Starting the next day, Saryeon also joined the hellish march.

She wore iron rings on both hands and both feet, and steel plates were inserted into the lowest hem of her sleeveless robe.

Every time she took a step, so much sweat poured down that it was hard to believe it was midwinter, and the moment she finished eating and turned away, hunger struck again.

After spending the daylight hours in that insane march that doubled as training, they would prepare to sleep outdoors, and during that time they would once again take turns sparring with Jin Sowoon.

"Geumpyo, you bastard! Your waist! Your waist is wide open! If you are going to use a shield, the pillar supporting it has to be solid. Start your lower-body training over from scratch!"

"Twin Heaven Sword Art?? Since when did you start acting like an expert, Eunho? Do you think more numbers are everything?"

"Dongryong! You bastard! You still have to defend yourself no matter what! Or else get rid of the openings in your attacks entirely!"

"Junior Sister Ryeon! What the hell did you do after coming to the academy half a year early! Hold your sword properly!"

After going one full round of sparring like that, their appetites vanished so completely that their hungry stomachs seemed almost meaningless.

Unlike them.

"Why aren't you eating? I put in a mountain of jerky, so it tastes great."

Watching their Eldest Senior Brother eat porridge so hot that he was even blowing on it made sighs come out on their own.

'What the hell did he eat by himself to get that strong?'

'Just a few years ago, the difference in our skill wasn't this big.'

'And on top of that, he was always running all over the place, so he didn't even have time to train.'

'This is exhausting...'

Even when they forced themselves to take a few spoonfuls because they had to eat to survive, their shocked stomachs sent the food right back out.

After retching like that, it felt as if they would never be able to put food in their mouths again.

"You should still eat. If you want to endure tomorrow, you had better shove it down whether you like it or not."

Their Eldest Senior Brother was eating meat porridge while snickering as though something pleased him so much.

Just as he said, the aftereffects of failing to fill their stomachs the day before appeared exactly as they were the next day.

"Huff, huff, k-kill me!"

"Should I really kill you?"

"... Fuck..."

Whenever they collapsed, saying they could not go on anymore, a beating came down along with a chilling flood of killing intent.

When their hearts, startled by killing intent, began pounding violently, their bodies moved on their own no matter how much they hated it.

As this repeated, the disciples of the Taiyi Sect genuinely began to wonder if they should just run away and hide in some mountain valley.

"I'd rather drink poison from the Sichuan Tang Clan than stay with Eldest Senior Brother..."

"Senior Sister... you mustn't lose your grip on... ueergh."

"Oh? You're talking? Looks like you still have energy to spare. Increase the weight!"

"..."

Training was fine, and getting stronger was fine too, but shouldn't they survive first?

On top of that, the intensity of the training was getting stronger by the day.

Unable to endure it any longer, Eunho burst out in indignation.

"Eldest Senior Brother, but why do we keep taking mountain paths?"

His head was already about to burst from memorizing all three hundred sixty-five footprints of the World-Traversing Lone Footwork, yet his damned Eldest Senior Brother kept leading the group along mountain paths.

"Were you planning to use a movement technique only on government roads? If that is what you want, why bother learning a movement technique instead of riding a horse?"

When Eunho heard the answer, he was so dumbfounded that he was struck speechless.

No, wasn't that something to think about after they had learned it properly first?

How was this any different from telling a child who had only just begun standing up to learn footwork?

Seriously, what was that man made of?

What their Eldest Senior Brother said next was even more absurd.

"Why practice separately? If you practice on mountain paths from the start, there is no need to practice on government roads."

"..."

They said a person became speechless when he heard something too ridiculous, did they not?

Eunho, who had lost even the will to reply to the words of his Eldest Senior Brother, an efficiency maniac taken to the extreme, let out a hollow laugh.

"Hm?"

Jin Sowoon turned his head to one side.

Eunho asked uneasily.

"Wh-Why? What is it?"

