Pay‑to‑Win King of Martial Arts (Novel) - Chapter 49 - I Still Don't Know Yet (4)

Chapter 49 – I Still Don’t Know Yet (4)

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Translated by Heavenly Cat

Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net

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The Zhuge Clan’s Clan Head chamber was bleak to the extreme. Naturally, it could be no other way, since the mood of the chamber’s master had fallen all the way to the floor.

“So this is why you called me down from Longzhong Mountain. To show me the clan disgraced.”

“…I am sorry.”

“I can accept that Wudang is superior to us in martial arts. But what kind of absurdity is it to lose even to a lay disciple?”

Zhuge Gyeom’s fury was wholly justified. Zhuge Yan, the deputy hall master of the third hall of the external business division who had planned this Wudang exchange, couldn’t have answered even if she had ten mouths.

“If a direct-line child loses even to a lay disciple. Fine. That’s not your fault. But then at the very least, you should never have invited that lay disciple. Isn’t it the role of the external business division to investigate such things and move accordingly?”

“That is true.”

“What in the world were you thinking when you planned this?”

Zhuge Yan bit her lip. In truth, it had been Zhuge Yan’s own unilateral decision to specifically request Muk Hui-yeong be sent. She had thought Zhuge Hyeon would defeat someone like Muk Hui-yeong with ease, and because of that, she’d intended to at least send him back with one broken arm.

Of course, Zhuge Gyeom knew none of these details. It had been arranged independently within the external business division. So Zhuge Gyeom’s reaction, unable even to make sense of the situation itself, wasn’t unreasonable either.

“Yan-ah.”

Zhuge Gyeom’s voice suddenly changed into a gentle one. Zhuge Yan trembled all the more at that change.

“Yes.”

“You know this too, do you not. How much humiliation the Zhuge Clan has suffered because we are thought to lack martial talent.”

“Yes. I know.”

“Escaping that perception is the supreme task of all of us.”

Zhuge Yan judged that this brief moment, while Zhuge Gyeom had softened, was her last chance. Watching his face carefully, she spoke haltingly.

“In that regard, I had been considering how to deal with that arrogant lay disciple.”

“A lay disciple? He was arrogant, yes.”

Zhuge Gyeom let his displeasure show as he recalled Muk Hui-yeong. He seemed to travel with main-sect disciples under that laughable institution called registered lay disciple, but in the end, his essence remained that of a lay disciple. For a mere lay disciple to defeat a direct-line child was an enormous humiliation from the Zhuge Clan’s point of view as well.

“Actually…”

Zhuge Yan told him what had happened up until now. Of course, she left out her own attempt to poach Wudang’s business, and only spoke of how Muk Hui-yeong had meddled with the Wuhan Merchant Association, which had the Zhuge Clan behind it.

After hearing the entire story, Zhuge Gyeom’s expression twisted. No matter that the Zhuge Clan was said to be the weakest in martial strength among the Five Great Families, they weren’t at the level of being mocked by a mere lay disciple of Wudang.

“Is that story really true?”

“Yes.”

“Why did you not tell me sooner?”

“It was too minor a matter, and I intended to handle it within the external business division myself.”

Zhuge Gyeom considered the matter seriously. In truth, it was at a level he found hard to believe. How painstakingly had he raised Zhuge Hyeon? From childhood, he’d fed him refined elixirs again and again, not to mention inviting tremendous masters to teach him martial arts.

And yet a mere lay disciple who had trained for not even a year had surpassed such a Zhuge Hyeon. In truth, Zhuge Gyeom suspected the brat called Muk Hui-yeong was hiding his past, but even so, he had to consider the possibility that it might actually all be true.

Wudang and the Zhuge Clan were both in Hubei. Even now they were already being pressed down by Wudang’s momentum, and if Wudang had produced talent like that, then they would suffer another whole generation under them.

“Still, it’s fortunate he’s only a lay disciple.”

“Pardon?”

“Surely Wudang wouldn’t turn against the Zhuge Clan over a mere lay disciple.”

Zhuge Gyeom thought it fortunate. If that talent was real, then it was a tremendous blessing that Wudang had failed to take him in as a main-sect disciple. Did the people of Wudang simply lack eyes?

Of course, the people of the Zhuge Clan never dreamed that Wudang had actually wanted all along to bring Muk Hui-yeong in as a main-sect disciple, only for Muk Hui-yeong himself to refuse.

“He has a merchant company?”

“Yes.”

“Handle it yourself properly. See to it that no tail is left behind.”

