Chapter 141
Chapter 141
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 141
Chapter Title: The Exiled Master
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“……”
It was hard to open his eyes.
They say even the strongest man under heaven can't fight the weight of his own eyelids, and he had only dozed off for a moment…
“……!”
In an instant, his trembling eyelids shot open.
There was no way he had just been sleeping!
He had lost consciousness.
Twice? No, three times?
No. It felt like he’d been slammed into the cliff far more than that.
So many times he couldn’t even remember.
That damned old coot. One moment he’s trying to kill me, the next he’s saving me. What’s with his erratic whims?
He seemed old enough to be senile, that much was true.
And if he was going to save me, he could have done it gently. He can use void-walking, yet he chose to smash a man into a cliff face like that?
“You son of a… aaargh, my head.”
As fury surged through him, Neung Un-bi shot up, clutching the back of his head with both hands and grimacing.
He felt a lump the size of a fist.
The pain that started in his head quickly spread down his neck.
He must have been slammed into the rock with incredible force; his entire body ached.
Worried that something might be broken, he carefully wiggled his fingers, and then his toes…
Though they ached, his limbs seemed to be intact, so it appeared no bones were broken.
He had barely survived.
What a relief. He had thought this second life of his would be lost so easily.
Once he came to his senses and realized his body was fine, the next thought that came to him was…
“You damned old coot!”
“Are you talking about me?”
“……”
The response to his furious shout came from right beside him.
Neung Un-bi whipped his head around, his eyes locking with the old man who was staring at him impassively.
His hair was disheveled and hung messily, and his eyes held the same vibrant glint as when he’d first seen him.
Just looking at his face made his anger boil.
He invites me as a guest and then attacks me out of the blue?
Is this the famous etiquette of Mount Hua? And you call yourself a Taoist of Mount Hua, who cultivates the path to immortality?
However, contrary to these thoughts, the expression Neung Un-bi showed was nothing short of sycophantic.
“Ah, Elder! You were right here? Haha, I must have been out for quite a while, wasn’t I?”
“……”
Neung Un-bi beamed at the old man, his eyes crinkling into a bright smile.
What else could he do?
The man was clearly a reclusive master of a bygone era. A formidable figure who could even use void-walking…
“You were unconscious for quite some time. But what did you say just now? A damned… old coot?”
“Pardon? Who? Me? That can’t be right. You must have misheard, haha.”
“I don’t think my hearing has gone bad just yet.”
As the old man’s eyes narrowed, Neung Un-bi immediately changed his tune.
“Of course, there’s no way you could have misheard, Elder. How could someone as vigorous as you have hearing problems?”
“……”
“This is why demonic arts are so problematic! The demonic energy seeps into my very bones, and sometimes, when I wake up after losing consciousness, words I don’t mean just pop out. I’ve even heard I curse the Cult Leader in my sleep.”
Neung Un-bi even began spouting nonsense, trying to appease the old man.
“Hmph, you insolent whelp. Lies roll right off your tongue, don’t they?”
The old man glared at him with a sullen expression, but Neung Un-bi breathed a sigh of relief. At least he wasn’t attacking him out of the blue like before.
But who was this old man?
Did Mount Hua have another master of this caliber besides Cheong Jin?
Someone who could actually perform the legendary void-walking…
Neung Un-bi searched his memories, even those from over thirty years ago, but no one came to mind.
“By the way, what business does the Demonic Cult have at Mount Hua? Thinking about it now, you don’t seem to have snuck in… and you appear to have companions?”
“Ah, you weren’t aware?”
“Of what?”
Seeing the bewilderment in the old man’s eyes, Neung Un-bi slapped his knee.
“Just as I thought.”
“You thought what?”
“Yes. The great Mount Hua, whose fame echoes throughout the world, would never recklessly use killing techniques on a guest, would it?”
“...A guest? The Demonic Cult is a guest of Mount Hua?”
As the old man’s brow furrowed deeply, Neung Un-bi hurriedly explained the situation.
As respectfully as possible.
“Actually, an Orthodox-Demonic Pact was signed not too long ago.”
“What! An Orthodox-Demonic Pact? The Orthodox Faction made a deal with the Demonic Cult?”
The old man’s immediate burst of anger made Neung Un-bi flinch and back away.
Ha, this old coot.
