Moorim Pochang - Chapter 85

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 85. Departure (1).

Kang Jo closed his eyes again and sank into deep sleep.
Thud…! Ouch…!
When Yang Jung’s cry rang out once more, fury began to surge toward the crown of his head.
“Fine. I’m awake now anyway, and dawn’s practically here—let’s have some real fun, you bastard.”
Bang…!
Sensing danger, Yang Jung kicked open the door and bolted outside.
At the same moment, Kang Jo unleashed his Body Technique.
Whoosh…
“Stop while I’m still asking nicely.”
But Yang Jung paid no mind and deployed his Lightness Skill.
Whoosh…
In an instant he vaulted over the fence and his figure shot upward.
As he bounded from branch to branch, the Grassy Field came into view.
‘Should I hide in the grass?’
He glanced back to see his brother closing the distance at tremendous speed.
‘Too late.’
“Brother…! Just this once, please spare me…!”
“Stop, you wretched creature…!”
Descending into the Grassy Field, Yang Jung trampled the grass beneath him as his figure shot forward.
“If you promise you won’t hit me, I’ll stop right now…!”
“If you stop now, I’ll only give you five strikes.”
Whoosh…

*

Deep night patrols and watches were always drowsy and exhausting.
Yawn…
A warrior of the Murim Alliance standing guard atop the Fortress Wall let out a long yawn.
“I don’t know why I’m so tired tonight.”
Dawn was already breaking, and the eastern sky cast a faint glow, so the surroundings weren’t truly dark.
He let his eyes drift vacantly across the wide Grassy Field below the Fortress Wall.
It was the same sight he saw every day.
“Hmm?”
Then, far out on the Grassy Field, something seemed to be moving—a dim, indistinct shape.
Rubbing his eyes and looking closer, hazy silhouettes appeared and vanished repeatedly.
They moved and disappeared so quickly that he wondered if he were merely seeing things.
‘Could be an enemy attack.’
He moved to report it at once.
But then a faint voice carried from the Grassy Field.
“Please…save me, brother!”
His companion on watch also heard the faint voice and looked down at the Grassy Field.
“Enemies…! It’s a sneak attack from enemies…!”
He cried out recklessly toward the interior of the Murim Alliance.
Having been ambushed by Hyeol-gyo so many times, he had no time to look closer.
Dong…! Dong…! Dong…!
Soon the alarm bell rang out across the Murim Alliance.
The skilled personnel just stirring from sleep heard the bell.
They hurriedly gathered their weapons and rushed outside.
Cho Yak, already prepared for departure, raised her voice the moment they emerged.
“Open the gate…!”
Creak…
The instant the massive front gate of the Murim Alliance swung open, Cho Yak and the skilled personnel were already pouring through.
“Watch for enemy ambushes…!”
With Cho Yak at the head, the skilled personnel swept into the Grassy Field, encircling it.
But nowhere were any enemies to be seen.
They spent nearly half an hour searching the Grassy Field but found nothing before returning to the Murim Alliance.
“Did you see the enemy clearly?”
At Cho Yak’s question, the martial artist who had warned of the ambush hesitated.
“That is… I only heard a voice.”
“What sort of voice?”
“It sounded like someone pleading for their life, but… I’m not certain.”
Pleading for their life?
The faces of the skilled personnel filled with confusion.
Krkrkr… hahahaha……………!
Yet Baek Won-yeong threw his head back and burst into laughter.
He’d been worried about his younger brothers, but it seemed those fears were groundless.
‘Thank the heavens they’ve returned to their old selves.’
Yeon Ja-seol smiled as well.
Once his laughter subsided, Baek Won-yeong turned his gaze to Cho Yak.
“They are brothers of the Guest Inn, so do not concern yourself.”
The skilled personnel and martial artists were taken aback.
“This is absurd… I can hardly speak.”
“You mean to tell me they played such a prank right in front of the Murim Alliance, of all places?”
At their reaction, Baek Won-yeong’s smile faded.
“The brothers of the Guest Inn settle their matters through martial contests—it is their way. Do not fault them for it. The loser pays a steep price.”
Yang Jung was no doubt being beaten by Kang Jo again by now.
Yet seeing this repeated endlessly, one had to admire his perseverance, at least.
*

