Book 3 Chapter 6

Course enrollment is war

"What the heck is this?"

Bi Ryuyeon took one of the brochures handed out at the institute, one per person, and read it to the

I stared at him, bored.

A book so thick you're afraid to flip through it!

But alas, that booklet was not available in the

It was never a divinity class with some sort of peak divinity.

If you're not, you're in luck.

However, the true purpose of the pamphlet, which had the long name of "Reference Manual for Enrollment of Students of the Tianmu Academy," lay elsewhere.

"It's a course signup sheet."

Jang Hong, who was next to Bi Ryuyeon, pretended to know. Bi Ryuyeon's eyes naturally turned to him. He still hadn't figured out the identity of this booklet.

"Just out of curiosity, if there's another use for this book besides as a pillow or a weapon, please let me know."

Touro Bi Ryuyeon asked, very curious indeed, and Jang Hong fulfilled his expectations.

"Well, sometimes it's used as a sleeping pill."

Jang Hong said as if it were true.

"Really? It's got a lot of bells and whistles."

"Of course. It's harmless to the body, but it works, I promise."

"Is there anything else?"

"Uh, you really don't know?"

Jang Hong's eyes widened. In fact, he had thought the words before were just a lighthearted joke, but they weren't.

"This is a reference book for upcoming martial arts classes. The martial arts taught at the Heavenly Martial Arts Academy are so varied and broad in scope that they are divided into several closely related disciplines and taught by experts in their respective fields. The number and variety of martial arts taught at the Tianmu Academy are so vast that an individual could devote a lifetime to them and still not master them all, and the choices are so mercilessly wide and overwhelming that it can be difficult to apply for classes. This book has been kindly prepared by the Tianmu Academy to serve as a reference for students to apply for classes in their desired field of martial arts."

Jang Hong knew a lot more about the thick, tediously long name of the Heavenly Martial Academy Martial Student's Course Application Reference Manual than he thought.

"But what's so thick about it? The titles are ridiculously long, and I'm supposed to learn all of this in one sitting? There's more than one lesson in a chapter, with references and annotations?"

The course reference manuals were so varied and vast that they could make people's tongues curl up in disbelief, with at least two subjects in each chapter, the nosa (teacher in charge) of each subject, the purpose and outline of the course, and the timetable written in clear detail.

"Of course, how can you learn everything there? You can only pick and choose a few things to fit your time schedule. Besides, there's a tremendous amount of material here, not just in martial arts, but in all the disciplines of the Hundred Families, such as the Three Books of the Martial Arts, the University, and the Zhongyong, as well as in the taboo books of the Tea Ceremony, the Rites, and the Martial Arts, as well as in medicine, pharmacy, and self-study. Of course, few of the mu are interested in learning as much as the rest of us, but in order to prevent us from becoming too focused on nothingness, we are required to take at least a certain number of credits. If I were to tell you what's in there, my mouth would be like an old rag, and that would be a terrible thing."

"Grunt."

Bi Ryuyeon clutched her head as if it would split in two. The procedure for learning a single martial art was simply too complicated. The enrollment brochure, thick enough to be used as a pillow, emphasized the vastness of the Tianmu Academy's teachings, but she didn't appreciate it at all. After all, the whole point of studying martial arts was to become a master, but she couldn't understand why the process was so complicated for just one master.

"Wow, look at this, I'm so lucky to be able to be taught by the Peak Sword Nihilist Daoist."

Yun Jun, a plum-intolerant member of the Volcano Sect who had come along without knowing the intricacies of Bi Ryuyeon's pace, flipped through the course manual and was overcome with admiration and euphoria. Nie Huanchen, a disciple of one of the nine great sects, was a master of the peak sword, a sword that was said to be unrivaled even in the main sect, the Martial Mountain.

Rumor has it that his true skill is comparable to that of a Heavenly Hao Swordsman, let alone an Elder of the Shaman Sect. If Yun Jun was touching the base of Mount Tai, he was already on top of the clouds, looking out over the peak of Mount Tai. It's no wonder that Yun Jun was so impressed to be able to learn from such a person.

