Chapter 55: Where Did This Fortuitous Encounter Come From? (2) (2/2)

“Can I take it out of its sheath?” His voice was shaking.

“Of Course.”

Kwan He took out his sword nervously.

s.h.i.+ng!

The sound of the sword was different.

“Woaah!” His face was full of amazement, “I have never seen such amazing sword before.”

Of course he would say that. Since he would buy a sword that was worth maybe hundred nyang at most.

But since this was four thousand nyang, how different would this feel compared to his other swords?

“Thank you very much sect master!”

If I gave him something else he wouldn’t be this happy. Since Kwan He was so focused on getting stronger he would even cut back on his sleep to train.

Since he was such a straightforward person it was easier to see his excitement.

After Kwan He left, only Kw.a.n.g Du was next to me. Then I asked him, “Why aren’t you that excited?”

“How could I not be excited? Since Chief Kwan looks so happy, I am just calmly standing here. I lost my chance to do so.”

Of course, he wasn’t the type that would try to steal the spotlight from others. Although he just yielded to Kwan He, he was just as excited and happy and wanted to take out his sword. This was the sort of person Kw.a.n.g Du was and this was the reason why I liked him so much.

Finally, Kw.a.n.g Du took out his blade.

“It looks pretty good.”

I saw the reflection of his face through his sword. It looked as if he was about cry since this sword was incomparable to the sword that I gave him before.

“I think you are not satisfied. Bring it over here. There are few others who could use it.”

As I got closer to him to steal the sword from him, he ran away from me.

“Can’t I make a joke? It’s the best. Wow! This is the best sword in the world!”

His expression was priceless. Now that he had a decent sword, Kw.a.n.g Du looked like a real martial artist.

“Didn’t you say that the sword that I gave you last time was the best?”

“Isn’t this more expensive?”

“Yeah, by many times.”

“Then this is the best.”

“Hahaha”

After putting his sword away he looked at me. Grat.i.tude and respect filled his eyes.

“Young master, it seems that when you rescued the Kang Ho I must have been there with you.”

“So it seems.”

I just agreed with him but I thought otherwise. ‘I saved the Kang Ho to meet you.’

Laughing, he asked me confidently, “But...my sword is better than Chief Kwan’s right?”

“Who knows.”

“Tell me. How much more expensive was it? Fifty nyang? Hundred?”

Since I didn’t tell him until the end, Kw.a.n.g Du followed me everywhere I went.

‘Your blade was two thousand nyang more expensive.’ I wanted to tell him, but it was more enjoyable to tease him

That night I entered the cave in the mountain. I had always entered this cave when I wanted to be alone or when I had to do something important. The reason why I entered this cave today was because of the figures.

I took out the figures from the box and placed them on the floor. Seeing the poses of the figure under the moonlight made them feel alive.

After looking them for a bit, I could tell there was something rough about them. It looked like they weren’t created by a professional smith.

This was another reason why they weren’t sold for a much higher price. However this made me even more excited.

Then it must mean that the one who created these was a martial artist who practiced the martial art that these figures were posing as.

To prove that point, the angle of the hand strikes and foot strikes were very precise. It was created for a purpose. I looked at all of the figures carefully. They seems to belong to a martial arts technique.

I copied the pose of a couple of the figures and I received the feeling that this was created by an expert. If it was sword art I could figure it out in seconds; however, since this was completely new to me it was going to take me some time to decipher this.

I kept on shuffling and changing the order of the figures to determine the order of the techniques. I couldn’t put one next to another just because it looked like a continuous movement from the other since it could have a different meaning. I kept researching and shuffling the figures; It was like solving a very difficult puzzle. However I could tell that these weren't ordinary techniques since they used all part of the body. This was another reason why I was confused. This was my first time experiencing this sort of martial arts.

So I kept researching it calmly and diligently.

Even when the morning rooster cried, I didn’t give up. Others might have given up at this point but I wasn’t the type to give up so easily.

Finally, I was able to decipher the true meaning of these poses.

They were five different techniques.

These thirty-three figures were showing five different techniques. The movement of these five techniques was very profound. Due to my experience, I was able to understand that just by practicing it once.

Unfortunately that didn’t mean that I understood their full application. How great was this technique that this person even made figures of it? If I had the chance I truly wanted to train and understand the reasoning behind this technique.

I put the figure back into the box. I put them in order since I figured out where each figure belonged.Then when I put the final figure inside the box there was a sound of the box opening and the bottom compartment of the box opened.

It was made so well that no one knew that there was another compartment in the box. However I was expecting something like this was going to happen when I put the figures back in order.

It was truly a clever mechanism. Inside the compartment was a piece of paper. Since it was so old it was about to rip, but I carefully took it out and read it.

Heavenly Gate Mountain’s White Crane Peak

Heavenly Gate Mountain was a mountain that was near Ho Book Fortress. It was located fairly close to the Headquarter of the Murim Alliance so I knew about the Heavenly Gate Mountain fairly well and there were many occasions when I went up that mountain. I remembered where the White Crane Peak was on that mountain.

Why did this box point towards the White Crane Peak?

Was there something there that held the origin of this martial art? Or was it something completely different?

Since it was calling for me I wasn’t going to decline the invitation.

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