An awkward atmosphere hung inside the office.
Jin Wikyung and Jeok Cheongang each stole glances at the other while sipping tea and liquor.
Great Hero Jeok came here in person. What could this be about?
Has he been possessed by a ghost? Of all places, why did he have to come here?
But even silence had its limits.
After emptying several more cups, Jeok Cheongang finally spoke. Since things had turned out this way, he intended to clear up some questions about Jin Taekyung before he left.
“I was on my way back from seeing that fellow.”
“Ah, you mean Taekyung.”
Jin Wikyung understood immediately and carefully gauged his mood.
He had already heard the whole story. Jeok Cheongang had helped the Jin Family of Taiyuan because of the emotional debt he carried toward his dead Disciple.
But he was worried that the anger caused by the martial arts manual incident two days ago might not have faded yet.
“Is this perhaps about the martial arts manual?”
“This old man has already erased that from his memory. No matter how precious a manual is, people are more important, aren’t they?”
“…”
“What is it? What’s with that expression?”
“Oh, it’s nothing.”
After beating him into a pulp, he’s talking about how people are more important now?
Jin Wikyung swallowed the words hovering at the tip of his tongue.
“In any event, I thought I might have hit him a little too hard, so I went to treat his body by cleansing the sinews and washing the marrow.”
“C-Cleansing the sinews and washing the marrow? You mean the cleansing I know about?”
Jeok Cheongang nodded at Jin Wikyung’s wide-eyed stare.
“Is there another kind?”
“No, of course not. I was just so surprised.”
“Surprised?”
“How could I not be surprised to hear that someone as extraordinary as Great Hero Jeok performed cleansing the sinews and washing the marrow on my younger brother? This is a great blessing for our family.”
Jeok Cheongang gazed at Jin Wikyung’s delighted face and realized something.
“I see. You might not have known.”
“Pardon?”
You can only see as much as you know. Even Jeok Cheongang, one of the most renowned Supreme Peak masters in the world, had never imagined that Jin Taekyung’s bones and muscles could be that exceptional.
So how could Jin Wikyung have known?
Perhaps it was fortunate that I found out now.
Jeok Cheongang clicked his tongue softly before speaking.
“The effect of cleansing the sinews and washing the marrow was minimal.”
“What are you saying? How could cleansing the sinews and washing the marrow have no effect?”
“That isn’t what I mean. It would be more accurate to say that Jin Taekyung doesn’t need it. It’s too early to make a definite judgment, but…”
Jeok Cheongang added in a low voice:
“I think he might possess the Heavenly Martial Physique.”
“!”
For a brief moment, shock flashed across Jin Wikyung’s face.
But then he calmly nodded, prompting Jeok Cheongang to ask:
“You already knew?”
“I didn’t. I only understand it now.”
“Understand what?”
“Taekyung’s astonishingly rapid progress in martial arts. But if he possesses the Heavenly Martial Physique, it can be explained. If it really is that Heavenly Martial Physique.”
“Astonishingly rapid?”
Jeok Cheongang narrowed his brow and continued.
“That fellow has certainly achieved remarkable results for someone his age, but not to that extent. No, when you consider the legends surrounding the Heavenly Martial Physique, his progress actually feels insufficient.”
His voice held absolute certainty.
And for good reason. When Jeok Cheongang had been young, he had been no less talented than Jin Taekyung. If anything, he had been more so.
The Supreme Peak masters who currently dominated the Murim had shown flashes of genius from childhood. Compared to them, Jin Taekyung’s current realm was merely ordinary.
“The Heavenly Martial Physique is exactly what its name says: bones and muscles granted by Heaven. Once every several hundred years—or perhaps once every thousand years—a whim of Heaven causes a god to dwell within the body of a mere human. But the boy now…”
“He’s only at the beginning of the Peak realm.”
“Exactly. But the world is vast, and there are many talented people. Cheongpung alone proves that.”
Everything Jeok Cheongang said was true.
The people sheltered by the Nine Sects and One Gang and the Five Great Families were not the only ones who existed.
There were undoubtedly young talents whose names had not yet reached the Central Plains, as well as people who had buried themselves in the countryside while training in martial arts.
If one scoured the entire world from the very bottom, several Supreme Peak masters approaching the level of the One God, the Three Saints, and the Ten Kings would surely emerge.
“That is why this old man cannot be certain. The boy is certainly exceptional, but… it isn’t enough. Is a legend merely a legend? Perhaps his martial talent is inferior to his physique.”
“How interesting.”
“What is?”
“I thought the opposite.”
Jin Wikyung smiled faintly at Jeok Cheongang’s questioning expression.
“My younger brother’s martial talent is the greatest beneath Heaven. No, you could call it the greatest in all history.”
“W-What did you say?”
Jeok Cheongang barely managed to suppress the curse that nearly escaped his mouth.
Even he, a living legend in all but name, did not dare claim to be the greatest beneath Heaven. And this man was calling his younger brother the greatest in all history?
Yet the confidence and conviction radiating from Jin Wikyung made Jeok Cheongang ask another question.
