Chapter 504

Enlightenment comes when you least expect it.

When you have forgotten everything around you in a state of selflessness. When death is right before your eyes. Or when you finally cast off the chains that have bound your body and mind for decades.

That was how enlightenment came.

Fwoooooosh!

A wind of qi surged from one man and swept in every direction.

The cave interior was dark, deprived of even a ray of light, but it was now brightly illuminated by a halo of light.

Mungyeong watched the strange sight in silence. Then the boy spoke softly.

“Have you finally escaped your Heart Demon¹?”

He hadn’t set out to bring this about. He had only wanted Jeok Cheongang to know that he wasn’t alone. That he didn’t have to isolate himself and carry every worry and burden on his own.

The result had gone beyond anything Mungyeong expected.

The Supreme Peak master known as the Fire King had broken the chains that had bound him for so many years and was stepping into a new realm.

“Seems I wasn’t meddling for nothing after all.”

Complex emotions mingled in Mungyeong’s eyes as he murmured to himself.

He didn’t know why he had sought out Jeok Cheongang or helped a man he barely knew.

No—even if he did know, he would have pretended otherwise. That was the kind of person he was. It was how he had lived his entire life.

But…

It doesn’t feel so bad.

Mungyeong didn’t realize that a faint smile had crossed his lips.

Nor did he know that the same thing had happened once before, a few days ago.

The smile had come and gone too quickly for him to notice. He slowly turned and stepped out of the cramped cave into the world beyond.

Whoosh.

As if on cue, a breeze from outside blew past, stirring his hair and tickling his nose.

Mungyeong gazed silently at the thick grass and flowers around the cave, then at the wild animals that had gathered there. At last, he spoke.

“Someone will have to stand guard. If those animals wander into the cave without knowing any better, all the enlightenment he worked so hard to attain will go to waste.”

Squeak?

A fawn grazing beside its sleeping mother pricked up its ears.

Under the animals’ wary, curious gazes, Mungyeong looked up at the blue sky.

“It’s a beautiful day. I can’t stay cooped up in a cave in weather like this.”

Step.

Muttering as if to himself, Mungyeong began to walk, neither quickly nor slowly.

The wind blew once more, as though seeing him off while he left the cave behind and disappeared.

Whoosh.

A clear sky without a single cloud. A cool breeze. Wild animals lying together among the grass and flowers, enjoying the sunlight.

And…

Someone lingering outside, unable to bring himself to go in.

Master and Disciple alike.

No matter how he looked at it, those two were alike.

Two butterflies fluttered down and landed on Mungyeong’s shoulder as he smiled without a sound.

It was truly a beautiful day.

The fawn had only recently been born, and it was curious about everything.

It bounded after butterflies and stuck its black nose into the thick grass and flowers to sniff them.

As always, it soon lost interest and wandered off in search of something else to do.

Squeak?

This time was different.

The cave’s pitch-black entrance drew it in, while its mother slept, worn out from caring for it.

Most importantly, the strange two-legged animal it had never seen before had disappeared into the distance.

Squeak.

What’s in there? I want to go inside.

Squeak!

All right. Let’s go!

But the fawn’s firm resolve lasted only as long as it took to nibble a few mouthfuls of grass.

Step.

Someone approached, and a shadow fell over its round head.

The fawn startled and backed away. A large figure appeared in its black eyes.

“Not right now. We’ll go in later.”

The stranger stroked the frightened fawn’s head, then stared at the pitch-black cave.

The stranger’s gaze was so profoundly somber that the fawn, which had instinctively been about to wake its mother, swallowed its cry.

Squeeeeak.

“That’s right. Good. Now go back to your mother.”

The figure watched the fawn tilt its head and approach its sleeping mother, then straightened from his bent posture.

His steps toward the cave were steady. The wind blurred his voice.

“Now… I should go, too.”

The path to the cave was long.

A year and several months had passed since the old man and the young man first met. After taking the long way around, they could finally meet again.

Not one in front and the other behind, but side by side, shoulder to shoulder.

“When the hell is Jin Taekyung coming?”

At Gung Gibang’s irritated complaint, Hyuk Mujin clicked his tongue.

“Tsk, tsk. With a temper that impatient, how are you ever going to beg? Try waiting patiently for once.”

“Listen to the way that Hyuk bastard talks. Beggars aren’t allowed to be impatient?”

“You need patience if you want someone to give you even one iron coin.”

“Was it the Hyuk Family Textile Shop? Want me to send a hundred thousand Beggars’ Sect disciples over to take a shit there, one by one?”

“…Let’s leave family out of this.”

“Then watch your mouth. My boys might not have money, but you think they don’t have shit?”

Hyuk Mujin looked at him in disgust.

“You’re driving me crazy. I just ate, so why the hell are you talking about shit? We have to board the ship soon, too.”

“So before the Hyuk Family Textile Shop gets covered in shit—”

“Ah, I said stop! Hearing about food after talking about eating shit is making my stomach turn!”

“…?”

“…?”

As the two men tilted their heads, sensing something was wrong, Jin Wikyung addressed someone nearby.

“Tell me, are you certain he’ll be here soon?”

Mungyeong, the young medical apprentice known as the Divine Physician’s Disciple, bowed politely.

