Chapter 118
As always, the morning at the Martial Alliance began with a run.
Since each armed unit ran together, Song Yiyeon, Jin Yun, and Namgung Jin were to Cheon Woojin's left and right.
The martial artists of other armed units glanced at the Hidden Dragon Unit members.
The newcomers who had just entered the Alliance were often called the golden generation of the Martial Alliance.
Not to mention Cheon Woojin, who had become a commander in the shortest time, but also Jin Yun, the future of the Mount Hua Sect, the eldest son of the Namgung family, and the daughter of the Tang family had all entered the Alliance in the same batch.
But, all except for Tang Soyeon had gathered in one armed unit. So, naturally, they couldn't help but receive everyone's attention.
Cheon Woojin ran without a single break, as always. His gaze was fixed forward, and his breathing was calm.
But, unlike usual, his mind was not calm. It was because the whispers of two people were being heard from both sides.
"Young Master Cheon, but when are you picking the deputy commander?"
Song Yiyeon asked. Song Yiyeon and Jin Yun used to call him Commander, but Cheon Woojin had said it was uncomfortable and told them to just call him Young Master.
Cheon Woojin pretended not to hear. Although selecting the deputy commander was the role of the Military Affairs Department, the commander's influence was very large.
From the side, Jin Yun said as if to himself.
"If I become the deputy commander, the Mount Hua Sect members who are only looking at me will dance with joy. But it's an impossible task. There's no way I can become a deputy commander already. There's Young Master Song, who is closest to Young Master Cheon, and there's also Young Master Namgung, who is already called the Little Sword Dragon."
"..."
Cheon Woojin covered his right ear after his left.
But what bothered him most was the heat at the back of his head.
Namgung Jin was continuously glaring at him from behind. With a very fierce gaze.
It seemed that since he had come to the Hidden Dragon Unit under the orders of his father, the Sword King, he could not yield the deputy commander position to the other two.
He had already acknowledged that he could not catch up to the monster named Cheon Woojin, but his pride as the eldest son of the Namgung family did not allow him to be pushed back by the remaining two.
After the uncomfortable running time was over.
Cheon Woojin, who was catching his breath, saw the three approaching and quickly flew his body away.
* * *
The place Cheon Woojin headed to was the Inspection Hall, the superior organization.
Just as he had received an estate to operate the Hidden Dragon Unit, the Inspection Hall had also received a fine estate befitting a superior organization.
After looking around the outside for a moment and entering, a rather busy scene unfolded.
The martial artists of the Postal Hall were busily coming and going from the Inspection Hall with letters in their hands, and the scholars belonging to the Military Affairs Department were organizing the information sent from the Postal Hall.
Due to the nature of the organization, the Postal Hall, the Disciplinary Hall, and the Military Affairs Department would have many occasions to cooperate closely with the Inspection Hall. Also, the members would sometimes move between each organization to work.
Cheon Woojin was guided by a martial artist to the Inspection Hall Master's office. The door was already open as people were busily coming and going from the office.
Cheol Jiak's face brightened when he found Cheon Woojin. It was a look that said, "The one who will finally save me has come."
"Alright, Hidden Dragon Unit Commander! You said you had something to report urgently, right? Everyone, please step aside for a moment."
As Cheol Jiak said so, the Postal Hall members and the Military Affairs Department scholars who had been tormenting him with all sorts of documents reluctantly made way.
Cheol Jiak opened the window to ventilate the still-remaining heat and offered Cheon Woojin a seat.
"Woojin, I think I've made a big mistake. This isn't a promotion. I never imagined that I would read and touch so many documents in my entire life."
The basis of inspection was information.
To trust one piece of information, there were dozens, hundreds of documents that followed.
Cheol Jiak, who had lived as the eternal commander, was being properly disciplined since being appointed as the Inspection Hall Master.
"It's a relief that Lin helps me from time to time."
The Black Tortoise Unit did not have a separate estate. Since the Inspection Hall's estate was so large, a place for the Black Tortoise Unit was prepared within it.
In the first place, the Inspection Hall, the Black Tortoise Unit, and the Hidden Dragon Unit were practically one body.
Cheon Woojin couldn't think of any words of comfort, so he just drank his tea. In fact, he himself was in a position where he had fled here, exhausted by the three's battle for the deputy commander position.
Just as the two were about to finish their teacups.
"Ah! I'm going to die, really!"
