Chapter 102. Like It or Not, We’re Family.

The Responsive Dragon Gallant Warrior Cheong-pung was a figure about half a generation ahead of Jin Cheon’s master, the Azure Heaven Divine Warrior.

He was the disciple of the Heavenly Dragon Sword Immortal Mysterious Heaven Jin-in, who was the greatest master of the Kunlun Sect and hailed as the number one under heaven of his time, but he was called the Responsive Dragon Gallant Warrior because he was always causing incidents.

To what extent was he severe? He would even beat up high-ranking officials if he didn’t like them.

However, the Responsive Dragon Gallant Warrior’s self-indulgence did not last long.

Thanks to causing accidents he couldn’t handle, he was dragged to the main mountain of the Kunlun Sect for the crime of breaking the rules.

The Responsive Dragon Gallant Warrior never showed himself again after that.

According to stories circulating in the world, the Kunlun Sect, unable to bear the Responsive Dragon Gallant Warrior’s self-indulgence, punished him by destroying his dantian and cutting the tendons and muscles of his four limbs.

The reason Jin Cheon knew this story was because the Heavenly Martial Academy used the tale of the Responsive Dragon Gallant Warrior as a cautionary example to educate the prodigies about self-indulgence.

‘Hmm. It seems I’ve unintentionally come to the hermitage where a celebrity stayed.’

Thinking so, Jin Cheon took his eyes off the scroll and looked around the inside of the hermitage.

“Is there something here?”

Seop So-yeon, who was searching inside the hermitage, found an empty space hidden in the floor and looked back at Jin Cheon.

“Books.”

Jin Cheon took out the books hidden inside the floor and opened them.

There were a total of ten books, and they all discussed a single martial art.

The Complete Interpretation of the Taiheo Dragon-Slaying Sword Art.

“It’s the secret manual of the Taiheo Dragon-Slaying Sword Art. And with detailed interpretations to boot. My goodness. It seems like the Heavenly Dragon Sword Immortal Mysterious Heaven Jin-in made this himself.”

The Heavenly Dragon Sword Immortal Mysterious Heaven Jin-in was a hero who, immediately after the start of the First Righteous-Demonic War, was defeated in a battle against the first Heavenly Demon and died valiantly along with the Kunlun Sect.

Although he was defeated, the martial prowess of the Heavenly Dragon Sword Immortal was truly outstanding.

According to the History of the Heavenly Demon, the battle between the first Heavenly Demon and the Heavenly Dragon Sword Immortal was recorded as being decided by a hair’s breadth.

It was to the point that even the first Heavenly Demon suffered a fatal wound and did not show himself on the front lines for a while, so the Heavenly Dragon Sword Immortal was not a figure who could be evaluated simply as a master worthy of being called the number one under heaven.

This was because his opponent, the first Heavenly Demon, was an immortal who had accumulated enlightenment through repeated reincarnations, so in terms of pure martial power, there was much room to rate the Heavenly Dragon Sword Immortal even higher.

‘It seems this is the hermitage where the Heavenly Dragon Sword Immortal and the Responsive Dragon Gallant Warrior stayed.’

Thud, a letter that had been tucked between the very first pages of the secret manual fell out.

Picking up the letter and examining it, a phrase that seemed to be in the handwriting of the Heavenly Dragon Sword Immortal caught Jin Cheon’s eye.

To my only disciple, Cheong-pung.

“Hmm.”

Jin Cheon couldn’t bring himself to open the letter.

He didn’t know what it contained, but he felt it would hold the teacher’s fond feelings for his disciple…

“They say patience is bitter but its fruit is sweet. For a successful grave robbing, this is quite a haul, isn’t it?”

“Is that something for the person who whined for ten straight days to say?”

Jin Cheon chided the Blood Qilin.

The Blood Qilin’s whining wasn’t just a matter of yesterday or today.

He had been complaining non-stop while searching the hermitages around the Kunlun Sect.

“I searched hard too, you know?!”

“Yes, yes, I’m sure you did.”

“But what are you going to do with that? Should we take it to the Cult and use it for martial arts research? A secret manual containing the enlightenment of the Heavenly Dragon Sword Immortal is a treasure among treasures that you can’t buy with money.”

“That’s right.”

It was an undeniable fact that a secret manual containing the enlightenment of the Heavenly Dragon Sword Immortal was a precious treasure.

Although the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult had a treasure called the Heavenly Demon Scripture, that was, in the end, about how to handle demonic qi and enlightenment on demonic arts.

On the other hand, the secret manual of the Heavenly Dragon Sword Immortal contained the sword skills of the number one swordsman under heaven, so since they were different kinds of enlightenment, its value would be considerable.

