Myth of Martial Arts - Chapter 22

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 22
“Could someone have broken in?”

At this, everyone realized it, yet they found it hard to believe.

Sinwang Academy was one of the two great academies of the Imperial City, and it was guarded by a powerhouse at the Gyeseon Realm 9th Stage.

Who would have the nerve to cause trouble at Sinwang Academy?

“Search the grounds!”

A dignified middle-aged instructor, as if recalling something, gave the order at once.

“Find that man immediately. If you have to dig three feet into the earth, then do it!”

Behind a large tree, Jang Wook narrowed his eyes as he stared at the dignified middle-aged instructor in the crowd.

“That bastard.”

Jang Wook not only recognized the man, but he also carried a very vivid impression of him.

Mak Cheon-gu.

He was one of the ringleaders who had incited the riot at Changung Academy back then, and he had originally been an instructor at Changung Academy.

Now that man had switched sides and become an instructor at Sinwang Academy, and judging by appearances, he didn’t seem to hold a low position either.

“Lucky me. To meet one of my targets this quickly.”

A smile spread across Jang Wook’s face, and feeling pleased, he took another Gyeseodan Pill from his gray pouch, popped it into his mouth, and began chewing lightly.

Then Jang Wook stepped out from behind the large tree, revealed himself before everyone, and greeted them with a smile.

“What’s going on here?”

The Gyeseodan Pill in his mouth hadn’t finished chewing yet, so his words came out garbled. He immediately swallowed the remaining crumbs of the pill and spoke again.

“Are you looking for me?”

Everyone was startled by Jang Wook’s sudden appearance.

But once he confirmed Jang Wook’s face, the dignified middle-aged instructor, Mak Cheon-gu, asked in a grave voice, shock and suspicion flashing across his eyes.

“Jang Wook? What are you doing here?”

A playful smile curled at the corner of Jang Wook’s lips.

“Is it so wrong for me to be here?”

As he spoke, his fingers drifted back to the gray pouch, pulled out another Gyeseodan Pill, and he began eating it as if it were nothing.

That chewing sound grated unusually loudly on the ears in the quiet clearing.

“Surely not…”

Mak Cheon-gu’s face changed. Thinking of Jeon Pung and Na Gun, who still hadn’t returned, his heart sank.

“Surely nothing has happened to them…”

Jeon Pung and Na Gun had gone to assassinate Jang Wook that afternoon.

But now that Jang Wook had appeared here, unscathed—what did that mean?

It was proof that their assassination attempt had failed.

Mak Cheon-gu, worry clouding his eyes, turned to a teacher beside him and spoke in a grim voice.

“Go to Changung Academy at once and confirm it.”

The teacher nodded and was about to leave immediately when—

“That won’t be necessary.”

Jang Wook, meeting Mak Cheon-gu’s disbelieving stare with a faint smile, spoke slowly.

“I’ll give you one piece of information for free. Jeon Pung and Na Gun are already dead. They asked me to pass along a message, though. They said the road to the Yellow Springs is lonely, and they hope you’ll hurry and join them as their companion.”

For a moment, Mak Cheon-gu faltered. Then he forced himself steady and sneered.

“Don’t lie! How could someone like you have killed Vice Principal Jeon and Vice Principal Na? Dream on!”

Both Jeon Pung and Na Gun were at the 9th Stage of the Gyeseon Realm, and they were among the strongest in the entire Imperial City.

Apart from Mu Jin, Im Hae Ae, and Na Ak San, there was no one who could pose a threat to them.

Mak Cheon-gu could not bring himself to believe that Jang Wook alone had defeated Jeon Pung and Na Gun.

But that attitude grated on Jang Wook, and he no longer wished to speak with Mak Cheon-gu.

A sharp light flashed in his eyes, and in an instant his body blurred into an afterimage that startled every teacher present.

As the afterimage faded, Jang Wook, who had vanished, was already standing beside Mak Cheon-gu once more. He clamped one hand around Mak Cheon-gu’s throat and spoke in a low, unhurried voice.

“Speak. Where is Im Hae Ae?”

Mak Cheon-gu’s face drained of color the moment he was seized, and his mind began to swim.

