Martial Arts Ain't Anything Special-Chapter 21: Red Moon Pavilion (1)

Though he had beaten up the sect leader, the Clear River Sect didn’t treat their guests poorly.

The fact was, even though they hadn’t planned on staying overnight, they were given a room and served a meal, everything a guest could ask for.

“Man, what’s with all these vegetables though?”

I can’t complain though, since these side dishes take a lot of work. Preparing veggies is a real pain.

Surprisingly, they taste pretty good too. The cooks sure know their stuff, damn.

“Can’t you tell based on where we are? This is a Daoist sect.”

“Daoist? Like the Wudang Sect?”

The Wudang Sect was a must-have in any martial arts world. When Seojun asked about them, Chunbong nodded.

“That’s right. But still, they’re pretty civilized here.”

Chunbong’s chopsticks pointed at the lone meat dish.

“At least there’s meat and cooked rice too. Some of them completely forbid fire and just eat raw rice.”

“Nah, that’s gotta be a mental illness, right?”

Seojun laughed dryly. While stuffing her cheeks full of meat, Chunbong said.

“Mmph... Well, most people in murim are mentally deranged anyways.”

Some bathe in virgin blood, others practice human sacrifices, some violate corpses, and some mutilate their hands with hot sand.

Martial artists will basically do anything for the sake of martial arts.

Among them, the Orthodox Faction at least pretends to know where to draw the line, while the Demonic Cult just says fuck it and goes all in on martial arts.

“What?”

“Just take yourself as an example. You’re a complete lunatic.”

“Now now, Geum Chunbong! Is that any way to talk to your heavenly big brother!”

“Bullshit.”

“Deu-dda...?”

“See what I mean?”

After finishing a bowl of rice, Chunbong set down her chopsticks with a clack!

“And that Primordial Divine Art of yours.”

“Oh yeah! You saw it too, right? Wasn’t it awesome? Didn’t your big brother look super cool?”

“You’re screwed if you mess that up.”

“There you go again. Always saying I’ll be screwed.”

Seojun grumbled while stuffing the rest of his rice into his mouth. With the meat dishes gone, it was just plain rice.

Vegetables? Sorry, but I don’t take more than two bites of veggies with each bowl of rice.

“Do you know why even sects have different branches? It’s because there’s a matching inner cultivation for each martial art. To put it bluntly, could you really use the Yellow Cloud Divine Art’s inner qi to perform Wudang Sect’s martial art?”

“Why couldn’t you?”

“Hm...”

Chunbong was about to say something but closed her mouth. Somehow, she felt like this bastard might actually do it.

“No, anyway. Just be careful. It’s already amazing that it works in the first place, but when you keep trying to make the impossible, possible, accidents tend to happen.”

“So you’re worried about your big brother after all? Kya! My Chunbong’s all grown up! Aw, so mature now!”

“...I give up. Do whatever the fuck you want.”

This brat. Acting all tsundere because she’s embarrassed.

*Once they finished eating, since they were being treated as guests, they went to tour the sect.

“Um... Sect Leader said you could observe today’s group training if you wish.”

Nice. The sect leader’s learned his manners well.

Seojun nodded with satisfaction and grinned.

“Let’s go, Geum Chunbong!”

“This might actually be interesting.”

It was quite impressive overall. While their individual skill levels weren’t particularly high, watching so many people move in perfect unison made it clear why group training had its merits.

These were usually called formations, and if even the Clear River Sect was this good, he wondered what something like Shaolin’s 108 Arhat Formation would be like.

Is that even a thing here?

“The 108 Arhat Formation? It’s famous. From what I know, it can even take on Transcendent Realm masters.”

“What about the Unrestrained Realm?”

“No way. Maybe it could buy some time.”

What a shame. It seemed at the Unrestrained Realm, they just smashed through formations and whatnot as a one-man army.

They finished their Clear River Sect tour by walking around various parts of the sect.

Of course, they couldn’t enter the inner areas and only saw places open to outsiders, but by the time they finished, the sky had grown dark.

“Should we head back?”

“Yeah. I’m tired.”

Aaahh... Chunbong let out a small yawn.

Seojun’s eyes subtly darkened as he watched her.

Just walking around for a day shouldn’t tire out a First-Rate Master, which clearly meant her condition hadn’t fully recovered yet.

After pointlessly pulling Chunbong’s cheeks a few times, Seojun stopped by the sect leader’s quarters before leaving the Clear River Sect.

“So, did you rest well?”

“Yeah, sure. By the way, I have one favor to ask.”

“Let’s hear it.”

The sect leader raised his eyebrows after hearing Seojun’s request.

“It’s not a difficult request, but... is there really any need for that?”

“Hey old man, you lost our duel, remember?”

“...I was going to grant it anyway.”

The sect leader sighed and gestured to Cheongwoon. Obviously meant for him to see them off, Seojun felt sorry for the guy.

They really dump everything on that poor guy.

“Well then, farewell.”

“Don’t come back you say?”

“...I didn’t exactly say that.”

“Your face says it all though.”

Seojun chuckled and said in passing.

“Your shoulders are too stiff.”

“What do you mean by this, all of a sudden?”

“Your qi is too suppressed. If you relax your shoulders and let your qi flow naturally, you may make some progress.”

At those words, Cheongwoon’s eyes widened.

After making a dubious expression for a moment, his thoughts seemed to change as he lightly shook his head.

“...I am grateful. I will take it to heart.”

