["Whether you give up or not is the wrong question."]

["Because trying won't change."]

The words Jin Sowoon had left behind lingered as afterimages in Cheol Sunjik's mind for the second day.

He knew Jin Sowoon was exceptional.

He had won a sparring match against Ilgak, who was called the academy's greatest expert, and in the practical strategy and tactics exam, he had led an inferior force and seized victory in the end.

But that did not mean the Taiyi Sect's absolute martial strength was high.

At most, one could say he obtained what he wanted by maximizing auxiliary abilities like reflexes, improvisation, adaptability, and resourcefulness.

For example, Jin Sowoon had indeed won a sparring match against Ilgak.

But could the other Taiyi Sect disciples win in a sparring match against Ilgak?

'There isn't even any need to think about it.'

Ilgak's victory was certain.

The martial arts of the Taiyi Sect and the martial arts of Shaolin Sect could not even be compared.

In that sense, Jin Sowoon had something in common with him.

Using any means necessary to make up for deficiencies in absolute measures.

This, in the end, depended on Jin Sowoon's personal ability.

Once one entered a world where sect clashed with sect and force clashed with force, the influence of a variable like one individual's special ability could only shrink.

That was why his calm face, as he spoke words that sounded far too obvious, would not leave Cheol Sunjik's mind.

And another question bloomed.

["Can Jin Sowoon truly stand against Zhongnan?"]

Two groups with a clear gap between them, whether seen historically or by the current scale of their forces.

Moreover, right now Zhongnan had brought its own sect's martial force to its limit.

What could five Taiyi Sect disciples possibly do?

And yet, why was it?

On the other hand, he found himself looking forward to it.

Because Jin Sowoon saying that it could be done meant, in other words...

'It would be proof that I can do it too.'

A strange sense of expectation filled his heart.

Expectation, was it...

'Hah. How absurd.'

Cheol Sunjik, who had been lost in thought, let out a faint laugh.

Had he been beaten a few times and now reached the point of idolizing his opponent?

To think he was doing something only the foolish would do.

He thought that after entering the academy, his mind had become somewhat disturbed.

Then.

"Hmm?"

Cheol Sunjik, who had been leaning on his sword and sunk in contemplation, raised his head.

It was dark on all sides, and the torches that had burned through the night were gradually dying down to embers.

Judging by the moon's position, it was still the Hour of Man.

It should have been a time when even those who had been protesting Zhongnan were asleep.

'People?'

Cheol Sunjik rose from the rock he had been leaning against and expanded his qi sense.

Then he felt the presence of people climbing the mountain.

Moreover, it was not only one or two people.

'The presences are increasing?'

By what he could roughly sense, there were dozens.

Though they were moving stealthily in the middle of the night, they did not seem to have any intention of hiding their presence or footsteps.

No, some were even talking or shouting.

'An ambush?'

A large-scale clash born from piled-up discontent was the worst situation Cheol Sunjik had expected.

The damage would spread entirely to Zhongnan's lay sects.

When Cheol Sunjik rose and headed toward Zhongnan's tents, Cheol Hyeonjik, who had been dozing, sprang to his feet in surprise.

"Sunjik, what is it?"

"People are gathering."

"People? At this hour?"

Cheol Sunjik gave a slight nod.

"We should prepare for now, just in case."

"Understood. I'll come with you."

When Cheol Sunjik arrived at Zhongnan's tent, the disciple standing watch narrowed his eyes sharply.

"What is it?"

"May I see the Hall Leader?"

The disciple was not much older or younger than Cheol Sunjik.

He had failed this academy exam.

Was that why?

"For what reason?"

The Zhongnan disciple was not at all friendly toward Cheol Sunjik.

'No, perhaps treating lay branches this way is only natural to them.'

Cheol Sunjik swallowed a sneer and lowered his head.

"There are people climbing the mountain."

"The mountain?"

"Yes. Seeing as they are not even hiding their presences, it seems they have some other scheme in mind."

The Zhongnan disciple gave a faint snort.

"No matter what scheme they have, what could they do?"

The privilege of those who had much.

Arrogance.

"May I report this to the Hall Leader?"

"Do you think it is reasonable to wake the Hall Leader over something this trivial?"

"... If they are staging an armed struggle..."

