The next morning was bustling.
Mok Ri-won, too excited to sleep, had risen before dawn and created quite a commotion.
"Kid, you don't need to fuss so much. I'm not going anywhere."
"Hehe... but still..."
"Impatience is a bad habit when learning martial arts. You must cultivate patience."
"Yes!"
He answers so well, Mok Seon-oh thought, chuckling to himself.
After an early breakfast, Mok Seon-oh led Mok Ri-won to the courtyard.
"Alright, from today onward, we begin your formal training in earnest. Are you prepared?"
"Yes!"
"Really?"
Mok Seon-oh narrowed his eyes as he asked.
Mok Ri-won flinched under that gaze, hesitating again. After a moment, realizing he needed no further preparation, he replied firmly, "Yes! Really!"
Mok Ri-won's eyes sparkled with anticipation. Today was the day he would learn to "pour out stars at midday," and he was brimming with excitement about what mystical teachings the old man would impart.
Thump-thump.
As Mok Ri-won's young heart pounded eagerly, Mok Seon-oh declared, "Then let's start with the Horse Stance."
Mok Ri-won's expression went blank.
Horse Stance
A stance in which the legs are spread shoulder-width apart, with the knees bent at a right angle.
While this stance is a fundamental part of every martial artist's training in the Martial World, something they practice throughout their lives, Mok Ri-won had no way of knowing this.
Lacking common sense, Mok Ri-won simply looked puzzled.
He dutifully performed the Horse Stance as instructed, but he couldn't fathom how this exhausting posture could possibly be related to summoning starlight.
Mok Seon-oh noticed Mok Ri-won's confusion and offered an explanation:
"Won-ah, what supports a tree?"
"R-roots...!"
"Exactly. Does a deeply rooted tree sway in a mere breeze?"
"Ah... No!"
"Martial Arts are the same. They embody the principles of nature within the human body and express them through physical techniques. Before you begin 본격적인 수련, you must first strengthen your lower body—the foundation upon which your martial arts will be built."
Mok Seon-oh's tone was stern, leaving Mok Ri-won no room for argument. He seemed determined not to yield on this point.
"It's said that martial artists are classified by the level of their Internal Energy. However, that's merely a general standard. Ultimately, Martial Arts are executed through the physical body. No matter how potent your Internal Energy, if your physical vessel is weak, the true power of your Martial Arts will be diminished to a mere fraction of its potential, wouldn't you agree?"
His words stretched on at length, but Mok Ri-won struggled to focus.
It was only natural.
He was still a young boy of seven.
No matter how prodigious his talent, his muscles were still soft and pliable, and his stamina simply couldn't keep up.
He tried his best to concentrate, but even that proved difficult in the circumstances.
Mok Ri-won could only groan and continue practicing the Horse Stance.
"If you truly wish to become a master, you must focus more on building a solid foundation than simply advancing your cultivation through Internal Energy."
Roots...! Foundation...!
The weather was infuriatingly bright and sunny.
Mok Ri-won, drenched in sweat under the blazing sun, could only grasp a few words from the lecture and repeat them to himself:
A sturdy lower body.
Mok Ri-won's long journey of training, like that of any martial artist, began with building this fundamental strength.
Three months had passed.
Mok Ri-won's progress in his cultivation during this time could be summarized in a single word: slow.
So slow, in fact, that it made one doubt whether he was truly the Heavenly Killing Star incarnate.
However, this wasn't due to any lack of talent on Mok Ri-won's part.
Rather, it was entirely due to Mok Seon-oh's deliberate approach.
Feeling Qi should be instantaneous, Mok Seon-oh dared to predict.
He believed that the moment Qi flowed through the boy's body, he would complete the Lesser Heavenly Cycle—a feat equivalent to reaching the Second-Rate realm.
Mok Ri-won's overflowing talent would allow him to accomplish this seemingly impossible feat in a single stroke.
That was why Mok Seon-oh hesitated to rashly teach him how to manipulate Qi.
Internal Energy beyond the body's capacity will harm Won, he reasoned.
True martial arts mastery required the harmonious development of three essential elements: Mind, Qi, and Body.
But what if one were to ignore this principle and rashly teach the Qi before the foundation was laid?
The overflowing Qi within their body—the spiritual energy—would overwhelm their physical vessel, their body, damaging their meridian points.
