Chapter 16

===================
Translated by Seoulbound

Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net
===================

Yi Chae-yang looked at the Sagacious Eye Scholar with surprised eyes, because unlike a renowned martial artist of the Jianghu, the Sagacious Eye Scholar was even panting for breath.

“What is it, Sagacious Eye Scholar? Why have you come here?”

Furthermore, the Zhuge Family had rejected the Wudang Sect’s request for cooperation.

Yet they had appeared here in less than half a day; moreover, seeing that they did not encounter them on the way here, they must have come by a path different from Wudang’s, having surely dismantled all kinds of mechanisms and traps.

‘If you were going to do this, shouldn’t you have just come with us when we asked for help?’

Although such a question arose, she could not ask it immediately.

This was because the Sagacious Eye Scholar’s face looked too desperate.

“…By any chance, did you eliminate all the Blood Selling Cultists?”

At the Sagacious Eye Scholar’s excited expression, Yi Chae-yang nodded reluctantly and stepped aside.

Behind her, the murderous scene of the Blood Selling Cult’s hideout was revealed.

Among it, the face of the Sagacious Eye Scholar, who saw the corpse with its neck pulled off rolling around, turned ash-colored.

“How… how…!”

Didn’t he collapse with a thudding sound?

“Pavilion Master! Wake up! You must not collapse here! Pavilion Master!”

Looking at the Sagacious Eye Scholar, who was even foaming at the mouth, and the Crouching Dragon Scholars who were making a fuss by shaking him awake and performing acupoint pressing, Yi Chae-yang felt a sense of fatigue.

From destroying mechanisms and searching, to combat and subsequent cleanup.

Too many things had happened in a single day.

On top of that, even the fainting of a renowned martial artist of the Jianghu?

In any case, it was the Zhuge Clan who had not given any help to the Wudang Sect.

She had no energy to care further.

“Well then.”

The Wudang Sect members, led by Yi Chae-yang, bypassed the Zhuge Clan people and exited the underground sewer.

Of course, along with the vast treasure piled up in the Blood Selling Cult’s hideout.

**

The Blood Selling Cult hideout where the Wudang Sect people had disappeared.

The Zhuge Clan’s Crouching Dragon Scholars desperately massaged the limbs of the Crouching Dragon Pavilion Master, the Sagacious Eye Scholar, whose qi and blood were currently twisted due to agitation in his Middle Dantian.

In common terms, it was a state of his qi being blocked.

It was about clearing the Sagacious Eye Scholar’s blocked acupoints through meridian pressing, and finally.

“Uuugh.”

“Pavilion Master! Pavilion Master, wake up!”

Perhaps thanks to the Crouching Dragon Scholars’ extreme sincerity, the complexion of the Sagacious Eye Scholar, who had been foaming at the mouth and rolling eyes, returned.

Upon regaining consciousness, the Sagacious Eye Scholar recalled when the Wudang Sect’s Taoist Nun Baek-song first came to find him; at that time, he had certainly rejoiced, thanks to the hope that he could contact the Blood Selling Cult ahead of the Wudang Sect and the Beggars’ Sect.

However, the Wudang Sect trampled on such hope of the Sagacious Eye Scholar, as brutally as the murderous scene here.

Unlike a middle-aged renowned martial artist of the Jianghu, tears flowed from the Sagacious Eye Scholar’s eyes.

“Why does the Wudang Sect block the path of our Zhuge Clan time after time like this…”

At the Sagacious Eye Scholar’s tears, the Crouching Dragon Scholars also fell into a solemn silence.

However, there was no time to wallow in depression.

There was no telling when the beggars of the Beggars’ Sect would catch the scent and come here, so every second counted.

The Sagacious Eye Scholar soon stood up and issued orders to the Crouching Dragon Scholars.

“…Without a doubt, if they are those cultist bastards, they must have hidden the fresh blood collected from the commoners. Search for the cooling technique formation. No matter how outstanding the eyes of the Wudang Sect disciples are, they are not technique studies disciples, so they wouldn’t have seen through to the cooling technique formation meant for freshness.”

“Yes, Pavilion Master.”

The Crouching Dragon Scholars activated their Kongming Eyes to the limit to search for a zone with a particularly low temperature in the underground hideout.

“It’s here!”

The Crouching Dragon Scholar, Zhuge Seon, lifted the headless corpse near the bars where the innocent commoners had been held, and tapped the bricks on the floor in sequence; then.

With a rumbling sound, a brick popped out.