‘There are far too few guests these days.’
Even the skilled personnel from the Murim Alliance, who used to show their faces often, had not visited in quite some time.
Still, preparation was always necessary, so he took up a basket and left the kitchen.
The estate lay desolate.
The pavilions that had stood before were completely burned down, and Yang Jung, who had spoken of rebuilding them, was nowhere to be found.
As he stepped into the forest, a faint presence made itself known.
How long had that madman been waiting for him to appear?
He couldn’t help but laugh, though a chill ran down his spine at the same time.
‘That lunatic.’
Kang Jo picked up a stone and hurled it into the tall grass.
Whish…
Immediately, Yang Jung sprang up like a grasshopper.
“Why do you keep throwing stones at me?”
“Words are less effective than stones. You’ll have to concentrate harder to avoid getting hit.”
“Please just speak to me instead.”
Kang Jo ignored him and searched for wild herbs.
Summer’s heat had finally passed, and leaves were beginning to turn yellow with autumn’s approach.
As he dug up bellflower roots and picked mushrooms, he sensed a presence creeping closer.
‘This bastard never learns.’
Suddenly irritated, Kang Jo tightened his grip on the stone in his hand.
Whiiish….
The moment the stone flew through the air, Yang Jung’s Body Technique flared to life.
But it came just a moment too late, and the stone struck his thigh.
Thwack..! Aagh..!
Yang Jung’s rising form tumbled back into the forest.
“You’re being too rough!”
A plaintive cry erupted from the woods.
“Too rough? What are you talking about, you fool? I told you to do it properly.”
When Kang Jo raised his voice, Yang Jung limped out of the forest with a bruised face.
“I really can’t understand this… How do you always find me like some kind of ghost, even when I’m using Concealment? How?”
Yang Jung was utterly baffled.
He had become so skilled at concealment that even field mice rode on his back without noticing him.
Sensitive wild animals failed to detect him, yet somehow his brother found him every time.
Kang Jo regarded him with eyes of utter disdain.
Though clever enough, the man was a fool.
He still believed his skill lay only in perfecting concealment itself.
The more skilled one became at the Concealment Technique, the more natural it grew to sense those who used it.
“Keep at it. One day you might actually fool me.”
“…………….Yes.”

*

Cho Yak surveyed the dozen or so skilled personnel arrayed before her.
She had given them fifteen days to prove themselves, and now came the moment of reckoning.
Yet she had already marked three of them in her mind.
Two were from Jamryong-hoe, and one from Seongma-dan.
“Begin.”
The moment Cho Yak’s words fell, the skilled personnel drew their weapons in unison and unleashed their martial arts.
Swish…swish…whoosh…
In the silence, only the sound of blades cutting through empty air echoed out.
‘As I thought, they’re falling a bit behind the others.’
The three marked fighters were certainly superior to young warriors of the same age elsewhere.
But here, they belonged to the weakest tier.
The skilled personnel lowered their weapons, yet Cho Yak said nothing.
‘What should I do?’
There was no question—they would either die or drag their companions down with them.
She could not cast them out carelessly, for they came from prestigious families.
To be expelled from here would be a shame they would carry their entire lives.
Especially the fighter from Ma-gyo—that shame might drive him to take his own life.
“You’ve all grown steadier, but there’s still far to go. What I despise most is when someone’s weakness puts their comrades’ lives at risk. From now on, when you find yourselves outmatched, resolve it alone—don’t drag your companions into it.”
The words were cruel, cutting through any mercy.
Yet none of the skilled personnel dared contest her.
“Continue.”
Having finished, Cho Yak shouted to the other fighters.
“You others—begin as well.”
Whoooosh……
Whoooosh……..
As if waiting for that command, the fighters launched themselves outward from the Murim Alliance in a unified display of movement.

