Chapter 43

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Translated by Seoulbound

Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net
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Eight Knots.

It was the number of knots that symbolized the Successor Beggar, the heir to the Beggars’ Sect’s Dragon Head Sect Leader.

Yang So, a woman rather than a man, and of the eighth knot rather than the fourth, tied her bamboo hat to her waist and bound her long, flowing hair as she spoke.

“At that age, he has accumulated an absurd amount of internal energy. Not to mention his hand-to-hand martial arts. He is a genius, and then some.”

The Successor Beggar Yang So was an unrivaled genius in martial arts among all the beggars Gold-Knot Wandering Beggar had ever seen, yet such a person was calling him a genius, and then some.

Gold-Knot Wandering Beggar nodded his head.

The internal energy of Yeon Baek-jung, as perceived by his Six Harmonies Dog Nose sensitivity, was at the Elixir Condensation Stage. Of course, considering his age, it was a nonsensical level, but it was still an internal energy level that paled in comparison to the Red Yang Demonic Immortal.

It was as if he had fought a life-and-death duel against an opponent of an entirely different weight class. Yet, Yeon Baek-jung had defeated the Red Yang Demonic Immortal. He had even ripped off the arm of a master of hand-to-hand martial arts.

However, Yang So’s words seemed to carry a meaning beyond what Gold-Knot Wandering Beggar was thinking.

“That last move he showed… it was definitely the internal cultivation formula of the Red Yang Demonic Immortal’s rigid body art, not the formula of the Wudang Sect’s Body-Protecting Qi.”

The last move she was speaking of.

It referred to the moment he had taken the Red Yang Demonic Immortal’s palm strike with his body.

Gold-Knot Wandering Beggar was surprised.

For he had never seen the Successor Beggar praise someone’s talent to this extent.

Even when she met the Eight Talents of the Rising Wave, such as the Qingcheng Sect’s Qingyun Chixia or the rascal of Shaolin, she had not given them such an evaluation.

Her impressions continued further.

“At first, he was busy just evading and blocking, but as time passed, he skillfully avoided the Red Yang Demonic Immortal’s attacks. He has a natural gift for analyzing martial arts. Above all.”

She stared into empty space, once again picturing the scene in the mudflat near Hong Lake before her eyes.

“He showed a footwork force I have never seen among Wudang Sect martial arts. It was as if he had taken the profound principles of our Beggars’ Sect’s Drunken Eight Immortals Steps and reinterpreted them into Wudang Sect martial arts…”

Gold-Knot Wandering Beggar suddenly flinched as he recalled the face of the boy who had walked while looking down at his own toes in the Zhushan bamboo forest.

“Do you perhaps think that Young Hero Yeon stole the profound principles of the Drunken Eight Immortals Steps?”

At Gold-Knot Wandering Beggar’s question, she nodded her head.

There was no reason that a boy who had applied the Red Yang Demonic Immortal’s rigidification formula to his own body the instant he saw it could not do the same with the formula of the Drunken Eight Immortals Steps. And since the person who best understood such a ‘rapid-learning’ talent was none other than Yang So herself.

“Rather than stealing it, he probably just saw it and performed it naturally. Because that footwork force possessed something that the Drunken Eight Immortals Steps do not have.”

Saying so, she imitated the Slender Willow Flutter footwork that Yeon Baek-jung had displayed.

“It seems there is a formula that adds a rotational force wave in addition to simple evasion. No, it is definitely there.”

Gold-Knot Wandering Beggar trusted the eyes of the Successor Beggar at least when it came to martial arts.

“Hoho. Does that mean he created a footwork force based on the Drunken Eight Immortals Steps?”

“We do not know yet. Whether he truly created it himself. Since the Nine Swords and a significant number of the Eight Disciples are still alive and well in the Wudang Sect.”

Most of the current Wudang Sect martial arts had been created by Immortal Sanfeng and his disciples, the Eight Disciples. And the Wudang Sect’s Won generation, led by the Nine Swords who were the descendants of the Eight Disciples, had perfected those martial arts to form the Wudang Sect of today.

The Wudang Sect, along with Shaolin, was the greatest hotbed of hidden masters in the martial world.

There was a reason for the saying that those called geniuses were so common they could be kicked around like pebbles in the Wudang Mountain Taoist temples and the Shaolin Arhat Hall.

Yet even among such people, as Yang So had witnessed with her own eyes, Yeon Baek-jung was by far peerless in the realm of talent.

“Even so, with that level of talent, it would not be strange even if he did create the martial art himself.”

Which meant.

“It is the quality of a Grandmaster.”

“…”

She stared into empty space, then nodded her head and continued speaking.

“What was more important than that was his character. When the Hall Master told him to run away, he could have easily withdrawn with his skills. Yet, he did not do so.”

