Pay‑to‑Win King of Martial Arts (Novel) - Chapter 137 - Karmic Ties (1)

Chapter 137 – Karmic Ties (1)

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Translated by Heavenly Cat

Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net

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Cheong-su’s original name had been Jang Hae-won. Along with a few of the other disciples, Jang Hae-won had not suffered some grand and tragic event before entering Wudang.

Rather, Jang Hae-won had been a child who entered Wudang of his own choosing.

Of course, it had not been entirely voluntary. Jang Hae-won’s father was a tenant farmer in Shanxi.

So theirs was a life far removed from abundance.

They were always struggling, and the family’s second child, Jang Hae-won’s younger sibling, even died of a sudden fatal illness. Even in such a shadowed life, they lived by trying as much as possible to embrace and encourage one another.

From the age of five, Jang Hae-won helped his father with the work.

His hands were still tiny, but he could at least cut weeds. “Son. You shouldn’t be doing things like this at your age…”

“It’s okay! If I can do it, then I should!”

His not-yet-formed tongue made clumsy sounds, but his heart was already that of an adult. Then an immense tragedy came upon them.

It was the third child’s conception.

The reason was that Jang Hae-won’s mother became pregnant after passing forty, because his father had let down his guard. Of course, at the time, it was not a tragedy.

The birth of a new life was always a blessing, and perhaps because it was a late-age pregnancy, it received even more congratulations.

But they must all have known. When life was born into a household that was not prepared, that meant the birth of another tragedy as well.

“Father.” “Yes?”

“There’ll be another mouth at dinner now.”

“Shh. This isn’t the time to say such things.” Even seven-year-old Jang Hae-won could sense the coming tragedy, but lest the coming child notice, they deliberately celebrated all the more loudly.

That celebration was enough to intoxicate even the family members who knew the truth and make them forget reality.

The third child was a daughter. Since the father was a diligent tenant farmer, he pushed himself even harder, to the very limit.

The third child, who greeted him with a bright smile whenever he returned home, unwittingly became a whip driving him onward.

But as a tenant farmer, even if he worked the entire day, it was difficult to support a family of four. Meanwhile, the third child, Jang Hae-rin, continued to grow with no way to stop it, and one day the father, nodding off, struck the back of his own hand with his hoe.

Ordinarily, it was the sort of injury that could have been treated at a medical clinic, but they had no spare money.

Clutching his rotting hand, the father watched the faces of his family. Even if Jang Hae-won worked, he was only eight years old.

No matter how hard he tried, he could never earn enough wages to feed a family of four.

It was around then that Jang Hae-won caught the eye of someone from Wudang. There had been a reason he had been able to work the fields from the age of five.

It was only possible because he had been born with extraordinary martial bones.

The man from Wudang first came to Jang Hae-won’s home. He had come to bring Jang Hae-won into the main sect as a disciple.

A disciple of Wudang had come to their collapsing house. The only thing they had to offer him was a scoop of water in a gourd, with a little dirt settled at the bottom.

The man from Wudang politely declined and said,

“I wish to take this child in as a main-sect disciple of Wudang.” “That child is the one feeding our household right now.”

That was what the mother said.

Perhaps because she had long eaten porridge made from roots and bark, the speech of a woman once gentle had become quite hard. The man from Wudang knew what she meant.

Of course, if it had been a wealthy martial family, they would have shouted in delight and sent him off at once, but in a poor farming household like this, it was customary to pay money and take the child.

“No. You can’t. That child is our child. How can you speak of taking him away?” The one who objected then was Jang Hae-won’s father.

Wrapped in strips of cloth, the man’s hand oozed black corruption and stank of rot.

“The most important thing is the child’s own will. This boy has martial bones far too precious for him to spend his life merely as the son of a farming household.” That was what the man from Wudang said.

In truth, Jang Hae-won really did possess rare martial bones.

Just as Wudang disciples generally did. “And we do not intend to take the child away empty-handed. We will give you money as well.”

“I’ll go.”

The one who answered that was Jang Hae-won himself. The mother could say nothing and only bowed her head, while the father shouted,

“Hae-won! What are you saying!” “How much can you give?”

The man from Wudang looked at Jang Hae-won with a warm smile.

“Around twenty taels of silver. That would be enough to heal your father’s hand and even buy a plot of field in your father’s name.” “All right.”

That was how Jang Hae-won’s journey to Wudang was decided.

His mother wept with her head bowed, and his father sat on the ground with his legs sprawled out, wearing an expression of hollow despair. “Because I have no ability, I am losing my son!”

What was reflected in Jang Hae-won’s eyes when he looked back from the doorway was that scene.

It was the sort of scene one could easily witness in any penniless household of the Central Plains. And later, Jang Hae-won, who would become Cheong-su, came to realize that that scene had not settled only in his eyes, but in his heart as well.

At the time, Jang Hae-won had not known that going to Wudang would mean never seeing his parents again for the rest of his life.

