Pay‑to‑Win King of Martial Arts (Novel) - Chapter 141 - Karmic Ties (5)

Chapter 141 – Karmic Ties (5)

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Translated by Heavenly Cat

Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net

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“Then I won the wager.”

“Didn’t I say as much? Since you won, there should be a reward. What do you want? Martial arts? Spiritual medicine? Shall I even spar with you?” Hyeon-wol, who had treated me dismissively until just before, suddenly turned proactive.

At this point, it almost felt as though all that disregard had been a deliberate test.

“Naturally, I do have a request.”

“Good. Speak whatever you want.” “Please let me out of here.”

“Hm?”

Hyeon-wol frowned.

It seemed he had wanted me to ask for something related to martial arts. “It seems you don’t understand what this is. This is quite a major fortuitous encounter. Haven’t you met a reclusive grandmaster?”

“I understand that, but I’m rather busy right now.”

“You’re saying there’s something more urgent than obtaining something from me?”

“Yes. Grandmaster seems to have a rather inflated sense of self.” When I answered coolly, Hyeon-wol’s expression turned incredulous.

“To kick away a blessing even as it comes to you. Compared to your comprehension, is your intelligence a little lacking? I did see plenty of the big lumps from the Hebei Peng Clan acting like that.”

“I’m only setting priorities. If you truly want to teach me something that badly, then come to the Hall of Exhausting the Way later after I finish what I need to do. I might not be there, though.”

Hyeon-wol looked profoundly flustered. Apparently he had expected me to pant at him like a dog if he offered to teach me something.

But I was someone who had developed my strength more through the talent from the martial shop than through anyone’s instruction.

The teaching of a grandmaster would surely be helpful, but not enough to delay the urgent matter before me now.

“Inside this formation is also a place excellent for gathering refined internal energy and training. It isn’t even a space permitted to ordinary disciples.” “I understand. But I told you, I have urgent business.”

“And what urgent business could possibly be more important than improving your martial arts? For a martial artist, what could be more urgent than that?”

For a moment, I considered telling him. That the Taiji Wisdom Sword had leaked out, and that his disciple Cheong-hwa seemed suspicious.

“…Hm.”

“Why can’t you say it?”

“No. I’ll just not say it.” The expression of Hyeon-wol, who had been waiting for my answer, flushed red.

There were two ways to provoke someone.

The first was to stop in the middle of what you were saying…

In any case, I wasn’t remaining silent merely to provoke him. I simply didn’t want to spread this matter any further than necessary.

“You really are mocking me.”

“I’m not mocking you. I truly have circumstances that leave me no choice.”

“Then what are they!” In the end, Hyeon-wol exploded.

It produced the very strange scene of a grandmaster getting angry at his own grand-disciple.

Only then did I become certain that Hyeon-wol had been acting in front of me all along.

If he had not originally wanted to teach me, there was no reason for him to cling to me this much. Even so, the experience of old age truly couldn’t be ignored.

He acted far better than his disciple Cheong-hwa.

That was why I hadn’t caught on at first.

“I can’t answer that question, but I can answer another one.” “What other question?”

“Didn’t you ask what could be more important to a martial artist than improving his martial arts?”

“Did I say that?” Hyeon-wol seemed excited enough that he couldn’t even remember his own words.

I nodded and continued.

“Something far more important to a martial artist than improving his martial arts. That is upholding righteousness.”

“Righteousness? Are you speaking those words while properly understanding what they mean?” “I don’t know if I understand it properly. I only know that I am carrying out what I believe to be right.”

“And refusing to tell me what your urgent business is, that too is what you think is right?”

“You understood me exactly.”

The redness faded from Hyeon-wol’s face. Then he started chuckling, and before long broke into loud laughter aimed at the sky.

Wiping tears from the corners of his eyes with his fingers, Hyeon-wol nodded.

“Truly. You are a ridiculous fellow. A grand-disciple who makes his grandmaster wait. Have you ever seen such a creature without any respect for order?”

Still unable to restrain his laughter, Hyeon-wol continued. “Yes. Rank is a virtue one must keep within Wudang, while righteousness is a virtue one must keep as a person. Before you’re a martial artist of Wudang, you’re still a person, so that is a sentiment I can fully understand.”

“Thank you for understanding.”

“Then once your business is finished, will you return here to this hermitage?”

“I’ll come back as quickly as I can. I’ll bring a gift too.” “To think you would try to persuade your grandmaster with some worldly object like that. You truly are a merchant. For a moment, I almost thought you were joking.”

“I don’t lack order so badly that I’d joke around with my grandmaster.”

Hyeon-wol smiled.

