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Chapter 414. The Price of Bonds (2)
After exchanging a single move, I was left with one thought and one thought only.
'He's strong!'
It was not a matter of having more or less inner arts than me.
His trajectory was on an entirely different plane.
Just as even the strongest rabbit cannot defeat a tiger cub.
Е n u m̃а. і̀ d
The world he stood upon was fundamentally different from mine.
If I had to draw a comparison, he was on the level of Murong Gang or Namgung Tae-ha.
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A chill crept along my spine, and cold sweat streamed down in rivulets.
My heart dropped with a heavy thud and showed no sign of settling.
'Son of a bitch......'
I had just obtained the Taiji Pill, a spiritual pill for the ages—and what were the odds of having it stolen by an unknown master right before I ate it?
Е̄ nū ṁ ă . і̃ ď
Getting struck by lightning during training and awakening some Thunder Spirit Divine Art seemed more likely.
"Why no answer? Was this thing not that important to you after all?"
The old man had apparently decided to drop the act entirely. He peppered me with informal speech and wore a brazen expression.
How should I get out of this? What approach would be most advantageous for me......?
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After a moment's deliberation, I put on an easygoing air and bowed my head.
"Ah! It seems I dropped that. It is precious to me—would you be so kind as to return it?"
Е̃ n̊ u ḿа̃
With the most impeccably courteous demeanor in the world.
This was not groveling. This was simply the proper attitude toward an elder.
"You claim this is yours?"
CLICK—
The instant the case opened, the lush aroma of the Taiji Pill bloomed in every direction.
There! The old bastard! The fragrance is escaping!
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"A-ahem, it is quite valuable, so would you mind closing that?"
"And if I said no?"
"P-please, I'm asking you."
My urgency was making me stutter. Absolutely maddening.
"Heh heh, what an amusing fellow. You tried to kill me a moment ago, and now you're scrambling to play polite. Are you truly a child of the Orthodox Path?"
For fuck's sake, what is he even talking about?
W ē b̄.nо̇ v̇ е l Е̊ n uṁ а̀
Still, I forced the corners of my mouth upward.
"And might I ask the great name of the elder before me?"
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"You need not know."
God...... damn......
Why is every old man I meet cursed with this same cantankerous disposition?
Or does becoming old automatically breed cantankerousness?
W е́.bn̂ о̇vе́ĺ Ė ṅ.um̂ӑ
"What exactly do you want? Is it the case you're after?"
"And if it were?"
What do you mean 'and if it were'? Why do you think you can just walk off with someone else's property?
"As the ancients said, 'The covetous man perishes for wealth'—those who lust after what belongs to others often find their lives in peril."
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"Oh? Is there really such a saying? How peculiar. I have spent my entire life coveting what belongs to others, yet here I stand, very much alive."
"......"
Е n̆ ǔm а̀.і̌d̈
The old man waved one arm around in a taunting circle.
"Didn't you say it yourself? That I'd have to leave at least one arm behind? And yet—perfectly intact, wouldn't you say?"
WHOOSH, WHOOSH—
His arm swung as lightly as if it might float up into the sky.
Shit, I really thought I could take at least one arm. Back when I didn't know he was an absolute master.
When you run into a suspicious old man like this, the best move is to flee without forming any bond—but the Taiji Pill in his hand made escape impossible.
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This is driving me insane.
"Then how about this? We split the pill fifty-fifty. Then we each go our separate—"
"And if I said no?"
"......"
I swallowed the fury boiling inside me and spoke.
"How about sixty-forty, then?"
Ẽ n̈ ü m а
"Rejected."
"Seventy-thirty...... I won't go further than this."
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"Hmm, and if I still said no?"
Watching him spin the case into the air with that smug grin plastered on his face made me want nothing more than to slam my fist into that wrinkled mug......
"What, are you going to report me to the authorities?"
"......"
Ẅ ѐb ṅ о̂ v̄ el Е̃ n u mа
His lips trembled with amusement, as though the entire situation delighted him.
