The Heaven-Slaying Sword

༺ Fifth Chapter – Dragon Phoenix Tournament (4) ༻

 “Monk! Have you been well?!”

 “Welcome. Did you encounter any troubles on your way here?”

 Il-woon was taken aback by the incredibly warm welcome from Tang Hwa-seo and Zhuge San that he couldn’t quite fathom.

 “Yes, yes… there were no incidents in the city…”

 He appreciated their enthusiasm, but even he thought it might be a bit much.

 In the middle of those thoughts, Mok Riwon brought over another chair with a bright smile.

 “Esteemed Monk! Please have a seat here! Today we can talk about the stories we promised…!”

 “Ah, of course.”

 Il-woon smiled gently and accepted his offer, then looked at Tang Hwa-seo and Zhuge San with a somewhat burdened gaze.

 “Oh wait, now that you’re here, shouldn’t we get more food? Wait here, Brother Mok. I’ll quickly be back with some food. Meanwhile, why don’t you keep him some company?”

 “Understood!”

 Zhuge San gave him a thumbs up.

 “Monk, I’ll bring you something that suits your tastebuds!”

  Snap–!

 Il-woon grabbed Zhuge San’s wrist.

 His hand had enough strength to seemingly crush his bones at any moment.

 “I’ve already eaten. I had some vegetables before coming here.”

 It was a desperate defense.

 Il-woon seated Zhuge San back down, worried that he might bring meat dishes in front of him.

 “A-Ahem… So, have you had a chance to talk with the others?”

 “Ah, everyone seems to be in their own groups so I haven’t approached anyone yet.”

 Upon hearing Mok Riwon’s sulky reply, Il-woon smiled bitterly and nodded.

 ‘I assumed that would be the case.’

 Thinking about it, no one here had any ties with them at the banquet.

 If there was anyone who might have, it would have been Zhuge San, but even he didn’t have anyone bold enough to strike up a conversation with him here.

 Il-woon now realized why they had welcomed him so warmly upon seeing him.

 ‘They must have felt rather awkward.’

 It must have been embarrassing to sit in a corner of the banquet like this.

 “It’s perfect timing then. Why don’t you join me for a round? I must greet the other benefactors anyway, and I can introduce Benefactor Mok to them as we do so.”

 “Really?!”

 “Would I lie about such a thing?”

 As he spoke, Il-woon’s gaze shifted to Tang Hwa-seo.

 “You should come too. It’s been six years since you last attended, has it not?”

 “Yes, well…”

 Tang Hwa-seo nodded, clenching her fist under the table.

 ‘Not bad.’

 It was good opportunity.

 If she could become closer to him at the banquet today, he would be more helpful later on.

 “Then let’s go. Oh, may we first greet the people from the Emei Sect?”

 At his words, Tang Hwa-seo tensed up.

 “Emei… you say?”

 Why start with the Emei Sect?

 While she felt bitter about it, it was only natural when she thought about it.

 Shaolin and Emei were both Buddhist sects and despite the White Phoenix’s lascivious nature, she had to be acknowledged for the depth of her martial arts.

 Tang Hwa-seo suppressed her rising discomfort while nodding.

 Mok Riwon, too, felt a similar… no, different kind of discomfort thinking about the rumors he had just heard about the White Phoenix.

 ‘S-Sex Phoenix…’

 As he had thoughts that a slight mistake might lead to trouble,

 “Monk Il-woon, has it been a year since we’ve last met?”

 “Ah, Monk Hyeun.”

 Whether she had overheard their conversation or had simply come over upon seeing Il-woon, Phoenix Phoenix Hyeung approached with her disciples from the Emei Sect.

 Il-woon and Hyeun greeted each other with a smile and put their hands together.

 During this, Mok Riwon shivered.

 ‘W-Why is she looking at me…?!’

 Hyeun was looking at him with dreamy half-closed eyes that seemed to carry a certain slyness in her smile.

 While trembling, Mok Riwon instinctively hid behind Tang Hwa-seo.

 His movements caused Hyeun’s eyebrows to furrow.

 Immediately after looking up, Hyeun wiped away any traces of the expression that had just surfaced and spoke to Tang Hwa-seo.

 “It’s been a long hasn’t it, Benefactor Tang?”

 “…So it has.”

 There was a brief silence.

 Zhuge San whispered to him in the midst of that.

 “Brother Mok, this is what they call a standoff between women.”

 “I-Indeed…!”

 Mok Riwon swallowed nervously as he silently cheered for Tang Hwa-seo.

 There wasn’t any reason in particular, the snow-white woman just felt too terrifying.

 “Benefactor Tang…”

 Hyeun stretched out her words as she observed Tang Hwa-seo from head to toe, then added with a smirk.

 “…six years have passed, but it seems you haven’t changed much.”

 At a glance her words might have sounded like a compliment.

 However, to a martial artist, they were dangerously close to an insult.

 She was implying that Tang Hwa-seo’s martial prowess had not improved at all.

 “Well, perhaps you want to believe there’s been no change?”

 “Is that so?”

 “The way you speak, Monk, is still just as I remember.”

 Hyeun’s eyebrows rose slightly, then lowered as she made a sly smile across her face.

 “Well, we’ll know once we meet in the martial arts tournament, won’t we?”

 Tang Hwa-seo suppressed her rising irritation.

 Although she wanted to argue back, her words weren’t exactly incorrect.

 It had been five years since she left her clan.

 Tang Hwa-seo, who even back then had been a middle-stage first-rate, had yet to reach the Peak Realm.

