novelraw Chapter 177 : Be Careful of a Handshake
Chapter 177 : Be Careful of a Handshake
The martial world, which had been quiet for a while, was recently heating up with one story.
It was related to the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult, which had unified the martial world 10 years ago and had suddenly returned to Xinjiang.
In a certain inn.
"Have you heard that rumor?"
"Are you talking about that rumor?"
"Yes! That very rumor!"
"Do you think that rumor is true? Or do you think it's fake?"
The inn, which had started with a question from one person, quickly began to heat up.
"I think it's true! Hasn't the Divine Cult already proven itself!"
Another person next to him, who had gulped down his drink, refuted.
"Hey! What Divine Cult are you talking about! The martial world has also become stronger than back then!"
A person in the back refuted with a louder voice.
"Hey! Still, the strongest is the Divine Cult!"
Another person offers a different opinion.
"They won't be a match for the three swords of the Righteous Faction, the rising stars these days."
Another person refutes.
"If the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult moves, they will be taken care of at the level of the deputy leader."
Various opinions are intertwined.
"You scoundrel! Why are you defending the Demonic Cult so much! Are you a spy for the Demonic Cult!"
"Spy or not, they won't be a match even if just one of the Demonic Cult's leaders comes out."
The story about the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult, which was spreading without any substance, was being talked about more among ordinary people than martial artists. In such a situation, a new piece of news was added.
The Heavenly Demon Divine Cult had released information about the kindergarten.
The heads of the Five Great Families had gathered.
Namgung, Dangmun, Zhuge, Hwangbo, and Paengga.
The Sword King of Namgung places a piece of paper on the central table.
Everyone's gaze turns to it.
[Introduction of Kindergarten Instructors]
-Basic Physical Fitness Class Instructor
-Sa Cho-hon
-Experience, former executive of the Chaotic Heavenly Society.
-Now, he has turned over a new leaf and is serving as the head of the external affairs department at the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult.
-Martial prowess, Profound Realm.
-Characteristic, one-armed.
-Basic Mind Art Class Instructor
-Braha
-Experience, former executive of the Chaotic Heavenly Society and also served as an executive of a foreign force.
-Now, he has turned over a new leaf and is serving as the head of the internal affairs department at the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult.
-Martial prowess, Profound Realm.
-Characteristic, can talk to birds.
-Basic Swordsmanship Class Instructor
-Yoo Soo-ah
-Experience, former young leader of the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult.
-Now, she holds the position of Wusang and several other concurrent positions.
-Martial prowess, Profound Realm.
-Characteristic, Heavenly Dragon Sacred Bone.
-Basic Martial Arts Class Instructor
-Soma
-Experience, former young leader of the Blood Cult.
-Now, the Blood Cult has been absorbed by the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult, and he holds several concurrent positions in the Divine Cult.
-Martial prowess, Profound Realm.
-Characteristic, Heavenly Killing Star.
-Other special instructors.
-The leaders and deputy leaders of the Divine Cult, external guest instructors, etc. are on standby.
The heads of the five families gathered here had all undergone a generational change, so they were all under the age of forty.
The head of the Namgung Family opened his mouth first.
"I never thought they would actually do something like this. Did you also receive an offer?"
The head of the Zhuge Family answered.
"I was also asked to give a special lecture."
"Did they make the same offer to you?"
The Sword King, Namgung Byeok-geom, asked, closing his eyes and recalling that day's events. The Earth King, Zhuge Mo, also closed his eyes tightly as if recalling that day's events and answered.
"That's right."
Namgung Byeok-geom glanced at the three family heads who had not yet opened their mouths. The three of them also had their mouths tightly shut and their eyes closed.
"You also received an offer."
"Ugh..."
"Ugh..."
"Ugh..."
The three of them let out a groan at the same time.
"The result will be as expected."
Among the three, the head of the Dangmun Family, the Poison King, opened his mouth first.
"One day, a person who said he was from the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult came to Dangmun. He made me one offer. He said that if I fought him and won, he would grant me one of my wishes. Instead, if I lost, I had to grant him one request."
At the Poison King's words, the Saber King of the Hebei Paengga and the Fist King of the Hwangbo Family nodded as if they had promised and opened their mouths.
