Chapter 91
‘An unbelievably beautiful woman?!’
I opened my eyes wide. Just then, the attendant was bringing over the noodles.
“You ordered one bowl of noodles, right?”
I hurriedly nodded and waved for him to go away. I could feel the attendant stealing a glance at me as though I were some strange person, but I had no time to care. Even then, the men’s conversation continued.
“An unbelievably beautiful woman?”
“Yeah. Apparently she’s so beautiful that the bandit chief completely fell for her and acted as though he’d give her everything he had, even his liver and gallbladder.”
‘That beautiful?’
“Apparently he fell in love with her at first sight and went to extraordinary lengths to make her his wife. He brought her to the mountain stronghold this time because he intends to marry her.”
“I see.”
“Actually, they said they were keeping this story under wraps so it wouldn’t leak out of the stronghold. But is there such a thing as a complete secret in this world? People around them passed it along among themselves, and eventually the news spread everywhere.”
“Hoo…”
One of them clicked his tongue and said,
“If she’s really that beautiful, then surely even Flower-Glutton has heard about her?”
‘Uh, I just heard about her.’
“Figures, right? Then I wonder if Yongcheok Stronghold is going to be thrown into an uproar this time.”
At the strangely expectant remark, the man who had clicked his tongue shook his head.
“But can you really compare Yongcheok Stronghold to Green Snake Sect? Green Snake Sect is just a relatively prominent unorthodox group around these parts, whereas Yongcheok Stronghold occupies one of the seventy-two strongholds of Green Forest Bandits, doesn’t it?”
“Is that so?”
“Yeah. And there are endless rumors that their chief is incredibly skilled. They say he’s even among the Hundred Greatest Masters Under Heaven.”
“Oh, he’s that good?”
As the man marveled, I too secretly marveled. This was the first time I had heard that Yongcheok Stronghold had a master of that caliber.
“Still, wouldn’t Flower-Glutton be able to take him on? He wiped out Green Snake Sect all by himself.”
“Who knows? The chief might be able to do that much himself. And besides, how do you know? Maybe the Green Snake Sect guys were weaker than they seemed?”
‘That bastard didn’t take a bribe from Yongcheok Stronghold, did he?’
I shot him a surreptitious glare. His underlings might have been a rabble, but their Second Chief had been the real deal.
Of course, it wasn’t my concern. There was something more important than that. I had already begun seriously considering the subject that had shifted to ‘Who is stronger, Flower-Glutton or the chief of Yongcheok Stronghold?’ while letting their conversation go in one ear and out the other.
‘What should I do? Go? Or not?’
Honestly, I was tempted.
They said she was an unbelievably beautiful woman, after all. If she had looks on the level of our young lady, then the description ‘unbelievably beautiful’ would suit her perfectly. But somehow, I didn’t think this beauty was our young lady.
Our young lady had such high standards. If some young, handsome heir from a prestigious family came courting her, maybe, but there was no way she would fall for some bandit, no matter how hard he courted her.
‘She seems to have accepted his proposal, so she can’t be our young lady, right? She’d better not be….’
…But what if she was?
Wait, what had the young lady said her type was again? Wasn’t it ‘the ugliest person under heaven’? At the time, I thought she had only said that to reject that Wang family bastard’s advances… but what if she had actually meant it?
“But I am curious. Just how beautiful is she?”
“I don’t know either. But according to the rumors, hers is a face you can never forget once you see it. They say you can’t take your eyes off her.”
Ah, no. Stop thinking about it. There’s no way she’s our young lady. I can’t go around checking every woman in the world. I need to stop and go back now.
“They say she’s that beautiful?”
“I’m telling you, she is. They say you think of her when you wake up, think of her while eating, and even think of her when you close your eyes. Apparently she stays in your head all day long. As though you’ve been possessed by a ghost.”
I’d already gone well past the date I originally planned to return. I really had to go now. I had to go back, but…
“They say even the Four Great Beauties, whose beauty is said to rival that which can topple kingdoms, would look dim standing before her. I thought it might be an exaggeration, but if she’s really that beautiful, wouldn’t becoming the Greatest Beauty of All Time be practically guaranteed?”
Should I… go back?
‘Why?’
They said she was that beautiful.
They said even Xi Shi, Wang Zhaojun, Diao Chan, and Yang Guifei would have to concede to her. They said she surpassed the greatest beauty under heaven and was the greatest beauty of all time.
Huh? Greatest beauty of all time? That sounds exactly like…
‘Our young lady?’
