The Youngest Immortal’s New Path
When news reached Yeong-myeong that the Gae-gal-gae and So-geol-a had taken Seong-jin away, he rose to his feet in a flurry.
“So, those who would dare pry into my brother’s secrets have finally shown themselves. I dread incurring the wrath of the Beggar Sect, but I have no choice.”
As Yeong-myeong stepped out of the room, he came face-to-face with Dan-mok-cheong, who had a bundle of sword hilts poking out from behind her back.
“You’re going to save the young master, right? I’m coming with you.”
“I suppose I am, but what on earth are you lugging around in that bundle?”
“I borrowed some spare swords from the other disciples of the Diancang Sect. My own blades don’t last long when I’m really trying to pierce something.”
“Were you really that close with Brother Seong-jin?”
“No, we aren’t close. I just worship him, that’s all.”
“……?”
And so, the two of them stormed the Dok-jak-dang, which the Beggar Sect was currently occupying.
They were met by the Gae-gal-gae, who had been acting as Seong-jin’s guardian to prevent any outsiders from entering.
“The Sect Leader is currently speaking with Young Master Seong-jin, so no one is allowed inside right now.”
“I have no choice. I’ll just have to break through by force.”
“Wait, no, hold on…….”
The sudden, coordinated assault of two Super First-rate masters was overwhelming. The Gae-gal-gae’s Shin-geom-hap-il was specialized entirely for one-on-one duels, making it impossible for him to block both of them at the same time.
If he had to fight without Shin-geom-hap-il, the gap in their cultivation levels became negligible. If he were to block two people who were determined to push through, he felt he would have to fight to the death—and frankly, the situation didn’t seem to warrant that level of commitment.
“Ugh, the chronic toothache I’ve had since I started living as a beggar is acting up!”
Even a master of the Supreme Realm cannot overcome a toothache. The Gae-gal-gae collapsed, feigning agony, and the Hwasan-geom-ryong and the Diancang-il-geom ignored him, rushing inside to save Seong-jin.
As he rolled on the ground, the Gae-gal-gae caught a glimpse of them and simply sprawled out, content to stay down.
“The Sect Leader will handle it.”
His master was far too formidable for someone like him to worry about. If it were the Hwasan-geom-ryong and the Diancang-il-geom, they were masters he would have to risk his life to stop, so there was no need to get caught in the middle and suffer for nothing.
Sure enough, a moment later, So-geol-a emerged, holding the Hwasan-geom-ryong and the Diancang-il-geom in each hand like she was carrying a pair of puppies by the scruff of their necks.
“I distinctly told you to keep everyone out, didn’t I?”
“Haha, as you know, my Shin-geom-hap-il cannot block two people at once.”
“You can’t fight without Shin-geom-hap-il? If people heard that, they’d think you spent your life getting beaten up before you reached the Supreme Realm.”
“Don’t you find the spirit of these young masters, determined to save their brother, quite admirable?”
“One week of abstinence from alcohol.”
“What……?”
“If I catch you drinking in secret, I’m confiscating the liquor stored at the branch office, too.”
“Arghhh!”
Seong-jin, watching the whole scene from behind, could only shake his head.
Once the situation calmed down, Yeong-myeong’s impression of the transformed Seong-jin was this:
“Should I call you Brother Seong-jin now?”
Unlike before, when he still had the youthful air of a boy, Seong-jin now possessed the clear appearance of a young master. Having overcome the Nine-Yin Severed Pulse, he was healthy, yet the lingering Yin energy gave him the look of a slender, pale-faced young man with a slightly hollow, mysterious aura.
He looked more like a man who would inadvertently trigger maternal instincts and find himself entangled in tragic romances than a typical handsome man.
“Tsk, this is a disaster.”
“What is?”
“If he looks like this, people who only judge by appearances will bet on the young master when we place wagers later! The odds will drop.”
“Why on earth are you like this? Your sect has plenty of money, so there must be a reason for this behavior.”
Yeong-myeong looked at Dan-mok-cheong, dumbfounded.
