Chapter 269 : Fourth Disciple Hong Ahyul

Chapter 269: Fourth Disciple Hong Ahyul

Eum Sajeok stepped out of his room upon hearing the news that his fourth disciple, Hong Ahyul, had arrived at the Woohak Bookstore.

Eum Sajeok, who had harbored feelings for the junior who had trained alongside him for a long time, had tried to win her heart, but Hong Ahyul had never spared him a glance.

So, after obtaining the Azure Dragon Three Marbles, he gave them not to his senior but to his junior, her.

Even if it was by such means, he wanted to gain Hong Ahyul’s favor.

Thankfully, she had shown a slight interest in him afterward.

It seemed giving her the Azure Dragon Three Marbles had worked.

As he made his way toward the residence where Third Master resided, he found Lee Yung standing there with a flushed face.

“Senior Brother Lee, is Fourth Disciple here?”

At that, Lee Yung scowled and cursed.

“You disrespectful brat. If you knew the Third Master was here, you should’ve come right away. And yet, you only sent escorts.”

“What do you mean?”

“She only sent two escorts and said she would be back shortly after handling some matters.”

Eum Sajeok let out a small laugh.

The term 'reckless and unruly' suited Hong Ahyul’s personality perfectly. Nothing ever went smoothly with her.

She acted almost entirely on whim, which was why the rational Lee Yung disliked her.

“She’ll be back soon. Seems like something piqued her interest. By the way, who are the escorts accompanying Fourth Disciple?”

Lee Yung replied curtly.

“Guardian Dong.”

Fourth Disciple Hong Ahyul was a favored disciple of First Grandmaster Ok Ilhwa, and so the Grandmaster had personally assigned her an escort.

Those escorts were none other than the Bonggong, who practically lived in seclusion within the Heavenly Demon Sect.

They were experts of an unknown level, their cultivation so refined that though they were over sixty, they appeared to be in their middle age.

Especially loyal to First Grandmaster Ok Ilhwa, these men were called the Three Loyal Guards of Hua within the Heavenly Demon Sect.

The title was given because they would proactively intervene in any matter related to Ok Ilhwa.

Just the fact that such people had been assigned as escorts for Hong Ahyul showed how much Ok Ilhwa cherished his fourth disciple.

Even so, the other senior brothers didn’t feel the need to keep Hong Ahyul in check for one clear reason.

Due to the nature of the martial arts of the Heavenly Demon Sect, a woman could not become Sect Leader. So the other senior brothers excluded Hong Ahyul from the succession struggle.

“To think she kept the Third Master waiting over some damned kittens. How vile.”

“Please be lenient, Senior Brother. While enduring that grueling training all alone, the only things Fourth Disciple could lean on were wild animals. Without them, she might have died.”

Hong Ahyul especially liked wild cats.

She felt that their solitary lifestyle resembled her own, which made her grow attached to them.

That’s why, even now, she loved cats and had apparently gone to the market to buy one after entering Jeongju.

“If you hadn’t pointlessly given the Azure Dragon Three Marbles to Fourth Disciple, I wouldn’t be this anxious right now.”

Lee Yung suddenly shouted in anger at Eum Sajeok.

Eum Sajeok offered a feeble excuse.

“I didn’t give them because I wanted to. Fourth Disciple insisted she’d personally deliver them to First Master. I couldn’t refuse. You know how she treats First Master like a father. If I refused, how could I bear not just her anger but also First Master’s? You know how harsh his training becomes when Fourth Disciple is upset. If I hadn’t given them, both you and I would’ve been summoned to the Main Sect.”

It was precisely because of this that Lee Yung didn’t berate Eum Sajeok too harshly.

Still, he thought it had been a mistake to give the Azure Dragon Three Marbles to Fourth Disciple so carelessly.

After receiving the Azure Dragon Three Marbles, she had not returned to the Main Sect, instead wandering across the Murim following First Master’s orders.

Lee Yung believed that Hong Ahyul was simply using her assignment as an excuse to goof off.

“What if something happens and Fourth Disciple loses the Azure Dragon Three Marbles? Who’s going to take responsibility?”

Cowed until then, Eum Sajeok now replied sharply.

“Why should we worry about that? Is Fourth Disciple weaker than us in martial arts? And with three Guardians accompanying her, that worry is unfounded.”

Lee Yung had no rebuttal to Eum Sajeok’s response.

All the more frustrated, Lee Yung snorted loudly and retreated into the room.

Eum Sajeok, though he wanted to go looking for Fourth Disciple, refrained, knowing that if he did, the Third Master would surely rain down fury on him.

Hong Ahyul grumbled toward the escort following her.

“Grandpa Dong, I really don’t want to go to Woohak Bookstore.”

“You still have to go.”

“I really don’t want to see the Third Master.”

During training, she had nearly died multiple times at the hands of Third Master Lee Kangmin.

He had never shown leniency just because she was a woman.

His demands on her body were so relentless that had it not been for First Master Ok Ilhwa, she would’ve already become the Third Master’s plaything.

She was the only female disciple the Third Master hadn’t touched.

As she was the beloved disciple of his senior, Ok Ilhwa, he couldn’t lay hands on her.

