"Hm."
Jin Hyeon trembled slightly as he heard a soft sound.
It was from the person who was sitting close to him. His hair was neatly combed, and he looked very neat.
His face was red like a jujube, and he had a long black beard that reached his navel.
This man in front of him, who had an appearance that seemed to be the incarnation of a Taoist, was the Sect Leader of Wudang, Heo Do Jinin.1
Heo Do Jinin closed his eyes as if he was immersed in his thoughts and then opened them slowly.
"Did you just say Mu Jin lost?"
"Yes, I did, Sect Leader."
"That too, to a third-class disciple of Mount Hua?"
"Yes."
"Hm."
It was hard to say what he was thinking by looking at his expressionless face.
"Mount Hua's Divine Dragon. The rumors must be true then. If the second-class disciples of the Southern Edge Sect were taken down by him single-handedly, it wouldn't be strange for him to be able to do this."
Jin Hyeon bit his lip.
He wanted to say that the Wudang and the Southern Edge Sects were different from each other, but he wasn't in a position to say it out loud. This time, the Wudang Sect had been brutally defeated by Mount Hua.
"Where is Mu Jin?"
"He was seriously injured so he was taken to the medical practitioner."
"Seriously injured…"
Heo Do Jinin nodded his head.
"Jin Hyeon"
"Yes, Sect Leader."
"Do you know why this happened?"
"… because this disciple is lacking."
"No."
Jin Hyeon tilted his head.
Seeing Jin Hyeon who seemed confused at his words, the Sect Leader explained.
"It is because of the characteristics of the martial arts of Wudang. The more one learns the martial arts of Wudang, the stronger one becomes. The deeper we go, the more we realize, and the longer we spend with the sword, the more the power grows."
"Yes,"
"It isn't easy to win with a sword that only gets stronger in the future, and it isn't easy until we have accumulated enough strength. I can assure you, if Mu Jin had learned martial arts from the other Sects rather than Wudang, he wouldn't have been defeated by Mount Hua's Divine Dragon."
Jin Hyeon bowed at it.
Even if that was it, he couldn't accept it. This was an insult to the Wudang Sect's martial arts. Even if it was wrong, the Sect Leader shouldn't have to say it out loud. The words from a Sect Leader need to be neutral.
"Jin Hyeon, do you understand?"
"This disciple understands."
"This is why we need the knowledge of Yak Seon."
"Ah…."
Jin Hyeon nodded his head.
If the Wudang Sect's current training was combined with a better pill that could be discovered in Yak Seon's tomb, then the gaps in their martial arts could be filled. If that happened, the Wudang Sect would be able to rise to the top of the world.
There were two meanings to the Sect Leader retelling the story he already knew.
One was to make him reconsider the purpose of the entire situation, and the other was to rebuke Jin Hyeon, who returned without completing the task he was handed.
"I apologize, Sect Leader."
"It isn't your fault."
Heo Do Jinin quietly brushed his beard.
"I expected Mount Hua's Divine Dragon to come in person. But I did not know that he would be strong enough to defeat Mu Jin. I thought that you could handle the Divine dragon, I must say, my judgement was wrong."
"I apologize."
That was all he could say.
"So. How was he? Mount Hua's Divine Dragon?"
"…"
Jin Hyeon bit his lip.
How could he explain this? That absurd person!
There were countless things he wanted to say, but in the end, only one word came out.
"… he is a monster."
Heo Do Jinin's eyes grew heavy.
"The other disciples of Mount Hua are also strong. It is a shame, but I couldn't defeat them. But… Mount Hua's Divine Dragon is on another level compared to them. The other disciples are just strong, so it can be tackled. But the Divine Dragon, it felt like there was a huge wall present between us."
"Hm…"
A sigh escaped the Sect Leader's mouth.
'Will this work?'
It was shocking that Mu Jin was defeated by Mount Hua's Chung Myung. However, Jin Hyeon's words now meant that Chung Myung wasn't simply strong.
'Jin Hyeon…this child is much stronger than Mu Jin was when he was of this age.'
As years went by, he became stronger than Mu Jin at that particular age, and the Sect Leader knew that he could grow much stronger too. And such a child felt a wall between him and Chung Myung?
'The future generation of Wudang might be crushed by Mount Hua.'
This was serious.
"Jin Hyeon."
"Yes, Sect Leader."
"Do you want to try again?"
Jin Hyeon raised his head and looked at the Sect Leader.
"Is this disciple worthy of it?"
"You did make a mistake."
"…"
"So, I will give you a chance to make up for the mistake. The preparations for those leaving for Nanyang are complete. This time, the elders will go down directly. As soon as the preparations are complete, you also go back to Nanyang. And dig up the Sword Tomb."
"This disciple will surely come back with success…"
"I am not done yet."
Jin Hyeon turned silent. The Sect Leader spoke with an even lower voice than before.
"The one called Mount Hua's Divine Dragon is probably kicking up a fuss since he is unable to decrypt the map. And if he is smart, he will be waiting for us to go down there."
"Ah…"
"If the Sword Tomb is how I've expected it to be… no one outside our Wudang Sect should know what is happening inside."
Jin Hyeon's eyes fluttered.
No way…
"I expect you to know what I mean. You will make up for the mistakes you made."
Jin Hyeon clenched his fists.
"This disciple…"
With a cold light in his determined eyes, he continued.
