Chapter 127

It didn’t take long for the question marks to turn into exclamation points, and the exclamation points into bewilderment and rage.

Jin Mukyung was the first to break the silence.

“You…”

His face was flushed red, his breathing ragged. His fist twitched as if he wanted to plant one right in my mouth.

Well, he’s really pissed.

A chill ran through me. A dagger had flown in and lodged in my chest.

But don’t worry. I had a sturdy shield.

“Now, now, Mukyung.”

At the quiet voice, Jin Mukyung’s face twisted violently.

“Eldest brother!”

“Taekyung must have had his reasons. Isn’t that right?”

I deliberately lowered my eyes.

“No, eldest brother. I was shortsighted.”

“Hm?”

“I let my curiosity get the better of me… But after hearing what Eldest Brother said, I realized the truth. That object must never be kept—or hidden.”

I didn’t forget to make a show of trembling my fist, as if merely thinking about it made my teeth chatter with rage.

“The Demonic Cult! Just hearing the name of those vile bastards makes my teeth chatter with fury!”

That part was sincere. If they were going to make something, they should’ve made it properly. Turning the user into a deranged murderer was one hell of a design flaw.

“Good heavens.”

Jin Wikyung looked at me with eyes full of affection.

“I remember a small, adorable little boy who said he would grow up to become a chivalrous hero. You were six years old then. Do you remember?”

Of course I didn’t.

Even the year before last was already hazy. How was I supposed to know what the original owner of this body had done at age six?

Still, I nodded solemnly.

“I remember it clearly. It was my one and only dream.”

Chivalrous hero, governor of Gyeonggi Province—whatever. As of this moment, that was my career aspiration at age six.

“Ha-ha. To think that little boy would grow into such a fine man.”

Jin Wikyung smiled with satisfaction, then turned to the other two.

“You were there too, Wipeng. Do you remember?”

Wipeng answered without even taking a breath.

“I don’t remember that, but I do remember him starting to womanize exactly ten years later. When I asked what he wanted to be when he grew up, he said he’d become the greatest ladies’ man under heaven.”

“A hero ought to know how to enjoy romance.”

“He doesn’t know squat about martial arts, so what good is knowing about romance? Is the hero you’re talking about a hero of the night, a hero to courtesans, or something?”

“Be quiet. Our youngest showed unusual promise from an early age.”

“So that promise… Ah, forget it. I should just keep my mouth shut.”

Glug, glug.

Jin Wikyung neatly ignored Wipeng, who was pouring liquor straight from the bottle, and turned to the next man in line.

“Mukyung. Now that you understand your little brother’s sincerity, let go of your anger.”

Jin Mukyung, whose face was twisted into an ugly grimace, finally spoke.

“Can’t I hit that bastard just once?”

“Now, now.”

“Just once. Please.”

At the icy voice, I quickly bowed my head.

“Please forgive this foolish little brother, Second Brother.”

“You’ve been talking down to me this whole time, and now you’re calling me ‘brother’?”

“Pardon? Me?”

“That’s enough. This is your final warning.”

“No. Hit me instead. If that would ease your anger, this little brother will gladly endure it.”

“You little shit!”

Jin Mukyung shot to his feet, only to sink back down with a gasp. The bandages wrapped around his chest were turning red. His wound must have reopened.

“Oh, no! Second Brother, are you all right?”

“This bastard, again… Guh!”

“Doctor! Doctor!”

The drinking party descended into chaos in an instant.

Wipeng silently picked up his second bottle and muttered,

“This family is really something…”

And how something it was—the foremost family in Shanxi.

The atmosphere finally settled down after the physician had come and gone.

Ignoring Jin Mukyung’s murderous glare, I took the Temporary Strength Pill from inside my robes.

“This is it.”

The pill was entirely red, as if blood had been condensed into a single sphere.

Jin Wikyung and Wipeng examined it closely.

“Wipeng, what do you think?”

“Just looking at it, I can smell blood. It’s a vicious object.”

“Could it really have been made by the Demonic Cult?”

“I couldn’t say. If it were, we should be able to sense demonic qi… but I can’t be certain.”

“Right? There’s something different about it.”

Both of them looked extremely serious. I was just as curious about where the Temporary Strength Pill had come from and who had made it, so I decided to give them a hint.

“They called it a Temporary Strength Pill.”

“A Temporary Strength Pill?”

“Yes. I heard it directly from Pung Yang’s own mouth.”

Jin Mukyung abruptly cut in.

“Pung Yang? When?”

“While you were unconscious.”

“…Hoo. Hoo…”

No matter what anyone said, I was the sole eyewitness and witness. While Jin Mukyung steadied his breathing to calm himself after getting nowhere, the furrows between the other two men’s brows only deepened.

