Chapter 133. The Black Flame Dragon Who Proves Himself (3)
“They are all waiting at Hwawol Pavilion right now.”
Hwawol Pavilion was one of the most prominent pleasure houses not only in Wuhan, but in all of Hubei Province.
It was so extravagantly luxurious that even the children of ordinary High Officials and Nobles could not easily come and go there, yet the academy students of the Murim Academy often pushed themselves to show their faces at Hwawol Pavilion.
Because high-ranking executives of the Murim Alliance, including Pavilion Masters and Hall Masters, often visited the place, they overexerted themselves in order to form connections with them by any means possible.
“We have also prepared a separate place for your companions, so please come together.”
As if it were only natural, Il-gak turned and began walking, and my companions also tried to follow as if that were only natural.
“I refuse.”
“……!”
“!”
Not only Seong Mo-ran and Namgung Seon-hwa, but even Il-gak looked at me with startled eyes.
“I have a prior engagement.”
“…….”
Il-gak’s face twisted faintly.
“I said the Elders of the Righteous Path Association invited you.”
“You should have told me in advance.”
“…….”
“Is it not against etiquette to suddenly call it an invitation and unilaterally tell me to come?”
In these bastards’ heads, if one was not from the Nine Sects and One Gang or the Five Great Clans, one was not even a human bastard.
A mutt approached both its master and strangers without distinction.
As a disciple of the Taeul Sect, I could be a dog, but I could not become a mutt.
“I know the seniors of the Elder Hall are excellent people. Even so, they cannot freely order around the academy representative, who is not merely an ordinary academy student, can they? Or are they trying to meet me not as the academy representative, but as seniors and juniors of the martial world?”
Il-gak’s face crumpled.
At this rate, even his scalp would start wrinkling.
Ooh, since I had teased a monk like this, I might end up going to hell.
I could bet my wrist that before I entered the academy as the top entrant, the Elders had not even known that a sect called the Taeul Sect existed.
In my previous life, when I was working at the Mantongbu and cramming information into my head, the Elders found it strange and often came to visit.
There had even been some who recognized the Taeul Sect as a sect that had already been destroyed long ago.
“Leaving aside the Elders’ positions, even from the perspective of seniors and juniors of the martial world, I do not think it is proper for Benefactor Jin to reject them so unilaterally.”
Il-gak spoke with his still-unfurrowed head…… no, face.
“Those seniors treated me as though I were some Black Path Murim spy.”
“…….”
“Are they perhaps intending to apologize for what happened in the past on this occasion?”
Il-gak seemed to have never expected this situation at all, and he showed an awkward attitude, unable to manage his expression.
Because there was no way they would ever apologize.
Especially not to someone like a disciple of the Taeul Sect.
“In that case, I have even less reason to go.”
Il-gak let out a long sigh.
“I know there have been many misunderstandings between Benefactor Jin and us.”
Behind me, Seong Mo-ran whispered, “Since when did the meaning of misunderstanding change?” but Il-gak continued speaking.
“However, if Benefactor Jin acts so arbitrarily, nothing good will come of it for you either.”
“…….”
“Whether Benefactor Jin likes it or not, those people are the ones supporting the Murim Alliance.”
“You make threats very gently.”
“…….”
“I do not care, so please tell them I cannot go.”
“…….”
I was about to continue on my way, but then I stopped and called Il-gak.
“Oh, right. And…….”
Il-gak looked at me with an expression that said, “I knew it.”
“Why do you keep calling a disciple of a Daoist martial sect ‘benefactor’? It is uncomfortable.”
Il-gak’s face turned like that of one of the Four Heavenly Kings placed at the entrance of a temple.
At this rate, I might really end up going to hell…….
“Is this really all right?”
After Il-gak disappeared, Namgung Seon-hwa, who had watched Il-gak’s changed expression with the greatest astonishment, spoke in a voice filled with worry.
“Not only the Pavilion Masters, but even within the Murim Alliance, they are people who receive absolute support. If you think about rising in the future, opposing them is not very good.”
“I do not think about rising.”
“Why not?”
Because such a distant future would never come in the first place.
There were dozens of times when the danger of death came and went right before me, so where would I have the leisure to think about the distant future?
“Because there are many things I have to do right now with the people beside me.”
“……Mm.”
Namgung Seon-hwa nodded.
“Well, I suppose the Righteous Path Association is not the only option, and the Namgung Clan’s influence within the Orthodox Path Association is not small either.”
“Yes?”
“Nothing. In any case, that is how it is.”
After finishing the meal, I took Murong Jae-hwa and headed to the smithy.
