Martial Arts Ain't Anything Special-Chapter 61: Demonic Arts (1)

“Boss, come out...!”

The courtesan house turned chaotic at his lion roar.

Seojun nodded with satisfaction and patted Chunbong.

“Keep maintaining the Latent Qi Art well. You know, right?”

It was at a decent level even to his eyes, but you never know.

Who knew if there might be some bizarre martial art that could see through Chunbong’s Blue Cloud Divine Art?

She nodded in response, frowning deeply.

“I get that, but... Haah...”

“What’s wrong! Why’s my Chunbong doing that?!”

“I’m embarrassed, you bastard! Would it kill you to enter normally!?”

“Yep.”

It would. He didn’t want it to take too long.

“Look. They’re coming out to get us right away.”

Burly men came rushing out of the courtesan house.

Seojun smirked and cleared his throat.

“Ahem! I’m going into murim master mode now, so be aware.”

“What the hell?”

Chunbong made a strange expression, but he didn’t pay attention.

...He deliberately ignored Namgung Suah’s sparkling eyes.

“Who the fuck are you!”

“How dare you cause a disturbance at a place of business!”

They had a point, he had nothing to say about it.

But a murim master cares not about such things. For that is the way of a murim master.

“Hah...!”

Seojun barked and spread his presence.

The sheer force of his aura enhanced by reaching the Transcendent Realm and crudely opening his upper dantian, was overwhelming for ordinary people.

“Ugh...!”

Their legs gave out as if they’d heard a tiger’s roar, and fear filled their eyes.

After seeing the burly men trembling, he felt a bit sorry, coughing awkwardly, and said.

“You there! Fetch your boss at once. Surely a branch leader is present in this establishment, is he not? You may also have the honor of guiding us inside.”

“Well...”

As the men hesitated, a woman walked out of the courtesan house.

She calmly bowed even at the sight of grown men cowering like children, then looked straight at Seojun and spoke.

“You are invited inside.”

Hearing the woman’s words, Seojun grinned at Chunbong.

See? His expression seemed to say, but Chunbong was too preoccupied to care.

She sent a sound transmission.

[Is that really how you’re gonna talk? It’s giving me goosebumps.]

[It’s how murim masters talk.]

[It’s hard to listen to.]

[Wait, why? All murim people talk this way, you know.]

[It’s awkward. And what the heck is this?! Lee Seojun doesn’t talk like that...!]

[What?]

But it was too late to take it back now.

Seojun stubbornly maintained his persona as he followed the woman into the courtesan house.

As expected, this was what Henan should be like.

It was on a completely different level from the Red Moon Pavilion in the back alleys. The scale and atmosphere were clearly extraordinary.

With this much money, their influence would be proportional, and the chances of having Masters were high.

It wasn’t that the thought of there being masters in the Hao Sect didn’t cross his mind, but it couldn’t hurt to be cautious.

“Young Expert.”

“Yes?”

Namgung Suah whispered in his ear. Since she was taller than Chunbong, she stood on her tiptoes to reach the now much taller Seojun’s ear.

“My heart is pounding at how charming the Young Expert is.”

“Huh...?”

Seojun glanced at the woman walking ahead and sent a sound transmission.

In truth what he wanted to tell her was that she wasn’t exactly a young maiden anymore, but couldn’t bring himself to say it.

[...You know your tastes are really weird, right big sis?]

[What’s wrong with my tastes?]

[You like getting hit.]

[That’s a misunderstanding.]

[It doesn’t seem like a misunderstanding.]

[It’s true. I’ll prove it to you tonight.]

“What?”

Hearing his voice slip out, the woman walking ahead turned around.

“Is something wrong?”

“...It’s a trivial matter. Lead the way now.”

Whew, Seojun sighed and hurried to follow the woman.

After climbing who knows how many stairs.

Just as he was wondering if the knees of the people here were okay, they arrived at the top floor of the courtesan house.

The woman stood in front of a paper sliding door, bowed towards it, and said in a quiet voice,

“Pavilion Lord, I have brought them.”

“Let them in.”

The woman opened the sliding door and gestured inside.

Seojun nodded slightly and entered, looking around.

The dim atmosphere and restrained decorations. Everything made the silhouette behind a curtain on one side of the room seem like something extraordinary.

“I didn’t expect you to visit like this, Mad Hungry Wolf. And those with you must be the Faceless Snow Sword and the Flower of Namgung.”

From behind the thin curtain came the voice of a man whose age was indiscernible.

“Oh ho.”

Faceless Snow Sword? Is that Chunbong’s title? Must have been given during the martial arts tournament.

Chunbong isn’t even wearing a face veil right now.

Essentially, no one knows her current face, and if someone did recognize her, it would mean they’ve seen through her Blue Cloud Divine Art, which isn’t something a mere veil could hide.

So if Chunbong were to get a title now, it would probably be something like Adorable Wittle Geum Chunbong.

Faceless, seriously? Whose bright idea was it to slap that on a title just because she covered her face?

“Acting like you know us... You must be quite confident in your information. Good.”

Seojun maintained his persona as he walked towards the silhouette.

The hidden presences around them flinched. Even the woman who had guided them here was tense as she watched Seojun.

“It would be best not to approach any further. The mechanical formation does not distinguish between people.”

“Shall we test it?”

“Are you purposefully causing a disturbance?”

“I would not mind.”

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“If you came to buy information, stay put and leave quietly.”

Seojun stopped and fiddled the wooden token in his clothes.

Should he show this token or not?

It didn’t seem like showing it would bring any great benefit.

Then there was no need to give away information unnecessarily. Even if it might be information they already knew.

“In that case...”

