Chapter 375
Chapter 375
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 384
Chapter Title: Elixir Snacks
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Deokjin let out a groan as he stared at the pastries on the table.
A rich aroma, a thick texture, and auspicious energy emanating from them.
“……This is.”
“Pastries, sir.”
“Pastries?”
“……Yes, pastries.”
“Pastries, you say?”
“…….”
Six lumps—each slightly larger than a walnut—that could only be called pastries (?) gleamed like jewels.
“Amitabha.”
“Guanyin…….”
“So this is what the Nangong Family calls pastries.”
The pastries they knew and the ones the Nangong Family referred to seemed to be entirely different things.
Deokjin gazed at the pastries with a dazed expression.
“If it’s just the appearance…….”
“……Y-Yeah, right. Even if we’re guests from Shaolin…….”
Of course, they wouldn’t serve whole spirit pills like this.
Those precious spirit pills.
They said the supply had dried up after the Demonic Blood Tribulation, so how could the Nangong Family have them overflowing?
Shaolin wasn’t poor.
No, in fact, it was harder to find a sect richer than Shaolin.
Shaolin was entangled in countless interests, with lay disciples scattered across the land.
The offerings from those lay disciples alone filled Shaolin’s coffers to bursting.
Of course, the monks used only the bare minimum for living and donated the rest to charity, but still, Shaolin was far from poor.
If they set their minds to it, acquiring one or two spirit pills was no big deal.
But…….
Even Shaolin wouldn’t serve spirit pills to guests as pastries.
That went beyond waste.
“…….”
Did the Nangong Family have more money than Shaolin?
Deokjin pondered briefly before picking up one pastry and popping it into his mouth.
Seeing this, Dammyeong cautiously swallowed one as well.
Sizzle!
“……!”
“……!”
The moment it touched his tongue, it melted away, accompanied by a hot surge of energy stimulating his dantian.
The Shaolin inner energy residing in his dantian reacted to the pastry’s power.
Veins bulged on the Shaolin monks’ foreheads.
Deokjin cried out.
“Th-This is!”
Real spirit pills?!
“Un-Uncle Master?”
“Sh-Shh! C-Circulate your qi! Circulate it! The energy’s leaking, the energy! Circulate first!”
Deokjin hurriedly sat cross-legged and regulated his energy.
Hiss, haa! Hiss, hoo!
As befitting Shaolin monks who had trained for decades, they swiftly absorbed the spirit pill’s energy.
Moments later, Dammyeong opened his eyes and stared blankly at the remaining spirit pills on the tray.
“Uncle Master…….”
Deokjin chuckled wryly.
“Spirit pills served as pastries rival Shaolin’s Arhat Pills.”
It was astonishing.
While Shaolin’s Arhat Pills fell short of Awakening Pills and Great Return Pills, they were top-grade elixirs in the current martial world.
“Wh-What in the world is this?”
As Dammyeong wore a stunned expression, Deokjin—who had been lost in thought—suddenly shot to his feet.
“Uncle Master?”
Deokjin grabbed the pastry tray and dashed out of the guest hall.
Dammyeong’s jaw dropped.
Wait, why’s he taking the whole tray?!
Flustered, he chased after his uncle master, Deokjin.
“Uncle Master! Uncle Master! Where are you going?!”
Deokjin shouted back urgently.
“We need to confirm!”
“Huh?”
“Confirm and send a letter back!”
“L-Letter? What letter?!”
What’s he talking about now?!
Deokjin quickened his pace.
Dammyeong screamed inwardly at the sight of him sprinting half-crouched while clutching the tray.
‘What’s with that Diamond Unmoving God Technique?!’
Oh no, Uncle Master!
Swoosh!
Servants and warriors gaped as the three monks streaked across the Nangong Family’s inner courtyard in an instant.
“Wh-What’s that?”
“Something flashed by?”
“The light…….”
Even in broad daylight, the three radiant glows dazzled onlookers, who blinked in astonishment.
