Chapter 438

Jeok Cheongang’s eyes blazed as he glared at Mungyeong.

“How dare you threaten someone else’s dis, dis… Disciple Taekyung while this old man was away?”

“…What the hell is ‘Disciple Taekyung’?”

My tears dried up at once as I muttered in disbelief. Jeok Cheongang roared.

“Quiet!”

Mungyeong and I answered at the same time.

“You’re louder, Old Master. You’re practically shouting ‘Disciple Taekyung’ from the center of the world.”

“Judging by that voice, you’ll live another ten years.”

Did he roast a train smokestack in an air fryer and eat it?

It was a good thing Mungyeong had used his internal energy to raise a qi barrier and keep the sound from escaping. Otherwise, people would have gathered around us long ago.

Jeok Cheongang’s face flushed bright red. Mungyeong quietly clicked his tongue.

“We merely had a brief conversation. What would this old man gain from threatening such a young pup?”

Jeok Cheongang turned toward me.

“You answer me. Is what that old man said true?”

“It’s true that we only talked, but he said I’d sink to the bottom of the Yangtze if he didn’t like my answer.”

At my tattling, Mungyeong shamelessly added,

“Of course, I did frighten him a little.”

“Would you look at this damned old man! You think you’ll get away with pulling something like this?”

“Calm yourself. I merely had something to ask him about his Middle Dantian.”

Jeok Cheongang had leaned forward as though he were about to charge, but he stopped dead.

“Middle Dantian?”

“Yes. Surely you didn’t fail to notice.”

“…”

“Opening one’s Middle Dantian in such a short time is impossible. Even heavenly fortune cannot explain it.”

Jeok Cheongang looked back and forth between Mungyeong and me, then let out a short laugh.

“So it was nothing.”

“…What?”

“So you’re trying to say that the boy learned demonic martial arts or something?”

“That…”

“I’ll put it simply. No.”

Mungyeong was left speechless by Jeok Cheongang’s calm, utterly confident response. Jeok Cheongang crooked a finger at me.

“What are you waiting for? Come here.”

“Huh?”

“You asked me to oversee your training, didn’t you? We’re starting now.”

“Oh. Right.”

The situation moved on so smoothly that even I was caught off guard. As though he had read my thoughts, Jeok Cheongang asked,

“I am curious, though. How exactly did you open your Middle Dantian?”

“Uh, well. I had a dream, and there was this old man with a sword…”

“Did you meet the Sword Immortal Lü Dongbin?”

“…Well, judging by what that guy over there said, maybe.”

“You gained a fortuitous encounter. It seems the heavens are helping you. Things beyond human understanding do happen in this world from time to time.”

Jeok Cheongang was looking at me, but his answer was directed at Mungyeong.

After tossing out that remark for Mungyeong to hear, Jeok Cheongang suddenly swung his wrinkled hand.

Smack!

“Ow! Why did you hit me?”

“You irritated me, so I felt like hitting you. Got a problem with that?”

“What if I do?”

“Then you can take another hit.”

Whack!

“Aaagh!”

“You blockheaded brat. Quit whining. Stop fooling around and follow me.”

Can I really just leave like this?

I glanced at Mungyeong, who stood there wearing an unreadable expression. A thunderous shout immediately crashed down on me.

“And yet, you brat!”

“Okay, okay, I get it. Please stop shouting.”

“Dragging your feet like this, do you even intend to train?”

I turned my back on Mungyeong and followed close behind Jeok Cheongang, whispering,

“But aren’t you going to ask anything else?”

Jeok Cheongang answered gruffly without turning around.

“About what?”

“No, I mean… the Middle Dantian…”

“Stop talking nonsense and follow me. From now on, don’t go anywhere near that old man.”

“Yes, sir.”

That was exactly what I wanted. I wasn’t some Mermaid Princess of the Yangtze, and I had absolutely no intention of getting on his bad side and drifting all the way to Hubei with the fish.

