Chapter 43 - A First-Rate Warrior Who Gathers People (2)

I had recently seen Namgung Seonhwa and Seong Moran, considered among the three great beauties of Anhui Province, but their brilliance faded before her.

A pale, naked body that seemed to have leapt out of a painting. Intricately and perfectly harmonized facial features. Ebony-like hair, and golden ornaments that precariously covered her private areas with every step she took.

Regardless of gender, no one could maintain their reason before her beauty.

TREMBLE, TREMBLE.

Even though I was not consciously aware of it, my body was trembling violently.

-Since you have made your way through this difficult path, I suppose I must reward you.

She spread her arms out after touching her lips with her fingers like a shy young girl.

At the same time, an irresistible urge surged up within me.

Like someone who hadn't slept for seven days and nights having a bed right before their eyes, or like someone who hadn't eaten anything for a month having a feast of delicacies right before them.

"... Ahem, this is impressive. Have you been stopping intruders like this for all these long years?"

-Intruders? I've never once thought of them like that. To me, they were all precious guests.

I pointed at the pile of skeletons gathered on one side and asked.

"Isn't your hospitality a bit too excessive?"

She pushed her lips out in a pout and crossed her arms.

Every time she made a small movement, my body tried to move on its own accord, and I had to desperately circulate the Taiyi True Scripture to restrain it.

-What can I do when they desire this body until the moment they die?

When she seductively twisted her body and put on a sullen expression, even the barely circulating Taiyi True Scripture was on the verge of snapping.

'Just how powerful is her spiritual energy for this to happen...'

No matter how low my attainment was, I was shocked that the flow of the Taiyi True Scripture, which was based on the truth of all creation, had momentarily stopped. I concentrated my mind and desperately continued circulating my qi.

She spoke with an expression as if she were looking at a fascinating object.

-To still maintain your reason, you are an impressive child. Are you a disciple of the Shaolin Sect? Or a disciple of the Wudang Sect?

"Neither. Just what exactly are you doing?"

-It is the Bewitching Carnal Art. It's an unprecedented martial art said to make even an ascended immortal fall back down to the mortal realm.

"Hah."

I couldn't help but be shocked when the name of the legendary carnal art of the Palace of Illusory Joy, which had disappeared one thousand three hundred years ago, popped out of her mouth.

"Have you really been alive since the Yue State?"

-Do you dislike a woman who never ages for her entire life?

The woman approaching step by step was certain that her opponent could not move.

-Among those bones over there are the bones of the old men from Mount Song, as well as a Wudang Daoist who was on the verge of ascension. So there is no need to blame yourself too much.

Starting from my face, every time her hand touched my skin, it felt as though all the blood in my body was rushing downward.

She pulled out the golden dagger she was wearing at her waist and tried to stab my heart in one swift motion.

GRAB.

-How?

The woman was greatly startled to see her hand caught in my left hand.

"I haven't trained my mind like the old masters of Shaolin, but I do have this."

I showed her the Demon-Subduing Talisman blazing brightly in my right hand.

It was the reason I had changed direction from my original destination to come specifically to this place where a ghost was said to reside.

The Demon-Subduing Talisman handed to me by the Mount Heng Sect absorbed the woman's demonic qi and burned it away, allowing me to escape from its influence for a brief moment.

-You are playing cheap tricks.

I unleashed the Ten Thousand Transformations Invincible Fist, instantly pouring out twenty fist forms.

Unable to withstand the impact, her gold ornaments scattered and fell in all directions.

-What a lewd child.

The woman seemed to have taken no damage at all.

Her rushing figure was clearly just ordinary movement, without the nature of movement skills or footwork, yet it was as fast as someone utilizing the supreme level of movement skills.

BAM!

I barely managed to push her body away, but I couldn't gather my senses against the movement of the woman, who spun once in mid-air like a cat and lunged at me once again.

CRASH, CRASH, CRASH, CRASH, CRASH!

At her fierce hands, I rolled around in all directions like a ball being played with by a cat.

"Just what kind of trickery is this?"

Her movements and attacking stance were not martial arts in nature, yet her destructive power far exceeded what I had taken from Seong Mohyeon of the Iron Sword Sect.

-Did you think there were any among those who sought me out who weren't experts?

To be able to break through this perilous terrain and enter in the first place would already mean one had surpassed the level of ordinary people.

The fact that they had met their deaths showed that her strength was by no means ordinary.

The effects of the Demon-Subduing Talisman were gradually fading, and my body began to stiffen.

Just as I was about to take out another Demon-Subduing Talisman and grasp it in my hand, she kicked off the wall and shot toward me like a ghost.

"Damn it!"

I frantically twisted my body and pushed her back in the direction she was rushing from using the Lotus hand technique.

At the same time, the Demon-Subduing Talisman I had tried to grab got swept onto her body.

-SCREECH!

For the first time, she let out a bloodcurdling scream and frantically swatted at the small embers attached to her body.

