Chapter 236

Episode 236:

The training hall within the Murim Alliance.

I stood face to face with a female monk with a shaved head, keeping a distance of three feet.

“Please take care of me.”

Yeo Hwayeon, the Queen of Biryonggakju (飛龍閣主).

As I had promised before leaving for South Manchuria, I had an affair with her.

“Whoa.”

As I watched Geomhu take a long breath and take his stance, I started to feel nervous.

The opponent is an expert who is on the verge of absolute perfection.

She was a famous heroine who was the best swordsman in Zhejiang.

No matter how much I did, I couldn’t let down my guard.

‘It may be nothing more than a sparring match, but it is a fight between two masters of flower painting. In a near miss, one side may suffer serious injury. ‘

It was Geomhu who took the initiative.

He kicked the ground with his toes and rushed towards me in a straight line.

With the sound of monks’ robes fluttering, the well-forged sword rose diagonally.

Kagagak!

An unpleasant friction sound rang out.

In an instant, more than a dozen agreements went back and forth.

‘It’s a lot trickier than I thought.’

Geomhu’s sword was fast and strong.

There was nothing fancy or special technique.

A sword technique that is monotonous but highly stable.

There were no gaps in sticking to the basics, so it was difficult to attack.

‘The power of the sword attack itself is not comparable to that of Wu Jiajin, the first child of the Beast Palace Lord. But...’

Geomhu’s movements had a precision that more than made up for it.

It was said that Botaam’s sword technique was especially powerful in actual combat, and it was indeed true.

‘A short decisive battle will be difficult.’

It would have been possible to force it by using the white lightning, but we decided not to do that.

That tactic is bound to suffer losses in terms of efficiency.

Simply increasing the power of the sword strike would not have been enough to push the sword master into a corner.

In other words, being faithful to the basics meant being able to deal with various variables without problems.

‘There is no point in gaining a temporary advantage.’

From the beginning, the sword technique I learned was far from a strong sword.

If the other party honestly pushes for the basics, we have no choice but to counter with irregularities.

I swung my sword wide and pushed the opponent away, while at the same time stamping my foot strongly.

Quang!

The right foot dug deep into the ground.

After correcting his posture, Geomhu kicked up his toes, aiming for the moment to close the distance again, causing the ground to shake and a pile of dirt to rise up.

Geomhu swung his sword in self-defense at the falling pile of stones.

A strong wind blew and the dust split diagonally.

The next moment, waves of illusion covered Geomhu’s surroundings.

Twenty-third herbivorous month (水月).

“.......”

Even though he was completely caught up in the range of herbivory, Geomhu showed a calm appearance.

Ignoring the welcome, I correctly identified only the thread and the root and countered.

It was a neat response to the point of admiration.

“Big!”

However, Suwol (水月) was just a paving stone to distract her.

The real target was different.

The second herbivorous month (殘月).

The sword strike, whose presence was momentarily erased, dug into the side of the swordsman, who sighed in relief.

Geomhu urgently tilted his upper body to avoid the attack, balanced on his toes and rotated the new model.

Movements close to acrobatics.

Whoops!

As I was trying to keep pushing without stopping, I was pushed back by an unexpected counterattack and took a couple of steps back.

Geomhu quickly corrected his posture and frowned as he looked down at the cut pieces of clothing.

Blood spread all over the monk’s robes.

‘Maybe it was a little shallow.’

I thought I had definitely seized the opportunity, but the opponent’s response was more agile than I expected.

In that split second, you can think of a way to minimize damage and implement it.

“if?”

“In addition to a brief update, I have also delivered some news.”

I tilted my head and accepted the letter that Damun handed me.

If it’s a report, it won’t be too late to do it after I return to the Sacheon branch.

I did not understand why he sent the letter to Maeng’s headquarters even though he had to write all over the place.

“.......”

After reading the entire contents of the letter, I narrowed my eyebrows slightly.

The phrase written at the end of the letter caught my attention.

『P.S. – An unknown group is requesting to meet with the branch leader. I am keeping a close eye on each and every one of them because their martial arts skills are extraordinary.』

‘They are a group of people who want to meet me.’

It would not have been a special guest.

He was instructed to wait at a designated location.

‘Are they hired by Hao Moon?’

I thought that might be the case.

He asked the branch manager of Hao Wen to invite agents to launder the identity of Jeol Young-gaek.

Perhaps they had arrived at the branch earlier than expected.

‘I guess I’ll have no choice but to go and check it out in person.’

According to the contents of the letter, it did not seem like he visited the Sacheon branch with any particularly bad intentions.

There would be no need to rush to return to the branch.

Damwoon, who was staring at me as I folded up the letter and put it away in my arms, suddenly said something.

“And congratulations.”

“Why are you suddenly celebrating?”

“Rumors about the branch manager are spreading.”

“rumor?”

“Didn’t you defeat Elder Yang Ho-gon at an official event?”

“Ah...”

“It looks like the members of the delegation were talking about that here and there. Thanks to this, the branch manager has officially joined the ranks of 100 great masters.”

He became one of the world’s greatest masters.

I didn’t feel any particular emotion.

It was a title that I could have gotten at any time if I had tried to get it in the first place.

It was an unpleasant situation for me, as I did not want to risk the demonic cult’s vigilance by needlessly raising the value of its name.

Damun, who was watching their reaction, burst out laughing.

“Judging by your expression, you don’t seem very happy.”

“Honestly, it’s not good.”

“Don’t think too badly. “There will be many positive aspects as well.”

I sighed in my heart and changed the subject.

“I’ll just skip that story for now. Have you finished preparing for the dinner party?”

“yes. “We rented out the entire annex of the largest guesthouse nearby.”

* * *

“Thank you everyone for your hard work.”

A large guesthouse near Murimmaeng.

Large tables were placed in a row in the center of the completely rented outbuilding.

The Jeomsoys were busy walking around and bringing drinks and food.

The members of the delegation sat around the table and each shared their stories.

He stood up holding a glass of wine and recited a short congratulatory speech, which was met with a lively response.

“.......”

I quietly drank my drink and looked around.

Now that the mission was completed, the delegation would be disbanded.

This event was prepared to comfort the delegation who had suffered so far.

I wanted to rent an empty room in Julu, but since there were Taoist monks and Buddhist monks in the group, I settled for a guest room instead.

“Take a drink.”

Hwang Bo-kyung, who quietly sat down next to me, held out a bottle of alcohol and said.

I narrowed my eyes and held out my drink.

“What are you planning?”

“What does that mean?”

“There is no way the elder would be friendly to me without any particular reason.”

“That’s not really wrong, so I can’t refute it.”

After a pause, Hwang Bo-kyung said, ‘Big!’ He cleared his throat.

Then he asked me a question in a telephonic tone.

-What is your relationship with the Taesang family of Shandong music?