Book 1 Chapter 3
The Geumbuyeon Ax Rampage Incident
The master brought out a single, pitch-black iron axe.
Then, he handed it to me, telling me to chop firewood with it.
Unthinkingly, I accepted the axe, and I almost dislocated my shoulder with a "pong!"
That pitch-black axe was damnably heavy.
I asked the master how much this axe weighed.
"It only weighs about 100 geun (60 kg)."
The master's reply sounded as if it were no big deal. However, to me, it was earth-shattering news.
"What, 100 geun? What kind of axe is this! 100 geun is 1,600 yang in volume, 16,000 don in money, 160,000 pun, and 1,600,000 ri (one million six hundred thousand ri). To explain further, 1 geun is 16 yang, 1 yang is 10 don, 1 don is 10 pun, and 1 pun is 10 ri. How can I lift a weight of one million six hundred thousand ri? Especially with this frail body of mine."
I tried to muster all the emotion I could, hoping to evoke sympathy from my master by making my eyes as watery as possible. However, my efforts were in vain, yielding no significant results.
"You fool, don't just inflate the numbers. With effort and perseverance, humans can do anything. Understand! Effort and perseverance. Furthermore, this is no ordinary axe. It is the axe of a living legend!"
The master's words flowed out in a passionate speech. His enthusiasm was undeniable. The seriousness in his eyes made it impossible to dismiss this as a joke. However, it was regrettable that a considerable amount of saliva, containing abundant digestive enzymes, was also spewed out. I demanded that the master tell me about the legend immediately. The master's story was as follows.
According to the stories passed down in our sect, this axe is a venerable artifact with a sad and poignant legend. The founder of our sect, whose name is still unknown, was once gathering wood by a pond called Geumbuyeon. Due to a momentary lapse, he dropped his axe into the pond.
As the founder pondered, "How shall I retrieve that axe?" the center of the lake suddenly began to bubble. Then, an old man with a magnificent, white-haired visage and an immortal aura suddenly appeared with a dazzling, shimmering light. An immortal, on par with a celestial being, had appeared. The old man stood on the water's surface as if it were solid ground, without resistance, holding a gold axe, a silver axe, and an iron axe in his hands.
The old man introduced himself to the distressed founder as the mountain spirit who guarded this place. Then, he extended the shimmering gold axe and asked,
"Is this axe yours?"
He blurted out the question informally. The founder replied firmly, "No!" How honest he was… Then, the immortal offered the silver axe and asked the same question:
"Is this axe yours?"
The honest founder again replied, "No!" Finally, the mountain spirit presented the rusty iron axe and asked,
"Surely, this rusty iron axe is not yours?"
Naturally, as the founder was about to say, "Yes, that axe is…" an incident occurred. Suddenly, the mountain spirit, who had been floating gently on the water's surface, causing small ripples, lost his balance and began to sway. Then, with sounds of "Uh oh, uh oh oh! Huh?" he flailed his arms to regain his balance and tumbled backward. And with a gurgling sound, the mountain spirit vanished from the founder's sight in an instant. How embarrassing! It was an incident that completely tarnished the mountain spirit's reputation.
The founder took a deep breath to compose himself from the shock. Suddenly, a red glow began to emanate from the pond. With his keen, animalistic senses, the founder sensed something was wrong and immediately plunged into the pond. The axe was a vital tool for the founder's livelihood.
Geumbuyeon was a much deeper and wider pond than expected. As the founder dived to a considerable depth, he saw a small thatched hut resembling a shack at the bottom of the pond's center. It seemed to be the dwelling of the foolish mountain spirit from just moments ago. As he slowly surveyed the area around the hut, he saw the mountain spirit lying sprawled in a large "大" shape next to the hut.
The problem's red glow was fiercely erupting from the mountain spirit's crown. In that spot, the founder's iron axe was lodged in a gruesome manner, and the crimson light was gushing out from that point. As the founder examined it, he felt that the mountain spirit was no longer of this world.
'Then, was the mountain spirit of this world before?'
This question momentarily crossed my mind, but the master paid no attention to my simple inquiry and continued the story. The cause of the mountain spirit's death was likely due to exceeding its capacity. The founder's iron axe was at least ten times heavier than the axes used by ordinary people, exceeding the weight that even the mountain spirit's spiritual power could withstand. Nevertheless, while wielding the 무식하게 heavy iron axe along with the gold and silver axes, it attempted an impossible feat of floating on water and finally succumbed to the weight of the iron axe, sinking into the water.
What was even more unfortunate was what happened next. While sinking slowly, the iron axe, with no regard for the situation, found its way to the mountain spirit's crown and lodged itself there, thus ending the mountain spirit's life. My master kindly added that such an event is precisely what is called a 'safety accident.' In any case, the founder, taking pity on him, buried the mountain spirit at the bottom of the beautiful, scenic lake.
"Namu Amitabha, Guan Shi Yin Bodhisattva!" After chanting the mantra and praying for the mountain spirit's rebirth in paradise, the founder entered the mountain spirit's house. Miraculously, no water entered the house, and there was plenty of air. It seemed the mountain spirit had employed some magic to prevent water from entering the dwelling. Upon inspecting the house, he found several gold and silver axes placed among ordinary furniture.
Originally, the founder was an upright person with no interest in wealth. However, he reasoned that he had acted as a geomancer by finding a burial site for the mountain spirit, and as an undertaker by digging and burying him. Furthermore, having also prayed for his rebirth in paradise, he felt it was acceptable to receive a form of compensation. He also believed that the deceased had no need for wealth, and it would be more beneficial for the world to take it out of such a place and use it wisely, which the mountain spirit would also have desired. With these profound and thoughtful considerations, the founder took several gold axes, several silver axes, and the iron axe outside.
I asked how the founder was able to bring out so many axes from the deep waters of Geumbuyeon, which even the mountain spirit couldn't take out. The master replied that one would naturally know if they mastered the advanced level of the Flying Thunder Blade technique. It was a truly irritating answer. Didn't I have no choice but to learn the advanced level of the Flying Thunder Blade technique just to solve this riddle?
A plausible apocryphal tale also circulates that the reason the founder expressed the abstract quantity of "several gold axes and several silver axes" in the legend was to evade taxes by underreporting the number of axes when reporting his income to the authorities. There is also a story that the founder established the current Flying Thunder Sect with the money earned from selling the gold and silver axes.
Later, the founder called that incident the "Geumbuyeon Ax Rampage Incident [金斧淵鐵斧蠻行事件]." After that incident, no more fish or aquatic plants grew in Geumbuyeon, and a ghost that roamed the pond every night, crying, "You thief, give me back my things!" appeared, causing people to call the place Gwibyeon (Ghost Pond).
After hearing the entire story from the master, I did not scoff or chuckle. The Geumbuyeon legend was charmingly embellished, as legends often are, and its structure was excellent. Furthermore, unlike the usual serious and slightly exaggerated transmissions of a sect, it stood out for its humor and wit. However, the master's piercing gaze was too frightening to dismiss all of this as fiction. Therefore, I decided to remain silent. I was not a foolish imbecile who would speak carelessly without the capacity to handle it.
In any case, I was tasked with chopping firewood with a legendary axe that carried such a rich history. To lift this venerable axe, I underwent intensive training for over a month to build arm strength, and it took a full four months to become somewhat proficient at chopping firewood. It took a year to chop firewood with flawless movements, and after a year and six months, I could chop firewood naturally at the same speed with correct form. I had to chop firewood with this legendary axe for nearly a year and six months until I could chop firewood with the Flying Thunder Blade technique.