Chapter 244

I had loved the sea ever since I was a child. I loved its distinctive salty scent that pierced my nose, and I loved standing still and watching the waves crash against the shore.

And now, there was a sea inside me.

The qi sea.

Another name for the dantian.

As always, I swam through that endless sea of qi.

I took hold of the horn of the fire dragon curled within my dantian, leisurely made the rounds of hundreds of acupoints, then opened my eyes.

Ding.

System

• You have successfully completed circulating your qi!

• The realm of the Scorching Sun Divine Arts has risen to the sixth stage!

• All Fire Gate Clan martial arts have become more refined and powerful!

• All fatigue has been cleared, and all stamina has been restored!

• Level Up!

Finally, the sixth stage?

I neither saw nor heard any of the other System notifications. The only thing that mattered to me was that the realm of the Scorching Sun Divine Arts had reached the sixth stage.

This is where the real thing begins, right?

The Fire Gate Cavern had been created by the first Sect Leader of the Fire Gate Clan for his successors.

Filled with fire energy, it was ideal for absorbing Scorching Yang Qi and particularly well suited to learning the Fire Gate Clan’s greatest martial arts.

Simply put, it was a double-EXP event zone.

But even that place had a clear limit.

Hmm.

“Why are you groaning like a dog that needs to take a dump?”

That was from a conversation I’d had with Jeok Cheongang around six months after entering the Fire Gate Cavern.

At the time, I was brimming with confidence after achieving the remarkable feat of reaching the third stage of the Scorching Sun Divine Arts.

“Oh, it’s nothing. I was just wondering whether I should spend another year in closed-door training here.”

“Here? In the Fire Gate Cavern?”

“Yes.”

“What about the Star-Array Grand Banquet?”

“I’m improving by leaps and bounds here. Why would I leave? If I stay just one more year… Why are you looking at me like that?”

“It’s nothing. I was merely marveling at how much of a blockhead you are.”

“That sounds like a pretty big deal to me.”

Jeok Cheongang looked at me as though I were hopeless, then let out a deep sigh.

“Do you know how old this old man is?”

“If even you don’t know, how would I?”

“I am one hundred and one years old this year.”

“Oh. One hundred and one Dalmatians.”

“I swear by the ancestors of the Fire Gate Clan, if you spout one more piece of nonsense, I’ll throw your body into the sacred flame as firewood.”

“…Yes, sir.”

“In any case, even this old man, who has lived for so many years, remains at the eighth stage. What was that you were saying?”

“Wait. The eighth stage? Haven’t you already achieved Great Completion?”

“Do you think a divine art is called a divine art for no reason? Although your progress is fast, even the martial arts that can be learned in the Fire Gate Cavern have their limits. In the case of the Scorching Sun Divine Arts, that limit is precisely the fifth stage.”

“…Then what comes after that?”

“Martial arts are like weapons. You must sharpen and hone them without end. The only answer is to gain enlightenment through countless hardships and experiences.”

“Then I should at least reach the fifth stage of the Scorching Sun Divine Arts before our time here is up.”

“Would you look at this greedy brat. Reaching the third stage in a mere six months is already an incredible achievement. Don’t start spouting nonsense just because you have the Heavenly Martial Physique.”

“How long do you think it’ll take me?”

“Who knows? It took this old man exactly five years to go from the third stage to the fifth… Even with the Heavenly Martial Physique, it should take you two years.”

Exactly six months later, I found myself staring at a half-dazed Jeok Cheongang.

“T-This can’t be happening. It makes no sense.”

“But it did happen. Did it really take you five whole years?”

“You little bastard! I was one of the greatest geniuses of my generation!”

“Yeah. Heavenly Martial Physique.”

“This is impossible! Why did it have to be someone like you!”

Remembering Jeok Cheongang howling in despair, I let out a quiet laugh.

Putting the old memory aside, I rose and stood before a large full-length mirror.

Reflected in it was a perfectly proportioned body with compact, powerful muscles, hair carelessly twisted up and tied, and a clean-shaven chin.

It would’ve been fine if I’d left it alone.

Now that the thick beard was gone, my face felt oddly bare. But there had been no overcoming Jin Wikyung’s forceful insistence.

“The Star-Array Grand Banquet is a gathering watched by every martial artist under heaven. The Sleeping Dragon of Shanxi is appearing in the Central Plains, and you plan to go out looking like this? It’s a crime!”

I had thought he was being a little dramatic, but after getting it cut, I liked this better.

