Chapter 25 : What's the Difference Between Three and Four?
"Heuk!"
Sweat dripped from the forehead of Siu, who was prostrated with both arms outstretched.
"Is it hard?"
At Namgung Muhyeok's question, Siu shook her head vigorously.
"No... not at all!"
Although she said this, Siu's two arms, which had been prostrated for half a shichen already, were trembling like an aspen tree.
Siu looked at Jin Sohyun with a gaze that begged for salvation, but he was unmoving.
'Serves you right, you brat.'
Jin Sohyun, who had a lot of resentment built up against Siu, decided to punish her on this occasion.
That punishment was to ignore her.
Ignoring Siu, who occasionally let out a groan of pain, Jin Sohyun's gaze was fixed on Namgung Muhyeok.
"What did you want to say?"
For the half a shichen that Siu was being punished, Namgung Muhyeok said nothing.
Thanks to that, Jin Sohyun also said nothing and just sipped his tea and chewed on the refreshments.
"I heard you learned martial arts from the Flying Sword Hero."
"Yes."
"I don't know how to beat around the bush. So I'll ask you directly."
Namgung Muhyeok, who was about to continue speaking, gestured lightly.
Then, the body of Siu, who had been prostrated, floated up and then stood in place.
"Oh?"
Siu, who had stood up regardless of her own will, looked at Namgung Muhyeok with a surprised face.
"You may leave now."
"Y-Yes! Thank you!"
Siu bowed her waist like a sickle, expressed her gratitude, and left.
Namgung Muhyeok then spread his qi in all directions and said.
"Now our conversation will not leak outside."
"Wow... you can do this too?"
"Haha! Shall I teach you?"
"No."
Jin Sohyun shook his head with a serious face.
"Others are dying to learn anything from me... but your face looks like it's a hassle just to face me."
"I have no intention of learning any more martial arts. It's useless, too."
"Hahahaha!"
Namgung Muhyeok found this lazy bum very interesting.
"Then I'll continue with my question. A few days ago, I heard you were attacked by assassins on your way here."
"Yes, that's right."
"Normally, all the escorts would have died on the spot, and Gongsun Su's grandson, Gongsun Cheong, was also fated to die."
"Is that so?"
Jin Sohyun couldn't understand.
Of course, the assassins' attacks were very threatening, but their skills were no different from low-level practitioners by Jin Sohyun's standards.
Looking at Jin Sohyun's puzzled expression, Namgung Muhyeok found it hard to hold back his laughter.
He laughed a few more times and then asked again.
"Was it... you who blew away the assassin's arm?"
"..."
At Namgung Muhyeok's question, Jin Sohyun was silent.
'Did he find out?'
Jin Sohyun did not want to reveal that he could use martial arts as much as possible.
The first reason was because of the advice of his masters, including Kang Cheon, and the second reason was simply because it was a hassle.
Just performing martial arts required a lot of attention, so his head was complicated.
For Jin Sohyun, who needed a lot of determination just to move a single finger, martial arts were a lump of hassle.
"Well... I was trembling in the carriage at that time, so I don't know anything."
"Hoo? You were trembling, you say? Because you were afraid of the assassins?"
"Yes, that's right."
Jin Sohyun's figure, who had finished his answer by nodding, disappeared in an instant.
Thump!
Following that, the chair he had been sitting on was shattered.
"Ugh! What are you doing!?"
"It was a fist strike imbued with my two-tenths of internal energy. It was an attack delivered without any intention of going easy on you. You can see it as a surprise attack."
"So! Why are you doing this?"
"Why am I doing this? Hahaha! Because you dodged my attack."
"Then I should dodge it, should I take it?"
"That's what's strange."
Namgung Muhyeok, who had gotten up from his seat, raised his momentum and stared straight at Jin Sohyun.
Namgung Muhyeok's pupils were dyed with a golden color.
He glared at Jin Sohyun with his Dragon's Scolding Eyes and said.
"There are not many in the Central Plains who can dodge my surprise attack. And yet, you dodged my attack."