If you’ve cultivated the Tao, shouldn’t your mind be as calm as a clear mirror? Why are his mood swings so severe? This is why they say Shaolin is the epitome of an unshakable mind.
“You expect me to believe that! The words of a vile man who practices demonic arts!”
The old man began to radiate a fierce sage energy, as if ready to strike at any moment.
How could this sage energy, which was supposed to feel refreshing just by being near it, be so menacing?
“Elder, please calm down first. It won’t be too late to get angry after you’ve heard what I have to say.”
“Hmph… Fine! But you’d better abandon any thought of deceiving me. If there is even a hint of falsehood in your words, I will show you no mercy.”
The old man glared at Neung Un-bi, panting with rage, but he withdrew the sage energy that had enveloped his body, seeming willing to listen for now.
“Not long ago, a major incident occurred at a place called the Heavenly Pillar Gate in Gansu Province.”
Neung Un-bi relayed the events that led to the Orthodox-Demonic Pact, sticking to the facts. However, he carefully embellished the story in a way that was highly favorable to him, making it seem as if the Demonic Cult was clearly in the right.
“What? The Heavenly Pillar Gate did such a thing?”
“Yes. It was truly the work of beasts in human skin.”
“Hmm…”
“And since then, the Central Plains I’ve seen has been so different from what I’d heard.”
“……”
The old man’s face, which had already contorted at the mention of the Heavenly Pillar Gate, remained grim.
Neung Un-bi continued to layer facts on top of his story.
How he had raided bandit strongholds to help the needy, how he had exposed the dirty deeds of the Blue Cloud Carpentry Guild, which had ties with the Zhongnan Sect, and so on…
Throughout his tale, the old man stared intently at him.
But in Neung Un-bi’s eyes, as calm as the surface of a tranquil lake, the entire story was the truth.
Could it be true that those cloaked in the name of the Orthodox Faction had committed such atrocities?
And that a man wearing the mask of the Demonic Cult had, in turn, helped people?
“Heavens, merciful heavens… How could such things have happened?”
The old man eventually began chanting a mantra to calm his mind.
“...And that is how I was invited as a guest. By Mount Hua.”
“Hmm.”
Neung Un-bi finished his story, and the old man closed his eyes, falling silent.
After a long while, he opened them again.
The menacing aura had vanished, replaced by the gaze of a reclusive master and a Taoist who had spent a lifetime in cultivation, looking straight at Neung Un-bi.
“You said your name was Neung Un-bi?”
“Yes?”
“I have committed a great discourtesy to you.”
“Pardon?”
The old man, who had neatly tied his disheveled hair and straightened his clothes, suddenly knelt before Neung Un-bi.
It happened so quickly that Neung Un-bi was too stunned to know what to do.
What was with these drastic mood swings? He tried to kill me, then saved me, then got angry, and now he’s apologizing?
Surely he hasn’t gone senile?
“E-Elder! What are you doing all of a sudden?”
“Although the words came from your mouth, I felt no falsehood in your earnest plea. How could I not believe you, even without confirming it myself?”
“E-Elder…”
“I apologize for rashly striking out without understanding the situation.”
“An apology is uncalled for. I am much younger than you, Elder. Besides, how can you kneel to me, a member of the Demonic Cult…”
“Infinite heavens. What does age have to do with an apology, and what does the distinction between Orthodox and Demonic matter?”
“Pardon?”
“It is the way of a person to apologize first when one has done wrong.”
“……”
“For a man who has practiced the Tao his entire life to fail to control his heart for a fleeting moment and strike out first, what could be more shameful?”
“Elder.”
“Moreover, I almost brought you to your death. This is a grave sin. Please, forgive the actions of this foolish old man.”
Unable to bring himself to lift the bowing old man, Neung Un-bi stared at him with a hesitant expression.
It was all a misunderstanding.
How could a Taoist who had spent his entire life fighting the demonic forces restrain himself upon seeing one in his own home?
But thankfully, it seemed he wasn’t senile after all.
The difference between knowing and acting.
Not everyone who knows can act. And not everyone who acts, knows.
The moment the old man knew, he acted, and his actions were filled with sincerity.
Although it was something that should be considered natural, the world was full of people who couldn’t do what was natural.
Furthermore, at the old man’s age, one tended to become stubbornly attached to useless pride. They would often use their status and position to cover up wrongs they had committed against others.
But this old man acted.
That small difference revealed his character.
Come to think of it, that fellow Cheong Jin was like that too.
