Thumbs Up, Level Up

Chapter 142

“Okay, Um Ji-Cheok. Do you know where you are?”

“Yes, I am here to ask you to help me train. But before that, may I ask you a question first?”

“Go ahead.”

“When will the Tutorial end?”

Ji-Cheok was a normal human, but the God of War certainly wasn’t. From this perspective, Ji-Cheok knew the God of War had powers and knowledge beyond his imagination. So he thought that it would be a good idea to ask when the Tutorial of the world was going to end and get some information.

“That is against the rules, so I can’t answer that.”

‘I guess it’s not possible…’

“This space… Think of it as something I created for those obsessed with cultivation. I can’t do anything other than teach cultivation here, got it?”

“I will keep that in mind.”

“Great”

“Then can I know what I’m going to learn?”

“It’s not a matter of what. I can only give you one lesson.”

‘One teaching? What does that mean?’

As Ji-Cheok was wondering, the God scratched his chin. His attitude was not godlike at all, but the things he said were profound.

“The me you see in front of you is the embodiment of the word ‘martial’ in ‘martial arts’. Do you know what that means?”

“Uh… I’ve never thought about it… Isn’t it… just cultivation and all that?”

“No,” the God said with a light smile. “The word ‘martial’ in ‘martial arts’ means fighting, and it also means strength itself. It is everything from a fight between two tiny rhinoceros beetles to a life-and-death battle between supreme masters.”

It was a concept that sounded simple but, in reality, was difficult to understand.

“The act of fighting. Do you know how fighting skills actually work? When their strength is brought to perfection, I, the God of War, who is the source of their strength, come into existence. From a certain perspective, you could also say that all that is fighting in this world exists because I exist.”

‘Fighting and strength. Does it mean that they are the very source of the God of War as a metaphysical concept? It’s hard to understand just by listening to him.’

“It may still be difficult for you, a mortal, to understand. So let me tell you this way. To put it simply… All combat skills in the world originate from me or belong to me. Cultivation is one of them.”

“Ahhh…”

It started to make more sense to Ji-Cheok.

‘Combat skills… In other words, all the skills that are for fighting.’

“Because of that, I will teach you how to fight. If it’s something that is related to fighting, I will give you guidance in whatever you want. But only once. That is the purpose of this space.”

“Can I come back if I get another statue later?”

“It’s once per statue. So technically, if you can get a hold of another one, you can come back. But few have ever made it that far.”

‘That’s why the statue is so hard to find. How did Ji-Han get this? You can’t even buy this at the auction house.’

“So, what do you want to learn? Your main ability is cultivation, but your other skills look useful too. Driving skills can also be further enhanced, and even if you want to know more about your magic spells or alchemy, I can teach you the parts that are related to ‘combat’.”

“I want to be taught about cultivation.”

“Oh~”

“I have obtained the [Heaven Martial Body], and I am currently training a powerful cultivation skill called [Heaven and Earth Chaotic Divine Art].”

“Haha… I guess my tricks didn’t work on you.”

“Were you testing me?”

“By using their money and fame, random unqualified people sometimes come here and want me to teach them about what ‘martial’ means. They usually fall to my childish tricks and learn things that aren’t terribly useful.”

The worlds of the God of War were rather cynical. No, it was more than cynicism—they dripped with contempt for mortals.

“As far as I’m concerned, I like guys who are serious about becoming stronger. I like people who put their life into their sword and sharpen their cultivation in order to succeed within the confines of their mere mortal life,” the God said.

“I think I know what you mean.”

“Haha. Alright, then. I think we should start with the basics.”

“Basics?”

“Yes, from the basics. That alone will make you stronger. First… I’ll teach you the important basics of cultivation. Usually, your teacher is supposed to teach you this, but since you learned it with skills, you won’t know it properly.”

The God of War continued to talk with his arms crossed.

