Pay‑to‑Win King of Martial Arts (Novel) - Chapter 4 - Evaluation (1)

Chapter 4 – Evaluation (1)

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Translated by Heavenly Cat

Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net

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Ascending Thunder Gate. It was one of the orthodox sects in Wuhan, Hubei. Or so I recalled, it had been founded by an absolute master who had once been a lay disciple of the Wudang Sect. Sagong Hyeon was the son of the gate’s founder.

“Seeing as you have a merchant’s wit, could you perhaps be a child of the Merchant King? I heard he entered this group of Wudang lay disciples, but I haven’t seen him around at all.”

I remembered that rumor too. In this generation, the Great Merchant was the master of the Heaven’s Gift Merchant Company, the Merchant King Yeo Bul-jin. And there had indeed been a widespread rumor that the Merchant King’s son had entered this cohort of Wudang lay disciples.

Of course, I did not know whether the rumor was true. I was only someone who had been expelled after a month.

“Sorry, but that’s not me.”

“Is that so? Then what’s your name?”

“Muk Hui-yeong.”

“Ah.”

A sneer crept onto Sagong Hyeon’s face. Jeon Oh-su had been disappointed too, but he had not sneered.

And while Jeon Oh-su had at least hidden his disappointment immediately, this one did not even try to conceal it.

“I’ve heard that name.”

“Where from?”

“What do you mean where? An elder I know mentioned it. Said there was some brat with the least backing in the whole group who barely got in because one elder recommended him.”

“That’s me?”

“Who else would it be? Wouldn’t you know best?”

“Fair enough.”

“So I’ll be your friend.”

Sagong Hyeon smiled sweetly. It was the sort of smile that looked pure on the surface.

Several of the boys behind him were looking at me with pity.

Things I had failed to see in my former life now came into view. One sees only as much as one knows.

In my previous life, I had become Sagong Hyeon’s friend. To be precise, not his friend, but his underling.

“And if I say no?”

Sagong Hyeon’s smile stiffened immediately.

“Do you know who I am?”

“You just said so. Sagong Hyeon of Ascending Thunder Gate.”

“Not that. Do you understand what that means?”

“I understand that unlike the other lay disciples, you’ve learned a bit of martial arts and want to play king around here. What I don’t understand is why the son of some minor sect is puffing himself up this much when the boys behind you aren’t lacking compared to you in any way.”

At my words, Sagong Hyeon’s face turned vicious, and the boys behind him looked horrified.

‘It does feel refreshing to say what I mean.’

This was why I disliked Sagong Hyeon. The month had been short, but he was one of the few people I remembered clearly.

He was the one who had created the reason I got kicked out of Wudang after only a month.

He had told me to go fetch erotic pictures from outside, then when we were caught, he blamed it all on me. Of course, if I had had talent or backing, I would not have been expelled over something like that. Unfortunately, I had neither.

“I thought you spoke well to Immortal Cheong-hwa, but it turns out you do not speak well. You’re just a lunatic too stupid to know fear. And lunatics need a beating.”

“You’re planning to hit me? Your father must have poured in a mountain of money just to get you into Wudang.”

“….”

Naturally, if fellow disciples committed violence against one another, they were expelled.

No matter how much the martial world was a place where fists outranked the law, this was still the Wudang Sect, not some ordinary marketplace.

“Hmph. A man with nothing to lose really is fearless.”

Sagong Hyeon said that and walked off. A few people glared at me as if they wanted to kill me, while a few looked at me as if they envied me.

The ones glaring were boys with enough backing to cling to Sagong Hyeon. The ones looking envious were likely people in the same position I had been in in my previous life.

“Oh. You’ve got guts.”

When I turned around, Jeon Oh-su was standing there again.

“You ran away, you cowardly bastard.”

“We’re not close enough that I’d share your suffering.”

“True enough.”

I accepted that easily. He was a hundred times better than Sagong Hyeon, who groveled before the strong and acted powerful before the weak. At least this one was the same in front and behind.

“But seriously, do you have something to rely on? Why are you so confident?”

“Of course I do.”

