Chapter 136
Chapter 136: Today (1)
Finally, the day dawned when the main tournament stage of the Heavenly Youth Martial Arts Tournament would begin.
Finals brackets were posted here and there throughout the Murim Alliance. Crowds packed in, nearly bursting, to check them.
Total finalists numbered forty-two.
Twenty-six rising stars from the Nine Sects and One Society and Five Great Families who had advanced to the finals in advance. Sixteen who had competed in preliminaries and risen to the finals. In short, twenty-six from Heavenly Youth and sixteen from Young Ones on the Tiles combined to make forty-two.
The tournament format was single elimination—the next match participant would be decided by just one bout. Defeat was simply defeat. There was no loser's bracket. The winner kept advancing, and whoever remained alone at the end would be the final champion.
Excluding matches won by default, it was a structure where forty-two fights had to occur for a champion to be decided.
The reason fewer people than expected advanced to the finals was because many participants had similar skill levels. With everyone winning and losing, going back and forth, there were actually those few who achieved five consecutive victories.
Additionally, some who made it to the main tournament couldn't participate in actual matches due to injuries. Defeating five in succession was no ordinary feat.
For such reasons, the finals would proceed only at the First Arena on Central Great Road.
"Can the Sixteen Young Ones on the Tiles defeat the Twenty-Six of Heavenly Youth?"
"Of course! With Young Hero Dong Guang-chuan who Broke Heaven from the Tiles, isn't it obvious!"
"Eh, but with the long history of famous great sects, the Heavenly Youth won't give up the championship so easily."
"Hey now, did you not know about yesterday's incident? Didn't three of the Nine Dragons get defeated by Breaking Heaven from the Tiles all at once? And one of the Three Stars, Family Head Paeng, was already eliminated too."
"No. Still, Wine Star Eul Ji-chu remains, as well as disciples from Shaolin and Wudang."
"I'm telling you no. The match has already been decided, yet you keep going on."
"I said no!"
Like the finals brackets posted everywhere, debates were erupting here and there throughout the Murim Alliance.
Could the Young Ones on the Tiles truly rise above Heavenly Youth?
Especially, could Dong Guang-chuan truly pierce through the heavens from atop the tile roof and rise above it?
No conclusion was reached. Everything was unknowable until they fought.
"Brother Dong already has a fitting epithet."
"Indeed. Breaking Heaven from the Tiles. It's quite splendid."
Paeng Ho-ryu and Hwa Seon-hyang had also come out early and were looking at the notice boards.
"But when is your turn?"
"Much later."
"Really? Then when is Brother Dong's?"
"Heh. You haven't checked that yet either?"
At Hwa Seon-hyang's smile, Paeng Ho-ryu squinted and scratched his head.
"Why would someone who failed the preliminaries have such interest in the finals? Of course it would be different if you're a young lady whose sweetheart is participating."
"Big brother—!"
At Paeng Ho-ryu's joke, Hwa Seon-hyang reddened her cheeks and shrieked. Even if something is true, it becomes embarrassing once spoken aloud.
Paeng Ho-ryu was already expecting it and had covered both ears with his hands.
"Hahaha. Anyway, why hasn't your sweetheart shown up yet?"
Hwa Seon-hyang pouted her lips and didn't answer.
She soon stomped her feet and went straight up onto the roof of Jibin Pavilion.
Paeng Ho-ryu watched this and shook his head with a laugh.
"Hahaha. She says she's embarrassed but her body was already heading toward Jibin Pavilion."
Paeng Ho-ryu also followed and landed beside Hwa Seon-hyang.
Hwa Seon-hyang huffed and blew air strongly through her nose while turning away from Paeng Ho-ryu, but didn't make an effort to go elsewhere. It was because she thought Dong Bong-soo would come soon if she stayed here.
However, Dong Bong-soo didn't continue to appear, and time just flowed helplessly by.
***
At that time.
Dong Bong-soo was still in his room.
'I'm receiving quite a lot of attention.'
Attention. Yes.
He didn't know whose, but some people were carefully observing him from various places around Jibin Pavilion. They were all hiding while displaying concealment arts they'd learned, but it was insufficient to fool Dong Bong-soo's keen senses.
Were they sent by Yeon Yeong-ha? Left behind by Seungchan? Or were their eyes spread by the Murim Alliance Leader? If not those, were they following orders from the Nine Sects and One Society rising stars he'd beaten up yesterday? Or if not that either, were they assassins from the Death Blood Society whose aggro he'd drawn recently?
Even for Dong Bong-soo, there was no way to know that much in the current situation. Making guarantees before facing them would be foolish. He could only speculate.
Right now, all those people had their own reasons. Reasons why they had to monitor him.
Dong Bong-soo quietly waited for the right moment.
