The Great Clans Don’t Have Heads? (2)
The people of the martial world loved the strong.
Just as they themselves pursued strength and revered the absolute master of the age, they were the sort who held a deep affection for strength itself. So there was no way they would not cheer at this absurd spectacle unfolding before their eyes.
"Woooooaaaaah!"
"Mount Hua Divine Dragon! Mount Hua Divine Dragon!"
"Long live the Mount Hua Sect!"
Even long after the bout had ended, the thunderous roar showed no sign of dying down.
Matches were beginning to finish one by one at the other rings, but no one cared about the results.
Chung Myung’s single strike had been far too overwhelming.
"Good heavens, he took down Haenam’s chief disciple!"
"He did it without even using his sword!"
"So this is Mount Hua Divine Dragon, huh? I thought he must be amazing to be talked about like that, but this is even more than the rumors!"
"W-wasn’t that just a sneak attack?"
"Sneak attack? Sneak attack my ass! If you let your guard down on the competition platform, you’re the idiot. And the head monk gave the signal to begin the bout, so what the hell are you talking about, ‘let your guard down’? That was skill, pure skill!"
"Exactly. If you’re upset, then win."
"Mount Hua has really grown strong! To crush Haenam in a single blow like that."
Any dissenting voices were swept away without a trace.
Most of the people gathered here had come to see, with their own eyes, the talents of the age who would one day lead the martial world. In other words, they were already ready to cheer for any victory. And now that they had witnessed something like this right in front of them, how could they not go wild?
But even amid that enormous uproar, Chung Myung only wore a blasé expression.
"Hah. Like I did something special."
"Mount Hua Divine Dragon! Mount Hua Divine Dragon! Mount Hua Sect! Mount Hua Divine Dragon!"
"It’s not even that big a dea—"
"Mount Hua! Mount Hua! Mount Hua Divine Dragon!"
"……."
The corners of Chung Myung’s mouth began to twitch.
Baek Cheon, watching him with a sour look, muttered to himself.
'He looks like he’s about to die of happiness.'
"I-I mean. It’s not like I did anything that special. Kya, kyaaa…."
"Just laugh, Chung Myung. You’re going to burst a vein if you keep that up."
"Like hell. After taking down some nobody like that!"
"Your mouth says one thing, but your body’s being awfully honest."
At that, Chung Myung forced his hands to spread the corners of his mouth into a grin.
Baek Cheon let out a long sigh.
A single strike.
It had been, quite literally, a single strike.
With that one blow alone, Chung Myung had stolen the attention of everyone present.
Whether he had intended to finish it in one strike from the start or was merely too lazy to bother, no one could say.
But whatever the reason, the result was the same.
It was obvious that for the rest of the tournament, everyone would be watching Chung Myung—and Mount Hua.
"Be careful, Chung Myung."
"Huh?"
Chung Myung turned his head slightly to look at Baek Cheon.
"Too much attention isn’t necessarily a good thing. Look. They’ve already started to be wary of you."
At Baek Cheon’s gesture, Chung Myung looked around.
Sure enough, more eyes were fixed on him than before.
The crowd’s rapt attention was only natural, but there were also other gazes mixed in with it—gazes that felt very different.
They belonged to the disciples from the various sects participating in the tournament.
Some looked unsettled, others openly wary.
They had eyes. There was no way they could fail to understand how incredible what Chung Myung had just done was. In this situation, it would have been stranger if they weren’t wary.
But Chung Myung, upon receiving those looks, only glared back harder.
"Those bastards think they can glare at me? I’ll rip their eyeballs out!"
"No, you lunatic!"
Fortunately, Baek Cheon, who had been standing by his side, quickly shoved Chung Myung down and calmed him.
"You’re the one who gave them a reason to be wary!"
"So what if they’re wary? They’re not worth a single fistful anyway!"
Er…
Well, that was true enough.
Chung Myung definitely wasn’t someone you could “handle” by being wary or not. Whether those people knew that was another matter entirely.
Then Chung Myung licked his lips and said in a low voice,
"Remember this, martial uncle."
"Hm?"
"Don’t go easy on them."
"……."
"If you deal with them too gently, next time they’ll start thinking they might actually be able to win. And then they’ll underestimate us. When you win, you have to crush them without mercy. That way, when they see you again, they’ll be too scared to meet your eyes."
"……Are we the Black Way or something?"
"Even the Black Way has things worth learning from. Those guys don’t care about face or dignity or any of that crap—they put survival first, profit first, so they move in the most efficient way possible."
"……."
"Remember it. Never hold back. If you want to win, win overwhelmingly! Then…."
Chung Myung’s gaze drifted upward.
