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Chapter 173. Even If I Have to Paint Myself with Lacquer or Swallow Charcoal (19)

“We’re going to help him, right? Don’t sit on your ass just because it involves the government.”

“Of course, Master. Besides, Young Hero Song even offered the Kunlun Friendship Medallion for our aid, so how could I refuse him?”

Then, Do-Ah interjected, “Heh, you didn’t know what it was for when you got it. Do you know what kind of gift it was now?”

“Of course. I used to be a fool, but that was a long time ago, you know?”

No one in the world can escape change. Some change overnight due to some event or opportunity, while others change over time, slowly but surely.

Isn’t that precisely why the world is interesting?

“Then, have you decided when we’re going to take action?”

“Well, no secret is ever kept secret forever. Moreover, I’ve already inevitably revealed a lot regarding my identity. For now, I’ve stopped all homing pigeons from leaving the sect, but that is only a stopgap measure. So, now that we have all the help we’ll need, I plan on going on the offensive within five days.”

Na Ban nodded at Woo-Moon’s response.

“Understood. Then, I’ll secretly contact the lay disciples and the disciples who are still outside the sect.”

The Nine Sects and One Gang and the Eight Great Ancient Families were both colossal forces.

On the surface, it seemed as though the Eight Great Ancient Families were larger and stronger. However, unlike the Eight Great Ancient Families, the Nine Sect and One Gang had secular lay disciples who didn’t officially belong to a sect but could be of great help as a reserve force in times of crisis.

If all of the Kunlun Sect’s lay disciples and the forces that these disciples led were gathered together under the banner of the sect, then their army would definitely not be lacking in numbers or power.

“It goes without saying that you shouldn’t tell them all the details, but do make sure they are informed of what they are doing and more or less what they’re up against and why.”

“Keke. Of course.”

As the tactical discussion came to a conclusion, Woo-Moon looked over at Jin Won-Myeong and mischievously said, “Suddenly, I’m reminded of something from way back. Could I ask you for a spar?”

Jin Won-Myeong burst into laughter.

As if he had no other choice, he couldn’t help but laugh as he got up and smacked Woo-Moon on the shoulder a few times.

As he passed by Woo-Moon, still smiling, he used his movement technique to the fullest as he ran away, shouting, “You stinky brat, what do you think you’re trying to do, bully an old man?!”

There was a strange silence between the three remaining people.

Na Ban was embarrassed as he recited his personal Daoist scripture, while Do-Ah jumped up and shouted in the direction where Jin Won-Myeong had gone.

“Are you really leaving me behind just to run away on your own?!”

Then she smiled and said farewell to Woo-Moon.

“I’ll take my leave.”

“Of course. I look forward to seeing you again.”

Do-Ah, who was now in the Transcendent stage, also left to chase after Jin Won-Myeong, while Woo-Moon sent a Harmonic Transmission to him in the distance.

—I’ve been using the Divine Phantasm Steps that you taught me, and it has been useful to me ever since. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.

—Hmph, of course! The Divine Phantasm... Steps is... the best footwork technique... in all of gangho. Next time... I’ll... you brat...

While Woo-Moon’s transmission was heard extremely clearly by Jin Won-Myeong, Jin Won-Myeong’s was interrupted and disconnected. In fact, the only reason Woo-Moon was able to hear this much was because his senses were extremely keen.

Right as he was in the midst of talking to Jin Won-Myeong about the Divine Phantasm Steps, Na Ban patted him on the shoulder, almost as if he had received a hint from Jin Won-Myeong in advance.

“Oh, that’s right. You’ve learned the Divine Phantasm Steps, right?”

Na Ban’s tone had changed slightly. Woo-Moon had a somewhat ominous feeling.

“Yes, I did, but...”

“Then, you’re a lay disciple of our Kunlun Sect! Now, please stamp your seal here before you go,” Na Ban quickly said as he held out a blank sheet of parchment.

“What is that?”

“This is a certificate that you are a lay disciple of our Kunlun Sect.”

“Isn’t this just a blank sheet?”

“Don’t worry about that. I’ll fill it in later, so just stamp it for now.”

“Hahahahaha!”

Woo-Moon let out a laugh eerily similar to Jin Won-Myeong’s and shook his head a couple of times before immediately breaking free from Na Ban\'s grasp and running away.

