〈 Episode 554 〉 Wudang.
About four days had passed since we started traveling together.
Demon beasts had popped up from time to time to be hunted, but nothing particularly dangerous had happened.
We could have picked up the pace if we wanted, but we weren't in any particular hurry.
Not only was there no need, but there were a few things I needed to find out.
And so, four days.
As time passed while we repeatedly made camp, we were now facing a towering mountain.
"Wow…."
Guryeonghwa expressed admiration, as if finding it amazing.
The mountain in front of us seemed to be shaped strangely, but looking at it, I could only make a dumbfounded expression.
"Isn't it weird for you to be surprised by a mountain?"
As a disciple of the Huashan Sect, she should have been used to those tall mountains over there.
I found it quite curious that she was so surprised by Mount Wudang.
At that remark, Guryeonghwa pouted.
"…Not all mountains are the same."
Well, she wasn't wrong.
To me, that mountain and the one at Huashan looked similar.
A mountain is a mountain.
I looked at the mountain ahead and then asked Yeongpung, who was beside me.
"Where do we go now?"
Yeongpung answered my question.
"I sent word ahead, so someone will come."
"Hmm."
Hearing that, I looked back at the street.
In the end, it meant we had to wait until someone arrived.
"By the way, Young Hero Gu."
"Yes."
"You mentioned having business here; is it alright for you to stay with us like this?"
"Ah, yes. Well… it's not that urgent."
It was true.
More than my own business, understanding how the present situation was unfolding was more important.
I raised my head and looked up at the towering mountain.
This was where the sect representing this place was located.
'Wudang.'
The Wudang Sect.
This place was one of the Nine Sects and One Alliance.
It was a Taoist sect whose sect leader was the current Alliance Leader, the Wudang Sword Immortal.
Moreover.
'I should have brought that bastard Wuhyeok with me.'
It was where that guy I could barely call a friend belonged.
If there was something curious.
'It's quite different from my previous life.'
The feeling was considerably different from the Wudang I had visited in my previous life.
This was a county town directly administered by Wudang.
As far as I remembered, it had been a place administered directly by the Nine Sects and One Alliance, so it had been fairly developed, but—
'Not to this extent.'
Now, it had changed incomparably from my previous life.
'Merchant caravans are lined up in rows.'
The increased number of inns and the street vendors that packed the streets at a glance.
Adults and children alike, people packed in tight.
'It wouldn't be inferior to Henan.'
Present-day Mount Wudang had grown enough to be compared to Henan, where Shaolin and the headquarters of the Martial Arts Alliance were located.
Recalling that in my previous life it hadn't been much different from the Huashan Sect, this was an enormous difference.
And.
The reason for this difference was probably—
'Because of the Martial Arts Alliance?'
The reason was likely that the current Alliance Leader was the sect leader of Wudang.
'No. There must be a deeper reason than that.'
Originally, simply becoming the Alliance Leader wouldn't create such a gap.
You could tell by comparing it to the time of the previous Alliance Leader, Nageom.
Just because he had taken the Alliance Leader's seat, the region overseen by his birth clan, the Jang Family, hadn't changed this much.
Then why had Wudang changed so much?
The reason was simple.
'Because the times have changed.'
Only a few years ago, people had been spending their days leisurely, calling it an era of peace.
But the appearance of the Red Demon Realm Gates had caused cracks to form.
When cracks formed, change occurred. This inevitably led to anxiety.
In a world where even those who had reached the Absolute Peak were called experts.
It was the red demons that devoured even such experts.
This meant they were on a completely different level from the blue demons, which first-rate experts could hunt with ease.
With peace shattered and anxiety rising.
What such people sought first was stability.
'Stability that could be found within the anxiety of not knowing when demons might run rampant.'
I shifted my gaze in thought. The number of people filling the streets.
Looking at them, this place must be the stability they had chosen.
'A place whose sect leader is the current Alliance Leader.'
Those words carried the implicit meaning that the management would be that much more reliable.
Which meant—
'That if something happened, they would respond the fastest.'
Since they would handle demons quickly, it meant the place was relatively safe.
Thanks to this era's problems aligning with the position of the Wudang Sword Immortal, the streets had become revitalized.
This was what I was observing.
'In truth, it's not just here.'
Not just Wudang, but Huashan in Shaanxi was the same.
I had heard that Kunlun and other regions home to renowned sects were also changing.
It was just that this place had changed to an excessive degree.
