Rebirth of the Thunder God

'The Black Tortoise Troupe Leader is not a person of the Hoicheon Association?'

Of course, it was a story he had heard from the Hao Faction Head before.

But this time, the situation was different.

Hadn't he even made a special request to the elder of the Beggars' Sect?

And yet, for even the Beggars' Sect to come out like this meant that he had gained that much trust.

Namgung Hui asked the divine beggar with a suspicious look.

"Are you really sure? That the Black Tortoise Troupe Leader is not a spy of the Hoicheon Association."

"Then let me ask you. Where on earth did you hear that the Black Tortoise Troupe Leader is related to the Hoicheon Association? I need to know the source first."

Namgung Hui, since there was no need to hide it anyway, meekly confessed all the facts.

"There was a person from the Hoicheon Association that I captured before, called the Dark Shadow Squad Leader. As a result of interrogating him, he said that his direct superior was the Black Tortoise Troupe Leader, Im Daepung. After that, a restriction was activated and he died, so isn't it a reasonable suspicion?"

"What if he deliberately set a trap and committed suicide?"

"I thought that could be the case, so I asked the elder to investigate. But that's not all I found out."

"What else is there? Let's hear it."

Namgung Hui briefly explained the incident that Jegal Jihye and Heon Wonsu had witnessed.

And the Nine-Fingered Divine Beggar, as if he had understood enough, scratched his chin and nodded.

"Yes. If the child of the Jegal family witnessed it, it would never be a lie. But how can you know if he's a spy with just that?"

"Then, on the contrary, what is the evidence that he is innocent?"

The Nine-Fingered Divine Beggar dug his ear, then suddenly stood up from his seat, looked around, and continued.

"You brat. Don't you dare tell anyone. In fact, the Black Tortoise Troupe Leader is... the illegitimate child of the current Martial Alliance Leader."

"By the current Martial Alliance Leader, you mean the abbot of the Shaolin Temple, Grand Master Gwangak, don't you? No. How can a monk have a child..."

Namgung Hui, even as he spoke, was reminded of such cases that had happened in his past life.

Monks who, despite being monks, had secretly given birth to and raised children.

Namgung Hui, inwardly teasing them as 'corrupt monks' and giving them a hard time, had personally respected them, thinking that it wasn't that bad.

But there was no way the Shaolin Temple, and by extension, the Central Plains martial world, would look upon this favorably.

Hadn't even the sect leader of the Mount Hua Sect, Yong Ujin, thoroughly hidden the existence of his son?

And that was even though marriage was not forbidden in the Mount Hua Sect.

That's how much the Taoist and Buddhist sects had a strong religious color, and the public wanted them to be separate from the secular world.

Especially if it was the Shaolin Temple, the standard would be so high that it couldn't be expressed in words.

'If he's the son of the abbot of the Shaolin Temple, it's not strange at all that they blindly believe him. But in my opinion, it's a situation where it's hard to just believe it.'

How the Black Tortoise Troupe Leader had grown up as a child.

If he had been bullied or had lived a harsh life among the people of the orthodox faction, there was no law that said he wouldn't have turned his back on them.

In the first place, to even use the word 'betrayal' was embarrassing, and since he had been abandoned by his parents, he couldn't be called a person of the orthodox faction from the beginning.

"Ahem! A monk can have a child. Does a monk not have a penis? Anyway. Don't you dare tell anyone. If this story leaks out, I'll personally crush your thing."

"So you're saying you believe him just because he's the hidden son of the Alliance Leader?"

"Then who on earth do you believe? It's true that the Black Tortoise Troupe Leader is more trustworthy than the brat in front of me. Should I do a background check on you too?"

Namgung Hui, thinking that the Hao Faction and the Beggars' Sect were all the same, judged that he had to take the lead in this matter.

It would be a good thing to meet the Black Tortoise Troupe Leader in person and make a judgment.

Since he had already been exposed to the Hoicheon Association for a long time.

'And I still haven't heard Yewol's answer. Whether the Black Tortoise Troupe Leader is a person of the Hoicheon Association. Should I stop by the Full Moon Pavilion soon?'

Namgung Hui, although he wasn't going to a brothel for personal reasons, felt a chill all over his body for some reason.

He felt like he absolutely shouldn't, so he decided to move on to another topic for now.

"This much information is worth a bottle of Thunder Ki Liquor. Here, take it."

As Namgung Hui flicked a bottle of Thunder Ki Liquor, the Nine-Fingered Divine Beggar, who had been standing leisurely, hurriedly unfolded his movement technique and snatched the liquor bottle.

"You brat! How can you throw such a precious thing so roughly!"

"Kkik! Kkik! (That's right! If you're going to do that, give it to me!)"

The Nine-Fingered Divine Beggar looked at the suddenly appearing Chichi with interest and continued.

"This child is a spirit beast. It's truly amazing that it can understand human words. As expected, birds of a feather flock together."

"I don't like liquor. Anyway. If you don't have any more information, the rest of the Thunder Ki Liquor will go to this squirrel here."

"Kkik! (Alright!)"

The Nine-Fingered Divine Beggar, as if he still had a card left, this time gave a look to the next sect leader.

Then the next sect leader, who had just neatly finished the roasted duck, stacked the duck bones into a tower and stood up from his seat.

"Young Hero Namgung. Have you perhaps heard of the Martial World Ranking Record?"

"Martial World Ranking Record? There was such a thing. I've never heard of it."

"Probably so. Since it's difficult to determine the ranking of martial prowess in a peaceful era."

There were many shortcomings in determining the ranking with a simple sparring match.

Even the members of the Sichuan Tang family couldn't fully unfold their ultimate techniques, let alone the poison techniques, in a sparring match.

