Chapter 172. Even If I Have to Paint Myself with Lacquer or Swallow Charcoal (18)

Of course, the agenda for the meeting was the punishment for Ki Yeon-Oh.

While some of the elders who had more favorable impressions of Ki Yeon-Oh expressed their doubts, the village chief that Woo-Moon had brought along exposed everything that had happened, saying that he was repenting for his mistakes. Naturally, he could not possibly withstand the scrutiny of high-level cultivators, so every word he said was the pure truth.

Thus, in the end, they had no choice but to acknowledge it. And since they were dealing with such an atrocious sin that violated not just the sect laws but even the most fundamental human morality, it did not take long for a decision to be made.

It wasn't long before the sect master came out again.

Woosh!

Suddenly, Woo-Moon disappeared, leaving an afterimage in his wake. Lights seemed to flash in all directions around him.

𝐟𝗿𝐞𝚎𝚠𝐞𝚋𝕟𝐨𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝕔𝕠𝚖

He reappeared not long afterward, holding a long rope in one hand and a string of homing pigeons in the other. On the other end of the rope were five people hogtied and with their acupoints pressed.

“Young Hero Song! What’s the meaning of this?” the elders of the Kunlun Sect shouted, flabbergasted. However, Na Ban inserted himself between the elders and Woo-Moon, waving his hands as if to say that everything was okay.

“Are these all?” Na Ban then asked.

Woo-Moon nodded, leaving Na Ban to continue speaking to the elders in a cold tone.

“Elders, please handle the details regarding Ki Yeon-Oh. I have something I need to discuss with Young Hero Song. These people are suspected to be traitors of the sect; they are to be locked in a secure place and interrogated.”

The Kunlun Sect disciples who were listening were startled by what Na Ban just said. Among the five people that Woo-Moon and Na Ban seemed to suspect as traitors, there were three disciples of the third generation, one of the second, and most importantly, an elder of the first.

Na Ban gave some orders to one of his younger disciple brothers before heading deep into the Kunlun Sect with Woo-Moon. On the way, he also secretly gestured to a passing disciple and separately called for his two most trusted junior disciple brothers.

Eventually, they arrived at a place within the Kunlun Sect that no one could access without the sect Master’s permission.

Woo-Moon lined up all of the moles. To prepare them for the interrogation, Woo-Moon used Spatial Manipulation to force the mouths of all five people open and pluck out the teeth containing the poison pills.

Then, he displayed the poison pills to Na Ban before releasing their acupoints.

Na Ban looked at the elder kneeling before him, one of his own beloved juniors. Confusion and sadness were clear in his gaze.

“Junior brother, just why, why did you join Martial Heaven?”

“I’m sorry, senior brother. I’ve always been a part of Martial Heaven, from the moment I was born! Martial Heaven will stand eternal!”

Woo-Moon was watching carefully to see if any of the moles might try to bite their tongue and commit suicide. Right as Na Ban’s junior disciple brother shouted “Martial Heaven will stand eternal,” he sensed a strange energy stir within all five of their brains.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing?!”

Before Woo-Moon could even summon up his qi, all five people bled from their noses and ears, then collapsed to the ground, dead in an instant.

Although Woo-Moon had tried his best to prevent them from committing suicide, Martial Heaven had a backup plan. They had not only embedded poison pills in their members' teeth, but also parasites within their brains. And the Martial Heaven slogan was what activated these parasites, causing them to let out a massive amount of highly toxic poison, practically melting the brains of their hosts.

Martial Heaven was truly thorough.

‘Most likely... even if I discovered the parasites... they would have other methods as well.’

These people were truly vicious and viewed human life as less than pebbles on a dirt road.

“Ha...”

As Na Ban lamented the loss, the two junior disciple brothers that he had called arrived.

“There’s extremely toxic poison, so be careful when you take their bodies. We have to conduct an autopsy.”

The two didn’t question how the people had died; they simply trusted Na Ban, their sect master and senior brother, and carried the five corpses to the prison.

“Then, Young Hero Song. We don’t need to stay here anymore, so we might as well go somewhere more comfortable to speak.”

As they walked through the sect grounds, Woo-Moon suddenly saw a man and a woman dressed in shabby robes.

