Book 12 Chapter 10

Master has amnesia?

- Fishing in the Clouds

Dense forests, high cliffs, endless silver-white plains stretching to infinity, and waves of dozens of mountain peaks. It was indeed a spectacular scene that could only be described as a heavenly secret.

Thundercloud Peak Eunbaekpyeong Unkai Rock

It was a small mound jutting out like a shelf in the middle of a sheer cliff. In the context of the mountain as a whole, it might have been nothing more than a small, jagged outcropping, but the silvery-white sea of clouds beneath it led to an abyss of unknown depth. Once you fall in, you might as well give up looking for bodies altogether.

In the midst of a ruined landscape, like a watercolor painted by a painter's god, an old man perched on a rock carved by the winds of time as if he were part of the painting, a fishing pole made of jet-black bamboo in one hand, draped over a sea of clouds.

His long silver beard, his snow-white hair that resembled the dazzling mane of a white horse, and his clear, cool eyes, hidden deep beneath thick white brows, were like a red-hot sword forged on an anvil. No one of small stature would dare to look directly into those majestic eyes.

In appearance alone, the old man was reminiscent of the celestials of Kunlun, but this was the current master of Bi Ryuyeon, a man who could be described as "vicious," "monstrous," "evil," "demonic," "ghostly," and "goblin" by his one and only disciple.

Clearly, the master was fishing. There are only so many things you can do with a fishing rod. What else can you do with bamboo rods other than fish? They were made for fishing. But that didn't mean there was any water in the area.

The top of Thundercloud Peak. (Bi Ryuyeon and Master called the peak where they lived Thundercloud Peak; it didn't matter to them what others called it.)

How could there be a fishable stream near the top of Manjangdanjie, where the trees were stifled and unable to grow properly? The source of the peak's water had to be a long way down from here. It was so far away and so high up that even the sound of running water was exhausted halfway there.

But Sensei was unperturbed by this, casting his line coolly and quietly, his earnestness almost solemn.

In truth, it didn't matter whether he was serious or not. Whatever his attitude, the place where he cast his hook was not an indigo-blue sea where the waves broke in white foam, but a sea of clouds, a plain of wind that felt as white as snow and as fluffy as down. Unless the heavens and the earth were turned upside down, this fact would not change.

The fact that he was so proudly hanging a fishing pole in such a place was nothing short of ridiculous, defying common sense.

What is he trying to catch now? Is he even trying to catch anything?

Next to the old man fishing, however, was a young boy who was actively participating in an activity that was a gross violation of common sense. The boy's face, like his master's, was obscured by his long black bangs as he held a fishing rod made of bamboo.

It was Bi Ryuyeon.

At the far end of the vast white sea of clouds, dozens of peaks pierced the clouds like black spears, and in full view of the scene, two old men cast their fishing rods as if in competition.

Immersed in time, melted into the flow of time, assimilated into nature, their naturalness was not so unnatural as to be shameless, even in the midst of this vast and mysterious wilderness. It was as if they were claiming to be where they were supposed to be.

How much time had passed while they were fishing, neither of them, old or young, cared about that. Right now, their attention was focused on the tip of their rods, but to no avail.

The golden sun, which had been submerged in a sea of clouds to the east, slowly rose upward and caught the top of the sky. The shadows of the old men were at their shortest of the day, but still their rods remained silent, like criminals exercising their right to remain silent.

But the old man's eyes still refused to give up.

"…, disciple!"

In a dry voice, his gaze fixed on the end of the bamboo stalk without turning, the old man called out to the boy. The sea is called the ocean because it is common sense and normal to cast a fishing rod into the water, which is what it was made for in the first place, but what is a rod in a sea of clouds? Nevertheless, these two old men did not seem to consider this series of actions to be at all futile or worthless. They were actually expecting to gain something, to achieve something.

"Yes?"

In an emotionless, numb, and tasteless voice, Bi Ryuyeon replied. It was not the voice of a boy, but one filled with the boredom of age.

"Are you getting caught?"

"…, not really! "

"…, is it?"

"……."

The emotionless conversation was punctuated by long periods of silence and static. I was at a loss for words today.

"Master!"

This time, the boy called the old man.

"It's 'Sir!"

