Chapter 2 - The Third-Rate Warrior Who Remembers Everything (2)

"... Senior Brother, what are you doing?"

I was currently looking at Geumpyo, whose dying moments were still vivid in my memory.

"Geumpyo..."

"Yes."

"I'm sorry."

"Pardon?"

Geumpyo hurriedly rummaged through his clothes and pulled out a small pouch.

"Don't tell me you ate my taffy?"

"..."

Just what kind of mindset was a guy like me living with?

"... Anyway, I'm sorry."

"My taffy is perfectly fine... Ah, what the heck?"

After apologizing to Geumpyo, whom I couldn't protect in my past life, and shaking off a small bit of guilt, I asked him a question.

"Isn't it class time right now? What about your class? Why are you here?"

Geumpyo spoke with a dumbfounded expression.

"Why is someone who knows that lying on a wooden bench?"

"My head hurts a bit."

"You've been using that excuse for a week now."

"Has it been that long already?"

But I was busy in my own right.

I had to ruminate on the various disasters that would occur in the future starting from this very instant, and I had to figure out why the Taiyi Sect collapsed and when the problems began.

"I was quite busy..."

"... That posture doesn't make it sound credible at all."

"I'm serious. I was worrying about the future of our sect."

My sect, the Taiyi Sect, is a small sword sect located near Hefei in Anhui Province.

Its history was long, but it lacked tradition; it had many martial arts, but its combat prowess was weak.

It was to the point where parents comparing the Taiyi Sect to larger martial arts training halls would mostly choose the training halls.

If I had to find an advantage, it would be that the Taiyi Sect provided one meal a day and that it occupied one of the 108 Peaks in the Murim Alliance?

'How it got into the 108 Peaks is the biggest mystery, though.'

Our sect, lacking both combat prowess and financial power, had never once handed a bribe to the higher-ups of the Alliance, yet it had never been pushed out of the 108 Peaks.

By maintaining the position of the 108 Peaks, one could be somewhat free from territorial disputes and armed conflicts with other martial factions.

No matter the justification, if a war breaks out between sects, it is a principle for the Murim Alliance to side with the 108 Peaks.

Because of this, the Taiyi Sect could remain somewhat free from the wild, beast-like competition among sects in Hefei.

However, since the sect was practically annihilated because of this very position in the 108 Peaks, it couldn't necessarily be considered a good thing.

How to navigate through this contradictory situation...

"... Senior Brother!"

"... Huh?"

"The Taiyi Sect is perfectly fine, so stop worrying and get up."

"... How could a crow-tit know the deep intentions of a stork?"

"The Hall Leader of Busaeng Hall is looking for you."

"Why is that guy looking for me?"

"... Even so, calling the Hall Leader 'that guy' is a bit..."

The current Hall Leader of Busaeng Hall is not from the Taiyi Sect.

To be exact, he belonged to the Gyeryong Merchant Group and was the younger brother of its leader. A man whose only pride was being a former lay disciple of the Mount Hua Sect.

But why was someone like him acting as a Hall Leader in the Taiyi Sect?

It was because the leader of the Gyeryong Merchant Group had planted him as an overseer, afraid that his son—who had become a lay disciple of the Taiyi Sect—might learn the Taiyi Sect's 'bad martial arts'.

This implausible and contradictory story could be explained by the 'Murim Academy special admission', which was one of the privileges given to the 108 Peaks.

The first step to success within the Murim Alliance was admission to the Murim Academy.

However, passing the standard exam for admission was no easy feat.

Thus, in order to gain admission through the special admission track given to the 108 Peaks, the precious young master of the Gyeryong Merchant Group had entered the insignificant, third-rate Taiyi Sect as a lay disciple.

The impoverished Taiyi Sect agreed to most of their demands in order to receive sponsorship from the Gyeryong Merchant Group.

"If I don't call a guy like him 'that guy', what else should I call him?"

Geumpyo giggled as if he found it amusing.

"Anyway, he said you must attend today."

"Hmm... Did he say there's a sparring match today?"

"... The atmosphere seems like it."

A worried look fell upon Geumpyo's face.

Legalized violence occurring under the guise of a sparring match.

