Child of Destiny

…

Shin sat at the center of one of the training rooms as Old Ryong stood a couple of meters away from him. He stared at the old man, closely observing this new teacher of his.

Old Ryong thought for a moment before finally speaking. “I will not introduce myself any further since what happened in the past is already in the past. What I have achieved before is already useless, but the insights that I have gained are what is important.”

“Right now, I am no different from a retired veteran, who left the battlefield,” he added as he looked at Shin.

After a brief pause, he continued. “I have seen your swordsmanship through the videos that Henry and that glasses kid last night. It seems like your style is something that you have come up with after playing that game.”

“I will not ask about the sword-swapping since it is something that the game has let you achieve, but those sword-drawing techniques and a couple of sword techniques that you possess are different. May I know where you have learned them?”

Shin hesitated for a moment before sighing. “I don’t exactly know the answer to that, Teacher. It seems like something that I already knew before, and after learning a certain mind technique, these sword techniques seemed to have flashed through my mind as if I am remembering something that I have already learned in the past.”

Old Ryong raised his brows when he heard that before asking. “My I know the name of this sword technique.”

Shin smiled bitterly and shook his head repeatedly. “It is not like I don’t want you to tell its name, Sir. But I don’t know what it is called exactly. For now, I am calling it based on the mind technique that helped me ‘awakened’ this swordsmanship.”

“I called it Jade Kirin Scripture,” he added.

Old Ryong fell in silence for a moment as he thought of something. From what he could see, this sword-drawing technique that Shin possessed was somewhat similar to the one that he had seen in the past. It was almost the same as the swordsmanship of a certain mentalism genius who shook the world once.

A swordsmanship that destroyed almost every Mentalism Family and crushed their reputation.

The old man stared deeply at Shin for a moment before continuing. “Alright, let’s forget it since it is not that important. But if you have the chance to learn its true name, I suggest that you look into it.”

“The name of an art is not there just to identify itself, but that is also where its true meaning lies. If you learn its true name, then you will find its true strength and what kind of art it is supposed to be.”

“You will have a better understanding of this swordsmanship once you know its name, and fully master it.”

Shin paused for a moment before nodding his head. From what the old man had said, it seemed like what he was lacking lay in the true name of the ‘Jade Kirin Scripture’.

“But you don’t have to worry that much since you have already reformed it into a new sword style, which fits your habits and ideals,” added Old Ryong as he asked. “What do you call this ever-changing sword art?”

Shin was silent as he was hesitant to say it, worried that an old expert found his naming sense funny. He then closed his eyes as he answered. “It is Myriad Transformation Swordsmanship, Sir.”

“Myriad Transformation Swordsmanship, huh?” mumbled the old man, repeating those words, before smiling and nodding his head. “‘A Sword with multiple forms.’ What a very fitting name.”

“Not bad,” complimented Old Ryong as his smile grew.

Shin could not help but sigh in relief when he heard those words. It seemed like a huge boulder was lifted from his chest when he saw the old man satisfied with the name of his swordsmanship.

Old Ryong then stared at Shin before saying. “But it will be hard for you to apply it in the real world since you can’t always carry multiple swords with you.”

“It will be different if you are already in the Rulers Realm, where you can use the energy materialization that can help you form different weapons with your Mental Energy.”

“The ideal way for it is to let you learn the partial materialization in the early stages. But it is usually learned by Ethereal Opening Stage or peak of the Grandmaster Realm.”

“You are still in the middle of awakening your innate attributes and have yet to form your own ‘Spiritual Force’, so I doubt that you will benefit from learning such a technique in advance.”

“But since I have told you that I am going to teach you my swordsmanship, then you will be able to use this swordsmanship of yours even without using different types of swords.”

Old Ryong paused and walked a little further before asking. “Shin, what do you think is the most important thing in practicing a certain discipline?”

Shin thought hard, trying to find the answer. He was a dual practitioner before his Martial Arts was sealed due to a certain accident, so he could at least compare his experiences when training his Martial Arts and Mentalism.

“The mind?” said Shin with a little uncertainty.

Old Ryong smiled. “You are half correct with that, but the right answer is our ‘will’.”

“The ‘Force of Nature’ is important to practice our respective disciplines, but it is already a part of our world. It has already been there since the beginning, so it is a ‘constant’ – it is always present.”

“But the three major paths of modern times apply it differently.”

“Martial Arts refine this energy and make it our own before gathering it in our dantian, thus it becomes our ‘Internal Qi’. It then nurtures our bodies making them tougher and stronger than what a mortal can do.”

“Mentalism follows the principles of ancient cultivation where the ‘mind nourished the body’. They use the power of the mind, their mentality, in the process while also combining it with the ‘Force of Nature’, which produces a product called ‘Mental Energy’.”

“Swordsmanship and other weapon arts are a little tricker since they follow a certain principle, but they are not that different. The ‘Force of Nature’ is present in everything, including the earth, the metal, and other objects.”

“Swordsmanship uses these energies within their sword that have been refined through forging. They filtered everything through their will and transformed the ‘Force of Nature’ into a pure energy that has the properties of their sword such as sharpness, straightness, quickness, destructibility, and such. Thus, it is called the ‘Sword Qi’.”

