Chapter 50: Mount Hua (4)

༺ Mount Hua (4) ༻

It’s been 10 days since I left my clan to go to Mount Hua.

If I had to list one thing that made this trip different from the Sichuan trip, it was that I couldn’t relax during this trip.

“Young Master, are you feeling alright?”

“Y-Yes, you do not need to worry about me.”

It was because of the person, who was acting as the coachman, one of the Heavenly Venerables, the Sword Emperor himself.

Just why, why did he have to be the one driving the carriage that I’m riding when there were other carriages available?

Thanks to that, I felt like I was going to die from the discomfort these past 10 days.

To be fair, it was probably because Wi Seol-Ah was in the carriage I was riding as well, but in the end, it made me feel uncomfortable.

I would have honestly felt better if I was the one driving the carriage instead.

For fucks sake...

“Muyeon, how long until we arrive?”

I looked outside the window and spoke to Muyeon.

It was a pointless question.

Muyeon responded to me with a stiff smile.

“Young Master... I feel as if you have asked the same question 30 times by now.”

“...Right? I had a feeling I asked that question before.”

“To say it again, we still have a long way to go.”

“...Makes me sad everytime I hear it, huh.”

This absurdly vast land of this world...

While I was heaving a sigh, Wi Seol-Ah approached me and began speaking.

“Young Master, Young Master.”

“What is it?”

“What’s your favorite dumpling?”

“What kind of nonsense are you talking about for you to ask what my favorite dumpling is, rather than asking something about my favorite food?”

“But the Young Master only eats dumplings.”

“...”

She wasn’t wrong so I couldn’t really argue with that point.

We got to the point of talking about what my favorite dumpling is, huh.

“I just like all dumplings.”

“Why is that?”

“It’s cheap while also being rich in quantity.”

It was as simple as that. They were cheap and rich in quantity.

Also, they were delicious.

There were probably many types of dumplings, but I wasn’t really picky about them.

As long as they were cheap, rich in quantity, and tastier than ration pills, I was fine with it.

I’ve had stuff worse than ration pills before, so as long as they tasted like actual food, I ate them.

Wi Seol-Ah tilts her head in confusion upon hearing my response.

“Weird, the servant sisters told me that the Young Master was picky with his food...”

“Not anymore.”

I was picky before.

When I was young, I was stubborn and only looked for expensive quality food for some reason.

But later on I was able to realize that all of that was pointless as I neared my death.

「Just eat it already, God damn it.」Fôll0w current novÊls on n/o/(v)/3l/b((in).(co/m)

「Fucking hell, how am I supposed to eat this. Do you really think a centipede’s tail is food?」

「You think I eat it because I want to? I eat it so I can live, you idiot.」

「I’m not going to eat it.」

「If you aren’t going to, then give it to me. I’m going to eat more rather than protecting my pride.」

I’m going to admit it now, but the centipede’s tail didn’t taste too bad.

To be more specific, it was better than most things I could find there.

I had to drink beasts’ blood rather than water, and had to consume poison while fully aware of its contents, just to fill up my belly.

What a shitty memory.

“...I feel sick now.”

Thinking of this memory made me feel like vomiting.

Wi Seol-Ah, who checked on my condition, took something out in a hurry.

It was a yakgwa.

...Why did she take out a yakgwa and not something like medicine?

Then, Wi Seol-Ah spoke to me with a trembling voice.

“Do you want a bite...?”

“...You offer me not even one piece, but one bite?”

“But... This is my last one.”

After hearing Wi Seol-Ah’s words, I moved my neck to reach for the yakgwa.

I pretended to take only one bite, but ate all of it at once instead.

“N-N-Nooooooo!”

Yeah, let’s just close my eyes for a bit and finish my training later.

With that thought, I relaxed my body.

While I was about to fall asleep,

I slightly heard a voice while feeling fuzzy.

「Who the hell is this...?」

Wherever it came from, it was the voice of an old man I’d never heard before.

「I don’t think this guy is from Mount Hua?」

Is this a dream?

Am I having a nightmare again?

「How is a kid that’s not from Mount Hua eating up all this Qi?」

While I was still feeling dim and fuzzy, the old man sounded like he was extremely angry.

「...Oh my god, what am I even witnessing... What blood do you have for you to consume all of this. You’re gonna get sick at this rate!」

It felt like someone was tapping my cheek, telling me to wake up.

But my haggard body made it too hard for me to move.

「...For fucks sake...!」

After hearing his angry voice for a long time, the voice seemingly disappeared after giving up.

And when I finally woke up from my sleep,

“What the...?”

Funnily enough, my destructive flame art reached the 4th realm.

* * * * * * * * * * * * ** * * * *

The Qi that surrounded my hand swayed wildly.

Even though just yesterday, my Qi had barely given off a small heat haze, it had changed this much.

This was the proof that my flame art reached the 4th realm.

I was only able to continue staring at the flame dumbfoundedly, but this was the reality.

“What? What the hell happened...”

Yesterday, my body refused to escape the 3rd realm of flame arts, but all of sudden I reached the 4th realm the next morning.

I was speechless from how nonsensical this was.

Although I was happy because I wanted this to happen, I still felt frustrated as I didn’t know how it happened.

My physique was the same as before.

While the body may have remained the same, my Qi felt strangely calmer.

The Qi that flowed throughout my body didn’t feel rough, but instead felt calm and fluid.

Thanks to that, it didn’t take a toll on my body and I was able to control the flow of Qi.

Fluid, huh... No matter how much I thought about it, that word did not fit the characteristics of destructive flame arts at all.

If I had to compare this Qi to another, I would have to say it’s most similar to Mount Hua’s Qi.

The art known for being as wild as a beast is seemed similar to Mount Hua’s Qi? This was absurd.

And the biggest problem was, the normally flame-like red Qi was instead looking strangely lighter.

...How should I say this, it feels like I’ve seen this Qi before.

After I took out the stone that was in my pocket with shaky hands, I then started to unwrap the cloth.

Please don’t tell me... God, please.

‘Please...’

Is it because I begged for it so much?

Thankfully, there wasn’t any problem with the stone.

I would always become anxious around stones because lately, whenever I hold some weird-looking stones, I’d end up absorbing the power within them against my will.

And if I accidentally absorbed whatever was inside of this stone, I would have had to live in a corner somewhere hiding far away from Mount Hua.

So because of that, the stone not having any problem whatsoever was very significant to me.

But even after letting out a sigh of relief, I was able to notice something different about the stone.

‘...I feel like the light got a bit dimmer?’

I felt like the light that should have lit up the whole carriage was now dimmer than usual.

Nah, it’s just a mistake... It has to be.

“Just in case... Let’s just put it somewhere else rather than me carrying it around.”

I think it’s better for me to lose the stone rather than destroying the treasure with my own hand-

No, I think both would end up making my life a living hell...?

Fuck, why was I given something like this...!

I really felt vengeful towards the Second Elder who made me deliver this thing.

“...It’s fine. They wouldn’t notice as long as I give it to them while pretending to not know anything.”

My main goal of coming here wasn’t the stone anyways, but instead bringing my little sister back to the clan.

As long as that didn’t conflict with my main goal, it was fine.

And if it wasn’t fine, I would make it fine.

That’s what I had thought then.

“I came here as I was curious about something.”

But I forgot about one important thing.

“I am Yung Pung of Mount Hua.”

That I had really shitty luck.

...Fuck.