Chapter 105: Do I Look Like I Am on the Same Level as You
The atmosphere of the Wudang Sect grew harsh along with the anger of Taoist Master Byeok-ha, the Sect Leader of the Wudang Sect, whose youthful personality flared up and ran wild. Everyone, regardless of rank, could barely even breathe properly.
Even the elders, who rarely faced interference in most matters, fled to the mountains under the pretext of cultivation.
But that only lasted a day or two. Eventually, concluding that they had to resolve the fundamental factor, the people of Wudang began searching for the cause.
Fortunately, Taoist Master Byeok-ha very kindly(?) mentioned directly why he was running wild like this.
No, rather, as if to make sure they knew it well, he appended the reason like a footnote every time he raised his voice.
Young Heavenly Dragon, Yeon Cheong-un.
If one had paid even a little attention to the rumors circulating in Martial World, it was a name and alias that one would have heard at least once, and it was constantly brought up within the Wudang Sect.
“They are just telling me to die. Damn it!”
Shin Je-hyeon, who was cornered, was sitting on a bed of needles day by day.
If others were in a state where they had to be careful even when breathing, Shin Je-hyeon felt as if sharp thorns were sliding down his windpipe and stabbing his lungs every time he breathed.
Wudang’s high-ranking officials came down almost every single day to reprimand him. Those who would normally show up with a solemn appearance, spout nonsense, and leave, now showered him with curses without any preamble.
On top of that, the Inspection Hall was practically living at the Wise Tao Hall, shaking it down.
Since they were shaking it down so thoroughly that they seemed intent on dusting off non-existent dust, the fate of Shin Je-hyeon, who was full of lumps of dung rather than dust, was truly like a candle flickering before a typhoon.
His peers and juniors, with whom he had maintained close relationships, also turned their backs on him, pretending not to know him.
“Fuck…”
What made Shin Je-hyeon feel most miserable was that even Wudang’s lay disciples looked at him as if he were a lump of dung.
A very fresh lump of dung. He was treated as a dirty lump of dung that emitted a foul stench to his surroundings just by existing there.
Pressure came from above, and pressure came from below.
What this situation indicated was extremely clear.
“Lay everything down, enter secluded cultivation, and do not come out? They are setting the stage quite perfectly. Dammit!”
It was virtually no different from being confined. The only difference was whether he entered on his own feet or was dragged in after receiving a sentence.
He would most likely not see the light of day for the rest of his life under normal circumstances.
Even so, leaving the Wudang Sect was not an option.
Unlike lay disciples who only learned basic martial arts, when a main sect disciple was expelled, appropriate sanctions were imposed. Everything received from Wudang, including internal cultivation methods and martial arts, would be confiscated.
To put it simply, they would shatter his dantian so he could not use martial arts, sever his four limbs’ tendons, and cut his tongue so he could not leak the cultivation methods. He would literally become a cripple.
“Just how did that blockhead Yeon Cheong-un become a genius that Taoist Master Heodo would marvel at…”
If Yeon Cheong-un truly returned to the Wudang Sect as Taoist Master Heodo’s disciple, a literal picture of hell would likely unfold.
Even Shin Je-hyeon himself would do the same.
Yeon Cheong-un and Shin Je-hyeon could not coexist within the Wudang Sect.
Naturally, the one to be smashed to pieces was Shin Je-hyeon.
In the worst-case scenario, he might be expelled. He would live the rest of his life crawling like a bug on the ground before dying miserably.
Whichever way, it was the worst.
“Aaaaagh! Fuck!”
Shin Je-hyeon shrieked and smashed everything in sight.
Only after there was nothing left around him to smash did he grit his teeth and redirect the course of his surging emotions.
“This is all because of that bastard Yin Si-hoo…!”
“You shouldn’t speak like that.”
“Gasp!”
At the voice coming from behind, Shin Je-hyeon was startled out of wits and spun around.
Standing there was Yin Si-hoo, who had cold eyes.
“You…”
What startled Shin Je-hyeon was not just the presence of Yin Si-hoo, whom he had been cursing. Of course that was part of it, but there was something far more serious.
His rear had been taken.
To Shin Je-hyeon’s knowledge, Yin Si-hoo’s martial arts did not exceed the category of a lay disciple at best. No matter how excited he had been, it was abnormal that he had failed to notice any sign of him until his rear was taken.
