Chapter 385: Runaway

An unfamiliar ceiling.

That was the first thought I had when I woke up. From the sunlight that came in through the window, it seemed to be around noon.

I immediately sat up. I needed to figure out my current situation.

However, when I tried getting up by using my hand as support…

“Agh…”

I had to put my hand on my forehead because of a sudden headache.

Huh? Why does it hurt so much?

…Wait.

I looked around the room and realized I had never seen it before.

It seemed to be a room of an inn, but it didn’t seem to be the White Forest Inn that I was staying at.

After checking around, I remembered what happened right before I lost consciousness.

I remembered my father’s fist right in front of my eyes.

Did I faint after getting hit?

Isn’t that a bit too embarrassing…?

I went all out and tried using the Heaven Destruction Art, but I was taken down in an instant, in a single blow, before I could even use it.

I even hyped myself up before attacking, which only made it more embarrassing.

Moreover…

I lost… does that mean I don’t even get any answers from him?

The fight was necessary to learn of my mother’s whereabouts.

All I had to do was land one hit, but I failed.

Not only that, Father even said he wouldn’t use one of his arms.

Despite the advantage I was given, I was still defeated by him.

Though it was obvious that I was going to lose.

I never believed I would win against him, but I didn’t think I would lose in such a humiliating way.

Father’s level was just way higher than I imagined.

While faltering, I got up from the bed.

The first things I had to figure out was how long I was out for and what happened after I fainted.

Then…

“Hmm?”

I felt a strange sensation as I stretched my arms outwards.

Someone else was lying down on the small bed I was on.

“…What…?”

I quickly retrieved my hand in shock. Who was it? Who was lying on my bed?

My head stopped thinking and began to spin.

As far as I knew, there were only two people that would secretly sneak into my room while I was asleep.

No… was it three?

Anyway, the person that would most likely do such a thing was…

Namgung Bi-ah.

She snuck into my room from time to time, though recently, she hadn’t been doing so.

But she was the only one that would do such a thing.

I hesitatingly pulled the blanket off.

What if Namgung Bi-ah was here?

I mean, what could I do? I’ll just scold her like always and we’ll go downstairs to eat-

“Hmm…?”

I was expecting to see bluish white hair, but instead, it was black.

Black hair…? Who had black hair again?

“Ugh…”

Their voice was strangely rough as well.

At the very least, I knew that it wasn’t a female voice.

Was I hearing things because I just woke up?

As I dumbfoundedly sat still, not knowing what to do, they stood up after noticing my presence.

“Ugh… Is it mornin- Agh!”

As soon as I saw the bastard that slowly got up from my bed, I instinctively kicked him.

Because of my sudden attack, he fell from the bed.

“Ugh…! Help, a Taoist is getting beaten up!”

The bastard that screamed in pain was Woo Hyuk, the Water Dragon.

“…What the?”

Why was this bastard here? And why was he topless?

His muscular body entered my sight which annoyed me.

How did I feel, you ask? Is there even a point in asking that question? Any guy would feel disgusted by waking up in the morning besides another guy.

I suppressed my disgust and spoke to him.

“Why are you here?”

I really became kind huh.

The old me would have spoken with my fists first, but I now learned to ask a question first.

“What do you mean why am I here? People obviously sleep on a bed- …Put that hand down. Why are you clenching your fist?”

Though of course, my patience didn’t last long. After all, I was barely managing to hold back.

While trying my best to hold myself back, I responded to Woo Hyuk.

“I’ll count to three.”

“For what?”

“I’ll give you three seconds until I start beating you up. You better respond before time is up.”

“Why are you acting like you’re kind when you are only giving me that much time? That’s unfair!”

His statement only made me more speechless, as he did the exact same thing in my past life.

I ignored the bastard’s reaction and started counting with my finger.

“One.”

“Wait a minute. Why do this, aren’t we friends? There’s no need to become violent, you know?”

“Two.”

“Hey! Can you at least let me hold a sword so I can fight back? This is so unfair!”

Woo Hyuk looked around in panic, but there obviously wasn’t anything he could use as a weapon.

“People should learn to talk it out, you shouldn’t rely on your fist first…!”

“Three. You bastard, come here- “

“I ran away!”

Pause.

I stopped right as I was about to grab Woo Hyuk’s head.

What did he just say?

“…Ran away?”

“Yes. I ran away and- Agh!”

I couldn’t hold back and smacked Woo Hyuk’s head.

He screamed and then looked at me with a frustrated expression.

“Why did you hit me even though I told you!”

“Sorry, but how could I hold back when you start speaking nonsense?”

There couldn’t be anything more nonsensical than this.

He ran away? These words shouldn’t ever come out from a bastard that left his own clan to stay in the Wudang Sect.

Moreover, I only found it harder to understand as a person who knew his real name.

“…What do you mean by running away?”

“Put your fist down first. What do you not get? I obviously ran away from Wudang Sect.”

