Chapter 133
Chapter 133: Questions and Answers
"That is......!?"
Seungchan headed to the dining hall attached to Jibin Pavilion with Eul Ji-tae to have dinner. Originally, he always ate at Cheontong Hall together with Hyeoncheon Jinin, the Murim Alliance Leader, but today he came here with Eul Ji-tae instead of the Murim Alliance Leader who was busy preparing for the finals of the Heavenly Youth Martial Arts Tournament.
Then he witnessed an interesting scene. More precisely, he saw an interesting person.
Avoiding with minimal movements, blocking, striking.......
Also, a young man who knew how to achieve maximum effect with just that, one who truly knew how to fight, not just martial arts.
He found him intriguing, and even stopped Eul Ji-tae from mobilizing the Martial World Protection Corps to break up the fight, watching the fight instead.
When the fight ended, the young man was about to approach where he was standing.
One man who seemed unable to accept defeat suddenly ambushed the young man from behind.
However,
The one launching the attack stopped in midair instead. An invisible Energy wall had formed and blocked the attack midway.
An Energy wall was a technique that anyone who reached the edge of the pinnacle could manifest to a certain extent. However, the reason Seungchan was surprised wasn't the simple fact that such a young person could execute an Energy wall.
The real reason he was shocked was.
Because the young man was breathing as he emitted and received True Energy, completely controlling the True Energy around him. It wasn't just his own True Energy. He even skillfully utilized the Natural Energy scattered haphazardly around him to unfold the Energy wall.
That wasn't technique. It was something only possible for someone who could extremely sensitively sense and control the energy around them. A special domain that could never be achieved no matter how long one trained, perhaps even an instinct.
Even among the successive Hall Lords of Kimnara Hall in Shaolin's history, no one had reached that domain. Within his knowledge, there was only one person in the long history of the Martial World who was capable of such things.
That was.......
***
Thwack—!
Dong Bong-soo stopped Jeon Pung-gae, who had attacked him, completely immobile with his Super True Energy Wave and drove his fist into his face.
With a dull sound, Jeon Pung-gae also fainted just like the others.
"Are you okay?"
Hwa Seon-hyang hurriedly approached and asked.
"You're asking the wrong person. Such a question applies to these guys lying flat and sleeping here. Haha."
Following Hwa Seon-hyang, Paeng Ho-ryu also came close and laughed. From the moment the fight started until now, he hadn't had even the slightest worry or doubt about Dong Bong-soo. Wasn't this a natural result? However, he hadn't expected that his friends would turn out to be even more pathetic humans than he thought. To stab someone in the back after admitting defeat.
"Tsk. Bad eyes. Bad ears. Now even their character is completely rotten. Jeon Pung-gae, this fellow is a complete walking medical encyclopedia, isn't he?"
Dong Bong-soo let their words go in one ear and out the other as he continued on his way. Still standing at the dining hall entrance ahead were Eul Ji-tae and the elderly monk.
Eul Ji-tae had his usual cold face.
On the other hand.......
The elderly monk's expression. That caught Dong Bong-soo's eye.
Dong Bong-soo knew at a glance that the elderly monk was Seungchan. He had heard that one of the Two Divinities, a monk, had come to the Murim Alliance.
A monk radiating an aura of being a strong expert was frowning as he looked at him—how could he not know?
The problem wasn't that, but why he was making such a subtle expression while looking at him.
'Did he perhaps recognize me?'
Was it like Tang O in the past, surprised after recognizing the Holeless Body, or,
Had he seen through his inner self?
Unexpectedly formidable eyes existed in this place. Sharp enough to be called transcendent in some aspects. Even if his disguise was perfect, if he let his guard down, there was no telling what might happen.
His opponent was one of the two strongest in this Central Plains, wasn't he?
He had to confirm. Which one it was.
Dong Bong-soo calmly maintained his walking pace and continued forward. Before long, he naturally reached close to Eul Ji-tae and the elderly monk.
"Not like you."
Eul Ji-tae spoke to Dong Bong-soo as he passed by.
"I merely accepted a duel."
Dong Bong-soo paused his steps briefly.
Eul Ji-tae had seen Dong Bong-soo fight for the first time.
Really...... he was strong. No special flowery words were needed. What he had just shown was overwhelmingly dominant.
When he had heard that Dong Bong-soo defeated Paeng Ho-ryu in the preliminaries of the Heavenly Youth Martial Arts Tournament, it hadn't felt real. The thought 'surely not' had come first. The Dong Bong-soo he knew was just a unique yet regrettable talent with only External Energy Arts.
But it seemed that wasn't the case.
Seeing him now, he had reached a realm far beyond his common sense. To the point where even if he gave his all, it would be difficult to guarantee victory. Perhaps that was why Seungchan was surprised too.
Moreover.......
'It doesn't seem like he's shown all his skills completely yet.'
While thinking that, the fact that he hadn't shown those skills at all until now seemed even more frightening.
"I know. But with your level of skill, you could have resolved this without mixing hands so severely here."
"It's what they wanted."
