CH 187

Seol Hajin looked at the two with an expression of disbelief.

She never dreamed that she would see those two people in Hubei Province, which was so far away.

Their names were Lee Ja-myeong and Gong Ha-seong. Those two were the greatest disciples of the Golden Island clan. They were also Seol Hajin’s senior brothers. 

Lee Ja-myeong and Gong Ha-seong had surprised expressions on their faces as well.

They looked as if they had just seen a ghost.

“Is it really you, Hajin?”

“How is this possible…?”

Their voices trembled.

“What are you both doing here? What brings you here to this place which is thousands of li away from the Golden Island sect?”

“How did you come here? No— how have you been? How come you didn’t contact us even once?”

Lee Ja-myeong, the great disciple, strode toward Seol Hajin. 

Seol Hajin took a couple of steps back without realizing it.

Lee Ja-myeong frowned at Seol Hajin’s reaction.

“What’s wrong with you? Don’t you believe in your senior brother?”

“How can I believe in you?”

“Junior sister!”1

“You were conspiring with the master! You both were trying to sell me off to an old rich man!”

“Why are you quick to assume things? Didn’t you misinterpret and delude yourself when we were just asking for your opinion?”

Lee Ja-myeong was furious.

Seol Hajin bit her lips hard.

Gobuza is a famous rich man near the Golden Island clan. Even at the age of sixty, he was known for being lustful and taking many concubines.

Seol Hajin’s master and senior brothers decided to marry their junior sister to him to receive a huge amount of support when their sect experienced some difficulties. 

At that time, the most ambitious person was Lee Ja-myeong, her senior brother

Seol Hajin, who trusted and relied on Lee Ja-myeong more than anyone else, was shocked by his betrayal.

Lee Ja-myeong frowned and said, 

“I don’t know what you’ve been doing, but you should return to the Golden Island clan now. Then I’ll pretend that all the sins you’ve done haven’t happened.”

“I am no longer a disciple of the Golden Island clan. Ever since master and senior brother tried to sell me to that old man, I no longer thought of the Golden Island clan as my home.”

“You dare to betray the Golden Island clan?”

“Master and senior brother betrayed me first.”

Seol Hajin glared at Lee Ja-myeong and Gong Ha-seong with bloodshot eyes.

The reason why she became a mercenary and wandered around the world was because she was betrayed by her master and senior brother who she trusted the most. 

So with them accusing her being the first to betray them, she was stunned and even scared.

Gong Ha-seong walked towards Seol Hajin.

“There is nothing you can do. You will go with us from now on. If you refuse, we will subdue you by force.”

Gong Ha-seong’s personality was fiery.

He couldn’t stand anything he didn’t like. This made all the disciples of the Golden Island clan afraid of Gong Ha-seong. It’s the same with Seol Hajin.

So when Gong Ha-seong walked towards her, Seol Hajin stiffened like a beast that met its nemesis. She could not move at all. 

Gong Ha-seong roughly grabbed Seol Hajin’s wrist and dragged her. Seol Hajin was helpless as Gong Ha-seong dragged her. 

Her mind was blank, unable to think of anything.

It was then.

“Sister!”

She heard Soma’s voice.

In an instant, she came to her senses and shook Gong Ha-seong’s hand.

“Let me go!”

“How dare you refuse your senior brother?”

“I’m no longer a disciple of the Golden Island clan! I don’t consider you as my senior brother any more!”

“Do you think you will be safe after everything you’ve done?” 

Gong Ha-seong raised his qi.

If it were in the past, she would have been frightened by the appearance of Gong Ha-seong and would immediately follow his order. 

In fact, just a little while ago, she couldn’t get out of her old memories so she let herself be dragged away by Gong Ha-seong.

However, when she came to his senses, Gong Ha-seong, who seemed so frightening before, no longer felt so intimidating. 

It was only then that she realized that she had become much stronger while living as a mercenary. 

Not only did she grow in martial arts, but also in spirit.

“Let me be clear. I am no longer a disciple of the Golden Island clan. You’re also not my senior brother. So please do not meddle in my life. If you meddle any longer, I will not stand still.”

“How insolent!”

Shiak!

Gong Ha-seong could no longer hold back and executed the Golden Island clan’s Three Consecutive Palm.2 

Seol Hajin also did not back down. She pulled out her sword and fought against Gong Ha-seong.

