Chapter 6
Chapter 6
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 6
Chapter Title: A Forbidden Meal
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Jinmu frowned as he watched the sun already racing toward the midday sky.
"Sasuk! Sasuk!"
A familiar voice called from afar, and Cheongu came waddling over.
"The chicken?"
"Here it is!"
At Jinmu's question, Cheongu proudly thrust out what he held in his hand.
Cluck cluck!
Two chickens, their wings gripped in Cheongu's hand, squawked wildly as they tangled together.
"Good job."
"Hehe."
Cheongu grinned innocently.
Just the right kind of naive guy to use perfectly.
"Then kill them."
"Yes, sir!"
The poor chickens met their end in Cheongu's thick hands.
"Drain the blood."
Drip drip.
"Put them in."
Cheongu opened the pot lid and tossed the chickens straight into the boiling water.
"Pluck the feathers."
"Yes, sir!"
Just give the orders, and it's done.
To think I only saw him as a nuisance all this time.
Plus, ever since he saw me beat Jinhyeo yesterday morning, his loyalty seemed to have ticked up a notch.
If I'd known it'd be like this, I should've beaten him more.
"Alright, now let's get it boiling properly?"
"Yes, sir!"
While the chicken boiled, Cheongu squatted in front of it and asked Jinmu.
"Um, but Sasuk."
"Yeah?"
"How did you do it?"
"Do what?"
"Yesterday. I was really shocked. Jinhyeo Sasuk's martial arts are top-notch among you all, but you..."
"Impressive, right? Don't you admire me?"
Nod nod.
Cheongu nodded vigorously, his eyes full of envy.
"Cheongu."
"Yes, Sasuk."
"It's boiling over."
"Yes, sir!"
Heh heh heh. Good boy, good boy.
Keep it up like this from now on.
Jinmu reached out and patted his head, and Cheongu beamed with those wide eyes that made you wonder if he could even see, looking truly delighted.
Watching him, he seemed kinda cute now.
As he'd felt before, Cheongu resembled someone a lot.
Cheon U-myeong.
A guy who was hopelessly oblivious and dim-witted, but whose loyalty was unmatched. The one guy he actually missed now, the only one he regretted not seeing.
Cheongu looked just like that guy in his younger days.
Even down to... being so kind-hearted he got bullied by his peers.
Fine, since it's come to this, I'll make you my number one subordinate from now on!
"But... is this okay?"
"What?"
"The chicken."
At Cheongu's words, Jinmu glanced at the pot, steam billowing out with a delicious aroma.
"Meat is strictly forbidden... What if we get caught?"
"Cheongu."
"Yes."
"Do you trust me?"
"Yes, sir!"
"Then take it out now."
"......"
"What are you staring at? It's done."
"Ah!"
Making a racket like rocks exploding.
When he lifted the lid, the chicken emerged perfectly cooked, glistening temptingly.
"Wanna eat?"
At Jinmu's words, Cheongu shook his head while swallowing hard enough to move his throat.
Eating meat before the pure qi had sufficiently matured through Wudang's internal energy cultivation methods would prevent pure qi accumulation, increasing only raw internal energy.
Thus, Wudang strictly prohibited disciples from eating meat.
All they were allowed was Wall Valley Pills made from various grains and herbs.
Tsk tsk, to growing kids. Rotten Taoist bastards.
"It's fine. I eat it sometimes too. Master's eaten it long ago."
"......"
Cheongu's eyes began to waver. The sound of him swallowing felt like thunder.
Jinmu lightly patted Cheongu's shoulder and carried a large bowl filled with one whole chicken into the room where Myeongjin lay.
"Master."
Upon entering, Myeongjin saw the bowl of chicken in Jinmu's hand and sat up at the table with a pleased expression.
It had been several months since he started eating meat.
He'd come to know its taste, even critiquing which meats were best.
"Chicken today, eh? Ho ho, such a rare treat."
"You need to eat plenty and recover your strength vigorously."
"Quite right, quite right. Ever since I followed your advice and started eating meat, I've felt my energy surging. Haven't I been taking walks around the mountain for the past two months?"
"Yes. I'm glad."
That's right, so I can stop worrying about you and bolt from this damn Wudang without looking back.
Jinmu smiled warmly at his master tearing into a chicken leg.
"Here, you eat too."
"No, there's another one outside. Cheongu and I will eat that."
"Heavens, at your growing age, sharing one chicken? Tsk tsk, why didn't you catch three?"
"......"
Look at this corrupt Taoist.
Once he tasted meat, he was getting more brazenly depraved by the day.
"Then I'll step out, Master. Let me know when you're done eating, and I'll take it away."
"Alright."
Leaving his master—who couldn't tear his eyes from the chicken—Jinmu went back outside.
And then.
"......"
The plump, glistening chicken that had been in front of Cheongu—who'd insisted he wouldn't eat—had vanished.
All that remained were the cleanly picked bones, as if to prove it had existed.
Have you ever seen a piglet who doesn't know the joy of sharing a meal!
At that moment.
"You brat! Spit it out right now!"
Along with the thunderous command, Sect Leader Myeonghyeon and the elders appeared.
What are these guys doing here?
Cheongu, who had been sucking the last bits of meat juice from a chicken leg bone, froze solid.
"How dare you! Breaking the precepts right in the main sect?"
The one erupting in fury was Myeonggong, the elder of Welcoming Grace Hall in charge of precepts.
Under his fierce aura, Cheongu flattened himself trembling on the ground in terror.
