Tianhui, dressed in a grey martial uniform provided by the Merchant Lord instead of the Huashan Sect's robes, looked up at the three-story building before him.
‘Is this the place?’
Looking at the signboard that read 'Yinxiang Zhenwei' (誾香眞味), he soon turned his eyes away.
‘That's right.’
The building was wrapped in splendid lanterns, and a fragrant scent wafted from the wide-open doors.
‘Yes, this is it.’
As if drawn by the scent, Tianhui took a step toward the door from which bright light spilled.
"Welcome to Yinxiang Zhenwei."
The waiter standing at the door bowed politely and greeted him.
"What kind of seat would you like?"
In response to the waiter's question, Tianhui recalled the Merchant Lord's words and answered.
"The top floor."
Tianhui immediately took out some silver.
‘Gasp! How many is this?!’
Receiving the silver and counting the number of pieces, the waiter's eyes widened.
It was a larger number of silver pieces than the price for a seat on the top floor.
‘Then the rest here is...’
The waiter swallowed hard.
He had thought he was just an ordinary customer due to his plain attire, but he was no ordinary guest.
His eyes sparkled at the silver.
‘Jackpot!’
With an extremely polite attitude, the waiter bowed his head to Tianhui and guided him.
"This way, please. Not many customers have visited the top floor yet today, so you can enjoy your time comfortably."
A moment later, Tianhui arrived at the third floor, the top floor of Yinxiang Zhenwei.
Sitting by the window, Tianhui scanned his surroundings.
‘It's nice because it's quiet.’
Just as the waiter had said, there were hardly any people on the third floor, making it desolate.
The only ones there were a man and a woman on the opposite side.
‘A unique pair.’
Tianhui's gaze was momentarily captivated by them.
Although he was indifferent to everything except martial arts, the mismatched pairing of the man and woman drew his attention.
The first thing that caught his eye was, of course, the man.
The man seemed to have reached the age of forty, and his gleaming red eyes were blazing like firelight.
‘It must be the influence of his internal energy.’
After briefly scanning the man, Tianhui naturally glanced at the woman opposite him.
‘A young lady? No, a girl?’
Even while sitting in the chair, the girl was so petite that her head was half a head lower than the middle-aged man's.
But before that, the first thing that captivated the eyes was the girl's attire.
‘She's eating in that state.’
The girl was wearing a wide-brimmed hat pulled down low.
But was that an ordinary hat?
It was not.
Dense black sheer fabric was woven into the brim of the hat, hanging down and completely covering the girl's face.
The girl's bizarre behavior of only slightly lifting the sheer fabric when eating was enough to make one gasp.
‘Can food even go down like that?’
At that moment, the waiter approached.
"Is there any food you would like to eat?"
"Your most confident dish and your finest wine."
With those words, Tianhui handed over some silver.
The waiter checked the silver and nodded his head vigorously with a bright face.
"Oh! My Lord!"
The waiter immediately fawned.
"Then how about Qingzheng Wuchang Yu? It is the most special among the dishes our chef boasts. And for wine, we have Gujing Gongjiu, which is also renowned for its exquisite taste..."
"Just bring it."
"Understood! I will inform the chef separately and have it prepared as quickly as possible!"
The waiter answered Tianhui's refreshingly brief words and disappeared.
Meanwhile, the girl sitting opposite Tianhui swallowed her food and whispered.
"...He is a mysterious one."
A voice like grinding metal.
It was a low, husky voice that was hard to believe belonged to a young girl.
But it was unmistakably the voice that came from the girl's mouth.
"Are you talking about that fellow?"
"Yes."
The middle-aged man, seemingly surprised by the girl's words, calmly put down his chopsticks.
He then observed the young man who had come up the stairs.
The middle-aged man, looking over the young man who was resting his chin on his hand with an indifferent expression and looking out the window, stroked his beard once.
"Hmm."
The middle-aged man's eyes deepened.
He was indeed a mysterious person, just as the girl had said.
The young man was wearing a martial uniform that could be seen anywhere, but his cold and cynical face exuded a unique atmosphere.
