The next morning.
I climbed Baekunsan Mountain with my father.
Baekunsan Mountain is famous for its rugged terrain, cliffs, and fog that surrounds the mountain all year round.
Because of this, it was notorious for the dozens of people who went missing or died by drowning every year.
'It must be so bad that even in the green forest they don't make wild vegetables.'
This was also the reason why the Green Forest Fighter King Maeng Ho-ak made his secret residence here.
While other places may have been looted over the decades, this one was likely to remain intact.
'First, let's get the elixir that Maenghoak has hidden. If we use it to lay the foundation for the Reverse Heavenly Sword, our future movements will also become much easier.'
With that plan, I climbed the mountain with confidence.
And an hour later… ….
"Ugh… … . Ugh… … ."
Sweat pours down like rain from all over my body.
My breath is so out of my chest that I feel like my lungs are going to burst.
My legs were shaking, and my body felt as if there were chunks of iron attached to my arms and legs.
I want to collapse and rest right now.
But every time that happened, the sound of tongue-clicking coming from behind me made me grit my teeth.
"Tsk tsk. Are you tired already?"
Knock knock.
From behind, my father nagged me and poked my back with the school pole.
"Well, what kind of mountaineering are you doing with that body? Wouldn't it be better to go down now?"
I don't know whether to worry about it or to give it medicine.
In any case, it was true that I was able to climb this mountain thanks to this gentleman.
"Can I… … ugh… … do it?"
Fucking body.
If you can't use your internal energy, you should at least be born with a stronger body.
It is extremely shabby, both inside and out.
Even though I had trained my body for over a month, I was in this state, so I thought I knew why the Cheon-eum-jeol-maek was called the curse of heaven.
'Just wait and see! One day I will change the Cheon-eum-jeol-maek into the Cheon-eum-shin-maek! This is the first step!'
At first, I climbed the mountain diligently with that determination, but… …
Dump.
Eventually, I sat down on a flat rock and looked up at the sky.
Is there yellow dust? The sky is bright yellow.
"… … Damn it. When the hell did that happen."
No, you're too humanly weak.
A guy who wants to become a martial artist is out of breath after climbing a mountain?
If I hadn't come with my father, I would have stumbled several times and almost died.
"Still, we're almost there. I think that's the peak you were talking about."
My father came up next to me, picked up the lectern, and pointed in a direction.
A high peak was visible, jutting out above the clouds.
I looked up at the peak and groaned.
"I'm almost there… … ."
Sword Dance Peak.
That's what the tiger called that peak.
It's tall and the terrain is rugged.
There will be a house over there where the Green Forest Fighter King Maenghoak has hidden the elixir.
"Whew. Let me just rest for a bit."
"Drink some water first."
My father, who had handed me the water bottle, clicked his tongue and examined my complexion, which must have been as pale as a corpse.
Then suddenly he said.
"Are you my son?"
"Cluck! Cluck cluck!"
I spit out the water I was drinking at my father.
Despite the surprise attack, my father easily dodged my attack like a seasoned, first-class master.
After a while, I wiped my mouth and asked.
Barely hiding my anxious feelings inside.
"Knock knock! What are you talking about all of a sudden?"
My father looked at me with a strange expression and scratched his cheek.
"In the past, I would have cursed myself for being born with a weak body and resented myself… … But now, I am proud of climbing the mountain without complaint."
… … This kid drove a nail into his parents' hearts.
"Besides, didn't you say you wanted to make money, not martial arts… … . Originally, you weren't interested in money, and you didn't even like teaching martial arts to children?"
I pretended to think for a moment, then gave the answer I had been thinking about.
"After dying and coming back to life, the world looks different."
"How is it different?"
"I've been lying in bed for almost a month, thinking long and hard. What on earth could I possibly do with risking my life to learn martial arts?"
"… … Didn't you want to become the best martial artist in the world and travel the martial arts world?"
