Chapter 21

“Mmm, well eaten.”
Yan Hua took a bite or two of the food and said.
“Eh, are you that full?”
Even though there was a lot of food, it was only one or two bites.
Even I, the newsman, couldn’t get the message across.
“…… What the hell do you think I am? I’m a woman, a woman. Not like you.”
She frowned, and I smiled awkwardly in embarrassment.
We finished our food and stood up together to go outside.
As they wandered around the neighborhood, someone spoke to them.
“It’s been a while, Priest.”
It was a voice that made me feel ill at ease, the voice of someone I didn’t want to remember.
“Executioner Yoo Hyuk.”
I muttered quietly.
I didn’t expect to see him in this place.
No, I wondered how I hadn’t recognized him after being with him for ten days and wondered if I had a black eye.
I had a bad feeling.
But more than that, I was bothered by the fact that I couldn’t see anyone.
“What about the long death sentence?”
“Alas, he was badly wounded and could not come.”
He said it casually, and I nodded, thinking it was better not to come than to come.
“Who is next to you, is it your girlfriend?”
“No.”
I had my doubts, but I decided to go along with the joke for now.
“No? Well, whatever. You’re on your own. And be careful not to embarrass yourself when Zongnan’s guys come. Then…….”
Unlike when he was in the volcano, Saixing moved with grace and elegance.
He swept past me with the graceful gait of a Zen master.
“Who is it?”
Yanhua asked when he was out of sight.
“He’s the same swordsman, don’t you recognize him?”
“No, I haven’t seen him before. Who is he?”
“Swordsman Yu Hyuk. As a disciple of the Elder of the Falling Star Sword Sect, this is my death sentence.”
“Oh, you’re Yoo Hyuk?”
“Huh? You mean you know him?”
“Of course. You’re a genius, approaching the plum blade level in just half a year. Even Master Zhang Wenyin made an exception for you, excluding you from the training and duties of a Good Swordsman so that you could focus on your training.”
“That much?”
I knew he had a talent for nothingness, but I didn’t realize he was that good.
“Eh? You’re saying you didn’t know?”
“Well, we don’t have a very good relationship…….”
“Well, I’ve heard a lot about his bad personality, but that was like half a year ago, and I heard that he came back from a breakup with someone, and he’s been hanging around the hostel ever since, and his personality has changed.”
If you say that you were broken up with by someone about half a year ago, it’s probably not me.
“Did it really traumatize you that much?”
And rightfully so.
The priest you’ve been making fun of for years has just outdone himself with something you’ve never seen before.
“Well, it’s self-inflicted.
“What? What do you mean?”
“Nothing, nothing. Let’s just get back to it.”
“Eh? Already? We’re not even halfway around…….”
“The air feels heavy, like something’s about to happen.”
Open top warfare, precognition.
These hunches are rarely wrong.
“Really? I don’t know…….”
“Let’s go back.”
Yeon-hwa ignored her ramblings and hurried back to the hostel.
Yeon-hwa ran with me, her cheeks puffed out as if she was annoyed that I ignored her.
But that changed when we arrived at the hostel.
Yeonhwa nervously gripped the bottle of sword hanging from the sword scabbard at her left waist.
Tensing up, ready to spring at any moment.
I didn’t touch the vial, but I was also tense, ready to react at full speed at any moment.
The scene in front of me was a confrontation between the late exponents of the Zongnan Sect, dressed in blue robes with blue lanterns hanging behind them, and the disciples of the Huashan Sect, dressed in red robes with red lanterns hanging behind them.
A tense confrontation.
It was a situation that seemed to explode at the slightest touch.
In the midst of the silence, a loud voice came from the distance.
“What are you doing!”
“What are you doing!”
Yelling back and forth.
I turned around and saw Elder Hu walking with General Secretary Moon.
Up ahead, an elderly man who appeared to be the leader of the Zhongnan sect was walking.
They each walked over to the group, shouted a few words, turned around, and looked at each other.
“Long time no see, Elder Wenhu.”
“Long time no see, Elder Lingfeng.”
The two elders greeted each other as if they knew each other.
“I apologize for my rudeness.”
“No, I think our children have been rude, what do you mean?”
Elder Wenhu said, and Elder Lingfeng clapped his hands.
“Have you eaten?”
“Not yet, since we just arrived.”
“Then why don’t you join us? Our children have already finished eating, so it’s a good time for you to eat alone.”
“Heh. Really? Not bad. Where’s the restaurant?”
“Ah, the master of the gate invited me to dine with him, just follow him.”
He gestured behind him, and the man standing behind him reintroduced himself.
“My name is Document Xie, the Inner Inspector of the General Inspection Gate.”
“Hehe. You’re Chancellor Moon. I must have been rude. I didn’t know you were standing there, and I didn’t bow to you.”
“No, it’s okay, come here…….”
The two elders glanced at each of Jaffa’s late indexes before Chancellor Moon led the way.
Their eyes were wary of trouble.
