CLS-Chapter 257

Chapter 257

“This is deflating.”

“Indeed it is.”

The tournament was being held successfully today as well. However, the spectators watching had faces that had completely lost interest.

“Who won earlier again?”

“Who are you talking about?”

“That match before. Didn’t the result come out?”

“……Ah, that one? Shaolin’s Musan and Hundred Sword Castle’s Baek Geom-young fought, and Baek Geom-young won.”

“I see. Then this match is Wei San-ho and…… Wei San-ho and who was it again?”

“Iron Bird Banner’s Cheol Jo-hwi. It’s Iron Bird Fire Wei San-ho competing in a match.”

“I see.”

Hearing the thoroughly deflated response, the person who had been explaining shrugged his shoulders.

“You seem to have no interest at all?”

“……That’s right. Strangely, I’m not very interested. I’m thinking of just going home.”

“You’ve been watching from the preliminaries until now, and you’re going to leave without seeing who wins?”

“Right. I feel like I should watch, but……”

Listening to the spectators’ words, Cheong Yeong-ja frowned.

‘Damn it.’

It was a thought that one walking the path of Taoism should never have, but it was fortunate that worse profanity didn’t come out.

Just yesterday, Cheong Yeong-ja had been pleased that one of Wei Yan-ho and Wei San-ho would be eliminated, but after Wei Yan-ho had deflatingly declared surrender, the tournament atmosphere had been heading toward the worst possible outcome.

Rather, if people had gotten angry or furious, the atmosphere wouldn’t have become this terrible, but the problem was that everyone had accepted it.

After all, they were brothers, so you couldn’t really say anything about them not being able to fight properly.

The martial world was a place where successors had to engage in bloody competition with each other, and it was a brutal arena where, even if not openly, schemes to keep each other in check went back and forth in the shadows.

But when a younger brother could have gained both fame and substance by fighting his elder brother, yet shouted ‘Ah, I don’t care’ and gave up the match, who could say anything about it?

Of course, it was a disappointing result for those who had expected a bloody fight between brothers, but they couldn’t condemn Wei Yan-ho’s brotherly love in yielding to his elder brother.

If this hadn’t been this occasion, they would certainly have praised him as excellent as a human being, if not as a martial artist.

So they couldn’t get angry but felt deflated – the worst possible situation had occurred.

‘At this rate, even when a winner emerges, they might not be treated as a proper winner.’

There were various ways to ruin a tournament, but Wei Yan-ho had thrown filth at the tournament in the most creative way possible. Seeing Wei Jeong-han’s figure in that corner, Cheong Yeong-ja ground his teeth.

“What is this place!”

The anger should have been directed at Wei Yan-ho, who had arbitrarily abandoned the tournament, but strangely, he didn’t feel like getting angry at Wei Yan-ho.

It was because he felt it would be pointless to get angry at Wei Yan-ho and hold him responsible.

After all, no one tries to recite sutras to a cow’s ear.

Instead, that anger was directed at Wei Jeong-han and the Orthodox Alliance.

If it was going to be like this, they should have just not entered Wei Yan-ho in the first place!

Why did they input a troublemaker like Wei Yan-ho into a tournament that was proceeding well and stir it up into a mess?

Those who had their honor fall to the ground after being defeated by Wei Yan-ho in one blow could have recovered that honor if only Wei Yan-ho had won, but now they were all going to roll around in the mud together.

There probably wasn’t a way to ruin a tournament this perfectly.

Wei San-ho, who was ascending the martial arts platform, also seemed to have many thoughts, as he wasn’t showing his usual orderly momentum.

“Grrrr, Wei Yan-hooo!”

Cheong Yeong-ja let out a groan, forgetting that there were people listening.

To Cheong Yeong-ja, Wei Yan-ho was like an Asura who had risen from hell to prevent Mount Hua’s revival with all his might. At least Asuras were shunned by people. But wasn’t this a situation where an Asura was gaining popularity while receiving the audience’s cheers?

‘When Gong Mu-jin warned me, I should have listened to those words.’

Even though regretting it now had no meaning, Cheong Yeong-ja couldn’t let go of his attachment.

“Sect Leader, give the signal.”

“Ah……”

The two people on the martial arts platform had already prepared themselves. And Cheong Geom-ja, who was serving as referee, was blankly waiting for his signal. Even Cheong Geom-ja, who was usually perfectly fair and always maintained composure, seemed somehow vacant today, as if missing something.

“We must start, we must start.”

Cheong Yeong-ja let out a deep sigh and gestured to Cheong Geom-ja.

Then Cheong Geom-ja crossed his hands and gave the signal to the two people on the martial arts platform that they could begin the match.

The gazes of Cheol Jo-hWei and Wei San-ho met in mid-air.

“I’ll end your reputation as the foremost of the later generation today.”

“……”

Wei San-ho didn’t particularly respond and drew his sword. Wei San-ho’s attitude made the corners of Cheol Jo-hwi’s eyes twitch. As if his mood was ruined, Cheol Jo-hWei was about to start attacking when—

Kwaaaaang!

The pavilion behind the martial arts platform exploded outward, and something burst through the pavilion and flew intensely toward the martial arts platform.

“Kuk!“

“Mm?”

Wei San-ho and Cheol Jo-hWei urgently retreated backward.

Kuuung!

The flying object embedded itself straight into the ground. So intense was its flight that it penetrated the floor made of blue stone and made the entire large martial arts platform shake.

“Keuaaaaa……“

The ‘thing’ that had become half-embedded in the martial arts platform let out a groan and extended an arm outside the pit.

‘A person?’

‘A human?’

Cheol Jo-hWei and Wei San-ho looked at the person embedded in the martial arts platform with bewildered faces.

But why would a person suddenly come flying and get stuck in the martial arts platform?