The sparring match class was currently the class the disciples of the Taiyi Sect hated the most.

"Tsk. To think this is all a guy calling himself Mount Hua's lay disciple could come up with."

I slowly stood up.

They weren't exactly faces I wanted to see, but I couldn't just sit back and watch my junior brothers get beaten up, could I?

* * *

CRACK!

"Gah!"

As soon as I entered Busaeng Hall, I saw one of the Taiyi Sect disciples rolling on the floor, clutching his head.

Hong Saryeon quickly ran forward to examine the fallen boy's injuries and then glared at Gye Cheolyeong.

Misunderstanding Hong Saryeon's gaze somehow, Gye Cheolyeong flashed a triumphant smile.

"How was that? Cool, right?"

'What an idiot. Tsk, tsk.'

I approached the boy Hong Saryeon was supporting.

"Let me take a look."

Fortunately, there was no open wound.

Normally, head injuries are more dangerous when they don't bleed, but since there was no way the current Gye Cheolyeong had that kind of strength in the first place, there was no need to worry too much.

"When you get home, apply a cold stone compress to it. That'll help make the bump go down."

"Ah, okay..."

The boy wiped the tears welling up in his eyes and bravely returned to his seat.

"What, you said your head was hurting. Are you feeling better now?"

I shook my head at Hong Saryeon's question.

"No, I came out because it got even more complicated."

"Pardon?"

Averting my gaze from Hong Saryeon, I spoke to the Busaeng Hall Leader, Gye Yeonseung.

"How about we end the sparring match class here for today?"

"What?"

"It looks like quite a few junior brothers have already gotten hurt."

More than half of the disciples sitting in their seats were clutching their heads, shoulders, or arms.

Every single one of them had been assaulted under the pretext of a sparring match.

"Jin Sowoon, you show up late and spout such nonsense?"

"Aren't these bouts just a way to show off how great Senior Brother Gye Cheolyeong is anyway?"

"What!"

I looked at Gye Cheolyeong, who was standing triumphantly beside Gye Yeonseung.

"And Senior Brother Gye. No matter how much—really, *no matter how much*—Hong Saryeon lacks an eye for men, do you think she'd ever like a piece of trash like you? Keep dreaming."

"Jin Sowoon, you dare!"

The moment Gye Cheolyeong's face turned bright red and he was about to jump out.

Gye Yeonseung raised his hand and stopped him.

"Is that the only way you see these bouts?"

Fire blazed in Gye Yeonseung's eyes. Whether he glared or not, I continued speaking.

"I honestly have no idea what we're learning in Busaeng Hall lately. Isn't it just physical conditioning and sparring match classes every day?"

"That is all for actual combat..."

"If it's going to be like this, I think it'd be better to practice martial moves alone."

"What did you..."

Gye Yeonseung's face also turned red as if it were going to burst.

"You dare say such a thing in front of me, a disciple of the Mount Hua Sect?"

"Aren't you a lay disciple, not a real disciple? Just like Senior Brother Gye, you paid 'money' to learn swordsmanship."

I had only stated the facts, but somehow Gye Yeonseung looked even angrier.

I guess this is why they say the truth hurts.

"Y-You little punk!"

Killing intent slowly seeped out from Gye Yeonseung's body.

Not only Hong Saryeon and the junior brothers, but even Gye Cheolyeong felt an instinctive dread and took a step back.

But strangely enough, I wasn't afraid at all. And it wasn't like my martial arts were superior to Gye Yeonseung's either.

'Well, compared to the bastards I dealt with in the past, this killing intent is just child's play.'

Having roughly accepted it, I continued to speak.

If you can't beat them with skill, beat them with words—that was the way of the Minor Orthodox Unit.

"Honestly, I wish both you, Hall Leader, and Senior Brother Gye would stop doing this kind of thing. Then, at the very least, my junior brothers and I could actually learn the Taiyi Sect's martial arts."

"Ha, haha. So you're saying it's better to learn from the Taiyi Sect's Hall Leaders than from me?"

"There's nothing we can learn from you in the first place, is there? A lay disciple isn't allowed to pass down their sect's martial arts to outsiders. What's more, you have absolutely zero actual combat experience."

"Ugh..."

