Chapter 194
Chapter 194
Silence fell over the inn that had only five people in it. Even Namgung Seojong, who until just moments ago had boldly tried to take Yoon Seojeong away, stared blankly at Youngho in stunned confusion.
In truth, there was no way Namgung Seojong could block Youngho’s Three Moves. Youngho was the Greatest Under Heaven, while Namgung Seojong was merely a Junior Disciple.
And the reason Youngho had brought this up was…
‘Kill him.’
To become the husband of his disciple, one had to at least be capable of blocking his Three Moves. If he could not block them…
‘Then he dies.’
Anyone who coveted a treasure had to pay a price commensurate with it.
If it meant protecting his disciple, getting blood on his hands was nothing.
Youngho asked Namgung Seojong, who was staring at him in a daze.
“Did you say your name was Namgung Seojong? So, what will you do? Will you try to block my Three Moves?”
Youngho removed the purple robe he was wearing and draped it over a chair.
The red robe embroidered with the symbol of martial might that he used in the Unorthodox Alliance had already been thrown away.
If Namdo Cheon found out about that, he would surely wail in grief, but the current Youngho could not care less.
‘Setting the mood once is enough.’
Youngho curled one corner of his mouth upward into a crooked smile.
“Why aren’t you answering? Surely you’re not thinking of running away here…”
Namgung Seojong could not answer Youngho’s question.
The shock was so great that it felt as if his head had been struck with a hammer, making it hard to gather his senses.
‘Was he Lady Yoon Seojeong’s elder brother?!’
Judging by how he mentioned becoming a candidate for son-in-law and how dearly he seemed to cherish Yoon Seojeong, it had to be true.
In a flash, Namgung Seojong ran calculations through his mind.
‘First, I block the Three Moves!’
It was a thought that defied common sense. Yet when examined closely, it was actually a wise judgment.
‘He said if I block the Three Moves, he’ll make me a candidate for son-in-law?’
Rather than a threat, this was an opportunity to become the son-in-law.
…If the opponent were not Youngho.
Namgung Seojong, unaware that Youngho was the Martial God, simply thought:
‘…I can’t feel his presence.’
Which meant that at the very least, he was stronger than himself.
But the person regarded as the most promising talent of the Namgung Clan was none other than himself.
Filled with pride as a member of the Namgung Clan, Namgung Seojong clasped his fists and said,
“Please grant me your instruction.”
At the respectful request, Youngho laughed.
“You’ve got quite the guts. Follow me.”
“Yes.”
Youngho and Namgung Seojong started heading outside the inn. Meanwhile, Yoon Seojeong—who had not finished her meal—thought:
‘No way… There’s no way Master would seriously fight that guy, right?’
She glanced at Youngho’s eyes.
As always, they were gentle and warm.
And within them—
A chilling killing intent.
Seeing that sincere killing intent made Yoon Seojeong’s spine turn cold.
In an instant, she grabbed the purple robe draped over the chair and rushed toward Youngho.
Like a bolt of lightning, she charged at him and seized his wrist. Youngho looked at her as if asking what the matter was.
Instead of answering, Yoon Seojeong smiled brightly at Namgung Seojong and shouted,
“I’m sorry!!”
Apologizing loudly, she grabbed Youngho and immediately ran out of the inn.
Since he offered no resistance, Youngho’s body fluttered around as he was dragged along.
‘Hmm, I feel like a bird.’
It was the first time he had been dragged along by someone while flying through the air, so it felt rather novel.
‘Did she get faster?’
Considering Youngho’s weight, Yoon Seojeong’s current speed made no sense.
Moving ten zhang in the blink of an eye, her movement technique could only be described as having reached the Peak Master Level.
‘It’s about time to increase the intensity of her training.’
Thinking about future training schedules, Youngho spoke.
“But Jeong-ah, how far exactly do you plan on running?”
“I don’t know!”
