novelraw Chapter 8 : What Kind of Trickery is This (2)
Chapter 8 : What Kind of Trickery is This (2)
“A formation is meaningless unless you see it in person.”
I brought up a fundamental point and rejected Peng Geun-u’s proposal.
“But you’re from the Zhuge family, aren’t you? Isn’t there some other way?”
In truth, I don’t know anything about formations either. I just read the flow of energy with the [Absolute Magic] talent and move.
“It’s better not to take formations lightly. By the way, how did you get this book?”
I asked, pointing at the formation book Peng Geun-u was holding.
“It should be impossible to bring in outside items until you’ve shed the prospective student tag.”
“I brought it in advance. I heard there are many formations here.”
“You’re well-prepared.”
‘Did he come in with inside information beforehand?’
For someone from the Hebei Peng family, it wouldn’t be strange to have some grasp of the geography within Murim Academy. I asked, skimming through the formation book.
“For you, it would be easy even without knowing such a path, wouldn’t it?”
“Hahaha. It’s because that person named Baek Cheong is not easy.”
At the hearty answer, I gave a slight nod.
Certainly, the Mount Hua Sect is famous for its rugged mountain terrain, so this kind of training would be advantageous.
‘And most of all, that guy is a master who has reached the peak level. He’s not even a target for comparison in the first place.’
“That’s unexpected. I thought the Hebei Peng family would challenge more boldly.”
“Finding a good path is also a skill. Don’t you think so?”
Peng Geun-u looked at me. It seemed he believed that I had also discovered the formation.
He had a surprisingly sharp side.
‘Come to think of it, Peng Geun-u had a rather chilling side.’
As I was silently recalling his true nature in my head, Peng Geun-u continued.
“Actually, this is just an excuse. I wanted to have a talk with Young Master Cheonwu. Do you remember yesterday? I never thought the Young Master would cut it with such a stance.”
As expected, the one who had muttered that it was interesting from behind was this guy.
“I was lucky.”
“Lucky! There’s no such coincidence in the world. Everything is inevitable.”
Peng Geun-u gave a slight smile and then lowered his voice.
“There must have been a reason why the straw bundle had to be cut like that, don’t you think?”
I felt a chill and faced him. A brilliant light in his eyes was looking this way. The Peng Geun-u with the face of a good person was no longer there.
‘As expected, my premonition wasn’t good.’
Right now, he was doubting my passing.
Peng Geun-u was a thorough believer in meritocracy. As such, he extremely disliked cowardly people and showed a colder side than anyone else in front of villains.
But from his perspective, no, from anyone’s perspective, the straw bundle had fallen to a terrible swordsmanship. Naturally, he had no choice but to suspect cheating.
“I don’t like people who lie. I hope Young Master Cheonwu is the same.”
With those words, Peng Geun-u moved away, leaving only the formation book in my hand.
From the beginning, he had no intention of learning from me. It was probably a warning.
Maybe it was even an insult. That if I was going to enter by cheating, I should just read the formation book as I had been doing.
However, there were two things he didn’t know.
One was that I was really here with my own abilities, and the other was that this formation book would be very useful to me.
‘A free formation book. I’m lucky.’
Having obtained the formation book I needed, I began to finish the rest of my meal with a satisfied feeling.
* * *
In the afternoon, free training time was given.
Everyone usually trained in the training ground, but sometimes they would ask an instructor to look at their stance.
On one side, the Tai Chi Sword of the Wudang Sect was being demonstrated, and on the other side, a student was training the Thirty-Six Swords Under Heaven of the Zhongnan Sect.
‘This is strange.’
It was originally absurd for the martial arts of such diverse sects to meet and be taught in one place.
Because it was a problem intertwined with the interests and identities of the Five Great Families and the Nine Great Sects, which formed their sects by dominating regional hegemony based on their unique martial arts.
Originally, Murim Academy was an educational institution that could never have been established.
‘Because no power wanted to reveal its own foundation.’
It was the original way of the martial world to keep not only their martial arts but also their rising stars tightly under wraps.
But there was a reason why Murim Academy was established even in such a Central Plains.
The appearance of an absolute genius and eccentric, the Heaven-Shattering Demon.
That crazy person was truly a genius among geniuses.
His eyes for analyzing martial arts were overwhelmingly developed, and he had the crazy talent of being able to see through the martial arts of his opponents in a duel, and even stealing and learning secret manuals like cultivation methods.
The problem started from there.
On the day of the great cataclysm, which came to be called the Great Martial Arts Era, the Heaven-Shattering Demon scattered the cultivation methods and martial arts of the Nine Great Sects and prestigious families all over the Central Plains.
Naturally, an order to kill him was issued from all the sects of the Central Plains, including the Murim Alliance, and they spread a net to kill the Heaven-Shattering Demon.
But he, on the contrary, gathered the disciples he had raised and broke through the net.
The Heaven-Shattering Demon and each of his disciples were monsters armed with the advanced martial arts of the Five Great Families and the Nine Great Sects, such as the Imperial Sword Form of the Namgung family, the Primordial Chaos Thunder Blade of the Hebei Peng family, and the Purple Mist Sword Art of the Mount Hua Sect.
On the contrary, he declared the liberation of martial arts in an era when the Demonic Cult was secretly active and received the support of all the people of the Central Plains.
No matter how much the Five Great Families and the Nine Great Sects tried to suppress it, it was useless.
The more they did, the more the common people learned the advanced martial arts, and the number of people who sympathized with the Heaven-Shattering Demon’s will also increased.
An era of martial arts liberalization, where everyone could learn martial arts, unfolded in defiance of the trend of the powerful monopolizing martial arts.
