CHAPTER 141: HEAVENLY SEOJUN (2)

0% Before putting something into practice, one should first test if it works properly.

Unless, of course, one enjoys when things go awry due to unexpected variables.

And Seojun was not that kind of perverted, deranged lunatic.

So, disguised as Heavenly Seojun, he knocked on the door of the Namgung Clan villa.

“What brings you here, sir?”

The gatekeeper greeted Seojun politely.

A clan like Namgung could afford to be arrogant without anyone daring to criticize, yet they were even courteous. Truly worthy of being called the Great Namgung Clan.

“That bastard Pae Jingwang should be inside.”

“Excuse me?”

The gatekeeper’s eyes widened.

Someone who casually addressed the Fist King in such a manner couldn’t possibly be an ordinary person.

“Allow me to relay your message first.”

“Tell that Pae Jingwang fucker to come out quickly before he gets a beating.”

“...I shall pass on the message.”

The gatekeeper made a bizarre expression, gesturing to his colleague, who also started looking strangely.

After the colleague rushed inside to deliver the message, Pae Jingwang emerged shortly after, strolling casually.

“Who are you? I don’t recognize your face.”

Pae Jingwang looked down at him, scratching his belly as he approached.

Seojun clicked his tongue and boldly walked into the villa.

“Let’s begin by talking inside.”

The gatekeepers tried to stop Seojun, but Pae Jingwang smirked and waved them off.

“It’s fine. Let’s hear what he has to say.”

“Yes, sir!”

Pae Jingwang followed behind.

Seojun stopped in the middle of a large courtyard.

After surveying the surroundings, he snapped his fingers, and a massive qi veil enveloped the area.

“Oho.”

This wasn’t a technique that could be activated easily.

Pae Jingwang revealed his teeth in a grin as he looked at Seojun.

“So, what is it? This isn’t my house, so I can’t offer you proper hospitality.”

“Fist King.”

“What is it?”

“All demons shall worship and submit to the Heavenly Demon!”

As he shouted, demonic qi burst out from Seojun’s entire body.

The quantity and density were extraordinary. Given its intensity and purity, he seemed to be a great demonic adept.

“What the...! You crazy fucker...!”

Pae Jingwang couldn’t help but be alarmed.

No matter how insane demonic practitioners were known to be, would one crawl into such a certain death trap?

In Henan where the Dragon Phoenix Tournament was being held of all places, crawling with Transcendent Realm masters. It was right in front of Shaolin, with the Abbot surely on standby.

This was simply the act of a fool unless they were confident they could assassinate them in a single strike and flee immediately.

It was essentially throwing away an assassin.

Despite his shock, Pae Jingwang reacted instantly.

His muscles contracted and relaxed repeatedly to form a perfect posture, then he launched his fist with the elasticity of a bowstring.

THWACK! The fist flew out, tearing through space.

Seojun grinned.

“Pathetic.”

He countered with his own fist.

The rotation from his toes traveled through his waist and shoulders to his fist, demonic qi surging through his right arm as the Supreme Force Monstrous God Style and Giant Spirit Divine Art granted him tremendous power.

BOOM──────────!!!

The two fists collided, erupting a spatial resonance.

If air vibrations become sound, spatial vibrations become gravitational waves.

As space and time rippled, Pae Jingwang’s eyes widened.

“You...! How can you use the Supreme Force Monstrous... hmm?”

His expression suddenly contorted in his surprise, seemingly contemplating something.

Only two people had mastered the Supreme Force Monstrous God Style—himself and Lee Seojun.

Additionally, hadn’t that punk been asking about the Face-Changing Art recently?

Pae Jingwang finally realized.

Ah, this bastard is Lee Seojun!

“...Very well, I admit it. When it comes to insanity, you are truly unrivaled under the heavens!”

Pae Jingwang finally slapped his forehead.

Seojun released the Face-Changing Art while giggling.

“Well, I wanted to check just once whether it was noticeable or not.”

“It’s not noticeable at all, so don’t ever do it again. You madman. I thought my heart would stop.”

“My, my, aren’t you quite the chicken for all those muscles?”

“...Come here, you.”

