Chapter 24. Just How Incredible Is This Martial Art?
The martial artist from the Murim Alliance listened carefully to every word of Jaha’s explanation without missing a single detail.
On top of that, Jaha subtly embellished the story in ways that worked in his favor. Because of that, the martial artist flinched at every important point and kept his eyes fixed on Jaha’s mouth.
“So, you were offered an escort job, but you later discovered that the girl you were supposed to escort was the very girl we were searching for, and they’re currently at Inui Manor?”
Jaha nodded at the martial artist’s words.
“I suspected that the girl might be the person the Murim Alliance is looking for, so I secretly escaped from Inui Manor and came here.”
Jaha’s shoulder was wrapped in bandages, and the wound looked fairly serious.
That made his story even more convincing.
“Then why did you come to the government office?”
The Murim Alliance warrior was no fool either.
“There are masters from Seohyeop Sect at Inui Manor. And on our way there, we were pursued by people I believe were members of the Demonic Cult. So I thought the government office would be the fastest place from which I could contact the Murim Alliance.”
Hearing that, the Murim Alliance warrior looked slightly impressed and patted Jaha on the shoulder.
“You did very well. If you hadn’t done this, we might have been too late. But let me ask you one more thing. How did you escape from Seohyeop Sect’s honored retainers and protectors?”
The Murim Alliance warrior seemed determined to clear up every doubt before he could feel at ease.
“I felt it was my duty to risk my life and inform the Murim Alliance about this. So after thinking it over, I prepared poison. Inui Manor is a medical manor, isn’t it? Naturally, they had poisonous herbs there. I secretly used those herbs to poison them and escaped.”
“Ah!”
The Murim Alliance warrior exclaimed and stared at Jaha with admiration.
“That couldn’t have been an easy decision. Truly impressive.”
“You flatter me. And Seohyeop Sect may have already realized that I escaped. They might take the girl and hide somewhere else. We need to inform the Alliance quickly, or we may lose track of them.”
“I understand. I’ll send a carrier pigeon to the Murim Alliance immediately. Then I’ll gather the warriors from the nearby branches and surround the place.”
Jaha shook his head.
“As I mentioned earlier, the people I believe belong to the Demonic Cult are also searching for that girl. They are not people the branch warriors alone can handle.”
“This is a situation that requires the masters of the Murim Alliance.”
The Murim Alliance warrior nodded gravely.
“I understand. Then I’ll—”
As the man was about to leave to send the carrier pigeon, Jaha stopped him.
“Wait. Because of this matter, our lives may be in danger. My master and fellow disciples are currently hiding in a secret place.”
“May I ask the Murim Alliance to protect us?”
“I’m sorry. Come to think of it, I was so distracted that I didn’t even ask who you were.”
“My name is Byeokho. I’m the second disciple of Cheongun Martial Hall in Yeongje County. My master is Ha Seonbaek.”
“I’ll report this so the Murim Alliance can guarantee your safety.”
“Thank you.”
“Come to the Shanxi branch of the Murim Alliance later.”
“Understood.”
“I am Songrim of the Murim Alliance’s Inspection Division. I’ll inform the Shanxi branch about you beforehand, so once this situation is resolved, stay there for the time being.”
“Yes. I’ll be counting on you.”
Songrim left the government office.
Jaha let out a sigh of relief.
Now my work here is finished.
With this, I’ve created at least some kind of safety net.
What worried Jaha was not the Demonic Cult or Seohyeop Sect.
What worried him was the possibility that the people of Cheongun Martial Hall might be rejected by the righteous martial world for helping the Black Path.
If word spread that Cheongun Martial Hall had helped sneak Deunghwahong away, they could be branded as traitors to the righteous martial world.
Byeokho would never want that.
And since Jaha was currently living in Byeokho’s body, being branded that way would also restrict his future actions.
He certainly didn’t want that.
But his worries lasted only a moment.
A wicked smile slowly appeared on Jaha’s lips.
“Go ahead and beat each other to death.”
The Demonic Cult and Seohyeop Sect were already fighting over Deunghwahong.
If the Murim Alliance entered the struggle as well, there was a very high chance that it would turn into a bloody battle.
Jaha regretted that he didn’t have enough time to stay and watch.
Truthfully, he wanted to hide nearby and see how the situation developed.
However, with Byeokho’s current level of martial arts, that was simply too dangerous.
He couldn’t even handle Chuyeongja of the Demonic Cult by himself.
There was no reason to deliberately put himself in danger.
Right now, I need to become stronger.
Jaha understood his situation perfectly.
His most urgent task was to coax the Strange Physician into teaching him the martial art that had impressed even his father so greatly.
Jaha stopped by a nearby inn, bought a large amount of food, and returned to the abandoned house.
“Elder Strange Physician, please have some of this.”
The Strange Physician gave Jaha a strange look as Jaha waited on him with excessive kindness.