And so, after a two-year standoff with the Five Great Families and the Nine Great Sects, the conditions that the Heaven-Shattering Demon put forward were as follows.
1. Each sect will open a certain level of martial arts to the public.
2. Murim Academy will be established to provide an opportunity for anyone to become strong.
It was a strange proposal to anyone.
But the leader of the Murim Alliance accepted it and pushed for the establishment of Murim Academy despite the opposition of each sect.
Because the Heaven-Shattering Demon had threatened to release all the secret manuals he had organized to the Demonic Cult, unorthodox factions, and civilians if the first two proposals were broken, the Nine Great Sects also had no choice but to accept it.
It was an achievement made while the other sects were distracted by the Demonic Cult.
Later, with the support of the Heaven-Shattering Demon’s forces and the Moyong Sect, the scale of the Murim Alliance, which operated Murim Academy, grew even larger, and based on this, Murim Academy solidified its position by receiving the support of the people as an educational institution for the entire Central Plains and recruiting talented individuals.
Even now, 50 years after the Heaven-Shattering Demon disappeared.
‘It’s not for nothing that this hodgepodge happened.’
After watching the martial arts of each sect like that, I entered the room.
As expected, since they were competing with their peers, it seemed no one could stay still. I sat alone in the quiet room.
“A formation book.”
I read the formation book, which was automatically translated in my head. It was a content that was somewhat understandable, like grasping at clouds.
‘It’s not even a philosophy book.’
Yin-yang, the five elements, the eight trigrams, the twenty-eight constellations, feng shui, and so on. Complex contents were intricately intertwined.
And yet, unlike physics, it was a strange book mixed with ambiguity, sometimes subjectivity, and linguistic messiness.
“I can understand why Peng Geun-u threw it away.”
It was a relief that [Absolute Magic] had an intelligence value correction. Moreover, since I had just experienced a formation in the morning, it was easier to understand.
‘It really is meaningless unless you experience it directly.’
A formation was in the realm of a kind of sense. Just like magic.
“Should I do it like this?”
After confirming that no one was in the room, I placed a stone near the bed as shown in the formation.
The flow of qi changed somehow. But this much didn’t make much of a difference.
‘It’s weak.’
I put a little bit of mana into each of the stones.
The mana in this world was faint and mixed with the energy of the five elements, so it was quite difficult to handle.
It would have been impossible without the talent of [Absolute Magic].
Soon, after putting water attribute mana on one side and wind attribute mana on the other side according to the five elements, a transparent film seemed to be formed around the bed, isolating it from the surroundings.
“Is this a stealth formation?”
It is a formation that momentarily makes one’s appearance or presence disappear. Perhaps because of its similarity to magic, I was able to learn it relatively easily.
If other formation masters saw this scene, they would probably be dumbfounded.
Because the book said it was a basic formation that even a talented person would have to practice for at least half a year to succeed.
“Good.”
I clenched my fist lightly. With this, I had one more weapon I could use.
‘I didn’t expect it, but to think I could learn formations with the [Absolute Magic] talent.’
For me, who lacked mana, a formation that used the qi flowing in the world and was activated with a small amount of mana was more suitable.
I had lived up to the name of Zhuge Cheonwu.
‘Should I practice a little more?’
Just as I was about to rummage through the formation book more, I heard the sound of the door opening.
“Is anyone here?”
“I told you so.”
I heard a strange voice. It seemed they couldn’t see me because I was in the stealth formation.
As I was inwardly satisfied with the completeness of the formation, I saw their faces and gathered my eyebrows.
‘Those guys are not from our room.’
Unfamiliar faces. They were definitely students from another room. But why did they come here?
“He said it was around here… should we put it somewhere else?”
“Forget it. Let’s just put it and go.”
The guys hid something in the bed and were about to go out the door.
“Huh?”
“What’s wrong?”
“It’s nothing. Let’s just go.”
One of the two paused for a moment, but he soon tilted his head and moved.
As soon as the guys disappeared, I stood up from the corner of the room and went to the place where they had hidden something. It was the seat of the bald man from Shaolin Temple, Gu Dong.
‘What is this?’
I put my hand inside Gu Dong’s bed and checked its identity.
“Look at these guys.”
I let out a dry laugh as I looked at the few pieces of rice cake in my hand.
Food was prohibited in the student rooms for reasons such as food poisoning. If caught, it was a demerit, and for a temporary student, it could even lead to expulsion if accumulated.
“What a spectacle.”
I clicked my tongue.
It seemed someone had put this in Gu Dong’s bed to frame him.
In fact, it didn’t matter if I just let it go here.
If I interfered unnecessarily, I might just get involved in troublesome things. And it’s not like it happened to me.
But there was something that bothered me about just letting it go.
‘The reputation that I’m a scoundrel is starting to spread.’
From my perspective, it was extremely unfair, but since it wasn’t entirely untrue, I couldn’t argue against it. I don’t know if it’s my delusion, but the gazes of my classmates and instructors were gradually becoming colder.
‘It’s not easy to survive here alone.’
Crazy people have already appeared in the run, and variables due to the held-back students are also gradually appearing.
Since I’ve only cleared
And the easiest way to manage one’s reputation is to save someone in a crisis. In that sense, now was the time.
And most of all, perhaps because I was caught up in a troublesome matter, my [Anger Management Issues] were slowly rising.
“What should I do with these stupid things?”
My gaze settled on the rice cake wrapped in a cloth.
It seemed I had to show those guys properly once.
What happens when you pull a trick like this in my territory.
(End of Chapter)