As he stepped forward, Seojun flinched and slightly increased the distance between them.

“Whoa, don’t do this. It’s troublesome.”

“Tsk...”

Pae Jingwang looked around, scratching his head.

The impact of their collision had been significant, but fortunately, the qi barrier that this bastard Lee Seojun had activated remained undisturbed, so it didn’t seem like it would escalate into a major incident.

In other words, no one about the Face-Changing Art yet.

“It feels unfair that I’m the only one who suffered this.”

“What?”

Pae Jingwang grinned wickedly.

“Let’s try it on one more person.”

“Oh...”

That sounds fun!

Seojun nodded immediately.

*The next target was determined.

When playing such pranks, one couldn’t leave out our dear Geum Chunbong.

Just thinking about her potential reaction made Seojun’s mouth water.

“I’m going in, old man.”

“Good. Do it just like you did to me.”

“Heh, naturally.”

When the one disguised as Heavenly Seojun grinned, Pae Jingwang gave a thumbs-up and hid himself.

Seojun stood before Chunbong’s door. He could sense her presence inside.

He timed it.

One, two, three.

Now.

SLAM!

Heavenly Seojun flung the door open.

“Woman. Where is Heaven-reaching True Qi?”

Chunbong lounging around inside the room widened her eyes in surprise.

Even to his own ears, his voice sounded chilling.

Which meant it should be impossible for her to recognize him, given how different he sounded from usual.

Thump, thump. His heart pounded.

What kind of delicious reaction would she show?

Chunbong’s lips soon moved, his eyes bulging out to read their movement.

“What’re you doing? Where’d you learn the Face-Changing Art?”

“...Tsk, seems like a deranged woman.”

“What did you just call me, bastard?”

She bounced up and launched herself forward.

Chunbong Drop Kick!

BAM!

Seojun was struck squarely, flying back and rolling on the ground.

“Ugh...!”

After tumbling, he lay face down on the ground and slightly raised his head.

“...How did you know it was me?”

“Isn’t it obvious at a glance? Anyone can see it’s Lee Seojun just by your behavior.”

Seojun turned his head to look at Pae Jingwang, who was hiding.

“No! I’ve been found!”

“Hmm... that can’t be right. Your Face-Changing Art is nearly perfect.”

He emerged from the bushes, scratching his head.

Seojun grumbled as he got to his feet.

What perfect? Chunbong recognized him immediately.

“Hey old man, aren’t your eyes just bad?”

“I’m telling you it’s true!”

Pae Jingwang was genuinely perplexed.

That bastard’s Face-Changing Art was, without exaggeration, perfect.

Those unskilled in the technique usually had an unstable inner qi fixation or leaking qi that gives them away, but Seojun showed none of those.

“Let’s try a few more people.”

The results of the continued experiment were surprising.

Remarkably, no one except Chunbong recognized Seojun.

Not Namgung Hyeok, Jang Geuk, Namgung Myeong, or even Namgung Suah.

“What’s going on?”

As Seojun looked at Chunbong with a puzzled expression, she raised her chin proudly.

“I’ve been watching you for years. Of course I recognize you, duh.”

It seems she had some kind of Seojun-detection radar.

Seojun lifted Chunbong high in the air.

“My Chunbong is amazing!”

“Mmm, that’s right.”

“Chunbubbie!”

“What?”

“Du-dda-dda!”

“Uddada!”

Watching this, Pae Jingwang couldn’t help but sigh.

The future of the martial world looks bleak.

A future where this kind of guy becomes the Unrivaled Under the Heavens?

Pae Jingwang simply couldn’t imagine such a scenario.

*The disciples of the younger generation attending the Dragon Phoenix Tournament typically had purposes beyond the tournament itself.

It was a rare occasion for people from the Sixteen Great Sects to gather in one place. (Though it wasn’t uncommon for several of the Sixteen Great Sects to meet occasionally.)

The Dragon Phoenix Tournament naturally served as a social gathering as much as a martial arts competition.

For someone attending the gatherings like Namgung Myeong, he spent his busy time greeting familiar faces or making new acquaintances.

Social skills are important.

The Namgung Clan tradition placed almost no emphasis on socializing.

