Chapter 26

Lightning Degree — raeinovels.com · All chapters

Chapter 26

A Letter of Departure from Your Disciple

Your disciple has grown to be twenty years of age.
For a man of twenty to not have seen the world is truly a shameful thing!
Your disciple will now go out into the world to see it,
And to look back upon myself.
I will now go out into the world, make your name renowned,
And return after bringing glory to our sect's name.

A goddess of white descended from the heavens, enveloping the surroundings, and the crystals that fell flake by flake covered the entire earth like a blanket.

It was the beginning of winter on Mount Emei, a harsh day with the first snow falling, but the valley stream had not yet lost its vigorous movement and continued to flow. The seemingly rough waterfall also continued to fall, regardless of the might of General Winter. However, the rocks surrounding the valley had already been covered by the crystals of white snow and were holding their breath as if to begin their hibernation.

The valley, filled with a cold chill; the winter valley is filled with a coldness as deep as its dark, indigo abyss, always ready to breathe out a frigid air to anyone who approaches. Even in the summer weather, one could feel a biting cold deep within the body, so what more needs to be said about winter...

A small ripple formed on the surface of the quiet valley pond. At first, it was about the size of a circle made by touching the thumb and index finger. But around the small, tiny ripple, a slightly larger ripple formed again, and on top of that, another ripple, one by one, two by two, the process of drawing circles of ripples was repeated dozens of times. Soon, a ripple with a diameter of about 1.5 meters formed again. From the largest ripple that formed last, a spiral vortex was created from the center, and it caved in like a spinning top rotating on the central point as its axis.

In the quiet winter valley pond, a rough whirlpool was just about to be born. If one were to follow the laws of nature, a whirlpool should not exist in this pond. The fact that it existed where it should not exist told that this whirlpool was not a harmony of nature but an artificially created phenomenon.

The spiral of the whirlpool gradually became rougher and more powerful. However, the spiral vortex, which seemed to suck in and crush everything, suddenly faltered at some point. With that, the top made by the water's rotational force lost its movement. As the rotational force and speed suddenly decreased, the whirlpool gradually lost its power. At this time, a human figure burst out from the center of the gradually shrinking and disappearing whirlpool spiral, breaking through the rings of ripples. It was a young man.

"Ke-ek, kek! Keok! Heo-eok, heo-eok!"

The young man, who had fallen to the water's edge, knelt on the earth and gasped for breath, his hands on the ground. It was a rough and irregular breath that looked painful. His complexion was also pale, making him look even more exhausted. He seemed to have been holding his breath for a long time, as he let out irregular and painful breaths without rest. His face was pale like a person who had exhausted all the energy accumulated in his body, and his four limbs were limply drooping like cotton soaked in water.

The young man, who had been letting out rough breaths for a while, made his body into the shape of a large '大' character on the white crystals covering the earth and fell flat on his back. His rough breathing had not yet subsided. The young man who had burst out from the middle of a valley whirlpool in the cold winter was none other than the sole successor of the current Flying Thunder Sect, and the one and only disciple of the current Flying Thunder Sect's master. He was also the Flying Thunder Sect's maid, cook, and housekeeper, as well as its one and only source of labor.

The labor force here refers to the ability to earn an income in exchange for labor. If it weren't for him, his old master would not be able to drink alcohol, would have to cook his own meals, would have to get his own side dishes, and would have to earn his own money to manage the household. It was only because of that young man, that is, Bi Ryu-yeon, that the world's most comfortable master could laze around and eat for free without hunting or gathering, or managing the household. In that sense, Bi Ryu-yeon was a very grateful existence to his master.

Bi Ryu-yeon calmed his rough breathing, letting the snowflakes falling from the sky hit his body, and stared blankly at the silvery sky from which white dots were falling with a steady gaze.

"Heo-eok, heo-eok! Huk... huk, tsk!"

Bi Ryu-yeon let out a sound like a child's whining after his rough breaths, as if he was dissatisfied with something. He made a very dissatisfied expression, as if something was very wrong, and continued to look only at the sky with a regretful look.

'Does this mean it's still impossible for me to obtain the power of the Thunder God... Heo-eok, heo-eok.'

Muttering words of unknown meaning, Bi Ryu-yeon looked at the sky as if in protest. The sky, surrounded by silver, felt beautiful. Lying on the cold earth, Bi Ryu-yeon fearlessly closed his eyes.

