The signboard hanging on the gate into the Kunlun Sect…
The signboard that had KUNLUN written on it had fallen to the ground.
Crack.
It also cracked.
"...!"
Daoshi Un Seon, who just arrived, looked at the cracked signboard with disbelief before turning her head.
She was at a loss for words.
Pieces of wood from the broken gate were scattering in the air.
"T, the gate-"
"Pavilion Master-nim!"
Un Seon supported the Pavilion Master who put a hand on the back of her head.
The Rules and Virtues Pavilion. As the Pavilion Master for the Pavilion in charge of the Kunlun Sect's Rules and Behavior, she seemed quite shocked while looking at the destroyed gate and the cracked signboard.
Of course, part of it was because the Pavilion Master was quite weak for being a martial artist.
However, Un Seon understood the Pavilion Master's current feelings.
"Such chaos-"
Nobody heard her mumbling.
It was because her voice was currently buried.
"Y, you Unorthodox faction bastards dare to destroy the main gate of the Great Kunlun Sect?!"
The Cleave Saint shouted.
"Senior, you are not even a member of the Kunlun Sect so why are you stepping in? Hmm? Are you so old that you forgot your affiliation?"
Xia Mun immediately retorted back.
"What? You stupid mountain bandit bastard!"
"I guess a guy who loses to a stupid mountain bandit in a battle of words must have rock for brains?"
"Ha! Haha! This mountain bandit bastard is trying to get himself killed! Haha!"
"Hmph! You damn hypocrites! The Demon Cult is allowed in but the Unorthodox faction is not? You are going to look down on me, the representative of the Green Forest, and a child of the Sima Clan? This is clearly looking down on the Divergent Coalition!"
Xia Mun pompously shouted before turning his head.
He looked toward Sima Jung, who was usually his enemy but was on the same side right now, as he spoke.
"Sima Jung! Don't you feel the same way as the child of the Coalition leader?"
He then flinched.
"Seriously? This guy?!"
He got anxious and subconsciously shouted.
"Ho."
The Cleave Saint looked in the same direction and could just sigh in disbelief.
Xia Mun hid his anxiety and loudly called out once again.
"Sima Jung!"
"What is it?"
Sima Jung seemed to have finally heard his voice as he stopped walking and turned around.
While the Kunlun Sect's people were looking blankly at the destroyed gate in disbelief and the Cleave Saint was arguing with Xia Mun… He had already started walking up the steps to the Kunlun Sect.
"You called me to say something. What is it? Why did you call my name?"
He sounded as if he was annoyed that Xia Mun stopped him while he was in a hurry.
'That, that trash!'
Xia Mun-Heon was in disbelief.
'He broke the door to someone's house and just walked right in?
Isn't that too much even for someone in the Unorthodox faction?'
Xia Mun truly felt that Sima Jung deserved to be called the greatest trash of the Unorthodox faction as he scowled.
"That bastard!"
The Cleave Saint could not hold back his anger and roared.
"Un Seon."
"Yes, Pavilion Master-nim."
"Send them out."
The Master of the Rules and Virtues Pavilion finally snapped back to her senses and looked at the people from the Unorthodox faction with a cold gaze. It was coldest toward Sima Jung.
New people appeared at that moment.
It was Sima Gong and his subordinates.
"Oh dear."
He quickly realized the situation and spoke with concern.
"Mm."
The Martial Arts Alliance's Peng Yu, who was also heading toward the gate with the martial artists of the Peng Clan, groaned after taking a look.
He could get a basic understanding of this chaos without thinking deeply about it.
"What the hell? Do you have nothing to say? Then I'm going in."
Sima Jung was the only one who seemed unfazed right now.
He started walking up the steps again. He then hesitated and stopped.
"My friend, what is it?"
Du Kang.
This cold friend that Sima Jung approved of was quietly standing by the destroyed gate with his arms crossed.
Seeing his friend, whom he had naturally expected to follow him just standing there, Sima Jung walked over to Toonka.
Toonka opened his eyes at that moment and mumbled in a low voice.
"He's coming."
As Sima Jung flinched in shock at Toonka's completely calm demeanor that was different from his usual boisterous and sort of stupid self…
Swoooooooosh-
A breeze blew by.
– Human, we are here!
People then saw Cale and Choi Han gently land on the ground.
'What kind of skill is that?'
Peng Yu noticed that the whirlwind around young master Kim's feet disappeared once he landed on the ground.
'Qinggong? What kind of foot technique is that?
I didn't feel any internal ki with that foot technique.'
Something popped into Peng Yu's mind at that moment.
'Does reaching the Nature Realm mean that you control the aura of all five elements?'
It was what Namgung Ma Hee had said.
Peng Yu tried to be calm but his heart was beating wildly.
'Yes, it makes sense for someone who can handle all five elements to be able to control the wind.'
It was just such an unbelievable level that he could not say anything.
However, after seeing the look on the Kunlun Sect's Pavilion Master's face, he realized that his reaction was very calm compared to theirs.
"...."
"Pavilion Master-nim?"
