Which Will It Be—Ghost or Monster? (3)
Wood-deok! Crack!
“Huh?”
Kwa-de-de-deuk!
“Huh?”
Thunk! Thud-thud!
“Kek!”
Chung Myung, whose neck had snapped sideways—no, whose neck was bent sideways, stared blankly as he yanked his head back and forth in disbelief.
“Grrrr. This is really...”
It almost felt as though Cheong Jin’s voice was ringing in his ears.
— What did I tell you? Huh? What did I tell you!
“Shut up, you bastard!”
I’m going to drag you out of your grave and turn it over right this instant!
Grinding his teeth, Chung Myung clutched his own head as if holding it in place, the stiffness in his neck making him sigh.
This is weirdly hard to pull off.
Creating a martial art wasn’t easy.
“Tsk. Something simple like Chilmaegeom, I could whip up right here and now.”
Calling Chilmaegeom “simple swordsmanship” would have made ordinary people gape in horror, but to Chung Myung—once the Plum Blossom Sword Saint, a man who could stand shoulder to shoulder with anyone in the world when it came to understanding swordsmanship—it wasn’t especially difficult.
But transforming a divine art, especially something on the level of Zixia Divine Art, was a thorny matter even for Chung Myung.
Normally, when a complicated and abstruse martial art like that was altered, the leaders of an entire sect would crowd together to verify the errors, test it, check it over and over again, and only then would they cautiously try to learn it.
Even after all that, it was common for people to die or end up crippled while practicing the new art. That was how difficult it was to create an extraordinary martial art.
And yet Chung Myung had skipped cleanly over every one of those steps and gone straight to forcing a half-baked modification into his own body. It was no wonder qi deviation had come knocking.
Rattle-rattle-rattle!
“Ah, damn it!”
Feeling as if his spine had bent backward, Chung Myung flopped down on his back and groaned.
— Told you you’d die doing that.
“You little shit?”
Like hell I’d be the one dying. You should be praying I live a long life. No—everyone here should be praying that I live a long life! None of you want your skulls cracked, do you—
— What was that, you bastard?
...Well. Except for the Sect Leader.
Still lying there, Chung Myung let out one long sigh after another.
“Grrr. So this isn’t the way?”
If it had been anyone else, they would have died ten times over already. Chung Myung had spent years laying foundations for a future that would stretch out far beyond the horizon, so this was only the level of side effects he had to endure.
A building with a weak base and poorly set foundation stones collapsed at the slightest tilt, but a building whose pillars had been driven deep and whose groundwork had been carefully laid would not fall so easily from a little lean.
Since awakening in his new body, Chung Myung had spent years doing nothing but strengthening his basics. Thanks to that, his body was in a state far beyond anything from his previous life, and the internal energy flowing through him was as pure and clear as could be found anywhere in the history of the martial world.
That was why he had gotten away with only this much. For an ordinary person, their eight extraordinary meridians would already have twisted out of place, their whole body would have snapped, and they would likely have coughed up blood and gone to meet the King of Hell by now.
“Grrrrrr.”
Worry clouded Chung Myung’s eyes.
What should I do?
Right now he was only holding out thanks to his body, but at this rate he might truly die. Maybe it would be better to just learn Zixia Divine Art in its original form from this point on—
— Yeah, quit being stubborn and learn it the proper way. I organized that thing carefully after plenty of thought, you know. How many times do I have to say it? It’s too much for a senior brother, so stop being dumb. Heh heh heh.
That bastard?
Sparks flew in Chung Myung’s eyes.
“Fine! Let’s see who wins!”
He sprang upright and violently surged his internal energy.
“If I try everything there is, one of them’s bound to work! Why bother using your brain when you’ve got a good body? I’m going in on my damn body!”
If the members of his old sect in the immortal realm had heard that, they would all have covered their faces and wept in despair. But the statement wasn’t exactly wrong either.
Crack!
“Aagh!”
Rattle-rattle-rattle!