Sensei emphasized only one character. As if nothing else mattered.

An easterly breeze from above the clouds stirred the silvery-white waters, forming rapids and occasionally creating whirlpools. The clouds drifted with the wind, drawing myriad shapes.

"Ha, ha, ha! I guess Master's claim to be a master fisherman has been proven false today."

Bi Ryuyeon said in a bored voice with a nice yawn.

"It's weird, I'm just not feeling the spirit today, that's all."

But when the disciple's response was unclear, he blurted out.

"Kang Tae-gong did not become Kang Tae-gong because he caught a lot of fish; his catch was so small that he could be laughed at as a fisherman. But did he not catch the whole world? From now on, you shall call him Master Kang Tae-gong."

Make an excuse to defend yourself. You can't admit it.

"All the Kang Tae Gongs in the world must be dead. What a turn for the master!"

The apprentice's reaction was cold. It was the master's way of telling him that he was being a jerk. And with that snarky tone of voice, it was hard to believe that…….

"Catching something is not the art of fishing. The tao of the angler is the act of fishing for life and years with nature as a companion, draped in bamboo threads."

The master's enthusiasm didn't stop there.

"That is what is called romance. Have you not heard the golden fisherman's maxim: 'Wait, wait, wait, and you shall be caught'?"

The master spoke in a stern tone, but there was no sign of anyone listening.

"That's a lot for a bullshit excuse, and you've come up with a bunch of bullshit mantras, so let's just call it a day."

The master's thick white rice stirred at Bi Ryuyeon's cold response.

"Ugh, you impatient bastard, didn't I tell you that this is all a form of cultivation?"

"Is it that water lily theory again?"

The apprentice's response was a blank stare.

"Of course, you're right, dude, it takes a lot of skill to do this cloud fishing (a.k.a. cloud hunting). What is it we're trying to catch here?"

"Of course…, a fish! "

Voila!

Heavenly Descent!

"Bird, bird, what kind of crazy fish do you think lives on top of this mountain? "

"Awww, that was a tasteful joke."

Rubbing her forehead, Bi Ryuyeon grumbled.

"You love a good joke, you're getting a little treasonous these days, apprentice!"

"Oh, that's an illusion, an illusion!"

Inwardly flushed, Bi Ryuyeon waved her hands in the air. Once again, she experienced that her master's animal instincts were sharp…….

"…, and it is not usually birds that soar to such heights. Only birds of prey, such as hawks and eagles, have strong enough wings to fly above the clouds. And they are not only fierce and strong, but also fast."

The master's ranting never stops.

"So to be successful, you have to have a keen eye for the clouds. You have to be able to see where your target is, and if you think you can just put a worm on there and leave it in the clouds and the birds of prey are going to fly in and pounce on it, you're dead wrong. That never happens. The second is……."

His throat burning from his impassioned oratory, the master paused to take a drink from his waistcoat and quench his thirst. Watching from the sidelines, Bi Ryuyeon sipped, but it seemed unlikely that he would get his turn.

"The second is how skillfully you can move the line with your chi. The higher the altitude, the stronger the wind. And the winged fish you're trying to catch are fast enough to cut through the wind. You need to be able to keep up with them and reel them in in an instant. It's a necessary exercise in learning to be unerring, and yet you say we should stop this sacred sport just because we're not catching anything?"

It was an eloquent speech with the power of a flame or a volcano, but Bi Ryuyeon's mind remained unmoved.

'Is this really that helpful? It doesn't look like anything but a personal hobby to me…….'

The suspicions and doubts that germinated from the seeds of distrust grew deeper and deeper, but I chose to keep them quiet in the back of my mind. In times like these, you need to be smart.

"But it's already been half a day of sitting on the sidelines, are we really going to spend this much time trying to catch a phoenix?"

"Well, that's not such a bad plan after all."

The master tilted his head and replied. He seemed to agree.

"That would be expensive to get, right?"

"Not cheap!"

He says with more emphasis.

"umm……."

The scary thing about him is that he takes jokes seriously. Nowadays, she felt that she was becoming more and more like him.

"What does a phoenix like?"

Suddenly, the story began to take shape.

"I thought I heard somewhere that you like white horses? "

"Wasn't the white horse a dragon?"

