Chapter 31: Another Greatest Secret Manual of All Time (1)
An old man was tending a field beneath the blazing sun.
It was the sort of weather where sweat poured down even if one stood still, yet the old man diligently pulled weeds as though he did not feel the heat at all.
Though he looked well over seventy, his back remained strong. He bent and straightened with smooth, fluid movements. In fact, he was not even sweating that much.
Just then, someone spoke to him.
“Isn’t it hot?”
The man walking along the narrow path beside the field was Baek Socheon.
Without straightening his back, the old man replied,
“If a farmer stops working just because it’s hot, what kind of farmer is he?”
“Real farmers probably wouldn’t work under a blazing sun like this.”
For a brief moment, the old man’s hand stopped before moving again.
“You’ve got a good eye. I’m still just a beginner farmer.”
“What did you do before this?”
“Young people these days don’t care about other people’s business. You seem awfully interested.”
“Because we’re not strangers.”
The old man’s hand, which had been wielding the sickle, came to a stop. Only then did he straighten his bent back and look at Baek Socheon.
“Have we met before?”
“This is our first meeting. But we know quite a lot about each other. Mad Evil.”
This old man was none other than the Mad Evil whom Baek Socheon had asked Cheon Geuk to arrange a meeting with.
Mad Evil had once been one of the most successful assassins in the assassin world. His skills had been exceptional, and his instincts for assassination were so sharp that he succeeded even in jobs beyond his capabilities.
The reason he was held in such high regard among assassins was not merely his skill.
It was because he had survived long enough to retire safely. Mad Evil was the historic assassin who had gathered the younger generation together and even held a Golden Basin Hand-Washing ceremony.
Afterward, he left the Martial World and secluded himself in a place unknown to everyone. Only the Alliance Leader of the Assassin Alliance knew where he was.
“Who are you?”
“Baek Socheon.”
Mad Evil tilted his head.
“Baek Socheon? There are plenty of Baek Socheons in the Martial World…”
The next moment, he flinched. There might have been hundreds or thousands of people named Baek Socheon in the world, but the most famous Baek Socheon he knew immediately came to mind.
“The War God?”
“Yes, that’s me.”
“You can’t possibly be this young. Did you undergo Body Reformation?”
“I just have a youthful face.”
Mad Evil found it difficult to believe and unconsciously tightened his grip on the sickle.
“Who told you I was here?”
At that moment, Cheon Geuk suddenly appeared from behind.
“I did.”
“Alliance Leader?”
“It’s been a long time, Elder.”
Cheon Geuk bowed to him respectfully.
Mad Evil had retired before Cheon Geuk became the Alliance Leader.
As the successor of the previous Alliance Leader of the Assassin Alliance, she had been cherished by Mad Evil as though she were his own granddaughter.
After retiring, he heard about the previous Alliance Leader’s death and learned that Cheon Geuk had become the new Alliance Leader. Since he had never particularly liked the previous Alliance Leader, he had not broken his seclusion. If Cheon Geuk had died instead, however, he would have come out of retirement to avenge her.
“I’m sorry. Something personal came up, so I had no choice but to tell him.”
“It’s all right.”
“Please treat me comfortably, like before.”
“Now that you’ve become the Alliance Leader, I cannot do that.”
Mad Evil turned his gaze back to Baek Socheon.
“Then you truly are the War God.”
He recalled the past.
“If I hadn’t retired, I would’ve gone looking for you myself.”
The Black Heaven Alliance’s three-million-nyang contract had come after his retirement.
“In that case, this field would’ve been overrun with weeds.”
Mad Evil gave a cold smile.
“The life of a swordsman really is frightening. I’ve been retired for over ten years, yet I still feel my competitive spirit stirring. So, why have you come?”
“I’ve come to retrieve something you stole.”
Mad Evil visibly flinched.
“Something I stole? What are you talking about?”
“Did you steal several things? As far as I know, there was only one.”
His expression stiffened.
“I don’t steal while carrying out assassinations.”
“Except for that one time.”
Mad Evil might have been an extraordinary assassin, but he was no good at lying. His flustered expression was already obvious.
He glanced once at Cheon Geuk, who stood beside Baek Socheon.
“This is the first I’ve ever heard of it.”
In truth, she was just as stunned. She had never imagined, even in her wildest dreams, that Baek Socheon had come to confront Mad Evil over theft.
Mad Evil let out a sigh before asking,
“How did you find out?”
