Chapter 134 : Chapter 134
Chapter 134 Taecheong Pill (4)
Cheonsu Jin-in, who had been pressing Dancheon Hak as if interrogating him, pushed all matters to the back as soon as his Senior Uncle, Wuji Jin-in, appeared.
It should be called the dignity possessed by a senior of the sect, and could be evaluated as the proper hierarchy of the renowned Nine Sects Wudang.
Did you come all the way here because of the incident?
The Sword Emperor, who pretended as if he had put the mundane world behind him by secluding himself in Nogundang, seemed to know the full story as well.
Yes. I must be thorough.
Indeed, like an Inspection Squad Leader.
Thank you.
Wuji Jin-in smiled benevolently as if he liked Cheonsu Jin-in’s stubbornness.
By the way, you made a wasted trip this time. Since those three fellows have been with me since last night, it would be right to exclude them from the line of suspects.
But...
Why? Are you unable to trust even this Senior Uncle?
Absolutely not.
Then it is done. Continue your hard work.
It was a clear dismissal order.
...I will take my leave.
Cheonsu Jin-in did not completely withdraw his eyes of suspicion, but he could not refuse Wuji Jin-in’s words.
Let us go back.
Yes.
With a lingering gait, Cheonsu Jin-in and the Inspection Squad members moved away from Nogundang.
Leaving behind the departing Cheonsu Jin-in, my gaze headed towards Wuji Jin-in.
A master of the level of the Sword Emperor could not fail to know the fact that I and my brothers returned to the hermitage only in the morning.
I clearly knew the fact that he already existed here when I led my brothers back to the Sword Emperor’s hermitage.
‘What on earth...’
Why he acted like that, it was something I could not know.
.
.
..
In the Jianghu Murim, especially in the renowned Nine Sects, generation (rank) is an absolute power and authority that can be called an heirloom sword.
It means that the power that can scold even the Sect Leader Taecheong Jin-in of the Hyeon generation lies in the generation rank of the Mu (Nothingness/Void) generation, not in the Sword Emperor’s martial arts.
Comparing it to a clan, if the Clan Head, a martial artist in his prime, holds absolute power, but the Grand Elder (Retired Clan Head) whose martial arts have declined walks in, the Clan Head bowing his head follows the same logic.
Because if one scolds one's father just because one's martial arts are strong, it would be no different from immorality.
Expressed in the sect way, it would be the great sin of Deceiving Teachers and Destroying Ancestors.
It would be right to see this order called seniority between young and old as a law that has ruled the mundane world for a long time.
Since the Daoist Sect is not completely out of the mundane world either, it cannot be free from this law.
Therefore, even if Cheonsu Jin-in wore the nameplate of Inspection Squad Leader, it would be right to view opposing Wuji Jin-in as impossible. Because he is not just one generation, but a whopping two generations higher.
Wouldn't it be impossible for the Inspection Squad Leader to commit the sin of Deceiving Teachers and Destroying Ancestors, which is treated most severely in the Daoist Sect, himself?
Anyway, thanks to Wuji Jin-in defending us, it would be right to judge that we are safe for the time being.
It means it has become impossible to interrogate or arrest us until firm physical evidence or clear witness accounts are secured.
Because the dignity possessed by the sect senior called Wuji Jin-in cannot be damaged.
Because of that, it was a situation where one had to question it even more.
It is because I know the fact that the deceased of the previous generation (elders) know the power their status holds, so they do not intervene in worldly affairs easily.
However, I could not guess at all the reason why such a Sword Emperor defended us not based on truth, but by even telling a lie to get us out of a predicament.
Sword Emperor elder.
Why do you call?
Why did you do that?
What do you mean?
Wuji Jin-in feigned ignorance wearing a mischievous smile.
It is a story I tell every time, but in dealing with a superior, a frontal breakthrough can be called the most excellent countermeasure.
I mean the fact that you told a lie to Cheonsu Jin-in.
Oops.
At my straightforward words, Wuji Jin-in put on a pretense of being surprised.
What kind of matter is this. I thought you guys were here all night, were you not?
...You know, don't you.
Oh my, I must inform that fellow Cheonsu of this fact even now.
Wuji Jin-in made a gesture to chase Cheonsu Jin-in, but I did not move an inch.
Tsk. As expected, you bastard are no fun.
Wuji Jin-in, who was grumbling alone, met my gaze.
Myeong-ah.
Yes.
