The World’s Greatest Martial Arts Instructor - Chapter 500

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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 500. That’s Interesting

 

 

Zhuge So-rin.

The granddaughter of Zhuge Nam-cheon, the Family Head of the Zhuge Family, and Zhuge Ming’s youngest sibling.

Though not known to gossipmongers and thus unknown to the world, within the family estate her beauty was said to rival even the Five Beauties of Murim.

Her wit was even more outstanding than such beauty.

“Hmm.”

She spread out the letter that had come for her elder brother and fell into thought.

Grandfather was definitely planning something big.

He was even trying to call Elder Brother back, wasn’t he?

Recently, she had noticed many more eyes watching her, and it was probably because of this letter.

If she left her quarters, they would surely check the letter before leaving.

But that didn’t matter.

It was just an ordinary letter asking about daily life between siblings.

Only she and her elder brother knew the cipher within it.

Of course, if the clever scholars of the Zhuge Family tried to decode it, they would figure it out, but it would take at least a month.

She had been that careful when creating the cipher.

It wasn’t for any other reason.

It was rebellion against Grandfather, the Family Head.

It was rebellion against that thoroughly meticulous personality that wouldn’t be satisfied unless he knew absolutely everything about the family estate.

It was a cipher the two of them had created since childhood.

Zhuge So-rin sat down and wrote a reply to her elder brother’s letter.

It contained what she had felt and learned while staying at the family estate.

“Is Pal-no there?”

“Yes, Young Lady.”

Zhuge So-rin called for one of the servants in charge of her residence and its surroundings.

He was the only trustworthy person among those around her.

Of course, this letter would eventually be seized by family estate people and its contents fully revealed, but even so, Pal-no was the only one who could properly send the letter, which is why she sought him out.

“Go to Yunghyeon and send this letter to Gyoryong Hall in Muchang.”

Yunghyeon was a fairly large city below Yungjoong Mountain, and to use an external messenger service rather than the family estate’s messenger birds, one had to go out that far.

“Yes. I understand.”

Taking the letter and silver coins that Zhuge So-rin handed him, Pal-no bowed deeply, then turned and disappeared.

She felt a secretive presence fade away.

“Tsk.”

Zhuge So-rin clicked her tongue.

She left her residence and headed toward the family estate’s Great Library.

‘This was where it all started.’

One day two years ago.

After Grandfather, the Family Head, had visited the family estate’s Secret Vault and Great Library.

Change swept through the family estate.

After grasping this fact, Zhuge So-rin would come to the Great Library whenever she had time and examine various places, but she still hadn’t discovered what had changed Grandfather.

 

***

 

The deep valleys of Yungjoong Mountain.

Zhuge Nam-cheon had climbed a tall tree and was looking at one spot.

There, a layered formation that ordinary people could never detect was spread out.

A staggering nine formations layered on top of each other.

At the center of the deepest formation that formed the foundation, a core that Zhuge Nam-cheon had personally embedded was positioned.

It was just an ordinary-looking stone that could be seen anywhere.

To someone who didn’t know, it would look like just a common pebble stuck in the ground.

Of course, if anyone happened to discover that stone and reached out to pick it up, the formation would activate.

Right now, even the outermost formation wasn’t activated – it was in an extremely peaceful state.

Even if an herb gatherer came here, they would just think of it as one spot in the deep valleys of Yungjoong Mountain.

Zhuge Nam-cheon leaped down from the tree.

Arriving at the center of the formation in an instant, he landed softly in front of the core.

[What’s the matter? Nam-cheon.]

At that moment.

An existence spoke into Zhuge Nam-cheon’s mind.

“Customers will be coming here soon, so I stopped by to check. Chaos.”

Zhuge Nam-cheon answered with a slight smile, whispering in a small voice.

While calling the other party Chaos.

Chaos.

One of the six primordial fragments.

That name flowed from Zhuge Nam-cheon’s lips.

[That’s interesting.]

Chaos replied.

“It certainly will be.”

[Demon Cult members?]

Chaos asked.

Zhuge Nam-cheon’s encounter with Chaos had happened by chance in the family’s Secret Vault.

To be precise, it was the library first.

