Chapter 362
"That guy's insane."
"...I agree."
"Amitabha."
The three men lay sprawled on the ground, gasping for breath, unable to move even a finger.
Today, Jang-il had learned one new fact.
Wei Yan-ho was unexpectedly a very meticulous person. The word "meticulous" suited him well, and so did "exceptionally observant."
Otherwise, this wouldn't have been possible.
How could he know precisely when someone was on the verge of collapse and push them to exactly that point?
"How long are you going to lie there resting? Aren't you getting up?"
"Hey, you crazy bastard! I really don't have the strength to move even a finger!"
"You have the strength to talk though."
"..."
What exactly was it about that little punk's mouth that made him able to pick out only the most infuriating things to say?
"Urrrrgh."
Jang-il finally managed to sit up. Though his back kept wanting to fall backward, he stretched out his hands to barely support his upper body.
"Stop being dramatic and get up."
"I'm really going to die! This isn't a joke, I'm really going to die!"
Though Jang-il always complained dramatically, this time it absolutely wasn't dramatics but genuine. He truly felt he might actually collapse and die from exhaustion.
"You won't die, you won't die."
"I'm going to die!"
"Have you ever heard of someone dying from training?"
"I've heard countless stories!"
"From exhaustion?"
"..."
He was at a loss for words.
In the martial world, there were surprisingly many people who had died during training. But most died from qi deviation or accidents. He had never once heard of someone dying from exhaustion during training.
"See? You won't die. Don't worry, you absolutely won't die. If you could die from this much, I would have died ninety-nine more times by now. So don't worry about dying and get up."
"...Crazy bastard."
When logic failed and examples failed… what else could come out but curses?
"When training, you have to push that hard. I'm being merciful because I pity you, but if I did it properly, you wouldn't even be able to speak right now."
At this point, curiosity was inevitable.
"But I say."
Peng Dao-ji managed to lift his body as he spoke.
"Young Hero Wei, have you been doing this kind of training?"
"No."
Wei Yan-ho answered curtly.
"I learned under my master."
"Well, that's obvious, isn't it?"
"Honestly, our master was like a monster… no, he was a monster-like ghost. But he really had exceptional ability. There wasn't a single thing I could do anything about. But there's exactly one thing I can proudly say I'm better at than my master."
"What's that?"
"Humanity."
"..."
Wei Yan-ho shuddered as if the mere thought made his teeth chatter.
"I actually said that once. 'Master, I'm going to die at this rate. Do you want to kill your only disciple?' And do you know what master said?"
"What did he say?"
"'I'm already dead, so what does it matter if you die too?'"
"..."
What the hell kind of nonsense was that?
Jang-il and Peng Dao-ji, who didn't know what kind of being Baek Mu-han was, couldn't understand Wei Yan-ho's words. But they could definitely feel the tremendous malice hidden within those words.
"That's when I realized it. 'Ah, this gentleman… he really might kill me.' So for five years, in order to survive..."
Wei Yan-ho looked up at the distant sky for a moment, as if overcome with emotion.
The sight looked so forlorn that even Jang-il momentarily considered whether he should comfort Wei Yan-ho.
But the words that came from Wei Yan-ho's mouth stripped away any sympathy.
"If I could just hit him once… just once, I would have had no other wish."
Tears flowed down from Wei Yan-ho's eyes.
That damned ghost bastard.
If he had been human, Wei Yan-ho would have been able to hit him at least once during those five years. Though the gap between Wei Yan-ho and Baek Mu-han was as vast as heaven and earth, Baek Mu-han had sometimes sparred with Wei Yan-ho at his level, and Baek Mu-han, who used only the limited internal energy contained in his core, couldn't unleash all the power he originally possessed. Not having a physical body was that much of a constraint.
But conversely, because he had no physical body, Wei Yan-ho couldn't hit him even once.
"Just onceeeee!"
"Is he crazy, that guy?"
Jang-il shook his head watching Wei Yan-ho suddenly yelling.
He had misspoken.
Asking a crazy person if he's crazy. Jang-il reflected on his slip of the tongue.
Jin Ye-ran was doing her job precisely. She briefly checked the pulse of the collapsed men and diagnosed whether there might be any problems.
"They're exhausted, but there are no major problems."
"Oh my, young lady. At times like this, you should say they're about to die."
"Misdiagnosis is impossible."
It's not misdiagnosis, it's lack of flexibility!
That young lady is perfectly fine… no, she's so stunningly beautiful it makes your eyes spin, so why is she like that?
And among all the many men in the world, why does she have to stick to Wei Yan-ho of all people?
'There are no normal people.'
The most decent person among them opened his mouth.
"The sun is setting."
Wei San-ho expressed concern as he looked at the sun setting over the western mountains.
"Night travel is dangerous, so we should probably prepare to camp around here."
"Night travel is dangerous? We're more dangerous!"
"Of course that's true."
For martial artists of their level, night wasn't much different from broad daylight. And while ordinary people should avoid night travel because of bandits or robbers, weren't they people who could handle bandits like children?
"Traveling at night wouldn't be easy for Miss Jin either."
"Hmm..."
When Wei Yan-ho looked back, Jin Ye-ran smiled lightly.
"I'm fine."
"Say you're not fine! Why are you so inflexible! Aaaahhh!"
