Pay‑to‑Win King of Martial Arts (Novel) - Chapter 194 - Conflict (1)

Chapter 194 – Conflict (1)

Once I overwhelmingly defeated Hwangbo Un-hyeong, the way people treated me changed completely.

Perhaps that was only natural. Just as the merchants who made money well were popular among merchants, among martial artists the strong were the popular ones.

“I am ashamed that I looked down on you just because you were a secular disciple.”

“That was magnificent martial skill.”

Everyone approached me and added a word or two. In the midst of that, even Hwangbo Un-hyeong, who had been sent flying far away, had by now come over and offered a fist-and-palm salute.

“Thank you for showing mercy with your hands.”

“It was a friendly duel. There was no need to injure you.”

“I know that my attitude was sufficiently offensive from your point of view. For a martial artist, pride is like life itself. Even if I had lost an arm, I would have had no complaint.”

When Hwangbo Un-hyeong apologized, the other two men from the Hwangbo Clan also came over to me.

“We failed to recognize a great hero and committed an offense.”

“Please forgive us.”

They were the trio who had pressured me, but I bore no particular ill feelings. Their pressure had amounted to little more than trying to intimidate me with a few words. If one bore grudges over something this small, how could one possibly live in the world?

“Great hero, you say. I am younger than all of you.”

“I passed fifteen last year.”

“…?”

When the giant who was at least half a head taller than I was said that, my mind stopped for a moment. Hwangbo Un-hyeong gave an awkward smile.

“The people of our clan are from a bloodline that tends to be rather rugged, so perhaps it looked that way. I too have only just reached adulthood.”

“…It did look that way. It was just a joke.”

Even I could tell it was a pitiful attempt at recovery, so the people of the Hwangbo Clan gave bitter smiles.

I felt inexplicably sorry, as if I had wounded still-growing children.

As for me, I had lived into my fifties in my previous life, so I had no interest in dressing myself up, but fifteen or twenty was precisely the age when one wanted to look impressive to women and others, was it not?

“Ahem, sorry. Since I was rude too, let us call it even.”

“Rude? Not at all.”

Anyway, I more or less smoothed things over with the collateral lines of the Hwangbo Clan.

When people saw us reconciling, those who had paired up to fight for no reason grew awkward.

“Yes, what is the point of us fighting one another here? Should we not rather be raising our voices together against the Martial Alliance for treating us this way?”

“Now that you mention it, that is true.”

It seemed people had indeed wanted to vent their anger because of the Martial Alliance’s treatment. But just as someone had said, there was no point in fighting among ourselves. Were we not all victims of the same thing?

Soon people redirected their anger toward the Martial Alliance and even began voicing the grievances they had suffered all this time as collateral lines.

“I wanted to die when some brat from the main line, several years younger than me, slapped me across the face.”

“Ah, that does happen from time to time. But there is nothing we can do, since we cannot beat up the direct lines.”

Those who, just a moment ago, had seemed ready to tear one another apart became united by a sense of fellowship. Martial artists truly were a simple breed.

“By the way, Brother Muk, why are you a secular disciple?”

“Pardon?”

Hwangbo Un-seong of the Hwangbo trio, who had somehow ended up sitting near me, asked the question. I had no idea when my form of address had changed to older brother.

“At your age and with your level of skill, surely any place would have accepted you as a main-mountain disciple.”

“Being a main-mountain disciple came with too many restrictions. I wanted to be a merchant.”

“A merchant? And please speak comfortably with us. We are much younger than you.”

I flinched. Their faces looked older than mine, so speaking casually felt deeply uncomfortable. But I obviously could not say that. I twisted my face into an awkward smile.

“Haha. Then I will.”

“Yes. That would be much more comfortable.”

Hwangbo Un-hyeong answered. I nodded reluctantly.

‘This is damned uncomfortable.’

Judging by their faces, they looked at least to be past forty, yet they were not even twenty. At this point, it almost felt as if the Hwangbo bloodline had been cursed. Naturally, it was something I could never say aloud.

“But if a dull person like me heard correctly, it sounded as though you deliberately rejected becoming a main-mountain disciple.”

Hwangbo Un-cheon, who looked the most like an actual younger brother among the trio, asked carefully. Without much thought, I answered.

“Yes. I rejected it, which is why I am a secular disciple.”

“What? Really?”

The three men of the Hwangbo Clan raised their voices at the same time. Instantly, everyone’s attention gathered toward us.

“What sort of madman rejects a place as a main-mountain disciple of Wudang?”

“Hey, hey. Do not call him a madman.”

When Hwangbo Un-cheon got excited, Hwangbo Un-hyeong stopped him. Hwangbo Un-cheon apologized in a rush before I even had time to answer.

