"Yuhwa. What does that mean?"
Baek Yoonjun thought he had misheard something.
"The Heavenly Demon kidnapped me."
But he hadn't misheard.
'Sowol, that brat, not only has eighth-grade syndrome but she also kidnapped her own junior sister? Why on earth?!'
Baek Yoonjun was horrified.
The atrocities of the first disciple he had raised.
It was something he couldn't listen to with a sane mind.
But to Baek Yoonjun, both Baek Sowol and Tang Yuhwa were precious disciples.
Therefore.
'Calm. Let's be calm. Sowol might have had her reasons, right?'
Baek Yoonjun barely managed to keep his sanity.
Having composed himself to some extent, Baek Yoonjun asked.
"Why on earth did Sowol kidnap you?"
"She asked me to teach the doctors at her place medicine."
"Huh?"
Baek Yoonjun almost lost his mind again.
'How on earth can wanting to learn medicine and kidnapping exist at the same time?'
Baek Yoonjun frantically racked his brain.
And the inference that came out was.
'Could it be that Sowol's eighth-grade syndrome symptoms got stronger, and kidnapping seemed cooler than asking, so she just did it?'
Like a master of digging himself into a hole with his imagination, Baek Yoonjun added a grand shovelful to his conclusion.
Watching such a Baek Yoonjun, Tang Yuhwa let out a shallow sigh and continued.
"She said it would be troublesome if the location of her place was revealed because she has many people under her."
"Oh, is that so? Is that it?"
Baek Yoonjun was relieved that it wasn't a case of kidnapping due to the worsening of eighth-grade syndrome.
It was truly a mind as fickle as a reed, befitting a homebody introvert.
"And I also saw a Jiangshi."
"A Jiangshi?"
"Yes. I also looked for a cure for it in my own way. And among Baek Sowol's group, there were also humans who were yet to become Jiangshi."
"What?"
Tang Yuhwa recounted the story she had heard from Baek Sowol.
"So in that process, I found out that the same bug is in the hearts of the Jiangshi and the members of the Heavenly Demon's group whose emotions have weakened."
While talking, Tang Yuhwa rummaged through her clothes, took out a small bottle, and placed it on the table.
"This is it."
Inside the bottle, a bug that resembled a silkworm but had numerous legs like a centipede was wriggling bizarrely.
Baek Yoonjun frowned at the sight of it.
'What is this disgusting bug again? Why is something like this popping out while talking about Sowol?'
Baek Yoonjun's mind became complicated.
He had no idea where to even begin pointing things out.
Near such a Baek Yoonjun, Zhang Sanfeng, who had been silently listening to Tang Yuhwa's story, quietly opened his mouth.
"This is a big problem. Doesn't that mean those Jiangshi might not have ended with just that one time?"
At Zhang Sanfeng's serious words, Baek Yoonjun also quietly nodded his head.
He didn't know about other things, but the thought of that horribly-looking bug parasitizing the heart was enough to make Baek Yoonjun shudder.
'Ugh, disgusting.'
While Baek Yoonjun was frowning at the disgusting bug, Zhang Sanfeng, who was nearby, was also looking at the bug with a serious eye.
'The black-clothed martial artists who attacked Diancang also acted as if their vitality was very faint and their emotions were weak. Not only that, but they also felt similar to the Jiangshi I met before. Could it be that they were beings implanted with the same bug as the humans the Divine Doctor of Sichuan mentioned?'
The black-clothed martial artists who had attacked Diancang when Zhang Sanfeng was staying there.
Zhang Sanfeng and Hyunjun Hyun had barely managed to block those martial artists and evacuate the martial artists of Diancang.
Not only were they strong, but the actions of the black-clothed martial artists lacked something human.
'No, unless I confirm it directly, it's just a prediction.'
Zhang Sanfeng put his prediction aside for a moment, and just in time, Tang Yuhwa continued to speak.
"The Jiangshi are indeed the undead. I think I'll know how they move after more research. First, I'll talk about the characteristics of the martial artists implanted with the bug."
Tang Yuhwa, whose throat was dry from talking for a long time, took a sip of alcohol and started talking again.
"The martial artists implanted with the bug have their emotions weakened and absolutely obey the orders of specific individuals. And their martial arts skills increase in an instant."
"Hah... my goodness..."
At Tang Yuhwa's words, Baek Yoonjun let out a sigh.
'What? Their martial arts skills increase in an instant?'
The part about martial arts skills increasing in an instant bothered Baek Yoonjun greatly, and he frowned.
