Pay‑to‑Win King of Martial Arts (Novel) - Chapter 31 - Fallen Angel (2)

Chapter 31 – Fallen Angel (2)

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Translated by Heavenly Cat

Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net

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“Let’s eat first.”

“Eat? We already ate before we left this morning.”

“You did? I threw mine all away.”

“What a waste. Why did you throw it away?”

Why indeed. I wanted to ask why anyone would eat roots and tree bark. I had always thought this. Wudang might belong to the Daoist line, but wasn’t this a bit too much?

“You’re hungry anyway.”

“That’s true.”

An age like Myeong-gyeong’s was exactly when a child ate the most. I smiled wickedly to myself.

Myeong-gyeong had no idea what I was thinking.

The first thing I needed to do was win Myeong-gyeong over to my side instead of Cheong-hwa’s. That would make it easier to move around in the future.

Especially because if Cheong-hwa found out I was trying to found a merchant company, it was certain to become troublesome.

I could have eaten in Jun County below Wudang Mountain, but I deliberately did not.

For one thing, Jun County was far too familiar to Wudang people, and it was such a backwater that there was nothing especially tasty there anyway. In my previous life I had eaten there a few times, and I still remembered once finding a curly hair in my noodles and throwing them away immediately. To this day I still didn’t know where that hair had come from. I could only hope it had at least come from an armpit.

I set our destination as Xiangyang, the nearest bustling place to Jun County.

“Senior Brother. Do you know how to ride a horse?”

“No.”

At Myeong-gyeong’s confident answer, I clicked my tongue. Then again, if all one did was learn martial arts on Wudang Mountain, when would he ever have time to learn riding? Wudang Mountain wasn’t gentle enough in terrain to have much level ground for horses either.

“You’re not saying we should ride, are you?”

“I am.”

“No.”

Myeong-gyeong even folded his arms and made a very firm face. I frowned at this sudden obstinacy.

“Why not?”

“You should be practicing lightness skill and building stamina. If we ride horses, it won’t count as training.”

From Myeong-gyeong’s point of view, this was probably his sternest possible voice. But how stern could the voice of a child who hadn’t even hit puberty sound? It just came out as shrill chirping.

“Let’s just travel comfortably.”

“A martial artist must not choose the comfortable road.”

“Then our meal’s going to be late.”

“That doesn’t matter. I’m confident in going hungry.”

What a useless sort of confidence. At this rate, I might have to report Wudang to the authorities for child abuse.

“Then do as you please.”

Taking my words as surrender, Myeong-gyeong puffed out his chest with a triumphant expression.

On the way to Xiangyang, Myeong-gyeong interfered with everything I did. He suddenly told me to use the Azure Cloud Steps as we traveled, forbade me from even sitting in the shade of a tree to rest, and said my speech wasn’t fitting for a martial artist when I answered a passerby who asked for directions.

When I happened to glance up at the sky, Cheong-hwa’s face seemed to shimmer there. Right now Myeong-gyeong was carrying out his role as Cheong-hwa’s proxy perfectly.

‘Damn it.’

But I had expected this. Myeong-gyeong had probably received some instructions from Cheong-hwa as well. Most likely the general order had been to keep on my case. But I had no intention of being pushed around by a little brat like this.

Since it had come to this, I decided to do as Myeong-gyeong said and practice the Azure Cloud Steps. I had the secret manual for the Azure Cloud Steps that Cheong-su had given me.

The moment I took out the manual, Myeong-gyeong’s eyes lit up.

“So you’ve finally decided to take it seriously? I’ll teach you. The Azure Cloud Steps are used like this…”

“If I try it on my own and get stuck, I’ll ask.”

I cut him off. Myeong-gyeong flew into a rage about my interrupting a senior brother, but I was already focusing on the Azure Cloud Steps manual.

Come to think of it, it had already been quite a while since I received this book, yet this was the first time I had opened it. Was that how little interest I had had in martial arts? But now that I had decided to learn martial arts from here on, I couldn’t afford to be lazy about them.

Myeong-gyeong kept muttering beside me, but I ignored him and began unfolding the Azure Cloud Steps according to the book’s contents. The Azure Cloud Steps truly were the first footwork art taught in Wudang. It felt like the foundational base from which all Wudang martial arts could be performed. Soft and supple.

Now that I had learned Swift Movement, even the motions I had been unable to perform before came easily.

