Chapter 96: Tournament (1)

༺ Tournament (1) ༻

Having woken up earlier than usual, I finished my morning training a little early as well.

I had been training in the morning practically every day recently.

– Crack-!

Every time I moved my bones, I could hear cracking and popping sounds setting off from them.

It seemed to me that my body was in good condition.

I checked every nook and cranny of my body as soon as I finished my rigorous training.

All the injuries I had gotten from the previous fights had been healed by now, and only a minuscule amount of Demonic Qi now lay in my dantian.

‘At this rate... I think it’ll be done being purified by tomorrow at the latest.’

Thankfully, the Demonic Qi was still being purified inside of my body.

Due to the purification, the total proportion of Demonic Qi inside of my body had been reduced by quite a bit.

The Plum Blossom Sword just had way too much Demonic Qi inside of her body.

I could quite literally feel my Qi increase... since every bit of Demonic Qi that was being purified was also being absorbed and added to my normal reservoir of Qi.

‘I guess this could also count as me absorbing Qi again.’

By this point, I was no longer in a position where I needed to struggle in doing something due to a lack of Qi.

It was highly likely that not every bit of the Demonic Qi would be absorbed and converted, but most of it would still end up being added to my reservoir of usable Qi, increasing my strength further.

Which made me wonder,

‘How and where did the Sword Master get this much Demonic Qi inside of her?’

According to the Immortal Healer, the Sword Master was currently under a spell that forbade her from speaking the details about her infliction with this ominous Qi.

And that knowledge gave me chills all over.

“...Demonic Qi and this ominous spell.”

This was basically the same as the traces that the Heavenly Demon used to leave behind when it turned normal martial artists into demonic humans.

The only difference among them, that I was able to figure out, was the fact that this was somewhat ‘tolerable’ in comparison.

Due to this feeling, I wasn’t sure if the Sword Master met the Heavenly Demon or not.

If the Heavenly Demon really gave the Sword Master this staggering amount of Demonic Qi, which she had to suffer from for all these years... it wouldn’t just stop there.

At least that would be the case if it was the same as the Heavenly Demon of my memories.

‘I also gotta look into the traces of Demonic Qi that those Black Palace guys had in their bodies too.’

Mount Hua Sect was probably on the move about this matter themselves, but I also wanted to find out the reason behind the guys from the Black Palace going as far as to fully drain the blood inside the bodies of the swordsmen from the Mount Hua Sect.

The ominous feeling that I was feeling in my bones made me feel that this issue was going to be very complicated indeed.

“Do I have to go to the hideout that the people of Mount Hua found?”

It would’ve been difficult to find the location of their hideout— but since the people of the Mount Hua Sect had already found its location and were currently managing it themselves, it wouldn’t be hard for me to find it.

‘I should take a look there before I return to my clan.’

There was a very high possibility for the people of Mount Hua to already see and take care of all the traces that were left behind by the guys from the Black Palace.

However, I still wanted to go there since I didn’t want to wallow in this habit of hesitating in doing something any longer.

‘If the Black Palace really has some relations to the Demonic Cult.’

They are a group that would be completely destroyed by the Murim Alliance just a few years later.

Those were the thoughts I had been harboring previously, but since I had found out about the traces of Demonic Qi in them,

‘I gotta do something.’

I still didn’t wield the strength to get rid of the Black Palace with my own hands.

Moreover, they weren’t really weak by any means either.

‘But I should be able to handle them in a few years.’

Of course, I still thought that I should mull over the necessity of me acting like this...

But I didn’t really have the time to think this over.

“I’m already done thinking about it anyways so let’s just do it.”

Since I had already decided that I won’t wallow in hesitation any longer, I couldn’t just spend all my time thinking things over as I did previously.

When I returned to the lodge, I found Wi Seol-Ah bringing over a towel for me with a bright smile on her cute face.

It was brought to me with the intent of using it after showering.

I asked her since she was here already.

“You woke up early huh?”

My eyes were affixed on Wi Seol-Ah’s hair as I leaked out those words.

