Chapter 81 - Those Who Chase the Dragon (2)

At the point when the Murim Academy's First Gate of the standard exam ended, the ones most fired up were the disciples of prominent sects.

The disciples belonging to the powerful sects of the 108 Peaks, including the Nine Sects and One Gang and the Five Great Noble Clans, failed to subjugate the bandit strongholds not because they lacked skill, but because they missed their chance, and their anger and obsession turned toward those who had passed the First Gate.

"Sporadic battles are already breaking out everywhere. In this process, many disciples of the 108 Peaks have been eliminated, and in severe cases, entire squads have been annihilated."

The contradictory thing was that no one aimed their swords at the Nine Sects and One Gang or the Five Great Noble Clans.

"The person in the most danger right now is you, Sir Sowoon."

Perhaps it was natural.

The Ssangmak Stronghold, one of the Seventy-Two Strongholds of the Green Woods.

The eight First Gate admission tokens obtained by subjugating the two locations that actually comprised it, the Hwamak Stronghold and the Geummak Stronghold, would surely whet their appetites.

Add to that the two admission tokens Bang Duchil personally held, and the total was ten.

"I am prepared for it."

In my past life, I was always an easy target, but this was the first time I had become a target that made them drool like this.

"Right now, the 108 Peaks sects based in Zhejiang Province, including the Yellow Sword Sect and the Azure Blade Gang, are moving toward Mount Cheonmok."

"Already?"

My face stiffened without me realizing.

The Yellow Sword Sect and the Azure Blade Gang were the local tyrants of Zhejiang Province, occupying the 23rd and 32nd peaks of the 108 Peaks respectively.

They were entities who had each gotten three disciples admitted into the Murim Academy in my past life. They were coming to catch us in order to maintain their sects' revival.

"The Beggars' Sect has already started focusing on you, Sir Sowoon."

We were probably the most appetizing prey, as well as the most expensive information.

If we were the weakest while holding the most Admission Tokens, there would be any number of people willing to pay a fortune for information about us.

"We are leaking different information as much as possible, but that's..."

Yang Gunbaek spoke with a face that looked as if he was confessing to high treason.

There would inevitably be a difference in the reliability of information between the Beggars' Sect, which handled a pillar of the Murim Alliance and received mid-exam results in real-time, and Haomun, which gathered info on foot.

Moreover, if he gave out different information just to obscure mine, Haomun would lose its credibility.

I did not want innocent people to suffer because of me.

Furthermore, spreading false information didn't seem like it would be very good for me in the long run either.

I looked at Yang Gunbaek and gave a slight shake of my head.

"No. I do not want actions that might crack Haomun's credibility."

"Pardon?"

"If Haomun's credibility falls to the ground, wouldn't I also have trouble using it in the future?"

"... But if we do that... something terrible will really happen to you, Sir Sowoon..."

I looked at him and smiled slightly.

"I am a Guest of Haomun, not Haomun's enemy, am I not?"

Yang Gunbaek looked at me with a complicated gaze.

"First of all, how long will it take before we encounter the Yellow Sword Sect and the Azure Blade Gang?"

"There is a four-day difference in distance... but the moment you delay, Sir Sowoon, the distance will close in an instant."

A darker shadow than ever before settled over Yang Gunbaek's face.

* * *

It was the Hour of the Tiger, before the sun had risen.

When I left the room to go fetch my junior brothers.

Village Chief Heo was in the hallway with his back turned, puffing smoke from his pipe.

"Elder."

"... Are you awake?"

"Yes."

"You are leaving early."

"Yes. I think we need to move early."

"Do you have a moment?"

I glanced at the room where the Geum-eun-dong brothers were sleeping, then nodded.

Village Chief Heo's face was too full of regret for me to refuse and leave.

Village Chief Heo and the villagers had wanted to empty out everything they had to throw a feast, but with the Yellow Sword Sect and the Azure Blade Gang currently chasing us until their soles sweat, we couldn't just stupidly have a feast, so we politely declined.