“I am sorry. I was just too shocked.”

“It is not really something you need to apologize for…”

I tried to brush it aside. It was because I did not like attention gathering on me. But the impact of those words was bigger than I expected.

“What? He rejected being a main-mountain disciple of Wudang and became a secular disciple?”

“What kind of nonsense is that?”

I blinked once, and before I knew it people had formed layers of circles around me.

“Young Master Muk, is that true? You rejected being a main-mountain disciple and chose to be a secular disciple?”

“…That is right.”

“Hah!”

At my confirmation, the collateral lines made an enormous fuss.

Some of them even started debating among themselves why exactly I had rejected the position of a main-mountain disciple. After muttering among themselves for a while, they reached a certain conclusion.

“Hahaha. Then those haughty Wudang Daoists must have been utterly dumbfounded.”

How did the conclusion become that? Still, I could roughly understand it.

They were people who had lived under the sorrow of being collateral lines. So from the fact that I had rejected something that could be compared to the direct line, namely becoming a main-mountain disciple, they were deriving a sort of vicarious satisfaction.

“This man looks like a pale scholar, but who would have guessed he had such backbone.”

“With martial skill that strong too, Wudang must have clung to him desperately.”

People cackled with amusement. I had little to say. It was in fact true that the Wudang Sect had worked hard to take me in as a main-mountain disciple.

The fact that I had rejected being a main-mountain disciple was enough to cleanse even the unpleasant atmosphere. People cheerfully imagined how it would have felt if their own clans had suffered such a humiliation.

Through some strange course of events, I had turned into a symbolic figure who had avenged the sorrow of collateral lines. It went without saying that favorable feeling was dripping from their eyes.

‘This is burdensome.’

Things were heading in a direction I had never intended. I had only wanted to elevate the name of Wudang, but instead it had ended up elevating only my own name.

Just then, someone came to rescue me. A man who looked to belong to the Martial Alliance entered our pavilion.

“Great heroes, it is time to eat. I will guide you to the dining hall.”

“Ah, is it already mealtime?”

Perhaps because we were outsiders, they wanted us all to gather and eat together. I was hungry, so I got up to prepare to leave.

“We know where the dining hall is. There is no need for a guide.”

“Ah, the dining hall has changed a bit this time.”

Avoiding people’s eyes, the Martial Alliance man spoke. Everyone looked puzzled. I felt something ominous.

The dining hall had changed. Since separating direct and collateral lines also seemed to be happening for the first time, it probably was not unrelated.

And my suspicion was exactly right. “…What the hell is this?”

The rice was a rough mixture of black millet, foxtail millet, and barnyard millet, coarse and disorderly, and as for side dishes, there was little more than dandelion greens from the roadside dressed and served.

People looked around in fury, but by then the Martial Alliance man who had guided us there had already slipped away like a ghost.

“This is truly too much.”

“Did the Alliance Leader really order this?”

A person’s grief always burst out harder when it was connected to food. Anyone could see this was a deliberate slight.

“N-now then, let us calm down. It may be that it is not just us who are being served this.”

Someone spoke in a calm voice. And it was true. There was at least a chance that the Martial Alliance’s stores were strained by some famine and this was simply all they had.

“Let us go look at the original dining hall.”

The people did not so much as glance at the coarse millet rice and headed instead toward the building where the original dining hall was. Even if they were collateral lines, they still came from famous houses. Which meant that, at the very least, they were people who normally ate good food. To such people, that rough grain meal was a tremendous humiliation.

“That over there is the original dining hall.”

Someone pointed toward another building. From there drifted the scent of rich, fragrant food. Since martial artists had sharp senses, they could only feel it all the more clearly.

‘Hm.’

I had no idea what exactly was happening inside the Martial Alliance, but this felt excessive. No matter what, they should at least feed people properly.

And it seemed everyone else felt the same way. Once they confirmed that the direct lines and main-mountain disciples were eating delicious food, the fighting spirit and fury of the collateral lines surged to the extreme.

“This will not do. We should go together and protest.”

“Hear, hear!”

The militant spirit of the collateral lines flared up fiercely. The people headed toward the Martial Alliance dining hall. They had likely calculated that, since it was mealtime, the Alliance Leader would be there as well.

And for some reason, I was at the very front of the procession of collateral-line people surging forward. It seemed the fact that I had rejected becoming a main-mountain disciple meant that much to them.

“You lot.”

A collateral-line member of the Shandong Ak Clan, whose appearance was as fierce as those of the Hwangbo Clan, kicked the dining hall doors open with a bang.

Sure enough, the tables were laid with a lavish spread, and the direct-line members and main-mountain disciples were eating harmoniously.

“What kind of discourtesy is this?”

A middle-aged man in green stood up with his expression hardening.

