Chapter 140 - EPISODE 140 – UNEXPECTED ENCOUNTER (1)
Chapter 140 - EPISODE 140 – UNEXPECTED ENCOUNTER (1)
Terms used in this chapter:
Rote learning?– memorization of information based on repetition. Examples include memorizing the alphabet, numbers, and multiplication tables.
Morning on the seventh day since Jude began training with Landius.
Jude and Landius sat face to face in order to converse with each other.
It was to organize the things he learned and experienced from his training over the past seven days, and what they understood from it.
“My Ninth Heaven’s Nine Doors and your Ninth Heaven’s Nine Doors.”
To be exact, they were talking about the difference between the Ninth Heaven’s Nine Doors of someone who didn’t have Cheonmujiche yet forcibly trained oneself with it, and the Ninth Heaven’s Nine Doors of someone born with Cheonmujiche and was like the incarnation of martial arts chosen by the heavens.
“First is the existence of the female sage.”
In the beginning, he could only see the female sage’s silhouette that was like a drawn painting, but it was different now.
When he opened the fifth door.
Jude was able to clearly see the face of the female sage.
Her black hair and white face.
She was an elegant and beautiful woman.
‘But Cordelia is prettier.’
Even if everyone else said otherwise, she was prettier in Jude’s eyes.
He wasn’t joking as he was serious about it.
“Disciple?”
“Yes, master.”
Jude flinched but answered almost immediately, and Landius slightly tilted his head before he spoke again.
“I also saw the female sage. I first saw her back when I opened the fifth door. It was when I opened the seventh door that she finally turned to me.”
But when Jude opened the third door, he not only met the female sage but also learned her skills.
And when he opened the fifth door now, he even heard her voice.
‘But Cordelia’s voice is prettier too.’
Jude nodded to himself before he shook his head to shake off his trivial thoughts.
He should be focusing more on his current conversation with Landius.
‘I guess I had a hard time these days.’
He wouldn’t be able to survive the hellish training every day if it wasn’t for Cordelia.
For Jude, Cordelia was already a real angel and his heart’s oasis.
“In any case…we both saw the female sage. In other words, Ninth Heaven’s Nine Doors and the female sage seems to be deeply related. Ninth Heaven’s Nine Doors is not just some martial art but a superhuman martial art that leads its practitioner to a higher level… Perhaps that female sage is its first practitioner who transcended.”
If it really was that, several possibilities opened.
One was that she was the founder of Ninth Heaven’s Nine Doors.
Another was that she was the ancient person who fought against the overlords of hell.
The last one was that she was not either of the two, but was just an ancient practitioner of it.
“Nine heavens and nine worlds. The true meaning of Ninth Heaven’s Nine Doors.”
Landius had already opened up to the seventh door, but even he didn’t immediately understand what that meant.
But Jude had a vague idea about it.
‘Though it feels like I can’t explain it properly.’
There were a lot of parts that he found hard to express into words.
It seemed like he needed to train more in order to understand it.
“Anyway, it’s not bad. Since we both saw the female sage, it means that we’re on the right path.”
Landius and Jude were obviously different.
If Jude was moving forward on the right path, Landius was forcibly making his way in the somewhat twisted path.
‘But what’s important in the end is that we’re moving forward.’
Landius restrained his thoughts and continued to speak.
“There is also a difference in the Supreme Sun Divine Art.”
Although Jude’s training period was short, it was possible to compare it with Landius since he managed to combine the Supreme Sun Divine Art with the mnemonic chant of Ninth Heaven’s Nine Doors.
“My conclusion is that…it’s not that suitable for me. Or to be exact, it’s perfectly suitable for you, my disciple.”
“Yes, I think so too.”
The new Supreme Sun Divine Art that was created by adding the mnemonic chant of Ninth Heaven’s Nine Doors to its existing form was not suitable for everyone.
It could be said that the new one was specialized for Jude, that it was a martial art that completely suited Jude.
“To begin with, the Supreme Sun Divine Art uses the middle dantian among the upper, middle, and lower dantians. And I had already created my middle dantian before I even opened the doors of Ninth Heaven’s Nine Doors. But disciple. You said that you only created your middle dantian when you opened the fifth door, right?”
“Yes, master.”
