Chapter 123
Chapter 123
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 123
Chapter Title: Got Anything to Eat?
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Contrary to his astonishing entrance, the young man's first words were utterly ridiculous.
"What did you just say?"
"Got anything to eat?"
"I must have misheard that, right?"
Everyone stared at the enigmatic youth Cheonhwi in utter bewilderment.
"Amitabha."
With a soft chant, Yeorae Singwon passed by the vigilant Arhat monks.
"Elder."
"Shouldn't we at least figure out who he is first..."
A few Arhat monks tried to block him as he approached the unidentified youth.
"How can a monk turn away someone seeking aid?"
Dismissing their words with a single phrase, Yeorae Singwon handed over a barley pill from his robe.
"Will this do?"
"Got anything else?"
Cheonhwi's brow furrowed.
He wasn't pleased.
Of all the foods in the world, it had to be the barley pill he'd grown sick of eating!
"This is all I have."
"Tch. Meat would've been nice."
Cheonhwi grumbled lightly as he swallowed the barley pill Yeorae Singwon offered in one gulp.
Was it because he was starving?
It had no taste, but the rising sense of fullness improved his mood anyway.
"Thanks for the meal."
Cheonhwi smiled contentedly as he spoke.
"Haha. Glad to hear it."
Yeorae Singwon smiled warmly.
But something was off.
Now that his hunger was sated, Cheonhwi slowly looked around.
Why were so many people gathered here?
This was the hidden chamber, where there shouldn't have been anyone.
Yet even a rough count showed about a hundred people.
Maybe even more.
It was truly bizarre.
Even the leader of the Heavenly Trade Association hadn't known of its existence until the imperial family obtained the guide map.
And the proof was clear.
The hidden chamber had been ransacked, but when he entered, it had clearly remained undiscovered for at least several decades.
'So, it became known just after I entered, not even long ago?'
What an absurd coincidence.
The hidden chamber of the Shadowless Divine Thrower, undiscovered for decades, had been revealed to the world right after he went in.
Or perhaps...
'It might not be a coincidence...'
As Cheonhwi pondered this,
"It was you!"
Someone bellowed.
It was Myeongwol-do.
He glared at Cheonhwi with sharp eyes, exuding intense killing intent.
"You stole the Shadowless Divine Thrower's treasures from this place and hid them!"
His eyes darted around.
He had sacrificed several Hwangil Unit members to traps just to reach this spot.
But what was this?
After all that hardship, all that remained were scattered empty chests, shattered statue fragments, and stones.
It had been completely looted.
And right then, the chamber wall crumbled, revealing an unidentified youth.
How could he not suspect him?
And that suspicion...
"He stole them."
"Hid them in the walls, right?"
Spread like a contagion, fiercely igniting the doubts of the nearby martial artists.
Feeling their piercing gazes, Cheonhwi was dumbfounded.
'Me, a thief?'
If it were something the secret demon inside had taken, maybe, but the items here?
"This place was already cleaned out by the time I got here."
It had nothing to do with him.
But no one believed him.
"Nonsense! Who would believe you?!"
"Then why'd you come out from inside?"
To their continued shouts,
"Then don't believe me."
Cheonhwi replied indifferently.
He just didn't feel like arguing over something so trivial.
But that attitude only amplified their suspicions, turning them into certainty.
"It's definitely him."
"He stole it!"
Especially the martial artists and ronin who had suffered greatly this time—their rage peaked.
At that moment.
"Amitabha."
A soft chant echoed.
Yeorae Singwon stepped in front of Cheonhwi and met Myeongwol-do's gaze squarely.
"Isn't it too early to jump to conclusions?"
"Are you defending him right now?"
"Shouldn't we confirm the facts before blindly suspecting?"
"Confirm the facts?"
Myeongwol-do twisted his lips.
"You see this mess and still talk about confirming facts?!"
His shout, infused with inner energy,
"Exactly!"
"That guy's obviously the culprit!"
Everyone except the Shaolin monks agreed.
"Everyone, calm down. He hasn't admitted to taking anything himself."
Yeorae Singwon spoke calmly to soothe them, but
"How can we calm down?!"
"My junior brother died in a trap! And you're telling us to hold back in front of the thief?"
It had no effect.
In fact, it only fueled their anger more.
Especially those who had lost senior brothers to the traps—they glared with bloodshot eyes.
"The one who needs to calm down most right now is you."
Myeongwol-do declared confidently, backed by the crowd.
Then his eyes sharpened.
"Or are you protecting him because you know him?"
"I don't know him."
"That's strange."
Myeongwol-do stroked his chin.
"Defending someone who looks exactly like the culprit... I just can't understand it."
The hidden chamber stirred in an instant.
"No way, Shaolin too?"
"But it's Shaolin..."
"They came all this way."
Yeorae Singwon's expression hardened as he heard the whispering martial artists.
Meanwhile, Myeongwol-do's lips curled up.
The mood in the room had completely shifted to his side with his sly words.
'If he'd stayed quiet, it would've been fine, but he had to stir things up and help me out.'
As he sneered at Yeorae Singwon,
Clack.
The Arhat monks stood beside Yeorae Singwon.
The situation was dire.
The forces had split into two.
Yeorae Singwon, Cheonhwi, and the Arhat monks on one side.
