CLS-Chapter 121

Chapter 121

Who is Seo Ju-ak?

Flower-Obsessed Scholar Seo Ju-ak was quite a famous sex demon back in his day.

Well, there’s always been a sex demon or two in every era, hasn’t there? So it’s nothing particularly unusual.

But in my opinion, Seo Ju-ak should be treated as quite important in martial world history.

Because… Seo Ju-ak set a massive wheel in motion.

If it hadn’t been for Seo Ju-ak, Wei Yan-ho would never have entered that cave. Wi San-ho suffered greatly in mind, and Wei Yan-ho suffered greatly in body, but when you think about it, that bastard really accomplished something big.

Hm?

Oh, of course, Seo Ju-ak himself must have regretted it.

He must have regretted it terribly.

He couldn’t help but regret it.

After what happened to him.

Now that I’m talking about it again, I can picture that wretched state of his. It truly was horrific.

***

“Hehehehe, found you.”

Seo Ju-ak spun around in surprise at the voice coming from behind him.

“Hehehehe.”

There stood a man looking at him.

“Hehehe.”

‘Is he insane?’

His behavior was that of a complete madman.

He looks young though?

Looking closely at the face hidden in the darkness, he seemed to have a youthful air about him. He appeared to be either not yet past his coming-of-age or just barely past it. But why was this bastard wandering alone in these deep mountains at this late hour?

“Hehehehe.”

“…Is he really insane?”

Otherwise, he wouldn’t just be laughing like that in this situation.

The young man who had suddenly appeared slowly raised his head.

“Seo Ju-ak?”

Flower-Obsessed Scholar Seo Ju-ak’s eyes narrowed.

‘So he came knowing who I am.’

That meant this bastard was also one of those pursuing him. Only then did Seo Ju-ak relax his guard.

Among those chasing him, there was only one person Seo Ju-ak actually feared – Gong Mu-jin. The others didn’t really pursue him because they feared the Sword Emperor’s Legacy might be stolen.

In the end, except for Gong Mu-jin, those following him were just moths drawn to the shallow pretense of righteousness. So there was nothing to be wary of.

“Another young fool blinded by the desire for fame…”

“Hehehe, Seo Ju-aaaaak.”

“…This crazy bastard?”

“Right?”

“What are you talking about?”

“Are you Flower-Obsessed Scholar Seo Ju-ak? Seo Ju-ak?”

Seo Ju-ak opened his mouth irritably.

“That’s right, you little bastard. I am Seo Ju-ak. So what are you going to do about it?”

“Hahahahaha!”

As soon as Seo Ju-ak finished speaking, the young man burst into wild laughter and his eyes gleamed.

“I wanted to meet you. I really wanted to meet you! You can’t imagine how much I wanted to meet you.”

What?

Does this bastard know me?

Seo Ju-ak couldn’t help but be confused.

‘It’s not strange though.’

Given all the things he’d done up until now, it wouldn’t be strange for someone who didn’t know him to harbor resentment against him.

However, what was truly strange wasn’t that, but rather Seo Ju-ak’s current reaction.

‘Why have I been putting up with this crazy bastard’s antics until now?’

Seo Ju-ak hated it most when someone interfered with his work. If it had been the old him, the moment this young fool appeared, he would have killed him with his Flower-Obsessed Palm without asking questions.

But right now, Seo Ju-ak couldn’t bring himself to act.

‘Why?’

His mind had already decided to act ten times over, but his hands wouldn’t move.

“Hehehe.”

At that moment, the madman opened his mouth.

“First…”

A growling, beast-like howl echoed through the mountains.

“Let’s start with a beating!”

***

“The Sword Emperor’s Legacy, you said?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Hmm…”

Divine Skill Master Cho Hyeon swallowed his contemplative sound.

“To think the tomb of someone who died three hundred years ago is only now being discovered – how should we interpret this?”

Zhuge Tian-qi, one of the five deputy commanders supporting the Martial Alliance, held his breath while watching Cho Hyeon’s expression.

Though he had served Cho Hyeon for quite some time, it was rare to see him in such deep contemplation.

“The Green Forest is stirring, and suddenly the Sword Emperor’s Legacy appears? On top of that, we’re hearing that the Poison King’s Secret Manual has been discovered in Sichuan. Should we consider all these events happening simultaneously as coincidence?”

“We found no traces of manipulation.”

“Just because no traces were found doesn’t mean we can take things at face value.”

“There’s no faction capable of orchestrating such a scheme.”

Cho Hyeon’s eyes darkened.

“What about the Thousand Doctors Alliance?”

“The Thousand Doctors Alliance shows no movement. You know, don’t you? The Thousand Doctors Alliance recently had their alliance leader replaced. They must be too busy with internal reorganization.”

“That would be right. That should be the case…”

Cho Hyeon drank his tea with a troubled expression.

As the tea’s fragrance stimulated his nose, his confused mind seemed to clear up a bit.

‘It’s strange, I tell you.’

The situation was certainly clean.

The problem was that the situation was too clean.

If so many things were happening simultaneously, at least one of them should smell fishy, but all the events seemed too clean, as if they were all mere coincidences, which bothered him.

“I have a bad feeling about this.”

Unfortunately, his premonitions tended to be quite accurate.

“How is the situation?”

“All the martial artists in the area are heading to Na Mountain. We’ve deployed all personnel from the branch offices to prevent any potential clashes, and though headquarters has also sent people, if any provocation occurs, there’s definitely a possibility it could spread like wildfire.”

