Chapter 11

• Let's Never Be the One Who Learns

Far from being old, he was not even twenty yet (currently, Bi Ryu-yeon is nineteen!), yet Bi Ryu-yeon was now freely overusing the word "this old man." Perhaps because of that, his use of vocabulary was being abused, sometimes using it, sometimes not, or using it when he shouldn't and not using it when he should. This was also proof that Bi Ryu-yeon was not yet a complete swindler. Although he had devoted himself to one field of study (the art of deception), the period of two months was a bit too short to completely master, understand, grasp, and apply its deep and wide, ever-changing world. But since no one had noticed that fact yet, Bi Ryu-yeon's fraudulent activities could continue without any hindrance.

"This is all something created by my supreme educational consideration. Given this old man's current status and position, I have very close friendships with various families and sects. There will be people among you who know me very well. However, I do not want to bestow personal favors on specific individuals among you because of such connections. Learning is fair. That is why I have hidden my face and name myself, to ensure fairness in this teaching. Although I have hidden my face and name, if any of you happen to notice this old man's identity through my unique weapons or martial arts, which are like my personal symbols, just pretend you don't know. The connection between you and me that was formed in the past is extinguished as of this moment, and all that remains between you and me is the single connection of master and disciple. Keep that in mind. I have no relationship with you, and we are strangers meeting for the first time. From now on, everything depends on your skills. You will only call me Master from now on. Do you understand? I am nothing else but your master."

"Yes, Master!"

Everyone replied in a resounding voice. Bi Ryu-yeon couldn't have been happier with the sound of "Master" ringing in his ears. He felt as if his whole body was floating. Bi Ryu-yeon especially emphasized the word "Master." It was only natural, as this word "Master" was one of the biggest reasons Bi Ryu-yeon had undertaken this plan.

A powerful, passionate speech poured from the mouth of the fake teacher, Bi Ryu-yeon, and a resounding chorus of voices answered. It was a situation where anyone who knew him would have been surprised and asked, "What on earth did that guy put on his tongue to make it roll so smoothly?" Among the 16 seated members of the Vermilion Bird group, a few naive ones had already been completely taken in by Bi Ryu-yeon's fiery, volcanic speech, and their eyes were sparkling, looking deeply impressed.

The fact that Bi Ryu-yeon had confessed that he was wearing a human-skin mask as soon as he met them was one of his advanced (?) deception techniques. Bi Ryu-yeon had prevented future dangers by letting people know that he was wearing a human-skin mask. This was a high-level deception technique of avoiding a weakness by revealing it to everyone beforehand.

Suppose Bi Ryu-yeon had hidden the fact that he was wearing a human-skin mask and taught people. If, by some chance, he made a mistake, or if some quick-witted person found out that he was wearing a human-skin mask, they would question why he had been deceiving them with a human-skin mask, and he couldn't give a flimsy answer like, "Just because, I was bored..." The fact that Bi Ryu-yeon was teaching them while hiding his identity with a human-skin mask was fundamentally an act that carried a huge weakness. However, if from the beginning he had made them understand with logical grounds why he was hiding his name and teaching them with a human-skin mask, they would not be able to raise any objections about his wearing of the human-skin mask later on. Even if a third party appeared and asked, "Why are you teaching people while hiding your identity with a human-skin mask?", he could just end it by saying bluntly, "So what? I've already told everyone the reason!"

A fact that has already been revealed is no longer Bi Ryu-yeon's weakness. Moreover, by giving a speech using that fact as material, he had already succeeded in instilling a sense of respect in a few of the kids. Looking at the kids who were looking at him with sparkling eyes full of respect—a situation highly suspicious of being an optical illusion—Bi Ryu-yeon felt a sense of reward for his two months of hard study. Overcome with excitement, Bi Ryu-yeon thought that The Art of Deception Even a Monkey Can Do was indeed an excellent book and clenched his fist.

Catching his breath, Bi Ryu-yeon continued to speak with an even calmer expression and voice.

"Then, let's have a time for introductions. You, start by introducing yourself."

The tip of Bi Ryu-yeon's index finger pointed towards Namgung Sang's face, who was sitting at the very front. The designated Namgung Sang shot up and began to introduce himself in a clear voice. He was a model example of a typical model student.