Gye Yeonseung started to tremble uncontrollably.

Hong Saryeon stepped right next to me and whispered.

"What are you doing, Senior Brother! Are you crazy?"

"I don't know, it's the truth."

'Whatever, I don't care anymore.'

A future clearly filled with nothing but despair.

And me, incapable of doing anything.

Maybe if I got struck and killed by Gye Yeonseung's blade right here, Gye Cheolyeong would have no choice but to leave the Taiyi Sect too?

Then perhaps a true disciple of the Taiyi Sect could go to the Murim Academy through the special admission track.

'Though I suppose sending just one person wouldn't change anything anyway.'

Even if they went to the Murim Alliance as a low-rank warrior, they'd only serve as a meat shield.

Still, in order to participate actively in the Orthodox-Demonic Great War, one had to enter the Murim Academy.

From the start, we shouldn't let Gye Cheolyeong, who only wanted to enter the Murim Academy to succeed in the Murim Alliance, steal that opportunity.

"Hoo... So that's what you think? Fine. You must have said that because you have the skills to back it up. Step forward right now! Prove it in front of Cheolyeong!"

It's always like this.

If every argument ends with a display of force, there's nothing left to say in the end.

If this were the past, I would have tucked my tail between my legs around now.

'Phew, I should show him a thing or two.'

Even if it was a meaningless venting of anger, wouldn't it gain meaning if it made me feel better?

I held my hand out to Hong Saryeon.

Hong Saryeon hid her wooden sword behind her back and spoke.

"... Senior Brother, if you fight him now, you'll get seriously hurt. Just apologize."

"I haven't done anything wrong, so why should I apologize?"

I used the White Phoenix Hand to snatch the wooden sword from Hong Saryeon's hands and stepped forward.

"Jin Sowoon! Perform your starting stance!"

"Why would I need a starting stance just to deal with Senior Brother Gye... Let's just do it."

I rested the wooden sword on my shoulder, signaling that I was ready.

My flippant reaction must not have sat well with him, as Gye Cheolyeong's expression wasn't much different from Gye Yeonseung's.

"Jin Sowoon! What kind of tone is that to the Hall Leader!"

"Senior Brother, let's just hurry and begin."

"You really need to be taught a lesson."

Gye Cheolyeong began to assume a starting stance that didn't belong to the Taiyi Sect.

'The Seeping Glory Sword. The swordsmanship I got beaten by a sickening amount of times in my past life.'

It was a martial art he had privately learned by inviting Heon Wonsu, a famous wandering martial artist from Shaanxi Province.

I had memorized the forms and martial moves the moment I first saw them, but in my past life, I hadn't had the ability to dodge and counterattack.

But now, I had the stellar resume of being a former low-rank warrior of the Murim Alliance, and a meat shield who fought against various armed factions of the Demonic Cult—including the Heavenly Demon Black Sword Squad—as a member of the Minor Orthodox Unit.

There was no way I would be one-sidedly beaten by a twenty-year-old Gye Cheolyeong.

"Begin!!"

As soon as Gye Yeonseung's words fell, Gye Cheolyeong executed his footwork and shot forward, gliding across the floor.

It was clearly not the footwork of the Taiyi Sect.

Gye Cheolyeong's first move was deliberately aiming for my eyes.

True to a wandering martial artist's swordsmanship, the sword trajectory was incredibly rough, and its momentum was incredibly fierce.

It was only natural for the young disciples of the Taiyi Sect to panic.

'However.'

Compared to those murder-crazed Demonic Cult bastards, this was all nothing but child's play.

Furthermore, Gye Cheolyeong lacked both the life-risking spirit of Heon Wonsu and the desperation to succeed in a single martial move.

Even if it was the same martial art, it unfolded completely differently.

There was no need for me to use the other martial arts I had acquired in my past life.

The Lesser Heaven Sword Technique, which all the children in Busaeng Hall would know, was more than enough.

CLACK.

I deflected Gye Cheolyeong's blade upwards with the flat of my sword and poured out three forms of the Lesser Heaven Sword Technique.

THWACK-THWACK-THWACK!

In an instant, my wooden sword caressed various parts of Gye Cheolyeong's body.

"Ugh!"

