Chapter 112: Gyeon's Ten Rounds (1)
Henan Province.
As one of the cradles of Chinese civilization, it is a region that is considered the ‘Central Plains’ itself.
It was a land that the Central Plains people, who called themselves the center of the world, considered ‘the center where heaven and earth harmonize,’ that is, ‘the center of centers,’ and Mount Song, one of the Five Sacred Peaks, was also located here.
The most famous groups in Henan were, without a doubt, the Martial Alliance and the Shaolin Temple.
The Martial Alliance, the symbol of the righteous path and pride itself.
And the Shaolin Temple, one of the fifteen pillars supporting that Martial Alliance.
Centered on these two groups, which were the representatives of the righteous path, roads and waterways leading to various parts of the Central Plains were created, and the population coming and going naturally increased.
Even in the past dozen or so years, countless wealthy people flocked here carrying bundles of money, leading to the development of massive commercial districts, and soon numerous bustling streets intertwined like spider webs were created.
Fanji Township, a small outlying village in Xinye County, Nanyang of Henan Province, was also bustling to a degree that could not even be compared to the past.
……However, where there were many people, there was bound to be much trouble.
In the bustling street, there was a man who created a sense of unease.
“Aah—what a great day!”
Wu Yi. He was a seven-foot-tall scoundrel.
Peculiarly, he did not have a single strand of hair on his body, and the areas where hair should be were completely filled with terrifying tiger tattoos.
When Wu Yi appeared in the marketplace, the merchants hurriedly began to clear the goods on their stalls.
“It’s the Hairless Tiger! The hairless tiger is coming!”
“Ugh, what are the ghosts doing? Not taking a guy like that away.”
“Q-quickly put the goods away! They’ll all be taken!”
The man whom the surrounding merchants called the Hairless Tiger and feared was indeed Wu Yi.
Naturally so, for he took the goods on the stalls at will without paying money, and even if it was something he did not need, he would surely spit on it, break it, or otherwise ruin it.
Although the merchants submitted letters of complaint to the government office several times, it was of no use.
This was because Wu Yi did not feel much pain even when he was dragged to the government office and flogged, and after coming out of prison, he threw even more of a crazy fit.
Therefore, the merchants around the marketplace gave up resisting Wu Yi, and now they simply avoided him, thinking of him as dung.
So to speak, they were avoiding dung not because it was dirty, but because they were afraid of it.
Crunch—
Wu Yi took a peach out of a fruit vendor’s basket and bit into it.
Wu Yi suddenly reached out his hand and groped the buttocks of the passing women.
“Kyaak! What are you doing!”
“What, you wench! I just wiped off some peach juice, so what!”
Laughing and giggling, Wu Yi soon kicked the basket of the old woman selling wild greens with a thud.
“We’re not bugs, so why are you sitting here selling grass for us to eat?”
Even in a short moment, there were already several people who had suffered damage.
Yet despite that, no one dared to resist Wu Yi.
For if they made a slight mistake, they might get caught by a ruffian who had nothing to lose and end up crippled.
Knowing that fact well, Wu Yi giggled and walked down the middle of the main street.
Sauntering along, putting on as much airs as possible.
“…….”
“…….”
“…….”
Seeing Wu Yi’s menacing face and large build, people all avoided him by stepping aside.
The more they did, the more Wu Yi’s momentum grew.
“Ah—there is no opponent in the world who can match me! The warrior with strength to pluck up mountains and might to match the world is lonely again today!”
Laughing heartily, he picked up and ate the fruits, rice cakes, and alcohol on the stalls at will.
Then, he bumped into the men who could not avoid him in time with his shoulders, knocking them down, and chased and harassed the women who fled.
Right at that moment.
“……Hmm?”
Wu Yi stopped for a moment in the middle of the street.
He saw someone walking up ahead.
Two men wearing bamboo hats pressed down.
One was an adult, and the other was a child.
Because it was an ordinary attire no different from other people, he would not have even cast a glance under normal circumstances.
……However, the situation was slightly different now.
Unlike all the other people who were trembling in fear and stepping aside to the left and right, those two were not afraid of Wu Yi at all.
Thus, Wu Yi and the two men ended up facing each other in the middle of the main street.
Snort—
Wu Yi snorted hot breath.
Then, puffing up his hairless chest as much as possible, he shouted.
“Hey, you trash! Aren’t you going to get out of the way!?”
Even until then, the two men wearing bamboo hats were murmuring and talking about something.
Mainly, the adult would strike up a conversation and the child would nod his head or such.
Wu Yi bellowed once again.
“How dare you block the path of a hero walking!? Huh!?”
At first, he only intended to lightly smack them to scare them.
…Thump!
Wu Yi’s fist struck the tall man’s bamboo hat.
Yet?
“What?”
The man raised his head as if startled.
And then, he continued speaking.
“I was startled. I thought it was a bug.”
Soon, the man’s eyes visible through the bamboo hat grew fierce.
“Where does this bastard get the nerve to be so rude while adults are talking……!”
Hearing those words, Wu Yi’s expression also distorted fiercely.
“What!? Do you bastards need to be turned into a bloody pulp together today to snap out of it……!?”
However, he could not finish his sentence.
…Thump!
This was because the short boy suddenly raised his foot and kicked Wu Yi’s crotch.
“Squeak!?”
Wu Yi grabbed his groin with both hands.
Then, bending his waist in a half-sitting posture, he pushed his buttocks back.
Wu Yi and the boy’s eye levels became similar.
In that state.
Slap!
The boy slapped Wu Yi across the cheek.
…Crash!
Wu Yi spat out twenty teeth and flew over thirty feet, only stopping after breaking a roadside tree.
