Monochrome Sovereign (Novel) - Chapter 98 - Inevitability Created by Coincidence (4)
Chapter 98 – Inevitability Created by Coincidence (4)
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Translated by Heavenly Cat
Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net
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“Look at this. Why did that beggar come all the way here? Were you finally kicked out of the position of Hall Master?”
“I have told you several times that the position of Dragon Head Hall Master is not a position one is kicked out of by someone, haven’t I?”
“Kiekiekie.”
“Don’t laugh so strangely. I don’t want to hear it.”
“If you don’t want to hear it, don’t come.”
“This brat, you’re young yet your way of speaking is quite something.”
“Didn’t you say the era of making friends by considering age is over?”
“There’s a limit to that too, you punk. You’re not even fifty yet.”
“Then should I serve a beggar as my elder brother? Where are you trying to pull such a trick.”
“You’re really going to get hit once if you keep that up.”
“Hit me, then. Hit me.”
Thud!
“Ack! You really hit me!”
“Be quiet and bring out a drink. Damn, I’m dying of exhaustion. Why the hell did a guy with nothing to do build a Taoist temple on such a high mountain?”
The Taoist grumbled but stood up.
Hearing his mutterings as he headed to the kitchen, it was quite a sight. ‘Why the hell is he coming to a Taoist temple and looking for alcohol?’, ‘But how did he know there was alcohol?’, ‘I must see that dog-bastard die before I die.’, ‘That beggar-brat’s life thread is incredibly long.’ and so on, it was content that would raise the blood pressure of anyone listening.
Hwa Jin-cheon endured. After all, wasn’t he the beggar said to be the lowliest in the world? Even if one is the Great King among such beggars, a beggar is still a beggar in the end.
This relationship could not even be maintained without patience. He was once again marveled at his own patience that had endured the past years.
A moment later, the Taoist brought out a table for drinks.
“Oho? I told you to just bring alcohol, what is that?”
“What else would it be, you dirty fellow. It’s beef jerky.”
“You are a Taoist, right?”
“Quiet.”
“Did you know I was coming?”
“Then would I be making a living by divination without even knowing that?”
“Even though you don’t even have anyone coming to have their fortune told.”
“Ah, just take the drinks! My back hurts!”
A moment later, the two of them, who had set up a table for drinks in the open space in front of the Taoist temple, filled each other’s cups.
The Taoist, Immortal Tongcheon, asked.
“By the way, what brings you here again?”
Hwa Jin-cheon gave a snort.
“Why else would I visit a Diviner? I came to find out something.”
“Crazy. Aren’t you the Number One Sect Under Heaven? Don’t you have the world’s information firmly grasped? Then what are you looking for?”
“Are information and divination the same?”
“Is the divination fee sufficient?”
“Greedy for someone who already has a lot of wealth.”
“That and that are different, you fellow!”
“If there’s something you want, speak. I’ll send the kids to do it.”
The playfulness gradually disappeared from Immortal Tongcheon’s face.
The difference between his playful face and his serious face was very extreme. It was to the extent that one would wonder if he had become a completely different person.
“It’s because of the Nine States Clan, right?”
Hwa Jin-cheon’s eyes sparkled.
As expected, this fellow knew. He was a guy who sat on the top of a high mountain and saw the world.
“The Nine States Clan is also involved. But what I want to ask is a bit different.”
“Surely it is because of the young tiger who stood at the vanguard of taking down the Nine States Clan?”
Seriousness appeared on Hwa Jin-cheon’s face.
“Yes, I came because of that fellow. More accurately, I came because it is puzzling that the world is turning out differently from what you said.”
Immortal Tongcheon.
It is said that there are three eccentrics in the current Jianghu. Each of those three eccentrics was well-versed in one field, and because their level reached the heavens, they received the title of Tongcheon.
The Three Eccentrics of the Jianghu. Or the Three Connections of Murim.
Immortal Tongcheon was precisely one of those three eccentrics, and the most eccentric one among them who was said to be the most difficult to meet.
“I am not unaware that your divination skills have reached the realm of the heavens. And that your divination shows a strictly limited ability.”
Immortal Tongcheon sees the flow and principles of the world. Sometimes he predicted the future and told people their fates.
However, that was an extremely limited ability. Almost no one had met Immortal Tongcheon, and even if they did, there were days when he couldn’t perform divination depending on the day’s fortune.
However, there was one thing for certain.
Divination once spoken out loud does not fail. There has never been a single time when the words from his mouth were wrong.
