The Phoenix Fragment
I stepped into the first floor.
A supervisor waiting in the lounge handed me something.
“This is an honor passed down under the deep tradition since the inaugural Dark Martial Tournament.”
In my hand rested a meticulously carved red phoenix fragment no larger than the first joint of my pinky finger.
“This is…?”
Peering at the glowing red phoenix fragment, I asked the supervisor.
“You should feel proud. Even just considering the honor and symbolism of the Dark Martial Tournament itself, issuance is extremely difficult.”
“Then who is involved in issuing such a difficult honor? If it’s this honorable, there are bound to be plenty of martial artists in the Jianghu who crave it as a basic desire to be acknowledged. There should be a standard that no one can criticize in issuance.”
“Ah,” the supervisor said, “you don’t have to worry about that.”
“You don’t have to worry?”
“You know how the various sects say: All wealth in the world is distributed beneath the bone-and-flesh struggles of the Five Great Families, the borders between the orthodox sects and the Demon Cult are protected under the ten-day Guardian, and the orthodox factions sleep beneath the surface waiting for the five tigers and three flowers to rise as the latent dragons of the Jianghu. And the vast clouds of the jianghu are where the eight demon dragons play go and roam freely.”
“…Even the bone-and-flesh struggles?”
The supervisor, who had no way of knowing my thoughts, continued without pause.
“He’s already left and doesn’t exist anymore, but that phoenix fragment was presented to light up the opening ceremony of the Dark Martial Tournament. At the exact moment, one of the eight demon dragons, the Dark Lady Emperor, Lady Cheon Mi-ryu, pointed at the participant and left.”
“So that means…”
The supervisor nodded.
“It doesn’t come every time. This phoenix is a special item given only when one of the eight demon dragons ‘accidentally’ attends the tournament and issues the order because they like you.”
“…Why me, of all people?”
This was my first question after hearing the supervisor’s story.
My life had been far too winding for me to simply rejoice.
The supervisor’s expression shifted from slight disappointment to a muttered complaint, as if expecting me to be greatly surprised and delighted.
“I don’t know. Maybe it was the old man’s preference to break it with a palm strike instead of pouring internal energy into the ten-thousand-year ground-force rock.”
“…”
The supervisor’s expression turned helpless as I stared at the phoenix fragment.
“I’ve helped organize the Dark Martial Tournament for twenty years, visiting various branches. It’s the first time I’ve seen a martial artist receive this phoenix fragment with such a calm expression. In other words, it’s indirectly as if they’ve been acknowledged by one of the eight demon dragons. High-level experts think differently, don’t they?”
“I don’t consider myself a high-level expert. Never.”
The supervisor’s face, hearing my flat denial, was the face of someone who had just heard the greatest insult in the world.
The supervisor sighed, having given up on further complaints.
“If, when others later see it, their reactions can make you feel its prestige. For now, I must go to the others.”
With those words, the supervisor left.
In the first-floor lounge, fewer than forty percent of the people gathered in the plaza remained.
Still, most people’s eyes held me as nothing more than a newcomer without any fame from the underworld. No one had witnessed me shattering the ten-thousand-year ground-force rock with a palm strike instead of internal energy.
Only a few had witnessed the event. The person they focused on was the Three Evil Young Master, Ak Ryu-yeop. I had taken the test after his exam ended, so it was only natural.
Many people were startled by the ground shaking and the earth-shaking roar that came a heartbeat later, but by then everything was already over.
When they asked bystanders what had happened, there was no underworld expert willing to share even trivial information with a potential competitor.
And what they heard wasn’t believable anyway.
So, to the majority, I remained just a fledgling participant whose face and name they didn’t know.
It didn’t matter to me either way.
“The problem is…”
I felt a gaze drilling into my back as if my skull would pierce.
A small group, led by the Bent Over Ziya, had witnessed me smashing the pillar and were now watching me with extreme caution.
And…
“That guy is openly glaring at me like he wants to chew me up and spit me out.”
