Chapter 76
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 76
Chapter Title: If the Conditions Are Too Good, Suspect a Scam
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The Wudang Sect third-generation disciple had thrown a bombshell confession with a face red enough to burst at any moment, while Biryeong stood before him, arms still firmly crossed.
It was the most thrilling spectacle of the year. Stifling our breaths and presences, we craned our necks forward, and naturally, Baek Geon rested his chin right on top of my head.
I was about to say something, but I held my tongue, fearing we might get caught by Biryeong and miss the ending.
Biryeong let out a deep sigh loud enough to reach me, standing a little ways off, and asked coldly.
“So?”
“Pardon?”
Her furrowed brow deepened at his flustered response.
“What kind of relationship do you want with me, Little Instructor?”
“W-Well, of course, lovers…”
A sharp scoff cut off the Wudang third-generation disciple’s stammering.
“Lovers who only exchange letters and meet once every four years? What kind of love sprouts from letters?”
Biryeong sneered. The man’s once beet-red face had drained to a pitiful pallor.
Good grief. Even Cowherd and Weaver Girl met once a year. And was romance even conceivable among Daoist disciples?
Mount Hua was close enough to the secular world that as long as you didn’t marry, you could somehow get by, but Wudang? If you got caught, your name was struck from the roster and you were expelled.
“Ah, how about you kick away your spot as a Wudang core disciple and join Mount Hua as a secular disciple? Then, out of respect for your sincerity, I’ll reconsider this confession.”
It was basically kicking the confession to the curb. Biryeong had offered an utterly impossible choice.
Narrowing my eyes at the rejected man’s face, I absentmindedly opened my mouth before hurriedly clamping it shut and sending Baek Geon a transmission.
Ever since the Dragon-Tiger Assembly ended last time, I’d started learning sound transmission at age ten, and now I was quite proficient.
Anyone could do it with enough internal energy built up, so my other fellow second-generation disciples could too.
-Huh? Isn’t this the same guy who was pestering Little Instructor Biryeong at Wudang Mountain before? His face hasn’t changed, has it?
-No, the one who pestered Little Instructor Biryeong at the training grounds was Senior Baekyang. This is Senior Baekjin.
As expected, Baek Geon had also mastered sound transmission.
Well, seeing Biryeong’s face, it was popularity enough to be convincing.
From the start, her sprout was extraordinary, and now at seventeen, Biryeong had grown into a beauty who could be called the top beauty of Shaanxi without it seeming out of place.
Of course, that was just talking about her looks. Her sharp tongue had evolved year by year, and anyone who heard her unleash it would flee on the spot.
Thanks to her venomous tenacity matching her tongue, her martial arts had grown frighteningly as well.
From barely scraping by on the entrance exam, she was now one of the top talents among the second-generation disciples.
-Biryeong is pretty cute, yeah.
First-Daegyeong love. That was Biryeong’s nickname circulating among the second-generation disciples.
Why first-Daegyeong first love? Because the moment they blushed in front of her, they were physically or mentally torn apart, and their brief first loves ended before they could even sip a cup of tea.
-Yeah? In my eyes, you’re prettier.
-You’ve lost your objective view. Well, beauty standards are subjective.
Biryeong suddenly whipped her head toward where we were hiding. Her gaze locked precisely on our spot—too accurate to be coincidence—and I swallowed hard.
Relief washed over me as her eyes slid sideways, but only for a moment.
“And if you’re done spectating, come out, Senior Brother.”
Biryeong turned back to our hiding spot and beckoned with her hand.
Embarrassed, I scratched my cheek and shuffled out awkwardly.
“How’d you know? We killed our presences right away.”
“What’s the point of killing your presences? I saw you walking over here before you even hid.”
We’d been spotted from the start. Should’ve just watched openly without crumpling ourselves uncomfortably.
But it seemed only Biryeong had noticed.
Spotting me and Baek Geon, the Wudang third-generation disciple gaped, then burst into heartbroken tears fitting a spurned lover and bolted back into the Jade Clarity Hall.
Surprisingly, Baek Geon didn’t chase after his senior brother and stayed by my side.
Biryeong glared at the Jade Clarity Hall entrance and ground her teeth.
“Ha, didn’t expect him to cry. I spoke gently since he’s from another sect, and he pulls the tears card? Daring to confess to me when he’s so mentally fragile he cries at words like that?”
“Yeah, right? He didn’t even get beaten like some others, so why cry?”
Chiming in with Biryeong, she swept back her loose hair and furrowed her brows.
“But this won’t turn into an inter-sect issue, will it?”
“If he’s embarrassed, he’ll keep his mouth shut. Honestly, wasn’t it spot on? If he wants to be together, show some real effort, like becoming a secular disciple here. Effort.”
No, I shook my head even as I said it.
“But if he actually quits being a Wudang core disciple and joins Mount Hua as a secular disciple, it’d feel burdensome. I’d feel guilty for ruining his life, and I couldn’t even face him, let alone date.”
