Genius Martial Arts Trainer

In the end, Gonghwan accepted Mujin’s proposal and received a letter along with several pieces of advice.

Though it was an excuse, a justification was still a justification. He would truly be carrying out the role of a messenger delivering a letter to the Southern Barbarians.

“Then, you should be on your way.”

Lastly, Mujin handed Gonghwan the thousand-year fleeceflower root that was the prize for winning this Dragon and Phoenix Gathering and sent him off.

After gathering the things Mujin had given him, Gonghwan headed toward the secret passage Mujin had told him about.

Once he passed through the secret passage and left the Zhengmu League, he found a carriage and two horses prepared there, exactly as Mujin had said.

And on top of that.

“......Why are you two here?”

To his bewilderment, Gongun and Gongcheon were also standing beside the carriage.

At Gonghwan’s question, Gongun grinned and replied.

“Actually, I had an opportunity to speak briefly with the League Leader two days ago, Senior Brother.”

Before suggesting that Gonghwan go astray, Mujin had first drawn Gongun into the matter as insurance.

“According to the League Leader, he somehow thought I would gladly join in something like this. Hehehe.”

At those words, Gongcheon, who was standing beside him, tilted his head.

“What exactly is ‘something like this,’ Senior Brother Gongun?”

In truth, Gongcheon had been dragged there without even knowing what Gongun intended to do.

More precisely, Gongun had simply told him to come outside for a moment, and Gongcheon had followed without thinking.

For the sake of their innocent junior brother, Gonghwan and Gongun belatedly explained the situation, and worry spread across Gongcheon’s face.

“......Do you not want to leave?”

Gongun asked while thinking inwardly, 'These blasted monks. They are so frustrating I could die.'

However, the answer he received was unexpected.

“I also truly wish to visit the Southern Barbarians. My master and Great Martial Uncle both said that meeting various animals there would greatly help my martial arts, and my master especially told me to go to the Southern Barbarians and meet Bibi.”

“Bibi?”

“I was told that it is a spiritual creature like Lingling. They became friends in the Southern Barbarians long ago and came to the Central Plains together, but Bibi struggled with the weather in the Central Plains, so they had no choice but to send it back to the Southern Barbarians.”

“A spiritual creature like Lingling.......”

Gongun and Gonghwan simultaneously thought of Lingling.

For a moment, they recalled that bizarre monkey, which was stronger than most martial-world experts.

“Ahem. Martial Uncle Muyul certainly has a habit of giving things unusual names. To think its name is Bibi.”

“Ah. He said it was because it is an elephant spiritual creature.”

“Ah.......”

So because it was an elephant, he had put the word for nose into the name twice.

The two thought that was very much like Muyul.

But their bewilderment lasted only a moment.

“Then you are interested in the Southern Barbarians as well, Junior Brother?”

“That is correct.”

“Then why do you look so troubled?”

At Gongun’s question, Gongcheon looked in the distant direction of Shaolin and answered with sorrowful eyes.

“I became worried that my master might not be able to live properly without me.......”

“Ah.......”

Having spent five years as third-generation Shaolin disciples, they all knew the situation to some extent.

Martial Uncle Muyul was called the Strange Monk, a terrifying epithet, but in truth, he was little different from a child.

“Ahem. S-still, Martial Uncle Muyul is over thirty years old now, so surely he can manage on his own.”

“Gongun is right. Martial Uncle Muyul has Lingling beside him, and Outer Hall Master Hyegyeol is there as well, is he not?”

Gongun and Gonghwan said that to comfort Gongcheon.

Yet none of them considered the fact that Hyegyeol was currently their chaperone.

Even though they were carrying out a mass escape right under the nose of their chaperone, Hyegyeol.

***

In the end, the three of them boarded the carriage and set out on their journey toward the Southern Barbarians.

Around the time Dongting Lake slowly began to recede from view.

“I will drive the carriage from here, so you should go inside now.”

Gonghwan climbed onto the driver’s seat and spoke to Gongun, who had been steering the carriage.

“I am fine, Senior Brother.”

