Chapter 293: I’m Not Buying. (1)

One of the Three Lords of the World,

a man called the Pajeon, known as the pinnacle of the martial arts lineage.

Though born of the Bi family,

rather than the responsibilities and justification that came with being of the bloodline,

a man who wanted to live as a martial artist (武人).

Pajeon Bi Ju.

If one were to describe his life,

it could be daringly described as madness (狂氣).

A martial artist obsessed with raising the level of his martial arts.

A man born as a man, who set his goal to become a martial artist and reach transcendence.

Because he made the path he wanted to take into only one path,

the person who ran straight ahead without looking back was none other than Pajeon.

He was different from others right from birth.

By the time he was old enough to clench his own fist,

he could already line up and beat down the blood relatives above him.

His innate talent from birth

made the family head and the elders

convinced that he would undoubtedly bring about the revival of the Bi family.

However.

‘I won’t do it. That sort of thing.’

One day, Bi Ju left a letter and disappeared.

Around the time Bi Ju turned fifteen since his birth,

he set out on his path, declaring he would turn his back on the clan.

In other words,

it was running away from home.

The reason Bi Ju bothered to leave the prestigious Bi clan.

That reason was none other than this:

to experience and gain enlightenment from the wider world,

and to use that enlightenment to create his own martial arts.

The Bi clan’s unique martial art,

the Bi-ahuitugong (備牙意鬪功), a martial art for blood relatives, did exist,

‘It’s not fun.’

Bi Ju did not like that martial art.

Although the Bi clan’s martial arts could also be called divine arts,

‘I will forge my own path.’

Bi Ju wished to create his own path,

and thus, young Bi Ju’s journey to the Central Plains began.

The beginning was a martial arts tournament journey.

Wherever Bi Ju’s feet took him, he sought out masters and challenged them to duels.

There were those who refused him,

and many times he nearly died in the process.

For a long period, as if displaying his skills on the edge of life and death,

Bi Ju endured his martial arts journey with gritted teeth,

and over several years, amidst countless defeats and victories,

he had unknowingly become a peak martial artist.

Was that the turning point?

-It’s futile.

Disliking the clan’s martial arts,

and leaving to embark on a martial arts journey,

in the end, he was still using the clan’s martial arts.

Having found considerable enlightenment, Bi Ju sought to find another path.

He decided to create a martial art that he himself could be satisfied with.

Thus, the young genius, and an unprecedentedly young peak martial artist at the time,

left the expectations of the world behind,

and spent ten years in a secluded mountain village unknown to anyone.

Ten years.

It was certainly a considerable amount of time,

but it was too short a period to create new martial arts.

Moreover,

Bi Ju already possessed another internal energy cultivation within his body.

Even if he created martial arts, if the internal energy cultivation didn’t match, his meridians would twist, making them unusable.

Therefore,

Bi Ju decided to first erase the internal energy cultivation contained within his body.

He had to empty everything he had cultivated to the peak level,

but hesitation did not exist for Bi Ju.

Within the limits of not burning his dantian or damaging his meridians,

it took him a year to erase what he knew.

If he succeeded in erasing it,

now was the beginning.

Pursuing more efficient movements,

and creating martial arts that could be added to it.

Though he entered a daunting path,

Bi Ju still faced no obstacles.

The movements he dreamed of had existed long before,

and the framework for it

had already been established during the year he spent erasing the main family’s internal energy cultivation.

All he had to do was move as he wished.

If others had seen it,

they would have said, ‘Is that really as easy as it sounds?’

Ironically,

Bi Ju possessed the talent to achieve it.

When he created martial arts, he set the framework, imagery, and goal on destruction.

He believed the original purpose of martial arts was to break things.

Solely for breaking and tearing,

efficient movements and the operation of internal energy for it.

Bi Ju spent days and nights forging such a path,

and thus, ten years passed.

Crack-

Kuaaa!

The giant rock placed behind the mountain crumbled,

and watching it sweep across the ground, Bi Ju

-Now I can go down.

finally realized it was time to head to the Central Plains again.

