The Beggar Young Master of the Namgung Clan

"...Is this it?"

Looking at the tree in front, Namgung Il asked Baekrang.

"Woof!"

"..."

It was a huge old tree, so old that one could not easily guess its age.

As he slowly lowered his gaze from the top, he saw a small hole at the base.

Namgung Il slowly moved his steps towards it.

"Yeoksan-ah, I think my time has come."

"There you go again, you'll live for another thirty years."

"Hoho, do you think so?"

"Yes, you might even live longer than me."

When he said that, his master had smiled and said this.

"If I suddenly disappear, don't look for me."

"Pardon? What do you mean by that?"

"Even if I have to go, I don't want to show a weak side to my disciple."

He hadn't known it back then, but thinking about it now, his master's smile at that time seemed a little different from usual.

A year after that, his master had suddenly disappeared from the headquarters, and he had never seen his master since.

'My master really knew when he would die.'

But for him to leave his only disciple's side without even a word of goodbye... He had searched for his master's whereabouts for several years after that, but in the end, he couldn't even find a clue.

The fact that he couldn't be found even with the information network of the Beggars' Sect meant that he probably couldn't be found even if he used other means.

In the end, Namgung Il had accepted his master's death and had stopped looking for his whereabouts.

"..."

In the midst of that, Baekrang had told him that he knew where his master's grave was.

In terms of time, it would be thirty years... no, more than that?

He had never thought that his master's grave, which he couldn't find even after mobilizing all the information network of the Beggars' Sect, would be so close.

'Thinking about it now, it's natural.'

Even if he were his master, he would have wanted to watch over the Beggars' Sect from nearby.

He must have met his death near the headquarters so that he could watch over the Beggars' Sect well even after his death.

Swoosh—

Namgung Il carefully pushed aside the bushes blocking the hole with his hand.

And so, an entrance large enough for one person to pass through was revealed, and Namgung Il cautiously entered.

"...!"

Thud—

As soon as he entered, Namgung Il knelt down.

"Master..."

The sight of his master in front of him.

As if he would come to life and move at any moment, his master was sitting there in the same state as when he was alive.

But Namgung Il could tell without even getting close.

That his master had passed away and was no longer a person of this world.

Although his body had maintained its appearance from when he was alive for decades, no vitality was felt from that face.

"Your unworthy disciple has finally come to greet you, Master..."

"..."

"I'm so late... I'm sorry."

Namgung Il said, sobbing, and bowed.

A deep bow to his master after a really long time.

It seemed he had almost never done a proper deep bow like this since he had first performed the nine bows to his master.

Namgung Il was so sorry for that, and as he remembered the things he hadn't been able to do for his master, that feeling grew even stronger.

"Yeoksan-ah, do you know the saying, Master and father are one?"

"What does that mean?"

"It means that a master is like a father."

"..."

"So to me, you are like a son."

Namgung Il did not know his parents' faces.

An orphan from birth. That was why Namgung Il had lived in the Beggars' Sect from a young age.

So Namgung Il had never felt the presence of a father, nor had he ever needed one, but due to the presence of his master, Namgung Il had learned for the first time what a father was.

"...Woof."

Just then, Baekrang, who had approached Namgung Il's side, licked Namgung Il's face with his tongue as if to comfort him.

And so, Namgung Il slowly raised his head, and wiping the moisture still on his eyes with his sleeve, he said to Baekrang.

"Baekrang, thanks to you, I was able to meet my master again."

"Woof-woof."

"Yes... thank you."

It is said that his master had only told Baekrang the location of this place before he died.

"Later, when Yeoksan-ah is a little older, tell him this place."

"Woof!"

"...Please."

Still, at the fact that Baekrang had stayed by his master's side at the end, Namgung Il was comforted a little.

Swoosh—

Just then, Namgung Il got up from his seat and approached his master's side.

Soon, Namgung Il, who placed what he was holding in his hand in front of his master.

What his master had liked the most when he was alive. It was liquor.

"..."

In front of his master, there was already an empty liquor bottle and a cup.

It seemed he had drunk alone here for the last time before he passed away.

Namgung Il lifted the liquor bottle he had brought and began to pour it into the empty cup with both hands.

"It's the liquor that my master liked."

"..."

"I'm sorry. I brought something from the market because I came in a hurry. Next time I come, I will bring the liquor I made."

After filling the cup, Namgung Il bowed deeply again.

How long had he been bowing his head like that?

Namgung Il got up from his seat to leave now.

"Master, I will come back later when I have time."

"..."

"Don't worry too much about the Beggars' Sect."

He should go now.

Since the morning sun was already rising, Namgung Il was about to go back to where Jong Seo-eon was.

Woong—

It was then.

The moment he turned back, Namgung Il suddenly felt an unknown throbbing from behind him.

