An Old Friend Returns
Lee Sujol and Maeng Chang-haeng stood before Yeop Pung's door for more than a minute. A cold wind sliced between the two titans of the Cheonun Sect, but neither of them paid it the slightest mind.
From inside the room came Yeop Pung's low shout of exertion. Profound Qi was surging up through his entire body with violent speed. The instant the two men felt it, they vanished like lightning. They knew at once that Yeop Pung was about to break through to a new stage.
At the far edge of the mountain peak, Maeng Chang-haeng still had his eyes round as coins, staring at Lee Sujol in sheer disbelief.
"Senior Brother, that kid.... How in the world...."
Lee Sujol gave a bitter smile and shook his head.
"I don't know either.... The Emperor of Great Jin personally destroyed every last cultivation method of the Cloud-Spirit Scripture. Not a single copy remains. Unless the Founding Ancestor himself transmitted it, there is no other explanation...."
"Could it be... was that boy truly sent by the Founding Ancestor to save our Cheonun Sect?"
Maeng Chang-haeng could no longer begin to guess what Yeop Pung really was. He muttered half to himself, then looked up.
"Senior Brother, we cannot let that kid slip through our fingers!"
"Let us think this through calmly...."
Lee Sujol had never in his life found his thoughts so tangled. Yeop Pung's conduct today had shaken him to the core. Even this composed old man, who had borne a hundred years of destiny on his back, found the matter almost too much to carry.
"For the moment, whether he meant to or not, Yeop Pung made no attempt to conceal the form of his cultivation. Chang-haeng, you will have to handle this first. No one else can be allowed to learn that he has reached the realm of Hundred Stars Flowing like a Stream."
"That's the easy part."
"As for the rest, we must not rush. The boy is arrogant by nature, and he may still harbor a grudge against our Cheonun Sect. Now is not the time to show our true hand. Continue to look after him well. The spiritual liquor I sent last time—I will bring it myself. We will watch how the rest unfolds."
"I'll do as you say, Senior Brother."
Maeng Chang-haeng knew Lee Sujol's cautious temperament all too well. He knew Yeop Pung's temperament just as well. The kid hated being strong-armed, which meant his relationship with the Cheonun Sect would have to be allowed to mend slowly, in its own time.
Then another matter suddenly occurred to him.
"That's right, Senior Brother. What do we do about the ones who picked a fight with Yeop Pung last time? I'm worried it might interfere with his training."
"No."
To Maeng Chang-haeng's surprise, Lee Sujol smiled—a distinctly mischievous look crossing that measured face.
Don't tell me.... A chill ran down Maeng Chang-haeng's spine. Senior Brother was clearly plotting something.
The next morning, Beom Undae barely managed to collect his wits in his own quarters.
What the hell happened?
His head felt as if it were splitting open, and every inch of his body ached. Yet no matter how he groped for it, he could not remember a thing from the past two days.
"This is strange... I was definitely going to Nagun Peak to get even with Yeop Pung. So why am I here?"
He clutched his head in agony.
"Did I actually go there or not.... And what are these wounds? Where are Oh Gang and the others?"
Fortunately, his injuries were not severe. He staggered outside and went looking for the other disciples to ask what had happened. What they told him left him completely bewildered.
"What? I went to Nagun Peak with Oh Gang to haul supplies, then rolled off the Cloud Ascending Stairs and fell all the way down the mountain?"
"Yeah, that's right...."
The disciple looked at Beom Undae's dazed face and could not hold back a laugh.
"You're the lucky one, relatively speaking. Oh Gang and the others have broken arms and cracked ribs—they're still laid up in bed!"
"That's impossible! Do I look like an idiot? How could I roll off the Cloud Ascending Stairs?!"
"Pfft. You just said it yourself."
The disciple shrugged and wandered off. Beom Undae was left alone, grinding his teeth.
"No. Absolutely not. This cannot have happened! Something definitely went down at Nagun Peak. Don't tell me it was that bastard Yeop Pung? But there's no way he has that kind of power. What the hell is going on?"
Beom Undae had always thought himself clever, but no matter how he turned it over, he could not work out what had happened on Nagun Peak.
"Something's off. There's definitely something suspicious. Nagun Peak is no ordinary place. For my own safety, I must never go back there. Damn that Yeop Pung—whether he's dead or alive.... The Gi family has probably already taken care of him...."
Even now, he did not forget to curse Yeop Pung. Perhaps those fervent curses actually reached the heavens. At that very moment, a Cheonun Sect elder with a grave expression walked in from outside.
"Disciple Beom Undae. My respects, Elder Han."
The man was Elder Han Un. As the elder in charge of the Cheonun Sect's internal affairs, he had come today to deliver a single order.
"Disciple Beom Undae. By order of the Peak Master of Nawoon Peak, you are hereby transferred to Nawoon Peak's training team. From now on, you will handle the menial chores of the inner disciples. Come with me to Nawoon Peak at once."
"What? Nawoon Peak?"
Beom Undae was stunned.
Until now he had belonged to Nowoon Peak's training group. He was no genius, but he had been cultivating without any particular trouble. And now, out of nowhere, he was being moved to Nawoon Peak—and assigned the inner disciples' chores on top of it.
