End and Beginning (3)

 

"That's just a stopgap measure... Developing our martial arts itself and overcoming its well-known weaknesses would be the real solution. But developing martial arts is not something that can be done in a day or two."

When he was thinking about how to develop martial arts, he happened to hear such a story.

"The Zhuge family is using your external cultivation method to create martial arts."

Mu Jin understood what Bai Jin Yin was trying to say.

As the weakness of Zhongnan Sect's martial arts was known, he wanted to compensate for that weakness through Mujin's external attack cultivation method.

And for Mu Jin, who was planning to leave Shaolin, there was no reason to refuse.

"It wouldn't hurt to help Jongnam as much as he keeps the volcano in check."

Mujin had gathered his thoughts like that, but the answer that came out of his mouth was a little different.

"What would you give me in Jongnam?"

Even if you have a reason to leave Shaolin, you can't give away that valuable knowledge for free.

It would have been foolish to give it to an ally.

No, it's an alliance, and it's even more so a neat calculation.

In this sense, Zhuge Sega set up the True Technique in Shaolin and gifted Mu Jin with various exercise equipment.

So what should we take out of Jongnam?

"Hmm· What do you want to get?"

Mu Jin smiled faintly at the question of Bai Rock Jinyin who asked him in the reverse.

What is the biggest advantage of being in the position of the former in trading?

"As much as you are sure that you want from the Zhongnan Sect, why don't you think about the price in advance? Please present it to me first."

It was that they could ask for "preemption" due to ignorance. That is, until the other party puts forward conditions that he can be subjected to.

“····”

I didn't answer him, and I had a snowball fight with Mujin for a while. Chen Yin opened his mouth.

"You can't give me the true law like Zhuge Sega. But we can't tell you about our feats, so all we can give you right now is money and elixirs."

"That's not a big deal..."

As long as the price is right.

Perhaps he understood Mu Jin's intentions, he presented the amount of money that Jin Yin had in mind.

"First of all, I'll give you five hundred pieces of gold... This alone is enough for a year's worth of operating expenses for our Zhongnan Sect. In addition, if you succeed in using your external cultivation methods to compensate for the weaknesses of our Zhongnan Sect martial arts, I will give you five hundred pieces of gold over three years, plus the Heavenly Heart Altar."

The Tianxin Dan was the best elixir of the Zhongnan Sect, like the Taicheng Dan of the Shaolin Sect and the Great Huan Dan of the Shaolin Sect.

Just like Daehwandan and Taecheongdan, it is made from Yeongcho that grows in a special place on Jongnam Mountain, so it is a special elixir that can be made once every ten years.

Of course, its value was a little inferior to that of the Taicheng Dan and the Great Huan Dan, but it was still incomparable to the Elixir.

But even though it was a very generous deal, Mu Jin shook his head.

"Paying after success is a condition that is only entered when 'proof' is required. However, my external cultivation method is already similar to Shaolin and Shaman· It's been proven through Zhuge Sega."

He said he wouldn't accept deferred payment.

"How deceitful the human heart is..."

Remuneration after success is quite subtle. It was because the other party could force it.

They could have improved their skills with Mujin's external attack cultivation method and insisted that they were just getting better and not because of it.

In a way, Mu Jin's worldly and greedy remarks, which were not like a monk, looked at Chen Chen as if asking for help.

"Ahem..."

However, Hyuncheon cleared his throat and looked away.

"Phew..."

Taking a deep breath, Bai Qin calmly gathered his thoughts.

"If we continue like this, there will be no future for our cousins..."

In the battle for vested interests in Shaanxi Province, it was slowly being pushed aside by the volcano. Of course, they would be able to hold on with reinforcements from the allies.

But are these vested interests really theirs?

If you didn't have the strength to protect yourself, you would eventually be taken away by someone someday.

If so, it wouldn't be a bad idea to gamble as if you were grasping at straws.

Even the young monk's cultivation method was vouched for by Shaolin and the shaman Zhuge Sega, so it wasn't a very risky gamble.

