The Battle for the Heavenly Sword - Chapter 29

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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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29
The Strife of Swords and Sabers
“Did you wrap the goods properly in oil paper? Check one more time.”
“Tie it down tightly so it doesn’t fall off the donkey’s back.”
“Make sure the knots are secure.”
From early morning, the village residents had gathered in the clearing, bustling about in a flurry of activity.
Today was the day they would head down the mountain to sell their tea.
The tea, harvested and processed with so much effort, was wrapped in oil paper and waterproof tarps before being loaded onto the backs of donkeys.
All thirty donkeys raised in the village were mobilized to transport the tea.
The person in charge of this trading expedition was Baek Wol-sang.
Until a few years ago, the village elders, including Baek Do-gyeong, had trekked down the mountain themselves, but they were now too old to handle the rough mountain trails with ease.
In their stead, the young men of the village were called to duty for this task.
Baek Do-gyeong grabbed hold of Baek Wol-sang, earnestly giving him repeated instructions.
“Filter out the bastards from the Gu Jia Merchant Group and the Tian Jia Merchant Group. Those fellows will definitely try to find non-existent flaws to slash the prices.”
“Don’t worry. Even I know that much.”
“And be careful not to encounter any Bandits.”
“There are fifteen armed young men. Who would dare touch us?”
“Still, be careful.”
“I understand. I’ll return safely, so don’t worry. Just take good care of your own health. Don’t stay up all night fretting over us for no reason.”
Baek Wol-sang comforted Baek Do-gyeong instead.
Not just them, but all the village youth heading down the mountain were entirely preoccupied with exchanging farewells with their parents.
Woo Geom-san stood at a distance, watching them quietly.
After a short while, the young men finished their goodbyes and left the village, leading the donkeys.
“They all need to return safely.”
Woo Geom-san truly wished for their safe return.
If he could, he wanted to go with them, but currently, he wouldn’t be of much help to the young men of the village.
Woo Geom-san watched until the village youth disappeared from view.
Once the young men departed, the villagers returned to their respective homes.
Since the tea harvest, the most important event in the village, had concluded, there was no work to do for the time being.
Harvesting the rice remained, but it wouldn’t be too late to do that after the village youth returned.
They only needed to visit the paddies occasionally to check on the condition of the rice, so the villagers truly had nothing else to do.
After gazing at the village for a brief moment, Woo Geom-san headed toward the forest.
The forest was heavily shrouded in mist.
Though he had lived in Yunjung Village for several months, it was his first time seeing a mist this thick.
It felt as if he existed entirely alone in a gray world.
For some reason, it gave him an eerie sensation, but he still couldn’t skip his Cultivation Training.
Woo Geom-san began to move within the dense mist.
Riding the flow of Qi, he moved like a butterfly to step on the empty space. Then, he moved into another space.
The places Woo Geom-san moved through were not mere physical spaces.
They were spots where the flow of Qi was severed, preventing any killing intent from reaching him.
No one had taught him this, but the moment he mastered the Flowing Void Steps and realized the concept of Stepping on the Void, he came to understand it naturally.
However, because his attainment was not yet high, the distance Woo Geom-san could travel was extremely short.
Woo Geom-san moved fleetingly through the thick mist.
As he circulated the Choyeon Simgyeol and executed the Flowing Void Steps, the mist surged and swelled like waves.
Taking advantage of the momentum, Woo Geom-san also executed Chaeuolsu.
Emerging through the mist, he stepped onto empty space and plucked a leaf from a tree.
Then, after tossing the painstakingly plucked leaf into the air, he moved into empty space once more.
Whoosh!
Chaeuolsu unfolded yet again.
As if snatching the moon, Woo Geom-san’s hand silently plucked the tiny leaf without making a sound.
Woo Geom-san continued his Cultivation Training in the mist like that.
***
Time flew by rapidly.
It had already been nearly a month since the young men left the village with the tea. Even so, the youth were still not returning to the village.
The villagers, who had been waiting calmly at first, gradually began to show anxious expressions on their faces.
They were worried that something bad might have happened.
The people waited for the youth, feeling as though their blood was drying up day by day.
The Village Chief, Baek Do-gyeong, was no different.
Although he didn’t show it in front of others, his anxiety over whether something had happened to Baek Wol-sang was as massive as a mountain.
“Sigh! Of all things, a landslide had to happen…”
If the original path hadn’t been buried under a mound of earth, a round trip would have easily taken only ten days.
When the path was perfectly intact, Yunjung Village was practically a natural fortress.
