Ten Paths of the Master - Chapter 74

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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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Episode 74. Go Jwaryeong, 2nd Generation Trainee
The Yeonangyeong revealed the stark difference between the two personalities.
The talented Dan Yeop accepted it without flinching, while the dull Dan Yeop didn’t know what to do with the shame.
It had nothing to do with talent.
Where the talented Dan Yeop was active and extroverted, the dull Dan Yeop was passive and introverted.
This showed itself even at the breakfast table in the inner residence.
Unlike yesterday, Dan Yeop couldn’t meet the eyes of Son Yubaek’s family.
After finishing breakfast and leaving Sontaek, Dan Yeop felt as though everyone was staring only at him, and heat crept up the back of his neck.
After walking for about an hour, he arrived at Jipdanhyang feeling utterly drained.
It was as if an entire day had passed before he’d even begun.
Soon enough, Dan Yeop shuffled hesitantly into Ansikheon.
The Jungmun masters not yet accustomed to the Yeonangyeong kept stealing glances at him.
“That Dan Kyotdu—he was wearing that thing when he left yesterday after training, too.”
“But it was dark then?”
“That’s what I’m saying. Looks even more intense than what Sect Leader Yi Jangwon wears.”
“Think it’s because he’s young?”
“Ugh! Even if someone gave me that, I couldn’t use it.”
“Sect Leader Yi Jangwon must be pleased. Finally someone who recognizes the Yeonangyeong.”
Hearing the village masters murmur from a distance, Dan Yeop wanted to find a mouse hole and disappear into it.
Following the previous day, Dan Yeop taught the instructors the first form of the Heaven-Earth Blade Method.
The instructors grasped this form in a single day, and by the following evening, they’d completed three forms.
Before leaving Ansikheon, Un Jungaek approached the Jungmun masters with a triumphant expression.
“Haha! Since we’ve mastered the first three forms of the Heaven-Earth Blade Method in just four days, we should be able to finish the White Willow Blade Method in five, yes?”
He said this with the understanding that the White Willow Blade Method comprised four forms.
The Jungmun masters merely smiled awkwardly and said nothing more.
They all anticipated that the instructors would struggle with the White Willow Blade Method as well, but without attempting it, there was nothing to say.
As Dan Yeop prepared to return to Sontaek, Im Song, a Sect Soldier, approached and asked quietly.
“Kyotdu, will the instructors learn the White Willow Blade Method easily?”
“It will be difficult.”
“I thought so.”
Im Song’s face immediately brightened.
He wanted to show that even though the instructors were renowned masters in the Murim, Haowen’s martial arts were no trifle.
“Master Go will probably progress a bit faster, but Masters Un and Han will be similar to Sect Leader Baek.”
“Ah, I’ll grant Master Go that much.”
Im Song nodded in agreement.
In fact, Go Geomhaeng, whom he’d witnessed firsthand, was several times more formidable than rumor suggested.
As the two men were speaking in low voices, Sect Leader Baek Chogong, who had stepped out, returned once more.
Behind him came about ten disciples of Haowen.
The village masters still remaining in Ansikheon acknowledged them.
“Vice Sect Leader Yu-sim? How long has it been?”
“Hall Master Han, welcome.”
“Hall Master No, what brings you here?”
“Inspector Jang, when are you going to pay back that money?”
Dan Yeop too spotted a familiar face.
‘Go Jwaryeong?’
Go Jwaryeong was one of the 2nd generation trainees from the Terracotta Army Tomb who had tormented Dan Yeop.
Just then, their gazes happened to meet.
However, Go Jwaryeong, obscured by the Yeonangyeong, failed to recognize Dan Yeop.
He only glanced at him occasionally with a bewildered expression.
It was odd for a young man to be wearing the Yeonangyeong in the early evening.
Regardless, Dan Yeop paid it no mind.
Go Jwaryeong had long since ceased to matter to him.
Then Sect Leader Baek Chogong approached Dan Yeop alongside a bold-looking middle-aged man.
“Dan Kyotdu, pay your respects. This is Sect Leader Go Wonbang of Seonmun.”
Dan Yeop bowed respectfully to Sect Leader Go Wonbang.
“I am Dan Yeop.”
Sect Leader Go Wonbang regarded Dan Yeop with a startled expression.
The fool of the Terracotta Army Tomb, the adopted son of Dan Bulwi, living proof of the saying “master one well and succeed”, a reclusive expert who had mastered the Jinsamdaedobeop…….
Yet nowhere in any account was there mention of the Yeonangyeong.
Soon, Sect Leader Go Wonbang collected himself and opened his mouth.
