The middle-aged man gazed down at the crystal-clear blade.
Blade-sharp features and tightly pressed lips stared back at him. Strands of white had begun to appear here and there in his reflected hair.
After a while, he suddenly spoke.
“You’ve had a long wait.”
His low but powerful voice echoed through the spacious room. Yet no one stood anywhere within sight.
The answer came from the ceiling above his head.
“It is my duty.”
The whisper belonged to the person known as the Hidden Thread. There had been a Hidden Thread in the previous generation, and the generation before that. The position had existed for hundreds of years, ever since the family was founded.
Sworn to absolute loyalty toward one person alone—the Family Head—they were, true to their name, threads hidden from sight.
The countless pieces of information that flowed along those threads could be quietly forgotten—or turned into weapons with which to strangle someone.
“Do you have any new information?”
“Yes. Heaven-grade.”
“Heaven-grade.”
The middle-aged man ran a finger along the blade.
Every report the Hidden Thread delivered was confidential, but they were divided by importance into Heaven, Earth, and Human grades.
Heaven-grade was the highest of them all.
Even for a man who had led his family for nearly twenty years, such reports were exceedingly rare.
“It has been a while. Is this the first since the Huangshan Sect?”
The Huangshan Sect was a prestigious sect with a long history. Yet now, its name was slowly fading from the memories of the people.
Survival of the fittest.
The Murim was a merciless world that did not look back at those who had been weeded out. The middle-aged man had weeded out the Huangshan Sect and feasted on their corpses.
“There should still be a long time left before they reopen their gates.”
“The Huangshan Sect has already collapsed. Even if it reopened its gates, it could never recover.”
“Then?”
“The Mountain Lord has returned.”
The fingers caressing the blade abruptly stopped.
“…Is that true?”
“Without a doubt.”
The Mountain Lord—the master of the mountain.
Some might wonder what sort of nonsense that was. There were countless mountains under heaven, so what sense did it make to speak of their owner?
But here in Anhui Province, the title Mountain Lord referred to only one man.
“Fire King Jeok Cheongang…”
An unparalleled master who had faced a thousand martial artists alone.
Mount Jiuhua was his domain and the sacred ground of the Fire Gate Clan, whose legacy stretched back hundreds of years.
On the day the Demonic Cultists set fire to Mount Jiuhua, an old man who had been aging like any other became the Fire King.
The people of Anhui Province, who had protected their precious home thanks to him, began calling him the Mountain Lord out of respect.
“When and where did the report come from?”
“He passed through the North Gate two shichen1 ago.”
“His destination?”
“Mount Jiuhua.”
“I see.”
The middle-aged man nodded slightly, then sensed something odd.
Since becoming Family Head, he had received countless reports from the Hidden Thread and asked for his assessments, but the man had never once spoken with such certainty.
This time was different.
Sensing his lord’s question, the Hidden Thread spoke first.
“He was accompanied by his Disciple. Going to his sect is only natural.”
“His Disciple?”
The middle-aged man frowned. The Fire Gate Clan passed its teachings from one master to a single Disciple. The Fire King could have only one.
Though it had happened nearly twenty years ago, he clearly remembered everything concerning the Fire King.
“Did he come back for that vicious bastard?”
“It is not the man you are thinking of. According to confirmed reports, he died three months ago.”
“And the Fire King found a new Disciple?”
“Yes.”
The Hidden Thread’s flat voice continued.
“Jin Taekyung. He turned twenty-one this year and belongs to the direct line of the Jin Family of Taiyuan.”
“Both the name and the family are unfamiliar to me.”
“He shares a bloodline with the Blade of Flowers, who distinguished himself during the Great Faction War, and the Heaven Shaking Sword, who has recently risen to prominence as one of the Ten Dragons and Phoenixes.”
“Ah, that Jin Family.”
“Yes.”
Fortunately, the two names given by the Hidden Thread were familiar enough to the middle-aged man.
“Hmm. So that is how it is.”
He sank into thought, forgetting even the Hidden Thread’s presence.
Jin Taekyung of the Jin Family of Taiyuan. Fire King Jeok Cheongang’s new Disciple. No matter how much he considered it, the name remained unfamiliar.