This was because an environment capable of self-sufficiency while isolated from the outside world had been established. However, that was only true when the route to interact with the outside world was functioning.
Now that the path connecting to the outside was cut off, it was no different from an isolated prison.
“We need to forge a new path quickly.”
Baek Do-gyeong let out a deep sigh.
It was easier said than done, but carving out a new path was no simple task.
Originally, most mountain trails used by humans were paths that wild beasts used to travel.
As humans utilized the trails traveled by beasts, they naturally expanded over time.
The mountain path originally used by the villagers had been created in that exact manner.
It wasn’t that the villagers hadn’t looked for other paths during this time. However, because Cheonbaeksan was so rugged, they failed to find a new path and ultimately had no choice but to take a long, circuitous route.
They couldn’t live like this forever.
For the sake of the village youth and the future, they had to discover or forge a new path.
After agonizing over it for a long while, Baek Do-gyeong’s gaze suddenly shifted toward the house with the withered tree.
It was the house where Baek Ho-yang and Woo Geom-san resided.
Baek Do-gyeong thought of Baek Ho-yang.
In truth, there wasn’t much that Baek Do-gyeong knew about Baek Ho-yang.
This was because Baek Ho-yang had been away from the village for a staggering sixty years. However, he knew one thing for certain.
The reason Baek Ho-yang had left this place was that he had been chosen by a great Taoist to inherit his Martial Arts.
Baek Do-gyeong didn’t know much about Martial Arts. However, he had heard stories that some Martial Artists could split massive boulders just by lightly swinging their hands.
He didn’t know what level Baek Ho-yang had reached, but since he was the absolute eldest of the village and had mastered Martial Arts, Baek Do-gyeong wondered if he might be able to receive some advice.
Right then, he happened to see Baek Ho-yang walking out of the house.
“Grandfather!”
“What are you doing here?”
“That is…”
“Your face is filled with worry. What is the matter?”
“To tell you the truth, I am deeply worried because the children who went to sell the tea have not returned.”
“I suppose so. The time for their return has already passed…”
“The greater problem is that even if the children return safely, this kind of thing will repeat every single year.”
“Indeed it will.”
“Grandfather, is there no way at all?”
After pondering for a moment, Baek Ho-yang let out a sigh and spoke.
“Sigh! Follow me.”
“Where to, if I may ask?”
“If you follow, you will naturally find out.”
“Understood.”
Unable to ask further questions, Baek Do-gyeong followed behind Baek Ho-yang.
The place Baek Ho-yang headed toward was a canyon located on the eastern side of Yunjung Village.
It was a place where even the villagers dared not dream of approaching due to its sheer, thousands-of-fathoms-high precipice.
Baek Ho-yang stepped toward the canyon as if it were nothing, but Baek Do-gyeong was different.
Just by drawing close to the canyon, both of his legs began to tremble uncontrollably.
As a fierce wind blew in, it became difficult for him to even maintain his balance.
At that moment, Baek Ho-yang approached before he knew it and grabbed his arm.
“Be careful.”
“Thank you. But why have we come here?”
“There is a place I want to show you, but it is utterly impossible to see from this position. Hold tightly to my hand.”
“Pardon?”
In that instant, Baek Do-gyeong’s body floated up into the empty air.
Baek Ho-yang had hurled himself into the canyon while holding his hand.
“Aaaaargh!”
Terrified out of his wits, Baek Do-gyeong screamed at the top of his lungs.
Since he suddenly looked to be plunging down a cliff thousands of fathoms deep, it was a natural reaction.
He thought Baek Ho-yang had gone mad and was attempting a double suicide. However, Baek Ho-yang was not mad, and he was certainly not trying to commit suicide.
Because he possessed the confidence to survive even while bringing Baek Do-gyeong along, he had thrown himself off.
When they had plummeted about a hundred zhang, Baek Ho-yang stamped his right foot onto the top of his left foot, executing the Balbodeunggong lightness technique. With that, their descent speed dropped drastically, and their direction shifted.
Thud!
Baek Ho-yang landed on a wide open ledge halfway down the canyon, bringing Baek Do-gyeong along with him.
“Ugh! Blegh!”
The moment his two feet touched the ground, Baek Do-gyeong fell prostrate on the floor and began to retch. Only after throwing up everything he had eaten for breakfast did he finally lift his head.
His face was completely stained with tears and snot.
“Gr-Grandfather! Am I actually still alive?”
“I am sorry. But that was the only way to show you this place.”
“Just what were you trying to show me…”
As he inadvertently scanned his surroundings, Baek Do-gyeong’s pupils trembled violently.