“And that way of speaking. It’s unpleasant to hear, so I’d appreciate if you’d stop.”

“What.”

“It’s painful to listen to, like a child imitating an old man.”

“That’s harsh.”

“Haah.... So, what is it? Do you need information about spirit pills?”

“Correct! Do you happen to know anything?”

The room fell silent for a moment.

The silhouette behind the curtain sighed deeply and picked something up.

“There’s almost no accurate information about spirit pills. By the time it reaches the Hao Sect’s ears, it’s either in a very dangerous place or already taken by someone.”

“You’re certainly honest.”

“What’s the point in hiding the truth everyone knows? With the Flower of Namgung glaring from behind, such tricks wouldn’t work anyway.”

When Seojun turned around, Namgung Suah was smiling brightly and waving.

Seojun waved back and then spoke to the silhouette again.

“So? Is there really nothing?”

“If we limit it to this area, there’s one uncertain piece of information and one certain piece.”

“Oh. What’s the certain one?”

“There’s Shaolin Temple nearby, right? Go there and ask for a Greater Rejuvenation Pill.”

“Will they give it?”

“Will they?”

“Then why did you mention it?”

“...Never mind.”

The silhouette waved something in his hand that looked like a scroll.

“This is the real information. Keep in mind that the Hao Sect is not responsible for the accuracy of the information.”

“Oh.”

“It’s one gold tael.”

“Oh?”

“...What now?”

“Hmm, it’s not that expensive.”

One gold tael is about ten silver taels. It was quite a lot of money, but rather cheap for information about spirit pills.

There must be a reason for that.

“Deal. Let’s do it.”

When Seojun nodded, the woman who had guided them to the room approached and held out her hand.

He rummaged through his clothes and took out his money pouch.

Let’s see...

He had been spending money thoughtlessly lately, so his pouch had become quite thin.

Considering the cost of maintaining Chunbong’s chubby cheeks, he needed to earn some money.

Clink—

He handed ten silver taels to the woman, who nodded after staring at them and doing some mental calculations.

Then the Pavilion Lord put the scroll somewhere, and it fell from the ceiling above Seojun’s head.

“Is that it?”

“If you do not need anything else.”

Seojun nodded and took a step forward.

“What are you...!”

Then another step, and another.

On the third step, the floor gave way and arrows and needles shot out from all directions.

“Ah, so this is how it feels?”

Seojun bloomed plum blossoms beneath his feet as he leaped, his hands wreathed in inner qi that embodied All Rivers Return to the Ocean.

Spinning mid-air, he spread his qi in a wide arc, creating a river-like current that deflected the incoming projectiles and sent them clattering to the ground.

Landing safely beyond the floor trap, he peered down into the hole.

Below, a bristling bed of swords and spears waited, looking like they’d hurt if he fell. Their gleaming blades were likely poison-coated as well.

“...What are you doing?”

When he turned around at the voice, martial artists had suddenly appeared and surrounded him.

A chilling tension hung in the air.

Chunbong and Namgung Suah were also staring blankly at Seojun with bewildered expressions.

“Uh... I was curious about how the mechanical formation felt?”

“...Do you know how much money that costs?”

“Is it expensive?”

“It’s a money-eating hippopotamus.”

“Oh fuck.”

Seojun smacked his forehead.

The Pavilion Lord looked at Seojun nervously.

It was apparent from seeing him break through the mechanical formation that he was more than a mere martial arts master.

Even though they had money, the Hao Sect was still the Hao Sect.

The Pavilion Lord, knowing full well the difficulty of stopping such a master couldn’t help but be tense.

Still, he didn’t show it. That was the only bluff a weaker person could show to a stronger one.

“This doesn’t seem to be purely mechanical, more so working in conjunction with qi. It’s cruder than I expected.”

“Higher-level mechanical formations are beyond even the Henan branch. It’s not just because of the cost, even with money they are not easily installed.”

“I see.”

Seojun placed his hand on the floor and let his qi flow.

Though he didn’t know much about mechanical formations, it seemed like it could be much better with just a few adjustments.

“Hmm... like this?”

Thump, when Seojun touched a spot, a sword embedded below the hole glowed faintly with qi and shot out like a beam of light.

Crash!

Seojun looked up at it as it pierced through the courtesan house’s ceiling and disappeared, then turned to the Pavilion Lord.

“How’s that?”

“How did you...?”

“Good?”

“Indeed. Now I understand why your title is Mad Hungry Wolf.”

“What the hell?”

And that’s how it went.

*After checking something, the Pavilion Lord let out an exclamation followed by a bitter laugh.

“I’m not sure whether to show gratitude or anger.”

“If you have to choose, gratitude is better.”

“Truly. In that case, thank you. I didn’t expect the performance of the mechanical formation to improve to this degree.”

It would cost several gold taels monetary-wise and even then they were uncertain anyone else could install such performance.

“Martial artists are a breed whom draw their swords at the slightest disagreement. We installed the mechanical formation after getting burned by those idiots a few times, but there were still fools who insisted on charging in even after being warned. I truly wonder why they even have heads, and how they’ve managed to survive this long with that level of intelligence...”

It seemed the Pavilion Lord had quite a lot pent up.

“...I’ve talked too much. Anyway, thank you. My lifespan might have increased a bit.”

“It was no problem. Let’s call it thanks for keeping it simple.”

“Haah...”

The Pavilion Lord sighed.

“This is a service.”

“Oh?”

A scroll fell from above.

As Seojun caught it, the Pavilion Lord said,

“This should be quite useful as a martial artist. It seems a war will break out soon between the Black Serpent and the Murim Alliance. It’s nothing major, but there’s some information about that written there.”