Chapter 238: Shining the Light (2)
“The Black Rabbit Sect?”
A warrior clad in blue light armor was guiding the children with a pleased expression.
Following closely, So-so stepped up to his side and nodded.
“Yes. But who are you, Mister?”
“I am Paeng Mu-hu from Hebei. Looking at you children, I feel reassured that the future of the orthodox sects is bright.”
As a member of the Hebei Paeng Clan, he was a fairly well-known figure in his area of activity.
The children busy looking around followed him closely.
From children of their own age to young adults who had just passed twenty, the rising stars of the orthodox sects were crowded together, each wearing different attire and carrying various weapons.
Most were summoned for experience or training, with only a few senior experts stationed here and there to supervise them.
Paeng Mu-hu stopped in front of a small pavilion at the very edge of the estate.
“You are in the twelfth group. Stay here until your duties are assigned. And do not fight with kids from other sects.”
“Yes, thank you!”
So-so, Baek-sang, and Yeong-yeong bowed politely as they sent him off.
Once he disappeared, the three approached the pavilion with racing hearts. They could already sense the presence of dozens of people inside.
“Let’s go in!”
Baek-sang opened the door first.
Creak—!
In the large room, members of various sects and noble clans were already mixed together.
There were about fifty people. Although they could have shown interest, no one even looked at them. Everyone’s attention was focused on a single topic.
“You’re saying the Kunlun Sect kids were just beaten up?”
“I heard they were beaten like dogs by just one person. Several are still unconscious.”
“Sigh, how embarrassing. How can they even walk around? Getting beaten up by a nun.”
“If you saw it yourself, you wouldn’t say that.”
So-so and her friends sat in a corner and eavesdropped on their conversation.
As time passed, Yeong-yeong’s expression grew very dark.
“I think Hwa-ryeong is here too. So-so, should we just go back?”
So-so was not her old self. Judging by the strength in her eyes, she was confident.
“Don’t worry, Yeong-yeong. I’ll protect you.”
“…Will it be okay?”
“Yes. I won’t let anyone bully us anymore.”
While they whispered to one another, other members of the group finally began to show interest. The exciting conversation they were having had died down.
“Which sect are you guys from?”
Everyone’s gaze focused on them.
Clad in pitch-black robes like assassins, with a rabbit emblem. It was only natural that they were curious.
Rising from her seat, So-so smiled brightly and said, “We are the Black Rabbit Sect. Nice to meet you, guys.”
A group member of their age wearing Daoist robes looked around and asked, “The Black Rabbit Sect? Anyone ever heard of them?”
“Is there such a sect in the orthodox alliance?”
“It’s my first time hearing of them too.”
The expressions of the group members were not welcoming. They smirked and puffed out their chests.
Since only prominent sects of the Murim were gathered here, a sect they had never heard of before seemed trivial to them.
A tall Daoist approached and looked down at them.
“I don’t know how you got in here, but don’t think about joining us. Just squeeze into a corner and stay quiet.”
He was a Daoist of the Wudang Sect, wearing robes embroidered with a Taiji pattern. He seemed to feel that even being associated with them was a blow to his pride.
Unable to hold back, Baek-sang stepped forward. Unlike So-so and Yeong-yeong, he was a confrontational child.
“Why are you acting like this to us?”
“Look at your tone. Drop the attitude.”
Baek-sang was not one to back down. Sensing this, Yeong-yeong held him back with a worried look.
“…Just endure it, Baek-sang. The Leader told us not to beat up other kids.”
Her words implied that they could easily beat them all up whenever they wanted.
Yeong-yeong’s words only served to anger the Wudang Daoist.
On the other hand, the members of other sects watching the scene burst into laughter.
“Hahaha! Did I hear that right?”
“They must think the Wudang Sect is some third-rate local gang.”
The Wudang Daoist standing in front of Yeong-yeong and Baek-sang flushed red.
“You have just said something you shouldn’t have. I hope you are prepared.”
The atmosphere turned tense.
So-so had only wanted to be friends. She shouted out in a defensive huff, “If you hit us, we won’t stay still either!”
“Then don’t.”
As soon as he finished speaking, the Daoist’s left hand vanished.
