Chapter 7
Chapter 7
Chapter 7. Ten Thousand Streams Return to Poison Divine Art (2)
Meanwhile, at the training grounds of the Poison Demon Sect.
Though the sun was high in the sky, none of the Poison Demon Sect warriors were training.
Half of them were sprawled out in the shade, taking a lazy nap.
The few who were awake were either gossiping, or gambling.
Neung Ja-pil, the Ink Shadow Squad Leader, watched them with a look of utter dismay.
“What a mess.”
The Poison Demon Sect was never like this before.
At this hour, the shouts of the warriors would have filled the training grounds.
But all the real talents had left, and now the Poison Demon Sect was filled with only the dregs.
‘If it weren't for Dok Un-hyeok, the Poison Demon Sect wouldn't have ended up like this!’
Un-hyeok's wandering had dealt a great blow to the Poison Demon Sect.
He had squandered his family fortune with his dissolute lifestyle, so it was only natural that there was no monthly stipend to give to the warriors.
So, everyone had no choice but to leave the Poison Demon Sect and find work to make a living.
“Ugh, seriously! The monthly stipend is so measly. How are we supposed to make a living with this?”
One warrior complained, and a colleague chided him.
“Hey, if you're not happy, you can leave. The Sect Leader isn't holding anyone back, saying he's sorry.”
“Ah, I'm just saying. Well. The Poison Demon Sect is the only place where you can slack off and still get a monthly stipend on time.”
The warrior chuckled.
“True, it's hard to find a place where you can coast like this.”
Listening to that, Ja-pil's insides were boiling.
‘I want to knock some sense into those bastards!’
But he sighed.
‘…Don't bother stirring things up. I'm leaving the Poison Demon Sect anyway.’
Just then.
Someone came running at full speed from afar, with a loud voice.
“Squad Leadeeeeer!”
“Hmm?”
A man screeched to a halt, scattering sand and dust.
Ja-pil, frowning, fanned the air with his hand.
“Gwak Jeong, you make quite the entrance.”
Gwak Jeong, Ja-pil's subordinate, asked urgently, panting.
“Huff huff… Is it really true?”
“What are you talking about?”
“That you're joining the Black Kill Sect!”
Damn, has the rumor already spread?
Neung Ja-pil nodded.
“That's right.”
Gwak Jeong smiled brightly and hugged Neung Ja-pil.
“Wow, congratulations! Squad Leader!”
“H-hey! What's with you? Get off me. Let go.”
He pushed Gwak Jeong away, but he didn't let go easily.
“Is the sun rising in the west tomorrow? Squad Leader, do you know how happy our squad members are to hear that news?”
Gwak Jeong stepped away.
“Until now, even when other sects wanted to recruit you, you always refused, saying you were keeping your loyalty to the Poison Demon Sect.”
“…I did.”
“Did you know? You were always the topic of our drinking conversations?”
“What do you mean?”
“Hehehe. We all called you a stubborn fool, frustrated and cursing you.”
“What? You guys…!”
Gwak Jeong shrugged.
“It's not wrong, is it? With your skills, it's much better to go somewhere else than to rot in the crumbling Poison Demon Sect.”
“……”
“Anyway, you made the right choice!”
Gwak Jeong was happy as if it were his own business, but Ja-pil was endlessly bitter.
“The right choice, huh? I wonder….”
The Poison Demon Sect was everything to Ja-pil.
Dozens of years ago.
The Demonic God Church fought a war with a place called the Blood Sect, and many children lost their parents.
Ja-pil was one of them.
‘If the Poison Demon Sect hadn't taken me in, I probably wouldn't exist now.’
They fed him, sheltered him, clothed him.
They taught him how to live like a human being.
‘The debt I owe the Poison Demon Sect is so great.’
Memories of his childhood were etched everywhere around him.
A kind of attachment.
“By the way, Squad Leader.”
At Gwak Jeong's call, Neung Ja-pil snapped out of his reverie.
“But what made you change your mind? You never budged at the recruitment offers from other sects.”
“It's nothing special. I just realized something.”
“…?”
There was anger mixed in Ja-pil's voice.
