Chapter 235

The training Jeok Cheongang put me through was simple.

Take a horse stance beneath the waterfall. Do push-ups. Go fetch me some bird eggs because I feel like eating them…

That much was fine. The problem was the conditions tacked onto every exercise.

“Six shichen¹ in a horse stance.”

“You’re joking, right?”

“Does it sound like I’m joking?”

Whoosh!

The waterfall plunged hundreds of jang². Even with my exceptional physique, a single shichen beneath it left my entire body aching as though it had been smashed apart and my vision swimming.

And he wanted me to stay there for six shichen. In a horse stance, no less.

“Old Master, this is a bit much. If I stay under there for six shichen, I’ll actually die.”

“Have you tried it?”

“Huh?”

“Try it before you say that. If you don’t like it, go back to your family.”

It took me ten full days to complete the Quest.

As a side effect, I briefly lost consciousness. When I opened my eyes again, the iron balls had grown heavier.

“An additional hundred geun³. From now on, we’re increasing it to twelve shichen.”

“……”

For a moment, I considered using Logout.

But I had to finish the training. It might have looked foolish to others, but it was a rule I had set for myself when I began.

If I go back, my body and mind will grow lax.

Whoosh!

The pressure of the waterfall was terrifying. With my internal energy and physical abilities restricted, I had to endure with nothing but my body and sheer willpower.

When I finally completed the waterfall training, I was left with legs harder than steel—and an unexpected System notification.

System

Fire King’s Hellfire Training-2 has been completed successfully!

Outstanding achievement: Unmoving achieved!

Toughness changes to Endurance!

Level Up!

Level Up!

You acquired 50 Bonus Points!

The training continued without pause. I wasn’t given any time to rest.

I got one shichen of blissful sleep each day. Everything else was part of my training.

“Next are push-ups.”

“That’s too easy. Wait. How many?”

“Ten thousand. Put the iron balls on your back.”

“……”

It was the most hellish push-up routine in the world. But I gritted my teeth and did it.

On the day I completed every kind of push-up Jeok Cheongang wanted, the year’s first sprouts were pushing up from the ground.

“The weather has grown warm. I feel like having a swallow’s nest dish⁴ for once, so go fetch one.”

“Aren’t swallows migratory birds? They won’t arrive until it gets warmer.”

“What would an ignorant brat like you know? This old man has lived on Mount Jiuhua his entire life. By now, a few impatient swallows should be starting to build their nests.”

“Whew. Where am I supposed to look for them?”

“Cliffs.”

That Quest took the longest. I had to find a swallow’s nest without even knowing where one might be.

By then, I was combing every cliff on Mount Jiuhua while laden with iron balls whose combined weight had long since surpassed a thousand geun³.

At last, I found a newly completed swallow’s nest and brought it to Jeok Cheongang.

“Here it is. A swallow’s nest.”

His long silence was followed by a single muttered sentence that was more than enough to snap the last thread of my patience.

“…It really exists.”

“You fucking old bastard!”

My eyes rolled back, and I lunged at Jeok Cheongang. He beat me within an inch of my life.

When I came to again, the iron balls had grown heavier. That was only natural.

“If you’re awake, get moving.”

“Is this a new training routine?”

“It is. In a sense.”

Jeok Cheongang thrust an insane schedule in front of me.

It included every single thing I had done so far, without exception.

“Three round trips up and down Mount Jiuhua in the morning, ten thousand one-armed push-ups on each side at noon. Climb the cliffs, then hold a horse stance beneath the waterfall… Human, are you insane?”

“Another five hundred geun³ if you don’t like it.”

“I’ve actually wanted to spend every day like this for a long time. I’ll be right back.”

“Good.”

From then on, I did whatever he told me.

I wondered if it was even possible, but once I tried it, it turned out to be possible.

A day passes quickly when your body is exhausted. The more intense the training became, the faster time flew.

The frozen ground thawed, and fresh sprouts emerged.

Two months passed, but my daily routine remained unchanged. The only differences were that the training had become more brutal and the iron balls had grown heavier.

Rustle.

Flowers and grass that had already grown tall brushed against my calves.

High on a peak of Mount Jiuhua, now awash in color, Jeok Cheongang groggily opened his eyes. He had been asleep with his back against a tree.

“Is that you?”

“Who else would come looking for you besides me?”

“I thought you were the Grim Reaper.”

“I think even the Grim Reaper would run away in fear.”

Jeok Cheongang let out a short laugh at my wisecrack.

“You grow more flattering by the day.”

“Yes, and you’ve been sleeping more by the day, Old Master.”

Just as I said, Jeok Cheongang had been sleeping much more often lately. Given his age, perhaps it was only natural.

“I was training.”

“Ah. In your dreams?”

“I was merely resting my eyes.”

“You were snoring.”