Since he did not move at all after that, it was impossible to tell whether he was dead or alive.
“Geez—pretty boy. You have a stingy hand.”
Soon, the adult adjusted his bamboo hat.
The one grinning was indeed Gyeon Sul.
“Let’s go.”
The boy also tilted his bamboo hat.
Chui. He had finally arrived in Henan Province, where the Martial Alliance was located.
* * *
Chui and Gyeon Sul. As soon as the two arrived at the village, they immediately looked for an inn.
“Follow me. I know a place with a decent atmosphere.”
Gyeon Sul smiled and continued speaking.
“Actually, this is my hometown.”
Soon, Gyeon Sul led Chui toward a shabby inn located on the outskirts of the market.
Actually, rather than an inn, that place was a location where a few poles were set up and dirty cloth and straw mats were patched together around them.
Creak—
As they opened the gate, the hinge fell off with a loud noise.
“Dear me~ this door is still trouble. How much time has passed, yet they haven’t fixed this?”
Entering inside the inn, a pot hung over the dirt floor and chairs made of split tree stumps were visible.
Inside the pot, loaches, crucian carps, catfishes, beef intestines, pork fat, dried radish greens, and soybean paste were boiling, mixed together, and on the bonfire below, sparrows and quails were being grilled on skewers.
In a corner jar, unfiltered alcohol was filled to the brim, and in front of it, a half-plucked chicken sat awkwardly on a whetstone.
As soon as Gyeon Sul sat on a chair, he spoke energetically.
“Hey~ Auntie! Is Auntie not here! Give us a bowl of today’s porridge and some sparrow skewers here!”
Then, someone came out from the kitchen area.
It was a young woman with a pale complexion.
Seeing the owner’s face, Gyeon Sul opened his eyes wide.
“Huh? What’s this? I came after a long time, but Auntie isn’t here and a young lady comes out? What about Granny Wang?”
“If you mean Auntie, are you by chance referring to my grandmother? She passed away more than ten years ago…….”
At those words, Gyeon Sul shut his mouth.
Soon, the young owner placed a bowl of porridge and grilled sparrow in front of Chui and Gyeon Sul respectively.
“Thank you for remembering my grandmother and visiting us. I won’t accept money for the food, so please enjoy it.”
For some reason, the rims of the turning owner’s eyes were moist.
Smacking his lips, Gyeon Sul picked up his spoon.
“My, my. This is a place I’ve been coming to since I was a child… I guess time does pass. To think that goblin-like old hag has died. Geez.”
“…….”
Chui did not say anything in particular.
Gyeon Sul ate a few spoonfuls of porridge and nodded his head.
“Though the taste is exactly as it was back then.”
“…….”
Chui still did not give any reply.
This was because he was thinking about future matters in his mind.
‘To escape the chase of the Heterodox Alliance and operate within the Martial Alliance, I must have a new identity.’
The reason he specifically wanted to create a new identity also had the intention of staying quietly without drawing attention inside the Martial Alliance.
Just then, Gyeon Sul asked while munching on a sparrow.
“By the way, why did you say you were entering the Martial Alliance?”
“…….”
Chui thought for a moment.
The reason Chui originally wanted to enter the Martial Alliance.
That was precisely because of the martial tournament where the Martial Alliance and the Heterodox Alliance regularly clashed.
‘The grand tournament integrating the orthodox and heterodox, hosted by the imperial family where the experts of the entire Wulin clash. That was the occasion when Hong Gong began to seriously spread his notorious name in the Jianghu.’
The integrated martial tournament held under the auspices of the imperial court was held once every four years.
Chui was targeting precisely that event.
However, because there was no reason to tell that fact straight out, Chui simply replied briefly.
“There is someone I must meet.”
“Oh—is it the leader of the Martial Alliance?”
“You don’t need to know that much.”
“I’m disappointed. We’re comrades in arms of a sort.”
However, contrary to his words, Gyeon Sul did not show any sign of disappointment at all.
This was because he had been distracted by something else for a while.
“Well, then you’ll have to make a new identity from now on, pretty boy?”
“Yes.”
“Then good luck. Since I’ve come to my hometown after a long time, I should handle a long-overdue task while I’m at it.”
Actually, whatever Gyeon Sul did after coming to his hometown was not of interest to Chui.
Chui silently emptied the porridge bowl in front of him.
Just then, Gyeon Sul called the inn owner and asked this question.
“Hey. Owner. Do you by chance know Ximen Qing? He’s an old friend of mine.”
At that, the owner hesitated for a moment.
And then, she nodded her head with a lukewarm expression.
“If it is Lord Ximen Qing the ‘Protector of Righteousness’, there is no one around here who doesn’t know him.”
“Hahaha—is that so? He seems to be the same, that rascal. How has he been doing lately?”
“……It is said that he was recently appointed as an Instructor Assistant of the distant Ascending Heaven Academy. So I heard he will be moving soon.”
“If he’s an instructor, he’s an instructor, what is an instructor assistant? Well, anyway, he seems to be going to the bustling area. Then I must quickly meet him before he leaves this place.”
Just then,
“How did you get to know that guy named Ximen whatever?”
Uncharacteristically, Chui showed interest in Gyeon Sul’s business.
Since Chui showed interest in him first, Gyeon Sul smiled brightly, pleased.
“He’s a friend. An old friend.”
“A bit more details.”
“Details? Hmm.”
Hearing Chui’s request, Gyeon Sul thought about something for a moment.
“…….”
Before long, Gyeon Sul, having finished recalling the past, grinned and replied in a lively tone.
“He’s the guy who had an affair with my sister-in-law.”
Unrivaled Spear Ghost