Chapter 151
CHAPTER 151: Owner of the Treasure
Gongjin's eyes trembled violently at my words.
"......What did you just say, benefactor?"
"I said, 'everything you've gathered, all of it.'"
"That's downright thief talk."
"Would a real thief ever whine about thievery?"
Gongjin scowled at my retort.
"Even so, don't you think that's going too far?"
"Daring to steal right in the heart of the Tang Clan—doesn't that strike you as excessive? And lest you've forgotten, you got caught red-handed pilfering my belongings."
"Urgh......"
"What do you think the Shaolin headquarters would make of this?"
"I haven't gathered much to begin with."
"Hm?"
Gongjin protested with a look of utter grievance.
"I've only been seriously carrying out the Sealing Journey for a short while."
Come to think of it, that checks out.
The time for Muyoung Sintu to truly ramp up his activities hadn't come yet. That's why I hadn't bothered preparing for him at first.
Given the time discrepancy with the original story, he probably doesn't have the items I'm after yet.
I'd deliberately kept Muyoung Sintu under wraps, dragging him here in secret, all for my own calculations.
Publicizing it would've just led to Shaolin apologizing to the Tang Clan instead of me, returning a set of ten medicinal herbs at most.
And the rest of those treasures?
Heh heh heh, we'll put them to good use.
Shaolin would swallow them whole with a pious grin.
Items so incredibly useful to me, yet once they entered Shaolin's vaults, the odds of retrieval were near zero.
But if I could sweet-talk—or rather, strong-arm—Gongjin into handing over what he'd stolen?
Muyoung Sintu only eyes extraordinary treasures. Nothing below Jade or Dragon grade Treasure Artifacts even registers.
For someone like me, who needed to milk item power for all it was worth, those would be a massive boon.
Call it persuasion or blackmail—it didn't matter. In this mad world, survival demanded it. He'd thrown the first punch, after all.
"This is unfair."
As I lapsed into thought, Gongjin pressed on.
"I'm no thief! My goal is simply to seal away items that could bring chaos to the world, preserving them until their true master claims them."
"Hm?"
Something felt profoundly off.
"Not theft?"
"Precisely. I don't steal for personal gain. Chaos is coming to this world soon. I'm acting to avert it."
No.
The Muyoung Sintu I knew wasn't some altruist driven by grand ideals. He was an attention whore, chasing self-gratification and showboating.
That's why I'd staged that whole drinking contest farce.
[He's not just spinning lies, is he?]
He seems sincere.
Gongjin's eyes held no mere panic at being exposed. It was a resolute sense of mission, almost heroic.
And moreover.
"Chaos coming to this world soon?"
"Yes."
"How can you be so sure?"
Among the masters I'd met, some had prophesied an age of turmoil.
But they spoke from age-earned wisdom and realm-attained insight into the era's currents.
Not someone like Gongjin—Peak realm at best in lightness skill, far from Super Peak, and looking a good decade my junior.
"I met a mysterious sage."
A sharp tingle shot through me.
Only two people could alter this world from Murim Return.
The possessor: me.
And.
"Was that sage's name, by chance, Cheon Gi-ja?"
"......How did you know?"
Cheon Gi-ja.
"Where did you see him?"
"Where else would a monk encounter such a man? On Song Mountain."
"A visitor?"
Gongjin shook his head and continued.
"About a year ago. I was sweeping the hall at dawn when I spotted an old man with a flowing white beard, looking every bit the immortal sage."
He'd introduced himself as Cheon Gi-ja, warned that someone would soon disrupt the natural order of heaven's mechanism, and gifted Gongjin prayer beads and a martial arts manual as preparation.
A white-bearded elder in sage garb. Another disguise.
Cheon Gi-ja never stuck to one appearance. His transformations were near-magical, making him a ghost to track.
"As a Shaolin monk, I shouldn't practice arts of unknown origin... but I felt compelled to learn them."
This diverged from the original.
In Murim Return, Gongjin acquired the beads and Muyoung Divine Method by stumbling upon them during an errand to the Repentance Cave.
Cheon Gi-ja had rewritten that path.
"Did he say anything else? Where can I find him?"
Gongjin shook his head.
"He vanished as mysteriously as he appeared."
"I see."
"Ah, he did mention one thing."
"What?"
"That the treasures I've sealed away have a true owner. Someone wielding a sword wreathed in red lightning."
"......"
"I first thought it meant the Paeng Clan, since their Heaven-Earth-Falling Blade Technique features red lightning. But they wield sabers, not swords."
I drew Pa Cheon. At the sudden motion, Gongjin recoiled, eyes wide.
