Chapter 428: Five Hundred Years of Waiting (3)
Taepyeong Hall.
Originally Hong Mun-gi’s personal Taeul Hall, it had been relocated to a newly constructed building and repurposed as a space for guests.
Its modest size reflected the sect’s tight finances, but a small pond and an annex were well maintained, lending it a charming air of antiquity. And there —
“Uncle!”
“So-yeon!”
Baek So-yeon, Baek Hae-gwang’s daughter, wrenched free from her mother’s arm and came running.
I repaid her enthusiasm by tossing the child high into the air several times.
After a burst of squealing giggles, Baek So-yeon took her mother’s hand and disappeared into the inner quarters.
Left alone, Baek Hae-gwang scrunched his face into a fierce scowl.
“Easy for you — you play with her for a bit and leave. I’m the one who has to keep it up. She’ll demand at least two solid weeks of being tossed in the air.”
“Have you finished repaying the debt of not being there during her childhood?”
“……”
Why does he keep picking fights he can’t win?
Unable to muster a retort, his expression remained sour.
“That’s exactly why you should formally join Taeul Sect. The disciples here would become So-yeon’s brothers and sisters. They’d play with her and look after her in your place.”
“Still spouting nonsense, I see.”
“Mast— oops. You told me not to call you Master in public. Well, that’s not something an eld—”
“You must be aching for a training session.”
Grumbling, yet not entirely displeased.
He was clearly still unable to let go of his concerns about his background.
If that weren’t the case, why would he continue staying in Taepyeong Hall instead of moving into the already-completed White Sword Sect?
“There’s a fine title called External Elder. You can leave whenever you wish and stay as long as you like.”
My original plan had been to position the White Sword Sect near Taeul Sect to benefit from his support.
But since he seemed to be integrating into Taeul Sect better than expected, making him put down permanent roots was starting to look like the better idea.
Still, it wouldn’t be an easy decision for him.
“Your body…… what is that now?”
Baek Hae-gwang swiftly changed the subject.
“What’s what?”
“What…… the hell have you been doing out there?”
His gaze was fixed on my Qi center and wouldn’t budge.
“Ahem. You noticed?”
“You…… lunatic. How in the world did you achieve Qi Ascension?”
“Is that what this is called?”
“You reached it without even knowing……?”
“You didn’t teach me, so I climbed there on my own.”
“You insane brat! The reason I didn’t teach you is because you weren’t ready for that stage yet!”
Oh, interesting — this time he didn’t react to me calling him Master.
“……What do you mean, not ready?”
“Entering the process of Qi Ascension requires a stage of maturity. Internal Qi and intent are one and the same. So what happens when internal Qi advances a stage before one has grasped intent?”
I know that outcome all too well.
But I couldn’t help it either.
“See, if you’d just taught me sooner, this wouldn’t have happened.”
In that instant —
WHAM!
My head rang, and the world split into double and triple images.
‘Wh-when did he—?’
Before I could see or sense it, a tremendous impact rattled my skull.
“Do you have two lives or something?! If you want to die so badly, why not throw yourself off a thousand-li cliff?!”
“I tried that too, and I didn’t d—”
WHAM!
This time I’d raised my Sensory Perception to full alert and braced for it.
Yet I still couldn’t tell when the blow to my head had arrived and departed.
“……How did you do that?”
“Why, you want to learn this too? Fine then, I’ll teach you all you want.”
As Baek Hae-gwang rolled up both sleeves and moved in for real, I backed away hastily.
It really, truly hurt and felt like death.
“Master, I’ll explain. In great detail, everything that happened.”
“Forget it. I don’t need to hear it. What I sowed, I reap — that’s only natural.”
No, please just listen!
WHAM!
I rushed through the explanation of what had happened. But another blow had already landed in the interim.
The pain genuinely felt lethal, so I blurted out “Asura Gold-Shackling Jade-Shattering Formula!” and only then did Baek Hae-gwang’s violence(?) cease.
“Ngh…… There were circumstances, you see.”
“How do you know the Asura Gold-Shackling Jade-Shattering Formula?”
“You know I’ve got a good memory.”
“This isn’t a matter of memory……”
I hurriedly steered the conversation elsewhere. I couldn’t reveal the existence of Sim Hyeon-gak.
The real reason I’d come to see Baek Hae-gwang.
“I used your martial arts in this state and lost.”
“What?”
“By any chance…… is your martial arts defective?”
“……You insane little shit.”
Baek Hae-gwang raised both arms in fury, then paused to ask me.
“Who was it?”
“Yong So-ah.”
“If it was Yong So-ah…… that’s possible.”
“So the martial arts really are defective.”
