TL: FoodieMonster007; ED: TheGreatT20
Jo Cheon-Woo’s eyes appeared more placid than ever, but there was a fury in them that he couldn’t hide. A fat man in his early forties sat before him, his narrow fox eyes almost hidden by his flesh, while the fat creases of his skin protruded through his chair.
“Oh my, it’s kind of hot here.” The man joked, wiping the sweat from his brow with a handkerchief.
In response, Jo Cheon-Woo’s eyes grew even colder.
The fatty continued to wipe the sweat off his forehead, unperturbed, even though a normal person would be shivering and unable to breathe at this point.
Finally, Jo Cheon-Woo said, “Let me guess, Heaven’s Summit sent you here to officially force me to accede to their demands.”
“Not at all, we just hope that you would restrain yourself a little until the whole Yunnan saga settles down…Ugh, it’s so hot here!”
“As expected of Heaven’s Summit.” Jo Cheon-Woo clenched his fists tightly. A tremendous surge of power exploded out of him, causing the guards outside the room to tremble in fear.
However, the fat man was unfazed. He was the “Golden Armored Divine Lord” Heo Dong-Cheon, one of the ten elders of Heaven’s Summit and a master of the Golden Turtle Divine Art (金龜神功), a martial art that maximizes defense by concentrating internal energy in the flesh, making one impervious to most attacks and able to counterattack with recoil. His unusually rotund appearance and layers of blubber were actually evidence of this mastery, which is why, despite his unattractive appearance, he was often sent to disputed areas as a messenger of Heaven’s Summit.
“The civilian casualties in Yuxi number in the tens of thousands. You’ve gone too far, and it’s affected public opinion. The people are outraged.”
“Didn’t that cause the Silent Night to come out of hiding? Just that one great accomplishment should be sufficient to offset any punishment.”
“Well, those above…don’t agree.”
“By ‘above’, do you mean the Nine Skies?” Jo Cheon-Woo’s brow twitched.
Heo Dong-Cheon knew that Jo Cheon-Woo was offended by his words, but he didn’t care. “Who could it be but them?” he said.
“I’m not afraid of them.”
“I know that, which is why you’ve done such a ridiculous thing.”
“How dare you!”
“Now is the time for self-restraint. I know you’re ambitious, but shouldn’t that kind of behavior be saved for when the Tyrant Fist Sect is in charge?”
Jo Cheon-Woo grimaced and his shoulders trembled with rage and humiliation. He felt like smashing in Heo Dong-Cheon’s face right there and then, but if he did that, he would automatically turn Heaven’s Summit against him, and that was the last thing he wanted to do for now.
All of the martial artists he had sent to Yuxi were dead. Decades of training and investment, wasted in one fell swoop. The Tyrant Fist Sect’s power was halved, which meant that they now had to compete with the Diancang Sect for supremacy in Yunnan. It was humiliating.
Fuck you, Yeop Pyung, even though you sounded so confident… Jo Cheon-Woo gritted his teeth as he thought of Yeop Pyung, who was found dead in Yuxi. With the man’s death, he had lost his scapegoat and ended up becoming the one at fault instead. Rather than mourning his former subordinate, he was furious at his incompetence.
Across from him, Heo Dong-Cheon’s smirk widened as he gained the upper hand. Right from the beginning, he knew that Jo Cheon-Woo never had any choice but to accept his offer. This is good news for Heaven’s Summit, as we now have an excuse to restrict and control one of the lawless Northern Pillars.
“We can take our time dealing with the Silent Night. Even though they revealed themselves, they’ll still need quite a bit of time to reorganize their armies. On the other hand, Heaven’s Summit has already made all the preparations to face them immediately.”
Jo Cheon-Woo took a deep breath to calm himself down. “So, what does Heaven’s Summit want me to do?”
“Please lock your sect’s gates for the time being.”
“You want us to isolate ourselves from the world?”
“Sooner or later, the Silent Night will reappear. When that happens, you can come out of isolation and gain military achievements. If you do that, no blame will fall on the Tyrant Fist Sect.”
“Hmph!” Jo Cheon-Woo scowled as memories of the past resurfaced.
In a patronizing voice, Heo Dong-Cheon continued, “Leave it to us to clear up the aftermath of the Yuxi Tragedy. Don’t worry, we’ve already dispatched the best person for the job.”
“Fine… I will do as you suggested.”
