Chapter 164: Chapter 164
Cheon Woo-jin returned straight to the Hidden Dragon Squad manor.
Sitting before a table, discussing various situations, and exchanging opinions did not suit Cheon Woo-jin well.
Administration was the job of seasoned luminaries including the Chief Strategist and the Alliance Leader, and Cheon Woo-jin simply stayed still like this, only moving covertly if something happened to the Alliance.
Opening the manor gate and stepping inside, Cheon Woo-jin paused in his tracks for a moment. Because Song Yi-yeon, Jin Un, and Namgung Jin were busy training with their respective masters, he had expected it to be empty.
“It seems the Crescent Moon Staff will hold up well for the time being.”
At the words more welcoming than any greeting, the White Night Craftsman beamed broadly. It was a bright smile that belied his age. After all, he had said that the Crescent Moon Staff was no different from his own child.
“By the way, you did not need to clean up for me.”
In the White Night Craftsman’s hands was a broom instead of a hammer, and his granddaughter was wiping the pillars and the wooden veranda with a wet rag.
“Haha, since you let us stay like this while the master was away, of course we should at least clean.”
The White Night Craftsman let out a hearty laugh and sat down on the wooden veranda. Then his granddaughter also brought a water jug and three cups, sitting side by side next to him.
While Cheon Woo-jin drank the water she handed him, the White Night Craftsman could not hold back and asked.
“So, what kind of sound did that fellow roar with?”
“To me, it sounded like a dragon’s roar.”
When he killed the Beast Palace Lord.
The Crescent Moon Staff rushing forth while leaving pitch-black Dark Heavens Qi behind like a long tail truly felt like a black dragon.
However, after actually witnessing the flood dragon become a dragon and ascend to heaven, he thought it resembled a dragon even more.
At Cheon Woo-jin’s answer, the White Night Craftsman wore a satisfied expression. Resembling a dragon, which was said to be the noblest among spiritual creatures, how could he not feel pleased?
Even after that, Cheon Woo-jin sat for a while and recounted the events he had experienced. Since the White Night Craftsman had stayed solely within the Martial Alliance after the Ghost Demon Squad incident, he found the stories of the outside world exceedingly intriguing.
As the story reached the Lesser Thunder Sound Temple, the Demonic Cult, the Poison Demon Unit, Poison Valley, and the ascension of the Heavenly Dragon, the White Night Craftsman’s eyes grew busy.
The massive chunk of metal Cheon Woo-jin had brought.
He realized that the object, looking like the scale of a giant fish, was the very reverse scale of the flood dragon Cheon Woo-jin spoke of.
“C-Could that be the dragon’s scale?”
“Yes. There were too many, so I could not bring them all, and only took the hardest scale.”
The White Night Craftsman nodded his head as if possessed by something.
Right in front of him, Cheon Woo-jin clearly saw the White Night Craftsman’s white beard trembling finely.
“Would you like to examine it?”
“Gladly!”
As if he had been waiting for those words, the White Night Craftsman quickly picked up the reverse scale. He carefully stroked it with his wrinkled, rough palms and observed it intently as if determined not to miss even a tiny pattern.
Throughout his entire life, he had handled almost every conceivable material. He had even forged weapons with Ten-Thousand-Year Cold Iron and Ten-Thousand-Year Dark Iron, known as the Two Kings Among Iron.
“Heo, to think the day would come in my lifetime when I touch a dragon’s scale.”
Even after that, for quite a while, he repeatedly let out exclamations like ‘Heo.’, ‘Ha!’, and ‘Hee-ya.’. It was an expression as if he were truly bewitched by a ghost.
Suddenly, his granddaughter asked.
“Grandfather, is that really so amazing?”
“Hush!”
The granddaughter was startled. The White Night Craftsman made a great fuss like a religious believer whose divinity had been desecrated, and continued his explanation.