Un Seon thought that the Pavilion Master was being weird and called out to her but the Pavilion Master continued to look at Cale and Choi Han with a piercing gaze.
''He was the wind itself.'
The Kunlun Sect's Eight Great Styles of the Cloud Dragon.
That was a martial art focused on walking.
Each step that a person takes…
This martial art treated each step to carry quite a lot of things.
That was why a single step of a human was said to be like a Dragon flying through the clouds.
The Kunlun Sect's Rules and Virtues Pavilion.
This Pavilion was one that focused on the Kunlun Sect's appearance, which was why they did a lot of research into the Kunlun Sect's fundamentals.
The Rules of Kunlun depended on what Kunlun represented and where it was headed.
As a result, the Pavilion Master was even more shocked seeing Cale appear now than when Cale had used the aura of fire to put the entire Kunlun in silence.
She got the chills.
'That subtle yet elegant appearance, those steps-
That truly resembled a Dragon moving through the clouds!'
Although Cale just used Raon's magic to quickly come here and used flight magic and the wind to get to the gate because he was too lazy to walk down the steps…
'Our Kunlun's path is in his steps.'
The Pavilion Master's heart was going wild.
'Honestly speaking, his steps were not that amazing.'
They did not have any sort of pressure or force behind them.
He just simply took a step to come down from the sky to the ground.
However, that was why it was subtle yet beautiful.
'It was just a step.'
There was not much meaning or wild desires in a baby's first steps.
A baby just wants to walk.
Because they want to walk.
'Yes, that is the true nature that should be within a step.'
The Pavilion Master's eyes sparkled.
"P, Pavilion Master-nim!"
Un Seon became shocked but the Pavilion Master pushed Un Seon aside and closed her eyes. She then sat down in a lotus position and left a comment.
"I leave it to you."
Un Seon's eyes opened wide.
The Pavilion Master had suddenly achieved enlightenment.
She had then immediately jumped into the imagery world. Un Seon immediately motioned to the martial artists of the Kunlun Sect with her eyes, and although things were currently a mess here, she left them to guard the Pavilion Master.
As for herself, she headed toward young master Kim.
She realized that the Pavilion Master was asking her to take care of things here, not guard her.
"Young master Kim-nim."
"I'm sorry."
"Excuse me?"
Un Seon hesitated after seeing young master Kim apologize as soon as he saw her.
His calm but sincere apology made her subconsciously look right into young master Kim's eyes. Young master Kim put on a good-natured smile in response. Of course, it was an apologetic smile.
"Based on what I heard, they caused this mess trying to come see me. I also heard that Noble Warrior Du Kang, one of my people, played a role in it as well."
Peng Yu and the Cleave Saint could not hide their shock at Cale's demeanor.
When the Martial Arts Alliance had almost started fighting with the Green Forest's Xia Mun last time… Young master Kim had released an intense aura to settle the situation.
Although he had not gone rampant, the aura of an angry ruler had suppressed all of them.
In comparison, he was gentle and soft right now.
"Not at all, young master-nim. It is not something that requires your apology. Based on what I heard, Noble Warrior Du Kang did not play a role in it. He tried to stop Xia Mun-nim from charging into the gate and ended up breaking one side of the gate in the process."
Cale looked at Toonka with an odd gaze after hearing Un Seon's response.
"Ahem. Hem."
Toonka proudly held his head up. Cale did not want to see that for some reason but Toonka smiled and patted the back of his head as Choi Han walked up to him.
"Knock me out."
Choi Han had a rare annoyed look on his face but Toonka was confident.
"I did not make my friend lose face!"
He then looked toward Cale as if he was saying, 'didn't I do well?' And then he smiled.
'Wow, this is really annoying.'
Cale was truly annoyed.
However, a good-natured and gentle smile was still on his face.
"However, this still happened because they were trying to come see me so we will take care of the compensation."
"No, young master-nim!"
Un Seon said that it was not necessary but Cale shook his head as if he had to do so.
The smile disappeared from his face.
"I heard that the Gates of Kunlun have only been destroyed while protecting this land."
The Kunlun Sect's gate had been destroyed so many times compared to the gates of the rest of the Nine Sects One Gang or the Five Great Clans.
The reason was because the Demon Cult had to get past the Kunlun Sect to enter the Central Plains.
Their countless battles with the Demon Cult led to their gate being destroyed so many times.
The signboard on the main gate…
KUNLUN.
The destruction of those words was considered the infiltration of the Kunlun Sect by the enemies.
"I'm sorry."
Young master Kim's calm voice spread throughout the area.
"My heart hurts that such an important gate was destroyed for such a reason. So please allow our side to compensate for it."
Un Seon's eyes were shaking as she looked at young master Kim.
'Yes, this is the kind of person he is.'
Although it was impossible to fathom young master Kim's strength… It was just as impossible to fathom his beautiful heart and giving mind.
They were too deep.
'This esteemed individual offered to come to Kunlun before I even asked.'
Such a person should know the importance of the Kunlun name more than anybody else.
