Pay‑to‑Win King of Martial Arts (Novel) - Chapter 45 - Fame (4)

Chapter 45 – Fame (4)

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Translated by Heavenly Cat

Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net

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“Please, everyone calm down for a moment…”

In an instant, the gathered people surrounded us. It seemed one of the people I had treated in Wuhan happened to be in Xiangyang.

This was why, after my face became known as the Company Lord of the Radiant Crystal Merchant Company, I only traveled by carriage. Once word spread that I was rich, all sorts came looking for me: people simply begging, people saying they lacked the money to cure their mothers, scholars who wanted to buy books, and officials greedy for wealth.

Of course, the people gathered here right now were not asking me for wealth.

“Divine Physician of Hubei, can you cure my child as well? The fever has lasted for half a month now and just won’t break.”

“My mother first!”

I had never once said I would treat any patients.

In Wuhan, it had been a disease that was famous enough, and I had known the cure, so I treated it. And I had done that not for the commoners, but for myself.

Yet they saw me as someone of tremendous medical skill and, on top of that, as a person of refined character generous enough to perform good deeds for free.

“Your fame is more impressive than I expected.”

Cheong-hwa laughed heartily. If we had been surrounded by unorthodox-path martial artists instead, he could at least have swung his sword, but being surrounded by commoners seemed to leave even him with no choice.

“What are you planning to do? There won’t be any way to cure them all.”

“I have neither the intention nor the ability to cure them.”

For the overwhelming majority, it was not that they had incurable diseases, but simply that they lacked a little money for treatment. Even if that sounded somewhat cold, my own circumstances were hardly easy enough for me to take care of all that right now. My own life came first.

“Ahem, even so, with the common people seeking help like that, doesn’t running away seem a bit wrong?”

“Then we run away. This fame as the Divine Physician of Hubei just didn’t suit me. It isn’t even a name I wanted in the first place.”

“Even so, aren’t you a lay disciple of Wudang? If you run away, what will happen to the sect’s face?”

“So the sect mattered more to you than my reputation.”

“Isn’t that only natural?”

What a bunch of sect collectivists. But I was an individualist, so I could act as I pleased. One of a merchant’s virtues was also the ability to brazenly push through a little awkwardness.

“Everyone stand aside!”

Just as I was about to set my heart and make a run for it, a loud voice rang out from behind the crowd. Judging by how the mighty voice vibrated all the way into the inside of my torso, it was a shout backed by internal energy.

The people must have felt that too, because they split cleanly to left and right. At the far end of the opened path stood people dressed in antique-looking blue robes. Whether by the cloth they wore or the proud expressions on their faces, anyone could tell they were people of the Zhuge Clan.

“The Zhuge Clan.”

“Did the Zhuge Clan invite the Divine Physician of Hubei?”

“Then there’s no helping it.”

All the people who had come at me like clouds vanished before I knew it. In Xiangyang, obstructing the procession of the Zhuge Clan was no different from saying you wanted to move house. It was also proof that none of them had really been that desperate.

“It seems the prestige of the Divine Physician of Hubei and the Boundless Divine Sword was so high that you were put through quite an ordeal.”

Only then did the member of the Zhuge Clan relax his stiff expression and walk over to us. To be exact, it was solely because of me, but if he said that outright it would damage the face of Cheong-hwa, who had come with us, so he seemed to have bundled us together in his words. That alone showed considerable social skill.

Cheong-hwa seemed to already know him and greeted him naturally.

“It has been a while, Hall Master.”

“Have you been well too, Boundless Divine Sword?”

“Aside from troublesome disciples, life could not be better.”

“Ha ha. Your joke is too much when one of them is already making a name as the Divine Physician of Hubei.”

“Offer your greetings. This is Zhuge Chan, the hall master of the Zhuge Clan’s external business division.”

The one who came to receive us was the hall master of the external business division. Since Cheong-hwa himself had come, it seemed the external business division had put in some care and sent out its hall master.

Including me, Myeong-il, and Myeong-seong, the three of us all gave a martial salute at the same time. Zhuge Chan returned the salute with one of his own.

“I heard there had suddenly been a disturbance in the streets of Xiangyang, so I came, and it seemed likely it would be people of Wudang.”