Did you bastard steal the Taecheong Pill?
No.
Then did those guys steal it?
That is also not true.
Since it was the truth without an inch of falsehood, it was an answer that didn't even need to use the skilled technique of lying.
Then it is done.
To the Sword Emperor Wuji Jin-in, who answered like that and turned around hollowly, I had no choice but to ask again.
If we look for the reason, it was because a glimpse of some unknown sensation was stimulating my brain.
Is that the end?
What more would be needed?
Isn't it something you could interrogate about?
The hollow Sword Emperor turned his figure again.
The mischievous smile and ambiguity disappeared, and the dignity of a Grandmaster dwelt on Wuji Jin-in’s young face.
I did it because I believe in you. Since it is certain that you bastard did not steal it, isn't there no need to argue right and wrong with the children of the Inspection Squad?
As my expression was still puzzled, he gave me a teaching again.
Did I not say it? Considering that one believes only after seeing, only after knowing, would not be right. That is merely knowing.
Whether they felt vertigo from the Sword Emperor’s Zen-like answer, Dancheon Hak and Lee Chun-baek, who were rigid, were also listening attentively to the Sword Emperor’s words before we knew it.
I do not know you guys fully. Even if one knows ten fathoms under water, one does not know one fathom inside a man; since that is the truth. Just because I have aged, I do not indulge in the recklessness that I know the inside of a person clearly.
His words would be correct.
Knowing a person fully is impossible.
Therefore, believing fully is difficult. It would be no stretch to view it as impossible.
Isn't the fact that while I try to trust Lee Chun-baek fully, I sometimes watch his mood, for that very reason?
Regardless of my sentiment, the Sword Emperor continued his words.
However, I believe the fact that you are children who would not do such a deed. If that belief is wrong, it would be that my discernment was wrong, not that you deceived me.
Is that all?
Since I intended to believe in you, it would be right to just believe. Because that is soon my conviction.
At that moment, the Sword Emperor’s words touched me as a glimpse of enlightenment like a mantra.
At the same time, the clues I had missed interlocked like cogwheels.
-It is truly a situation where a ghost would wail.
Brother Dancheon Hak’s muttering.
-Believing in what cannot be seen, in what is unknown, is exactly conviction.
Wuji Jin-in’s teaching interpreting the Spiritual Sensory Map into language.
-Giggle. That was beginner’s luck.
His detestable laugh.
-Fortunately, since you have the experience of the Spiritual Sensory Map, you have no choice but to move forward on your own from now on.
The teaching the Sword Emperor gave me last.
And...
The strange incongruity I felt while guarding Youngeun Palace.
‘...Was it that.’
A complete picture was created by fitting together fragmentary information.
It would be the moment a skilled informant is filled with the most euphoria.
Perhaps I am grasping the glimpse of the Spiritual Sensory Map, of which I could not understand the reason at all, right now.
* * *
Actually, it would be right to evaluate the current situation as a very big crisis for me.
I am not speaking of the situation where I could be misunderstood as the thief of the Taecheong Pill, but because I am placed in a situation where it is difficult to acquire the Taecheong Pill.
If I do not uncover this mysterious phenomenon called Shadowless Divine Thief and retrieve the Taecheong Pill at least, it would be right to view the possibility of the Taecheong Pill entering my hands as converging to zero (Mu).
The Five Great Elixirs of Murim is a great name. It means the secret treasures and rare objects of the Murim.
I know the fact that they could occupy such a position because the quantity of elixirs possessing natural efficacy is small.
If even the existing stock has been stolen, I cannot see a breakthrough at all.
If it were just a problem of not being able to take the rare object called Taecheong Pill, it would be a matter of regretting and ending it, but the biggest problem lies in the fact that there are absolutely no substitutes.
It is because I aim for the Healing Sage's Mind Cultivation Art - 6th Stage: Pacifying the World.
-You must surely acquire all of the Five Great Elixirs of Murim to be able to reach Pacifying the World.
The faces I have acquired with the Healing Sage's Mind Cultivation Art while reaching the Fifth Stage are Immaculate Pomegranate, Vermilion Fruit, Ten-Thousand-Year-Old Fleeceflower Root, Ten-Thousand-Year-Old Snow Ginseng, and Ten-Thousand-Year-Old Extreme Blood Treasure.
Since they are all spiritual medicines for which the names peerless or supreme are not wasted, it is a situation where only with the Five Great Elixirs of Murim is the harmony of nature and artifice possible.
