Genius Martial Arts Trainer

“Haah.”

The former bandits, now laborers, who had been reduced to skin and bones, let out ragged breaths.

Trying to cut down trees and open a road with their crude weapons. No, with their farming tools, every bone and muscle in their bodies was screaming.

Even so, the reason they could not rest was simple.

Baaang!!!

“Gulp.”

Whenever they heard the thunderous explosions erupting up ahead, it was difficult even to dream of running away or pretending to be sick.

Bang!!

Every time the bear-like Party Master swung his enormous double-bladed axe, a massive tree was helplessly cut down, and the ground burst apart.

Whenever one of those enormous trees blocked the road, the Party Master would simply embrace it and toss it aside.

“Pack down the ground here.”

“Y-yes, sir!!”

The laborers, who had been staring blankly at the terrifying sight, hurriedly moved their bodies and busied themselves packing down the ground.

How long had they continued that exhausting labor without having eaten anything?

Step. Step.

Along with the sound of footsteps coming from somewhere, several men carrying loads approached them.

At the sound, Mugung, who had been clearing the road up ahead, shouted.

“Sit down and rest for a while.”

While the party members were at a loss over what to do at Mugung’s command.

Baek Garyeong untied the large bundle Mugung had set down, took out several pieces of silver, and held them out to the men who had brought the loads.

The men who received the silver set down the loads they had brought and left the mountain once more.

“??”

While the party members wore puzzled expressions. Baek Garyeong, who had finished counting the money, smiled brightly and said.

“Please eat before continuing.”

“!?”

Absurdly enough, the loads they had left behind were food.

At first, they reacted with uncertainty, then spent a moment glancing at the Party Master as though wondering whether they were truly allowed to eat it.

“It is all right.”

As the beautiful Baek Garyeong continued urging them, they began picking up the food one by one while watching the others.

Munch, munch.

Then they began stuffing it into their mouths as though they were possessed by starving ghosts.

Thump, thump!

Some of them ate so quickly that their throats became clogged, forcing them to pound their chests.

Their eyes were brimming with tears.

Mugung and Baek Garyeong, who were eating with them, could only look around at them with pity.

After everyone had finished eating.

Only after they had taken some time to rest and digest the food did Mugung grip his axe again and say.

“Now, let us resume paving the road!”

“Yes! Party Master!!”

The men who had been working like piglets being dragged to the slaughterhouse only moments ago had already vanished.

Simply because he had given them food, they began following Mugung as though he were their true Party Master.

After they blindly followed Mugung’s instructions together for a while.

One of the party members stopped packing down the ground, tilted his head, and muttered to himself.

“But, is this really all right?”

“What do you mean?”

At the question of the fellow party member who was packing down the road beside him, the man answered.

“I mean, I wonder whether it makes sense to collect money even if we pave the road. In the end, does not every piece of land throughout the nine provinces and eight wildernesses belong to His Majesty the Emperor?”

The two men exchanged their whispers carefully, but they could not escape the ears of Mugung, whose realm was high.

“You knew that, yet until just a moment ago you were committing banditry?”

“.......”

Mugung swept his gaze over the party members, who had instantly fallen silent, and gave a faint laugh.

To the party members, it was a terrifying expression, but Mugung was merely laughing because he found it rather amusing.

'Illegal is still illegal. It was because it was illegal that I was able to leave Shaolin.'

***

When he revealed the concept and plan of the Foolish Old Man Road Party. Abbot Hyepyeong had expressed the same doubt.

That the emperor would never remain idle.

And the answer to that was this.

“That is why I ask this of you, Abbot. Please erase my name from the registry of disciples.”

“Are you saying you intend to descend the mountain!!”

At the Abbot’s shout, Mugung nodded with a resolute expression.

“As you said, Abbot, if I were to do such a thing as a disciple of Shaolin, it would not end as merely my own problem. The emperor’s wrath could extend all the way to my sect.”

At Mugung’s explanation, Hyepyeong’s face turned red with anger in a manner unbefitting a monk.

Even his hands trembling, Hyepyeong shouted.

