Genius Martial Arts Trainer

Chapter 111

Four Monks of Shaolin (3)

At the place where the members of the Five Noble Families had gathered, the later generation masters were all watching the martial arts stage.

This was because it was the martial arts contest of Qing Shui Dojang, the only rival of Namgung Jin-cheon in the current Murim.

“Hahaha. Brother Namgung! This match-up has turned out to be quite strange. At this rate, I’ll have to defeat Qing Shui Dojang in the semifinals to meet you in the finals.”

The man, acting as if it was natural that he would reach the finals by winning all the remaining matches, was Peng Kah-hu, a direct descendant of the Peng family.

“That would indeed be interesting.”

Namgung Jin-cheon replied coldly, not looking amused at all.

However, it wasn’t that he was engrossed in watching the duel on the martial arts stage either.

From the start, Namgung Jin-cheon had no interest in Peng Kah-hu and even less in Qing Shui Dojang.

Due to this very obvious principle, Namgung Jin-cheon found no special meaning in competing with others.

“Hmm.”

However, Peng Kah-hu, who felt ignored after awkwardly trying to start a conversation, had his face slightly reddened.

The Hebei Peng family, known for their excellent physique and fiery temper, were remarkable for not losing their temper in this situation. Given their generally aggressive martial arts style, it was almost miraculous that he hadn’t lost his temper here.

If it hadn’t been for the fact that he was facing the young master of the Namgung family, he might have already attacked.

Just then, the duel on the martial arts stage came to an end.

As most people had expected, Qing Shui Dojang won.

And the next match was Peng Kah-hu’s turn.

“Then, I’ll be off!”

Peng Kah-hu decided to vent his anger from Namgung Jin-cheon through this match.

* * *

“I am Peng Kah-hu!”

“I am Mu-yul of Shaolin. Amitabha.”

With a rough voice, Peng Kah-hu greeted and looked at the young monk who had become the target of his venting.

For some reason, the monk named Mu-yul seemed slightly intimidated even before the match began.

‘Heh heh heh. Looks like he’s scared just by hearing my name!’

Deciding to toy with his opponent a bit for his anger release, Peng Kah-hu swung his sword playfully.

And Mu-yul, as if it were the most natural thing, avoided the sword.

‘Indeed! He’s come this far, so he must have some basic skills!’

After swinging his sword a few more times, Peng Kah-hu drew more internal energy from his Danjeon.

As his internal energy level increased, naturally, the Peng family’s characteristic aggressive sword technique was displayed, but—

“Hyutcha!”

His opponent easily avoided his sword technique. No, simply avoiding it would have been fine, but the monk was even adding strange exclamations as he darted around playfully.

“How could a monk move so frivolously!”

Feeling that the opponent was toying with him, Peng Kah-hu, already furious, began to unleash his signature technique, the Five Tigers Severing Blade.

The start was the first move of the Five Tigers Severing Blade, ‘Ferocious Tiger Appears.’

The blade energy that surged from his sword took on the form of a tiger and flew towards Mu-yul.

“Ah! It’s a real tiger!”

Mu-yul, greatly surprised, began to frantically dodge around the martial stage.

In other words, he had evaded Peng Kah-hu’s ‘Ferocious Tiger Appears.’

Feeling more and more like he was being mocked, Peng Kah-hu drew upon all his internal energy and consecutively unleashed the successive moves of the Five Tigers Severing Blade.

The blade energy from his sword sometimes manifested as a tiger’s swipe with its paw, and sometimes as its fangs, attacking Mu-yul.

‘Hehe. This reminds me of playing with Master Uncle.’

Mu-yul, who had long forgotten his fear of the five tigers, smiled brightly as he dodged all the attacks.

This was similar to how it was when he sparred with his master uncle, Hye-geol. When Hye-geol created tigers with the Tiger Fist technique, Mu-yul would instinctively dodge the attacks in various ways.

For Mu-yul, who was pure-hearted, it wasn’t training but rather playing a game of tag with Hye-geol.

Of course, that was only from Mu-yul’s perspective.

“You brat!!”

Seeing Mu-yul dodge his moves while laughing, a vein bulged on Peng Kah-hu’s forehead.

Of course, Mu-yul was laughing simply because he was enjoying himself, but to Peng Kah-hu, it looked like ridicule.

It was no wonder, as the infuriating monk sometimes spread his arms like a bird and soared into the air, sometimes twisted his body like a mollusk to let the blade energy pass by, and even dodged on all fours.

