Chapter 9
Chapter 9
About a Second-Rate Warrior Becoming the Obsession of Every Wanderer -1
“So I hear Yeo Ilye became the leader of the Ten Arrows of Hou Yi this time.”
“She defeated that Hyeok Girin, didn’t she? Impressive. Wasn’t Hyeok Girin considered one of the greatest rising talents in all the world?”
Honestly, a thought occurred to me.
Maybe Yeo Ilye gave me that debt-token specifically to dry me to death.
That woman must’ve already foreseen that I’d get harassed to death by all the wandering warriors staying in this Wanderers’ Inn.
Martial artists’ obsession with enlightenment was every bit as insane as bald men obsessing over hair or middle-aged men obsessing over virility.
The moment the topic of enlightenment appeared, martial artists’ rationality became thinner than paper.
What exactly was enlightenment?
No matter how desperately one chased it, it remained like a mirage impossible to grasp.
Honestly, perhaps martial artists going insane over enlightenment wasn’t abnormal at all.
Out of hundreds of millions of possible paths, heaven allowed only a single destined enlightenment.
That was why martial artists did every ridiculous thing imaginable in pursuit of enlightenment.
Receiving scalp massages beneath waterfalls was considered ordinary.
Some threw away their wealth while claiming they needed to empty their hearts.
Others abandoned their voluptuous virtuous wives and rabbit-like little daughters while declaring they were severing worldly attachments.
The obsession martial artists held toward enlightenment was truly irrationality taken to its absolute extreme.
The word “madness” alone barely sufficed to describe it.
And thanks to that madness, my daily life had been completely destroyed.
“Brother Ho! You can’t possibly survive eating only plain noodles again this morning! Here, have some dumplings too!”
“Another plate of five-spice pork over here!”
“No, seriously, why are you serving this in the morning… just leave me alone.”
“A man shouldn’t begin his morning on an empty stomach! How else are you supposed to receive inspiration!?”
“We’re only worried about your hea— no, worried about you out of pure sincerity.”
The moment those two men practically wearing “PLEASE GIVE ME ENLIGHTENMENT” across their foreheads stared at me with sparkling eyes, my appetite plummeted vertically.
Whale Sword Yeo Jinsang and Half-Moon Blade Jeong Sam could be considered my peers.
We became Sichuan wanderers around the same time at similar ages and naturally built friendships over the years.
Honestly, among everyone at this Wanderers’ Inn, those two probably knew Ho Cheonan best.
“Seriously, what the hell is wrong with you guys!? You two shouldn’t be acting like this! We started wandering together, didn’t we!? What kind of nonsense is this!?”
The rumors currently spreading throughout the Wanderers’ Inn had already reached the point where every dramatic backstory imaginable was attached to me.
Some claimed I was a former hidden master who’d lost his martial arts.
Others insisted I was an immortal who could read heavenly secrets.
Others said I came from the future through regression.
Some claimed I’d been a Sword God in my previous life.
Others insisted the spirit of Manbakja possessed me.
For the love of God, could someone organize all these settings into one proper lore book and distribute it already!?
Stop keeping the information among yourselves only, you bastards!
There was actually a reason the wanderers had gone insane.
After leaving the Wanderers’ Inn, Yeo Ilye had begun tearing through all of Sichuan while displaying overwhelming might as a transcendent master.
Sure, calling a Peak Realm master “ordinary” sounded ridiculous.
But regardless, Yeo Ilye used to be merely an “ordinary” Peak Realm expert.
Now she was smashing Peak and transcendent masters one after another practically every other day.
And every time news of her achievements spread, the wanderers looking at me gained even stronger certainty in their eyes.
‘That bastard’s basically an enlightenment pouch.’
Maybe they could pick up some leftovers if they stayed near me.
Because of that belief, the number of wanderers monitoring my every movement snowballed endlessly.
If I picked my nose—
“Hooh…!”
If I merely lifted chopsticks—
“As expected…!”
It had genuinely reached the point where I felt I might lose my mind.
But the biggest problem happened last night.
Unable to sleep due to overwhelming stress, I’d tossed and turned in bed all night.
At some point, I suddenly sensed something strange and looked beneath the bed—
Only to meet eyes directly with a bastard hiding underneath.
Apparently he’d been secretly waiting there in case I accidentally leaked some heavenly truth while half-asleep.
Honestly, every hair on my body stood on end.
I genuinely didn’t know how to handle that situation.
After ruining my sleep like that, I dragged myself awake and forced breakfast down with a gloomy mood—
And now these idiots apparently heard some rumor somewhere and started acting like this too.
“Haaah. Fine. We’ve done enough jobs together… I’ll teach you one move. Stand up.”
Both men immediately shot to their feet with eyes full of anticipation.
“Turn around.”
“Turn… around?”
Yeo Jinsang trailed off suspiciously, but this great self Ho Cheonan had already mastered gambling techniques.
There was no way two dumb first-rate warriors could escape my Hell Wind Escape Mouth Technique.
I even activated gambling skills while putting on an imposing atmosphere and lowering my voice deeply.
“Ahem. Anyone seeking enlightenment must first prove themselves worthy. I shall teach you exercises that clear the mind. First, raise both your hands high.”
“A-Alright.”
“Now bend streeeetch… yes, all the way below your waist.”