Slowly, it's right to solidify the vessel first.
So that the moment he senses Qi, he can ascend to the Second-Rate realm. So that at that moment, his physical body can withstand the influx of spiritual energy.
It would be fair to say that everything he had done over the past three months had been for this purpose.
He taught Mok Ri-won the Horse Stance.
He also taught him how to sprint up mountains, as well as basic techniques like the straight punch and front kick.
Today marked the culmination of aligning the body to its proper path.
"Stop."
At Mok Seon-oh's command, Mok Ri-won, who had been holding the Horse Stance, collapsed to the ground.
His entire body was drenched in sweat, and his breath came in ragged gasps.
Mok Seon-oh watched him with a satisfied expression before finally speaking.
"The time has come," Mok Seon-oh said.
Flash!
Mok Ri-won's eyes snapped open.
His gaze, wide with surprise, turned to Mok Seon-oh.
"Internal Energy?!"
The excited shout was perfectly understandable. After all, wasn't this the very reason Mok Ri-won had endured such hardship all this time?
Mok Seon-oh chuckled heartily and nodded.
"That's right, Won. It's time for you to learn how to sense Qi."
Mok Ri-won struggled to sit up, grunting with the effort. Once he had settled into a proper seated posture, he looked up at Mok Seon-oh expectantly.
"I'm ready!"
"Ready? How can you possibly focus on Circulating Qi when you're drenched in sweat like that? Go wash yourself in the stream first."
Mok Ri-won bolted toward the stream, panting heavily. Was he really that eager to learn?
Mok Seon-oh watched his retreating figure, shaking with laughter as he roared with amusement.
The front courtyard was serene.
The child's palpable excitement and anticipation seemed to imbue the stillness with its own quiet intensity.
"Won, assume the lotus position. You remember what I taught you, right?"
"Yes!"
Mok Ri-won settled into a perfect lotus posture.
At first, when he'd first learned this posture, Mok Ri-won had whimpered at the aching in his groin. Now, he sat effortlessly, not even blinking as he maintained the familiar pose.
"Now then, what did I say the mind cultivation technique we're learning today is called?"
"Star Lotus Divine Art!"
"And what kind of martial art is the Star Lotus Divine Art?"
"It's a martial art that engraves constellations in your heart!"
"Excellent! You've memorized it well. Very impressive."
Mok Ri-won grinned broadly.
Mok Seon-oh placed a hand on Mok Ri-won's back and continued.
"Our ancestral founder, who created the Star Lotus Divine Art, declared: 'Even on the darkest night, we leave behind shining stars. With these stars, we must dispel the dark clouds looming over the martial world.'"
"Yes!"
"That's why the Star Lotus Divine Art is the martial art of heroes. It's also a human martial art. Won, you must never forget this as you continue your training."
"Yes!"
Mok Ri-won answered with vigor, reaffirming the principles he had learned in theory.
The goal is ten stars.
The Star Lotus Divine Art had ten stages of achievement, from First Star to Tenth Star.
Each stage etched a star into his mind's eye. Mastering all ten stars would unlock a martial art potent enough to aspire to Ascension.
I'm finally becoming Second-Rate.
Today, he would etch his first star, finally reaching the Second-Rate realm—a level worthy of being called a martial artist.
Mok Ri-won's smile widened uncontrollably at the thought.
Mok Seon-oh chuckled helplessly as he watched Ri-won's exuberance, then settled down to begin the day's training.
"Then let's begin. You remember what you need to do, right?"
"Yes! I'll chant the Mantra and guide my Qi according to Master's guidance to complete the Lesser Heavenly Cycle!"
"Good. I'm glad you remember so well."
Mok Seon-oh said nothing more and immediately began releasing the Internal Energy from his Dantian.
Saaah...
A frigid starlight erupted from Mok Seon-oh's body, enveloping Mok Ri-won.
Mok Ri-won felt a peculiar sensation.
It was as if a new world was superimposed upon the one she already knew.
She also felt an intangible substance, as natural as breathing, making contact with her skin—a sensation so obvious she wondered why she hadn't noticed it before.
This was Qi—the fundamental essence of all things—which Mok Ri-won was now finally experiencing.
Amazing...
How could it be so warm?
And how could it feel so comforting?
