Chapter 10
Inside the main gate of the Heavenly Martial Academy, the training grounds where the entrance exams were held stretched out in a long row. Beyond the middle gate, the only buildings were the White Rock Pavilion, where they had handled the registration, and the Black Rock Pavilion, which had served as the waiting room. Up to this point, the space was freely accessible to any outsider visiting the academy.
I had wondered what they meant by saying that if you wanted to fight, you should drag your opponent inside the academy or go outside the city walls. After spending a few days here and listening to the talk, I learned that in Luoyang, even if martial artists got into a dispute at an inn, they would settle it with a spar in those designated places.
And then, there was the area inside the middle gate, which was invisible from the outside. That inner sanctum was strictly off-limits to anyone except the martial arts instructors, the staff, the students, and the laborers. Since all events open to outsiders—such as the Heavenly Martial Gathering or the Martial Star Festival—were held at the outer training grounds, none of the merchants in Luoyang knew anything about the inner workings of the academy.
"You're heading straight back to the North Sea Ice Palace, right?"
"Yes."
"Travel safely!"
"Yes, and you, too, Young Lady... please take care of your health."
"I'm not sure if I'll have time to return during the break. I'll send a letter."
After bidding farewell to Great Hall Master Baek-woong in front of the academy, I exchanged my entrance plaque for an identification tag at the White Rock Pavilion where I had stopped earlier. Unlike the entrance plaque, which was stylish enough to be used as a decoration, the identification tag was just a small wooden plate with my name carved into it.
"Welcome to the academy!"
As the senior student I had seen before grinned and opened the middle gate for us, I gasped.
"Whoa!"
A vast expanse of pavilions, stretching so far that the end was nowhere in sight, greeted me. Each pavilion had a flag fluttering to announce its name, and each was equipped with a large training ground, all spaced out across the grounds. Just how large was this place? Since the academy was built against the mountains, various pavilions seemed to be perched in layers all along the mountainside.
'Do I have to trek all the way up there and back?'
I was suddenly reminded of my university days, when I had registered for the wrong classes and had to sprint from the flatlands to the mountaintop during my break. Of course, since I could use light-footwork, my travel speed would be much faster, but given the sheer scale of the academy, I would have to be mindful of the distance.
"Are the seniors not entering the academy with us today?"
I asked, puzzled, as the only students acting as guides were the few I had seen at the White Rock Pavilion.
"Ah, yes! The existing students will be joining us in ten days."
The senior, who was about to close the middle gate, answered after hearing my mutterings. I tried to express my gratitude, but he just gave me a meaningful smile and ushered us inside. Leaving them behind, the new students entering the academy today all followed the main road in the center.
"……."
My jaw dropped. In a space as open as a banquet hall, three massive tables were lined up, and upon them lay a spread of delicacies from land and sea. It seemed they were holding the entrance ceremony outdoors while having a meal.
"Oh, tangerines... My goodness! And strawberries...!"
There were dishes I recognized and others I didn't, but my gaze was completely captured by the fresh fruit I had been searching for ever since I arrived in the Central Plains.
"Sool-ryeo, do you like fruit?"
Maeng Ryeong-ji, who had arrived earlier and claimed a seat, tapped my shoulder. Since we had met several times before the entrance ceremony, I readily sat down next to her.
"Hmm... I suppose so. It was hard to come by in the North Sea."
In my previous life, I hadn't particularly sought them out, but by my current standards, it seemed I did like them.
"Is that so? If you ever come to visit the Southern Barbarian Beast Palace later, I'll treat you to as much as you can eat!"
To think they would prepare this much food for the new students—how could they be so warm-hearted? I had inwardly worried, thinking of the demonic sects I’d read about in novels, that they might force us into horse-stance training the moment we arrived, but seeing the food, my tension completely melted away.
"Eat to your heart's content. The cooks worked hard to prepare this for the new students."
