Chapter 311
Translator: Ace
Chapter: 311
Chapter Title: Why?
Han Seol-bing left the grand training arena of the Dragon Training Pavilion and headed straight to her room.
There was a neatly folded letter on one corner of her desk.
The contents were written entirely in the secret code of the Ice Heaven Palace—no, of her own Han Clan.
No one but her could decipher it.
It wasn't a long message.
Return immediately.
Tang Clan stirring.
Just eight characters.
That was what she gleaned from decoding the secret script.
There were no further details.
It was a limitation of the code, designed for urgent messages.
Still.
Even if the Tang Clan had been throwing its weight around in the Ice Heaven Palace as it pleased, they had never gone so far as to warrant calling it "stirring."
Something had changed.
It was all too sudden.
And unlike her usual letters, this one had gone to the trouble of using code.
She was flustered.
She couldn't just sit idly by.
Now that Ha Mu-baek had returned.
It seemed she would have to head back after so long.
After how many years...
She decided to pack today and leave at dawn tomorrow.
Even so, she had to properly say goodbye to Ha Mu-baek, who had just returned from his excursion.
After all, hadn't it been her own impulsive decision to chase him all the way to the Dragon Training Pavilion?
"Hah... Hah... Hah."
"Urk..."
"Kuhk..."
Team Seven of the second-year cadets in the Fierce Dragon Corps collapsed, utterly spent.
The first thing Ha Mu-baek did upon taking the podium was to seal the internal energy of those who had cultivated it.
Han Seol-bing's training methods were certainly effective enough.
She hadn't sealed their internal energy.
She believed that learning movements, trajectories, and tactics came first.
She felt it was hard to drill those things when one's stamina was already pushed to the limit.
However.
Ha Mu-baek was different.
He believed that drilling relentlessly through repetition would get the job done somehow.
Better to let the body learn first, then have the mind catch up.
Thinking and moving in a dire situation meant it was already too late.
The body had to react on its own before the mind could think.
That was the only way to boost one's odds of survival, even if just by a fraction.
That was Ha Mu-baek's long-held conviction.
He had trained his subordinates that way in the past.
And the Fierce Dragon Corps was no exception.
'Seol-bing does have a soft side... Can't be helped.'
Han Seol-bing was the type who couldn't help showing lingering affection, whether she meant to or not.
It was just her nature shining through.
Since Ha Mu-baek was the one who had left her in charge without question, he had no intention of complaining.
From now on, he would handle the training properly himself.
He was nothing but grateful to her.
Because she had been there, he could leave with peace of mind.
Focus on the matters at Shaolin, and on Gong Ya-hwi's situation.
And so.
That day's training was pure hell.
Even the second-year Team Seven cadets under Ha Mu-baek's direct command were sprawled out.
One could only imagine the state of the others.
Yet Ha Mu-baek regarded them calmly.
"That's all for today. Plenty of time left in the day, so anyone who wants to train more can do so on their own."
The cadets' faces paled at his words.
It sounded for all the world like he meant to head in while making them keep going.
"I'll adjust the intensity properly within a few days."
A massive earthquake shook in the cadets' pupils.
Didn't that mean he was going easy on them today?
Was this something a human could endure?
As those doubts swirled.
Ha Mu-baek stepped down from the podium and vanished.
Dan Mok Un-roe's face had gone deathly pale.
"Hoo... So, what's your take on Instructor's return? The man we've been waiting for."
Dang Jin-san asked, looking utterly drained as he eyed Dan Mok Un-roe and Baek Ri-pyeong.
"Hah... Hah... Feels like a proper workout after ages?"
Dang Jin-san just shook his head at Dan Mok Un-roe's response.
Baek Ri-pyeong sat in the lotus position.
"Huh? What're you doing?"
"Now that the seal on my internal energy's lifted. Gotta circulate and then train."
Baek Ri-pyeong answered as if it were the most obvious thing.
Dang Jin-san's eyes twitched.
Here it was.
The person who would actually do the "Autonomy training" Ha Mu-baek had mentioned.
"Sigh."
