The Day the Dragon and Phoenix Were Humiliated
"P-please... p-please help me save my sister and Maidu...!"
Dang Seorin shut her eyes tight and held out her identity plaque with utmost courtesy.
A quest has arrived!
Quest: Save My Sister!
Details: Help Dang Seorin, the daughter of the Sichuan Dang Clan Patriarch, rescue her sister and Maidu!
Accept / Decline
If this were the original game, a system alert like that would have popped up in front of me.
"Ugh..."
Watching her shoulders twitch with nerves, I let out an inward groan.
This is a headache.
They want me to help them, and they’ll repay me later.
In Murim... no, in life, it’s the sort of situation you run into all the time.
Yeah, sure. Common as sand grains.
But if you actually looked closely, you’d never be able to say that with a straight face.
Because the younger sister of someone I’d turned into a cripple was now asking me to save her family.
Even for me, a veteran of Murim for over twenty years, this was a first.
Back when I’d been dropped into this fake-ass Murim, it was the year I’d been here thirteen years—meaning, by transmigration standards, I was twenty-three at the time.
About two years before the Orthodox-Demonic War broke out, the Orthodox world was in the middle of the Dragon-Phoenix Gathering.
The Dragon-Phoenix Gathering was an event where the outstanding younger generation of the Orthodox schools were selected.
The juniors chosen there would be granted titles: dragons for men, phoenixes for women.
You know, the kind of nicknames like Sword Dragon or Poison Phoenix.
It was a cliché title, sure, but young martial artists would sweat blood and grind themselves to the bone just to earn one.
This was especially true for those from smaller sects and factions, not the established old-money trash like the Nine Great Sects or the Five Great Families.
For them, being called a dragon or a phoenix was more than just a flashy title—it was a real credential.
Of course, the inconvenient truth was that the Nine Great Sects and Five Great Families usually swept up the dragons and phoenixes anyway.
Anyway, that was when some black-haired barbarian showed up and crashed the Dragon-Phoenix Gathering.
(Being a barbarian was basically a hard cutoff for applying to the Dragon-Phoenix Gathering.)
He hadn’t come for some dragon title—he’d come to see the martial arts of the great Orthodox schools for himself.
-The barbarian has arrived, with a bang!
The appearance of the mysterious barbarian, his face hidden behind a mask, blew the gathering wide open.
-Draw your swords, you slimy worms and sparrows!
-How dare this lowborn barbarian!
-Cut off his arms and legs, put a leash on him, and drag him back to the sect!
The five dragons and three phoenixes, who had inherited their titles, drew their swords to “set the barbarian on the right path.”
...Or so they claimed. In truth, they just wanted to add “subduing a mad barbarian” to their resumes.
And so the battle between the barbarian and the five dragons and three phoenixes began—only for things to go in a completely unexpected direction.
-Kyaaa, wah! What kind of barbarian...!?
-It’s sorcery! It has to be sorcery!
-Take this, barbarian’s sword! Middle Kingdom barbarian, eliminated!
The juniors each sect and family had painstakingly raised were beaten senseless by the barbarian.
After transmigration, every day had been a struggle and basically a war zone, so he simply wasn’t in the same league as the five dragons and three phoenixes.
But there was one person who suffered especially badly.
That was Dang Seorin’s older brother, the Poison Dragon, Dang Hajin.
-You filthy barbarian bastard! Let’s see you take this Chilbosahondon Poison with that fancy sword of yours...!?
-Idiot. If you’re going to yell about using poison, do you really think I’ll just stand around waiting?
-Hahk!
Just as he tried to unleash poison, I fired a sword aura to keep him in check. Startled out of his mind, the Poison Dragon’s feet tangled, and he failed to dodge in time.
Slash—!
-Aaaaghhh!! My poison dragon...!
-O-oh no! S-sorry...
The sword aura grazed an unfortunate part of the Poison Dragon’s body, and in shock he sprayed poison like a fountain before dropping dead.
The miserable death of the Poison Dragon—well, he hadn’t actually died—crushed the morale of the others, and the barbarian didn’t waste the opening.
-Thwack! Thwack!
-Aaaagh! Agh!
-This lunatic...
The five dragons and three phoenixes were knocked flat, not a single one left standing.
