Pay‑to‑Win King of Martial Arts (Novel) - Chapter 9 - Hall of Preserved Wholeness (2)

Chapter 9 – Hall of Preserved Wholeness (2)

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Translated by Heavenly Cat

Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net

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I walked along in quick little steps while watching Cheong-hwa’s mood. After seeing that terrifying side of him just now, it was not easy to speak first, but I decided to gather my courage.

“Um, Immortal.”

“What is it?”

Cheong-hwa’s voice had already returned to its usual calm. It was enough to make me wonder whether the anger from earlier had only been my imagination.

“Do I have to start calling you Master now?”

“Not yet. As you heard earlier, you’re only a provisional disciple, so a master cannot be formally assigned to you.”

“I see.”

“Instead, you’ll be living alongside me. It was I who recommended you as a provisional disciple, after all. You’ll probably see my disciples as well.”

Mm. For the time being, I should not even dream of trying to escape.

As we walked, I could feel the stares of the people around us. They all seemed to be wondering what right I had to be trailing after Immortal Cheong-hwa.

“Ah. This is just something I’m personally curious about, but that force you used on Sagong Hyeon just now…”

“What about it?”

“Did you really use the same intensity on me?”

“Of course not. I only said that because it seemed like you were being looked down on too much.”

“So you lie too, Immortal.”

“Any truth becomes a lie the moment it is spoken aloud. If the Dao can be spoken, it is not the eternal Dao. In this world there is only one true truth, and that is the Dao.”

As expected of a Daoist, he was a master at slipping away. Cheong-hwa smiled as he glanced at me.

“Anything else you’re curious about?”

I thought for a moment. Then an idea flashed through my head like lightning.

“Do you happen to have any money?”

“Hm?”

Judging by the surprise in his eyes, that was not a question he had expected.

“Ah, it’s just that. You know the banknote you gave me? I want to exchange it into actual cash right away. If you happen to have money on hand, it would be nice if you could change it for me.”

“You truly do exceed my expectations at every turn. In all my life, no one has ever asked me whether I had money.”

“Well, you’re a Immortal. Who would ask a Immortal whether he has money?”

“And yet somehow you have accomplished that difficult feat.”

“Thank you.”

Cheong-hwa let out a hollow laugh. Even so, I still wanted to exchange that Wuhan Money House note. Of course, that did not mean I had to go all the way to Wuhan. There would surely be a branch in Jun County.

“If it’s money you need, the Hall of Preserved Wholeness will hand it over if I ask. If I say it’s needed for educating a disciple, they’ll usually give it. But why do you need money so badly? You have nowhere to spend it in the sect. Wouldn’t it be easier to just keep the banknote?”

“I simply like money. I prefer the real thing to paper.”

“Those are the words of someone unfit to be a disciple of Wudang. A Daoist is not meant to covet wealth.”

“Will you disqualify me, then?”

“No. That is merely something that can be taught in time.”

I had tried to slip through a gap, but Cheong-hwa’s defenses were as firm as ever.

“Then this works out. The place we’re heading right now is the Hall of Preserved Wholeness anyway, so you can receive the money there.”

“Why the Hall of Preserved Wholeness? Aren’t we going to your quarters?”

“Have you forgotten? Weren’t you punished with service at the Hall of Preserved Wholeness?”

“Ah.”

That punishment had been given while I was a lay disciple. I had assumed that now that I was a main-sect disciple, they’d throw me straight into training. Since I was already twenty, it was late enough as it was.

“Why, are you eager to start learning martial arts right away?”

Cheong-hwa laughed as if he had seen straight through my thoughts.

“Of course you’d want to learn advanced martial arts immediately, but your body isn’t ready for that yet. First, you need to build up basic stamina and mental endurance. Until then, I won’t teach you a single verse.”

So he hadn’t seen through me at all. I had absolutely no desire to learn advanced martial arts. But since he said he’d exchange the money, I would have to go to the Hall of Preserved Wholeness either way.

“And if you’re thinking that becoming a main-sect disciple means you’re exempt from your punishment, then you’re very much mistaken. If anything, since you’re now a main-sect disciple, you ought to set an even better example.”

He told me not to call him Master, yet he immediately started lecturing me like one. I let it go in one ear and out the other. He might know martial arts, but when it came to life or attitude, I had no reason to accept advice from him. After all, I too had become somebody in one field. I had my pride.

Oblivious to what I was thinking, Cheong-hwa launched into a long discourse on the proper conduct of a Wudang main-sect disciple. It did not end until we reached the Hall of Preserved Wholeness. Not a single word remained in my head.