Only the sword mattered.

The idea was that if one reached the pinnacle with the sword, there was no need to worry about social connections.

In that sense, Namgung Myeong was quite unusual.

Wouldn’t it be much easier to work together than to bear everything alone?

With this mindset, he took quite an active approach to fostering friendships.

His naturally warm personality made it not too difficult.

“Have you been well, Young Lady Hwangbo? It feels like it’s been almost two years since we last met.”

“Y-yes... Young Expert Namgung...”

Hwangbo Hyeji blushed and smiled modestly.

As he conversed with her, he observed the increasingly numerous crowd.

There are more people than I expected.

It was fair to assume something had happened, considering the new faces he hadn’t seen before.

Namgung Myeong had his own suspicions about what that might be.

Probably because of Elder Brother...

The dramatic appearance of an unfamiliar Transcendent Realm master.

He suspected people wanted information about him.

And one more thing.

The revival of the Divine Sword Geum Clan.

As expected, most of the conversations reaching Namgung Myeong’s ears were about these two topics.

“It must be a senior from the Geum Clan, right?”

“I heard it’s a senior from the Namgung Clan. They say he’s a Namgung elder.”

“Ah, Namgung. That makes sense. The Namgung are certainly bold.”

“But wasn’t the Geum Clan heir said to be his master?”

“That, I don’t know. Young Expert Namgung is over there, why not ask him?”

“I already did.”

“What did he say?”

“He said he wasn’t sure if he was allowed to speak about it.”

Namgung Myeong, who had been unconsciously eavesdropping, snapped back to reality when he sensed Hwangbo Hyeji fidgeting.

When their eyes met, she smiled sweetly and asked,

“So, how have you been lately, Young Expert Namgung?”

“I’ve been focusing on training.”

Ah...! I saw your duel! You’ve achieved something remarkable...”

“Haha, my appreciations. Young Lady Hwangbo, you also seem to have made progress.”

“I have, yes... Though in my mother’s eyes, I still seem lacking...”

At Hwangbo Hyeji’s words, a rather untelling smile formed on Namgung Myeong’s lips.

“She’s still strict, I see.”

“No... It’s because I fail to meet expectations...”

“If Young Lady Hwangbo falls short of expectations, there must be very few in the Central Plains who could meet such standards.”

This wasn’t empty flattery.

Hwangbo Hyeji’s achievements were certainly outstanding. Not only was she exceptional among her peers, but she was above average even among the Sixteen Great Sects.

Inwardly, he thought her mother might be too harsh, but it wasn’t his place to comment on another family’s affairs.

Hwangbo Hyeji smiled sweetly at Namgung Myeong’s comforting words.

“Thank you for those kind words...”

*“They talked about me a lot?”

“Yes, Brother. You seem to have made quite an impression.”

Namgung Myeong smiled faintly.

Seojun looked at him and scratched his head.

“So what, you all just gathered and talked about those things?”

“There were various incidents. A big fight broke out once too.”

“A fight? Why?”

“It’s a gathering of young people, isn’t it?”

“Ah, a love triangle?”

As Namgung Myeong nodded, Seojun chuckled.

“How nice.”

“...Most of them are actually older than you, Brother.”

“Hey, lil bro. Don’t compare me with those Peak Realm kids, it’s troubling.”

Namgung Myeong laughed awkwardly.

Seojun entered Shaolin Temple again with him.

Needless to say, it was for the meeting.

Man, I wanna go home already.

He really didn’t want to come, but Seojun had no choice.

Hadn’t the Abbot of Shaolin said so? Martial artists speak through martial arts.

It seemed like he was going to arrange a duel with the Great General...

If he could beat that bastard up in front of countless people, nothing would make him happier.

Well... either way, all he had to do today was go and listen to what they had to say.

He’d listen first, and if he didn’t like it, he’d raise a complaint.

Whether that complaint would come from Lee Seojun or Baek Seojun remained to be seen.

TRANSLATOR'S NOTE

Hi readers, I'm the original translator, it's been about 40 Chapters but I've become free again so I'm back. I'll be revisiting the Chapters I missed soon to make sure the terms are consistent with my previous translations. Happy readings, everyone!