Chapter 147: Round of 32 (1)

The Ice Palace martial artist had vanished without a trace.

It was absurd.

Escaping the scene in the brief instance between the incident and martial artists converging should have been impossible.

Especially with the Great General’s corpse discovered inside the building.

The idea that someone could kill the Great General and escape in such a short time was preposterous.

The bewildered martial artists searching the area reached an inevitable conclusion.

The culprit is definitely still here!

Convinced of this, they immediately gathered everyone in one place.

The most suspicious weren’t the martial artists who had come here to assist, but the Imperial Family members themselves.

The Ice Palace martial artist had probably slipped out among the crowd before the building’s demolition.

“If there are any unfamiliar faces here, raise your hand immediately!”

The martial artists surrounded the Imperial personnel, voices sharp with command.

The Imperial members glanced around nervously. Unfamiliar faces?

“I-I’ve never seen this person before!”

Someone raised their hand, but was immediately contradicted.

“You idiot! You don’t recognize someone who’s worked in the Imperial Family for ten years?”

“Different departments, I suppose… My apologies.”

Time passed, but no culprit emerged.

The martial artists had no choice but to resort to their final option.

“Under these circumstances, we have no choice. Extend your wrists. We need to examine your qi.”

“Absolutely unacceptable!”

Ju Yangil’s face twisted with fury.

“Examining Imperial Family members’ inner cultivation? That’s far too discourteous.”

“Yet what choice do we have? An Ice Palace master is hiding amongst us, a master who assassinated the Heavenly Yang Great General!”

Though Heavenly Yang Great General Ju Cheoryuk had been overwhelmingly crushed by Seojun, no one dared question his true skill.

For those below Transcendent Realm, this was natural, and any Transcendent Realm master unable to recognize another’s abilities was simply incompetent.

Some genuinely mocked him, but surprisingly, most were indeed incompetent.

Of course, Ju Cheoryak being relatively underestimated among people was unavoidable.

Even so, he was a Transcendent Realm master. Anyone capable of assassinating such a master in such a short time couldn’t be ordinary.

“How about we do this way?”

The Abbot stepped forward.

“Let the Prince examine these people’s inner cultivation, and in turn, he can be examined by that Eunuch Bureau agent.”

One of the Transcendent Realm martial artists objected.

“But Abbot, if there are two or more culprits, this method is meaningless. Both the Prince and the eunuch could be disguised enemies.”

“How dare…!”

The Eunuch Bureau agent erupted, but the martial artists seemed to agree with the objection.

“Indeed…”

“You’re suspecting the Imperial Family!”

“We’re not suspecting the Imperial Family. We’re questioning whether you’re truly Imperial Family members.”

“The Imperial Family will never submit to such nonsense!”

The Eunuch Bureau agent’s voice cracked with protest. Then the Prince, who’d been listening quietly, stepped forward.

“…In that case, examine my qi, and I will examine the other Imperial Family members.”

“Y-Your Highness…!”

“Enough, Admiral. Under these circumstances, we have no choice.”

The Third Prince straightened his spine, meeting the Abbot’s gaze.

“However, this discourtesy must be addressed later.”

“So be it.”

The Abbot brushed it off and grasped the Prince’s extended wrist.

Examining his qi didn’t take long. The Abbot released the Prince’s wrist and shook his head.

“It is certainly the Prince himself.”

Inner cultivation couldn’t be faked. To use the White Ice Divine Art, evil qi had to be woven into one’s cultivation.

To hide that, one would have to conceal all inner cultivation entirely, but among those present, only servants hadn’t cultivated inner arts.

And no one would object to examining servants.

Thus, the Prince and Abbot finished examining everyone.

But still, no culprit was found.

“Where the hell did they go…”

Seojun, who’d been pondering, spoke up.

“Since we’ve come this far, how about examining everyone here too? They might be hiding among us.”

“But that’s…”

Everyone looked uncomfortable.

At times like this, someone needed to step forward first.

Seojun boldly approached, extending his wrist to the Abbot.

“Come on, what weird stuff would the Abbot do? If he messed with my qi and blood here, Shaolin would be demolished.”

If nothing else, his father-in-law would come running for that.

What could be gained by twisting someone’s qi once? Honestly, that wasn’t worth risking his father-in-law unleashing the Sword Form of the Emperor in the center of Shaolin Temple.

Hwangbo Jun’s eyes trembled.

Didn’t that man definitely use demonic qi…?

So why is he so confident?

Could this be… something he had already coordinated with the Abbot?

Hwangbo Jun’s mind grew complicated as Seojun casually offered his wrist.

After examining his qi, the Abbot exclaimed softly.

“Remarkable! Such pure qi. Only someone with upright character could possess such a qi.”

Hwangbo Jun couldn’t help but despair.

Good heavens! Since when has Shaolin’s Abbot become so skilled at deception! It’s the end times! The martial world has truly fallen!

Regardless of Hwangbo Jun’s internal lament, martial artists began following suit one by one, offering their wrists.

