Chapter 8: A Familial Childhood Friend (2)

Although Baek Mu-ho was teasing me with trivial words as soon as we met, I knew.

Baek Mu-ho was a martial artist.

The possessor of the talent I, who had admiration and envy for martial artists, considered most ideal as a martial artist.

I did not envy or jealousy Baek Mu-ho with an ugly heart, but I often found myself feeling envious.

Having learned martial arts from Baek Jin-seong, who was highly renowned even among the Mount Hua Sect’s lay disciples, Baek Mu-ho was a prodigy who had trained in the martial arts of the Nine Great Sects since childhood.

It was no exaggeration to say he was one of the reasons I decided to leave to study at the Wudang Sect, one of the Nine Great Sects.

Because I experienced the Wudang Sect, even if only shallowly, there were parts I came to know more clearly than before.

Just what kind of prodigy Baek Mu-ho was.

Because of that personality, he simply did not want to be bound to the mountains for most of his life and become a main mountain disciple receiving a Taoist name; if he set his mind to it, he was a prodigy who could enter even a place like the Mount Hua Sect as a main mountain disciple at any time.

No, rather than a prodigy, the word genius would suit him.

Because Baek Mu-ho was the real deal. The kind of existence that dragged down countless prodigies, who grew up hearing they were geniuses, into mediocrity, and brought a sense of shame to those who took pride in their own talent.

Therefore, this current confrontation carried a quite different meaning for me.

Elevating my senses, I watched Baek Mu-ho through my newly obtained power, listening force.

I saw Baek Mu-ho reaching out to greet me.

What I ‘saw’ was not simply Baek Mu-ho’s movements.

‘I can see it.’

I see the flow.

From Baek Mu-ho’s action of reaching out his hand, where and how that hand would extend, and the trajectory it drew were sketched like lines in my mind.

Although what I watched was the present, when what I saw entered my head, a picture of the future was being drawn.

Not the present, but Baek Mu-ho from a brief moment later remained like an afterimage in my mind.

So easily.

In the past, I was busy just watching blankly whenever Baek Mu-ho displayed his martial arts.

The Chaotic Flower Double Scattering Hand, which Baek Mu-ho’s father, Baek Jin-seong, was said to have modified from the Mount Hua Sect’s Plum Blossom Scattering Hand to fit his own level. As expected of a martial art rooted in the Mount Hua Sect, it was a martial art where dazzling brilliance stood out.

The Plum Blossom Scattering Hand was a martial art focused on changes, to the extent that when displayed by someone who had reached the peak realm, one would feel as if the surroundings were filled with the shadows of the caster’s hands.

The Chaotic Flower Double Scattering Hand, created based on a martial art full of changes, also possessed a similar tendency.

From Baek Mu-ho’s perspective, it appeared to be a martial art displayed with the intention of subduing me first within a limit that wouldn’t injure me.

‘I see it.’

I see a world that I wouldn’t have been able to see in the past.

I can see even beyond that.

At that point, the outcome was already as good as decided.

Because it was a situation where a martial art whose only strength lay in changes had the flow of its changes read.

I threw my body into those changes.

In the blink of an eye, two or three hand gestures brushed past my body.

Experiencing the training of the masters made me feel as if the bones had vanished from my entire body. It was the same now, in the midst of intense training. Naturally, my hands could not be fast.

However, I reached out my hand to the spot I desired.

And it touched the desired spot.

The gaps between the dazzlingly moving routines.

Slipping in like the waist of a snake passing through a bamboo forest, my hand easily grabbed the sleeve near Baek Mu-ho’s elbow.

“Huh?”

When moving the routines with infinite variety, where was the busiest moving part?

The fingertips. The edge of the movement. Only when that part moved quickly and powerfully would changes fit to be called dazzling be revealed.

Then where was the place that appeared most sluggish?

The center.

The center that supported those dazzlingly moving changes.

In human terms, the joints corresponded to that.

For example, places like the elbow.

Therefore, true experts did not expose their center, their weak points, easily. If that was difficult due to the nature of the martial art, they hid it using footwork. they filled in the lacking parts with footwork to make it hard for the opponent to target that area.

Whether it was that Baek Mu-ho had not reached that realm, or that he let his guard down and did not utilize it to that extent.

To shake me off, Baek Mu-ho retreated and swung his arm, but.

“Too late.”

I did not try to hold on desperately to Baek Mu-ho as he retreated while swinging his arm. Instead, I matched his actions as much as he retreated.

If the opponent retreated, I moved forward; if they pushed forward, I retreated. Like interlocking gears, I matched myself to the opponent.

