Chapter 65
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 65
Chapter Title: Unexpected Companion
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Suddenly, Mak Jinyul screamed.
"You, I'm gonna tell everything to Father! Then he'll chop off your limbs and toss you into the pigsty!"
"You must've picked up nothing but bad habits from somewhere."
Slap!
"That father of yours, who's supposedly so precious about his golden daughter—why hasn't he shown up yet while she's getting hit? It's because he left your education to me."
"He told you to educate me, not hit me!"
"I'm not the one hitting you. You're hitting yourself with your own hand."
Slap!
"Look at this! This isn't my hand!"
Slap!
As she shook her wrist, only to have it slap her cheek again, Mak Jinyul seethed with rage, feeling like she might explode.
"Hitting only one side must hurt. Let me hit the other."
Slap!
"Argh! You mad bastard!"
Mak Jinyul had never been slapped in her life. And to think it was her own hand doing it.
Cheeks that no one had ever dared touch were now bringing tears to her eyes.
"Sob! Sob!"
Slap!
Tears were useless.
The scholar mercilessly kept slapping her cheeks.
Slap!
"Both cheeks are so swollen now, it feels wrong to hit them more. Better to wait till they go down. Once they do, come at me again."
Cheon Taesan released her wrist.
Filled with resentment and injustice, Mak Jinyul held back her tears, vowing to pay him back if the chance ever came.
'You bastard, I'll definitely kill you someday.'
Mak Jimong watched his sister with deep concern.
"Whoa. That scholar guy's really out of his mind. No matter what, hitting a girl?"
"When did I hit you?"
Cheon Taesan turned to Mak Jimong.
"Huh?"
"Miss Mak's hand hit Miss Mak—how can you say I hit her?"
Mak Jimong gave a wry smile at this sophistry straight out of the unorthodox playbook.
"I think I get why they call Scholar Cheon the 'Heretic Scholar' now."
Mak Jinyul pointed at a man watching her from afar, her face lighting up triumphantly.
"Hey! You, come here!"
The onlookers figured she couldn't take on the scholar, so she was picking a fight with someone tougher, turning their eyes away.
An unexpected figure grinned and approached.
"You, Yuseong! Why are you grinning? Am I funny?"
"Yes, watching you get hit was amusing, miss."
"You... looks like you need a beating from me."
"When have you not beaten me?"
"Damn it, now even you're turning on me?!"
The two bantered casually, clearly on familiar terms.
Thwack!
Mak Jinyul swung her fist.
The man took it straight to the face but didn't lose his smile.
Cheon Taesan and Nam Woojong's group found the bizarre scene novel, but the Gwanryong Formation and Hyeoncheon Asura Corps warriors saw it as routine and paid it no mind.
'Mak Jinyul and Yuseong know each other?'
It was information beyond what Cheon Taesan had known before.
Thwack!
Even after a punch to the gut, Yuseong responded with a grin instead of pain.
And Mak Jinyul, stubborn as she was, didn't even channel her inner energy.
"That retarded bastard! He's been getting beat by Jinyul since we were kids, so now he just laughs it off. Pathetic. The successor to the Thunder Dragon Sect."
Mak Jimong clicked his tongue.
'They've been close since childhood. That's why she lets him stick around so easily.'
Mak Jinyul chose Yuseong as her outlet for the humiliation from Cheon Taesan.
"You, come with me."
"Pardon? I can't. I'm in the middle of this martial tournament. To enter the Dragon Martial Tournament, I need to place in the top ten here."
"Hey! I'll tell Father later to put you in the top ten winners, so quit whining and come on!"
"Who'd allow that?"
"Hey, is the Dragon Martial Tournament more important, or am I?"
"Well..."
Yuseong turned to meet Cheon Taesan's gaze.
Then he beamed innocently.
"Miss Jinyul is more important."
"We haven't seen each other in ages, and now it's 'miss'? Gross! Call me 'little sister' like old times."
"Yes, little sister."
Yuseong and Mak Jinyul had been fellow disciples at the Hyeoncheon Sect since childhood.
Watching them, Cheon Taesan couldn't shake the feeling that Yuseong actually enjoyed her bullying.
There was no hint of dislike or suffering.
'Did the Heavenly Killer Star's energy turn Yuseong into a masochist?'
Thinking it over, it didn't add up easily. The owner of the sadistic Heavenly Killer Star, who only found satisfaction in tormenting others, becoming the victim himself?
'Maybe Mak Jinyul discovered sadistic pleasure by tormenting Yuseong.'
In the martial world, where strength determined hierarchy, such relationships were common.
Yuseong approached Cheon Taesan.
"Scholar Cheon. Little sister wants me to join—mind if I tag along?"
Mak Jinyul snapped irritably.
"Hey! Junior brother Yoo! You crazy? Why ask the scholar? It's my call!"
Cheon Taesan glared at Mak Jinyul and said lowly.
"Quiet."
She clenched her fist, swallowing a tirade.
'If that scholar rejects Yuseong because of me, I'm done for. I need at least one outlet right now to survive.'
As Cheon Taesan pondered, Yuseong sent him a transmission.
-Opposites attract, right?
Cheon Taesan was dumbfounded.
'What 'extreme' does Yuseong see in me?'
His oddly intimate look sent chills down his spine.
Cheon Taesan couldn't babysit Mak Jinyul forever.
With Yuseong around, he figured her outbursts could be mitigated.
Plus, he was a first-rate expert.
Not a burden—a potential asset.
"Fine. But you follow my orders."
Yuseong turned and dashed off as if he'd expected it.
"Where are you going!"
"Gotta explain to my clan folks. Dropping out of the tournament and all."
Moments later, as Cheon Taesan's group set off, Yuseong hurriedly joined.
