Chapter 56
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 56
Chapter Title: The Martial World Runs on 50% Talent and 50% Effort
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"The previous conference may have been hosted by Mount Hua, but this time our position is strictly that of guests. If you cause trouble in Shaolin, it won't be as easy to overlook as before."
What trouble have I caused so far?
I shot the Sect Leader a sulky glare, and he clicked his tongue before tossing out a single line.
"Shall I start listing them from that incident five years ago?"
"No, no. I remember it all now, haha...."
I gave an awkward laugh and shook my head. Fine, I'm the criminal who secretly fed plum liquor to someone from another sect.
"Keep in mind that it could escalate into a conflict between sects if you're not careful."
"Come on, Sect Leader, you're worrying too much. I'll be ten in just a few months anyway."
I cheekily replied and spread out all ten fingers. Once you hit double digits, you mature compared to single digits.
"Already ten years old.... Time really flies."
Muttering about the fleeting nature of time with misty eyes, the Sect Leader hardened his expression and asked sternly.
"Are you confident you won't cause any trouble?"
"Of course!"
I answered confidently, then paused. Isn't an accident something that happens even if you don't intend it?
I needed to clarify the key points.
"But what if someone picks a fight with me first?"
"You endure it."
"What if someone insults Mount Hua and our martial arts in general?"
"Come tell the adults."
"What if the other person attacks me for no reason first? What if they mess up and then frame me? What if they challenge me to a spar, I refuse and dodge, but they wound me with their weapon?"
"In that case—"
The Sect Leader stopped mid-response to my rapid-fire questions and rubbed his forehead.
"Sigh, I really wonder if I should even bring this wild child...."
Hey, those were perfectly reasonable questions.
"Uihyeon, are you confident you can keep an eye on him?"
"...I'll do my utmost, Sect Leader."
Uihyeon made a resolute salute. What a worrywart. There's no plum liquor in Shaolin, so no trouble there.
After learning the schedule—four months until the conference—I left the Sect Leader's office.
Worried I might stray off, Uihyeon personally escorted me all the way to the training ground reserved for the outer disciple class.
I obediently stepped inside at his urging push on my back and casually joined my senior brothers who were diligently running laps.
"Do you guys know why I got called in?"
"No, huff, I'm curious...."
"Why?"
"Because... it's tough...."
I clicked my tongue at Biseon, who replied in a dying voice, then lightly overtook him to take the lead.
"Did you get scolded, Little Senior Brother?"
"What trouble did you cause this time...."
As expected of the front-runners. They even had the leisure to ask why I'd been summoned to the Sect Leader's office first.
"Can I tell you? Not sure. I'll ask permission later and let you know."
"What? Are you going into the repentance chamber?"
"Why are you so sure I caused trouble?"
Before long, they fell silent like Biseon, reduced to heavy panting breaths.
A moment later, at Instructor Uijin's call for a break, I stopped and tried to sit on the training ground, but he stopped me. Specifically, just me.
"Biyeon, you just came back from resting, so keep running."
I wanted to protest, but with my clean, fluffy self contrasting my sweat-soaked junior brothers, I shut my mouth and circled the training ground alone.
Instructor Uijin spoke flatly to the outer disciple class sprawled on the ground groaning.
"I get that it's tough, so stop saying you're dying. This is the last day anyway."
"Today's... the last...?"
"Crazy, today's the last day!"
"Freedom at last!"
I slowed to a stop and slipped naturally into the cluster of my ecstatic senior brothers, shooting my hand up high.
"I think we could keep training like this. But we can have personal training time like before, just during self-practice sessions."
They shot me looks like I was insane, but I kept my head high and withstood the piercing glares.
"It definitely helps with skill growth—"
"Senior Brother, I'll spar with you a hundred—no, two hundred times! Just please, not that...!"
Bihwan desperately cut me off, trying to bribe me with spars, but I ignored him.
What I needed now wasn't undefeated sparring victories, but hellish training to build my internal energy and stamina.
Before heading to Shaolin, I had to absorb as much of the Self-Priming Pill's energy as possible to boost my internal energy. I couldn't stomach losing to Namgung Seheon again—it wounded my pride too much.
"I agree too. We've really felt in our bones how half-heartedly we've been doing self-practice until now."
Biryung, the training fanatic, backed me up.
"Since everyone thinks so, your instructor—no, your martial uncle—is truly proud."
Instructor Uijin smiled, looking moved.
Only two had agreed, but in that brief moment—had he manipulated memories?—it had swelled to thirty.
"Then we'll keep training like this for the time being. Alright, break's over! Everyone up!"
I brazenly grinned at my senior brothers, who rose unsteadily while glaring daggers at me and Biryung.
It'll be tough, but better than Mount Hua's sword losing twice, right? Cooperate for the sect's honor.