"Hmm, for you, who wouldn't even give Yu Qilin a glance, to show interest..."
Contrary to his tone of utter disbelief, a faint smile hung on the middle-aged man's lips.
It was probably because he was delighted to see the girl showing interest in a young man of her age for the first time in her life.
Even so, he examined the young man closely.
'Hmm, his appearance is decent. But...'
The middle-aged man rolled his eyes to grasp the young man's outward appearance and internal cultivation.
'Has he not learned martial arts?'
He frowned and shook his head.
No internal energy could be felt from the young man.
'What a pity. If he had learned martial arts, I would have told you to meet him somehow.'
Just as the middle-aged man couldn't bear to take his eyes off the young man out of regret.
'What are you staring at?'
Tianhui met his gaze.
The middle-aged man, seemingly not having expected their eyes to meet, was slightly flustered and awkwardly turned his head away with a smile.
"Guest, here it is."
Right on time, the food and wine arrived.
Smelling the steam rising from the dish on the plate, Tianhui immediately picked up his chopsticks and took a bite.
The Qingzheng Wuchang Yu had a deep flavor, worthy of the chef's boast.
He then poured and sipped the Gujing Gongjiu.
"Kuh. This is it, this is the stuff."
Was it because he hadn't drank in a long time?
Or was it because it was a famous premium wine?
The wine was also exceptionally delicious.
'As they say, meat really needs to be eaten with wine.'
While continuously emptying his glass with a satisfied face, Tianhui suddenly frowned.
The moment he swiftly snatched the plates and wine bottle placed on the table.
Boom!
With an explosive sound, the tavern shook.
"Did you think you could escape so easily!"
Tianhui, who had snatched the plates and wine bottle that were about to tip over, turned his head with a smile.
'Just the right side dish showed up.'
The table of the man and woman who had been eating on the opposite side was split in half.
"...What is the meaning of this?"
The middle-aged man, putting down his chopsticks, looked up at the ones who had caused this commotion.
There were four men in total.
They all had vicious appearances and emitted murderous glares as they glared at the pair.
Among them, the largest man rested a massive axe on his shoulder and sneered.
"Hmph, the meaning? Didn't you kill our youngest!"
Having imbued his voice with internal energy, the man's rough shout shook the tavern greatly.
However, the pair was not shaken.
"...So you are the rest of the Xi'an Wuxiong."
A husky and hoarse voice flowed out.
The veiled girl looked at the split table in front of her and indifferently raised her head.
'Xi'an Wuxiong? They say the uglier the fellows, the grander the monikers they use.'
Tianhui let out a chuckle.
But if the people eating on the first or second floor had heard it instead of him, they wouldn't have laughed; they would have been terrified and fled.
That was because the 'Xi'an Wuxiong' were vicious men, infamous for their cruel methods, to the point where even the authorities had given up on them.
The middle-aged man stood up from his seat.
"How arrogant."
"Hmph, you're the arrogant ones."
At the man's snorting words, the girl's veil shook and her head moved.
"You, too, have no room for reform, just like that lecher."
"What? Reform?"
The man sneered.
"This seat will reform you."
"Junior Brother. There is no need for long words."
At that moment, a short and scrawny old man spoke in a thick voice.
"Just kill that old bastard. And..."
Pointing his bony finger at the girl, the old man licked his lips.
"Handle her carefully so she doesn't get a single scratch."
"Are you thinking of taking her again, Eldest Brother? Isn't that too much?"
The man called Junior Brother grumbled. However, having no intention of disobeying the old man's words, he immediately gripped his axe.
"Tch, the second one is mine."
The middle-aged man, watching the two exchanging frivolous jokes, spoke coldly.
"You harbor vain delusions."
Before he knew it, a sword was in his hand.
"You will all die by my hand anyway."
As heavy as the air had become, the middle-aged man's voice was deep and weighty. But the Xi'an Wuxiong were not shaken at all.
"Putting on a bluff."
"Charge at him all at once."