“What grounds do you have for thinking that?”
Jin Wikyung quietly extended three fingers.
“Three months.”
“…”
“That’s how long Taekyung has been learning martial arts.”
“!”
“It’s also how long it took a Third Rate wastrel who frequented pleasure houses to become a Peak master.”
For an instant, Jeok Cheongang’s vision turned white. Lightning crackled inside his head, and his heart pounded violently.
Three months from Third Rate to Peak. It was absurd. Categorically impossible.
But…
It’s possible. If he possesses the Heavenly Martial Physique.
Jeok Cheongang was a Supreme Peak master.
Yet even he—powerful enough to kill a thousand people alone—was merely an old man whose body was withering beneath the force of time.
The Heavenly Martial Physique, on the other hand, was an existence born from Heaven’s choice and whim.
How could a mere human presume to guess Heaven’s intentions?
Is this what lies beyond Heaven?
Jeok Cheongang slowly rose from his seat and approached the window. When he opened the tightly closed window, he saw an endless blue sky.
As the cold wind rushed inside, he suddenly wondered:
Why had Heaven chosen Jin Taekyung? And why had it caused Taekyung and him to meet?
Who are you? Is there really someone there?
No answer came.
Jeok Cheongang stared silently at the drifting scraps of cloud in the clear, tranquil sky for a long while before speaking.
“I think we need more liquor. What do you say?”
Jin Taekyung answered with a smile.
“Great. I was getting sick of tea anyway.”
The next day, Hyuk Mujin came to deliver some unexpected news.
“They want you to attend the banquet.”
“Me?”
“Who else would they mean?”
I answered without a moment’s hesitation.
“I don’t want to.”
Even if I sat there occupying a seat, I would only grow restless.
People would gawk at me like I was a monkey in a zoo, and my biggest fan, Prince Shangshan, would probably ask me for another autograph.
I’d much rather hole myself up in a pavilion and circulate my qi or ponder martial arts. It would be a hundred times better.
“Just tell them I can’t go.”
“It was the Lesser Family Head’s order.”
“Then that makes things even better. My brother won’t say anything, will he? Besides, people would find it strange if my closed-door training ended after only three days.”
“Just say you gained a little insight. If you say that’s what happened, who’s going to argue?”
“…”
He had a point.
I narrowed my eyes as I watched Hyuk Mujin become more and more logical.
“I’m still a patient.”
“You’ve already recovered. When I saw you this morning, almost all your bruises were gone.”
Just as Hyuk Mujin said, most of the bruises that had covered my upper body had already disappeared.
Seeing that, I supposed cleansing the sinews and washing the marrow really did have some effect.
Of course, from my perspective, gaining more stats would have been far more helpful.
Hyuk Mujin scratched the back of his head as though he had a headache.
“Why don’t you just go?”
“Tell them I’m still in pain. Who’s going to complain if I say I am?”
“Great Hero Jeok.”
“Huh?”
“He says that you should stop trying any tricks because you’ll have recovered by now. Otherwise, he’ll come here himself and drag you away.”
“Damn it. That old man is still at the banquet hall?”
“He drank through the night with the Lesser Family Head and appeared just a moment ago, completely drunk.”
I let out a deep sigh.
Jeok Cheongang had said he would remain at the Jin Family of Taiyuan only until this gathering ended.
According to the original schedule, he should have left yesterday. But the gathering had been extended as more people arrived and heavyweights began appearing, so his stay had naturally been extended as well.
“Shit. Fine, let’s go. Let’s go.”
“Good thinking. If you hadn’t, I would’ve been a dead man.”
I followed Hyuk Mujin, who was grinning foolishly, toward the banquet hall.
It was still packed tighter than a marketplace, but perhaps because they had finally begun controlling the crowds, there were far fewer people than on the first day.
“We had no choice. More and more people kept arriving every day. So many people were eating and drinking all day that, leaving aside the expense, we ran out of room.”
“You should’ve turned more of them away. It still looks like there are a lot of people.”
“If we turn away any more, people will curse us. The ones who remain are, at the very least, heads of small martial arts academies.”
“So you’re making sure their pride stays intact?”
“Something like that. We even gave each person a gift when we sent away the people who had been here on the first day.”
They’re managing even the grassroots sentiment?
Whether it was the result of careful calculations that had taken all this into account or simple human kindness, Jin Wikyung was undeniably capable.
He was different from the other martial artists who put their pride and martial arts first. Could he be what you would call a bureaucrat-style martial artist?
If the excellent CEO Jin Wikyung did not exist, the Jin Family of Taiyuan probably would not have risen to its current position.
“Hey, our youngest! My beloved little brother, you’ve come!”
“…”
Yes, he would have been perfect if not for things like this.
His face was bright red from all the liquor he had consumed. Jin Wikyung bellowed from the seat of honor, and laughter erupted from every corner of the hall.
He really went all out. He really did.
Jin Wikyung was a Peak master, after all. He could have driven away the drunkenness with internal energy, so the fact that he was this drunk meant he had never intended to do so.
Jeok Cheongang, seated beside him, was in a similar state.
