Chapter 130
Chapter 130. Fame (3)
She had searched for a long time, and they met in a truly coincidental place. Meeting him in person, he was an even more appealing opponent. She had met many who seemed quite interesting here, but he was outstanding among them. No, he was incomparably someone who satisfied both her and the Heavenly Calamity Energy.
Perhaps.......
To the degree she wondered if this might be what fondness felt like.
Without realizing it, she smiled innocently and said,
"Old Uncle."
"Yes, Young Miss."
"When I first met him, I just trembled."
"......"
"But now my heart is pounding wildly. Like it'll burst through my chest."
At that moment, an electric flash flickered in her eyes and they gradually turned black like a drop of ink falling into water.
Seeing this, Old Uncle said in a small, trembling voice,
"......Young Miss, I believe you should avoid this for now. Otherwise—."
"Heh heh."
Yeon Yeong-ha's stifled, frustrated laughter cut off Old Uncle's urgent voice.
[Kill them. Kill them all.]
Because the Heavenly Calamity Energy was wildly pounding her heart, she knew well even without Old Uncle saying it. What state she was in.
Just.......
She found it amusing that even this maddening trembling of her heart could only be expressed this way.
"Heh-heh. Ho-ho-ho."
The suppressed laughter was innocently bright. That's why it was all the more like a heavenly punishment.
Yeon Yeong-ha stood up from her seat.
"Right, right, this is-."
What a monster's pounding heart must be like.
Yeon Yeong-ha glanced once more toward Dong Bong-soo and descended below the roof.
Old Uncle immediately followed behind her.
Wooooooah—!
Just then, along with the birth of a new Young One on the Tiles, the crowd's cheers burst forth.
However, Yeon Yeong-ha couldn't hear any sound.
[Kill them. Kill them all.]
The pounding of the Heavenly Calamity Energy was noisily blocking her ears.
***
"Is it that person again this time? Today too, she keeps staring at Elder...... Hm? This time she's already going down?"
Hwa Seon-hyang pointed at the roof of Demon Subduing Hall across from them and spoke.
When Paeng Ho-ryu looked, Yeon Yeong-ha was jumping down toward Central Great Road together with Old Uncle. Then she soon weaved through the spectators and left the venue.
"Indeed. Does she have a taste for men? With such a pretty appearance, perfectly suited for Brother Dong—."
"Brother Paeng—!"
Hwa Seon-hyang shouted loudly at Paeng Ho-ryu. Already, due to Dong Bong-soo's peculiar atmosphere, many women have been giving him attention lately. But now Paeng Ho-ryu was trying to link him with a man—though it wasn't certain if it was a man or not—which couldn't help but be disagreeable to her.
"Hey, girl, you're making my ears fall off."
"Hmph. Let them fall off or not."
"Again with who's 'brother' and who's 'elder brother.' Really, this is why women won't do. Isn't that right, Brother Dong?"
"......"
Dong Bong-soo, without answering, was watching Yeon Yeong-ha leave.
Yeon Yeong-ha, just like him, watched the tournament from there, on top of Demon Subduing Hall, without missing a single day. More precisely, she wasn't watching the tournament but observing him.
Was it reconnaissance of prey? Or was it mystification toward her own kind?
It didn't matter either way.
In any case, he had just become certain that the time for her to move was almost at hand. Not once had she left the roof before him, but today for the first time, she left her spot first.
Probably she was making final preparations for D-day.
The reason Yeon Yeong-ha first appeared in Zhengzhou was clearly not because of him. Their encounter at Nangnang Tavern was truly just a coincidence. That had been fully revealed even in their brief conversation.
Her original purpose in appearing here was certain to be participating in this Heavenly Youth Martial Arts Tournament or the tournament itself.
Just what would she do?
And what kind of preparations had she made?
He was curious. It was an emotion he hadn't felt many times in his life.
He wanted to follow Yeon Yeong-ha and confirm, but he deliberately didn't.
Because he shouldn't.
It was still a situation where the two were making eye contact. Just because she left this place didn't mean her eyes had moved away from him at all.
He couldn't move first in a situation without certainty. Even if not moving now meant missing the appropriate hunting time, acting rashly would be troublesome. Because that's what a staring contest is.
The moment you blink, you lose.
Endure, he must endure.
Dong Bong-soo was a person whose specialty was endurance.
Just a little, let's wait just a little more.
Even then no opening appeared.......
There would be no choice but to collide purely with force against force.
Soon Yeon Yeong-ha and Old Uncle completely disappeared from view.
Dong Bong-soo's gaze quickly returned to the arena.
Hwa Seon-hyang and Paeng Ho-ryu spent time bickering with each other again, and in the arena, new challengers ascended and competed in martial arts with each other.
Time flowed on just like that.
***
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Several hours later, when the Hour of the Rooster(5 PM to 7 PM) arrived and the sun was slowly setting.
The great drum at the eastern edge of the Murim Alliance rang out. It was the signal announcing that the preliminaries of the Heavenly Youth Martial Arts Tournament had finally ended.
"Phew-. The preliminaries are finally completely over."