They were the ones who were supposed to be having a match.

“Huh?”

Those at the high seats saw the person crawling out of the pit and jumped up from their seats in shock.

“Tang Cheon-gun?”

“The Poison King?”

As soon as the words “Poison King” came out, the atmosphere began to freeze coldly.

The Poison King, no less.

Wasn’t he the current head of the Tang family?

The place with the strongest influence in the Heavenly Clothes Alliance was none other than the Tang family. The Poison King was the head of such a Tang family and an absolute master whom even the Alliance Leader of the Heavenly Clothes Alliance couldn’t ignore.

For the Poison King to come flying in such a sorry state!

‘Who could have made the Poison King look like that?’

People looked at the collapsing pavilion with tense faces. Between the hideously exposed framework that looked ready to collapse at any moment, dust was rising thickly.

And through that dust, one person’s figure slowly became visible.

Gulp.

The tension sweeping through the audience was so intense that someone’s swallowing sound could be heard clearly.

The fact that the one who had come flying was Tang Cheon-gun spread instantly. Then the person emerging from that pavilion would be the one who had made Tang Cheon-gun look like this.

Everyone widened their eyes and focused their attention on the figure walking out of the dust.

And…….

“Uwaaaaaaaa!“

“It’s Wei Yan-ho!”

“What? Why is Wei Yan-ho coming out from there!”

The spectators began to cheer hotly.

Those who had been dejected because the confrontation between Wei San-ho and Wei Yan-ho hadn’t been realized had caught the opportunity to see a match between Wei Yan-ho and Tang Cheon-gun—a confrontation you couldn’t see even if you paid for it—right before their eyes.

Heat, cheers, and suspicion all began to burst forth simultaneously.

“But why was Wei Yan-ho fighting with Tang Cheon-gun?”

“Why did they get into a conflict?”

“Tang Cheon-gun and Wei Yan-ho! The difference in level is too extreme. Is it really okay for those two to properly fight?”

Suspicion swelled up, but most people felt that such suspicions didn’t matter anyway. Whoever had done wrong, whoever had picked the fight, if these two people were to compete, it wouldn’t end with some tedious match.

The head of the Sichuan Tang family was competing with a newly rising emerging powerhouse. If by any chance the head were to lose, the honor of the Sichuan Tang family would fall to the ground.

Compared to this, suspicions about using poison in matches were nothing worth calling an incident. On the other hand, if Tang Cheon-gun defeated Wei Yan-ho, he would have to endure bitter words about laying hands on a young junior, but suspicions about using poison in matches would disappear.

The martial world was generous to winners and harsh to losers. If it weren’t a match, poison would naturally be a weapon the Tang family should use. Then conversely, precisely because it was a match, they might have been defeated because they couldn’t properly use poison, which could bring about public opinion that the Sichuan Tang family would be stronger than anyone if they could use poison freely.

Either way, it was a match neither side could back down from.

Wei Yan-ho, who revealed himself through the dust, puffed up his cheeks and shouted angrily.

“Where does this old geezer get off being poisonous!”

“Keuuuu!“

Tang Cheon-gun’s body trembled violently.

To be defeated by a greenhorn brat and shown in such a miserable state of being embedded before all these people—from his perspective, there was no greater humiliation.

“How dare you! How dare you! I won’t let you live! I’ll turn you into a handful of poison water and show you the price of daring to touch me.”

“What are you saying?”

Wei Yan-ho snorted.

“Who used poison first, and who’s touching whom? Anyway, these so-called martial artists ignore the before and after. Whatever.”

Wei Yan-ho began rotating his arms whip whip and started walking toward the martial arts platform.

“I won’t go easy on you.”

Wei Yan-ho climbed onto the martial arts platform and extended his hand toward Wei San-ho.

“Brother.”

“Mm?”

“Lend me your sword. I didn’t bring one.”

“Understood.”

He didn’t know exactly how this situation was unfolding, but seeing the state of things, trying to stop it would be impossible. If so, at least his younger brother shouldn’t be at a disadvantage. Wei San-ho unhesitatingly offered his beloved sword to Wei Yan-ho.

Wei Yan-ho drew the sword and returned the scabbard to Wei San-ho.

“I’ll use it cleanly and return it.”

“……Be careful.”

“Don’t worry.”

Wei Yan-ho ground his teeth crunch crunch.

“I really thought I was going to die! I’ll let you know what it feels like to cross the Jordan River too!”

When Wei Yan-ho stood on the martial arts platform holding the sword, cheers began bursting forth from all directions.

“Are they really going to fight?”

“It’s Tang Cheon-gun versus Wei Yan-ho!”

Most of the spectators knew. Although not everyone had competed yet, they knew who the real winner of this tournament was. The reason the tournament had lost its energy after Wei Yan-ho dropped out was also for that reason.

When the one who should win disappears and the remaining ones compete among themselves, what excitement could there be?

But this was a spectacle beyond Wei Yan-ho participating in matches again. It was an arena where Wei Yan-ho, who could be called the best among the later generation, would prove exactly what level he had reached.

Moreover, weren’t Wei Yan-ho and the Tang family already in an unwashable bitter relationship? There would definitely be no looking out for each other. You could tell just by looking at Tang Cheon-gun’s expression.

Tang Cheon-gun looked ready to tear Wei Yan-ho apart right then and there.

“I won’t let you get away with this!”

“Huh?”

Wei Yan-ho snorted.

“My master said!”

Wei Yan-ho shouted loudly.

“If you get hit once, pay it back ten times!”

“……What?”

Wei Yan-ho swung his sword and walked toward Tang Cheon-gun.

“It means you should repeat that you died ten times today. Be careful, old geezer. I originally hold a lot of grudges against old men.”

It was a line that would make Baek Mu-han in the afterlife flinch.