Chapter 371

“We pay our respects to Great Hero Jin Taekyung, the Blazing Fire Divine Dragon!”

When that cry of awe rang throughout the grounds of the Sichuan Tang Clan, Jin Taekyung was not the only one who felt a shiver.

The old master watching everything from far away had to struggle with all his might to hide the emotions welling up inside him.

You rascal…

Jeok Cheongang remembered the day he first met Jin Taekyung with perfect clarity.

The Third Young Master of a frontier martial family. The young man who had only just begun making a name for himself in Shanxi had become a hidden dragon, and at last he was spreading his wings wide and soaring into the blue sky.

Yes. You are the Divine Dragon. You are the Great Hero.

Their eyes met, and Jeok Cheongang saw Jin Taekyung grinning at him. Leaning his upper body out through the window, he waved both hands like a madman.

“What’s my name?”

“Jin Taekyung!”

“What’s my epithet?”

“Blazing Fire Divine Dragon!”

“Shout it louder—!”

“Waaaaaaah!”

The solemn courtyard was overturned in an instant, transforming into a cauldron of madness. Jeok Cheongang finally burst into the laughter he had been holding back.

“Ha! Hahaha!”

His hearty laughter mingled with the cheers. The breeze was cool, and the sky was clear.

It was the beginning of an age of chaos, but the day a new hero began to emerge was warm with spring.

Jeok Cheongang appeared just after the cauldron of madness had settled down.

“Quite the crowd you’ve packed into this millet-sized room.”

“Huh? It isn’t cramped at all.”

“Great Hero Jeok, there’s an empty seat over there.”

Unlike Cheongpung and Hyuk Mujin, who wouldn’t know how to read the room even if they died and came back to life, Gung Gibang—a blue-blooded beggar to the bone—moved at once.

“Oh, now that you mention it, we’re practically bursting at the seams. I’ll wait outside.”

Cheongpung and Hyuk Mujin waved him off.

“Goodbye, Young Hero Gung.”

“That guy’s finally leaving. Squad Leader, haven’t you been smelling a mutt’s ass around here since earlier?”

I cautiously nodded.

“Yeah, it did smell pretty bad…”

“Cut the bullshit and get out, both of you!”

“No, I’m telling you, it really did smell…”

“All right. Don’t get so angry, Young Hero Gung.”

At Gung Gibang’s sudden outburst, Cheongpung lowered his head with a sullen expression.

“Mimi. Say goodbye with a whirlwind spin.”

Sssrik. Sssrrrikkk!

“…What the fuck?”

His Skill repertoire had grown while I wasn’t looking.

After delivering that flashy performance, Cheongpung finally left the room. Jeok Cheongang spoke.

“You wild brat. You really caused a commotion.”

His face was stern, and his voice had sunk low. Just like always. He seemed so much like his usual self that I felt like laughing.

“You’re laughing?”

“Why wouldn’t I laugh? Should I cry?”

“Look at this rascal. You made a spectacle of yourself in front of all those people and tarnished our sect’s reputation, yet you still have the nerve to say that?”

“You were laughing awfully loudly for someone who thought that.”

“……!”

“I saw everything.”

The stern expression he had been struggling to maintain collapsed all at once. Jeok Cheongang sneakily turned his head toward the window.

“Ahem. What do you mean, you saw something?”

“About fifty people besides me probably saw it too. I thought the corners of your mouth were bleeding.”

You looked practically like the China Joker.

My confirmation kill left him no room to escape. Jeok Cheongang hesitated for a long while before finally tossing out a single word.

“…Did.”

“Pardon?”

“Ah, I said you did well!”

Jeok Cheongang shouted with a face flushed bright red, then grumbled under his breath.

My smile deepened. Yes, those few words were enough.

“Thank you. It was all thanks to you, Old Man.”

“……”

What was this? Something about his expression seemed strange.

His eyes even looked hurt. Dumbfounded, I asked,

“What is it this time?”

“It’s nothing. Nothing at all.”

“For something that’s nothing, your expression looks a little…”

“I said it’s nothing!”

“Why are you shouting? It was nice having such a warm, friendly atmosphere for once.”

“If I say it’s nothing, take it as nothing! You’re the one making me act like this by interrogating me over every little thing!”

