Rebirth of the Revered Sword Sovereign

Chapter 2

“You remember well?”

“Even if I’m bad at other things, my memory is good, isn’t it? I’m the fastest at memorizing forms. It’s just that I’m slow at understanding and executing them.”

Luo Wuhen muttered with a sullen expression.

Perhaps it really was puberty, because his emotions seemed to rise and fall like waves, changing from one moment to the next.

“It can’t be helped. Everyone’s innate talent is different.”

“Hearing you say that makes it hurt even more.”

Luo Wuhen pushed his lips out in a pout.

After all, Cang Wuyin, the greatest genius Shaolin had ever produced, was standing right in front of him. There was a reason he had been entrusted with the ultimate secret among Shaolin’s secrets, the Three Dharma Swords.

“My words aren’t finished yet. Everyone’s talent is different, but bringing it to bloom and making it fully flourish is a different matter. The martial path has no end. The end only comes at the moment of death. If you don’t give up and keep going until just before you die, you might one day surpass the one you wanted to surpass.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. It won’t be easy, though.”

“Tch!”

Luo Wuhen pushed his lips out again.

That final remark sounded almost like Cang Wuyin was telling him that he should not even dream of surpassing him.

“Let me add something. That’s not what I meant in the way you’re thinking.”

“Really?”

“Of course. Possibility is open to everyone. It’s not like I’m the best under heaven right now, am I?”

“Your goal is still to become the best under heaven, right?”

“Well. It used to be, but now my thinking has changed.”

Luo Wuhen’s eyes opened wide.

As one of the geniuses who had shaken all of Shaolin, Cang Wuyin had always possessed a single goal.

He wanted to become the best under heaven and use that strength to protect Shaolin.

Yet now, the expression on his face was completely different from the one he had shown whenever he spoke about that goal.

“You changed?”

“Yeah. Ah, that doesn’t mean I won’t do it, though. You could say I gained a goal after that. Maybe it’s more accurate to call it a new dream?”

“And what is that?”

“A loafer.”

“Huh?”

The answer came out of Luo Wuhen’s mouth before he could stop himself.

For a moment, he wondered if he had heard Cang Wuyin correctly.

But Cang Wuyin repeated himself with an expression so serious that there was no doubt he meant every word.

“You don’t know what a loafer is? A loafer who lazes around doing nothing. Ah, of course, there are six characters attached in front of it. The best under heaven and a loafer. In short, I just want to loaf around and live off things.”

“Uh…….”

Luo Wuhen’s eyes moved from side to side without settling anywhere.

He genuinely did not know how to respond. He could not even bring himself to look directly at Cang Wuyin.

Seeing his reaction, Cang Wuyin instead broke into a broad grin.

“If you’re the best under heaven, it’s okay to take it easy, right?”

“B-but if you don’t want to be caught up to, shouldn’t you keep striving?”

“You just have to become so strong that no one can even think of catching up.”

“Huh?”

Luo Wuhen was speechless for a moment.

The logic sounded ridiculous, yet the more he thought about it, the more sense it seemed to make.

If the difference in strength was large enough, then perhaps the person ranked second under heaven would not even dare to consider catching up to the person at the top.

Meanwhile, after leaving Luo Wuhen unable to answer, Cang Wuyin’s thoughts drifted toward the distant future.

‘A realm beyond Transcendence.’

When he had fought the Lord of the Northern Sea Ice Palace in that desperate battle, Cang Wuyin had already reached the Transcendent Realm, a level that only a chosen few martial artists were said to be capable of attaining.

Considering his age at the time, reaching such a realm had been an achievement beyond belief.

And yet, he had reached it.

The problem was that the Transcendent Realm was not the end.

‘It wasn’t exactly a fair fight either. Well, considering the age of the Lord of the Northern Sea Ice Palace, maybe that’s not entirely true?’

Cang Wuyin recalled the desperate battle from the distant future, which was now also part of his past, and gave a small shrug.

