Chapter 256. The Reason I Let Myself Be Taken In by the Scheming

We do not drink until we are dead drunk. Being dead drunk means telling your enemies to kill you. The same went for Yeo Unbyeok, so we drank in moderation and rose from our seats.

I met Yeo Unbyeok’s eyes and said,

“Sect Leader Yeo, it would not be so bad if we parted like this, lived without incident, and never met again.”

Yeo Unbyeok nodded.

“That would not be a bad thing either.”

“But if an age truly comes when nothing happens, let us share a drink like today.”

We met each other’s eyes and nodded once, making a promise for later.

Yeo Unbyeok said,

“I will send the Muk Clan Sword as promised. I will send it to Yongdu Ironworks, so confirm it there.”

The Ghost Demon nodded.

“Understood.”

I went to the waiter and paid for the drinks. The waiter, perhaps now knowing my face and name, bid me farewell with an expression less tense than before.

“Take care on your way, Sect Leader.”

I gave the waiter a slight nod, then parted from Yeo Unbyeok and walked with the villains down the streets of the Muk clan, which had in an instant returned to its ordinary daily life. From time to time, I exchanged nods with those whose eyes met mine.

Only after we had gone some distance from that street did the Ghost Demon speak.

“To think I would unexpectedly obtain such a precious sword. One truly never knows what life will bring. I had expected a full-blown fight.”

The Lust Demon seemed more curious about the scholars’ abilities than sentimental talk.

“How would you compare the strength of the Blind Scholar Third killed and Sect Leader Yeo?”

It was not a question I could answer precisely.

“I did not fight him, so I do not know. The feeling was similar. But if a fight had broken out, Sect Leader Yeo would have found himself in quite a predicament.”

“Why?”

“Sect Leader Yeo is a master of defense, not an assassin. He would be strong one-on-one, but if a melee broke out, he would not have been able to handle it. Of course, that is something I thought after learning he was a member of the Muk clan… And among the scholars I have seen, Cheonak was the strongest anyway. In the end, the three of us need to climb higher as well. Cheonak was like a beast. If you two ever meet Cheonak, use your heads. The atmosphere around him was such that if you said one wrong word and even a hand came flying, it felt like everything would be torn apart.”

I had to scare them so these bastards would focus more on their training.

Not that it was entirely wrong.

Cheonak’s face and eyes had his entire life melted into them. His gaze was hard, like that of a man who had endured countless horrific trainings on the border between life and death. Then one day, he must have torn to death a scholar above him, someone like a master.

This was how I imagined the relationship between the Cheonak Scholar and the White-Clad Scholar.

Perhaps the White-Clad Scholar had provided Cheonak with various martial arts and methods to grow stronger, and the two had overcome hardship together. They did not seem to have a hierarchy determined by the height of their martial arts.

At a crossroads, I asked the two of them,

“…Back like this?”

For a moment, the Lust Demon looked at me and snorted. I had an ominous feeling, but I stayed still for the time being.

The Lust Demon said,

“Do you think I followed you all the way here just to go back like this? I shall take a look at the face of Dragon Gate’s Finest Sword and properly settle the ranking of the New Southern Six Dragons. Let’s go. To meet the Dragon Sword.”

“Mm.”

I had forgotten that I had sown discord.

Come to think of it, I wondered why that discord-sowing had worked so well.

“Why go? Just be the youngest. You may be the youngest among the New Southern Six Dragons, but either way, among the young rising talents, it is the most conspicuous position.”

The Lust Demon’s eyes widened, and he glared at me.

“Not a chance. You be the youngest.”

“I cannot do that either.”

The Ghost Demon said,

“In any case, Eldest Brother also needs time to think and train alone for a while. Let us leave him be so he can recuperate mentally in quiet Ilyang County. Because of Cook Jang’s food and Monk Dongsu, Eldest Brother will be able to rest as well.”

I burst out laughing despite myself.

“Senior Sword Demon, resting? As if. Every time he sees Dongsu’s bald head, he will want to smack it. You saw it too. How he only says frustrating things. Wow, now that I think about it, Senior Sword Demon versus Monk Dongsu is a confrontation for the ages, isn’t it? A meeting of polar opposites.”

As we chatted about nothing in particular, the three of us found ourselves walking the road to meet Dragon Gate’s Finest Sword.

The Lust Demon assessed the confrontation between the two like this.

“In my view, there is a very high chance Master will not say a single word to Dongsu until we return.”

I imagined the two of them in Ilyang County. Whenever Dongsu struck his wooden moktak and chanted sutras, the sharp-eared Sword Demon would have to resist in order not to fall into qi deviation. When you are training to become the greatest swordsman, and someone beside you keeps muttering Namu Amitabha Bul, it might drive you mad.

I did not know who would win in a battle of the mind.