"Are you suggesting Zhongnan would be pushed back by them? How dare you?"

And what brought down those who had much was also arrogance.

Cheol Sunjik once again swallowed a laugh inwardly.

Just as he was engaged in that meaningless argument with the Zhongnan disciple...

KABOOM! KABOOM! KABOOM! KABOOM!

The whole world flashed bright for an instant, as if lightning had exploded in succession.

"W-What is it!"

"Is it an attack?"

"Wake everyone!"

At the ominous explosions, as if Thunderbolt Bombs had gone off, those who had been sleeping rose to their feet with every nerve on edge.

Among them was Gongson Su, the Gu-gung Hall Leader and the person in overall command.

"Find out what happened!"

At his command, a group of disciples ran toward the place where the explosion had sounded, and some climbed trees to survey all of Mount Judang.

As expected of disciples from a well-trained sect, their reports were swift.

"People are climbing Mount Judang!"

"A large pit has appeared where the explosion occurred."

"From what we hear, they are saying it is a new entrance into Cheondong Cave."

At the report, Gongson Su's eyes went bloodshot.

"What! An entrance? What in the world were you all doing until things reached this point! Who was on watch during the Hour of Man!"

The Zhongnan disciple who had been confronting Cheol Sunjik stepped forward, trembling under that razor-sharp aura.

"M-My apologies. I was watching the area around the camp, so... J-Jukhyeon Gang! Jukhyeon Gang was assigned to watch for those approaching."

As Cheol Sunjik was about to step forward and tell the truth about this ridiculous situation...

'Hm?'

Cheol Hyeonjik grabbed his hand, stopped him, and stepped forward in his stead.

"My apologies, Hall Leader."

Cheol Hyeonjik bowed his head deeply, but what came back was a sharp hand.

SLAP!

"You call yourselves Zhongnan's lay branch when you cannot even handle this one simple task properly?!"

Cheol Hyeonjik touched his reddened cheek and lowered his head once more.

"My apologies. Our studies are shallow, so we failed to properly identify those approaching."

Gongson Su looked as if he could not restrain the anger boiling inside him, but time would not allow him to vent it.

"Let's go!"

"The Five-Spirit Immortal Flower Milk is mine!"

"It's an entrance Zhongnan isn't guarding!"

Because after the explosions continued, shouts and battle cries burst out from every side of Mount Judang as if it were broad daylight.

Gongson Su bit his lip once, then turned around.

"Stop them at once! We must not allow them to enter Cheondong Cave!"

At that command, the Jukhyeon Gang, two other lay sects, and thirty members of the Gu-gung Hall headed for the newly formed entrance.

However.

"Damn it..."

The crowd already entering through the entrance was too large to count.

"Stop them!"

Zhongnan's forces, who had appeared belatedly, tried to stop those climbing the mountain.

"Stop at once... Urgh!"

But the people, having seen that many had already gone inside the cave, no longer put up with Zhongnan's behavior.

If no one had gone in, that would be one thing.

But if some had already entered, that was a different story.

CLANG! CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!

"Move, you bastards! I spent twenty taels of gold on the map!"

"Is the Five-Spirit Immortal Flower Milk yours? We can have it too!"

"Shove through! Even if they are Zhongnan, most of them are lay branches!"

The psychology of a crowd was enough to hide an individual's fear.

Those who had not dared even meet Zhongnan's gaze now all began charging in with swords in hand, as if in competition.

The battle that began before anyone realized it was an utterly bewildering situation for Zhongnan's disciples as well.

Moreover, Zhongnan's lay branches had nothing to gain from this incident.

Naturally, they fought passively, and because of that, a melee broke out around the entrance.

Among them were Cheol Sunjik and his elder brother as well.

"Sunjik, people are going in."

At Cheol Hyeonjik's report, Cheol Sunjik, who had been lightly swinging his sword and slowly retreating, turned his gaze.

Through the melee, he could see people entering the newly formed entrance one by one.

"..."

Soon, as the crowd pushed with numbers and drove Zhongnan's disciples completely to the opposite side of the entrance, the number of people entering the cave noticeably increased.

If he was going to enter, now was the right time.

Cheol Sunjik looked at his brother.

"Brother. I will be back shortly."

"Hm?"

