Chapter 12

• Let's Never Be the One Who Learns

No Hak, a direct disciple of the Beggars' Sect, age 19. Gender: Male.

The day that incident occurred was the fourth day after they had arrived here. The person who had ordered them to call him Master seemed, for some reason, a bit—no, very—eccentric. On the first day, the Master gave them ridiculously heavy ink rings. That was fine, but after that, the person called Master said that due to an unavoidable accident, he was unable to receive the training camp support funds from the Cheonmu Academy. Then he said that money was needed to teach the members, so they should pay up immediately. Of course, he said it in a very roundabout way, but the conclusion was the same.

It was absurd. It was truly a dumbfounding event. They had come from the Cheonmu Academy to the entrance of Mount Emei on horseback. Since the distance between Mount Emei and the Cheonmu Academy was quite far, they had come on horseback to save time and energy.

After arriving here, they wouldn't be using the horses for several months, so they decided to sell all the horses to a stable. At that time, Geum Yeong-ho was in charge of the sales negotiation, and his skills were so great that he was able to sell them for a very high price. It was a satisfactory transaction for both parties. It was a moment when the business skills he had learned at home came into effect. Thanks to that, everyone's income was quite substantial.

However, their pockets were full for only a moment before they were all emptied. Since they had sold each horse for over 10 silver taels, he had collected a good 160 silver taels. Moreover, he didn't just take the money from selling the horses. The person called Master had taken more than two-thirds of the money that the children from quite wealthy and influential families had been given for their long journey. The only reason was that money was not needed for training.

He said that money is a demonic object that clouds a person's eyes and disturbs the mind, hindering training, so it's better not to carry it on one's body, and he collected everyone's money and valuables as if it were nothing. However, they had nothing to say in rebuttal. It wasn't that he was wrong. They were bodies that had come here for martial arts training and practice, and the person collecting their money in front of their eyes, although a bit suspicious, was someone who might make them even stronger.

The person who was hit the hardest was, of course, Geum Yeong-ho. It was only natural, as his status was that of the only son of the Geumho Merchant Guild, which vied for the top 1-2 spots in the business world. Just looking at his attire, the difference from the others was clear. A high-quality purple silk robe that was hard to obtain, a magnificent tiger embroidered on the sleeves with golden thread, and a golden jade belt studded with sparkling jewels tied around his waist.

A flamboyant scabbard decorated with gold and jewels hung from that jade belt, and a priceless treasured sword with a golden tassel was stuck in it. If there was one thing to be desired, it was that his face didn't quite match, creating a strange discord with the purple silk fabric, which was said to be choosy about its wearer. Purple was the color of a nobleman and was very particular about the person. If a tall, handsome nobleman wore it, there was no color more fitting and noble, but for someone like Geum Yeong-ho, whose cheeks were a bit plump, it was a color no different from poison that made one want to refuse it.

In any case, the common thought of everyone except Geum Yeong-ho was that he looked really expensive. Geum Yeong-ho had everything confiscated except for his clothes and sword. Since he had a lot, he naturally had a lot taken away. It was an amount that easily surpassed four times that of the others. The only ones who didn't pay any extra money besides the money from selling the horses, or rather, couldn't pay, were Hyeonun of Wudang and No Hak of the Beggars' Sect. Since the Wudang Sect considered frugality a virtue, they had not given Hyeonun any money for this training trip other than travel expenses. As for No Hak, his profession was literally a beggar, so he was a penniless beggar from whom nothing would come out even if you shook him down. Tang Mun-hye clearly remembered that the Master's eyes were unusual as he looked at them, who had nothing to pay. Though she couldn't quite understand the meaning of that gaze.

Did the Master, who had collected—or rather, extorted—money from them like that, teach them anything properly? Not at all. The things they did from the next day on were things that were too embarrassing to even speak of.

On the second day.

The fake master, Bi Ryu-yeon, called them to the training ground in the backyard of the lodging. For some reason, Bi Ryu-yeon's face was all smiles, and the smile never left his face. It was because the income he had collected yesterday was not insignificant.

