CLS-Chapter 226

Chapter 226

“Wait a minute!”

When Wei Yan-ho thrust his hand forward and shouted, the Plum Blossom Swordsmen who had been charging at him all stopped in unison.

‘Huh?’

‘Why did we stop?’

From their perspective, Wei Yan-ho was a criminal.

They hadn’t interrogated him yet, and his crimes weren’t confirmed, but given the circumstances that had been revealed, it was an unquestionable fact that Wei Yan-ho had caused this entire incident.

But for all of them to stop at a criminal’s restraint, not just one or two?

It was impossible, and it shouldn’t have happened.

But they couldn’t deny what had actually occurred.

When the flustered Plum Blossom Swordsmen tried to grab their swords again, Wei Yan-ho opened his mouth with a nonchalant voice.

“Violence is bad, right? If I have to go, I’ll go on my own feet.”

Wei Yan-ho shrugged his shoulders.

“I was just asking if I could run away, but there’s no need to get so angry about it. As expected of Taoists, you don’t understand jokes.”

“Grrrowww.”

The Blue Sword Master made a groaning sound at Wei Yan-ho’s nonchalant voice.

What made that bastard so brazen?

A mere late-stage junior participating in the tournament had grotesquely blown away one of Mount Hua’s halls, yet he had that kind of expression.

It was infuriating.

Even if he had realized his mistake and was at a loss about what to do, it would be questionable whether his anger would subside. But seeing him respond with an attitude of ‘what are you going to do about it’ after causing such an accident… it felt like all his years of cultivation were flying away.

“Grrrrrowwww.”

As much as he wanted to flip him over right now and spank his bottom, an accident of this magnitude was beyond what he could handle alone.

Not as Mount Hua’s Blue Sword Master, but as an executive committee member of the tournament, he had to follow proper procedures and discuss punishment.

That fact irritated the Blue Sword Master.

‘Has anything like this ever happened in my entire life?’

It was definitely the first time in such a short period that he had lost his composure repeatedly because of one person. And to think that person would be a young man who was still wet behind the ears.

‘A troublemaker is a troublemaker indeed.’

But that was the end of it.

No matter how much of a troublemaker Wei Yan-ho was, he wouldn’t be able to cause any more trouble from now on.

“Then follow me. I will put you in Thunder Prison and decide on the deliberation.”

“Huh? Thunder Prison?”

Wei Yan-ho looked at the Blue Sword Master with a thoroughly displeased expression.

“What crime did I commit that I have to go to prison?”

“What crime, you ask!”

To blow away this much of a hall and then ask what crime he committed. Was this bastard in his right mind?

“The crime of conducting unauthorized sparring within the sacred grounds of Mount Hua and damaging a hall.”

“Usually people don’t get locked up in Thunder Prison just for collapsing a building.”

“…Huh?”

Wei Yan-ho shrugged his shoulders.

“Just build a new one and that’s it.”

The Blue Sword Master’s face went blank.

“Build a new one?”

“Yes. Well, it’s an old, worn-out building anyway. If I rebuild it for you, wouldn’t Mount Hua be fine with that?”

Had he ever seen such a mindless fool?

Each building in Mount Hua was steeped in history, and couldn’t be replaced just by building something new, big, and grand! And yet such nonsense!

“C-can you build it big and new?”

“Elder!”

“Ahem!”

The Blue Sword Master, whose inner thoughts had slipped out without realizing it, covered the situation with a cough.

‘As long as people are comfortable, that’s all that matters.’

Tradition or whatever—who would want to live in old, worn-out halls where the wind whistled through every crack?

How hard must it be to live there if even the elders leave the main mountain and build thatched huts in remote mountain corners once they achieve that rank?

What? To cultivate in a quiet place?

That should at least make sense.

Would it be easier to cultivate at the main mountain where disciples pile up like mountains, bringing clothes when you gesture, bringing water when you gesture, and even preparing meals for you, or would it be easier to cultivate in a remote thatched hut where you have to chop your own firewood and tend your own fire?

