Everyone present nodded in agreement with the Wudang Sect Master’s words.
The Union Chief of the Beggars’ Union chuckled.
Hyeonjin tilted his head.
“Why are you laughing? Do you know something we don’t?”
“You all know what Heavenly Martial Castle means to the Heavenly Martial Emperor, don’t you? He values that place more than his own life. He was so demanding that he refused to name a successor even though several of his own children rank among the three strongest people in the Castle after him.”
Everyone focused on the Union Chief.
“And yet a man like that didn’t merely appoint a Young Lord. He handed over the position of Lord itself. What do you think that means? Doesn’t it mean the new Lord is strong enough to have earned the Heavenly Martial Emperor’s acknowledgment?”
“No matter how strong someone barely past twenty may be, how strong could he possibly be? The Heavenly Martial Emperor must have seen his potential.”
Everyone was nodding when the door opened and two more people entered.
“Hahaha! So everyone is already here.”
“Abbess Unjeong, Daoist Baek Un. It has been a long time. Have you both been well?”
“Thanks to your concern, we have been well. It is good to see everyone gathered like this.”
“What were you discussing so happily?”
At Baek Un, Sect Master of the Qingcheng Sect’s question, Hyeonjin answered.
“Daoist Baek Un, have you heard? Heavenly Martial Castle has changed Lords.”
“Ah! So that’s what you were discussing. Yes, I know.”
“We were wondering what sort of person the new Lord of Heavenly Martial Castle is.”
“I believe the right man was chosen.”
Everyone turned toward Baek Un at once.
“You know the new Lord of Heavenly Martial Castle?”
“Quite well. He is the benefactor of our Qingcheng Sect.”
“Your benefactor?”
Abbess Unjeong of the Emei Sect joined in.
“Hoho. He is also the benefactor of our Emei Sect.”
“Emei knows him too?”
“Yes. Heavenly Martial Castle is truly blessed. Now that he has become its Lord, I suppose Heavenly Martial Castle will remain the foremost pillar of the martial world.”
“What do you mean by that?”
“Isn’t the seat of the Lord of Heavenly Martial Castle the seat of the greatest expert of all time?”
“It was before. But the Heavenly Martial Emperor has now yielded that position, hasn’t he?”
“No. Even now, that seat belongs to the greatest expert of all time.”
“Are you saying the new Lord will someday become the greatest expert of all time?”
“Do you really think the Heavenly Martial Emperor would hand the Lordship over to someone who wasn’t the greatest expert of all time? If you genuinely believed that, then you do not know the Heavenly Martial Emperor very well.”
Everyone tilted their heads at Abbess Unjeong’s words.
“You didn’t tell them? Surely you knew, Union Chief.”
“Hahaha. Would they have believed me if I had been the only one saying it?”
“You are called the All-Knowing Sage. Why wouldn’t they?”
“They would assume I was joking. Even I can hardly believe it, and expecting them to believe something like that just from hearing me say it would be absurd.”
Unable to bear it any longer, Hyeonjin interrupted.
“What in the world are the two of you talking about? Just tell us plainly. What kind of person is the new Lord of Heavenly Martial Castle?”
Abbess Unjeong gave him an exasperated look.
“I’ve been telling you this entire time. The greatest expert of all time now sits in that position.”
“So... you are saying that someone barely past twenty is currently the strongest person in the Central Plains?”
“Yes. That is exactly what I am saying.”
“And you expect us to believe that?”
“Whether you believe it or not does not change the truth.”
Baek Un backed her up.
“He truly is the greatest expert of all time.”
“Nonsense! Now I see what this is. Since you arrived first, the three of you conspired to make fools of us.”
“We told you the truth. You can confirm it yourselves later.”
“And we shall.”
Abbess Unjeong and Baek Un understood why they did not believe them.
Even after witnessing it with their own eyes, they had struggled to believe it. Merely hearing about it could never make the reality sink in.
Just then, Jeok Rihyeon entered.
