Pay‑to‑Win King of Martial Arts (Novel) - Chapter 192 - Martial Alliance (6)

Chapter 192 – Martial Alliance (6)

I too had ties with the Martial Alliance Leader in my previous life. Of course, that was with the friend of the next generation after the current Alliance Leader, the Ink Sword Hero Su Je-heon.

Anyway, because of that, although I had never directly entered the Martial Alliance’s main headquarters, I at least knew how the organization was structured.

The people of the Martial Alliance hated hearing it the most, but the Martial Alliance organization could only be described as a complete hodgepodge.

That was because its main members were collateral lines of the Five Great Families, disciples cast out of the Nine Great Sects’ main mountains, and martial artists of the mid-tier sects.

That was because the main-mountain disciples of the Nine Great Sects and the direct lines of the Five Great Families had no reason not to remain loyal to their own sects and clans.

Thus it was a peculiar body where so-called dropouts who had fallen away from prestigious houses mixed together with people who had not been born from famous lineages in the first place.

In the end, if one spoke only of atmosphere, it was a strange collective that shrank away from main-mountain disciples while showing greater familiarity toward secular disciples and collateral lines.

In fact, not once had the Martial Alliance Leader come from the Nine Great Sects or the Five Great Families. The role always went to supreme masters from minor sects that appeared once in a blue moon or from sects of sole transmission.

That was why I was worried about Peng Chae-hyang and Myeong-gyeong. Cheong-yu, being of the Cheong generation of Wudang, stood at a generation level where few would dare pick a fight with him, but Peng Chae-hyang and Myeong-gyeong were different.

“Ah. Is one of you a secular disciple?”

Sure enough, right at the Martial Alliance’s main gate they asked whether one was a secular disciple or a main-mountain disciple.

Would saying I was a secular disciple make them treat me a little better here? I nodded.

“That is correct.”

“Ah, then you may not enter the places where the main-mountain disciples and direct-line members go. They would find it unpleasant.”

“…What?”

At the unexpected words, my eyes widened. Since the Martial Alliance was a place where secular disciples and collateral lines formed the core, if anything I had thought there might be reverse discrimination here.

Had the Martial Alliance I knew simply changed over the decades, since the one I knew was from several decades later?

“What are you talking about? Who says that? Last time I came here, no one said anything like that.”

Peng Chae-hyang started arguing before I did. It seemed this was also the first she had heard of it, even though she had visited the Martial Alliance before.

But the guard at the Martial Alliance’s main gate remained firm.

“It is the Alliance Leader’s order. In the Martial Alliance, the Alliance Leader’s words come before all else.”

“The Alliance Leader said that himself?”

“That is right. It is something he has repeatedly instructed us to do since the day before yesterday.”

“Repeatedly instructed, huh.”

Cheong-yu clicked his tongue in displeasure. No matter how high Cheong-yu’s standing was within the martial world, it did not surpass that of the Martial Alliance Leader.

And this was the Martial Alliance. Just as the guard had said, this truly was a place where the Martial Alliance Leader’s word was law.

“When the meeting begins, can we at least sit together?”

“You will be in the same space, but you will not be able to sit in the same seats. We were instructed to separate secular disciples and main-mountain disciples strictly.”

“Did the Alliance Leader eat something bad lately?”

At Cheong-yu’s words, the guard’s brows shot upward. In a sect, the Alliance Leader was equivalent to the sect head.

No matter the generation order, if one spoke of the leader that way, that sort of reaction was only natural. Realizing his words had gone too far, Cheong-yu covered them with a dry cough.

“Ahem. I spoke out of turn. It is just that he is doing something he never used to do.”

Anyway, seeing even Cheong-yu react with such confusion, it definitely seemed to be a recently changed policy.

Myeong-gyeong likewise looked as though he were swelling full of noisy words to spit out, but because Cheong-yu martial grand-uncle was present, he seemed to be barely holding himself back.

In the end, we split up right at the Martial Alliance’s main gate. If one insisted on putting it a certain way, I alone was the one left behind.

When we parted, Myeong-gyeong and Peng Chae-hyang looked at me with somewhat wistful eyes.

Up until we got here, whenever there was something to say, I had said it all. Cheong-yu was nothing but a Daoist through and through, so he knew almost nothing of worldly affairs and was even prickly on top of that.

Peng Chae-hyang as well had never before come out alone beyond Beijing. And Myeong-gyeong was young, so naturally he had no real speaking authority.

But once regret drove them into ruin and obsession, it would already be too late. It would not take them very long to realize how precious I was.

“Secular disciple, you should come this way.”

The people guiding Cheong-yu’s party were dressed in expensive silk clothes, but the one who came to fetch me wore coarse cotton.

At this point, had they not simply created a class system? Was this the kingdom of the main-mountain disciples?

I still could not understand it. The Alliance Leader, the Ink Sword Hero, had not originally come from a prestigious house to begin with, but had risen through effort alone. Moreover, while serving as Martial Alliance Leader, he had reportedly drafted many martial-world policies that ran against the interests of the Nine Great Sects and Five Great Families.

For such a man to now do something that suited the tastes of those famous Nine Great Sects and Five Great Families, I had no idea what sort of inner circumstances lay behind it. Had he taken money behind the scenes and tucked in his tail?

“You may rest in the sarangchae inside this pavilion.”

“…Are you serious?”

“We also feel apologetic about it.”

What I was looking at was a small pavilion on the outskirts of the Martial Alliance estate. But though they called it a pavilion, it was so poorly maintained that it really looked more like a storehouse. There was even a huge hornet’s nest built in the corner, and seeing how it still had not been removed, that said it all.

“Then I will take my leave.”

Apparently not wanting to hear any more complaints, the Martial Alliance attendant slipped away at once.

