Book 6 Chapter 29

Nothing

-Murder Hole, the identity of the old man

We're going to be using the

A whole deer is roasted over a wood fire.

It was sizzling.

Appetizing with smoke

A savory smell wafted around the forest.

My saliva dripped down my throat as I waited for the meat to cook next to me.

For a moment, a light flashed in her eyes. Bi Ryuyeon Yan cautiously spoke to the Nodosa.

"Don't you think it's ripe now?"

"You've got a good eye, after all. It looks like you're right, it's ripe for the picking, shall we eat it?"

Before the old man had finished speaking, her hand reached for the roast. Even though it was over a fire that hadn't yet been extinguished, her hand was unyielding. She was nonchalant as the flames invaded her hand.

"Aren't you hot?"

It's no wonder the old man was surprised to see an able-bodied man stick his hand into the fire unprotected.

To a normal person, it was normal to be hot. No, it was normal to be burned.

"Of course! It's only now that I'm feeling this hot that it makes sense."

Ryu's response was nonchalant.

She then proceeded to tear off the hind leg, which looked the most delicious. True to her word, the inside of the whole deer was evenly golden brown and cooked to perfection.

"Wow, that looks delicious, you caught a real one!"

"Wait!"

Just as she was about to tear off a pair of ripe deer hind legs and pop them into her mouth, the old master's hand stopped her.

"Why?"

To Bi Ryuyeon's bewildered retort, Nodosa replied with a serious face.

"There's only one rule for eating this meat in the first place!"

"Ho, ho, do I really need to know that's the rule, if you don't mind my asking?"

"Well, you sure are hungry, aren't you?"

"I'll pay my respects to your keen insight, can I eat now? "

Holding the hastily plucked deer hind leg in her hand, she asked, her stomach already churning and protesting for food. The old man shook his head as he once again stopped her from taking a bite of the roasted, golden brown hind leg.

"Not yet. The young fellow has a bad memory!"

As if suddenly remembering again, Bi Ryuyeon took a moment to calm her mouth, her tongue with its overdeveloped sense of taste, and her stomach with its unusually large capacity, and looked at the old man.

There was a strong sense of urgency in his eyes.

"What are the rules?"

asked.

"First of all, secrecy is the number one rule, and it trumps all rules. The children of my homeland do not like it when I do this, for there are very few of them who have the understanding to understand my ways!"

It was like he was telling me some big secret.

"So that's what you're saying about not snitching."

"Don't you think it's unnecessary to be so blatant?"

"The truth is always sobering."

He was right.

"What happens if I break the rules?"

Out of curiosity, Biryuyen asked the nodosa.

"What do you think we should do?"

The old master's words softened. The old man smiled a mischievous smile that was uncharacteristic of a master.

"Has it ever occurred to you that you've just peeked into a secret that no one should know about?"

You got a glimpse of a secret no one was supposed to know, or something like that.

"Are you going to call it a murderous outlet?"

In a nonchalant tone, Bi Ryuyeon replied.

"Uh-huh, you've got a way with words! You're a killer……. Well, I could consider it if you want! In retrospect, it seems like a very neat and refreshing way to go."

"No thanks, I still have a lot of work to do in the world."

She politely declined Nodosa's offer.

"You have nothing to be humble about!"

The old man looked like he'd be happy to oblige if I asked.

"So you've been pretending to be a monk, but you've been picking pumpkin seeds out of your backside, huh? Don't worry. I'll keep your secret!"

She wanted to go in as soon as possible and shove her hind legs back into her mouth. The introduction was too long for a piece of meat.

"Hmph, so we're accomplices now."

At the old monk's sinister words, Biryou nodded. Perhaps this is what she wanted to say.

The old man smiled inwardly as he watched Bi Ryuyeon begin to pick at the meat, as if he didn't want to wait any longer.

"It's been a while since I've had such a fun connection! Let's go!

As my enjoyment increased, my appetite increased.

"Wah, wah, wah, wah, wah!"

Bi Ryuyeon couldn't help but be impressed by the fierce appetite that was so uncharacteristic of an old man. There was even a possibility that he could compete with his own master in terms of appetite alone. In other words, his appetite was beyond the scope of humanity. It was an appetite that could only be considered a master.

But as far as she could see, the old man was confident in everything he did, and there was not a hint of guilt in his demeanor.

When he realized that she was looking at him as he furiously tore into the whole roast, he paused in his cutting and spoke a word.

"Hehe, is it strange that the Taoist enjoys eating meat?"

"Isn't it supposed to feel weird to be normal?"

That's the kind of common sense she knew.

"You need not wonder at all. To be guilty of such trivial nothingness is the greatest sin of all! Nodo did not realize this truth until he was ten thousand years old. It took him a very long time………."

The old man spoke as if he were declaring the truth in a voice that showed no shame in his opinion.

"Wow, you sure do know your stuff, Grandpa, and you're not like anybody else in town!"

Bi Ryuyeon nodded in sympathy. There was not the slightest hint of condemnation or disgust on his face. He was far more sympathetic to the old master in front of him than to the stubborn and inflexible Mu Jinzhi.

Nodosa's spirits were also lifted. It's been a long time since I've met someone so compatible.

His own misbehavior was something that even his own student did not understand. The old man's heart grew even more cheerful.

"In that spirit, do you want me to rip off another leg?"

