Chapter 70 - The 'First' Gate of the Hellish Regular Exam (4)

"This is the token proving you are a Guest of our Haomun. As long as you have this, we will be able to find you wherever you are."

What Yeo Mimi held out was a small black token.

How were they supposed to find me with this?

"You are ultimately bound to remain within our sights. But even if you are not, inside that black token is the pure extract of Haomun's exclusive Thousand-Li Tracking Scent."

It seemed this faintly wafting scent was the Thousand-Li Tracking Scent.

"Every morning, I will deliver newly compiled information to you."

"... Is that even possible?"

Even for an intelligence organization, there must be limits. Every morning?

Moreover, how would they know my movements to send someone every single day?

"It is truly strange. You know the ins and outs of us better than anyone, yet conversely, it seems you know nothing about us."

That was because there were no records describing how a 'Guest' of Haomun received information.

Yeo Mimi was still looking at me as if I were a fascinating curiosity.

"I will do my utmost to help you achieve what you desire. After all, our fate has already been placed upon yours."

"... Please do not say such burdensome things all of a sudden. I said we should work together; I didn't ask you to tie your fate to mine."

Yeo Mimi and Haeryeong had smiles playing on their lips.

I shook my head and opened my mouth.

"First, there is a favor I would like to ask of you."

"What is it?"

"Please spread some rumors about me."

"Rumors about you? Is Jianghu not already full of rumors about you?"

"That is why I am asking. Please spread the rumor that my martial arts are not that outstanding."

"Hmm... wouldn't that be difficult? The rumors of you facing the Dragon-Phoenix Summit must have already spread through the world."

"The Dragon-Phoenix Summit will not spread those rumors themselves. And wouldn't the people need a little more time to believe the truth of those rumors?"

"Hmm... So you want that rumor to spread a bit later, is that it?"

"Yes. That is correct."

"Understood. Do not worry about that. I will spread rumors so the people of the world think you are not a Black Flame Dragon, but an earthworm."

"..."

I didn't like the alias Black Flame Dragon, but that didn't mean I wanted to be called an earthworm either. Caught in an unresolvable ambivalence, I simply kept my mouth shut.

* * *

After sleeping alone in the guest house the previous night, I packed a simple snack and headed for Mount Hwaun.

I had told them to hurry down if they didn't want to stay on Mount Hwaun all night, but there was no way that was possible.

After all, even the Minor Orthodox Unit, who had been placed in an urgent situation, took half a month to master Taiyi Moving Cultivation.

It would take them at least three days just to make it off Mount Hwaun.

Naturally, I expected they wouldn't have even made it halfway down Mount Hwaun and would be sleeping in the forest.

"Oho..."

Upon entering the base of Mount Hwaun, the Geum-eun-dong brothers were moving at a rather fast pace.

"Now they look about as fast as turtles."

It was a level of rapid achievement that would have left the members of the Minor Orthodox Unit astounded if they saw it.

"Then again, those guys had such garbage-like comprehension."

Finally, Geumpyo arrived in front of me.

"*Pant, pant, pant. * Senior Brother... saying we could make it down before late at night, that was a lie, wasn't it?"

"Just drink some water."

Sweating all over as if he had been drenched in rain, Geumpyo completely emptied the canteen I handed him in one go.

"Did you stay up all night?"

"Yes... honestly... *pant*, tell me... *pant*, please... *pant*. Senior Brother... *pant*, saying you're using moving cultivation... *pant*. It's a lie, right?"

I held out the dumplings I had brought from the guest house.

"Do you want to eat a dumpling?"

"*Pant, pant, pant. *"

Glaring at me for not answering, Geumpyo snatched the dumpling and devoured it in a flash.

While Geumpyo filled his stomach a little and collapsed onto the ground in exhaustion, Eunho arrived, and finally, Dongryong arrived as well.

"*Pant... pant... pant... * Eldest Senior Brother... lie..."

"*Pant... pant... * Liar."

Barely having the energy to string words together, the two brothers looked at me with eyes full of resentment.

"Do you want to drink water first? Or eat dumplings first?"

I handed them the water and dumplings.

* * *

Their walking speed was gradually increasing. The guys who had been moving at a turtle's pace started walking at the speed of a chick, and then at the speed of a slow cow.

As the kids began to pick up a bit of speed, I chose the mountain path instead of the main road.

At that, the three brothers' speed slowed down once again.

"Hurry up. At this rate, the standard exam will be over before we get there."

