****
After hearing that the shop's grade had risen, I summoned the Martial Talent Shop again.
"Oof, my eyes."
I frowned as soon as I summoned it.
It was because there were so many small letters that it hurt my eyes.
I could see them now because I was at a young age; if it had been my past life, it would have been impossible.
That was how many talents I could buy had increased.
In that case, did better talents unlock as the shop grade went up?
It was fun to browse through the talents I was seeing for the first time.
[ Bone Cleansing and Marrow Washing – Grade 4 ]
[ Price: Five Thousand Nyang of Silver ]
Damn it.
Five thousand nyang of silver was money that even the Hwi-young Merchant Guild in my past life couldn't handle easily.
Anyway, it seemed many good talents had been unlocked, but there were so many that I felt I would have to organize them all at once later when I had more time.
That was that.
Running all over Mount Wudang was definitely training my body properly.
When running through the mountains, my sense of balance and light footwork, as well as my muscular endurance, were trained, and when climbing cliffs, the muscular strength of my entire body was trained.
In fact, abs that I couldn't even dream of when I was a merchant had now taken their place on my body.
Not just abs, but the muscles all over my body were so clearly defined they looked separated.
This was something that happened in nearly two months.
I really delivered all the Wudang Sect's messages for two months.
If I didn't, I would get beaten, so I had no choice.
They were days where I was confused whether I had become a main mountain disciple or a main mountain-affiliated laborer.
I thought that if I were a temporary main mountain disciple, we would at least train together, but Cheong-hwa just left me neglected at Gokjeongak.
No, the word neglected didn't seem to fit.
Because he came to Gokjeongak every day to check on my condition.
Every time he came, no matter how much I asked when I would stop being at Gokjeongak, or if this was why he brought me in as a main mountain disciple, there was only one answer.
—There is a time for everything.
Only then did I realize that Cheong-su and Cheong-hwa were in the same gang.
I now knew why Cheong-su had beaten me so relentlessly on the second day.
At first, I thought he was just a crazy man, but it turned out to be acupoint-probing and blood-channeling.
No wonder I felt refreshed and cool when I got up even after being continuously beaten.
Who would have thought that what looked like a random beating, judging by the situation and momentum, was actually acupoint-probing and blood-channeling that cleared blocked qi and blood.
Cheong-su would sometimes beat me on the pretext that I was late, but that too was acupoint-probing and blood-channeling.
So I gritted my teeth and endured it even through the pain.
If my prediction was correct, I was currently being tempered.
Tempered to become a main mountain disciple of the Wudang Sect.
That prediction was spot on.
"With this, I think we've at least made the minimum."
Today, Cheong-hwa and Cheong-su spoke as if they were appraising me while looking at me.
If it weren't for the Martial Talent Shop, it would have been a baffling conversation.
"Why are you speaking as if a person is an object?"
"A martial artist is a single sword. In that sense, the word object is not that wrong."
Cheong-hwa said with a benevolent smile.
I wanted to ask how one could make such an infuriating smile.
"Anyway, is my service at Gokjeongak over?"
"No. People are more satisfied with your work than I thought. You will train, but you will continue to serve during the times you are not training."
"Did the other messengers break their legs?"
"They were herb gatherers from Hubei working temporarily anyway. Now is the time for herbs to grow again, so they must also return to their main occupation."
"Then wouldn't the math work out if the wages that should have gone to those herb gatherers were given to me?"
"How could dirty money be exchanged in a sacred relationship between a sect and its disciple?"
These consistent bastards.
Their disdain for money was still the same.
I decided to give up on the option of working and receiving money from them.
"Then when will you give me my hundred nyang?"
"I said I would give it to you when your service at Gokjeongak is over."
"You said you were making me serve more because you were pleased with my work. It should have been over originally."
"In any case, it's not over."
"Don't you even know how to write a new contract when you deliver additional goods?"
"I don't know such things."
"Then from now on, I'll take a dump on the messages. I will make your satisfaction with my work turn into dissatisfaction."
"If you do that and get caught by a guy with a bad personality, you might become a body that can't take a dump for the rest of your life, would that be alright?"
"I think the person in front of me has the worst personality."
"Haha. No way. There are few people with a character like mine in our sect."
"And you say that with your own mouth?"
It was getting absurd.
However, I had no other choice.
If they told me to do it, I had to do it.
I was just waiting for an opportunity like a tiger in the dark.
An opportunity to escape from this devilish Mount Wudang…….
"For now, let's go to Gungdogak. You will be able to see my disciples there as well. If you officially become a main mountain disciple, they will become your Sahyungs."
"I understand."
Cheong-hwa and I bid farewell to Cheong-su and went to Gungdogak.
I already knew where Gungdogak was since I had been in and out several times as a messenger.
Gungdogak was a place that researched the martial arts of the Wudang Sect.