The man’s age could be seen in his full, gray-white beard, while the girl was as beautiful as a wildflower, even without any makeup.

Both had sacks full of medicinal herbs on their backs and peaceful expressions on their faces, as if they were .

"Long time no see."

“Wait, you’re...!”

Jin Won-Myeong's tone seemed a little more relaxed and friendly than before, even though he was surprised.

Woo-Moon smiled at him.

“So an Absolute Master appeared in the Kunlun Sect. It’s just that the world doesn’t know it yet.”

The former sect master of the Kunlun Sect, First Sword of Kunlun Jin Won-Myeong.

In the past, he had gained enlightenment from Woo-Moon's landscape painting, and after realizing his own greed and innate desires that were an impediment to his Dao, he immediately returned to the sect. There, he spent his time leisurely studying the natural Dao, which he had neglected.

As he had never once shown his martial skill, no one, not even Na Ban, knew yet that Jin Won-Myeong had reached the Absolute realm.

Obviously, hearing this piece of news, Na Ban overflowed with joy. He was actually Jin Won-Myeong’s direct disciple, and even though Do-Ah was now attending to Jin Won-Myeong, she was actually Na Ban’s own disciple. And though he was the sect master now, he was first and foremost his master’s disciple.

“Is... Is that true, Master?”

Jin Won-Myeong responded with a broad smile.

“Well, I was lucky and was able to make that last step. It’s nothing major.”

The Kunlun Sect finally had an Absolute Master!

How long had they been waiting for this?

There hadn’t been an Absolute Master in the Kunlun Sect for the past three hundred years, including Jin Won-Myeong’s master, his master’s master, and so on.

“Why didn’t you tell us about this incredible event? Master, congratulations!”

“You’re being noisy, you little brat. Why are you happy about some rise in cultivation? It’s not like I attained the Immortal Dao or something”

While Na Ban and Jin Won-Myeong bickered, Woo-Moon spoke to Do-Ah.

“It’s been a while, Young Lady Do-Ah.”

It might be because of how long she had spent with Jin Won-Myeong, who had reached a high level in both martial arts and cultivation of the Dao, but Do-Ah’s eyes sparkled with wisdom far beyond her age. She gave off an aura completely different from before as she smiled softly at Woo-Moon.

“It’s been a while, Young Hero Song. I’m envious of what time has allowed you to experience.”

Woo-Moon’s eyes, which had been like clear spring water when they first met at the Deungpyeong Inn, were now shining with the light of mellowed candle whose color or depth couldn’t be easily identified.

The Dao was by no means a uniform path.

If it were possible to realize the Dao by living according to the scriptures...

If it were possible to realize the Dao by following the Dao touted by those of the current Daoist Sects, which were so intertwined with secular causes by now that even they didn’t know what their true Dao was...

How could there be so many people in the world whose lives ended without reaching enlightenment?

After all, there were only too many people who walked down such a path, which was standardized and said to be a shortcut to enlightenment.

As expected of someone of her caliber, however, Do-Ah’s path was different. Like Woo-Moon, she came to understand a lot of things as she traveled alongside Jin Won-Myeong. She had an inkling about what Woo-Moon had experienced, and she genuinely envied him.

Of course, how could someone carelessly judge the depth of someone’s enlightenment? That was something not even an immortal could do on a whim. Still, Do-Ah trusted her intuition.

She could tell that the trials and tribulations Woo-Moon had gone through had brought him far, far further along his path than she was even able to see. He was much closer to the Sword Dao—and his own Dao—than she was.

Still, Taiji is Taiji. Every path has to end, yet every end is a new beginning, so does the path really end? This is the meaning of Taiji. The path that Woo-Moon walked was his own; there was no reason for Do-Ah to imitate what he was doing.

Of course, if she did imitate him, she may well realize the Dao as well. But, that didn’t mean Woo-Moon’s path was the only right one, or even the right one for her. It was just one of many roads to the Dao.

Suddenly, Do-Ah had a strange thought and smiled softly to herself.

‘Didn’t I have a little crush on him back then? Yeah, but it went away as time passed. Hmm... What would it be like to marry him? There are definitely things about the Dao that I can realize if I marry him, right? In fact, compared to the kid I was back then, I’ve grown into a beauty that all men in the world would like, so he might even say yes if I bring it up.’

