Chapter 50
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 50
Chapter Title: Drunken Eagle Inn
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"Me? I'm Seomun Pyeong of the Drunken Eagle Inn."
The man descended the stairs and stood tall as he replied.
Behind him stood Sa Hongcheon, who had briefly stepped away, his face pale and altered.
The inn's fidgety manager hurried over and whispered something into Seomun Pyeong's ear.
After listening to the manager's words for a moment, he lifted his head again and declared solemnly.
"The Drunken Eagle Inn does not permit personal fights under any circumstances. If you cannot abide by this policy, please leave now. Once you're out, you can do whatever you like, of course."
"Hmph. The innkeeper is far too arrogant. I've never heard such nonsense."
Ak Jigwang shot back excitedly, but Seomun Pyeong pointed to a scroll hanging on the wall.
"Have you not seen that?"
The aged, shabby scroll bore roughly brushed calligraphy that read:
<[Carrying weapons is permitted, but fighting is prohibited. Drunken Eagle Innkeeper Baek]>
Of course, no one had paid it any mind, but it was indeed hanging there.
"What nonsense is this? Are you also daring to disregard our Four Divine Dragons?"
"Disregard? Young hero, that's the nonsense. I've been running this inn in Lan Province for thirty years now. That scroll was penned by my own hand thirty years ago, and there have been no exceptions in all that time. Seventeen years ago, even Chun Bujang—the young hero who visited our inn—received no special treatment. So how could I possibly treat his son, Young Hero Ak, any differently?"
Only then did Ak Jigwang recall that the person who had urged him to visit the Drunken Eagle Inn if he ever came to Lan Province was none other than his father—and that his father had added a few words to it.
'The food there is top-notch, but the man running the place is no pushover. Don't go picking any fights there, no matter what.'
'Why not?'
'Why do you think? He's an expert. He may run an inn, but he's likely the top martial artist in all of Lan Province. Probably.'
'Ah, yes.'
His father's words, which he had brushed off at the time, now rang vividly in his ears.
He also remembered the unusually bitter expression on his father's face as he spoke.
While Ak Jigwang was lost in thought for a moment, Un Jahong, who had been watching, stepped forward.
"I'm Un Jahong, the fourth son of the Jinju Un Clan. You may hold some fame here in Lan Province, but the truth is you fall short of what our Four Divine Dragons expected. We're descendants of the central plain's renowned martial houses—we can't just swallow this insult. What do you propose we do?"
Seomun Pyeong ignored Un Jahong's question and instead asked Dogwang.
"And what will you do?"
"Me? Well... I'm past the age where fighting sounds fun... Heh heh. But that doesn't mean I'm so old these impudent pups scare me..."
"Hmm. So you do have the will to fight. Very well then. It would be inconvenient here, but the Drunken Eagle Inn has a suitable venue for such things. How about I lend it to you?"
"As long as it's not too far, I don't mind. The lamb will get cold otherwise. Heh heh..."
"Very well. If there's such a place within the inn, we have no reason to refuse."
Un Jahong replied, his eyes still gleaming with murderous intent.
And so, both sides' representatives moved to Seomun Pyeong's private training ground behind the Drunken Eagle Inn.
Everyone except Seonwoyong, Han Sojung, and the old man.
Upon entering the grounds, Dogwang eagerly scanned the surroundings.
"Well now. It seems Great Hero Seo is a master of the fist arts."
As expected, his private training ground held no actual weapons. There were only several wooden dummies carved from jujube trees, and atop a brazier hung an iron cauldron filled with sand.
On one side of the training ground sat a massive boulder weighing thousands of catties, astonishingly covered in the marks of countless palm strikes.
"No need for lengthy talk. Who from your side will step forward?"
Seomun Pyeong asked, eyeing Ak Jigwang and Un Jahong.
What happened next was unexpected.
The man in green robes, who had said little until now, stepped up first.
"Brothers Ak and Un, yield this one to me. Though this fellow is merely a carriage driver, he seems to have some skill. Allow me to first give him a taste of our house's fine medicine."
Seomun Pyeong's expression shifted slightly.
"I've heard you're from the Sichuan Tang Clan, young hero. Do you intend to use poison arts here?"
"If it's not an ambush, who's to complain if I use my clan's martial arts? Of course, I plan to administer just the right dose of poison to him."
Even as he spoke, the man from the Sichuan Tang Clan was slipping on green deerskin gloves.
Dogwang smirked at the sight and stepped forward.
"But are you lot planning to come at me one by one in rotation? At that rate, my lamb will go completely cold..."
"You won't be eating any lamb. Probably. Heh heh... Remember my name. I'm Tang Ho, sixth of the Sichuan Tang Clan..."
Before he could finish declaring himself Tang Ho, Dogwang's figure flickered.
Drawing the dagger from his sleeve—the one he used to carry—he closed in on Tang Ho in an instant, thrust once, and withdrew.
It was lightning-fast technique.
Yet Tang Ho's state was bizarre.
