Chapter 241

The Star-Array Grand Banquet.

With the most renowned masters in the world gathering in one place to pit their martial arts against one another, the name could not have been more fitting: a banquet of stars.

An old man with deep wrinkles around his eyes packed tobacco into a long-stemmed tobacco pipe as he spoke.

“It could also be called a festival of victory.”

They were in a large inn in southern Henan Province.

From among the people crowding around the old man, someone asked, “Why is that?”

“Why else? If the Central Plains Murim had lost, would there have been a Star-Array Grand Banquet? The Demonic Cult would have ruled the world by now, and they would be holding the Demonic Grand Banquet instead.”

“Ah, that is true.”

“But because we won, the Star-Array Grand Banquet can be held, and the great sects from across the world can gather in one place to renew their shared resolve. Speaking of which…”

The old man fumbled inside his robes, then waved his pipe.

“Does anyone have a light?”

The middle-aged man beside him quickly pulled out a flint and lit it for him.

Crack, crackle! Ssssss.

As the dry tobacco burned, the old man puffed on the stem. After blowing out several streams of smoke, he leaned back leisurely in his chair.

“If there is anything you’re curious about, ask away. This old man will tell you everything he knows.”

The people watching him with shining eyes began raising their hands all at once.

“Me! May I ask first?”

“Great Hero Song, then perhaps…”

“Hey, didn’t you hear me say I was going first?”

“I didn’t hear shit, you unorthodox-faction bastard!”

Wham! Crash!

Fists flew in an instant, and a table broke apart. The onlookers cheered at the sudden fight.

The guests who had kept their distance from the start shook their heads.

“Tsk, tsk. Martial artists.”

“Just let them be. It’s not as if this is the first time we’ve seen it.”

“That’s the problem. There’s never a quiet moment. With the Star-Array Grand Banquet right around the corner, every kind of bastard is flocking to Henan.”

“Our trading run is over anyway. We might as well watch the show and enjoy the benefits.”

The two merchants continued chatting quietly.

Dressed in fine blue silk robes, they were passing cups of liquor between them when a voice suddenly cut in.

“Is that Yeoahong¹?”

“Hm?”

The merchants stared at the owner of the voice in bewilderment.

A young man had somehow approached their table without either of them noticing. His nostrils flared as he stared intently at the cups in their hands.

“Isn’t that Yeoahong? It looks like it…”

“It—it is. Yeoahong.”

“I knew it.”

As though he had achieved some great enlightenment, the young man slapped his knee and dragged over an empty chair.

“But the color looks a little weak. How much did you pay for this bottle?”

His movements were so smooth and natural that the merchants could only stare blankly at each other.

“H-how much was it?”

“T-two silver nyang.”

The young man sighed.

“What a shame.”

“What do you mean, a shame?”

“This has been mixed with water. Can’t you tell at a glance? Looks like the owner played a little trick on you.”

What?

The merchants’ eyes flashed.

Was Yeoahong normally that expensive?

Two silver nyang was enough to buy two seom² of rice and drink strong liquor like water for several months. Mixing water into it was nothing short of outrageous.

“I’m going to—”

One of the merchants was about to spring to his feet, but his companion stopped him.

“Forget it. Nothing good will come from making a fuss. Besides, aren’t we doing the same thing—making a little extra while we can?”

“Ugh.”

The merchant groaned and sat back down.

Meanwhile, the young man was filling his cup to the brim with Yeoahong and gulping it down.

Gulp, gulp, clack!

“Ahh. That’s good.”

The merchants stared at him dumbfounded. Only after a moment did they finally come to their senses.

“What do you think you’re doing?”

“That’s our liquor…”

“My throat was a little dry, so I tried a cup. Is there a problem?”

His answer was so shameless that the two men were left speechless. They only managed to speak after the young man had emptied his third cup.

“Have we met before?”

“Of course.”

“When? Where?”

“Today, here.”

……

“They say even brushing sleeves with someone creates a connection. Starting today, let’s be friends.”

“Friends?”

The merchants glared at the young man in disbelief.

He was slender and had an approachable expression. He looked no older than his mid-twenties—just a ridiculously young brat.

What the hell does he mean, friends?

They were about to give him a proper tongue-lashing when they noticed the iron sword tucked into his waistband.

A martial artist!

People had always said there was only a fine line between a rogue and a martial artist.

With their merchant guards nowhere nearby, they would unquestionably be the ones to suffer if a dispute broke out.

The merchants swallowed the reprimand that had been about to leave their mouths.

“Listen, Young Brother.”