This was around the time Bi Ju was past twenty years old.

Ten years spent in seclusion in the mountains, cutting off contact.

By the time he descended to the Central Plains again,

the world had changed considerably.

Namgung’s Azure Dragon had taken over the position of family head,

and was making a name for himself as one of the Five Great Swordsmen of the World,

and around the time a middle-aged martial artist named Gale Sword began to gain fame.

Bi Ju started his martial arts tournament journey again.

It was a time when he hadn’t even properly named his martial art.

Once again, Bi Ju ceaselessly sought out masters and engaged in duels.

He met three of the Five Great Swordsmen of the World,

and even met the Iron Blood Fan, who was called the greatest person of the era.

He sought out and dueled martial artists regardless of whether they were from orthodox or unorthodox sects.

He had created his martial art,

but defeats continued.

Because there were countless people stronger than him.

But his progress did not stop.

If he lost, he just had to get back up,

and he was not satisfied even when he won.

Namgung family’s Azure Dragon was sharp,

and the wild Gale Sword was strong.

Hwasan’s prodigy Plum Blossom Sword was swift,

and Kunlun’s top disciple pursued a heavy sword.

Bi Ju couldn’t defeat anyone with the martial art he newly created,

and as more time passed,

-Not bad.

Bi Ju, lying on the ground and spitting blood, nodded with satisfaction.

He did not hesitate.

Because he had conviction.

That the martial art he created would one day become a divine art that would not lose to anyone.

So he was not disappointed.

His limbs were intact,

and his eyes were fine.

He was lucky.

He thought something would surely disappear along the way.

-Really not bad.

He moves forward without stopping.

He could find the lacking parts through experiencing defeat.

Constantly pursue martial arts.

That is the essence of a martial artist.

-Just a little more.

The path is still visible.

The path ahead is arduous.

It is an extremely arduous path because no one has paved it,

-It’s enjoyable.

To walk the path I created.

There is that much joy in it.

Bi Ju wiped his blood and got up.

In front of him, three martial artists lay dead, scattering blood.

Who could they have been?

They said they were famous unorthodox sect members.

Bi Ju didn’t even hear their names.

As Bi Ju examined each person who died by his hand,

he suddenly recalled.

-Your fist… it shatters… the sky.

The one who uttered those words must have been a person whose alias included Cheon (天).

Was it Sa Cheon Gye Cheol?

It felt something like that.

-Shattering the sky.

He wasn’t a martial artist outstanding enough to be called ‘sky’.

Seeing as I can’t even remember his face,

he must have been an insignificant fellow.

Speaking of ‘sky’,

when I dueled Gale Sword,

his sword imbued with the moon was much more similar.

At least he,

truly cut down the sky.

Bi Ju smiled, recalling that moment.

Because it was a memorable duel.

Even though I almost died.

-Sky, not bad.

Shattering the sky.

It’s a decent rhythm.

-In that sense, the name of this martial art will be Breaking Heaven (破天) from now on.

Tuapajeonmu.

This was the point when the martial art created by Bi Ju got its name,

and furthermore, when Bi Ju, alone, killed three of the Eight Demon Clans,

he ascended to the ranks of absolute masters.

Bi Ju didn’t pay attention to such trivial talk.

Rather than being talked about by others,

completing his own martial art was more important.

Time flows.

Gale Sword took the position of the sect leader without Bi Ju’s knowledge,

and Iron Blood Fan, the greatest person of the era, died from illness.

Hwasan’s prodigy martial artist became the sect leader,

and by the time Kunlun’s disciple also took the same position,

Bi Ju was still Bi Ju.

Being called a martial artist was enough.

That was Bi Ju’s thought.

Bi Ju only learned that he was called one of the Three Lords or something like that much later.

To reiterate,

the completion of his martial art was most important to Bi Ju.

Because that was his life’s goal.

Then one day.

-Ah.

Bi Ju, who was training as usual, gained an enlightenment.

-This is troublesome.

The fact that he wouldn’t be able to complete his martial art himself.

Due to his high level of cultivation, he maintained a certain youthfulness compared to his age,

but his aging body and meridians were the problem.

