Chronicles of the Mad Demon - Chapter 64
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 64. Stench or Fragrance (4)
“A treasure.”
Hong Jun Ak did not withdraw his smile.
“Yes, treasures are meant to appear suddenly by nature. That’s also why treasure maps in Jianghu drive people mad without exception.”
“You’re not uncomfortable about moving locations unnecessarily, are you?”
“I am uncomfortable.”
“Is that so?”
“Of course. I’ve been pushing the main family’s cooks hard for several days to receive you. Do you know how much they suffered?”
“You only sent your son this morning, yet you’ve been doing that for several days?”
“I thought it was a destined meeting.”
Moyong Bi chuckled softly.
“Destiny, that’s good. As long as it’s not an ill-fated one.”
Hong Jun Ak neither hardened his expression nor showed any sign of displeasure.
“Well then, shall we have a drink over there on that rock?”
“Isn’t that fine?”
“Tsk, there’s a pavilion in the Family Head’s Office garden that’s ten times more beautiful than I am.”
“We’ll have another chance to see it later.”
“Hehe, that would be nice.”
Though they conversed with laughter, a strange tension could be felt.
Hong Myeong, who had been following behind Hong Jun Ak with his presence concealed as if existing yet not existing, inwardly clicked his tongue.
‘I have to acknowledge it.’
The boldness to say whatever he wants, appropriate or not, even in front of Father is not something one can easily possess.
Moreover, isn’t Father someone whose innate temperament itself has been strengthened thanks to ‘that martial art’?
“I’ll ask one last time. Will you really accept my cup over there? No matter how I look at it, my residence seems better.”
“I prefer over there.”
“Why don’t you at least take a look?”
His expression was the same, but his tone was subtly probing his opponent.
Moyong Bi’s smile deepened.
“Do you have something hidden in your residence?”
“I have beauty and comfort hidden away.”
“Not ruthlessness and cruelty?”
“Hehe, this is my home. I can be ruthless anywhere, and I can be cruel anywhere.”
It was a naturally occurring battle of wills.
Moyong Bi pointed at the rock with his thumb.
“If anywhere is the same, then be ruthless and cruel over there.”
“Hehehehe!”
Hong Jun Ak burst into loud laughter.
“Well, you got me there. Fine, let’s do that.”
He walked first, and Moyong Bi and Hong Myeong followed behind him.
The swordsmen had stopped training and stood in formation. They couldn’t pretend not to notice and continue training when the Family Head had come.
“What do you think?”
“About what?”
“About our swordsmen. I heard on the way that their training attitude didn’t match the main family’s atmosphere?”
“Now they’ll fit back in again.”
“What about your family? Do they stop training when the Family Head comes?”
“If they do such foolish things, they should be beaten until they cry out in pain.”
“Why is that?”
“What use are warriors who stop training when they don’t even have immediate business? Setting everything else aside, if they were truly immersed, they shouldn’t even know who came.”
“That makes sense.”
Hong Jun Ak spoke with a calm face.
“Do Gang.”
“Yes! Family Head!”
The instructor responsible for the swordsmen’s training straightened his back.
“Cut off one wrist.”
Do Gang’s face turned pale.
Hong Jun Ak’s expression remained unchanged.
“Shouldn’t you take responsibility for not properly training the swordsmen?”
The atmosphere immediately turned murderous.
As Do Gang hesitated, Hong Jun Ak’s eyes changed.
“Are you ignoring the Family Head’s command?”
“N-no!”
Shing!
Do Gang drew his sword and brought it to his left wrist.
His pupils, shaking as much as his trembling sword, were bloodshot in an instant.
Then, Moyong Bi spoke.
“Before that, shouldn’t the leader reflect first?”
“What do you mean?”
“How little attention have you paid to family affairs that you didn’t even know the warriors were in such a state? The leader’s fault comes before the warriors’ fault.”
Hong Jun Ak burst into laughter.
“That would make sense for a small family like the Moyong Family, but it’s not easy work even for a main family of our size.”
