Chapter 20: Chapter 20

I decided to live in monk Mang-ryang’s house for three years. Fortunately, there was a separate house about twenty paces away from Mang-ryang’s thatched cottage. Apparently, he made a good amount of money from fortune-telling, and he had built this separate house for his lover. From what he said, it seemed he had one lover in Jinrang Valley and a few more in other provinces.

‘This guy is quite indulgent in pleasures of the flesh.’

Could it be that he left the imperial palace to freely cavort with women?

Of course, it was unnecessary to offend my benefactor by saying something like that out loud, so I kept quiet. We agreed that I would live in the separate house and occasionally help Mang-ryang with his work to earn my keep.

“From now on, just call me Mang-ryang instead of monk Mang-ryang; it will be less cumbersome.”

“Alright.”

“Shall I call you Baek-woong?”

“Sure.”

After settling on how to address each other, our studies began the next day.

At first, I didn’t know what I would study. But then, suddenly, Mang-ryang handed me an incredibly thick book. The title read “Ten Thousand Character Classic”1. Taken aback by the sudden appearance and thickness of the book, I looked at Mang-ryang, who explained:

“Baek-woong, the foundation of all studies is Hanja. Starting today, memorize this scripture until it becomes second nature.”

Ten Thousand Character Classic.

I had seen this book before. Unlike Thousand Character Classic, which is taught to children who are just starting their studies, Ten Thousand Character Classic is for students who are serious about taking the civil service exams. It’s a reference book you study to master the subtleties of vocabulary. I remembered we had this back at home, but it had only gathered dust after flipping through the first few pages.

“Mang-ryang, why are we skipping Thousand Character Classic?”

“Once you do Ten Thousand Character Classic, you’ll naturally memorize Thousand Character Classic. No point in wasting time; let’s start with the hard stuff.”

“Even so, ten thousand characters is a bit too much…”

I trailed off negatively, to which Mang-ryang responded.

“What are you talking about? It’s not actually ten thousand characters.”

“Oh, so it’s actually fewer?”

“In reality, it contains thirty thousand characters.”

“……”

For a moment, I almost blurted out a curse. It was as thick as three of my forearms combined, and now I knew why. The prospect of memorizing 30,000 characters was incredibly daunting, especially when I knew less than 500 practical Hanja characters.

“There’s no choice. Both ‘Grand Book of Mystical Taiji’ and ‘The True Origin of the Art of Change’ contain many archaic characters and forgotten vocabulary. Unless you’re like me, well-versed in all kinds of classical texts, you’d have to interpret it like a foreign language. This isn’t optional; it’s mandatory.”

“Ugh… you can just translate it for me.”

“Of course, I’ll help you, but given the volume, I can’t translate everything for you.”

It seemed Mang-ryang wasn’t joking. Resignedly, I sighed.

“…So how many do I need to memorize a day?”

“You need to make progress on at least a hundred characters per day. Aside from time spent eating and sleeping, dedicate your day to studying.”

“F*ck…”

I couldn’t help but curse. For someone like me who had hardly ever studied academic subjects, the idea of spending hours focusing on these dizzying characters felt like torture.

“Let’s use a cheat method called ‘Brain Purification Sutra’ to help us.”

“Brain Purification Sutra? I heard that it boosts your brain’s vitality. Does it work?”

“It activates your neural waves. It will greatly assist in regaining your focus.”

And so, my daily routine was set. Apart from eating and sleeping, I spent most of my time memorizing Ten Thousand Character Classic. One hour a day was reserved for internal energy training. During breaks, I would recite Brain Purification Sutra to recover mental fatigue and improve focus.

In theory, it was a perfect study method.

Mang-ryang said that if I studied like this, even if I were completely ignorant, he was confident that I could pass the junior civil service exams.

“……”

I can’t do this.

On the third day of studying Ten Thousand Character Classic, I felt I was at the limits of my patience. I lay down, staring at the empty ceiling of the separate house. The volume and pace of the study were no joke, and sitting at a desk all day was driving me insane. When I was training in martial arts, physical exhaustion helped me forget other troubles, but building stamina for studying was a different kind of hardship altogether.

‘Now I finally understand how Geum Man-jae felt.’

Studying this hard to memorize all the characters in Ten Thousand Character Classic, yet still finding it difficult to pass the civil service exams. It seemed like the lives of commoners were weaker than those of martial artists, but in reality, it was proof that they were fighting with themselves more fiercely than anyone else.

However, when I thought of Geum Man-jae, my motivation was revived.