As soon as the entrance was opened, cold air spread like mist.

And inside, it was full of pouches made of goat bladders whose surfaces glistened as if treated with a special liquid.

Resting his hand on Zhuge Seon’s shoulder, the Sagacious Eye Scholar leaned in, pulled out one of the pouches, and opened the cap; a breath of fishy smell was added to the underground hideout, which was already vibrating with the stench of blood rising from the corpses of the Blood Selling Cultists.

Regardless of that, the Sagacious Eye Scholar held the pouch under the dim torchlight to check its contents.

Since red liquid was sloshing inside the pouch.

Only then did the Sagacious Eye Scholar carefully cover the cap and nod; seeing that, the Crouching Dragon Scholars let out sighs of relief and said.

“Huu. If it is this amount.”

“It is an amount that will easily last for a year as long as the Eldest Young Master does not overexert himself.”

Did they say that even if the sky falls, there is a loophole to escape?

The Sagacious Eye Scholar and the Crouching Dragon Scholars felt like tears were about to fall.

However, this place was Wuchang.

It was not Mount Xiangyang Rongzhong where the Zhuge Clan was located.

Since the distance from Wuchang to the Zhuge Clan’s main house at Mount Rongzhong was a six-day walk.

“We must keep it fresh until we arrive at the main house.”

Immediately, the Sagacious Eye Scholar and the Crouching Dragon Scholars packed the pouches in the warehouse into a large sack, pasted dozens of talismans on it, and quickly fled the scene.

In the Blood Selling Cult hideout, from which even the Zhuge Clan members had disappeared, only a thick smell of blood remained.

**

Branch Leader Sang-won of the Beggars’ Sect Wuchang Branch watched the backs of the Wudang Sect disciples as they emerged from the sewer entrance through the doghole.

“Hey, why is the Wudang Sect coming out already? No, first of all, how did he bring people out?”

“I don’t know?”

“You wanna get hit?”

“It must be that the newly deployed disciples from the Wudang Sect’s True Martial Pavilion were active.”

Sang-won nodded at the words of Yi-so, a Beggars’ Sect Two-Knot Disciple.

“Right. The Zhuge Clan people ignored the Wudang Sect, so if that’s the case, the only variable is the personnel supplemented from the True Martial Pavilion.”

Sang-won trailed off and tilted his head.

“The newly supplemented kids broke through those mechanisms in such a short time? The Heavy Cloud Sword did what Taoist Nun Baek-song couldn’t?”

“The Heavy Cloud Sword must have learned some great new martial art at the main mountain.”

“Do you really want to die?”

“It might not be the Heavy Cloud Sword. Another disciple who came with the Heavy Cloud Sword might have been active.”

“Right. That’s true. But that kid? He broke through the mechanisms that Taoist Nun Baek-song couldn’t, that I couldn’t, that you couldn’t? Is that possible?”

“If he’s a martial studies disciple or a Taoist studies disciple, what can’t he do? Isn’t the Wudang Sect called the best among men for nothing?”

“True. That’s also true. But you know, Yi-so.”

“Yes, Branch Leader.”

“Did you see that friend’s hands?”

“No. Why?”

Sang-won looked at Yi-so, who was confused, with pity, and let out a sigh.

“Hey, do not go around anywhere telling people you are a Beggars’ Sect beggar. Just take off that knot along with your eyeballs, you bastard!”

“No, tell me why before you hit me!”

“Your head is a waste, a waste! That is why you still have only two knots while I have been serving as the Branch Leader.”

“No! Sheesh! At least teach me a proper piece of martial arts! Is being the Branch Leader everything even when you have nothing in your head?”

“What? Did you just say sheesh? Sheesh? And what? Nothing in my head? Is that the way to speak to the Branch Leader?!”

“You do—! Do not raise your hand! I was wrong…”

A moment later, around the time Yi-so’s eyes turned black and blue, Sang-won cleared his throat and spoke.

“Anyone could see they were the hands of a fist, palm, and finger expert. It was a hand that had trained in empty-handed martial arts. Even though he had a youthful face, his hands were full of calluses, I tell you.”

“He must have suffered hardship when he was young, I suppose.”

Dodging the palm flying toward the back of his head, Yi-so continued.

“That fellow was wearing a Black Pine Gate robe.”

A Black Pine Gate robe.

It was the symbol of Wudang Sect’s True Martial Pavilion.

That meant…

“A martial studies disciple?”

A brief silence flowed.

