The Genius Youngest Disciple of the Wudang Sect

Chapter 231

Hoo-woong!

"Huh?"

Although I had swung my arm towards the place where I felt a presence, nothing was caught in my arm.

That would be a matter of course. Because there was nothing there.

Da-gak— Da-gak— Da-gak—

But I could hear the sound of someone's footsteps in my ears.

I naturally frowned.

In the first place, this footstep sound is not the footstep of a master.

Masters, from the time they first learn lightness skills and footwork, practice walking as quietly as possible and at a constant pace.

It is a practice to control all footsteps uniformly so that they can perform footwork in the direction they want at any time and in any situation.

Although there are cases where a great master who has surpassed the realm does not walk like that, the footstep I am hearing now did not seem to be like that.

—... Give it to me!

At that time, a voice that seemed to be mumbling something came to my ears.

Although I was very surprised when I first heard that voice, the surprise soon disappeared because the voice alone could not harm me.

Although it is possible to give an internal injury to an opponent with sound art, it was a word like a whisper that was far from sound art.

—It's not even your family's, is it...?

The voice gradually becomes clearer.

The sound of footsteps continues to be heard in the room, and I can feel the presence of someone coming and going.

If I had believed in the existence of ghosts, it is a situation where I might have been scared and buried my head in the blanket.

But, unfortunately, since I don't believe in ghosts, and even if I did, I think they can't exert physical force on humans, I just thought hard about how this phenomenon happened.

'Hmm... internal energy?'

At that time, a very faint flow of internal energy was captured by my qi sense.

It is a faint internal energy that an ordinary martial artist would not have noticed.

But, after taking the Great Return Pill and my internal energy developed by one step, my qi sense developed to the point where it could be called superhuman, and thanks to that, I was able to find the internal energy.

'The fact that internal energy is flowing... means that it's the work of a person, not a ghost.'

Thanks to that, I was able to be sure.

Of course. Where are there ghosts in the world? Although I almost believed in the existence of ghosts for a very short time, as expected, there are no such things as ghosts.

And at the same time, another thing that I am sure of.

'As expected, Minister Jeong was not senile.'

If you think about experiencing this kind of thing every night, it would be impossible for a person not to go crazy like that.

If he had thought that this was the work of a ghost, he might not have gone so crazy.

Because he would have tried to find a way to get rid of the ghost's work by calling a shaman or a judge.

Although he would suffer mental pain, he would not feel a threat to his life because of it.

But Minister Jeong, by chance, concluded that this incident was the work of a master.

To him, who does not know martial arts, a martial artist is a being who can take his life at any time.

So he couldn't maintain his sanity and became so exhausted.

'I don't know whose work it is... but for now, it's certain that it's not the work of the head steward.'

To be honest, it's a lie if I say I didn't suspect the head steward.

Because no matter how much he makes a face of being genuinely worried about Minister Jeong and acts like that, there is always a possibility that it is just an act.

But if he were the culprit, he would not have let me sleep here and done this.

Because if I were to believe that Minister Jeong had gone senile, nothing should have happened here.

'I don't know who it is, but it's a person who has a way of knowing the situation here. But, he doesn't know it in great detail. Because he believed the false information that the head steward had leaked.'

The head steward said that he had deliberately leaked the information to the martial artists and servants guarding this place that Minister Jeong would be sleeping here today, so to be on high alert.

The culprit was deceived by that false information and did this ridiculous thing.

'Shall I go outside for a moment?'

I, erasing my presence as much as possible, slowly approached the window.

And after opening the door just enough for me to get my body out, I slowly crawled out of the window like a cockroach and then climbed the wall to the roof.

It was possible because I could maintain the suction technique on my palms.

The moment I opened the window and came out.

The damp feeling I had felt all over my body disappeared, and even the auditory hallucination that had been constantly ringing in my ears could no longer be heard.

'This is why the martial artists hired by Minister Jeong can't help but treat Minister Jeong like a crazy person.'

I just came out of the room, but I can't feel anything.

The internal energy that had been faintly continuing was not felt at all.

To be honest, that point is a little embarrassing.

Because I thought I could definitely find the person who had planned this incident if I followed the internal energy I felt.

'When the day breaks tomorrow, I'll have to look for it a little more.'

I, after just closing the window slightly, left the area and returned to our lodging.

I had learned quite a lot in just one night.

***

The next day.

I, taking my senior brother and the Shaolin monks, went to see the head steward again.

Another thing I learned yesterday.

The head steward is a trustworthy person.

Although there is a very small possibility that the head steward had me sleep in the room and deliberately played a trick to gain my trust...

For some reason, my intuition told me that it was not so.

"Taoist master. Did anything happen last night? Did an assassin come..."

"If that had happened, I wouldn't have been quiet last night, would I? I wish he had really come. If I had caught him, this matter would have been almost over."

"The fact that no one came..."

The head steward's face was filled with regret.

Because the fact that nothing happened last night means that Minister Jeong's dementia is true.

"Taoist master! It's too early to make a hasty conclusion, so can you stay there for a few more days? Since the assassin doesn't come every day, if you lie in wait for a few more days..."

He said with a desperate expression.

I can feel his desire to catch the assassin.