Ak Ryu-yeop, the Three Evil Young Master, glared at me with burning eyes, as if he would gnash his teeth on me.
Especially that gaze had flared with rapid hatred ever since he witnessed me receiving the phoenix fragment from the supervisor.
Without a doubt, if I hadn’t been there, he would still have been the host of this position. And if I hadn’t been here, he would have pulled the attention of the eight demon dragons and received the phoenix fragment himself.
Finally…
“Startled.”
The gray pony-tailed underworld expert immediately lowered his eyes to the floor the moment our gazes met, as fast as lightning.
Sweat soaked his neck so thoroughly that it was visible even from a distance.
“Eh? What’s wrong, why did you suddenly become like this?”
The underworld expert wearing the wolf vest, who had been about to adjust his bow, frowned instead.
“Ah, no. It’s fine.”
Wiping the sweat from his neck, the gray pony-tailed man stammered.
“Fine? What’s fine? Idiot. Suddenly like you can’t go to the latrine for a week… your face is green…”
The wolf-vest underworld expert lifted his head and our eyes met.
“…”
The gray pony-tailed man looked at him in utter disbelief, then at me, and spoke.
“Pah, did that bastard glare at you with his eyes?”
The wolf-vest underworld expert pointed at me and sneered at the gray pony-tailed man.
“…”
I stared blankly at the scene.
Among the underworld experts, the wolf-vest one had already entered the first floor first, so he probably hadn’t heard what happened outside.
The wolf-vest man giggled.
“You, and now you’re scared of that stinking bastard? You’re stupid. Oh right, I forgot. The guy just finished his test and said he’d touch up his hands a bit…”
“H, stop it!”
The gray pony-tailed man’s face turned deathly pale as he shouted at the wolf-vest man.
“What the hell. Since when did underworld experts become orthodox factions?”
The wolf-vest man glanced at me repeatedly with a lecherous smile.
“You can do it secretly. Whether the supervisors are guarding or not, what does it matter? Right? If you break a couple of limbs, he’ll crawl on all fours and learn what the world is really scary.”
“…”
I let out a small sigh.
“Uduk.”
Leaning back in my chair, I loosened my neck.
The gray pony-tailed man saw this and broke out in sweat so much it soaked his entire upper body.
“Hey, hey you fucking bastard!! Normally you’re not this aggressive, but today you’re going crazy for a fight!”
The gray pony-tailed man’s expression was nearly crying.
“We have to preserve our stamina a little before the tournament! We’re not your servants or anything…!”
The wolf-vest man was startled by the desperate words of the gray pony-tailed underworld expert struggling with his limbs.
“…Huh? Hey, why are you suddenly—”
“Hehe, everyone, pay attention.”
Attracting everyone’s gaze, the supervisor who had handed me the phoenix fragment earlier stepped forward.
“This Dark Martial Tournament has many outstanding participants, so it’s taking longer than expected to create a fair tournament bracket. It will probably take another half-jin.”
“Sorry for making you wait.”
Outside the lounge, the chatter of the spectators waiting in the tournament arena we hadn’t seen yet was growing louder.
The supervisor continued.
“The participants may rest and enjoy tea and alcohol in the adjacent tea room. For security, there are no servants or slaves to assist, so please understand that you must do everything yourself.”
With those words, the supervisor left.
I hadn’t eaten a proper meal today.
I stood up, brushed myself off, and left the lounge.
I opened the door and headed to the tea room next door.
“Swoosh.”
The underworld expert in the wolf vest quietly followed me.
The tea room connected to the adjacent room.
There were large chairs in the room, and three tournament supervisors were sitting and talking.
Only one maid was on her knees mopping the wooden floor.
“…”
I felt my sole sliding on the ground.
It was estimated she had wrung out all the moisture from the mop.
I tested the floor with my toes.
Feeling the moisture, I went to the shelf inside the tea room.
I opened the cupboard above the head.
It was confirmed that the door opened at a height exactly from my nose bridge to my forehead.
