The Peach Saint Prepares for the Jianghu - 2
Keeping their distance from Han Ga-eul, the elders huddled together. The Grand Elder Hyang-hyang, standing nearby, merely smiled as she watched them scheme.
"Why is everyone so quiet? Did you smear honey on your lips? Huh? Did honey come out for breakfast or something?!"
The Grand Strategist, who hadn't even blinked during the war when a third of the cult's forces had perished, now spoke with uncharacteristic excitement, nearly spitting out insults at the circle of elders.
"No, it's obvious. Those are living, moving skeletons."
Thanks to Geom-ma's curt reply, all the elders turned their gazes backward at once. There stood pitch-black skeletons radiating a steady crimson glow from their eyes.
"Black Bone Skeletons. And not just any—they casually crushed solid blue steel to rise up. Geom-ma, have you gone senile?"
At Dok-ma's words, the Strategist's face twisted into an expression terrifying enough to appear in nightmares.
"So what the hell is that supposed to mean, you idiots?!"
"Ugh······."
It was a blow to their pride. These elders had lived long enough to have seen nearly every famous martial art under the heavens, yet they had never once heard of living, moving skeletons.
"Anyway······."
At that moment, Gwon-ma drew everyone's attention with a slow, deliberate tone.
"One thing is certain. If that bizarre technique—whether it's martial arts or sorcery—is used outside, the entire murim will brand her an enemy of the orthodox sects."
When Gwon-ma nodded toward the gazes fixed on him, the other elders nodded in agreement.
"Looking at her, it's clear the child knows nothing about the murim. If we let her leave like this, she'll obviously cause trouble."
"You're right. Right now, we need to teach her restraint rather than sorcery."
"That power is the result of her own training to protect herself. Stopping her would be too harsh on the child."
As the elders all began chiming in, the meeting grew as noisy as when Cheon-ma had first summoned them. In the end, Geom-ma offered the solution he had prepared.
"We'll assign the Sura Sword Soul Unit as her escort."
"Isn't that excessive? Remember why we can't accompany the child ourselves."
The Sura Sword Soul Unit was the personal force directly under Geom-ma, one of the cult's Grand Elders. Serving in an elder's personal unit granted power that no one could ignore. Only the most capable, after surviving brutal trials, could join the Geom-ma Unit. Those who reached it then dreamed of ascending even higher—to the Sura Sword Soul Unit.
Yet Geom-ma saw nothing excessive about sending them. A true martial artist never abandons their desire for greater strength until the day they die. In his eyes, the divine being who had granted his wish was an benefactor to whom he owed eternal gratitude.
"Excessive?! This much is······."
Geom-ma started to retort but suddenly froze. Though the combined ages of the elders present approached a thousand years, he had felt the Grand Elder's gaze—watching them all like children.
"Our children have served as escorts before."
"Ugh······. Then the escort will be the Heavenly Blood Unit."
Geom-ma knew the Grand Elder's personal force, the Heavenly Blood Unit, deliberately suppressed their own blood flow to lower their power level. 'Is she planning to release that restriction······?'
"Regardless, we must stop the child from using those things. Call it what you will—those dead things moving again are what we call jiangshi arts."
Jiangshi arts were taboo even to the Heavenly Demon Cult, which the orthodox murim already labeled as evil. Whether such techniques truly existed was uncertain, but to them, jiangshi arts were beyond mere heresy—they were forbidden itself.
"Ahem."
The elders who had been whispering at a distance cleared their throats and approached Han Ga-eul. As if it were only natural, the grandmotherly figure stepped forward first and gently stroked her hair.
"Dear, can you make those black skeletons disappear?"
"Neng."
Snap! At the sound of her fingers, the menacing skeletons instantly turned to smoke and scattered. She hadn't summoned anything beyond Dark Knight level, fearing the elders might have heart attacks, and had only called forth the strongest of the basic skeleton series—the Dark Skeleton. Still, everyone looked greatly shocked. She had thought that since they were all martial artists, they would handle it fine, but their reactions suggested otherwise.
"Hmm."
The Strategist grandfather approached the grandmother who had come forward first.
"What exactly are those?"
"Skeletons, sir."
"······."
Because she had stated the obvious, the Strategist's face was filled with bewilderment.
"Child, you must never use those outside. If you do, you'll make the entire murim your enemy."
"Oing? Really? They're just moving skeletons."
In the Tower they were treated as ordinary monsters, but apparently things were different here. While she was talking with the grandmother, Geom-ma grandfather walked up to a skeleton and tapped it with his finger.
"Quite sturdy."
"Neng. They're tough friends."
"I see······."
These Dark Skeletons had evolved from Red Metal Skeletons, whose hardness surpassed iron. Therefore, they were harder than red metal, not softer. They might not display their full strength against true experts, but against anyone lacking sufficient power, they were devastating—ordinary weapons couldn't even scratch them. There had been players in the Tower's tutorial who were slaughtered simply because they lacked the strength to damage even a few skeletons.
