Chapter 191

Jin Ja-gang thought for a moment and then said.

“Could you teach me about hand techniques?”

“Hand techniques?”

Woon-jeong tilted his head. Hand techniques were something that disciples of any sect commonly learned. But for the renowned Poison Dragon to ask to be taught the basics of hand techniques.

It was hard to understand how he had killed so many martial artists until now.

Well, Jin Ja-gang couldn’t even perform lightness skills properly.

In fact, not just lightness skills or hand techniques, but Jin Ja-gang’s biggest weakness was his lack of fundamentals from training martial arts alone.

Especially with hand techniques, the fundamentals greatly influenced one’s skill, and his weaknesses were most exposed when competing in hand techniques. When facing opponents weaker than himself like the pickpocket boy, he could handle them with experience and quick reflexes, but when facing masters like Taoist Bok-cheon, the difference was so great that he was no match at all.

Thinking of how his single thrust had been neutralized by one move from Taoist Bok-cheon, this deficiency was a task Jin Ja-gang absolutely had to overcome.

Just using hidden weapons and maintaining mid-range distance wouldn’t allow him to strike at the enemy’s weak points. To fight well at mid-range, one also had to fight well at close range.

Moreover, since he used poison, quick hand movements using hand techniques were extremely important. If Jin Ja-gang could properly execute hand techniques, he wouldn’t need to pierce needles into opponents while piercing through his own hands in the future.

“The basics will be sufficient.”

“Well, if you’re not asking me to teach our sect’s techniques…”

Woon-jeong stepped forward diagonally into a bow stance and had Jin Ja-gang stand facing him in the same posture. Then they both extended their right hands and touched the backs of their hands together.

“Without moving your feet, try to separate your hand from mine.”

Jin Ja-gang immediately pulled his hand back sharply before Woon-jeong even finished speaking. However, when Woon-jeong pushed with the back of his hand while pressing down and stirring, Jin Ja-gang’s arm returned to its original position while stuck to Woon-jeong’s hand. It was as if his arm wasn’t moving by his own will but was being moved by Woon-jeong.

“Haha.”

Jin Ja-gang laughed in disbelief.

“Well… this is strange. I didn’t expect Poison Dragon benefactor to be caught by just this much.”

This time Jin Ja-gang tried pushing Woon-jeong’s hand with the back of his hand. His plan was to push it away then immediately withdraw his hand. Woon-jeong’s hand was pushed as easily as powerless straw. Jin Ja-gang sharply pulled his hand back.

But at that moment, Woon-jeong’s hand stuck to him viscously and followed Jin Ja-gang’s hand.

This way he would just be caught the same as before. Jin Ja-gang tried spinning his arm in a big circle as Woon-jeong had done. Woon-jeong’s hand stuck to Jin Ja-gang’s hand like glue and spun together. Then when they were halfway around, power suddenly entered his wrist and he bent it back, making Jin Ja-gang’s hand be pressed down. Jin Ja-gang was startled when his wrist bent forward and he couldn’t apply force. Woon-jeong drew a small circle with just his wrist, making Jin Ja-gang’s arm lose its way and sway.

Then back to the original position again.

Jin Ja-gang felt frustrated and helpless that Woon-jeong’s hand wouldn’t come off. Woon-jeong’s specialty wasn’t hand techniques. Yet he couldn’t shake him off at all.

Woon-jeong said.

“Hand techniques are rooted in transformation, and transformation uses the techniques of sticking, connecting, adhering, and following. This time, let go of your hand and slowly try to touch my shoulder.”

Jin Ja-gang released the back of his hand and slowly went to touch Woon-jeong’s shoulder. Woon-jeong extended his hand and laid the back of his hand backward, fitting Jin Ja-gang’s hand between the back of his hand and his wrist.

“Sticking means making contact with the opponent’s hand with my hand.”

Jin Ja-gang ignored the trapped state and stretched his hand straight out. Woon-jeong followed completely with his hand attached, not resisting Jin Ja-gang’s force at all.