It was certainly a fitting place for Cheong-hwa, one of the top masters in the Wudang Sect, to reside.
Anyway, Sahyung.
What kind of people would I have to address as Sahyung?
I thought it would be nice if they were guys I could communicate with a bit, like Jeon Oh-soo.
"Oh! A grass flute!"
"It's broken! Fix the grass flute for me!"
However, only a harsh reality awaited me.
The brats, including Myeong-gyeong, were exactly Cheong-hwa's disciples.
So that was why he bought the grass flute.
I tilted my head crookedly and looked at Cheong-hwa.
"Do I have to call these kids Sahyung?"
"Of course."
I stared blankly at Myeong-gyeong and the brats.
Even among the 'Myeong' generation disciples, there were those of crowning age or around thirty.
Usually, if there were first- to third-generation disciples in one generation, there was about a ten-year gap between each generation.
Since the current 'Cheong' generation disciples were middle-aged men around fifty, the first-generation disciples were people around thirty years old.
But to think Cheong-hwa would be the one in charge of the third-generation disciples.
"I am now of crowning age."
"So?"
"To call friends who look at least ten years younger than me Sahyung."
"It's a common occurrence in the martial world, though?"
Cheong-hwa spoke as if it were no big deal.
That would be a common occurrence only among martial artists who treat their generation as importantly as their lives.
Ordinary people judge by age.
I barely suppressed the anger that was rising up to my throat.
"……I'm still temporary, after all."
"Right. There is no need to call them Sahyung already. Because there will be many days to call them that in the future."
I would get out of here no matter what.
It wasn't a figure of speech; to think I had to live serving brats who weren't even dry behind the ears.
For me who had lived outside the martial world, it was truly a humiliating thing.
"But you will actually have to train with the third-generation disciples. Because right now, you only have the basic muscles and bones of a martial artist established."
Muscles and bones built from running all over Mount Wudang for two months.
I wonder if I slept even two shichen a day.
No matter how fast I moved, handling all the messenger duties was that difficult.
"I understand."
"For now, since you've seen them for the first time, get to know their faces a bit. Greet them, too. I have something to do."
With a single blink, Cheong-hwa disappeared.
I awkwardly looked at the kids.
There were three of them, including Myeong-gyeong.
Among them, the only one who had bought a grass flute was Myeong-gyeong.
Myeong-gyeong had brought along disciples of other masters as well.
"Hmph. Are you the guy who will become my Saje?"
The guy who looked the oldest among them came on strong.
Of course, even if he looked old, he was at most twelve or thirteen years old.
I felt dizzy for a moment but barely regained my senses.
"I suppose so."
"You suppose so? Do not use that kind of speech in front of me."
"……Ah, yes."
"Ah, yes? Your tone sounds like you have some sort of complaint."
My mind went blank as I was being picked on by a guy who looked to be in his early teens at most.
Seeing how Myeong-gyeong and the other kids couldn't say anything, it seemed this guy was the top Sahyung here.
Looking at how skillfully he was picking on them, I could roughly guess how much Myeong-gyeong and the other kids had suffered.
"My Daoist name is Myeong-seong."
"I am Muk Hwi-young."
"It seems you haven't received a Daoist name yet."
"That is correct."
Myeong-seong clicked his tongue as if he were displeased.
It was a sharp 'tsk' sound that didn't match his age.
I was wondering how these rude martial artists were being cultivated, and it turned out they were growing up like this.
He was truly a fine martial artist prodigy.
"You're the one who made and gave grass flutes to my Sajes, aren't you?"
Myeong-seong said while glancing at Myeong-gyeong.
Myeong-gyeong hurriedly hid the grass flute behind his back.
"To be exact, I sold them."
"You seem to be determined to disrupt the order of Wudang."
"Pardon?"
"Not just the Sajes, but other Sahyungs and Sajes are playing with grass flutes during their martial arts practice time, so what is Wudang to become."
Seeing how he couldn't accept even a little bit of rest, he was truly a fine martial artist prodigy.
However, a martial artist prodigy cannot defeat a giant tree of the merchant world.
"It all depends on how you use it. An appropriate amount of rest actually helps with work efficiency. It is true that I sold the grass flutes, but I did not tell them to be negligent in their martial arts training while playing with them. If your Saje goes to a red-light district and plays with courtesans, are you going to cut off the courtesans' necks?"
Myeong-seong seemed flustered by my fluent words.
He seemed to want to refute it, but didn't know how to.
I had a tongue like steel, trained from arguing with countless difficult customers in the marketplace.
To a merchant, the tongue is what a sword is to a martial artist.
Even if they were main mountain disciples of the Wudang Sect, in my eyes, they were just simple mountain boys.
It was no trouble at all to win over such a boy.
"As far as my foolish self can see, there is only one way for Sahyung to guide your Sajes onto the right path."