"Can you control them freely?"
"Yes."
Clack! Before Geom-ma could even finish his question, one Dark Skeleton stepped forward.
"Heh, they won't be cut unless it's sword aura. Any ordinary martial unit would exhaust themselves fighting these and end up wheezing."
"Is that so?"
"Indeed. Their weapons would break too."
Even as he answered, the elder kept examining the Dark Skeleton.
"No wonder they crushed blue steel like tofu. Heh, remarkable."
For humans, having lower defense in exchange for high attack power was natural. Most people fell into that category, but the people here seemed even more like glass cannons. The Tower at least had the concept of tanks; here, there didn't seem to be any. Even when offered armor, they refused, viewing it as something only cowards wore because it made them heavier. The sword aura Geom-ma mentioned was probably a technique with immense offensive power but extremely poor sustainability.
"By the way, child, you've grown tremendously stronger while we weren't looking. Did you devour the armor you took?"
The grandmother stared at Han Ga-eul intently, then nodded.
"I was just hiding some of my power."
She had become incomparably stronger than when she first arrived.
"Wise. Revealing all your strength is something only third-rate fools do. Also, in the murim, one must be wary of children, the elderly, and women."
"I fit two of those categories. So shouldn't everyone be careful of me instead?"
"W-well······ yes."
It seemed they were still uneasy about letting her leave, even after requesting treatment. They clearly wanted to teach her more about the murim. Just then, Geom-ma grandfather lightly tapped the sword at his waist and approached her.
"Child, would you like to learn the sword?"
"The sword?"
"If you're going outside, you need to be able to protect yourself. We'll teach you martial arts. The sword is called the king of all weapons—it suits you perfectly."
"Hmm······."
Before leaving, the Blood Demon grandmother had asked if she would succeed her, and Han Ga-eul had put off answering. She glanced at the grandmother, who nodded.
"I'd prefer something a bit longer."
Blood splatter during fights felt gross.
"Excellent!"
At her answer, Chang-ma grandfather shoved Geom-ma aside and stepped forward.
"Oh dear, I didn't notice because it was such a short sword. Hahaha!"
"Chang-ma······!"
Grind! "King of all weapons, my foot. When it comes to weapons, the spear is obviously superior. Hahahaha!"
"That doesn't mean I don't use swords······."
"See? I knew it!"
The Geom-ma grandfather, pushed aside weakly, shoved Chang-ma back in turn. Truthfully, she simply couldn't use the sword techniques Yama had given her because she lacked the strength—not because she refused to use them.
"Hmm······."
Dok-ma grandfather, who had been watching their scuffle, gave her a sulky look.
"I'm studying poison."
"Kehaha! As expected, when it comes to versatility, poison is unmatched."
At her single remark, Dok-ma grandfather joined the fray as well. Meanwhile, another pair of eyes arrived.
"Actually······ my main style is hand-to-hand combat. I only use weapons because I don't like blood splatter."
"Indeed!! A true martial artist relies on bare fists!"
Gwon-ma grandfather joined in too.
"You already have a disciple, don't you?! Get lost, Gwon-ma!"
"Does your disciple happen to be a black skeleton? Why are you pretending she doesn't exist?"
It was complete chaos.
"Um······ would it be okay if I learned a little of everything?"
The elders who had been grabbing each other's collars all turned to stare at her simultaneously. Only then did they release their holds.
"Very well. What would you like to learn first?"
Chang-ma grandfather, brushing off his wrinkled clothes, asked with a gentle smile.
"I'd like to try the spear first. Actually, I mainly use a staff rather than a spear, but would that be all right?"
"The spear and staff are different yet the same."
Chang-ma grandfather approached with an even more satisfied smile. His words were exactly like those of Sun Wukong when teaching staff techniques.
"Oho."
When she took out Yeoui and enlarged it to show him, Chang-ma grandfather's eyes widened.
"A staff that changes size······. It's a bit crude to be called a divine weapon."
From the outside, Yeoui looked no different from an ordinary iron club.
"May this old man examine it for a moment? I need to check the center of gravity."
His question was extremely cautious. For a martial artist, lending a weapon carried significant weight.
"Uh······ it's a little heavy. Will you be okay?"
"Hahaha! A spear user must have exceptional strength to begin with. Otherwise, they couldn't even swing a heavy spear properly."
"Oho!"
"My own spear weighs over fifteen geun. So don't worry."
"It's just stupidly heavy······."
Ignoring Geom-ma grandfather's grumbling, Chang-ma reached out. Fifteen geun was roughly nine kilograms.
"F-fifteen geun? Then that won't work······."
"Haha, I told you not to worry. This old man is plenty sturdy······."
KWAAAAANG—!!
The moment Chang-ma grandfather applied force, Yeoui slammed into the ground with a sound like an exploding bomb.
Yeoui weighed 13,500 geun.