“I did not expect it to be like this. It seems my disciple built useless false fame.”

If Cheong-hwa did not badger me at least once a day, it seemed his tongue would grow thorns. He was apparently still hung up on the fact that I had gone out lying and founded a merchant company. For a Daoist, he was a narrow-hearted master.

“Of course, he did not earn that name through martial arts, but since it still raises the name of Wudang, how could it not be a good thing? Come, let us go.”

Zhuge Chan led us into the Zhuge Clan. Finding the Zhuge Clan in Xiangyang was very easy. If, despite the weather being clear, some place looked oddly shrouded in mist, then that was the Zhuge Clan estate. The Zhuge Clan usually kept itself covered with formations so the inside could not be seen well from outside. So even if it was easy to find, actually entering or approaching was difficult.

“Come to think of it, I think this is my first time entering the Zhuge Clan estate as well.”

“The main house rarely reveals the inside of the estate.”

“Because of the formations?”

“That’s right. If people wander about sightseeing and get caught in a formation, then we’d be the ones who have to rescue them.”

“So there are such hardships.”

As I listened to Cheong-hwa and Zhuge Chan talk, I quietly said to the children beside me,

“We probably shouldn’t wander around as we please. I hear some of the Zhuge Clan’s formations are vicious. Sudden gale winds blow inside them, or tidal waves come crashing down, things like that.”

“I wasn’t planning to wander around. We’re not going there to play.”

Myeong-il cut me off coldly. What an unadorable brat. If it were Myeong-gyeong, he would have worn a frightened expression and nodded. I looked at Myeong-seong, but he did not seem to have any intention of wandering around either.

“From this point, you must line up in a single file and follow me.”

Zhuge Chan deliberately led us not to the nearer side gate, but to the main gate. Well, one could hardly guide guests from Wudang through a side gate.

Naturally, I too had never entered the Zhuge Clan estate directly. That had not happened even in my previous life. The Zhuge Clan was deeply entangled with the commercial world, but fundamentally it was still a martial house. In other words, it was not a place merchants entered.

So it was my first time personally experiencing a formation as well. With the two brats Myeong-il and Myeong-seong ahead of me, I walked in the rear.

The moment Myeong-seong, who was directly in front of me, stepped in through the main gate, he seemed to be swallowed by thick mist and disappeared. Startled, I too stepped through the gate, and all around me turned white. Fortunately, I could see Myeong-seong again.

“Please follow carefully.”

Zhuge Chan’s voice, tinged with laughter, came from ahead. He was the sort whose smile never seemed to leave him, from the first greeting onward. Whether that was because he was truly pleasant remained to be seen.

Inside the formation, it was wondrous. I could not even judge the directions, so it was unclear which way I was walking. When I brushed aside the mist to left and right, it seemed like clouds were flowing out between my fingers.

How long had we walked? Suddenly, a fierce wind blew from the front. Yet astonishingly, our hair did not whip about. The wind that had blown drove the mist backward. Soon the broad estate of the Zhuge Clan entered my sight.

“Welcome. My apologies, but the Clan Head is away at the moment, so it seems you will have to go straight to the external business division.”

“Good. Even I find the Clan Head difficult.”

“Ha ha. The Clan Head is indeed a somewhat difficult person.”

Cheong-hwa and Zhuge Chan shared a laugh. The current Zhuge Clan Head was not someone I knew well either. But seeing even Cheong-hwa find him difficult, he surely was no ordinary person.

As descendants of the Crouching Dragon, the Zhuge Clan were a people unrivaled when it came to using their heads. Clever people were difficult to deal with by nature. In that sense, the Zhuge Clan was a place where one absolutely could not let down one’s guard.

“In any case, this is truly good. It is an honor to see the future pillars of Wudang in person.”

“It is good to have exchanges like this as well.”

“Indeed. The inner division and others hardly exchange much. The Zhuge Clan is a bit different in character from the other great families, after all.”

“I think it is an admirable martial house. It is only that Kongming created a preconception.”

“We would be grateful if you see it that way.”

