Chapter 68 - The 'First' Gate of the Hellish Regular Exam (2)

The Murim Alliance was formed five hundred years ago alongside the emergence of the Demonic Cult.

After repelling the Demonic Cult, the surviving Murim Alliance members preserved the Murim Alliance as proof of their united resolve.

In an ownerless Jianghu, vested interests began to gather around the Murim Alliance, and the Murim Alliance achieved rapid growth.

However, the influx of talent that should have accompanied this rapid growth was entangled in bloodlines, regional ties, and official connections, leading to a downward standardization in quality; in response, the Murim Academy was established three hundred years ago to train talent capable of maintaining the order of the Murim Alliance and Jianghu.

Thus, the Murim Academy became a symbol of success for martial artists.

Those who entered the Murim Alliance through the Murim Academy were treated as executives, while those who entered as low-ranking warriors found it impossible to be promoted beyond Vice Pavilion Master.

Entering the Murim Alliance as a low-ranking warrior with a cap on promotions was an unbearable humiliation for the great orthodox sects.

The entrance competition that began this way endlessly raised the difficulty of the exams, and at some point, people began calling the Murim Academy's standard exam the hellish standard exam.

"Do you understand? What kind of exam you were trying to take?"

"..."

I said to the guys.

"Go back. I won't stop you."

If I want to protect all the kids in the Taiyi Sect, I need more Murim Academy graduates.

But now, the true inheritance of the Taiyi Sword Emperor had been passed down, and various other conditions had been added.

There was no need for everyone to risk their lives taking the Murim Academy's standard exam.

However, despite my persuasion, the Geum-eun-dong Brothers did not back down.

"What are you talking about?"

"Don't speak such nonsense."

"Do you know how much resolve it took for us to endure that training?"

Contrary to my worries, their fighting spirit was still burning brightly.

"I'm following you even if it's just out of spite."

"If you leave us behind, I'll follow you like my life depends on it."

"Me too!"

'True, if I leave them behind after they worked so hard, who knows what those three brothers will do to me later.'

"Are you confident you won't regret it?"

"We were told that disciples of the Taiyi Sect do not feel regret."

"By who?"

"Eldest Senior Brother."

"..."

'Why are they saying things that I, a person with an absolute memory, cannot remember?'

"Eldest Senior Brother, but why bandit strongholds?"

I replied to Dongryong's question.

"That is related to the number of examinees."

"Examinees?"

The number of people the Murim Academy selects per term is a mere eight hundred and ninety-two. Including the one hundred and eight selected from the 108 Peaks, it totals one thousand.

The number of examinees applying to the Murim Academy is roughly two hundred to three hundred thousand. If you include the number of warriors they bring along, it approaches one million.

Using this opportunity, the Murim Alliance created the First Gate with the intention of reducing the number of examinees while simultaneously handling the civilian complaints pouring into the Murim Alliance.

"The number of bandit strongholds designated by the Murim Alliance nationwide is four thousand. Excluding the Seventy-Two Strongholds of the Green Woods represented by the Green Woods Alliance, this encompasses every stronghold with the potential to grow to a large scale."

Most of the strongholds belonging to the Green Woods Alliance are bandits from the Underworld who have learned martial arts. They are closer to sects than mere bandit strongholds.

"Then are you saying only four thousand people will pass the First Gate?"

"Right."

It truly is an exquisite move.

Those without decent martial arts, those without factions, and those without power will fail in the first exam.

At the same time, once the exam is completed, the bandit strongholds that have been troubling the Murim Alliance will vanish all at once.

The Murim Alliance gets to administer their exam and solve their problems while sitting perfectly still.

"Then isn't this no time to be standing around?"

Eunho was quick on the uptake as always.

I smiled and asked.

"Why?"

"Shouldn't we hurry and claim the weakest stronghold out of the four thousand? We already have so few people."

"Right, let's get going first."

I took the guys to Mount Hwaun.

"Isn't this Mount Hwaun? Is there a bandit stronghold here?"

"No."

"Then what?"

"There is something you need to do before we wipe out a bandit stronghold."

"?"

"Stand in front of me."

