Thud—! Thud!
Heavy, dull booms echoed continuously inside the cave. The intense reverberations were strong enough to be felt outside, continuing for quite some time.
Objectively speaking, it wasn’t very long, but for me experiencing those vibrations firsthand, it was a hellish stretch of time.
Thud—! Thud!
I was currently sparring with Paejon.
How much time had passed since we began? It felt like it had been a little over a quarter of an hour.
Even though I had only been moving for that short amount of time, I was already drenched in sweat.
Physically speaking, it was strange that I was like this, but perhaps because I was pushing my concentration to the extreme, the stamina consumption was no joke.
Not to mention,
‘What kind of sparring is this…!’
It was called sparring, but this was closer to outright harassment disguised as sparring. No, most sparring sessions with Paejon were like that, but today was especially so.
Whoosh—! Paejon’s shoulder moved.
The moment I registered it, there was no time to think of a countermeasure. I had to move instinctively.
I jerked my head back in a hurry. A fist brushed past where my head had been. It was a strike aimed precisely at my jaw.
The moment I thought I had barely dodged the blow, before I knew it, a foot hooked my leg.
I knew it was meant to break my stance. I immediately threw my body aside. This made me roll across the floor, but tripping over Paejon’s foot would have been the end of me, so this was better.
I rolled around like this for a while.
Driven by defiance, I charged in to land at least one hit, only to have my face smashed into the wall.
I was stronger and faster. And yet, I couldn’t even graze the hem of his clothes.
What was the difference? Even as I was tossed about repeatedly, I tried to find that difference.
I still couldn’t see it.
Not yet, at least. So I had to search harder.
Dodging the thrusting fists and digging kicks, I rolled my eyes. From head to toe, I couldn’t afford to spend more than a second looking at the opponent. I had to be faster.
I found it.
I saw two openings.
But.
‘That old man.’
The moment I confirmed the openings, I frowned. They were feints.
That damned old man would never give away openings so easily.
What was shitty was that I couldn’t see any other openings anywhere else.
Setting traps while hiding all other breakthrough points.
Setting foot there would be the end. Even knowing that, my fist was already extending.
Because stopping was worse than trying something—anything.
There was no time to choose or not. I simply advanced.
I reached for the opening. Going by the angle and speed, I had to reach him before Paejon could react.
The moment my digging punch was about to land a direct hit on Paejon’s side.
Whoosh—!
With an indescribable sensation, my vision flipped.
Thud—!
My body, spinning once, crashed straight to the ground.
The shock radiating from my back forced a hollow breath from my lips.
“Ha….”
As expected, it ended like this again….
“…!”
The moment I tried to catch my breath, a punch lunged before my eyes, and I moved my head to dodge.
Right after. Boom—! The fist slammed down where my head had been. If I hadn’t dodged, I would have been a mangled mess.
Startled by the unexpected impact, I shot up. The moment I rose, I shouted at Paejon.
“Isn’t it over!? You threw a punch out of nowhere? Are you trying to kill someone!”
At my bewildered tone, my opponent, Paejon, laughed and spoke.
“Ah, I forgot.”
“You forgot…? Elder, you’re smiling right now.”
“It’s only natural to smile more in one’s old age.”
It was a lie. He had really tried to hit me just now.
The smile on Paejon’s face clearly contained disappointment.
This old man. He had definitely been trying to ruin my face.
“…You’re taking out your anger on me right now, aren’t you?”
“I haven’t the faintest idea what you’re talking about.”
Paejon played dumb, but it was obvious.
That man, when I said my father had found out I was his disciple, had chuckled and pretended to let it go, but the moment sparring began, he came at me far more aggressively than usual.
“My eye is already stinging like hell as it is. Are you trying to ruin the other one too?”
“If anything, wouldn’t it look better if both were like that rather than just one?”
“Better, my ass… Kuh!”
Paejon’s fist smacked! the back of my head as it passed by.