“…Ahem. More importantly, what are you doing here instead of training?”

“I’m finished.”

“Already?”

Jeok Cheongang’s eyes widened slightly.

“I wasn’t slacking off, so don’t give me that suspicious look.”

“Who said anything? Fine. Shut your mouth and work on your fists and feet.”

“Yes, sir.”

I promptly took up a stance in a nearby clearing.

Unlike with the spear, I was practically a beginner when it came to fists and feet, so I was still working on the fundamentals.

“You know what you’re supposed to do, right?”

“Yes, yes.”

Ding.

System

Repeat Quest Fist-and-Foot Training has been created!

I began with the simplest straight punch.

Each movement came with the insane requirement of a thousand repetitions, but compared to everything I had already done, it was easy.

The fact that I think this is easy means I’m going insane too.

I let out a deep sigh and began throwing punches.

Whoosh! Bam!

The wind split around my fists, and compressed air burst outward.

In the past, I had simply relied on strength, speed, and internal energy. Now I could execute each movement precisely and control the amount of force behind it.

Clatter!

How long had I listened to the chains connected to my wrists sway and rattle? I kept driving my fists into an imaginary point without pause until I heard a System notification in my ear.

Ding.

System

Repeat Quest Fist-and-Foot Training has been completed successfully!

Flawless movements without a single error!

Strength, Stamina, and Agility have each increased by 1!

You have not yet learned fist-and-foot martial arts. Additional rewards will be granted when you acquire a related martial art in the future!

The repeat Quest gave worthwhile rewards. They diminished with each repetition, but even this much was more than enough to be grateful for.

I could probably do this another two or three times.

No Quest, no reward.

I relaxed my stance and walked over to Jeok Cheongang. Just as before, he was leaning against the tree, looking in my direction.

“Old Master. I’m finished.”

“……”

“Old Master.”

“Uh… huh?”

He snapped awake and looked up at me.

“What is it?”

“I finished the fist-and-foot training.”

“What did you finish?”

“The fist-and-foot training. Fists and feet!”

“What are you talking about?”

“You told me to do it about a shichen ago.”

“What?”

Jeok Cheongang furrowed his brow.

“When did I do that?”

“Huh?”

“Why are you suddenly spouting such nonsense? This old man has been sitting here watching you with both eyes wide open.”

“……”

What the hell is going on here?

Utterly bewildered, I asked, “Why are you doing this to me?”

“What?”

“Are you doing this on purpose to make me train more? You didn’t have to go this far. I was planning to keep training anyway.”

“What kind of nonsense are you spouting?”

Jeok Cheongang was about to erupt in anger when he suddenly closed his mouth.

For an instant, unknowable emotions passed across his wrinkled face. After a long silence, he finally spoke.

“You’re a perceptive one. If you’ve figured it out, go practice your fists and feet some more.”

Ding. A notification appeared, telling me that another Quest had been created, but I didn’t move an inch.

I stared at Jeok Cheongang for a long moment before suddenly opening my mouth.

“Old Master. I just want to ask you something.”

Jeok Cheongang’s shrewd gray eyes trembled.

The suspicion that had crossed my mind—Could it be?—hardened into certainty.

“Are you feeling unwell?”

It wasn’t an easy subject to bring up, so I had phrased it indirectly. But there was no doubt he understood what I meant.

After a suffocating silence, a sigh-like word escaped Jeok Cheongang’s lips.

“…Follow me. There is somewhere we need to go together.”

Dementia.

Even in the modern world, with all its advances in magical medicine, dementia remained impossible to cure completely.

Its progression could only be slowed. Everyone was equal before the curse of time.

Why didn’t I realize it?

Thinking back, there had definitely been warning signs. He had been sleeping more with each passing day, and I had noticed bouts of forgetfulness like the one just now several times before.

Even so, I hadn’t been particularly suspicious because he wasn’t an ordinary old man.

Fire King Jeok Cheongang.

I had never imagined that a Supreme Peak master whose martial arts had reached the heavens could suffer from the infirmities of old age.

Perhaps it was a truth that even Jeok Cheongang himself wanted to deny.

“The history of our sect stretches back hundreds of years.”

Jeok Cheongang’s voice echoed through the cave.

It was as hot and humid as a steam sauna inside, and the heat intensified the deeper we went.

I had already been staying on Mount Jiuhua for more than two months, but I had never once visited this place.

“Our founding ancestor was the greatest under heaven of his era. However, his forthright nature earned him many enemies.”

His calm voice continued like flowing water.

He told me the history of the Fire Gate Clan from its founding to the present day.

From the first Sect Leader to Jeok Cheongang’s master, the seventeenth Sect Leader.

Some had ventured into the Murim and made their names known throughout the world. Others had spent their entire lives secluded in the countryside, quietly raising their successors.

Countless sects had disappeared over the past several hundred years, but the Fire Gate Clan had preserved its lineage.

