Chapter 225. I Had No Choice, So I Laughed for Now.

‘A chivalrous hero, me? Even a passing dog would laugh. I am no chivalrous hero.’

I swallowed the words I wanted to say as I looked at the leader of the Beggars’ Sect. I felt it would be pathetic to speak of my personal feelings to a man counted among the Three Calamities.

No Sin said,

“Master, what about the Sect Master makes you think so?”

“What sort of man, weaker than the Cult Leader and with a weaker force behind him, could kill so many of his subordinates? It was unexpected news. I thought that if he wasn’t a chivalrous hero, then he must be a madman.”

“I see.”

Only after hearing the Beggars’ Sect Leader’s words did my mouth open.

“I am not a chivalrous hero.”

I waited, expecting the Beggars’ Sect Leader to strike back, but he simply nodded.

“Then let us say you are not.”

At that moment, the Beggars’ Sect Leader and No Sin looked at each other and burst into loud laughter.

“Hahahaha.”

No Sin laughed as he slapped his own knee.

“Hahaha. The Sect Master isn’t entirely sane either.”

Just then, the door of Chunyang Restaurant opened, and a man who looked like an elder of the Beggars’ Sect spoke in a blunt tone.

“Sect Leader, Haomun is preparing food?”

The Sect Leader waved his hand.

“Understood. Enjoy the meal.”

“Yes.”

I thought No Sin and the Beggars’ Sect Leader got along very well. Beggars were beggars, but since they were beggars of the jianghu, there was a broad-minded side to them.

“Sect Leader.”

“Hm?”

“How did you become so strong?”

The Beggars’ Sect Leader laughed.

“You are honest, so you ask straight away.”

“That is how I tend to be.”

“I cannot tell you for free.”

The Beggars’ Sect Leader flared his nostrils and said,

“I smell meat. Bring it here. Just from the scent, it does not seem to have been made by an ordinary expert. What do you think?”

No Sin also sniffed and said,

“The seasoning is not excessive and is just right.”

I went to the kitchen and checked whether any whole pork bones were left. Fortunately, six or seven remained, so I poured the whole pork bones into a bowl. Thinking that deceiving a beggar’s sense of smell was an extremely difficult task, I placed the pork bones before the two of them, then went back to the kitchen, brought out liquor as well, and returned.

The Beggars’ Sect Leader was staring at the whole pork bones with astonished eyes.

“What is this?”

“Whole pork bones.”

“I know they are whole pork bones, but do they have no name?”

“Whole pork bones is enough. Would they need a name? If one must say, they can be called Ilyang County’s whole pork bones.”

No Sin nodded.

“That is right. Please eat, Master.”

While the Beggars’ Sect Leader and No Sin ate the whole pork bones, I poured them liquor. In truth, the story of how the Beggars’ Sect Leader, one of the Three Calamities, became strong was not something one could easily hear directly.

And yet that story flowed from the Sect Leader’s mouth as he tore into the whole pork bones.

“……Sect Master, you are stranger than I am. If you grow old like me, you too will become stronger, so it is not such an extraordinary story.”

No Sin said as he tore off a piece of meat,

“It is an extraordinary story, in truth. It is only that few people know it. Tell it to the Sect Master, since it has been a while. These whole pork bones are no ordinary taste, Master.”

I watched the two of them with my arms crossed.

For some reason, I could not shake the suspicion that if not for the whole pork bones, I would not have heard this story.

To think whole pork bones would save Jang Deuksu and even make me hear a secret history of the martial world.

If there was food in the jianghu ranked higher than a miraculous elixir, it was none other than whole pork bones.

The Beggars’ Sect Leader put down the bone he had sucked clean, then grabbed the next pork bone and said,

“Long ago, I once fell into qi deviation. Back then, the one who struck me was……”

No Sin answered,

“You were struck by the Divine Demon’s Prison-Shattering Palm.”

“Prison-Shattering Palm…… My whole body ached and felt cold. It was the first time I had ever felt such cold. At the brink of death, Elder Yong helped regulate my breathing and circulate my qi.”

The Beggars’ Sect Leader placed the bone, now bereft of pork, into the bowl and continued.

“All eight elders, including Elder Yuk and Elder Hong, clung to me. In the end, because of me, while they were all helping me circulate my qi, the elders’ disciples joined in as well. My senior and junior brothers joined in. The experts of the Beggars’ Sect who came after hearing the news placed their hands on my back. Because of me, they all nearly died. The highest elders placed their hands on my back, and the others placed their hands on the elders’ backs.”

As if it was an incident he had not seen himself, No Sin nodded and said,

“I heard it was truly incredible.”

