The World’s Greatest Martial Arts Instructor - Chapter 161

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

 

 

 

 

Chapter 161. Tell Him to Come Personally

 

 

“Tahat!”

Countless swords thrusting forward with a tremendous battle cry.

Dan Mok Un-rae couldn’t block those swords.

He couldn’t see any openings at all.

“Whew. I lost. Is something going on? Your sword seems to have gotten even sharper lately.”

At Dan Mok Un-rae’s question, Baek Ri-pyeong only smiled.

Baek Ri-pyeong’s gaze turned toward the edge of the training ground.

An instructor was standing there.

Jang I-geol.

He was a Jamryong Corps instructor dispatched from Zhongnan to Gyoryong Hall.

He was probably monitoring him due to the sect leader’s orders.

That’s what Baek Ri-pyeong thought.

He felt that there wasn’t much time left for him to stay at Gyoryong Hall.

For that reason, Baek Ri-pyeong threw himself even more fiercely into cultivation.

 

‘Today is the last day.’

Jang I-geol felt a bit regretful.

The day he had accidentally walked here and watched their cultivation.

Since that day, though it had only been three days, he had come here every day to watch their cultivation for a while.

Daily improvement.

Watching Baek Ri-pyeong’s figure making small progress every day naturally lifted his spirits.

But today he had to leave for Zhongnan.

Most instructors spent the break period at their main sect.

Though it was a short period, since he came without fail every day, it was natural for Baek Ri-pyeong to notice Jang I-geol’s presence.

‘Another unfriendly look today.’

He could understand it.

He probably thought he had come due to the sect leader’s orders.

Jang I-geol smiled bitterly and left the training ground.

Baek Ri-pyeong glanced at his retreating figure.

“Are you going to train like this tomorrow too?”

Dang Jin-san asked, looking around at the cadets.

Everyone nodded.

“Do you know what day tomorrow is?”

Dang Jin-san asked again.

The cadets just shrugged their shoulders.

“Ah, I need to go home today. I probably won’t be able to come out until late afternoon tomorrow.”

Only then did Dan Mok Un-rae speak as if he had just remembered.

“Tomorrow is New Year’s Day.”

At Dang Jin-san’s words, the other cadets finally made ‘Ah!’ expressions.

“Since Un-rae will be spending time with his family, how about the rest of us have a meal together?”

“Good. Let’s do that.”

As soon as Dang Jin-san finished speaking, Baek Ri-pyeong nodded and replied.

At Baek Ri-pyeong’s quick answer, Dang Jin-san grinned and looked around at the other cadets.

Everyone nodded in agreement.

Today was the last day of the year.

Days when they were so devoted to cultivation that they didn’t even realize this.

The cadets of Maengryong Corps 7th Unit had truly spent this year intensely.

They were determined to spend the coming second year even more intensely.

 

***

 

Deep night.

The river wind was cold.

New Year’s Eve.

A pitch-black night without even a moon.

Nevertheless, countless people came out onto the ship deck and looked around.

The time when midnight was approaching.

Now was when one year was ending and a new year was beginning.

And.

It became midnight.

“Firing!”

With a loud shout, one of the crew members shot fireworks up toward the sky.

Bang! Pop-pop!

Fireworks embroidered the dark sky.

“Wooooah!”

The cheers of passengers welcoming the new year burst forth.

Ha Mu-baek was leaning against the railing at an appropriate spot on the deck, watching the scene.

“I wonder if the water bandits from the waterway gangs might come flocking because of this.”

“Hehe. Even water bandits rest on New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day.”

A middle-aged scholar responding to Ha Mu-baek’s muttering.

Ha Mu-baek glanced at him.

His expression showed displeasure.

“Why are you acting like that?”

“Did Gongsun Elder send you?”

Gongsun Dan-gyeong, the Military Advisor of the Jeongcheon Alliance.

He was the very person who had sent Ha Mu-baek to the Maengryong Corps. Though it was said to be an order with the Alliance Leader’s approval.

To Ha Mu-baek, such a person was just an old man.

At Ha Mu-baek’s question, the middle-aged scholar’s eyes widened.

“How did you know? The Military Advisor said you wouldn’t recognize me.”

He seemed quite surprised.

And rightfully so.

He was truly just a scholar.

There wasn’t a speck of internal energy in his body.

There was no way for Ha Mu-baek to recognize him through ki sense or the Infinite Bright Wheel Eye.

Though the Jeongcheon Alliance was called a coalition of orthodox murim, it wasn’t a place with only murim people.

No, to maintain that enormous scale, there were even more people who weren’t from murim.

