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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: Bobt
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The early plum blossoms and winter plum blossoms withered, and the snow plum blossoms bloomed. And again, the snow plum blossoms disappeared, and the winter plum blossoms made their appearance.
It had already been a year since Joo Seo-cheon started living in the Lotus Hall.
Time had truly flown by like an arrow.
During that time, he had consistently practiced the Plum Blossom Vitality Technique without fail. Thanks to that, now that he was eleven years old, he had accumulated forty-five years’ worth of internal energy.
The Purple Haze Divine Technique had progressed from the first stage to the second stage and had achieved the third stage. The speed was still excruciatingly slow.
This was not something Joo Seo-cheon deliberately controlled. On the contrary, he had trained while consuming a considerable amount of mental strength.
If he put this much effort into other martial arts, it wouldn’t take that long to practice. Almost a year would have been sufficient.
In fact, he had already mastered the Five Elements Plum Blossom Sword. Basic sword techniques like the Six Harmonies Sword and the Falling Petals Sword Technique only took a few months.
Of course, he appropriately hid this from those around him.
“Sigh.”
Despite being able to solve most problems with the power of the Awakening Realm he had achieved in the past, the Purple Haze Divine Technique was still abstruse.
It wasn’t for nothing that it was called the divine technique of the Mount Hua Sect.
If someone had taught him, it would have been easier, but the only person who could advise him about the Purple Haze Divine Technique was the sect leader.
Since he couldn’t go to the sect leader and request advice knowing the Purple Haze Divine Technique, he had to figure it out on his own.
The fourth-generation disciples of the Mount Hua Sect spent their childhood in the Lotus Hall for a reason. The treatment was that good.
What Joo Seo-cheon particularly liked was the individual training that was close to freedom. Except for a few, there were no restrictions.
After entering the Lotus Hall, he learned a few advanced martial arts.
The internal cultivation technique was the Plum Blossom Six Harmonies Heart Technique.
The representative internal cultivation techniques of the Mount Hua Sect were divided into four.
The Plum Blossom Qi Technique, which was the foundation of everything, was the first, and the Plum Blossom Six Harmonies Heart Technique and the Jade Woman Heart Technique were the second and third.
The Plum Blossom Six Harmonies Heart Technique and the Jade Woman Heart Technique were only permitted to direct disciples. This was because these two were the backbone of the Mount Hua Sect.
By the way, the Jade Woman Heart Technique was an internal cultivation technique created solely for women. Men could not learn it.
The fourth was the Purple Haze Divine Technique, the ultimate divine technique of the Mount Hua Sect.
Joo Seo-cheon diligently trained in both the Plum Blossom Six Harmonies Heart Technique and the Plum Blossom Vitality Technique.
Since he had trained in both to the point of disgust in his previous life, he could practice them simultaneously and at an extremely fast pace.
In addition to that, he also received teachings on martial arts such as the Fourteen Hands Plum Blossom Sword Technique, pursuit techniques, and detoxification methods, as well as things necessary for the murim.
As expected of the Lotus Hall, the successful applicants received education at a different level compared to ordinary fourth-generation disciples.
Today, Joo Seo-cheon also appropriately displayed the Fourteen Hands Plum Blossom Sword Technique in front of the supervisor and had his individual training time.
He mainly sat near the plum blossom tree and circulated his Qi using the Plum Blossom Vitality Technique. Consistently doing this helped in accumulating internal energy.
“Senior Brother.”
When he finished circulating his Qi and opened his eyes, he saw a familiar face.
“I’m really going to go crazy like this.”
Joo Seo-cheon said while calming his startled heart.
A year ago, the two of them had entered the Lotus Hall together. The reaction it caused was still being talked about.
“If I startled you, I’m truly sorry.”
Nak So-wol apologized, blinking her eyes. It wasn’t just empty words; a genuinely apologetic tone could be felt in her voice.
“There’s no need to apologize that much. Anyway, you’re still like an old woman… No, it’s natural since you’re the granddaughter of that old hag.”