The Diancang Sect had held absolute hegemony in Yunnan since ancient times. Isolated from the outside world, it was a sect where even royalty from the days of the Dali Kingdom had begged to become disciples, boasting power equivalent to that of a king. In a region rich with resources—where the entire world, from the Tianshan Mountains to Nanjing, bought Yunnan marble—all power was concentrated in a single sect. What else could you expect?
If the Beggar Sect was considered the poorest sect in the world, it was widely accepted that the Diancang Sect was the wealthiest.
“Well, you see…….”
“See what?”
“It’s fun!”
Even though the sect’s top rising star was obsessed with gambling, the Diancang Sect didn’t stop Dan-mok-cheong; they actually encouraged her. The Sayil-geom-beop (Four-Day Sword Technique), which aimed for a single decisive blow, was a martial art that staked one’s fate on a single strike, risking great failure if it missed. It shared a common thread with gambling, and the mental state of enjoying such risks created a synergistic effect with the intent of the sword technique.
Despite all these issues, Dan-mok-cheong never faced ruin and continued to win, eventually reaching the rank of Super First-rate at the youngest age in Diancang history. Naturally, the elders of the Diancang Sect, also intoxicated by the aura of a massive jackpot, were blinded and pushed her forward.
“Is this even right……?”
“Whatever you say, Senior, I won, didn’t I? There’s no one in Diancang history with a better win rate than me, right? Wasn’t this the right answer?”
“No, you demon!”
While Yeong-myeong lamented the state of the Diancang Sect, So-geol-a was watching the employees working at the Dok-jak-dang.
“Wow, to think something like this is possible…….”
“What do you mean?”
Most of the employees at the Dok-jak-dang were rat demons that Seong-jin had brought back after defeating the Seo-saeng-won.
-It’s lunchtime! Everyone, eat up!
-Oooo! Rice! Rice!
-There’s plenty of rice, so eat as much as you want.
-Fingernails don’t taste good! Rice is delicious!
The rats were so excited to be given rice that they worked diligently. For the Dok-jak-dang, it was a great way to secure cheap labor, and for the rats, it was a symbiotic relationship that freed them from the misery of only eating the fingernails and toenails provided by the Seo-saeng-won.
“I’ve been cooperating with moderate demon families, but deep down, I’ve always felt a sense of alienation. Even if they speak human language, their essence is that of a demon. But seeing this…… it doesn’t seem impossible for humans and demons to live together.”
“Humans and demons living together, huh…….”
The topic So-geol-a brought up was quite meaningful to Seong-jin as well.
“I, too, have friends of demon origin. Although we cannot meet right now, I hope the day comes when we can share this together.”
Seong-jin said this, shaking the bottle of liquor he was holding.
Dong-jeong-chun. It was a famous liquor brewed with the water of Lake Dongting, a drink so fine that one couldn’t help but want to share it with good people.
“Of course, to do that, we must first capture the demons that are disturbing the world.”
“You mean the Bok-ma-jeon.”
There had been many demons who wished to disturb the world. In fact, So-geol-a had personally exterminated several of them, so as the leader of the Beggar Sect, she couldn’t have been unaware of them. However, even for her, the existence of the Bok-ma-jeon was a first.
“I have lived with my ears to the world, yet I have never heard such a name. It must mean they were operating in complete secrecy until their plan to replicate the martial arts of masters through shapeshifting was revealed.”
Beggars were everywhere in the world, and those beggars were So-geol-a’s ears. If even she hadn’t heard the name, it was the Bok-ma-jeon. If it hadn’t been for Seong-jin, immense damage would have occurred, starting with Mount Hua. If just a few more absolute masters had been consumed, the Murim Alliance would have fallen into the hands of the Bok-ma-jeon, and the Jeong-sa-dae-jeon (War between Righteous and Evil) would have proceeded exactly as they wished.
“According to news from the Shaanxi branch, Mount Hua prohibited entry a few days ago and sent all their guests away, and flames soared for several days. It seems the Byeok-ha-nang-rang clashed with her fake counterpart.”
