Chapter 54

Chohui (Sohui) was feeling uneasy because of the new traveling companion she had recently acquired. Why was she feeling uneasy? She was now in her early twenties, close to being an old maid, and as a newcomer to the martial world, she secretly hoped to meet many impressive men and perhaps even find a potential life partner among them.

Originally, she had been raised as a pampered daughter in the comfort of her home, with almost no interaction with others. Her family was a renowned martial family, so she had hardly ever encountered any impressive men besides her older brother. Therefore, she was in a pitiful situation.

However, a rather interesting creature, commonly referred to as a man, had become her traveling companion...

"Then, Sir Hero, are you a great martial artist?"

In response, the other party proudly answered,

"Of course! There are hardly any people in this world who are stronger than me."

'Unbelievable!'

"Then, Sir Hero, which martial school do you belong to?"

"My school isn't particularly important, so let's just move on. Lately, just hearing their names makes my blood boil, so I'd rather not mention them."

When the other party tried to gloss over it, she asked again,

"It seems you don't have a good relationship with your school?"

"You could say that. They try to kill me whenever they see me..."

"Have you been expelled...?"

"No, upon reflection, I haven't been expelled."

"Who is your master?"

"His name is Yubak. I don't know if he's still alive."

'I've never heard of the name Yubak. Then there's only one thing to check...'

"Then, what are your ultimate techniques?"

"Hmm, I don't really have any ultimate techniques, but I enjoy using the sword, and my specialty is the Supreme Sword Technique."

'I've never heard of such a ridiculous sword technique.'

"Besides that, what other martial arts have you learned?"

"Besides that? I've learned a lot."

"How much?"

"About ten thousand techniques? I can't even remember."

'Getting worse...'

"Then, among those, there must be some strong ones, right? For example, a few of them..."

"Hmm... the Asura Moon Steel Saber Technique, the Heavenly Blood Dragon Sword Technique, the Pure Hand Demon Technique, the Blood Hand Demon Technique, the Whirling Wind Willow Sword Technique, the Six Directions Sword Technique, the Great Clarity Sword Technique, the Great Void Dragon Crossing Sword Technique..."

'Wow, he's listing all the famous techniques from both the righteous and the evil schools. I'm speechless...'

As the other party continued to list sword techniques, she couldn't bear it any longer and stopped him.

"Enough... That's enough. My father has a deep connection with the Kunlun School, and I learned a bit of the Great Void Dragon Crossing Sword Technique by chance... Since you know it so well, recite the incantation once."

"Incantation? Let me think... What was the incantation again...? Haha, I forgot. I've memorized too many, so it's easy to forget. But the important thing isn't the incantation."

When the other party tried to gloss over it again, she pressed further,

"Then, is there any martial art you can confidently recite the incantation for?"

"Let me think... This one isn't it... Hmm... This one isn't it either... Ugh, it's been so long, I can't remember anything properly..."

'Sigh, how can he expect me to believe him? It's ridiculous...'

"Then, Sir Hero, have you read any books?"

"Books? Like the Thousand Character Classic?"

"No, I mean the Elementary Learning or the Great Learning."

"I read the Elementary Learning a long time ago. I read a few more, but it's been so long, I can't remember the titles. For a martial artist, reading this much is quite a lot."

'You should just admit you're ignorant, admit it!'

The reason Chohui asked if he had read the Elementary Learning or the Great Learning was that the Elementary Learning is the first book of sentences that children encounter after learning the Thousand Character Classic. It is a well-crafted book with simple sentences and is widely used as an introductory textbook for learning sentences. However, the fact that he had only read that much was astonishing.

'Given that he keeps saying it was a long time ago, could he be a master who has reversed the aging process? No way... But since I still don't know his true identity, I should confirm it again without being rude...'

"Sir Hero."

"What?"

"Try this once."

"Try this."

Muhyang noticed what she was trying to confirm and opened his mouth wide, showing his lovely yellow teeth, boasting about his long experience. In the case of a master who has reversed the aging process, everything might look young, but the teeth would not. This would reveal a clear difference from young people... However, Muhyang had made a mistake. He didn't realize that his teeth had all fallen out and grown back during a period he couldn't remember.

'What? His teeth are white. This fraud... Then it makes sense. Martial artists are people full of pride and self-esteem. If he were such a great master, he would have taken us along forcefully instead of letting my brother seal his acupoints and put handcuffs on him. I wanted to meet impressive men, but there's not a single one to be seen, and now I have to travel with this fraud. Sigh, my life is so pitiful...'

Since the conversation went this way, there was no need to treat this boastful fraud politely anymore. Even if she treated him a bit rudely, he seemed indifferent to such manners, so it wasn't difficult to get along with him. In Chohui's eyes, Muhyang's face was passable at best, but he was extremely boastful and acted as if he was the best in martial arts. From the perspective of someone like Chohui, who grew up in a prestigious family, he seemed like a real bottom-of-the-barrel person who bought a shabby, cheap sword from a blacksmith and carried it around, cheating ignorant and pitiful martial artists.