Because he possessed such immense power, his martial arts weren’t declining,

but the important thing was that he could no longer progress.

Yet, only one step remained until completion.

-Oh dear.

He laughed hollowly.

The countless martial arts journeys,

and the levels he pushed his body to the brink to achieve

had ironically become a poison.

-Haha.

Only just before his twilight years,

he realized the biggest problem.

His martial art,

was impossible to reach its pinnacle with his aging body.

Even with a body that maintained youthfulness through the assimilation of internal energy,

he couldn’t reach the ultimate level of Tuapajeonmu.

Since his body had already aged,

even if he found fortuitous encounters

and consumed spiritual medicine, he couldn’t reverse it.

The sky was wet,

and it was a winter day when snow fell.

As always, Bi Ju did not hesitate for long.

If the problem was insufficient time

and his aging, weakened body,

he could reverse it.

Regression to Youth.

Bi Ju intended to undergo Regression to Youth.

He already knew the side effects,

but if his meridians weakened and his capacity became smaller,

he thought he could just cultivate them further.

At least if it was just a weakened state, it wouldn’t be impossible.

With a younger body,

combined with the enlightenment he had reached, and the energy he would steadily accumulate,

he would be able to see the ultimate level of his martial arts.

More than the fame and power accumulated under the name Pajeon,

the completion of the martial art he created was more important to Bi Ju.

Bi Ju returned to the Bi clan to prepare for Regression to Youth.

Though he had left the clan and gone his own way,

knowing the kindness he received, Bi Ju sent all the money he had earned to the clan;

and because the fame of Bi family’s Pajeon was a great help to the clan,

there was no way the family head would dislike Pajeon returning to the Bi family.

When he returned to the clan,

the family head he met had changed from his father to his brother,

and then from his brother to his son.

Bi Ju could feel that a considerable amount of time had passed.

When he told the family head that he would undergo Regression to Youth,

the Bi family head expressed concern,

but Bi Ju had already made up his mind.

That night,

Bi Ju cast aside everything he had achieved,

and reversed the time of his body;

-…Damn it…

He spat out curses, feeling the drastically ruined vessel and meridians.

Because it was far more severe than he had expected.

It was to the point where learning martial arts was impossible.

******************

After undergoing Regression to Youth,

a little over ten years had passed.

Bi Ju abandoned his name,

and was living as a member of the Bi family named Bi Uijin.

His body, which was almost incapable of learning martial arts,

he managed to raise to an ordinary level.

This was possible thanks to Bi Ju from the past,

who was a martial artist called one of the Three Lords,

and the spiritual medicine he had hidden away in Pajeon’s vault, which barely allowed him to reach this level.

‘What should I do?’

Bi Uijin, lying on the floor basking in the gentle sunlight,

constantly pondered.

How could he achieve great success in martial arts?

Tuapajeonmu.

Even though he created it, it was an extremely difficult martial art.

He could only truly feel this after undergoing Regression to Youth.

How to use his joints,

how to apply the strength of his muscles,

and in which direction and how the internal energy should flow at that moment.

A divine art that could only be unleashed if everything was integrated into a single move.

Because it was created with destruction as its core,

even if just one of these was off, it couldn’t be properly executed.

And among them, the body was the most crucial.

‘I was foolish.’

Bi Uijin’s body, ruined by Regression to Youth,

was at a level where he couldn’t properly use the Tuapajeonmu he created.

His body couldn’t keep up with his mind.

‘…Was my ambition too great?’

How much fortuitous encounter would he need to feed his current body

to get it closer to the body he had as Bi Ju?

No.

‘It needs to be more than that.’

He realized this even with his degenerated body.

His martial art required a body close to perfection.

What level should it be?

Before reaching adulthood,

the standard was a body capable of reaching the peak level early on, provided the internal energy was sufficient.

‘…Sigh.’

Upon recalling it, Bi Uijin couldn’t help but sigh.

It was a fact he hadn’t known because he himself was like that,

but finding such a body would be difficult even if one searched the entire Central Plains.