“Connecting means continuing to stay connected with the opponent without separating, and simultaneously grasping the opponent’s intention, which is separately called listening. Now try shaking your hand.”

Jin Ja-gang shook his hand left and right. Woon-jeong, who had been pushed powerlessly until then, suddenly stuck to Jin Ja-gang and moved with him. Jin Ja-gang again felt that sticky and frustrating sensation.

“Adhering means sticking my hand even more to the opponent’s hand, and following means going along with the direction the opponent moves to prevent them from breaking contact.”

It wasn’t simply a matter of hitting, scratching, and pushing away.

The purpose of sticking, connecting, adhering, and following was to read the opponent’s intention and direction of force and move one step ahead.

So if he attacked foolishly as he had done to Taoist Bok-cheon, any decent master would be able to handle it sufficiently. Unless it was speed and power that didn’t give them time to respond.

“Shall we try again?”

Woon-jeong stood in the bow stance as before and faced Jin Ja-gang with the backs of their hands touching.

Jin Ja-gang quietly tried to feel Woon-jeong’s movements through their touching hands.

After concentrating for a while, he felt very small pulsations through the back of his hand.

Jin Ja-gang tried closing his eyes completely. He could feel Woon-jeong’s blood vessels throbbing as blood flowed, and the flow of his skin minutely rising and falling with his breathing.

Just from touching the backs of their hands, a great deal of information was transmitted.

Sticking wasn’t just about making contact with hands, but its importance lay in making contact in a listening state where information could be read best.

Realizing this, Jin Ja-gang minutely moved the back of his hand up, down, left, and right to find the place where he could feel the pulsations best.

While feeling the pulsations, Jin Ja-gang found himself matching and following Woon-jeong’s breathing with his own breathing.

Woon-jeong’s fundamentals were so solid that his breathing was slow. As was typical of Taoist breathing methods, the lengths of inhalation and exhalation were different. Inhalation was quick but exhalation was surprisingly slow and long. Jin Ja-gang was surprised to realize his own breathing was relatively rushed while following Woon-jeong’s breathing.

The depth of tradition that sects took pride in extended to such detailed aspects.

Twitch.

Suddenly he felt the pulsations quickening.

Through listening, Jin Ja-gang could know with his body that Woon-jeong was about to move. He could feel Woon-jeong’s hand tendons being pulled. He could predict that he would push diagonally.

Jin Ja-gang didn’t resist Woon-jeong’s movement but pulled his arm to follow Woon-jeong’s movement. The deeper Woon-jeong’s arm came in, the closer Woon-jeong’s arm came to Jin Ja-gang. Normally one would first think of being attacked since the opponent’s body was approaching, but while thinking about sticking, connecting, adhering, and following, Jin Ja-gang realized a new fact.

A person’s arm is fixed at joints, so the range of movement is determined. The more Woon-jeong stretched his arm straight, the more his next actions were limited. The motion of withdrawing would inevitably become larger… Conversely, Jin Ja-gang had pulled his arm inward. It was possible for him to move in much freer directions with smaller movements than Woon-jeong. If Jin Ja-gang drew a small circle, Woon-jeong would have to draw a large circle to catch up with Jin Ja-gang. The difference in speed and spare movements would be created by the size of the circles.

This was similar to military strategy where enemy soldiers are drawn as far inside as possible before attacking all at once to devour them. It was like waiting for fish to enter deep inside a net before catching them.

Jin Ja-gang waited until Woon-jeong’s arm came in to the maximum, then twisted his wrist as if catching a net.

However, Woon-jeong also predicted Jin Ja-gang’s intention through sticking, connecting, adhering, and following. This time Woon-jeong relaxed his hand and yielded to Jin Ja-gang’s actions.

Jin Ja-gang tried to shake off Woon-jeong by waving his arm like waves, but Woon-jeong stuck tenaciously. Jin Ja-gang relaxed his strength and pushed his hand toward Woon-jeong.