When his younger brother's gaze soon turned toward the entrance of Cheondong Cave, Cheol Hyeonjik shouted in horror.

"What are you saying! Do you have any idea what trouble you'll bring upon yourself if you carelessly go in there...!"

Even amid the melee, he tightly gripped the hem of his younger brother's robes.

At that iron grip, Cheol Sunjik's gaze turned back to his brother.

His cheek was swollen red.

It was quite clearly visible even this late at night.

Cheol Sunjik shook off his brother's hand.

"... There is something I must confirm."

"Confirm?"

"Yes. I will tell you after I return."

Then he immediately launched himself toward the newly formed entrance.

'This is absolutely no coincidence.'

The current situation must have been carried out under a meticulous plan.

And naturally, one person came to mind.

["Whether you give up or not is the wrong question. Because trying won't change."]

["Zhongnan bastards. Let's see how this goes."]

Jin Sowoon, laughing "heh-heh-heh" with a wicked expression.

He wanted to see it.

He wanted to confirm with his own eyes whether Jin Sowoon could truly achieve an absurd result.

#

While the martial artists who had noticed that a new entrance to Cheondong Cave had opened fought fiercely to enter Cheondong Cave...

The martial artists of Xi'an, who had known nothing of the new entrance's existence, also began climbing Mount Judang one by one.

A great noise and explosions.

Those two things alone had swollen their expectations to the fullest.

If those damn Zhongnan bastards were still blocking the entrance like a hopeless case of constipation, there was no way such a commotion would break out.

Thus the warriors who climbed Mount Judang grew wildly excited at the chaos and threw themselves into it on their own.

Meanwhile, the Zhongnan side, which had failed to prepare for the new entrance, hurriedly selected disciples and tried to block it.

"A gap! I see a gap...!"

Because of that, the entrance they had originally been blocking also began to break through.

"Hit them! No one knows who's who anyway!"

"Push through with numbers!"

"Let's gooooo!"

Meanwhile, Jin Sowoon's junior disciples, who had splashed cold filthy water on Zhongnan's event and taught the Zhongnan Sect warriors what shit tasted like, were digging with shovels on the exact opposite side of the newly formed third entrance.

"Brother! It seems like something happened?"

Eunho stopped his hands, his eyes wide like a startled rabbit.

Geumpyo's expression hardened as he looked at him.

This bastard was trying to scheme again, wasn't he?

"Lee Eunho, are your hands not moving?"

"... No, I'm telling you it seems like something happened."

Then Saryeon beside him also shot him a sharp glare.

"Junior Brother, hurry up and move, won't you? You're falling farther and farther behind."

With Hong Saryeon stepping in as well, Eunho had no choice but to lower his head again and continue shoveling.

No, something really might have happened.

Why were they all so twisted?

It was definitely because they had been traveling with that Eldest Senior Brother that their personalities had become twisted.

When he slightly turned his head, Jin Sowoon was crouching and tearing into some dried meat.

Huh, that sight looked really familiar... Hmm...

"Ah."

Now that he thought about where he had seen it, thugs who blocked alleyways and extorted money in his childhood neighborhood looked exactly like that.

'No matter how I look at him, he seems like he has experience...'

If it were the Eldest Senior Brothers of other sects, they would at least all try to look upright and proper.

But he had never once seen their Eldest Senior Brother standing properly.

"Eunho."

"Y-Yes!"

"Your hands are slow."

"..."

Moreover, why were they digging with shovels to enter Cheondong Cave when he had already opened a large entrance?

Eunho shoveled like mad even as he suppressed his frustration and anger.

And not long after...

A tunnel was made, burrowing exactly two zhang into the mountain as Eldest Senior Brother had instructed.

"Huff, huff..."

"Senior Brother... We're done."

"Ugh! This is different from swinging a sword..."

As the four junior disciples sprawled out on the ground, Jin Sowoon, who had been crouching behind them, walked forward.

Then.

TAP TAP.

"Ugh..."

...he caressed(?) his junior disciples with his foot.

"You're wheezing after a little shoveling. And you call yourselves disciples of the Taiyi Sect?"

But you were sitting the whole time...!

No, to begin with, what did being a disciple of the Taiyi Sect have to do with shoveling?

Questions rose all the way to their throats, but the junior disciples gave up asking because their breath surged up first.

