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Chapter 134 - The Toll Fee Is Ten Percent?
I can’t train my torrent of energy in Black Rabbit Union, so I focus on Qi Deviation instead. I’d seized most of the neighboring orthodox factions, so I expect nothing to happen for the time being. But because the future is unpredictable, I only anticipate it.
Anyway, as Sword Demon advised…
I started training for self-care, seclusion, and solitude.
As I expected, Shadow Moon Martial Arts upgraded from Waning Moon state to Crescent Moon (弦月) state. It wasn’t wholly due to the Heavenly Pearl but because of the Moon Pill Flower as well. But I’m unable to devote myself entirely to the Ice Technique in Crescent Moon’s level.
I can feel my body’s balance getting distorted.
Something feels cold inside.
At first, this was the state I’d predicted the cult leader to be in at the cliff.
He was going to consume Heavenly Pill after balancing the extreme Yin energy…
A similar condition to my current state.
Hence, I trained Strolling Golden Turtle Technique today, and Shadow Moon Martial Arts the next day.
But there’s always a limit.
My arms and legs keep getting thinner even though I’m just cultivating Qi. The joints in my back and knees stiffened, and my mental and physical strength are being drained rapidly.
If I had prioritized only one cultivation, I wouldn’t have been this exhausted. However, training both yin and yang at the same time is weighing twice the burden on the body.
In summary, exertion.
In the end, I trained Shadow Moon Martial Arts, Strolling Golden Turtle Technique, and physical martial arts one day at a time.
This is called the 3 Day Training Method, so I just named it 3 Day Training Method Technique.
Only then did the training gain momentum.
When I train Strolling Golden Turtle Technique, my body is warm all day long.
When I train for Shadow Moon Martial Arts, my body is cold as if I was stuck in perpetual snow.
I conclude that my mental and physical decline and exhaustion over the two days can only be recovered with physical training.
Training is what makes you strong.
I trained my body intensely because I felt like I was going to die if I were to fall into Qi Deviation.
Therefore, I joined my subordinates in outdoor training, and constantly shared nonsense and small talk on the way.
In the meantime, I constantly thought about Pervert Demon, Sword Demon, Cult Leader, Alliance Leader, Crazy Monk, Punch King, the villains that rose to name as Murim’s Public Enemy, and the master of Nimble Guild.
Other than them, there are still many other masters who I couldn’t overpower in my past life.
Physical martial arts is about enduring the pain of the body, I constantly recalled the reputable Kangho master and overcame the pain.
I will be able to fight Pervert Demon without using internal Qi next time, so I trained in physical martial arts with even more vigor.
After all, training…
Becomes more efficient when thinking about beating someone up.
I join my men in physical training and once I reached the point where I started getting toned muscles, I hung on the plum tree and started doing pull-ups with one arm.
Pull-ups are just about raising and lowering your body with one arm…
Once I’ve done enough repetitions to the point that the muscles in my arm go numb, I then switch to the other.
When I repeat this in front of my subordinates, they start coming up to do chin-ups with their arms on the tree as well.
One day, I suddenly look around to see all the men are hanging from either the trees or the walls.
“You’ve got to be kidding me… Jeez, monkeys.”
One of the guys bursts out in laughter and falls from the tree.
There’s a saying that goes “Even Monkeys Fall from Trees” 1.
When I laughed with him, my arms lost strength and I landed on the ground.
When someone does something, people around them follow along. This is human instinct.
Staring at the guy who laughed, I say,
“Those who laugh during training from now on will skip dinner.”
“Yes, sir.”
I wipe the laugh off my face and resume the monkey chin-ups more fiercely. As I increase the intensity of my training, the minions were also able to catch up to my intensity to some extent.
I’m not the only one who’s growing stronger, the group is as well.
After repeating the 3-day routine for 30 days….
The days begin to get more and more chilly.
My internal Qi still remains in Fighting Fowl in Strolling Golden Turtle Technique and Crescent Moon in Shadow Moon Martial Arts.
My physical condition was quickly catching up with my Crazy Demon days. Toned muscles, slimmed down, and now I can also make a powerful attack with external martial arts.
My subordinates trained hard, but nonetheless, I was the most vigorous.