"I won't say it twice. From today, we will enter the full-scale training course. Everyone, keep your wits about you. Do you understand!"

"Yes, Master!"

A resounding voice filled the training ground. But none of the 16 of them knew that a pit deeper than hell was wide open and eagerly welcoming them. That was their misfortune.

The first thing Bi Ryu-yeon did was to pick the meal duty. He said that preparing meals was the women's share and decided to pick from among the female members. At this time, one of the challengers, the heroine of the Sichuan Tang Clan, Tang Mun-hye, completely and utterly burned the rice, making the eyes of the farmers who had cultivated the grain with their blood, sweat, and tears flow with tears of blood. Danmok Susu, the daughter of the famous Danmok family, chopped the precious side dishes so much that their shape and reason for existence were unrecognizable, and then, as if not satisfied, she burned all the debris and fragments, eradicating the evidence that they had ever existed in this world. It was a waste of precious rice and side dish costs.

Bi Ryu-yeon was furious and reprimanded them, purely because he was upset about the cost of the burned rice and side dishes. At this time, Tang Mun-hye's excuse, when she was being reprimanded for her mistake, was also a sight to behold.

"I was just confused about whether the rice came first or the water, so I made a mistake!"

she said, making the surroundings even more dumbfounded. At this time, Danmok Susu, who was being reprimanded next to her, quietly kept her mouth shut and exercised her right to remain silent, personally practicing the old saying, "If you keep your mouth shut and stay still, you'll at least be in the middle." It was truly a commendable act. In any case, Tang Mun-hye and Danmok Susu failed the test and ended up having to do laundry by the stream.

After various twists and turns, Jin Ryeong, Namgung Sansan, and Hwa Seorok, who had apparently received bridal lessons somewhere and made proper food that humans could eat, moving everyone, were chosen for meal duty. The other two women, Hwangbo Ok-yeon and Moyong Chwi, had to roam the mountains to gather edible wild vegetables. It was a method Bi Ryu-yeon had come up with to save on food expenses.

For Bi Ryu-yeon, who had endured a dizzying amount of bleeding expenses, saving was the only way to live. First was saving, second was saving, and third was saving. And what was next? It was, of course, 'exploitation.'

Bi Ryu-yeon explained in detail to Moyong Chwi and Hwangbo Ok-yeon about edible plants and inedible plants, then gave them a few wild vegetables as samples and ordered them to go up the mountain and gather them. At this time, he sent Tang Cheol-yeong of the Tang Clan with them as a guide and a competent medicinal herb collector.

As a direct descendant of the Sichuan Tang Clan, famous for its poison and hidden weapons, Tang Cheol-yeong had an exceptional knowledge of poisonous and medicinal herbs, and he had a deeper and more extensive knowledge of the efficacy and use of plants than anyone else. That's why he had sent Tang Cheol-yeong with them, telling them to gather medicinal herbs along with the wild vegetables. Of course, the collected medicinal herbs were scheduled to be sold to the village's pharmacy and clinic. However, gathering wild vegetables was not an easy task.

Isn't Mount Emei a rough mountain? It is a rough mountainous area that proudly occupies a spot among the five great mountains of the Central Plains, which are famous for being rugged. Moreover, with ink rings weighing 30 kilograms each on their wrists and ankles, at first, they could barely even stir, let alone move. It was by no means an easy task to climb a steep mountain path carrying a ridiculously heavy load of 120 kilograms in total. Tang Cheol-yeong and the two women had to crawl around the mountain. Perhaps because of that, there was almost no harvest on the first day. The fact that they returned safely was a commendable act worthy of praise.

This situation was the same for the meal duty and laundry duty members. Unable to handle the weight of the ink rings on their wrists, the side dishes were severely cut under the tyranny of the precarious kitchen knife—the expression 'hacked to pieces' would be more fitting—so in this situation, proper cooking could not come out. Naturally, the dishes ended up in a very strange state.

