They were traveling towards the closest sect. A small scale one named Scorching Iron Sect. They reached it in two days. The sect was based in the mountain area and there was a small city not far from it. Hae-Hyuk led the two straight to the sect. Jin had never seen a wandering cultivator being welcomed in his sect back then. Though he hadn't paid much attention to it, the social butterflies who were friends with Soo-Hyun would have talked about such events.

As such, he didn't expect much from their journey. He thought that maybe they wouldn't even open their doors to Hae-Hyuk. He was wrong. Not only were the doors opened, they were welcomed like royals. Two dozen elders bowed as Hae-Hyuk approached. And one them welcomed him warmly: "Master Hae-Hyuk! It is a pleasure to see you again!"

Hae-Hyuk smiled at the elder and they began to chat politely as they walked in. The door closing behind their entrance. Moments later, they were in the sect core area and meeting with both the sect master and sect vice-master. Jin couldn't help but feel as if he had been slapped.

He thought they would reject him at the entrance yet here he was chatting with the sect master as if they were brothers. As for their discussion...It was unexpectedly pure useless and random banter about some gossips. It went on like this for half an hour at least before the sect master offered them to go rest until tonight's banquet.

They ended up in a giant mansion with many servants ready to do whatever they tasked them to. Jin was glaring at Hae-Hyuk who kept a smile on his face. They were sitting in the lobby, in comfortable sofas. It was Min-Su who broke the silence as he couldn't bear it any longer: "Jin, can't you stop glaring at master?"

Jin sighed and asked: "Ok, I admit I didn't think they would treat you this way" to which Hae-Hyuk grinned. Not trying to hide his smugness, the 'master' spoke: "Then, will you be my disciple"

Jin scoffed as he answered: "Why are they treating you this way? The sect master is your brother or something?"

Ignoring Min-Su grumbling on the side about how Jin wasn't treating his master right, Jin waited for an answer. Hae-Hyuk pondered for a moment before he asked Jin a question instead: "Do you know what a technique master is?"

A technique master? If it meant what it sounded like, wouldn't it be someone who mastered a technique? Before Jin could give a tentative answer, Hae-Hyuk said: "I can see it on your face that you don't"

Jin felt puzzled. The guy had a cloth over his eyes. How could he see anything? As such, he said: "How could you see anything with this blindfold?" and that brought the laughter of both Hae-Hyuk and Min-Su. Leaving Jin puzzled for a moment, the two were having a lot of fun. Only after some time did Hae-Hyuk take off his blindfold revealing average brown eyes.

You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

Then, he explained to Jin: "This is an equipment that augments my visual acuity. I can see through it. But you can't. One side is see-through and not the other. It gives me a mysterious vibe too"

So, it wasn't a real blindfold... Appearances were indeed tricky. As Hae-Hyuk tied his blindfold back, he returned to the previous topic: "So, a technique master. You probably guessed that it is someone who mastered a technique, right? You would be both right and wrong. Obviously, we would have mastered techniques but it isn't what we represent. Technique masters are technique traders"

Technique traders? Ok. They went around buying and selling techniques. This didn't sound that impressive. It wasn't something that would bring about the impressive kind of treatment they were being given. Even if it was a small sect, it seemed unlikely.

Hae-Hyuk continued: "Do you think that it isn't impressive? You seem to have to have the wrong impression. I am talking about spiritual warrior's techniques here. Those techniques are the foundation of sects. A technique master can provide a sect with that"

But Jin didn't find it that impressive. Anyone can learn a technique with enough diligence. And anyone is able to teach it to others after this. Seeing how he wasn't impressed, Min-Su added: "Don't you get it? A technique master can help an entire sect jump grades thanks to their techniques!"

Jin remained unfazed. As someone who had yet to become familiar with spiritual warrior's technique, as he wasn't yet one himself, he couldn't grasp the importance of such a master. One had to know that techniques used by spiritual warriors were vastly different from anything else. Each were unique. And due to one single fact: they each needed spiritual energy to flow in some ways.

You might think that all movement techniques would require to push spiritual energy into one's legs. You would be wrong. It is many times more complex. The spiritual energy has to be led through certain points in a certain way, in an ever-changing pattern due to the movements of the user. A single technique of spiritual warrior level was worth a lot.

And a technique master was someone who grasped thousands and thousands of such techniques. He was someone who could give the theories and teachings behind every single one of those techniques. Wasn't it impressive? Wasn't it glorious? Wasn't it worth the sects opening their doors? Of course it was.

Technique masters were nicknamed 'future seller' for a reason. As long as you could secure one for your sect, you were guaranteed a brighter future. And Hae-Hyuk was one.

To Jin, Hae-Hyuk seemed to be a high-level martial arts teacher. Being treated so grandly proved that he had high qualifications in the domain. He considered it an exaggeration to claim that such a man could change an entire sect. He had to reconsider his opinion on this 'master'.

He had been given quite a few slaps because he had been ignorant already and didn't want to make the same mistakes again. This time, he would adopt a wait-and-see attitude. He believed that he would soon enough understand what a technique master truly was. Only then would he reach a conclusion for himself.

For now, at least, he could only answer: "I don't quite get it how formidable you might be, probably due to my lack of knowledge" His honesty was real and Hae-Hyuk wasn't offended. It wasn't unusual to find people who didn't know about his line of work. He kept a smile on his face as he told Jin: "Tonight at the banquet, make sure to watch and learn"

Jin nodded.