Pay‑to‑Win King of Martial Arts (Novel) - Chapter 8 - Hall of Preserved Wholeness (1)

Chapter 8 – Hall of Preserved Wholeness (1)

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Translated by Heavenly Cat

Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net

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The sound of grass flutes rang out. It was wake-up time.

That was how I returned to the lay disciples’ quarters. Even when I came back, my cohort was sleeping so soundly that not a single one of them woke.

And so my brief escape ended in total failure without leaving behind a single trace.

“Didn’t someone go out while we were sleeping yesterday?”

“Who knows? I don’t remember.”

“Maybe I just dreamed it?”

“You even had dreams? Guess you weren’t that tired. I just closed my eyes and next thing I knew it was morning.”

From the boys talking, it seemed there had been at least some sign of my movement. Luckily, it did not sound as though anyone had realized I had tried to escape. Then again, no one would ever think a lay disciple was trying to run away.

“Didn’t you sleep?”

Jeon Oh-su asked from beside me. I looked at him.

“Why do your eyes look so sunken? Your eyes look a little red too. Doesn’t that happen when you stay up all night?”

“No. I slept fine.”

The truth was exactly what Jeon Oh-su said. I had not slept a single moment. He really was a quick-eyed bastard.

Cheong-hwa had told me to wait because he would come in the morning. He had also added that he had already spoken to the sentries, so I was not to even think about running. To be honest, my will had already broken, and I no longer had the strength to try escaping again anyway.

“Move it, move it, you lazy wretches!”

Cheong-hyeon’s voice thundered from outside. The boys who had been moving sluggishly immediately snapped to attention. I, on the other hand, had spent the previous dawn doing the idiotic feat of climbing halfway up and down Wudang Mountain, so there was no way I could move quickly.

When I finally sauntered out last, Cheong-hyeon clicked his tongue in displeasure. When I looked at him, he simply pretended not to see me at all.

So if I fell out of favor, he did not scold me. He became indifferent instead. For me, that was even better.

“Today I will teach the Three Calamities Sword Art. All of you step forward and each take one wooden sword.”

Cheong-hyeon opened a heavy-looking chest. Inside, wooden swords were stacked in layers.

My cohort each took one, and when I went to take mine, Jeon Oh-su handed one to me instead. He had brought two from the start.

“Thanks.”

“You don’t look too good today.”

“Are you worried?”

“Worrying’s easy when I’m not the one taking the damage.”

“You’re consistent, I’ll give you that.”

Cheong-hyeon glared at us for talking. More precisely, he glared only at me. Jeon Oh-su flinched and immediately faced front again.

“This is a martial art famous enough that some of you may already have learned it, but approach it with the mindset of learning anew. As you all know, the Three Calamities Sword Art consists of the forms Mount Tai Presses the Summit, Wind and Rain in All Directions, and Sweeping Across a Thousand Armies…”

I barely managed to hold back a yawn. After all the idiotic mountain climbing I had done at dawn, my body was exhausted and I was sleepy besides.

I forced my eyes as wide open as I could, but my eyelids kept dragging them down.

“Muk Hui-yeong!”

A shout tore into my ears so violently that they felt ready to split. I grimaced and covered them.

When I looked forward, Cheong-hyeon’s face had gone savage.

“Since yesterday you’ve been sleeping openly. I was planning not to touch you if I could help it.”

“…Ah, I’m sorry.”

That apology, at least, I meant sincerely. Before, I had been sleeping a little on purpose, but this time was different. Since I could not leave Wudang without Cheong-hwa’s permission anyway, there had been no reason for me to sleep like that. But the mountain climbing before dawn had simply hit too hard.

“I’ll listen carefully.”

“Shut your mouth! The fact that trash like you remains among the lay disciples is a disgrace to Wudang! Pack your things and leave at once!”

“…Huh? Yes?”

“I said get out! Are you deaf?”

“Hk.”

For an instant, joy flooded my whole body so strongly that I trembled. But Cheong-hyeon seemed to misunderstand that sound.

“What, do you finally regret it now? Go down the mountain and tell your stupid peasant father you were expelled. No wonder his son turned out like that. What did he think he was doing, not knowing his place and trying to force you into the Wudang Sect? Tch.”

I frowned slightly. I had done wrong, yes, but those words were too much.

“Is insulting my parents really necessary?”

“They say the child is the mirror of the parents. It wasn’t I who disgraced your parents. It was you.”