The Seo-saeng-won had hidden in the Mount Hua Sect to test if it was possible to clone the Heavenly Demon, planting inner demons in Baek-geom-ja and creating a fake Byeok-ha-nang-rang. Although the Seo-saeng-won was captured, the fake he had created would have remained at Mount Hua, so the Byeok-ha-nang-rang who returned to Mount Hua must have intended to deal with that first.
“Even if they spent a long time creating it, if a fake possesses that much power, it’s too dangerous. Even if that power doesn’t reach the level of the original, if their numbers increase, they become an army capable of overturning the world.”
“To create a demon army capable of overturning the world, they would need a lot of materials, so there will be a limit to their numbers. For now, we should just be careful of the absolute masters.”
“Even if we don’t reveal the existence of demons, we can warn them by saying there are people who figure out martial arts manuals through physical byproducts.”
“If you wander the world alone, it will be hard to catch their tails even in a hundred days. I will have the beggars gather information on the Bok-ma-jeon, so why don’t you make Hubei your base of operations?”
The reason the Murim Alliance was located in Hubei was that it was positioned in the middle of various sects, including the Nine Great Sects, and it was connected to all parts of the world by rivers. This meant that no matter where an incident occurred in the world, if one was waiting in Hubei, they could respond as quickly as possible. Seong-jin could also utilize that geographical advantage.
“The Beggar Sect will gather information, and you will move along the optimal route based on that. You have to do at least that much to root out the ones hiding all over the world.”
“If the Beggar Sect shares information, I would be nothing but grateful.”
“Good. Then let’s get you a business card.”
“Pardon?”
“If you’re going to be active in Hubei, wouldn’t it be better to have a decent Murim Alliance title? Your skills are far beyond being treated as a mere guest warrior, so create a suitable martial force, put your name on it, and use the activity funds.”
Seong-jin was no different from a beggar in that he spent all his money and earned travel expenses as he went. If Lee Cheol-goi had seen this, he would have shed tears, telling him not to live like him, but to Seong-jin, who respected his master more than anyone, this was only natural.
“Is that really alright?”
“What’s the harm? The Beggar Sect doesn’t exactly pay membership fees to the Murim Alliance, but we provide information in return. Think of it as getting pocket money from your seniors.”
“In terms of seniority, I am the senior.”
“Haha, that’s a funny joke.”
Seong-jin was practically the direct disciple of the Beggar Sect’s founder, Lee Cheol-goi. In terms of rank, he was of the same generation as the second Sect Leader, making him a distant senior to So-geol-a, the 28th Sect Leader.
“…… That was a joke, right?”
Seong-jin stared at So-geol-a without a word. She looked blank for a moment, then changed the subject.
“For now, the Grand Marshal is looking for you, so go to the Murim Alliance first. I have to figure out what to do about the Nok-rim-tu-wang’s schemes.”
At the time, the Nok-rim-tu-wang, who had retreated after seeing Seong-jin’s face at the third tomb, was discussing this matter at the Sama-ryeon. Meanwhile, the masters of the Murim Alliance were desperate to find the remaining tombs, not knowing what might be left behind. In a situation where absolute masters could clash at any moment, there was no room for someone like So-geol-a to be idle.
“I suppose I should report my mission as well.”
Once his Danjeon (energy center), which had undergone a great upheaval, stabilized, Seong-jin visited the Murim Alliance alone. The Murim Alliance was empty, perhaps because the talk of being busy wasn’t a joke, and thanks to that, Seong-jin could easily distinguish a familiar presence there.
“Young Lady Shin?”
Shin Su-ran, the granddaughter of the Shin Clan. She was someone he hadn’t seen much of since the Yong-bong-ji-hoe began. Seong-jin, who was about to greet her after such a long time, suddenly stopped in his tracks.
Current Score: -444 points
Above Shin Su-ran’s head, whom he had met after such a long time, an unexpected number was floating.