The three Geum-eun-dong Brothers stood side by side.

"You've learned moving cultivation before, haven't you?"

Geumpyo tilted his head.

"Moving cultivation?"

"Yeah."

"Yes."

"What were you taught about it?"

"The Kwaehwa Hall Leader said, 'Geumpyo, you must never use moving cultivation under any circumstances.'"

"What else?"

"Um... Ah! He also said this. 'If you absolutely must use it, if you really, really have no other choice. If your life is in absolute, dire danger... still do not use it.'"

"You learned well."

"... Wait, no way?"

Moving cultivation was one of the representative qi circulation methods, alongside standing cultivation, sitting cultivation, and lying cultivation.

"You are going to learn a new form of moving cultivation."

"... Senior Brother."

"What is it?"

"To tell you one thing, when the Sect Leader sent us, we also had a mission to keep an eye on you. To make sure we stop you if you do anything crazy."

The reason sitting cultivation was the representative qi circulation method in Jianghu's Murim was due to its efficiency and stability, whereas moving cultivation was looked down upon because, unlike sitting cultivation, it guaranteed neither efficiency nor stability.

"Did I not tell you? You are going to learn a new form of it."

"..."

"Memorize carefully what I dictate to you."

During my time in the Minor Orthodox Unit, I constantly hit my limits due to my meager internal energy.

Enemies swarmed endlessly, and because we had no time to rest, we couldn't even afford the luxury of circulating our qi.

Without even that meager internal energy, it was impossible to face demonic practitioners who had mastered demonic arts.

The same was true for most of the Minor Orthodox Unit members.

Enduring the threat of Qi deviation hundreds of times, I created a new moving cultivation method.

'Thinking about it now, it really was crazy. It was only possible because I was fully prepared to die.'

When my fatigue gradually stopped showing in battle, the Minor Orthodox Unit members began to take an interest, and I shared it with them.

The Minor Orthodox Unit members attached the name of my lost sect to this nameless moving cultivation method. That was the Taiyi Moving Cultivation.

"Did you memorize it?"

"..."

Their eyes were still full of distrust.

'I suppose I need to punish these brats who lack faith in their Eldest Senior Brother.'

I unleashed my killing intent toward the three of them.

"Gah!"

"Hup!"

"Urgh!"

Their faces turned pale as if they had seen a ghost, and they scrambled away in all directions.

Because my killing intent had grown thicker after using innate qi to push the Taiyi True Scripture to its absolute limit during my sparring match with Hwa Jeongsan, they looked as if their souls were about to leave their bodies at any moment.

"Huff, huff, huff. W-What is this, Senior Brother."

"W-Why are you doing this."

"Stand in front of me again."

At my words, the three brothers hesitantly trudged over, though their feet refused to lift properly.

"From now on, I will slowly release killing intent and gradually raise its intensity. Circulate the moving cultivation method."

Desperate to survive, the guys began circulating the moving cultivation method.

"How is it?"

"... Huh? It's getting better?"

I doubled my killing intent.

"Now?"

"It's... fine."

Then I steadily increased the intensity of the killing intent until it reached half of its previous peak.

"How is it now?"

"It's hard... but I'm fine."

"This is one of the advantages of this moving cultivation method."

One of the effects I gained while creating the Taiyi Moving Cultivation was the ability to maintain reason even when submerged in killing intent and demonic qi.

At the same time, because the Taiyi Moving Cultivation allowed one to sensitively detect the threat of Qi deviation, it allowed the user to stop the cultivation right before falling into it.

"Aha! You mean we should use this moving cultivation whenever we feel killing intent?"

"What are you talking about? Why learn a moving cultivation method if that's all you'll use it for."

"Uh... then..."

"From now on, you will circulate this moving cultivation every waking moment. While walking, while running, and while fighting."

"Senior Brother! Senior Brother!"

Dongryong raised his hand.

"What is it?"

"If I try to move with this, it feels like my whole body is going to twist apart, though?"

"That is the safety mechanism. If you push further than that, you will fall into Qi deviation. So you must practice carefully and move slowly."

"..."

The three brothers were outright looking at me like I was a madman.

"Why do we have to go this far?"

