Heavenly Wind Guest House.
After I order a lot of food and look around the street, Master Yukhap asks,
“Why did you order so much?”
“The food here is delicious. First, let us cleanse our stomach with noodle soup, have tofu topped with red peppers, eat dumplings, and have a glass of alcohol while eating pork sirloins as a side dish.”
Yukhap replies,
“Don’t we have to get to work right away?”
“Yukhap, have you ever lived your life trying to experience things?”
“No.”
“Then take the chance to experience this.”
I watch the street while chewing on dry snacks.
“People… sometimes need to live like this.”
Yukhap sighs.
“You must have been a pathetic thing in your last life. This look suits you so well.”
“Of course. I am such a man.”
I was about to return to the Low-Down Sect when I turned around and arrived here. While we were moving, we discussed martial arts and I heard martial arts theories about the Sword Shield.
And I wasn’t the only one who was learning.
During the battle, I taught Yukhap how to break the Sword Shield too.
Therefore, it didn’t matter where we were headed next because what was most important was the fact that we were improving our martial arts along our journey regardless of the destination.
I keep looking towards the street while eating noodles and it seems like Yukhap picks up on this because he asks,
“Who are you looking for? Someone to kill?”
I drink a sip of my soup before answering.
“Not for someone to kill.”
“Then who?”
I point to the people walking down the street.
“How is the atmosphere here?”
Yukhap speaks a bit taken aback.
“There are a lot of strong people. Most of them seem to belong to clans or sects or are from an orthodox group. Well, this is a place for such people.”
“Should we say this is the one for the strong? Among them, there is a strong one.”
“There could be, so what?”
“Probably, stronger than you.”
To which he snorts and says,
“Look here, Sect Leader.”
“What?”
“It is very absurd that I lost to you. If that person is at a master level, wouldn’t they be your age?”
“Similar.”
Then he asks me with a serious expression,
“But they are stronger than me? It cannot be.”
I take a bite of tofu and say,
“Why? Is there any law against a young one being able to beat you? The great young lord of the Demon Cult might be a bit older or the same age as me. Not all of them can be weaker than you.”
“They are a special case.”
“What special case? If you fight against the Demonic Cult and lose, there is nothing but death.”
“Is that so?”
I take a sip of my drink.
“When someone fights with orthodox people, the feeling of loss remains. And when you fight against the unorthodox, the winner has a habit of making the loser their subordinate. But with the Demonic Cult that doesn’t happen. One either dies or becomes a slave.”
“What about you?”
“There are times when I leave the survivors alive, times I make them my subordinates, and times when I kill them.”
Yukhap looks at me while taking a sip.
“You eat it all. Very nicely.”
I laugh out of nowhere and chuckle for a long time. When I don’t stop laughing, even Yukhap ends up laughing a few times.
“Stop laughing. You insane bastard. They are all looking at you.”
As soon as I feel drunk, I wrap Ice Shield around my right hand. White cold air fills my palm and forms a thin disc.
“Do not do that. Not even a little. Do we have to do that while we’re drinking?”
“It is a habit now.”
“But why do you keep making the sheet so thin?”
“Speed.”
“Speed?”
“About practicing it quickly.”
“Right.”
“It seems to be useful for assassination or to hold a sword. It isn’t martial arts but more of a study.”
After finishing all the food, I decide to head towards the residence of Sword Demon until I hear a familiar voice.
“What are you doing here?”
When I turn my head, I see a man whom I hadn’t seen for a long time. It is Pervert Demon, with a frowning face.
“I was wondering who that crazy guy was. The one who kept laughing loudly. And that crazy guy ended up being you.”
He is looking down.
As soon as I see him, I point to an empty seat next to us.
“Sit down.”
As soon as he sits down, I introduce them.
“This is master Yukhap, and this is the second son of Wind Cloud Mong Clan, Mong Rang.”
I watch the two of them and introduce them.
And then Yukhap says,
“Nice to meet you.”
After looking at Yukhap, he replies in a tough tone.
“Nice to meet you.”
I cross my eyes and think about how I could get these two to fight. After thinking about the world, I hear someone speak.
“I haven’t seen you in a while, let us get a drink.”
The maid goes and grabs a glass and I ask her, who is looking timid,
“… you don’t have that?”
“What?”
“Nothing.”
I am being too careless, so I pour myself a drink with no expressions. After pouring alcohol into Yukhap’s glass, I say,
“Let’s drink.”
And the three of us drink together, and we examine one another. Everyone here has a bad temper and is wary of the other. This drinking party is tough and good at the same time.
Pervert Demon asks me,
“What have you been doing for you to come here?”
I answer while eating pork sirloin.
“The other day, I heard from senior Heo that he has been having a tough time. I went to see him, but I couldn’t find him, so I looked around to see if I could find him. Is he fine?”
“I don’t know.”
“Why don’t you know?”
“He is mostly trying to recover so I cannot disturb him.”
I nod as I hear him speak.
“Right.”
When I stop talking, Pervert Demon and Yukhap look at each other and then turn their heads away. Just looking at them, it was clear they didn’t like each other.
It made me smile a…
Yukhap and Pervert Demon speak at the same time.
“Why are you laughing?”
“Why laugh?”
I reply with a tsk sound.
“Even laughing at these crazy people is wrong. Can I not laugh?”
To which Pervert Demon says
“Tell me why and then continue laughing.”
I slam the table lightly and say,
“Good. The reason I came today is to meet your master, but I also had the intention of making you two meet. Why do you think so?”
“It is because you two are the best among the warriors I have dealt with. Like a dragon and a tiger. And to be honest, if I were to bet money on one of you two, I wouldn’t even know who to bet on.”