“If I catch you in a situation like this again, I’ll teach you a lesson. Understand?”

“…I’m the victim here. Why are you blaming me?”

“Quiet. I was about to smash everything to pieces earlier, but I held myself back.”

“Come to think of it, you really did show restraint.”

“Would the ship have survived if I hadn’t?”

“True. We should take Senior Mu Song’s circumstances into consideration. Did you see his face when the swift ship caught fire?”

Jeok Cheongang whipped his head around and frowned.

“What kind of nonsense are you talking about? Why should this old man care about those river bandits’ circumstances?”

“Huh?”

“If we lose another ship here, we’ll have to move everyone aboard to a different one. All that extra weight would slow us down.”

“…Oh.”

“Think before you speak. We need to get off this wretched Yangtze as quickly as possible. It’s damp, it rocks, and it never seems to end.”

What a lovely personality.

I watched the Fire Pokémon walk away, shuddering from head to toe, when a thought suddenly occurred to me.

If we burn everything down, couldn’t we travel by land?

I decided not to say it. Jeok Cheongang was more than capable of actually doing it.

I did my best to ignore Mungyeong’s prickling gaze on the back of my head as I followed Jeok Cheongang.

The swift ship cut through the water without slowing.

Every vessel that saw the flag of the Yangtze River Channel League flying high above the deck hurriedly cleared a path. Even the government warships with their cozy ties to the League were no exception.

The river bandits knew the lower Yangtze and its waterways like the backs of their hands. Following Mu Song’s orders, they pulled hard on their oars, while the sails billowed wide in the wind blowing from far away.

Like the churning waters of the Yangtze, the hours of that day rushed past.

And…

Just as he had the previous night, Mungyeong sat at the bow and gazed out at the Yangtze shrouded in darkness. When his uninvited guest arrived again, he spoke in a low voice.

“You’re later than I expected.”

“It took time to find the liquor that fellow Mu Song—or whatever his name is—had hidden away. He fought tooth and nail to keep it from me until the very end.”

Jeok Cheongang perched on the railing and broke the seal on a small jar he had taken out as carefully as though it were a treasured family heirloom.

A fragrant aroma of liquor immediately spread through the air, cracking Mungyeong’s usually impassive expression.

“Jiannan Chun?”

“Of course. When you come to Sichuan, you drink Jiannan Chun. This is what makes the trip worthwhile.”

“That doesn’t seem like ordinary Jiannan Chun.”

“According to that fellow, it was a gift from his Master. A man as eminent as the Seafaring King wouldn’t have given his Disciple ordinary liquor… Thanks to him, this old man’s tongue is enjoying a rare treat.”

Jeok Cheongang lifted the jar to his mouth and gulped down the liquor, then smacked his lips.

“Damn, that’s good. Want a drink?”

Mungyeong stared intently at the jar of Jiannan Chun, then shook his head.

“…I believe I told you I quit drinking a long time ago.”

“You took too long to answer. For an old man known as the greatest assassin in history, you make your thoughts awfully easy to read.”

“That still makes me better than an old man who carries on like a reckless brat at his age.”

“What did you say?”

“Enough nonsense. Let’s get to the point. You have something to say to me, don’t you?”

Jeok Cheongang’s visit the previous day had been unexpected. Today was different.

Several shichen¹ earlier, Jeok Cheongang had used Sound Transmission to tell Mungyeong that he would come. Mungyeong had been waiting for him.

“You’re impatient. That isn’t very assassin-like, either.”

“I’m a medical apprentice, not an assassin.”

“Then call yourself a life-taker.”

“Disciple and Master alike. Your words and actions are exactly the same.”

Ignoring Mungyeong’s frown, Jeok Cheongang took another drink and wiped his mouth with his sleeve before answering.

“Our words and actions may resemble each other, but we’re worlds apart. That brat is a monster who has strayed beyond all common sense.”

Mungyeong nodded silently.