"He came to me too."
"The same goes for me."
The Poison King opened his mouth again.
"I agreed to his words and fought with everything I had as the Poison King. And I lost."
The Sword King, thinking that if it were the person he was thinking of, even if everyone here rushed at him, they would not be able to win, asked.
"The offer you received was probably the content written at the end of this paper, 'Can you come out as an external guest instructor?', right?"
The three... no! The four answered.
"""""That's right."""""
The head of the Zhuge Family, who had been listening since the beginning, opened his mouth.
"And he made me this offer. 'If you want to get the Righteous Faction back, come to the Divine Cult and prove it. If your disciple stands at the very top of the Divine Cult, you will get your old glory back.'"
The Earth King looked at the Sword King.
"I know that you have a connection with the Divine Cult. Is that right?"
"That's right."
"Then, you must also know who he is who came to see us. Is that right?"
"I know."
"Then, you must also know to some extent whether what he said is true or false. Is that right?"
"I don't know about that. But this one thing is certain. That he will not do anything that will harm the martial world."
The meeting of the five kings of the martial world continued all night. And as time passed, a third piece of news was delivered to the martial world.
[Kindergarten Entrance Exam Date]
-64th year of the Myongwang calendar, the eighth day of the fifth month.
-The place is in front of the main gate of the Divine Cult.
* * *
The Murong Family.
Murong Yoo's mind was in chaos due to the many things that had happened in the past few weeks.
The Murong Family, which he had known as a Righteous Faction, was actually a branch of the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult, and his mother, whom he had thought was the Sword Empress, was the Sword Demoness.
And more than half of the martial artists in the Murong Family were warriors of the Divine Cult, and the other half were warriors related to the Divine Cult.
"Is this for real?"
Surprisingly, all these facts were true.
Murong Yoo was now in front of the family head's hall.
A friendly voice was heard from inside.
"Yoo-ya, if you've come, come in."
Murong Yoo opened the door and went inside. It was not the appearance of his mother who was always looking at documents.
A feeling as if he were looking at a single well-forged sword.
It was the appearance of his mother as a martial artist after a long time.
Murong Yoo, in a different tension than usual, gulped.
This is my mother's true form.
'She's so cool!'
Murong Yoo bowed with all his respect.
"Murong Yoo greets the family head."
Murong Seryeong, with a very disappointed expression, opened her mouth.
"Yoo-ya, you don't have to do that when we're alone."
Murong Yoo, who had slightly raised his head, grinned. Because no matter how much the atmosphere had changed, the fact that his mother was his mother had not changed.
"Yeah!"
"Come here and sit."
When Murong Yoo sat down, Murong Seryeong asked abruptly.
"Have you thought about it?"
"But, can I do it well?"
"Of course."
"But you know, mom. How I'm called in the family."
"You mean the rumor about being a half-wit?"
"Yeah. Honestly, prodigies and geniuses from all over the country will flock there, so how can I survive there?"
"If you don't want to go, you don't have to."
"Really?"
"Yes. But I want you to see a wider world and become a bigger person. And maybe you can find your talent in the Divine Cult, which you couldn't find in the Murong Family."
The Murong Family is large.
It's enough to affect the entire northern region, so no further explanation is needed.
But if you ask, 'Is its influence greater than the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult?', even Murong Yoo, who knew almost nothing about the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult, could shake his head.
Because the influence of the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult affects not just the northern region, but the entire martial world.
"Mom, can I ask you just one thing?"
"What is it?"
"Dad, is he in the Divine Cult now?"
"Yes. He is doing a very important job."
"Can I meet him if I go to the Divine Cult?"
"Of course."
Blink.
Murong Yoo closed and opened his eyes. His trembling gaze was no longer trembling.
"I'll go."
At this rate, he might disappoint her.
Because he was a half-wit who couldn't get out of the third-rate no matter how hard he tried.
Nevertheless, there was a reason why he had to go.
Murong Yoo had always wanted to know.
What on earth was that job that was so important that he didn't come to see him and his mother.
Whether he had abandoned him and his mother.
Or whether his dad was actually not a big deal.