"Look at this, look at this, look at this, look at this, look at this, look at this, look at this, look at this, look at this, look at this, look at this, look at this, look at this, look at this, look at this, look at this, look at this, look at this, look at this, look at this. I'm really, really……."

Now she was on the verge of tears from emotion. She quickly changed the subject in a moment of crisis. She didn't have the stinking taste of idolizing someone she didn't know at all while watching others around her cry with emotion. It was an absolute no-no.

"But this is too much. Is this really all about martial arts, and doesn't it all boil down to one thing when you learn it?"

Two of the best features of Tianmu Academy were the diversity and specialization of the teachings. For example, when I opened the chapter on poison in the enrollment manual, there was not just one poison gong. "Understanding Poisons," "Manufacturing Poisons," "Commercially Available Poisons and Their First Aid," and so on. There were 25 kinds of poisons and 10 masters. To teach only poison and related fields, 10 masters were needed for 25 different subjects.

And while the number of classes was dizzying, each and every one of them was aimed at imparting a very detailed and specialized knowledge of a specific area related to poisons. All of this was done with the utmost care to help the cadets improve their skills.

When you forget, you forget, but first you have to know. It was because knowing and letting go is the true letting go. You can't enter a higher state as an idiot who doesn't know anything, so you have to learn and see. And then you have to somehow forget it. It's easy to say and simple to do, but it's very difficult. It's almost impossible, so for all those years, the true absolute masters could be counted on five fingers.

It's up to the individual to decide what realizations they want to take away from this process. The realization that you need to get to a new level is something you have to discover for yourself. It's not a place where someone is going to take you by the hand and lead you there.

Just as a butterfly must shed its chrysalis to become an adult, so too must a student do the work to reach new heights. The Tianmu Academy could only provide the thread and nutrients to create the cocoon, but it could not shed the chrysalis for the student.

It could only provide a small and insignificant help to reach a higher level. For this tenuous and insignificant help, there was a course book as thick as a pillow, hundreds of non-technical subjects, and dozens of teachers.

As she absentmindedly rummaged through the pillow substitutes, she suddenly felt a question creep into her mind.

"It's all good, but what good does it do to be a jack-of-all-trades? It's hard to excel in any one field, and I'm a jack-of-all-trades……."

His frustration was understandable. Knowledge is power, but sometimes it can be a poison, a disease.

Eightfold beauty, tenfold beauty!

The words sounded nice, but if you got it wrong, you could very easily end up in a vague, ambiguous state that was neither here nor there. In this way, there was a danger that unstructured and distracted acquisition of knowledge could become a terrible hindrance to enlightenment. If you can't get porridge or rice, you have no choice but to suck on the side of the spoon and starve.

"Think of it as diversity. I don't expect you to be good at everything, of course. As the old saying goes, if you want to be successful, dig only one well. Except for one major, the rest are just notes. And most of them consist of survival methods for surviving in the wilderness. It's a sad reality, but too many talented people die young, caught up in the schemes of the powerful. It's either you survive or you don't."

"Tsk, tsk, is that……."

But as if that wasn't enough, she finished her meal.

"If you can't be bothered to apply, I'll do it for you. Pick a field of study you'd like to take, aside from the required first-year courses."

That's what she was hoping for. But…….

"Prerequisites?"

"At Tianmu Academy, it is mandatory for each grade to take a few specially designated courses that are considered essential for the strongest students."

"Really?"

This was something I hadn't realized until now.

"You really don't know anything."

"I've never felt the need to know about such boring things in my life."

"It's a miracle that you're still alive and well after all this time, considering you're such an idiot when it comes to the Temple of Heaven."

"I caution you to work miracles if you have to. I really don't know anything, and……."

She paused for a moment before speaking.

"I don't feel like it matters at this point in time."

"I can't believe it!"

Jang Hong exclaimed in disbelief. It should have been considered abnormal for someone like Bi Ryuyeon to come in without any prior knowledge and information. It was customary for everyone to familiarize themselves with the Heavenly Martial Academy before entering, which meant that she had irresponsibly entered without doing any of the things that a very normal person would have done. Jang Hong wasn't even anemic, but he felt dizzy.

