Martial Arts Tournant (2)
The Shaolin disciples moved through the crowd and soon arrived at the manor prepared for them.
“Hahaha. This is the manor created by the masters of the Beob Gong faction when the Murim Alliance was first established.”
At Master Hyun-hyeon’s explanation, Mu-jin nodded in agreent.
The manor, boasting a history of thirty-eight years, had a certain sothing about it.
‘As expected of Shaolin.’
It was exceedingly simple.
Mu-jin, who had not expected a grandiose manor or extravagant halls, simply accepted it and entered the manor.
“Wow~ This brings back mories. Right, Mu-jin?”
Perhaps because they were going to sleep together in a small room, Mu-yul seed to be reminiscing about their novice days.
Mu-jin, smiling slightly at the innocent look, organized the few belongings he had brought and started to warm up his body while thinking.
‘The martial arts tournant…’
To Mu-jin, the martial arts tournant held great significance. After all, his favorite novel, *Legend of the Evil Emperor*, began with this martial arts tournant.
It might seem strange that the introduction of *Legend of the Evil Emperor*, which was about the greatest person in the demonic sect, started with the martial arts tournant, a celebration for the orthodox sects. But it was inevitable.
The protagonist of the second part of the novel was originally from the orthodox sect. To be precise, his family belonged to a small faction within the orthodox sects.
It was only during the process of uncovering the sches of the hidden forces that he ca into conflict with the orthodox sects.
‘Hmm. At this ti, that guy would probably be training hard at the Demonic Path Institute, right?’
The Demonic Path Institute was an organization that trained the future successors of the Heavenly Demon Cult.
Mu-jin had no intention of contacting the protagonist of the first part of the novel, the future Heavenly Demon, who would erge from the Heavenly Demon Cult after graduating from the Demonic Path Institute.
Sneaking into the Heavenly Demon Cult as an outsider was nothing short of suicidal.
‘Anyway, that genius will graduate as the top student and co out on his own, so I can worry about him later.’
Mu-jin planned to et the protagonist around the ti he would confront Mu-gyeong, who was supposed to beco the Blood Successor in the middle of the first part of the novel.
Since he had not interfered with the Heavenly Demon Cult, he calculated that everything would proceed according to the novel until then, without him having to contact the Heavenly Demon.
On the contrary, if the Heavenly Demon did not beco stronger in the fight against the Blood Successor, he might die in the next trial. Therefore, Mu-jin needed to et him by then to help him grow.
‘So this ti, I should prevent a few of the hidden forces’ sches in advance.’
Thinking about the hidden forces, Mu-jin let out a deep sigh.
Even though he had read both parts of the novel, and *Legend of the Evil Emperor* was his favorite, which he had re-read multiple tis…
He still did not know the exact and detailed power and identity of the hidden forces.
The first part of the novel, *Record of the Heavenly Demon’s Return*, written by martial arts author Ga-gyeong, mainly dealt with the protagonist unifying the demon cult.
While there were so hints about the hidden forces, there were no direct appearances, and it ended with the protagonist starting an invasion of the Central Plains after unifying the demon cult.
And the second part of the novel dealt with the protagonist discovering traces of the hidden forces and uncovering their secrets.
In the process, due to having beaten to death the martial artists and sects belonging to the righteous faction who had either joined hands with the hidden forces or were being used by them, he ended up being labeled as a mber of the demonic faction.
Anyway, even in the second part of the novel, they had only caught the tail and part of the body of the hidden forces. They had not chased down the head.
The only thing the Evil Emperor had done was to invade the Heavenly Demon Cult’s headquarters alone and fight against the Heavenly Demon after discovering their connection to the demonic cult that had begun the invasion of the Central Plains.
And there, a person called ‘Saint Monk’, who seed to be the protagonist of the third part of the novel, appeared.
The Saint Monk intervened in the duel between the Evil Emperor and the Heavenly Demon, diated between them, cleared up the Evil Emperor’s misunderstanding, ford a temporary alliance, and then vowed to wage war against the hidden forces, bringing the story to a close.
In other words, the true nature of the hidden forces was scheduled to be revealed only in the third part.
“But I got dragged here after reading only two parts.”
Of course, having read the content and possessing basic martial arts knowledge, there were a few expected identities, but nothing was certain.
However, he wasn’t particularly worried.