Murong Jae-hwa, who had been training in the Archery Way with the bow we had taken from the Ghost Bow Sect, had soon broken the bow, and among the bows provided by the academy, there were no proper items, so he had been unable to train at all.
“The bows made by the artisans at our smithy are famous for their sturdiness.”
The bow the blacksmith handed over was a sturdy, strong bow with a frame made of ox horn, but after drawing the bowstring a couple of times, Murong Jae-hwa’s expression did not look very pleased.
“It feels like it will break soon…….”
At Murong Jae-hwa’s words, the blacksmith burst into hearty laughter.
“This White Bow has never broken, even when masters filled it with inner arts to their utmost. Please test it once. Even if it breaks, I will not take any money.”
At the blacksmith’s words, Murong Jae-hwa nodded, then filled the bow with the qi of Breaking Bow and drew it with all his strength.
CREEEAK—.
The strong bow made from carved ox horn let out a strange sound, and with a CRACK, the wood and horn strips separated from each other and snapped.
“Uh……? What is this……?”
The blacksmith looked utterly dumbfounded, and Murong Jae-hwa held out the strong bow with a face full of apology.
“Can you perhaps make a bow out of iron?”
When I asked while recalling the bow Breaking Bow had used in my previous life, the blacksmith, who had been staring blankly at the broken bow, furrowed his brow at my words as though wondering how that made any sense.
“Who in the world makes a bow out of such hard iron? To begin with, it would not even have elasticity, and even if it did, the bowstring would not be able to withstand it.”
In the end, Murong Jae-hwa left the smithy without any gains, his shoulders sagging.
He had resolved to walk the path of the Archery Way right away, yet he was in a situation where he had no bow with which to train.
“If I speak to my family, I think they could make something similar……. But if I did that, Grandfather would……”
If he placed such a suspicious order with his clan, it was obvious that a great uproar would immediately break out.
Perhaps Murong Gang would fly to Wuhan in a single step.
“Do not worry. I will solve it for you.”
“Y-You will, Brother?”
I had been planning to visit Jang Do-won soon anyway.
If it was Jang Do-won, he would probably be able to realize an iron bow.
After all, one of the Fifteen Divine Weapons he had made in my previous life was a bow.
“Ah, and I have also prepared an instructor to teach you the Archery Way, so you must devote yourself to training.”
“Really?”
There were only a few sects in the martial world that had delved into the Archery Way itself, so it had taken time to find an instructor among them who could lay the foundation.
Even that had only been possible because I held the status of academy representative, which allowed me to attach a separate Archery Way instructor to Murong Jae-hwa.
The only problem was that the instructor’s affiliation bothered me a little.
‘It will be a little uncomfortable, but…… it should be fine.’
After worrying for a moment, I shook off my distracting thoughts.
In any case, the important thing was improving Murong Jae-hwa’s ability.
Once he laid the foundation of the Archery Way, Murong Jae-hwa’s ability would rise even more steeply.
Then Breaking Bow, who had made even Demonic Practitioners tremble in fear, would appear even sooner.
Whether Murong Jae-hwa knew that situation or not, he could not hide his delight.
The Murim Alliance’s Elder Hall was not an organization that existed to execute something.
Unlike the other Pavilions, it had neither the authority to gather information nor the direct authority to move people.
Even so, the reason the Elder Hall was called one of the three great power institutions, along with the Alliance Leader’s Hall and the Mantongbu, was because the Elder Hall had the authority to enact laws and regulations.
Considering that the Murim Alliance’s laws and regulations were the laws and regulations of the entire martial world, it was not strange that countless people hoped to form connections with the Elder Hall for the sake of their own interests.
Even if they stayed at the Murim Alliance for months with precious items in their hands that could not be distinguished as bribes or gifts, the number of people who could meet the Elders could be counted on one hand.
The Elders in such a position had all gathered at Hwawol Pavilion to meet a single disciple of a baseless sect, so even if they drank precious fine wine worth the monthly salary of an ordinary low-ranking warrior, there was no way the aftertaste would be good.
“And yet, that bastard said he ‘would not come’?”
Daoist Master Myeonghyeon was so shocked that he nearly dropped the wine cup in his hand.
As if the feelings of the others were no different, each of them did not hide their displeasure.
Even if it were the Pavilion Master of the Execution Pavilion, if they were invited to such a gathering, they would probably come.
And yet he had refused while bringing up a prior engagement?
“That bastard puts on one little armband and becomes arrogant beyond measure.”
It was only natural that Daoist Master Myeonghyeon, as well as the other Elders, were enraged to the heavens.