Mak Jinyul spoke up.
"You let me come, right?"
"No, they opposed it. They know I'm weak against you, little sister. Said I might end up in a bad spot."
"Damn it! You've gotten even slimier. Now there's one more guy I hate looking at."
Thanks to Yuseong, they began their journey in relative peace.
Hearing the story late, Mak Yeoheun roared with laughter in the grand hall, nearly shaking the walls.
"Made her slap her own cheeks? What a genius."
"Yes. If Scholar Cheon had hit her himself, we'd have had to step in. But he made her do it herself and dodged the issue."
"That's what makes him sly. Who'd think of that? He didn't give me any room to intervene. Pure unorthodox thinking."
Mak Yeoheun muttered amid his guffaws.
"That cocky punk who didn't know the world's dangers—after this, he'll wise up a bit."
"Miss Jinyul isn't one to give up easily, but I think Scholar Cheon can handle her."
"Hm. The lord didn't think much of Scholar Cheon until recently, but your opinion's improved a lot?"
"He's from the Murim Alliance, isn't he? We had to suspect. But why'd the Alliance kick out a talent like that? No idea."
"Why? He challenged their vested interests without fear. Righteous, demonic, or unorthodox—those clinging to power tolerate injustice but not threats to their gains."
He knew Scholar Cheon had exposed the corruption of elders, seniors, unit leaders, and branch heads.
No organization liked that. The more insular and rotten, the more they hated it.
"Means the Murim Alliance is rotten to the core. Can a group that decayed win a war against the Demonic Cult?"
The lord replied.
"With the Alliance Leader and elder faction checking each other like natural enemies, it's tough right now."
"What of the main force?"
"With our liege so wise and vigorous, who dares harbor other thoughts?"
There were six known Transcendent Realm experts in the current martial world.
The supreme masters called the Three Great Kings of the World.
The Murim Alliance Leader, Demonic Cult Leader, and Unorthodox Overlord.
And the Three Great Swordsmen of the World.
Mount Hua Sect's leader, Supreme Harmony Jade Sword Cheongjing; Wudang Sect's leader, Wudang's Sole Sword Myeonggong; Nangong Family Head, Nine Heavens Whirlwind Sword Nangong Hak.
The Transcendent Realm was a stage beyond humanity.
"The Demonic Cult's movements are suspicious. Secure funds at all costs. Something's bound to happen."
"We're maximizing revenue from factions around Poyang Lake."
"Not enough. Find more profit sources."
"The strategist is researching it."
Mak Yeoheun was preparing for war.
"We should arrive in two days."
Gwanryongjin handled not just escort but the entire journey.
Sharp as he was, he grasped the full situation and managed the schedule flawlessly.
'Gwanryongjin's too good to waste as a mere captain. If I were Mak Yeoheun, I'd use him for bigger things.'
It wasn't flattery—he meant it.
As dusk fell, we picked a spot better for camping than an inn.
"What is this! Why sleep on bare ground like this? There's an inn just a bit farther!"
Mak Jinyul's voice echoed through the woods.
"Quiet! You trying to call every beast in the area?"
Only I could yell at her.
"I want a proper bed!"
"Hey, Mad Flower! I told you—if you hate it, go back to Hyeoncheon Sect. Even now!"
"Mad Flower?"
"Yeah, they call you Jiangxi's Beauty Flower, right? In my eyes, you're no beauty. You're Mad Flower."
"You calling me a crazy flower?"
"Look at yourself. Even that's too kind."
Perhaps unused to such treatment, Mak Jinyul's face flushed with outrage.
Her hand drifted toward her sword.
"Draw that sword, and you might see it cut your own throat."
At my chilling tone, she released the hilt.
Memories of the earlier slaps flashed in her mind.
Yuseong tried to console her from the side, but his words only poked at her.
"Little sister, there's a saying: It's not the spitter you fear, but the drooler. To me, Scholar Cheon is a drooler. Of madness."
Yuseong eyed me strangely, as if sensing something from me.
Everyone but the night watch warriors was asleep.
We'd pitched a small tent for Mak Jinyul and Mak Jimong.
Mak Jimong grumbled it was cramped with her squeezing in, despite room for five.
I sat on a nearby rock, spreading my senses and emitting spirit energy.
To retrieve the Secret Dantian.
I wanted to check how much inner energy it'd absorbed.
Mak Jimong and Mak Jinyul's blood flows confirmed they were asleep.
Humans couldn't fake their blood flow.
Not even consciously.
Not even Transcendent experts.
The Secret Dantian's presence felt clearer than before, meaning it'd absorbed a good chunk of Mak Jimong's energy.
'Good. Keep coming to me.'
With a thought, the Secret Dantian slipped out from the tent corner.
It swiftly approached.
I grabbed it by hand.
Scanned the surroundings just in case.
Only the distant night watch blood flows registered.
I rinsed it thoroughly with water from a bamboo tube and swallowed.
"Whew. What the hell?"
I'd expected maybe five years' worth at best.
It was ten.
'With this much, Mak Jimong might notice his energy drop.'
The Secret Dantian held a total of sixteen years now.
But bigger than that: thanks to it, Mak Jimong felt greater affinity toward me.
I extracted the Secret Dantian and sent it back into the tent.
'Can't drain Mak Jimong more, or it'll be risky. So then...'
I maneuvered it into Mak Jinyul's mouth.
'Even a few days in her dantian should reduce her hostility toward me a lot.'
I couldn't waste energy dealing with Mak Jinyul.
To go all-out at Hopyeon Market, I needed her compliant.
My lips curled unwittingly.
'Yuseong next after Mak Jinyul. As Thunder Dragon Sect successor, boosting affinity with him will be huge.'
I smiled contentedly and went to sleep.