I Am This Murim’s Crazy Bitch - Chapter 213: Let Us Have A Martial Arts Match (11)
After dinner, it was the historic first lesson with the small master.
Originally, the first lesson shouldn’t just jump into the curriculum, but start with an impressive overview, as is the way of masters.
So the Divine Thief, as a master, began by saying:
“Hmph. Didn’t I treat you quite well, not to be disappointed? And you just blurted it all out? I didn’t think you were a girl without loyalty.”
It was a lingering remark that would have made an ordinary disciple flustered and at a loss.
But Qing was already qualified enough to be called a giant in this area.
Qing smiled gently and soothed the sulking adult.
“Couldn’t you think of it in a good way? I kept my loyalty to Master that much, and now you’re my master too. Isn’t that right?”
“Ahem. Still, even if the Venerable One allowed it, did you have to step up and say it wasn’t necessary?”
“Eii. If I had said ‘Thank you!’ there, wouldn’t Master, you, and I, all of us become shallow people? I was cheering inside, but it was a time when I had to do that once, right? Do you acknowledge that?”The Divine Thief softened a bit.
“Ahem. But, you call the Venerable One ‘Master’, and you call me ‘Master’?”
“Isn’t that better than ‘Little Master’? Would you prefer ‘Little Master’? ‘Second Master’?”
“Ahem. Can’t you remove the prefix? I wanted to hear ‘Master’. There are already plenty of people who call me master.”
“Oh? Do you already have many disciples?”
“You ignorant thing. Didn’t you hear what the Venerable One said? I’m a lecturer at the Hanlin Academy?”
If the creation goddess Nüwa had molded Qing, she put the most effort into her appearance, but whether she used the wrong material or baked her wrong, her insides were completely empty.
Seeing Qing’s expression, Cheon Yuhak felt an ominous feeling, wondering ‘Did I perhaps choose wrong?’
“…Don’t you know?”
“…Should I know?”
The Hanlin Academy was the highest educational institution in the Central Plains, and the highest higher education institution.
In the past Tang Dynasty, at the time of its establishment, it was responsible for educating the emperor, and was an organization with such strong power that it was involved in all government affairs including inspections, administration, and judiciary.
However, as dynasties changed and people were replaced, now it focused on education, book compilation, and research as the center of Central Plains scholarship.
The positions in the Hanlin Academy could be roughly equated to principal (Hanlin Scholar), and two vice principals (Shidu Scholar and Shijiang Scholar) in Qing’s homeland terms.
The Shidu Scholar was in charge of research, as the name suggests “reading poetry”, while the Shijiang Scholar was the head of education, as the name suggests “teaching poetry”.
Didn’t Ximen Surin say that a Shijiang Scholar of the Hanlin Academy would be called a giant for scholarship alone?
However, it was truly absurd that a giant of the level of a Hanlin Academy Shijiang Scholar was moonlighting as a Divine Thief.
“Wow. Master, you were an amazing person. Are you like a great master, true master, grand master or something?”
Although Qing’s head was empty, her appearance was real, so the old man’s heart melted at the cute disciple’s aegyo.
“Ahem, well, let’s stop the small talk here. First, the Divine Thief… No. You girl, did you pretend not to know while knowing my identity? No, how did you know that?”
“Um… You showed me the secret manual of the Shadowless Divine Hand?”
“I knew it! You did recognize it!”
“I never said I didn’t recognize it. And why on earth did you make the secret manual into an erotic picture book? And a poorly drawn one at that.”
“Poorly drawn! It’s the greatest masterpiece in art history, drawn page by page by the master painter Jin Johyeon, the Painting Immortal!”
“Even if you say that about an erotic book…”
“Ahem.”
Cheon Yuhak cleared his throat in embarrassment.
“The most important quality the Divine Thief considers when passing on the lineage is keen senses. It was created to need either the eyesight to visually confirm the tiny inscriptions hidden in the world’s best erotic art without being swayed by it, like you, or the sensitivity to feel them by touch.”
“Ah. So that’s what it was.”
Qing just registered by touching it, so she had no idea it had such meaning.
If Cheon Yuhak knew, he would have been devastated.
“Ahem. Maybe I should write the Dao De Jing instead of erotic art.”
Cheon Yuhak thought to himself.
It’s a disadvantage that it’s embarrassing to giggle about this kind of thing together since the disciple is a woman, he thought.
Of course, he was underestimating Qing too much.
“I don’t know who this Painting Immortal is, but isn’t the style too refined to be called erotic art? There should be a more primal attraction, it’s not like you’re going to hang erotic art on the wall.”
“Hm?”
“More like, this? Hmm, it’s not working well…”
Qing drew a picture on the ground with the Blue Sword.
Using one of the most famous swords known for its sharpness to draw on the rocky ground would be an outrageous act that would make someone gasp and slap their cheeks if they saw it.
However, Qing, who roughly treated weapons as consumables, and the Divine Thief, who treated treasures like stones, were both unimpressed.
“Hm? This style? It’s poorly drawn, but still. The lines. Hooh. Isn’t it too bold? Originally, human bodies aren’t like this.”
“Come on, it’s a drawing, so it can be like this, right?”
“…? What kind of bizarre logic is that?”
In Qing’s homeland, there was a device called a camera, so drawings often had the excuse of being free.
But there wasn’t one in the Central Plains, so it was natural that Cheon Yuhak didn’t understand.
“But, hmm. It has a feeling. I’d like it if you learned to draw properly and drew it properly.”
“Eii, what martial artist learns to draw?”
“The Venerable One said. She told me to teach you the Four Arts a bit. She said you play music well, your calligraphy is among the best under heaven, so I just need to teach you Go and painting. Right. Let’s see your calligraphy. How do you write to be called one of the best calligraphers under heaven?”
