Chapter 164
Chapter 164
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 164
Chapter Title: The Drunken Jade Staff
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Little Beggar burst into the Heart-Seizing Pavilion in the inner courtyard of the Orthodox Alliance.
“Master! Master!”
Drunk Beggar, who had been lying sprawled with one arm propped under his head, rolled his eyes.
He was an impressive figure with a plump, un-beggar-like face and a beer belly reminiscent of a small hill.
He scratched at his large earlobes, shedding flakes of grime, and sighed.
“Damn. This beggar brat comes running at the worst possible time.”
“That’s not what’s important right now!”
“But kid, I told you to infiltrate the Nangong Clan. Why are you back so soon?”
“We got caught!”
“What, you beggar brat?!”
Drunk Beggar shot to his feet and hurled a flyswatter at Little Beggar’s head.
*Smack!*
“Gah!”
Little Beggar clutched his head and rolled on the floor.
“Hey, you lunatic! How are you so brazen after getting caught?!”
“No! Who gets caught on purpose?!”
“Then?!”
“They caught us by the smell! What was I supposed to do?!”
“What? Beggars smelling bad is natural… You brat, did you not use the Beggar Concealment Technique?”
“I did, but they still caught us!”
“Huh?”
Drunk Beggar’s eyes widened as he stared at Little Beggar.
The Beggar Concealment Technique had failed?
Not because their presence was detected, but because of the stench?
“…That guy’s nose must be a pig snout or something.”
“I don’t know. Anyway, we got caught.”
“Looks like the Young Lord’s skills are higher than we thought.”
“Yes? No, they’re not.”
“Huh? They’re not?”
“It was the Second Young Master who caught us.”
“…Second Young Master? The sickly one?”
Drunk Beggar’s mind spun furiously.
Information on the Nangong Clan’s Second Young Master flashed through his thoughts.
“Hah! So the rumors about that guy’s martial arts being no joke are true! Does that mean he’s better than his brother?”
“Seems like it. But he’s got no manners, seriously no manners.”
“Either way, it sounds like the Nangong Clan really did wipe out the Zhongnan Sect!”
“Yeah. But he has no manners, I’m telling you? He’s ordering me around like ‘go here, come there.’ Ugh, seriously!”
“He’s ordering *me* around?”
Drunk Beggar let out a hollow laugh.
There were hardly any people in the world who could order the Beggars’ Sect Leader around.
Only the sect leaders of the Nine Great Sects or the Orthodox Alliance Leader could summon him on personal matters.
“Hahaha! That guy doesn’t know his place.”
“His guts are impressive, though.”
“Fine, what gutsy reason did he have to summon me?”
“He put in a commission. A commission.”
“A commission? To me?”
“Yes!”
Drunk Beggar’s face twisted in disbelief.
“Haha, looks like our Beggars’ Sect has really been out of the public eye lately.”
“That’s why it’s time to get back to work. Even rookies are looking down on us.”
Ignoring Little Beggar’s grumbling, Drunk Beggar asked,
“So, what’s the commission?”
“Catch the Millennium Flower Carp.”
“The Millennium Flower Carp?”
“Yes.”
“You mean that inner core carp?”
“Yes, that carp bastard.”
“Hahahahaha! Hahahahaha! What a madman! If such a carp existed, I’d make it my drinking snack first!”
“Hahaha! Right? Total madman!”
Drunk Beggar and Little Beggar laughed uproariously, spraying spit everywhere.
The Heart-Seizing Pavilion shook with their laughter.
Drunk Beggar wiped the drool from his mouth.
“Handing a commission to me, the Sect Leader, means mobilizing the entire Beggars’ Sect. That’s at least a hundred thousand taels of gold. And for the Millennium Flower Carp? We’d need at least a million taels, and the price will keep rising since we don’t know how long it’ll take.”
“You’ve got the math down.”
“Haha, even if the Nangong Clan sold their whole foundation, they couldn’t afford it.”
“Haha! And they give me this crap commission? If I hadn’t been overpowered, I’d have smashed Dragon Subduing Eighteen Palms right into his forehead.”
Little Beggar snickered and pulled out a drawing from his robes.
Absurdity and bafflement brought wave after wave of hollow laughter.
Drunk Beggar, lips twitching in amusement, took the paper Little Beggar offered.
“You’ve got a talent for drawing.”
“Passing on information is a core skill for any Beggars’ Sect disciple, right?”
Little Beggar puffed out his chest.
Drunk Beggar chuckled lightly and examined the drawing.
“Haha, this looks just like a staff. No, a stick… a stick…”
…A stick?