Everyone stared at Jang Wook, struck speechless by the speed he had shown, their faces wearing expressions of disbelief.

“You… how…?”

Mak Cheon-gu stared at Jang Wook, stunned. The moment he felt the palm locked around his neck like steel, his body froze. He didn’t even dare to move carelessly.

Jang Wook furrowed his brow and spoke.

“Not going to talk? Then die.”

As Jang Wook’s grip began to tighten little by little, Mak Cheon-gu’s face changed sharply, and he cried out.

“Wait! I’ll talk, I’ll talk!”

He had no leisure to wonder why Jang Wook had suddenly grown so strong. All he knew was that Jang Wook looked ready to strike at any moment, so he could not afford to delay any longer.

“The Director… the Director left the Imperial City this afternoon already.”

Mak Cheon-gu’s body was rigid, and his voice trembled as he spoke.

“I swear on my life, this is no lie. The Director said he was going to meet someone. He said he’d return only at noon tomorrow. And, and Na Ak San, the Director of Unsan Academy, went with him too…”

His dealings with Im Hae Ae had been nothing more than a transaction; he had not an ounce of loyalty to her. If it meant staying alive, there was no reason at all for him to keep anything hidden.

Hearing this, Jang Wook raised an eyebrow and spoke.

“Gone?”

So that was the reason the old woman hadn’t shown her face, even after all the commotion he’d caused.

She hadn’t been at Sinwang Academy at all.

“That old woman’s got quite the luck.”

Jang Wook shook his head and shifted his gaze back to Mak Cheon-gu, his voice calm.

“Take me to the Library Pavilion of Sinwang Academy.”

Mak Cheon-gu’s eyelid twitched violently, and he asked in a tense voice.

“What do you think you’re doing!”

The Library Pavilion was one of the most important places in Sinwang Academy, holding the Cultivation Methods and martial arts the academy had accumulated over the years.

If anything happened to the Library Pavilion, Im Hae Ae would never forgive him when she returned.

“Why so many questions? Hurry up and lead the way!”

Jang Wook pressed harder on his hand, making the threat plain.

Gritting his teeth, Mak Cheon-gu reluctantly took the lead.

The teachers around them glared at Jang Wook with hatred burning in their eyes, yet they kept close behind him without taking a single step back.

Jang Wook walked silently in Mak Cheon-gu’s footsteps, utterly ignoring the gazes of the teachers around him.

Before long, the group arrived in front of a magnificent main hall. It sprawled across a vast grounds, far beyond anything the Changung Academy Library Pavilion could compare to.

Above the stone pillars outside the hall ran a horizontal beam, and hanging from it was a stone plaque carved with three characters: ‘Jangseogwan’ (藏書館).

Whether it was called a Library Pavilion or a Jangseogwan, the meaning was much the same. Both were places that stored Cultivation Methods and martial arts.

“We’ve arrived.”

Mak Cheon-gu halted in front of the hall, drew a deep breath, and spoke in a heavy voice.

“I’ve said what you told me to say and done what you told me to do. Will you let me go now?”

Under his tense gaze, Jang Wook slowly loosened his grip.

But before Mak Cheon-gu could even breathe a sigh of relief, Jang Wook’s hand clamped around his throat again and lifted him off his feet.

The grip tightened, little by little.

“Why…”

Mak Cheon-gu managed only that one word before he could say nothing more.

He thrashed wildly, kicking his legs at the empty air like a frog, until a crunching *crack* sounded from his throat.

Only then did his struggles slowly still, his eyes dimming as his pupils went blank.

“I never promised to let you go.”

Jang Wook tossed Mak Cheon-gu’s corpse aside and spoke calmly.

“Those nine ringleaders from that year, I won’t let a single one of them live!”

That debt from that day, he would settle down to the last coin.

That grudge from that day, he would repay down to the last speck.

Jeon Pung and Na Gun had already paid their due, and Mak Cheon-gu had now joined them. Next came Im Hae Ae and her crew.

Having killed Mak Cheon-gu, Jang Wook raised his head and looked around.

The teachers nearby went pale at once, stumbling back one after another, and cried out in terror.

