“Hey, hey, don’t push! I said don’t push!”
“You’re the one pushing, you bastard!”
More people than ever before crowded around the martial arts stage.
Because of all the shoving, fights frequently broke out among the spectators. It felt as if they were trying to hype themselves up before the final match.
“It’s Myeong Jin!”
Myeong Jin, who had arrived early before the final started, calmly ascended the martial arts stage.
As a disciple of the Shaolin Temple, the most respected among the Nine Great Sects, he was greeted with roaring cheers from the crowd.
And with a gentle smile befitting a Buddhist disciple, Myeong Jin raised one hand and waved to the crowd as he walked around the stage.
Time passed and the final match was about to begin.
Baek Woo Jin showed up just as the leading figures, including the leader of the Moorim Alliance, had taken their seats and were waiting for the final match to begin.
“Ugh.”
He was handsome enough to earn the scorn of the male audience, but today he looked unusually pale and haggard.
“My stomach’s killing me.”
Drinking too much with Tang Seon Yeong last night had been a bad idea.
“Yo-Young master Baek…!”
Just as he was about to climb the stage steps, Jegal Yeon Ji came running with her clothes fluttering and she blocked his way.
“Oh, Miss Jegal.”
“Huff, huff…”
She was out of breath which was likely from running a long way, and she extended her small hand toward him.
In the palm of her outstretched hand rested a familiar pill. It was the hangover remedy of the Jegal clan that Baek Woo Jin had always been fond of.
“This… this is…”
Baek Woo Jin felt his nose tingle with emotion.
“As expected, the only one who cares about me is Miss Jegal!”
Overcome with gratitude, he grabbed Jegal Yeon Ji’s hand and shook it vigorously. This caused her face to flush bright red.
“He, hehe.”
“I’ll take it gladly.”
Baek Woo Jin immediately peeled the wrapper off the pill and popped it into his mouth. The pill dissolved almost instantly, turning into a cool liquid that flowed down his throat and into his body.
“Ma-Make sure you win!”
Jegal Yeon Ji clenched her fists tightly as she cheered him on.
With a smile, Baek Woo Jin nodded his head and climbed the stage steps now that he felt much better.
“Hmm?”
It was at that moment.
A strange energy started to swirl inside his body.
“What is this?”
Every time he took the hangover remedy, a refreshing sensation spread from his chest throughout his entire body. This time, it suddenly started flowing rapidly through his meridians and gathered at his dantian.
It was clearly a vast amount of internal energy.
“Why is it coming out… from there?”
It felt as if he had swallowed a high-quality elixir and accumulated internal energy through meditation and controlled breathing.
In fact, the amount of internal energy had surged to an unbelievable degree. After consuming the Fiery Pungent Poison last night, his internal energy had reached fifty years, but now it shot up in an instant to sixty years, a full cycle of sixty.
He quickly turned his head to look for Jegal Yeon Ji. The refreshing feeling he had when the energy gathered was the same one he felt every time he took the hangover remedy she gave him.
She was hiding a short distance away and waving her hand slightly. Seeing her shy smile, he was sure this was the result of the remedy she had given him.
“Was it an elixir that only works after taking multiple doses?”
He had heard of elixirs that only became effective after consuming several well-mixed pills, with just one having no effect. It seemed she had fed him such an elixir.
“Well, this is unexpected.”
He had unwittingly accepted a precious treasure thinking it was just a hangover cure, and now he had no idea how to repay her.
I’ll think about it after I win.
His steps felt lighter than ever as he climbed the stairs. The difference between fifty years of internal energy and a full cycle of sixty years was not something that could be called minor.
“Ah, at this rate, I really can’t help but feel confident.”
Any doubt about winning was fading away.
When he stepped onto the martial arts stage, the women in the crowd cheered loudly as his appearance began to glow with vitality.
“Oh my, it looks like young master Baek’s face is shining!”
“Please, just look over here once!!”