“I don’t think dozing off for a moment in class is enough to disgrace one’s parents. Though I admit I was in the wrong.”

“If you know you were wrong, then get out quickly. It’s too late for regret.”

“No, I mean, thank you for that.”

“…?”

“I should at least say this before I go. Farming is the foundation of all beneath heaven. It is noble work that produces what people eat. If there were no farmers at all, we would all starve to death.”

I took a brief breath and continued.

“But what about martial artists? Are they doing anything that truly helps the world? If there were no martial artists at all, wouldn’t the world be more peaceful? Even the Supreme Venerable Lord said it: weapons are instruments of ill omen, not the tools of a gentleman.”

At my words, Cheong-hyeon’s mouth snapped shut. He had probably not expected the rustic fool he had insulted to quote the classics. And since I had cited Laozi before a Daoist sect, it was not easy for him to answer back.

“Then I’ll be going. Once again, thank you for throwing me out. I didn’t want to stay here anyway. If I make money later, perhaps I’ll even send you a gift.”

“Y-you…”

Apparently, it was his first time ever being challenged by some mere lay disciple, because he could not even speak properly.

There was no reason for me to wait around for him. I did not even need to pack anything. I could just leave at once. In the end, the strategy of sleeping in class had worked beautifully. I now had a reason to ignore Cheong-hwa’s words. The one who had thrown me out was Cheong-hyeon, the man in charge of the lay disciples.

I was just about to leave whistling when the last man I wanted to see in this moment came walking over slowly.

“Heh heh. Quite an interesting exchange was taking place.”

“…Senior Brother.”

It was none other than Cheong-hwa. He looked at me and smiled gently.

“Didn’t I tell you that you wouldn’t be leaving Wudang without my permission?”

“I am being expelled for improper conduct. There is nothing even Immortal Cheong-hwa can say to that.”

At my words, Cheong-hyeon flew into a rage and added,

“Exactly! If Senior Brother saw the way this wretch behaves, he’d want to throw him out too! Either that brat goes, or I go. It has to be one of the two!”

Good. Inwardly, I rooted with all my heart for Immortal Cheong-hyeon. But Cheong-hwa only kept that faint smile on his lips.

“Ah, so you’ve really expelled him from the lay disciples?”

“Yes. That’s right.”

“That’s good then. I was just about to take him out of the lay disciples myself.”

“What?”

Cheong-hyeon tilted his head. So did I. As everyone looked confused, Cheong-hwa walked up to me.

He took something from inside his robes and handed it to me. It was a wooden plaque engraved with the Taiji symbol.

Cheong-hyeon’s eyes widened until they looked ready to split.

“Th-that’s…”

“A token proving that one is a main-sect disciple of the Wudang Sect. If you turn it over, your name has been carved into the back.”

“Gasp.”

At Cheong-hwa’s words, silence fell over everyone. The only sound at all was a completely mistimed hiccup from somewhere.

“What are you talking about?”

“Exactly what I said. I meant to come first thing this morning, but I was delayed while settling matters with Senior Brother Sect Leader.”

Cheong-hyeon and the others were not the only ones left dumbfounded. I was no different.

“M-me? A main-sect disciple?”

“That’s right.”

“But I’ve never trained in martial arts even once.”

“Do you take me for a fool? You’ve told me that twice already.”

“And I’m already twenty. My body is full of turbid qi, and my bones have already set.”

“I know that too. Would you care to read the small characters carved beneath your name?”

I looked at the back of the plaque. Just as Cheong-hwa had said, my name had been carved there, and beneath it was another line in very small letters.

“Provisional…?”

“That’s right. No matter how much I persuaded Senior Brother Sect Leader, that was all he was willing to allow. You will have to strive to become a formal main-sect disciple under my supervision. As you said, the issue is that you’re already twenty and have never trained in martial arts before.”

“Isn’t that the normal reaction?”

“It would be, if he had not seen your talent. But I have.”

What talent had he supposedly seen? Ah. He was definitely talking about the way I had dodged during the spar with Sagong Hyeon.

“That isn’t mine.”

“Now that is a fresh piece of nonsense. Do you hate Wudang that much?”

“It’s not that. Anyway, it isn’t my talent. And it’s only footwork. I don’t have any other talent.”

How was I supposed to earn money and buy more talents while stuck as a main-sect disciple in Wudang? Becoming a main-sect disciple would only waste my time.

“Then if my eyes were mistaken, the blame lies with me. You bear no fault.”

