Chapter 193. Me, One of the Six Dragons?

Since I was a country bumpkin, Shitpants guided the Alliance members to an inn called Baekmihyang.

After we briefly introduced ourselves, I watched the Murim Alliance members, the Lust Demon, and the Ghost Demon all mixed together and eating, and it felt like pouring Dukang wine into sweet-and-sour carp and drinking it all stirred together.

‘What kind of combination is this?’

In my previous life, the Lust Demon and the Ghost Demon had fought the Murim Alliance members just as fiercely as I had. In other words, water and fire were now mixed together and eating a meal. Was this, in its own way, the harmony of sun and moon, the Taiji of life?

Why had we fought so desperately back then?

And why were we sitting around eating together like this now?

The people were the same then and now.

In any case, the food was good.

Everyone here was the sort who could calmly overlook this level of awkwardness, so we filled our stomachs without much conversation.

Only when we had finished eating and were drinking tea did the conversation begin.

Dan Hyeoksan said to the Lust Demon,

“Young Master Mong, have you no intention of joining the Alliance?”

The Lust Demon answered curtly.

“None.”

For whatever reason, Dan Hyeoksan asked the Ghost Demon next.

“Master Six Harmonies, would you……”

The Ghost Demon shook his head.

“No.”

“I see.”

Dan Hyeoksan looked at me.

“The truth is, we have been putting up notices and traveling through regions we do not usually visit in order to recruit Alliance members.”

“I heard the Alliance only accepts people whose identities are certain.”

Dan Hyeoksan gestured to the Lust Demon and Master Six Harmonies.

“Naturally, he is the second son of the Pungun Mong Clan. And since Master Six Harmonies is part of your company, Sect Leader, his identity must be certain as well.”

But after the Lust Demon and the Ghost Demon coldly refused the invitation to join the Alliance, silence fell. After a moment, a Murim Alliance member named Yun Jihak said to me,

“Sect Leader, word has spread widely in the Murim Alliance that you are strong. In fact, you are very close in age to the Alliance members in the Sword Unit. Of course, Young Master Mong is also young. In truth, when we have nothing special to do, we train fiercely. But I cannot say that I think we are stronger than you, Sect Leader.”

His words were somewhat disjointed, but they were not impossible to understand.

To summarize, it seemed he could not quite comprehend how I was young yet stronger than them. It was a question that a man with an honest nature could certainly ask.

I looked at Yun Jihak and nodded.

“I still have a long way to go, but it is true that I became strong quickly for my age.”

Yun Jihak asked me,

“Did you obtain some miraculous medicine or fortuitous encounter?”

Not only the Murim Alliance members, but the Lust Demon and the Ghost Demon as well looked at me. Come to think of it, it seemed the Lust Demon and the Ghost Demon were also curious about the Murim Alliance Leader’s question.

Having no choice, I answered as honestly as I could.

“To put it simply…… I once fell off a cliff. It was quite high.”

The Lust Demon naturally cut in.

“That was when you injured your head.”

“That was when my head…… No, when I obtained a fortuitous encounter. I did not injure my head.”

The Murim Alliance members exchanged glances among themselves, then asked,

“Is that true?”

I answered with a serious expression.

“Why would I lie to you? Since you asked seriously, I am answering seriously. Fortuitous encounters in the gangho are generally absurd by nature, so when you hear about them secondhand, they sound strange. And once such tales spread, they inevitably become distorted. Even more so because people add their own thoughts while telling them.”

Master Six Harmonies seemed dumbfounded as well, for he asked,

“……Are you saying there was miraculous medicine beneath the cliff?”

I met Master Six Harmonies’ eyes, then nodded.

“There was. But that was not the end of it. One day, I took Young Master Mong here up a peak as well. There, we ate Woldanhwa. We were lucky.”

At the mention of Woldanhwa, everyone looked extremely shocked.

“Is that true?”

I looked at the Lust Demon. The Lust Demon, who had eaten Woldanhwa with me, nodded.

“That is true.”

Dan Hyeoksan said with an admiring expression,

“So there was a reason the two of you are so strong. To think there are fortuitous encounters everywhere you go. I do not know if you are aware, but the four rising young talents south of the Murim Alliance, together with the Hao Gate Master and Young Master Mong, are called the New Southern Six Dragons.”

The Lust Demon and I both spat out the tea we were drinking as soon as the words New Southern Six Dragons came up.

“……Pfft.”

“For short, they are usually called the Six Dragons.”

I wiped my mouth and looked at Dan Hyeoksan.

“Six Dragons?”

This Mad Demon, you mean?

***

Dan Hyeoksan nodded.

“Yes.”

The Lust Demon asked,

“Is it perhaps a term that corresponds to the New Northern Five Tigers?”

Dan Hyeoksan smiled.