Youngho chuckled softly at the rare sight of Yoon Seojeong losing her temper.
‘Was she that embarrassed? Well, I did overprotect her a bit, which isn’t like me.’
Yoon Seojeong’s life was something she had to carve out with her own hands.
‘Next time, if he can endure even One Move, I’ll consider him a candidate for son-in-law.’
At that moment, Namgung Seojong’s chances rose to about one percent.
“So seriously, how far are you planning to run? At this rate we might end up outside the frontier.”
By the time Yoon Seojeong finally stopped, one dakyung had already passed.
Youngho stretched his stiff body and looked around.
“We came quite far. We’ve already reached the center of Anhui.”
“Huff! Huff!”
Youngho looked at the exhausted Yoon Seojeong.
“You’re already tired after running for only half a quarter-hour… Your stamina has weakened quite a bit.”
“That’s because Master used the Thousand-Catty Weight Technique!”
“Oh? You noticed?”
“It really felt like I was running while carrying a thousand-catty Master!”
“You exaggerate too much. I adjusted it to about two hundred geun.”
Yoon Seojeong staggered as she expressed her disbelief with her entire body.
Youngho chuckled at her amusing reaction.
“Uncle?”
At that moment, a child’s voice came from beside him.
Looking down, he saw a child staring at him with sparkling eyes.
‘A boy? If he grows up well, he’ll probably make quite a few women cry.’
“Uncle!”
“Hmm?”
Youngho asked the child who was calling him by a strange title.
“Child, did you just call me uncle?”
“Yeah! Uncle! Uncle!”
The boy called him uncle and grinned broadly. Youngho looked around awkwardly.
Leaving Yoon Seojeong smiling happily beside him, he asked the child first,
“Did you get lost?”
“No! My mom’s amazing, she’ll find me quick!”
“Then you don’t need us.”
Youngho smiled and tried to step away.
“Uncle…?”
That was, if tears had not begun to well up in the child’s sparkling eyes.
Seeing the sorrowful tears about to fall, Youngho panicked and sent a desperate look to Yoon Seojeong for help.
Despite reading his urgency, she said firmly,
“You mustn’t make a child cry.”
Just as the boy was about to burst into tears, Youngho quickly said,
“Do you like sweets?!”
“Sweets?”
“No, not the Tang Clan—those people throw dangerous things. I mean sweets.”
“I like sweets!”
Seeing the child speak so cutely, Youngho smiled with the expression of someone who had reached enlightenment.
“Then stay with me until your mother finds you.”
“Okay!”
Youngho and Yoon Seojeong decided to wait in the shade for the child’s mother.
The boy kept looking at Youngho and giggling as he called him “Uncle!”
The child’s laughter warmed the heart just by looking at it, so Youngho also found himself smiling.
After one dakyung passed, the child’s mother finally found her child.
“Alliance Lord?”
Along with her—
The lord he had once fought beside in the past.
Youngho looked back and forth between the woman who called him and the child before smiling faintly.
“No wonder it was so hard to shake him off. He was your child, Chowon.”
Kang Chowon, now the mother of a child, greeted Youngho with a delighted expression.
“If you were coming to Anhui, you could have at least sent word. You surprised me.”
Youngho tilted his head as he looked at the well-mannered Kang Chowon.
“You… who are you?”
“Of course I’m Kang Chowon, your loyal subject, Alliance Lord.”
“The brat I knew wasn’t like this…”
At that moment, restrained yet quiet killing intent shot toward Youngho.
Faced with Kang Chowon’s sincere intent to kill, cold sweat ran down Youngho’s temple.
Kang Chowon laughed gently.
“My child is watching, Alliance Lord.”
Youngho looked at her blankly.
“She really wasn’t like this.”
“…She was pretty.”
“Pretty.”
“Beautiful.”
Uttering elegant words unlike his usual self, Namgung Seojong stared blankly into the air as if enchanted.