"A fight! Looks like a fight broke out!"

"What?"

Their Eldest Senior Brother's cheeks flushed like a child who had discovered a toy.

"I hear the sound of weapons!"

... What the hell was with this man, really?

"Uh... well, is that so?"

If the sound of weapons could be heard deep in the mountains, it was most likely people trying to subjugate a band of fire bandits.

Or perhaps a dispute had broken out between sects, and they were fighting.

Either way, it had nothing to do with their group...

"Get up! Let's go!"

"Wh-Where?"

"A fight in mountains like these is likely to be a fight with fire bandits. We should go see."

So why were they going there if someone was fighting fire bandits?

"Let's go! Let's go!!"

But there was no one who could stop their Eldest Senior Brother once he began prancing around like a foal with its tail on fire.

"Haa..."

"Such is my fate..."

"Should we really run away?"

"I told you eating poison would be better. Sob."

The four of them began following Jin Sowoon with their shoulders drooping.

"Why aren't you coming faster!"

"... Yeees."

The road back home was truly, terribly varied.

#

Once the autumn harvest ended and farmers who had accumulated grain and wealth began passing the winter on a year's farming, fire bandits swarmed and aimed for their pockets.

Among the Underworld, there were plenty who temporarily turned into fire bandits only in winter, and government offices even established separate troops to stop them.

Unlike Green Woods bandits, they moved for the purpose of plunder, so they were unconditional targets for subjugation.

Government troops tried to subjugate them every year, but there were limits, and among them were many bands of fire bandits that survived by colluding with corrupt officials, so sects carrying out good deeds would sometimes subjugate fire bandits.

"Namu Amitabha..."

Like the five monks who were currently standing against nearly a hundred fire bandits.

Ilgak, dressed in yellow robes and holding one palm before his chest, gently extended his hand.

Golden radiance burst from his palm, rose like clouds, and enveloped nearly twenty fire bandits at once.

"Huh?"

"What is this!"

"Urgh! I can't get out, I can't get out...!"

The bodies of the fire bandits, who had been unable to move as if bound by a rope, rose into the air all at once and flew nearly twenty jang away.

THUD.

Those who abruptly tumbled to the ground and dropped their weapons stared blankly.

A clearly tremendous and overwhelming energy had wrapped around them, yet no one had actually been hurt by it.

They had merely dropped their weapons because the movement had not been of their own will.

This also meant that their opponent had not put killing intent into his attack.

Gulp.

In other words, if he had put killing intent into it, no one here would have been standing unharmed.

"I do not desire meaningless slaughter. Lay down your weapons now."

At Ilgak's words, the fire bandits who had received that single form from him were unable to move, as if their paralysis acupoints had been struck.

But if they had been the sort of people who could look at their comrades and take them as lessons from another mountain's stones, they would never have become fire bandits in the first place.

The other fire bandits, unable to understand the true meaning contained in Ilgak's single move, charged fearlessly at the monks of the Shaolin Sect.

"Die, you damned bald donkeys!"

"I'll send you to paradise!"

"Idiot, there are only five of them! What are you scared of!"

The fire bandits, trusting in their superiority in numbers, charged all at once.

Ilgak briefly closed and opened his half-lidded eyes before speaking.

"Do not use excessive force. They are men who must be punished by national law."

"Yes!"

The four people who had been standing behind Ilgak moved all at once.

One used fists and kicks, one used palm techniques, another picked up a tree branch and used staff techniques, and the last dealt with the fire bandits using claw techniques.

As they moved like flowing water, the fire bandits naturally fell one after another.

The sight made it seem as if the Shaolin monks were giving a martial demonstration, and the fire bandits were playing along by collapsing in time with it.

Of course, the disciples of the Taiyi Sect watching this from a peak knew full well that there was no way that was true.

"..."

"... Is this what it means to be on a different level?"

This was, in every way, the depth of the Shaolin Sect.

