Pay‑to‑Win King of Martial Arts (Novel) - Chapter 6 - Evaluation (3)

Chapter 6 – Evaluation (3)

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Translated by Heavenly Cat

Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net

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“The lay disciple Muk Hui-yeong is hereby punished with serving at the Hall of Preserved Wholeness for the time being. His hours of instruction as a lay disciple will still be guaranteed.”

Cheong-hyeon chewed the words and spat them out as if displeased. That alone told me the punishment had not been decided by Cheong-hyeon, but by Cheong-hwa.

Judging by the expressions on Sagong Hyeon and his followers, they were not particularly satisfied either. They seemed to think my punishment was too light.

And on that point, I agreed with them.

‘You’re not throwing me out over this?’

Last time they had expelled me for bringing in erotic pictures, yet this time I had openly thrown sand in the middle of a sparring match and they were letting me stay. For me, who had already been planning what to do once I got outside, it was a bewildering sentence.

“Lucky you, isn’t it? Not getting thrown out.”

Cheong-hyeon sneered openly. I made a point of ignoring his gaze. I did not want him marking me down even more here.

“Lay disciple Muk Hui-yeong accepts the order.”

I knew where the Hall of Preserved Wholeness was. After all, it stood right past the Sword Release Grounds that served as Wudang’s front gate. And what kind of place was it? It was the hall that handled Wudang’s money.

In other words, it managed the so-called donations from the shops around Jun County, which were really protection fees, and the so-called sponsorship funds that came in voluntarily from all over the country, which were really under-the-table money.

Because it handled the business closest to worldly affairs, it had been placed at the outermost edge. It was also a group that drifted at the margins within Wudang itself. It was hardly news that martial artists looked down on money.

‘Is money lowly? No. What is lowly is the way they earn it.’

Of course I knew why they used the labels donation and sponsorship. Protection fees and forced collections were forbidden by national law.

So long as the Imperial Court’s scrutiny remained sharp as a blade, even the Wudang Sect of the Nine Great Sects could not openly collect protection fees. For that same reason, even the unorthodox sects dared not use the term protection fee.

“Still, I do wonder whether you can keep up with Wudang’s instruction. Even for lay disciples, we do not casually let people attach the name Wudang to themselves. You will surely need personal practice time, and yet you will be spending that time entirely in service to the Hall of Preserved Wholeness.”

“I will work hard.”

“Working hard is not enough. You must do well. As you know, lay disciples are evaluated on a regular basis. If you fail to meet our standards then, you are sent down the mountain at once.”

“Yes. Understood.”

Cheong-hyeon clicked his tongue, still looking dissatisfied. Then again, they said no one in the history of the orthodox sects had ever thrown sand during a sparring match. There were many rigid men in the orthodox path, so there was every reason for him to dislike me.

Still, it was good news. Learning the standard by which I could leave was already a great gain.

I was going to leave Wudang, and all I had to do was make a complete mess of the first evaluation. It was very simple. Of course, it would be even better if I could leave before that.

“…Today we will look more deeply into the mnemonic verses of the Three Calamities Heart Method. Though the Three Calamities Heart Method is known as a lowly martial art of the marketplace, in truth it is a profound art capable of holding pure and orthodox internal force…”

Yawn. I was already getting sleepy. Since I had no hesitation about it, I simply closed my eyes. Since my whole purpose was to get out, there was no need to listen carefully to something I did not care about.

When I snapped my eyes open again, the tedious lecture on mnemonic verses was already over. I had meant only to pretend to sleep, but apparently I had truly fallen asleep.

“Are you seriously just sleeping out in the open?”

When I woke, Jeon Oh-su laughed from beside me. Looking around, I saw that everyone else was already staring at me like I was hopeless.

I said something I did not mean at all.

“You could’ve woken me.”

“Immortal Cheong-hyeon said not to. Said that Wudang doesn’t drag along people who lack the qualifications. But if you don’t listen, aren’t you the only one who loses out?”

“Why am I the one who loses out?”

“Even so, you paid a lot of money to become a lay disciple. You should at least learn something before you leave.”

“I don’t know about that.”

The reason I had to go outside was obvious. In any case, I had no intention of ever becoming a proper Wudang lay disciple.

To become a Wudang lay disciple, one had to defeat a third-generation disciple in a fight at the very end. Even third-generation disciples were roughly at the level of second-rate masters. An ordinary bit of martial talent could carry someone that far, but I did not even have that ordinary amount.

Naturally, once I had money in my previous life, I had tried to learn martial arts as well. I bought advanced manuals that circulated in the black market, and I even hired renowned martial artists as teachers, but I had no talent for it to the bitter end.

My body’s flexibility, the speed at which I gained strength, my agility, every talent connected to moving the body was poor. Nor did I have any special insight into martial arts themselves.

