Reincarnation of the Martial Emperor

Chapter 9: Imitate me, underworld!

Hegemon of the Fist, Gang Yeon-shin.

A prodigy of his generation who destroyed The Great Sect of Autumn Shadows, which ruled the south of the Yangtze River, with just two fists.

Based on that fame, he instantly seized control of Yujiang and established the Great Tiger Gang.

That was the fact known to the world.

The number of people who knew the truth hidden behind it was extremely small.

Perhaps, after learning of my death, he might have rejoiced more than anyone.

Even I would feel as relieved as if a bad tooth had been pulled if the guy who knew the shame I wanted to hide kicked the bucket.

However.

Unfortunately for him, I am alive and well like this.

Now, he has to wag his tail at me as he always has to live.

A faithful dog.

That is the only way that hideous bastard can survive.

I have no intention of ever treating him as a human being.

“Why aren't you leaving.”

Having attended the class again, I did not teach the children of the Jaegal Clan separately.

I had said that they could sleep or rest as much as they wanted, and that it would not be a problem even if they left for other duties instead of class.

But this fellow, Moyong Baek.

Only this fellow was stubbornly keeping his seat.

“I'm sure I said that I won't be doing a review or a lecture today?”

“I have nowhere to go.”

Hmm.

I rested my chin on my hand and carefully observed his two eyes.

Colorless eyes.

Somehow, they didn't match his age.

It was an age where emotions should be readable, but strangely, nothing could be felt.

If he had embraced that much restraint at a young age, he must have had a tragic story.

But I did not deliberately open my mouth to ask.

Because life was bound to flounder in hardship, and the hardships that would come like a demon would not be picky about age.

I soon withdrew my interest.

Pang—

A fist that sharply pierced the air.

But as expected, it was not to my liking.

Although there was an enlightenment in the state of Self-Forgetting, the perfection of the body that unfolds it was another story.

To forcibly draw out the One Origin Jade Flower in this state would only be a strain on a body that was not yet mature.

‘It would be good to do the formation training one more time.’

Still, compared to before experiencing the formation, my movements had improved distinctly.

A situation where one's life is on the line multiplies a person's capability and latent potential.

It was practically a real battle, no, a training that was more than that.

‘As expected, there's no way such a thing would be possible.’

I, who had managed the Great Murim Alliance, knew better than anyone how much silver was consumed just to install a single formation.

Various ritual implements, arrangement posts, formation stones, catalysts, and above all, the high-level personnel who could handle all these expensive things like their own limbs.

It had cost a total of twenty thousand nyang to surround the outer courtyard of the Great Murim Alliance with a formation to defend against enemies. In gold coins, of course.

It was more realistic to buy and eat spiritual medicine than to train martial arts with a formation.

Of course, the labor cost of the Formation Masters of the Valley of Illusions would be half of that twenty thousand nyang, but the cost of the materials put into the formation was by no means small.

And yet, to improve my martial arts by shattering such a thing every time I trained?

No matter how much I was the Third Young Master of the Jaegal Clan, I would have no choice but to be kicked out.

“Huu…….”

To become strong.

No matter how good a head one had, the essence of martial arts that has not changed throughout the ages was to polish and complete the body.

If I were to follow the old ways, it would take a good thirty years or more to recover the skill I had as the Martial Emperor.

It was frustrating.

My chest felt so tight it was about to burst.

Kuuuung!

I stepped forward with a stomp and unfolded the Earthly Form of the Dragon Severing.

The imaginary sword in my hand bisected the opponent's upper body with a swift sword path.

I turned in a large circle and delivered five kicks, the Five Waves Consecutive Strike.

As a variation, I slid and swept the ground, the Dark Heaven Wave Wheel.

Chwaaaaaa!

Having poured out three techniques in a row like that, I stopped again, standing blankly.

“Huu…….”

These movements right now were the old way of this Martial Emperor.

The other Seven Revered all had a representative martial art that proved their identity, but I had no such signature martial art.

It might be hard to believe, but even now, I can't grasp how many martial art techniques are in my head.

These techniques, which are being displayed like an instinct, include martial arts from the Orthodox, Unorthodox, Demonic, Western Regions, Southern Barbarians, and even the Eastern Depot and the General's Office.

How do I know so many martial arts?

I just loved martial arts so much.

Unable to stop my madness for martial arts, even after becoming the Alliance Leader of the Great Murim Alliance, I used all sorts of methods to gather the martial arts of the world.

Without even knowing that my martial soul was sickening from that omnivorous nature.

To unfold the martial arts established by this genius brain, the Third Young Master of the Jaegal Clan, hundreds, thousands of techniques should no longer come to mind.

The madness of the Martial Emperor, I had to carve out this trace first.

But would that even be possible?

To remove the inertia that has dug into a human's perception?

Even to break a light habit, one had to endure all sorts of hardships, and what's more, martial arts was the very proof of my life.

As expected, even if I get to live again, the difficulty of life is not much different.

“Wow…… were you practicing martial arts?”

The fellow who had not shown any emotion at any of my words was now full of surprise.

His tone of voice had somehow changed as well.

His reaction eventually stimulated my curiosity.

“Do you know martial arts?”

“Of course, I do. I want to learn it so much.”

“But that is impossible.”

I stared intently into his flustered eyes.

“For a Moyong to practice martial arts in the inner courtyard of the Jaegal Clan, isn't that a rebellion?”

The Moyong Clan.

A family of strategy whose fame was on par with the Jaegal Clan.

They too had a time when their name was renowned as one of the Six Great Clans.

However, over a hundred years ago, when the Murim Alliance was the Gangbuk Alliance.

Caught up in a great rebellion, the Calamity of the Blood Alliance, they were completely expelled from the Orthodox Faction's sphere of influence.