"Phew· Right now, the amount of money we can raise in Jongnam is limited to five hundred pieces of gold. So, first of all, I'll give you five hundred pieces of gold and the Heavenly Heart Altar that you promised a moment ago. And the remaining five hundred pieces of gold will be repaid unconditionally, not as remuneration after success, and the document should be drawn up now."

"It's a good decision."

Mu Jin smiled at Bai Rock Jinyin's decision.

* * *

After making a deal with Baiam Jinyin, Mu Jin agreed to leave for Zhongnanfa tomorrow.

Baiam Jinyin wanted to leave immediately, but he had to take a day off because he had something to sort out.

After leaving the room, Mujin went straight to a place in the guest hall where Dowolcheon lived.

"Lord Daoyuecheon· Do you have any?"

"Monk Mujin· Are you doing something today?"

Mujin replied to Dowolcheon, who greeted him warmly every time he came to visit, in an unusually serious tone.

"Now, I'm going to entrust you with the work I told you last time."

If it was what Mu Jin was talking about, it would be to create an apostle sect in Guangxi Province and shake the Sado Sect from within.

It was an absurd request, but he accepted it in a calm tone.

"Even if it costs me my life, I'll try to succeed."

He was calm, but there was a certain confidence in him.

Looking at the majestic figure of Dao Yuechen, Mu Jin felt a complicated feeling.

‘··· Now, at first glance, my body is completely out of balance."

The height of the left and right shoulders was distinctly different. His pelvis was also distorted.

Even though he's just standing still, he looks like he's ready to swing his sword at any moment.

Of course, I didn't know if it was really on the same level as the Tao Yue Chen in the novel.

In the novel, there is only a description of "a deformed child's body as if it had become an adult." There were no drawings or photographs.

But Mujin, who had recently witnessed his work firsthand, was convinced.

It would be hard for them to even react to what he was wielding.

It was just bittersweet to think of the pain that Dao Yue Chen had to go through to get to the level he had now.

It wasn't just a metaphor, it would have been a real "bone-crushing" pain.

But I can't stop working now. Mu Jin handed one of the books he had brought with him to Dao Yuechen.

"There must be Confucius at the top of the heavens. Please hand this inspection to Prince Bai and take a seat in Guangxi Province with him."

The inscription that Mu Jin handed over contained the tactics used by Dao Yue Chen and Bai Jiahuan in the original novel.

Of course, the situation in the novel is different now, so it wasn't written the same thing.

It was just a piece of advice that it would be much smoother if you used this method.

"I'll see you again with good results."

"Please be careful..."

After greeting Mu Jin, Dao Yue Chen left Shaolin with only the inspection and the Thousand Islands Sword that Mu Jin had handed him.

* * *

The next morning·

More than twenty people gathered in front of the Shaolin mountain gate.

Fifteen of them were from the Zhongnan sect who had come to Shaolin, and the other ten were Shaolin monks, including Mu Jin.

And, of course, among them, there are no rules and no bounds. It also included martial arts.

"I thought you might not be able to come out, but for some reason Uncle Hyedam allowed you to do so?"

Mu Jin asked, and Mu Gong sighed loudly and replied.

"It's because you roasted the head monk. You're not the kind of person who cares about the decisions made by your superiors."

In fact, it was Mu Gong's willingness to leave Shaolin. For the past two and a half years, I've been trapped in Shaolin and practiced repeatedly.

Still, the reason why Mu Mu let out a deep sigh was simple.

"It's nice to get out, but I don't think it's going to end well now that he's entangled."

After all, it was a strangely good feeling compared to its imposing size.

Then he turned his head and looked at Mu Qing, who was walking leisurely next to him.

"What about the martial priest?"

"I'm anxious, too. It's going to be tangled up with Mujinyi..."

"It's been a long time since I've been out in prose, aren't you looking forward to it?"

“··· Hye Kwan Sajo said· When this is over, we'll have to go hunt them down together in the future."

In other words, even if it wasn't for this incident, Mu Qing would be out of Shaolin often in the future.

There was a big problem of having to go with that "Hye-kwan"...

