novelraw Chapter 81 : The Martial World Walks on a Blade's Edge
Chapter 81 : The Martial World Walks on a Blade's Edge
"How does the tea taste?"
"It's good."
"You don't seem to like tea."
"I don't enjoy it."
"What is your master's name?"
Cheon Mubaeck lifted his teacup. A fragrant scent that slightly tickled the tip of his nose. It was a good tea.
When Cheon Mubaeck lightly avoided the answer, the old man, the sect leader of the Mount Hua Sect, the Heaven-Severing Sword, Hyeon-gok, smiled faintly.
"I heard from Cheonghyeon. That you are a descendant of the Azure Sky Sword God."
"You know."
Hyeon-gok waved his hand as if to say not to misunderstand.
"That friend is not a cheap talker. How could he not answer when I asked?"
"I suppose so."
"Then is your master the Sword Master?"
Cheon Mubaeck did not answer.
He looked away as if savoring the tea. Since he had admitted to being a descendant of the Azure Sky Sword God in front of Cheonghyeonjin and the Great Master Hyeryang of Shaolin, it was one-sided to think that he was a disciple of the Sword Master.
But Cheon Mubaeck did not feel the need to answer.
Because he knew well who the Hyeon-gok in front of him was.
"As expected. It's not him. Did the Sword God elder take another disciple?"
When Cheon Mubaeck did not react, Hyeon-gok sighed as if he had lost his steam.
"If he were a disciple of my friend, how could I not know?"
"A friend... you say?"
As if he had felt a strange feeling in Cheon Mubaeck's tone, Hyeon-gok coughed and made an awkward expression.
"If I had to nitpick, he was a rival. Eum."
Cheon Mubaeck laughed inwardly.
'A rival, my ass. A guy who got beaten up by his disciple all the time.'
Although he was now sitting proudly as the sect leader of the Mount Hua Sect, Cheon Mubaeck clearly remembered his past.
Wasn't he a childish brat who had learned to wield a sword somewhere and had always bickered with his disciple, the Sword Master?
Of course, the result was always the same.
To be called a rival, the record of the two was clearly tilted towards the Sword Master.
It was not for nothing that Cheon Mubaeck had taken the Sword Master as his disciple.
'Because he was a guy with an outstanding talent.'
The Sword Master was the most brilliant talent in all of Cheon Mubaeck's past lives.
If he had to nitpick, he could be seen as second to Lü Dongbin.
With such a talent, Cheon Mubaeck, who had not been very interested in raising disciples, had taken him in himself.
Hyeon-gok also had sufficient talent. But Cheon Mubaeck clearly remembered the fact that he had never once won against the Sword Master. Far from being a rival, he was no different from a perennial second-in-command.
'No, that guy, the Fighting God, Gwak Yong, was also quite something.'
"Anyway, if the Sword Master had raised a disciple, I would have known. So when Cheonghyeon told me that the descendant of the Azure Sky Sword God was Young Master Cheon, I was a little suspicious."
"So, have you still not cleared your suspicion?"
"To be honest, I don't know. I haven't seen the martial arts of the Sword God elder that I saw."
Well, that's because Cheon Mubaeck had deliberately hidden it in this duel.
"But I know one thing. The purity contained in the sword. That is."
Cheon Mubaeck's eyes narrowed slightly.
'He hasn't just aged.'
To be able to realize the meaning contained in the sword, he had definitely not just aged.
Well, seeing that he was sitting in the position of the sect leader of the Mount Hua Sect, he must have put in quite a bit of effort.
Hyeon-gok, who had no idea that Cheon Mubaeck was thinking that, just laughed cheerfully.
"I will hand over the Primordial Root Scripture."
"I understand."
"It will be a useless item to you, but to sacrifice yourself for the martial world..."
"...?"
Cheon Mubaeck made a puzzled expression.
Sacrifice, what kind of bullshit is this?
"If the Primordial Root Scripture is on either the side of Mount Hua or Zhongnan, the dispute will not end."
"..."
"Even if one side takes it legitimately. In the end, the emotional rift between the two sides will deepen, and a problem will arise when the orthodox martial world, which is like now, has to form a common front. I know well. So didn't you fight against Mount Hua and Zhongnan yourself?"
Cheon Mubaeck blinked his eyes.
What on earth is this Taoist with a horse's tail thinking?
Cheon Mubaeck was so dumbfounded that he just blinked his eyes. Hyeon-gok, finding that sight amusing, grinned. It was the gaze of an old man looking at a praiseworthy grandson.
