Chapter 116: Long Time No See

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Under the scorching midday sun.

THUD, THUD, THUD- SCRAPE. SCRAPE, SCRAPE- CRACK, CRACK, CRACK-!

The noise of several people busily moving their tools and digging out the dirt from the ground continued without cease.

It was the sound of the workers’ labor, including Tae Sa-ja.

The current location was the mountain hill in the direction facing the left wall of White Peak Sword Sect.

The point above where a quite large boulder jutted out.

Everyone had only one goal in their hearts.

To somehow pull out the large boulder before them, receive Cheol Ryu-heun’s confirmation, and begin the formal martial arts training they had so longed for.

The problem was time.

Cheol Ryu-heun had given them one shichen to complete this task.

But the boulder’s roots were deeper than expected, and they struggled endlessly digging and digging with no end in sight.

Suddenly, one worker wiped the beads of sweat from his forehead and muttered.

“Phew… When are we going to finish this? I’m dying here, really.”

A worker next to him also wiped his sweat-drenched face and let out a hot breath.

“Huff, huff… My arms and waist are all sore too.”

At that, another worker busily moved his hands and urged them.

“Hey, hey, we still have to do this no matter what!”

“Right, it’s the perfect opportunity to change our third-rate lives.”

“Sect Master Cheol even defeated the great Dark Hall Ruler. Learning martial arts from such a person holds meaning far beyond a simple fortune.”

“Absolutely, since he said he’s even learned ancient martial world powerhouse sword arts… It’s such a shame I couldn’t see it directly.”

Last night, Chief Supervisor Hyeop Mu-geuk had gathered the disciples and workers in one place before bedtime and taught them in relative detail about the battle they had fought in Wuyang.

After hearing that story, Tae Sa-ja and the others keenly felt that Cheol Ryu-heun’s hidden ability was far greater than expected, and their passion and desire for staying here had reached near peak levels.

“Hey, if you’ve caught your breath, hurry up and start working the tools again. We don’t have leisure time to rest.”

“Got it! Let’s give it our all!”

Meanwhile, Tae Sa-ja was puzzled by his own body’s condition as he continuously dug up the dirt floor.

‘Strange.’

For some reason, it felt like he wasn’t getting tired.

Beads of sweat like pearls were forming and dripping from his forehead, but compared to other times, his muscle pain and fatigue had drastically decreased.

How to put it… It felt as if his stamina had been remarkably strengthened overnight.

-I’ll give you one special gift.

The words he had heard right before being knocked unconscious after getting hit in the back of the head yesterday.

When he came to, he was already lying on the bed in the workers’ quarters.

At the time, the other workers had asked with faces full of curiosity what had happened, but he himself didn’t remember anything either, so he couldn’t really answer.

‘It seems like while I was unconscious, Sect Master Cheol arranged some kind of mysterious great technique. Otherwise…’

Suddenly, one worker let out an ‘ACK!’ and cried out.

While diligently digging under the boulder, the tip of his tool had struck! and bounced off, and he got a small injury on his hand.

Drops of blood falling on the dirt floor.

Several workers panicked and quickly surrounded the injured worker.

“No!”

“Hurry and don’t let the Boss see!”

“Block it, block it!”

If Tae Sa-ja saw that blood and passed out again, they would lose one worker, so they had to block his view.

But they were too late.

Tae Sa-ja was already looking at the blood dotted on the dirt floor like spots.

‘Damn…!’

Everyone made crying faces and screamed internally at that moment.

An unexpected reaction came.

Tae Sa-ja, who had seen the blood, was blinking his eyes as if it were nothing.

‘Huh?’

The workers all tilted their heads in unison.

Normally, fainting and collapsing would be the proper reaction.

“Um, Boss… Are you alright?”

When one worker asked cautiously, Tae Sa-ja rolled his eyeballs for a moment and then nodded.

“Ah… Yeah. I think I’m okay.”

“R-really? You’re fine even seeing blood?”

“Hmm, that’s… I’m amazed myself.”

When Tae Sa-ja spoke while scratching the back of his head, the workers all brightened up and chattered.

“Wow, it’s a miracle!”

“Maybe the great shock from the crazy horse yesterday made the hemophobia disappear on its own?”

