Light Novel: Volume 24 Episode 4
Manhwa: N/A
“Keuhk!”
Yong Geomsan coughed up blood and fell to his knees.
The crimson blood stained the snow-covered ground red.
“Valley Head!”
“Damn it!”
The voices of subordinates could be heard in the distance.
It was only after a moment that his dazed consciousness returned.
‘Have I… lost?’
Yong Geomsan bit his lip.
He had large wounds on his side and thigh.
These were where Sage Il-gum’s sword had struck.
Fortunately, Sage Il-gum had held back so he was able to save his life, but it was clearly his defeat.
“Are you alright?”
Sage Il-gum’s voice sounded out.
Looking up, he saw Sage Il-gum’s face looking at him with a worried expression.
Sage Il-gum himself did not look that well either.
His wounds were just as serious as Yong Geomsan’s. However, he was standing firmly on his own two feet, while Yong Geomsan was on his knees.
The difference was vast.
Sage Il-gum had won, and Yong Geomsan had lost.
Half a day of fierce fighting had ended in a narrow victory for Sage Il-gum.
Even if it was only by half a second, a defeat was a defeat.
Yong Geomsan humbly accepted his defeat.
However, the martial artists of the Dragon Sky Valley had a different reaction.
“The Valley Head has been defeated!”
“Protect the Valley Head!”
They rushed frantically to protect Yong Geomsan.
Some even charged on Sage Il-gum.
It was then.
“Everyone, stop!”
Yong Geomsan gathered his remaining strength and shouted loudly.
His roar made the rushing martial artists hesitate.
Yong Geomsan struggled to his feet and scolded them.
“How much more do you intend to embarrass me? I fought to the best of my ability, and I bear no shame in my defeat. Stand down, all of you.”
“Yes!”
“At your command!”
At his thunderous command, the martial artists of Dragon Sky Valley had no choice but to stop.
Only then did Yong Geomsan let out a faint sigh.
“Phew, I lost.”
“It was a good fight. If you had been a little more composed, I would have been defeated.”
“You don’t need to console me. I lost because you were simply stronger and I was weaker. Any hasty consolation is just an insult to me.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Never mind. What more can a loser say? I’ll keep my word, so don’t try to console me anymore.”
“Understood.”
“Phew!”
After sighing for a moment, Yong Geomsan looked back at his subordinates.
He was embarrassed to see the faces of his subordinates, but he gathered his courage and spoke.
“As you can see, I have lost the duel against Senior so we would be returning to the Dragon Sky Valley. But, this is not the end. We will reorganize and return to Jianghu again. Until then, we’ll be gracious and grow in strength. Do you understand?”
“Yes!”
His subordinates answered in unison.
“Let’s go!”
Yong Geomsan turned around and walked away without any hesitation.
The martial artists of the Dragon Sky Valley followed right behind him.
Sage Il-gum stared wordlessly at their departing figures.
He stood there for a long time.
Finally, when the martial artists of Dragon Sky Valley had disappeared from sight, Sage Il-gum staggered.
“Phew!”
Sage Il-gum barely managed to stand, using the Pine Pattern Ancient Sword as a cane.
Drip!
Blood trickled from the corners of his mouth.
His internal injuries were as deep as Yong Geomsan’s, but he had suppressed them until now because he didn’t want to show any weakness.
“I’m really too old. If I were ten years younger, it wouldn’t have been so hard to overpower him.”
Sage Il-gum thought the passing of time was heartless.
No matter how profound someone’s martial arts is, if their body doesn’t keep up with them, they will never be able to exert and unleash their full potential.
“At least the immediate crisis has been averted.”
Now that the martial artists of the Dragon Sky Valley had returned, he had achieved his immediate goal.
It was worth the effort of going all the way here.
Sage Il-gum sat down on the spot and began to circulate his internal energy.
While one session of circulating internal energy was not enough to fully heal both internal and external injuries, it was enough to restore his mobility to a functional level.
Sage Il-gum picked up the Pine Pattern Ancient Sword he had set down, strapped it to his waist, and started walking.
“When will I reach Wudang Mountain again?”
Sage Il-gum grumbled uncharacteristically for his age, but he kept walking.
It was when he exited the plains where he had dueled with Yong Geomsan.
Suddenly, Sage Il-gum’s expression stiffened.
