Chapter 86
Chapter 86
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: uly
Chapter: 86
Chapter Title: Wudang's Unexpected Spotlight
-----------------------------------------------------------------
"No, who might this be?"
A man approached Cheongsang and Cheongu, who had been listening to Zhuge Sansan's explanation, holding a long spear at his side.
"Isn't this the young lady of the Zhuge family?"
"Ah, Young Master Ak."
"I heard you were participating. It seems your brother has already returned to the clan."
"Yes."
The man greeting Zhuge Sansan.
Ak Pyeong, the third son of Shandong's Ak family.
Someone she had seen a few times while living as Zhuge Seon.
"This is disappointing. I thought I'd get to share a drink with Brother Zhuge this time."
As if.
She had heard of him, but he wasn't a martial artist worth paying attention to. In other words, a braggart.
Even as Zhuge Seon, their acquaintance was superficial at best.
Yet Ak Pyeong looked at Cheongsang and Cheongu beside Zhuge Sansan with a regretful expression, as if they shared some profound bond.
"And these gentlemen?"
Even though they wore Wudang Taoist robes, making it impossible not to know, he still asked.
"They are Cheongsang of Wudang and his junior brother Cheongu."
At Zhuge Sansan's introduction, Cheongsang and Cheongu politely clasped their hands and bowed.
"Ah, disciples of Wudang..."
Ak Pyeong nodded nonchalantly and turned back to Zhuge Sansan.
"But why are you here? And with disciples from a fallen Taoist sect, no less."
"......"
Zhuge Sansan's eyes narrowed slightly at Ak Pyeong's words laced with mockery.
Pursuing the Path of the Fallen Tao.
Steps chasing a crumbling path.
It was a term used to ridicule the current state of Wudang.
The fallen Tao referred to the Progressive Sect, once a pillar of Taoism but now vanished, and chasing after it mocked Wudang's decline from its days as one of the twin peaks alongside Shaolin.
"Young Master Ak, your words are rather harsh."
"Haha, it's not wrong, so why the overreaction?"
It was clearly deliberate. He was openly trying to put down the Wudang disciples.
People without a shred of shame.
Fortunately, however, Cheongsang and Cheongu's expressions showed no change.
"In any case, why don't you head over there? Everyone's waiting to see you, Miss Zhuge."
"......"
Zhuge Sansan glanced in the direction Ak Pyeong indicated.
Martial artists from the five great clans centered around Nangong Changwi's faction.
She quickly understood why Ak Pyeong had come.
They wouldn't know her. She had never been active, so it was natural. All that was known about her in the martial world was that she was Zhuge Seon's twin sister.
They must have judged by rumors and attire, and the purpose was undoubtedly to draw her into their faction.
But she had no intention of joining their faction, and moreover, she disliked the look in Ak Pyeong's eyes.
Not lecherous, but insidious. The gaze of fools thinking a pretty flower beside them would make them shine.
"Well, I'm comfortable here, so don't worry about me."
"......Ha, what a shame. Even after we offered you a chance, you refuse."
A chance?
A cold light flashed in Zhuge Sansan's eyes.
What chance? The chance to join their pathetic faction? The chance to stand prettily by their side? What an utter joke.
The purpose of this hastily created Yongbong Hall was clearly to prepare for something. They should be uniting and growing stronger, yet here they were, instantly forming factions.
As Zhuge Sansan prepared to lash out venomously, another person approached.
"Hah, what an oblivious group."
"......"
Not only Zhuge Sansan, but Ak Pyeong, Cheongsang, and Cheongu all turned their heads.
A martial artist with a massive execution sword slung over his shoulder.
Sang Won-yeong, a second-generation disciple of the Hengshan Sect, which rivaled the Nine Great Sects in scale despite not being one of them.
"The Righteous Alliance is one alliance, yet why is Wudang mingling with the heirs of petty self-serving clans?"
"What do you mean?"
"They say its power has declined so much it can't even match its own sect. Wudang is done for, tsk tsk."
Sang Won-yeong planted his execution sword into the ground and flexed his massive muscles as he spoke.