“This truly is the end of days. The end of days. A bastard of an academy student looks at the Elders of the Murim Alliance as if they were dogs and cows.”
“This is all because a rootless bastard was placed in a position, so he does not know his place.”
“We must drag that bastard down from the position of academy representative and expel him as soon as possible.”
They wanted not only to immediately drag the bastard down from the position of academy representative, but also to expel him and his junior brothers from the academy, and further, to pull the Taeul Sect itself out of the One Hundred Eight Peaks. But somehow, it felt as though the Alliance Leader’s Hall and the Mantongbu were protecting him.
In the past, an incident of this level would not have been handled so seriously, but the Mantongbu expelled those responsible for the Soul-Destroying Formation incident and simultaneously charged the Righteous Path Association for the restoration costs.
When the Righteous Path Association fiercely objected, the cold voice saying that they would mobilize the Execution Pavilion to conduct a fact-finding investigation left them no choice but to swallow their anger and tightly shut their mouths.
Moreover, the atmosphere within the academy was also hostile toward the Righteous Path Association.
The shameless Orthodox Path Association and Twelve Peak Citadels were trying hard to somehow pull away the shaken members of the One Hundred Eight Peaks.
It was a situation where a turning point that could reverse the atmosphere was absolutely necessary.
“In the end, this means that bastard has no intention of handing over anything about the Soul-Destroying Formation.”
No matter how high the restoration costs were, compared to the financial power of the Righteous Path Association, they were insignificant.
What mattered was bringing the atmosphere and justification over to the Righteous Path Association, and in the end, the best way to do that would be to reveal the Soul-Destroying Formation to the academy students and the entire Murim Alliance.
“Does that bastard want to see us run to him and kneel or something?”
At one Elder’s words, the other Elders burst into incredulous laughter as if the idea made no sense.
“He truly is an unbearably arrogant bastard.”
“Let us simply bring up his relationship with the Black Path Murim and drive him out.”
“What about pressuring the Taeul Sect?”
Many opinions came out, but everyone knew that none of them would become a solution.
They were merely methods to vent even a little of the resentment that had built up toward Jin So-un.
Realizing that the atmosphere had ripened, Myeonghyeon nodded.
“Please calm yourselves. Bringing up problems that cannot be solved will only raise that fellow’s nose higher.”
“Ahem…….”
“Mm…….”
Daoist Master Myeonghyeon had spoken, but everyone’s expressions showed displeasure.
To put it bluntly, how many mistakes had he repeated now?
It was slowly becoming time to change the seat of the Righteous Path Association Chairman.
Daoist Master Myeonghyeon also knew that atmosphere, but he continued speaking without showing it.
How had he climbed to this position? How could he hand it over so easily?
Especially over something as trivial as this incident.
“Does Daoist Master Myeonghyeon have another method?”
“If I had no method, would I have brought this up?”
“Please speak. Let us hear it.”
He disliked those who acted pompously, but now was the time to endure.
“It is not such a great problem. We only need to change the atmosphere.”
“Does the atmosphere not change only after the problem is resolved?”
This was why he could not easily let go of the position of Righteous Path Association Chairman.
If they knew this little about politics, how could they establish the Righteous Path Pavilion in the Murim Alliance?
“Problems naturally fade from people’s perception as time passes. And if we change the atmosphere with another incident, the current problem will disappear from people’s perception even faster.”
“……!”
“……!”
Wrinkles like waves gathered on everyone’s foreheads as they began to be drawn into Daoist Master Myeonghyeon’s words.
The Murim Academy’s class schedule was not that tight.
This was because the academy’s educational purpose was to cultivate high-level personnel suited to the Murim Alliance, while also guaranteeing time for the individual training and private tutoring of academy students who had learned different martial arts.
Murong Jae-hwa also used to train alone in the Archery Way at a clearing prepared on the back mountain of the academy after finishing his morning classes.
That was because, with all the people from the Ghost Bow Sect eliminated in this cohort, Murong Jae-hwa was the only person training in archery.
But today, he was not alone.
“Uh… well… er……”
It was the instructor he had waited for so much, but when Murong Jae-hwa saw the instructor’s face, he felt so awkward that he did not know what to say.
“……I-It has been a long time. Have you been well?”
The words he barely managed to utter were an awkward greeting.
The instructor standing there with a large strong bow twitched his eyebrows and said,
“Have I been well? That is a poor joke. It is not something to say to a person who had to step down from his position as Hall Master because our young master failed the Regular Exam, and has now come to the academy as a visiting instructor.”
At the sharp reply, Murong Jae-hwa felt so wronged he could die.
Did that not make it sound as though he was the one at fault?
