Chapter 121 : Chapter 121

Chapter 121: Wudang (1)

One who has formally entered the Wudang Sect is called a registered disciple.

It is a term referring to a martial artist who has received a generation rank and a Daoist name.

For reference, the title of a registered disciple of the Nine Sects is truly precious.

It is like a mirage that the majority of martial artists traversing the Jianghu Murim desperately desire but cannot obtain.

To become a registered disciple of Wudang, one must leave behind worldly connections and enter the deep mountains and secluded valleys before the young age of five.

Since there is no way one would climb Mount Wudang by their own will at such a meager age, it is inevitable that there are various stories behind each arrival.

Being young does not mean everything will go smoothly.

This is because, during the entry process, there is a selection based on basic root bone and innate nature.

They say that while the Dao is in everyone, martial talent is not in everyone.

The children who succeed in entering become trainees.

Trainees spend their years learning the Dao, mind arts, sword arts, and fist and kick arts.

What they learn with particular care during those days is the Socheong Sword, which can be called the basic sword art of Wudang.

This is because the essence of Wudang is a Sword Sect.

When they reach the age of learning, those who will become disciples and those who will descend the mountain are distinguished based on their achievement in the Socheong Sword.

Only children who have had their achievements in the Socheong Sword recognized and have blossomed their talent can take off the mask of a trainee and become a disciple.

It is said that from the level of a disciple, they are treated as students of Wudang, and from then on, they are given the qualification to learn various Wudang supreme arts.

Although one learns various martial arts depending on the master they serve or their individual achievements and temperament, the Taecheong Sword is something all disciples mandatorily learn.

This is because the Taecheong Sword is the fundamental framework of Wudang martial arts.

In truth, it is said that from the Taecheong Sword onwards, it is a difficult sword art that can be evaluated as a supreme art.

Inevitably, there were those whose achievements were insufficient and could not pass the stage of a disciple.

Many people descend the mountain again at this stage.

It is said that only those who finally reach the completion of the Taecheong Sword by the Weak Crown age are given the qualification of a formal disciple of Wudang.

“Oh, there are some our age over there too.”

Brother Chun-baek, who had been examining the Great Training Ground for a while, spoke as if he found it fascinating.

His words were not wrong, as the majority of martial artists occupying the Great Training Ground were well over the age of forty.

“They must be third-generation disciples. Considering the current generation ranks of Wudang, they would be of the Mu character generation.”

When I gave the answer, Brother Chun-baek looked at me with fascination.

“How do you know all such things?”

“Because it is common sense.”

Brother Chun-baek’s gaze turned towards Dancheon Hak, not me.

“……I didn’t know either.”

When Dancheon Hak shyly confessed the truth, Brother Chun-baek smirked.

Brother Chun-baek’s gaze, looking at me again, seemed to be interrogating the truth.

“Hmm.”

I realized that the breadth of common sense possessed by me, who had lived the life of a Beggar’s Gang disciple, and other martial artists was different.

In truth, even if one was just a One-Knot Beggar, if they didn’t know that level of information, they could claim innocence even if their head was bashed with a begging gourd.

However, since Brother Chun-baek and Dancheon Hak were not One-Knot Beggars, I exempted them from the begging gourd in my heart.

“Well, you might not know.”

“Isn’t it strange to know?”

“Isn’t it better than not knowing?”

“Keuk.”

Dancheon Hak tried to refute, but he was defeated by my logic.

Dancheon Hak still had a long way to go to catch up with the experience of Myeong-gae.

“Big brother, ignorance is not a sin. Do not mind it.”

“…….”

It was a bit sorry, but it would be right to just make Dancheon Hak out to be a slightly lacking person.

I couldn’t suddenly confess my life as Myeong-gae, could I?

Whoosh—

Fortunately, something happened that caught Brother Chun-baek’s attention.

“Ha— Is it Wudang as expected? Even a third-generation disciple is amazing.”

“Indeed so.”

As Brother Chun-baek said, the sword form that the martial artist of our age, who appeared to be a third-generation disciple, was polishing contained truly lofty profundities.

Judging by my discernment, it was a martial artist who had long reached the completion of the Taecheong Sword and was pursuing the traces of supreme martial arts further.

‘Is it the Supreme Ultimate Wisdom Sword?’

No matter how much I lived the life of a Beggar’s Gang disciple, I couldn’t know everything about other sects.

However, since it would be difficult to view the profundities of the Supreme Ultimate Wisdom Sword as the realm of public training no matter how I thought about it, it would be right to pretend not to know.

I made eye contact with the third-generation disciple.

His face was familiar.

However, what aroused great admiration in me right now was his eye light rather than his face.

What was contained in that eye light was utmost rectitude, devotion, and competitive spirit.

‘Hmm.’

Truly, it would be right to see it as Wudang as expected.

.

.

.

