Chapter 251

My prediction that Zhuge Gyun would win was spectacularly wrong.

When we found the place where several duels, including his, were being held, what awaited us was the roar of the crowd chanting for the Invincible Divine Sword—and Zhuge Gyun sitting there blankly.

“What happened? You lost?”

At my question, Zhuge Gyun bitterly nodded.

“I was completely toyed with. I couldn’t touch so much as a hair on his head.”

Zhuge Gyun was a direct descendant of the Zhuge Clan, one of the Five Great Families.

As his epithet, the Divine Marvel Dragon, suggested, his true weapon was his brilliant mind. But having learned his family’s secret arts, he also possessed outstanding martial arts.

The name Ten Dragons and Phoenixes was not something one could earn through intelligence alone.

That guy was toyed with?

Then his opponent was clearly a master one or two levels above him.

A sudden curiosity welled up inside me, and I asked Zhuge Gyun,

“Where is he?”

“He probably left immediately after the duel… Huh? There he is.”

I followed the direction Zhuge Gyun pointed and narrowed my eyes.

“That guy? The one stuffing his face with dumplings?”

“Yes.”

“……Hmm.”

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing. He just feels strangely familiar.”

The man wore a loose-fitting robe and a bamboo hat pulled down low over his face. I couldn’t make out his features or even his build clearly, but the side profile of the way he kept shoving dumplings into his mouth looked somehow familiar.

Where have I seen him before?

The answer in situations like this was to take the direct approach. I walked toward the Invincible Divine Sword.

The closer I got, the blurrier my memories became, but that was all. Instead, I did learn one thing.

He’s strong.

His posture and attitude were as careless as they could be, and he seemed so relaxed that he did not appear to be on guard at all.

Yet the energy I sensed from the Invincible Divine Sword was by no means inferior to my own.

Had someone like this been around all along?

After some thought, I opened my mouth.

“Excuse me.”

Chomp, chomp.

The Invincible Divine Sword’s mouth, which had been chewing and swallowing dumplings as if possessed, abruptly stopped.

“You’re the Invincible Divine Sword, correct?”

“……”

“I apologize for approaching you out of the blue. I have a few things I’d like to ask.”

“……”

“Excuse me?”

What was wrong with this guy? Why wasn’t he answering when someone was calling him?

As I stared at him, the Invincible Divine Sword’s Adam’s apple bobbed visibly beneath his bamboo hat.

Gulp.

“Ahem. Ahem.”

“……?”

“Erhem. J-Just a moment.”

After clearing his throat several times, a low, resonant voice emerged from between the Invincible Divine Sword’s lips.

But what can I say? It was painfully obvious that the voice was being forced.

“Why? No—I mean, what is it?”

“I have a few things I’d like to ask.”

“Go ahead. No, speak.”

“……”

What was this guy doing?

I looked at the Invincible Divine Sword through half-lidded eyes. Perhaps he noticed my suspicion, because he pulled his bamboo hat even lower.

I’m getting a feeling about this.

I casually threw out some bait.

“Oh, I’m sorry for introducing myself so late. I’m Park Taekyung of the Taiyuan Park Family.”

“Huh? Since when did you change your surname?”

“……”

“……!”

An icy silence fell.

Realizing his mistake, the Invincible Divine Sword frantically waved his hands. Instead of the forced baritone, a clear and crystalline voice like a young boy’s spilled out in a rush.

“No, that’s not what I meant. The Sleeping Dragon of Shanxi is so famous that I knew who you were.”

“Oh. I see.”

“Yes. Yes.”

“May I ask your name?”

“The Invincible Divine Sword.”

“Your name, not your epithet.”

“K-Kang Pung.”

What kind of Pung?

What a naming sense.

I let out a quiet laugh, unable to believe it.

This was not even something I needed to confirm with the Qi Sense Skill. At this point, it would have been stranger not to know.

“It’s been a while. Let’s talk somewhere quiet.”

“……Why, why? This is the first time I’ve met you.”

“Really? Should I send a messenger pigeon to Huashan?”

“……!”

The Invincible Divine Sword slowly lifted his bamboo hat.

A young man with an innocent expression looked at me with eyes filled with both resignation and delight.

“Hello, Benefactor.”

A familiar face I had not seen in a year.

