Seeing A New Sky
Cheonryong Repository was a place equivalent to the Sutra Library when compared to Shaolin.
It was a repository that housed everything from the foundational martial arts that formed the backbone of the Cheon Clan to advanced martial arts of ascension.
"The eldest young master is permitted unrestricted entry."
Inside, the books one could read differed according to rank.
The area Mu-myeong wished to enter was a restricted zone only those of the direct bloodline were allowed to access.
"Hm."
From basic martial arts to ascension martial arts, everything was neatly arranged.
Among them were martial arts Mu-myeong had learned in the past, yet he did not even spare them a glance.
'There's no way they'd catch my eye.'
Cheon Muyang strode straight toward the area permitted only to him.
Because the interior of the Cheonryong Repository contained countless books, it carried a distinct musty smell.
Yet, just breathing in that scent already made him feel as though he had learned peerless martial arts.
"Hoo...."
There was only one problem.
Perhaps because this space permitted only direct bloodline members, unlike other areas it was not organized at all.
"Would it really hurt to tidy this up a bit."
Looking at the books arranged in utter chaos, it was dizzying to even decide where to start.
"What should I look at first."
Without much thought, he pulled out a single book.
It bore such heavy traces of time that it was impossible to guess when it had been written, and it had no title.
Charrrk.
Cheon Muyang opened the book and slowly read through it.
The more he read, the more he tilted his head in confusion.
"This isn't it?"
It could not be considered a martial arts manual.
Closing the book, Cheon Muyang nodded as if it were only natural.
"Well, it's not like everything here would be martial arts manuals."
As was to be expected, there would naturally be other books mixed in among them.
So, he took out another book.
That one also could not be considered a martial arts manual.
"What is this...?"
Rather, it was a chronicle of the lives of past ancestors.
In other words, it was closer to an autobiography.
All of the untitled books had been written in that same manner.
"...."
The books that did have titles were merely the Cheon Clan's martial arts, which could be read even outside of this place.
What he wanted were even higher, more ascendant martial arts, yet none of those were here.
"What in the world is going on?"
They were certainly ascension martial arts.
But he had not come here merely to learn such things.
"Don't tell me... this is everything? No. That can't be. There has to be something."
Hadn't Cheon Seon-hak said this?
[When you enter and when you leave the Cheonryong Repository, you should clearly be different.]
He remembered those words clearly.
They unmistakably meant that a secret was hidden here.
"I need to find out what that is."
That secret would surely be somewhere within these autobiography-like books placed here.
"Right, uncle said that from the very first day he entered the Cheonryong Repository in the past, he chose his own path."
[If I were to describe that experience in words, enlightenment, that would be the term.]
When Mu-myeong had been curious about the Cheonryong Repository, Cheon Seon-hak had answered him so.
And so, Cheon Muyang decided to sit down and carefully examine the books, starting from the very first one he had seen.
After all, he had no intention of leaving for two whole days.
"Fortunately, there's plenty to eat."
Wol-yeong had deliberately packed foods like jerky and Bigu Pills that did not give off much smell.
[I was told this would be necessary.]
It was obvious who had tipped her off.
"It must have been uncle."
Thus began Cheon Muyang's thorough reading of the books.
How much time had passed?
"Hm...."
By the time he had even forgotten the flow of time itself.
Cheon Muyang was able to discover a common thread within the contents of these autobiographies.
"Every one of them speaks of their own sky."
The sky was never just one.
These books contained the countless skies they had each seen.
"Ah...."
The sky, heaven (天).
It was the path the Cheon Clan's sword was meant to advance upon.
Yet how could the sky be judged as one?
The sky was, in truth, utterly free and unrestrained.
"Was that what it was?"
How could one possibly confine the sky to anything?
Just as the Dao that can be named is not the true Dao, the sky could not be confined by calling it the sky.
The sky systematized into martial arts manuals was merely a fragment.
"All of this... was no different from martial arts manuals."
The books that recorded each individual's sky were no different from martial arts manuals to Cheon Muyang.
