Chapter 3

“So, you are saying you will no longer attend Busaeng Hall?”

The incident had caused an uproar throughout the Taeul Sect.

First, Gye Yeon-seok, Gye Cheol-yeong’s father and the master of the Gyeryong Merchant Guild, had caused a scene over his son’s injury.

Then, while the sect investigated what had happened, Gye Yeon-seung’s negligence during lessons was exposed.

As a result, Gye Yeon-seung was stripped of his position as Hall Master and forbidden from entering the Taeul Sect.

Gye Yeon-seok complained that the guardian he had assigned to protect his son had been driven out over a trivial dispute, but the decision had already been made.

“The former Hall Master acknowledged that I completed my training. Therefore, I have no reason to continue attending.”

Father twisted his rugged face into the most intimidating expression he could manage.

Others might have found it frightening, but seeing his face again stirred emotions in me that I could barely control.

I quickly looked away before tears could form in my eyes.

“I still cannot believe it. How did a brat like you defeat Gye Yeon-seung? Did you use some kind of trick?”

“Hall Master Gye said the same thing and ended up with a broken arm. Would you like me to break yours as well, Father?”

“What did you say?”

“In any case, I am free until the other junior disciples complete their training in Busaeng Hall.”

“Of all the heads you could have cracked open, why did it have to be Gye Cheol-yeong’s?”

My father, Jin Tae-san, was the Hall Master of the Outer Hall, which managed the sect’s external affairs.

Since the Gyeryong Merchant Guild was the Taeul Sect’s greatest financial supporter, this incident had undoubtedly made his work much more difficult.

“Did the Guild Master not admit that his side was at fault? That should be the end of the matter.”

“You fool! Do you really think a man like Gye Yeon-seok will let this end with a few words? If he cuts back the support for the disciples’ meals, do you think they will leave you alone?”

“Please be reasonable. Why would that be my fault? It would be the fault of the incompetent Outer Hall Master.”

“You brat—!”

“I shall take my leave.”

“Where do you think you are going? If you refuse to attend Busaeng Hall, then help with the Outer Hall’s work.”

“I have personal matters to take care of.”

“And what might those be?”

“I am old enough to grow hair on my face now. Please respect my privacy.”

“What?”

Jin Tae-san’s beard trembled as though he had just heard the most ridiculous thing in the world.

But there was no way I could tell him the truth.

‘I need to prepare the Taeul Sect for the return of the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult.’

Father’s hand slowly moved toward the club standing in the corner.

I immediately sprang away.

“Then I shall be going—”

“You brat! Stop right there!”

“Are you the ill-mannered wretch called Jin So-un?”

I had barely escaped my fearsome father when a fat old man with sagging cheeks stepped in front of me and blocked my path.

“Who are you?”

“You…… do not know who I am?”

Of course I knew him.

He wore expensive silk robes that did not suit him, a golden belt decorated with jade, and several crude, oversized rings on his fingers.

Only one person in the Taeul Sect dressed with such vulgar extravagance.

Gye Yeon-seok.

Gye Cheol-yeong’s father, and the man who had visited the sect every day to cause a disturbance.

“What business do you have with me?”

“You insolent brat! Watch your tongue! This is Gye Yeon-seok, master of the Gyeryong Merchant Guild.”

An armed escort beside him glared fiercely at me.

“Yes, I heard you. He is the master of the Gyeryong Merchant Guild. That is why I asked what business he has with me.”

Gye Yeon-seok snorted in disbelief.

“Because of you, my Cheol-yeong is bedridden. Did you think you could injure the heir of the Gyeryong Merchant Guild and simply walk away?”

His son had suffered nothing more than a small cut to the head, yet he spoke as though Gye Cheol-yeong were on the verge of death.

If that was enough to cause such outrage, what about the Taeul Sect disciples Gye Cheol-yeong had beaten countless times under the excuse of sparring?

“I thought the matter had already been settled.”

“That was between the Sect Leader and me. The matter between you and me remains unresolved.”

Could shamelessness this great be considered a martial art?

“And what will you do if I refuse?”

The armed escort placed a hand on his sword, ready to draw it at any moment.

“If you were so afraid of your son being struck, you should have taught him commerce instead of martial arts.”

“Y-You insolent wretch! How dare you interrupt an elder—”

Gye Yeon-seok’s eyes darted around as he struggled to find a response.

I continued before he could think of one.

“If Senior Brother Gye enters the Murim Academy, will you follow him there as well? Whenever he loses, will you demand compensation from the descendants of the Nine Sects and One Gang and the Five Great Clans?”

Gye Yeon-seok fell silent.

Even the armed escort looked taken aback.

Had they truly never considered it?

Or had they simply assumed those great factions would never treat Gye Cheol-yeong as harshly as they treated the Taeul Sect?

“Since you cannot answer, I assume you would not dare do such a thing. Yet you come here and make these outrageous demands. You must believe the Taeul Sect is easy to bully.”

“Y-You…… How dare you……!”

Gye Yeon-seok’s shouting drew attention from all around.

The Hall Masters began emerging from their buildings, and even the Sect Leader stepped out of the Great Mysterious Hall.

“More than ten junior disciples were beaten by Senior Brother Gye and left bedridden for days. Before blaming me, you should first make him answer for what he did to them.”

“How dare you……”

After repeating the same empty threats, Gye Yeon-seok suddenly smiled as though he had discovered my weakness.

“If the Taeul Sect loses my patronage because of you, will you take responsibility?”

That had always been the problem.

Half of the current disciples, including me, had been born and raised within the Taeul Sect.

The rest came from poor families in nearby villages. Most had joined simply because their families had one less mouth to feed that way.

Children raised in poverty matured quickly.