She had thought of it as a joke, but surprisingly, her heart pounded at this thought.

‘Do I still have some of the childishness of that young girl left inside of me?’

Do-Ah was suddenly shaken as her random thoughts had turned serious for a moment, but then she admonished herself inwardly.

Although she had some favorable feelings for Woo-Moon, she felt dejected as she was well aware that such feelings would drive her away from her Dao.

‘No, I’ll just follow my own path.’

Suddenly, a feeling of realization descended.

Enlightenment is neither something grand nor something difficult to attain.

In fact, the more one places enlightenment on a pedestal, the more likely one is to ignore all the minor enlightenments that are easily accessible.

Small realizations that one experiences in daily life pile up, eventually culminating in a great enlightenment that may lead one to the next level. Even the slightest bit of enlightenment could be the one final push that brings one over the threshold.

Woo-Moon had no idea what was going through Do-Ah’s mind as she looked at him.

However, he noticed her breathing suddenly getting a little heavier as her face turned red. Then, in an instant, her expression suddenly became peaceful as the joy of enlightenment overflowed within her eyes.

He smiled brightly, knowing that she had taken a step forward in her cultivation of the Dao. And how could he not be happy? She was neither his enemy, nor competing with him; they were walking alongside each other.

As Woo-Moon and Do-Ah smiled at each other, Jin Won-Myeong shouted from the side.

“What are you brats doing?! Yeah, yeah, you’re both hilarious. Stop smiling at each other and hurry up and follow me.”

“I understand, Old Sect Master.”

“Understood!”

Jin Won-Myeong seemed more relaxed than before.

After realizing his innate stubbornness and eccentricity, instead of trying to suppress it even further, he had rather decided to embrace it.

It was his nature, after all.

So, he gave up on trying to pretend to be some kind of noble being and began to speak like an old man from the countryside. He also gave up on martial arts training and only concentrated on collecting herbs and making medicine.

By not lying to himself and trying to change who he really was, Jin Won-Myeong naturally crossed the wall and became an Absolute Master. It was a perfectly casual breakthrough.

As Woo-Moon followed them toward a pavilion behind the Kunlun Sect, Jin Won-Myeong proudly said, “You know, I thought back then that you would achieve great things in the future, but what you’ve done is far beyond my expectations. It looks like you’ve surpassed the Absolute realm.”

Na Ban was flabbergasted.

“How is that possible? Is that true, Young Hero Song? Are you a Paragon?!”

“My cultivation isn’t quite stable just yet, but yes, it’s true.”

“Ha...”

Becoming an Absolute Master itself wasn’t a feat that could be ignored. After all, it was a level that only fourteen people in the entirety of the Central Plains had reached, at least in the public eye.

Absolute Masters were often called “one-man armies” and had the power to destroy major sects all by themselves. Considering that, what could be said about Paragons, who looked down on Absolute Masters?!

While the Heavenly Demons of the Heavenly Demon Cult became Paragons for generations due to their unique characteristics, the last Paragon to have come from a Righteous Sect was the Sun Moon Divine Wanderer Baekri Hyeon-Yu... and he had died six centuries back.

And now, another Paragon had appeared right in front of him.

A Paragon in his twenties!

Na Ban now knew that he was face to face with someone who was bound to leave an indelible mark on the

murim.

“Good, good. So, why did you come all the way here? You didn’t stop by just to see me and Do-Ah, I presume.”

Woo-Moon chuckled at Jin Won-Myeong's words, and Na Ban answered instead.

“Well, Young Hero Song has spoken to us about a mysterious force called Martial Heaven...”

Jin Won-Myeong's expression gradually turned grave as he listened to Na Ban's explanation. Apparently, there was a group of psychopaths with the goal of “exterminating the

murim

” and they were plotting a conspiracy that involved several Paragons.

Jin Won-Myeong believed every word Woo-Moon said.

“I wanted to cut my ties with the world and live in seclusion on Mount Kunlun, but it looks like those Martial Heaven bastards won’t let me enjoy my retirement. Na Ban!”