As Jang-il rolled around on the ground, Wei Yan-ho clicked his tongue.
"You're really acting like a beggar."
"Then I am a beggar, so you're saying I shouldn't act like a beggar!"
"Right. It's fortunate you're like a beggar."
Wei San-ho chuckled and said,
"Training is good, but without proper rest, you'll only damage your body."
"Tsk, so weak."
Wei Yan-ho clicked his tongue.
"If you guys had learned from my master instead of me, you'd all be foaming at the mouth with your limbs blown off by now."
Kids these days are really weak. When he was training, he went five days without a wink of sleep getting beaten up…
'Thinking about it makes me angry again.'
What the hell was in Baek Mu-han's head that made him work people so hard?
It was only because Wei Yan-ho was exceptionally sturdy, otherwise an ordinary person would have died ten more times.
Even his master had acknowledged that.
"What family are you from that your body is so sturdy?"
"I told you, the Guangdong Wei Family."
"I've never heard of such a family."
"Are you picking a fight?"
"Sure. Come at me, you bastard."
"Ugh..."
It was truly sad that no matter what he thought about, it all ended with memories of getting beaten.
That day too, he got beaten until dust flew.
"At this point, I don't know if it's a blessing or a curse that no one from the Hundred Families came."
"Why? Are you going to curse again?"
"It's praise, you fool. You may be a bit lacking in comprehension, but in terms of sturdiness, you're beyond our children. If they had been children of the Hundred Families, they would have shown better understanding than you, but they wouldn't have endured such forced marches like you. With a body optimized for rolling around."
"Let's just fight right now."
"Sure!"
"Urrrrgh."
No, why does it always end with getting beaten!
As Wei Yan-ho held his head in agony, Jang-il shook his head.
"What a character."
He felt anew just how great Wei Yan-ho's master was.
Didn't even Shin Gi-su and Gwon Geuk-do avoid Wei Yan-ho because they couldn't handle him? Yet that Wei Yan-ho was suffering just from thinking about his master.
'I really wanted to see him at least once... '
Jang-il sighed with regret.
"Should we prepare to camp?"
"...Tsk."
Wei Yan-ho clicked his tongue as if it was pathetic, but soon nodded.
"If I just beat you up or make you roll around mindlessly, I'd become the same kind of person as master, so I'll understand that much. I'm still a person with some sense."
In another sense, he wanted to see Baek Mu-han.
To think that Wei Yan-ho would pour out such criticism about humanity. What kind of mindset had that person lived with?
"Let's prepare quickly before the sun sets."
"Got it!"
At Wei San-ho's words, Jang-il and Peng Dao-ji began moving sluggishly. With every step they took, it felt like all the bones in their bodies were screaming.
"I'm really going to die."
"Amitabha..."
Even Mu-san's Buddhist invocation was weak.
"Hurry up and make it. Work without straightening your back."
Why don't any ghosts do something and take that guy away?
Ignoring Wei Yan-ho's words and moving diligently, before long a campfire and sleeping area were set up. Jang-il hung a pot over the campfire, poured in water, and sat down as if he was going to die.
"Ugh. Even if you beat me to death now, I can't do any more."
"At this rate, when will we reach Guangdong?"
"We're going at tremendous speed, you know?"
"Yeah right."
"Urrgh."
Jang-il made a groaning sound.
Of course, he could understand the excited feelings about returning home after five years, but right now they were advancing at a speed ordinary people couldn't even imagine. At this rate, they would reach Guangdong before long.
"How far have we come?"
"Right now… hmm, if we go a little further, we'll reach Wuhan."
"We've come farther than I thought."
"Of course!"
The slow-footed Mu-san and Peng Dao-ji were practicing lightening their bodies to move swiftly, while the originally fast Jang-il was rolling around dodging flying knives.
Naturally, they had to be fast.
"But..."
Perhaps understanding Jang-il's bursting frustration, Peng Dao-ji opened his mouth.
"Can we really become stronger just with this kind of training?"
"Do you doubt it?"
"...Rather than doubt, I just don't understand it well. I understand that we need to strengthen our movement techniques. Of course, footwork needs to become more refined too. But the training we're doing now doesn't seem very related to movement techniques or footwork."
Jang-il nodded as well.
From his perspective as an expert in movement techniques, the training Peng Dao-ji and Mu-san were doing was far from movement technique training.
"If you doubt it, don't do it."
"..."
"It's enough that I showed you the stream, I have no desire to make you drink the water too. I'm doing what I can do. But if you guys don't want to do it, there's nothing I can do about it."
It seemed like he could faintly hear the words 'and that's less troublesome too' after that.
"No, I didn't say I wouldn't do it..."
At that moment, Wei Yan-ho suddenly stood up.
"Huh?"
Everyone's gaze focused on Wei Yan-ho.
"No. Why..."
Jang-il, who was about to say something, also shut his mouth tight.
Wei Yan-ho's expression was different.
It seemed like a completely different person from the Wei Yan-ho they had been seeing stood there.
A rigidly hardened face, rising momentum.
'What's this?'
Could there really be something in this world that would make this guy so tense?
"Be careful."
Everyone fell into tension at Wei Yan-ho's words.
"They're coming."
The place Wei Yan-ho was looking at.
In that dimly darkening place where the sun had set, someone was walking slowly toward them.
Very slowly.