In the case of Choyeon and Chou, they were so tired of his boasting that they didn't even talk to him. However, Chohui, with her personality, felt sorry for him being completely isolated and decided to talk to him. She found it amusing to see him tell obvious lies, thinking he was clever, and asked him various questions. Since she was already bored, when Muhyang, encouraged by her interest, started to boast even more, Chohui laughed so hard at his shallow lies that she enjoyed the journey. Thus, the journey with this self-proclaimed greatest master and unparalleled musician began.

Originally, Muhyang was not a talkative person and could stay in a place with no one for months without feeling lonely. However, it was not pleasant to be left out when others were talking. So, when the cute young lady Chohui, who was not a stunning beauty but had a lovely face, started to talk to him, he found the journey quite pleasant. When he talked about his martial arts or past battles, she would laugh even in serious situations, which wasn't particularly pleasant, but her laughter was cute, so he tolerated it.

At first, Muhyang tended to look down on Chou as a young punk. However, as they spent time together, he was surprisingly impressed by Chou's considerable martial experience for his age and his thoroughness in everything he did. This was evident when he performed acupoint sealing.

Acupoint sealing is not just about hitting with force. It involves infusing one's internal energy into the opponent's acupoints to temporarily obstruct the flow of vital energy. The problem is that unless the vital energy is true inner strength, it will dissipate after a certain period, and a great master can also use techniques to dissipate the obstructing vital energy by moving their own vital energy.

Therefore, every morning, Chou would re-seal Muhyang's acupoints. He would carefully check if his internal energy remained in Muhyang's acupoints and then add more internal energy to the same points. This might seem hard to understand, but if the opponent were a real master, they might have broken through the sealed acupoints on their own or, in rare cases, moved the acupoints. So, if the acupoints for sealing and unsealing were swapped, the next day, what he thought was sealing would actually be unsealing.

Seeing Chou's attention to such minor details, Muhyang began to see him differently. However, after a few days, the young punk didn't seem to notice and was still underestimated.

On the fourth day of traveling with the great fraud, they arrived at an inn as usual in the evening. During their journey, they had heard that black-armored cavalry had been seen moving toward Tangchang in the south of Wushan. They were likely to pass through the Tangchang area and cross the Bai Shui River to enter Sichuan Province. Since they had a lead, they entered the town with a warm feeling, planning to find an inn, take a quick bath, and have a meal and rest.

The restaurant was not very large, but a few people were sitting at tables, eating. They took a seat at an empty table and ordered food. Muhyang, who could eat almost anything, had Chohui order all the food, and she looked around the inn, hoping to see an impressive man.

To her surprise, there was a handsome young man in the restaurant, sitting by the window, wearing a blue robe with elegant patterns, drinking Zhu Ye Qing (a type of alcohol) with simple appetizers. The sword with elaborate patterns next to his chair revealed that he was a well-off martial artist. He looked to be in his late twenties, with neither large nor small eyes, a straight nose, and a neatly trimmed mustache. His well-developed muscles, visible when he occasionally reached for his wine bottle, indicated that he had undergone much training. Chohui, who had been staring at him for a moment, whispered to Muhyang,

"Sir Hero, isn't that man really handsome?"

"Who?"

"The one in the blue robe."

"Hmm, I don't know... To me, he's just a flashy playboy."

Chohui, with a slightly stern look, scolded him,

"How can you say that when you don't even know him?"

"I just don't trust people easily..."

"That's a problem. You should be ashamed..."

Her words were interrupted. The handsome young man, who had glanced at them, got up and approached their table. He politely bowed and introduced himself.

"Hello, I am Jin Sochu, a junior of the Jie Jian School. I noticed you might be martial artists, so I took the liberty of coming over. How about we introduce ourselves?"

Given his polite approach, even if he were a ruffian, it would be hard to refuse. Moreover, the Jie Jian School, located in southern Shaanxi, was a small but renowned sword school. With two women of marriageable age, there was a chance of forming a connection, and they could also gather various information. So, they all welcomed him. Chou also greeted him with a bow.

"Ah, you must be Jin Sochu. I'm Chou. These are my younger sisters, Choyeon and Chohui, and that gentleman over there is Muhyang."

Jin Sochu, noticing that Muhyang was dressed differently and not in high-quality clothes, greeted him casually. However, when he saw the black handcuffs on Muhyang's wrists while eating, he seemed to perceive Muhyang as a criminal and ignored him.

"Ha ha, not a hero. If I, a junior of the Jie Jian School, were called a hero, everyone would scold me. Ha ha..."

"Indeed, you are very modest. So,