"Why do you think I'm testing you?"
Baek Jeongmu put on a serious face.
Kang Sogun looked at his own cup, which was full of jade-colored wine.
"Human imagination is truly ingenious. Doesn't it draw dragons and phoenixes that don't even exist? If soone told
that there was poison in this cup, could I really drink it without hesitation?"
Baek Jeongmu's eyebrows twitched, but he said nothing.
Kang Sogun emptied his wine cup in one gulp.
"They are truly absurd and ridiculous people. To try to deceive the emperor by fitting history together appropriately."
"..."
"My maternal grandfather drove out his nephew and ascended to that position. It is rely a sche of soone who has taken advantage of the fact that the controversy over legitimacy has not ceased. Isn't that so?"
"..."
"Nevertheless, the previous emperor would not have been able to erase the suspicion that the Thousand Emperor Castle might not exist. Because he had a weakness. It is a hell that he dug for himself."
"Are you saying that the Thousand Emperor Castle is a falsehood, sothing that soone has fabricated?"
Kang Sogun stared at Baek Jeongmu.
"That is sothing that anyone can figure out with a little thought. Although there have been dynasties that have lasted for hundreds of years, there are not many powerful families that have endured for that long. Weren't the powerful families, rather, the ones who found it difficult to last for three generations?"
"They did not single out any particular powerful family and tell them to share power. They said that they were rely a force that oversaw the decentralization of power."
Kang Sogun grinned.
"You, Uncle Baek, are trying to test
to the end."
"..."
Baek Jeongmu still looked at Kang Sogun with a serious face.
His expression showed that he did not like his words being imdiately dismissed as a falsehood.
The gazes of the two were tensely intertwined.
The gaze of the ten great masters, Baek Jeongmu, contained a montum that could not be dared to be approached.
But Kang Sogun calmly received it.
After a mont, Kang Sogun lanted and lowered his gaze.
After drinking the wine, he slowly put down his cup and opened his mouth.
"I will also tell you one long story."
Kang Sogun quietly closed his eyes.
"Since you, Uncle Baek, were also once in the military, you must have heard of the legend of the Martial Tomb that circulates among the soldiers of the frontier."
At the unexpected story, Baek Jeongmu's brow furrowed for a mont.
"The blood-eating blood dragon was an object of both fear and envy. Because they believed that they could obtain the world's greatest martial art that could pacify the human world."
"..."
"A total of one thousand one hundred people, including enemies and allies, generals and soldiers, entered the Martial Tomb. And they wandered through the dark labyrinth, killing each other."
Kang Sogun was telling his own story.
"In the Martial Tomb, there was really a blood-eating blood dragon."
Baek Jeongmu's brow twitched again, but he did not interrupt.
"A bloody demonic qi poured out from a huge stone statue. Those who were eroded by the demonic qi went mad. There were no enemies or allies. They just beca the minions of the blood-eating blood dragon. If their arms were cut off, they would bite the opponent's nape with their mouths."
Kang Sogun's closed eyelids trembled. The tragedy of that ti had co to his mind.
"Even the corpses ca back to life and attacked. So I had to cut off their heads."
"Is that really true?"
Baek Jeongmu also asked back at the very absurd story.
Kang Sogun opened his eyes.
A ray of bright light poured out from his eyes.
Kang Sogun said calmly.
"Of course, it is not true."
A look of absurdity flashed across Baek Jeongmu's face and then it hardened coldly.
He was annoyed at what intention Kang Sogun had in telling such a false story.
Kang Sogun continued in a clear voice.
"The bloody demonic qi that poured out from the stone statue was actually a poisonous mist that caused powerful hallucinations. It was probably a device to prevent tomb robbing."
The bloody poisonous mist that poured out from the stone statue filled the large stone chamber and spread to every corner of the Martial Tomb's labyrinth.
"When the first ones who drank the poisonous mist ran wild, everyone knew that it was a hallucinogenic poison. So they stopped fighting and ca out of the stone chamber. But it was useless. Because it had flowed into every corner of the labyrinth where the exit could not be found, like a real blood-eating blood dragon."