“In that case…I guess that my prediction that Ninth Heaven’s Nine Doors will use all three dantians when you master it is correct.”
The numbers of Jude’s dantians wouldn’t just increase because a synergistic effect would also be created through the interactions of the three with each other. So if he got to use all three dantians, the effect might perhaps be not just three times more, but even be five times more.
“The lower dantian, middle dantian, and upper dantian all have different roles. So if you can use all of them, what you can do will also vary.”
It was part of the lesson he had been learning in the past seven days.
Jude nodded his head, and Landius moved on to the next topic instead of repeating the specific details about the dantians.
“The black dragon that you’re using… I wonder if that too is the result of Ninth Heaven’s Nine Doors being tailored to you rather than the natural power of the Ninth Heaven’s Nine Doors.”
Landius couldn’t use the black dragon.
But he didn’t think that it was because he forcibly trained himself with the martial art, or that he didn’t have Cheonmujiche.
‘And this is just something I simply felt.’
A kind of feeling that only those who have actually trained that martial art could feel.
Instead of being able to use the black dragon’s energy, the Ninth Heaven’s Nine Doors of Landius strengthened the power of the sun which was his foundation.
If the Ninth Heaven’s Nine Doors of Jude was the black dragon, the Ninth Heaven’s Nine Doors of Landius was the sun.
“But now that you’ve began to learn the power of the sun, the Ninth Heaven’s Nine Doors may change once again. It’s regrettable that I don’t have the time to properly observe it.”
He tried to teach Jude as much as possible in the little time they had, but they only had seven days, or six days to be exact.
Even if Jude was born with Cheonmujiche, it was impossible for him to learn the Supreme Sun Divine Art in just a few days.
‘But as expected of Cheonmujiche. It’s really incredible.’
Landius taught Jude who was quite ignorant of the Supreme Sun Divine Art through rote learning.
They didn’t have enough time so Landius crammed the concepts into Jude’s memory.
And Jude had managed to do something that difficult in reality.
Although it was hard enough that it would drive someone a bit crazy, what mattered was that he did it.
‘It’s not only his Cheonmujiche. His intelligence is extraordinary too.’
When one’s martial arts reached a certain level or more, their intelligence would increase. That was why Landius himself had an excellent memory. However, Jude’s memory wasn’t at a level that could be simply evaluated as excellent.
It was seriously amazing.
‘I never thought that I could cram all eight of it in him in just six days.’
The Supreme Sun Divine Art didn’t just involve mental cultivation.
It also had a lot of skills, and Landius was able to cram around eight of it into Jude’s soul and body.
‘He’ll be able to properly use the skills one by one when his mastery increases.’
And the next time they would meet again, he would teach Jude the secret skills of the Supreme Sun Divine Art.
‘Of course, the training awaiting him will be harder than now.’
But that did not matter.
If it was someone like his disciple before him, they would be able to endure it.
“Hohoho.”
Landius chuckled in delight, but Jude flinched for a moment and then broke out in a cold sweat.
Because he somehow had this ominous foreboding.
“Anyway, my disciple.”
“Yes, master.”
“You got stronger too quickly.”
At Landius’ words, Jude nodded his head again.
Because Jude himself understood well what those words meant.
“I can’t say that rapid growth is bad. That only shows how excellent your talent is. But even then, it’s too fast. The speed of your growth is too fast that I sometimes think it’s scary.”
Jude reached the fifth door of Ninth Heaven’s Nine Doors in just a couple of months.
When Landius first met him, it was impossible for him to fight against a low-ranking demonic human, but the child was now capable of beating a mid-ranking demonic human.
In just a couple of months.
“It’s too fast. So I’m worried.”
He hoped that this growth wouldn’t overwhelm Jude.
He hoped that Jude’s ankles wouldn’t be caught by the things he missed because he ran too fast.
T/N: The above sentence is something figurative. Basically, Landius is saying that he hopes that Jude wouldn’t suffer any drawbacks or consequences because he learned too fast.
“Disciple, I’ll be honest with you. I’ve been called a genius since I was a kid. It was quite well-known too.”
Landius suddenly cleared his throat after having spoken. Because he felt embarrassed even though he said it himself.
‘But it’s true.’
It was true.
Objectively speaking, Landius himself was a genius.
