Chapter 227. No One Paid Me Any Attention.

I slept for a long time.

When I vaguely came to my senses without opening my eyes, I remembered a dream.

Was it because I had heard the Beggars’ Sect Leader’s story?

In my dream, the Beggars’ Sect Leader was circulating his qi and regulating his breath while surrounded by many people. Even amid the heavy atmosphere, I asked the beggars if there was anything I could do to help. It was because I did not distinguish between dream and reality.

I wandered around with my hands on my hips, then said to the Beggars’ Sect Leader.

“Senior, I will help as well.”

In the dream, I took a deep breath, sat down in front of the Sect Leader, and passed my internal energy to him.

When I delivered the pure internal energy drawn up from Cheonok to the Sect Leader, the internal injuries that thirty-eight men clinging to him had been unable to do anything about were healed in no time.

Before I knew it, the Divine Beggar of his younger days opened his eyes and looked at me. He smiled and said to me.

“Sect Master.”

“Yes.”

“Thank you. If you do not help the world, the world will not help you either. Now we will help you.”

I mulled over the words the Sect Leader had given me in the dream, then opened my eyes.

“……”

When I suddenly sat up, the sound of beggars snoring filled the surroundings. This time as well, I found it difficult to distinguish reality from dream.

Because the sky had grown dark before I knew it and was filled with twinkling stars, while the surroundings were filled with torches.

Only then did I realize that the beggars of the Beggars’ Sect who had come to visit me were all snoring together and sleeping peacefully. Some were covered with straw mats, and some slept under their own outer garments.

They looked like beggars who used the earth as their pillow and the sky as their blanket.

By the way, I was certain I had told them to wake me up later, so how had I ended up sleeping this long?

It felt as though at least three double-hours had passed.

Looking around, I saw that the Beggars’ Sect Leader was asleep beneath a straw mat someone had brought, and Old Xin was still asleep as well.

They were men who slept so soundly that it was as if someone had scattered a knockout poison over the area. Since everyone’s breathing was steady, I remained sitting cross-legged and watched the beggars sleep for a while.

‘They sleep remarkably well.’

I had always thought of myself as a man who could sleep peacefully even in a place like a shed, but these were people who, right where they had eaten, pressed their heads to the ground and fell into sweet sleep, so they were on a higher level than me.

After watching the round moon for a while, I took the White Lightning Ten-Stage Art (白電十段功) from my robe and read it.

The first page explained the principles for converting extreme yang internal energy into lightning qi. After that, it described the techniques that could be used at each stage.

Overall, it was an easy, simple, and clear martial art.

What it repeatedly pointed out was that it consumed internal energy quickly. It also emphasized that the more one repeatedly trained in the White Lightning Ten-Stage Art, the more one could burn away the turbid qi within one’s body on one’s own.

The key was that one could purge the hair and cleanse the marrow of the turbid qi inside the body through the White Lightning Ten-Stage Art by oneself.

‘What a fascinating martial art.’

Purging the hair and cleansing the marrow was, in truth, no easy matter, since it meant cleansing everything down to the hair and bone marrow.

It was clearly a secret manual for a martial art that used lightning qi, yet the further into the latter half it went, the more space it devoted to the perfection of the body and methods for expelling turbid qi, giving it a somewhat Daoist coloration.

At the same time, I wondered just how much internal energy it consumed for it to keep saying that an enormous amount of internal energy was necessary.

In the ultimate Tenth Stage, these words were written.

「If one operates the Tenth Stage in a state where one’s internal energy is insufficient, one will draw out and use one’s true qi to supplement the lacking yang energy, and if this phenomenon repeats, there is a risk that the caster’s body will be annihilated. Train slowly and steadily, but first make your internal energy like the great sea, then challenge the Tenth Stage.」

It seemed one did not fall into qi deviation, but simply disappeared.

Since it allowed one to purge the hair and cleanse the marrow by oneself, and also to vanish from the world by oneself, it was a martial art far more extreme than I had expected.

But the martial art itself was interesting and the writing itself was enjoyable, so I read the White Lightning Ten-Stage Art three times over.

According to the Scholar in White, it was good to learn it when progressing from Fighting Rooster to the realm of Golden Turtle, so for me to learn it now was just right.

Could the Scholar in White have anticipated even this and recommended the White Lightning Ten-Stage Art to me?

I could not know.

After glancing once at the beggars sleeping, I began the breathing circulation of the White Lightning Ten-Stage Art.

Since I already had sufficient extreme yang internal energy, the First Stage should not be difficult.

But because the internal energy I possessed was more abundant than I had expected, the qi circulation grew long.

I quickly reached from the First Stage to the Second.

Even after finishing the Third Stage, I continued the qi circulation.

