Chapitre 2: Fuck Martial Arts
They say that when someone dies, their last moments stretch out to last even 4 Gaks.
I guess that's true, even for crazy bastards such as me.
But as I said, being born with Sword Unification is a curse. Being able to cut down anything you want so long as your will is strong enough, it's an ability that spits in the face of martial arts if given to a person at birth.
Day in and day out for every year of my childhood, martial artists from around Murim would visit me to try and convince me to join their sects. Yet each and every day they would return to their sects disappointed. Because I had no intention of becoming a martial artist to begin with.
Being told you can become the greatest at something from a young age, and having everyone around you expect you to become the greatest is not how you want to raise a child.
Sure, at the beginning it was all good and fun, I learned internal energy, and I learned how to properly hold a sword. But after using Sword Unification at will for the first time, I knew everything I was being taught wasn't even worthy of being called shit.
And it was from that day forward that I did the unthinkable, I turned my back against martial arts. Jianghu is a world where without martial arts, you can be killed over something so worthless like a seat at a restaurant.
How did I turn my back on martial arts? I broke my dantian of my own volition. I chose to sever the one thing that marks me as a martial artist for good. And it was that day that I was given a nickname that suits me quite well.
Crazed Unifier.
Breaking my dantian broke my mind too, but I wasn't called the Crazed Unifier because I went crazy. I was called the Crazed Unifier because I was crazy from as far back as I could remember.
The fools who practiced martial arts hated me for doing this too. Because even without a dantian I was still better than those who dedicated their lives to training.
I got tired of those mush-brained chimps visiting me every day, so I left after I turned twelve. I took a regular sword, a small bag of Gold Taels, and an urn of water and left home. I only left one thing behind for my parents, a note saying that I wouldn't be returning.
Though since I was the youngest son, they didn't seem to care much. I wandered Jianghu, stole from mush-brained chimps, drank and ate when I wanted, and slept wherever I pleased.
Those bastards got tired of my antics apparently. Soon enough I found myself being hunted by even the Unorthodox. Even though they love it when people like me make a mess for the Orthodox to clean up.
My days turned from being visited by martial artists to recruit me into their clans, to spitting in their faces and destroying their pride. Even better was that they would have to send their sect or clan leaders after me just to not have lives get lost. So I was also damaging their reputation with each day I lived.
At one point I even ran a gambling den; all that hard-earned money from regular people and martial artists alike flushed into my gambling den went straight into booze and food. It was quite delicious. Those days are long gone however, only disaster remains in the town my gambling den resided in.
- - -
Even in youth the pains of age are present.
Internal cultivation has one upside, only one.
It helps with aging slower. But even then age still catches up.
But crippling or destroying a dantian filled with internal energy? You'd have better chances at living by fighting a tiger bare-handed. Although some martial artists do that for sport or to show off to those who don't know the ways of Murim.
Those fools buy into it too. Some of those moronic martial artists stoop so low to fool others into thinking they're a normal person just to make a few Taels off of them.
Not me, I gamble as fairly as possible to earn my money.
I also kill people as fairly as possible to earn my money, though the victims don't see it that way.
I'm fair, unlike those from Murim. Mush-brained chimps who extort money for protection, fools who extort money to create good or bad rumors about people. Or even bastards who dig through their own shit by extorting money just for the sake of extorting money.
Those in Murim are the furthest from fair.
Those born into Murim are less fair than even the world, since even the world will give moments of happiness.
But of course, fairness doesn't bring life. Being fair to those who are unfair just brings death to your doorstep. And finally, I found myself knocking on death's door like an old friend who moved away at a young age.
-You were given a fragment of the True One's soul in the form of an elixir, yet you had your life ended when you could have ascended and joined the True One if given enough time.
Even when at death's door, the crazy bastards like me still hear voices talking to them.
-The True One's power is not something you can just drink and inherit, but it seems an exception will be allowed this time. Enjoy the fruits of training, Lee Haneul.
Fuck off voices, how can I train when I'm about to be dead…
.
.
.
This warmth, where is it coming from? The last feeling I remember was the warmth leaving my body as I fell. Everything I could see was a blur, and even Baishi Mountain was moving too fast to see properly.
Everything is dark now, and my body feels weird. Everything is cramped, yet everything is warmer and more welcoming than what I've felt in my whole life.
"Lee Haneul, that's a good name for a fourth child right?"
I guess this is death, such a comforting state. I thought death would be cold, but It's not. It was like floating in a pool of water, but not needing to breathe because there's no reason to breathe, my life is already over, I can just relax and float for eternity.
"Lee Haneul… Yes, that's a fine name for our fourth son. Let's hope he's as strong as his brothers when he grows older."
Such peacefulness, if it wasn't for these weird voices talking about brothers or some crap, I would have forgotten how to speak by now.
"Look at him, sleeping so peacefully without a care in the world. I wish I could still do that."
What the hell are these voices talking about? Anyone can sleep peacefully so long as they stop giving a damn.
"You don't get to sleep so peacefully because of your position honey. Having a family while being one of the strongest hidden martial artists around is a heavy burden for you."
