Chapter 304: The Answer is One (4)
“Huh? Brother?”
“Why?”
“What is that?”
“It is an axe.”
“I know that…… but where did you leave the Crazy Dragon Axe, and why are you carrying such a cute axe?”
“Calling it a cute axe. It is an axe that is quite well-made.”
“It is cute compared to the Crazy Dragon Axe. That is a hand axe.”
“That is right.”
“Well, with Brother’s martial arts, you would use anything well, but…… why are you suddenly using a hand axe?”
“I am trying to use a hand axe ‘as well’. My martial arts have completely changed from before. I have to try various attempts to know my limits.”
“I, I see.”
“Forget that. Are you ready in your heart?”
“I am a bit nervous. To think that I am going to meet the Clan Head of the Murong Clan.”
“He is a fierce person. There have been more than once or twice that I suffered a setback because of that man’s calculations.”
“If Brother says that much, it seems he is truly not an ordinary figure.”
“In some cases, he is even more difficult to deal with than the Black Dragon Manor Master, Yang Cheon.”
“…….”
“Keep your wits about you. Because if you make a mistake, you will be caught up in his pace.”
“I understand. But Brother, why on earth do you need me on the way to meet the Clan Head of the Murong Clan?”
“You will know when we get there. And I am not simply going there to beat up Clan Head Murong. Follow beside me from now on and broaden your field of vision.”
“Oh, yes.”
“Now, let us go.”
* * *
“You are a truly interesting person in many ways.”
Yeon Ho-jeong gave a smile.
“In what sense?”
Murong Jun said with a reluctant face.
“I did not think we would face each other like this for a while.”
“Is that so?”
“As expected, you always have something that makes one go beyond their imagination. That is why it is difficult to deal with you.”
“I will take that as a compliment.”
“Suddenly saying such things.”
Murong Jun, whom he had not seen in a while, seemed to have nothing different from before.
At least on the outside, it looked that way.
Yeon Ho-jeong’s eyes sparkled.
“You are amazing.”
“About what?”
“That aura of yours…… it has been refined even more secretly than before. Have you gained some realization in the meantime?”
Murong Jun let out an exclamation of admiration.
“You are truly amazing. To detect the change in a master who has reached a higher realm than yourself so sensitively. I felt it before, but that sensitive sense of yours can indeed be said to be the best under heaven.”
That was Murong Jun’s misunderstanding.
In the first place, Yeon Ho-jeong’s talent was inferior to that of Yeon Ji-pyeong. Nevertheless, the reason he could feel Murong Jun’s change, and further, could even detect the internal power properties of countless Murim people, was because his upper dantian was more vast than anyone else’s.
If one properly refines the upper dantian, they show overwhelming growth in all parts that can be utilized with the brain.
And if that growth continues, one can even obtain mystical powers that are difficult to comprehend with human ability.
Even now, not much was known about the utilization of the upper dantian. The important thing was that Yeon Ho-jeong’s upper dantian was more vast than anyone else’s in the current Murim, and thanks to that, he was seeing many benefits.
“It seems your martial arts have also developed, looking at you.”
“Not long ago, I gained a small realization.”
“A small realization…… That is a too humble expression, not like you. I do not know your current skill, but your aura itself has changed as differently as heaven and earth from before. It seems you have gained a great realization in terms of internal energy.”
“Depending on how it is handled, one might regress or grow compared to before. However, looking at the change itself, it can certainly be seen as development.”
Murong Jun chuckled.
“Run in moderation. If you keep going like that, I think I will be caught up with within two or three years.”
Yeon Ho-jeong laughed back.
“You are not the kind of person who would let yourself be caught up with, are you? You would try to suppress me somehow. If that were impossible, you would even try to kill me.”
“Of course I would.”
Murong Jun was honest in front of Yeon Ho-jeong.
“Your nature, martial arts, and speed of development are a profound threat to an enemy. And I am not a person who just stares at the growth of my enemy with my eyes wide open.”
A faint killing intent flashed in Murong Jun’s eyes.
“Be careful. Now you and I are in a situation where we cannot live under the same sky. Since you are also not a person to be dealt with easily, I have no choice but to bury you somehow.”
