Chapter 275. Did I Commit a Sin?

I looked around from the rock that held the Woldan Flower.

No matter how deserted Manjang Cliff was, it was only natural to be wary of my surroundings. I sat cross-legged, folded my arms, and looked at the Woldan Flower for a moment.

If I glared at it too long with a frightening gaze, the flower might wither, so I drew the Flash Dagger and, the instant I cut the Woldan Flower, swallowed it as it slid down the blade.

It was larger than the Woldan Flower I had found on Jeogya Peak of Daegyeok Mountain.

It was a pity there was only one blossom, but in any case, given time, the Woldan Flower would bloom again in the same place.

Which meant that if I told Yoran the location, it would be worth coming back later to check. The important thing was that when Yoran had at least enough skill to descend Manjang Cliff and climb back up on his own, the level of his body and the Woldan Flower would be suited to each other.

If someone of low level simply shoved anything into their stomach, there was a high chance it would cause trouble.

The more I chewed, the more a cool chill spread through my body.

A cold energy that would not have been strange even if it made me immediately shit myself, so to speak.

If someone without extreme yang internal energy like the Golden Turtle Carefree Art had eaten it, it would not have been strange for them to suffer internal injuries on the spot.

In that case, I would become a man ready to grow stronger.

If I had not possessed profound internal energy, I would have become a frozen corpse beneath Manjang Cliff the moment I ate this Woldan Flower.

At that moment, I looked toward the marsh with a slightly startled heart.

Because I had somehow imagined a martial artist of the Jianghu, driven by greed to take the Woldan Flower, freezing solid and then sinking into the marsh.

Because of the chill, I had no choice but to begin circulating my qi and regulating my breath. In an instant, my hands and feet grew cold and my entire body trembled, but I rapidly converted the Woldan Flower’s energy intact into the internal energy of the Moon Shadow Heartless Art.

Once again, I confirmed that Woldan Flowers, like Du Kang wine, were divided by grade.

This one was high-grade.

By the time I finished circulating my qi, a merciless moon had risen before I knew it. I confirmed that extreme yin energy had accumulated thickly inside my body, no less than the extreme yang energy. At this level, it was a chill that seemed capable of competing with moonlight in heartlessness.

And so I became a merciless man who appeared on a night when the moon’s shadow was heartless.

* * *

I gathered firewood and prepared to camp.

The weather was already chilly, and a cold, knife-like wind was blowing through Manjang Cliff, so spending a night here was not something to take lightly. No matter how deep one’s internal energy was, body temperature dropped once one fell asleep.

After piling the firewood like a mountain behind me, I lit it with a fire striker. As I watched the flames blaze, I trimmed a branch of suitable size with my dagger and made it into a spear.

Since something cold had entered my stomach, I instinctively felt I should put fire into it.

This was a decision in which experience, judgment, and instinct were mixed together.

With the moonlight falling on the lake as my companion, I stabbed into the clear water with the spear and caught a large fish. Since one seemed enough to eat, the spear became a skewer just like that.

I roasted the skewered fish thoroughly over the campfire.

In other words, this was a meal to prevent internal injuries to my five viscera and six bowels.

I slowly tore into the deliberately well-roasted, nameless large fish. The flesh was thick, giving it a good bite.

It was so much tastier than I expected that I was flustered.

In that case, the taste of a fish caught from the transparent lake of Manjang Cliff was a flavor only I knew. As the hot food entered my stomach, the chill that had been making me shiver was disappearing as if washed away.

‘It would’ve been bad if I hadn’t eaten.’

I threw the bones of the fish, which was larger than my forearm, into the campfire, then lay down beside it and used my bundle as a pillow.

At Zaha Inn, I had grown stronger by about as much as salted seasoning.

Now, by taking in the Woldan Flower and the fish at the same time, I had grown stronger in harmony.

A first-rate fish dish, the Woldan Flower, and salt… it was a killer taste.

I closed my eyes and, while listening to the timbre of the campfire crackling and blazing, imagined joyfully beating the scholars half to death.

‘Those bastards….’

Even though I had now obtained enough fortuitous encounters to have no rival under heaven, the reason I was still pushed back by the scholars was that, on average, they had trained in martial arts ten to twenty years longer than I had. Leaping over the power of time in one stroke was an extremely difficult thing, but this time, I felt I had caught up quite a bit.

I dozed off briefly and woke often.

The sound of the wind in Manjang Cliff was dreadful, as if a master of sound arts who had become a ghost were blowing a tungso flute as a hobby. Did the wind of Manjang Cliff have a story of its own as well?

It had given me fish.

And even gifted me the Woldan Flower.

It sounded like a warning not to act up any further.

But I was not the kind of person who would submit to such threats. When the sun rose, I planned to examine the northern side of Manjang Cliff again.

* * *

In the end, I endured until sunrise and did not freeze to death.