“Yes. Young Master Jin said so himself.”

“We need to leave before sunset…”

Jin Wikyung murmured as he gazed at the sky slowly turning red.

The ceremony declaring the new Murim Alliance in Henan was only about a month away. They had to set out now and keep up a good pace if they were to arrive on time, allowing for anything that might happen along the way.

No. I should be grateful Great Hero Jeok is coming with us at all.

Rumors had been swirling about Jeok Cheongang, who had shut himself away for seven days and nights.

Some said, hopefully, that he had finally found a clue to enlightenment. Others made the impious suggestion that something might be wrong with his health. Still others insisted he simply had no particular reason to show himself.

Jin Wikyung didn’t know which of the three was true, but he had certainly worried in private.

I was afraid he might refuse to join the Murim Alliance… It seems my youngest managed to persuade him.

Most martial artists of the orthodox faction had forgotten it, but the Fire King Jeok Cheongang had never belonged to the orthodox, unorthodox, or Demonic factions. He stood between the orthodox and unorthodox factions.

That independence was the foundation of the Fire Gate Clan, which had preserved its lineage through one-person succession for hundreds of years. Each Sect Leader had defended its position outside every faction with overwhelming martial might.

Especially since it was Great Hero Jeok.

Even a child with a runny nose knew that the Fire King Jeok Cheongang had helped the orthodox faction and led it to victory in the Great Faction War.

But few people knew that this Supreme Peak master from two generations ago had been deeply disappointed by the orthodox faction both during and after the war.

“Come to think of it, I’m reminded of something my grandfather once said about Senior Jeok.”

Zhuge Feng had come out to see them off. At his words, Jin Wikyung’s ear twitched.

“About Great Hero Jeok?”

“Yes.”

“I’ve heard the previous Family Head was wise and had remarkable insight. May I ask what he said?”

“Well, I heard it in the Family Head’s hall when I was thirteen.”

“I see. And what did he say…?”

“I remember it clearly. My grandfather was talking about the Great Faction War. Ah, have you heard how the members of our family played a major role in the great battle in Sichuan?”

Crack.

Zhuge Feng, who had been leisurely fanning himself, suddenly stopped.

He glanced back and forth between Jin Wikyung’s tightly clenched fist and his flushed face, then slowly lowered the fan.

Jin Wikyung’s martial arts were in no way inferior, but even his appearance alone made him little different from a human weapon.

Besides, with the priceless Water God Dragon’s corpse in his hands, was he not the one holding all the cards?

Zhuge Feng discreetly gauged the mood, cleared his throat, and continued.

“Ahem. In any case, I asked him first. I asked when he thought the tide had first begun to turn in favor of the orthodox faction.”

Jin Wikyung’s voice was low and level.

“Was it because the Zhuge Clan played such an important role in the great battle in Sichuan?”

“No! That wasn’t it! It really wasn’t!”

“That’s a relief. Please continue.”

Zhuge Feng began speaking while glancing sideways at the clenched fist.

“It was the first and last time I ever saw my grandfather think so long over a question. Can you guess what he finally said, Lesser Family Head?”

“You said it was connected to Great Hero Jeok… Perhaps it was the great battle in Shaanxi. I’ve heard the other Seniors distinguished themselves there, but Great Hero Jeok’s achievements were truly astounding.”

The battle in Shaanxi that Jin Wikyung had mentioned was one of the particularly brilliant victories among the countless battles of the blood-soaked Great Faction War.

Jin Wikyung had given his answer some thought, but Zhuge Feng let out a quiet laugh and shook his head.

“Wrong.”

“Then what was it?”

“Anhui.”

“Anhui… You mean that?”

“That’s right. No one expected the Demonic Cult’s elite Black Wind Corps—a thousand men marching across Anhui—to be wiped out by one man. Not even my grandfather.”

Jin Wikyung nodded.

On the day Mount Jiuhua was engulfed in flames, an unknown old man living in obscurity became known as the Fire King, while the Demonic Cult lost an elite strike force that had accumulated countless achievements since the beginning of the Great Faction War.

“That makes sense. It was when Great Hero Jeok first emerged into the world.”

“But if not for my wise and perceptive grandfather’s judgment, not only would the Black Wind Corps not have been annihilated, Senior Jeok would never have gained the title of Fire King.”

“What do you mean…?”

Zhuge Feng looked around, then lowered his voice as much as possible.

“At the time, every road through Anhui was open to the Black Wind Corps. They had no reason to pass through Mount Jiuhua.”

“Wait. Then do you mean…?”

“My grandfather never forgot anything he had seen once. This was no different. He remembered a record about a one-person sect in our family’s archives, one describing events from more than a hundred years ago.”

“…!”

“Heh heh. It was a bold gamble, but it worked. A stratagem to put even Zhuge Wuhou² to shame, wouldn’t you say?”

As Zhuge Feng casually put his own clan’s ancestor to shame, a deep voice reached his ear.

“So that’s what happened.”

“…Huh?”

Zhuge Feng turned in bewilderment and saw him.

“Zhuge Clan, assemble.”

A middle-aged man was approaching from far beyond the distance his voice should have carried.

And walking beside him, shoulder to shoulder, was a young man.