Chapter 33
Chapter 33
Menghua rolled her eyes slyly.
'That young brat must be the one with the highest status. The rest must be his subordinates.'
Having grasped the hierarchy, Menghua spoke to Baekji in a sweet voice.
"I will bring up the girls who are good at the fox dance."
"Are you kidding me?"
Baekji flared up.
"What? What do you mean..."
When Menghua asked back, Ajok, Senior Oh, and Jang Sam shot up and rushed at her.
It was to stop her from asking back, but Menghua misunderstood it as an attack on her.
Menghua spun around, untied the sash around her waist, and swung it. The soft sash made a whooshing sound like a stiff whip.
"Whoa!"
"Get away!"
Ajok, Senior Oh, and Jang Sam were no longer just servants.
They quickly retreated or ducked to avoid it.
The table was overturned, and the courtesans screamed and fled. In an instant, it became a chaotic mess.
Baekji lifted the table in front of him, quickly moved it back, and said, "Oho! As expected, a suspicious brothel."
Baekji tore at a chicken leg and ate it, pleased. It seemed something would come out if he dug deeper.
Menghua swung her sash, pushed back Ajok and the others, and shouted, "Who are you brats? Reveal your identities!"
"You don't know me? I should be quite famous."
When Baekji took a sip of wine and asked back, Menghua snorted.
"How would I know a brat like you?"
"Hmm. You don't know me? That's a shame."
"That's right. I'm sorry for not recognizing you, but who on earth are you to be causing a ruckus?"
Since Baekji didn't know who he was either, he had nothing to say.
"For now, kneel there. I have something to ask after I fill my stomach."
Menghua was dumbfounded.
"Hmph! You crazy brat! This place is backed by the White Mountain Sect. Do you want to die?"
Ajok interjected.
"Hey, get a grip. We are the White Mountain Sect."
"What?"
"We are the disciples and guards of the White Mountain Sect Master."
Menghua glared back and forth between Baekji, Ajok, and the others. Baekji was just eating and drinking, listening.
'These brats are the White Mountain Sect?'
No. Menghua knew Bai Renguang's face and the situation of the White Mountain Sect.
"Hohoho."
Menghua threw her head back and laughed loudly, then stopped abruptly and said, "Don't you think you're too naive?"
"Miss, what are you talking about?"
When Senior Oh politely received her words, Menghua said with a cold expression, "Even when you're scamming, you need sincerity and effort. But you young brats are trying to get a free ride, so I'm so dumbfounded that my nose is blocked. Study, study. That's how you can scam. Did you think I would say, 'Ah, you've come?' if you impersonated the White Mountain Sect?"
"A scam? Do I look like a scammer?"
"Bai Renguang has no disciples. His son is his only disciple and heir."
"Bai Renguang is no longer the White Mountain Sect Master. Our Grandmaster is the White Mountain Sect Master."
"Hmph!"
Menghua snorted.
"The White Mountain Sect Master has changed? A passing dog would laugh at that."
"Believe me. I am Senior Oh."
"Senior Oh? What stray dog bone is pretending to be a senior? You look like a farmhand from some house, and you're a senior? Ke-ke-ke. I've been in the water trade for over twenty years. I can tell your origins just by looking at you."
'Gasp! How did she know?'
When Menghua correctly guessed his origin, Senior Oh was inwardly surprised. He tried to compose his expression and said, "Ahem, miss, you have a rougher mouth than you look. Where do you see a servant in me? Just look at these clothes..."
"You must have stolen them. I don't know where you brats stole those clothes from, but it would be best for you to go to the government office and turn yourselves in."
Ajok asked with a serious expression, "Why do you think we stole them?"
"Hohoho. Look at you brats. Your clothes are flashy, but you don't have a single accessory, do you? A person who wears such clothes would have at least a jade pendant at their waist. No matter how much you brats try to hide it, you can't hide your lowly status."
"Ah, I see."