“A Temporary Strength Pill, Wipeng?”

“I’ve never heard the name either. If something this potent belonged to the Demonic Cult, it must have been used during the Great Faction War…”

“What if the Demonic Cult didn’t make it?”

Their gazes turned toward me.

“Not the Demonic Cult?”

“What makes you think that?”

“I’m just saying there’s no need to jump to conclusions.”

In truth, I had said it out of hope that I might be able to take the pill back if it hadn’t been made by the Demonic Cult.

Of course, I had another thought as well.

The Head Elder.

On the surface, the enemy in the last battle had clearly been the Mount Heng Sword Sect. But the true enemy had been the Head Elder himself.

Rather than making a simple either-or assumption, I believed we always had to keep open the possibility that there might be a third faction involved.

“Well, it just suddenly occurred to me.”

After hearing me out, the other two men’s expressions grew strange. Then, in the next moment, a very quiet voice escaped Wipeng’s lips.

It was a single word that slipped out unconsciously, like a groan.

“Dark Heaven…”

“Wipeng.”

Jin Wikyung’s sharp gaze cut off whatever he had been about to say.

“Ah, I apologize. I misspoke.”

Wipeng hurriedly tried to cover it up.

But it was already too late.

The two words Dark Heaven had been deeply etched into my mind.

Dark Heaven? What’s that?

Then something unexpected happened.

System

You have obtained a small amount of information about Dark Heaven.

The item description for the Temporary Strength Pill will be updated.

The System notification had come out of nowhere. I held out my hand toward Wipeng, who was holding the Temporary Strength Pill.

“May I take a quick look?”

“Of course.”

Item check.

The moment I muttered the command in my head, the information on the Temporary Strength Pill appeared.

The change was easy to spot.

System

Item Window

Temporary Strength Pill

Type: Elixir
Grade: ???
Restriction: Peak martial artist or higher
Description: A pill manufactured by Dark Heaven. For approximately one shichen, it dramatically raises the user’s latent power, but a price follows. Do not take it except in the worst-case scenario.
Effect: Combat-related stats +100
Internal energy: +15 years
Body-Protecting Qi: Available

The phrase Someone Unknown had disappeared, replaced by the unfamiliar term Dark Heaven.

Judging by the context, it’s definitely some kind of organization…

Well, anyone capable of making something like the Temporary Strength Pill was bound to be no better than the Demonic Cult. Same rotten lot, different name.

Dark Heaven.

Whoever had named them had one hell of a gift. Those two words alone announced that they were shady bastards.

These fuckers definitely have something rotten going on behind the scenes. I’m ninety-nine percent sure.

Jin Wikyung and Wipeng seem to know something.

The problem was that, judging by their reactions, they were extremely reluctant to reveal anything about Dark Heaven.

Should I poke at them once?

But before I could open my mouth, Jin Mukyung beat me to it.

“Dark Heaven? What is that?”

“Well…”

A troubled look crossed Jin Wikyung’s face.

“I’m sorry. I can’t tell you yet.”

Those words came from a man who cared deeply for his younger brothers.

If even Jin Wikyung refused to speak, there was no point asking Wipeng.

“I apologize, Young Masters, but I cannot tell you until the matter becomes clearer.”

His attitude was firmer than I had ever seen it. Jin Mukyung and I both realized that we had to withdraw for today.

But the more they tried to hide it, the more curious I became about Dark Heaven.

So it’s a secret they have to keep even from us.

Setting aside the fact that Mukyung and I were direct descendants, we were both core masters of the Jin Family of Taiyuan. If Wipeng was Jin Wikyung’s right arm, either of us could more than qualify as his left arm—or at least one of his legs.

Then it must be top-secret information known only to those two, even within the family.

I was only human, so I couldn’t help being curious. The fact that the System had reacted this time, despite remaining silent during the Mount Heng Sword Sect incident, also played a part.

Dark Heaven. The Temporary Strength Pill. A top-secret matter known only to Jin Wikyung and Wipeng.

Several keywords flashed through my mind.

All right. I’d made up my mind.

I’ll ignore it and go on living.

Too much curiosity had a way of shortening your life. It had only been a few days since I’d gone to deliver the mail to the Mount Heng Sword Sect and nearly died.

A mysterious organization whose very name was ominous? If I got involved with them, it was obvious things wouldn’t end well.

“Come now, let’s stop talking about this and have another drink.”

Jin Wikyung forced the mood back to normal.

Wipeng had already demolished two bottles by himself, and even the injured Mukyung was filling his glass. How could I be the only one to sit out? I accepted the liquor Jin Wikyung poured and downed it in one gulp.

Gulp, gulp.

The notoriously potent fire liquor burned down my throat in a rush of heat.