“Since when were you there…”
“That is not what is important right now.”
Unlike Shin Je-hyeon, who was highly agitated, Yin Si-hoo looked calm.
It was strange, considering he was in a position where he was treated no differently from Shin Je-hyeon.
Even more so when considering the twisted personality of Yin Si-hoo that Shin Je-hyeon knew of.
It did not seem like the Yin Si-hoo he knew.
Yin Si-hoo, from whom some sense of foreignness felt, opened his mouth.
“In any case, if the Hall Leader steps down from his position, aren’t I also in a position where I have to leave? So, why don’t you stay with me all the way in the future?”
At the unexpected proposal, Shin Je-hyeon opened his eyes wide in a different sense.
It was the look of a man who had discovered a lifeline to save himself in an emergency.
“Are you suggesting… we join hands?”
“Hahahahaha!”
However, his face hardened as he watched Yin Si-hoo laugh mockingly and heartily.
“You still haven’t grasped the situation.”
“You…”
“What master would stand shoulder-to-shoulder with a servant he employs? Do you still think our relationship is the same as before?”
Looking at Shin Je-hyeon, who was distorted with humiliation, Yin Si-hoo struck him with the hard truth.
“Your only options left are confinement or expulsion, but I am the sole successor of the Defeng Yin Clan, not some insignificant Wudang lay disciple. Do I look like I am on the same level as you?”
Now that Yin Si-hoo’s younger brother, who had been discussed as the successor, was dead, the next master of the Defeng Yin Clan was Yin Si-hoo.
Inside the mind of Shin Je-hyeon, who was trembling with humiliation, calculations were made rapidly.
Some said they would rather be the head of a chicken than the tail of a cow, but right now, Shin Je-hyeon was grateful even for a snake’s tail. At the very least, if he was a subordinate trusted by the next family head of the Defeng Yin Clan, he would be around a snake’s waist.
And with the help of the Defeng Yin Clan, he could seize an opportunity even while in seclusion.
“You must know that this is the best offer that will be given to you.”
“…Yes.”
Although he felt a deep sense of humiliation from being subjected to such indignity by Yin Si-hoo, who was nothing more than a wallet for his own promotion not long ago, Shin Je-hyeon swallowed all those emotions down.
“I look… forward to working with you.”
Shin Je-hyeon cupped his fists and bowed his waist.
Staring down at the back of Shin Je-hyeon’s bowed head, Yin Si-hoo sneered.
“It would look even better if you knelt down right there and bowed your head, though.”
He hacked away at Shin Je-hyeon’s pride.
However, having already discarded all his pride, Shin Je-hyeon even fell to his knees and pressed his forehead to the ground.
Watching Shin Je-hyeon perform a five-point prostration, Yin Si-hoo smiled with satisfaction.
“I look forward to working with you, Je-hyeon.”
“…Yes.”
***
Having completely subjugated Shin Je-hyeon, Yin Si-hoo left the spot and looked up at the sky.
The smile that had been on Yin Si-hoo’s face a moment ago vanished.
“Although ‘that person’ won’t like me being kicked out of the Wudang Sect… still, it is a relief that I managed to salvage one.”
He looked somewhat relieved.
However, a smile rose once again on the corners of Yin Si-hoo’s mouth as he gradually regained his composure.
“They say birds of a feather flock together. That man wouldn’t be the only trash in Wudang. If I dig using the connections he knows, something is bound to come out.”
As Yin Si-hoo hardened his resolve, an unknown red haze shimmered and disappeared from his tightly clenched fist.
***
In order to fundamentally solve Seol-ah nuna’s problem, the achievement of the Three Talents Unified Qi Art was necessary.
Naturally, my training revolved around the Three Talents Unified Qi Art.
Well, though it was called training the Three Talents Unified Qi Art, it was practically a matter of refining the martial arts of the three masters.
The Three Talents Unified Qi Art is a martial art of communication.
Like a Taoist-lineage martial art based on the philosophy of Wuwei Ziran (inaction and spontaneity), it aims to communicate and assimilate with everything inside and outside the body.
Naturally, the ones requiring the most communication were Master Bodhidharma’s Heavy Earth Divine Art and Master Heavenly Demon’s Heavenly Demon Kalpaless Hand.