Zhuge Yan lowered her head and backed out of the Clan Head chamber. The moment she stepped out, she let out a sigh. Still, things had passed over fairly well today.

And now she had permission at the clan level as well. That meant the manpower she could mobilize itself would be different.

“Muk Hui-yeong…”

She didn’t know how things had become so twisted. But Zhuge Yan firmly believed that the cause of that twist lay not with herself, but with Muk Hui-yeong.

***

“This is basically being thrown out.”

“Doesn’t that make it feel even better?”

Cheong-hwa and Muk Hui-yeong snickered as they talked.

In truth, they had come away without seeing either the Zhuge Clan Head or Zhuge Chan, the hall master of the external business division.

All they had heard from an attendant was that the Clan Head appeared agitated and that they should quietly return to Wudang, and that a letter would be sent later.

“It really is amusing.”

“I never thought you’d win too. Honestly, I only took you along hoping you’d lose once.”

“Come now. What sort of thing is that to say.”

Muk Hui-yeong and Cheong-hwa both seemed in a good mood. Then again, defeating your opponent was a pleasant thing.

Then what about me?

That thought suddenly came to Myeong-seong, and he looked down at his own palms. His palms were filled with calluses. With these two hands, he’d taught the Zhuge Clan boy of his own age a lesson.

Yet for some reason, he couldn’t enjoy it the way Muk Hui-yeong did, nor could he accept it calmly the way Myeong-il did.

‘It’s irritating. Why is that?’

It wasn’t Muk Hui-yeong that irritated him. Muk Hui-yeong was a junior brother older than himself, a weirdo who went around insisting he was a merchant, but he wasn’t actually a bad fellow. In truth, when that junior brother won an unexpected victory, Myeong-seong himself had been extremely happy.

It wasn’t Myeong-il that irritated him either. Myeong-il simply wasn’t the sort of person who provoked that kind of irritation. He was merely someone who quietly worked hard at his own affairs.

As for Master, there was no need even to say it. He was the person Myeong-seong respected the most.

Then where did this irritation come from, and where was it directed? The answer was simple. It came from himself and pointed back at himself. Originally, he’d only felt inferiority toward Myeong-il, but now he was feeling it toward Muk Hui-yeong as well. And in terms of how severe it was, it was worse toward Muk Hui-yeong. That junior brother had surpassed him by a wide margin after training for only a few months.

But he knew. He knew that what he needed to do wasn’t envy and resent others, but quietly train in martial arts. Even so, he hated himself for letting his thoughts wander elsewhere. Yet he also hated doing nothing but watching himself grow ever more shabby.

“…Haa.”

“What is it?”

When that sigh escaped him without his realizing it, Cheong-hwa turned back and asked. Muk Hui-yeong and Myeong-il also looked toward Myeong-seong.

For a moment, Myeong-seong thought he might voice the thoughts he was feeling now.

“Well…”

“Yes?”

Myeong-seong faltered. But the thoughts seemed too foolish even to himself to actually say out loud. Concern flickered in Cheong-hwa’s eyes. If he let thoughts this foolish leave his mouth, would Cheong-hwa be disappointed in him? That thought came suddenly to him.

“It’s nothing.”

“Why? Is there something worrying you?”

“No. My feet hurt a little, but they feel all right now.”

“Is that so? All right then. There isn’t much left until Jun County, so let us endure just a little longer.”

Cheong-hwa smiled. Myeong-seong forced a smile in return. Only after seeing that smile did Cheong-hwa seem reassured enough to turn back around. Myeong-il, who was indifferent to other people, had been looking at a tree from the beginning.

Even at the very end, Myeong-seong still found himself thinking that it would’ve been nice if Cheong-hwa had somehow noticed the depression behind his smile, and then immediately blamed himself again for such weakness.

That was when Myeong-seong realized someone was still watching him. When he suddenly lifted his head, Muk Hui-yeong was looking at him with a strange gaze. In those eyes was a depth of mysterious insight that did not suit his age.

***

The moment we returned to Wudang, we were surrounded by crowds. They said words traveled faster than horses with no feet, and it seemed true enough. The fact that we had crushed the Zhuge Clan had already spread across all of Wudang Mountain.

“You beat the younger generation of the Zhuge Clan?”

“That’s what makes them my junior brothers.”

Even as the other senior brothers patted his head, Myeong-il remained expressionless, while Myeong-seong waved his hands and said he himself had done nothing special.

‘Hm.’

