Chapter 187

Seol Ha-jin stared at the two men with a look of disbelief.

She never dreamed she would see those two in this distant Hubei province.

Their names were Lee Ja-myeong and Gong Ha-seong.

The two were first-generation disciples of Jinmen Island, making them her Senior Martial Brothers.

Lee Ja-myeong and Gong Ha-seong were just as surprised.

They looked as if they had seen a ghost.

“Is that really Ha-jin?”

“How are you…?”

Their voices trembled involuntarily.

“Senior… Brothers, what are you doing here? What brings you to this place, thousands of li away from Jinmen Island?”

“What about you? How did you get here? No, how have you been? How could you not contact us even once?”

The eldest disciple, Lee Ja-myeong, strode toward Seol Ha-jin. In response, Seol Ha-jin unconsciously took a couple of steps back.

Lee Ja-myeong frowned at her.

“What’s wrong? Do you not trust this Senior Martial Brother?”

“How could I possibly trust you?”

“Junior Martial Sister!”

“You conspired with Master to sell me to Go Bu-ja.”

“Who said anything about selling? We merely hinted at the idea, and you, in your paranoia, misinterpreted it, didn’t you?”

Lee Ja-myeong burst out in anger.

At that, Seol Ha-jin bit her lip hard.

Go Bu-ja was a famous wealthy man near Jinmen Island. Even at over sixty, he was lecherous and had numerous concubines.

When the sect’s finances became tight, Seol Ha-jin’s master and senior martial brothers decided to marry their young Junior Martial Sister off to him in exchange for a huge sum of money.

The one who had pushed for it most enthusiastically was none other than her eldest Senior Martial Brother, Lee Ja-myeong.

For Seol Ha-jin, who had trusted and relied on Lee Ja-myeong more than anyone, his betrayal was a shock that felt like the sky was falling.

Lee Ja-myeong, his face scrunched up in a deep frown, said.

“I don’t know what you’ve been doing all this time, but come back to Jinmen Island now. If you do, all your past sins will be forgiven.”

“I am no longer a disciple of Jinmen Island. From the moment Master and you, Senior Martial Brother, tried to sell me to that old man, I decided Jinmen Island was no longer my Martial Sect.”

“Do you dare betray Jinmen Island?”

“It was Master and you, Senior Martial Brothers, who betrayed me first.”

Seol Ha-jin glared at Lee Ja-myeong and Gong Ha-seong with bloodshot eyes.

The reason she became a Wanderer, roaming All Under Heaven, was because she had been betrayed by the master and senior martial brothers she had trusted. For them to now speak of betrayal first was so absurd it was almost frightening.

Her second Senior Martial Brother, Gong Ha-seong, strode toward Seol Ha-jin.

“Enough talk. From now on, you will move with us. If you refuse, we will subdue you by force.”

Gong Ha-seong had a fiery temper.

He couldn’t stand anything that displeased him. That was why all the disciples of Jinmen Island feared Gong Ha-seong.

Seol Ha-jin, too, was particularly afraid of Gong Ha-seong.

Just his approach was enough to make Seol Ha-jin’s body freeze like an animal facing its predator, unable to move a muscle.

Gong Ha-seong roughly grabbed Seol Ha-jin’s wrist and pulled.

Seol Ha-jin was dragged along helplessly.

Her mind went blank, unable to form a single thought.

It was then.

“Noona!”

Suddenly, Soma’s voice rang out.

In that instant, she came to her senses and shook off Gong Ha-seong’s hand.

“Let go of me.”

“Do you dare defy your Senior Martial Brother’s command?”

“I am no longer a disciple of Jinmen Island. And I no longer think of you as my Senior Martial Brother.”

“How dare you reject the Martial Sect. Do you think you can commit the sin of Betraying the Master and Destroying Ancestors and get away with it?”

Gong Ha-seong let his killing intent flare.

In the past, she would have been intimidated by such a sight and followed his will. In fact, just a moment ago, she had been unable to escape her old memories and was almost dragged away by Gong Ha-seong.

But now that she had come to her senses, Gong Ha-seong, who had once seemed so terrifying, no longer felt intimidating.

Only then did she realize that she had grown much stronger during her life as a Wanderer.

She had grown not just in her Martial Arts, but mentally as well.

“Let me make this clear. I am no longer a disciple of Jinmen Island, and you are no longer my Senior Martial Brothers. So don’t meddle in my life. If you interfere any further, I won’t stand by idly either.”

“Insolent!”

Shwaak!

Gong Ha-seong could no longer hold back and unleashed Jinmen Island’s Special Technique, the Blue Jade Triple Palm, at Seol Ha-jin.