Although he'd recently been moving while revealing his presence, that didn't mean he needed to reveal everything and invite danger.
After meeting with Seungchan yesterday, there was a need to move especially more carefully.
Unintended events kept occurring around him. Most were things he'd planned, but several things were going wrong in major ways.
It wasn't just the meeting with Seungchan or the encounter with Yeon Yeong-ha.
Acquiring this parchment before him, the Heavenly Demon Book, was also completely unplanned.
An object left by a figure who existed a thousand years ago.
But that figure was one of the strongest in Murim history.
Above all, such a person seemed to have come from Murim Online like himself.
Dong Bong-soo had never once in his life entered someone else's 'design.' He'd often made plans and ensnared someone within them, but a case like this was truly a first.
What should he do first, and how, and when?
Countless eyes and unexpected variables.
It had already exceeded the scope that could be calculated by normal brain computation. No matter what, it was impossible.
Then what should he do?
The answer was still his own behavioral pattern. Do as he'd always done.
It would be best to walk a path he knows from the beginning, but right now that wasn't possible.
When you don't know, there's a way if you just faithfully do what you can. It had always been that way.
Dong Bong-soo examined the Heavenly Demon Book once more. That was the only thing he could do for now.
Although he'd learned nothing when examining it all night, Dong Bong-soo kept looking at the Heavenly Demon Book again and again. But the Heavenly Demon Book didn't easily reveal its inner secrets.
He didn't make trivial attempts like exposing it to fire or wetting it with water. The Kimnara Hall Lords, Shaolin's greatest talents, couldn't possibly have not tried at least that much over a thousand years.
The secret must be elsewhere.
Blank paper, empty, nothing written, but it's an item...
What exactly is this? For what reason did Heavenly Demon leave this behind?
Dong Bong-soo kept pondering it.
How long had he agonized like this?
Aaaaaahh—
A huge cheer flowed in through the door crack.
'I should start moving soon.'
Crack-
Dong Bong-soo folded the scroll.
It was now time to go out. The bothersome eyes would keep following anyway, but with the main tournament imminent, the only person gutsy enough to move rashly was Yeon Yeong-ha. And she was destined to draw her blade soon no matter what he did.
What he had to do right now was first participate in the main tournament of the Heavenly Youth Martial Arts Tournament.
Dong Bong-soo stood up from his seat.
Immediately after, he put the Heavenly Demon Book in an empty space inside his Inventory. No, he tried to.
"...!"
Dong Bong-soo...
Stopped with his hand still touching the Heavenly Demon Book.
All his will and nerves changed direction in an instant. The Heavenly Demon Book, Yeon Yeong-ha, Seungchan and such were pushed back in priority in a moment.
Inventory.
This was what had contributed most greatly to his survival here. And it was also an absolute warehouse and weapon that he had never once neglected to manage.
That's why he finished each day by checking the state inside his Inventory. Last night too, as soon as he returned to this room, he'd organized his Inventory. Then he took out the Heavenly Demon Book he'd received from Seungchan, and immediately closed it.
After that, he'd neither slept nor opened his Inventory again. Naturally, the Inventory should have been exactly as it was before and after.
But!
"...It's a complete mess."
It was as Dong Bong-soo said.
The inside of the Inventory was very disheveled, different from his last memory.
A considerable number of the Sword Fragments he'd stored to use as hidden weapons, or the Steel Plates he used as armor, had disappeared or were dented, and corpses he didn't recognize were filling up the Inventory.
This was not only something he had no memory of, but something that couldn't and shouldn't be possible.
What on earth had happened?
It was a very absurd situation, but Dong Bong-soo didn't panic and examined the inside of the Inventory one by one. The cheering heard from outside was growing louder and louder, and seeing that he could even hear someone's loud voice filled with internal energy, it seemed the main tournament's start was truly imminent.
However, Dong Bong-soo still didn't budge.
There was still a little time. He'd go out after examining it a bit more.
Some things had disappeared and new things had appeared.
But he hadn't left this room even for a moment. Naturally, he hadn't opened the Inventory window either. Nor had he lost consciousness.
Then the only clue holding the full picture of this matter was the Inventory itself.
Dong Bong-soo quickly swept through the inside of the Inventory.
Then his gaze stopped at one spot.
Something was there.
Something that shouldn't be there was thrown in somewhere in the pile of corpses in the inner corner of the Inventory.
It was...
A hand. Specifically, a right hand.
A very familiar right hand.
Dong Bong-soo took it out and placed it beside the Heavenly Demon Book. Then he placed his own right hand alongside it.
"..."
Identical. The very one that had been attached to his body for the past several years, still attached now...
Yes, this is mine. My hand. Certain. No room for doubt.
But...
Why is it here?
Aaaaaaahhh-!
The outside cheering that kept growing louder continued to pull at his feet.