“What’s there to feel sorry about? Creepy. Later, once his feelings cool, there’s an eighty percent chance he’ll resent the one who gave him that choice.”
I nodded in agreement at Biryeong’s scoff.
“Even if you two ended up liking each other, wouldn’t it be best to meet once every four years as good friends without showing it? Friendship’s more stable than love.”
She’d been looking at me. As I finished and turned my head, my eyes met Baek Geon’s, and he smiled warmly.
“If that’s what you think, then that’s the right answer.”
The red tint of the sunset was slowly fading, darkness beginning to dye its place.
Beneath the last remnant of sunset, his eyes shone with a resolute glint whose meaning I could vaguely guess.
After seeing Baek Geon off toward the Jade Clarity Hall, Biryeong and I turned to head back to our quarters.
Walking side by side in silence, Biryeong suddenly asked.
“Senior Brother. That line earlier, you said it for Little Instructor Baek Geon to hear, right?”
“Nah? Just my honest thought.”
Denying it calmly without twitching an eyebrow, Biryeong snickered.
“Liar. I’ve known you for years.”
“Well, if you feel that way, then maybe.”
I fired back nonchalantly and stretched languidly.
She was quick on the uptake, as always.
* * *
The sparring matches were finally just one day away.
We second-generation disciples gathered in the men’s quarters crammed as closely as possible in the narrow room, sitting in a circle.
Biran grumbled in disgust as he shoved aside the mess everywhere to somehow make space.
“Can you guys please clean up and live? What’s with this bachelor stench in the room?”
“Hey, we barely clean too, but that’s beside the point. And bachelor stench? Does the women’s quarters smell like flowers or something?”
Biran bristled at Biwon’s retort and mockery.
“Hey, ours really does smell like flowers!”
“Euhahaha, go on, say it’s plum blossoms.”
It really did. Plum blossom scent.
Because it was plum blossom season, I trained at the Jade Maiden Grounds every dawn, snapped off plum branches, and brought them back. Replaced them when they wilted.
The intent was to contemplate the plum blossoms and grasp the essence of the Plum Blossom Swordsmanship, but in reality, they were just decorations and air fresheners.
“Yeah, it smells like plum blossoms. And we at least clean enough not to get in the way of sleeping.”
“But we didn’t gather to tell you to clean your room, did we?”
As the mood turned rowdy again, I clapped sharply to draw attention.
“Enough chit-chat.”
The twenty-nine gazes turned to me at once.
“We gathered to talk about tomorrow’s sparring matches. Not to nag about how dirty the room is. But seriously, clean up a bit. Is this a pigsty or a place where people live?”
“Even Great Senior Brother’s talking about the room now.”
“Our Bidam’s lost all fear in his stormy youth phase, huh?”
Cracking my knuckles with a grin, Bidam hurriedly mimed covering his mouth.
The quarters fell silent. Now it felt like a meeting. I gestured to Bihwan, who had first brought up calling us together today, to start.
“The reason I called us together today is…”
Pausing dramatically, Bihwan declared solemnly.
“We’ve been scammed, it seems.”
“Scammed?”
“Yeah. We agreed right away because the conditions sounded great at first… but thinking about it, something’s off.”
Biyeong raised his hand abruptly and cut in with a question.
“But who exactly scammed us?”
If it were anyone else, I’d have yelled to use their brain, how do you survive in the jianghu with no tact like that—but since it was the youngest, Bihwan answered readily.
“The Wudang Sect.”
“Why’s Wudang suddenly involved?”
“Is your head decorative?”
Bidam, who’d opened his mouth once and gotten an earful meant for Biyeong too.
“No matter how I think about it, it’s suspicious. They say they got chewed out for not winning overwhelmingly, so they propose a 15-15 draw to us?”
Realizing what he meant, the second-generation disciples’ eyes sharpened.
With Selection Hell-level hell training on the line for the sparring outcome, it was only natural.
“And that fox-eyed one’s reason of ‘making it so no one can even mention victory or defeat’? Honestly, not convincing. Unless it’s ‘to screw over the sect elders.’”
“Right. They got scolded for winning 17-13, so a 15-15 draw won’t get them scolded?”
Biwon nodded and piled on.
“Even though the sparring’s just a day away, good thing your heads are turning now at least.”
Biryeong let out a sigh—relief or scorn unclear—and rubbed her temple.
“No, Biryeong. Why didn’t you say something then? If you’d spoken up there, we could’ve stepped in and stopped it.”
At Bikyung’s lament, Biryeong narrowed her eyes.
“You wanted me to say in front of all the Wudang second-generation disciples that they might be scamming us? You’re joking, right, Senior Brother?”
At her incredulous question, Bikyung averted his gaze. Seeing Bihwan fake-coughing, he’d thought the same.
Bihun, who’d stayed quiet without his usual rough words to sour the mood, summed it up neatly in one sentence.
“So, this proposal might be the Wudang bastards’ scheme to make us drop our guard and snatch an overwhelming victory?”