“What do you want from me?”
Instead of answering, Jaha laid out all the food he had bought.
“As you already know, Elder, I’m the kind of man who values promises more than my own life.”
“I don’t know about that. How would I know what kind of person you are when I’ve only known you for a few days?”
“You have to keep your promise. You said that if I escaped from them, you would teach me your martial arts.”
Jaha had already seen that the Strange Physician valued promises more than his own life.
That was why he deliberately brought up the promise to provoke him.
With someone like this, it was the most effective method.
“Of course I’ll keep my promise.”
As expected, the very mention of a promise made the Strange Physician react immediately.
The Strange Physician thought for a moment before speaking to Jaha.
“I’ll keep my promise, so you must keep yours as well. Promise that you’ll follow everything I tell you to do until the very end.”
He continued with a serious expression.
“Even if I tell you to let me peel off your skin.”
“Can you promise me that?”
“If you aren’t prepared to go that far, it would be better not to begin at all.”
Jaha fell silent for a moment as he looked into the Strange Physician’s deadly serious eyes.
Judging by the warning, the path ahead truly seemed anything but easy.
But Jaha had no other choice.
Even if the Strange Physician really peeled off his skin, he was in a position where he would simply have to endure it.
“I promise.”
“If it is your order, Elder Strange Physician, I’ll even pour oil over myself and jump into a fire.”
The Strange Physician saw the flames burning in Jaha’s eyes.
Whatever those flames represented, if a person possessed a flame of the soul powerful enough to dominate the flesh, then perhaps this was worth attempting.
I had already given up.
I had convinced myself that it could never be accomplished...
The Strange Physician stared into empty space with an emotional look for a moment before his expression hardened.
“Good. We’ll begin immediately. Prepare yourself.”
“Right now?”
“Yes. Right now.”
“If you endure it well, we might finish within ten days.”
“Wait a moment. What kind of martial art can be completed in ten days? Even Demonic Path martial arts famous for rapid progress couldn’t possibly do that. Unless we’re talking about something on the level of the Three Talents Sword Art...”
Jaha quickly protested.
He was starting to feel as though he had been tricked.
However, the Strange Physician merely smiled.
“You said you would obey everything I told you, didn’t you?”
Jaha let out a long sigh.
“Understood. I’ll explain the situation to my junior disciples first, then I’ll come back.”
“Good. I’ll prepare in the meantime.”
Jaha had never imagined that learning martial arts would require such a heavy state of mind.
He asked Hanseol and Jo Unryong to take care of their master while he was away, then went to the Strange Physician.
Hanseol and Jo Unryong did not go anywhere near the Strange Physician’s room because they didn’t want to interfere with their senior brother receiving the Strange Physician’s ultimate technique.
However, Jo Unryong’s eyes and ears never once left the Strange Physician’s quarters.
Jo Unryong loved martial arts more than anyone.
Naturally, he was extremely curious about what his senior brother would learn from the Strange Physician.
“Unryong, after Senior Brother learns the martial art, he’ll teach it to us too. So don’t feel too disappointed.”
Jo Unryong smiled at those words.
“Disappointed? Not at all. I believe Senior Brother will teach me, so I don’t feel disappointed in the slightest.”
“I’m just curious about what kind of martial art Elder Strange Physician has mastered.”
Hanseol and Jo Unryong had seen that their master was asleep before coming outside to talk.
They were being considerate.
They didn’t want their master to think that Senior Brother Byeok was learning a different martial art because the Cheongun Sword Art was too weak.
If their master heard that Senior Brother Byeok was learning martial arts other than the Cheongun Sword Art, he would probably feel more disappointed than anyone else.
“Let’s practice our combined formation using the Cheongun Sword Art. When we fought the attackers last time, we managed to hold out pretty well with our combined technique.”
“Yes, Senior Sister.”
Jo Unryong brought out a wooden sword and stood beside Hanseol, preparing to practice.
“Uwaaaaaaagh!”
At that moment, a scream suddenly erupted from the Strange Physician’s room.
“Aaaaaaagh!”
And it didn’t stop after just one scream.
The cries continued pouring out.
Neither of them could understand what kind of martial art required someone to scream like that, so they exchanged looks.
On top of that, the idea of learning martial arts inside a room already seemed strange.
As far as they knew, martial arts fundamentally involved learning techniques and forms.
Teaching martial arts inside such a narrow room was strange enough.
And now there were screams on top of that.
Jo Unryong prepared to rush inside.
“No, Unryong.”
“Senior Brother told us, remember? He said not to interfere no matter what happened.”
“But that scream sounds like someone being tortured. Listen carefully.”
Jo Unryong looked up at Hanseol with worried eyes.
“What if Elder Strange Physician is using the excuse of teaching martial arts to do something strange to Senior Brother?”
However, Hanseol shook her head.
“No. This is something Senior Brother chose for himself.”
