The day I became the disciple of the Ghastly Monster, I had a drink after a long time.
Hae Ack-chun was excited after getting a disciple for the first time, so we all went down to the bottom of the mountain and brought the alcohol. He threatened that he wouldn’t let us sleep until we emptied it all.
But Hae Ack-chun was weaker than I thought. He didn’t even drink a couple glasses, and he already looked like he was down and out.
And he would recount the past days of his youth, shed tears, and talk about meeting women he longed for.
Usually, skilled people could control poison in their bodies. But this old man said that alcohol was meant for one to get drunk on and that he wouldn’t use his internal qi to remove the effect.
This felt like having drinks with a squad leader. Occasionally, funny things would come up. But that was a trap.
“Puah!”
“You smiled?”
‘…?!’
Song Jwa-baek, who burst into laughter, was punched on the spot.
Maybe that made him come to his senses. The bruise on his eyes and the nervous way he drank the alcohol proved it. Everyone was a long way from being normal in front of this man.
I was so hungover the following day that I couldn’t do anything. I realized I couldn’t do anything, so I decided to sharpen the blade of Iron Sword to soothe its mood.
-Shhh!
The rusted parts would have to be worked on by a blacksmith, but it wasn’t too difficult to sharpen the blade.
-Ah, right there…
At first, he acted all moody, but now he seemed to be liking it. I wanted to tell him to shut up, but for the sake of the cause, I decided to let him enjoy it.
-Haaa, soo good…
Clench!
-Kuak!
Ah, sorry.
My hand clenched on its own. However, the blade wasn’t damaged at all.
“What are you doing right from the morning?”
I turned my head at the sound of a voice next to me. It was Song Jwa-baek, whose face was still swollen from emptying the drinks last night.
One eye was also still black.
“Why are you speaking without honorifics? Especially to your sahyung?”
At my words, he shouted.
“Yah! What sahyung? The only difference is the number of times we bowed.”
Yesterday, Hae Ack-chun was in front of us, so he couldn’t speak and went along with it. But he seemed miserable about me being his sahyung.
“So who became the disciple first?”
Be it half a day or half a minute, if one came first, they were sahyung.
“Yah. Are you going to act rudely? You owe me your life.”
“Ah? Owe?”
“Right. Thanks to me, your life got saved, so let’s just be disciples.”
He didn’t want to call me his sahyung.
“That is true.”
“Right? Huh. Then let’s be friends. You tell the teacher too.”
I smiled at him and said,
“Okay. Then call me master.”
“What?”
“I won the match, remember?”
“No. It was a draw.”
“If the teacher hadn’t intervened in the middle, you would have crossed into the other world by crossing over the Sanzu river. Do you realize that?”
“T-that…”
The Sanzu River was a river that was often thought to lead to the underworld.
After hearing my words, Song Jwa-baek tried to catch me by my throat. His internal wounds were healed, so it could have been my words burning inside him.
“Still, in terms of internal qi, I am ahead of you!”
“Continue to say that. But did you lose? Or did you not lose?”
Clench!
As this exchange continued, I noted that he seemed exhausted. Still, seeing that he didn’t insist on winning, it felt like he had a clear view of how the fight went. Song Jwa-baek, who had been staring at me for a long time, trembled and said,
“… Sahyung.”
“What?”
“Sahyung.”
“Ah… I cannot hear you. Maybe my ears aren’t working well? What was that?”
“Oh! Sahyung!”
And he screamed, unable to hold back his anger, and lay down.
I smiled at that. He wasn’t even cute to look at. And ten years from now, they would become known as the notorious White and Black Swift Twins.
“Shit. I was ahead in internal qi…”
He kept complaining. Maybe it was because he knew I was listening.
-Wonhwi. You wouldn’t be able to say something like that if you weren’t taught all of that either.
If Song Jwa-baek heard this, he’d probably be shocked.
I was fighting with half my instincts, and if Hae Ack-chun intervened a little later, I too would have done my best to take him down.
-What would be the result if I used the completed Xing Ming Sword?
‘Well.’
I have no skills, and I had returned to when I was 15 and weak. I have more innate qi than internal qi. Wouldn’t I have used up all my innate qi?
-It would have been you using up all your skills.
As Iron Sword said, I would have ended up using the perfect Xing Ming Sword technique.
Until I hit the 3rd level in innate qi, I needed to take time and polish my cultivation. However, from the start, I was in the 4th level, which was entirely different.
It was said that it takes longer to develop because of the realization of the qi, or it could also be short, depending on the opponent’s perspective.
‘How long will it take me to grow?’
The level that the South Heavenly Swordsman climbed to.
He reigned around in Yunnan. Although it wasn’t known officially since he didn’t enter a sect, he was someone who could have had the best cultivation.
-It is up to you, Wonhwi.
‘I will have to work twice harder.’
