Chapter 120
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 120
Chapter Title: The Secret of the Cloud Gathering Hermitage
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Dan Ak-seon spoke to the bewildered Jin Jo-un and the elders.
“Even if the Hengshan Sect's martial arts require such immense internal energy, can they compare to Shaolin or Wudang? What about the Huashan Sect, which is based on flashy techniques?”
For a moment, they were at a loss for words.
“The real problem lies elsewhere.”
To confirm his thoughts, Dan Ak-seon asked another question.
“Among the past sect leaders and elders of the Hengshan Sect, has anyone lived past the age of seventy?”
Racking his memory, Jin Jo-un shook his head.
“There were some a hundred years ago, but since then…”
“Then what about the ordinary disciples?”
“...!”
Jin Jo-un's eyes widened.
The number of people he could immediately think of was considerable.
Guessing the situation from his expression, Dan Ak-seon nodded.
“Just as I thought.”
Dan Ak-seon sought the agreement of Jin Jo-un and the elders.
“I must check the training rooms in the Cloud Gathering Hermitage.”
They couldn't hide their shock at Dan Ak-seon's next words.
“Something in those training rooms is shortening your lifespans.”
Shocked, Jin Jo-un's eyes trembled violently.
He had never once considered such a possibility.
Then, a question arose in his mind.
The Cloud Gathering Hermitage was built about a hundred years ago.
It was a historic place, known to have been personally designed and founded by the Divine Wind and Cloud Sword, Hyeokryeon Seong, for his disciples.
The second Sword Saint of the Martial World produced by the Hengshan Sect after its founder, Ha Won-il.
That was Hyeokryeon Seong.
‘Why would he, who was known to cherish and love Hengshan more than anyone…’
No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't guess the reason.
How much time had passed like that?
Jin Jo-un sought the elders' consent.
He had decided to accept Dan Ak-seon's request.
However, Yang Il-so vehemently opposed it to the end.
“Opening the training rooms to an outsider goes against the founder's will! It is also an act that greatly damages the traditions of the Hengshan Sect!”
“As for tradition, the Cloud Gathering Hermitage has only been around for a hundred years.”
Despite Jin Jo-un's earnest persuasion, Yang Il-so, veins popping on his neck, continued to object.
“You might as well take my head. I will never accept this as long as I live! I would rather die here than break the founder's will and dishonor him!”
Jin Jo-un glared at Yang Il-so.
For a moment.
“I, Jin Jo-un, the seventy-second Sect Leader of the Hengshan Sect, hereby command…”
As soon as those words fell, all the Hengshan disciples prostrated themselves on the spot.
“All disciples of Hengshan will follow the Sect Leader's command!”
When Jin Jo-un issued the Sect Leader's decree, even Yang Il-so reluctantly knelt.
Staring at him, Jin Jo-un continued with a cold expression.
“As of today, I strip Elder Yang Il-so of the Hengshan Sect of his position as elder.”
“Sect Leader!”
Yang Il-so couldn't hide his bewilderment at the sudden order of dismissal.
He never imagined Jin Jo-un would go this far.
“Do you realize? You are about to commit the sin of deceiving your master and disgracing your ancestors!”
The sin of deceiving one's master and tarnishing the sect's name.
More accurately, it is the sin of disrespecting the elders of the sect.
Regardless of the sect, deceiving one's master and disgracing the ancestors was considered the gravest of crimes.
“Deceiving the master and disgracing the ancestors? Did you just say that?”
Jin Jo-un's eyes blazed.
“What you, my senior brother, have done to me, the Sect Leader, is the clear act of deceiving the master and disgracing the ancestors.”
Despite Jin Jo-un's harsh rebuke, Yang Il-so did not back down from his stubbornness.
“You cannot intimidate me with anything. I will not open the training room, no matter what!”
Jin Jo-un turned to Dan Ak-seon with a troubled look.
At this rate, there was no way to enter Yang Il-so's training room.
The arrays installed in each training room were the same, but their operation was completely different.
This was why even he, the Sect Leader, could not enter another elder's training room without permission.