Drunk Beggar’s pupils dilated, and his hands began to tremble.
“Hey, what’s that decoration on top of the staff made of?”
“Jade, I think.”
“Jade?”
“Yeah, jade.”
“Jade…”
Little Beggar answered nonchalantly, then tilted his head.
Something was off with Drunk Beggar.
His eyes were bulging like steel balls, and his hands shook like he had malaria…
“Master?”
“You jade-like bastard!”
Drunk Beggar’s fist smashed into Little Beggar’s jaw.
*Crack!*
“Gwaaaack!”
*Thud!*
Little Beggar’s jaw twisted sideways as he flopped face-first to the floor.
Drunk Beggar bellowed like thunder.
“You mad bastard! How does a Sub-Division Leader not recognize the Drunken Jade Staff?!”
“Huh? Urrgh?”
Drunken Jade Staff? Why was the Drunken Jade Staff coming up?
Seeing Little Beggar’s confusion flipped Drunk Beggar’s stomach.
He glared and roared,
“You rotten punk! If you’re gonna slack off and freeload, at least do your damn job! How do you not recognize the Drunken Jade Staff?! The Drunken Jade Staff! You call yourself a Sub-Division Leader?! Die, just die!”
“Keh, kehack! Be-beggars sla-slacking off is nor-normal… Graaaack!”
“You double-fuck bastard!”
*Pow pow pow pow pow! Bam bam bam!*
Dozens of palm strikes hammered Little Beggar’s face in an instant.
Drunk Beggar shuddered with rage.
“That guy! Where is that guy?!”
Roaring ferociously, he grabbed Little Beggar by the scruff and charged outside.
‘…Damn, what the hell is going on?’
Even in his dazed state, Little Beggar stared at Drunk Beggar with bewilderment.
* * *
Tak Hyeokdong tilted his head at the dust cloud rising beyond his quarters’ entrance.
“Some beggar bastard running around the Orthodox Alliance.”
Geon Cheon-hwi, standing beside him, sighed.
“It’s the Beggars’ Sect.”
“Kehe, but how’s a beggar that plump and pudgy?”
“A well-fed beggar.”
“Look at that beggar bastard’s speed.”
“Isn’t that the one from earlier?”
“Yeah? Getting dragged by the collar?”
Drunk Beggar, his hefty belly jiggling as he panted along, arrived right in front of them.
Tak Hyeokdong naturally blocked the entrance.
He glared, stopping the pair in their tracks.
Little Beggar quickly stepped forward and shouted,
“It’s the Division Leader!”
“Nimi?”
“…I said Sect Leader!”
Little Beggar yelled, realigning his jaw.
Tak Hyeokdong cleared his throat awkwardly and glanced back. Geon Cheon-hwi called toward Nangong Hyeok,
“Second Young Master! The Beggars’ Sect has arrived.”
Nangong Hyeok, who had been blowing his nose in the courtyard, strolled over casually.
“Oh?”
He snickered and walked up to Drunk Beggar.
Drunk Beggar’s nostrils flared, his shoulders heaving, unable to hide his excitement.
‘…That’s the Second Young Master?’
Staring at Nangong Hyeok, who was far from the demeanor of an orthodox clan disciple, Drunk Beggar’s eyes widened.
That naive-looking kid saw through the Beggar Concealment Technique?
Drunk Beggar swallowed hard.
‘How the hell does *he* have the Drunken Jade Staff?’
Even the Beggars’ Sect hadn’t found it…
Doubts swirled, and he desperately wanted to see the staff with his own eyes, but as Sect Leader, he couldn’t act so disgracefully.
As he agonized over his first words…
“Hey! Didn’t I tell you to go wash up?”
“…Huh?”
“Hey, get that bastard cleaned.”
Nangong Hyeok scowled and pointed at Little Beggar.
Little Beggar, fiddling with his jaw, bugged out his eyes.
Wash?
He’s seriously telling a beggar to wash?
‘This is beggar humiliation!’
Making a beggar wash was no different from stripping them naked.
Washing away the filth that symbolized a Beggars’ Sect disciple’s prowess was a humiliation equivalent to reverting to infancy.
“Y-Yes?! N-No! Beggars are supposed to be dirty! M-Master! He’s trying to make a beggar wash!”
“True. That’s a bit…”
Drunk Beggar shook his head, then his eyes widened.
Nangong Hyeok was rummaging in his sleeve and shaking something out.
*Shake shake.*
The shape looked familiar.
Green stick?
…Just like the drawing?
Drunk Beggar smashed the back of Little Beggar’s head mercilessly.