People flinched. It seemed these people had been so consumed by fury that they had stopped thinking, but these collateral-line people were no more than followers brought along for miscellaneous tasks. The men leading the main-mountain disciples and direct lines were at minimum at the elder level, which meant they could not match them in force.

“…Is this not discrimination taken too far? No matter that we are only collateral lines, we cannot endure this sort of humiliation.”

Hwangbo Un-hyeong stepped forward. The man in green looked absurdly taken aback, his face reddening for a moment, then turned toward the direct lines behind him with a sneering laugh.

“What do you say? These collateral lines seem to have some complaint. Should we throw each of them a chicken leg and send them back?”

At the green-clad man’s mocking tone, the other direct-line members laughed as well. Hwangbo Un-hyeong and the other collateral lines flushed red with humiliation.

Among the direct lines here, there did not seem to be anyone willing to take the side of the collateral lines. Even if a direct-line member happened to be close to one of them, if he defended them in front of everyone here, he would only be mocked. And if he was on bad terms with the collateral lines, there was nothing more to say.

That aside, had no one noticed? Perhaps because I alone here stood outside the logic of direct line and collateral line, it was clearer to me.

I looked around.

Fortunately, I could not see my own companions, Cheong-yu, Peng Chae-hyang, or Myeong-gyeong. Had they simply not come to eat yet?

“Hahaha. My apologies. It seems one of our clan’s people committed a discourtesy.”

At that moment, someone who looked even rougher and older than Hwangbo Un-hyeong stepped forward. By my standards Hwangbo Un-hyeong had already been astonishing, but comparing him to this man felt almost unfair.

“You brat. How dare you disturb your elders while they eat.”

“…Elder.”

Hwangbo Un-hyeong shrank down. It seemed the man was an elder of the Hwangbo Clan. No matter how full of hot blood he was, he was not about to challenge an elder of his own clan.

“Get out at once.”

The moment the Hwangbo Clan elder barked, Hwangbo Un-hyeong lowered his head. The overall momentum of the collateral lines wilted, as if their spearpoint had been broken.

The gazes of the collateral lines gathered subtly on me. It really was absurd how it had happened, but right now I had become their pride. Because I was the secular disciple who had rejected being a main-mountain disciple.

At those bright and expectant eyes, I cleared my throat.

“Ahem. Even so, should not food at least be given equally?”

I tried to find a kind of compromise. But among the direct lines, it instantly became a joke.

“And what clan is that one from?”

“Do they not manage their collateral lines properly?”

People shouted and laughed. I corrected them.

“I am not collateral line.”

“Hm?”

My answer puzzled them. So I told them the truth.

“I am a secular disciple of Wudang.”

“A secular disciple…?”

And their reaction was far greater than that of the collateral lines here.

“A secular disciple? The likes of a secular disciple.”

“Has the Wudang Sect gone mad? Just what place do they think this is?”

As expected, the direct lines’ opinion of secular disciples was at rock bottom.

But even among them there was someone who recognized the tassel on my sword.

“Wait, is that not the tassel of a Taiji Sword Guardian?”

“A Taiji Sword Guardian?”

People began to murmur. It seemed the fact that a secular disciple was wearing the tassel of a Taiji Sword Guardian was shocking to direct lines and collateral lines alike.

“How can a Taiji Sword Guardian be a secular disciple?”

“That is the business of my sect. Not something you need concern yourselves with.”

When I gave a shrug, the clan members flared up.

“That damned bastard.”

“Calm yourselves. In a short while we can ask the Immortal of Wudang, and it will be settled.”

Yet there were also those who restrained them. The man in green stopped the angry people and stepped forward.

“Why not stop disturbing the meal and get lost. Are you not making the elders uncomfortable?”

The man looked about thirty, and judging by the same color of clothing as the middle-aged man who had broken the momentum of the collateral lines, along with the Tang character on his chest, he too was from the Tang Clan.

“Seniors, please do not lower yourselves by dealing with such people. I will send them away.”

At the Tang man’s words, the middle-aged men who had stood up returned to their seats. Indeed, from their perspective, even dealing with a secular disciple barely twenty would be enough to tarnish their dignity.

“Are you not leaving?”

The man in green snarled, pressing his qi toward me.

I asked because I was genuinely curious.

“Could it be that you do not know?”

“What nonsense are you talking all of a sudden?”

“I am asking whether you do not know that the Martial Alliance is artificially provoking conflict like this.”

I voiced the question that had been sitting with me all along. The atmosphere turned cold.

No, had they really not known…

“Do we look like fools to you?”

“Pardon?”

“If we are not fools, how would we fail to see that?”

“…!”

The man in green looked at me indifferently. Within that indifference was a chillingly cold reason.