Gathering of Ten Thousand Shadows

**Gathering of 10 Thousand Shadows** is the hidden martial art created and developed by Buk Jin-Hu, the founding sect leader of the Northern Heavenly Sect. The current and sole practitioner of this martial art is Jin Mu-Won.

## Origin

This was created by the first sect leader of the Northern Heavenly Sect, Buk Jin-Hu, who was originally a vagabond and a genius swordsman who created it after his many years of traveling. This martial art was inscribed on the Wall of 10 Thousand Shadows which contained all of his writings within the courtyard of the Northern Heavenly Sect and can be seen from the shadows cast by the walls during sunset.

The martial arts are inscribed on the walls in a forgotten language from the Lower Moon Kingdom. It has been described as a martial art that has gone through many additions and refinements over the years under the different sect leaders, yet remains incomplete.

### Lore

Buk Jin-Hu: The first sect leader of the Northern Sect wasn’t a disciple of any famous martial art school. He developed his martial arts through actual combat experience.He was a genius with an imagination that exceeded his peers. According to him there are always two forces that maintain balance, Yin and Yang, positive and negative, light and shadow. He applied the same reasoning to chi (the basis of all martial arts) and realized that according to the law of nature, there must be something that acts as a counterbalance to chi. An anti-chi that is equal and opposite to chi, He named this energy Shadow Chi. Most of Buk Jin-Hu’s life had been spent on the battlefield fighting against the Silent Night, and he had very little free time to develop the principles of Shadow Chi. Therefore, there was only limited information about Shadow Chi that was left behind when he died.

Nam Un-San: The second sect leader decided to continue working on Buk Jin-Hu’s idea in order to help the Northern Heavenly Sect that was doing very badly in the war against the Silent Night. Nam Un-San realized that new martial arts needed to be developed to fight against the Silent Night and began to refine Buk Jin-Hu’s Shadow Chi idea.

Yoo Kwang-Yeon: The third sect leader was the one who truly turned the Shadow Chi from an idea into a real cultivation technique. Yoo Kwang-Yeon had had his dantian destroyed in a fierce battle with the Black-winged Divine Spear of the Silent night. Instead of resigning himself to an inevitable death, Yoo Kwang-Yeon chose to study the Shadow Chi and turn it into reality. He created an imaginary dantian to replace his destroyed one and filled it with a completely different type of energy from chi. This was the energy that Buk Jin-Hu had named “Shadow Chi”. Like an actual shadow, “Shadow Chi” was immaterial and only those who practised it could feel its energy. Its presence pulled Yoo Kwang-Yeon back from the brink of death and gave him a new reason to live.Yoo Kwang-Yeon then immersed himself in perfecting the Shadow Chi for the rest of his life. However, before he could complete his work, he succumbed to his injuries and passed away.

Jin Kwan-Ho: The fourth sect leader had inherited his predecessor’s will to perfect the technique, but he died young and never managed to study Shadow Chi or work on improving the Art of Ten Thousand Shadows.

Jin Mu-Won: The fifth sect leader knew that Art of Ten Thousand Shadows was incomplete but he still chose to learn it. He would not have tried to study this technique if he was not in a desperate situation. The Four Pillars had taken away every other martial arts manual, and the central alliance monitored his every move. He had no choice but to learn a martial art that was completely undetectable by others, even if the search for a path to perfecting the Art made him feel completely lost, he had to develop the techniques suited for him on his own.

## Users

The user of this martial art is the current sect leader of the Northern Heavenly Sect. To be able to learn this martial art, one must be fluent and literate in the forgotten language of the Lower Moon Kingdom in order to read the martial scroll inscribed within the Wall of Ten Thousand Shadows prior to inheriting their position within the sect. All practitioners of this secret art also continue to develop their own understanding of it and further inscribe whatever they may have learned onto the Wall so that future sect leaders are able to apply it in combat as the need arises. As a result, the martial art is only known to the sect leader as well as the Silent Night who have been targeted by the use of it over the generations.

* Buk Jin-Hu
* Nam Un-San
* Yoo Kwang-Yeon
* Jin Kwan-Ho
* Jin Mu-Won

## Characteristics

One of the most notable features of using the Gathering of Ten Thousand Shadows is that the qi of the practitioner is felt as unsettling to other martial artists. This is due to the fact that the qi of the practitioner is actually an anti-qi or shadow-qi. It is said to be the opposite of normal qi and this concept was conceived by Buk Jin-Hu and further refined by Nam Un-San and Yo Kwang-Yeon. It is similar to the concept of yin and yang as qi and this anti qi exist in the same plane and in harmony without interfering with each other. It exists in a paradoxical state of being, "...there and not there at the same time" as stated by Mu-Hwan, the Vice Captain and chief strategist of the Iron Brigade. As a result, most martial artists aren't able to determine whether the user has built up qi or has learned any martial arts.

Another important element of the martial art is that it allows the user to vastly enhances their sensory abilities to detect the qi of all individuals over a large radii including that of other martial artists. The user is also capable of determining the identity of anyone using a transformation art, regardless of what form they may take, upon subsequent transformations that have been observed by the user. However, lack of experience in the use of sensory abilities can result in the user in failing to detect the qi of martial masters who have attained a high level of skill which can prove to be a vulnerability, especially if the martial master is using a transformation art.

Upon using the Gathering of 10 Thousand Shadows, the user's movements appear to an observer as if they were a shadow and that they would feel like darkness is surrounding them, making the body numb and difficult to move. This allows the practitioner to be able to move in a silent fashion and disappear without a trace, making it extremely challenging to have their movements read because of its unpredictable nature.

## Teachings

### Internal Shadow

This is the first teaching from the Gathering of the Ten Thousand Shadows, as the Internal Shadow. It is a techniques used by the user to detect people nearby. It works on the principle that the user is a shadow and the user is extending his shadow to a wide area and anything that emits internal energy or isn't in the same shadow state can easily be identified and the location can be pinpointed. This is a metaphorical principle but it is how the technique works. This technique is rendered ineffective if a person is skilled enough to hide their own internal energy.

## Shadowed Blade of the End/Heavenly Destruction/Sword Of heavenly Destruction the Devils shadow

* *Waves Of Desolation* (Ch.12)
* *Spirit of the Fallen Star* / *Meteor Soul* (Ch.24, 107)
* *Fifth Ceremony : Dance of Blood* (Ch.45)
* *Rain of Blood* (Ch.66)
* *Barricade of the Northern Heavens* (Ch.93)
* *Blade Flash* (Ch.106)
* *Sword Domain* / *Sword Rain* (Ch.107)
* *Sea Splitting Slash* (Ch.107)