'How much I suffered to reach the third-rate! Not to mention the second-rate!!'
Baek Yoonjun had splendidly awakened his boomer power.
'Young people these days don't even try, tsk! That's why there are so many third-rate and below!!'
Next to Baek Yoonjun, who was diligently immersed in boomer-like thoughts, Zhang Sanfeng accepted Tang Yuhwa's words with a serious face.
"If it has the effect of easily raising the level of martial arts, there might be many martial artists who want it even if there are side effects."
At Zhang Sanfeng's serious words, Tang Yuhwa nodded her head.
"That might be so... sir."
Tang Yuhwa realized she was talking to Zhang Sanfeng as she did to Baek Yoonjun and quickly corrected her speech.
But perhaps because Baek Yoonjun was next to her, a normal way of speaking did not come out easily.
"I have actually seen something that gives a similar feeling... sir."
"Who is it?"
At Zhang Sanfeng's question, Tang Yuhwa looked at him intently.
"Didn't you fight him... sir?"
"Fought? Don't tell me?"
"That 'don't tell me' is probably right... sir."
"My fath... the Alliance Leader?!"
Zhang Sanfeng recalled the scene from that time.
There was definitely something strange.
Even though he had suffered a fatal wound from Hyunjun Hyun, the wound healed in an instant.
The level of his martial arts was also on a different dimension than before.
Although he had forgotten for a moment because of the presence of the artifact that suppressed internal energy, Namgung Jehyun was clearly strange.
But.
"I didn't feel that the Alliance Leader's emotions were weak. Rather, they seemed to have become more intense."
"I don't know about that part... sir."
At Tang Yuhwa's answer, Zhang Sanfeng fell into serious thought.
And Tang Yuhwa.
'I can't speak properly because of Master!'
She glared at Baek Yoonjun for no reason.
Feeling that gaze, Baek Yoonjun flinched slightly.
"What's wrong?"
"I can't speak normally because of you, Master."
"Why is that my fault?"
"Because in front of you, Master..."
Tang Yuhwa, who was speaking, shut her mouth.
She looked the same as usual, but from Baek Yoonjun's perspective, she seemed subtly angry.
'What's with her again? Is she angry about something? The way she talks? Is the way she talks the problem?'
Baek Yoonjun sweated coldly inside.
He didn't know what it was, but since it seemed to be a problem with her speech, Baek Yoonjun quietly looked at Tang Yuhwa and Zhang Sanfeng's faces and opened his mouth.
"Brother Zhang is not the type to care about formalities, so you can speak comfortably."
"You can speak comfortably. As Brother Baek said, I'm not the type to care about such things."
Fortunately, Zhang Sanfeng naturally accepted Baek Yoonjun's words.
Baek Yoonjun sent a grateful gaze to Zhang Sanfeng, but it seemed he didn't notice the gaze.
"I will. Then, Great Hero Zhang, please speak informally too."
"Alright."
Although they agreed on the manner of speech, no conversation followed.
Zhang Sanfeng had a lot to think about, Baek Yoonjun was watching Tang Yuhwa's face, and Tang Yuhwa.
'That man.'
She was quietly thinking about Namgung Jehyun.
'He wasn't a Jiangshi. But can you call that a person?'
The Namgung Jehyun that Tang Yuhwa saw was a little different from what others saw.
Tang Yuhwa knew about the bug that turns people into Jiangshi from her previous experience, and through repeated experiences at Mount Tian, she could feel its presence with just her senses.
Namgung Jehyun, as observed through that sense, was clearly different from the existence of a person that Tang Yuhwa knew.
'His heart had become the bug itself, and his body's recovery was abnormally fast.'
She thought and thought, but no matter how she looked at it, he was an existence that had deviated from being a person.
That's why Tang Yuhwa was able to use extreme poison on Namgung Jehyun without hesitation.
'But I hesitated.'
But she didn't use it properly.
The hesitation in her fingertips created a subtle error, and she failed to execute what she had aimed for.
'Although I don't know if I would have hit it even if I had done it properly.'
Tang Yuhwa was still in internal conflict.
Whether to see that thing as a person.
And so, as they were silently drinking alcohol without a word.
Creak.
The door of the inn opened.
"Immortal, you were here."
Gu Wolju stepped into the inn.
"Elder Blacksmith?"
Baek Yoonjun secretly welcomed Gu Wolju.
'Phew, I can finally breathe a little.'
