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Chapter 63. The Great Roc Waiting for a Typhoon
Murong Gang descended between the Dragon and Phoenix Assembly, me, and the Ten Thousand Swords, then looked at me and said,
“Heh heh heh. When I was young, I was called a madman plenty of times, but I never did anything as insane as you.”
Murong Gang looked at the swords floating in the air and let out a small exclamation of admiration.
“I thought the stories left in the records were nothing but lies…….”
Murong Gang’s eyes looked like those of a child seeing the stars for the first time.
“……It feels as though the records were lacking.”
Soon, he looked at me and said,
“If it is proof, then it is already over, so withdraw your sword. What do you know about Innate Energy that you dare use it so recklessly!”
I pointed at Jong Byeok-gi.
“That man insulted me, my sect, and our Grand Patriarch.”
“Are you planning to wage a life-and-death battle here?”
“I will do exactly what the Diancang Sect would do if it were insulted. Jong Byeok-gi! What would you do if your sect were insulted?”
“…….”
Murong Gang gave a faint laugh at the sight of me, then turned his gaze to Jong Byeok-gi.
“You horse-nosed Daoist bastard. ……Apologize.”
Jong Byeok-gi was completely flustered by the sudden order to apologize.
“……Old Master, who are you to interfere in the affairs of the Murim Alliance?”
“If you don’t apologize now, you and the Dragon and Phoenix Assembly will not return intact. Do you not understand that?”
“We, the Dragon and Phoenix Assembly, are…….”
“Tsk, tsk. You are a brat who cannot be reasoned with.”
Murong Gang reached his hand toward Jong Byeok-gi and twisted it.
Crack.
Astonishingly, Jong Byeok-gi’s arm, though he had been standing behind Il-myeong, bent in a direction it should not have bent.
“Aaaaaaagh!”
For it to be simple Airborne Object Grasping, the destructive power was too great, and for it to have used an Empty-Air Strike, Il-myeong, who had employed the rare divine art known as the Diamond Indestructible Divine Art, had been blocking him.
No one present understood what method Murong Gang had used.
“What is the meaning of this?! Do you think you can dare do something like this and still—”
Boom.
Jong Byeok-gi had clearly been standing in the middle of the Dragon and Phoenix Assembly.
Yet strangely, he alone flew away and was embedded in the wall as though he had been tied to a rope and dragged.
Thud.
“Krgh.”
“Is that enough?”
Murong Gang turned back to look at me.
“Or shall I kill him myself?”
“…….”
“I find you interesting. I don’t want to see you die or have your martial arts abolished. I am curious about both the sword art you use and you yourself.”
His eyes, visible through the Human-Skin Mask, gleamed like those of a predator aiming at its prey.
For a moment, chills ran over me, and I was left speechless.
“…….”
“If you wish it, I will kill him for you, even if it means going to war with Diancang. It would not be bad to clash with that horse-nosed Daoist bastard of Diancang after so long.”
“!”
“!”
The faces of the Dragon and Phoenix Assembly members turned sour.
They could not identify him, but the way he spoke so plainly and calmly made it sound even more real, and therefore chilling.
I looked at the Dragon and Phoenix Assembly, now without Jong Byeok-gi, and said,
“While Jong Byeok-gi was speaking, no one from the Dragon and Phoenix Assembly stepped forward except Miss Murong Seol. That must mean the Dragon and Phoenix Assembly thinks similarly to Jong Byeok-gi.”
Il-myeong spoke as though wronged.
“……No! That is…….”
“Be quiet!”
Murong Gang looked at me and made a mischievous expression.
“I have met all sorts of bastards in my life, but this is the first time I have seen one as persistent as you.”
“…….”
“For someone who accompanied me only briefly, are you not taking too great a payment?”
“If I am still intact after this matter is over, I will repay you.”
“Good. Remember those words.”
Murong Gang nodded in satisfaction, then spoke to the Dragon and Phoenix Assembly.