"First, your internal energy is too meager. By moving through the Taiyi Moving Cultivation, you can steadily accumulate internal energy little by little—even if it is much weaker than sitting cultivation. Second, you all have to juggle the exam and your training at the same time. If the brats I went out of my way to bring here can't even inherit the true legacy of the Taiyi Sword Emperor, what use are you? Third."

This was the real reason I was passing down the Taiyi Moving Cultivation to them.

"There are only four of us. And our competitors approach a million. Do you think we will have time to rest?"

"..."

"It isn't just about the exam. In order for the weak Taiyi Sect to soar, we will have to fight countless people countless times. The ones trying to trample us will easily number in the thousands, and we won't even have a moment to rest."

When the Orthodox-Demonic Great War broke out, terrifying days with absolutely no room for respite would drag on for years.

We would need to use internal energy while simultaneously accumulating it, all while preserving our mental fortitude.

The Geum-eun-dong Brothers swallowed hard.

"If we do this... can we defeat the people blocking our path?"

"How do you think I've managed to win so far?"

The three brothers' eyes began to sparkle.

"Begin."

At that, they slowly began to take a step. However, perhaps feeling a constant urge to flinch, their movements were slower than a snail's, and their brows were heavily furrowed.

"If you don't want to be stuck in Anhui Province for the entirety of the Murim Academy's exam, you'd better work diligently."

"Where are you going?"

"I do not wish to sleep on Mount Hwaun. If you don't want to either, then hurry and come down. I will be waiting at the bottom of the mountain."

Leaving them behind, I headed down the mountain.

* * *

After descending Mount Hwaun, I pulled a small note from my sleeve.

-Sohwaru. First-class room.

While I was looking at the bulletin at the Murim Alliance Hefei Branch, someone had secretly tried to slip their hands onto me.

Assuming they were aiming for the coin pouch in my robes, I grabbed and twisted their wrist, but the person merely opened their palm without even a scream, revealing this note inside.

"To only contact me now. They've certainly been weighing their options."

When I looted Wolhyang's grave in Hunan and fenced the valuables, I had asked Yang Gunbaek for the qualifications of a 'Guest' of Haomun.

It had been several months since I handed over the Beggars' Sect's information along with that request. Only now had the reply arrived.

"They must have waited for the moment their value would be at its highest."

With the Murim Academy's exam underway, the value of the Beggars' Sect and Haomun would skyrocket.

Haomun likely knew this and deliberately delayed their reply to me.

There are three representative establishments in the entertainment district of Hefei.

Manwolru, Johyangru, and Sohwaru.

Among them, Johyangru was the place Gye Cheolyeong constantly frequented, while Sohwaru was the most expensive of the three, frequented exclusively by high officials and great nobles.

As I entered Sohwaru, which was decorated with lavish lanterns and fabrics right from the entrance, a woman wearing a dress that lacked enough fabric to cover her bare skin approached me.

Even upon seeing my ordinary martial attire and penniless appearance, she acted completely unbothered.

"Is there a specific gisaeng you are looking for?"

"I have an appointment. I was told to come to a first-class room."

The basic room at Sohwaru is the fourth-class room.

It is the most basic room, where each customer is assigned one female servant, one male servant, and one gisaeng.

If it is a first-class room, four female servants and four male servants are assigned, along with accompanying musicians, and each customer is attended by four gisaeng.

It truly is a place only for those who can afford to throw money around like water.

Normally, it would be a place someone like me could never set foot in.

However, the woman seemed to know I was coming and guided me to the location without delay.

The inside of the room was far more pleasant than I had expected.

Though there were no windows, candles were lit everywhere, and there was no cluttered furniture.

On one side, elderly maids and servants were waiting on standby. Even though their attire was simple, the texture looked like silk rather than ordinary cotton.

Red light districts often employed the elderly as servants and maids just in case drunken guests tried to lay hands on them. This simultaneously had the effect of making the young and beautiful appearances of the gisaeng stand out even more.

"They will be here shortly if you wait."

There were no gisaeng in the room.

The servants and maids stood silently with their heads bowed. Even that posture gave off a sense of luxury.

