“Sect Leader, can you teach me Ladder Cloud Step?”
“Do I look like a beggar?”
It’s natural for me to not want to teach someone when they ask.
While walking by Master Baek Wei’s side, I say,
“There is no need.”
What I wanted to say was ‘aren’t I the disciple?’ but I changed it to beggar.
“Why?”
“Master, why are you teaching me martial arts so carelessly? Don’t you think it’s a waste because there are so many martial arts that you have learned? I don’t know what you are thinking.”
Master Baek Wei lets out a low laugh.
“Huhu.”
Looking at him on the side, I say,
“Why? It’d be fine to teach first and kill later right? I’m also busy practicing the martial arts I am learning.”
“It’s true that disciples like the Butcher are enormous, but I don’t see you as a human on that level.”
“Even so, it isn’t needed.”
Master Baek Wei replies with his head tilted,
“So why? Explain.”
“Absurd. Does this even need a reason? The Ladder Cloud step isn’t a technique that suits your temper. It isn’t easy and it is better suited for me to move around as if smashing the ground with my two feet.”
“Is that so?”
“Even if my speed is a little slow, it doesn’t matter. However, I cannot help it if my light footwork improves because I witnessed those skills of yours.”
“How much do you think you will improve?”
“I realized that it’s possible to change one’s weight with the light footwork technique you utilize.”
Master Baek Wei nods.
“Nice. Would you like to run a little longer this time? Food must be digested.”
This insane person was waiting for me to digest the noodles. I still don’t know what his intentions are. It is because I already lost to him in light footwork. To be honest, I don’t really care if I win or lose. It’s because I’m not just competing with footwork now, I’m competing with a master.
“Let’s go.”
Master Baek Wei, who had a head start, crossed the mountain, and crossed the water. I could tell it was about to be a long-term fight. The day dawned before I realized, and I raced past the valleys, mountains, cliffs, and swamps. I was slower than Master Baek Wei, but the gap didn’t widen too much on the rough land. However, Master Baek Wei didn’t relax for a second.
This guy surely is an amazing runner.
An ordinary warrior would have died from their qi exhausting out while chasing him, but I followed him by keeping my maintaining a steady breath.
I am slower than him, but I have no intention of falling out because of a lack of internal qi. However, no matter how good I am at learning, I am not as good as him. As I run at full speed, I feel pathetic about the lengths I am going to keep up and I’m unable to remember why I was even running to begin with.
However, I came to the conclusion that I was running on behalf of my subordinates and the Great Evils who had gathered in front of the guesthouse.
The true identity of this guy.
But the fact that I hadn’t become one close to him only encouraged me.
I cannot predict how this kind of running will change the future, but running was what I knew best now.
So, I keep running.
This guy continues to run for a long time without stopping, but I don’t stop either.
I lose track of time…
Master Baek Wei stops and looks ahead. There is a huge cliff and as soon as I see the cliff, I have an epiphany on how the Ladder Cloud Step was born. So, to climb this place quickly, one has to learn the technique.
Apparently, Master wanted me to come here.
He turns to me.
“Can you keep up?”
I nod with a calm look. It’s so high that one cannot assess it with the naked eye right away, but the upper part is obscured by the clouds. Master Baek Wei soars into the air and climbs the cliff while unfolding the Ladder Cloud Step. After cursing to myself, I distance myself and then jump up at full speed. Fortunately, there are steps carved into the cliff that I didn’t notice at first glance. The trace of footprints. Or it could have been dug up in the efforts of men who tried to climb this cliff before.
Well, if I slip even once, I can find a footprint to gain balance.
In the end, I take the stance of Ladder Cloud Step and climb the steep cliff following Master Baek Wei. At some point, I lose sight of Baek Wei as my vision becomes obscured by the clouds. However, his voice rings out.
“Come on.”
It feels like my thighs are about to burst but I soar up and enter what appears to be a hideout.
Who would even find such a place? Even if Kangho wanted to find the man called Master Baek Wei, who ends up considered as a public enemy, they wouldn’t be able to find him in this place at all. First of all, because no normal warrior can come here.
And I’ve lost sight of him already. The cave is getting wider as we walk further in and, oddly, I want to let out a sigh for some reason. The strangeness in this cave makes me feel a weird sense of familiarity.
As I walk deeper in, I stop and look at the walls of the cave.
A mural had been painted. Well, I knew the mural was a bit old, but I didn’t know what it meant, so I moved closer to further examine it. The cave’s walls were filled with similarly painted murals. After a while, the passageway comes to an end and a large area is revealed. From here, instead of murals, decorations can be seen.
It was only then that I realized that the murals and the decorations were all telling a story. Most of the paintings depicted scenes of massacres committed by Master Baek Wei dressed in white. Individuals were depicted falling into pits, while some warriors were being stabbed with spears being pushed from the pits.
