Jin Taekyung had two kinds of Qi Sense.
One was the Qi Sense he had honed as a martial artist, a means of survival.
The other was Qi Sense granted by the System as a separate Skill.
The first worked as naturally as breathing, even in everyday life. The second required him to activate the System with a clear intention and goal.
Back when I was weak, I had no choice but to rely on the Qi Sense Skill.
Though he’d used it far less often since his martial arts had reached a certain level, the Qi Sense Skill remained incredibly useful.
Especially when he wanted a closer look at someone whose identity he didn’t know.
Skill: Activate Qi Sense.
The moment Jin Taekyung gave the command in his mind, the blue circle of [Qi Sense], now at nine stars, shot outward.
Shwaaash.
The ability made no sound and had no visible form. Only a faint ripple betrayed it, one that a tiny handful of masters at the highest realms could sense.
And it offered another way to determine the identity of the strange man called Great Sir.
If the Skill succeeds, I’ll find out exactly who he is. If it fails, I won’t lose anything.
Of course, the Qi Sense Skill wasn’t all-powerful.
Masters beyond its limits might have their Levels displayed as question marks. Some could sense the ripple when the Skill activated and immediately deflect it.
During their first meeting, Jeok Cheongang had even controlled his qi to make his Level appear absurdly low.
What mattered to Jin Taekyung now was how this beggar-looking Supreme Peak master would react—and what the Skill he’d already activated would tell him.
Who the hell are you?
Jin Taekyung watched him closely.
The wild-haired oddball scratched vigorously at his greasy head, looking so unconcerned that Jin Taekyung couldn’t tell whether he had no idea what was happening or was pretending not to.
Then the blue circle that might lift the veil around the man finally reached him.
At the same time, a familiar alert sounded in Jin Taekyung’s ear.
Beep-beep!
The sharp noise announced failure. Jin Taekyung knew what that meant.
He’s a master. His Level is higher than mine.
But he wasn’t shaken.
He’d learned firsthand, more times than he cared to count, that Level was no absolute measure of strength.
Level could reliably distinguish the strong from the weak up to First Rate, or perhaps Peak. Masters beyond those realms were different.
Even back when he was at the Peak realm, Jin Taekyung had won fight after fight against enemies dozens of Levels higher than himself. A Level difference meant especially little to him.
Yet even he was left speechless by the line that appeared before his eyes.
System Skill Qi Sense was half successful!
“…Huh?”
The question slipped out before he knew it.
That wasn’t quite what the failure alert had told him. He blinked at the message.
Success was success, and failure was failure. What the hell was half successful?
Wait. Now that I think about it, that failure alert did sound a little strange…
Before he could finish the thought, the oddball whipped his head around as though he’d only just noticed something unusual.
“Huh? I thought a strange wind blew over from your direction just now. Did you feel it too?”
Jin Taekyung didn’t answer.
No—he couldn’t answer. He was too busy staring at something unlike anything he’d seen since gaining the ability to use the System.
System Lv. 119 ???
Three question marks.
That was all.
He rubbed his eyes with his sleeve and blinked hard several times. The question marks remained where the man’s name should have been.
…Has this ever happened before?
He already knew the answer.
No.
Not once. Ever.
He’d seen plenty of Levels displayed as question marks, but never a name.
Everyone had a name, whether it was an alias used to hide their identity or the real one someone had given them at birth.
But Great Sir—the oddball before him—didn’t.
The sheer strangeness of it left Jin Taekyung with no choice but to ask.
“What the hell are you?”
Bewilderment and a hint of suspicion came through in his abrupt question. Everyone around them looked at Great Sir at once, as if on cue.
His tone had been rude enough to draw a rebuke. Yet even Perfected Being Hyeoncheon and the Kongtong Disciples, who owed Great Sir so much, forgot to give him one.
They’d spent days and nights with their strange benefactor without learning who he was. They wanted to know at least a little about him.