Some of the martial arts instructors I had seen during the exam even wandered over, encouraging us to eat. Paeng Jung-geol was there, as was the nameless instructor who had refereed Eun-hyun’s spar; they seemed to be the ones in charge of the new students.
"I will eat well!"
I started with the fruit to cleanse my palate, then began grabbing whatever dishes caught my eye. Perhaps because they had prepared food from all over the Central Plains, there were some that were incredibly spicy, while others were astringent and left me unable to tell what they were supposed to taste like. Unlike me, Maeng Ryeong-ji had a clear preference, sticking strictly to the duck.
"Young Lady Seol!"
I also ran into So-woon here. When I asked if there had been any trouble at the Black Rock Pavilion, he said that the Sword of Radiant Light I had met at the Yu Family Manor had come by three days later to verify things, and that was the end of it. He said he had stayed there to save money, as they had told him he could remain until the entrance ceremony if he wished.
"U-um, who is the person next to you...?"
So-woon looked slightly startled at Maeng Ryeong-ji’s appearance, but—
"Ah, this is a new friend I made. Her name is Maeng Ryeong-ji, and she's the same age as me. And this is So-woon, whom I met on the way here."
"What is your background?"
"U-um... the Yu Family Manor... but I didn't learn their martial arts..."
"The Yu Family Manor?"
"Hic!"
When So-woon mentioned a family she didn't know, Maeng Ryeong-ji’s face immediately brightened.
"So you're not one of those Nine Great Sects types! Good, I am Maeng Ryeong-ji of the Southern Barbarian Beast Palace!"
She slapped So-woon’s back with a hearty, carefree air. I knew she was wary of the Nine Great Sects, but honestly, she seemed more concerned about people's sect affiliations than anyone else.
In less than a quarter of an hour, every seat was filled.
"Can I sit here? Is this seat empty?"
"Ah, yes."
"Where are you from? I came from Xi'an, but Luoyang seems much more bustling."
Students who had seen each other at the entrance ceremony were greeting one another and becoming friends, while the shy ones picked at their food awkwardly.
"Young Lady, just a moment. Let me wipe your chair."
What is with this "Young Lady" talk between peers? Is it a master-servant relationship? So-woon called me Young Lady too, but that had just happened by circumstance. The atmosphere over there was different. Many of the students who had received recommendation plaques seemed to already know each other, but the three who were dressed in matching blue robes were particularly fussy.
I hadn't sat there intentionally, but the area around where Maeng Ryeong-ji and I were sitting gradually filled with the children I had seen during the previous exam. Meanwhile, the other two tables were occupied by children who seemed to have ties to the Nine Great Sects and the Five Great Clans, respectively. It was so blatant how the sides were being drawn.
'Including Eun-hyun, there are 12 students who entered through the exam... are there a little over 40 others?'
I kept glancing toward the martial arts instructors, wondering what they would say, but they only encouraged the students who were waiting quietly to eat their food, saying the Academy Master was giving them time to dine comfortably.
Just as more than half the food on the tables had disappeared—
"Ho ho ho, a great many talented rising stars have entered this year."
An old monk wearing magnificent robes appeared.
'Since when was he standing there?'
I was startled. I hadn't felt a single trace of his presence until he opened his mouth. But once I became aware of his form, a pressure that seemed to tighten the surrounding air arose.
"Gasp!"
"Great Monk Seon-gak!"
At someone’s shout, I recalled that the Academy Master of the Heavenly Martial Academy was the Great Monk Seon-gak of the Shaolin Temple. The great hero of the Great War of Righteous and Evil. As soon as the Demonic Cult began to rise, he had led the Shaolin monks to establish a front line, and after the war, he had spent his own fortune to build the academy to foster the next generation.
His attire didn't look like that of an ordinary monk, either. While the form was that of a dharma robe, it was densely embroidered with thick gold thread, giving it a look that was clearly very extravagant. It was a different atmosphere than what I had vaguely imagined, but it was certain that he was no ordinary person.