If I keep feeling down like this and don’t study, what’s the difference between me and that scum Geum Man-jae? I can’t go on living if I become the same as that trash, who has a rotten character, exploits his parents, and is only interested in pleasure-seeking.

For decades, I shuddered through the struggles of a wandering courier. Times of tirelessly gathering Millennium Snow Ginseng through repetitive deaths passed like a revolving lantern. All of this was the desperate struggle to lead my life proactively.

I can’t give up now!

I will go even further.

A scream from within prompted me to study again. Clenching my teeth, I began to read the Hanja characters out loud in the quiet annex.

Whether it’s ten thousand or thirty thousand characters, it doesn’t matter.

If I keep memorizing them, they’ll eventually all be memorized.

Thinking that, I felt a bit relieved.

Half a year had passed since I started studying. I really only ate, slept, and studied, making a strenuous effort to memorize a hundred characters a day.

Thanks to my abundant inner energy, I never lacked physical strength, but sometimes my concentration was insufficient. Whenever that happened, I chanted the ‘Brain Purification Sutra’, and my focus was quickly restored.

When I asked Mang-ryang, out of curiosity, what this “Brain Purification Sutra” was that had such a healing effect, his answer was concise.

“It’s a Buddhist sutra that has been adapted into Taoist style.”

“So it was originally a chant?”

“Most religious chants are like that. Meaningless mumbling affects the mind.”

Saying that, Mang-ryang reviewed my homework and said, “As of today, you’ve reached the level of studying at a village school. Let’s get more familiar with the characters you’ve memorized.”

“How do you suggest I do that?”

“Let’s read the Four Books and Three Classics.”

“What? How could I read something like that?”

The Four Books and Three Classics are texts you can only read after substantial study. But Mang-ryang chuckled and said, “Do you, by any chance, know how many characters there are now in Hanja?”

“How could I?”

“I don’t either.”

I shot him a skeptical look, thinking he was playing with words. But Mang-ryang calmly responded, “Hanja is the only script in the world that is an open set. Meaning, anyone can create a new character right now. Other languages’ scripts don’t add new characters unless a new phoneme is added to the language. But since Hanja characters each carry a specific meaning, when a new concept arises, a new character must be created.”

“……”

I don’t understand what he’s saying.

I should just listen quietly.

“So nobody knows how many Hanja characters there are. Saying it’s ten thousand characters and then actually having over thirty thousand is because of this reason. You collect all sorts of rare and obsolete characters, and there’s nothing you can do.”

Feeling mentally assaulted by Mang-ryang’s knowledge dump, I replied sarcastically.

“I see. But what does that have to do with me reading the Four Books and Three Classics?”

“The Four Books and Three Classics are canonical texts not influenced by such generated characters. In other words, regardless of how times change, you can study these classics with just the basic characters. You’ve studied enough that you shouldn’t have any difficulty reading them.”

“Hmm….”

“And reading the Four Books and Three Classics will help you use the characters you’ve memorized more effortlessly.”

Is that really true?

I had no choice but to doubt Mang-ryang’s words for now.

The reason is that the “Four Books and Five Classics” refer to seven or nine core scriptures of Confucianism, and among the numerous scholars, there were hardly any who had read all of these texts. It’s said that the deeper one delves into these books, the more difficult they become, and that if you thoroughly read and understand just the “Four Books and Five Classics,” you could pass the minor subject exams. I never thought I could read such books, having spent my whole life involved only in physical combat.

But Mang-ryang’s words were true.

I managed to read the entire Analects, one of the books in the “Four Books and Five Classics,” in just three days. I couldn’t believe it and sat there in a daze for a long time. I had read the book all by myself, without Mang-ryang’s help, despite being someone who had only been involved in physical combat all my life.

When I told Mang-ryang about my achievement, he chuckled.

“You should be able to read the rest of the ‘Four Books and Five Classics’ within a month with my help,” he said.

His words were also true.

With Mang-ryang’s explanations and help, I managed to read all of it in just three weeks. I was even surprised that I could read these core scholarly texts so easily. It might sound arrogant, but it felt like there was no book I couldn’t read.

“How is this possible? Don’t scholars usually take years to read all of the ‘Four Books and Five Classics’?” I asked.

“Their study efficiency is just too low,” Mang-ryang said, almost scoffing at the scholars. “You have looked at at least 10,000 Hanja characters in the past six months, and even if you’ve only memorized half, that’s still 5,000 characters. While they are grappling with the scriptures and quoting Confucius and Mencius, you have already completed your basic study. Of course, part of the reason is that they try to force their own interpretations of humaneness, righteous, propriety, and wisdom.”

