Raising One's Own Sin

"Master," Yong Kyubok started, gazing at Roh Ki in sound astonishment, and joining his hands in a respectful bow before continuing,

"This disciple does not deserve to be one of master's core disciples."

Roh Ki sighed internally, glancing towards Yong Kyubok who had forced himself to kneel before him despite his severe injuries, before speaking, "Are you trying to go against my decision?"

"No!" Yong Kyubok exclaimed, gasping as he bowed his head lower.

"This disciple of yours wouldn't dare-"

"Stop,"

Roh Ki interrupted his self deprecating speech. He closed his eyes and took in a deep breath, relaxing his nerves to the sound of the rustling leaves and trickling pond coming from the garden, from their positions in the open room that allowed quick access to the relaxing garden.

Pointing to the row of shelves that held herbs and potions, he continued, "Take any medicine you need from the cabinet there. I will call a doctor to attend to you later."

Yong Kyubok didn't say anything, but his eyes said most of what was on his mind. Roh Ki could visibly see that Yong Kyubok was troubled by his sudden show of kindness and warm gestures. But most of that was really because this protagonist made him nervous. Still, he had started his course for survival, and now he was determined to go through with it till the end.

Later on in the novel of «Techniques of a Broken god», Yong Kyubok, after gaining immense power and skill from a serious tribulation, left Tian-Zhi Ai mountain sect to become the Patriarch of his own sect. Even though it was still new, in only seven years, his sect became the most formidable cultivation sect in the world. Truly the golden power of a novel hero. But since he had been living in this world since reincarnation, he no longer just saw him as a novel's protagonist, but rather as a true monster of a man. A man who would soon be able to split the heaven and earth and entire mountains with just a wave of his sword.

He had no intention of letting him suffer through that tribulation the exact same way it happened in the novel, which would just lead to his early death, but he awaited the moment he would leave. He just had to wait and take care of him with the utmost care until that moment, and his life should be ensured.

He turned to the door, and left Yong Kyubok to himself, still kneeling in the room. Now that he had made him his disciple, there were more interesting moments to come, but for now, he just wanted to ensure his safety at least. On his way out he gestured to one of the servants waiting by the exit to summon a doctor to the room.

*

A little after noon, the elders and peak elders were summoned by the sect leader. It was a meeting to discuss a pressing issue that had been oppressing the town a little off from the foot of the mountain, Nolan-jang. They gathered in the gazebo a ways away from the other buildings of the sect.

The sect leader, Heo Kwan-Ah rubbed his temples with his index and middle finger before starting off, "The viscous ghost issue at Nolan-jang has formed a heavy cloud over the town. The citizens are starting to get too scared to even leave their homes."

"First we have to figure out why the forest on the outskirts of the town is attracting so many of those viscous ghosts," Peak leader Ryu Man-Dang stated from his position on the right.

Roh Ki didn't have any memories of the issue they were discussing about since he was in a coma during the period he was supposed to be involved in it, but had an understanding from the recollection of the event from the novel he read in his past life. According to «Techniques of a Broken god», below the foot of the mountain, just before the outskirts of the town, the forest surrounding the town had been swarming with several mid to high level viscous ghosts.

Viscous ghosts unlike calm spirits are present just to torment the living. They kill people in order to satiate their blood thirst. Although their fairly easy to get rid of, when many gather like this it becomes a problem. Roh Ki and two of his core disciples had taken on the task of getting rid of all the viscous ghosts, and was concerned because the task had been given to him about a month ago in the novel «Techniques of a Broken god». He wondered why they had waited a month after and not just given it to another peak leader.

By chance, the eyes of Peak elder Pyeong Dayoon, leader of Jiang-Je Hai mountain peak, caught Roh Ki's expression and began to say, "Ah, Peak leader Roh Ki may not know what we are talking about as you have just woken up. We are talking about an issue involving a swarm of viscous ghosts."

"Oh! Yes, that's right. I forgot to brief you on the problem before hand," Sect leader Heo Kwan-Ah said in an apologetic tone.

Roh Ki shook his head as he waved his hand in a soft manner, "No. I more or less understand the situation now. Please go on."

Heo Kwan-Ah nodded his head in acceptance, and urged Peak leader Ryu Man-Dang to go on with the suggestion he had prepared. Ryu Man-Dang continued, "Yes. About two months after you fell into your coma, we got a report from the town leader saying that a few of their citizens had been attacked by ghosts in the forest below the mountain. More reports kept coming in of the disappearance of a few of the townspeople so we sent a few of our Manrai mountain peak disciples to investigate, but two of them came back injured and one disappeared. A few issues came up in the mean time, so we could not attend to this problem immediately, but it seems it has only gotten worse with more complaints from the town. Now we need to identify the problem."

