Chapter 80: An Unexpected Invitation
Moyong Seong.
The moment I saw his smile...
something inside my chest turned cold.
He was similar.
The way he spoke.
The look in his eyes.
Even the way he acted completely unfazed in a place covered in blood and screams.
A memory from before my regression suddenly surfaced.
The flames of the Myriad Tribulation Flame, like the depths of hell.
Moyong Cheonhwi looking down at the test subjects burning to death within it.
And the single word he'd spoken.
Disgusting.
Then came the cold flash of blue light.
My vision turning upside down as my head was severed.
Moyong Seong...
You're exactly the same kind of bastard as your damn father.
Without realizing it, I gripped the hilt at my waist.
The tendons on the back of my hand tightened.
Right now...
if that damn bastard said even one more thing...
I felt like I might drive my sword straight into that hateful face.
That was how close my anger was to exploding.
Fortunately...
or unfortunately...
that didn't happen.
“Young Master Moyong! Are you all right?!”
Righteous Alliance martial artists suddenly swarmed in from somewhere.
Just from their refined movements and the pressure they gave off...
it was obvious they were all experts.
They surrounded Moyong Seong and dropped to one knee.
They looked like his direct subordinates.
Moyong Seong lightly waved them off.
“What's there to worry about?”
His tone was almost joking.
“I only cleaned up one piece of insignificant trash.”
One of his subordinates cautiously spoke.
“...Young Master, there are many people watching.”
Moyong Seong nodded with an annoyed expression.
“You worry too much.”
Then he sighed.
“Fine.”
Another subordinate spoke.
“Young Master, please leave this place for now.”
Moyong Seong seemed to think for a moment.
Then he turned back toward me.
“...Too bad, Kunlun's Young Hero.”
"...?"
My eyebrow twitched.
He continued with an amused smile.
“I wanted to try fighting you too.”
Moyong Seong rubbed his chin.
“Hm. Well...”
He smiled.
“There'll probably be another chance.”
Then he turned away.
“See you again, Kunlun's Young Hero.”
"..."
Moyong Seong left the training ground with his subordinates.
I watched his retreating back until he completely disappeared.
Too bad...?
What the hell did he mean by that?
I silently turned over his final words in my mind.
The Grand Training Ground was no longer a place where the Dragon-Phoenix Awakening Tournament was being held.
It had become the scene of a massacre.
Martial artists whose heads had been torn off.
People who had been decapitated.
Bright-red blood covered the arena and the spectator stands.
All of it was the result of Lee Munjeong's rampage.
Righteous Alliance martial artists began controlling the spectators and stationed swordsmen at every entrance.
Bodies covered in cloth were carried away.
Only after the blood-soaked scene had been somewhat cleaned up did an official from the Righteous Alliance step into the center of the arena.
“By order of the Righteous Alliance Leader!”
His voice rang out.
“As of this moment, the Dragon-Phoenix Awakening Tournament is officially terminated!”
The tournament had been canceled.
The surrounding people murmured for a moment...
but not for long.
The horror they had witnessed moments earlier was far greater than the shock of hearing the tournament was over.
And at the same time...
I finally understood what Moyong Seong had meant when he'd said it was a shame.
He already knew the tournament was going to be stopped.
And so...
amid chaos without any clear end...
the Dragon-Phoenix Awakening Tournament came to an abrupt conclusion.
A place that had been meant to celebrate the future of the martial world...
had become a scene of tragedy filled only with the screams of the dead.
The Kunlun group and Tang Soyeon returned to our lodging inside the Righteous Alliance.
The tournament had ended...
but we needed to remain there for several more days.
Because I had to be questioned by the Righteous Alliance regarding Lee Munjeong's rampage.
I had been the last person to fight him.
Because of that...
I had to give statements to the people handling the investigation.
They asked whether I had noticed anything unusual about Lee Munjeong during our match.
Naturally...
I didn't tell them much.
I couldn't reveal the symptoms of the Death-Stealing Pill that I'd noticed in him.
If I said anything connected to that...
there was no telling what the Shadow Corps might do.
The Righteous Alliance didn't seem to expect anything particularly important from me either.
In reality...
I only went through a few formal rounds of questioning.
After that...
the Kunlun group quietly remained in Luoyang and passed the time.
Then, one day...
I was walking through the streets of Luoyang with Yu Seola, Myeongjeon, and Tang Soyeon.
The Righteous Alliance's investigation still hadn't fully concluded.
And since we had nothing else to do...
we had decided to go outside.
Everyone except Tang Soyeon wore bamboo hats.
After all...
all of us had reached at least the quarterfinals of the Dragon-Phoenix Awakening Tournament.
People might recognize our faces.
As we walked around sightseeing...
we happened to overhear a conversation between some passersby.
“It's such a shame the Dragon-Phoenix Awakening Tournament ended so suddenly.”
“Seriously.”
“It only happens once every ten years. I was looking forward to it.”
Naturally...
all of us began listening.
“It's all because of that lunatic Lee Munjeong!”
One man shuddered.
“Why the hell did he suddenly start killing people?!”
“Exactly... it was horrifying.”
Another man hugged his own shoulders.
“I nearly got killed by that madman too.”
He had probably been in the stands on the day Lee Munjeong went berserk.
The man across from him replied,
“Still, weren't we lucky Young Master Moyong Seong was there?”
“Yeah.”
“We survived because of him.”
He nodded eagerly.
“If Young Master Moyong hadn't been there, dozens more probably would've died.”
“Exactly.”
The other man sounded amazed.
“Young Master Moyong really is incredible.”
“How did he kill that monster in a single strike?”
“Just how strong is he?”
The man opposite him nodded.
“Of course he's strong.”
“I heard he deliberately hid his face when he entered.”
“Apparently, he wanted to remove the Moyong Family name and see how far he could go purely with his own skill.”
