Chapter 62
Chapter 62
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 62
Chapter Title: Other People's Parties Aren't Always Fun (3)
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The feast at Hongam Lodge continued into the next day as well. In truth, this was when the real festivities were just getting started.
To liven up the party, musicians and acrobats had been invited.
The musicians stirred up the excitement with their performances, while the acrobats dazzled the crowd with their feats.
“Wow!”
“Amazing!”
The crowd's spirits soared to a peak, exclamations bursting out from every corner.
As time passed, more and more people poured into Hongam Lodge. The kitchen cooks and servants were the ones dropping like flies from exhaustion.
The cooks had been frantically preparing food since dawn, while the servants carted it all out until their bones felt like they might snap.
“What a madhouse. Not sure if we'll even get a proper bite to eat at this rate.”
Choyeolun muttered as he surveyed the warzone-like interior of Hongam Lodge. For all his grumbling, he held a skewer of lamb in his hand.
Choyeolun popped a piece of lamb into his mouth and scanned his surroundings.
Amid the throng of people, he spotted the one he was looking for.
‘Damho.’
The man standing alone in his black leather robe was none other than Damho. While others clustered in groups of twos and threes, chattering away, he alone stood solitary.
Damho hadn’t responded to his offer of friendship. It might have stung, but Choyeolun just smiled as if unbothered.
‘No one to trust, huh.’
Choyeolun could see the distrust gleaming in Damho’s eyes.
Those eyes trusted no one, allowing no one close with their stubborn resolve.
It felt like an invisible, massive wall surrounded him. An ordinary person wouldn’t dare dream of scaling it. But Choyeolun was no ordinary man.
As far as Choyeolun could tell, Damho’s real issue wasn’t his limp. He didn’t know the details, but Damho carried a deep wound in his heart, one that had filled him with distrust for the world itself.
He liked Damho.
Everyone else wore masks to get by. But at least Damho showed his raw, unfiltered self.
‘Well, time will sort it out.’
You couldn’t force a bond. It had to be fate’s will for connections to form.
Choyeolun looked up at the sky.
‘Did heaven guide me here just to meet that guy? Or is there some other reason?’
Heaven’s will was profoundly mysterious, beyond human comprehension or measure.
Deep down, he wanted to stay longer, to build a rapport with Damho. But he had his own tasks ahead, no time left to linger.
‘If the thread of fate remains, we’ll meet again someday.’
With that resolve to reunite one day, Choyeolun quietly slipped away from Hongam Lodge.
Damho had no interest in the feast. Acrobats performed feats right in front of him, musicians played lively tunes, but none of it caught his eye.
His gaze swept over the people coming and going within the lodge.
He saw a warrior with a fine sword at his waist, another wielding steel sleeve arrows while clad in silk robes embroidered with flashy patterns, and a portly official pounding his ample belly as he devoured food and chatted.
“Haha! We took in a new disciple at our school recently, and his talent’s quite something.”
“Everyone knows how formidable Instructor Jeong’s skills are. And now even his disciple shows such promise—the future of Cheongpung School looks bright indeed.”
“And what about you, Instructor Yu? I heard you expanded your school this time.”
“Haha! It just sort of happened that way. My back’s breaking from it all. Though if Great Hero Yi Sinpung lends a hand, I might catch a break. Wonder if we’ll get to see him today.”
“He’ll be out soon enough—you’ll meet him shortly. Great Hero Yi Sinpung will surely help you out, Instructor Yu.”
“You think so?”
“Of course! Haha!”
“I can’t wait to pay my respects to Great Hero Yi Sinpung.”
They laughed and shouted loudly, but they weren’t even worthy of meeting Yi Sinpung. If they were, they’d have seen him last night.
Most people were just like them. Full of bravado.
Like livestock raised at home, perhaps? Beasts that hunted prey in the wild never bluffed or showed off.
They hid themselves, hid again, concealed until the end, then struck once to sever their prey’s breath.
Only those who’d never staked their lives in battle resorted to such posturing. The truly strong simply revealed themselves as they were. By that measure, there were no true powerhouses here.
At that moment, two warriors entered the grounds.
There were clearly two, yet their faces were identical, like copies from the same mold.
Sharp eyes beneath sword-like brows, strikingly pale skin, razor-sharp jawlines—men in their mid-to-late thirties. Twin brothers, a rare sight in the martial world.
The crowd of warriors began to buzz at their arrival.
“It’s the Black-White Twin Ghosts.”
“Whoa! Even they showed up.”
Exclamations rippled through the crowd.
Black-White Twin Ghosts.
They were neutral martial artists who operated mainly in Shaanxi Province. With their savage tempers and unpredictable whims, no one knew what they might do next. Their skills were formidable enough that few dared provoke them.
And as twins, their mental synchronicity was uncanny. They could read each other’s intentions with a mere glance. Without any special paired techniques, they wielded power beyond what such arts could achieve.
The Black-White Twin Ghosts swept cold eyes over the grounds. People hurriedly bowed their heads, terrified of meeting their gaze.
Seeing this, arrogant smirks curled on the Twin Ghosts’ lips.
“Hmph! Thought Yi Sinpung’s sixtieth birthday might draw some real martial artists, but what a letdown.”
“Heh! What’d you expect? We’re just here to prop up Yi Sinpung’s face.”
Chief Steward Gu Jung-myeong rushed out to greet the Black-White Twin Ghosts’ arrival.