"I see," Roh Ki said casually, already aware of that much. It was like in the novel, except they hadn't waited this long to tackle the issue, though now he understood why.

Ryu Man-Dang had said a few issues had kept them from addressing the problem of the viscous ghosts. Roh Ki now recalled a few of what those issues might be. He didn't have any direct memories of them, but such problematic events that could be more important that the influx of viscous ghosts did come up in the novel. In «Techniques of a Broken god», there had been a conflict with another cultivation sect that claimed Tian-Zhi Ai mountain sect had coveted all the rewards from the demonic cultivation sect raid when the campaign was a joint effort between many cultivation sects. Even though the claim was false, and Tian-Zhi Ai sect spearheaded the raid, a war between sects threatened to emerge.

Indeed, it was a situation that needed to be put above the issue with the viscous ghosts. He wondered if the matter was settled the same way it was settled in novel, but didn't bother inquiring.

"What is your suggestion, peak leader Ryu Man-Dang?" Peak leader Pyeong Dayoon asked, crossing his legs in an uninterested way.

These two peak leaders have been rivals since their junior sect disciple days. They both studied under the same master, but still grew to despise each other, though they both had sons who studied under the other. Of course, they left their most favored children with Roh Ki though, which developed a rivalry between them as well.

Ryu Man-Shik and Pyeong Dong were both his core disciples and both equal assholes with very little difference in overall skill and strength, however, they hated each other the same way their fathers disliked one another. The only time they joined sides was when they were inflicting unjust harsh punishment on Yong Kyubok.

Ryu Man-Dang sighed before he retorted, "We can set up a luring array to gather all the viscous ghosts to the center of the forest before we eliminate them all there. We can use binding nets to pick off the stragglers remaining."

'That won't work,' Roh Ki thought to himself. In «Techniques of a Broken god», Manrai mountain peak had tried that method initially but failed. The number of viscous ghosts in that forest was grossly underestimated, and the plan fell through as more disciples got injured the more viscous ghosts swarmed the center.

Peak elder Pyeong Dayoon clicked his tongue, not having any thoughts to counter, as sect leader Heo Kwan-Ah said, "Mm... that is indeed a valuable solution. It is all we have now so we will go with it for now."

Elder Beom Hajoon interrupted in a respectful tone and polite manner, not meaning to offend peak leader Ryu Man-Dang, "Wouldn't that cause a greater issue if the disciples are overwhelmed?"

Beom Hajoon was a wise and skillful cultivator who was currently in the 9th stage of the 'unyielding soul' practice. A cultivation method that greatly strengthened one's core. And like the peak leaders of the sect, he had attained half-immortal ascension. Even if he was an elder below the peak leaders, he was still greatly respected, yet still remained courteous to a fault.

"What do you mean?" Peak leader Ryu Man-Dang inquired, letting Beom Hajoon continue speaking, showing no sign of being irked.

Beom Hajoon continued, "If you draw them to the center like that, won't the sudden increase of viscous ghosts greatly overwhelm our sect members?"

He was right. That was the reason their first attempt failed. The disciples couldn't keep up with the growing number of viscous ghosts. No matter how weak the creature may be, if they come in great numbers, it will definitely be a problem. But accepting that logic was greatly against the nature of Manrai peak's leader. This proved Roh Ki's belief true as Ry Man-Dang glared at elder Beom Hajoon.

Peak leader Ryu Man-Dang furrowed his eyebrows into a visible frown before spouting, "The disciples of Manrai peak are not so weak as to get overwhelmed by something like viscous ghosts."

"Of course. It was not my place nor intention to imply otherwise," Elder Beom Hajoon said, retreating from his previous statement. Even though he was merely sincerely concerned.

'What a hothead,' Roh Ki thought with a sigh, before saying, "I think it would be better if we just purified the entire forest with a demonic dispersion array."

In the end, this was the only method that got rid of the viscous ghosts in the forest. In the novel, Roh Ki had decided to set up the demonic dispersion array after his peak disciples had cleared a good number of viscous ghosts that lingered around the outskirts of the forest to the town. He was able to finally put the ghosts to rest after purifying the forest with a 'heavenly yin energy dispelling' spell when the demonic dispersion array had trapped them.

"Huh?!" The elders in the room gasped simultaneously.