I laughed and lightly tapped Cheongpung’s bamboo hat.

The Murim Alliance was almost a city in itself. It had residential areas where people could live, along with all kinds of facilities for daily life.

So it was not particularly surprising that it also had an entertainment district.

We settled down at an inn in the most remote alley we could find.

There were no other customers in the place besides the proprietor, who was so old that he could barely hear.

“I heard what happened. You ran away on the way back to Huashan?”

“Yes. Right after Benefactor left with Grandpa Jeok.”

“Why? Huashan is practically your home.”

“I didn’t want to go back. Grandpa wasn’t there anymore, and I hadn’t seen much of the world.”

“Still, you managed to escape.”

“My Martial Nephews tried to stop me, so I used a little force. They probably wouldn’t have woken up for three days. I ran away while they were out. Hehe.”

“……”

How much force had he used, exactly?

In any case, it was the sort of thing only someone like Cheongpung could have managed.

Baek Museong might have been known as Huashan’s Lone Crane and one of the Three Plum Blossom Elites, but Cheongpung was already a true genius on an entirely different level.

Even a Third Rate sword technique like the Three-Talent Sword Technique became a Peak martial art when performed by him.

From what I had seen, the depth of his understanding of martial arts and the speed at which he learned them were incomparable.

If there were another genius like him, it would probably be Jin Mukyung.

I listened to Cheongpung’s excited account of his travels through the martial world while thinking about this and that.

I had expected as much, and sure enough, he hadn’t done a damn bit of martial arts training. His stories were all about roaming around, goofing off, and eating to his heart’s content.

“I ate dumplings in Sichuan, but they were spicy!”

“Ah, yes. That sounds very surprising.”

“Dumplings in Guangdong and Hainan have seafood in them!”

“That makes sense. They’re close to the sea.”

“Zhejiang Province’s dumplings are…”

Had this guy done nothing but eat dumplings all year?

In the end, while listening to him talk about Hunan Province’s dumplings, I couldn’t take it anymore and cut him off.

“So what are you going to do from here?”

“Do what?”

“The Invincible Divine Sword. Are you going to keep that up?”

“Yes. Martial Nephew Baek Museong knows that I’m participating in the Star-Array Grand Banquet. If I hide like this, no one will recognize me!”

“……”

“Hehe. Everyone’s been completely fooled.”

I would bet my right hand and my entire fortune that he had already been found out. I was even willing to double down on it.

No wonder there were so many Huashan disciples near the dueling platform earlier.

Since the Star-Array Grand Banquet was open to martial artists from across the world, there were no particular restrictions even if someone deliberately concealed their identity.

But Huashan was one of the Nine Sects and One Gang. There was no doubt they had noticed Cheongpung’s presence long ago.

And yet they were merely watching him from a distance.

At this point, this is basically a group hidden-camera prank.

A movie titled The Cheongpung Show would not even seem strange.

I watched Cheongpung enjoying himself while inwardly clicking my tongue, then opened my mouth as a thought suddenly occurred to me.

“Then I guess we’ll meet later?”

The smile spread across Cheongpung’s face grew wider.

“I hope so.”

“You hope so?”

“I was curious how strong Benefactor had become. I’ve wanted to spar with you at least once.”

I felt the same way.

One of the reasons I had decided to participate in the Star-Array Grand Banquet was the existence of Cheongpung and Jin Mukyung.

“What do you think now that you’ve seen me again?”

“Hmm…”

“Be honest.”

I leaned back against the old chair.

Amid the creaking sounds, Cheongpung was silent for a moment. Then he suddenly tapped the scabbard hanging from his waist.

“Grandpa used to say that a martial artist should speak with their weapon.”

“He was right.”

The Sword Saint’s word, straight from the source. I let out a quiet laugh and stood up.

“Where are you going, Benefactor?”

“To prepare for the finals. We’ll finish our conversation there. With our respective martial arts, of course.”

“The finals…”

Cheongpung slowly repeated the word, then nodded with an unusually serious expression.

“Good. I’ll win anyway.”

“Big dreams for someone who spent the entire year eating dumplings.”

“I trained sometimes, too.”

“Sure you did.”

I ignored Cheongpung’s disgruntled muttering, paid the bill, and left the inn.

