Chapter 106: As Expected

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Silence.

Amid the quiet where not even a breath could be heard.

Tae Sa-ja and the workers blinked in bewilderment.

Why are you appearing here?

Before long, everyone without exception turned their heads to the left.

What entered the workers’ field of vision was none other than the stable.

Ah… So that’s what happened.

They finally realized why Divine Wind had suddenly appeared.

Behind the stable fence, two horses had poked their heads out thinking food had arrived.

“Eek, I forgot. It’s time to feed them.”

The moment one worker whispered and muttered.

SWISH.

Divine Wind slightly raised his head while holding the end of the unstoppered gourd bottle in his mouth.

Simultaneously, Tae Sa-ja and the others were all startled.

“URK!”

“N-no!”

“Stop!”

Did he sense something?

Divine Wind paused his head motion, blinked his eyes slowly, and stared fixedly at the workers.

Tension was rife.

This is such a trivial matter…

But from the workers’ perspective, it was practically a desperate situation like a battle of life or death.

Of course.

This was the first reward they had obtained from working themselves to death all this time, and they couldn’t let it be wasted so futilely like this.

It was even Sky Clear Stone Milk.

The legendary elixir – a liquid said to form on the stalactites of caves deep in secluded mountain valleys imbued with the mysterious energy of heaven and earth, requiring dozens of years of waiting for just one drop.

How could they let something so precious be carelessly consumed by a horse that knew nothing?

However.

There was no one present who could match Divine Wind’s strength.

He was already at the level of a spiritual creature that had far transcended the limits of ordinary beasts, so he was utterly beyond their capabilities.

All they could do here was shout.

At that moment, Tae Sa-ja quickly lowered his voice and said.

“Shh. Don’t anger him with loud voices for no reason. If he ends up swallowing the Sky Clear Stone Milk… You all know what I mean, right?”

Of course they did.

It meant they would be like a dog chasing a chicken and staring at the roof.

“Yes, Squad Leader.”

The workers answered quietly in unison, nodding their heads.

Those who had been biting and tearing at each other fighting for the gourd bottle containing Sky Clear Stone Milk now seemed to have become perfectly of one mind and body.

THUMP-THUMP.

Tae Sa-ja forcefully suppressed his racing heart, carefully stepped one foot forward, and gave a hand signal.

“That’s right, that’s right… I’m going to get closer little by little. You just stand there.”

Yet Divine Wind slightly raised his head upward again.

Tae Sa-ja and the workers behind him were all startled, their bodies flinching as they inwardly cried out.

‘Hey, stop!’

Did their hearts reach him?

Divine Wind stopped raising his head further and worked his mouth holding the gourd bottle a few times.

Seeing that, Tae Sa-ja pretended to speak in a gentle voice as he coaxed.

“Hey… That’s a gourd bottle. It’s not for eating.”

At that, Divine Wind’s ears angled slightly forward.

Did he understand the words?

He actually lowered his head slightly.

‘Oh, good!’

Delighted, Tae Sa-ja produced an even gentler voice.

“Good boy, good boy. Just stay still like that. When I grab that gourd bottle, you just relax your mouth. Got it?”

Then he cautiously took one more step forward.

The other workers behind threw in a word each while anxiously biting their nails and whispering quietly.

“Please be careful.”

“Yes, you can’t relax until you’ve grabbed the gourd bottle.”

“Let’s stop fighting and share it nicely.”

“Everyone wait quietly.”

“Right, right. Squad Leader will handle it.”

At that moment, Divine Wind’s ears perked up, and he once again slightly raised his head.

Tae Sa-ja, startled, turned his head back and glared with wide eyes.

PLEASE JUST SHUT UP!

A cry contained in his gaze.

The workers who had also been startled shut their mouths and even held their breath.

Tae Sa-ja turned his head forward again.

“There, there… I’m going to go over there and pull out the gourd bottle… Just stay still.”

STEP-STEP.

He took a few more steps.

Now the gap between Tae Sa-ja and Divine Wind was only about four or five paces.

CHEW-CHEW.

Divine Wind worked his mouth holding the gourd bottle a few times and blinked his eyes.