Tears flowed from Kang Sogun's eyes.
'Hahaha. I am Ma Unsan! Co at , all of you! Older brother! Live for my share!'
While wandering through the labyrinth to avoid the bloody poisonous mist, he had eventually reached a dead end.
The bloody poisonous mist had inevitably rushed in, and the madn had also rushed in.
Ma Unsan had finally stabbed his own chest. And then he had rushed at the madly rampaging ones and had died fighting.
At that ti, since he had also been in a hallucination, he would not have felt any pain.
The masters had held out a little longer. But even if their internal energy was strong, they could not stop breathing. Although they had resisted the poisonous mist with their internal energy, in the end, they had gone mad.
Those who were possessed by hallucinations had their latent power explode and had displayed three or four tis their usual monstrous strength.
Kang Sogun had to fight them. The madn had torn and eaten the corpses and had drunk their blood.
In the Martial Tomb, ti could not be asured. But when it was thought that about a hundred days had passed, the only one alive was Kang Sogun.
Kang Sogun had also been frequently possessed by hallucinations and had wandered endlessly through the dark labyrinth.
It seed as if the dead corpses were coming back to life and attacking, so he had cut off their heads one by one.
Nevertheless, he had to wander endlessly through the labyrinth.
To live.
He had searched the corpses piled up in the labyrinth and had found and eaten dry rations. Thanks to the dry rations that the thousand or so people had brought, he had been able to endure that long ti without dying.
And the reason he had not gone completely mad was.
The Golden Elixir True Art.
A rare ultimate learning that could divide consciousness.
It was thanks to the Golden Elixir True Art that the deceased master of Wudang, Hyeonchija, had devised based on the principles of the Two Principles Mind Art.
Even while being engulfed in hallucinations, swinging his sword at the enemies in the air, and hacking at the corpses, if a ray of the Golden Elixir True Art's energy circulated, he could faintly regain his consciousness.
He had held onto that consciousness and had wandered in search of an exit.
And so for three years.
As the bloody poisonous mist slowly disappeared and the ti when his consciousness was clear beca more frequent, he was barely able to find an exit.
"Even after coming out of the Martial Tomb, the effects of the hallucination continued. Three years! For three years, the hallucinogenic components had been soaked in my entire body."
Now Baek Jeongmu just listened with a mournful face.
Although he had thought he had been through all the hardships of life, it was the first ti he had heard such a terrible story.
He even felt a little guilty that he had not known at all that his friend's son had been wandering through hell.
The child he had seen when he had visited the Kang Residence one night long ago was truly pure. That child had gone through a harsh ordeal and was now sitting in front of him.
Now he had beco a being whose thoughts he could not fathom at all.
Kang Sogun continued calmly.
"Of course, it was much better than when I was in the Martial Tomb. Because there was fresh air. But the hallucinogenic poison that had accumulated in my body would explode from ti to ti. It was like living with an active volcano."
It was a loathso ti. His consciousness was not clear. There was only one thought.
"And so I wandered the world in search of people."
"..."
"The reason I did not die myself in the Martial Tomb and wanted to live was because of the people who were waiting for ."
His mother, his dear friend, the woman he loved. He had been able to overco that ti of darkness and slaughter by thinking of them.
"But when I actually ca out, there was no one."
Although Kang Sogun's voice was calm, it pierced the listener's heart.
"At first, I was angry. Why did you not wait for ? But it was not their fault. So I went looking for them."
"...So did you find them?"
Kang Sogun was silent for a while. He looked at the cup in front of him, drank it in one gulp, and then said briefly.
"I don't have to look for them anymore."
A silence flowed again.
The lingering feeling contained in the words "I don't have to look for them anymore" was deep.
Finally, Baek Jeongmu opened his mouth.
"What is the aning of telling
your story?"
"Because I know the intention with which you, Uncle Baek, told
the story of the Thousand Emperor Castle."
At Kang Sogun's ambiguous answer, Baek Jeongmu was lost in thought.
He was one of the ten great masters.
