Chapter 29 - The Second-Rate Warrior Seeking Legends

I calmly settled my mind and began to draw up the qi in my Dantian.

Then, the distant chirping of birds and the rustling of leaves swept by the wind, which I couldn't normally hear, rang out as clearly as if they were right next to me.

And the moment I opened my eyes.

The high cliff, whose peak could only be seen by craning my neck stiffly, looked as small as a built-up sandcastle.

RUMBLE, RUMBLE.

The three hundred sixty-five acupoints resonated all at once, and a heavy qi began to glow from both my arms as if lightning had struck.

Intoxicated by that sense of elevation, I shouted out the name of the Martial Move, something I would never normally do.

"Radiant Heaven Divine Palm!"

CRASH!!

The Radiant Heaven Divine Palm that extended from my hands blew a house-sized hole into the massive cliff.

"Phew."

With a hollow feeling of my Dantian being completely emptied, I slumped to the ground.

"If my mastery isn't high, it'll be useless in real combat."

I had learned an unprecedented palm technique, but the amount of internal energy it consumed was far too massive.

A whopping sixty years' worth of internal energy.

Its destructive power certainly matched the internal energy cost, but if I used something like this in actual combat, an opponent who dodged the palm technique would definitely slice my neck off right away.

Moreover, unlike other techniques that produce stronger destructive power the higher the mastery, the Radiant Heaven Divine Palm had stronger destructive power the lower the mastery.

Therefore, if I wanted to use the Radiant Heaven Divine Palm by distributing an appropriate amount of internal energy, I had to increase my mastery of the Radiant Heaven Divine Palm, and to increase my mastery of the Radiant Heaven Divine Palm, I had to use the Radiant Heaven Divine Palm...

Ugh, damn it.

As my complicated thoughts continued, I felt pity for my own pitiful circumstances.

"A swordsmanship as weak as ant piss, and a palm technique as massive as the Yangtze River. What kind of warrior is this? It'd be better to introduce myself as a gambler instead."

I felt dizzy at the thought that I still had a thousand miles left to go on my journey.

Perhaps it was because my past life's senses had awakened thanks to Lee Jagon the other day.

["Then there's nothing you can do about it. Jianghu is inherently such a place."]

Right, I know.

That Jianghu is a heartless place.

Is it just Jianghu?

The affairs of the world themselves are heartless.

The powerless Taiyi Sect would be dragged into an unwanted war, and the disciples without authority would die acting as meat shields in place of others.

People might say we could just avoid it, but those crazy bastards of the Demonic Cult are a different breed entirely.

They hold a blade to the throats of people who believed in the Dao or Buddha just yesterday and tell them to believe in the Heavenly Demon, so how could we avoid it just by trying to avoid it?

In the end, the best way to prepare for the approaching war wasn't just to become stronger, but to occupy a high-ranking position within the Murim Alliance.

If I were strong alone, I could protect myself, but I wouldn't be able to protect my junior disciples or the Taiyi Sect.

"I need to do something about my martial arts before that. It's not like I'm playing petty gambling here."

With a self-deprecating grumble, I pulled out a wooden box from my chest.

This was the reason why I had come all the way to a quite distant rocky mountain to test my palm technique, rather than Mount Hwaun where I usually went.

"Everyone will probably lose their minds later when they find out that Cheonmyo Divine Physician's elixir is the prize for second place in the special admission exam."

The second-place prize of the special admission exam was an elixir called the Jeongsimdan, made by the Murim Alliance's Medical Pavilion.

There would probably be people who found it questionable that the third-place prize was the Jeongdo Sword, made by the Murim Alliance's Armory.

That was because people didn't know the true efficacy of the Jeongsimdan.

This medicinal pill possessed the miraculous efficacy of actually preventing qi deviation.

The problem was that neither the person who made it nor the person who ate it knew the efficacy of this medicine.

Why? Because to know the hidden efficacy of the medicine, one had to fall into qi deviation first.