“Young Brother? I like that form of address.”

“R-really? That’s good, then.”

There was something strangely relaxed about the young man’s grin. Forced smiles appeared on the merchants’ faces.

“Are you a martial artist too, Young Brother?”

“Hmm. I have learned some trifling tricks people call martial arts.”

What? He learned ‘trifling tricks’ called martial arts?

The brat’s already drunk on his own swagger.

The merchants cursed him inwardly before speaking.

“You must be a future pillar of the martial world. If you don’t mind, may I ask which sect you are a Disciple of?”

“Does that matter between friends?”

The young man deftly dodged the question, so one of the merchants revealed their own identity.

“We are merchants belonging to the Geumwa Merchant Group.”

“The Geumwa Merchant Group?”

“It is nothing to boast about, but we are one of the top three merchant groups in Zhejiang Province. We came a long way to deliver supplies for the Star-Array Grand Banquet being held three days from now.”

The other merchant, who had been nodding beside him, eagerly chimed in.

“We even brought a hundred merchant-group guards.”

“Warriors as brave as tigers.”

We aren’t alone. Get lost before you get taught a lesson.

The words carried an unspoken threat, but the young man paid no attention.

More precisely, he was so absorbed in his own thoughts that he let their words go in one ear and out the other.

“The Geumwa Merchant Group… I definitely heard that name this morning.”

The young man thought for a moment, then exclaimed, “Ah!”

“Isn’t that the group that captured hundreds of bandits?”

“That’s right.”

The merchant had answered with his chest puffed out, but he added in a mumble, “To be precise, we didn’t capture them. We picked them up.”

“Picked them up? What does that mean?”

When the young man showed interest, the merchants lowered their voices as much as possible.

What they had encountered before meeting this young brat was far more troubling.

“Well, there were a bunch of bandits lying in the alley the merchant group was passing through, all with broken legs and groaning. As it turned out, they were from Black Mountain Stronghold, which is notorious in the area.”

“Their leader, the Red-Killing Axe Heuk Jongpil, had been turned into a headless corpse.”

“Oh?”

The young man rubbed his smooth, hairless chin.

“So what did you do?”

“What else could we do? We couldn’t exactly kill them all, but leaving them there would have been like throwing silver nyang onto the road. So we tied them all together in a line.”

In the end, the Geumwa Merchant Group handed the remnants of Black Mountain Stronghold over to the authorities and collected an enormous bounty. The rumor spread quickly.

“People have been saying all kinds of things. That they angered a hidden master, that a war broke out between bandit strongholds…”

“It probably was a hidden master. How many people can kill a Peak master like the Red-Killing Axe in One Strike?”

The young man listened quietly, then asked with keen interest, “A Peak master, killed in One Strike?”

The two merchants nodded together.

“That’s right. You’re a martial artist too, so you must know how remarkable that is.”

“What was it again? The underlings said whoever it was had chunks of iron dangling all over them. It was so late at night that they couldn’t make out the person’s face. They just saw a flash, and then the Red-Killing Axe fell.”

“Hmm.”

The young man fell silent for a moment, as though considering something. Then he suddenly spoke.

“That hidden master must be much younger than you think.”

“Good heavens. Do you have some idea who he might be?”

“More or less. Probably dressed in rags, with hair all over the place.”

“Oh! Who is it? Who is that master?”

“But I don’t know the name.”

……

“Well, I suppose I can get to know him little by little from now on. Thanks for the drink.”

It happened in an instant.

After casually tossing out that final remark, the young man rose from his seat and disappeared into the bustling crowd.

A moment later, the inn’s door closed with a tinkling bell.

“What was that?”

“Did he really leave? After gulping down all that Yeoahong?”

“He called us friends. Damn it.”

The two merchants were staring blankly at each other when someone spoke to them.

“Excuse me, gentlemen.”

“What is it?”

A broad-shouldered waiter held out a wooden tablet with an impassive expression.

There were scars across his face, enough to make one suspect that he moonlighted as a dark-path knife fighter.

No, with a face like that, it was practically certain.

“The gentleman who just left didn’t pay his bill. From what I just heard, it seems you two are friends.”

“Huh?”

“Two roast ducks and five bottles of Yeoahong. The total comes to ten silver nyang and twenty nyang in iron coins.”

“……!”

The merchants’ mouths fell open as though they had been struck squarely in the back of the head.

What the fucking hell?

He drank five bottles of Yeoahong?

But what could they do? If you could tell ten things from one, then the waiter’s face made it clear that this establishment was managed by a dark-path faction.