And then he took out paper, brush, and ink from his bosom and handed them over.
Qing obediently wrote, writing four characters: “Our Master is the best.”
Qing’s writing, with corrections, came out exactly like the standard block letters of modern Koreans.
Each stroke was thick yet not dull, soft and majestic, and these beautiful strokes filled the writing with no empty space left.
Yet the height and width were uniform, so to Central Plains people, it was beautiful writing that had never existed in the world, enough to make them faint and go crazy.
“My goodness. Each stroke truly settles with the weight of a thousand jin. You’ve already completed a writing style with the eight principles, reaching the level of a master, no, a great master! The spirit is grand, unfolding the majesty of Mount Tai in writing, this must be called the heaviest writing under heaven! How could you not have made a name for yourself in calligraphy with such precious writing?”
He was so surprised that even the dignified speech of a Shijiang Scholar came out.
Of course, not many people had seen Qing’s writing, and martial artists didn’t have much appreciation for calligraphy like scholars did.
In the end, the lesson was put aside, and the two just played and chatted enthusiastically.
It was a very enjoyable time for both master and disciple, so there was no problem.
Thus, the main point that the Divine Thief originally intended to bring up only came out at the very end, late at night.
“The Divine Thief isn’t just a thief. He’s a thief beneficial to the world. It’s good to act as a righteous thief or fulfill personal desires, but the Divine Thief must play the role of removing harmful things from the world.”
“Harmful things?”
“Yes. Harmful things naturally mean things harmful to the world. Evil demon swords, demonic arts, or terrible poisons.”
“Wow, are there really demon swords? Then, do demon swords talk and stuff?”
“…? What bizarre thing are you saying again? Hmm. But it doesn’t seem entirely wrong.”
There were types of demonic weapons that bewitched people, such as those that had long fed on human blood, or were deeply resentful for some reason, or were made through human sacrifice.
Once you grasp them, it’s said you can’t resist the urge to cut people, so it was sometimes expressed as the demon sword whispering to people.
“I don’t know because I haven’t held a demon sword. Anyway, other harmful things include famous treasures. These treasures fan people’s greed to cause a great fire, so those with eyes red with greed don’t hesitate to shed blood.”
“…Isn’t that just saying to steal anything that looks good?”
“That’s why it’s the world’s greatest thief. But if the world is peaceful because of it, isn’t it okay for one person to be called a thief?”
Cheon Yuhak was a person who had accumulated righteous karma.
If someone with evil karma had said it, they would have snorted and called it nonsense, but because someone with righteous karma said it, it was persuasive.
Hadn’t she directly observed him dropping 10 points of righteous karma while forcing book sales?
If you think he’s been dropping righteous karma like that, you could infer that he originally had very high righteous karma.
“This is what you’ll have to take over in the future. Also, you can handle the stolen items as you see fit. You can just burn or bury them, or find suitable owners. I melted down gold items and used them as gold sycee.”
“Steal all the good things. Do whatever you want with what you steal. It’s a loss not to do it.”
“And don’t forget to find a successor with the best talent to continue the lineage. Honestly, this is more important. You can steal treasures anytime, but the lineage of the Divine Thief must not be broken.”
“I understand. Raise the best disciple.”
At this, the Divine Thief nodded, seemingly satisfied.
“There are four martial arts that the Divine Thief passes down…”
The Shadowless Divine Hand, which is the Golden Silk Hand and pickpocketing technique.
The Instant Flash Step, a peerless qinggong that boasts the highest speed at short distances without making any sound.
And the Flowing Willow Soft Refinement, an external technique that dramatically increases the range of motion of human joints.
There is an internal cultivation technique, but you just need to memorize it, there’s no need to learn it.
This was because the Divine Thief often had a side job, so they usually had at least one internal cultivation technique.
“Come to think of it, the Venerable One said you could learn multiple cultivation techniques simultaneously. You’ve inherited the lineage of Jiutian Xuannü?”
“Yes. That’s right.”
“Indeed, Jiutian Xuannü is the ancestor of martial arts and the incarnation of the Golden Mean responsible for harmonizing the nine worlds. It could be said to be the supreme divine art among martial arts.”
This was one of the things Qing had agreed upon with Ximen Surin.
It was an excuse in case using multiple internal powers was discovered.
Qing had wondered if it would work until now, but seeing that it did, she thought, “As expected of Master, she has a plan for everything.”
“That’s great. Then, you can learn the Awakening Divine Art. It’s an internal cultivation technique that perfectly suits the Divine Thief, so originally if I couldn’t find a disciple, I was supposed to take in a child and teach it.”
Qing quickly searched, and somehow there wasn’t a single purple martial art.
Shadowless Divine Hand – gold, Instant Flash Step – gold, Flowing Willow Soft Refinement – gold, Awakening Divine Art – gold. All golden.
Qing was a bit disappointed.
Those Shaolin guys, every time I hear about them, everything I search is purple…
Of course, this was natural since Shaolin’s studies claimed to be the origin of all martial arts under heaven, saying all martial arts came from Shaolin.
“Here. These are yours now.”
Cheon Yuhak handed over some books.
When Qing touched them, the martial arts window popped up notifications, showing they were flawless martial arts manuals.
“From tomorrow, I’ll teach you in earnest, so today just skim through them and get a general idea in your head. Think of not sleeping tonight. That’s how you’re supposed to study originally. Hehe.”
Cheon Yuhak’s laughter was impure.
It sounded like he was telling her to suffer quite a bit.
However, for Qing, it was instantaneous, and one ke was enough time to roll her eyes back and make throat-scratching sounds from the aftereffects.
***
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