Chapter 389: Nice to Meet You (1)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 389: Nice to Meet You (1)
Boom-! Boom!
Deafening impacts shook the cave to its foundations, the vibrations so violent they could be felt from the outside. For me, trapped inside, what was probably a short time felt like an eternity in hell.
Boom-! Boom!
I was in the middle of a sparring session with the Dishonored Venerable.
How long had we been at it? Maybe fifteen minutes. Yet, I was already drenched in sweat—a strange occurrence for someone at my level. But going all-out against him was no joke; the stamina drain was brutal.
And this… this was supposed to be a spar?
In name only. In reality, it was a one-sided beatdown. While our sessions always went this way, today felt particularly vicious.
Swoosh-!
The Dishonored Venerable’s shoulder twitched. I had no time to think, moving purely on instinct. I threw myself backward just as his fist whistled through the space where my head had been, aimed perfectly at my chin.
I barely dodged, only to feel his leg hooking behind my ankles, trying to break my balance. I immediately threw my weight away, tumbling across the ground. It was an ungainly escape, but far better than being properly knocked down, which would have ended the fight right there.
This suffering had been going on for what felt like an age.
In a moment of impulse, I’d tried to charge in and land a single hit, only to eat the cave wall face-first. I had the advantage in raw power and speed, yet I couldn’t even touch the hem of his robe. What was the difference between us? I kept searching for the answer as I threw myself at him again and again, but it remained elusive. I still had a long, long way to go.
I weaved under another fist and dodged a sweeping kick, my eyes scanning my surroundings. I couldn’t afford to observe my opponent for more than a second. I had to be faster.
There! I found two openings.
However…
This old man…
I frowned the instant I spotted them. They were both feints. This damned old man wasn’t about to let me hit him so easily. The truly annoying part was that I couldn’t find a single genuine opening anywhere else. He’d laid a trap and was waiting for me to spring it.
Charging in would be my end. I knew that. Yet, my fist was already coiling, aimed directly for him. Doing nothing felt worse than walking into a trap. With no time to think it through, I committed.
I saw the opening and drove my fist forward. Given my angle and speed, it should have connected before he could react.
But just as my fist was about to strike the Dishonored Venerable’s side…
Swish-!
A mysterious force twisted the world, and my vision spun.
Thud-!
My body cartwheeled through the air before crashing hard onto the stone floor. The impact knocked the wind from my lungs, and I coughed violently.
“Sigh…” Just as I expected. It ended like this again.
“…!” Before I could even catch my breath, I saw his fist already descending toward my face. I jerked my head aside just in time. His fist slammed into the ground beside me with a thunderous crack. A moment slower, and my head would have been crushed like a ripe fruit.
I scrambled to my feet, shouting in outrage. “I thought we were finished! Were you trying to kill me?!”
The Dishonored Venerable simply smirked at my outburst. “Oh, I forgot.”
“You forgot? You’re smiling right now!”
“You naturally smile more as you get older,” he said breezily. He was definitely lying. He had been completely serious about crushing my face a second ago. Now, his face was a mask of disappointment.
This old man, I swear. He totally tried to smash my face in.
“…You’re taking your anger out on me, aren’t you?”
“I’m not sure what you’re talking about.”
He played innocent, but I knew the truth. When I’d told him that my father had discovered I was training under him, he’d just smiled at first. But ever since, our sparring sessions had become noticeably more ferocious.
“My eye is already giving me enough trouble. Are you trying to ruin the other one?”
“It might look more balanced if you did,” he retorted.
“Better my ass—Ugh!”
The Dishonored Venerable smacked me on the back of the head and walked past. He didn’t seem to use any qi, but my skull throbbed with pain.
“You’re becoming ruder by the day. You weren’t like this when we first met.”
Well, I was only respectful on the first day. How could anyone stay respectful after being beaten up daily for months? It was impossible, at least for me.
“I can see the frustration in your eyes. Even though I’m the one who should be angry.” I let out a deep sigh. He was referring to my father catching us.
The Dishonored Venerable spoke with clear disappointment. “You caused this mess because you couldn’t hide a simple thing.”
I had no rebuttal. “…It just… somehow ended up that way.”
“What do you mean, ‘somehow’? I distinctly remember telling you not to use the technique until I gave you my approval.”
“…Ugh.”
“I finally get a disciple, and he turns out to be such a troublemaker…”
“I had to give it my all, so I—”
“Sigh. But child, what about the other qi you have in your body then?”