Maybe this really isn’t for eating?

That kind of feeling, somehow.

Tae Sa-ja smiled slightly and stepped forward once more.

“You must be hungry since it’s mealtime – I’ll bring some ginseng soon.”

In that moment, Divine Wind reacted to the word ginseng.

PERK.

Tae Sa-ja, seeing those two ears stand up straight and shake back and forth once, felt somewhat relieved.

‘Right, he seems to have understood my words well. Good, now…’

Now all that remained was to go up to Divine Wind’s face and pull out the gourd bottle.

One step, one step.

When the gap between them had become about two paces.

Divine Wind’s two ears laid back.

In an instant, an ominous premonition invaded the minds of Tae Sa-ja and all the workers.

Th-that’s a movement expressing displeasure…!

In the moment everyone was seized by extreme tension, Divine Wind, holding the end of the gourd bottle in his mouth, raised his head high.

“URK! FUCK!”

“Don’t tilt your head back!”

“That’s Sky Clear Stone Milk, you crazy horse bastard!”

But.

GULP.

Too late.

Along with the workers’ urgent cries, the eleven drops worth of Sky Clear Stone Milk in the gourd bottle went straight down Divine Wind’s throat.

Expressions of utter dismay.

They really had become like a dog that chased a chicken and ended up staring at the roof.

How empty.

They couldn’t even bring themselves to curse.

That damned horse had not only eaten the Thousand Year Immortal Ginseng called King of Ginsengs, but now even devoured the Sky Clear Stone Milk.

And not just one drop but eleven drops…

Everyone including Tae Sa-ja collapsed powerlessly onto the spot with a THUD!

When the tension that had been tightly squeezing their bones and flesh suddenly released all at once, their whole bodies felt languid.

The workers, drained of energy, lamented their fate with their heads deeply bowed.

“I thought we were finally about to change our worker fate…”

“If we had each drunk one drop of that…”

“Well, if we had… Our energy meridians would have opened on their own, and we would have gained bodies capable of learning internal energy techniques.”

“Right, and we would have even gained the qualifications to learn ascending martial arts… Urk, what’s the point of saying this now. It’s useless.”

“Sigh… I should just go die.”

In the thoroughly subdued atmosphere, as complaints and lamentations continued, Tae Sa-ja suddenly tilted his head.

“Wait… Why isn’t any phenomenon appearing?”

Only then did the remaining ten workers also harbor doubt.

Huh, he’s right?

Divine Wind had just swallowed eleven drops of Sky Clear Stone Milk, but he looked no different from before.

Only.

SMACK, SMACK, SMACK…

He was merely smacking his lips as if savoring the aftertaste of the Sky Clear Stone Milk.

In an instant, the workers’ expressions changed.

What, did he scam us!

A suspicion that from the beginning, he had secretly switched the gourd bottle and handed over one containing a bit of plain water rather than Sky Clear Stone Milk…

At that moment.

PSSHHHT-!

Divine Wind exhaled pure white breath from his nose and mouth, then released a force like intangible energy that shook the ground.

RUMBLE… RUMBLE-RUMBLE…

Immediately after, the two horses in the stable seemed startled as they jumped around and whinnied.

Before long, Divine Wind’s entire body was enveloped in a mist-like current.

WOOOOM…

A combative and domineering aura reminiscent of an internal master.

In the instant the terrified Tae Sa-ja and others hurriedly retreated, new haze spread thickly from the area of Divine Wind’s head.

Following that.

FLASH!

A mass of flashing light emerged from the exact center of Divine Wind’s forehead and brightly illuminated this space that had by now grown dim.

Moreover, it wasn’t just one.

There were three.

Three dazzling masses of three-colored light.

Suddenly.

FLOATING.

Divine Wind, wrapped in light, floated up like a feather blown by the wind, and accordingly, the three masses of three-colored light above his head transformed into flower bud shapes.

A mysterious and wondrous sight.

Before long, the three masses of three-colored light reminiscent of flower buds spread out and gently seeped into Divine Wind’s body.