It showed that the martial arts they used in actual combat had reached a level no different from the martial arts they displayed in training.

"What in the world..."

Every martial artist knew just how large the gap was between the principles of training forms and applying them to real combat.

Was that not why some sects oriented their martial arts toward actual combat, while other sects even created separate practical martial arts altogether?

Seen from that perspective, the martial arts of the Shaolin Sect had a tremendous gap when it came to using them directly in actual combat, but at the same time, it also meant that the disciples of the Shaolin Sect had reached a realm high enough to bridge that gap sufficiently.

"Ilgak..."

If one had to choose the most outstanding among them, it was without question Ilgak.

He subdued the fire bandits using only the simplest movements.

Each time he flicked out his hands and feet, the fire bandits fell one by one, and as he had said in the beginning, they did not suffer excessive injuries.

Could they do that in that situation?

The same question arose in the minds of the Taiyi Sect disciples.

The answer came far too easily.

'Impossible.'

Subduing an opponent without wounds was several times harder than killing them.

On top of that, the opponents were attacking with the will to kill.

Unless the difference was on the level of an infant and an adult, it was absolutely impossible.

And yet Ilgak was doing it with perfect calm.

Because they were used to seeing him be scolded and teased by Jin Sowoon, they had briefly forgotten his true worth, but seeing his divine might anew made goosebumps rise all over them.

While the disciples of the Taiyi Sect stood there dazed...

"Dammit..."

A curse growled through clenched teeth could be heard.

When Eunho turned his head, he saw Jin Sowoon wearing an expression of frustration.

'Does Eldest Senior Brother feel jealousy too?'

It was a rare human side of Eldest Senior Brother.

He had once won a match against Ilgak.

The shock from that time had been tremendous.

It had gone beyond expectations and even caused a stir in the area.

But seeing Eldest Senior Brother now, as if he had already forgotten that match and was feeling the vast difference in level between himself and Ilgak, Eunho's nose somehow stung...

"That bald donkey stole the lead! No, why is a bastard who should be going to Henan here?"

Huh? Did I hear that wrong...

"Ah, damn it, those cursed bald donkeys will hand all the fire bandits over to the government troops... then the wealth... Aaagh! What a waste, fuck."

Ah, so he was not feeling frustrated by the opponent's level?

Eunho's face somehow turned colorless.

After spitting curses for a long while, Jin Sowoon turned his head.

"Hm? Why are you looking at me like that?"

"What do you mean?"

"Your eyes look soulless."

"Surely not..."

As if he did not care in the first place whether there was a soul in Eunho's eyes or not, Eldest Senior Brother turned around again with a sharp twist of his body.

"Aigo, my stomach hurts. If only we had come a little earlier, all that wealth would have been..."

Right... this was the kind of person he was...

"But..."

"Hm?"

Eunho, who had been about to voice the question that suddenly occurred to him, firmly closed his mouth again.

"It is nothing."

"How bland. Anyway, how much is all that..."

Eunho swallowed the question that had just occurred to him inwardly instead.

'If Eldest Senior Brother robs fire bandits, wouldn't that be improper toward people in the same line of work?'

After all, he too officially possessed a sound mountain stronghold called the Black Dragon Stronghold.

Ah, the position of Black Dragon Stronghold Master actually suited him better than academy representative...

"Aaagh! That bald donkey, once the semester begins, I swear I'll open twelve more holes in his scalp. Just you wait."

"..."

Of course, he himself hated that fact to a chilling degree.

#

Ilgak and the other monks of the Shaolin Sect subdued the fire bandits and exchanged brief greetings with the disciples of the Taiyi Sect.

Of course, in the middle of that, Jin Sowoon suggested that instead of sending the wealth to the government office, they should distribute it to the people, but Ilgak lightly ignored him.

Because of this, there was a brief argument, but it was soon wrapped up properly.

"Then I shall see you next semester, Benefactor Jin. Namu Amita..."