“…”
Yukhap and Pervert Demon look at me, more like glare at me. And Pervert Demon says,
“Is this bastard coming here to make people fight?”
To which Yukhap laughs.
“Now I know why you stopped here. Shouldn’t I have been informed beforehand?”
I look at the two of them with a serious expression then slip back into my plan.
“Kidding. Kidding. Just a joke. Mong Rang. If you tell master today or tomorrow and he says it’s fine, then Yukhap and I will visit you. I came all the way here, so I need to meet him.”
To which Yukhap asks,
“Who is this master?”
“You will know once you meet him. And coming here with master Yukhap makes me feel at ease.”
Pervert Demon asks me,
“What is at ease?”
“Your master, me, master Yukhap and even you. Can’t the four of us handle things even if a good amount of the demons come?”
Pervert Demon nods.
“That is true.”
He thinks deeply and then asks while tilting his head,
“What? Did the Demonic Cult move?”
“Somehow I ended up being involved with the third young lord and killed some of their forces.”
“Third young lord…”
“Know him?”
“Even if others don’t, I know of him. Illusion Ghost’s grandson.”
Since Sword Demon was a swordsman who had been in Demonic Cult, not many people knew more than him about the warriors there.
I look at Yukhap.
“We killed the Illusion Ghost Emperor?”
“Seems like it.”
Pervert Demon looks surprised.
“You killed him?”
I tilt my head.
“He was the old man who appeared after we touched the forces of the third young lord, so it has to be him. Come to think of it, he died without even saying his name. Foolish idiot.”
Pervert Demon frowns.
“You didn’t come here with people pursuing you I hope.”
“As if. We annihilated them all.”
And then the three of us drink in silence for a moment. Even in the midst of drinking, the Pervert Demon turns his head on his own and watches a woman who is walking by.
At that time, Yukhap asks,
“Why are you staring so shamelessly?”
To which Pervert Demon smiles and says,
“I looked at the stray cat passing by since it was pretty, why? You don’t like it?”
Yukhap smiles.
“Do you think there was a stray cat hanging from the ass of that woman?”
“Why does it matter to you even if it clung to her shoulder or ass?”
Wow, I feel goosebumps rise at the child-like conversation I am hearing. Is this really how the Pervert and Ghost meet?
I sigh and knock on the table.
“Stop it. I was thinking of arranging a dance after introducing you two, but this is turning so childish now. If you are going to fight like this, we don’t have to use weapons to fight. If we get a chance later, let’s fight together.”
Pervert Demon looks at me.
“You just stay silent.”
Yukhap retorts,
“Keep that mouth shut.”
When I go silent, Pervert Demon then targets Yukhap.
“Who told you to look angry with those ugly eyes? It is so uncomfortable to see.”
Seeing Yukhap rise from his seat, I wave my hand.
“Sit down. Sit down, tsk.”
When Master Yukhap gets up, Pervert too gets up. And I glare at him too.
“Ehe, you people….”
Pervert Demon tells Yukhap,
“Let’s go.”
And Yukhap nods.
“Guide me.”
The two of them begin to walk away, leaving me alone at the table. I place a bit more money on the table than ordered and take the dry snacks and go after the two.
In the wide, open field, I watch the two of them with arms crossed.
“Sparring. No serious injuries allowed. Only till one wants to. No extreme cornering.”
Pervert Demon glares at me.
“….”
Yukhap asks me.
“Sect Leader, who do you think will win if we compete with palm technique?”
I speak honestly.
“Mong Rang will win.”
Hearing those words, Yukhap puts down the five long swords and draws out his own.
“Looks like an opponent that cannot be defeated by a rough fight.”
Pervert Demon says sarcastically,
“Looks like he has been with the Low-Down Sect Leader after being beaten…”
When Yukhap rushes at him without warning, the form of Pervert Demon glides back. I watch the two of them fight.
And the result is something I guessed.
Yukhap cannot win over Pervert Demon now. I know because I fought against both of them. Pervert Demon’s internal qi is deeper, and his defense is better too.
The martial art of Yukhap’s is slow and is still in development as the Ghost Demon in the past explained.
I thought that if Ghost Demon lost to Pervert Demon, a fire would flare up in his heart.
I sit there on the ground in a comfortable position and watch them fight, as if I’m studying them. I compare the ice arts used by Pervert Demon with the techniques I know and watch Yukhap with his sword technique in response to the Plum Blossom Sword technique I was training.
And the fight between the two begins…
Everything had something to do with me.
I memorized the movements and defenses of Pervert Demon, and added them into the Shadow Moon Martial Arts one by one. I also carefully watched the Ghost Demon’s amazing defense.
Strangely, both were warriors who were defeated by me….
Looking at it from the perspective of a referee, there was so much to learn from these two.
As the fight continues, Yukhap, who notices that the Pervert Demon had a deeper internal Qi, begins to counter the ice arts by using Iron Wall Defense.
On the other hand, Pervert Demon’s expression turns more serious each time his martial arts gets blocked despite increasing the strength of his technique.
I watch the steaming fight while chewing on the dry snacks and drinking the bottle I brought out. I suddenly feel uncomfortable in my position, so I place a large stone under my left arm and watch them in a half lying position.
“Hyaaa… it’s a pity. Yukhap dodged it so well.”
“….”
“Slowly.”
“…”
“Fooling again? No.”
“….”
Momentarily, I hear a roar and the two of them step back and confront each other and Yukhap says,
“Sect Leader, if you talk one more time, I will not let you go.”
Pervert Demon too warns me.
“Speak inside. It bothers us.”
To the troubled words of the two, I respond back.
“I get it.”
After drinking, I just quietly watch the fight. It is turning into a more serious fight than I had anticipated.
