Chapter 25
Three days before their departure for Nanjing, the martial artists of the Justice Martial Sect arrived at the Baek Sword Sect. The Justice Martial Sect sent one of their three sword squads over.
In addition, they sent two of the Five Justice Martial Swordsmen together with Jeong Ho-Gun, their young patriarch. The Five Justice Martial Swordsmen were masters in the Peak Realm and known as the Justice Martial Sect’s most outstanding martial artists. The fact that they sent two of them was proof that they weren’t taking the escort mission of this mercantile journey lightly.
The Baek Sword Sect treated the Justice Martial Sect’s martial artists with respect and courtesy to make them comfortable. Meanwhile, Mu-Gun practiced his martial arts in the training hall within his residence.
He steadily trained his martial arts while teaching Cheon-Sang and the squad leaders. As a result, he was able to raise the level of his Iron Blood Vajra Body Cultivation to the 5-star realm. However, it still couldn’t be used to block sword qi or saber qi.
Still, it would be able to deflect a saber attack with no internal energy imbued in it. It would also greatly reduce the attack’s impact. Hence, even if a martial artist in the second-rate or third-rate realm were to attack him, he’d suffer little to no damage.
Of course, he’d still sustain damage if a bunch of third-rate martial artists ganged up on him. However, considering his abilities, there would be close to no chance of him being ganged up on by martial artists below the second-rate realm.
Despite his busy schedule, Mu-Gun didn’t neglect his martial art cultivation and still found time to study the Flying Golden Shield Scripture.
The key element of the Flying Golden Shield Scripture, which maneuvered the Flying Golden Shield, was how fast it could rotate the shield. The faster the rotation speed, the more powerful it grew and the longer the throwing distance became. Rotation wouldn’t matter if all he wanted was to throw it. He could even throw it as far as hundreds of feet by imbuing his internal energy into it.
However, the Flying Golden Shield Scripture wasn’t a skill that focused on throwing the shield. Rather, it revolved around intercepting the enemy and returning the shield to the user. To do so, high-speed rotation was necessary. Mu-Gun immediately grasped the Flying Golden Shield Scripture’s core and trained in a way that emphasized the Flying Golden Shield’s high-speed rotation.
As a result, Mu-Gun could now throw the Flying Golden Shield up to fifty feet and make it return to him. Accuracy and its destructive power were crucial, however. Even if he could throw it up to fifty feet, it would be no use if he couldn’t reach his target. Furthermore, even if he did hit them, it would still be meaningless if it didn’t do much damage.
Mu-Gun stood on the far-left end of the training hall, opposite the randomly placed human-modeled logs. Focusing on one of them, he threw the Flying Golden Shield in its direction.
The Flying Golden Shield left his hand and flew in a smooth curve toward Mu-Gun’s target. Rotating at high speed, it let off a piercing sound as it flew. It didn’t take long for it to accurately hit his target’s head.
The log instantly shattered when the Flying Golden Shield crashed into it. The shield then circled around in mid-air and returned to Mu-Gun, rapidly slowing down and stopping smoothly in his hand.
“I’ll hit ten targets today without fail.”
With determination, Mu-Gun threw it again, causing it to fly across the training hall with a larger curve than before. Despite its larger trajectory, it was much faster.
Without slowing down, it crossed fifty feet and shattered the log dummies’ heads one after another.
One, two, three, four... eight, nine. The Flying Golden Shield flew toward and shattered the head of the tenth and final log dummy. Its fragments scattered in all directions. All Mu-Gun had to do was make the shield return, and he’d succeed in his task.
However, its rotational speed decreased noticeably after smashing the tenth log dummy. It eventually dropped to the floor, having completely lost power just thirty feet away from Mu-Gun. He kept failing on the tenth consecutive attack, and today was no different. The real power of the Flying Golden Shield Scripture was its ability to one-shot multiple enemies with one throw. However, for that to happen, Mu-Gun had to be able to freely control the shield’s rotation.
It required a very detailed and refined application of qi, which was difficult to attain even for Mu-Gun, who was skilled in qi control. However, successfully launching nine consecutive attacks in less than a month since he started practicing was already a great achievement on its own.