There were numerous porcelain jars of nuts.
I saw seasoning jars containing salt and pepper.
I closed the cupboard again.
“Dalk.”
I opened the teapot on the small stove.
Warmer, slightly cool tea was being steeped.
On the nearby display shelf, I saw various kinds of luxurious wines neatly displayed in bottles.
“Whoa, I found Sichuan’s famous Mei Hua wine that people can’t even drink even if they pay here. But the idiots in the lounge never even thought of coming here.”
From behind, the wolf-vest underworld expert roughly pushed me aside and squatted down.
Squatting in front of the display shelf, he rummaged through it for a long time.
A bow was visible behind his back.
He rummaged for a while, finally pulled out one bottle of wine, and stood up.
“Big brother, you came to drink alcohol too? Among the people in the lounge, besides you and me, who is thinking of watching and filling their stomach? Right? I’ve seen you before; you have guts.”
“…”
He brought the wine bottle to his lips and drank.
One gulp.
Two gulps.
Three gulps.
The underworld expert sighed in admiration.
“Kya, this really kills the taste.”
He opened the cupboard above the head, took a handful of nuts from the nut jar, and poured them onto the table.
Closing the cupboard again, he picked up a handful of the poured nuts and put them in his mouth, chewing them with crisp sounds.
And then he brought the wine bottle back to his lips.
While greedily drinking the alcohol, he sneered.
“What to do? Your luck seems over now. There probably won’t be any overseer to stop this situation and protect you. Little one. How about it. Are you still muttering to yourself and glaring? It’s cute.”
“Glug, glug.”
Mei Hua wine flowed from the corner of his mouth.
While blowing into the bottle, a deadly dagger began to be drawn from the other hand stained with peanut powder.
“Before I start, let me say one thing.”
I glanced at my right side.
Confirming again that the three tournament supervisors sitting in the room were lost in small talk.
“What?”
“The floor is slippery.”
The underworld expert, while blowing into the bottle, raised his eyes.
“It might be dangerous while going back and forth for food.”
“What? What does that mean—”
“Pang.”
He slammed the bottom of the bottle with his fist while blowing into it.
“Kueok.”
His teeth broke, and the bottle was thrust straight into the wolf-vest underworld expert’s mouth.
His hand shot out like lightning.
He snatched the bow slung across the underworld expert’s shoulder.
He kicked his chest and pulled with all his strength, then released.
“Piiing!!”
The bowstring, which bent from extreme tension and returned, struck the wolf-vest underworld expert’s throat.
“Uek!”
The underworld expert clutched his neck.
He couldn’t say anything.
He flung open the cupboard door.
His nose collapsed, smashing his face.
He stamped both knees with his heels, pushing him down.
He picked up the nut porcelain jar.
Holding it in both hands, he slapped the eardrums on both sides.
“Kueok!”
Looking at the falling underworld expert, he snatched the teapot with water inside.
“Chwaak!”
He struck it straight onto his head.
“Bwaaak!!”
That was only one round.
“Kwadangtang!”
“Chaegrang! Wajangchang!”
“What is this noise!”
The three tournament supervisors, who had been far from the room, hurriedly ran over from the noise.
But after everything was over, in front of them was only the collapsed underworld expert, covered in the shattered teapot, nuts, and alcohol.
Above him was the broken cupboard door.
With a feigned bewildered expression, I pointed at the underworld expert.
“Oh, the floor seems quite slippery. I just discovered it too. The person there was trying to bring alcohol and snacks, but…”
“…”
After the supervisors behind me had stabilized the situation, I returned to the lounge and sat down.
I quietly looked at one side.
At the end of that gaze, the gray pony-tailed underworld expert was sitting in a rigid posture with his waist straight, sweating coldly.
“Ah, right. You were still here.”
I stood up and brushed myself off.
“Hi… hiiik. Mother.”
The gray pony-tailed man let out a dying scream.
The Heavenly Demon Copies Martial Arts.