"*Pant... pant... * Then shouldn't we just take the main road? We were just getting used to walking."

A mountain path is different from a main road.

One has to use their hands and feet simultaneously, and movements are constantly restricted.

Trying to maintain moving cultivation in the midst of that would truly drive anyone crazy.

The hike, which started before sunrise, made no progress, failing to cover even ten li by the time the sun hung high in the sky.

"If you don't reach the top of the mountain, you will be skipping lunch too."

"...!"

"...!"

"...!"

Killing intent surfaced in the eyes of the three millhouse brothers.

"Oho, have you already learned to emit killing intent without even being taught? As expected, this Eldest Senior Brother's grace is as high as the sky and as vast as the sea."

The three brothers looked like they had a lot to say, but tightly shut their mouths.

Was it the effect of that? The three brothers' speed gradually began to increase.

SCREECH!

At that moment, a black bird swam through the sky and let out a cry.

I couldn't tell how far that cry had spread, but the birds in the forest took flight all at once, and the squirrels that had been watching us curiously quickly hid in their shelters.

"What is that?"

Looking up at the sky through the trees, a large eagle was flying as if it ruled the heavens. The eagle, which had been circling the firmament, suddenly began to dive straight toward me.

"Oho? Does it hunt humans too?"

At my words, the three brothers flinched and looked up at the sky.

They had seen the eagle, with wings wider than a person's arm length, descending at a rapid speed.

"Senior Brother, I think it's coming this way!"

"You're right. Th-That... Senior Brother!"

"Tsk! Moving cultivation!"

As I subtly emitted killing intent toward the guys trying to drop their moving cultivation and run away, their bodies stiffened like animals startled by a predator's glare.

And the moment they tightly shut their eyes, unable to either run or dodge.

The large eagle suddenly spread its wings, reducing its speed and slowly approaching me.

"What?"

It seemed to want my shoulder, so I offered it, and the eagle landed smoothly on my shoulder.

The three brothers blinked as if the sight was fascinating, and I discovered a small bamboo tube attached to the eagle's ankle.

"Huh, so they don't use carrier pigeons, but messenger eagles? Wait..."

The eagle rubbed its feathers against my head, even though it was seeing me for the first time, and then tapped lightly against my chest.

That was where the Silver King Token I received from Wang Geumsan and the black token I received from Haomun were kept.

"Amazing. Did they train messenger eagles to follow the Thousand-Li Tracking Scent too?"

When I took out the black token and stroked the eagle, it acted affectionately as if it had met its master.

I immediately pulled out the documents Haomun had sent from the tube on its ankle and began to skim through them.

"Senior Brother, what on earth is going on?"

"It seems the person who agreed to provide me with information sent it."

When Geumpyo approached the eagle in fascination, the eagle's eyes turned fierce and it let out a sharp screech.

"... It's incredibly aggressive, isn't it?"

"Unlike carrier pigeons, messenger eagles do not lose their wild instincts. Because of that, they are hard to train, but they have the advantage of being at less risk of being hunted. Do not touch it carelessly. It looks like an Iron Eagle; a creature like this can easily slice off a human finger in an instant."

At my words, Geumpyo withdrew his hand with a pale expression.

"Hmm..."

After reading all the documents, I took out the Four Treasures of the Study, wrote down a few more pieces of information I needed, and placed it inside the bamboo tube attached to the Iron Eagle's ankle.

At that, the creature took to the air once again, as if knowing exactly what it had to do.

"What was it?"

Eunho wore a curious expression about what documents I had received.

"It was a brief report on the current situation. It says two thousand four hundred of the bandit strongholds currently designated by the Murim Alliance have already been wiped out."

"Already?"

Considering it had only been three days since the standard exam began, it was an incredibly fast pace.

"Isn't this unfortunate situation happening because you guys are taking too long to learn moving cultivation? Are you going to take responsibility if I fail the Murim Academy exam because of you?"

Geumpyo and Eunho were looking at me with dumbfounded eyes. At least Dongryong's eyes still hadn't lost their venomous glint. I thought I heard him mutter something like, 'I'll kill you...', but I figured he was talking about our competitors.

After all, the kind-hearted Dongryong, who had waited days upon days just to share a piece of rice cake with me, surely wouldn't dare say he wanted to kill his Eldest Senior Brother.

"Merchant Group Leader! Young Master Cheolyeong's condition is strange!"

"What!"

At the familiar voice and name that suddenly rang out, our gazes turned simultaneously toward the main road at the bottom of the mountain.