'A massive change has already begun.'
There was no doubt that the world had begun to change as crisis arrived.
I looked at the bustling crowd before withdrawing my gaze again.
I felt no desire to stare long at a backdrop that wouldn't last anyway.
On top of that.
'It's not the time to be sightseeing, either.'
I looked a little further away.
A commotion could be felt among the packed crowd.
It seemed they had arrived.
The numerous people began to move quickly.
The space created by their movement became a path.
In the distance, a group could be seen approaching, walking down the path.
Footsteps gathered upon gathered, creating a resonant echo.
Their combined presence multiplied, faintly enveloping the air.
Flutter.
Cerulean Taoist robes that fluttered with each step they took.
Along with their straightened waists and trained bodies, a dense Taoist aura could be felt.
Furthermore, their confident gait seemed to show their towering pride.
"W-Wudang Sect…!"
Someone's whispered words rang out unusually loud.
Yes, those walking in the distance were them.
The successors of the Taoist tradition, called one of the Nine Sects and One Alliance and a renowned orthodox sect.
'The Wudang Sect.'
Shortly after identifying them, they arrived before us.
Exactly ten in number.
Sensing their auras, I could tell they were composed of considerable experts.
'They've all surpassed the Absolute Peak.'
I could even see a few who had reached the Mature Absolute Peak.
It was a situation that looked far too extravagant for a simple greeting party.
Leaving behind the people's attentive gazes, a man at the front took a step forward.
"Are you the guests from the Huashan Sect?"
Immediately upon hearing this, Yeongpung moved.
He tried to perform a fist-and-palm salute, so I grabbed his arm and stopped him.
Thud-!
"…!"
Yeongpung made a bewildered expression, but I ignored him and continued speaking.
"We are."
"…I am Jicheol, a second-generation disciple of Wudang. I have come under orders to escort the guests."
Only after hearing the man named Jicheol introduce himself did I release Yeongpung's arm.
"I am Yeongpung, a third-generation disciple of the Huashan Sect."
"I am Guryeonghwa, a second-generation disciple of the Huashan Sect."
Once the two finished their introductions, Jicheol turned his gaze to look at me.
His eyes seemed to ask, "Who are you?"
"Ah, I am Gu Yangcheon. This is my porter, so don't mind him."
"…!"
I said this while pointing to Seongyul, who was actually carrying my luggage.
Jicheol's eyes widened slightly upon hearing my name. Just as I wondered why, voices came from behind.
"If it's Gu Yangcheon… that Gu Yangcheon? Then is that the Sword Dragon next to him?"
"The Sword Dragon? He's a handsome young man, just as the rumors said."
"Is that the Soyeomra next to him?"
"They said his eyes were like a demon's, so that rumor was true…."
It seemed they had recognized who I was upon hearing my name—not to mention the Sword Dragon.
'Who's the bastard who said that last thing?'
I was speechless at how the rumors had spread.
'I deliberately kept quiet to erase that, yet stuff like that still remains.'
While I was suppressing my rising irritation.
I felt someone sizing me up with strange eyes from the front.
It was Jicheol.
Feeling that gaze, I narrowed my eyes.
'What is it?'
I thought he might be looking out of curiosity.
But somehow, I felt a somewhat annoyed emotion from his gaze.
Of course, it was but a fleeting moment.
Jicheol withdrew his gaze quickly, but I didn't miss it.
'Look at this punk.'
As I quietly let out a laugh, Jicheol spoke to me.
"So you are the famous Soyeomra. I have heard the stories. They say you are an outstanding rising star."
There was a particularly strong emphasis on the words "rising star."
"I heard through correspondence that you have business here. I hope you rest well before you leave."
"Thank you for your concern."
Jicheol nodded slightly at my words spoken with a smile.
"First, you must be weary from the long journey, so shall I escort you to a comfortable place? What do you say?"
"Please do."
The greetings were about over now.
I thought we would be heading to the Wudang Sect as planned, but—
"Follow us."
And so, the place we moved to, following Jicheol, was surprisingly not the Wudang Sect.
******************
After following Jicheol for about half an hour, we found ourselves inside a building.
A fairly high-class roadside inn.
The interior was quiet, perhaps because the building had been cleared out, and it seemed reasonably well-maintained, but—
I couldn't help but make a somewhat puzzled expression as I entered.
'What is this?'
An inn instead of the Wudang Sect as our destination?
I glanced to the side and saw that Yeongpung's expression was not very good either.
