Dragon-Phoenix Gathering (6)
Dragon-Phoenix Gathering (6)
"Are you insulting the Yang Family Taijiquan Gate with those words?"
Honest people always lose out. The more readily you reveal your emotions, the more your weaknesses surface, and you get caught in the opponent's flow and get hurt. Those accustomed to covert strife and who enjoy inflicting pain on others make sport of setting up and mocking such people.
"You jump to wild conclusions. I was merely remarking how curious it was that the Yang Family Taijiquan Gate put forward a Southern Barbarian candidate. No, think about it. When one thinks of Southern Barbarians, what usually comes to mind? They stink, they're filthy, they barely listen, and they're stupid to boot...."
The man pulled comical faces and waved his hands in front of Hong Ye. The martial robe bearing the character 八 (Eight) fluttered this way and that, as if flaunting his affiliation. I knew that robe. It was unmistakably the symbol of the Eight Trigrams Association. The fact that they ran around in robes emblazoned with the name of a social club rather than a proper sect marked them as certifiable lunatics.
Didn't they have parents to teach them basic fundamentals?
Hong Ye maintained her expression despite the blatant, childish mockery, but she couldn't stop her face from flushing. She stepped forward in a stern tone.
"Stop. I will no longer tolerate such insults."
"Don't misunderstand. How could I possibly insult a direct disciple of the Yang Family Taijiquan Gate? I'm simply talking about the Southern Barbarians I've encountered. Young hero, you're utterly different from those Southern Barbarians. This is a compliment. Here, listen. So I met some Southern Barbarians, and do you know what those savage bastards did? They stripped naked like monkeys and made these animalistic sounds...."
Having said that, the man began to imitate a monkey himself. He pursed his lips, wiggled them, and shook his head with his eyes wide.
"Ukking! Uheeheek! Uheeheekik!"
Hong Ye's face was trembling faintly. Disillusionment and fury. A complex mix of emotions could be felt emanating from her.
The martial artists gathered around, hoping to cozy up to the Eight Trigrams Association, twitched the corners of their mouths to suppress laughter while stealing glances at Hong Ye. Hong Ye was glaring at the man, grinding her teeth. Seeing her body tense up, it seemed that if things dragged on any longer, she would cause an incident.
Zhuge Yeong-yu watched the Eight Trigram man and said to me,
"It's those Eight Trigrams Association bastards. Being rootless scoundrels, they're full of discourtesy when dealing with others. I'd hoped they'd stay quiet at the Dragon Phoenix Gathering, but it seems human nature is not so easily suppressed. Wait and see, Great Hero. Those bastards have made a name for themselves in Hubei Province, so unless someone of stature puts them in their place, they'll keep picking fights. Here, I'll—"
"No. You wait, Great Hero Yeong-yu."
I rolled up my sleeves and stepped forward. As it was, I was already worked up because of thoughts about my martial arts possibly being fake, and I couldn't just stand by and watch my woman being mocked right in front of me. A quick assessment showed the opponent was also a first-rate expert, around my level. I had nothing to be intimidated by.
Zhuge Yeong-yu, flustered by my stepping in, said,
"Great Hero. It'll get troublesome, so leave it be."
"A man who abandons his woman just because it gets troublesome is no Great Hero."
Hong Ye, who had been looking around, met my eyes. Her face, which had been stiff as a mask, brightened, and her fingers, which had been fidgeting hesitantly, stopped their anxious movements. Even the inner energy she had been gathering dispersed like mist.
"Uhee... what the?"
The man who had been gleefully mocking Hong Ye with his monkey imitation turned his head when her reaction changed.
"They said martial artists gather at the Dragon Phoenix Gathering, but now that I've come, all I see is a monkey. In a place where we are all supposed to discuss martial arts together, how can one disgrace others with such frivolous behavior?"
The man who had met my eyes blinked, then scanned my clothes once more. Furrowing his brow and tilting his head, he asked me,
"...Sorry, which sect are you from?"
"I am Docheol, Sect Leader of the Crimson Ring Sect of Shaanxi Province."
"Ah, never heard of it. My apologies. I can't be expected to remember sects that aren't famous."
He waved his hand dismissively as he said it. It was behavior that treated me like a subordinate. But that sort of thing didn't work on me, no matter how much a rootless punk tried it.
"And who are you, and which sect do you belong to? Looking at the characters on your back, you're a wanderer with no proper sect, I take it?"
The Eight Trigram man stiffened at my words. Then, curling his lips into a sneer, he said,
"Ah, this is the symbol of the Eight Trigrams Association. Perhaps coming from Shaanxi, you aren't well acquainted with the most famous Eight Trigrams Association at present. The Eight Trigrams Association is comprised of promising rising stars favored by the Murim Alliance..."
"I asked what sect you're from, why are you changing the subject? Don't you have a master?"
The man shut his mouth. He glared at me for a moment, then looked back at Hong Ye. Hong Ye was openly gazing at me with sparkling eyes, and at the same time she was hesitant, unable to approach me. She was agonizing over it now. With all eyes fixed on her, she was worried that clinging to me out of nowhere would draw even more attention and become a burden.
The man smiled and said,
"So, does the Sect Leader of the Crimson Ring Sect usually take a great interest in Southern Barbarian women? We were simply having a friendly chat, and suddenly you butted in—I don't understand your meaning at all."
At those words, I looked at Hong Ye. When our eyes met, she flinched and glanced around. Those who had just been crowding around to laugh or sneak glances were now openly staring, full of blatant curiosity.
