The Genius Martial Artist Who Remembers Everything [Novel] Chapter 214

Chapter 214: An Unwanted Invitation (3)

“What do you mean?”

At Eunho’s question, Moyong Jaehwa answered, trembling.

“I-I’ll die if Grandfather finds out…! H-He’ll definitely kill me.”

Jaehwa had curled up on the rooftop to hide, both hands wrapped around his head. Eunho could only stare at him, dumbfounded.

*Even so, what did he mean, his grandfather would kill him? What kind of grandfather would— Oh! His grandfather was the Wind-Splitting Sword!*

“Because you picked up a bow instead of a sword?”

“Y-Yeah!”

Eunho tilted his head.

“But you knew you’d get scolded, and you chose the bow anyway, didn’t you?”

“I-I know… I do. But I’m not sure I’m ready for it yet… I mean, I’m not ready to get beaten…”

Eunho was at a loss for words. Jaehwa had known exactly how afraid he’d be, yet he had still chosen this path. Eunho found his friend’s contradictory courage fascinating.

“You’re that scared? Scared enough that you need to prepare yourself to get beaten?”

“T-The truth is, I was going to train in external martial arts first. O-Of course, even if I did, he’d still hit me with internal force, but at least I wouldn’t bruise as badly…”

At the thought that Jaehwa had even considered hardening his body, Eunho swallowed nervously. It dawned on him that he shouldn’t imagine this as an ordinary grandfather giving his grandson a bit of discipline.

*How badly had that kid been beaten for him to be this terrified…?*

“Sigh… But how did your grandfather, who lives at the main estate, hear about your situation and come all this way? Did someone tell him?”

Moyong Jaehwa shook his head so vigorously his neck nearly snapped.

“No way. I made sure everyone kept their mouths shut. But the only person I can suspect is…”

Jaehwa stared pensively at the slip in his hand.

……

Eunho let out a long, embarrassed sigh.

*Senior Brother! Senior Brother! Senior Brother! How much more are you going to embarrass me?!*

One look at the slip, and he could more or less guess what had happened. When everyone else had voiced their unease about the Distinguished Guests Event, Jin Soun alone had acted confident. As far as Eunho knew, Senior Brother didn’t have much of a social circle. He had wondered who on earth Soun planned to invite, to be so sure of himself.

*However reckless Senior Brother might be, he wouldn’t invite Mr. Go the blacksmith to a distinguished guests event. But it turned out to be the Wind-Splitting Sword himself…*

Soun must have sent a letter to Moyong Gang, knowing that once he discovered Jaehwa’s escapade, he would fly straight to the academy. After venting all his anger on Jaehwa, Soun had probably planned to ask him to attend the Distinguished Guests Event while he was there. It was obvious, even without seeing it happen.

“Sigh…”

In the end, the poor victim of this whole affair was Moyong Jaehwa.

*No wonder that money demon opened his purse so readily.*

Seeing Jaehwa pale and trembling, Eunho felt too guilty to raise his head.

……

Still, should a good person like Jaehwa really suffer because of that madman? Even now, as soon as he got his hands on some money, Jaehwa had thought of his friends first and hadn’t called Soun. Evil deeds bring evil consequences. In the end, the person who caused the trouble had to clean it up.

“W-What are you doing?”

Jaehwa asked as Eunho took out the Four Treasures of the Study from his robes. Eunho spread out a sheet of paper, dipped his brush in ink, and replied.

“Serving justice.”

“Huh?”

His eyes were filled with more resolve than ever before.

#

How dare someone unleash a Lion’s Roar so loud it could be heard all the way inside the Headmaster’s office—right in the sacred grounds of the Murim Academy, no less? The headmaster and instructors rushed out to punish the brazen intruder. But then—

“……H-How did you…?”

The instant they saw the intruder’s face, they were stunned. Some of the instructors seemed to recall an unpleasant memory; their faces went pale, and a few even stumbled backward before turning tail and running. The intruder stroked his beard and spoke.

“The aura of the Three Purities Unrivaled Sword is fierce indeed. You won’t even greet your senior when you see him.”

At the intruder’s words, Buk Wonpyeong’s hair stood on end. He hurriedly clasped his hands in salute.

“I-I greet Senior Moyong Gang! Have you been well?”

Those around him hastily bowed as well.

“Our respects!”

Moyong Gang. Moyong Gang! That eccentric, blood-curdling name rang through the academy. Even as they bowed, the instructors’ hands trembled. It wasn’t only because of his strength. What truly frightened them was his unpredictable, eccentric nature.

“You all came out together to punish me, didn’t you? Come at me!”

That was exactly why.