“Doing that difficult work is the leader’s role.”
“Oh?”
“Well, everyone can have different thoughts.”
Hong Jun Ak looked at Hong Myeong and asked.
“Young Master Murong says so, what do you think, Great Master Hong?”
Hong Myeong bowed and said.
“It’s an idealistic statement, but I think reality is different.”
Hong Jun Ak turned his gaze back to Moyong Bi.
“So he says?”
“The limitations of people who talk about reality are always narrow. Most such people have either developed a taste for excuses or are only interested in easy gains.”
Hong Myeong’s jaw tensed.
Hong Jun Ak, who had been looking at Moyong Bi with strange eyes, turned his head to Do Gang.
“He says it’s my fault before you all’s fault.”
“N-no! I am…!”
“Hehe, if you cut off your wrist, I’ll have to take my own responsibility too, and what good would that do?”
“Ah…”
“Sheathe your sword again.”
Do Gang bowed his head and sheathed his sword. Undeniable relief filled his face.
“From now on, don’t stop training even if you see me. Thinking about it, Young Master Murong is right too. You are the main family’s strength, so getting even a little stronger would be for everyone’s benefit, wouldn’t it?”
“I-I’ll keep that in mind!”
“Resume training.”
“Yes!”
Do Gang resumed training the swordsmen.
“Let’s go.”
“Let’s do that.”
Shortly after, the two men sat on the flat rock.
Hong Jun Ak unwrapped his bundle.
“It’s too far to bring delicious food, so I brought a few pieces of jerky that I enjoy.”
“That’s good.”
A fairly large and splendid-looking wine bottle was revealed.
Moyong Bi’s eyes sparkled.
“Five Grain Liquor, I see.”
“Huh, you know it?”
“Wasn’t I a well-known drunkard in Wuhan?”
“Haha! That’s true. Here, have a cup.”
The alcohol pouring out in a stream was truly lustrous.
“Would you fill my cup as well?”
“That’s not difficult.”
Moyong Bi filled Hong Jun Ak’s cup.
There wasn’t even a trace of courtesy to be found. The way he poured with one hand, as if serving a close friend, revealed his free-spirited nature.
Hong Jun Ak didn’t get angry at Moyong Bi’s attitude either.
“Let’s have a drink.”
Clink.
The sound of wine cups clashing was particularly clear.
Both men emptied their cups simultaneously, and “Kya!” sounds burst from their mouths.
“How’s the taste of the alcohol?”
“As strong as it is, the aroma is also good.”
“People are the same way. They say if you’re not strong, you’re not a real man. The fragrance that a true great man gives off is bound to captivate people.”
“Do you like men?”
“You also give off a similar fragrance.”
The corner of Hong Jun Ak’s mouth rose.
“Which makes you just as dangerous.”
With one cup of alcohol, a tense atmosphere rose again.
“This is the first time I’ve had a direct conversation with you, but I’ve seen you stumbling around completely drunk several times. Each time I thought, what a pathetic fellow.”
“I’m still pathetic now.”
“But that wasn’t it. You’ve been deceiving the world all this time.”
Hong Jun Ak’s eyes deepened.
An invisible aura was gradually, gradually pressing down on Moyong Bi.
“You defeated Sect Leader Hwang head-on? That’s not easy. At your age, it’s even more difficult, and learning martial arts of that level in a short period is absolutely impossible.”
“Do you think so?”
“If that were possible, there would be only one way.”
“This jerky is delicious.”
“Demonic Art.”
Moyong Bi, who had been chewing the jerky, filled Hong Jun Ak’s cup.
Hong Jun Ak didn’t pick up his cup. He just looked at Moyong Bi with deep, sticky eyes.
“If it’s not Demonic Art, it’s impossible. But looking at you now, I can’t read any traces of Demonic Art from you.”
“Can I take some of this jerky? I want to feed it to my sisters.”
“I’ll wrap up a bundle for you.”
“A generous person deserves respect.”
“Anyway, if you haven’t learned Demonic Art, then you’ve been training in first-rate martial arts for many years.”