But it was Wudang’s rule that all ties with the secular world had to be cut cleanly. After learning that he could never return home, Jang Hae-won wandered lost in Wudang for a long time.

He often cried while training, and he was even caught trying to run away at night because he missed his mother and father.

He sobbed on his bed every night, until even his senior brothers shouted at him. But the blade called time always dulled whatever had once been sharp.

At some point, Cheong-su no longer cried while training, and gradually formed good relationships with his Wudang brothers.

His Martial Uncles were strict, yet kind, and his brothers were brothers in the truest sense. Wudang had truly become a new family.

Even when he occasionally thought of his old family, he merely told himself that if his sacrifice had saved them, then it had been a sufficiently noble choice.

But karmic ties were far more tenacious than anyone imagined. “Senior Brother. Isn’t it nice to be out in the Jianghu after so long? Shall we grab a drink?”

At the time, he was traveling the Jianghu with Cheong-hwa. They were just past twenty, and since no Martial Uncle accompanied them, it was the very image of a free journey through the Jianghu.

“What kind of Daoist drinks? Has the boy gone mad?”

“They say even the Martial Uncles all drink when they’re outside.” “Are you a Martial Uncle?”

It was while he was exchanging such trivial jokes with Cheong-hwa.

In Cheong-su’s eyes, a woman who looked to be in the flower of her youth brushed past. Cheong-su cut off in the middle of speaking and stood there staring blankly at her.

“Senior Brother? What, are you interested in women too?”

Cheong-hwa noticed and mocked him, but Cheong-su had no leisure to answer such a joke. All he could do was resent the karmic tie heaven had sent down.

He recognized her at once, by instinct alone.

That girl was his younger sister, Jang Hae-rin. Jang Hae-rin had grown into a beauty so striking that every young man in the village would turn to look.

It truly was fate.

Jang Hae-won’s family had originally lived in Zhejiang, yet the place they were in now was Henan. What had happened that they had come all the way from Zhejiang to Henan?

And for them to run into him there, while he himself was out on a Jianghu journey.

It was a tie so cruel it bordered on malice. “Hey. Cheong-hwa.”

“Yes, Senior Brother. Shall I ask where she lives? If you’re embarrassed, I can do it.” “Yes.”

“Huh? Really?”

Cheong-hwa was surprised. He had only said it to tease him, and had never thought this prickly senior brother would actually agree.

At once, Cheong-hwa grew interested.

Of course, it was a violation of the rules, but they were still young men who had only just passed twenty and whose blood ran hot. If even this endlessly prickly senior brother had taken an interest in a woman, then Cheong-hwa had no choice but to help.

Because it sounded fun.

“Just a moment.” Cheong-hwa went after Jang Hae-rin, who had disappeared into an alley.

Fortunately, he did not need to suffer the embarrassment of asking where she lived.

That was because he saw Jang Hae-rin enter a tumbledown thatched house just inside the alley. Cheong-hwa came right back out and returned to Cheong-su.

“Senior Brother. It’s just inside this alley.”

“Is that so?” With a strangely stiff face, Cheong-su walked toward the alley.

Seeing that face, Cheong-hwa thought his senior brother must be nervous because he had fallen for her.

“That one.” When Cheong-su entered the alley, Cheong-hwa pointed to the thatched house.

It was the sort of house that looked as though anyone could tell the people living there were miserably poor. “Ha.”

The moment he saw that house, Cheong-su let out a sigh.

Twenty taels of silver was not a small amount, and yet how had things turned out like this again? If anything, the house looked even more dilapidated than before.

“Unbelievable.”

“Was she that pretty? Pretty enough to leave you speechless? Well, she was pretty.” “Enough.”

Cheong-su struck the back of Cheong-hwa’s neck with the edge of his hand and turned away.

Once a disciple of Wudang received a Daoist name, he was forbidden from contacting his former family. It was a rule enforced with severity.

“Cheong-hwa.”

“Yes?” Cheong-su could not continue.

He had to tell him to return to Wudang.

He had to forget that house completely. “Why are you dragging it out like that? Should I give you some privacy?”

“That’s not it.”

“Then what is it?” “…How much of our travel money is left?”

“A decent amount. We were going to drink with it.”

“Sorry, but can I use it?” Cheong-hwa’s eyes widened.

Among all the senior brothers he knew, Cheong-su was the one who lived the most exemplary Daoist life and kept the rules most strictly. That was the truth, even if he had been the whiniest one when they were youngest.

Soon a smile spread across Cheong-hwa’s surprised face.

“Ah. I get it. You want to buy that girl a gift, right? That’s fair.” “No.”

“Of course it is. Let’s be honest with each other. We’re family.”

“We are.” Cheong-su went on in a bitter tone.

“And the people living in that house are my family too.”

For a moment, Cheong-hwa could not understand what he meant. Then, belatedly, he realized, and his face too stiffened.

“Let’s return to the sect, Senior Brother.”

“Give me the money.” “No. That’s a violation of the rules. If we’re caught, we’ll be locked in the Cave of Repentance for five years. This is completely different from sneaking a drink.”