At least he knew a few of the conspiracies they would carry out in the future and so of the forces related to them.
Just like the second part’s protagonist, the Evil Emperor, if he stirred up the tail and body, wouldn’t so clues erge?
“The incident of the ‘Grave of the Divine Thief’ should be prevented before it happens if possible. It would also be better to deal with Baekyangmun this ti.”
As he was sorting out matters that were supposed to be revealed or dealt with by the Evil Emperor a few years later, naturally, his thoughts drifted towards the Evil Emperor.
“Should I try to make contact this ti?”
It was a matter of much deliberation. Just as he had postponed his eting with the Heavenly Demon, he wondered if there was a need to make imdiate contact with the Evil Emperor.
The guy was destined to awaken through a certain event, and he was worried that eting him now might interfere with that event.
“Let’s just watch for now.”
In fact, just by his presence in this place, the storyline of the novel was slightly deviating.
Originally, Shaolin was not supposed to participate in this martial arts tournant.
There was only a ntion that a great monk of Shaolin had passed away, leading Shaolin to prohibit all external activities.
And Mu-jin sohow knew who that great monk supposed to die in the novel was.
“It must have been Grandfather.”
After all, Hyeongwang’s na had never been ntioned in the novel.
While Mu-jin was organizing his thoughts about the future events internally,
First-class disciple Hye-gong, who had suddenly visited the pavilion where the third-class disciples were gathered, delivered a ssage.
“We all have sowhere to go together. It seems we’ve been invited by Mount Hua.”
At Hye-gong’s words, Mu-jin wore a peculiar expression.
“Mount Hua, huh.”
The complicated thoughts about the protagonists felt clearer.
Since the future could change in unpredictable ways, it was best to deal with the certain matters step by step.
Mount Hua was a sect destined to ally with the hidden forces, just like the Jegal family.
* * *
A few of the Shaolin disciples stepped out of Shaolin’s manor.
Not all of the Shaolin disciples were going. Leading the group were Master Hyun-hyeon and the third-class disciples, while the first-class disciple Hye-gong and the second-class disciples remained at the manor.
Shortly after leaving the manor with Master Hyun-hyeon, Mu-jin arrived at the manor of the Mount Hua Sect.
“This is quite a stark contrast, isn’t it?”
The Shaolin manor consisted of only a few modest pavilions with narrow rooms and a single training ground. The only decorations were small wooden Buddha statues in each room.
On the other hand, the manor of the Mount Hua Sect was different right from the walls surrounding it. The appearance of the pavilions visible over the wall was on a whole different level.
“How much have they spent on this?”
Mu-jin thought to himself as he entered the manor.
Though it couldn’t be compared to the headquarters of the Cheonryu Sangdan, the inside of the manor was still quite grand.
“The late-stage disciples are currently gathered here. Master, please follow .”
At the explanation from the first-class disciple of the Mount Hua Sect who was guiding the Shaolin disciples, Master Hyun-hyeon turned to look at the Muja faction.
“You all stay here and pass the ti.”
“Yes, Grandmaster.”
Mu-jin replied on behalf of the group and headed to the room indicated by the first-class disciple of the Mount Hua Sect.
Entering the room with the Muja faction, Mu-jin glanced at those already inside.
“Mount Hua, Wudang, and even Ei?”
He could recognize them just by their attire. He had seen the Wudang robes before, and the Ei Sect mbers were nuns. The Mount Hua Sect disciples wore robes similar to the Wudang robes but with embroidered plum blossoms.
“Are more coming, or did Mount Hua only invite these three sects?”
While Mu-jin was pondering this, the disciples from Qing Shui Hall and Wudang warmly greeted Mu-jin’s group.
“Mu-jin Do-wu! It’s been a while!”
Mu-jin smiled as he looked at the leading disciple of Qing Shui Hall who was greeting him.
“He’s like a little puppy.”
He almost reached out to pat his head without realizing it.
“It’s been a while, Qing Shui Dojang. Have you been training diligently?”
“Hahaha, of course, what else would I be doing?”
Saying so, Qing Shui Dojang proudly rolled up his sleeve to show off his muscles.
“Well, the toothpick has developed into a chopstick.”
Though still scrawny, he had certainly beco much stronger compared to a year and a half ago.
