As the senior disciple greeted, the others standing behind also approached hesitantly and greeted me.
Though they were all unfamiliar faces, without exception, they were disciples of Ha family.
As it turns out, they had left on a journey through the martial arts world a few days before my initiation, on the order of the sect leader to inspect the branch sects of Huashan and check on the public sentiment in Shaanxi. That’s why I hadn’t seen them, and they didn’t know of my existence either.
In any case, after exchanging greetings, there was no further business, so my master and I continued on our way. As the sound of the senior disciples’ conversation gradually faded behind us, I suddenly felt a gaze.
Although a gaze couldn’t have physical form, I still felt something piercing my back…
When I turned around, I met eyes with one of the senior disciples. As I turned, he seemed startled for a moment, then gave a faint smile and waved.
The distance was already quite far, so it looked natural at first glance, but for some reason, I could keenly sense it.
The smile was awkward.
‘…Well, Huashan is a place where people live too.’
I wasn’t surprised, as I had always been aware of this. I casually waved back at him and turned my head again.
* * *
By the time summer had passed and it was nearing the end of autumn, I finally began to learn the sword.
The wooden sword I held for the first time gave me a strange feeling. It was quite heavy, but surprisingly easy to lift, and the sensation of gripping the handle was unexpectedly not awkward.
As I tilted my head and examined the wooden sword in my hand, my master asked in a voice tinged with amusement:
“Is it fascinating?”
“Yes…”
“I thought you weren’t interested in swords.”
“Me?”
When I turned around with wide eyes, he nodded with a faint smile.
I hadn’t said anything, thinking he would teach me someday, but I didn’t expect him to interpret it that way. I rolled my eyes and answered.
“I thought there would be at least some minimum qualification required to even hold a sword, since it’s a dangerous object. I thought it would be better not to show interest until I had the qualifications.”
“…So that’s what you were thinking.”
My master seemed a bit surprised and fell into thought for a moment before continuing.
“You’re right. A sword is indeed a dangerous object. But disciples who enter the sword sect usually don’t think that far. Even I, when I first entered the mountain, was so eager to hold a sword that I didn’t know what to do.”
“Oh, I…”
“I’m not saying you’re wrong. Rather, the opposite.”
Though he said that, I saw a flash of concern cross his face for an instant.
But it was only for a moment. My master quickly composed his expression, as if he didn’t want me to notice that concern.
‘What is he worried about?’
Was it a problem that I didn’t act childish enough? My answer just now did seem a bit mature for my age.
But my master soon moved on to the main topic, so I didn’t have time to focus more on that issue.
“Now, what you’ll be training in from today is the Six Harmonies Sword. It has the same origin as the Six Harmonies Mind Technique you’ve learned.”
Sensing that the explanation wouldn’t be short, I lowered the tip of the wooden sword I was holding to the ground. As I looked up at my master’s face intently, he smiled slightly and continued his explanation.
“As I mentioned once when you were learning the mind technique, the Six Harmonies represent heaven and earth and the four directions, in other words, the entire world. Without the world, nothing in the world would exist, so we can say that the Six Harmonies are everything in the world. As such, the Six Harmonies Sword is the foundation for all the other Huashan swords you’ll learn later, such as the Seven Plum Blossom Sword, the Jade Maiden Sword, the Five Elements Plum Blossom Sword, and even the Twenty-Four Solar Terms Plum Blossom Sword Technique. It’s the first sword technique you learn, but it can be considered the most important one.”
At that point, my master paused and moved a few steps away from me, then drew the sword hanging at his waist.
“Such explanations are necessary, but for anyone, one action is more accessible than a hundred words. First, I’ll show you from beginning to end, so observe as closely as you can.”
Somehow, I had a feeling he might ask me to demonstrate what I remembered after he finished showing…
Anticipating what was to come, I straightened my back and fixed my gaze on my master. Confirming my attention, my master slowly raised his sword.
The blade reflected the sunlight, emitting a momentary flash.
Simultaneously, it began to move, sharply cutting through the air.
The movements themselves weren’t particularly flashy, fierce, or fast. As befitting the foundational sword technique for all other techniques, it might even appear somewhat simple.
But perhaps because the person performing the sword technique was none other than Huashan’s First Sword, there was a captivating power that made it impossible to look away throughout.
It seemed I had been lost in a trance for a moment, and before I knew it, the demonstration was over.
“Did you watch carefully?”
“Huh? Yes…”
Apparently noticing that I had been momentarily entranced, my master approached and stroked my head with a smiling face. Then, meeting my eyes, he suddenly gave me a task.
“Then, as much as you remember, try to perform it on your own first.”
Right. I had a feeling it would be like this.
“Um, okay.”
