The Teacher’s Grace Is Like Heaven chapter 0

0 – The Three Talents Sword Technique

The Three Talents Sword Technique

Cutting down the opponent with the sword is called beheading. Dodging the opponent’s sword is evasion, and if it cannot be avoided, then block it. This is the foundation of martial arts, and no martial arts can start without it. Although I said this, the Three Talents Sword Technique is actually closer to a basic sword technique textbook than a real martial art. After all, it is a martial art that can be obtained on the street just by paying money. However, for someone of low status and little learning like me, even that was already more than enough.

Born as the illegitimate child of a street ruffian and a prostitute, I did not even have food to eat every day and had to struggle just to survive. Fortunately, I must have had at least some conscience, since my so-called parents took care of me until I was 8 years old. Of course, after that I had to fend for myself, but if it wasn’t for the kind tavern owner who took me in and allowed me to do odd jobs, I probably would have starved to death in a back alley long ago.

It was truly lamentable. I may have reincarnated into a martial arts novel, but I couldn’t even find my path properly and almost starved to death.

In my previous life, I loved martial arts novels. The stories of chivalrous men slowly building up their martial arts through grinding effort, and steadfastly following their own code of chivalry and justice. After hearing those stories, how could I as a man just sit by idly?

It was around then that I learned the Three Talents Sword Technique. To be precise, I got ahold of a martial arts manual and it turned out to be the Three Talents Sword Technique. Since I couldn’t read, I begged the tavern guests to teach me, and after work I would practice with tree branches in an empty lot.

“The way of heaven, earth and human intention are contained within this inner energy…”

Although it says it is an inner energy that contains the principles of observing the trinity of all creation, called the Three Talents Inner Power, in truth it is not much different from the Three Talents Sword Technique.

Frankly, the Three Talents Inner Power was an inner energy that even ordinary people could cultivate and practice. Naturally, the speed at which it builds up inner strength is extremely slow. And for those even less talented, it becomes even slower and the effects are very negligible. But what could be done? This was all I had in my hands.

If there is only one thing you can do, then do that one thing well. With just this determination, I swung my sword and cultivated the inner power with my body.

However, no matter how proficient I became in the Three Talents Sword Technique and Three Talents Inner Power, I could not deny that I was still a third-rate martial artist. But still, I was grateful for it.

Although third-rate, wasn’t I still able to follow the footsteps of martial artists by learning martial arts and inner power? Rather than envy and begrudge what I don’t have, I should be grateful for what I do have and strive even harder. Any martial artist I know would surely have done the same. At the very least, I was now able to pretend to be a martial artist.

10 years passed in this manner. I did not neglect my training every day, and developed my own unique moves, although they were just imitations. Thanks to my inherited sturdy build and my efforts, although I was only a third-rate martial artist, I was slowly gaining quite a reputation.

“Beasts who can’t even act like humans, pretending to be human by wearing their skins…”

Upon hearing news that some bandits were ambushing travelers, I personally went to punish them. And there, I met a young girl.

Her jet-black hair reached her waist in a mess, and her tiny body was covered in countless scars bad enough to make one clench their teeth. It was a truly horrific sight. If I had not stumbled upon her being dragged away, and she had reached their lair…

Ugh… I dare not even imagine it. In any case, I wanted to take the girl back to her family. But that turned out to be a mistake.

“Where is your family?”

“They’re all dead.”

“I’m sorry.”

The girl did not cry. Her crimson pupils were filled only with empty void. Why would such a young child have such an expression?

There must have been a reason for it. Having lost her parents right before her eyes… Unthinkingly, my heart ached for her. Just then, the girl grabbed my crotch.

“Hey mister, can I ask a favor?”

“What is it?”

“Could you please kill me?”

“…….”

Her voice held no strength at all. However, the girl’s hands did not tremble. Her request was sincere.

Just how painful, how torn apart must her heart be… For such a young blue-faced child to personally ask to be killed?

Shamefully, I recalled my own past. When I was young, abandoned by my parents, and the anxiety of having to live alone.

If I had not met the tavern owner then, I would not be here today either. This too is fate. I put on a stern expression.

“Would you entrust your life to another?”

“But I’m too scared to kill myself.”

“Then I shall teach you the way.”

“Huh?”

“Take my hand. Watch and learn, then make your choice after.”

Although I was a third-rate martial artist with third-rate skills and third-rate inner power, I could at least take this little girl’s hand.

The girl hesitated for a moment, then finally took my hand. The warmth of our grasped hands was comforting. And so, the girl became my one and only disciple.

However, what I did not know then was that this child I had taken in out of sympathy would one day become a genius who shakes the martial world.