One fool or another.
In Zhuge Sansan's eyes, Sang Won-yeong was nothing but a dumb lump of muscle.
And Wudang not measuring up to Hengshan?
Absurd.
She knew Hengshan sought to displace Wudang for a seat among the Nine Great Sects, but she hadn't expected even a second-generation disciple to be so brazen.
"Hey, watch your mouth. Self-serving interests? One wrong move, and my spear might shut it for you."
Ak Pyeong grinned sinisterly and gripped his spear tightly.
"Ha, Ak Pyeong? Have you lost your mind?"
"What?"
"How do you plan to handle my execution sword with your shallow spear arts? If this weren't the Yongbong Meet, it would have been perfect."
"Oh? Is that so? Then shall we step outside and have a go?"
A pointless show of bravado between men. They spoke as if it mattered, but they were just scouting martial artists on orders from above to bolster their factions.
Riding a tiger makes one think they're the tiger. Fitting for their level—barely enough to occupy the lowest seats in their factions.
As Zhuge Sansan frowned and moved to intervene, Cheongsang grabbed her sleeve.
"Cheongsang?"
To her puzzled look, Cheongsang replied with a smile.
"We're fine."
"......Pardon?"
"We do not rise or fall based on the opinions of the masses. Mere words. We simply do our utmost as disciples of Wudang."
Calm and composed.
Given the atmosphere, they couldn't possibly be unaware of the disdain, yet their expressions showed not the slightest change.
"Ah......!"
Suddenly, she felt ashamed for nearly losing her temper to these braggarts.
She recalled why she had come to the Yongbong Meet.
To change her fate.
Now free from the role of successor, she didn't want to give up everything as a woman and live as some man's wife.
It was to forge her own path as a martial artist, ignoring her clan's prestige or the limitations imposed on her gender.
She had no time to bicker with the likes of Sang Won-yeong or Ak Pyeong, who relied on their faction's power.
"You two have remarkable composure. I must have been too sensitive."
"Not at all. I was the same before meeting Martial Uncle."
Zhuge Sansan gave Cheongsang a puzzled look at his smile.
At that moment, a voice calling for Wudang disciples came from afar.
"Cheongu. It seems it's our turn for the test. Let's hurry."
"Yes, Senior Brother!"
"We must give our all so as not to disgrace Martial Uncle's name."
"Yes!"
Cheongu nodded vigorously at Cheongsang's words and headed to the examiners.
And then, something no one could have anticipated began to unfold.
The Wudang second-generation disciples, whom no one had paid attention to and all had overlooked, captured the gazes of everyone at the Yongbong Meet in an instant.
Boom!
"......!"
Nam Ro-hwan, the instructor from the Justice Division overseeing the First Hall's test, couldn't close his gaping mouth.
"Um, did I pass?"
The chubby Wudang Taoist priest, Cheongu, grinned with squinted eyes.
"Y-Yes, pass. Proceed to the next test."
"Ah, thank you."
Cheongu received his pass slip from Nam Ro-hwan and waved it excitedly at Cheongsang.
Cheongsang's reaction on his turn was even more astonishing.
"You fool, how can you be so reckless? And if you punch right through it, how's the next person supposed to go?"
"Ah, wasn't I supposed to pierce it? They said to use internal energy and strike with all my might."
"Didn't they say others fail because they can't? That just leaving a palm print is enough to pass?"
"......Ah, hehe. Senior Brother told me to give my all, so I got carried away."
"Tsk, if Martial Uncle saw that, he'd scold you for not controlling your power properly."
Cheongu scratched the back of his head sheepishly at Cheongsang's words.
Nam Ro-hwan—and everyone else—was staring at them in shock, hanging on their every word.
The Yongbong Meet's three-stage preliminary test to gauge participants' levels.
The first was the Justice Division's test that all had to pass.
Before them was an iron plate one cun thick. The depth of the palm print measured one's internal energy depth.
Even at a mere cun, countless had failed to reach the required depth, and many more couldn't leave a print at all.
Yet Cheongu had blasted right through it with Force Projection.