"You can't. Let me explain."

"I prefer a simple explanation to a detailed one. Give me a detailed but simple explanation."

I don't like headaches," Bi Ryuyeon said in a tone of disdain. Jang Hong despaired once again at the fact that she still showed no signs of remorse, but he decided not to let it show.

"The first required course for first years is Introduction to Poisonous Arts. Even if you're not a professional poisoner, the study of poisons is a must for all grades to ensure your physical defense and survival. The Jianghu is a cold, heartless world of scheming and dueling. The same goes for memorization, which is often tied to the survival of a martial artist rather than the enhancement of their skills. In any case, it's safe to say that none of our schools deal with poison and memorization, except for Sichuan Tangmen. Besides that……."

Jang Hong continued to explain the required subjects. In addition to poisoning and memorization, first-year students were required to take "Reading Comprehension of the Martial Arts," "Introduction to Qin Dao," "Introduction to Swordsmanship," "Applications of Various and Curious Human Acupuncture Methods," and "Politics of the Warring States" for liberal arts. None of it was without its headaches.

Clutching her head in pain, Bi Ryuyeon's gaze suddenly fell on Hyo Rong, who had joined her, but contrary to her expectations, Hyo Rong was deep in thought, flipping through a booklet beside her to see if she was bored. Somehow, she felt that his movements were skillful.

She couldn't figure out how they knew this place so well for the first time, or if she was the one who came in without any prior knowledge.

But he quickly shrugged it off. Either way, it didn't matter to him; he was just glad that Jang Hong knew this place so well.

"Is there a particular area of martial arts you'd like to hear about?"

Jang Hong asked, flipping through the booklet. Bi Ryuyeon shook her head from side to side. She hadn't felt the need to learn anything in particular yet.

"Most people choose to specialize in sword, dao, and spear. They are the most common and therefore the most refined. They are the most organized and easy to find a good teacher. They are the paths that many people have traveled, so you can get a lot of advice and access to a wide variety of related martial arts. Of all of them, the sword is the most important for a white daoist. After all, the king of all things is the sword."

Jang Hong, too, had been trained with a sword, and he had great faith in it. He believed that neither the sword nor the spear were martial arts.

"I'll take all three."

"No, I don't mind telling you, but it's hard to become a peak master with qigong and other martial arts. It may be a year or two, but in the end, you won't be able to hear the voice of a master. It's not too late to change your mind, so why don't you do it now? This is my sincere advice as a friend."

Hyo-Ryong's choice was a natural one: he was a swordsman of a high enough level to cast a sword shield. As a swordsman, it's a primal, instinctive, and natural desire to seek higher levels of mastery, so he's so intent on finding a class that will help him improve his swordplay that the conversation between Bi Ryuyeon and Jang Hong falls on deaf ears. He was lost in his own world and didn't know how to leave it. It can be a happy thing to have a world of your own, until you ruin it. …….

Ryuyeon had handed over most of her course selections to Jang Hong, who had no idea what he was doing, so Jang Hong had been paying attention to Ryuyeon's course selections, but it was a lost cause because she was ignoring the three major martial arts when it came to her most important choice. Although Bi Ryuyeon was dismissive of sword, dao, and spear, there was one area of study that she was surprisingly interested in: music, a martial art that allowed her to better play the zither she had borrowed from a master.

"Then I'd like you to look into Yin Gong."

"Yin Gong?"

Jang Hong's reply was tinged with doubt.

"I'm surprised you're interested in yin gong. It's a more delicate and elegant discipline than it looks."

"Don't worry about that. It's not every day you find a graceful boy like me. I thought I'd take this opportunity to learn some music, since Master Idiot may know about notes, but he doesn't know anything about musicianship."

"However, Yin Gong is a much more difficult martial art than you might think. It requires a great deal of inner strength to cast it, not to mention a keen ear for musical tones. It's also difficult to use in combat, and despite the depth and difficulty of learning, progress is slow as a snail, with effects as small as a snot……. It's a study with many limitations, and yet you listen?"

"Sure."

