“…and the Abbot…”

“Oh….”

“Sect Leader, let’s talk again….”

“Oohh….”

“… Sect Leader. Are you listening?”

At the monk’s words, Hyun Jong waved his hand with a white face. And he turned his head helplessly like he was dying,

“C-Chung Myung. Can you bring me something to drink?”

“Here.”

As if prepared in advance, Chung Myung put out a white gourd. But Hyun Jong, who saw it, covered his mouth and puked.

“Uh… T-that isn’t alcohol, right?”

“Water. It is water.”

“Ugh.”

Now, just looking at the white gourd bottles made him want to puke.

‘You ignorant bastard.’

No matter how good he must be feeling, to make a sect leader drink and then faint. Is this what a disciple should do?

It wasn’t even like he himself decided to drink, but rather, he only got drunk because of another and then lost consciousness.

Hyun Jong, who drank the water from Chung Myung feeling a bit uneasy, brushed his chest to relieve the feeling. And he took a deep breath as he looked at the monk.

“I have no idea what to do after showing this side of mine.”

“….”

Usually, when someone hears such a thing, they say stuff like:

‘Do not worry.’

It would be a polite word to say, but the monk didn’t say that,

‘They are just saying it after they made a mess in here.’

If it weren’t for the request of his Abbot, he would have already screamed at them. Are there humans who casually grill meat and drink alcohol on the grounds of Shaolin?

This had never happened since Shaolin was established.

‘Everything is so unprecedented.’

Now, he wondered how to interpret the actions of the Mount Hua sect,

“So…”

Hyun Jong, who drank water, now asked,

“What did you come here for?”

The monk opened his mouth,

“The Abbot would like to speak to Sect Leader once again.”

“Hmm. If it is about what we talked about the other day, I do not have anything more to say.”

“No, Sect Leader. The Abbot said it isn’t about that day.”

“Um?”

Hyun Jong looked at the monk with suspicious eyes.

“And this is something only Mount Hua can do, he said that he wanted to put aside the uncomfortable situations and feelings of both sides and put forth a discussion about the future of Kangho and the well-being of all. So….”

At that time, Chung Myung, who was listening to this bluntly, asked,

“Why put it so grandly?”

The monk wasn’t even able to speak, so he turned to Chung Myung with an annoyed face.

‘Doesn’t even have manners.’

However, Abbot’s request was not to create any disputes with this sect.

So he sighed and took a couple of deep breathes to relax and continued,

“You will be able to hear more details from the Abbot himself. And if possible, he would also like to meet Mount Hua’s Divine Dragon.”

“Um, I see.”

Hyun Jong nodded,

“I understand. I will come to find him soon.”

“Yes, thank you.”

The monk jumped up right away, not wanting to stay in this place for another moment. And glanced at Chung Myung before leaving the room.

“I will be brutal,” said Chung Myung.

“Chung Myung.”

“Yes, Sect Leader.”

“What do you think?”

At the question, Chung Myung shrugged,

“Isn’t it going to be something obvious?”

“Um, it does sound like that.”

“There isn’t much that they can do now.”

Hyun Jong touched his chin.

There was truth in the words of Chung Myung, but Hyun Jong, on the other hand, focused on the method, rather than the content.

‘Abbot.’

The Abbot of Shaolin

‘It has been just one day.’

Only yesterday, he had coughed up blood from the actions of Chung Myung, but in just one day, he was back to moving actively?

“Huh.”

Regardless of what happened, he couldn’t help but acknowledge the great ability of this man. At this point, he seemed right to be the Abbot of a sect called Shaolin.

“I need to reflect too.”

“Yes. You drank a bit too much. A little much.”

“…”

All because of you, you brat!

“…Come back…safe… Sect Leader…”

“Chung Myung… uk! You… be careful…”

“Sect Leader… uhh.”

Hyun Jong shook his head as he saw his half-dead disciples try to speak through a hangover.