He simply did not want Cheon Geuk to see him lying.
“At that time… there was nothing I didn’t know.”
“Why do you need it?”
“I’m going to learn it.”
Listening beside them, Cheon Geuk grew curious.
‘Learn it? Then it’s a martial arts manual. What manual could Elder Mad Evil possibly have stolen?’
After thinking for a moment, Mad Evil went into his house.
“Wait here for a moment.”
“We will.”
When he returned, he was carrying a single martial arts manual.
Overturning Heaven Nine Fists.
The exclusive martial art of the Fist King Lee Suhyeon, who had swept across the Central Plains three hundred years ago.
At the time, it had been so extraordinary that it was hailed as the Greatest Fist Art of All Time.
Unfortunately, however, its glory did not survive into later generations. No successor ever achieved complete mastery of Overturning Heaven Nine Fists, and eventually the art was lost.
Many stories surrounded it. Some claimed it was a martial art that only a genius could learn. Others believed that an incomplete manual had been passed down….
During a lifetime of assassinations, Mad Evil had only once taken something from someone he had killed.
That one thing had been this very Overturning Heaven Nine Fists.
“How did you find out?”
“I happened to learn about it.”
The truth was that the previous King of Assassins, whom he had killed, had told him.
Before dying, the man had begged for his life and revealed that Mad Evil possessed the Overturning Heaven Nine Fists. How he had known remained a mystery, but in a desperate attempt to save himself, he had sold out a retired senior assassin.
Baek Socheon deliberately chose not to mention that.
Cheon Geuk was his disciple, and Mad Evil was her senior. There was no need to reveal such a truth and leave the living disappointed and pained.
“Why would someone without Internal Energy need this manual?”
“The essence of Overturning Heaven Nine Fists lies in using or returning the opponent’s strength.”
“Even so, it would be difficult without Internal Energy.”
“I’ll solve that myself.”
“You’re serious!”
Baek Socheon nodded solemnly.
His reason for learning Overturning Heaven Nine Fists was not simply to become stronger through fist techniques.
He wanted to gain new insights into martial principles through the process of studying and mastering a martial art that had been praised as the greatest of all time.
“Then why have you only come looking for me now?”
“I didn’t need it back then….”
When he killed the King of Assassins, the war had still been raging, and he had been the strongest man under heaven. Other martial arts, especially fist techniques instead of sword arts, had never interested him.
“But now I do.”
The martial arts manual Baek Socheon had been studying recently was also one that bore the title of the greatest of all time.
Immovable Wisdom King Mental Art.
He had obtained it during his days as the strongest man under heaven. He had read it in hopes of somehow restoring his dantian and recovering his Internal Energy, but it had not yet produced any results.
Then he met Cheon Geuk again and remembered that Mad Evil possessed Overturning Heaven Nine Fists.
He had joked that he no longer used a sword, and after eliminating Black Hand, he had also joked that fists felt surprisingly satisfying.
Then, upon meeting Cheon Geuk again, he remembered Mad Evil as well.
Perhaps it was merely a string of coincidences, but he decided to think of it simply as fate. Whatever the case, his desire to grow stronger had not changed.
He was not going to wake up one morning and suddenly undergo Body Reformation, so he intended to stake everything on the title of “the greatest of all time.”
If he kept walking the path of the greatest of all time… who knew?
Perhaps he might even find a way to revive his dantian.
“You want this?”
“Yes.”
“And why should I give it to you?”
Baek Socheon looked at Cheon Geuk.
“Don’t do it for me. Do it for your Alliance Leader here.”
Cheon Geuk cried out in panic.
“Why are you dragging me into this!”
“Then who else should I drag into it?”
“What?”
“You’re the only one I can rely on right now. Please do it for this woman.”
Just as Cheon Geuk was about to protest again, Mad Evil spoke.
“Very well. I’ll give it to you.”
“My thanks.”
Cheon Geuk exclaimed in surprise.
“No! Don’t give it away because of me.”
But the manual had already been placed in Baek Socheon’s hands.
There were only four martial arts in the current age that had been called the greatest of all time. Three existed as manuals, while one was currently being practiced by someone.
He had now obtained two of those manuals, and he also knew where the remaining two were.
Naturally, they would not be easy to acquire, but he intended to make every effort to obtain them all.
There was a reason Mad Evil had handed over the manual so willingly.
For a very long time, he had agonized over what to do with it.
