The Moment of Awakening
Dan Yeop knew he was far from being a hero or a righteous martial artist.
A short while later, the two men stopped in front of the main gate bearing the plaque of the Taehwa Trading Company.
Through the wide-open gates, three carriages and several martial artists came into view.
Dan Bul-wi strode inside with complete composure.
The timid Dunce Dan Yeop stuck close behind him, trying not to draw attention.
Soon after, the trading company’s head, Lee Won-bang, stepped forward in front of the martial artists.
He introduced Dan Bul-wi to them.
“Warrior Dan is a high-level expert from the Murim factions and a close friend of Supervisor Seol Gyeong-mun. I personally vouch for his identity, so do not harbor even the slightest suspicion. I ask that you act together with him.”
Lee Won-bang only told them to act together; he made no mention of granting command authority.
In short, he was telling them to follow quietly and stay out of the way.
In truth, Dan Bul-wi was perfectly satisfied with that arrangement.
What he wanted was simply the carriages and provisions.
Once the company head finished speaking, the thirteen martial artists dispersed toward the three carriages.
Ten of them climbed inside while three sat beside the drivers.
Dan Bul-wi and Dan Yeop boarded the foremost carriage.
Four riders moved to the front of the procession and three to the rear.
Soon the four mounted warriors surged forward, and the three carriages along with their escorts followed in sequence.
The investigation team that entered the main road galloped forward with a thunderous clamor.
Clop. Clop. Clop. Clop.
Rumble―!
Inside the speeding carriage.
When Dan Yeop clutched the travel bag on his lap with both hands, Dan Bul-wi, seated beside him, spoke up.
“Why are you lugging that around so bothersomely? Just put it in the luggage compartment.”
“It’s not even heavy, so it’s fine.”
“Excessive tension only stiffens the body. It’s not good for you.”
“Yes, Master. By the way…”
“What?”
“If it’s been over a month since I last saw any familiar faces at the Posi Office, why do you think that is?”
He was asking about the people from Byeongmachong.
Fortunately, Dan Bul-wi understood what he meant.
“It seems there just weren’t any acquaintances there.”
The two warriors sharing the carriage let out soft chuckles.
To their ears, it sounded like nothing more than a foolish question and answer between master and disciple.
Dan Yeop wanted to ask for more details, but he held back because of the other passengers.
How much time had passed?
With nothing else to do, he suddenly became curious about how long it took for his inner demon to emerge.
After all, he had handed his body over to the inner demon at the moment of absolute crisis. If the demon woke up too late, it would be a disaster.
“Master.”
“…Hm?”
Dan Bul-wi, who had been dozing off, glanced at him.
“I’d like to practice my internal energy in case of emergencies. Could you keep track of the time for me?”
“What time… Ah, right. Understood.”
Dan Bul-wi nodded vigorously.
The unexpected eccentricity from Dan Yeop had completely chased away his drowsiness.
It looked like he would finally witness the moment when Dunce Dan Yeop and Genius Dan Yeop switched places.
Dan Yeop took a deep breath, then suddenly froze.
“Huuup―.”
He exhaled, then quickly scanned left and right.
“What’s wrong? Why did you stop?”
“Elder… I mean, Master. What was I doing just now?”
Only then did Dan Bul-wi realize that Genius Dan Yeop had awakened and answered.
“I was measuring how deeply you could enter internal energy training in a short time.”
“Ah, I see. How long did it take?”
“So fast that I barely noticed.”
After speaking, Dan Bul-wi glanced at the two warriors sitting across from them.
Fortunately, both men were nodding off and completely unaware.
Dan Yeop nodded with a satisfied expression.
“Then it should be helpful at the critical moment, right?”
“Seeing that puts my mind greatly at ease as well.”
“Are we heading to Baekwol Kingdom?”
The impatient Dunce Dan Yeop had been diligently practicing his internal energy once a day.
Thanks to that, Genius Dan Yeop had learned quite a bit about what had happened at Gosan Stronghold.
“We set out this morning, so it’s been about two hours.”
“And there are twenty people in total?”
“Exactly twenty, no more, no less.”
“That’s rather stingy.”
Dan Yeop spoke with clear disappointment.
