Chapter 107: Those Gathered in the Village

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Expelled disciple.

One who has been completely stripped of all qualifications and expelled from the martial sect they had been part of.

When a martial world person is expelled, that status follows them forever like an indelible brand.

It was only natural.

Because as soon as the procedures were completed, an announcement would be prominently posted within days, rumors would spread widely throughout the world, and furthermore, they would fall to the status of someone to be avoided.

So whether the cause of expulsion was due to wrongdoing or being falsely accused or whatever, the losses far exceeded the gains.

In truth, from the moment one became an expelled disciple, regardless of martial prowess level, it was difficult to find footing in other forces, so most became vagrants.

Lending their martial skills by being hired by some force or individual to solve their livelihood problems.

Bu Do-nam was the same at first.

Having served as an elite swordsman of the Nine Great Sects’ Mount Hua Sect in name, he grew disgusted with the friction between sect factions, voluntarily requested expulsion and left, after which he wandered as a vagrant, drifting here and there.

Like any other expelled disciple, he had no choice since there wasn’t really any suitable place to rely on.

All he had was skill in handling a sword.

Having joined Mount Hua Sect as a child and lived studying only martial arts until adulthood, there was no way he would have any other special talents.

Becoming a vagrant was his only immediate option.

A martial arts-teaching school hall?

That wasn’t feasible.

No.

It was impossible.

That’s a question only someone who doesn’t know would ask.

Why?

Because he had already written a pledge regarding related matters when he was expelled.

That if he independently taught Mount Hua Sect’s martial arts without permission, he would immediately become a public enemy of the sect and receive punishment equivalent to a death order…

He was only permitted to use martial arts limited to personal circumstances.

In fact, it wasn’t just Bu Do-nam – nine out of ten expelled disciples in the martial world wrote pledge documents of similar content.

It was a kind of shackle measure to suppress the leakage of martial arts content as much as possible, and especially the more famous the place, the higher the severity of punishment for violations.

Moreover, Mount Hua Sect was sensitive to the point of obsession, and had even taken the lives of expelled disciples who broke pledges in the past multiple times.

Even if that were possible, money was the biggest problem.

Bu Do-nam had been practically penniless from when he left.

Of course, when he was an elite Mount Hua Sect swordsman, he was so well-off that he didn’t even have to think about money or anything else.

However.

According to Mount Hua Sect’s regulations, expelled disciples regardless of rank had to leave behind everything provided by the sect and depart, so he had become empty-handed.

Thus, Bu Do-nam, being in a situation with various such constraints, had no choice but to become a vagrant and make a living.

Yet even that path wasn’t as easy as he thought, and he suffered greatly.

But.

Just over two years after leaving Mount Hua Sect, he encountered a defrocked monk in his forties, and through that meeting, he ended his vagrant life.

He had found an unexpected home and was walking a new path.

Joining the Green Forest Alliance.

Indeed.

The identity of that defrocked monk he encountered while wandering as a vagrant through Shaanxi and Henan, arriving at a city near Apo Mountain at the southern tip of Hubei, was none other than the Alliance Master of the Green Forest Alliance.

At the time, Bu Do-nam agonized for several days before finally deciding to become a member, and afterwards, through consistently showing considerable achievements, he was selected as the Stronghold Master leading the eleventh stronghold.

He thought he would walk a flower path like that…

Yet before he could even achieve anything major as a stronghold master in name, he suffered an unexpected disaster.

The stronghold had collapsed and all his property was taken.

All that remained in his possession was emergency funds that had to be carefully spent until reaching the Green Forest Alliance.

An unexpected miserable reality… That was why he had internally lamented wondering if life in the Green Forest Alliance also wasn’t for him.

He had no intention of leaving.

Because the Alliance Master trusted him, and he too respected the Alliance Master.

‘Sigh… I have no face to show the Alliance Master. He trusted and entrusted everything to me…’

All that came out were sighs.

