Book 7 Chapter 9

Recall, that the second

- The Art of Sulphur

That's when she asked her master.

That was 8 years ago, and it's a blur now!

It's a past you don't want to remember.

"What did the master say then?

Looking back on it now, I'm pretty sure I was furious.

"Are you sure that if I follow you exactly, I'll be able to do what you say?"

A question asked 8 years ago.

When I say master's words, I'm referring to the rhetoric that if you don't set limits, you can surpass even the master himself, and I'm not saying this directly under the nose of a crotchety old man, because I don't know what kind of bowel movement I'd get.

Bi Ryuyeon's eyes glowed brighter than ever, an intensity that surpassed the gaze of an eagle that spotted its prey darting from the sky to the ground.

"See this guy?

When Bi Ryuyeon's eyes glowed with an excessive amount of light, the master felt slightly uneasy. An ominous aura with impure intentions had been detected by his keen and sensitive sixth sense.

'Disciple, how dare you cross the seat of a great master who is higher than the heavens and wider than the universe? It would take you a hundred years to catch up with me!'

"Go get yourself in trouble!

Wasn't it my duty, right, and responsibility as a master to take appropriate action when a student harbored impure intentions? There was no reason to say no to giving a rogue disciple some trouble. The master puffed out his chest and said with a loud thump.

"Of course. Believe! Believe and follow unconditionally, and you will see the light! Those who harbor even the slightest doubt will never reach it."

He had learned over a hundred years ago that in theater, sometimes a little exaggeration is necessary for the dramatic effect of a play, and he kept it handy at all times.

"How?"

"You have a short temper. You should learn to be more patient. You won't lose anything. What is it, that rebellious glare?"

"Oh, no. I'm just a little embarrassed to be called that by a master who doesn't have as much patience as a dog's hair!"

The master glared at Bi Ryuyeon, his eyes filled with the will to reform as he watched his student's increasingly rebellious spirit. For it is a master's duty to guide his students to the right path before they fall into the wrong one.

"What? What?

But Bi Ryuyeon met his gaze head-on and didn't look away.

"Hmm… look at Yon-seok?

Apparently, since I sent him to the forge to work, his strength has suddenly increased to an unimaginable degree, and he's been trying to climb to the top of his master's head, which is higher than the highest peak in the mountains.

"How dare you try to climb on top of Master's head just because you've learned to control a couple of thunderbolts? That's an unparalleled achievement, but you won't see it unless you get dirt in Master's eyes!

After all, he knew that his beloved pupil would only come to his senses if he was given a taste of his own medicine. There was no room for compromise now. He looked at Bi Ryuyeon with serious eyes and spoke in a serious tone.

"Listen!"

"Yes!"

"And write some!"

"Listen!"

The disciple's rebellious spirit was not yet subdued.

Soon, out of a sense of duty, the master began to ramble on.

"Siji, the unseen is called yi, and to see the unseen is called yi!"

"Yes!"

Bi Ryuyeon replied vigorously. He was not distracted by the prospect of teaching him how to surpass his master. He focused all of his mental energy on each and every word.

"Hearing the inaudible is called hee, and hearing the inaudible is called hee."

"Yes!"

Bi Ryuyeon nodded again.

"Jijibuddha (搏之不得) mingwalmi (名曰微), to know by touching without acquiring, that is, to feel the untouchable, is called micro."

"Yes!"

The last nodded vigorously in understanding. Then the master's face took on a strange expression.

'Do you mean to tell me that you have understood this difficult path, this esoteric path that a normal person could spend a lifetime trying to climb? He hasn't even dried the blood on his head yet?

This was not going to happen.

"Are you sure you understand and nod your head?"

Even he was skeptical, as she kept nodding her head like a doll.

Doridori!

Bi Ryuyeon shook her head from side to side.

"Phew, that's it!

The master breathed a sigh of relief inwardly. It made no sense for even a genius to hear and understand these three concepts once.

A mere mortal of average quality could spend a lifetime in this realm and never catch even the faintest glimpse of its shadow. A mere mortal with above-average qualities would have to wait until ten thousand years later to recognize the existence of this realm. And only an Era of supreme quality will be able to approach its reality.

Of course, there's a world of difference between knowing and mastering.

"This is called the realm of the void. It is the realm of formlessness, the realm of nothingness, the realm of form without form, the realm of matter without matter."

"I guess that's possible, right?"

Suspicious, she asked. Her eyes were filled with suspicion.

"When have you ever seen this master lie?"

