Chapter 53
Chapter 53
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Translator: crow
Chapter Title: 53. Bullfight
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While Jong Hakjin was making the most of his strengths by setting up a betting ring right in the heart of the Murim Alliance,
another servant from the Luoyang Medical Hall was itching to play to his own strengths as well.
Jang Chil, who bore the nickname Bigmouth, rolled his eyes around restlessly.
A duel between the Medical Pavilion Leader and Paeng Jisan!
His mouth tingled with the urge to grab someone who didn't know and spread the word.
Just then, he spotted a servant from the Strategist Division hurrying across the Medical Pavilion with quick steps.
It was a servant who often accompanied Deputy Strategist Tae Jeongheon whenever he visited the Medical Pavilion, and he already knew Jang Chil.
Jang Chil quickly ran over to him.
“Hey, you busy?”
The Strategist Division servant replied while briskly heading toward the Strategist Division.
“Busy as hell. I've got something urgent to deliver, so if you've got something to say, walk and talk.”
It was a shame, but there was no time for a proper chat.
Jang Chil had to get back to watch the duel anyway.
Smacking his lips, he quickly got to the point.
As always, he didn't forget to spice it up a bit.
“Right now, the Medical Pavilion Leader and Young Master Paeng Jisan are, well…”
“What?! So that's why everyone's gathered over there?”
“Of course. And the stakes on this bet are…”
The Strategist Division servant, who had listened with keen interest to Jang Chil's excited chatter, returned to his division.
As soon as he got back, he spotted the Deputy Strategist heading to the Chief Strategist's office.
He was holding a report in his hand.
Deputy Strategist Tae Jeongheon was the type who wanted to personally handle everything involving Baek Yuseong.
Ever since his life was saved, aside from his Strategist Division duties, he always kept a close eye on the Medical Pavilion,
and he had instructed his servants to let him know if they heard any news.
“Deputy Strategist, sir.”
“Oh, what is it?”
“Something's happening at the Medical Pavilion right now.”
“At the Medical Pavilion? Tell me the details.”
The Strategist Division servant relayed everything he had just heard from Jang Chil.
The moment the servant finished speaking, the Deputy Strategist shouted loudly.
“What?! The Medical Pavilion Leader dueling Paeng Jisan?! How in the world?!”
Noise from the corridor near the Chief Strategist's office.
Jegal Yeongyeong, who had been thinking of taking a break with some tea after handling urgent reports, froze in place.
'What the…'
Paeng Jisan—wasn't he that Peak Realm expert who'd been at the center of all sorts of rumors and troubles lately?
She wondered how a duel between him and Yuseong had even come about.
And she was worried, too.
It was called a duel rather than a fight, so his life wasn't in danger, but he could still get hurt, right?
She had speculated that Yuseong might be a Peak Realm expert himself, but hadn't he been away from martial arts for a long time?
He was someone who could perform mysteriously advanced healing arts to treat injuries quickly, but even so, the thought of him getting hurt even a little made her heart ache.
'I need to find out exactly what's going on.'
Jegal Yeongyeong forced a calm expression as she reached for the door handle to leave the Chief Strategist's office.
“What? The loser has to give up on Nangong Yurin? What's that about?”
She could no longer maintain her composure.
Bang—
The Chief Strategist's office door flew open, and Jegal Yeongyeong shot out with a fierce glare, unleashing her movement technique toward the Medical Pavilion.
The Deputy Strategist and the servant stared in surprise in that direction.
Jang Chil, infamous in the Luoyang Medical Hall for adding his own wild speculations when spreading rumors, had once again created an innocent victim.
***
Jong Hakjin's busy scurrying around and whispering with the warriors naturally caught the Alliance Leader's eye.
With his exceptional eyesight and hearing, he had figured out what was going on, but the Alliance Leader turned a blind eye.
He himself was quite interested in the duel between the two.
Surely they felt the same.
The Alliance Leader wasn't someone who was strict only with others.
'If I could, I'd love to join in, but unfortunately, I can't.'
Even the Murim Alliance Leader, not from a prestigious sect, had to sit still to maintain decorum, but he wasn't all that different from the other men.
And right now, at this moment, he was fervently cheering for Yuseong in his heart.
In any case, the preparations for the duel were complete.
In the middle of an open space where warriors with eyes blazing ten times fiercer than before had formed a large circle,
Paeng Jisan and Yuseong stood facing each other at a set distance.
Paeng Jisan sneered.
“But I'm really curious. How ridiculous must I have looked for you to propose a duel?”
“You think I'm obviously going to lose?”
“You've been flipping through medical texts so much your mind's, ahem, not making sound judgments?”
“Then at the bookstore, you thought you had the advantage but proposed that 'fair' duel anyway?”
The bare-handed duel without internal energy that Yuseong had just proposed was a condition Paeng Jisan had brought up first.
“...Let's just start.”
He seemed to have no comeback.
Paeng Jisan confidently assumed the starting stance of the Paeng Family of Northern Hebei's signature fist technique.