“I was too out of it to know, but I am told a total of thirty-eight experts clung to me.”

“That is correct.”

“The Prison-Shattering Palm was a dreadful palm force unlike anything I had ever experienced, so my whole body was stiffening. When I felt as though my breath was about to be cut off, I could feel a strand of warmth. The experts of the Beggars’ Sect were forcibly opening the blood vessels that were hardening throughout my body. I do not know how long I endured. Each time I regained consciousness, all I heard was them telling me to breathe. At some point, the phenomenon of Cleansing the Marrow and Cutting the Hair occurred by force, and it even proceeded to a complete rebirth of the body.”

The Beggars’ Sect Leader looked at me.

“After that, the thirty-eight experts of the Beggars’ Sect suffered internal injuries. Because of me. It was likely because they had left themselves no strength to recover. My position at the time was merely a county-level Dandu.”

It meant he had been a Dandu of an area similar in scale to Ilyang County.

No Sin, who had been listening to the story, added,

“You should tell him what happened next as well.”

The Beggars’ Sect Leader nodded.

“Thanks to the elders and my sworn brothers, I underwent a strange experience, and my martial arts grew rapidly. In the end, I reached a level where I could personally treat the internal injuries of those who had helped me. Whenever I treated their internal injuries, I felt great joy. But as I tried to help them recover, I also gained no small amount of insight into the operation of internal energy. In truth, after that, I secretly thought to myself that there would be no one in the jianghu who could rival me in the field of internal energy. Of course, after meeting the Cult Leader and Cheonak, that thought was shattered.”

The Sect Leader’s story was astonishing, but the fact that his pride had been shattered by the other Three Calamities was astonishing as well.

The Beggars’ Sect Leader said,

“When someone grows strangely faster than others, there is always a story behind it.”

I opened my mouth, asking what I was curious about.

“At the time, you were a county-level Dandu, so how did you come to exchange blows with someone bearing the title Divine Demon?”

“Do you know the Divine Demon? He is an old expert, so there is no way you would know him.”

“I do not, but his title is rather arrogant and insolent……”

The Beggars’ Sect Leader laughed.

“We are not the sort of men to be intimidated by an opponent’s title or power, are we?”

“That is correct.”

“The Divine Demon was a man far stronger than I even then. What would you have done?”

“I would first watch the situation for a bit, then run away.”

“What if he possessed tremendous qinggong?”

I answered however I wanted.

“I would have fled to the river and jumped in.”

“What if he’s good at swimming and strong underwater as well?”

“I’d run into the wilderness.”

“And then?”

“We’d run until one of us starved to death.”

“Hahahaha.”

The Beggars’ Sect Leader and Noshin laughed at the same time again.

Noshin asked me.

“Sect Master, you’re slower than the White-Clad Scholar. What would you do if he chased after you?”

“Hold out as long as I can, then run.”

I said to the two of them.

“I have the mindset that I’ll run to the ends of the world, come back, and ambush him even in the latrine if I have to.”

The Beggars’ Sect Leader nodded.

“That is who you are. At the time, the true qi of thirty-eight people was moving through my body. Afterward, it must have merged with my own internal energy. To be honest, I don’t think such a thing could have happened twice. If I were told to do it again, it would be impossible. The elders at the time must have found a miraculous solution through momentary wit and an indomitable will, all to keep me alive somehow. Though it wasn’t something I wanted, because of that incident, my internal energy became deeper than that of other masters. After that, I trained for many long years and had several other moments of enlightenment, but in the end, I could not kill the Cult Leader or Cheonak. It is a shameful thing.”

At his final words, saying it was shameful, I snapped fully awake.

Even if he had encountered a miraculous opportunity, I felt that his original nature and vessel were those of a truly great man. What man under heaven could say he was ashamed because he failed to kill the Three Calamities? The Beggars’ Sect Leader was such a man.

I quietly listened to the Beggars’ Sect Leader.

The Sect Leader continued.

“Then what stories made those two so strong? How did the scholars create Cheonak? Why is the Cult Leader so powerful as well? Can I surpass those two? What do those two think of me? As I sought answers every single day, trained, and looked after the Beggars’ Sect, quite a bit of time passed before I knew it.”

Looking at the wrinkles on the Beggars’ Sect Leader’s face, I asked.

“Have you found the answer?”

The Beggars’ Sect Leader shook his head.

“I have not. That is what worries me. For some reason, I feel the Cult Leader may have found it. He is an exceptional man. The same goes for Cheonak. Perhaps he found it together with the scholars. Lately, I have grown somewhat impatient.”