“Anyway, this is a stroke of great luck for us!”

Suddenly, Tae Sa-ja’s expression changed strangely.

THUMP-THUMP.

An excitement that made his heart race and his whole body feel like it was heating up.

“Urk, I’m getting excited!”

When Tae Sa-ja burst out a short cry and his eyes lit up, the workers all took a step back in shock.

What? What’s that supposed to mean? He can’t mean us, can he…? Actually, we’re not into that.

Immediately after, Tae Sa-ja’s hand movements with the tool transformed at an incomprehensible speed.

CRACK, CRACK, CRACK, CRACK-!

Each time the tool moved as if indiscriminately smashing the ground, massive amounts of dirt flew up wildly.

“Kahahahaha, Kahahahaha! Look at this! There’s a strange power surging inside my body right now! I keep getting more excited!”

The workers who saw that cast blank gazes.

‘What the… That’s scary.’

Before Tae Sa-ja’s manic hand movements, the dirt floor was being carved away at a rapidly steep rate.

Before long, the root area on one side of the boulder was exposed to clear view.

WOBBLE.

The boulder moved slightly.

Simultaneously, all the workers widened their eyes and exclaimed in admiration.

“Wow! Good heavens…”

“As expected! The Boss wasn’t the Boss for nothing!”

“Hey, hey! This isn’t the time to be spacing out! Let’s help!”

“Just a little more digging and we’re done!”

Thus, the workers became one body and clung to the boulder’s side.

CRACK, CRACK, CRACK, CRACK, CRACK…!

* * *

Office in Mountain Patriarch Hall.

Cheol Ryu-heun had spread a topographical map of this region on his desk and was calmly rolling his indifferent eyes.

‘Good. The route calculations are roughly done… Now let me prepare to move.’

He rolled up the topographical map and tossed it into the document box next to the desk, then stretched wide.

Right at that moment.

“Sect Master!”

“We’ve come!”

“We finally finished!”

From far beyond outside, the workers’ cries burst out in succession, and the sound of the middle gate being flung! open was heard.

“Not bad.”

Cheol Ryu-heun muttered briefly, then picked up a small bundle he had prepared in advance.

Stepping out of the office, the sight of the workers gathered at the bottom of the stone steps was captured in his eyes.

Everyone’s clothes were covered in dirt, but they had faces with smiles in full bloom.

“Did you succeed?”

Tae Sa-ja clasped both hands together and answered in a resounding voice.

“Yes, Sect Master!”

One worker beside him added with a joyful expression.

“The Boss did the work of almost ten people! Thanks to him, we finished right on time!”

Cheol Ryu-heun laughed inwardly.

‘Ha, useful.’

Originally, he had planned to let them begin proper basic martial arts training even if they didn’t complete it in time.

Since people cannot be governed by unconditional sacrifice alone, he judged it was time to give appropriate compensation.

That was precisely why he had given them the remaining Sky Clear Stone Milk last evening.

Of course, they got greedy and completely lost that opportunity, but from now on, he planned to develop the workers as full-fledged members.

Above all, since Tae Sa-ja was a Blood Star Physique with tremendous development potential, if he continued teaching him, he would become a great addition to the sect’s forces in the future.

“Take this.”

Cheol Ryu-heun tossed the bundle onto the floor in front.

Tae Sa-ja, sensing something, quickly opened it, and out came exactly eleven books – the exact number of workers.

“You can guess, right?”

“Ah… Could this be internal energy cultivation formulas?”

“Correct. From now on, read and memorize those contents whenever you have time. Teaching comes after that.”

“But… There’s no title. Is it White Peak Sword Sect’s internal energy cultivation method?”

“No.”

“Huh?”

At the moment when Tae Sa-ja and all the workers were flustered, Cheol Ryu-heun spoke again expressionlessly.

“They’re all different internal energy cultivation methods. They’ve all been lost. Impossible to obtain even if you wanted to.”

“Um… Sect Master, why not one of our sect’s…”

“I have reasons.”

“……”

“Everyone memorize them unconditionally. If you want to become martial artists of our sect and see the light of the world. When you later awaken them to the ultimate level, someone like the snake head who died at my hands will seem like third-rate.”

“…!”