“An excellent decision,” Heo Dong-Cheon laughed.
In stark contrast, Jo Cheon-Woo ground his teeth.
Heo Dong-Cheon got up to leave, but before that, he suddenly added, “By the way, if you get a chance, send your son to Heaven’s Summit.”
“You mean to take my son as a hostage?”
“Haha! Don’t get me wrong. Heaven’s Summit is planning to assemble a squadron of talented young warriors to deal with the Silent Night, called the Demon Hunters (斥魔隊). Rather than being held hostage, your son will instead be given unthinkable authority.”
“……”
“Young heroes from all over the Central Plains will be gathered together, and those who stand out will become the future leaders of the Central Plains.”
The corners of Jo Cheon-Woo’s eyes twitched. He didn’t want to listen to Heo Dong-Cheon’s pathetic excuses. It didn’t matter what the fat man said, the real goal of Heaven’s Summit was to hold his son hostage.
This is all that punk’s fault.
Jin Mu-Won. The young martial artist who had risen to prominence in the wake of the Yuxi Tragedy had ruined all of Jo Cheon-Woo’s plans and caused him to suffer this humiliation.
No, what bothers me more is his name.
Heaven’s Summit had claimed that Jin Mu-Won had no connection to the Northern Army, but his intuition told him otherwise.
You’ll pay for this even if it costs me everything I have.
When Hwang Cheol and Yoon Ja-Myeong returned to the inn, Yoon Seo-In and Gong Jin-Sung, who had been waiting there, cheered. Unfortunately, their happiness was short-lived. The moment they heard that Yoon Ja-Myeong had gone mad, their faces fell.
Their only consolation was that Tang Gi-Mun, the authority on poisons in the gangho, would stay behind and attempt to cure Yoon Ja-Myeong. Tang Gi-Mun wasn’t a person they could hire even with ten thousand gold coins, so they were infinitely grateful that he was willing to offer his help. They had even reserved the entire inn to make it more convenient for Tang Gi-Mun to work in peace.
At this point, Jin Mu-Won wanted to part ways with the White Dragon Merchant Association, but Hwang Cheol insisted that he wanted to take care of Yoon Ja-Myeong and prevented him from doing so. Exasperated, Jin Mu-Won had no choice but to give in to Hwang Cheol’s demands.
Unlike Jin Mu-Won, Hwang Cheol’s life depended on the White Dragon Merchant Association, and he was racked with guilt for not being able to protect Yoon Ja-Myeong properly. As such, he felt that it was his duty to stand by the Third Young Master’s side until he was cured.
While Tang Gi-Mun was busy, Jin Mu-Won, Hwang Cheol, and Kwak Moon-Jung gathered in the inn backyard. Ever since Hwang Cheol’s return, the grin on Kwak Moon-Jung’s face hadn’t vanished for even a moment.
“Heehee!”
“If you keep laughing like that, brat, a fly will enter your mouth. Are you that happy?”
“Yeah! I just can’t stop smiling seeing you safe and sound like this.”
“I’m glad that you’re safe, too.”
Hwang Cheol patted Kwak Moon-Jung’s head. The boy could feel that his uncle’s hands were much bonier than before, evidence of the hardships he had been through.
“Your martial arts have improved a lot.”
“How did you know that?” Kwak Moon-Jung opened his eyes wide in surprise.
“I’m not sure. I just got the feeling that it was like that.”
“Uncle Hwang, your chi has gotten a lot stronger. I think you must have overcome some training obstacle while counteracting the poison.”
“Is that so? I’m not really sure what happened myself.” Hwang Cheol scratched his head.
Jin Mu-Won smiled at Hwang Cheol’s clueless face and explained, “From your chi, I can tell that you’re almost at the pinnacle of the Peak Realm. I doubt there are many people out there who can overwhelm you purely on the basis of internal chi anymore, Uncle Hwang.”
“Oh dear! How is that possible? I couldn’t even break the chains binding me, you know?”
“That’s probably because you couldn’t release all of your chi while you were busy focusing on protecting yourself from the poison.”
“Yes, but…”
“How about you try swinging your sword while using the Three Origins Meditation Technique and see the difference for yourself?”
“Eh, but… “
“It’ll be okay, just try it.”
“…Alright.” Hwang Cheol gave in to Jin Mu-Won’s nagging. He picked up his sword, walked to the center of the backyard, took a few deep breaths to steady himself, and then started practicing.