“That is the same for me.”
“Then again, that is also true.”
Murong Jun relaxed his expression.
“So, what brought you here today like this?”
“I was curious if the place I struck once before is intact, and I also wanted to test what kind of thing you are going to do in the future.”
“Hmm? The place you struck once?”
“I mean Master Kong-kong and Clan Head Tang.”
“Ah, that?”
Murong Jun burst into a loud laugh.
“It was truly dizzying. And it was a pity. I never imagined that Clan Head Tang would cut off the relationship like this.”
“It was to be expected.”
“Of course, I know that you incited Clan Head Tang. At first, I thought about how to pay you back for this, but later, when my emotions calmed down a bit, I had this thought.”
“……?”
“Clan Head Tang is not a person who is easily swayed by someone’s words. In other words, your words only served as a catalyst, and he was a person of great importance who could trouble me at any time.”
It was indeed a great insight. Since he had repeatedly been successful all this time, he must have been careless without realizing it, but it seemed he had not lost the ability he possessed.
“Thinking about such a thing, I should rather be thankful to you. Furthermore, the matter of Master Kong-kong was an unreasonable move, even thinking about it now. I must have been quite impatient then, as I committed a mistake not like myself.”
“You did.”
“It was thanks to you. If you had not jumped in from the middle, would I not have almost suffered a great setback?”
Yeon Ho-jeong chuckled.
“It is a pity. I should have just left it alone until the end.”
“That is why I am suspicious.”
A light of suspicion leaked from Murong Jun’s eyes.
“You also would not have been ignorant of that, so was there a need to let it explode at that point? Were you not a person who had that much patience?”
“Well, I wonder.”
Yeon Ho-jeong scratched his head.
“Because I am not a person who draws a far future more than expected. At that time, I must have thought that was the best. And since I also had personal affairs, I did not want my surroundings to become complicated.”
“Hahaha.”
“But that is enough now. My personal affairs have also been well handled, and now is it not that only the task of running remains?”
“So you have come. Because you want to know what the man who will become an obstacle on the path you will run is thinking.”
“Are you not also curious? What kind of scheme I am plotting?”
“I am curious.”
Murong Jun, who moistened his throat with tea, shook his head.
“But at the same time, I am also not curious. In my heart, I want to kill you right now, but I do not want to clash with you for the time being.”
Yeon Ho-jeong’s eyes sparkled.
“Strategist Zhuge said that there are already three candidates for the Murim Alliance Leader.”
“Do not speak as if you did not know. I am not ignorant that one of them is Clan Head Tang, and that you incited Clan Head Tang.”
“Your intuition is truly fast.”
“To think that you put Clan Head Tang forward as a means to check me, it is indeed like you, but at the same time, it hurts my pride a bit.”
“Why is that?”
The corners of Murong Jun’s mouth curled up.
“Did you think you could check me with just someone like Clan Head Tang? Why not have put forward your father, the Peng Clan, or if not, the Sect Leader of Emei?”
Yeon Ho-jeong shook his head.
“I think Clan Head Tang is enough.”
“Well, since you think so, I will not say more. Then again, you must have your own method.”
It was a quite confident way of speaking.
Murong Jun was a person who did not show his true heart to anyone. However, to Yeon Ho-jeong, he showed an appearance that contained some sincerity.
It was not because he was stimulated by Yeon Ho-jeong. It was because Murong Jun recognized Yeon Ho-jeong that much.
As his rival.
And that was the same for Yeon Ho-jeong as well.
So, Yeon Ho-jeong dealt the first blow.
“I heard that the Guizhou Merchant Association is quite active in Hunan.”
Murong Jun’s eyes deepened.
“What are you saying about that?”
Yeon Ho-jeong gave a cool smile.
“I know that your family and the Guizhou Merchant Association are in a transactional relationship.”
“That is true. But why? What is so great about the Guizhou Merchant Association being active in the land of Hunan where my main estate is located?”
“Because it is strange.”
“……?”