In other words, by training the Three Talents Unified Qi Art alone, the Heavy Earth Divine Art and the Heavenly Demon Kalpaless Hand would also show achievements.
‘Did they target this?’
To look at it in a good light, it was to evenly train and cultivate all three martial arts.
But from another perspective, only the Three Talents Unified Qi Art occupied a dominant position.
Master Bodhidharma’s Heavy Earth Divine Art and Master Heavenly Demon’s Heavenly Demon Kalpaless Hand have distinct characteristics and positions. Therefore, they cannot coexist with each other.
In order for the Heavy Earth Divine Art and the Heavenly Demon Kalpaless Hand to coexist, the Three Talents Unified Qi Art is absolutely necessary.
In other words, no matter what martial art I use, the start of the martial art I display will be the Three Talents Unified Qi Art.
Only then can I integrate and encompass the martial arts I possess without conflict.
Then, a thought suddenly crossed my mind.
‘What is the ultimate form of my martial arts that Master Zhang Sanfeng envisions?’
At the same time, a question crept up on me as to whether it was okay to ask this carelessly.
“Master Zhang Sanfeng.”
[Why?]
“If you, Master Bodhidharma, and Master Heavenly Demon fight, who wins?”
[…….]
Since all three of them reached a state high enough to attain heaven, it could be a sensitive question.
However, after digging deeper into the martial arts of the three and feeling their power and characteristics firsthand, it was hard to shake off the curiosity.
Master Zhang Sanfeng was silent for a while.
[Do you know rock-paper-scissors?]
“Of course I know that.”
[You can think of it as roughly like that. I can be seen as paper, the Heavenly Demon as scissors, and Bodhidharma as rock.]
“Ah…”
‘Does that mean there is compatibility?’
At any rate, according to that explanation, it seemed that Master Heavenly Demon was a difficult opponent for Master Zhang Sanfeng.
[My martial art is to connect myself with the world and command the flow of heaven and earth as I wish. I become the world itself. However, that gentleman the Heavenly Demon’s martial art is to become a ruler who creates and destroys at will within his own domain. From that point of view, he definitely has bad compatibility with me. When that gentleman the Heavenly Demon exerts his power, it is equivalent to swallowing my domain which has assimilated with the world.]
He spoke more honestly than expected. Actually, I thought he might dress it up a bit and say he was the best.
“Then Master Bodhidharma is…”
[Unlike me, who has Taoist teachings as the foundation, Bodhidharma’s martial art captures the characteristics of Buddhism as they are. The goal of Buddhism is self-perfection. That gentleman Bodhidharma’s martial art focuses on becoming a complete existence by himself. Therefore, conversely, even if he intrudes into the Heavenly Demon’s domain, he can protect himself and further tear the Heavenly Demon’s domain apart.]
“It’s crushing it.”
[That’s it. Although there are variables depending on the difference in body condition or the situation, the basic compatibility feels like that.]
Hearing Master Zhang Sanfeng’s explanation, I understood why he compared the martial arts of the three to rock-paper-scissors.
‘Then what about me?’
Then, the question of what form I, who obtained all of the three’s martial arts, would achieve suddenly arose.
It was hard to imagine. Perhaps it was because each one of them was so tremendous.
But if I had to imagine it…
[By the way.]
“Yes?”
[Are you practicing the Clear Brightness Mind Method training well?]
Suddenly, out of nowhere, he checks my homework. I stopped what I was thinking and report my current progress.
“Yes, I have become very familiar with it. Since I can operate it almost as naturally as breathing now.”
Even when I took my first journey in the martial world, I had to consciously refine my internal energy to operate the Clear Brightness Mind Method in real combat.
But now, the Clear Brightness Mind Method was operated naturally.
Every time I made an effort to properly display the masters’ martial arts, I received a lot of help from the Clear Brightness Mind Method, and before I knew it, it became naturally ingrained in my body.
[Is that so?]
At my reply, Master Zhang Sanfeng was pleased.
‘Master is quite something.’
He has a covertly attentive side.
Is he the type of person who meticulously looks after memorable events, unexpectedly?
I might have to remember the day I first met Master well.
Amidst conjuring up such trivial thoughts.
“Huh?”
Someone came looking.