Chapter 57: Chapter 57
The next morning, Cheon-hwi, who was eating breakfast with Hyeon-do, listened in on the conversations of the people around them.
“What? The Five Fiends of Xi’an are dead?”
“Those scoundrels?”
“But why did those scoundrels come all the way here? Weren’t they making a ruckus in Xi’a before tucking their tails and running?”
“They say that sex fiend bastard tried to assault a young girl traveling with a great hero and suffered greatly. So they went to find them for revenge, and then…”
The man, who was excitedly recounting the rumors he heard this morning, narrowed his eyes and slowly drew his thumb across his neck.
“They croaked and died.”
“Serves them right! Those absolute scoundrels were blindly doing things deserving of divine punishment, and they finally met their match!”
Perhaps they were more infamous than expected, as the inn that had been bustling with stories about Hyeon-do and himself last night was now in an uproar with a completely changed topic in just one morning.
“It’s a pity for the owner of the Hidden Dragon Delicacy. I heard the third floor was completely smashed…”
“Hey, what do you mean a pity!”
The man who was speaking grumbled and stuck out his lips.
“When I went there this morning, he was dying of happiness saying the great hero who killed the Five Fiends of Xi’a handed him quite a lot of money to help with the broken inn. On top of that, they even took care of the waiter’s share, so how enviable is that?”
“Is that true?”
The listening man let out a sound of surprise.
What kind of people were martial artists?
They were arrogant and insolent people whose swords were closer than the law.
It was an everyday occurrence for them to just leave after smashing a building if it wasn’t to their liking, but money!
Soon, as the two people conversed about how much the money was, Cheon-hwi swallowed the noodles that were in his mouth.
‘It seems the two took care of it themselves.’
Among the stories heard from here and there, there was absolutely nothing about him.
There were only words that the man and woman they had seen then had defeated the Five Fiends of Xi’an and handed their severed heads over to the authorities.
‘There’s no need to care…’
Tak!
At that time, Hyeon-do put down his chopsticks on the table and glared.
“To think such wicked bastards were openly wandering around Shaanxi…”
Hyeon-do bit his lip with a terrifying expression like a ferocious evil spirit.
They were very wicked and evil people.
“Later, I should ask Sect Leader Senior Brother to absolutely increase our sect’s chivalrous deeds.”
Cheon-hwi looked at Hyeon-do, who was resolving himself with determined eyes, before focusing on his meal again.
A short while later, having finished their meal, the two exited the inn and took their first steps onto the long official road heading towards Hubei Province.
However, their expressions were not very good.
“Horses are rare.”
At Cheon-hwi’s complaint, Hyeon-do let out a bitter smile.
“I should have gotten one yesterday.”
Today, they had wandered all over the streets to buy a horse, but it was in vain.
‘I apologize. The guests who came a few days ago bought all the horses.’
Recalling the apologetic owner at the stable, Hyeon-do shook his head.
“I will definitely try to get one next time.”
At that moment.
Clop… Clop…
The rattling sound and the sound of horse hooves were heard from behind their backs. Turning their heads, the two cleared the path while looking at the approaching carriage.
Then.
Neigh!
The advancing carriage suddenly stopped.
‘Hm?’
While Cheon-hwi blankly stared at the carriage that stopped right before his eyes kicking up dust, he narrowed his eyes.
It was because a familiar presence was felt from inside the carriage.
Rattle…
Just in time, the window of the carriage opened.
Through the slightly opened window, a person covering their face with a veil revealed themselves.
“So you were indeed the person who was eating at Hidden Dragon Delicacy last night.”
A very hoarse and low voice that one could not forget once heard came out.
‘Those people from yesterday?’
The moment Cheon-hwi was about to look at the girl wearing the veil.
[Hidden Dragon Delicacy? What does that mean?]
At Hyeon-do’s sound transmission, Cheon-hwi realized his mistake.
‘…I got caught.’
[Did you perhaps sneak out?]
At Hyeon-do’s successive sound transmissions, Cheon-hwi shrugged his shoulders and sent a sound transmission.
[Yes.]
Thinking it was unreasonable to hide it anymore, Cheon-hwi confessed the truth.
[Why did you do that?]
[Because noodles weren’t enough.]
[…Haa. Didn’t I tell you to restrain yourself as much as possible.]
Hyeon-do, who sighed, shook his head.
More than anything else, worry preceded.