"That's how it was back then."
I sighed, wiping the sweat from my forehead with my sleeve.
"Become a master, be recognized by others, enjoy wealth and fame, and get a dazzlingly pretty wife… "
"Hmm."
"But if you think about it again, those aren't things you can only get through martial arts, right?"
"Can you do it with money?"
I looked at my father with a grin.
"That's it."
I don't know Baek Su-ryong.
I don't know how much he wanted to learn martial arts, but how frustrated he was because he couldn't build up his internal energy.
So rather than making lame excuses, I decided to just push through with my thoughts.
"and."
I continued, smiling playfully.
"If you have a lot of money, wouldn't you be able to find a way to fix your dungeon and learn martial arts?"
That is the biggest reason right now.
If you want to change the Cheon-eum-jeol-maek to the Cheon-eum-shin-maek and learn the Reverse Cheon-sin-gong, it will cost you a huge amount of money.
But, having spent my entire life learning and teaching martial arts in the blood sect, the only thing I knew how to do was teach martial arts.
'I wondered how he could make that much money… … .'
I happened to hear from Go Ju-you that 'If you become a daily instructor, you will make a lot of money.'
What followed was a natural conclusion.
'First, let's get a job as an instructor at Cheongryong Academy and earn some money. Even if we start a business later, we'll need capital.'
For that reason, I decided to take the Cheongryong Academy entrance exam which was held in three months.
My father stared at me for a while, as if trying to gauge the true meaning of my words, then nodded with a smirk.
"My son, who only knew martial arts, seems to have grown up a bit now. Yes. He should earn a lot of money and make his father a good man."
"Because I saw what you were doing."
"This guy?"
slap!
My father, who had hit my back with his schoolbag, smiled cheerfully and said:
"If you're done resting, get up. Let's go earn some money."
"Yes, yes… … ."
I took a deep breath and stood up, holding my trembling knees.
We climbed Geommubong Peak, sometimes ahead, sometimes behind.
Aside from the fact that I foamed at the mouth a few times here and there, nothing major happened.
"Ugh… … . Ugh… … !"
"They're here! Just hold on a little longer!"
Honestly, I feel a little sorry for this body's father, Baek Mu-Heun.
Although I didn't take it because I wanted to, I took over his son's body and pretended to be his son.
'But I can't tell the truth either.'
Anyway, since they were the parents who gave birth to 'this body', I thought that I would do my best to fulfill my duty to them someday.
"Ugh… … Hey! It's here ah! Huh! Gasp!"
I finally reached the top of Geommubong Peak and looked around, panting.
Ssssssssut.
A thick fog covered the area, limiting visibility.
My father looked around cautiously and asked me.
"I feel a strange energy, but is there something like an elixir here?"
"Ugh… … . Gasp… … . Over there."
Amid the surroundings being completely white, I searched for a rock with a tiger's tooth engraved on it, as Maenghoak had told me.
'There you go.'
That rock was where the formation began.
As we approached, the fog around the rock began to disperse, clump together, and change shape.
I felt relieved when I saw that sight.
'Since the formation remains, there's a high chance that the elixir will remain as well.'
"Follow me carefully."
As I glanced to the side and spoke, my father had a very embarrassed expression on his face.
My father also felt an unusual flow of energy around him.
"I thought I was scammed by another itinerant herbalist… …. Is it true that there are elixirs in a place like this?"
"Have you been living a lie? I'm telling you the truth."
Baek Su-Yong had been obsessed with learning martial arts since long ago and had gone on many bizarre journeys (such as obtaining magic books), so when I suggested that we go to Baekun Mountain to find an elixir, my father followed me with a look on his face like he was thinking, 'This time too, it's going to be the same.'
No matter what he said, he was a weak father to his sickly son.
"If you don't want to get lost, keep your wits about you and follow me."
"… … Really. I feel possessed by a ghost."