“It will not be too long, so prepare to leave in advance.”

“Yes, Sect Leader…”

He took a deep breath and went out with Chung Myung next to him.

“Um.”

As the two of them quietly walked between the halls. Hyun Jong spoke lowly as he looked around,

“It looks like a different place from yesterday.”

“Because those who came to watch must have gone back.”

“Right.”

In other words, what they saw now was what Shaolin normally looked like. Although one could see places like this all the time, the quietness here felt strange due to the sudden change.

And Hyun Jong didn’t miss the hostility in the eyes of the Shaolin monks.

‘As expected, they don’t like us.’

He walked as he said,

“Chung Myung.”

“Yes, Sect Leader.”

“What do you think the Abbot will say?”

“… um.”

“No. Before that.”

Hyun Jong’s voice softened,

“How do you think Mount Hua should take its stand now?”

Perhaps this wasn’t a conversation between a sect leader and a third-class disciple. But Hyun Jong never thought of Chung Myung as a simple third-class disciple.

“Hmm.”

Chung Myung smiled,

“I don’t know?”

“Right. You cannot know… uh?”

Hyun Jong slowly turned his head to Chung Myung,

“… don’t know?”

“Yes.”

“… then what did you do on that stage?”

“What?”

“Sa-saying Mount Hua will go the way of Mount Hua?”

“Well, If we go the way we want, that is the right way. Do you really need to decide what we need to do?”

“…”

Hyun Jong felt his head throb.

Was trusting this idiot the right move?

Seeing his expression change, Chung Myung smiled,

“But, one thing is certain.”

“Um?”

“I want nothing to do with Shaolin.”

“… I see.”

Hyun Jong was aware of this too. And it was true that even the Abbot knew that very clearly, yet, he wanted to meet them once again and give them another offer. And they couldn’t leave until they heard his offer.

“Let’s just hear it. What they want to talk about.”

“Welcome.”

The Abbot welcomed Hyun Jong and Chung Myung.

His face looked a bit pale, but there was a smile on his lips, and Hyun Jong asked,

“Is your body alright, Abbot?”

The Abbot nodded slowly when asked,

“Thank you for being worried. I was able to fix myself up without any problems. I apologize for showing such a sight to you.”

The Abbot spoke softly,

“Please, sit down.”

“Yes.”

Hyun Jong sighed and sat down. This was his second time coming here.

When he first came, he was speaking here, and Chung Myung… no, the disciples of Mount Hua were schooling the Hainan Sect…

‘No. Looking back, even then, we couldn’t have a proper conversation because of this guy.’

In retrospect, it could be said that he always cut…

At any rate, only about a fortnight had passed, but the positions of the two sides had changed so drastically.

The Abbot poured them a glass of tea. And then handed that to the two of them. There was no particular tea ceremony as it was a simple one.

“Have some tea.”

“Yes.”

Hyun Jong picked up the tea and poked Chung Myung, who didn’t budge. At that moment, Chung Myung reluctantly took the cup.

He said he’d rather drink cold water, but he was being made to drink a type of tea which he never preferred.

The Abbot smiled and said,

“Looks like you all had a good night.”

“… what do you mean?”

Hyung Jong asked, making the Abbot smile.

“The scent of alcohol is strong.”

Hyun Jong’s face turned red,

“I apologize. I drank to appease my disciple.”

“Right, I guess so.”

It could be said that he had committed some serious rudeness here, but the Abbot didn’t seem to care about it.

“But, we were called?”

“Yes. I will speak right away.”

The Abbot sighed softly, and he spoke in a heavy voice,

“Sect Leader.”

“Yes.”

“The actions of Mount Hua yesterday made the position of Shaolin quite difficult.”

Hyun Jong couldn’t respond and waited for what the Abbot would say next. There was no need to apologize before knowing what it was really about.

“But Shaolin does not blame Mount Hua for that.”

“… Uh?”

