Child of Destiny

...

Shin was told to rest for a few hours so that he could recover his peak condition, but it was already dark outside when he woke up.

"D*mn! So, I fell asleep for that long, huh? I guess I am really too tired this time," muttered Shin as he tried to get up from his bed.

The intense headache that he was feeling earlier was already gone, so he was able to get up without problem. But his entire body was quite stiff due to staying on the bed for quite long. With that, he did some body stretching to relieve that stiffness. But didn't dare to do his usual training routines since he was not sure if it was going to affect the current state of his dantian.

When he was finally able to move his body without having much problem, he immediately walked out of his room and quickly went to his Master's place.

It didn't take long for him to arrive at that Old Plum's humble house. And since he was already familiar with this place, he immediately opened the door as usual and went inside. "I'm here, Old Geezer."

And the moment Shin entered the room, he was immediately greeted by Old Plum's voice, saying. "Tsk! As usual, you still don't have some respect for your elders."

Shin turned his head at the source of the voice and immediately saw Professor Plum and Grandmaster Benn sitting on the ground, facing each other and were currently in the middle of playing a 'Go'.

Shin walked forward to take a look at the progress of the game and saw that it was a very close fight. Though, Professor Plum had a slight lead of '0.5 points' and was currently playing black.

At first, Shin was thinking that it was just an ordinary match. But the more he looked at the gaming broad the stranger he felt inside. Due to that, he decided to stay silent and continue watching them.

Few moments later, Shin suddenly discovered what was strange about this gaming board. "This game!..."

Both Professor Plum and Grandmaster Benn suddenly started smiling when they heard him. The former even smirked at him and said. "Heh! Not bad for a greenhorn, I guess. So, you are able to see it, huh?"

Meanwhile, Grandmaster Benn placed a piece on the board which turned the favor of the game and gave him the '0.5' advantage. But Old Plum immediately countered it and quickly took back the lead.

Seeing that, Grandmaster Benn immediately responded and made an unexpected move. And when Professor Plum saw that, he suddenly paused for a moment before scanning the whole board.

From what he could see, this game would end up in a draw if they continued doing this. Which means, he was going to lose with the default rule. But he didn't think much about it since it was not the main point of this game. So, Old Plum continued playing his move after taking a quick glance at Shin.

Shin decided to sit down beside the two and continued watching for a while. As the game continued, Shin started to become immersed with every move of each side.

From what he could see, there were some Martial Insights within every move that Professor Plum was making. Meanwhile, Grandmaster Benn was responding with it by using a Mentalism Insight of his own.

Due to this, Shin became drawn in the match the more he looked at it. From his perspective, this gaming board became a battlefield between two Peak Experts.

Ta!

Grandmaster Benn placed the final stone on the broad putting the game in an end. But he didn't care much about the result, the same went for Professor Plum. Instead, both of them stayed silent right after the game ended.

They closed their eyes as they waited for Shin to digest everything he saw on the board. And that current state of Shin lasted for a few more minutes before he was finally able to regain his senses. And the moment he woke up, he immediately raised head and looked at the two old men with dumbfounded eyes and quickly opened his mount, wanting to say something.

But before he could even say something, Old Plum immediately beat him into it and asked. "So, what do you think about it?"

Shin tried to open and close his mouth but no words came out. He was trying to explain what he saw, but he couldn't find the right words to do so. And after a few more failed attempts, he finally gave up and shook his head.

Seeing that, Professor Plum couldn't help but smirk a little since he found another chance to tease Shin a little. But that was just a thought and didn't actually do it. After all, they were already running short in time for this kid's special training.

Due to that, Old Plum stayed silent for a moment before starting to talk. "You don't need to rush understanding all of that since everything you 'saw' will be included in your upcoming training. For now, we wanted you to understand the difference and similarities of these two disciplines."

"As you can see in this match, Martial-Arts and Mentalism are quite equal. They have strong points of their own."

He paused for a moment to pick up a black stone from the board before continuing. "Martial-Arts is just like this black stone. It is considered stronger by other people since it was the first path to be discovered right after the 'Cultivation Path' is lost."

Then he placed that black stone on another game board that Grandmaster Benn had created with his Mental Energy, before saying. "Martial-Arts gain an advantage since it has the first move. And due to that, it is able to progress slightly faster compared to the other discipline."

Reaching that point, Old Plum suddenly stopped talking which was also a signal for Grandmaster Benn to take over. And when the latter saw that, Old Benn picked up a white stone and said. "Meanwhile, this stone can stand for Mentalism."

"It starts late but that doesn't mean it is weaker. In fact, a Kaleidoscope Mentalist such as yourself is considered to be slightly stronger than a Martial-Artist in the same level of its versatility."

"A Kaleidoscope Mentalist is able to nurture both their body and spirit which give them the slight advantage over a Martial-Artist."

After that, he crossed his arms in front of his chest before adding. "A Martial-Artist can only make their bodies stronger, but that also makes their spirits become vulnerable to mental attacks when their minds are invaded. Let's say that his where the 'komi' stands for."

Then Old Plum's second moves came in. He placed another black stone on the board while saying. "And that is where the 'Calming Techniques' comes in. Different kinds of 'Calming Techniques' are created to make the mind of a Martial-Artist hard to be invaded by a Mentalist."

"Then 'Illusion Techniques' are created to counter it by confusing them," Old Benn responded.

While placing another stone, Old Plum immediately countered. "Then 'Natural Forces' are created to destroy those illusions with brute force."

Then Grandmaster Benn quickly answered. "And that is when a specialized form of Mental Energy is discovered to fight against it," while placing another white stone on the board.

With that, another game was started but with a very fast pace. But they suddenly stopped when they reached half-way through the game.

Then Professor Plum turned his head at Shin while saying. "What we are trying to say – comparing these two disciplines to decide who is actually stronger is going to be an impossible feat. Because both of them are still in the middle of progression, so it is pointless to decide which side is better."

He paused for another moment to pick up a black stone. He squeezed it between his fingers and turned its color red by heating it with his Internal Qi. After that, he placed it on the board quite strongly while saying. "Then the balance was broken when a Dual-Practitioner suddenly appeared."

At the same time, Grandmaster Benn picked up a white stone from the board and changed its color into green before placing it black on its place. "Then 'Sword Qi' was also discovered not long after that and gave birth to another discipline which is a much higher form of the ordinary Swordsmanship. Then Sword Practitioner started to emerge."

Then Old Plum immediately added, "Then 'Bloodline Possessors' started to show their battle prowess. The same goes for the wielders of 'Demonic Arts' who come out of nowhere alongside the other people who went down on the 'Evil Path'."

"And there are even some unorthodox disciplines which almost rival those powerful disciplines. It an example of it are the peak 'Assassination Techniques' of some Assassin Families and Tribes."

Then Professor Plum paused once again and looked at Shin before asking. "I already asked you about this before, but I am asking you once again. Are you sure you want to walk in the path of being a Dual-Practitioner?"

Shin looked at Old Plum confusedly as he couldn't fully understand where this conversation was heading. Regardless, he still nodded his head repeatedly before saying with a firm tone. "I already decided, so there is no way I am going to turn back now."

Hearing that and seeing that expression that Shin was making, Professor Plum suddenly smiled before saying. "Then I suggest you to stop practicing Martial-Arts for now."

Shin's eyes suddenly turned wide the moment he heard those words which made him become very confused at what he had heard. And this time, he really couldn't understand what was going on. 'What the hell is running inside your head now, Old Geezer!?'

...…