That joie de vivre toward nature could freeze to death.

This was the peak of Mount Hua, for crying out loud.

Those living in bustling city centers might seek joie de vivre, but what madman would seek joie de vivre at a mountain peak where bone-piercing cold naturally seeps in at dawn? If they loved nature so much, they might as well graze on grass.

“…Ah, they are grazing on grass.”

“Excuse me?”

“Oh, no…”

The Blue Sword Master’s face reddened at his disciples’ questions. It seemed his inner thoughts had slipped out again.

In any case, the only advantage of leaving the main mountain to live elsewhere was occasionally being able to gnaw on wild boar legs without the disciples seeing. Yet the reason they kept trying to leave the main mountain and build their own houses was that living in drafty, leaky old halls was extremely inconvenient.

But to blow away the old hall and build a new one!

‘He’s a benefactor.’

He felt like bowing to him.

“A-are you really going to build a new one?”

“Elder!”

“Agh! I know! I know!”

The Blue Sword Master swallowed his tears.

If he would just build a new building, why would he care about such old buildings? He could even carve a name on the new hall and enshrine a memorial tablet in the Supreme Palace.

But right now, he wasn’t here simply as an elder of Mount Hua. He was not only an elder of Mount Hua but also an executive committee member of this All-Under-Heaven Late-Stage Junior Martial Arts Tournament.

If there was an incident, suppressing the perpetrator and turning him over to the committee was what he had to do. Of course, as the hosts, they would have some degree of choice…

‘This isn’t something I can handle alone.’

If word got around that a single Mount Hua elder had defended someone who should have his participation qualification revoked just because he said he’d build a building, that would bring shame to Mount Hua. It wasn’t something that could be suppressed under the Blue Sword Master’s name.

Moreover, upon careful consideration, there was no way Wei Yan-ho had enough money to rebuild such a hall. No matter how much his family was the Guangdong Wei Family, erecting a new hall on this high mountain was by no means an easy task.

Not knowing the extent of Wei Yan-ho’s wealth, the Blue Sword Master had no choice but to think that way.

“…For now, accompany me.”

“To Thunder Prison?”

The Blue Sword Master smacked his lips.

Perhaps because of the conversation they’d just had, somehow his eyes looking at Wei Yan-ho had become much softer.

“Principle is principle. If you’re innocent, you’ll be released soon, but Mount Hua has a policy of first imprisoning all those who cause disturbances within our territory in Thunder Prison.”

“Thunder Prison…”

Wei Yan-ho shuddered.

“It’s not the kind of place that’s half-filled with water and such, right?”

“It’s just a cave. Nice and dry.”

“Hmm…”

That didn’t seem too bad, did it?

Wei Yan-ho nodded.

“I’ll follow you.”

“Good.”

Wei Yan-ho smiled pleasantly.

If it was a cave, wasn’t that the most familiar resting place for him? Without his master around, Wei Yan-ho could use caves more comfortably than anyone else in the world.

‘It’ll be better than here.’

No matter how uncomfortable the cave might be, it would definitely be a thousand, ten thousand times more comfortable than a place where there was a father desperate to get his son onto the sparring stage so he couldn’t fight, and an older brother who had the mindset that there was nothing in the world he couldn’t do.

‘I’ve had my revenge appropriately too.’

Having caused this much trouble, there would probably be chaos on the Martial Alliance side. Especially Miraculous Strategist, who was the military advisor, might foam at the mouth and collapse.

Wei Yan-ho, thinking he had completed his petty revenge against the Miraculous Strategist who had forced him to come here, followed behind the Blue Sword Master with a comfortable heart.

But as always, worldly affairs don’t go smoothly.

“What on earth is all this!”

Wei Yan-ho sighed.

He didn’t understand why everyone who encountered him said such similar things.