Dan Ak-seon smiled quietly and nodded.
“It's alright. Let's check the other elders' training rooms first.”
Since all the other elders except Yang Il-so agreed, Dan Ak-seon headed to the Cloud Gathering Hermitage under Jin Jo-un's guidance.
He became the first outsider to set foot in the forbidden grounds of the Hengshan Sect.
Dan Ak-seon first entered Jin Jo-un's training room.
Jin Jo-un personally operated the array installed inside and explained it in detail.
The other elders' training rooms were the same.
After checking the arrays in all the training rooms except for Yang Il-so's, Dan Ak-seon's eyes gleamed as he began to piece something together.
“I knew it…”
Dan Ak-seon's face brightened.
Then he raised his hand and pointed to one place.
“May I go in there?”
Jin Jo-un turned his head to where Dan Ak-seon was pointing and smiled bitterly.
The place Dan Ak-seon pointed to was Yang Il-so's training room.
Jin Jo-un looked at Yang Il-so one last time.
At the request of I Rip, the leader of the Beggar's Sect, Yang Il-so had also accompanied them here.
Yang Il-so smiled coldly and glared at Dan Ak-seon.
“Go ahead and try, if you can. But I will not be the one to open it.”
“Thank you for your permission.”
“When did I give you permission…”
Yang Il-so couldn't finish his sentence.
Dan Ak-seon had already strode towards his training room.
‘Foolish!’
The intricate array of the Cloud Gathering Hermitage was not a killing formation intended to take lives.
It was a type of illusionary array that disturbed an intruder's senses and broke their spirit.
But there was a reason it was called an intricate array.
Without knowing the proper method, it was not only impossible to break but also impossible to escape.
Once someone stepped inside, unless he intervened, they would wander within until they died.
But something unexpected happened.
Dan Ak-seon, who had at first seemed slightly bewildered and looked around, soon began to calculate something with a calm expression.
‘That's!’
A peculiar light appeared in the eyes of Jin Jo-un, who was watching Dan Ak-seon closely.
It was because of Dan Ak-seon's hand, which was tapping his other fingers with his thumb as if calculating a sword formula.
But the sequence looked familiar.
‘The Clear Wind Sword Formula?’
How could Dan Ak-seon know the Hengshan Sect's unique sword art?
Although it was a basic sword art, as far as he knew, it had never been leaked to the outside.
Jin Jo-un looked at I Rip with a confused expression.
But I Rip just wore a clueless expression.
‘It's not the Beggar's Sect.’
That being the case, he found the current situation even more incomprehensible.
It was then.
Dan Ak-seon began to walk.
But there was no hesitation in his steps.
“How on earth!”
Yang Il-so shouted with a face of disbelief.
It was because of Dan Ak-seon's figure moving along the exact path without a single misstep.
He didn't know what trick was used, but Dan Ak-seon perfectly understood the training room's array.
Then, at some point, Dan Ak-seon's figure disappeared into the training room.
“No!”
Yang Il-so hastily tried to rush into the training room.
But he couldn't move.
A person was suddenly standing in front of him.
It was Hong Jeok-mun.
He was no longer the beggar who exchanged trivial jokes with the sect leader.
He was the master who dominated the era, Swift Hand As You Wish.
“...!”
A chilling voice pierced his ears at that moment.
“If you so much as lift a finger, I will gladly take action myself.”
Cold eyes devoid of any warmth.
The terrifying fighting spirit swirling fiercely within them was simply bone-chilling.
Under that murderous aura, Yang Il-so froze on the spot like a stone statue.
It was then that Dan Ak-seon reappeared.
But his appearance was quite different from before.
When he entered the training room, he had been empty-handed, but now he was clutching something.
It was a sword.
“...!”
A look of astonishment appeared on Jin Jo-un's face.
The sacred relic of the founding ancestor that they had tried so hard to find.
It was undoubtedly the Wongong Treasured Sword.
“Is this the sword you were looking for?”
Jin Jo-un took the sword offered by Dan Ak-seon with trembling hands.
“Ah!”