"I am Namgung Sang, the second son of the Namgung family, and I am currently serving as the leader of the Vermilion Bird group. I look forward to your guidance and instruction."

Namgung Sang finished his introduction with a polite bow. It was an introduction that seemed to show a model of how to greet. Of course, Bi Ryu-yeon, who received this polite and courteous greeting, felt like he was bursting with joy. It meant he was in a good mood.

Starting with Namgung Sang, the members of the Vermilion Bird group began to introduce themselves in turn. The Vermilion Bird group was truly a collection of members from various statuses and various sects. The male disciples were Hyeonun from the Wudang Sect, Tang Cheol-yeong, the third son of the Sichuan Tang Clan, Cheongmun from the Qingcheng Sect, Jo Cheon-u from the Mount Hua Sect, Lee Jaryong from the Kunlun Sect, the bald-headed Ilgong from the Shaolin Temple, Geum Yeong-ho, the only son of the Geumho Merchant Guild, said to be the largest merchant guild in the martial world, the beggar No Hak, a disciple of the Beggars' Sect, and Namgung Sang, making a total of 9 men. The female disciples were Tang Mun-hye, the second daughter of the Sichuan Tang Clan and Tang Cheol-yeong's younger sister, Jin Ryeong from the Emei Sect, Namgung Sansan, the eldest daughter of the Namgung family and Namgung Sang's twin sister, Danmok Susu, the eldest daughter of the Danmok family, Moyong Chwi, the only daughter of the Moyong family, Hwa Seorok from the Mount Hua Sect, and Hwangbo Ok-yeon, the eldest daughter of the Hwangbo family, making a total of 7 women.

'Damn it!'

Looking at the male-female ratio of the Vermilion Bird group, Bi Ryu-yeon couldn't help but frown. Was the person who formed this Vermilion Bird group at the Cheonmu Academy a fool? Nine men and seven women; there were two more men than women. It was a composition ratio that was perfect for an incident (?) to occur during the training camp. To prevent such an unpleasant situation that was even uncomfortable to imagine, the number of women should have been at least greater than the number of men, or at the very least, they should have been equal. Of course, even an equal number was dangerous as pairs could form, but it was still better than now. To have not one, but two more men than women. It was worthy of being called the worst composition.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk..."

Bi Ryu-yeon couldn't help but click his tongue with a regretful (?) heart. It was now Bi Ryu-yeon's job to control the wolfish nature that surged when the moon rose, no, even when the moon didn't rise, just when night fell. That's why there was a need to put shackles on the dangerously vigorous wolves. Very heavy shackles...

"Ahem, it's a pleasure to meet you. You and I have now formed a temporary bond of master and disciple. Although it is temporary, in learning, once a master is always a master. From now on, I am your eternal master, and you are my eternal disciples. If you have received any teaching from someone, it means that an unbreakable bond of master and disciple has already been formed. So keep this in mind, do you understand?"

"Yes, Master!"

"Hahaha, yes, yes. To commemorate this, I will give each of you a gift and a souvenir. Please accept it gratefully."

Bi Ryu-yeon swallowed the words 'this is something that cost a tremendous amount of money' with superhuman patience. At Bi Ryu-yeon's words of giving a gift, all the members' faces lit up with joy. It was a law that no one disliked free things. Bi Ryu-yeon opened the lid of a large box placed next to him. It was an ordinary box made of dark wood with no patterns or decorations. At a glance, no, it was actually an ordinary box, but the items inside the box were by no means ordinary or common.

Inside the black box were dozens of bracelet-shaped ink rings of a deep black color, identical to the Ink Dragon Rings currently on Bi Ryu-yeon's wrists. The only difference was that the ink rings in the box did not have the engraved dragon carving. It was because they were mass-produced, so it was too much to even put in a dragon carving.

Bi Ryu-yeon distributed four of these ink rings to each of the Vermilion Bird group members. Since there were 16 members in the Vermilion Bird group, there were a total of 64 ink rings in the box. To make these 64 ink rings, Bi Ryu-yeon had to invest two months of time and the huge sum of 5 gold taels. Only after making them did Bi Ryu-yeon realize that his Ink Dragon Rings were not cheap, and he smiled with satisfaction. And as a bonus, he also made two iron axes and three steel laundry bats made of cast iron. It was a job that blew away half of his blood-like budget. Moreover, it was doubtful whether he could ever get them back.

