Chapter 9

## Chapter 9. I Saw It!

The next morning.

I climbed Baegunsan (White Cloud Mountain) with my father.

Baegunsan was famous for its rugged terrain, steep cliffs, and the fog that surrounded the mountain year-round.

As a result, it was notorious for the dozens of people who went missing or fell to their deaths each year.

'No wonder even the Green Forest wouldn't set up a hideout here.'

This was also the reason why Meng Huo'e, the Green Forest Tyrant, chose this place to build his secret residence.

While other places might have been raided over the decades, the chances were high that this place remained intact.

'First, I need to obtain the medicinal herbs Meng Huo'e stored here. With them, I can lay the foundation for the Reversing Heaven Art, and my future will be much smoother.'

With this plan in mind, I ascended the mountain with confidence.

And an hour later...

"Grunt... Grunt..."

Sweat poured from my body like rain.

My breath was so short that it felt like my lungs were about to burst.

My legs trembled, and my body felt as heavy as if I had iron weights attached to my limbs.

I wanted to collapse and rest right away.

But every time I thought of it, the sound of someone clicking their tongue from behind made me clench my teeth.

"Tsk tsk. Already tired?"

Click, click.

My father poked my back with a bamboo ruler and nagged.

"Really, what are you doing climbing a mountain with that body? Wouldn't it be better to go down now?"

Was he worried or just trying to provoke me?

In any case, it was thanks to this guy that I managed to climb this far.

"I can... Grunt... do it?"

Damn body.

If I can't use my inner energy, at least be a bit stronger.

It's truly a perfect match of weakness, inside and out.

Even after more than a month of physical training, I still look like this, and now I understand why the Heavenly Vein Blockage is called a heavenly curse.

'I'll show you! I will turn the Heavenly Vein Blockage into the Heavenly Vein of Power, and this is the first step!'

At first, I climbed the mountain with such determination...

Thud.

In the end, I sat down on a flat rock and looked up at the sky.

Is there a sandstorm? The sky is pale yellow.

"...Damn. How long will this take?"

No, I'm too weak, even as a human.

A guy who wants to become a martial artist is panting after just climbing a mountain?

Worse, if I hadn't come with my father, I might have stumbled and fallen to my death several times.

"Still, we're almost there. That peak over there is the one you mentioned, right?"

My father, who had approached me, pointed in a direction with his bamboo ruler.

A tall peak jutted out above the clouds.

Looking up at the peak, I groaned.

"Almost there, my ass..."

Jianwu Peak.

Meng Huo'e called this peak that.

It was really high and had a rugged terrain.

The secret residence where Meng Huo'e hid the medicinal herbs must be there.

"Huff. Let's rest a bit."

"Drink some water first."

My father handed me a water flask, clicked his tongue, and examined my pale face, which must have looked like a corpse.

Then he suddenly said,

"Are you really my son?"

"Cough! Cough cough!"

I sprayed the water I was drinking at my father.

Despite the unexpected attack, my father, a first-class expert at a mature level, easily dodged my water spray.

After coughing for a while, I wiped my mouth and asked,

"Damn! What kind of nonsense is that?"

My father looked at me with a strange expression and scratched his cheek.

"In the past, you would have cursed your weak body and blamed me... But now, I'm proud that you can climb a mountain without complaint."

...This guy is really stabbing me in the heart.

"Besides, you didn't say you wanted to earn money instead of practicing martial arts... You never cared about money, and you didn't like teaching martial arts to kids, right?"

I pretended to think for a moment and then gave the answer I had prepared.

"I see the world differently after coming back from the dead."

"How is it different?"

"I thought about it for almost a month while lying in bed. What was the point of risking my life to learn martial arts?"

"Didn't you want to become the greatest martial artist and travel the world?"

"That was then."

I wiped the sweat from my forehead with my sleeve and sighed.

"Become a great martial artist, get recognized by others, enjoy wealth and fame, and get a wife so beautiful that it would make your eyes pop..."

"Hmm."

"But when I think about it, those things aren't necessarily obtained only through martial arts, right?"

"You can get them with money?"

I smiled and looked at my father.

"Exactly."

I don't know Baek So-ryong.

I don't know how much he wanted to learn martial arts or how much he was frustrated for not being able to cultivate inner energy.

So instead of making a poor excuse, I decided to push my own thoughts.

"Besides."

I continued with a playful smile.

"Having more money means I can fix my dantian and find a way to learn martial arts, right?"

In fact, that's the biggest reason right now.

To turn the Heavenly Vein Blockage into the Heavenly Vein of Power and master the Reversing Heaven Art, it will cost a fortune.

But the only thing I know, having spent my life learning and teaching martial arts in the Blood Sect, is how to teach martial arts.

'How can I earn so much money?'

I happened to hear from Gao Zhuyue that becoming a famous martial arts instructor can make a lot of money.

The next step was a natural conclusion.

'First, I'll get a job as an instructor at the Blue Dragon Academy to earn money. I'll need some capital even if I start a business later.'

For this reason, I decided to take the Blue Dragon Academy's entrance exam, which would be held in three months.

My father looked at me for a while, trying to gauge the sincerity of my words, then smiled and nodded.

"My son, who only knew martial arts, seems to have grown up. Yes, earn a lot of money and treat your old man well."

"Of course."

"Me?"

Smack!