SSSSSS, SSSSSSSS…

What Divine Wind had achieved was none other than Three Flowers Gathering at the Crown – one of the stages of enlightenment where internal cultivation level rises.

The workers, who had been momentarily dazed, finally came to their senses and grabbed at their hair as if to tear it out.

It wasn’t plain water but the real thing!

Tae Sa-ja, whose indignation surged up, exploded with a scream bordering on a wail.

“AAARGH! YOU CRAAAZY HOOOORSE BASTAAARD!”

* * *

The dining hall within White Peak Sword Sect.

Cheol Ryu-heun came here, had a simple dinner, and walked out the door again.

As he was walking toward Mountain Patriarch Hall, his residence.

AAARGH…! CRAAAZY HOOOORSE BASTAAARD…!

A strange scream burst from afar and echoed.

But Cheol Ryu-heun didn’t even pay attention and trudged onward.

“There are always some. Those who can’t even consume what’s given to them for free.”

* * *

Dongting Lake in northern Hunan Province.

The largest lake in the region and a lake famous enough to be counted among the top in the entire continent.

The scale of Dongting Lake was so vast as to be reminiscent of the sea, with large and small cities and villages lined up along its shores.

It was just called lakeside in name, but in reality it was no different from a broadly stretching coastal region.

Since ancient times, Dongting Lake had developed waterways and commercial districts, becoming a battleground for the orthodox and unorthodox martial worlds, and among its lakeside cities, there were fully ten that were of major city scale.

In particular.

The five famous cities of Yueyang, Changde, Yiyang, and others prospered constantly as they were never without crowds including sightseers day or night.

Bu Do-nam, the Cold Plum Sword, a expelled disciple of Mount Hua Sect, arrived at the outskirts of a lakeside village on the western side of Dongting Lake, leading the members of the Green Forest Alliance mountain stronghold.

Everyone looked quite exhausted as they trudged along the road without a word.

‘Damn, what a sight this is!’

Bu Do-nam grumbled inwardly and bit his lip hard.

It was a face showing renewed frustration at having traveled here laboriously on foot after being robbed of all their money by that crazy bastard riding the crazy horse before.

The roughly one hundred subordinates following behind were equally displeased.

“How much emergency funds do we have left?”

When Bu Do-nam turned his head and asked, one of his subordinate bandits checked the coins in the money pouch and sighed.

“Sigh, just barely enough. We have no choice but to save as much as possible until we reach the headquarters.”

“Ha… We’re beggars. Beggars.”

If he had his way, he would go to a nice brothel in a major city like Yueyang or Changde and relieve his heavy heart, but with no money, even finding a place to stay for one night was a worry.

What could they do?

With insufficient money, they had no choice but to search for inns with cheap rooms.

For now, saving and saving on expenditures until reaching the Green Forest Alliance was the best policy.

Finally, the group entering the village split into several teams to search for places to stay.

Bu Do-nam, together with about a dozen of his subordinates, entered a shabby inn at a passage before reaching the main street.

The owner greeted them with a broad smile as if he had been waiting.

“Welcome. Are you looking for rooms? As it happens, about half of the upper floor is vacant.”

Bu Do-nam asked quietly with a somewhat embarrassed expression.

“How much is it?”

The quick-witted owner then leaned in and told him the price in his ear.

Bu Do-nam nodded as if satisfied, immediately paid for the rooms, and ordered food.

“Bring out some noodles according to our number of people. Ah, and one bottle of Huaguo Wine…”

How pathetic.

On any other day, he would have ordered several bottles of Huaguo Wine.

The owner, with a beaming smile, answered ‘Yes!’ and quickly disappeared to yonder.

Bu Do-nam then took a seat at an empty table by the window and was lost in thought for a while.

‘Who on earth was that fellow? An unknown vagrant master? That was definitely Plum Blossom Seven Forms Sword back then…’

There was no way he was from Mount Hua Sect.

That’s why the doubt in his head was growing.

Clenching his fist tightly, he soon gazed out the window steeped in dusk and let out a long sigh.

‘Phew… Is life in the Green Forest Alliance also not for me? Should I just look for a position as a Guest Retainer somewhere.’