"……What is it?"
"It is to set an example, of course."
I took out a grass flute from my knapsack.
I had left one for myself to play when I was bored, but I didn't know I would use it like this.
Myeong-seong's pupils shook greatly.
Only then did I figure it out.
Looking at him, he seemed to want the grass flute.
As a Sahyung, he couldn't childishly take the grass flute, so he was just being mean.
A customer whose desires have been read by a merchant is like a rabbit that has exposed its neck in front of a tiger.
I immediately played a tune on the grass flute.
It was 'Eighteen Songs of a Nomad Flute', one of the ten great masterpieces.
Originally, a true craftsman does not blame his tools.
When one reached my level of entertainment, it was possible to play one of the ten great masterpieces even with a grass flute.
The kids of the 'Myeong' generation were just listening blankly to my magnificent tune.
After my performance ended, Myeong-gyeong looked at his own grass flute.
It was an expression filled with the question of how such a sound could come out when it was clearly the same kind of grass flute as his.
I roughly wiped the grass flute I played on my sleeve and then handed it to Myeong-seong.
Myeong-seong, who was standing blankly, received the grass flute.
In the midst of it, he almost dropped it and fumbled to catch it, which was quite cute.
"If Sahyung only uses the grass flute when resting, and concentrates only on training when it's time to train, wouldn't the Sajes who follow you naturally follow suit? How could a Saje rest when their Sahyung does not? In the most prestigious of prestigious sects, the Nine Great Sects and One Union, that would never happen, right?"
"Um, that would be right."
"Then please control your Sajes with that grass flute, Sahyung. I will give it to you as a gift."
I didn't use it anyway even if I had it.
I carried and delivered messages every day, so there was no time to play the grass flute.
Even when I had spare time to rest, I thought of alcohol, not something like a grass flute.
"……Th-Then I shall accept it. Ahem."
At Myeong-seong's appearance, the Sajes, including Myeong-gyeong, looked at Myeong-seong with dumbfounded expressions.
As Myeong-seong received the grass flute and beamed, they only then noticed that Myeong-seong had been coveting the grass flute.
And we weren't the only ones who noticed that.
"I came because I heard a vulgar melody, and I see the sight of Myeong-seong with his eyes gone crazy over a grass flute."
When we looked at the direction the sound came from, kids with builds unbelievable for ten-year-olds were looking at Myeong-seong with ridiculing eyes.
"Myeong-han."
Myeong-seong said, frowning.
It seemed he was Myeong-seong's peer.
There was one person on either side of Myeong-han, and they also threw a word each at Myeong-seong.
"Know some shame, Myeong-seong."
"Aren't you embarrassed in front of your Sajes?"
Myeong-seong covered his forehead with his palm.
Looking at that fed-up expression, it seemed this wasn't the first or second time for such a provocation.
Myeong-seong chose the wise method.
He chose not to deal with them at all.
Myeong-han continued to try to tease Myeong-seong, but Myeong-seong didn't even talk back.
Myeong-han, with a sulky expression, continued to try to tease him but soon discovered me.
The arrowhead turned toward me.
"You're the merchant bastard who sells grass flutes. Selling such things in Wudang, do you want to get your wrist cut off?"
"Yeah. My Saje also got scolded by Sasuk because of a grass flute."
The kids, including Myeong-han, began to pressure me.
I really, really didn't want to admit it, but the bodies of those ten-or-so-year-old kids were threatening.
Kids who were martial artists from birth were definitely different in some way.
"No, it's not that……."
It was when I was about to make an excuse.
Someone stepped in between Myeong-han and me.
It was none other than Myeong-gyeong, who had been watching until now.
"Sa-Sahyung. I will discipline my Saje well."
Unlike when he was persecuting the lay disciples, he looked intimidated.
As expected, he was just a brat.
However, that brat's words stimulated them even more.
"Saje? Saaaaajeeee? A merchant bastard like this is a Saje?"
"He's not yet, but he's temporary……."
"Temporary?"
The eyes of the kids, including Myeong-han, scanned me closely.
And soon, their eyes drew an arc as if they had figured something out.
"Oho. So you're that guy. The guy trying to become a main mountain disciple from a lay disciple background. I heard from Master. A mere lay disciple becoming a main mountain disciple. And at that age?"
Young bastards were talking about age.
It was as if they had found their prey.
They slowly approached me, and only Myeong-gyeong, who was caught between me and Myeong-han, turned pale.
At that moment, someone appeared next to Myeong-gyeong.
It was Myeong-seong, with an expression that said he really didn't want to get involved.
Myeong-seong drew the wooden sword from his waist and aimed it precisely at them.
"Do not come any closer. Because he is my direct Saje."
A smile spread across Myeong-han's face.
It was a look that said he had been waiting for this kind of situation.
A suffocating tension spread among the brats.