"Those bastards sure think they're the only clean ones."

"Eldest Senior Brother..."

After somehow saying farewell to the disciples of the Shaolin Sect, who said they had to continue their journey of guidance, and parting ways...

None of the Taiyi Sect disciples fell asleep until late that night.

"..."

"..."

"..."

They were martial artists by nature.

The afterimage of the Shaolin Sect they had seen in broad daylight would not leave their minds.

And when his junior disciples were sunk in anguish like this, the person who should ordinarily offer advice was...

"Chomp, chomp! Why are you all eating so poorly?"

He was enjoying a dinner tastier than any before, made from meat he had taken instead of wealth from the fire bandits' storehouse.

In the end, Saryeon was the first to speak.

"Senior Brother, are you not surprised?"

"By what?"

"The depth of the Shaolin Sect."

Jin Sowoon, who had been sucking the grease off his fingers, let out a small laugh.

"I wondered what you were talking about. Why would that be surprising?"

"... It just made me feel that the Shaolin Sect really is the Shaolin Sect..."

She could not explain it precisely.

But the elegance that came from each of their movements showed that their years had not been shallow.

It was not merely a difference born from the degree of training.

Their martial arts contained history.

Martial arts that had been passed down for hundreds of years, developed and transformed from generation to generation until they reached the ultimate.

Though she knew they were not enemies, because she was a martial artist, she instinctively measured them.

If the Shaolin Sect were an enemy, could they truly win?

Saryeon wanted to know the answer to the question that had risen in her mind.

"Can the martial arts of the Taiyi Sect defeat the Shaolin Sect?"

"Chomp, chomp. Didn't I already show you that we can win?"

Swallow the food in your mouth before answering...

"Huh? You didn't see it? I was really amazing."

"..."

At any rate, he was likely talking about defeating Ilgak during the last practical exam.

"But that was not the martial arts of the Taiyi Sect..."

"What nonsense are you talking about?"

"We know too. That you were separately taught by Great Warrior Buk Wonpyeong of the Three Purities Sect..."

Jin Sowoon looked at the dejected Saryeon, then snapped off a piece of wood, made a toothpick, and picked his teeth.

"What the hell are you lot talking about? In the first place, I only learned the shape and formula. The energy itself was mine, you brats."

"What?!"

"What does that mean!"

At his junior disciples' reaction, Jin Sowoon snorted.

"Don't tell me you have not been eating all this time because you were worrying about that?"

"That is part of it, but..."

Saryeon let out a deep sigh.

"I feel our limits anew. They say the Shaolin Sect has hundreds of martial arts, including the Seventy-Two Supreme Arts, right? Mount Hua and Wudang also have at least over a hundred martial arts. But the Taiyi Sect..."

Along with the Taiyi True Scripture, they had recovered the Twin Heaven Sword Art, which combined the Great Heaven Sword Technique and the Lesser and Great Heaven martial arts.

On top of that, the Ten Thousand Transformations Invincible Fist and the superior martial art, the Ten Thousand Seas Heaven and Earth Sword Art, had returned, but in terms of variety, they were sorely lacking.

For example, Geumpyo, who carried a shield, could no longer freely use the Ten Thousand Seas Heaven and Earth Sword Art, and Dongryong had mainly used only the Lesser Heaven Sword Technique when facing enemies.

The absolute number of martial arts did not correspond to the absolute military strength of a sect, but the limits of martial arts restricted the disciples from spreading their own wings.

"..."

Geumpyo, Eunho, and Dongryong all looked gloomy, as if they agreed with Saryeon's words.

Compared to the days when they had had nothing, it was a complaint born of luxury, but the hearts of the children who wanted to climb as high as others were still filled with thirst.

And yet...

"What are you brats talking about?"

Their Eldest Senior Brother reacted as though he found it absurd.

-Ignorant of gratitude despite living in plenty.

-Think back to the old days.

