Chapter 140 : A Windfall That Rolled in on Its Own. -02
Chapter 140: A Windfall That Rolled in on Its Own. -02
Toward Seonwu Bang, who was steadying his breath, Sang Il-gi honestly told him what he had felt.
Setting aside personal ties, he spoke as a senior to a junior, offering sincere advice.
And since he hoped Seonwu Bang would play a significant role in the coming war, Sang Il-gi did not spare his counsel.
“This time, I will challenge you.”
“Very well. Shall we begin at once?”
“Yes.”
As Seonwu Bang stepped back, Murong Cheok moved forward as if he had been waiting.
From the very start, he went all out.
He poured in all of his power, as though the very notion of pacing himself did not exist.
Yet despite Murong Cheok’s relentless wave offensive, Sang Il-gi’s movements remained relaxed.
Tsutsutsutsu!
Sword Energy and Sword Force spread like a spiderweb, attempting to restrict Sang Il-gi’s movements.
He was trying to leave no gap through which he could escape.
But like a ghost, Sang Il-gi discovered the slightest opening and slipped through it.
Whoooong!
In an instant, he closed the distance between them and threw a punch.
It was a straight punch that even a child knew how to perform.
The problem, however, was that the one executing this simple straight punch was Sang Il-gi.
The moment Murong Cheok felt an enormous invisible Fist Force slowly pressing down upon his entire body, he kicked off the ground.
From experience, he knew there was no chance of victory in a head-on clash, so he focused on evasion.
However, that did not mean he merely fled.
Kwakwa kwang!
He avoided a frontal confrontation, but he had not given up on the match.
As if to prove it, Murong Cheok launched constant probing attacks.
To interfere with Sang Il-gi’s movements.
At the same time, he sought to draw him into excessive stamina consumption.
Peopeong!
Unfortunately, Murong Cheok’s shallow trick had already been seen through.
Knowing that he was deliberately trying to force a battle of endurance, Sang Il-gi moved only as much as necessary and steadily drove Murong Cheok back.
Rather, he was employing the very same method against Murong Cheok.
“Tsk!”
As time passed, Murong Cheok gritted his teeth at the rapidly draining Inner Energy and stamina.
But no matter how hard he thought, he could not find a way to break the current situation.
“He’s holding out quite well this time.”
“Yeah. Yesterday it ended quickly.”
“But he’s definitely different from big brother.”
Watching his master spar with Murong Cheok, Jeong Iryong muttered.
Though both were giving their all, to his eyes there was a slight difference in mindset.
“Well, if you get beaten by the Sect Leader, it’s mentally a bit easier.”
“You too?”
“Honestly, it doesn’t make much difference for me. It’s only natural that I lose to big brother. And my goal is a little different from theirs. My goal is to narrow the gap, not to surpass it.”
“Huh. So you’re betraying us like that?”
Jeong Iryong wore a baffled expression.
The way he put it made it sound as though he, along with Seonwu Bang and Murong Cheok, were ungrateful wretches.
“Betrayal? I merely made it clear that I’m different from you all.”
“It just sounds like you’re making only us out to be the bad guys.”
“There’s no way. And I never said that.”
“Good grief.”
Jeong Iryong shook his head.
At times like this, he was truly an irritating youngest brother.
And yet, strangely enough, he could not bring himself to dislike him.
“What kind of conversation is that, sighing so heavily?”
“Big brother!”
At the familiar voice coming from the narrow path connected to the front courtyard, Seo Joun and Jeong Iryong turned their heads at the same time.
Soon, they saw Ban Hojin walking slowly up the mountain path with his hands clasped behind his back.
“Looks like everyone trained hard even while I was away.”
“Did your errand go well?”
“Yes. Fortunately, it worked out nicely.”
“Congratulations!”
Seo Joun immediately took a position beside Ban Hojin and made a great fuss, displaying a completely different attitude from when he spoke to Jeong Iryong.
At the sight, not only Jeong Iryong but also Seonwu Bang—who had approached upon Ban Hojin’s return—let out hollow laughs.
“It’s not something that calls for congratulations. But Iryong, why were you sighing like the ground was collapsing?”
“Joun was painting me as an ungrateful wretch.”
“Ungrateful?”
“Well, what happened was…”
Jeong Iryong explained plainly, neither adding nor omitting anything.
After listening to the whole story, Ban Hojin nodded.
“It turned out exactly as I wanted.”
“As you wanted, big brother?”
“Did you think I wouldn’t notice? It shows on your faces. Especially you and Cheok.”
“Gasp!”
Jeong Iryong looked genuinely startled.
And Murong Cheok, who had joined them at some point, was no different.
Seonwu Bang, standing nearby, nodded as though in agreement.
“W-Was it that obvious?”
“But that’s not a bad thing. Only by overcoming frustration can you surpass your limits. I was the same.”
Others praised him as extraordinary, yet Ban Hojin himself felt no particular emotion toward such words.
He knew that martial artists stronger than himself existed in this world.
He had even lost a battle and died once, so even if arrogance tried to sprout, it could never take root.
“You too, big brother?”
“I’m just the same kind of person. No different from you.”
Ban Hojin shrugged at Seo Joun’s question.
He was well aware of how his companions saw him.
But Ban Hojin was not such an extraordinary martial artist.
The realm he had achieved now was simply the result of having returned to the past and been granted a new life.
“You always say that, big brother, but it doesn’t quite feel real.”
“Then think of the other younger generation talents you’ve met so far. To them, you must have felt like I do to you now.”