“Guhhh.”

Wow. This was no joke.

I knew it was strong, but drinking it myself, it was far more potent than I’d expected. At this strength, soju and beer couldn’t even hold a candle to it.

Unlike me, who shuddered from head to toe, the other three immediately filled their empty glasses to the brim.

“Drink!”

“Pour it down!”

“Keep going till we drop!”

“….”

It wasn’t until we had drunk through the entire night that I learned Shanxi Province was part of North China—and that every man from North China was an incredible drinker.

At noon the next day, I mounted my horse in a perfectly refreshed mood, and Hyuk Mujin stared at me as if I were a monster.

“Is your stomach all right?”

“Yeah. It’s fine.”

“Don’t tell me you were the only one who didn’t drink last night. Or did you fall asleep halfway through?”

“No. The four of us kept drinking.”

“…All of it?”

His mouth fell open.

“How is that possible? Are you even human?”

“It all went down.”

“Good heavens. How many bottles did you drink through the night?”

He had the wrong unit.

Not bottles. Barrels.

We kept emptying massive casks of liquor—the kind I’d only ever seen in pirate movies—and then emptying more.

“I think it was close to twenty barrels. I stopped counting after ten, so I’m not sure.”

“Wow. That’s incredible.”

Hyuk Mujin raised his thumb in admiration. Just then, the inn door swung open.

And three zombies—or rather, three Peak masters—emerged.

“Uuugh.”

“Urk.”

“Huff, huff.”

Pale faces, parched lips, and hollow eyes.

Every last one of them dragged his feet straight into the carriage. The martial artists of the escort force stared wide-eyed.

“Why are they suddenly getting into the carriage…?”

“They look really unwell.”

“That can’t be right. Haven’t you ever drunk with our Commander? Wipeng, the God of Drinking? Never heard of him?”

“Wasn’t the Commander’s epithet Ghost Sword?”

“Whatever else you might say, when it comes to drinking, he could probably beat even the Martial God. They’re probably just like this because all the fatigue they’ve accumulated finally caught up with them.”

As the martial artists whispered among themselves, the carriage door suddenly flew open, and one person hurriedly dashed out and bent over.

“Urrp, buuurrgh!”

Splaaarsh.

Wipeng spent a good while spewing nothing but pale liquid, then staggered back into the carriage. One of the martial artists who had been talking animatedly muttered in a dazed voice,

“…This can’t be.”

“It absolutely can. Anyone can see that’s a hangover. They drank like that all night without sleeping. Of course they’d end up like that.”

“Then why is the Third Young Master so perfectly fine?”

Every eye in the escort force turned toward me.

The smell of liquor radiating from my entire body was strong enough to send chills down the spine. But in complete contrast, my face looked unbelievably refreshed, and my breathing was calm.

“No way…”

“The Third Young Master beat the Commander? That God of Drinking?”

The courtyard buzzed with excitement.

Hyuk Mujin’s look of admiration had gone beyond admiration and become outright reverence.

“Ah, I knew it! That’s our Captain—the man who used to drink with courtesans every damn day!”

“….”

“I remember what the Chief Steward said. If Captain had kept drinking for three more years, he would have uprooted our family’s entire foundation. So that’s why you always had to steal from the family coffers!”

“…Hey, you punk.”

We weren’t alone. What did he think would happen to my image if he talked like that?

As if the stares pouring in from every direction hadn’t already made my face feel hot enough.

“Ahem. Ahem!”

I cleared my throat and glanced around. And what do you know? The eyes of all those rough-looking men were sparkling brighter than stars in the night sky.

“The true God of Drinking. That’s him.”

“He’s famous in Taiyuan’s red-light district. Haven’t you heard of the Night King?”

“The Night King? The epithet says it all. So he was already renowned for his drinking.”

“No, not that… You know. That.”

“Gasp. Is it true?”

“How would I know? I’ve never seen it.”

“Turns out he’s a true man among men.”

System

Everyone gathered here is impressed by your drinking capacity and imposing presence!

Fame rises by 20!

Fame rises by 22!

Fame rises by 25!

If a particular rumor spreads, you may obtain a related Title.

“….”

Why the fuck was my Fame shooting up?

And what was this about a related Title? No, thanks. Put it away. Please, just let me be satisfied with the Sleeping Dragon of Shanxi.

Stop it, you lunatics…

I turned away in inexplicable shame—only to find Hyuk Mujin staring intently at a certain part of my body.

“…What are you doing?”

“Oh, I was just measuring it by eye.”

He answered so matter-of-factly that I was almost thrown off. Hyuk Mujin held out his forearm with an innocent smile.

“Wow. As expected, you’re amazing. Hehe.”

In return for his forearm, I offered him my fist.

Thwack!