What kind of nonsense is this?
But as an inner disciple, Beom Undae had no authority to refuse an elder's command. And at the request of Nagun Peak's Peak Master, he would have to transport supplies to Nagun Peak again in two days' time.
Damn it!
The moment he heard Han Un's order, Beom Undae's face went deathly pale.
Only moments ago he had sworn never to set foot on Nagun Peak again because it was too dangerous. And now this? It was a bolt from a clear sky. Someone was clearly out to make his life hell.
Yeop Pung slowly opened his eyes and let out a long breath of turbid qi. A light like lightning flashed through both of his eyes.
Yeop Pung rose to his feet. With power like this, he could not yet gauge where his limits truly lay.
The 4th Meridian Mysterious Realm? The 5th Meridian Mysterious Realm? He did not know. For now, he decided to focus on the training right in front of him. Having broken through to the 2-Vein Profound Realm, the volume of Profound Qi he could circulate had increased, and at last he could practice the movement art contained in the Raging Thunder Palm manual: Thunder Shadow Steps.
He headed for the cliff-side plaza without delay. He had already recited the essential formulas of Thunder Shadow Steps countless times and committed them to memory perfectly. The moment he poured Profound Qi into both feet, a golden lightning far more intense than before flashed through the air.
His body streaked to the cliff's edge in an instant, leaving only afterimages behind.
Golden lightning burst forth like an explosion. The devastating palm force that erupted from Yeop Pung's hands carved a deep, massive crater into the cliff face, faint smoke curling up from the pit—a stark display of how far his striking power had come.
"Not bad at all!"
Not far away, Maeng Chang-haeng had been watching the training. He scratched his head in open admiration.
"That kid's golden Profound Qi is really something. Senior Brother was worried Beom Undae might hurt Yeop Pung—but looking at this, I don't know who should be worrying about whom."
"How dull...."
Bone seemed to have no interest whatsoever in Yeop Pung's training. The whole display did not look even as entertaining as a chicken drumstick, and the hound's reaction was thoroughly unimpressed.
Yeop Pung paid no attention to any of it. He poured himself into practicing Thunder Shadow Steps and nothing else. Sweat and effort stacked up with the hours, and in barely a day or two he could execute the art at will.
Two days had slipped by before he knew it.
Yeop Pung's training over those two days had gone smoothly. He took another blue spirit pill, and with the rapid qi-drawing speed of the Nine Heavens Cloud-Spirit Scripture, he succeeded in opening a tenth of his third meridian in that short span. At this rate, he would reach the 3rd Meridian Mysterious Realm within a month at the latest.
It was a pace no one else could even imagine. Yeop Pung's unusual constitution—which let him devour spirit pills without restraint—combined with a rate of drawing in Heaven and Earth Qi that outstripped even the Cheonun Sect Master. Put those two together, and it would have been stranger if his cultivation had been slow.
He greeted a clear, refreshing morning and found his thoughts turning to the third time jump, five days from now.
This time the problem was a genuine headache. As long as he could not erase the violent Peak Master's memories, going to Nagun Peak would mean certain death. If he stayed away, he would keep his life—but he would be throwing away the chance to learn the Nine Heavens Cloud-Spirit Scripture, and that was far too great a waste.
"Please, just let me get through without being caught by that Peak Master...."
Or is there a way to survive those three days without changing the fates of people in the past?
It was an all-too-difficult assignment. He was sunk deep in thought when a familiar voice suddenly carried across the courtyard.
"Disciple Beom Undae, paying respects to the Peak Master of Nagun Peak!"
What?
Yeop Pung started.
Why is that bastard here again?
Beom Undae was shouting at the top of his lungs in the courtyard, but inside he wanted to cry.
You think I wanted to come here?!
The wooden door creaked open, and Yeop Pung stepped out of the hut. The eyes of the two men, facing their nemesis, flushed red in an instant. However much Nagun Peak frightened him, Beom Undae had no intention of being cowed in front of Yeop Pung; a sharp gleam flashed in his gaze.
Rage boiled up inside Yeop Pung.
So he still won't leave me alone?
Fine. I just broke through to the 2-Vein Profound Realm. If it's a fight he wants, I'll give him a real one.
Yeop Pung's voice came out ice-cold.
"Beom Undae. You dare come here again...."
Again?
Beom Undae's heart plummeted at the word.
I definitely came here last time... so what the hell happened after that?
He let none of it show. Instead he spoke with brazen confidence, as if pressing Yeop Pung back.
"What? Yeop Pung, don't tell me you're scared of me?"
"Scared?"
Yeop Pung sneered.
"Get off Nagun Peak before I count to three. Otherwise, I'll show you exactly what true terror looks like."
"You think you can talk to me like that and walk away in one piece?!"
A thunderous blast erupted as Beom Undae detonated his Profound Qi.
Flames surged from his body and blotted out the sky.
The truth was, Beom Undae had nothing to gain from meeting Yeop Pung. The grudge he had piled up over six years could only be settled with his fists.
"Cut the crap!"
Yeop Pung pointed toward the wide clearing on the outer mountain slope.
"Let's take this outside and settle it!"