“The Guizhou Merchant Association is active in the land of Hunan where the Murong Clan is located, and the two groups are in a transactional relationship. It gives off a very suspicious smell.”
“Is there even anything that is not suspicious in your eyes?”
“That is not what is suspicious.”
“Then?”
Yeon Ho-jeong gave a cool smile.
“That noisy movement of the Guizhou Merchant Association, it seems they are doing it on purpose. As if they want everyone to pay attention to the Guizhou Merchant Association.”
“……!”
“Strategist Zhuge said so. That he would stop you even by committing a mutual destruction. That will is truly full of fortitude, but from what I see, trying to catch the Murong Clan through the Guizhou Merchant Association seems to be a meaningless death.”
Murong Jun gave a smile.
“Do you think so?”
“I do.”
“Then, keep knowing it like that.”
“Of course. I will continue to know it like that. However, I hope you do not forget this one thing.”
Yeon Ho-jeong’s expression became icy.
“I can hit you at any time by using the Guizhou Merchant Association.”
Murong Jun nodded his head.
“If you are going to try to do something by touching my people in the operation of the Black Dragon Manor, do so. In any case, you will also be known as accomplices, so I will not be the only one to die.”
“Let us confirm that later.”
“Please do so.”
Probably, Murong Jun would have been directly involved in the matters of the Guizhou Merchant Association. Perhaps he had already eliminated all things that could become his weakness.
Yeon Ho-jeong, who was silently staring at Murong Jun, soon gave a smile.
“It has been a long time.”
“Hmm?”
“This kind of talk that seems serious at a glance, yet on the other hand seems like nothing much. This strange atmosphere of pressing with conversation that is on edge, saying we will bite each other.”
Murong Jun chuckled.
“You might have missed it, but I did not. I was living comfortably lately, and thanks to you, my peace has been broken.”
“That is a welcome sound to hear.”
“Hahaha.”
Yeon Ho-jeong leaned his back against the chair.
“Now then, since we have also shared our feelings in our own way, let us slowly start taking out our cards one by one.”
Murong Jun frowned.
“I refuse.”
“The talk we have had until now in the name of sharing feelings, in the end, it was talk that both of us already knew. Since we have had a conversation that stays on the surface, let us now move on to a conversation with substance.”
“I am sorry, but the current me is different from the past.”
“Different from the past?”
“That is right. The past me thought that I led the situation. That is why I stepped forward more aggressively, and tried to remove the source of trouble by digging it out first.”
Murong Jun gave a sneer.
It was a laugh at himself.
“If it had not been for you, I could have made a quite interesting history.”
“But it was not.”
“That is right. I even committed the hasty act of working on Master Kong-kong. After that incident, I thought deeply. Why I committed a mistake not like myself.”
“So, did the answer come out?”
“So am I not like this now?”
Murong Jun spread both his hands.
“I intend to make the defensive state solid before the offensive. Therefore, I have nothing more I want to ask you.”
“…….”
“Since I have nothing I want to ask you, I will not have any further conversation. In other words, you will also not have anything to find out from me.”
“That is a bit of a letdown.”
Murong Jun picked up his teacup.
“Since you have come this far anyway, finish that tea and leave. It is a precious tea.”
“Since I have come this far anyway, I cannot just drink tea and leave.”
“Haha, is that so?”
Certainly, it seemed he had become more cautious. It seemed he intended to take such a posture at least for the time being.
Of course, Yeon Ho-jeong had no intention of just letting that be.
“I have brought a person with me.”
“Even if you did not say so, I felt a unorthodox aura. Looking at the life force being emitted, he seems like a young man, but he is the possessor of a quite solid sword qi.”
“He is a fellow I took as a younger brother not long ago.”
“Is that so?”
“He is.”
“Try to get along in a deep brotherly love.”
Yeon Ho-jeong laughed coldly.
“That friend is from the Black Path.”
“……What?”
“But you see, that friend said he saw informants from the same Black Path origin near the Murim Alliance. He even luckily caught one fellow.”
“……?!”
“Looking at the signs, that fellow seems to be a person from the Black Dragon Manor side.”
Murong Jun’s hand holding the teacup trembled minutely.