"Priests have a lot of trouble..."

“··· Isn't it a general match?"

After looking at each other for a moment, Mu Gong and Mu Qing let out a deep sigh, not knowing who would go first.

And in the case of the last one, Muyul...

"Hahaha· Go down carefully, Mu Yul."

"Hehehe... It's more fun for me to move like this. Sir!"

He was flirting with Hye-gal, the nominal leader of the Jongnam Journey, and climbing a tree.

He didn't know why he didn't walk the right path and climbed the trees, except for Mu Yul and Lingling.

Despite his age, and Mu Jin, who had achieved countless achievements, the reason why he chose Shaolin disciples, including Hye Ge, was simple.

They were, in fact, watchdogs.

It wasn't a surveillance station that was afraid to harm Mujin and the others in Jongnam.

It was a watchdog that Mujin had put up in case he had an accident or went on a rampage.

"Come to think of it, when I went to the Partisan Sect in the past, I was with the Four Swans, didn't I?"

Mu Qing, who was watching the scene, asked, and Mu Gong shook his head.

Naturally, the memory of visiting the shamans in the past came flooding back in his mind.

‘··· Could it be?'

Suddenly, a certain uncertain future began to appear in Mu Mu's mind.

And unfortunate premonitions are not wrong.

When they descended Songshan and arrived at Dengfeng County, what awaited them was a wagon loaded with countless pieces of metal.

"Is it again?"

Of course, there were only carriages and no horses anywhere.

* * *

After several days of driving a wagon full of iron, Mujin and his party arrived at Jongnam Mountain.

Even the number of wagons and balls of iron was much higher than it had been for the non-partisans.

When he went to the Shaolin Sect, he had only taken something for the Shaolin disciples to use, but this time he had to take something for the Zhongnan Sect disciples to use.

On top of that, it included ultra-heavy metal balls for Mujin, so its weight was far beyond common sense.

The good news was that the super-heavy wagon, which was stacked with metal balls for Mujin, was pulled by Mujin himself.

Immediately after arriving at Zhongnanfa with the wagons, he said.

"Hmm?"

Mujin felt something strange.

'It's quiet...'

Even though there were hundreds of disciples living in Zhongnanfa, there was still a sense of silence.

It wasn't just because they were masters that they were quiet. It was a different atmosphere from the shamans of the same sect as Jongnam.

"Originally, Jongnam had a different atmosphere from the shaman, but..."

Jongnam, like the shaman, was a Taoist who was famous for his defensive swordsmanship.

While the shaman uses Yu's trick to channel his opponent's attacks, Jongnam uses a sturdy martial arts that blocks all directions of the world and counterattacks with a half-bullet keeper.

As befits such a martial artist, the disciples of the Zhongnan Sect that I had seen in the Dragon Seal Branch Association had a somewhat heavy atmosphere that was not like a Taoist.

Even in the novel, he was not directly involved with the Dowolcheon, but he was portrayed as a sect in which all the four brothers fought a decisive battle together until the end, despite the intimidation of the Huashan Sect and the Shincheon.

It's frustrating because it's inflexible, but instead it's a hard-willed man· At least, the Jongnam that Mujin thought was such a sect.

But what is the atmosphere right now?

"It feels like a bunch of losers, isn't it?"

It was a mixture of defeatist and their characteristic gloom.

This was the case with about half of the sword-wielding disciples in the theater, and most of those with bandages all over their bodies.

'Are they the ones who went down the mountain and came back?'

It seemed to be the wounded that Bai Rock Jinyin had spoken about.

They must have lost their motivation when the sword technique they had cultivated for ten or twenty years was destroyed in vain.

On the way to meet the Zhongnan Sect Zhang Wenyin to teach the cultivation method that he had made with Baekam Jinin.

'You can't go on like this, can you?'

Mu Jin glanced at Zhongnan Sect's atmosphere and thought about it.

"I need to equip you mentally before you can cultivate."

And Mu Jin knew one very sure way to arm his mind.

It wasn't Mujin's consideration whether the other party wanted that way.