*

Chong-gwan climbed onto the Fortress Wall.
The sky beyond the breaking dawn was clear, scattered with stars.
Already on the ramparts stood skilled personnel from Jamryong-hoe and Seongma-dan.
Not all had come, yet well over ten were present.
Shin Pung-gae sat among them on the wall, gazing down at the Grassy Field.
Chong-gwan opened his eyes wide, piercing through the dim pre-dawn darkness with his gaze.
As he heightened his Eye Technique thus, two columns of Dust Storm rose from the Grassy Field.
The winds swept across the yellowing grass and passed through.
Ah….
Chong-gwan exhaled softly in admiration.
Mmm….
The skilled personnel released their held breath as well.
Two forms crossed the Grassy Field at lightning speed, scattering and converging, scattering again and reappearing.
“Truly remarkable.”
“Infuriating as he may be, his Lightness Skill is genuinely superb.”
Hehehehe……….
Shin Pung-gae smiled at their praise.
It felt as though he himself were being complimented.
‘The successor of Gaebang ought to be at least this level.’
Already five days running, and he continued to paint such a spectacle—no wonder it captured the attention of the skilled personnel and Chong-gwan.
But the guards keeping watch were having a miserable time.
Every dawn brought this nonsense, and their nerves were fraying to the breaking point.
“How many days has it been now? This bastard………..!”
A faint shout drifted up from the Grassy Field.
“This is the last day, I promise! Really, I mean it…!”
More cries echoed faintly in their wake.
‘Should I call them amusing? Peculiar, perhaps?’
Chong-gwan found himself chuckling despite himself.
In all of Gangho, these were the only ones who didn’t bother to gauge the Murim Alliance’s reaction.
Yet that didn’t mean they were disrespecting the Alliance.
If they truly despised the Murim Alliance, they would have scaled the Fortress Wall.
Instead, they simply dashed back and forth between the forest and the Grassy Field in endless repetition.
‘They say her cooking is remarkably skilled—perhaps I should grab a meal at the Guest Inn myself. Though a silver coin seems rather steep…’

*

Chong-gwan delivered his report with a grave expression.
“Word has it that Eon’s Great Master was openly beheaded in the street, Alliance Leader.”
Killing him was natural revenge, of course.
But the method had been savagely cruel.
“According to Gaebang’s investigation, Master Kang could have killed Eon’s Great Master early on, yet he merely wounded him and let him go repeatedly. Rumors of Eon’s Great Master’s beheading in the street have already spread far and wide.”
Baek Moon-do’s complexion darkened as well.
The man deserved death, certainly, but the Eon Family held one of the pillars of the Gangho Martial World.
It was as though vicious men had encountered someone even more vicious and retreated in fear.
“What of the Eon Family’s response?”
“Remarkably, they have abandoned their pursuit of revenge and sealed their gates.”
“The Eon Family, you say?”
Baek Moon-do asked in astonishment.
The Eon Family’s nature was so ruthless that they would never relinquish vengeance.
And to seal their gates, no less?
Gate Sealing meant the family would take no part in any affairs of Gangho.
They would accept no visiting guests, send out no disciples—the gates of the family itself were sealed shut in declaration of this isolation.
“Yes. I was startled as well, but Gaebang confirmed it multiple times.”
“Understood. If there is nothing else, you may withdraw.”
At Baek Moon-do’s words, Chong-gwan hesitated for a moment before speaking with difficulty.
“Intelligence suggests the Moyong Family has also sealed their gates.”
A long sigh escaped him.
Baek Moon-do could not stop sighing.
He had anticipated the Moyong Family’s gate sealing to some degree.
With their son fallen to Hyeol-gyo, they had lost all face to show the heroes of Gangho.
“And yet they are a family of a Hundred Heroes…”
His heart ached for the Moyong Family.
“Devote all efforts to locating Hyeol-gyo’s main base.”
“Understood, Alliance Leader.”

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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