She did not forget the eyes with which Yeon Baek-jung had looked after the disciples of the Cloud Sword Hall.

“In this day and age, those who possess a chivalrous spirit are rare. Perhaps… that is a part more worthy of attention than the talent he holds.”

At her words, Gold-Knot Wandering Beggar nodded with an realized expression.

Most of the disciples of prestigious righteous sects who were called geniuses usually had a screw loose somewhere. In the midst of this, the emergence of a rising star with a normal character was a great blessing for the martial world.

“Get close to him.”

At Gold-Knot Wandering Beggar’s words, the Successor Beggar walked forward without looking back at him.

“I told you to get close to him?”

“…”

“Are you perhaps jealous?”

“…”

“Huh? It seems your face is gradually turning red?”

She did not answer.

The speed of her footwork force only quickened.

**

An old man with a haggard face entered the clinic, his one sleeve fluttering.

“Oh dear! Are you alright?! How could this be!”

The physician shook his head at the old man’s haggard appearance and spoke.

“Jang-saeng, quickly bring some clean cotton cloth!”

While the apprentice was bringing the cotton cloth, the physician quietly addressed the old man.

“When the black butterfly flies?”

Instead of answering, the old man stared at the physician with burning eyes. However, the physician merely received that gaze with eyes like cold stone. At that, the short-armed old man, the Red Yang Demonic Immortal, let out a soft sigh and spoke.

“A typhoon blows over the lake.”

The physician nodded his head and then led the Red Yang Demonic Immortal into the clinic’s inner room.

When the apprentice brought the cotton cloth, the physician slathered ointment onto the cut surface of the Red Yang Demonic Immortal’s severed arm, wrapped it with the cotton cloth, and secured it tightly with a string.

Having finished the treatment, the physician washed his hands in a basin filled with clean water and spoke.

“What happened? Was a Wudang Sect elder perhaps deployed for this mission?”

The physician asking him this was no ordinary physician. The physician’s true identity was Black Butterfly, an informant for the Black Society Alliance, one of the Six Great Evils.

At Black Butterfly’s question, the Red Yang Demonic Immortal clenched his teeth in silence.

Having remained silent for a moment, the Red Yang Demonic Immortal finally spoke.

“…No.”

“…”

Black Butterfly demanded an explanation with his eyes.

Since the mission could not have failed unless someone of the Nine Sects’ elder class had been deployed.

And since the Red Yang Demonic Immortal knew that, he had nothing to say. For an actual elder-class expert had not been deployed.

He recalled the face of the young Taoist who had displayed Wudang martial arts continuously without breaking, though seeming on the verge of it. How should he say it? After agonizing, the Red Yang Demonic Immortal spoke.

“That fellow… achieved an attainment that cannot be reached through the Wudang Sect’s martial arts alone. At that age, such an attainment makes no sense.”

“What, are you saying a Wudang Sect True Martial Pavilion disciple has reached the Nascent Soul Stage?”

At Black Butterfly’s question, the Red Yang Demonic Immortal’s eyes shook.

“It is not that, but… that fellow is…”

“Speak clearly, Red Yang Demonic Immortal.”

At Black Butterfly’s words, the Red Yang Demonic Immortal glared at him with burning eyes.

The Red Yang Demonic Immortal, who trailed off, recalled the figure of the young Taoist who had stood against him.

“That is an anomaly. It cannot be explained otherwise.”

Watching the Red Yang Demonic Immortal speak, Black Butterfly also began to grow confused. For he knew that he was not originally a man of many words.

The Red Yang Demonic Immortal moistened his throat with water and spoke.

“Tell the Strategist. We must absolutely eliminate the young disciple of the Wudang Sect with the surname Yeon. If we give him time, he is a fellow who will repeatedly obstruct the future of our alliance.”

At an age that had not even reached twenty, he had severed his arm.

Even if it was a battle of attrition and a coordinated attack, he had pierced through his iron-clad external cultivation barrier with martial arts of a dimension below.

Although he still did not quite understand how he had broken it, since his own body was the evidence, he had to accept reality.

“If we cannot eliminate him early, he will become a major obstacle to our conquest of the martial world.”

The information regarding the Wudang Sect disciple with the surname Yeon, which came from the mouth of the Red Yang Demonic Immortal, was passed on to the leadership of the Black Society Alliance.

**

Looking at the mountain I returned to after completing my mission, I felt a sense of comfort. As it had been the first sole mission I undertook, the feeling of burden from having to handle the work entirely alone without anyone to lean on seemed to disappear. And above all, there were people here.

The place I visited first was the Prince Slope.

It was to see Hwan-yang, whom I had taken in from the wilderness, and my nephews.

‘Will he still be unable to open his mouth?’

Approaching with worry, Hwan-yang was surrounded by my nephews.

“These are trigonometric function formulas. If you memorize this, it will be much easier when you calculate.”

