Chapter 5 What on earth is going on here?

"Clink?" Cheongmyeong struggled to lift his head.

In front of him, something sparkled.

"Huh?" At the same time, he heard a clicking sound.

"Tsk tsk tsk. You look young, but how did you end up as a beggar?" Clink.

Clink.

Coins began to fly in.

"It looks like he got beaten up pretty badly. I wonder if he’ll die like this."

"The world is chaotic. Tsk tsk tsk. It's pitiful."

Huh? What is this situation...? "Ah."

I’m a beggar, right? I had forgotten for a moment.

To others, Cheongmyeong would appear as a beggar.

No, even to himself, he was just a beggar.

A young beggar who hadn’t even reached adulthood.

A pitiful beggar with bruised eyelids and dried blood stuck to his face, lying sprawled out in the marketplace.

"Ugh. I can’t just ignore him."

"As a human, you can’t just walk past."

The young beggar, with underdeveloped limbs, was dressed in rags and covered in dirt, dying before their eyes.

It wasn’t just a metaphor; he was truly dying.

Where could there be a more perfect display of begging? Perhaps that was why coins were clinking as they flew in.

"Tsk tsk."

"I’ve never seen this beggar before. How did he end up here?" It seemed the world still had some kindness left.

Those heading to the market were clicking their tongues and tossing coins to him.

As Cheongmyeong watched the coins fly in, clear tears streamed down his face.

"Look at him. He’s crying. It’s so sad."

"Use that to buy some noodles."

Kindness was pouring in.

But Cheongmyeong wasn’t crying out of gratitude for the situation. 'How could I, a disciple of the Great Huashan Sect, be reduced to begging?' How did I end up here? Just a few days ago, he was the greatest swordsman in the world, risking everything to fight the Heavenly Demon.

Before that, he was an elegant swordsman traversing the world, discussing matters of life.

Yet now, he found himself in a position to beg.

What a drastic change! 'A person has their pride!' If he accepted this money, he would truly become a beggar.

The noble swordsman of the Great Huashan Sect reduced to a beggar.

Begging! This was truly unacceptable.

A warrior would never abandon their pride, even with a knife to their neck!

Cheongmyeong raised his head, gritted his teeth, and shouted, "Thank you! You will be blessed, kind sir!" Pride be damned.

I must survive.

"Ugh!" Cheongmyeong patted his bulging stomach.

His skinny body was so emaciated that only his belly stuck out, resembling a tadpole.

"Pride doesn’t fill your stomach. A living beggar is better than a dead warrior."

Perhaps because his body was small, he was efficient.

Just three dumplings bought from the market had filled him to the brim.

Even after that, he still had three coins jingling in his sleeve.

Coins that he would have ignored in the past now felt like treasures beyond compare. 'I never knew money could be this important.'

Remembering his older brother, who would pull his hair every month during settlement day, he recalled the Taoist who used to say that one should not be attached to wealth.

If only he could return to that time and smack that annoying mouth! 'My stomach is growling.'

How could someone who couldn’t earn a living boast about their sword skills? Thinking of his older brother, who had bent over backward to feed those useless half-wits, tears blurred his vision.

Anyway.

"At least I’m alive."

Cheongmyeong scratched his head.

He had set off without a plan, but now he had no idea how to get to Shaanxi. 'I thought two thousand li would be easy.'

All his thoughts were based on the past.

Even though he knew his body and circumstances had changed, adapting to a new standard overnight was no easy task.

In his past life, he could travel from Infinity to Shaanxi in half a day and still have time to enjoy a drink at an inn below the volcano.

But now, going to the volcano with just his bare body was a matter of life and death.

Even if he could deal with mountain bandits or wild beasts, hunger had no solution.

What he thought would be a simple journey had turned into a perilous one, and his head was spinning. 'But I can’t just leisurely beg my way to Shaanxi.'

Cheongmyeong scratched his head.

"I need to find a way, but I need to know something to find a way!" In the past, he would have known.

But now, a hundred years had passed.

It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say he had no idea how the world worked.

So how could he find a way?

"Hey!" Even an ordinary person would take over two months to reach Shaanxi.

With this body, it wouldn’t be strange if it took half a year to get to the volcano.

"Hey!" For Cheongmyeong, who needed to see what had happened to the volcano right away, it was incredibly frustrating.

He had to find a way somehow, but nothing was coming to mind...

"Hey, you! Are you deaf?"

"Huh?" Cheongmyeong turned his head. 'What?' He heard a voice but didn’t realize it was calling him.

No one would bother to talk to a beggar.

Three beggars with fierce expressions entered his sight.

"Wow, what a beggar."

It seemed this life was intertwined with beggars in many ways.

"Me?"

"Me? Not me?" The most intimidating beggar spat on the ground.

"I don’t know where you crawled in from, but who gave you permission to beg here?"

Do you need permission to beg? "You look young, so I’ll spare your life. Take everything you have in your hands and pockets and get lost."

