The World’s Greatest Martial Arts Instructor - Chapter 104

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 104. It Might Not Be

 

 

Deep night.

Ha Mu-baek climbed onto the roof of the dormitory and gazed into the distance.

Probably somewhere where Dongting Lake would be.

“What’s wrong?”

Wi Ji-gun, who had approached at some point, looked in the same direction as Ha Mu-baek and asked.

“Are you thinking of Cheongran Island?”

Having watched the meeting between Dan Mok Un-hye and Gung So-yu today, he wondered if it brought back old memories.

“No.”

“Then?”

“I have a feeling that something unpleasant yet familiar lies beyond there.”

“Did your Ki Sense pick up something?”

Ha Mu-baek shook his head.

“No. Just a premonition? Intuition? Something like that.”

Wi Ji-gun, hearing the answer, gazed silently into the distance.

“I don’t know where you’re looking, but I don’t sense anything.”

“That’s natural. It’s probably just because I encountered those Demon Cult bastards today.”

Wi Ji-gun paused for a moment at Ha Mu-baek’s words before speaking.

“It might not be.”

“Pardon?”

“Perhaps you’ve overcome a small wall that was blocking your path.”

“Pardon?”

Ha Mu-baek could only blink and ask again.

Overcoming a wall?

He hadn’t felt anything like that recently.

He simply continued his steady daily cultivation, progressing little by little.

“You’ve now stepped into a place I’ve never reached.”

Wi Ji-gun looked at Ha Mu-baek with a proud expression.

Ha Mu-baek’s current martial arts level was almost equal to Wi Ji-gun’s.

Though there might be inexperience due to the difference in experience, their actual realm was nearly similar.

Even in terms of experience, Ha Mu-baek might actually be better in real combat experience.

It was just the difference in experience that time gives, something that cannot be resolved by human strength alone.

Yet Ha Mu-baek had overcome the wall before his master Wi Ji-gun.

Blue Surpasses Indigo indeed.

Wi Ji-gun looked at Ha Mu-baek with such a pleased heart.

“It doesn’t feel real.”

Ha Mu-baek spoke as if bewildered.

Of course it wouldn’t.

The idea that he, who had been covered in so much blood during the past two wars, had overcome a wall.

It was something he had never even imagined.

“It seems you felt something without realizing it yourself during the process of washing away the smell of blood. And today’s events became the catalyst. However, because it was a small wall, even you couldn’t clearly feel it. You’ll need to continue your cultivation and make it completely yours.”

Wi Ji-gun spoke with a benevolent smile.

“Today’s events…”

The incident where he saw those four Demon Cult vermin and became extremely enraged, almost brutally covering himself in blood again?

If Master hadn’t appeared then, and he had moved as he had planned…

“It was heavenly fortune. Neither you nor I knew you were at such a crossroads. If you had failed to control that surge of anger in that moment and been consumed by it, you might have fallen into Qi Deviation.”

It was a story told in hindsight.

Neither of them had noticed the signs.

“Thank you, Master.”

Ha Mu-baek bowed his waist respectfully.

“Heaven simply helped. As I said before, neither you nor I knew.”

“Yes.”

“This incident has made it certain. You need to wash away more of the smell of blood. There’s still quite a bit left.”

“Yes.”

Ha Mu-baek simply agreed obediently to his master’s advice.

“Even when you encounter Demon Cult or Blood Cult bastards, you must not lose yourself. If you do, you could fall into Qi Deviation in that moment.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.”

While the Masked Man was looking toward Muchang from an unknown pavilion on Dongting Lake, master and disciple conversed on a roof in Gyoryong Hall, gazing toward Dongting Lake where he was.

 

***

 

The area around his eyes was sunken.

His eyes were full of bloodshot veins.

He seemed to have lost about ten geun in weight over the past few days.

Naturally, his face had also grown gaunt.

Recently, everyone who saw him spoke words of concern.

Nevertheless, Gung Mu-hyeok’s condition had worsened further.

Gung Mu-hyeok was constitutionally weak from birth. Was that why? He was an eccentric.

Because his body was weak, he formed a marriage alliance with Seonyu Valley. Of course, it wasn’t a marriage based purely on calculated benefits.

Because his body was weak, what he could do was limited, and he became an eccentric absorbed in those limitations.