“I know.”

“If you know, then you can’t do this.” “I know. But what else can I do?”

Since Cheong-hwa had been with Cheong-su from their youth, he knew how much Cheong-su had always thought of his family.

He also knew how hard he had tried to forget them. But family was not something that could be forgotten in the first place.

The more you tried to forget, the more vividly it remained. “Ha…”

After looking at Cheong-su for a long moment, Cheong-hwa pulled out the money pouch.

It contained the travel money they had left. Cheong-su’s eyes wavered when he saw the pouch in Cheong-hwa’s hand.

“Here. Take it before I change my mind.”

“…Thank you.” And so, Cheong-su at last broke the rules in that way.

And Cheong-hwa had a feeling.

He felt that this would not be the last time Senior Brother Cheong-su broke the rules. * * *

Boom!

A tremendous explosion rang out. I had formed a sword pellet and fired it upward toward the cliff.

The invisible qi barrier around the hermitage was physically blocking me.

I had been trying to pierce that formation. The smoke cleared.

The place I had sent the sword pellet into looked perfectly smooth, without so much as a scratch.

“Damn it.” I returned to the hermitage.

Then again, if it had been a formation I could break through at my current level, Cheong-hwa would never have dragged me all the way here in the first place. Giving up on piercing the formation, I decided to take a look around the little hermitage instead.

Of course, I had already done that once before.

Behind the hermitage was a small spring, and around the spring weeds were growing thickly. I crouched down and drank from the spring first.

After using force, my throat was dry.

“Because of that crazy Master, I’m the only one suffering.” “When you say that crazy Master, are you referring to Cheong-hwa?”

The moment I heard that voice, water went down the wrong pipe and I coughed violently.

With tear-filled eyes, I looked around, but not only could I see no one, I could not even sense anyone with my qi. “Cough, cough. Who are you?”

“Disciples these days have no manners. It should be you who gives his identity first.”

My mind instantly cleared. This was a hermitage on Wudang Mountain.

Naturally, the person here would also be someone of Wudang.

And judging by how he called Cheong-hwa by name, he obviously belonged to a higher generation than Cheong-hwa. I immediately saluted with cupped fists and lowered my head.

“I am Muk Hui-yeong, a lay disciple of Wudang and the disciple of Immortal Cheong-hwa. Where might the honored elder be?”

“A lay disciple? This is the first time I’ve seen a lay disciple at Nambam.” “Would you at least tell me where you are?”

“Even though I stand right in front of you, you cannot see me. You truly have knot-hole eyes.”

I looked around again. Whether because the voice was echoing inside the formation, or because he was using voice projection through the six directions from the beginning, I could not tell where it was coming from.

“My realm is still too low, and so I cannot perceive where the honored elder is.” “You make lazy excuses without even trying to observe properly. It seems Cheong-hwa too must have knot-hole eyes. How did he ever accept a disciple like you?”

The disappointed voice rang out around the hermitage.

My brow furrowed at once. “Insult me if you like, but don’t insult my Master.”

“Wasn’t it that Master of yours who locked you up here? That’s why you called him a crazy Master.”

“…That’s true enough. Even so, how can it be the same when I say it and when someone else says it?” “Heh heh. What a funny one you are. You can insult him, but I can’t?”

At the same time, there came a rustling sound from the brush around the spring.

Before I knew it, someone was standing in front of the brush. The old man had hair and even eyebrows gone white, and his waist was bent.

I was almost shocked out of my skin.

The weeds around the spring only came up to about a person’s thighs, and they were sparse besides. It was not a place where anyone could hide.

“When did you get here?”

“What do you mean, when? I have been sitting in the brush as my companion this whole time.” “Are my eyes really knot-holes, that I couldn’t even see that?”

“Then they truly are knot-holes, aren’t they? Shall I show you again?”

The old man sat naturally down in the sparse brush. If he had truly been sitting there, there was no way I should have missed him.

And yet something astonishing happened. When I blinked, the old man sitting there vanished.

“Honored elder, please stop making sport of me.”

“I am sitting exactly where you saw me before. Open your eyes wide and look properly.” The old man’s voice rang out.

Half doubtful, I narrowed my eyes and sharpened my sight as I looked into the brush.

Then, astonishingly enough, I could see the old man sitting there amid the swaying weeds. The old man stepped back out of the brush.

I simply hung my mouth open as though I had been toyed with.

“Did I ever say I was unrelated to Cheong-hwa?” “Pardon?”

The old man smiled.

“My Daoist name is Hyeon-wol.” I was so startled that I immediately prostrated myself.

The Hyeon generation stood one rank above the Cheong generation.

From my point of view, he was a grandmaster as lofty as the heavens. And then even more shocking words came from the old man’s mouth.

“That insolent disciple. To think he took in a new disciple and did not say a single word to me.”

“…!” At once, I slammed my forehead to the ground and shouted at the top of my lungs.

“My respects, Grandmaster!” The old man’s true identity was none other than my Master’s Master.