She was currently wearing the hair accessory I had given her yesterday.

And seeing that sight, I was reminded of the sensation of her soft lips against my cheek that I had felt yesterday— forcing me to rub my cheek in a fit of embarrassment.

As she stared at me with that ever-bright smile on her face, she suddenly asked.

“Young Master, are you feeling ill?”

“Nope, I’m fine.”

“Then why is your face so... red...?”

“...You’re seeing things.”

I quickly passed by her and went into my room to get a change of clothes. I then proceeded to wash my face with some cold water, but strangely... the heat still lingered on my face.

‘I can’t believe that I’m still behaving like this just because of that one thing that happened yesterday.’

Even I found it to be absurd.

I even went as far as to have stupid thoughts— such as wrapping myself with my Flame Qi so that the heat that was pervading my face would not be noticed by others.

However, I just gave up on that thought since doing that would quite literally crush my pride as a man.

After changing my clothes and washing my face, I went outside my room and was greeted with the sight of Namgung Bi-ah, sitting on the floor.

To be precise, she was dozing on the floor while sitting like that.

I was about to leave her there, as it seemed that she was about to fully enter sleep mode, but it seemed like she was able to wake up somewhat from her sleepy state.

I watched her in that drowsy state quietly for some time, but I soon coughed to gather my bearings and proceeded to put on the hair accessory that I had prepared for her on her hair.

The problem here was that... I had never really touched a woman’s hair before, in both my lives, and it only led to the unsightly result of me messing up her hair even more than it had already been before.

“...I fucked up.”

I wanted to give the gift to her secretly, but what was I to do now?

While I was struggling in applying this accessory to her hair, Namgung Bi-ah turned her head around while rubbing her eyes since I ended up making my presence known due to the mistake I made while setting up the hair accessory.

“Mmph...”

“...”

Her half-lidded eyes, filled with sleep and exhaustion, soon met mine.

And Namgung Bi-ah proceeded to wave her thin and milky white hand softly towards me.

This was her usual way of greeting me in the morning.

And in the middle of her usual greeting, I was able to see the hair accessory dangling along with her messy hair.

‘...Should I tell her?’

How can I even tell her?

I wanted to just give the gift to her secretly, but I couldn’t just leave it there like this.

While I was struggling to come up with an answer, Namgung Bi-ah looked at me strangely, wondering why I was acting this way.

“Uh...”

“Hmm?”

I reached my hand out to her hair in order to retrieve the accessory, but Wi Seol-Ah suddenly found us here and spoke before I could take the accessory back.

“Huh? Sis also has the same thing on her hair as mine?”

“The same thing?”

Yung Pung awkwardly scratched his head at the man’s question.

He was basically admitting that he was indeed the Sword Dragon.

While the man was informing the others of the Sword Dragon’s identity with shock and jubilation in his voice, our eyes met.

“Oh! Young Master Gu!”

He ran towards me the moment he saw me. People’s eyes immediately trailed along with Yung Pung’s figure, moving towards where he went.

It seemed that everyone had figured out his identity by now.

I was able to see that everyone was looking at him with a shine in their eyes.

Makes sense, since it’s not easy to come across one of the greatest young prodigies of the world.

The Five Dragons and Three Phoenixes were the core group that would lead the future generation of martial artists.

‘...And I treated that big shot Yung Pung rather harshly recently.’

Yung Pung’s weird personality probably had to do a lot behind my teasing attitude towards him, but it was still undeniable that I had treated him rather harshly.

Watching the scene before me made me realize once again just how impressive of a position Yung Pung held in the world and in people’s hearts.

Yung Pung greeted Namgung Bi-ah and Wi Seol-Ah as well once he reached my location.

Looking at his robust figure, I asked.

“Are you not participating in the tournament?”

“Oh, no. Only the third-generation students participate today.”

“Then why— ...Oh.”

I already forgot... But he had told me previously that he would be participating along with the second-generation students.

“Is Young Master Gu here to see how Senior Sister Gu would perform?”