Cheonmok Pavilion was the most core place in the Jeongcheon Alliance that handled all kinds of information under heaven and established the alliance’s strategies and tactics.

And that work was an area that most murim people, who only focused on martial arts cultivation, couldn’t handle.

So for Cheonmok Pavilion to handle those difficult and complex tasks, scholars were absolutely necessary.

This middle-aged man must be one of those scholars.

“The presence of Cheonmok Pavilion rats circled around a few times, and a middle-aged scholar who had been wandering around me since this afternoon suddenly speaks to me? You’re from Cheonmok Pavilion, obviously.”

At Ha Mu-baek’s explanation, the middle-aged scholar nodded.

The cause was that he had been continuously around, watching for the right moment to approach Ha Mu-baek.

If he had just pretended not to know from a distance and then struck up a conversation, I wouldn’t have noticed.

“I’ll keep that in mind for next time.”

“Because of Haomun?”

At Ha Mu-baek’s question, the middle-aged scholar shook his head.

“Because of the Blood Cult.”

Ha Mu-baek nodded lightly at the response.

“You keep your ears quite open, I see.”

“Well, aren’t we all just letting things be while knowing about each other?”

The middle-aged scholar smiled broadly.

The meaning of those words was simple.

He had obtained information from spies planted in Haomun and Sahaeryeon.

“You seem to have planted them quite well. It hasn’t even been a few days.”

The middle-aged scholar only smiled.

“But why should I tell you that?”

“He said it would be difficult for you to handle the Blood Cult remnants alone.”

It was a message from Military Advisor Gongsun Dan-gyeong.

“Bullshit.”

Ha Mu-baek’s brief response to those words.

Still, the middle-aged scholar was smiling. He already knew Ha Mu-baek’s personality from the start.

“You leave the remnants right in front of you alone, yet you’ll do well eliminating the ones in hiding.”

“What do you mean by that…”

“Sanwol Demon Forest.”

“Ah…!”

After a small exclamation, the middle-aged scholar said nothing.

Because those words were correct.

They had suspected there might be Blood Cult remnants in Sanwol Demon Forest.

Yet they built a wall and just left it alone.

It was because of opposition from the Nine Sects and One Alliance and the Five Great Noble Families.

The sophistry that it was better to leave it that way and manage the demons for the peace of Gangho.

They had the power to turn that sophistry into accepted doctrine, and ultimately things went according to their opinion.

Regarding this matter, neither the Jeongcheon Alliance Leader nor Military Advisor Gongsun Dan-gyeong had anything to say to Ha Mu-baek.

So what could the middle-aged scholar say?

“So just go.”

Ha Mu-baek waved his hand dismissively.

Still, the middle-aged scholar couldn’t take a step.

“I’m going.”

Ha Mu-baek left the railing and started walking. The middle-aged scholar couldn’t follow behind him.

Ha Mu-baek’s back was telling him not to follow.

And so Ha Mu-baek disappeared into his ship cabin.

“As you said, it’s difficult. Hehe. There’s still time until Muchang.”

It seemed the middle-aged scholar wouldn’t give up easily either.

 

***

 

Cold air.

Clear blue sky.

Blue-green river water.

It was the scenery of New Year’s Day morning, the first day of the year.

Ha Mu-baek stood at the ship bow, breathing white vapor as he looked down at the water being cut by the ship.

“Haha, good morning. Did you sleep comfortably last night?”

The middle-aged scholar approached Ha Mu-baek with a smile.

Ha Mu-baek glanced back.

The middle-aged scholar was smiling cheerfully with thick skin.

“What do you want to know?”

At Ha Mu-baek’s question, he seemed to fall into thought for a moment.

How should he answer?

Should he obediently say what the Military Advisor wanted, or should he add some seasoning and speak appropriately?

It was a momentary dilemma, but he quickly reached a conclusion.

‘He told me not to pull any tricks.’

It was what Gongsun Dan-gyeong had earnestly requested. The middle-aged scholar was faithful to his superior’s orders.

“The whereabouts of the surviving Ten Elders, the reason Blood Flying Shadow researched the Annihilation Technique, and its results. He told me to find out those things.”

It meant they already knew everything else.

The alias Blood Flying Shadow had already leaked out.

‘Someone is running around until their feet sweat, while someone else sits comfortably and gobbles everything up.’

Ha Mu-baek briefly glanced in the direction where the Jeongcheon Alliance was located.

He didn’t want to cooperate obediently.

“What’s the price?”

“What do you desire?”

The middle-aged scholar asked with a relaxed face. His attitude suggested he could grant most anything Ha Mu-baek might want.