“The word for ‘martial arts’ is written in Chinese characters as Wu-Gong. It means practicing methods to build up your martial strength. Why do you think the Chinese character for ‘Gong’ is attached to the Chinese character for ‘Wu’? Think of the word ‘Wu’ as ‘strong’ or ’fighting strength’. You’re studying ‘Gong’, that is, ways for you to accomplish “Wu”. That is Wu-Gong—cultivation.”

The God spoke softly and took a step closer to Ji-Cheok.

“That is why the meaning of cultivation is ‘how to build your strength.’”

‘It sort of makes sense… I mean it’s the God of War himself giving me the lecture. It must be right.’

“I am downgrading my teachings to your comprehension level, so pay close attention. If we compare this to learning English, I’m essentially teaching you the alphabet right now. If you were just a nobody, I would’ve punched you in the face way back.”

‘Is this his way of being kind?’

“Then, let’s talk about your [Heaven and Earth Chaotic Divine Art]. Let’s think about it taking into account the ‘methods to build your strength’ that I mentioned earlier. [Heaven and Earth Chaotic Divine Art] in Chinese characters is [Hun-Yuan Qian-Kun Shen-Gong]. ‘Hun-Yuan’ refers to the state of some fundamental power before order was established. As such, the ‘Qian-Kun’ that follows it refers to the cosmos—that is, heaven and earth.”

The God summoned a wooden sword from the air and pointed it at the sky and the ground.

“In other words, it means ‘to create heaven and earth from the primordial chaos’. Of course, you wouldn’t know what this means because you learned cultivation through skills. So it’s like this.”

The God came near him and sat down. Even though he sat down, since he was so big, he was just a little shorter than Ji-Cheok standing. Then, the God of War pointed at Ji-Cheok’s Dantian.

“The world was originally primordial chaos, and with one breath, the Heavens and the Earth were created. That is the origin of the microcosm.”

Ji-Cheok remembered that this was actually a quote from the scripture of the [Heaven and Earth Chaotic Divine Art]. Just then...

Thud.

A vibration hit his Dantian. The Qi inside his Dantian suddenly vibrated violently and started circulating through his body.

“What is this?” Ji-Cheok said.

“Inhale the pure Primordial Qi, exhale the murky Mortal Qi!” the God said in an urgent tone.

Following the God of War’s yelling, Ji-Cheok began to breathe as if he was possessed. He breathed slowly, but persistently and orderly. It wasn’t just the typical breath—he felt as if his whole body was waking up. He was enlightened. This was the real Macrocosmic Orbit!

Whatever he had done before was merely a pale imitation of the true Macrocosmic Orbit. His Qi now circulated throughout his entire body, from head to toe. It was even more intense and thorough than during the Metamorphosis, and it penetrated every cell of his body.

He didn’t know how much time had gone by, but after some time, he opened his eyes.

“Whew!”

His body felt hot and he was overflowing with power. He felt that the purity of his Qi had increased.

“This is the basics of cultivation: training your Qi. Qi contains the energy of all things, so in the cultivation world, training your Qi is something you cannot do without. You have just learned the proper way to train your Qi.”

“Thank you so much!”

This was something he couldn’t help but be grateful for. It was not just about gathering and accumulating Qi; the God of War also taught him how to control and use his Qi. Ji-Cheok wondered if those things were the same thing.

“Alright then, shall we continue?”

The God of War smiled brightly and grabbed Ji-Cheok’s shoulder.

“Don’t forget this!”

It felt as if the God was poking his veins with an awl.

“AHHHHH!”

“It’s going to hurt, but remember this. This is how you move your Qi,” the God said.

“ARGGHHH! Is…this also a part of the training? AHHHH!!”

“Of course it is. It’s quick training. This is the correct way to operate and utilize your internal techniques!”

“AAGH!”

Ji-Cheok felt like he was about to die.

“You should be thanking me. Oh, and I heard that you had your own GodTube channel. I should go check that out. I want to see how you survived with such a messy body and without a teacher.”