Giving his all.
The Wudang disciple, thought to be just extremely fat, had passed spectacularly in a way no one else had, drawing all eyes.
"Cheongsang of Wudang."
"Eh? Ah, yes. B-Begin."
He couldn't just stand there dumbfounded.
With many waiting, the tests needed to proceed quickly.
"How deep must the palm print be?"
"H-Half a cun or more."
"Understood."
Cheongsang bowed politely, walked slowly to the iron plate, and placed his hand on it.
"Ah, wait, you have to strike—"
Nam Ro-hwan couldn't finish his sentence.
The onlookers were the same. Even those taking tests elsewhere stopped and stared wide-eyed at Cheongsang.
Rumble...
Cheongsang pressed his hand on the iron plate like the Buddha's own. Not striking, but pressing.
A clear palm print bulged out from the back of the plate.
Yet his expression remained utterly serene, not a single breath disturbed.
"Is this sufficient?"
"......P-Pass."
"Thank you."
Cheongsang bowed politely and stepped back.
"As expected, I can't keep up with Senior Brother."
Cheongsang smiled faintly at Cheongu's innocent admiration.
It looked effortless, but pressing was harder than punching through like Cheongu.
Striking focuses force at a momentary peak for maximum effect.
Pressing disperses the force across the entire palm, reducing concentration.
Yet Cheongsang had pressed a print over a cun deep.
"We have shown no shameful display before you two, esteemed Taoists."
After the test, Cheongsang approached Zhuge Sansan and bowed politely.
Ak Pyeong and Sang Won-yeong were too stunned to even breathe, while Zhuge Sansan smiled smugly at their faces.
"Please wait a moment, you two. Once my turn is done, we'll move to the next test together."
"Yes."
Cheongsang smiled in response to Zhuge Sansan.
And.
'These guys are second-generation? From that Wudang?'
Sang Won-yeong and Ak Pyeong stared at Cheongsang and Cheongu in lingering shock.
No, everyone was looking at them that way.
Wudang of the Pursuing the Path of the Fallen Tao.
No one paid them any mind anymore.
Even before the tests began, countless factions had formed, but none thought to recruit Wudang.
But at this moment, key figures from two of the Nine Great Sects—Hwasan's Hyeonseon and Haemam's Ibaek—along with the Nangong Changwi and Hwangbo Woong from the five great clans' factions.
They had to commit the Wudang disciples' names to memory. Not as recruits for their factions, but as rivals threatening their own positions.
And.
Zhuge Sansan, measuring the distance to the iron plate, drew her hand back to her chest and extended it lightly, touching the plate.
Crack!
Her delicate hand dented deeply, leaving another mark beside Cheongsang's palm print.
Almost identical depth.
"P-Pass!"
With Nam Ro-hwan's shout, Zhuge Sansan took her pass slip and approached Cheongsang with a petulant complaint.
"What a shame. Not as deep as yours, Cheongsang, and I didn't pierce it like Cheongu."
"Nonsense. I'm in awe of your internal energy control. It's incomparable to ours."
Cheongsang shook his head with a smile.
"Well then, shall we go?"
Zhuge Sansan smiled back and glared at Ak Pyeong and Sang Won-yeong.
"Mind stepping aside?"
"......Ah, yes."
Zhuge Sansan, who might join the Justice Vanguard with her skills, brushed past Ak Pyeong and Sang Won-yeong.
"Martial Uncle Jinmu would have been delighted to see you two."
Cheongsang shook his head at Zhuge Sansan's words.
"If he saw, he'd have unleashed a tirade."
"Pardon?"
"In his eyes, we're always lacking."
"......True enough."
Thinking about it, with Jinmu's bold personality even before Sword Saint or Dang Yeo-pyeong, it did seem likely. Zhuge Sansan nodded with a bright smile.
And.
"I wonder where Martial Uncle went. Hope he's not starving."
"Wherever he is, that one will eat well. And no doubt helping some poor soul in trouble."
"Hm, probably."
Cheongu puffed his cheeks worriedly, and Cheongsang replied with a radiant smile.