“Nah.”

“Right?”

“Right?”

The two turned to each other and nodded.

No matter how rich their imagination was, it was not easy to imagine that a greenhorn who seemed not even twenty could accomplish what Taoist Nun Baek-song and the Heavy Cloud Sword had failed to do.

But they were the Beggars’ Sect.

Once they caught a scent, it was their job to bite and hold on to the end.

“Just in case, shall we check it out?”

“Should we?”

After the two nodded.

Yi-so, who was about to head toward the Wudang Sect disciples who had just come out to the entrance, asked quietly again.

“But how?”

“What?”

**

“How are you going to check?”

“…We should do what we are good at.”

“And what is that?”

“Securing witness statements.”

After wrapping up the work by handing over some of the surviving remnants of the Blood Selling Cultists to the government.

I sat cross-legged and fell into meditation in the guest quarters of the Mysterious Sword Sect; it was a review of the real combat experienced in this mission before leaving early tomorrow morning.

‘The sensitivity training of the Tai Chi Diagram Exposition is at a satisfying level.’

I had overlooked the entire sewer system of the grand city of Wuchang; it was the result of sensitivity training. What was needed to go further from here?

‘Additional inspiration is needed.’

In this mission too, the need to search a wide area acted as inspiration, and thanks to that, applying the study of sound waves and visualization through non-direct line-of-sight to the capabilities of the Tai Chi Diagram Exposition proved effective in executing the mission.

It meant that the possibilities of utilizing the Tai Chi Diagram Exposition were endless.

Next, Tai Chi Chuan.

‘The practicality of the newly established Tai Chi Chuan is not bad.’

Even though I did not face a true expert, not many stances were needed in the duel with Senior Brother Myeong-hun and in dealing with the Blood Selling Cultists.

Fast and concise movements, and an established routine.

My judgment was that it had the highest level of completion among the martial arts I currently mastered.

‘Because the Four Symbols Wind and Thunder Palm is still incomplete.’

Even if it could not match the Four Symbols Wind and Thunder Palm in terms of power, Tai Chi Chuan was an effective martial art for subduing enemies with little internal energy.

And where my thoughts arrived.

‘The supreme realm.’

I recalled the memory of the moment I felt the sensation of time stretching along with the alarm sounded by the Tai Chi Diagram Exposition.

There would be two reasons for feeling as if time had stretched.

Either time actually stretched.

Or it was perceived that way.

For the former to be established?

According to the rare study, the Special Theory of Relativity, published by the Grandmaster Einstein (One Stone) of Germany in the butterfly dream, for time to flow slowly, the subject must approach the speed of light.

‘With my current speed of Body-Stepping Force, it is utterly out of the question.’

If so, the remaining possibility was the latter.

Perceiving it as if time had stretched.

Then, how is that possible?

It was something possible through the capability of the Upper Dantian.

Considering that I had put my heart and soul into training the Tai Chi Diagram Exposition recently, this was reasonable.

Then, how does the Upper Dantian’s capability perceive time as if it were stretched?

‘It means dividing the world more finely to look at it.’

There is a specific framework in which human sensory organs perceive the world.

The eyes only receive light in the visible spectrum, and the ears only hear sounds in the audible frequency range; taste, smell, and touch are all the same.

However, a Jianghu martial artist who had trained in sensitivity was different.

‘To begin with, I was different.’

The capability of the Tai Chi Diagram Exposition enabled the reconstruction of space through the vibration of air and captured the flow of true qi.

It was something impossible with the eyes and ears of ordinary people.

Also, the human eye perceives the world as segmented scenes, but we perceive this as a smooth image.

‘The brain filling in the gaps between the segmented scenes on its own.’

Someone called this the ‘Upper Dantian in a vat,’ and the existence called the demon of the French scholar Descartes (Great House Loft Sheath) was also an argument similar in tone.

In other words, although we perceive through our sensory organs, it meant that we look at the world through the cognition reconstructed by the Upper Dantian.

—The wider the gap displayed, the faster time is felt to flow, and the narrower the gap, the more detailed the perceived scenes, the more time is felt to stretch.

That is the reason why one feels that time flows faster as one ages, and slower when one is young.

It is because the interval of perception is denser for children.

In other words, sensitivity through the training of the Tai Chi Diagram Exposition meant perceiving time by splitting it more finely.

‘If I unfold routines and stances within that split time and scenes.’

Unlike now, I would be able to freely utilize the stretched time. What if I alone moved fast within that time?

