Oh yeah! Jackpot!

The next morning, I found myself climbing Mount Baekun alongside my father.

Mount Baekun was infamous for its treacherous terrain, sheer cliffs, and the thick fog that shrouded it year-round. Every year, dozens of people either went missing or fell to their deaths, earning the mountain its deadly reputation.

'No wonder, even the Green Forest bandits wouldn't build a hideout here.'

This was also why Meng Hoak, the Tiger King of the Green Forest, chose this place as his secret refuge. While other locations might have been looted over the years, this spot had likely remained untouched.

'First, I need to find the elixirs Meng Hoak stashed away. If I can use them to lay the foundation for the Heaven Defying Divine Art, it'll make everything much easier for me.'

With this plan in mind, I boldly embarked on the climb.

One hour later…

"Ugh… Huff…"

Sweat poured off my body like rain. My breath came in ragged gasps, and it felt like my lungs were about to tear apart. My legs wobbled, and my entire body felt as heavy as if it were bound to iron.

I'm going to collapse and take a break at this point!

But every time I thought about stopping, the sound of my father clicking his tongue behind me spurred me on.

"Tsk. Already worn out?"

Poke, poke.

My father jabbed at my back with his teaching staff, piling on the complaints, "See? I told you, you're not built for this. Better to turn back now, don't you think?"

I couldn't tell if he was genuinely worried or just trying to rile me up.

Either way, it was thanks to him that I'd made it this far up the mountain.

"I'm… ugh… fine!"

Curse this damn body.

If I can't use internal energy, then the least I should have had is a strong physique. But no, I'm weak inside and out. Even after more than a month of physical training, this is all I've got. Now I understand why the Celestial Yin Severed Meridians is called a curse from the heavens.

'Just wait! I will definitely turn this cursed Celestial Yin Severed Meridians into the Celestial Divine Yin Meridians! This is just the first step!'

At first, I was determined, climbing with all my might.

But soon enough…

Thud.

I collapsed onto a flat rock and looked up at the sky.

Is it dusty today? The sky is turning orange.

"Shit, how long is this going to take?"

This is pathetic.

A wannabe martial artist huffing and puffing just from climbing a mountain? And if my father weren't here with me, I would have slipped and fallen to my death several times already.

"We're almost there. That peak over there must be the one you mentioned."

My father approached and pointed with his staff toward a towering peak rising above the clouds.

I looked up at the peak and groaned.

"Almost there, my ass…"

Sword Dance Peak.

Meng Hoak told me that was the name of the mountain peak, it was incredibly high while the terrain was brutally rugged. And somewhere up there, was the Green Forest King's hidden his elixir.

"Phew. Let's take a short break."

"Here, drink some water first."

My father handed me a water bottle, clicking his tongue as he took in my pale, corpse-like complexion.

Then he suddenly asked, "Are you really my son?"

"Cough! Cough cough!"

I accidentally spat out the water in my mouth right at my father. But of course he easily avoided every drop with his honed reflexes.

As I continued to cough, I wiped my mouth and asked, trying to hide my anxiety, "Cough! What kind of nonsense are you talking about?"

My father looked at me with a strange expression and scratched his cheek.

"In the past, you would have cursed your frail body and blamed me… But now, climbing this mountain without complaint, it's quite impressive."

…This guy really drove a nail into his parents' hearts.

"Moreover, now you want to make money instead of pursuing martial arts… You never cared about money before, and you didn't mind teaching martial arts to kids."

I pretended to think for a moment before giving the answer I had already prepared.

"After dying and coming back to life, the world looks different."

"How so?"

"I thought about a lot of things while I was laying in bed for nearly a month. Thinking about what I was actually trying to achieve by risking my life to learn martial arts."

"Wasn't it to become the greatest martial artist and travel the martial world?"

"It was back then."

I wiped the sweat pouring from my forehead with my sleeve and sighed, "To become a master, gain recognition, enjoy wealth and honor, and even find a stunningly beautiful wife…"

"Hmmm."