Immortal Tongcheon shook his head.
“Reaching the realm of the heavens, what a ridiculous thing to say. I just struggled not to die because my innate divine energy was too strong.”
“Whatever it was.”
“I am only barely glimpsing through the cracks of heaven, I have not mastered it. If I had mastered the principles of heaven, I would have become an immortal long ago.”
“Is there even such a thing as an immortal?”
“If you believe, there will be, and in the eyes of one who does not believe, there will not be.”
“Enough. I decline Zen dialogues that don’t even sound like words.”
“How is this a Zen dialogue?”
“Quiet.”
“My goodness, this beggar is completely…….”
“Enough, just speak. Why has it changed? No, why was it wrong?”
A shadow fell over Immortal Tongcheon’s face.
“I don’t know either.”
“You don’t know? The great Immortal Tongcheon?”
“You’re not being sarcastic, right?”
“Don’t joke and speak. I’m serious.”
“Tsk, I don’t know either. As I said, if I knew all such things, would I be a human? I’d be an immortal.”
“Hmm…….”
“However, there is one thing that bothers me.”
“What is it?”
Immortal Tongcheon, who drained the full teacup just as it was, immediately let out a belch.
“Some time last year…… yes, I think it was around autumn. Something changed around then.”
“Last year’s autumn?”
“Whether I should call it Heavenly Opportunity or Heavenly Qi. I saw something difficult to explain being completely distorted on the other side of the sky.”
“Heavenly Opportunity…….”
“I didn’t even know what it was back then. Actually, I still don’t know accurately. However, I speculate that the change at that time was the starting point where a future different from what I had predicted in the past was drawn.”
“……It’s difficult.”
“It’s not difficult, but shall I tell you one despairing thing?”
“What is it?”
Immortal Tongcheon spoke bitterly.
“In the future, you won’t have any business coming here.”
“What does that mean?”
“I can’t see it, from that moment on.”
“……What?”
“I can’t see it. Divination doesn’t work.”
Hwa Jin-cheon’s face was dyed with shock.
“What does that mean? Divination doesn’t work?”
“Yes, it doesn’t work. No matter how much I tried, I couldn’t see it.”
“……How can that be? Wait! You, didn’t you even know I would visit today? Didn’t you also know that the Nine States Myeong Clan became a public enemy of Murim and disappeared, and the identity of the fellow who took the lead in taking down the Myeong Clan?!”
Immortal Tongcheon gave a snort.
“Are you really the leader of the Beggar’s Gang? Since when has a person become such a fool?”
“Huh?”
“The Myeong Clan becoming a public enemy is widespread throughout the world, so does it make sense not to know that? Every time I go down to the marketplace to buy daily necessities, that’s all people talk about on all sides. And who was it, the eldest son of the Yeon family?”
“Yeon Ho-jeong.”
“Yes, I’ve heard about that fellow until now too. The young tiger of Jiangdong, the man in whom Sun Ce and Lu Xun were reincarnated as one body. These days, he is called the Tiger General of Green Mountain?”
“That, is that so?”
“Just because I live on a high mountain doesn’t mean I don’t go down to the secular world. You say that even while knowing all of it.”
Hwa Jin-cheon asked urgently.
“Then how did you know I was coming?”
“That?”
Immortal Tongcheon smiled bitterly and took out a thin booklet from his robe.
“I wrote it down here.”
“What is that?”
“It’s not that I suddenly couldn’t see. Slowly, one by one, things started to become invisible. Just in case, I wrote down everything that I could see.”
“……!”
“And.”
Immortal Tongcheon threw the booklet haphazardly.
The booklet that flew far away was blown by the wind and fell below the cliff.
Hwa Jin-cheon’s mouth hung open.
“Wha, what are you doing?!”
“Your coming was the last line of that book.”
“Oh my…….”
Immortal Tongcheon gave a chuckle.
“Why are you so surprised?”
“No…… surely to think you would lose your divination skills…….”
“What’s so important about divination that you make such a fuss?”
“What?”
“I became a Taoist because divine energy entered me, and I gathered my Upper Dantian. But, I am just a Taoist to the end. I just had a talent for divination and told you various facts, but even that was not something where I could pick and choose only what I wanted to see.”
“……!”
“Can a monk not serve Buddha because he lost one arm, and can a Taoist not practice the Tao because his eyes cannot see? There is no need to be so regretful.”
Hwa Jin-cheon let out a sigh.
“A good information source has disappeared.”
Immortal Tongcheon burst into a loud laugh.