That was made possible by his acquisition of the enlightenment needed to control swords with qi, which he gained through his previous reincarnations’ accumulated experience. Once Mu-Gun had advanced to the Absolute Realm and gathered sufficient internal energy, he would be able to freely wield the Flying Golden Shield just as how he could control swords with qi.
However, until then, he had no choice but to rely on the Flying Golden Shield Scripture to use the Flying Golden Shield. Mu-Gun threw the shield repeatedly with the resolve to execute ten successful strikes in one throw.
After smashing more than a hundred log dummies over the course of two hours, he eventually succeeded in destroying ten of them in one throw. Satisfied, Mu-Gun left the training hall and headed to his residence, which was right beside it. There, he found someone waiting for him.
It was Ho-Gun, the young patriarch of the Justice Martial Sect.
Ho-Gun was chubby and had a round face. Although he wasn’t handsome, he had a cute impression that women would like. A smile formed on Mu-Gun’s face upon seeing him. Mu-Gun and Ho-Gun were the same age. Due to the Baek Sword Sect and Justice Martial Sect’s good relationship, they had been playmates since childhood. That created a close bond between them.
In short, they were best friends. However, their relationship became estranged when Mu-Gun suffered from qi deviation. No, it would be more accurate to say that Mu-Gun avoided Ho-Gun.
“Jeong Ho-Gun!”
Mu-Gun called out to his friend, whom he hadn’t seen in such a long time, with a welcoming voice.
“I’ve been waiting for you forever. Did you hide your lover in the training hall or something? How could you stay there for two hours?” Ho-Gun grumbled when he saw Mu-Gun. There was no sign of their relationship turning distant despite their lack of meeting over the past three years. Mu-Gun felt grateful for how Ho-Gun treated him as if nothing had happened. In return, Mu-Gun also treated him without reserve, just like how he did before he developed qi deviation.
“Have you forgotten? My martial arts and sword are my lovers.”
“You’re still saying that, you madman? How could you not come to greet me when I arrived? Do I have to come to find you myself? I’m a guest, you know.”
“I was actually going to visit you after my training.”
“Are you implying that your training is more important than me?”
“Isn’t that obvious?” Mu-Gun retorted.
“Never mind. I shouldn’t have asked. Even so, I’m happy. You’re back to the annoying Baek Mu-Gun I know.”
“I’ve shown you an ugly side of me, haven’t I?”
“That’s not it. Rather, I was upset with myself. I felt pathetic. I couldn’t do anything for you despite being a friend.”
“Don’t act so warm-hearted. It doesn’t suit you.” Mu-Gun threw a jab at his friend, trying to lighten the mood.
“You jackass!”
“Keke, can you drink?”
“I can’t because there’s nothing to drink.”
“Then let’s get wasted today.”
“Fine by me.”
“Wait for me a for a bit more. I’m going to go wash up.”
“Okay.”
Mu-Gun called the servants to prepare a table of drinks and snacks, then washed up. While he was taking a bath, the servants quickly did as instructed. When Mu-Gun came out, they immediately sent in the table.
“Tch, you said you wanted to get wasted today, so I thought we were going to a nice brothel or something,” Ho-Gun grumbled as Mu-Gun prepared a drinking session in his residence.
“Brothel? Aren’t you still a brat wet behind your ears?”
“I don’t think I want to hear that from someone who used to frequent similar places day in and day out.”
“Well, there’s nothing special there anyway, so let’s just drink here. Doing so will save us some money, too. How great is that?”
“Tch, that’s no different from saying you’ve been there so many times that you’ve grown sick of it.”
Ho-Gun’s grumbling made Mu-Gun chuckle. The latter poured him a drink.
“Just accept the drink.”
“Fine. It’s not often we get to drink together like this.”
Ho-Gun quickly picked up his cup and accepted the drink that Mu-Gun poured him. Afterward, he also poured Mu-Gun some alcohol.
“It’s late, but congratulations on recovering your martial arts and returning to being the obnoxious bastard I knew.”
“Thank you,” Mu-Gun expressed his thanks.