“Hey, you scraps of worms and chicks, do you truly possess the authority of inspectors to investigate the origin of martial arts?”
“…….”
No one dared open their mouth carelessly.
They held the fearless status of the Murim Alliance’s Dragon and Phoenix Assembly, but now that they had seen the realm of Heaven beyond Heaven, they could not run their mouths recklessly.
“Mount Hua’s dust. You answer.”
Hwa Jeong-san furrowed his brow and said,
“We, as inspection envoys of the Murim Alliance…… uphold the order of the murim and…….”
“I asked whether you had the authority, you rotten bastard.”
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“…….”
At Murong Gang’s insult, Hwa Jeong-san’s face flushed bright red.
In the end, Il-myeong intervened.
“Excuse me, but may we ask who you are, Old Master?”
“Why? Are you going to measure me up and, if I seem manageable, press me down with Shaolin’s power?”
“…….”
At Murong Gang’s attitude of mentioning Shaolin as though it were nothing, Il-myeong could not easily open his mouth.
“Young monk, if you have read through all of Shaolin’s Sutra Pavilion, then you should know, should you not? That child’s martial arts resemble the old records about the Taeul Sword Emperor?”
“…….”
Il-myeong looked at Jong Byeok-gi, who had collapsed.
“Were you planning to say you don’t know? Shall I show you the records in our clan?”
A strange light appeared in Il-myeong’s eyes. He seemed to have found some clue within Murong Gang’s words.
“Could you perhaps be……. Mu……!”
And soon, as though he remembered something, he shook his head.
“……No. I know.”
“According to the records I saw, that child’s martial arts are indeed the Taeul Sword Emperor’s martial arts. Also, everyone in the murim knows that the Taeul Sect inherited the Taeul Sword Emperor’s tradition.”
Because the story of the Taeul Sword Emperor and the Taeul Sect had resounded throughout the world mainly as objects of mockery, there was no martial artist in the murim who did not know this story.
“Do you have an objection to my opinion?”
Everyone’s gaze gathered on Il-myeong.
“……I don’t.”
With Il-myeong’s words, the entire Taeul Sect began to stir.
Jong Byeok-gi, who had been slammed into the wall, grabbed his dangling arm and walked forward.
His eyes were filled with resentment toward his opponent.
“Just who are you, Old Master, that you would do something like this?!”
“Why are you curious about that?”
“Diancang does not forget grudges.”
“Heh heh. Is the best you can do ask a foolish question and hide behind that shit-pup Baek U-mun?”
Jong Byeok-gi’s face slowly stiffened.
Baek U-mun was the current Sect Leader of the Diancang Sect. Yet this man had casually called someone like that a shit-pup?
“You said you would not regret it.”
Murong Gang’s hand moved toward his neck.
“What do you mean by…….”
When Murong Gang’s face was revealed, the faces of Jong Byeok-gi and the Dragon and Phoenix Assembly turned ashen.
“W-Wind Earl Sword-Breaker……!”
A bitter smile appeared at Murong Gang’s lips.
“You dared interfere with my eccentric journey. I assume you did so prepared to pay the price for it?”
Then Murong Seol cried out as though screaming.
“G-Grandfather!”
Whether Murong Seol called him or not, Murong Gang spoke to the people on the platform.
“I, Murong Gang, the current Clan Head of the Murong Clan and the one whom the fellow martial artists of the murim call the Wind Earl Sword-Breaker, guarantee this. The martial arts used by that child Jin So-un are unquestionably the legendary martial arts of the Taeul Sword Emperor.”
From various places on the platform, sobs like groans burst out.
“Uwaaaah!”
“Sob, sob, truly…….”
“……Such a thing.”
There was not a single adult who did not burst into tears.
Even Hong Mun-gi, in order not to show himself crying, closed his eyes and raised his head despite Murong Gang being in front of him.
“Now, is that enough?”
Murong Gang looked at me again with a mischievous expression.
I carefully withdrew all of my martial arts.
“Your Innate Energy did not shatter or anything, did it?”
“……No. Thanks to you, my qi center is also intact.”
“Good, good. That is truly fortunate.”
The one who had stopped me when I was about to abandon all hope was Murong Gang, someone I had only just met.
“…….”
Even though I had had no connection with him in my previous life, I could not help but be moved by the fact that he was acting like this.
If my grandfather had been alive, would he have been like this?
Mischievous and full of antics, but on my side when it truly mattered…….
“Then now, you and I should finish settling our account too, should we not?”
“Yes?”
A fist flew in instantly, and before I could even dodge, it struck my abdomen and my neck.
“Krrgh…….”
I held onto my fading consciousness, forced my eyes open, and looked at him.
“Why……?”
“As a rule, the cure for a madman is a beating. How dare you touch Innate Energy so recklessly?”
“No…… that was…….”
With those words, my eyes closed.
All of the Hall Masters, including the Elders of the Taeul Sect, gathered in the Great Mysterious Hall.
The tremendous event of “Jin So-un has learned the martial arts of the Taeul Sword Emperor!” had occurred, but what they were actually waiting for right now was Murong Gang.
Wind Earl Sword-Breaker Murong Gang.
He was not only an absolute master of the murim, but also an Eminent Master of the murim whom anyone who used a sword wished to meet at least once.
When Murong Gang, still dressed as an Herb Gatherer, entered, all of the Taeul Sect’s people rose from their seats.
Hong Mun-gi yielded the seat of honor to Murong Gang, but Murong Gang shook his head.
“don’t do that. Leaving aside seniority in the murim, are we not now meeting as the heads of our respective sect and clan? Sect Leader, don’t be too modest.”
At his words, Hong Mun-gi took the seat of honor, and Murong Gang sat beside him.
“I don’t know how I should repay this grace.”
When they had nearly become entangled in a dispute with the Murim Alliance over the origin of the Taeul Sword Emperor’s martial arts, Murong Gang had guaranteed it in his own name and the name of his clan, mediating the matter.
It was no different from the Taeul Sect owing him a great debt.
“I merely said that what originally belonged to the Taeul Sect belonged to the Taeul Sect. Still, if it helped the Taeul Sect, then I feel as though some of the burden on my heart has been lightened.”
“……Pardon? What do you mean by that?”
“Hm? You did not know? Jin So-un of your honorable sect saved my son’s life.”
“What?!”
“!”
Hong Mun-gi’s gaze naturally turned to Jin Tae-san, but Jin Tae-san did not know anything about it either.
‘That damned son of mine. If he does something, can he not tell me about it?’
How shocked had he been when he learned that the Herb Gatherer old man’s identity was Murong Gang?
“I apologize. I did not know in advance. I will educate him again.”
“Ha ha, the fact that he accomplished such a great deed and yet did not even tell his sect must mean that he did not think much of having helped someone. Rather, I find that admirable, so Sect Leader, don’t concern yourself too much with it.”
“T-thank you.”
Everyone in the hall must have felt the same, but Jin Tae-san in particular was utterly dumbfounded.
As the saying went, even a hedgehog thought its own child was lovely, and to him, Jin So-un was an incomparably precious son and Chief Disciple. But why was someone as great as Murong Gang showing favor to Jin So-un?
“In truth, that unworthy son of mine fell into danger while he was looking for Spiritual Medicine for his own son. That child saved his life, and my son handed him the Fire Monkey’s Inner Core as a reward, but the child refused, saying how could he take away the heart of a father thinking of his son? How could I not become interested in someone who thinks like that?”
“?!”
“?!”
At the words “Fire Monkey’s Inner Core,” the expressions of the people grew complicated.
They wanted to praise Jin So-un for his boldness in not coveting another’s possession, yet at the same time, they wanted to scold him for missing an opportunity that might never come again in his lifetime.
Perhaps Murong Gang understood those feelings.
He laughed and said,
“It is not exactly a substitute, but as a sign of gratitude, my son promised to give the Taeul Sect three Clear Bright Pills.”
“Ah……!”
“Hah!”
“How can we possibly thank you for this?”
The people of the Taeul Sect gradually began to look more relieved.
“There is no need to do that. I, too, know well that the Fire Monkey’s Inner Core cannot be compared to Clear Bright Pills. That is why I personally came to the Taeul Sect to offer my thanks.”
“…….”
Life was truly strange.
If Jin So-un had accepted the Fire Monkey’s Inner Core.
If Murong Gang had therefore not come to the Taeul Sect.
If the friction with the Dragon and Phoenix Assembly had made them enemies with the Murim Alliance.
Would the Taeul Sect have been able to purely rejoice now that the Taeul Sword Emperor’s martial arts had returned?
“In addition, there is something I wish to propose to you, Sect Leader.”
“What is it?”
“Since this has happened, why not conduct an exchange of disciples once, to commemorate the exchange between our two sects?”
“…….”
An exchange of disciples meant that two different sects would each dispatch disciples to receive and share teachings for the sake of martial exchange.
It was generally a system implemented by places like the Nine Sects and One Gang or the Five Great Clans, which already possessed powerful martial arts, in order to make up for the areas where they were one-sidedly lacking or to give their disciples more experience.
However, that was only possible between sects of similar scale and ability.
Even if the Murong Clan and the Taeul Sect conducted an exchange of disciples, there was nothing the Murong Clan would gain.
This meant Murong Gang intended to bestow a favor on the Taeul Sect under the name of an exchange of disciples.
“Would that be all right?”
“What do you mean?”
“From our Taeul Sect…… there may be nothing to learn……. We have not even seen the Taeul Sword Emperor’s martial arts yet either…….”
“Ha ha, what are you saying, Sect Leader? What I want the children to learn is not the Taeul Sect’s martial arts. If it is martial arts, the Murong Clan has more than enough.”
It was an arrogant statement, but because it was Murong Gang saying it, it did not sound especially conceited.
“Then what is it?”
“The spirit of the Taeul Sect.”
“Pardon?”
Murong Gang erased his characteristic mischief and spoke with a benevolent expression.
“I heard that a similar incident happened at the Iron Sword Sect before.”
Jin Tae-san and Kang Chae-seok recalled that day and nodded slightly.
“When one’s sect is insulted, anyone can become enraged. However, even when the opponent is stronger than oneself, to stake everything one has and become enraged is not an easy thing to do, is it?”
Hong Mun-gi nodded naturally before he realized it.
“I do think it was wrong that he drew up even his Innate Energy without thinking of what would come after. However, because of the single move that child Jin So-un made this time, from now on, no one from the Murim Alliance, including the Dragon and Phoenix Assembly, will be able to insult the Taeul Sect without staking their lives, will they not?”
“Ah…….”
“The Murong Clan has never received such an insult. However, that was possible because we were powerful. I want our children to always be as confident as Jin So-un, even before those stronger than the Murong Clan.”
“…….”
The Elders and Hall Masters all pressed their lips shut. It was because they found it difficult to control the emotions swelling up within them at Murong Gang’s praise.
Hong Mun-gi, too, felt as though tears would surge up at the thought of Jin So-un, so he quickly pointed at Jin Tae-san.
“Ahem, if that is the case, that fellow over there, the Hall Master of the Outer Hall, should know well. That fellow is Jin So-un’s father.”
At Hong Mun-gi’s words, Murong Gang looked at Jin Tae-san with a peculiar gaze.
“Heh heh, I know.”
A mischievous smile appeared at Murong Gang’s lips.
“Just what method of education must one use to raise such a child?”
“……Senior, you praise him so excessively that I don’t know where to put myself.”
“I am asking because I am truly curious. I happened to accompany that child and played a few pranks on him. Then he asked this Wind Earl Sword-Breaker whether I wanted to taste a warrior’s straight punch. Please tell me the secret to raising him so fearlessly.”
“Yeees?!”
Jin Tae-san was horrified.
The expressions of the others were not much different from Jin Tae-san’s.