For breakfast, I washed a hundred-year fleeceflower root in the lake water and ate it, then drank plenty of water as well.

If I stayed here even one more day, there was a chance I would devour every high-grade fleeceflower root I had painstakingly dug up, so I changed jobs back into a diligent herb gatherer.

I put the good-quality fleeceflower roots into my bundle, and the strange-looking flowers or herbs into the box. Since I was originally an herb gatherer of insufficient skill, I had no choice but to deliver unidentified items to Moyong Baek.

As I headed north and looked around, I saw vines clinging to the cliff on the right, with red flowers blooming here and there. It might have been the trumpet creeper Moyong Baek had mentioned, a medicinal ingredient often used when treating internal injuries. Since I had nothing particularly suitable to give Moyong Baek, I plucked the trumpet creepers attached to the cliff together with their stems and placed them in the box.

I examined the northern end and returned, checking the cliff on the left as well, but I could not find the cave or other spiritual medicines I had been hoping for. Seeing as my stomach had been growing hotter since morning, I thought the fish I had caught and eaten the day before might have been a spiritual medicine.

How had the white flesh of a fish completely erased the cold energy of the Woldan Flower?

They say an antidote can be found near where poison exists, and it was my good fortune that the fish had driven out the Woldan Flower’s cold poison.

Where does fortune come from?

It had come from the heart that thought of Yoran, so it seemed that this thing called fortune had also set out from Zaha Inn. Since the balance within my body had already been harmoniously aligned, I immediately let go of my greed and returned to the marsh, bidding farewell to the rock, the lake water, the freshwater crabs, the weeds, the valley’s knife-like wind that sounded like a ghost being throttled, and the trumpet creepers.

“I owe you. If my disciple comes down next time, take care of him then too.”

If I suddenly clasped my fist toward Manjang Cliff, I would look like a madman, but since I was alone anyway, I clasped my fist without worrying about anyone’s eyes.

Manjang Cliff and I were now in a state of peace agreement.

I tightened my now-heavier bundle firmly, then looked up at the top of the cliff. If I secluded myself here, I could live without suffering wounds to the heart. But even if I did suffer wounds to the heart, there were many things I had to go up and do, so I returned to the wide clearing.

I could not find the white bones of an old master.

Perhaps, like me, he too had gone back out into the world. I circled the wide clearing three or four times, and the moment I thought my body was warmed up, I shot into the air and clung to the cliff.

Once again, it was madness.

It was so high that if I kicked against the cliff and used the Cloud Ascending Step the way I had when climbing the White-Clad Scholar’s library, there was a danger my internal energy would run out. If I reached the top of Manjang Cliff with my internal energy exhausted and then encountered an enemy, I would have to throw myself back down to the bottom of Manjang Cliff. Since I could not allow that, I imitated the movements of a stone lizard, just as the Lust Demon had done before.

I climbed using both hands and feet, and where rocks jutted out, I soared upward with a leap of the Cloud Ascending Step. Along the way, I caught on a protruding branch, and my floral-patterned jangsam robe tore.

When I looked back, the torn hem of my long robe fluttered as it fell down Manjang Cliff. Flower petals drifted through the air, descending at their leisure.

“……A gift.”

Manjang Cliff and I had become the sort of relationship that exchanged flowers.

Only after I struggled my way to the summit did the ordinary sight of people coming and going on the mountain finally enter my eyes.

Living an ordinary life is this hard.

My fingers, having suffered under the techniques of that steadfast stone sword, were bloody with the flesh torn away, but I had conserved as much internal energy as possible.

I set off again looking like an herb gatherer who had been through every hardship under the sun. For the time being, I was sick to death of mountains and cliffs. If some bastard suggested going hiking on a day off, I planned to slap him across the face first.

I did feel sorry returning without finding any Gongcheong Stone Milk or Natural Vermilion Fruit, but wouldn’t my safe return be a gift to Yoran?

Because I was the Third Master.

Since I had gobbled down the Woldanhwa all by myself, I kept thinking up excuses and cheering myself on, but then my temper flared, so for now I ran to the Hwanghak Inn.

* * *

I deliberately took a seat at the inn across from the Hwanghak Inn and ordered a bizarre combination of chicken dishes, Dukang liquor, and noodles. After eating the noodles, I drank while picking at the chicken, and only then did the old grime weighing on my heart finally wash away.

My white long robe with the floral pattern was in tatters, my hair was a mess.

And perhaps because my hands were covered in blood, the waiter kept glancing at me with a worried expression. Since I was eating at an outside table, his face said he was afraid I might run off without paying.

Even though I’d gotten this strong……

A waiter knew a waiter’s heart, so I took out my coin pouch in advance and paid the bill. Only then did relief spread across the waiter’s face as he received the money.

“Does the food suit your taste?”

I pointed ahead with my finger.

“It’s eighteen times tastier than the Hwanghak Inn.”

