Chapter 249: Advent of the Divine Dragon (5)

– Waaaah!

• Uooooh!

  Cheers shaking the arena poured out.

  Of course, since Qing’s odds were very, very low again this time, countless dreams fell into the abyss. However, it was because the content of the match was more fantastic than such financial losses.

  Wasn’t it a legendary match where they watched breathlessly, visually witnessing Qing’s sunset-colored True Qi rising in all directions, and even the brilliant golden Force?

  They could boast about witnessing this thrilling match for the rest of their lives, so pride in witnessing a great event of an era arose.

  Yes. It was a great event of an era.

  A mere woman. And not from the Nine Great Sects, but a martial artist from a much lower-ranked small to medium sect.

  To emphasize again, a female martial artist at that!

  Combined, a female martial artist from a small to medium sect defeated the disciple of the world’s greatest Shaolin, the disciple of the world’s greatest expert!

  Moreover, that’s not all!

  The Divine Maiden Sect is a sword sect, and Ximen Qing is a swordsman!

  A swordsman who uses swords put away her sword and fought with fist techniques to shatter Shaolin’s divine arts and defeat the disciple of the world’s greatest expert.

  Of course, the ending was a bit unsatisfying, but to the eyes of commoners, it looked like Qing dominated the match with flashy evasions and long, extended lines.

  Even the gazes of masters were no different, so it was a match result everyone acknowledged except for one person in the world, Wolbong.

  The excited cheers didn’t subside the entire time Qing disappeared and passed through the passage below the arena, so hmm, though she didn’t think much of cheers, it seemed to make her feel good again.

  “My disciple was always excellent, but today you were even more excellent. Are you hurt anywhere?”

  “Of course not. You know how tough I am.”

  Qing insisted she was fine but ended with a sharp groan.

  It was because Ximen Surin poked Qing’s chest with her finger.

  “If it hurts, say it hurts. You foolish thing always saying you’re fine.”

  “Hehe, actually this body is weak to cutting or stabbing, but strong to being hit? It’s just some bruising, rather the impacts to the body are effectively defended by acting as a shield-“

  Bonk. Ximen Surin lightly flicked her forehead.

  “Since you don’t particularly care, this master’s mind is at ease too. When martial artists fight, anything can happen, so I was going to say don’t resent him even if he aimed for your chest and face, as it’s only natural.”

  Surprisingly, Ximen Surin didn’t have much resentment towards Wolbong’s attacks not sparing any body parts.

  Rather, she was more annoyed when he carefully avoided attacking severe vital points at first, thinking how can he distinguish between men and women when they’re both martial artists?

  So when Ximen Surin was treated as a woman, she would rather kick up between the legs, so the infamy of the Female Madwoman wasn’t undeserved.

  For this reason, when Wolbong gave his all, she rather thought it was good, that he was someone with the right mindset recognizing her disciple as a martial artist.

  Of course, it turned out he just didn’t treat her as a woman because he thought she was an ugly woman with a covered face, so he became a very, very detestable guy in the end.

  “Hmm. Now let’s do your makeup. We should give time to wash up and get ready before greetings, why such a rush. Tsk tsk. Really, the Murim Alliance is all men so they’re not delicate at all.”

  Ximen Surin clicked her tongue.

  After the semi-final match, there was an event to introduce the martial artists who advanced to the Hidden Dragon Martial Arts Competition finals to everyone.

  The reason participants in the Hidden Dragon Competition only came out with their origins and names was to focus on the match itself.

  So before the finals, a place was prepared to proudly reveal themselves before the world and raise their names.

  “Uh, do I really have to wear makeup? Since it’s a place to appear as a martial artist, shouldn’t I be martial artist-like-“

  “As this master has said many times, a master should be elegant and beautiful. Even that young monk said so, didn’t he?”

  Ximen Surin forced the beauty act on Qing.

  There is no male or female before martial artists.

  But there is beautiful and ugly.

  No matter how great a master who has the world at their feet, if their appearance and conduct are ugly, they won’t be recognized. It’s the same whether man or woman.