“W-What are you talking about? W-We came out because we thought something might have happened inside the academy…”

Hadn’t he been unleashing his Lion’s Roar so loudly that the entire academy was shaking? Some servants had collapsed, vomiting, while academy students had come running with their swords, thinking a war had broken out. Naturally, the headmaster and instructors, as those responsible for the academy, had come to investigate. Yet Moyong Gang was twisting that into some absurd excuse to challenge them.

“Then you should have greeted me and shown me inside. Is this any way to leave a guest standing out here in the street?”

“I-I’ll escort you to the headmaster’s office… No, to the guest reception room.”

“I refuse!”

*Oh, come on! He wasn’t a child!*

A person’s eccentricities usually mellow with age.

*So why was this man’s temper getting wilder as his martial arts improved?*

Though rage threatened to turn his stomach inside out, Buk Wonpyeong kept smiling and asked,

“M-May I ask what brings you to the academy?”

“I didn’t give you permission to ask me questions!”

Buk Wonpyeong’s lips began to twitch violently.

*He still had to endure it. He didn’t want to become the subject of a rumor about an old man getting his legs broken by a beating. Even if the man in question was the peerless Swordbreaker.*

Trying not to offend him, Buk Wonpyeong bowed even lower and asked again.

“……Then, may I ask whether I may ask you something?”

“……Hm? Fine. Ask.”

*This old geezer…!*

“Ahem. What brings you to the academy…?”

“I hear my grandson has taken up a bow?”

“……!” Buk Wonpyeong’s eyes shook violently. Moyong Gang’s expression turned ominous.

*Gulp.*

“So you knew.”

Surely the headmaster had no authority to force a student to choose a sword or a bow as his primary weapon.

“W-Well…”

Just as Buk Wonpyeong began to make an excuse—

“But you know it was wrong not to inform me, don’t you?”

……

“And that’s why you’re so tense in front of me, isn’t it?”

Those were eyes that seemed to see right through everything.

Eccentric people were usually simple. You could coax them, placate them… It was strange to put it this way about a peerless master, but a little flattery would make most of them puff up and save face.

Moyong Gang, however, was astonishingly good at reading people’s schemes—and using them to torment them. He enjoyed it, more than anyone. If he weren’t the head of the Moyong Clan, he would have been branded an enemy of the martial world long ago.

Buk Wonpyeong frantically racked his brain. How could he get out of this? Getting beaten by Moyong Gang was unavoidable, but now that he was a senior figure in the martial world, surely he could at least avoid being beaten in front of everyone. Besides, with Moyong Gang’s temper, a few words probably wouldn’t be enough to calm him down.

“N-No! If I’d known, I would have informed you right away…”

Buk Wonpyeong noticed several instructors trembling in his line of sight. They were the ones who had recently joined hands with the White Path Society to create a fake delegation. They had gone even further, shamelessly calling for Jin Soun, the chief disciple of an affiliated sect, to be disciplined over the matter with Akju-pyeong. Buk Wonpyeong’s eyes suddenly lit up.

“It’s all the instructors’ fault!”

“What?”

“That was originally their responsibility, but they didn’t report it to me in time…”

The instructors stared at Buk Wonpyeong as if to ask what on earth he was saying. Moyong Gang’s gaze shifted from Buk Wonpyeong to them.

“Is that so?”

*Crack.*

“S-Swordbreaker, that’s not what happened…!”

Before the instructors could even make an excuse, Moyong Gang’s form blurred like smoke.

“I-Is that the Body-Translocation Technique?”

They had just witnessed an incredible feat, one rarely seen and capable of deepening their understanding of martial arts.

*The problem was that they were the targets of the attack.*

“Ugh!”

“Gah!”

“Urgh!”

The instructors who had been standing there suddenly cried out in pain and tumbled to the ground one after another. Buk Wonpyeong swallowed hard and wiped away his cold sweat, unable even to see Moyong Gang’s figure. After giving them a thorough beating, Moyong Gang looked refreshed as he asked Buk Wonpyeong,

“Where is Moyong Jaehwa?”

“H-He’s probably in the dormitory. It’s a holiday today…”

“Where is that?”

For a moment, Buk Wonpyeong could only stare at him blankly.

“……You came here without knowing?”

*So he’d just gotten angry and started shouting the moment he arrived? Was this man really a White Path martial artist?*

As Moyong Gang’s eyes began to sharpen, Buk Wonpyeong hurriedly bowed his head.

“I’ll show you there right away.”

They searched the four-person dormitories, but Moyong Jaehwa was nowhere to be found. The students only said that he had left without telling them where he was going. Moyong Gang’s face grew dark, his anger still unspent. Buk Wonpyeong had no idea what to do. Just then—

*Whizz—*

The sound of something cutting through the air tickled Buk Wonpyeong’s ear.