Gye Cheolyeong widened his eyes as if he had just snapped to his senses.

I swung the Lesser Heaven Sword Technique once again, driving Gye Cheolyeong back.

"Hah..."

"... Wow."

"That's the Lesser Heaven Sword Technique, right?"

Gasps of astonishment erupted from the children at the familiar martial moves.

On the other hand, even though they were familiar martial moves, Gye Cheolyeong was flustering around, unable to properly respond to each one.

The instant he ultimately failed to link his martial moves together and exposed an opening.

"I see an opening, Senior Brother!"

I struck down on his head with all my might.

CRACK!

Along with the sound of something crunching, a scream rang out.

"AAAGH!"

Dropping his sword, Gye Cheolyeong grabbed his head and began rolling on the floor.

"KAAAGH!"

After a brief moment of silence, the Taiyi Sect children started screaming.

""""WAAAAAAAH!""""

"Silence! Silence! Silence!"

Checking on Gye Cheolyeong, Gye Yeonseung shrieked violently while radiating a bloodthirsty aura.

"Everyone back to your seats!"

Quickly feeling a sense of fear at the pressure of an adult—and an adult with highly formidable martial arts at that—the children returned to their seats and swallowed hard.

"Aaagh, my head!"

Rubbing his head, Gye Cheolyeong felt a strange sensation and lowered his hand to look at it.

His hand was dyed red.

Seeing that, Gye Yeonseung also glared at me as if he wanted to kill me.

"What is the meaning of this!"

"What do you mean?"

"I'm asking how you defeated Cheolyeong."

"I beat him with the Lesser Heaven Sword Technique."

"To think the Seeping Glory Sword would fall to something like the Lesser Heaven Sword Technique..."

Gye Yeonseung stopped abruptly right as he was about to speak.

No matter how much the Gyeryong Merchant Group controlled the Taiyi Sect, there was a line that shouldn't be crossed.

Gye Yeonseung precariously kept to that line.

"There is a huge gap in the forms of the Seeping Glory Sword and the Lesser Heaven Sword Technique. I'm asking how you managed to bridge that gap."

Gye Yeonseung was beating around the bush.

Simply put, it was a fundamental question of how the Lesser Heaven Sword Technique, which was merely a basic martial art, could defeat the Seeping Glory Sword, which had produced experts at the Peak Realm.

"Where is there an 'absolute' in the world? If the practitioner is lacking..."

As I was speaking, I suddenly snapped to my senses at an enlightenment that struck my head.

-The Demonic Cult will descend again.

-The Murim Alliance will be destroyed by the Demonic Cult.

-Since the Taiyi Sect belongs to the Murim Alliance, it will be destroyed along with it.

-In the midst of all that, I, with my needlessly good memory, will be used left and right before dying.

Were these also 'absolutely' unchangeable?

"Seeing as you can't speak straight, you must have used a trick, haven't you?"

Hearing Gye Yeonseung's bullshit while I was lost in thought for a moment made me naturally frown.

"... What kind of nonsense is that now?"

"The gap between a basic swordsmanship and an advanced swordsmanship cannot be bridged. This is common sense for those who learn martial arts."

"Do they teach you at Mount Hua to make such excuses when your own skills are lacking?"

"You little brat, how dare you...! Take those words back immediately!"

"Am I wrong?"

"Fine! Then try bridging that gap against me."

"..."

Contempt colored the eyes of Hong Saryeon and the junior brothers.

No matter how nicely you looked at it, wasn't this just an adult throwing a tantrum against a kid?

"Are you serious?"

"I will naturally not use any internal energy and only deal with you using martial moves. Why, can you not prove it?"

"Before that, shouldn't we take Senior Brother Gye to a physician?"

Gye Cheolyeong, who had been screaming his head off in pain, perhaps expecting Gye Yeonseung to take revenge for him, stopped crying and shook his head as if he was perfectly fine.

"I-I'm fine."

'You idiot, you're still bleeding.'

"I will ask you again. Can you not prove it?"

Maybe I had been steeped in defeatism before even starting.

My situation was clearly a desperate one, not much different from my past life.

But crucially, wasn't the 'me' of my past life distinctly different from the 'me' of right now?

