EP.10 Nine Dragons Assembly (4)
"That guy is the Young Master?"
A young man who looked barely past twenty. I frowned as I watched him throwing a tantrum, wrestling with people.
Why would a direct descendant of the Peng family be here? Moreover, a bloodline of a prestigious family throwing a fit in front of everyone.
"Surely not."
It wouldn't be. It shouldn't be.
Even so, impersonating the Young Master of the Four Great Families—that guy is in for big trouble.
Peng Ahee, whom I had unexpectedly encountered in Shanxi, came to mind, but I immediately erased the thought.
I could smell trouble I didn't want any part of.
Besides, I never heard any mention in my past life of the Peng family's Young Master appearing at the Nine Dragons Assembly, so it would pass without incident.
It had to.
"What's going on?"
I tried to ignore it and leave, but I bumped into the Second Elder.
"Just some strange fellow causing a scene, it seems."
I tried to leave after giving a brief answer. I had work to do, so leaving quickly seemed best.
But the Second Elder grabbed me.
"My bones ache from looking for you since early morning."
"For someone who looks healthier than me, that's a ridiculous thing to say."
"Not just yesterday, but your skill at talking back to your elders has reached the pinnacle. If only your martial arts improved at that rate."
He messes up my hair again.
Ah, dizzy...
"But did you say you were looking for me?"
He could have just sent an attendant to summon me, so why come himself?
"Ah, it's nothing much. After this Nine Dragons Battle ends..."
"No, why on earth can't I! I've shown everything there is to show! Do I need to unleash the Black Night Blade here for you to believe me?"
"...Now, now, calm down. We also have our position..."
"No, I told you I don't have time! You said anyone could join as long as their identity is verified."
The Second Elder's gaze, who had been about to speak to me, shifted. Black Night Blade was the name of the Peng family's unique blade technique.
It was even a bloodline martial art passed down only to the direct descendants of the Family Head.
Sensing a strange situation about to unfold, I quickly tried to grab the Second Elder, but he was already gone.
"What? Where did he..."
"Are you the Peng family's son?"
The Second Elder was already standing before the young man claiming to be the Peng Young Master.
"I-I greet the Second Elder!"
The attendants receiving applications were terrified and bowed upon the Second Elder's sudden appearance.
Naturally, the attention of those behind who had wanted to join the Gu family's Sword Squad also focused on them.
"Oh, yes, nice to meet you too. So you're the Peng family's son?"
The young man straightened his posture at the Second Elder's words.
"I am Young Master Peng Woojin. It is an honor to meet the renowned Flame Fang Fist hero of the Gu family."
Flame Fang Fist was the Second Elder's sobriquet from his days active in the Central Plains in his youth.
The Second Elder grinned at Peng Woojin's words.
Is he pleased to be called by his sobriquet after so long?
"So you are the Peng family's son. Such a tyrannical physique wouldn't exist outside your family. Your face looks exactly like that Family Head fellow too."
Calling the Peng family's Family Head 'that fellow'...
No matter how I looked at it, 'tyrannical' was a word more suited to the Second Elder.
"So, why did you come here?"
"I came to apply for the Gu family's Sword Squad."
"The Peng family's Young Master ignoring his own family's Sword Squad and coming all the way here?"
"That place is boring."
The Second Elder laughed heartily at Peng Woojin's words. It was the look of someone who found an interesting fellow.
"You're a madman. So the Peng family has a madman."
"Thank you. I hear that quite often."
"It wasn't a compliment, you brat."
As Peng Woojin held a cupped-fist salute, a pitch-black ring caught my eye between his fingers. It was the same ring Peng Ahee had been wearing.
"Damn, he's the real deal..."
Why was a Peng family fellow here acting like that?
"I came because I heard anyone could apply as long as their identity was verified. But they kept refusing me even after I showed everything, so I was in a difficult spot."
"Did you get permission from the Peng family?"
"I figured they'd never give it even if I died, so I ran away from home."
A real madman was right there.
"He really is a madman."
For once, my thoughts aligned with the Second Elder's. That was a genuine madman.
