Chapter 109
“Ah, no, the Sect Leader didn’t praise us like that…”
I tried to do some damage control belatedly, but it was already too late.
“Haha, too much humility is no longer a virtue.”
“I know for a fact that the Sect Leader is not generous with his praise.”
“None of us has ever been praised by the Sect Leader… I’m so jealous!”
The guys' eyes were already sparkling so much that they were practically glowing.
‘I think I’ve been marked in the wrong way…’
At this rate, I felt like I might accidentally become Zhongnan’s Promising Talent…
I couldn’t hide my anxiety.
* * *
Time passed, and soon the night arrived when everyone fell asleep.
Amidst the scattered sounds of snoring, I sent a Sound Transmission to Dongryong to see if he had fallen asleep.
‘Dongryong-a, are you asleep?’
‘Not yet… I’m feeling a bit hungry…’
‘Ah, you too?’
Earlier, when it was dinnertime, the other Lay Disciples had invited us to eat out with them.
However, judging that we needed to keep some distance from them, I declined their offer.
And soon after, I couldn’t help but fall into doubt.
‘Don’t they serve food here too? Why do they go out of their way to eat outside…?’
I quickly found out the reason.
The food here tasted awful.
No matter how strong its secular tendencies were, Zhongnan was ultimately a Taoist School.
Naturally, they rarely ate meat; claiming that we needed to expel turbid qi from our bodies before the tournament, they served raw food instead of cooked meals.
‘I mean, I don’t know why they serve that when chewing on raw grass doesn’t give you any strength.’
‘Tell me about it. If I had known it would be like this, I would have gone out separately to eat.’
Even so, it was too late to go out now.
Zhongnan’s rules wouldn’t allow disciples to wander outside in the dead of night.
We could sneak out, but we weren’t hungry enough to bear that kind of risk, so we decided to just endure it.
‘I’m definitely eating outside tomorrow morning.’
Thinking that, I clutched my hungry stomach and closed my eyes.
But right then.
Flap.
‘Hmm?’
As I tried to sleep, the sound of a bird outside the building kept reaching my ears. I could have just brushed off a bird flying around, but I kept getting the feeling that the exact same bird was circling Zhongnan’s lodging.
‘Could it be?’
At that, I spread a thin layer of my energy outward, just enough for someone who knew me to recognize it.
“…!”
Then, the bird that had been loitering outside for a while changed its direction toward us …
Tap.
…tossed a piece of paper toward the window of our room.
‘Fuck.’
Startled, I suppressed my presence as much as possible and snatched the paper.
‘What if another disciple saw this paper?’
Then I immediately opened it to check the contents.
‘Come outside now.’
Now?
It was obvious who sent the note. It had to be Haomun.
But telling us to come outside now…
Is there really a need for that?
I complained inwardly but woke Dongryong up anyway.
‘Dongryong-a, Haomun is calling. Let’s head out for a bit.’
‘What? Now?’
The only fortunate thing was that there was no one doing Night Patrol inside the lodging or guarding the entrance.
‘Well, this is Anhui, which has better security than anywhere else.’
There was also Zhongnan’s belief that its own disciples wouldn’t dare to commit any deviations.
So we stepped out the door somewhat comfortably.
And as soon as we came out, we spotted a black-clad figure across the street who seemed to be screaming ‘I am from Haomun’ with his entire body.
Beckon.
Upon spotting us, he beckoned with his finger without a word and guided us. We followed behind him without complaint.
The place he led us to was a secluded back alley, a favorite of Haomun.
The further we followed, the more sinister the atmosphere became and the narrower the path grew, making me wonder how they even found a place like this in Anhui.
The place the Black-Clad Figure finally reached was a dilapidated building devoid of a single person, and as we followed his hand gestures up the old stairs to the second floor…
“…”
…we could see the back of someone standing with their hands clasped behind them.
“Oh my~ It’s been quite a while.”
“A while, my foot! I’m getting more wrinkles because of you!”
And the person who turned around to reveal himself was…
“Do you two have any brains at all? Or do you not?”
…Munseok, as expected.
* * *
Munseok frowned upon seeing Dongryong and me, but I raised my hand, glad to see his face after such a long time.
“Good to see you, Mister. How long has it been? But did you not get any sleep? Your face is full of worries.”
“Isn’t this all because of you two!”
Indeed, Munseok’s skin was dry and the areas under his eyes were dark, as if he really hadn’t slept well.
Huh? But why is it because of us?
When I looked at him questioningly, Munseok let out a frustrated sigh and replied.
“Haa…, no matter how urgent things were, who just dives into the middle of the Righteous Faction, right where the Murim Alliance Headquarters is, without any plan? Do you know how shocked I was when I saw the Sect Leader’s letter saying you two had left…”
“I regretted it a little too. Still, I’m glad we met up with you, Ajae. You arrived in Anhui pretty fast considering you heard the news late, didn’t you?”
“I came here carried on the back of a Master skilled in Lightness Skill.”
…He went that far?
Only then did I realize just how worried Munseok had been about me.
I forcefully wiped my tearless eyes and patted Munseok’s shoulder.
“Thanks, Mister. You’re really the only one I can count on. So about that…”
“You want information on Jongrimun? I prepared it in advance.”
Before I could even finish speaking, Munseok pulled out a book from his chest and handed it to me.
“Detailed information about Jongrimun is written inside. Familiarize yourself with it well.”
“Oh…”
Jongrimun was finally taking off its veil.
The book Munseok handed me contained detailed information about Jongrimun, such as what Sword Art they mainly learned, who the Jongrimun Leader was, how many disciples they had, and what their status was in Guangxi Province.
“Hmm…”
As I looked through it, I was slowly able to learn about Jongrimun.
“So they were a sect with quite a name in Guangxi Province.”