Anyway, it is inevitable that all registered disciples of Wudang are exceptional.

This is because they are talents chosen and gathered from all under heaven and raised with the secret transmissions of the Nine Sects.

Even the third-generation disciples were those who had long completed the Taecheong Sword, so they were people who had no difficulty in stepping into the Jianghu Murim and acting as proper swordsmen.

But didn’t they say a crane standing among a flock of chickens?

There was a lofty talent who made the myriad talents look ordinary.

He was the current third-generation disciple of Wudang, Mudam of the Mu character generation.

Whoosh—

Mudam was diligently wielding the Songmun Ancient Sword today as well.

His sword form, continuing incessantly, truly resembled a river.

His achievement might not be surprising.

It was because he was the talent who obtained the alias of the Dragon of the current generation, the Flowing Dragon.

They said that a genius is originally born from innate talent added to steady training.

As if proving that saying right, Mudam’s peer, Musang, approached Mudam, who was wielding the Songmun Ancient Sword without skipping a day today as well.

“Hey, Mudam. Did you hear?”

“Hear what?”

“They say the New Star Exchange Meeting is soon.”

“I don’t live with my ears closed, so how could I not know?”

Mudam replied with a slight smile.

Like their conversation, the most discussed topic in Wudang recently was the story about the New Star Exchange Meeting.

For those who were stuck in the deep mountains and secluded valleys called Wudang only training, the New Star Exchange Meeting was an interesting event that had never happened before.

“The new experts and Dragons of the Jianghu Murim will be coming to Wudang.”

“I know that too.”

“Will they be strong?”

“Hmm.”

Even though they became Daoists by becoming third-generation disciples, weren’t they also martial artists who investigated and trained in martial arts?

There was no way they could lack competitive spirit.

“They said the Jianghu Murim is wide. Since they are people who have been widely recognized there, wouldn’t they have high achievements?”

When Mudam answered, his close friend Musang laughed.

“Are you serious?”

Musang’s question was urging the truth.

Thinking that he couldn’t deceive Musang after all, Mudam revealed his honest inner thoughts.

“I think I might be stronger.”

Only then did Musang laugh heartily.

“Hmm. You’re unlucky.”

“I only said it because you made me.”

“Who said anything? I also agree.”

Their conversation had its own credibility.

Because Mudam was a true genius with no match among his peers.

Since he was an exceptional existence even in Wudang where the martial talents of the world gathered, if he wasn’t called a genius, who would be called a genius?

“Would that person have come too?”

“That person?”

“I mean the Divine Dragon of Dancheon.”

“……He must have come.”

When Musang mentioned the Divine Dragon of Dancheon, the expression of Mudam, who had been smiling consistently, hardened for the first time.

—The Dragons this time are indeed not as good as previous years.

Was it Manbakja?

It was because Mudam’s keen hearing had once captured the words he muttered quietly alone during the test.

Since Mudam had admired the myriad Dragons and Phoenixes, he couldn’t not know who Manbakja was referring to.

Divine Dragon of Dancheon.

The alias won during the Dragon and Phoenix days was Severing Dragon.

I know him by the name Myeong, the second son of the Dancheon Clan.

I heard that he broke the tradition of the Dragon and Phoenix Assembly and obtained the honor of the First Seat unanimously.

Mudam, who usually had no competitive spirit to speak of, felt a strange rivalry towards the person called the Divine Dragon of Dancheon.

The reason was that although he also showed overwhelming prominence at the Dragon and Phoenix Assembly, he did not obtain the honor of the First Seat.

I swear, among the Dragons of the current generation, there was no martial artist who could compare to him.

Mudam had inwardly expected a competition with the Severing Dragon, but it could not be fulfilled.

It was because the Severing Dragon did not step foot in the year Mudam participated in the Dragon and Phoenix Assembly.

The memory of asking a question to the Sect Leader, Taecheong Jin-in, risking rudeness the other day also came to mind.

—Sect Leader.

—Speak.

—Do you also know the Severing Dragon, Sect Leader?

—Hoho. Of course I know. Since I participated as an examiner when he became a Dragon.

—Is he much stronger than me?

For Mudam, it was a question asked carefully after much deliberation.

Knowing that fact, Taecheong Jin-in did not scold Mudam.

However, he kept silent for a while as if organizing his thoughts.

Finally, Taecheong Jin-in opened his heavy mouth.

—Generally, competitive spirit is important for a martial artist, but a tree that cannot be climbed becomes a source of anguish for a Daoist.

That was the end of the words.

Since it wasn’t a very difficult metaphor, Mudam could fully understand the content.

But at the same time, he couldn’t understand.

Because Mudam was the one who always existed as the climber, not the tree that cannot be climbed.

Also because if the speaker wasn’t the Sect Leader of the Great Wudang, he would never have admitted those words.

“Oh, over there, Cheon-un Jin-in is coming.”

