CLS-Chapter 137

Chapter 137

Shangguan Hong continued speaking while looking at Wei Yan-ho with a somewhat hardened expression.

“Demon-Slaying Sword Wei San-ho is evaluated as being above all the late-stage experts. To say that you can defeat such a person would mean that among all the people here, excluding Grand Hero Gong, none of us would be able to handle you, wouldn’t it?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

Wei Yan-ho was confident.

There was no reason to hesitate when stating facts as facts. While others might tell white lies to match another person’s mood and situation, Wei Yan-ho possessed the magnanimity of a true man of this era who spoke truth as truth.

How else could he have talked back to everything Baek Mu-han said and gotten beaten again and again for five years? If he had just kept that mouth of his quiet, the number of beatings he received would have been cut in half.

Shangguan Hong’s eyebrows twitched.

“…Then are you saying right now that you can handle me without even testing my sword?”

“Yes.”

Wei Yan-ho was confident as always.

But that confidence wasn’t accepted as confidence by everyone.

First, Gong Mu-jin was irritated.

‘The way he looks so hateful while speaking the truth is also a talent.’

Still, Gong Mu-jin was grateful that Wei Yan-ho didn’t say at that moment, ‘No, that’s wrong. Everyone including Grand Hero Gong.’

Considering his age and position in the martial world, it would have been an extremely embarrassing situation.

Though the entire martial world would learn about Wei Yan-ho before long anyway, Gong Mu-jin didn’t want to be the cause of spreading word about him.

He had to prevent rumors from spreading that an incredible person who could defeat Gong Mu-jin among the late-stage experts had appeared.

So Gong Mu-jin kept his mouth firmly shut.

Meanwhile, Lee Seol-hwa thought it was natural.

It made no sense to compare Wei Yan-ho, whom even her master couldn’t handle, to late-stage experts. Speaking naturally about natural things was a natural virtue a man should possess, wasn’t it?

Lee Seol-hwa looked at Wei Yan-ho with a slight smile.

Two Dragons and Two Phoenixes, led by Shangguan Hong, were in a very unpleasant mood.

Who were they?

They were the Three Dragons and Two Phoenixes, acclaimed as the strongest in the Dormant Dragon Martial Hall.

Just because the Nine Great Sects didn’t participate didn’t mean the Dormant Dragon Martial Hall was weak. It was a place where all the renowned late-stage experts under heaven gathered.

Among family descendants, those lacking in talent wouldn’t dare set foot in the Dormant Dragon Martial Hall. Since the Dormant Dragon Martial Hall was a place where everyone compared each other’s martial prowess and received objective evaluation, sending someone mediocre would frequently result in damaging the family’s honor.

Weren’t they the five people called the greatest among those carefully selected and admitted?

Yet some bony unknown had appeared from nowhere and was saying he could easily handle people like them.

Finally, Wei Su-ryeon was very flustered.

“B-Brother.”

Her brother must have lost his guts somewhere during the time he was missing.

Seeing the visibly hardened faces of Shangguan Hong and the others, Wei Su-ryeon poked Wei Yan-ho’s side.

“Ah! That hurts! Why!”

“Apologize.”

“For what?”

“You don’t need to show off just because we haven’t seen each other in a while. Whatever Brother did wherever he went, you’re still my brother. I know my brother, and even if Founder Zhang Sanfeng returned, he couldn’t make you into a master.”

It was certainly a reasonable assessment.

Anyone who knew Wei Yan-ho would think the same.

And what made that impossibility possible was precisely Baek Mu-han’s iron fist education.

Baek Mu-han was the one who directly refuted the saying that you can lead a horse to water but you can’t make it drink.

“Just beat it!”

“Nothing can withstand a beating.”

Baek Mu-han’s theory was that if you tie a horse by the stream and beat it to death, the horse will either drink water from exhaustion or try everything it can thinking it did something wrong and eventually drink the water.

And that theory was now being splendidly proven correct through Wei Yan-ho.

But not knowing this was Shangguan Hong’s misfortune.

“You can catch dragons with words alone. So do you have the resolve to directly receive my sword and prove that fact?”

“Huh?”

When Wei Yan-ho tilted his head, Shangguan Hong snapped.

“I am now requesting a duel with you! I’ve always wanted to learn what the Guangdong Wei Family’s sword is like. I wanted to seek instruction from Wei San-ho, but since there are two people here who know the Guangdong Wei Family’s sword, wouldn’t this be a good opportunity?”

For a duel request, it was quite a rude language.

In normal cases, requesting a duel in this manner could lead directly to a life-or-death battle rather than a simple duel.

So Shangguan Hong thought Wei Yan-ho would naturally accept his duel request. In normal cases, requesting a duel from someone weaker than yourself in this manner would be very frowned upon, but since Wei Yan-ho had already provoked them, no one would blame him.

Shangguan Hong thought he had perfectly hooked Wei Yan-ho, but Wei Yan-ho was far too different from ordinary martial artists.

Wei Yan-ho heard Shangguan Hong’s words and immediately answered.

“I don’t want to.”

“……”

Shangguan Hong stared at Wei Yan-ho with a blank expression.

Normally in such situations, wouldn’t accepting the duel be customary, if only for the sake of face?

“You said you don’t want to?”

“Yes.”

Shangguan Hong asked as if he couldn’t understand.

“May I ask the reason you don’t want to? If you don’t accept this duel now, all under heaven will call you a coward. And the Guangdong Wei Family’s honor will fall to the ground – are you saying that’s fine?”