For several days, whenever he closed his eyes, the events of that time came to mind and tormented him.

He couldn’t forget.

He would probably remember forever.

The appearance of that crazy horse and the crazy bastard who, not satisfied with beating up and dragging over twenty of his subordinate members, had also smashed the stronghold to pieces…

Suddenly, the conversation from that time came to mind.

-By the way, why aren’t you fighting? I heard you’re a swordsman from Mount Hua Sect.

-I-I’m scared!

-Honest. Alright, make sure to gather more next time.

‘Damn, how embarrassing…!’

Bu Do-nam forcibly erased that moment of humiliation and picked up the wine bottle that had just arrived at the table.

GULP-

Having downed the wine in one go, he wiped his mouth and muttered inwardly.

‘Honestly… It was the first time since the Alliance Master.’

That’s right.

Until now, the only opponent he had thought was scary was the Alliance Master alone, but unexpectedly one more had been added.

At that moment, a member sitting beside him carefully spoke up.

“Um… Stronghold Master.”

“What?”

“Since things have come to this… How about just closing our eyes and going around this area to gather money?”

Gathering money – that meant plundering.

“……”

Bu Do-nam set down his cup and stared at that face.

The member, body flinching, scratched the back of his head and stammered.

“Th-that is… I felt sorry for our situation…”

“Go ahead and try.”

When Bu Do-nam sent a chin gesture and spoke briefly, the member widened his eyes.

“Huh?”

“I said try as much as you want.”

“Oh! A-are you serious?”

His expression showed he never expected such ready consent.

“Of course. In exchange, you have to take responsibility.”

At Bu Do-nam’s coldly thrown words, the member’s complexion stiffened.

“…!”

“You’ve memorized the Alliance’s regulations, right? I didn’t hear anything.”

“Ah…”

“Hey, if you want to die, die alone. I’m more scared of the Alliance Master than anything in the world – I guess you’re not? What a brave fellow.”

At that, the member quickly waved both hands.

“Th-th-there’s no way! I spoke out of turn…”

“Good that you understand.”

Bu Do-nam spoke coldly again and gulped down more wine.

He couldn’t plunder here just because they were short on money.

In fact, the Green Forest Alliance strictly prohibited bandit activities outside their territory.

That was a principle and iron rule that the current Alliance Master emphasized, and if violated carelessly, one would immediately be judged by severity, punished, and confined to solitary.

Unlike strongholds made by ordinary bandit groups gathering together, the Green Forest Alliance’s majority consisted of expelled disciples from the orthodox and unorthodox world’s famous great sects and miscellaneous factions, so individual personalities were strong.

So the Alliance Master had established regulations that applied without exception from the beginning, led by example while managing member activities, and thanks to that, earned recognition as a power within the martial world.

Additionally.

The Alliance Master’s formidable martial prowess as a defrocked monk from Shaolin Temple, which stood at the pinnacle of the Nine Great Sects, had also greatly influenced the Green Forest Alliance’s rise.

The Six Extremes of Hubei.

The Alliance Master was a powerful figure who had grasped that title in just ten years, possessing tremendous martial power.

That was one of the reasons Bu Do-nam had said he was scared earlier.

‘If I honestly report everything to the Alliance Master… A search order will be issued immediately.’

Though the martial power of that crazy bastard riding the crazy horse was frightening, it was nothing compared to the Alliance Master.

He was certain.

If the Alliance Master stepped forward directly, that unidentified obnoxious fellow would end his life as a bloody mess.

Yet.

On the other hand, he was quite envious.

Of that bastard’s amazing power.

His appearance didn’t seem beyond the age of majority, yet his hidden martial arts ability was at a level transcending his estimated age.

‘If I had stayed in Mount Hua Sect, would I be around that bastard’s level by now? Hmm… Probably not. But I think I might have at least obtained the Five Plum qualification, though.’

