Chapter 109
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 109
Chapter Title: Preliminary Dropout?
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“What?”
I doubted my own ears at the list of heinous crimes pouring out.
“With great difficulty, he finally had a child despite his infertility issues, only for that child to die at the hands of his younger brother’s son. The Namgung Family’s young lord has every reason to be furious. So don’t get unnecessarily involved and end up catching some of the fallout.”
I could see why Paeng Haran had been watching my reaction so carefully when I brought up Namgung Seheon.
I had expected they’d frame him and kick him out of the family, but I never imagined it would be something this horrific.
‘Does that even make sense?’
If Namgung Se-eun had no heir, Namgung Seheon would be first in line, and Seheon’s son second. But the guy who had zero interest in the young lord position and was only thinking about joining Mount Hua as a secular disciple—him plotting for the next succession spot by killing his own nephew?
That clear-headed fool who wrote more about his nephew than himself in that letter?
Was that what he meant by not believing the rumors? Clenching my fist as I recalled his final letter, my neatly trimmed nails dug into my palm.
If I showed here that I didn’t believe the rumors, the smoke screen of that letter I’d sent would be for nothing.
There was no guarantee these kids in front of me wouldn’t report my reaction straight to Namgung Seheon’s sister.
“Wow, he was a lunatic. Good thing you cut ties early.”
I swallowed the boiling rage and forced out words I didn’t mean.
At my nonchalant response, the clan heirs exchanged glances and nodded as if convinced.
“Ah, you really didn’t know. That makes sense. An-hui and the central plains are quite a distance apart.”
“Yeah, thanks for letting me know.”
I gave a mechanical thanks and returned to my seat.
He must have escaped safely, right? No way he’s already dead? That damn directionless idiot can find his way to Mount Hua without getting lost, right?
If he were at least a named side character in [Sword God Returns], I could relax, but Namgung Seheon wasn’t even mentioned by name, so I couldn’t predict if he was alive or dead.
My worries spiraled, and in the end, I chugged straight from the bottle.
“Ugh, senior brother, have you lost your mind?”
“Stop him! Take that away!”
“Finally, your brain’s not spinning anymore.”
I wiped my mouth with the back of my hand and slammed the bottle down with a clunk. My hangovers weren’t too bad, so this wouldn’t affect tomorrow’s preliminaries.
With my head dulled, my thoughts simplified too. And that guy was the one who’d beaten me once—he wouldn’t go down that easily.
I’d cleared a path for him to survive and even laid down a smokescreen. He’d crawl his way to Mount Hua on his own. Worrying here wouldn’t increase his odds of survival anyway.
I reached for the bottle again, but a straight, refined hand snatched it first.
“What?”
I shot Baek Geon a sideways glare, and he poured the rest neatly into his mouth, a lazy smile on his lips.
“Who knows? Couldn’t stand watching you drown your sorrows over some other guy?”
His sunken eyes gazed at me steadily, cheeks flushed unlike his calm gaze. We locked eyes, and he asked.
“Why aren’t you crying?”
“Huh? What do you...”
“Isn’t your drinking habit crying?”
At those words, Baek Geon squeezed his eyes shut and flopped face-down on the table. His face was buried in his arms, so only the back of his head was visible, but his exposed earlobe was red. Uh, is he about to?
“Could you forget about that already...?”
I’ll never forget that in my life. The elders nagged me for years about feeding alcohol to another sect’s disciple.
The Wudang third-generation disciples’ drinking party nearly got busted when their second-generation seniors climbed to the top floor just in case.
“Baek Geon, you bastard! Not only did you fail to stop your juniors, you broke sect rules and drank with them? You call yourself senior brother?”
“Gasp, Master?”
Led by their senior brother, dragged off like a criminal, the Wudang disciples filed out of the tavern in heavy steps. We waved cheerfully at their backs.
With the alcohol buzzing, I snickered watching Baek Geon’s proper gait wobble, spinning the bottle mouth by its neck.
“We’re gonna keep partying. You guys go ahead.”
“Senior brother, behind...”
“Behind what?”
A shadow loomed over my head. A large hand snatched the bottle I was holding and pressed firmly on my crown.
“You little punks have it good. Preliminaries over? They’re over? At least those with preliminaries tomorrow need to scram now.”
“Yes! I made it to the main round, hic, already!”
Uiseong let out a incredulous chuckle at Bijun raising his hand, hiccuping with a flushed face.
“Well, well? You chugged booze too? You didn’t drink any, right, kid?”
“Huh? What do you take me for? Of course I did.”