A gasp escaped Jin Jo-un's lips as he personally confirmed it was the Wongong Treasured Sword.
But this did not last long.
The joy of recovering the lost sacred relic was brief.
Jin Jo-un's gaze turned to Yang Il-so.
It was an utterly cold and heavy gaze, devoid of any warmth.
Meeting that gaze, Yang Il-so's face had turned as pale as wax.
“I-I don't know anything about this!”
Then, unable to hide his trembling eyes, he shrieked.
“This is a conspiracy! It's something they plotted to harm me!”
I Rip laughed coldly.
“Hmph! What do we have to gain by plotting a conspiracy against someone like you?”
Scorned by I Rip, Yang Il-so suddenly ran towards Jin Jo-un.
At his action, the other three elders hastily blocked his path.
Then, Yang Il-so dropped to his knees.
He crawled on his knees towards Jin Jo-un and grabbed the hem of his pants.
“Sect Leader! No, junior brother! Please, believe me! This is all a plot to drive a wedge between us brothers!”
However, Jin Jo-un's eyes as he looked down at Yang Il-so were ice-cold.
A conspiracy… It was absurd.
Where on that small body could he have hidden a sword to bring it in?
Even if he had, there was no way he wouldn't have noticed.
“So that was it?”
Jin Jo-un let out an utterly hollow laugh.
Yang Il-so, who had a puzzled expression, trembled at Jin Jo-un's next words.
“Did possessing this make you feel like you had become the Sect Leader yourself?”
Jin Jo-un's eyes were filled with contempt.
The man before him was no longer an elder of the Hengshan Sect, nor his senior brother.
He was merely a sinner who had committed a great, indelible crime against the sect.
As Yang Il-so stared up at Jin Jo-un with a dazed face, a strange light began to flicker in his eyes.
“It was originally mine!”
Yang Il-so suddenly started screaming like a madman.
“As the eldest brother, I should have become the Sect Leader! The Wongong Treasured Sword too! And the ultimate technique within it was meant for me from the beginning!”
“Senior brother… In the end, you…”
Unable to finish his sentence, Jin Jo-un bit his lip.
His voice was laced with unconcealable pain.
It was thick with pity and resentment for Yang Il-so.
Seeing this, Dan Ak-seon sighed.
“The ultimate technique probably isn't hidden in the Wongong Treasured Sword.”
The crowd nodded.
Jin Jo-un had already revealed as much himself.
In the end, Yang Il-so had sold his conscience and pride for a baseless temptation and futile greed.
However, the crowd couldn't hide their surprise at Dan Ak-seon's next words.
“Because I know where that ultimate technique is.”
Dan Ak-seon raised his hand and pointed toward the training rooms.
“Each of the arrays in there is actually related to a single cultivation method. A single method was divided into the form of arrays. That's why your energy flow became unbalanced while entering and exiting the arrays. You must have been constantly operating an incomplete cultivation method to break through them.”
Dan Ak-seon's explanation continued.
“The only safe path to move within the array represented the flow of energy.”
“Does that mean…”
Dan Ak-seon nodded at the astonished Jin Jo-un, who was unable to finish his sentence.
“It means that if the five of you had joined forces from the beginning to share and study the method to break the arrays, you could have obtained a single, complete cultivation method.”
“...!”
“It seems the person who created this place arranged it that way from the start.”
Jin Jo-un, who had been standing there blankly for a while as if in shock, finally spoke after a long time.
“Even clouds that were once scattered will one day gather together again.”
That was the origin of the name, Cloud Gathering Hermitage.
Jin Jo-un let out a sigh.
The Divine Wind and Cloud Sword, Hyeokryeon Seong.
He belatedly recalled the reason why he had created this place.
He had five disciples, and it was said that the animosity between the brothers over the position of the next sect leader was very severe.
That's why he had made such an arrangement, so they would unite their wills and work together.
However, his wish never came to fruition.
Because of that, the divine ultimate art of the Hengshan Sect, which Hyeokryeon Seong, renowned as the greatest master under heaven, had mastered, was lost along with him.