Seojun waved to him as he made a fist-palm salute.

When the Clear River Sect’s gate was far enough that it could no longer be seen, Seojun grinned.

“That was sick. I totally sounded like a martial arts master just now!”

“If only you hadn’t said that last part.”

“What?”

But I still sounded like a martial arts master, right?

You’ve done it, Lee Seojun.

“Things will only get better from here!”

“You think?”

“You evil woman.”

*When they got home, Seojun first put Chunbong to bed.

“What are you...?”

“Nighty-night.”

“W-What’s with you, seriously...”

“Aww, there there. Be a good girl. Nighty-wighty~”

“You crazy bastard...”

Though Chunbong stiffened awkwardly, after a few pats on her stomach, she drifted off to sleep.

It seemed they couldn’t stay here forever.

Looking at Chunbong’s condition, she probably needed to take a few more spirit pills, but there didn’t seem to be any way to get spirit pills around here.

I should ask the Clear River Sect about it.

They probably have some. Even the trash Black Tiger Sect had some, so a sect of their caliber must have at least one or two.

We can worry about payment later.

After confirming that Chunbong was fully asleep, Seojun left the house. His footsteps headed toward the red-light district.

Entering the street that always made him feel uneasy, he headed to the courtesan house he had visited before.

So the name is Red Moon Pavilion.

Now that he looked at it, they really half-assed the name.1

It was just a brothel where courtesans sold their bodies, with the word moon commonly used in courtesan house names slapped on.

“Tsk.”

Clicking his tongue, Seojun looked around the Red Moon Pavilion.

Maybe because it hadn’t been long since he’d destroyed those Black Path guys, there weren’t any thugs causing trouble yet.

“Excuse me.”

As he entered the Red Moon Pavilion, a soft light and sweet incense hit him.

“Welcome.”

Maewol greeted him. Two burly men stood beside her as she smiled with crescent moon eyes.

The Red Moon Pavilion had definitely belonged to the Black Tiger Sect, so where did these guards come from?

Though curious, he didn’t particularly care. Instead, he spoke to Maewol.

“I have a favor  to ask.”

“A favor? Young Expert, you’ve already boldly crushed the Black Tiger Sect and become the owner of this courtesan house. If there’s anything you need, please just say the word.”

“How long would it take to gather all the courtesans in this district?”

Maewol’s right eyebrow rose slightly. After briefly pondering with her hand on her chin, it didn’t take long for her to speak.

“A day... at most two days should be sufficient. It’s not too difficult a task.”

“Even including courtesan houses that weren’t under the Black Tiger Sect?”

“Hm... Including that...”

It took her longer to think this time. Meanwhile, Seojun took a casual look around the Red Moon Pavilion.

For a courtesan house in the back alleys, the building was definitely nice. However they made their money, the Black Tiger Sect must have been quite wealthy.

And then, whether by chance or fate, his eyes met with that woman. The woman he had met on his first day in this martial arts world.

Looking at her now, the swelling on her face had gone down somewhat. Perhaps she was being treated better now that the Black Tiger Sect was gone.

Tsk—

The woman clicked her tongue, glared at him, and disappeared.

Well then. How rude.

Seojun smirked and said to Maewol, still in deep contemplation.

“I’ll ask again in a week. I’ll be speaking to the other courtesan houses myself, so keep that in mind.”

“Ah... there’s no need for you to go to such trouble...”

“It’s fine. It’s nothing difficult.”

Seojun turned around. As he was about to leave the Red Moon Pavilion while casually waving, Maewol stopped him.

“Since you seem to be alone today... would you like to stay the night?”

A seductive charm dripped from Maewol’s voice. Seojun wasn’t an idiot; he could understand what she meant.

But Seojun pushed her away with the handle of his sword.

“No.”

Even though he didn’t use much force, Maewol stepped back on her own.

She smiled regretfully and gave a slight bow.

“Then I shall look forward to next time.”

After briefly looking her over, Seojun suddenly stopped just as he was about to leave. Maewol smiled faintly.

“Have you changed your mind?”

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“Where did you learn martial arts?”

Upon hearing his question, Maewol’s expression froze momentarily, but she quickly composed herself and put on an obviously forced, awkward smile.

“That’s...”

“Whatever, never mind.”

After leaving the courtesan house, Seojun trudged along the dirt road.

“Sigh.”

The moon shone bright in the night sky. Suddenly overcome by a shitty feeling, he picked up the pace.

Returning home using the mysterious principles of the Yellow Dragon Crossing the Rosy Clouds, Seojun jumped right on top of Chunbong.

“Big brother’s back, Chunbong!”

“Kyaa...!”

Half-asleep, Chunbong pushed away Seojun’s face with her barely open eyes.

“Ah, what are you doing...! Why are you waking me up!”

“Hehe, sorry.”

“You’re seriously cra— wait.”

Chunbong’s sleepy eyes suddenly flew wide open. They were practically glowing with killing intent, which was honestly a bit scary.

“W-What’s wrong?”

“You. Come. Here.”

“...I’m already here though?”

“You fucker, what’s this smell?”

“Yes...?”

Seojun trembled and Chunbong furrowed her brow.

“Stop with that bullshit.”

“Okay.”

He stopped trembling. She stared at him for a while before speaking.

“...You bastard, you went to a courtesan house.”

Oh shit. How did she know?

But hey, I didn’t spend any money. I can hold my head high.

1. Red Pavilion alone means brothels/courtesan houses.