Volcanic Age - Chapter 6

Editor: Summerstood, Imagine

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Yu Jong Mok went out to the periodical assembly.

“I will probably return after four days. Stay safe till I come back.”

“Have a safe trip, master.”

Ju Seo Cheon bowed politely and sent Yu Jong Mok off.

‘Good, today is the day.’

Four days were enough. He already knew the location of the underwater cave and where the Water Spirit Fruit was growing.

It would be a bit tiring but he could return back to Hua Sect in three days.

Ju Seo Cheon left the sect secretly, exactly two hours after Yu Jong Mok climbed down the mountain.

‘Slipping away is not that difficult because of the inner disciples.’

The inner disciples were mostly the children of rich merchants or precious children of high ranked yangbans.

Among them, the youngest children didn’t have that much patience so they felt stuffed at the communal style of living and the rules so they skipped out on classes or thought of ways to escape

The most representative way among them was to dig a hole under an isolated and old wall and slip off.

They normally got outside through this hole to drink alcohol and embrace women and returned.

In addition, this “secret” passage was well known in the sect but they were just pretending to not have seen it.

It was because inner disciples ended their training in three years at most or another year more if their comprehension was slow and then descended the mountain.

They were going to leave anyway so it would become a bigger pain if the sect didn’t tolerate it and so they acted more spoiled.

Even if you were inner disciples with a high status or children of people that donated a lot of money, the sect wasn’t able to treat them as they wished.

That’s why they just left the passage alone and dispatched an expert to monitor it in case of outside infiltrators.

It was a known secret to all the disciples of the sect.

Even the disciples of the head temple used this passage frequently but there weren’t many of them.

It was because the disciples of the head temple were aware of their masters, compared to the relatively free inner disciples.

Because of that Ju Seo Cheon didn’t have many days like today. It was about once a year.

He still had five years of time left but that didn’t mean that he had leisure.

He had to go out when he had the opportunity.

In addition, there was no need to worry about what happened in the afternoon in the Nakan hell.

They only examine them intensively in the beginning but they don’t care that much for about one year of making round trips passed.

It was because there were too many disciples passing through the Nakan hell in a day.

The only time they could check on them continuously was either when they were really young or when not too much time passed since they entered the sect.

Ju Seo Cheon got out of the sect through the secret passage with some other inner disciples without attracting too much attention.

It was because many prominent figures beside Yu Jong Mok joined the periodical meeting, so quite a lot of disciples slipped away out of the sect this time.

Thanks to that, they didn’t get stopped by the experts that were expected to be near the hole.

The things he took out were some dried out supplies, essential necessities, and some money he saved since his soul entered into his younger body.

“Ha, how long has it been!”

Ju Seo Cheon smiled brightly as soon as he descended the mountain and took a deep breath. It was the outside air. He breathed in as slowly and with great satisfaction as he came out of the sect border after an extremely long time.

After he became one of the Five Elders before reincarnating, he had to manage his work, so there were few chances to descend the mountain.

And after he reincarnated he wasn’t able to go outside by force so he also wasn’t able to get near the entrance either.

“It’s cold.”

White steam came out of his mouth.

He turned around and saw a river.

“Ugh, to think I should swim in this weather.”

Ju Seo Cheon shivered.

It was winter, especially. The time he had chosen to get out was the worst. Still, he had no choice.

Ju Seo Cheon trimmed his cold protecting clothes and checked the money and items he had in his pocket.

After that, he executed the Light Step Arts facing Zuo Yin that was in the north.

‘The Dark Essence Diagram!’

Ju Seo Cheon trained in other martial arts secretively besides the Plum Blossom Fist Techniques and Plum Blossom Qi Arts.

One of them was the Dark Essence Diagram, one of the representative Light Step Arts of Hua Sect.

Originally, it was an art that could only be learned after one turned thirteen or fourteen but that was meaningless for the current Ju Seo Cheon.

He already knew the Purple Haze Arts that were only allowed to be learned by the strongest martial artists of Hua Sect.

It took one full day for him to reach Zuo Yin.

“Pant pant, damn it.”

It was good for saving time that he learned the Light Step Arts but unfortunately, it spent more internal energy than swordsmanship or footwork techniques.

Ju Seo Cheon had more internal energy than his peers but it didn’t mean that he could use the Light Step Arts all day.

It was really exhausting and harsh but he didn’t stop moving because the time was limited. Thanks to that, he didn’t exceed his time range by that much and arrived at the place.

“I’m lucky that I didn’t encounter any thieves.”

Shānsè being the base for Mount Hua Sect and the Jong Nam Sect, the security was great.

But being great didn’t mean it wasn’t perfect.

It wasn’t that there were no mountain thieves or bandits. That’s why he even disguised himself to show that he had nothing on purpose.

He should be able to face five of them but it was impossible to face more than that because of his lacking stamina or internal energy so he had to be careful.

That’s why this matter was a kind of gamble for Ju Seo Cheon.

Whatever the case as soon as Ju Seo Cheon arrived at Zuo Yin, he took some rest, and after buying some things to help him fight any enemies, he got out of the village.

If someone picked a fight with him he would only waste strength.

There were many cases that they looked down on children and they were also easy targets for robbery so he didn’t eat on the way down the mountain on purpose.