The moment he saw one of the martial arts manuals collected there, he felt an inexplicable attraction and studied it.

As a result, the strange energy he sensed within that secret manual was an energy from his memory.

It was the energy he had felt by chance in the Secret Vault and tilted his head about.

Thanks to Zhuge Nam-cheon’s extraordinary memory, he could recall it, and Zhuge Nam-cheon soon moved to the Secret Vault to find it.

That was the stone now embedded as the core of the layered formation.

It was a stone that had been stored in the Zhuge Family’s Secret Vault, classified as an artifact worth studying because it irregularly emanated an unidentified strange energy.

Though its appearance was that of an extremely ordinary pebble.

Since its origins were unknown, it had slept in the Zhuge Family’s Secret Vault for hundreds of years before meeting Zhuge Nam-cheon and awakening its will.

“Not the Demon Cult.”

[How disappointing.]

The reason Chaos answered this way was simple.

Because he was the one who had wanted the Demon Cult.

After hearing about the current state of Gangho from Zhuge Nam-cheon, he had shown interest in the Heavenly Demon Divine Art.

When Zhuge Nam-cheon told him some of the Heavenly Demon Divine Art incantations that the Zhuge Family had collected, Chaos sought out the Demon Cult.

The condition of the deal he proposed was precisely this nine-layered formation.

No matter how great the Zhuge Family was, there was a reason why this formation, which they couldn’t implement even in the last war, was now completed so perfectly.

“Heh. What exactly do you want?”

[Chaos.]

It was a brief answer.

“Yes. In that process, the Zhuge Family will stand tall over All Under Heaven. This Gangho will become the Zhuge’s Murim.”

Zhuge Nam-cheon answered, muttering quietly.

His eyes once again gleamed with mysterious and varied light.

At its foundation lay a terrible desire.

“Well, the one who comes before the Demon Cult won’t be disappointing either. That monster I told you about before is coming. Ha Mu-baek. He’s the perfect opponent to test whether this nine-layered formation truly has the power you claim.”

[Ha Mu-baek…]

Chaos seemed to be recalling the story it had heard from Zhuge Nam-cheon.

[Well, it doesn’t matter. No one will be able to leave alive. They’ll merely become sacrifices to Chaos.]

At Chaos’s response, Zhuge Nam-cheon nodded and turned around.

Secretly raising Seseegwaneum Temple’s messengers nearby was also proceeding smoothly.

Everything was falling into place perfectly.

The growing power of Seseegwaneum Temple, the enormous wealth flowing in from it, the nine-layered formation completed based on that foundation, and the Jeongcheon Alliance and Ha Mu-baek who had caught the scent.

The Demon Cult should have caught the scent too, but there had been no movement from them yet.

 

***

 

Seok Cheon-gyeong.

The sole survivor among the sons of the former Demonic Cult Leader Seok Won-cho, and the current Demonic Cult Leader.

He had succeeded in gathering all the fragments of emptiness, and with them completed the Heavenly Demon Formless Void Divine Art, which was the perfect and true form of the Heavenly Demon Divine Art.

Though he had not yet reached the ultimate peak, he had achieved sufficient mastery.

Now his emergence was truly not far off.

With the Heavenly Demon Formless Void Divine Art, which had regained its true form after hundreds of years, he would surely be able to place all under heaven beneath the Demon Cult’s feet.

“Just a little more, just a little more now.”

Just as Seok Cheon-gyeong muttered this and was about to begin his cultivation.

[Not yet.]

A hollow voice echoed in his mind.

This had happened occasionally since he had gathered all the fragments of emptiness and completed the Heavenly Demon Formless Void Divine Art.

“What did you say?”

A voice of unknown identity.

No matter how much he cultivated and raised his level, Seok Cheon-gyeong could not determine the source and identity of this voice that had suddenly begun to speak to him.

[Wait.]

At the voice that spoke once more, Seok Cheon-gyeong’s expression twisted.

The first word meant “not yet,” and the word that followed meant “stay low and wait.”

It was natural for his expression to twist.

He had thought that great achievement was right before his eyes.

“What nonsense! Come out right now!”

For that reason, after hearing the voice, Seok Cheon-gyeong became angry for the first time.