“I called you ages ago. Why are you only coming now?”
“…I came right away.”
“I’d hardly call this coming right away. You dragged your feet after saying you wouldn’t come, then came running as soon as you heard this old man was here.”
“…”
“No matter how far you run, you’re still in the palm of my hand. Stop spouting nonsense and sit down.”
As expected of that terrifyingly perceptive old man.
I exchanged nods with several familiar faces, including Baek Museong and Lee Seowol, then cautiously made my way forward.
The instant I sat beside Jeok Cheongang, a bowl-sized liquor cup suddenly appeared in front of me.
“Drink.”
“Oh. Yes.”
I filled the cup to the brim and downed it in one gulp. As I wiped my mouth with my sleeve, Jeok Cheongang thrust the liquor bottle toward me again.
“One more.”
“Yes.”
Another one-shot.
“More.”
“…Again?”
“What did you say?”
“No. The liquor just tastes so good, that’s all.”
Something about this feels off.
In the end, I emptied an entire liquor jar by myself before even a quarter of an hour had passed. Only then did Jeok Cheongang pull up the corners of his mouth in satisfaction.
“That’s more like it. You need to drink at least this much.”
“…”
Why was I suddenly thinking of a story I had once seen online about a university freshman welcome party?
The difference was that the person forcing me to drink wasn’t some senior from a fossilized class year.
It was the Fire King.
This is brutal right from the start.
Still, I had made it past one hurdle.
I was catching my breath while Jeok Cheongang, thoroughly drunk, went to relieve himself when someone suddenly spoke to me.
“May I pour you a drink?”
The person who had addressed me was a solidly built, middle-aged man.
He had stern eyes and tightly pressed lips. He looked at me with an unreadable expression before continuing:
“I’m Ak Bulgun of the Shandong Yue Family.”
The Shandong Yue Family? I had heard that name several times, both in novels and after coming to the Murim.
I gave him an awkward bow.
“Ah, I’m—”
“I already know. Jin Taekyung, the Sleeping Dragon of Shanxi. Though when I heard about you from the cadets last year, you didn’t have that nickname yet.”
“…Cadets?”
What was this man talking about?
Seeing my bewilderment, Ak Bulgun smiled faintly.
“Have you heard of Heaven’s Gate Temple? I serve as a spear Instructor there.”
“Oh.”
“I don’t know if you’re aware, but your second brother is fairly famous within the academy. Naturally, stories about you have made their way to us as well.”
I let out a quiet laugh.
Until three months ago, I had been called the disgrace of my family. I didn’t need to hear the stories to know exactly what they had been.
“They probably weren’t very flattering.”
“Rumors in the martial world aren’t worth believing. You yourself are proof of that.”
“Who knows?”
I answered vaguely and drank the liquor he poured for me.
“But what brings you here?”
“I came to take care of some business, but then I received a message from the academy. A cadet who said he was going to visit his family for a short while has stopped responding, so they told me to bring him back.”
“Jin Mukyung—I mean, my second brother.”
“That’s right. I hear he’s in closed-door training?”
When I nodded, Ak Bulgun stroked his beard.
“That’s troublesome. He’ll have to leave within seven days at the latest, no matter what. Did he give you any indication before entering seclusion?”
“No. He’s the sort of person who won’t stop until he’s satisfied with his progress.”
“I know. I’ve taught him myself.”
He let out a small sigh before suddenly speaking again.
“What about you?”
“Me?”
“Why not become a cadet at Heaven’s Gate Temple while you’re at it? Ah, if the rumor that you’re studying under the Fire King is true, pretend you never heard me.”
Heaven’s Gate Temple, out of nowhere. I hadn’t expected this.
Heaven’s Gate Temple was practically a gateway to advancement—a place filled with the finest talents in the world whose abilities had been recognized, excellent Instructors, and countless opportunities.
I had heard that, if you met certain conditions, you could even learn advanced martial arts like Jin Mukyung.
If I stay at the Jin Family of Taiyuan as I am now, my growth will eventually hit a ceiling.
The Roaring Fury Swordsman’s incident had taught me that much. Even if you obtained something, you would have no choice but to suffer if you lacked the strength to protect it.
I needed a turning point if I wanted to become stronger than I was now, and Heaven’s Gate Temple was a place where both safety and opportunity were guaranteed.
Unless I’m really the Fire King’s Disciple, this is definitely the best option available to me right now.
When I failed to answer immediately, Ak Bulgun spoke.
“The admission period has already passed, but I can grant you special permission.”
“Special permission?”
“You’re an exceptional talent.”
Ak Bulgun’s rough palm came to rest on my shoulder.
“What do you say? Become a cadet at Heaven’s Gate Temple. If it’s you, the higher-ups will welcome you with open arms.”
“I…”
Just as I opened my mouth, a voice cut through the air.
“Take your hand off.”
“!”
Along with a burst of scorching heat came alcohol fumes so overpowering that my vision swam.
And there was not a trace of drunkenness in Jeok Cheongang’s voice.
“I said take your hand off what’s mine.”
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