Down there was a traveling procession led by over a hundred wandering warriors, with Gye Yeonseok at the head.

At someone's call, Gye Yeonseok was moving to the rear alone, and beside him was Gye Yeonseung, the former Hall Leader of our Busaeng Hall.

"Are they heading out on a merchant run or something?"

The Gyeryong Merchant Group didn't operate its own escort agency, holding only the final distribution rights for goods, so they didn't do escort missions either.

Furthermore, there were only three cargo wagons in the procession.

The place Gye Yeonseok and Gye Yeonseung moved toward was an iron carriage situated between the cargo wagons.

When Gye Yeonseok knocked on the window, the person who emerged from inside was Gye Cheolyeong, his face twisted in a bizarre direction.

"Huh..."

"Whoa..."

"Why is he..."

Still, because they had spent nearly five years together, the three brothers immediately recognized Gye Cheolyeong despite his grotesque appearance.

"Auh, auh. Aah."

Gye Cheolyeong could not even speak properly.

"Hold on just a little longer. Once we cross this mountain, there is a village, so we will rest there a bit before moving on."

"Auh, auh. Auh."

Drool trickled down from his twisted lips.

Gye Yeonseok wiped the drool from Gye Cheolyeong's mouth.

"Do not worry about a thing. You will absolutely, without a doubt, enter the Murim Academy!"

When Gye Yeonseok returned to the front to lead the group, the procession began to move again.

It took quite a while for them to pass.

The Geum-eun-dong brothers stood motionless for a long time, completely stunned.

Honestly, I wasn't much different.

The sight of Gye Yeonseok dragging his crippled son to take the Murim Academy standard exam was practically a projection of his horrifying obsession. It was enough to give me goosebumps without realizing it.

"... Does he really have to take the exam even if it means going to such lengths?"

It was an expression that showed Geumpyo had realized for the first time just what kind of exam he was taking.

"It has been a long time since the hierarchy of Jianghu, centered around the Murim Alliance, was established by the logic of power. It is only natural that Gye Yeonseok, who desires more wealth and authority, would have such an obsession to force his only son into the Murim Academy."

"But... can he even take the exam in that state? No, even if he takes the exam, could he actually attend the Academy?"

Ironically, while the Murim Alliance strictly restricted helpers, they placed no particular restrictions on the examinees themselves.

Enrolling and living at the Academy was a matter for later, but once inside, one could receive the Murim Alliance's medical support free of charge.

Even if his martial arts couldn't be restored, as long as he completed the Academy's courses well, he might be able to secure a position within the Murim Alliance.

In that respect, Gye Yeonseok's choice might not have been completely wrong.

"This is no time to be worrying about them. Did you not see the faces of the people forming that procession?"

"... What do you mean by that?"

"The ones standing at the head of the procession with Gye Yeonseok were Yama's Axe Yeon Chu-ak, Windless Demonic Pole Han Geumtak, and Three-Handed Ghost Ape Dam Cheolgak. These three are considered top-tier among wandering warriors."

"... Windless Demonic Pole Han Geumtak... isn't that person an Underworld martial artist?"

His signature technique of hooking a person's nose skin with a bizarre fishing rod and spinning them round and round in the air to death was a supreme art feared even by those in the Underworld.

"He merely operated in the Underworld as a mercenary; he's the kind of person who could switch to the Orthodox faction at any time if the money is right."

"Senior Brother, I clearly heard that experts above the first-rate level cannot participate as helpers."

"That is the problem. Because they are wandering warriors, their skills aren't accurately recorded, and since the Murim Alliance tends to look down on those without a faction, they could easily be judged as merely first-rate experts."

"That's absurd..."

"So hurry up and walk properly. The competition is already getting tough, and on top of that, aren't we slowing down more and more because of you?"

I scolded the three brothers, but this time, the fire in the kids' eyes didn't die out easily. Instead, they looked full of burning resolve.

And the three brothers' speed gradually began to increase.

* * *

Our speed, having bypassed two villages just in case we ran into Gye Yeonseok's procession, reached the level of ordinary people crossing a mountain.

Watching the three brothers slowly adapt to moving cultivation, I headed back down to the main road.

"We can keep taking the mountain path now."

"Of course. We're confident!"

"Why would we do training that isn't even difficult? Now, let's try using footwork as we go."

"..."

"..."