Young master Kim's voice reached Un Seon and the rest of the martial artists of the Kunlun Sect.
"I will prepare a gate that is stronger and firmer than any other gate. It will be a gate that cannot be easily broken."
Un Seon looked into young master Kim's eyes.
His eyes were firm without any shaking.
She realized that declining his offer any longer would be rejecting his kindness.
Un Seon suppressed herself from tearing up.
'A gate that is firmer than any other gate!'
Young master Kim-nim was not the type to bluff.
He was someone who was always a step ahead looking into the distance.
Un Seon was sure about this because she had seen young master Kim for a while as they traveled with Elder Ho.
The Demon Cult was going to barge in.
The war against them was about to start again.
The person who knew the Kunlun Sect's situation better than anybody else has said that he would make a gate that is firmer than any other gate and one that will not be easily broken.
What would those words mean?
Was he just talking about a sturdy gate?
There was no way that such an intelligent person would have meant something so simple.
'He is truly planning on helping our Kunlun.
No, this esteemed individual is trying to protect not just our Kunlun, but the Orthodox faction and the entire Central Plains.
He is trying to protect everything from the meaningless destruction a war with the Demon Cult would cause.'
Un Seon realized what her response should be.
She looked around.
The people of Kunlun, her family, had the same gazes in their eyes.
She was now certain as she spoke.
"Thank you very much, young master-nim. We will happily accept your sincerity."
Un Seon saw young master Kim smiling brightly at that moment.
He smiled as if he was truly happy as he responded.
"It is I who must thank you. I will make sure it is an extremely sturdy gate."
Cale thought to himself.
'It looks like the situation is basically resolved.'
It would be bad if the Unorthodox faction and the Kunlun Sect pointed their blades at each other right now.
Furthermore, it would get even more complicated if the Demon Cult got involved as well, since the Unorthodox faction brought them up.
'It's already complicated enough so I might as well make it clean as possible.'
Since Toonka was involved as well, it was probably best for him to apologize. If he, as someone from the Imperial family, apologizes, who would cause an issue with that?
'Hmm. I'll tell Chief Eunuch Wi to get the gate fixed.
The Imperial family should have a lot of money.
He will replace it with an extremely sturdy and good gate.
The Imperial family is there for me to use at times like this.'
Cale had that thought as he smiled with satisfaction.
He then approached Sima Gong and gently spoke.
"Noble Warrior Sima Gong."
"Yes, young master-nim."
Sima Gong gulped.
Young master Kim, someone with an extremely high level of martial arts, had apologized to the Kunlun Sect and accepted the Unorthodox faction's mistake as his own.
Furthermore, his demeanor was gentle.
However, he was not being submissive or servile.
That was why he was scared.
As a result, Sima Gong quickly spoke before young master Kim could say anything.
'I can't let young master Kim look at the Unorthodox faction in an even more unfavorable light! I can't let him shun the Unorthodox faction!'
He lowered his head.
"I'm sorry, young master-nim."
Cale found this to be odd.
'I was going to tell him to hurry up and take those two trash and leave. I was going to say that I will be there soon.' Seeing Sima Gong apologizing so sincerely…
He said the thought that came to his mind.
"Shouldn't you be apologizing to the Kunlun Sect and not to me?"
"Ah."
Both Sima Gong…
And the Kunlun Sect quietly gasped.
The people from the Martial Arts Alliance showed the same reaction.
Peng Yu heard the stubborn Cleave Saint quietly mumbling.
"…He knows of justice and cooperation."
Cale then decided there was nothing left for him to do here and said goodbye before returning to his dwelling.
The Pavilion Master, who opened her eyes again after her enlightenment, heard the conversation from Un Seon and commented.
"The steps of someone who knows of logic and duty are without hesitation and only leaves naturalness. However, the path that those steps have walked on will leave behind pride. As it is the path that someone who knows of logic and duty has walked."
This incident and the words of the Pavilion Master were spread throughout the Kunlun Sect.
A poem was created from the Pavilion Master's words at the end of the incident.
"The Gates of Kunlun may break and the signboard cracked, But just as the pride of the path that our Kunlun Sect has traveled will not disappear… Young master Kim's steps will do the same."
Of course, Cale had no idea that such words were being spread around.
He had to accept a new guest's request to see him.
* * *
"Nice to meet you. Young master-nim."
"I am delighted to meet you as well. I did not expect to see the Sage Demon-nim, the Chief Advisor of the Demon Cult, like this."
Cale gently smiled as he greeted the Sage Demon.
– Human! The Sage Demon resembles Billos!
He had the same thought as Raon.
– But something is weird about his gaze! It reminds me of Clopeh!
He then flinched at Raon's comment before looking into the Sage Demon's eyes.
The eyes that were hidden in his chubby face…
'He's right.'
They were weirdly burning up.
It was similar to when Clopeh was shouting about legends.
'Something feels off.'
Cale, who was speaking for the first time with someone from the Demon Cult, touched the back of his neck after feeling a mysterious chill.
—
Translator's Comments
I guess we see more Cale fanatics soon!