Chapter-35 (Abandoned Disciple of Heavenly Demon)

---

Episode 35: To the West (2)

When Jin Myeong was surrounded by the Kunlun and Gongdong Sect, he could have really died.

‘Until now, I never thought my life was in danger.’

It wasn’t the first time Jin Myeong had fought since arriving in murim. As soon as he arrived, he got attacked by masked men, later fought with Gye Bu-il and Mok Ja-gyeong.

But when fighting them, he completely ruled out the thought of losing his life. He tried to think of it as a real battle, but he couldn’t call it a real battle.

‘I could have died. Those blades flashed before my eyes.’

He fought against masters like Gongdong Twin Elders, Sage Heo Woon and Sage Xu Sheng. Just thinking back to fighting them made hairs on his body stand.

‘I was nervous, scared, anxious, and apprehensive. But more than anything…’

‘It was fun.’

‘It was fun.’

It was a situation where if Jin Myeong made even the slightest mistake, he could have died. But that excited him. He enjoyed that thrill.

“Phew.”

Jin Myeong took a deep breath and looked at his hands quietly.

‘I was shaking. Was it Excitement? Or fear?’

‘Maybe the two feelings were mixed.’

‘The excitement of learning martial arts, and the fear of possibly dying. But I think it’s closer to excitement, though.’

‘Okay. Let’s be honest. When the Taoists Priest of the Kunlun sect or Gongdong sect were killed by my sword, I felt joy.’

‘The peak of that enjoyment was definitely when I defeated that old man, Gok Yang.’

‘Is that why everyone is so obsessed with martial arts and wants to fight strong opponents? Is it because of a competitive spirit or something?’

When Jin Myeong read the novel, the martial artists just seemed like people crazy about fighting, but now that he’s actually living in murim, he felt similar emotions.

‘I want to fight more.’

‘I want to fight more masters like Gongdong Twin Elders and Sage Heo Woon.’

‘I wanted to see how much stronger I could fight against the masters with the martial arts I had painstakingly trained.’

‘I think I know a little bit about how to fight.’

His swordsmanship and Heavenly Demon Divine Finger, which had not been working properly until now, now worked.

‘I felt how I should fight and how I should fight so that my swordsmanship would work. I comprehended it separately without realizing it.’

‘A combination of swordsmanship and internal energy shots. That’s what I thought from the beginning.’

But in the original work, the main character didn’t use the Sword Control Art very well and only used the Heavenly Demon Divine Finger Art as a secret weapon, which he used secretly as surprise attack.

‘It’s difficult to use in combination with swordsmanship. It was harder than I thought to attack using martial arts simultaneously.’

‘I thought I was using the Heavenly Demon Sword Control Art and Heavenly Demon Divine Finger Art well in combination, but that wasn’t the case.

If he uses the sword technique and then attacks with the Heavenly Demon Divine Finger Art or uses the Ashura Sword Form, the swords will stop.

‘Those masked men weren’t that strong, so maybe that’s why they worked.’

When Jin Myeong first returned after learning martial arts, he remembered the masked men who had attacked him.

Perhaps the masked men were so weak that Jin Myeong’s martial arts were effective against them.

‘I think I should go out soon.’

While, Jin Myeong was gathering his thoughts in bath tub, the hot water became lukewarm.

Hence, he got out of the bathtub, wiped the water off with the cloth he had prepared, and then took out his clothes and put them on.

‘Shall I take a look around?’

Jin Myeong came out of the room.

After coming to this world, Jin Myeong and found lot of things different from what he read in novel. Like the symbol in cave. There are various such elements which were dismissed, as they weren’t part of main storyline.

As Jin Myeong come out of room, he saw many people who appeared to be soldiers, and there were quite a few carriages and horses.

They might look different, but reminded him of the delivery man from 21^st century.

“Are we finally here?”

“You just told me to come without saying anything.”

Jin Myeong heard voices mixed with complaints.

‘I can hear the noise, so it looks like other disciples had arrived.’

The only people who were making such a lot of noise were Jang Hoo and his fellow disciples.

And it was just as Jin Myeong expected.

‘Were those two people that close?’

Jin Myeong saw them going out to drink together since Cheonghae, and seeing them together now seemed like they were on good terms.

“Hmm! You came too?”