"The advantages of using moving cultivation simultaneously with footwork are not just one or two. In particular, the Taiyi Eighty Thousand Divine Steps is a rare footwork technique that also possesses the characteristics of a movement art. Once you master this, you will be able to escape the enemy's grasp and run without rest for as long as you want."

"... Senior Brother, we've already been sleeping rough and haven't washed for a week. Can't we just travel normally today?"

"Is that so? I suppose it can't be helped. Let's go find a decent guest house and rest a bit."

The Geum-eun-dong brothers grinned from ear to ear.

"And then let's return to the Taiyi Sect. As the Eldest Senior Brother, I cannot put you all in danger, so if you don't want to train, we have no choice but to all go back. Oh my, it's going to be so~ hard for Saryeon to take responsibility for all of us."

The Geum-eun-dong brothers' lips quivered.

"..."

"..."

Among them, the youngest, Dongryong, could no longer hold back and spoke up.

"Eldest Senior Brother!"

"What is it?"

"Is this the correct way to step for the Taiyi Eighty Thousand Divine Steps?"

Dongryong asked as he stepped on the ground, while Geumpyo and Eunho's eyes trembled as if shuddering from a sense of betrayal.

"No. I'll teach you again. Anyway, it seems Dongryong wants to keep going, but do Geumpyo and Eunho want to go back?"

"... Of course we're going together."

"Yes! Besides, I love sleeping under the stars!"

I spoke to the three brothers, who were muttering something as they followed the footprints I left behind.

"Once you can freely deploy the Taiyi Eighty Thousand Divine Steps as well, I'll secure the best guest house in the next village we come across."

"Really?"

"Are you serious?"

"Senior Brother, you don't have any money."

Geumpyo, Eunho, and Dongryong spoke in turn, and I revealed the money pouch filled with gold coins that I had received from Wang Geumsan earlier.

"Who says I have no money?"

Jingle, jingle.

Seeing the gleaming gold, the kids' eyes sharply regained their focus.

'This is exactly what they call the carrot-and-stick method.'

The kids' desire to eat high-class food at a nice guest house and relieve their fatigue in hot water was so intense that, in less than three days, they reached the level of deploying the Taiyi Eighty Thousand Divine Steps while using moving cultivation.

It was already the tenth day.

Due to the consecutive days of sleeping rough, the kids looked so unkempt it was hard to tell whether they were disciples of the Beggars' Sect or the Taiyi Sect.

Should I just consider it a blessing that they were at least wearing black martial robes like me?

"Senior Brother! Senior Brother! I found out! They say that place right there is the most cost-effective guest house in this village!"

As soon as we arrived at Mount Huang, Eunho, who had asked the locals to find the most cost-effective guest house, pointed at the Silver Palace Guest House and spoke.

"That place is classified as a high-class guest house, and it costs one silver tael per night."

I pointed to a modern-looking building next to the Silver Palace Guest House and asked.

"Isn't that a guest house as well?"

"That is the Golden Palace Guest House, but they say you have to pay a whopping five silver taels there."

"Is that so? Then let's go there."

"Excuse me?"

"Did I not promise? I said I would secure the best guest house in this village for you."

"B-But Senior Brother. For the four of us, that's twenty silver taels."

Eunho's voice trembled as he spoke.

"Whenever you show progress in your training, you will continue to enjoy such luxuries. So for now, just focus on relieving your fatigue and think only of training hard again."

Saying that, I headed toward the Golden Palace Guest House, and the three, who had been hesitating, meekly followed right behind me.

"Welcome!"

The clerk, who had approached with a bright smile when I walked in, slowly began to frown upon seeing the state of the Geum-eun-dong brothers.

I quickly took out a gold coin and handed it over.

"The kids look like a mess because they've been sleeping rough for a few weeks. Please prepare rooms, bathwater, food, and some new martial robes."

The corners of the clerk's mouth, which had been about to twist into a scowl, bloomed into a wide smile once again.

"We will serve you with the utmost care. Would you like to dine first?"

"Please do."

"Right this way."

Just as I was about to move, following the clerk's guidance.

Eunho grabbed the hem of my clothes and spoke.

"Eldest Senior Brother, over there..."

The place Eunho's finger pointed to was the second-floor railing of the guest house.

"..."

Up there, Gye Yeonseok, whose eyes were bloodshot red, and Gye Cheolyeong, whose face was twisted in a bizarre direction, were looking our way.

"Taiyi Sect..."

It felt as if the sound of Gye Yeonseok grinding his teeth from the second floor could be heard all the way down here.