The merchants were rummaging through their coin purses with miserable expressions when—

“I’ll pay.”

Clink.

A silk pouch flew from somewhere and landed on the table.

The people inside the inn had fallen silent. Through the crowd, which had split cleanly down the middle, an old man came limping forward.

Tap, tap.

The sound of his wooden prosthetic leg striking the floor pierced everyone’s ears.

“Twenty silver nyang. Use it to pay the bill and get me a quiet room.”

The waiter looked back and forth between the silk pouch and the old man, then bowed politely. He already knew who the man was.

“Yes, Great Hero Song.”

“Well, that settles one matter.”

The old man wrapped his rough hands around the merchants’ shoulders.

His grip was so powerful that it was impossible to believe he was a man in his seventies. He seized the two men and hauled them to their feet.

“Now, the two of you and I are going to have a little talk. About that friend who just left.”

“Why—why are you doing this?”

“We have absolutely nothing to do with him!”

The old man smiled broadly at the two merchants, who were almost whimpering. But he could not hide the gravity in his deep-set eyes.

“Heh heh. Isn’t that something for this old man to decide?”

At the words of Song Ho, the Thousand-Faced Fox, the merchants drew a sharp breath.

As if to announce that the Star-Array Grand Banquet was only three days away, the streets and inns throughout Henan Province were packed with people.

The problem was that, thanks to that, there was not a single room left for me.

“We have no rooms.”

I had already been turned away from more than twenty inns.

With nowhere else to go and no reason left to hold back, I glared at the waiter and asked, “You’re sure there really isn’t one?”

“I told you, there isn’t.”

“I have money.”

I pulled out a grimy silver nyang and held it up. It was my entire fortune and my last hope.

If I hadn’t secretly hidden it away in advance, I wouldn’t even have this.

Jeok Cheongang had run off with my entire coin purse.

Damn old man.

At the very first inn we entered, Jeok Cheongang had been showered with salt³ by the waiter. After agonizing over whether to set the waiter or the inn on fire, he had come up with a peaceful and spectacular solution.

The Abbot of Shaolin card.

I’m going to Shaolin.

Wow. That option was available? Was dementia the driving force that turned you into a genius?

Shall I use that driving force to snap your neck?

I shouldn’t have run my mouth. Anyway, that’s great. Let’s hurry there, scrub the dirt off with hot water, and eat some Shaolin wild-greens bibimbap.

I’m going alone.

What?

A year ago, you ran your mouth about going to the Star-Array Grand Banquet, and this old man suffered for it despite having no reason to. The preliminary competition will be held in Kaifeng anyway, so don’t let me see your face until then.

No way! How is that fair?

Oh, and hand over your coin purse.

Why do you need my coin purse?

The Fire King has his dignity to consider. Do you expect me to arrive looking like a beggar and eat and bathe for free? I should at least make a small donation.

……

Oh, and if you come looking for Shaolin, I’ll kill you. Understood?

He wasn’t the Fire King. He was a highway robber. A highway robber.

After watching my coin purse get stolen right out from under my nose, I stood there blankly for a long while before wandering aimlessly in search of a place to sleep.

And this was the last inn anywhere nearby.

“This is real silver. Want to bite it and see?”

The heavily built waiter scowled.

“……Didn’t you just pull that out of your underwear?”

“I was hiding it.”

I quickly rubbed the silver nyang with my sleeve before holding it out again.

“Want to bite it?”

“Get the hell out of here, you beggar bastard!”

Fucking bastard…

I considered punching him in the face, but turned away weakly.

Nearby, several children were huddled together playing jacks with small stones.

“Kids, do any of your families rent out rooms?”

The chubby-cheeked children shook their heads.

“N-no.”

“My family does, but it’s already full.”

“Oh, I see. All right.”

“And my mom said not to bring in beggar bastards like youuu.”

……

Listen to the way that little brat talks.

I wanted to storm into his house and yell at his parents to teach him some proper manners, but I held myself back.

Where do I go now?

I was slowly wandering the streets, wondering whether I should go wash myself in a nearby stream, when someone called out.

“Young Hero!”

At first, I didn’t realize they were calling me. Given my current appearance, it was far too absurd to think that someone would address me as a Young Hero.

My clothes were no better than rags, and my hair was a tangled mess. At that moment, I was a perfect specimen of a beggar.

At least I had avoided looking like a prisoner by winding the chains around my body and covering the iron balls with cloth.

But who would call someone like me a Young Hero?

“Me?”

When I turned around, I saw a young man with an approachable expression smiling brightly.

“That’s right. You.”