Chapter 237

Jeok Cheongang roared at the top of his lungs.

“You’re a disgrace to our sect!”

“No, I’m not.”

“What do you mean, you’re not? In all the hundreds of years of the Fire Gate Clan’s history, there has never been a bastard who wanted to grill meat over the sacred flame!”

“That’s not what I meant.”

“What?”

“I’m not an official Disciple yet. So I can’t be a disgrace to the Fire Gate Clan.”

“…!”

His face turned bright red, as though it might burst at any moment.

Before he could shout even louder, I quickly slung my pack over my shoulder.

“If there’s nothing else to pack, let’s get out of here.”

“Y-you little…”

Jeok Cheongang’s fist trembled, but after a moment, he let out a deep sigh.

This was hardly the first time something like this had happened over the past year. Even the famously short-tempered Fire King had reached the point where he simply took it in stride.

Ah, I’m so proud.

I had actually managed to beat the Fire King at something. Somehow, it felt like I had accomplished something incredible.

After glaring at my foolish grin, he turned toward the seventeen ancestral urns and bowed deeply.

“Your unworthy Disciple, Jeok Cheongang, will take his leave. Until then, please remain in good health.”

“Shouldn’t you wish them Buddhahood?”

“……And here, I swear that I will turn that bastard into a proper human being.”

Having firmly renewed his resolve before the seventeen former Sect Leaders, Jeok Cheongang rose to his feet.

“Come. Let’s go, you beast.”

“Wait a moment.”

I slowly looked around the enormous cavern.

This was where I had spent the past year. There had been times when the pain was enough to make me think I would die, and there had been happy moments too. Sometimes, I had been so sick of the place that I wanted to smash through the stone gate and run outside that very instant.

But when had it happened?

Little by little, everything had become familiar, and the happy days had begun to outnumber the painful ones.

Even the tremendous heat pouring from the blue-white flame now felt as warm and cozy as home.

“What are you thinking about so intently?”

“Just…”

What was I supposed to call this feeling?

After a moment’s thought, the words slipped out.

“I was thinking meat would taste really good grilled over that.”

“You little bastaaard!”

Dodging Jeok Cheongang as he flew into a rage, I placed my hand against the stone gate. As I channeled the internal energy from my dantian into it, the tightly sealed door slowly slid open.

System

• Scorching Sun Divine Arts internal energy detected.

• You may freely enter and exit Fire Gate Cavern!

Take care.

Thanks for everything over the past year.

And…

Your unworthy Disciple, Jin Taekyung, will take his leave.

I raced out of the wide-open cavern like the wind. The iron balls dangling from my limbs whipped around like pinwheels.

Mount Jiuhua had been famous since ancient times for its spiritual energy.

With auspicious energy filling the entire mountain, it was only natural for spiritual herbs such as ginseng and He Shou Wu¹ to grow there. To herbalists, the mountain was no different from a gold mine.

“Just you wait. Today, I’m finding one.”

At the foot of Mount Jiuhua, a middle-aged herbalist with the surname Hong pulled the strings of his straw sandals tight.

He had traveled all the way from Sichuan in hopes of striking it rich, only to spend more than fifteen days coming up empty-handed.

“Damn it. What happened to all the spiritual herbs? It’s like every last one has vanished…”

The herbalists who had come with him had already given up and gone home. They had searched everywhere from the foot of Mount Jiuhua to halfway up the mountain without finding a single ginseng root.

There might have been a chance farther up, but something more terrifying than any wild beast lived there.

The Fire King.

Even martial artists who killed people as casually as they ate meals trembled at the mere mention of his name.

Hong had once heard that the Fire King had single-handedly torn apart and killed a thousand vicious fiends of the terrifying Demonic Cult.

When he had asked how such a thing was possible, he had been told that the Fire King was a three-headed, six-armed monster.

But they said it’s safe as long as I don’t go past the midpoint. Don’t be scared, Hong. You have eight mouths to feed.

To cover the cost of coming this far, his wife had even been forced to sell the silver ring she had received as a wedding gift. How could he face her if he went home empty-handed?

Smack! Smack!

The herbalist slapped his cheeks to steel his resolve, then began climbing the mountain.

Less than two shichen later,² he encountered the strangest sight he had ever seen.

“So what is samgyeopsal?”

“You don’t know pork belly? Is it called something else here?”

“No, you impudent brat. Just where are you from that you keep going on about what things are called?”

“I’m from Korea! Do you know kimchi?”³

“…You grow more insane by the day. Is there something wrong with your Fire Gate Divine Technique?”

A wild-haired freak and a tiny old man were walking down the mountain path, having an incomprehensible conversation.

The pair looked strange enough already, but as they drew closer, the herbalist heard a series of thunderous noises and his eyes widened.

Clank. Rattle. Boom! Rattle-rattle. Boom!

W-what in the world is that?

The source of the heavy noises was the iron balls chained to the freak’s limbs.

The smaller ones were as large as a child’s head, while the larger ones were big enough to fit inside a basket.

With dozens of such vicious objects dangling from his body, the herbalist had no choice but to be shocked.

What am I looking at?

The herbalist stared blankly at the sight, then suddenly jolted.

Two pairs of eyes had drawn close enough to stare directly into his face.

Up close, the freak had a thick beard, while the old man’s face was covered in blotches and more wrinkles than he could count.

“Gyaaaah!”

As the herbalist nearly suffered a fit, the tiny old man addressed him.

“Hey.”

“Y-yes?”

“Where are you headed?”

“I-I’m going to dig up medicinal herbs.”

The herbalist barely managed to squeeze out the words.

He didn’t know why, but instinct told him that something terrible would happen if he failed to answer.

The old man looked him up and down, then clicked his tongue.

“You’ve wasted your time. Don’t put yourself through all that for nothing. Go home.”

