Myst, Might, Mayhem

Chapter 497.3 – Side Story 1 Part 3

Samadhi’s True Flame (3)

The gray-robed Zhongnan Sect Taoists entered the Hwayangjeong, a restaurant specializing in duck dishes.

Befitting their status as members of a major sect, they walked in with dignity. However, they couldn’t help but frown when they saw the couple sitting at the spot with the best view in the restaurant.

Sun-moon, the most senior disciple among the Taoist priests of the Sun lineage, asked with puzzlement:

“Didn’t we make a reservation?”

To this, his direct disciple Sun-yeon replied:

“Yes. We made a reservation two days ago, anticipating important government-related discussions.”

“Then who are those people?”

“…There seems to have been some mistake. I’ll ask the restaurant staff first.”

“Please do so.”

“Yes.”

Taoist Sun-yeon approached the middle-aged man who appeared to be the senior staff member of Hwayangjeong.

The middle-aged man was already flustered about having to ask the couple to leave, and now he was even more bewildered after taking an order he didn’t remember receiving.

“Hello, sir.”

“T-Taoist priest.”

“I am the Taoist Sun-yeon who made the reservation two days ago.”

“How could I forget?”

“At that time, I clearly said we would rent out the entire restaurant, but it seems you’ve seated other customers. May I ask what happened?”

“W-well, that’s…”

The middle-aged man was at a loss for words.

He too was unsure how to answer this question.

Seeing his demeanor, Taoist Sun-yeon politely said:

“It seems there has been some misunderstanding. Could you please ask those customers to vacate their seats?”

A polite request, unlike the fear he had initially felt.

While feeling slightly relieved, the senior staff member couldn’t let his guard down at all.

Regardless of whether they were from righteous or unorthodox sects, martial artists were known to resort to violence if things didn’t go their way.

When that happened, the restaurant would always end up in ruins.

Especially since it had been over a year ago, but due to a conflict between the imperial court and martial artists, too many people had died inside the restaurant, forcing them to relocate to a new place.

“Please wait a moment.”

Thinking that he should send them away somehow to avoid trouble, even though Taoists were unlikely to kill people, the senior staff member grabbed the money pouch and ran to the couple.

“Excuse me, customers.”

“Is the food ready already?”

“Well… that’s not it. Actually, we have customers who reserved the entire restaurant from the hour of You today, so we weren’t supposed to accept any other customers. There seems to have been a misunderstanding…”

“My wife remembered coming here before and said she wanted to eat duck.”

“Customer, I sincerely appreciate that, but…”

“We paid extra for a quiet meal. Is it not enough?”

“That’s…”

The senior staff member, who had been stomping his feet in frustration, seemed to decide it was no use and revealed his true thoughts.

“Customer, the guests who reserved today are Taoist priests from a major sect. Have you heard of martial artists? They’ve rented out the entire restaurant, and if you don’t vacate your seats, I don’t know what kind of trouble might occur.”

The senior staff member was practically begging.

At this, the young man who had been about to pick up a piece of duck meat with his chopsticks turned his gaze to glance at the Zhongnan Sect Taoists.

Although they hadn’t shown it much yet, their expressions weren’t very pleased.

“Trouble, you say…”

“Please, customer, I beg you. There’s nothing good that can come from getting into a dispute with martial artists. Fortunately, these gentlemen are Taoist priests from a righteous sect, and they’ve asked me to request your understanding. We’ll pack up all the prepared food for you, so please help us out, if not for me, then for the restaurant.”

As the staff member pleaded, even clasping his hands together, the woman finally spoke up.

“Dear, it seems the staff member is in a difficult position. Let’s just have them pack up the smoked salt-grilled duck that’s coming out and go.”

At her words, the young man, who had been giving a strange look, shrugged with a smile and nodded in agreement.

“Pack it up for us. We’ll wait.”

“Oh, thank you so much!”