When I glanced to the side, Myeong-gyeong’s eyes were anxious. He probably wanted to nitpick but couldn’t find a chance. Well, when it came to footwork alone, I was already better than Myeong-gyeong.

I quietly continued unfolding the Azure Cloud Steps as we advanced, and Myeong-gyeong refrained from picking fights at least while I was practicing martial arts, so the journey became a quiet one. He seemed to want to keep talking to me, but once he saw me doing nothing but train from dawn to dusk, he soon wilted.

“Junior Brother. Are you only going to practice the Azure Cloud Steps? You should practice other things too.”

“I’ll perfect this first.”

“Isn’t there anything I can teach you?”

“No. It’s fine.”

Myeong-gyeong swallowed his pride and spoke to me, but I deliberately acted cold. Myeong-gyeong shrank back down again.

I intentionally left him like that. By now, he would have realized it too. Constantly pushing me around wasn’t good for him either.

I had heard that this kind of free outing was a first for Myeong-gyeong too. He might even have been looking forward to this trip more than I was. But if the person traveling with him acted this coldly, of course it wouldn’t be fun.

Casting a sidelong glance at Myeong-gyeong, I stopped the Azure Cloud Steps and spoke.

“We’re almost at Xiangyang now.”

“R-Right!”

Myeong-gyeong’s expression brightened a little. Before I knew it, he had started watching my mood. Children really were nice in how everything showed on their faces.

“There are lots of delicious restaurants in Xiangyang.”

“Really?”

“But let’s stop by somewhere else first.”

“Where?”

“To collect some money.”

“Money? Why do you need money?”

“The most necessary thing in living in this world is money.”

All we had brought out from Wudang were a few fasting pills that could be eaten conveniently. It was truly tragic. Eating was one of life’s great blessings. There was no need to deliberately turn our backs on that blessing.

I stopped by the Xiangyang branch of the Wuhan Money House and the Xiangyang branch of the Heaven’s Gift Merchant Company. Xiangyang was one of the larger cities in Hubei, so of course there were branches there.

Borrowing the money was neat and simple. The loan clerks were startled once because I belonged to Wudang, twice because of the names written on the promissory notes, and three times because of the amount.

By the time I finished borrowing the money, my money pouch had become satisfyingly heavy. Myeong-gyeong seemed not to understand the value of money at all and simply stood there with his mouth hanging open.

“Heh heh heh.”

When I opened the pouch, there were two thousand five hundred taels of silver inside. Just looking at it made me feel secure. This was the capital that would found my merchant company. Today would be remembered as the historic first step of a Great Merchant.

Myeong-gyeong was simply too busy looking around everywhere. It was his first time seeing a place this crowded and lively. I sought out the Great Fortune Restaurant. It was a famous proper establishment in Xiangyang that had been passed down for several generations.

Restaurants were divided into proper establishments and common taverns. Common taverns were ordinary eating places where regular people went, while proper establishments were high-end restaurants for people with money to burn.

“We’re really going in there?”

“Yes.”

Myeong-gyeong stared up at the gate of the Great Fortune Restaurant in admiration. The splendid painted entry arch seemed to have captured his heart. The moment we entered, a server in neat clothes hurried straight over to me.

“W-Welcome.”

The server hesitated slightly. To them, the fact that I belonged to Wudang wasn’t especially important. What mattered was whether I looked like I had money or not.

Objectively speaking, the two of us looked shabby. It had taken quite a while to get from Jun County to Xiangyang, and Wudang’s Daoist robes themselves were already badly worn because they had been passed down from previous generations.

In an apologetic tone, the server whispered to us.

“Sirs, I am terribly sorry, but even the cheapest noodles here are around one hundred coins.”

“So?”

“…Pardon?”

“Do I look like a beggar to you?”

The server couldn’t say a word. When I jerked my chin, he stepped back. Myeong-gyeong looked a little uneasy.

“…A Daoist shouldn’t speak so roughly.”

“He looked down on us for our clothes. I couldn’t endure it when he dared insult the Wudang Sect.”

“I-Is that what happened?”

“Exactly.”

“Even so, don’t embarrass people…”

“It’s fine. There are ways to deal with all servers.”

Myeong-gyeong kept glancing around. The restaurants in Jun County he had gone to now and then were probably very different from this. The difference between a proper establishment and a common tavern was heaven and earth. The quality of the tables, the smell of the food, even the class of the customers were all different.

“Server.”

“Yes.”