“It seems you will not have to wait long. My father has returned.”
“The Heavenly Martial Emperor is here?”
“Yes. You should head to the training ground.”
Everyone nodded and hurried outside.
When they reached the training ground, Jeok Mugun was indeed standing there with his hands clasped behind his back.
And in front of him were several people twitching on the ground.
Looking closer, they realized they were the Heads of the Five Great Families.
Why were they lying there like that?
Puzzled, they approached and realized the men were not merely lying down.
They were unconscious and twitching.
What in the world had happened?
“We greet the Heavenly Martial Emperor.”
“It is an honor to see you, Heavenly Martial Emperor.”
Jeok Mugun chuckled at the Sect Masters of the Nine Sects and One Gang.
“So? Have you all gotten any stronger?”
No one answered.
They had the distinct feeling that the moment any of them claimed they had, he would come charging at them.
“Weird. Why is everyone so quiet? I could have sworn I warned you again and again. I told you to focus solely on becoming stronger so you would never suffer another humiliation like before....”
“We have been training diligently.... I simply do not know whether our progress will satisfy the Heavenly Martial Emperor.”
Jeok Mugun grinned.
“Don’t worry. I’ll fill in as much of what you’re lacking as I can.”
“Most of us here are already advanced in age. Is that really possible?”
“Of course it is. I told you to bring your promising young disciples as well, didn’t I?”
“They had already left on their martial training journeys, so we sent word telling them to come here.”
“Ah! Was it time for the Nine Sects’ training journeys through the martial world?”
“That is correct.”
“What training journey? They just wander around sightseeing beneath heaven, show off their martial arts against a few bandits, then head home.”
Not a single person protested the biting criticism.
Because it was true.
“Tell them to get here as quickly as possible. Every moment they waste feels like three years.”
“Understood.”
“Good! The fact that you all gathered here means you at least have the will to become stronger, and I respect that. So I’ll also do my best to give you everything I can. Absorb as much as possible.”
“We are grateful for your grace.”
“Grace, my ass. I’m doing this because I can’t fight the enemies ahead by becoming stronger all by myself. So all of you had better get serious and grow stronger.”
His words made everyone exchange puzzled looks.
“Have the Four Divine Demons really become that much stronger? Strong enough to concern even you?”
“The Four Divine Demons? Why would I worry about those bastards? I’m doing this because they aren’t the real enemy.”
“The real enemy?”
“Has anyone here ever heard of White ? NоvеIight ? (Original source) Horse Heaven?”
Three people raised their hands.
The Union Chief of the Beggars’ Union, Abbess Unjeong of Emei, and Baek Un of Qingcheng.
Everyone else looked puzzled.
“The Four Divine Demons are merely servants of White Horse Heaven. They say White Horse Heaven has a hundred people like them, and plenty who are even stronger than the Four Divine Demons.”
Everyone stared at him in shock.
“Th-that’s impossible....”
“Sounds impossible, doesn’t it? I couldn’t believe it at first either, so I understand.”
“Is that truly the case?”
“Yes. That is how terrifying the enemy is. The martial world is practically hanging by a thread right now.”
Everyone fell silent in shock.
Coming from the greatest expert of all time, the warning struck even harder.
“So you need to become as strong as possible while you’re here. Then we’ll protect the martial world together.”
Everyone nodded.
“Good. Shall we begin?”
“What should we start with?”
“Obviously, we rebuild your foundations from the ground up.”
“We have already reached our current realms. Why begin with the basics?”
“Your realm has nothing to do with it.”
Jeok Mugun waved a hand.
“Ghk!”
The Sect Masters staggered with groans.
“M-my inner power....”
“When did you seal our pressure points?”
They stared at Jeok Mugun in disbelief.
They had always known he was strong, but experiencing it firsthand showed them the difference between heaven and earth.
Forget reacting to his pressure-point sealing—they had not even noticed him do it.