And Myeongwol-do, the Hwangil Unit members, and the martial artists agreeing with him on the other.
Numerically, it was overwhelmingly lopsided.
"Haha. Amitabha."
Yet Yeorae Singwon forced a smile as he faced Myeongwol-do and the others.
'This is my mistake.'
It wasn't what he intended.
He only wanted to verify the current situation with the youth.
'I didn't expect them to twist it like this...'
As they faced off,
'Forget that—maybe I should go outside and grab some liquor and meat.'
Cheonhwi moved to leave.
For a moment, the standoff halted as they stared blankly at Cheonhwi walking off as if unconcerned with the situation.
"Where do you think you're going?"
Myeongwol-do blocked Cheonhwi.
"Where'd you hide the items?"
"I already told you they were gone."
"Still playing innocent."
Cheonhwi let out a hollow laugh.
Innocent? What a ridiculous notion the more he thought about it.
"Fine, say I took them."
"So you did..."
"Finders keepers—hiding them changes nothing, right?"
"It would if they had an owner."
Myeongwol-do's eyes narrowed.
"Those include items our Sun-Moon Sect lost to the Shadowless Divine Thrower in the past."
Cheonhwi stared at him steadily.
"How do you know they're yours?"
"Show them to us and..."
"And how would anyone know?"
"..."
Myeongwol-do fell silent.
As he said, the Shadowless Divine Thrower stole them about 250 years ago.
No one in the current world remained to confirm they belonged to the Sun-Moon Sect.
"...You're picking a fight with our sect, then."
"Sure, whatever."
As Cheonhwi replied dismissively,
"That crazy bastard..."
"Where does he get that arrogance?"
Everyone watching Myeongwol-do corner Cheonhwi was stunned.
Only Yeorae Singwon hurriedly collected himself and spoke.
"He's called Bright Moon Blade. Best not to provoke him carelessly."
Yeorae Singwon urgently tried to restrain Cheonhwi by revealing his nickname, but
"Bright Moon Blade? Who's that?"
Cheonhwi tilted his head.
He'd never heard the name before.
"...You don't know Bright Moon Blade?"
"First time hearing it."
"A puppy doesn't know to fear a tiger—suits you perfectly."
Myeongwol-do laughed chillingly.
No one in the jianghu could be unaware of his nickname.
'I thought his boldness meant he had some skill, but he's just all talk.'
He glanced at Cheonhwi's waist.
The two sheaths of different lengths looked utterly ridiculous.
'No one who carries two swords is ever any good.'
Meanwhile, Cheonhwi, still unaware of Myeongwol-do's identity, asked Yeorae Singwon.
"Is that guy that famous? Which sect is he from?"
"...An elder of the Sun-Moon Sect."
"Ah, the Sun-Moon Sect!"
Only then did Cheonhwi nod.
"Should've said so earlier."
Myeongwol-do smirked at Cheonhwi's reaction and unleashed his killing intent.
"Even if you know who I am now, it's too late..."
"Then I just pick a fight with the Sun-Moon Sect, right?"
The hidden chamber erupted in shock.
Yeorae Singwon and the Arhat monks, along with all the martial artists, gaped in disbelief.
"Th-the Sun-Moon Sect doesn't scare you?"
"What's to fear?"
"He's completely insane."
Myeongwol-do's eyes grew fierce.
He couldn't tolerate this attitude dismissing not just him, but his entire sect.
"Number Eight, Number Nine."
At his icy command, two Hwangil Unit members stepped forward.
"Capture him alive."
He wanted to tear him limb from limb right then, but the timing wasn't right.
'I'll make him reveal where he hid the chamber's treasures, then kill him slowly.'
As Myeongwol-do glared with venomous killing intent,
'What to do.'
Cheonhwi lightly loosened his wrists.
'Can't reveal my identity yet, so no Mount Hua Sect techniques...'
Yeorae Singwon and the Arhat monks watched too.
'Guess I have no choice. Time to use one of the arts from inside with Heavenly Demon Reincarnation.'
As he finished his thought while stretching,
Tadadak!
The two Hwangil Unit members charged.
Flanking Cheonhwi's left and right, they raised their long sabers high.
The five-cheok-long blades seemed to scrape the chamber ceiling, wrapped in a chilling, ominous aura along the edges.
"That's...!"
"That stance..."
Yeorae Singwon and a few others held their breath watching the Hwangil members' stance.
The saber raised to the heavens.
And the vicious energy emanating from the blade in all directions—it was the signature stance of a saber art known only by rumor.
"Ghost Moon Seal...!"
No sooner had someone shouted,
Whoooosh!
Than the two long sabers slashed down in unison.
The Sun-Moon Sect's representative saber art plummeted toward Cheonhwi's head, trailing long afterimages.
Swipe—
Cheonhwi raised his head.
The two Hwangil members flinched as he suddenly looked up at them with a glare.
A chillingly pure white smile graced his lips.
'Against unorthodox sects, this should do nicely.'
Cheonhwi slowly raised his right hand.
Simultaneously channeling his inner energy, he splayed his fingers like an eagle's talons.
The supreme demonic hand technique, one of the Three Great Demonic Hands!
The signature ultimate art of the Blood Emperor of Death, the top unorthodox figure centuries ago—an absolute martial art.
Remnant Soul Remnant Blood Claw pierced through a hundred years to reveal itself once more.