Hong Jun Ak leaned his upper body forward.
It was like a snake extending its head.
“I heard you told that child Hwang In Hwa that there’s a secret place in the Moyong Family?”
“I did.”
“A fortuitous encounter?”
“It would probably be an uninteresting story.”
“Couldn’t I hear it as payment for the good alcohol I’ve served?”
“To hear another family’s secret history, shouldn’t there be at least ten bottles of Five Grain Liquor?”
“It’s already a story that came out once. I think one bottle should be enough.”
“Revealing the existence of the secret place and telling what’s inside it are different things.”
“Should I give you one more bottle of alcohol?”
“Aren’t you being too nice to the guy who beat up your son?”
Hong Jun Ak burst into loud laughter.
“You gave him a proper beating. That’s fine. If a man has no eye for people, he might get beaten. At least he saved his life, right?”
“You’re refreshingly straightforward.”
“Rather, I should be grateful to you. Thanks to that, my second son learned to fear the world, so he’ll grit his teeth and train hard from now on.”
Moyong Bi chuckled.
“Tell him to train hard and defeat his bloodline first.”
“…!”
Hong Jun Ak’s expression hardened completely.
“Are you referring to me?”
“How many years would it take to defeat the Family Head? And what would be the point of defeating his father?”
“….”
“Don’t they say there’s no younger brother like an older brother? Let him defeat his older brother first, then send him.”
“…Does Great Master Hong seem stronger than the second son?”
Moyong Bi, who had been quietly looking into Hong Jun Ak’s eyes, filled his own cup.
“My sisters will dislike it if I drink, but the aroma is so good I can’t stop.”
He avoided answering.
More precisely, by not answering, it was as if he had already said he knew everything.
Hong Jun Ak was inwardly flustered.
‘This bastard….’
Actually, he had thought something was strange from a little while ago.
‘Is he not affected by the Red Snake Qi?’
From when they sat on the rock, he had been fully unleashing his Red Snake Art, constantly pressuring with his aura.
An ordinary person would have prostrated themselves without even realizing it, and even someone with decent internal energy would have been intimidated and unable to make proper eye contact.
But Moyong Bi seemed completely unaffected by the Red Snake Art, with no problems in his words or actions.
And in the midst of this, he even read that the eldest son’s martial arts were stronger than the second son’s?
“What martial arts are you learning?”
“We’re not even kindred spirits, so isn’t it rude to ask so directly?”
“You seem like the type who doesn’t care about such things?”
“You saw correctly, but I don’t feel like telling you today.”
“Why?”
“That’s just how I feel.”
“That’s….”
“But what a strange coincidence.”
Moyong Bi’s face flushed.
“I’ve also become curious about the Family Head’s martial arts.”
A smile spread across Hong Jun Ak’s face again.
A slightly, just slightly awkward smile.
“Unlike you, I have a cautious personality, so I can’t tell you outright.”
“Are you hot?”
“Hmm?”
“Your face is gradually reddening, you seem to have a lot of heat.”
“Ah, from drinking alcohol….”
Moyong Bi turned his head toward Hong Myeong.
“Your son also has a lot of heat. He was sweating profusely even without drinking alcohol. In this cool weather.”
“….”
“He seems to have been born with a yang-strong constitution.”
Hong Jun Ak’s eyes narrowed.
“The eldest has a lot of heat.”
“He has such a yang-strong constitution that even internal energy can’t cool it down… If he learns martial arts suited to his constitution, he’ll grow into a tremendous master.”
“…”
“If not that, it would also be good to balance it with medicine strong in yin energy, wouldn’t it?”
My heart rate naturally increased.
It was an instinctive reaction that couldn’t be blocked with internal energy.
The moment I brought the cup to my mouth because I couldn’t openly swallow my saliva.
“By the way, the master of the Sword Family seems more skilled in palm techniques? Did you learn some good martial arts somewhere?”
Killing intent flared in Hong Jun Ak’s eyes above the wine cup.
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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