Perhaps because the memory was not truly distant to him, everything remained incredibly clear.

He could still remember the extreme yin energy released by the Lord of the Northern Sea Ice Palace. Even the thick smell of blood from the battlefield seemed to return to his mind whenever he thought about that fight.

“D-do you think that’s possible?”

“Why wouldn’t it be? Are you going to give up without even trying? Is that your current mindset?”

“No way!”

Luo Wuhen shook his head firmly.

His talent might not have been particularly outstanding, but that did not mean he was going to surrender before he had even begun.

He knew the road ahead would be difficult, and he knew there would be moments when the training became painful. Still, just as Cang Wuyin had said, Luo Wuhen intended to keep moving forward until the very end of his life.

He did not know where his limits would eventually lie.

But he hoped that one day, he could reach the Transcendent Realm, the realm he had always dreamed about.

“That’s right, that’s how a disciple of Shaolin should be. And besides, unlike me, a lay disciple, you’re a true mountain disciple, aren’t you? Naturally, you should dream of something even greater than I do.”

“……But the martial arts you learn are more advanced supreme techniques, Senior Uncle.”

“That can’t be helped. My talent really is that outstanding. I also had a bit of luck. If I hadn’t met my master, I’d probably be studying literature or running a business right now. And let me be clear. The supreme techniques granted to me are only two. The Three Dharma Swords and the inner cultivation method, the Supreme Great Ability. Other than those, what I learned were only the martial arts permitted to lay disciples.”

Still stretched out across the tree branch, Cang Wuyin waved his index finger from side to side.

He spoke as though the techniques he had learned were all extraordinary divine arts, but among them, only the Supreme Great Ability belonged to Shaolin’s famous Seventy-Two Ultimate Arts.

The Three Dharma Swords were an entirely different matter.

It was such a profound and mysterious martial art that it had never been properly passed down through the generations.

There was a reason even his master, the abbot of Shaolin, had never learned it.

“When you put it like that, I guess that’s true?”

“Even just the Seventy-Two Ultimate Arts are each martial arts capable of shaking the world. So don’t envy me and just diligently train what you’ve learned. If you want the Three Dharma Swords, I can teach you anytime.”

“Just looking at the introductory formulas made my head feel like it was going to split open.”

Luo Wuhen shook his head vigorously.

He had understood the moment he looked through the manual why there was practically no one willing to learn the Three Dharma Swords.

“Then why did you come looking for me?”

“Oh! I didn’t tell you that yet. The children of prestigious families have come. You know them too, Senior Uncle, right? The Four Dragons and Three Phoenixes!”

“Nine Dragons and Three Dragons?”

“What? No! The Four Dragons and Three Phoenixes!”

Cang Wuyin had answered absentmindedly while sticking a finger into his ear.

The reason was simple. He knew that although they were currently known as the Four Dragons, they would eventually become the Nine Dragons.

Of course, knowing their future did not mean Cang Wuyin had any particular interest in them.

“Right. Did they come around this time?”

“I told you a little while ago.”

“Did you?”

Unlike Luo Wuhen, who seemed slightly excited about their arrival, Cang Wuyin remained completely indifferent.

Whether a group of promising young martial artists arrived at Shaolin or not did not matter much to him.

Luo Wuhen looked at him with an expression that suggested this reaction was exactly what he had expected.

“Aren’t you curious? If they’re called the Four Dragons, they’re the most outstanding among the rising juniors of the orthodox martial world right now.”

“Only that much?”

“Pardon?”

Luo Wuhen stared at him.

The way Cang Wuyin spoke made it sound as though he already knew the Four Dragons’ abilities from beginning to end.

More than that, there was even a faint sense that he considered them beneath his notice.

“Ah, they haven’t appeared yet, have they. Well, maybe they’re not fully ripe yet either. But why are you getting so excited just because they came? Ah, is it because of the Three Phoenixes?”

“Hehehe.”