For some reason, Myeong-seong bothered me. I knew it. I knew that when Myeong-seong had said his feet hurt, it had been a lie.

Myeong-seong was the type who trained harder than anyone else and never uttered a single complaint. For a child like that to say his feet hurt after simply traveling between Xiangyang and Jun County was impossible to believe. And then there were those eyes, sunken in worry, at the very end. There was definitely something weighing on Myeong-seong.

“Excuse me…”

Just as I was about to approach Myeong-seong, the people who had somehow already gathered around me began speaking.

“Oh. Hui-yeong, I hear you beat Zhuge Hyeon? He may be that, but he’s still fairly strong.”

“That’s impressive. It doesn’t feel like you were at that level the last time I saw you.”

Those surrounding me were mostly the ones who had gone to Yichang with me. The others, perhaps because I was a lay disciple and they didn’t want to get too close casually, stood farther back and talked among themselves.

“He really must have talent. I heard he was a complete novice at the start, someone who hadn’t even learned his family’s martial arts.”

“Isn’t that a lie? Then how could he beat Zhuge Hyeon?”

The others whispered among themselves, but I pretended not to hear. It was easier if I simply took it all as praise for my talent.

“All right, all right. Go about your business, all of you. We need to head to the Three Purities Hall.”

Cheong-hwa, wearing a serious expression, dispersed the crowd. But by now, even I, who had watched him for a long time, could read Cheong-hwa’s expressions. The look on Cheong-hwa’s face right now meant he was holding back laughter. He seemed extremely pleased that we’d received this much attention.

We followed Cheong-hwa into the Sect Leader’s room in the Three Purities Hall. Sect Leader Cheong-ui was already standing there to greet us.

“Oh, you’ve come. Treasures of Wudang.”

Cheong-ui too couldn’t hide his delight.

“Senior Brother Sect Leader. If you say things like that, the children will only grow spoiled.”

“Heh heh. One should tell children who have done well that they have done well. Well done, Myeong-il, Myeong-seong, Hui-yeong.”

When other people praised him, Myeong-il had hardly reacted at all, but now for the first time he showed embarrassment. It seemed he was the sort to react only to those he himself acknowledged.

“Already now, the Beggars’ Sect is spreading it everywhere. They’re saying a direct-line child of the Zhuge Clan lost to a lay disciple of Wudang. You lot have raised Wudang’s name high.”

“I see.”

They did say every rumor had the Beggars’ Sect at its center. If the beggars scattered all across the Central Plains carried words for one another, then of course it would spread quickly.

“As Sect Leader, I ought to give you a reward for something like this.”

As if he’d already been waiting for us to come, Cheong-ui handed each of us one jade casket.

“…Good heavens, Senior Brother Sect Leader. You’re being too generous.”

Cheong-hwa seemed to realize what it was the moment he saw the jade caskets. Of course, the other Myeong-generation disciples and I roughly realized it too. The instant he brought out the jade caskets, a dense fragrance filled the room.

“It’s a Supreme Clarity Pill.”

The Myeong-generation children, myself included, froze. We had all roughly guessed it was an elixir. Even so, for it to be a Supreme Clarity Pill. If Shaolin had the Great Rejuvenation Pill, then Wudang had the Supreme Clarity Pill.

And he was giving that to children this young. I was even a lay disciple.

“The grandmasters risk their lives refining these so they can be given to young futures like you. So they should be used.”

“That is true.”

Cheong-hwa seemed in a very fine mood that two of his disciples had received Supreme Clarity Pills.

“Though I give it to you, the spiritual energy contained in the Supreme Clarity Pill is so powerful that it will be difficult for you to digest it all. Discuss it with your master, receive a favorable date, purify yourselves with fasting and bathing, and then use it.”

“Yes. Understood.”

Only I answered. Myeong-il and Myeong-seong seemed so dazed that they might not even have heard Cheong-ui’s words.

Of course, I too felt as though I was losing my mind from the fragrance of the Supreme Clarity Pill tickling the tip of my nose.

That was because the demonic qi inside my body was displaying an utterly violent rejection of the pure spiritual energy of the Supreme Clarity Pill.

“Urk, bleegh!”

In the end, unable to bear it, I vomited a basinful right there in the Sect Leader’s room.

Naturally, the warm atmosphere turned cold in an instant.

If only I’d known that demonic qi and spiritual qi were opposites, I would’ve prepared myself a little. Things that were common knowledge to martial artists were not common knowledge to me. It was proof that I still wasn’t truly a martial artist.

I still don’t know what it means to be a martial artist.