Chapter 2777 - 2778: Relentless Pursuit

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Eventually, Yeon Jin faced the bandits alone and fought them, defeating them all except the boss.

The boss was not a Martial Awakener but a Martial Master.

Yeon Jin fought relentlessly, nearly dying.

However, by grasping the principles of his simple life and his desire to avenge his parents and protect his sister...

His willpower manifested through his internal energy, erupting like a volcano and piercing the bandit boss's head with a powerful strike with his fist.

Shocked, he had awakened as a Martial Master, realizing the principles behind his life and all of his experiences... had mattered.

Every single thing he had built upon until that point, things he always deemed meaningless and worthless, were all part of who he was.

And who he ended up becoming was what defined his martial arts were, an expression of oneself as they fight against the world.

Ah...

I see.

It all comes down to "will".

Yes, while one may lack everything, the only thing we will always have is "will", and the body that our parents gave us.

This precious body, and my will.

With these two things, it is possible to forge a path ahead through relentlessness and discipline.

"To place oneself in each fist, is that what it means to become a Martial Master?" I wondered.

"I wonder," Wasp said, as if trying to make it feel mysterious. "Why don't you try?"

"...Let's fight," I nodded.

And so, we resumed our fight.

This time, without swords, but with bare fists.

I wanted to master both hand-to-hand combat and swordsmanship in this new life.

Wasp was an amazing pugilist, however.

Even better than with the sword, he kicked me, punched me, and easily predicted every single one of my movements.

Whenever I tried to charge, he would move aside and make me flip over.

Whenever I jumped, he would receive me with open arms and then push me onto the floor easily.

When I aimed at his legs, he jumped and dug his feet into my chest.

When I aimed at his crotch, he laughed and then kicked my face.

Whenever I tried to grab his arms, he would twist his body around and then send me flying with the force I used against him.

It was an utter failure; I was being defeated over and over and over again!

Such humiliation! It really made my blood boil.

But at the same time, with each defeat, the concepts of the [Records of the Man Who Went Against the World] became more apparent.

Yeon Jin was never able to win in life and only faced defeats until the end of the book.

Each defeat, however, strengthened his resolve, and his will was sharpened.

Each defeat made his body hardier, and his internal energy grew a little larger.

And through his philosophy, I grasped his arts.

The arts passed down thousands of years ago...

"Records of the Man Who Went Against the World..."

As I charged at Wasp, he looked at me with a calm expression.

"The first teaching."

"Oh?"

He suddenly went on a high guard.

"Relentless Pursuit!"

My fists glowed, as I poured "myself" into them.

And then...

Like an explosion.

A literal explosion of my own self erupted from my fists.

No cosmic energy, no magic power, no skill.

Nothing other than me.

The purest form of my own self, something I had never truly grasped until now...

BOOOM!

Wasp was surprised, defending with his two arms.

"Hah... impressive."

As the smoke dissipated, I noticed his arms were slightly scratched.

"You are indeed very powerful, young lady. Your body itself is something I cannot seal; you are many times stronger than a normal mortal, after all... A mere novice art of the first stage becomes... something akin to a third-stage attack? Incredible."

"Really?"

"Now imagine if you reached the Martial Peak! You could even go against Cultivators and defeat them," laughed Wasp. "Using just martial arts! Hahahaha! Just like I did, when they destroyed my village, looking to turn us all into pills hundreds of years ago."

"...Wasp," I was suddenly shocked that he shared a small fragment of his past. "I'm sorry..."

"...Hm?" He was curious. "Why? Ah, right... I apologize, that came out of nowhere. But... seeing you fight, it somewhat reminded me of my younger self. All those years ago, when I was young and naïve, and stupid. When I used to believe that nothing could ever go wrong in my life, my overconfidence was my worst mistake. And so, you must let go of your overconfidence too, young lady."

"I will..." I nodded. "I realized that without a level of humility, Martial Arts are simply unattainable... I need not only to forge my own will but also my own emotions and how I see myself. If I see myself as greater than others, there will always be a conscious lock telling me that there's nothing I need to improve."

"Exactly, you grasp concepts quickly," he nodded. "Now, let's resume our swordsmanship... you are already almost a Martial Master, use the power that Yeon Jin wielded in his fists, but channel it into your sword. Use it to swing your sword with the embodiment of your own "self" and strike me with your sword as if you were using your fist."

"On it!" I roared, clashing against Wasp with the concepts I had grasped.

To harness willpower through life experiences and emotions, and then to let them out of your body through internal energy, my own life force.

This was the most basic concept of Martial Arts in this world, to attain total balance and control over my body through meditation and also training and practice.

To learn everything about myself and then use every single bit of my body's power to exert many times the strength I possess.

Like this, I spent my first day training with Wasp.

"You aren't there yet, you need to learn more, reread the book until you grasp the other three martial principles," Wasp said. "You are dismissed for today, young lady."

"Thank you..."

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