Considering how hard it is to restrain rather than kill, I’d actually been holding back.
-Then, goodbye, everyone! Take care now, and... um, look after yourselves!
-Don’t let him get away! Catch him and kill him!
After that, the barbarian left the tournament grounds, and the pursuers ultimately lost him.
The juniors meant to lead their sects and families had been trampled into the dirt, and they hadn’t even managed to take down the culprit.
Later, the gossipmongers gave that incident a name:
The Day the Dragons and Phoenixes Were Humiliated—Dragon-Phoenix Humiliation.
When the Sichuan Dang Clan heard the news, they immediately marked the barbarian as their enemy, and it was soon revealed that his true identity was Geom Mujin.
At the time, he’d hidden his face behind a mask, but in the first place, he was the only black-haired barbarian in Murim crazy enough to pull off something like that.
After that, I got screwed over nonstop by those psycho poison freaks.
They poisoned my food, of course, but ambush needles would also come flying at me out of nowhere.
The worst scare of all was when they installed a hidden needle mechanism inside a latrine.
If I hadn’t noticed the device buried deep in the mess, I’d have become a pathetic bastard with a needle stuck in his ass.
How the hell did those lunatics even install that?
I got nauseous just thinking about actually putting my hands into a toilet to set it up.
Luckily, two years later the Orthodox-Demonic War broke out, and thanks to riding the Seven Martial Stars coin to the moon, the Dang Clan started minding everyone’s business a little more quietly.
Which only made this more of a problem.
I really don’t want to get tangled up with those bastards again.
-What!? That barbarian bastard not only turned the young clan lord into that mess, he’s after the younger sister too!?
-Get in touch with Maehyang Sword-Queen of the Mount Hua Sect right now!
Chaos. Pure chaos.
Just thinking about it was enough to make my brain short-circuit.
"Please..."
"......"
As the silence stretched on, Dang Seorin’s anxiety only deepened.
Still, to ignore people who were in trouble because of me would prick my conscience a little, and just a little was enough to sting.
The triangular conscience in my chest had become pretty rounded over the years, but the corners were still there.
"Miss Dang, the sister you mean is Dang Yulin, right?"
"Huh? Y-yes... that's right..."
At Geom Mujin’s question, Dang Seorin nodded furiously.
Okay. I’d checked just in case, and the original heroine was still the same.
Then what the hell is she?
As far as I remembered, there hadn’t been any character named Dang Seorin.
The sister she’d just mentioned must be Dang Yulin, one of the heroines from the original story.
I knew Dang Yulin had an older brother, the Poison Dragon, but this was the first I’d heard of her having a younger sister.
Is this another variable created because of me?
I guessed she’d been absent from the original and had appeared because of some unforeseen change.
And that variable offered me a new option.
Right. Time to think outside the box.
Let’s save Dang Yulin here and get the Dang Clan owing me a favor.
They were the kind of people who repaid grudges tenfold but favors only twice over, but even that favor was still a favor.
I’d accidentally wrecked one direct line, so if I saved another, wouldn’t that make us even?
If the relationship map had matched the original, this would’ve been an option I’d never even consider.
I made my decision.
"I understand the situation. Then I’ll be counting on you until we rescue your sister and Maidu."
"Huh? Y-you mean..."
Dang Seorin asked in a trembling voice.
"I mean I’m helping you."
"Senior...!"
Color rushed into Dang Seorin’s face.
This was her first time successfully persuading someone else, and she was overwhelmed with emotion.
"T-then, first, this..."
"No. I’ll take that after the job is done."
I stopped her when she tried to hand over her identity plaque.
You don’t take payment before you’ve completed the job.
Especially not for something this valuable.
"So for now, just put—"
Geomh Mujin suddenly cut himself off in mid-sentence.
"W-what is it... ghk...!"
"Quiet."
He held up one finger and pressed it against Dang Seorin’s lips.
Geom Mujin was currently checking, through the shared sight, the masked men searching near the cave.
They hadn’t come to gather mountain greens in the dead of night wearing masks for no reason.
"Looks like they brought a tail with them."
"A-a tail...?"
I stood up.
"....."
Placing a hand on the back of the cross-legged child, I checked his internal condition.
