Chapter 5
Chapter 5
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 5
Chapter Title: A Stir at the Inn
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“Heavenly One, even if he’s the Heavenly One, he’s still just a kid. Only twenty years old, right?”
The massive sword propped openly beside the table wasn’t even sheathed. Its owner, a hulking brute, had a voice as booming as his frame.
His companions, sitting across from him, were equally burly and fierce-looking.
“That’s right, big brother. There’s precedent for it, after all. Everyone takes it for granted that Heavenly Demon Hyeok Wol-un is the best in the world, but whether he’s the greatest of all time—that’s the debate these days, isn’t it?”
“Well... who knows what the future holds. But everyone knows the current Heavenly One can’t rival the Heavenly Demon. What a world.”
It wasn’t an uncommon sight.
Every inn had guys like these—local thugs with a bit of fame around these parts. They prided themselves on carrying swords and lorded over the village with their meager strength.
And these weren’t outsiders; they were locals. Gulping down liquor in broad daylight without a care for prying eyes, yet no one shot them dirty looks.
Was it fear of those ostentatiously displayed swords? Maybe, but folks just let it slide.
Besides, they weren’t entirely wrong. Just a few decades ago, the Heavenly One’s name hadn’t been such a joke.
Regardless of sect, the Heavenly One was an object of reverence. In the Divine Demon Great War centuries ago, if the Heavenly One hadn’t stopped the Demon King, the world would have ended then and there.
No later Heavenly One matched the founder, but a Heavenly One was still a Heavenly One. They might not rival the Demon King, but they stood against the Heavenly Demon, crushing the Demonic Cult’s schemes and delaying their rampages time and again.
Such feats built faith in the Heavenly One. No matter how strong the Heavenly Demon, the murim had its Heavenly One. No matter the Demonic Cult’s plots, the Heavenly One would handle it.
But that all shattered thirty years ago.
“How many years do you think it’ll take for the current Heavenly One to match the Heavenly Demon?”
“Hmm, at least twenty years, don’t you think?”
“Isn’t that too short? Even in twenty years, he’d only be forty...”
“Hey now. We’re both swordsmen eating sword rice—how can you think so differently? The Heavenly One’s name may not carry the weight it once did, but he’s still the Heavenly One. A man descended from the heavens, I tell you. Do you think twenty years for a mortal like us is the same as twenty years for him?”
“But... Heavenly Demon Hyeok Wol-un is a supreme expert debated as the greatest ever, isn’t he? In twenty years, he’ll be even stronger than now.”
“Exactly. That’s what worries me. The future of this murim looks so dark!”
A massive fist slammed the table. Plates and cups rattled, and the propped-up sword nearly toppled. One of the guys, who’d been fidgeting with it, quickly grabbed it to steady it.
“It’s lamentable, isn’t it? I’m not afraid of death, you see. If I could sacrifice this body to slay one more Demonic Cult villain before I go, what a heroic and glorious end that would be! But brother, what I fear is growing old without ever swinging my sword!”
The brute clenched his fist tight.
“As expected of you, big brother. True paragons of justice like you are the real pillars of the righteous murim.”
“Haha, come on... A small fry like me, a pillar? I’m bottom of the barrel, bottom of the barrel.”
“Bullshit.”
The blatant sneer came from right in front.
Wi Seong-cheon, who’d been flipping through his book while half-listening to their chatter, looked up. A stranger was casually pulling out the chair across from him.
“Don’t you think so?”
Her pitch-black eyes fixed on Wi Seong-cheon’s face. He quietly set down his open book.
Naturally, he’d never seen her before. Yet the woman smiled warmly as she rested her hand on the table.
The waiter approached to take her order, but she waved him off.
“Guys chugging booze in broad daylight yapping about the future of murim. Isn’t it a joke? Who do they think they are, anyway? Bunch of nobodies getting sloshed in their little town and acting like sages.”
Her sharp words cut through the air, her voice loud and unlowered, echoing through the inn.
The brute’s younger brother glared and started to rise, but the brute quickly grabbed his arm to stop him. No telling how much sword rice he’d eaten, but he clearly knew how to read the room.
One word, and the mood turned icy. Undaunted by their huge builds, fierce faces, or erected swords.
‘Touch her, and you bleed.’
That confidence let her act this way. Her refined martial robes screamed quality, and her features were striking. Whoever she was, she was undoubtedly a young expert properly trained in martial arts.
“Huge as mountains but no guts, you idiots. Scared of growing old without swinging your swords? Better off dropping dead now.”
She cackled with laughter, then picked up Wi Seong-cheon’s teacup and downed it.
In the meantime, the brutes quietly rose and slunk away. She snorted and set the cup down.
“Who might you be?”
Wi Seong-cheon’s lips finally parted; he’d been staring at her face the whole time.
“Only asking now?”
“They’re gone, aren’t they?”
“What, can’t ask if they were here? It’s not like you were scared of those pigs.”
“Suppose they were still here. If I’d asked your name then, would you have told me?”
“My name’s nothing to be ashamed of.”
“I haven’t heard it yet, but if you’d said it back then, they’d have thought: Ah, this lovely lady is...”
She burst out laughing at “lovely.” Wi Seong-cheon continued undeterred.
“...that famous so-and-so. Someone worms like us can’t handle. Then they’d rationalize it away and leave the inn with clear consciences.”