“I think my ears are bleeding.”

“What kind of nonsense is that?”

“Nothing.”

So he couldn’t even recognize a joke. Daoists truly had no sense of humor.

Once inside the Hall of Preserved Wholeness, Cheong-hwa immediately received the money. It really did come that easily when he said it was for educating a disciple. As a merchant, I simply could not understand handing over money so casually.

At the very least, shouldn’t there be a plan explaining how the money would be spent, what had to be bought, and how much those things would cost?

Of course, if the money was ending up in my pocket, then I had no complaints.

Except Cheong-hwa tucked the money into his own robes instead of into the pouch I had opened.

“I’ll hold on to this for the time being.”

“What?”

What kind of mad nonsense was that? My mouth actually fell open wider than my money pouch had.

“If I give you this full hundred taels, it feels like you’d only try to run away again.”

I flinched. He was right. I had indeed been watching constantly for a chance to escape.

“I would never.”

“You’re lying again.”

I played it off as though nothing were wrong. Naturally, that did not work before the lie detector. But this time I could not back down. I had right on my side.

“No, I mean, isn’t that my money?”

“Who said I was taking it? I said I’m holding it for the time being.”

“That’s absurd. Money has far greater value in the present than in the future. Why do people borrow money and charge interest?”

“Are you asking me to pay interest?”

“That won’t be necessary. Just give me my money. I have the right to exercise authority over my own property.”

“Originally, a main-sect disciple isn’t supposed to have personal assets at all. Have you ever seen a Daoist carrying around money of his own?”

“Plenty of times.”

“Then either it was the sect’s communal funds, or he was a corrupt Daoist. One of the two.”

I felt ready to explode. Somehow, I had to get that hundred taels back. To me, that money was not merely money. It was talent.

If Nimble Movement had truly become mine, then the Martial Talent Shop’s effects were real.

“What do I have to do for you to give it to me?”

In the end, I was forced to step back and ask. Only then did Cheong-hwa smile again.

“Once you finish all your service in the Hall of Preserved Wholeness, I’ll give it to you.”

“I wasn’t told there was any time limit on that service.”

“Until the hall master says it’s enough.”

“What kind of vague contract is that? A contract must, by its very nature, clearly state the exact year, month, day, and hour. Its contents must be both possible and reasonable!”

“I’m afraid I don’t understand such difficult talk.”

Seeing Cheong-hwa stick to that blank-faced pretense, I nearly raised a fist. But even if I threw a hundred punches, not one would ever touch him.

“…Fine. Understood.”

“Good decision.”

Cheong-hwa smiled cheerfully. Seeing that smile, my fists trembled again.

Fine. Let’s think positively. It only meant the time when I could earn money had been pushed back a little. A merchant has to know how to endure.

“Come. First we’ll go meet the master of the Hall of Preserved Wholeness.”

“The hall master?”

“Since you’ll be working there, you should meet him at least once.”

“Yes. Understood.”

I followed Cheong-hwa to the hall master’s office. Inside, there was a man reclining in his chair with his feet propped on the desk.

“Senior Brother Cheong-su. If Senior Brother Sect Leader catches you working in that posture, you’ll pay dearly for it.”

“Hmph. I’ve already been disliked enough to be posted to the Hall of Preserved Wholeness. How much worse could it possibly get from here?”

Apparently the man called Cheong-su was senior even to Cheong-hwa. That was why he had no intention whatsoever of fixing his posture.

“And who is that kid beside you?”

“Ah. It’s the one I mentioned before. The friend among the lay disciples who received a punishment requiring him to serve in the Hall of Preserved Wholeness.”

“Oh, that one?”

The man called Cheong-su let his eyes slide over my face once and then looked back at Cheong-hwa.

“You needed to bring him all the way here just to greet me? You said he was only a lay disciple.”

“Ah, he’s become a main-sect disciple now. Provisional, but still.”

“A main-sect disciple? Him?”

Cheong-su’s eyes turned back toward me in surprise. They traveled up and down my body. There was something strange in that gaze, enough to make me feel stripped naked on the spot.

“He doesn’t look like he has martial bones. And he’s old too.”

“I recommended him. This child has talent.”

“Well, if it’s about martial talent, your eye is probably better than mine.”

Cheong-su yawned and lost interest in me again. Only then did the sense of being stripped bare fade. So he had used internal energy to inspect my body just now. Cheong-hwa patted my shoulder and said,

“Senior Brother Cheong-su is a good man, so he won’t make things hard for you.”