‘What should I do?’

With his current body, he couldn’t reach the pinnacle even if he died trying.

The problem was that he had thought too lightly of Regression to Youth.

If he had known it would be like this, he should have gathered all the spiritual medicines in the world before starting.

‘Will I fail to reach the pinnacle like this?’

Even when he first underwent Regression to Youth,

he thought he could somehow rebuild it.

Because Bi Uijin’s original life was like that,

he thought it would be possible this time too,

but the situation was far more dire.

It was at a level where it was difficult even to reach the cultivation level he had once achieved.

‘I must find a way.’

He couldn’t end it like this.

As always, he had to find a way.

Since the brute force method of confronting things physically could no longer be used,

he had to find something else… something a little different.

‘Brother!’

‘Oh no.’

Because he had been lost in thought for too long,

Bi Uijin momentarily forgot that he was hiding.

He tried to hide belatedly,

but it was already too late.

Someone appeared beside Bi Uijin.

‘Again! What are you doing hiding here?’

‘…Tsk.’

It was Bi Bi, a member of the clan.

Except for the family head, she was known as Bi Uijin’s younger sister,

but to him, she was merely a clan member of granddaughter’s generation.

Furthermore, she

was the reason Bi Ju, who obsessively pursued martial arts to the point of madness,

did not end his life even after realizing he couldn’t achieve his martial arts.

‘Really… why do you keep hiding?’

‘Because you bother me so much, I have no choice but to hide.’

‘How much bother have I caused…!’

‘So… what is it?’

Bi Uijin sighed deeply and asked Bi Bi.

After all, it would probably be something like asking to eat together again,

or asking to train together, bothersome topics.

Because it was always like that.

Bi Uijin’s prediction was thus,

but unlike his expectation, Bi Bi brought up a different topic.

‘Brother, did you hear the news about this Dragon-Phoenix Gathering?’

‘…No?’

Dragon-Phoenix Gathering.

It was a name that immediately felt bothersome upon hearing it.

Bi Uijin’s current alias is Tu Ryong.

At least until he recovered some of his strength, he didn’t want to attract public attention,

‘-Please! If you come with me this time! I won’t bother you for half a year!’

Because Bi Bi clung to him and pestered him for days, he had no choice but to go.

He had intended to just go through it half-heartedly,

‘The problem was that these kids nowadays are too weak.’

The level of the younger generation was poor.

They talk about the greatest talent in history, the generation of meteors, and such,

but they were far inferior to when he was part of the younger generation.

Of course, there were true raw talents among them,

but they were not yet ripe.

‘What about it?’

Bi Uijin asked indifferently.

Perhaps, because he didn’t go to this Dragon-Phoenix Gathering,

she intended to bother him again?

‘They say one dragon appeared in this martial arts tournament.’

Fortunately, that didn’t seem to be the case.

‘Dragon?’

Dragon, is she talking about the Five Dragons and Three Peaks or something?

Playing with aliases was the same then as it is now.

‘Yes… they called him True Dragon.’

True Dragon (眞龍).

It means the real dragon among countless dragons.

What a grand expression.

‘What’s the problem with that?’

Dragons can continue to appear.

After all, it’s a name given by the sect, so it’s up to them.

For Bi Uijin, his expectations for the sect that Sword Venerable, that old man, left behind

had completely vanished.

At Bi Uijin’s bluntness,

Bi Bi retorted indignantly.

‘It’s because there’s a rumor that the True Dragon is his disciple…!’

‘His disciple? Who?’

‘Our grand-uncle…’

‘…?’

Bi Uijin had to frown at Bi Bi’s words.

Bi Bi’s grand-uncle.

If it’s someone above the current surviving Bi clan head,

‘Me?’

It was none other than Pajeon Bi Ju himself.

‘That’s a baseless rumor.’

Bi Uijin replied firmly to Bi Bi’s words.

Because he never took any disciples.

It was more important to complete his own martial art than to take such people…

‘Wait.’

‘No, listen…! There’s a rumor that the younger generation martial artist called True Dragon brought a letter of recommendation from our grand-uncle….’