If the disappearance had occurred in Baekwol Kingdom, twenty people were nowhere near enough.
“Considering the scale of the Taehwa Trading Company, it’s not particularly stingy.”
“So the company isn’t all that large?”
“It has only just stepped past the mid-tier level.”
“Then I understand. The numbers are smaller than expected, but will you be alright, Master?”
“Whether I’m alright or not, what choice do we have? We’ll just have to push through.”
“Hmm. I’ve made some slight modifications to our sect’s three major saber styles. Would you be interested?”
“Modifications?”
Dan Bul-wi’s slightly sunken mood instantly perked up.
If that genius had touched them, it was no ordinary matter.
“To be precise, I’ve improved them to be even better. They suit my taste quite well.”
“Is that true?”
“Yes. I’ll show you during our next rest period. I’m sure you’ll like them too, Master.”
“R-really? I’m already looking forward to it.”
Dan Bul-wi’s heart raced at the sudden good news.
He had expected only bad things, yet here was this unexpected boon.
‘So that’s why Genius Dan Yeop’s martial prowess was so high.’
They had learned the same Six Gates martial arts, yet he had always wondered why the gap between them felt like two entirely different worlds.
If he had improved the Six Gates saber techniques, that mystery was solved.
‘Improving Haomun martial arts!’
This was truly a tremendous blessing for Haomun.
‘Perhaps the Guannei Circuit Haomun really could unify the Ten Blades of Haomun.’
The reason the Guannei Circuit Haomun had failed in their first challenge was the mediocre martial prowess of their members.
At the root of that was the Six Gates martial arts.
Even though they had buried their martial arts in the mountains, it had never become a true mountain ginseng.
The one hundred and eighteen warriors produced by Byeongmachong had not been enough to unify the Ten Blades of Haomun.
But if Genius Dan Yeop had improved Haomun’s martial arts?
‘Calm down. First, I need to confirm exactly how good these improved techniques are.’
Dan Bul-wi forcefully steadied his pounding heart.
Given Genius Dan Yeop’s level of skill, they were bound to be excellent, but there was always the possibility of the unexpected.
After galloping for about another half hour, the carriage gradually slowed down.
Soon it came to a complete stop.
The two warriors who had been dozing rubbed their eyes and sat up.
Dan Bul-wi and Dan Yeop got off the carriage along with the others.
The investigation team’s leader, Captain Baek Jin-gang, rode over on horseback and spoke to Dan Bul-wi.
“Warrior Dan, we will rest here and have lunch. We plan to depart again in one hour.”
“Understood.”
When Dan Bul-wi nodded, Captain Baek Jin-gang rode off toward the other carriages.
The three drivers lit a fire and began preparing hotpot and flatbread.
Before long, the meal was ready.
Dan Bul-wi and Dan Yeop took portions of mutton hotpot and flatbread and settled in a corner.
While eating the mutton hotpot, Dan Bul-wi muttered with a satisfied face.
“Heh! I thought they were just drivers, but they’re actually cooks.”
Dan Yeop nodded as he dipped his flatbread into the mutton hotpot.
“The flatbread has a nice savory flavor too.”
“They say traveling with a trading company lets you eat well… It really is nice.”
Dan Bul-wi kept exclaiming in admiration as the food clearly suited his palate.
After quickly finishing their meal, Dan Bul-wi and Dan Yeop exchanged glances.
It was time to examine the improved Haomun martial arts.
Captain Baek Jin-gang of the investigation team asked his aide, Song Mu.
“Where are those two going?”
“They went into the forest. Probably to relieve themselves.”
Baek Jin-gang’s appetite suddenly vanished and he frowned.
“Just in case, keep an eye on them. It’ll be a headache if they cause any trouble.”
“Understood.”
By the time Song Mu turned his head again, the two master and disciple had already disappeared.
Once they entered the forest, Dan Yeop spoke to Dan Bul-wi.
“For the martial arts I improved, I added the character ‘True’ in front of the original names. So, True Heaven and Earth Saber Style, True Hundred Flow Saber Style, True Seven Injury Saber Style, and so on.”
“Oh! What a meaningful naming choice.”
Dan Bul-wi liked the names.