The moment both idiots formed perfect -shaped positions with their bodies, I kicked them squarely in the ass.
Completely defenseless, the two men tumbled across the floor clutching their rear ends.
“Enlightenment my ass. Seriously, you guys shouldn’t be doing this.”
“You son of a bitch! Pay back the silver you borrowed right now!”
“You’ll suffer heavenly punishment for being this stingy toward your peers!”
“Puhehehehe!”
Wasn’t there a saying that loving your comrades meant loving your country?
Watching those two idiots rolling across the floor while shouting in outrage somehow made me happy too.
Right.
So what if they’re dumb and gullible?
Peers are still peers.
Crash!
When I turned toward the sound of someone falling over, I saw several wanderers paired up and copying the -shaped posture before kicking each other in the ass.
…Don’t tell me.
They copied it?
Seriously?
Watching the kicked guy stand up uncertainly before waiting for the other to take the same pose so he could kick him back made my vision blur.
I stared blankly, completely speechless.
The wanderers repeatedly kicking and getting kicked noticed my gaze, met my eyes awkwardly, then quietly slipped away.
At that point, I could no longer laugh.
Ignoring the nonsense my peers kept shouting, I thought to myself:
This seriously feels like it needs an actual solution.
When people talked about information organizations in Murim, they usually thought of the Beggars’ Sect or Haomen first.
But famous information organizations only became famous because they possessed the means to protect themselves openly.
Every organization had limits.
The fact that the Beggars’ Sect and Haomen revealed themselves while protecting their members through martial arts and overwhelming numbers also meant they weren’t truly specialized solely in information.
Even dedicating one’s entire existence to information alone barely sufficed to become the greatest in the world.
And yet those mongrels dared proclaim themselves the greatest information network under heaven?
Ridiculous.
Using moonlight as her lantern, the veiled woman read through the report.
Yeo Ilye’s movements currently shook all of Sichuan.
Though she belonged to the Ten Arrows of Hou Yi, the very fact she remained part of that title also proved she was still immature.
Youngsters relying upon their sect’s reputation because their personal fame alone remained insufficient.
And now that same Yeo Ilye had stepped directly into transcendence and become a true rising star of Murim.
She even defeated Hyeok Girin, already acknowledged as a genuine master despite his youth.
And afterward, Yeo Ilye immediately began actively tracing her own past.
“So she’s finally stopped tormenting random wanderers.”
“Looks like blood will flood Sichuan soon.”
After her family estate burned down, Yeo Ilye was taken in by acquaintances before eventually entering Mount Cang Sect.
Anyone who’d ever tried entering one of the Nine Great Sects would naturally find that detail suspicious.
Joining one of the Nine Great Sects wasn’t simple.
Yet somehow a child from a destroyed estate entered through the recommendation of mere “acquaintances”?
The Yeo family estate had once been wealthy and influential.
Which meant the wanderers who “coincidentally” got hired there, “accidentally” slaughtered the entire household and martial guards, then “vanished without a trace” after setting everything ablaze—
What kind of lives were they living now with all that wealth?
Would people who committed such a meticulous crime simply disappear quietly afterward?
Naturally not.
The most reasonable assumption was that they’d used that fortune to establish positions for themselves somewhere.
Several names surfaced in the woman’s mind.
Even if only those individuals were involved, Sichuan would soon drown beneath a storm of blood.
Still, such a common revenge story failed to interest her.
The one who fascinated her wasn’t Yeo Ilye—
But rather a certain wandering warrior.
By nature, Sichuan wanderers wore black hats, concealed their faces, hid their names, and completed requests anonymously.
Yet no matter how carefully one lived, completely erasing every trace of oneself was impossible.
Unless multiple people actively helped erase someone’s existence, no human could live while leaving no traces whatsoever.
For a woman belonging to an information organization worthy of calling itself the greatest under heaven, uncovering a wanderer’s identity wasn’t particularly difficult.
“Ho Cheonan.”
The Supreme Emperor once created three divine beasts shaped like a tiger, dragon, and bear before sending them into the mortal world to guide humanity and help awaken human potential.
But when those divine beasts grew lazy and neglected humanity, the Supreme Emperor became enraged.
Believing their arrogance had already rotted them to the core beyond salvation, he gouged out their eyes as punishment and forged treasures from them before handing those treasures to humanity.
Yongcheon Eye, capable of seeing through human techniques and martial arts.
Ungcheon Eye, capable of perceiving the body and its limits.
And—
Hocheon Eye, capable of seeing human souls and the enlightenment engraved within them.
The woman didn’t truly believe such a treasure named Hocheon Eye actually existed in the world.
However—
Wasn’t it far too meaningful that a wanderer named “Ho Cheonan” had provided martial principles powerful enough to elevate Yeo Ilye from Peak Realm to transcendence in a single step?
‘I’m curious.’
Did this man named Ho Cheonan truly possess the divine treasure Hocheon Eye?
Or perhaps abilities equivalent to it?
Or was this all merely a cosmic joke created through endless layers of coincidence?
She was unbearably curious.
As someone who dealt in information, the urge to uncover the truth felt no different from the desire a man might feel while staring at an unparalleled beauty.
She licked her lips from the burning thirst.
Wasn’t there a saying that curiosity killed the cat?
As always—
She willingly chose to become the cat.