But who was I? A man from humble beginnings who had risen from the very bottom of poverty. It was not as if I had never experienced a house in this state before.

The moment I entered the small pavilion, a stale odor rushed out from the doorway.

When I threw open the door to the sarangchae and stepped in, people’s gazes turned toward me. Every single one of them wore the expression of someone chewing dung, which was only natural. No one could feel good while being treated like this.

“I am Muk Hui-yeong of the Wudang Sect.”

I looked around the room and gave a fist-and-palm salute. But not a single person returned the salute.

“A secular disciple?”

“That is correct.”

Since everyone there looked older than me, I spoke politely first.

But was that why they looked down on me even more? People started voicing complaints that made no sense to me.

“To send a secular disciple to a Martial Alliance summons. The Wudang Sect goes too far.”

I heard grumbling that openly dismissed me. But it was not something I failed to understand.

The secular disciples of the Nine Great Sects were often not even acknowledged as belonging to the sects at all, and there were many who did not even regard them as martial artists.

The collateral lines of the Five Great Families, though below the direct lines, at least received a certain degree of recognition. Just thinking of Peng Chae-hyang’s cousin, who wandered around acting like such a scoundrel, made that obvious enough.

So it meant there were people here as well who insisted on ranking others. In my experience, it was always the ones in ambiguous positions who loved ranking most of all. Because they were the ones most wounded by such ranking.

That was likely because there were many people who, once hurt, would rather pass that pain on to others than endure it themselves. Of course, passing it on did not make the wound on their own body disappear. It merely increased the number of wounded people.

“I am a registered secular disciple.”

“What is that supposed to mean?”

“If you do not know, then forget it.”

I did not particularly want to explain it. And there was no reason to do so.

I found the least broken chair and sat down. Somehow most of the chairs had one leg broken, so finding one that was still usable was not easy.

But once I sat down, several people stood up. Apparently my answer and attitude did not sit well with them.

“I do not know how some mere secular disciple like you managed to get here, but you have an awfully arrogant attitude.”

I looked up at them. Three men were standing over me in a way that seemed designed to pressure me.

“Me?”

“Who else but you, brat? You look young too. If you are a secular disciple, you probably do not even have a generation order. Is that why you behave like this?”

“I do have one. The Myeong generation.”

“What generation order could a mere secular disciple possibly have?”

Before I could even answer, the man beside him snapped.

“Quiet down already. I am already in a bad enough mood as it is.”

“What?”

Suddenly the arrow turned away from me and toward the man beside us. That anger spread like fire catching dry grass.

“Yes, shut up already. Your breath reeks so badly I cannot bear it.”

“And who the hell are you?”

By now it seemed people simply wanted to fight.

“Rather than picking on some weak secular disciple, how about taking in the spear art of the Shandong Ak Clan?”

“The likes of the Shandong Ak Clan dares to step forward?”

“What did you say? The likes of?”

At this point people had even started mixing curses into their words. Yet somehow they all looked far livelier than they had earlier when they had been sullen, as if they had been waiting for just such a situation.

Merchants tried to avoid fights whenever possible. But martial artists were the exact opposite. If anything, they looked eager to start one.

There would be many reasons for that. Personal competitive spirit would be one. And since they had been born as martial artists, they too would naturally want to spread their names through the world.

And if one wanted to make one’s name known, this Martial Alliance summons was an opportunity. Only if people from famous houses fought one another would it become a proper topic of discussion. How much could one’s reputation rise from catching a few black-path thugs in some backwater place?

So it seemed they were simply using me as a fuse. On top of that, with how they had been treated, their mood was rotten, so they likely wanted to work up a sweat and vent themselves.

‘What a curious thing.’

For some reason, I understood their whole way of thinking. In the past it had been less understanding and more resignation, so this was genuinely surprising.

The Sect Leader had said it himself. Once I stepped out carrying the name of the Wudang Sect, I represented the Wudang Sect.

These people too might only be collateral branches and escorting martial artists, but they had each come out representing their own organizations. They wanted to glorify not only themselves, but the names of their clans and sects.

“You collateral lines wearing nothing but the shell of noble clans!”

I shouted quickly. Several people were already grouping up and heading out.

It was because I was worried all the worthwhile opponents would be taken, leaving only dregs behind. Though in terms of reputation, I was probably the greatest dreg here right now.

“Has that bastard gone mad?”

Everyone looked dumbfounded at my sudden shout with no warning.

“Excuse me, sir. I understand your pride has been wounded, but everyone here is at least first-rate. This is no place for a secular disciple to interfere.”

One of the men beside me spoke up. His tone was oddly cautious, as though he worried I might be wounded even further in pride. Which meant he was a kind man.

But I had no intention of accepting his consideration. I had already let go of the reins after climbing onto the tiger’s back. If I stopped halfway here, then it truly would become something shameful.

“Anyone who wants to can come at me. One at a time is fine, and pairing up is fine too.”

I grasped the middle of my scabbard and lifted it. The tassel of the Taiji Sword Guardian fluttered.

I had not particularly hidden it, but not a single one of them had recognized that I was wearing the tassel of a Taiji Sword Guardian. Most likely, because before what they saw with their eyes, the assumption that no secular disciple could possibly be a Taiji Sword Guardian took precedence in their minds.

But once I spread it out right in front of them like this, they could not fail to recognize it.

“…A Taiji Sword Guardian?”

Instead of answering, I released my Primordial Mixed Qi. My energy rapidly filled the cramped, shabby room. The expressions of those who felt its force changed. They too were martial artists, so they could gauge my strength through my qi.

“Who will step forward first?”

I slammed the scabbard down onto the floor. The floor, already rotten all the way through, caved in deeply.

No one answered my challenge.