*What…? An ambush?*

It was clearly an unnatural sound, but when he looked around, he couldn’t see anything flying toward them.

“What’s this?”

With an unconcerned remark, Moyong Gang reached out. An arrow that had been falling straight down from the sky was caught effortlessly in his grasp.

*A curved shot?*

Buk Wonpyeong couldn’t hide his astonishment. Catching an arrow launched in a high arc was impressive enough, but the fact that Buk Wonpyeong hadn’t seen it at all meant it must have been fired straight upward. Meanwhile, Moyong Gang’s attention had shifted elsewhere.

“A message?”

He unfolded the paper tied to the arrowhead and carefully read the densely written lines. What could the message say? Buk Wonpyeong didn’t dare ask. By the time Moyong Gang finished reading, his face had turned demonic. Buk Wonpyeong felt as if he couldn’t breathe.

*What happened? Was the clan under attack?*

An unprecedented pressure poured out from Moyong Gang in every direction. Even Buk Wonpyeong could barely withstand it. At last, Moyong Gang bellowed the name of the person responsible for his fury.

“JIN SOUN!!! You miserable bastard!”

*Huh?*

Buk Wonpyeong was too dumbfounded to speak.

*Why was that guy’s name coming up here?*

#

“One Arrow Against a Thousand.” That was the epithet given to Moyong Jaehwa for protecting the academy students with nothing but a bow.

It was an extraordinary title for an ordinary academy student who hadn’t even joined an alliance yet. To the Shaolin and Qingcheng disciples who had been dazed by the sorcery, Jaehwa’s feat had been utterly astonishing. It was only natural that people would be curious about his origins: he was a direct descendant of the Moyong Clan, a family renowned for its swords.

Jaehwa wasn’t the only one. The Gold, Silver, and Bronze brothers, who had held off Kunlun’s Thirty-Six Sword Plum Blossom Formation with only three people, had earned a new epithet: the Three Ironwall Dragons.

*Damn it, why am I still the Black Flame Dragon?*

For some reason, the Gold, Silver, and Bronze brothers were disappointed that their old epithet, the Three Black-Blood Dragons, had disappeared.

In any case, it was only natural that rumors spread about our group’s trip to Sichuan to rescue the academy students. The story was more than enough to make people crave a drink.

Besides, the Martial Alliance was dragging out the war in Sichuan by refusing to use the detailed strategy I had written for them. The war’s tension kept rising. The cost of daily necessities and iron ore soared without end, making people more and more anxious.

They needed a story that could ease their fears. And surely the best story of all was One Arrow Against a Thousand.

“Well… there’s nothing to be done about it. That’s just how it is.”

Judging by how quickly the rumors spread, it was only a matter of time before the truth reached the Moyong Clan. Besides, since Jaehwa had been born into the direct line of a family famed for its swords and chosen the bow, he would have had to face this hardship sooner or later.

“And now he’ll get paid for taking a beating he would have had to take anyway. That’s a profitable deal, if you ask me.”

Hmm. What a lovely tea fragrance. I was calmly savoring the aroma of Seven-Colored Blossom tea and wishing Jaehwa well when—

“Aagh!”

“Guh!”

“Gah!”

*What is it? An attack?*

I tossed the Seven-Colored Blossom into my mouth and reached for the Black Dragon Sword, ready for an intruder.

*Akju-pyeong? Jegal Gipyo? Whoever it is, I’ll break their arm in one hit!*

The fighting was already over, yet they still couldn’t accept defeat and had to throw their weight around. It was the height of disgrace. As someone who loved justice and respected the rules, I absolutely couldn’t forgive such behavior.

*And of course, I wasn’t saying that because they’d interrupted my precious tea time.*

I summoned the Taeeul True Scripture and prepared for the enemy’s attack. A little while later—

*Crash!*

The office door shattered with a tremendous boom.

*Huh? That was a bit much.*

A figure walked through the thick cloud of dust. His bold manner and confident stride belonged to someone I remembered.

*What? Why is he here…?*

The man who emerged through the dust, his face covered in a thick scowl, was someone who should have been somewhere else right now.

*Yes, definitely somewhere else…*

“Jin Soun…”

*Grit.*

*Why is Senior Moyong Gang, the Wind-Splitting Sword, here at a time like this?*

He should have been beating some sense into his grandson for taking the path of rebellion. Instead, he had shown up here.

“You dared to cut off the Moyong Clan’s bloodline?!”

He looked ready to beat me half to death in Jaehwa’s place.

*Damn… What the hell is going on?*