"Isn't it a plan to embrace the cause of the dispute, even if you make an enemy of Mount Hua and Zhongnan? Young Master Cheon."
"Eum."
"Since we don't have the Primordial Root Scripture, Mount Hua and Zhongnan have no reason to fight anymore, and no reason to blush. Then they will be able to form a common response against those guys called the Blood Ghost Valley that you mentioned. Didn't you eliminate the dispute by sacrificing yourself? Just to catch those villains called the Blood Ghost Valley. For the peace of the martial world."
Looking at Hyeon-gok, who was talking more and more, Cheon Mubaeck shut his mouth.
Since he had always been silent behind the elders of Mount Hua, he had thought that he had become taciturn with age.
He hadn't changed a bit from his youth.
"As expected of a descendant of the Sword God elder. Didn't that elder also fight for the martial world in the end, even though he grumbled on the outside?"
Well.
At that time, since everyone was dying, he had stepped forward out of pity.
Cheon Mubaeck did not bother to clear up the misunderstanding.
In any case, if Cheon Mubaeck took the Primordial Root Scripture, stories would come out from here and there.
Why would Cheon Mubaeck, who was not a Taoist, want a Taoist scripture?
Could there be some important secret in the Primordial Root Scripture?
It was possible that such stories would come out. But if the sect leader of Mount Hua himself misunderstood like that, then there would be no problem.
"But it seems Zhongnan has not given up on the Primordial Root Scripture easily."
"Is that so?"
"Hoo. Well. How important would it be to Zhongnan that they have inherited the orthodoxy of The Complete Truth Sect?"
The greatest strength of the Zhongnan Sect was that.
The fact that they were the true successors who had inherited the orthodoxy of The Complete Truth Sect.
Because that was the only weapon they had to get ahead of the Mount Hua Sect, which was a fellow Taoist sect in Shaanxi.
'But, is that all?'
Cheon Mubaeck recalled the gaze of the Wind and Cloud Sword Lord, Zhong Li-hong, which he had seen at the duel stage.
The duel had ended with Cheon Mubaeck's 3-0 victory, so the outcome of the remaining matches was meaningless.
Mount Hua had given up cleanly. Gukbo had readily admitted defeat, saying that he had learned a lesson. Mount Hua was also generally favorable to Cheon Mubaeck. They had felt a liking for the appearance that Cheon Mubaeck and Neung-heo had shown before.
Of course, Mount Hua also valued the Primordial Root Scripture.
But.
'They thought the relationship with me was more important.'
Unlike Shaolin, Mount Hua was a sect that was close to the secular world.
It had long since departed from being a Taoist sect hidden in Mount Hua.
The number one sword sect in the world.
That was Mount Hua, and it was at the center of the numerous interests of the martial world.
Mount Hua had valued the relationship with the newly emerging new talent, the Heavenly Dragon Sword Hero, more than the Taoist scripture, the Primordial Root Scripture.
'On the other hand, Zhongnan didn't.'
In contrast, Zhongnan had tried to change the rules or to have the last match.
That was not a reaction that came from the fact that Cheon Mubaeck had brutally defeated the disciple of the Three Treasures True Man, Dan-hu, who was to go out for the fifth duel.
'The Primordial Root Scripture.'
Cheon Mubaeck's gaze turned.
"Alright. Here it is."
A book that looked like it would crumble with just a touch.
'There was a look in his eyes that there was something in this.'
Cheon Mubaeck's eyes flashed.
* * *
"I can't forgive that guy!"
Dan-hu shouted shrilly.
Looking at him, Zhong Li-hong said in a low, sunken voice.
"Why are you doing that? That child's dantian is not broken."
"Heo. That's the bigger problem. That villainous guy was warning us. That he could break the dantian if he put his mind to it, but he didn't. As if he were showing mercy...!"
Dan-hu trembled all over. The fact that he had brutally defeated his disciple and had made him look pathetic had gotten on his nerves.
'Tsk. His fiery temper is still the same. He should have had enough training.'
Zhong Li-hong clicked his tongue inwardly. In fact, would he have wanted to give up the Primordial Root Scripture like this?
The problem was the justification.
The Primordial Root Scripture had already returned to Cheon Mubaeck.
Although Dan-hu had insisted that they should have the last match, it was meaningless. It had nothing to do with the outcome, and there was no guarantee that Dan-hu would win if he went out.
Since Mount Hua had also shown a reaction that it was better that way. It was better for Cheon Mubaeck to have it than for it to go to Zhongnan.