“Kamael is also a genius. Lena is a genius too. I myself am a genius, and I have seen many geniuses in my life. But you’re the best among them.”
Cheonmujiche.
It was indeed the incarnation of martial arts from the heavens.
In reality, the original Cheonmujiche wasn’t as good as what Jude had now.
But like what Jude himself thought, the Jude and Cordelia now were different from the ones in the game.
Even in his previous life, Kang Jin-ho was the genius who was also known as Outboxer009.
Kang Jin-ho’s genius self was added to Jude’s Cheonmujiche.
And by training in the Ninth Heaven’s Nine Doors and having his intelligence increased, the current Jude was much more talented than the original Jude in the game.
‘The same goes for Cordelia.’
In Jude’s opinion, it was a fact that Cordelia was the real genius.
Her ability to arrive at the results without going through the process could not be expressed in any other way except for the word ‘genius.’
Jude himself didn’t just assess things, as he also calculated things through his analysis.
“That’s why, my disciple, I look forward and am worried about you at the same time whenever I see you.”
It was his first time meeting someone with this talent, so he couldn’t even guess how it would go in the future.
His growth speed was too fast that if he went down the road without stopping for a brief moment, he might go too far.
“So, my disciple. Don’t be too hasty. You’ve already gone too fast. Be a little more patient than be in an extreme hurry. Do you understand what I mean?”
“Yes, master. I’ll keep that in mind.”
Landius’ concern was actually a bit too much.
‘Because leveling up is also my talent.’
The reason why Jude was able to become stronger so quickly was because his body rapidly became stronger through leveling up.
Everyone in Pleiades naturally had levels, and their abilities get enhanced as their levels increased, but what they felt was different.
In Jude and Cordelia’s case, they felt that their stats had risen every time they leveled up, while for others, they felt that their levels rose because their abilities had risen above a certain standard.
The two seemed similar at first glance, but there was a clear difference between the two.
‘Anyway, he’s a bit worried because he overestimated us but…it’s not that bad to keep that in mind. For both Cordelia and me.’
No, rather than me, it should only be for Cordelia.
“Well, I’ve said everything I wanted to say. I think that’s enough to wrap up this training.”
Having said that, Landius tried to get up as he brushed the dirt off his clothes, but Jude hurriedly raised his hand and said.
“Master! I want to ask you one more question.”
“What is it, disciple?”
“I’d like to ask you about Velkian-nim and Fran-nim.”
Like where the two were now.
Or if there was any way to contact them.
At Jude’s question, Landius furrowed his brows once and said with a bitter smile.
“If it’s Master Velkian…I don’t know either. After we fought the Demon Prince, he disappeared while saying that he’d do some personal research. He didn’t have much long left to live in the first place, so I didn’t even stop him… Disciple. Why are you looking at me like that?”
“Eh? Ah, no. It’s just a little…amazing.”
Master?Velkian.
He couldn’t believe that Landius used honorifics for Velkian.
‘Landius is now forty.’
On the other hand, Velkian was already in his 70s at the time of the first episode.
It was a matter of course.
“Boy, why are you saying something random? Anyway…I don’t know about Fran either. I’ve been in touch with him 5 years ago, but I lost contact with him after that. But since he’s a druid, he must be living well somewhere. Perhaps he’s doing something like hibernation.”
Jude thought that even if a druid hibernated, five years was a bit too much, but he nodded his head.
‘I have no choice but to find them one by one since we don’t know.’
They first needed to catch Velkian by fishing him with a bait.
“Well, that’s quite a sly smile, my disciple.”
“Ahem, ahem.”
“You sly boy. Are you thinking of the girl?”
When Landius asked with a furtive smile, Jude felt that he was being misunderstood.
Or rather, why was Cordelia connected to his sly expression?
Especially when Jude himself thought of Cordelia with a pure heart…
“Ahem, ahem.”
Jude who was thinking about her suddenly coughed again.
Because he was embarrassed when he thought of her.
“I guess you have a conscience.”
Landius said that as if he knew what Jude was thinking, so Jude cleared his throat again from his embarrassment.
After about an hour.
Jude, Cordelia, and Landius stood facing each other at the entrance of the Temple of Life.
Because it was now time for them to go their separate ways.