Dang Jin-san let out a deep breath.
Then he sat in the lotus position too.
He couldn't just head back to the dorms and rest while the others kept at it.
Yeon Ha-min and Nak Woo-jin had already assumed the position as well.
Training shield techniques without internal energy had indeed been grueling, like every muscle was tearing apart.
But they were different from the other Fierce Dragon Corps cadets.
They possessed internal energy of a considerable level.
They could recover some of this physical fatigue through circulation.
Today's session had been group training.
No personal practice.
So they planned to recover their stamina via circulation and then train their own martial arts.
Joo Woo-myeong and Ha Seol-ran were already deep in meditation.
What choice did he have?
Dang Jin-san would train too.
Self-study.
A word all too familiar.
Ha Mu-baek headed for the instructors' quarters.
These were separated by gender as well.
Not as far apart as the cadets' dorms, though.
Ha Mu-baek sensed Han Seol-bing's location with his spiritual perception.
[Let's talk for a moment.]
Ha Mu-baek's voice transmission rang in her mind across the distance.
He hadn't even moved his lips.
It was the pinnacle of sound transmission arts: silent voice projection.
Layered with Radiant Mind Speech, he sent a Thousand-Li Sound Transmission across the gap.
Even at this sudden transmission from Ha Mu-baek, Han Seol-bing didn't flinch.
She had expected him to reach out like this.
The two headed to the shabby old tavern Ha Mu-baek always frequented.
No customers today either.
Just the elderly owner holding down the fort.
"You've had it rough."
Ha Mu-baek said as he filled Han Seol-bing's cup with liquor.
Han Seol-bing just pouted.
"What choice did I have? If they say jump, I jump."
Ha Mu-baek merely chuckled at her grumbling.
He filled his own cup.
The two clinked glasses lightly and brought them to their lips.
"I think I have to leave tomorrow."
Han Seol-bing spoke first, setting her cup down.
Ha Mu-baek froze.
His cup halted midway.
He set it down on the table and looked at her.
"Where to?"
"The palace."
The Ice Heaven Palace.
"Suddenly?"
"Got an urgent dispatch."
Ha Mu-baek frowned at her answer.
He had no choice.
Urgent news usually meant bad tidings or trouble.
"Sounds like something's happened at the palace."
"Hm."
Ha Mu-baek crossed his arms.
Deep in thought.
Han Seol-bing smiled faintly at the sight.
She could guess why.
He was probably racking his brains for ways to help her.
That was Ha Mu-baek for you.
A man who truly looked after his own.
But he had responsibilities.
Instructor in charge of the Fierce Dragon Corps.
Pavilion Lord Pang Do-yul had made it clear there would be no break for the Corps.
And Ha Mu-baek had agreed to oversee their training during that time.
It was his commitment.
Stepping away meant he needed a replacement.
That had been Han Seol-bing up to now.
With her needing to leave for her own urgent matter, he couldn't just abandon his post to help her.
That would break his promise to Pang Do-yul.
The limit of what he could tolerate was handing it off to someone he acknowledged.
No other Fierce Dragon Corps instructor met his standards.
He had trusted her precisely because it was Han Seol-bing.
"Even if it's trouble, it won't be anything major."
She said that, but.
If it was enough to recall her urgently, the odds were against it.
"No matter how big, can it compare to the Mountain-Crossing Demonic Forest? Or the Demonic Cult?"
Han Seol-bing said with a smile.
She had a point.
Han Seol-bing was a warrior who had survived that slaughterfest at Ha Mu-baek's side.
There weren't many in the current martial world who could threaten her.
Ha Mu-baek nodded.
"If you need help, send Baek-ah."
Baek-ah.
The thousand-li black hawk that followed only Han Seol-bing.
That one would head straight to her side.
"Got it."
And so, the next day at dawn.
Han Seol-bing left the Dragon Training Pavilion, heading north.
High in the impossibly lofty sky.
A pitch-black pigeon circled above her head, following faithfully.
Daily life at the Dragon Training Pavilion repeated endlessly.
Training.
Drills.
Training.
Drills.
Amid it all, one man took it easy.