I could immediately intuit that this was precisely entering the supreme realm, the Three Flowers Gathering at the Crown.

If so, what is needed to achieve the Three Flowers Gathering at the Crown?

‘Body training, internal energy qi accumulation.’

Constructing Middle and Lower Dantians that are comparable to the Upper Dantian.

As the path to climb to a high peak opened, my heart pounded; I wanted to climb that mountain fast, even faster. If I stood on the summit like that?

‘Only then will I be able to face the true heaven.’

Thus, whether wings necessary to reach that heaven, or to leap over that heaven, would sprout, would only become clear when that time came.

As the standard was set, my thoughts became clear, and what needed to be done also became distinct.

Although I stole a glance at the sky for a moment, I was now stepping firmly on the ground.

Returning to myself once more, I looked at myself objectively.

‘First, internal strength.’

The realization came that the vessel of natural divine strength was strong enough, so the insufficient internal strength contained in the vessel had to take priority; in this mission, even after executing the palm force of the Four Symbols Wind and Thunder Palm, I did not feel a sense of exhaustion like when I first received it, thanks to the Grandmaster transferring his internal strength to me.

However, it was not enough.

It was not something I could rely on others’ help and opportunities for forever.

Alongside that, I faced the Zhuge Clan’s Crouching Dragon Scholars.

An energy superior to the internal strength I possessed was felt from all of them; there was no need to speak of the renowned Jianghu martial artist, the Sagacious Eye Scholar.

I even obtained a pretty good inspiration.

‘Did they call it the Violent Blood True Yang Skill?’

Even though it was an unorthodox martial art, there was something to learn from it.

‘The acceleration of blood flow through internal strength, and through this, a power exceeding the amount of accumulated qi; it is not something to be ignored simply because it is a cultist’s martial art.’

At the time Wudang Sect fought a fierce battle with the leadership of the Blood Selling Cult, it was said that a significant number of Wudang Sect disciples were also injured, and there were even deceased senior brothers and sisters in the Army Breaker Unit.

**

It meant that even if it was unstable and incomplete, its power was certain.

The best thing to make blood flow quickly is movement.

It was dynamic cultivation.

**

Sang-won, the Beggars’ Sect Wuchang Branch Leader, and his subordinate Yi-so scraped and ate the rice in the gourd provided by the Mysterious Sword Sect as they synthesized the testimonies of the Mysterious Sword Sect warriors.

– “Young Hero Yeon is different from us; I’m telling you, he found all the invisibly installed mechanisms on his own.”

– “On top of that, how deep his internal strength is, he even pulled out bricks stuck in the wall with his bare hands.”

– “He just twisted and pulled off the neck of the Blood Selling Cult’s blood ghoul with his hands.”

– “He is not human; he is a chaotic spirit, Bringer of Chaos.”

To summarize, it meant he showed a sensitivity surpassing Taoist Nun Baek-song and a profound internal energy unbefitting his age.

Furthermore, twisting and pulling off a person’s neck with hands?

It was easier said than done, for even if one was an expert, twisting and pulling off the neck of a living person was not easy.

Judging by his age and the information that came into the Beggars’ Sect, it was not an achievement that a True Martial Pavilion disciple entering his first real combat mission would show.

Swallowing the food in his mouth, Sang-won tilted his head as he looked at the summarized contents.

“Wasn’t Wudang Sect’s martial arts a late-bloomer type?”

“According to the analysis of the Dragon’s Beard Squad beggar brothers, yes.”

“But if the words of the Mysterious Sword Sect warriors are true?”

“Well, it means another monster has popped out of the Wudang Sect.”

“This is something to be happy about… right?”

“For now? Since both the Wudang Sect and the Beggars’ Sect are members of the same Martial Alliance?”

After licking the gourd clean, the two walked quickly and arrived at the Beggars’ Sect Wuchang Branch.

“Bring out a pigeon.”

“Yes, sir.”

While the subordinate beggar was bringing out the carrier pigeon, Sang-won, the Wuchang Branch Leader, began to carve a short message on a bamboo slip.

– “Wudang Sect’s True Martial Pavilion disciple Yeon Baek-jung. Under the age of twenty. Estimated to be python-class at minimum, and dragon-class at maximum.”

As the pigeon with the bamboo slip tied to its leg began to fly north and north, the place where the pigeon’s homing instinct was directed…

Was toward Kaifeng, where the Beggars’ Sect Headquarters was located.