“…”
I shut my mouth. He was talking about my Demonic Qi. The Dishonored Venerable had witnessed me becoming a Demonic Human during my fight with the Heavenly Demon; he knew all about that power. He was right—if I had used the Demonic Qi, I might have stood a better chance against my father…
“But… I don’t want to use that power unless it’s absolutely necessary.”
I had no desire to show my Demonic Qi to anyone.
The Dishonored Venerable clicked his tongue. “I won’t pry into your personal affairs, but don’t do anything that will cause trouble for me.”
“…Understood.”
He never pressed too much about the nature of my powers. He probably only cared whether I was capable of learning the Heaven Destruction Art.
I, too, didn’t like to remember how I’d obtained that power. I was the one who had absorbed the Demonic Qi that was slowly consuming him. If I had left him be, even with his masterful control, he wouldn’t have lasted much longer.
After that incident, when I was caught, I’d even briefly considered… getting rid of him. The thought made me sick. I wanted to blame it on the side effects of becoming a Demonic Human…
But it wasn’t.
It was just me. My own twisted nature.
“Your mind is wandering again. Perhaps you need more training to focus?”
“…Not at all.”
The Dishonored Venerable had noticed me getting lost in thought. Not that he, given his personality, would ever help me resolve my inner turmoil.
“Enough of that,” he said, changing the subject. I perked up.
“Why did you make that decision at the last moment?”
He was asking about the spar—why I had charged in knowing it was a trap.
Why?
“I couldn’t see any other openings.”
It was that simple.
“So you decided to run straight into a trap?”
“Yes.”
“In that case, wouldn’t it have been better to aim for a different spot, even if there were no clear openings?”
“I assumed you’d think that, so I tried the unexpected. Obviously, it didn’t work.”
“…Hmm.”
He made a strange expression. I couldn’t tell if he was satisfied with my answer.
“It wasn’t necessarily the wrong decision… but child.”
“Yes?”
“The biggest flaw in your method is that you never consider the consequences.”
Consequences?
“You rush headlong into danger without a second thought, even if it means losing an arm, a leg, or even your life.”
“Oh.”
“I appreciate that you’re fearless and unafraid of pain, but in a real battle, you need more caution.”
I somewhat agreed. I did have a bad habit of leaping before I looked. The Sleeping Dragon had once said I had the gods on my side, since I never suffered lasting injuries despite my reckless style.
“…About that, oh, right. I’ve found the perfect teacher to beat that habit into me, so it’ll be fine.”
“Huh? A perfect teacher? Who?”
“And I’ll say it again,” he continued, his expression turning serious. “Do not use the Heaven Destruction Art in a real battle until I give you my approval.”
“Is it because I haven’t fully mastered it yet?”
“That’s part of it. But there’s something more important.”
The Dishonored Venerable stood up.
“If you use it recklessly, you could ruin your body.”
“Pardon?”
My eyes widened in shock. This was the first I was hearing of this. My body… ruined?
Seeing my confusion, he began to explain with an awkward look. “The pain you feel when using the technique is your body reshaping itself to align with the mind art.”
I’d been in pain since I started learning the Heaven Destruction Art. It was why I’d thought he was insane. When one’s body reshapes itself for a mind art, it means one’s bones and meridians are forcibly shifting into the ideal form—an artificial process to create a Celestial Martial Body. The pain was excruciating, unbearable for most. But if one endured it, they would obtain a supremely powerful martial art. The fact that the Dishonored Venerable had created such an art himself was staggering.
“During that process… if a problem occurs… there might be a… minor complication…”
“…What kind of complication?”
“It’s not a big deal.”
“You say that, but your face tells a different story.”
“Well… your heart might stop for a moment. Or your blood vessels might explode.”
“…”
Not a big deal? After hearing his explanation, I realized just how dangerous my actions had been. I could have experienced a qi deviation. I could have died.
I couldn’t help but complain. “And you’re only telling me this now?!”
“That’s why I told you not to use it without my approval.”
“If you’d told me this from the start, I never would have used it!”
“Jeez, how was I supposed to know you’d get into a fight? You were the one who picked a fight, not me!”
His speechless tone left me at a complete loss for words. Why wouldn’t he tell me something this important sooner? I really could have died.
Does that mean… Father knew this, too?
He’d knocked me out the moment he realized what I was doing. At the time, I thought it was because using two different mind arts was dangerous, but maybe that wasn’t the real reason.
“Anyway… you got lucky this time, but—”
“Anyway?”
