Chapter 205

If you’ve decided to steal, you better pull it off; that’s what makes a Shintu qualified.

But how on earth can you steal someone else’s disciple?

Of course, you can physically steal them.

You could kidnap them and lock them in a vertical cliff cave in some remote mountains, saying, ‘Hehe, you can’t leave until you learn everything!’

However, first of all, the target must be easy enough to abduct, but given that they’ve already reached the realm of agility, there’s no way to keep them from escaping.

Secondly, if it’s a man, he might eventually open his heart and get enchanted by the name Shintu. But if you do that to a woman, wouldn’t it just make you a playboy in the martial world?

You might manage to pass on some martial arts techniques, but the long-standing heritage of Shintu would just come to a halt.

Therefore, what you need to steal isn’t the disciple’s body, but their heart.

You’ve got to charm the young lad into serving two masters.

Right now, the former Shintu is a well-known elder of the martial world, and if you just mention his name, everyone knows who he is, acting like he has no past.

Shintu is not a full-time job; it’s a side gig!

And so, Shintu reminisced about how his master used to lure him.

‘Kid, could it be the best in the world…’

‘I want to! I’ll do it!’

‘Hmph, just listen to what I say…’

‘I know! You’re going to teach me martial arts!’

With Shintu’s background, the moment a sword-wielding master opened his mouth about martial arts, he bolted right after him.

Looking back, it hardly helped.

Hmm…

So, how should I lure them?

Shintu blinked.

—-

The fifteenth day of the fifth month.

With ten days to go before the Martial World Tournament, the preliminaries of the Rising Stars Martial Arts Meeting had begun.

Of course, this had nothing to do with Qing.

Because the exceptional talents whose skills had been verified would skip the preliminaries and go straight to the finals.

The preliminaries were merely a battleground for disciples of small and medium factions or young unknown fighters vying for a chance in the finals.

The participants from the Ten Great Families usually went straight to the finals, along with those deemed unnecessary to judge for prelims by the Martial Alliance.

It’s pretty much just networking working its magic.

But there was no need to lament about the state of the Martial Alliance being dirty.

In fact, from the perspective of the preliminary participants, this was better.

If you step onto the competition stage with your aspirations shining brightly, only to find a Shaolin disciple standing on the opposite side, how unfair and sad would that be?

After all, just making it to the finals would earn you a decent nickname, so it’s far better to face off against other unnamed competitors than those skilled in divine techniques.

Moreover, the privileged ones who’ve already secured their spots in the finals are satisfied that they can get a sneak peek at the potentially troublesome figures before the competition starts, thus avoiding the misfortune of losing to an unknown.

Just like right now.

“They say someone’s using the ground-hitting technique.”

“Is that the one where you lie on the ground? Je-gal?”

Qing’s formal request for commentary made Je-gal Lee-hyun excitedly elaborate.

“Ah, noona! The ground-hitting technique, right? To explain this, I first have to cover the basic qualities of martial arts…”

The basic characteristic of martial arts starts with footwork, where the weight shift from the soles of the feet directs the explosive force from the weapon’s tip.

Thus, martial arts are basically practiced while standing. One might call it a standing style.

So, when a warrior is knocked down, their options are to get up immediately or roll away and then stand up again—those are the two choices.

On the other hand, martial arts classified as ground-hitting techniques assume a lying position.

In other words, they are ground-based martial arts.

Martial arts were developed to confront people, and surprisingly, there’s hardly any technique for attacking an opponent lying flat on the ground across all martial arts.

Moreover, when the center of gravity of ground-hitting techniques is basically anchored to the ground, targeting under the opponent’s waist becomes quite challenging.

“So, isn’t it a pretty powerful technique? My master never taught me anything like that. He just warned me to be careful of those who fight on the ground.”

“Hmm. Well, hardly anyone practices it. It looks pretty bad from the outside. You know how it is in the martial world; appearances matter. If you roll around on the ground, you’ll get laughed at like you’re a donkey. That’s why they also call the ground-hitting technique the dog technique.”

The character for ‘dog’ in the term ‘ground-hitting technique’ has that character in it.

The dog technique means a martial art that only dogs would use.

“Hah. When it comes to life and death, who cares about appearances? People roll just fine when it’s necessary. Oh, how’s the betting going? Ma So-hyeop is four times and seven pennies? In that case, give me one coin on Ma So-hyeop.”

As Ma So-hyeop’s odds were being discussed, Qing smoothly made the purchase.

The betting ticket is a gamble on win or lose; you buy it for money and then get paid back according to the odds for the outcome.

In the primitive, uncivilized world of the Central Plain, gambling laws weren’t established yet, so before tournaments, establishments would bid to hold official betting rings.

When Qing received the betting ticket, he said, “Four times and seven pennies? That seems like a pretty low win rate, doesn’t it? Is the ground-hitting technique really that threatening?”

Pang Dae-san scoffed.

“I said it’s threatening, not that it’s powerful. But isn’t that win rate a bit low?”

“Well, the odds against are usually the favored ones, right? Isn’t winning or losing always a fifty-fifty fight? If I win in a fifty-fifty fight, I end up getting more than three coins, and if I lose, I just lose one coin. Thus, isn’t the one losing out the one who doesn’t know?”

“…? That’s not fifty-fifty-”

“Oh, it’s starting.”

Pang Dae-san was about to rebut when the loud bell rang, and the match began, causing him to miss the moment.

The match between Ma So-hyeop using the ground-hitting technique and Seong So-hyeop, a disciple from somewhere in the Central Plain, commenced.

Ma So-hyeop’s ground-hitting technique wasn’t as shabby as expected.