“Haha, you flatter us.”

Perhaps people only became relaxed once money came in, because the waiter smiled at last. With his attitude much softer now, he sat nearby and worried over my wounds.

“What happened to your hands?”

“Ah, I was digging up herbs and fell off a cliff. It took me half a day just to climb back up.”

“Goodness, how awful.”

When I held out the Dukang liquor to him, the waiter naturally grabbed a cup on the table and offered it out. After sharing the Dukang liquor, we looked toward the entrance of the Hwanghak Inn.

As someone came out laughing, the waiter drinking beside me cleared his throat and went inside. In the meantime, Yang Haejo of the Mansang Sect spotted me and approached with a startled expression.

“Well, who do we have here? Isn’t this the herb gatherer who told us to wait and see?”

Yang Haejo looked at his fellow riffraff as if asking what on earth was going on.

“That’s right. It’s that herb gatherer who ran away.”

Yang Haejo approached with his mouth half open and sat across from me.

“This is absurd. What happened to your hands?”

At that moment, the waiter I thought had fled inside came out with a smile and said this.

“Goodness, Great Hero Yang. It’s been a while. Is something the matter?”

I burst into laughter and muttered.

“Great Hero Yang……”

After gesturing for the waiter to go back inside, I poured myself a cup of Dukang liquor. Yang Haejo also looked at me with a smile.

“Herb gatherer, do you find me funny? I don’t think you should be laughing in front of me, especially not here.”

“……”

“Oh, your bundle’s gotten thicker. What’s in it?”

“Hundred-year heshouwu? There’s some three- or four-hundred-year heshouwu too. Poisonous herbs, flowers, medicinal ingredients, money.”

“Oh, take them out first.”

I looked over the riffraff Yang Haejo had brought with him. If I used my hands, there would likely be corpses here, so I got straight to the point.

“I am.”

“You’re what?”

I introduced myself to Yang Haejo.

“The Hao Sect Leader, I Jaha. You may have seen me as an ordinary herb gatherer, but I’m not. Guide me to your sect leader.”

“……Who did you say?”

When Yang Haejo tilted his head, the subordinates behind him answered.

“He says he’s the Hao Sect Leader.”

Yang Haejo looked back and asked.

“Who’s the Hao Sect Leader?”

“He is the sect leader of the sect that annihilated the Murim Alliance Leader and the Southern Yue Green Forest Alliance.”

Yang Haejo’s head slowly turned back, and he stared blankly at me. I also gazed at Yang Haejo with wistful eyes.

“……”

Yang Haejo asked me.

“Why do you want to see our sect leader……”

“Martial artist Yang.”

“Yes.”

“There’s the method where you become a cripple in all four limbs and have your subordinates carry you on their backs to guide me. And there’s the method where you simply guide me now. Which do you prefer? Do as you like. I’m fine either way.”

Yang Haejo asked me with a bewildered expression.

“Have I committed some crime?”

“Haven’t you committed several?”

“I don’t really remember.”

I called the waiter who was watching from inside.

“……How much tribute do you pay every month?”

The waiter answered with a smile.

“Ah, tribute. There’s no such thing.”

“How much is the protection fee?”

“Eighty taels. For that much……”

“Go inside.”

“Yes.”

I said to Yang Haejo.

“Martial artist Yang, you’re somewhat lucky. I’m in the middle of a change of heart, you see. The Mansang Sect won’t have suddenly sunk into the earth. I can find it myself. Whether you guide me or not, I’ll be going to the Mansang Sect.”

I looked around the shabby inn, then asked the waiter.

“If you join the Hao Sect, I’ll protect you without tribute or protection fees. Are you interested?”

The waiter poked his head out from the entrance and looked at me in surprise.

“If that happens, my uncle would be very pleased.”

“Then are you joining?”

“If you’ll accept us.”

“What an honor. Can you share this with the surrounding proprietors as well?”

“That won’t be difficult.”

I met the waiter’s eyes, then nodded.

“Good. Then I’ll discuss it properly with the Mansang Sect Leader. In a positive direction.”

“Thank you, Sect Leader.”

I stood and lightly kicked Yang Haejo’s knee as he sat there.

“Martial artist Yang, let’s go.”

“Ah, um, Sect Leader……”

The moment I saw Yang Haejo try to grab my arm, I reflexively swung my hand and slapped him across the cheek. With a thwack—Yang Haejo was sent flying from his chair, rolled across the floor, and then lay still, as if he had fainted.

I spoke to his subordinates, whose faces had gone ashen.

“Carry him.”

“Yes.”

“Lead the way.”

“Understood.”

I also bid farewell to the waiter with whom I had shared the Du Kang wine.

“The noodles were good. Better than mine.”

The waiter replied with a smile.

“Come again, Hao Sect Master.”

I waved my hand, then followed the Mansang Sect disciples carrying Yang Haejo on their back.