always smiled like that.
"I-shin."
"Yes, yes, Monk. Say it. I'm here."
"Come closer."
Following Gongheon's voice, he knelt down before him.
His heart ached at the sight of the man, skin clinging to bone. He wanted to turn his head away, but he could not.
Because it was the end of the person who had first embraced Jeong I-shin in this world.
For Jeong I-shin, this place was not simply an unfamiliar spot without a single acquaintance.
He knew now why a mere fifteen-year-old had not gone mad in a place he had woken to across time and space.
"The inheritors of the Sinew-Transforming Marrow-Cleansing Scripture will be one again. I-shin will be terribly lonely."
"Monk......"
The Sinew-Transforming Marrow-Cleansing Scripture, a joke shared by just the two of them.
Even now, the merits of the divine art that set his body upright and guarded his spirit from collapse were filling his whole body with strength.
While the one who had placed it in his arms had withered this far.
Jeong I-shin bit down on his lip once and said,
"Thank you, truly, truly, Monk. I'll live giving to others just as you did. Whoever they are, so as not to disgrace your name......"
To say let us find some way for you to live longer would not be proper.
Jeong I-shin focused simply on conveying his own resolve.
"Tut!"
But Gongheon opened his eyes wide as though he had heard something outrageous and shook his head. With a lifeless face, he was exceedingly firm.
"I-shin, what nonsense is that? Have I not told you again and again not to even think of exchanging words with the unorthodox and heretical? Bursting their skulls is what benefits everyone."
"Ah."
"It is a world where caring for the good alone is already too much. And of course...... hold yourself most precious of all."
Those were Gongheon's last words.
"......Yes, Monk."
And so the two of them said farewell with the conversation they had every day.