My father hit my back with the bamboo ruler and said with a cheerful laugh,

"If you're done resting, let's get up. We need to earn money."

"Yes, yes..."

I sighed deeply, grabbed my trembling knees, and stood up.

We climbed Jianwu Peak, one after the other.

Apart from me foaming at the mouth a few times, nothing major happened.

"Grunt... Grunt...!"

"We're almost there! Just a bit more effort!"

To be honest, I feel a bit guilty towards my father, Baek Mu-hun.

I didn't take his son's body by force, but I'm pretending to be his son, occupying his body.

'I can't tell him the truth, though.'

Still, since these are the parents who gave birth to 'this body,' I plan to fulfill my duties to them someday.

"Grunt... Grunt! We're here! Pant! Pant!"

Finally reaching the top of Jianwu Peak, I panted and looked around.

Sssss.

The thick fog limited our visibility.

My father, on guard, asked me,

"I can sense a strange energy, but are there really medicinal herbs here?"

"Pant... Pant... Over there."

Amidst the thick fog, I searched for the rock with a tiger's tooth carved on it, as Meng Huo'e had instructed.

'That's it.'

That rock was the starting point of the formation.

As we approached, the fog around the rock dispersed and gathered, changing shape.

Seeing this, I felt relieved.

'Since the formation is still intact, the medicinal herbs are likely still here.'

"Follow me closely."

When I glanced at my father, he looked greatly alarmed.

He also sensed the unusual energy flow around us.

"I thought we were scammed by another wandering medicine seller... Are there really medicinal herbs here?"

"You were scammed before. They're real, I promise."

Baek So-ryong, due to his determination to learn martial arts, had done many unusual things, such as seeking out secret manuals, so when I suggested looking for medicinal herbs on Baegunsan, my father followed with a 'here we go again' look.

No matter what he said, he was a father who was soft on his sickly son.

"If you don't want to get lost, stay alert and follow me."

"...Damn. It feels like I'm possessed."

Fortunately, the formation itself wasn't too difficult to break.

It was designed to disorient and mislead, but I easily found the entrance, as Meng Huo'e had described.

'Master Meng's medicinal herbs will be useful to me.'

As I headed deeper into the formation, I recalled Meng Huo'e's bearded face.

-Haha. I've hidden my secret residences all over the world. Do you know how many thieves there are in the Green Forest? After I went missing, everyone would have tried to steal my treasures... Haha. But I had already hidden the most valuable things securely.

Despite his bear-like build, Meng Huo'e was a smart and cunning man.

After all, a fool could never become a world-class expert.

Meng Huo'e had one grand goal.

-I will make the Green Forest a prestigious sect on par with the Nine Great Sects!

Everyone dismissed it as nonsense.

If he hadn't been a prodigy who took over one of the seventy-two territories of the Green Forest at sixteen and unified the Green Forest to become the Green Forest Tyrant at twenty-five, many people would have laughed in his face.

In fact, high-ranking experts from prestigious orthodox sects, feeling offended by Meng Huo'e's declaration, sent him challenge letters to teach him a lesson.

-Hmph. I let all of them live. I showed them the difference in skill and my mercy.

However, contrary to his expectations, the Green Forest Tyrant's infamy grew day by day.

Instead of killing his challengers, he crippled them by breaking their limbs.

-Why? So they couldn't spread false rumors that they had won. I had to leave clear evidence that I had won.

Around this time, the title of "One of the Ten Greatest Martial Artists" began to precede the nickname "Green Forest Tyrant."

When I mentioned this, Meng Huo'e scratched his ear and said,

-Ten Greatest Martial Artists? One of the guys I beat and let escape was called that, I think?

If he hadn't been betrayed by a trusted subordinate, Meng Huo'e might have come down from the mountain someday to establish the Green Forest Sect.

If he hadn't been imprisoned in the Blood Sect's dungeon, that is.

-Hey, kid.

Meng Huo'e called me "kid."

-Why? Master Meng.

I called him "Master Meng."

Not just him, I called all four of the absolute experts "Master."

Of course, it wasn't a typical master-disciple relationship.

'It was a temporary alliance to escape the Blood Sect together.'

There was a contract between us, and because of that contract, they taught me all their martial arts without reservation.

That period lasted for ten years.

During those ten years, I heard about the lives they had lived.

In the dungeon, they had no one to talk to except each other and me.

-...If, by some chance, I die and you manage to escape from here...

One day, Meng Huo'e called me and told me about his secret residences in various mountains in the Central Plains.

I asked bluntly,

-Why are you telling me this all of a sudden?

-Haha. It's better for you to eat them than for them to go to waste.

-Oh. Is that all the meat we have today?

-You little brat! Do you think I'm asking for more meat?

-Now that I think about it, we did have a bit more meat...

-Do you want to hear one more?

"It's a hut."

My father's surprised voice pulled me back from the past to the present.

Through the thick fog, we saw an old hut that looked like it could collapse at any moment.

Next to the hut, a small hot spring was emitting steam.

"Somewhere around here, he must have hidden... the medicinal herbs."

"Unbelievable. The rumor from the wandering medicine seller was actually true..."

Shaking his head, my father drew his sword and stepped forward.

"In the martial world, you can never let your guard down until the very end. There might be a trap."

"There's no trap. But..."

Before I could finish my sentence,

Roar!

A beast's roar echoed through the mountains, and a massive shadow descended upon us.