 She had given up all the support and education from her clan, as well as the poison qi she had to absorb and thus stagnated in her progress.

 Of course, she had no regrets about her decision, but facing a rival in the competition belittling her and being unable to say a word back left her frustrated.

 ‘This is why I didn’t want to confront her like this.’

 That thought crossed Tang Hwa-seo’s mind along with another other unfortunate realization.

 Hyeun’s attention was directly on Mok Riwon.

 “I don’t believe I’ve met that Kind Benefactor standing behind you, may I be introduced?”

 In that moment, Tang Hwa-seo felt a fire blazing within her, and her eyes began to widen to the point blood vessels were visibly strained.

 “Ah, that’s Benefactor Mok. I’m not sure if you’ve heard Monk Hyeun, but he has been making a name for himself lately under the name Ink Sword.”

 Il-woon introduced him while oblivious to Tang Hwa-seo’s feelings, and a bizarre light flickered across Hyeun’s eyes.

 “Ah, the Ink Sword…!”

  Flinch–

 Mok Riwon took a step back.

 He was terrified by her sly crescent eyes.

 His instincts were screaming at him.

 ‘T-This is bad…!’

 That woman was dangerous.

 “Benefactor Mok? Is this how I should address you?”

 Hyeun’s smile deepened.

 She had a rather mischievously wicked smile.

 ‘How cute.’

 She might have found quite a delicious toy this time around.

 Hyeun was filled with a burst of joy.

 “He’s my companion.”

 Tang Hwa-seo’s words only brought a different kind of joy to Hyeun.

 ‘Are they not more than just companions?’

 They seemed to have a notably intimate relationship.

 The way Mok Riwon immediately hid behind her upon making eye contact, and how Tang Hwa-seo instantly flared up in anger when she showed interest in him, all pointed to that.

 ‘It’ll be fun stealing him away.’

 A slight giggle came out.

 Despite her role as a Buddhist monk, her innate tendancies were beginning to surface uncontrollably.

 “A companion, you say… May I hear more details about that?”

 Hyeun imagined.

 The always detached Tang Hwa-seo, and the expression she would make when her man was stolen away.

 ‘How delightful…’

 As expected, this was much better than being stuck in the mountains reciting Buddhist prayers.

 “Y-Young Lady…”

 Mok Riwon shrank down, looking to Tang Hwa-seo for help.

 She regained her sense of reasoning at the sound of his voice.

 It was fortunate.

 If Hyeun had gone any closer, Tang Hwa-seo might have been irritated enough to punch her right then and there.  

 She calmed down as she felt Mok Riwon’s grip on her sleeve and spoke.

 “You seem to have a lot of interest in a strangers’ affairs.”

 “A stranger, you say? How hurtful.”

 “I was unaware that monks could have such an interest in worldly connections.”

 “My spiritual practice is still lacking, indeed. But what can one do? If a desire cannot be resolved immediately, perhaps facing it straight-on would be a better method, wouldn’t you say?”

 “To me, that sounds more like an excuse.”

 The atmosphere between the two of them became increasingly tense.

 Or rather, Tang Hwa-seo was the one reacting sharply in a one-sided manner.

 Even Il-woon, who initially wondered what was going on, could feel the tension in the air.

 And as Zhuge San watched with great interest,

  Bang–

 The gate of the banquet hall opened.

* * *

 It happened in an instant.

 The silence broke.

 The previously tense atmosphere began to fade.

 And all eyes were drawn to one place.

 “…He’s arrived.”

 Someone muttered with a clear displeasure, tinged with jealousy.

  Step–

 A man was entering the banquet hall.

 “Brother Mok, you can tell at a glance, can’t you?”

 Zhuge San said.

 At his words, Mok Riwon erased all of his embarrassment and stared blankly at the entrance.

 An azure silk robe fluttered in the air.

 A handsome man with sharply defined features and a stern face made his way towards the center of the hall.

 However, there was one particular characteristic that captured Mok Riwon’s attention entirely.

 It was his piercing blue eyes, reminiscent of the clear, azure sky.

 That was it.

 “Namgung Jincheon…”

 “Right, that man is Brother Namgung in the flesh.”

 The mere arrival of Namgung Jincheon was a shock in itself.

 Each step he took carried an undeniable sense of pressure, and the people his gaze fell upon cast their eyes down as if by agreement.

 ‘The Pinnacle of the Peak Realm.’

 He was twenty-two years old.

 The same age as Tang Hwa-seo.

 Yet, he had already reached such heights.

 This was what they meant when they say someone can bend the very space around them with their mere presence.

 As Mok Riwon stood frozen from the unfamiliar shock, Zhuge San laughed and put an arm around Mok Riwon’s shoulders.

 “The Leader of This Generation. The King of the Rising Stars. Sword Dragon. There are many titles that adorn Brother Namgung, but there’s one alias that stands out even among those.”

 And then he said.

 “The next Unrivaled Under The Heavens.”

 “The next Unrivaled Under the Heavens…”

 Zhuge San was still chuckling.

 “Wow, isn’t it truly enviable? The saying ‘different from birth’ couldn’t be better exemplified than by him.”

 “Birth…?”

 “Because Brother Namgung was born under a star.”

 At that word, Mok Riwon’s fingers trembled.

 Once again, he stared directly into those blue eyes.

 “The Emperor’s Star. From the moment Brother Namgung was born, he was destined to rule.”

 At that moment, Namgung Jincheon looked at Mok Riwon.

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