The sound of the two clashing echoed through the street.

Lee Ja-myeong, who was looking at the situation with a flustered expression, quickly came to his senses and said to Woo Pyeong next to him.

“I’m sorry. My brother couldn’t stand it because he happened to meet the traitor of our sect. He had no choice but to resort to force.”

“She’s a traitor of your sect?”

“She is a child who did not follow the will of her master and senior brother and ran away on her own. She needs to be taught a lesson.”

“Alright. The Wudang sect won’t interfere with your sect’s affairs.”

Woo Pyeong stepped back.

Just by listening to the conversation between Gong Ha-seong and Seol Hajin, it was enough to know who was the one at fault. 

However, Jianghu was not always a place where common sense worked, and above all, it was taboo to interfere in the internal affairs of the other sect. 

Disputes within a sect should be settled by the sect.

Because of that, Woo Pyeong had no choice but to remain a bystander even though he felt uncomfortable about the entire situation.

“Master!”

Tae Kwang, his disciple, looked at him with a discontented expression on his face. He was dissatisfied with his master’s decision of just watching the fight.

However, Tae Kwang didn’t say anything more because he knew Jianghu’s unwritten rule not to intervene in the internal affairs of the other clans.

The birthday of Cheong-jin, the sect leader of the Wudang sect, was just around the corner.

Cheong-jin did not attach much importance to his birthday, so he told the Wudang sect disciples not to make a big deal about it but the disciples did not agree. 

Cheong-jin had sacrificed his whole life for the Wudang sect.

The disciples wanted to do something meaningful for him.

If there was only one hobby for Cheong-jin, it was to play a stringed instrument.

It was said that his skill in playing the instrument was enough to resonate in the sky. That’s why his nickname was God of Music.3

If there was any pleasure for him, it was discovering and playing new songs, not just existing songs. However, songs that he did not know were rarely present in the world.

At that time, the warriors of the Golden Island clan contacted Woo Pyeong.

They had a very old music score, and they wanted to give it as a gift to Cheong-jin.

Of course it wasn’t for free.

They wanted the Wudang sect to make some accommodations in exchange for the music sheet. It was not that difficult for Woo Pyeong, so he readily agreed and contacted them.

Since he had already received the music sheet from Lee Ja-myeong, Woo Pyeong had no intention of meddling in the internal affairs of the Golden Island clan.

Woo Pyeong’s gaze suddenly turned to the man and boy who were with Seol Hajin.

The man had his face hidden with a scarf, while the boy was holding a sword as big as his body in his bosom. The young boy also had seven wheels hanging around his neck.

“Hmm…!”

Woo Pyeong’s lips were squeezed, and a quiet hum flowed out.

His gaze was fixed on Pyo-wol, whose face was covered by a scarf.

He doesn’t know why, but the moment he saw him, he could not take his eyes off of him. He couldn’t turn away his head, as if his eyes were glued on him.

Experiencing this for the first time in his life, Woo Pyeong could not hide his perplexed expression.

‘Who the hell is that guy?’

He channeled qi to his eyes and observed Pyo-wol.

At that moment, Pyo-wol turned his head and looked at him, probably feeling his persistent gaze.

The moment Pyo-wol’s eyes met his, Woo Pyeong felt something strange. He was startled by the chilling feeling as if a lightning bolt was going through his entire body.

‘What?’

He was Woo Pyeong, a great disciple of the Wudang sect.

Although his martial arts was slightly inferior to that of another disciple, Woo Gong, his martial arts could be considered to be at the highest level even within the Wudang sect.

Most of the warriors of the Wudang sect delved into swordsmanship, but he was unusually obsessed with martial arts. Among them, he dug into the Ten-Section Brocades4 and mastered it to a high level.

The Ten-Section Brocades was the sum of the Wudang sect’s qingong. No one had mastered it to a high level within the Wudang sect better than him.

Woo Gong and Woo Gum, who were his senior brothers, also yielded to him when it came to qinggong. And even among the elders, there was no one who could match him.

So it was no coincidence that he felt an unpleasant feeling the moment he saw Pyo-wol.