Other disciples frowned when he discovered Jin Myeong.

‘I heard he got stronger, but…’, Jang Hoo quietly examined Jin Myeong.

‘I couldn’t see it properly because I was far away, but I did see him fighting the Gongdong Twin Elders. He didn’t just confront them; he knocked them down.’

“It seems that the Gongdong Twin Elders were not as strong as their reputation suggests?”

“It’s okay to think that way.”

Unlike Jang Hoo, who was lost in thought, Gye Bu-il was picking a fight with Jin Myeong. Jin Myeong smiled broadly as he watched his fourth martial brother.

The smile made Gye Bu-il flinch.

“Next time, we’ll have to see how strong the youngest has become.”

‘I want to see his skills. Ignore Jin Myeong?’

‘Now I know that I shouldn’t do that.’

After Jin Myeong defeated Gye Bu-il, followed by his confrontation with Gongdong Twin Elders or Cloud Dragon Sword, Jang Hoo couldn’t help but change his opinion.

‘If this guy’s skills are actually good, it wouldn’t be a bad idea to bring him in.’

Jang Hoo was rather thinking of bringing Jin Myeong to his side.

“A Martial Artist that neither the Cloud Dragon Sword of Kunlun Sect nor the Gongdong Twin Elder could defeat?”

Jang Hoo’s eyebrows twitched at Jin Myeong’s words.

“They say you’re good at getting at people’s nerves, and it really is.”

But Jang Hoo’s reaction was very different from what Jin Myeong had expected. He was instead looking at Jin Myeong with eyes full of interest.

‘Was this your real personality?’

Rather, Jin Myeong looked at Jang Hoo with a puzzled expression.

‘I don’t think the memories my original body would be of much help.’

The memories of the four Martial siblings that the original Jin Myeong had. Actually, didn’t help much.

It can’t be helped, because all he can remember, them ignoring Jin Myeong.

‘I have absolutely no memory of ever talking to them. I thought Jang Hoo had little patience.’

Jin Myeong concluded that from the fact that Jang Hoo repeatedly clashed with the Disciples of Kunlun Sects in Kunlun Mountain and Qinghai, he would not have expected Jang Hoo’s current personality.

‘He may be arrogant, but that doesn’t mean he’s just full of pride.’

‘Usually, if the character in a novel is arrogant, he or she is often portrayed as being hasty, impatient, and having strong pride. But if you think about it, Jang Hoo was arrogant and proud, but he wasn’t hasty.’

“How about it, Youngest? Let’s postpone the competition until later, and have a drink together?”

Jin Myeong quietly looked at Jang Hoo, who still had a smile on his face.

‘Normally, it would hurt by my pride, if I keep trying to attack him.’

Jin Myeong ignored Jang Hoo.

‘There are rumours that that while I had defeated Gongdong Twin Elders and Cloud Dragon Sword, he had not defeated even a single person in the later fights.’

‘No matter how many other disciples of Kunlun were beside the Senor Brother Jang Hoo’s pride was bound to be hurt. Yet he was not at all angry.’

“So, what’s the answer?”

“I refuse.”

Jin Myeong didn’t like drinking to the point of being drunk with Jang Hoo, whom he wasn’t even close with.

‘Besides, I couldn’t see Jang Hoo’s thoughts too clearly.’

“Are you refusing? You’re going too far. You don’t understand my desire to have a drink with the youngest for the first time in a long time.”

Jin Myeong quickly thought about it as he watched Jang Hoo’s exaggerated reaction.

‘If you think about it, isn’t it not so bad? I think this guy is better than Mok Ja-gyeong. No matter how I think about it, Mok Ja-gyeong is suspicious.’

Jin Myeong still found it strange that the current Heavenly Demon, young and strong, was not the leader, and not to mention, he found Mok Ja-gyeong’s actions suspicious.

‘It was as if he wanted to somehow fight with the Kunlun sect.’

Jin Myeong couldn’t shake that thought.

‘I wasn’t afraid even if the result led to war. Rather, it seemed like they welcomed it.’

Of course, this is a very extreme assumption.

‘Instead of Mok Ja-gyeong, it wouldn’t be a bad idea to make this guy a Sect Leader.’

Suddenly, that thought occurred to Jin Myeong. He tried to become a Vice-Sect Leader in order to avoid the destruction of the Heavenly Demon Sect, but that wasn’t necessarily the only path.