If he met him and he wasn't coming for a really useless reason.
'I'll beat him to a pulp.'
On the eighth day of the fifth month of the 64th year of the Myongwang calendar, Murong Yoo left the family.
* * *
In front of the main gate of the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult.
Murong Yoo looked around.
He was momentarily dazed by the countless crowd.
Honestly, he had expected a lot, no, quite a lot to come.
Because the opportunity to see the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult, which was only full of rumors, was rare.
But he had never imagined that so many people would flock here.
Just then, Murong Yoo's gaze was looking at one place with surprised eyes.
"Is that!"
A place where people were more densely packed than other places.
A huge flag was fluttering there.
The blue cloud that pointed to the Namgung Family.
The person in the center was a kid who looked to be about the same age as Murong Yoo.
"Divine Star Namgung Cheon."
The young dragon of Namgung who had proven his genius at a young age.
Murong Yoo's gaze turns to another place. Soon, to another place, and then to the side, and then to the back, and then to the side-side, and then to the front-back-back-back-side-front, and then he just rolls around.
Because wherever he looked, there were geniuses and prodigies he had heard of somewhere.
"Should I just go back home?"
He was the only one who had come here alone and simply. His mother and grandmother had said they would go with him, but he had insisted that he was not a child anymore and would go alone.
It was then.
"Are you alone too?"
Murong Yoo turns his head at the sound from the side. There was a girl.
"I'm alone too. For your information, my mom said she would come with me, but I refused."
Murong Yoo, for some reason, said this, being compared to the surroundings.
"Wow! Me too! My dad treats me like a total baby! Even though I'm all grown up! So I came secretly!"
Murong Yoo approaches the girl. The girl peeks up at him.
Murong Yoo was shorter than his peers.
Although he ate well and trained hard, for some reason, his growth was slow.
Since his mother was tall, perhaps the cause was that his father was short.
The girl was about three fingers shorter than Murong Yoo.
'She looks like a baby at a glance.'
Murong Yoo wanted to say what he was thinking, but he remembered his mother's request that he had heard someday.
-Yoo-ya, women sometimes like lies more than the truth.
"You understand. That's how adults are."
"Wow! You're the first! The first one who didn't call me a shorty!"
It was a nickname that was a perfect fit, no matter who had made it.
Murong Yoo forcibly held back the laughter that was about to come out.
'Ugh! If I laugh here, it will be like admitting that that child is a shorty!'
Then the girl would be sad!
"N-Nice to meet you. I'm Murong Yoo. And you?"
Murong Yoo barely held back his laughter and was able to continue the conversation.
"I'm Paeng Yoo-ran! Let's be friends!"
"You're Paeng Yoo-ran?"
"Yeah!"
He had heard of her.
No! If you live in the martial world, you couldn't not have heard of her.
One of the Five Great Families, the Hebei Paengga.
The precious daughter there.
The Hebei Paengga was famous for being full of men more than other places.
Even among the direct line, more than 90% of the members were all men.
Then one day, a youngest daughter was born in the Hebei Paengga.
Looking closely, a huge saber as big as her height was tied to Paeng Yoo-ran's back.
Is that the famous Great Ring Saber?
Paeng Yoo-ran extended her hand.
"Let's be friends!"
When Murong Yoo was still, Paeng Yoo-ran asked.
"Why, you don't want to?"
Gulp.
It wasn't that he didn't want to. Murong Yoo had always wanted to make friends of his age since he was in the family.
But the friend that Murong Yoo had wanted was just an ordinary friend.
The Hebei Paengga mostly possesses divine power according to their bloodline.
This becomes thicker as you go up the direct line, and even among the direct line, it is classified into three according to the degree of divine power possessed.
The lower-grade one-divine power.
It's about lifting a weight of 10 guan before the age of 5.
The middle-grade two-divine power.
It's about lifting a weight of 20 guan before the age of 5.
The upper-grade three-divine power.
It's about lifting a weight of 30 guan before the age of 5.
And the Paeng Yoo-ran in front of him was the possessor of the highest-grade four-divine power.
A monster who had lifted a weight of 50 guan before the age of 5.
Wouldn't my fingers break if I held that?
(End of Chapter)