Lying to sect elders and getting caught was worse than drinking the night before preliminaries. I nodded confidently, and Uiseong, who swept a hand over his face, bellowed.
“If you drop out of preliminaries tomorrow, you’re in for it! Even I, as reckless and immature as I was, never chugged booze the night before preliminaries, you punk! Be grateful Senior Brother Uihyeon isn’t here!”
“Ow, Uncle! Ears, my ears!”
And so, like the Wudang senior brother, I was dragged off by Uiseong with my juniors trailing behind, ears pinched. I inwardly scoffed while he fussed.
Worrying over nothing. As if I’d drop out of preliminaries after half a bottle.
* * *
The day of the preliminaries for my group.
After a light warm-up, I watched Bideum, who had his preliminaries first. Hungover and groaning since morning, he ended up causing a massive scene in the preliminaries.
“Man, that’s gotta be the most unprecedented preliminary dropout reason in Dragon-Phoenix Assembly history.”
“Tell me about it. First time seeing someone eliminated for a hangover.”
“I knew he’d screw up. Who the hell chugs booze the night before preliminaries?”
The pitiful tsk-tsks dripping with disdain rang right in my ears as the madman who’d chugged a whole bottle pretended to look at the sky, feeling preemptively guilty. My head throbbed a bit?
Here’s what went down.
The two fought each other, both losing their swords and dropping out amicably, then Bideum took down the two charging at him and bolted from the stage to puke.
The problem? One of the guys he downed didn’t drop his sword and got back up. So before the win could be called, Bideum, who’d left the stage, was ruled out.
With his fault clear, he couldn’t even protest and stood there dazed as a figure strode toward him.
“Isn’t that Uncle Uimin over there?”
Bideum, guilty as charged, trembled like a leaf.
“Bideum! You gonna run or not!”
Uimin, practically a demon, roared. He’d made a special trip for an ignored preliminary, only to witness his disciple’s ridiculous dropout firsthand—no wonder.
I clicked my tongue watching Bideum stagger off like he was heading to hell’s gates. Good thing my hangovers weren’t bad.
My participant number was called, and I headed straight to the sparring stage. I waved off the juniors following me in a pack.
“Don’t watch me. Go watch Junior Sister Biran.”
“But Senior Brother’s preliminaries are bound to be more fun.”
“Yeah, are you feeling pressured or something? I’ve been looking forward since yesterday.”
Paeng Haran, who’d appeared out of nowhere, grinned and chimed in.
Seeing my friend looking far more sickly, like a doomed beauty, made me feel obligated to deliver an epic preliminary show beyond expectations.
“Who’s pressured? Watch from below. I’ll show you something insanely cool.”
I waved casually with one hand and hopped lightly onto the small sparring stage.
“See? She’s definitely ‘in that phase.’”
“Came dirty late, though. Everyone else hits it at fourteen or fifteen, and this guy’s almost twenty and just now—tsk tsk.”
Ignoring the seniors below turning me into some puberty girl, I scanned my preliminary group opponents.
That one looks like he’ll fly in one exchange, that one’s not much threat, that one seems skilled but not my level, that one... what’s with the size.
The other three’s eyes and wariness locked onto the muscle-bound giant nearly seven feet tall, like the rest of us.
For the first time, the caution wasn’t on me, so I felt relaxed... like hell.
‘Kinda hurts my pride?’
One corner of my mouth twisted up.
Now I couldn’t predict the matchup dynamics.
I’d expected attacks focused on me, but with this overwhelming size difference, they might split their aggression. I’d have to clash to gauge the big guy’s power.
The giant’s weapon was a saber. Size and saber—some branch of the Hebei Peng Clan? I glanced at Paeng Haran below the stage, and he nodded.
Tweet—! The whistle blew, and preliminaries began.
Weapons surged toward me from all four directions. Taking out the favorite first before the big lug?
If I lacked multi-opponent experience, I’d panic, but I’d fought real battles and handled 10v2 at the Dragon-Tiger Assembly, so I stayed calm.
What I hadn’t predicted was the giant having solid skill beyond his size?
‘Thought the bulk meant he’d be slow, but his speed’s decent too...’
My wrist and fingertips numbed from the block, letting me gauge his strength. Blocking head-on would be risky.
They grouped this preliminary like crap. Too good to drop here.
I disarmed the easiest one, deflected the immediate follow-up attack, but another sword stabbed my opening from the side.
I countered to defend, expecting a quick retract, but it clung stubbornly.
Feeling something off, I tried to break the assault first when presence flared on my left—a heavy saber smashed up at my wrist from below.
The unexpected fierce impact sent my sword flying from my grip into the air.