Since it was something that could only be known after suffering from qi deviation or internal injuries like Gye Cheolyeong, there were rarely any people who knew the efficacy of this Jeongsimdan right now.

Of course, it was a secret that even Cheonmyo Divine Physician, who was in charge of dispensing the medicine, didn't know.

Because the cost of manufacturing it without knowing its efficacy was too expensive, it was only made for this exam and wouldn't be produced from the next round onwards.

"In the end, only the guys who got second place in this special admission exam hit the jackpot."

I popped the Jeongsimdan into my mouth and began my qi cultivation.

This medicine was especially effective for those like me whose Dantians had grown rapidly due to a spiritual elixir.

It exerted the effect of firmly wrapping around the softened Dantian.

As I began my qi cultivation, a small aura slowly began to gather in my completely emptied Dantian.

The handful of aura traveled through every corner of my body and began to gather more aura little by little, and the aura gathered that way began to run vigorously, knocking on the eight meridians like a single living creature.

The three hundred sixty-five acupoints resonated all at once, riding the twelve standard meridians and passing through the eight extraordinary vessels.

After completing a full circuit of my entire body like that, the aura filled about two-tenths of my Dantian and returned to its proper place.

I would have had to do qi cultivation a few more times in this state to fill my Dantian, but I stopped my qi cultivation at the sense of qi I felt nearby.

"You should have said you were here if you arrived."

When I opened my eyes, Hong Saryeon, with a sword worn at her waist, was glaring at me with sharp eyes.

"Haha, seeing the rebellious intent filling your eyes as you look at your Eldest Senior Brother, it seems you'll only come to your senses if you get spanked on the buttocks."

"Then why don't you spank my buttocks? What were you doing running away all the way out here?"

"Ahem? Who said I ran away."

Hong Saryeon spoke while looking around with her arms crossed.

"Why did you come to Mount Seokju instead of Mount Hwaun, where you loiter every day?"

"Ahem. You brat. Watch your words. I'm still your Eldest Senior Brother..."

"Forget it! Why did you do that?"

"What are you talking about."

At my question, Hong Saryeon bit her lip hard.

"... Why did you forfeit the sparring match."

In the third exam, Hong Saryeon eventually took first place. My score was a little short, but I, who had made it to the finals, took second place.

Lee Dongryong, who had a good tournament bracket, took third place.

Lee Dongryong, who received the Jeongdo Sword that didn't even suit his body, had a dumbfounded expression, and so did Hong Saryeon, who took first place.

I shook my head while looking at Hong Saryeon.

"Forfeited? I was soundly defeated."

"You call that a defeat? Dropping your sword in just a few exchanges without any strength behind your blade?"

"Didn't you see it too? It was because I exhausted all my internal energy fighting a desperate decisive battle against Senior Brother Gye."

"Do you really expect me to believe that nonsense right now?"

I closed my eyes once more and spoke.

"Luck in the bracket is also a skill. In the end, Saryeon, you..."

"Aaagh! Stop! Just stop! Forget it. I'm going to tell them I won't go to the Murim Academy. So whether you go or not, figure it out yourself, Senior Brother."

Seriously, that temper of hers...

Considering what happened in my past life, my role was strictly to stop Gye Cheolyeong.

I had simply returned what Hong Saryeon originally should have had. Nothing more, nothing less.

Moreover, if I wanted to protect the disciples of the Taiyi Sect in the Orthodox-Demonic War according to my plan, at least three to five people needed to enter the Murim Academy and become executives in the Murim Alliance.

The second-best way to survive the Orthodox-Demonic War was to meet a good captain.

Then what was the best way? It was none other than becoming the captain myself!

Right now, sending even one more person to the Murim Academy was more important than anything else.

"Hong Saryeon. Stop right there."

At my low voice, Hong Saryeon's shoulders flinched.

"The results of the exam have already been decided. Not even the Sect Leader can change them as he pleases. So if you don't go, no one from the Taiyi Sect will be able to go."

"But..."

"Stop acting like a child!"

I knew how she felt, but knowing the future, this was the only way I could make her understand.