"……."

Suddenly, Bi Ryuyeon's tongue stopped moving as if it was frozen. His tongue, which had always moved smoothly, was suddenly frozen, and he felt very uncomfortable. To the master, it felt like a wordless rebellion, a silent protest.

"Uh-huh, disciple, the silence is too long."

Shaking his head at the sudden interruption, the master spoke up.

"Well, sadly, I don't think so. I may have blocked information or diminished the truth, but I've never told a lie, which is a miracle as far as I'm concerned."

The disciple's tone was not without subtlety, but he decided to let it go. He didn't want to argue with her anymore.

I can't believe this kid won't lose a word in an argument……. The master thought for a moment that he should increase the workload.

"Hmph! See! This master has never been one to talk too much. The barriers that must be encountered, the obstacles that must be overcome, the cultivation of the three senses of yin, yang, and yin, are the first steps in our path to adulthood, the very foundation of our practice!"

"Groundwork?"

"Yes! Ki, sec, zi, gong!"

The master pronounced every single word of his one-sided argument. His tone was challenging, as if he were saying, "If you dare, try it on your own subject.

"Will you be able to do it, and won't even these rudiments be too difficult for you as you are?"

Suddenly, the master spoke up, his voice dripping with concern, his complexion heavy. A stranger might have mistaken it for the genuine concern of a good teacher for his student.

"No! I can do it. I'm sure you can."

She couldn't stand the feeling of being belittled by her master. In retrospect, that was her most fatal mistake. It wasn't a matter of speaking out in the heat of the moment. She had made a mistake in the heat of the moment.

"Excellent, disciple! Train through the spirit mind connection. If you are able to attain the state of Huang Huang, you will have a free mind. You will have eyes, ears, and senses that penetrate the true nature of the world."

From that day on, with the satisfied smile on his master's face, Bi Ryuyeon immediately began to practice intensive cultivation of the spirit mind. It was a form of training to attain the three senses: yin, yang, and micro.

But no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't reach the level of mastery he was talking about. It looked and sounded easy, but when I started, I felt like I was lost in a sea of fog. I didn't know where or how to start.

'I thought it was foundation work… I thought it was…….'

It wasn't until eight years later that she learned the brutal truth: Her teacher wasn't to be trusted.

A state of sulphur.

Netherworld (惚恍境).

Even though he was dying for the chance to beat his master, he had no idea that it would take him eight years to unlock the secret of this horse. To spend eight years just to crack a basic technique, he had a strong feeling that he had somehow lost.

It was five years later that I realized that I could never approach this state through physical training alone. I had to wander around in the void in a trance to get a sense of what it was like. At one point, I was in danger of being lost in the sea of nothingness, where time and space are not perceived. I almost went into a so-called "madman" lucid state.

Since I was hit on the head, I've wondered dozens, perhaps hundreds, of times if I'd been tricked by my master. But I clung to it to my dying breath because I knew he was a deceitful, narrow-minded, and despicable man who wouldn't lie to me for the sake of his pride. At this point, I couldn't quit even if I wanted to.

Five years after that date, this degenerated into a battle of egos between the master and Bi Ryuyeon himself. Moreover, the more he practiced the biryodo, the more he mastered it, and the higher and higher his attainment of the cultivation of the spirit mind, the deeper and deeper his conviction in the Holiness Sutra.

He realized that there was more to the world than meets the eye, and that if he focused and paid attention, an unimaginably infinite world was right around the corner. Of course, the destination remained elusive.

Eight years after that day, she was finally able to fill her master's face with astonishment. That look of bewilderment on his face, the more I think about it, the more hilarious it is.

'It's safe to say that day was a turning point in my life!

But she hadn't fully realized it yet. She knew in her gut that there was still a higher level ahead of her.

If it takes eight years to learn, how many years does it take to achieve greatness? It was a place that had to be reached someday. Perhaps it is what people call the Tao, or God, a place so lofty and elusive that most people give up before they even begin. However, there are still those who strive to reach that place called the Divine, who attempt the impossible, what the world calls recklessness. What they have in common is that they don't think of the impossible as impossible. To them, it's just as possible as anything else. And so they make it possible.

No promises, but he wasn't about to give up. Quitting doesn't exist in his mental world.

'If I were to gain the power of the Thunder God, I would be able to gain confidence in this path. Or is it necessary to reach this state in order to gain the power of the Thunderbolt?'

Which came first, the chicken or the egg?

Only heaven knows.