Whatever else anyone might say about this body, its face was ridiculously handsome.

You look like a gisaeng’s brother.¹

I was inwardly muttering the highest compliment one man could give another when I suddenly realized I had forgotten something.

Clink.

“Oh, right. These.”

The shackles, iron chains, and iron ball I had continued to drag around even after arriving at the estate of the Jin Family of Taiyuan.

I gazed silently at the objects that had practically become parts of my body, then opened my mouth.

“Inventory open. Summon.”

Whoosh!

The next moment, a solid spear shaft filled my hand.

The weapon summoned from my Inventory was a spear approximately two meters long.²

Perhaps because it had been forged from an enormous quantity of Ten-Thousand-Year Cold Iron, it gleamed with a beautiful, translucent light from the spearhead to the butt of the shaft.

“White Flame.”

Vrrrrm. Vrrrrm.

As though it had recognized its own name, a faint vibration traveled from within the shaft.

White Flame was a weapon forged solely for me by Jang Taebo, the former Guild Leader of the Ironcraft Guild and a man hailed as the greatest smith under heaven.

Perhaps that was why White Flame was special.

Both to the naked eye and in the System window.

However…

“Captain, it’s time to leave.”

As Hyuk Mujin’s voice outside the door reminded me, it was time to go.

Sunlight flooded the world outside the window, and the people of the Jin Family of Taiyuan—including Jin Wikyung—were moving about busily.

“All right.”

As I answered, I choked up on the spear and slashed.

With four streaks of light, everything that had bound me for the past year fell away. The shackles, chains, and iron ball rolled noisily across the floor.

Clatter! Boom!

Bang!

Startled by the tremendous noise, Hyuk Mujin opened the door and rushed in.

“What was that?”

“Nothing. Let’s go. Oh, bring the chains with you.”

“…You’re planning to tie me up with those, aren’t you?”

“Those chains are made of Ten-Thousand-Year Cold Iron.”

“Gasp! They’re mine. Mine!”

Clicking my tongue, I stepped outside. Jin Wikyung sat astride a large black horse, and he grinned when he spotted me.

“Let’s go.”

“Yes.”

Our destination was Mount Song.

There, the curtain would rise on the Star-Array Grand Banquet, an event drawing the attention of the entire Murim.

“Yah!”

Jin Wikyung and I led the way, with fifty members of the Jin Dragon Squad following behind us.

Through the rushing wind, someone’s distant cry echoed faintly.

“Wait! Wait for me! Don’t leave me behind!”

“……”

I still couldn’t believe that bastard was the Vice Squad Leader.

The Fire King, Jeok Cheongang, muttered with an annoyed expression.

“…Does this old man really have to attend something like this?”

The Dharma King, Hong Dao, was sitting with an endlessly benevolent expression.

“This old monk is bored enough to attain Buddhahood, so keep your mouth shut and sit still.”

“Why? You said you were bored too.”

“I am already bored. What do you think will happen if an old man with little time left starts whining beside me like a seven-year-old child?”

“I would get annoyed.”

“Exactly. If I become both bored and annoyed, I may smash my wooden fish³ and return to my quarters.”

“You’ve attained enlightenment.”

“Amitabha.⁴ Amitabha.”

Tok. Tok. Tok-tok-tok-tok…

The clear sound of the wooden fish echoed through the room. Those who had been listening with pricked ears looked utterly dumbfounded.

They say the Fire King and Dharma King are famous for their eccentric behavior. I can see why.

Those two haven’t changed at all.

Why won’t that old bastard just die?

Their thoughts differed, as did their clothing and the auras they exuded.

Some were middle-aged men without a single white hair, while others were old men with heads of pure white.

The dozen or so people gathered there, each so different from the others, were not ordinary mortals.

They belonged to the fifteen pillars supporting the Murim of the present day: the Nine Sects and One Gang and the Five Great Families.

The Fire King, Jeok Cheongang, was already familiar with some of them.

“Oh, if it isn’t Family Head Namgung.”

Namgung Ryong, the Family Head of the Namgung Family, rose and offered a fist-and-palm salute.

“Please forgive my late greeting. The two of you were having such an entertaining conversation that I found myself listening…”

“It’s fine. I left in a hurry last time and didn’t even get to see your face. My apologies.”

“Not at all. I am the one who should apologize.”

“So, is your son competing in this Star-Array Grand Banquet?”

“He won’t be able to compete this time.”

“That’s unfortunate.”