The smile that had persisted even after suffering deep internal injuries vanished as if it had been a lie.
His gaze landed on a rock that was broader than usual.
On the rock sat a man in a cross-legged position.
He was a robust figure who appeared to be in his early to mid-thirties.
The middle-aged man, dressed in a dark red robe, exuded an inexplicable aura of authority.
It was extremely rare for a martial artist of Sage Il-gum’s caliber to feel overwhelmed by another’s presence.
They only felt as such whenever they encountered someone of a similar or superior level to themselves.
So it was clear that the middle-aged man sitting cross-legged was an absolute master who had reached at least the same level as Sage Il-gum.
The problem was that Sage Il-gum didn’t know who the middle-aged man was.
He would usually recognize most masters who had reached a similar level to his, but the man in front of him was someone whom he had never seen before.
Sage Il-gum let out a sigh.
“Ah! He who comes is surely ill-intentioned, no one well-meaning will come.”1
People with good intentions do not come easily, but for people who do come, they do not come with good intentions.
Just as he appeared before Yong Geomsan with no good intentions, the man in front of him certainly wasn’t waiting with good intentions either.
Just as Yong Geomsan had done, Sage Il-gum first inquired about the man’s identity.
“You seem to be waiting for this old man. May I know your esteemed name?”
The middle-aged man opened his eyes in response to his voice.
The moment Sage Il-gum met his gaze, he flinched involuntarily. The middle-aged man had yet to do anything, but he already felt threatened by the look in his eyes alone.
The middle-aged man spoke.
“My name is Jang Cheonhwa.”
“Jang… Cheonhwa? Ha! Are you the leader of the Celestial Martial Sect? Your appearance is quite different from what I remember. Could it be that you’ve achieved the Realm of Youthful Rejuvenation?”
“That’s right!”
“Hmm!”
Sage Il-gum grunted in response to Jang Cheonhwa’s answer.
The Jang Cheonhwa he knew did not look like this.
If he really had achieved the Realm of Youthful Rejuvenation, it was clear he had reached an unimaginable level.
It was possible that the man in front of him was lying. However, Sage Il-gum believed the man’s words to be true.
It was because of the presence and qi emitted by Jang Cheonhwa.
He had seen Jang Cheonhwa once before, and he remembered the qi he had given off at that time.
Just because he had regained his youth through the Realm of Youthful Rejuvenation didn’t mean his unique and distinctive qi would change.
Sage Il-gum asked,
“What are you doing here? Shouldn’t you be busy running the Celestial Martial Sect?”
“How about you, what are you doing here? The most senior person in Wudang.”
“Haven’t you seen it all? I prevented the Dragon Sky Valley’s interference. If you had helped me, I would have had an easier time in stopping them. Or did you just plan on watching from the start?”
“I would have preferred if they had intervened.”
“What do you mean?”
Sage Il-gum’s expression hardened at Jang Cheonhwa’s unexpected response.
“Just as you heard, I welcome the idea of having the Dragon Sky Valley enter into Jianghu.”
“How could the leader of the Celestial Martial Sect say such a thing?”
“Why shouldn’t the leader of the Celestial Martial Sect say such a thing?”
“It’s because—”
Sage Il-gum hesitated, unable to find a suitable answer. Just then, a thin smile appeared on Jang Cheonhwa’s lips.
The icy smile was clearly a sneer.
He unfolded his crisscross legs and stood up. This caused a mountainous momentum to rise up and press down on Sage Il-gum.
Sage Il-gum’s complexion turned pale.
The internal injuries he had been suppressing flared up again under Jang Cheonhwa’s tremendous aura.
Sage Il-gum was an expert of the highest caliber.
Even if his physical body had weakened, the profound cultivation and internal energy he had gained through the years were more than enough to make up for his frail body. But even then, he felt himself being pushed back by Jang Cheonhwa’s momentum.
Aura is the external manifestation of a person’s temperament, mindset, and cultivation.
One could tell what kind of person a person was just by looking at their aura.
Jang Cheonhwa was showing exactly what kind of person he was through his aura.
His achievements.
The intent with which he came here.
And his ultimate goal.
All of these were revealed through his aura alone without saying a single word.
Shiver!
Goosebumps rose up Sage Il-gum’s forearms.