The senior staff member was relieved that the issue was resolved without the customers being stubborn, as he had worried.

After calling over a waiter and instructing him to have the kitchen pack up the ordered food, the senior staff member hurriedly ran to the Zhongnan Sect Taoists and said:

“There was a slight misunderstanding, and we had seated some customers, but they’ll be leaving soon, so don’t worry. First, let me prepare other seats for you…”

“Sir…”

At that moment, Taoist Sun-yeon interrupted the senior staff member.

Then, nodding towards the couple who were still eating the dishes on the table while their food was being packed, he said:

“I asked you to request their understanding and have them vacate their seats immediately, but it seems they are continuing to eat. Is that not so?”

“Taoist priest, they will soon…”

“It seems I’ll have to ask for their understanding myself. The elders of our sect will be arriving soon, and we don’t have the luxury of waiting for them to finish packing their food.”

“C-customer! It won’t take long…”

The senior staff member tried to stop him hurriedly but soon had to close his mouth.

This was because the moment he made eye contact with Taoist Sun-yeon, he was intimidated by the unique aura of martial artists and became frightened.

Passing by the frozen senior staff member, Taoist Sun-yeon approached the couple dining at the spot with the best view.

‘Huh.’

Seeing this, Sun-moon, the senior disciple of the Sun lineage, shook his head.

Although they were Taoists, their personalities were naturally diverse.

His disciple Sun-yeon had a gentle appearance but was quick-tempered and quite hot-blooded, always taking the lead in such situations.

‘My disciple is going to pick on some innocent person again.’

No, there won’t even be a need to pick on anyone.

With just a little pressure, they would naturally… Wait a moment.

‘Ah!’

Sun-moon suddenly realized his mistake.

In the excitement of coming to Kaifeng, he had forgotten that this was the imperial capital.

Unlike usual, there might be many children of powerful families in Kaifeng, the imperial capital. If they tried to forcibly evict someone just because they had made a reservation, without checking anything, it could lead to quite a bit of trouble.

So Sun-moon hurriedly tried to call Sun-yeon back.

But at that moment,

-Swish!

Sun-yeon was already returning.

With a somewhat dazed look, he said to his senior disciple Sun-moon:

“On second thought, I think it’s better to wait for a while.”

‘!?’

Sun-moon furrowed his brow.

He had been about to stop him, but he knew Sun-yeon’s personality better than anyone.

It was highly unlikely for the hot-tempered Sun-yeon to voluntarily back down before being scolded.

Puzzled by this, Sun-moon, with a disbelieving heart,

Clap!

He clapped his hands strongly in front of Sun-yeon.

Then,

“Senior brother? Huh…?”

Life returned to Sun-yeon’s eyes, and he stared blankly with a confused expression before saying:

“How did I come back in front of you, senior brother?”

“That’s what I’d like to know. Didn’t you just go to those customers and come right back?”

“Me? I haven’t even spoken to them yet.”

At these words from his disciple Sun-yeon, Sun-moon’s eyes filled with wariness as he reached for the sword at his back and shouted:

“What kind of sorcery have you used?”

-Murmur murmur!

At his sudden outcry, the other Zhongnan Sect Taoists instinctively reached for their weapons.

Ready to draw their swords at any moment.

“Sorcery?”

“What are you talking about?”

-Shing!

As they looked on in confusion, Sun-moon widened his stance and partially drew his sword, shouting again:

“What have you done to my disciple? Speak up now!”

Sun-moon was well-versed in battles against unorthodox sect members.

Therefore, he thought this might be one of those unexpected sorceries that some of them used.

However, despite his shouting, the two people showed little reaction.

Instead, they were calmly eating their food and conversing.

“What a coincidence. On the day our little one wants to eat duck, we run into these Taoists.”

“Indeed. It’s not good for prenatal education.”

“Can you make it less noisy?”

“There’s nothing to be noisy about. This is where Cheong-ryeong and our child are eating. We should keep it quiet.”