But now he would have to become accustomed to it.
The Fire King chose a descendant of a frontier martial family.
He would never have accepted a man already past twenty as his new Disciple without good reason.
It must be one of two things. Either he has some leverage over the Fire King, or his martial talent is so extraordinary that his age and background are irrelevant.
The longer he considered it, the clearer the answer became.
A considerable amount of time had passed by the time he spoke again.
“Set every Lesser Thread in motion.”
The Lesser Threads were the countless informants serving beneath the Hidden Thread.
They gathered information from all across the realm, which flowed through the Hidden Thread before reaching the middle-aged man.
“Every one of them?”
For the first time, a faint trace of surprise entered the Hidden Thread’s voice.
The order meant focusing most of the family’s intelligence network on a single person.
But his surprise lasted only a moment. Remembering his duty, the Hidden Thread quickly answered.
“Forgive my insolence.”
“It doesn’t matter. I’ll give you a month. Use whatever means necessary and learn everything there is to know about that Disciple.”
“As you command.”
“You’ll be busy for a while.”
The Hidden Thread grasped the meaning behind those words, and his presence vanished as though it had been wiped clean.
His concealment technique had reached the very limits of the Peak realm. He would spend the next fortnight without a moment to breathe.
I can’t sit idle either.
The middle-aged man slowly rose.
Unlike his father, who had been a martial artist to the bone, he had been born to lead.
He had guided the family since his days as Lesser Family Head, cementing its position as a dominant power. Authority radiated from his entire bearing.
Step. Step. Step.
He crossed the spacious room in long strides and threw open the doors. The dozen or so guards surrounding the pavilion dropped to one knee in greeting.
“We greet the Family Head!”
The middle-aged man nodded slightly. Every one of them was an outstanding Peak swordsman and a blood relative who shared his lineage.
They were a vast clan united beneath the surname Namgung—a great tree rooted deep in the Murim.
“Gather the clan. The weather is fine, so we should all share a drink.”
“As you command!”
The middle-aged man, Namgung Ryong, raised his head toward the sky.
The boundless azure heaven stretched above him, not a single cloud in sight.
I spoke with the most solemn expression I could muster.
“I have a wish I’ve cherished for a long time.”
Jeok Cheongang answered in an equally grave voice.
“This old man has a wish as well.”
“If it wouldn’t be too rude, may I go first?”
“That would be extremely rude.”
“Then I’ll be rude just this once.”
“Want to have an accident in your pants? Should I make you piss and shit yourself for the rest of your life, not just this once?”
“…Ah.”
My mother would have been devastated if she had seen this.
I could have cried at how unfair it was, but I held back my tears and tried again.
“Please hear me out just once.”
“Fine. I know exactly what you’re after, but I’ll hear you out once.”
I swallowed dryly and stated my wish.
“Could we stop at an inn just once?”
“That’s your wish?”
“Yes.”
“Then this old man will tell you his.”
Jeok Cheongang glared at me with terrifying eyes.
“Shut your mouth and follow me.”
“…Why?”
“Didn’t you say you wanted to train? We’re on our way to train, so what are you whining about?”
“When did I say I didn’t want to? I’m going to be stuck in the mountains for the next six months. All I’m asking is that we eat our fill and wash up once—just once—before that!”
My shout echoed through the darkened mountains.
That was right. We were standing at the foot of Mount Jiuhua in Anhui Province.
“It took seven days and nights to get from Shanxi Province to Henan, then another seven days and nights to get from Henan to Anhui. I haven’t even slept properly.”
At least before we reached Henan, he had let me sleep for a shichen1 at a time. After we left Hong Dao’s residence, however, he had shown me absolutely no mercy.
We ran and ran, chewing jerky without even stopping for meals.
“I wanted to eat Shaolin Temple’s wild-vegetable bibimbap2!”
During the fifteen-day forced march, the only proper meal I’d had was at the inn in Luoyang.
“And even then, you ate all the drumsticks! You left me one wing and nothing but dry breast meat!”
I had barely gotten to tear off a few pieces of meat when some sword-wielding dark-path figures showed up and ruined everything. Then the Under Armour monk appeared and took me to Shaolin Temple.