“You have been too tricky all this time. To make a confession, there were many things that were clearly visible when you came to have your fortune told, yet I did not speak of them.”
“What? This crazy Taoist deceived me?”
“Telling you is not difficult, but if I did, wouldn’t the heavenly opportunity be distorted?”
“……?!”
“Don’t ignore your influence. If the Dragon Head Hall Master moves his mouth once incorrectly, the world is shaken, isn’t it? If I teach fate and predict the future to such a person as you, wouldn’t that itself be defying heaven?”
Hwa Jin-cheon could not finish his words.
Immortal Tongcheon, who sipped a mouthful of alcohol, spoke in a plain tone.
“Where is there an answer sheet in life? Because we don’t know the future, today is precious. That is life. Therefore, it is not good to rely on divination.”
“Damn, you’re reciting some words like a Taoist.”
“Hahaha!”
Immortal Tongcheon’s laughter was very pleasant to hear.
Even after losing his divination skills, which were not lacking to be called a divine skill, he didn’t care at all. No, rather, he even seemed as if he had shaken off a heavy burden.
Hwa Jin-cheon gave a bitter smile.
He thought that his friend losing his specialty was a loss for the party involved and for himself. But what can be done when the party involved is that happy? He could only be happy along with him.
“I’ll come more often in the future.”
“Oh? Are you comforting me?”
“Comforting, my foot. I plan to pass on the position of Hall Master to my disciple soon. I’m lonely in my old age, so just be my drinking buddy.”
“Has that rascal already grown that much? It seems like it hasn’t been long since I saw him.”
“There’s still a long way to go. Still, the righteousness and pure heart he possesses seemed plausible.”
“If you say it to that extent, it seems he has become quite a great man.”
“If he just trains his martial arts properly, well, nothing more could be asked for.”
Hwa Jin-cheon stood up from his spot.
“I must go now today. I’m a bit busy.”
Immortal Tongcheon waved his hand.
“Visit anytime.”
“I’ll make a room next to yours soon, so don’t kick me out.”
“Hahaha!”
* * *
“Hmm.”
Today was also very busy.
The body of a martial arts expert does not have abnormalities from just one day’s work, but the consumption of mental power was considerable. He has even been doing this for over ten years.
Yeon Wi massaged the nape of his neck. The neck was not particularly stiff, but massaging it like this seemed to make his mind feel at ease.
Yi Baek-hyeon, who was watching Yeon Wi from the side, organized the documents.
“I’ll do the rest. Please rest for today, Clan Head.”
“I shall.”
“Ah, and what will you do about the Chief Steward? You should start hiring someone soon.”
Yeon Wi glanced at Yi Baek-hyeon.
“If it’s alright, why don’t you try doing it?”
“M-me?”
Yi Baek-hyeon waved his hand.
“With my level of ability, how can I become the Chief Steward of the Yeon family? I am satisfied with just being an assistant.”
“You are doing sufficiently well.”
Yi Baek-hyeon involuntarily hiccuped.
He never thought the Clan Head would give him such an immense praise. Whether he was too flustered, Yi Baek-hyeon’s face had even turned pale.
“I, I, I am absolutely…… lacking in ability and…….”
Yeon Wi shook his head.
“You may go now.”
“Gasp! Yes!”
Yi Baek-hyeon hurriedly left the Clan Head’s office. His movement was very fast as if he had seen something he shouldn’t have seen.
Yeon Wi leaned his back against the chair.
He was tired, but still, each and every day was rewarding. The business stabilization in Jiangsu was one thing, the construction within the clan was smooth, and especially the growth of his second son was amazing.
He wished tomorrow would be like today. He wished for a day where he could dream of a hopeful tomorrow, rewarding even if it was difficult.
‘It seems the second one’s circulation is not finished yet. Since it’s his first state of selflessness, it’s only natural.’
Yeon Wi closed his eyes. He was relieving the day’s fatigue through circulation.
His son is fighting while facing a great turning point and opportunity. He himself must also gain strength as a Clan Head and a father.
How much time had passed like that?
“C-Clan Head!”
Yeon Wi, who had stopped his circulation, spoke while still keeping his eyes closed.
“What is it?”
“T-The Eldest Young Master has arrived!”
In an instant, Yeon Wi’s eyes snapped open.
“Ho-jeong has arrived?”
“Yes! B-but…….”
“What’s the matter?”
Yi Baek-hyeon’s words were the highlight.
“He has come back with a pretty young lady!”