“As long as the Young Sect Leader is there, the Poison Demon Sect can never change.”
Gwak Jeong nodded.
“Ah, well, it's impossible for the Young Sect Leader to quit women and drinking. He's always been so weak-hearted. He still hasn't gotten over the shock of his mother's death.”
“So, I'm going to put my hopes on someone else.”
Ja-pil's gaze turned to the corner of the training grounds.
Swish-! Whirr-! Swoosh-!
A boy, soaked in sweat, was diligently swinging a wooden sword alone.
Dok Mu-won.
The second son of Lyun Hui, and the only hope Ja-pil had found.
“I want to be his strength.”
“Yes?”
“The candidate to enter the Water Demon Cave this time will be Young Master Mu-won from the Poison Demon Sect.”
Gwak Jeong looked at Dok Mu-won with a pitiful expression.
“I guess so. Well, since the Young Sect Leader is in that state, Young Master Mu-won has no choice but to enter, even though he's young.”
A place where the possibility of returning alive was less than one in ten.
Mu-won was only twelve years old, so it was understandable to be anxious.
But without a single complaint, he was just silently working hard.
“Actually, the Young Master just had a sparring match with me.”
“Y-yes?!”
“Look closely. Can't you see the blue bruises peeking out from his sleeves?”
“Well, yes… Shouldn't we stop him? What if he collapses from exhaustion!”
“Do you think I didn't try to stop him?”
Ja-pil quietly watched Mu-won, who was reviewing the sparring match.
“The Young Master is as stubborn as an ox. Once he sets his mind to something, he has to see it through. He said he felt like he was going to realize something from the sparring match just now, and he immediately started training.”
“Ah….”
What exactly did he realize?
While Ja-pil and Gwak Jeong were staring intently at Mu-won.
Something transparent flickered from Mu-won's wooden sword.
Ja-pil narrowed his brow.
‘That’s….’
Swoosh-!
The wooden sword deeply cut the wooden training dummy.
‘Sword energy!’
Although it was clumsy, it was clear that he had grasped the basics.
Ja-pil's eyes widened.
To be able to aim for the path to becoming a master before even reaching adulthood.
‘What insane talent.’
So Ja-pil made a decision.
“Gwak Jeong. I will be there to support Young Master Mu-won when he becomes the true Young Sect Leader of the Poison Demon Sect someday.”
“Squad Leader….”
“I can't sharpen my dulled senses in the rotten Poison Demon Sect. So, I plan to go to the Black Kill Sect to hone myself and then return.”
And someday, by Mu-won's side.
He wanted to work together to restore the Poison Demon Sect's prosperity and make it flourish again.
But, just then.
“Everyone! I'm telling you, the Young Sect Leader has really changed?!”
The source of the commotion was Yang Geon, one of the sentry warriors of the Dark Writing Pavilion.
He had told his fellow warriors that he had been scolded by Un-hyeok last night for dozing off.
But everyone was ignoring him.
“Hey, talk sense. A dog doesn't stop eating poop. Is it even possible that the Young Sect Leader would give up his womanizing at that hour and visit the Dark Writing Pavilion?”
“That'll never happen. Hahaha!”
“Maybe you're mistaking a dream for reality?”
At the ridicule of his fellow warriors, Yang Geon shouted.
“Have you all been living a lie! I'm telling you, you have to be careful around the Young Sect Leader?!”
The reason why Yang Geon had frozen when Un-hyeok scolded him last night.
It was because of Un-hyeok's cold eyes.
Eyes that showed no hesitation.
He had warned that if something like this happened again, he would cut off his head.
‘That was definitely sincere.’
But none of the warriors believed Yang Geon.
It was truly maddening.
In the end, Yang Geon gave up trying to advise others.
“You guys… don't regret it. I clearly warned you. But you're the ones who didn't listen!”
“Yeah, yeah. We understand. So, Yang Geon. How about we have a drink in that sense? If we get drunk, you won't have dreams like that.”
“No thanks.”
Yang Geon rubbed his neck for no reason.
“I want to live a long life.”
“What's that sudden nonsense?”
“I have a night shift at the Dark Writing Pavilion tonight, so I'll go first.”