The fact that the cutting board maintained its shape was amazing enough, so one can imagine the situation. The cutting board, which had preserved its shape but lost its function—its surface was all cracked, making it seem impossible to use a second time—was of no other use than as firewood. Still, the fact that they had overcome such adverse conditions and produced food that humans could eat was something they deserved to be praised for. But they were not praised.

They had to eat not only the edible food but also whatever came out, no matter how grotesque and terrifying its form. In fact, it was nothing short of a terribly inhumane torture. The series of acts of food consumption was not an act for survival, but seemed like an act to die. At least, the fact that they didn't die after eating was something for which their tenacious life force was praiseworthy. That's how terrible it was. Of course, there was no way Bi Ryu-yeon would have praised them in such a situation. Bi Ryu-yeon had to leave them, who were struggling not to die after eating, and prepare a separate meal just for himself.

Especially, Bi Ryu-yeon, despite wearing a human-skin mask, ate his meal silently with an expression as if he had chewed on a bitterwood tree. How heart-wrenching it must have been for the soft-hearted girls to see him like that.

Still, Namgung Sang, while eating the food made by Jin Ryeong and the other meal duty members, whether he was being sincere or just flattering, did not spare his words of comfort, saying,

"It's very delicious. I'd like to have more!"

Although he felt the stinging gazes of those around him, Namgung Sang tried his best to ignore them. He couldn't stop his face from turning red, but what could he do?

While the female members were like this, there was no way the male members had a smooth day. No, for the reason that they were men, they had to spend a more difficult and arduous day than the women. The work Bi Ryu-yeon ordered the men to do was simple and brutish physical labor. The first thing Bi Ryu-yeon instructed was to go up the mountain, get wood, and then chop that wood.

But that was not an easy task. There were only two axes, but those axes also boasted a brutish weight of at least 60 kilograms each. They couldn't even handle the weight of the ink rings on their wrists properly, so it was a situation where they were worried if they could even lift the axes properly.

It was a situation where they had to draw out all the internal energy they had and squeeze out even the strength they had when they were suckling—to put it learnedly, 'pre-heaven qi'—just to be able to barely lift the axes and make a show of chopping firewood.

The men, for their part, and the women, for theirs, had to use not only all their strength but also the strength they had before they were suckling, otherwise it was difficult to digest even a very small part of the work Bi Ryu-yeon demanded. Thanks to that, on the first day, everyone only managed to fill one-third of their quota and target amount, and the quota was all postponed to the next day—Bi Ryu-yeon was not one to just let it end there if they couldn't finish it that day—so the work to be done the next day just piled up.

The next day, all the male and female members had to suffer from hellish full-body muscle pain as a aftereffect of the previous day—also the price of the previous day's labor. They too experienced the desperate pain that Bi Ryu-yeon had to taste a few years ago. A single day of reckless labor was a moment that made nearly 20 years of training and polishing seem pale.

Martial arts are by no means something that can be learned automatically by just reading a secret manual once, swinging a sword once, throwing a punch once, and stomping a foot once. One must constantly train to build a body that can withstand the training and reaction force of martial arts, and one must also accumulate the power of heaven and earth in the body through steady true qi breathing and mental concentration. That's how much the path of martial studies is a continuous process of bone-grinding endurance and effort. They, who had walked the path of martial arts, could not endure a single day of labor. It was a moment that made their 20 years of training seem pale, and it was also the first frustration they had experienced.

What Bi Ryu-yeon made them do when he gathered them all in the evening was to string beads. While teaching them this bead-stringing, which he was still continuing as a side job, unable to resist his master's nagging, he showed them the same demonstration that his master had shown him. He too could throw 20 beads into the air and, in an instant, pierce the small holes in the center of the beads with a silver needle, skewering all the beads. It had been a long time since Bi Ryu-yeon had acquired the skill to make a bead necklace with a single move.

If you show a demonstration of this level of difficulty, anyone is bound to be surprised. Because it is by no means an ability that just anyone can do. It really seemed that everyone was surprised. Bi Ryu-yeon couldn't have found the exclamations of admiration bursting out from here and there any sweeter. He felt great. He savored once more if this was the feeling his master had felt when he had looked at his master with the eyes of a startled rabbit.