Mu-Gun and Ho-Gun clinked their cups and gulped them down in one go.
“Kuhkkk, this is great.”
“I know, right? It’s nice to finally get a drink with you after so long.”
They drank one cup after another.
“Oh, how did you defeat the Sea Dragon Gang’s leader?” Ho-Gun asked out of curiosity.
“What do you mean how? I defeated him with my skills.”
“Have you really reached the Peak Realm?”
“Well, sort of.”
“Sort of? If you are, then say you are.”
“My internal energy is still insufficient.”
“Still, if you can execute your martial arts, then you’re already at the Peak Realm. At any rate, reaching that realm at the tender age of twenty-three years old is really amazing. If Byeok Jin-Woon and Tae Mu-Gang find out, they’d probably be furious,” Ho-Gun said, seemingly pleased just thinking about it.
Byeok Jin-Woon and Tae Mu-Gang were the young patriarchs of the Byeok Sword Manor and the Wind Saber Sect respectively. The Byeok Sword Manor and the Wind Saber Sect were one of the Ten Great Clans of the Zhejiang Martial Alliance, and they were some of the greatest forces among other similar families and sects.
“Do they still go around acting arrogantly?” Mu-Gun asked, recalling those two. The Ten Great Clans held regular meetings to strengthen harmony. During those events, Jin-Woon and Mu-Gang, who believed in the relatively powerful Byeok Sword Manor and Wind Saber Sect, would go around bragging about their power.
“Isn’t that obvious? After you suffered from qi deviation, they thought of themselves as the best among our generation. I really couldn’t stand the sight of them.” Ho-Gun sounded annoyed.
Mu-Gun was the most talented among the heirs of the Ten Great Clans in the Zhejiang Martial Alliance. Befitting that talent, his martial arts accomplishments were also the greatest.
Jin-Woon and Mu-Gang were jealous of Mu-Gun, whom they couldn’t overcome no matter how much effort they put in. Hence, they always picked a fight with him. The problem was that Mu-Gun wasn’t an easy opponent. In every attempt they made, Mu-Gun made sure to humiliate them. In doing so, Jin-Woon and Mu-Gang no longer dared brag about their authority and power in front of Mu-Gun. To those two, Mu-Gun was an inevitable pain in the neck.
When Mu-Gun suffered from qi deviation, they ridiculed his misfortune and found enjoyment in it. With him crippled, nobody could interfere with them anymore. Hence, they began to act up like a horse without reins. However, Mu-Gun had recovered his martial arts and even reached the Peak Realm. Ho-Gun was delighted just thinking about how envious and angry those two would be once they learned of this.
“What about the others?”
“They’re the same. Except for me and Won-Yee, they’re busy sticking to and flattering those two.”
At Ho-Gun’s words, Jo Won-Yee came across Mu-Gun’s mind. He was the young patriarch of the Flying Lance Sect, which was one of the Ten Great Clans. Mu-Gun and Ho-Gun often hung out with him until Mu-Gun suffered from qi deviation.
“How’s Won-Yee doing?”
“Well, so-so.”
“I’d like to see him.”
“Really? Why don’t we go meet him together after we come back from Nanjing? I bet Won-Yee, too, would be happy to see your current state now.”
“It’ll have to wait. I have something else I need to do first.”
“Playing hard to get, huh,” Ho-Gun teased, but he didn’t insist on meeting Jo Won-Yee any further. He knew Mu-Gun wasn’t avoiding their friend on purpose. Rather, he truly had something to do.
The two drank alcohol with the memories of the past as a side dish. It wasn’t until dawn that their drinking session ended.
Mu-Gun had finally let some weight off his shoulders with his best friend. However, he suffered from a hangover all morning the following day in return. As soon as he woke up, he experienced difficulties despite circulating his qi. Mu-Gun vowed never to drink too much next time. However, anyone who had drunk before would know that his pledge wouldn’t last. It was not until the afternoon that he finally got out of his hangover and prepared to leave for Nanjing.
The next day, Mu-Gun left the Baek Sword Sect and boarded a ship bound for Nanjing.
The source of this c𝐨ntent is fre𝒆w(e)bn(o)vel