“A demon! It’s a monster!”

That middle-aged gatekeeper had called Jang Wook a ghost, and looking at him now, the man had been right. Only, he was no ordinary ghost. He was a demon, a thousand times more terrifying than any ghost.

The teachers wore faces frozen with fear, and not one of them had any will left to fight.

If a Gyeseon Realm 8th Stage powerhouse like Mak Cheon-gu had died so easily to Jang Wook, there was no way they could ever hope to stand as his match.

Far from laying a hand on Jang Wook, they didn’t even dare to meet his eyes.

Jang Wook paid no mind to the terrified teachers. He lifted his gaze to check the plaque reading “Jangseogwan,” then stepped forward as though nothing had happened.

Reaching the front gate of Jangseogwan, Jang Wook held a gray pouch in one hand and pushed the great door open with the other.

The moment the door began to open, Jang Wook’s body lurched backward explosively, leaving only an afterimage where he had stood.

Bang!

A tremendous force came crashing down from above, slamming into the door and shattering the gate, which was as solid as iron and stone, into pieces.

A calm smile settled on Jang Wook’s face, and his gaze came to rest on the gray-robed old man standing before the door.

“Gyeseon Realm 9th Stage, is it?”

Before the old man could answer, Jang Wook smiled again.

“I didn’t expect this. Besides Im Hae Ae and Jeon Pung, Sinwang Academy was hiding yet another Gyeseon Realm 9th Stage powerhouse. How interesting.”

This old man’s strength surpassed Jeon Pung’s and rivaled even Im Hae Ae’s. He was unquestionably a peak Gyeseon Realm 9th Stage master.

“Jang Wook!”

The old man glared at Jang Wook with a grave expression and spoke slowly in a harsh voice.

“This is no place for you to run wild!”

When they took a closer look at the old man, a spark of hope flared in the eyes of the Sinwang Academy teachers.

Ever since Im Hae Ae had left the academy, this old man had been the strongest figure at Sinwang Academy, and his skill ran deeper than anyone could measure.

And so, in this moment, the old man’s appearance filled everyone with tremendous courage.

Jang Wook stood dazed for a moment, then broke into a smile.

“You recognize me? Then you must have had a hand in that uprising at Changung Academy back then, did you?”

The old man kept his silence. His wrinkled face showed no expression at all, and he might have been a statue carved from stone.

“Hmph. A mere 9th Stage Gyeseon Realm practitioner, and you dare play the expert before me?”

Jang Wook shook his head, utterly indifferent.

The next moment, Jang Wook attacked without any warning.

Catching the old man completely off guard, he threw a single punch.

It was no martial technique at all, just a plain, ordinary punch, yet the force packed inside it was enough to make the heart tremble.

Bang!

The old man took the blow before he could even react, and his body slammed into the bookshelves like a cannonball.

His momentum did not die down. He tore through several rows of shelves in succession before finally crashing to the floor.

A huge crater formed in the ground, and his wrinkled face was caved in almost completely. His skull had nearly burst as well.

The old man, who only a moment ago had radiated dignity, was now a corpse.

From his arrival to his death, he had spoken only a single line, and he hadn’t even left behind a last word.

The teachers around them felt cold sweat trickle down their spines in an instant.

The area around the Jangseogwan fell as silent as a graveyard, and everyone held their breath, sunk into a stillness that felt like death itself.

The Grand Elder was dead.

The second-strongest expert of Sinwang Academy had been killed by a single punch from Jang Wook, the instant he finished speaking.

Overwhelmed by the strength Jang Wook had displayed, everyone’s thoughts of resistance vanished.

Jang Wook withdrew his fist and spoke calmly.

“Everyone, stay right where you are. Whoever moves will die!”

No sooner had the words left his mouth than Jang Wook turned and walked into the Jangseogwan.

The teachers outside the Jangseogwan stood rigid where they were, like stone statues.

Not one of them had the nerve to disregard Jang Wook’s words.

The deaths of Mak Cheon-gu and the old man had posed too grave a threat to them.

Surely, what had happened today would cast a shadow over their hearts that they would struggle to shake off for the rest of their lives.

A long while passed.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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