TL: FoodieMonster007
"Why is he so angry? That man needs to work on his temper...." Baek Suryong grumbled under his breath as he left Namgung Su's office, brushing off the lingering electric current still crackling over his clothes.
"Nyaaan..." From within Baek Suryong's arms, the Silver Tiger peeked its head out timidly. Namgung Su's aura had been so ferocious that it had instinctively hidden in the safest place it could think of, only now daring to erge.
Baek Suryong scratched the Silver Tiger's head. "Try to understand. That guy has always had a rotten personality. Honestly, the only reason we can share an office is because it's . Any other instructor would have run away a long ti ago."
[I don't think you're one to talk...] the Divine Azure Dragon Sword groaned in disbelief at her partner's shalessness.
Baek Suryong ignored the sword. He knew it was a busy ti, but calling it 'a matter as important as the Heavenly Martial Festival' was not an exaggeration. In fact, this matter might be even more important.
"If I could, I'd split myself in two, but since I can't, what other choice do I have?" Baek Suryong sighed softly. Even the world's strongest martial artist couldn't clone themselves. He had no choice but to use his one body as efficiently as possible.
[To think the eting place has already been decided... That's much faster than I expected.]
[Yeah. This is one of the few advantages the unorthodox has over the orthodox. Once they decide on sothing, they take action imdiately.]
Just the day before, Baek Suryong had received a ssage from the Blue-Eyed Freak. The unorthodox sects' eting he had planned with the Valley of Evil as host was now a reality.
Unlike the Nine Sects One Gang, once their interests were aligned, the leaders of the unorthodox sects didn't procrastinate. ssenger pigeons flew back and forth between the various factions in massive flocks, and the ti and location of the eting was decided within days.
Mount Heng, huh?
Mount Heng, the southernmost peak of the Central Plains' Five Great Mountains, was once ho to the Mount Heng Sect. Once a powerful sect that rivaled the Nine Sects One Gang, it had since vanished into the sands of ti, leaving only its na behind in the annals of history. Now, the leaders of the unorthodox sects were due to et secretly there.
Baek Suryong planned to move one step ahead of them.
Before the eting is held, I need to et the Viridian Scholar and win him over.
As of now, he couldn't predict the outco of the unorthodox sects' eting. The worst-case scenario would be the unorthodox sects uniting and siding with the Blood Cult.
The Valley of Evil would, of course, be excluded from that. However, if the tide of the eting turned toward a great war between the orthodox and unorthodox, the resulting destruction would be catastrophic.
[You should have just told Namgung Su the truth.]
[What should I have said? That I'm attending the unorthodox sects eting as a mber of the Valley of Evil? Or that the place I'm going to for a ho visit is the biggest, baddest bandit keep in the Central Plains?]
[Since it's you, you could have easily phrased it more delicately, right?]
Stepping outside the building, Baek Suryong chuckled and patted the sword's hilt. [He's probably already guessed my goal even without explaining. That man is much quicker on the uptake than you think.]
Even though Baek Suryong was leaving the Azure Dragon Academy, he was confident that preparations for the Heavenly Martial Festival would proceed without a hitch. After all, they had Namgung Su, Mae Geuklyom, and Noh Goonsang, as well as many other talented instructors and students.
Since the battle against Deathshroud, he had co to trust and rely on those around him more than before, to the point where he could now leave for a fairly distant place with a light heart.
"The weather's especially nice today."
Baek Suryong lifted his head and looked at the clear sky without a single cloud in sight. The weather was perfect for a long journey.
He had told his students the night before that he was going away for a bit, and left a short letter for Mae Geuklyom and Baek Muheun. If he had told them in person, they would have surely held him up for a while, insisting on packing various things for him. To those two, the concept of Baek Suryong being one of the Ten Supres didn't exist.
Anticipating their nagging, Baek Suryong shuddered. "...I'd better try to return as soon as possible. The later I am, the more harshly they'll scold ."
BOOM!
He kicked off the ground, and his figure instantly vanished, becoming a tiny dot in the distance.
The Jinggang Mountains were a mountain range on the border of the provinces of Jiangxi and Hunan. Famous for its treacherous terrain surrounded by sheer cliffs, it was ho to the Yama Keep.
The Yama Keep was a powerful organization, ranking among the top three of the Seventy-Two Viridian Forest Keeps. Its leader, the Viridian Scholar Ju Pyo, was notoriously known as one of the Ten Great Villains.
