Chapter 40 : One on One (5)

There is something called the Art of Forgetting Sensation.

There are times when it is inconvenient to live if one's reflexes are too sensitive. In such cases, one deliberately puts the senses to sleep.

How inconvenient would it be if you felt that everything happening in the world was related to you? If you heard rustling sounds at all times, could you even sleep peacefully?

So, you deliberately forget your senses.

You think of everything happening in the world as if it has nothing to do with you. You regard it as such. You believe it and act accordingly. Thoroughly. Then, the senses die.

If the mind is so, the body follows.

The body is the mind. The mind is the body.

The body and mind are not separate. They are united as one and influence each other very strongly.

There is no instance where the body feels as light as a feather when the mind is depressed and uncomfortable. There is also no instance where the mind is vibrant and the whole world looks bright when the body is sick to death.

If the body is sick, the mind is also sick, and if the body is healthy, the mind is also healthy.

If the mind is sick, the body also becomes sick, and if the mind is healthy, the body also becomes healthy.

The Art of Forgetting Sensation applies this principle.

When the senses become sharp, you kill the mind. As you kill the mind, the body follows and dies. It is a way to calm the body. Conversely, if the mind is uncomfortable, you deliberately move the body. You move vigorously. Then, the mind also brightens.

You can adjust your body and mind as you wish.

Ah Geol initiated the Art of Forgetting Sensation.

He forgets the wound. He forgets the pain arising from his body. He thinks that everything happening in this world, all reactions, are happening on their own, having nothing to do with him.

What is important in the Art of Forgetting Sensation is belief.

Depending on what you decide is the highest value, you can smoothly adjust your body and mind.

How can thought dominate reality? You must create a reality stronger than reality.

This is the essence of the Art of Forgetting Sensation.

Such a thing is entirely possible for ordinary people as well. It is not a high level technique but a phenomenon that can occur in daily life.

When a sound reaches the two ears, that sound is real. The sound definitely exists. But what happens if the person hearing the sound is deeply lost in thought?

Two cases occur.

If the sound breaks the thought, the sound is transmitted to the two ears. You wake up from the thought and hear the sound.

If you are so deeply engrossed in thought that the sound cannot penetrate, the sound is not heard. The sound will strike the eardrum, but the head will not be conscious of it.

It pushes away reality.

It is a matter of concentration. It is a difference of which side you concentrate on.

The Art of Forgetting Sensation can be used in a critical moment by anyone with just a little training.

Chiiiit!

He uses the Art of Forgetting Sensation.

He completely kills his mind. He kills his nerves. He becomes a dead person.

He doesn't stop at killing his nerves, he kills his body as well. He kills his mind and body at once.

A dead person cannot be found.

Presence is also something that a living, moving person emits. A dead person emits nothing.

He forgets both body and mind.

Ah Geol moved in that state.

He forgets the danger arising from behind. He forgets the fact that Dongbak is chasing him. He also forgets the danger waiting ahead. Vipers, fierce beasts, cliffs that might suddenly appear… he forgets all dangers.

Everything happening in the world is unrelated to him.

Papat! Papapapat!

A sharp sound of something cutting through the air struck his eardrums.

He had run, forgetting everything… but one sound pushed its way in fiercely.

The Art of Forgetting Sensation says. You must hear this sound.

Papat! Papapapat!

Even if you forget everything, you must hear this sound. Because it is a sound directly connected to life. Because there is no sound more precious than this for preserving one's life.

“Ah!”

Ah Geol let out a low groan.

It was Dongbak. Even though he had moved so secretly, he had not been able to shake him off. The distance was gradually, gradually closing.

He stopped walking.

If the sound of something cutting through the air had broken through the Art of Forgetting Sensation and pushed its way in, it was already too late to avoid it.

He knew the reason why Dongbak had caught up.

The clothes were the problem. Running with wet clothes was the same as telling him to follow comfortably. It might not apply to other people, but for a Single-Instant martial artist, it was so.

Now, he gives up on escaping. He was no match, but it seemed he had come to the place where he would meet his end.

He catches his breath.

He recovers his stamina by moving his true energy.

Swish! Swish!

He detached the green line leeches stuck to his wound.

Dongbak saw this and laughed.

“You carry that kind of thing around too?”

“Don’t you?”

“You? What do you mean, you? I’m still your senior brother, you know. You knew I was your senior brother when you did this, right? Since it’s come to this, why don’t you call me senior brother?”