Startled by my shout, Hong Saryeon abruptly lowered her head and fiddled with her fingers.

"What happens to the disciples who graduate from Busaeng Hall after they graduate from Kwaehwa Hall?"

"..."

"A few years later, don't they all go to do mandatory service in the Murim Alliance."

"... Yes."

Hong Saryeon suddenly began using polite speech, which she didn't normally use.

"What kind of work do you think the disciples who go to the Murim Alliance like that will do there?"

"..."

There was no way Hong Saryeon could know about future events she hadn't even experienced yet.

Sometimes the Hall Leader generation talked about things, but they only shared fragments of their hardships.

They didn't have very good memories of the Murim Alliance either, so they didn't like talking about it.

"I know the junior disciples have high hopes for life in the Murim Alliance. But dream and reality will be completely different."

"What do you..."

I stared at Hong Saryeon and spoke in a firm voice.

"The Taiyi Sect will be worked like slaves in the Murim Alliance."

"What?"

It would be nice if I could talk about the Orthodox-Demonic War, but since I couldn't, I strictly only told her about the reality the Taiyi Sect faced.

"The Nine Sects and One Gang and the Five Great Noble Clans. No, there's no need to even go that far. The top sects of the 108 Peaks treat the lower sects as subhuman. What do you think we can possibly do in front of them?"

This was a fact that the Hall Leaders, including the Sect Leader, all knew.

That was why in my past life, the elders within the sect had appointed Gye Cheolyeong, who had the weapons of money and the Murim Academy, as the Eldest Senior Brother.

And now, I had completely wiped out that past life.

"No one will help us. We must help ourselves."

"..."

"To do that, we need a diploma from the Murim Academy. And we need to enter the Murim Alliance as executives to be able to hold the rank of Vice Captain, commanding ten people. Could you endure those who look down on the Taiyi Sect with merely the rank of a low-level warrior?"

The Murim Alliance also has a strict top-down hierarchy. Without someone pulling you up from above, you inevitably end up at the very bottom.

"Then...! That's all the more reason why you should have gone, Senior Brother!"

Hong Saryeon was afraid of this situation, but she clenched her fists, endured it, and said what she had to say.

I looked at Hong Saryeon.

"I will also go."

"What?"

I told Hong Saryeon clearly.

"Through the regular admission. I'm going to the Murim Academy."

"Senior Brother..."

"So go first and wait for me."

Hong Saryeon had a look of disbelief on her face, as if she were looking at someone who claimed to have seen a dragon.

"... Are you out of your mind?"

Wow, those words are way too harsh.

* * *

"But still. The person who got first place acknowledges it. Won't they understand."

Hong Saryeon was persistent. She tried to persuade me.

"Huh? Are you going to keep doing this? Then I'm not going to the Murim Academy! I'm really not going! When I say I won't go, I mean it!"

She also made threats.

"Senior Brother, I actually have an incurable disease..."

"So as a dying Junior Sister's dying wish..."

And she even pleaded.

"No! I'm not swapping. Go back! I won't swap with you!"

I firmly refused.

Just as we were bickering like that and about to enter the Taiyi Sect.

Gye Yeonseok was coming out of the Taiyi Sect.

Hollow eyes completely bloodshot.

Matted hair that looked like it hadn't been washed in days.

Since he hadn't even washed, the stench of alcohol wafted from his entire body, and his once-fine silk clothes were full of wrinkles.

While walking out, Gye Yeonseok spotted me, and his eyes widened like saucers before he glared at me with full of venom.

"It's because of you. It's all because of you."

I burst into an absurd laugh.

"Who are you blaming after using forbidden medicine? Did I hold a sword to your throat and threaten you to use such medicine?"

"... Ugh."

"Moreover, I heard you said you wouldn't just let this matter go?"

Lee Jagon reportedly stopped by Gye Cheolyeong's house on his way back to check his condition.

The Gyeryong Merchant Group desperately tried to block them from finding out they had used forbidden medicine, but they were no match for the Murim Alliance's talent scout and talent scout warriors.

