Sword God Reborn

Chapter 40 : Where Have I Seen You Before?

"Cheon Mubaeck, that guy. Is it really him?"

Baek Gong-yang, who had returned to his quarters, immediately pressed his subordinate.

"Well, seeing how he was talking with Cheon Mungyeong, it seems he is the youngest son..."

"Isn't it so different from what we investigated! They said he was a playboy who was so weak that he just played the instrument all the time. Where does he look like that?"

"But it doesn't seem like he has learned martial arts. I couldn't feel any internal energy at all."

"Do you really think so?"

Baek Gong-yang sighed. He was not pleased with his subordinate's answer.

There was no internal energy felt from the outside. Baek Gong-yang had continued to observe, but he could not feel even a little.

But it was a big mistake to rashly judge that he had not learned martial arts.

How many strange people were there in the wide martial world?

Among them, there were many who were innate in hiding their abilities.

Moreover, if he was a person of a higher realm than himself, it was almost impossible to grasp his internal energy.

'A master greater than me?'

In an instant, something welled up inside him.

That couldn't be.

'That brat. How could he be a greater master than me!'

No matter how he thought about it, it couldn't be.

It would be different if he were a successor of a prestigious family.

Wasn't he a child of a country escort agency that couldn't even be compared to the now-ruined Shaolin?

It was not a martial sect, nor was it a prestigious family.

It was just an escort agency.

The hypothesis that such a guy was a master of a higher realm than himself was unacceptable, even if it were true.

'If I had been a secular branch of Mount Hua or Wudang, not a ruined sect like Shaolin, I would be in a higher realm than now. I would have looked down on that guy Master Muso!'

His eyes were bloodshot.

Baek Gong-yang shouted nervously.

"Put more surveillance on the Azure Star Escort Agency guys! That guy named Cheon Mubaeck, he's no ordinary guy. I don't know what he'll do now that he's here."

"The head of the Arhat Hall has given a strict order not to approach."

"You bastard!"

When Baek Gong-yang shouted, the subordinate flinched and stepped back.

"Is your master me? Or is it the Shaolin that is just drunk on its past glory?"

The subordinate swallowed his saliva. In fact, it was a statement that would cause big trouble if someone heard it.

Wasn't the power of the Pine Truth Sect derived from the fact that it was a secular branch of Shaolin?

Although the operation of the Pine Truth Sect was independent as a secular branch, Shaolin was still above it. Although Shaolin did not interfere with the operation of the sect, its dignity was still alive.

But Baek Gong-yang did not care about such things. As if he had a hostility towards Shaolin.

"I understand. I will increase the surveillance personnel."

After the subordinate retreated, Baek Gong-yang finally caught his breath.

He took something out of his bosom with a slightly trembling hand. When he unwrapped the tightly wrapped silk, a red pill was revealed. Baek Gong-yang held it and looked at it with a hesitant gaze for a moment, and then swallowed it.

In an instant, something hot welled up from his dantian.

His eyes shone brightly.

"Shaolin... those guys who are stuck in their past glory. It won't be long now. It won't be long..."

A satisfied smile appeared on Baek Gong-yang's lips at the full yang energy he felt from his dantian.

* * *

"It smells."

"Are you a dog?"

"How did you know? I have a nickname, 'Dog Nose,' because I'm ridiculously good at smelling dangerous scents."

"How many nicknames do you have?"

"Huh? Just 'One-Eyed Snake' and 'Dog Nose'."

"Don't you have a nickname like 'Sluggard' or 'Slick-Tongued Mouth'?"

"No. Don't say strange things. Can't you just tell by looking?"

"Baek Gong-yang?"

"Yes."

"Right. It smells suspicious."

Neung-heo's voice became cautious.

"Could he have been won over by the Blood Demon Sect?"

"Well. What's the level of the Pine Truth Sect you've grasped?"

"Hmm. Although it's a secular branch, to be honest, it's a sect that has grown to the point where it can reign as the local hegemon. Its foundation is thick."

"Does it seem like it would be won over by the threats of the Blood Demon Sect?"

"Unless they give them a huge fruit, it's unlikely. Looking at the scale of the Pine Truth Sect, they're capable of having a go with the Blood Demon Sect, so it's unlikely that they were threatened."

Cheon Mubaeck slowly nodded his head.

"It's not connected to the Blood Demon Sect."

"...Then are you talking about those guys behind them, the Blood Ghosts or whatever?"

"There's a high probability."

"My goodness. What are those guys, to win over the Pine Truth Sect and even steal the escort item?"

"So the escort item is important."

"The escort item... an escort item that the Blood Ghost Valley, which was controlling the Blood Demon Sect and spreading the plague, would covet..."

Neung-heo stroked his chin.

Before long, his expression contorted.

"Damn it, shit. What is it?"

"I don't know."