“Aaaagh! Dammit!”
And so, for the rest of that night, the sounds of bones breaking and screams never stopped coming from Chung Myung’s quarters.
The fact that everyone using the White Plum Boarding House as their lodging spent the night sleep-deprived and tormented by nightmares thanks to the howling transmitted through the walls was hardly important.
* * *
“Hmm.”
Hyun Young surveyed the people standing before him, looking vaguely dissatisfied.
And every one of those meeting his gaze averted their eyes, looking half dead from dread.
What is he planning now?
This is terrifying, honestly.
Honestly, Chung Myung would be better.
No, that’s not true at all.
Clicking his tongue, Hyun Young shook his head and muttered in obvious displeasure.
“We should have knocked out a couple more.”
Apparently, the number of people remaining here did not satisfy him.
“Then I’ll...”
“You keep your mouth shut.”
“...Yes, Elder.”
Un Am, who had tentatively raised a hand, lowered it miserably.
Baek Cheon, Yu I-seol, Yoon Jong, Jo Gul, Un Geom, and Un Am.
There were exactly six survivors.
Not a single person had changed from the lineup initially selected by Hyun Jong and the elders. In the end, it proved that their eyes had been right.
Baek Sang and Dang Soso had fought valiantly to the very end, and Gwak Hoe had earned a passing grade for sheer stubbornness, but in the end he had failed to cross the standard Hyun Young had set.
“Two from the Un generation, two from the Baek generation, and two from the Cheong generation. Like it was planned.”
At those words, Jo Gul quietly raised his hand.
“Why?”
“Chung Myung’s Cheong generation too, isn’t he?”
“...”
Everyone’s gaze turned to Jo Gul. Under a mountain of looks filled to the brim with pity and scorn, Jo Gul muttered gloomily, “...I’m not wrong.”
“You need to try thinking before you speak.”
“No, at this point maybe just don’t speak at all.”
Jo Gul, realizing with bitter clarity that once someone had marked you as annoying, even the truth could get you cursed out, sniffled away the tears starting to gather in his eyes.
“Tsk tsk. That blockhead.”
Hyun Young, who had briefly wondered whether maybe he should just kick that one out even now, shook his head.
“In any case, you’ve all worked hard.”
“Yes, Elder!”
“Ahem.”
Hyun Young cleared his throat softly and continued.
“As you know, Zixia Divine Art is the finest inner qi cultivation method in the current Mount Hua Sect. No, not just now—it is the finest method since Mount Hua first came into being...”
“Hyun Young.”
At the voice interrupting him, Hyun Young shut his mouth and glanced over. Hyun Jong was waving a hand back and forth.
“Leave out the preamble and get to the point.”
“...”
“Hurry.”
“Yes, sir.”
Muttering under his breath, Hyun Young looked back at the disciples.
“From today onward, you will begin learning Zixia Divine Art. You will be the first among Mount Hua’s disciples to do so, and as such you must become examples for the others. Do your utmost, all of you! Understood?”
“Yes, Elder!”
The thunderous reply satisfied him, and Hyun Young smiled faintly, nodding. At the same time, the eyes of Mount Hua’s disciples began to burn hot.
At last!
Finally!
Zixia Divine Art.
The strongest divine art of Mount Hua, passed down through generations only to the sect leaders.
The thought that they would be able to learn such a method made their chests swell with emotion.
And it was only natural. Just how much hell had they gone through to earn this qualification?
“...That was a long road.”
“It was brutal.”
“I drank more water in the last month than I’d probably drunk in my whole life before that.”
“I can now nap underwater.”
Thinking back, it had been a bitter trial that brought tears to the eyes. But everyone standing here had proudly endured that harsh road and, in the end, won the right to learn Zixia Divine Art.
“Question.”
The instant Hyun Young finished speaking, Jo Gul was once again the first to raise his hand.
Hyun Young gave him a slightly sour look, then nodded reluctantly.
“...Ask. No nonsense.”