“You’ll have to be very cautious next time.”
I was speechless as he tried to brush it off, but I couldn’t really argue. It was partly my fault for being so reckless.
As I secretly glared at him in frustration, he asked another question. “When are you planning to head to Sichuan?”
Had he noticed me staring?
“I believe… we’ll depart in a week.”
I needed to confirm with the others, but we planned to leave in about a week. Before then, I had to tie up some loose ends in Henan.
And also…
“Will you be okay?”
I planned to resolve what was currently worrying the Dishonored Venerable: the cave we were in. He’d prepared it for me to train the Heaven Destruction Art, and his condition for me leaving Henan was to break through its walls using only the mind art of the Heaven Destruction Art.
“A week isn’t a long time, you know?”
He sounded worried, but the smile on his face betrayed his amusement. This old man wasn’t normal either.
“I’ll just have to sleep less.”
“Despite your laid-back tone, I somehow believe you.”
“Is that a compliment or an insult?”
“What do you take it as?”
“An insult.”
“You’re correct. You’re smart.”
This damned old man.
I stood up as he continued his teasing. My break was over; I had too much to do.
After a moment, I started tapping the cave walls with my hand. Then, I activated the Heaven Destruction Art’s mind art.
Immediately, excruciating pain erupted throughout my body.
Squeeze-!
It felt like my body was being crushed from the outside while simultaneously being stabbed from within. I still couldn’t get used to this agony.
The Dishonored Venerable watched me with a smile. “You always say you’re exhausted, yet your expression never changes.”
“Frowning in pain won’t change anything.”
“What a nasty bastard you are. Oh, that was a compliment, by the way.”
“…Calling it a compliment feels more insulting than your last remark.”
With a sigh, I began striking the cave wall with my fist.
Boom-!
As the cave shuddered from the impact, the Dishonored Venerable turned to leave. “Well then, work hard.”
“Are you leaving now?” I asked.
“Of course I’m leaving.”
After answering, he walked toward the cave entrance. He paused, glanced back at me, and whispered, “My disciple’s father wishes to see me. I shall oblige.”
With a lazy expression, the Dishonored Venerable left the cave and leaped away, his destination the Tiger Warrior’s residence.
A strange rumor was circulating about a nameless mountain in Sichuan.
According to the rumor, a demon that could speak human language lived on that mountain. Few believed such an absurd tale, but those who had actually encountered the creature knew it was true.
This demon, active only at night, would roar loudly, flexing its enormous muscles and leaving a mess in its wake after its rampages. A group of swordsmen had once gone up the mountain to verify the rumors. They returned with soulless expressions. While they claimed to have found no demon, the sheer horror on their faces convinced everyone otherwise.
-They fled after seeing a horrifying demon!
-That must be the truth! Why else would they look like that?
The fear only grew.
Unaware of the rumors, a mysterious man sat on a rock on the nameless mountain. For some reason, he had taken off his shirt, proudly displaying his sculpted muscles. His beard and hair were so unkempt it was impossible to guess his age.
In one hand, he held a grilled fish, taking huge, ravenous bites. In his other hand, he held a letter, his eyes glued to it as he devoured his meal.
The man’s brow furrowed as he slowly read the letter.
“Just how many fish are you going to eat?” a voice complained, though there was no one else around.
“Are Taoists only supposed to eat grass? What’s the point in that? You should’ve said something when I hunted and ate a cow last time.”
In response to his words, an object at his waist began to vibrate and glow.
Noticing this, the man started shouting at the air, despite the complete lack of any other presence. “Ah, jeez! Stop shouting! Do you think I can’t shout myself? What a nasty personality you have. You promised to be quiet for a while after I saved that village last time. You break your promises too easily. It’s ridiculous.”
Tsk, tsk.
The man clicked his tongue. The object at his waist vibrated even more violently.
Finally annoyed, the man unhooked the object from his belt and tossed it aside. “How about you cool your head over there. I’ll pick you up later.”
The staff he’d thrown on the ground vibrated crazily, but the man ignored it, returning to his letter. On any other day, he would have argued all day, but not today.
For the first time in a long while, it was a good day.
After finishing the letter, he carefully folded it and tucked it into his pocket. It wasn’t long, but its contents were immensely pleasing. The man was in a fantastic mood, perhaps the happiest he’d been in recent memory.
It was understandable.
A bright smile spread across his face as he murmured to himself, “I’ll get to see you soon.”
The letter was from his bastard of a disciple, saying he would be visiting in the near future.