Episode 394 I set off as if running away.
The expression on Saekma’s face when he came back with Yoran was quite serious. Moreover, it was absurd that Yoran even seemed to shed tears.
When I thought about it, he was also a disciple of the Sacred Demon, and looking at the Sacred Demon’s serious expression, I thought nagging him wouldn’t work, so I just left him alone. Actually, I know what the atmosphere was like.
Yoran looked at his eldest brother and me and smiled.
I couldn’t help but laugh along with him.
“Why are you laughing?”
“Just like that.”
“Sit next to me, Yoran.”
“yes.”
“The masters plan to leave at dawn.”
“Already?”
“When fighting in a rugged mountain, you must become familiar with the mountain in advance. “To win, you have to use whatever means you can, and that includes looking at the terrain, air, wind, and visibility.”
“I will remember. But is the volcano far from here?”
“It’s quite far, but it’s not that far from the masters.”
“Because of Gyeonggong?”
I asked Yoran with a smile.
“okay. “Among the masters, who is the fastest?”
“Third Master.”
“grow. “If you had to pick the most important martial arts skill, what would it be?”
“Gyeonggong.”
“How to make light work faster?”
“You have to walk every day, run where you walk every day, put weight on the place you used to run, and then run again. “As your strength deepens, you have to adapt to the force, so you have to keep repeating it to get faster.”
I nodded as I watched Yoran recite exactly what I told him.
“…What if you face the enemy and have no chance of winning?”
“We plan a counterattack while carrying out a light attack. “The counterattack doesn’t have to be immediate.”
“What if you meet someone who has deeper skills than you?”
“You must avoid internal combat, and to do so, you must not neglect weapon training.”
Actually, there was no need to say anything deeper now. There are times when even weapons cannot make up for the gap in internal strength, but that was not something I was going to teach you now. Anyway, Yoran remembered everything I said.
Is he a smart disciple again?
Rather, it was unclear what I had said.
He is a dumber master than Yoran.
So I asked Yoran.
“What did Master say is the most important thing?”
Yoran answered.
“You said surviving is more important than winning or losing.”
“right.”
I just nodded again helplessly.
I felt like I taught everything, and I also felt like what I taught was coming back to me.
Surviving is often more important than winning or losing. But in some cases, there are competitions that are more important than life.
Our trip to the volcano is like that.
With Yoran by my side, I constantly expanded my thinking and prepared for the confrontation with the religious leader.
My instincts tell me…
this fight will be decided in mindset. I don’t know the specific reason either. It’s simply because I always thought that both cause and effect come from mindset.
In this case, martial arts is rather auxiliary.
While I was staying in Ilyang County, I often looked into my heart to overcome the religious leader from his mindset.
The eldest brother was keeping his eyes on the front, and the eldest brother was silent today as well. Strangely enough, the scenery of Ilyang County was so beautiful that I was satisfied with it today.
“Yoran.”
“yes.”
“Masters, we’re going to have a strategy meeting, so go in first. “Let’s say goodbye with this.”
Yoran got up from his chair and stood in front of us, looking at his eldest brother, Na Saekma.
It was amazing that the little eyes seemed to be trying to remember us.
There are many difficult things in the world, and it was quite difficult to maintain a calm and nonchalant expression in front of a young student. But looking at my smart student made me laugh.
Yoran stood upright and spoke.
“Great Master, Third Master, Fourth Master. “Please arrive safely.”
“I get it.”
“I hope you get back safely.”
“Go to bed early. A practitioner’s recovery is fastest if he sleeps from midnight to midnight.”
As Yoran entered, Saekma muttered.
“…I ended up talking nonsense about recovery to my young disciple. So what is the operation?”
I said while keeping my eyes on the front.
“doesn’t exist. “What kind of operation is this?”
“I thought you were the kind of guy who always had a plan.”
“I have a plan. training.”
Saekma asked his eldest brother.
“Master, is this correct?”
“right. “Let’s go up the volcano and practice.”
The demon looked at me and muttered as if he was dissatisfied.
“…I haven’t even had a fortune-telling breakfast recently. But that doesn’t mean I’m training with a sword. “Why on earth are you doing this?”