Using awkward postures not usually seen in martial arts, he launched into the air, skillfully gathering his feet together.

What a splendid flying kick.

As Seong So-hyeop staggered after receiving a proper kick to the chest, Ma So-hyeop landed using a rolling technique and then spun his lower body with his arms, continuing the kicks.

Whoa, breakdancing. Is this guy some sort of performer?

Qing, for the first time in a while, let out an astonished exclamation in her hometown dialect.

“Hmm. Surprisingly cool, huh?”

“That’s what you call cool?”

“I think it looks cool… Oh, oh.”

Qing’s eyes shone as she watched Ma So-hyeop’s performance, or rather, the ground-hitting technique.

It looked pretty impressive from a modern perspective, and since there were similar dance moves back home and techniques that involved ground fighting, it didn’t feel awkward.

“It’s just that I haven’t seen the proper display of it.”

“Why, isn’t that good enough? Umm.”

Suddenly, Ma So-hyeop’s movements changed dramatically.

He spread his legs wide and braced himself against the ground, almost touching his stomach to the ground.

His limbs were flailing strangely, but they moved so fast that it looked even weirder.

He seemed to slide across the floor, then flip into a spider-like position, targeting Seong So-hyeop’s shins and hamstrings, and his limbs blurred together like they had no boundaries.

Honestly, it was kinda gross.

“…Hmm. A bit much.”

“That’s right.”

Pang Dae-san couldn’t help but let out a scoff, fully agreeing with that sentiment as he made a huffing noise.

At this point, the audience burst into laughter, or some were even scoffing.

Especially as he darted forward with his back pressed to the ground, using his legs to push himself while swinging his arms—it was the sort of view you’d wonder when you’d ever see again in your life.

And finally, the moment of victory arrived.

Defeated by that ugly technique, Seong So-hyeop couldn’t even lift his head, weeping heavily as he left the arena.

Even Ma So-hyeop, having won, didn’t quite earn any pride with this performance.

Thus, the true victor was Seomun Qing, who ended up with four coins and seventy pennies from one silver coin.

The final winner made their remarks.

“But really, even if I had faced him, I have no confidence in winning. In a real fight, I’d crush him in one shot, but with the rules to not harm the opponent, I have no way to deal with that.”

With his body pressed against the ground, one hit from the Heavenly Demon would burst his insides.

But in a duel where one must subdue the opponent without hurting them, there’s just no solution.

“It looks complicated at first glance, but in the end, isn’t the target limited? He’s just trying to trip or push your leg, and considering that, he doesn’t seem like an opponent you should feel that unsure about.”

“That’s true, noona. Many of those odd movements are just to distract, so if you keep your mind focused on the essence, it shouldn’t be too much of a challenge for someone at your level.”

Qing scratched her cheek.

“Well, you see, I’m kind of weak in that area.”

“Weak?”

“Noona, do I really have to explain? If someone dives under me, I can’t even see them!”

At that, both Pang Dae-san and Je-gal Lee-hyun’s gazes were drawn to one spot and then quickly turned away, pretending to look at a mountain far away in embarrassment.

Qing’s feet spread out much wider than others.

“But at least I’m glad I saw it beforehand. If I hadn’t known and had to deal with it, I would have been completely taken out. It was worth coming to watch. Any other duels I should keep my eye on?”

“I hear there are some warriors using Qi Gate Weapons—chairs with abacuses and iron writing tools. It would be good to see at least once.”

“Chairs? Like the ones you sit on?”

“Yep, those chairs.”

“I can’t quite picture that.”

Qing imagined the usage of chairs, picturing something like a folding chair that hadn’t even been invented in the Central Plain yet, swinging wildly.

“Noona, even if it’s called a Qi Gate Weapon, it’s nothing special. It’s just tricky because you’re not used to it. If it were truly powerful, it would have become mainstream long ago, right?”

“That’s true. There’s a reason everyone uses swords.”

Warriors mostly wield swords for good reason; unless we’re talking about big weapons like pikes or crescent moon blades, which haven’t developed due to government interference, other exotic weapons are just peculiar.

So, after returning to Muchen Pavilion and spending the remaining time training for duels, when it was finally time to rest for the day, Qing suddenly realized a significant fact.

The Magic Flute was stolen!

Instead of the Magic Flute, a lacquered wooden flute she had never seen before was stuck at her waist, and pulling on the protruding end revealed a letter written on thin cloth.

-I’ll be holding onto the Magic Flute for a while.

I’ll be waiting for you at Yeohiryu around six o’clock, so could you come alone?

But there’s no ill intent, so if you’re really worried, feel free to share the destination and purpose with someone else.

“Hmm. So this is what I missed….”

If ‘around six o’clock’ means after five, it’s roughly around six o’clock now.

And at this moment, it was just before eleven as she was about to sleep.

Qing hadn’t paid any attention to the wooden flute stuck at her side, thinking it was just an accessory, since she had no use for the Magic Flute.

Now, as she was about to rest, she noticed instead of the Magic Flute, that strict wooden flute in her hand.

What should I do? Should I go now?

But it was already late.

They said there’s no ill intent, so maybe they’ll contact me again in some other way.

“Young Lady Seomun? What’s wrong?”

Gongson Yo-ye, who had been accompanying Qing to practice all evening up until now, called out to her.

Since it’s out of my hands, worrying and fidgeting won’t change anything.

They’ll reach out again, right?

Thus, shaking off her worries, Qing lightened the mood and joked.

“Oh no. Aiyah, I got so caught up in training today that I’m already feeling sleepy. Time for bed.”

—-

For reference, Shintu kept waiting.

Perhaps they aren’t coming at night to avoid being seen by others, so he waited all night long.

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