Seol Ha-jin did not back down, drawing her sword to fight back against Gong Ha-seong.

The sound of the two clashing echoed through the street.

Lee Ja-myeong, who had been watching with a bewildered expression, quickly regained his composure and spoke to Woo Pyeong Dojang next to him.

“My apologies. We happened to run into a traitor from our Martial Sect, and my Junior Martial Brother couldn’t hold back and took action.”

“A traitor from your Martial Sect, you say.”

“She is a child who abandoned the will of her Master and Senior Martial Brothers and ran off on her own. She needs a stern lesson.”

“I understand. Our Wudang Sect will not interfere in the affairs of your sect.”

Woo Pyeong Dojang took a step back.

Just from listening to Gong Ha-seong and Seol Ha-jin’s conversation, he could tell which side was in the wrong. However, the Jianghu was not always a place where common sense prevailed, and above all, meddling in the internal affairs of another sect was as good as a taboo.

Disputes within a sect were, as a rule, to be resolved by the sect itself.

That was why Woo Pyeong Dojang, despite feeling that something was wrong, had no choice but to be a bystander.

“Master!”

His disciple, Tae-gwang, looked at him with a dissatisfied expression.

He was unhappy with his master’s decision to stand by and watch their fight. However, Tae-gwang also knew the unwritten rule of the Jianghu not to interfere in the internal affairs of other sects, so he said no more.

The birthday of the Wudang Sect Master, Cheongjin Jin-in, was just around the corner.

Cheongjin Jin-in did not place much importance on his birthday and told the Wudang disciples not to bother, but the disciples felt differently.

Cheongjin Jin-in had dedicated his entire life to Wudang.

They wanted to give him a meaningful gift.

If Cheongjin Jin-in had one hobby, it was playing the zither.

His skill at playing the zither was said to be enough to make the heavens weep. That was why his Alias was Celestial Sound True Man.

His pleasure came from discovering and playing new pieces, not existing ones. However, there were almost no songs in All Under Heaven that he did not know.

It was then that the martial artists of Jinmen Island contacted Woo Pyeong Dojang.

They possessed a very old musical score and wished to offer it as a gift to Cheongjin Jin-in.

Of course, it was not for free.

In exchange for the score, they wanted the Wudang Sect to grant them a few favors. It was not a difficult task for Woo Pyeong Dojang, so he readily agreed and met with them.

Having already received the score from Lee Ja-myeong, Woo Pyeong Dojang had no intention of meddling in Jinmen Island’s internal affairs.

Woo Pyeong Dojang’s gaze suddenly turned to the man and the boy who were with Seol Ha-jin.

The man had half his face covered with a scarf, and the boy had seven rings around his neck and was cradling a sword as large as his own body.

“Hmm!”

A low groan escaped Woo Pyeong Dojang’s lips.

His gaze was fixed on the man with the scarf-covered face, Pyo Wol.

He didn’t know why, but the moment he saw him, he found it strangely impossible to look away. It was as if his gaze was fixed with glue, and he couldn’t turn his head.

This was the first time he had ever experienced such a thing, and Woo Pyeong Dojang couldn’t hide his bewildered expression.

‘Who on earth is that man?’

He focused his Eye Power to observe Pyo Wol.

At that moment, as if sensing the persistent gaze, Pyo Wol turned his head and looked at him.

The instant his eyes met Pyo Wol’s, Woo Pyeong Dojang felt something chilling.

He was startled by a thrilling sensation, as if a bolt of Thunder and Lightning had pierced his entire body.

‘What was that?’

He was Woo Pyeong Dojang, a first-generation disciple of the Wudang Sect, no less.

Although his Martial Arts were slightly inferior to the eldest disciple, Woo-gong Dojang, his skills were among the top tier within the Wudang Sect.

While most martial artists of the Wudang Sect delved into swordsmanship, he had unusually immersed himself in fist techniques.

Among them, he had delved into the Ten Levels of Brocade and mastered it to a high level.

The Ten Levels of Brocade was the culmination of Wudang fist techniques, and within the Wudang Sect, no one had mastered it to a higher level than him.

Even his senior martial brothers, Woo-gong and Woo-geom, deferred to him when it came to fist techniques, and among the Elders, there was no one who could match him in that regard.

For such a man to feel a chilling sensation upon seeing Pyo Wol was by no means a coincidence.

A common martial artist might have just thought it was unsettling and moved on, but for a martial artist who had reached Woo Pyeong Dojang’s level to feel such an emotion was by no means a common occurrence.

The sixth sense of a martial artist who had reached his level was the culmination of insight.