The Demon-Subduing Talisman quickly fell off, but for some reason, the spot where it had been attached had turned into a dried-up mummy instead of firm flesh.

"So that was your true form."

-... I changed my mind. I am going to chew you up into little pieces.

Blood-red light flashed from her two eyes, and her hair flared up in all directions.

Her beautiful appearance vanished completely, and she lunged forward, manifesting the form of a fiend from hell.

"I received quite a generous gift this time around."

I grasped Demon-Subduing Talismans in both hands and extended the Ten Thousand Transformations Invincible Fist in the form of palm strikes.

Although the power was vastly reduced compared to using fist forms, over a dozen palm forms instantly materialized in the air.

As expected, the woman, who hadn't learned martial arts, could not distinguish which ones were real and which were illusions.

-SCREECH!

Fire caught on the woman's arms and legs.

While she was stomping her feet to put out the fire, two more Demon-Subduing Talismans attached to her shoulder and back.

-SCREEEEEEECH!

With a sound like scraping metal, her entire body began to burn in flames.

-No! No! This is all mine! Everything in here is mine!

When the fire on her body refused to go out, she threw herself onto the pile of treasures, struggling desperately not to have them taken from her.

"Stop this now, and pass on according to the natural flow of time."

When I stuck the final Demon-Subduing Talisman on her head, her body blazed up in an instant as if she had become a single talisman herself, quickly turning into ashes and vanishing.

-How resentful... How resentful.

After Wolhyang's body vanished into ashes, a single black bead remained in its place.

"Its shape is a bit strange to call it a core, isn't it?"

As I grasped the bead in my hand, a massive amount of energy began to flood in.

"Huh?"

The endlessly surging energy was innate true qi, which governs the origin of a human's life.

"Hah. So this was the secret to eternal youth and immortality."

As the innate true qi filled every nook and cranny of my body, even the impurities that the Amitabha Holy Water hadn't been able to drive out vaporized through my pores.

With energy overflowing, my fear vanished.

It was an energy with which I could more than hold my own against the powerhouses I had seen throughout my previous life—not only the Supreme Clarity Divine Sword and the Peak Master of the Four Emperors Peak, but even the Young Cult Master of the Demonic Cult, the Black Lion Kwak Gung.

"To think I'd obtain such a serendipitous encounter here."

I no longer had any need for traps, arrays, or spiritual elixirs.

With this bead, I was confident I could protect the world and sever the necks of everyone in the Demonic Cult.

"Let's see."

I raised my sword and swung it diagonally at the passageway twice.

Even though I just swung without any Martial Move, Sword Qi condensed like Sword Force, letting out a sound like thunder.

RUMBLE! CRASH! CRASH!

All the mechanisms and arrays were slashed apart, and the passageway became twice the size it had been when I entered.

I no longer needed gold, silver, or treasures either.

Isn't a person with absolute power free from all things?

Even the power of money could not bind me now.

The moment I boldly stepped toward the passageway.

FLINCH.

Suddenly, the innate true qi drained from my entire body, and I began to droop helplessly.

Only a faint chill rose from the bead in my hand.

"..."

I took two steps backward again.

I am omnipotent! I am invincible! Whether it's the Demonic Cult or the Murim Alliance, they will have no choice but to maintain peace under my rule.

Confidence welled up.

I confidently took two steps forward again.

"..."

I looked around.

The gold ornaments that had scattered during the battle were strewn everywhere.

"I'll have to scrape them all up without leaving a single piece behind."

Since I wasn't free from anything, I definitely still needed the power of money.

* * *

I descended Mount Guryong and headed back to Yueyang.

I strapped the two stone coffins containing the treasures to my shoulders using lengths of Heavenly Silkworm Thread pulled from the Flying Dragon Claw.

Since many wars were taking place in the north during this time, and there was a custom of sending those who died in battle back to their hometowns, people didn't find the sight of someone carrying stone coffins strange, though they did tend to avoid me.

When I entered the drapery in Yueyang with the stone coffins on my back like that, the noblewomen who were buying fabric inside all furrowed their brows and clicked their tongues.

"What in the world is that?"

"What is going on? Why didn't someone block a person like that from coming in?"

"Do they want to run a business or not?"

Yang Gunbaek, who had been chatting with the ladies and selling them expensive silk, made eye contact with me, his jaw dropping before he hurriedly rushed out.

"You're finally here!"

Yang Gunbaek suddenly grabbed the stone coffins and broke into loud sobs.

The ladies, somewhat guessing the context from his sudden behavior, took on pitying expressions.

"It's my younger brother, who was dragged off to the north for military service. Because I had no money, I couldn't hire a proper escort agency, so he has only just arrived now."

When Yang Gunbaek shed tears like a flowing stream, the noblewomen also began to tear up in sympathy.

"You have done well to come. You have done very well to come."

Saying that, Yang Gunbaek gave me a subtle wink.