It seemed he liked my answer. “Then listen to just one thing before you go. Think of it as a taste of what I intend to teach you.”

“Yes.”

“You still are not a vessel capable of containing the world. The reason you were able, for even a moment, to assimilate with nature was because this place is a world whose inside and outside have been severed by the formation.” For an instant, I focused.

This truly did feel like a fortuitous encounter.

There were times when a single phrase was a greater opportunity than a demonstration of martial arts.

“That was my impression too. It felt like I wouldn’t be able to use it outside the formation.” “Tsk tsk. No. This is a matter of perception.”

“A matter of perception?”

“Yes. You, have you ever been to Dongyeong?”

Dongyeong. There were certainly merchants who traded with Dongyeong, but I had never gone there myself.

“No.”

“Surely there was once a time in your childhood when you didn’t know what Dongyeong was. Later, someone told you, and only then did you come to know it.”

“That much is true.” “In the same sense, when you were very young, you probably believed your mother’s embrace was the whole of the world.”

“…Hmm.”

I thought I was beginning to understand what Hyeon-wol meant.

It sounded as though the range of one’s perception was itself one’s world. “But what do I do about that? I’ve already come to know a wide world. Even among the people of the Central Plains, few have traveled as widely as I have.”

I truly had gone all over the Central Plains in my previous life.

I had even gone to the Northern Sea, the southern wilds, and the Western Regions.

In that sense, I lived in a broader world than most. “Then segment your perception. Narrow the world in which you live, and gain control over that space.”

“How is that any different from the nonsense people say in the Northern Sea, that if you brainwash yourself into thinking it’s warm then it’ll become warm?”

“That is not nonsense. It only becomes foolishness because people without any enlightenment think of it that way. Of course, it won’t be easy. But continue to try. The narrower you make the world, the more closely you’ll be able to see it, and the more closely you see it, the wider your vessel will become.”

“Hmm.” What airy nonsense.

For someone like me, who was more accustomed to speaking in numbers and calculations, this was far too difficult.

But I couldn’t afford to lose more time here. “All right, I understand for now. Please let me out now.”

“Fine. But you absolutely must come back.”

Now Hyeon-wol wasn’t even trying to act anymore and had gone so far as to request it from me directly.

“Of course.” “Good. That’s a promise.”

Hyeon-wol stretched out his hand toward the sky.

At once, I sensed it by intuition.

That a hole had opened in the formation that had obstructed me so oppressively until now. “Thank you.”

I bowed my head and ran in the direction Hyeon-wol indicated.

Originally I should have struck the formation, but instead I slipped right through.

The moment I passed beyond the formation, the cliff spread out before me without warning. It was so steep that climbing straight upward was impossible with my current level of qinggong, so I had to use Flowing Cloud Steps diagonally, tracing a zigzag path.

The trees and grasses of Wudang Mountain rushed past me.

Because I was moving so fast, even small branches scratched and tore my skin.

If I had reached the level of protective aura, this wouldn’t have happened. The higher my realm climbed, the more clearly I could see the next stage above me.

This was no time for joy, but surely this was the delight in learning that the Master spoke of.

I raced straight for the Hall of Exhausting the Way.

As expected, Cheong-hwa wasn’t in his room. Of course, I hadn’t come expecting him to be there.

I had come to begin tracing things from there.

“Senior Brothers!” There were only certain people I could ask.

Myeong-seong, Myeong-gyeong, and Myeong-jin, training in the rear courtyard.

The so-called trio of little senior brothers.

“Junior Brother, what happened to you? Did you roll down somewhere?” Myeong-gyeong, who spotted me first, was startled at the sight of me.

Since I had focused only on running, my clothes were in tatters and my skin was badly scraped.

Naturally, I was grateful for his concern, but this was no time to show gratitude for that.

“That’s not important right now. Have you seen Master?” “Master? I think he went toward Hall of Preserved Wholeness earlier.”

“Ah. I see.”

“Come inside first. I’ll put some wound medicine on you.”

“There’s no time for that.” “What? Junior Brother! Where are you going!”

I spun on my heel and flew straight toward Hall of Preserved Wholeness.

Myeong-gyeong’s voice shouting from behind quickly faded away.

As soon as I reached Hall of Preserved Wholeness, another disciple there was startled by the sight of me. “What happened? Where are you hurt?”

“That’s not what’s important. Have you seen Master?”

“Master? Martial Uncle Cheong-hwa? He went into the hall master’s room at dawn. But he won’t be there now. The Hall Master left this morning.”