I also looked at the slut.
“If you only focus on becoming stronger, you are no different from a cult leader. The gap has already been confirmed. It may take a few more years to get stronger in the same way. In Ilyang County, let’s just live like humans. You can think of it as a monkey training from the time it climbs the volcano. Until then, let’s live like normal people. “That’s what makes it different from a religious leader.”
After I finished speaking, two carriages were slowly approaching from the front.
“….”
It was a black carriage that I had seen before.
There is no way the religious leader will come back.
As I continued to stare, wondering what was going on, two carriages stopped in front of Jaha Gaekjan, and as soon as one person got off the carriage, they bowed their heads towards us.
When the man raised his head.
I couldn’t help but be surprised because he was an unexpected person.
“Sambok.”
It was Sambok, the bodyguard of the three princes.
“long time no see.”
“What’s wrong with you?”
“We have prepared two carriages to take you to the volcano. The volcano is large, so we don’t know which location to choose. “I will confirm the location and then return, and the leader will also leave on a suitable day.”
I nodded.
“It’s thorough.”
In that case, I couldn’t go to Yeonhwabong Peak, where Baekmyeon Confucius, Yuhwagokju, and Lady Cheolseom’s Uhyanggokju were located. We were planning to meet again on this trip to the volcano, but if we go with the Demon Cult people, our location will only be exposed.
“Is the Three Confucius well?”
Sambok looked at me blankly.
“He is alive.”
“hmm?”
“Ever since I was hit by Lord Moon the other day…”
“Did I hit him?”
“yes.”
I remember fighting the butcher, but my memory of hitting the three princes was vague. Fortunately, Sambok helped me recover my memory.
“It’s a bit difficult to eat because you have a lot of teeth. Afterwards, he suffered a breakdown due to the sense of loss caused by the defeat, but is now slowly recovering.”
“How did you end up as a guide?”
“I received a call and they said that Lord Moon praised me… and it just so happened that I took on the mission.”
Sambok looked around at us and said.
“When do you want to leave? “There is no need to rush.”
“Let’s go at dawn tomorrow.”
“All right.”
Even though I hadn’t seen him, Sambok seemed to have aged about ten years, which surprised me.
“Come here and rest.”
“yes.”
Sambok said to the coachmen.
“You, too, get some rest.”
Sambok, who approached, bowed his head again to the eldest brother.
“…are you at peace?”
The eldest brother nodded and asked what I was curious about.
“Did you have a hard time? “The atmosphere has changed.”
“yes.”
“Let’s listen.”
“We were in chaos internally because the head of the family also went missing.”
When he asked me to go home, I told him the reason for his disappearance.
“If the head of the family was a returnee, he died while attacking me.”
“Actually, I know. Since I couldn’t report it, I decided to report it as missing. The next head of the household was taken over by Prince Sam, who was sick. He officially reported to the church, withdrew from the succession struggle, and at the same time negotiated and received permission for his entire faction to belong to the outer party. “To summarize, it’s like this.”
If the maternal family of the three Confucius belonged to the outer party, it would be close to demotion.
Only then did I realize why Sambok had become emaciated.
“Did you, by any chance, step in and organize it? Reporting to school, going back and forth, things like that.”
“yes. I thought I could survive if I got down quickly, so I moved around quickly. This is the first time I have received an official mission, so the family is finally feeling relieved. The Third Confucius also said that it was good.”
It was a very casual story, but I was actually surprised.
So, it seems that Sambok saved the entire family by working hard alone. As soon as the eldest brother figured out the situation, he told Sambok.
“It was a lot of hardship.”
“yes.”
Sambok hesitated for a moment and then asked me.
“Lord Moon.”
“huh?”
“But how did you come to challenge the religious leader?”
“Are you someone who shouldn’t take on a challenge?”
“yes.”
“My thoughts are different. “I must have been bored because there was no one challenging me.”
“hmm. As you go to the volcano, keep thinking about how you can survive. Another way is to run away.”
“Why are you worried about me?”
“After listening to Master Moon, I changed my mind. When I changed my mind, the three princes and their families also survived. “It’s worth worrying about.”