But he was a genius.

A genius who might appear once in a hundred years.

That’s why he became Ryeon-ju despite his weak body.

Nevertheless, he focused more on his own affairs than on Ryeon’s business.

A Ryeon-ju with a weak body who avoided Ryeon’s affairs.

Naturally, Gung Do-hyeok had no choice but to handle those duties as deputy Ryeon-ju.

Though called deputy Ryeon-ju, the situation was no different from being Ryeon-ju.

Gung Do-hyeok was satisfied with this reality.

Until they came.

Now it was different.

He naturally came to think that he should become Ryeon-ju.

Now that Gung Mu-hyeok and Gung So-yu were recovering, it felt like the Ryeon-ju position that should rightfully be his was being taken away.

Having something and then losing it.

He was suffering from such a sense of loss.

Of course, he had never actually possessed it, and it wasn’t Gung Do-hyeok’s to begin with.

However, the small seed they had planted became a great tree, making Gung Do-hyeok think such thoughts.

He had worried and suffered for several days and nights.

Finally, Gung Do-hyeok made his decision.

His two eyes were tinged with red.

It wasn’t simply bloodshot.

It was a red light where sinister and cruel desires resided.

He hung the flag they had given him at the designated location.

The flag positioned naturally among numerous other flags, as if it had originally been there.

After watching it for a moment, Gung Do-hyeok headed toward the deep forest of the back garden.

“Three days, was it?”

The flag had been raised, and they said they would come looking for him at this place within three days at the latest.

Gung Do-hyeok sat cross-legged.

He entered meditation with his eyes closed.

He had already decided to go into seclusion training for three days, telling others not to look for him and designating the back garden as off-limits.

He just needed to wait for them here.

 

The promised three days passed.

Deep in the night.

As the three days were coming to an end.

A sudden wind blew across Gung Do-hyeok’s face.

“Hoo-ah. It seems you’ve made your decision?”

And a familiar voice was heard.

Gung Do-hyeok opened his eyes.

Night clothes covered in dirt and dust everywhere.

It looked like he had hurriedly been somewhere and back.

“You look busy.”

Gung Do-hyeok’s calm voice.

The Masked Man stared intently at Gung Do-hyeok’s eyes.

The whites of his eyes had turned bright red.

“Ho. It seems you’ve made up your mind.”

The Masked Man spoke as if finding it interesting.

Gung Do-hyeok nodded slightly.

“As it happens, I had something to confirm so I went to Muchang. I was the only one who could go near Muchang… Just then, you came looking for us, so I really rushed back frantically.”

The place where Manmulryeon is located is Cheonjung Mountain on the east side of Yeonam County in Henan Province.

Since it’s a place where many good minerals are buried, Manmulryeon established itself there.

For blacksmiths, good minerals were precious treasures more important than anything else.

It was about nine hundred li away from Muchang, so it wasn’t that far.

Even so, it wasn’t close enough to come in just three days, which is why he appeared in such a state.

Considering the time it took to receive the news, he had returned in almost two days.

“What will you do?”

The Masked Man erased his playful expression and asked with a serious attitude.

“I must become the Ryeon-ju. My brother and nephew… I’ll exclude them.”

“Exactly how…?”

“They shouldn’t exist in this world.”

It was a dry, emotionless voice without a trace of warmth.

When that answer came from Gung Do-hyeok’s mouth, the Masked Man nodded greatly as if satisfied.

“Good. Very good.”

Had there been some change during the three days of meditation?

Gung Do-hyeok looked at the Masked Man indifferently.

“Ho. Something has changed about you. Have you made progress?”

The Masked Man spoke as if finding that appearance interesting.

Just a short while ago, Gung Do-hyeok had been extremely excited and bursting with anger.

“If I’ve decided to become a demon, I should change.”

The Masked Man smiled beneath his mask.

“Good. You’ve become much closer to us. From now on, you can call me Sam Ryeong-ju.”

The Masked Man, no, Sam Ryeong-ju spoke while giving a cupped fist salute.

“Then how much will you intervene?”

And the question that followed.

“Can I choose?”

“Of course. Will you act directly? Or will you help us act?”

“First I’ll help, and if that fails, I’ll act directly.”

“That alone is sufficient.”

“Then what should I do now?”

