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Translator: uly
Chapter: 3
Chapter Title: Ceasefire
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Martial God (3)
Ceasefire
"Why can't we go up?"
"You really don't know a thing."
"I've been on the front lines of survival since I was three."
"What's the front lines of survival?"
"Earning money."
"...Is that even possible?"
"Earning money doesn't require words. Just a splint for a broken arm, a ragged cloth exposing your flesh, and a broken bowl."
"Kek!"
Dong Pung chuckled.
"So you were a beggar?"
Nam Pung asked.
"My father was the one who sat me down on the street market. And by 'that bastard,' I mean my father. That bastard said, 'You're all grown up now, so go earn some money.'"
"What a father."
"Yeah. He never showed his face after I was eight, so he's pretty impressive. Anyway, what I'm saying is I've never had the leisure to look around until today. So it's only natural I wouldn't know about something like the Martial God Tower. The only regret is if someone had just told me about Golden City, I never would've come to this beggar-like battlefield."
"What if you don't come here?"
Seo Pung asked. Her voice clearly held back laughter.
"I'd go to the Martial God Tower, become the master of Golden City, and never worry about money again."
"Where'd you hear that from?"
"What?"
"No one's reached the top floor of the Martial God Tower in the last 1,500 years."
"Well... Is it only for martial artists?"
"It doesn't have to be a martial artist, but the title given to whoever reaches the top floor is Peerless Through the Ages."
"Peerless Through the Ages?"
"Yeah."
Seo Pung nodded.
"You go inside and climb up?"
"The Martial God Tower is a thousand zhang tall—three thousand meters. It has four sides, each with a base of five hundred zhang—one thousand five hundred meters."
"Uh... That's not a tower, that's a mountain?"
"From afar, people mistake it for one."
"How many floors total?"
"No one knows."
"Why?"
"No one's reached the top floor."
"Right. So what's the highest record?"
"Eight hundred fifty-five floors. But even that's not certain. Some say it's made up."
"Who was that martial artist?"
"Heavenly Demon."
"Isn't the Heavenly Demon the martial artist who received the Peerless Through the Ages title?"
"He climbed the highest, and since the other martial artists were so pathetic, they called him that—not because he became the tower lord."
"Interesting place."
"Not interesting—terrifying."
"Terrifying?"
"In 1,500 years, thousands... no, tens of thousands of martial artists have died inside."
"You can die inside?"
"You should stop at a reasonable point, but martial artists live and die by challenges. Clear one floor, and you challenge the next. Fail, and..."
"You end your life inside."
"Yeah."
"What about food once you're in?"
"There's a restaurant inside."
"...For real?"
"Restaurants, inns, taverns, shops—all there. Of course, only on the developed floors."
"How's that possible?"
"I told you, formations are set up."
"So they installed those in the Rest Gate or Life Gate of the formation."
"Huh?"
Everyone looked at Heuk Pung in surprise.
"It's weird that I know about Rest Gates or Life Gates?"
Heuk Pung asked.
"Those are very specialized terms."
Dong Pung said.
"I know that much, you brats."
"What's your deal?"
Seo Pung asked.
"What deal?"
"The so-called 'Stagnant Water'—our group of twenty—are strong enough to be called masters if we went out to the martial world. But you show no signs of training in martial arts. Sure, some say peak experts who Return to the Natural State look that way, but you're not that. Yet you've survived this long."
The twenty Stagnant Water of Wind Squad found Heuk Pung the most inexplicable. In their minds, he should've died long ago.
He'd suffered countless injuries, survived death countless times, but never died. No limbs lost. Surrounded, yet only he survived. Straggled behind, yet he always returned.
He was ridiculously lucky, but that didn't explain everything.
"Do you know what a Body Without Dantian is?"
"A body without a dantian."
Seo Pung answered.
"'Dian' means dantian, and those born without one are called Bodies Without Dantian.
"No, that's wrong."
"What are we wrong about?"
"A Body Without Dantian isn't lacking a dantian—it's so vast it seems absent."
...
The group silently stared at Heuk Pung.
"That's me."
"Then how do you explain no internal energy?"
Seo Pung asked with interest.
"I have internal energy."
"You do?"
"But I can't draw it out to use."
"Why not?"
"It's related to the Body Without Dantian."
"How so?"
"If you pour a bucket of water into a bathtub, can you wash your face or not?"
"...Hohohohoho! Hahaha!"
Seo Pung burst into laughter.
"It's weirdly convincing."
Dong Pung smiled faintly. But he didn't believe Heuk Pung. By his knowledge of martial arts, the dantian grows with internal energy. A Body Without Dantian literally has no dantian—not one too big to notice.
"That's why I didn't want to say..."
"Fine, I'll believe you. But it doesn't explain surviving this long with water you can't even use to wash your face."
"The reason I'm alive is this."
Swish!
Heuk Pung's hand moved.
"Gasp!"
Seo Pung recoiled in shock. The technique she'd shown in that instant was the Substitution Phantom Shift, one of the pinnacle movement arts.
"Not attacking you—this."
Heuk Pung held something out in front of Seo Pung.
"What is it?"
"Seo Pung, your eyebrow."
"My eyebrow?"
"While we talked, ten hairs fell out, and five eyebrow hairs. Don't know your age, but watch out for hair loss. Black beans help a lot."
"S-so you caught a falling eyebrow?"
"My eyes are fast, and my hands are fast."