The Thunder God! The divine being who controls lightning! It is the ultimate and final power of the Flying Thunder Dagger. But with his current body, he could not even obtain it, let alone perform it. Bi Ryu-yeon thought that at this rate, there might be no more progress. He could understand it in his head. But he just couldn't do it with his body. He knew the principle and the method, but he could not execute it.

The state Bi Ryu-yeon was in now was, so to speak, like a person who knew the path to take but could not take it because the path was too rough and arduous. When he has the strength to walk up that rough road, controlling his body and mind without succumbing to the roughness and hardship, Bi Ryu-yeon will finally be able to obtain the power of the Thunder God he so desired. The power of that final end...

But he could not walk now. Was he discouraged because he could not obtain the ultimate thing he had to obtain? If one wanted to turn one's back on the world at a young age, there was nothing one couldn't do, but there might be few methods as good as being buried in the snow wearing clothes soaked in water in the middle of winter. This is because there are many cases where if you fall asleep, you go into a state where you don't even know if you are alive or dead. That is why people who are stranded in the mountains in winter encourage each other and slap each other's cheeks to not lose consciousness and not fall asleep. Because sleep without any countermeasures in the winter mountains is directly connected to death.

From this, it might be that Bi Ryu-yeon was now practicing a very wise and useful method for a comfortable suicide. He stretched out his four limbs in a large '大' character, lay on the pure white blanket, drank the cold air, and stared blankly at the silvery sky. He was in the middle of practicing a perfect method to bid farewell to the world and pay his respects at the gates of the underworld. Perhaps, had he lost his fear? That couldn't be. Because it was impossible for a fear that had never existed since ancient times to suddenly appear and then disappear again. Something that didn't exist couldn't disappear. One by one, snow flowers fell on his body and covered him. Looking at the snowflakes piling up layer by layer, Bi Ryu-yeon felt a coolness and comfort rather than coldness and chill.

Bi Ryu-yeon's body quietly sank into the blanket of snow that shone like silver. Bi Ryu-yeon's incomprehensible act, like a guy who was crazy to die, was enough to fluster even the heavens. Bi Ryu-yeon had not yet stopped the thinking activity called 'thought.' Fortunately, his mind seemed to be intact. Soon, New Year's Day would begin. The present would end and a new beginning would unfold. As he was hit by the snow that the celestial fairies were scattering to announce winter, Bi Ryu-yeon fell into deep thought.

'New Year's Day... It will be time soon, the time to leave...'

Muttering strange words that only he could understand, Bi Ryu-yeon buried his body in the snow. Thinking it was cozy, Bi Ryu-yeon sought sleep. A cool, cozy, and sweet sleep... The snow continued to fall, and finally, Bi Ryu-yeon's body disappeared from the ground. He had been buried in the snow. Like a child sleeping under a pure white cotton blanket, Bi Ryu-yeon's form completely disappeared into the blanket made of pure white crystals. The snow continued to fall. It was the first snow.

'Aaaargh! The... Thunder-Sealing Box... Thunder-Sealing Box is gone.'

It was a very confusing and shocking event. The vicious master, in the face of such an absurd, dumbfounding, and shocking event, could not even get angry and just stared blankly at a single letter. The black smudges on the white background seemed to be letters.

It was the only thing his disciple had left behind. But although he had left one thing, he had taken more than one or two. That made the master's heart ache even more. Thunder-Sealing Box was gone. The Thunder Zither and Ink Thunder were also gone. It was something that could not and should not have happened. A guy who had just finished the succession ceremony not long ago, a guy who had not even finished the transmission ceremony yet, had taken the sect's most secret treasure, the treasure of treasures, the sect's ultimate treasure, Thunder-Sealing Box, and left. In the history of the Flying Thunder Sect, there was not a single person within his knowledge who had committed such an unthinking and irrational act. Thunder-Sealing Box was a box that meant a box that sealed thunder, that is, lightning. But the items that went into it had a more significant and important meaning than the value of the box itself. This was because Thunder-Sealing Box was the box where the Flying Thunder Dagger was kept and stored.

Thunder-Sealing Box had a jewel-like red background with silver thread embroidery, and inside, it was a box that stored a total of 10 Flying Thunder Daggers, five on the right and five on the left, alternating. This Thunder-Sealing Box had a peculiar property, so if you stored the Flying Thunder Dagger in it, it was a treasure that could prevent the sharp edge of the Thunder Edge from being damaged and the Thunder Spirit Thread from losing its power and sagging.

In fact, the Flying Thunder Dagger that Bi Ryu-yeon had been using so far was, to put it simply, a fake; to put it nicely, it was for practice, and to put it badly, it was a replica. That's not to say that its power was inferior compared to other weapons. Rather, it was not an exaggeration to say that it was even more powerful. But as expected, it was bound to yield a step to the genuine article. Otherwise, why would it be called a genuine article?