The master pointed out the disciple's misinformed perception of the bait.

"Well, I guess it was, then."

"The old saying goes that to catch a dragon, you must use a white horse as bait. So, to catch a phoenix, you must use a white tiger as bait?"

"Well, I don't know, I've never fished for one, it's not in the fishing manuals, and besides, isn't it a friend of the four gods like the white tiger? Why would a phoenix eat a friend, no matter how good it is at eating?"

"Ugh!"

The master looked puzzled for a moment, but quickly recovered.

"So the bottom line is that you don't know?"

"I don't know."

"Wow, you don't even know that. What on earth have you been watching and learning?"

In this case, it's usually stranger to know. Nevertheless, the master reprimands his pupil in the wrong way. He was always a good teacher.

"Of course, I only saw what my master showed me, and I only learned what my master taught me, and it's disrespectful to my master if a pupil knows something that he doesn't know. He should consider himself lucky to have such a good and respectful pupil as me."

She never lost a word. What a wonderful attitude of discipleship! I couldn't help but be impressed by the cheerful (?) priestly interaction.

"Alas, I have invited the scourge of heaven!"

The master looked up at the sky and let out a deep sigh. Bi Ryuyeon Yan paid no attention to it.

A moment later, they were back to normal, as if they had always been. The bickering between the priests had already ceased to exist in their minds. Strangely enough, it seemed to be a normal part of life for these priests. The two priests, old and young, stared at the tip of their rods again and continued to wait.

Who said fishing and life are a series of endless patience…….

"Saa~boo!"

The disciple calls the master.

"What's wrong, Jaeja? You always leave out the honorific 'sir,' and that's never a good habit. It makes me want to turn the tables on this kind and gentle master."

The master glanced to the side and pointed. But he didn't seem to expect me to fix it next time. It was an excellent judgment. The Master's eyebrows and beard were as white as a field of snow, and the clear eyes beneath those bushy brows, shining with form, made it hard to guess his years and age, so much so that Bi Ryuyeon sometimes felt he was so alien to the people of this world.

"Tell me a story. Something that happened in the past."

Bi Ryuyeon spoke in a rare tone of affection. At the age of twelve, after reading Sun Tzu's Art of War, which his master had randomly thrown at him, he realized that he had been doing things wrong all these years. He knew he couldn't go on like this.

Knowing your enemy and knowing yourself is the only way to gain the upper hand in a fight without jeopardizing your safety. Of course, it goes without saying that your chances of victory are also higher.

If this maxim was true, he was now at a great disadvantage. He knew his master down to the smallest of habits, but he knew nothing about him. It couldn't be this way.

After that day, she decided it was never too late to learn more about her teacher.

"It's never a good idea to show curiosity about someone's past."

In a calm voice, the master said.

"Just think of it as a disciple's desire to hear the great footsteps of his revered master! "

Suddenly, her conscience ached like a needle, but she gritted her teeth and endured the pain.

"And?"

The master's voice rises with pleasure.

"I too have bowed many times in this world!" lamented Bi Ryuyeon, "but one must also know how to bend when necessary!" Being strong was not the only skill. Wasshin counseling was not a test that just happened. Isn't there also a bitter sweetness?

Only by being strong and skillful at bending and breaking can you survive the battlefield of life and emerge victorious. Moreover, it was an immutable truth that victory was always followed by pain.

"Tell me about your time in the Gangho. Secrecy is the death knell of the sunlit master-disciple relationship, and it's never a good thing. So tell me, what were you like in the past?"

"Hmm, past……."

Suddenly, the master turned his head and looked at the western sky. The sky was high and blue, and the clouds were quietly drifting westward on the east wind. A shiver ran down her spine as she realized that her master's gaze seemed to be looking far beyond the present. There was a terrible sense of dissonance, as if the master was clearly beside her, but even though she could see his presence, it was only a shell, and his mind was sailing off into the distance. As a non-participant, it was hard to tell what the master was looking at.

But he didn't want to dwell on the past forever, so he brought himself back to the present.

"I forgot! "

The master replied with an uncharacteristically sage-like seriousness. When he wore such a serious face, he sometimes looked like a sage, but she was quick to dismiss it as an optical illusion and dismiss him out of hand. It was her belief that such a thing could never happen.