“That won’t happen.”

“…May I ask again?”

Wei Yan-ho sighed as if asking why he couldn’t understand such simple words and kindly explained.

“Even if all under heaven curses me as a coward, I’m fine with it so it doesn’t matter, and the Guangdong Wei Family’s honor won’t fall to the ground because of me.”

“Why not?”

“Because my brother will raise it back up.”

“……”

Shangguan Hong had no choice but to acknowledge that Wei Yan-ho’s words weren’t wrong.

The reason the Guangdong Wei Family’s status was rapidly rising these days was largely due to the appearance of the outstanding figure called Righteous Hero Sword Wei Jeong-han and the heir Demon-Slaying Sword Wei San-ho, who was competing to be the next Greatest Swordsman Under Heaven.

Where there is light, there is darkness.

Generally, when an excellent heir appears, all the siblings should also be excellent people, but when a brother’s existence is enormous, there are often younger brothers who can’t overcome that light and become twisted.

So even if Wei Yan-ho was a coward, most martial artists wouldn’t try to look down on the Guangdong Wei Family because of that coward’s existence.

“Hmph.”

Sword Phoenix Namgung Hye supported Shangguan Hong.

“Doesn’t that mean you’re admitting you’re a coward?”

It could have been very shameful words.

…For other people, that is.

“I am a coward.”

“…What?”

When Wei Yan-ho turned around, Wei Su-ryeon nodded.

“Our brother is a bit cowardly.”

“Acting tough for no reason gets you killed early. It’s better for people to have some fear.”

“Yes, Brother.”

Namgung Hye’s lips trembled.

What kind of family was that family?

To her, raised in the strict family traditions of the Namgung Clan, the siblings’ words and actions were full of incomprehensible things.

“And there’s another problem – I didn’t learn the Guangdong Wei Family’s sword. So if you want to observe the Guangdong Wei Family’s sword…”

When Wei Yan-ho looked at her, Wei Su-ryeon waved her hands.

“Brother, I can’t either. Father said the Flying Dragon Ascending to Heaven Sword isn’t suitable for women, so I learned something else too.”

Wei Yan-ho nodded.

“Did you hear that? Too bad.”

Shangguan Hong’s face turned red and blue.

Wasn’t his desire to observe the Guangdong Wei Family’s sword not meant to see the Guangdong Wei Family’s secret martial arts!

“So you’re saying you won’t duel now!”

“That’s right. Why would I do such a bothersome thing?”

Wei Yan-ho spoke as if he couldn’t understand at all. Both Gong Mu-jin and Shangguan Hong… martial artists all seemed like people who were desperate to fight.

‘Come to think of it, our family is the same.’

Wei Jeong-han, who abandoned his family and left saying he would go on a martial journey and was still being punished for it, and Wei San-ho, who threw wooden swords at Wei Yan-ho whenever he saw him shouting “Let’s see your skills” – they were all equally incomprehensible.

What was so good about hitting and being hit that they all did it?

Then, Gong Mu-jin slowly opened his mouth.

“…But didn’t you say you would definitely accept any challenge? Last time, that time before.”

Since he was the one who got smashed after hearing those words that time, it was something he couldn’t forget.

“That’s when my sword was being challenged. This time it’s about the Guangdong Wei Family, so I can reasonably pass on it.”

Gong Mu-jin laughed helplessly at Wei Yan-ho’s words.

“Usually isn’t family more important?”

“Well, that’s true, but…”

Wei Yan-ho scratched his head.

“Our family has my brother and father besides me. But our master was someone who died as a lonely old man, so if not for me, there’s no one to protect his honor.”

It was the moment when Baek Mu-han, currently the Flower-Loving Young Master of the martial world and Flower-Loving Elder, instantly fell to the status of a lonely old man.

If Baek Mu-han had heard this, he would have foamed at the mouth saying he’d beat this damn disciple to death, but sadly, the only existence in the current martial world who could fix Wei Yan-ho’s rudeness had already ascended to heaven.

“…I don’t know whether your teacher would be pleased or angry if he heard such a statement.”

He would naturally have been angry, but Gong Mu-jin, who didn’t know Baek Mu-han’s personality, could only speak that way.

“Ho?”

And Shangguan Hong didn’t miss the words from Wei Yan-ho’s mouth that he needed to hear.

‘He definitely accepts challenges to his own sword?’

Though the form of a challenge didn’t quite please him, the reality was that if he challenged and humiliated him, the original appearance would disappear.

Shangguan Hong smiled coldly and opened his mouth.

“Then what if I challenge your sword? Not the Guangdong Wei Family’s sword, but this Shangguan somebody challenging you, Wei Yan-ho.”

‘Now you can’t escape.’

When Wei Yan-ho’s face hardened upon hearing those words, Shangguan Hong cheered inwardly.

‘Tsk tsk tsk.’

And Gong Mu-jin, seeing this scene, clicked his tongue inwardly.

If you want to die, just carry kindling and jump into fire or throw yourself into the Yellow River – why would you want to die so miserably?

Gong Mu-jin looked at Wei Yan-ho while praying for Shangguan Hong’s soul.

But Wei Yan-ho, who was expected to naturally accept Gong Mu-jin’s challenge, was sighing with a somewhat uncomfortable expression.

“What’s wrong?”

“Well, I’m a bit confused.”

“Hm? About what?”

“This is really hard to explain…”

Wei Yan-ho glanced at Shangguan Hong and slowly opened his mouth.