Chapter Title: Barley Harvest
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When I was young.
The village had fewer than fifty villagers, but I was truly happy.
There was my mom, and kind neighbors.
The village chief grandpa, the villagers, and even my mom.
Everyone worked together with one heart to make the village happier.
Not quite like the days when the Nine Heavens War God lived here in the past.
But it was a village where many people rubbed shoulders, and everyone laughed happily.
It wasn't just a dream or a wish.
The village put in a lot of effort.
One of those efforts was basic martial arts training.
How many bad guys must have come by?
We couldn't handle terrifying demonic figures or incredible masters.
But at least we wanted to fend off a few thugs causing trouble ourselves.
It's ruins now, but our village had the Nine Heavens Martial Hall.
It was built in the past to honor the Nine Heavens War God.
Every child in the village trained the Three Disasters Sword Technique there.
It was mandatory.
I had to train in the Three Disasters Sword Technique there as a kid, too.
"Muhyeon, this is a family martial art passed down through our house for generations."
I was shocked.
Our family, which I thought had only farmed generation after generation, had a family martial art?
It was called the Innate Sword Manual.
Mom told me to circulate my energy with the Innate Sword Manual, not the Three Disasters Heart Method that went with the Three Disasters Sword Technique.
My heart pounded.
I dreamed that if I mastered the Innate Sword Manual, I might one day become a famous martial arts master.
Yeah, no.
It was just a third-rate heart method on par with the Three Disasters Sword Technique.
No matter how hard I tried, my internal energy wouldn't grow.
By age sixteen, I hadn't even formed a dantian. That says it all.
The plague took Mom when I was fourteen, and most villagers died.
The survivors left the village.
I went to Chang'an and took whatever work I could find.
Then at sixteen.
At that young age, I became a rogue warrior.
The money Mom left me.
The money I scraped together over two years in Chang'an doing odd jobs.
All told, it came to just two taels of silver, and with that, I bought the early forms of the 32 Rogue Arts.
Mom's words from childhood stuck with me, but I had no choice.
To save money.
To survive.
I boldly discarded the Innate Sword Manual I'd been circulating until then and switched to the heart method from the early forms of the 32 Rogue Arts.
Only then did my dantian form, and my internal energy start building bit by bit.
"No matter how I think about it, they're completely different. Why are the early and latter forms so dissimilar?"
A month in, I was still racking my brains.
But no answers came.
I even felt self-loathing, wondering if I was just stupid.
At the same time, my situation—no prestigious sect, not even a proper master—felt utterly pathetic.
I wanted to give up.
Even if I stared at the latter forms of the 32 Rogue Arts until my eyes bled, nothing would change.
Honestly, it felt like I'd just grow old and die like this.
"Hey, Village Chief! You home?"
Whoa!
It's the neighbor uncle.
Why's this guy here?
I told him not to disturb me while I trained.
Anyway, better go see.
"What's up?"
"How can you not leave the house for a whole month?"
"I did. You just didn't see. Gotta go to the back mountain for water. And bathe."
"Right! No well in the village, so yeah, back mountain stream for water."
"So, what's the matter?"
"Time to harvest the barley."
"Barley? I said don't disturb me while I train... What? Barley?"
"Yeah. First harvest in six years since the village turned to ruins, right? Village Chief's gotta come along."
"Ah... But Uncle, it's only been a little over two months since I came to the village."
"That's right."
"Barley takes at least four months to harvest, even the fastest. What? You gonna say 'I farm pretty well' again?"
"No way. Even a master farmer can't grow barley for harvest in two months. Gotta make sense. Haha."
"Then what? What's this miracle?"
"Miracle? Haha. Planted the barley before we even built the house. Today makes exactly four months and a half."
Ah!
Smooth as silk.
This guy's not spilling unless you pin him down.
"Let's go."
"Mm... Yeah. My head was about to explode anyway. Good timing. Working my body might clear my mind."
And so, I headed to the barley field with the uncle.
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Swish!
Swoosh!
Swish!
Swoosh!
Man!
That scythe work is amazing every time I see it.
How does he grab ten handfuls and cut them at once when even one is tough?
We've been cutting ripe barley for over an hour.
Uncle's cutting at a master's pace, at least ten times faster than me.
Eventually, I lost myself watching him.
"Tired already?"
"Huh? Oh, yeah. No. Uncle, how do you do that?"
