“Phew.”
After finishing my energy cultivation as usual, I gathered my Qi. Even though I used the spiritual medicine to burn the clumps in my blood vessels, the residual energy was quite a lot and hadn’t been fully absorbed into my body yet.
Still, unlike usual, I finished the cultivation early and sat at my desk.
I had inadvertently made a mistake in my realization, turning Master Un-jong into Hyeong-gyeong, so I needed to organize my thoughts. I promised myself to be more careful with my words… I recalled the realizations of the members of the Jeomchang Faction one by one.
First, there were the eleven masters I met often. Well, actually one was expelled, so it was ten masters now. To be honest, I couldn’t remember all of their realizations.
The basis of the realization quiz was mostly about asking oneself the necessary realizations in the form of questions.
In other words, the questions about characters that could be recruited as companions often came up.
In that sense, the Senior Members of the Martial Artists of the Nine Great Sects were the ones furthest removed from my companions. Even as part of the Nine Great Sects, the only ones worth recruiting were blood-related brothers. The leaders of the Nine Great Sects would be hard to manage due to distribution issues, and the cost of recruiting them would be high anyway.
Still, I racked my brain to recall what kind of realizations they had and headed out to find the masters.
I needed to receive my morning training.
It was rumored among the Jeomchang Faction that Master Un-jong gained realization through his own strength.
Fortunately, since most of the masters achieved realization after their disciples had all returned, it didn’t seem like any disciple had witnessed my grand speech.
Rather than saying the outcast guest babbled on aimlessly and got a realization, it was a much more plausible story that I suddenly gained realization while diligently working for the sect and the children, so the disciples of the Jeomchang Faction would likely believe that rumor.
After finishing the morning training, I headed to the masters’ quarters for class, where eleven masters were huddled together, working on some paperwork.
“What are you doing, masters?”
Teacher Yeong-yul greeted me with enthusiasm.
“Oh, great! You’ve come at just the right time! When I was explaining the third contest, do you remember what you said?”
“Excuse me?”
“At that time, something about the harmony of martial arts and techniques. It sounded a bit childish, so I’m reviewing what I said!”
“No… How could I remember that?”
[The topic of the third contest is beanbag tossing.]
[First, there will be a demonstration of your own beanbag tossing.]
[Did you see that? Beanbag tossing is a combination of martial arts and hand techniques…]
What were they doing? It seemed they were writing down everything I had said so far.
“Oh… This realization… I’m getting a feeling. ‘The moment the wrist traces a circle and the fingers cross a straight line, a quadrant of vision opens up’… Ohhhh!”
Teacher Jeong Mu widened his eyes and trembled, causing the other masters to quickly turn their heads to stare at him.
“Please don’t put on a show, Teacher Jeong Mu. That isn’t your realization.”
After trembling for a good while, Teacher Jeong Mu said, “…Is it not?”
“Hey, you rascal!”
“I thought it was real!”
The masters, who had been nervously swallowing their spit, threw ink stones at Teacher Jeong Mu out of anger.
“Masters, really. It was just a coincidence, right? You all saw it happening, why are you acting like this?”
“Uh, uh, it’s a coincidence.”
“Right, it’s a coincidence. A coincidence can happen twice.”
“Hmm.”
Seeing them finally realize they had crossed a line, the masters started to clear their throats awkwardly.
“Ahem. It’s just that… how do I say this… Since they said they would start the theoretical training today, I was just doing some note-taking! That’s all.”
“Geez, geez, I’ve gotten old, my memory isn’t what it used to be. If I don’t do this kind of dementia prevention…”
“Oh, please, enough with the talk.”
I was about to argue, but upon seeing Master Un-jong amidst the masters, I took the hint. Master Un-jong, who caught my eye, subtly averted his gaze and cleared his throat.
“Is this happening with you, too, Master Un-jong?”
“Ahem. I’m just here to learn techniques from you. I need to learn techniques!”
“Tsk.”
Seeing how hurriedly Master Un-jong had written something in his notebook, I rubbed my forehead. That master should have been satisfied with just one realization, yet they were getting greedy.
“Anyway, please focus! Today we will start the theoretical class.”
Well, realizations are realizations, and just as my martial arts practice must continue, the masters’ magic lessons must also proceed.
“Um!”
“Of course! There must be clues to realization in your techniques!”
Anyway, their eagerness to learn was quite evident.
“Let’s start with illusions, shall we?”
The class itself wasn’t hard. It was something I had explained once before at the Tang Clan.
Just like I expected, the masters began to groan as the technical explanations started.
Since it was a process of breaking the common knowledge they had firmly believed in until now, there would inevitably be some pain. Even if they wanted to deny the theory, they had already mastered the techniques and were now entering the theory, so they had no choice but to accept it begrudgingly.