Not only Qing Shui Dojang, but the other Wudang disciples also exchanged greetings with Mu-yul, Mu-gung, and Mu-gyeong.
Those three had also visited Wudang before, so they were already acquainted.
As the Shaolin disciples and Wudang disciples were catching up, a voice suddenly interrupted from the back.
“Qing Shui Dojang, isn’t it ti to introduce us as well?”
The person who spoke was a young swordsman of the Mount Hua Sect.
“Oh my, I was so happy to see the Shaolin folks that I completely forgot. Hahaha.”
As Cheong-su Dojang laughed brightly and spoke, the swordsman responded in kind.
“Hahaha. Cheong-su Dojang is always like that. How did you manage to earn the nickna ‘Wudang Sword Dragon’ while being so forgetful? It’s truly a mystery.”
At the words of the Hwasan sect swordsman, Mu-jin’s lips curled up slightly.
‘What do we have here?’
Though the Hwasan swordsman spoke lightly, there was a hint of sarcasm mixed in.
‘Jealousy is practically dripping from his eyes.’
Mu-jin, who had grown accustod to the petty politics of martial arts sects, imdiately recognized the underlying hostility, though the other disciples, who spent most of their ti training in the mountains, seed oblivious.
Cheong-su Dojang, seemingly unaware of the underlying tone, simply laughed cheerfully in response.
“Hahaha. Indeed, I get so absorbed in thinking about the sword that I can’t rember much else.”
Though spoken brightly, the words were a hidden dagger.
Depending on interpretation, it could be taken as a suggestion to focus on swordsmanship rather than trivial matters.
As expected, the face of the Hwasan swordsman contorted briefly with jealousy and inferiority.
“Pfft.”
Mu-jin, finding the expression amusing, couldn’t help but laugh.
Annoyed by the laughter, the Hwasan swordsman turned to Mu-jin with a feigned smile.
“What’s so amusing? Care to share the joke? It would be nice to laugh together.”
“I just find Cheong-su Dojang’s words very characteristic of him, that’s all.”
Mu-jin replied with a subtle smirk. It was a delicate expression that could be taken as either a genuine smile or a sneer.
Naturally, the Hwasan swordsman’s smiling face stiffened slightly.
“Is that so? Ah, co to think of it, we haven’t introduced ourselves properly. I am Hong So-il, recently nicknad the ‘New Dragon of Hwasan.’”
Upon Hong So-il’s introduction, Mu-jin thought to himself.
‘Who is this nobody?’
No matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t recall seeing that na in the novel.
Despite being a late-stage disciple from a sect ant to serve as a pawn for the dark forces, he was a complete unknown.
‘Should I approach him like I did with Jegal Jin-hee or Ryu Seol-hwa?’
He entertained the thought briefly.
Mu-jin quickly realized it was pointless.
Before participating in the martial arts tournant, Mu-jin had gathered information about the various sects.
He knew that the nas of the current Hwasan sect leaders matched those in the novel.
Unlike the Cheonryu Sangdan, which had a new leader, or the Jegal family, whose head had changed, the Hwasan sect’s leaders had originally allied with the dark forces themselves.
Having reached that conclusion, Mu-jin, hiding his true thoughts, spoke lightly with a smile.
“Nice to et you. I am Mu-jin, a third-generation disciple of Shaolin.”
“Your Dharma na is Mu-jin. It seems this is your first ti in the martial world, judging by the unfamiliar na.”
The fact that a nobody was calling him a nobody made a vein pop on Mu-jin’s forehead.
“Hahaha. Well, as long as you fight strong opponents, your na will naturally beco known. For instance, against soone like the ‘New Dragon of Hwasan.’”
“Hahaha. I look forward to it. Let’s et at the Yongbong Gathering. You better not be eliminated before then, Mu-jin.”
“I will pray to Buddha that you don’t get eliminated, Hong So-il.”
Offering Hong So-il a courteous smile, Mu-jin thought.
‘Good. I had planned to win the Yongbong Gathering anyway.’
Mu-jin’s participation in the martial arts tournant wasn’t to et the protagonist of the second part of the novel. He was actually worried that such a eting might complicate things.
He entered the Yongbong Gathering for the winning prize, which was connected to the dark forces.
“Hahaha. I hope we can et there.”
If he was going to win, he might as well crush the future enemy seedlings of the Hwasan sect along the way.
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