Wi Ji-gun.
Today, too, he swept here and there around the pavilion.
Wherever he passed, not a speck of dust remained.
Lately, he infused his broom with internal energy.
After Wi Ji-gun passed, dust truly didn't settle for a good while.
The day's training had just wrapped up.
The sun still hung long in the sky, bright everywhere, though the western horizon was starting to redden.
Ha Mu-baek sought out Wi Ji-gun.
"Master."
"It's been a while."
Wi Ji-gun welcomed Ha Mu-baek.
The day he had returned right after the Summer Combat Festival ended.
Ha Mu-baek had come to pay respects.
He had seemed on the verge of saying something then, but held back.
Now, it looked like he had finally made up his mind.
"So. What is it?"
Wi Ji-gun didn't stop sweeping.
It was his duty at the pavilion, after all.
"...Do you know of the Abyss?"
He asked after much deliberation.
The energy he had obtained at the end in the Scripture Pavilion.
It matched perfectly the internal energy aura from the Infinite Freedom Heart Method.
"......"
Wi Ji-gun didn't answer.
"What about the Primordial, then?"
Ha Mu-baek pressed.
Wi Ji-gun's broom stopped.
His gaze turned to his disciple.
"How did you come to know of it?"
This time, Wi Ji-gun asked.
Ha Mu-baek recounted his encounter with Hyeon Hwang.
Hyeon Gil's tale as well.
And what he himself had faced in the Scripture Pavilion.
The two walked.
Wi Ji-gun held his broom as he walked.
Before he knew it, the sweeping had ceased.
"So that's what happened."
Wi Ji-gun nodded.
"I suppose I never taught you that far."
After achieving his breakthroughs, Ha Mu-baek had left the mountain right away.
To exact revenge on the Blood Cult and Demonic Cult.
He grew stronger in that process.
Then came to the Dragon Training Pavilion and grew even stronger.
Enough to surpass his master.
And now, looking at him again.
Perhaps because of what happened at Shaolin.
He had grown stronger still.
"To surpass me and reach such heights regardless. Truly impressive."
Ha Mu-baek grinned sheepishly at his master's praise.
"However."
Wi Ji-gun continued.
"It's not yet time for you to know."
That meant his master knew something too.
"Why?"
Ha Mu-baek asked.
There was one pressing reason for his urgency.
Ha Seol-ran.
His sister.
She too was Wi Ji-gun's disciple, training the same martial arts as him.
The Infinite Freedom Heart Method.
If she, still at a low realm, encountered this Abyss—a being that invaded the mind and will—what then?
Ha Mu-baek had already attained a certain level, so he had no fears for himself.
He was the one who had defeated Hyeon Hwang, who had taken in the Abyss, after all.
"You're worried about Ran, aren't you?"
Wi Ji-gun read his concern.
"No need for that worry. The Infinite Freedom Heart Method has no Abyss."
Wi Ji-gun spoke with conviction.
Ha Mu-baek's eyes lit up.
His master knew of the Abyss too, after all.
"Have you encountered the Abyss too, Master?"
Wi Ji-gun smiled faintly.
"What did I just say? There's no Abyss."
Then how did he know of it?
The questions only multiplied.
According to his master, he would learn when the time came.
But now he wondered when that time was.
"When is 'the time'?"
He finally asked.
Uncharacteristic for Ha Mu-baek.
That was how deep and intense an impression this incident had left on him.
The smile on Wi Ji-gun's face deepened.
It had been ages since his disciple looked like this.
Back when Ha Mu-baek first started training at Cheongran Island.
He couldn't hold back his questions, probing and delving endlessly.
If he couldn't solve them himself, he came asking.
Clinging to his master like that.
Those days flashed in his mind.
He didn't know how Ha Mu-baek and Ha Seol-ran felt about it.
But for Wi Ji-gun, it had been a truly happy time.
The first time he realized, 'So this is what happiness is.'
That was why it stuck with him so vividly.
"The scent of blood clinging to your body still needs to fade more."
That was Wi Ji-gun's answer, his brief reminiscence at an end.