It was a manual whose value could not be measured in money. He had stolen it in a moment of irresistible greed, but dealing with it afterward had become the real problem.
It was too late for him to learn it himself. If he sold it, he could earn ten thousand pieces of gold, but his peaceful retirement would be over. The moment word spread that Mad Evil had sold the manual of the greatest martial art of all time, every kind of scoundrel would come looking for him.
Yet it was too precious to let gather dust, and there was no one to whom he could pass it on.
Added to that was the torment of it being the one stain upon his lifetime of assassinations. It had truly become a troublesome possession that left him with no good option.
Then today, Baek Socheon had appeared.
Had he come alone, Mad Evil would never have handed it over.
But because Cheon Geuk had come with him, he was willing.
“I do have two requests.”
Since he had already given away the manual, these were requests rather than conditions.
“Go ahead.”
“After you’ve memorized it, burn it.”
It was probably his desire to erase the only shame of his life.
“That isn’t difficult. And the second?”
“Please take good care of our Alliance Leader.”
Cheon Geuk had never expected Mad Evil to say such a thing. She felt flustered, yet deeply grateful.
Baek Socheon nodded.
“At the moment, your Alliance Leader is the one taking care of me. Regardless, I understand your request.”
“Thank you. Now that the War God has obtained this manual, I look forward to hearing what news comes out of the Martial World. Hahaha.”
Mad Evil laughed heartily, feeling as though a great burden had been lifted from his shoulders.
Cheon Geuk bid him farewell.
“I’m sorry, Elder.”
“Not at all. If anything, you’ve lifted the burden I’ve carried all my life.”
“Please stay healthy.”
“And may the Alliance Leader take care of yourself as well.”
Baek Socheon and Cheon Geuk left.
On the carriage ride back, Cheon Geuk asked,
“You’re really planning to learn a fist art?”
“Yes.”
“I can’t imagine using a fist art without Internal Energy. Wouldn’t it be better to use a sword instead?”
“Swordsmanship alone has its limits.”
Against ordinary experts like Black Hand or Cheon Yangho, he could still prevail without Internal Energy.
But once he faced peak-level experts or stronger, every battle would become a life-or-death struggle.
“Wouldn’t fist arts be the same? No, I think the limits would be even more obvious.”
“Perhaps.”
“Then why?”
“Because I haven’t tried yet.”
“…!”
It might have sounded like nothing special, yet the meaning behind those words was profound.
Especially for someone like Baek Socheon, a master of his level, attempting something entirely new was immensely significant in itself.
She found herself filled with anticipation.
The man who had once been the strongest under heaven was about to learn the fist art known as the greatest of all time.
What form would Overturning Heaven Nine Fists ultimately take?
As she gazed out the carriage window, Cheon Geuk finally spoke the words she had held back for so long.
“Ever since I became the King of Assassins, I’ve continued hearing news about you.”
“…”
“I thought… if it were you… you would overcome it. Just as you treated me, I thought you’d be able to hold onto the position of Deputy Pavilion Master even without Internal Energy.”
After a brief silence, Baek Socheon answered,
“What could I have done?”
“What happened to you?”
“Nothing happened. It’s just… when a man with power loses that power, everything becomes irritating and exhausting.”
“That’s not all, is it?”
“Stop overestimating people all the time. It’s a burden for the other person.”
As though he did not wish to continue the conversation, Baek Socheon opened the manual and began reading.
Cheon Geuk, who had been about to say something, instead turned to look out the opposite window.
‘Would I overestimate just anyone? It’s because it’s you.’
When the carriage arrived at Wencheng, Baek Socheon got down and handed the manual to her.
“Why?”
“Burn it with Samadhi True Fire.”
She was startled.
“You’ve already memorized it?”
Baek Socheon nodded.
No matter how good his memory was, he could never have memorized another kind of book so quickly.
But because it was a martial arts manual, it was possible—just as master Go players could naturally replay an entire match after it ended.
“But how did you know I could use Samadhi True Fire?”
“I could tell from your movement technique. Hurry and burn it. Otherwise, I’ll end up selling it.”
Admiring both Baek Socheon’s incredible memory and his keen observation, she summoned Samadhi True Fire.
Fwoooosh!
The manual burst into blazing flames in her hand.
Before Cheon Geuk’s eyes, Baek Socheon kept the promise he had made to Mad Evil.
To herself, Cheon Geuk added one more reason to why she had overestimated him.
‘How could I not overestimate someone this brilliant?’
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