System
Quest
Star-Array Grand Banquet
What more needs to be said?
Go forth without hesitation. Become the champion of this banquet watched by all under heaven, leave your mark on the Murim, and bask in glory!
Grade: Supreme Peak
Restriction: Jin Taekyung
Mission: Win the Star-Array Grand Banquet (Incomplete)
Reward: ???
Failure: Fire King’s Wrath
“……”
I paused at the penalty for failure.
I mean, I might not win the Star-Array Grand Banquet. Is that really something to get angry about?
Imagining Jeok Cheongang flying into a rage left me feeling a little wronged.
Especially after teaching me for barely a year.
Granted, I was an extremely unusual case.
Even so, the fact that the Quest window went out of its way to spell it out suggested just how much Jeok Cheongang expected of me.
“Jin Taekyung of the Jin Family of Taiyuan. Where are you?”
“Oh, here.”
At the supervisor’s call, I closed the Quest window and stepped forward.
With every step I took, I felt the people’s gazes on me. Along with them, murmuring voices pierced my ears.
“Jin Taekyung of the Jin Family of Taiyuan…”
“The Sleeping Dragon of Shanxi?”
“Is that him? The young man the Fire King took as his Disciple?”
“That’s him. I’m sure of it.”
I also heard Norway’s familiar gruff voice.
“Hmph. So you did have something to rely on. You may look the part, but you’re still a weakling.”
Ignoring the whispers from every direction, I stopped in front of the cliff.
The supervisor, who had been staring at me in surprise, addressed me in a suddenly more respectful tone.
“If the mark is at least three Korean inches1 deep, you pass. Anything less is a failure.”
“Yes.”
Three Korean inches1 was roughly ten centimeters.
Any ordinary First Rate master who had consistently trained in fist techniques should be able to pass without much trouble.
But now that it was my turn, I found myself growing tense.
Damn. I have no idea how much force to use.
I honestly had no clue. Exactly how much strength did I need to apply to leave a mark three Korean inches1 deep?
After staring at it for a moment, I decided to use the Help function.
“Excuse me, Supervisor.”
“Yes?”
“As long as I make the mark at least three Korean inches1 deep, I pass, right?”
“That is correct. However, once your fist lands, the test is over.”
“Oh, I see.”
Well, that makes it easy.
I nodded, placed my fist against the cliff, and gave it a gentle push.
Thump! Rumble-rumble-rumble!
The cliff face split as softly as tofu. Fragments of rock and clumps of dirt came pouring down.
With my arm buried up to the elbow, I looked at the supervisor.
“I pass. Okay?”
“……”
The supervisor’s expression was a sight to behold.
His mouth hanging open, he looked back and forth between my face and the arm embedded in the cliff. Then he stammered out a question.
“H-How did you do that?”
“I pushed.”
“I mean, how did you…”
“I just put some strength into it and pushed.”
“……”
“Anyway, I passed, right? My fist never left the cliff, and it went in plenty deep.”
“W-Well…”
The supervisor’s pupils wavered.
“I-I’m not entirely sure. Nothing like this has ever happened before.”
“Then it’s settled. This is how you handle it from now on.”
“Y-Young Hero Jin, I’m sorry, but could you do it a little more normally? I’m finding it rather difficult to judge…”
“Normally?”
I did it this way because I don’t think I can do it normally, you idiot.
I was wondering whether I should just throw a moderately powerful punch when—
“Bwahahaha!”
The sudden burst of laughter made everyone, myself included, turn toward it.
Norway, the massive man who stood out from the crowd, was looking at me with open mockery.
“You’re desperate to stand out, aren’t you?”
I scratched my chin and answered.
“Not particularly. But why are you so desperate to pick a fight with me?”
“You?”
“Yeah. You.”
A vein bulged on Norway’s forehead.
“I heard the Fire King’s Disciple had only just passed the age of twenty.”
“I’m twenty-two. I’m all grown up.”
“I am thirty.”
“Thirty? That’s pretty close to my age. Wanna be friends?”
“How dare a fresh-faced brat like you…”
Does he have a fetish for honorific speech or something?
He glared and stepped forward, but the supervisor moved to stop him.
“Control yourself!”
“To hell with self-restraint. The only person who can speak to me like that is my Master.”
I leisurely folded my arms.
“So this is what you’ve been dying to tell us. Fine, let’s hear it. Who’s your Master?”
“The Seafaring King.”
The Seafaring King? Could it be…?
I cried out in shock.
“Jang Bogo!”2
“What the fuck are you talking about? My Master’s name is Pa Ryun! The Seafaring King, Pa Ryun!”
“Oh. Right. Of course not.”
Unlike me, who was disappointed, everyone else reacted strongly to the name that had just come out of Norway’s mouth.
A stir spread among the applicants and supervisors in our group. Even the people being tested more than ten jang3 away began to murmur.
“Th-The Seafaring King, Pa Ryun!”
“Pa Ryun, the Alliance Leader of the Yangtze River Channel League and one of the Ten Kings?”