I have achieved the best record of pull-ups, finger chin-ups, and finger push-ups.
No news is good news…
Just when I felt glad that I haven’t heard anything from Blood Night Palace, Baekeungji, South Horizon Sect and Nanming Society-
I hear the main gate crash open…
The men rush outside.
I also take my hands off the plum tree and go out to the outer courtyard. Someone was limping while being tied up and behind him, people I have never seen before were walking into Black Rabbit Union laughing.
As soon as the tied-up man sees me, he says with a bright smile,
“Big Brother…”
“Who is it?”
His face is severely swollen, so I’m unable to recognize him.
“It’s me Brother Gold, Big Brother.”
“What happened to you, Pig?”
When a man approaches from behind and puts his hand on Geum-hae’s shoulder, he kneels on the floor. While patting and caressing Geum-hae’s head, the skinny man with a podao2 hanging from his waist asks,
“Who is the Low-Down Sect Leader?”
The men invaded with such confidence and poise; I reply like a scared idiot.
“…it’s me.”
I look around at the four people with an absurd expression.
‘Just four?’
The man, who appeared to be the head of the pack, says as he flaps his fan,
“You’re young.”
The man speaks as he looks around Black Rabbit Union.
“We are the envoys of Namak Green Forest Sect.”
Envoys of demonic factions normally mean the top masters but in normal factions, envoys are usually just people who boast.
“I mean…”
I am speechless.
“Alliance Leader Im, you son of a…’
When I think it over with a confused mind, this is probably the time period before Leader Im conquers Namak Green Forest Sect.
I feel like the time is passing strangely since my return.
The sudden arrival of the bandit faction, which eventually becomes overthrown by the Alliance. Being invaded by these damned bastards, I was half surprised and half excited.
There are times when emotions are mixed half like yin and yang, and this is the case right now.
In fact, Namak Green Forest Sect is actually a very powerful faction encompassing one-third of the Hunan province and bandit forces. However, they’re not scary because of the number of masters they have, but rather the unorthodox forces avoid them because of the large number of members they have. This generally applies to bandit and pirate factions.
They were the ones being avoided by sects because they were large in numbers.
“Ah, this is absurd.”
I approach Geum-hae first, take out the Moonlight Dagger, and release him. The thick rope was cut like a dumpling.
I hold Geum-hae’s face with my left hand and ask,
“Brother.”
“Yes.”
Retrieving the Moonlight Dagger I ask,
“Did you lose some weight? They didn’t give you food?”
Geum-hae replies with a smile.
“Yes, they didn’t give me any.”
“Why did they capture you? Is it because you’re chubby?”
“I was transporting Bajian Society funds.”
“Yeah.”
“I didn’t know, but I guess I had passed by the mountain path cleaned and managed by Namak Green Forest Sect and it was a certain area where I had to pay tolls. There was nothing when I passed by, but they came to me later…”
“Ah…”
This means that while transferring funds, he jaywalked through Namak Green Forest Sect territory. This is a tactic of letting him cross first and demanding him for money later. Namak Green Forest Sect did this over and over which angered Alliance Leader Im, and he ended up exterminating all of them until not even a fly was left. This trick was so cruel that even the unorthodox factions talked a lot about it. I don’t know the details because I’ve only heard about it.
First, I look at the envoys.
“How much is it?”
The man replies,
“Leader, we’re only asking for a 10 percent share, but this merchant young master wouldn’t cooperate. When I asked him, he said these are not funds for the merchant, but for Low-Down Sect, so I had no choice but to come. If he’d told us earlier it was Low-Down’s money, we wouldn’t have come so late. Why does he have to be stubborn… he had it coming.”
Money is so problematic.
It was also a problem that Bajian Society was wealthy.
Kangho people don’t have common sense.
In other words, all I can think is that they’re trying to pick on us because of their twisted minds.
Geum-hae says with a smile,
“Big Brother, the toll is one-tenth. So, you should pay them the one-tenth of Bajian Society funds. Hahaha….”
Perhaps from being beaten up too much, Geum-hae lost half his wits.
I nod.
“One-tenth, that’s a lot…”
“A lot?”
