A secret lies within the heart of man.
"Master, what does it mean to fight?"
The winds put aside their differences to hold hands in a unified effort to pull the clouds apart. They agreed on a direction: the east looked favourable, they said. An opening formed from the struggle, and light dived to the ground. It illuminated the blades of grass that reached up in reverence. It shone on the earth, seeping through the fragmented to administer a prescription needed. It rained down on the trees swaying, the animals grazing, and a lotus meditating.
"Beat him again."
The north wind let go. The parting closed, and they questioned his decision. Why does it have to be to the east? Why don't we pull to the north instead? Darkness abounded across the land without the light's interference. The rumbling in the sky grew. Shadows turned against the shadowed. Amidst the chaos and confusion, the death and illusion, the lotus remained.
"The day you saw them was the day you stepped foot into Murim, so congratulations! You just killed yourself."
The clifftop crumbled away, unable to support the new weight added to its splintered surface. The catastrophic event was quiet—consumed by the vicious roars of the winds. When it fell, only one noticed. When it fell, only one was unaffected.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
"Hyun. Su. Ji."
The boulders slammed into the valley, but the lotus lay on the water.
"You just crossed the line, you SECTLESS TRASH!"
The rumbling ceased. The darkness gathered, and all eyes rested on the meditated one. No reply came, so the winds communed like in the days of old. They decided on a direction: to the west, they said. The clouds parted from a united pull to let the light descend upon the lotus that was ready to receive it.
"These movements... Who taught you?"
Each petal understood the other.
"Keuk... This shouldn't be... possible."
The secret became known.
"Ho~ I'll kill the young brat myself then."
The lotus stood, despite the light fading to the dispute from above. Every time he parried the shadows, blocked the darkness, and countered the abyss, his depth deepened. There were layers in Murim: the deeper you went, the more powerful the Murim-In became.
Go deep enough, and you'll never find your way out.
"Master, what does it mean to fight?"
Sometimes we touch upon the very essence of what we seek, but the burden that comes with the known is something we aren't ready to handle.
"Speak for yourself."
I caught a fist aimed toward my head; its force decimating the entire valley behind. Light cracked through the silhouette before imploding it along with the void until all that was left was a dark purple mist around my ankles.
"Hyun Suji-nim, the Heaven's Scholar Sect want you dead."
Rows upon rows. Lines upon lines. Seats next to seats. They lowered their heads the moment I stood, and the light illuminated their silhouettes further. Whenever someone rises, someone else must fall. Whenever someone ascends, someone must descend.
So...
"Let's silence them again."