However, she still knew he harbored lecherous thoughts toward her, making her reluctant to face him.

“You still have to go. If you come this far and don’t see Third Grandmaster, he’ll only hate you more.”

“Hmph, let him hate me then.”

“Though he’s just the Third Grandmaster, he holds the greatest influence in the Main Sect. There’s nothing good in getting on his bad side.”

This escort was Dong Oh, known as the Self-Willed Sword, one of the Three Loyal Guards of Hua.

His swordsmanship looked, at a glance, like chaotic swinging without form or technique, which was why he’d been given the alias Self-Willed Sword.

However, the Master Level experts knew that Dong Oh had reached a realm where he could disregard form, and that was how he had earned such an arrogant alias.

Dong Oh, in his appearance of Wind-born Bones and Taoist Spirit, soothed Hong Ahyul, who was like a granddaughter to him.

Hong Ahyul had a developed figure and mature appearance for her age.

When she wore a light martial arts uniform, her chest and hips stood out prominently.

Even now, one could tell by the way passing men would sneak a glance at her as they walked by.

Moreover, though her face exuded a seductive atmosphere, her eyes carried a pure impression, creating a peculiar contrast that captivated onlookers.

Hong Ahyul was holding a wild cat (야묘) in her arms with a sulky expression.

She had bought it in the market for five nyang of iron coins, but as it was a wild one, it still retained its feral nature.

However, Hong Ahyul, who liked animals, had long ago learned a technique to handle beasts and quickly tamed the wild cat.

She stroked the wild cat, which purred while sleeping with its head resting atop her rounded chest.

“Grandpa Dong, I want to buy that red bird over there.”

“You already have two birds, don’t you?”

“But I don’t have a red one.”

Then Hong Ahyul's gaze stopped at one spot.

A man had his finger inside a large birdcage, and a bird was perched on that finger.

Intrigued, Hong Ahyul closely observed what the man was doing.

This time, the man put his left finger into the cage.

And again, a bird flew to perch on his left finger without the slightest hesitation.

Then, dozens of birds inside the cage seemed to swarm toward his finger as if eager to sit on it.

It was strange, as he wasn’t even offering them bird feed, yet they gathered toward him.

“Grandpa Dong, that man’s bird-handling technique is amazing.”

Dong Oh was looking at the man with a different meaning in his eyes.

‘That young man’s presence is completely undetectable. There’s no doubt that the energy he used to handle the birds was genuine qi. But the fact that I can’t feel even a hint of his presence… does that mean he’s already reached a realm beyond? Should I believe that?’

Dong Oh had already passed his sixtieth year. He couldn’t bring himself to believe that a young man who looked barely past his teens had attained a realm higher than his own.

Dong Oh continued to observe the young man.

Hong Ahyul had grown curious about the young man and considered approaching him to strike up a conversation.

But she stopped in her tracks.

It felt like something interesting was about to happen.

Behind the market stalls, there was an area like this where animals were sold. Many of the animals had been caught by hunters and handed over to the market vendors.

So wild birds and beasts made up most of the stock.

There were mountain rabbits and squirrels that children would love, and some rare wild cats and weasels as well.

Seeing that even wolves and foxes were being sold, it seemed this animal market was quite active.

However, markets like this often reeked due to the animals’ filth, and the other stall vendors nearby didn’t like them.

That was why the stall vendors sometimes hired the local gangsters to come and wreck the animal market.

Right now, those gangsters were entering the animal market.

“We already told you not to sell here anymore! Huh? Does my word sound like nonsense to you?”

A large thug, leading five of his subordinates, yelled the moment he stepped into the market.

“I clearly warned you a month ago! Get rid of all this stuff!”

At the thug’s command, his subordinates began releasing the caged animals.

“No! Stop!”

Most of the vendors were elderly.

They were poor folk who earned just enough each day to survive.

Unable to afford the stall fees, they sold wild animals in the back corners of the market.

“Drag everything out and release them!”

As the gangsters opened cages and fences, the birds and beasts all fled.

“Out of the way!”

The thug, having reached the birdcage where the young man was, shoved him aside and opened the cage.

At that moment, dozens of birds flew out and soared into the sky.

Then, the young man snatched away the flute that the owner had been holding to command the birds.

Piiiiiik!

As the sound of the flute rang out, the birds circling in the sky suddenly turned around and began returning.

It was truly a breathtaking sight.

And it wasn’t just the birds.

The various wild beasts that had escaped beyond the fences were also returning.

Seeing this, Hong Ahyul opened her mouth wide in awe.

“Grandpa Dong, that person is amazing. He’s controlling the animals with just a flute. Can you do that too?”

She asked because the skills she had for handling animals had been passed down from Dong Oh.

“He really is incredible. To gather animals with just a flute sound…”

Dong Oh couldn’t help but be impressed.

In truth, even with the use of the Beast-Binding Arts, there were limits to the number of animals he could control.

Ten was the most he could manage, and even then, only if they weren’t too far away.

But to call back dozens of animals from as far as ten to fifty jang away with just a flute—such a feat was impossible by any known beast-handling technique.