“If we ever need to negotiate with the descendants of the Kunlun Sect, it could be a useful card to play.”

“Negotiate? Why?”

“The details are confidential, so I cannot tell you.”

“Tch.”

“Ten days is quite a long delay, so let’s move quickly.”

“What about that creepy thing?”

The Blood Qilin pointed to the scroll of the Responsive Dragon Gallant Warrior.

“Since we found it, I’m thinking of taking it and giving it to the descendants of the Kunlun Sect.”

“Can’t we just leave it? It’s creepy.”

“Why do you keep going on about a perfectly fine scroll? It looks perfectly normal to me.”

Jin Cheon said so, then took the scroll off the wall, rolled it up, and packed it away.

Making eye contact with the person in the scroll?

‘You have to say something that makes sense for me to even consider it. Good grief.’

Jin Cheon let out a deep sigh inwardly at the Blood Qilin’s endless bluffing.

* * *

After obtaining the secret manual of the Taiheo Dragon-Slaying Sword Art, said to be the greatest sword art under heaven, and the scroll of the Responsive Dragon Gallant Warrior, Jin Cheon’s party immediately headed south, boarding a boat on the Yangtze River.

From Qinghai Province, where Mount Kunlun was located, to Hunan Province was an incredibly long journey by land, so traveling along the Yangtze River was the fastest way.

Jin Cheon’s party, disguised as a small merchant troupe operating in Qinghai Province, also headed west on a small merchant ship.

‘I’m heading back to the Central Plains along the Yangtze River.’

Looking at the waves of the Yangtze River brought back a flood of memories.

Five years ago, I had taken to the Yangtze River to escape the pursuit of the Righteous Heavenly Alliance…

As if sensing Jin Cheon’s feelings, Danmok Cheong cautiously spoke to him.

“My lord, are you perhaps thinking of that time?”

“How did you know?”

Jin Cheon said with a smile.

“I really thought I was going to die back then. Didn’t you?”

“Yes, that’s right. I thought we were done for, that we would be killed by the Righteous Heavenly Alliance bastards. If the Cult Leader hadn’t appeared… Ugh. I don’t even want to imagine it.”

Danmok Cheong shuddered as if he didn’t even want to recall it.

“But it was fun, wasn’t it?”

“Yes…?”

“You know what I mean. That thrill you feel in a life-or-death moment. Isn’t that one of the reasons we live as martial artists?”

“Haha.”

Danmok Cheong finally understood Jin Cheon’s meaning and smiled.

“That is true. It is also the reason why it is hard for a man who has once picked up a sword to put it down.”

“I have to pay them back for what they did back then.”

“Won’t an opportunity arise?”

“An opportunity will come. If it doesn’t, we just have to make one.”

A flash of killing intent glinted in Jin Cheon’s eyes.

If it were up to me, I would want to crush the Righteous Heavenly Alliance right away, but for now, the safety of the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult was the priority.

If I was distracted by the Righteous Heavenly Alliance and failed to prevent the resurrection of the first Heavenly Demon, I might not be able to stop the destruction of the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult in the end.

Even the Cult Leader, the Iron-Blooded Demonic God, was forcibly postponing her ascension for the sake of the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult’s safety, so pursuing personal revenge was realistically impossible.

‘The more this happens, the more I have to train. I’m still far from enough.’

Although I had achieved the Heavenly Demon Divine Qi, Demonic King, through training in the Black Bamboo Forest, it was impossible to dream of bringing down the Righteous Heavenly Alliance with just that.

The Great Divine Physician of Immortals was a master of the Hyeon realm, and wasn’t the Righteous Heavenly Alliance’s leader, the Sword Saint, a master of no less caliber?

Thinking about that, I couldn’t neglect my training for even a moment.

So, even on the boat to Hunan Province, Jin Cheon dedicated himself to training whenever he had a spare moment.

Training wasn’t mainly about moving the body.

Since the training was conducted on a narrow boat, Jin Cheon minimized his movements by training his body through the bare-handed Body-Fortifying Prescription.

What Jin Cheon focused on was absorbing the enlightenment of the number one swordsman under heaven, the Heavenly Dragon Sword Immortal, by reading the secret manual of the Taiheo Dragon-Slaying Sword Art.

Although Jin Cheon had recently been using the Heavenly Demon Fighting Soul Martial Art as his main skill, that was a story for when he wasn’t using his full power.

No matter what anyone said, Jin Cheon was a swordsman, and he had never forgotten that for a moment.

‘This is incredible. It’s an enlightenment that doesn’t fall short of the Heavenly Demon Sword Art.’

