Days of Growth (4)
Gal Sa-Ryang was walking briskly together with Sima Tian. The place the two of them were heading toward was none other than the Alliance Lord Hall.
When Gal Sa-Ryang saw the building of the Alliance Lord Hall, he was filled with deep emotion. It had truly been a long time since he had entered the Alliance Lord Hall. During the days when Cheon Ha-Jin had been there, it was a place he had gone in and out of every day.
“What in the world is going on?”
“You will know once we get there.”
Sima Tian did not tell him the reason he was taking him to the Alliance Lord Hall.
In that way, the two of them passed through several layers of strict security and entered the Alliance Lord Hall.
The atmosphere of the Alliance Lord Hall had sunk coldly. The moment one entered, it was enough to know that Ma Bong-Gi, seated in the grand chair, was in an unpleasant mood.
“I greet the Alliance Lord.”
He merely glanced at him once and did not accept Gal Sa-Ryang’s greeting at all.
Sima Tian and Gal Sa-Ryang stood side by side to one side.
In the Alliance Lord Hall, aside from Ma Bong-Gi, Zuo Tie-Long, the leader of the Bright Moon Unit, was also present.
When their gazes met, Gal Sa-Ryang was the first to avoid his eyes. Zuo Tie-Long must have heard about his recent situation. Gal Sa-Ryang thought it would actually suit him better to appear intimidated.
Gal Sa-Ryang had mobilized his private intelligence network and was investigating everyone’s background.
He had also discovered an important fact about Zuo Tie-Long. He had found out that an enormous sum of money had been deposited under borrowed names in the Central Plains Bank.
‘If the reason for his betrayal was money?’
The intensity of his revenge would become even greater.
Zuo Tie-Long was positioned quite high on Gal Sa-Ryang’s list of targets for revenge. Leaving aside who the force behind the scenes was, the direct cause of Ma Bong-Gi becoming Alliance Lord was none other than Zuo Tie-Long. Gal Sa-Ryang could not forgive him for using the position Cheon Ha-Jin had created for him to betray Cheon Ha-Jin’s will.
Of course, in this place right now, none of those emotions showed at all. There was merely a weak strategist exhausted by work.
Two people entered that place. When Gal Sa-Ryang confirmed who they were, he was startled.
Ma Cheol-Gun and Ma Ryeong-In had entered.
Surprisingly, Ma Ryeong-In had shackles bound to his hands like a criminal. Ma Cheol-Gun had deliberately expressed his own will. That he was a criminal.
The two of them stood side by side before Ma Bong-Gi.
The gaze looking down from the grand chair was displeased.
“How unsightly.”
Ma Cheol-Gun said,
“An act of trying to kill one’s own blood goes beyond unsightly. It is something a human being should never commit.”
He knew that Ma Bong-Gi had said it was unsightly after seeing Ma Ryeong-In bound, but Ma Cheol-Gun pretended not to know and answered as if he were speaking about Ma Ryeong-In’s actions.
Seeing irritation flash across Ma Bong-Gi’s face, Ma Ryeong-In quickly spoke.
“This son has been wronged.”
“Explain in detail.”
“Elder Brother colluded with that man called the Nameless Great Hero and is trying to remove me.”
“Do not speak nonsense!”
“Elder Brother confessed this time. He said he had hated me since childhood.”
Ma Ryeong-In deliberately used the provocative word “confessed.”
“That was!”
It was certainly something he had said, but that did not mean he would frame his younger brother and kill him. Ma Ryeong-In shouted with an aggrieved expression.
“I have been perfectly trapped!”
Ma Bong-Gi raised his hand and stopped him, then this time asked Ma Cheol-Gun,
“Do you have evidence that he tried to kill you?”
“Yes.”
Ma Cheol-Gun took a secret letter from his robe and handed it to Ma Bong-Gi.
After reading the contents, Ma Bong-Gi said,
“Is this the only evidence?”
“That is correct.”
“Is this not insufficient as evidence on its own?”
“Ryeong-In acted exactly as written in that secret letter sent the previous day. If there had been no prior conspiracy to kill me, how would that man called the Nameless Great Hero have known and sent this secret letter in advance?”
“Of course that is true, but this evidence is not certain.”
“For what reason?”
“Because there is a possibility it was created after Ryeong-In acted.”
For an instant, Ma Cheol-Gun flinched in surprise.
“Are you saying that I fabricated it?”
“I did not say that. I merely spoke of the possibility.”
“Father!”
“This is an official place!”
“Alliance Lord!”
This time, Ma Cheol-Gun looked up at Ma Bong-Gi with a feeling of injustice.
But unlike his boiling attitude, his mind was calmer than ever. When the two of them had been called here, he had already expected things to turn out this way.
Ma Bong-Gi’s gaze finally turned toward Sima Tian.
“Just who is this man called the Nameless Great Hero?”
Sima Tian stepped forward and said,
“He is the man this pavilion has been investigating, the one who ambushed and killed the Cheondo Sect’s Severing Sword, Yeom-Hwa. Strategist Gal here is the one responsible for that matter.”
Gal Sa-Ryang could understand why he had been brought here. If a problem occurred, Sima Tian intended to shift the responsibility onto him.
‘Of course. That is just like you.’
Gal Sa-Ryang took a step forward and said,
“The man called Nameless is known by the names Nameless Wanderer, or Nameless Great Hero. We are trying to discover his identity in various ways, but other than the fact that he uses fist arts and that he is somewhere from his twenties to thirties in age, we have discovered nothing.”
“In other words, he is someone whose identity is unknown?”
Originally, it would not have been strange for a thunderous scolding to fall in this situation, but instead, Ma Bong-Gi seemed to have wanted this situation.
“In other words, it is a secret letter from someone whose nature we do not even know.”
“That is correct.”
Ma Bong-Gi’s gaze turned toward Ma Cheol-Gun.
“Release your younger brother now.”
Ma Cheol-Gun quietly stared at Ma Bong-Gi, then let out a sigh and said,
“I will obey the order.”
Ma Cheol-Gun personally released the shackles. He had deliberately brought him in shackles in order to emphasize, before everyone, that he was the one releasing them.
Ma Ryeong-In smiled brightly and said,
“Elder Brother, let us clear up the misunderstanding now. No matter how much you hate me.”
After answering with a snort, Ma Cheol-Gun bowed to Ma Bong-Gi and walked out of that place.
Ma Ryeong-In politely bowed to Ma Bong-Gi.
“As expected, Father is cold-headed and wise.”
Whether sincere or not sincere, Ma Ryeong-In’s expression toward Ma Bong-Gi was strange.
While watching what happened today, Gal Sa-Ryang could tell.
Ma Ryeong-In was directly connected to the force behind the scenes. And there existed some subtle conflict and distance between Ma Bong-Gi and Ma Ryeong-In.
It was truly precious information he had obtained because of Sima Tian’s selfishness.
‘Could that man called the Nameless Wanderer know all of this?’
If so?
He had to find the Nameless Wanderer. And then bring him over to his side.
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Time flowed like a river.
After being reborn as Byeok Ri-Dan, I welcomed my second summer.
Through the incident at the previous Golden Grand Banquet, I had learned that those bastards’ force was enormous.
If Lin Yan-Qing survived, the research would resume again. Of course, it would take quite some time for the research to be restored to its original state.
There was no guarantee that the research was being conducted in only one place, and there was no guarantee that other research was not being carried out.
They were not opponents someone like Ma Bong-Gi could deal with. On top of that, even Ma Ryeong-In, Ma Bong-Gi’s child, had been brainwashed by them.
Had none of his other children been recruited?
They were opponents I must not fight rashly. Without involving myself in their affairs, I focused only on increasing my own strength and the strength of my clan.
From morning until night, I devoted myself to training.
With internal cultivation as the center, I trained half in the Soul-Chasing Asura Sword Art and half in the Immortal Crane Secret Art, and I also diligently practiced the family Martial Arts, the White Moon Sword Art.
Except for the time spent eating and sleeping, I truly did nothing but train.
Thanks to that, before summer ended, I achieved great mastery of the White Moon Sword Art.
Effort and growth were not mine alone.
During that time, the Lesser Sword Unit had its first mission. Gwan Hui completed the first mission splendidly. Since it was their first mission, Gong Su-Chan found a mission that would require the entire Lesser Sword Unit to be deployed.
From the second mission onward, they divided into squads and went out on missions. That was because missions that all one hundred of them could carry out were not common.
They completed the second and third missions safely as well.
But on the fourth mission, two people were gravely injured, and on the fifth mission, someone died for the first time.
It was something that could not be helped. From the beginning, twenty people and one hundred people were different. Imagine one hundred people undertaking practical missions. No matter how careful one was, unexpected incidents were bound to occur.
The sword unit sank into grief at the death of their comrade.
Because I had lost countless comrades, I knew better than anyone what it felt like to lose a comrade. My heart hurt terribly, but outwardly, I did not show sorrow and remained composed.
I gathered the sword unit members and said to them,
“If you fear death, you should not have entered the sword unit. You should have done business in the marketplace or taught children in a village school. From now on, we will lose many comrades. If we fall into despair and grief every time that happens, not only will we be unable to move forward, but we will lose even more comrades, even faster. So mourn for exactly three days.”
They were words that could seem cold, but it was also something they had to overcome.
The river of time did not stop.
When summer burned away through our efforts, autumn came.
Along with it, several pieces of news and rumors related to the Grand Martial Alliance came in.
There was news that Ma Ryeong-In had returned to Henan Province, and not long afterward, Ma Cheol-Gun had officially ascended to the position of Clan Head of the Cheondo Sect.
As Ma Cheol-Gun formally became Clan Head, rumors spread that he had officially become the successor, and other rumors spread that it had nothing to do with the official successor. I deliberately did not dig into their affairs.
When every mountain had been dyed in autumn leaves, the Immortal Crane Secret Art, which had been at the eighth star, reached the ninth star.
Now only one star remained until full mastery at the tenth star. The power of the Immortal Crane Secret Art became even stronger, and my movements became even more flexible.
The hurdle was going from the ninth star to great mastery. Even with the same great mastery, my achievement would differ depending on the method and how I accomplished it. But since it was not something I could change anyway, I could only hope for good results while putting in effort.
There was good news in our family as well.
The sword unit of the Byeok Sword Clan had also grown in scale. After the debt to Yang So-Bang disappeared, it had grown little by little, and taking the growth of the Lesser Sword Unit as an opportunity, the main sword unit also gathered people and increased its scale. Even excluding the Lesser Sword Unit, its ranking in Shandong had risen greatly.
Baek Pyo focused solely on raising the Black Panther Unit. I deliberately did not go to visit them.
The Third Eye Pavilion had branches in seventy-two places across the Central Plains, and it continued to grow the organization.
The Taeseong Merchant Company earned its first profits in the autumn. It earned three thousand five hundred taels by selling goods. Someday, the Taeseong Merchant Company would grow into a merchant company that crossed the Central Plains and earned tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands of taels.
I was putting into practice something I had once told Gwan Hui.
That sometimes, there had to be periods when one buried effort in the passing years.
We were truly burying our effort in time.
Before we knew it, cold winds blew, and people spoke with regret that autumn had passed. The first snow fell, and the cold arrived.
On the morning when heavy snow had fallen, I was sitting cross-legged at the summit of a snow-covered mountain.
The Heavenly Martial Guardian Heart Art, a supreme cultivation method without peer in the world, had governed my internal energy without rest throughout this year except when I slept, and now, at last, it was reaching the moment I had aimed for.
The internal energy that had circulated throughout my entire body gathered into my dantian.
I slowly opened my eyes.
It was yet another moment that marked a turning point in my body and in the history of my Martial Arts.
At last, my internal energy had reached two gapja. I had truly trained diligently all year for this moment.
“Hahahaha.”
Uncontrollable laughter burst out.
The moment one receives the price of effort is always joyful.
Now, I was able to use the fifth form of the Soul-Chasing Asura Sword Art, which I had desired so much: Revolving Wheel Calamity.
Fifth Form, Revolving Wheel Calamity.
The final Sixth Form, Great Extinction Calamity, was truly the ultimate form. Its tremendous power was one thing, but governing the internal energy was also extremely difficult, so it was an attack to be used only at the very last moment.
Therefore, the Fifth Form, Revolving Wheel Calamity, could be considered the practical final form.
Whoooooosh!
The sound of wind began to come from the sword.
The instant I thrust out the sword, a rock far away was swept up by the wind of sword aura and turned to powder.
Woooooooong!
Wherever the sword pointed, sword aura began to whirl.
Whirlwinds of sword aura formed in the empty air above the cliff.
Their power was tremendous. A rock would become powder in an instant, and even if there were a lump of iron, it would be torn apart as if fruit were being peeled away.
One, two, three, four… nine, ten, eleven…
Whirlwinds with such tremendous power endlessly came into being.
Woooooooong!
All around, whirlwinds of sword aura raged. Like a terrifying natural disaster, it seemed as though the world itself were being overturned.
It truly seemed as if the end of the world had arrived. This was the Fifth Form, Revolving Wheel Calamity.
I released the Fifth Form until my internal energy was almost depleted.
Leaving only a small amount of internal energy, I withdrew my sword. Whirlwinds of sword aura were still raging all around me.
I strode toward the edge of the cliff. Without hesitating, I leaped down into the place whose bottom could not even be seen.
Whooooosh.
I fell downward at terrifying speed. It was training I had once done at my peak in order to build concentration. It was extreme training where losing focus even for a moment meant death. But as dangerous as it was, its effect was certain.
After falling endlessly, I twisted my body and released palm force into the air.
Papapapapang!
As the palm force was released, the speed of my fall slowed.
I then drove the Asura Hell King Sword into the cliff.
Chaaaaaaaaang.
As the sword cut through the wall, my speed slowed even further.
Whiriririk.
At the final moment, I spun several times in the air and reduced my speed even more.
At last, I landed on the ground. My internal energy was completely depleted. It was truly a moment that made my heart clench.
Jin and Su, who had been waiting below, stared at me with startled faces. They had contacted me saying they needed to meet me urgently. I had set the meeting place below this cliff.
“Surely you did not jump from the top?”
“I had no choice if I did not want to be late to our appointment.”
At my joke, they looked at each other with expressions mixed with absurdity and surprise.
“Is such a thing possible?”
“Try it once.”
“Oh, please do not say such things.”
The two of them waved their hands in denial.
Soon, Jin regained a serious expression.
“There is something we must report.”
Judging from their expressions, I could tell that something had happened in Jianghu.
But I was not tense. I had trained desperately enough that I could deplete all my internal energy and still land precisely here. Right now, I was in my best condition.
Feeling that I was fully prepared to face them again, I asked calmly,
“What is it?”
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