‘Surely’, ‘All’ of them.
At least the Azure Scale Elixir was absorbed by my skin, so maybe I should say it is fortunate that it was excluded from the objects of harmony.
Otherwise, until the Six Great Elixirs of Murim were born, the path to Healing Sage's Mind Cultivation Art - 6th Stage: Pacifying the World might have been far off.
Anyway...
It would be right to break through the crisis where every step is nullified because I cannot acquire the Taecheong Pill.
Fortunately, thanks to the enlightenment just now, I seem to have found a breakthrough.
Sword Emperor elder.
Why, again.
At first, Wuji Jin-in was delighted every time I called him because of the title ‘Elder’, but since this also repeats, he seems annoyed.
I must go find Cheonsu Jin-in.
Did you feel a pang of conscience? It is done if you didn't steal it. Whether you were here all night or not is not an important fact.
Since there is a fact that even Wuji Jin-in, who seemed to know everything, does not know, it would be right to inform him.
No.
Ho?
Only then did Wuji Jin-in notice the confidence dwelling on my face.
I might be able to find the Taecheong Pill.
Since it was said there is no perfect crime in the world, Shadowless Divine Thief will be uncovered by me.
May I watch too?
The old young man did not hide the interesting expression seeping into his whole face as if curiosity had moved him after a long time.
Yes, Elder, you must help a little.
Since it is a matter of the sect, it would be right for me to step forward.
If I carry the Sword Emperor’s prestige on my back, it would be good to view it as everything going smoothly.
* * *
I do not like authority and hierarchy, but I know the fact that sometimes they are necessary.
Cheonsu-ya.
Yes, Senior Uncle.
When Wuji Jin-in walked out and called the Inspection Squad Leader, Cheonsu Jin-in marched over promptly.
Authority is needed to summon the Inspection Squad Leader Cheonsu Jin-in, one of the busiest figures in the current situation, at once, so the accompaniment with Wuji Jin-in implies it was a truly efficient choice.
This fellow says he has something to say.
Divine Dragon of Dancheon?
He says so.
Cheonsu Jin-in’s gaze headed towards me.
Unavoidably, disapproval oozed from Cheonsu Jin-in’s expression.
Seeing that even a Daoist who would have accumulated cultivation until reaching the age of knowing the will of heaven (50) cannot easily hide his expression, I know how difficult mind study is.
I am sorry to call you in the midst of busyness.
Actually, in Cheonsu Jin-in’s view, my current conduct would look like a fox borrowing the tiger’s authority, so it would be right not to hold a grudge against him.
Cheonsu Jin-in is a busy person, so I went straight to the main point.
I think I know the whereabouts of the Taecheong Pill.
Simultaneous with my words ending, Cheonsu Jin-in’s eyes flashed.
I guess it is because he heard such a story in a state where he hadn't completely relieved his suspicion of me and my brothers.
Where is it?
Ah, it would be right to correct myself. I think we can track it if we go to Youngeun Palace.
I sought Cheonsu Jin-in because Youngeun Palace is currently closed. Preserving the crime scene is originally the basic of investigation, isn't it?
Authorization from the person in charge will be needed to break that procedure.
We found no traces even with Wudang’s tracking arts. There is nothing in Youngeun Palace.
This person has a method.
Actually, I know the fact that it is a claim close to unreasonable persistence.
Moreover, I also know the fact that there is room for it to be misunderstood as words disparaging Wudang’s capability.
But since it is a realm impossible to explain with words, there is no other way.
As I guessed, Cheonsu Jin-in’s expression hardened scarily.
Cheonsu Jin-in, originally possessing a firm impression, took on anger and transformed into an impression reminiscent of a fierce tiger.
Actually, if I were talking nonsense, my liver would have chilled and I would have confessed the truth, but since I am speaking the truth now, I could remain unshaken.
I just met Cheonsu Jin-in’s gaze confidently.
Cheonsu-ya.
Wuji Jin-in called such a Cheonsu Jin-in once again.
Yes, Senior Uncle.
If you cannot trust Myeong-i, trust me.
...
Let us go to Youngeun Palace.
...Yes.
Cheonsu Jin-in could not refuse Wuji Jin-in’s words.
I say it repeatedly, but I hate authority and hierarchy.
But I cannot deny the fact that the thought ‘It might be a little comfortable’ arises naturally.