* * *

"No matter how much you come and go as you please, I was still quite surprised this time."

Yang Gunbaek said while drinking tea.

"You didn't look surprised at all, though?"

"Bringing stone coffins to a place frequented by the wives of high-ranking officials. Your jokes are truly severe, Lord Sowoon."

It was the same last time, but he was truly an extraordinary individual.

"Anyway, what brings you here?"

"I have a favor to ask, and please handle this as well."

I patted the stone coffins. Yang Gunbaek tilted his head.

"It would have been better to just bury the corpses deep in the ground. Do you perhaps need Bone-Melting Powder?"

Instead of answering, I lightly pushed the stone coffin open.

"Gasp!"

Yang Gunbaek's eyes widened into circles.

"The one underneath has the exact same items."

At my words, Yang Gunbaek looked back and forth between me and the treasures filling the stone coffin in disbelief.

* * *

Yang Gunbaek laid out the jewels on the floor one by one, spreading them all out.

It was quite a contrast to how I had haphazardly stuffed them into the stone coffins like gathering fallen leaves.

"You truly are an astonishing person, Lord Sowoon."

"How much can I get for it?"

At my question, Yang Gunbaek fell into thought and calculated for a long while before speaking.

"How about around twenty thousand taels of gold?"

"..."

"Does that not satisfy you?"

It was the exact opposite.

The weight and value of the treasures I had calculated came out to roughly ten thousand taels.

However, considering that black markets usually only appraised items at thirty percent of their value, giving me this much meant the black market was actually taking a loss.

"That's exactly twice the market value. Do black markets usually calculate things like this?"

"Please consider it as repaying a favor."

Yang Gunbaek hid his hands inside his sleeves and politely raised both arms in a respectful gesture.

"Well then..."

"Does it displease you?"

"No. It's just that the favor I wanted to ask is related to that 'favor' you mentioned."

Haomun owed me a massive debt from the recent incident.

Because the Namgung Clan and the Underworld factions of Murim had been planning to hold the Beggars' Sect and Haomun responsible for selling the map.

"... I know this amount cannot repay everything, but could I ask for your understanding to consider a portion of it settled?"

It was understandable to some extent.

In the end, things had been settled by my stepping forward, but unlike the Beggars' Sect, which belonged to the Nine Sects and One Gang, it was true that Haomun had suffered a certain degree of damage.

"It seems there was a misunderstanding with my words. I meant that I want to become an 'Honored Guest' of Haomun."

"..."

Haomun did not have a physical existence. Therefore, there were no guests who stayed over to be provided with room and board.

So in Haomun, the term Honored Guest referred to a precious guest whose interests the sect would prioritize even before considering their own.

"... I don't know how you found out, but that is not something someone like me has the authority to grant."

"If Great Warrior Yang Gunbaek, the 11th disciple of the Haomun Sect Leader, doesn't have the authority, then who in Haomun does?"

"!!"

The incomprehensible confusion of wondering how I knew his identity, and the sight of him contemplating whether he should kill me or not.

"I'd rather we didn't walk on eggshells around each other over something like this. I am saying I want to become an Honored Guest because there are areas where I, too, can be of help to Haomun."

"... I suppose asking how you knew would be meaningless?"

I nodded instead of answering.

"Haa, they really do say that being startled so often is bad for one's lifespan. You are truly a bad friend."

"The Beggars' Sect."

"...?"

"I will give you the Beggars' Sect. In return, please become my eyes and ears so that I can grasp the state of Jianghu at any time."

The records of the future that I knew were subtly shifting bit by bit.

In order to verify what effects these shifting events would have on the future going forward, I needed a partner who could gather the world's information for me.

"..."

"I suppose this isn't something you can decide right here on the spot, is it?"

Even throughout history, those who had obtained the position of Honored Guest in Haomun could be counted on one hand.

And most of them were individuals who had surpassed the Super Peak Realm and reached the Transcendent Realm.

Literally speaking, the majority of them were people capable of annihilating Haomun if the sect did not cooperate with them.

"I will consider the favor repaid if you speak of this to the Haomun Sect Leader."

"..."

"And this is my gift to you."

I handed him a document containing the one-year plan drawn up by the Beggars' Sect for this period.

"..."

A gaze of sheer disbelief. But with just a little investigation, he would be able to confirm with absolute certainty that the contents of the document were true.

"Shall we finish our transaction, then? As I just said, the favor has been repaid, so you only need to give me ten thousand taels."

"... How could I bargain with a benefactor? Please accept this."

It was a tactic to refuse to be left in debt until the very end.

With that, Yang Gunbaek pulled out a bundle of bearer promissory notes broken down into smaller denominations from his inner pocket.

"... Even so, I will speak to the Sect Leader about it."

I had no intention of obtaining everything right from the start.

Because I also needed a process of gradually making my existence known to the other party, while at the same time getting to know them.

"That sounds perfect."