Ajok was serious. It was Ajok's dream to learn writing and martial arts and rise in the world.
He was wearing good clothes that cost several hundred taels a set, but when the other person immediately recognized him as a servant, he was curious how she knew.
Menghua rambled on.
"Look at you brats' hands. They're the hands of manual laborers."
"This is from practicing martial arts..."
"Do you think I can't distinguish between hands that have practiced martial arts and hands that do manual labor?"
"..."
"A person has a certain air about them that they exude without knowing it. Look at how you brats act. It's so natural for you to be servile to that young brat. Is that brat your master? What on earth is that brat?"
Menghua subtly tried to find out Baekji's identity. Baekji had a different atmosphere from Ajok and the others. From his words and actions, it was clear that he had lived a rather arrogant life.
Ajok and Senior Oh were having other thoughts.
'To rise in the world, I have to get rid of my servant-like nature!'
'To have the dignity of a great hero ingrained in my body, I have to try harder.'
Jang Sam didn't care whether he was a servant or not.
"How dare you call my master 'this brat' and 'that brat'?"
As Jang Sam rolled up his sleeves and approached, Menghua stealthily backed away. After a brief exchange, she knew that Ajok and the others' martial arts were not to be trifled with. She might be able to handle one, but if three of them attacked at once, her escape route might be cut off.
'If the servant brats are this strong, that young brat must be even stronger. He must be a direct descendant of a prestigious family or a disciple of a major sect. I should escape for now and then...'
Seeing Menghua, Baekji said, "She's trying to run away. Catch her."
Baekji said.
Although Baekji's order was given, Ajok, Senior Oh, and Jang Sam hesitated.
Although they had learned martial arts, they had never fought properly before.
Moreover, the thought that the opponent was a woman made them reluctant to strike.
Menghua did not know such circumstances.
'A preemptive strike!'
Thinking that she had to attack first before they attacked together, she swung her sash mercilessly.
Pa-pa-pang!
When energy waves exploded from the soft cloth, the surprised Ajok, Senior Oh, and Jang Sam dodged here and there.
"Tsk, tsk, pathetic brats. What have you learned all this time?"
Baekji clicked his tongue.
Senior Oh grumbled, 'Try fighting with iron weights on your arms and legs.'
Ajok and the others were wearing the iron weights that Baekji had given them on their arms and legs. Their movements were inevitably sluggish.
Jang Sam, seeing Baekji's disappointment, threw himself forward resolutely.
"Yiik!"
Jang Sam went in front of Menghua and tried to grab her sash.
The sash, like a living snake, avoided his hand and wrapped around Jang Sam's stomach.
Menghua smiled triumphantly and was about to pull the sash and throw Jang Sam.
Jang Sam took a horse stance and held on.
"...!"
Jang Sam and Menghua pulled on both ends of the sash and stood in a tense standoff.
"What are you doing! Why aren't you attacking?"
Jang Sam shouted at Ajok and Senior Oh, who were watching.
"It is not right to attack a woman together. It is even more wrong to launch a surprise attack from behind when you are fighting one-on-one."
Senior Oh put forward a justification.
The practical Ajok was different. He quickly approached Menghua from behind.
"Hmph!"
Menghua grabbed the sash with her right hand and took out a dagger from her waist with her left hand, aiming it at Ajok.
Ajok said, "There seems to be a misunderstanding. Just do as you're told. Otherwise, you'll be in real trouble."
"You crazy brats! To look down on the Hongmeng Brothel."
The sound of people coming up from below with a 'thump, thump' was heard.
"You brats would do well to kneel obediently."
As soon as the words were finished, strong men rushed in.
"Are these the bastards?"
Menghua was annoyed.
"Why are you so late? Do I have to deal with brats like these? Beat them until they're half-dead and then drag them to the back garden."
When Menghua released the energy she had put into the sash, it slipped from Jang Sam's waist.
