Chapter 360
When the door opened, I couldn't readily step inside.
To be honest, I was a little scared to go inside.
Not only did I not know what was inside, but I also felt that I might be doing something wrong to the Alliance Leader.
But on the other hand, I also had this thought.
'Is the Alliance Leader perhaps testing me to see if I can enter this place or not?'
In fact, it's a little awkward for us to be told to come in here and take whatever we want.
Because if there's something we want, he could just bring it to us.
In fact, all the items I had received from the Alliance Leader so far were items that the Alliance Leader had brought to me separately.
'Let's go in first and then think about it. If the atmosphere seems a little strange, I just won't bring anything out.'
I strode towards the room, which I couldn't even see inside well.
As I went inside, the torches attached to the wall suddenly lit up, and the surroundings became bright.
Surprised, I went outside, and the fire went out, and when I went inside again, the fire lit up again.
It was amazing that there seemed to be some kind of mechanism installed that detects a person entering and turns the fire on and off.
"To think there was a place like this inside the Martial Alliance, and even inside the secret vault... But what is this place for?"
In fact, I, who had come in here, felt a little dumbfounded.
I had only thought that this was a place where more precious or more dangerous items that only the Alliance Leader could handle were stored.
So I came in thinking that if I came in here, I might be able to find something else to take, but I couldn't see any items here.
It's not that there were shelves or bookshelves. It was just a long passage that seemed to lead somewhere.
I stepped along the passage.
Since I had come in, I was curious about what was at the end of the passage.
And so, after walking for quite a while, I finally began to see the end of the passage.
And that end was connected to another space.
"This place is..."
This was a small, empty room.
A square room that was just a little over three jang (about 9 meters) on all sides.
But this room was not ordinary at all, from the floor to the ceiling, and the walls.
Although it was dark and hard to see, it seemed to be made entirely of hard stone like granite.
Since even my Divine Eye Art felt it was dark, it would be safe to say that no light from the outside was passing through here.
"Will this make it a little more visible?"
I turned around and pulled out a torch from the passage.
The wick of the torch was connected to the wall.
Perhaps when it detects a person entering, oil is supplied along the wick and the fire is lit, and when there is no person, the oil to the wick is cut off and the fire goes out.
Whoever made this, there are so many smart people.
I, who had brought the torch back into the granite room, created a Samadhi True Fire and lit the end of the torch.
Then, thanks to the light, the inside began to be seen a little more clearly.
And when I saw the wall, I was so surprised that I couldn't help it.
"No... what is all this?"
On the wall, there were illegible letters written at random, and below them, there was also an illegible drawing.
But although the letters and the drawing were both hard to recognize, they were by no means unrecognizable.
I, after slowly examining what they were... was able to recognize what this was.
"Martial arts. It's martial arts!"
The letters written on the wall were incantations, and the drawing below was a representation of the forms in a drawing.
The reason the letters were hard to recognize was because the letters, which were carved on the granite with a sword, had been erased countless times, and then drawn over them again, so the wall was very damaged.
The same goes for the drawing.
It seemed the forms had been modified not just once or twice, as there were traces of them being modified little by little.
"Was this... the Alliance Leader's training ground?"
I suddenly got goosebumps.
The Martial Alliance Leader is a master among masters who can always be included in the top five strongest in the current martial world.
It was a strange thing in itself to be able to come to the training ground of such a master, and even more so, the incantations and forms of the martial arts that seemed to have been organized by that master were drawn on the wall. I felt a thrill, not just goosebumps.
I, who had been frantically memorizing the incantations as if a person who had starved for several days was craving food, suddenly had this thought.
'Is it okay for me to learn this martial art? In the end, it's no different from stealing the Alliance Leader's martial art, right?'
Originally, just secretly entering someone's training ground can be called a great discourtesy.
But to go one step further and even steal a martial art from the training ground.
No matter how blind I was to martial arts, I suddenly felt that this was not right.
Perhaps this is also a test.
The Alliance Leader's test to find a truly trustworthy person.
If I learn this martial art, I may become stronger for now, but in the long run, I may lose the Alliance Leader's trust.
I, whose thoughts had reached that point, thought I should calm down a little.
But just then, a phrase written on the other wall caught my eye.
The phrase was easy to recognize, because it was a phrase written in a clean, single stroke relatively recently.
[Surely you haven't come this far and read this, and are hesitating to memorize the incantations because you think you're doing something you shouldn't, right?]
Feeling as if it were talking about my current situation, I was so surprised that I looked around.
It was from the thought that the Alliance Leader might be watching me.
But I couldn't feel anyone in my qi sense.
Perhaps the Alliance Leader had predicted this situation and had written this.
[If you have come this far, you have the skill to see through not only martial arts but also formations and mechanisms, and at the same time, you are a person with the guts to come this far. Such a person is fully qualified to receive my martial art.]