“Then that young man must be the Iron-Water Divine Dragon. No wonder he dared to pick a fight with the Fire King’s Disciple.”
“What is going on over there? Two disciples of the Ten Kings in the same group…”
Norway—or rather, the Iron-Water Divine Dragon—snorted at their reactions.
He was probably proud to have such an impressive Master, but pride in his own abilities also showed in every one of his actions.
Well, he’s certainly strong enough to justify it.
Perhaps that was only natural for the Disciple of one of the Ten Kings.
Unlike me, he also seemed to have trained under the Seafaring King, Pa Ryun, since childhood.
I didn’t know exactly how powerful the Yangtze River Channel League was, but he had clearly received unstinting support—martial arts, elixirs, and everything else he could need.
As I watched with my arms folded, the Iron-Water Divine Dragon gave a short laugh.
“So you’re the Fire King’s Disciple? Don’t get cocky just because you come from some provincial martial family and received a mere year of instruction.”
He wasn’t exactly wrong. Shanxi Province lay on the outskirts, far from the Central Plains, and the Jin Family of Taiyuan was indeed a provincial martial family.
That may be true, but…
“You’re a pirate. And your Master is a pirate chief.”
“A pirate? How dare you insult the Yangtze River Channel League! We are heroes who roam the rivers and the open sea!”
“Sure. But boil that down to two syllables and you get ‘pirate,’ don’t you?”
“You insolent wretch! What kind of vile nonsense is that? The heroes of our League are worlds apart from such scum!”
“Worlds apart? Do you guys eat those weird-looking fruits,4 too? The ones that make you unable to swim?”
“You son of a—!”
“You ate the Son-of-a-Bitch Fruit.”
Crack-crack-crack.
A vicious sound came from the Iron-Water Divine Dragon’s enormous fist.
He glared at me with killing intent in his eyes and stepped forward. The supervisor hurriedly moved between us.
“Wait! If you fight here, you’ll be disqualified—!”
“Move.”
“Gasp!”
Given the scale of the Star-Array Grand Banquet, every supervisor overseeing the examinations was a formidable martial artist, ranging from Supreme First Rate to Peak.
The supervisor assigned to our group was at Supreme First Rate, but the moment the Iron-Water Divine Dragon seized his shoulder, his face turned deathly pale.
“W-What is this…”
“You don’t need to stop me. My Master gave me strict orders to win the Star-Array Grand Banquet, after all.”
“Th-Then…”
“I’m not going to fight. I’m only going to show that brat one move.”
The Iron-Water Divine Dragon released the supervisor and strode toward the cliff. Without the slightest hesitation, he pushed his fist into it.
Craaaack!
Shattering the solid rock, he drove his arm in up to the forearm. Then he looked at me and clicked his tongue.
“This is all you accomplished.”
I had known it from the moment I first saw him, but the Iron-Water Divine Dragon was a master of exceptionally advanced external martial arts.
His size and strength couldn’t be explained by natural gifts alone.
Martial arts had built that body—an external qigong technique of the highest order had tempered it.
“Whoa…!”
“As expected of the Iron-Water Divine Dragon!”
Exclamations rang out at a feat of strength worthy of being called divine.
Even an ordinary Peak master would have found it impossible without using internal energy. Yet the Iron-Water Divine Dragon had done it as easily as breathing.
And, as if to make a point, he had created a hole far deeper than mine.
“The Fire King’s Disciple is impressive too, but is he still outmatched?”
“That’s understandable. He’s much younger, and it’s only been a year since the Fire King took him as his Disciple.”
“The Sleeping Dragon of Shanxi must have been aiming to win as well, but… it looks like that’ll be difficult this time.”
Whatever the people around me were whispering, the Iron-Water Divine Dragon was undeniably impressive.
Regardless of who his Master was, no one could dispute that he was skilled enough to hold his head high anywhere in the Murim.
Clap, clap, clap.
“Now that’s some strength. Congratulations on passing.”
“Pathetic. There’s no need to force yourself to act calm.”
“I mean it.”
The Iron-Water Divine Dragon snorted at my applause and turned toward the supervisor.
After one unbelievable spectacle after another, the supervisor was still dazed.
“Did I pass?”
“Ah. W-Well…”
“It doesn’t matter. I had no intention of stopping here anyway.”
Rumble-rumble-rumble.
The Iron-Water Divine Dragon pulled his arm free with absurd ease and looked around.
Reading the envy, jealousy, and despair in the gazes fixed upon him—the looks people reserved for the strong—he bared his teeth at me.
“Brat, consider it an honor to witness the Ship-Breaking Fist.”
“The Ship-Breaking Fist?”
He didn’t answer.
Instead, internal energy as vast as the open sea surged in waves from his entire body.
His waist, thicker than a bear’s, and his pillar-like arms bent far backward. Blue internal energy, like a flowing river, already surged around his fist.
Gooooong.
The air around us trembled.
Then—
Kkwaaaang!
The Ship-Breaking Fist.
A single punch capable of splitting a sailing ship slammed into the cliff.