It was because he found it hard to adapt to the serious atmosphere, but he couldn't leave first due to the mood, so he was in a situation where he could do neither this nor that.
Gu Wolju, upon finding Baek Yoonjun, immediately approached him, took out a box from his bosom, and respectfully placed it in front of Baek Yoonjun.
"Please accept this."
"This is?"
Baek Yoonjun carefully lifted the palm-sized box and opened it.
Inside was a seal with a black dragon wrapped around the handle.
The seal, which was very delicately and luxuriously carved, even resembled an imperial seal.
"It is called the Black Dragon Seal."
For now, its appearance was quite to Baek Yoonjun's liking.
He liked it even more because it was the same color as the Black Iron Dark Night, making them look like a pair.
But liking it was one thing, and a question was another.
"Why are you giving this to me?"
"Well, since you are the representative of the alliance, I thought you should own at least one, so I made it."
At the word 'representative', Baek Yoonjun examined the Black Dragon Seal with a sour feeling.
Even though the handle was shaped like a black dragon wrapping around it, it was comfortable to hold, and the square seal part below.
"Alliance Leader? If you carelessly carve something like this, won't the Martial Alliance say something?"
Baek Yoonjun was scared.
He had already beaten up the Alliance Leader, so he was anxious about when a master of the Martial Alliance, first-rate or higher, would attack him.
In the midst of that, receiving a seal engraved with 'Alliance Leader', Baek Yoonjun's inner self could not help but shrink even more.
But it seemed others were not.
"Ha, let them talk as they please."
Gu Wolju let out a sigh filled with conviction.
Due to Baek Yoonjun's homebody introvert nature, he couldn't refute a strong tone, so he could only shut his mouth at that sigh.
"To be honest, I also think that the word 'Alliance Leader' itself suits Brother Baek, as Leader Gu said. No, I believe it is right for you to become the Alliance Leader, not just of the our alliance, but including the Martial Alliance."
The quiet Zhang Sanfeng not only agreed with Gu Wolju's words but also took it a step further.
Although Baek Yoonjun was very uncomfortable with those words, as expected of his homebody introvert nature, he could not refute them.
And so, Baek Yoonjun quietly, yet pitifully, sent a look for help to Tang Yuhwa.
"I also think it's right for Master to stand at the pinnacle of everything."
But Tang Yuhwa completely betrayed Baek Yoonjun's expectations.
'Yuhwa, you too!!'
Baek Yoonjun screamed internally but, as expected, could not say it out loud.
He just quietly put the gifted Black Dragon Seal into his bosom.
"Since I've received it, I will use it well."
"It is an honor that you have accepted it!"
When Baek Yoonjun received the Black Dragon Seal, Gu Wolju was as happy as if he had received a gift himself and politely performed a fist-and-palm salute.
"Since the Black Iron Dark Night became a divine object by staying in the Immortal's hand, I believe the Black Dragon Seal will also become a divine object soon."
At Gu Wolju's expectant tone, which even contained a hint of madness, Baek Yoonjun could only be dumbfounded inside.
'What divine object. It's just a well-made and sturdy sword.'
At that time, the Black Iron Dark Night at his waist quietly hummed and vibrated slightly, but Baek Yoonjun just thought it was his imagination.
Baek Yoonjun's mind just wanted to get out of this place quickly and be cooped up in a room corner.
But since the number of people had increased and all eyes were on Baek Yoonjun, it was hard for him to leave due to his nature.
And so, as Baek Yoonjun was unable to do either this or that and was just sipping his drink.
"You are all gathered here. What were you great heroes talking about?"
The Divine Monk's disciple, Hyejin, led his large frame and approached the table where Baek Yoonjun was.
Baek Yoonjun wanted to ask him for help, but he couldn't think of anything to say.
Before that, Zhang Sanfeng was already talking to him.
"We were talking about whether it would be beneficial to the world if Brother Baek ascended to the position of Alliance Leader."
"Hoh. Isn't that a matter of course? The White Robed Sword Immortal is a person who suits the highest position more than anyone else."
Hyejin took a seat at the table where Zhang Sanfeng was, naturally filled a glass with alcohol, and was bringing it to his mouth.
Watching that scene, Baek Yoonjun was just dumbfounded.
'Aren't you a monk? Why are you drinking alcohol so casually?!'
Baek Yoonjun prayed in his heart for this gathering to end quickly and for no more people to join.
Naturally, Baek Yoonjun's desperate prayer was not answered.
(End of Chapter)
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