“Originally, there was a legend among blacksmiths about the dragon’s scale. A material that is harder than Ten-Thousand-Year Dark Iron, the hardest in the world, yet softer and more pliable than silk, thousands of times tougher than heavily starched leather, and capable of enduring far more internal energy than Ten-Thousand-Year Cold Iron.”
Perhaps out of breath while speaking, the White Night Craftsman gulped down some water before resuming his explanation.
“Honestly, I thought it was merely an absurd tale. Aren’t there many such legends normally? Yet it is identical to the tale I heard. It is so identical that I wonder if the person who first spoke of that legend saw a dragon’s scale before their eyes and described it directly.”
“Umm, but even granting all that, it does not look that pliable, though?”
Just as she said, the reverse scale did not appear to have the slightest bit of flexibility. Even the White Night Craftsman had initially mistaken it for merely a scale-shaped lump of iron.
The White Night Craftsman handed the reverse scale to Cheon Woo-jin.
“Try channeling internal energy into it.”
Cheon Woo-jin did as he was told. The reverse scale reacting to Dark Heavens Qi emanated a dark light, and soon he felt as though the internal energy and the scale were harmonizing into one.
“Try bending it carefully. Imbuing your will.”
Nodding, Cheon Woo-jin gripped the reverse scale with both hands and bent it. Then, the dragon’s scale, said to be harder than Ten-Thousand-Year Dark Iron, bent softly like a piece of taffy.
“According to the user’s will, it can become the hardest in the world, or the most flexible. If forged into a sharp edge, it would be the world’s finest soft sword and heavy sword, and if shaped long, it could become the finest flexible staff and rigid staff.”
After all, this was not a chunk of metal anyway, but the scale of a living creature. If it were only infinitely rigid, the flood dragon could not have moved freely either.
Cheon Woo-jin imagined it for a moment.
A flexible staff was a staff made of supple material that bent easily. When swung hard to strike an opponent, the force of the momentarily bent staff regaining its original shape was added, delivering a crisp and powerful blow.
The monks of Shaolin mainly used flexible staffs. Operating that bending with extreme delicacy, they planted it against the ground to vault high or easily dealt with enemies attacking from multiple directions.
On the other hand, a rigid staff was an infinitely hard staff. To the point where it would rather break than bend. The Crescent Moon Staff, resembling Black Elder, was a prime example of a rigid staff.
If one could appropriately mix and utilize both advantages according to will, a truly magnificent weapon would be born.
Cheon Woo-jin handed the reverse scale, having withdrawn his internal energy, to the White Night Craftsman. Receiving it, the White Night Craftsman wore an astonished expression.
“W-What is this? I am completely old now, and forging a staff, not even a sword, is beyond my strength.”
“Whatever you forge is up to you, Master Craftsman. It is merely a repayment for the Crescent Moon Staff. Since my master is not one to offer repayment otherwise.”
The White Night Craftsman nodded his head.
Originally, he was not someone who forged weapons to sell. He merely gave them without compensation to those he deemed worthy.
Even so, normally people would try to give something, saying they were grateful…
– Oh, it’s quite usable! Unlike how you look, old man, you’ve got decent skill. I’ll make good use of it.
It was Black Elder who had vanished abruptly after leaving such words behind.
That scene came to mind as if it were yesterday, and the White Night Craftsman chuckled loudly. Even thinking about it again, wasn’t he truly a cheerful and arrogant fellow?
“Thank you. Since the Crescent Moon Staff is also a treasure that will remain forever in history, I shall not refuse and accept this reverse scale as compensation.”
The White Night Craftsman’s pride could be felt intact.
Soon, he turned and walked out with an excited expression like a child who had discovered the most entertaining game in the world.
Contrary to his fluttering steps, he also felt a little worried.
‘Will I be able to forge a staff again at this age?’
Compared to a sword, a staff had to be hammered tens of times more.