"Uncle's sky as well...."
It too was only a fragment.
There existed a clear blue sky filled with sunlight, a soaked sky pouring with torrential rain, a thunderous sky struck by lightning, a sky that held stars, a sky that held the moon, and a sky veiled by clouds.
Cheon Muyang saw countless skies.
And he wished to contain them as well.
"My sky is not one."
All of them had embraced only a single sky.
As if declaring that to be their limit.
However, Cheon Muyang wanted to surpass that.
"I must become stronger than anyone else."
To do so, he would have to embrace every sky.
Cheon Muyang closed his eyes.
This place was too cramped to swing his sword freely.
'My sky....'
Within his mindscape, Cheon Muyang stood alone upon a desolate land.
Whooong!
Cheongwang began to radiate light.
In that instant, a blue firmament where birds flew freely spread out before Cheon Muyang's eyes.
The vast sky stretched so far that its end could not even be fathomed.
[What sky have you seen?]
Thus, the sky asked.
It was Cheon Muyang's turn to answer.
He could only speak through the sword.
'I will embrace all skies. A sky beyond the sky , a sky that looks down even upon the heavens themselves—I will embrace such a sky.'
Kwa-ga-ga-ga-gang!
The blue instantly darkened.
Along with the deafening roar of thunder.
Dozens of bolts of lightning scattered in all directions and crashed down upon Cheon Muyang.
[You do not possess such qualifications.]
Cheon Muyang shook his head.
'You are not the one who decides qualifications. That belongs solely to me.'
Who dares speak of qualifications?
Who dares speak of limits?
That was a singular authority granted to him alone.
Kkwaak!
Cheon Muyang swung Cheongwang.
The lightning split apart.
'If I say I will embrace it, then I will.'
It was greed.
It was avarice.
But it had to be so.
Because Cheon Muyang wanted to become stronger than anyone else.
[Then I shall watch.]
The sun rose into the sky.
It should not have been possible, yet the moon rose at the same time.
'Ah....'
The harmony of yin and yang intertwined.
The moon and the sun, in the end—
Did they not both have to rise in the sky?
Even if the times they rose differed.
Yin and yang coexisted .
Fwoosh!
What was it?
The area around his dantian grew hot.
The nature of the inner energy Cheon Muyang possessed began to slowly change.
'Cheonyang Divine Art is....'
Cheonyang Divine Art was an entry-level martial art known to all warriors of the Cheon Clan.
As its name implied, Cheonyang Divine Art symbolized the sun.
'It's changing.'
Yet Cheonyang Divine Art contained a sky where both the moon and the sun rose together.
Yin seeped into Cheon Muyang's Cheonyang Divine Art, which had been heavily skewed toward yang, restoring balance.
Sssssr.
The immense energy of a great spiritual elixir residing within Cheon Muyang's body began to melt away.
'The balance is being restored.'
Cheonyang Divine Art was a yang-based cultivation method.
Thus, much of the yang essence had been refined, while a relatively large amount of yin essence remained, gradually pushing the balance toward collapse.
The newly transforming Cheonyang Divine Art restored the balance of yin and yang.
Thump!
Thump thump!
The speed of his qi accelerated.
It was likely because the yin essence had melted away, expanding the size of his qi channels.
Then, the pain of his internal organs burning down engulfed Cheon Muyang.
'I have to maintain consciousness....'
If he failed, he would fall into qi deviation.
So Cheon Muyang desperately clung to the thread of his consciousness.
A moment that lasted no more than an instant felt like an eternity.
"Hoo...."
Opening his eyes with a rough breath, Cheon Muyang did not feel exhaustion, but rather a sense of inner energy filling his entire body.
It was a refreshing clarity he had never felt since being reborn as Cheon Muyang.
"Did I succeed?"
Cheonyang Divine Art had advanced.
The Cheonyang Divine Art, once biased toward yang, had achieved perfect balance as yin energy seeped in.
"So this is why Cheonyang Divine Art is called a Divine Art."