“This brat!”
Another THWACK to the head.
What the hell…… why can’t I see it coming?
“Why are you blaming my martial arts for your own lack of insight?!”
“Lack of insight?! At this age I’ve achieved Five Dragons Offering the Sage and Qi Ascension! There’s nothing wrong with me! The martial arts are clearly defective!”
“You ungrateful wretch!”
Sensing another blow incoming, I hastily added:
“I’m asking seriously. I could only nick his front hem.”
At that, Baek Hae-gwang’s fist froze mid-swing.
“Only the front hem?”
Wait, he’d been punching me? I thought he was kicking me.
“Yes. I used your philosophy of martial arts — ambush, fight dirty — and still, that’s all I managed.”
“……You want to die?”
“No! But isn’t this a bit strange?”
“……”
I told him about what I’d discovered after replaying my memory hundreds of times.
Baek Hae-gwang’s expression grew even more incredulous.
“He was already preparing to defend?”
“How else could he have blocked Extreme Swiftness?”
“Your memory must be wron—”
“‘S-sorry. I’ll clean this up right away.'”
“……???”
I perfectly reenacted what Baek Hae-gwang had done in front of So Cheon-su of the Heavenly Dipper Sect on the day we first met at the Ten-Thousand-Book Repository.
“I even remember how many nose hairs were poking out.”
“……No nose hairs were poking out.”
“There were.”
WHAM.
That blow finally sent me to the floor. I’m seriously going to die.
I wriggled on the ground and asked him.
“Do you truly…… believe this was coincidence?”
“Up through the Ten-Thousand-Poison Sect, fine, your level was lower so I’ll grant that…… but for you — after achieving Qi Ascension — to manage only the front hem.”
“Among the Wudang martial arts I know, nothing accounts for this. Do you know of any such art, Master?”
Wudang officially possessed countless martial arts, and unofficially, far more.
No matter how absolute my memory was, as a nobody in my past life, I’d never had the chance to study them all.
But he — the man who’d infiltrated sect after sect like a madman, dueling his way across the murim — might know something.
“No.”
“Don’t dismiss it so quickly, please think—”
“No! To my knowledge, there’s nothing like that even in Black Path martial arts.”
“……Then what is it? Did he learn a Demonic Art or something?”
Baek Hae-gwang’s fist rose once more, then lowered.
“I’m saying it’s not a matter of martial technique. If what you say is truly what happened…… then this is an innate talent that Yong So-ah was born with.”
“……That monster has that too?”
“Truly remarkable. An insight that comes perhaps once in a thousand years, paired with abilities like those of an immortal.”
“……Then how am I supposed to fight someone like that?”
At my earnest question, Baek Hae-gwang fell into contemplation with an appropriately solemn expression.
A flicker of hope began to stir —
“Fight him? Against an enemy like that, you just run.”
— and he crushed my hopes while souring my mood entirely.
***
The Gate-Opening Ceremony began.
Taeul Sect opened its main gate and announced it would hold a Martial Duel Tournament open to all who wished to participate.
The news only enraged the crowd gathered before the sect even further.
“They dare to face all of us?”
“Does Taeul Sect think it’s Shaolin or something?!”
“They must think we’ll be scared off! Well, not a chance!”
The incensed crowd’s poison rose to a boil, and they now wore their hostility openly.
“If they’d come in with their heads properly bowed, we might’ve shown some leniency — but this arrogance is beyond the pale.”
“There’s no turning back now. Openly antagonizing us like this means they have no intention of following the murim’s natural order.”
If things had escalated this far, they no longer needed to show any restraint.
They resolved to continue their protest in an even more brazen and aggressive fashion.
“Let’s see them try to get past us!”
Specifically — blocking the entrance entirely.
With them planted across the middle of the road, carriages, horses, and even people on foot couldn’t walk straight into Taeul Sect.
The guests who’d received Taeul Sect’s invitations had to detour around the protesters and barely squeeze through the main gate.
Several Taeul Sect disciples came out to sternly warn the protesters against disrupting the event, but the crowd — already primed for a fight — simply dared them to try and stop it.
“Hah! What a pathetic sight!”
“Let’s see just how well this little ceremony goes!”
“Don’t budge for anyone!”
Just then.
“Hmm.”
A party approached from behind the protesters.
“Ho ho, I thought these were guests standing in line, but it appears they’re riffraff.”
“Grandfather, just a moment. Let me handle—”
“No. I’ll speak to them myself.”
The protesters, hearing the old man and young woman’s exchange, twisted their faces into threatening scowls and moved to intimidate them.