The Vermilion Bird group members, who each received four ink rings, couldn't help but be horrified. From all over, a variety of screams like 'Ack!', 'Ugh!', 'Oof!' burst out in succession. The weight of the four ink rings they had carelessly received was beyond their imagination, so they felt a pain as if their shoulders were being dislocated. These ink rings were not as heavy as Bi Ryu-yeon's Ink Dragon Rings, but they were an outrageously heavy gift, boasting a weight of 30 kilograms each, for a total of 120 kilograms for four. So it was only natural that everyone was horrified with pale faces.

Looking at the disciples who were horrified just as he had been when he first received the ink rings, Bi Ryu-yeon showed a triumphant smile. This was just the beginning.

---

• The Outrageous Dog Days Beating Fist Method

The blue sky shone as if to plunge people into it, spread out clear and deep, and the cold, transparent valley flowed leisurely along its destined path, making a cool sound without any hesitation.

The sunlight shining through the white cloud fragments floating in the sky shattered on the surface of the transparent valley, creating thousands of golden fragments. As if responding in kind, it was a clear afternoon with a cool breeze blowing, embracing the world. The day was clear, and its power seemed to maximize the vitality of life, but by the water's edge of the valley where the sun was shattering, a different situation was unfolding, unrelated to this beautiful weather.

"Splash, splash."

"Aaaargh. No, not this. This isn't it. What on earth is this?"

This was by no means what she had expected. But the ideals she had dreamed of before coming here had long since scattered futilely like dust on a wardrobe. Her arms were numb, and her back ached stiffly. A terrible pain as if her shoulders were about to be dislocated assaulted her mind through her fine nerves. Her delicate arms, legs, and back continuously sent danger signals to her head, and her mind had long since turned into a kaleidoscope of colors from processing all those danger signals.

Her left hand was holding the laundry placed on a flat rock, and her right hand was tightly gripping a strangely shaped laundry bat. This laundry bat, which had a darkish color different from an ordinary laundry bat, was a steel laundry bat made of cast iron that could shatter a rock in one blow. This steel laundry bat, despite its size, was an incredibly arrogant object weighing 30 kilograms. Perhaps because of that, her hand holding the bat had been trembling continuously from the beginning.

Her name was Tang Mun-hye, a daughter of the Sichuan Tang family, nineteen years old this year. She was a girl of a good age, in her prime both physically and mentally. Born as the daughter of a martial family, she entered the path of martial arts at the age of seven and held a sword, laying the foundation of martial arts by practicing the sword for three years. From the age of ten, she held a whip and began to receive instruction in whip techniques and hidden weapon arts from the Tang family.

At the age of fourteen, she had beaten a sixteen-year-old only son of a certain famous martial arts family half to death after he made a misogynistic remark, saying that a woman should just stay at home and cook and do laundry instead of presumptuously learning martial arts. At the age of sixteen, her skills stood out among the boys and girls of the Sichuan Tang family, and she earned the right to receive the family's secret arts as a woman. She had come to possess the Tang family's secret poison arts, which were said to be "not transmitted to those who are not worthy."

And, at the age of eighteen, she applied to the Cheonmu Academy, the object of envy that everyone in the Jianghu wanted to enter, and passed with flying colors, breaking through the high competition rate and surprising many people. This was because entering the Cheonmu Academy as a woman was an impossible feat without ordinary effort, talent, and skill. And her midterm evaluation score in her second year at the Cheonmu Academy was in the top ranks, so she came to participate in this training camp.

She longed to become much stronger than she was now, and so she had participated in this training camp, which was said to improve one's skills by leaps and bounds after attending, with many fantasies. To become stronger...

To her, laundry, out of the blue? What kind of ridiculous, dog-bone-like nonsense was this? To her, who dreamed of becoming the best female master in the martial world, just laundry? How was that any different from asking the King of Hell to save a person's life?

"Thwack, thwack, thwack! Splash, splash, splash!"

"Mun-hye, the laundry is going to rip. Hit it a little gentler."