“Understood.”

Cheong-hwa bowed respectfully to Cheong-su and left. Cheong-su stared at me wordlessly. Since Cheong-hwa had publicly called him a good man, I felt somewhat relieved.

That thought lasted right up until the moment Cheong-su opened his mouth.

“You damned brat.”

“Pardon?”

“What kind of trickery did you use for a mere lay disciple to become a main-sect disciple?”

Ah. So that was how it was. A person can be a good senior brother to one man and a terrible younger brother to another. There is no such thing as someone who is good to everyone.

Cheong-su might have been a good senior brother to Cheong-hwa, but it seemed he and I were not destined to get along.

“Then throw me out.”

Once I understood that much, my own tone turned blunt as well.

“Hmph. Since Senior Brother Sect Leader has already approved it, how could I throw you out? You know that too, which is why you said it. You’re a sly one.”

“That’s not it.”

“Save the excuses. Follow me! I’ll show you what your duties are.”

Cheong-su dropped his feet from the desk, shoved the chair back, and stood up. I followed behind him.

The room he led me to was filled with bamboo tubes and a full map of Wudang. Looking closer, the bamboo tubes had the names of the different halls written on them, and they were sorted according to those names.

“You don’t look especially bright, so I don’t want to repeat myself. Understand this in one go. Your assignment is the Three Purities Hall. You take anything marked Three Purities Hall and deliver it there.”

“The Three Purities Hall?”

I was horrified. The Three Purities Hall was the place furthest from the Hall of Preserved Wholeness. It sat right at the very top of Wudang Mountain.

I raised a perfectly reasonable objection.

“I haven’t learned lightness skills, so naturally the deliveries will be slow.”

“Idiot. Figure that out yourself.”

“What time do I work until?”

“From rabbit hour to rooster hour.”

So from the crack of dawn until just before sunset. He had found a very elegant way to say he meant to work me like a dog.

“And what happens if I’m intentionally lazy?”

“You get thrown out of Wudang.”

My eyes lit up at once. An enormous opportunity had suddenly appeared. Cheong-su clearly disliked me, and since he was senior even to Cheong-hwa, it seemed likely his opinion would carry weight.

But the words that followed shattered my dream to pieces.

“Unlike a lay disciple, however, a main-sect disciple must destroy his own dantian before leaving. How could one expelled from Wudang continue using what he learned in Wudang?”

“But I haven’t learned anything.”

“Even if all you’ve learned is the Three Calamities Heart Method, if you learned it in Wudang, then it belongs to Wudang.”

What highway robbers. I ground my teeth, but there was nothing I could do.

No matter that I intended to become a merchant. If my dantian were destroyed, the consequences would be severe. The dantian was still a vital point in the body. Once such a point was ruined, your stamina would weaken, and all sorts of problems would follow. I had no desire to live out my second life plagued by illness.

“Your work begins now.”

Cheong-su laughed once at my blank expression and then slammed the door behind him.

“These lunatics.”

I cursed Wudang as a whole under my breath, then stuffed all the bamboo tubes marked Three Purities Hall into a bundle. There were so many that there was no way I could take them all in one trip. I’d have to go back and forth several times.

Then again, the Three Purities Hall was where the sect leader and elders lived. Naturally, couriers would be constantly going there. I still couldn’t understand why that job had been given to me. I strongly suspected Cheong-su had simply dumped it on me because he didn’t like me.

Sighing heavily, I slung the load over my shoulder and stepped out. The mountain slope was steep enough already, and now with the bundle on my back, sweat began streaming down me.

Even so, I gritted my teeth and dragged up every ounce of spite in me. My time working at the Hall of Preserved Wholeness would only be temporary.

After how many shijin had passed, I wasn’t sure. In the end, the sight that appeared before me was enough to overwhelm even the spite I had forced myself to gather.

Right before me rose a cliff that looked at least fifty zhang high. There were no ridges, no outcroppings, nothing. It was, in truth, as close to a sheer vertical drop as one could imagine. And up above that cliff was the Three Purities Hall.

“Those truly, truly, truly insane bastards.”

The curse flew out of me before I could stop it. How in the world was I supposed to climb that, and why had they built a hall up there in the first place? I could not understand it at all.

My thighs felt ready to tear. My shoulders felt ready to collapse. The salty sweat running into my eyes made them sting.

“Just you wait.”

Once I became a Great Merchant again, I’d make sure that anything Wudang bought would be sold at the highest prices imaginable.

Grinding my teeth, I reached for the stone of the cliff face. Now I had to climb.