"That's right. Tomorrow the finals will finally begin. Though regrettably I wasn't invited to that festival. Haha."
"Why are you laughing? As the Paeng Family Head, you couldn't even make the finals, is that funny?"
"Then should I laugh or cry?"
"Huh?"
"Since I lost to the prospective champion, after the finals end I'll be re-evaluated anyway, won't I?"
At Paeng Ho-ryu's words, Hwa Seon-hyang looked at Dong Bong-soo's indifferent profile and smiled.
"That's true."
The two were already predicting Dong Bong-soo's victory. They couldn't help it because in the current Orthodox Faction, the best Rising Stars were the Three Stars. One of those Three Stars, Hegemon Star Paeng Ho-ryu, had been defeated. Blade Star had already returned to dust during the Anhui Great Massacre, and the only person remaining was Wine Star Eul Ji-chu.
Though Paeng Ho-ryu hadn't yet seen Eul Ji-chu fight, he never considered him to be above himself.
Dong Bong-soo, who had been silent, parted his closed lips.
"This is the Central Plains' heart, Zhengzhou Murim Alliance. It won't be that easy."
He didn't speak at length. The Central Plains' heart. And not that easy.
That was sufficient.
The Central Plains, no, New Murim Online.
A hunting ground whose limits truly couldn't be known.
Those two still had no idea how tremendous the people who had appeared here were. Seeing just a few Rising Stars of famous Orthodox sects, they were predicting the entire results of the Heavenly Youth Martial Arts Tournament as if they'd seen the entire Central Plains.
'There are at least three people I can't guarantee victory against who have advanced to the finals.'
Yeon Yeong-ha, Jong Ji-hang.
And.
Though no one was paying attention, the person called Seong Hui.
He was clearly a tremendous master. Moreover, he didn't even know what other masters might have participated in the southern and northern arenas he hadn't watched.
"That's true, the world is wide, so how could we know what masters might have been lurking somewhere and popped out?"
"Aw-. But would there be someone stronger than Elder Brother Dong?"
"This Central Plains alone is over ten thousand miles east to west and over ten thousand miles north to south, so who knows. That's why there's someone like Brother Dong here too, isn't it? So it's the Central Plains. Brother Dong's words probably mean that too, right? Isn't that right, Brother Dong?"
"......"
Without answering, Dong Bong-soo silently jumped down below the roof.
Paeng Ho-ryu scratched the back of his head as if embarrassed, then laughed and followed down to Central Great Road.
Hwa Seon-hyang also immediately followed behind the two.
Around that time, Namgung Hye had ascended onto the temporary arena and was announcing that the preliminaries had ended while talking about the finals’ schedule, but Dong Bong-soo left the venue just like that. Anyway, the finals’ schedule would be announced on notice boards throughout the Murim Alliance, so there was no need to confirm it now.
The three, including Dong Bong-soo, moved with quick steps to the dining hall for Jibin Pavilion guests.
There was no need to eat dinner specifically here, but since the tournament began, Dong Bong-soo always took his meals here. Because there was no need to waste time being pushed here and there by going out to Zhengzhou's bustling districts. Of course, he couldn't help that 'two appendages' followed along without being asked.
"Look over there. That person is that person."
"Really? That person is that person? He looks unexpectedly ordinary though? Are you sure?"
"Can't you tell by looking? Look at that shabby white hair and that gaunt body. Where in the Nine Sects would you find someone with such a shabby impression? And look beside him. Miss Hwa and Family Head Paeng are there too."
"Ah? Those people are those people? But why does Family Head Paeng follow that person around like that after losing to him and even getting eliminated in the preliminaries?"
Here we go again. People who had come to the dining hall first and were having early dinner began murmuring at Dong Bong-soo's appearance.
Though no epithet had been created yet, Dong Bong-soo was already one of the greatest topics of conversation created by the Heavenly Youth Martial Arts Tournament.
The Young One on the Tiles who defeated Hegemon Star Paeng Ho-ryu.
That alone was enough to deliver shock to the Orthodox Faction's people. Moreover, though it wasn't widely known yet, the fact that he was a disciple of Sparring Hammer Eccentric Bukgung Gi—even if it wasn't truly so—was also adding to his mystique.
"Tsk. Originally I'm not someone who gets talked about by people at any time like this, but I'm being chewed on again."
"That's right. I had no presence at all, but I've become gossip material along with my brothers. Hoot-."
Paeng Ho-ryu grumbled jokingly, and Hwa Seon-hyang's crescent moon-like curved eyes curved even more deeply.
She seemed rather happy about people's gossip. She accepted it as meaning that Dong Bong-soo was that much recognized by people and had skill, which was why there was talk.
Paeng Ho-ryu's expression also wasn't particularly bad. Dong Bong-soo was already a master he himself acknowledged. Getting angry about losing to a master above himself would be ridiculous. Rather, he thought he was learning many things by going around with him. In fact, since the day he exchanged moves with him and was defeated, the Five Tiger Gate-Breaking Saber that had been blocked was progressing again. Though they didn't exchange many words, Dong Bong-soo was already a small master to him. Though he didn't express it in words.