And you lot—especially those who lost to Wudang—shouldn't you be rolling on your own? Who tries to slack off in martial arts and just suck on honey?
* * *
"I absolutely cannot end up branded a public enemy of the martial world."
At my out-of-left-field remark, Biryung looked up from flipping through a manual beside me.
"Of course you shouldn't get branded a public enemy, but... why bring it up suddenly?"
"I'm living a trial version of it right now. Even just being Mount Hua's public enemy is this brutal—what would the real deal be like?"
"To be precise, you're the public enemy of Mount Hua's third-generation disciples. The elders actually find you pretty admirable, don't they?"
"True. But the ones we live and rub shoulders with are the third-generation disciples."
That's why I'm hiding out in Mugyeong Pavilion even during breaks, watching my step.
No matter how oblivious I act as senior brother, facing the seething resentment of twenty-eight guys at once is hard to endure.
We were in Mugyeong Pavilion, the library housing manuals of Mount Hua's martial arts.
Core Disciples who devote their lives to the sect could enter freely, but as third-generation disciples, we were limited to permitted areas.
"With so many manuals, isn't there a powerful one I can master quickly in a short time?"
"You want to learn a demonic art? No way. You're going to Shaolin, Senior Brother. Unleash a demonic art there, and you'll be branded a public enemy on the spot—your dantian shattered, meridians severed."
"Is there really nothing but demonic arts? With all these books, there has to be something shady like that."
"This is Mount Hua, a famed righteous sect."
I sighed and pulled out the manual detailing the incantations for the 24 Plum Blossom Sword Techniques, opening it.
I stared at the characters reading "First Form: Plum Blossoms by the Roadside," then dropped my gaze to the underlined text below.
From my ignorant childhood days, the incantation Uiseong had taught me was right there in the manual. Back then, I hadn't understood it even after hearing it—just mimicked the movements.
Reading the incantation now, it wasn't perfect comprehension in one go, but parts I'd blankly skipped over came into focus. The power of prior learning.
"No matter how genius that Namgung Clan direct descendant is, he can't beat the 24 Plum Blossom Sword Techniques at just ten, right?"
"I heard the Namgung Clan has no hereditary supreme arts."
Biryung snorted at my serious question.
But I planned to make good use of this advanced technique in our upcoming spar. I'd drilled just the first form to death since age one—four more months of practice, and Plum Blossoms by the Roadside would be battle-ready.
I didn't know if Namgung Seheon had received their clan's secret techniques, but even if he had, it paled against my relentless prior practice on that single first form.
Come at me—I'll win. Mount Hua's unique supreme art, the 24 Plum Blossom Sword Techniques!
* * *
Four months later.
Three days before the Murim Alliance conference.
"Wow, it's huge."
After passing the One Pillar Gate, Vajra Gate, and Four Heavenly Kings Gate, then crossing the final gate to the main temple—the Buddha's Eye Gate—the view drew a gasp of admiration.
Shaolin Temple.
A Buddhist sect with a history so ancient it's called the Thousand-Year Shaolin, the pinnacle of the Nine Great Sects, the undisputed supreme sect of the righteous factions.
Nestled midway up Little Room Peak on Mount Song in Dengfeng County, Henan—bordering Shaanxi like Hubei—Shaolin wasn't too far from Mount Hua. If it were, they'd have left this ten-year-old baggage behind.
Uihyeon, assigned as my guardian lest I bolt, gripped my hand even tighter.
"Is Shaolin Temple bigger than the imperial palace?"
"That's why it's the Thousand-Year Shaolin."
"Do they have Mount Hua manuals in the Sutra Pavilion? Can I go see?"
"They say even Demonic Cult manuals are there—probably Mount Hua ones too. But of course you can't enter without permission."
Dazed by the grandeur surpassing even Wudang, Uihyeon answered my barrage of questions faithfully as I gawked around.
The sightseeing was brief; we were soon guided to the Guest Reception Hall for visiting martial artists.
"Master, can I go out for a bit and come back?"
Having roughly unpacked, I asked Uihyeon, who sat resting with a weary expression. Now was the time to get permission to wander alone.
"Uihyeon! Come here a sec!"
Uihyeon started to reply but shot up at Uigang's call, unable to finish.
"Don't go too far—just stay around the Guest Reception Hall and nearby. Yes, Senior Brother! Coming now!"
The moment Uihyeon walked away, I yanked open the sliding door and bolted outside.
The Guest Reception Hall bustled like Shangong's Jade Clarity Pavilion two years ago. Heading straight for the exit, I spotted a familiar curly-haired nape and bellowed.
"Hey, give me back my hair tie!"
At my shout, Namgung Seheon halted and turned.
Spotting me, his eyes widened like he'd seen a ghost.
"Huh, you really came?"