Fortunately, the formation itself wasn't that difficult to destroy.
It was the kind that would make you lose your sense of direction and get you lost, but I found the living room door and entered without much difficulty, just as I had heard from Maenghoak.
'I will use the elixir left by the blind man.'
As I headed inside the formation, I pictured the bearded face of the tiger.
-Kuhahaha. I hid my treasures all over the world. Do you know how many thieves there are in the Green Forest? If I went missing, they would all try to steal my treasures… … Hehaha. I hid the most precious things well in advance.
Despite his huge, bear-like size, Maenghoak was a smart and clever man.
Of course, you can never become a master if you are stupid.
Maeng Ho-ak had one grand goal.
-I will make Nokrim a prestigious school just like Gupaebang!
Everyone dismissed it as nonsense.
If he had not been a peerless master who had become the youngest person to occupy one of the Seventy-Two Green Forests at the age of sixteen with his innate divine powers and had earned the nickname of Green Forest Fighter King by uniting the Green Forest at the age of twenty-five, countless people would have laughed at him in his presence. Theaters of the famous political faction were offended by the declaration of Maenghoak and sent him a secret letter to punish him severely.
-Huh. I let them all live. I showed them the difference in skill between the weaklings and made them know of this old man's mercy.
But contrary to his expectations, the notoriety of the Green Forest Fighter King grew day by day.
Instead of sparing the challengers' lives, he broke their limbs one by one, rendering them crippled.
-Why did you do that? Then they won't go out and start spreading false rumors that they won. So I have to leave behind clear evidence that I won.
It was around that time that the title of "Top Ten Masters in the World" began to be attached before the nickname of "Nokrim Toowong".
When I told him that story, Maeng Ho-ak picked his ears and said this.
-Teenager? I think one of the guys who got beat up by me and ran away was called that.
If he had not been betrayed by his trusted subordinate, Meng Hao-ak might have come down from the mountain and established the Nokrim Gate.
If only I hadn't been trapped in the Blood Cult's prison.
-Hey, little one.
The tiger called me a lover.
-Why, Master Maeng?
I called him Master Blind.
It wasn't just Maenghoak who called it that.
I called all four absolute masters 'masters'.
Of course, it was not a relationship that could be called a normal priest-student relationship.
'It was a temporary alliance formed to escape from the Blood Cult together.'
There was a contract between me and them, and because of that contract, they generously taught me all their martial arts.
Those years were 10 years. Over ten years, I got to hear about what kind of lives four people lived.
Because they were locked in the brain prison, the only people they could talk to were each other and me.
-… … If, just in case, I die and you escape from here alone.
One day, Meng Hao-ak called me and told me about the secret hideouts he had built in the mountains of Central Plains.
I asked back bluntly.
-Why are you suddenly telling me that?
-Hehehe. Wouldn't it be better for you to eat it rather than save it and have it turn into poop?
-Hmm. Is this all the meat side dishes for today?
-What the hell! Do you think I'm asking for more of that meat dish?
-Come to think of it, there seems to have been a bit more meat… ….
-Can you tell me one more thing?
"It's a hut."
My father's surprised voice pulled me back from the past to reality.
What appeared before us as we emerged through the thick fog was an old shack that looked like it might collapse at any moment.
Next to the cabin, a small hot spring was emitting steam.
"There must be an elixir hidden somewhere… … The elixir must be hidden there."
"I don't know what's going on. Is it true that the rumors I heard from the wandering medicine vendor are true…?"
My father shook his head and stepped forward, drawing his sword.
Father walked slowly towards the cabin, keeping a close eye on his surroundings.
"In the world of martial arts, you can never let your guard down until the last moment. You never know what kind of trap there might be."
"There are no traps. Instead… … ."
Before I could even finish speaking.
Roooorrrrrrrr.......!!!!!!
Along with the roar of a beast that shook the mountains and rivers, a huge shadow fell upon us.