And Sect Leader Myeonghyeon looked toward Myeongjin in the room, who had just started eating the chicken.
"You... how could you..."
"......"
Myeonghyeon's face hardened at the blatant grease on Myeongjin's mouth.
"Greetings to the Sect Leader."
Even as Jinmu bowed politely, Myeonghyeon's gaze stayed fixed on Myeongjin.
"What is the meaning of this..."
Myeongjin was quite flustered by the sudden situation, while Myeonghyeon was so furious his beard trembled, unable to continue.
We're screwed.
Of all people, the Sect Leader.
He had to become the chief disciple.
He couldn't afford to get on bad terms like this. If this left a stain and he couldn't become chief disciple, what then?
Jinmu decided to prostrate and beg first.
"I'm sorry. It's all my fault."
"......"
At Jinmu's words as he bowed low, Myeonghyeon's gaze finally left Myeongjin.
"Master's energy was so depleted."
"Silence, you brat!"
The one roaring was not Myeonghyeon, but precept-enforcer Myeonggong of Welcoming Grace Hall.
"Your filial heart is commendable. But breaking the sect's precepts anyway? Are you truly in your right mind?!"
"......"
Obsessed with precepts.
Doing his best to care for his master, and they fuss over a little chicken? Tsk tsk.
If he could, he'd just...
Not yet. It's not time.
With variant techniques or form applications, he could beat up to first-generation disciples just over thirty.
But the elders of Wudang were no pushovers.
He wasn't strong enough yet.
Endure, until I get the Two Forms Heart Art. Once I master it... I'll smash that bastard's head first.
Flat on the ground, Jinmu ground his teeth, vowing fiercely over and over.
"Tell me. You, the senior-most among us..."
"......"
"Myeongjin!"
At Myeonghyeon's roar, Myeongjin sighed deeply and looked straight up.
"Sahyung."
"......"
"Is that such a grave sin?"
"......!"
His eyes blazed fiercely.
That piercing gaze was not that of the bedridden old man barely hanging on.
"Jinmu, stand up."
"......"
"Now!"
At Myeongjin's firm command, Jinmu hesitantly rose.
"Hold your head high. What sin have you committed to bow your head? Cheongu, you too, get up."
Myeongjin's voice was gentle yet carried heavy weight.
It was hard to believe this was a man who had lost his martial arts and become a cripple.
"Sahyung, Myeonggong, Myeongseon."
Myeongjin called his senior brothers one by one.
"How do I look to you?"
"......"
"Do you know how I felt when I lost my martial arts to that wicked Lord of Evil Hegemony Heaven and became a cripple? How heartbroken I was seeing my senior brothers and elders dying without power?"
Hey, skip the 'wicked' part... Anyway, Jinmu cheered his master on.
The meat had paid off. Having eaten it himself, he'd naturally take their side.
Come on, persuade them! Forgive my sins!
"Why do you think we collapsed? Lack of strength? No. Because we were trapped by these empty precepts."
"Myeongjin."
"Hear me out to the end."
Myeongjin's voice was bold, heavy, and stern.
"What did we gain by clinging to these hollow precepts unto death?"
Myeonghyeon and the elders' faces stiffened.
"What happened while we upheld the righteous path's empty duties?"
"......"
"We collapsed. We were utterly defeated. The Justice Alliance called a truce solely because Hyeokryeon Mugang, the Lord of Evil Hegemony Heaven, had returned. What remains for us now? Did we even get revenge?"
Spot on.
The Justice Alliance had chosen practicality over honor then.
The murim was locked in a three-way war.
If the righteous-evil conflict dragged on, the Moon Devouring Demon Cult—eyeing the Central Plains—would reap the benefits.
Fearing that, the Justice Alliance ignored Wudang's plight and chose truce.
No one helped Wudang after that.
Forgotten, Wudang slowly declined.
But that's murim.
Everyone wants to help the strong, but shuns the weak.
Even packaged as justice or chivalry, that's the harsh reality.
Quanzhen, the pinnacle of Taoism, and countless other sects vanished into history that way.
"Without change, do you think Wudang—walking the path of decline even now—will remain intact in murim? Who can guarantee our history will continue?"
"......"
"Yes, I was shocked when Jinmu first gave me meat. But that child said, 'Eat it and regain your strength. How can I live if you die?'"
"......"
At Myeongjin's words, Myeonghyeon glanced at the bowed Jinmu.
"So I ate it. And I gained strength. Lately, I've even been walking near Void Serenity Hermitage."
"......"
Astonishing words.
Myeongjin had been bedridden for a decade.
That he had recovered enough to take walks?
"Yes, I broke the Ten Precepts. But breaking them made me much better. What's wrong with that?"
Myeonghyeon's face twisted in anguish at Myeongjin's near-rebuke.
"Don't you know, Sahyung? While we cling to these outdated precepts, Central Plains martial arts advance ceaselessly. We know meat is needed for bodily strength, even if avoided for pure qi. Don't you see Wudang weakening overall because we forbid it?"
Myeonghyeon had no reply.
"Are the Ten Precepts we've upheld for so long that important? What's the use if Wudang falls?"
"......"
"Avoiding greed for wealth is the same. Did that save Wudang today? No. Shunning it made us this poor. We can't even give disciples new robes."
"......"
"Not killing wantonly? Cherishing life so much led us to this state against Evil Hegemony Heaven."
Some points repeated, but Myeongjin's words flowed on relentlessly.