He couldn’t disagree with the word monster. Reaching the Supreme Peak realm just after passing the age of twenty was astonishing enough, but Jin Taekyung had taken another step before he had even caught his breath.

When did he reach the Supreme Peak realm?

Mungyeong searched his memories of the distant past.

He had been younger then—sharper and quieter than he was now. He had devoted his heart and soul entirely to martial arts.

Sometimes covertly and sometimes through direct confrontation, he had accumulated experience through countless real battles. At last, he had set foot in that exalted realm said to admit only the chosen.

I was in my mid-thirties.

Even Mungyeong, hailed as the greatest assassin in history and known as the Slaughter Saint, had not reached the Supreme Peak realm until after turning thirty.

He had opened his Middle Dantian several years later, when he was nearing forty.

Yet Jin Taekyung had left his mark on Murim’s long history when he was barely past twenty.

In Mungyeong’s estimation, this could only be the work of demonic, heterodox arts—and an unparalleled demonic martial art at that.

“I have a feeling this conversation will take a while.”

“No, it’ll be over quickly. This old man doesn’t have much to say.”

Mungyeong’s gaze darkened at Jeok Cheongang’s answer.

“Why not?”

“What can I say about something I’ve never seen or heard of? There’s nothing to do but accept it.”

“Surely you don’t believe that nonsense about the Sword Immortal Lü Dongbin appearing in his dream and granting him enlightenment.”

“It may have happened, or it may not have. But even if it’s true, it wouldn’t be all that surprising. Heh heh.”

“Fire King!”

The thunderous cry struck the qi barrier surrounding the two men and reverberated with a deep hum.

But the anger that flashed across Mungyeong’s face vanished without a trace at Jeok Cheongang’s next words.

“Two years.”

“…What did you say?”

“It took that brat only two years to break through the wall of the Supreme Peak realm and open his Middle Dantian. If this old man were Lü Dongbin, I would have come to him in person instead of appearing in a dream, saying, ‘What an incredible fellow there is in the lower world.’”

Mungyeong first questioned his own ears, then Jeok Cheongang’s state of mind.

But the small old man before him continued speaking, his eyes clearer than Mungyeong had ever seen them.

“Don’t doubt him. When you face that brat, erase everything you’ve seen and heard throughout your life from your mind. Do you understand what I mean?”

“…!”

“Taekyung. That boy and the Sword Saint’s Disciple are Divine Dragons in the truest sense. No one has ever seen one. All anyone can do is imagine what they must be like.”

Whoosh.

White foam splashed against the bow. A long time passed before Mungyeong broke the silence.

“I can’t believe it.”

“I didn’t tell you to believe it. I only told you to accept it.”

“Every part of that is impossible.”

“There’s one truth this old man learned while growing older for no good reason. You can’t control another person’s heart.”

Jeok Cheongang had learned that only after sending his first Disciple away.

And only after he met a young man by chance and, one day, truly accepted him into his heart did he realize something else.

The pain that throbbed whenever he remembered that day had grown faint.

“You’ll understand if you keep watching him. Just as I did.”

Mungyeong silently watched Jeok Cheongang’s back as he rose from the railing and ambled away. Then he suddenly spoke.

“What is that brat doing right now?”

“Taekyung?”

Jeok Cheongang turned his head and laughed heartily beneath the moonlight.

“He’s sleeping like the dead.”

If training at Fire Gate Cavern had been a marathon, this was a sprint relay.

During the little over a week it would take to reach Hubei, I had decided to travel back and forth between the modern world and Murim, juggling two lives.

Ding.

System

Logout complete!

I opened my eyes to the familiar chime. I was inside the private jet bound for Korea.

I saw people sleeping soundly from all the fatigue they had accumulated, along with one monster staring at me with his eyes wide open.

“What are you looking at, you punk?”

The Skeleton King answered.

“So that was it. Hmm. Do all humans sleep like the dead, just like you?”

“I’m special.”

“Not weird?”

Whack!

This bastard really went out of his way to get hit.