“Go Wonbang. Good to see you. I’ve heard much about you.”
Go Wonbang’s flustered reply came in fits and starts.
Once the pleasantries were exchanged, Baek Chogong stepped forward.
“From now on, the masters of Seonmun will also train in the Jinsamdaedobeop at Ansikheon.”
That single sentence told Dan Yeop everything he needed to know about the situation.
He’d already suspected it was time for another faction to join.
Just recently, Gimun and Chamun had sent their masters to Amun.
Go Wonbang cleared his throat awkwardly and continued.
“We’ve decided to lodge at the Chungyun Inn until the weather clears. Starting tomorrow, we’ll come out on schedule, so I trust we can count on your cooperation.”
“Of course.”
Ansikheon was spacious enough that a dozen more people wouldn’t pose any difficulty for training.
Go Wonbang then added almost in passing:
“I thought only Yi Jangwon was the fashionable type among sect leaders, but Dan seems equally so.”
He was referring to the Yeonangyeong.
Dan Yeop had nothing particular to say and let it pass.
Just before the atmosphere could grow awkward, Baek Chogong led Go Wonbang away to another room.
Shortly after, as Dan Yeop was leaving Ansikheon, someone called out from behind.
“Dan Yeop.”
Dan Yeop turned to see Go Jwaryeong.
Memories stirred unbidden, and his eyes narrowed slightly.
“What?”
“Oh, it’s been so long. I heard you became a hall master of Jeommun? You’ve done remarkably well for yourself.”
“Right. Unless you’ve got more to say, I’m leaving.”
As Dan Yeop turned to go, Go Jwaryeong hurried to speak.
“I heard about Baek Chogong. They say his head was severed by Hyeolје.”
……
Dan Yeop exhaled lightly.
Memories from that day, carefully buried, began to surface one by one.
Go Jwaryeong continued regardless.
“I don’t know if you’re aware, but work has dried up for Haowen because of Hyeolје. Everyone’s going to Gaebang now.”
“What are you trying to say?”
“Nothing, just lamenting it. People died doing that work, yet the outcome turned out worse.”
Dan Yeop’s expression hardened in an instant.
It felt as though Go Jwaryeong was criticizing Jeommun.
“You’re Go Jwaryeong, second generation trainee, aren’t you?”
“You remember my name. Yes, that’s right.”
“If you’re lamenting something, don’t be vague about it. Tell me clearly what you regret. That Jeommun people died? Or that you lost work to Gaebang?”
“Well, if it’s both, does that make me too calculating?”
“The day Seonmun people start dropping like flies, I’ll say the same thing to you.”
“Are you cursing me?”
Go Jwaryeong’s eyes widened as he stared at Dan Yeop.
He’d heard rumors of Dan Yeop’s Jinsamdaedobeop being formidable.
But the Dan Yeop standing before him now looked hardly different from before.
In fact, with those spectacles on, he looked almost like a fool.
No master of the Murim would walk around looking like that.
Moreover, Go Jwaryeong knew Dan Yeop’s true nature.
Until just a few years ago, Dan Yeop had been easy prey for mockery.
‘Damn bastard…….’
Then Dan Yeop answered in a flat tone.
“No, I’m promising you. I’ll repay in kind. Got a problem with that?”
……
Go Jwaryeong felt a surge of emotion, but he didn’t let it explode into a fit.
What his father had told him held him back.
―Go Geomhaeng and Dan Yeop were sparring, and Dogi and Geomgi were dancing about everywhere. And his movement technique—it was eerie as a ghost’s. If you ever encounter Dan Yeop the hall master, be careful. Don’t get cocky thinking of the old days, or you’ll regret it.
How could a fool become an expert in a mere few years?
Unless he’d encountered a Fortuitous Encounter.
With that thought, Go Jwaryeong quietly lowered his gaze.
“No, there isn’t.”
“I’m letting it slide because of your father. There won’t be a next time.”
Dan Yeop’s voice was cold, and he left without so much as a backward glance.
***
Dan Yeop returned to the cottage at Sontaek and meticulously recorded in the Baekcheop everything that had transpired between him and Go Jwaryeong.
He hoped that when Sim Ma took over his daily life, he would punish Go Jwaryeong if the man acted up.
After writing it all down and reading it again, it felt somehow like he was tattling, but he let it be.
He was too hurt by Go Jwaryeong’s words to care.
That night.
Dan Yeop lay in his bed but couldn’t fall asleep, tossing and turning restlessly.
So life truly was a Sea of Suffering, as they said.