[Yes, that is abandoning oneself and following others.]

Perhaps excited, Master Zhang Sanfeng’s words spread through my head.

Baek Mu-ho showed a surprised expression at my movement, which merely clung like a heavy load.

It was at that moment that I finally revealed my own movement.

Clinging and drawing. Grabbing and shaking.

If a gap was created in between.

‘Throw.’

Something whose balance was shaken and was faltering could be knocked over by a child’s strength, even if it were a rock of a thousand geun.

Clinging to Baek Mu-ho’s movements as if merging with them, I penetrated that gap properly.

The result was clear.

“Is the sky blue?”

I asked, looking at Baek Mu-ho lying on the ground with a blank face.

It was a view that wouldn’t be visible to me, who was looking down at the fallen opponent.

Baek Mu-ho, who had lost his mind for a moment, let out a short breath like a laugh and replied.

“Ha! It is awfully blue, you bastard.”

Although he spoke with a smile, a glimpse of combativeness could be seen in that reply.

It was true that Baek Mu-ho was a good fellow, but at the same time, he was a martial artist. He was not someone who would just be happy after experiencing defeat.

“Up we go!”

As if being thrown and falling was no big deal, Baek Mu-ho did a summersault and raised his body. Then he picked up a stick of suitable length from nearby.

Since it was inside the manor where people lived, there were quite a few sticks used for daily life around.

Picking up one of them, Baek Mu-ho took a starting stance.

“Shall we do this properly?”

The Mount Hua Sect had been an orthodox prestigious sect for generations. And the martial arts that made them famous were not bare-handed martial arts like Shaolin or Wudang.

Sword.

The Mount Hua Sect is a prestigious sect of the sword.

Only when holding a sword did the martial arts of the Mount Hua Sect reveal their true value.

Though it was only a stick, Baek Mu-ho’s momentum to do it properly was different from just now.

To the extent that I, who had coolly thrown him, clicked my tongue.

‘Not now.’

If it was Baek Mu-ho using sword techniques, it was a different story.

Maybe if my body was in proper condition. But not now.

In my current exhausted state, it would be difficult to catch up even if Baek Mu-ho just utilized footwork while keeping his distance.

However, it did not seem like Baek Mu-ho, whose competitiveness was ignited, would back down easily.

“Do you really have to use a sword against an exhausted person?”

“Just let me land one hit, just one.”

It seemed he had to swing that after all to satisfy himself.

In the end, I decided to use my trump card.

“Why don’t you look over there first before talking?”

“What is over there…”

At my mention, pointing to the side with my finger, Baek Mu-ho instinctively turned his eyes in that direction.

Baek Mu-ho froze stiffly like a stone statue.

There stood my younger brother Cheong-u, looking at us with tearful eyes. Those tearful eyes seemed to ask, ‘Are you going to hit my brother?’

“Wow, seriously…”

Baek Mu-ho, who was frozen like a stone statue, finally lowered his arm.

“You’ve gotten a lot more evil in the time I haven’t seen… Huh?”

Unable to bring himself to swing what he held and drawing it back, Baek Mu-ho noticed a part of my changed appearance that was different from before as he turned his head back to me.

“Why are you shirtless?”

“Why else? I told you.”

In response to Baek Mu-ho’s question, I smiled as evilly as possible.

“Let’s taste some sweat.”

Then, I shoved the top I had taken off and rolled up right into Baek Mu-ho’s face.

“Ack! Crazy bastard!”

“Shut your mouth and hold your breath. If you breathe and scream, it’ll hurt more.”

“Hey! Ack! *Gasp*! Ahhk!”

At the violently attacking taste of sweat (?), Baek Mu-ho repeatedly screamed, held his breath, and screamed again.

Yes, this is the taste of sweat extracted from the back, Mu-ho.

[It is a good time of life.]

[Hohoho. Youth, indeed.]

Perhaps liking my evil side quite a bit, Master Zhang Sanfeng and Master Bodhidharma laughed pleasantly.

***

Baek Mu-ho, whose hair was disheveled because of how much he was subjected to by Yeon Cheong-un, trudged toward his house and grumbled.

“Ah, damn it. I feel like I can still smell it.”

Baek Mu-ho snorted his nose loudly. It was because he felt like something still remained somewhere in his nostrils.

Should I say it felt like the smell was tickling the brain in his head, like tickling the soles of feet with a feather?

After cursing Yeon Cheong-un a few more times because of the remaining after-scent, Baek Mu-ho soon changed his expression.

