Chapter 232. A Beggar and Me

Leaving aside the Beggar Gang leader, who was counted among the Samjae, No Sin was, in any case, the fleetest-footed man in the Beggar Gang.

He was not easy to catch up to.

On top of that, the weight of the Beggar Gang leader on my back kept changing, making it even harder to run.

But after a little time passed.

Even the cocky No Sin shut his mouth, and the Beggar Gang leader said nothing either.

I had no choice but to focus on my qinggong as well.

After some time, the way the Beggar Gang leader’s weight kept fluctuating brought to mind the White-Clad Scholar’s Tiyunzong.

‘Hm?’

Because that bastard, too, had run with his upper body lowered while controlling the lightness and heaviness contained in his own body.

How in the world did one change one’s own body weight?

It would be impossible for ordinary people, but as a man of the jianghu, I naturally had no choice but to think of internal energy.

Since I was carrying the Beggar Gang leader on my back, I had no choice but to lower my upper body slightly as well. At some point, I found myself running while naturally supporting and resisting the leader’s weight.

When he became lighter, I leaped farther, and when the leader’s weight forced my feet down to the ground, I poured in the necessary power to overcome it and spring up. In other words, because of the Beggar Gang leader’s weight, I was forced to perform a qinggong similar to Tiyunzong.

A little later, the Beggar Gang leader spoke.

“You’ve adapted to the weight somewhat now. Sect Master, this is something you learn with your body, so it isn’t an easy realm to enter. Run until you’re exhausted and engrave it into your body. It doesn’t matter if you collapse from fatigue. Once your body remembers it, it’ll be easier even when you do it alone next time.”

“Understood.”

To be honest, when the Beggar Gang leader became heavy, it felt as if I were carrying a massive lump of iron on my back. To withstand that weight, I had to properly pour internal energy into my legs and endure.

The weight was so tremendous that sweat was streaming from my entire body like rain, but since not only I, but also the Beggar Gang leader and No Sin were serious, I couldn’t bring myself to say that it was hard.

And so, with a huge lump of iron on my back, I ran without rest for more than two sichen.

Because No Sin was fast, I also ran at full speed. After running another two full sichen in a state where I was already exhausted, the sun was already slowly setting.

‘This is driving me crazy.’

At this point, I no longer cared where we were going.

Come to think of it, whether we ran to the sea off Zhejiang or to a place I had never been before, we did not need a destination.

Because the goal of obtaining legs of steel was more important than any destination. If this training deepened my understanding of qinggong and allowed me to become faster than before, I was prepared to run all night.

I ran until the sun had completely fallen and the surroundings grew dark. Suddenly, in the darkness that made even running difficult, I heard the leader’s voice.

“Aren’t you hungry?”

“I’m fine.”

“You may be fine, but we’re hungry. Let’s eat now.”

The leader had spoken to me, but No Sin, who was running ahead, answered.

“Yes, Master. Shall we go have some noodles?”

“Let’s do that.”

A little later, when No Sin stopped near a bustling street spewing light, the leader who had been on my back finally got down.

I tried to handle it with composure, but the moment the heavy burden disappeared from my back, I staggered. The leader grabbed my arm and said,

“……You’ve got quite a stubborn streak. You endured well.”

I nodded and caught my breath.

No Sin approached and said,

“The Sect Master’s internal energy and stamina are not shallow. Judging by your endurance and speed, there likely isn’t anyone your age who can match you. Were there any other results?”

The leader looked at me and nodded.

“It seems he realized something in his own way.”

No Sin came up to me and tapped my shoulder.

“You worked hard. Running this much while carrying Master is no easy feat. Your forehead’s flooded. The principle of adding weight to the body isn’t limited to qinggong. It’s also necessary in attack and defense. This itself can become a protective art, or it can become a method to send an enemy flying with a simple movement. How is that possible?”

I interpreted No Sin’s words, then answered.

“A combination of internal and external arts?”

No Sin looked at me and nodded.