Appearing from the side, his palm curved like a coiling snake. It was a clear attempt to slap both Baek-sang and Yeong-yeong at the same time.
No one doubted the outcome. Until the figures of the two vanished like dispersing smoke.
Whoosh!
His strike hitting empty air, the Wudang Daoist stumbled, nearly falling over.
And in front of him stood So-so, her left hand extended.
Her folded index finger flicked forward, delivering a sharp flick to the Daoist’s forehead.
Though it was a finger small as a peanut, it made a sound like a steel hammer striking.
Crack—!
Launched into the air, the Daoist flew two zhangs before crashing into his companions and collapsing.
“Gah!”
“Ugh!”
It was a level of martial prowess on an entirely different plane.
The watching group members could not regain their senses.
Their mouths hung open like goldfish, unable to speak, as they simply pointed their fingers.
After a moment, the silence was broken as they muttered in disbelief, “W-What was that?”
“What just happened?”
“Are you crazy…”
It was a situation that defied common sense. Furthermore, the two children who had vanished into the darkness earlier could not even be located.
With her hands on her hips, So-so narrowed her eyes and looked at the Wudang Daoists.
“Are you still going to hit us?”
The Daoists were still too inexperienced to handle such a situation. Terrified, they could not think rationally. They simply assumed she was an eccentric master of the Murim disguised as a child.
“N-No way.”
“How could we dare…”
So-so shrugged and asked, “Then are we friends now?”
The Daoists nodded hastily. The other group members did the same.
Before long, Yeong-yeong and Baek-sang emerged from the shadows.
The hostile atmosphere vanished in an instant. The members of the twelfth group remained quiet, busy reading the Black Rabbit Sect’s expressions.
Taking up the largest space in the room, the three sat together and began to eat their snacks.
As they passed the time, the door was suddenly flung open.
A boy stood at the entrance, gasping for breath.
“Everyone, come out quickly! A fight broke out in the eighth group!”
They say the most entertaining sights in the world are a fire and a fight. The group members leaped to their feet in unison.
“A fight? What do you mean?”
“Isn’t the eighth group where the Shaolin kids are?”
Breathing heavily, the boy barely managed to calm himself and said, “It seems they were caught badmouthing the Emei Sect. The nun who fought the Kunlun Sect this afternoon is beating them all up by herself.”
“This is no time to sit around. Let’s go watch!”
The members of the twelfth group began to scramble out the door.
As they rushed out, only the children of the Black Rabbit Sect remained inside.
“Should we just stay here?”
Yeong-yeong did not seem to want to go, but Baek-sang felt differently.
“I’m curious… Just watching from a distance should be fine.”
The decision lay with So-so. She had no reason to avoid it. She had been waiting for this day.
“Let’s go, guys.”
Not far away, a loud commotion could be heard.
More than two hundred onlookers had gathered in a circle, watching blankly.
Squeezing through the crowd, they saw a scene of utter chaos.
The members of the eighth group lay groaning on the ground, covered in blood. The number of fallen disciples continued to rise.
The Shaolin monks rushed in to resist, but they were no match.
“Attack together!”
A staff swung toward the nun’s back. Normally, such an action would be condemned as cowardly, but the situation was different now.
In a split second, her head tilted to the right. Hwa-ryeong snatched the wrist of the hand holding the staff as it grazed her cheek.
“Is this all you’ve got?”
Crack!
It was the sound of a wrist snapping. Letting go of the staff, the monk shrieked in agony, “Aaaargh!”
Following up immediately, Hwa-ryeong’s palm struck the back of the monk’s neck, knocking him unconscious.
Unable to bear it any longer, five monks formed a formation and lunged at her simultaneously, but this only served to anger their opponent further.
Every time Hwa-ryeong’s hand moved, a monk fell with broken limbs.
Crack! Thud!
“Ugh!”
“Gah!”
No one could track her movements. In the blink of an eye, only one monk remained standing.
His legs giving out, he collapsed to his knees.
Hwa-ryeong placed her left palm on the monk’s head and scanned the crowd.
At that moment, the onlookers instinctively flinched and took a step back.