“I think it’s strange too, but rushing into the room right now might only ruin everything.”
In truth, Hanseol wanted to be the first person to rush inside and check on Senior Brother Byeok.
That was exactly why she stopped her junior brother Jo Unryong even more firmly.
“You saw what Senior Brother was like on the way here too. He isn’t an ordinary person.”
“If Elder Strange Physician were really doing something suspicious, Senior Brother wouldn’t simply let him do it. Let’s trust Senior Brother and wait a little longer.”
After Hanseol repeatedly persuaded him, Jo Unryong finally accepted it.
“Understood.”
Even at that moment, groans and suppressed screams continued pouring from the Strange Physician’s room, sounding like a woman going through her first childbirth.
Jaha glared at the Strange Physician, who was mercilessly driving huge needles into the joints of his shoulders and legs.
Tears streamed down his face.
At least he wasn’t dripping snot.
Screams escaped from his mouth without him even meaning to make them.
This pain was far beyond anything he could simply endure.
On top of that, Jaha had once been the supreme ruler of the Demonic Cult.
He had lived in an environment where pain was something he rarely had to experience personally.
Perhaps because of that, he was especially weak against pain.
“Young man, you certainly complain a lot.”
“Complain?! You pierced straight through my joints with giant needles! If this didn’t hurt, I wouldn’t be human!”
Cold sweat poured from Jaha’s entire body.
Huge needles were being brutally shoved into his shoulder and elbow joints.
Anyone who didn’t feel pain from something like this would have to be made of wood or stone.
“Uwaaaaaaagh!”
After screaming, Jaha spoke between ragged breaths.
“This is practically torture! What does any of this have to do with martial arts—Uwaaaaaaagh!”
“Didn’t I tell you?”
“I said it would come with pain like hell.”
Jaha had never imagined that training in a martial art would require torture like this.
“Done! It’s over now.”
The Strange Physician removed the dozens of huge needles stuck throughout Jaha’s body in less time than it would take to swallow a mouthful of water.
Still panting heavily, Jaha asked,
“Are you telling me this is how you managed to fight the leader of the Demonic Cult on equal terms?”
The process had been so painful that Jaha was beginning to feel suspicious.
“But what exactly was the procedure you performed on me? Is this really necessary to learn your martial art?”
Then his expression became serious.
“If it truly is necessary, I’ll endure something even worse than this.”
Although Jaha had screamed, he had still endured everything until the end.
The Strange Physician found that admirable.
Because of that, he finally felt willing to reveal a little about his martial art.
Until now, no matter how many times Jaha had asked, the Strange Physician had refused to explain why these procedures were necessary.
If Jaha failed to endure the treatment and gave up halfway through, then only the secret of the martial art would have been exposed for nothing.
“Let me ask you something.”
“Among all the martial arts you know, is there a method that allows you to attack an enemy standing behind you using only your arms, without turning your body?”
Even after searching through all the bizarre martial arts of the Demonic Cult in his memories, Jaha had never heard of such a martial art.
More importantly, the very idea went against the fundamental principles of martial arts.
Techniques were fundamentally created based on the movements of a person’s two arms and two legs.
At its most basic level, martial arts could be described as a system that organized the movements of the arms and the stepping of the feet according to proper principles.
Unless a person was some kind of boneless creature, there was no way to attack someone behind them with their arms without moving their body.
Jaha stared at the Strange Physician with a look of disbelief.
“Are you saying this procedure will allow me to move my arms and legs freely backward as well?”
“That’s right.”
“If this procedure succeeds, you will be able to move every joint in your body freely.”
Jaha suddenly remembered what his father, Jagang, had said when recalling his battle with the Strange Physician.
“I had a difficult time dealing with attacks that came from completely unpredictable angles.”
If he could freely move his joints, then naturally he could attack from angles that no one could predict.
And the secret behind it all lay in the joints.
When Jaha looked shocked, the Strange Physician continued with a slightly proud expression.
“First of all, if your joints can move through a wider range of angles than they do now, the number of directions you can attack from will increase by the same amount.”
“You’ll also be able to create countless bizarre techniques that no one else can use.”
“All martial arts techniques in the world are restricted by what the eyes can see and by the physical limits of the human body.”
“I expanded those limits.”
“I created a method that allows me to defend and attack in every direction.”
Hearing this, Jaha became determined to learn the Strange Physician’s martial art, no matter how painful it was.
Just as the Strange Physician claimed, there was no martial art in the world that allowed someone to attack and defend in every direction.
However, Jaha had studied martial arts deeply.
Because of that, he quickly realized a weakness in this martial art as well.
He immediately asked the Strange Physician,
“But you don’t have eyes on the back of your head. Even if your arms and legs can move freely in every direction, wouldn’t it be useless if you can’t see the enemy behind you?”
The Strange Physician looked slightly impressed by Jaha’s question and nodded.
