Chapter 80: Chapter 80
‘Huh?’
Returning to the Mount Hua Sect’s accommodations after a long time, Cheon-hwi encountered an unexpected scene.
“Now there are only two dakyeng left! Hang in there!”
“Hek, hek. Senior Martial Brother. Pleease don’t talk about how much time is left. That actually drains my strength even more.”
“Ah. Understood.”
In the center of the manor, not a single Plum Blossom Swordsman was missing, all sweating profusely while doing the horse stance.
‘What’s going on?’
Approaching them, he spoke.
“It’s been a while.”
At that moment, the exhausted people jerked their heads up so fast it seemed their necks might fall off.
“Junior Martial Brother!”
“Cheon-hwi!”
“You’re finally here?”
When everyone was about to end the horse stance with a bright smile, thinking ‘This is it’.
“There are still two dakyeng left, right?”
Cheon-hwi’s voice pierced like a thorn.
“Y-yes.”
“……Right.”
“Let’s catch up later.”
The faces of the Plum Blossom Swordsmen turned dark, but soon they shook their heads vigorously to regain their senses.
“Just wait a little bit.”
“Since we’ll finish it quickly.”
Seeing them concentrate again, a satisfied smile naturally formed on his face.
‘Even though their skills are still far lacking, their mindsets are properly set.’
As he was looking them over.
“It has been a while.”
Hyeon-jin approached.
Seeing him in a soft, dry state without a single drop of sweat, as if he hadn’t trained at all, Cheon-hwi asked quietly.
“Aren’t you doing the horse stance, Senior Martial Uncle?”
“Ha, haha. I already finished.”
“Hmm, is that so?”
Cheon-hwi looked Hyeon-jin up and down.
‘It seems like he did it, but…….’
At that gaze, Hyeon-jin sweated coldly, then realized his mistake and opened his mouth.
“More importantly, did the matter you went for go well?”
“It was resolved well.”
“That’s a relief.”
Hyeon-jin swept his chest.
A few days ago, when Cheon-hwi suddenly said something had come up and he was leaving, he tried to dissuade him, but he had already left abruptly.
‘On top of that, he left his Daoist robe behind and went wearing those martial arts clothes…….’
His mouth was itching to ask even now what the matter was, but.
‘He’s no longer a child.’
He forcefully suppressed it and swallowed his words.
At that time, Cheon-hwi spoke to him.
“Ah, and since we are changing our accommodations this time, we should prepare to move.”
“How did you know that?”
Hyeon-jin was flustered by the sudden words.
Changing the accommodations was a secret deal known only to him and the Vice Strategist.
“That should only be known to the Vice Strategist and me.”
“Yes?”
Cheon-hwi’s eyebrows furrowed.
“What does that mean?”
“Didn’t you speak knowing it? The Vice Strategist offered us a new pavilion…….”
“Wait.”
Cheon-hwi met Hyeon-jin’s eyes.
“Please speak in detail.”
Facing Cheon-hwi’s cold gaze, Hyeon-jin flinched but soon nodded.
“Understood.”
After hearing the whole story a moment later, Cheon-hwi’s eyes sank coldly.
‘Moving the accommodations was a matter already decided by the two of them?’
Jerking his head up, he glared in the direction where the Vice Strategist was.
‘How dare he use me?’
* * *
The next morning.
Thump. Thump.
“Are you not coming out when guests have arrived?”
Finishing his qi circulation at the loud noise, Cheon-hwi looked down out the window.
Beyond the front gate of the pavilion, Daoists draped in pure white Daoist robes were knocking on the door and shouting loudly.
Bang! Bang!
“Come out quickly!”
Just as the voice full of anger continued to ring out.
Creeeak…
Reacting swiftly to the commotion, Hyeon-jin and the Plum Blossom Swordsmen exited the pavilion and opened the door.
“Immeasurable Life Buddha. What brings the Daoists of the Zhongnan Sect to our sect’s accommodations early in the morning?”
“What brings us here?!”
“Huh. What brazen-faced people.”
“To pretend not to know and put an iron plate on your faces after committing such an act.”
Seeing the Daoists of the Zhongnan Sect pouring out criticism without even greeting, Hyeon-jin and the Plum Blossom Swordsmen frowned.
“Aren’t your words too harsh?”
“Are you saying our words are too harsh when you’re the ones who did such a thing right now!”
A middle-aged Daoist standing at the front shouted.
His voice was so loud that Cheon-hwi’s ears, despite the window in between, were on the verge of hurting.
Seeing the angry Daoist Cheong-woo-ja, Hyeon-jin realized it was a serious situation and spoke quietly.
“What act are you saying we committed?”
“Hmph. Do you plan to pretend not to know even while knowing?”
Cheong-woo-ja, who was speaking, raised his eyes.
“Weren’t you trying to steal the pavilion that our sect is staying in!”
“What, is that what you came for?”
Listening, Cheon-hwi was dumbfounded.