Judging by how masterfully he was getting under my skin, this could not have been his first time using superiority to toy with someone.
I gathered myself and set a serious tone.
I had no intention of being dragged around and ceding momentum any further.
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"What do you want?"
"What do I want, you ask?"
Е n̂úmа́ . іd́
"Surely you are aware that the item in your hands is no ordinary pill. If you take it with half-hearted resolve, you will not be able to handle the consequences."
"......"
The old man looked again at the contents of the case.
His expression grew marginally more serious. Good—it seemed we could finally have a conversation.
"Judging by the single exchange just now, you do not appear to need that item very badly, Elder...... Rather than taking on unnecessary risk, why not let me fulfill whatever it is you truly desire?"
"It is that dangerous, you say?"
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"Yes."
"......"
"That pill was produced by a very renowned...... ahem, massive...... khem! sect of the Orthodox Path. If they learn that you took it...... it will not end at mere theft."
The old man's expression hardened.
He stroked the wispy beard on his chin in careful deliberation.
"My, my. You truly do have a gift for words. Throughout this entire conversation, I have genuinely felt as though it must be terribly dangerous."
Ẃ е b̆ṅ о_v̊_е̃ l̃ E ň u̇ mа
For a moment I thought we were getting somewhere—
"A few days ago, you smashed the Fierce Tiger Unit to pieces and made enemies of Wudang, and now you're threatening to tell them about the Taiji Pill?"
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Son of a BITCH, he knew everything all along?
The old man tossed the case into the air once more, and a sneer draped across his lips.
"Go ahead and try, boy. Let us see if you can even make it past Wudang Sect's Sword-Release Pond."
What the hell is this guy?
Ẇ е̊ b̆ń о̂ v̂ еl Еn̊ um а̂
***
My opponent was an absolute master.
His affiliation, name, and disposition were all unknown.
But from the few exchanges we had shared, it was clear he had no intention of harming me, nor any particular desire for the Taiji Pill.
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At the same time, he did not seem likely to return it willingly, either.
Like Murong Gang, men of that age with somewhat eccentric mental landscapes tended to erupt in genuine fury whenever a game or jest did not flow the way they wanted.
W_е̌ b̄ ñо̇v ĕl̄ Ě n um ā_
The moment that happened, the jest would cease to be a jest.
In the span of a heartbeat, I tore through my mental archive—devouring treatises on strategy, schemes, and stratagems—then settled on a plan to deal with him.
Yes. Right now, this was the only way.
THUD—
"Give it back......!!!"
"It's mine! Why are you taking someone else's stuff?!"
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"AAAH! AAAAHH! AAAAAHHHH!!"
I threw myself on the ground, kicked my legs, grabbed the hem of his trousers, and clung on for dear life.
Thank heavens my juniors and the Taeul Sect people were not here.
Otherwise I would have died of embarrassment.
Moreover, the old man clearly had not predicted this particular reaction—bewilderment was written all over his face.
"......Stop that."
Е̃n u m̂ӑ . і d̀
"Give it back!!!! Give it back, I said!!!!"
"Get up! Are you not the Black Flame Dragon that both the Black Path and Orthodox Path fear—"
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"It's mine! Mine!!! Give So-un's stuff back!!!"
"Stop......! STOP!!!!"
The instant the old man's ragged garments billowed and a horrifying wave of killing intent washed over me, I realized:
'This is working?'
Е̊ ṅú m а̌
My jaw trembled under the onslaught of killing intent, but I clenched my teeth and thrashed on the ground even more violently.
"It's So-un's!!!! Give So-un's stuff back!!!"
"Why, you little......"
Suddenly, the old man gave the ground a light tap with his foot.
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I barely had time to wonder what that was about before the earth buckled upward and my body was launched into the air.
"What the—"
W̊ е̌b̊ n̈оv еl Е̊ n̆u m а̊
But before I could say anything more, the old man casually waved his hand from side to side.
In that instant, enormous Torrents of Qi slammed into me from both flanks.
SMACK! THWACK!
Pain as though a house-sized palm had slapped me across my entire body engulfed me.
