Although Taoist Hyeongong threw back that question, he already knew what that matter was.
The only point where this Dark Cavern Taoist bastard and he had ever intersected was the training ground—and because of that matter, not only the training ground but all of Mount Wudang had been thrown into an uproar.
Because of what happened at the training ground, he had been knocked off his post as Divine Martial Unit Lord and had been forced to live confined in the meditation cave for quite some time.
Why is this Dark Cavern Taoist bastard bringing that up now, of all things?
Seeing the contempt hanging in Kwak Yeon’s eyes as he stared at him without giving any answer, a chill ran down Taoist Hyeongong’s spine.
This Dark Cavern Taoist bastard—he knows the details of that matter.
That was why he could compare what was happening in this guesthouse now to what had happened back then.
How the hell...?
At the time, his master had defined the matter at the training ground as the scheming of the newly appointed head steward and had immediately covered it up—then forbade anyone from mentioning it again.
All sorts of wild guesses had circulated, but because of that, they faded into unconfirmed, bodiless rumor and vanished.
This Dark Cavern Taoist bastard had been nothing but a trainee at the time—there was no way he could have known the inside of that affair.
When Taoist Hyeongong fell silent in confusion, Kwak Yeon quietly opened his mouth.
“Senior Brother Hyeongong, right now I’m enduring it because, as your fellow disciple and junior, I hesitate to scold you directly.”
“What...?”
Kwak Yeon’s eyes, fixed on the startled Taoist Hyeongong, sharpened like a blade.
“Above all, I don’t want to become the kind of person you were back then.”
“What are you talking about—me back then?”
“I mean you—the Divine Martial Unit Lord who, in the training ground dining hall, with all the trainees and the steward-hall handlers watching, ruthlessly drove out Head Steward Jang Noya.”
“...!”
A blue-edged killing chill began to rise in Kwak Yeon’s gaze.
“That day, didn’t you ignore Head Steward Jang Noya’s desperate plea that you speak to him privately?”
Now Taoist Hyeongong’s chest, too, was turning cold.
That bastard had clearly been there among the trainees in the dining hall that day.
Kwak Yeon kept staring straight through Taoist Hyeongong as he continued.
“If you want this junior to directly scold you for what happened here in this guesthouse, then say so.”
It felt as if Taoist Hyeongong’s heart dropped through the floor.
The rumor that this Dark Cavern Taoist bastard had reached the Transformation Realm might be exaggerated—but it was true that his martial arts were strong enough that he had cut down Jegal Waryong in a single strike.
If this bastard set his mind to it and pressed him hard as a senior brother, Taoist Hyeongong would be publicly shamed in front of his disciples.
But he also could not show himself yielding to this Dark Cavern Taoist bastard.
He was a direct disciple of Jaso Palace, the leading palace of the Wudang Sect—how could he beg a lowly bottom-rung junior from Samryeong Palace?
His face burned red with rage and humiliation, but he could not decide which way to go.
Then Kwak Yeon spoke.
“Senior Brother Hyeongong—you can’t bring yourself to tell this junior to do that, can you? And I can’t bring myself to do such a thing, either.”
For Taoist Hyeongong, cornered to the end, it was a welcome sound beyond measure.
So this Dark Cavern Taoist bastard still has a shred of feeling left for the sect.
It was the moment Taoist Hyeongong let out a breath of relief.
“Head Steward Jang Noya would not have wanted such petty revenge. And in truth...”
“...?”
“Long ago, because of that matter, Head Steward Jang Noya also received the price he deserved.”
Hearing the words that followed, Taoist Hyeongong felt as if he had been struck by lightning.
A rumor that had once floated around about that affair surged up in his mind.
That day, the trainees’ mass diarrhea hadn’t been an illness at all, but something caused by being fed some kind of drug—an absurd rumor like that.
All the other rumors had died, but that one had persisted stubbornly, and even years later it had reached his ears.
As someone directly involved, Taoist Hyeongong couldn’t brush it off. He’d gone to the Pavilion of Good Medicine to see Taoist Hyeonik, who had been the training ground physician back then.
“Well... it was so long ago that nothing comes to mind. Senior Brother Hyeongong, why would you dig into a rumor like that now? You’ll only be scratching up a wound for no reason.”
Those words had made sense, so he had stopped searching for the rumor’s basis.
But it had left him unsettled—like not wiping clean after taking a shit.
No matter how much time had passed, it was strange for a physician to claim he remembered nothing about an incident serious enough to halt the training ground’s training for several days.
As that rumor overlapped with what this Dark Cavern Taoist bastard had just said, Taoist Hyeongong felt every hair on his body stand on end.
This Dark Cavern Taoist bastard was the one who pulled something that day!
That was why he had just mocked him—saying he hadn’t changed even after going through that matter.
While looking at him with eyes full of contempt and ridicule.
He didn’t know what method the bastard had used back then, but one thing was clear—he had caused that disaster.
Hadn’t that bastard been, more than anyone, the kind who loved to show off—and sharp enough to be dangerous? So much so that his master, the Grand Elder, had found him a headache.
...You Dark Cavern Taoist bastard!
It felt as if Taoist Hyeongong’s organs were flipping over all at once.
The thought that he, a unit lord, had been toyed with and driven out by a mere trainee made his teeth tremble.
Hot rage surged up like magma, flooding to the crown of his head.
But Taoist Hyeongong could not let the volcano of his fury erupt.
Because Kwak Yeon was openly showing that he had some plan in his chest.
If he says he won’t directly demand responsibility... could it be...?
Taoist Hyeongong’s face drained pale as he flicked a glance toward Hu Gae. Seeing that, Kwak Yeon said,
“Senior Brother Hyeongong, my sworn elder brother over there is very angry right now. As the younger brother, it will be difficult for me to stop him. I hope Senior Brother Hyeongong can understand this junior’s hardship.”