What do you mean stealing.
Who was the one that stole it first.
However, as if thinking differently from Cheon-hwi, Cheong-woo-ja vented his anger.
“Why are you aiming for our pavilion and not a new pavilion!”
Meanwhile, Hyeon-jin was stunned.
The Zhongnan Sect’s accommodations.
Of course, the pavilion they were staying in belonged to the Mount Hua Sect, so he unconditionally wanted to take it back, but realistically it was impossible.
So he tried to be satisfied with a newly repaired pavilion.
“We decided on a different pavilion…….”
“Aren’t you the ones who stole it?”
Cheon-hwi appeared in the middle.
At Cheon-hwi’s appearance, as if he popped out of the ground, everyone flinched.
“I believe the pavilion you’re currently using was originally ours.”
“Cheon-hwi.”
Cheon-hwi ignored Hyeon-jin, who hurriedly tried to stop him, and met Cheong-woo-ja’s eyes directly.
“Am I wrong?”
“That is in the past.”
“You admitted you stole it.”
Cheong-woo-ja’s face crumpled fiercely.
“No, I did not admit it.”
“Didn’t you just admit it?”
“We did not steal it, we obtained it.”
“That’s the same thing.”
Cheon-hwi did not lose a single word.
“It’s completely different!”
Cheong-woo-ja yelled.
“The pavilion we are staying in is because our long-time righteous deeds were recognized, and we moved accommodations through that reputation. A young brat is spouting nonsense without knowing anything!”
Cheon-hwi sneered as he watched him shouting while trembling.
It was plain to see that he was intending to gloss over it somehow with a loud voice.
“We’re moving like that too.”
Cheong-woo-ja snorted.
“Hmph, do you think you can obtain our pavilion with just that mere reputation?”
When he was about to say something to those words.
『Is this the matter you spoke of yesterday?』
Hyeon-jin’s sound transmission came through.
『Yes.』
『The place I originally talked with the Vice Strategist about was a different pavilion…….』
『You said you wanted to take back the Mount Hua Sect’s accommodations.』
『That’s……』
At Cheon-hwi’s sound transmission that seemed to ask what he meant, Hyeon-jin’s eyes shook.
Just as he said, he wanted to take it back.
The past reputation of the Mount Hua Sect.
Their original place.
And one of those was the very pavilion the Zhongnan Sect had extorted away.
『……You are right.』
Hyeon-jin jerked his head up.
“Your words are too harsh.”
His reproaching eyes were cold.
“Are you disparaging our sect right now?”
Cheong-woo-ja was slightly flustered by the sharp response of Hyeon-jin, who would usually step back.
‘He finally has some backbone.’
Cheon-hwi was satisfied looking at Hyeon-jin.
If it were the past, he would have stepped back immediately, but he had changed a lot now.
“Are you that displeased that we are trying to take back our pavilion?”
In an instant, the Daoists of the Zhongnan Sect stirred.
“What? Take it back?”
“That place is our pavilion!”
“That’s right! It has been a long time since it became our pavilion, yet to try and steal it, isn’t this treatment too much!”
The Daoists of the Zhongnan Sect shouted one after another, and Cheong-woo-ja added words at the end.
“You’ve become arrogant after just gaining a handful of reputation. To commit such an absurd act.”
This time the Plum Blossom Swordsmen could not endure it.
“Aren’t your words too harsh!”
“Are you disparaging what we have built up?”
When the Plum Blossom Swordsmen protested against the tone that seemed to completely ignore the efforts they had made until now.
“Hardships? Are you talking about at most those trivial missions? Ah! Are you talking about defeating the Black Valor Slaying Demon recently?”
Cheong-woo-ja sneered at them even more.
“I know you are excited about gaining weird titles like the Mount Hua Seven Swords or whatever because of that, but do you think you can obtain our accommodations with just that level?”
Just as a few Plum Blossom Swordsmen finally could not hold back their anger and were about to move their bodies.
“What about bringing down the White Ghost Castle?”
Cheon-hwi interjected.
Cheong-woo-ja frowned.
“Hmph. That was a matter where our sect’s Ha Woo-jin also moved together.”
“Ah! Right. That did happen.”
Cheon-hwi spoke while recalling the person he had forgotten for a moment, then shook his head.
“It seems words won’t work for this.”
Seeing the confident Daoists of the Zhongnan Sect, Cheon-hwi turned his head backwards.
“How about you come out and clear this up now?”
Cheon-hwi let out a low voice.
“What?”
“What are you saying right now…….”
When everyone looked at Cheon-hwi with dumbfounded gazes at the out-of-the-blue words and said a word.
“Hahaha. I’m coming out.”
At that moment, Seol Geom, who had been secretly hiding behind the wall and watching, walked over smiling awkwardly.
Cheon-hwi glared at him coldly.
“I heard you took care of everything yesterday, so what is this mess?”
“That is, I did explain it but…….”
