The Upright Sect Master
Starlight shimmered around Maeng Chang-haeng, and in an instant his figure vanished. He reappeared at Han Buri's side as if he had simply stepped through space.
That movement art from before!
Yeop Pung recognized it at once — the starlight teleportation technique Maeng Chang-haeng had used when toying with Gi Yeo-hae. And now he was turning that very art on Han Buri.
The moment Maeng Chang-haeng materialized, a palm wreathed in flame cracked across Han Buri's cold face.
"I slaved through hell to win that championship, and you dare dismiss it? Do I not even look like your senior brother to you?!"
Maeng Chang-haeng's enraged roar was enough to burst eardrums.
His movement art was astonishingly fast, but Han Buri was no pushover. He shot out his right hand and clamped down on Maeng Chang-haeng's wrist, refusing to give an inch.
"Hmph! All that fills my eyes is the thousand-year grand design of the Cheonun Sect. Maeng Chang-haeng, what is this grotesque display? You are not even worthy of being called senior brother!"
"You're trying to kill me! Let go this instant!"
"Hmph. Senior Brother. If you've grown old, then live out your days quietly on Nagun Peak. The Cheonun Sect no longer has any need of you!"
The two men locked eyes, clashing with ferocious intensity. Tremendous Profound Qi collided and whipped a whirlwind across the plaza, sweeping everyone nearby off their feet.
Just then, a commanding shout thundered down from the heavens.
"Stop this at once!"
Clang!
Sword-light split the sky as Lee Sujol finally arrived.
The moment the Cheonun Sect Master appeared, the two men's murderous auras subsided. Lee Sujol calmed the tense situation the way a still sea swallows a storm.
"We pay our respects to the Sect Master!"
Everyone bowed their heads. At the same time, fresh shafts of light descended from the sky.
Ha Chung, Peak Master of Hwaun Peak; Yeom Jin-ri, Peak Master of Gangun Peak; Gu Jeoryang, Peak Master of Maun Peak — the Peak Masters of the Cheonun Sect came down onto the plaza one after another. They had all gathered to welcome Yeop Pung and his companions.
"Sect Master...!"
The instant Lee Sujol appeared, Han Buri hurriedly offered a respectful greeting. Maeng Chang-haeng, standing beside him, snorted, flicked his arm, and stepped aside with a face full of discontent.
Han Buri's manner was courteous, but he still belittled the courageous victory of Yeop Pung's group and insisted they be held to account. A murmur rolled through the crowd.
"That's enough, Peak Master Han."
Lee Sujol quietly waved a hand, cutting Han Buri off, and walked out to the center of the plaza.
Every gaze turned to him. What judgment the leader of the Cheonun Sect would pass on Yeop Pung's actions had become the only question that mattered. Whether those actions had been reckless folly or a deed that brought glory to the sect now hung on Lee Sujol's next words.
"Yeop Pung...."
Lee Sujol's low voice carried across the entire plaza. Everyone held their breath, waiting for what he would say.
That single sentence decided everything. The Cheonun Sect disciples let out sighs of relief, smiles of joy spreading across their faces.
"Sect Master!"
Han Buri's face hardened beside him, and he cried out.
"Please think this through once more!"
"That's enough, Peak Master Han!"
As the agitated Han Buri raised his voice, Lee Sujol smiled and cut him off.
"I know perfectly well what you mean to say. But today, you would do well to understand this clearly."
Every eye locked onto Lee Sujol as his voice rose once more, carrying across the plaza.
A quiet laugh escaped him.
"Heh. Yeop Pung."
The Black Frost Sword, champion's prize of this hunt, is hereby bestowed upon Yeop Pung. In addition, the Cheonun Sect's secret art — the Falling Star Sword Technique — and one hundred second-grade spirit pills shall be granted as his reward.
Furthermore, every Cheonun Sect disciple who competed in the Ascent Battle shall receive one hundred spirit pills, and all remaining disciples who could not participate shall receive twenty spirit pills each.
Tonight, a banquet shall be held within the sect gates to welcome our heroes!
The plaza erupted in cheers. Everyone standing there was young and hot-blooded.
They all understood the greater cause — but not a soul among them would be cowed by it.
They had clawed their way to victory, and now they were supposed to go grovel, apologize, and pay compensation? Hand back the Black Frost Sword besides? Absurd!
"Long live the Sect Master!"
"Senior Brother Yeop Pung is the best!"
"Hahaha, didn't I tell you? Why would our Cheonun Sect be afraid of the likes of the Gi Clan or the Military Supply Bureau? If anything happens, the Sect Master and the Peak Masters will take care of it!"
The crowd rejoiced, and no one so much as glanced at Han Buri anymore.
Wang Maeng and the others hoisted the still-bandaged Yeop Pung into the air and tossed him high.
Joyful laughter and cheering filled Yeop Pung's ears. A smile of pure delight spread across his face.
Senior Brother Maeng, and the Sect Master... you showed your true, upright colors in the end!
In that moment, every hardship he had endured felt repaid. He may have obtained a fateful opportunity, but everything he had accomplished, he had accomplished himself.
And now he would receive the Black Frost Sword as a prize — and the Falling Star Sword Technique besides!
As far as Yeop Pung knew, the Falling Star Sword Technique was one of the Cheonun Sect's finest profound arts. Its power stood on a level the Raging Thunder Palm could not even approach. Combined with the Black Frost Sword, his combat strength would surely leap forward.
Yes! This is the best!