It was due to a sight that had been completely invisible from above.
“This is…”
“A path. The area sheared away by the landslide continues in the form of a plank road.”
A path existed halfway down the canyon.
Moreover, a road wide enough for a wagon to pass through was formed just like a cliffside plank road.
It was a naturally formed path that contained absolutely no traces of human intervention.
Over a long period of time, the cliff had weathered, and the rock face had broken away, creating something akin to a plank road.
“How can this be! How can a path like this exist halfway down the canyon?”
“How can the small mind of a human fathom the harmony of nature? However, it is certain that Heaven has not abandoned our village.”
“How far does this path stretch?”
“See it for yourself with your own eyes.”
Baek Ho-yang smiled gently as he walked along the plank road.
Baek Do-gyeong followed closely behind his heels.
Since it was a naturally formed path, it was incredibly rugged and rough. Boulders jutted out here and there, forcing them to climb over with great difficulty.
Some sections were so narrow that they had to press their backs flat against the wall to pass. However, it was not to the extent that it was completely impassable.
Baek Ho-yang lightly caressed the cliffside with his hand, muttering to himself.
“What master craftsman could ever build a path like this? Truly magnificent, magnificent!”
The plank road twisted and wound like a giant serpent as it continued. It felt like a path that would stretch on forever, but no endless path truly existed.
Eventually, the naturally formed plank road also reached its conclusion.
The path cut off halfway through the canyon.
“Ah!”
Baek Do-gyeong let out a lamentation filled with deep regret.
Inwardly, he had hoped it would connect all the way to the foot of the mountain.
Knowing his thoughts, Baek Ho-yang comforted him.
“There is no need to be so disappointed.”
“But hasn’t the path cut off?”
“Take hold of my hand.”
“Again?”
“Hurry!”
“Yes!”
After hesitating, Baek Do-gyeong ultimately grabbed Baek Ho-yang’s hand firmly.
In that split second, Baek Ho-yang kicked off the plank road and launched his body forward.
“Aaaaaaaargh!”
Baek Do-gyeong screamed until his throat felt like it would tear apart.
Baek Ho-yang flew freely through the empty air like a bird, clearing the cliffside region.
Landing lightly on the ground, he patted Baek Do-gyeong on the back and spoke.
“Now, open your eyes.”
“Have we descended to the ground?”
“Yes.”
“Phew! If I keep hanging around you, Grandfather, I won’t live out my natural lifespan.”
“Yet you survived like this, did you not?”
“Good grief!”
Letting out a deep sigh, Baek Do-gyeong looked around his surroundings.
Clearly, he had been on a cliff thousands of fathoms deep just moments ago, but now it was a completely ordinary forest trail.
“Where is this place?”
“It is the area directly below the section that collapsed from the landslide.”
“Then does the canyon’s plank road connect all the way to this vicinity?”
“Correct.”
“Oh my goodness!”
Baek Do-gyeong’s jaw dropped in sheer amazement.
He had never dreamed in his wildest thoughts that a path would connect all the way to this place through the canyon.
However, he soon realized reality and lamented.
“Thanks to you, Grandfather, I now know a hidden path exists, but even so, it doesn’t seem like an ordinary person like me can utilize it. We do not possess the talent to fly through the sky like you do, Grandfather.”
“We can simply carve out a road.”
“Pardon?”
“We only need to break through the section connecting the village to the plank road, and the section connecting the plank road to this place. Then, a perfect road will be created.”
“Grandfather! This is a rocky mountain. By what method can we carve a path through that gargantuan stone cliff? Carving a path through that rocky mountain would easily take several decades. So how…”
Baek Do-gyeong also desperately wished to forge a path. However, unlike Baek Ho-yang, he was entirely ordinary.
The villagers were the same.
For ordinary people, it was an impossible, monumental undertaking.
At that moment, Baek Ho-yang patted Baek Do-gyeong on the shoulder.
“It is merely difficult; it is not entirely impossible. If you do not even attempt it because it is difficult, what will become of your son and your descendants? They must descend the mountain at least three or four times a year, so will you make them travel back and forth along the mountain trails for over a month each time? Will you let them waste their time like that for the rest of their lives until they die?”
“That is…”
“It is a task someone must do. Do not keep in mind when it can be completed. If you do that, you will achieve nothing. I will also do my utmost to help, so let us just begin. After all, it is the foolish old man who ultimately moves the mountain.”
“Are you referring to Yugong Yishan?”
“Yes! Let us try becoming those foolish old men.”
Baek Ho-yang’s words struck a deep chord within Baek Do-gyeong’s heart.

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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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