“Elder! If we’re supposed to learn a divine art, where’s the manual?”
“Hmm. Good question. The manual, yes.”
A smile crept onto Hyun Young’s face.
“Of course you need a manual to learn a divine art. Naturally, the manuals we’ll be handing out are already prepared.”
“Oh!”
“Ooh!”
Expectation lit up the disciples’ faces.
The efficacy of Zixia Divine Art had already been proven beyond all doubt. Hadn’t the three people standing right in front of them demonstrated it with their own bodies?
Throughout their training, Hyun Young had casually lifted enormous boulders that they themselves had struggled just to haul, and Hyun Sang, even when they were at the point of nearly drowning from exhaustion in the water, had calmly demonstrated the technique with an expression of utter ease.
Of course, that was because of the overwhelming internal energy of the Hyun generation—but in any case, it was a divine feat they could never have shown before learning Zixia Divine Art.
How much stronger would they become once they learned it? Just imagining it made their hearts race.
“Then where are the manuals?”
“Mm. Yes. About those manuals. That’s actually why...”
“Yes?”
Baek Cheon’s eyes darkened with suspicion, narrowing little by little. Hyun Young’s strange smile made him uneasy for no good reason.
“As you all know... we already tried learning Zixia Divine Art with that brat Chung Myung, didn’t we?”
“...Yes?”
The moment Chung Myung’s name came up, everyone flinched. There was not a single memory involving that name that ended well.
“We tried it ourselves, so we know.”
“...”
That sentence, too, sounded like some sort of symbol of misfortune. Had there ever been a single case where things had gone smoothly after someone said that?
“We concluded that rather than clumsily starting to circulate qi with just the oral formula, it was far more stable and much faster to lay the foundation if someone first guided the true qi for us.”
“...”
“So before you learn the formula, let’s receive our guidance first.”
Ah...
Baek Cheon smiled with a deeply satisfied expression.
True qi guidance meant that someone who had reached a higher realm moved another person’s energy along the right path and led them forward. It had the advantage of allowing the learner to handle qi much more easily, though it cost the guide a great deal of mental and spiritual energy.
But...
“Um...”
“Hmm?”
Baek Cheon spoke in a very reluctant voice.
“If I remember correctly... the elders who received guidance from Chung Myung were almost... yes, they were...”
Unable to continue through sheer awkwardness, Hyun Geom muttered in his place.
“Not fit to be called human.”
“Yes. Um... yes, that sounds about right...”
Baek Cheon gave an awkward laugh and asked carefully,
“This is different from that, right?”
“Huuuuum.”
Elder?
Why are you smiling like that, Elder?
Hyun Young grinned wickedly. And not only him—Hyun Jong and Hyun Sang standing behind him wore much the same expressions.
Seeing the three people at the peak of Mount Hua’s power smiling the same way was enough to terrify the disciples out of their wits.
“Well... you’ll know once you experience it, won’t you?”
“Yes?”
“What does it matter? Are you saying you won’t learn it then?”
Baek Cheon fell silent like a man with his mouth stuffed full of honey.
“Heh heh. Sometimes not knowing is a blessing too. So...”
Hyun Young rolled up both sleeves and stepped forward. Hyun Jong and Hyun Sang also pushed up their sleeves and approached.
“Who’s first?”
“...”
“It’s fine, it’s fine. Don’t worry. We’ve already been properly taught by that brat Chung Myung about how to do this.”
How to do what exactly? How to make it hurt properly?
Elder?
“No need to drag this out. We’ll do it by order. Un Geom, Un Am. And... yes, Baek Cheon.”
At those words, Baek Cheon raised a hand decisively.
“Why?”
“My junior sister entered before I did.”
“...Come here.”
“Yes, sir.”
It made no difference. Like a cow being led to the slaughter, Baek Cheon dragged his feet forward in utter defeat.
The triumphant smiles of the three Hyun elders spilled out over him.
Even with Chung Myung absent from the scene, it was already too late for Mount Hua to go back to the way it had been.