The secret manual of the Heavenly Dragon Sword Immortal was so amazing that even Jin Cheon, who had seen the Heavenly Demon Scripture, was naturally filled with admiration.

Of course, there were some passages in the middle that he couldn’t understand at all, which made it a bit confusing, but just the fragmented contents he could see were enough to make him feel as if his eyes were being opened.

‘I’ve obtained a fortuitous encounter.’

Jin Cheon became absorbed in the secret manual of the Heavenly Dragon Sword Immortal, losing track of the days passing.

Meanwhile, the Blood Qilin was cooped up in his cabin and didn’t move an inch.

He went as far as to refuse all food and drink and didn’t even show his face, to the point where I even suspected he might have died in his cabin.

Seop So-yeon passed the time by looking at the surrounding scenery or hiring a painter to draw her on a scroll.

Flutter, flutter!

Even while on the boat, Danmok Cheong constantly exchanged carrier pigeons, maintaining a communication network with the Bat Squad.

The moment their identities were revealed, they would become public enemies of the Murim and be hunted down, so they had no choice but to keep their ears to the ground regarding the situation in the Central Plains.

It was around the time the merchant ship carrying Jin Cheon’s party entered Yunnan Province.

“My lord, it seems we will have to travel by land.”

“Why all of a sudden?”

“There is a large naval battle happening up ahead.”

“Is there a war or something?”

“No, sir.”

Danmok Cheong shook his head.

“It seems a fight has broken out between the Yama Fortress, the Righteous Heavenly Alliance, and the Imperial Navy.”

“Yama Fortress? Are they water bandits? Part of the Eighteen Waterway Fortresses of the Yangtze River?”

“That is correct, but strictly speaking, it is difficult to see them as belonging to the Eighteen Waterway Fortresses of the Yangtze River.”

“Why?”

“The Yama Fortress is an organization run by our Cult.”

“……!”

“This is a secret known only to the members of the Bat Squad, but the Fifth Young Master is currently leading the Yama Fortress.”

Danmok Cheong mentioned the Fifth Young Master, that is, the Evil Flower Young Master, So U-bin.

* * *

Since the Yangtze River was the longest river that runs through the Central Plains continent, its importance was, needless to say, immense.

The Yangtze River was the lifeblood of the Central Plains, so for anyone who wanted to have the world at their feet, controlling the Yangtze River was not a choice but an absolute necessity.

‘There’s no way our Cult would neglect the Yangtze River.’

The Heavenly Demon Divine Cult was a power that had grown by controlling the Silk Road, that is, the Sazhuzhiro, and engaging in intermediary trade between the Central Plains and the Western Regions.

If such a Heavenly Demon Divine Cult didn’t pay attention to the waterways, that would be even stranger.

“So Senior Brother is running the Yama Fortress and expanding our Cult’s influence over the Yangtze River, but the Righteous Heavenly Alliance and the Imperial Family are interfering?”

“That is correct.”

“Well. The government forces wouldn’t leave water bandits alone, of course. Not to mention the Righteous Heavenly Alliance.”

“Perhaps because of that, things have not been easy lately. The more the Yama Fortress grows, the more severe the checks and balances become…”

“What’s the situation like?”

“I don’t know the details, but it is clear that it is precarious. The Righteous Heavenly Alliance has also dispatched masters, and the Diancang Sect has even deployed a large number of its direct disciples to help the government forces.”

“Hmm.”

“In my humble opinion, it would be best to avoid it. If we get caught up in a fight on the water, won’t we be stuck, unable to go forward or back?”

“That’s true. For now, let’s dock the boat at a nearby pier and see how the situation unfolds.”

“Yes…?”

Danmok Cheong tilted his head as if to ask what he meant.

“Are you not going directly to Hunan Province?”

“You said the situation seems urgent. We should wait and then go lend a hand if needed. We can’t just pretend we didn’t see them when they’re in danger.”

“But the Fifth Young Master is….”

Danmok Cheong frowned as he mentioned what happened three years ago.

It wasn’t just Danmok Cheong.

The Seventh Divine Demon Squad also had by no means forgotten that incident when the martial artists of the Puppet So Clan and So U-bin had started the fight.

They were only staying quiet because there had been no opportunity to pay them back.

“Like it or not, we’re family.”

“……!”

“It’s not like I like So Senior Brother either. But, we can’t pretend not to know when a family member is in trouble. And the Cult comes before my personal feelings. Controlling the Yangtze River is important for our Cult, so of course, we have to help.”

“Aah.”

At Jin Cheon’s words, Danmok Cheong realized to his bones that the lord he served was truly a member of the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep