“You cause trouble whenever I take my eyes off you, even for a moment.”
After lightly scolding his Junior Brother, Baek Museong bowed his head toward Woo Hwangtae.
“It seems there was a minor misunderstanding between you. I hope you’ll forgive him with your broad magnanimity.”
His voice was as gentle as his appearance.
Woo Hwangtae was closer to a merchant than a martial artist. His martial arts were First Rate, but he could pride himself on having a Peak-level eye for people and situations, honed through years of running an Escort Bureau.
Under normal circumstances, he might have thought this upon seeing Baek Museong:
The extraordinary within the ordinary.
Unfortunately, Woo Hwangtae was not in his right mind at the moment.
Baek Museong had stepped in out of nowhere, and his clean-cut appearance made him seem like an easy mark. His polite voice carried a strong man’s composure, but to Woo Hwangtae, it sounded merely insolent.
“What did you say? Forgive him with my broad magnanimity?”
His voice bubbled with rage as he raised his eyebrows.
“How dare you order me around?”
“That was not my intention, but if I’ve offended you, I apologize.”
“An apology? Hah. You little pup.”
Crack.
Once anger took hold, a person’s judgment naturally grew clouded.
As Woo Hwangtae stepped forward with his fists clenched, the other Sect Leaders hurriedly tried to restrain him.
“Chief Woo, it would be best to stop here.”
“Sect Leader Song is right. Nothing good will come of making a scene.”
“Some bastards who God knows where they rolled in from are acting arrogant, and you’re telling me to put up with it? Do you all think lightly of me too?”
“No, that’s not what we meant.”
“Then what are you trying to say?”
His tone was now nearly that of someone speaking down to them. The Sect Leaders of the Five Gates of Shanxi frowned inwardly, but they had to prevent an unnecessary conflict.
“We only mean that this is the wrong time and place. Have you forgotten our situation?”
“If you insist, I won’t stop you anymore, but… there’s no need to cause trouble when the Jin Family of Taiyuan already has us in its bad books.”
“We understand that you’re angry, but please think of our situation as well. Let’s all try to survive.”
Again. Again with the Jin Family of Taiyuan!
Woo Hwangtae barely managed to swallow the curses that were about to burst from his mouth. If not for the countless eyes and ears around him, he would have hurled every curse he knew and smashed everything in sight.
But the last shred of reason held him back.
“Nggh.”
After barely calming himself, Woo Hwangtae glared at Baek Museong. He was still standing there with a calm expression.
“I’d like nothing more than to beat you to death with a single blow right now, but… I’ll let it pass as a country bumpkin’s mistake. Get lost before I change my mind.”
Baek Museong looked at him for a moment before bowing his head.
“Thank you for showing consideration.”
“Hmph. Lucky bastards.”
But the lucky one was Woo Hwangtae.
If Baek Museong hadn’t sent a Sound Transmission a moment earlier, he would have been hovering between life and death by now.
“Second, stop.”
The second of the Three Plum Blossom Elites, Chulwoo of the Defeated Flower Fist, stopped dead just as he was about to launch himself forward.
A voice that no one else could hear leaked between his teeth.
“He wasn’t satisfied with going after me—he even went after you, Senior Brother.”
“It doesn’t matter.”
“It matters to me. Can’t I hit him once? Just once?”
“That sounds like you want to beat him to death.”
“…I’ll hit him gently. Just once. Really.”
“That sounds like you want to gently beat him to death. Have you forgotten Master’s strict order not to attract unnecessary attention?”
After wrestling with himself, Chulwoo lowered the fist he had been gripping tightly.
“Whew. This is driving me crazy.”
Baek Museong patted him on the shoulder as if he were proud of him.
“You held back well. This too is training.”
“How is this training? I can’t even use the martial arts I worked so hard to learn when the time comes.”
“Mindless killing will only ruin you. Martial arts are meant to hone your essence, qi, and spirit, not to kill someone.”
“Every time I look at you, I get confused. Am I a disciple of Huashan or a Shaolin monk?”
“Could a monk possibly suit your personality? I only feel sorry for all the wooden fish you’ll break in the future.”
Baek Museong let out a quiet laugh, and Chulwoo sighed.
He deeply respected his Senior Brother, but the man was simply too kindhearted. That was the problem.
“Those bastards should have their mouths smashed in…”
“Hey, watch that mouth!”
“All right, all right.”
Chulwoo watched Woo Hwangtae’s back as he grew smaller in the distance and smacked his lips.
I’ve memorized his face. Let him cross my path once.
Baek Museong naturally knew what his Junior Brother was thinking. He shook his head from side to side.
“Stop thinking nonsense and find the youngest.”
“Did Eunhyang disappear again?”
“Yes, just like you.”
Chulwoo flinched.
“I went to take a leak.”
“That’s right. But why did someone who went to take a leak end up picking a fight in a crowded place?”
“I was on my way back after relieving myself. Seriously, Senior Brother, you don’t believe me? I haven’t washed my hands yet. Want to smell them?”
“…Never mind.”
Baek Museong rubbed his temple. He cherished his Junior Brothers more than anyone, but they were exceptionally difficult to handle.
At least Chulwoo was large enough to find quickly. The youngest Junior Disciple, Eunhyang, was practically invisible in a crowd like this.
“Do you see anything?”
Chulwoo, who was at least two heads taller than everyone else, swept his gaze around.
“Not really. There are too many people.”
Even the eyes of a Peak master would have difficulty finding a small girl in the endless, bustling crowd.
There were so many people that peddlers had even set up stalls all over the place.
“By the way, was the Jin Family of Taiyuan always this big? I’d never even heard of it before we came.”
“Those in the know do. The current Sect Leader, the Shanxi Extraordinary Hero, is fairly well known, and so is the Heaven Shaking Sword, isn’t he?”
“I don’t know the Shanxi Extraordinary Hero, but the Heaven Shaking Sword… Is that the guy who’s supposedly one of the Ten Dragons and Phoenixes?”
“Don’t call him that. Watch your mouth.”
“He’s just a milquetoast scholar who attends an academy. In my opinion, Senior Brother is much more…”
“Hey. Where did you learn that bad habit of judging people before you’ve even seen them? He’s clearly a gifted talent.”
“Well, for someone from Shanxi Province, being that good is practically the same as a dragon rising from a ditch.”
Chulwoo answered indifferently, then suddenly frowned.
“Wasn’t there someone else besides the Heaven Shaking Sword? Some kind of dragon or loach?”
“A dragon? Do you mean the Sleeping Dragon of Shanxi?”
“Ah, right. The Sleeping Dragon of Shanxi.”
“I heard he’s a fairly impressive talent, though not as much as the Heaven Shaking Sword.”
“Whether he’s a dragon or a loach, I’ve heard about him nonstop on the way here. I should at least see his face once.”
Baek Museong’s lips curled slightly upward when he saw Chulwoo clench his fists.
“Do you want to spar with him?”
Chulwoo scratched the back of his head.
“Not necessarily. I’d win anyway.”
“Competitive pride is a good thing, but you should avoid causing trouble whenever possible.”
“Would there even be anything to cause trouble over? Since we came all this way, I just want to see what he’s made of.”
Baek Museong stared intently at his Second Junior Brother.
Despite his words, Chulwoo was obviously quite curious.
After spending years cooped up on Huashan and facing the same people every day, he seemed excited.
“You’ll see him soon enough. Of course, we have to find the youngest first.”
The words he added at the end sounded more like a sigh.
The gates of the Jin Family of Taiyuan were already open, and the invited guests were streaming inside like a gathering cloud.
Baek Museong was wondering if he would have to climb a tree when—
“Senior Brother, it’s all right to be a little noisy, isn’t it?”
“What?”
Chulwoo grinned and drew in a deep breath.
The next moment, a thunderous shout burst forth.
“Eun—hyang!”
There was no time to stop him. Chulwoo’s voice was as tremendous as his body.
The people around them covered their ears and dropped to the ground, while the countless people who had been laughing and chatting abruptly fell silent.
Just as everyone stood in silence as if cold water had been thrown over them—
“Big Brothers! I’m over here!”
Far away, Chulwoo spotted a young girl jumping up and down enthusiastically in place. He spoke triumphantly.
“Ha-ha! Senior Brother, I found her!”
“…Yes, good job. Very good.”
Baek Museong put a hand to his head.
That was when hundreds of people began murmuring and parted like reeds splitting in the wind.
At the end of the opened path stood a man as tall as an iron tower. Chulwoo unconsciously muttered,
“Is that a man or a bear?”
“He’s a man. If not for him, the Jin Family of Taiyuan wouldn’t be what it is today.”
Baek Museong respectfully performed a cupped-fist salute toward the bear-like man, Jin Wikyung.
Thud-thud-thud-thud!
The scenery whipped past us. Hyuk Mujin, riding right beside me, shouted over the pounding hooves.
“It was definitely slow when we were going there, but it’s incredibly fast on the way back. Is it because we took it easy two days ago?”
“Everything has a reason.”
“What reason?”
“It gets faster when no one tries to eat something while riding a horse.”
“Ah.”
Cheongpung had worn a gloomy expression the entire time. Before we left, I had stopped him from packing a huge amount of food.
“I’m hungry.”
I answered coldly.
“Endure it.”
A Peak master’s digestive power was Peak-level too. Cheongpung crapped as much as he ate, then ate as much as he crapped.
On top of that, he ate often, so he had no choice but to crap often…
Damn it. This is too disgusting. I’ll stop there.
“How far have we come?”
“We just passed the ninth village, so… We should arrive in half a shichen at the earliest, or a full shichen at the latest.”
The sunlight pouring down made my eyes sting. I looked up at the sun, which was slowly climbing toward the middle of the sky.
“We’ll arrive around noon, then?”
“Probably.”
“We’re late, aren’t we?”
“Of course we’re late. Isn’t that why we’re riding like hell, trying to be a little less late?”
He was right.
Instead of answering, I dug my heels into the horse. Every time it ran, the long bundle strapped across my back thumped against its body.
Ugh, what a pain.
The bundle held the Unnamed Sword.
It was something I had originally been supposed to return to Jeok Cheongang, but I had ended up taking it back again.
As long as I lived in a Murim where the law was damn far away and fists were painfully close, I had no choice.
I can’t put it in my inventory either.
I could at least claim that I had tucked the Flame Divine Palm martial arts manual inside my clothes. But if a sword suddenly came flying out of my pocket, there would be no way to explain it.
If I were alone, it might be different. But with other people watching, it was the perfect situation to be accused of practicing demonic, heterodox arts.
This really turned into a nasty bind.
It wasn’t that I was complaining about being saddled with a troublesome object. I simply hated the thought of having to meet Fire King Jeok Cheongang—that terrifying old man—again.
I’ll see you again soon.
Who wants to see him again?
Every time I remembered the words I’d heard a few shichen ago, my stomach churned.
Hyuk Mujin, who had been sneaking glances at me from time to time, asked,
“Why do you look like that?”
“I was thinking about the Fire King.”
“Ugh. We don’t have enough time for happy thoughts, so why are you imagining something so horrible?”
“If you were me, wouldn’t you think about him? He said he’d come again soon.”
“Speaking of which, could you give me a vacation? I suddenly miss my family.”
“This bastard is trying to save his own skin.”
“You never know what might happen. Before I die, I should at least see my parents’ faces one more time.”
“That doesn’t sound like something an unfilial son who hasn’t shown his face in years should be saying.”
“I want to become a good son while I have the chance.”
“No. You can’t.”
I completely ignored Hyuk Mujin’s bullshit and looked up at the sky with a sigh.
“What an unfeeling heaven. Why did that old man have to give me this thing?”
“He said it was a pain to carry around.”
“For such a petty reason?”
“With him, I can completely believe it.”
“…”
That was actually pretty convincing.
“I could lose it in the meantime. Or I could quietly swipe it.”
“You, Captain?”
Hyuk Mujin laughed as if he had just heard a brilliant joke.
“What have you done all this time? If you hadn’t been in mortal danger, you would have just kept the Blazing Flame Divine Pill too, wouldn’t you?”
“That’s…”
He had a point.
“Just hide it somewhere no one will notice. Who knows? Maybe that great Fire King will teach you a move in return.”
“Teach me, my ass. As if he’d do that for someone who killed his Disciple.”
I let out a quiet laugh at the absurdity of it.
The Fire Gate Clan was said to be a sect whose arts were passed down to a single successor and never taught to outsiders. Setting personal feelings aside, the idea that he would teach martial arts to an outsider like me was ridiculous.
“Your nonsense is only funny when you keep it in moderation, you idiot.”
“Well, now that you mention it, that’s true.”
At that moment, Cheongpung, who had been hanging limp like a corpse and repeating that he was hungry, spoke up.
“Isn’t he trying to take you as his Disciple, Benefactor?”
“…”
“…”
“Maybe not? I think he is. Grandpa Jeok seemed to be watching you closely, Benefactor.”
“Me?” I asked.
“Captain?” Hyuk Mujin asked.
Our gazes collided in midair. He looked utterly baffled. I was probably wearing much the same expression.
We both let out a quiet laugh.
“That’s great. Congratulations in advance, Captain.”
“Yeah. Thanks.”
Me? Someone he’d known for barely a day or two?
It was such an absurd idea that it did not even qualify as a joke.
“Or not? Is that right?”
As Cheongpung tilted his head after saying something so bizarre, Hyuk Mujin raised a finger and pointed into the distance.
“Can you see it?”
I could.
People were walking along a well-kept road. Farther ahead was a broad expanse of land surrounded by a crowd.
The Jin Family of Taiyuan.
It was my return after three days away.
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