"What?"

Bi Ryuyeon asked incredulously.

"I forgot. I can't remember. It was so long ago that I can't even pull it out of my memory……. I have already forgotten myself who I am."

For a moment, she felt herself stunned. She hadn't expected such an answer. He staggered, but he didn't fall down. His expectations of a long story had been shattered.

'Is it senile dementia?

That's what Bi Ryuyeon thought as she struggled to keep her thoughts from being read. If her thoughts were to be read, she was certain that the stone-dried white salt (hence the name Bai'er!) would attack her.

Whenever I saw that beard, my desire to run up to it and cut it off at the knees was aroused. The problem was that, while the silver beard was rich, it was sometimes not just an ornament, but a tool of oppression for the poor disciple.

Bi Ryuyeon squinted and studied her master's complexion. It was a matter of concealment and avoiding being read, but the master was not paying any attention to his beloved pupil, whether he was rummaging through the forgotten past or not. His eyes still seemed to be gazing longingly into the distant past.

"Still, how can you so irresponsibly dismiss it with the simple words, 'I forgot, I forgot,' when you can force yourself to remember at least one thing. You can't have forgotten them all, can you? Think of a pupil who's looking forward to hearing his master's saga with excitement!"

Even though Bi Ryuyeon's mouth was currently spitting out blood, the pulsation of his heart was soothingly steady, without any disturbance. But his curiosity was piqued. The fact that he didn't seem to want to give it away made me even more curious.

"Mmm, past…, past……."

The master was silent, like a man struggling to recall words he hadn't used in a long time. His pensive silence for a while seemed like he was pulling out a dusty old paintbrush from deep within his memory bank. Of course, Bi Ryuyeon already had many questions about the inadequacy of her master's memory and the current state of record-keeping. After what seemed like an eternity, she couldn't wait any longer and asked again.

"Do you remember anything now? "

Doridori, the master shook his head.

"I can't remember either! "

Apparently, you weren't happy with the results of your warehouse search. Either that, or he was hiding something from himself……. His past was so shrouded in layers of secrecy that I had never been able to peek inside. For some reason, the thought made him feel bad.

Bi Ryuyeon exclaimed.

"How is that possible, Master is some kind of amnesiac?"

"Is there a law that says I can't be an amnesiac? "

"Why don't you just say you forgot how to use a rice spoon, that would be more believable."

"Heh, you rascal! You're so determined to turn the Master into an old man! What you don't remember is what you don't remember. What else do you need to say? The Master is the heavens, so his words are also the heavens. Alan?"

His overbearing demeanor forced Bi Ryuyeon to take a step back. She hadn't even drawn her sword against him yet. She wasn't foolish enough to do something that would cause so much damage, so much harm, and so many after-effects just because she was emotional.

He changed his strategy from hardline to appeasement. His voice changed from the north wind of winter to the gentle breeze of spring.

"Didn't you, too, once go from powerhouse to powerhouse?"

"Strongman? There used to be such a thing. Maybe they still do."

"There are these days."

Her answer was short and to the point.

"However, Ryu Yeon-ah…….

"What?"

The Master's eyes gazed into the depths of time. In a gentle voice, he said.

"Those things don't matter to me anymore. Maybe I've lived too long. The past doesn't mean anything to me anymore…, it can't affect me anymore. Only the present matters to me now."

"For example, what type of alcohol will you be drinking tonight? "

The master looked at him and smiled wryly.

"That's right, you've gotten so smart, you can read your master's mind. Are you like a grown-up now? They say it's impossible for a child to read a parent's mind……."

It's been a long time coming.

"It's not that big of a deal, it's just the basics. I usually have to be smart to know what I don't know, and sadly, I'm too smart to know what I don't know!"

Bi Ryuyeon shook his head, too proud to think to himself. The boy's shamelessness never failed to amaze him.

"You cheeky bastard! You're three hundred years too young to say that."

Sensei said with a hint of caution.

"I don't exist in Kang Ho, so there's nothing I can tell you about Kang Ho. I think I did something, but I've already forgotten what it was. It was so long ago. It was all a long time ago, and it seems to have been a trivial matter that is not worth recalling now."