Her laundry companion, Danmok Susu, who couldn't bear to watch Tang Mun-hye hitting the laundry as if taking out her anger, stopped Tang Mun-hye, worrying about the ripping laundry.

"Do I look like I'm in a position to hit it gently? I'm about to die of anger as it is."

Tang Mun-hye, who was on the verge of exploding with anger, snapped irritably at the innocent Danmok Susu.

"Still, you have to endure it. What can you do? You have to endure it."

"Am I in a situation where I can just press it down and endure it? Susu, aren't you angry? We've been doing nothing but laundry for over 10 days, just laundry."

"Oh my, just laundry? We did a lot of other things too."

It was Danmok Susu, kindly correcting Tang Mun-hye's slip of the tongue.

"Ugh, that's just a figure of speech. Besides, what on earth are the other things? Stringing beads, gathering wild vegetables, and chopping firewood, which only men do. Aren't they all chores! What does that have to do with martial arts training that they make us do nothing but chores to death? Besides, we had to do all those things while wearing these ridiculously heavy ink rings on our hands and feet. We came here to learn martial arts, not to do hard labor. Do you understand? My whole body hurts, and my bones are aching to death!"

Tang Mun-hye was pouring out all the complaints that had piled up over time in one breath. Having experienced her long-cherished expectations crumble in a single moment, she had become extremely sensitive about everything. It seemed that the complaints that had piled up were more than enough to overflow.

"I'm in pain too, I'm in pain just the same. My arms are trembling, and my whole body hurts so much I'm going crazy. But it's much better than at first, isn't it? At first, we couldn't even move properly."

Danmok Susu said with the heart of a mother soothing a crying child.

"I don't mind my body being tired from training. No, that's what I hoped and wished for. But this isn't it. I really can't stand my body being overworked because of these chores."

Tang Mun-hye's slender eyes narrowed, and a murderous glint flashed in her black pupils. For some reason, Danmok Susu, sitting next to her, felt a spooky chill all over her body.

'My, she seems really angry. She's really like a boiling kettle, that girl.'

Thinking that a murder case might easily break out if she didn't calm Tang Mun-hye down, Danmok Susu carefully opened her mouth again.

"Oh my, but we're not the only ones doing laundry, are we? Other people are doing the same thing. Miss Jin is also cooking up there right now, isn't she! Along with Miss Namgung and Seorok."

It was a story that Jin Ryeong of the Emei Sect, one of the Seven Phoenixes, Miss Jin, and Namgung Sansan of the Namgung family, Miss Namgung, were also preparing meals, which was a chore, and in addition, Hwa Seorok of Mount Hua was also cooking, so you should calm down and endure it now. However...

As if that wasn't enough to calm her anger, Tang Mun-hye's complaints continued. The flames of her anger had not yet been extinguished.

"Still, that's cooking, cooking. That's better. What is this for us? What's with the unsightly laundry? Even if it's the same chore, that's much better. We're not maids, why are we doing laundry?"

Listening to Tang Mun-hye's complaints, Danmok Susu spoke with a cautious face.

"Oh my, Mun-hye. That's because when you took the cooking test, you burned the rice black and made the soup into salt water... Oof!"

Danmok Susu's cautious (?) words were immediately cut off by Tang Mun-hye. As a shameful past of hers came out, she shouted and stopped her.

"Shut up, you burned the side dishes too! Under the pretext of stir-frying vegetables that were chopped so that their shape was completely unrecognizable."

At Tang Mun-hye's abusive words, Danmok Susu began to get a little angry. She had gone to the trouble of kindly explaining the reason why they were in their current situation, and instead of being grateful, she was being insulted with such abusive words... But just because she was a little angry didn't mean she could make the situation worse. For now, she decided to endure it with patience.

"Oh my, even if I didn't learn to cook at home, you don't have to embarrass me like that when we're in the same boat! If you keep complaining like that, how are you going to handle the consequences? Have you already forgotten what happened to Young Master No?"

In that instant, at Danmok Susu's single phrase, "Young Master No," Tang Mun-hye flinched. It was because her body had stiffened with the fear and dread that had consumed her in that fraction of a second. The scene of that day was still vivid before her eyes, the blood of that day that could not be forgotten. If something like that happened to her...? Just imagining it sent a chill through her whole body, her legs trembled, and goosebumps rose on her arms.