I hesitated in answering Yung Pung’s question.

It was indeed true that I was curious about Gu Ryunghwa’s performance, but I didn’t feel comfortable saying that I had come here for my little sister.

“I mean... yeah, but since it’s just the third-generation students, I don’t think it’s necessary for me to be here.”

Namgung Bi-ah and Wi Seol-Ah were unaware of this fact, but I had only come here to see a certain someone, but if things keep going like this...

“Oh, then it should be fine for you to wait.”

“Huh?”

“I heard that Senior Sister Gu is not participating today.”

I was not able to understand Yung Pung’s words.

“Master Yung, I could’ve sworn that today was the day for the third-generation students, right...?”

“...That is true, but...”

He hesitated. It seemed to be difficult for him to answer my question.

“Oh.”

Yung Pung clapped his hands after seemingly figuring out a solution.

“Since we still have some time... Will you follow me?”

After speaking those words, Yung Pung trudged along a certain path and I followed him without saying a word.

Soon, I ended up in the rear side of a building, having followed behind Yung Pung.

Judging by the uniforms that were donned by most of the people here, it seemed to be a place of preparation for the martial artists.

‘A preparing area for the third-generation students, huh?’

I could see at a glance that they were either slightly older or slightly younger than Yung Pung.

Some were already at the age of twenty, or slightly over it, and the others were just shy of reaching twenty.

Putting that aside...

“Master Yung Pung...”

“Yes, Young Master Gu?”

“What are they doing there?”

Where I pointed towards— there stood muscular individuals in a row and there were even faces that were already known to me.

They were the second-generation disciples that traveled with us during our journey to Shaanxi.

I was able to see the sight of them hiding behind a pillar and glancing at me secretly.

Do they think that they can hide themselves like that with their gigantic body?

Gu Ryunghwa also seemed to have a tendency of hiding like that. Did the Mount Hua Sect not even teach a proper hiding technique to them...?

Standing beside me, Yung Pung hesitated slightly before speaking.

“I believe uh, they are acting this way because of Senior Sister Gu.”

“...Pardon?”

Why is Gu Ryunghwa involved in all this all of a sudden?

However, I was suddenly reminded of the scene of everyone being shocked once they found out I was related to Gu Ryunghwa by blood on our way here to the Mount Hua Sect.

‘Is she getting bullied or something?’

If that were to be the case, then it would piss me off a lot.

And it wasn’t just because she was getting bullied for sure.

Moving my feet, I trudged towards the group of muscular hiding behind the pillars.

“Huh? Huh? Young Master Gu...! Wait a min—“

Yung Pung tried to stop me, but I didn’t listen to him.

I’m not trying to act like an older brother now, but just looking at them made my head feel hot.

As I went closer and close, I was soon able to register the words that the second-generation disciples were uttering among them.

What are they focusing on so much that they can’t even notice me walking up to them?

“...Why is she trying to participate along with the third-generation students?”

“I know, shouldn’t we do something about it?”

Are they all talking about Gu Ryunghwa?

“All of you stay quiet. She made this choice herself, and you should respect it...!”

“Even you are acting like this? How can we trust those stinky juniors...”

“In my eyes, you are the stinkiest of them all, so just stay quiet.”

“But...”

What is it that they couldn’t trust about the third-generation students, and what were they trying to do?

I never heard that Gu Ryunghwa was going through something like this.

‘I guess that just shows the distance between us.’

It was all my fault in the end, so I was simply unable to say anything to my little sister.

First things first, I calmed myself down in order to not act on my emotions.

I repeatedly told myself that I just couldn’t afford to cause a problem in a place like this.

When I got close enough, I started speaking to the second-generation disciples.

“What are you guys—“

“Then what do we do if she gets hurt...!”

“...Do.. ing...?”

I had to stop my words, confusion coloring my face.

The second-generation disciples immediately turned their gazes towards me once they heard me speak.

“Huh?”

“Huh? Young Master Gu?”

Cold sweat immediately started flowing down my back.

...What did I just hear?