“Looking back, this is something that Shaolin started. No, maybe it was started by Kangho. If one knows what happened, how can they blame Mount Hua?”

Hyun Jong looked a bit surprised. And the muffled voice next to him said,

“If you had said that before the competition, it would have meant something.”

“…”

“At least before the finals.”

The Abbot’s eyes widened, but he calmed himself again,

“The words of the young disciple aren’t wrong. All because of my ignorance.”

At the unexpected reaction, Chung Myung smirked.

‘Look at this.’

Well, he was the Abbot of Shaolin. He was bound to act like this till the end.

Now even Chung Myung felt curious. What was the Abbot of Shaolin trying to say by putting his pride aside?

‘I think he will try to hold hands somehow.’

No one here did not know that it didn’t make sense. But then trying again meant that he would give Mount Hua an offer that it couldn’t refuse.

‘Now, he won’t be speaking shit about taking us back into the Nine Great Sects.’

If he did say that, Chung Myung decided to engrave a plum blossom tattoo right onto the forehead of this bald man.

As Chung Myung was ready to do that, the Abbot coughed and said,

“The reason for asking you to come here is I have an urgent matter to ask Mount Hua.”

“Urgent?”

The Abbot turned his head and looked at the door,

“Excuse me for a second. Monk, come inside.”

“Yes!”

A firm answer was heard from the outside, and then the door opened wide from both sides, and a large wooden box entered the room.

A huge wooden box that required two people to lift it.

Hyun Jong’s face went stiff as he realized this was a coffin.

“Abbot?”

“… one moment.”

Hyun Jong looked at the coffin, and he could not understand the Abbot. It was absurd. Why would someone bring a coffin saying they had important things to say?

The monks placed it inside and went out right away.

Three people, one coffin.

The atmosphere changed.

“Amitabha.”

The Abbot looked at the two and said,

“The sect of Shaolin is spread all over the world.”

“Of course it…”

“The body in the coffin now is a disciple of the Shaolin Sect, the disciple was assigned to the reconnaissance of the North Sea at the request of Shaolin.”

“… North Sea?”

“Yes. North Sea. But at best, their role was to check the extent of rights we are given in the North Sea. The people of the central plains can no longer enter the North Sea.”

“…then, why did he come back as a coffin? Could it be that there was a fight near the North Sea ice palace?”

Then it really wasn’t a normal case.

The emotions of the central plains and the four palaces were so volatile that the smallest thing could cause war.

Then, didn’t Chung Myung and his friends also have to go through too many things to get their work done in Yunnan?

But the Abbot shook his head,

“It is more than that.”

“…more?”

Just what is it?

Hyun Jong and Chung Myung looked doubtful, and the Abbot, who didn’t like seeing the coffin, walked to it.

And he opened the lid.

“Um!”

Hyun Jong’s face contorted. Who would like to see a corpse right in front of them?

‘But why…’

That moment…

Flinch.

Hyun Jong looked shocked at Chung Myung, who was next to him, as it felt like a huge amount of killing intent was rising from Chung Myung, but then it disappeared in an instant.

‘Was I mistaken?’

And Chung Myung slowly began to rise up.

And he moved to the coffin. His cold gaze fell on the corpse.

Again, the red and black spots were clearly visible on the pale skin of the corpse.

“… Demon Flower.”

Clench!

Chung Myung clenched his hand and looked at theAbbot. He looked like a starving beast.

“Demonic Sect?”

“Amitabha. Even Shaolin was suspicious of it.”

With this, Chung Myung’s anger was rising up.

Actually, even if one knew there was nothing that could be done.

The Demon Flower. The wounds on the body were there because of demonic martial arts.

He had seen this on the body of elder Hwang too, and he had seen it countless more times in the past.

“Demonic Sect…”

Chung Myung’s lips twisted cruelly.

“Please explain…”

A chilling voice dripped out.

“What is happening.”