Chapter 17

Chapter 17: The Thunder Dragon Emerges

After purchasing casual clothes from Mr. Song’s fabric shop, I stepped outside. In my mind, I had a plan to counter the excessive behavior of the Huangshan Sect, and this was more a matter of experience than a special scheme. First, I headed towards the city to buy a set of night-traveling clothes.

‘Well then, let’s get started.’

I decided to test my internal energy on an old building first. If my internal energy wasn’t up to par, there was nothing I could do. Fortunately, the city had plenty of abandoned places, and I found one where I stood amidst the smell of food waste and slowly raised my hand.

Crackling

“Wow… It works.”

My fingers were embedded into the stone wall. Three fingers pierced the stone wall as if they were thrusting through tofu. While it was something impossible for a normal person, I had simply transmitted my internal energy through my meridians to harden my fingers. This alone had transformed my hand into a formidable weapon.

I began to think that perhaps my internal energy was actually far beyond the Thousand-Year Snow Ginseng’s effects. This was because the fusion of the Thousand-Year Snow Ginseng’s energy with the internal energy from the White and Black Lotus had created a balance of the Taiji, which might exceed the power achievable from the Thousand-Year Snow Ginseng alone.

I slowly moved my fingers and began to write characters on the stone wall. Even though I was just making a few scratches of about three inches deep, I managed to write smoothly.

Unfortunately, my education only covered basic characters and elementary texts. I could read, but my knowledge was so minimal that even a common scholar might call me ignorant. Nevertheless, I could write simple sentences, so I confidently began to write.

[The Huangshan Sect is acting as bullies towards civilians.]

It was a direct and straightforward statement without any metaphor or allegory. Although it was embarrassingly blunt, I was satisfied seeing it properly done. After finishing, I decided to use my palm strength to erase the traces.

The martial arts I learned from the Azure Dragon Martial Arts School were the Thunder Dragon Eight Forms as the pinnacle, with Thunder Shadow Sword Technique and Thunder Shadow Step as my specialties. However, in the heat of battle, there were times when weapons were not in hand, so Master Jin So-cheong also taught me the Palm Technique.

Its name was Thundercloud Palm.

According to Jin So-cheong, it was a martial art that supported the reputation of his master, Samjeol Lee Kwang, the head of the Azure Dragon Martial Arts School. While there was no doubt that the Thunder Dragon Eight Forms was the strongest martial art, Samjeol Lee Kwang had mastered spear, sword, and fist techniques to the level of a grandmaster, becoming a top-tier martial artist among the crowd.

Originally, my achievement in Thundercloud Palm was only at the Third Level. As a practitioner focusing on Thunder Dragon Eight Forms and Thunder Shadow Sword Technique, I lacked the talent and time to deeply train in the Palm Technique. My training only went as far as memorizing basic forms and applying them somewhat, so I rarely used it.

Swish swish swish—

“Mmm…!!”

Following the secrets of the Thundercloud Palm, I gathered my internal energy in my palm, and I was astonished to see blue light emanating from my hand and lightning crackling around my arm. It was a phenomenon I had never seen before, even with my usual focus.

‘Is it because of the Thousand-Year Snow Ginseng’s energy?’

Boom!

Rumble…

“……”

After a moment, I was dazed to see that a hole big enough for a child to pass through had been created in the stone wall just from a strike of the Thundercloud Palm. Normally, my palm technique was only effective enough to deliver a blow to a person or cause internal damage, but this was a different level of power. If used on a person, their upper body would be shattered into a bloody mess.

Watching the dust settle, I quickly snapped out of it.

‘Oh no! I need to get out of here quickly.’

If I stayed, the noise would attract people. I hurriedly slipped through the alleys under the cover of darkness. It was fortunate there were no witnesses, or I might have had a confrontation with the guards.

‘Anyway, the plan should work. I’ll start at dawn tomorrow.’

That evening, I went to bed early and had a good rest. To relieve the travel fatigue from searching the mountains and rivers for the Thousand-Year Snow Ginseng, I paid a hefty sum for a hot bath from the innkeeper. I spent quite a bit of money, which was a significant indulgence for me.

In my dream, I saw my deceased mother.

It was a pleasant dream because she was smiling.

Early the next morning, I woke up an hour before sunrise, dressed in my night-traveling clothes, and stealthily headed into the city. I began to move carefully towards the luxurious houses and buildings I had observed during the day.

There was only one task at hand.

To carve the characters into the stone walls of the buildings.

[The Huangshan Sect is acting as bullies towards civilians.]

Rumble rattle

The smell of stone dust and asbestos rose from the tips of my fingers. No matter how strong my internal energy was, a little coldness in my fingers was unavoidable. When I had written the characters at about twenty locations, the pain in my fingers made me take a short break.

However, today my goal is to inscribe this character on at least 50 stone walls. I’m spacing them out about ten or so sheets per building, and the area I’m currently navigating is a busy thoroughfare where the population flows freely and guards patrol frequently. Once I’ve placed the characters in 50 locations, it will be impossible for people not to notice.