Many remained reluctant to the end, but refusing here risked being suspected as Black Serpent spies.

All personnel completed their examinations.

Even the Abbot was examined by Sage Heo Do of Wudang.

Yet still, no Ice Palace martial artist was found.

Only then did the martial artists realize.

“Seems they’ve already left.”

“Tsk… How the hell, what method did they use?”

“Must be someone extraordinarily skilled in stealth techniques.”

“To lose the opportunity like this…!”

Their disappointment weighed heavy, but it couldn’t be helped.

“Let’s return for now. Dawn is breaking.”

“Another agenda item for the meeting.”

“The entire orthodox faction has been made fools of by Black Serpent. This matter cannot be overlooked.”

“The Ice Palace must be held accountable!”

Thus, the Heavenly Yang Great General murder case concluded unsolved.

When the incident fizzled out, Seojun headed to the Namgung Clan courtyard house with the courtesans.

Several martial artists had cornered him to exchange greetings before he could leave. It was exhausting.

“Seriously though, none of our people showed up.”

Four Transcendent Realm masters housed in the Namgung Clan courtyard house, yet he’d been the only one to appear.

As he grumbled while walking, one courtesan stepped forward as their representative and bowed.

“Thank you, Great Expert… We truly thought we were done for…”

“I just dump problems on other people, so save your thanks for whoever gets dealing with this later.”

“How many would look after mere courtesans in that situation? We are sincerely in your debt.”

The courtesans smiled coyly, perhaps out of habit from their line of work, but slightly trembling.

Was it shock from being near-death? Or were they simply cold from inadequate clothing? Hard to tell.

Since he had money to spare anyway, he bought them outer garments from a nearby fabric shop, causing the courtesans to bow repeatedly again.

Hmm.

Actually, weren’t these women suffering because of that bastard Baek Seojun?

Although he didn’t know much about Baek Seojun, Seojun as a person of true moral character felt truly guilty.

“Would you prefer working at an Anhui brothel or as Namgung Clan servants?”

“P-Pardon…?”

Me, a mere courtesan, becoming a Namgung Clan servant?

After receiving grateful praise from the courtesans delighted by this dramatic social elevation, Seojun triumphantly returned to the Namgung Clan.

Dawn was breaking, sun just peeking over the horizon.

Jang Geuk spotted him entering and tilted his head curiously.

“My lord, what about those women behind you?”

“Formerly courtesans, currently servants?”

“What’s that supposed to…”

As Jang Geuk scratched his head, Seojun clicked his tongue.

“Before all that, there was a commotion last night and you didn’t think to come check?”

“Commotion? What commotion?”

“You didn’t see anything?”

“You mean the fire in the sky?”

Fire in the sky. Not wrong.

Seojun nodded.

“Yeah, that. You just went to sleep after seeing it?”

“Wasn’t that something you did, my lord?”

“What?”

Wait what? How’s he know?

Startled, Seojun stared at Jang Geuk.

Jang Geuk chuckled.

“I figured you’d caused some trouble.”

“Haha… What’re you on about?”

Shit. What a scare…

When Seojun shook his head, Jang Geuk suddenly glanced around, then approached and whispered.

“Actually, I was going to check it out.”

“But you said you thought I’d caused trouble.”

“No, when the sky suddenly lit up, I was going to investigate, but the Fist King said something.”

“What did the old man say?”

“He said that it was probably Lee Seojun causing trouble anyway, so we might as well sleep.”

“Oh…”

Is this what they call elderly wisdom?

Seojun couldn’t help but admire such insight.

Wait, thinking about it, I didn’t actually cause trouble. Technically, it was Baek Seojun’s fault.

“Sheesh, that old man needs to stop being so paranoid.”

“Exactly as I said.”

It was pretty fun gossiping together.

Still, he couldn’t continue long. These women needed someone to oversee them.

They stood behind him, fidgeting uncertainly.

“You ladies can report to the maids here for now…”

“Yaaaawn…”

Just then, Chunbong strolled out with a huge yawn. Namgung Suah was with her.

Since Chunbong couldn’t possibly wake at this hour naturally, Namgung Suah must have awoken her.

“What’s this? My Chunbubbie getting up this early? What’s the occasion?”

“Morning training… for the Dragon Phoenix Tournament…”

With her eyes barely open, she wobbled over before suddenly noticing the women behind Seojun and snapped alert.

“Huh?”

Chunbong’s suddenly widened eyes scanned the women quickly.

Outer garments over thin, revealing clothes underneath.

Courtesans?

Having reached this assessment, the corners of Chunbong’s eyes curved dangerously upward.

“Hey you, these people are… hmm?”

Sniff sniff. Chunbong’s nose twitched.

A fishy smell wafted from those women. What was this scent?

Unfamiliar, yet she’d encountered it before. Probably during her back-alley days…

Ah, right. A smell she’d encountered a few times near red-light districts.

The scent that usually came from… men and women who’d had sex.

“You fucking bastard?”