“Since there aren’t any other notable Sects in Guangxi Province, they’re bound to have influence even if they’re just Lay Branches. Besides, as you can see, Jongrimun has quite a deep history in the Zhongnan Family.”
Now I understand why the other Lay Disciples' eyes sparkled when they heard the name Jongrimun.
“Right…, so that’s how it is…”
“Still, it’s only known among the Zhongnan Family; the name Jongrimun isn’t known to outsiders.”
“…I see.”
With my eyes shining attentively, I read the book Munseok gave me down to the very last page.
Then, handing the finished book to Dongryong, I spoke to Munseok.
“But, Munseok, I need other information besides this.”
Of course, the information on Jongrimun that Munseok had investigated was excellent, but I needed other things to perfectly act as a Zhongnan Lay Disciple.
“Not just Jongrimun, but information on the Main Headquarters, the Zhongnan Sect, and the other Affiliated Families too…”
“Of course, I investigated that too. Take a look at this.”
“…There’s more?”
I received the book Munseok pulled out again, with a momentarily dumbfounded face.
“Inside that is information about Zhongnan and the Zhongnan Family.”
“…This is absolutely amazing.”
The details in the materials were so vivid that it was hard to believe he had prepared them in such a short amount of time.
‘Munseok really is competent.’
No, Haomun itself is a real piece of work.
If it weren’t for Haomun, our Green Forest would still be stuck looking like Beggars.
I marveled inwardly as I read through the information Munseok gave me.
Since I was already skilled at Speed Reading, I read it down to the last page, and Munseok sighed as he spoke to me.
“Haa…, what is all this suddenly happening in Anhui… Look here. Is it certain information that the Winning Prize for the Dragon-Phoenix Gathering is Gongcheongseokyu? I checked, and it’s information that even our Haomun doesn’t have.”
“Ah, I’m telling you it is. When have I ever spouted nonsense?”
When I spoke with certainty, Munseok also nodded.
“Right. If you say so, it must be. Then are you planning to win the Dragon-Phoenix Gathering and claim the Gongcheongseokyu?”
“That’s the plan for now. Doing it that way will at least draw less attention from others.”
“No…, will it really?”
“Huh?”
When I asked, wondering what he meant, Munseok spoke to me with an incredibly serious expression.
“As you know, the Dragon-Phoenix Gathering isn’t just a simple harmony among Rising Stars.”
“I know that too…”
The significance of the Dragon-Phoenix Gathering lies not simply in competing to demonstrate the martial prowess of the Rising Stars, but in gauging the future of each Sect and reorganizing the Factions.
“A Sect that wins or performs exceptionally well in the Dragon-Phoenix Gathering will definitely receive all the attention Under Heaven. Right?”
“I suppose so?”
“But have you ever heard the name of the Sect called Jongrimun before? No, you haven’t. Because there are very few people who memorize the names of mere Zhongnan Lay Branches, let alone Zhongnan itself.”
“Right. But what about it?”
“What do you think people will think if an unknown Sect suddenly performs exceptionally well in the Dragon-Phoenix Gathering? Wouldn’t they find it strange?”
“Ah…”
Right, they definitely would. If a Zhongnan Lay Branch, which isn’t even Zhongnan itself and whose name isn’t well known, performs exceptionally well in the Dragon-Phoenix Gathering, people would find it strange.
And that suspicion would immediately be directed at Dongryong and me, becoming an excuse to have our identities exposed even faster.
“That’s certainly true. So what’s the solution?”
When I nodded and asked, Munseok answered immediately.
“It’s simple. We just need to make Jongrimun a renowned sect.”
“How?”
How could we suddenly make the name of Jongrimun known Under Heaven? As I tilted my head, Munseok pointed to his own mouth.
“What do you mean how? We just need to spread rumors.”
“Rumors?”
“I’ll unleash the Haomun Members to spread false rumors while pretending that Jongrimun is an incredible Sect.”
“…”
When I paused for a moment, Munseok continued his explanation.
“Even now, the Gossips are wagging their tongues about which Sect will perform the best in this Dragon-Phoenix Gathering. Wouldn’t it work if we unleashed our Sect Members in the midst of that to spread Jongrimun’s name?”
“…Are you saying you’re going to spread false propaganda right now?”
“It’s not exactly false, is it? With your skills, anyway, the Righteous Faction’s Rising Stars will be a piece of cake.”
No, that’s true, but… That’s not Jongrimun being strong, that’s me being strong, isn’t it?
“Don’t worry. I’ll make Jongrimun into Guangxi’s Foremost Sect within a few days.”
“No…, no matter how much of a hick town Guangxi Province is, will people believe that?”
When I asked, full of worry, Munseok chuckled and replied.
“Of course they’ll believe it. Even a lie becomes the truth if it’s drilled into your ears enough times.”
“There will definitely be those who don’t believe it…”
“What does it matter if there are people who don’t believe it? It’s always easy to tell a lie, but it’s dozens of times harder to refute it and uncover the truth.”
Huh? I feel like I’ve heard this somewhere before…?
As I stared in bewilderment, Munseok spoke meaningfully.
“Did you know that Haomun has a Department that spreads False Rumors?”
“You guys have something like that too…?”
Haomun was a scarier place than I thought…
“I was once the Person in Charge of that Department.”
“…”
“What I’m saying is that spreading false rumors or baseless gossip is nothing to me.”
And Munseok was a scarier person than I thought.
A terrifyingly competent person…
What in the world can’t he do?
Honestly, at this point, it seems like there’s nothing he can’t do except love.
When I looked at him with slightly awe-filled eyes, Munseok smiled and said.
“I’ll engrave Jongrimun into the minds of everyone in Anhui within a few days.”
With Munseok speaking with such certainty, I couldn’t help but truly believe him.