Bi Ryuyeon replied without hesitation.

Call me arrogant, but it was his judgment that he was not in a position to pursue a career in anything other than yin gong, and he had never been confronted with evidence that would change that judgment, and he had no intention of changing it.

"Hmm… I've always been interested in ping pong. Why don't we take a class together?"

Hyo-ryong, who was deep in thought as he flipped through the thick enrollment brochure next to me, suddenly interrupted me. I didn't expect him to be interested in anything other than swords, but he was surprisingly interested in yin gong.

"As you wish."

There was no reason not to. Jang Hong found the Yin Gong section of the course catalog and began to flip through it. As expected, there were many different kinds of lessons listed there, dazzling the eyes of the viewer and making his heart feel tight.

"You said you know a little bit about tones, so I'd recommend the Introduction to Yin Gong by the Heavenly Yin Master Hong Lan, except for the Introduction to Tones. After all, it's all about the basics. After that, do you want a koto or a tungso, dagum, flute, or zhengzong?"

"That's a lot of stuff. What's so complicated about……."

"I'd prefer you use the word professional. It's an introductory class, so we're learning about basic theory, but how can we all learn from the same person when we play different instruments? The teaching of musicianship is completely different depending on the instrument you play. They call it common sense."

Jang Hong secretly sneered at Bi Ryuyeon's lack of common sense. But Bi Ryuyeon wasn't the kind of person who could be bothered with such details. She was the kind of person who could, if necessary, reshape the common sense around her by her own very personal and arbitrary standards. And, surprisingly, he has done so until now, with the inevitable (?) numerous tragedies that have occurred along the way being quietly buried with the sorrow of the underdog. …….

"All I have is gold, and all I know how to do is gold."

"Well, then, I suggest you read Master Bi-Keum's "Understanding Gold Yin from a Beginner's Perspective". He's a very famous master in Jianghu."

"Then do it."

Bi Ryuyeon, who was darkened by the strongman's situation, felt at ease and left everything to Jang Hong.

"Let's do this then. Don't say anything else later."

Jang Hong was kind enough to give Bi Ryuyeon a warning just in case.

This inspired her to pursue yin as her major, and she was fortunate enough to study with Hyo-ryong. She signed up for two more courses on yin gong.

It was unclear whether he would ever learn to play the piano properly. That remains to be seen. And even if the outlook is hopelessly bleak, it may be too early to give up.

As they were immersed in signing up for the course, one of the application windows in one corner of the application center suddenly collapsed with a loud crash.

"Wudang wudang wudang."

As one application window collapsed with a scream, unable to withstand the overcrowding, all eyes in the room turned to the source of the scream. There, an overwhelming number of people lay in a jumble, covered in dust. It was a striking contrast to the peacefulness of the surrounding application center.

At the Tianmu Academy's enrollment center, there were separate application windows for each discipline and type of course, in an effort to spread out the applicants. This was a perfectly valid and reasonable decision.

So why did the enrollment window collapse for no apparent reason? What's all the fuss about in a place like this, where there's almost no chance of outside intrusion?

It was natural to be curious. And Bi Ryuyeon was not the kind of person who would leave a question unanswered once it had risen from the depths of his mind. It was always his theory that once a question arose, it had to be solved one after another, regardless of the reason.

You'd be a weirdo if you didn't wonder whose class it was that was so crowded with so many people at the registration desk. She decided to grab a random person walking by and ask them a question.

"No, why are there so many people over there?"

"What's going on over there?" she asked, pointing to a group of people in a circle, ready to fight each other to the death.

Even though the signup window was closed, people didn't seem to want to give up on the course.

"No you don't?"

"What do you mean?"

The man looked at Bi Ryuyeon for a moment like he was looking at a very strange creature, and his gaze was kindly sealed with a gleam of concern that said, "It's been so long since I've heard from you…….". The man immediately opened his mouth again.

"One of our newest masters is very famous, and that's where you can sign up to take his class."

In addition to the discipline-specific and class-specific sign-ups, there were also sign-ups for some very popular and special classes, one of which had just collapsed. How famous is he?

"Whose class is this?"