The thought was shared by a considerable number of people in Zhongnan.
But Zhong Li-hong needed the Primordial Root Scripture.
"The power of the immortal world..."
"Pardon?"
Dan-hu, who had been venting his anger for a long time, turned his gaze at Zhong Li-hong's muttering.
Zhong Li-hong looked at such a Dan-hu and said.
"Junior brother."
"Yes, senior brother."
"Do you still not forgive Cheon Mubaeck?"
"He defeated my disciple like that, which is an insult to me. I can't forgive him, but what can I do? The duel is already over..."
"The duel is over, but isn't the river of the martial world still flowing proudly?"
Dan-hu raised his head at Zhong Li-hong's meaningful words.
"The martial world is a life of walking on a blade's edge."
Zhong Li-hong's eyes burned.
* * *
"So what I got from all that trouble is this?"
"Yes."
"It's a really shabby-looking book."
"Because it's hundreds of years old."
"Wow. It looks like it will turn to dust with just a touch."
"Don't touch it."
"Yes, yes. I won't touch it. I don't have the strength to even lift a finger right now."
Neung-heo deliberately showed the bandages wrapped around his body in Cheon Mubaeck's line of sight.
Cheon Mubaeck smirked.
"Are you okay, your body?"
"Wow. You're asking me this now. I'm so touched that I'm about to cry."
"Looking at you talking, you seem fine."
"Fine... I really thought I was going to die."
"If you die from being hit by a brat's wooden sword, what about the pride of the black-way?"
"Black-way or not, if you get hit squarely, you die."
"You've learned the way of life in a strange place."
"You get that way when you get old. My young master, who still doesn't know the ways of the world, huh? The martial world of adults is..."
"A life of walking on a blade's edge."
Cheon Mubaeck cut him off.
At the sudden firm tone, Neung-heo flinched for a moment. Cheon Mubaeck's gaze turned to the Primordial Root Scripture.
"Neung-heo, does that look like just a simple Taoist scripture to you?"
"Eum, I've read it roughly, but there are too many characters I don't know."
"It is a Taoist scripture. I've also read it all, and it's really just a Taoist scripture."
With Cheon Mubaeck's eyes, he could fully find the hidden meaning in the Taoist scripture.
If an ultimate martial art was contained in it, it could not escape Cheon Mubaeck's sight.
But even so, Cheon Mubaeck could not find anything special in the Taoist scripture.
'Of course, the meaning contained in it is extraordinary.'
It contained the secrets of life and death, beyond a simple Tao.
The incomprehensible words were contained in various symbols. To simply interpret it, it was to the extent that Taoists who were skilled in the scriptures had to gather to find an answer.
'I can feel the immortal energy.'
A clean immortal energy was contained in every sentence, no, every character.
There was a strange power that stabilized the mind and body just by reciting it. It was an item worthy of being called a sacred object of The Complete Truth Sect.
But that was all.
'Would they be that greedy for just this?'
Cheon Mubaeck clearly remembered Zhong Li-hong's eyes.
'A terrible greed.'
It was an intense desire that could not be seen as the eyes of a Taoist.
But Zhong Li-hong was not a person who did not know the Tao.
Although he was full of a hegemonic momentum, there was something in his expression that could clearly be seen as a profound understanding.
In other words, he was a person who was sufficiently deep in his training as a Taoist as well as a swordsman.
He heard that he was a strong candidate for the next sect leader, so he must be well-versed in Taoist studies.
For such a person to burn his eyes with greed for a moment...
'It's not just a Taoist scripture.'
It was an intuition.
A formless sense that had never betrayed Cheon Mubaeck in his long past lives.
A superhuman sense that had taken root at some point over numerous lives.
The Heaven-Shaking Soul Art of the upper dantian was in it, and it had evolved into a kind of new sense.
That intuition whispered.
'There's something.'
It was not just a simple intuition. The Heaven-Shaking Soul Art reacted minutely every time he recited this Taoist scripture.
'And Zhong Li-hong knows something.'
Then the answer comes out.
"If you don't know, you have to ask."
"You're thinking alone and talking to yourself again. What are you asking?"
"About the Primordial Root Scripture."
"To whom?"
"Zhong Li-hong."
At that, Neung-heo's face crumpled as if he had chewed on something bitter.
"What other... "
"The martial world is like that."
Cheon Mubaeck stood on the blade's edge.
And on the other side was Zhong Li-hong.
(End of Chapter)