Cheong-hwa’s will was already set like iron. I had no words left. It was infuriating enough to have my expulsion blocked at the last second, and now this madness about becoming a main-sect disciple had been added on top of it.

I had no desire to live my life with my neck forever resting on the edge of a blade.

“Is there no right to refuse?”

“There isn’t.”

When I glanced around, everyone was staring in disbelief.

They could not believe I had been chosen as a main-sect disciple, of course, but they seemed even less able to believe that I was reluctant about becoming one.

“This is absurd!”

At that moment, someone shouted from among the other boys. Cheong-hwa and I both turned. Sagong Hyeon stood there, fury burning in his eyes.

“That bastard has never learned a single martial art, and on top of that he’s the son of a peasant, low to the bone itself. How can he be made a main-sect disciple? Shouldn’t I, Sagong Hyeon, be more suited to the position?”

“Exactly, Senior Brother. There seems to be some kind of mistake.”

Cheong-hyeon immediately threw his weight behind Sagong Hyeon’s words. But Cheong-hwa’s gaze remained unshaken.

“No. I do not doubt my own eyes. And low, you say? Just as Huiyeong said, a farmer is not low. Because he endures harsh labor in place of others, he is instead noble like water. Water benefits all things and does not contend. It dwells where all others disdain to dwell. How is farming not the same? How could it not be the Dao?”

At Cheong-hwa’s rebuke, both Cheong-hyeon and Sagong Hyeon’s faces flushed so red they looked ready to burst. Cheong-hyeon especially seemed deeply humiliated to be reprimanded in front of the lay disciples.

“In any case, that is how it stands. Huiyeong is coming with me.”

“I still cannot accept that.”

When Cheong-hwa tried to lead me away, Sagong Hyeon stepped in front of us and blocked the path. Even Cheong-hyeon looked appalled by that act.

“What insolence is this before Senior Brother!”

But Cheong-hwa answered Sagong Hyeon with the same faint smile.

“If you mean to take that one in as a main-sect disciple, then let him spar with me. And if I win, take me in as a main-sect disciple in his place.”

Cheong-hwa was silent for a moment before opening his mouth in a gentle voice.

“So I must satisfy you.”

A chill ran through me. The air itself seemed to turn colder. Cheong-hyeon, as though he already knew what would happen next, squeezed his eyes shut.

“Listen well. In the martial world of the Central Plains, the strong do not need to satisfy the weak. They can simply kill them. The only ones who must satisfy anyone are the weak.”

At that moment, Immortal Cheong-hwa was no longer the airy Daoist who had been speaking of the Dao until just now. He was a martial artist, sharp as a single drawn sword. Fear entered Sagong Hyeon’s eyes.

“So the one who must prove himself is not me, but you. You are the one who must show me that you possess the qualifications to be a main-sect disciple.”

Sagong Hyeon could do nothing but open and close his mouth soundlessly. The atmosphere Cheong-hwa ruled was that cold and that murderous.

“Prove it.”

Cheong-hwa drew the sword at his waist. The edge’s killing sharpness made even my own heart go cold, and I was only watching from the side. The pressure Sagong Hyeon felt while facing it directly had to be beyond imagining.

“If you can swing your sword at me right now, then I will accept that as proof.”

Sagong Hyeon trembled all over. But his feet would not advance, as though an invisible wall stood before him.

All he had to do was swing his sword and he would become a main-sect disciple. So why didn’t he? I looked at Sagong Hyeon’s eyes. They were flooding with blood, and blood had begun to trickle from his nose.

Cheong-hyeon hurried between them.

“Senior Brother! If you continue, he may suffer deviation!”

“He cannot even approach me, much less swing a sword.”

Cheong-hwa mocked Sagong Hyeon and sheathed his blade. The instant the sword slipped back into its sheath, Sagong Hyeon coughed up blood and collapsed to his knees.

“That is the difference between you and Huiyeong. Huiyeong endured internal force pressure of the same intensity.”

Only then did I understand what Cheong-hwa had done to Sagong Hyeon. It was the same invisible pressure he had once exerted on me when I had been trying to sell grass flutes.

Sagong Hyeon stared at me as if he could not believe it. Apparently he could not accept that I had endured the pressure he himself could not. To be honest, neither could I. The pressure I had received had never been strong enough to make me cough blood like that.

“Come along.”

Cheong-hwa turned away. Even I did not have the nerve to make a fuss after that.

As I followed Cheong-hwa, I glanced back once. Every last one of them was staring blankly at my retreating back.