At Gongun’s refusal, Gonghwan smiled faintly for some reason, untied the cloth bundle he had brought, and took out a box.

“This box contains the thousand-year fleeceflower root that was the prize for winning this Dragon and Phoenix Gathering. Go inside and split it evenly with Junior Brother Gongcheon.”

“!?”

Gongun’s eyes widened at the unexpected offer.

'This is the problem! These blasted monks really know nothing about the ways of the world!'

That was what Gongun thought. He assumed Gonghwan was giving it to him as a token of gratitude for joining him.

The problem was that Gongun himself had joined this mass escape simply because he wanted to run away from Shaolin.

He wanted to enjoy drinking, singing, and dancing, and above all, to escape from his terrifying master, Mukyeong.

Of course, he could pretend not to notice and accept a reasonable token of gratitude.

'If it were a few taels of silver, that would be one thing, but a thousand-year fleeceflower root is far too much, is it not?'

Worried about his worldly-ignorant Senior Brother, Gongun opened his mouth.

“Senior Brother. This is far too much. And since you received it as the winner’s prize, it is only right that you take it yourself. If you wish to show your gratitude, buy me some expensive liquor in the next county we visit.”

“Hahaha. It is partly a token of gratitude, but I am also giving it to you because it is no different from poison to me anyway.”

“???”

When Gongun looked unable to understand, Gonghwan added an explanation.

“Have you forgotten that I possess the Solar Body? My internal energy is already overflowing. For me, the important part of studying martial arts is not increasing my internal energy, but learning how to fully control what already overflows. If I consumed this, the internal energy I have only barely managed to rein in might run wild, so it is no different from poison.”

“Ah.......”

Only then did Gongun remember his Senior Brother’s constitution and let out a sound of admiration.

“Th-then may Gongcheon and I truly split it between us?”

“Did I not say that was why I was giving it to you?”

“Ooooooh!!!”

At the sight of his junior brother finally reacting so passionately, Gonghwan covered his mouth and burst out laughing.

Despite that rare sight from his young Senior Brother, Gongun’s eyes had already gone wild at the thought of the thousand-year fleeceflower root. Holding the box, he launched himself straight into the carriage.

“Junior Brother! Junior Brother! Gongcheon!!”

“Yes? Wh-what is the matter, Senior Brother?”

Gonghwan smiled faintly at the sound of Gongun and Gongcheon making a commotion inside the carriage, then drove onward.

***

After racing without rest for half a day, the carriage arrived at a certain county around sunset.

They chose a reasonably decent-looking inn, rented a room, then took their seats for dinner under the guidance of a waiter.

“What would you like me to prepare for your meal?”

“Three bowls of noodles, please. Ah, without meat......”

Just before Gonghwan could finish ordering in response to the waiter’s question.

“Wait!!”

Gongun urgently cut in.

“Bring us five dishes this inn is most confident in! And for liquor, start with one bottle of bamboo-leaf green!”

“......Without meat?”

When the waiter asked awkwardly, Gongun answered passionately once again.

“Of course the meat is included! Whether it is livestock or fish, bring whatever you have! It is not as though we are m! o! n! k! s! Why would we avoid eating meat?”

“I-is that so?”

At the waiter’s awkward response, Gongun quickly took a tael of silver from the emergency-funds bundle Mujin had prepared and flicked it toward him.

“I will bring it at once!”

The waiter’s attitude changed instantly.

And immediately after the waiter left.

“Junior Brother. You ordered meat and even liquor. Are you in your right mind?”

At Gonghwan’s worried question, Gongun instead let out a deep sigh.

“Senior Brother, are you the one in your right mind? We have to hide our identities all the way to the Southern Barbarians, so how can you behave in such a conspicuous manner?”

“!?”

“Who comes to a place like this and refuses both meat and liquor? It is all~ for the sake of acting. For the sake of acting. I heard that our masters behaved this way when they once traveled around the martial world as well.”

Mujin and the three members of his generation had indeed enjoyed liquor and meat whenever they traveled through the martial world, but naturally, that was a secret.