Dongbak approached.

Ah Geol retreated as much as he approached.

Dongbak stepped on the green line leeches that had fallen from Ah Geol’s chest and said, “Do you need this kind of thing? A disciple of the Single-Instant Sect, I mean. We don’t carry this kind of thing around. If you get hit, you die. If you’re hit by a blade, you should die. Is it right to think of living even after being hit by a blade?”

Ah Geol stared intently at Dongbak.

He looks for an opening. But he can’t see one. Dongbak speaks with a relaxed smile, but he doesn’t reveal any openings.

Dongbak said with a smirk, “So don’t get hit by a blade. It’s a fact that anyone with a Single-Instant Blade knows… no, it’s not a fact, it’s a belief. Huhu, I’m telling you this as a senior brother.”

“Thank you. I’ll accept the advice.”

“You’ll soon find out. That there’s a blade that can’t be solved with leeches like this.”

Sreung!

Dongbak drew his half blade.

Ah Geol drew his half iron blade to defend his chest and said, “But… you said something wrong.”

“Wrong? What could that be? What could I have said wrong?”

Dongbak tilted his head.

“The words ‘senior brother’. Just because we served the same master doesn’t mean everyone is a senior brother. One who has not received the Seori surname is not a senior brother. So, you didn’t say a word as a senior brother, you just said a word.”

“What? Kuk! Kukuk!”

Dongbak chuckled. But a murderous glint flickered in his eyes.

Dongbak had a part he wanted to hide.

Since he had not received the Seori surname from his master, strictly speaking, his martial arts had not been certified.

For Dongbak, it was a great humiliation.

He had thought that he had obtained the Single-Instant Blade in his own way. But his master had not given him the surname until the end. Not even at the moment of his death.

Ah Geol had poked Dongbak’s sore spot.

“A young brat is speaking informally to me. It’s really annoying.”

“You’re going to use your blade soon anyway. What does it matter if you’re a little annoyed?”

It wasn’t that he was saying it to annoy Dongbak. He was just stating the facts as they were.

A stratagem of provocation was useless against a disciple of the Single-Instant Sect.

No matter how severe the insult, they had trained to maintain a mind as unshakable as clear water.

In fact, Dongbak was not shaken.

Although he said he was annoyed with his mouth, the hand holding the blade did not waver at all. It was indifferent. Quiet. Only a strong force was felt. There was no excited energy at all.

Dongbak said with a sneer, “Hehe! Why don’t you talk about the Single-Instant Blade after you’ve received my blade?”

“Alright. I’ll receive it.”

Swoosh!

Ah Geol slanted his half iron blade.

At that moment, Dongbak, as if he had suddenly remembered, hurriedly asked, “Oh! When did you become a disciple? I must be a little excited since it’s been a while since I’ve used my blade. I didn’t ask what I was really curious about. I almost killed you without even asking what I was curious about, right? Tell me. When did you become a disciple? When our master was alive, there were only the three of us, so what happened?”

“Well? I don’t want to tell you.”

Ah Geol said with a smirk.

“That guy, Ah Sam, he knew us well. Who is he? I’ve never seen him before, but he knows us too well. How about it? You can tell me this much, right? He’s already a dead guy.”

“You should find that out yourself.”

“Aren’t you playing too hard to get?”

“Or you could make me open my mouth.”

Ah Geol answered without thinking deeply.

In fact, the conversation had no meaning. It was fine to answer, and it was fine not to.

Ah Geol was probing Dongbak.

The basics of a disciple of the Single-Instant Sect, he probes the opponent’s state. He listens to the sound of their breath. He places his breath on the opponent’s breath, and secretly guides them to follow his breath.

Ah Geol was not talking. He was in the middle of a fight.

Dongbak said, “Then shall I ask something you can answer? Your blade, it’s similar to our master’s blade. When and how did you learn it? I’m asking because your blade is one that cannot be executed without seeing our master’s demonstration.”

He had seen it only once in the cave.

He had watched, facing the cold wind in the wide and deep cave. He had seen it with the eyes of a seven year old child.

He remembers that blade.

The blade that Ah Geol was executing now was that very blade.

His master had shown him the blades of the previous sect masters in addition to his own. He had demonstrated them very slowly. It seemed that he considered it all taught just by showing it once.

But it was really strange.

