Enshrinement as a God

Thump... Thump!

The embers that were not yet dead in the dark red charcoal screamed a short sound.

As a long pole shook it without mercy, the hidden embers disappeared with a final scream.

"Why are you sitting there with such a long face?"

Li Hachan, who was known as Cook Li in the Mountain Sea Tavern, finally said a word, looking at Agong, who was stirring the embers of the stove in a corner of the kitchen.

"It's nothing."

"If it's nothing, why are you moping in front of me?"

"You told me to prepare to cook."

"You damn brat, if I look at your face now, I'll lose my appetite for the rice I haven't even cooked."

"You!"

Although he would usually let it go in one ear and out the other, Agong was not in the mood to let Cook Li's harsh words slide.

"Is it your hobby to torment me, Cook?!"

"Uh, uh. This brat..."

Li Hachan was quite flustered as Agong, for the first time, got angry and raised his voice at him.

Although he had heard the curses that flowed from his own harsh mouth so far, he had never been like this, so it seemed that something was wrong.

Agong sat down again and began to look at the stove.

The embarrassed Li Hachan glared at the back of Agong's head as if he were resentful, and then soon quietly approached Agong's side.

"Damn... ahem, what's wrong?"

As he cleared his throat and asked casually, Agong just kept stirring the embers without a word.

It didn't seem that he was so gloomy just because the Taoist Lingbao, with whom he usually got along like a dog and a cat, had left.

Now that his curiosity was greater than his frustration, Li Hachan recalled the fact that someone had stayed at the tavern for a while a few days ago.

"Is it because of that Qingcheng Sect girl who stayed at the tavern a while ago?"

Flinch!

The hand of Agong, who had been stirring the stove without purpose, stopped for a moment.

Li Hachan, who had hit the mark, let out a smirk.

Although he didn't feel it well because he was always living like this in the tavern, no matter how young he was, a man was a man.

Seeing him like this, it seemed to be a love problem, and Li Hachan felt that a small bit of entertainment had come into his boring tavern life.

"It's not like that."

Although it seemed that he was a little late in answering, Agong answered belatedly, as if the smirking Cook Li was bothering him.

"That's enough, you brat. Do you think I've never been in love before I shriveled up?"

In the past, when Li Hachan had roamed the martial world and had amassed a fortune that was not enviable, the first things he had taken were delicious food and women.

In a way, it was also because of that habit that he was in this situation now.

Agong, leaving behind his troubled heart, glanced up at Cook Li, who was chuckling next to him.

Come to think of it, although quite some time had passed since they had been living together in the tavern, he knew little about Cook Li compared to Master Gongsun.

Although Cook Li would deny it with all his might, from the moment he had learned the Nine Palaces Divine Steps, he was no different from a master who had taught him martial arts.

"What are you so curious about?"

Li Hachan, who had been expecting some love advice, stroked his beard, looking at Agong, who was staring at him intently.

"How did you end up here, Cook?"

"Huh?"

"I was just curious. You weren't originally a cook, were you?"

If Cook Li had been a cook from long ago, he would have been cooking for decades, but it didn't make sense that he was so bad at cooking.

At least, since there were no customers in the tavern and no other competitors around, it was fortunate. If he had done business outside, he would have gone bankrupt immediately and would have been sitting on the street.

"What are you going to do with knowing about me? Forget it."

Li Hachan waved his hand as if annoyed.

His interest, which had been moved for a moment by Agong's question, was completely extinguished, and he went up to the pillar where he usually lay.

"How did you learn martial arts?"

But as Agong did not give up and asked again, Li Hachan, who had been quietly looking at the ceiling of the kitchen, quietly turned his head.

"I learned it from a master I met through a fateful encounter, to the point of death. More importantly, is that girl pretty?"

Li Hachan was bored, and since his curiosity about the Qingcheng Sect girl who was said to have come to the Hermit's Valley had not subsided, he answered Agong's question roughly and asked again.

"Yes."

"But why are you moping in the kitchen with a long face? Did you get dumped or something?"

"What are you talking about!"

Seeing Agong jump up and deny it, Li Hachan clicked his tongue.