“Uh… thank you.”

“…Right.”

Hwan-yang was distributing a small booklet to my nephews.

Then, his eyes met mine.

“Ah.”

Hwan-yang, who let out a soft exclamation, trotted over to me and greeted me.

“I greet Master.”

I thought the voice of the child, heard for the first time, would feel unfamiliar, but it did not. For some reason, it was even warm. As I thought about the source of such a feeling for a moment, I recalled a memory, which was the eyes of the children I had saved after dealing with the remnants of the Blood Selling Cult during my very first mission.

Feeling as though I were facing those eyes again, I went up in an excited state.

And above all.

‘Master?!’

Since we had not formally established a master-disciple relationship yet, strictly speaking, I was not Hwan-yang’s master, but my heart still swelled, and an unknown sense of responsibility surged.

My nephews also approached me and greeted me.

“Martial Uncle, from where did you bring a kid who is just like you?”

“I think it was better when Junior Brother Hwan-yang could not speak.”

“…I realized why there are so many among the formal disciples who descend the mountain.”

“I also feel like returning to my family home when I am with Hwan-yang.”

Even while saying so, the gazes of the four nephews looking at Hwan-yang were warm. Especially Seon-yang, who wore a pleased expression while kneading Hwan-yang’s cheeks, so it was practically a child raising a child.

I checked if Hwan-yang was uncomfortable, but Hwan-yang’s expression was much brighter than before.

Therefore, I nodded my head and spoke.

“Your mouth has opened.”

“Yes.”

“You organized the trigonometric function formulas?”

At my question, the child tried to hide the booklet behind his back, but the mischievous nephews would not leave it alone. As I scanned the booklet that had quickly passed into my hands, Hwan-yang was rolling his eyes behind it and reading my expression. Seeing him look just like a student getting his homework checked, I hid the smile that was about to rise to my lips behind the booklet.

Furthermore, the contents inside the booklet were excellent.

I closed the booklet, handed it to Hwan-yang, and stroked his head.

“Well done.”

It was awkward for me to say the exact same words my master used to say to me when I was young, but it was sincere.

And upon receiving my sincerity, Hwan-yang’s face also turned even brighter than before.

“Thank you! It is all thanks to Grandmaster’s help!”

“Grandmaster’s?”

When I asked back, the child tilted his head, and my nephews nodded with their eyes. And.

“We shall take our leave now. It is soon time for the Thousand Flowers Catching Butterfly Art training.”

“Please do not worry too much since we are taking good care of Hwan-yang.”

“Still, when you finish your missions, please show your face like this sometimes!”

Thus, the nephews and Hwan-yang left the place.

I immediately exerted my footwork force to the limit and headed to the Purple Yang Hermitage. The light was on in the cottage of the Purple Yang Hermitage where I arrived.

“Master!”

At my shout, the door opened.

“I am not deaf, you punk.”

Master welcomed me with a grumpy face.

I immediately entered the Purple Yang Hermitage and examined every nook and cranny of Master’s body. Fortunately, no injured parts were visible.

Only then did I formally bow to Master with a sigh.

“I am glad that you have been well, Master.”

At my appearance, Master’s brow furrowed.

“What do you think the Nine Swords of Wudang are?”

The sharpest nine swords that symbolized the Wudang Sect.

That was the Nine Swords of Wudang, and Master was one of those Nine Swords.

“I was worried because you have never been away for this long.”

At my answer, the corners of Master’s mouth twitched subtly before he spoke.

“I am not weak enough to make my disciple worry, so do not worry.”

Then, Master tilted his head to the side and asked.

“By the way… did you do what you were supposed to do immediately after returning from your mission?”

“Ah.”

“What do you mean ‘Ah’? Quickly run to the True Martial Pavilion.”

Following Master’s words, I immediately turned around.

“I will report quickly and come back! Do not go anywhere else again!”

“Sure.”

Like that, exerting my Cloud-Climbing Step to the maximum, I flew toward the South Rock Palace.

I felt somewhat awkward at the sight of myself, who seemed unable to even manage my own affairs, let alone take in a disciple and raise a young disciple well.

The thought that I should not bring Hwan-yang into the Purple Yang Hermitage yet was an added bonus.

**

Gangwon did not suppress the laugh that leaked out as he watched his disciple’s receding figure.

For he felt that his heart, which had been heavy with the affairs of the Jianghu, was somewhat eased just by looking at his disciple.

He began to brew tea to offer to his disciple when he returned.

The setting sun, breaking through the open window, deeply filled the interior of the Purple Yang Hermitage cottage along with the aroma of the tea.

Gangwon quietly gazed at that light and thought.

That he wanted to share the Jianghu he had walked and the martial world he had seen with what his disciple had experienced.

The conversations he had to share with his disciple were as high as a mountain.