“That’s right. The jianghu is full of people whose internal and external arts operate separately. Even such people are under the delusion that they are experts. Of course, there are also many masters who can use the two in close combination. But that is not the end. When internal and external arts are in complete harmony within your body, like your Sun and Moon, you can possess explosive power that surpasses expectations. This is by no means shallow martial learning. There is also a limit to what others can teach you. Remember this sensation well.”

“Confirmed.”

“You’re dripping sweat.”

Feeling white steam rising from my face and head, I looked at No Sin. Come to think of it, there wasn’t a single drop of sweat on his face.

I wiped the sweat from my forehead with my hand, then answered.

“It’s because the weather is hot.”

“It isn’t hot at all. You’re the only one who’s hot, Sect Master. Hahaha.”

No Sin led the way into the bustling street, and the leader and I followed. Since I was with beggars, I offered first.

“I’ll pay, so let’s go somewhere tasty.”

No Sin let out a laugh of disbelief.

“Were you planning to make a beggar treat you?”

The leader must have found it funny too, because he laughed through his nose.

* * *

I had intended to treat them to a feast, but the place we ended up entering was a shabby noodle shop. When I raised my right hand to order, No Sin lowered it.

“They only have noodles, so what are you ordering? They don’t even have alcohol here.”

“Aha.”

Before I even had time to be surprised, a man with his sleeves rolled up came out from inside and set down an enormous amount of noodles in a large bowl on the table. He smiled slightly without saying much, then headed back to the kitchen. Judging from the shape of his forearms and back, he was an expert who had trained in external arts.

No Sin said,

“Master, please eat.”

“All right.”

The three of us put our chopsticks into the bowl and ate the noodles. I didn’t know how they had made it, but not only the noodles, even the broth was refreshing. There were three times as many noodles as in an ordinary noodle shop, and the broth was on the clear side, so it had no particular flavor. It tasted plain, as if noodles had been dropped into mild tea, but because it was cool and light, the finish was extremely clean. Usually, when I went to a noodle shop, I ate two or three bowls, but even one bowl of this was enough to fill me up.

The three of us drank even the broth cleanly, then set the bowl down.

When I took a coin pouch from my robe, No Sin got up and went to the kitchen, where he handed over money and exchanged small talk. After several bursts of laughter were heard, the man in the kitchen poked his head out and said,

“Leader, take care on your way.”

“I will.”

The owner looked at me and nodded slightly.

“Come again.”

I felt I would think of these noodles again, so I answered immediately.

“I will.”

I came outside and asked No Sin,

“Is he a Beggar Gang man?”

“No. He’s a man who turned his back on the jianghu.”

“Was he famous?”

Nosin asked the Sect Leader.

“Was he somewhat famous?”

The Sect Leader nodded.

“At one time, yes. But now no one seeks him out, and that is the life he wanted. Let him be. The noodles are tasting better and better. How were they for you, Sect Master?”

“I’ve never had noodles like these before.”

“In what way?”

“Usually, one adds something to create an ordinary flavor, but these noodles make their flavor after stripping away everything that can be stripped away. They’re just what you’d expect from noodles made by a retired jianghu man.”

“So you enjoyed them.”

We were talking as we crossed a bridge where many people came and went. Suddenly, at the middle of the bridge, the Leader of the Beggar Sect flopped down with his back against the railing.

To anyone’s eyes, he looked like a beggar about to start begging on the bridge.

Nosin said to the Sect Leader.

“I’ll go look around.”

“Go on.”

I sat down beside the Leader of the Beggar Sect and said the same to Nosin.

“Go on, then.”

Sitting on the bridge with the commander-in-chief of the Beggar Sect, I felt as though I had become a beggar overflowing with lofty spirit.

The Sect Leader watched the people crossing the bridge.

With nothing in particular to do, I watched the people as well. It was a rare moment of rest. Perhaps the Leader of the Beggar Sect was not famous here either, because not a single person acted as if they recognized him.

As he watched the people, the Sect Leader opened his mouth.