"If you met the precious daughter of the Qingcheng Sect, who is a cloud in the sky, you should have done something as a man."

"I told you it's not like that, but you keep saying that."

"You brat, I'm a ghost when it comes to things like this. You should try to deceive someone you can deceive."

"It's not that... I keep thinking about being misunderstood and hated."

"In any case, unlike you, who are just a waiter, you'll never see each other again, so why do you care so much?"

"Do you have to say it like that? To put it that way, you're not that great either, are you, Cook?"

Hearing Agong's words, who was getting angry and talking back, Cook Li also got angry and raised his head.

"You brat! Although I'm like this here, in the past, I was called the Divine Thief outside."

"If you're a divine thief, it means you got that nickname by stealing, right? A thief is just a thief, what's so great about being a divine thief... I'd rather you be a cook."

"Hoho! Did this brat drink lye from the stove? You brat! If I set my mind to it, the treasures of the imperial palace were in my pocket, and I was not caught even after smearing shit on the nameplate of the Martial Arts Alliance, which was crawling with masters."

"Then if you were so great, why are you a cook here?"

Li Hachan, who had actually smeared shit on the nameplate of the Martial Arts Alliance to disgrace the Martial Arts Alliance, which had been interfering with him in every way, had no choice but to flee from the trackers of the Martial Arts Alliance, who were chasing him with their eyes on fire.

"The Martial Arts Alliance bastards are so persistent that they would be sad if they were second, so what choice did I have? I just took refuge here for a while."

"So that's why you became a cook here?"

"Well... something like that."

In fact, when Cook Li had arrived at the Hermit's Valley and had met Hongjun, he had not thought that his life would be so twisted.

He, who had been trying to stay at the Mountain Sea Tavern for a few days to avoid the pursuit of the Martial Arts Alliance, had met a mysterious woman called Miss Mu, and after that, an accident had occurred that had mortgaged his life.

Tremble!

As he recalled the past, with the anger and humiliation that had suddenly resurfaced, Cook Li's body trembled lightly.

Although he could not leave the Mountain Sea Tavern until Old Ancestor Hongjun let him go, even if he were to return to the martial world, it was clear that the Martial Arts Alliance would send trackers again the moment he returned.

"Seeing you, I'm worried, so I'll say a word."

"Yes?"

"You shouldn't carelessly make promises to a girl or give her your heart. Especially. When you don't know her identity."

"What are you talking about all of a sudden?"

"It's advice I'm giving because I can clearly see the future of you, who are so restless after meeting a pretty girl once."

"It's not like that."

"Alright. Alright. Go over there and bring the dumplings I've made."

Li Hachan jumped down from the pillar and dusted off his hands. It seemed that he was not listening to Agong's words at all.

"Ugh... are you going to eat that?"

Although Cook Li's dumplings were his own masterpiece, Agong personally preferred the salted rice balls.

No, to be precise, it should be said that the food with not so many cooking processes tasted better.

"Here, try it first."

Agong, while frowning at Cook Li's action of making him taste the dumplings to see if the filling was undercooked, took the dumpling and took a big bite.

* * *

Crunch!

"Aack!"

A final scream echoed in the cave where silence had been prevailing.

Agong, who had been trying to sleep, sprang up as if he had been struck by lightning and at the same time stuck out his tongue.

"Ah, damn..."

Since he had already eaten all the snacks he had brought, he had only been drinking grain pills and water for a while, so he had come to miss the tasteless cooking of Cook Li.

The moment he bit into the dumpling that Cook Li had given him, Agong, who had bitten his tongue in his sleep, frowned and grumbled, twisting his body.

Crunch! Crunch!

With the vivid sound of bones, Agong got up and began to move his body habitually.

One... two...

Although he had roughly counted the days he had stayed here with his fingers, he was not sure how many days had passed. His sense of time was gradually becoming dull.

In the first place, since no light came into the stone chamber of the cave, he could not even tell if it was day or night.

Since he had no proper writing tools, he could not write down the date, and since the floor was also hard, he could not make a mark with Tonglin.

For the first few days, thanks to his ingrained habits, he could roughly guess the date, but that was only for a day or two.