It could have been a sensitive question, but I asked honestly.

“Are you saying that, judging by the rate at which martial arts have developed since the last battle, Cheonak or the Cult Leader may have become stronger?”

“There is no way to know. But the martial world is a strange place. It does not distinguish between good and evil. It only occasionally grants fortuitous encounters to those who struggle fiercely. If the other Three Calamities lived more harshly than I did, they will have grown stronger. I lived rather quietly, without putting myself forward, but I have begun to wonder whether that was the right life.”

“Mm.”

“I heard the name of a young man who struck Alliance Leader Im and the Green Forest Alliance, and later they said he fought often with the Black Path as well. After that, I heard he even killed members of the Demon Cult through his disciple. In recent times, there are few in the martial world who have suffered more than you. Whether you are a villain or a chivalrous hero, it means you had the qualifications to become stronger. Perhaps this is the essence of the martial world. That is why I came to see what kind of man you were.”

The Beggars’ Sect Leader smiled.

Noshin, who had listened to the story with me, looked at his master’s bowl and said,

“Eat some more, Master.”

“I will.”

“May I tell him about the two-on-one?”

The Beggars’ Sect Leader nodded while gnawing on a pork bone. Noshin looked at me and said,

“They say the Three Calamities fought two-on-one throughout the middle portion of the battle.”

I asked with my brow furrowed.

“Brother Noshin, what kind of two-on-one?”

Noshin said,

“Cheonak and Master joined forces to try to kill the Cult Leader.”

“What?”

“They failed. After that, Cheonak and the Cult Leader joined forces to try to kill Master. That failed as well. Later, the Cult Leader and Master attacked together to kill Cheonak, but even that failed. Tacitly, each hoped the fight would end after one person died, but in the end, all of the Three Calamities failed. Their one-on-one fights had already all ended in draws before that. Only after all three were gravely wounded did they each scatter.”

Across both my lives, I had never heard a battle story this terrifying. In the end, it meant that even when two of the Three Calamities joined hands, they could not kill one man. That meant the three of them were already complete martial artists. To the point that even two martial artists of similar level attacking together could not kill one.

At this level, it meant they were not the Three Calamities, but three Martial Gods.

It was a moment when the presence of the Cult Leader I had seen at the Blood Night Palace took on a different meaning.

It was fortunate, at least, that one member of the Three Calamities was the Beggars’ Sect Leader.

A sigh escaped me on its own.

Because the Beggars’ Sect Leader still seemed to be wary of and worried about those two.

Only then did my eyes snap open.

“Ah, Sect Leader.”

“Hm?”

“It’s nothing.”

The Beggars’ Sect Leader said with a smile,

“Speak. You have been honest all along, so why hold your tongue now?”

From the position of a junior, I asked an apologetic question.

“……Am I to take this to mean that, if Cheonak and the Cult Leader join forces this time, you are not confident you can handle them alone? That is what I wanted to ask.”

The Beggars’ Sect Leader was as honest a man as I was, so he immediately nodded.

“That is right. Who could possibly withstand the attacks of two of the Three Calamities? Even if I were told to do it again, it is true that it would be a burden. That is also why I devoted myself to training. The Cult Leader and Cheonak must have been anxious as well, wondering if I might join hands with one side and come at them. No matter how inhuman those men are…… are we not all the same before death? Though perhaps they may hate defeat even more than death.”

Only then did I understand why the Three Calamities had long restrained themselves without appearing at the forefront of the martial world.

These people had devoted themselves to training while thinking of killing the other two Three Calamities alone at the same time.

Just as the Beggars’ Sect Leader said.

If the martial world did not distinguish between good and evil……

It would be hard to find men crazier than this in the martial world.

I was just as bewildered.

Deep in my heart, I had been hiding the ambition that someday I would have to beat the Cult Leader to death, but now that I thought about it, if the worst-case scenario came……

It meant there might come a moment when I would have to withstand the joint attack of the Cult Leader and Cheonak.

I sat with my mouth half open, then let out a long sigh.

Noshin said to the Sect Leader,

“Judging by the Sect Master’s expression, he’s slightly out of it.”

The Beggars’ Sect Leader laughed aloud.

“Since I have given the young Sect Master something to worry about, today has been a rewarding day.”

As soon as he heard the Beggars’ Sect Leader’s words, Noshin slapped his own thigh and burst into laughter. I once again looked at the pair of master and disciple, who were laughing as brightly as beggars, and let out a hollow laugh.

In the end, having no choice, I laughed along with them for now.

“Hahahahaha…….”

“Hahahaha…….”

“Ahahahahahaha!”