“So you know of it. That is correct. People of the gangho always enjoy comparing and competing, do they not? Five Tigers north of the Murim Alliance, Six Dragons to the south. It is a list including rising experts. In a sense, they are experts who stand in contrast to the ten public enemies of murim for whom we posted notices today.”

Here, the standard for north and south was not the Yangtze River, but the Murim Alliance.

That was because the source and center of rumors was always the Murim Alliance. Coincidentally, south of the Murim Alliance there were many righteous clans, while to the north there were many sects. The Northern Tigers and Southern Dragons that arose from this was an epithet whose members frequently changed according to the results of martial contests.

In any case, it was undoubtedly an epithet that drew great attention from many people of the gangho. It was an epithet women admired, and also a list of people the black path and heretical sects sought to capture and kill.

In other words, public enemies of murim were people those of the righteous path tried to kill.

And a pleasant-sounding epithet like Northern Tigers and Southern Dragons meant it was the perfect epithet for getting killed by heretical fiends.

Just like that, my position had changed from a public enemy of murim to an expert belonging to the Northern Tigers and Southern Dragons.

That was why being included among the Northern Tigers and Southern Dragons meant becoming more popular in all sorts of ways, receiving more challenges, and gaining wealth and fame, which came with the disadvantage of having to live a very tiring life.

One most absurd fact here……

Then was I going to become popular now? No way. That could not possibly be. Why did I get the feeling that rather than becoming popular with women, I was going to become popular with heretical fiends?

“……”

I muttered in bewilderment.

“What bastard put me among the Six Dragons?”

Dan Hyeoksan cleared his throat and answered.

“The Murim Alliance Leader……”

“I take back the bastard.”

“Yes.”

“Why would the Alliance Leader suddenly include me?”

Dan Hyeoksan widened his eyes and said,

“Sect Leader, it’s an epithet other rising talents are desperate to be included in.”

“That does not describe me.”

“Yes. I’m sorry, but since the Alliance Leader mentioned it, it will be difficult for you to be removed from the list easily.”

Good grief. Did that mean I was going to be forced into becoming a popular man?

I suddenly glared at the Lust Demon.

Somehow, even though we were both masters of the Six Dragons.

I had the feeling the Lust Demon would receive the women’s popularity, while I, being popular among the wicked and unorthodox, would see an increase in damned bastards who attacked me by surprise without even exchanging names.

‘This shitty…….’

Dan Hyeoksan said,

“Originally, the New Southern Four Dragons (新南四龍) were often mentioned. But the Alliance Leader said he doubted whether those juniors of the New Southern Four Dragons could defeat the Hao Sect Leader or the second son of the Windcloud Mong Clan… and so the Four Dragons suddenly became the Six Dragons. Because of the Alliance Leader’s words, your reputation and rumors about you and Young Master Mong are spreading tremendously through the jianghu.”

A thought suddenly occurred to me.

Alliance Leader Im Sobaek must have been having a very hard time lately.

He was not the sort of man to shove the wicked and unorthodox onto others like this, but at this rate, it even felt as if he had taken some of the burden off himself and placed it on the Lust Demon and me.

I suddenly met the Lust Demon’s eyes and muttered,

“…A pants-shitting Dragon. Impressive.”

When I mocked him, the Lust Demon replied without being pushed back in the slightest.

“A country-bumpkin Dragon who fell off a cliff and injured his head. Impressive.”

The Lust Demon gave me a completely insincere fist salute, his hands dangling loosely.

“An honor. Truly an honor.”

“Don’t mention it.”

I consider it a blessing for the jianghu if this bastard only lets his hands dangle. What worried me was that he might go somewhere and start dangling his lower half for no reason. But I was not a man who merely worried in the first place.

A man who could, at any time, feed the Lust Demon laxatives at a gathering packed with beauties of the jianghu—that was me.

I planned to look far ahead rather than short and torment the Lust Demon over the long term, so I did not mind yielding to him on most things.

***

After eating and chatting with the members of the Martial Alliance…

Before I knew it, I had been reborn from a public enemy of murim in my previous life into a promising new master.

Of course, it was not something I had wanted, but as always with worldly affairs, one could not live only as one wished. In any case, since I had fought alongside the Martial Alliance Leader before, it could be said that this level of fame had actually come later than expected.

Strangely, unlike the expectant gazes of some Alliance members…

Neither I nor the Lust Demon showed the slightest hint of joy.

Curiously, the Ghost Demon from my previous life, who had been listening to the story beside us, showed no hint of envy either.

In any case, the three of us were men who had no interest whatsoever in such epithets. Until now, it had been surprisingly difficult to find common ground between the Lust Demon, the Ghost Demon, and me, yet here we were discovering a commonality in something so trivial.

If I were to think carefully about the reason…

It was probably because the goals of the three of us were far higher than this.