In any case, the sight was funny just to imagine. Suddenly hearing a strange sound, I looked at the two of them, and the Lust Demon and the Ghost Demon were also laughing with strange expressions, as if they had been thinking the same thing as me.

I clicked my tongue.

“…Crazy bastards. At least say something before you laugh.”

The Lust Demon looked at me.

“You were laughing like the biggest idiot here.”

This time, the Ghost Demon laughed aloud and described the scene at the Zaha Inn with his mouth.

“Tak-tak-tak-tak-tak, Namu Amitabha Bul… Eldest Brother will probably speak to Dongsu in a dignified tone. Could you not go somewhere else and strike your moktak? What do you think Dongsu will answer?”

I answered in his place.

“No.”

The Lust Demon and the Ghost Demon burst into laughter.

“Hahahahahaha….”

“Benefactor Sword Demon, your killing intent is far too dense. Namu Amitabha Bul.”

In truth, it was not a story worth laughing so loudly over, but we laughed excessively.

Because we could imagine the Sword Demon being troubled.

The more I thought about it, the more it was a combination for the ages. In any case, to grow, cultivation of the mind was also necessary, so even if the Sword Demon fell into hardship because of a monk, I had no intention of sympathizing with him at all.

I said to the Lust Demon,

“Isn’t that too loud a laugh when we are talking about your master?”

The Lust Demon’s face went serious.

“No? I was laughing because of the monk.”

“Confirmed.”

In truth, if we wanted to meet Dragon Gate’s Finest Sword quickly, the right answer would have been to keep using qinggong, but we simply walked.

As we walked, we thought, talked nonsense, and looked at the world.

Ordinary people are too busy making a living to take useless journeys like we do. In particular, because I had brought a lot of travel money, we moved while sleeping in relatively cozy places and eating good food.

Why do those people work?

And why do useless bastards like us not work?

Because we are people of the martial world?

I do not really know. For now, I suppose it is because I have a lot of money. That is why, when those who work fall into trouble, it is the duty of the martial world for us, who spend our days fooling around and training in martial arts, to help them. In truth, this was what I felt deep down, but I did not explain it at length to the two of them.

I merely hoped that, on the journey to find Longmen’s Number-One Sword, those two would come to think the same way I did. If that happened, then even if they did not join the Hao Sect, the way they lived would be no different from the Hao Sect’s.

I held on to the hope that it would be enough if the two villains from my past life changed even this much.

After all, they would be just as good as I was at beating people up in my stead.

And so we headed east, then turned south.

While going south, we turned east again. Whenever we saw a river, we deliberately sought out a boatman and crossed on a ferry; when we came upon a broad river, we boarded the large boats used by escort guards as well and watched the rippling water. The wind blowing over the surging river felt so cool, as if it passed straight through my chest, that I sometimes laughed to myself.

* * *

Rumors of the man called Longmen’s Number-One Sword, or Dragon Sword for short, reached our ears several times without our even having to dig for them. The farther south we went, the more the people who spoke of the jianghu mentioned Dragon Sword as though he were the pride of the region.

He had been a genius since childhood.

They said he had defeated more than a hundred jianghu men before he turned twenty.

There were also repeated stories that Dragon Sword had personally stepped forward and wiped out the river bandit strongholds.

Was that why we hadn’t seen any river bandits?

There was also some long-winded nonsense about how, if he trained for another ten years or so and participated in the All-under-Heaven Martial Arts Tournament, Dragon Sword might be able to challenge for the seat where the next alliance leader would be chosen. As we listened to all sorts of nonsense and imagined what Dragon Sword might be like, we arrived at Longmen before we knew it.

Only after arriving nearby did I learn that Dragon Sword belonged to the Wei Clan and that his real name was Wei Wuque (韋無缺).

That much was not a problem. But I also learned that Wei Wuque’s younger sister was named Wei Xiaoxian (韋小仙).

I had no idea why we had to hear even the name of Wei Wuque’s younger sister, but when I learned that Wei Xiaoxian was one of the One Phoenix and Two Immortals spoken of in the jianghu, curses naturally spilled out of my mouth.

“Has this bastard lost his fucking mind?”

The Pervert looked at us with an expression that asked why I was suddenly acting like this. After hearing the explanation, the Ghost Demon also hurled curses at the Pervert.

“Has this bastard gone insane? Did you come here on purpose?”

The Pervert shrugged and opened his mouth.

“What’s wrong? Why are you getting angry? I told you we came to settle the rankings of the New Southern Six Dragons.”

“Wow……”

The Pervert spoke in an indifferent tone.

“I didn’t know Dragon Sword’s sister was Wei Xiaoxian either.”

There was no way a guy who must have been guzzling liquor at Baekeungji while talking about the jianghu wouldn’t have known. I couldn’t shake the feeling that, somehow, we had been dragged here by the Pervert to see a woman who belonged to the One Phoenix and Two Immortals.