Zhuge Lin barged in. A certain amount of fatigue was also visible on her face.
"Commander, no, Hall Master. Was the commander position always this hard? When you were in this position, it seemed easy with nothing to do. Money keeps going in secretly, and why are that Do Seonghwi, the deputy commander, and Jang Woopyeong fighting so much?"
Cheol Jiak grinned. It was a smile that said, "Now you get to experience the aftermath of your subordinates."
Although he had been teased as the eternal commander, not a single incident had occurred within the Black Tortoise Unit while he was there. Although he couldn't achieve merits outside, his ability to handle his subordinates inside was surprisingly outstanding.
How long had passed with Zhuge Lin complaining, Cheol Jiak being satisfied, and Cheon Woojin continuously emptying his teacup?
Zhuge Lin, who had poured out all her grievances, finally got to the point.
"There are ten days left, right? Until the first mission."
Cheol Jiak nodded.
Cheon Woojin also put down his teacup and took a listening attitude.
In ten days, the Inspection Hall's first mission would begin.
First, the Inspection Hall's mission was to investigate those who were trying to establish the Righteous Heaven Alliance based on the Tang family elder's testimony.
The first one was decided to be the Qingcheng Sect.
"Why the Qingcheng Sect of all places?"
At Zhuge Lin's question, Cheol Jiak shrugged.
He was just doing as he was told from above; how could he know the detailed circumstances?
However, Cheon Woojin somehow felt like he knew the reason.
"Isn't it because the Chief Strategist dislikes the Qingcheng Sect?"
"What? No way. He's not someone who would reflect such personal feelings in a mission."
Cheol Jiak shook his head. In fact, he didn't know much about the Chief Strategist either. In the first place, it was extremely rare for a commander and the Chief Strategist to meet.
However, he vaguely thought that if he were the Martial Alliance's Chief Strategist, he would be benevolent, fair, and just, and at the same time, logical.
"Hmm."
Cheon Woojin smacked his lips.
His guess was probably right.
The Qingxuan Zhenren he had seen at that time was not someone anyone would particularly like.
Of course, since it was a matter that didn't particularly concern him, he didn't bother to explain the events of that time.
"We have to train to the bone during this time. It's the first mission, and the opponent is a pillar of the Nine Sects."
Cheol Jiak had recently realized the importance of training.
He had thought that he just had to work two or three times harder than others. But at the Black Plaque Star, he had experienced Ma Yongseok's seasoned training with the Divine Doctor by his side.
In Cheol Jiak's long life, he had never grown so much in such a short period. It was to the point where even Cheon Woojin had thought that something had changed about Cheol Jiak.
Cheol Jiak explained the events of that time to the two and reaffirmed his resolve.
"In fact, I started learning martial arts systematically after entering the Martial Alliance, so I didn't know the importance of a good master, but after experiencing it this time, I definitely get it."
"No, wait a minute. You started learning martial arts properly after entering the Alliance? Then what about before that?"
Zhuge Lin raised a question with a bewildered face. Normally, the Martial Alliance was a place where already skilled martial artists entered after undergoing an extreme selection process.
It was because the Martial Alliance was not a martial arts academy that taught martial arts, but a place where one performed missions as a martial artist of the Orthodox Path.
At Zhuge Lin's question, Cheol Jiak answered as if it were obvious.
"Self-taught."
"Huh? Where and how?"
"In the mountains, fighting with bandits. Didn't I tell you? There were originally a lot of bandits in my hometown."
"...?"
Astonishment was reflected on Zhuge Lin's face.
The Martial Alliance, and moreover, the main headquarters, not a branch, was not a place one could enter by simply self-teaching martial arts.
No, more than that, bandits were also basically martial artists, so was it possible to learn martial arts by fighting with them?
"Don't tell me you're some kind of genius too, Hall Master? No, why are there so many geniuses these days?"
Zhuge Lin inwardly blamed herself. She had spent the most time with Cheol Jiak, so why hadn't she thought of it before?
Cheol Jiak's unconventional endurance, his abnormal recovery ability, the strange size of his muscles, and his enormous appetite.
In the first place, it was no different from a martial talent sent down from the heavens to learn external arts.
Of course, it couldn't be compared to an out-of-standard existence like Cheon Woojin, but it was certain that he was at least a rare martial talent.
"Now I understand why you said you self-taught. If a person born with such a martial talent had learned under a proper master, he would have become a tremendous martial artist."