"Don't you even tell the escort agency?"

"Of course, Master Neung. If it's an escort item that was requested confidentially, the escort agency cannot know about it."

"Ah... yes."

When Cheon Mungyeong appeared and said that, Neung-heo, who had been talking with great momentum, awkwardly trailed off.

Since he was Cheon Mubaeck's father, he was somewhat difficult to deal with.

Cheon Mubaeck bowed his head slightly to Cheon Mungyeong.

Cheon Mubaeck had already explained the circumstances to Cheon Mungyeong. Of course, he hadn't told him everything. He had left out the stories that didn't need to be told. Cheon Mubaeck had subtly revealed his martial arts skills, but he had not revealed the exact level.

"The Blood Demon Sect, the Blood Ghost Valley... it's a hard story to believe, but I can understand it to some extent. Then are we a kind of scapegoat?"

"Yes. While they are wasting their time investigating, suspecting the Azure Star Escort Agency, those guys will hide themselves."

"Eum. That's not a pleasant story to hear."

Cheon Mungyeong narrowed his brow.

"I thought someone was pulling some strings to bring down our escort agency, but we just happened to get caught."

A look of bitterness appeared on Cheon Mungyeong's face for a moment.

He had thought that someone had set a trap to bring down the Azure Star Escort Agency, but they were just a scapegoat that had happened to get caught. If the Azure Star Escort Agency had not accepted the request of the Pine Truth Sect, another escort agency would have been in this place.

"That's not necessarily the case."

"What do you mean, Mubaeck?"

"I heard that the Pine Truth Sect was also planning to start an escort agency business."

"...!"

Cheon Mungyeong's eyes widened.

"Is that true?"

Cheon Mubaeck looked at Neung-heo. This was information that Neung-heo had obtained through the Lotus Pavilion and the Black Heart Gang.

"Yes, Chief of the escort agency. The Pine Truth Sect had shown interest in acquiring a small-scale escort agency. But. They suddenly made a request to the Azure Star Escort Agency in the middle."

"Eum!"

Cheon Mungyeong let out a groan.

"Well, their interests must have aligned. The Blood Ghost Valley could steal the escort item, and the Pine Truth Sect would also draw a picture of acquiring the ruined Azure Star Escort Agency as if they were forgiving them. In the midst of it, they must have taken what they could from the Blood Ghost Valley."

Looking at Cheon Mubaeck, who was nonchalantly summarizing the situation, Cheon Mungyeong had a surprised expression for a moment.

In fact, from today, he had been feeling a slight sense of unfamiliarity.

When was he the child who had whined in his arms, but now he was showing a dignified and confident appearance.

Although it had only been half a year, Cheon Mubaeck seemed to have completely grown up.

There were even times when he felt like an old man in a young body.

'Jang-no said he had a genius talent for martial arts, so that might be true.'

He also had a quick wit and a good head. Since he was in the position of the Chief of the Azure Star Escort Agency. He realized that Cheon Mubaeck, who was using the Master of the Lotus Pavilion, Neung-heo, as his subordinate and had brought the Lotus Pavilion into the escort agency business, had an extraordinary talent.

'Huh. When did he grow up so much?'

As a father, Cheon Mungyeong was just proud.

Even if he felt a little unfamiliar, such feelings completely disappeared when he saw that gaze.

Wasn't the charming smile and gaze that had attracted everyone from the past still the same? Looking at that gaze and smile, he was still his cute youngest son.

"Then the escort item must be important."

At that moment, Neung-heo said carefully.

"Do you really not know what the escort item is?"

"The escort agency is a business that lives on trust. Since they wanted it to be confidential, there's no way to know."

"I would have peeked out of curiosity."

"It's not that there's no way to know at all."

At Cheon Mubaeck's words, the gazes of Cheon Mungyeong and Neung-heo turned to him.

"You can just ask someone who would know."

"Huh? Who? The Master of the Pine Truth Sect?"

"The abbot of Shaolin would probably know."

"...!"

Cheon Mubaeck said as he looked at the dumbfounded Neung-heo.

"Just go to anyone and tell them this. Is the Red Buddha Hermitage still red?"

"Pardon? What kind of nonsense is that?"

"..."

When Cheon Mubaeck glared at him once, Neung-heo hurriedly ran away.

And before long, when a message came from the abbot of Shaolin saying that he was looking for him.

Although Cheon Mungyeong and Neung-heo had surprised expressions, only Cheon Mubaeck stood up calmly.

As if it were a natural thing.

* * *

"I heard there was a small commotion."

"The youngest son of the Azure Star Escort Agency has come. But it seemed that the Master of the Pine Truth Sect, that person, had started a fight."

When the name of the Master of the Pine Truth Sect was mentioned, the Great Master Hyeryang let out a short sigh.

"I heard that he drew his sword?"