“P…Please Like… and subscribe…AHHHH!!!”

“Look at this crazy guy. He’s trying to get more subscribers even while in this much pain. Haha!”

Well, what could he do? It was an occupational hazard.

* * *

Pant. Pant.

?Are you okay, Master??

“I…”

Ji-Cheok tried hard to squeeze the air out of his lungs.

“I feel like I just died…”

?So the experience was very painful…?

Ji-Cheok looked around and discovered that he was back in the training room in his own house, where he had touched the [Statue of the God of War]. Ji-Cheok wondered whether it was just his mind that had gone to that space. It seemed like it, because there were no injuries on his body.

‘Ha… I thought I was about to die. That wasn’t training… That was torture. He said he was going to teach me BASICS!’

At first, the God had talked about the theory of cultivation. Ji-Cheok had learned a lot and felt good about it. However, the latter part of their ‘conversation’ had made him feel like he was being grilled in Hell.

?Have you had any results??

“I have.”

He lifted his finger. His Qi came out of his fingertip and took shape.

?Oh, wow…?

“This is [Qi Will]. It’s the stage of controlling Qi with my thoughts. He said that since I reached the realm of Sword Threads, I should’ve been able to do this already.”

He could control his Qi with just his thoughts.

?I see. What does that mean??

“It means that I can use something like [Palm Wind]. Like this…”

Ji-Cheok waved his hand lightly. The Qi that flowed along his meridians spread through his palm as he pushed his hand forward.

“[Heaven and Earth Chaotic Divine Art]. [Chaotic Palm Wind].”

Boom!

The wind collided with the wall of the training room, with an explosive sound. It was a wall reinforced with magical power, so it was okay. If it had been a normal wall, it would have collapsed.

?This is amazing, Master! Now you have become a real cultivator!?

“Yeah, something like that. There’s still a long way to go…”

The God of War had said that he would teach Ji-Cheok how to properly use inner techniques… But what he had done was just infuse his Qi into Ji-Cheok’s body and forcibly shake his entire body.

‘Does the God of War not know when to stop?’

Ji-Cheok wanted to read the reviews of other people who had been taught by the God of War, but there was no way to do that.

?Was it hard, Master??

‘Hell yea it was. I want to write a review that says, ‘The God of War said he was going to teach me, but there were no human rights involved in the process. It hurts so much that I was lucky I didn’t die. Are you sure there are no side effects? But since I’ve learned something, I will give him three stars ^^?★★★☆☆’.’

?It’s… rather… realistic, Master.?

As Cheok-Liang was impressed by Ji-Cheok’s review(?), he asked a follow-up question.

?I guess you learned a lot since you gave him three stars when you were in pain.?

‘You could say that. There were many things I learned while I was about to pass out from the pain. I was able to find out the direction of how I should train in the future. I don’t know if it’s possible, but if I could get a hold of another statue later, then I’d like to learn the?Forms?of the [Heaven and Earth Chaotic?Divine Art]. Oh, I should add something else to my made-up review. ‘Pain is momentary, but skills are forever. So I’ll be adding one more star. ^^?★★★★☆’.’

Ji-Cheok could never give him five stars. Not in this life.

1. The word 武功 (wugong) has been and will be translated in this novel as “cultivation,” but its literal meaning is “martial arts.” The reason why we have chosen this translation is that in this novel, the term refers to what our readers know as the classic xianxia “cultivation” rather than martial techniques, which are just a part of the concept. The character 武 means martial/warrior/fighting etc., while 功 is hard to translate by itself, but it commonly refers to practice and methods, as well as accomplishments. It’s also the “art” in Heaven and Earth Chaotic Divine Art.

2. The last two characters, shengong, can be loosely translated as “divine art"

3. The term used here is ?? (招式), which seems to refer to what is known as Poomsae in Taekwon-do and Kata in Japanese martial arts, i.e., sets of techniques performed in a predetermined order.