But the reason he wants to catch the assassin is not simply to solve this matter by catching the assassin, but it feels like he wants to prove that Minister Jeong is not senile.

So I told him right away.

"No. It's not that there was no assassin, but it's not that nothing happened."

"What do you mean...?"

"For now, it's certain that Minister Jeong is not senile. Because I also experienced the same thing."

"Ah...! Is that really true?"

The head steward, with a bright face that I had never seen before, smiled brightly.

He smiled so brightly that it made me feel good just by looking at him.

Although it was a little strange that he seemed to be happy that I had experienced a strange thing, it seems he was so happy that he didn't have time to think about that.

"It seems he's using some kind of sorcery. It could also be an illusion."

"Sorcery... you say?"

He, who was a layman in the martial world and martial arts, opened his eyes wide at my unexpected words.

I explained to him in detail what I had experienced last night.

He, who had heard what I had said, could not help but be greatly surprised.

Of course. Because it would have been the same as what Minister Jeong had experienced.

He, who had heard all my stories, was lost in deep thought.

"It's highly likely that it's the work of an insider. It could be one of the martial artists hired by Minister Jeong, or if not, we should look for a suspicious person among the servants."

Surprisingly, he hit the nail on the head.

Come to think of it, a person who is in charge of the head steward of such a large manor cannot be a stupid person.

However, he is a person from the government side who is a complete layman in the martial world, and in a situation where Minister Jeong's senility is suspected, he couldn't think straight and was being dragged around.

"That's right. So I'd like to see them."

"Directly?"

"Yes. I'll probably know something if I see them. If that culprit is among the servants... I might be able to find him right away today."

"How is that possible?"

"Didn't I tell you earlier? That there are people who have learned martial arts."

"Aha...! If there is a person among the servants who has learned martial arts, the probability that that person is the culprit is very high."

"That's right. Although he might know a way to hide his internal energy... he can't deceive me."

A little while later.

The head steward, taking us, began to roam around the manor.

Because the servants each have their own tasks, it is impossible to gather them all in one place.

Of course, although this matter is very important, if the servants stop, the manor will also stop, so we had no choice but to move ourselves.

And I thought that that choice was a better choice.

Because if they are told to gather in one place, they might play some trick while gathering, or they might run away in the meantime.

So we went around meeting each servant one by one by raiding the places where the servants were working.

Fortunately, since the head steward had a list of all the servants, we were able to meet each person one by one.

If there was a person who was not on the list, that person might be a culprit disguised as a servant, so we went around meeting every person we saw one by one.

"It seems there is no one among the servants..."

And so, a whole day passed, and in the end, we met all the servants.

My senior brothers and the Shaolin monks were also with me, but all three of them could not find a single person who had learned internal energy.

"Then are the remaining ones the martial artists?"

"There is a possibility that they are the martial artists. Because the master hired the martial artists right after he met the Left General in the court... there is a high possibility that they infiltrated this place by pretending to be benevolent martial artists."

My senior brothers and the Shaolin monks also gave their opinions.

That there might be a person among the servants who can completely hide his internal energy.

Or that there are also sorceries that can be used without internal energy, so it could be that, and so on, but there was nothing that seemed to be it.

At that time, Monk Il-won, as if passing by, grumbled, "From what has happened so far, it's clear that there is someone who has planned this... whether he has soared to the sky, or sunk into the ground..."

Although he might have just been lamenting the current frustrating situation, the moment I heard his story, I felt as if my mind had become clear.

"Head steward! For now, let's go to Minister Jeong's quarters quickly. There's a place we haven't checked yet."

"Yes? Where are you going?"

"Quickly. The rumor that we are rummaging through the house has spread, so there is a high possibility that he will destroy the evidence."

I, finding it frustrating to wait for the head steward's answer, rather grabbed his arm and led him.

Finally, we arrived at Minister Jeong's quarters.

Fortunately, there are no signs that someone has been here yet.

I said to my senior brother and the Shaolin monks, "Please go around this area and stomp on the ground. To see if there is any place that sounds different from other places."

Although they didn't seem to have noticed why I was telling them to do that, since it was something I had ordered, they went around stomping on the ground diligently.

Then Monk Il-jik, who was examining a corner of the small courtyard, shouted to me, "Venerable Unhwi! The sound here is strange. It seems to be empty inside!"

I, immediately approaching him, gathered my energy in my hand and then struck the ground with my fist.

With the sound of something breaking, a hole was made in the ground, and the soil fell down.

The hole was large enough for one person to go in and still have room.

I, after going down into that hole, said to the head steward above, "He put a wooden board on it and covered it with a thick layer of soil, so you wouldn't have known that there was a place like this just by looking at it."

"What is this hole? What is inside it?"

He asked me with surprised eyes.

Although it was dark inside, when I brightened my eyes with my internal energy, the inside began to be seen clearly.

I, after finding a wooden stake inside it, pulled it out and then climbed up the hole again.

"What is this?"

"This is... it's hard to explain exactly what it is, but one thing is for sure, it seems to be an object."

"An object?"

"It's an object that serves as the axis that constitutes a formation. What has been tormenting Minister Jeong until now was because of a formation that someone had planted.”

(End of Chapter)