CLS-Chapter 130

Chapter 130

“Huh?”

Kong Mu-jin’s eyes met those of the person standing outside the door.

Kong Mu-jin quietly looked up and down at the figure standing outside.

A height slightly shorter than average.

But her adorable face matched well with her petite stature, making her cuteness even more prominent. With her hair braided up in a flower pattern, she looked like nothing less than a celestial fairy.

It was a bit disappointing that she was wearing martial robes, but even so, she was sufficiently cute.

This cute woman was looking at Kong Mu-jin with a flustered expression while holding a tray in her hands.

‘Hmm?’

The tray was filled with food.

It seemed she had brought breakfast.

However, there were several strange things about this.

First, no matter how much times had changed, it was not something that could be looked upon favorably for a woman to visit a man’s room from the morning.

Second, the reason for her visit—personally preparing breakfast for someone she had barely seen a few times—was also not particularly normal.

And third, the biggest problem was…

“Seol-hwa?”

The person outside the door was none other than Lee Seol-hwa, Kong Mu-jin’s disciple.

“M-Master?”

“Why are you here?”

“Why is Master here?”

For a long while, the two looked at each other wordlessly.

Eventually, Lee Seol-hwa quietly bowed her head and walked into the room with quick steps.

Then she set the food down on the table and hurriedly left the room with quick steps again.

Thud.

The sound of the door closing was heard.

“Oh, food.”

Wei Yan-ho began eating the meal Lee Seol-hwa had brought without any hesitation.

Watching this scene, Kong Mu-jin’s face began to tremble.

Shing.

Kong Mu-jin quietly drew his sword.

“Huh?”

Wei Yan-ho looked at Kong Mu-jin drawing his sword and tilted his head.

“Are you going to use that?”

He had been wondering what to use to cut the roasted duck when Kong Mu-jin drew his sword.

“Listen here.”

“Yes?”

“Thinking about it, the training ground doesn’t seem to be important. A martial artist never knows when or where he might need to draw his sword, so the idea that training must necessarily be done in a wide outdoor space is also a fixed notion, isn’t it? For a person to reach a higher realm, they must first break such fixed notions.”

“Could you summarize that for me? It’s too long.”

Kong Mu-jin nodded.

Summarize?

He’d summarize alright.

Whoosh!

Kong Mu-jin’s sword cried out roughly, then flew toward Wei Yan-ho.

“Eek?”

Wei Yan-ho, who had been eating when the sword suddenly flew at him, was startled and stepped back.

“Why are you doing this!”

A blood-curdling voice burst from Kong Mu-jin’s mouth as he rushed at Wei Yan-ho.

“I won’t give up my disciple! You fish-like bastard!”

It was the day when Plum Blossom Sword Ghost Kong Mu-jin awakened to his love for his disciple.

Lee Seol-hwa held an egg with worried eyes.

“Are you alright?”

Lee Seol-hwa rubbed Kong Mu-jin’s blackened bruised eye with the egg, her face full of concern.

“Ugh.”

Kong Mu-jin groaned.

“Master.”

Seeing Lee Seol-hwa rubbing his face with an egg, his heart naturally warmed. Isn’t it said that a father realizes his love for his daughter when it comes time for her to marry?

Until now, he had thought of her as merely a disciple, but after experiencing such an incident this morning, Kong Mu-jin truly realized how cute and pretty his disciple was.

Look at her now.

Even that frowning expression was adorable. It was a cuteness that couldn’t be compared to those dark-faced male disciples back at the mountain.

But on the other hand…

A detestable face entered Kong Mu-jin’s vision.

“That’s why you shouldn’t draw your sword from the morning.”

Kong Mu-jin’s body trembled.

‘Of all people, it had to be such a guy!’

Of course, objectively speaking, Wei Yan-ho was remarkable as a martial artist. He had to honestly admit it.

Even now, wasn’t this the case? He had rushed at someone who didn’t even have a sword in a surprise attack, and this was the result.

Since he was hit with the scabbard, it ended with just his eye becoming black and blue, but if he had properly drawn the blade, his head would have been split in half.

There probably wasn’t anyone in all of history who possessed such martial prowess at such a young age. So as a martial artist, he was certainly a remarkable person.

But!

“As a human being, you’re trash!”

“What?”

Kong Mu-jin quickly shut his mouth after his true feelings slipped out.

No matter how much he tried to see the good in him, he absolutely couldn’t look favorably upon him as a human being.

No!

If Wei Yan-ho had been someone unrelated to him, he might have defended him, asking what great flaw laziness was in someone with such martial prowess.

But!

Kong Mu-jin’s gaze turned to Lee Seol-hwa, who was rubbing around his eye while stealing glances at Wei Yan-ho.

‘Of all people…’

There were so many men in the world, but why did it have to be Wei Yan-ho?

If she took such a person as her husband, she wouldn’t even be able to make a living.

“Where did you say your home was?”

“Guangdong Wei Family.”

“…Then you must have some money.”

“What?”

It was a failure.

Unfortunately, the economic problem was solved by having a wealthy family background. It was wrong for such a guy to have a good family background.

Kong Mu-jin concluded that a disciple of the pure sanctuary of Mount Hua shouldn’t associate with wealthy people from the secular world and asked again.

“Are you the eldest son?”

“I’m the second son.”

“…”

Somehow his attempts to corner him kept going awry.

Finally, Kong Mu-jin lost his temper.

“Never! Before dirt enters my eyes!”

He couldn’t bring himself to say “I won’t allow it.”

Splat!

Because the egg he was rubbing on his eye slipped and dripped down.

“M-Master!”

Kong Mu-jin looked blankly at Lee Seol-hwa with egg dripping from his face.