“Enough of this nonsense! How could a disciple of Shaolin become a bandit!!”

“I am not becoming a bandit. I will pave roads and make them earn money through proper work.”

“Sophistry! In the end, since you will not have the imperial family’s recognition, will you not be treated exactly the same as bandits! Do you think I would allow you to begin something that could be subjugated at any moment!”

“At present, they do not have the strength to deal with bandits because of the northern expedition. Is that not why countless young men are leaving their villages and turning to banditry?”

“After the war ends!”

“After the war ends, I plan to flee.”

“!?”

Mugung spoke to Hyepyeong, who wore an incredulous expression.

“As I said before, the reason for doing this is compassion and repentance. The goal is merely to make those who commit banditry earn money by working themselves rather than tormenting others for it. If they succeed in making a living that way, then even after the Foolish Old Man Party collapses, will they not continue earning their meals through honest work?”

“But.”

As the Abbot continued expressing his opposition, Mugung decided to press harder as well.

“Abbot! Please listen to the suffering of the people! How can you fear that your disciple will return to secular life merely because you are afraid of people pointing their fingers! The current Leader of the Zhengmu League was also once a disciple of our Shaolin, yet is he not working for the peace of the Central Plains as the Leader of the Zhengmu League?”

“!!!”

When Mugung raised the example of Mujin, who had already descended the mountain and was living in the secular world, Hyepyeong’s expression grew complicated.

And Mugung did not miss the opportunity.

“I am not a vessel capable of working for the entire martial world like the Leader of the Zhengmu League. However, I believe I am at least a vessel capable of preventing young men suffering because they were swept up in war from turning to banditry.”

“......Do you know that the Leader of the Zhengmu League was able to descend the mountain because his dantian had been destroyed?”

At the Abbot’s question, Mugung answered with a grave expression.

“After leaving Shaolin, I promise never to use Shaolin’s martial arts. If rumors spread that I have used Shaolin’s martial arts, send Junior Brother Mukyeong to take my head.”

***

Thanks to the party member’s question, Mugung recalled the final conversation he had shared with the Abbot.

In truth, even without using the Foolish Old Man Road Party as an excuse, he could have left Shaolin if he wished.

The problem was that if he simply became a renegade monk and fled, he would inevitably be chased by Shaolin every day.

He was leaving Shaolin in order to be with Baek Garyeong, but if he became someone pursued by Shaolin, he would not be able to remain with her.

Of course, since he would be staying with bandits, he had to sever his ties with Shaolin either way.

'It is nothing more than covering one’s eyes and pretending not to see.'

At the very least, he was not being pursued by Shaolin.

After finishing his recollection, Mugung pointed at the party member who had raised the question and said.

“My wife. That fellow seems at least somewhat clever, so how about teaching him properly and putting him to use?”

At Mugung’s suggestion, she smiled gently and answered.

“That seems like a good idea.”

The party member who had expressed the doubt. Cha Taeseok let out a sigh of relief inwardly.

To think he could become a subordinate of the beautiful and kind-looking mistress of the household rather than the terrifying-looking Party Master.

Naturally, the other party members beside him also looked at Cha Taeseok with envious gazes.

However, they did not know.

That the work standards of the woman who had once been second-in-command of the Zhengmu League’s Strategy Department far exceeded anything they could imagine.

Cha Taeseok merely grinned foolishly, unaware of his future in which he would be buried in overtime every day.

***

Around the time the sky was dyed orange.

“Let us return for today!”

At Mugung’s instruction, the party members who had been leveling the ground with him expressed their confusion.

“......Where are we returning to?”

“Where else? You must have a mountain stronghold where you stayed on the mountain.”

“Ah.......”

In the end, they led the Party Master and his wife toward their mountain stronghold.

After seeing what the stronghold looked like, Mugung was unable to speak for a long while.

“.......”

Mugung let out a deep sigh and opened his mouth.

“Is this truly a mountain stronghold?”

“......It is.”

At the sight of the party members answering as though ashamed, Mugung sighed once again.

