CLS-Chapter 142

Chapter 142

“Wake up already!”

Gong Mu-jin simply couldn’t understand that man.

Wei Yan-ho was a master. And an incredible master at that. While it defied common sense, there was about a dimension’s worth of difference between Wei Yan-ho and Gong Mu-jin, not just a single wall.

He was such an extremely powerful master that even if the Plum Blossom Sword Saint, who could be called Mount Hua’s greatest master, came, there would be doubt whether he could win.

So if he had felt it, Wei Yan-ho should have naturally felt it too. No, he should feel it.

But with masters possessing such aura approaching, he was sleeping while snoring away – wasn’t this a bit too much!

‘Is he just insensitive?’

Or was it that those to that degree couldn’t even pose a threat to Wei Yan-ho?

Gong Mu-jin couldn’t understand Wei Yan-ho’s way of thinking at all – whether he was lazy or overflowing with confidence.

“Ahem, Miss Wei.”

Finding it somehow distasteful to call Wei Yan-ho directly, Gong Mu-jin called Wei Su-ryeon in a subtle voice.

“…Yes?”

Wei Su-ryeon, who had been lying her brother’s head down and cleaning his ears, turned her head to look at Gong Mu-jin.

‘That girl isn’t quite right in the head either.’

No matter how much she missed her brother after meeting him for the first time in a while, being like this in such a situation made him feel sick to his stomach. Yi Seol-hwa glancing up from time to time since earlier had made him feel even sicker.

“Could you please wake up Hero Wei Yan-ho?”

“You want me to wake up my brother?”

Wei Su-ryeon looked back at Gong Mu-jin with a face as if she’d received a shock.

“Is that such a remarkable thing to say?”

“Usually, people who know my brother even a little don’t attempt such things.”

“…That would be the case.”

But no matter how he looked at it, the current situation wasn’t something he could handle alone.

“It seems uninvited guests have come. Great trouble may be heading our way, so please wake up Hero Wei Yan-ho.”

Wei Su-ryeon wasn’t someone lacking in perception.

After alternately looking at Gong Mu-jin and the two people approaching from over there, Wei Su-ryeon nodded and began shaking her brother.

“Get up! Get up, you sleepyhead!”

Wei Su-ryeon was resolute when waking him up, unlike when she was happily fawning over him.

“Ah, why! Why! Why again!”

“Great Hero Gong told me to wake you up.”

“Huh?”

At Wei Yan-ho’s crooked gaze looking at him, Gong Mu-jin looked toward the distant sky.

How could she say it like that, this young lady!

“Why!”

The way he asked was so cheeky and refreshing that it made affection bubble up for Wei Yan-ho. He was so cute that Gong Mu-jin wanted to bite him.

…With his canine teeth.

“Can’t you feel it?”

“Are you a Mudang practitioner?”

“No! Not that! I said no!”

Trembling, Gong Mu-jin pointed toward the end with his chin.

“Over there! Can’t you see those people approaching?”

“Eh?”

Wei Yan-ho looked at the two people walking toward them along the road and tilted his head.

“So what?”

“Can’t you feel those people’s aura? There’s no way you couldn’t feel that.”

Wei Yan-ho’s face contorted.

“No, you woke someone up over just that?”

“…Just that?”

“Two old men who look like they’d break if you poked them are coming – what’s so significant about that!”

“Is, is that so?”

Strangely, Gong Mu-jin’s eyes were getting red.

If such veteran masters looked like they would break if poked in Wei Yan-ho’s eyes, then how weak must he himself appear to Wei Yan-ho?

Having never been treated as weak once in his life, Gong Mu-jin felt sorrow washing over him like a tide at this unfamiliar treatment. Gong Mu-jin was experiencing the martial world maxim “If you’re wronged, become a master” with his whole body.

Wei Yan-ho got annoyed and covered himself with the blanket again, lying down.

Gong Mu-jin couldn’t bring himself to stop Wei Yan-ho and just kept sighing.

“I’d rather die than suffer like this!”

I’ll do it, I’ll do it myself, you bastard!

You just hover around our Seol-hwa and I’ll kill… no, I won’t be able to kill you, but I’ll interfere even if I die…

Wait, wouldn’t I be the one dying then?

Gong Mu-jin, who had become like a father watching a scoundrel approach his precious disciple – one he wouldn’t hurt even if put in his eye – beat his chest in frustration.

“Why didn’t Heaven grant character along with martial prowess!”

Though he lamented earnestly, Heaven, as always, didn’t give him an answer.

Meanwhile, the two people who had seemed quite far away were approaching close to their carriage.

‘Hmm…’

Gong Mu-jin’s eyes narrowed sharply.

Though they were taking steps slowly as if on a stroll, with each step they took, they were closing the distance by two to three jang.

‘They’re not ordinary.’

He had already sensed it, but seeing it directly with his eyes made it feel real.

But getting scared beforehand was also strange. Looking at how they were coming along the public road, they were people who had no need to avoid others’ eyes. Such people might be seniors from the Orthodox Alliance.

Gong Mu-jin got down from his donkey and stood on the ground.

Then the approaching old men also stopped in their tracks.

The old men looked at Gong Mu-jin quietly and opened their mouths.

“Mount Hua?”

Just looking at the white martial uniform embroidered with plum blossoms, it wouldn’t be difficult to guess Gong Mu-jin’s identity.

“That’s correct. If it’s not too presumptuous, may I ask the honored names of you two senior masters?”

“Senior masters…”

The two old men looked at each other and burst into laughter.

“Why are you laughing?”

“No, it’s nothing.”