ROAR! WHOOSH!
With every move, a majestic and domineering aura radiated out in all directions, causing a large tremor that spread to all the buildings in the compound. The dense chi unique to the inner arts of the Taoist schools was refreshing to behold. Hwang Cheol had even reached a level of chi intensity that few elders in the Taoist Sects, including the Wudang Sect and the Mount Hwa Sect, could reach.
Kwak Moon-Jung’s eyes widened with disbelief as he mumbled, “Am I really seeing this…?!”
“Yes, this is what happens when the Three Origins Meditation Technique is mastered.”
Every time Hwang Cheol swung his blade, a blue light would flash for a moment before converging to form a blurred illusion of a sword.
“Is that Sword Flux?” Kwak Moon-Jung involuntarily clenched his fist.
“No, that is not a complete Sword Flux.”
“Eh?”
“It looks that way because of Uncle Hwang’s powerful chi, but it’s missing the essence of a true Sword Flux. Sword Flux is only achieved by combining a deep understanding of the sword with a correspondingly powerful chi, and Uncle Hwang has not quite yet met the first condition. His goal now is to work harder at perfecting his swordsmanship. The path of the sword is never ending.”
“I see”, Kwak Moon-Jung said, shaking his head at the thought of the arduous path that lay before him.
Jin Mu-Won smiled faintly. Despite his criticism, he was delighted that Hwang Cheol had taken his first step toward achieving Sword Flux, which was the hallmark of a Supreme Peak martial artist. He had already overcome the chi barrier, the first and hardest step toward it, and hard work and time would take care of the rest.
The more Hwang Cheol wielded his sword and got used to focusing his chi, the more precise his movements became, and the more the blurry Sword Flux increased in clarity.
It was around then that Tang Gi-Mun and Tang Mi-Ryeo entered the backyard.
“Wow!”
As they approached Jin Mu-Won, they let out an exclamation of admiration at the spectacle that was Hwang Cheol’s martial arts, and Jin Mu-Won explained what had happened to the puzzled pair.
“Well, as the saying goes, every cloud has a silver lining. By the way, I had no idea that the Three Origins Meditation Technique…was this amazing,” Tang Gi-Mun praised, his eyes glittering. Even in prestigious families with a long history like the Tang Clan, martial experts who could use Sword Flux were hard to come by. That made such people highly sought after everywhere.
Hoh! To think that an escort could step into the Supreme Peak realm… If news of this gets out, there will be an upheaval in the gangho.
Finally, Hwang Cheol finished his sword dance and walked over to Jin Mu-Won and Tang Gi-Mun.
“How do you feel?” Jin Mu-Won asked.
“I still feel weird, as if my body doesn’t belong to me. It’s a difficult feeling to describe,” Hwang Cheol replied, smiling wryly.
“That’s probably because your swordsmanship hasn’t caught up with your inner chi yet. Once those two are in harmony, that awkward feeling will disappear.”
“Congratulations on joining the ranks of the Supreme Peak, Master Hwang.”
“Oh my! I really don’t deserve to be called ‘Master’…”
Hwang Cheol nervously clasped his hands together to thank Tang Gi-Mun for the compliment. It was obvious that he wasn’t used to being treated like this.
Tang Gi-Mun smiled. He liked Hwang Cheol’s honesty and purity.
Jin Mu-Won turned toward Tang Gi-Mun and asked, “How is Mister Yoon’s treatment going?”
“Unfortunately, I have had little success. For now, the best I can do is prevent his condition from worsening while we wait for the summons from Heaven’s Summit. I need to analyze the poison they took away in order to find a cure,” Tang Gi-Mun sighed.
Suddenly, Jin Mu-Won remembered something he’d almost forgotten. He put his hand into his chest pocket and took out a deerskin pouch.
“What’s that?”
“I didn’t give all of the poison to Heaven’s Summit.”
Tang Gi-Mun’s eyes instantly lit up and his face glowed with excitement. “Really?” he exclaimed, hastily taking the pouch from Jin Mu-Won and opening it. Immediately, noxious poison fumes wafted out of the opening. “If I analyze this, I’m sure I can find a way to cure the malady. Thank you,” he added.
Next to him, Tang Mi-Ryeo also smiled broadly as she said, “Thank you so much, Master Jin.”
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