After giving each of them a friendly glance, they left with Moon.
“Chit. If it weren’t for you, Elder, we would have been able to…….”
“That’s for us to say. The Mundos of the Volcanic Sect are on the subject…….”
“What?”
Another close call.
“Stop it, you’ve been warned to stay out of trouble, you’re being a dick.”
“You too. Don’t make a scene.”
The two glared at each other for a moment, then turned away, as nearby coworkers interrupted.
“Am I right?”
They disappeared, leaving only me and Yeonhwa in the middle, speaking to the man.
“Yeah, how did you know?”
“It’s just a feeling, but I don’t think you two are that close anyway. I thought we were supposed to cooperate…….”
“Even if we’re in the same sect, the Huashan Sect doesn’t get along with anyone except shamans and Shaolin.”
“Is that because they’re afraid of the Blood Heaven?”
“Yes, the shaman who helped us back then. And the Shaolin who helped us afterward, they don’t get along, even if they’re from the same sect.”
“I see.”
This was unusual, then.
To have such a bad relationship and still want to cooperate.
“I don’t care about the past, so I don’t have any feelings, but I guess the other kids are different.”
“I see.”
“Yeah. I tried to make new friends, but I guess it didn’t work.”
Yeon-hwa paused, as if he was disappointed.
Pisik smiled.
“Well, let’s get back to exploring the neighborhood.”
“Okay.”
Just as they were about to take a step to go around the other side, someone walked out from the direction of the Blue Pavilion, the Sect’s quarters.
“Huh?”
Pure white skin, dark eyebrows, and a sharp nose.
His eyes were clear and clean.
He was the epitome of a handsome man.
He looked at us, cocked his head, and smiled.
“Handsome.”
Yonhwa murmured.
The man walked over, waving his hand gently.
Yeonhwa was paying attention to the man’s face, as if she didn’t feel anything.
But I was different.
I could feel the man’s aura.
My hands were sweating.
Was he a dragon standing on the ground?
There was an intangible energy flowing from him that overwhelmed even the most sincere person.
His eyes lit up when our eyes met.
“Can you feel it?”
I nodded, forcing my immobile body to move.
“That’s great, you can sense my intangibles.”
So confident.
Praising me for noticing the chi flowing from him.
But he deserved it.
Liu Jiaxuan has an incredible amount of power inside of him.
Only Yeonhwa is left scratching her head, not knowing what the hell he’s talking about.
The man spoke to her, his gaze frantic.
“Who is Sojourner from the Volcano Sect?”
“Oh, I’m Hong Yanhua, the Swordsman of the Volcano Sect.”
“You’re a swordsman. You look young, how old are you?”
“Fifteen.”
“That’s amazing. A swordsman at the age of fifteen.”
“It’s no big deal.”
The man leads the conversation with his skillful words.
Yeon-hwa smiles and nods in approval, carefully answering each of his questions.
“By the way, what is your name, Confucius?”
“Ah, now that I think about it, I’m late in introducing myself. My name is Ma Zhen Tian, the Eighteen Swordsman of the Sect of the South.”
Eighteen swordsmen.
The late exponents of the Sect of the South are divided into three organizations.
The first, the Thirty-Six Swordsmen.
Similar to the Land Swords of the Huashan Sect, they are organized into five groups of thirty-six members each.
Second, the Eighteen Swordsmen.
A similar organization to the Volcanic Sect’s Sun Swordsmen, organized into three groups of eighteen.
Third, the Ten Swordsmen.
Similar to the Plum Blade of the Volcano Sect, but with only one group of ten members, it is a less powerful organization than the Plum Blade.
“How old are they?”
“Haha. It’s a secret, but you should know that there are more of us than there are Sojourners.”
“How many is a secret?”
“Hahaha, not that many.”
“Qi, I don’t think so.”
The old-fashioned question.
Even though they had only just met, Yan Hua and Ma Jintian were already handing each other nongs.
“Haha. Even more than that, Yan Hua and …….”
He gives me a sidelong glance.
“Qingwu, land inspection.”
When I replied stiffly, Ma Jintian slightly twisted the corners of his mouth.
“It’s the Qingwu Small Clan. Where are Yan Hua and Qingwu Small Clan going?”
I furrowed my brow at the mention of the small clan.
Yan Hua stepped in front of me and smiled.
“We’re bored and just want to look around for a while. Do you want to come with us?”
“No, I have work to do, so I won’t be able to join you. Maybe another time.”
“Well, that’s too bad you have work to do…….”
“Haha, then I’ll see you next time.”
Ma Jintian took out the crystal ball from her arms, waved it gently, and left.
Autumn is almost over and winter is approaching, so it’s definitely unseasonable to take out a celestial circle.
However, it seemed to suit her strangely well, as if such things were not common knowledge.
As he walked away, Yan Hua said.
“He’s really handsome. He’s also a good talker…….”
“Why, are you in love with him?”
“No, not that. He’s very human.”
“Really?”