All the workers were swept up in thrilling sensations the moment they heard those words.

“I’ll be away for a few days. So follow the Chief Supervisor’s instructions. I’ve already informed him of several miscellaneous duties you need to do.”

“Yes, Sect Master! We are sincerely grateful! We will definitely become proper martial artists!”

When Tae Sa-ja bowed his head with a moved expression, the remaining members all paid their respects in unison as well.

At that moment, Cheol Ryu-heun asked in passing.

“How was my special gift?”

“Pardon?”

Tae Sa-ja widened his eyes and then quickly realized.

“Ah, could it be… You completely cured my hemophobia last night?”

“You’re not lacking in perception.”

“Wow! No wonder… Earlier, even seeing blood, I didn’t faint. Rather, some kind of power welled up and a strange excitement boiled over. The feeling was strange – why was that?”

“Well, must be a side effect.”

Cheol Ryu-heun responded with a disinterested face and then strode out through the middle gate.

Tae Sa-ja watched that retreating figure with bewilderment.

S-side effect…? What, I haven’t developed some strange condition of craving blood instead of fearing it, have I?

Meanwhile.

Cheol Ryu-heun walked along the path and muttered internally.

‘It’ll be interesting from now on. Through my orthodox sect, a true incarnation of the yaksha surpassing the Yaksha Great Sword Ancestor of the past will emerge.’

He was somewhat looking forward to it.

The declaration of intent that the unprecedented force of White Peak Sword Sect he would create would throw at the current martial world.

* * *

When it was approaching the end of the Hour of the Monkey (around 5 PM).

Namgung Sang-rin and Hae Su-yeon had been alternating between running and resting, and before they knew it, had passed five or six villages large and small.

Before long, the two stopped moving at a pine forest where the outskirts of another village were faintly visible in the distance.

Namgung Sang-rin steadied his breathing and wiped the beads of sweat from the bridge of his nose with his sleeve.

“Phew… The sunset is already setting before I knew it. If we stop by that village ahead for the night and leave in the morning, we should be able to reach Baizhou by late morning.”

“Is Baizhou your final destination?”

When Hae Su-yeon asked while adjusting her collar, Namgung Sang-rin smiled and shook his head.

“Haha, no. But once we reach Baizhou, it’s practically the same as having arrived.”

“Hmm, is that so?”

Suddenly, the name of one martial sect came to Hae Su-yeon’s mind.

‘If it’s Baizhou… It’s very close to the fallen White Peak Sword Sect.’

But suddenly, from the direction of the village outskirts far away, something like a vibrating sound was heard.

RUMBLE… RUMBLE RUMBLE…

It was a sound like some unidentified heavy large object was continuously striking the ground.

Namgung Sang-rin and Hae Su-yeon both turned their gazes in that direction without either leading.

Immediately after.

‘Hm?’

A hazy cloud of dust was rising over yonder.

RUMBLE RUMBLE… RUMBLE RUMBLE…

Namgung Sang-rin’s expression changed completely and a strong gleam rose in his eyes.

‘No way, could that be…!’

Somehow familiar vibrations and noise to his ears.

Before long, a mounted figure charging ferociously along the path lined with old pines was captured in his field of vision.

Simultaneously, Hae Su-yeon was quite taken aback.

‘How can a horse be that fast!’

RUMBLE RUMBLE RUMBLE- RUMBLE RUMBLE RUMBLE RUMBLE-!

The noise was clamorous, as if war horses were moving in a herd.

The mounted figure raising the dust cloud compressed the distance at tremendous speed and reached near where the two stood.

SKRRT, SKRRRT-!

The identity of the mounted figure that stopped, fiercely scraping the ground, was none other than Cheol Ryu-heun and Divine Wind.

Namgung Sang-rin’s face lit up greatly the moment he saw that face.

“Ah, Sect Master Cheol!”

Cheol Ryu-heun, holding the reins, asked with a bland nod.

“On your way to our sect?”

“Hahaha. You saw right through it. Yes, that’s right. I didn’t expect to meet you here though.”

“I have some business outside.”

Cheol Ryu-heun, along with those words, suddenly stared at the red sword hanging at Hae Su-yeon’s waist.

Ho-oh, that thing… It’s been quite a while since I last saw it.