Hearing Dong Bong-soo's words, Eul Ji-tae nodded. He had no choice. Though he hadn't watched the entire situation that had just unfolded from the beginning, he could easily guess how things had flowed to reach this situation.
He knew well what kind of fellows the rising stars receiving favor from each sect typically were. They probably tried to crush Dong Bong-soo and Paeng Ho-ryu here while everyone watched. It was a process he had endured countless times from the previous generation's rising stars in the past. Just as then, even now he couldn't understand that mentality at all and didn't want to understand it.
However, now he was also a member of the Murim Alliance. In some ways, he had a symbiotic relationship with them.
Therefore, even if he couldn't understand, he had to at least pretend to understand or make a 'show' of taking their side.
By now, he had sufficiently put on that act.
Eul Ji-tae stepped aside without adding further words.
With that, Dong Bong-soo stepped forward again.
At that moment, the elderly monk's weighty Buddhist invocation caught his foot.
"Amitabha."
It was the reaction Dong Bong-soo had expected and also waited for. When he turned his head to look, the elderly monk, Seungchan, spoke.
"Perhaps, did the benefactor come from Tianshan?"
Tianshan.
The main mountain of Xinjiang.
In other words, was he asking if he came from Heavenly Demon Castle?
"No."
Seungchan nodded his head a few times, then spoke again.
"That would be so."
"......"
"Amitabha. If you're not busy, could you spare a moment of time?"
This was what he had waited for. Dong Bong-soo looked at Seungchan briefly, then walked past him toward the entrance.
Seungchan immediately followed.
Paeng Ho-ryu tried to follow right away as well, but Eul Ji-tae blocked him.
"It's Great Master Seungchan. It seems he has something to discuss separately and quietly."
"......!"
Seungchan.
Two Divinities.
Number One of the Orthodox Faction.
That name's weight was heavy, leading to Paeng Ho-ryu's feet having to become heavy.
"Just what...... is this about?"
"I don't know that either, Family Head Paeng."
Meanwhile, Dong Bong-soo and Seungchan had already left the dining hall.
Afterward, Eul Ji-tae looked around the chaotic and messy dining hall, then commanded the Martial World Protection Corps members scattered around with eye signals to clean up.
The members immediately supported the unconscious Nine Dragons and other personnel and moved them to the Pill Chamber.
Paeng Ho-ryu just stood there blankly, not knowing what was going on, while Hwa Seon-hyang focused on calming the shocked Hwa Ye-ji. While doing so, she glanced toward the entrance, but Dong Bong-soo had already disappeared.
Meanwhile, rumors about Dong Bong-soo were being 'cooked' into an even bigger and newer form.
All the more so since the finest seasoning called Seungchan had appeared at just the right time.
***
Deungseon Pavilion.
A pavilion built by Jin Yang-ja, the second Alliance Leader of the Murim Alliance. Located at the western edge of the Murim Alliance, the highest point within the Murim Alliance was this place, Deungseon Pavilion.
Despite the character 'pavilion' attached to its name, people didn't think of this place as a gazebo or rest area. Because the word Deungseon before it came across much more strongly.
Deungseon.
It meant ascending to the immortal realm.
Who?
The successive Murim Alliance Leaders after Great Master Hye-in.
This was the place where their memorial tablets were enshrined. More precisely, they were enshrined in Deungseon Hall built next to Deungseon Pavilion.
Now, two people were entering Deungseon Hall with the setting sun behind them.
It was Seungchan and Dong Bong-soo.
"Amitabha."
As soon as he entered, Seungchan first raised a single palm toward the memorial tablets lined up inside the shrine and paid his respects.
Dong Bong-soo just stood quietly behind him.
"Do you know who the owners of those memorial tablets are?"
Dong Bong-soo didn't know where this place was. Therefore, he quietly waited for Seungchan's next words.
"They are the successive Alliance Leaders of the Murim Alliance."
On the wall behind the tablets hung portraits of people in various garments—monks, Taoists, and laypeople. They were probably the successive Murim Alliance Leaders who were the owners of each tablet. However, Dong Bong-soo had no interest whatsoever in such things. What mattered to him now was what exactly Seungchan knew about him, how much he had figured out.
Seungchan's story continued.
"Their role was to make the Murim Alliance become the center point that protects the Central Plains Martial World. The current Murim Alliance Leader, Hyeoncheon Jinin, would be the same."
"So why are you telling me such things?"
"That is—"
Seungchan finally withdrew his gaze from the tablets as he continued.
"Because the role of this old monk who is the Kimnara Hall Lord is to maintain not the Central Plains Martial World, but the Central Plains itself in righteousness."
"Are you saying I'm not righteous?"
"No. The opposite."
Dong Bong-soo still didn't understand Seungchan's words, but quietly waited for his next words.
"Because you're too excellent, that's the problem."
"What do you mean by that?"
Had he waited for that question? Sharp light flashed in Seungchan's eyes. With that, Dong Bong-soo could instinctively sense that the main point would now come.
"Amitabha. This is the human realm. It's not a place for one who has come from another world."
"......!"