Even though this was the first time he had encountered it, Mok Ri-won felt an overwhelming sense of familiarity, as if it were more familiar than anything else in the world. As this sensation deepened, his thoughts began to settle.
Qi touched his skin.
It seeped in and flowed through his body.
The boundary between himself and the world blurred, and a vast current began to etch itself into his young flesh.
Wuwojigyeong (無我之境)—
A state of enlightenment where one forgets even their own existence, something ordinary martial artists rarely experience even once in their lifetime.
From the very moment Mok Ri-won first sensed Qi, his innate destiny as a Killing Fiend had been guiding him toward this realization.
A star rose in his mind's eye.
A star of potential, its true color yet to be fully defined.
Such a star had slowly begun to take root within him.
Creating a star on the very day he felt his Qi stir was an astounding achievement, yet Mok Ri-won remained unsatisfied.
He yearned to transcend the realm of a single star, to reach a higher plane.
To grasp the faint glimmer of a second star, barely visible in the distance.
Just as Mok Ri-won was about to seize that moment of enlightenment and claim it as his own,
"Stop!"
Mok Seon-oh roared, his voice cutting through the air.
Startled, Mok Ri-won jerked awake, his eyes snapping open.
Whirling his head around, Mok Ri-won's gaze fell upon none other than Mok Seon-oh, drenched in cold sweat, staring intently at him.
"Master...?" Mok Ri-won tilted his head in confusion.
But Mok Seon-oh couldn't answer.
This was due to an unforeseen aspect of Mok Ri-won's nature, one even he hadn't anticipated.
It wasn't a matter of insufficient Internal Energy.
Mok Seon-oh had anticipated this situation from the moment he decided to take Mok Ri-won as his disciple.
Nor was it a problem of premature enlightenment.
It was only natural for a truly exceptional martial prodigy to be constantly tormented by waves of enlightenment, and Mok Seon-oh had undergone this process himself.
The reason for the confusion that now bloomed across Mok Seon-oh's face was singular:
The meridians...
Mok Ri-won's meridians were vastly different from those of ordinary humans.
No, "different" was too mild a word. A more fitting term would be:
...flowing in reverse.
The meridians were inverted.
The pathways through which blood, Qi, and life force flowed stretched in the opposite direction to those of ordinary people, defying the natural order.
Mok Seon-oh understood what this kind of body signified.
The human body was modeled after nature.
Among its structures, the meridians represented the natural order—the proper path of flow.
For them to flow in reverse meant that Mok Ri-won's meridians existed in a form that defied the natural order.
...In other words, his body had been designed for the Demonic Arts.
The Internal Energy cultivation session had been canceled.
Mok Ri-won pouted, kicking a pebble on the courtyard floor.
It had already been a week.
Mok Seon-oh, who had said it was too early for Internal Energy cultivation, hadn't provided any training at all, fueling Mok Ri-won's growing dissatisfaction.
Could I have done something wrong?
Had he made a mistake during the process of sensing his Internal Energy?
Or perhaps his physical conditioning still hadn't reached Mok Seon-oh's standards?
Mok Ri-won's expression grew despondent.
As he pondered these possibilities, he inevitably concluded that he had disappointed his Master.
Tap.
Tap.
The sound of his toes tapping the pebble echoed through the courtyard.
Gradually, Mok Ri-won's eyes grew misty.
Just as tears threatened to spill over from the welling sadness...
Crunch.
A footstep reverberated through the air.
Mok Ri-won snapped his head up.
His Master should be inside the thatched hut, yet the footsteps were approaching from the opposite direction.
A stranger...?
In his entire life, Mok Ri-won had only ever seen Mok Seon-oh.
So, the moment the thought of a stranger flashed through his mind, he tensed immediately.
Thud. Thud.
The footsteps grew louder and closer.
Mok Ri-won swallowed hard, his dry throat clicking, and stared at the source of the sound.
Rustle.
A grimy middle-aged man emerged from the undergrowth.
His appearance screamed of someone who hadn't washed in days, and his tattered clothes could barely be called rags.
Knowing the word beggar, Mok Ri-won blurted out, "A-are you a beggar?"
The beggar blinked.
Then, he strode purposefully toward Mok Ri-won.
In an instant—
Whack!
"He's the Beggar King! You brat!"
The beggar, Beggar King Ma Il-seok, flicked Mok Ri-won sharply on the forehead.