Zhuge Chan smiled bitterly. Indeed, because Zhuge Liang had been such an outstanding strategist and statesman, everyone perceived the Zhuge Clan as a house more weighted toward letters than martiality. In truth, the Zhuge Clan was clever enough to produce Grand Secretaries for the Imperial Court more than once.

“At any rate, Boundless Divine Sword, why don’t you have a cup of tea with me? It has been a long time since we’ve met. We should catch up.”

“Ahem, I would like to, but the children…”

“I have arranged people to look after the young heroes separately. And this is the Zhuge Clan. There is no one here who would harm them, so please do not worry.”

“That is true enough.”

Since Zhuge Chan had said that much, if Cheong-hwa refused, it would amount to saying he did not trust the Zhuge Clan. Zhuge Chan, who had skillfully cornered Cheong-hwa, eventually led him into the hall master’s room of the external business division.

The moment we went inside, a single attendant led us to a separate guest house. In the guest house were people around my age and the age of brats like Myeong-il and Myeong-seong.

“A pleasure.”

And one of those peers was someone I knew. What was there even to say? Who else would I know in the Zhuge Clan? Naturally, it was Zhuge Yan, whom I had seen before.

“I’m not all that pleased.”

“Oh my, why?”

“Why else? You went out of your way to dig into my background and report everything to Wudang.”

“You got one over on me, so you should forgive at least that much as a little bit of playfulness.”

Zhuge Yan covered her mouth with her white-feather fan as she smiled. I merely turned my head away.

“By the way, we came out here to exchange martial arts, so why is Miss Zhuge here?”

“Am I not allowed to be here?”

Come to think of it, I had never heard that Poison-Heart Iron Mask Zhuge Yan was strong in martial arts. Was it simply that, because she was of the Zhuge Clan, she was reasonably skilled by default? Well, if she was direct line, she would have some talent for martial arts too.

“No, that’s not it.”

“Exactly, right?”

Zhuge Yan shrugged.

“But I won’t actually be taking part in the martial exchange. The ones who will are the people beside me. I’m only here as deputy hall master of the external business division. You are, after all, outside guests who came from Wudang, so you’re under the external business division’s responsibility.”

What the hell. So in the end she wasn’t taking part after all. What an infuriating way of speaking. But I swallowed those words and just answered with a smile. Someone like Zhuge Yan would probably infer what I meant just by looking at my smile. That was enough.

Only then did I take my eyes off Zhuge Yan and look to the side. A sturdy-looking man was sitting upright. But for some reason, his gaze was not very kind.

“The young hero beside you seems to have some dissatisfaction.”

“Dissatisfaction, you say.”

“I am Muk Hui-yeong, a lay disciple of Wudang.”

“I am Zhuge Hyeon.”

Even though I had pointed it out indirectly, Zhuge Hyeon did not relax his frown.

“To be honest, I do not feel very pleased. The Zhuge Clan issued a personal invitation, yet Wudang sends a lay disciple. Is that not an act of mocking us? I am not saying this to you. I am saying it to Wudang.”

Zhuge Hyeon’s dissatisfaction was understandable enough. He was probably direct line, and to him I was only a lay disciple, which in the terms of a great family made me akin to collateral line, so he must have thought our statuses did not match. Still, unlike Zhuge Yan, he did not say it too directly, so I considered that good. At least, that was what I thought.

“In talent, he will not fall behind any main-sect disciple. He defeated me despite having practiced martial arts for less than six months.”

Unexpectedly, the one who saved me was Myeong-il, who had been silent until now.

“He beat you in just six months? Dojang Myeong-il?”

Zhuge Hyeon asked back in a tone that doubted his own ears. It seemed Zhuge Hyeon knew Myeong-il too. Well, that made sense, since Myeong-il was currently regarded as the foremost genius among the third-generation disciples.

“That is correct. So I am confident. Young Hero Zhuge will also lose.”

What kind of nonsense was that now. Both Zhuge Hyeon and I turned our faces toward Myeong-il. But Myeong-il shamelessly did not change his expression at all.

“…Oh? Can you truly be so confident in those words?”

Zhuge Hyeon asked back, sounding slightly displeased. Myeong-il did not even answer and merely nodded.

Myeong-il was the one who had picked the fight, but for some reason Zhuge Hyeon began glaring at me instead.