He clearly hadn’t put much force into it, yet my head was ringing.
“Your tone is growing more and more insolent. You certainly weren’t like that at first.”
I was only polite at the beginning. After being beaten up for months, who could speak nicely?
For me, at least, it was impossible.
“Your eyes are brimming with dissatisfaction. No matter how I look at it, I’m the one who should be angry.”
Paejon let out a deep sigh at my reaction. He was referring to my father finding out that I was learning his martial arts.
Looking at me, Paejon spoke as if I were pathetic.
“Couldn’t even hide that one thing and made a mess of things, eh?”
I didn’t really have anything to say to that.
“…Somehow… it just turned out that way, I suppose.”
“‘Somehow’? What do you mean, somehow? I clearly told you not to use it recklessly without my permission.”
“…Ngh.”
“To think the disciple I took in would be such a troublemaker….”
“I just wanted to try using it somehow, and before I knew it…”
“Ha, you fool. Why didn’t you just use that energy of yours?”
“…”
I swallowed a groan at Paejon’s words. The energy he was talking about now was demonic energy (魔氣).
Back when I faced the Heavenly Demon, Paejon had also witnessed me becoming a demon with his own eyes. So Paejon knew I had another power.
As Paejon said, if I had used demonic energy, things might certainly have gone better, but.
“That… I don’t want to use it if I can help it.”
Using demonic energy wasn’t something I wanted to show others if possible.
When I spoke somewhat reluctantly, Paejon clicked his tongue.
“I won’t interfere much with your circumstances. But don’t do anything unnecessary.”
“…Yes.”
Paejon didn’t ask much about my power.
What mattered to him was probably just whether or not I could learn Tuapacheonmu.
I didn’t really want to recall those memories either.
Back when Paejon was being consumed by demonic energy.
I was the one who had extracted the demonic energy from his body.
If left alone, even with Paejon’s internal energy utilization, he wouldn’t have lasted long.
And do you know what was going through my head at that time? I was thinking that since I’d been caught, maybe I should just eliminate Paejon.
Truly disgusting.
I wish I could think that was the influence of my demonification, but.
‘That was also me.’
That filthy, disgusting human was also me.
“You’re lost in thought again. Seems your body isn’t fully loosened up yet.”
“…No, it isn’t.”
I had the feeling Paejon had vaguely picked up on my faint demonic nature.
Of course, even if he did, it wasn’t like Paejon could fix it.
Paejon wasn’t exactly the type to do so, either.
“Enough idle chatter.”
I pricked my ears at Paejon’s tone cutting off the conversation.
“At the last moment. Why did you make that choice?”
The topic Paejon had just broached was a review of the sparring.
The question was why I had charged in even though I knew he had deliberately shown a feint.
If you ask why….
“I couldn’t see any openings elsewhere.”
That was the only reason.
“So you chose the place that was obviously a trap?”
“Yes.”
“If so, wouldn’t it have been better to choose somewhere else, even if it looked like there were no openings?”
“I thought you might think that, so I tried a slightly different angle. It didn’t work, though.”
“…Hmm.”
Paejon made a rather subtle expression, perhaps displeased with my answer.
“It isn’t a wrong choice… Fool.”
“Yes.”
“The biggest problem with your approach is that you don’t consider the harm that will come to you.”
Harm that will come to me.
Just when I was wondering what exactly that meant.
“Even if your arms are crushed, your legs are crushed. Even if it costs you your life, you strike first and think later.”
“Ah.”
“That you don’t fear pain and aren’t afraid of terror is, to me, an excellent thing. But you must view actual combat a little differently.”
I could somewhat relate to Paejon’s words. As he said, I had a habit of clashing first without thinking of the consequences.
Even in my previous life, the Sleeping Dragon had said, seeing me fight like that and come out unscathed, it must be divine intervention.
“…For this part, yes. I’ve found a good teacher for you just in time, so it should be fine.”
“Huh? A good teacher? Who is going to teach me…?”