Only after wasting money on martial arts for years did I finally admit it humbly. I was a man with mercantile talent, but not martial talent.

“Still, it feels like you do have martial talent. What a shame.”

“Really. That’s actually a fraud.”

“A fraud?”

The fraud was the Martial Talent Shop, what else. The talent had not been mine. It was something I had bought from the shop.

My determination to leave had also hardened because of the item’s effects. The Martial Talent Shop could clearly compensate for my lack of martial talent, but in the end I still needed money to buy its goods.

And while I remained a lay disciple at Wudang, there was no way for me to earn money. At most I could make a bit of pocket change by selling grass flutes to little children.

“At that rate, I’d be better off going outside and selling steaming bowls of gukbap.”

“Why did gukbap suddenly come up?”

“There are reasons.”

Jeon Oh-su tilted his head, but I had no obligation to explain more to him. Even if I did, he would never believe me anyway.

After the lesson came self-study time. None of them were fooling around with Taiji Fist like on the first day. Everyone was diligently practicing the basics of the Three Calamities Heart Method and the Three Calamities Fist.

Of course, time like that was not given to me. Though even if it had been, I would not have used it.

“I’ve come to fetch you.”

“…I could have gone on my own.”

Cheong-hwa had come in person to escort me.

“From now on I will be teaching the lay disciples as well. So at present I belong to the Outer Court. Of course, I also still belong to the Hall of Exhausting the Way, which studies this sect’s martial arts.”

Once Wudang’s martial artists reached a certain level in their generation, they were assigned to groups within Wudang and worked there. The place in charge of the lay disciples was Wudang’s Outer Court, and Cheong-hwa was saying he had taken a seat there.

“Since you sent me to the Hall of Preserved Wholeness, I assumed you were from there.”

“I don’t mind, but don’t say that sort of thing to others. The Hall of Preserved Wholeness handles money, so it tends to be looked down on. To some people, those words could sound insulting. Saying someone seems like a person from the Hall of Preserved Wholeness is the same as calling them a money grubber.”

“Ah, I see. I’ll keep that in mind.”

I answered like that while cursing inwardly.

Since when was handling money a crime? They are people who could not live even a single day without it, yet they put on a fine show of acting clean.

“So what exactly will I be doing? Cleaning?”

“There are people assigned to cleaning, so no. You’ll be taking on courier duty.”

“Courier duty?”

“That’s right. Since it handles finance, it exchanges business with every hall.”

With every hall? A chill ran down my spine.

Wudang Mountain was one of the Nine Great Sects. That meant it was a vast power. Naturally, it also had many halls.

The Three Purities Hall, where the sect leader and elders stayed, was right on Heavenly Pillar Peak at the summit of Wudang Mountain, the Golden Summit itself.

If you started from the Outer Court halfway up the mountain, it would take a full two shijin just to climb there.

“If I become a courier, I think Wudang might grind to a halt.”

“Heh heh. Don’t worry. You won’t be the only courier.”

“I think I would be an enormous burden on the other couriers.”

“That doesn’t matter. We’re simply adding one more person to an already existing structure. If anything, you’ll be some help.”

Cheong-hwa laughed and knocked away every objection I raised.

Inside, I thought, if I get tied up in this the wrong way, I’m done for.

Martial artists would never think of it, but I was a commoner who could fall to his death from one misstep.

“Of course, I’m not saying you’ll start today. You need to learn the layout first.”

Cheong-hwa laughed heartily as he dragged my stunned self to the Hall of Preserved Wholeness. Inside were maps of Wudang Mountain and the positions of its various halls.

There were more than ten halls alone. Some deranged lunatic had even built halls in places where you had to climb sheer rock walls to reach them. And they expected a courier to run around to all those places. It was insane.

While pretending to listen carefully to Cheong-hwa’s explanation, I made up my mind. I would flee in the dead of night.

I did not want this precious second life of mine to end with a fatal slip.

***

To be honest, who would really watch some mere lay disciple sneaking off in the night? Plenty of people wanted to come into Wudang, but no one wanted to leave. There would naturally be many layers of caution on the way in, but little on the way out.

I folded up the pale blue robe of a Wudang lay disciple neatly and changed back into the clothes I usually wore.

Perhaps the first day of lessons had drained them mentally, because not a single one of the boys woke.

I considered at least saying farewell to Jeon Oh-su, but I did not want to stir up needless trouble.

‘If fate connects us again, we’ll meet.’

I tied my travel bag at my waist and quietly slipped out of the building where the lay disciples slept.

The darkness over the mountain path was too deep for the moonlight to cut through. Did martial artists see so well in the dark that they did not even need lanterns? Damn martial artists.

Wudang Mountain might not be the most dangerous mountain under heaven, but it was certainly high enough to say farewell to life if one tried to descend it at night.

I summoned the Martial Talent Shop. I wanted to see whether there was an item suited to the situation.