“I kept asking you to stop at an inn. What did you say? That we were almost there. That we could rest when we arrived!”
“And here we are. Mount Jiuhua.”
Jeok Cheongang dug into his ear with a grimy pinky nail, then blew the earwax away.
“Go up and rest. Once we’re there, you can eat your fill, wash, and sleep.”
“Eating my fill just means jerky and fasting pills. Forget hot water—I’ll get nothing but a nonstop forest bath. And you won’t even let me sleep for half a shichen1 a day!”
“Hahaha!”
Jeok Cheongang laughed heartily, then stopped dead. At the same time, a chilling energy seeped from his entire body.
“This is why I don’t like youngsters with sharp instincts.”
“…!”
Big Brother Ed…
Wait, no.
Goose bumps raced down my spine.
His voice came out cold as ice.
“Yes, you guessed correctly. I intend to let you sleep for half a shichen1 a day and work you like a dog.”
“Gasp!”
“I’ll use fasting pills to squeeze every last drop of fat from your body. Then, for six months straight, I’ll put you through the most extreme training humanly imaginable, without missing a single day.”
“Y-you devil.”
“Did you just call this old man a demon? I suppose I’ll have to make your training even harder.”
“N-no. This is a scam.”
“Why don’t you understand that by the time you realize that, it’s already too late?”
“Wait. I need to visit the privy for a moment.”
As I slowly backed away, the Fire King extended a wrinkled palm toward me.
“You came of your own free will, but leaving isn’t up to you.”
Whoosh!
An overwhelming force I had never felt before became ropes that bound my entire body.
Neither my near-superhuman physical abilities nor my nearly one jiazi3 of internal energy could do a thing.
I tried to resist somehow, but it was already too late. Following the movement of his hand, my body floated into the air.
“Seizing an Object Through Empty Space?”
“If you recognize it, hurry over.”
Whoosh!
The next moment, I shot toward Jeok Cheongang faster than an arrow. At the same time, one of his wrinkled fingers brushed a spot on my neck.
A sharp sting was followed by an ominous sound in my ear.
Beep!
System
You have been struck by Pressure-Point Strike!
Your Sleep Acupoint has been struck. You cannot resist sleep!
5 seconds, 4 seconds, 3 seconds, 2 seconds…
Drowsiness swept over me with the System’s countdown.
As my consciousness blurred, Jeok Cheongang’s voice slowly receded into the distance.
“Today, I’ll make a special exception and let you sleep for two shichen1.”
“…”
Well, fuck. How very generous.
I couldn’t force the words from the tip of my tongue before sleep claimed me.
Snore. Snore.
“That young bastard is absurdly strong.”
Jeok Cheongang clicked his tongue as he looked down at the peacefully sleeping Jin Taekyung.
Seizing an Object Through Empty Space and Pressure-Point Strike were not omnipotent. The amount of force they required varied depending on the opponent.
It was a good thing he had known what kind of person this young man was. If he had been caught off guard and his technique had been countered, he would have been utterly humiliated.
“It feels like only yesterday that I met him in Shanxi, yet he has already come this far… What a strange fellow.”
Just as Jeok Cheongang let out a weary sigh, his vision suddenly blurred and the strength drained from his legs.
“Gasp!”
Thud.
He barely managed to regain his senses before grabbing hold of a nearby tree.
His heart pounded, and his mind snapped fully awake as though someone had dumped cold water over him in his sleep.
“Th-this…”
Had he expended too much strength at once? Or had his aged body failed to withstand the arduous journey?
Jeok Cheongang bit his lip. Although his prime as a martial artist had passed, he was still a Supreme Peak master who had reached the pinnacle of martial arts.
It wasn’t his body that had grown old. It was something else.
I must hurry. I don’t have much time.
Perhaps that was why his old friend Hong Dao had told him to leave immediately.
After steadying himself, Jeok Cheongang slung Jin Taekyung over his back. Though he was more than a hundred years old, the young man’s massive frame felt as light as a feather.
“Not yet. It can’t happen yet.”
He muttered in a voice that had suddenly grown much older, then set off.
More than ten jang4 vanished beneath each step, and the scenery flashed past.
Before long, thick fog rolled in and erased every trace of him.
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