At the old man's command, the two men simultaneously gripped a deformed sword and an axe.
"Die!"
Speaking with vicious eyes, they simultaneously swung their weapons widely.
At that fierce momentum, the girl also flinched.
Crack!
The wooden floor split, and screams were heard from below.
"Kyaaa!"
"W-what's happening!"
As the tavern fell into a state of utter panic.
"That looks like the martial arts from the Taiyang Gong? Or is it a bit different? Was the Taiyang Gong more vicious than that?"
While Tianhui was sipping his wine and enjoying the fight happening in front of him.
"What a pitiful fellow."
A shadow fell over him.
Raising his head, a towering bald man was standing there. He was resting a broadsword on his shoulder and looking down at him.
"Tsk tsk, blame your luck for coming here for a meal of all times."
Instantly, Tianhui pinched his nose with his index finger.
"Ugh!"
The bad breath emanating from the bald man's mouth was shockingly foul.
"How dare you when the elder is speaking..."
"It stinks, so shut your mouth, will you?"
The bald man's face turned bright red.
"You bastard!"
The moment the man, whose head had also turned bright red, raised his broadsword with iron rings rattling on the spine and swung it widely.
Thwack!
With a dull sound, red blood burst from the bald man's seven orifices.
"S-Second Brother!"
"Eldest Brother!"
Before the cries of the Xi'an Wuxiong, who were exchanging attacks with the middle-aged man, could even finish, the man's body slowly fell forward.
He had an expression that didn't seem to understand what had just happened, but his life was already extinguished.
Thump!
The man of towering stature fell with a loud noise.
"F-Eldest Brother!"
"What is..."
"How on earth?"
The Xi'an Wuxiong—no, the Xi'an Sanxiong, now that only three remained—stood frozen by the sudden event and stared at Tianhui.
"You're getting distracted in this situation."
The moment the Xi'an Sanxiong panicked at those words.
Whoosh!
A gust of wind blew, and a streak of blue light split the Xi'an Sanxiong in half.
"Cough!"
With a short groan, the three men fell.
The four men who were called the Xi'an Wuxiong had lost their lives in an instant.
"You are..."
The middle-aged man who had slashed them, Duanmu Zhengang, paused as he was about to speak.
"...!"
The young man, who had been tilting his wine glass just a moment ago, had suddenly disappeared.
As if he had been an illusion.
While Duanmu Zhengang was bewildered.
"He left a long time ago."
The girl said softly.
"Did you already know he was a master?"
"No."
At the girl's firm answer, Duanmu Zhengang looked at her with surprised eyes.
She had outstanding sensory perception since birth. Any person in the world could be fully grasped in her presence.
Even if they were the head of the Eight Great Noble Families.
"Is that true?"
"Yes. I couldn't feel anything even when he moved."
The girl continued to stare at the empty table.
It was also hard for her to believe.
She had thought that nothing in the world could escape her sensory perception.
But the young man just now...
'It was as if he was there, yet not there.'
His presence was extremely faint.
So much so that one would momentarily forget he even existed in this space.
To her, who had felt and observed the surrounding energy every day, it was a truly mysterious sensation.
'But when he showed his handiwork...'
Recalling that moment, her skin tingled and her heartbeat quickened.
She had seen it.
A massive presence—not the Xi'an Wuxiong.
'His existence devoured the world.'
The girl's veil trembled finely.
Her hidden eyes beneath the veil turned their gaze from the table to the outside.
Above the moonlit sky, the young man whose existence had devoured the world flickered briefly like starlight and then disappeared.
"Just who is he..."
Meanwhile, Tianhui, who had returned to the tavern room, expelled all the alcohol energy in one breath.
'I only ruined the taste of the wine.'
Thinking of the food and wine he couldn't finish and left behind, he lay down on the bed.
'But it's strange.'
Did the random thoughts arise because the intoxication wore off?
He tilted his head as he recalled the bizarre Yin energy leaking from the girl who had been watching him when he killed the Xi'an Wuxiong.
"How is she still alive with that body?"