Thus, it was confirmed that he had taken the forbidden medicine, the Blood Burst Pill, and the Gyeryong Merchant Group suffered both material damages and disgrace due to this incident.

"Do you think I'll just take this lying down?"

"Why do you keep blaming others for your own mistakes? Do you really want to properly figure out right from wrong?"

Just then, Hong Saryeon tugged at my sleeve.

"Let's just go inside. Senior Brother."

It was because Hong Saryeon had also heard the news that Gye Cheolyeong's Dantian was permanently shattered.

With his only child's Dantian rendered permanently useless, Hong Saryeon also knew very well that Gye Yeonseok had reached a point where he had nothing to lose.

"You should have been kindhearted from the start. If you had, it wouldn't have come to this."

I left that single comment and walked inside.

Gye Yeonseok stood rooted to the spot like a stone statue, shooting me a glare full of resentment.

The grounds of the Taiyi Sect were bustling and noisy.

The kids who had completed Busaeng Hall and finished all the talent scout's exams were playing boisterously in small groups, as if they were finally free.

"Still, isn't this a bit too much? Why aren't any of the Hall Leaders in sight?"

Strangely, there were no adults in the training grounds.

Just then, Lee Dongryong approached me.

"Eldest Senior Brother. You are requested to enter the Grand Sage Hall immediately."

"What is it for?"

"I don't know. It seems an emergency Hall Leader meeting has been convened."

A Hall Leader meeting was a solemn meeting attended by the Hall Leader-class figures who led the sect, the Sect Leader, and a few elders.

It was strange enough that a regularly scheduled meeting was convened on an emergency basis, but for them to tell me to attend such a Hall Leader meeting?

I put aside my doubts and headed to the Grand Sage Hall.

"Disciple Jin Sowoon. I have entered."

When I offered a martial salute, Hong Mungi skipped the formalities by just flicking his hand.

Quietly taking an empty seat at the far end of the long table, I looked around.

They called it a meeting, but a quiet stillness hung in the air, and no one was easily bringing up a topic. Furthermore, there was a pile of strange papers stacked up in front of Hong Mungi.

"This matter makes absolutely no sense. How can he ask us to return the sponsorship money he's been paying all this time."

"Exactly. What kind of sect in the world returns the sponsorship money they've already received."

"He's doing this because he sees our Taiyi Sect as easy prey. Wasn't Gye Cheolyeong's qi deviation something they brought upon themselves in the first place?"

Listening to the Hall Leaders and elders sputtering their words, it seemed Gye Yeonseok had demanded the return of the sponsorship money he had paid so far, using his son's condition as an excuse.

'Wow, he's really doing all sorts of things.'

While cursing inwardly, I thought that perhaps this could turn out to be quite a difficult matter.

Buddhist martial sects received alms, and Daoist martial sects received money by performing alms, dojo fees, and ancestral rites.

The Taiyi Sect also technically belonged to the Daoist martial sects, but because our religious colors weren't strong and we only upheld the ideals, we hadn't performed things like ancestral rites.

Depending on the perspective, the money Gye Yeonseok had paid as sponsorship could be seen as borrowed money.

"Perhaps the Gyeryong Merchant Group had prepared for a time like this from the very beginning."

Befitting the Hall Leader of the External Hall, my father pierced right through the crux of the situation.

But he had only pierced through the problem; there was no solution in sight.

"If we are to reimburse this entire amount, what should we do?"

"Sect Leader!"

"You can't! Sect Leader!"

"There's no precedent for this. What sect in the world returns money that came in as sponsorship?"

There was no one brazen enough to pay sponsorship to a sect belonging to the Nine Sects and One Gang or the Five Great Noble Clans and then demand it back.

If he had just never given it in the first place, it would be one thing, but giving it and then taking it back could be seen as an act of humiliating the other party, which could worsen the situation even further.

Furthermore, there was no one who looked favorably upon the act of deceiving another, so it would also be bad for our reputation.