“Is that so? Then may I go into the hall master’s room for a moment?” “Of course not. The Hall Master isn’t here, so how could you go into the hall master’s room?”

“It’s urgent.”

At once, I used Flowing Cloud Steps, slipped past the disciple, and entered Hall of Preserved Wholeness. The disciple on duty tried to seize me with a qinna technique, but I bent my body flexibly and avoided it.

“Hey! I said you can’t!”

The disciple hurried after me from behind.

Ignoring him, I went straight to the office of the Hall Master of Hall of Preserved Wholeness and flung the door open. As the disciple had said, Cheong-su wasn’t in the seat where the Hall Master should have been sitting.

Instead, there was a liquor bottle and cups, and sprawled on the floor was the very Master I had been searching for, Cheong-hwa.

“What in the world are you doing…”

The disciple who had chased in after me, trying to stop me, was also stunned by the sight of the room. There was the liquor bottle and cups, which violated the rules, and Cheong-hwa, who had entered at dawn, lay collapsed there as well.

I immediately turned Master over and checked his wrist.

His pulse was naturally normal, and from the look of his complexion it didn’t seem he had drunk any poison that directly threatened his life.

“What happened here?” The disciple asked from behind, but I didn’t know either, so I had nothing to answer.

All I could do was lay Cheong-hwa’s head on my lap and start slapping his cheeks.

“Master, Master! Wake up!”

“Hey, hey! What are you doing to Martial Uncle!” Smack. Smack.

I was too desperate to control my strength.

With a sound like a whip cutting through the wind, my palm struck Cheong-hwa’s cheek sharply again and again.

“Ugh… mm…” “Wake up, old man!”

Even after that, I slapped him another four or five times, and only then did Cheong-hwa’s eyelids slowly rise.

It seemed I had hit him rather hard, because both cheeks were swollen.

“I’m awake, brat.” When I went to hit him again, Cheong-hwa caught my wrist.

Even so, his voice was still thick with sleep.

“Senior Brother, sorry, but could you bring a bowl of cold water? I think Master needs to clear his head.” “Ah, all right.”

The disciple of Hall of Preserved Wholeness immediately went to prepare cold water.

While he did, I propped Cheong-hwa against the wall.

It was only around then that Cheong-hwa seemed to regain some clarity and began looking around. “Cheong-su, Senior Brother Cheong-su?”

“The Hall Master? I heard he left this morning.”

“What time is it now?”

“The sun is at mid-heaven. It’s noon.” “Damn it!”

Cheong-hwa tried to rise by bracing one hand on the ground, but wavered and lost his balance.

I hurriedly supported him.

Cheong-hwa ground out his words in frustration. “Damn, the poison still hasn’t left my system.”

“Poison? What poison?”

“I drank qi-dispersing poison and a sleeping drug. Because of the qi-dispersing poison, I can’t raise my internal energy, so I don’t think I can expel the remaining sleeping drug either.”

“Why would you drink that?” “Do you think I drank it because I wanted to!”

Cheong-hwa shouted.

Only then did the pieces finally start moving in my head.

Cheong-hwa hadn’t known the Taiji Wisdom Sword had been leaked, but he had seemed to roughly know who the culprit was. And if he had come to meet Cheong-su and then ended up drinking qi-dispersing poison…

“…Is the Hall Master the one who leaked it?”

Though there was no one around us, I lowered my voice as much as possible. Cheong-hwa hesitated, then lowered his gaze.

“Yes.”

“Then where did the Hall Master go?”

“Th-that’s right. That’s it. We have to stop Senior Brother Cheong-su. Right now, he must have gone to Luoyang in Henan.” “Why Luoyang in Henan?”

Cheong-hwa gave me a short explanation.

There was someone in Luoyang that Cheong-su wanted revenge on, but the guards protecting that person were too strong for Cheong-su to defeat alone.

It was far too abbreviated for me to understand all the circumstances. Why Cheong-su, the leaker, had done it.

Why Cheong-hwa was worried about Cheong-su.

I understood none of that.

But the desperate urgency in Master’s eyes was unmistakable. For me, that was enough.

“Right now, I’m the only one who knows this, correct?”

“Yes.”

“And others mustn’t know?” “…That’s right. So that’s how it is.”

Cheong-hwa looked at me and sighed.

“Go to Henan quickly and bring Senior Brother Cheong-su back to Wudang. He’ll probably be heading to the Fang Estate in Luoyang. This is your Master’s request.”

“I understand.” Whatever the circumstances, if it was Master’s request, then I had no choice but to go.

That was the virtue of a disciple.

Of course, it wasn’t hierarchy between Master and disciple that moved me. It was the karmic tie between us.