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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: Bobt
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Yu Jeong-mok went to attend the regular meeting.
“I’ll probably be back in about four days. I’ll see you then.”
“Have a safe trip, Master.”
Joo Seo-cheon politely bowed and saw Yu Jeong-mok off.
“Alright, today’s the day!”
Four days was enough. He knew not only the location of the underwater cave but also where the Water Spirit Divine Fruit had grown.
Although it would be a bit tiring, he could return to the Mount Hua Sect in three days instead of four.
Exactly two hours after Yu Jeong-mok descended the mountain, Joo Seo-cheon secretly left the Mount Hua Sect.
“Thanks to the lay disciples, especially those kids, sneaking out like this isn’t that difficult.”
Most of the lay disciples were either children of wealthy merchants or precious sons of high-ranking nobles.
And among them, the young children were mostly impatient, feeling suffocated by communal life and discipline, so they were constantly scheming to skip training or run away whenever they had the chance.
The most representative method was digging a hole under an old wall in a remote part of the Mount Hua Sect and sneaking out.
Usually, they would engage in delinquent behavior such as drinking alcohol and embracing women outside through this hole before returning.
By the way, this secret(?) passage was actually well known to the Mount Hua Sect, but they turned a blind eye and condoned it.
In any case, lay disciples typically finished their training and descended the mountain after a short period of one year or at most three years.
They were going to leave soon anyway, and if they held a grudge and caused trouble because this wasn’t condoned, it would be even more of a headache.
Especially if they were of high status or had paid a large sum, even if they were lay disciples, they couldn’t be treated harshly.
So the passage was left alone, but out of concern for possible outside intrusions, high-level experts were secretly assigned to monitor it.
In other words, it was a public secret known to all the disciples within the sect, except for the parties involved.
The inner disciples also frequently used this passage, but not that many.
Unlike the lay disciples who were relatively free from their masters’ watchful eyes, the inner disciples were mindful of their masters.
That’s why days like today were not that common for Joo Seo-cheon. It was about once a year.
Although there were still five years left, it was by no means a leisurely situation.
When the opportunity arose, he had to go out no matter what.
By the way, there was no need to worry about the morning routine, Rakan Hell.
In the early stages when it was a major concern, they would investigate with bloodshot eyes to see if anyone was skipping, but after a year or so, when the round trip of Rakan Hell became familiar, they didn’t pay much attention.
That was because the number of disciples passing through Rakan Hell to reach the Cultivation Cave was so large on a daily basis.
They could only pay close attention when the disciples were really young or had not been admitted for long.
* * *
Joo Seo-cheon descended the mountain unnoticeably along with some lay disciples through the secret passage.
Since not only Yu Jeong-mok but also quite a few senior members had gone to attend the regular meeting, a considerable number of disciples had snuck out.
Thanks to that, he wasn’t stopped by the experts who were expected to be nearby.
The only things he had brought with him were a few essential items like Birch Valley Pills and a few coins he had saved up since childhood.
“Ah, it’s been so long!”
As soon as he descended the mountain, Joo Seo-cheon brightly smiled and took a deep breath. It was the outside air of Mount Hwa that he was smelling after a long time.
Before the regression, after becoming the Fifth Elder of Mount Hua, he rarely had the opportunity to come down due to his duties.
After regressing, he was forcibly prevented from going outside, so naturally, he couldn’t even go near the main gate.
“It’s cold.”
Whew.
When he opened his mouth, white breath came out.
Looking back, he saw the winter plum blossoms.
“Ugh, to think I have to swim in this cold…”
Joo Seo-cheon shivered as if he was disgusted.
Of all times, it had to be winter. The timing was the worst.
Joo Seo-cheon tidied up his cold-resistant clothing and double-checked the money and items in his pocket.
Then he used his lightness skill and headed north towards Huayin.
“Hidden Fragrance Lightness Skill!”
In addition to the Plum Blossom Fist and Plum Blossom Qi Technique, Joo Seo-cheon had also been secretly practicing other martial arts to avoid people’s eyes.
One of them was the Hidden Fragrance Lightness Skill, a representative lightness skill of Mount Hwa.
Originally, one had to be at least thirteen or fourteen years old to learn it, but for the current Joo Seo-cheon, such things were meaningless.
He already knew about the martial arts of the Mount Hua Sect, including the Purple Haze Divine Technique, which was only permitted to the sect leader.
It took a full day to reach Huayin.
“Huff, huff, damn it.”
Although it was good to have learned the lightness skill, unfortunately, the internal energy consumed by the lightness skill was more than that of sword techniques or footwork.
Joo Seo-cheon had the most internal energy among his peers, but it wasn’t enough to use the lightness skill all day long.
He was really exhausted and tired, but since time was limited, he didn’t stop walking. Thanks to that, he arrived without deviating much from the expected time range.
“At least I was lucky not to run into any bandits.”
As Shaanxi was the base of the Mount Hua Sect and Zongnan Sect among the Nine Great Sects, its public order was relatively good.
Of course, it was only relatively good, not perfect.
It wasn’t that there were no mountain bandits or thieves.
So he had even disguised himself to deliberately show that he had nothing on him.
He could handle up to five by himself, but anything more than that would be too much due to his lack of stamina and internal energy, so he had to be careful.
So for Joo Seo-cheon, this task was also a bit of a gamble.
Anyway, as soon as he arrived in Huayin, Joo Seo-cheon took a brief rest, bought some snacks at the market, and immediately left the village.
If he got caught up in any unnecessary fights, he would only waste his stamina.
In the case of children, they were often looked down upon and easily became targets of robbers, so he deliberately avoided eating at an inn.