Beaming, Yeop Pung was carried off into the distance in the crowd's arms. Those who remained set about preparing a grand celebration banquet under the direction of Peak Master Gu Jeoryang, who oversaw the sect's internal affairs. The whole of Mount Cheonun was abuzz.
Only Han Buri watched the festive atmosphere with a blank face and a cold snort, sending Lee Sujol an icy look.
Happy, are you? Hmph. Revel in it all you like. At this rate, the Cheonun Sect will be ruined by your own hands before long....
The celebration banquet ran late into the night.
Yeop Pung had learned to drink from Maeng Chang-haeng on Nagun Peak. Even so, he could not handle liquor poured down his throat with this kind of reckless abandon. After only a few cups, Maeng Chang-haeng slung him over one shoulder and carried him back to Nagun Peak.
After that, Yeop Pung spent a month recovering. For him, it was the most peaceful stretch of time he had known since the inner sect examination. Every day he trained in the Nine Heavens Cloud-Spirit Scripture while balancing on a single leg. Beyond that, he threw himself into studying the Falling Star Sword Technique he had received from Maeng Chang-haeng.
A top-grade profound art truly existed on an entirely different level from a common technique like the Raging Thunder Palm. Yeop Pung spent a week concentrating on the basic forms of the Falling Star Sword Technique. Of course, with so little practical combat experience, he could not master it perfectly. Its strongest killing move lay beyond his present ability — he would need to reach the Six Meridian realm before he could even attempt it.
The weekly time travels he had been making were also suspended because of his injuries. According to the Golden Disc, unused opportunities thankfully did not vanish — they accumulated.
Over that month of rest, Yeop Pung banked four time-travel chances. On his next journey, he would be able to remain in the past for a full month. With a long-duration trip now possible, he laid out two plans.
The first concerned the disharmony between his body and the Nine Heavens Cloud-Spirit Scripture. Solve that, and he could raise his cultivation speed again.
Over the past month, his fourth profound meridian had opened only about a third of the way — far slower than when his third had come through. Yeop Pung had grown accustomed to rapid progress, and the sudden drop in pace grated on him.
He suspected there might be a body-tempering art that matched the Nine Heavens Cloud-Spirit Scripture. It might even be connected to the starlight movement technique Maeng Chang-haeng had used.
The second plan concerned the safety of the Cheonun Sect. Lee Sujol had stood upright and taken Yeop Pung's side, but Yeop Pung knew that every word Han Buri had spoken was true.
The Gi Clan alone had already been tormenting the Cheonun Sect without mercy. Now the Military Supply Bureau's underhanded harassment had been piled on top of that. If the sect were forced to send a thousand disciples to the war against the Four Barbarians, the damage would be severe.
Yeop Pung believed all of it had started because of him. Whether for the sake of the Cheonun Sect or out of a man's sense of responsibility, he had to find a solution somehow.
Stopping the Military Supply Bureau's conscription looked unlikely.
Then is there a way for those thousand who get chosen to come home safely?
That, at least, was worth thinking through.
The example of the Furious Golden Ape during the battle on Taibai Peak had given him a considerable insight.
"Golden Disc Bro. Is there something you haven't told me?"
Yeop Pung wanted to confirm it once more.
"I've already told you everything. What more do you want me to say?"
What kind of nonsense is that?
For a moment, Yeop Pung no longer felt like calling him Bro. His trust was starting to evaporate.
"Mm... look, Golden Disc Bro. Last time I think I changed the fate of that monkey troop, and you didn't stop me. Why?"
"......"
The Golden Disc was silent for a beat.
"What are you thinking about?"
"I'm thinking about how to explain this complicated problem in a way you can actually understand."
This time it was Yeop Pung's turn to fall silent.
This bastard doesn't talk properly unless you pin him down, does he?
The Golden Disc went on.
"The detailed rules on this point are still beyond you. Just remember one thing. After the second shackle was released, you became capable of actually changing the fates of certain living beings. The condition is that the being itself does not occupy much weight within the spacetime order, and that the change does not provoke too great a backlash from the force of causal order."
"Spacetime order? Weight? The force of causal order?"
Yeop Pung was still lost.
In the end, the Golden Disc told him that so long as it did not issue a warning, Yeop Pung was free to attempt more.
"Well then. This is going to be big."
Yeop Pung thought of the month-long journey drawing near, and a grand plan suddenly bloomed in his mind. If everything went smoothly, he could raise the strength of the Cheonun Sect's younger generation in a single stroke. And if he also uncovered the secret of his physical bottleneck, everything would be perfect.
A month passed in a blink.
Yeop Pung finally unwound the bandages he had worn for thirty days and loosened up in the courtyard with Bone. The method, however, left him more than a little put out.
Bone barked once, jerked his neck, and flung a wooden stick far across the yard.
"Go fetch!"
Yeop Pung was mortified.
Isn't this supposed to be the other way around?
But one look at Elder Bone's icy stare, and he trudged off to pick up the stick after all.
It's just a warm-up. However I do it, I'm still moving my body. Running like this might even be good exercise.
He was consoling himself with that thought, just starting to run out of the courtyard, when it happened.
A scrap of light white silk came flying across the cliffs of the Cheonun Mountain Range. Like a celestial maiden descending from the heavens, it settled softly upon Nagun Peak. From within it, a young woman of exquisite bearing slowly revealed herself. A beauty without peer, she walked unhurriedly toward the small courtyard where Yeop Pung stood.