“Whoa. It’s getting worse.”

What was wrong with him all of a sudden? Had I made some kind of mistake?

It was just then, while I was tilting my head in confusion, that I sensed it.

Swish.

Two presences were coming up the stairs.

Their footsteps were so light and elusive that I would have had trouble noticing them if my senses hadn’t grown even sharper after crossing the wall.

They’re both incredible masters.

Two Supreme Peak masters all of a sudden?

After enduring so many dangers recently, my body now moved on its own.

But just as I clenched my fists, Jeok Cheongang restrained me with a glance and waved his hand. A strand of scorching wind gently pushed open the closed door.

“You’re all so impatient. Couldn’t even wait a quarter of an hour before swarming up here?”

In response to Jeok Cheongang’s gruff voice, an old nun and a Daoist answered in turn.

“Impatient, you say? Hearing that from you, Benefactor, gives me a rather strange feeling.”

“This junior has been discourteous. However, given the matter at hand…”

The old nun, whose face was covered in countless wrinkles, was a stranger to me. The identity of the Daoist, however, was easy enough to recognize.

I gave the old Daoist a fist-and-palm salute.

“Greetings, Perfected One.”

“Good to see you again, Fellow Daoist Jin.”

The old Daoist was the Sect Leader of the Qingcheng Sect, the Clear Wind Ancient Sword. I had once visited him to ask for help finding the Divine Physician.

Then this nun must be the Sect Leader of the Emei Sect… but who is she?

I had been in the Murim long enough to know a fair amount about famous masters, but I was nowhere near familiar enough with every detail of other sects’ affairs.

Especially not the identity of the Sect Leader who had taken office after the death of the Heaven-Shaking Divine Nun.

As if reading my thoughts, Jeok Cheongang quietly sent me a Sound Transmission.

—That old hag is the Emei Sect’s Extinction Divine Nun. She looks kind enough, but once she sees red, there’s no difference between her and a rakshasa, so watch your words and actions carefully. And especially don’t say a word about her age.

I cautiously replied through Sound Transmission.

—How old is she, exactly?

—Older than this old man. She was also the Heaven-Shaking Divine Nun’s martial aunt.

—Ah.

I did not know Jeok Cheongang’s exact age, but I knew he was over a hundred. And then there was the force suggested by her epithet.

I bowed deeply to the ancient granny who looked like the chairwoman of a bossam restaurant.¹

“Greetings! My name is Jin Taekyung!”

“Good to meet you, Benefactor Jin.”

The Extinction Divine Nun studied me with an odd look, then nodded.

“Just as the rumors say. No—even more impressive.”

The Clear Wind Ancient Sword answered with a faint smile.

“Isn’t it truly astonishing?”

“The waves behind the Yangtze push the waves ahead. It seems the younger generation means to push even us old people aside. To cross the wall at such a young age…”

“That is not all, Divine Nun. There is also a young man named Cheongpung.”

“Ah, the one said to be the Sword Saint’s heir?”

“Yes. This poor Daoist is too inadequate to judge which of them is superior, but both young men are unquestionably people blessed by Heaven. They are a great blessing to the Murim.”

“Oh…”

Interest and astonishment passed over the two leaders’ weary faces.

I was growing embarrassed and shifting my eyes around when Jeok Cheongang stepped in front of me.

It did not make much difference, considering the enormous difference in our heights.

“You’ll wear the boy’s face out. Say what you came to say and be off.”

The two Sect Leaders looked awkward at his brusque words, then finally got to the point.

“A problem has arisen. Could you both accompany us for a while?”

“It will not take long. I promise you.”

“Accompany you? Right now?”

Jeok Cheongang asked in a displeased tone, then turned to me.

“What will you do?”

“……”

Two Sect Leaders of the Nine Sects and One Gang were asking me for a favor. What exactly was I supposed to do?

“I’ll go.”

My body felt light, and going with them would give me a chance to hear everything that had happened. I had no particular reason to refuse.

At my ready answer, the two Sect Leaders turned and began leading the way. Then Jeok Cheongang suddenly spoke.

“But why don’t I see one of them?”

“He is waiting downstairs.”

“He said he did not want the others to notice him.”