He would forget a sentence even after seeing it, memorizing it, and writing it down several times, but the memory of what he had seen then was as vivid as if it were yesterday. He still remembered it now. He could also hear his master’s breathing.

Ah Geol did not answer. Instead, he said something else.

“I know that you hadn’t completed the Single-Instant Blade until our master passed away, so when did you complete it? Your blade was quite sharp. But don’t call it the Single-Instant Blade. Its nature is completely different.”

“This brat is ignoring me to the end.”

Swoosh!

Dongbak raised his half blade.

“You’re right. I did not receive the Seori surname. So I’m not your senior brother either. The Single-Instant Blade? I obtained it before our master died. But that old man didn’t give me the surname. Said I was too violent?”

“I see.”

“Alright! Then… die by the blade that our master didn’t acknowledge!”

Shwaaaek!

Dongbak rushed in as if he didn’t want to talk anymore.

Ah Geol raised his half iron blade and held it to his chest. He had been struck in the chest once, so he thoroughly protected his chest.

Shwaek!

Dongbak flashed his blade.

In that instant, the world was split. The jungle was split. The half iron blade was split in two. It was drawn from the top of his head to his crotch. The grass, the trees, were split in half and collapsed.

Dongbak’s blade splits the whole world.

Of course, Ah Geol was at the center of the splitting. He splits the world to split Ah Geol.

Eyeless!

If you apply the Art of Forgetting Sensation to the head, a bizarre qigong called Eyeless emerges.

Just as you forget your senses, you let go of your head.

You concentrate all your senses on your eyes. The eyes gradually get bigger. And soon, the eyes occupy the entire head.

The head disappears and only the eyes remain.

This is Eyeless.

Eyeless was not something his master had taught him. He had learned it himself while pondering the blade art his master had demonstrated. He had probably learned it around the age of fourteen or fifteen.

If you watch with Eyeless, you can even follow a falling raindrop.

Shwaaaek!

He can see it! The half blade comes flying, drawing an arc.

The half blade that had split the world comes to split him in half. It falls from the top of his head.

Swoosh!

Ah Geol slightly turned his body. And he swung his half iron blade up.

Shwaet!

The half iron blade moves.

In the instant Dongbak split the world in half, the half iron blade had moved forward by about a handspan.

Shwaaaek! Pyut!

Dongbak could not split Ah Geol. The half blade passed Ah Geol and fell to the ground.

At the same time, the half iron blade grazed past Dongbak’s sideburns. To be precise… it passed while cutting his skull. The heavy half iron blade shatters his skull.

Tuk! Kung!

Dongbak could not even scream. He collapsed just as he was attacking.

“…Hoo!”

Ah Geol finally let out a deep sigh, a sigh that truly came from the bottom of his heart.

In an instant, all the energy in his body drained away.

He didn’t know how he had fought. He didn’t even have the strength to hold the half iron blade.

Ah Geol sat down with a thud.

It was a trap.

The most dangerous thought in the world was the thought that you had won. Dongbak did not make such a mistake… but a very slight carelessness had occurred in the process of chasing him.

He had completely won!

If he just caught that guy, he would kill him!

A very dangerous confidence had arisen while chasing Ah Geol. Carelessness had occurred.

He had focused on that.

Ah Geol’s Single-Instant Blade was not yet complete. He had already experienced in the canyon what would happen if he faced a near-complete Single-Instant Blade with such a blade. It was an absolute defeat.

He had known from the beginning that he could not face Dongbak.

But what could he do when Grandpa had already started the fight? He had to clash blades with his life on the line.

That was why he had continued to run away. He had made an absurd escape. Wall Gecko Art? He knew how to do that much. And yet, he had used a rope. He could cross the river without a rope. But he had crossed precariously, relying on a rope.

He had made him feel that he had won.

He had made him feel deep in his heart that he was nothing. That he was a trivial person.

He had luckily defeated Dongbak.

In fact, it wasn’t that he had defeated him. Dongbak had collapsed on his own. The arrogance of having won had killed him.

If it weren’t for his arrogance, he would not have been able to defeat him even if he had Eyeless. The situation would probably have flowed in the opposite direction, and the one lying on the ground would have been himself.

“I won by luck. But Gaheon, Hyeonggae won’t make this kind of mistake… how can I fight those people? Even the Single-Instant Blade that our master didn’t acknowledge is this overwhelming.”

Ah Geol looked up at the sky with gloomy eyes.

(End of Chapter)