Wi Seong-cheon tapped his empty teacup with a fingertip.
“Why should I make them feel better? Thanks to me not asking your name earlier, they’re probably fuming right now. Might even kick the blankets tonight replaying this at the inn.”
“You’re a spiteful one.”
“If they’d just kept their voices down, I might’ve shown that much consideration.”
“But isn’t it a bit premature to judge? You don’t even know who I am yet.”
“I’m not an idiot. In a situation like this, anyone stepping forward alone...”
He paused there for a moment.
Wi Seong-cheon stopped speaking.
“...wouldn’t be ordinary. Anyone could think that.”
“What was that just now?”
“I got confused—whether it was one person or just my imagination.”
Her eyes widened at his response. She stared at him intently, eyes gleaming for a moment.
“One person.”
“Really?”
“No need for two.”
“Fair enough. So, who are you?”
The woman beckoned the waiter.
She’d been passing by and stopped at the inn, annoyed by nobodies—barely even warriors—yammering on topics above their station. Intent on shutting them up.
What caught her eye first wasn’t them, but Wi Seong-cheon, sitting alone oblivious to their loud racket.
It wasn’t feigned indifference. He seemed utterly detached, wrapped in an aura apart from everything. Her instinct told her he wasn’t ordinary, so she sat across from him. Simple curiosity.
Looks like she’d judged right. She ordered a bottle of liquor from the approaching waiter.
“Liquor?”
“Can’t hold your drink?”
“Not that, just out of the blue.”
“It made me thirsty. You won’t leave me drinking alone, right?”
“Your companions can’t drink?”
“I want to drink with you. Weren’t you curious who I am?”
“Curious, yeah, but now it’s awkward.”
“Why?”
“If I hear your name, etiquette demands I tell you mine in return.”
“You... from the unorthodox sects?”
“No.”
“Demonic Cult?”
“Have you lost your mind?”
Wi Seong-cheon replied in horror. She slid a liquor cup toward him as the waiter brought it, laughing merrily.
“Then it’s fine. No need to feel awkward.”
Clear liquor poured in. Being a small inn, it wasn’t fancy stuff. But she didn’t mind. Cheap meant strong, and she liked her liquor strong.
“Dang Heeran.”
She stated her name out of nowhere.
Wi Seong-cheon’s eyes narrowed. A name that demanded surprise. There were other Dang families, but “Dang” meant one thing to most.
The Sacheon Tang Clan.
Dang Heeran.
Wi Seong-cheon knew it too. It was on the Yicheon Academy student roster that Woo General Affairs had given him as reference.
Dang Family daughter, enrolled this year. Second daughter of Hidden Righteousness Needle Dang Jihu, the Tang Clan Lord’s shadowy enforcer. Younger sister of Serpent Beauty Dang Seona, one of the Dragon-Phoenix youths hailed as the finest of the righteous next generation.
“Poison Butterfly?”
Dang Heeran nodded with a smile. He must’ve gotten close to Yicheon Academy. Who’d have thought he’d run into Poison Butterfly Dang Heeran here.
“And you?”
“Now it’s even more awkward.”
Wi Seong-cheon muttered with a sour expression.
Ten years ago, his first trip to the Murim Alliance with his father. He’d glimpsed her sister, Serpent Beauty Dang Seona, from afar. Not a memory he cared to dwell on.
“Why? You’re neither unorthodox nor Demonic Cult.”
“Does a guy like me really need to tell you his name?”
“The more you resist, the more curious I get.”
“Wi Seong-cheon.”
No point clamming up; she’d just pry harder. He waved it off and answered. Naturally, Dang Heeran had never heard of him.
“Your sect?”
“...Uh, it’s a secret.”
“Liar. You’re just embarrassed to say it. If it were really a secret, you’d have said so from the start.”
He’d slipped up. Wi Seong-cheon clicked his tongue and lifted his cup. The liquor burned as bitterly as his mood.
“Heavenly Flower Sect.”
She blinked at his blunt words.
For a brief moment, Dang Heeran wondered if she’d misheard.
Heavenly Flower Sect? Heavenly Flower Sect? That Heavenly Flower Sect? The one both righteous and unorthodox sects loved to trash?
Come to think of it, the Heavenly Flower Sect Leader was Wi Ju-seok. Wi...
“You’re the son of the Heavenly Flower Sect Leader?”
“Yeah.”
The reaction was as expected. Wi Seong-cheon grimaced and refilled his empty cup. Would she curse him? Sneer? Both seemed possible.
Hard to do it to his face, but the Dang Heeran he’d just met was the type to sneer and curse at a stranger.
“Liar.”
That was unexpected.
“Why would I lie about something like this?”
“No... it doesn’t make sense. Heavenly Flower Sect... How is the Heavenly Flower Sect Leader’s son...?”
“Can’t the Heavenly Flower Sect Leader’s son be here?”
“No, that’s not what I mean. You said you weren’t sure if it was one or... That means you sensed it, right?”
Dang Heeran asked, dumbfounded.
The Sacheon Tang Clan was famed for poisons and hidden weapons.
Poisons and hidden weapons... To wield them properly required superb stealth arts. Hidden weapons struck from behind, unseen. Poisons worked the same.
‘The Heavenly Flower Sect Leader’s son detected Uncle’s presence?’
Ridiculous.