“Even that became uncertain in this old man’s generation. It is all due to my lack of virtue.”

After about half an hour, we finally stopped walking.

By then, my entire body was drenched in sweat from the heat radiating beyond a moss-covered stone gate.

“This place is…”

“The Fire Gate Cavern. This is where our sect began, and where its legacy continues.”

Jeok Cheongang gazed at the stone gate with a nostalgic expression before placing his palm against its surface.

The instant the Scorching Yang Qi flowing from his fingertips touched the gate, an intricately engraved sun emblem began to glow. The firmly sealed stone door slowly slid open.

“…Whoa.”

I stared into the Fire Gate Cavern, entranced.

The space was several times larger than the Jin Family of Taiyuan’s training hall. Seventeen urns stood around a blue-white flame.

It wasn’t difficult to guess what they contained.

The former Sect Leaders of the Fire Gate Clan.

They were probably funeral urns holding their remains. As if confirming my guess, Jeok Cheongang immediately prostrated himself before them.

“Your unworthy Disciple, Jeok Cheongang, pays his respects to the Sect Ancestors.”

He rose and beckoned to me.

“Come in.”

“Ah, yes. Excuse me.”

The instant I carefully stepped into the Fire Gate Cavern, a System notification pierced my ears.

Ding.

System

You have entered Fire Gate Cavern!

The effects of Fire Gate Clan martial arts are amplified when learned!

Your Scorching Yang Qi is reacting intensely!

The restriction on internal energy has been lifted!

Hummm.

The internal energy in my dantian, awakened from its long slumber, spread through my limbs and body.

Seeing my astonishment, Jeok Cheongang spoke as though he had expected this.

“Your internal energy comes from the Blazing Flame Divine Pill. It is only natural that it would react to the Fire Gate Cavern.”

It found its roots. Is that it?

It was a strange feeling. My internal energy surged like a living creature, and my heart pounded along with it. Though this was my first time setting foot here, the place felt strangely familiar.

“Sit.”

We sat facing each other with the flame between us.

Beyond the blue-white fire, Jeok Cheongang’s face looked noticeably older.

“I will pass on our sect’s martial arts to you.”

“…!”

“What? Did you think I would suddenly tell you to become my Disciple?”

“To be honest… yes, I did.”

“A master and Disciple are not bound together out of necessity or coercion. Besides, this old man already suffers from the infirmities of old age. Learning from me will place you in great danger as well.”

Everything Jeok Cheongang said was perfectly reasonable.

If he became confused about the formula of an internal cultivation technique, if he forgot even a single word, I would cross an irreversible river.

The river of qi deviation—or death.

“Can you learn martial arts from someone like me?”

I took a deep breath.

Only after turning it over from every angle did I finally reach a single conclusion.

“I will.”

“I’ll say it again…”

“I trust you, Old Master. That’s enough.”

For a moment, Jeok Cheongang was speechless as indescribable emotions crossed his face.

Then a smile spread across his wrinkled lips.

“Then we are alike in that regard.”

One-person succession, passed only to the worthy.

For hundreds of years, the Fire Gate Clan’s legacy had been entrusted to a single talented individual who could be trusted not to use it for evil.

The fact that Jeok Cheongang had brought me here, to the Fire Gate Cavern, meant that he already trusted me.

Fire King Jeok Cheongang trusts me. He chose me. He intends to pass everything the Fire Gate Clan has to me.

My heart swelled at the thought. As though it had sensed my emotions, the blue-white flame surged violently.

Ding.

System

Quest Heir of the Blazing Flame has been created!

Along with the System notification, Jeok Cheongang reached out his hand. As Seizing an Object Through Empty Space took effect, the lid of a dark metal box that had risen from the flames opened.

I read the title of the old book floating toward me.

“Fire Gate Divine Technique…”

I knew instinctively that this martial art was the foundation of the Fire Gate Clan—practically its entire legacy.

Jeok Cheongang had risen to his feet and now stood directly behind me.

“We’ll begin at once, so sit cross-legged and close your eyes. From now on, circulate your energy according to the formula I teach you.”

I followed his instructions and closed my eyes. In the darkness, the blue-white flame seemed to flicker before me.

At last, Jeok Cheongang’s voice pierced my ears.

“What about your fist-and-foot training?”

“…Huh?”

“Did you finish your training and start slacking off? Wait, fuck, that startled me. This is the Fire Gate Cavern. What the hell is this?”

“…!”

Oh, fuck. Dementia…

After that day, the two people who had caused such a commotion on Mount Jiuhua for some time vanished without a trace.

While they were gone, the trees sprouted green leaves, the flowers bloomed in full, and the swallows built their nests along the cliffs.

From green, to autumn foliage, and then to white snow.

Until Mount Jiuhua changed its clothes three times.