To the leaders of the various sects seated on the raised platform.
"They’ll feel it too. Who this whole stage was built for."
There was unmistakable mockery in his eyes as they swept over the sect leaders of the Nine Sects and the Five Great Families.
Meanwhile—
"Hmm?"
The sect leaders watching the match from the platform were also unable to hide their shock.
"Truly astonishing. Isn’t that child from Mount Hua exceptionally skilled?"
"His opponent didn’t even let down his guard particularly, and yet I lost sight of the movement for an instant myself."
"We’ve heard the name Mount Hua Divine Dragon quite a few times, but isn’t he truly a prodigy who could become a pillar for the future?"
Genuine admiration clearly colored their voices.
Chung Myung’s display was enough to startle even the leaders of the Nine Great Sects and the Five Great Families.
Of course, there was also an unmistakable edge of caution in their eyes.
Even so, a single strike?
That Gu Hwan-so person was by no means lacking in skill. And yet he couldn’t even react?
This had gone beyond the question of whose skill was superior.
At the very least, it was the kind of result that required a gulf of one full generation.
No— even with that much of a difference, most people would never dare think they could drop Gu Hwan-so in one blow.
And yet Mount Hua Divine Dragon had done exactly that without the slightest fuss.
"Mount Hua Divine Dragon, huh. Mount Hua Divine Dragon…."
"He’s even better than the rumors."
Most of the sect leaders here had not agreed with the claim that Mount Hua Divine Dragon was the number one young master of the martial world.
To be precise, it wasn’t that they refused to acknowledge Mount Hua Divine Dragon himself; they simply refused to acknowledge the empty title of “number one young master.”
In truth, that position could only be judged from scattered evaluations and the deeds of those who had entered the martial world. Comparing every promising youth of the world one by one was close to impossible.
Besides, a major sect like the Nine Great Sects or the Five Great Families always had at least one carefully cultivated talent whose future they had pinned everything on.
Once my disciple steps into the martial world, he’ll be able to overturn a rating like that without any trouble.
That was what each sect leader had secretly believed.
But at this moment, the thought that Mount Hua Divine Dragon’s reputation might not be empty at all seized hold of them.
Could their own disciples really show them something like that?
To that question, no one could easily nod and say yes.
The perfunctory exchange of pleasantries gradually faded. As the absurd result began to make sense, caution started to overtake admiration.
"Ahem."
In that strange atmosphere, Hyun Jong had to work hard to calm his shoulders, which kept straightening as if pulled taut by a string.
It wasn’t difficult to guess what was going through the minds of the sect leaders as they gradually fell silent.
They’re shocked, no doubt.
But they could stand to be a little more shocked.
Hyun Jong had been living through that shock for years. After enduring all those harsh years, this moment had finally come.
The moment when Chung Myung of Mount Hua would be shown to the entire world.
Then Tang Gun-ak smiled faintly and spoke to Hyun Jong in a low voice.
"Congratulations, Sect Leader of Mount Hua."
"Hah… haha. It must have been luck."
"Luck? Humility, in excess, becomes its own form of arrogance. Who else could possibly have done such a thing?"
At Tang Gun-ak’s words, someone else cut in and answered.
"That’s not wrong."
Hyun Jong, startled, turned his head with a puzzled look.
The one who had joined the conversation was Jong Ri-gok, the Sect Leader of Southern Edge.
"Indeed, he is the Mount Hua Divine Dragon, Chung Myung. Just as he appeared at the previous Jonghwa Assembly. He is truly a talent who could aim for the finest master of the next generation."
This guy?
What had he eaten wrong?
Hyun Jong stared at Jong Ri-gok, unable to make sense of it, then eventually nodded to himself.
So that’s the trick.
Southern Edge was the place Chung Myung had humiliated the most in all the world.
If that outcome couldn’t be reversed, then it would be better for Chung Myung to prove his own strength.
That way, Southern Edge wouldn’t end up as the fools who had been humiliated by some insignificant nobody.
Of course, inside, they probably hated Chung Myung enough to want to kill him over and over again.
"Indeed."
"Hmm. As expected of Mount Hua Divine Dragon."
Perhaps he had reached a similar conclusion, because Heo Do-jin-in also began praising Chung Myung.
Tang Gun-ak and Heo Do-jin-in. The weight of their words could not be the same.
With Heo Do-jin-in adding his voice, the other sect leaders followed, hiding their caution and offering congratulations and praise.
"Congratulations, Sect Leader."
"Haha. It seems Mount Hua regaining its old glory may not be far off."
The corners of Hyun Jong’s mouth began to tremble.