"Then what am I now?"
"Just a Hall Master. If you had met a good master, you would have been a tremendous Hall Master."
"Ahem."
Cheol Jiak let out a dry cough.
In fact, what was the point of dragging on about the past?
The world was originally unfair. If there were those who were born in a good house, lived with spirit medicines in their mouths from a young age, and learned martial arts from all sorts of masters, there were also people like himself who started from scratch and lived by trial and error.
"Anyway, I brought this up because I didn't want to keep what I realized to myself..."
Cheol Jiak trailed off.
He had brought it up because he wanted to share something with his cherished subordinates, but thinking about it, one was the daughter of the Zhuge family and the other was the disciple of the White Flower Sword Immortal.
Naturally, Zhuge Lin also looked at Cheon Woojin.
A person born with a once-in-a-thousand-years talent, who had received the best teachings.
A man who was the very model of that was right here.
"How did you train when you were young, Junior Cheon?"
Zhuge Lin asked casually. Cheol Jiak also had a very curious face, pretending not to be.
It was the teachings of none other than the White Flower Sword Immortal.
He was curious about what he ate, what kind of training he did, and even when he slept and woke up. For some reason, it seemed that there would be a great and profound arrangement of the White Flower Sword Immortal in all those actions.
Cheon Woojin looked at the two for a moment and then said nonchalantly.
"It's nothing special. It was just similar training to others."
"Eh, no way."
"It's true. If you want, I can tell you my master's training method."
In an instant, Cheol Jiak and Zhuge Lin's eyes widened.
The same thought struck their minds like a thunderbolt.
A fortuitous encounter. This is a fortuitous encounter.
The training method of one of the Three Eccentrics of the Orthodox Path.
How profound, deep, philosophical, and arduous, and yet, how great would it be?
Just imagining it was enough to make their hearts race as martial artists.
"Let's go right away."
Cheon Woojin got up from his seat.
If he was going to train, he planned to do it at the Hidden Dragon Unit.
His master's training method was something anyone could easily follow, and yet, one could see immediate effects.
Naturally, it wouldn't be bad for the three who were aiming for the deputy commander position of the Hidden Dragon Unit to become stronger before the mission.
* * *
"R-really?"
"Young Master Cheon, is it really okay to do that?"
The reactions of Song Yiyeon and Jin Yun, who had heard Cheol Jiak and Zhuge Lin's explanation, were not much different from what the two had shown earlier.
Even Namgung Jin, who had been quietly reading a book in a corner, unable to fit in yet, stealthily got up from his seat and naturally joined in, as if a river meeting the sea.
Cheol Jiak, Zhuge Lin, Song Yiyeon, Jin Yun, and Namgung Jin.
Cheon Woojin looked at the five people carefully and then gave them numbers in turn. Cheol Jiak was four, Zhuge Lin was three, and the remaining three were all two.
"My master valued a training method that suited each level, so he would always tell us the intensity of the training we had to endure today when we started the day's training."
"Ooh!"
Gasps erupted from here and there. Perhaps because it was the training method of the White Flower Sword Immortal, there was a different feeling from the start.
Soon, Cheon Woojin's words continued.
"After overcoming the number of life-and-death crises given, you rest for half a quarter of an hour. And then repeat. The goal is to raise the number by one by the time the training is over. The training does not stop until then."
"...?"
It was a training method that squeezed a person to their absolute limit.
One becomes stronger by overcoming life-and-death crises several times a day.
Everyone had a curious expression at the training that seemed like something the demon-men of the Demonic Cult would do.
Did the White Flower Sword Immortal really devise such a training method?
Regardless, Cheon Woojin stretched out his hand into the air.
Soon, the Crescent Moon Staff that had been leaning in a corner was pulled in as if wound by a thread.
He had said it was his master's training method, but he had never said it was the White Master's training method.
Cheon Woojin, who had lightly swung the Crescent Moon Staff in the air, looked at the five with quite different eyes. The air, which had become completely cold, heavily pressed down on the hall.
Everyone's breath caught in their throats. Was this how those who had faced Cheon Woojin in the past had felt? It was to the point where they even felt a certain respect for them.
"W-wait..."
Cheon Woojin's figure rushed forward.
No preparation was needed.
Whether one was prepared or not, it didn't change the fact that they would at least smell the scent of incense from the threshold of death and return.
(End of Chapter)