Since it was a matter of transporting extreme yang qi along the bodily pathways mentioned in the White Lightning Ten-Stage Art, there was nothing difficult about it. The process of opening, refining, and widening the roads through which lightning qi would be transported included the First, Second, and Third Stages in their entirety.

Upon reaching the Fourth Stage, I finally began sending lightning qi through different pathways.

From the Fifth Stage onward, the hair-purging and marrow-cleansing function mentioned in the book was mixed in. In other words, from the Fifth Stage onward, it was a process of cleaning the blood vessels throughout the entire body with lightning qi, so sudden pain arose intermittently.

To be honest, I wanted to stop at the Fifth Stage.

But for some reason, the energy of Cheonok felt as though it was being converted into the lightning qi of the White Lightning Ten-Stage Art without any need for separate refinement, so I held on to my mind, completed up to the Fifth Stage, and only then barely opened my eyes.

“……Hoo.”

I had the thought that if I entered the Sixth Stage in this state, I might not be able to open my eyes again, so I set aside my greed.

The moment I came to my senses, an unidentified stench stabbed my nose. The sleeves and pant legs of my clothing were torn to shreds, and when I raised my head, I saw that a screen had been set up around me.

“Mm.”

Furthermore, I had clearly begun circulating my qi at night while the beggars were sleeping, yet now it was bright daylight.

Had I perhaps dreamed a beggar’s dream?

I could not tell whether I was the beggar or the beggar was me.

In any case, my current appearance was that of a beggar.

Since I had broken through all the way to the Fifth Stage as soon as I abruptly entered the White Lightning Ten-Stage Art, I was bewildered myself. I did not know how outstanding a martial art it was in terms of offense, but for now, I confirmed that its exceptional hair-purging and marrow-cleansing function made it a very remarkable divine art.

Although the situation around me and my own state were flustering……

Since it had come to this, I calmly thought for a while about the White Lightning Ten-Stage Art, my body, and the Golden Turtle Roaming Art. I wondered if the reason I had never conquered the realm of Golden Turtle, whether in my past life or this one, was because the grade of my body had been lacking compared to my martial arts.

In other words, this was my reality.

Unlike the young disciples of noble clans or sects, I had not entered martial arts while keeping turbid qi far away; I had grown up filling my belly with liquor and side dishes at an inn. Also, no one had ever purged my hair and cleansed my marrow for me. Far from purging my hair and cleansing my marrow, I had been beaten by other people far more often.

So this was my first experience undergoing something similar to hair-purging and marrow-cleansing.

“Damn it……”

Was the reason the me of my past life had been unable to advance to the next realm because both my body and mind had been those of a waiter?

If so, that was truly a sad thing.

After all, the madness with which I had tried to break through that realm had been a large part of my insanity. In a way, I think the me from the days when I was called the Mad Demon had reached the highest realm I could climb to with the lowliness that had been given to me.

Reeking like a beggar, I stepped outside the screen.

“……”

The beggars were looking at me.

A meeting between a stinking beggar and beggars of long tradition, you might say.

“Sect Leader!”

“Wow, you really were alive, just like the Chief said.”

“I thought you’d ascended.”

The Chief and Noshin were nowhere to be seen, but I could see elders and beggars who, at a glance, looked as if they were standing guard.

In a state where I smelled worse than the beggars, I asked them.

“……Brothers, since when have I—no, how many days have passed?”

“Today’s the eighth day.”

“No. It’s the ninth day.”

“That’s what they say. Nine days have passed.”

Nine days of my life had been exchanged for the fifth stage of the Hundred Battles Ten Stages Art.

“Absurd.”

“We find it absurd too. The smell is absurd as well.”

I couldn’t tell whether offering up nine days to obtain the fifth stage of the Hundred Battles Ten Stages Art was a gain or a loss. In any case, unlike before, I felt a pleasant hunger. I had the feeling that if I started with liquor or snacks in this state, I would go straight to the afterlife.

I was in the sort of condition where I needed to eat something like lukewarm water and thin rice gruel. Senior Wonmyeonja, whose face was round and smooth, approached me and said,

“Sect Leader, are you all right?”

“Yes.”

“That’s a relief. The Chief said you seemed to have fallen into a trance while circulating your qi, so we were to stay as quiet and far away as possible and only keep watch. So the elders took turns watching over you. As these fellows said, today is the ninth day. You must have had a great realization. Congratulations.”

In other words, the experts of the Beggars’ Sect had protected me from the surroundings for nine days.

First, I gave Senior Wonmyeonja a cupped-fist salute.

“Senior, thank you. Thanks to you……”

“Forget it. What’s with that cringeworthy stuff? Don’t do the cupped-fist thing. We don’t really do that.”

“Is that so?”

“Go wash up first. You smell too much. Going by smell, you’re already part of the Beggars’ Sect. It’s been a while since I met someone who smells worse than beggars, so I’m a little flustered.”

The beggars around us all laughed at Wonmyeonja’s words at once.