“And let me be clear. Do not use Tuapacheonmu in actual combat until I give you permission.”
Paejon warned once more with a serious expression.
“Is it because I tried to use something I haven’t fully mastered?”
“That is also a reason, but what is important is.”
Tap, tap. Paejon stood up and spoke to me.
“If you use it rashly, your body could be ruined.”
“Huh…?”
My eyes widened at Paejon’s words. Because this was the first time I was hearing this.
My body would be ruined?
Seeing my expression fill with questions, Paejon began to explain with a somewhat awkward expression.
“The pain you feel every time you use martial arts is because your body is changing to match the martial arts.”
This was something I had felt since beginning to learn Tuapacheonmu.
This was one of the reasons I had considered Paejon an absurd existence.
A body changing to match martial arts was, in a way, like forcibly undergoing bone transformation and rebirth.
It was like artificially creating the body called the Heavenly Martial Body.
The absurd pain that came with the process was at a level an ordinary person would find hard to endure, but if one endured it, it would hold greater value than any other martial art.
That Paejon had created such martial arts alone made it all the more astonishing.
“In that process… if you receive unexpected impacts or overuse it, then somewhat… a slight problem occurs, you could say….”
“…What kind of problem?”
“It’s nothing much.”
“Looking at your expression, Elder, it definitely doesn’t seem like nothing.”
“Just, moderately… your heart might stop for a moment, or your acupoints might get twisted, that sort of thing.”
“…”
What part of that is moderate?
Hearing Paejon’s words, I felt dizzy for a moment. In other words, if things went wrong, I could die or fall into qi deviation.
The moment I heard it, I asked as if arguing.
“Why am I only hearing something this important now…?”
“That is why I told you not to use it in actual combat until I permitted you.”
“If I had heard this, I wouldn’t have used it even more!”
“Goodness. How was I supposed to know you would recklessly try to use it in a brawl!”
At Paejon’s exasperated words, I was left speechless.
Why didn’t you tell me something that important?
Those words meant I could have died if things went slightly wrong.
‘Then… had Father seen that far?’
The reason Father had knocked me unconscious with a single blow.
At the time, I had thought he did it because using two energies looked dangerous. But now I wondered if that wasn’t the only reason.
“Anyway… you got lucky this time, so we can let it pass, but….”
“‘Anyway’?”
“You must truly be careful next time.”
I was dumbfounded by Paejon trying to gloss over it, but since I had caused trouble too, I didn’t have much to say.
Still feeling a bit wronged, I was secretly glaring at Paejon when he asked me something else.
“When are you planning to depart for Sichuan?”
For a moment, I thought he had caught me glaring.
“Probably… I plan to depart in no more than seven days and nights.”
I’d need to talk with those traveling with me to be sure, but I planned to leave within about seven days and nights at least.
I had to finish a few matters in Henan during that time.
Not to mention….
“Will you be alright?”
I planned to finish what Paejon was worried about as well.
It was about the cave where I was currently talking with Paejon.
This was a cave prepared for training in Tuapacheonmu, and since the condition Paejon had set was to use only the heart technique of Tuapacheonmu to break through the cave, I had to finish it all before leaving.
“Seven days and nights might be tight, no?”
Though he spoke as if worried, the smile at the corners of his mouth showed he was clearly enjoying this.
As expected, that old man wasn’t exactly good-natured either.
“I’ll just sleep less if need be.”
“You speak so nonchalantly. It’s absurdly reassuring.”
“Is that a compliment or an insult…?”
“How does it sound to you?”
“It sounds like an insult.”
“Correct. You’re quite perceptive.”
That damned old man.
Listening to Paejon’s meaningless jest, I rose to my feet.
It was about time I stopped resting. My schedule going forward was terribly busy, after all.
After completely steadying my breath, exhausted from sparring, I thumped the cave wall.
Immediately after, I drew up Tuapacheongong, the heart technique of Tuapacheonmu, and contained it within my physical body.