“Oh, guards are coming.”

Seeing three guards gathering for patrol, I sheepishly hid myself in an alleyway. Fortunately, since they were morning patrol guards, they didn’t appear particularly formidable in martial arts, so it seemed they hadn’t sensed my presence.

“Hmm… I’d like to write about ten more, but what should I do?”

I could ambush these guards now and use acupoint techniques to incapacitate them. That would buy me more time.

“No, forget it. Let’s call it quits here.”

Deciding to end it for today, I quietly disappeared into the darkness. It’s better to leave a moderate number of traces rather than conspicuously leaving too many.

“Whoa!”

“What’s this?!”

“Wo-il! Quickly, go report to Captain Wi!”

“Got it…”

Shortly after, I heard the guards discover the characters on the stone walls and raise a commotion.

As morning broke, I casually lay in the inn’s bed, pretending to know nothing. Since I had rented the room for three days, the innkeeper wouldn’t bother me. I leisurely practiced martial arts throughout the morning.

Wuu wuu —

I felt a surge of inner energy coursing through me like a volcano erupting, writhing through my entire body. The powerful internal energy flowed through my veins, piercing through the smallest capillaries. Just turning the Great Focus a few times made my internal energy accumulate layer by layer.

“Since breaking through the Life and Death Meridian, my veins have been penetrating all over…”

This was truly an extraordinary achievement. Breaking through the veins with internal energy was an essential process to strengthen oneself, but it was extremely difficult to manipulate the flow of energy through the veins. If my internal energy potential was not extraordinary, most martial artists spent their entire lives only penetrating the main veins.

When the veins were penetrated, the transmission speed of inner energy increased. Also, when hardening the body with internal energy, the defense was significantly enhanced.

To achieve more than this, like transforming into a gushing stream by fully opening the Life and Death Meridian, I hadn’t thought it was something I would actually achieve, only heard about in rumors. Continuing my internal energy training like this, my martial arts would undoubtedly reach their peak.

After finishing my morning practice and coming out of my room, the innkeeper fretted.

“Oh dear… something big’s happened, guest. Please don’t go outside the room today.”

“What’s happened?”

“Some lunatic caused a commotion in the street, so the guards are patrolling like crazy… If you provoke them for no reason, you might end up in jail, so please keep the door locked and don’t come out. I’ll bring your food to you.”

“A commotion?”

It was something I had done, but I kept a straight face as if I didn’t know. Hearing this, the innkeeper confirmed that no one was around and cautiously continued.

“Someone wrote a defamatory piece about the Huangshan Sect… It was written on the stone walls, apparently.”

“Oh… Isn’t that a master of martial arts?”

Oh, it’s getting dicey. But the innkeeper, oblivious to my involvement, didn’t suspect me at all.

“Such martial arts masters aren’t common… But people secretly seem to like it.”

“Why do they like it?”

“Well, because it’s all true…”

The innkeeper muttered vaguely.

“Anyway, stay inside!”

“Got it.”

The innkeeper, as promised, prepared the meal himself and brought it to my room. While eating raw eggs, steamed rice, and chicken dishes in the room, I reflected on the situation.

‘The innkeeper isn’t thinking about reporting me for a reward. It seems he’s more concerned about avoiding trouble.’

Although it might seem irrational, considering the size of the inn, this mindset was quite plausible. The innkeeper might suspect me as the culprit, but regardless of that, he simply wanted to avoid becoming involved in the incident. After all, there was no guarantee of a reward, and if the guards came in to investigate, it would surely harm his business.

In a sense, this reflected poorly on the local officials. Their lack of consideration for commoners and merchants made them resented.

I considered myself fortunate. If the innkeeper had been suspicious and eager for the reward, things would have been quite troublesome by now. And my guess was correct; after a while, I heard the innkeeper and the guards talking outside, and the guards eventually left. It seemed the innkeeper had covered for me, claiming he hadn’t seen any suspicious persons.

I felt there was no need for further action at this moment. Instead, I sat quietly in the inn and thought about what to do next.

‘This will definitely work. The Huangshan Sect will have no choice but to back off.’

The method of anonymously posting notices on the stone walls in the marketplace was not something I had thought of myself.

It was directly inspired by the historical event known as the Dianqiang Rebellion from my decades of memories.

In the past, the Dianqiang Sect, which was part of the Nine Gates Alliance, had extorted large sums from local residents and committed extreme acts of violence. Their misconduct escalated to the point of raping women and killing civilians, yet it all went unnoticed.

One day, notices were posted simultaneously across villages in the Dianqiang Sect’s territory. Specifically, someone anonymously wrote and posted large quantities of notices on the streets, declaring that the Dianqiang Sect was a nefarious group that extorted people’s wealth.