“No need to worry. By the way, does the church know roughly who climbs the volcano?”
Sambok nodded.
“I somehow found out about it.”
“Recite.”
“First of all, the missing head of the family also had to go to the volcano. I said he was dead or missing. This means that the archduke’s maternal relatives will also participate in the war. I heard that Grand Duke Yang was killed by former Wu Si. The above left sergeant also participates in the war. Do you know what we have in common?”
“I don’t know.”
“The leader will probably gather people who don’t care much about death and come up. I guess it’s like a road map. “Those who acted as hermits, watched bystanders, saw an opportunity… will be taken away.”
It couldn’t be more absurd…
The religious leader entrusted us with cleaning the interior. However, it was even more absurd because he was a man who would not even blink if the cleaner died.
I looked at my eldest brother.
“Did you expect it, eldest brother?”
“It’s so natural that there’s nothing to expect. The religious leader doesn’t think of us as weak. Currently, there won’t be enough experts to take anyway, so it’s a natural step to point out a hermit or a bystander. In that case, the highest number excluding the cult leader has been determined.”
“who?”
Sambok answered.
“He is called the One Demon Ancestor (one demon ancestor), and in the past he was the first in line, the Great Duke. This is the Grand Duke’s maternal residence. “He was recognized more because he was not greedy for power or position, but now it seems like he has become more disloyal and has gone unnoticed.”
I couldn’t help but laugh.
“I thought you accepted the challenge, but then you left me cleaning. I get it. I’ll clean it all up. “See you at dawn.”
“yes.”
I got up first and went into the guest room. If not today, we will have to sleep in the wagon or camp until we reach the volcano. Tonight was the only time I felt comfortable sleeping, so the best course of action was to sleep without distracting thoughts.
* * *
At dawn, we departed from Ilyanghyeon as if running away.
Although we had not committed any particular sin, it seems that the teacher’s absence was a sin for the young disciple.
We rode the carriage through the early morning road without a word.
In the carriage I was riding in, my three daughters were sitting together, and in the other carriage, my eldest brother and his horse were riding.
The thought of leaving Ilyang County gave me a strange feeling, so I didn’t want to open my mouth. I leaned my head against the carriage and closed my eyes. I couldn’t meet Mo Yong-baek and Cha Seong-tae, but I had no choice. This is because if you somehow establish a contact point, the demonic cult will use it. So it was better for both of them not to see each other.
As I was closing my eyes, I heard Sambok’s voice.
“…Shall we eat while camping? Or would you like to go to an ordinary guesthouse?”
“I like guest rooms.”
There was silence for a moment, then Sambok asked a question.
“why?”
“The food tastes different and the people are great to see. Try something you’ve never tried before. Be sure to stop by the guesthouse on your way to the volcano. As we go, the food atmosphere will gradually change. I thought of it as a food trip. “Don’t worry, I’ll pay for everything, including the coachmen’s meals.”
Since Sambok didn’t answer, I didn’t open my mouth either. I was a little sleepy, but I couldn’t fall asleep because Sambok might betray me.
After moving in silence for a while…
I heard Sambok’s voice.
“…Lord Moon, are you sleeping?”
“….”
“If you want to run away, I will take care of you like this. The preface is good and the grand curtain is not bad. “Anyway, there is an order from the religious leader, so no religious leader will touch Ilyanghyeon.”
After I opened my eyes, I looked at Sambok’s expression.
“Are you serious?”
“yes.”
“What about the Three Confucius?”
“Unless there is a special accident, we are all alive now.”
“You know my personality roughly, so why make such an absurd suggestion?”
Sambok said.
“It’s because I have no chance of winning against the leader. It is not too late to take on the challenge after practicing further in a barren place.”
“Aren’t you a religious believer?”
“It’s a religious institution.”
“Why are the religious leaders worried about us?”
“That’s right. “You saved my life earlier, so I am repaying you as a human being, not as a religious leader.”
I nodded.
“I will take your heart. Let’s go to the volcano.”
Sambok looked outside the carriage and answered with a confused expression.
“All right.”