If he meant what was in his pockets, he was referring to the remaining coins.

What he held in his hands was...

Cheongmyeong glanced at his hands.

A half-eaten, cold dumpling was in his grip.

"... You really have no conscience. You beggars."

Steal this? This? It’s like taking a flea’s liver!

"You beggar!" The two beggars could only curse each other.

In that moment, it felt like they were spitting in their own faces while cursing someone else...

Ah, let’s stop with the begging!

"Wait a minute."

Cheongmyeong gently set the dumpling aside.

Then he stood up, stretched his hands forward a few times, took a step forward, and then stepped back, repeating this action several times.

The beggars watching him widened their eyes.

"What are you doing?"

"Ah, just a moment. I’ll be done soon."

After stretching his limbs a few more times, Cheongmyeong nodded and turned his body.

"It’s not perfect yet, but this should be enough."

Now he had a sense of distance.

He had somewhat adapted to his short limbs.

So!

"You must feel very wronged, but I really don’t have good feelings towards beggars."

"... What?"

"What can I do? That’s just how the world works. Don’t feel wronged and just accept it."

"What is this guy saying?" Cheongmyeong cracked his neck a couple of times.

"Oh, by the way, my body is weak, so I can’t hit hard, okay? So you’ll have to take a lot of hits."

"This is really...!" At that moment, Cheongmyeong lunged forward like a tiger and slapped the face of the closest beggar.

Smack!

With the perfect footing, his completely bent waist rotated smoothly, channeling all the force into his fist.

A child’s fist struck a person’s face, making a sound like a well-aimed slap.

Thud.

The beggar, unable to make a sound after taking such an overwhelming blow, collapsed on the spot.

Cheongmyeong trembled with excitement at the sight.

"I!"

Pah! A kick sent another beggar flying.

"I am the Plum Blossom Sword Master of the Great Huashan Sect! You beggars!"

It was the moment when all the pent-up frustration from his reincarnation exploded.

"... Kind sir."

"Who calls a beggar kind sir?"

"Great beggar...?"

"Do you want to die?"

The three beggars, with their heads bowed, groaned in pain. 'Where did this monstrous guy come from?' 'It hurts so much.'

It took Cheongmyeong no more than the time it takes to drink a cup of tea to subdue the beggars.

It would be astonishing if a child could knock down three sturdy adults, but for Cheongmyeong, it was still a very miserable outcome.

'At this rate, I might get a fit of rage.'

To subdue these guys didn’t even require any internal energy.

If it were his past self, he could have taken them down with just a finger.

But now, he had to jump, kick, and roll to deal with them.

After hitting one, they kept getting back up, and he ended up hitting their eyelids thirty-eight times before they finally cried out.

'That bastard, what was his name? I should have beaten him up like this.' Just thinking of that guy made his teeth grind.

If only he had known his limbs were short beforehand! If he had the stamina to take a hit, he could have beaten him like a dog on a hot day!

He had rushed off to the volcano without seeking revenge, but one day, he would catch that beggar like catching a rat.

"Get up."

"Yes!" The three beggars jumped up.

Sweat dripped down their filthy faces.

All three of them glanced at Cheongmyeong.

'No matter how I look at it, this beggar hasn’t eaten a single meal.'

'This doesn’t make sense.'

It was completely incomprehensible.

Small, weak, and thin.

At first glance, it looked like if they fell while walking, they would head straight for the afterlife.

But once they fought, it was like facing a ghost.

Their fists couldn’t even brush against the hem of that young beggar’s clothes.

They didn’t seem particularly fast or strong, so why did it turn out like this?

"Hey."

"Yes!"

"Command me! Kind sir! No, great beggar! Ah, no..."

What did it matter if they understood or not? Thoughts were far away, but fists were close.

What mattered was that this young beggar’s punches hurt to the bone.

Cheongmyeong looked back at the beggars and spoke.

"Just in case, do you know a fast way to get to Shaanxi?"

The beggars looked at each other and smiled confidently.

Seeing their self-assured smiles, Cheongmyeong felt a glimmer of hope.

"Haha, you’re asking something obvious."

"Oh? You know?"

"If we knew that, would we be living as beggars? You should ask someone who knows."

..."Cheongmyeong sighed deeply as he looked at the beggars. It wasn’t their fault. It was his situation that was wrong, having to ask a beggar for a way."

Forget it.

Go on.

""Thank you!

""May you live long!

"The beggars bowed deeply and turned to leave. No, they tried to run away."

Wait.

"At that moment, Cheongmyeong’s voice caught them."

Yes?

""You can go, but you need to take out what you have in your hands and pockets.

""...""If you come out with something, I’ll give you a punch for every coin...

No, ten punches.

One punch wouldn’t even hurt.

"Realizing he was serious, the beggars reluctantly took out the coins from their pockets and presented them to Cheongmyeong."

Hey, you.

""Yes?

""Take out what’s in your undergarments.

Before I strip you."..."

It was a scene too brutal to watch, as the beggar was being robbed.