The Inspection (3)
Jegal Hui's gaze from the Jegal Clan, the Sword Queen, turned to a corner of the alley.
Her large eyes were filled with interest.
'The eldest son of the Namgung Clan... who is that guy?'
Although both were direct descendants of the Five Great Noble Clans, Jegal Hui and Namgung Cheon weren't particularly close.
In fact, most martial artists from the Five Great Clans weren't close either.
The Five Great Clans were typically the rulers of a single region.
With the Central Plains being so vast, it was hard for such families to frequently meet their direct descendants.
After all, even the Jegal Clan would rather be close to the Taoist masters of the Wudang Sect in Hubei Province than the Namgung Clan in Anhui Province.
Neither were the two clans particularly connected by marriage.
That's why the value of Cheonryong Academy shone even more.
It was the only place where later generations who would lead Murim in the future could study together and build relationships.
'Hmm... From the meeting, Namgung Cheon seemed like a typical arrogant young master.'
However, meetings between the Five Great Clans were held periodically, at least once every few years.
And the Namgung Cheon he faced there was definitely not the type to befriend a nameless martial artist.
'No weapon on him, so he must be a martial artist who learned some Quan Jiao style. Could it be from the Huangbo Clan in Shandong? Or the Yan Clan from Zhen?'
Neither the Huangbo nor the Yan Clan were among the Five Great Clans, but they were top noble families in the Central Plains Murim, within the top ten.
Jegal Hui naturally remembered the names and faces of the successors from those clans.
'There was no such handsome successor.'
But in her memory, there was no successor with that appearance that reminded her of the man talking to Namgung Cheon.
'Even if he was a successor from the Huangbo or Yan Clan, Namgung Cheon wouldn't have been chatting nicely with him anyway.'
The last time Jegal Hui met Namgung Cheon was two months ago.
At the gathering of direct descendants of the Five Great Clans who had entered Cheonryong Academy.
At that time, Jegal Hui had felt a certain unease with Namgung Cheon's unique arrogance and some unknown gloom, but the sight of him talking to a man holding a chicken skewer from a stall with a calm demeanor had been quite impressive.
"Oh!"
When the unknown man extended his long arm and put it around Namgung Cheon's shoulder, she couldn't help but let out an exclamation.
'It must be the uniform of Cheonryong Academy. Could we meet at the inspection?'
It was the moment Jegal Hui recognized Baek Woohyeok.
'The Evil Sword Demon Namgung Cheon is talking to a nameless nobody...?'
'It should have been me who first befriended the eldest son of the Namgung Clan! How dare!'
'Huh? Namgung Cheon and Baek Woohyeok...? Why are they already...'
And it wasn't just Jegal Hui who took interest in Baek Woohyeok.
* * *
"Tsk, bug. Get your arm off."
As soon as he entered the alley, Namgung Cheon nervously shook off the arm around his shoulder.
"Calling me a bug? That's too harsh."
"If you're not a bug now, what are you then?"
"Hmm... I did cultivate as fast as possible. But you..."
Blueish energy flickered in Namgung Cheon's pupils, and a formation had appeared around him.
"Whoa... You broke through the Peak Realm wall? You must have preempted the opportunity Danmok Jin was supposed to get? You lived busily for two months."
"It was the opportunity I should have gotten! I just retrieved what Danmok Jin stole!"
"Yeah, if you say so. What's the big deal."
The important thing was...
"So, I get your ambition to reclaim the protagonist position in Murim that Danmok Jin stole."
Why?
"You dragged me into this nonsense too?"
Namgung Cheon was silent for a moment at my question.
"...I don't know."
The answer was unexpected.
"You don't know?"
"Yeah. I don't know. There was probably some error in the Great Law."
"Great Law? ...No, that's not important. Are you stupid?"
"How dare...!"
"No, of course. If you returned to the past, only you should have the memories from before, right? Otherwise, Danmok Jin might have memories too."
"That's not it."
Namgung Cheon shook his head firmly.
"I checked about Danmok Jin first thing after returning."
Yeah.
"Sigh..."
I looked at Namgung Cheon's face carefully.
"Tsk, fine. Since I also like returning to the past, let's just let it go."
"Hah, if you don't let it go, what will you do? With just that much skill?"
"Tsk... If I really push it now, can I not take your head?"
I don't think so.
"Hmph, fine. I don't feel like wasting time with a bug."
Namgung Cheon cleared his throat and changed the subject.
Even pretending, he seemed a bit scared.
"Then why did you come to me?"
"To persuade you one last time. Baek Woohyeok, the Iron-Blooded Yama, won't you join me?"
"Hmmm..."
"You're not retired, right? You don't resent Danmok Jin and the Murim Alliance who sacrificed you and your subordinates?"
"Well..."
"Not particularly."
"...What?"
"Of course, being dragged as a sword is angering, but I don't resent it."
Why?
"Because the era was like that. Not only we were sacrificed."
I remember the disciple of Kunlun Sect who lost his master and brother and vomited blood.
I remember the last disciple of the Common Sect who cursed the sky in front of the foundation stone of the ruined sect.