A belated shockwave followed their path, whipping at people’s clothes.
* * *
Nangong Hyeok sipped his tea while gazing at the courtyard. There, Nangong Ryong and the younger disciples stood guard, surrounding the area like protectors.
Sogeolgae peered down at Nangong Hyeok from the rooftop.
“You’re handing out those precious spirit pills to Shaolin monks like candy? As pastries? I’ve never even tasted such pastries.”
Nangong Hyeok chuckled at Sogeolgae’s grumbling.
“Shaolin are guests.”
“What about me?”
“Since when were beggars guests?”
“Whoa, whoa! After all the time we’ve spent together! And you dismiss me like this?”
“You’re good at getting dumped too.”
“…….”
Gulp.
Say that, and I can’t even talk back.
Sogeolgae glanced around cautiously before asking carefully.
“Just out of curiosity, when did you start opening your pockets like that?”
“I told you, Shaolin are guests.”
“…….”
“Old friends are the best, as they say.”
Hey, don’t treat people like objects.
Sogeolgae sulked, hanging from the eaves as he eyed Nangong Hyeok.
“Old friends?”
“No harm in keeping them close.”
“…….”
The Beggars’ Gang was the same whether monks or not, but honestly, befriending them wouldn’t hurt.
Wasn’t Shaolin as renowned for its influence as Wudang?
“Will they really stick around just like that?”
“That’s the plan.”
“By giving them spirit pills?”
Nangong Hyeok chuckled.
“Do they look like ordinary spirit pills?”
“They’re definitely not.”
They were spirit pills that the head of the Righteous Alliance’s Ha-baek had been brought in to refine for the lord of the Nangong Family.
‘Did they stuff gold inside or what?’
Even so, it’s Shaolin.
“What does that have to do with reeling them in?”
“When do you think people work hardest?”
“……When you pay them a lot?”
“You beggar, money talk from a beggar’s mouth?”
“W-Well…… m-money’s nice, isn’t it.”
He’d already tasted the luxuries.
Nangong Hyeok let out a hollow laugh at the fallen beggar(?)’s remark.
He gave Sogeolgae an incredulous look before speaking.
“To make a dog sit, you give it a treat.”
“Why make a dog sit? Eat it.”
“……Damn, that’s true.”
“Hehe.”
“A smack-worthy truth.”
“…….”
Nangong Hyeok silenced Sogeolgae and continued.
“Give once, give twice, and eventually, they’ll sit at the sound of your voice.”
“Yes.”
“It’s the same principle.”
“Huh?”
“We need to make Shaolin froth at the mouth, voluntarily and eagerly learning elixir refinement.”
Sogeolgae scratched his cheek.
“……Can’t we just beat them? Like with Wudang…….”
Mid-sentence, Sogeolgae quietly shut his mouth.
Oops, one more word and I might lose some teeth.
“He, hehe!”
Nangong Hyeok spoke calmly.
“Ones you beat and ones you maneuver are different. There are friends you beat, and friends who roll over at a word.”
Normal friends don’t get treated like that.
“Shaolin’s the kind we roll together with.”
“……Fine, whatever. But why Shaolin specifically? There’s nothing to squeeze out of them, is there?”
“Who says there isn’t?”
“Huh?”
Nangong Hyeok grinned.
Where else had as much to drain as Shaolin!
“Know what business yields the most profit? People.”
Sogeolgae’s face paled.
“Y-Young master. Human trafficking too? High monks’ bone dust has always tempted even demons…….”
Smack!
“Kek!”
Sogeolgae finally took a hit and tumbled from the eaves.
Thud!
‘Ow, damn it! But you pulling off human trafficking feels too natural! Not awkward at all! Less awkward than a monk gnawing meat!’
Sogeolgae felt a bit wronged, but his opponent was the Mad Dragon.
Nangong Hyeok clicked his tongue.