They had expected him to say something obvious like that, but...

"They say some fools fail to recognize the gold coin in their hand and look only for a silver coin... and you bastards are exactly that."

"... What?"

The four of them jerked their heads up.

Surely the gold coin meant the martial arts of the Taiyi Sect, and the silver coin meant the martial arts of the Shaolin Sect...

No matter how much affection he had for the martial arts of his own sect, was it not too much to compare them to the Shaolin Sect?

While his junior disciples stared blankly...

"Tsk, tsk, how foolish. How can you be this foolish... Aigo, Taiyi Sword Emperor! The descendants of our Martial Ancestor are this foolish... Ah, of course, excluding me."

As Jin Sowoon pounded his chest, as if he was either lamenting or choking with frustration...

Eunho asked carefully.

"Eldest Senior Brother... could you perhaps explain a little more..."

Let us understand too.

No, if he was acting that frustrated, it made it seem as if there really was something there.

"Tsk, tsk. Why is the Taiyi True Scripture called the Taiyi True Scripture?"

"That is... because its name..."

"Exactly. I am asking why Martial Ancestor named it the Taiyi True Scripture, not the Taiyi Divine Art."

"..."

"Aigo, Taiyi Sword Emperor."

Jin Sowoon, who had been wailing again, suddenly changed the look in his eyes.

"Taiyi refers to the source from which all things in heaven and earth arise and take form. The Taiyi True Scripture was, from the beginning, a study of all creation."

When the four of them only blinked, unable to understand, Jin Sowoon added.

"Does it not seem strange? Compared to the divine might of the Taiyi Sword Emperor passed down by word of mouth, the destructive power of the Taiyi True Scripture is absurdly weak."

It was strange.

It was certainly pure and stable energy, but compared to the Nine Sects and One Gang or the Five Great Noble Clans, the speed at which internal energy gathered was slow, and the internal energy did not have a strong characteristic either.

But to say that exaggerations had been added as the rumors were passed down by word of mouth, the difference was far too large.

At that moment, Jin Sowoon tossed them a clue.

"The Taiyi True Scripture was never a mental cultivation method in the first place. It is merely a study of Taiyi."

"Then... what we learned..."

Jin Sowoon's serious voice changed once again into a wail.

"Aigoo, to think that fools who keep licking the rind of a watermelon and complain that they cannot taste it are my junior disciples."

No, that was why they were asking him to explain it clearly.

"The study of the Taiyi True Scripture never had shape or formula in the first place. The martial arts left behind by the Taiyi Sword Emperor are merely the things most similar to the study of the Taiyi True Scripture."

"... Where in the world is there a martial art without shape or formula?"

Every sect's martial arts had an internal cultivation method on which they were based.

And when those two elements harmonized exquisitely, tremendous power emerged.

"That is why it is so amazing. To think that it can build up this much Dao even without shape or formula. In the first place, the absence of shape and formula is a blessing for you."

Jin Sowoon spoke passionately, but the four of them plainly did not believe him at all.

"Watch closely. This is the study I have recently built."

After saying that, Jin Sowoon closed his eyes for a moment.

Just as they were about to wake him, wondering what he was suddenly doing in the middle of a conversation...

"...!"

They were startled by a sword-sharp aura that chilled their spines and turned their heads.

"H-Huh!"

"Hup!"

"What is this!"

Before the four of them was a Black Dragon Sword that looked exactly like Jin Sowoon's sword, aiming for their lives.

Their Eldest Senior Brother clearly had not even touched his sword...

When had he drawn the sword, and how was this sword floating in the air on its own without its master?

The moment they thought that...

"Huh?"

The Black Dragon Sword crumbled and vanished into dust.

Then a groan came from Jin Sowoon.

"Urgh... as expected, I am still far from ready."

The four of them turned their heads like lightning and first examined the Black Dragon Sword placed neatly beside their Eldest Senior Brother.