The Fire King, the Bow Saint, and the members of the Fire Dragon Pavilion were no different.
A Supreme Peak master who’d spent more than a decade holed up in some remote corner of Ningxia Province was bound to make people curious.
With all those eyes on him, Great Sir calmly asked, “Hm? Were you asking me?”
“Yeah. You.”
“Oh, that’s a very good question.”
Great Sir scratched at his grime-streaked neck. Yellowed teeth showed between his long locks as he beamed.
“Come to think of it, we haven’t even introduced ourselves. Let me do it properly. I’m…”
The surroundings had gone deathly quiet.
Hundreds of pairs of eyes fixed on his lips as they slowly parted.
“Cough. All this dust has made my throat scratchy. Let me start again. I’m…”
His voice trailed off again after he cleared his throat. Everyone was about to go mad with curiosity.
Who could he be?
A reclusive master whose name of three syllables had yet to become known?
A master of the previous generation, long forgotten by the world?
Or perhaps… a former great fiend of the Demonic Cult who had turned over a new leaf?
As their guesses multiplied, Great Sir continued in a grave voice.
“Uh. So, I’m…”
“You bastard, you’re the biggest piece of shit under heaven!”
Jeok Cheongang, halfway out of his mind after hearing “I’m” for the third time, rolled his eyes and started forward. At that very moment, Great Sir let out a cry as though he’d attained some great enlightenment.
“That’s it! I think that’s it!”
“No matter how far the ways of the martial world have fallen, how can you pull this kind of dogshit—what?”
Jeok Cheongang stopped mid-step. Great Sir clapped his hands and shouted again.
“What you said just now! I think you’ve got it! Madman—that must be my name!”
“…?”
“…?”
A suffocating silence fell.
Every last person stared at Great Sir, then at one another. Their eyes exchanged the words no one said aloud.
What the hell?
Did I hear that wrong?
Madman? That’s someone’s name?
Does any of this make sense?
But no amount of exchanged looks changed the reality before them. Seized by a bewilderment he’d felt only a handful of times in his long life, Jeok Cheongang turned toward the person who’d already made him feel it several times.
His one and only Disciple.
“So… what sort of nonsense did that damned fool just spout?”
But, like his Master, his Disciple was just as incapable of fully understanding or accepting what was happening.
If anything, he was even more bewildered.
System Lv. 119 Madman
“…”
Jin Taekyung stared blankly at the holographic window above Great Sir’s head.
What the hell?
It had changed. It definitely had.
But…
So what the hell does that mean?
Could he even call that a proper change? Or had the System developed an error?
Countless thoughts and regrets streaked through his mind like a meteor shower. Then someone he’d momentarily forgotten spoke up beside him.
“Good grief. I thought he’d gotten a little better, but here he goes again.”
Everyone turned toward the voice. The fearsome-looking, middle-aged former mounted bandit flinched.
“Uh, don’t mind him. He’s always like this.”
“Always?”
At Jin Taekyung’s question, Ma Junggeol—once a mounted bandit in Ningxia Province, now the Chief of Baekma Bang and eldest of the Seven Masters of Baekma Bang—gave an uneasy nod.
“Well, yes. Didn’t I tell you before?”
Jin Taekyung vaguely remembered Ma Junggeol saying Great Sir wasn’t exactly normal.
“No, but still. What is this…?”
“A few months ago, when I went to see Great Sir where he was staying, do you know what his name was?”
“What?”
“Jeomsuni.”
“…!”
“His name changes every time I visit. He’s been Gaettong—Dog Poop—and Sottong—Cow Poop, too.”
Jin Taekyung froze, unable to find a word to say. Great Sir suddenly drew a sharp breath and shouted.
“Gasp! Gaettong! Yes! I think it was Gaettong! I’m sure this time! Probably!”
Ding.
System Lv. 119 Gaettong
At that moment, Jin Taekyung gave up on thinking.
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