“Is this monkey mocking me!!!”

Peng Kah-hu screamed again, but Mu-yul felt unjustly accused.

His soaring like a bird was an application of the Crane Fist technique, his twisting was the Snake Fist, and running on all fours was an application of the Leopard Fist.

“It’s not a monkey, it’s a crane, a snake, and a leopard.”

Mu-yul replied with an innocent face, which made Peng Kah-hu’s rage boil over.

Peng Kah-hu decided to end it.

He unleashed the ultimate technique of the Five Tigers Severing Blade, which he had mastered up to the seventh level: ‘Four Tigers Encirclement.’

Slashing his sword ferociously, four masses of blade energy shot out with a time difference.

Each blade energy took on the form of a different tiger, attacking Mu-yul from all directions.

Mu-yul, relying on his instincts, dodged the blade energies again, but even for him, it was impossible to evade all the blade energies coming from all directions.

In the end, with no way to dodge the last blade energy, Mu-yul had to use the Leopard Fist.

Suddenly, his hands emitted energy resembling the claws of a leopard, and as Mu-yul’s energy collided with Peng Kah-hu’s tiger-shaped blade energy,

Bang!!

With a fierce explosion, Peng Kah-hu’s blade energy scattered.

“Huh?”

Mu-yul, who had blocked the blade energy, tilted his head in confusion.

Peng Kah-hu, whose breathing was disrupted from using the ultimate technique, looked at Mu-yul, trying to understand why he had suddenly stopped.

And Mu-yul’s next words were enough to snap Peng Kah-hu’s sanity.

“Why is a tiger weaker than a leopard?”

“You brat!!!!”

Having completely lost his mind, Peng Kah-hu drew upon all the energy from his danjeon and swung his sword madly.

“Cough. Cough.”

Suddenly, Peng Kah-hu started coughing and blood spurted from his mouth.

The rapid depletion of his internal energy, combined with his rage, had caused a Qi deviation.

* * *

“Wow…”

Mu-jin, who had been watching the duel between Mu-yul and Peng Kah-hu, let out a sigh of admiration filled with various emotions.

“He won like that?”

It was a method that Mu-jin could never have imagined.

‘From now on, if we encounter any nasty villains, I should just send out Mu-yul.’

It seemed that Mu-yul was an instant remedy for dealing with bad-tempered people.

‘Well, it was like that in the army.’

In the military, the person most difficult for a naturally bad-tempered and explosive person to deal with wasn’t a senior soldier, the unit’s ace, or even a rebellious junior. It was the perpetually cheerful simpleton who never understood the anger directed at them and just laughed it off, driving the angry person to madness.

In that sense, Mu-yul’s innocent cheerfulness was indeed a perfect counter to such explosive personalities.

‘To think they taught that kid the Leopard Fist technique…’

Mu-jin couldn’t help but feel a strange respect for Hye-geol. He wondered if Hye-geol might have grown a sarira (a relic) somewhere in his body from all the patience.

Clearing away his needless thoughts, Mu-jin approached Mu-yul, who had won the duel, and spoke to him.

“Why? Is there a problem?”

Mu-jin asked because Mu-yul was making a strange expression despite his victory. Tilting his head, Mu-yul replied.

“It’s strange, Mu-jin. He clearly said it was a tiger, but it’s weaker than a leopard. Are tigers usually weaker than leopards? Then why is the Tiger Fist technique taught after the Leopard Fist?”

Mu-jin chuckled at Mu-yul’s innocent question and answered.

“Maybe the tigers from their place are weaker.”

“Oh, so it was a fake tiger!”

It was a conversation that could cause the entire Peng family to suffer Qi deviation if they heard it.

Regardless, Mu-yul seemed satisfied with the clear answer and laughed cheerfully.

“But why did you come up, Mu-jin?”

“It’s my turn for the next duel.”

Mu-jin had stepped forward not to greet Mu-yul but because he was next in line for the duel.

Mu-yul, with a bright expression, said to Mu-jin.

“You’ll be back down soon? I’ll be waiting!”

In Mu-yul’s innocent mind, there was no scenario where Mu-jin lost. He was so pure that he hadn’t even considered the possibility that if Mu-jin won this duel, they would have to face each other in the third round.

* * *

Meanwhile.

Unlike the harmonious atmosphere among the Shaolin disciples, the mood on the side of the Five Noble Families was quite serious.

“Gah-hu! Get a grip!”

“Bring the medicine! Quickly!!”

To be precise, it was the Peng family members who were in an uproar.