One of them? If he’s important enough to be part of this group, could it be Tang Sadok, the Family Head of the Tang Clan?

Well, whoever it is, I’ll be seeing him soon enough.

But my curiosity vanished without a trace the moment I stepped out of the pavilion and encountered one person.

At the sight of that familiar face, a delighted shout burst from me.

“Hey, you bastard! Mungyeong!”

Mungyeong looked exactly as he had before leaving the Sichuan Tang Clan.

Dark Heaven had invaded soon after he left, so I had been worried. Maybe he and Dark Heaven had simply missed each other on the road—somehow, he’d escaped unhurt.

“When did you get here? Damn, you look even taller than before. Are you going through a growth spurt?”

“……”

“Why are you so quiet? In a bad mood? Or maybe…”

I mussed Mungyeong’s hair, then whispered,

“Did you have a wet dream this morning?”

“……!”

“You did. You definitely did.”

Look at the brat, too embarrassed to say anything.

I smiled in satisfaction.

It was something that happened from time to time at that age. Maybe I should use this opportunity to spread proper sex education through this stale old Murim.

“This hyung of yours will show you a whole new world. From now on, call me Teacher Jin Seong-ae.”

Teacher Gu Seong-ae, are you watching? Your knowledge is crossing space and time.

I was patting Mungyeong’s shoulder, swelling with pride, when it happened.

“Uh…”

“Well…”

“Good grief… We forgot to tell him that.”

Forgot to tell me what?

Three long sighs came from behind me. At the same time, a dry voice slipped between Mungyeong’s lips.

“Take your hand off.”

“…Huh?”

“And my wet dreams ended a long time ago.”

“That’s a little concerning, because you still haven’t completely finished your secondary sexual development—no, that’s not what I mean.”

I swallowed hard.

A horrifying thought suddenly flashed through my mind.

“Who… are you?”

Mom, I’m scared.

“…and that is how things came to be.”

“A truly bizarre affair.”

Even as they raced along at tremendous speed using their movement techniques, the two Sect Leaders’ voices did not waver.

When they looked at me as though demanding an answer, I managed to part my lips.

“Ah, yes. So the place we’re heading to has some kind of strange formation, right?”

“According to what we learned by capturing and interrogating Samgoe, that is the case. But the formation itself is so strange…”

Jeok Cheongang answered gruffly.

“This old man and this brat are both hopeless when it comes to formations. Even if we look at it, we won’t understand a thing.”

I agreed. Mount Jiuhua’s Blazing Fire Cave had an impressive arcane formation installed, but that did not mean we were experts in such things.

We’d be better off calling in someone like the Zhuge Clan.

But it would take the Zhuge Clan a considerable amount of time to arrive.

For some reason, the two Sect Leaders seemed to have high expectations of us. Especially me.

“Fellow Daoist Jin, did you notice anything else strange about that man? Anything he said or did?”

“That’s everything I told you. And from what I could tell… there wasn’t much room for him to get any stranger.”

Dark Heaven’s people were weird by their very existence. They were fanatics who practically—or rather, simply—worshiped a being called the Heavenly Lord as a god.

The powers and bizarre abilities displayed by the Blood Lord and the Western Heaven Demon Lord were no different.

Regenerating like a human troll, detaching and reattaching an arm as if it had double-sided tape on it—and to top it all off, even possession.

The more I thought about it, the more miraculous it seemed. That we had fought those bastards and won.

“Hm. Before you awoke, I heard a rough account of the situation from Benefactor Jeok. Once the message hawk we sent to Henan returns with a reply, we should know how to proceed.”

“Just in case, if you notice anything strange when you see the formation, let us know.”

“Yes.”

As I answered, I glanced at the figure far ahead of us.

Mungyeong. No, the man known by the epithet Slaughter Saint.

Fuck. Why is the Slaughter Saint here?

Honestly, I nearly pissed myself.

Even if I had spent half a day splashing around and grilling meat in the Valley of the Sanzu River,² it would not have been this bad.

Mungyeong was the Slaughter Saint. And I’d asked the Slaughter Saint if he’d had a wet dream!

Teacher Gu Seong-ae. I nearly fucking died because of you.

Just as I secretly breathed a sigh of relief, the dense brush around us vanished, and towering cliffs began to come into view.