Consequently, the Yama Keep was known as the King of Hell in the surrounding region, as its na suggested. Any trading company or escort agency had to pay a toll to safely pass through the mountains.
Baek Suryong arrived at the entrance of the Jingang Mountains.
The Silver Tiger leaped from Baek Suryong's arms, looking several tis more excited than it had in the city.
"Okay, I need you to show the way from here. You rember where you stayed with Suhyeok, right?"
"Nyah!" The Silver Tiger nodded as if to say, 'Leave it to ,' then shot up the mountain path at astonishing speed.
Baek Suryong used his movent arts and followed it leisurely.
"So, where's the Yama Keep?"
Before leaving the Azure Dragon Academy, he had asked Ya Suhyeok for directions to the Yama Keep. Instead of giving him an answer, however, the kid had just handed him the Silver Tiger, saying it would be easier to let the creature guide him than explain the route himself.
"The furball knows how to get there. I took it ho with during the break."
"You think it can rember a path that it has only travelled once before?"
"Well, it is a spirit beast. It managed to explore the entire treacherous Jingang Mountain Range and return to the keep in less than ten days, so I'm quite sure it knows the way there."
After hearing Ya Suhyeok's story, Baek Suryong readily agreed to take the Silver Tiger with him. This little creature was a better guide in the mountains than any bandit or hunter.
However, as one would expect of a cub, its attention span was sowhat limited.
"Grr... NYAAN!"
Startled by the tiny white predator's growl, the animals they encountered fled. The Silver Tiger instinctively started to give chase, but instead found itself dangling and flailing in midair.
Baek Suryong had approached unnoticed and picked up the creature by the scruff of its neck. "Hey, you little rascal! You can play hunter later. How about you guide to the keep first?"
"Nyaaow..." The Silver Tiger tried to squirm free from Baek Suryong's grip, but eventually nodded sullenly, as if to say that it understood.
Once he set it back down, it obediently scaled the mountain in a straight line.
[As expected of a spiritual mountain!] the Divine Azure Dragon Sword remarked. She seed to be in a good mood, likely because the mountain was rich with the energy of nature.
Baek Suryong also admired the rugged mountain terrain. For a powerful martial artist like him, it was an easy hike, but the Jingang Mountains were truly a natural fortress.
Co to think of it... I rember hearing Master Maeng tell about the Jingang Mountains a long ti ago.
"People who don't know any better talk about the Five Great Mountains as if they're the best, but there are many other famous mountains in the world that are just as good, such as the Jingang Mountain Range. The Jingang Mountain Range is one of them. The scenery is stunning, and the natural energy rivals that of the Five Great Mountains. Since the mountains and water are so good, the at from the animals raised here is amazing. Heh. My mouth is watering again. I once stayed there for several months..."
"Master Maeng, if you fell into the Yangtze River, only your mouth would float. Don't you ever get tired of talking?"
"What am I supposed to do when I'm bored? I'll be quiet if you give so more at!"
"At your age, vegetables are better than at. Here, have so more greens."
"I told you I hate greens, you damn punk!"
Maeng Ho'ak was undoubtedly the most well-traveled of the four masters. As the Bandit King of the Viridian Forest, he never stayed in one mountain keep for long. Rather, he road every mountain in the world as if it were his own ho. Wherever he stayed beca his mountain keep.
"...He was born with the spirit of wanderlust."
Master Crazy Demon sumd up Master Maeng's nomadic tendencies in a single phrase.
After the Bandit King, no bandit in the Viridian Forest dared to call himself king. Following his disappearance, the Seventy-Two Viridian Forest Keeps split into several large factions.
This was all the more reason why Baek Suryong wanted to et Ya Suhyeok's adoptive father.
I heard that the Viridian Scholar Ju Pyo is the man closest to claiming the title of Bandit King in the last five decades.
He couldn't help but be intrigued, not only because Ju Pyo was a master with great influence in the Viridian Forest, but also because he was the only bandit who rembered the Bandit King's grand dream.
"One day, I will make the Viridian Forest a great sect on par with the Nine Sects One Gang!"
...Well, I'll find out more when I et him.
Baek Suryong had no intention of judging the man based solely on the rumors about the Viridian Scholar circulating in the jianghu and the stories he had heard from Ya Suhyeok.
