Chapter 79: Roughly Returning in Glory
“Hey, you’re kind of amazing.”
After the long and tedious merit ceremony finally ended, as I walked out of that suffocating hall, Tang Yeo-hye let out those words.
“Well, I guess my performance this time was a little amazing.”
“No, I mean the way you mouthed off in front of the Alliance Leader. No one’s ever gone that far before.”
Ah, that’s what she meant.
But all I did was speak the truth. If they had listened to my warning back then, wouldn’t it have spared a lot of unnecessary sacrifices?
And now, to be nagged about this by Wild Dog, of all people, someone with the social skills of a rock. I stared at her as if to say, Is that really something you should be saying?
“This crazy bastard, are you glaring at me? The more I look, the less fear you seem to have, huh?”
She let out a hollow laugh, as though she found it absurd.
But listening to her… she kind of had a point.
Maybe it was because of the karma I had accumulated from the killings, or perhaps the Heaven-Slaying Star’s influence growing stronger… my words and actions did feel a bit rougher lately. I should probably rein myself in a little.
“Young Master Mujin, now that everything here is over, will you be returning to Beijing?”
Tang Yeo-hye’s servant, Neungsam, popped up behind her and asked me that.
She, too, perked her ears up, looking curious about my plans.
“Yes. There’s an old man waiting for me in Beijing. I should head back.”
That old man was probably still drinking himself half to death every day, annoying Eun Hwaran, the Trading Lord.
But appearances aside, he was a master whose level I couldn’t even guess, and the one who was carefully watching over the vicious star sealed inside me.
Lately, he seemed to acknowledge me a little—he had even taught me the Dog-Beating Staff Technique and allowed me to take long trips outside.
No need to test his patience by delaying my return.
“And you, Noona, will you be ending your runaway and going home now?”
I asked as I packed away the reward money and gifts I’d received into a bundle.
“Hey… It’s not a runaway, it’s ascetic training.”
“Sure, sure. If you say so.”
I nodded as if I understood, even though I clearly didn’t. Her eyebrows twitched, showing her irritation.
It seemed she had family troubles of her own. I didn’t feel the need to pry.
“Mujin, once you go back, aren’t you planning to open up some kind of office and go independent?”
Jo Harang, my wanderer companion who had come with me from Beijing on an escort job, poked her head out from beside Ilhong and asked.
“Yeah. I’ve earned enough money. Time to start my own business.”
“You mean that ‘troubleshooter’ thing you mentioned?”
I remembered that night under the starry sky, when we had grumbled over the Wanderers’ Guild brokerage fees and talked about such things.
“Yeah, that one.”
“Will that even make money though…?”
“Surprisingly, yes. A lot.”
Even in Korea, it had been an unfamiliar business at first, but eventually it became something indispensable.
After all, people always needed experts to handle their dirty work for them.
“So, what exactly does your office do?”
Instead of laughing it off as some petty scheme, Tang Yeo-hye showed a bit of interest in my work.
“Basically… everything.”
I recalled what I used to do back then as I answered.
“…Seriously? You’ll accept anything people ask?”
“Yep. Even the kind of jobs that wandering swordsmen shake their heads at. I take them all.”
As long as the money was right.
It was a niche market. The people of the Central Plains deserved to experience such capitalist services too, didn’t they?
“Huh. Interesting. So that’s how it is…”
She mulled over my business plan with a strange expression.
Judging by her face, she probably had something she wanted to ask of me.
Who knows—maybe we’d meet again later as client and provider.
“Anyway, it’s time to part ways. As you heard, I have a pile of work waiting for me.”
The Central Plains might be vast, but fate had a way of bringing people together again.
I bid farewell to the group.
“It sure was a chaotic Dragon-Phoenix Tournament. See you next time.”
With a loud snort, she blew her nose, then walked off with Neungsam, saying we’d meet again soon.
“I’m stopping by Mount Song to see my master. You go ahead to Beijing.”
Jo Harang, who had come with me here, said she wanted to report her progress to her sect. Her lips curled into a wide smile—already excited about the praise she’d get when she told of her exploits.