Not only them, but even martial artists hid their ultimate techniques, didn't they?

Unless it was a battlefield where life and death were at stake, it was impossible to objectively divide the ranking of martial artists.

Even the reason why Lee Jaseong of his past life had become the Thunder God, one of the three martial gods, was all thanks to his performance on the battlefield.

As Namgung Hui was briefly recalling his past life, the next sect leader asked again.

"How about it? Are you interested?"

"Isn't it a matter that any martial artist would be curious about? But with just this, the Thunder Ki Liquor is a little disappointing."

"It will definitely not be so. Unless you meet all the martial artists and witness their martial arts like us, it's practically impossible to create this Martial World Ranking Record."

Come to think of it, he was right.

Unless an individual's martial prowess was witnessed and spread by rumor like in his past life, they would have to sell their feet like the members of the Beggars' Sect and create something called the Martial World Ranking Record.

Information is valued according to its time.

Then, on the contrary, a bottle of Thunder Ki Liquor might be a cheap price to pay.

'Anyway, the information I got before was also quite good. And I'm also interested.'

Namgung Hui's memory of his current life was fainter than others.

Although other people might have heard about who was how strong through rumors, he didn't even have that.

The martial world ranking was not just a matter of interest, but a matter that could affect his future course of action.

If he encountered someone much stronger than the current Namgung Hui, he would be able to determine the direction of his actions based on this ranking record.

"Alright. Let's make a deal. Then I'll give this Thunder Ki Liquor to you, Chwigeola."

"Heh heh. You brat. I was going to share it with the next sect leader anyway. Do you think I'm some kind of thief?"

"Then why are you licking your lips like that? You're going to drool."

"Sigh!"

While the Nine-Fingered Divine Beggar was wiping his drool, the next sect leader took out a rather clean-looking book from his bosom and handed it to Namgung Hui.

"This is the content that the disciples of our Beggars' Sect have written by running around themselves. I'd like to say that no one other than yourself should see it, but since these are facts that may become known in the future, you can share them with your acquaintances."

"I don't have many people to tell anyway. Don't you, a member of the Beggars' Sect, know that better?"

"Hahaha. Still, wouldn't it be more comfortable for me to say it like this? So that the hard work of our Beggars' Sect disciples doesn't go in vain."

"You'll think differently when you taste the Thunder Ki Liquor. On the contrary, you'll probably push the disciples of the Beggars' Sect to find information comparable to the Thunder Ki Liquor in the future."

"Hahaha! A great confidence. But since I have a drinking habit, I'll postpone it for next time."

"You'll regret it if you save it. Don't you let the sect leader take it away?"

"Heh heh. You brat. Even I find it hard to handle the next sect leader's drunken ramblings. It's better to just pass it on to the next opportunity without regret. Then, since our business seems to be over, go and pay the remaining balance."

At the word 'remaining balance', Namgung Hui tilted his head and asked.

"What do you mean by remaining balance? I clearly gave you two bottles of Thunder Ki Liquor. Are you saying that because I gave it to the next sect leader? And yet the Beggars' Sect..."

"Brat. You talk too much. That's not what I'm talking about. I meant to pay the waiter for the food."

"The food price? Didn't I pay for it earlier?"

The Nine-Fingered Divine Beggar showed his missing teeth and smiled slyly.

"You'll know when you go there."

Namgung Hui, unable to contain his curiosity any longer, ran to the inn and looked for the waiter.

No, he didn't need to look for the waiter.

Because he saw a group of beggars appear and carry away several sacks of roasted duck and dozens of bottles of distilled liquor.

"..."

"Ah! Young hero. That will be 50 silver coins in total."

"Still, there's no overcharging like at the brothel. Here's 50 silver coins."

And so, Namgung Hui had the little silver he had left snatched away by the members of the Beggars' Sect.

* * *

Namgung Hui, who had parted with the Nine-Fingered Divine Beggar, chewed on the words he had said at the end.

'I know well that you're chasing after the Hoicheon Association and the Blood Cult. But it's a high probability that it will become a problem if you step forward too much with your youthful vigor.'

'That's a problem I'll take responsibility for, so you don't have to worry. In fact, I'm not scared of those guys at all.'

'Hehe. Your spirit is truly commendable. There should be more children like this in the orthodox faction. Anyway. That's not what I was going to talk about. It was that they're uncomfortable within the orthodox faction. Didn't you just have a conflict with the Hebei Peng family? They might pick a fight with you at every turn. Besides that, there will be plenty of people who want to keep you in check.'

Only then did Namgung Hui understand the Nine-Fingered Divine Beggar's words.

It meant that they would try to interfere with what Namgung Hui was doing out of jealousy.

Of course, this was something he had experienced in his past life.

When attention was focused on one person, someone would naturally be pushed away from the attention.

Then that alienated person would sometimes show jealousy, and that would naturally flow in a bad direction for the person who was monopolizing the attention.

This time too, the Nine-Fingered Divine Beggar seemed to have given advice, worrying about that part.

Namgung Hui couldn't help but let out a self-deprecating laugh.

'I just wanted to live happily with my family, but how did I get involved with the Hoicheon Association and the Blood Cult and suffer like this? And yet, I'm not recognized and only receive jealousy...'

The sense of futility he had felt in his past life grew and grew.

But fortunately, this life was not as lonely as his past life.

Even though his sworn brother, Namgung Cheonhu, was not by his side.

That was something Namgung Hui found hard to explain.

Why he didn't feel lonely now.

It wouldn't be just because he had gained two younger brothers...

At that moment, someone came to Namgung Hui's mind.

'A friend. No. A childhood friend who is more than that. No. This is also a little lacking...'

As he was thinking of someone like that.

Something flew towards Namgung Hui from a dark alley.

(End of Chapter)