I continue to stare at the paintings with my hands behind my back. When I try to analyze the meaning behind these murals, I come to the realization there was a depiction of something burning in these paintings.
The burning ones.
Only then did I understand what the murals were conveying.
“Burning books and burying scholars.”
Burning books and burying scholars refers to an incident in which books got burned down with scholars being buried in the ground. A lot of rumors spread about the situation, but there is a common consensus. That being that many buried the scholars alive after digging holes in the ground. This is why in the murals and paintings spears were depicted hurting the scholars trying to move.
Before I realize it, Master Baek Wei appears after changing his clothes. He looks around at the paintings and asks,
“Do you know about the Burning Books and Burying scholars?”
“Roughly.”
And he points to a picture.
“Look at that. At that time, those who were called scholars, students, and teachers were forced to hide their books in their homes or safe houses. They dug into walls or buried them in the ground… then when that was discovered, it wasn’t uncommon for them to have their entire houses burned down. I didn’t go into detail because even the people who choose to record history grow tired of repeating history.”
After listening to Master Baek Wei’s words, I examined the painting and discovered that there were many depictions of people hiding and safeguarding books.
Some paintings seemed to depict individuals holding books containing secrets of martial arts.
“Hmm.”
Unknowingly, I look at Master Baek Wei again. What kind of person is this guy? For a second he doesn’t look human anymore, but rather a successor to an old mistake.
He looks at me blankly and asks,
“People only know that the books were burned.”
“Is that not it?”
“To be precise, the Hundred School of Thought Book was burned down. There were hundreds of different ideas recorded in it. What the world currently knows is just the ideas of Taoism, Confucianism, Mohism, and Ruling Law, but what about the hundreds more lost within this book?”
I think I know what point he’s trying to make.
“There must have been strong ideas in there. It must have been a time when there was distinction between martial arts and scholarly studies.”
Master Baek Wei smiles.
“Right. Do you remember the Old Dragon who got killed?”
Just how far did this guy go to find information on me? I sigh and say,
“I do.”
“Did you kill him knowing which family he was from?”
“I guess he was a descendant to one of the scholars in Guiguzi1.”
Master baek Wei nods.
“You knew. They were also a member of a group that belonged to the Hundred Schools of Thought.”
Master Baek Wei suddenly laughs out loud, walks somewhere, and pulls on a rope hanging from the wall. A rumbling sound echoes and the painting, which was covering the wall, rises up.
I look around with a calm expression.
Bookshelves filled to the brim with books. They were all books. Suddenly, the distinctive smell of old books penetrates my nose. When Master Baek Wei touches something, the wall flips over revealing a desk. It seems to be attached to the wall on the other side which appears while rotating along with the wall.
I look around at the uncountable number of books.
Did he have a collection of books people have thought were burned? Or due to his nature, was he keeping a collection of just the martial arts related books?
Master Baek Wei holds out his hand as if to tell me to look around as much as I wanted.
“Sect Leader, take a comfortable look around.”
If this was some sort of a mental attack on me, I was being dealt with before I could even mentally prepare. It was because I was in the process of memorizing the books around.
While I look around I ask him.
“… so, this place is the Three Pleasures Book Prison?”
“Three Pleasures Book Prison? Do not worry, it is just a rough term I used to inform the Murim Alliance.”
Roughly speaking, it meant that even if the Murim Alliance wanted to find this place, they couldn’t. While looking around the books, I suddenly turn my head and see that Master Baek Wei is doing something at the desk.
‘Such an insane bastard.’
After bringing me here, he became distracted with his own work. I can’t see the book, so I move closer. There was a list of the names of the people who have followed the teachings as well as their respective books.
I walked while reading the different titles and their classifications. I can’t help but stop at the top. The name of someone was written and below it were titles which seemed to be their works. The problem was that they were all papers. As far as I knew, in the past, everything was recorded on either bamboo or wooden sheets.
When I look at Master Baek Wei, he says,
“… a written down.”
I look at him. He wasn’t writing for no reason. If this was an area in which he transcribed teachings written on bamboo sheets into books without rest, this place is no different from a writing prison. At this point, it seems natural for me that Master Baek Wei is mad. The problem lies with just how mad he really is.
While looking at the books again, I pause for a second and then stare intently at the name.
Ji Song-ja.
What is this feeling? I can’t explain it, so I lower my gaze and skim through the titles and within the names of writers I come across another familiar title.
Strolling Golden Turtle technique
After taking my eyes off the paper, I look at Master Baek Wei who is writing something down.
“…”
He stops writing and glares at me from the side. For some reason, his expression depicts a wary gaze… as if he was conscious that I might steal something.
Editor’s Notes
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