"That's because you were trying to kill me, Family Head!"
Namgung Muhyeok appeared right in front of Jin Sohyun.
"Then you should have died."
Once again, a rough hand reached out, aiming for Jin Sohyun's collar.
Its speed was so fast that Jin Sohyun had to move his body with all his might.
Pababat—!!
The figures of the two moved chaotically in a limited space.
Namgung Muhyeok chased, and Jin Sohyun fled.
The chase became more and more intense as time went on.
'Has this mister gone senile!?'
Jin Sohyun performed Bieunggaek's Number One Divine Wind Shadowless Divine Steps and stepped on the footwork.
At the same time, he rolled his eyes here and there, looking for a place to hide.
'There it is!'
Jin Sohyun performed the Shadow Hiding Flowing Body, the stealth technique of the Number One Divine Wind Shadowless Divine Steps, and melted into the darkness, and then he climbed up the wall and stuck to the ceiling.
Namgung Muhyeok, who had lost Jin Sohyun in front of his eyes, even felt a sense of absurdity.
"A brat who learned Kang Cheon's martial arts... is even performing a stealth technique that has reached its peak!"
He had just wanted to see what level Jin Sohyun was hiding.
It wouldn't have mattered if he hadn't dodged the first fist strike.
After all, what Namgung Muhyeok wanted to confirm was whether he had perceived his attack or not.
But Jin Sohyun had not just perceived it, but had even dodged it.
And now he had disappeared in front of him.
"A stealth and concealment that has reached its peak... it means you have a second master."
There was no answer, but Namgung Muhyeok knew that Jin Sohyun was still hiding here.
"That's enough."
Namgung Muhyeok said with his two hands hanging down.
"Child. I am not your master, but I will give you a lesson. Do you know how to deal with a concealed enemy?"
Kugugugung—!!
A huge amount of qi began to flow from Namgung Muhyeok's figure, and then it overflowed.
Finally, his energy surged and filled the room.
'This is a bit dangerous.'
Jin Sohyun, who was stuck flat on the ceiling, seemed to know what Namgung Muhyeok was trying to do.
'He's probably trying to make me move.'
He also knew well how to deal with a concealed enemy.
It was...
"To make it so that they have no choice but to move."
As the condensed qi was released at once and pressed in all directions, Jin Sohyun, who was stuck to the ceiling, fell.
"Kkeueueung—!!"
Jin Sohyun, who was sprawled out like a cockroach that had been stepped on, slowly got up.
"How is it?"
"How is it? I feel like I'm going to die from nausea."
"Hahahaha! Jin Sohyun."
"Yes?"
Namgung Muhyeok, who had come right up to Jin Sohyun, extended his hand.
At the sudden request for a handshake, Jin Sohyun clasped his hand without any thought.
'What is it? Does it mean it was a good match?'
He didn't know if this could be called a match, but since it was a contest of martial arts, just like what Bieunggaek had done, it seemed it could be called a match.
"Become my disciple."
"..."
Jin Sohyun blinked, not understanding the meaning of his words.
No.
Jin Sohyun had heard his words with his ears, but his head had refused to understand and had just let them flow by.
Looking at Jin Sohyun's blank expression, Namgung Muhyeok said once more.
"In the Namgung Family, we sometimes take in disciples from the outside. It is not wrong."
"I refuse."
Jin Sohyun was firm.
He was sick and tired of martial arts, and now he was being told to become someone's disciple again?
He had just become a free man, and he could not repeat the same thing.
"I refuse too."
"What?"
"You said you refuse? I refuse too."
"Why is the Family Head of a family pestering a brat like me?"
"A brat like you? Hahahaha! You've made me laugh several times today."
"In my one and only life, three masters are enough. So I will be on my way..."
Jin Sohyun tried to pull his hand away from Namgung Muhyeok, but his hand wouldn't come out, as if it were caught in a rebar shaped like a hand.
"Ugh! Hyap! Heup!!"
He failed even though he twisted his whole body to pull his hand out.
