Chapter 120 - The Opening (2)

Aaaaugh~~

We're getting into the tournament now, and other authors tell me stories usually go downhill once the tournament arc starts. Ugh.

Heh.

Can I break the tournament curse, I wonder...? sob;;;;

'Ha Seonhyang.'

Dong Bongsu looked up. A cute young woman with her hair braided into two bunches was swooping down toward him, calling his name.

His Super True Qi Field had already detected Ha Seonhyang approaching from overhead, so he was not surprised in the slightest.

The others, however...

"Wh-what the?!"

"Gah!"

The people passing Dong Bongsu were struck by a bolt from the blue. How could they not be startled when a beautiful young woman, rather than rain or snow, suddenly dropped out of a perfectly clear sky?

"I-I'm sorry!"

Central Avenue was already packed to bursting, and now she had squeezed in too...

Apologizing to the person whose head she had accidentally stepped on—whether it was truly an accident depended on one's point of view—Ha Seonhyang landed beside Dong Bongsu, where a little space had opened up.

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."

She bowed repeatedly, apologizing to the people staring at her from every direction.

Was that why?

They soon resumed their journeys. In truth, however, it was not because they had graciously accepted her apology. They had seen the sword slung diagonally across her back.

A sword with a red plum-blossom tassel dangling casually from it.

The Mount Hua Sect.

Everyone knew the prestige of the Nine Great Sects amounted to far more than a free pass to the finals. Mount Hua ranked among the foremost of them. What more needed saying? Mere spectators had no business taking her to task in the first place.

Once she realized most of the stares had shifted away, Ha Seonhyang raised her head and turned to Dong Bongsu.

She froze.

"H-here you are..."

She stumbled over her words. The space created by her landing had already filled in, leaving less than a handspan between them. Simply holding his hand had made her heart feel ready to burst. To have their faces this close was just...

Worse still, as he looked down at her, his long, silky white hair swayed before her eyes, almost brushing her forehead...

"Were you looking for me?"

Just as Ha Seonhyang's heart was pounding fit to burst, Dong Bongsu's indifferent voice split it into two, three pieces.

"..."

She could not say a word.

Saying yes would seem too forward. But if she said no...

She was so afraid that somehow it would make her seem like nothing to this man...

Though she really was nothing to him. Nothing...

As she stood with her head lowered, repeating that to herself, Dong Bongsu spoke again.

"It's too crowded here."

Without the slightest hesitation, he leaped onto the Guest Pavilion's roof, where Ha Seonhyang had been before.

That allowed her to escape her awkward predicament without answering. She thought he had been considerate of her. It was nothing much, really. No, perhaps... it was something? Or wasn't it?

What did it matter?

Even a misunderstanding was nice if it made you happy, wasn't it?

Smiling brightly, she soared up after him onto the roof.

TAP.

Dong Bongsu was already standing with his arms folded in the very spot where he and the Weapon Monster had once looked down over Central Avenue.

Ha Seonhyang landed naturally beside him. She was so short that her forehead only reached his shoulder, but what... what did that matter? She was simply happy.

In fact, she had climbed up here every day for the past several days hoping to see him, but he had never shown so much as the tip of his nose. She had thought he was avoiding her. Even when she had finally worked up the courage to invite him to eat, he had made an excuse and slipped away...

Only today, when the tournament began, had she finally seen him again. To be honest, until she spotted him down below a moment ago, she had even felt angry, wondering why he was avoiding her.

But those feelings had melted away like snow in a single instant.

'What does it matter? I'm standing beside him now, aren't I?'

That was enough.

For her...

Dong Bongsu, meanwhile, merely gazed down at the area around the sparring platform, regardless of what Ha Seonhyang was thinking beside him. Even so, he was reading every change in her.

Dopamine, phenylethylamine, endorphins, and especially oxytocin.

How could he look at the face of a woman secreting abnormally excessive quantities of love hormones and fail to notice those changes?

Learning was the ultimate detector and manipulator of emotion.

Dong Bongsu had already studied hormones and knew their effects and responses very well. Thus, he knew better than anyone in the Central Plains how to heighten her emotions to their utmost in this situation.

He need only remain still like this.

For Dong Bongsu, right now,

that was enough.

Time passed as the two silently watched the area below the sparring platform. Dong Bongsu waited for the madmen's cheers and fervor to erupt, while Ha Seonhyang hoped for his attention.

The sun climbed steadily until, at last, it stood high overhead.

"What's taking so long? Get started already!"

"Let's get this underway!"

As the tournament's opening approached, discontent swelled through the crowd until it was on the verge of erupting.

Then.

FLAP-FLAP-FLAP.

With the flutter of clothing in the wind, someone soared onto the sparring platform.

Her bluish skirt billowed like a cloud below her waist, her luxuriant hair streaming behind her. She was so beautiful she might have been an immortal maiden. Sailing effortlessly through more than twenty jang of air, she alighted on the platform as softly as a falling leaf. Her movement technique was splendid enough to draw involuntary cries of admiration.

"Wooooow!"

"It's the Fairy of the Murim!"

Namgung Hye. It was none other than her.

Her sudden appearance instantly set the crowd ablaze. It was not merely because of her beauty or her movement technique.

Namgung Hye was one of the Murim Alliance's strategists. Her presence on the platform could only mean the tournament was about to begin.

"It looks as though they're finally starting."

Ha Seonhyang spoke with an expectant expression.

"So it seems."

Dong Bongsu answered her lightly. His gaze was already fixed on Namgung Hye, who had landed at the edge of the platform and was walking gracefully toward its center.

She soon reached the middle, where her entire figure was easily visible from anywhere nearby. Sweeping her gaze over the martial heroes filling Central Avenue, she began to speak slowly.