“Huh? What? Catch him!! He’s one of us now!” Na Ban shouted as Woo-Moon spiritually called out to Eun-Ah to follow him with Yu Yu.

There was nothing for him to worry about regarding Ki Yeon-Oh or the village chief. If the Kunlun Sect was truly as he’d seen today, both of them would pay the exact price they deserved for their deeds, not a single ounce less.

***

“Get started.”

"Okay!"

Yu Yu carefully circulated her qi according to the instructions in the sutra before thrusting her sword in three different directions. Then, she looked backward, kicked her foot out once, flicked her wrist as if she were slapping something with her sword, and spun in place as if she were dancing. At the end of her spin, she flicked her sword again and slashed the air vigorously.

She was learning the Swordplay of the Carefree Goddess that Sang-Woon had taught Si-Hyeon, and she was now demonstrating a technique in front of Woo-Moon.

Thwip, thwip!

A stick fashioned out of a willow branch hit Yu Yu in various places.

“Your shoulder is sticking out too much.”

“You have to control your breathing at this point!”

“You can’t just let your knee bend just because it’s hard!”

As proven when he trained the Song family “guards,” Woo-Moon was truly strict when teaching martial arts, to the point that Yu Yu shed tears.

About an hour later, they finished with the day\'s training.

“Ha... ha... hehe. Are we done for today, then?”

“Yes. You used your qi unconsciously twice today. You need to get more used to practicing your martial arts without using qi.”

Although Yu Yu had instantly acquired a cultivation base and her physical abilities greatly improved after she consumed the neidan of the Blood-Horned Poison Serpent and underwent bone and marrow cleansing, she had never learned martial arts prior to that. Therefore, it was very dangerous for her to try to solve all of her flaws using qi. Thus, Woo-Moon made her practice sword techniques and other martial arts without using any qi whatsoever.

Huff.

When Yu Yu had first learned the Swordplay of the Carefree Goddess, Eun-Ah had watched with some amount of curiosity. However, the longer Yu Yu trained, the more bored Eun-Ah became.

So, even now, Eun-Ah lay on the grass, rolling from side to side and clawing at the air for no reason.

“Hey, you little tyke. It’s over. Let’s go.”

Woo-Moon put Yu Yu on Eun-Ah’s back.

Roar!!!

Eun-Ah ran forward while making happy noises, a completely different image from just a few seconds back.

“What? She’ll get stronger anyway, so why train so hard?”

Woo-Moon spanked Eun-Ah with a Raging Wind Palm.

ROAR!

Eun-Ah grumbled, asking why Woo-Moon had hit her with a voice filled with pain and resentment.

“Are you the same as humans? A tiger is still a tiger from birth and is the king of the mountains no matter what. Humans are not the same. The reason we have to make so much effort is because we’re naturally weak from birth. What? Of course, I was extremely weak at first, too. If I hadn’t trained this hard, I would have been weak right now as well.”

‘Well, is that really the case?’

Woo-Moon knew that his case was a bit different than just being called effort.

The moment he first saw the world inside the landscape painting, he had also fallen in love with the sword. Anything he had to do in order to study the sword was just fun to him.

He was learning the sword to enjoy himself, nothing more, nothing less. And there was a common saying: a lazy genius couldn’t beat someone who worked hard, and someone who worked hard couldn’t beat someone who enjoyed the work.

Still, was Woo-Moon just someone who enjoyed the sword?

No, that wasn’t right, either.

There was the Solar Physique, Woo-Moon’s innate constitution.

Well, it was more like a congenital disorder.

He had been fated to die before the age of twenty, his entire body’s veins and meridians scorched by the pure yang qi. Yet, compensating for their exceedingly poor physique, those born with the Solar Physique were blessed with divine intelligence. In other words, his ability to comprehend and understand was greater than anyone else.

As Woo-Moon later realized, the martial training he had experienced through the landscape painting’s mental image training was nearly impossible for other people to even attempt, let alone do properly.

Just take Yu Yu, for example. Even after her metamorphosis, it would be nearly impossible for her to practice her own sword techniques solely through mental image training.

The martial dao hidden within the depths of the landscape painting’s strokes was truly close to the Dao, and it was too strenuous on most people’s brains. It was only because Woo-Moon was born with the Solar Physique and had incredible comprehension skills that he had been able to memorize it all and unravel it little by little.