Cheonyang Divine Art had been incomplete.
And precisely because of that, it could be completed.
However, that completion was one tailored solely to Cheon Muyang.
"Cheonyang Divine Art must remain incomplete."
Only then could it be completed in accordance with the one who cultivated it.
Though by now, no one remembered that truth.
"So ascendant martial arts never truly existed from the start."
Cheonyang Divine Art was unfinished.
Thus, he had thought that somewhere within the Cheonryong Repository there would be ascendant martial arts to fill the empty parts of Cheonyang Divine Art.
He believed those martial arts would contain the incantations Cheonyang Divine Art lacked.
"It wasn't incantations."
No, it was not incantations.
From the beginning, this was an enlightenment that could not be conveyed through incantations.
If it could have been conveyed through incantations, then all of those autobiographies would have become a single martial arts manual.
"Formalized incantations were only a very small part."
Unrestrained freedom was not always a good thing.
For it only held meaning if it could be passed down through generations.
After all, the inheritance of martial arts could be severed at any time.
"So that's why they tried, even in this way, to leave behind their own skies."
The ancestors must have been well aware of this problem.
Thus, the countless autobiographies about the skies gathered here were, in a sense, the embodiment of their concern.
"And on top of that, they must have been systematized and organized into the martial arts of the Cheon Clan as we know them."
A formalized sky.
By stripping away freedom, it became rigid, yet able to contain a single, clearly defined sky.
"So this is the sky that makes up the Cheon Clan today."
Only one sky.
That alone became the sky of the Cheon Clan.
Paradoxically, the Cheon Clan, which had sought to embrace the most free and unrestrained sky, was left with only a single sky in the end.
"Perhaps that's why a limit was drawn...."
It was sufficient.
However, because the Cheon Clan's sky had lost its freedom, its limits were also relatively clear.
『One of the Ten Great Clans Under Heaven.』
It was certainly a title of glory.
After all, it meant being counted among the top ten clans among the countless noble families of the Central Plains' martial world.
『However, it is ambiguous when it comes to entering the Five Great Clans Under Heaven.』
From that point on, opinions became divided.
『If one were to choose the Three Great Clans Under Heaven, there would be no place for the Cheon Clan.』
That was the reality of the Cheon Clan.
Cheon Muyang could understand the reason behind it.
"How ridiculous. A clan of the sky that lost its sky. Tsk."
A bitter smile naturally formed on Cheon Muyang's lips at the irony.
"Hm...."
Cheon Muyang soon frowned.
It was because of a foul stench he sensed from somewhere.
"Don't tell me...?"
The source was himself.
It was the residue unconsciously expelled whenever he operated Cheonyang Divine Art.
However, the amount was incomparable to before, and the stench was far more severe.
"At this rate... I think I'll have to leave in less than a day."
It was bad enough to worry about contamination.
So, after tidying up the books, Cheon Muyang stepped outside the Cheonryong Repository.
"Y-young master!"
Naturally, Wol-yeong was waiting outside.
However, her expression was subtle.
"What is it? What's wrong?"
"Why are you only coming out now?!"
"Only now?"
"Yes! You said you'd come out in two days! It's been ten days already!"
"Ten days...?"
Cheon Muyang doubted his ears.
Ten days.
How could so much time have passed in the blink of an eye?
"Ten days? Are you sure?"
"Yes. Just look at your clothes. You've been wearing them for ten days...."
Wol-yeong covered her nose.
Even she, who had grown accustomed to cleaning Cheon Muyang's room, found the stench beyond imagination.
"Quick, let's go before anyone sees you!"
Only now had favorable rumors about Cheon Muyang begun to spread.
And yet, at a time like this, rumors about a foul stench would be like throwing cold water on everything.
Wol-yeong glanced around, wary of onlookers, as she led Cheon Muyang away.
"Ten days...."
Even as he was being dragged along, Cheon Muyang still couldn't believe it.
"Come to think of it... am I hungry?"
Grrrkk.
He was hungry.
It seemed ten days really had passed.