“Shaolin monks’ stamina is ten times that of ordinary folk. Imagine them working from dawn to dusk, eating less, sleeping less.”
Wow, squeezing them dry like juice.
“And Shaolin monks are essential.”
“Gonna extract Reverse Muscle Rejuvenation Scripture or something?”
“That’s obsolete.”
“Huh?”
“Never mind.”
There was one reason Shaolin was indispensable.
‘They’re the ones who made the Great Return Pills.’
Shaolin’s thousand-year history held vast knowledge and experience in pill refinement, plus the manpower to do it.
All of it was in Shaolin.
Shaolin.
Bringing them in would advance Nangong Hyeok’s golden elixir project another step.
So this was bait.
Come on, Shaolin, bite.
Bite, and I’ll drain you good!
Heh, heh heh!
‘……Master, this guy’s eyes are gleaming with madness again. Aaah, this lunatic.’
Sogeolgae grimaced.
‘Crazy, you think Shaolin will bite just because of some spirit pills?’
“They’re coming.”
“Huh?”
“There, see.”
Sogeolgae’s jaw dropped at the sight of three gleaming bald heads racing across the courtyard in the distance.
They…… bit?
Deokjin shouted while charging with the tray.
“Nangooong Laymanooooong!”
His lion’s roar drew all eyes to the dust-raising Shaolin monks.
They then swiveled in unison to Nangong Hyeok, who smiled faintly as if by appointment.
Nangong Hyeok grinned at Sogeolgae.
“What’d I tell you? They’d come running.”
Sogeolgae, who had twisted his face oddly, saw the red-faced monk sprinting with the tray and broke into a smile.
“Straight to hell they go.”
Sogeolgae had reached the realm of smiling at moths plunging into the flames of hell.
* * *
The gate guard captain of the Nangong Family stared at the fading sunset in the distance.
“Hmm! Shift change soon!”
As the Nangong Family expanded and regained its past glory, hundreds at least, thousands at most, passed through the main gate daily.
Guarding it was several times harder than before.
But the pride and sense of honor were incomparable.
‘Even Shaolin monks visiting the main house!’
When Shaolin monks—who hadn’t shown their faces even at the Family Head’s birthday—arrived, how shocked had he been?
It was a moment realizing the family’s fame resounding across the land.
“Shift’s soon, so keep postures straight till then! Don’t slack off at the end!”
“Yes!”
The captain nodded in satisfaction.
Hefei bustled energetically, heedless of the waning sun.
The world reddened as darkness gathered.
Flash!
“Hm?”
The red sunset seemed to flicker.
“What’s that?”
The captain squinted into the light.
A red cloud rose over Hefei’s main street, and from it, monks in even redder robes came leaping.
Flash-flash!
Fwoooosh!
The sunset’s red shadows stretched like a carpet as white-bearded monks descended before the Nangong Family gates, robes billowing.
Boom!
Eyes glowing red, cheeks flushed red, robes redder still.
“Sh-Shaolin. Sh-Shaolin!”
Even the worldly gate captain gaped at the arriving Shaolin monks.
Five in total.
All past middle age.
Each exuded an extraordinary aura, leaving the Nangong gate guards dizzy.
Shaolin’s Precept Master Hye-gong, half-lotus stance, bellowed.
“Amitabha—!”
His heightened roar—face flushed red like his own—jolted the gate guards to attention.
Hye-gong spoke lowly.
“I am Shaolin’s Hye-gong!”
Why’s Master Hye-gong here?
‘……Why the Precept Master?’
The figure even scarier to Shaolin monks than the Four Heavenly Kings—why had he descended upon the Nangong Family?!
“I’ve come to meet the Nangong Family laymen!”
The gate guards reeled once more.
Deokjin and his disciples had arrived not long ago, and now more Shaolin figures.
The Precept Master, no less.
With the sudden arrival of Shaolin’s Precept Master and monks, the Nangong Family was turned upside down once again.