'The Gyeryong Merchant Group Leader has been backed into a corner.'

In particular, the Gyeryong Merchant Group, being merchants, was sure to take a massive hit to their credibility due to the Blood Burst Pill.

Even so, for him to push through with this, the grudge he harbored must be that great.

"The Merchant Group Leader said he would report this to the government office. Do we have any countermeasures for this?"

Saying he would drag the government office into this was no different from Gye Yeonseok declaring he wouldn't care about his own standing either.

Since the matter would be publicized everywhere, the merchant group's credibility would plummet even further.

This was no different from Gye Yeonseok using mutual destruction, a tactic typical of warriors.

"Sigh."

"Ahem."

"Jeez."

As soon as the government office was mentioned, everyone went as silent as someone who had eaten honey.

Unlike the Gyeryong Merchant Group, the Taiyi Sect had no ties with the government, so just disputing right and wrong would already cause us massive damage.

Moreover, if a verdict were to be handed down telling us to return the sponsorship money, the results would be irreversible.

"External Hall Leader. How much do we have in assets?"

"... If we sell off all our properties, we'll barely be able to cover it."

He was probably referring to the inn and the guesthouse, the few sources of income we actually had.

After a brief pause, my father continued.

"It might be a bit awkward to say this in such a situation, but how about receiving some help from Wangga Manor?"

"Wangga Manor?"

"Yes. As if anticipating this sort of issue, the Lord of Wangga Manor told us the other day to seek him out anytime if a problem arises for the Taiyi Sect. He even said we wouldn't have to pay back the money if circumstances didn't allow it."

"He said something like that?"

"Huh."

At my father's words, color returned to the Hall Leaders' faces.

However, Sect Leader Hong tilted his head.

"No matter how favorably he looks upon our Taiyi Sect, giving us that much money without any strings attached defies logic, and for a merchant to do such a thing is even more incomprehensible."

"Yes... well, that's..."

After hesitating for a moment, my father looked at me.

Why me all of a sudden?

"He asked us to give him the head disciple, Jin Sowoon."

What the fuck!

"What?"

The Hall Leaders' gazes converged on me, and I let out a gasp of astonishment.

"What do you mean by that?"

"He said that if he happened to have a knack for commerce, he'd like to try teaching him the merchant trade..."

Suddenly, I had been reduced to someone being sold off to pay the sect's debts.

"What nonsense is that. That's out of the question. For the head disciple of the Taiyi Sect to work as a merchant!"

Sect Leader Hong firmly refused.

Even though the Hall Leaders knew it wasn't right, they let out regretful sighs, and Hall Leader Kang Chaeseok of the Kwaehwa Hall, in particular, was blatantly staring at me.

Just look at that guy's eyes glinting!

Eventually, the Sect Leader reorganized the situation once more.

"Even if it means selling off all the sect's assets, we cannot do such a thing."

"... Yes. That's right."

Even my father looked at me with a peculiar, somewhat regretful gaze before turning his head away.

"Even so, borrowing money from Wangga Manor is something worth considering. Since we don't have the means to repay all the sponsorship money right away, on the premise that we pay it back over a few years."

"Hmm."

Ultimately, this was also nothing more than a stopgap measure.

Everyone, including the Hall Leaders, was just silently swallowing cold tea.

A brief silence fell.

Kang Chaeseok, who had been fiddling with his teacup, cleared his throat.

"Ahem, how about we hear the opinion of our head disciple?"

What's this? Why is that guy acting like this all of a sudden? He normally just tells me to shut up all the time.

Naturally, since I didn't have the right to speak at a Hall Leader meeting, I couldn't say anything until someone gave me the floor.

"Sowoon, you mean?"

"Yes. He might look like this, but he's still the head disciple, isn't he? He might come up with some brilliant idea that we Hall Leaders couldn't think of, and also... perhaps he's always had an interest in commerce."

I knew it...

He's trying to sell me off for the sponsorship money right now?

When I glared at Kang Chaeseok, he let out a fake cough and averted his gaze.