“Sect Master, I’ll tell you how the Beggar Sect began.”

“Yes.”

“It was a very long time ago. The stories passed down differ from one another, but the broad outline is the same. Long ago, there were beggars who survived by begging because their bodies were crippled. No matter how much people helped them and gave them alms, they always looked hungry and unwell.”

“Mm.”

“One day, a man who had helped the beggars several times found it strange. He examined the crippled beggars and quietly followed them to see where they went. It turned out those crippled beggars were offering even what they had begged that day to someone else. That man wasn’t crippled at all, yet he was using these beggars to make money. The jianghu man who found this out eventually beat to death the one receiving tribute from the beggars, and then protected them. That man was the first Leader of the Beggar Sect. There were no rules, and it wasn’t a sect. In the end, the Beggar Sect was born because of one man who took an interest in beggars. That first Sect Leader said something.”

“What was it?”

“The evil of mankind is abundant even among the weak. The man he beat to death was an ordinary person who knew no martial arts, yet he was wringing the lifeblood from those even weaker than himself. The first Beggar Sect was not created by beggars, but by a man who wanted to help beggars. When that man looked around, he found that there were more than a few beggars suffering in this way.”

“I see.”

“One man threw himself into the world of beggars. In some places, those who had learned martial arts were driving beggars like slaves. In others, ordinary scoundrels were tossing beggars leftover rice and making them beg. It was an age when the law was not yet whole, so the first Leader of the Beggar Sect roamed the world and beat such men to death. In the midst of that, he gained disciples, and those disciples took on disciples of their own, and thus it became the Beggar Sect.”

Singae, the Leader of the Beggar Sect, spoke while watching the ordinary people passing over the bridge.

“What happened within the Beggar Sect is the same as what happens under heaven. I think the Hao Sect you created is not so different from the beginning of our Beggar Sect. That is why I went to see you. The fact that you annihilated the Demonic Cult’s forces merely caught my attention.”

Only then did I belatedly understand why a man called one of the Three Calamities had personally come to find me.

Suddenly, the Sect Leader asked me.

“Sect Master, how long have we been sitting here?”

“About two ke, perhaps? Thirty minutes or so.”

“No one is giving us alms. Usually, when I sit on a bridge, I receive quite a lot. Why do you think that is?”

Only then did I recall the presence the Leader of the Beggar Sect had shown when he appeared in Ilyang County. In other words, it had been strangely impossible to sense any presence from him.

Then the reason we were not receiving alms on the bridge lay with me.

“Is it because of my killing intent?”

The Leader of the Beggar Sect nodded.

“Most likely. Your killing intent, your gaze, your presence… They must think you are a man who has no need for alms.”

“Is this also a kind of martial art?”

“It is also a state of mind, and a method of concealing one’s aura. If you want to receive alms, you must erase your presence. It is somewhat different from the way an assassin conceals his aura. After running all day, you look quite wretched yourself. Would you like to try begging?”

The commander of the beggars recommended that I beg.

“I’ll try.”

The Leader of the Beggar Sect stood, walked over to the opposite railing, sat down, and looked at me.

I raised my collar a little, drew up my knees and wrapped both arms around them, then tried to imitate a beggar as best I could. But even after another two ke passed, no one gave me alms. Meanwhile, the Leader of the Beggar Sect, one of the Three Calamities under heaven, was merely sitting still on the bridge, yet from time to time passersby would give him small iron coins as alms, or leave behind a few dumplings wrapped in cloth.

Each time, the Leader of the Beggar Sect looked at the person who had given alms and smiled slightly without a word.

“……”

I gave up begging and stared blankly at the Leader of the Beggar Sect.

How could one of the three greatest masters under heaven receive alms?

How could he sit on a bridge without any presence at all? Why did people not notice the presence of the Leader of the Beggar Sect?

Beyond the people, the Leader of the Beggar Sect smiled faintly each time his eyes met mine.

“Jaha.”

“Yes.”

“It isn’t easy, is it?”

I answered with a smile.

“It isn’t easy.”