‘A disciple?’

Although Bi Bi was saying something,

it didn’t properly register in Bi Uijin’s ears.

Disciple.

‘Yes, a disciple.’

Bi Uijin’s life goal was

the completion of his martial art,

and if he couldn’t complete his martial art with his current body,

‘Wouldn’t it be enough if someone else completed it for me?’

Someone who could see the pinnacle of Tuapajeonmu,

finding a person with talent and a body,

and having them see the end of the martial art in his stead, wouldn’t that suffice?

‘Moreover, he’s not even an adult yet… and they say he might have reached the peak level. How is that possible?’

‘Peak? Who are you talking about?’

‘The person called True Dragon.’

At Bi Bi’s words, Bi Uijin’s eyes widened considerably.

‘Do you know that fellow’s name too?’

‘Who? True Dragon?’

‘Yes.’

‘Gu… Gu something, I don’t know the details. But I heard he’s Sword Phoenix’s younger brother.’

‘…Sword Phoenix’s younger brother.’

Sword Phoenix.

The Sword Phoenix family is a place Bi Uijin also knows.

It’s where a monster hiding its fangs lives,

and it’s the home of one of his few close friends.

‘If he’s staying there.’

He was a child he had heard of a few times.

Saying his temperament was changing strangely,

he remembered Gu Ryun asking if he could come over sometime.

‘…Peak, a body not yet an adult.’

‘Brother?’

‘I see… so that’s how it is.’

‘Brother? Hey? Where are you going…. Hey!’

Although Bi Bi called out diligently from behind,

Bi Uijin ignored her and moved his body.

In his mind,

the moment the existence named Gu Yangcheon was registered.

******************

And so, arriving at the present,

Gu Yangcheon, whom he met directly, was at a far superior level than expected.

‘What an amazing level.’

When he heard that the Muddy Racoon of the Beggars’ Sect had come here at Gu Yangcheon’s request,

perhaps because their intentions overlapped,

how much he had laughed upon hearing that.

He thought it was fortunate.

‘How is it?’

A body and talent that surpassed the peak at a young age.

And a body close to perfection that he had pursued and desired.

Since he heard it was the martial arts lineage,

it’s highly probable that his joints and other parts were also trained as he wished.

This is literally

‘A level born to learn Tuapajeonmu.’

Everything is suitable.

All conditions perfectly fit for completing his own martial art.

How could it be otherwise, that he mistook him for a martial artist who had undergone Regression to Youth, even for a moment?

He was in such an outstanding state.

Even,

until just before, he had harbored a slight doubt,

but the moment he grasped Gu Yangcheon’s neck,

Bi Uijin could tell.

Absolutely, no matter what method was used,

a body that had undergone Regression to Youth could never possess such clean and strong meridians and capacity.

Recalling that, Bi Uijin said,

‘Coincidentally, my master is recruiting disciples.’

Honestly,

it was quite embarrassing to sell himself out,

but since Gu Yangcheon wouldn’t know about it anyway, it was fine.

He had sworn never to use the alias and position of Pajeon,

but conversely, he knew very well how immense the position of Pajeon was,

so this time, he had to use it.

If it were the teachings of the Three Lords,

they would never refuse.

Bi Uijin looked at Gu Yangcheon and dreamed.

‘The talent of that body. If combined with my teachings.’

What he had desired.

He would be able to see the pinnacle of Tuapajeonmu.

‘Now, quickly….’

If he just says yes,

a new history would begin from then.

He would be able to advance higher as the new successor of Tuapajeonmu.

‘I’m not buying.’

‘Alright, I’ll immediately… What did you say?’

At Gu Yangcheon’s reply,

Bi Uijin wore a dumbfounded expression.

‘What did you say?’

‘No, it’s not that I’m not buying, it’s that I’m not doing it.’

‘You don’t seem to understand properly. As I said before, my master….’

‘Yes, I know, but I’m not doing it.’

At Gu Yangcheon’s answer,

Bi Uijin, except for immediately after Regression to Youth,

had to wear the most shocked expression.