  They mock that since you’re ugly you should at least be excellent in martial arts, that you were born ugly so you have no relationships and holed up in shame so you could focus only on martial arts.

  Though they say they don’t distinguish between men and women, to be precise, female martial artists were treated much worse.

  Even an ugly man can become a master, get a beautiful wife, gather wealth and honor, and live extravagantly.

  But if an ugly woman becomes a master, it’s common to just live alone for life, saying they don’t want to live being beaten by a wife. It’s like saying they’ll do things deserving of being hit from the start, so this is how the world’s sentiment is.

  Ximen Surin said as she took out makeup tools:

  “Now. So shouldn’t you proudly show the world? That the next world’s greatest expert is such a beautiful woman.”

  —-

  Wolbong couldn’t raise his head.

  He was flustered by Qing’s beauty and dizzy with shame at his rising yang energy, so the words that came out were even more confused and shameful.

  “I’m sorry. Master, this humble monk was foolish and disgraced the sect and master’s name.”

  At this, Wuxue Dashi laughed heartily.

  “What are you saying? You fool. The one disgraced is your name and your face, why are you selling out the perfectly fine Shaolin and your master? Kuhehe, I knew this would happen, you fool.”

  “Master?”

  “Just because you lost in martial arts and were shamefully defeated as a human, does Shaolin give up being the world’s greatest sect? Does the Divine Maiden Sect suddenly become the world’s greatest sect? Does my realm go down because my disciple lost? I am still the world’s greatest Wuxue, so only you are tarnished, not Shaolin and your master, you idiot.”

  It was as he said.

  The person who was embarrassed was Wolbong, Wuxue and Shaolin were absolutely not at a level to be shaken by this, just as no matter how fierce the wind blows, Mount Tai just firmly holds its ground.

  “You were so arrogant that I thought you would be greatly disgraced someday. Why do we call ourselves foolish sentient beings? Isn’t it because we’re actually foolish? Since the foolish don’t listen when told, I kept quiet letting you experience it greatly. How do you feel?”

  “It’s… miserable and shameful…”

  “Well. Everyone carries one memory they want to erase in their heart. That’s enough, go prepare to greet the world with that face of yours. Tsk, that handprint on your head is so clear. Her hand is spicy like her master’s…”

  Indeed, the mark of Qing’s palm that struck down was very clearly imprinted like a brand from Wolbong’s forehead to his head and crown.

  “Master, how can I face the world after showing such an unsightly appearance? I’m afraid. I’m so afraid people will laugh and mock me.”

  “You fool, it’s not a big deal. Do you think a guy who’ll live over 50 more years will have his monk’s life stained with shame just from that one thing? When it passes it’ll just be a funny memory, so recall it often and blame your own shortcomings.”

  “But.”

  “Well. Since that child’s beauty is so outstanding, kuhuk, kuhahahat!!! Mara, you said Mara! What a masterpiece! Mara Papiya! Are you some living Buddha like Shakyamuni for the King of the Sixth Heaven of Desire to come down personally to tempt you! Kuhahat!”

  It meant even Mara only comes down personally to tempt someone like Shakyamuni, would he come down to tempt just one young Shaolin warrior monk?

  Wuxue Dashi burst into laughter saying this.

  At this, other Shaolin high monks also laughed or smiled or anyway mocked him, so only Wolbong was at a loss.

  “That’s why I say you’re arrogant. And when a person makes a mistake, they should rightly be embarrassed. Go and be thoroughly embarrassed. A man can make a slip of the tongue. Moreover, well, since that child’s beauty is not ordinary, the world might understand your feelings too, maybe, possibly, perhaps.”

  The long question at the end was a way of speaking meaning “or not”.

  With the master’s attitude like this, Wolbong’s shame also killed its raging momentum like a forest fire.

  “Go change your clothes. Don’t think about covering up by wearing a bamboo hat upside down. It would be uglier for the patrons closely attached below to see clearly and spread rumors, so it’s better to just bare it.”

  At this, Wolbong left to tidy his clothes with drooping shoulders.