“This is no different from simply sleeping outdoors.”

“I-it just turned out that way.”

“Tsk.”

Mugung lightly clicked his tongue and said.

“It was fortunate that I brought these along, just in case.”

As he said that and set down the timber he had carried over his shoulder, the other party members also began setting down the things they had brought one by one.

While opening the road during the day, they had dug up and cleared away more rocks, soil, and trees than they cared to see.

They had brought some of them back.

“From tomorrow onward, we should return somewhat earlier, if only to work on constructing the mountain stronghold.”

After opening the conversation that way, Mugung looked at Baek Garyeong.

Baek Garyeong then stepped forward and began directing the construction of the mountain stronghold.

After devising the plan for the Road Party, she had devoured various books during the one-year preparation period.

And among them were not only books about opening roads, but also books about construction.

How long had they continued building the mountain stronghold with timber, soil, and stones under her command?

Around the time complete darkness fell over the mountain, where daylight was already short.

“For now, let us stop here for today.”

At last, Mugung’s long-awaited order to rest was given.

“Phew.”

“Owww.”

Mugung looked around at the party members, who had collapsed onto the ground and were pounding their aching bodies, and asked.

“What are you doing?”

“Yes?”

“Now that the construction is finished, should we not begin training?”

“T-training? W-what do you mean?”

“At your level of stamina and strength, you will spend your entire lives trying to open a path through this one mountain. Therefore, should you not learn martial arts, if only to increase your stamina and strength?”

“!?”

All the party members stared at Mugung with incredulous expressions.

Where in the world did anyone teach martial arts for the sake of paving roads?

However, Mugung was serious.

“From today onward, what this Party Master shall teach you are the Taishan Axe Art, the Level-Ground Hoe Art, and the Green Ridge Heart Method.”

The Taishan Axe Art was the axe art practiced by the former Chief Bandit Commander. It was an inferior version of the Heaven-Destroying Taishan Splitting Axe.

Its power had been reduced, but its difficulty had also been lowered as much as possible, making it suitable for them to learn.

Naturally, Mugung had not modified it himself. It was an axe art he had created with Mukyeong’s help.

In addition, the Level-Ground Hoe Art was a martial art that could be incorporated into the hoe work needed to pave and level roads. Simply put, it was a martial art performed with a hoe.

The Green Ridge Heart Method was also a heart method somewhere between first-rate and second-rate. Mukyeong had created it using martial arts that did not belong to Shaolin.

'It would have been difficult without Junior Brother Mukyeong’s help.'

One year ago. The first person Mugung sought help from after accepting Baek Garyeong’s proposal was Mukyeong.

If even you leave, Senior Brother, Shaolin will become somewhat lonely.I am sorry, Junior Brother.Well, if not for that disciple of mine, I would also leave Shaolin often. I can simply visit from time to time, can I not?As he recalled Mukyeong answering as though it were nothing, Mugung’s neck somehow began to feel cold.

To think he would have to face that peerless assassin as a renegade monk who no longer belonged to Shaolin.

'Come to think of it, he said he attempted a surprise attack whenever he visited Mujin from time to time.'

Mugung began to wonder whether Mukyeong might greet him in exactly the same manner.

The problem was whether he could withstand that surprise attack the way Mujin did.

And that was while the Tathagata Divine Palm was sealed.

***

“Haah. Haah.”

Somewhere on the mountain ridge after darkness had fallen, the ragged breathing of men erupted.

It was the ragged breathing of the party members who had finished their martial arts training.

Following the labor that had begun during the day, they had even undergone martial arts training.

They were exhausted beyond measure, but their gazes were far clearer than they had been when they were committing banditry.

Their lives, in which they had taken other people’s money even if it had been to survive, had changed.

They worked the land, performed labor, and were provided with plentiful food.

On top of that, they were even learning martial arts, something they had never dared to dream of learning.

It might merely have been their imagination, but after practicing the heart method, they somehow felt that a little of their fatigue had faded.

Of course, since they could not yet even sense qi, for now, it was closer to being merely their imagination.