“Indeed…”

I felt I had found the right person.

His over-the-top self-introduction was not a bluff. He was a genius who had ranked third in the imperial examinations, where all the literary talents in the world had gathered to compete.

“Also, your memorization skills seem excessively good,” he added.

“Huh?”

“From what I’ve seen recently, you memorize about four out of every ten characters you encounter right on the spot. Your memorization ability is significantly better than that of an average person.”

“I didn’t think my memorization skills were that good,” I said.

Mang-ryang tilted his head and pondered, “Maybe the recitation effect of Brain Purification Sutra resonated with your internal energy? I can’t think of any other reason.”

“Hmm.”

That could be the case.

Definitely, while I was reciting the brain-cleansing chant, my head felt clear, and I felt as if my internal energy was boiling up. I even felt a slight pulling sensation on my skin. I thought it was just my imagination, but thinking about it now, it seems like it resonated with my millennium ginseng’s internal energy. That my mind had improved made me feel a little happy.

After completing my study of the Four Books and Five Classics, I was able to invest most of my time in acquiring the Ten Thousand Character Classic. A year had passed when I had completed 80% of it, and another six months when I finished it all.

Only then could I begin the ‘Grand Book of Mystical Taiji’ and the ‘The True Origin of the Art of Change’. I sighed deeply when I saw the first chapter of these books.

‘Hmm… this is difficult.’

Back in the days when I couldn’t tell black ink from white paper, I had no idea what it was about. But reading these books on divination and cosmology after mastering the Ten Thousand Character Classic and the Four Books and Five Classics, I realized that they were incredibly complex. The interpretation of meanings was difficult, and there were many unfamiliar and complex Hanja characters. It was hard to believe this was a book meant for reading.

I glared at Mang-ryang.

“Mang-ryang. You tossed me such difficult books to self-study?”

Mang-ryang looked away, slightly embarrassed, and said, “I thought you were an outstanding talent of the orthodox school or some secret weapon. Someone proficient in both the literary and martial arts…”

“Ah, well.”

“Anyway, if we start now, we should be able to finish most of the studies within a year.”

Mang-ryang was not wrong.

As a result, within a year I was able to complete the ‘Grand Book of Mystical Taiji’ and ‘The True Origin of the Art of Change’ and began my foundational studies in numerical methods and Qi Men Dun Jia.

However, the journey to get there was truly arduous. Eventually, I was so engrossed in my studies that I didn’t even have time to train my internal energy. The process of rote memorization and studying was especially harsh for arithmetic and mathematical theory. Because these subjects were quite challenging, I had no choice but to cram them into my head under Mang-ryang’s stern supervision.

I became so absorbed in my studies that I forgot why I was even studying in the first place. Just when I was mindlessly memorizing more material, I suddenly had an awakening.

“Gosh… What am I doing?”

It’s been almost three years since I started studying under Mang-ryang.

It felt like if this continued, I would spend a lifetime just studying. Thinking that I’ve learned enough, I went to Mang-ryang and said, “I think it’s time to acquire the Nameless Ritual Sacrifice Rites.”

To which Mang-ryang responded, “Good. I will pass on the imperial palace’s map to you.”

And three days later, I left Jinrang Valley.

Although time felt like it had flown by, a sense of emptiness remained. Not only had my martial arts skills hardly improved, but the ordeal of endless studying was also wearing on me. I shook my head.

“It’s just one hurdle crossed.”

I decided not to dwell on it too much.

In my hand, I held the scroll of imperial palace maps given to me by Mang-ryang, and in my bag was the interpretation of the imperial palace’s formation that Mang-ryang had personally written. Having thoroughly memorized the strategy over the past three days, I felt confident that I would definitely succeed.

The goal is to obtain the Nameless Ritual Sacrifice Rites from the Imperial Inner Chamber of the imperial palace!

The 萬字文 (Wàn Zì Wén in Chinese, Manjimun in Korean, and Manji Mon in Japanese) is a Chinese poem used as a primer for teaching Chinese characters to beginners. It is traditionally attributed to Zhou Xingsi of the Liang Dynasty in ancient China. The text is composed of 1,000 unique characters, and it is designed in such a way that no character is repeated. This makes it an efficient tool for learning a wide array of characters quickly. The poem is not only an educational tool but also a piece of literature that has been admired for its artistic form.[↩]