"But thinking about it again, those things aren't necessarily only achievable through martial arts, are they?"

"Are you saying money can also get you those things?"

I smiled and looked at my father.

"That's exactly it."

I don't know Baek Suryong.

I don't know how much he wanted to learn martial arts, or how frustrated he was because he couldn't cultivate his internal energy. So rather than making flimsy excuses, I decided to be myself to a certain extent.

"And."

I continued with a playful smile.

"Having a lot of money would help fix my internal energy and find a way to learn martial arts, wouldn't it?"

In fact, that's the main reason right now.

Changing the Celestial Yin Severed Meridians to the Celestial Devine Yin Meridians and mastering the Heaven Defying Divine Art would require an astronomical amount of money.

But after spending a lifetime learning and teaching martial arts, the only thing I knew how to do was teach it.

'I was wondering how am I going to make that much money…'

Just then, I remembered what Go Juyeol had told me: "If you become a top instructor, you'll be rolling in money."

It's obvious what I need to do first.

'First, I'll get a job as an instructor at the Azure Dragon Academy to earn some money. Even if I start a business later, I need to make some money that I can work and invest with.'

With that reasoning, I decided to apply for the instructor exam at Azure Dragon Academy, which was scheduled to take place in three months.

My father looked at me intently for a while, as if trying to gauge the truth of my words, then chuckled and nodded, "It seems my son, who only knew martial arts, has finally grown up. Fine, earn a lot of money and make sure to treat your old man well."

"Well, that depends on how you behave."

"You cheeky brat!"

Smack!

My father playfully hit me on the back with his walking stick, laughing heartily.

"Enough rest. Let's get moving. We need to go earn some money."

"Yes, yes…" I sighed deeply, grabbing my trembling knees and stood up.

We continued climbing Sword Dance Peak, taking turns leading the way. Aside from a few moments where I nearly foamed at the mouth, nothing really interesting happened.

"Ugh… Ugh…"

"We're almost there! Just a bit more, hang in there!"

Honestly, I felt a bit guilty toward Baek Muheon, the father of this body. Although I didn't intentionally take over, I was still occupying his son's body and pretending to be Baek Suryong..

'But it's not like I can just tell him the truth.'

Since he was the parent who gave birth to 'this body,' I intended to fulfill my responsibilities to him someday.

"Guhh…ahhhh! We made it… We're finally here! Huff… Huff…"

Panting heavily, I looked around after finally reaching the top of Sword Dance Peak.

Swish, swish, swish.

Thick fog covered everything, severely limiting visibility.

My father, on high alert, asked me, "I do sense something strange, but are you sure there's really an elixir here?"

"Huff… Huff… Over there."

Amidst the dense fog, I searched for a rock with a tiger's tooth engraved on it, just as Maeng Hoak had described.

'There it is.'

As we approached, the mist around the rock swirled and shifted, dissipating and re-forming as it changed shapes.

Seeing this, I felt a sense of relief.

'If the formation is still intact, there's a high chance that the elixir is still there.'

"Follow me closely."

Glancing to the side as I spoke, I saw that my father had a deeply concerned expression.

He too had sensed the unusual flow of energy in the surroundings.

"I thought you'd been swindled by another wandering charlatan… But is there really an elixir hidden here?"

"Have you only been deceived in life? I'm telling you, this one's real."

Baek Suryong, driven by his determination to learn martial arts, had undertaken many strange endeavors, such as searching for demonic cultivation manuals. So when I suggested searching Mount Baekun for an elixir, my father followed along with a look that said, 'Here we go again.'

Despite his words, he was a father who couldn't say no to his sickly son.

"If you don't want to get lost, stay focused and follow closely."

"…This really feels like you've been possessed by a ghost."

Luckily, the formation itself wasn't too difficult to break through. It was a type designed to confuse your sense of direction and lead you astray, but I easily found the exit, just as Maeng Hoak had instructed.