"It's senile dementia after all!"

As if Bi Ryuyeon were a noble and prestigious councilor, Hua T'a, she nodded her head, confident in her diagnosis.

"You bastard!"

With a grimace, the master's hand slashed through the air.

Voila!

The Master's albam ignited a flame of punishment on his forehead. A star shone before Bi Ryuyeon's eyes.

"Oh my, oh my, control! Honesty and truth are out of favor these days!"

Even if he was about to die, he wouldn't say he was wrong.

"Damn you! That's what I told you, to have respect and reverence for your master……. Didn't I tell you that respect and love for your master should be like faith!"

With a voice full of conviction, the master said.

"Today I'm going to tell you, you little bastards, what it means to have the honor and pride of a master, and what it means to defend it. You wretch, dig your thin ears back and listen!"

The master spoke in a stern, commanding, intimidating voice. He sounded quite angry. Rebellion at times like this always ended badly. As a longtime student, Bi Ryuyeon knew all too well that when a master is serious, he can be frightening.

Master opened his mouth slowly.

"The laws of no country are mine. I am not bound by any regulations and rules, nor am I in bondage to them. I am not bound by the pretentious morals and manners of the world, molded and polished by the tongues of men. I see and hear only with my own eyes and ears, and I speak and act as my heart commands."

The master paused for a moment, glanced to see if Bi Ryuyeon was listening, and then spoke again.

"Just because someone says something is wrong doesn't make it right. And vice versa. Don't join the foolish public clowning around, measuring your worth by the standards of others and getting swept up in it. We need only be faithful to the standards of truth that our own hearts suggest."

"We? "

"Yes! You and me! So we! If you are a disciple of Bi Liu-men, you must think and act like one. You must be able to take responsibility for your name."

"Name? "

"Yes, Name, there is only one thing I can still remember and pass on to you."

An invisible majesty radiated from his entire body. Suddenly, he felt like a giant.

"No one is allowed to use the name Thunderbolt. This is true no matter who he is. It is only the descendants of our ancestors who may use the name."

"And what about sleeping?"

"Lol? Hmmmm……."

The master looked a little troubled.

"You must ask permission to use the name. No one who is incompetent is allowed to use the name of Luo. There are so many pretenders in the world who take the name of Luo and put it in front of their own name. How dare they use the name of Luo in the name of a subject in which they have no skill! Teach such fools the subject, for the name is not for you to use."

"And what about sleeping?"

It was the relentlessly determined Bi Ryuyeon. The master's gaze swept over him. The boy tried to dodge, but the old man was quicker.

Bam, sparks flew in front of my eyes.

"Ditto, ditto, ditto! No one who hasn't passed the test is worthy of the name thunderbolt. Cancer, indeed."

The master added a word of caution.

"Honor is the respect due to a name. Therefore, to sully a name is to sully honor. Therefore, you must be proud and do your best to uphold our name. Can you bear to see our name sullied by others?"

"How do you put up with that? "

Of course, you can't and shouldn't put up with that shit, and he'd learned long ago that it's extremely detrimental to your mental health. It does nothing to help you live happily in the world.

"So keep that in mind, too!"

"Yes, Master!"

In a determined voice, Bi Ryuyeon replied. She wasn't her usual playful self, cracking jokes and making small talk.

"Sir!"

The master wrote evil.

"Yes! Sir!"

Bi Ryuyeon replied immediately. This time, the word "Master" didn't escape her, and her fist slowly rose upward, ready for another punishment. Bi Ryuyeon slowly pushed her butt away from the rock she was sitting on, positioning herself to sneak away.

But his fist didn't fly, and the rod tip twitched and snapped. It was the bite he'd been waiting for.

He's always been a bit of a boss, and he's always taken advantage of his students, but I remember him being pretty strict about this honor thing.

They say it's like a nail in the coffin, you don't want to do it, but you have to do it because the associations make your head spin. Bi Ryuyeon was not like that, and she was not gracious enough to forgive her sect and her name for a moment. She was by no means a heroine.

High in the blue sky, peeking through the gaping canyon, the cloud fragments hung like powerful horses riding a strong westerly wind.

"You gotta do what you gotta do! "

In a flat voice, he said quietly.