I flicked one tael of silver to the server as he hurried over. His eyes went wide. I had just given the price of ten bowls of noodles as gratuity, so of course his eyes nearly rolled back.

The server’s rigid waist naturally bent and his face loosened.

“Oh, sir. You really didn’t need to give this. I’ll serve you with all my sincerity.”

“What’s the most popular dish right now?”

“The Eight-Treasure Stuffed Duck, Beggar’s Chicken, and Salted Prawns, sir.”

Every dish he recommended was expensive. The surrounding people’s attention turned toward us. Our clothes were shabby, yet we were being recommended high-end dishes, and that piqued their curiosity.

“Then bring one Beggar’s Chicken, one clear broth bird’s nest, and one bottle of Bamboo Leaf Green.”

“Ah, yes. Right away.”

The server bowed so deeply his head nearly touched his calves, then hurried straight into the kitchen. Myeong-gyeong looked dumbfounded. He didn’t understand the value of silver, so he couldn’t understand why the server was acting like that.

“Weren’t we just going to order noodles and dumplings?”

“Since we’ve already come all the way outside, we should eat something delicious.”

“But those are already delicious enough.”

Soon ornate tableware was set before us. Gold-inlaid plates and utensils, the sort of things one would never see in Wudang, where poverty was regarded as a virtue.

Had it been about a quarter of an hour? The servers began carrying out our food. Warmth and fragrance spread at once. Myeong-gyeong stared at the dishes as if broken. Since these were sensations he had never felt in his life, he seemed overwhelmed.

“Please try some.”

I ladled some of the clear broth bird’s nest onto Myeong-gyeong’s plate.

Clear broth bird’s nest was made by boiling swiftlet nests, so the ingredients themselves were luxurious. Myeong-gyeong tasted it with his spoon and shuddered all over.

“…W-What is this? Isn’t it a spiritual medicine?”

The sweet taste and warm energy spread through his body the moment it entered, so it was understandable that he might think that. I tore apart the chicken from the Beggar’s Chicken so it would be easy to eat.

“Try this too.”

“What’s this?”

Even while staying wary, Myeong-gyeong reached out with his chopsticks. The moment he touched it, the lotus leaves wrapped around it unfurled, revealing the pale tender flesh of the chicken.

The chicken roasted in clay and lotus leaves entered Myeong-gyeong’s mouth, and his jaw moved. The instant he chewed once, the motion of his jaw stopped.

The juice and rich flavor held inside the Beggar’s Chicken were too much for Myeong-gyeong, who was tasting meat for what was essentially the first time.

Without a word, Myeong-gyeong began shoveling the clear broth bird’s nest and Beggar’s Chicken into his mouth with spoon and chopsticks. I smiled inwardly and took a drink of the Bamboo Leaf Green that had come with it.

“Khh.”

Since it had a high alcohol content, hot energy ran down my throat and made my whole body burn. This was it. This was the taste of liquor. This was the taste of life. Living as a merchant, it was hard to stay away from alcohol. My body thrilled at the taste of liquor after such a long time.

“Senior Brother.”

“What?”

Myeong-gyeong looked up with food smeared all over his mouth. He was practically burying his face in the plate. Before saying anything, I wiped his mouth with my hand.

“It’s good, isn’t it?”

“Yeah!”

“There are lots of delicious foods in this world.”

I lowered my voice.

“While we’re outside, I’ll take responsibility for feeding you delicious things.”

“Thank you, Junior Brother!”

“But.”

Myeong-gyeong thanked me with sincere eyes. But it was still too early for gratitude.

“Keep everything that happened on this outing a secret from Master.”

“H-Huh? Why?”

“Just because.”

I winked. Myeong-gyeong’s chopsticks, still gripping the Beggar’s Chicken, trembled. He was wavering between reason and instinct.

But that inner conflict didn’t last very long.

“Fine!”

After answering, Myeong-gyeong immediately buried his face back in the plate. As expected, because he was still a child, his reason hadn’t yet been trained enough to overcome his instincts.

I nodded with a satisfied face. Now there was no one outside Wudang who could stop me.

Or so I thought. That lasted only until the server to whom I had given a tael of silver earlier came over to me.

“Excuse me, Great Hero.”

“What is it?”

“Would you perhaps be willing to share a table?”

“Share a table?”

I looked around. There were still plenty of empty tables.

“Ah, it’s just that an honored guest on the second floor says they would like to share a table with you, Great Hero.”

Reflexively, I looked up at the second floor. A burly martial artist was looking down at me over the railing.