"I do not think I can spare a long time."

"It will not take long."

Village Chief Heo took me to a space used as a vegetable garden behind the guest house.

The dried-up vegetables looked ugly because they had not been maintained, but Village Chief Heo didn't care and headed to a corner of the garden to start digging.

"Sixty years ago. Back when I had just inherited the guest house from my father and was running the business, there was a day when we were just swatting flies, perhaps because the taste had changed."

"..."

Village Chief Heo quietly recounted the story of his past, though its meaning was unclear.

"On that day, too, I was about to throw away all the noodles I had made after a wasted day, when a beggar-like elderly man came in."

Thinking he had dug enough, Village Chief Heo held his hoe and carefully scraped the surrounding dirt.

"When I told him business was bad so I had nothing to offer for alms, he laughed heartily and asked me to make him a bowl of noodles. It was obvious he had no money... but since the day was already a wash anyway, I treated it as an offering and made him the noodles."

After digging like that for a while, Village Chief Heo made an expression as if his hand had caught something deep in the ground, then carefully pulled out a small bundle.

It had been buried for so long that part of the cotton cloth wrapping the outside had rotted and crumbled away along with the dirt.

"Sure enough, after he finished eating the noodles, he said he had no money. I figured as much and was just going to let him go. But then he said he would leave his belongings as a pledge. I refused a few times, saying it was fine, but in the end, I was forced to take it."

The bundle was rolled up in multiple layers of cloth, and as he removed the cloths one by one, an oiled leather pouch appeared, and when he peeled back the leather pouch, the item tightly wrapped inside popped out.

"But the elderly man never returned. Not even after ten years passed, nor after twenty years. I don't believe in Buddha, so I considered throwing it away, but it gave off a strange energy."

What emerged from the final pouch was a set of prayer beads made of various colorful beads, along with a small wooden box.

"Oddly enough, whenever I held it, distracting thoughts disappeared and my mind felt at peace. This artifact was so bizarre that I didn't even dare to open this wooden box."

Village Chief Heo handed over the prayer beads as he said that.

"..."

When I grasped the prayer beads in my hand without a word, strangely enough, my head—which had been incredibly cluttered since last night due to the Yellow Sword Sect, Azure Blade Gang, and other sects—felt as if it were clearing up.

"Could it be..."

I immediately began searching through the library in my head. Among the top-secret information of the Simhyeon Pavilion, I opened the section on artifacts of Jianghu.

'The Demon-Cleansing Spirit Beads...?'

One of the seven great artifacts recorded in the artifacts section.

The Demon-Cleansing Spirit Beads, which should currently be enshrined in the deepest sanctuary of the Shaolin Sect, were resting in my hand.

"How is this..."

The Demon-Cleansing Spirit Beads were made by gathering the single sarira left behind by monks with high Buddhist power after their passing to create a set of 108 prayer beads, then giving it to those entering the sanctuary for wall-facing meditation to fill it with Buddhist spirit, turning it into a divine artifact.

Not only did it take a long time to make, but given that 108 sarira were used, it was an item known to possess Buddhist power equivalent to 108 stone pagodas.

"Is it precious?"

Village Chief Heo wore a nervous expression, like a person getting an appraisal on an antique he had held onto for a long time to see if it was genuine.

I barely managed to answer.

"... It is an item whose worth cannot be debated."

It was the divine artifact the Murim Alliance members most desperately wished for when facing the Demonic Cult on the front lines.

There were many in the Demonic Cult who had learned the dark arts of the Heavenly Demon Scripture.

Rather than physical destructive power, these dark arts clouded the mind and caused one to lose their reason.

When going out onto the battlefield, there was a continuous stream of people who lost their minds as demonic qi and evil energy infiltrated their brains rather than dying by the sword, but at that time, the Murim Alliance did not bring out a single divine artifact into the chaos of war.

Just bullshit about reciting the demon-subduing mantra to straighten out their righteous minds.