In an instant, the boisterous atmosphere shifted.
"Ho ho, I would prefer it if the students called me Academy Master rather than Great Monk."
"Yes! Academy Master!"
The students answered in a booming chorus. He wore a benevolent smile, but everyone who witnessed the great hero from the stories looked at him with a mix of excitement and tension.
"You have all eaten your fill, I trust?"
"Yes!"
"Any child who has not, confess immediately."
Perhaps sensing the rigid atmosphere, Great Monk Seon-gak cracked a joke. Naturally, no one raised their hand, and a few students burst into laughter, causing the tension to ease.
Great Monk Seon-gak chuckled and strolled between the tables where the students were seated. For some reason, it felt like he had leaned in and stared directly at my face before me—but that must have been my imagination, right? Because the friend sitting next to me had almost caused an incident before even entering, I felt unnecessarily self-conscious.
He smiled brightly in the middle of the cheerful banquet hall.
"I have laced your food with a Poison of Dispersed Qi."
……?
He had just greeted us and asked if we had eaten well. Surely, the next thing to follow should have been a request to eat heartily and train hard, right? I doubted my ears, wondering if I had misheard because I was so tense.
If it were a Poison of Dispersed Qi, it was a toxin with the property of scattering one's internal energy. I knew what it was, but why would he suddenly bring that up? I hadn't felt any strange taste at all. Was there poison in the food I had just been enjoying so much?
"Kuhk!"
Just then, someone let out a loud sound and vomited blood. Everyone else, myself included, must have tried to circulate their internal energy.
While my internal energy was resting in my Dantian, I hadn't noticed any difference, but as I tried to draw it up, it strangely scattered. The child who had just vomited blood must have had the flow of their meridians, which maintained their body, twisted while trying to force out everything in their Dantian.
"Haha, I will give you a lesson. To survive in the Heavenly Martial Academy... no, in the harsh Murim, you must not eat food given to you by others so carelessly."
A great hero of the righteous faction is saying something like that? After he himself had set out the food and told us to eat as much as we wanted?
"However, the Heavenly Martial Academy is kind enough to have prepared an opportunity for you reckless ones."
He smiled brightly as he passed by the fallen child.
"Now, everyone, flip over the identification tag you received earlier."
The Great Monk pointed with his finger at the wooden tags hanging from the waists of the frozen students. It was what we had received just a while ago after handing in our entrance plaques at the White Rock Pavilion.
"If you soak them in water, the writing will appear. The antidote is there."
"……!"
"Our medicinal experts worked very hard to prepare this for today's entrance ceremony. Ho ho! Even if you fail to find the antidote, there is no need to worry too much. While there may be slight variations, the poison will naturally leave your body within a month at most."
……The Heavenly Martial Academy did not just scatter precious medicinal herbs about.
Even for a martial artist, creating a poison that disperses internal energy, let alone its antidote, could not be an easy task.
To go to such lengths just for an initiation ceremony?
"However, I recommend you find the antidote if possible. It might be a bit difficult to travel to and from the dormitories without your internal energy."
Great Monk Seon-gak pointed toward the middle of the mountain.
A few flags were fluttering there... could that possibly be the dormitory?
To a martial artist capable of using internal energy, it was a trivial mountain.
But thinking back to my past life, I felt like I would have to pant for at least two or three hours just to make it up there.
"What, this is absurd……."
"My internal energy is really scattering!"
"What is the meaning of this!"
The students were in a state of chaos, milling about in confusion.
Even Maeng Ryeong-ji, who had been telling me all sorts of things she’d heard from her older brother, clearly hadn't anticipated this; her face was etched with visible panic.
*Boom!*
A thunderous roar echoed.
With a wave of Great Monk Seon-gak's hand, the main gate of the academy slammed shut.
"Now then, everyone, do your best to find it. I sincerely welcome you to the Heavenly Martial Academy!"
Just as he had appeared without any warning, he vanished, his brilliant dharma robes fluttering behind him.
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