‘No, an exam is something one can pass or fail……’
The instructor set down the quiver he had slung over his shoulder and said,
“Murong Jae-hwa, was it? Are you not the eldest son of the Murong Clan?”
It was their second meeting, but they did not even know each other’s names.
“Ah, yes. But your name, Instructor……”
“Yeo Sam-tong of the Ghost Bow Sect.”
That was right.
He was the archer of the Ghost Bow Sect with whom they had crossed blades and arrows during the academy Regular Exam.
And at that, he was the Hall Master who had guarded the young master of the Ghost Bow Sect from the closest position.
‘Brother. Why, why……’
It was customary to bury the events of the Regular Exam as the past after entering the academy, but human emotions could not be buried so easily, could they?
“It must be nice being an academy student. You can even invite an instructor to learn something as a pastime. If our young master had passed, could he have invited an instructor from the Murong Clan?”
At Yeo Sam-tong’s words, which were full of sarcasm, Murong Jae-hwa answered,
“I am not learning it as a pastime.”
“What?”
“I said the Archery Way is not a pastime to me.”
“…….”
At Murong Jae-hwa’s words, Yeo Sam-tong’s eyebrows rose.
“Then are you saying you abandoned the clan’s sword and took up the bow?”
“…….”
“Did you receive permission?”
“…….”
“Hah! Without even receiving permission?”
When Murong Jae-hwa silently nodded, Yeo Sam-tong picked up the quiver he had set down.
“This was never a place I should have come to in the first place.”
“Why are you doing this?”
“Do you not know? If I teach you the Archery Way, how am I supposed to endure Lord Sword-Breaker’s wrath? I have no intention of doing that.”
As Yeo Sam-tong tried to descend the mountain, Murong Jae-hwa blocked his path.
Their relationship was awkward, but in any case, this was the person who would currently lay the foundation of the Archery Way for him.
Brother So-un must have invited him as an instructor while enduring the discomfort because he knew there was no one else of his caliber.
“I absolutely must learn the Archery Way.”
“To begin with, why is the eldest son of the Murong Clan trying to learn the Archery Way? Is the sword of the Murong Clan not counted among the best even in the martial world?”
“T-That is……”
“I have no intention of taking a risk for someone who does not even have the proper resolve to learn.”
As Yeo Sam-tong began moving his feet, Murong Jae-hwa grabbed his arm.
“B-Because I think the true King of All Weapons is the bow.”
Yeo Sam-tong’s steps stopped abruptly.
“Perhaps you are right, Instructor. Perhaps I am trying to learn the bow because the sword does not work for me.”
“…….”
“But with my sword, I could not save anyone. Instead, with my bow, I was able to save all the people most precious to me.”
“At that moment, I was certain. If I took up the bow instead of the sword, I would have no need to fear anything. To me, the bow is a greater King of All Weapons than the sword.”
Yeo Sam-tong turned and looked at Murong Jae-hwa.
“So please teach me.”
“…….”
Even after Murong Jae-hwa’s words ended, Yeo Sam-tong stared at him for a long while.
Then, soon after, he set down the quiver and approached him.
“You learned the bow alone? How far have you learned?”
“Yes? A-Are you going to teach me?”
“How could I refuse when you say you want to protect the people precious to you with a bow?”
“Th-Thank you.”
“Ah, right. If Lord Sword-Breaker ever asks you who taught you, you must never mention my name.”
“Ah…… yes.”
“Good. Moreover, my training will be quite difficult. I will not allow you to give up halfway or run away.”
“Yes! I will not run away!”
“For reference, do not think things like I might use the events of the Regular Exam as an excuse to torment you. I am not that petty of a person.”
“……Yes?”
Murong Jae-hwa felt a strange sense of unease while listening to Yeo Sam-tong’s words.
Why did he bother adding such unnecessary words?
“Now, take this.”
Yeo Sam-tong handed him a delicious-looking red apple.
Murong Jae-hwa happened to be hungry, so he immediately brought the apple to his mouth.
CRUNCH—
“……What are you doing?”
Yeo Sam-tong looked at Murong Jae-hwa, who had taken a bite of the apple, with an expression of utter disbelief.
“Yes? Did you not give it to me to eat?”
“Why are you eating the target?”
Murong Jae-hwa looked back and forth between Yeo Sam-tong’s face and the apple.
“……The target?”
“Yes. Go over there, put that on your head, and stand still.”
“……Pardon?”
“The best lesson for learning archery is to be directly shot by arrows. Hurry up and move. Once the sun sets, we will not be able to make any more progress.”
“…….”
Murong Jae-hwa strongly felt that something was going very wrong.