“I won’t breathe until he looks this way! Hnng!”
On the other hand, some boos began to arise from the male audience. Though Baek Woo Jin had gained admiration through his Drunken Fist technique, those who had bet on Namgong Soo and lost, along with those who wagered on Myeong Jin, were the ones sending jeers his way.
“It’s a pleasure to finally meet.”
Myeong Jin spoke to him when he headed toward the center of the stage.
“I am Myeong Jin from the Shaolin Temple.”
Myeong Jin introduced himself with a bow. Baek Woo Jin also gave a light fist salute and introduced himself in turn.
“I’m Baek Woo Jin. I look forward to our match.”
He didn’t bother to mention that he was from the Shaanxi Baek clan. Ever since a few days ago, people had been pestering him with greedy looks; they were constantly asking if he’d gained martial arts through some fortuitous encounter or what kind of techniques he had learned. Even the affection he lacked for the clan was wearing thin.
“I see now why young hero Namgong Soo was defeated.”
His posture was sloppy, his body lacked training and his eyes were dull with no sign of fighting spirit. While others would easily underestimate him, Myeong Jin seemed to have seen something different; his expression grew more serious as fighting spirit sparked in his eyes.
“I hope this will be a good match.”
“Yes.”
With that brief exchange, the referee stretched his hand holding the flag forward, then raised it high and shouted.
“Begin the match!”
Waaaah!
As the roaring cheers followed, Myeong Jin lowered his stance and extended his slightly clenched left fist forward as he stood.
Unlike his usual approach, where he would rush at his opponent and land a blow, this time Myeong Jin moved cautiously, step by step while closing the distance.
His eyes were carefully observing Baek Woo Jin who stood in a slightly tilted posture. He seemed to be contemplating where and how to land his first strike.
“Hahaha.”
Suddenly, Baek Woo Jin let out a low chuckle. Myeong Jin, thinking he might have something up his sleeve, prepared to step forward and close in, when Baek Woo Jin suddenly grabbed a gourd, opened it, and started drinking.
“Sniff… is that…?”
The smell that reached his nose was unmistakably alcohol. Myeong Jin’s face stiffened instantly. Drinking in the middle of a sacred match? Ridiculous!
“An opening!”
As Baek Woo Jin tilted his head back to drink, his posture was full of openings. Myeong Jin seized on the most obvious one and used one of Shaolin Temple’s techniques, the Vajra Unmoving Steps, to swiftly close the distance.
The Vajra Unmoving Steps was a movement technique that minimized upper body motion while propelling the body forward in one burst to close the distance. Because the upper body appeared still, the opponent would unknowingly expose their defenses.
“Haaahp!”
With a fierce shout that could send shivers down anyone’s spine, he unleashed another of his signature techniques, the Great Vajra Palm, from his outstretched hand.
The target was his opponent’s solar plexus. The technique was infused with the Buddha’s merciful teaching, meant to subdue the opponent in a single attack and release them from pain.
In that instant, something unbelievable happened.
Despite continuing to chug down alcohol until the moment Myeong Jin closed in, Baek Woo Jin somehow managed to raise his sword and block the powerful palm imbued with the force of the Great Vajra Palm.
But it didn’t end there. Baek Woo Jin’s face flushed red and his cheeks suddenly puffed up.
“Guwehhh!”
With a grotesque sound that sent chills down the spine, flames erupted from his swollen mouth!
Fwoooosh!
“Ugh!”
Myeong Jin was startled by the flames engulfing him. He jumped back and frantically ran his hands over his clothes to extinguish the fire.
“W-What is this…!”
The entire arena was swallowed by a heavy silence, except for Baek Woo Jin who let out a strange laugh.
Hehehehe!
At that sound, one of the elderly spectators trembled and shouted out.
“I-It’s the Drunken Fire Spit!”
The secret technique of the legendary Drunken Fist, the Drunken Fire Spit has made its appearance again!