Zhuge Yeong-yu was watching my actions, and Seon-go was sitting in her chair, fidgeting with her fingers.
"Ah, well... that..."
Hong Ye lost her confidence in the silence. The man, on the contrary, wore an even broader smile, and Hong Ye tried to step back, to distance herself from me. I was already in a foul mood that day. I had just been told, out of nowhere, that what I'd learned might be fake, and now a madman appeared before my eyes to mock my woman because of her Southern Barbarian blood.
The gathering meant for the rising stars of martial world to healthily discuss martial arts and pursue harmony had long since turned into a filthy place where the well-connected martial artists and sects gathered to ostracize outsiders.
It was pissing me off.
It boiled my blood that these bastards strutted around and were hailed as Great Heroes elsewhere.
"If you have nothing to say..."
The man said that and reached out with his hand. He meant I should butt out and stop interfering with his taunting of Hong Ye. But why the hell should I?
Hong Ye was mine. Why should I have to read the mood of some bastard who laid a hand on my woman? Obviously, anyone who touched another man's woman should bow his head and apologize. Isn't that the natural order?
I wrapped my arm around Hong Ye's waist as she tried to move away from me. Then I pulled her tight into my embrace and spoke.
"Hong Ye is my woman."
"Ah..."
A gasp escaped Hong Ye's lips. Her resolute eyes and firm expression crumbled, and tears welled up in her eyes. She couldn't even think of pulling away from my arms and instead clung to me even tighter, like a sailor caught in a storm. I stroked her back and spoke.
"We have yet to announce the marriage, but I must demand an apology for mocking someone's wife to her face in such a manner."
The man, looking flustered, glanced around. Those who had been subtly siding with him moments ago were now all looking away and pretending to be busy with something else. He barely managed to keep a smile on his face and spread his palms as he said,
"Great Hero, I believe there's some misunderstanding... I never mocked. I was merely talking about the Southern Barbarians I've met..."
"Standing before a Southern Barbarian person and critiquing Southern Barbarians—is that not mocking? To make a laughingstock of Southern Barbarian people right in front of one. Is that not just playing the ostrich?"
Those words didn't come from me. Nor was it Zhuge Yeong-yu's voice. I looked toward the direction the voice came from. Fox-like, upward-slanting eyes and brown hair, and a sharp voice from an annoyed face.
"I am Im Seo-ryeon, direct disciple of Hengshan Sect. At a gathering where we should be seeking the admirable traits in others to discuss, is making them a laughingstock the proper stance of a martial artist? If you are aware of the shame of your actions and still persist in excuses, wouldn't basic human decency be to apologize like a true man?"
"No, I..."
The man began to shrink. Zhuge Yeong-yu, who had been watching the situation from behind, cleared his throat and stepped forward.
"If you are favored by the Murim Alliance, shouldn't you act in accordance with that position rather than flaunting that fact like some official post? Sect Leader Docheol of the Crimson Ring Sect has deep ties with the Zhuge Family. It is difficult to let an insult to his wife simply slide."
The crowd that had been slowly rallying around him melted away. As luck would have it, it seemed this one man was the only Eight Trigram member in the hall at the moment. His face flushed crimson, and he ground his teeth as his body shook. Hong Ye was clinging tightly to me, her breathing rough.
The Eight Trigram man's face was contorted as well, but the word 'sorry' did not easily leave his lips. Zhuge Yeong-yu, having given him a moment, spoke in a firm tone.
"If you have no intention of apologizing here, I will have no choice but to formally protest to the Murim Alliance."
"... I'm sorry."
Only then did an apology finally burst from the man's mouth. And then, before Hong Ye could even accept his apology, he fled outside with his ears burning red. With no one chasing after him or cursing him from behind, his steps were terribly quick.
I held Hong Ye tightly and smiled.
Seeing the back of his head flee like an insect, my mood improved somewhat.
Beside me were Hong Ye, Zhuge Yeong-yu who supported me, and the reliable direct disciple of Hengshan Sect.
Come to think of it, wasn't it the secret manual of the Lustful Demon Cheonpung that gathered the people supporting me now?
Whatever mindset that bastard had when writing that secret manual, if I believed it was real, and if it truly had an effect, then couldn't it be called real?
Why should I care that it was fake? Even now, what saved me in the crisis where my wife was touched was the power of that secret manual.
Somehow my head felt clear.
I had been heated up and fretting over pointless things, but as if it had never happened, the heat cooled off, refreshingly, starting from my head.
I tried to give Hong Ye a belated greeting.
"Hong Ye... mmph...!"
And then,
before I could even finish my greeting,
Hong Ye buried me in her embrace,
gasping for breath as she whispered.
Along with her ragged breath, her tongue touched my ear.
A scorching voice whispered thus:
"...R, room..."
She was in such a hurry.
********
"Hah... hah..."
Hong Ye panted, whispering her hot breath into my ear like a dog.
Feeling like a dog owner with a large breed, I stayed pressed against her, our tongues in contact as we rubbed our flesh together.
Watching that scene, Seon-go cleared her throat and spoke.
"Uh... ah, hello?"
"Ah... uh, uhh...!"
And the moment her eyes met Seon-go's, Hong Ye looked more flustered than ever before and shoved me away.
"Woak!"
Leaving me to just barely regain my balance, Hong Ye, unable to compose her flustered expression, stood up straight and said,
"Ah, greetings... you must be the, the wife..."
"Yes, Miss Hong Ye. Nice to meet you. I've heard a lot about you."
Hong Ye tensed up terribly, even sweating from her forehead.
How should I put it?
She looked like a woman caught in an affair.