He couldn’t explain it clearly himself, but his past experiences, Martial Arts, and reason had combined to manifest as a form of insight.

Woo Pyeong Dojang had only felt this kind of chilling sensation a few times when looking at someone else. And the people who had made him feel this way were all Experts whose names resounded throughout the Jianghu.

‘Who on earth is he?’

Woo Pyeong Dojang’s expression naturally grew serious.

Judging by the atmosphere, it seemed that the woman named Seol Ha-jin had some connection to the man with the scarf-covered face.

‘If this goes wrong, the problem could become serious.’

No matter how much the Wudang Sect was enjoying its greatest prosperity, antagonizing Experts was not a wise thing to do.

The Wudang Sect had now recovered its former glory, but there was a time when it had suffered such a severe blow that it had to become Closed-off.

All of that was because they had failed to grasp the tide of the times and made wrong judgments.

“Your Martial Arts have improved quite a bit.”

“Haaat!”

Even at that moment, the fierce battle between Gong Ha-seong and Seol Ha-jin continued.

In the back-and-forth exchange, Gong Ha-seong’s face was contorted. It was because Seol Ha-jin’s Martial Arts were much stronger than he had expected.

He didn’t know what had happened in the meantime, but Seol Ha-jin’s Martial Arts were by no means inferior to Gong Ha-seong’s. On the contrary, she was driving Gong Ha-seong into a corner with unexpected counterattacks.

Woo Pyeong Dojang felt the need to resolve the situation before Gong Ha-seong was disgraced.

He cautiously took a step toward Pyo Wol.

“Ah! Let’s go together, Master!”

Tae-gwang, without knowing the reason, hurriedly followed behind Woo Pyeong Dojang.

Even as Woo Pyeong Dojang approached, Pyo Wol just stared blankly, not moving.

The one who reacted before Pyo Wol was Soma.

“Hyung-ah!”

A look of tension appeared on Soma’s face.

Woo Pyeong Dojang had deeply mastered the Martial Arts of the Wudang Sect, the leading sect of Daoism. Naturally, a profound Qi flowed from his entire body, and Soma reacted to it unconsciously.

Soma had learned a Demonic art called the Reverse Guanyin Demonic Art at the Small Thunder Sound Temple. The Reverse Guanyin Demonic Art was a unique Demonic art that was a reverse interpretation of the Shaolin Temple’s Guanyin Divine Art.

Naturally, it was bound to react to the Martial Arts of the Wudang Sect, which could be called the pinnacle of orthodox Xuanmen arts.

No matter how deeply Soma had mastered the Reverse Guanyin Demonic Art, he could not be compared to a Daoist master who had spent his entire life comprehending the orthodox Xuanmen Martial Arts of Wudang.

“Hmm!”

Rather, it was Woo Pyeong Dojang who sensed Soma’s heterogeneous Qi and his eyes shot open.

His gaze turned to Soma. Then, the sinister Qi emanating from Soma felt even stronger.

Woo Pyeong Dojang’s expression changed.

“Who are you? There is a sinister Qi mixed in your Internal Power.”

The Internal Energy of the Wudang Sect reacted particularly sensitively to this kind of Qi. The feeling, as if dozens of needles were pricking his heart, made Woo Pyeong Dojang instinctively wary.

Woo Pyeong Dojang thought the Qi he felt from Soma was extremely dark and sinister.

This kind of Qi was mainly found in those who had learned Demonic art.

Woo Pyeong Dojang asked again.

“Hurry and reveal your identity.”

“My name is Soma.”

“Soma? What Internal Energy have you learned? Your Qi is so sinister, it seems you’ve learned some kind of Evil Art.”

“I don’t know. Anything like that.”

“Such a sinister Qi not only corrodes others but also yourself. That is why it is called a demonic Evil Art.”

“No! What I learned is just Martial Arts.”

“You are still young and cannot distinguish right from wrong. This won’t do. Come with me to Mount Wudang. We will go to Wudang, hear the detailed circumstances, and take appropriate measures.”

An extraordinary aura emanated from Woo Pyeong Dojang’s entire body.

Although Soma possessed formidable Martial Arts for his age, he could not be compared to Woo Pyeong Dojang, a first-generation disciple of the Wudang Sect. But Soma was not intimidated.

“Who said I’d follow you willingly?”

Soma’s expression turned vicious.

Seeing a small boy glaring with eyes full of Poison Qi made him look unusually fierce.

He was like a small badger baring its fangs.

Woo Pyeong Dojang looked at Soma with a troubled expression before turning his gaze to Pyo Wol.

“What will you do? Will you not ascend Mount Wudang with this Daoist?”