Looking away from his thoughts at Musang’s fuss, he saw Cheon-un Jin-in and three outsiders following behind him.

He didn’t know the reason, but Mudam could recognize at a glance that one of them was the Divine Dragon of Dancheon.

“……Who is stronger.”

Mudam recited alone.

The genius of the ages recognized by Wudang, Flowing Dragon Mudam.

He was bothered by Severing Dragon Dancheon Myeong.

To be precise, perhaps it was the desire to prove that Manbakja and Taecheong Jin-in were wrong.

* * *

Thinking superficially, the New Star Exchange Meeting and the Dragon and Phoenix Assembly are similar.

The fact that they are held centered on the Nine Sects is so, and the fact that they are gatherings for the famous new experts of the Jianghu Murim is also so.

However, it is right to judge that the two events are fundamentally different.

The reason is that if the Dragon and Phoenix Assembly is a place for prodigies who want to be verified, the New Star Exchange Meeting is a place where new experts who have already been verified gather.

In other words, it is right to evaluate the New Star Exchange Meeting not as a place for prodigies, but as a place for proper martial artists.

The atmosphere of the venue and the conduct of those who attended proved that fact.

In the Dragon and Phoenix Assembly, many people gathered centering on the influential prodigies of the so-called famous sects or clans.

It is not wrong to call them factions.

It was because a person who lacks confidence in themselves relying on a person or group superior to them is like a survival instinct.

Therefore, the Dragon and Phoenix Assembly naturally took the shape of factions banding together tightly and excluding other factions.

The strong in-group consciousness formed through factions blocks mutual exchange.

But the New Star Exchange Meeting is different.

As mentioned earlier, this is because they are all martial artists who have made their prestige known in the Jianghu Murim and have proven themselves.

The nature of a martial artist is like a beast.

Being a verified martial artist refers to those whose beastly nature has fully bloomed.

And beasts do not easily crawl under other beasts.

There is no room for factions or such to form.

Only occasionally, beasts with good sociability would pretend to know others and form friendships.

In a situation where everyone was acting aloof, a giant with a sturdy physique approached me.

“Hahaha. Nice to meet you. I am Peng Jin-hu.”

If it is Peng Jin-hu who proudly won the alias of Saber Dragon at the Dragon and Phoenix Assembly, he is a man who lacks nothing to be called a beast.

Although he borrowed the form of the Five Tigers Soul-Severing Blade Art, his physical strength that crumpled Hundred-Refined Steel with just innate strength remains as a vivid impression in my head.

“Great Hero Mad Tiger Blade, long time no see.”

“Hmm?”

Just as Sword Dragon Dancheon Hak became the Flying Cloud Sword, Saber Dragon Peng Jin-hu became the Mad Tiger Blade.

If it is Mad Tiger Blade Peng Jin-hu, he is a figure who led the Righteous Murim Alliance shoulder to shoulder with King of Wanderers Lee Chun-baek during the Great War of Righteousness and Evil, so I cannot not know that fact.

“What is the matter?”

“Hahaha. In fact, I was half in doubt whether you would recognize me.”

His words would be right.

I have no memory of conversing with Peng Jin-hu during the Dragon and Phoenix Assembly days.

“To think you would even recognize the alias Mad Tiger Blade instead of Saber Dragon, my joy is boundless.”

“The prestige of the Mad Tiger Blade is widespread in the Jianghu, how could I not know?”

“Who else has made their prestige known as much as the Divine Dragon of Dancheon recently?”

“I am flattered.”

Just by the fact that I mentioned the alias Mad Tiger Blade, the atmosphere of our conversation was quite warm.

As I said earlier, isn’t the Jianghu Murim a place where one lives for honor and dies for honor?

The fact that I knew Peng Jin-hu’s alias is enough for him to harbor good feelings towards me.

Since the struggle of the Jianghu Murim is a path to proving one’s own existence, it is because one is pleased by others recognizing oneself.

Wait, I cannot deny the fact that the men of the Peng Clan with boisterous tendencies especially have strong such temperaments.

Laughing heartily, Peng Jin-hu, who had a satisfied expression, continued his words.

“I heard my uncle owed you a lot.”

It wasn’t difficult to infer who the uncle Peng Jin-hu spoke of was.

Because the only figure of the Peng Clan I formed a connection with was Peng Ga-heon, the Shanxi Branch Lord of the Murim Alliance.

“If it is your uncle?”

But I asked specifically.

It was because I knew that friendship is built through mutual communication rather than deduction.

“Unrestrained Saber Peng Ga-heon is my very uncle. He is the martial artist I respect the most.”

Admiration was read in Peng Jin-hu’s gaze talking about Peng Ga-heon.

Because that appearance resembled me thinking of Uncle Yeo Baek, the person called Peng Jin-hu entered my heart a little more.