Nak So-wol was ten years old. Her mature mind and behavior that didn’t match her age were still the same.
She tried to be considerate of others and made concessions. She even received counseling from martial brothers who were several years older than her.
From any perspective, it wasn’t the experience of a ten-year-old.
This was partly because Nak So-wol had been extraordinary since childhood, but it was also due to the strict education of her grandmaster, the Iron Blood Plum Blossom Sword.
“Senior Brother.”
Nak So-wol puffed out her cheeks.
“Yes, I understand. I’m sorry. I apologize.”
Joo Seo-cheon shrugged his shoulders and admitted his mistake.
To others, the Iron Blood Plum Blossom Sword might seem like a person without blood or tears, but perhaps not to her disciples.
When Joo Seo-cheon readily apologized, Nak So-wol was satisfied.
“I think it’s admirable to readily admit one’s mistakes.”
“But you know, you’re quite strange too. Associating with someone like me.”
Joo Seo-cheon had gained a nickname even before making his debut in the murim.
Rich on the Inside, Poor on the Outside.
It was a nickname that referenced the idiom “rich on the outside, poor on the inside,” which meant being flashy on the outside but having nothing of substance.
A year ago, during the entrance assessment, Joo Seo-cheon had swung his sword in a random manner that was embarrassing to even call a sword technique and achieved victory.
At first, there were talks of whether it was some kind of trick, but it was resolved when Joo Seo-cheon obtained the fateful encounter of a spiritual medicine.
“Truly a pearl necklace on a pig.”
“Ugh, to think such a fateful encounter would find its way to a guy like that.”
“In the end, he’s just a lucky bastard, isn’t he?”
Instead, the evaluation of Joo Seo-cheon became even lower.
Winning with the power of a spiritual medicine, in other words, internal energy, ultimately meant that his inherent martial prowess was poor.
Especially from the perspective of the assessment takers who had put in effort for several years, Joo Seo-cheon was more resentful than their mortal enemy.
Anyway, contrary to the saying “rich on the outside, poor on the inside,” it was a nickname given because his internal energy was splendid, but his martial arts skills were lacking.
Naturally, Joo Seo-cheon himself didn’t care at all. On the contrary, he was inwardly satisfied with receiving such an evaluation.
“Although being cursed at is a bit annoying, it’s ideal.”
He had entered the Lotus Hall but was perceived as an ordinary talent.
He could avoid the eyes of the enemies who would reveal themselves in the future.
While regretting his past life, he had decided to live his current life as he desired, but this was the one thing he had to adhere to.
“You know, Senior Brother.”
Nak So-wol stared blankly at Joo Seo-cheon.
“What?”
“Is what you usually show really your true skill?”
“Yes.”
Joo Seo-cheon lied with a straight face.
After entering the Lotus Hall, Joo Seo-cheon’s actions were unconventional in many ways and received attention and expectations.
At the time of his entrance, most people viewed him negatively. However, there were also those who didn’t think that way.
Even if he had entered the Lotus Hall by luck with the power of a spiritual medicine, they thought he might change if properly taught.
The supervisors assigned to the Lotus Hall were particularly like that.
In place of Yu Jeong-mok, who had gone on a mission to the murim, they taught him quite seriously, even though he wasn’t their own disciple.
However, Joo Seo-cheon, who had to conceal his true skills, couldn’t properly follow their teachings. He showed a subtle level of skill, matching them appropriately.
“And you know that Elder Shim Ok-ryeon dislikes me. So it’s better for you not to approach me.”
Joo Seo-cheon stood up from his seat. Nak So-wol tried to follow him, but he raised his hand to stop her.
“Ugh, it’s such a waste.”
On the outside, he acted cool as if he wasn’t interested, but in reality, he wanted to go back right away and talk with Nak So-wol.
Plum Blossom Sword Phoenix, Nak So-wol.
The memories of seeing her were still vividly etched deep in his memory.
She had stood in front of the late-stage disciples of the orthodox martial arts world and was praised as the Plum Blossom Sword Phoenix, receiving courtship from numerous men.
