Hu Gae’s chest grew hot at Kwak Yeon’s answer.

For a moment, silence flowed between the two of them.

It was because a storm of emotions that words could not contain was rising in both their chests.

When the whirlpool of feeling settled down, Hu Gae grew awkward for no reason and turned the direction of the conversation.

“Kwak, you’re great in every way, but the one thing I worry about is that you charge in recklessly like you did this time.”

Kwak Yeon spoke with a genuinely apologetic face.

“I will be especially careful from now on.”

“It’s always just words. Tsk!”

With a dissatisfied expression, Hu Gae shot Kwak Yeon a glare and continued.

“Anyway, stopping a bomb with Steel Aura this time was truly insane. It’s a million-to-one blessing that bomb wasn’t a Heaven-Shaking Thunder—if it had been... Ugh!”

Seeing Hu Gae shudder in disgust, Kwak Yeon asked,

“Sworn Elder Brother, are you saying those bombs weren’t Heaven-Shaking Thunders?”

“Hah. To be this ignorant about fire weapons... Tsk, tsk!”

Hu Gae clicked his tongue at Kwak Yeon’s question and continued.

“A Heaven-Shaking Thunder detonates a hundred geun of gunpowder and sends hundreds of fragments flying. Those fragments can punch right through even a military commander’s iron armor.”

Kwak Yeon flinched.

Because he knew military commanders’ iron armor had defensive power that rivaled the protective Steel Aura of internal-power masters.

“If those had been Heaven-Shaking Thunders, you wouldn’t have come out intact. Blocking all those Heaven-Shaking Thunder fragments with protective Steel Aura would’ve been impossible.”

Hearing Hu Gae, Kwak Yeon realized heaven’s luck had helped him.

Had he not barely endured only after covering it with a five-colored flag—an object—and pouring in every bit of inner power true qi?

At the same time, a question rose up, and he could not help but ask.

“Then why didn’t they detonate Heaven-Shaking Thunders?”

As if he had expected Kwak Yeon to ask, Hu Gae answered without hesitation.

“I heard there was something even more vicious than a Heaven-Shaking Thunder inside the bomb. They said if you hadn’t stopped it like that, the damage would’ve been dozens of times worse than a Heaven-Shaking Thunder.”

“Who said that?”

“The Martial Alliance’s Hocheon Unit Lord, the Blue-Rain Sword, came by.”

“.......”

“I was standing guard, so he couldn’t talk long and went back. Anyway, the Hocheon Unit Lord said the bluish flames from that vicious thing wouldn’t go out even if you threw water on it, even if you dumped sand on it.”

Since the incident had happened within the Martial Alliance’s territory, it was only natural that the Hocheon Unit Lord would come.

“The Martial Alliance says they’re going to investigate in earnest, so before long we’ll know what that vicious thing was. And the Hocheon Unit Lord told me to pass on his deep thanks to you. He said if you hadn’t responded the way you did, hundreds would’ve died on the spot, and half of Aju Prefecture would’ve burned.”

“.......”

“If someone as cold as the Hocheon Unit Lord said that, he must’ve truly been grateful to you.”

“The Hocheon Unit Lord sounds like someone with lofty chivalry.”

Hu Gae nodded.

“That’s why he’s one of the few people in the Martial Alliance I respect.”

“To be someone you acknowledge... He must be truly impressive. It makes me curious who else you respect.”

“The Martial Alliance is mud-wrestling dogs as a daily routine, but it’s still the pillar of the righteous martial world in name. How could there be no people inside it?”

Kwak Yeon accepted it readily. Even if the Wudang Sect had become more worldly of late, most disciples had not lost their noble spirit.

So, within the Martial Alliance, there would naturally be many chivalrous heroes who had not lost their chivalry.

Because he had been carried in Hu Gae’s arms in a daze, Kwak Yeon had no idea how the scene had been cleaned up, so he asked,

“Did you hear what happened to the assassins?”

“I heard they wiped out all the remnants that were still on the main road. They said a few of them killed themselves, too.”

“Then they wouldn’t have been able to identify them.”

“From what I heard then, yes. But soon their identities will be revealed. And the Martial Alliance will uproot them thoroughly, so don’t worry about them. The Martial Alliance never forgives bastards who do filthy things inside its territory.”

At Hu Gae’s words, Kwak Yeon barely erased the anger he felt toward the assassin group.

Soon he would enter the Martial Alliance’s main camp, and then he would not have to worry about the Public Contract. He decided to focus on the matter of the Demonic Eight Divisions and on finding the Supreme Patriarch.

While Kwak Yeon and Hu Gae were discussing going into the Martial Alliance’s main camp, Jin Cheongha returned.

“Kwak, let’s eat first. It feels like my belly skin is stuck to my back, so my head won’t work at all.”

Hu Gae sprang to his feet and brightened as he spoke toward Jin Cheongha.

“Jin, right—what did you order and bring? SLURP!”

Hu Gae smacked his lips eagerly, then soon turned dumbfounded.

“Huh?”

Jin Cheongha had empty hands, and there was no server following behind her.

“Jin, but where are the servers?”

Jin Cheongha had gone out saying she would prepare a meal, so she should have returned with servers.

And those servers, of course, should have had both hands full of plates.

“Sub-Branch Master, it’s... Something happened in this guesthouse.”

At Jin Cheongha’s troubled expression, an ominous thought struck Hu Gae.

Because painful memories floated up—times when something happened every time it was time to eat, and he had only been left drooling.

“Jin, what happened? Did the kitchen catch fire?”