Seol Geom, who was speaking, met eyes with Cheong-woo-ja, who was raising his eyebrows to the fullest.
“He didn’t believe my words.”
“Then are you saying I should believe those words!”
Cheong-woo-ja flew into a rage.
“Far from receiving a report that the Water Dragon Stronghold collapsed, I have never even heard of it. How can I believe the words that the Mount Hua Sect brought it down?”
Cheong-woo-ja’s following words were surprising.
The collapse of the Water Dragon Stronghold.
And by the Mount Hua Sect at that.
Hyeon-jin and the Plum Blossom Swordsmen were flustered as if asking what that meant, but soon one person quickly came to their minds.
‘Could it be!’
At the same time, they looked at Cheon-hwi.
Subsequently, Hyeon-jin sent a sound transmission.
『Did you do it?』
『Yes. I did it quickly because you said reputation was needed to move the pavilion.』
In an instant, Hyeon-jin was stunned.
To think that leaving without any words was to bring down the Water Dragon Stronghold.
‘Why do such a dangerous thing alone…….’
Along with the belated worry, anger also flared up, but.
‘It’s already a finished matter…….’
Ultimately, he could only shake his head.
『I’ll ask you in detail later.』
Ending with the sound transmission, Hyeon-jin faced Cheong-woo-ja, who stood imposingly.
“No. It is true that our sect did it.”
At Hyeon-jin’s attitude of suddenly acknowledging it, Cheong-woo-ja’s face distorted.
“My words are not a lie. Do I look foolish enough to tell a lie that will be caught immediately?”
Following that, Seol Geom also added strength.
Wondering where his previously light appearance went, he narrowed his eyes and passed on a voice as cold as ice.
“How about you acknowledge it now?”
“So that was it?”
Cheong-woo-ja clenched his teeth.
“Are you intending to drive out the Zhongnan Sect after the Vice Strategist and the Mount Hua Sect joined forces to frame us?”
At Cheong-woo-ja making wild guesses, Seol Geom smacked his lips with a sigh.
“What would I do by committing such an act?”
“Hmph! What do you mean what would you do. It must be an intention to hold hands with the Mount Hua Sect!”
Cheong-woo-ja glared fiercely.
Afterwards, he thrust his face toward Hyeon-jin.
“I can absolutely never hand over the pavilion!”
“That pavilion is now ours.”
Hyeon-jin also did not back down.
He had both reputation and justification.
On top of that, since there was even a reliable helper named the Vice Strategist, there was no need to back down.
Cheong-woo-ja’s eyebrows wriggled.
He must have been displeased that Hyeon-jin, who had always avoided him until now, had changed his attitude.
“Are you saying the Mount Hua Sect will make an enemy of our sect right now?”
In an instant, Hyeon-jin flinched.
At that reaction, Cheong-woo-ja felt gratified.
‘Right. That’s the current Mount Hua Sect.’
That haughty Mount Hua Sect of the past that looked down on the Zhongnan Sect was no more.
Hyeon-jin hardened his face and asked.
“Is it a matter that has to go that far?”
“It is.”
At the answer, deep wrinkles formed on Hyeon-jin’s forehead.
The Zhongnan Sect was massive, and according to his original nature, he would have stepped back.
However.
‘How long will I step back.’
Now was the time to go forward.
“Is that the stance of the Zhongnan Sect? Or is it your stance, Cheong-woo-ja?”
Cheong-woo-ja’s mouth corners twisted.
“It is the stance of the Zhongnan Sect.”
“…….”
As Cheong-woo-ja spoke while puffing his chest, Hyeon-jin let out a big breath and opened his mouth.
“……Unlike you, I alone cannot represent the stance of the Mount Hua Sect.”
Cheong-woo-ja grinned.
“Then give up and…….”
“However.”
Hyeon-jin opened his eyes wide.
“If this matter ends up like that, I will stand against the Zhongnan Sect even if it’s just me alone.”
“……!”
Cheong-woo-ja was genuinely surprised.
But that was not the end.
The Plum Blossom Swordsmen poured out.
Soon they stood in a line next to Hyeon-jin and spoke in strong voices.
“I will also follow.”
“Martial Uncle, me too.”
Just as the Daoists of the Zhongnan Sect grew tense and vigilant at their actions.
“What are you all doing!”
A booming Lion’s Roar descended upon them.
At the Lion’s Roar that was enough to make one’s mind go blank, everyone, regardless of whether they were from Zhongnan or Mount Hua, turned their heads with bewildered expressions.
At the epicenter where the Lion’s Roar erupted, there was a man with a massive and thick build.
If it were not for the Daoist robe he was wearing, the man, whom one could mistake for a bandit, was making an expression like a vicious fiend.
“S-Senior Martial Brother!”
“Senior Martial Uncle!”
“M-Mount Hua Divine Sword?!”
He was the Mount Hua Divine Sword, Hyeon-do.
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