Nothing brought joy anymore—only fresh wounds being torn open.
Hyeolје and Cheonryeon were both beyond his reach.
‘What am I? Why was I even born?’
Tormented by these thoughts deep into the night, Dan Yeop finally drifted into fitful sleep at dawn.
The next day.
After washing his face, Dan Yeop added several more lines to the Baekcheop.
Then he climbed onto his bed and sat in cross-legged meditation.
His face bore an expression of such detachment, as if enlightenment itself had descended upon him.
Flash!
A brilliant light blazed across his vision as the genius Dan Yeop’s eyes snapped open.
He descended from the bed and sat before the table, unfolding the Baekcheop.
His fresh, still-wet handwriting caught his eye first.
[I don’t know why I’m alive. Do you?]
“Hmm!”
Dan Yeop exhaled sharply as he read the densely packed characters written above that line.
“Tch! Go Jwaryeong got under my skin.”
Perhaps he felt no emotion toward Baek Chogong because he simply lacked it, but the dull-witted Dan Yeop would be different.
For the sake of that Dan Yeop, wounded anew each day, the two personalities would need to merge soon.
Staring at the open Baekcheop in deep thought, he soon picked up his brush and began writing with fluid, unbroken strokes.
***
Seonpyeongbang.
Jipdanhyang, Ansikheon of Jeommun, Seonmun sector.
Wearing the Yeonangyeong, Dan Yeop addressed the masters of Seonmun.
“The Jincheonjibeop is merely a slight variation on the Heaven-Earth Blade Method, which is Haowen’s fundamental technique. All of you have trained in Haowen’s arts your entire lives. Moreover, you are the inheritors of the White Willow Blade Method, renowned for its profundity. Surely one day should suffice to learn the Jincheonjibeop, the most basic of basics?”
The Seonmun masters stared at Dan Yeop with taken-aback expressions.
No matter how easy the Jincheonjibeop was supposed to be, a single day seemed unreasonable.
Though they all wore skeptical faces, Dan Yeop pressed on without mercy.
“We begin now. First form: Cheonnerak Cham.”
Dan Yeop taught with utmost sincerity.
But the Jincheonjibeop was a technique even the masters of Jeommun had learned one form per day.
When the Seonmun masters struggled to keep pace, Dan Yeop unleashed a torrent of harsh words.
“Go Jwaryeong! You wretch! Can’t you get it right? Don’t you know what ‘thunder’ means? Why is your blade pointing at the center line? Is that your heaven? Is Seonmun’s heaven really just at that pathetic height?”
“Go Wonbang, Sect Leader! This form carries the momentum of a Severed Mountain! Are you two squabbling like a bickering couple? Why are you cutting through water? What will Go Jwaryeong learn watching that? Go Jwaryeong! You! Do you think you can split a mountain like that? If your lower body is weak and your power won’t flow through, then put your guts into it! Come on, you fool! I said stop moving like you’re cutting water! How many times do I have to tell you!”
Go Wonbang, the Sect Leader of Seonmun, started in alarm and raised a protest.
“Dan, Instructor—isn’t the cursing going a bit too far? I am the Sect Leader of Seonmun, after all.”
“Those words were directed at Go Jwaryeong, not at you, Sect Leader Go. If even a junior makes a mistake, surely you wouldn’t expect the instructor to refrain from harsh words just because he happens to be your son?”
“Ah, no—I misunderstood. You’re right. If he won’t follow instruction, he deserves to be cursed at. Go ahead. Curse him if it makes him a better martial artist.”
“Go Jwaryeong! You wretch! Your blade drops the moment I glance away? And you call yourself a martial artist of Seonmun? Your instructor—as celestial as the heavens themselves—is teaching you directly, and you slack off? Are you disrespecting me? Or are you disrespecting the Jincheonjibeop of Jeommun?”
At Dan Yeop’s roar, Go Jwaryeong cried out without thinking.
“N-no! I wasn’t disrespecting you—it’s just too hard…….”
“Too hard? And you dare slack off before your instructor? How do you ever expect to become a master? Do you want to die by a blind blade?”
“No!”
On the opposite side of the courtyard, Baek Chogong, the Sect Leader, who had been training in the Jinbaekyubeop with his instructors, leaned over and whispered to Mok Unsaeng, the Vice Sect Leader.
“I think Go Wonbang and Go Jwaryeong have really earned his ire.”
“I saw Go Jwaryeong and Instructor Dan together yesterday—the atmosphere did seem strange.”
“This is the first time I’ve seen Dan Yeop angry, and it’s frightening.”
“My legs are trembling as well.”

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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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