The road to Xiangyang was surprisingly uneventful.
To the point where I slightly regretted not letting my senior brothers train, just in case sothing happened.
So after two nights, we went up to the mountains.
In fact, the official road to Xiangyang is well-paved, so you just have to follow that road.
It's a place you can reach in five days even if you walk slowly.
And there are inns and restaurants everywhere on the way, so you don't have to worry about food and lodging.
So it was bound to be boring.
If we had ridden a horse or rented a carriage, we would have arrived long ago.
"Now. Co back after catching your own food within one hour. Go!"
At my words, my senior brothers scattered in different directions.
Hunting is not just an act of getting food, but a good training thod.
Because animals don't just sit still and give up their lives, they run away with all their might.
So, qinggong training naturally happens, and in order to catch the animals that change direction here and there while running away, you have to swing your arms quickly and strongly, which naturally becos training for striking and grappling.
What if you're unlucky and et a wild boar or a bear?
Then you can also do combat training. Of course, you could get seriously injured.
"I wonder what kind of at they'll bring today."
While my senior brothers were away, I started a fire and dug the ground to prepare for camping.
And I sat in the shade of a tree and slowly read the paper with the map and password that Wang Hyeon-seong had given .
"I've been to Xiangyang a few tis... was there a safe house at that location?"
I tilted my head as I looked at the map.
I had traveled around the Hubei province area often in my past life.
Especially just before the war with the Demonic Cult, I was with Un Gwang a lot, so even more often.
So Xiangyang is like my front yard in my mory, but I have no mory of a building being here.
Of course, since it's the Xiangyang of at least twenty years later, it could have disappeared in the anti.
Rustle—
At that ti, I heard the sound of soone rustling through the grass, and when I turned my head, it was Senior Brother Uncheol, who had co with two pheasants, one in each hand.
Since it hadn't even been half an hour yet, I said with a slightly surprised heart, "Senior Brother, how did you get here so early?"
"I was lucky. They were nearby. I was going to catch just one, but I caught two just in case it wasn't enough."
If I were to pick the person who has improved the most since eting , it would naturally be Senior Brother Uncheol.
My senior brother was originally born with a not-bad physique, and he doesn't neglect his training.
Especially since he is a stubborn person by nature, that stubbornness makes him dig into martial arts with integrity, so his enlightennt is also faster than the other senior brothers.
"First, I cut open the belly and buried the intestines in the ground. I was thinking of butchering it all together when the junior brothers co later."
"Okay. Then please rest for a while."
"No. I can't rest. If I eat at, waste products will accumulate, so I have to make my body even more pure."
My senior brother, without even listening to my answer, moved a little away and then, with both hands on his opposite shoulders, began to repeat sitting and standing.
Watching him, I let out a small laugh.
That movent is one of the most effective movents among the movents that have converted the Muscle-Tendon Change Classic learned from Shaolin into a physical art.
Watching Senior Brother Uncheol, whose forehead was already starting to bead with sweat as he sat and stood with only the strength of his muscles without using his internal energy, I was about to tell him that the Muscle-Tendon Change Classic can also be done through qi circulation, but I stopped.
Moving the body in that way also expels turbid qi, but in the end, it also serves as external arts training.
In the martial world, especially in the Wudang Sect, there is a tendency to ignore external arts compared to internal energy.
But I think that external arts training should never be ignored.
Of course, if your internal energy is profound, you can produce a force that cannot be produced with just the body, and you can create unconventional movents such as making your body heavy or light.
You can put energy into your sword to make it sharper, and you can use powers like sword qi, sword silk, and sword aura.
But no matter how splendid a pavilion is, if the ground is not strong, it will eventually collapse.
The body is the solid ground that supports the internal energy.
And in a real battle, it is the strength of the body that allows you to swing your sword one more ti and take one more step, so it can never be ignored.
"Let's do it together."
I naturally stood next to Senior Brother Uncheol and began to sit and stand with him.
After doing that for a little while, Senior Brother Unjeong caught a small rabbit and put it down, then joined us, and then Senior Brother Unsik. Finally, even Senior Brother Unmi joined.
It might look ridiculous for a group of n to be doing this in the mountains, but there would be no one coming anyway, and it doesn't matter if soone sees.
Because being a little embarrassed is much better than being hit by a blind sword later.
"Phew. Now everyone, stop and sit there and do qi circulation. You're recovering your body and building up your internal energy at the sa ti."
My senior brothers, like well-behaved children, sat around the campfire I had started and began to do qi circulation.
As the four of them started to do qi circulation at the sa ti, I let out a small laugh.
How much do these senior brothers trust ?
Usually, you don't do qi circulation in an open space like this.
If you were to pick the most defenseless state for a martial artist, you could pick the ti when you're doing qi circulation.
In fact, this is a more defenseless situation than even when you're sleeping.
Because not only can you be attacked by soone while you're doing qi circulation, but you can also fall into qi deviation if you get lost in thought and have the wrong thoughts.
If you fall into qi deviation, you will at least suffer internal injuries, and if it's serious, you could die.
But my senior brothers are imrsed in qi circulation without a single worry.
Because they firmly believe that I will block them well no matter what happens.
"I guess I have no choice but to prepare dinner."
As I was looking at them, the animals that my senior brothers had caught earlier ca into my sight.
