Chapter 124: Ascending Heaven Academy (3)
Not long ago, Chui had killed the corpse ghost Beigong Seol, turned her soul into a spear ghost, and absorbed it.
Due to this, Chui’s internal energy had greatly increased, and the realm of his Spear Ghost Calling had also reached the sixth tier of the Towering Vessel (彛兀) stage.
‘…Nevertheless, she is still burdensome.’
Chui slightly knitted his brow toward the youthful-faced girl in front of him.
‘Sorting and Selecting’ Tang Jieha. Or the Poison King (毒王) Tang Jieha.
Whichever it was, they were still martial names that were difficult to handle.
Soon, Chui spoke.
“I once briefly met a Thousand-Head of the Yangtze River Water Bandit Union.”
“Yangtze River Water Bandit Union? That vulgar water bandit crowd?”
“Yes.”
“Oh, how scary. You managed to survive. I heard they are absolutely heinous. But? What does that have to do with you smelling like our clan’s blood?”
Tang Jieha asked, blinking her large eyes.
Chui answered honestly.
“I later learned that the Thousand-Head was once a member of the Sichuan Tang Clan.”
“Is that so~? What was their name?”
“I believe they were called the Snake Butcher (巳百丁) Tang Sanlang.”
“Ahhh~ that scoundrel! The one who was expelled from the family relatively recently, right? Yes, I remember. There was a kid who especially couldn’t tell right from wrong~ Pwahaha~ I wondered where he went, but he was mixed in with a crowd of water bandits. No wonder~”
Tang Jieha’s eyes twinkled as she listened to Chui’s answer.
“So? You fought with that scoundrel, right? Who won? Hmm? Hmmm?”
“It wasn’t a fight; I dealt him a blow while he was off guard and ran for my life.”
“Aw~ boring~”
Tang Jieha leaned back in her chair and tilted her upper body.
Then, she asked as if subtly probing.
“But didn’t he use some kind of poison? Like an incredibly lethal poison. Stored in a jar…”
“He said poison was unnecessary against a small fry like me. But after he got hit once, he seemed to get angry and sprayed something from a jar… Fortunately, I fled in a hurry, so I wasn’t poisoned.”
“Hmm… is that so… indeed… that’s lucky~”
The gleam emitting from Tang Jieha’s eyes died down instantly.
Her shoulders could be seen drooping as if she had lost interest.
“Since a fun smell was coming off you, I thought there would be a fun story too, but the excitement is totally gone~”
“…”
“Sorry. I’m originally a person who lives for entertainment. Maybe because life is dry, but if there’s something interesting, I can’t resist it. Above, they harass me every day about budget cuts, and below, they talk back every day telling me to maintain my dignity… It’s just that there’s absolutely no place for this old lady to find interest in. Whew…”
He paid no heed to any of her grumbling.
Chui still did not let down his guard.
‘At any rate, she is definitely a woman who must never be underestimated.’
Since Chui was silent, Tang Jieha buried herself deep in her chair as if bored.
“Anyway, I received the credential well~ You can teach the children in the Vermilion Bird Hall starting tomorrow. Whether you bought the assistant instructor position with money or won it through skill, congratulations~ I don’t care about such things, so let’s look at the long term, shall we?”
“Yes.”
“Oops—I almost forgot again. I must tell you what you’ll teach, indeed. What do you want to teach in the future? Right now, there are four classes that urgently need manpower. ‘Eighteen Weapons of Martial Arts (十八般武藝) – Basic Sword Art (Low) (下)’, ‘Black History of the Martial World (二)’, ‘Black History of the Martial World (三)’, and ‘Lightness Art and Mental Cultivation Method (二)’. I think you can choose one of these.”
“I will go with ‘Mental Cultivation Method and Lightness Art’.”
“Sure. I would be grateful if you started teaching from tomorrow. A while ago, an assistant instructor ran away because they couldn’t handle the pressure from the kids, so it’s a bit urgent~”
Tang Jieha picked up her brush, scribbled something on the document, and signed her signature.
Then she raised her head and looked at Chui again.
“Right. Now that we’re family, you should say a word about your ambitions, shouldn’t you?”
“…”
Chui contemplated for a moment.
Then, he revealed at least a part of his purpose for entering the Ascending Heaven Academy.
“I will do my best to make the hall I’m in charge of the best.”
“Mmh. Yes, yes. Do your best.”