He couldn't be blamed.
'We came all this way to another sect on business, yet we couldn't even enter the sect and were brought to an inn.'
They were pretending to treat us as guests to some extent, but this was clearly an act of disregard.
That was why Yeongpung and Guryeonghwa wore such expressions.
As a somewhat rotten expression brought a chilly atmosphere, Jicheol, seated at a table, opened his mouth.
"First, allow me to apologize."
It began with an apology.
"Under normal circumstances, I should have escorted you to the main sect, but the main sect is currently in a tumultuous situation, so I was forced to bring you here."
Jicheol began explaining the situation, perhaps aware that things were amiss.
"Has something happened?"
Yeongpung asked with a rare furrow of his brows, and Jicheol continued.
"That is correct. At present, it is difficult to admit outsiders carelessly, so I hope you guests will understand."
"…What do you mean?"
"Once a simple verification procedure is complete, you will leave the inn and ascend to Wudang, so I ask for your cooperation."
Yeongpung's expression was extremely bewildered.
Well, it was unexpected, so it was understandable.
Seeing that, I also had to tilt my head in confusion.
A verification procedure.
'Did something happen at Wudang?'
Seeing him come out like that, it seemed something had indeed happened.
Separately from that, the current situation didn't look very good.
'I noted their sharp momentum, but this means they didn't come solely to greet us.'
They had arrived with an unusually overwhelming display of presence.
'Are they trying to establish dominance from the start?'
They had been rubbing me the wrong way since the first meeting.
Jicheol had deliberately delayed introducing himself.
It was obvious Yeongpung was his junior, so Yeongpung should have performed the salute first, but—
the fact that he tried to receive courtesy without greeting first, even though it was a meeting between different sects—
'He was trying to seize that from the start.'
It meant he was trying to establish from the beginning that he was in the superior position.
That was why I had stopped Yeongpung earlier.
'It could have been a simple misunderstanding.'
But seeing his behavior now, it didn't seem like it.
'You can tell just by talking to him.'
You could tell just from listening to Jicheol speak to Yeongpung.
He seemed to be mixing in courtesy subtly,
but there was clearly a condescending attitude in his words.
Not to mention acting this way without prior explanation.
He was pressuring us to understand, as if asking for it.
Moreover, the semi-threat that if we cooperated with the matter, he would let us properly go to Wandang.
In my eyes, it was no different from deliberately giving us the runaround.
The problem was.
"…What do you mean by cooperation?"
Yeongpung was unable to properly respond to this.
'Tch…'
It was only natural for Yeongpung to be so inexperienced since he was a novice in the Central Plains.
But from my standpoint, it was stifling.
'This won't do.'
I let out a small sigh as I looked at Yeongpung.
I had been watching to see what Yeongpung would do.
But at this rate, it seemed I'd only see worse things.
'I didn't want to interfere.'
I had been trying to let it pass moderately.
But it didn't seem like I could.
Just as Yeongpung asked Jicheol with a suspicious look,
Jicheol raised the corners of his mouth slightly and continued.
"First, those from Huashan…."
"Before that, I have a question."
Jicheol's face furrowed as his words were cut off mid-sentence.
He seemed displeased that someone had interrupted and cut into the conversation.
Without easing his expression, Jicheol looked toward me.
His eyes were filled with the clear emotion of "What do you think you're doing?"
"…Are you speaking?"
His question was full of discomfort.
"I've been wondering about this since earlier. I thought I should ask."
"What is it?"
Looking at Jicheol's face, I smiled broadly and spoke.
"Are you by any chance from the Demonic Sect?"
"…?"
Jicheol made a blank expression upon hearing my words.
He looked as if wondering if he had misheard.
"…What are you…."
"No, I asked because the way you handle things is exactly like those guys."
"What?"
"That tone of yours with zero manners making people feel like shit—it had that exact vibe, so I wondered. Sorry if I'm wrong. It must have been my mistake. Haha!"
I gestured while laughing, but shortly after,
the expression of Jicheol, who had heard my words, gradually began to twist viciously.
The moment he was about to rise, looking ready to shout,
"Pfft…."
A short laugh from somewhere froze the atmosphere instantly.
Everyone's gazes focused in the direction of the laughter.
There, Guryeonghwa was covering her mouth with an "oops" expression.
"…Ah, sorry… I couldn't help…."
Guryeonghwa spoke awkwardly.
But it was already too late to remedy the situation.