What if he had targeted fatal pressure points instead?
Every person standing there would already be dead.
Those who had confidently believed the gap could not possibly be that enormous were left speechless by the sheer, absurd difference in level.
Worse still, an enemy formidable enough to put even Jeok Mugun on guard would soon be attacking the Central Plains.
“Right. Put on those black bands over there. Now.”
They turned and saw the black bands meant to be strapped around the body.
The sight brought back memories of their youth.
“What are you waiting for? Move!”
At his bark, the Sect Masters hurriedly strapped the black bands onto themselves.
STAGGER—
“Urgh!”
The tremendous weight caught all of them off guard.
“Starting today, those are your clothes. Take them off and you die.”
“Y-you expect us to live like this?”
Jeok Mugun nodded.
“Eat in them, train in them, sleep in them, and take a shit in them. Until I tell you to remove them, they do not come off.”
They were supposed to live while wearing something this heavy?
Was that even possible?
Then they spotted the unconscious Heads of the Five Great Families.
They were wearing the same black bands.
“How long are these bastards planning to sleep?”
Jeok Mugun waved a hand.
“Gasp!”
The Heads of the Five Great Families jolted awake and sprang upright.
“Do you think this is your bedroom? Get on your feet!”
At Jeok Mugun’s shout, all five immediately jumped up and stood rigidly at attention.
“All right. Let’s start again.”
“What? Y-you don’t mean you want us to attack you again, do you?”
“Why wouldn’t I? Come.”
No one moved.
“I told you, I’m busy.”
Jeok Mugun moved first.
“Block however you can. Attack however you can. Figure it out yourselves.”
It was like watching a giant tiger leap into a flock of sheep.
The Heads of the Five Great Families attacked Jeok Mugun with every ounce of strength they possessed.
KWA-KWA-KWAAANG—!
The resulting shock wave slammed into the Sect Masters.
STAGGER—
The force was so tremendous that they could barely keep their footing.
“Th-they’re attacking at full strength?”
Anyone could see that they were.
And yet Jeok Mugun was blocking everything with ridiculous ease.
He was not evading.
He was taking their attacks head-on and stopping them.
At the same time—
“What are you all doing? Get over there and assume the horse stance.”
“H-horse stance? D-did you just say horse stance?”
“Yes. Horse stance. Start. And hold it until I tell you to stop.”
“Are you serious?”
The Sect Master of the Kongtong Sect, who had asked the question, suddenly flew backward.
THUD—
He had not even seen when Jeok Mugun attacked.
“When I tell you to do something, just do it. Why do you talk so much? You don’t want to learn?”
“N-no! I-I’ll do it.”
Their inner power had been sealed.
For now, they had no choice but to obey everything he told them.
With humiliated expressions, the Sect Masters lowered themselves into horse stances.
From there, they watched the Heads of the Five Great Families being beaten one-sidedly.
Once they focused properly, they began to notice something.
“Were they always that strong?”
Jeok Mugun was so overwhelmingly powerful that they had failed to recognize it at first, but now that they watched carefully, the Heads of the Five Great Families seemed far stronger than they remembered.
“Their movements flow like water.”
“And their coordination is so natural.”
“Incredible. So that technique can be applied that way as well.”
The Sect Masters kept voicing their admiration.
Yet Jeok Mugun effortlessly blocked every attack that impressed them so much.
He looked like a monster.
“No wonder he was called the greatest expert of all time.”
“We were chasing an empty dream. To think we once imagined defeating a monster like that.”
Everyone nodded.
THUD— THUD—
One after another, the Heads of the Five Great Families collapsed unconscious.
Watching them fall felt like catching a glimpse of their own near future.
At last, after knocking every last one of them down, Jeok Mugun smiled in satisfaction.
“Not bad. You’ve all improved quite a bit.”
Then he looked toward the Sect Masters.
“I’m expecting just as much from you. Every one of you was once called a genius of your sect, so I’m sure you’ll do well.”

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