“And thereby, I will strive to enter the Orthodox-Heterodox Imperial Martial Arts Tournament.”
“…!”
Tang Jieha, who was about to nod casually, thinking it was just a cliché ambition, stopped her brush in an instant.
She raised her head and looked at Chui.
“The Imperial Martial Arts Tournament?”
“Yes.”
“The Vermilion Bird Hall?”
“Yes.”
Chui thought.
In the not-too-distant future, the Orthodox Martial Alliance and the Heterodox Alliance would participate in the Supreme Under Heaven Martial Arts Tournament hosted periodically by the Imperial Court.
This massive banquet, festival, and tournament where the experts of the Orthodox and Heterodox paths clashed had generated countless stories by itself until now.
…The problem was that a horrific bloodbath would occur in the upcoming Imperial Martial Arts Tournament.
Hong Gong. And the Blood Cult.
They would launch a rebellion with the sinister plot of killing all the rising stars of the Orthodox and Heterodox paths.
In that process, even the Imperial Court would eventually be dragged into the bloodbath, turning the martial world into a sea of blood in an instant, which would become the signal fire for the First Great Bloodbath of the Martial World.
Orthodox, Heterodox, and Demonic Cult alike—all order and ethics of the martial world would be disrupted and swallowed by the logic of power.
This was an event that would continue to occur due to the karma sown by Hong Gong, whether he was alive or dead.
Ho Ye-yang, Oh Ja-woon, Namgung Yul, Jeok-hyang, and Gyeon Sul whom he had met so far—all of them would be unable to escape and would be swept away by this massive tsunami of blood.
From such a future where everything was ruined, shattered, and unable to return to the past, Chui had returned.
…However.
Tang Jieha, who had no way of knowing Chui’s inner thoughts, merely scratched her head with the opposite end of her brush.
“The ambition is good, but it will be a bit difficult for the Vermilion Bird Hall to enter the Imperial Martial Arts Tournament~”
Tang Jieha began to explain the reason even though he hadn’t asked.
“Participation in the Imperial Martial Arts Tournament is only allowed for the top two halls among the four~”
“I know.”
“Azure Dragon Hall, Black Tortoise Hall, White Tiger Hall, Vermilion Bird Hall. You know that the Vermilion Bird Hall is the perpetual last place among them, right?”
“…”
Since Chui remained silent, Tang Jieha began to babble a lot of words.
“Since you seem like a fresh hatchling, I will explain it to you~ The cadets of the Azure Dragon Hall generally have noble characteristics. Many belong to the Five Great Clans among the Fifteen Provinces of the Orthodox Path, and perhaps because almost all are from powerful families, they have a lot of money and strong martial arts. Above all, they have a culture that values blood ties.”
“…”
“The cadets of the Black Tortoise Hall are generally fair and square~ Many belong to the Nine Sects and One Gang among the Fifteen Provinces of the Orthodox Path. Perhaps because they are from prestigious sects, they value school ties, as well as generational seniority and rank, incredibly highly.”
“…”
“The cadets of the White Tiger Hall are generally… extremely extraordinary, should I say? How do I put it? They have no backing, but are kids selected from various regions by the Martial Alliance solely based on skill. They have no backing and no affiliation, but their bones and muscles are great, or they are incredibly smart. They are kids who rose to this point purely based on what they possess, so their tenacity and venom are also amazing.”
“…”
“But the Vermilion Bird Hall…”
Tang Jieha, who was prattling, paused for a moment.
Then she sighed slightly.
“Hon~estly. They’re kids who entered by paying money~”
“…”
“It’s sad, but it’s true~ There is something called the ‘Contribution Admission System’ in the Ascending Heaven Academy. Well, since you also bought your credential with money, you would know, right?”
Indeed. A gate that accepts you if you pay money is bound to exist separately in any institution.
Chui recalled the words Oh Ja-woon had spoken in the past.
<‘The ways to wear the Taoist robes of the Mount Hua Sect could be broadly divided into three, and those three paths combined were called the “Gold, Righteousness, and Sword (金義劍)”.’>
The first was the Gold Path (金路).
It was the method of entering by paying a massive donation.
This money was mainly used to nurture disciples who would later enter via the Sword Path (劍路).
The second was the Righteousness Path (義路).
It was the method of entering through loyalty.
Those who wore the robes of Mount Hua through this method were mostly prominent figures of the government who did not reside within the Mount Hua Sect, or their children.