Being young didn’t have only one disadvantage. He was earnest about wanting to grow quickly.

“Let’s start warming up first.”

He could find his destination without much difficulty. The path going to the underwater cave was located at a remote place that was easy to remember and the path wasn’t that complicated either.

“Ha, I really don’t want to enter.”

There was no need to learn the Arts of Water to reach the underwater cave as you could simply dive.

Normal people would suffocate in the middle but it was an exception for martial artists whose breathing capacities were several times more outstanding. Even kids were able to go there.

The reason this place wasn’t discovered for a long time was that it was at a really remote place and there was nothing else there.

In the first place, there was no reason for martial artists to come all the way to this place and enter the cave by diving.

You could see that as the ronin managed to reach the underwater cave by luck as he fell down the river and let himself get carried by the current in an unconscious state.

“One, two, one, two.”

Ju Seo Cheon loosened his muscles with plenty of warm-ups and then took out his belongings and hid it nearby.

There was no one that would come to this secluded place but a beast was able to take it so he dug a hole and covered it with dirt.

“I just hope I don’t freeze to death!”

Flop!

Ju Seo Cheon jumped down to the river. The surface surged up and waved up.

‘Damn it!’

He couldn’t help but curse as soon as he dived in.

A chill penetrated all of his body. It wasn’t simply cold but it even chilled the insides of his bones.

Taking a cold shower with ice water in plain winter while being naked and then rubbing ice on your skin would probably feel like this.

Ju Seo Cheon greatly regretted it not long after diving.

‘I should have prepared myself a bit more!’

I want to return right now!

But Ju Seo Cheon suppressed his feelings.

If he returned back to the river banks in this state, he would only suffer the current pain twice. Nothing else would change.

Most of all, he couldn’t dive forever. There was a limit to his stamina and he already had spent a lot of strength just by diving into the river once, so it would be harder when he tried again.

‘Get a hold of yourself, you idiot!’

He had obtained an opportunity to live one more time but it seemed like he wasn’t able to get rid of his nature.

He wasn’t a great man before he returned in time either. When he tried, it didn’t work well, and if it was hard he made excuses and gave up.

‘If I can save master with this much pain I can take in however much! I will save him even if I fall into hell!’

He opened his eyes and gritted his teeth.

The only person he could call family in his life.

The master that saved him when he was an orphan and taught him martial arts.

He was a precious person. One who loved his stupid disciple, one that was a fool from beginning to end and the only one that smiled gently to him.

Ju Seo Cheon thought of Yu Jong Mok’s smile and dived with more strength.

Water bubbles appeared on the surface.

The silent surface started to boil suddenly and then a black shadow arose on top of it.

“Puha!”

Ju Seo Cheon took in a deep breath as soon as he got out to the surface. He drank in some water but it didn’t matter.

“Cough, cough!”

Ju Seo Cheon coughed the water he drank. He then took in fresh air deep in his lungs and exhaled it.

Tak tak tak!

It was the sound Ju Seo Cheon made with his teeth hitting each other. He looked pale as a corpse.

“I,I,I, alm, almost f**ked up.”

Ju Seo Cheon couldn’t speak properly and stuttered.

He ran out of the water and lied down on the ground without even checking his surroundings.

Fortunately, he didn’t get lost while coming to the underwater cave.

He didn’t lack oxygen. He could endure it.

His breathing capacity was higher than an adult man thanks to his internal energy.

But the water was colder than he thought.

The cold was terrible because it was beyond his imagination.

“ If it go-, goes on, Li, li, like this, I, I will die from cold.”

Ju Seo Cheon pinched his cheeks to endure the sleep invading his body and massaged his body with his hands as he couldn’t sense it well.

After that, he started to circulate internal energy immediately to drive away the cold and increase it to the maximum.

As if proving that it had an effect, Ju Seo Cheon’s color started to return to his original.

“Haa….”

Ju Seo Cheon opened his closed eyes.

‘For me to be this weak!’

He had seen the body and internal energy of a kid too and expected too much out of it. It was harder to endure than he thought.

It seemed like he hadn’t thought much about it because he remembered that he felt nothing when he came to this place before returning in time.

‘I don’t have much time. Let’s retrieve the Water Spirit Fruit and return.’

It was so cold that it could drive him crazy but it wasn’t to the point that he would die.

Ju Seo Cheon stood up from his place and walked inside the cave.

Step step.

The silent cave started to get filled with the echoes of Ju Seo Cheon’s steps.

‘Um, I was worried about the darkness but I’m glad there is moss.’

It wasn’t that bright but the moss that released faint light grew on the boulders and they illuminated the path.

If there had been no moss, he would have had to stick to the walls and walk carefully.

If he utilized his internal energy and increased his insight he would be able to see but he had to leave internal energy for when he returned to the ground.

After about fifteen minutes passed.

The passage that only two people could pass through started t o get wider and when the path reached an end an open space that could hold a hundred people appeared.

The empty space was also filled with moss and when the faint light gathered together they boasted a considerable brightness.

“I found…Hup!”

Ju Seo Cheon was about to cheer but held his breath.

He then lowered his posture and blocked his mouth.

‘Just what…!’