Anyway, the reason Jin Myeong wanted to become a Sect leader was because he wanted the right to speak.

‘If I become this person’s confidant…’

‘And if you make Jang Hoo a puppet Sect Leader, i will still have a say. It would be difficult for Jang Hoo, who became the leader of the sect through his power, to ignore Jin Myeong’s words.’

‘I think this guy is better than the sinister Mok Ja-gyeong.’

He couldn’t support Mok Ja-gyeong’s ambition whose intentions were unknown.

‘If I establish this guy as the Sect Leader, I won’t have to worry about the end.’

Jin Myeong always worried about what to do in the end if he were to become a Sect Leader.

He’d never stood above anyone.

Jin Myeong didn’t have the confidence to lead not just one or two subordinates at his command, not to mention numerous people in the Heavenly Demon Sect.

‘No. As long as Heavenly Demon doesn’t die now, there’s nothing to worry about, right?’

‘If the current Heavenly Demon doesn’t die, wouldn’t he continue to be the leader of the Heavenly Demon Sect?’

‘So, before the leader dies, I just need to raise one more disciple and hand over the position to him.’

Anyway, that’s a story for later.

“Senior Brother.”

“Hmm?”

Jang Hoo, who was about to turn back, stopped walking.

“Is that proposal valid?”

“Proposal?”

“A suggestion to have a drink together.”

“Hmm. It does work.”

Jang Hoo smiled and nodded.

“But the youngest is being cheeky, so I suddenly don’t want to invite him.”

“If you don’t like it, then quit.”

Jin Myeong turned around without any hesitation.

‘I was planning to look into Jang Hoo anyway; I didn’t necessarily plan on joining hands with him.’

“Oh, Youngest. You are very hasty.”

Jang Hoo quickly grabbed Jin Myeong’s shoulder.

“Let’s unpack a bit and wash up, then let’s have a drink together. I’ll send someone.”

The corners of Jang Hoo’s mouth were trembling slightly.

“Or so.”

After making an appointment with Jang Hoo, Jin Myeong returned to his room.

‘Is there anything I can gain from this mission?’

After sitting cross-legged on the bed, Jin Myeong began practicing the Heavenly Demon Divine Art.

However, Jin Myeong began to wonder if there was anything he could get from this mission.

‘It’s the fate of the Heavenly Demon Sect. I was really lucky and found it right away, but….’

In novels, the location of protagonist lucky encounters was rarely described in detail.

Except for those obtained from places like Sects or Noble Clans, most of them were from places like mountains or cliffs.

‘It would be fortunate if at least the names of the local mountains were mentioned.’

There was even a chance encounter in an unknown mountain in some region. Jin Myeong decided to completely exclude the possibility of being in such a place.

‘The most important place is where the headquarters of the Green Forest is located.’

As soon as Jin Myeong thought of the headquarters of the Green Forest, Nokrim mountain came to his mind.

‘There are many elixirs sleeping there. Of course, the protagonist only got a few of them. Because the rest was hidden.’

Jin Myeong intended to obtain that hidden thing.

‘The location is between Hubei and Honam.’

On that mountain, the original protagonist discovered the place after falling off a cliff after fighting and losing to the leader of the Green Forest.

‘A place that even shamans and Jegal Noble Family cannot touch.’

In this novel, Green Forest is a very strong force.

Even though there were Wudang Sect and Jegal Noble Clan in Hubei, they were unable to attack the Green Forest.

Moreover, as he was a member of the Heavenly Demon Sect, he could not freely move in the Orthodox Alliance Territory.

‘If I touched it for no reason, a war could have broken out. It was only the beginning, but the main character was in danger of dying.’

The force is strong, and their Leader is also quite skilled.

Although it wasn’t the first time the protagonist had lost, the biggest crisis in the beginning was the confrontation with the Leader of Green Forest.

‘Anyway, I can’t go right now, but if I get the chance, I definitely have to go to Nokrim Mountain.’

There, Jin Myeong planned to avoid the eyes of the Green Forest thieves and obtain the opportunity. It seemed like it would be quite a difficult task.

“Sixth Young Lord.”

Jin Myeong stopped eating breakfast and got up from bed at the sound from outside.

---