'Master Maeng, I'll definitely make good use of the elixir that you left behind.'

As I moved further into the formation, Maeng Hoak's bearded face came to mind.

—Heh heh. I've hidden my strongholds all over the world. Do you know how many thieves there are in the Green Forest? When I went missing, everyone must have tried to steal my treasures… but I made sure to hide the most valuable ones beforehand.

Despite his bear-like physique, and pretending to act stupid, Maeng Hoak was a clever and cunning man.Of course, no one could become an unparalleled master by being an idiot.

Maeng Hoak had one grand ambition.

—I'm going to make the Green Forest a prestigious sect, on par with the Nine Great Sects!

Everyone dismissed his words as nonsense.

If it hadn't been for the fact that he was a supreme master who, at sixteen, had become the youngest stronghold leader of the Seventy-two Strongholds of the Green Forest, and at twenty-five had unified the Green Forest under the title of the Green Forest King, people would have openly mocked him.

In fact, many masters from prominent orthodox sects were offended by his declaration and sent him challenges, determined to teach him a lesson.

—Hmph. I let them all live. I showed those who lacked the skills the difference in our levels and let them see the mercy of this old man.

But contrary to his expectations, the Green Forest King's notoriety only grew. Instead of killing the challengers, he broke their limbs, leaving them crippled.

—Why did I do that? So they couldn't go around spreading false rumors that they had won. I had to leave undeniable proof that I was the victor.

It was around this time that people began to refer to him as one of the Ten Greatest Masters under Heaven, in addition to his title of the Green Forest King.

When I mentioned this to Maeng Hoak, he had casually picked his ear and said:

—The Ten Greatest Masters? Weren't one of the guys I beat to a pulp and sent running called something like that?

If he hadn't been betrayed by a trusted subordinate, Maeng Hoak might have eventually come down from the mountains and established the Green Forest Sect.

That is, if he hadn't been imprisoned in the Blood Sect's dungeon.

—Hey, kid.

"—What is it, Master Maeng?"

I called him Master Maeng. It wasn't just Maeng Hoak whom I addressed this way—I called all four of the supreme masters 'Master.'

Of course, it wasn't a typical master-disciple relationship.

'It was more of a temporary alliance formed to escape the Blood Sect.'

There was a contract between us, and because of that contract, they imparted all their martial arts knowledge to me without reservation.

That lasted for ten years.

For ten years, I listened to the stories of their lives.

In the dungeon, there was no one for them to talk to except each other and me.

"—If, just maybe, I die, and you're the only one who escapes…."

One day, Maeng Hoak called me over and told me about the secret hideouts he had set up in various mountains across the central plains.

I asked him bluntly, "—Why are you suddenly telling me this?"

"—Heh heh. It's better for you to take them than let them rot away, don't you think?"

"—Hmm. This is all the meat we have for today?"

"—You damn brat! Do you think I'm telling you this because I want more meat?"

"—On second thought, I seem to recall we had a bit more meat…."

"—Want me to tell you another secret?"

"An old hut…"

My father's surprised voice snapped me back to the present.

Emerging from the thick mist before us was an old hut that looked like it could collapse at any moment. Beside the hut, a small hot spring was releasing steam into the air.

"The elixir should be somewhere around here…."

"This is really unbelievable… So the rumors you heard from that wandering peddler were true after all…"

My father shook his head in disbelief, drew his sword, and stepped forward. He cautiously approached the hut, scanning the surroundings.

"The opportunities in the martial world often come with hidden dangers. We mustn't let our guard down until the very end. Who knows what traps might be waiting?"

"There are no traps. But instead…."

Before I could finish my sentence—

ROOOOAAARRR!

A beast's deafening roar echoed through the mountains, shaking the ground it attacked us.

{note: the dialogue that begins with —are the dialogue/memories from suryong's past}