The ten great masters was not sothing that could be achieved just by being engrossed in martial arts.
How much did one have to realize to reach the extre of martial arts?
Insight into life and humanity was also one of them. Nevertheless, it was difficult to readily grasp the aning of Kang Sogun's answer.
'Does he know that I want to make him my successor? That can't be.'
Baek Jeongmu was about to recomnd that Kang Sogun join the Great Righteous Martial Hall.
In a corner of his mind, he had been considering Kang Sogun as the successor of the Great Righteous Martial Hall.
He had received a detailed report about Kang Sogun from No Ichil and the others.
When he had found out that the son of his friend and the master of the Great Righteous Secret Hall was an absolute master comparable to the ten great masters, he had been surprised and inwardly happy.
In terms of both martial arts and justification, Kang Sogun was fully qualified.
But the problem was his mind and will.
Above all, he was bothered by the fact that he had a bad feeling about the imperial family because of the incident of General Jang's family.
So he had wanted to et him in person and judge. But it was not easy for him to grasp either.
Anyway, he had not ntioned anything about Kang Sogun to anyone.
But how could he know that he had singled him out as his successor?
If he had known and had answered, it was a polite refusal.
'The previous emperor had driven the ones he had held as his only hope while enduring the hellish ti to their deaths. It is indeed sothing to resent.'
So there was no reason for him to take charge of the Great Righteous Martial Hall, which was the protective force of the imperial family. Rather, he should be seen as hostile to the imperial family.
Originally, Baek Jeongmu had intended to explain the reason why the previous emperor had had to be harsh on the ritorious subjects and the powerful families by informing him of the existence of the Thousand Emperor Castle.
Because it was a fact that the previous emperor had been threatened by a place called the Thousand Emperor Castle.
This ant that the reform to strengthen the central power, to have the law reach every corner of the frontier, and to protect the people from the tyranny of the local magnates had been threatened.
Therefore, the justification of being for the sake of all the people of the world was clear.
But Kang Sogun had dismissed the Thousand Emperor Castle as a sche of a wicked group.
And he had unexpectedly changed the subject and had said that the foundation of his life had collapsed. It would not have been just to explain the reason for his resentnt towards the previous emperor.
Baek Jeongmu could not imdiately deduce the connection between the two.
But after seeing Kang Sogun in person, Baek Jeongmu's conviction that he should make him his successor had hardened.
'This child has co out of the pain of death and is observing the world. Now is the ti to be honest!'
Baek Jeongmu felt that Kang Sogun was looking down at the world from a high peak.
Baek Jeongmu felt embarrassed that he had been rambling in front of Kang Sogun.
After finishing his thoughts, Baek Jeongmu stared at Kang Sogun and said.
"As you said, the Thousand Emperor Castle may be an illusion. But it cannot be seen as a complete fiction. Because the person who ca from the Thousand Emperor Castle definitely exists."
"..."
"That person broke through the strict security of the imperial palace and entered the previous emperor's bedchamber."
There would be few in the world who could enter the emperor's bedroom. It was an impossible task even for a master who had reached the peak of the art of concealnt. The Imperial Guard was on guard with such a person in mind from the start.
"It ans he is an absolute master. Since you are also an absolute master, you will know. Isn't it aningless to distinguish the realm of the absolute with words? Nevertheless, there is a clear difference even among the sa absolute masters."
Baek Jeongmu lanted lightly and continued.
"The person who ca at that ti was at a level where he could freely use the art of grasping from the air even at a distance of thirty feet. When the emperor felt his intrusion and tried to grab his long sword, he stretched out his hand from that spot and pulled the long sword."
Kang Sogun was also inwardly surprised.
The art of grasping from the air.
To an ordinary person, it could be said to be the realm of a god.
"I was so surprised when I heard that. Even I, who have devoted my whole life to martial arts, can now only pull a dagger from a distance of about ten feet."
There was a reason why Baek Jeongmu had lanted.
It ant that that person had been a master who had far surpassed the current ten great masters, Baek Jeongmu, even more than ten years ago.
(End of Chapter)
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