"Oh dear, how sorrowful the Taiyi Sword Emperor must be in heaven. Tsk, tsk."

"... Senior Brother, why did you specifically tell us to dig a separate tunnel? You already made a huge entrance."

At Saryeon's question, Jin Sowoon, who had been looking up at the sky and wailing, tossed out an answer in a tone that asked why she was asking something so obvious.

"When you sneak into someone else's house, you have to give meat to the dogs."

"Pardon?"

"Don't you know feint east and strike west? There has to be a commotion somewhere else so they won't pay attention to us."

Wow, it turned out their Eldest Senior Brother wasn't a back-alley thug but a thief.

... Was that supposed to be a good thing?

The thief Jin Sowoon continued with smooth words.

"Zhongnan will be too busy paying attention to the martial artists to mind us, which is good for us, and the martial artists gathered here get a chance, which is good for them. Isn't this what they call good for both sides?"

Instead, Zhongnan must feel like they got hit in the balls and then in the back of the head.

He was their Eldest Senior Brother, but his mind was not just sharp, it was almost like that of a swindler...

"Hm? Eunho, why are you looking at me like that?"

"Pardon? Like what?"

"Hmm, you look like you're seeing something contemptible."

... He was the greatest prodigy in the world even when it came to reading the room.

Eunho hurriedly lowered his head slightly.

"Hehe. How could that be? I am trying hard to remember even one more of Eldest Senior Brother's words, which are like golden rules."

"Hmm? Is that so?"

Soon, Jin Sowoon stood at the end of the tunnel with an expression that somehow looked pleased.

"Since this much time has passed, the Zhongnan disciples inside Cheondong Cave should have realized that outside intruders have appeared. So there won't be anyone on this side."

Then he gathered internal energy in both hands.

And began thrusting them toward the cave wall in succession.

THUD! THUD! THUD! THUD!

Each time he swung his hands, the Great Yang Palm, an old martial art of the Taiyi Sect, shot out.

The Great Yang Palm had little destructive power and little speed.

But at this moment, it was the best martial art for digging through a wall without making a loud noise.

"Taking advantage of the commotion, we simply need to quietly sneak into Cheondong Cave and take only the Five-Spirit Immortal Flower Milk."

Even as Jin Sowoon spoke, he kept firing palm force into the tunnel.

The junior disciples could not hide their admiration at Jin Sowoon's divine might as he fired palm force without pause, as if he did not care that clumps of dirt were splattering onto his face.

Before the martial arts of the Taiyi Sword Emperor returned, the Great Yang Palm had been one of the martial arts within the Taiyi Sect that consumed a great deal of internal energy.

After seeing that divine might, each of the junior disciples' thoughts grew complicated.

'That palm force from earlier too... Just how much internal energy does he have?'

'It seems like his skill is already enough with martial arts alone, so why does he keep using petty tricks?'

'If I become Eldest Senior Brother's enemy... Ugh! Absolutely not! It wouldn't just be hard. I feel like my soul would be threshed...'

How much time passed like that?

THUD! RUMBLE.

The dirt pile flying toward them suddenly crossed over and collapsed on the other side.

Just as Jin Sowoon had thought, it had connected precisely to Cheondong Cave.

Jin Sowoon turned back toward his junior disciples and curled his lips into a broad grin.

"Did you see? This is what strategy is."

It was really strange, but it was cool.

It was cool, but on the other hand, he seemed like a lunatic... no, strange.

The four junior disciples quickly shook their heads and threw away their irreverent thoughts.

Jin Sowoon, who had no way of knowing what was in their hearts, gave a stylish gesture ordering them to enter.

Following him, the junior disciples finally entered Cheondong Cave.

However.

"Hm?! I-Intruders!"

"No, how did they get here?!"

"Wake everyone!"

... What was this situation?

In the place they entered, six Zhongnan disciples had already spread out bedding and were sleeping.

"..."

"..."

"..."

"..."

'What was that about strategy?'

'Feeeint eeeast and strike west?'

'Taking advantage of the commotion? Not making the commotion?'

At this absurd situation, the four junior disciples all looked at Jin Sowoon with narrowed, sullen eyes...

"... What are you doing? Go subdue them at once."

Eldest Senior Brother Jin Sowoon deliberately ignored their gazes and stepped forward first.