When the beggars laughed, Wonmyeonja seemed to get even more excited and continued speaking.

“Ah, and the Chief told me to temporarily take charge as the branch head of Ilyang County. Truthfully, I’m not really of that level, but when the esteemed Chief says do it, I do it. Just know it that way. Since you’ve become an assassination target of the evil and unorthodox factions, the Beggars’ Sect has assigned a strong and handsome man as branch head. That’s how you can think of it. Wow, me, a branch head?”

I nodded, and only then did I come to my senses a little.

“Senior Full Moon, thank you. I feel reassured.”

“Full Moon? That’s right. And since my personality is usually round and easygoing too, that’s probably why they entrusted the branch head position to me. The Chief believes I’ll get along comfortably with you as well.”

After Wonmyeonja finished speaking, he stroked his own bald head with his hand and laughed.

My mind grew hazy, so I steeled myself.

“Then, Senior Sun, I’ll go wash up first.”

“That’s right. You do need to wash. Pick one, Full Moon or Sun. Don’t just stick everything on me because I’m round.”

“Let’s do that.”

“What do you mean, let’s do that?”

I ignored Wonmyeonja and went to wash. Behind me, I could hear the beggars whispering even better than usual.

“Why is he calling him Full Moon?”

“Because he’s bald, you stupid bastard.”

Wonmyeonja shouted.

“Will you shut your mouths?”

As I walked, I took off my upper garment, and just as I was about to take off my lower garment as well, I saw Hongsin coming out of Zaha Inn and put it back on.

“Eldest Senior Brother.”

I answered while holding on to the waistband of my trousers.

“Uh, right. I need to wash. Move.”

Hongsin stepped aside while holding her nose.

“Yes.”

“Are you properly serving meals to the beggars led by that bright, shining moon senior over there?”

“Of course. Brother Deuksu has been making delicious food every day and distributing it. Maehwaru is helping as well.”

“Good. So even while I was gone, the Hao Sect was running smoothly.”

“You smell, so hurry up and wash.”

“Got it.”

I entered Zaha Inn, where interior construction was underway. Yeon Jaseong, who was working on the second floor, looked down at me.

“Sect Leader!”

“Hm?”

“Go wash by the well out back.”

“Uh, right. Jaseong, good to see you.”

“Good to see you. It’s dirty there, so don’t step on it.”

“Oh, damn it.”

After being driven out of Zaha Inn, I went around the building to the well. Jang Deuksu, who had come out of the back door of the kitchen, was trimming meat and said to me,

“Wow, you’re finally awake?”

“My qi circulation and breathing just ended. I almost died.”

I wanted to tell him just how incredible the nine days I’d spent had been, but there wasn’t a single bastard I could communicate with.

Jang Deuksu answered halfheartedly.

“Amazing.”

I said to Jang Deuksu, who was swinging a kitchen knife with an enormous pile of meat stacked beside him,

“What are you preparing?”

As Jang Deuksu sliced the meat with a chak-chak-chak sound, he answered.

“Just meat soup. Warm broth with sliced meat in it, and green onions cut into big pieces too. From what I heard, the Chief likes this kind of food best. The Beggars’ Sect people like dishes with broth too.”

“I see.”

When I smiled and nodded, Jang Deuksu waved his hand.

“But Zaha, the smell is pretty bad, so go over there and wash. You’ll taint the food.”

“Ah, understood.”

I was driven to the well and washed for a long time. Because people dislike it when you smell. Suddenly, as I washed, I felt a sense of self-loathing.

I had achieved the miracle of entering an extraordinary martial art called the Hundred Battles Ten Stages Art and breaking through to the fifth stage over the course of nine days, yet no one was interested in me.

It seemed they simply thought I had slept for nine days straight and woken up.

As I poured cold water drawn from deep within the well over my body, I muttered,

“So lonely in this world. No one recognizes it. I can smell a little, can’t I? Those beggar bastards.”

Only then did I understand, even if just a little, the feelings of that idiotic White-Robed Scholar bastard. In his own mind, he had learned an incredible number of amazing martial arts, researched them, analyzed them, drawn pictures, and even created a new movement technique, but it seemed there hadn’t been a single person who recognized it. That was why I thought he wasn’t in his right mind.

If so, I reached this conclusion.

The conclusion that perhaps the essence of the White-Robed Scholar was also that of an attention seeker.

This is how dangerous attention seekers are.

Of course, the same went for me.

After washing for quite a while stark naked, I realized I had no clothes to change into. I spoke to Jang Deuksu, who was busy preparing the food.

“Deuksu hyung, bring me some clothes to change into.”

Jang Deuksu glared at me, still gripping the kitchen knife. I was convinced that Deuksu hyung was a man with the makings of a master—if only he had devoted himself to martial arts instead of cooking.

His killing intent was quite fierce.