It wasn’t on purpose; it seemed she had been so flustered by Kong Mu-jin’s words that she had unconsciously tightened her grip.

“What a waste.”

Wei Yan-ho looked at the egg and clicked his tongue.

He felt like putting a whole carton of eggs in his mouth.

‘No, this might actually be fortunate.’

What kind of person was that guy?

If he said the wrong thing, dirt might really enter his eyes. Kong Mu-jin, who didn’t want to close his coffin lid at such a young and promising age, sighed and wiped his face with the towel Lee Seol-hwa had brought.

“So where did you say you were going?”

“I said I’m going to Luoyang.”

“Don’t you have any thoughts of going to Mount Hua?”

“I thought about it…”

“You thought about it?”

“Wei Yan-ho asked in a dull tone.”

“Mount Hua is Taoist, right?”

Absurdity appeared on Kong Mu-jin’s face.

Could there be someone in the world who didn’t know that Mount Hua was Taoist?

At least for someone who made a living with a sword, there were things one should ask about and things one shouldn’t.

“…Then would it be Buddhist?”

“Don’t Taoists also avoid meat?”

“It’s not recommended.”

“Then there would be nothing but grass if I went there.”

Kong Mu-jin closed his mouth.

“So, the reason you won’t go to Mount Hua is?”

“I can’t live eating only grass.”

There are countless people in the world.

And each person lives with their own respective reasons. Of course, just as Mount Hua had many visitors, there were also many people who were reluctant to visit Mount Hua for various reasons.

But…

Among all those people, has there ever been even one person in the world who refused to climb Mount Hua because there was no meat?

“Is that really so important?”

“It’s important. What in the world is more important than eating and sleeping?”

It was a correct statement.

It was correct, but…

Why did that correct statement sound so pitiful?

“What do you plan to do in Luoyang?”

“I haven’t thought that far ahead.”

“So you won’t visit Mount Hua because you’re going to Luoyang with no purpose?”

“No. I told you it’s because of the meat.”

“…”

This guy won’t do.

This guy absolutely won’t do.

Just how did such a son come from Righteous Hero Sword Wei Jeong-han?

As they say, a tiger’s cub under a tiger father… no, Wei Yan-ho seems stronger, so a tiger’s cub under a dog father… that’s not right either…

“Then we have no choice but to part ways here…”

Squeeze.

“W-wait!”

He could see Lee Seol-hwa’s hand tightening on the egg again. As a trained swordsman, he was able to detect this from the subtle movement of her hand alone.

Though this wasn’t what he had trained that ability for.

Hadn’t one wrong word nearly resulted in another egg facial?

Kong Mu-jin looked up and quietly observed Lee Seol-hwa.

Her expression itself was expressionless, but…

‘What exactly is good about him!’

Kong Mu-jin thought he had kept Lee Seol-hwa on the mountain for too long. Since the only people she had seen on the mountain were her senior brothers, her eye for men had become strange.

After seeing only martial artists who had devoted everything to martial learning, seeing an oddball like Wei Yan-ho must have been fascinating. But that wasn’t affection.

‘If we return to the mountain like this, there will be problems.’

Affection was a subtle thing, so even if it wasn’t real affection, it could become real affection over time.

If he took her back to Mount Hua now, she might solidify her affection while thinking about Wei Yan-ho. The best method was to make her observe Wei Yan-ho more closely and naturally detach herself from him.

Kong Mu-jin was confident.

Because the opponent was Wei Yan-ho.

No matter how much someone had stars in their eyes, if they watched Wei Yan-ho being lazy for just seven days and nights, they wouldn’t be able to stand it without burning away those stars.

“Then we’ll accompany you too.”

“What?”

“Didn’t you say you were going to Luoyang?”

Wei Yan-ho nodded.

“Since we came out for experience anyway, it would be good to show Seol-hwa the Heavenly Orthodox Martial Alliance. Don’t you think so?”

Lee Seol-hwa nodded.

“Yes, I’d like to see it.”

“In that spirit, please take care of us from now on.”

“…You’re not even going to ask for my opinion?”

“Heh heh heh, wouldn’t it be good for everyone?”

“I think our thoughts are completely different.”

“Don’t worry. No matter what, I’m not unacquainted with Great Hero Wei Jeong-han, and how could I just let his son go to Luoyang without an escort?”

“An escort?”

Even without him pointing it out, Kong Mu-jin knew very well how unreasonable his own words sounded.

Escorting Wei Yan-ho? It would be more realistic to worry about whether a tiger might be beaten to death by a rabbit in the mountains.

“Martial prowess isn’t everything. You have no immunity to things like ambushes or poison. So I could help you in those areas.”

“What would I need to eat poison for?”

“The martial world is a frightening place. Can you say you haven’t made any enemies so far?”

“Yes.”

“…What?”

Wei Yan-ho said with a calm face.

“I don’t think I’ve particularly made any enemies.”

Of course, if Nok Gi or Gwak Do-san had heard this, they would have spat blood, but Kong Mu-jin couldn’t know about that.

“Ho ho, that’s because you haven’t thought deeply enough. Come now, are only your enemies considered enemies? You must think of your family.”

“Hmm…”

Wei Yan-ho had to acknowledge this.

Wasn’t there someone in his household who had piled up enemies like mountains and even built towers of enmity on those mountains?

“There aren’t just one or two people who hold grudges against Great Hero Wei Jeong-han. Especially those Demon Sect bastards who have many grudges against Great Hero Wei Jeong-han. Such people won’t target you honorably. So if you travel with me, you can escape from such threats.”

Kong Mu-jin smiled triumphantly.

“So, what do you say?”

Then Wei Yan-ho smiled slightly and answered.

“I don’t want to.”

“Ugh.”

Kong Mu-jin wasn’t even particularly surprised anymore.