"First, on behalf of the Alliance Leader, I offer my heartfelt thanks to the heroes of the world and our fellow martial artists who have taken time from their many public and private commitments to visit our Alliance."

Lifting her pale-blue skirt slightly, Namgung Hye dipped her head in a light bow to each of the four directions.

"Wow..."

"Oh...!"

The brief glimpse of her ankles and anklebones drew admiring cries from the men. Few could tell whether it was deliberate, but male instinct naturally elicited such a response. A beautiful flower monopolized every bee's gaze and affection, after all.

Someone gulped audibly, and the cheers subsided as though they had been waiting for that very sound. Namgung Hye's mild provocation had not only captured everyone's attention, but silenced the clamor as well.

At last, Central Avenue was quiet.

She straightened and spoke again.

"Before the All-Under-Heaven Youth Sparring Tournament opens, I shall explain its purpose. This tournament differs from others that merely compare martial prowess to select a champion. The Taoist Sage of Heaven, our Murim Alliance Leader, proclaimed this tournament throughout the world to realize the great cause of saving Murim from its present crisis. In particular, our venerable martial elders agreed that we must actively discover and nurture new talent to ensure peace in Murim for hundreds, even thousands of years to come. Thus, we have opened this tournament to young heroes aged thirty and under. Furthermore!"

She paused, turned to face another direction, and continued.

"Every young expert who advances to the finals will qualify to join the Young Rising Stars Corps, a new martial force to be established by the Murim Alliance Leader. In addition, all will receive intensive martial arts instruction from Great Master Seungchan."

Membership in the Young Rising Stars Corps, and intensive martial arts instruction from Great Master Seungchan!

At these tremendous rewards, thunderous cheers erupted from the crowd once more.

"The Young Rising Stars Corps will lead Murim into the future!"

"The next greatest master under heaven is sure to be one of the young experts who joins!"

"Wow! Great Master Seungchan!"

"They'll receive instruction from the greatest master in Murim?!"

"The Staff God himself has come down from Mount Song again!"

The cheers began in one corner, then spread in every direction. Soon, thousands of martial heroes were shouting together, and the din seemed ready to burst Central Avenue apart. Cheers could even be heard from beyond Martial Harmony Gate and from the inner compound up ahead. Though there was no way to know for certain, other strategists must have mounted those platforms to make announcements to the same effect as Namgung Hye's.

Seungchan, the Staff God.

One of the Two Gods, alongside the Divine Demon of the Tianshan Mountains, master of the Heavenly Demon Castle.

The junior martial brother of Shaolin's current abbot, an invincible supreme master who had never suffered a single defeat since entering Murim!

And above all,

Great Master Seungchan was the master of Kinnara Hall.

Long ago, when the Heavenly Demon and the Extreme Yin Cursed Killing Star held sway, there was one place neither could invade, even to the bitter end.

That place was

Shaolin's kitchen. At the time, a fire-tending monk worked there. No one knew his secular name or monastic rank. Who would pay any attention to a lowly monk who merely did kitchen chores and cooked rice?

And yet!

That very monk emerged with the fire-tending staff he used to stoke the flames in one hand and fought the Heavenly Demon for seven days and nights.

Merely standing against the Heavenly Demon, then the greatest master under heaven, proved that his skill could shake heaven and earth!

What was more, their duel never produced a victor.

It was said that the Heavenly Demon then descended Shaoshi Peak laughing, leaving these words behind.

["We danced and made merry, but Kinnara enjoyed himself even more than I."]

Kinnara was originally a god of music, one of the Eight Legions of divine guardians who protected the Buddhist Dharma. Likening his battle with the fire-tending monk to a dance, the Heavenly Demon had compared him to the god of music and dance.

Thus, the monk became known as the Kinnara Monk. After his death, a Dharma-protecting sanctuary called Kinnara Hall was built on that spot.

From then on, the master of Kinnara Hall had to be Shaolin's strongest martial artist. For a thousand years, however, a monastic precept had forbidden the hall master from descending the mountain at will. Consequently, no one could see the master of Kinnara Hall unless a great calamity befell Shaolin. Whether Murim was in danger had nothing to do with it. The hall master would act only when Shaolin—and specifically Kinnara Hall—was invaded.

Yet Seungchan was the first monk to break that precept.

He had descended Shaoshi Peak several times to wander Murim. Even so, no one at Shaolin had stopped him or condemned his actions.

And...

Shaolin's underlying might had swept across the world.

Invincible at Every Step.

No opponent could stand before him. Thus, Seungchan became the foremost master of the orthodox factions.

The crowd's cheering continued for nearly the time it took to eat a meal.

Namgung Hye made no effort to stop it. She considered it essential to building excitement for the tournament.

A little later, when the commotion had settled somewhat, she drew a dagger from within her robes. Its striking dragon-headed hilt looked ready to come alive and soar into the heavens at any moment. It was the Soaring Dragon Dagger, bestowed by the Murim Alliance Leader upon subordinates only when they acted on his behalf.

"Lastly, before the tournament begins, I shall make a solemn pledge before you all on behalf of the Alliance Leader."

SLICE.

The Soaring Dragon Dagger moved, leaving a small cut on her fingertip.

"I, Namgung Hye, swear before all beneath heaven to oversee this sparring tournament as an observer with fairness and impartiality, without shame before heaven. Let this blood stand as proof of my sincerity and true intent."

Clear blood welled in beads, and a single drop fell onto the sparring platform. At that instant, Namgung Hye thrust the Soaring Dragon Dagger high into the sky and cried out.

"Let the martial tournament begin!"

============================ Author's Afterword========================================================================================================================================================================================================