If he channeled internal energy to make it pliable like earlier, it would become slightly easier, but in the end, because a weapon’s balance differed even by the margin of a millet grain, it was a task where he had to heighten the sensations in his fingertips and hammer it thousands, tens of thousands of times to adjust it.
Left alone after the White Night Craftsman and his granddaughter departed, Cheon Woo-jin stared at the empty yard for a moment, lost in thought.
The reverse scale had been disposed of, and what remained were two pearls.
Placing the two pearls taken from his bosom onto his palm, he looked at them. The pearls of different colors shone brilliantly as they caught the sunlight.
“Flood Dragon Poison and Flood Dragon Pearl.”
Cheon Woo-jin named them so.
The Flood Dragon Poison had no particular use yet. If Dok-ra-su could handle it, he would give it to him, but it was not a poison of that level.
The originally potent deadly poison had undergone a pseudo-maturation within the flood dragon’s body, becoming tremendously venomous.
“If I continue to find no use for it, I’ll have to go to a quiet place and dispose of it.”
Deadly poison that could not be handled was nothing but a disaster.
Thinking so, he placed the Flood Dragon Poison back into his bosom.
The Flood Dragon Pearl shining in blue remained alone on his palm, showing off its lustrous form.
The Flood Dragon Pearl, the thousand-year-old inner core of the flood dragon, could not be compared to any treasure under heaven.
Even Shaolin’s Great Return Pill had no effect on Cheon Woo-jin’s body. At most, his body felt slightly warm for a while.
But the Flood Dragon Pearl could not even be compared to that. Energy on par with the Dark Heavens Qi harbored by Cheon Woo-jin was contained intact within this small pearl.
However, the real problem lay elsewhere.
When Cheon Woo-jin attempted to draw out a little of the energy from the Flood Dragon Pearl to absorb it, Dark Heavens Qi naturally emanated, and the two energies collided with each other.
After a rather ferocious clash, the two energies dispersed into empty air. The energy that had just scattered alone was an amount equal to the internal energy of an ordinary first-rate master.
As they were truly mutually incompatible energies, there was no way to absorb the Flood Dragon Pearl. It was a matter of course, since they were the energies of the Heavenly Dragon, a spiritual creature guarding the heavenly realm, and the Dark Emperor, who would not fall short of being called an evil deity.
“What should I do?”
As Cheon Woo-jin was thus deep in contemplation while looking at the Flood Dragon Pearl, a commotion was suddenly heard from outside. It was the Martial Alliance, where not a single day was quiet.
Cheon Woo-jin spread his energy sense wide. Then, the entire temporary headquarters was felt clearly as if looking down from the sky.
Hundreds of Alliance members were gathered at the entrance of the Martial Alliance. Seeing them blatantly reveal hostility, it seemed uninvited guests had arrived.
Soon, three martial artists stepped out of the carriage that had arrived at the entrance.
Deducing from the felt energy, one was a young man, and the other two were a pair of elderly people, one male and one female.
The vivid demonic qi they harbored did not fall short even when compared to the hall masters of the Martial Alliance.
* * *
From within the Martial Alliance, a man walked out with imposing strides to greet the carriage.
The gathered Alliance members naturally parted to the left and right, creating a path.
The man striding forward between them.
He was petite and his martial arts were weak, yet not a single martial artist under heaven could look down on him.
Chief Strategist of the Martial Alliance, Sima Hwi.
A man who commanded tens of thousands of Righteous Path martial artists at will.
Although he had been suffering quite a bit recently due to a certain martial artist existing outside common sense, he was a talent coveted even by the Demonic Cult and the Black Overlord Castle. He possessed no talent in administration, but at least in tactics, few under heaven could match him.
Sima Hwi unfurled his folding fan and spoke to those who had stepped down from the carriage. It was an aura and presence unbelievable for someone merely of second-rate martial artist level.
“If you intended to betray the Demonic Cult, you should have sought out the Black Overlord Castle, so why have you come to the Martial Alliance?”