"That's not all. That person is really becoming more and more arrogant. Seeing him lead his martial artists and intimidate that young son, I can't tell if he's a secular branch of Shaolin or a thug from the black-way."

"Namu Amitabha."

The Great Master Hyeryang swallowed his saliva and chanted a Buddhist prayer. Master Muso said with a somewhat angry look.

"Abbot, no, senior brother. No matter how I think about it, it's suspicious. My eye for people is not as great as yours, senior brother, but I know well that Chief Cheon is not a person who would stage such a self-staged act. Moreover, don't you know what the escort item is?"

"If I had confirmed the escort item, I might have known."

"Even if they knew, if they were the culprits, they would have just known it as an ordinary Buddhist scripture. How would they know what it really is? Even if they knew, what would they use it for?"

Although the Great Master Hyeryang sympathized with Master Muso's words, he could not easily agree.

The circumstances and situation at that time strongly suggested that it was a self-staged act by the Azure Star Escort Agency.

But there were more than one or two suspicious corners. The behavior of the Pine Truth Sect was also suspicious. To be precise, the Master of the Pine Truth Sect, Baek Gong-yang, was suspicious.

"That person, Baek Gong-yang, has changed so much from two years ago."

"Eum!"

"His martial arts level is also the same. The level that had reached the beginning of the peak is now to the point where even I cannot easily guarantee it. It could be that he had suddenly raised his realm by devoting himself to training, but don't you also feel it, senior brother? That ominous energy. That is not the internal energy of our Shaolin."

The Great Master Hyeryang sighed inwardly.

"Please investigate more. The Pine Truth Sect is a sect that has continuously provided financial support for over 40 years even after Shaolin entered seclusion. Although there is a little suspicion, until the exact truth comes out... it is our secular branch."

In fact, for the current Shaolin Temple, the secular branches were quite important.

After suffering a devastating blow in the righteous-demonic war, Shaolin had reached the brink of annihilation. In the end, they had made the extreme choice of seclusion, and in the meantime, many secular branches had left.

Most of them had been annihilated during the righteous-demonic war, and the remaining sects had also disappeared without being able to recover.

The Pine Truth Sect was the strongest sect among the remaining secular branches.

Therefore, casting a suspicious eye on the Pine Truth Sect was something that had to be done with the utmost caution.

The Great Master Hyeryang tried to chant a Buddhist prayer and changed the subject.

He mentioned the reason why he had come to this place today.

"The youngest son. Cheon Mubaeck... is that his name? What kind of young man does he seem to be?"

Master Muso was lost in thought for a moment at the question of the abbot of Shaolin, the Great Master Hyeryang.

He had only met him for a very short time.

He had not been able to have a deep conversation. He could not completely grasp what kind of person he was. But still, his first impression remained in his memory.

"He's a very handsome young man, but in fact, thinking about it now, he has a unique feeling."

"Unique?"

"Yes. He was receiving the momentum of the Pine Truth Sect by himself."

"Has he learned martial arts?"

Master Muso tilted his head with a reluctant face.

"That... I don't know. That person, Baek Gong-yang, was having a war of nerves with him, and even in the midst of the momentum of the martial artists behind him, he was nonchalant, but I could not feel even a little bit of internal energy from that child."

"That means..."

"Either he really has no internal energy, or... he is stronger than me."

The Great Master Hyeryang let out a groan. Master Muso was currently the strongest martial artist in Shaolin. It wasn't for nothing that he was in the position of leading the Arhat monks.

But Cheon Mubaeck was stronger than such a Master Muso?

Yes, being strong was not a problem. But if it was really the doing of the Azure Star Escort Agency, would Shaolin be able to punish the Azure Star Escort Agency?

'To think that Shaolin has come to worry about such things...'

The Great Master Hyeryang let out a sigh inwardly at the aftereffects of the righteous-demonic war.

'Moreover, he mentioned the Red Buddha Hermitage. The Red Buddha Hermitage.'

That was a name that an outsider could never know.

Because it was something that only the abbot of Shaolin knew.

He tried to calm his complicated mind and looked straight ahead. Just then, the Cheon Mubaeck he had been looking for came.

"..."

The Great Master Hyeryang could understand to some extent why Master Muso had said he was unique. Because Cheon Mubaeck had opened the door and had just stood there, looking at him without a word.

The age difference between the two was close to that of a grandfather and a grandson, so it was a huge age difference, and if he had learned martial arts, his generation would also be far apart.

Then wouldn't it be basic to bow his head and greet him as soon as he entered?

The Great Master Hyeryang, who had experienced such a uniqueness for the first time, was at a loss for words for a moment. To the point where Master Muso was flustered and said a word.

"Young Master Cheon, this is the abbot. Please be polite."

But even so, Cheon Mubaeck was silent for a long time and then tilted his head.

"Where have I seen this face before?"

(End of Chapter)