A convincing pose befitting a Peak Realm expert drew small gasps of admiration and a loud cheer from the Murim Alliance warriors.
“Go, Young Master Paeng!”
It wasn't that they particularly liked him.
The warriors didn't carry much money on them usually, and even pooled together, it was less than what Nangong Yurin had put up.
In other words, if Paeng Jisan won, they stood to make a tidy profit.
Most of them hadn't yet received any significant help from the Medical Pavilion Leader.
In a way, it was only natural.
Unaware of these inner workings, Paeng Jisan puffed up his shoulders.
“Everyone's cheering for me—”
Snap.
As Yuseong assumed the starting stance of the Six Harmonies Fist, Paeng Jisan's boastful words cut off abruptly.
Having only ever seen Yuseong in his usual, ordinary slouched posture, he was taken aback to see him suddenly in a stance of considerable skill.
'I knew he'd trained in martial arts in the past, but at that level? No way that's possible…'
There was no way that guy was a Peak Realm expert, right?
He'd heard he was only twenty!
He had once heard from Jin Yeongho that Yuseong had suffered Qi Deviation at seventeen.
Back then, Paeng Jisan had pressed him, suggesting maybe he'd learned a demonic art, but what if he really was a Peak Realm expert and that's why he'd fallen into Qi Deviation?
'At seventeen, Peak Realm? No way in hell!'
Paeng Jisan denied reality.
And even if so, there was no way he'd lose to something like the Six Harmonies Fist.
***
Though the participant denied reality, the Alliance Leader—who had speculated based on Yuseong's information that he might have been a Peak Realm expert—nodded at the sight of the stance.
A sigh escaped him at the same time.
'How did a once-in-a-millennium martial prodigy end up falling into Qi Deviation…'
It was a tragedy for the orthodox Murim world.
Just moments ago, using the pretext of sealing internal energy, he had checked near the dantian and confirmed the shattered fragments firsthand.
'Still, you never know. The Medical Pavilion Leader wields mysteriously advanced healing arts—he even treated Jeong Rip, whom all physicians had given up on.'
If Yuseong had a way to recover from Qi Deviation, he resolved to help actively.
Since Jeong Rip and Yuseong were close, with his assistance, he could surely recruit him.
Though he was quietly biding his time now, the Alliance Leader harbored ambitions to nurture the Baekli Family.
The Dao King also whipped his head toward the Alliance Leader the moment he saw Yuseong's stance.
'So the Medical Pavilion Leader has trained in martial arts. And at twenty, to that level… Impressive. The Alliance Leader knew already. No wonder he didn't try to stop it… He sees a chance of victory for the Medical Pavilion Leader. With internal energy sealed for both, if he's a fist art expert, he can give Jisan a run for his money.'
Yuseong's current internal energy level was completely unreadable compared to his stance.
There were special heart methods in the jianghu that concealed one's internal energy level.
Of course, the Dao King had no information on Yuseong and was mistaken.
For the sake of breaking his bad habits, the Dao King hoped Yuseong would defeat his son.
It was better for him to get humbled now and straighten up than to cause far greater problems later.
There was a reason why, in the Paeng Family where martial prowess alone didn't determine the patriarch, the Dao King had been chosen unanimously.
***
Paeng Jisan had originally planned to yield the first move.
Yielding the initiative in front of Nangong Yurin and then crushing Yuseong decisively would look even cooler.
But now that he knew Yuseong was at a considerable level, he had no such luxury.
Winning took precedence over looking cool.
With both already in starting stances anyway.
Paeng Jisan suddenly stepped forward with footwork and thrust a fist toward Yuseong's chest.
“Haat!”
A powerful strike based on his innate divine strength.
If the opponent blocked, he could send them flying entirely.
He planned to follow up if they dodged in panic, but Yuseong showed no reaction.
'His stance looks good, but he's nothing special!'
He, who had even prepared changes in case, poured all his power into the fist.
He had no doubt Yuseong would tumble backward pathetically soon.
“...!”
But his expectation missed the mark.
Innate divine strength was useless if it didn't connect.
Yuseong slid diagonally like silk, dodging the fist by a hair's breadth and launching a counterattack.
Paeng Jisan, having committed fully in overconfidence of victory, couldn't avoid his stance slightly breaking.
‘Abdomen!’
He hurriedly corrected his posture and assumed a defensive form.
This time, he had no doubt Yuseong's attack would be blocked by his arm.
Slither.
The fist, which seemed to thrust straight, moved like a snake, climbing along Paeng Jisan's arm.
Paeng Jisan hurriedly leaped backward.
‘Dodged it!’
However.
Yuseong's fist grazed Paeng Jisan's nose by a hair's breadth.
Blood spurted from the lightly brushed nose.
A double nosebleed streamed down.
Paeng Jisan's face twisted like a wrathful demon.
“Uwaaa!!”
Charging with bared teeth, he looked like a thoroughly enraged bull.
‘Right, a nosebleed alone isn't enough.’
Yuseong gladly decided to become the bullfighter, ready to thrust spears into his torso one by one until his last breath.