In other words, Woo-Moon was in fact a genius.

Moreover, he not only enjoyed cultivating the Sword Dao, but he also had the best of teachers, the most perfect of martial techniques, and the greatest of all cultivation methods.

All of that added together was why he had grown so quickly.

‘Hmm. When I think about it, I guess I was really lucky, too. Well, I was destined to die before twenty, so I guess that’s just compensation.’

That was right.

If he hadn’t learned martial arts, Woo-Moon would have lived a short and sickly life, dying with only his dreams of becoming a man of the murim.

He thought back to that day, the day he met the old Daoist who drew the landscape painting for him. Moreover, he thought back to seeing the old Daoist again when he turned twenty, the Daoist appearing to him after he woke up from his dream and congratulating him for reaching that age.

For some reason, the tip of his nose started to tingle.

Thus, as he walked toward the Regional Military Commission, he pondered to himself for a while.

***

A military officer wearing black armor, with two massive sabers on either hip and holding a guandao in his hand, blocked the path.

He appeared to be in his late thirties and had quite the impressive beard. He almost seemed like Guan Yu from the Three Kingdoms era.

‘The Battle Emperor!’

He was one of the Eight Heavenly Martial Emperors, but unlike the others, he had no weapon to represent him.

Because he was skilled in all weapons.

That was why, unlike the Palm Martial Emperor, Sword Emperor, and Saber Emperor, he was not given a specific title, but rather the generic title of Battle Emperor!

Now, he was blocking Woo-Moon’s path.

One hour before, the Martial Emperor had prostrated himself and let out a greeting that made people feel as if the wall was shaking.

“Lee Gang has come to greet the Princess!”[1]

It wasn’t just a feeling, actually; the Regional Military Commission building actually shook to the point where it seemed as though it would collapse, unidentifiable debris falling to the ground.

“P-please get up.”

Even though she had prepared in advance, placed earplugs in both ears, and had the Formless Flying Sword step forward to block the sound wave, Princess Mok Yong felt her head buzz.

“Hey, what are the ancestors doing? Why won’t they take that ignorant brute among them already? Hey, you senile old man! Are you trying to get this place to collapse?” the Saber Emperor Jeong Yi-Moon shouted.

The Martial Emperor Lee Gang stood up and retorted bluntly.

“Our ancestors should take you first. To think you’d have the thick face to stay alive after you broke the Lion God Saber that His Majesty the late Emperor bestowed upon you.”

For Saber Emperor Jeong Yi-Moon, the incident in which the Lion God Saber was broken in the fight against the Dominating Fist Heavenly Demon was his greatest shame!

“Y-you damn bastard! Fine, let\'s see it through to the end today!”

The Martial Emperor Lee Gang snorted coldly in response.

“I’m not interested in fighting some idiot who was fooled by some barking puppy. A Paragon, my ass. What, does he also have gold coming out of his ass?”[/ref]Literally, do your words even count as sound? It’s supposed to be really uncouth and rude, so I had a little fun.[/ref]

Lee Gang was referring to Woo-Moon. He simply refused to believe the rumors that Woo-Moon, someone two generations below and the grandson of the Palm Martial Emperor of all people, had surpassed his cultivation.

Furious, the Saber Emperor suddenly paused and swallowed his pride, changing his tactics.

“Oh, really? Well, if he shits gold, then will you eat it when he knocks you down?”

“I’ll eat my own weapons if he can beat me! You say his cultivation is higher? Ridiculous!”

If Saber Emperor Jeong Yi-Moon and Palm Martial Emperor Baek Sang-Woon were lifelong friends, Martial Emperor Lee Gang and Palm Martial Emperor Baek Sang-Woon were lifelong enemies.

He could never admit that his martial skills were inferior not to his most hated enemy, but to the man’s goddamn grandson! No, not even if he had to die!

“Well, alright then! He left the Kunlun Sect a while ago and should be here soon enough. Why don’t you have a little spar?”

Lee Gang laughed uproariously.

“You know what, why not? Watch me take that little shit down a peg!”

1. In chapter 60, the Battle Emperor’s name was written to be Lee Jong-Gwang. However, the author seems to have switched to Lee Gang now. ☜