“...!”
Taoist Hyeongong couldn’t stop Kwak Yeon as he turned and walked away after finishing those words.
To really just exchange greetings and leave...
The Dark Cavern Taoist bastard’s earlier words—that he wanted a moment to exchange greetings with the Beggar Clan beggar—had been sincere.
And the moment Kwak Yeon declared that even in a matter involving fellow disciples he would wash his hands of it and walk away, Taoist Hyeongong was left in an unbearable bind.
How was he supposed to deal with that Beggar Clan beggar who looked anything but ordinary? He couldn’t even begin to measure it.
I have to stop this from getting loud, somehow...
While Taoist Hyeongong frantically turned his thoughts over, Kwak Yeon walked up to Hu Gae and said,
“This foolish younger brother has finished exchanging greetings with fellow disciples. Elder Brother, please handle the matter now.”
“Kwak, my younger brother—are you really fine with this?”
Hu Gae was burning with fury at the Wudang Taoists’ sly behavior, but he couldn’t ignore his younger brother’s position.
“What is there for me not to be fine with? In any case, Elder Brother will handle it properly, within the bounds of the Beggar Clan’s code.”
Hu Gae’s mouth curled up.
“Fine! I’ll handle it real well. PTUI!”
Hu Gae spat a thick gob of saliva into his palm and shouldered his Tagu Staff. Kwak Yeon said,
“Elder Brother—watching those martial nephews while we exchanged greetings, every last one of them was a crooked nail driven in wrong.”
Hu Gae nodded with satisfaction.
“You can tell ten things from one man’s behavior. I’d already seen it long ago.”
Seeing the Wudang Taoists offering greetings to Kwak Yeon, their martial uncle, with those unwilling faces had only made Hu Gae angrier.
Kwak Yeon gave a bitter smile.
“Originally, it’s the martial uncle’s duty to straighten them out. But since you’ve already stepped in, Elder Brother, I ask that you set them straight—so they won’t remain crooked nails driven in wrong.”
A thick smile rose on Hu Gae’s lips.
“Don’t worry, my younger brother Kwak. There’s nothing better than this Tagu Staff for hammering crooked nails upright.”
—BWAAANG!
Hu Gae spun the Tagu Staff in a wide circle and strode toward Taoist Hyeongong and the second-generation disciples of Wudang.
“Some mountain’s Taoist gentleman. Quit rolling that little brain of yours around. My ears work, so I heard what my younger brother Kwak just said—meaning there’s no way you mule-headed lot are dodging my Tagu Staff today.”
Taoist Hyeongong’s face twisted violently.
This Beggar Clan beggar had seen him exchange greetings with that Dark Cavern Taoist bastard and clearly knew who he was, yet he was still calling him “some mountain’s Taoist.”
He was throwing back the exact words Taoist Hyeongong had used earlier on the Sanyang Martial Arts Hall master.
And he was speaking down to him without hesitation. No matter how “Beggar Clan ways” worked, it was an insult he couldn’t swallow.
—CRASH! BANG!
When their revered senior, Taoist Hyeongong, was insulted, the second-generation disciples surged forward in outrage.
“All of you, stop.”
Taoist Hyeongong quickly restrained them, then spoke to Hu Gae.
“This poor Taoist understands that the Beggar Clan hero is extremely angry, and that your words have become rough as a result. However, for the sake of the friendship between our Wudang and your Beggar Clan as well, I ask you to calm yourself for a moment. Then this poor Taoist will explain the full circumstances of today’s matter in detail. And if, even after that, the hero points out that we were in the wrong, this poor Taoist will correct that wrong immediately.”
It was a plea to generously forgive their mistake—delivered with as much dignity as he could manage.
For an elder who led disciples within a sect, speaking to that extent was almost the same as yielding.
Taoist Hyeongong naturally expected the Beggar Clan beggar to ease up at least somewhat.
But—
“Listen to this dog shit and fall over laughing.”
Hu Gae snorted and continued.
“Hey, mule-headed Taoist. Even the sewer rats in this guesthouse already know the whole story today—what kind of excuse do you think you need?”
At Hu Gae’s shocking, filthy mouth, Taoist Hyeongong glared, eyes wide.
“Hero, you are going too far! If you insist on continuing like this, then even we of Wudang can no longer maintain courtesy. And if that results in harm to the bond between Beggar Clan and Wudang, then all responsibility will lie with the hero.”
His words were courteous, but the meaning underneath was a declaration: even if we use force and you are hurt, we bear no responsibility.
Of course, those words were for the onlookers in the dining hall.
Because with the Beggar Clan beggar mocking and provoking the Wudang Sect, the crowd would serve as witnesses that Wudang’s disciples had no choice but to step in.
How could Hu Gae not see through such a shallow trick?
“Mule-headed Taoist—doesn’t right and wrong in the martial world get settled by martial arts in the end? If I lose to you mule-headed Taoists in martial arts, I’ll back off without a single complaint. So stop babbling like a gutless dog and come at me with your brats. Beating men who just stand there isn’t any fun in the hand at all.”
At those truly arrogant, insolent words, Taoist Hyeongong felt as if his fuse had blown.
Now that this Beggar Clan beggar had openly looked down on Wudang and provoked them to their faces, there was no other choice left.
Even as his fury boiled, Taoist Hyeongong thought—this was, rather, for the best.
This Beggar Clan beggar said it with his own mouth—that he’ll withdraw if he loses. Doesn’t that mean this matter can be resolved cleanly?
With a smile of malice hidden inside, Taoist Hyeongong said readily to Hu Gae,
“Since the hero proposes first that we settle it by the law of the rivers and lakes, this poor Taoist dares not refuse.”