They clearly and unmistakably revealed that the foundation of the new martial arts was Haomun.
Dan Yeop then demonstrated the True Heaven and Earth Saber Style, True Hundred Flow Saber Style, and True Seven Injury Saber Style in sequence.
Dan Bul-wi stared without blinking once, completely absorbed in the new saber techniques.
‘Ah…! This is no longer Haomun martial arts!’
Hyunmu Hall?
No, it was even deeper than the Zhongnan Sect techniques he had seen once before.
If he had to compare, it felt similar to the Five Great Sword Factions.
In his younger days, he had once seen a Mount Hua swordsman who had wandered into the Guannei Circuit beat down a demonic practitioner.
The insurmountable wall he had felt back then was now being recreated right before his eyes.
To think that Haomun’s saber techniques could change like this!
Just how outstanding was Dan Yeop’s talent?
After finishing with the True Seven Injury Saber Style, Dan Yeop sheathed his blade.
“What do you think? Are they usable?”
“Usable? They’re far beyond that. These could be called supreme techniques of the Murim. Though it’s shameless of me to ask… could you teach these arts to me?”
Dan Bul-wi wanted to raise his own martial prowess.
When thinking of the treacherous Baekwol Kingdom, he absolutely had to.
“Of course. We’re not strangers. I’ll teach you the True Seven Injury Saber Style right now.”
Since Dan Bul-wi was from the Amun branch, Dan Yeop decided to start with the True Seven Injury Saber Style.
He then taught him the first form, Initial Wound Yin Void.
As a master of the Seven Injury Saber Style, Dan Bul-wi had no trouble understanding the modified Initial Wound Yin Void.
By the time their rest period ended, Dan Bul-wi was able to execute the first form of the True Seven Injury Saber Style.
That evening, he learned up to the third form.
The next morning.
As soon as he woke up, Dan Yeop sought out Dan Bul-wi.
“Master, about that internal energy training from yesterday. How was it?”
“It happens in the blink of an eye, so there’s no need to worry. I’m completely at ease now.”
“Ah, I see.”
“And you said you couldn’t understand that fellow’s martial prowess, right?”
“Yes. It’s difficult to reach that level with just the Six Gates martial arts.”
“He took the Six Gates martial arts and completely reworked them with his genius talent.”
“Reworked them?”
“Yes. He showed me yesterday and it was extraordinary. It felt like watching the supreme techniques of the Five Great Sword Factions.”
“Is that why the inner demon’s martial prowess is so outstanding?”
“That’s what I believe. That’s why I’m also learning the True Seven Injury Saber Style from him.”
“The True Seven Injury Saber Style?”
“I learned three forms in just one day yesterday. I plan to learn both the True Seven Injury Saber Style and the True Hundred Flow Saber Style before we reach Baekwol Kingdom.”
It was a subtle pressure to summon the other personality more often.
“Please teach me as well.”
“Of course. You’ll learn it even faster than I did. Your body should already remember it. Come with me.”
Dan Bul-wi led Dan Yeop into the forest.
There was still about half an hour left before breakfast.
Avoiding the eyes of the investigation team, Dan Bul-wi taught Dan Yeop the True Seven Injury Saber Style.
As expected!
Dan Yeop absorbed the True Seven Injury Saber Style just as easily as Dan Bul-wi had.
While Dan Yeop was immersed in practicing the first form, a shout calling them to eat rang out.
With no choice, Dan Bul-wi and Dan Yeop left the forest and slowly made their way to the serving area.
When Song Mu saw the two of them, he remarked casually.
“You two seem to have a very deep bond between master and disciple. You even go to relieve yourselves together.”
When Dan Bul-wi didn’t respond, Song Mu awkwardly walked away.
Dan Bul-wi and Dan Yeop took their food and began eating in a corner.
As the meal was nearing its end, Dan Yeop spoke with an embarrassed expression.
“Um… Master.”
“Yes?”
“Given the circumstances, wouldn’t it be better to practice internal energy more frequently?”
“That would be good for me too. I can learn the true martial arts faster. It’ll be better for you as well. I have to master them first before I can teach you.”
“Once I master the true martial arts, my level should become similar to the inner demon’s…”