Only now could I understand why the Murim Alliance and the Shaolin Sect hadn't been able to bring out the Demon-Cleansing Spirit Beads, the supreme divine artifact of demon vanquishing, all this time.

Since we were asking for something they didn't have, they had no choice but to spout bullshit.

"My guess was right. My guess was right."

Village Chief Heo flashed a faint smile on his lips for the first time, but it was something I simply couldn't understand at all.

Sixty years ago was the time when Great Master Suheo was serving as the Abbot of the Shaolin Sect.

Such a divine artifact could not be carelessly taken out without the Abbot's permission, and all removals had to be recorded.

Moreover, there was no monk in that era who wandered around looking like a beggar claiming to have achieved enlightenment.

"Did the Shaolin Sect not perhaps come out to look for this item?"

"Was this an item of the Shaolin Sect?"

It seemed Village Chief Heo didn't even know that fact.

"Yes."

"Haha, is that so."

"Why didn't you ask around for its owner?"

"How could a country bumpkin like me go around asking who the owner of such a precious item is? Who knows what kind of fate I would suffer if I did that?"

If the wrong rumors spread, his entire family could be massacred. What's more, the distinction between the Orthodox faction and the Underworld was meaningless in front of an artifact of this caliber.

In the face of greater martial prowess and power, the most ruthless thing of all was the essence of Jianghu, was it not?

There was a reason why the Academy exam of the Orthodox faction, which proclaimed to be righteous, was held so fiercely that people died.

I nodded in understanding.

"Will you open this too?"

"... Isn't this an item with an owner?"

"I've thought about it. Though it's too grand an item to receive in exchange for the price of noodles, in the end, I received it as payment, didn't I? Besides, if no one has come looking for it for sixty years, then it strictly belongs to me, right?"

A smile naturally formed on my lips.

"You are truly the person who sold noodles at the most expensive price in the world."

"Stop talking nonsense and open it."

I nodded and opened the wooden box.

With a *POP* of bursting air, the wooden box opened, and a clear, elegant fragrance wafted out from within.

It felt as if I were in the middle of a dense forest, rather than a messy vegetable garden that only smelled of dirt.

"How is it?"

Village Chief Heo gulped and asked, and I nodded.

"It is an item called the Lesser Restoration Pill. You have heard stories of it, haven't you?"

Even among civilians with no interest in Jianghu, it was rare for someone not to know about the Lesser Restoration Pill.

"You mean that spiritual elixir said to revive the dead?"

"Well, it's not quite to that extent, but it is said that if an ordinary person consumes it, they can live a long life without suffering from minor illnesses."

"Then what if someone who practices martial arts eats it?"

"What need is there to say? Since one can immediately gain the internal energy others would have to train fifteen years for, aren't the Lesser Restoration Pill and Great Restoration Pill considered the elixirs of elixirs even in Jianghu?"

"Haha, is it to that extent?"

"If one digests it well, yes."

Village Chief Heo stroked his beard and nodded. Then, muttering a soft 'Well done, well done,' he praised himself for keeping such a precious artifact hidden from the outside world.

"You must have been curious for a long time. You held back well."

"No, I wouldn't have brought it out if there hadn't been an occasion. Over these many years, I'm someone who has seen clearly with my own two eyes countless people die because of treasures appearing in Jianghu."

"I see."

I handed the wooden box back to Village Chief Heo.

But for some reason, Village Chief Heo shook his head and pushed the wooden box away.

"Hm?"

When I looked at him with a puzzled gaze, Village Chief Heo squeezed my hand and spoke.

"You eat that."

‘Did I hear him wrong?’

I asked Village Chief Heo once more.

"Elder, did you not hear what I said? If an ordinary person eats it, they won't suffer from illnesses, and if someone who practices martial arts eats it..."

"I know. But eating just one of those isn't going to turn the world upside down, is it?"

"..."

"If my grandson wants to learn martial arts, I can just take him to a nearby martial arts hall. If the energy of the spiritual elixir unnecessarily lingers in his body and draws suspicion, an even greater disaster will strike."