The Moyongs, who had suffered the calamity of having their clan exterminated, scattered throughout the world.

Some changed their surnames and flowed into the government to become Confucian scholars, and news came that another part was hiding in some nameless manor to prepare for a comeback.

And one more secret fact.

Some of the direct descendants of the Moyong Clan swallowed their shame and survived under the eaves of the Jaegal Clan, which had been their competitor.

It was as clear as day what their lives must have been like, surviving as a collateral branch of the Jaegal Clan while bearing the disgrace of a traitor.

“I had a rough idea when I heard your surname. Who you want to save, who you want to live for.”

I returned to my seat and rested my chin on my hand, bored.

“The Moyong family, who tenaciously survived in the Crouching Dragon Hall where even the direct descendants of the Jaegal Clan find it hard to endure the competition. That alone would make your family, no, your parents proud. Anything more than that is a greed you should not have.”

Without any resistance, the boy collapsed and knelt down.

“I truly want to learn. I must learn that damn martial arts.”

I silently looked down at the young Moyong Baek.

His spirit and will were by no means befitting of his age.

In the old days, I would have accepted him with a satisfied heart.

But the timing was not good for him.

“Just now, I resolved not to unfold any initial moves for the time being. How can I, in such a state, teach anyone.”

In that moment, a hint of disappointment brushed past the boy's eyes.

However, there was no change in his spirit.

“It doesn't matter if you don't show me the initial moves.”

I was at a loss for words at his naivety.

If martial arts could be passed down orally, there would be no reason for so many sects to exist in the world.

“Do you think martial arts is a study to be learned from a book?”

No answer came.

Moyong Baek remained prostrated, hitting his head on the floor.

Thump, thump!

It was a pity.

He was a talent that the martial arts instructors of the Great Murim Alliance would have carried on their backs and run around with, but of all things, he was a fallen Moyong, and moreover, in the inner courtyard of the Jaegal Clan.

The risk was too great for me, who had no foundation yet.

But I just couldn't turn a blind eye.

Because he was so desperately sincere.

If I refused him, he looked like he would go somewhere and hang himself.

Having organized my thoughts, I opened my mouth impassively.

“I cannot teach you martial arts.”

“……”

“But I can teach you how to become strong.”

Moyong Baek, who lifted his head with surprised eyes.

“A-Are you serious!”

But there was one thing he had overlooked.

That I was the great leader of the underworld, the Alliance Leader of the Great Murim Alliance.

“I can at least make you strong enough not to get beaten up wherever you go. But what's in it for me? Even if I split my time and raise you to be strong, no benefit comes back to me.”

The boy, who had been frozen blankly, suddenly took out a bamboo slip from his bosom, which was clearly old and worn, and held it out.

Having a bad memory of bamboo slips, I did not accept the one he offered and just glared at it with distaste.

“What is this?”

“It is the treasure map left by our family.”

What did you say?

Only then did I accept the extraordinary bamboo slip and began to examine it closely.

As expected, it contained all sorts of chaotic diagrams and explanations of mechanisms, so it was undoubtedly a diagram of a treasure map.

“Are you saying this is really the Treasure of Moyong that even the Gangbuk Alliance of that time could not find?”

The vast amount of wealth accumulated over hundreds of years and the source of the wisdom they left behind.

The Gangbuk Alliance of that time was hell-bent on taking the spoils of war, but no one could find it.

There was a reason why the calamity of extermination that befell the Moyong Clan was so brutally cruel.

I stared blankly at the boy.

To offer up a family treasure that would cause a great turmoil if it were to be leaked into Jianghu, so nonchalantly like this.

“Do you not know the value of this treasure map?”

Although he was young, he was a child who had learned his studies.

It meant that he knew enough about the ways of the world.

“I know. And that many of my ancestors died to protect it.”

“Naturally. This is something to be passed on to a later generation of Moyong if you cannot find it. You are……”

My thoughts stopped around there.

The reason a child, who was brilliant enough to study at the Crouching Dragon Hall, would offer up a treasure left by his ancestors just to learn martial arts.

“Are you, by any chance, the last Moyong?”

No matter what treasure one held in their hands, it was useless if one could not survive.

Such a thing was worth less than a single meal.

“Yes.”

Tears did not flow from the boy's eyes.

I threw the bamboo slip to the boy, who had returned to his emotionless eyes and was quietly kneeling.

Thud.

In that moment, Moyong Baek's face turned dark, and he crawled over on his knees.

“T-This is all I have to give right now! Please, the way to become strong……!”

“Post-payment.”

“Yes?”

Smirk.

“Will you not put it back in your bosom? What use would I have for that thing, covered in the blood of the Moyong ghosts? It would only bring bad luck.”

“Still……”

“Pass that damn thing on when you grow up and have a son.”

I glared at him and said emphatically, one word at a time.

“Imitate me! The underworld is!”

“T-The underworld is?”

“Romance!”

“……Romance?” Thıs text ıs hosted at novel⸺fire.net

“Ahem! The underworld is!”

“The underworld is!”

The boy, who had shed tears in front of me for the first time, returned to his quarters.

The surroundings grew dark as the moon hid itself in the clouds.

—I'm going to save people.

Recalling his words, I let out a smirk.

The person that young Moyong Baek wanted to save was himself.

Although our circumstances were different, he was a child who resembled me from the time I was entangled with the Black Assassins.

“If it's a fellow who wants to live to death, it's only human nature to take that hand.”

I suddenly became curious.

The fact that that young child was already feeling a threat to his life was clear evidence that something was happening in this Jaegal Clan as well.

Jaegal Clan.

What kind of mischief are you hiding and playing at.