Forgetting that he had been about to begin cultivation, he shouted loudly.

Demanding that it appear immediately and explain the reason.

However, the voice was not heard again after that.

In the end, Seok Cheon-gyeong had no choice but to calm his anger and ponder the meaning once more.

The short words casually thrown out by that voice, which had been heard since he completed all the formulas of the Heavenly Demon Formless Void Divine Art, had provided important clues to Seok Cheon-gyeong until now.

That had been the case until now.

Though he had become angry thinking that the words suddenly heard today were different, his past experiences made Seok Cheon-gyeong calm his rage.

‘If this too is a clue… it must be telling me that the time is still not right, so I should stay low and wait longer. What kind of being could it be? What does it know?’

Seok Cheon-gyeong’s questions could only deepen.

At the same time, he felt uneasy.

Currently, the Demon Cult was minimizing its activities.

After gathering all the fragments of emptiness, almost all activities had been suspended until he could complete it.

Yet it was telling him to stay low and wait.

What had he done recently?

While having such concerns, a fact came to Seok Cheon-gyeong’s mind.

It was something his son had come to report not long ago.

He had said that someone was impersonating the Demon Cult.

He had said they were growing their power by even circulating wooden statues carved with his late father’s face.

So he had told him to investigate those bastards.

While pondering the words to stay low because the time was not right, that fact came to mind.

Though he was uncertain.

Deciding that he should first check on what he had ordered investigated, Seok Cheon-gyeong called for Seok Mu-won.

Seok Mu-won had not brought any news since that day.

 

***

 

Ha Mu-baek, who had set his direction toward Yungjoong Mountain, had left Jiangxi Province and was now in the northern part of Hunan Province.

While moving quickly, he examined the current situation in every village he stopped at.

Though not in every village, he confirmed traces of Seseegwaneum Temple in at least one out of every two places.

It was spreading remarkably fast.

It was like a plague.

‘I suppose there are that many people dissatisfied with the world.’

One side of his chest felt heavy.

Ha Mu-baek didn’t know why he should feel such emotions, but he couldn’t help the weight in his heart.

‘What exactly are people’s desires…’

Such a question arose.

Dissatisfaction with the world ultimately came from unfulfilled desires.

There were too many such people.

Not only those who were desperately poor, but wealthy people as well.

Yet it wasn’t as if all poor people had fallen into Seseegwaneum Temple.

In Ha Mu-baek’s view, there were people who should be worrying about tomorrow’s meal, yet surprisingly had no dissatisfaction with the world.

On the other hand, he had also seen those who, despite having warehouses full of wealth, were filled with dissatisfaction toward the world and had zealously fallen into Seseegwaneum Temple.

Much of their wealth was being handed over to Seseegwaneum Temple’s messengers under the pretext of serving the world.

The more he learned, the less he understood.

It was because he faced a reality that contradicted what he thought he knew.

Ha Mu-baek looked within himself.

‘What are my desires?’

Revenge.

That was it.

As a result, hadn’t he created a blood-crazed evil spirit within himself?

In the end, the source of the evil spirit was Ha Mu-baek’s own desire.

That was why Ha Mu-baek considered the evil spirit to be himself as well.

Had he fulfilled that desire now?

He had not.

Though the Blood Cult had now been almost completely uprooted, the Demon Cult’s remnants were still intact, hiding somewhere unknown.

Only when those bastards were also completely uprooted would Ha Mu-baek’s desire be fulfilled.

Then was Ha Mu-baek himself unhappy now? Did he wish for this world to disappear?

He did not.

Ha Mu-baek was satisfied with his current life and hoped for his younger sibling Seol-ran’s happiness.

To achieve such wishes, he was doing his best even today.

To Ha Mu-baek, Seseegwaneum Temple’s doctrine sounded like nonsense.

Though Ha Mu-baek too had not fulfilled his desires, he did not wish for the world’s destruction.

What was the difference between himself and those who had fallen into Seseegwaneum Temple?

Before he knew it, he was delving into such questions.

With a premonition that at the end of this inquiry would be the evil spirit and himself, Ha Mu-baek continued to delve deeper.

To obtain that answer.

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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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