Over ten years of the Orthodox-Demonic War.
Countless people lost their territory and family.
Me and the Black Tiger Unit were one of them.
"...Damn it, calling me Danmok Jin's dog. Then, are you going to side with Danmok Jin again and block my way this time?"
"Ah, no."
"...Hah?"
Don't misunderstand.
I did say I'm angry.
"I don't care if you mess with Danmok Jin or not. Honestly, I think it's not bad that you bully him. Anyway, I want to vent a little."
"...Didn't you say Danmok Jin and you are close friends?"
"At some point you called me Danmok Jin's dog... Friends are friends, but in the end, he's a stranger. As long as you don't touch my family, I don't care what you do."
"Family... Tsk, I have to exclude the Seomun Clan from the plan."
"Seomun Clan? Why... Ah."
"The only noble clan descendant among your subordinates who played family with you was from the Seomun Clan."
"Yeah... Okay, from now on, don't touch the Seomun Clan. You don't want to make me your enemy either."
"Tsk, because of one half-coin, the Seomun Clan will enjoy a blessing?"
"Haha..."
This guy.
"Namgung Cheon. You need to fix that damn habit. Who are you calling half-coin?"
The aura of the Iron-Blooded Yama Divine Art exploded with killing intent.
Naturally, red pupils appeared in my eyes.
"I said earlier, if I really push it, I won't be able to take your head here."
The Transcendental Realm is the realm where one fully utilizes intent/will.
I remember how to handle intent/will, so if I push a little now, I could kill a Peak Realm expert.
That's a separate issue from the weak body and meager internal energy.
"...Cough."
Namgung Cheon couldn't withstand my momentum and let out a groan.
Seeing his neck veins bulging, he was trying his best to endure.
"Huu..."
I calmed myself after seeing that, and slowly withdrew the aura mixed with killing intent.
"You got the warning roughly, right?"
"Cough! I got it. You bastard like a madman."
Namgung Cheon maintained arrogant attitude even after taking my killing intent head-on.
As expected, not a top 5 clan successor, but a strong guy.
"Madman, damn it, you who killed all your family are the madman. Right, you bastard?"
"Huhu... Why would those who abandoned me be my family? The family in this life is real family. They won't abandon me."
"Wow... You're crazy in many ways."
But secretly, I liked it.
"Maybe we can be good friends."
"Don't say nonsense."
Yeah, actually I thought so too.
"Tsk."
Namgung Cheon clicked his tongue with a sullen face and left the place.
"Ah."
Only after he left did I realize I had something to say to him.
"I should have said the Heavenly Demon is my prey..."
I really wanted to make him angry if someone touched him first.
* * *
"Cough! ...Cough!!"
Namgung Cheon, who had left the alley where he was talking to Baek Woohyeok, spat out rough breaths.
A fishy smell of blood was in his mouth.
'Damn it, Transcendental Realm...'
He was careless.
No matter how much Baek Woohyeok broke through the Peak Realm before regression, now only 2 months after learning martial arts.
Actually, Baek Woohyeok is far below Peak Realm compared to himself.
So Namgung Cheon was confident he could easily overpower Baek Woohyeok.
But he had been defeated by Danmok Jin, a Peak Realm expert before regression, and was on the brink of death.
But he still didn't know what monsters in the Transcendental Realm could do.
"Damn, as expected, madmen are madmen."
Namgung Cheon's eyes burned with anger.
"Young Master! What the hell...!"
No matter who looks, Namgung Cheon looks injured.
The escort who had been left behind for Namgung Cheon to talk to Baek Woohyeok was shocked.
"You skipped the inspection and should go to the doctor quickly!"
The young master of a family likely to be head of the house is injured.
The inspection at Cheonryong Academy is not important to the escort.
"Shut up."
But the young master of Namgung Clan, the target of the escort, didn't seem to listen.
"Hup...!"
Namgung Cheon took out a strange pill he hadn't seen before from his bosom, swallowed it, and started circulating qi.
After roughly healing his injury, he walked towards the gate of Cheonryong Academy with his usual unhurried steps.
In this life, Namgung Cheon had decided to live as the Heavenly Dragon Sword Hero, not the Bastard.
No hesitation allowed for the protagonist of Central Plains Murim.
'...Someday I will reach the realm you have reached.'
That was the reason Namgung Cheon returned to the past.
* * *
"...Proud disciples of the Cheonryong Academy, the future of Murim. We welcome you once again for the inspection. From now on, the new disciples will..."
Song Muja's speech as the principal of Cheonryong Academy continued endlessly.
The boring speech continued like flowing water, wondering if the 'Yun' in his nickname was due to his eloquence.
"...Uaa."
Amid sighs from various places, the one-minute speech finally ended.
"Huhu, you all seem tired. But, the inspection hasn't ended yet. You all know about the long tradition of Cheonryong Academy, right?"
Song Muja, looking at the tired new disciples, smiled mischievously.
"From now on, I will begin the evaluation to determine the level of the new disciples!"
The dazed eyes of Danmok Jin lit up instantly at Song Muja's sudden declaration.
'As expected! The start of academy stories is always the placement test! It's a rule!'