"Well, and wouldn't it be a good thing for everyone if Sowoon ended up inheriting Wangga Manor?"

At Kang Chaeseok's words, driven by an unbridled greed for a massive payday, the expressions of everyone, including myself, went dumbfounded.

"Why are you acting like this? If things go well between Sowoon and that girl Soso, Wangga Manor and the Taiyi Sect won't be strangers anymore, will they?"

Wang Geumsan marrying off his only daughter, whom he values more than his own life, to a second-rate warrior of a third-rate sect like the Taiyi Sect?

Just what exactly is going through that head of his?

But the funny thing was that among the other Hall Leaders, there were one or two who were starting to nod in agreement.

"Stop. We won't talk about that any longer. I have absolutely no intention of letting Sowoon be taught commerce."

Hong Mungi immediately settled the room.

"If you have something you want to say, you may go ahead."

Hong Mungi was looking at me with eyes full of some sort of expectation.

"What could a disciple possibly know to say anything."

At my words, the Hall Leaders and even Hong Mungi took on somewhat disappointed expressions.

"But if you don't mind hearing just any story, I'll give it a try."

"Go ahead."

"Actually, haven't I roamed all over the place. While doing so, I once met a miner on a certain mountain."

"A miner?"

"Yes. That miner said it was a mystery why a mine hadn't been built in such a place."

The Hall Leaders, including the Sect Leader, had clueless expressions.

"According to the miner, there's a mountain called Mount Seokju located behind Mount Hwaun that is piled high with high-quality iron ore."

"Iron ore?"

Iron is the most common and widely used mineral among ores.

In particular, since iron is directly connected to weaponry for martial sects, massive sects always make sure to include mines among their assets.

My father asked the question instead of the Sect Leader.

"Isn't Mount Seokju just a rocky mountain where not even trees grow."

Mount Seokju was an ownerless rocky mountain.

Because its soil was barren, making it a useless mountain full of weeds where trees couldn't grow, no one ever thought of trying to do anything there.

Its price was also ridiculously cheap.

Since there was nothing you could do with a useless mountain, no one wanted to buy it.

"That miner said you could easily mine iron if you dug just a little into Mount Seokju. So how about the Taiyi Sect purchases Mount Seokju and borrows money from Wangga Manor to develop a mine? If we do that, we can also gradually pay off the debt to the Gyeryong Merchant Group."

I told the story, but everyone looked like they didn't really believe it.

And rightfully so. They figured that if such a good mine existed, someone would have claimed it long ago, and if a miner could recognize it, even the government would have stepped in.

However, I had no intention of missing this opportunity.

In two years, a massive torrential downpour would hit this region, causing a landslide on Mount Seokju.

And at the same time, the soil of Mount Seokju would be swept down, revealing a massive iron ore mine within it.

The government office, which was the owner of Mount Seokju, would strike it filthy rich from the suddenly discovered mine, and my father would drunkenly rant about how he should have bought that mountain for a whopping three years straight.

"There's no way the miner you met would have lied. But the risk is far too great right now to invest based solely on his words."

The Sect Leader also looked like he thought my words were absurd, but he didn't go out of his way to reprimand me for it.

I nodded and spoke.

"I figured you might think that, so I actually dug around the ground at Mount Seokju for the past few weeks."

Honestly, I only dug it up this morning while practicing the Radiant Heaven Divine Palm.

"Eh?"

"What?"

"What did you say?"

I pulled out a stone the size of a melon from my robes and placed it down.

It was an iron ore with a deep black color and a faint silvery sheen.

I had picked it up from the end of the massive cave created by my Radiant Heaven Divine Palm.

"It's been a little while since I discovered this, but please excuse me for only bringing it up now, as I needed to have it verified by a blacksmith first."

As if predicting my next words, the Hall Leaders' mouths and eyes began to open wide.

"The blacksmith said it's an iron ore of outstanding quality."

Even the dignified Hong Mungi's mouth and eyes flew open as wide as wooden bowls.