One of the most regrettable things about the Martial Alliance Leader in my past life was that the Alliance Leader had no disciples.
Although the Alliance Leader had such a strong martial art, he could not pass on that martial art to future generations because he had no proper disciple to receive it.
Of course, the Alliance Leader's granddaughter, Jeong Ha-rin, had inherited the Alliance Leader's martial art, but in her past life, she, who had lost her mind and was chasing after meetings, could not have mastered the Alliance Leader's martial art.
[When facing an enemy, you cannot face them with only fairness and righteousness. Sometimes, you have to act even if it seems to be against the law, and you need the ability to act for a purpose even if your conscience is pricked. And right now, I need such a martial artist.]
Reading this far, I felt like I knew why the Alliance Leader had let me in here... no, to be precise, why he had brought our Five Swords of Wudang here.
The Alliance Leader seems to need a martial artist who can sometimes break the rules and fight cunningly against cunning enemies.
To give an example... a martial artist like my master or me.
'Then maybe this is not the first time we've come to the secret vault?'
I thought that might be the case.
The Alliance Leader, wanting to find a young martial artist to whom he could pass on his martial art, must have let several martial artists in here.
But, it seems that none of them had reached this far.
[Learn the martial art. Although I can't say that my martial art is the best in the Central Plains, it is also the martial art that has brought me to this position. With this martial art, break the evil and establish the right. (Pasa-hyeonjeong - Destroy evil, uphold righteousness)]
At the end of the phrase left by the Alliance Leader, I felt as if I could see his sincerity.
I think I know why he cherishes my master, and why he cherishes me.
Although I didn't know in my past life, thinking about it now, the Alliance Leader must have been constantly worried about and preparing for the invasion of foreign enemies.
But you can't cover the sky with one palm.
He was looking for someone to work with him, but it seems everyone fell a little short of that standard.
'Sometimes, he's looking for a martial artist who can ignore the rules, ignore etiquette... and act only in pursuit of practical benefits.'
And I am just such a martial artist.
In fact, it was like that in my past life too.
Come to think of it... that's why he must have used the Self-Taught Swordsman, Unhwi, who was from a third-rate family, to that extent in the Martial Alliance.
'Then I will learn it well, Alliance Leader.'
Now that I know the Alliance Leader's heart, not learning the martial art because I feel burdened is not something a martial artist would do.
It would be better to break my sword and go into the mountains to live in seclusion.
'There's not much time. I can't just stay here and train in martial arts forever.'
I plan to keep the fact that I have learned the Martial Alliance Leader's martial art a secret from my senior brothers and the other martial artists of the Martial Alliance for now.
Because I have to ask the Alliance Leader's intentions first.
Although I haven't officially become his disciple, if it is revealed that I am learning the Alliance Leader's martial art, I may be subject to gossip because of my family tree or affiliation.
'Then for now, I'll just memorize it and then go out and learn it slowly.'
I hurriedly engraved the incantations and movements in my eyes and then left the room.
I also put the torch back where it was, and came out to the secret vault again through the passage I had walked in.
Although I know how to disarm the formations and mechanisms, I don't know how to set them again, so for now, I just closed the door and looked around.
Because I thought it would be strange if I came in and didn't take anything.
"I'll just take another secret manual. Un Gwang will like it."
So I went to the bookshelf and took out a suitable secret manual.
"Manchong Divine Sword?"
The secret manual, which seemed very sublime just by its name, was a secret manual that was torn here and there and had traces of being burned, just like the one Un Gwang had brought out earlier.
I, with that roughly in my bosom, opened the door and came out of the secret vault.
"Unhwi-ya. Why did you take so long?"
"That's right. You didn't come out for so long that I was about to go in and look for you."
"I'm sorry. I was thinking too much about what to bring, so it took some time."
The Alliance Leader, narrowing his eyes and looking at me, said, "Right. So what did you bring after thinking for so long?"
"I brought a martial art."
"......!"
At the word 'martial art', the Alliance Leader's eyes wavered.
"As I was reading the message left by the owner of the martial art, I felt that I had to bring it out. I, as the owner of the martial art intended... will become strong by any means necessary and become a force in the martial world. Sometimes, even if it's not very fair and square, even if it's not righteous, I have once again resolved to defeat my enemies."
The Alliance Leader looked at me without a word.
While he couldn't say anything, Un Gwang, as if he were disappointed, said to me, "Was that written on the secret manual you're holding? It's a pity! I also looked carefully, but I couldn't find such a martial art."
Fortunately, not only Un Gwang, but everyone here seemed to think that the martial art I was talking about was this secret manual.
"That's right. I barely found it."
I smiled once at Un Gwang, and once at the Alliance Leader.
It was a smile that contained a special meaning that only he and I knew.