The third was the Sword Path (劍路).
It was the method of entering through skill.
Selecting children with no money and no backing purely based on their talent for the sword to allow them to wear the robes of Mount Hua was, in a way, the most honest yet most difficult path to pass.
…In a way, the structure of the Martial Alliance was also similar.
No, perhaps all sects in the martial world were exactly the same.
Tang Jieha spoke.
“But you see~ From our perspective, that is how it is. If we mix the riffraff who entered by paying money with the ‘real deals,’ the academic atmosphere gets ruined, and a sense of incompatibility can be created among the cadets. So, well… we just gather those rabble in one place~ Letting them play among themselves and graduating them after giving them a few certificates.”
“…”
“Ah! Don’t misunderstand~ I am saying the cadets of the Vermilion Bird Hall are riffraff, not that the faculty and staff assigned there are riffraff. Who was it? Bi Mu-geuk? That guy was also a fairly capable instructor. Well, he has been dismissed now? My~ I knew it from the very beginning. That guy’s skull structure was exactly that of a rebel and a lecher. But as expected, he had a past of doing such shameless deeds. You really never know what will happen in the world~ It’s scary~”
Chui let almost all of Tang Jieha’s words slide past his ears.
But among them, useful information did exist.
Azure Dragon Hall: ‘Nobility’. From prestigious, powerful families including the Five Great Clans. High wealth, valuing blood ties.
Black Tortoise Hall: ‘Fairness’. From massive sects including the Nine Sects and One Gang. High martial arts, valuing school ties.
White Tiger Hall: ‘Extraordinary’. Geniuses and talents selected from various regions by the Martial Alliance. Great talent, valuing skill.
Vermilion Bird Hall: …
Chui summarized the state of the Vermilion Bird Hall he took charge of as follows:
Vermilion Bird Hall: A rabble (烏合之卒) with a bit of money.
It was literally no different from a doggy door made to receive donations, and it was a hall abandoned in many ways in terms of the official class schedule.
Therefore, it made no sense in itself for the Vermilion Bird Hall to defeat two of the Azure Dragon Hall, Black Tortoise Hall, and White Tiger Hall to participate in the Imperial Martial Arts Tournament.
It was just like a mantis declaring that it would stop a carriage.
“Since it is an absolutely impossible goal anyway, don’t overdo it~ If you waste your energy on something impossible from the start, it won’t be good for either of us. If the new faculty gets exhausted and flees, I will be very sad~”
“…”
At Tang Jieha’s words, Chui shut his mouth for a moment.
Then, he spoke up.
“There is no ‘absolute’ in this world.”
“…?”
In an instant, Tang Jieha’s eyebrows twitched.
Her lips could be seen twitching, and her fingers trembled.
Her bad habit was just about to kick in.
Chui drove a wedge into it.
“I am confident. We can even place a bet.”
“Ohhh!”
Tang Jieha’s eyes sparkled.
She had fallen for Chui’s provocation.
She slapped her knee and said.
“I like you, Ximen Qing~”
“Thank you.”
“How did you know that I love betting? This is really top-secret information~”
“…”
There was no one in the world who didn’t know that she was crazy about gambling.
Well, anyway.
Tang Jieha proposed a bet to Chui.
“If, well, you, Ximen Qing, teach the kids and… raise the average score of next month’s quiz by more than ten points, I will examine those words realistically~ That lie about the Vermilion Bird Class participating as the representative of the Ascending Heaven Academy in the Imperial Martial Arts Tournament, that is!”
“What are the outcomes if I win or lose?”
“If you lose, pack your bags and leave the academy that very day. How about it?”
Chui nodded his head.
An institution like the Ascending Heaven Academy did not matter, since he could obtain a new identity and enter again at any time if he set his mind to it.
“Very well. And when I win?”
“I will make sure you are never fired for the next year, no matter what you do~”
In other words, it meant that she—the dean of the Ascending Heaven Academy, supreme committee member of the Martial Alliance, chief elder of the Sichuan Tang Clan, and a peak expert—would personally back him.
Since there was no reason to refuse the gamble, Chui nodded his head.
“Very well.”
“I like it too! Pwahahaha—”
Chui and Tang Jieha.
The two of them smiled as they faced each other.
A peculiar state of sharing the same bed but having different dreams (同床異夢) began.
Unrivaled Spear Ghost