A memory from the past surfaced, and Neung Un-bi found himself smiling without realizing it.
Mount Hua is Mount Hua, I guess. Even if I almost died.
“Elder, please rise. This is embarrassing.”
“Hmm…”
“Please.”
At Neung Un-bi’s repeated urging, the old man finally rose to his feet.
His expression was still stern, but he did not refuse Neung Un-bi’s helping hand.
“Please, sit.”
“Hmm.”
Neung Un-bi sat down across from the old man, who had taken the offered seat, and quietly studied his face.
An old man who was clearly from Mount Hua, yet whose identity was a mystery.
His anger had started when he sensed the demonic scent on him, but it had exploded when he learned he was Dam Un-cheon’s disciple.
He must have some history with him.
However, even searching through his distant memories, he couldn’t recall a master of this level at Mount Hua, so he had no choice but to ask directly.
“If I may ask, Elder, who are you?”
“I… am called Dokgo Seong.”
“Dokgo… Seong?”
Neung Un-bi looked puzzled at the old man’s answer.
He was clearly a Taoist of Mount Hua, yet he introduced himself with his birth name instead of his Taoist name?
“Does that mean you do not reside at Mount Hua?”
“I used to.”
“……?”
“I was excommunicated for tarnishing the sect’s name. How could I use the name of Mount Hua?”
Excommunicated. Kicked out.
Normally, excommunication from a Taoist sect was not done lightly.
Especially if, as the old man said, he had committed a crime that tarnished the sect's name, he should have received a corresponding punishment.
Meaning, he would have had to return what Mount Hua had given him before leaving.
Losing his internal energy, having his limbs and meridians severed, something of that nature.
But for that to be the case, the old man seemed far too healthy, didn’t he?
Moreover, an old man who could use void-walking being excommunicated…
“Then, what was your Taoist name before the excommunication?”
“It was Hyeon Cheon.”
“...You’re from the ‘Hyeon’ generation?”
“That is correct.”
At the old man’s calm words, Neung Un-bi’s eyes widened in shock.
The Hyeon generation of Mount Hua.
Even in Cheok Wol-rin’s memories, it was difficult to find that Taoist name. The elders of that time were already Taoists of the Hyeon generation.
But that was over thirty years ago.
He was still alive after all this time?
“Th-Then… just how old are you, Elder?”
“Well, I spent so long in meditation facing a wall that I can’t quite remember anymore.”
“……”
As he spoke with a faint smile, Neung Un-bi’s jaw dropped in a daze.
Cheong Jin had been forty when he met him in the past. Thirty years had passed, so he would be seventy now.
Then the old man, who was from the generation above him, must be… over a hundred?
His eyes trembling, Neung Un-bi stared at the old man and muttered unconsciously.
“Y-You look so young for your age.”
“Young? I simply forgot about time while living in the mountains, so I aged a little less.”
He was at a loss for words. Most of Cheong Jin’s peers would have likely ascended to the heavens by now…
This old man was practically an immortal.
Then, a question suddenly arose.
“Uhm, if you don’t mind my asking… what did you mean when you said you were excommunicated?”
“Excommunication is excommunication. What other meaning could there be?”
“But you seem perfectly fine, don’t you?”
“Haha, that’s true.”
Dokgo Seong nodded, a hint of regret in his eyes.
“I was about to sever my own meridians, but my disciple pleaded so earnestly that I could not.”
“……”
That made sense. Void-walking wasn’t some toddler’s first steps…
How could they cast out a man who had mastered even that legendary movement technique?
Losing him would have been a tremendous loss for Mount Hua. Not just his disciple, but the entire sect must have begged him to stay.
“Your disciple did a great service for Mount Hua.”
“He’s a good lad who only suffered because of his worthless master.”
“Surely he wouldn’t think of you as worthless, Elder. The entire Mount Hua must have been grateful to him.”
“……”
As Neung Un-bi sighed in relief, Dokgo Seong looked at him with a peculiar gaze.
Why was it? Why did this man, who practiced demonic arts, feel so familiar?
His words and actions… there was clear exaggeration, but no sense of falsehood.
It was as if he were looking at *him*.
A man of the demonic path, but with a heart that was not demonic. A man who had humiliated him, yet whom he could not bring himself to resent.
It seemed as if the image of Dam Un-cheon faintly overlapped with this young man, Neung Un-bi.