He didn’t even mention his own clan.

To be fair, it was understandable, as Woo Hyuk despised that place.

“Does that mean you are leaving the Wudang Sect?”

“Are you crazy? My Dantian would be fucked if I did that. It’s just temporary, and I’ll go back one day…”

I didn’t know about other places, but generally speaking, if a martial artist is affiliated with a Sect and no longer wishes to be affiliated with it, the Sect would retrieve all of the martial arts and Qi they accumulated from that place.

In extreme cases, they also shut down the martial artist’s Dantian.

I let out a sigh and asked Woo Hyuk a question.

“Why did you run away all of a sudden?”

“…”

“One…”

“…Jeez, aren’t you impatient.”

“Tell me now.”

When I urged him to speak, Woo Hyuk hesitated and sealed his lips, not saying a word.

It seemed like he didn’t want to tell me. Usually, I wouldn’t have pushed him any further…

“Two.”

But today, I was in a bad mood.

Woo Hyuk quickly spoke when my hand started to slowly gather Qi.

“It’s a protest.”

“Protest?”

“Yes… a protest.”

“What are you protesting?”

I wondered what he was talking about.

Him running away was his way of protesting?

Woo Hyuk had an awkward smile on his face despite my repeated questions. I already knew he wouldn’t tell me. If that bastard Woo Hyuk ever had that smile on his face, he was never going to speak.

If things have gone that far, he wouldn’t speak on it further, even if it meant his death.

Tsk. I clicked my tongue and asked him a different question this time.

“Fine. Whether it’s a protest or runaway, it’s fine. But, why are you here?”

I understood that it was a personal problem, but I couldn’t understand why Woo Hyuk was in the same room as me.

Woo Hyuk smiled brightly as if he was waiting for this question.

Smiles from handsome bastards always pissed me off.

“Ah that? It’s because I don’t have any place to stay ever since I ran away.”

“Oh, and?”

“I didn’t run away for just one or two days you see.”

Woo Hyuk spoke with a cheerful smile.

“So for the time being, I plan to let myself into your- …Hey wait! I’m kidding, I’m kidding! Extinguish that! The whole building will burn down!”

When I created flames with an ominous smile, Woo Hyuk quickly waved his hands and tried to stop me.

“Right? You were just joking, right? I’m glad. I might’ve burned you into ashes if you weren’t.”

“What a violent way of using your words…”

Woo Hyuk complained. Did this bastard really plan to stay in my house?

Woo Hyuk smiled after seeing my annoyed expression.

“Don’t worry. I was half-kidding. I actually have a place to stay.”

“That’s good to hear.”

“Are you not even going to ask where it is…? That’s a bit cold.”

“You’ll tell me even without me asking.”

Woo Hyuk wore a shocked expression after hearing my calm response.

“You surprise me in times like these you know? Were we perhaps close friends when we were young?”

“Now you’re just talking nonsense again.”

“I’m just fascinated by how much you know me. Others don’t know nearly as much as you do.”

“Just tell me already. Stop trying to change the subject.”

Woo Hyuk frowned at my firm tone.

“I heard you are planning to head to Sichuan.”

This time, I was the one who was shocked.

“How do you know that?”

“Hmm? Master Cheol told me.”

Woo Hyuk informed me who he had heard it from..

It happened to be Cheol Jiseon of all people.

…I swear to god, the next time I see you, I’ll…

Our Jiseon has a looser mouth than I thought huh? I’m so going to kill him…

While I internally boiled in anger, Woo Hyuk continued to speak.

“My master happens to be there as well. So how about we travel there together? I plan to stay there.”

I became confused after hearing Woo Hyuk.

His master?

This bastard had a master?

I was under the complete assumption that he learned from his seniors like Yung Pung.

Did he have other relationships like Gu Ryunghwa has with the Sword Queen?

This was the first time I heard anything like this.

The Water Dragon’s master huh.

Moreover, they are in Sichuan too?

“They often travel from place to place, and they happened to be in Sichuan at this time.”

“You had a master?”

“Well, yes. Though I didn’t really learn much from them… Oh, you might know them. They are relatively famous after all.”

“Who is it?”

Were they that famous? It was stranger that I didn’t know about the fact that this bastard had a master.

When I asked with a curious tone, Woo Hyuk got up from the bed and spoke.

“Gyudo.”

I tilted my head after hearing his response.

It sounded like a name, but it wasn’t one I had heard before.

Right as I started to think that it wasn’t anyone famous…

“His title is- “

Woo Hyuk continued to speak, and after hearing what he said, my eyes widened in shock.

“Monster of Wudang.”

“…!”

“He is my master.”

He was a very famous person alright, in many ways.

Monster of Wudang, Gyudo.

He was one of the representative masters of the Wudang Sect, and also one of the most embarrassing Taoists.

Furthermore, he was also the owner of the Thunder Fang, the treasure of the Namgung Clan which  the Demonic Sword of the future used.