Her bloodshot eyes and blazing murderous intent made them feel as though they would be killed just for making eye contact.
Elder Geum-hye, the Emei Sect’s guide, rushed over to stop Hwa-ryeong, but she could not bring herself to get close and instead shouted from a distance, “S-Stop! What do you think you are doing!”
Two snake-like eyes glared at Elder Geum-hye.
Her breath catching in her throat, the elder fell silent.
‘How can this be? The Star of Heavenly Slaughter has finally revealed itself.’
If they did not stop her before her murderous intent grew stronger, a massacre would surely occur. Yet, there was nothing she could do.
Just then, an official of the Murim Alliance rushed over, shouting, “Elder, why are you just standing there instead of stopping her!?”
It was the Yang-Eum Scholar Dong Hak-seung. He was displeased that she, an elder of Emei, could not even approach a mere third-generation disciple.
But she was frozen to the spot, unable to move a muscle.
Unable to watch any longer, Dong Hak-seung gripped his brush and strode toward Hwa-ryeong. The tip of his brush, infused with internal energy, became hard as iron.
“We have been lenient because of your youth, but how dare a mere wretch like you run amok here…”
He could not finish his sentence. Hwa-ryeong’s hand shot upward, gripping him by the throat.
“Gah!”
Not stopping there, Hwa-ryeong pulled him down to meet her gaze. She whispered in a low voice that only he could hear, “Would you say that again? I couldn’t hear you well.”
“…”
It was an unprecedented crisis that threatened the hierarchy of the Murim Alliance.
Dong Hak-seung’s mind went blank. To think that the child the Murim Alliance had focused on nurturing to lead the future martial world possessed such a crazed state of mind.
Although betrayal and rage toward Emei welled up inside him, escaping this life-threatening situation was his priority.
No matter how much strength he applied, the grip on his throat did not budge.
“L-Let go…”
Instead of answering, Hwa-ryeong raised her left hand.
Seeing the crimson sword energy blazing on her hand, it was clear she intended to kill him if necessary.
Right on cue, the representatives of various sects rushed in, drawing their weapons.
“You wretch, what do you think you are doing!”
“Release him this instant!”
Though the elders raged, they did not dare approach.
She was not only a master of the Flower Realm, but she had also inherited many of the ultimate techniques of the orthodox sects. They all knew that even if they attacked in a group, they could not defeat her.
To make matters worse, Hwa-ryeong’s pupils were beginning to unfocus, indicating her murderous intent had reached its peak.
“Honestly, all of you are so loud. Should I tear your mouths open?”
The elders were driven to the verge of madness. They were being mocked by a third-generation disciple who, in terms of generation, was beneath their grandchildren.
“W-What did you just say?”
“How can one who studies the Buddhist path speak so frivolously…”
A cruel smile appeared on Hwa-ryeong’s face.
She seemed intent on killing Dong Hak-seung first.
“So no one is coming close? Then die.”
The situation was already out of hand.
The tip of her raised hand, sharp as a weapon, aimed for Dong Hak-seung’s throat.
At that critical moment, a clear girl’s voice rang out, “I’m here.”
Everyone’s gaze turned toward the voice.
A young girl clad in black robes like an assassin slowly stepped forward. The rabbit emblem on her back was highly striking.
Recognizing So-so, Hwa-ryeong’s mouth split into a wide grin.
Dong Hak-seung was no longer of interest to her. She struck him in the chest with her open palm, sending him flying.
Thud!
“Gah!”
Flying three zhangs, Dong Hak-seung crashed to the ground, sighing in relief.
The onlookers felt a mixture of worry and curiosity.
A Daoist of the Qingcheng Sect could not help but look around and ask, “Who is she? Which group is she in?”
At that moment, the members of the twelfth group puffed out their chests.
The Wudang Daoist, who held the most influence among them, replied in a heavy voice, “She is of the Black Rabbit Sect from our twelfth group. We just sparred a moment ago.”
“With Wudang? Is she strong?”
Pondering his reply, the Wudang Daoist added a bit of exaggeration, “She is a retired master of the Murim who has undergone rejuvenation, and she came here just to cure her boredom. No matter how formidable that crazy nun is, she won’t stand a chance against her.”