Having retrieved her sash, Menghua was about to leave.
Senior Oh blocked the door, bowed his head, and put his right hand to his forehead. He had a troubled expression.
"Miss, you cannot leave like this. Please consider my position, as I must follow my master's orders. This must be our fate."
When Senior Oh spoke with a greasy tone, with an expression as if he were carrying all the worries of the world, Menghua's anger shot up to the top of her head.
To call her 'miss' over and over again, when she was already past middle age and on the decline.
She thought he was deliberately teasing her.
"You crazy brat! Do I look like a miss to you? I'm old enough to be your aunt, you bastard!"
"What does age have to do with it between a man and a woman... whoa!"
Menghua rushed at him and, as if a cat were scratching, aimed for the vital points on Senior Oh's chest with both hands.
Senior Oh retreated and blocked with both hands, but Menghua's hands quickly brushed past.
Senior Oh's sleeves were torn, and blood lines were drawn on his forearms. A stream of blood spurted.
"A-heuk. My clothes."
Senior Oh retreated, clutching both arms. He was heartbroken that his sleeves were torn.
"I just bought them..."
Ajok shouted, "Get a grip. This woman is a master!"
"Hmph! You just realized? What kind of stray brats dare to come to the Hongmeng Brothel and cause a ruckus?"
Menghua glared venomously and then said to the escort warriors, "What are you doing? Why aren't you catching these brats?"
At Menghua's words, the escort warriors rushed at them.
Ajok, Senior Oh, and Jang Sam confronted them.
The fifth floor of the brothel turned into a battlefield.
Although Ajok and the others had learned martial arts, they had almost no real combat experience.
But they were not at a level that the escort warriors could handle. As they gradually got used to fighting, the number of escort warriors falling to the floor increased.
Menghua watched the battlefield and frowned.
'Their skills are quite good. Where on earth did these brats come from? But why are these brats doing this? What's wrong with the fox dance?'
Then, a thought suddenly occurred to her.
'The master that Sister Hongyan talked about must be that brat!'
Hongyan had said that when she went to the White Mountain Sect, there was a master who recognized the Nine-Tailed Jade Shattering. She had said he was a young brat, but his martial prowess was immeasurable.
Because of that, Hongyan was temporarily in hiding.
Menghua examined Baekji.
No matter how she looked at him, he didn't seem to be a master of that level.
'Did Sister Hongyan lie? That can't be.'
The two had lived together for half their lives with the moniker 'Twin Demons of Hongmeng'. Although Hongyan looked young, it was thanks to her learning the 'Youth Retaining Art'. In reality, Hongyan was older.
Menghua was not foolish.
She did not ignore Hongyan's words.
"Catch that bastard first!"
Menghua pointed at Baekji. As the escort warriors rushed at Baekji, she threw herself out the window.
"Where do you think you're going!"
Baekji threw himself.
"Keo-heok!"
"Keok!"
The rushing escort warriors were thrown back.
Boom!
The entire wall flew away.
Baekji caught Menghua by the scruff of her neck in mid-air before she even landed on the ground.
Menghua twisted her body and scratched Baekji's arm with her right hand, but her own fingernails broke instead.
Thwack!
Baekji hit the back of Menghua's head, knocking her out, then landed on the ground, and then shot up again and returned to the fifth floor.
Baekji returned to the head seat, threw the unconscious Menghua next to him, and drank his wine.
"Wow! Even if Guan Yu were to appear in person, he wouldn't be able to follow in my master's footsteps."
Ajok was amazed.
The time it took for Menghua to escape and for Baekji to catch her was truly the blink of an eye.
The escort warriors didn't even think of moving at Baekji's martial prowess.
Baekji looked at the escort warriors standing like statues and frowned.
"What, you guys? What are you doing, stopping in the middle of a fight?"
"..."
"Why don't you finish the fight?"
"Ah, no!"
"I said, fight."
(End of Chapter)
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