The man looks at me and says,
“Isn’t it the money extorted from Bajian Society? But that’s too much? Look, this is what happens if you get too greedy. We will report this incident to our leader anyway. If you pay one-tenth this time, Low-Down Sect can use the toll built by us Green Forest Sect however you want. And you still think it’s expensive?”
I ignore the man’s words and help Geum-hae up on his feet.
“Get up.”
“Yes.”
I pat Geum-hae on the shoulder and pass him to Brother White Tiger. Geum-hae walks while limping on one side. White Tiger, Blue Dragon, and White Rooster approach and take care of Geum-hae.
Now, four people from Namak Green Forest Sect are looking at me.
The subordinates of Black Rabbit Union also watch me with their mouths closed.
I sigh while looking at the four bandit faction people.
“You could’ve said it nicely. Why did you hit my brother?”
So Gun-pyeong approaches with an anxious look and grabs my arm.
“Please don’t get angry, Leader. Let’s try to talk it….”
“What’s wrong? I’m not angry yet.”
“Ah, yes.”
As I stand still, and Baek-in approaches this time.
“Big Brother, let’s try to talk it out, Brother Gold Boar came back alive, so rather than killing them right away…”
“Shut up for now.”
“Yes.”
When I stare at the four envoys of Namak Green Forest Sect….
Cha Sung-tae approaches carefully.
“Leader, shouldn’t we negotiate first?”
“Negotiate?”
“Yes.”
“I’ve never done it before, how do you do it?”
“Oh, I haven’t either.”
The expressions of the four men gradually changed while So Gun-pyeong, Baek In, and Cha Sung-tae are trying to stop me with nervous looks. We tilt our heads and look at each other’s faces. Realizing this must not be progressing as they expect,
“…….”
I manage to contain my anger and ask the bandits,
“How many people are in your sect?”
One of the guys answers,
“Over a thousand.”
“That’s more than Low-Down Sect?”
“You’re stating the obv…”
Speechless, I shift my body and jab the four with Crescent Moon Finger Technique.
Jab!
A guy swaying his fan stiffens.
Jab!
A guy pulling out his sword freezes.
Jab!
A guy swinging his fist at me pauses.
Jab!
A guy who was trying to escape stiffens.
Their movements stop strangely because of the combination of my finger jab and Crescent Moon Finger Technique. When I pull out Moonlight Dagger from my arms, suddenly So Gun-pyeong, Baek In, and Cha Sung-tae rushes at me.
“Wahaha, Leader. Wait a minute.”
“Ah, let’s talk to them first before killing them.”
“Big Brother, you froze them, what’s the rush? Hahaha.”
Baek In suddenly snatches the Moonlight Dagger in my hand and So Gun-pyeong half-hugs to hold me back.
Cha Sung-tae swings my hand and laughs.
“Hahaha…”
Pushing the three away I say,
“Jeez, let go. This….”
So Gun-pyeong hollers at the subordinates.
“Step on them!”
“Yes!”
Instantly, the men of Black Rabbit Union flock in and slap, knock down, and begin to step on the frozen guys.
I look at the scene and tell the three people who are blocking me.
“Okay, I get it. Let go. Let’s watch.”
“Yes.”
I extend my hand to Baek In.
“Give me my dagger.”
“Here it is.”
I pack my flash dagger and, with my arms crossed, I watch my minions and the bandits and say,
“Make a mess of their faces. A mess like they did to Brother Gold Boar.”
The men of the Black Tomb answer in unison.
“Understood.”
So Gun-pyeong, Baek-in, and Cha Sung-tae stand next to me and watch the subordinates beat the Green Forest Sect with folded arms.
The men were treading excitedly.
These guys have been training so harshly, they must be very pent up.
They were trampling down so firmly.
I finally sweep my chest up and now with my hands.
“Phew… I feel calmer now.”
—
Editors Notes
This proverb is used in settings where someone acts arrogant or overconfident. Monkeys are considered very adept at climbing trees and so by saying that even monkeys fall from trees- there is implication that even confident masters aren’t exempt from making mistakes. In a sense, this is said to humble someone (ahem Zaha) LOL. You can read more about Korean proverbs here. ↩️
For those who want a visual, this is what a podao looks like. ↩️