Chapter 160: Reunited
Far from the center of Kunlun Sect stood an old, worn-down hall.
The Abandoned Martial Hall rested quietly beneath the moonlight.
Whoooosh.
The cold night wind brushed past the ends of the old eaves.
Jin Gwangung lay sprawled flat on his back in the courtyard.
One hand held a bottle of liquor.
Several empty bottles were scattered around him.
“Idiot.”
He stared up at the night sky and muttered.
“I told you not to stick your neck out so much. What the hell were you trusting when you went charging ahead and got yourself killed by those Demonic Cult bastards?”
His tone was harsh.
But beneath it was sorrow.
Jin Gwangung raised the bottle and drank.
Strong liquor slid down his throat.
How many bottles had he already emptied today?
Ten?
Twenty?
He had been drinking for days without proper sleep.
At this point, he couldn't even remember how much he'd consumed.
“No.”
Drunk, Jin Gwangung suddenly rejected reality aloud.
“That bastard wouldn't die that easily.”
He gritted his teeth.
“If nothing else, his life was absurdly hard to take.”
And yet...
there was little conviction in the words.
Sometimes, even Jin Gwangung found himself ridiculous.
Believing his disciple was still alive.
Maybe all of this was nothing more than an old man's useless stubbornness.
Ten years ago.
He had lost his disciples to members of the Demonic Cult.
Afterward, he'd sworn never to take another disciple.
He had grown sick of even the word disciple.
Teaching someone.
Growing attached.
Then losing them again.
He never wanted to experience that twice.
And yet...
Han Mujin had been the final disciple who made him abandon that stubborn resolve.
Han Mujin had been very different from the disciples before him.
Cocky.
Brazen.
Always ready with some shameless reply.
And now...
they said even that brat had died at the hands of the Demonic Cult.
“Those fucking Righteous Alliance bastards.”
A rough curse escaped Jin Gwangung's lips.
“They took a disciple who was living perfectly well and lured him away with their precious ‘greater cause’....”
Only for him to die to the Demonic Cult.
He simply couldn't understand why his beloved disciple had needed to die.
Then a particular face surfaced in Jin Gwangung's mind.
The bastard who had singled out his disciple and suggested searching Falling Death Valley.
“Moyong Seong....”
Jin Gwangung ground his teeth.
“Didn't like that bastard from the moment I saw him.”
His expression twisted.
“Just as irritating as his father.”
He lifted the bottle to his mouth again.
Nothing came out.
Jin Gwangung shook it.
Not even the faint sound of liquor sloshing inside.
“Tch.”
He tossed the empty bottle aside.
Crash!
The bottle shattered against the courtyard.
“Out of liquor too.”
He grumbled irritably.
Then—
a fresh bottle was quietly placed within reach of his hand.
Jin Gwangung narrowed his eyes.
“What? Was there still another one left?”
Without thinking much of it...
he picked it up.
The moment he pulled out the stopper, a rich fragrance of liquor drifted out.
Jin Gwangung's eyebrow twitched.
“Oh?”
He took a drink.
His eyes widened slightly.
“Khaa.... What kind of liquor is this?”
A clear, refined taste spread across his tongue.
It was unlike anything he normally drank.
For a moment...
he even wondered if he'd become so drunk that his sense of taste had changed.
Then—
“I wasn't sure whether it would suit your taste. I prepared it specially.”
A voice came from nearby.
Jin Gwangung's eyes immediately sharpened.
“Who are you?”
His voice was no longer that of a drunken old man.
As he lay beneath the moonlight...
the aura of a powerful expert awakened throughout his body.
Jin Gwangung slowly sat up.
He shouted toward the darkness across from him.
“Show yourself before I catch you and break something.”
Then the voice came from the darkness again.
“Have you already forgotten my voice?”
"...?!"
“I heard you missed me quite a lot.”
Jin Gwangung's pupils shook violently.
“Don't tell me....”
Beneath the moonlight...
a man stood beyond the shadow of the eaves.
A face far too familiar.
The face everyone around him had insisted belonged to a dead man.
Jin Gwangung's lips trembled.
“Mu....”
For the first time...
the voice of that rough and eccentric old Taoist cracked.
“Mujin.”
The face he'd searched for across Falling Death Valley for nearly a month.
The disciple he'd prayed to the heavens countless times to return...
had truly come back.
“Master....”
And beneath the same sky over Kunlun...
the master and disciple who had missed each other so deeply finally met again.
Just as I'd told Sect Leader Cheon Gwangcheon...
I explained to Jin Gwangung what had happened while I was gone.
His reaction was far more explosive than Cheon Gwangcheon's.
He immediately raged that he was going to tear Moyong Seong's head off.
“I won't feel better until I snap that bastard's neck myself.”
Considering Jin Gwangung's personality...
he was absolutely capable of doing it.
I hurriedly tried to calm him.
“Master. Please calm down.”
Jin Gwangung glared at me.
“Calm down?”
“You expect me to sit here and do nothing?”
“This isn't something that ends with killing Moyong Seong alone.”
Jin Gwangung's eyes became even fiercer.
“What?”
“What the hell does that mean?”
I answered calmly.
“Moyong Seong is the son of the Righteous Alliance Leader.”
Then—
“And the person benefiting most from my supposed death is Alliance Leader Moyong Cheonhwi.”
"..."
“If we act recklessly, it could turn into a direct war with the Righteous Alliance.”
I took a breath.
Then looked directly at him.
“So Master.”
“Please trust me.”
Jin Gwangung glared at me for a long time.
He looked ready to shove me aside and storm out that very moment.
But in the end...
he remained where he was.
“Damn it.”
He ground his teeth.
“What pisses me off even more is that you're right.”
"..."
“I'd feel great if I took Moyong Seong's head right now.”
He snorted.
“But there is no way Moyong Cheonhwi or the Righteous Alliance would just sit there afterward.”
Then he looked at me.
“So?”
His eyes narrowed.
“Do you have a way?”
“A way to hit Moyong Seong and those Righteous Alliance bastards back after they tried to send you to the afterlife?”
I nodded.
“I do.”
Jin Gwangung leaned toward me.
“You do?”
He looked genuinely surprised.
“What is it?”
“What's your plan?”
I opened my mouth.
“Well....”
Just then—
Creeeak.
The entrance to the Abandoned Martial Hall opened.
Jin Gwangung's gaze instantly sharpened again.
“Who is it now?”
I turned as well.
A moment later...
someone stepped out of the darkness.
When Jin Gwangung saw his face, he tilted his head.
“...Sect Leader?”
It was Cheon Gwangcheon.
And he wasn't alone.
More familiar faces emerged behind him one by one.
They're all safe.
Hyeongwon.
Myeongjeon.
And Yu Seola.
My companions from the Dragon-Phoenix Awakening Tournament.
Just as I'd urgently requested...
Cheon Gwangcheon had brought them here.
The moment Hyeongwon, Myeongjeon, and Yu Seola entered the Abandoned Martial Hall and saw me...
they froze.
Myeongjeon reacted first.
His eyes went round.
“M-Martial Uncle Mujin?”
His voice trembled badly.
I gave him a small nod.
“Yeah. It's me, Myeongjeon.”