*Smack!*
“Wash, you punk!”
“This is an insul—waaaack!”
Little Beggar went limp, smoke practically rising from his skull.
Tak Hyeokdong grimaced once, then dragged the collapsed Little Beggar away.
“Keu, this beggar bastard stinks to high heaven.”
Ignoring Little Beggar’s pitiful dragging, Drunk Beggar bared his yellow teeth in a grin at Nangong Hyeok.
“Hahaha! Little brother! Let’s take our time and talk then.”
Nangong Hyeok smirked.
“Aren’t you gonna wash, Sect Leader?”
“…Huh?”
“You stink.”
“…Hahaha, hahaha!”
Drunk Beggar laughed hollowly.
“I was gonna go wash.”
…Enduring for the Drunken Jade Staff.
* * *
Little Beggar, reborn fresh and fluffy enough to call it a complete transformation, glared at Drunk Beggar with bloodshot eyes.
“Ahem!”
Drunk Beggar cleared his throat, his bronze skin gleaming.
Ignoring Little Beggar’s resentful glare, he examined the half Drunken Jade Staff Nangong Hyeok had given him.
A striking staff made of green jade.
The Drunken Jade Staff!
The Beggars’ Sect’s sacred treasure, lost during the Demonic Blood Cataclysm—a item of immense value that could restore the weakened Sect Leader’s authority and unite the sect’s power!
‘…It’s real! It’s the real thing!’
The intricately embossed dragon on the green jade, and the staff techniques hidden throughout the Drunken Jade Staff.
No forgery could mimic this craftsmanship.
‘Fi-finally!’
*Gulp!*
His throat bobbed, hands trembling uncontrollably.
Nearly a century.
After all those years, the sect’s lost sacred treasure was in his hands!
Tears welled up.
How many sacrifices had his ancestors made to reclaim this Drunken Jade Staff!
Even his own master had lived his life haunted by the regret of failing to find it.
The thought of resolving his predecessors’ regret brought sobs bursting from Drunk Beggar’s eyes.
“Master? You’re crying?”
“…”
“Why cry over a stick.”
“…Yeah, I’m crying, you punk!”
*Smack!*
“Kek!”
Drunk Beggar subdued Little Beggar in one strike and turned to Nangong Hyeok.
“How did you find this Drunken Jade Staff? We searched high and low but never… Keum!”
Of course.
It had been hidden in the ancient tree’s secret vault.
Even the Beggars’ Sect couldn’t have imagined it.
Nangong Hyeok smoothly took back the Drunken Jade Staff and grinned.
“Trade secret.”
“…But where’s the other half?”
“It’s safe, don’t worry. I’ll return it once I get the goods.”
Drunk Beggar nodded, eyeing the staff in Nangong Hyeok’s hand.
“The Millennium Flower Carp, right?”
“Yes.”
“Hahaha! Good, let’s talk realistically.”
Drunk Beggar laughed heartily.
“Finding a legendary Millennium Flower Carp is a fairy tale. This will be far more helpful.”
He pulled out a tattered token emblazoned with a dragon from his robes and grinned.
“With this token, you get unlimited access to our top-tier intelligence. Plus, the Beggars’ Sect pledges to become the Nangong Clan’s staunch ally, offering support beyond your wildest dreams.”
“…”
“Great! I’ll share every martial arts detail on the sects competing in this tournament, including the juniors’ habits and weaknesses in spars. Full support, no holds barred! What do you say? It’s worth a fortune, better than any carp! Ahem!”
Drunk Beggar beamed at Nangong Hyeok, satisfied.
Who would refuse the Beggars’ Sect as a solid ally?
He was certain Nangong Hyeok would accept.
Nangong Hyeok scratched his ear boredly.
“Nah, whatever.”
“…Huh?”
“Just go catch the Millennium Flower Carp.”
“…Uhh?”
“I said, catch the Millennium Flower Carp.”
“…”
Huh?
Drunk Beggar stared blankly at Nangong Hyeok.
Nangong Hyeok dug in his ear and casually tossed the Drunken Jade Staff behind him.
“Hey, just chuck that somewhere back there. Guest is leaving!”
“Th-that… that…”
“Want it? Bring the carp.”
Damn… fuck.
Drunk Beggar stared blankly at the staff hitting the floor.
The sect’s sacred treasure… the sacred treasure…
Nangong Hyeok nailed it shut before he could say more.
“What’re you waiting for? If it were me, I’d already be out grabbing a carp bastard.”
Drunk Beggar shot up from his seat, staring at the snickering Nangong Hyeok.