[ Dark Adaptation – Ninth Grade ]

[ Price: eighty copper coins ]

Fortunately, I found something that matched both the price range and the present situation. I pulled out the one-hundred-coin banknote from my travel bag. It was the note Immortal Cheong-hwa had given me.

‘Will a banknote work?’

Just as I had done when I bought Nimble Movement, I wished in my heart to purchase it.

But the note did not disappear. No matter how many times I wished, the note remained in my hand without response.

‘So you only take cash, do you? You damned shop.’

Even among merchants, there are occasionally those who refuse to trust banknotes. And yet this one was from the Wuhan Money House, a banking house reputable enough by any standard, and the shop still would not accept it.

I let out a sigh. The deep darkness ahead looked even more hopeless.

Then I remembered the torches in the training ground near the Outer Court. Since the training ground was close, it would not be dangerous to go there. I quickened my steps toward it. Fortunately, the torches were still there.

Of course, they were not still lit. I pulled one of the torch poles from the ground. Thankfully, oil still clung to it.

Then I struck two nearby stones together to make a spark. It did not work at first, but after several tries I got it burning.

“Phew.”

Now that I had a torch, there was only one thing to do: push through head-on. There was no way I was going to slip away like an assassin using the night itself as my companion.

The only option was to march boldly using the brazen face I had cultivated in my days as a merchant.

Holding the torch high, I stuck to the widest roads I could find. There is a saying that a gentleman walks the broad road. That absolutely did not mean I was just afraid of slipping if I took narrow and rough paths.

Even with a torch, descending Wudang Mountain was no easy thing. A single torch could illuminate only about five or six paces into the darkness of the mountains.

I moved almost one half-step at a time. I felt that if I tried taking big steps, I would immediately fall. Advancing like that at a hurried pace consumed both stamina and mental strength at a terrifying rate.

“Hold it. Who goes there?”

Just as I was walking with my eyes fixed on the ground before my feet, something cold and metallic suddenly touched my throat.

Rather than fear, I actually felt relief. It meant I had finally descended far enough to reach the sentries.

“Hk.”

I immediately made the most startled sound I could. In the torchlight stood Wudang disciples in blue robes, looking at me with suspicion.

“Who are you, coming down from the main mountain at this hour?”

“I-I’m just an ordinary herb gatherer. I came into Wudang Mountain to gather herbs, but then I dozed off by a tree stump and only now found myself descending at this hour.”

My voice mixed servility and alarm. That level of vocal acting was a basic skill for any merchant.

The Wudang disciples had eyes too. They would be able to tell that I had never trained martial arts.

“An herb gatherer? That’s a new one. I’ve never heard of an herb gatherer who falls asleep in the mountains.”

“Ha ha, I never knew I was that foolish myself.”

“You’re not a spy from the Demonic Cult, are you?”

“Good heavens, how can you say something so terrifying? I’m just an ignorant bumpkin who knows nothing.”

The Wudang men did not seem especially wary of me. Some of them might have seen me in passing, but who would memorize the face of some mere lay disciple one by one?

“Hm. It is a bit strange, but should we just let him go?”

“He doesn’t look like much of a problem.”

The Wudang men muttered among themselves. Inwardly, I repeated please, please, over and over.

“He doesn’t look like he’s hiding anything.”

“Exactly. What could I possibly be hiding?”

I opened my travel bag and showed them the dirt-covered roots inside. I had gathered them in advance before meeting anyone. Of course, they were not medicinal herbs. But unless someone were a Daoist who refined pills himself, there was no way he could distinguish herbs in the dark.

“Fine. Go down carefully.”

‘Done!’

At last the Wudang martial artists withdrew their swords. I bent deeply at the waist.

“Thank you, honored elders.”

“What do you mean elders?”

I exchanged warm farewells with them and was about to continue down the mountain. Then another voice came drifting out of the darkness.

“That’s right. What elders are they? They’re about the same age as you and me.”

Someone stepped out of the darkness with a laugh in his voice. The Wudang martial artists straightened their backs at once.

“We greet Martial Uncle Cheong-hwa!”

The booming shout shattered the silence over Wudang Mountain. The one who had come out was none other than Immortal Cheong-hwa.

“Good. You’re keeping a proper watch.”

“Th-thank you!”

The Wudang martial artists looked deeply moved. For a martial uncle to come out at this hour and personally encourage them was the kind of thing that simply did not happen.

Yes, it was not something that happened. So why in the world was Cheong-hwa here? I could not understand it at all.

“Where are you hurrying off to, Huiyeong?”

Smiling benevolently, Cheong-hwa walked over to me. Once he stood before me, he bent down and whispered into my ear.

“Did you truly think I wouldn’t know that you wanted to leave this sect?”

A cold shiver ran from my spine all the way to the crown of my head.