Jeok Cheongang’s face showed not the slightest trace of regret as his gaze shifted to the man beside Namgung Ryong.

“Who are you?”

The man with the sycophant’s beard asked sourly, “Are you speaking to me?”

“Yes. You, with the beard like a sycophant’s.”

“I am Gong Iljung, Sect Leader of the Zhongnan Sect.”

“Ah. Are you that fellow they call the Wind-and-Cloud War God or something?”

“Wind-and-Cloud Sword Lord.”

“What does that matter? Young man, why are you so rigid?”

Gong Iljung, a “young man” who had long since passed sixty, had to steady his breathing.

Only a year earlier, he had been shocked when the Roaring Fury Swordsman—his Senior Brother, who had studied under the same Master—returned with a severe Internal Injury.

But he had to endure it. The Fire King, Jeok Cheongang, was quite literally a mad tiger.

“Did you hear about it from your Senior Brother?”

“…Yes.”

“Keep him under control so he doesn’t come to my attention. Shoving him into the Repentance Cave for about twenty years might not be a bad idea.”

Gong Iljung barely managed to swallow the curse rising to his lips.

What Jeok Cheongang meant was that he could easily live another twenty years, so Gong Iljung had better not act up.

Even those who normally regarded Jeok Cheongang with displeasure inwardly clicked their tongues.

What a vicious old man…

Is he planning to live forever?

You’ve caused enough trouble. Go already, old man. Let the rest of us breathe.

I should have brought my Master.

They might have belonged to different sects, but the Murim had a strict order of seniority.

Jeok Cheongang was a figure from two generations earlier, which naturally placed his seniority far above theirs.

That was one reason the leaders gathered there could do nothing but tremble before him, no matter how much they dominated the world.

Martial arts, seniority, or verbal skill—there was not a single area in which they could beat him.

“Ahem. Ahem.”

“Erhm.”

Several people were clearing their throats to avoid Jeok Cheongang’s questions when a booming voice rang out.

“Hahahaha! With the tiger away, the fox has been playing king. Jeok Cheongang, have you been well?”

Jeok Cheongang turned toward the thunderous voice, his brow already deeply furrowed. He knew exactly who had arrived.

“Goddammit. You’re still not dead?”

“Listen to the way this little old man talks.”

An enormous old man threw back his head and laughed. Although his mouth split open in a broad grin, his sharp eyes swept over Jeok Cheongang.

“I welcomed a great-great-grandson not long ago. There’s no chance I’ll die before I see that boy get married.”

“A great-great-grandson?”

“What, are you jealous? My great-grandson’s wife is Hebei’s greatest beauty, and the boy looks just like his mother. He’s adorable.”

Jeok Cheongang replied with an indifferent expression.

“The greatest beauty in that neighborhood can’t be trusted. Isn’t Hebei the place where anyone with fists this big and a thick waist gets called Yang Guifei?”⁵

“What!”

“Anyway, congratulations. With ten children, I suppose you’ll never have to worry about heirs.”

“…What kind of bullshit are you trying to pull?”

“What do you mean? To celebrate seeing your great-great-grandson, why don’t you change your title while you’re at it? Forget Thunderbolt Saber King. How about Virility Saber King?”

“GRAAAAGH! You old man!”

“Sit down while I’m asking nicely. Don’t you remember breaking your bones when you challenged me during the Great Faction War?”

Sssshhhh!

Powerful waves of qi poured from the two Supreme Peak masters. Their auras were so overwhelming that everyone present felt a chill run through them.

If the Dharma King had not been there to mediate, blood might have been spilled.

“Now, now. Amitabha, Amitabha… Both of you, calm yourselves. The heroes outside are waiting. How can you make such a disgraceful spectacle? Do you wish to smear the names of the Fire Gate Clan and the Hebei Peng Family with shit here today?”

His final words proved effective. The two men hesitated, then withdrew their auras.

“Ahem. Jeok Cheongang, I’ll teach you a lesson next time.”

“I’ll be waiting, Virility Saber King.”

Having delivered the final blow to the Thunderbolt Saber King’s title, Jeok Cheongang leisurely walked away.

The Dharma King, the Thunderbolt Saber King, and the overlords of the various regions followed behind him.

They passed through a corridor draped in blue cloth and stepped out into the blazing sunlight.

Three zhang⁶ below, tens of thousands of people gathered at the foot of Mount Song greeted them with a tremendous roar.

“Waaaaaaah!”