"What?" Peak leader Ryu Man-Dang questioned, as he furrowed his eyebrows even tighter.

Sect leader Heo Kwan-Ah stared at Roh Ki for a while before clearing his throat and saying, "Please, explain what you mean."

Using any type of massive scale purification spell, enough to cover an entire forest area was definitely not an easy feat. They all wondered how Roh Ki intended to pull such a thing off.

"I agree with elder Beom Hajoon's judgment," Roh Ki started, earning the slight glare of peak elder Ryu Man-Dang. "No matter how good your disciples are, in the face of immense numbers, even a tiger will fall to a pack of ferrets. We mustn't underestimate the quantity of ghosts currently haunting the forest. With that in mind, I believe it would be better to just purify the forest after eliminating the ghosts on the outskirts."

Peak leader Ryu Man-Dang grinded his teeth before stating, "That's ridiculous. Do you know how much skill one would need to perform a purification spell of that scale? It would be a waste of time pursuing something that can't be done."

"I can do it," Roh Ki stated casually, lifting his head up to meet Ryu Man-Dang's glare.

"What?!" Everyone gasped in unison.

"Can you really?!" Pyeong Dayoon exclaimed with great interest.

"Mm..." Sect leader Heo Kwan-Ah started, rubbing his chin in thought. Then he continued,

"I believe you can do it. However, your meridians are unstable right now. To perform such a spell, you will have to exhaust a great deal of Qi. You have just woken up from a coma caused by qi exhaustion. We aren't sure what would happen to you if you exhausted your qi completely again. Plus, even if you managed to overlook that issue, using qi with your meridians in the state they are now, will only be harmful to you and bring you pain."

Most of the elders in the room nodded in agreement to the sect leader's statement.

He was right. At the state his body was in, though he was outwardly fine, if he exhausted that amount of qi again, his body wouldn't be able to handle it. He wasn't even sure if the spell would work with his meridians worn out the way they were now, but with the knowledge he had of the novel he read in his past life, which was basically an insight into the future, he couldn't just allow those disciples march to their deaths under Ryu Man-Dang's orders.

He was going to follow through. Besides, now he had 'blessings of a new life' that allowed him to patch himself up should his body deteriorate while he performed the spell. Of course, to activate 'blessings of a new life' he would need qi as well. But as long as even a little bit of qi was left after he finished the purification spell, he could use 'blessings of a new life' to begin healing himself, and continue as more qi was collected from the surroundings into his body over time.

Roh Ki exhaled a bit of pent up air he held, then said, "I am aware. Still, I believe I am capable of accomplishing it."

"Are you serious?!" Peak leader Ryu Man-Dang sneered, gritting his teeth and forming a frown on his face.

Sect leader Heo Kwan-Ah pondered long and hard as he stared at Roh Ki, and then Ryu Man-Dang before sighing, and said, "Alright. I will go with peak leader Roh Ki's suggestion."

"What?!" Peak leader Ryu Man-Dang exclaimed in bewilderment, along with a couple other elders in the room, while peak leader Pyeong Dayoon allowed his lips to form a smile across his face.

"I do not want unnecessary harm to befall any disciple of our sect," Sect leader Heo Kwan-Ah said, releasing a long held sigh, then continued.

"I agree with what peak leader Roh Ki and elder Beom Hajoon have said. It is indeed to risky to follow your method. However, it is equally as risky to follow the suggestion of peak leader Roh Ki, but it will reduce the damage to the sect, therefore, I will have elder Beom Hajoon accompany peak leader Roh Ki on this task. Should his qi fail him, elder Beom Hajoon will be of great assistance. It's decided."

Peak leader Ryu Man-Dang retreated gracefully. "I won't dare to question your decision any further,"

He was hotheaded but knew his place and when to adhere. He disliked many things, but always placed the sect first before petty rivalry. It was what made Roh Ki (Rim In Ho) see him as a much more likeable character than his counterpart Pyeong Dayoon, but he was going to keep that to himself.

The meeting had come to a close with the end of the discussion. As the elders trickled out of the gazebo, Heo Kwan-Ah placed his hand on Roh Ki's shoulder gently.

He smiled warmly and said, "I will leave this issue to you junior sect brother Roh Ki. Please do take care of yourself and be careful."

Roh Ki nodded to accept sect leader Heo Kwan-Ah's care, and returned his warm smile, then joined the other elders to leave.

[Plot Quest]

[Eliminate the viscous ghosts currently hunting the Nanjang forest]

[Reward- Beifang Jade Crystal]

'What?!'