Chapter 1
Chapter 1
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 1
Chapter Title: A Push from the Master
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“—It’s been ten years.”
I said, looking the old man straight in the face.
The old man, who had been lying flat on his back, rolled his eyes to look at me, then let out a jaw-splitting yawn.
“What has?”
“The time this disciple has been stuck on this mountain peak.”
“Already? Damn. Time sure as hell flies.”
“This is no time for such words. Master, when will I finally be able to descend the mountain?”
“…”
At my words, Baek Rogwang—the current World's Greatest, the Martial Immortal of the Spirit Mountain, and my master—blinked and spoke.
“Youngest.”
“Yes.”
“You are strong.”
“…”
Despite the praise from the World's Greatest, my expression didn't brighten. Instead, I felt deeply uncomfortable, as if I were sitting on a cushion of thorns.
“Of course, no matter what crazy shit you try, you’d struggle to even brush my robes, but it’s true you’re strong.”
“Of course. I know that well. Before you, Master—the World's Greatest, the Greatest of All Time, the Supreme Over All, the perfect superhuman born of the heavens—how could this unworthy disciple dare speak of greatness?”
“Hmph. You know your own immaturity well. It's nothing to be ashamed of. Before this master, any genius becomes a firefly before the sun.”
My master nodded, seemingly satisfied, then suddenly changed his tone.
“The day before yesterday, the eldest came by.”
“Eldest Martial Brother? Didn't you say he’d gone to an extremely dangerous place?”
My master has five disciples in total, including me. When he says ‘the eldest,’ he naturally means my Eldest Martial Brother.
Eldest Martial Brother rarely stays on the Spirit Mountain. In fact, all my other martial brothers were the same, except for me.
“He did. But that's not what's important.”
“What happened?”
“To get straight to the point, the eldest has been excommunicated.”
“What?”
“To be precise, he left of his own accord. So, youngest, I need you to go and catch him.”
“What?”
*Thwack!*
“Agh!”
I got flicked on the forehead.
It was just a flick, but my master's finger was powerful enough to shatter a mountain, so I clutched my forehead.
“What this master hates most…”
“…is being asked the same thing twice. But it's because I don't understand. If Eldest Martial Brother left on his own, is there really a need to bring him back?”
Since he mentioned excommunication, there might have been some sort of conflict between them, but…
Regardless, Eldest Martial Brother's level of mastery is already such that it wouldn't be an exaggeration to call him a grandmaster in his own right.
If he left the shadow of his master to create his own martial art, that's something to be celebrated.
“There is.”
“What is it?”
“When he left, that rascal stole the Spirit Pill.”
“Uh…”
The Spirit Pill is the ultimate elixir, one my master spent a great deal of time and effort creating.
I'm not particularly interested in elixirs, so I don't know much, but I've heard from my other martial brothers that it's a treasure on a completely different level from existing elixirs or so-called divine pills.
“Why would Eldest Martial Brother…”
Stealing it wouldn't have been difficult.
After all, my master never bothered to hide the Spirit Pill, just leaving it lying around.
What I find strange is Eldest Martial Brother's motive for stealing it.
“He must have thought he needed it to achieve his goal.”
Goal?
I tried to picture my Eldest Martial Brother's face.
The first thing that came to mind was his ever-smiling face and gentle way of speaking.
On days when I'd been thoroughly beaten by our master, he would personally apply carefully gathered medicinal herbs to my wounds. Among my martial brothers, I respected him the most.
“Perhaps the madness that had lain dormant within him has flared up again. He was always a boy with too many useless thoughts, so it's not entirely unexpected.”
“Hmm…”
I was about to say something, but I closed my mouth.
Then, gently rubbing my still-throbbing forehead, I asked.
“I understand what you're saying… but why me? Wouldn't this be easily resolved if you went yourself, Master?”
“Didn't you say you wanted to descend the mountain?”
“…”
“Besides, I can't.”
“Why not?”
“You'll find out when you go yourself. By the way, your tone seems a bit disrespectful today. Is this master mistaken?”
“…You are mistaken.”
I lowered my head respectfully and racked my brain.
In any case, it seemed my master intended to send me rather than go himself or send one of my other brothers.
I still didn't fully understand his intentions… but he was fundamentally a man who never went back on a decision.
“…Still, for me to handle Eldest Martial Brother alone is a bit much.”
“Of course, for you as you are now, bringing the eldest back would be a difficult task.”
“…”
“As you are now, that is.”
My master rose to his feet, and I swallowed hard.
He was a scrawny man dressed in what amounted to rags, an unimpressive sight, yet to me, he seemed larger than a great mountain.
With each step, my master drew closer.
From that moment, an ominous feeling began to creep over me for some reason.
“Youngest.”
“Ye-yes…”
“How old were you when we first met?”
Though puzzled by the sudden question, I answered.
“I was twenty-five, Master.”
It's a day I can never forget.
At the time, I had completely given up and was on the verge of death. Just when I thought all was lost, my master appeared.
So, for me, that meeting was nothing short of a miracle.
“Twenty-five. Not a young age. They say there's no age for learning, but it's a bit different in the martial arts. The body and mind are closely intertwined. Back then, your bones and muscles were not just developed but had already hardened, so your body couldn't transform into the optimal form for the Arts of the Greatest of All Time.”
That was something I regretted as well.
For that reason, my training on the Spirit Mountain was twice as harsh as usual, and I came close to death more times than I could count.
“Nevertheless, thanks to this master's perfect training and kind instruction, you've reached a passable level… Tsk.”
“I-I have never forgotten to be grateful for your overwhelming grace.”
So what on earth is he trying to say?
Overwhelmed by my master's intimidating presence as he continued to approach, I took a step back.
“What do you think would have happened if you had encountered the Arts of the Greatest of All Time when you were younger?”
“Well… I suppose I would have become stronger than I am now, wouldn't I?”
Right after answering, I asked, puzzled.
“But that's all in the past, isn't it? You're acting a bit strange today.”
The master I knew didn't dwell on the past.
I had never seen him entertain ‘what ifs’ like this before.
At that, my master let out a dry laugh.
“Hear me out. You asked earlier when you could descend the mountain, didn't you? Do you still not understand why this master has forbidden only your descent all this time?”
“Wasn't it because you needed someone to look after you?”
“That's right. But that's not the only reason.”
My master's playful expression vanished, and by then, I had been backed to the edge of a cliff.
I glanced behind me to see a thousand-fathom precipice shrouded in an eerie mist.
“They say seeing is believing.”
*Poke.*
And then my master pushed me.
“What…?”
I tried to summon my inner energy, but it was too late. My consciousness began to fade.
My body wouldn't move, as if bound tightly by iron chains.
I plummeted like a bird with a broken wing.
I was falling so fast that my master's face was instantly swallowed by the mist and disappeared.
Yet, strangely, his voice came through with perfect clarity.
“Let's see… Fifteen should be about right. Another advantage of the Arts of the Greatest of All Time is that there's no need to start circulating energy from early childhood.”
“Wa-wait!”
“Well then, youngest, let's meet again in ten years.”
Absurdly, with those as his final words, my world went black.