Then, pain flared through my entire body.
Grrk—! The sensation of my flesh constricting to its limit and the excruciating pain rampaging inside my body felt like someone was swinging blades around inside me.
It was still a pain I found hard to adapt to.
Paejon, confirming my state, let out a hollow laugh and spoke.
“You say it hurts and it hurts, yet your expression doesn’t change one bit.”
“What would change even if I showed that it hurt?”
“You are truly a stubborn, relentless fellow. Ah, this is a compliment.”
“…If it’s a compliment, I feel worse than before.”
I let out a deep sigh and immediately began throwing punches at the cave.
Thud—! As vibrations began echoing through the cave repeatedly, Paejon turned his back.
“Then continue working hard.”
I asked Paejon, who was moving as if to leave.
“Where are you going?”
“Where else? I’m leaving.”
Paejon spat out the words bluntly and began walking toward the cave entrance.
Then, looking at me as I began to focus on my training, he left a word as if whispering.
“My disciple’s father wishes to see me. I suppose I should go meet him once.”
Making a thoroughly annoyed expression, Paejon exited the cave and soared into the air as if leaping.
His destination was where Hohyeop was.
******************
On a nameless mountain in Sichuan, a strange rumor had been circulating recently.
It was a rumor that a monster capable of human speech lived on the mountain.
Because it was an absurd rumor, few believed it, but those who encountered it directly were certain it was no rumor.
The monster, active only at night, would flaunt its rough muscles and roar.
Wherever it rampaged, only ruined traces were left behind.
Sword agents who climbed the mountain to verify the rumor returned after finishing their search.
With blank expressions as if their souls had left them, they determined there was no monster, but the people who saw them—
“—They must have been terrified after seeing a fearsome monster!”
“That’s right, there’s no way they’d make expressions like that otherwise!”
—they trembled even more in fear.
Deep in the mountain where such strange rumors spread, an unidentified man sat astride a rock, passing the time.
For some reason, the man had taken off his upper garment, flaunting his spectacular muscles.
His age was impossible to tell properly, as his face was hidden by a bushy beard and messy hair.
In one hand, the man held a fish that looked freshly roasted.
Perhaps hungry, he hurriedly took a bite.
And in his other hand, he held a letter. Though his mouth was busy chewing food, his gaze was fixed on the letter.
The man, slowly reading the letter, suddenly frowned.
“Hey, how long are you going to rant about the fish?”
The man lost his temper as if displeased about something, but no one was visible around him.
“If one is a Taoist, must one live eating only grass? If so, why? You didn’t say a word when I ate beef last time. Sigh….”
Was it the man’s words? The object at his waist vibrated slightly.
Feeling it, the man began shouting at the empty air.
“Ah! Don’t shout! Do you think I don’t shout because I can’t? Anyway, your temper is fucking insane. For goodness’ sake, have some moderation. Didn’t you say you’d be quiet for a while after I saved those commoners last time? It’s absurd for someone to go back on his word.”
Tsk, tsk. The object vibrated more violently at the man’s words as he clicked his tongue repeatedly.
Soon, feeling the vibrations, the man pulled the object from his waist and threw it away in annoyance.
“Cool your head over there. I’ll pick it up for you later.”
The stick that fell to the ground began vibrating madly as if angry.
Seeing that, the man snorted and ignored it, then began reading the letter again.
The man he originally was would have been riled up and arguing all day long.
But he didn’t want to bother now. Because today was a good day after a long time.
Having finished reading the letter, the man folded it neatly and roughly tucked it into his waist.
It hadn’t been a very long passage to begin with. Of course, though short, the contents were quite good.
He was in a very good mood right now. Perhaps the best state he had been in recently.
And no wonder.
The man laughed heartily and muttered.
“It’s been a while since I’ve seen his face.”
The contents of the letter were none other than this.
The news that his damned disciple was deliberately coming to this place.