In ancient times, the Drunken Fist had been lost. Among its secret techniques, the legendary Drunken Fire Spit had not been seen for a long time, but now that it appeared again, the number of spectators shouting in excitement began to grow.
“Drunken Fire Spit….”
Myeong Jin looked at Baek Woo Jin with an expression of disbelief.
“Are you truly the successor of the Drunken Fist…?”
“Heh, from now on, I’ve decided to be.”
With such enthusiasm coming from the crowd, Baek Woo Jin figured there was no harm in becoming the current successor of the long-lost Drunken Fist.
“Drunken Fire Spit, it’s a pretty decent name.”
Now that he had earned a respectable name for a secret technique, he felt there was nothing he couldn’t do.
Myeong Jin swallowed hard. He felt the heat seeping from every part of his body.
The heat is intense.
He had backed away quickly, and even though he ended up like this, if he had panicked and been engulfed in the flames, he might have suffered serious burns somewhere.
Despite the tension, a broad smile spread across Myeong Jin’s face.
Who would have thought I’d see a secret technique of the Drunken Fist?
He didn’t know much about the lost Drunken Fist, but judging by the crowd’s frantic reactions, it was clear this wasn’t some trivial martial art.
He was deeply curious about how the Drunken Fist Baek Woo Jin would display would compare to the martial arts of the Shaolin temple.
“Well then, I’ll come at you again!”
Myeong Jin stepped forward with powerful strides and charged in.
In his left hand, Myeong Jin unleashed the powerful Great Vajra Palm, while in his right, he displayed another secret technique, the Vajra Arhat Fist.
At this moment, even Baek Woo Jin couldn’t help but be greatly surprised. Executing both a fist and a palm technique simultaneously with each hand was as difficult as drawing a circle with one hand and a square with the other.
The shadows of palm and fist attacks intertwined chaotically in the air, weaving a complex pattern. The countless variations created by the two different martial arts tried to deceive Baek Woo Jin’s eyes.
“Oh, not bad.”
But deceiving Baek Woo Jin’s eyes was no easy task. He could clearly track Myeong Jin’s hands as they lashed out and retracted amidst the flurry of feints and misdirections.
“Haha…! Truly impressive! You are the first opponent to make my hands feel this ashamed!”
Though Myeong Jin was not arrogant, he did carry a sense of pride in his abilities. He knew that the martial arts he had honed throughout his life at the Shaolin temple were not easily countered by those of his peers.
Yet, this time, he had been perfectly blocked for the first time. Myeong Jin felt deeply moved by this. He was now certain that the opponent before him was someone worth giving everything he had.
“Huuuup!”
Myeong Jin gathered his internal energy throughout his entire body and charged. As he rushed forward, Baek Woo Jin casually swung his sword in a scattering motion while taking a swig from the gourd of wine in his hand.
Is he planning to spew fire again?!
Myeong Jin activated the internal energy spreading through his entire body. This time, he planned to charge straight through the flames without dodging and aim at his opponent’s weak point with a well-placed fist attack.
“Cha-aht!”
His fist, tempered by over a decade of rigorous training, was now charged with internal energy. When he pulled his body back with force and lunged forward, Baek Woo Jin once again spewed something from his bulging mouth as if he was waiting for this moment.
Guwehhh
Believing it to be flames, Myeong Jin tensed his entire body and charged forward, only for a trickling stream of liquid to splash across his face.
“Ugh!”
It was the wine Baek Woo Jin had been holding in his mouth.
Myeong Jin who was drenched in wine quickly backed away. He started frantically wiping the liquid off his face.
“W-What…!”
But the rich scent had already reached his nostrils, and no matter how quickly he wiped, some of it found its way into his mouth, down his throat, and into his body.
The unfamiliar taste and aroma of the alcohol made Myeong Jin’s face flush red.
“Hiccup!”
He was drunk.
Leave a Reply