It wasn’t a problem of sneaking out or things like that.
He was just worried in case Cheon-hwi’s existence would become known to the outside.
‘Tsk. I could have not gotten caught.’
When Cheon-hwi was smacking his lips.
“If it isn’t an intrusion, may I ask where you are heading?”
The girl spoke to them.
“Why?”
“They say the Four Seas are of the same path, and since we made a brief connection last night, I wanted to recommend traveling together if we are going the same way.”
“Travel together?”
At that moment, Cheon-hwi’s eyes locked onto the carriage.
‘If I ride this, I think I can go comfortably?’
“Immeasurable Life Buddha. I am grateful for the goodwill, but…”
“We are going to Hubei.”
For fear of missing the opportunity, Cheon-hwi quickly cut off Hyeon-do’s words.
“Hubei, you say? That turned out well. We are on our way to Anhui, so if it’s alright, shall we go together until halfway?”
“That is…”
“That sounds good.”
Hyeon-do panicked and leaked a sound transmission.
[They are people of unknown identity. And yet you are allowing us to travel together?]
[It’s better to ride a carriage while we’re at it, isn’t it?]
[Are you doing this just to ride a carriage? We don’t know what ulterior motives they might have, so how can you so easily…]
[It’s fine. Those two are the ones who defeated the Five Fiends of Xi’a last night.]
Hyeon-do’s eyes grew large.
Upon knowing that they were the chivalrous heroes who took care of the Five Fiends of Xi’an, the wariness in Hyeon-do’s heart eased.
Then he quickly looked at Cheon-hwi.
[But how did you know that?]
[Because that’s where Hidden Dragon Delicacy is.]
Creaak…
Just in time, the door of the carriage opened.
“I will go in first.”
Thinking this was his chance, Cheon-hwi went into the carriage immediately.
The inside of the carriage was quite spacious, and not only the girl who had poked her head out but also the middle-aged man they saw last night were sitting side by side.
As Hyeon-do also followed and got in, the carriage rattled and set off as if it had been waiting.
Just how much had they run like that.
Sitting in his seat, Cheon-hwi stared at the girl who seemed to be looking piercingly at him through her veil.
‘It sure is fascinating.’
Even looking at it again, her body was strange.
To the point where it would be understandable even if she died right now.
Meanwhile, the girl also looked at Cheon-hwi.
‘He is indeed the person from yesterday…’
Even though he was right in front of her right now, the young man’s aura was far too faint.
No, beyond faint, it was transparent.
‘More precisely, it’s as if his existence has assimilated with the world.’
As expected, it wasn’t that she felt it wrongly.
However, a question also arose along with that.
‘But to think it’s a Taoist robe.’
Her piercing gaze headed towards the Taoist robe Cheon-hwi was wearing.
It was an incomprehensible attire.
Didn’t he drink profusely and eat meat last night?
‘A real Taoist…?’
While closely examining the rare black-red Taoist robe, she flinched. There was a familiar pattern on the sleeve of the Taoist robe he was wearing.
‘Plum Blossom?!’
Having discovered the red plum blossom drawn on the black silk and looking faint, she turned her gaze to the side and stared at Hyeon-do.
She quickly scanned the red-white Taoist robe he wore and discovered that a plum blossom was drawn on the sleeve, just like the young man.
‘To think I only discovered this now.’
She lightly bit her lip.
The sect that could engrave a plum blossom on their Taoist robes was only one place in the world.
There was no negligence like this negligence.
Having grasped the identities of the two, she politely bowed her head and offered her greetings.
“It is an honor to meet you. This girl is called Danmok Rin.”
Hyeon-do’s eyebrows wiggled.
“Danmok Clan?”
“That is correct.”
“Do you know who we are?”
“Is there anyone in the world who doesn’t know the Taoist robe with a Red Plum Blossom engraved on it?”
“…You have good nerve. To try to travel together with the enemy.”
“No matter how much the Righteous Faction is divided into two, I know that the main enemy is the Unorthodox Faction.”
Hyeon-do’s eyes narrowed.
Staring at her unwavering appearance, Hyeon-do softly spoke.
“This person is called Hyeon-do.”
However, the one who reacted to those words was not the girl, but the other person.
“Mount Hua Divine Sword!”
The middle-aged man who was next to Danmok Rin flinched and shouted.
He, who had only been silently watching the two converse, could not take his eyes off Hyeon-do.