“Those damned monks! To duel in such a despicable manner!”

“We must immediately protest to the Shaolin!”

“First, we need to treat Gah-hu! We must fix him before his Qi and blood become completely disrupted from Qi deviation!”

The Peng family members, with their rough faces and bulky bodies, were shouting loudly, creating an extremely tense atmosphere.

‘Tsk. How pathetic.’

Of course, there were also those who found such a display pathetic. One of them was Jegal Jin-hee.

She was embarrassed to belong to the Jegal family, which was lumped together with such fools as part of the Five Noble Families.

Feeling her eyes and ears rotting, she forcibly turned her attention to the martial stage.

It was because she knew that the next duel was Mu-jin’s turn.

But for some reason.

Even though she was watching Mu-jin ascend to the stage, she felt a vague unease in her heart.

And she was somewhat aware of the reason for that unease, though she tried to ignore it.

“Oh my, it’s my turn already. I’ll be back soon, Jin-hee unnie~”

A woman who had been sticking close and acting friendly since their first meeting, Tang So-mi, greeted Jegal Jin-hee before heading to the martial stage.

In this second round, Mu-jin’s opponent was Tang So-mi.

However, Jegal Jin-hee’s unease wasn’t solely because Tang So-mi was fighting Mu-jin.

The real reason for her discomfort was:

‘Why is she wearing a different outfit than in the first round…?’

It was because of Tang So-mi’s attire.

She was wearing a tight-fitting qipao, commonly known as a cheongsam, which exposed one leg entirely.

Tang So-mi had appeared in this bold outfit to participate in the Yongbongji Conference’s martial duel.

With her bold choice of attire, Tang So-mi walked lightly towards the stage.

With each confident step she took, her right leg flashed through the slit of her qipao, catching the eyes of the crowd surrounding the martial stage. Yet, Tang So-mi didn’t mind.

Not only did she have a confident personality that disregarded others’ gazes, but she had chosen this outfit precisely to attract attention.

‘I wonder how he will react.’

Suppressing her amusement, she looked at Mu-jin, who stood opposite her.

Mu-jin, the man that even Jegal Jin-hee, who showed no interest in Namgung Jin-cheon, had her eyes on.

And he was a monk of the Shaolin Temple!

In many ways, he was an interesting subject for her little experiment.

“Nice to meet you, Monk Mu-jin.”

Before the duel began, she greeted Mu-jin with a bright smile.

“Amitabha. Nice to meet you, Lady Tang So-mi.”

Mu-jin responded indifferently as always, with a slight bow.

“Monk Mu-jin, did you know?”

Despite his indifferent reaction, Tang So-mi smiled sweetly and spoke in a seductive manner as she slowly walked around the stage.

As if drawing a circle around Mu-jin.

Walking slightly sideways, each step revealed her bare right leg through the slit of her qipao.

Momentarily distracted, the referee cleared his throat and spoke up.

“Ahem. Lady Tang, we should start the duel.”

“Oh, you can start now.”

She replied with a sultry smile, finally stopping her steps.

“The duel between Lady Tang So-mi of the Sichuan Tang Clan and Monk Mu-jin of the Shaolin Temple will now begin!”

The referee announced, but instead of displaying her martial arts, Tang So-mi spoke to Mu-jin again.

“Do you know what Jin-hee unnie said during her duel with Hong So-il?”

“I’m not particularly interested. Shouldn’t we start the duel now, Lady Tang So-mi?”

Mu-jin answered indifferently, but Tang So-mi continued unbothered.

She clasped her hands behind her back and leaned slightly forward.

Although her upper body was fully covered, the tightness of her outfit accentuated her curves.

In that provocative pose, she spoke.

“Jin-hee unnie said she’s not interested in men weaker than her.”

“Is that so?”

“But did you know? I’m the same way.”

Tang So-mi’s face lit up with a mischievous, alluring smile.

Watching her, Mu-jin thought.

‘…She wasn’t in the novel, so I was curious, but she’s a lunatic.’

Mu-jin vaguely sensed what Tang So-mi was trying to do.

It was the infamous honey trap!

The only problem was.

‘Using a honey trap on a monk.’

To Mu-jin, her actions seemed nothing short of insane.

There was an old saying that came to mind.

‘For madness, the best cure is a beating.’

To cure her of her madness, Mu-jin diagnosed that physical therapy was necessary.

“Amitabha.”

Chanting the Buddha’s name as if delivering a death sentence, Mu-jin launched himself at her.