  Only then did Wuxue Dashi mutter with a serious expression:

  “Hmm. But the Buddha’s Palm… What on earth could be given to match the value of that divine art? I would be making the mistake of putting a price on a priceless treasure…”

  —-

  As soon as Qing vs Wolbong’s match ended, there were people who suddenly stood up.

  Next was the introduction of the heroes of the Hidden Dragon Martial Arts Competition, and these were people who bought seats on the ship arena to see up close.

  The Murim Alliance was naturally a group that needed money too, so they showed a thrifty appearance of sucking every last drop when they could earn.

  As the Murim Alliance warriors directed people saying A seat, B seat, etc., people neatly filled up the ship arena step by step without disorder even amidst the complex event.

  Of course, this was not due to the Central Plains people’s excellent sense of order, but because the Murim Alliance staff were carrying swords.

  Listening well to sword-carrying guys was the virtue of this uncivilized era.

  Thus, starting from the very expensive A seats closest to the introduction stage (of course, standing seats), people filled up neatly.

  People who had no money or thought there was no need to see up close were just watching from the arena spectator seats.

  But even they thought, if we knew it would be like this, we should have spent some money to go down there while we came to watch.

  They were too curious about the beauty of the Divine Maiden Sect disciple who even bewitched a Shaolin monk.

  And so finally, starting from the early eliminations, the hidden dragons of the martial arts competition were introduced to the world as they revealed themselves.

  Not just their origins and names, but age, areas of activity and records, aliases if they had them, sect history if they had a sect, and master’s name if they had a master were introduced.

  This meant the introductions of those from vagabond backgrounds tended to be a bit lacking, but the truth was those vagabonds didn’t really have much to boast about in the first place.

  Wang Nopil and Ma Yeongjeon came up much later since they advanced to the top 8.

  At the place where the four eliminated from the top 8 stood in a row, Wang Nopil and Ma Yeongjeon looked at each other and shook their heads.

  Originally, the vagabonds had discussed and decided to reveal a slightly processed story about their entanglement with the Blood Cult to the world at this place.

  They thought to raise her name with tales of righteousness saving foolish vagabonds and bravely defeating the Blood Cult’s evil, leaving out only unfavorable stories that could spread rumors even if it was just one night, like Miss Ximen being captured instead.

  So after matching their stories. They asked Ximen Surin for permission, saying if they announced it like this, wouldn’t it not be detrimental to Miss Ximen at all?

  However, they just got hit with nuclear noogies saying not to do unnecessary things, so it ended up being forgotten.

  And then came Wolbong, the semi-final loser, and coincidentally appearing with him was the world’s most handsome man, the Jade Qilin.

  Shrill screams of “Kyaaak” shook heaven and earth, and many people frowned complaining of pain in their eardrums. Of course, many women also fainted.

  – Jade Qilin! I love you!

• Jade Qilin! You’re so handsome!

• Jade Qilin! Take my body and soul!

  The content was pure love, but it was shouted in piercing screams so even Wolbong standing next to him felt chilled.

  Feeling obsession bordering on demonic energy beyond love, Wolbong glanced sideways wondering if Hero Peng was okay.

  It seemed he wasn’t okay, as he was frowning while grinding his teeth.

  After Peng Daesan’s introduction who had the match first ended, it was Wolbong’s turn.

  Twenty-seven years old this year.

  Shaolin’s youngest Arhat monk.

  Shaolin’s young master with the world’s greatest expert Wuxue Dashi as his master!

  At the host’s shout, cheers of “Waaah!” enveloped the venue.

  At this, even Wolbong’s hunched shoulders could spread out a little.

  – Haha, you got a handprint stamped on your head instead of a Buddha seal!

• Forfeit! If you use up all your Inner Qi you should forfeit!

• Hehe! Now I’ll do my best!

  Of course, there were some mocking voices among them, but for Wolbong who had trembled in fear of just standing blankly in great shame while jeers poured out, it was a bearable level.

  And then, finally it was time for the long-awaited finalists to appear.