These notices even reached the ears of the Lord of Yunnan City, who was the Emperor’s own brother. Enraged, the Lord summoned the Imperial Inspectors to verify the claims. Despite the Dianqiang Sect’s denials, the facts were exposed, and the sect was promptly disbanded.

The sect leader committed suicide, and the elders fled in disgrace. It was a monumental event, even in the southernmost part of the Central Plains, and it became a hot topic for years.

This incident also redefined the relationship between the government and the martial world. Until then, there was an unwritten principle of non-interference between the two, but it became clear that the government could indeed suppress the martial world at will.

Of course, my method was quite different from that used during the Dianqiang Rebellion.

Back then, dozens of villages were targeted with simultaneous notices, but I had only caused a stir in the busiest marketplace in Huangshan. Moreover, rather than posting notices, I had simply inscribed the message on the stone walls with my fingers.

Nonetheless, being exposed to the eyes of the authorities and the public itself was significant. It became an undeniable fact that the officials could not ignore, and those officials who had been accepting bribes from the Huangshan Sect would also be forced to take some action.

[Huangshan Sect, tone it down a bit?]

Even a mere message like this would be something that the most renowned master of the Huangshan Sect, like the legendary Dragon Slayer Sword’s Yong Junil, could not ignore.

I confirmed that my plan had worked on the third day after the incident.

“Wow…”

“It’s here…”

Suddenly, the marketplace was buzzing with activity. When I went outside, I saw a group of martial artists clad in yellow robes walking together. From their attire and insignia, it was clear they were warriors from the Huangshan Sect, one of the Nine Gates Alliance.

At the forefront of the Huangshan Sect’s martial artists were a few exceptional masters who exuded a remarkable aura. These individuals were undoubtedly the Elders or the Clan Leader of the Huangshan Sect. Since absorbing the energy of the Thousand Year Ice Orchid, my ability to sense the strength of others had greatly improved. The four masters leading the group emitted an overwhelming power that was beyond my ability to gauge.

(TN: Thousand Year Ice Orchid is the previous White and Black Lotuses)

This meant that all four of them were peak masters capable of manifesting their qi into physical forms!

Such figures could only be the high-ranking Elders or the Clan Leader of the Huangshan Sect.

‘As expected, I’m still not ready to confront them head-on.’

Each of these individuals was a figure of extraordinary prowess, on par with the legendary Three Heroes of the Azure Dragon. I still needed more time.

Time to grow stronger based on the Thousand Year Ice Orchid.

I watched the procession from the second floor of the inn and then closed the window.

The next day, rumors spread across the region.

[The Huangshan Sect Leader has admitted to the misdeeds and offered a hundred silver pieces for the eternal prosperity of the region!

Furthermore, the Huangshan Sect has pledged to cooperate with the local authorities for maintaining peace!]

Added to this were various exaggerated tales of how the Branch Director lamented the situation and how the Huangshan Sect Leader was praised for their righteousness. Naturally, all of this was nonsense, and the core of the matter was as follows:

The Huangshan Sect Leader was pressured into negotiating with the Branch Director.

As a result of the negotiations, they agreed to offer a hundred silver pieces.

In addition, this served as a pretext to strengthen the Huangshan Sect’s influence under the guise of maintaining peace.

While it was true they promised to aid in peacekeeping, this move would only serve to increase the Huangshan Sect’s influence over the common people.

‘It looks like there’s a considerable strategist within the Huangshan Sect.’

Or perhaps the Clan Leader was exceptionally clever.

Looking at the situation, it seemed that the Huangshan Sect didn’t suffer much from the deal. Offering a hundred silver pieces was merely returning a portion of what they had extorted from the commoners, while using the opportunity to expand their influence under the pretense of peacekeeping. Additionally, they would have bribed the Branch Director, further solidifying their hold.

Although it was absurd, this was how the world worked, and I had no choice but to accept it. However, thanks to my actions, the Huangshan Sect would be cautious for a while and would not dare to extort the common people. For that alone, I felt that I had accomplished what I set out to do.

Leaving the inn that day and heading towards Luoyang, I glanced back one last time.

‘The Huangshan Sect is a force of utter malevolence. They’ve been marked by me.’

On the day my life finally finds its path with the interpretation of the Cheonam Biseo, the Huangshan Sect will face a colossal disaster unlike any they have encountered before.

—

Foot Notes:

1. There are both Huangshan and Huashan sects. To avoid confusion, here’s the original text for reference:

화산파: Huashan Sect
황산파: Huangshan Sect

2. In martial arts and wuxia literature, the “Life and Death Meridian” (생사현관, 生死玄關) is a concept tied to the manipulation and mastery of internal energy, with a focus on life, death, and profound martial arts skills.

3. In martial arts and wuxia literature, “Great Focus” (대주천, 大周天) is a critical concept referring to a high-level practice of internal energy cultivation and refinement. It’s a foundational technique in many martial arts systems, focusing on the harmonization of internal energy to achieve powerful martial abilities.