"I get fast hands, but fast eyes—what's that mean? Not that your eyesight is good, right?"
"Similar, but a bit different."
"How different?"
"You see the blink of an instant. I split the blink and see a fragment."
"Split the blink?"
"Yeah. Split the blink, and you can divide space, predict weapon trajectories perfectly. Perfect prediction makes dodging easier than you'd think."
"That's..."
"It makes sense. Anyway, to become master of Great Golden City, you need money, right?"
"...Yeah. Unfortunately, no money means no challenge. Sure, you could sell stuff left by those who entered first and died, but that's not easy."
"True. Anyway, new goal."
"Gonna challenge the Martial God Tower?"
"I've saved every coin from the last ten years. That should cover it, right?"
"Not spent a single coin?"
"I came to earn money, not spend it."
"Impressive."
Seo Pung raised her thumb.
"To challenge the Martial God Tower, we gotta survive first, right?"
Buk Pung said.
"Obviously. I climbed up here to survive."
Heuk Pung grinned.
"You all keep watch here."
"Got it."
The five nodded.
Heuk Pung descended the sand dune.
"See that?"
Dong Pung asked Nam Pung.
They used informal speech with Heuk Pung, but formal among themselves.
"His hand?"
Nam Pung asked.
"Didn't see it."
"Me neither. Never seen handwork like that."
"I know."
Seo Pung said.
"What?"
"If my eyes aren't wrong, that's Life-Death Bind."
"The strongest Capturing Hand in the world?"
Jung Pung asked in surprise.
"You know Life-Death Bind?"
Seo Pung turned to Jung Pung.
"A thousand years ago, it was the unique art of the imperial warrior Capturer. They say he used it to apprehend criminals. But never killed with it."
"Not a killing art?"
Seo Pung asked.
"Well, I don't know. Records say the Capturer never killed."
"If no killing function, it'd be Life Bind, not Life-Death Bind."
Buk Pung said.
"Good point. Anyway, I hope that Heuk Pung guy becomes a martial artist."
"A sandstorm's coming tonight, so if you don't wanna eat sand with your rice, stuff yourselves now!"
Heuk Pung's shout reached the top of the dune.
"What's the basis for a sandstorm?"
One of the squad members yelled back.
"Me too."
Seo Pung nodded.
"Says Seo Pung granny's knees are aching like crazy right now."
"That little shit... Blocking whose bridal path!"
Seo Pung glared at Heuk Pung, fuming.
"But a sandstorm?"
Dong Pung looked up at the sky.
"Wait, the season... It's time."
Buk Pung pulled a sack of grain powder from his bosom. Soon, the five slowly chewed the grain paste.
"By the way..."
Dong Pung's gaze turned rearward. Toward the imperial army's camp.
* * *
"This came."
Adjutant Im Cheon-yu handed over the sealed report. Before him sat a man in ornate armor. This imposing figure was the imperial army's supreme commander, Heavenly Pivot Great General Joo Jang-cheol.
"Who sent it?"
"It says Yi Hyeol-rang."
"Yi Hyeol-rang?"
Joo Jang-cheol took and tore open the report.
[Success.
Now finish it.
—Yi Hyeol-rang.]
"Where's the one who brought this?"
"Waiting."
"Tell him to come back at dawn. And summon Third General, Fifth, Sixth, Seventh, and Tenth Generals—say I'll see them at ha-si (11 PM)."
"Understood."
"Move discreetly."
"I know, Great General."
Im Cheon-yu bowed and exited.
"Jung-ya."
"Yes."
A low reply came from somewhere.
"From now, guard my tent like iron. No one hears what's said inside."
"Yes!"
The reply vanished with the presence.
Soon, quiet movements began.
Starting at the tent's outer edge, they spread in all directions.
That evening.
Five generals visited Joo Jang-cheol's tent discreetly. They were Third General Vast Forest General Eon Ji-wook, Fifth General Warrior General Hwang Bo-seung, Sixth General Seven Skills General Paeng Suk, Seventh General Flame Fire General Ok Cheo-gi, Tenth General Heavenly Overlord General Dok Gunpae.
The five scanned around and sat.
"The time has finally come."
Joo Jang-cheol said quietly.
"Settling accounts?"
Third General Vast Forest General Eon Ji-wook asked. Eon Ji-wook was a warrior from the Jinju Eon Clan, one of the martial families.
"That's why I called you."
"Up to where do we settle?"
Fifth General Warrior General Hwang Bo-seung asked. Hwang Bo-seung was also from the martial family Hwang Bo Clan.
Aside from them, Seven Skills General Paeng Suk was from the North Haeng Paeng Clan, and Heavenly Overlord General Dok Gunpae from the Ten Thousand Demons Poison Clan.
"War ends, we return to the capital. Leave loose ends, and life in Beijing gets hard."
"Settle them all."
"Yeah. Iron Blood General Gun Cheokjeon, Plain Iron General So Daehwa, Great Harmony General Ak Gun-eok, River Flow General Adal, Full Flower General Cho Yu—all likely future enemies. Wind Squad is a fatal weakness, one hundred out of one hundred."
"Settle them."
Heavenly Overlord General Dok Gunpae said.
"Objections to Defeat General's words?"
Joo Jang-cheol scanned the group.
No one objected.
"Good. Then we'll eliminate them."
Joo Jang-cheol placed his right hand on the table. The others stacked their palms atop it.