In other words, Gongun had fabricated the last part.

Perhaps it could be called a lie that happened to touch upon the truth.

Still, it was not a story he had invented completely at random.

'Back then, Master definitely avoided answering.'

Mukyeong had tempted Gongun by saying that if he joined the Demon-Subduing Unit, he would frequently have opportunities to leave Shaolin, and he could enjoy liquor and meat whenever that happened.

So Gongun had asked him.

Had his master also enjoyed liquor and meat outside Shaolin?

Mukyeong had not answered, but Gongun had more or less understood.

“Hmm.......”

While Gonghwan pondered after being deceived by Gongun’s lie that was not quite a lie.

“Your food is ready!”

The waiter began setting dishes on the table one by one.

They were foods rich with the aromas of meat and fish, enough to make one’s mouth water from the smell alone.

“If you will not eat, then I shall eat by myself.”

And while Gonghwan and Gongcheon watched uncertainly, Gongun immediately began moving his chopsticks.

SLURP. MUNCH MUNCH.

GULP GULP.

He stuffed the food into his mouth so quickly that it was impossible to tell whether he was eating or drinking, then poured liquor down his throat whenever the food caught there.

At the sight of that ferocious meal, as though he were fighting a battle to the death, Gonghwan and Gongcheon’s throats bobbed.

Then Gongcheon looked at Gonghwan with his pure eyes.

Like a pitiful puppy asking its master whether it was allowed to eat.

In the end, Gonghwan squeezed his eyes shut once, opened them again, and began moving his chopsticks.

“Junior Brother Gongun is right. Even if only to conceal our identities, let us eat for now.”

“Yes, Senior Brother!”

And before long, as though they had never acted reserved at all, Gonghwan and Gongcheon also began eating as though they were waging war.

Just as Mujin had once coaxed the three members of his generation.

Gongun, who had first led them into the pleasures of the secular world, gradually slowed his own eating and watched the two of them.

With an expression of utter satisfaction.

****

Even after the first day, the trio continued steadily southward.

Gonghwan and Gongcheon had initially shown resistance to alcohol and meat, but afterward, they began enjoying both with perfect naturalness.

They also enjoyed the scenery of the martial world, which they had been unable to properly appreciate while confined to Shaolin.

At times, they beat down wicked men and helped those in need.

No matter how much the Southern Heavenly Society and Zhengmu League had worked, the people’s livelihoods had been devastated by five years of war, while public security had spiraled toward its worst possible state, so there was no shortage of wicked men.

After traveling for seven days and nights while experiencing one thing after another.

“From this point onward, everyone must be careful.”

Immediately after they finally arrived in Yunnan Province, Gonghwan spoke with a solemn expression that did not suit his age for the first time in quite a while.

Yunnan Province was still a region where the orthodox, evil, and demonic factions bordered one another.

Unlike before, if trouble arose here, there was no telling what sort of major incident it might become.

In particular, five years had already passed since even the peace agreement was broken, so Yunnan was literally a region filled with tension, where war might erupt at any moment.

Of course, the collapse of the peace agreement was a scheme intended to deceive the imperial family, but only the highest-ranking figures of the orthodox, evil, and demonic factions knew that fact.

Because Mujin understood this, he had warned Gonghwan when sending him to the Southern Barbarians.

Other places might be one thing, but in Yunnan, he was to keep as low a profile as possible and head quickly toward the Southern Barbarians.

And Gonghwan tried to follow Mujin’s warning.

They reduced their visits to villages and counties as much as possible, purchased food for the journey, slept outdoors beside the carriage, and continued driving the horses.

After traveling like that for three days, they made their final preparations in Yuanjiang County, then headed toward the Xishuangbanna region, which bordered the Southern Barbarians.

There were villages and counties they could have visited along the way, but they avoided them and continued driving the horses and carriage.

How long had they been traveling like that?

“Senior Brother.”

“I know.”

At Gongun’s words, spoken with an unusually serious expression, Gonghwan also nodded gravely.

At first, they had been uncertain, but now they were sure.

At some point, people had begun following them.