“Hey! Old man, instead of wasting your time at some useless ceremon—”
That is, until they saw his face and the Namgung Clan crest embroidered on his robe.
“Ho ho, young friend. What was that? Something about a granddaughter, I think? My hearing isn’t what it used to be, you see.”
“……Y-y-you, th-the…… D-D-Divine Sword, Azure Emperor Divine Sword?!”
“Ho ho, I do recall being called by that alias in my younger days.”
“Eeeek!!!”
The terrified warrior scrambled backward, yanking the sleeves of those beside him.
“M-move! Move aside!”
“Hey! What the— we said nobody gets thro— ack, the N-Namgung Clan?”
The path that had seemed utterly, irrevocably blocked —
SWISH—
Split wide open on both sides, revealing a clear passage.
“How terribly rude these people are. Why is no one doing anything about them?”
“This is Taeul Sect’s event, Grandfather. Let us enter quietly.”
“Yes. Let’s.”
After the Namgung Clan and the Azure Emperor Divine Sword entered, those who’d been clutching their chests let out awkward silence.
“……”
“……”
“……AHEM!!!”
But the Azure Emperor Divine Sword alone wasn’t enough to break their resolve.
“L-let’s see how well the ceremony goes!”
“Y-yeah! This time, we don’t budge for anyone!”
A truly petty kind of determination, but —
“What the hell are these pieces of trash?”
It didn’t last long either.
“Urk— S-Sword-Break—”
SMACK!
The warrior who’d begun to utter “Sword-Breaker” was sent flying five jang through the air, coughing blood as he collapsed unconscious.
“Do I look like your friend, you little shits?”
“……”
“Not moving?”
The path opened twice as fast as it had for the Namgung Clan.
“Tch.”
Leading his Murong Clan retinue, Murong Gang brushed past the thugs without a second glance and strode through the main gate.
There, he spotted Jin So-un waiting for him and immediately scrunched his face.
“If you’re hosting guests, at least clear the damn road properly! What is this mess?!”
“The best shows need a big audience, don’t they? I didn’t think you’d actually come, but here you are.”
“You said you’d show me something interesting. If it doesn’t impress me, there will be consequences.”
“Of course.”
Following Geum-pyo’s guidance, the Murong Clan’s entourage filed inside.
Once again the protesters — torn between re-blocking the road and leaving it open — slowly crept back together, and Eun-ho, watching them, turned to Jin So-un.
“You’re just going to leave them like that?”
“Why waste their energy before the tournament?”
“But at least the center path should be kept open—”
“Why should I? For whose benefit?”
Eun-ho swallowed the words ‘Taeul Sect’s, obviously!’ and looked out from the gate.
The protesters, having slunk back together, now linked arms in grim determination, sealing the road tight.
Guests arriving by carriage, Academy classmates — all had to frown at this display and circle around.
Letting thugs force their guests to scowl like that.
What kind of host committed such a breach of etiquette?
“If you won’t step in, Senior Brother, then I will.”
The moment Eun-ho, having reached the end of his patience, moved to intervene —
Jin So-un spoke.
“You said you were curious what I got from the Alliance Leader and the Grand Strategist for the Dam Ak affair, didn’t you?”
“Why bring that up now?”
He wouldn’t tell me when I actually wanted to know.
Jin So-un gestured with a tilt of his chin toward the distance.
“Look over there. The reward I received — it’s arriving right now.”
“What?”
What kind of nonsense……
Baffled, Eun-ho turned his head.
“……”
From the far end of the road, a procession of brilliantly gleaming banners and fine horses stretched endlessly, advancing toward Taeul Sect.
At the massive procession’s appearance, the protesters blocked the way even more resolutely.
But just like Eun-ho, those whose eyes were drawn to the procession’s banners couldn’t help the small gasps escaping their lips.
“Th-the Murim Alliance?!!!!!”
“Th-that’s! The Alliance Leader’s Hall banner!”
“The Mantongbu banner too!!!”
That the Alliance’s procession would attend a mere gate-opening ceremony of a lower-tier sect among the One Hundred Eight Peaks was staggering enough.
But the Alliance Leader’s Hall banner and the Mantongbu banner flying side by side — their meaning was singular.
Toward Eun-ho, who looked about to faint as though witnessing the end of the world, So-un shrugged casually.
“Yeah. As payment for this affair, I received two people.”
“Aah…… aahk…… aahk……”
Eun-ho was too stunned to close his mouth.
“Aahk…… aahk…… aahk……”
The protesters were no different.
“Didn’t I tell you? I have a plan.”
“You absolute madman……”
Because never once in history had the Murim Alliance Leader and the Murim Alliance Grand Strategist attended a murim sect’s event together.