Just as I said, where was there an 'absolute'?

If everything was predestined, it made no sense for our Minor Orthodox Unit to have killed the Demonic Cult's Guardian Dharma King in the first place.

'Therefore, I won't run away in fear like before!'

I raised my head and looked at Gye Yeonseung.

"And if I prove it?"

"What?"

"What will you do if I prove it? An adult is throwing a tantrum against a kid; it makes no sense for the kid to get absolutely no benefit out of this, right?"

Gye Yeonseung's face hardened stiffly.

He truly wore an expression that showed he wanted to kill me.

"What do you want?"

What was it that I needed right now?

If I wasn't going to give up on my chances, I needed a lot of time above all else.

"If I win, mark me as having completed Busaeng Hall. I won't attend Busaeng Hall anymore."

"... Fine."

Gye Yeonseung went to the side and picked up a wooden sword.

His momentum was so severe that it was clear this wouldn't end with just a single broken arm.

I held my wooden sword upright.

Come to think of it, what Sect Leader Hong Mungi had offered the Gyeryong Merchant Group was an 'opportunity' for admission.

We, too, always had the opportunity to compete with Gye Cheolyeong for the 'special admission spot'.

Despite that, none of the Taiyi Sect disciples, myself included, ever thought of challenging him for that opportunity.

The result of giving up and failing to protect the sect like that was annihilation.

I couldn't just sit still and recreate that terrible nightmare.

"Begin!"

The swordsmanship that Mount Hua's lay disciple Gye Yeonseung favored the most was Mount Hua's ultimate technique, the Plum Blossom Sword Technique.

In my head, the sword paths of the Plum Blossom Sword Technique already started unfolding in full detail.

Followed by the weaknesses in those sword paths.

In order to turn the martial arts of the Nine Sects and One Gang, as well as the Five Great Noble Clans, into something that could fight against the Demonic Cult, the peerless genius Jegal Cheongi had researched their martial arts and created a Destruction Form, an Ascension Form, and a Demon-Subduing Form tailored to each faction.

The problem, however, was that there was no way to deliver Jegal's Three Forms to the Nine Sects and One Gang and the Five Great Noble Clans, which had been splintered and scattered across the world.

At that time, I, with my useless absolute memory, had been tasked with that job.

'Even if my internal energy is lacking, there's no way Cheongi's Destruction Form won't work.'

Gye Yeonseung unleashed the Plum Blossom Sword Technique.

He hadn't drawn up his inner qi, so I couldn't smell the scent of plum blossoms, but every single one of his movements was incredibly elegant.

Looking at the Destruction Form of the Plum Blossom Sword Technique that immediately came to mind, I thrust into his weakness.

"You bastard!"

Just as I had done to Gye Cheolyeong, the instant Gye Yeonseung's wooden sword was about to strike my head.

SMACK!

"Gasp!"

Dropping his sword in midair, Gye Yeonseung flailed and barely caught the wooden sword again.

"Wh-What in the..."

The Destruction Form of the Plum Blossom Sword Technique unfolded.

Gye Yeonseung unleashed the Plum Blossom Sword Technique he was most confident in, but there was no way power could be put into a swordsmanship that had already been destroyed.

Did he sense that something was wrong?

I could feel inner qi flowing into Gye Yeonseung's wooden sword.

'It's already too late!'

The Destruction Form of the Plum Blossom Sword Technique that had been unleashed destroyed the inner qi-infused Plum Blossom Sword Technique while simultaneously knocking Gye Yeonseung's sword away from him.

"!!"

In an instant, the wooden sword slipped out of Gye Yeonseung's grip and flew away.

I swung down hard at his head, and he raised both his arms to guard his head.

CRACK!

"Keuhuk!"

Along with a dull thud, the wooden sword that had slipped from Gye Yeonseung's hand slammed hard against the wall a moment later.

CLACK. CLATTER-CLATTER.

Gye Yeonseung's wooden sword rolled across the floor.

Gye Yeonseung, who had barely blocked my wooden sword with both hands.

Once again, a momentary silence enveloped Busaeng Hall.

""""WAAAAAAAH!!""""

The disciples of the Taiyi Sect all ran out in unison and surrounded me.