Their nonchalant attitude gave Sun-moon a strange feeling.

Clearly, in terms of his martial sense, they seemed to be just ordinary people.

He couldn’t feel any energy from them at all, so how could they remain so calm?

Could they be masters who had completely concealed their inner energy?

Feeling wary, Sun-moon finally drew his sword and ordered the Zhongnan Sect Taoists:

“Draw your swords. Form a sword formation…”

Before he could finish his words,

“This is a place for my wife. If you quietly leave so we can eat, I’ll let this pass.”

The young man warned as he poured wine into a cup.

The Zhongnan Sect Taoists’ expressions turned ugly, angered by his condescending tone, as if addressing inferiors.

The one who couldn’t contain his anger the most was Sun-yeon, who had just fallen victim to that strange technique.

“You unorthodox sect scum, how dare you talk about letting us pass?”

Shing!

Sun-yeon drew his sword and lunged towards the young man.

He was about to unleash the opening move of the Zhongnan Sect’s Thirteen Glorious Sword Techniques (十三榮劍法) to subdue him in one go.

But then,

Clack!

‘!?’

At that moment, Sun-yeon’s eyes widened in shock.

This was because the young man had caught the blade of his sword with chopsticks as he was about to execute his sword technique.

“W-what is this…”

“I told you not to disturb our meal.”

-Clang!

As soon as those words were spoken, the blade held by the chopsticks snapped in two.

‘Breaking a sword with wooden chopsticks?’

Stunned by this near-miraculous technique, Sun-yeon hurriedly tried to retreat using his footwork.

However, at that moment, one of the chopsticks from the table flew out on its own and struck an acupoint on the back of Sun-yeon’s head.

Thud

“Kugh!”

Sun-yeon, his acupoint struck, collapsed to the floor, seemingly unconscious.

Thump

As he fell, the shocked Zhongnan Sect Taoists all tried to draw their swords at once.

But none of them could draw their swords.

It was as if the swords were stuck to their scabbards, refusing to come out.

“S-senior brother, the sword…”

“The sword won’t come out.”

“What do you mean the sword won’t come out? What nonsense are you saying?”

“It’s true.”

None of the thirty or so Taoists could draw their swords.

Faced with this incredibly strange situation, Senior Sun-moon finally seemed to realize something was terribly wrong and didn’t know what to do.

Just then, a voice was heard from the entrance behind him.

“What is all this commotion about?”

“Grandmaster Geon Mun-ja!”

The Zhongnan Sect Taoists’ faces lit up at the appearance of Geon Mun-ja, their highest-ranking master and elder.

Moreover, Geon Hyeon-ja, a supreme expert no less formidable than him, and Jin Jong-hyeon, called the greatest genius among the Zhongnan Sect’s lay disciples, had also arrived.

Sun-moon hurriedly tried to ask Geon Mun-ja for help.

“Grandmaster…”

Suddenly, Sun-moon was at a loss for words.

This was because Geon Mun-ja, known as the highest master of their sect, was looking at the young man instead of them, unable to hide his bewildered expression.

It was clearly close to fear.

Why is the Grandmaster reacting like this?

“…What on earth have you lot done?”

“Pardon?”

What’s going on?

Then, shocking words flowed from Geon Mun-ja’s mouth.

“…Do you want to erase Zhongnan from this world?”

“What? Grandmaster, what do you mean…”

Slap!

Before he could finish speaking,

Geon Mun-ja slapped Sun-moon so hard that his body staggered, then hurriedly knelt on one knee and clasped his hands in respect towards the young man who was pouring wine.

All the Zhongnan Sect Taoists of the Sun lineage were dumbfounded by this sight.

How could the Grandmaster be showing such behavior?

Then,

“Geon Mun-ja of Zhongnan pays his respects to the Heavenly Demon Cult Leader, the Greatest Under Heaven.”