The Second Elder swept his eyes over Peng Woojin's body once and grinned. Something about it seemed really perverted...?
"Your body is well-trained. How old are you?"
"I turned twenty-three this year."
"Young. But at that level... The Peng family is raising a dragon. I wish our empty-headed brat was even half like you."
Was empty-headed brat referring to me?
I was suddenly compared without doing anything, but I didn't feel offended.
If that young man was indeed the Peng family's Peng Woojin, then 'dragon' was fitting.
Blade Emperor Peng Woojin.
A title that would be bestowed upon him in the near future.
The commander of the Celestial Net Dark Web Unit, the Demonic Army directly under the Heavenly Demon, had fought to a draw with Defeat Venerable, one of the Three Venerables.
Fighting to a draw with one of the Three Venerables meant his martial prowess was beyond words.
Yet he would die in battle against Peng Woojin.
Though he was exhausted from countless battles, Peng Woojin had defeated him in single combat.
Upon hearing the news, Defeat Venerable personally bestowed the title Blade Emperor upon Peng Woojin.
The Second Elder, stroking his long beard, grinned playfully.
"Your identity is verified, and your martial prowess seems outstanding, so isn't that fine?"
What kind of nonsense was that?
The attendant at the reception desk looked troubled, perhaps thinking the same as me.
"...But Second Elder, no matter how you look at it..."
"What's the problem? Doesn't he want it himself?"
"That's right. I want to participate in the Nine Dragons Battle. I absolutely want to serve in the Gu family's Sword Squad."
"See, he wants it this much."
The receptionist's pupils shook as if hit by an earthquake. His face showed he had no idea what to do with this situation.
Just as a small puddle was about to form from the cold sweat dripping off the receptionist, a savior appeared.
"Brother!"
The one who appeared shouting loudly was Peng Ahee, whom I had met yesterday.
"You crazy bastard!"
With a shout of effort, she leaped forward. That was definitely charged with internal energy.
Immediately, Peng Ahee's kick, packed tight with internal energy, drove into Peng Woojin's solar plexus.
"Urk!"
Hit by the surprise attack, Peng Woojin floated into the air and crashed through the reception desk before falling.
"...Wow, that's going to really hurt."
Did he die?
"You crazy bastard, you ran away from home leaving behind the position of Young Master with just a letter!?"
As if still not satisfied, Peng Ahee ran over to Peng Woojin and started stomping on him wildly.
Fortunately, Peng Woojin didn't die, as he screamed while being stomped.
"Argh...! Ah! Wait...!! Just wait...!"
"You throw everything away and run off, and the best you can do is join another family's Sword Squad? Have you completely lost your mind!?"
Ah, that's not a place you should be stepping on...
"Brother, he'll die at this rate! Ahee, wait..."
"Just die! Drop dead! You crazy bastard!"
"If I die, who will be Family Head!"
"Who cares! Even the village dog would do a better job than you!"
"Aaaagh!"
I turned my head away from the brutal scene. The Second Elder was also scratching his cheek, looking troubled.
I cautiously approached and spoke to the Second Elder.
"Should we leave them? If we leave them like that, someone's going to die."
"Peng family folks are all tough as nails. They won't die even if you beat them with ten-thousand-year cold iron. Don't worry."
"Alive..."
"...I don't think that's the case."
After stomping on him like a doll for a while, Peng Ahee seemed to have vented some anger and huffed as she caught her breath.
On the ground lay Peng Woojin, whether alive or dead.
"Get up."
Peng Ahee said coldly, but Peng Woojin lay there as if dead.
"If you don't get up, I'll smash stones into your crotch."
"I'm up."
At the unimaginably cruel words, Peng Woojin broke into a cold sweat and jumped up.
Peng Ahee looked at Peng Woojin and let out a deep sigh.
Her face showed she was deep in thought.
"Hah, finding you is enough... Let's just go home now, Brother."
Behind Peng Ahee, figures draped in black robes approached.
They were Peng family personnel including Yeobi, Peng Ahee's guard I had met yesterday.