How could those who had tormented countless people while being called the Mad Demon, the Lust Demon, and the Ghost Demon be satisfied with an epithet earned by mere rising talents?

I asked the Lust Demon for his thoughts.

“…How does it feel? To have become one of the Six Dragons.”

The Lust Demon answered without much thought.

“An honor. To think my fame now stands alongside the One Phoenix and Two Immortals (一鳳二仙)……”

Since the One Phoenix and Two Immortals were female masters rumored to be beautiful, I made sure to remember them in particular. As the conversation was coming to an end, one Martial Alliance member asked me in a grave tone.

“Sect Leader.”

“Speak.”

“How can we become stronger?”

I looked at the expression of the nameless Alliance member, then asked,

“Is there a particular reason you ask me?”

“Yes. To be honest, I ask this question often. I ask seniors of the jianghu whom I meet for the first time. I ask newly acquainted colleagues and friends of the jianghu as well. Since the answers are different every time, and the thoughts behind them differ, asking like this has become a habit before I knew it. That is why I am curious about your thoughts as well, Sect Leader.”

I nodded, then pointed at the chopstick container in front of me.

“The position of the chopstick container. The number of chopsticks.”

“……”

Next, I pointed one by one to the surroundings of Baekmihyang, where we had been eating with our hands.

“The distance to the entrance. The thickness of the walls. The thickness of the folding screen. The number of steps and approximate speed of someone running in from Baekmihyang’s front gate. The approximate number of stairs up to here.”

I pointed at the ceiling with my finger.

“The height of the ceiling. The distinction between noises from the floor above and the floor below. The consistency of conversations and noises heard outside Baekmihyang. The material and thickness of the floor. Everyone’s characteristics, expressions, habits, health condition, and whether you are injured. The approximate skill level of Young Master Mong and Master Yukhap, who are here with me now. What level of master we could handle if all of us joined forces.”

I pointed at my temple with my finger.

“…While eating, I roughly gauged all of it. It probably won’t happen, but there may be a public enemy of murim or a master of the wicked and unorthodox trying to attack you Alliance members. For example, whether I could pierce the ceiling with the chopsticks here, or throw them as far as the table beyond the folding screen. Also, I am lightly aware of how the surrounding noises are changing.”

While I spoke at length, all the Martial Alliance members watched me with their mouths shut.

I said in a serious tone,

“Even while eating, drinking tea, and conversing with you all, I set aside part of my mind and perceived these things. You may wonder why I am answering like this when you asked how to become stronger. But that is what I think.”

I looked around at the Martial Alliance members.

“Only if you survive by any means will you have the chance to become stronger. You must survive to encounter a fortuitous opportunity. Only then will you gain the possibility of getting lucky and eating a few roots of heshouwu or some spiritual medicine, would you not? Survive thoroughly… and there is no choice but to train little by little each day and grow stronger.”

I looked at the Martial Alliance member who had asked the question.

“Does that answer you?”

“Yes, Sect Leader.”

The other Alliance members also answered me with various words.

“We have listened well.”

“We will keep it in mind.”

I nodded, and since it seemed everyone had finished their tea, I rose from my seat.

“You must be busy, so let us get going.”

.

.

.

After paying the bill, I stood side by side with the Lust Demon and the Ghost Demon and bid farewell to the Martial Alliance members. All kinds of parting words and warm exchanges about meeting again went back and forth for quite some time. The three of us, who had once belonged among the public enemies of murim in our previous lives, had to offer farewell words for quite a while. As soon as the Martial Alliance members disappeared, I let out a sigh.

“Hoo.”

Why was meeting and befriending strangers so exhausting?

It was beyond me.

The Lust Demon, who had been sighing repeatedly beside me, asked,

“Country bumpkin, were you really aware of everything you said back there? What? The thickness of the folding screen? The thickness of the wall? The material of the ceiling? Is that true, or were you bullshitting? Answer me properly.”

The Ghost Demon also looked at me.

“I was aware of half of them myself.”

I clicked my tongue with my hands clasped behind my back.

“What are you so curious about?”

The Lust Demon answered.

“Whether that’s true. How could you possibly have noticed all that? You were just busy stuffing your face.”

After confirming that the Murim Alliance members had disappeared from sight, I said to the Lust Demon and the Ghost Demon,

“I just checked the chopstick container and ate. Why give myself indigestion? I merely pointed and said whatever came to mind.”

The Lust Demon, who had been standing still, suddenly burst into laughter like a madman. The rather rigid Ghost Demon frowned and asked me,

“Why did you tell such a lie?”

I looked at the Ghost Demon and said in an indifferent tone,

“It’s not as if I said anything bad. I meant that they should be careful. It’s the teaching of the Six Dragons, so won’t they all engrave it in their hearts?”

Only then did the Ghost Demon understand, and he answered with a grin.

“I suppose that’s true.”