Through the door—or rather, through what used to be where the door was—Mount Hua’s Sect Leader Qing Ying Zi and several people were entering.

Wei Yan-ho, who had been looking at them casually, flinched and whistled while turning his head away. Among those following behind Qing Ying Zi, he had spotted the faces of Wei Jeong-han and Gong Mu-jin.

Wei Jeong-han looked around with a dumbfounded expression, then upon seeing Wei Yan-ho, glared at him with a ghostly face.

‘You did this, didn’t you?’

Sometimes people can speak with their eyes alone.

Seeing the blown-away building and Wei Yan-ho standing there awkwardly, if Wei Jeong-han didn’t know whose doing this was, he would be unqualified as Wei Yan-ho’s father.

“Grrrrrowwwww.”

As Wei Jeong-han began scratching his head frantically, Gong Mu-jin placed a hand on his shoulder and offered comfort.

“Please calm down, senior.”

“…Is this something to be calm about?”

“This is actually quite mild.”

If only he knew—that bastard was the one who had blown away the gates of Luoyang. Wei Jeong-han sometimes tended to focus only on the fact that Wei Yan-ho was lazy and didn’t move, but Wei Yan-ho was indescribably violent when he did move.

“I’m asking what on earth happened here!”

Qing Ying Zi ground his teeth so hard that his anger had risen to the top of his head.

And why wouldn’t he?

This All-Under-Heaven Martial Arts Tournament was accepted for Mount Hua’s glory. But an accident had erupted even before the main matches, which alone was enough to make him angry, and now an entire hall had been blown away—it would be stranger if he didn’t faint.

“Sect Leader.”

The Blue Sword Master bowed before him and deeply lowered his head as he spoke.

“An abnormality was discovered and I was about to escort the person involved.”

“Person involved!”

Qing Ying Zi shouted with a voice bubbling with fury.

“Bring me everyone who was here! Right now!”

“Yes!”

No sooner had those words ended than the Plum Blossom Swordsmen flew in all directions toward the scattered Martial Alliance personnel.

‘Huh? This atmosphere doesn’t look good.’

Looking at Qing Ying Zi trembling his white beard, Wei Yan-ho felt that the situation was becoming a bit more serious than expected.

‘Ah well, whatever. If worst comes to worst, I’ll just laze around in Thunder Prison and have fun.’

They’ll let me out when the tournament ends, right?

If worst comes to worst, I’ll just build the collapsed hall.

That’s when things started getting tangled.

“That person suddenly attacked us.”

“…Huh?”

The moment he spotted Ho Chul-san pointing at him in front of Qing Ying Zi, Wei Yan-ho couldn’t help but tilt his head.

“W-we were just trying to share good friendship and suggested sitting together, but that person picked a fight and then suddenly blew away the ceiling…”

Wei Yan-ho’s face contorted.

Qing Ying Zi, who had been looking back and forth between Ho Chul-san and Wei Yan-ho, asked in a stern tone.

“Is this true?”

How could a person not add even a drop of saliva to his lips!

“It seems… definitely true.”

Could he only tell the truth?

No matter how much he thought about it, Wei Yan-ho realized there was nothing wrong with Ho Chul-san’s words and smiled awkwardly.

“Why did you do such a thing? Tell me the reason.”

Still, the sect leader of a martial sect was different. Even though he already knew the entire situation and his anger had risen to the top of his head, he didn’t move hastily and tried to hear both sides.

“Uh… well…”

The only problem was that this side had nothing to say.

“I just hit him because I felt annoyed?”

Seeing Wei Yan-ho grinning as he spoke, Qing Ying Zi shouted so loudly that all the remaining halls seemed about to collapse.

“Mount Hua disciples, immediately escort that criminal and confine him in Thunder Prison!”

“Charge!”

As the atmosphere became more serious, Wei Yan-ho muttered with displeasure.

“If I’d known this would happen, I should have been caught obediently earlier instead of wasting time.”

Regret is always too late, no matter how quick.