He had probably received assurance from Gongsun Dan-gyeong and been delegated considerable authority.

It was obvious.

He had experienced Gongsun Elder’s schemes many times.

If it was him, who understood his temperament well, he would have given detailed instructions.

That’s why the middle-aged scholar was being so careful and obedient.

“Tell him to come directly.”

Leaving those words, Ha Mu-baek entered his ship cabin again.

The middle-aged scholar watched him with a troubled expression.

Because he understood who the target of “come directly” was.

To tell Chief Military Advisor Gongsun Dan-gyeong to come directly.

‘How can the Military Advisor’s words never be wrong?’

Even when he heard these words from Gongsun Dan-gyeong, he had thought “surely not.”

While at Cheonmok Pavilion, he had heard reports about Ha Mu-baek’s reckless temperament.

But experiencing it directly before his eyes.

It was even worse.

“He said it’s just stubbornness, so try probing once more slowly…”

The middle-aged scholar muttered quietly to himself.

Those were the words Gongsun Dan-gyeong had told him to respond with when he came looking.

 

Time passed quickly.

The ship also raced swiftly down the Yangtze River.

Three days after New Year’s Day.

The ship arrived at Muchang.

Ha Mu-baek got off the ship and looked around.

Having spent nearly a year in this place, he felt glad to see the familiar scenery.

As he walked toward Gyoryong Hall, the middle-aged scholar followed with quick steps.

“Aren’t you leaving?”

Ha Mu-baek asked as if annoyed.

“You haven’t given me an answer yet.”

Three days since that New Year’s morning.

The middle-aged scholar had probed Ha Mu-baek once a day, but no answer had come back.

In the end, this is how they came down from the ship together and followed all the way to Gyoryong Hall.

“I told you it’s nothing. Stop being such a bother.”

“Since it’s nothing, just tell me then.”

The middle-aged scholar replied with a bright smile.

Ha Mu-baek turned his head and continued walking.

He had sent a troublesome person.

He maintained proper courtesy to the extent that it wouldn’t provoke Ha Mu-baek’s temper, but at the same time, he wasn’t intimidated by Ha Mu-baek’s aura either.

That smooth demeanor.

Gongsun Dan-gyeong had sent the most optimal person to deal with Ha Mu-baek.

Ha Mu-baek found this even more irritating.

It was as if Gongsun Dan-gyeong was saying, ‘Look here, I understand you this well.’

The moment that thought crossed his mind, Ha Mu-baek’s mood soured for no reason.

Internal energy gathered in his hands.

He clenched and then opened his right fist.

‘Should I just blow everything up?’

A momentary impulse arose, but he soon shook his head.

Hadn’t he despised acting on whims without reason like that?

To others, it might seem like Ha Mu-baek acted recklessly according to his mood, but there were always his own reasons and justifications behind everything.

The middle-aged scholar understood this fact as well, which is why he was fearlessly hovering around Ha Mu-baek like this.

All to fulfill his mission.

 

They soon arrived at Gyoryong Hall.

Ha Mu-baek’s expression was peculiar as he passed through the main gate.

An expression of facing yet another annoyance.

Reading that expression, the middle-aged scholar showed an intrigued look.

What could be happening to make him react like that?

Following along would reveal the answer.

Ha Mu-baek headed straight to the Maengryong Corps 7th Group Training Ground.

Training was in full swing there.

“What are you all doing? Isn’t this the break period?”

“Instructor!”

Ha Mu-baek appeared suddenly.

All the cadets welcomed their instructor. Even Ju U-myeong, who wasn’t Ha Mu-baek’s student.

One person.

Only Baek Ri-pyeong had a complex expression.

A face that said what was bound to come had finally arrived.

Ha Mu-baek noticed that look.

 

Two hours later.

The middle-aged scholar, Guyang Myeong-won, wore an expression of not knowing what to do with this situation.

It was because of Ha Mu-baek’s question.

“You asked what I wanted, right? Can you cover for me even if I turn the Zhongnan Sect upside down?”

The Zhongnan Sect.

Even if their influence had declined somewhat, they were still one of the Nine Sects One Alliance.

Moreover, it was the sect of the Silver River Sword Hero, who had achieved great merit and died gloriously in the last war.

What could he say to someone wanting to turn such a place upside down?

The person before him possessed both the ability and temperament to carry out such an act.

‘Military Advisor. This is too difficult a problem for me.’

It was truly perplexing.

“Well, actually, I’ve never cared about such things anyway.”

Ha Mu-baek chuckled and stood up, then disappeared.

All Guyang Myeong-won could do was urgently send word to Cheonmok Pavilion.

 

 

==========

Happy New Year~!

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