Thinking of the years he had endured, I could not bring myself to accept the treasure.

"Elder, even so, this is far too great an item."

"I wouldn't have brought it out if it weren't for you."

"Pardon?"

"I have seen countless people over a long period of time, but no Murim Alliance member, no righteous chivalrous warrior ever drew their sword for us. The chivalry and justice they protect were all for their own sake."

I couldn't definitively say everyone was like that, but the reality was that most were.

No, there were even sects that interrogated their members for building grudges with the Underworld over powerless commoners.

The corners of Village Chief Heo's wrinkled eyes curved into an arc.

"You are the first. Therefore, I intend to feed it to you."

"... Um, Elder."

"If it's such a precious item, just think of it as owing me a debt. I, too, thought it would be nice to have a backer I could trust and rely on for once like others do."

I knew Village Chief Heo's words were ultimately meant to lessen my burden.

Just as I had done for Village Chief Heo.

"Then to my junior brothers..."

"No, you eat it."

"Pardon?"

"Isn't it safer if there are no people who even know of the evidence?"

"..."

In the end, Village Chief Heo persistently watched as the Lesser Restoration Pill went down my mouth.

The moment the Lesser Restoration Pill touched my tongue.

It dissolved and slid down my throat in an instant, to the point where it was hard to believe this was a pill that had aged for sixty years.

"Good. This is good. It has finally found its owner."

Village Chief Heo could not wipe the smile off his face, pleased by whatever it was.

"Ah right, you take this too. Whether your junior brothers use it or you return it to its owner, figure it out yourself. I will just think of it as an item I know nothing about."

He must have resolved to bring this item out after seeing Dongryong driven mad by murderous intent a few days ago.

He must have worried a lot, as he and his family could be put in danger if false rumors spread because of me.

Deeply moved by his heart, having mustered the courage for me and my junior brothers despite that, I respectfully offered a fist-and-palm salute.

"I thank you, Elder."

"... It's fine. From now on, I will go around telling everyone that my backer is you."

Perhaps because of the newly rising sun, Village Chief Heo's face seemed dyed red.

Lest he be caught, Village Chief Heo quickly went back inside the guest house.

* * *

Jin Sowoon's group headed straight north after leaving Mount Cheonmok.

They intended to change direction straight to the northwest after crossing Zhejiang Province.

It was a movement that considered the optimal route for the upcoming Second Gate and the yet-to-be-announced Third Gate.

CLANG-CLANG-CLANG-CLANG-CLANG!

"Dongryong! Don't jump out!"

"A-Alright!"

"Just hold on a little longer! Senior Brother will be here soon!"

When Geumpyo shouted desperately, his voice seemed to reach the heavens, as screams began to be heard from the rear.

"*AARGH! *"

"A-An ambush!"

The eight attackers surrounding the three Geum-eun-dong brothers fell into internal chaos due to Jin Sowoon's ambush, and in the meantime, the three Geum-eun-dong brothers activated their sword array even more fiercely, attacking the assailants from the front and back to end the fight in a single breath.

"Master... I'm sorry... *Sob. *"

"Senior Brother! It's not your fault, Senior Brother! It's all my fault! If only I hadn't made a mistake..."

The incapacitated examinee broke into tears, despairing as pitifully as if he had lost his parents.

Even though they won the battle, they did not feel refreshed.

"*Huff, huff. * Damn it."

"Shit."

Profanities naturally slipped from the mouths of the Geum-eun-dong brothers, who had never even cursed back when they left the Taiyi Sect.

It was already the second ambush.

Not even two days had passed since they left Mount Cheonmok.

They were the disciples and warriors of the Red Immortal Sect, which was based in Mount Antang in Zhejiang Province.

It was a mystery how the Red Immortal Sect, located at the edge of Zhejiang Province, had already reached the vicinity of Mount Cheonmok, which was practically the exact opposite end, but they had no time to think deeply about it.

"Snap out of it! More are coming!"

"Dammit."