In the Flying Thunder Sect, when the disciple of the next generation reaches a certain level, the master passes the genuine Flying Thunder Dagger to the disciple through a succession ceremony, and the master uses the fake Flying Thunder Dagger. It is an exchange of the genuine article and the replica. This was because the master was already accustomed to the genuine article, but the disciple was not, so it was necessary for the disciple to have sufficient training with the genuine article. Because the strength of the Spirit Thread itself was different, once a disciple reached a certain level, they would train with the genuine Flying Thunder Dagger. That was the tradition that had been passed down in the Flying Thunder Sect. But...

'Th-this brat. No, this guy... Hehe, this rascal... Heh... heh.'

Whether it was because he no longer had the energy to be angry, or because he had used up all his energy in shock, the master's voice was just powerlessly empty. His laughter contained only a bitter and empty echo. Moreover, even if the master had allowed Thunder-Sealing Box, he had never allowed the Thunder Zither and Ink Thunder. But his one and only disciple, the successor of the next generation, had snuck in like a stray cat in the middle of the night and run away with the sect's treasures as he pleased... If one's mind was sound after experiencing such a thing, wouldn't that be the strange thing? Right now, the master was in a state where he didn't even have the energy to be angry because he was so dumbfounded. Right now, he could do nothing but stare blankly at the object called a letter or a note, which had squiggly letters on a white background.

A Letter to My Master

From your disciple, Bi Ryu-yeon

P.S.: Down below, at the Mount Emei branch of the Azure Dragon Bank, I have set up an Absolute Old-Age Security Pension in your name, so there will be no problem with your retirement life. I have set up a solid plan for your old age, so don't bother chasing after me. The seal and the deposit certificate are next to the letter.
The account number is 241052-52-021455. The password is written on the back of the letter. And, please cut back on the alcohol! It's the biggest cause of your expenses.

That was the full story of the disciple's runaway notice, which was not very long. The main text was decent enough, but the postscript was written in a truly impertinent way, the master thought. The words 'Absolute Old-Age Security Pension' at least helped to quell some of that anger. Still, it seemed he wasn't a thoughtless brat; he was a guy who thought of his master, or perhaps it was to prevent being tracked, or for flattery, but he had run away after setting up an 'Absolute Old-Age Security Pension.'

The 'Absolute Old-Age Security Pension' was a specialized financial product of the Azure Dragon Bank that required a considerable amount of money to be deposited for a fairly long period of time. The Azure Dragon Bank was a bank that was known to have been started by the Azure Dragon Bank's owner, Yoo Jae-ryong, after he had completely emptied his marriage funds. At the time, everyone told him not to do such a crazy thing and even packed their bags to stop him, but now it was standing out, surpassing even the most renowned banks in the Jianghu.

In addition to lending and storing money, the Azure Dragon Bank also had a product called a pension, where if you saved a certain amount of silver every month and reached a set amount, you would be paid a set interest for the rest of your life. Of course, if the person died, the deposited money would naturally become the property of the Azure Dragon Bank. Among them, the 'Absolute Old-Age Security Pension' was the representative pension of the Azure Dragon Bank, a solid life plan to prepare for life after 50, and a popular product well-known to the middle class and above. Therefore, the fact that Bi Ryu-yeon had signed up for this pension meant that he had been preparing to run away for a very long time. In addition, it must have cost a considerable amount of money.

Where and how he had gathered such an amount of silver was a mystery to the master. No matter how much he thought about it, he couldn't figure it out. A few days ago, when Bi Ryu-yeon had returned after spending a night in the valley, his disciple's demeanor had been a bit strange. The signs had been there since then, but the master had never even imagined in his dreams that things would explode in this way.

His disciple, his one and only disciple, had been staring blankly at the sky for the past few days and had finally done it. He had thought he was a guy who only knew money, but it seemed the mountains had been suffocating for him. Still, he had thought he was a brat who didn't give a damn about his master, but he had been so meticulous as to set up his master's retirement plan before leaving. As if he thought that if he did that, his master wouldn't chase after him and drag him back...

'He's going, he's going. If this is also fate, I must accept it. You wicked brat, you bad brat, you brat with the manners of a gourd, to leave without a single word of farewell to your master, to leave like that...'

The master's curses and laments towards his disciple were buried in the winter wind and disappeared quietly without echoing through the mountains. It was one of the days at the beginning of the first month, the start of a new year.