Seeing Namgung Seojong looking as if he had fallen lovesick, Namgung Yuseul nudged the person beside him and said,
“He fell for her, didn’t he?”
“How could he not?”
Namgung Seongun pushed Namgung Yuseul away as she discreetly poked at his injury.
“Honestly, I’ve never seen someone that beautiful before.”
“My thoughts exactly. Even the Poison Bee of the Tang Clan wasn’t at that level.”
“That’s why a stone-hearted guy like him moved.”
Namgung Seongun nodded in agreement with Namgung Yuseul.
“He’ll never see her again… I feel sorry for him.”
Watching her brother who had fallen in love, Namgung Yuseul clicked her tongue sympathetically.
“Fate in the Martial World is tenacious. Who knows?”
At the optimistic remark, Namgung Yuseul frowned.
“False hope hurts even more.”
“You can’t ignore possibility.”
“Now that I think about it, you’re the same kind as Namgung Seojong.”
Meanwhile, Namgung Seojong heard none of his siblings bickering beside him.
The only thing in his mind was the beautiful young lady he had met by chance at the inn.
He had followed Namgung Yuseul because she said she would show him a hidden restaurant, but an incredible encounter had been waiting for him.
‘Will I meet her again?’
Meeting a specific person in the vast Central Plains was nearly impossible.
But Namgung Seojong did not think so.
‘We will meet again.’
They were destined to meet again. If necessary, he would search for her himself.
‘Next time, I will defeat your elder brother, Lady Yoon!’
The youth in love made a vow.
And not long after, Namgung Seojong and his group unexpectedly reunited with the person he wanted to meet again.
“In-ah! Just a little more!”
“How long must I keep doing this?”
“Master! Read the room!”
“…Come, my rival.”
Namgung Seojong looked at his cousin confronting Youngho with a solemn expression.
Though only three years old, an aura like that of an emperor flowed from Namgung In’s entire body.
Namgung In, who possessed the spirit and soul of the Namgung family, smiled crookedly.
“Our battlefield is ready.”
Perhaps because he had said this line many times, his pronunciation was unusually clear.
Youngho also spoke with a hardened face.
“Now… we can finally fight.”
Tap!
The moment Youngho finished speaking, Namgung In charged at him like lightning.
Tatadadat!
Tatadadadat!
…Tadadat…!
“Huff! Huff!”
Youngho looked at the panting Namgung In, then sent a voice transmission to Kang Chowon beside him.
—If a child runs twenty zhang at full speed, this is what happens, right?
—What can I do? My son wanted it.
Without even catching his breath, Namgung In pointed his cute wooden sword at Youngho.
“Coward! Expanding space with heretical arts!”
“…So you noticed. As expected of the rival I acknowledged.”
Unable to understand the scene unfolding before him, Namgung Seojong quietly approached Kang Chowon.
“Aunt.”
“You’re here?”
Unable to hide his confusion, Namgung Seojong asked honestly,
“What exactly is happening right now?”
“It’s a play.”
“…What on earth?”
“My child is currently playing the Sword Exalted, fighting the terrifying Heavenly Demon, the lord of Ten Thousand Demons.”
Kang Chowon’s voice carried surprising seriousness.
“Seojong, never interrupt this battle. It will only end when one of them dies.”
“Even so…”
Namgung Seojong looked at Youngho and Namgung In with trembling eyes.
“…Isn’t this not a fight but just one-sided beating?”
“Oh my? What adult gets beaten up by a child?”
Namgung Seojong could not bring himself to say that one seemed to be right here.
He simply stared blankly at the fierce life-and-death battle(?) between the Sword Exalted and the Heavenly Demon.
Thud! Thud!
“In-ah, that place is a man’s precious—”
Thud!
“In-ah, you really mustn’t hit there—”
Thud!
Forget the fierce battle—
Yoon Seojeong’s elder brother was simply getting beaten up.