But that was not the only problem.
I tried to summon my inner arts to shield myself—
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"Nngh......"
An excruciating agony of twisted Qi and Blood crashed through me.
Dealing a massive Torrent of Qi to shock an opponent was something any practitioner with sufficient understanding of qi manipulation could manage.
But to deliver that massive shock while simultaneously twisting the target's Qi and Blood from within—that was proof of how unfathomably high a realm this man had reached.
Thanks to that, any chance I might have had to escape had also been blown away.
"Pull that stunt again, and next time I will kill you for real."
W eb n̂о́vе̃ l̂ E nu̇ m а
"......"
I meekly nodded and began the slow work of untangling my knotted Qi and Blood.
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It was now clear this was not someone I could reason with.
'One wrong move, and I'm dead.'
In the murim, the men who bluffed about killing you were far less frightening than the ones who made it look like play but possessed the actual power to follow through.
Those who openly radiated murderous intent were at least on the same plane as me—but this old man stood on a level above. I probably did not even register as a fellow human being to him.
Е numa
"Now then, shall we have a civilized conversation?"
"......"
'You're the one who made this mess in the first place!' I swallowed the profanity and kept silent.
When I held my tongue, the old man seemed satisfied and opened a new line of discussion.
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"Boy, who is your master?"
"It is Hall Master Kang Chae-seok of the Taeul Sect."
Wё.b̂ n о̆vе̃l̈ Е ń ům а
"......Who is that?"
"The greatest master of the Taeul Sect."
The old man tilted his head, then for some reason stared off into the distant void behind him. He soon scowled and fixed me with a sharp look.
What? Did he see a ghost or something?
"You have taken someone weaker than yourself as your master?"
"......"
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"Has anyone ever given you proper instruction?"
In truth, the old man's question struck at my most fundamental problem.
My real teachers were the Taeul Sword Emperor, the memories of my previous life, and the archive in my head.
In this life, I had learned a few things from the Sword Demon, but he had flatly refused to let me call him my master.
"Reaching this level without a master...... So that is why you are out of your mind."
Just like that, he turned a perfectly sane man into a lunatic.
E̊ num̀ а̊ . i d́
But there was no time to respond. Untangling the knotted Qi and Blood was proving far harder than expected.
"A pity. Bonds, by nature, do not follow the wishes of the human heart."
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The old man, who had been studying me with a complicated expression, held up the wooden case.
"You intended to consume this?"
"......If you would return it."
"Spoken as though it were truly yours."
Е̇ num̆ а.
"It is mine, so—"
The old man cut me off.
"You must not consume this."
What the fuck? What kind of nonsense is this now?
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"What do you—"
"Your qi center is already filled with more inner arts than you can handle, is it not?"
Е́ n̊û ṁ а
I had Five Cycles, true, but never once had I felt it was sufficient.
The endless string of brutal fights and dire situations had always left me hungry for more—and the real issue was that every technique I used guzzled inner arts like a man dying of thirst.
"Need is relative, Elder."
"Even at the cost of shattering the balance of Essence, Qi, and Spirit?"
The old man's question struck without warning. Before I could even answer, he pressed on.
"Since your inner arts increased, have you not been collapsing unconscious far more frequently after expending them?"
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"......!"
Reading the confirmation on my face, the old man nodded as if vindicated.
"That is a sign that the balance of Essence, Qi, and Spirit is gradually breaking down. If you keep recklessly piling on inner arts, the best you can hope for is death by Qi Deviation."
I had never imagined the situation was that dire.
"If I'm unlucky...... what happens?"
"Most become raving madmen, slaughter indiscriminately, and die."
E n̆ u ṁå . і d̄
"That's impossible. You may not know this, Elder, but the martial arts I practice are so orthodox in their purity that they rival Wudang's or Shaolin's. They are nothing like some common Black Path techniques."
"Lunatic...... does Orthodox Path martial arts transcend the laws of creation now?"
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The old man balanced the case on a single fingertip, standing it upright.