He was engulfed in bewilderment.
Even just the young man was an unpredictable and mysterious person, yet his companion was the Mount Hua Divine Sword, the center of the storm currently in Jianghu.
‘I thought they were people wearing the masks of Taoists.’
In truth, he had been wary of the two.
It was understandable because although they wore Taoist robes, the young man enjoyed meat and alcohol.
That alone was clearly a sufficiently suspicious situation, yet the person with him wore a Taoist robe but looked exactly like a bandit at a glance.
It was perhaps a natural procedure for the slightly formed suspicion to grow bigger.
However, all the suspicions were completely cleared away right now.
‘It perfectly matches the appearance of the Mount Hua Divine Sword from the rumors.’
His upturned eyes, blunt nose, and even his sparsely grown beard.
At the Taoist’s appearance that was no different from the rumors at all, his stiffened expression smoothly loosened like melting ice.
His appearance, which he had thought was that of a bandit, now felt quite elegant to that extent.
“Hahaha. I never thought I would meet a great hero who is shaking the current world in a place like this.”
The middle-aged man wore a bright smile.
“This humble one is called Danmok Jin-gang.”
“Iron Sword Qi Hero?!”
This time, Hyeon-do was startled.
“Heoheoheo, Immeasurable Life Buddha. This Taoist also never thought he would meet the great hero Iron Sword Qi Hero in a place like this.”
A bright smile hung on the corners of Hyeon-do’s mouth.
The Iron Sword Qi Hero was a famous chivalrous hero to the extent that even Hyeon-do, who had been cooped up in the Mount Hua Sect for a long time, had heard of him.
“It is an honor to meet you.”
Hyeon-do expressed his goodwill without holding back.
He had always quite disliked the clans that calculated profit and loss, but it was a different story if it was the Iron Sword Qi Hero.
“I was truly impressed by the deed of widely making known the true nature of the Black Sand Sect, which engaged in human trafficking, and single-handedly exterminating it a year ago.”
“This humble one was actually the one impressed by the Immortal’s chivalrous deeds against White Ghost Castle.”
“Heoheo. Immortal is too much for me.”
“If the elder is not an Immortal, then who could be called an Immortal?”
Around the time Cheon-hwi was staring with a dumbfounded face at the two who were gradually making the flower of conversation bloom starting with praises for each other.
“What might the young hero’s Taoist name be?”
The woman’s voice knocked on his ears.
Turning his head with a reluctant expression, a veil fluttered right before his eyes.
“Cheon-hwi.”
She chewed over the Taoist name Cheon-hwi a few times before carefully asking.
“If it wouldn’t be an intrusion, may I ask you just one thing?”
“That turned out well. I happened to have something I wanted to ask the young lady as well. Let’s ask each other one thing each.”
“Alri…”
The moment she was about to answer.
“Then you mean to say you wandered the world for a year to find a Divine Physician without even knowing where he is?!”
Hyeon-do’s shout cut off their conversation.
“That is correct. Still, we obtained a rumor that he was seen in Sichuan a few days ago, so we are seeing a thread-like hope.”
“Heoheo. May I ask why you are looking for the Divine Physician?”
“That is…”
At the time Danmok Jin-gang blurred his words, Danmok Rin intervened and spoke on his behalf.
“It is because of this girl.”
Hyeon-do’s pupils shook.
Hearing that such a young girl was sick, his heart naturally moved.
“Where is it that you are not well?”
“It is my internal energy.”
Danmok Jin-gang spoke with a complicated face.
“…From about two years ago, Rin’s internal energy has suddenly been scattering.”
“What kind of nonsense…”
Hyeon-do’s eyes grew large.
Internal energy was an achievement built up over a lifetime.
For such internal energy to scatter never happened except at the time of death.
“Fortunately, we extended her lifespan with spiritual medicines periodically given by the physician our clan invited, but since three months ago, the effect of the spiritual medicines also dropped, so no longer…”
At the time darkness cast under Danmok Jin-gang’s eyes.
“So that was why. No wonder.”
At the sudden intervening words, the gazes of the three focused on its target, Cheon-hwi.
However, as if he didn’t even care about their gazes, Cheon-hwi looked at Danmok Rin with an expression that had lost interest.
“I was wondering how you lived while being born with the Constitution of Great Yin Qi Storage, but you just endured it with spiritual medicines.”
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