By his senses, it seemed that he had been trapped here for more than a fortnight, or even a few months.

Agong, who had been counting on his fingers, now gave up on calculating the date.

Until now, he had had the thought that if he endured for a while, Tongtian or someone else would come and get him out, but he had completely given up on that as well.

If he wanted to get out of this place as soon as possible, he had no choice but to practice the martial arts that Tongtian had mentioned even faster.

Agong chewed on a dry grain pill and washed his sore tongue with the flowing water.

To think that he missed the hard life at the tavern so much now.

Agong felt that the reality he was in was cruel.

There was still more than half a year left until the Seo Won Escort Agency would visit the Hermit's Valley again.

Since he was supposed to be in charge of the transactions with the merchant guild from now on, if he were still trapped here by then, Old Ancestor Hongjun would come looking for him.

But if he were to just chew on grain pills and sleep in this cave for more than half a year, he would surely go crazy.

Agong, who had walked out to the training ground, first sat down in a cross-legged position and began to circulate his energy.

Come to think of it, in the tavern, he had split his time between working and practicing martial arts, but since Tongtian had given him the opportunity to just practice martial arts like this, in a way, it was also a grateful thing.

As he finished circulating his energy, his whole body was full of vitality, and the pain he had felt in his tongue was no longer felt.

The Nine Gates True Scripture was definitely a great heart art.

When he circulated the Nine Gates True Scripture, not only did his body become full of vitality, but his senses became sharp, and his mind became clear, so no distracting thoughts arose.

Since Agong had accumulated internal energy in a short period of time with the Righteous Heart Auxiliary Method of the Black Contemplation Fortress, he had not been able to feel how great the Nine Gates True Scripture, which the Taoist Lingbao was so proud of, was.

Even if he circulated his energy, he did not see a great effect other than his body feeling a little refreshed, and at best, since he had been practicing it steadily, he had accumulated a basic internal energy, but the words that it was a supreme martial art, as the Taoist Lingbao had said, did not really resonate with him.

But that was because the Nine Gates True Scripture was healing the evil wound of the Righteous Auxiliary Heart Method, which had been gnawing at his original true qi.

Although Agong's bones and muscles had been healed a lot by the combination of the Taoist Lingbao's elixir and Sorin's mysterious drinks, the lost original true qi was not something that could be easily restored.

There were only two martial arts in the world that could fix the original true qi, which was the foundation of a human.

The Muscle-Tendon Changing Classic, which was called a Shaolin ultimate art, and the Taoist Lingbao's Nine Gates Harmonious Heart Art were them.

For the Nine Gates True Scripture to exert its power on Agong, it first needed time to purify and fertilize the soil.

And after a long time, Agong's original true qi was restored, and now the practice of the Nine Gates True Scripture was beginning to show its effect in earnest.

"The movement of the Heavenly Demon is like a burning fire, it moves unpredictably and swallows everything."

The Manifest Demon True Art, the ultimate art of the demonic cult, or the divine cult, was a martial art that symbolized a fire that swallowed everything and burned with light. It consisted of the heart art, the Heavenly Demon Heart Art, the footwork, the Heavenly Demon Reigning Steps, and the Heavenly Demon Hand.

Originally, the understanding of a supreme martial art was completed according to one's enlightenment in the end.

The Tongtian Cult Master had passed on his understanding to Agong by comparing the Manifest Demon True Art to a flame that swallowed everything.

A flame eats everything that blocks it and becomes stronger.

Endless strength.

Eternal peak.

A power that is not restrained and does not weaken.

A martial art like a sun that never sets.

As Agong extended his two fists, a hot energy soon raged in the arena.

The teaching of the Tongtian Cult Master, who had pursued strength.

The more he displayed the Heavenly Demon Hand, the more an unknown thirst stimulated Agong's thirst.

In the end, Agong, who had stopped his movements of displaying the moves, looked at the Heavenly Demon Hand that filled the wall.

The reason why the achievement of the Heavenly Demon Hand was no longer increasing.

Agong slowly looked around again.

And he soon realized the reason.

(End of Chapter)