Pinned at some acupoint, he couldn't move a muscle, his face contorted in agony.
"Ugh heh heh..."
He let out a grotesque sound somewhere between laughter and sobbing, foam bubbling from his mouth.
"Haha... I tapped two acupoints for you, so you'll suffer a bit. Who's next?"
Dogwang, now gripping a dagger in each hand, swept his gaze over the remaining men.
"Indeed, against a poison user, a thunderbolt preemptive strike is basic common sense in the martial world. Your lightness skill and acupoint technique are truly admirable."
Seomun Pyeong, who had naturally taken charge of the spar, nodded and praised Dogwang's skill.
At that moment, Un Jahong charged at Dogwang like the wind.
The Jinju Un Clan was located in Anpyeong of northern Hebei, making it quite close to Lan Province.
What had first made the Jinju Un Clan's name renowned across the land was their corpse puppet arts—the method of creating and controlling jiangshi.
Jiangshi were originally the preserved corpses of those who died far from home, treated to prevent decay and compelled to walk back to their distant hometowns on their own. It was not inherently evil sorcery.
And since they didn't offer such arts for free, they amassed vast fortunes—especially in eras of constant war and mass death—leading to their prosperity.
The clan's current peak, securing a seat among the Five Great Families, stemmed from the countless wars and slaughters during the campaign to drive out the Mongol invaders and establish the Ming Dynasty some two to three hundred years ago.
But the Jinju Un Clan's signature hereditary arts were not limited to jiangshi techniques.
They possessed exceptional fist arts, led by the Heaven-Pressing Fist, commonly known in the jianghu as the Un Clan Fist.
By merging jiangshi creation techniques with cultivation methods, their martial arts focused on forging bodies harder than rock, akin to the Shaolin's Diamond Invulnerability Skill.
In particular, at the pinnacle, a bluish-bronze protective aura manifested across the body—the Un Clan Azure Rigid Qi—which could be called the divine art that forged the current Jinju Un Clan.
Un Jahong did not underestimate his opponent.
From the start, he summoned the Un Clan Azure Rigid Qi and unleashed the Heaven-Pressing Fist's ultimate technique, Pressing Heaven Collapsing Mountain, aiming for Dogwang's opening.
"Whoa, scary stuff. This one's got some bite."
Dogwang flipped his body into the air to evade, feigning exaggerated fear.
But his counterattack was like a bolt of lightning; in no time, he twisted midair and jabbed the sheath's tip into Un Jahong's right Shoulder Well acupoint with his left dagger.
Of course, it was the sheath's tip, not the blade.
He still hadn't drawn his sword.
"Urk."
Un Jahong clutched his right shoulder with his left hand, reeling back as excruciating pain shot through the Shoulder Well acupoint.
Never since cultivating the Un Clan Azure Rigid Qi had he endured such agony.
Though Dogwang had struck with the sheath, the considerable internal energy infused into the acupoint strike made the shock far exceed Un Jahong's imagination.
Un Jahong's steps staggered like a drunkard's.
And then he began vomiting up everything he had eaten earlier.
With Tang Ho and now Un Jahong so easily defeated, Ak Jigwang was growing genuinely afraid.
He couldn't fathom Dogwang's true identity, but he knew now this was no opponent they could challenge.
As the remaining two of the Four Divine Dragons hesitated after their comrades fell, Dogwang stepped forward with a grin.
The one he singled out was surprisingly the youth who had tried to restrain Ak Jigwang at the start.
"What are you doing? Your brothers are getting thrashed like this—have you no loyalty, no hot blood?"
The youth Dogwang pointed to hardened his expression and drew the longsword from his belt.
"I failed to recognize a senior of the jianghu. Yi Taejeong of the Wudang school humbly receives your instruction."
"Heh heh... Now you talk of etiquette? Come on then. Haha..."
Yi Taejeong, tall and strikingly fair-skinned, wore a white robe cinched with a black sash, his Songmun Ancient Sword now drawn.
"This is getting fun. Drawing the Songmun Ancient Sword means you're definitely from Wudang. Hahaha..."
Bangchung, watching from the sidelines, guffawed in delight.
There was no way Dogwang wouldn't recognize Yi Taejeong's sect, making the situation all the more amusing.
With a solemn expression, Yi Taejeong began with the introductory stance of the Supreme Clarity Sword Method—the orthodox Wudang sword art.
The opening stances of famed orthodox sects' signature arts were essentially polite greetings to one's opponent.
The Supreme Clarity Sword Method's introductory stance, Standing Upright Serene Posture, involved holding the sword straight up to signal the impending assault.
Dogwang's demeanor shed its prior playfulness; he crossed his arms in an X over his chest, responding to Yi Taejeong's Standing Upright Serene Posture.
In that instant, Yi Taejeong was startled.
'That's... the Self-Hand Surging Vastness from our core manual.'
Indeed.
The stance Dogwang had assumed was the Self-Hand Surging Vastness—another introductory form of the Two Forms Sword Method, the absolute foundation of Wudang swordsmanship, comprising most of its basics.