They had already been through two fierce battles, but fortunately, about half of their internal energy remained.

It was thanks to desperately utilizing their moving cultivation.

Now they no longer held doubts like they had at first, wondering why they had to learn such a cumbersome martial art.

Because if they hadn't had moving cultivation, they would have had to give up several times already.

By the time their internal energy hit rock bottom despite utilizing moving cultivation so desperately.

The sun set, and the ambushes for the day ended.

"... Do you think it will get worse?"

Having entered deep into the mountain's forest to avoid the eyes of their pursuers, Jin Sowoon's group was chewing on beef jerky without even lighting a fire.

"It will be easier on your mind to think that right now is the most comfortable time."

"... Why is everyone so desperate?"

Eunho voiced a question he had never harbored before.

As if he truly couldn't understand, he cast his gaze in the air for a moment before looking at Sowoon.

"Why on earth are they going this far?"

The desperate despair etched on the face of the Red Immortal Sect disciple who had attacked them during the day came to mind.

Jin Sowoon, who had been quietly tearing into his beef jerky, stopped his movements.

Then he stared into Eunho's two eyes.

"Because that is the essence of Jianghu."

"..."

"If you don't climb, you fall. Staying still doesn't mean you stop in place. You have to keep climbing just to barely hold your ground."

Within the power structure of Jianghu centered around the Murim Alliance, power within the Alliance directly equals the sect's benefit.

It was a logic that could be understood just by looking at how the Taiyi Sect hadn't enjoyed prosperity even once over the past five hundred years, and conversely, just by looking at the sects that avoided being annihilated in a dragon's pool and tiger's den like Hefei.

"No martial sect in Jianghu can live free from the Murim Alliance's influence. What was the reason Gye Cheolyeong wanted to join the Murim Alliance so badly?"

Gye Cheolyeong and Gye Yeonseok planned to grow the Gyeryong Merchant Group into the top merchant group in Jiangxi through the Murim Alliance.

They were trying to achieve something impossible with their own abilities in their generation through the Murim Alliance.

"The examinees are not taking the Academy exam just for their own success."

Even if it was the Murim Alliance aiming to uphold justice, even if it was Jianghu united by righteousness and chivalry.

"The revival of their sects is also burdened upon their shoulders."

In the end, 'surviving' and 'creating an environment where their precious people can survive' was the most important goal.

"..."

At Jin Sowoon's words, Eunho felt his mind grow distant.

He had thought everyone was taking the exam simply to enjoy wealth and glory and make a name for themselves.

But everyone was carrying a far greater weight than he had imagined.

"Because of that fierceness and ruthlessness, it earned the name 'Hell standard exam' despite being an exam hosted by the Murim Alliance."

Eunho, who had been listening silently, clenched his fists tightly and asked.

"... Why does the Murim Alliance tolerate an exam like this?"

As expected, it was a question befitting someone whose innocence remained untainted.

A pure belief that a group established for justice would not sit idle while unjust things occurred.

"There are many people with great greed, and resources are limited. So they have no choice but to engage in fierce competition. In addition, it's likely advantageous from the perspective of the vested sects that currently occupy the leadership of the Murim Alliance."

At that moment, Geumpyo tilted his head.

"Can't they just divide it fairly?"

"... Well, if someone told you to reduce your meals from two a day to one, would you find that acceptable?"

"... T-That's."

"And for the sake of the Iron Sword Sect, not the Taiyi Sect, at that."

"That's absolutely unacceptable!!"

Jin Sowoon lightly patted Geumpyo's head.

"Right, it's like that."

"..."

Jin Sowoon had merely compared it to a rice bowl, but later in the Orthodox-Demonic Great War, they would have to wage a power struggle with their lives on the line.

Sects without power would cause more of their disciples to die, and sects with power would at least suffer less sorrow.

Jin Sowoon had realized the ruthlessness of power more than anyone else in his past life.

Therefore, he understood those risking their lives over 'just' an entrance exam better than anyone else.

Eunho suddenly thought of something he had forgotten.