The Pervert spoke to us in a brazen tone.

“……Ah, so are we going back? After coming all this way? Fine, then go back. I don’t need it. What, do you take me for someone crazed because he can’t get a look at some woman’s face? Are you kidding me? This is all part of training too.”

I clicked my tongue and replied.

“How does bullshit flow that naturally out of you?”

A sigh came out on its own, but going back just like this would have been idiotic too, so we headed to the Wei Clan. The fact that it was called a clan for no reason also left me feeling sour.

A jianghu clan gave off a different feeling from a sect. The origins of such clans varied; in some cases, a young master from an originally wealthy household trained in martial arts and the family developed from there. In others, a martial household grew into a great clan because of a single powerful family head.

There were also cases where local gentry transformed into jianghu clans.

From the rumors, the Wei Clan seemed to include all three: a wealthy household, a martial family, and local gentry.

And so, even after we found the Wei Clan’s main gate properly, we stood some distance away like country bumpkins and stared at the rich household for a while.

The Ghost Demon said,

“This is somehow intimidating. Should we have a drink before we visit?”

The Pervert snorted.

“What’s there to be intimidated by? It’s similar to my house.”

I grabbed the Pervert by the shoulder.

“Fourth Brother, let’s go. Go and resolve the bitter grudge of having become sixth among the Six Dragons.”

Unlike when we had stormed the Unhyang Sect, I put the Pervert at the front and, together with the Ghost Demon, stepped back to assist him as though we had become the Left and Right Radiant Envoys.

The Pervert cleared his throat once, then walked over with his hands clasped behind his back and knocked on the gate.

Bang, bang, bang!

A servant opened the door and appeared, then looked at the Pervert.

“……What brings you here?”

“I am Mong Yeon, from the Pungun Mong Clan of Baekeungji.”

The servant was startled and threw the gate wide open.

“Welcome, Young Master Mong.”

That Pervert bastard looked at us and jerked his chin as if telling his attendants to come in as well.

As I entered with the Ghost Demon, I muttered,

“Rotten bastard. Annoying as hell.”

Guided by the servant, we entered the Wei Clan. Round paving stones were laid wherever we walked. But before long, we stopped again. A man who looked like a guard was blocking the entrance to the inner courtyard.

“Who are you?”

The servant answered.

“Guard Jeong, this is Young Master Mong Yeon of the Pungun Mong Clan of Baekeungji and his party.”

“Do they have an appointment?”

I answered in the Pervert’s stead.

“……We are dissatisfied with the rankings of the New Southern Six Dragons and have come to challenge him. What appointment? Just report it. If Young Master Wei is a coward, he’ll make the excuse that he’s busy. That would mean there’s no doubt Young Master Mong is the top-ranked among the New Southern Six Dragons.”

I deliberately spoke as obnoxiously as possible, and before I had even finished, the guard’s face had turned bright red.

The guard opened the gate to the inner courtyard.

“Please enter. You, guide them to the main hall.”

“Yes.”

I was about to follow, but the guard extended a hand and stopped me.

“Please introduce these two as well.”

The Ghost Demon revealed his identity first.

“I am called Master Yukhap.”

I met the prickly guard’s eyes and answered.

“Hao Sect Leader Lee Zaha.”

“Ah!”

The startled guard suddenly gestured to the servant and said,

“I will guide them myself.”

“Ah, yes.”

As the guard guided us, he said,

“So two of the Six Dragons have come to visit. The eldest young master will be pleased as well.”

I asked,

“Will he really be pleased?”

“Are you not younger brothers whose fame stands shoulder to shoulder with the eldest young master’s? I heard he has always been curious about you.”

I nodded.

“Right. We came because we were curious too.”

Now that I thought about it, when the Pervert said he had come to settle the rankings, the guard’s expression had not been good, but once I revealed my identity, the guard suddenly seemed glad to see us.

Who knew the difference in favorability between the guy who caused trouble at Baekeungji and the Hao Sect Leader would be this great?

I won again today…… not exactly, but in any case, it wasn’t bad.

We were shown into a clean, spacious main hall where not a speck of dust could be found, and waited for the Wei Clan’s eldest young master in chairs so expensive they looked as if they could buy us pork thigh bones for over two hundred days.

I asked the Lust Demon.

“Can you win?”

The Lust Demon wore an insolent-looking sneer. Since he did not answer, I gave him a hard time.

“What? Say something, you dumb bastard. Don’t just smile.”

The Lust Demon answered with his arms folded.

“There is no factor that would make me lose.”

“They said he’s Yongmun’s Greatest Sword.”

The Lust Demon smiled and said to us,

“So what…….”

I felt like I was going to vomit, so I covered my eyes with my hand.