"By the way, are you sure you're going the right way?" he asked the Silger Tiger.
"Nyaa?"
Despite following the Silver Tiger steadily uphill, he couldn't see anything resembling a mountain keep no matter where he looked. He couldn't sense any human presence, either.
The surroundings were nothing but sheer cliffs and rocks. Unless the bandits of Yama Keep were all peak masters, building a base in a place like this was impossible.
To make matters worse, a thick fog was beginning to form around them.
[The fog is created by natural energy gathering on its own. This is a rare natural occurrence...]
"Is there a spirit beast hiding nearby?"
[I don't think so. This is simply a phenonon caused by energy stagnating in one place for a long ti. Still, it won't be easy to escape from the fog without so knowledge of formations...]
"Then there's no need to be particularly careful, right?"
POW!
Baek Suryong threw a straight punch toward the fog. Upon contact, the fog scattered in all directions, revealing a clear sky and a cliff. Before the fog could reform, he leaped up the mountain, landed lightly at the summit, and took a deep breath.
"Haaa... Hooooo..."
He took a mont to appreciate nature. The panoramic view of the Jingang Mountains naturally inspired a sense of awe.
"This is nice."
"Nyaah!" However, the Silver Tiger, tugged at Baek Suryong's pant leg, pulling him to the side.
"Hm? What is it?"
Baek Suryong turned to follow the Silver Tiger's pull, only to see a massive boulder.
He froze.
"This is..."
綠林鬪王 (Viridian Forest Bandit King)
Four intricate characters were carved into the massive boulder. The calligraphy, while undoubtedly crude, was so full of spirit that it made up for its lack of refinent.
"Haha..." Baek Suryong let out a hollow laugh, equal parts surprise and fondness.
Master Maeng must have carved this a very long ti ago.
"...You left your mark even in a place like this?"
Looking at the mark his master had left on the world, Baek Suryong recalled his mories of him. Maeng Ho'ak was truly an extraordinary man who road the world's mountains as if they were his ho, leaving his traces in all sorts of mysterious places.
"Hey, kid. If you've got nowhere to go, how about following to the Viridian Forest?"
"...I'll think about it."
"Hey, Crazy Demon. If your clan won't take you back, how about coming to the Viridian Forest?"
"Nonsense."
"Hyung-nim, won't you co to the Viridian Forest with your son? I'll take care of the both of you and make sure you live comfortably for the rest of your lives."
"Hoho! Don't you ever get tired of asking the sa question?"
"Youngest... no, never mind. You should reunite with your beloved and live happily ever after together. I can't bring myself to invite you to the Viridian Forest."
"......"
Everyone responded indifferently, but Master Maeng persistently tried to convince them all to go to the Viridian Forest. Once, when asked jokingly if he was planning to take the world by adding multiple absolute masters to his organization, he had even replied as if the question was the strangest thing he had ever heard.
"What are you talking about? I just thought it would be nice if we all gathered and lived together as one big family."
"If you answer so seriously, what does that make for asking?"
"Pfft!"
Suddenly, Baek Suryong snapped out of his reverie and said to soone behind a boulder, "How long do you plan to stay hidden over there?"
"...Impressive."
A middle-aged man with a beard erged from behind the boulder. Confidence radiated from his tall, handso fra, and his cool, deep eyes held an intensity that could intimidate anyone he t.
Contrary to his appearance, though, he greeted Baek Suryong politely. "My apologies. I wasn't hiding on purpose. This is the first ti soone has climbed up here in thirty years, so I acted without thinking."
The man walked over slowly, his simple steps exuding class and dignity. His green robes, fluttering in the wind, blended so well with the scenery that an ignorant peasant might mistake him for a mountain deity.
"NYAAH!" The Silver Tiger approached the man and rubbed against his feet.
The man picked up the tiger with a practiced ease and stroked its head. "Hey there, little one. It's been a while."
"I thought that I had co to the wrong place, but it seems that the little guy guided correctly after all."
"Please forgive for not being prepared to receive a guest. I didn't expect you to arrive so soon."
"I'm just grateful that you're welcoming an uninvited guest who showed up so suddenly."
Despite the unexpected manner of their eting, the two n greeted each other as if they were old acquaintances.
Baek Suryong followed the Viridian Scholar, Ju Pyo, toward the Yama Keep.
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