Chapter 114

"Huu!"

Only after confirming that Bi Ryu-yeon had completely disappeared from his sight could Wi Ji-cheon let out a deep sigh. Although he had pretended to be calm, he could not stop his body from instinctively shrinking and tensing up. Even without looking, his fists must be full of cold sweat now. It was an absurdly shameful thing compared to the fame he had built up so far. That's why he hated Bi Ryu-yeon even more.

"Mr. Wi!"

The underlings of the Ice Phoenix Flower Guard, who had approached at some point, asked.

"Why did you just let such a rude punk go?"

"A final duel! Is that even a plausible statement? A first-year greenhorn should know his place."

"That's right. Isn't the championship naturally Mr. Wi's share!"

"Of course, of course!"

The three of them chattered on, not to be outdone by each other.

"Kuk! You all don't know how scary that punk is!"

Wi Ji-cheon said, as if spitting it out with a stiff face.

"Whaaat?"

"Just you wait! I'll soon unmask that punk. On that duel stage..."

As someone who had experienced it directly, he could not easily agree with the words of the punks who were underestimating Bi Ryu-yeon's skills. Then what would become of him, who had lost to such a punk! Although he wanted to deny it, there was no way to deny the past that had already happened. Bi Ryu-yeon, who had left the biggest and worst stain on his life. He could never forgive him.

'The humiliation, shame, and anger of that day! I still remember it to the bone. Be prepared, Bi Ryu-yeon!'

It was Wi Ji-cheon, who was burning with a frightening fighting spirit!

The semifinal of the Sword Empress Exhibition ended with Na Ye-rin's easy victory, as everyone had expected.

"What on earth are you thinking?"

Two days before the semifinal, Jang Hong had finally said the words he had been holding back.

Although he had been holding back his curiosity and had been putting it off, it was no longer the limit.

"Thinking?"

"Yes, thinking! Surely you didn't do such a reckless thing without any thought, did you?"

Jang Hong continued, as if interrogating him. Still, a light of worry was in his eyes.

"Reckless? What? I won, as you can see! You don't use the expression 'reckless' in such a case! You should say 'well done'."

"So far, it has just been simple luck!"

Even Jang Hong, who had spent more than half a year with Bi Ryu-yeon, could not abandon that thought. He had been thinking to himself that Bi Ryu-yeon had hit the opponent's weakness, who was underestimating him as a first-year greenhorn, with the unconventional attack of the ink zither.

"Do you know what the other academy students are calling you now?"

"No!"

Bi Ryu-yeon shook his head.

"They call you the Great Fortune Striking Zither. Huu..."

Jang Hong said with a mournful expression. A sigh came out on its own. But laughter burst out from Bi Ryu-yeon's mouth, who had been listening to Jang Hong's words with a blank expression.

"Kuhahahaha! Why, it's a cool name! What's the complaint about being lucky?"

Jang Hong's face hardened even more.

"Is that something to laugh about now? Everyone is calling you a greenhorn who is just extremely lucky. Why don't you use your specialty?"

"Specialty? What's that? I forgot!"

Bi Ryu-yeon asked back with an innocent expression.

"What? Are you saying that as a joke now?"

Jang Hong was absurd at Bi Ryu-yeon's question. Without needing to think deeply, it was certain that Bi Ryu-yeon was teasing him.

"Do you happen to remember? What my specialty is?"

Bi Ryu-yeon asked Hyo-ryong, who was standing next to Jang Hong as if to provide support fire.

"Of course, that's..."

Hyo-ryong, who was about to shoot back a word, suddenly shut his mouth like a clam. Come to think of it, he could not remember a single martial art that Bi Ryu-yeon had used so far.

The only martial art he had shown to some extent was the one punch he had shown in the dormitory on the day of admission. It was information that was far from enough to explore his school of martial arts. Besides, he could bet his entire fortune that it was not the real thing.

"See! You don't know either. I forgot too, so I don't remember!"

Bi Ryu-yeon shook his head from side to side and made an expression that said, 'I don't know anything'. It meant that he had no intention of telling them. To them, it looked extremely petty. Well, since there were also sects where even parents and siblings had to hide things, it was a severe discourtesy to ask a person who had no intention of telling about their sect.

"Then why on earth are you doing this seemingly reckless thing? Just tell me the reason! I'm frustrated!"

Jang Hong asked again, not giving up.

"Why are you so frustrated about something like that? There's nothing to worry about. It's just an experiment, an experiment!"

"Experiment?"

Hyo-ryong and Jang Hong asked back with a bewildered expression.

"Yes! A kind of self-experiment! An experiment to see how far I can go with sound arts!"

Jang Hong and Hyo-ryong became more and more absurd as they just listened. Was he telling them to believe that now? Besides, they also had doubts about whether the martial art he had unfolded so far could even be called sound arts. Rather, it was a new type of weapon technique that should be named the zither-striking technique.

"Huu, as expected, it was reckless!"

Hyo-ryong let out a sigh as if the ground were collapsing. The expression 'exhaled' would have been more appropriate.

"You stood on the duel stage with a zither for just that reason? Without any countermeasures?"

Jang Hong asked, as if questioning him. It was Jang Hong, who was always trying to play the role of the big brother.

"Just? That's rude! I'm serious in my own way! Do you think it's easy to use myself as an experimental subject! What a noble spirit of sacrifice!"

"Tsk! It's my great fault for having a tongue-lashing duel with you."

Jang Hong finally declared his surrender. The victory of the tongue-lashing duel went to Bi Ryu-yeon.