“Haha, shall we stop here for today?”
“Hmm. It would have been better if you just assigned us homework instead.”
Was it a problem because I set the standard based on the Tang Clan? Their reactions were completely different. The Tang Clan members seemed impressed whenever I explained the theory, while the masters only looked increasingly puzzled.
In fact, you don’t need to understand all the principles to perform magic. And considering the masters would likely only use hand techniques as a means to connect with the children, I wondered if an in-depth course was really necessary.
If things don’t improve after a few days, I may have to switch to practical training instead.
Just then, Master Un-jong said, “Speaking of which, could you show us the techniques you demonstrated on your first day once more?”
“Hmm? It’s not difficult, but…”
“I’m just a bit curious. Since my skills increased, I want to see if I can penetrate your tricks.”
“Oh.”
At Master Un-jong’s not-so-subtle provocation, I smiled back. To be honest, I was quite curious too.
Tang Guanglie, the head of the Tang Clan, was known as the king of martial arts in Hwa-gyeong. I had won against him in a gamble.
However, I didn’t feel an exhilarating thrill or sense of achievement from that fact.
Because I knew there were several figures in the martial world capable of competing with gambles when reaching Hwa-gyeong, regardless of their level. Even someone at the level of Hwa-gyeong could be an easily defeated opponent if their gambling skill was low.
But whether or not I could deceive someone at the level of Hyeong-gyeong through gambling was still a complete unknown.
That’s because there had never been anyone who reached the level of Hyeong-gyeong among those who could compete with gambles in the martial world.
“Well then, shall we have a light contest?”
“Sounds good.”
“Oh, this suddenly became interesting.”
The topic seemed to pique the masters’ interest, prompting them to actively set up a game.
In the blink of an eye, the table was cleared, the cups appeared, and the broken ink stone pieces were smoothed out to become beads.
Ignoring the curious faces of the masters, I focused all my attention solely on Master Un-jong. After all, it was a matter of facing a master at the level of Hyeong-gyeong, so I intended to give it my all.
“I will begin.”
Sasa-sasa!!
Focus and skill. A gamble where neither was spared unfolded. The moment the cup stopped, I heard voices from the crowd saying things like, “Did you see that?” “I didn’t see it.” But I focused purely on Master Un-jong’s reactions.
Master Un-jong rubbed his chin thoughtfully for a moment before choosing a cup.
“Hmm. I think it’s the third cup.”
I silently lifted the third cup. Inside it was a bead made from a smoothed-out broken ink stone used as a substitute for the dice.
“How did you know that?”
Master Un-jong spoke calmly.
“I’ll make sure to confirm that I did not grasp your technique yet. A while ago, my eyes were deceived, just as per your teaching… but aside from that, I can read your intention. It seems you intended to create a situation where I had to choose between the first and second cups.”
So, this is Hyeong-gyeong? The ability to read a person’s intentions.
“Since you tried to present a binary choice between the first and second cups, I felt that the actual bead was likely in the third cup.”
The first round of a gamble tends to have the highest win rate. In a real gambling situation, one might not use every technique right from the start since they need to attract players. But in any case, in the first round of a gamble, it’s advantageous for the one spinning the cups. They can roll everything they know until they’re sure of the deception.
And I had done just that, but it all got figured out in an instant.
“Haha, but I’m not sure if we should call this penetration. If I hadn’t attended your theoretical lecture today, I don’t believe I would have been able to read your intentions.”
I shook my head.
“In a gambling game, only the outcomes remain. Can you indulge me in a few more rounds?”
In gambling, luck is also a skill. Moreover, luck can sometimes be considered a blend of various unpredictable factors. For instance, if a gambler tends to lean more toward the first cup habitually, and an opponent who saw nothing bets on the first cup and wins, was that luck or strategy?
The results of the five rounds, conducted simply, ended with my victory. The problem was… did Master Un-jong really read all of my intentions? After losing two rounds in a row, I ended up randomly shuffling the cups with no intention, and the result only came from the luck of the master who hadn’t read my intentions.
“I’ve learned something.”
“No, it’s me who saw a great technique. Haha… I thought being at Hyeong-gyeong meant having the world at my feet, but truly… the world is vast.”
Even though I was curious, asking the master for a proper gambling match would be incredibly rude. It might be possible to let them go through a simple bet like this, but it would be crossing the line to draw them into a game with stakes and follow the rules of gambling.
So, I had no choice but to make an educated guess.
If I were to gamble formally with Master Un-jong, I cautiously predicted a result around 60:40. When all elements such as psychology, luck, hand technique, and acting were fully utilized.
If the master learned techniques from me for a month or two, I felt it might narrow down to about 55:45.
Is this what they call Hyeong-gyeong?