"Good."

She didn't say no.

The flesh clinging to the increasingly golden brown roast of the deer was horribly ravaged by the unrestrained, unappreciative hands and appetites of the two old boys. Soon the flesh was torn away to reveal the magnificent bones, and the flesh fell away, leaving the now useless bones in a heap by the campfire.

"A…… then you're not a genius?"

Bi Ryuyeon, who had almost finished roasting the whole deer, looked at the old monk and asked. Apparently, he wasn't the hermit she had expected.

The old man, who had never thought of himself as a reclusive old man, nodded.

"I may be retiring from the front lines, but I'm not ready to be called a contributor yet!"

"Bam! Is that so? I was wrong."

Turo said, disappointed. Apparently, it wasn't the disappearance she had hoped for.

She was disappointed because she thought she was going to do something.

The old monk was dumbfounded by this attitude. He must have been dumbfounded, because the only thing he could think of to say was, "I'm not even a spirit knight, so what am I doing here?" He had just dropped out of the sky and was eating all the food he could.

"But is the young man a stranger here?"

This was no place for a stranger to set foot in. Moreover, the direction she was walking was in the middle of nowhere. There was only one possibility: she had fallen off a cliff! It was hard to believe.

Moreover, this child, Bi Ryuyeon, had surprised him even more by being so weak in the face of the Formless Qi that she was secretly exuding. This was the first time he had been so surprised by a child's accomplishments since he had taken him under his wing and taught him ten years ago.

"Me? I'm just here for a simple treasure hunt with a pure heart. There are six legends about Taegeukjeolae in the shaman sect alone, so I thought there might be something in there, but I'm disappointed."

"Hehe, that's ridiculous, you mean you actually believed that, something even our shamans don't believe now……."

Seeing Nodosa's tongue-in-cheek reaction, Bi Ryouyeon asked.

"Why is that, Grandpa?"

Ha…Grandpa!

It's called an eyepiece……. It was a name I hadn't heard in 80 years. No one had ever called him grandfather since he had survived the Heavenly Blood Tax a hundred years ago and become a martial artist.

Everyone was always as polite as they could be in front of him, with the best manners possible.

His priest, Hyun Hak-Jin, is over a hundred years old and still teaching children, but he is in seclusion, training to broaden his scope and create new sword techniques.

"There are already three kinds of lore found here. All three, great and small, have come from the same place, and everyone thinks there are no more to come."

"Oops, someone's already taken it all! Too bad I wasn't here sooner."

When she realized that she couldn't get anything, her mouth stuck out like a sore thumb (1 character: 30.3 cm).

"Huh? But who's your grandfather?"

"Me?"

When she finished eating, her attention turned to people.

"Who are your disciples?"

Bi Ryuyeon asked.

"Ah! Cheong Hyeon, there's a guy like that. He's an unusually intelligent boy. His one major flaw is that he doesn't understand his master's drinking habits……, but otherwise he's perfect. Everybody wants him."

His heart sank as he recalled the student who had excelled above all others.

"Huh? Disciples are blueprints?"

"Ho-ho? No?"

"Of course, I came with you to Mudang Mountain this time."

"No? What do you mean, what business did he have in coming to the Shaman Mountain?"

It was clear from his questioning that he knew nothing. He had been in the dark about the news, having spent all his time cultivating and secluding himself from the world. When he heard from Bi Ryuyeon that his disciple Cheng Heng had come to Mount Wudang to accompany him on a training camp, the old man was overwhelmed with admiration.

"Hehe, human connection is an unknown quantity."

The unimaginable master of the Three Absolute Swords Qinghui, who was not even close to being beaten by the flawless first wall spearman Mo Yonghui (though he was better than Mo Yonghui and Bai Muyoung), was free-spirited.

It's over the top!

"I don't get the feeling you're a Master of the Blue Stain, do you?"

"Heh, heh, heh! So I nagged him a lot, but I thought he'd be flexible, but he's not as flexible as he is talented."

Thinking of his student, who knew nothing else but discipline, the old monk frowned.

"Still, they say it's better than the other one!"

"Really?"

Nodosa nodded in relief.

The old man was none other than the Master of the Three-Sectioned Sword Qinghuan, the Jade Sage of the Heavenly Martial Academy, who held the remarkable status of being the First Sword of the Martial Eight Swords, and the Elder of the entire Martial Sect.

The prefectural emblem was an honor reserved for the wielder of the shaman's eight swords, so his dojo was both a jade healer and a prefectural swordsman.

Who can look at the current swordsman and not think of the name of the great shaman, the First Sword Sword, when they see him now? That's a ridiculous request.

Ever since he realized a truth fifty years ago, he had been unhappy with the literati who created strict rules, enslaved themselves to them, and lived stagnant lives. He felt that they were too hard on themselves with man-made rules.

At first, of course, he lived the discipline as faithfully as anyone. As a young man, his discipline was heavenly, absolute truth. But as he focused on the sword to achieve a single goal, he realized something profound.

It was the realization that the sword would never be free in this way, tied to everything.

That's why he left the stifling job of a writer early on and went into seclusion, focusing on his swordplay. He had a goal that was more important than honor. If he hadn't achieved that goal yet, he had a long way to go.

After forty years, he had made some progress and perfected a martial art, the Three Emotions Taijiquan Sword Art.