"Will come back after completing the task."
Luoyang.
Hong Dae-Kwang, the owner of the Luoyang Beggars Union branch, had his legs up on the desk and was yawning.
"Hahahah!"
Wiping his lips with the dirty sleeve of his dress, he picked up a report on the desk with sullen eyes.
"There isn't anything fun in the forts these days."
It was an era with no confusion and too much peace.
There have been no major incidents in Kangho in recent times. To put it bluntly, it was very easygoing, and it seemed that it would be the same in the future too.
It was the same in Luoyang, so Hong Dae-Kwang, the branch leader of Luoyang, felt like he was wasting his time away.
'I knew I shouldn't have taken the post of branch leader.'
There was nothing to speak nor do.
There were a lot of things in Kangho which had to be dealt with. Some of them were small things that would turn into problems in the future if they weren't dealt with right away.
And Hong Dae-Kwang was the one appointed to handle such things.
"Why is nothing happening?"
If something happened, he could escape from this role. To be a branch leader and have nothing to do other than sitting behind a desk that he picked up in a collapsing hut, was horrible.
"Let's see…"
The report he was reading now was a record of the information given to him by the Beggars Union.
When the beggars of Luoyang went out, they saw and heard all kinds of things. When they pass by and hear such things, they put it down in a report and then give it to Hong Dae-Kwang.
And it was Hong Dae-Kwang's job to sort out the useful information from the useless ones.
"Let's see. The food is good, but it is a pity. The owner of the inn accepts everyone and is kind, so why the hell is the inn ruined?"
He threw the sheet down to the floor.
"A quarrel broke out between Luoyang officers and disciples of a Sect…a fistfight? The Luoyang officer won, and the disciples were taken to… this is a murim matter?"
The sheet was placed next to the table.
"Mrs. Choi in the lower street gave birth to quadruplets… they are fine now."
Hong Dae-Kwang crumpled the paper and threw it to the floor.
"Ugh. Not one proper piece of information…"
Hong Dae-Kwang looked at all the reports with sullen eyes.
"The disciples of Wudang were defeated by the disciples of Mount Hua in Nanyang."
Hong Dae-Kwang laughed.
"Now only nonsense seems to be coming out. What crazy bastard put this down?"
He dropped the paper on the floor and read the next report.
"In the territory of Nanyang, the rivalry between Huayoung Gate and another training hall of the Wudang Sect resulted in the disciples of Wudang and Mount Hua engaging in a fight. Mount Hua won, expelling the training hall of Wudang from Nanyang."
This made him sit up straight.
'Wait. This is true?'
His hands began to speed up. Hong Dae-Kwang's eyes trembled as he kept picking up the reports on this topic and swiftly read through them. He even picked up the one he threw to the floor earlier.
"The second-class disciples of Mount Hua defeated the second-class disciples of Wudang?"
This was an unbelievable story.
There were too many reports of the same kind, and everything said that the people of Nanyang witnessed what happened to the Wudang disciples…
'Not a lot of people can be involved in this and choose to lie.'
If so, it really meant that the disciples of Mount Hua defeated the disciples of Wudang. And the result was clear since the Wudang Sect's training hall withdrew from there, and Huayoung stayed.
"Uh."
He began to think.
'Isn't this too weird?'
Mount Hua defeated the Southern Edge Sect. At that time, it was a huge talking topic, but since then, Mount Hua has stayed silent and kept quiet about everything. So, not much information came out about them.
But now, Mount Hua destroyed the Wudang Sect disciples.
'Once is a coincidence. But there is no such thing as coincidences happening twice!'
This meant that Mount Hua was several times stronger than in the past. Then…
'Does that mean Mount Hua will rise up after a while?'
If that was true, then this was huge.
Wasn't Mount Hua pushed out of the Great Sects list? When this Sect eventually gained power, then wouldn't the influence the Great Sects have on the world tilt?
This is where the mess begins.
"Hm. maybe I…. Uh?"
Looking at the report, he went wide-eyed suddenly.
"… Mu Jin? Mu Jin? He lost consciousness and returned to Wudang being carried by the disciples?"
What new shit was this?
Mu Jin was clearly one of the Three swords of Wudang, and such a person lost and even fell unconscious?
'What is happening in Nanyang?'
He decided that this had to be investigated. It was the moment when he was about to summon his men.
Kak!
The door opened as it was being torn apart, and someone came running in.
"Branch leader! I think you should come out and see what is happening!"
"Uh?"
Hong Dae-Kwang looked at the man with a bewildered face.
Come and see?
What kind of a subordinate says that to the branch leader?
'Beggars are so undisciplined these days.'
He had to show them how scary the head was. A good discipline…
"Eikk!"
"Y-You cannot go in!"
"S-Stop!"
Uh?
Hong Dae-kwang shook his head.
What was this?
"What nonsense is this!"
The moment he shouted.
Step. Step. Step.
He heard the soft sound of footsteps coming in, and a person slowly entered his vision.
"Haaaa."
'Gasping?'
No, it was acting.
Why was smoke coming out of his mouth? He was simply scaring people!
The guy who came in blinked once, and then looked around. Then he looked at Hong Dae-Kwang.
"Are you the branch leader?"
"…"
He felt dismayed at how he was being treated like this, yet he nodded his head.
"Y-yes, what is it?"
The man walked inside.
Chung Myung said with a smile.
"I have something I need you to do."