The ones who had suddenly become traitors let out hollow laughs. Even knowing it was a psychological ploy, with hundreds of Martial Alliance members watching around them, their emotions stirred unnecessarily.
Stepping forward among the three was the young man.
Calming his slightly boiling heart, he spoke in a composed tone.
“The Third Young Master of our cult instructed us to deliver a message.”
“Has the Third Young Master already become the Young Cult Leader?”
At Sima Hwi’s question, the young man’s eyebrows twitched. The battle for the position of Young Cult Leader had not ended yet, and the Third Young Master was even lagging behind compared to the other young masters.
When the elderly man and woman standing beside him tried to step forward, the youth raised his hand to stop them. It was not yet time to display strength.
“At this point, debating the rights and wrongs between the Divine Cult and the Martial Alliance is completely meaningless. However, as it is self-evident that the Righteous-Demonic War will only leave immense damage to both sides, the Third Young Master has promised that if the Alliance cooperates, he will personally become the Young Cult Leader and bestow peace.”
Sima Hwi fluttered his folding fan with a face that looked as though he had heard completely useless words. In fact, he had anticipated they would say something like that.
The battle of succession among the Demonic Cult’s young masters was dragging on quite a bit. Someone had to produce visible results. Under the current circumstances, the best achievement to garner the support of demonic practitioners would surely be something related to the Martial Alliance.
“So, what are you getting at? Seeing that the Third Young Master sent you, Blood Tiger Lord, whom he had kept tightly hidden, he must have made some kind of decision.”
When the moniker Blood Tiger Lord was mentioned, the venue became unsettled. Because he was an expert of the previous generation, someone who had already become one of the Demonic Cult’s Eight Great Protectors decades ago before retiring.
The Demonic Cult’s Eight Great Protectors was a position often compared to the Righteous Path’s Ten Great Masters. Not to mention, if he was someone who had already served as an Eight Great Protector decades ago, no one could predict how high his current realm was.
Blood Tiger Lord smiled thickly and spoke.
“As expected, the brain trust of the Righteous Path is different. To recognize me at a single glance even after I completed the Reversal of Aging.”
“If you came to engage in small talk, I can recommend a nearby teahouse.”
“Fine. I shall speak straightforwardly. Hand over the Heartless Wanderer’s neck. That bastard inflicted far too much damage upon our cult. I shall conclude the matter by personally claiming his head.”
Sima Hwi’s eyes narrowed as if it was laughable. However, his mouth hidden behind the folding fan was not smiling in the least.
Ultimately, it meant the Third Young Master intended to aim for the position of Young Cult Leader through the merit of taking the Heartless Wanderer’s neck, who had dealt the greatest damage to the Demonic Cult.
And the Martial Alliance could avoid the Righteous-Demonic War, in which thousands or tens of thousands might die, if they obediently handed over the Heartless Wanderer.
‘Pulling such absurd nonsense.’
Sima Hwi saw right through their hidden intentions and subsequent moves. It was truly a proposal unworthy of response. No, rather, no response should be made at all. It was better to resolve it quietly without unnecessarily blowing things up.
‘It is fortunate that I came out instead of the Alliance Leader.’
Had the Alliance Leader come out, he probably would have drawn his sword, yelling, ‘What the hell is this bastard babbling right now!’
Sima Hwi decided to merely tease Blood Tiger Lord a bit, insult him, and send him away.
It was then.
In an instant, the Martial Alliance members stirred with commotion.
An uneasy feeling brushed down Sima Hwi’s spine.
Hurriedly turning his head to look, a man was striding forward along the path made by the Alliance members parting to the left and right.
He had thought it fortunate that the Alliance Leader did not come, but an even worse presence had appeared.
Sima Hwi cast a fierce glare toward him.
‘D-Don’t come. Don’t come! Go! Go away!’
Nonetheless, Cheon Woo-jin approached while letting the Crescent Moon Staff dangle, asking in an unconcerned tone.
“Is that person demanding my neck right now?”