Martial Arts Worlds - Chapter 201

Chapter 201: Mistakes of Father

The leafless, almost dead-looking trees stood in the cold air. Their branches were reaching towards the sky, waiting for the warmth of spring to bring them back to life.

Thump! Thump! Thump!

The sound of thumping frightened the nearby birds, and with their small wings, they took flight into the safety of the thin forest.

That sound of a thump came from a man, who was carrying a heavy pillar on his back. It was clear that the man’s footsteps were as heavy as the weight he was carrying.

After a short while, the man arrived in a slight clearing. The ground was uneven. A few hills went up and down, but the trees were quite spread out, so there was plenty of space for the man to set down his heavy load.

“Hup!”

With a grunt, he put the pillar down on the ground carefully. The ground still shook, and trembled.

“Why is the pillar so heavy for you?”

Following the man, Kiernan and Julian hiked up the hill, soon joining the man at the clearing.

Almost dead-looking forest surrounded them. It was far from being a comforting sight.

“I’m not a special person!”

Sabbath said as he took some drinks from his backpack and got rid of his parched throat. He hadn’t had a drink in hours.

“So, the pillar weighs like a thousand mountains to you?”

Julian asked sarcastically. He didn’t believe that the pillar weighed that much. Sure, it was heavy, but if it weighed that much, the ground wouldn’t be able to hold it up.

“It doesn’t weigh that much to me. This pillar of mine is a power of mine—I am a Conjuration user.”

When the two young men heard that, their eyes bulged wide like they had heard something crazy.

“You’re Martial King?!”

“What the hell is a person like you doing here?”

“Haha! Martial King? Maybe I am stronger than that, wink, wink.”

Sabbath said jokingly, but it just brought more shock to the two young men.

They hadn’t been able to tell his strength even slightly. They thought he was strong, sure, like Martial Grandmaster, but by the sounds of it, he had awakened his Martial Ability!

“What kind of Conjuration user are you actually? You’re able to summon this pillar? A little useless, don’t you think?”

Julian said.

From what he heard from his father, Conjuration users were able to summon creatures from other worlds and weapons of mass destruction.

Able to summon a pillar with some chains wrapped around it seemed quite… mundane in comparison.

“That’s not all, younglings. Conjuration users are usually able to stop the summoning of the creatures and weapons. They can make them vanish with just a snap of the fingers.

“Not me, though. I can’t unsummon this pillar!”

Sabbath laughed.

Kiernan and Julian looked at him with twitching eyebrows, starting to regret ever following this guy. He seemed like a failure compared to other Martial Ability users.

“You can’t or don’t know how to?”

Kiernan asked.

“Haha, I am not sure. I don’t know if I can unsummon it or if I simply lack the skill to do so. I’ve been looking through ancient texts, and I haven’t found an answer.

“I’ve visited countless masters of Conjuration. All of them taught me different ways of doing unsummoning, but nope, I was never able to do it.”

Kiernan and Julian looked at each other. Sighed in unison. This was starting to seem like a mistake.

“Now…”

Sabbath tapped his fist against the side of the pillar.

“Shall we start training?”

Kiernan took off his jacket, put it hanging from a nearby branch, and cracked his knuckles before approaching the pillar.

“I’m ready when you are.”

“Heh, good. Your first lesson is to punch the pillar—hard and strong.”

“That’s it?”

Kiernan asked with a raised eyebrow.

“I once spent fifty years in a mountain. In a cold, snowy, and godforsaken place. All I did in that place was punch my fists against this pillar of mine.”

Sabbath kissed his fists and chuckled.

Kiernan shrugged his shoulders, then started punching against the pillar. It only took one punch for his fist to start hurting.

This pillar wasn’t only heavy. It was hard as hell too.

‘Interesting.’

Kiernan narrowed his eyes and kept punching the pillar. He didn’t hold back on his punches, and soon the flesh of his fingers started rupturing from the impact.

The blood splattered across his tattooed fingers, covering the words “Iron,” “Valor,” and “Mortality” in his own blood.

“What should I do?”

Julian asked.

“Right, you’re also here!”

Sabbath replied with an exasperated sigh.

He had been looking for a special person in many countries, and now that he found one, he wanted to only focus on him, but a deal is a deal.

‘This young one failed to lift the pillar. Therefore, he isn’t a special one. However, to keep the special one happy, I must also try to help this one.’

Sabbath examined Julian closely. Touched his face, cheek, nose, and lips. Then, rubbed his shoulders, the muscles of his arms, and the firmness of his chest.

“Hmm…”

Julian’s eyebrow kept twitching. He felt disgusted. However, he knew that all this new master of theirs was trying to decide what to train him on.

‘I’d like to know what I should train on. Even I don’t really know. I’ve been pretty lost in my training lately. After all, my father used to train me, and all I did was follow his instructions.’

“Huh?”

Sabbath suddenly frowned, looked straight into his chest, then touched a spot between his collarbones and looked like he was in discomfort.

He’d returned back to his thinking face.

“Who trained you before, if I may ask?”

“My father.”

“…Sorry to say this, but your father is a horrible teacher.”

“What?”

Julian’s eyes turned cold. He didn’t think so. He thought that his father was a great teacher.

The fists of his started to itch. He didn’t like when people insulted his family.

“…Your father almost crippled you. Your martial soul is hurting, and if this continues like this, your soul might die, and you won’t be able to use your martial arts ever again.”

“What the hell do you mean? How is that my father’s fault?”

Julian asked with a frown, and his heart started to beat in nervousness. He was becoming crippled? He didn’t want to believe it.

Kiernan stopped punching the pillar and looked over in worry. It didn’t sound like the news was good at all.

“Your father taught you martial arts. Martial arts and martial soul go hand in hand. However, clearly, your martial arts was hurting your soul.”

“Why is it like that though? Answer me!”

“The martial arts ruined the balance between your body, and the soul. It can happen in multiple ways, but in this instance, it seems your training was all wrong as your father clearly didn’t know what he was doing.”

“Ngh…”

Julian clenched his fists hard.

“Where is your father now?”

“…Dead.”

“Good.”

Thwack!

Julian punched Sabbath in the face. The fist was pushing his cheekbone into his teeth, but it was actually Julian’s fist that got hurt. He could feel the pain shooting up his arm.

“If your father had kept training you, you would’ve probably been crippled by now. A blessing in disguise. It is not too late to fix your martial soul, but you must abandon your father’s martial arts.”

“Shit…”

Julian felt the cold tears of his loss stream down his face. He collapsed down on the ground.

“…What should I do then?”

“You must follow your own path and create your own martial arts style. It is the safest way of fixing your martial soul.”

“…Alright, I shall do that, master.”

“Good…”

Sabbath nodded in approval.

‘Harsh words were a must to make him realize the mistakes of his father. I pity his loss, but the death of his father was indeed a blessing in disguise. He will come out stronger after this ordeal, and I will make sure of it.’