“Oh? What is it? Secret disciple of some hidden one-lineage sect?”

“No. I don’t know a single move of martial arts.”

“Really?”

Jeon Oh-su looked shocked.

“Most families have at least one inherited martial art, don’t they?”

“That’s only for rich families like yours. Didn’t I tell you? We’re ordinary farmers.”

“I see. If you run into Sagong Hyeon tonight, you’re going to get beaten black and blue.”

He was referring to the lay disciple evaluation tonight. Thinking about it, Sagong Hyeon must be looking forward to it himself. It was a legal chance to beat me.

“So what’s the thing you’re relying on?”

“First, I am not going to run into Sagong Hyeon tonight.”

“How can you be sure of that?”

Because I knew the future. At least, I had not done anything that should interfere with that part of it.

“I just know. I have good instincts.”

“Fine, let’s say that’s true. What’s the second thing?”

“I can just leave.”

“Huh.”

Jeon Oh-su looked like that had never occurred to him.

But to me it was only natural. I had been expelled from Wudang in my previous life too. I needed to leave Wudang in the same way if I wanted to make good use of the future I knew.

Had I not already made grass flutes today and met Jeon Oh-su, who had never crossed my path in my previous life? I wanted to alter my future as little as possible.

I did not want to deny the life built up through my blood, sweat, and labor. Of course, there were things I would need to stop. Most of all, I must never again accept the commission from the Martial Alliance Leader. Changing that one future would be enough.

“Your father scraped together money to send you here, didn’t he? Isn’t that a pretty irresponsible way to think?”

Of course that was how he would see it. In my previous life too, after being expelled from Wudang, I had lived with crushing guilt.

But it was all right. If I left now, I was confident I could serve my father far better.

“We’re not close enough to be giving life advice. If we’re not close, then it isn’t advice, it’s criticism.”

“True enough.”

“It’s nice that we understand each other so well.”

Jeon Oh-su laughed brightly. He was a likable fellow, but today would probably be the last day I ever saw him.

***

Evening came quickly. Darkness settled deeper in the mountains. Even so, torches had been lit all around, so there was no problem seeing well enough to swing a fist.

“There is no need to feel burdened by this test. I know that most of you have not yet practiced martial arts. At most, all you have is the Three Calamities Heart Method and Three Calamities Fist that you learned only a few days ago. This is simply a test of talent. Talent is like an awl in a pocket. It will reveal itself no matter what. If anyone appears to have talent, I may even recommend him as a main-sect disciple, so do your best.”

At Immortal Cheong-hyeon’s words, the eyes of the boys lit up. Some of them seemed firmly convinced that hidden talent slumbered in their bodies.

Sagong Hyeon’s eyes in particular were not merely bright, but burning. Of all of us, if there were anyone whose talent might be acknowledged, it would be Sagong Hyeon, who was the strongest by force.

Of course, I knew it would come to nothing. Not a single person among us entered the Wudang Sect as a main-sect disciple. Common sense alone said that even if someone had talent, talent that blossomed at twenty could never compare to talent that bloomed at five.

“Will no one else from the sect be coming to observe?”

Someone raised a hand and asked, because Cheong-hyeon had said earlier that other elders might come watch as well.

But this had always been a test that no one expected anything from. There was no way anyone would come.

“The elders had intended to come, but all of them are too occupied with various duties. And my eyes alone are more than enough to judge your talents.”

For the record, Cheong-hyeon was the weakest martial artist among the Cheong generation. I only learned that later.

Probably because he was so weak, he had been assigned this idle duty of managing lay disciples.

Would someone like that really recognize a talented child if he saw one? I thought not.

“The sparring will be random. From here on I will call your names…”

I had no interest. The person I would face was some fat son of the merchant class anyway, and the two of us would do nothing but brawl like dogs.

Then Cheong-hyeon, whose eyes would have been fouled enough by the low level of the fight, would stop it, and I would fall out of favor that way.

“We will now begin the sparring. Even if you possess inherited martial arts, use the Three Calamities Fist you learned the other day as much as possible.”

The boys whose names were called came out and struck awkward stances. I had seen enough martial artists to know that just from the stances, they did not look talented.