Five Plum was precisely the rank of swordsmen within Mount Hua Sect.

From One Plum at the very bottom to Seven Plum at the very top.

At the time, Bu Do-nam was a mid-level swordsman who had earned the Four Plum qualification.

Back then, he had devoted himself to training night and day aiming for Five Plum, but separate from his actual ability, his master kept becoming a factional scapegoat, so he remained stuck at Four Plum for over three years.

If he had served a different priest with stronger influence, he might have been able to aim for even the Six Plum qualification.

Of course, thinking about it now was all meaningless…

“Here, share this.”

When Bu Do-nam pushed the Huaguo Wine bottle to the side, all the members’ eyes sparkled as they busily moved their cup-holding hands.

“Come on, come on. Let’s just drink and die today!”

“Yeah!”

“Hey. Sorry to kill the mood, but even drinking till we die, once we pass it around once each, that’s all there is.”

“Ah… Th-then let’s settle for wetting our throats.”

“Oh my, how did we end up like this.”

As the drinking atmosphere rapidly sank.

‘Sigh…’

Bu Do-nam, having swallowed another internal sigh, muttered to himself while gazing out the window.

“I’m feeling glum… I wish someone would pick a fight with me.”

Rain clouds had gathered thickly in the night sky before he knew it.

As if representing that mood.

* * *

Namgung Sang-rin crossed the border between the Hubei and Hunan regions by boat and arrived at a pier on the western side of Dongting Lake.

“Thank you.”

Having politely greeted the old boatman, he soon strode toward the village visible in the distance.

‘It’s already dark, so I’ll stay one night there, and as soon as it’s light, I’ll go without rest.’

The destination was, of course, White Peak Sword Sect.

If he diligently advanced again starting tomorrow, he would probably be able to arrive within a few days.

While walking along the road, Namgung Sang-rin suddenly rotated his wrist lightly a couple of times.

‘Hmm. Good, the fractured part seems to have fully healed.’

The injury he had suffered before Cheol Ryu-heun’s concise single sword strike seemed to have completely healed.

Newly recalling that incident in his mind, he smiled silently.

‘Ha. To think it would crack in just one strike…’

It was a fascinating and interesting existence.

-I am Cheol Ryu-heun, the new Sect Master of White Peak Sword Sect.

While Cheol Ryu-heun wasn’t a famous martial talent, he wasn’t completely unknown either, as he had once heard news that he had become a vegetable.

But.

The series of formidable martial prowess he had shown breaking into Mantis Martial Academy was truly at an incomprehensible level.

Especially the words he had spoken when facing Mantis Twin Swords Jo Jung-eung were quite shocking.

-The snake head has paid for his sins. So it’s your turn.

Knowing that snake head was the derogatory nickname of White Snake Head Sword Gul Ma-hun, a famous swordsman within Hunan Province.

When he saw Jo Jung-eung’s body being torn apart by Cheol Ryu-heun’s terrifying sword power, he realized those words were not empty talk.

Though he had parted in a hurry without hearing the full story, he could somewhat guess.

That the moment Gul Ma-hun met his end probably wasn’t much different from Jo Jung-eung.

‘How exciting. Thinking about meeting him again…’

Above all, his heart was racing because of words he had heard from him.

-With my help, you can achieve your family’s restoration faster. And restoration of the remaining major sword studies that have already been lost is also possible.

Namgung Sang-rin clenched his fist tightly and his eyes lit up.

‘There must definitely be a reason he said that. All my questions will naturally be answered when I get there.’

Before long, the sky covered in pitch-black clouds let out a great rumble of RUMBLE!

POURING, POURING…!

Thick rain fell in countless streams, instantly soaking the ground.

‘Let me hurry and secure a room first.’

Namgung Sang-rin quickly placed his bundle on his head and deployed lightness arts to advance quickly.

Toward that village where personnel from the Green Forest Alliance’s eleventh stronghold had settled in every corner.