'Is this why people come here and spend their money?'

A short while later, a woman in her mid-thirties entered the room accompanied by four warriors with formidable auras.

The young woman who had guided me just now possessed a beauty that was far from ordinary, but the gorgeous woman entering now was even more beautiful.

If not for the faint traces of time visible around her eyes and mouth, hers was a beauty capable of shaking the world.

The middle-aged woman seemed to have no regrets about the marks of time, making no effort to hide her aging aside from natural-looking makeup.

"I am finally greeting you. On behalf of Haomun, I offer my thanks. I am the Haomun Leader, Yeo Mimi."

I slowly stood up and clasped my fist in a salute.

"I am Jin Sowoon of the Taiyi Sect."

"I am well aware of the rumors surrounding Young Master Black Flame Dragon."

"..."

"I heard the story through Gunbaek. You mentioned you wished to become a Guest, did you not?"

"Yes."

"I apologize for not responding swiftly as we had to confirm internal matters."

"I understand."

Unlike the Beggars' Sect, the majority of Haomun's disciples are engaged in their own livelihoods. In guest houses, taverns, shops—wherever there are people, there is Haomun.

However, unlike the Beggars' Sect, martial arts were not passed down within Haomun, and because they had more civilians than warriors, they made an even greater effort to hide their identities.

"We had a lot of trouble deciding how to accept Young Master Jin Sowoon."

"Have you reached a conclusion now?"

Haomun is largely an organization that sells information, but in truth, the ones who use their information the most are themselves.

For Haomun, their utmost goal was protecting Haomun and maximizing the profits of their disciples.

The position of 'Guest' refers to an existence that transcends such goals for Haomun.

For that reason, few people throughout their history had ever obtained the qualifications of a 'Guest'.

And what people didn't know was that one had to pass a few tests to earn this 'Guest' qualification of Haomun. The first test was whether they possessed information that Haomun lacked.

My handing over the Beggars' Sect's information to Yang Gunbaek was in accordance with this.

"Yes. We have also verified the information Young Master Jin provided."

"Was it of help?"

"Immensely. Honestly, it was incredibly difficult to trace the source of where Young Master Jin obtained that information."

"I'm glad if it helped."

"But at the same time, we have concerns. We wonder if it is truly alright to accept someone who lies entirely outside our field of vision as a Guest."

"Isn't that exactly why you must? Bringing an unknown target into your field of vision is the best way to observe them."

Yeo Mimi fell deep into thought at my words.

What was peculiar was that even while thinking, she gazed steadily into my eyes, making me feel as though she was observing whatever lay within them.

"I know why Haomun's closed nature is necessary. But if you become too buried in it, won't you eventually just stagnate and rot?"

Yeo Mimi's eyes wavered for the first time.

"The incident at the Demonic Spirit Plateau. If you had just one skilled array master, Haomun wouldn't have been in crisis, would it? If I hadn't been there, what do you think would have happened?"

Yeo Mimi lowered her head in thought for the first time.

Then, shortly after, she nodded.

"They say Young Master Black Flame Dragon's plotting is deeper than the Boundless Indestructible Soul-Extinguishing Array, and it seems the rumors are true."

For the first time, a faint smile graced Yeo Mimi's face.

'How many men in the past must have burned with longing over that smile?'

"Understood. Let us do that. I prepared this just in case, but it seems I'll be using it after all."

Along with her words, Yeo Mimi held out a silk pouch.

Inside was a document densely packed with information regarding the notable examinees currently participating in the First Gate of the Murim Academy's standard exam.

Yeo Mimi rose from her seat.

Looking over the materials, I asked Yeo Mimi.

"Then is this it?"

"Yes. Whenever you need Haomun's help, please call for us."

When Yeo Mimi rose from her seat, the warriors simultaneously surrounded her.

With my eyes still fixed on the documents, I asked.

"Is that so?"

Haomun's verification was not over yet.

"Then... when will I be able to meet the Sect Leader?"

"..."

Whipping her head around, Yeo Mimi's face had stiffened slightly.

"I am quite busy since you contacted me so late. I would prefer it if this verification of the 'Guest' qualification ended quickly."