The moment we escaped the narrow, dark alley, we ran into a familiar face.

“Jongni Chu?”

Jongni Chu smiled and waved.

“Oh, we meet here again. We must be fated to cross paths.”

“What fate? It’s probably just a coincidence. What brings you here?”

“I came to grab a bite.”

“Here?”

The remote alley contained only a few shops lined up beside each other. Even those were so old they looked ready to collapse at any moment.

To anyone, it looked like a terrible place to find a meal.

But Jongni Chu calmly nodded.

“I ate some thin noodles at a nearby street stall, and the vendor told me the dumplings at that shop were supposed to be delicious.”

The sign he pointed to belonged, by pure coincidence, to the very shop Cheongpung and I had just left.

“Really?”

“Of course. Apparently, it’s a hidden gem known only to those in the know. Have you tried it?”

Cheongpung, who had already pulled his bamboo hat low over his face, abruptly joined in with an awkwardly altered voice.

“They’re incredibly delicious. No, I mean, delicious they are.”

Jongni Chu’s gaze shifted to Cheongpung.

“I don’t believe we’ve met before. Would it be rude to ask who you are?”

“The Invincible Divine Sword, Kang Pung.”

“That is quite an impressive epithet. I’m Jongni Chu, the Always-Victorious Sword. I look forward to getting along with you, friend.”

“F-Friend?”

Cheongpung slightly lifted his bamboo hat and looked at Jongni Chu before vigorously nodding.

“Great! No—I mean, good! I’m delighted! You’re the first person who’s ever asked me to be friends!”

“……Enough. That’s more than enough.”

Why didn’t he just walk around with a sign on his forehead saying Cheongpung of Huashan?

Jongni Chu smiled gently as he watched Cheongpung jumping for joy while I tried to calm him down.

“Looks like you already have a good friend by your side. In any case, I’ll see you next time, friends.”

“Yeah, let’s just happen to run into each other once in a while. Not too often.”

“Goodbye! Goodbye, my friend!”

“I’ll keep that in mind.”

He dipped his head and disappeared into the dark alley.

When we reached the bright street where the sunlight was shining down, Cheongpung grinned and said,

“He seems like a good person. That’s how he feels.”

I gave him some serious advice.

“Not everyone who likes dumplings is a good person.”

“Oh, I should have told him to dip them in only a little soy sauce.”

“……”

He really didn’t listen to a word I said.

Cheongpung’s concern had been pointless.

Jongni Chu did not enter the shop.

Even after passing it, he did not stop walking.

How long had he walked through the dark alleys tangled together like a maze? At last, in a place containing nothing but a few rats and filth, Jongni Chu stopped.

A quiet voice slipped from his lips.

“The Invincible Divine Sword. The more I think about it, the better that epithet sounds. What do you think?”

The moment he finished speaking, something changed in the alley that had been filled with nothing but silence.

Whoosh! Crack!

Three streaks of light flew toward Jongni Chu’s vital points.

At the same time, a small masked figure shot into the air. His steps as he ran along the wall were swift and stealthy as the wind.

He possessed outstanding movement techniques—and a concealment technique that surpassed even them. Just as the masked man gathered his strength to leap away—

Thud.

“Where are you in such a hurry to go?”

“……!”

“Come down and talk.”

An immense force weighing down on both shoulders. Breath brushing against the back of his neck.

The masked man’s falling body trembled like it had been struck by lightning.

How can this be?!

He had carried out hundreds of missions, but never had anything like this happened.

Overwhelming. Inescapable.

The words had never felt so real. He realized there was only one path left to him.

Pavilion Master, it seems this is as far as I go.

The face of his superior, whom he had served loyally for decades, the Thousand-Faced Fox, flashed before his eyes.

Just as Shadow Killer—the Hidden Shadow Pavilion’s finest agent, whose name had since been forgotten—was about to bite down on the poison pellet hidden in his tooth—

“As expected of the Hidden Shadow Pavilion. No hesitation at all. But…”

Tap, tap.

Lightning-fast fingers struck Shadow Killer’s entire body. A low voice burrowed into his ears as his body stiffened.

“You should have known who you were pursuing.”

Along with a feeling of utter despair, Shadow Killer’s consciousness was dragged into the abyss.