"This? Scything? Haha, curious about everything. It comes with practice. That's how the world works, right?"
"Mm, yeah."
Not everything does.
The latter forms of the 32 Rogue Arts? I'll never get it, even in a lifetime.
"See, when you go from one handful to two, it's thrilling. Then three at once? Mind-blowing! And eventually ten. Haha."
"...?"
"But easy as it sounds, not everyone finds it easy."
"What do you mean? Isn't it just keep practicing?"
"One to two is easy. But three? Stuck. Know why?"
"Why?"
"Get cocky. Forget your tadpole days, like a frog. Lose the beginner's mind, start cutting corners."
"Mm..."
"Ow, my back."
Uncle, who'd been scything nonstop, finally stretched and stood.
"Basics must be solid. That first scything mindset, posture, motion. Keep it pure, and you're good."
"So? Did it work?"
"Yep. That's why I grab ten handfuls now. Stick to the basics you learned first. Forget that, and ten won't cut it—twenty could."
Whew!
If martial arts were as easy as scything...
Per Uncle.
Review the basics like Three Disasters Sword Technique, and the 32 Rogue Arts latter forms should click.
If so, everyone would be a master.
Hah!
What was I expecting from this farmer?
Better finish the barley before sunset and head home.
No, go to Uncle's for dinner today.
Helped with harvest, so a meal's fair... fair... Huh?
Innate Sword Manual?
Innate Sword...?
Suddenly, my mind flashed like lightning.
Heaven and Earth primordial, Qi unified origin.
Great void nothingness, form births sword.
Firm and yielding in harmony, one sword returns to origin.
Heart calm, sword bright...
Why?
Why does our family Innate Sword Manual connect to the 32 Rogue Arts latter forms?
Heaven's qi unchanging, heart calm without flow.
Qi flows in one line, form without form.
Respond to qi naturally...
I stood dazed, then sat cross-legged.
Closed my eyes deep.
Forgot the world and myself.
Fell into deep enlightenment.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
Never thought I'd see the day.
Enlightenment while cutting barley.
From a farmer's scything lesson, no less.
I spent a full day in enlightenment.
Uncle stayed by my side all night, worried.
He'd heard somewhere not to disturb a warrior in enlightenment, so he just watched.
I didn't fully master the 32 Rogue Arts latter forms.
They're not that easy.
The early forms? My peak body condition let me master them overnight like a miracle.
Early forms are basics learned through the body, no enlightenment needed.
Anyway, I broke through the 32 Rogue Arts latter forms.
In numbers, about one tenth mastery.
From here, results depend on my effort.
But.
No matter how I think, it doesn't make sense.
Why?
Just why?
The latter forms, no connection to the early ones.
Why link to our family Innate Sword Manual?
One more thing I realized for sure.
The 32 Rogue Arts latter forms.
Without the Innate Sword Manual, even a legendary heavenly martial body couldn't comprehend or learn them.
Now, another question?
Famous top rogue warriors in rogue circles possess the 32 Rogue Arts latter forms.
Even mastered them, they say.
Does that mean they learned the Innate Sword Manual?
Wasn't it our family's exclusive art?
Did Mom lie?
Hah!
Nothing but mysteries.
Fine!
Meet a rogue who mastered the latter forms later, and I'll know.
Is their version the same as mine?
Or did they also learn the Innate Sword Manual?
Better wash up and go down.
Sun's set; it's dark.
Water at home's almost gone; need to fetch a ton.
Tsk.
Village ruins dried up the well too.
Hard to even find where it was.
So for water or washing, always trek to this back mountain stream.
Such a pain.
I hurried to bathe in the back mountain stream, loaded up water, and went home.
To a house that should have been empty.
"Jin Muhyeon."
"Huh? You're the Silent Wolf I met before... right?"
From the Hundred-Li Clan, Flash Blade Wi Yeon.
And that scary woman who held a sword to my throat, Blood Flower Yi Boreong.
The rogue who interrogated me for three hours on Wi Yeon's orders back then.
"What brings you here...?"
"Heading to Chang'an. Got a commission."
"You came all this way for that, Silent Wolf?"
"Explanations on the way. Grab your sword first."
"Ah! But... I'm not feeling well. Can't work for a while..."
"It's a summons from Lady Blood Flower Yi Boreong."
Damn!
That scary woman again!
Whew.
What choice?
Don't wanna die? Gotta go.