“Uwaaa!”

With shouts that carried not a shred of force, they began throwing punches at one another.

At first they fought stiffly, trying to imitate the Three Calamities Fist. But as time went on, the inherited martial arts their families had taught them began to come out.

Of course, family martial arts from merchant households were little more than self-defense techniques, so they were not very interesting to watch.

“Enough.”

Cheong-hyeon cut off the fight, apparently unable to stand watching any longer. Even to me, it had looked pitifully shabby.

“I can still continue.”

“That is enough. I have already seen everything.”

“There is much more I have yet to show.”

One of them spoke in frustration, perhaps because he had some secret move he had been hiding. But Cheong-hyeon was not a man with that much time to spare.

“Are you saying you do not trust my eyes?”

“…No, sir.”

“Then return.”

The merchant boy went back in with drooping shoulders, unable to hide his disappointment. He did not look good enough to be truly aggrieved, though. His family must have fed him sweet lies about him being a martial genius.

“Next…”

“Oh. It has already begun.”

Before Cheong-hyeon could call the next name, someone stepped smoothly out of the darkness.

The children and even Cheong-hyeon were startled when they saw who it was.

“Senior Brother Cheong-hwa. What brings you here?”

The man who had appeared was none other than Cheong-hwa, the Boundless Divine Sword I had seen earlier in the morning. The instant one of Wudang’s foremost experts appeared, the children’s eyes blazed. They seemed to think that if they truly stood out here, they might become main-sect disciples.

“I came to watch the lay disciples. Why? You did say it was all right to watch, did you not?”

“That is true, but… there really are no children here worth Senior Brother’s attention.”

Flustered, Cheong-hyeon let his true feelings slip out. He had never had any intention of raising any of us to the main sect.

The children’s faces shifted to expressions of, so that’s how it is. Naturally. Becoming a main-sect disciple of Wudang could never be that easy. Of course, not everyone had given up. Some children still firmly believed they possessed talent. Sagong Hyeon was the most obvious example.

“I only came because I was bored. You don’t mind, do you, Junior Brother?”

“Of course not.”

He looked very much like he minded.

I too was unsettled. In my previous life, I had never even seen Cheong-hwa. Could what happened this morning really have changed things this much?

Cheong-hwa swept his gaze over the children and stopped when it reached me, smiling.

“Is the sparring simply random?”

“Yes, it is.”

“Then would it be all right if I chose a few matchups? When it comes to seeing martial bones, my eye is better than yours, Junior Brother. Talent shows best when similar children clash.”

At Cheong-hwa’s words, Cheong-hyeon could say nothing. Even though they belonged to the same generation, in martial skill the difference between Cheong-hwa and Cheong-hyeon was like the difference between a lantern and a firefly. And as an older brother of the generation, Cheong-hwa’s word could not be refused.

“As you wish.”

The situation was turning strange. With Cheong-hwa personally present, the weight of this sparring changed entirely.

Cheong-hwa looked over the children again. Whenever his gaze touched one, that child straightened up. Partly it was to be seen better, but partly it was because his gaze itself made them tense.

At last Cheong-hwa’s mouth opened slowly.

“That one has the best eyes.”

“Ah, that boy is called Sagong Hyeon. From Ascending Thunder Gate…”

“Oh, Ascending Thunder Gate. That is where Sagong Do is, yes?”

“Yes. That is correct.”

At Cheong-hwa’s words, Sagong Hyeon’s expression brightened. In any case, he had caught the eye of a Wudang expert.

“I offer my greetings to Senior Boundless Divine Sword. I am Sagong Hyeon.”

“Good. Your eyes held the deepest hunger. It was impressive.”

“Thank you.”

Hope mingled with the hunger in Sagong Hyeon’s eyes. Having convinced himself that a possibility had opened before him, his eagerness rose all the more.

“And whom will you set against him?”

Cheong-hyeon asked. A flicker of unease ran through me. Cheong-hwa was smiling as he looked at me.

And my unease was not wrong at all.

“That one.”

Cheong-hwa’s finger was pointing at me.