Her reputation and skills were so far above his that Joo Seo-cheon could only chase after her back, lacking even the courage to talk to her.
Such a person was now spending time with him, calling his name, smiling at him, and conversing with him. It was sufficiently a happy occasion.
A few years later, Nak So-wol would become a beauty to the extent of being considered the most beautiful in the martial arts world, while also rising as a hero.
The person Joo Seo-cheon, who had been a nobody, had admired.
The people he had chased after for years, decades, until his death.
Nak So-wol was definitely among them.
“Just endure a bit more, Joo Seo-cheon.”
Not only Nak So-wol but also Shim Ok-ryeon was a problem.
In the period not long after his entrance, Shim Ok-ryeon had shown her dislike for Joo Seo-cheon and paid quite a bit of attention to him.
However, not long after, when Joo Seo-cheon showed poor skills and stayed quiet without causing any incidents, she lost interest.
Now was the time to endure without standing out.
Joo Seo-cheon kept this point in mind, again and again.
* * *
The Lotus Hall was a gathering of the geniuses, prodigies, and talents of the Mount Hua Sect. The number of members, excluding Joo Seo-cheon, was nine.
When Joo Seo-cheon first saw the members of the Lotus Hall, he had expected it, but he still couldn’t hide his surprise.
That was because most of the current members were the ones who had been active on the battlefield alongside Nak So-wol.
Thinking about it, it was only natural.
The Lotus Hall was a place where only the talents of the Mount Hua Sect gathered, and they put in a lot of effort to nurture them into late-stage disciples.
Among them, for those who were truly exceptional, they often provided advanced martial arts or spiritual medicines early on.
Their future was beyond imagination.
More than ninety percent of the sect leaders, Five Elders of Mount Hua, and Plum Blossom Swordsmen were from the Lotus Hall.
“How should I express this feeling?”
Starting with Nak So-wol, all the members of the Lotus Hall were people he had no connection with. They all lived in a different world.
They didn’t know Joo Seo-cheon’s face, let alone his name.
That was the same even when he had become one of the Five Elders of Mount Hua in his previous life.
“Everyone here… disappears in the age of war.”
The age of war that lasted for decades. During that time, the power of the Mount Hua Sect changed several times.
The Plum Blossom Swordsman, the Five Elders of Mount Hua, and even the sect leader.
Those who were once called heroes lost their lives in exchange for peace.
The people in front of him who he could call martial brothers were the same. Only Joo Seo-cheon survived among them.
“No, now I don’t know what will happen to me either.”
In his life before the regression, the reason Joo Seo-cheon was able to survive until the end was thanks to a bit of luck and his mediocre martial prowess.
Most of those who were called elites were assigned to major missions and became targets of assassination.
The low-level martial artists, mostly third-rate and second-rate, were consumed and disappeared as troops.
On the other hand, martial artists of a moderate level managed to protect themselves and succeeded in surviving.
However, Joo Seo-cheon had also surpassed the middle level and had entered the Lotus Hall, which was a class for the gifted, so he didn’t know what would happen.
“Will I also become someone’s target to chase?”
Such a thought occurred to him.
“Hey, Rich on the Inside, Poor on the Outside!”
At the voice calling his nickname, he turned his body. There, a boy with an angry face was standing.
His eyes were fierce, as if he was extremely dissatisfied with something, and he was breathing roughly as if he was very excited.
His cheekbones were higher than other children, and his spiky hair was impressive.
“Yes, Senior Brother Lee Geon.”
Lee Geon was three years older, fourteen this year, and a member of the Lotus Hall.
“You bastard!”
Lee Geon glared at Joo Seo-cheon fiercely with bloodshot eyes. The emotion that rose in those eyes was clearly jealousy.
Joo Seo-cheon scratched the back of his head as if he was in a difficult situation, and Lee Geon walked towards him, staring straight at him. Then he roughly grabbed his collar with his brutish hand.
“How dare you treat what I said like rat shit? I clearly told you last time not to approach Nak So-wol, didn’t I? Knowing that, you still dared to talk to her!”
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