It seemed like just the offensive and defensive positions had changed from before, but the hidden martial principles were completely opposite.

Since Jin Ja-gang had pushed his hand forward and Woon-jeong had pulled his arm back, Woon-jeong’s adhering power had relatively weakened. If Jin Ja-gang pulled his arm back, Woon-jeong would have to follow to not lose his adherence, which would change the offensive and defensive positions again.

Jin Ja-gang would be in the position of relaxing force in his hand and luring Woon-jeong’s hand again. Then it would be Woon-jeong who became frustrated.

The continuously changing offensive and defensive positions.

There were no obviously large movements, but they were constantly making movements to interfere with each other’s sticking, connecting, adhering, and following.

Before they knew it, the hand technique fight had become a transformation contest.

As a result, they naturally repeated touching the backs of their hands while giving and taking, pushing and pulling, or drawing circles and waves with their arms.

To others it might look like they were just lazily pushing and pulling their arms without much force, but both their bodies were already drenched in sweat. They had been engaged in intense hand combat hundreds of times for so long they didn’t know how much time had passed.

Finally, the transformation fight stopped only when both failed to maintain contact because their hands slipped due to sweat.

“Phew… Poison Dragon benefactor’s concentration is tremendous!”

Woon-jeong was amazed. This absolutely couldn’t be someone who had learned transformation for the first time today.

But surprisingly, Jin Ja-gang was much more composed than Woon-jeong. Since they hadn’t used internal energy, they sweated the same amount, but his concentration was still almost unshaken.

This was because he had learned how to endure for days with his nerves on edge while fighting life-and-death battles with opponents much stronger than himself.

“If it’s alright, please do it once more.”

“Wow… Poison Dragon benefactor.”

Woon-jeong made a fed-up face, but Bian Bu scolded them from the side.

“Stop it and think about the person next to you.”

“What?”

When they wondered what Bian Bu was talking about, Soso beside him blushed. Soso had approached while they stopped and brought water.

“Soso has already gone to fetch water three times. Trying to give cool water to those two people there.”

At those words, Soso covered her face and ran away as if fleeing.

Woon-jeong blankly looked back at Soso’s retreating figure.

* * *

Jin Ja-gang could cut himself off from everything else and concentrate on his training.

As if doing closed-door training, whenever he opened his eyes he did something without rest.

Though his heart was relieved, his feelings were desperate.

Now he had companions who would fight together in crisis, teachers he could learn from, and friends of similar age he could spar with. Soso’s help in taking care of meals, cleaning, and other things he didn’t need to worry about at all was also very significant.

There was no telling when such an opportunity would come again.

Especially, Jin Ja-gang devoted himself to the Jade Void Nine Light Five Thunder Toad Technique.

According to his bet with Taoist Bok-cheon, Jin Ja-gang would soon meet Dark Venerable Master, the sect leader of Qingcheng Sect. There was no guarantee he would teach the latter profound mysteries of Jade Void Nine Light, but even if he did, if Jin Ja-gang wasn’t prepared, he might waste that golden opportunity.

Therefore, Jin Ja-gang continued practicing internal energy circulation to the limit his body could endure. Since there was absolutely no need to prepare for sudden fights, it was possible to pour all his energy solely into training.

Because of this, paradoxically, during these days when Jin Ja-gang felt safest, his body was actually in much worse condition. There was never a day his wounds disappeared. Every night his entire body had to become bloody before training ended.

Soso stayed awake until then, and only after Jin Ja-gang’s training ended would she wash and hang his blood-soaked clothes before finishing her day following Jin Ja-gang.

Jin Ja-gang felt sorry, but Soso just smiled as if it was fine.

Then afterward, Jin Ja-gang would wash his body at the stream, do meditation training, and go to bed. That time was past midnight, at the end of the third watch.

Jin Ja-gang slept for only about two hours.

Before dawn broke, at the hour of the rabbit, he would wake up and start his day.