"You had three masters?"
"Yes! So please let me go!"
"What's the difference between three and four! Considering the future of the Jin Family, it wouldn't be a bad proposal for you."
As he had said, if Jin Sohyun became a martial artist belonging to the Namgung Family, and on top of that, the disciple of the Family Head, Namgung Muhyeok, it would be no different from the Jin Family obtaining a thousand troops and ten thousand horses.
But such things were not important to Jin Sohyun.
"I refuse."
"I refuse too."
Jin Sohyun suddenly realized that Namgung Muhyeok's pupils were crazed.
'Th-This gaze...!'
It was the same gaze Kang Cheon had when he said he would make him his disciple.
The gaze of a hunter who has found the best prey.
Jin Sohyun realized that it would be more dangerous if he delayed any longer here and stomped his feet.
The blood flow in his whole body moved quickly, his blood vessels swelled, and his heart beat several times faster.
Following that, Jin Sohyun's un-grabbed left hand pushed away Namgung Muhyeok's hand.
Pabat—!
"Hmm!?"
Namgung Muhyeok reached out to Jin Sohyun, who had instantly shaken off his hand and was running away.
He did not hold back in his hand.
He tried to catch Jin Sohyun with all his might.
But Namgung Muhyeok's hand swiped at the empty air.
'Did I miss?'
In a fleeting moment, Jin Sohyun, who had surpassed Namgung Muhyeok's speed, ran out of the room.
Namgung Muhyeok, who was staring blankly at his empty hand that had not even caught a corner of his clothes, stared at the open door with a hardened face.
***
The realm of the Shadowless Body.
Jin Sohyun, who had run away by performing the realm of the Shadowless Body, which Bieunggaek had told him to never use unless absolutely necessary, found Siu, who was far away.
"Heok— Heok—! Siu!"
"Y-Young Master!?"
Siu was startled by the red face of Jin Sohyun, who had appeared, sweating like rain.
"Are you alright?"
"We have to... run away... from the Namgung Family..."
Jin Sohyun collapsed with a thud without being able to finish his words.
"It seems it's still incomplete."
Following that, as Namgung Muhyeok appeared with his hands behind his back, Siu, who was checking on Jin Sohyun, realized that he was no longer breathing and shouted with a pale face.
"The Family Head of the Namgung Family has killed the eldest son of the Jin Family!"
At her shout, Namgung Muhyeok frowned.
"What..."
"Th-The Young Master is not breathing! Y-You did this, didn't you!"
Siu rushed at Namgung Muhyeok, pouring out all her tears and snot, and swung her fists.
Of course, there was no power in the weak punches of a child.
"Bring back our Young Master! You rotten Namgung bastard!"
Namgung Muhyeok, who felt the servants and martial artists of the Namgung Family approaching after hearing the commotion, had no choice but to press Siu's fainting point to make her faint and then placed his hand on the collapsed Jin Sohyun's acupoints.
'His heart has stopped... it must be because he pushed his physical abilities too hard.'
Just as he was about to press the acupoints to make the stopped heart beat again, Jin Sohyun's heart began to beat again.
At that sight, Namgung Muhyeok once again laughed heartily.
"As expected, you are an interesting fellow."
Namgung Muhyeok, who had slung Jin Sohyun and Siu over his shoulders, threw his body.
Soon after, the people of the Namgung Family, who had come running late after hearing the commotion, looked around with bewildered expressions.
"I think I heard a sound?"
***
"You failed to kill Gongsun Cheong?"
"That's right."
"The reason?"
Mu Yu asked for the reason and at the same time checked the assassin's right arm.
What should have been there was not there.
"What happened to your right arm?"
"There was another master there besides Gongsun Su. He attacked the assassins using Coin Throwing, a hidden weapon technique of the Sichuan Tang Clan, and at the very moment I was about to kill Gongsun Cheong... a sword flew in."
At the assassin's answer, Mu Yu's face contorted seriously.
"A sword... flew in?"
(End of Chapter)