A deafening boom rang out, followed by a storm. People covered their faces with both arms and groaned as dirt and fragments of rock rained down.
“Gasp!”
“Urgh!”
Amid the chaos, I stood perfectly still and watched without missing a thing.
That was why, when the dust cloud finally settled, I could fully understand the cries of astonishment that erupted around me.
Wow…
The cliff stretched over a hundred jang3 in both height and width, a natural formation that had stood there for countless years.
Now, a massive hole had appeared where none had existed before.
No. It would be more accurate to call it a small cave.
It was over ten jang3 across in every direction and five jang3 deep.
“I-I can’t believe it.”
“This is the Seafaring King’s unique martial art…!”
An unmistakable tremor passed through the crowd.
Everyone gathered here revered martial arts above all else and yearned to grow stronger.
Their awestruck gazes converged on the martial artist who had just displayed a level of martial arts they couldn’t hope to approach.
“Huff. Huff.”
His broad back heaved. Muscles swollen to the point of tearing rippled beneath his skin.
After catching his breath for a while, the Iron-Water Divine Dragon turned around with a composed expression.
A single short question slipped between his thick lips.
“The result?”
Only then did the supervisor come to his senses and barely manage to speak.
“P-Passed. You passed.”
“I see.”
The Iron-Water Divine Dragon’s lips curled upward as his gaze swept over the crowd.
The heat in his eyes had yet to fade. Finally, they stopped on my face.
“Did you see that?”
I gave a small nod.
“What did you think?”
“It was impressive.”
“And?”
“Hmm. Congratulations on passing.”
“That’s all?”
“What else? You want me to pat you on the ass?”
Grind.
At the sight of the Iron-Water Divine Dragon grinding his teeth, my head instinctively shook from side to side.
I told him it was impressive. What more does he want from me?
What is he, a fucking child?
Maybe it was because he was a pirate, but he was as simpleminded as they came. The fact that he had poured out enough strength to leave himself breathless during the preliminaries was just as ridiculous.
I clicked my tongue inwardly and spoke to the supervisor.
“Let’s keep things moving. We’ve already wasted quite a bit of time.”
“Ah, yes. Understood. Then, next…”
I was turning away as the supervisor called the next name when the Iron-Water Divine Dragon spoke again.
“Looking at you, I can tell what level the Fire Gate Clan is.”
“What?”
I stopped without meaning to. The Iron-Water Divine Dragon continued in a mocking voice.
“Single-heir succession. No teaching to outsiders. It sounds grand, but in the end, aren’t you running away from me like a fucking dog with its tail between its legs?”
“That’s your opinion.”
“Is it only my opinion?”
“What?”
I suddenly looked around.
Countless gazes surrounded the Iron-Water Divine Dragon and me.
I could read the emotions in their eyes.
Disappointment. Contempt.
Beep.
System
- People are whispering after seeing how terrified you look!
- People are beginning to doubt the reputation of the Fire Gate Clan.
- People are beginning to doubt the reputation of Jeok Cheongang.
- Fame decreased by 18!
- Fame decreased by 20!
- Fame decreased…
The System notifications pierced my ears.
At that moment, I came to my senses as though waking from a long sleep.
So that’s how it is.
For a moment, I had forgotten.
No—I had known, but I hadn’t truly understood what it meant.
Even though the curtain had risen on the Star-Array Grand Banquet, this magnificent and dazzling stage where the martial artists of the world had gathered in one place…
This is the Central Plains. This is the world.
A world where everything was proven through strength alone.
Winners and losers.
A world divided into those two kinds of people.
That was the Murim.
“Hoo.”
The Iron-Water Divine Dragon sneered when he saw me heave a sigh deep enough to sink the ground.
“Looks like you’re finally ready to give it a try.”
“Yeah. Thanks. That really woke me up.”
“I heard you’re fairly skilled with a spear. I’ll graciously permit you to…”
“You called it the Ship-Breaking Fist, right?”
“Huh?”
“It might be able to split a ship, but a cliff is beyond it.”
Whoosh.
One step.
The distance of five jang3 vanished.
By the time my foot touched the ground again, I had already passed the Iron-Water Divine Dragon.
A belated cry of shock came from behind me.
“You—!”
Instead of answering, I looked up at the cliff before me.
The fire dragon sleeping in my dantian awoke and surged through every limb and bone. Hundreds of acupoints grew scorching hot.
“Jin Taekyung!”
“You fucking weakling. Consider it an honor to witness the Flame-Extinguishing Divine Fist.”
Blue flames filled my vision.
Footnotes
-
A Korean chi is 3.03 cm (1.19 in). Three chi are about 9.09 cm (3.58 in); the prose rounds this to 10 cm (about 3.94 in). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4
-
Jang Bogo was a ninth-century Korean maritime commander and trader. ↩
-
A jang is a traditional length of ten chi, or about 3.03 m (9.94 ft). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5
-
This refers to Devil Fruits in the Japanese series One Piece. They grant powers but leave those who eat them unable to swim. ↩
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