The Black Dragon Sword was clearly sitting quietly in its sheath.

The shocked Eunho hurriedly cried out.

"What was that just now?"

A study unheard of and unseen in all the world.

Jin Sowoon had not reached the realm of the Mind Sword or sword control through qi, so what sort of mystery was this?

"It is my own study of the Taiyi True Scripture."

"Your own study?"

Jin Sowoon slowly nodded.

"Yes. This is the form of 'me' as I think of it."

"..."

"The reason I, a disciple of a sword sect, personally put a shield in Geumpyo's hands and said nothing even though Dongryong uses a heavy saber..."

Then he looked at each of his junior disciples in turn.

"Is because the image each of you has of yourselves is different."

The four of them tried not to miss even a single word of their Eldest Senior Brother's speech.

As if pleased by that sight, a faint smile appeared at the corner of Jin Sowoon's mouth.

"What is the Dao of the Taiyi Sect? It is transformation. And the Taiyi True Scripture is a study that will transform such 'selves' as you. So you must ponder and ponder again what form you will transform into."

If he raised his junior disciples to be exactly like himself, they would reach the ranks of experts to a certain degree.

And through much preparation, he could make them survive the hands of the Demonic Cult.

But that, in the end, was not carrying on the will of the Taiyi Sword Emperor.

It would merely amount to keeping the name of the Taiyi Sect alive.

So he had to help each of them establish their own "Taiyi."

That was why he was putting them through this cold-weather training too.

His junior disciples, who had fallen into thought for a moment, asked carefully.

"... Ourselves?"

"Yes. What I do by forcing you along and training you is nothing more than the basics. But if you wish to move forward, you must transform yourselves. And the Taiyi True Scripture is a study that can sufficiently keep pace with your transformation. This is something I can neither help nor interfere with."

That was why he would carry it on according to the will of the Martial Ancestor.

Even if it took a little longer, even if it was a little more sluggish, because that was the right path.

Because he believed it to be the right path.

"... So you mean that if we go in the direction we want, that path will appear?"

"Yes."

"Haa..."

Eunho felt anew that the Taiyi True Scripture was an amazing study, and at the same time, one question occurred to him.

"... Eldest Senior Brother, since when have you been walking that path?"

Jin Sowoon smiled without answering.

Thinking about it, that had been true.

Except during the standard exam, Eldest Senior Brother had never once told his disciples, "Do this."

He had always gone ahead and occasionally looked back to wait.

Even on the days when it had been too hard to follow and they had blamed themselves while remaining stuck in place, Eldest Senior Brother had suppressed his frustration and waited for them to catch up.

Until they could realize it themselves.

He had waited with patience, overcoming his frustration.

"Senior Brother..."

"Eldest Senior Brother..."

Tears welled in the eyes of the four of them.

"We are sorry. We did not know your deep intentions."

"We will never complain that training is hard again."

"We will not even think of running away."

"I will add one more strip of steel plate. Please work me harder."

Jin Sowoon gave a small laugh and held out the fully cooked meat.

"Fine, then hurry up and eat. You need to eat to train again tomorrow."

"Yes."

"Yes, sir!"

"I'll eat even if I do not want to!"

The four junior disciples would never know, even in their dreams.

That this splendid eloquence(?) had been learned from the bastards of the Minor Orthodox Unit in his previous life.

'Heh heh... Young ones really are easy to handle.'

By the time the four of them, who had no way of knowing their Eldest Senior Brother's dark(?) inner thoughts, began greedily eating meat again...

Jin Sowoon spoke subtly.

"... But you thought about running away?"

"..."

"..."

"..."

"..."

The four of them froze in place.

Their mouths were full of food, but the feeling of their saliva going down felt terribly loud.

For a moment, they had forgotten just how vicious their Eldest Senior Brother was.

"So, instead of being grateful when your Eldest Senior Brother is suffering this much, you were plotting to run away..."

And just how petty a man he was.