The biggest reason I chose this place as a campsite was because it was close to the water, so I butchered the caught animals, put a flat stone on the fire, and began to grill the at.
By the ti the at was all cooked, my senior brothers began to open their eyes one by one.
Starting with Senior Brother Unmi, who has the smallest internal energy, and then in the order of Senior Brother Unsik and Unjeong.
Even though the three of them had opened their eyes, Senior Brother Uncheol was still in the middle of qi circulation.
"Hwi-ya. Thank you. I'll grill the rest. You rest a little too."
Senior Brother Unmi carefully approached and whispered quietly.
He was trying to make as little noise as possible in consideration of Senior Brother Uncheol, who was still in the middle of qi circulation.
The other two senior brothers are also quietly cleaning up the surroundings and preparing to eat dinner.
They all acted naturally, as if it had been a long ti since they had left Wudang.
As I stood a step away from the fire and looked at my senior brothers, I was suddenly reminded of the old days.
'Is it better to look for them, or not to look for them.'
Even before I t Un Gwang, I had comrades.
Most of them were guys similar to .
Guys who were from humble families or sects and were struggling to survive in the Central Plains and go higher and higher.
There were those who called us wanderers, and there were also those who called us rcenaries.
Because we were people who would do anything for money and results.
What happened to those guys?
...They all died.
For people with ambiguous martial arts, martial arts are no different from hell.
Even if you survive ten, twenty plausible battles, if you're unlucky and get caught in the wrong one, you die, that's the martial world.
We started with six, but the number gradually decreased, and in the end, only I was left, and they all died.
That's probably why I was even more wary of forming relationships with other people.
Because everyone related to had all died.
Un Gwang was a great disciple of Wudang, and he had strong martial arts, so I thought he wouldn't die, so we beca close friends...
'In the end, Un Gwang also died. Right in front of my eyes.'
So I'm worried.
Whether I should find those guys and make them strong like I'm doing to my senior brothers now, or whether I shouldn't form a connection with them at all.
Among those guys, there were definitely those who could have lived a comfortable and satisfied life without wandering the martial world as wanderers.
Because I suddenly have a thought that the reason their end was death was because they t and went on a martial world journey that was not in their fate.
Perhaps the reason I treat my senior brothers so harshly is also...
"Hwi-ya. It's all cooked. Co and eat."
At that ti, Senior Brother Unmi's voice, which broke my thoughts.
When I ca to my senses, Senior Brother Uncheol had also finished his qi circulation and was sitting by the fire.
"What were you thinking about so much? I thought you were doing qi circulation."
Senior Brother Unmi chuckled and handed a simple plate made of a wide leaf with at on it.
I took the plate and said with a grin, "I was thinking about how my senior brothers can survive in this harsh martial world without dying."
At my answer, my senior brothers' complexions turned a little yellow.
They might be cursing inside, wondering what kind of vicious training I've prepared now.
But contrary to my thoughts, Senior Brother Unjeong said as he brought the at to his mouth, "Well, what's there to it? It's training. We just have to get stronger."
"That's right. You taught us the way. What more is there to worry about? We just have to get endlessly stronger."
"Yes. Eating well and resting well is also a part of getting stronger, right? So we have to eat our fill today too."
My senior brothers exchanged a few more words among themselves and then began to concentrate on eating the at.
I looked at my senior brothers for a mont and then I also started to pick up the at diligently.
As I'm doing this, I'm gradually becoming more confident.
Although they are now weak young Taoists of Wudang, if those senior brothers grow up as they are, how much more Wudang will develop in the future.
And that developnt could be the prelude to saving the martial world.
***
After continuing to run, walk, eat, and do qi circulation in the mountains, we were finally able to arrive at Xiangyang.
Xiangyang is a quiet rural village.
The scenery here was not much different from what was in my mory.
The only thing that was different was that when I followed the map, a building I had never seen before was standing there.
'Originally, this place was... just a place overgrown with bushes.'
I had definitely been here before.
No, to be exact, I had passed by this side a few tis.
Although I may look like this, I have a fairly good mory, so I rember clearly, but this is not a place where a building was originally.
That ans only one thing.
That this building had collapsed during the twenty years that had passed.
Then there might have been so debris left, but I might not have discovered it because of the grass that had grown as tall as a person.
Because I didn't have a hobby of suddenly rummaging through overgrown grass.
'For grass to grow that much, one or two years is not enough. It must be at least ten years or more.'
The fact that the safe house had collapsed ans that sothing had happened to the Eungnam rchant Guild... no, to be exact, to Wang Hyeon-seong.
And that ti will not be far off.
I don't know if we have averted that fate by coming here, or if our coming here is a part of that fate.
So, with the thought of completing Wang Hyeon-seong's request for now, I approached the door and was about to knock on the door.
Chaeng-gang!
The sound of weapons clashing was heard over the wall.
I instinctively looked back at my senior brothers.
Perhaps because they had also heard it clearly, they all had surprised faces.
"Everyone, don't make a sound."
As I whispered lowly, my senior brothers, as if in response, began to breathe quietly.
When I looked up at the wall, it was a height that even my senior brothers could probably jump over.
First, I jumped up and grabbed the wall as if I were doing a pull-up, and only my eyes peeked out.
There was no one to be seen inside.
I gave my senior brothers a look to follow and jumped inside the wall.
(End of Chapter)
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