They understood better than anyone that resisting Gye Cheol-yeong would only bring trouble to the rest of the sect.

“Responsibility?”

That was exactly why Gye Cheol-yeong and Gye Yeon-seok had been able to act as though they owned the Taeul Sect.

“Many other sects among the One Hundred Eight Peaks would gladly accept Cheol-yeong. We can move him whenever we wish. When that happens, will you take responsibility?”

Accepting Gye Cheol-yeong as a disciple had brought the Taeul Sect a great deal of financial support.

And the Taeul Sect was not the only member of the One Hundred Eight Peaks suffering from a lack of money.

The claim that many other sects wanted Gye Cheol-yeong was the threat that forced everyone in the Taeul Sect to swallow their anger.

That was why no one had ever dared stand up to him.

“Then go ahead.”

“What?”

“I said I will take responsibility. Move him to another sect, just as you threatened.”

My father had been speaking with another Hall Master when he overheard us.

His face went pale, and he looked ready to rush over.

“Less than a year remains before the special admission review. Do you truly believe Senior Brother Gye will receive the same treatment somewhere else?”

I continued before Gye Yeon-seok could answer.

“What sect would warmly welcome a stranger who appeared out of nowhere, all for a single year of financial support?”

“You…… knew that?”

My father stopped in his tracks.

“The disciples of the Taeul Sect are not fools. They simply chose to act with dignity rather than lower themselves to your level.”

Gye Yeon-seok trembled with rage, grinding his teeth.

“I will make certain the Taeul Sect pays for this. Because of you, its disciples will soon have fewer meals and nothing but worn-out clothes to wear.”

It was an obvious threat.

I leaned closer and whispered into his ear.

“Do you really think I will allow that to happen?”

My father looked ready to charge over, unable to hold himself back any longer.

Before he could intervene, I turned around and left the Taeul Sect.

I had far too much work to do.

In my previous life, the Gyeryong Merchant Guild had begun reducing its support soon after Gye Cheol-yeong entered the Murim Academy through the special admission track.

Although he remained a lay disciple of the Taeul Sect, the guild’s patronage dried up within a few years, as though it intended to cut all ties with the sect.

Eventually, the disciples were forced to eat fewer meals.

“If that is going to happen anyway, then someone other than Gye Cheol-yeong must take the seat.”

The Taeul Sect would inevitably be dragged into the Great Righteous-Demonic War.

One of its true disciples needed to enter the Murim Academy.

Anyone who joined the Murim Alliance as a mere low-ranking warrior would only be used as a human shield and thrown away.

“The problem is that the Taeul Sect’s martial arts are far too……”

Worthless—

No.

They were simply filled with unnecessary flaws.

According to Jegal Cheon-gi, the Taeul Sect possessed only two martial arts of real value: the Minor Heaven Sword Art and the Taeul Heart Method.

The sect’s countless other techniques were fundamentally incompatible with the Taeul Heart Method, which formed the foundation of all its martial arts.

If the roots and branches came from different trees, how could they possibly grow together?

It was no surprise that the Taeul Sect had failed to produce a single famous master throughout its long history.

The supreme martial arts of the Nine Sects and One Gang and the Five Great Clans were all stored inside my head.

“If I practice any of them, the Taeul Sect will be destroyed before the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult even returns.”

Those powerful factions would never forgive an outsider for secretly learning their martial arts.

In the end, I had only one path left.

I had to overwhelm my opponents with sheer internal energy.

“Even a rocky island will eventually be worn away by a powerful current.”

Unfortunately, gaining a single gap of internal energy through the Taeul Heart Method would take nearly two hundred years.

That left me with only one choice.

I had to consume every spiritual medicine I could find.

Of course, spiritual medicines were called spiritual medicines precisely because they were incredibly rare.

“……Heh. Fortunately, I know where to find them.”

I began searching through the vast library inside my mind.

While my junior disciples died helplessly at the hands of the Divine Cult, my duty within the Murim Alliance had been to remain behind and memorize endless reports and documents.

Then the Divine Cult’s forces swept forward like a flood and destroyed the final defensive line.

With no time remaining, I was ordered to memorize even the classified records stored within Mantongbu and Sim Hyeon-gak.

Those records were far more complicated and extensive than ordinary reports.

It had been impossible to fully understand them all.

Instead, I focused only on preserving their contents, building an enormous library inside my mind.

From the deepest shelves of that library, I retrieved a single book.

The Jianghu Compendium of Spiritual Medicines.

It was a classified record containing the locations, appearance dates, and transportation routes of spiritual medicines that would emerge throughout Jianghu over the next twenty years.

The information had been gathered from countless historical reports.

However, by the time I read it in my previous life, every spiritual medicine listed in the book had already been discovered.

It was nothing more than an outdated record.

Memorizing such a useless mountain of information had pushed my mind beyond its limits. I had spent entire days with blood pouring from my nose.

And my reward for all that suffering had been an attempt to silence me forever.

“Just remembering it makes my blood boil. That bastard, the Supreme Purity Divine Sword……”

He had once been my childhood hero.

Among the warriors of his generation, he had stood completely unrivaled—a heaven beyond the heavens.

When the Great Righteous-Demonic War began, he became the savior of the Orthodox Path and brought the shattered Murim Alliance back under control.

Even when the Alliance nearly vanished from Jianghu, he had preserved its last remnants.

But to save the Murim Alliance, the Supreme Purity Divine Sword had sacrificed everyone outside a chosen few.

The Alliance rebuilt in Bukhae had been founded upon their blood and corpses.

“I will never trust you or the Murim Alliance again.”

Grinding my teeth, I set out for the location of the first spiritual medicine recorded in the compendium.

The Ten-Thousand-Year Heshouwu

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