The Fragrant Wood Swordsman
pk 02 part 10

The teacher and the student were very strong. It is difficult to say which of them is more diligent, the teacher who teaches or the student who learns. Keng Hong studied science and practiced without knowing the time. There was no difference between day or night for him, whether the peak of the sword stone was light or dark. For him now it makes no difference because he can see in the dark so great the cleavers given by his teacher.

He mengaso if his body is no longer strong, only sleep if his eyes are not strong enough to withstand drowsiness, only eat if the stomach is no longer able to hold hunger and drink if the esophagus is no longer able to withstand thirst. In just a few months he was able to come down from the sword stone and replace his teacher's job to find food.

Sin-jiu Kiam-ong galvanizes his student in extraordinary ways. All the basic understanding of silat he gave by lightning. Lweekang and ginkang exercises he gave and emphasized to be trained continuously by his students. Semedhi exercises and regulates breathing to collect the sinkang (sakti air) in the body, while little by little ‘move his own sinkang’ through the palm of the hand he attaches to the back of his student.

It was incredible the progress Keng Hong had made. Quick and indeed this child is very clever, every lesson given always sticks in his memory. But on the contrary, if Keng Hong made great and rapid progress, Sin-jiu Kiam-ong grew weaker and paler.

This grandfather coughed more and more often, and sometimes his cough bleed. This grandfather suffered injuries on the inside of his body due to the match against Bu-tek Sam-kwi then and now because he was too diligent and forced his energy, he became sick and weak.

But this did not diminish his spirit. He continued to train his students diligently and meticulously because he felt sure that this was the last obligation in his life that was not much longer.

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Time passes very quickly. It is not wrong to say by ancient poets that the speed of time exceeds lightning, but its slowness overcomes the slowness of a walking snail. If not noticed a year feels like a day, on the contrary when noticed and awaited, a day feels a year! So quickly the time rotates so that it does not look and feel anymore, as if it stops, when everything is dragged and then drifted in its rotation, devoured and swallowed up, to be born and eliminated again.

Without feeling, what else for those who experience it themselves, has been five years long Keng Hong lived alone with his teacher at the top of the sword stone. From a twelve year old boy, now seventeen years old! His body was tall and well-built, his handsome face with fresh, reddish-white skin imagining perfect health and the power of miracles hidden within his body. The clothes are simple models, just plain yellow rough fabric, made roughly anyway. Yellow is her favorite color.

However, during those five years, as the student became healthier and stronger, the teacher grew weaker and older. If people who met Sin-jiu Kiam-ong five years ago now see him, it would be a shock. This grandfather was already very old, his body was thin and only his pair of eyes seemed to be radiant with enthusiasm at times, that was only if he was training his students.

On that day, the sunlight had already pierced through the thin clouds illuminating the surface of the sword stone peak. As usual, Keng Hong cross-legged and practiced, concentrating his five senses in order to receive the morning sun that contained the power of magic power to increase the power of the sinkang in his body. As usual, his teacher sat cross-legged not far from where he was sitting.

"Keng Hong's....!"

The teacher's face looked different than usual. Even though the face was still imagining the series and excited, there was something that stood out, something on that pale and thin face that made his heart flutter. Today his teacher's face is like the sun covered in thick clouds, gloomily losing its light.

"Temperature calling teecu? What orders, Temperature?"

Sin-jiu Kiam-ong smiled as he raised his left arm, his movement was weak as he reached out, "Close, Keng Hong and take a light in front of me here, I want to talk to you."

Keng Hong became even more astonished. His teacher's attitude was not as usual. There must be something very important. He quickly got up and approached his temperature, then sat cross-legged in front of his temperature.

Since it had only been this way for five years that he had been close to his teacher in a state of not being trained, then he had the opportunity to look attentively. Now it is evident by him how very thin the temperature is, only the skin covers the bones and that only by incredible endurance can the temperature survive this long. He now understood that his temperature suffered severe injuries in the body, injuries that would take the lives of everyone within a few months. But the temperature can last up to five years!

"Keng Hong, do you know how long you've been in this place?"

"Teecu did not pay too much attention, but if you look at the many changes in the season, of course, approximately five years."

"Right, it's been five years, my student. And you've learned enough from me. Too bad the time is so hasty that I had to just increase the training ginkang and Iweekang to you. Regarding your quick movements and inner strength, I think it is enough as a foundation and I am not worried that you will be easily defeated by others. But your silat.. ahh.., there is no time for us so only the basics you master. Though silat science in this world is very much Keng Hong. And in addition to the basics of high silat, you have only mastered silat with simple bare hands and also the swordsmanship of Siang-bhok Kiam-sut you have not mastered entirely. This is what is damning my heart, because what if you meet with such powerful people as nine figures who in the last five years stormed here, what else to meet Bu-tek Su-kwi (Four Devils Without a Match), your intelligence is still unreliable."

Keng Hong furrowed his long and thick black brows. "Will but, Temperature, what does their devotion have to do with teecu? Temperature already knows the establishment of teecu, which is to learn the science of temperature to strengthen the self-born bathin, the science learned to guard themselves from outside attacks, be it born or inner attacks. Teecu doesn't want to look for enemies!"

"Ha-ha-ha, my disciple, you are still green and do not know human nature, nor do you know your character and your person. There are no creatures as greedy as humans. When where you have descended into the crowded world, you will meet all the lunge of men blindly because of their own lustful impulses. You are not looking for enemies, but you will be hostile! And inevitably you will be dragged and involved in an unbroken chain, a chain of struggle and enmity between humans in order to win and satisfy the passions that dominate the personal self. I also used to be one of those who became my own slave, Keng Hong. I have never been hostile to anyone, nor have I ever conceived the intention of committing crimes against others. However, the pursuit of satisfying my desires made me clash with other people, and made me labeled as a heretical figure. Only now do I regret, but what is the use of regretting being late? Let me bear all the consequences and punishments. And I ask you that you will dare to account for all your deeds! Don't be a hypocrite, a pretender. If it is clean, try to be clean inside. If you have no power to resist the desire to do something, do it on the basis of not harming others and dare to take responsibility for all the consequences of your behavior. It means doing something with your eyes and heart open."

"Teecu understand, temperature."

"Well, I repeat. Your cleverness is far from enough to deal with a formidable opponent. But there is no time for me." He took a long breath. "Bu-tek Su-kwi is really great. There are still traces of their hands. Ang-bin Kwi-bo's hair and nails are extremely dangerous, as are Pak-san Kwi-ong's skull weapons. Hudtim and Pat-jiu Kiam-ong's empty-handed martial arts are hard to fight either. What more if you meet Lam-hai Sin-ni! May you be able to match them only when you have studied all my books whose secret hiding places are in these Days, my disciples."

Keng Hong looked towards the sword in his temperature hand with a feeling full of wonder. Understand him now why these powerful figures are fighting over this wooden sword, may be the key to unlocking the secrets of the high silat books that had been collected by his temperature.