'Martial arts! Who the fuck dares mention martial arts while i'm dead?!'
My eyes shot open in a fury at the mention of a martial artist, but such fury left me blinded from the large amounts of light entering my pupils.
'Fuck! Why am I staring into the sun while dead?!'
"Waaaaahhhhh! Waaaaaaahhhhhhh!"
And now a baby is crying! What shitty afterlife is this?
"Look dear, he opened his eyes for the first time! And so much sooner than his brothers too! Oh Lee Haneul, you're such a strong little baby aren't you?"
That's it, I'm done! To hell with this shitty afterlife, I'll cut my way out! Sometimes a curse can be a blessing after all.
As my eyes slowly adjusted to the light entering it, blobs of color that formed different shapes began morphing together and creating objects around me. The objects around me began to clear up and gain defined edges, slowly adding depth to the blurry space around me.
"That's my son for you, getting better with each generation. I wonder if we have another child how fast it'll open its eyes?"
"Remember what the doctor said dear? If I have any more children, both me and the child might not make it."
"Right, right. I remember dear."
Before my eyes completely adjusted to the light, everything clicked as to where I was. All I could see was a tightly woven basket surrounding me while two human figures loomed over me, this was no afterlife.
'Have a good next life, Lee Haneul.' Bullshit you old man! The geezer gave me a weird drink that made my body act up like it had started absorbing an elixir, then he killed me at my request so he could hide the evidence of where that weird drink went.
Then that voice I heard as I was dying! That was a new voice, one who spoke in a more refined and conscious manner, unlike the voices that my mind makes to fuck with itself. That voice is responsible for sending me into a new life.
Fuck! Can't the world just let me die? I don't want to deal with any of this, I just want to lay back and enjoy that deep nothingness. Hold on, if this is a new life, then it hasn't been the voices in my head I've been hearing.
That means there's someone to be cut down to soothe this fury of mine.
The two human figures staring down at me had to be my new parents, but the figure on my right was substantially bigger than the one on my left. That must be my new father.
I could make out blurry remarks about the man on my right, his face was scruffy and full hair on his jawline. His eyes looked down on me softly, yet the scar running underneath his right eye to his lips proved his experience in battle.
The deep scar stood out quite well on his face, being that its pale white color stood out against his tanned skin. Though I'm surprised, such an ugly bastard was a father to three other people? Let alone a father to me? I'll have to test him, having the title of father to me isn't something the weak should have.
As I stared at the man's right shoulder my hands subtly moved to a two-handed sword position. In my current state, drawing forth Sword Unification would be a pain to do, this new body's will is feeble, so it will be overpowered by the Will of the Sword.
But one use at this age won't be detrimental, the most I'll suffer is a lack of motivation to do anything for a year or so. Whilst imagining a sword in my hands, I interconnected the Human Will and the Sword Will, the latter of which resided in my mind, and the former residing in my heart.
My previous life's Sword Will was something of magnificence.
At least, that's what I would have liked to say.
My previous life's Sword Will was strong indeed, but its shape and edge were rusted and old. It was like a sword that won a battle from ages in the past, while in its prime it was strong and revered as an amazing weapon. But in the current age it's just another rusty sword that even a third-rate warrior wouldn't use.
As the two energies met in my hands and melded together like liquid metals in a crucible, my Unified Sword began to form in my hands starting with the handle. Since my Human Will was weak, my Unified Sword only had a physical presence for the necessary parts.
The man who was supposed to be my new father hadn't seemed to catch on yet, as he was still staring deeply into my eyes with a glimmer of excitement within him. I guess he's not as strong as his body makes him seem.
The moment my Unified Sword finished forming, I used my remaining Sword Will to thrust my Unified Sword at the man's left shoulder. With my Unified Sword being mostly intangible and only having the edges visible, he would lose his left arm permanently once it pierced him.
"Little brat, did you think I wouldn't realize what you're doing?"
The moment my Unified Sword was about to pierce the man's left shoulder, a force stronger than anything I had ever perceived stopped the movement of everything and everyone around the man. The only exception was my new mother, as she was frantically darting gazes back and forth between me and her husband.
The powerful force didn't just stop my Unified Sword, it dropped it to the floor from the weight being exerted. Was this the true power of internal energy? Being able to force down your opponents without lifting a finger?
Though I say dropped to the floor, that's a mistake on my part.
The man on my left looked down to the floor and released his energy which held the room still, my Unified Sword had dropped blade first into the floor. Only a medium sized hole remained where my sword had been dropped, and the man's face soon filled itself with joy.
The man spoke to his wife as he continued to stare down the hole in the floor.
"Honey, it seems like we're raising a monster like myself."
I still remember that day like it was yesterday, even though it was ten years ago…
Author's note:
1 Gak = 15 minutes
Will of the Sword: Simply put, like how a human has a will to live, a sword has a will to cut. Sword Unification relies on balance between both wills, when out of balance, the weaker side will be strained to match the other side's will.
État de l’alimentation hebdomadaire
-- Classement
Power Stone 
-- Power
stone