Old Ryong paused for a moment as he turned around and faced Shin. “But regardless of the method to utilize the ‘Force of Nature’, these three major disciplines are following a certain principle, and that is using their ‘will’ to forge their path.”

“The ‘will’ can be a lot of things. It contains our mind and other aspects that it has: the perseverance, the determination, the discipline, the resolve, the tenacity, the patience, and many others.”

“All of these become one and become our will – some people call it the ‘willpower’. Having an immense willpower will bring you to the heights that you will never be able to imagine.”

“The three major disciplines follow a certain path, and they are forging the body and techniques until they reach the peak. But before achieving anything higher than that, one needs to hone their mind and forge an unbreakable will.”

“This is why most of the experts at the pinnacle of their respective discipline focus on training their ‘will’ after reaching the peak of their physical strength and techniques.”

“Their bodies and techniques have already reached the limits of our world. But if they want to break through the restrictions of being a mortal, then they have to forge a will that will help them break the chains restraining them and reach the transcendence.”

“Transcendent Realm, Exalted Realm, and Saint Realm are said to be the highest points of the three major disciplines. They follow a different path, yet they all require to have a firm ‘will’ that is powerful enough to break through our true limits.”

He then paused and asked. “Do you know why the ‘Kaleidoscope Mentalists’ are said to be stronger than most of the Martial Artists and Swordsmen in the same realm?”

If Shin heard this question before, then he would need help to answer it. But after hearing everything that Old Ryong had said, he could at least see the whole picture. “It is because they forge their ‘will’ much earlier than the others.”

Old Ryong nodded. “They have trained their minds much earlier than the rest, which is why their will is much stronger than anyone else. This is the edge that a ‘Kaleidoscope Mentalist’ has over the others.”

“Although the Psychic and Combat Metalist also train their will in earlier stages, they lack certain aspects that make them equal to the others practicing their respective discipline. The former lacks a strong physique while the latter has slightly weaker mind techniques.”

“But this doesn’t mean that it is true for all cases as there are still a few occasions where the said Martial Artist and Swordsmen possess a will that is no weaker than a Kaleidoscope Mentalist while there were certain Psychic and Combat Mentalists who overcome their weakness through certain means.”

“At most, all of them are on equal terms so long they meet these requirements.”

After that, Old Ryong twirled the cane that he was holding before fixing his grip on it. He held it to his side as if he was holding a sheathed sword.

“Now, what I am about to teach you is something that will help you infuse your will into your sword.”

“It is neither a Martial Art nor a Mentalism nor a Sword Technique. Instead, it is a special method that can be used with any of these three disciplines. You can use it with any form of energy as long as you have the right ‘will’ when using it.”

He then paused and assumed a stance that was very familiar to Shin. It was a sword-drawing stance. The old man was using his cane as a sword as he took that stance.

Then Shin felt that the surroundings seemed to have changed along with the air filling the entire room.

He found that his sense of time seemed to have been changed by the current atmosphere. Everything seemed to be normal at first glance, but Shin knew that he was moving much slower than he was supposed to be.

He had already experienced something similar before when his ‘Immediate Response’ talent had evolved once. His mind seemed to be processing whatever was around him normally, but his body was unable to respond to it accordingly.

But this time, he knew that there was something different. Whatever was happening, it was nothing but a mere illusion.

Click!

That was when he heard the familiar clicking sound when a sword was about to be pulled out of its sheath.

He then saw Old Ryong pull the upper part of the cane on his hands before swinging it forward. It was at that moment that Shin confirmed that the cane was hiding a sword in it.

Shing!

Shin saw Old Ryong swing the sword at a speed that he would not be able to imagine. His perception of time seemed to have slowed down, so he was supposed to see how the old man would swing his sword frame by frame.

Instead, the thing that he saw was a flash of light that before a sudden sharpness reached him in almost an instant.

“Fast!” – was the only word that he could think of. This speed was so fast that even his quick draw could be described as slow as a turtle.

Before he was able to properly process what just happened, he suddenly saw Old Ryong raise the sword over his head before swinging it down.

It was a simple swing, yet Shin saw something completely different.

The thin and slender sword seemed to have become a huge and heavy sword in his eyes. At the same time, he felt that a huge mountain was pressing on him as the sword locked on his position.

Boom!

He knew that he would not be able to dodge this attack no matter how fast he was.

“Heavy,” – was the next word that came to his mind as he watched the sword descend.

Shin had yet to completely process everything when Old Ryong changed the position of his sword. He twisted his wrist a little, holding the sword parallel to the ground, before swinging in a horizontal fashion.

Swoosh!

This time, Shin saw that the sword was able to cut through anything as it drew a horizontal line in the air.

“Sharp,” – was the best word to describe it.

After that, Old Ryong performed a few more basic movements of the sword as Shin watched everything. Every time the old man swung his sword, the young man would get a different word to describe them.

Shin had seen the old man bring out the characteristics of a specific sword with just the thin sword in his hand: fast, heavy, sharp, firm, light, slow, powerful, flexible, straight, extreme, variable, profound, and mysterious – all of these appeared one after another.

These characteristics sound only be possible to perform when using the corresponding sword such as a heavy sword, greatsword, shortsword, flexible sword, versatile sword, rapier, and many others.

As this thought crossed his mind, Shin finally understood what Old Ryong meant when he saw something about the ‘will’ infusing with the sword.

……