“Oh, right. Mujin.”
“What?”
As if she suddenly remembered something, she leaned in close, whispering in a voice as tiny as an ant’s.
“The fact that I’m a Purple Tenuity Star… that’s a secret between just you and me, alright?”
“Of course.”
My ear tickled.
Even if it was exposed, it wasn’t the kind of vicious star that would make her an enemy of the Murim, but she still wanted to keep her identity hidden.
“And one more thing.”
She pulled me even closer, her voice now even more cautious.
“If you find anyone reeking of slaughter, anyone who seems obsessed with killing or carrying the stench of the Heaven-Slaying Star—tell me. Immediately.”
“…And what will you do if I do?”
“You already know.”
She smiled brightly, miming the act of crushing someone’s skull with her bare hands.
As the Heaven-Slaying Star myself, I shivered a little at that sight.
“…Don’t you think you’re standing a little too close?”
Ilhong cut in with a sulky look, clearly unhappy about us whispering so closely together.
“Hm? Was I? Sorry, sorry.”
Thanks to her interruption, I narrowly avoided pissing myself in tension.
With a carefree laugh, she slung her greatsword back over her shoulder.
“Then, I’ll be going too. See you in Beijing.”
And just like that, another one left.
From five of us, it was suddenly down to just two.
“This is perfect.”
“Is it?”
I chuckled as we left the Murim Alliance, heading toward Beijing.
But as soon as we stepped out the city gate, someone came rushing over in a cloud of dust.
“Let’s go together, Mujin the Wanderer… no, Hero Dog-Dragon!”
It was Headman Jo of the Jo Family.
He invited me to ride with them in their carriage—it was a long way, and the journey would be easier that way.
So that old guy had actually survived all that chaos, huh?
“Young Hero, please join us!”
Even his family looked at me differently now, their eyes sparkling with anticipation.
“Sure, why not.”
I remembered how I had barely managed to squeeze into a baggage cart on the way here, bumping shoulders and elbows the whole ride.
It felt strangely sentimental.
But then Ilhong, who had hopped up beside me, poked at my shoulder as if she had noticed something suspicious.
“…Boss, there’s a strange person following us.”
A martial artist was keeping pace with the slow-moving carriage using movement arts, his steps whispering across the ground.
“Just ignore it.”
Like most members of the Beggars’ Union, shabby in appearance but with practical skills.
Ilhong must have sensed his presence, since she was at least a second-rate martial artist.
“No, how can we ignore it when I already noticed?”
“It’s part of the agreement.”
“…?”
If something comes, something must go in return.
At the very least, they needed to know who their leader was.
Even at the last Dragon-Phoenix Tournament meeting, since the Dragon Head Sect Leader was absent, their words had no weight.
“Coachman. Let’s go home.”
In this vast Central Plains, having somewhere to return to was a blessing.
I ignored Majungcheon, who was secretly tailing us like Gollum from a certain movie, and told the coachman to roll the wheels.
“Hyah!”
I had departed as a pitiful third-rate wanderer, but returned as a righteous hero who fought against the Blood Cult.
At the entrance of the Eunseong Trading Company, a young woman came running out with a delighted face.
“Brother, you’re back safe?!”
A faint lotus fragrance tickled my nose.
She must have been terribly busy reviving the company, and yet she personally came to greet me.
I reached out toward my sworn sister, Eun Hwaran, as if I already knew the reason.
“Noona must have heard the news too. That your younger brother became the hero of the Dragon-Phoenix Bloodbath!”
Surely that’s why she came herself, to greet the hero’s return. And to boast about being my sworn sister.
But Eun Hwaran tilted her head in confusion.
“Hm? Bloodbath? Did you shit blood on the road or something…?”
“…”
Her face looked genuinely worried, as if I’d gone mad from the hardship of traveling all the way to Shaanxi.
“You… you really didn’t hear the rumors from the Murim Alliance…?”
“What rumors? I just came out to welcome you because I was glad you returned.”
So the news hadn’t reached Beijing yet?
Normally gossip spread faster than my own steps, but only at times like this did it crawl like a snail.