Inside Aju County City, at the biggest and finest guesthouse, Hu Gae could not imagine any situation where they could not serve ordered food except that.

“Sub-Branch Master, it’s not the food... The guesthouse owner is telling us to vacate the detached annex immediately.”

At those words, Hu Gae’s eyes grew huge.

“What kind of dog— No, what kind of ridiculous nonsense is that? I even paid everything in advance.”

“It’s...”

Jin Cheongha hesitated with a troubled face, then said toward Kwak Yeon,

“Taoist Kwak, I think it would be best if you go out yourself.”

*****

“I’m sorry. I’m truly sorry.”

The guesthouse owner kept bowing and apologizing over and over.

But the guests surrounding the owner would not stop protesting.

“Owner, what kind of world is this? Throwing out people who’ve already unpacked and are resting!”

“And throwing us onto the street this late at night—Owner, do you have no business ethics at all?”

As the guests’ voices rose higher and higher and their protesting posture became rougher, the guesthouse owner broke into a cold sweat.

There were many martial artists among the guests, so the guesthouse owner could only grow more and more anxious.

“Everyone, I will return your lodging fee in full. And I’ll add the cost of your dinner on top of it.”

Trying somehow to calm the furious guests, the guesthouse owner even made an offer that would inflict a major loss.

But it was nowhere near enough to cool the guests’ anger, and instead only fanned it further.

“Owner, do you take us for beggars? To stare at some petty coins?”

“That’s right. It’s not about the lodging fee. Where are we supposed to find rooms at night? Don’t you know all the nearby guesthouses are full?”

“I know that too, of course, but... what can I do when our situation is like this?”

The guesthouse owner swallowed down the urge to burst into tears and continued.

“The Taoists from Mount Wudang over there say they want to rent our entire guesthouse.”

At the guesthouse owner’s words, the guests’ gazes all swung at once toward one side of the dining hall.

In several seats by the window, a dozen or so Taoists wearing robes with a clear Taiji Eight Trigrams pattern were seated.

Even though the dining hall had been noisy for a long while with guests’ protesting voices, they were indifferent, as if they were in some other world.

The guests who had been denouncing the guesthouse owner immediately shut their mouths.

Most of the Taoists were of strikingly young age, but they could not ignore the weight carried by the name Mount Wudang.

Some guests even began to edge away. No matter how much they pressed the owner, there would be no hope.

Just then, among the guests, a middle-aged man suddenly stepped forward.

“Then I will tell the Taoists of Mount Wudang our situation.”

He was the hall master of the Sanyang Martial Arts Hall, and he had been staying at the guesthouse with his disciples.

As a hall master of a righteous martial arts hall, it was unpleasant enough to have lodging snatched away so unjustly, but above all, the problem was that he could not save face in front of his disciples—so he stepped forward.

Volunteer leader of the lodgers, the Sanyang Martial Arts Hall Master went to the Taoists’ table and observed proper courtesy.

“Jang Chulho, hall master of the Sanyang Martial Arts Hall, greets the Taoists of Wudang.”

A green, youthful Taoist who had been sitting at the outermost seat stood up, gave a rough return salute, and asked,

“Hall Master Jang of the Sanyang Martial Arts Hall, what business do you have?”

Only the young Taoists seated on the outside gave °• N 𝑜 v 𝑒 l i g h t •° him their attention. The Taoists seated further in merely chatted among themselves or looked out the window.

And even at the outside seats, only one Taoist rose and responded perfunctorily. It was nothing less than openly slighting a person.

Amid that, the young Taoist’s stiffly polite honorific speech felt downright discordant, as if he were mocking Jang Chulho.

The arrogance of Wudang Sect disciples, who were enjoying the greatest splendor in the martial world of the age, was famous.

Jang Chulho’s face burned, but he endured and spoke.

“The esteemed Taoists of Wudang must have some pressing circumstance that led you to do this, but forcing out guests already checked in at the guesthouse seems, no matter how one looks at it, improper—so I came.”

The Wudang young Taoist suddenly asked,

“Hall Master Jang, when did Wudang ever force you out?”

Jang Chulho spoke, dumbfounded.

“The guesthouse owner there is telling us to leave right now because the Taoists of Wudang must stay here, is he not?”

“Hall Master Jang, what kind of groundless accusation are you trying to pin on us? We, disciples of the Wudang Sect, have been sitting calmly in one place the entire time.”

Hall Master Jang Chulho flinched.

“Then you mean the Taoists of Mount Wudang did not tell the guesthouse owner to empty the rooms?”

“We did ask the guesthouse owner for lodging.”

At the brazen answer, Hall Master Jang felt his temper surge.

No matter that the young man was a Wudang Sect disciple, there was at least a twenty-year difference in age between them.

And yet he spoke with this teasing, mocking tone, making it hard to endure.

Even so, he could not dare to say anything sharp to a Wudang Sect disciple, so Hall Master Jang Chulho held on and spoke.

“Taoist, honestly, when the Taoists of the Wudang Sect speak, isn’t it more than a simple request to the guesthouse owner?”

“Hall Master Jang!”

The young Taoist abruptly frowned.

“Words may sound similar, but they are not the same. Surely you are not about to insist that Wudang did something improper and argue with us, are you?”

“.......”

At the clear warning that he would not endure any more, Hall Master Jang Chulho shut his mouth. The young Taoist then spoke as if coaxing him.

“Hall Master Jang, return and settle matters properly with the guesthouse owner. Our master is in meditation, so stop disturbing us.”

The young Taoist’s words had the outward form of etiquette, but their meaning was:

“This has nothing to do with us. Get out immediately.”