"Wh-what's this? I'm telling you everything! Calm down, benefactor!"
That wasn't my intent.
Red Dragon bone.
Before departing the central plains, Hyeok Mun of Jeok Yong Hyeok Ga had given me one of the Red Dragon's bones—a fang the size of my finger. I wore it as a bracelet for emergencies.
Pretending to adjust my grip, I shattered the dragon bone against Pa Cheon's blade.
Then.
Pzzzt!
Red lightning began coiling around Pa Cheon.
The Red Dragon was originally a "malevolent" divine beast.
Yet the lightning surging from Pa Cheon now carried no vicious aura.
[Who knew Shaolin energy could be used like this. Makes me think I should absorb more orthodox qi.]
Most Shaolin arts repelled demonic and evil energies, of course.
Pa Cheon was purifying the dragon's thunder qi using the energy it'd absorbed through Gongjin.
A feat impossible for a human body, but feasible since Pa Cheon's "body" was a sword.
"A sword wreathed in red lightning......"
Gongjin's eyes glazed over in awe. Snapping back, he gasped.
"Y-you know Cheon Gi-ja and wield red lightning! You must be the treasure's true master he spoke of!"
I nodded silently.
"No wonder you caught my eye from the start."
Delusion.
Or was it even delusion?
A scenario I'd normally relish, yet now it sent chills down my spine.
Cheon Gi-ja definitely knows I exist.
His "setting" was omniscience over the world's principles.
Whether that was at play or not, his actions screamed awareness of me.
Even back in Joyang.
At the ruins where I'd claimed the Flicker Jade and erased the Little Sorceress, Joyang had mentioned Cheon Gi-ja warning that "someone twisted heaven's mechanism, altering the story that should flow by natural order."
Just what the hell is he?
If he knew this Murim Return world was fictional, that I was an outsider—why skirt around indirectly instead of confronting me outright?
It felt like he was peering into my every move, predicting it all.
"Eastern Sword Dragon benefactor, if you're truly the prophesied owner... then it makes sense you'd claim everything I've sealed away."
A normal person in normal circumstances would've shrugged off the red lightning with a "So what?"
But this was Murim Return, ruled by romantic clichés.
Gongjin, naive enough to follow Cheon Gi-ja blindly.
"How many treasures have you gathered so far?"
"Five, including the medicinal herb set."
Not many, as expected.
In Murim Return, Muyoung Sintu had amassed enough to fill three or four carts—all top-grade.
Even a tenth of his high-grade haul was formidable.
"What treasures?"
Gongjin now answered obediently.
He listed a few, but only the herbs would help me immediately.
In that case...
I stated my conclusion.
"I need the medicinal herb set right away."
"Of course, the true master's will is law."
He was calling me the treasure's master now.
"The seals are on Song Mountain, so why not visit Shaolin together this time?"
"Afraid that's not feasible."
Song Mountain, Shaolin's seat, stirred any wuxia fan's heart—but I had reasons to avoid it now.
For one, it's too close to the Murim Alliance.
Even with Alliance Leader Maeng Wi-hak in secluded training (with presumed Sado Gwang), Shaolin was practically the Alliance's front yard.
And another reason.
"Why not?"
"I've got prior commitments. By the way, do you have a senior brother named Gong-a?"
"How do you know of Senior Brother Gong-a?"
"I think I've heard the name somewhere."
"Odd. He's never once interacted with the outside world."
No surprise there.
"Well, you might've overheard it somewhere. He never leaves, but his prowess surpasses even the eldest disciples."
I nodded. If he was who I thought, it was par for the course.
"Anyway, shipping the herbs via escort firm would be tricky. Looks like I'll have to come back myself."
"Your lightness skill will make it quick."
"Speed doesn't mean tireless."
"You'll likely stay in Sichuan awhile anyway. If not, leave them with the Tang Clan."
Currently leaderless due to Dang Si Yul's "disappearance" for health reasons (or so the world believed)—that madman aside, the Tang Clan never betrayed family.
Much less touch an item belonging to its "rightful owner" (me).
"Keep this quiet for now."
"Naturally. Word of the treasures would plunge the world into chaos."
"Good."
"Agreed. Now, could you release the pressure points? My knees ache."
"......"
Obviously, I couldn't seal or unseal points. A simple strike was within my power, but acupoint strikes required emitting inner energy.
"......Benefactor?"
"It'll wear off soon. Consider it punishment for touching my things."
"Th-that's!!"
I simply sipped my tea.
Whatever.
What could he do about it?
Pretending to Be the Heavenly Demon