"But I'll warn you about one thing."

Jang Hong said with a serious expression.

"I'm listening!"

"If you just swing your instrument like last time, you won't get a single letter of sound arts even in a hundred days."

"The advice is bone-chilling. I won't forget! But what can I do about the fact that the difference between theory and practice is bigger than I thought? Won't it get a little better next time? Let's have hope."

What more hope could they have here? It was just hateful that Bi Ryu-yeon was so calm and composed by himself, pushing them into a pit of worry and anguish.

"By the way, who is your next opponent?"

"Oh, oh! You should at least remember your friend's next opponent. If you don't want a crack in our friendship. Ah, I can hear the sound of a crack in our friendship loudly!"

It was Bi Ryu-yeon, who was once again making an exaggerated gesture.

"So who is it?"

Bi Ryu-yeon looked straight at Jang Hong and declared with dignity.

"I don't know either!"

"Whaaat!"

The two could no longer speak even if they had mouths.

Today's great battle with Bi Ryu-yeon had ended in their miserable defeat. It seemed that this punk Bi Ryu-yeon was telling others to memorize it because he was too lazy to memorize it himself. And in fact, even if he had heard the name, there was no way he would know the person, so it was a matter of whether he heard it or not.

"Uh, I know."

The heads of the three turned to the source of the voice. There, Yun Jun-ho, whose presence was still faint, was standing. When did he get there... While everyone was wondering, Yun Jun-ho opened his mouth. Seeing that his face was also slightly red, it seemed that it was quite embarrassing for him to speak.

"Wow! You're also helpful sometimes! Who is it?"

"So, it's Dang Mun-cheon..."

He mumbled and mentioned a name.

"What!"

Hyo-ryong and Jang Hong let out a cry of astonishment in unison.

"Umm. Are you really saying that Ryu-yeon's next opponent is that punk?"

Jang Hong's words suddenly became high and rough.

"Do you know him?"

Yun Jun-ho asked back with a puzzled expression.

"How would I know such a worthless punk!"

Yun Jun-ho was startled by Jang Hong's sudden reaction of shouting.

"You mean you know him!"

Bi Ryu-yeon, who had been silent, said a word. Anyway, whoever it was, it was a person he did not know. Still, since there was someone who knew next to him, he had to ask, at least as a courtesy. If he didn't ask, how disappointed would the person who wanted to show off the knowledge he knew, or the person who was itching to teach what he knew, be? For that reason, Bi Ryu-yeon asked as if doing a favor.

"Who is it?"

Jang Hong answered Bi Ryu-yeon's question with a sour expression.

"He's a very worthless punk! He's such a wicked punk that there are even people who say that the name of the Sichuan Tang Clan is crying because of him. He's a punk who breaks the taboo of the Tang Clan and carelessly uses poison even in a duel competition. That's why his nickname is also the Poisonous Hand! He's as poisonous as his nickname. I don't know what the Tang Clan is doing, not catching such a punk..."

"He seems to be a quite interesting punk!"

Compared to Hyo-ryong and Jang Hong's intense reaction, Bi Ryu-yeon's reaction ended with that.

It was an attitude that did not even care at all.

"What! The Poisonous Hand, Dang Mun-cheon!"

With Geum Yeong-ho's trembling shout, the gazes of all the Vermilion Bird Squad were focused on Tang Sam. It meant that he should say a word as a person of the same Tang family.

Tang Cheol-yeong was silent, like a mute who had eaten honey. He also knew well, to the point of hating it, why his peers were so surprised.

The reason why Dang Mun-cheon enjoyed using poison regardless of the place was not because his martial arts were so weak that he had to use poison. It was because using poison was fun and stimulating. Since he was a punk who very cleverly broke the taboo of the Tang Clan, he was a very disagreeable punk even to Tang Cheol-yeong. It was the same even if they were cousins. And he resented why there was no sanction from the family against such a punk.

In fact, since he was also a legitimate descendant of the Sichuan Tang Clan, he knew the reason very well. It was because his quality was very outstanding. Enough to cover his ferocious personality... But, it was an unknown whether Dang Mun-cheon's poisonous methods would work on the great senior brother. It was Tang Sam, who could not be relieved.

"He's a trivial punk."

It was Bi Ryu-yeon's impression after listening to the explanation about Dang Mun-cheon for a long time.

"You're really carefree."

Jang Hong said, sticking out his tongue.

"It's my nature. Leave me alone! There are so many friends who are worrying for me, so what's the need for me to worry hard too? If I start to worry along with them, it wouldn't be polite to the friends who are worrying for me."

"It seems to make sense. Although it's still strange!"

Hyo-ryong said with a chuckle.

"But even if they can worry for you, they can't win for you in a match!"

Jang Hong said again, as if giving a warning. Whenever he saw Bi Ryu-yeon's uninhibitedness, he was anxious, as if he were leaving a child by the water.

"That's what they call 'worrying is one's fate', or 'worry trading'. They also say 'buying trouble'. Jang Hong sometimes has a bad habit of worrying about things that are natural and don't need to be worried about. Like an uncle. Haven't you heard the old saying that such a thing is called 'groundless fears'?"

It was Bi Ryu-yeon, who was even giving a gentle rebuke, not knowing the heart of someone who was worrying for him. The three were just curious where that endless confidence was coming from. If they could just rip open his stomach and look inside, that curiosity would be satisfied...

Since he had boasted, they had no choice but to believe in Bi Ryu-yeon's ability to break common sense.