She had never heard of him before. But to her surprise, it was someone she knew very well, even if she didn't have Kang-ho's experience and knowledge.

"If you don't know, don't be surprised to hear it. It's called the Great Salt Lake!"

Bi Ryuyeon's eyes widened. However, the reason he was surprised was not because he was surprised by the person's greatness, as the other party had feared, but because the name of his disciple(?), whom he had never thought of, had suddenly come out of the other party's mouth.

"You know the famous one-trick pony, Dae Hyeop, right?"

Of course, she nodded in agreement, as she was in a position to know all about it. In fact, no one knows the whole story and the dirty tricks better than she does. Except for Mr. Yin himself.

Yeomdo had always been a loner, disliking the idea of mingling with or belonging to other factions, so it was highly unusual for him to stay and teach here at the Heavenly Martial Academy.

"All the people who want to use the sword, who want to take his classes, are crowding the reception desk. Even those who are trained in Yangkang martial arts are rushing in. It's a mess. At this rate, we're going to have to decide the number of people who will be admitted to the reception desk by secret combat. It's going to be a good fight with the Ice Sword Pavilion."

"No, when you say Ice Sword Pavilion, you're referring to Ice Sword Pavilion Dai Hao, the master of the Heavenly Five Swords?"

Yun Junho interrupted in astonishment. The Heavenly Hao Swordsmen were the kind of people he could only dream of as idols. The mere fact that such a person was in his immediate vicinity, and in such close proximity, was enough to make him burst with excitement.

"For who else could bear the title of Iceblade but him, the one you know."

At the moment, Bing's kendo classes were the most popular in the Heavenly Martial Academy. He didn't teach many classes, and the scarcity of his time added to the rarity of his lessons, causing people to flock to him like clouds.

However, the number of students is limited, so in order to get first dibs on the courses they want to take, students often stay up all night in front of the reception desk the day before, and in some cases, camp out for days on end, making it almost like a war. There are many different methods used to get in.

"Alas, to be able to take a class from someone like that right next door……."

Once again, Yoon Joon-ho was drowning in a sea of emotions, and Bi Ryuyeon frowned slightly as she watched him.

"But you haven't heard it yet."

Luckily, the boss threw cold water on the crucible of emotion that Yoon had created.

"Why?"

Yun Junho stared at the man, wondering how in the world he could be so naughty. However, the man simply brushed aside the desperation in his eyes. Then, why is the smile on Bi Ryuyeon's face so young?

"You're still in first grade, right?"

"Yes."

"You must be at least a Third Grade Sword Dragon to apply for his class, or at least a Third Grade Sword Dragon. In reality, due to the competition, almost all of them are at the Five Sword Dragon level or higher. You may not realize it yet, but certain classes in the Heavenly Pavilion require the same qualifications. This place is not as easy as you think, it's a battlefield where you can only survive if you fight through the fierce competition. You should be vigilant and diligent in your cultivation."

"Thank you."

Yun Junho took a bow and thanked the senior for his advice. He seemed to have finally realized the reality of this place, the Heavenly Pavilion, for a moment. A hint of pride flashed across his face before disappearing.

If Kwan Chul-Su, the ice sword, was renowned for his greatness of character, his sword-like perfection, and his icy coldness, Yin Dao was known in the martial arts for his fiery temper, his boisterousness, and his countless exploits, some of which were intolerant of injustice, yet he was a man of righteousness.

His hot-tempered, fiery, macho personality-which Binggum's opponents decry as ignorant and overbearing, with no thought for the future but only for strength-had won him the support of many young people, especially those who wielded swords. However, Yan's preference for traveling alone meant that he rarely interacted with people, and thus had little opportunity to see his skills.

Even in this high and mighty Academy of Heavenly Martial Arts, people of his caliber were now rare. Moreover, regardless of his personality, he was unrivaled in the field of martial arts and the study of the Yang River, so it was no wonder that the students were now rushing to hear him lecture. Of course, Bi Ryuyeon's mind was not entirely convinced.

Was his student really that great?

It's a fact that's hard for her to admit after living with him for nearly two months.