Go check immediately!
I was just about to spring up from my seat when the table suddenly rattled, and the noodles nearly spilled, so I hurriedly grabbed the bowl.
I could feel the men at the neighboring table looking over at the commotion on my side. I hurriedly shoved my face into the noodles and pretended to eat.
“…Anyway, if she really is that beautiful, it’s only natural that Flower-Glutton would have his eye on her. Considering the rumors have spread all the way here, don’t you think Yongcheok Stronghold is expecting Flower-Glutton to show up?”
“True. Especially after what happened with Green Snake Sect. They must be preparing thoroughly. Flower-Glutton is going to have a hard time this time.”
“It’s entertaining for us, at least.”
The men looked at one another and chuckled. I slurped down the noodles, which had already gone cold, and thought,
‘Fine. I’ll give you something entertaining to watch.’
If they were expecting that much, then I had no choice but to show up in person.
Let’s go to Yongcheok Stronghold!
“Attendant, one dukang wine here!”
First, I’ll have just one drink with my meal.
***
I pulled on the reins and stopped the horse.
When I raised my head, I saw a rugged mountain range. Eight peaks shaped like spiral horns rose high into the sky.
It was Yuntai Mountain.
I had heard that Yongcheok Stronghold was located within Yuntai Mountain.
Yuntai Mountain was a mountain on the border between Hunan Province and Guangxi Province. It was also not particularly far from Guilin, where I had been.
‘Isn’t this fate?’
Honestly, if Yongcheok Stronghold had been far away, I would have thought about it a little longer. But since it was so close, I ended up rushing here in one go.
That wasn’t to say I had come all this way on a whim.
First, I sent a telegram to Sahyeon saying I would be a little later than expected. I also gathered some information and made preparations to come here. Specifically, I had discarded my beggar-like appearance and changed into neat clothing.
My current appearance was completely different from before.
Unlike when I had been pretending to be an ugly hunchback, I had neatly combed my hair back, put on a headscarf, and donned an expensive long robe. I had also changed my human-skin mask to an ordinary-looking face, making me look exactly like a scholar.
The reason I dressed like this was simple.
‘They said Yongcheok Stronghold was after me.’
Normally, Flower-Glutton wandered around looking scruffy. Even when I wore neat clothes, I usually had an ugly face. That was why I had become known throughout the martial world as an ugly man.
So, simply by looking this neat, it would be difficult for them to recognize me. Moreover, I needed to look like such a clueless scholar to become a target. If I wanted to find their headquarters, I first needed to encounter some bandits.
“Come out already. This man is a busy man, you know.”
I urged my horse onward and entered the mountains.
Honestly, I had no intention of fighting them. The men back then had talked as though I were some kind of fighter, but in reality, I didn’t go around picking fights.
Would I really use a power that damaged my body more each time I used it so casually? Even when I went to see beautiful women, I usually chose to sneak in rather than fight, and only fought when unexpected situations arose.
Green Snake Sect last time had also been an unexpected situation. After all, I couldn’t simply stand by and watch them abduct women and drag them away. They had turned out to be even more vile than I expected, so I took the opportunity to clean them out.
This wasn’t the same situation as before, and I had no intention of stirring up every unorthodox sect in the world while pretending to be a chivalrous hero.
I secretly made up my mind.
‘Check her face quickly and get the hell out.’
To do that, I needed to encounter those bandits as soon as possible…
I rode along the mountain path while surveying my surroundings. By now, at least one of them should have appeared, but strangely enough, everything around me remained completely quiet.
What? Did I come too early? Are they still preparing inside the stronghold?
Do I seriously have to go looking for them myself? That sounds troublesome.
Just as I frowned and raised my perception…
“……!”
I suddenly raised my head. I sensed a presence.
‘People.’
It wasn’t very distinct, but I could hear footsteps in the distance. There were definitely people there.
I focused my attention in the direction of the sound.
One, two, three… nine? Ten?
There were quite a few of them, unexpectedly. And if that many people were gathered together in these mountains, there was a high probability they were bandits.
‘Great.’
I grinned and immediately turned the reins toward where the sound had come from. But before I had gone very far, I sensed that something was strange.
…Clang…!
At some point, the sound of metal began to ring out.
I soon realized that it was the sound of weapons clashing. And then I became puzzled.
‘Has a fight broken out?’
Were the bandits fighting someone else? Who?
…The Flower-Glutton they were looking for is right here, though?
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