Gung Do-hyeok looked at Sam Ryeong-ju.

“Give us the Ten Thousand Heaven Gold Chain Explosive Thunder.”

A calm answer.

But the content was not so ordinary.

This time, Gung Do-hyeok couldn’t maintain his indifference and frowned.

“You know better than anyone what kind of item that is.”

“Of course. We’re going through all this trouble because of it.”

“If you’re planning to disassemble it for research, give up. It’s a hidden weapon that self-destructs the moment you try to disassemble it.”

“Of course not. We’re going to use it. We really need it.”

Gung Do-hyeok frowned once again.

Knowing well the power of the Ten Thousand Heaven Gold Chain Explosive Thunder, he couldn’t easily believe those words.

“Ah, one Ten Thousand Heaven Gold Chain Explosive Thunder won’t do. Since you can only obtain one anyway… you’ll also need to get about ten Ten Thousand Heaven Blood Thunder.”

This time, Gung Do-hyeok shook his head with an incredulous expression.

“Are you trying to erase an entire sect?”

Though it was an exaggerated expression, if ten Ten Thousand Heaven Blood Thunder plus one Ten Thousand Heaven Gold Chain Explosive Thunder were combined, it would indeed produce earth-shaking power.

As Sam Ryeong-ju said, only one Ten Thousand Heaven Gold Chain Explosive Thunder could be obtained.

One for self-defense that his brother had prepared for him because he was the vice Ryeon-ju.

He would have to give that up.

Other Ten Thousand Heaven Gold Chain Explosive Thunder could only be taken out by the Ryeon-ju alone.

“Seeing that you know I can only obtain one, you must also know what it is. This isn’t just helping – you’re asking me to act directly, aren’t you?”

At Gung Do-hyeok’s question, Sam Ryeong-ju shook his head slightly.

“There are quite a few excellent marksmen in the world. And anyway, we’ll use that item elsewhere. It’s not something to use on the Ryeon-ju or Yeong-ae.”

Sam Ryeong-ju continued speaking incomprehensibly.

“This is getting frustrating. I’d like you to explain clearly so I can understand. Don’t speak like you’re solving riddles.”

There was a slight irritation mixed in his voice.

“Do you know a man named Ha Mu-baek?”

Sam Ryeong-ju’s question.

He knew him.

As vice Ryeon-ju acting on behalf of the Ryeon-ju, he naturally came to know this person.

“Most people in the Jeongcheon Alliance know a man named Ha Mu-baek, but they don’t know what kind of monster he really is. Even those who think they know his true nature don’t know his real identity.”

“So?”

“But we know very well. That’s why we also know what minimum force is needed to face him.”

“How much?”

“As I said. Ten Ten Thousand Heaven Blood Thunder, one Ten Thousand Heaven Gold Chain Explosive Thunder.”

At Sam Ryeong-ju’s nonchalant answer, this time Gung Do-hyeok openly showed his emotions.

“Are you telling me to believe that insane talk right now?!? Pouring all of that on one individual!!!”

Having expected such a reaction, Sam Ryeong-ju remained calm.

“Even doing that, it’s uncertain whether we can catch him.”

At Sam Ryeong-ju’s reaction, Gung Do-hyeok’s face contorted.

“Sam Ryeong-ju. If I believe your words as they are… that man is at a level where even calling him a monster would be insufficient… and you’re saying I have to become enemies with such a person?”

“He’s currently in Muchang. And we’ve confirmed he’s staying close to the Ryeon-ju and Yeong-ae. To exclude the Ryeon-ju and Yeong-ae, we have no choice but to clash with him.”

Come to think of it, there was content in the Guard Corps’ report that an instructor named Ha Mu-baek from Gyoryong Hall had visited and stayed together for about two days.

Who would have thought that Ha Mu-baek was that Ha Mu-baek.

“Hmm…”

Though he had firmly decided to become a demon, an enormous obstacle appeared from the very start.

Who would have thought such a monster would be on his brother and nephew’s side.

Even if he pondered it, the outcome was already decided.

“Ten Ten Thousand Heaven Blood Thunder aren’t easy to obtain either. When they’re ready, I’ll give them to you together then.”

“Understood. Then.”

With that, Sam Ryeong-ju disappeared, and Gung Do-hyeok slowly made his way back to his residence.

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