He’s at the final stage.
I could feel the natural qi absorbed into his body settling into his danjeon.
He’s taken in a lot, but he’s still a little too eager. I’ll give him a hand.
Using my own qi, I caught the natural energy leaking out and slowly guided it into his danjeon.
The child’s brow twitched.
He had sensed my intervention in his breathing exercise.
Don’t get greedy. What matters isn’t speed—it’s getting it right, even if it takes a little longer.
Whether he understood what I meant or not, the child slowed down and focused on precision instead.
At this point, he can finish the rest on his own.
Once the little brat had understood my advice immediately, I withdrew my hand.
"I’ll be right back, so wait here for a moment. Don’t touch that kid over there."
Geomh Mujin rattled off his instructions and headed outside.
"W-wait a sec..."
Dang Seorin reached out toward the back of his head, but Geom Mujin’s figure had already vanished into the distance.
Only the child in meditation and Dang Seorin were left in the cave.
Two people close by, huh? Perfect.
Watching the masked men approach the cave, I nodded.
Before I went to rescue them, I needed to make a little preparation first.
* * *
Chirp— chirp— chirrrrrp—
At the hour when the sun had set and the moon had risen, the insects that crawled out under cover of darkness were holding their nightly concert.
"Fuck."
A masked man added a gravelly curse to the performance.
"What the hell are we even doing out here in the middle of the night?"
"It’s the clan lord’s order. Take it seriously."
The masked man walking beside him scolded him.
"I mean, am I wrong? What the hell are we supposed to be looking for in a mountain after dark?"
The evening mountain was a land of darkness where you couldn’t see an inch in front of your face.
They had torches, so they could at least see a little, but only a little.
It was a goddamn awful setup for finding anything.
"And they’re not even sure it exists, right?"
He recalled the explanation from Chief Head Ma Soong, who’d said it was the clan lord’s order, and scoffed.
"If you find it, take it out immediately. It might not exist, but it might, so find it. What the hell kind of nonsense is that? So he gets to stop busting his ass in the field now, huh?"
"Sigh."
His companion shook his head at the endless grumbling.
Once a person starts whining like this, they never know when to stop.
That was why he didn’t notice right away that the partner who’d been nagging him had suddenly fallen silent.
"What’s wrong? I’m the only one talking here, and... huh?"
Only then did he feel something was off and turn to look beside him.
The companion who’d been there a second ago was gone.
There was no way he wouldn’t have heard footsteps in the mountains, and yet...
"Hey! Quit joking around and come out!"
......
He shouted loudly, but nothing answered.
"Y-you son of a bitch! You were the one screaming at me to take this seriously, and now you pull this shit!?"
.......
When silence returned a second time, he remembered something.
Could the thing the chief head had mentioned really exist?
According to the chief head, it seemed to use hidden weapons.
The masked man drew his dao and shielded his head and heart, the vital points.
He’d block any hidden weapon that came flying at him, then rush the attacker immediately.
"I don’t know who the hell you are, but you picked the wrong guy! I’m the Death Cleaver! If you get caught, you die on the spot!!"
The masked man bellowed at the top of his lungs.
At a glance, it looked like a scared dog barking loudly, but that wasn’t it.
He was deliberately making a racket to draw in the companions around him.
"You rat bastard! Quit hiding like a coward and come out! Let’s go one round!"
But something was wrong.
At this point, someone should have already rushed over from the next ridge just from hearing the shout, and yet there was no sign of that at all.
On top of that, maybe it was just his imagination, but his own voice kept echoing close by.
It was as if an invisible membrane of qi had been stretched around him.
When he sensed that something was wrong and hurried to retreat,
Whoosh— grab—!
"Mmmph..! Mmph!!"
Two hands shot out from a tree nearby, seized the masked man’s head, and snatched him up like a spider catching prey.
With force beyond imagination, the masked man flailed his legs in midair.
* * *
Just as he’d said, Geom Mujin came back in less than half a shichen.
"You said you want to save your sister, didn’t you, Miss Dang?"
"Y-yes... I want to save her..."
At Geom Mujin’s serious tone, Dang Seorin nodded back just as seriously.
"Then take it off."
".....Huh??"
Her mind froze for a moment.