Bringing honor to one’s parents is the child’s duty; bringing honor to the sect leader is the disciple’s duty. Where else in this place could there be a more certain way of restoring his dignity?
"Ahem. Ahem! Thank you, everyone."
Hyun Jong covered his mouth with his fist and coughed repeatedly.
Looking down, he could see Chung Myung grappling with Baek Cheon.
He was the sort of child who sometimes made you want to climb onto him and stomp on him after erasing every trace of the accumulated dignity you’d built over a lifetime—but at times like this, he could be so lovable.
Hyun Jong was feeling, in this moment, the very same sympathy Hyun Young felt whenever it came to Chung Myung.
Whatever anyone else thought, everyone was in the middle of congratulating Mount Hua when one man couldn’t bring himself to join in.
"Wasn’t that just a sneak attack!"
"Mm."
"Ahem."
At those absurd words, those who had turned to look identified the speaker and exchanged awkward smiles.
It was Kim Yang-baek, the Sect Leader of Haenam.
With a face flushed red—so red it was practically black—he shouted,
"I acknowledge the result of the match. But if that child had not let his guard down, it would not have ended so easily!"
Hearing that excuse, Tang Gun-ak, who had been listening, smiled bitterly.
He’s smearing mud on his own face.
For a martial artist, letting down one’s guard was a greater disgrace than lacking skill. Especially on a formal competition platform where one was supposed to cross blades properly. It was simply unthinkable.
But at the same time, he understood Kim Yang-baek’s feelings.
He probably can’t think rationally right now.
The disciple he had cherished and nurtured had been smashed in one blow, and Haenam’s name had been sent crashing down.
From the standpoint of a sect leader guiding an entire school, there could be nothing more dreadful than this.
"Just wait and see. The other children will soon prove that Haenam’s strength is not limited to this!"
No one answered Kim Yang-baek’s furious words.
However, one phrase lodged itself clearly in everyone’s minds.
The other children.
They had seen the skill of the celebrated Mount Hua Divine Dragon Chung Myung with their own eyes.
Then what of Mount Hua’s other disciples?
All eyes turned toward the Mount Hua disciples beneath the gaze of the sect leaders.
Depending on the result…
Maybe this entire tournament will become a stage for Mount Hua Sect.
The sect leaders’ faces darkened.
"Listen carefully."
Baek Cheon spoke with a stiff face.
"Do not, under any circumstances, imitate this bastard."
Then he frowned at the sight of Chung Myung, seated beside him and tearing dried meat apart with casual, snapping motions.
"If a sparrow tries to follow a stork, its legs will split. And if we try to imitate that punk Chung Myung, our heads will crack open. Don’t try to end things in one stroke. Focus only on showing everything you can do! Understood?"
"Yes, senior brother!"
"Understood! Martial uncle!"
"Mm!"
Everyone agreed with Baek Cheon.
But Chung Myung only leaned his head back as though he saw things differently.
"That’s not what I’m saying, martial uncle."
"Shut up!"
Baek Cheon barked in frustration.
"Don’t tell us to do what you can do—tell us to do what we can do, you idiot!"
"What’s the big deal about taking down those punks?"
"Ughhh!"
In the end, he turned his head away, as if refusing to deal with him any longer. Then he gave them yet another stern warning.
"Anyway, do not, absolutely do not, follow the things Chung Myung does. Understand?"
"Yes!"
However frightening Chung Myung might be, when Baek Cheon and Chung Myung were openly at odds like this, it was better to follow Baek Cheon’s words for now.
And then—
"S-senior brother! Jo Gul’s match is starting!"
"What!"
Baek Cheon jumped and shouted quickly,
"Jo Gul, you need to stay calm fir—!"
Crash!
"……."
"……."
Baek Cheon’s frantic warning was swallowed whole.
Everyone stared blankly at the competition platform.
Jo Gul, who had sent his opponent flying out of the ring with one strike, was looking in utter bewilderment at the spasming figure lying beyond the boundary.
"C-calmly…."
Jo Gul looked back and forth between his sword and his fallen opponent. Then he slowly turned his head.
When his eyes met Baek Cheon’s, he opened and closed his mouth a few times before saying in an aggrieved voice,
"M-martial uncle."
"……Y-yes?"
"……These bastards are too weak."
"……."
Too weak?
The disciples of the Nine Great Sects?
Then Chung Myung, who had been watching this with round, crescent-shaped eyes, burst into a snicker.
"Sparrowwww?"
"……."
"Then those guys must be worms or something, right? Kheh, so that’s what you meant. Look at our Dong-ryong here, acting all mighty."
"……."
Baek Cheon realized, with a sinking certainty, that something had gone terribly wrong—no, that things had started to go wrong far too well.