“Hm.”
Murong Cheok tilted his head.
The more he thought about it, the harder it became to deny.
To ordinary younger generation talents, he must have seemed like an insurmountable wall.
“All things are relative. Even if you become the Greatest Under Heaven, you will still have to face challengers, so it is never the end. In the end, what matters is walking your own path. If you reach the end of the Martial Path, you will naturally obtain what you desire. But who has the time to concern themselves with others?”
“I think so too.”
Seo Joun quietly chimed in.
To him, Ban Hojin was almost like a divine being.
His older brothers joked that he sounded like a fanatic, but even Seo Joun himself admitted there was some truth to it.
Even if everyone else were to leave Ban Hojin, he alone intended to remain by his side until the day he died.
“It’s not even easy to take care of myself.”
“That doesn’t sound right. Just look at how many of us are here. If anyone has trouble taking care of just themselves, it would be us, not you.”
“But hearing you speak like this really gives me a lot to think about. It feels like you’re pointing out things I’ve never even considered before.”
At the words of Seonwu Bang and Jeong Iryong, Murong Cheok and Seo Joun nodded.
Even Sang Il-gi, who had been listening quietly, joined in.
He, too, had much to reflect upon from those words.
In fact, he felt he had gained even more than the four of them.
‘I truly did well to entrust Iryong to him.’
Sang Il-gi had not entrusted Jeong Iryong to Ban Hojin simply because Ban Hojin’s martial realm was impressive.
It was because Ban Hojin possessed something beyond mere martial prowess.
At the same time, since they were of similar age, he believed the stimulation would be far greater.
And that prediction had been perfectly correct.
‘Not only Iryong, but it helps me as well.’
It was not only Jeong Iryong who benefited.
He, too, gained a great deal from conversations and sparring with Ban Hojin.
For Sang Il-gi, who had always trained alone, discussions with a martial artist of similar level gave him much to contemplate.
Yet neither he nor Jeong Iryong knew that this, too, had been part of Ban Hojin’s design.
Climbing a mountain in the height of summer, under the blazing sun, was no easy task even for a grown man.
Though the figure had learned martial arts, much of the Family-Inherited Martial Art had been lost, and so the slender silhouette repeatedly wiped the sweat running down his forehead.
“I did come the right way… didn’t I?”
With a youthful face that seemed poised between boyhood and manhood, the figure glanced around with slightly anxious eyes.
He had clearly been told that if he followed this main road up from Dengfeng County, he would reach Shaolin Temple, but despite walking for quite some time, the One-Pillar Gate was nowhere to be seen.
What unsettled him even more was the fact that there was not a single other person climbing the mountain path with him.
He had heard there were always many Incense Flower Guests, yet perhaps they were all eating their midday meal, for not even a shadow of another person was in sight.
“…This is unsettling.”
There was only one official road leading to Shaolin Temple.
There might be other side paths, but the figure did not know them.
Thus, he was climbing along the official road said to be commonly used by Incense Flower Guests, yet with no One-Pillar Gate in sight and no people around, anxiety crept in.
“Let’s just keep going.”
Suppressing the unease rising in his chest, he steadily climbed the mountain path.
Though the absence of people made his anxiety grow stronger, he did not stop.
Recalling the purpose that had brought him to Songshan, he continued without rest, and at last, the One-Pillar Gate—the main entrance to Shaolin Temple—came into view.
Along with the Shaolin monks passing through it.
“Wow!”
At the sight, the figure’s face filled with emotion.
To some, it might have been an ordinary scene, but not to him.
It was his first time at Shaolin Temple, and he had come all the way alone, asking for directions along the way. Unknowingly, his eyes welled with tears.
But he quickly gathered himself and strode boldly toward the side path beside the One-Pillar Gate.
Though it was his first visit, there was no hesitation in his steps.
Simply arriving at Shaolin Temple meant half of his goal had already been achieved, and so his expression was different from before as he walked.
Gulp!
Yet the closer he drew to his destination, the more violently his heart pounded, as though struck by a club.
He had prepared himself thoroughly before coming, and yet he could not help but worry.
The person he wished to meet was so particular that the word “selection” was often mentioned.
Now counted among the Nine Dragons, he was said to be unparalleled even among the nine geniuses, to the point that even the others of the Nine Dragons were not deemed satisfactory in his eyes. Swallowing dryly, the figure reviewed his preparations once more.
“Who are you?”
“Ah, hello!”
At that moment, a small shadow suddenly appeared before him.
With a closely shaven head and a set of burn marks stamped upon his forehead, he seemed slightly too old to be called a Novice Monk.
“Amitabha.”
Realizing belatedly that he had not exchanged greetings, Jeong Hyeon hurriedly pressed his palms together.
He feigned a calm expression as he spoke.
Yet the sudden greeting caught the visitor so off guard that he failed to notice anything strange.
“Ah, yes!”
“Did you perhaps lose your way? Shaolin Temple must be entered through the One-Pillar Gate.”
Since there were occasionally those who strayed from the path, Jeong Hyeon asked politely.
He knew that those called directionally challenged could be astonishing in unexpected ways.
So he asked, just in case.
“No. I’ve come to see Young Master Ban.”
“To see my Senior Uncle? Do you have an appointment?”
“N-No, I don’t. I heard he was staying here and came without thinking it through. If I need to contact him first, could you please pass along a message? Or is there a separate procedure? This is my first time visiting Shaolin Temple, so I’m ignorant of such procedures. If it’s not too much trouble, could you kindly inform me?”