Finally, everyone tried their hand at bead-stringing, but there was no one who could string even a single bead with a silver needle. It seemed that the person who received the most mental shock from this was Tang Cheol-yeong from the Sichuan Tang family. Tang Cheol-yeong couldn't help but be very surprised after trying the bead-stringing himself.

Who was Tang Cheol-yeong himself? He was a direct descendant of the Sichuan Tang Clan, born as the third son of the main family. The Tang Clan was a renowned family of poison and hidden weapons that everyone in the Jianghu knew. There was no bold sect or martial artist who dared to discuss poison and hidden weapons in front of their Sichuan Tang Clan. It was because they valued their lives. Everyone values their own life, so they were always careful with their words and actions. That's how deep the Tang Clan's knowledge of poison and hidden weapons was, and their skills were recognized by everyone in the Jianghu.

The foremost secret art of the Tang Clan, which was recognized as the best in the Jianghu, was undoubtedly the hidden weapon arts. No one could deny that the hidden weapon arts, along with the poison arts, were the number one contributors that made the Sichuan Tang Clan exist today.

Then, what is the most necessary ability to learn hidden weapon techniques? It is outstanding eyesight and fast hand speed. Of course, the power of the internal energy imbued in the hidden weapon is also important. If the internal energy is insufficient, the killing power of the hidden weapon will decrease, and then one will have to rely on poison or chemicals. That was a shameful thing for a Tang Clan martial artist. Because they prided themselves on using poison and hidden weapons separately.

The reason the martial world recognized the Tang Clan as a prestigious orthodox sect was that they did not engage in the cheap act of applying poison to finely made microscopic hidden weapons. That's how essential the training of eyesight was in learning hidden weapons.

Of course, Tang Cheol-yeong himself was confident that he had gone through all of that training process. Only when one could not only read the characters written on a flying chopstick but also read the characters written on a spinning wheel could one be given the opportunity to hold a hidden weapon. One could then begin to handle hidden weapons in earnest. Before that, the Sichuan Tang Clan was a place with strict rules that did not even allow one to go near hidden weapons.

The fast hand movements that were required along with outstanding eyesight were obtained through steady training. Of course, the Tang Clan had also developed various training methods to obtain even faster hand speed and faster speed to further develop their hidden weapon arts, and they were still steadily researching and developing them. It was an unparalleled shame that he, a direct descendant of such a Tang family, could not string a single bead thrown into the air.

Still, perhaps because he had learned a thing or two, he seemed a little better than the others. There were plenty of members who couldn't even see the shadow of the hole. Tang Cheol-yeong, having received professional training in hidden weapons and eyesight, was able to capture the center of the spinning bead, albeit faintly, not clearly.

But what good was it if his eyes could follow? His body, no, the hands attached to his body, could not follow it. The ink rings on his wrists clung to him like shackles and interfered with the work. But no matter how restricted his hands were, the fact that he had not succeeded even once was still a shameful thing.

His sister, Tang Mun-hye, must be feeling the same emotion. A shame that made one want to bite one's tongue and die... He had no choice but to console himself by thinking that she was probably in the same state of mind as him right now.

The first day of full-scale training, which had begun after experiencing various hardships—it was only the first day of full-scale training in name. Although everyone was seriously doubting that fact—passed like this. Fortunately, everyone was still alive.

"Oh, you're still alive? Was the intensity too weak? You can look forward to tomorrow. Today was too weak. It was just a taste!"

It was a single phrase that made the hair of the 16 Vermilion Bird group members, who were sprawled out like water-soaked rags, stand on end. Thanks to that, the entire Vermilion Bird group had to fall into serious contemplation between the personal suicide they could commit today and the homicide that would occur tomorrow.

The next day, as foretold, was a world where hell and the muscle pain of hell continued. The third day, the fourth day, and the day after that were all the same. Everyone was feeling deep in their bones what 'a day feeling like a thousand years' meant. A single day of enduring the hellish muscle pain felt as long as a thousand days. Their patience was also slowly crumbling. And finally, something happened.