****
I opened my eyes in a daze.
My eyes had opened naturally, but I was bound to be tired since I had practically stayed up for two nights.
"You're that tired after doing just that? Tsk."
At that voice, I snapped my head up.
There, Cheong-su was clicking his tongue.
I was about to get up straight away when I realized there was something heavy covering my body.
Looking closely, it was a thick fur pelt.
Could it be that that damn Pavilion Master of Gokjeongak had covered me with it?
"If you're awake, then hurry up and get up, what are you doing!"
"Ah. Yes."
I got up, taking the fur pelt with me.
"This fur pelt, did the Pavilion Master perhaps cover me with it?"
"Hmph. Wouldn't I be the only one to get blamed if someone freezes to death in Gokjeongak for no reason."
"……Thank you."
To think he had a side like this.
It seemed he wasn't as much of a damn bastard as I had thought.
When I tried to hand the fur pelt to him, Cheong-su scowled deeply.
"Are you trying to give me something that covered your dusty body?"
"Then what should I do with it?"
"Whether you sell it or throw it away, do as you please."
Did this old man have a side like this too?
I folded the fur pelt in puzzlement and put it in my knapsack.
I reflexively looked at the place where the Samcheonggwan messages were.
As I expected, it was already filled with the same amount as yesterday.
However, I wasn't particularly afraid.
Since I had climbed the cliff three times even at night, it would be even easier during the day.
"I will go deliver the messages."
"You better. If I hear that you're late again, you will be severely punished."
"Ah, yes."
His tone was the same as yesterday, but perhaps because I knew he had covered me with the fur pelt, it didn't sound that annoying.
As I was putting the messages into my knapsack, Cheong-su also picked up a few messages from the side.
Not knowing what he was doing, I stared at him, and Cheong-su suddenly bellowed.
"I also have business at Samcheonggwan, so I'm just taking a few."
What a surprise.
He could have just said we were going together, why was he shouting like this?
In the end, I left Gokjeongak together with Cheong-su.
We didn't exchange any particular words on the way.
I didn't particularly want to hear him bellow by asking something for no reason either.
Cheong-su's mouth opened only after we had reached the front of the cliff.
"How many times did you climb this at dawn?"
It was a sudden question.
I rolled my eyeballs around and answered.
"Three times."
"Three times, huh. As I thought."
I thought he would shout at me for only going up three times, but he was quieter than I expected.
"Have you ever learned a type of Gecko Art?"
"No."
"That's what I thought. Since there are no traces of you having learned martial arts."
Cheong-su, who was quietly thinking about something, suddenly took off his blue hero's headband and handed it to me.
Since he handed it to me, I took it by chance, but I had no idea why.
Was he giving it to me?
I tried to tie the hero's headband around my forehead, but Cheong-su bellowed again.
"Who told you to tie it on your forehead?"
Then where else do you tie a hero's headband if not on your forehead.
I looked at Cheong-su with an aggrieved expression.
Cheong-su pointed to his own eyes with his finger.
No way.
"You want me to put it on my eyes?"
"Yes."
"Why?"
"Try climbing it with the blindfold on."
I looked at Cheong-su as if he were a crazy man.
No matter how dark the night was to the point of not being able to see anything, it was different from covering your eyes with a blindfold.
Because even in the dark, you could see some degree of contours.
"Why?"
"Just because."
At Cheong-su's words, I was filled with righteous indignation.
I suddenly remembered how I had acted stubborn in front of Cheong-hwa when I was running away.
Was the word 'just because' this infuriating?
"I don't want to."
"Shall I cripple your dantian?"
My words were blocked.
To think Daoists would make such blatant threats.
This was why they were called 'horse-noses'.
I let out a deep sigh and tied the hero's headband over my eyes.
Cheong-su was kind enough to tighten the knot on the back of my head, which I had intentionally tied loosely.
Now, I truly couldn't see anything.
"Climb."
I did become curious all of a sudden.
Whether my agile movement would work well even in this extreme situation.
I grabbed the rock wall.
I could feel my body remembering the path, just like at dawn today.
Even though it was pitch-black darkness, the cliff was vivid before my eyes.
The path seemed to shine like the constellations in the night sky.
I had a gut feeling.
This cliff, I could climb it.
I immediately stuck to the cliff and began to climb.
For some reason, I wanted to show Cheong-su something, so I climbed even faster.
I was climbing up rapidly.
Suddenly, the area where my dantian was located grew hot, and a feeling of heat spread throughout my entire body.
I knew this sensation.
I knew it because I had learned martial arts in my past life as well.
It was exactly the flow of inner energy.
The inner energy that wouldn't move no matter how much I tried to move it in my past life was now naturally circulating through my body like a meandering stream.
The inner energy circulated through all the meridians in my body once and gathered at the soles of my feet.
My heated soles knew the path ahead.
I climbed the cliff in an even more ecstatic state.
While climbing, I realized.
This was not a simple cliff.
It was a single path created for a specific purpose.
Until now, I had thought I was going the right way.
But that wasn't it.
The moment I took a step, it was bound to be right.
A path that forced a single step.
This was a footwork technique.
Only after realizing that did I climb onto the top of the cliff.
When I took off the blindfold, I saw Cheong-su, who had already climbed up, in front of my eyes.
And at the front of my feet was a single book.
On the book, it was written 'Azure Cloud Steps'.
"That is the martial art you have just reached one-tenth mastery in."
I blankly picked up the book.
I had learned Wudang's martial arts.
"Although you learned it with your body first, it is still only at one-tenth mastery. It will be different again once you understand and unfold the martial principles while looking at the book."
It was certainly on a different level from the martial arts I had learned in my past life.