Watching Yang Geon walk away, his fellow warriors wore bewildered expressions.
“He's not one to skip a drinking session. Is the sun rising in the west? I'm seeing strange things.”
“Leave him alone. He must be sulking because we teased him.”
Ja-pil, who happened to hear Yang Geon's story, also couldn't believe him.
But at this time, no one knew.
The upheaval that Un-hyeok would bring to the Poison Demon Sect.
Meanwhile.
Un-hyeok, who was in the Dark Writing Pavilion, stretched greatly.
“Ugh. I finally saw it all.”
Today was the seventh day since he had been eating and sleeping in the Dark Writing Pavilion.
Un-hyeok pressed his eyelids.
“I haven't been able to sleep properly and I've been reading books, so I'm going to die.”
“You've finally finished.”
“Ah, Scribe Song.”
Song Yeom sat across from Un-hyeok and handed him a teacup on a tray.
“It's chrysanthemum tea. It will relieve some of your fatigue if you drink it.”
“Hmm, thank you.”
Un-hyeok took a sip.
The scent of flowers spread refreshingly in his mouth, and he felt a little more awake.
“I feel a little better.”
“Are you alright?”
Song Yeom wore a worried expression.
“You've only been sleeping in short naps and eating the bare minimum. I'm worried you've been overdoing it… I'm afraid you might collapse.”
“Hahaha! Don't worry.”
Un-hyeok rolled up his sleeves and showed off his skinny biceps.
“Even if I look like this, my stamina is still strong….”
Then something trickled down his nose.
‘Huh?’
When he wiped it with his sleeve, something red was on it.
“Y-Young Sect Leader, you're bleeding from your nose…! This won't do! Let's go to the medical ward right now. I'll call the sentry warriors!”
“Don't make such a fuss.”
Un-hyeok tore off a small corner of the book and rolled it up to plug his nose.
“It's just a nosebleed. Look, I'm fine like this.”
“But….”
“I said I'm fine? No, why are you calling a doctor for just a nosebleed?”
“But ancient medical books say that even the smallest symptoms are signals from the body. So, no matter what, you must go back to your residence and rest today.”
“Okay. I was going to go in anyway.”
As Un-hyeok emptied his teacup and stood up, he felt Song Yeom's gaze fixed on him.
“Why are you staring at me like that? Is there something on my face?”
“No. It's just….”
Song Yeom smiled.
“It seems like you've changed, Young Sect Leader.”
“……”
“To be honest, I would be lying if I said I wasn't worried when you came here, Young Sect Leader.”
“Why? Did you think I was going to do something?”
He threw the words in a joking manner.
Song Yeom was silent, and he was embarrassed.
“…Really? You thought that?”
“Yes… I'm sorry to say, I thought you came to steal books to get money to go to the pleasure house.”
No, what kind of life has this Dok Un-hyeok lived?
How come everyone he's met so far.
Everyone is showing the same reaction!
“But you've been reading only secret manuals all day. I was honestly surprised. I didn't think you would actually read all the secret manuals in the Dark Writing Pavilion.”
Innate talent and tenacious persistence.
That was the biggest reason why Un-hyeok was able to read all the books in the Dark Writing Pavilion in a week.
Song Yeom hid his true feelings.
‘The Young Sect Leader won't know.’
On the outside, he still looked as fragile as ever.
Song Yeom felt an indescribable solidity within Un-hyeok.
‘The fact that I saw hope while serving the Young Sect Leader for the past seven days.’
Song Yeom smiled.
“Young Sect Leader, did you get what you wanted here?”
Un-hyeok nodded and grinned.
“Yeah.”
After checking the derived martial arts, he was able to get a better sense of what the Ten Thousand Streams Return to Poison Divine Art was.
‘I think it's possible now.’
To learn the Ten Thousand Streams Return to Poison Divine Art!
As Un-hyeok prepared to leave, Song Yeom bowed.
“It was an honor to serve you for the past week, Young Sect Leader.”
Surely, the day the Poison Demon Sect regained its strength.
If asked when that starting point was, he felt it was today.
“Shall we go then?”
The existence beyond the heavens, Geongondokma.
He was fully prepared to accept his legacy.