Perhaps because the sword path wasn’t complicated, I could somewhat remember how the technique started, how the sword moved until the end, and how much of a step I should take.
But having just witnessed a demonstration that could be called perfect right before my eyes, it wasn’t easy to confidently raise the sword.
As I hesitated a little, my master, who had already come close, gently patted my shoulder as if to say it was alright. It was a gesture that showed an effort to handle his rough hands, calloused from years of wielding a sword, as carefully as possible.
“You don’t need to do it perfectly. I just want to see how much strength you use so that I can teach you in a way that suits you.”
“…I understand!”
That made sense.
I took a deep breath and adjusted my grip on the wooden sword’s handle. My master immediately stepped back a few paces to create space.
Slowly raising the sword, I tried to recall the posture my master had shown and assumed the same stance.
The tip of the sword should reach about the level of my neck if I drew a straight line, feet shoulder-width apart…
After confirming that my posture was steady, I slowly began to trace the sword through the air.
‘…This isn’t as difficult as I thought.’
Despite the brief tension I felt before starting, I was able to wield the sword surprisingly smoothly. I’m not sure how it would look to an expert, but I think I at least imitated the movements.
The first movement, and then the next.
It was unexpected that I could continue to recall the next move based on just seeing it once.
In fact, I thought I would have to stop halfway because I couldn’t remember, but when I reached a point where I momentarily couldn’t recall, my body moved unconsciously, and then I realized it was the correct movement.
‘What’s this?’
It felt as if I was trying something again after a long time, something I had done long ago but forgotten over the years due to some trigger.
Of course, I had never held a sword before my possession, so it was probably just a feeling…
‘Why can I do this?’
Amusingly, with that thought, I finished the last movement and lowered the sword.
While my master had performed it perfectly without even disturbing a fold of his clothes, I was naturally out of breath. I took a deep breath and turned to look at my master, immediately meeting his eyes. I could see him striding towards me.
He had a much more pleased expression than before.
“You looked unsure, but you had already memorized it all.”
“Was I not wrong?”
“If you could demonstrate that much after seeing it once, it’s practically the same as not being wrong.”
So there were some mistakes.
“There are no major errors, just a few small parts that need to be refined. If you can do this well from the start, you’ll soon be able to finish the Six Harmonies Sword and move on to learning the Jade Maiden Sword or Seven Plum Blossom Sword.”
After saying that, he thought for a moment and added.
“It was like someone who had been learning for a long time. It seemed you naturally knew how much strength to use and where.”
I inwardly hesitated for a moment. Part of what he said matched the thought I had briefly had during the process.
“…Is that so?”
But surely that couldn’t be the case.
Honestly, even I can’t think this is because I read a book at this point. I might have thought that when I first learned the mind technique, but that was sitting and breathing, while this is swinging a sword while moving.
It was even more nonsensical than becoming a master immediately after reading a martial arts manual once.
‘Then what is it?’
It didn’t seem to be the ability of the thinking ‘me’, as ‘I’ wasn’t particularly good at physical tasks. However, it was also ambiguous to attribute it to the abilities possessed by this ‘Ha Heun’ body I had possessed.
The original ‘Ha Heun’ in the story had to hear throughout his growth that he was disappointing for a disciple of Huashan’s First Sword. While expectations might have been high, the fact that he never heard a single word of praise means he must have been below average.
‘At least, he wouldn’t have been at a level to demonstrate a sword technique perfectly the first time he learned it.’
Moreover, the current ‘Ha Heun’ body was only 12 years old, and the point at which I possessed him was just when he had entered Huashan, so this was truly the first time learning the sword.
Yet, why could I wield the sword so skillfully? There was no plausible reason…
“Ha Heun. I didn’t mean it in a bad way, so you can smile a little at times like this.”
“Ah.”
A hand descended on my head with a slight weight. My master lightly ruffled my already disheveled hair and then removed his hand.
Come to think of it, was that not the reaction a praised child would show?
I belatedly smiled broadly and nodded.
‘…Let’s just think of it as some kind of novel possession perk. I’ve read a few novels like that too. I’m a talented person from now on. That’s just how it is. It’s like some power of the universe.’
I didn’t want to have such illogical and unfounded thoughts, but there was no helping it if it wasn’t the case.
No, if you’re going to make someone wake up in someone else’s body they never asked for, you should at least provide some kind of manual. Since there isn’t one, I end up thinking whatever I want.
__________
Turns Out He’s Been Secretly in Love with Me (Female-dominant)
One-line summary: He acts like he doesn’t like her but is actually playing hard to get.
Synopsis:
Xu Muzhou like her. He has liked her for a very long time, and through repeated schemes, he finally closed the distance with her.
But this is still far from enough.
He wants to be the one who stands out among her many suitors, to fight for her attention, and to make her take the initiative to pursue him.
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