In my past life, the forms were so artificial that even my inner energy didn't move well, but with this, the flow that heated up my dantian was natural just by climbing the cliff.
'So this is a profound martial art.'
In the past, no matter how much money I spent, I could only learn the martial arts of a ruined second-rate sect.
I, such a person, had learned a profound martial art of the Nine Great Sects and One Union for the first time.
For some unknown reason, a sense of grandeur filled my chest.
For this moment, I forgot about money and being a great merchant, and was just drunk on the sense of accomplishment from martial arts.
"To think you're so happy after learning a footwork technique that five-year-old kids in Wudang learn. What a slowpoke."
"Hehe."
Cheong-su spewed insults as usual, but for now, it sounded nice.
"Thank you. For giving me such great teaching."
"This is just a very small part. If you officially become a main mountain disciple, you can learn much more profound things. Do you still want to run away from Wudang even after this?"
I paused.
For a brief moment, I felt like I had gotten a glimpse into why martial artists were so devoted to polishing themselves.
A main mountain disciple of Wudang.
It might be better than I thought.
I thought I might be able to reach the level of a first-rate master if I trained together with the Martial Talent Shop.
Even just that would be more than I could wish for.
What was most annoying while doing business was not the peak masters or above, but the third-rate thugs.
The ones who were ambiguously bad to the point of being subpar would always act all high and mighty just because they were martial artists.
"Can a main mountain disciple of Wudang also work in the secular world?"
"If you work at Gokjeongak, you have no choice but to work in the secular world. Though of course, there are no main mountain disciples who want to work at Gokjeongak."
"Can I also form a merchant guild or an armed escort agency?"
"That's not allowed. However, with the Sect Leader's permission, you can enter the secular world as a protector."
That was a bit of a shame.
But thinking about it, I already had no choice.
I had already learned Wudang's martial arts, and if I wanted to leave for the secular world from here, I had no choice but to cripple my dantian.
'Come to think of it, did I just get roped into this?'
I had learned martial arts without even wanting to.
Thinking of it that way, it did feel a little uncomfortable.
"But is it alright for you to teach a martial art like this to me, a temporary disciple?"
"I did not teach it to you. You learned it yourself. Was it not you who climbed the cliff, not me?"
To be fair, this cliff was a divine object that allowed one to learn martial arts just by climbing it.
I also understood why Samcheonggwan was on top of this cliff.
It meant that one shouldn't even think of climbing it unless they were a main mountain disciple of Wudang.
Because one could only climb it properly by using only Wudang's martial arts.
"I understand for now."
"For now, you say. For a mere temporary disciple to utter, that is an answer that is not just arrogant but completely crazy."
"I apologize."
Cheong-su clicked his tongue, turned his back, and headed for Samcheonggwan.
I hurriedly picked up the Azure Cloud Steps secret manual and followed behind him.
Cheong-su and I handed the messages to the person in charge of administration at Samcheonggwan.
"It's over now."
I said.
Although Cheong-su helped a bit, I had delivered all the Samcheonggwan messages anyway.
I thought it was now time to go to Gungdogak where Jinin Cheong-hwa was waiting.
However, that was my huge misunderstanding.
"What is over?"
"Isn't the work over? Didn't we send all the Samcheonggwan messages for today?"
"You must not have heard. From today, you have been assigned to handle all the messages of Gokjeongak."
I was momentarily at a loss for words.
Was he joking right now?
Looking at Cheong-su's eyes, it didn't seem like a joke at all.
"What kind of bullshit is that?"
I also immediately put on a serious face.
In an instant, Cheong-su's hand-blade struck the crown of my head.
At the pain that reverberated down to my skull, I grabbed my head and rolled around on the ground.
"Ugh! You crazy horse-nose!"
"Crazy horse-nose? It seems you don't want to live out your fated life."
Cheong-su immediately rolled up his sleeves.
A dusty beating took place in front of Samcheonggwan.
I shouted at the people passing by.
"Help! This person is trying to kill me!"
However, among the people coming and going from Samcheonggwan, there was no one who listened to my words.
That's right.
This was not the society of dignified merchants.
It was the barbaric martial world where people were beaten, of course, and even died, yet others would look on as if they were looking at a cow or a chicken.
"Die, die!"
"I think I'm really going to die!"
"I'm beating you to death!"
Cheong-su ignored my wails and selectively hit only the weak spots.
At the pain that reverberated throughout my entire body, I gradually felt my consciousness fade.
And so, the second day at Gokjeongak passed.
<><><>
For some reason, when I opened my eyes, there was no pain at all.
Far from pain, my body actually felt a bit more vigorous.
As far as I remembered, I thought he had beaten me until I really lost consciousness, so it was surprising that there were no aftereffects even after being beaten like that.
As expected, the wondrous and unpredictable nature of martial artists could not be fathomed.
When I opened my eyes again, I was in the messenger room of Gokjeongak.
The messenger room was once again filled with numerous messages.
Looking outside, the morning sun was rising.
It seemed I had slept straight through after losing consciousness.
"I really want to run away."
Climbing the cliff was no longer a particular problem.
That meant I could descend Mount Wudang without going through the paths.
No matter how much it was the Wudang Sect, they wouldn't place sentinels to surround the entire Mount Wudang.
However, I was now a body that had already learned the Azure Cloud Steps.
It meant that my dantian could really be crippled if I tried to leave Mount Wudang without permission.
Seeing how Cheong-su had beaten me to death at the words 'crazy horse-nose', it wasn't such an empty threat either.
Just as I was sighing at the frustrating future ahead, a translucent text suddenly floated before my eyes.
[ The conditions have been met, and the shop's grade will be increased. ]
[ More talents will become available for purchase! ]
……What is this all of a sudden?