At least in order to not bring shame to him.
-That’s a good resolve. With that resolve, touch the blade once again…
“Kulkul.”
And then I heard that familiar voice from the entrance of the cave.
“I see that you are awake.”
Hae Ack-chun was back and seemed to be in a better mood than usual.
“You are lucky.”
“Uh?”
“Let’s go,”
“What do you mean?”
I couldn’t understand him, but the man approached me, put me on his side, and walked out.
How long did I have to smell this stinky man? He carried me like some bag and went down the mountain instead of heading to the top.
Normal people would be terrified, but now I was too used to this, so I asked in a normal voice.
“Teacher, where are we going?”
“To get your dantian fixed.”
“Uh?”
Did he just say to fix my dantian? Is he saying that it was possible?
In front of me was a black tiled roof with red pillars. This was the entrance of the main building of the Six Blood Valley.
The place where Gu Sang-woong, the commander and his subordinates, stayed.
Despite being here for a long time, this was the most recent time I was coming here. The last time I came here was when I was brought into the cult.
Two low-ranking warriors greeted us.
“Long Live the Blood Cult!”
They were surprised to see Hae Ack-chun, but then they looked at me with puzzled eyes.
Well, a guy dressed as a trainee is coming with one of the most influential people of the cult, so anyone would be shocked.
“Follow me.”
“Yes.”
I entered the hall alongside the man. Upon entering, I saw a two-story inner building with a large yard.
‘Uh?’
There was an old-fashioned carriage in the yard with six women around it with their faces covered in cotton cloths.
In addition to the women, there were 20 or so middle-rank warriors. Judging by the atmosphere, they didn’t seem to be of the Blood Cult.
People of the Blood Cult were often terrified when they saw Hae Ack-chun, but these people didn’t even recognize him.
Tatata!
At that moment, someone rushed from the front of the building.
She was Hae Ok-seon, a female leader. She came to the front with an expression and eyes full of shock.
“Elder! Didn’t I tell you that now isn’t a good time?”
Hae Ok-seon seemed to have run out to stop us from entering, and the man said,
“Huh! Not a good time!”
“T-that…”
At his question, she hesitated but failed to find a correct answer. The opponent was Hae Ack-chun. No one in the position of a leader could disobey the man.
“Are you going to block my way?”
“No. Elder. It isn’t that…”
“Huh!”
Well, what else can someone with the name of Ghastly Monster do? Ignoring her embarrassment, he shouted out loud.
“Is the Great Doctor of the Ten Thousand Deaths here?”
‘…!’
What was that?
Now I knew why he had called me.
‘Today is the day!’
-Is this the day you spoke of? The arrival of that noble man?
Short Sword must have remembered my words.
‘Right.’
I came here a little over 6 months back in my past life, so the timing was right. This had to be the way to save my dantian.
Now I was at the place that I had only heard rumors about.
“Elder… if this happens, then…”
Drrr!
The door to the two-story building opened. Two people came out of it, one was Gu Sang-woong, and the other was a woman I had never seen before.
At first glance, she looked like a grim reaper.
Pale face, purple lips, and sharp eyes. No one would approach her with only her face visible and garbed all in black.
-Doesn’t she look a little old?
As Short Sword said, she looked to be in her mid to late 40s.
Yet, she looked beautiful, contrary to the eerie feeling she was giving out.
Tak!
The woman with cold eyes walked toward Hae Ack-chun.
“It has been so long. Elder.”
Hae Ack-chun smiled.
“Kulkul, you were a noble? Even though years have passed, you still look so pretty. Bloody Hand Witch.”
‘B-Bloody Hand Witch?’
When I found out who she was, I was shocked.
Han Baekha, the Bloody Hand Witch.
She was one of the Seven Blood Stars in the cult and 6th in the overall rankings.
The high-ranking members of the Blood Cult, who were a rarity to even see, were now in front of me. Knowing her identity, I was ready to bow. But as I was about to bend my knees, someone grabbed me by the collar.
And I can’t bow.
“What are you doing?”
The person holding me by the collar is Hae Ack-chun. And he had a dissatisfied expression as he shook his head.
“How can you bow down to someone when I am right next to you?”
“Ah!”
For a moment, I almost made a mistake.
The Bloody Hand Witch, Han Baekha said.
“If he is a trainee of the cult, he should be bowing to us, don’t criticize him too much.”
Hearing her words, Hae Ack-chun laughed.
“Criticize? Are you saying that a guy who is my disciple is to leave my side and bow to everyone with a higher position?”
As soon as he said that, everyone went silent and looked at me. Even Han Baekha looked a bit taken aback as she spoke.
“You took in a disciple?”
Ahh…
This was an unexpected announcement. Now the world knows that I was the first disciple of the Ghastly Monster, Hae Ack-chun.
-Oh my. Look at you being shocked.
Short Sword chimed in.