"...?"

What on earth is this throbbing?

Namgung Il turned his head back to where his master was sitting, and at that moment, his two eyes widened, and he couldn't hide his astonishment.

'Th-that's...!'

A faint light was flowing from his master's abdomen.

The light grew stronger and stronger as time passed, and at the same time, the size of the throbbing inside also grew.

Woong—!

Something in the shape of a bead had now come out of his master's body and was floating in the air.

The source of the light was that.

As soon as he saw what it was, Namgung Il immediately knew.

'I think I'm seeing it for the first time.'

That bead shining in the air was an inner core.

A lump of energy formed by pure internal energy, with no impurities.

In other words, that was the internal energy that his master had accumulated in his dantian when he was alive, which had been made into the form of an inner core and had come out.

"..."

It had been a little strange from the first time he had seen it.

His master had surely passed away decades ago, but why was his body so intact, as if he were alive?

Only after confirming the inner core that had appeared in front of him could Namgung Il understand the reason.

'The inner core had been keeping my master's body from rotting all this time.'

This was the first time Namgung Il had seen this phenomenon.

Usually, no matter how strong an internal energy one had accumulated when one was alive, it would all disappear when one died.

Although he had heard a rumor that there was a way to leave one's internal energy in the form of an inner core even after death... Namgung Il did not know that method exactly.

"..."

But to think that his master had known that method.

Perhaps his master had foreseen his own death early on and had suddenly disappeared for this.

"Master... did you perhaps leave without even a word of goodbye to me for this?"

"..."

"...I understand. If that is your will, Master, then I, your disciple, will accept it."

Namgung Il slowly approached the place where the inner core was floating.

Although it was shining so brightly now, if it were left outside like this, this light would gradually weaken and eventually disappear.

'For me to absorb that inner core is to carry on my master's will.'

He could not let his master's inner core disappear meaninglessly like this.

If so, it would be much more beneficial for him to absorb it and use his master's power for the Beggars' Sect.

"..."

Namgung Il reached out and picked up the inner core floating in the air.

His master's inner core. To be honest, he was scared.

Because he had never absorbed a person's inner core like this before.

Of course, since it was his master's inner core, it seemed to have a tremendous amount of energy latent in it, but because of that, if he were to handle it wrongly, he might die from falling into a state of qi deviation with a high probability.

'No, let's trust my master.'

There was no way his master would have left something that could put him in danger.

As if he had made up his mind, Namgung Il swallowed the inner core in his hand.

Woong—!

As soon as he swallowed the inner core, a tremendous amount of energy began to surge inside Namgung Il's body.

Namgung Il immediately sat in a cross-legged position and focused on absorbing the energy as his own, and Baekrang watched him from a distance, as if he were worried.

Crackle—

A fierce electric light began to appear around Namgung Il's body.

Reciting the incantation of the Heavenly Thunder Emperor's Divine Art, Namgung Il was absorbing his master's inner core as his own internal energy as much as possible, and so, a rather dangerous-looking work continued for a long time.

'As expected of my master... it's a terrifying amount of energy.'

Still, he had to make this energy his own no matter what.

That would be to carry on his master's will.

As a disciple, Namgung Il tried to keep his master's last words.

Twitch—

At that moment, something began to move in Namgung Il's lower dantian.

A moment later, fierce thunder dragons began to appear one by one from the lower dantian, and they immediately soared up fiercely as if they were ascending to heaven.

Thud—!

Five thunder dragons collided with the wall blocking the lower dantian and the middle dantian.

Despite the rather strong collision, the wall was still intact.

But the energy flowing from the inner core continuously pushed the thunder dragons' bodies from behind and incited the thunder dragons.

Boom—!

A moment later, Namgung Il quietly opened his eyes.

'I have reached the state of the Five Dragons Serving the Saint.'

In other words, he had opened the middle dantian.

To think that he had opened the middle dantian at this age.

With just that, not only would there be an increase in his internal energy that could not be compared to before, but there would also be a considerable achievement in operating his internal energy in the future.

"..."

That much, opening the middle dantian was a considerable serendipitous encounter for a martial artist.

The reason he was able to reach this state was, of course, thanks to his master's help.

Moreover, the inner core had not yet completely disappeared and was still in Namgung Il's dantian.

'I can't absorb it all now.'

That was how strong his master's internal energy had been when he was alive.

Since it was too much to absorb it all right now, Namgung Il was planning to slowly absorb the inner core into his dantian over time.

"Thank you, Master."

"..."

"From now on, I will live with your will in my body."

Namgung Il looked at his master in front of him and bowed deeply once more.

At that moment, a voice was heard inside.

"Yes, my son."

As if he had fulfilled his mission, his master's body crumbled into fine soil.

The Beggar Young Master of the Namgung Clan