“Ahem.”
I scratched the side of my head awkwardly.
“Click, tsk. Looks like you came back with your head full of nonsense again.”
And then, clicking his tongue, an old man approached.
It was none other than Hwang Geolgae, the runaway Sect Leader of the Beggars’ Union, and master of both me and Ilhong.
“You old man, you didn’t harass our Trading Lord Noona while I was gone, right?”
Same shabby appearance, same reek of stale alcohol that stung the nose. Yet from his gourd bottle wafted the aroma of expensive, fine liquor.
“Heh, you start running your mouth the moment you arrive. And even bolder than before.”
He told me to call him master, then suddenly slid forward with Whirlwind Steps and popped up right before me.
Then his finger stabbed into my Baihui point.
“So, you killed someone, didn’t you.”
The drunken, drowsy expression instantly turned cold and sharp.
He must have instinctively sensed that the killing intent in me had grown heavier.
“Yes. To live, and to save others, I killed.”
It wasn’t that I went around slaughtering, only that I returned to them what they had thrown. Cause and effect always carried karmic retribution.
“It was self-defense, Hwang Noya. The Blood Cult bastards suddenly started massacring people, scattering poison and bombs without mercy.”
Since I kept my lips sealed without excuse, Ilhong spoke in my stead, detailing what had happened.
“That day, Boss was a hero. He saved over a hundred Central Plains people. And he even rescued the Murong Clan Head and his son.”
Listening silently, Hwang Geolgae turned his gaze on me.
Then he suddenly pressed his hand near my dantian.
He drew up the glowing power of the Starfall Heart Cultivation Method, and upon finding some lump formed in my dantian, his eyes widened.
“Hoo… what is this amount of righteous karma…!”
He seemed truly shocked, quickly circulating his qi to block the leakage of sound, then demanded an explanation.
“As you heard, I saved people.”
“Even so, this is an unbelievable amount of righteous karma…”
His eyes demanded to know what exactly I had done.
“I threw myself in front of a Thunderburst Bomb to save the very enemy who tried to kill me.”
“…Hah. Even monks who have cultivated virtue for decades would struggle to do such a thing.”
And it wasn’t just any enemy. He was the very man who had tried to kill his own child, a human who had betrayed heavenly bonds, and who had persecuted Murong Cheongjin.
It was truly like a living Buddha descending into the Murim Alliance.
If not for Murong Cheonghye’s request, I might have let him die.
“So, do I live then?”
“I intended that from the start, you fool. The fact that you remain stable despite all the killing is proof that your mind is solid against the Heaven-Slaying Star’s influence.”
“Then why scare me the moment I came back?”
At my indignant question, Hwang Geolgae gulped down his liquor, then grinned.
“Heh heh, because it’s fun.”
What kind of human being was this?
“Damn it, this old man…”
A man seemingly born just to piss people off.
Then again, his escape from the sect had already cast thousands of beggars into despair.
Smack!
“Ow!”
I crumpled down, my head splitting in pain.
“Heh heh, call me master.”
To think I’d have to serve this old drunk as my master for life. I wasn’t happy at all.
“Fine then, don’t call me just ‘brat,’ call me Dragon Dog instead.”
“Dragon? You didn’t even win the Dragon-Phoenix Tournament, and yet you dare call yourself by such an arrogant alias?”
“Hey, I fought against the Blood Cult as a master, didn’t I?”
Soon enough, the world would hear the rumors.
And once they spread, it would surely help when I opened my office.
“You’re not even at the peak realm. Don’t call yourself a master.”
“Damn it, that’s true… but at least my defense is top-notch, you know?”
I swung my staff, layering it with inner qi, swirling it around like the Dog-Beating Staff.
“Heh heh. A true master must balance both attack and defense… Still, with all the righteous karma you’ve built, there may indeed be a path forward.”
“…Wait, really?”
Now that was good news. I perked up at the mention of a way to surpass my wall.
No matter how much I had struggled alone, nothing worked before.
“Follow me, brat.”
“Yes, Master!”
Suddenly, I felt my heart swell with respect toward him.
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