“Master, please stop by the royal capital when you’re done with your business.”
Landius was heading to the southern part of the kingdom where Kamael and Lena were in order to resolve some business there.
Though Jude was anxious that Landius didn’t give him a proper answer even after he asked several times, he decided to be understanding of Landius.
‘There must be a reason.’
A reason why Landius didn’t want to say it.
Perhaps there was something really dangerous there.
‘I hope that he’ll be safe.’
Although he didn’t have a complete picture of the events since it was not accurately described in the original, it was not yet time for Landius to die.
Moreover, Lena who was not present in the original was now together with them, so if their business got settled well and was much better than the original, the chances of Landius dying would be low.
“Yes, Landius-nim. I’ll also be waiting for you in the royal capital.
Cordelia gracefully added, and Landius chuckled and nodded his head.
“Okay, I understand. If it’s possible, I’d go see the two of you at the founding ball.”
The 300th?anniversary founding ball.
As it was a gathering of many people from all over the country, it would be full of good-looking men and women, but Landius was sure of one thing.
That it would be Jude and Cordelia who would shine the brightest on that day.
“Now then, I have to go. Your level was much higher than I expected, so I got delayed a bit.”
“Thank you very much, master.”
Jude replied a bit awkwardly at Landius’ slightly mischievous words, and Landius chuckled again.
“My disciple, I look forward to our next meeting. Practice hard until then. Build your muscles. Do you understand?”
“Yes, master.”
Jude’s face turned pale due to the trauma he remembered in the last few days, but fortunately, Cordelia was next to him.
Cordelia held the staggering Jude with her arms and said to Landius.
“Then, see you next time. May the muscles always be with you.”
At Cordelia’s greeting, Landius stared in surprise but he soon cheerfully laughed and rose from the ground.
“Don’t cry as it would lead to muscle loss! May the muscles always be with you!”
A golden aura exploded from Landius’ body as he soared high in the sky.
It brightly shined as if another sun had risen in the sky.
“See you again! Disciple! Girl! May the muscles always be with you!”
Hahahahaha!
Landius burst into a vigorous laughter as he moved in the air and flew at a terrifying speed towards the south, and Cordelia said with a blank expression like usual.
“It’s amazing whenever I see it.”
Why is that not magic?
How in the world does he fly like that?
“Aren’t you amazed too… Jude?”
Cordelia who was supporting Jude with her arms unknowingly stepped back. Because Jude’s body shook and the laughter he suppressed finally burst out.
“Kukuku…kukuku…I’m free. I’m free!”
He was free from the training of those last six days.
Those hellish days!
“Are you that happy?”
“I’m very happy!”
Jude broadly smiled as he held Cordelia’s waist in his joy and lifted her up high.
“Yes! Wahoo!”
The two spun around.
Cordelia was frightened by his smile that was like that of a madman, but she soon spoke with a sympathetic face.
“I’ll give you a lap pillow today.”
“Sob, sob! Thank you, Madam!”
“Yes, yes, my Dolswe.”
Jude spun around a few more times before he brought Cordelia down on the floor.
***
The next afternoon.
At the branch headquarters of the Devil’s Hand located in Minette.
The enduring Saluzia, a high-ranking demonic human who was in charge of the northern part of the S?len Kingdom, finally screamed in anger.
“What the hell is going on!”
The intelligence she received eight days ago.
The information that Jude and Cordelia would join forces with the Guardians of the Holy Cross at the headquarters of the Devil’s Hand in Minette – or to be exact, it was information about attacking the branch that Saluzia was in charge of in the whole north.
It was information that she couldn’t just ignore.
All the branches of the Devil’s Hand were run in secret.
Naturally, it wasn’t an exaggeration to say that only a few people knew about the locations too.
But they pinpointed Minette.
‘In addition, they made three mid-ranking demonic humans vanish off the face of the earth.’
She found it hard to believe that Jude and Cordelia alone could have done that.
It was obvious that the Guardians of the Holy Cross were deeply involved.
‘Kamael.’
The most powerful person in the Guardians of the Holy Cross.
There was a high possibility that his clone was also involved in this event.
No, perhaps he wouldn’t come at all.
He probably knew that he cannot defeat Saluzia by himself.