Even he didn’t dare to guess the magnitude of Jang Cheonhwa’s ambition.
Sage Il-gum had never before seen someone with such immense ambition.
If if were anyone else with such ambition, he might have just laughed it off and moved on, but Jang Cheonhwa was a martial artist with the capability to fully realize his ambitions.
The mere thought of such a martial artist harboring such dangerous ambitions was enough to make Sage Il-gum’s skin crawl.
Struggling to maintain a calm expression, Sage Il-gum asked,
“Are you dreaming of uniting Jianghu?”
“That will be up to my son.”
“Your son, Jang Mugeuk?”
“He’s a brilliant young man who has taken over the Golden Heaven Society without much support from his father. He will surely be able to lead and unify Jianghu excellently.”
“If I leave the Jianghu Sect to my son, what does Master Jang really want?”
Instead of answering, Jang Cheonhwa looked up at the sky.
“Heh, are you dreaming of becoming the heavens? Do you dream of being the greatest of all time?”
“I carry an original sin.”
“Original sin?”
“The sin of killing my master.”
“What do you mean?”
Sage Il-gum’s eyes widened.
It was a story he had never heard before.
Not only had he never heard of Jang Cheonhwa killing his master, but he also didn’t even know who his master was.
As far as Sage Il-gum was concerned, Jang Cheonhwa was practically a man who had fallen from the sky.
Decades ago, there was a battle that determined the fate of the martial world.
It was called the Great Heavenly Demon War.
A superpower known as the Celestial Demon Union had attacked Jianghu, seeking dominance and supremacy.
The leader of the Celestial Demon Union, Go Geomwol, was known to have reached demonic levels of martial prowess.
Under Go Geomwol’s leadership, Jianghu was utterly defenseless and was quickly overwhelmed.
The one who stepped up in this desperate crisis was Lee Gwak, the founding master of the Frenzied Warrior Sect.
Lee Gwak fought a fierce battle with the Celestial Demon Union Leader Go Geomwol and barely managed to subdue him, but it was someone else who ultimately killed Go Geomwol.
It was the young master of the Celestial Martial Sect who was at the location of their fight.
Jang Cheonhwa thrust his sword into Go Geomwol as he was flung towards him by chance.
That was the decisive blow.
The tyrant who sought to dominate the world thus lost his life to a young boy, and this event deeply marked the young boy in the minds of the heroes of the world.
Although it was an accidental act, the fact remained that he had taken the life of Go Geomwol, a supreme martial artist.
This incident triggered an explosive growth for the Celestial Martial Sect, and the young boy grew to become a supreme leader in the world.
That was the history of Jang Cheonhwa that Sage Il-gum knew.
Beyond that, he knew nothing.
‘Is he saying that there may be something more to the story?’
A foreboding feeling washed over him.
‘Master, master… Jang Cheonhwa’s master? And original sin. The original sin of killing his master…’
In an instant, Sage Il-gum felt a shock as if he had been hit on the head with a sledgehammer.
A shocking hypothesis suddenly came to his mind.
“Could it be?”
He bit his trembling lips hard as he stared at Jang Cheonhwa.
Deep shadows had already settled around Jang Cheonhwa’s eyes.
The moment he saw his face, Sage Il-gum instinctively knew that his assumption was correct.
He finally opened his mouth.
“Is Master Jang’s master Go Geomwol, the leader of the Celestial Demon Union?”
“Yes! I killed my master with my own hands and used his death as nourishment to grow the current Celestial Martial Sect.”
“My God!”
“My master made me do it, but it left a deep wound in my heart, a wound that will never heal. That’s why I intend to walk the path he wished to take.”
“And that is to become the heavens?”
“Yes!”
“No matter how powerful the Celestial Martial Sect is, it’s an impossible task. The sects of the world will not allow you to fulfill your ambition.”
“I know, but in the end, everything will be done according to my will.”
“You’re mad!”
At that moment, a cold smile spread across Jang Cheonhwa’s lips.
It was because Sage Il-gum’s words described him accurately.
It didn’t matter to him if he was called crazy.
It was fine if others scorned his seemingly futile dreams.
He had endured endlessly thus far, and now he was ready to soar into the heavens.
“I do not wish for this age of chaos to end like this. Therefore, Sage Il-gum, you must die.”
LUNA-CAVE
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