“W-wasted my time?”

Despite his terror, the herbalist instantly snapped to attention.

Go home? If he returned empty-handed now, he would have wasted nearly two months of his life.

With the heavy load on his shoulders, that was absolutely unacceptable.

This old man is no ordinary person.

It wasn’t just his unusual appearance. Even his manner of speaking made it sound as though he could see through all the affairs of the world.

The thought flashed through the herbalist’s mind like lightning, and he collapsed to his knees.

“Please help me just this once!”

“Good heavens, what’s gotten into you? What could this old man possibly do to help?”

“No! You’re the Mountain Spirit! You already know everything, don’t you?”

Bafflement spread across the old man’s face.

“……What spirit?”

“Mountain Spiriiit!”

The freak beside him clutched his stomach and burst out laughing.

“Puhahaha! He thinks you’re a Mountain Spirit. Old Master, wasn’t it three months ago that you forgot the formula while circulating your qi and nearly became a ghost?”

Wham! Craaack!

The freak was still roaring with laughter when a single punch from the old man sent him flying dozens of jang⁴ away, where he crashed into the ground.

The herbalist’s faith only deepened.

The Mountain Spirit subdued the evil spirit!

It was only natural to trust the white-haired old man more than the ragged freak. The herbalist pleaded once more.

“Mountain Spirit! Please help me just this once!”

“Mountain Spirit, my ass. And there’s nothing this old man can do for you. I already pulled them all up, so what do you expect me to do?”

“P-pulled them up? Who pulled up all the spiritual herbs on Mount Jiuhua?”

“Now you’re finally making sense.”

“W-who would do such a thing…?”

The old man clasped his hands behind his back and gazed toward the distant mountain.

“My, what fine weather.”

“……”

“What are you staring at? Whoever pulls them up first gets to keep them.”

Despair crossed the herbalist’s face. Only then did he realize that the old man before him was no immortal.

“Then are you an herbalist too, Elder?”

“Hm? Well, I was for a few days. Digging up medicinal herbs is rather difficult.”

“You tear people’s heads off easily enough.”

The evil spirit—or rather, the freak—had returned and casually joined the conversation while dusting off his clothes.

His manner and tone were so nonchalant that the massive trees snapped apart behind him might as well not have existed.

“My ancestors always said there was no point feeding spiritual herbs to a Disciple. They were absolutely right.”

“Buuurp.”

“You son of a—!”

A dreadful pressure poured from the old man’s clenched fist. At last, the herbalist realized what the two men were.

“M-m-martial artists!”

“Now that you understand, give up and go home. And be careful not to spread unnecessary rumors.”

The freak also offered his advice with a serious expression.

“Whatever you do, don’t go any farther up. They say a monster named Fire King Jeok Cheongang lives there. If he catches you, he’ll chew you up, tear you apart, savor you, and enjoy you while you’re still alive—then kill you.”

“…!”

“…!”

It was horrifying even to imagine. The herbalist shuddered as he pictured his own gruesome death.

Judging by the old man’s similar reaction, this Fire King Jeok Cheongang had to be exactly what Hong had heard: a three-headed, six-armed monster.

“Understood? Make sure you remember what I told you.”

“Y-yes, I understand.”

That was the only answer the herbalist could give.

Someone had already beaten him to the herbs, and the two men before him were martial artists. If he made a nuisance of himself, he might lose his head.

His shoulders sagged as he stepped aside to let them pass.

“Oh, wait. Sir, if this is good enough, would you like it?”

Swish.

The freak rummaged through his pack and suddenly held out a ginseng root about three finger joints long.

Startled by the unexpected kindness, the herbalist asked in a trembling voice,

“W-why are you giving this to me?”

“If you go home like this, you’ll have nothing to show for it. Judging by your age, you probably have a family to support too. Where did you come from?”

“S-Sichuan Province.”

“Sichuan Province is fun, isn’t it? I used to play it all the time during evening self-study.⁵”

“Pardon?”

“Never mind. Anyway, you came a long way, so use this to help cover your travel expenses.”

The old man, who had been silently watching, clicked his tongue.

“You little fool. You give him something worth only a few coins, then act like you’ve made some grand gesture. If a man is going to be generous, he should give generously.”

“Come on, that’s all I have left. What else am I supposed to do?”

“You call that ginseng? At least exchange it for silver.”

“How?”

“People determine the value of an object.”

“Oh. I hadn’t thought of that.”

What kind of bizarre conversation was this?

As the herbalist looked back and forth between them, feeling as though he had been bewitched, the freak suddenly shouted at the top of his lungs.

“Anyone want to buy some ginseng?”

It was still early dawn. As the cold wind blew, the trees shuddered.

Then several dozen men appeared on the mountain path below, marching in orderly rows.

Blue martial uniforms and sword sheaths hung from their waists. At a glance, it was obvious that every one of them was a highly trained martial artist.

“Guh!”

The herbalist’s mouth fell open, but the other two remained perfectly calm. The freak gently waved the ginseng root worth three silver nyang.⁶

“I’ll sell it for a hundred silver nyang.⁶”

What a highway robber.

The herbalist swallowed the words that had risen to his throat. Just then, the middle-aged man at the head of the group spoke.

“I’ll buy it.”

“…!”

The shocks were not over. The old man let out a long yawn and casually added,

“Three hundred silver nyang.⁶ You’re the richest man in Anhui, so you can afford that much.”

The middle-aged man bowed deeply.

“That is a small price to pay for offending the Fire King. I’ll buy it.”

The freak grinned.

“Then may I ask the winning bidder’s name?”

“Namgung Ryong.”

The middle-aged man raised his head. The authority possessed only by a leader flashed in his deep-set eyes.

“I am the Family Head of the Namgung Family.”