If he was just an ordinary martial artist, he would have just thought the feeling as nothing and moved on. But for someone who had reached a high level such as him, it was not uncommon for him to feel such feelings.

The intuition of a warrior who reached such a level was the sum of his insights.

He himself could not explain it clearly, but his experience, martial arts, and reason came together in the form of insight.

It was not a few times that Woo Pyeong felt such an unpleasant feeling when he saw someone else. And the people he felt this kind of feeling were all masters who shook Jianghu.

‘So who the hell is he?’

Woo Pyeong’s expression suddenly became serious.

Judging from the atmosphere, it seemed that the woman named Seol Hajin had something to do with the man who had his face covered with a scarf.

‘One wrong move, and the problem will escalate.’

Even though the Wudang sect enjoys the best success, it was not very wise to set themselves up against other masters.

The Wudang sect might have recovered its former reputation now, but at one time it suffered a serious blow to the extent that they had to stop their activities.

All of this is because they failed to grasp the current trend and made the wrong judgment.

“Your martial arts have improved quite a bit.”

“Haa!”

Even at that moment, the fierce battle between Gong Ha-seong and Seol Hajin continued.

Gong Ha-seong’s face was distorted during their battle. 

Seol Hajin’s martial arts was much stronger than he expected.

He doesn’t know what happened to her after she had left the sect, but Seol Hajin’s martial arts were not at all inferior to his. Rather, her unexpected counterattack was driving him into a corner.

Woo Pyeong felt the need to deal with the situation before Gong Ha-seong was humiliated.

He cautiously moved toward Pyo-wol.

“Ah! Let’s go together, master!”

Tae Kwang hurriedly followed Woo Pyeong’s lead.

Even as Woo Pyeong approached, Pyo-wol stared at him, and did not move.

It was Soma who reacted before Pyo-wol.

“Brother!”

A light of tension appeared on Soma’s face.

Woo Pyeong has learned the martial arts of the Wudang sect. Qi would naturally flow from his body, and Soma responded to it unconsciously.

Soma learned a demonic art called the Demonic Art of Guanyin at the Xiaoleiyin Temple.

The Demonic Art of Guanyin was a rare demonic art that interpreted the Shaolin Temple’s Avalokiteshvara Spiritual Demonstration in reverse.

So Soma’s body had no choice but to respond to the martial arts of the Wudang sect, which can be said to be the highest cultivation method.

No matter how deeply Soma mastered the Demonic Art of Guanyin, he could not be compared to a Taoist monk who practiced the martial arts and cultivation method of the Wudang sect for the rest of his life. 

“Hm!”

On the contrary, Woo Pyeong felt Soma’s foreign energy so he shifted his gaze to the Soma. Then, the energy emanating from Soma became stronger.

Woo Pyeong’s eyes changed.

“Who are you? It seems you’ve got a dark energy mixed in.”

The inner workings of the Wudang sect responded very sensitively to this kind of energy. The feeling of being poked in the heart with dozens of needles made Woo Pyeong naturally wary.

Woo Pyeong thought that the energy from Soma was very dark. This kind of aura appeared mainly from those who had mastered demonic arts.

Woo Pyeong asked again,

“Reveal your identity.”

“My name is Soma.”

“Soma? What kind of cultivation method did you learn? The dark energy coming off of you seems that of a demonic art.”

“I don’t know anything about that.”

“That kind of energy eats away not just the others, but also oneself. That’s why it’s called a demonic art.”

“No! What I learned is just martial arts.”

“You’re still young, so you can’t tell right from wrong. You should not do it. Go to the Wudang sect with me. Once you go to the Wudang sect, you’ll be able to hear the details and take appropriate measures.”‘

Unusual momentum radiated from the whole body of Woo Pyeong.

Soma also had great martial arts for his age, but he couldn’t compare to Woo Pyeong, a great disciple of the Wudang sect.

But Soma was not discouraged.

“Why would I obediently follow you?”

Soma’s expression darkened.

Even as the little boy looked at him with venomous eyes, Woo Pyeong did not see him as a threat. Soma was just like a little badger that bared its fangs.

Woo Pyeong looked at Soma flustered. But he soon immediately turned his gaze to Pyo-wol.

“What are you going to do? Why don’t you go with us to the Wudang Mountain?”

Thank you for reading! Hope you enjoy the chapter~