Chapter 50: Surprising Him
By the time the sun had climbed high into the sky, Jin Gwangung slowly opened his eyes on his bed.
The moment he woke up, he realized just how deeply he had slept.
“...How long has it been since I slept this well?”
He stretched his arms wide.
Warm, clear sunlight streamed in through the window.
It felt strange.
Exactly ten years.
Ever since the day he had lost his beloved disciples in Black Spirit Valley...
even falling asleep had become another form of suffering.
Jin Gwangung pushed aside the blanket and slowly exhaled.
Ten years....
Scenes from his youth suddenly resurfaced in his mind.
The days when he and Explosive Sword Yu Gwangcheol had led the Geoncheon Guard.
Whenever something threatened Kunlun, Jin Gwangung had always been the first to step forward with his sword.
And behind him...
there had always been disciples following his lead.
They trusted him completely.
They followed his teachings.
And they fought exactly the way he taught them.
On the battlefield, always take the lead.
Retreating is cowardice.
When you see evil, pursue it to the end and destroy it. That is justice.
Following those teachings...
Jin Gwangung's disciples had always stood at the very front.
They believed in their master's words.
And they lived by them.
Then...
because of those teachings...
they died.
Ten years ago.
At the hands of Demonic Cult members lying in ambush in Black Spirit Valley.
The painful memories he wished he could forget once again flickered before his eyes.
Black Spirit Valley shrouded in darkness.
His disciples' corpses scattered between bloodstained rocks.
Their faces...
their eyes still open, as if the resentment of their deaths had been too great to let them close.
On the day his disciples were brutally slaughtered by the Demonic Cult...
Jin Gwangung had been far away from Kunlun.
By the time he arrived...
everything was already over.
That guilt had strangled him for ten years.
I should have been there.
I should have shown them the right path.
Why had he told them to lead from the front?
Why hadn't he taught them when to retreat?
Why had he told them to pursue the enemy until the very end?
It was all my fault.
I killed my own disciples.
After that day...
Jin Gwangung left the Geoncheon Guard.
He withdrew into the Abandoned Martial Hall and isolated himself from others.
He never accepted another disciple.
He was afraid.
He no longer trusted himself to teach anyone.
Because he never wanted to lose someone again.
Whenever night fell...
the faces of his disciples who had died so miserably appeared before him.
He couldn't forget the resentment in their eyes.
Without alcohol...
he could barely sleep.
And so...
ten years passed.
Then one day...
a brat named Han Mujin appeared.
At first, Jin Gwangung's motives had been simple.
He needed someone to fill the spot of representative for the Elders' Lecture Gathering.
That was all.
He had merely thought he'd found someone convenient to use.
But as time passed...
he became curious about that cheeky brat.
His first impression had been of someone who was all talk.
But that wasn't the whole story.
Jin Gwangung had secretly watched Mujin wake before dawn and train alone in the Abandoned Martial Hall.
And that was when he saw it.
The emotion inside Han Mujin's eyes.
A desperate yearning for something.
Something Jin Gwangung himself had lost long ago.
That fierce desire...
was probably what eventually allowed Mujin to inherit True Immortal Cheongun's martial arts.
At least...
that was what Jin Gwangung believed.
From then on...
he found himself paying more attention.
The brat was crafty.
He clearly had many things he was hiding.
But that was fine.
Because beneath his endlessly frivolous exterior...
Jin Gwangung could see a sense of justice.
And at some point...
Jin Gwangung realized something.
He had begun to truly regard Han Mujin as his disciple.
Perhaps because of that...
watching Mujin grow so rapidly also made him uneasy.
Those who grow too quickly collapse just as quickly.
Praise is poison.
Empty fame clouds a person's judgment.
Successor of True Immortal Cheongun.
Kunlun's Young Hero.
For a martial artist so young to gain titles like those...
it would only shorten his life.
That was why Jin Gwangung had made Han Mujin learn Great Void Golden Body Tempering on his own.
He wanted him to struggle.
To recognize his shortcomings.
To advance properly, one step at a time.
He believed that was what a master needed to do for his disciple's future.
It's been three days since I gave him the manual.
Jin Gwangung thought about it.
Mujin was probably struggling helplessly without even breaking through the beginning of the Firm Golden Stage.
After all...
even Jin Gwangung himself had needed half a year to reach that realm.
External cultivation couldn't be learned merely by understanding it with the mind.
Without the guidance of an experienced practitioner...
one was bound to wander down the wrong path.
Even a natural martial genius couldn't avoid that.
Especially with something like Great Void Golden Body Tempering.
Kekeke.
That brat Mujin is probably clutching his head in frustration right about now.
It was probably time to show him the path.
Jin Gwangung happily rose from his bed.
For the first time in a long while...
the thought of acting like a proper master to his disciple made him feel a little excited.
He opened the door to his quarters with a light heart.
And then...
Hm? Look at this brat.
Jin Gwangung's eyes rose slightly.
His disciple, Han Mujin, was standing in the courtyard of the Abandoned Martial Hall.
Mujin was facing a thick tree growing along one side of the yard.
So he finally got stuck and came to ask me for the answer.
Kekeke.
At least he's got the will to learn.
Jin Gwangung clasped his hands behind his back and walked toward Mujin.
Pretending not to know anything, he spoke in his usual grumbling tone.
“You brat! Instead of training, why did you crawl all the way back here?”
“Already given up?”
He clicked his tongue.
“You get called Kunlun's Young Hero once or twice and suddenly your head gets full of air—”
“I've finished learning it.”
Mujin answered calmly.
Jin Gwangung instinctively asked again.
“...What?”
He blinked.
“What did you just say?”
Mujin looked at him.
“I think I've finished learning Great Void Golden Body Tempering, so I came back.”
"..."
For a moment...