Therefore Saluzia went on the defensive.
After gathering all of their forces in the north to counterattack those who would be invading their headquarters, they laid out a trap and waited.
A day passed.
Two days.
Three days, four days.
Finally at the eight day!
“Why aren’t they coming!”
Saluzia didn’t just foolishly stayed indoors.
She sent intelligence agents outside several times in order to monitor the movements of the Guardians of the Holy Cross.
And what she found out as a result was that the Guardians of the Holy Cross were not making any significant moves.
She thought it was a trap at first.
She thought they were playing tricks in order to perfectly surprise them.
But now.
Eight days had now passed.
She could tell it now.
There would be no attack.
It didn’t matter if the information itself was false in the first place or if the Guardians canceled their operation midway, but what mattered was that an attack wouldn’t happen.
‘Either way, it doesn’t matter.’
The important thing was the fact that she wasted eight days and that there was a setback in their operation in the royal capital because she had gathered their troops in a hurry.
‘If the leader get disappointed at me over this… If she completely renounce me…’
Just imagining it was terrible.
Saluzia shuddered in fear as she covered her face with her hands and breathed in and out several times.
She would rather die than suffer as she didn’t want to face a future where she was abandoned by their leader. She wouldn’t be able to take it.
“Find Jude and Cordelia.”
The root of all evil.
So that their leader won’t be disappointed in her anymore. So that she could make up for her past mistakes.
“Locate the two! Hurry!”
Saluzia angrily shouted at the demon followers gathered in Minette and they scattered all over the north to begin searching.
They began their search in the major cities of the north as well as the villages near the roads to the royal capital.
But none of them could find traces of Jude and Cordelia.
And that was something natural.
The two didn’t use the proper road in the first place.
They headed to a completely different place and not for the royal capital after they left the Temple of Life.
The entrance to the capital.
At a village located in a place where there were only mountains as far as the eye could see.
Jude and Cordelia were there.
***
A business had to have customers just like all businesses do.
In the case of an inn, there must be someone who would stay, so there were usually two types of guests.
One was an outsider who was looking for a place to stay.
The other was a village insider who needed a place for a one-night stand.
The Pink Pig Inn, the only inn in Hans’ village, was mainly intended for outsider guests.
Because there were no fools who would stop by the inn to play with someone in a small village where everyone knew each other.
‘But there aren’t that many outsiders.’
It wasn’t exactly a tourist destination or near a major road.
The reason why there was an inn in the village was because many outsiders once visited the village in search of a job.
A mining industry.
An industry in which minerals and so on were extracted by digging the ground.
‘It used to be a hit.’
It wasn’t that far in the past. Around five years ago, the mining industry was so active that there were three inns in the village.
But now, it was a mining town where most of the tunnels were abandoned.
‘That’s why it’s weird.’
How many years has it been since so many outsiders were present at the inn?
Hans sat at the counter as he took a peek at the people on the first floor that was being used as a tavern.
There was a male and female couple sitting in the left corner.
Both were so handsome and pretty that he thought they weren’t human when he first saw them.
Especially the female whom he unconsciously felt that the word ‘angel’ would suit her.
And there was another group of people on the right.
Most of them were large men, but there was a small girl among them.
‘Interesting.’
It was rare for the tavern to be full, but even the people inside it were all unusual.
‘But I have to suppress my curiosity.’
He might get seriously hurt if he pushed his head out of curiosity.
Except for the small girl, all of the guests had swords on their back or waist. Even the ‘angel.’
‘Let’s not even look at them.’
I’ll find myself in trouble if I make eye contact.
Having made up his mind, Hans turned his gaze away, which was a wise move.
Because a silent battle had already began in the tavern, though Hans didn’t feel it.
The group of people where the small girl was with stared at the young man and woman sitting in the left corner – at Jude and Cordelia, and the two exchanged glances.
‘It’s her, right?’
‘Yes, it’s her.’
They never imagined that they would meet her in a place like this.
Jude and Cordelia exchanged glances again and turned to the girl simultaneously.
A brown hood was worn from the top of her head and covered more than half of her face, but even so, her young-looking face couldn’t be completely covered.
She was clearly Princess Darianne, the younger sister of Princess Daphne and Prince Dion who were known to be the key people in the royal capital incident.