Being young had its inconveniences.
He desperately wished he could grow up even a day sooner.
“First, some warm-up exercises.”
The destination wasn’t that difficult to find. The path to the underwater cave itself was in a memorable remote place, and the route wasn’t that complicated, so he didn’t get lost.
“Ah, I really don’t want to go in.”
One didn’t necessarily need to learn water techniques to reach the underwater cave; it could be reached through diving.
If it were an ordinary person, they would suffocate and be in danger of losing their life midway, but martial artists with several times superior lung capacity were an exception.
Even if it wasn’t an adult but a child, they could sufficiently go.
The reason this place had not been discovered for a long time was that it was truly a remote place with nothing nearby.
In the first place, unless a martial artist, not an ordinary person, was crazy, there was no way they would come to such a place and dive into a cave.
Even the wanderer who discovered this place twenty years later had only accidentally fallen into the river, lost consciousness, and luckily drifted into the underwater cave.
“One, two. One, two.”
Joo Seo-cheon sufficiently stretched his muscles as a warm-up before taking out his belongings from his bosom and hiding them nearby.
Although no one would come to this remote place, he made a hole and covered it with dirt in case wild animals took them away.
“I just hope I don’t freeze to death!”
Splash!
Joo Seo-cheon jumped into the river.
The water surface surged upward and then fell, swaying greatly.
“Damn it!”
He couldn’t help but curse as soon as he submerged.
The coldness penetrating from his toes to his head. It wasn’t just cold, but his bones were chilled and aching.
If one were to wash their body with cold water while naked outside in the middle of winter and rub ice on their skin, would it feel like this?
Joo Seo-cheon deeply regretted it not long after entering the water.
“I should have prepared myself more mentally before coming!”
I want to go back right now!
However, Joo Seo-cheon endured that feeling.
If he turned back now, he would only end up experiencing this pain twice. Nothing would change.
Above all, he couldn’t dive indefinitely. There was a limit to his stamina, and he had already consumed a considerable amount with just one dive, so it might be even more difficult to try again.
“Get a hold of yourself, you fool!”
Although he had been given a chance to live again, it seemed he couldn’t abandon his natural disposition.
Even before the regression, he wasn’t such a great person. Things didn’t go well, and he was quick to make excuses and give up when things got tough.
“If I can save Master with this measly pain, I’ll gladly take it! Even if I fall into hell, I’ll save him!”
He opened his eyes wide and clenched his teeth tightly.
The only person he could call family in his entire life.
The master who had saved him, an orphan, and taught him martial arts.
And the precious person who had loved and kindly smiled at his foolish and stupid disciple from beginning to end.
Joo Seo-cheon put effort into diving, recalling Yu Jeong-mok’s smile in his mind.
* * *
Drip, drip.
Water droplets fell on the water surface.
Bubble, bubble.
The water surface, which had been still, suddenly began to boil, and a pitch-black shadow shot up at high speed from beyond the surface.
“Puhaa!”
As soon as Joo Seo-cheon stuck his head out of the water, he took a deep breath. Water entered as well, but he didn’t care.
“Cough, cough!”
Joo Seo-cheon spewed out water profusely. Then he inhaled the cool air deep into his lungs and exhaled.
Clack, clack, clack!
It was the sound of Joo Seo-cheon’s teeth chattering as he shivered. His complexion was as pale as a corpse.
“I-I-I nearly d-d-died…”
Joo Seo-cheon stammered, unable to speak properly.
He had already jumped out of the water and was lying on the ground, gasping for breath without even checking his surroundings.
Fortunately, he didn’t get lost on the way to the underwater cave.
The air wasn’t as lacking as he had thought. It was bearable.
Thanks to his internal energy, his lung capacity was higher than that of an ordinary adult male.
However, the water was much colder than he had expected.
This coldness was truly terrible, beyond imagination.
“I-I-I might f-f-freeze to death…”
To fight off the drowsiness that washed over him, Joo Seo-cheon pinched his cheeks and rubbed his body with his hands, which had lost sensation.
Then he immediately used Qi circulation to expel the cold energy with his internal energy and drew out as much heat as possible.
It seemed to be effective, as Joo Seo-cheon’s complexion gradually returned to normal.
“Haa…”
Joo Seo-cheon unfolded his cross-legged position and opened his closed eyes.
“How weak I am!”
He had underestimated the body and internal energy of a child. It was much harder to endure than he had thought.
It seemed he hadn’t taken it seriously due to the memory of being completely fine when he came here before the regression.
“There’s not much time. Let’s quickly retrieve the Water Spirit Divine Fruit and go back.”
It was still terribly cold, but not to the point of dying.
Joo Seo-cheon got up and walked along the cave.
Thud, thud.
The quiet cave was filled with the echoing sound of Joo Seo-cheon’s footsteps.
“Hmm, I was worried about the darkness, but fortunately, there’s moss.”
The glowing moss growing on the rocks here and there wasn’t very bright, but it dimly illuminated the way.
If it weren’t for this moss, he would have had to walk carefully while leaning against the cave wall.
If he drew out his internal energy and increased his eye power, he would be able to see ahead, but he had to save his internal energy to return to the surface.
After about fifteen minutes had passed.
The space that could fit about two people gradually widened, and at the end of the path, a cavity that could accommodate about a hundred people appeared.
The cavity was also filled with numerous mosses like the places he had passed through, and the faint light gathered to boast a considerable brightness.
“Found it… Gasp!”
Joo Seo-cheon exclaimed with joy but then held his breath.
Then he lowered his body and covered his mouth with his palm.
“What the…!”
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