Peng Ahee looked at me and the Second Elder and approached with a surprised face.
"I apologize for disrupting the Gu family's schedule with a trivial family matter."
"So this time it's the Peng family's daughter?"
"Yes, I am Peng Ahee. Flame Fang Fist hero."
"You're as well-trained as your brother. It's infuriating how that bear of a man raised such fine children."
I didn't know who he was calling a bear.
"The Peng family will certainly not forget and will compensate for the disruption caused. We will withdraw first so as not to cause any further inconvenience."
"I'm not going, Ahee."
At Peng Woojin's words, Peng Ahee turned her head with furious eyes.
"Are you going to keep spouting nonsense?"
"It's not nonsense. I have no intention of returning to the Peng family."
"What's the reason, Brother? Why on earth are you doing this?"
"The Peng family is boring."
Why does that deranged fellow keep going on about being bored? As if she heard my inner thoughts, Peng Ahee spoke.
"Is the Gu family fun then? At least the other families would be more fun than the Peng family. Why do you keep going on about being bored in some random place?"
"It'll be more fun than our house at least."
"Brother, please act your age. You're the Young Master."
"That's exactly why I need to find more fun before I become Family Head. The only ways to not become Family Head are becoming a half-cripple or dying. And I hate both options."
Dusting off his body, Peng Woojin's eyes held a firm resolve.
"I don't want to be Family Head, but objectively speaking, I don't see anyone besides me fit to take the seat. Excluding you, Ahee, the others are beasts wearing the family name, and even if they all banded together, they'd last three moves against me at best."
He evaluated his blood relatives with resolute and cold words.
There was pride and arrogance mixed in, but he clearly had the talent to back it up.
"Even so, I can't elevate you to Family Head, Ahee. So I will sit as Family Head someday. That's why I've accepted the annoying and detestable title of Young Master."
A madman spouting mad words, yet it somehow seemed justified—was it because I was also losing my mind?
Peng Ahee quickly rubbed her forehead with her hand. It seemed the suffocating situation was giving her a headache.
Then the Second Elder stepped forward.
"I was going to accept him since he seemed amusing enough, but considering the Peng family's position, let's do this instead."
At the Second Elder's words, Peng Ahee looked with anxious eyes while Peng Woojin looked with eyes full of expectation.
"If you win a sparring match against this old man, I'll accept you."
"...That's truly a ridiculous thing to say."
I thought some wise method might come out, but no such luck.
No matter how much Peng Woojin would become a top master in the future, right now he was still a late-blooming talent. There was no way he could defeat an elder of a prestigious family.
"...No, you don't even need to win by force. We'll exchange ten moves—if you can so much as reach me within those, you win."
"Is that all it takes?"
Peng Woojin's eyes flashed at the Second Elder's words. Behind him, Peng Ahee watched with an anxious face, unable to speak, but it seemed she dared not intervene.
"I'll give you exactly ten moves. If you can so much as brush my lapel within those, you win."
As soon as the words ended, Peng Woojin drew his blade and took his stance.
No... wait, he's going to do it here with this many people around?
"Hol—"
I was about to say they should at least do it in the sparring arena, but the Second Elder suddenly threw a fist at Peng Woojin's face.
Crack!
A sound that shouldn't have been a striking sound rang out, and Peng Woojin lay on the ground. This was different from when he rolled on the ground from Peng Ahee's attack earlier.
That one might have actually killed him.
"I held back, so he'll wake up soon."
"...Second Elder, weren't you only going to dodge?"
"This old man never said such a thing."
This shameless old man...
"Since we reached a mutual agreement, isn't the matter resolved regardless?"
"Even so, how could you just throw a punch right off the bat? Especially against that opponent."
"When someone seems like a bothersome fellow, making them quiet solves it."
"...The problem is that the method is violence."
"Violence! You brat, what terrifying words! That was a proper sparring match."
"And you said even brushing your lapel counts, but your fist reached him, so didn't it technically make contact...?"
As I quietly pointed out the flaw, the Second Elder coughed once and slipped away.
He clearly hadn't thought that far.