“Welcome! We sincerely appreciate your visit.”
“Been a while, Chief Steward Gu.”
“Yes! We’ve been waiting anxiously for you two. Please, let me show you to your seats.”
“Mm.”
“The Lodge Master will be out shortly—just a moment longer.”
“How’s the Lodge Master doing?”
“Thanks to your concern, he’s in excellent health.”
“That’s a relief.”
The Black-White Twin Ghosts flashed sinister smiles as they took the seats Gu Jung-myeong guided them to.
Their spots were on a temporary platform above the training grounds where the feast was held. Over a dozen chairs sat there as well.
Seated on the platform, the Twin Ghosts put on maximum airs. They had every right to.
Damho quickly shifted his gaze away from the Black-White Twin Ghosts. No emotion stirred on his face.
Then, people approached Damho.
A woman with fresh, radiant beauty and a handsome youth with upturned eyes.
Moon Sookyung and Jwa Sangcheon.
Jwa Sangcheon greeted Damho familiarly.
“Fancy seeing you here again.”
Damho silently stared at Jwa Sangcheon, whose face flushed red.
“Have you no manners? When someone greets you, you at least acknowledge it.”
“Was that a greeting?”
“What?”
“Sounded like a dog barking to me.”
“You bastard!”
Jwa Sangcheon’s shoulders trembled. He looked ready to strike Damho any second.
Moon Sookyung grabbed his shoulder.
“Senior Brother! Please mind your etiquette.”
“Urk!”
Jwa Sangcheon’s face twisted unpleasantly.
They’d waited yesterday to meet Yi Sinpung, but their turn never came.
After Namhak of the Orthodox Alliance, Yi Sinpung met no one else, leaving Jwa Sangcheon seething with irredeemable humiliation.
He tried venting that rage on Damho. But Moon Sookyung by his side wouldn’t allow it.
“Senior Brother, let’s go.”
“But...”
“This won’t do Hyunhyeon Sect or you any favors. If you cause a scene, I’ll tell Father everything that happened here.”
“Damn it!”
Faced with Moon Sookyung’s firm stance, Jwa Sangcheon glared at Damho but held back from rash action.
‘You’ll kneel and beg before me one day.’
Jwa Sangcheon turned away with a whoosh.
Moon Sookyung sighed and offered Damho a proper fist salute.
“Please forgive my senior brother’s rudeness. He’s not usually like this—something’s just gotten under his skin, making him slip up repeatedly.”
Unlike Jwa Sangcheon, etiquette was second nature to Moon Sookyung.
“Oh, right—has Jinbo arrived?”
Damho nodded silently, and Moon Sookyung smiled.
“Please pass on my regards to Jinbo as well. Then...”
Moon Sookyung departed.
Damho watched her retreating figure absently.
Just then, voices from nearby merchants reached his ears.
“Have you heard the rumors?”
“What rumors?”
The group perked up at the merchant’s words.
“You haven’t heard?!”
“Come on, what’s with the suspense? Spit it out.”
“There’s been a bloodbath in Xinjiang.”
“Bloodbath?”
Mysterious shadows crossed their faces.
Damho frequented Xinjiang too. Trouble there naturally piqued his interest.
“You know West Heaven Lodge?”
“Any merchant traveling the western routes who doesn’t? Quit dragging it out—what happened? Don’t keep us in suspense.”
“Fine, I’ll tell you. West Heaven Lodge suffered a massacre.”
“What? West Heaven Lodge is one of Xinjiang’s top powers—how could they get massacred?”
“It’s true. You know my brother’s at Bloodscale Veil, right? He told me.”
“Whoa!”
The merchant’s eyes gleamed at his chatty friend’s words. Instinct told him it was legit.
“A massacre at West Heaven Lodge. Must’ve taken heavy losses.”
“Heavy? It’s beyond that—they’re practically wiped out. Lodge Master Eunhaseong and most of their elites were slaughtered to the last.”
“No way...”
The merchant looked incredulous.
What was West Heaven Lodge? Not well-known in the Central Plains, but merchants who plied the western routes knew their forces rivaled the finest sects there.
“Which sect went to war with them? Bloodscale Veil?”
“Bloodscale Veil was gearing up for war, but they didn’t even swing a sword.”
“Not them? Then who?”
“Don’t freak out.”
The man’s voice dropped low. But the crowd around him leaned in closer.
“One man.”
“What?”
“A single guy turned West Heaven Lodge into a river of blood.”
“Impossible...”
“It’s real. My brother said it was hell on earth, sight unseen. Corpses piled like mountains, blood forming streams. Everywhere that man walked, only death followed. No wonder the survivors called him the Reaper.”
“Reaper?”
“Yeah! The area around West Heaven Lodge is in total chaos because of it.”
“No kidding?”
Disbelief flickered across faces. But the man continued unfazed.
“Xinjiang Blood Star—the blood star that fell on Xinjiang. That’s what those at the scene call him.”
Gulp!
The chilling moniker made them swallow dryly.
The man glanced around.
“Think he might be here? Xinjiang Blood Star, crashing this party?”
“......”
Everyone froze.
Suddenly, the merchant burst into hearty laughter.
“Haha! Just kidding. He’s gotta be some monster with three heads and six arms. No way a guy like that’s here.”
“Hey! You scared us!”
“Gave everyone a fright.”
Relieved sighs and exclamations echoed everywhere.