“That would be the case.”

If even Cho Hyeon, who chose the path of letters over martial arts, felt his heart stirring, how much more so would those who had dedicated their lives to martial learning?

The Sword Emperor.

‘The greatest person of all time.’

Even if Shaolin had Dharma Wudang, had Zhang Sanfeng, and the Demonic Cult had the Heavenly Demon, who could dare stand before the Sword Emperor when judged as individuals?

This was the Sword Emperor who was called the Heaven-Severing Sword for splitting the sky with his blade. If his martial arts had been passed down to future generations, the current history of the martial world would have been rewritten.

Because he disappeared one day without even passing his sword techniques to his descendants, the era of ten thousand swords could not continue.

But now the Sword Emperor’s tomb had suddenly been discovered – it was understandable that the entire Jianghu was stirring. Even he was feeling the urge to rush there immediately.

‘But what if this is a well-orchestrated plan?’

If someone deliberately spread this news, what would their purpose be?

“Wait.”

Cho Hyeon’s expression hardened.

“Information – what about information? How are the Beggar’s Sect and Hao Clan moving?”

“…The Beggar’s Sect, you mean? Of course, all the Beggar’s Sect members are also gathering in Xinyang.”

“Damn it.”

Cho Hyeon gritted his teeth.

“Don’t you think the Sword Emperor’s Legacy might be a trap? But Na Mountain doesn’t have terrain suitable for setting traps. Besides, with this many people, how could they…”

“Tsk.”

Cho Hyeon waved his hand dismissively.

“Are you talking about some legendary cave full of mechanical traps? The Sword Emperor wasn’t a carpenter – why would he do such things to his tomb? That’s just stories made up by gossip-loving busybodies. The problem isn’t that.”

“Then what are you worried about?”

“A vacuum.”

“…Excuse me?”

“Aren’t the Beggar’s Sect and Hao Clan all gathering in Xinyang? That means information sources in places other than Xinyang and Sichuan are decreasing!”

“Ah!”

“Just by using the Sword Emperor’s name, they could create an information vacuum. I don’t know who thought of it, but this is checkmate. There’s no way around it.”

“Couldn’t we just inform people of this fact?”

“Who would believe it?”

“…”

“Even if they did believe it, they couldn’t give up their lingering hopes. That’s how human desire works. So we should consider that the deed is already done. The question is what they’re doing in the empty places while driving all those information sources to one location.”

Cho Hyeon opened his mouth with a dark expression.

“I hope it’s not something big. I hope this is just my overreaction. Just in case, tell the Flying Swallow Pavilion not to neglect monitoring the situation.”

“Yes, understood.”

After Zhuge Tian-qi left, Cho Hyeon stood up and walked to the window.

‘Ominous.’

He had a bad feeling.

The Jianghu had been too peaceful for too long.

Cho Hyeon felt heavy-hearted, thinking this incident might be a sign that the peace was about to be broken.

‘Are troubled times coming?’

The clouds didn’t answer his question.

***

The situation began to turn very strange.

Lee Seol-hwa couldn’t help but focus her attention on the young man who had suddenly appeared.

No matter how mentally unstable that young man seemed, he was the only person she could trust right now.

Her faith that he would help her clashed with her rational assessment of Seo Ju-ak’s skills, which she had experienced firsthand.

After a moment of internal conflict, she finally shouted.

“Run away!”

Seo Ju-ak’s martial prowess was beyond what was known. She, a second-generation disciple of Mount Hua and student of Plum Blossom Sword Demon Gong Mu-jin, had been defeated without even properly wielding her sword.

The young man visible to her now definitely didn’t look very old.

Even if she wasn’t the strongest among the later generation prodigies, even the strongest among them wouldn’t be able to defeat her in one second. If so, the result was obvious without even watching. Another life would be lost for nothing.

“R-run away and call for people! Hurry!”

Lee Seol-hwa grabbed the sword that had fallen to the ground and struggled to get up. Her internal energy had long since been disrupted, but she had to buy time for that young man to escape.

‘It can’t be helped.’

If you act rashly, you should pay the price.

For the sake of her life or virtue, she should have fled while Seo Ju-ak was distracted, but as a proud disciple of Mount Hua, she could never commit such a shameless act.

The best she could do was to help the young man escape and then commit suicide before losing her virtue. She should even be grateful that the young man had drawn attention, giving her at least the chance to grab her sword for suicide.

The moment she gritted her teeth and gripped her sword.

A strange sight entered her eyes.

The young man made a peculiar expression and giggled, then in an instant stretched his body and appeared right in front of Seo Ju-ak.

‘Huh?’

Her eyes widened as if they would tear.

‘Body Transformation Technique?’

What on earth had she just witnessed?

“Huh?”

She wasn’t the only one who was flustered. Startled by the young man suddenly popping up right in front of his nose, Seo Ju-ak deployed his Flower-Obsessed Palm with full power.

Red energy instantly enveloped the young man’s body.

“No!”

Lee Seol-hwa screamed. But in her current state, she couldn’t offer any help to the young man.

Just as it seemed the young man would be torn to bloody pieces and thrown aside, something unexpected happened.

A white hand suddenly shot out from the center of the crimson energies and struck Seo Ju-ak, who was deploying his Flower-Obsessed Palm, right in the jaw.

“Kyaaaah!”

A scream like a pig being slaughtered echoed through the area.