“But, that fellow has gotten strong?”

Honestly, I never thought Yeon Cheong-un would be that strong.

Since the period Yeon Cheong-un spent receiving teachings in the Wudang Sect was not that long.

It was an absurdly short time to see it as having achieved something.

It was so even from the perspective of Baek Mu-ho, who was rather proud of his own talent.

Despite his young age, Baek Mu-ho had his skills and qualities recognized, and was already embarking on escort missions at an early age.

In fact, the reason he came to see Yeon Cheong-un, who had returned home quite some time ago, only now was because he had just returned from an escort mission.

Such skill of Baek Mu-ho was something he could be proud of.

Even for the group called geniuses, considering the duration of Yeon Cheong-un’s training, he should have been at a level where he couldn’t even touch a hair on Baek Mu-ho.

Although some might laugh at the son of a mere lay disciple being confident in his own martial arts, his father and mother, his parents, were not ordinary people. It was just not known to the world, but Baek Mu-ho’s parents were people who were an astronomical distance away from the term lay disciple.

Yet he was broken before Yeon Cheong-un.

“Coincidence… it wasn’t, right?”

The very first thought was indeed in a direction convenient to himself.

I let my guard down.

If one wanted to think comfortably, it was indeed simple to view that as the reason. In fact, it was not that a mind of lowering his guard was completely absent.

However, considering that Yeon Cheong-un was quite exhausted at the time, it became a rather narrow-minded excuse.

Baek Mu-ho was not of a narrow-minded personality. At least, he was not of a personality that saw what happened before his eyes in a distorted way.

Even if it was something that hurt his own pride.

“But why was that bastard expelled from the Wudang Sect?”

Returning early without completing the period meant he was expelled. Honestly, when Baek Mu-ho first visited Yeon Cheong-un, he intended to offer moderate comfort.

That was until he was thrown in a single move.

“If he is a guy like that, they should have held onto him by any means. Has the Wudang Sect also gone downhill?”

As the saying goes, birds of a feather flock together, so it somehow led to speaking ill of the Wudang Sect.

While badmouthing the Wudang Sect like that, before he knew it, he stood in front of his house.

Heading toward the main gate in that manner, Baek Mu-ho witnessed a rare sight.

It was the sight of a beautiful woman, related by blood but whom one could not help but think was lovely, loitering near the entrance of the main gate.

Baek Seol-ah.

She was Baek Mu-ho’s older sister.

Although she was not well known because she rarely went outside, even though he had traveled to many places on escort missions, he had never seen a beauty comparable to her; her beauty was the best in Hubei. No, perhaps she was at a level to compete for the number one beauty under heaven.

To be seen that way even in the eyes of someone born from the same womb, who was definitely an enemy in a past life, said it all.

Guessing the reason why his older sister, who rarely went outside, was loitering outside the door, Baek Mu-ho smirked.

“Is there someone you’re waiting for?”

As soon as Baek Mu-ho’s words came out, Baek Seol-ah’s loitering steps stopped abruptly. And a gaze fixed just as clearly as her stopped steps turned toward Baek Mu-ho.

In those pupils, which felt as cold as snow in a way, Baek Mu-ho read the word ‘Where?’.

“I didn’t come with Cheong-un.”

“…Who asked?”

Baek Seol-ah’s voice carried a coy mood, unbefitting her pure tone.

Recognizing that sign immediately, Baek Mu-ho spoke with a grin.

“Don’t worry. I told you, he wasn’t expelled for peeping at Wudang Sect’s female disciples bathing.”

Baek Seol-ah’s beautiful face stiffened coldly at Baek Mu-ho’s words.

Especially her gaze was a sight to behold. A cold gaze looking at Baek Mu-ho as if he were a black, flat bug radiated its presence.

After a moment of that.

“And is he doing well?”

“He is doing so well that it’s a problem. Don’t you see the dirt on my clothes? That bastard slammed me to the ground.”

“You?”

Baek Seol-ah’s pupils widened briefly. However, they soon returned to her usual coy expression.

Carrying displeasure.

“What a joke.”

Perhaps thinking he was still spouting nonsense, Baek Seol-ah replied coldly and turned her body around.

Watching Baek Seol-ah’s retreating figure, Baek Mu-ho chuckled.

“Anyway, she’s so easy to read despite pretending to be cold. Well, will she be surprised if she sees him herself?”

Imagining his older sister losing her composure and being just as surprised as he was, Baek Mu-ho chuckled once again.

Then.

“Ah, I just had a good idea.”

And he smirked in a different sense as he thought of something.