"Wudang and Shaolin overflow with treasures like this, yet they never funnel inner arts recklessly into a single person. When you consider the immense impact a single absolute master has on the history of the murim, does that not strike you as strange?"
I stopped untangling my Qi and Blood and stared at the old man. It was as though I had been struck on the back of the head; my mind went blank.
"Do you think they never attempted the same thing you are doing? They tried it all. They simply learned not to repeat the same folly."
W ӗ ḃń òv̂ѐ ľ Е́ num̊ â
I had not known.
Such hard-won experience was never shared outside one's own sect.
How many more trials and errors would the Taeul Sect—which in five hundred years of history had failed to produce even a single absolute master—have to endure?
"Then the faint amount of inner arts I sense from you, Elder...... is connected to that very reason?"
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"Heh heh heh. Sharp one, aren't you?"
A sudden loss of opportunity. But with it, a new one.
Е̃n̊ úṁ a
It occurred to me that this deranged old man might be the answer to the very problem I had been agonizing over.
"Then what must I do?"
"About what?"
"Is there a way to consume that pill and still grow stronger?"
At my question, a gleam flashed through the old man's eyes. Like a child who had found an interesting toy.
"There is."
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I bowed my head at once.
"I beg you to teach me."
"Why should I?"
But the refusal came back instantly.
"......"
What if I rolled on the ground again......
Е n̄ũ m̆а . і̌ d̀
"If you are contemplating the same disgraceful behavior as before, I will beat you to death on the spot."
That was off the table, then.
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"......"
I racked my brain for a way to wheedle even a scrap of guidance out of this enigma of an old man.
But nothing came to mind.
His identity, his affiliation, even his purpose were beyond my reckoning—so how was I supposed to 'persuade' him?
W̄ еb̀ n̄ô_v̌еl̈ Ĕ n u ḿа
While I was spinning my thoughts hard enough to make my head swim—
"Hmm...... using this as payment would not be a bad idea."
Muttering to himself, the old man strode toward me.
And then—
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"What do you mean by—"
Before I could finish, the old man's fingers struck ten acupoints in rapid succession.
Е n̂_ù mӓ
"What! He already undid half of them?"
He struck twenty more, then shoved the Taiji Pill straight into my mouth.
Wait—he shoved it in?
'Fuck......! He just told me I'd die if I ate this!'
The Taiji Pill dissolved in my mouth almost instantly, and unable to spit it out in time, I swallowed.
"It will hurt a great deal. Endure it."
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Then the goddamn old man went fully to work, jabbing acupoints across my entire body with both sets of fingers.
TAP-TAP-TAP-TAP-TAP-TAP-TAP—
In the brief span it took the dissolved Taiji Pill to slide past my throat, the old man struck thirty-three acupoints. Then he flicked his hand, and my body floated into the air and was sucked straight into the cave.
"W-wait! I— I can't move......"
"Obviously not. I sealed you with the Asura Gold-Shackling Jade-Shattering Formula. It would be stranger if you could move."
I had finally caught a thread-thin clue to his identity, but I was too stunned to reply.
Wе̄b̀ñ о v̄ е l̆ Е̂n̆ü m а̃
"Ah, I suppose greenhorns like you would not know what that is. At any rate, once you overcome it, your problem will resolve itself naturally."
Because the Asura Gold-Shackling Jade-Shattering Formula was an acupoint-sealing art so brutally cruel in the way it killed its victims that it had been erased from the Black Path murim over a century ago.
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"D-don't fuck with me! That's a torture technique!!!"
"Oh? You know a thing or two, do you?"
"You crazy old—!!!"
The old man snickered and flicked his palm through the air once more.
W̌ е̄ b n̈о v̊е̊ l̀ Ё n̆ úm̈а̊
The enormous boulder I had hauled over earlier floated upward and sealed the cave entrance shut.
THUD.
In the encroaching darkness, I felt every channel of Qi and Blood in my body locking rigid.
At the same time, I felt the Taiji Pill's energy igniting inside my qi center.
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"I...... am so fucked!"
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