"The Second Gate! The Second Gate exam hasn't started yet, right?"

"Does that seem likely?"

Jin Sowoon wore an expression of disbelief.

Eunho fiercely frowned, as if he had chewed on sand while eating his beef jerky.

"The exam has already started?"

"It was given to us when we received our First Gate Admission Tokens."

Jin Sowoon showed him the Second Gate announcement notice he had received from the Hangzhou Branch Chief.

●Murim Academy's standard exam Second Gate

Self-Improvement

Exam - Secure a core.

Details - Students of the Murim Academy must know how to strive for their own development. The most fundamental development for a warrior is increasing their internal energy. To increase internal energy, one must be able to secure a core.

Conditions -

Exchange one core equivalent to ten years for one Second Gate Admission Token.

A maximum of three Admission Tokens can be exchanged per core.

However, no distinction is made between cores from spiritual beasts and demonic beasts.

Eunho's eyes widened like a rabbit's upon seeing the announcement.

"Senior Brother, since when did a core become a local brown bear's gallbladder?"

Jin Sowoon smiled bitterly instead of answering.

"No, seriously, no joke. What kind of bullshit is this?"

At Eunho's words, Geumpyo and Dongryong looked at the announcement and deeply furrowed their brows.

"These crazy bastards."

Spiritual beasts and demonic beasts.

Entities that live beyond their originally limited lifespans by absorbing mystical energy deep in nature untouched by human hands.

A tiger with a larger body than a normal tiger is a spiritual beast, and if that tiger has a disposition to attack humans, it is a demonic beast.

However, spiritual or demonic beasts that have lived long enough to form a core are rare.

Because it's commonplace for them to either die while harming the human world before a core forms, or conversely, be spotted by humans and hunted down.

Moreover, a spiritual or demonic beast with a ten-year core formed is essentially equivalent to a warrior who has trained thirty years in external martial arts, isn't it?

Those who passed the First Gate had to go around hunting while simultaneously defending against checks or ambushes from other competitors.

"This isn't an exam designed to be passed at all, is it?"

Jin Sowoon pointed at the announcement and spoke.

"Look at it carefully. What do you think the intention behind this exam is?"

Geumpyo and Dongryong tilted their heads, looking as if they had no idea at all.

On the other hand, Eunho looked at the announcement illuminated by the moonlight in more detail.

'The intention behind the exam?'

Eunho, who fell deeper into thought at Jin Sowoon's words, finally noticed the strange point in the announcement.

"It's about securing a core, but there's no mention that we must 'personally' hunt for it."

At Eunho's words, Geumpyo raised one eyebrow.

"What are you talking about? Telling us to bring a core means telling us to hunt."

"Hyung, think about it carefully. We don't have money, but if someone has enough money to buy a core on the market, couldn't they get as many as they want?"

Geumpyo unconsciously let his mouth drop open... looking as if he had been struck on the back of the head.

"Huh..."

"Can we assume the intention behind the exam is the same as the first one?"

Jin Sowoon nodded at Eunho's words.

"Ultimately, being able to protect your First Gate Admission Token while acquiring a spiritual pill means... they intend to select those who possess martial prowess along with the wealth to buy a spiritual pill, or those with overwhelming martial prowess capable of hunting a spiritual beast."

"Correct."

"Hah..."

He had heard the answer, but no doubts were resolved.

In the end, wasn't this exam meant to select not just talented and hardworking people, but those who also had money and power?

As if reading Eunho's inner thoughts, Jin Sowoon spoke.

"The Murim Alliance wishes for itself alone to be the absolute force in Jianghu. To maintain that system, they want those with power, money, and authority to continuously compete within the Murim Alliance."

"For people who don't have that... what must they do to rise to a high place?"

Even knowing the obvious answer.

Eunho asked again because he didn't want to accept that cruel reality.

But the returning answer remained cruel.

"What need is there to say? You must take that nonsensical exam."

Eunho felt for the first time just how shitty of a thing it was to face reality.