The old man who waved his hand to dismiss Gong Mu-jin’s words answered with a face that found it hard to contain his laughter.

“Hearing you call us senior masters, I can’t help but laugh.”

“Is that so?”

“Senior masters… That’s quite an amusing thing to say. Hmm.”

The old man seemed to ponder, then slowly nodded his head.

“Since it’s a rare experience to be called a senior by a Mount Hua junior, I’ll just go with it today.”

“Pardon?”

“If there’s fate, let’s meet again next time. Well then, farewell.”

“Ah, yes.”

Gong Mu-jin found himself nodding without knowing why.

Somehow, these people had the power to make one unable to resist.

When he moved aside with a bewildered face to clear the path, the old man patted Gong Mu-jin’s shoulder and passed by.

“Senior masters, your names?”

“Ah, you don’t need to know our names. You wouldn’t know who we are even if you heard our names anyway. It was a pleasant encounter, so let’s part leaving only pleasant memories.”

“If you say so…”

Guessing there must be some circumstances, Gong Mu-jin nodded and saw the two off.

Watching the old men walking away with smiles on their faces, Gong Mu-jin tilted his head.

‘They don’t seem like evil people…’

Looking at their kind smiles and manner of speaking, their nature didn’t seem bad, so why wouldn’t they reveal their identities?

If there were a hundred people in the world, there would be a hundred different circumstances, so he didn’t particularly press the matter, but strangely, an uneasy feeling remained in one corner of his heart.

“Wait a moment.”

Gong Mu-jin’s head turned upward.

Wei Yan-ho was poking his head out of the carriage.

“Old men.”

The old men’s eyebrows twitched at Wei Yan-ho’s comment calling them “old men.”

“Haha, old men? Young brother, we’re still in our prime, so we’d prefer if you didn’t call us that way.”

“Then what should I call you?”

“Hmm, how about ‘elder brothers’?”

“Yes, that’s good. Elder brothers, if it’s not too presumptuous, may I ask something?”

“Go ahead.”

“Is there perhaps something happening up ahead?”

“Up ahead?”

“Yes, in the direction you two came from.”

“No, nothing at all. Why do you ask such a thing?”

“Then there’s no one up ahead?”

“All I saw was a single farmhouse. But there were no people there.”

Wei Yan-ho jumped down from the carriage.

“You said a farmhouse?”

“That’s right. Why? Is there some problem?”

Wei Yan-ho’s face slightly hardened. It was an expression never seen on Wei Yan-ho, who was always cheerful and carefree.

“Why do you ask?”

Wei Yan-ho didn’t answer Gong Mu-jin’s question and asked one more thing.

“You said there was a farmhouse but no people?”

“That’s right, young brother.”

“Then what was in that farmhouse?”

“Hmm…”

The old man scratched his cheek and opened his mouth.

“They weren’t people, but I suppose you could call them beasts?”

“What?”

Wei Yan-ho’s eyes widened slightly.

“Then is the blood stained under your sleeves blood from killing those beasts?”

“Hmm?”

One of the old men, pointed out by Wei Yan-ho, lifted his arm to look at the bottom part of his sleeve.

“Haha.”

The old man made a sheepish face and put on an act.

“It seems I’ve been away from the martial world too long. To make such a mistake.”

“If you don’t experience real combat, any blade becomes dull. Just don’t make such mistakes next time.”

At their calm conversation, Gong Mu-jin quietly gripped his sword hilt.

There was no way a farmhouse would have no people and only beasts. If that were the case, it wouldn’t be called a farmhouse.

“…May I ask your honored names once more? Even if it’s presumptuous, I definitely want to hear them this time.”

“Tsk tsk.”

The old men opened their mouths as if pitying him.

“We were going to let you go thanks to the connection of being called seniors, but one youngster is inviting trouble upon himself. It wasn’t us who made things this way but you, so don’t resent us. Fine, I’ll tell you. My name is Gong Chi.”

The old man beside him also opened his mouth.

“I am called Beop Hang.”

“…Gong Chi, Beop Hang.”

From the names alone, he couldn’t tell who these people were. As they had said, they didn’t seem to be people known by their names.

“That’s why I said you wouldn’t know. But don’t worry. I’ll personally let you know now. People in the world called me the Ghost Demon.”

“I was called the Blade Demon.”

Gong Mu-jin’s face instantly turned white.

“Ghost, Ghost-Blade Twin Demons!”

“You know well. Then you understand why you must die?”

Gong Mu-jin looked at the two with a tense face.

‘Why have these death spirits appeared in the martial world again?’

These were people who had made their names known throughout the world in the generation before the Demon Cult’s rise to power.

At that time, the Ghost-Blade Twin Demons were so notorious that even crying children would stop at the mention of their names.

With the Demon Cult’s rise to power, they no longer showed themselves, so it was thought they had died or completely gone into hiding, but they had revealed themselves again.

“Are you two also out looking for the Sword Emperor’s legacy?”

Ghost Demon nodded.

“Of course. Though we old men have heavy bottoms, the Sword Emperor’s legacy has enough value to lift our heavy bottoms.”

“At that age, how much further could you advance!”

“The path of martial learning has no end, junior.”

“Don’t call me junior! I’ve never had seniors like you!”

“Hehehe, when you called us seniors yourself, and now you’re saying something different. It doesn’t matter. You won’t be able to call us seniors or use honorifics anymore. The dead don’t speak, after all.”

Then, Wei Yan-ho walked forward step by step, pointed at Ghost Demon with his chin, and said:

“I need to hear about what you were doing up ahead.”